"You wanted to drown in a woman. Here's your chance. Drown in her blood." - Gena Showalter, The Darkest Night

•••

"She's a little on the skinny side. Don't look like she eats much."

"Yeah, but her face is pretty enough."

Bird stared up to the ceiling and tried her best to block out their comments while she was in the center of a room with her wrists bound above her head and the ropes looped over a hook hanging from the ceiling, with the men who owned the human auction sight trying to determine how much they could get for her.

Her night had steadily went from bad to worse after Selina and Bridgit had done as she'd instructed and left in Lily's car.

Bird wasn't even entirely sure what had happened. One minute she'd been sitting there thinking about how she needed to get up and get back to Oswald's and she must have fell asleep because the next thing she knew was a rude awakening of more than one set of strong arms grabbing at her.

On a better day she would have been able to fight them off. Even being out numbered, she'd have at least been able to hold her own until she was able to use her speed to her advantage and run away –but not today.

No, today she felt like she'd already been running for miles and she wasn't able to tell whether her mind or body was more exhausted.
Maybe somewhere inside she'd just give up and couldn't find it in her to fight any longer.

"Let's see..." One of the guys said as he walked up to her and started to rub his hands over the black dress she had on.
Her nose curled at the smell of his breath when he hummed in her face and she turned her head to the side to get away from him.

Her eyes pinned shut as he started to rip open the front of her dress, but could only manage to get the expensive fabric to tear to just below her bra.
Huffing out in frustration, he gave up and grabbed onto the bottom hem and lifted it up above her head; putting her body on full display with only her bra and underwear for cover.

"What the hell happened to you?"
One of the men called out upon seeing the numerous scars across her clothes had been hiding.

"Good thing we're keeping the dress on."
Another commented.

"Tits are kind of small... but she makes up for it here." The one bellowed who was keeping her dress raised as he reached around and smacked butt with his free hand.

A round of laughter went around the room and finally he let her dress fall back over her body, but she still felt just as naked as she had seconds before.

Nothing in those moments could have helped her feel any less exposed standing in the center of that room defenseless.

"How old are you, darlin'?"

Bird didn't speak a word; she hadn't said a single thing to any of them since they'd dragged her in out of the alley.
Sometimes it was only her skin that was present in the room and her mind was far away, reliving happier times in far better places.

"I'll be damned!" A deep voice thundered from one of them, "She's the one who was on T.V months back –killed some people."

"Is that so?" The one who'd raised her dress cooed as he put his face back in hers and hungrily eyed her, "You got some danger in you, sweetheart?"

Laughter echoed off the walls and Bird slowly turned her head from where she'd been straining to get away from him, her neck almost seemed to be moving unnaturally when she took her time to turn back and face him.

Her eyes locked with his and slowly his laughter came to a stop as the cold stare she was giving him made the hair on his arms stand on end and a menacing feeling crawled down his spine.

Taking a step back away from her, he cleared his throat and hollered out, "We oughta get at least nine-hundred out of this one –shame she's not a blonde, they always go for more."

"Oh, no, no, no... no." A woman she hadn't spotted before and who'd been lingering towards the back said as she walked closer, "Boys, don't you know who this is?"

The one who'd identified her from the news coverage of the crimes she'd been framed for piped up with bright eyes, "She's a Wayne, isn't she?"

"This..." The nameless woman said, while she walked up and took Bird's chin tightly in her hand to get a better look at her, "This is Falcone's kid."
Looking over her shoulder back to the rest of the room, she smiled widely, "This one's gonna make us very, very rich."

With any luck, they'd bank enough profit that night to make up for the theft that had occurred from the night before.
In fact, spreading word that there was something extra special on the menu for that night might just be enough to bring the customers back who'd been scared off by the flamethrower and gun toting robbers.

The mood of the room completely changed to one of excitement; hooting and hollering rang out as the handful of men started calling out guesses as to how much of a profit they could make off of her that night.

•••

"You should drink something." A soft voice said and Bird looked up from the corner she'd tucked herself in, inside of the large cage all the girls were being held in for that night's auction to see a girl around her age offering up one of the water bottles that had been dropped in with that days food rations.

Bird shook her head back and forth.

"I know you're scared." The girl sympathized as she sat down next to her and with heavy eyelids confessed, "We are all are –but we only get food once a day... so you've gotta be quick to get something."

"I'm Eliza." The girl introduced herself before holding the bottle back out to Bird.

Upon hearing her name, Bird whipped her head and around and looked at the girl. Immediately thinking of Liza, whom she'd only known for a short period of time –but had still considered a friend.
Another name on an endless list of people she'd let down in one way or another.

"What..." Eliza questioned, startled from Bird's reaction.

"I had a friend named Liza once." Bird explained.

With a sigh she reached out and took the water bottle from Eliza, making sure the girl was still watching her, Bird turned it upside down and squeezed tightly until drops of water started to fall from cap of the unopened bottle.

