"How to Commit the Perfect Murder" was an old game in heaven. I always chose the icicle: the weapon melts away."― Alice Sebold, The Lovely Bones

•••

"There she is." Theo Galavan said with a chuckle as Bird started to stir.

He watched as she slowly moved her head until she found the strength to raise it and looked at him as he dragged a metal chair across the cement floor and sat down facing her.

Straightening her posture from where she'd been slouched over to one side, Bird blinked a few times. She had no idea what was in the injection that Butch had given her –but whatever it was, mixed with the car accident she'd been in earlier that day left her feeling like she'd been hit and run over by an eighteen wheeler truck.

Checking his watch he proudly announced, "Less than eight hours to go until the polls open up in the morning. I dare say you're sitting in the presence of Gotham's new mayor."

Still not able to speak, Bird wiped the side of her mouth from where she'd apparently been drooling on herself while she'd been unconscious.

"A new day is indeed upon us, Bird." He continued to speak even though he'd gotten no reaction from her, "It is a shame you won't live long enough to see it.

"My days aren't the only ones that are numbered." She finally croaked out.
As she finished her sentence she moved her tongue and lips around; clearly still trying to escape the effects of the medicine she'd been given.

Watching her with an amused expression he questioned, "Some people never know when to admit defeat-"

Clearing her throat, Bird lamely shook her head back and forth and refused to let him finish his sentence, "You're a dead man, Theo Galavan."

"Awfully brazen speech from someone in your position, don't you think?" Leaning forward in his chair some he added, "You never saw it coming did you? That we'd freed Butch from the mind control he'd been under."

"Butch Gilzean-" Bird's words broke as she coughed uncontrollably, finally able to catch her breath she continued, "Butch Gilzean is a dead man too."

"Is that any way to talk about an old friend?" He smiled with his head tilted to the side, clearly not finding anything she said the least bit threatening.

In his mind it wasn't even that he'd won –it was more that he'd been so many steps ahead that there wasn't even a competition to be named victor of.

"You're pathetic." She nearly spat at him, "Hell bent on revenge against my family for something that happened long before either of us were born."

His jaw tensed and he took a moment to choke his anger back down before stating, "Your family is a disgrace. You come from a long line of liars and thieves."
Galavan pulled in a breath before continuing, "My family built this city; carved the bedrock on which it stands and now there isn't even a bridge or a street sign that carries our name. We were robbed of what was rightfully ours."

"That's really what this is about?" Bird couldn't help but let the disbelief show on her face.
This entire time she hadn't doubted that a centuries old blood feud had something to do with his return to Gotham, but she'd been sure that it had to have run deeper.

"My forefathers were betrayed –their legacy erased and I am here to punish those who wronged us and reclaimed what was rightfully ours." His voice deepened and grew with conviction from every spoken word.

"And people think I'm crazy..." She'd muttered under her breath.

"It's remarkable." Theo stated leaning in to get a closer look at her expression and the deadpan look in her eyes, "You're going to die." Pausing he looked at his watch, "Probably within the hour and yet you don't appear the least bit concerned."

"What would you have me do?" She asked, managing to readjust and sit up in her chair farther now that she was regaining more movement, "Throw myself on the floor and beg you to spare my life?"

Without letting him speak, Bird flatly admitted, "You might as well kill me right now because I'm not going to beg you for a damn thing."

"One of those 'I'd rather die on my feet than live on my knees' types, huh?" He reasoned, "I respect that. It doesn't change anything, but I respect that all the same."

"Well..." He breathed out while resting his hands on his knees and looking her over before he stood up, "Penguin should be here any minute."

Extending a hand to her he offered, "Shall we?"

When all he got was a hate filled glare from the young woman still seated, he blew out a frustrated noise and pulled her up to her feet.

In her still medically weakened and mentally exhausted state, Bird couldn't do much other than let him drag her along as they left the room.

Bird's eyes kept blurring as she tried to watched her footsteps across the dirty concrete floor and make sure she didn't trip.

She didn't even bother looking up until she heard quiet but heartbroken sobs.

Slowly, she raise her head and looked around until she saw Gertrud Kapelput sitting on the side of the single size bed inside of a cell, wiping her eyes on a tissue before she blew her nose and continued to cry.

"Mrs. Kapelput?" Bird exclaimed, jerking her arm away from Galavan and moved as fast as her fatigued legs would allow.