"They use a syringe to drug the water." Bird answered the confused look on her face, "At first glance the bottle doesn't look tampered with –but you're better off to dehydrate than this drink this."

"What...what's in it?" Eliza stammered out, her green eyes growing wider by the second.

"Not sure." Bird answered as she tossed the water bottle off to the side and shrugged, "Something to keep you drowsy and compliant."

Eliza scooted back against the chain link fencing and looked around at all the other women in there. The newer ones were mostly huddled up sobbing, while the ones who'd been there for a while were scattered along the sides sleeping or staring off into the distance with dazed expressions.

Looking down to her dirty legs, Eliza tried to steady her breathing. She'd been there for going on four days now and had been chalking her chronic drowsiness up to being in a heightened level of fear and lack of sleep.

"Do you think there's stuff in the food too-" She started to question, but Bird didn't let her finish as she stated, "I wouldn't chance it."

They sat in silence for quite some time before Eliza couldn't hold her tongue any longer.
In the time she'd been there, she'd seen a rotating door of girls and women of all different ages come through there and everyone's reactions were all nearly the same.

The ones who'd been brought in from other cities and been kept in similar or worse conditions seemed to be calmer than the ones freshly plucked up off the streets.
The ones who'd been in captivity for longer, they were more empty shells than people. Hope of being rescued had already passed; but Bird seemed much calmer than anyone else she'd witnessed there.

"I, uh, you just..." Eliza blew out a breath, "Did they bring you in from somewhere else?"

"No..." Bird start to say, but Eliza kept talking, "Cause I've noticed they seemed calmer and you don't really seem all that scared."

Bird eyed her for a moment before giving another shrug and closing her eyes to rest her head for a moment, but the lack of response couldn't be ignored by the terrified young women who'd tried to be nice to her.

"How are you so calm?" Eliza's voice cracked, "I'm so terrified that my hands haven't stopped shaking since they grabbed me..."

Her voice trailed off and everything she'd been holding in for days came pouring out.
Loud sobs echoed through the cage and out into the empty auction room as Eliza clutched onto her sides and gasped out for air in between her cries.

Bird silently watched her and then looked back out to the other girls, a few more of them had also started to cry and a few others were trying to console them –even though they were as equally terrified.

Swallowing hard she tried to block the distressing sounds out, but she couldn't and it was opening up a deep pit of sorrow inside of her.

If she made it out onto the auction floor, then whoever bought her was going to be in for a rude awakening when they got her alone –she wasn't going to let anyone touch her.
She'd either kill them or she'd fight to the death, but either way –she'd sworn to herself so many years ago that she wasn't going to let anything like what she went through as a teenager happen to her again.

The soul crushing feeling inside grew with her thoughts and inability to block out everyone else's voices and sobs.

She had a chance at defending herself –she knew just where to hit someone to bring them down. She knew the amount of force to use in order to break someone's neck and that a hard enough strike to the front of the throat would incapacitate even the strongest opponent.

She'd killed before and could easily do it again; but not everyone was like her.

And chances were that most of the women in there with her right now didn't know a quarter of what she did about self-defense or fighting.

So while she sat there knowing that she at least had a fighting chance in walking away from this, she was most likely the only one in there that -that could ring true for.

"They're not taking me alive." Bird finally said when Eliza's cries had lowered in volume.
Nodding her head, Bird continued, "I'll die before someone uses my body to play out their sick fantasies."

"What..." Liza chocked out, rubbing her cheeks with her tear dampened hands.

"You think being in locked in here is bad?" Bird responded, "You have no idea what could happen to you once someone dishes out enough money... I can promise you that the horror stories playing in your head probably don't even come close to touching the truth."

"So... the way I look at it is like this; either I'm going to get free and kill them all, or they're going to put me down, but either way –they'll pay for this." Bird said, as she stared blankly ahead and of her and left Eliza with even more questions.

"If you get killed how do you know they'll pay?" She sniffled, wiping her nose.

"People talk." She answered, "Someone, somewhere will open their mouths about what happened to me and my friend won't stop until every single person involved has died a slow and painful death."

"That's some friend." Eliza commented, no longer sure if Bird was making things up to make herself feel better, or she really meant what she said.

"He is." Bird agreed, the corner of her mouth angling up into a small smile as she thought of Oswald.

"I just hope he notices something is wrong sooner rather than later." Her voice cracked when she thought of how she hadn't done the best job staying in touch with him lately, it would probably take him a while to start to suspect something had happened, but she had no doubt that he'd eventually find out and then make them all pay, "He's probably the only one who would come looking for me though."

"That's more than some people have." Eliza quietly commented, doing her best to smile through the tears, "I don't have anyone to miss me. No one who's going to care enough to seek out any revenge..."

A few more moments of silence passed, until Eliza reached over and gave Bird's arm a small squeeze before she got up and walked over to talk to some of the other girls.

It was a while later that Bird had just started to drift off to sleep when she heard someone clear their throat.

Cracking an eye open she looked up to see everyone was now standing in front of her: women of varying ages in varying stages of undress.

Bird's eyes widened and she looked around at all of them, but before she ask what was happening, Eliza stepped forward and dropped the grocery bag of still full bottles of water on the floor and said, "We don't want to just sit here and wait to be auctioned off."

"Yeah, we want to fight back."
Another voice called out.

Stepping forward Eliza extended her hand to Bird and repeated back what Bird had told her earlier, "They're not taking me alive either."

Letting Eliza pull her to her feet, Bird surveyed the group all looking to her guidance and in an apologetic tone she said, "Even if we all band together... not everyone is going to make it out alive."

She fully expected group momentum to fall after she'd laid the hard truth on them, but no one backed down.

"You really want to do this?" Bird asked them, not able to hide the shock on her face.

Some nodded while others answered her verbally. Even the ones who'd spent the entire morning crying out every last drop of water in their bodies agreed.

"Okay." Bird pulled in a deep breath and said, "We need to pour out these water bottles and when anyone comes around –we can't be all huddled together like this. They can't know that something is up because our time to strike is going to be when they open the gate."

Everyone nodded, listening intently to what she had to say.

She told them that once someone opened the gate is when they needed to strike. To rush the person who'd unlocked it and try to get out of the opening and make a run for it.

Bird gave them a quick run through of some basic moves they could use against someone who would try to get in their way to stop them; to go for the eyes, use the heel of their palms to break an opponent's nose. Stomp on their feet, elbow them –even knees to the groin were all moves that would debilitate someone long enough to make a run for it.

While some of the girls got to work on emptying out the water bottles to make it look like they'd add been drank, Bird started to go back to her corner to sit and wait for their chance to strike when someone asked, "Who are you?"

"Bird." She simply stared before turning back around and repeating with the tiniest glimmer of life back in her eyes, "I'm Bird."

•••

"This isn't good, isn't it?" Eliza questioned as she stood next to Bird who was watching the audience start to fill up for the night.

"I heard someone talking about getting here early because there's supposed to a special girl to headline off tonight's auction." Another girl whispered from a little father back.

Bird looked down to the ground, knowing they must have been talking about her.

Eliza was right –the crowd filling up so quickly already wasn't a good sign. It was going to end up in more chaos, more weapons to be used against them –along with more people trying to grab them while they made a run for it.

"What do we do now?" Eliza asked when Bird had fell back into her state of silence.

"Same plan." Was the only response she received.

"But things have changed. We were planning on trying to fight and outrun five, ten people at the most... but now the crowd is already here and we're outnumbered and-" Eliza started to list off the reasons she was doubting they stood a chance.

"The plan is still the same." Bird argued with her, "It's just going to be more difficult now, but still the same. We fight and we run –don't look back."

Nodding, Eliza looked over and saw one of the guys who ran the place watching them and she lowered her head as she walked away, trying to act normal and not alert anyone that an uprising was in the works.

"You." One of the guys said as he pointed to Bird and motioned for her to come to the gate, "Come here."

Her eyes traveled down to the metal collar in his hands and she hesitated.

Quickly growing impatient, the man took out a gun and motioned with it as he ordered, "Now!"

With her eyes locked on the weapon, Bird walked closer, standing just to the side so when he unlocked the gate she could make her move.

Muttering something under his breath, he tucked the gun back into the waistband of his pants and got to work unlocking the padlocks keeping the cage gate secure.

As soon as he started to open it, Bird threw herself against the gate with all her might and used it to knock him down to the ground.

Gasps ran through the crowd and the other men who were standing guard started to run for the cage.

Bird wasted no time in slamming the man's head off the cement floor with enough force that he immediately stopped moving and within mere seconds she retrieved the gun and stood back up.

"You crazy bitch-" One of the guards started to say, but he didn't get to finish his words as Bird fired a shot into his chest.

The auction crowd screamed when his body fell from the walkway and into where everyone had started to gather for the night.

Another of the guards raised his own gun, but before he got the chance to fire off a shot –his body was completely engulfed in flames.

Screams erupted from nearly everyone under the roof –from the girls in the now open cage to the audience with their fists full of cash.

Bird watched as Bridgit stepped up onto the stage and lit her flamethrower back up, waving the wand from side-to-side the audience continued to scream out in fear.

"Go!" Bird yelled over her shoulder to the girls who were now stunned and scared from the change in their plans and the sudden appearance of someone covered from head-to-toe and wielding a flamethrower.

"Stay down!" Bridgit screamed at everyone in audience.

"Go, go, go!" Bird yelled at the women again, "Run as fast as you can –and remember, don't look back."

"Go on!" Bridgit also yelled at them as the women came down the ramp but seemed scared to try and get past her; they didn't know she'd come back to save them.

Bird stayed in place, alert and ready to unload the rest of the clip if she needed to as she made sure every single girl who'd been held prisoner had cleared the doors and made it outside.

"Come on." Bridgit said as she nodded with her head for Bird to follow her outside.

"Thank you." Bird managed a smile at her, before she crossed by her and went down the walkway, stepping over the burnt remains of a body as if she was missing a crack in pavement.