Nearly stumbling over her own feet, Bird fell forward but was able to grab onto the bars of the cell to keep herself up.

With a loud gasp, Gertrud jumped up from the bed and rushed to her side of the bars.

"Oh, my little Starling-Bird." She cooed in her thick accent as she reached out a hand and laid it on the side of the younger woman's face.
Her face was twisted up in fear and pain as she asked, "Wh-where is my Oswald?"

When Bird didn't say anything, Gertrud's tone grew even more panicked as she pushed, "He is okay, yes?"

"He's okay." Bird nodded, but a lone tear slid down her cheek with the realization that it wouldn't be the truth for much longer.

Galavan now had them both; the two people who meant the most to Oswald which meant he now had near total control over her friend.

Confused as to why Bird was there and where Oswald was, Gertrud managed a small smile as she used her thumb to wipe away the tear that had ran from Bird's eye.

"Tell me." She pleaded, "Where is he? Where is my sweet boy?"
Her eyes darted back and forth and she continued, "You still keep him safe, no?"

Bird shook her head back and forth as she opened her mouth and tried to think of what answer to give her, but she didn't get the chance as the end of a black whip wrapped around her neck and the next thing she knew she was flat on her back staring up to the dust covered and web ridden ceiling.

Gertrud screamed out in horror and tightly gripped onto the bars watching with tears running down her face as Tabitha dragged Bird –kicking, flailing and choking, out of sight into a room off the left.

•••

"You sure this is it?" Oswald questioned as he came to the top of a short set of steps outside of an old, abandoned warehouse.

"I'm sure, boss." Butch nodded from where he stood midway up on the stairs behind him.

"And Bird?" Oswald asked as he looked over his shoulder.

Displaying his phone, Butch replied, "Still no answer."

Pulling in a deep breath and slowly letting it go, Oswald tried to push thoughts of his best friend's absence from his mind.
He couldn't understand what on earth she could be off doing that was so important she wouldn't even call them back, especially after he'd left several voicemails detailing Butch's success in locating his mother.

"Once my mother is safe, we go after Galavan and his sister. They're going to pay for what they have done." Oswald instructed, just loud enough for Butch and the other two men he'd brought with him to hear.

With that, he took in another breath of the night air and gripped onto the chipped paint railing to propel himself up off of the last step.

It had been rather easy to find an unlocked door into the old space and once he was inside he could see his mother locked away in a small filthy cell.

She was rocking on the side of the bed and crying loudly into the shredded up bits of tissue clutched in her trembling hands.

"Mother!" Oswald yelled out, breaking out in an almost run to get to her, "Mother!"

Screaming out in excitement when she turned her head and laid eyes on her son, Gertrud jumped up but lingered by the bed for a moment –as if she was trying to determine if he was truly there.

"Mother..." Oswald smiled, sticking his arms through the openings in the cell and waving them around frantically to reach her.

"You..." He breathed out with his body shaking, "You're okay. Thank... thank god."

"Oswald!" She cried out, "Is it really you?"

Her fingers gripped onto his suit as she looked into his eyes, she could hardly believe her boy was back in front of her again.
Coming to rescue her from the horrid conditions in which she'd been entrapped for weeks on end.

"Your sweet face!" She exclaimed, as she reached up with both hands and cupped her son's cheeks, "Like a vision..."

"I'm... I'm taking you home." He assured her, giving her arms a squeeze before pulling out of her grip to go and get the bolt cutter from one of his men.

"Where is Starling-Bird?" Gertrud asked, still reaching through the cell to try and grasp onto her son again, "You-you already save her?"

His mother's words fully sunk in just as he'd gotten the bolt cutters and turned back to look at her.

"Bird?" Oswald asked, his eyebrows forced together as his entire face contorted.
He couldn't imagine why on earth his mother would be asking about Bird at this moment –unless she'd recently seen her.

The atmosphere in the room changed and Oswald looked back to the men he'd brought with him to tell them to search the rest of the building, but he didn't get a chance.

"And here I was thinking you understood the meaning of consequences." Theo Galavan said, making his presence known as he entered the main room of the building.

"Consequences, yes. I assure you that my understanding of consequences will be made quite clear once my mother is outside." Oswald barked at him, his voice echoed off the empty walls around them and Gertrud couldn't even bring herself to speak as she fearfully held onto the bars containing her.

"Tabitha!" Galavan yelled out.