"Where are you going?" Bridgit called after her.

"Get yourself out of here." Bird instructed, "There's something I need to take care of first."

With that she jogged up the far set of stairs and right into the room where she'd been held the night before –where the people who ran the auction site were now cowering and trying to take cover behind the sparse furnishings.

One by one, Bird picked them all off –saving the last bullet for the man who'd held her dress up above her head and touched all over her body.
She took a moment to savor the look of terror in his eyes before she shot him in the front of his throat and left him to bleed out and choke on his own blood.

Then she ran from the room, wiping her fingerprints off the gun on the torn remains of her dress and dropped it on the floor while pushing her way through the crowd.
Once she had a clear view of the door, she set tunnel vision on it and raced out of the building as fast as she possibly could.

The cold night air hit her in the face and stole her breath once she made it outside.

The soles of her bare feet felt frozen against the sidewalk, so much so, that she could barely feel the tiny jagged pebbles and broken cement cut into her skin as she slid to a stop at the sight of the GCPD strike-force.

"Bridgit Pike!" Jim yelled out as he and his task force stared the young woman brandishing a flamethrower down in the middle of the street.
He'd made a promise to Selina that he'd try to bring her friend in alive; do everything in his power to keep her safe despite the fact she'd killed an officer.

Bird watched with wide eyes as Jim holstered his gun and slowly stepped in front of everyone else.

"Stay away!" Bridgit warned, but in response Jim held his arms up to show he didn't mean her any harm.

"My name is Jim Gordon." He yelled over the sounds of sirens growing closer in the distance from back up and ambulances, "I know what your brothers did to you. I know you didn't mean for any of this to happen."

"You don't know anything." She countered in a voice wavering with fear.

"Put your weapon down and come with me. I can help you... there are places you can go." He continued to try and talk her down.

"I'm not goin' to jail." She yelled back.
She'd spent far too long being held prisoner by her brothers; she wasn't about to sign up for life in a five-by-nine cell.

"You're a juvenile. We can work something out." Jim pleaded.

But fear had gotten the best of Bridgit and instead of heading his pleas, she aimed the flame thrower at him and ignited it.

"Bridgit, stop!" Bird shrieked as she ran from the sidewalk onto the pavement, but came to an abrupt stop when one of the new officers who'd arrived on the scene fired a shot in their direction.

"Wait, wait!" Barnes ordered, at the same time Jim yelled, "I said hold your fire!"

Bridgit let the flames die down again as she frantically looked around and wondered if the shot had hit her.

Jim looked across the haze from the dense smoke and blue flashing lights to where Bird was standing just off the sidewalk –her torn dress and tangled hair blowing in the cold night air, while she looked frantically back and forth from the where the task force was stationed, to the opposite end of the street that was steadily filling with more police cars.

Bridgit was young and scared; caught up in something that she never wanted to be a part of and now she was trapped with nowhere to go; Bird knew there was no way this could end well.

Bridgit's fuel canister had been punctured by the shot fired and it was leaking out all over her clothes.
Even though she'd made herself some flame retardant gear –it wouldn't hold up if she were to catch on fire with all that fuel and nitrogen still on her back.

Breathing heavily and frantically trying to get her flame thrower started back up, Bridgit couldn't even hear Bird over the pounding in her own head.

"Bridgit, no!" Bird yelled, glancing again at the where the police were stationed before she started to walk closer to her and ignored Jim as he yelled out for her to stay back, "It's gone too far... you have to stop."

Finally she got her flamethrower ignited again and in her panic she started spinning in circles, shooting fire out in every direction she could manage to.

"Bridgit!" Bird screamed as loud as she could; trying to get through to her over the sounds of chaos around them but it was useless.

"Bird, stay back!" Jim warned, his eyes wide with fear and shock as she moved closer to the girl with the flamethrower.

"Take cover!" Barnes screamed as Bridgit continued to spin out of control and the strike-force and other officers ran backwards to get away from the flames and hud behind their vehicles.

But Bird wasn't ready to give up on her.
She was the one who'd brought up they hire they Pike brothers to burn down the buildings on Galavan's list –and even though she'd never intended on them forcing their little sister to do the dangerous jobs, she still felt responsible.

If she could just reach her; get through to her and stop this from going any further, then there was a chance the girl who'd risked everything to come back and save the women she'd so desperately wanted to help the night before, might be able to make it out alive.

"Bridgit-"

Bird's words were cut short as Jim darted across dangerous fiery path and tackled Bird to ground to knock her out of harm's way.
Even though the flames weren't directly on them, they could still feel the intense heat and Jim did the best he could to protect Bird from getting hurt –using his own body as a shield.

Raising her head, Bird peered out from under Jim's arm and watched as the nearest patrol car became engulfed in flames.
When the fire caused the gas tank to explode, it shot a wave a fire back in Bridgit's direction and her fuel saturated clothes immediately erupted in flames.

She didn't stand a chance when the fire reached the fuel tanks on her back.

The crackling sounds of fire quickly roared over Bridgit's petrified screams and agonized cries, until her voice hollowed out to nothing and her still burning body crumpled motionless onto the ground.

•••

"You, uh... you holding up alright?" Bullock questioned as he held out a cup of water to Bird, who was sitting on a bench in the police station with Jim's coat wrapped around her.

The only acknowledgment of his presence she gave was taking the cup of water from him.

"You need me to call someone for you?" He offered, as he slowly sat down beside her.

Bird shook her head back and forth.

"Okay..." He breathed, not sure what else to say to her, "Well, they're wanting all of the girls to go to the hospital..." He let his voice trail off as she again shook her head.

"Can I get you anything?" He near helplessly offered while he looked around hoping to catch sight of Jim, his partner was much better at this part of the job than he was.

"A stapler."

His forehead lined in utter confusion at the first words she's spoken.

"A stapler?" He repeated back and she nodded in response.

Standing up, he took his hat off and rubbed a hand through his hair as he looked around the desks until he spotted one with a stapler. Letting out a heavy breath, he picked it up and brought it back to her.

Wordlessly, she took it from his hands and he started to ask her what the hell she wanted it for, but stopped as he saw her shrug out of Jim's coat and then get to work on stapling up the top of her dress that had been torn way past her bra.

Once she was finished, she handed the stapler back to him and pulled the coat back on and wrapped her arms around herself again.

Bullock sat back down beside her and stared down to the stapler in his hand before he gave one last look around the station hoping to catch sight of Jim.

When his search turned up empty, he cleared his throat and tried to carefully pick what he needed to say to her.

He was aware that Bird had never been a big fan of his, but he could clearly remember back to the night he'd went undercover into The Foxglove when they were hunting The Ogre, after he'd abducted Barbara Kean.

Bird had gotten a ticket and showed up there herself because she'd been worried about her friend.

Even though she never seemed to care much for him, she'd locked onto his arm like a vice grip that night.
He'd had visible bruises for well over a week as proof.

He knew enough about her story and what had happened to her as a teenager when Fish had found her near death in an alley close to the dive bar, to know that whatever she'd gone through now probably had her head spinning with a bunch of memories she'd rather forget.

Her name was kept out of papers before with her only being a minor, but now she was an adult and with all the recent attention she'd been getting in the papers, he had a pretty good idea that her reluctance to do anything had to do with not wanting the entire city to know what might or might not have happened to her.

"Look..." He said glancing over at her, before he faced forward to try and make the awkward conversation a little less so, "I know the last thing you want is the whole damn city in your business again. I get it. You don't want to show up at Gotham General in an ambulance –with the lights and sirens and all that."

Taking in another breath he offered, "But if something happened, something... that would give you reason to see a doctor, then I'll drive you myself. No lights, no sirens... none of that. We can drive around and go in a back door and no one has to know."

"Nothing happened." Bird said.

"Okay." He nodded, glancing back over at her and not sure whether to take her answer at face value, "But I'm just saying if it did..."

"It didn't." She cut in.

Aside from being nearly exposed to several strangers, unwanted hands on her body and then listening to those same people discuss the pros and cons of her physical appearance; nothing had happened.
She was lucky –if you could even consider that luck at all.

"You can't just sit here." Bullock finally said.
He'd started to tell her that she needed to do something –eat or drink, be checked out at the hospital, let him drive her somewhere, or at the very least give him the number of someone to call, but he didn't get the chance.

Bird silently stood up and started to walk away.

"Wait, wait, wait!" He called out, quickly getting up and stopping her.

"I didn't mean you can't just sit here." He tried to clarify, "I meant you can't just sit here."
His face scrunched up at his own words and he shook his head, "On second thought, just sit back down."

Bird eyed him for a brief moment before she backed up to the bench and sat back down.

Picking up the paper cup of water he'd brought her before from the small magazine table next to the seating, he handed it back to her and said, "And drink this, will you? You need fluids."

He lingered next to the bench until she brought the cup to her lips and took a drink of the cold water.

Bullock went over to his desk and looked around the station. It was much busier than usual for a Tuesday night.

The holding cells were filled up with people that had been arrested from the auction site. Some detectives were busy booking more, while others were taking statements from the victims and trying to get contact information to get them some help.

"We've got ten dead." Jim spoke in a low voice as he walked up to his partner, "Bridgit Pike." He began to say, "Then inside –there were two guys dead out in the main room. One was shot, the other burned."

"And the rest?" Bullock asked him.

"Seven bodies found in an office –six male and one female." Jim answered, "All of them shot. Executed."

"You thinking..." Bullock's voice trailed off as he glanced over to where Bird was sitting.

With a small shrug, Jim answered, "If I had to take a guess, I'd bet those seven were the one running the entire operation. There was a safe in the office with more money than we'd make in a year and some notebooks in the drawer listing out what appears to be features of the girls they sold and how much they got for them."