Oswald's jaw dropped open as he looked over to see Tabitha walking out of a doorway, dragging Bird with her.
His best friend was staring at him with wide tear filled eyes, her wrists were bound with rope and there was a white cloth in her mouth and tied behind her head to gag her voice.

"Didn't see this coming, did you?" Galavan laughed at the dismayed expression on Oswald's face.
Pointing to the bolt cutters in his hand he added, "And those bolt cutters are useless, the only way out of that cage is with this."

Oswald's eyes fell to the key that Galavan so proudly presented in his hands before his attention was pulled back over to Bird who was yelling out against the cloth muffling her voice.
It was clear that she was so desperately trying to tell him something, but he couldn't begin to understand what that something was.

"Very well." Oswald's voice deepened with rage, "Butch, shoot them both in the head and grab the key."

Bird's muffled screams increased as she frantically shook her head back and forth, trying to relay to her friend that Butch had switched sides and couldn't be trusted any longer.

Tabitha laughed as Bird struggled to try and get away from her when Butch cocked and raised the gun in his hands.

Gertrud looked over to where Bird was struggling and then back over to the men and her eyes widened as she saw that one of them was aiming a gun at the back of her sons head.

"Oswald!" She gasped, reaching out as far as she could strain to through the bars.

Misunderstanding her reaction and thinking that his mother was disappointed in his call for violence, Oswald looked over at her and said, "Mother, I am sorry but what they have done will not stand!" His voice cracked and raised with each word.

Bird stared over at where Butch was pointing the gun to the back of Oswald's unsuspecting head and shook her head wildly from side-to-side as the tears that had been burning her eyes finally succeeded in making their way down her face.

Butch swallowed hard as he looked back at her and the hand he was holding the gun in started to shake.

When nothing happened, Oswald's anger and panic grew, "I gave you an order. Shoot them both in the head!"

Everyone in the room, aside from the Galavan siblings, jumped at the sounds of gunshots as Butch shot the other two men Oswald had brought for back up.

"No-no." Oswald stammered as he turned and looked at Butch and then back over to Bird as he finally realized what she'd been trying to tell him, "No, no, no... that... that's not possible. You have to obey me. You have to!"

"That time has passed." Butch argued, nodding to where the Galavan's were standing and trying his best to ignore Bird's tear streaked face, he explained, "They fixed me."

"Tabby is well versed in the protocols of conditioning." Theo said and his sister smirked and clarified, "There's always a trigger word implanted during the process. All I had to do was get him to remember what it is... I'll admit, it took a few tries."

"And now... here we are." Theo said.

"Hey!" Tabitha exclaimed with a wild look of excitement in her eyes as she looked to her brother and asked, "Which one are we going to kill first?"

"That is a good question." Theo agreed, as he reached out and grabbed onto Bird's arm roughly pulling her over to him.

Oswald threw the bolt cutter down on the floor with a loud clank and in desperation clutched his hands together as if he were sending out a prayer, "I-I can still be valuable. You'll see."

His voice was shaking just as much as his body was and tears were starting to spill from his own eyes as his gaze locked with Bird's.

"I so wish that were true..." Galavan spoke in a tone that was almost sincere enough to believe –almost.

While the breath he'd been clinging too slipping out against his will when his eyes landed on the knife in Tabitha's hand, Oswald looked at Theo and said, "Kill me if you must... but let them go."

Bird made a noise and shook her head from side-to-side while Gertrud let out a yelp at her sons words and reached back through the bars towards him, but he was too far out of reach.

"Please!" Oswald's voice nearly came out in a screech as his eyes flittered back and forth from where his mother was trapped defenseless in a cell and Bird was weakened and bound standing next to two people who would kill her without a second thought.

"Doesn't look like begging to me." Tabitha said as she turned to her brother.
"Indeed." Theo concurred, "Half-hearted at best."

As Bird watched her best friend drop to his knees, she yelled out against the cloth muffling her voice.

None of this was going to make a bit of difference. The Galavan's were just playing with him, trying to take away every last ounce of dignity that he had before they went in for the kill.

Bird tried to move, to get closer to her friend, but was quickly pulled back and Oswald's eyes grew even wider in terror as Theo Galavan now had ahold of Bird –with a knife pressed to her throat.

With his hands clasped in desperation and tears stinging at his eyes, Oswald gave up every last ounce of pride he'd been clinging to as he begged, "I'll do anything. Please, let them go..."

With a heavy sigh, Theo Galavan conceded, "Perhaps your mother has served her purpose."