They both watched as Bird sat by herself on the bench, still closed off from everything and everything. Every so often she'd take a sip from her cup, but other than that she was barely blinking at normal rate.

"You know." Bullock began, "If she did it, then she pretty much did the city a favor."

"Yeah." Jim agreed with a heavy breath, before a concerned look landed on his face and he asked, "Has she said anything?"

"Not much." Bullock said, "Asked for a stapler to close up her dress."

When Jim looked at him, Bullock gave him a knowing look and added, "She says nothing happened... but if it did, I don't think I'm the one she's gonna tell it to."

Jim stood in front of where Bird was sitting for a little while, but she wouldn't look at him; just continued to stare down to her now half empty cup of water.

He slowly took a seat next to her, careful to not move too suddenly or make her feel crowded since he had no idea what she'd gone through or how long she'd been locked away in that place.

When she didn't say anything or even look over at him, Jim finally cleared his throat and in a sincere voice said, "I'm sorry."

"I need to talk to Barnes." Bird stated in a low but calm tone.

"Why?" Jim questioned as he turned to get a better look at her.

Without another word to him, she stood up and moved unhurriedly towards the stairs leading up to the captain's office. In her still bare feet she trekked along with Jim now right on her tail, asking her repeatedly what was going on –but she never gave him an answer.

Captain Barnes was standing behind his desk going through some paperwork and looked up as Bird walked into his office followed just a few steps later by Jim.

"Miss Wayne?" He greeted in an unsure tone, before giving Jim a questioning look to which the detective didn't have any response other than to offer up a shrug.

Bird walked over and sat down in one of the chairs facing his desk and stared blankly ahead.

"Uh..." Captain Barnes breathed, giving Jim another look before he slowly pulled his chair back to give himself room to sit down, "We're trying to see that all of the victims go to the hospital-"

With a sigh, Bird rolled her eyes, she hated that word to her very core; especially when it was being used as her identifier.

Shaking her head and fighting against the want to completely shut down, it took her a few minutes to finally locate her words, "Paper." She said, before her eyes snapped up to the confused police captain and she added, "And a pen."

Crossing the room, Jim picked up a notepad from the desk and flipped it to a clean page and handed it to her along with the pen Barnes' offered up.

The two men sat in complete silence with her as she scribbled what looked to be a list down on the page, every so often they'd exchange looks –both wondering exactly what she was doing.

After a while, she mutely laid the notebook back on the desk and dropped the pen on top of it.

Barnes hastily picked up the paper up and scanned over the list of addresses.

"What is this?" He questioned, as he passed the notebook over for Jim to see.

"Addresses." She answered, "Of places just like the one you raided tonight."

Before either of them had a chance to say anything else, Bird looked between them and her voice and tone was adamant when she said, "This didn't come from me, okay? I am not a snitch."

Jim glanced over at her and then back down to the page with her handwriting.
Even after everything she'd gone through, she was still set to adhere to the criminal code of conduct she'd lived by for years.

Barnes' heart dropped at hearing what the addresses would lead to.
He wished he could say he was surprised, but in a place like Gotham, nothing much surprised him anymore.

"Thank you." He said, looking back up to where Bird was sitting.

With a weak nod, she started to stand up and turned to leave the office.

"You really should see a doctor-" He called after her as he stood up from behind the desk.

"No." Bird cut him off.

Just as she reached the door of the office, she caught sight of Eliza from across the station, she was sitting in a chair next to one of the desks with a dark gray blanket wrapped around her.

Bird slowed to a stop and looked down as she hugged Jim's coat around herself and thought of what Eliza had told her about how she didn't have anyone to miss her.

With her eyes pinned shut, Bird thought of how after all the smoke cleared at the scene of the crime –while the patrons of the auction house were being led out in cuffs and lined up against the outside of the building, she'd watched the girls huddled together in small groups.

All of them still scared with most of them not having anywhere to go or any idea of what would come next.
Paramedics had passed out those scratchy dark gray blankets to try and help keep them warm in the cold night air while the police were trying to sort everything out and organize a way to get everyone –victims and criminals, back to the precinct.

That was it –a cheap blanket cut from itchy fabric, that was all the comfort those other women had in the first several minutes of freedom from the human cage they'd been held in.

Meanwhile, Bird was off to the side with Jim putting his own coat around her and trying his best in all of the chaos to make sure she wasn't hurt and assuring her that it was going to be okay.

"What happens to them?" Bird asked as her eyes slowly blinked back open, "To the other girls?"

"Well..." Barnes said, as he stepped out from behind the desk and leaned against the front of it with him arms crossed, "We're trying to get them all seen by a doctor, but a lot of them are refusing... no insurance."

His voice lowered and she could hear the emotion in his tone, "We're trying to get them clothes and places to go, for now at least –but most of the shelters are already full. Some of them have already ran off, but the ones still here will get a hot meal-"

"I don't understand." Bird admitted as she turned back to face him with her face contorted, "These girls have been through hell, you get that right? They're terrified and cold and most of them don't have anyone to come and get them or anywhere to go. Why isn't there a program or some kind of organization to help them?"

Her bottom lip started to tremble as she spoke, but she held down her emotions so her voice was clear as she spoke.

"There are some programs." Jim answered, "They're doing everything they can."

"Then why are so many of those girls still here?" Bird demanded to know, her pale cheeks taking on a darkened hue, "Shouldn't there be places they can go?"

When Barnes and Jim both looked back at her with solemn expressions, but neither voiced an answer; Bird became even more distraught and huffed, "I don't... I don't... I don't understand, why aren't these programs doing more?"

"The funding isn't there." Barnes finally explained, "Resources are all stretched thin and the sad truth is that when there's an influx of victims, like tonight –there is only so much the system can do for them."

Her mouth hung open and a puzzled expression was apparent on her face, as if she just couldn't wrap her mind around that the reality of the grim situation.

Despite her rough start to life, when the Wayne's had finally found her and adopted her, she was five years old and since then she hadn't wanted for anything.

There was no worrying about where her next meal was coming from. If she'd been sick, there was never a fear over how to pay medical bills.
She'd never had to make the decision between putting gas in her car or paying the electric bill.

Jim let out the breath he'd been holding as he watched her continue to be completely bewildered by what she was being told.

Looking back out into the station, she saw some of the uniformed officers walking in with bags filled to brim with hot meals from the nearby all night diner.

"If there's no funding then who bought them all this food?" Bird asked.

"I did." Barnes admitted.
He'd paid for it all from his own pocket.

"There are really no resources out there to help them?" Bird's voice shook as she fought against the lump building in her throat.

"Not many." Jim's voice was so low she could just barely hear him over the chaos in the station from below.

"Then the system is broken." Bird's hoarse voice hissed from between her teeth.

"It certainly needs some work." Barnes said with a quick nod, "No one's arguing with you there."

"If..." Bird's breathing was labored as she swallowed and tried to keep her voice steady, "If I get you money, you can funnel it into the right programs to help these girls, right? I mean, like... you know the proper channels for that?"

"I do." Captain Barnes nodded with an unsure expression on his face as he watched her.

"Okay." She nodded, "What time do you get to work in the morning?"

Stepping away from the desk, Barnes looked her in the eyes as he promised, "You get me that money and I don't care if it's the middle of the night –I'll get it to where it needs to go to help these girls."

Just as Bird started to leave, Barnes took a few more steps after her and said, "Miss Wayne..."

When she turned to face him, he said, "I'm sorry for what you've gone through and this list you've gave me –along with the money you're talking about, it's going to help these girls and many more."

Bird's eyebrows lowered as she looked at him and guessed, "But?"

With a heavy sigh, Barnes laid the cards on the table, "Crime –of any sort, breeds and enables more crime."

Seeing her had her attention, he continued, "You see, the problem is... is that a lot of criminals want to pride themselves in the lines they don't cross. Someone who deals drugs will say, 'hey, at least I didn't rob a bank'. Then the bank robber says, 'I might have stolen money, but at least I didn't hurt anyone'. Then you've got the one who car-jacked someone and beat the driver to bloody pulp saying, saying he'd never hurt woman... that at least he didn't rape anyone-"

"And then the rapist says, 'at least I didn't kill anyone'?" Bird cut in with an arched brow.

"But what they all fail to see is that crime, ranging from petty theft to murder, is still crime. It tips the scales and throws society off balance and the lesser crimes pave the way for bigger ones. When you aid and abet in criminal activity on any level it starts a domino effect of sorts." Barnes reasoned, "The good you're doing here won't excuse you from the crimes you commit tomorrow. Do you understand that?"

"Captain Barnes." Bird lowered her head and looked at him from under her brows, "I gave up trying to make up for the bad I've done a long time ago."

"I understand that we're not friends. You're saying that while I'm a victim tonight; tomorrow I'm fair game in your mission to clean up the city." She breathed, looking back out across the police station, "But this isn't about me. Tonight, this is about those girls who don't have someone at home waiting on them."

•••

It was close to three hours later that Bird was making her way into Oswald's mansion.

She'd gotten ahold of the bank manager from one of the banks where she had accounts and gotten him to come in and open the bank for her –where she'd then proceeded to make a very large cash withdrawal.

Then she'd returned to the station and dropped a duffel bag stuffed full of cash onto Barnes' desk, to his complete and utter dismay.

After that she'd had Bullock drive her to Oswald's –even though Jim kept insisting he'd take her wherever she wanted to go. She couldn't bring herself to be around Jim anymore for the night.

He was worried about her and just couldn't seem to shut the cop in him off long enough to let her breathe.
If he wasn't asking one question after another, then he was sitting there –watching her with those eyes that revealed he didn't come close to believing her when she repeatedly assured him she was fine.

For someone who didn't care much to talk about his own feelings –he was sure trying to get her to open up.

But Bullock was different, he'd been warmer to her that night then she could ever remember in the past –but he wasn't looking to make anyone else's problems his own.

So he'd let her be during the drive to the bank and back to the station and then to the place she was currently calling home.

Her bare feet padded along the hallway floor as she avoided the questions and shocked expressions from the guards and Oswald's henchman.

Finally, she found her friend in one of the sitting rooms –with a glass of red wine in his hand as he tried to unwind in front of the fire place.

"Hey." Bird's dry throat somehow managed to croak out as she stood in the doorway.

"Bird." He greeted, the tone of his voice immediately changing to one of fear when he looked up at her.

The glass he'd been holding fell the floor and shattered upon impact as the red liquid splashed across the stone tiles.

Scrambling to his feet, his eyes only grew wider as he looked her over.

Her hair was a tangled mess, with make-up smears on her face. Her dress was torn and fabric mangled –he didn't miss the staples holding the top closed and she wasn't even wearing any shoes.

"What... how..." His mouth couldn't keep up with the rapid fire questions in his brain, with a frustrated noise on his lips, his hands clenched into tight fists at his sides and the line of questioning changed as he growled, "Who?"

"It doesn't matter." Bird replied, as she dropped her arms down to her sides and walked over to the couch he'd been sitting on.

"I will... I will make them pay for this!" He hissed through his teeth.
Internally he swore that whoever had hurt his friend and left her in that state was going to endure so much pain and suffering that they'd wish they'd never even been born.

"Oswald." Bird calmly said, as she sat down and reached up to tug on his sleeve and get his attention when it became apparent that his mind was already drowning in blood soaked revenge fantasies.

When he turned and looked down to where she was sitting, Bird nodded with an understanding expression and explained, "They're already dead."

Hearing the news did little to sooth the throbbing ache behind his eyes, but he sat down next to her and managed to release his rage compressed jaws, "What happened?"

"Some people wanted to auction me off the highest bidder." She answered, leaning forward off the couch to pick up the bottle of wine off the coffee table before settling back into the cushions.

Reaching up, he had to loosen his tie when it felt like his air supply was shut off.
He'd gotten used to her staying gone for days on end and hadn't thought it much out of the ordinary when she'd never returned the night before.

"Nothing happened." She quickly added, knowing exactly where the next logical train of thought would lead him, "I'm fine."

"You're not fine." He argued, watching as she took a drink from the bottle of wine.

"I'm not fine." She agreed with him, being truthful with someone for the first time all night.
With another drink down the hatch, she assured him, "But I will be."

"Tell me what to do, Bird." He pleaded when he was at a complete loss of what to say or do to help her, "I gave the new captain of the GCPD a list of the other spots I knew about." She admitted, "But you have to make sure that none of the people who work for you get the bright idea to open anything like that up."

"Done." Oswald promised.

"And if someone does –if someone tries to start up some ring like that, then-" Bird started to say.

"We'll not only punish them..." Oswald cut her off, "We'll make an example out of them."

A weak, but genuine smile spread over her lips a she looked over at him.

For all of their fights and butting heads on a nearly day-to-day basis; he always seemed to be there when she needed him the most.

Countless times she'd been asked about their friendship from people who just couldn't understand she saw in him.

This was it.

This was her best friend.

The one person who knew her better than anyone else ever had –even over her own family; perhaps the only person on earth who was content to simply let her exist without and judgement.

It was times like this, when just his very presence could start to erase the darkness she'd faced down, that she found herself taken back to the day they'd first met.

She'd never felt anything like that before; a bond that was instantly set in stone.
Strong enough to withstand the worst weather and all attempts to chip away at it.

Even though the years since that first day had sent them both down paths they'd hadn't anticipated and shaped into them both into different people –there were days when it felt like nothing had changed at all..

Settling back into the couch further, she reached over grabbed onto his arm and pulled it over her as she nestled against his side.
He always seemed so unsure in how to act in certain situations; there were times when he'd hesitate to even give her a hug when she needed it.

He'd always been that way. Human contact had just seemed to be an awkward thing for him –especially when it came to her.

Oswald's breath hitched in his throat as he glanced down to the mess of a girl leaning against his side.

It took a little while for his breathing to return to normal, but when it did, he could smell smoke on her clothes from the all the fire she'd been around earlier that night.

After a while, he was able to relax more with the feeling of her against him and listening to just the sounds of her steady breathing. A slight smile toyed at his lips and he tightened his arm to hold her even closer.

Moments, just like this one, where he felt closer to her than ever –were sometimes the only things that had gotten him through from one miserable day to the next.

Oswald wasn't sure how long they'd been sitting like that, but he knew she'd fell asleep quite some time ago. He felt like he'd been fighting his own heavy eyelids for hours and the feeling in his arm had long since been replaced with pins and needles numbness –but he didn't dare budge and chance waking Bird up.

These was one of the most intimate things he'd ever experienced, to have the person closest to him in the world, lay every defense down after going through hell –and trust him enough to fall asleep against his side.

Times like this only concreted his notions further; that no matter how far they'd strayed from one another... they would always end up in the same place together.

They were fated.

•••