A potent of light returned to Oswald's eyes and he gained an ounce of hope back that Bird still couldn't bring herself to believe in.

"Don't pout." Theo complained when Tabitha made a noise to show she wasn't ready to let Gertrud go yet, "You still have the former mayor." He reminded her of how they were still keeping Aubrey James tucked away.

"He's so dull..." She nearly whined, "He just moans all the time."

Theo passed the key to his sister and she took a few steps closer to the cell before spinning on heels and pointing to Bird as she questioned, "What about that one? We're really going to let him keep them both?"

"Excellent point, sister." Theo agreed, looking at Oswald and commenting, "We did warn him against going behind our backs..."

"Wait-" Oswald started to stammer, but Galavan interrupted him, "Pick."

"Pick?" The trembling returned to his exhausted body and he looked around the room, afraid of the answer his next question might yield, "Pick... pick what?"

"Who lives and who dies of course!" Theo's voice echoed around the building and made Oswald, who was still knelt on the floor, feel even smaller than he already did.

"I...I...I don't, I don't understand." He continued on with the stress induced stutter he'd been struggling with since the room had started to close in around him.

"Oh, I think you do." Theo argued with him.
Pointing the knife in his hand towards Gertrud he continued, "Your mother?"
"Or your..." Galavan's voice trailed off as he ran the dull side of the blade across Bird's cheek and gave a shrug, "You know, I still haven't figured the two of you out."

Jerking her face away from the feeling of the cold metal on her flushed skin, Bird's voice continued to come out muffled against the gag until Tabitha blew out an irritated sigh and walked over to roughly pull the cloth free.

As it slid down and settled against her neck, Bird's mouth hung open and she fought to take in a couple deep breaths.

Her eyes landed on where Oswald was still down on his knees and appearing to be on the very edge of a breakdown.

Tears were slowly making their way down his face and he kept frantically looking over to where his mother was and then back to where Bird was standing. His mouth was open like he wanted to say something, only he had no idea where to even begin.

"Oswald." Bird managed to say and pull his attention solely over to her.
When he looked at her with a broken and torn expression; she couldn't hold back her own tears that had been threatening to run free.

"Get up." She instructed.
After all he'd survived and all he'd overcame –it killed her inside to see him having been reduced to a broken man on his knees begging at the feet of someone who she didn't deem worthy of breathing the same air they did.

His body was trembling so bad that he was barely able to get up to his feet, especially with the pain from his bad leg, but he was finally back up on two feet.

"Bird-" He started to say with his eyes still wide as could be with tears still spilling over the brim.

Swallowing the lump back down in her own throat, when she opened her mouth to speak she could taste the salt from the tears that had gathered in the corners of her mouth.

"It's okay." She hoarsely nodded somehow finding the strength to offer him a smile, "We had a good run, huh?"

"No!" Oswald's voice cracked. He couldn't lose his mother, but he also couldn't lose Bird.
He was living in a nightmare. If Hell truly did exist than he was currently standing right in the middle of it's deepest pit.

He hadn't known much kindness in his life and the only two people who'd ever truly believed in him, the only ones who'd ever actually loved him were now being used against him and the feeling of losing either of them was paralyzing.

"We made it father than anyone thought we would." Bird continued to talk, trying her hardest to keep her voice steady even though her body was now too shaking, "You're going to survive this-"

"No!" Oswald yelled back at her.
He was sure he wouldn't. Losing either one of them was a wound he was sure would swallow him whole.

"Yes." Bird nodded, "You're going to survive this and you're going to kill them for what they've done."

"Aw." Tabitha cooed, "I think she really believes in him."

Oswald's chin trembled as his mouth still hung open at a complete loss for words while he stared back at her.

"It's okay." Bird repeated.

"It's really not." Theo said with a chuckle, before he looked around the room and then nodded to his sister.

Tabitha walked over and unlocked the cell door, she paused for a moment to stare at Gertrud before she pulled the door open and released her.

With an excited scream, Gertrud ran from where she'd been imprisoned right into her son's awaiting arms.

Bird watched with a small smile on her lips as she saw Oswald's face twist up with an array of emotions, but she saw the smile on his lips and observed how he was clutching onto his mother.

She didn't believe anyone was in the clear. She didn't trust a word the Galavan's said, but she knew that if anyone could make it out of this situation –alive at least, that it would be Oswald and she could die knowing that he wouldn't rest until he'd inflicted punishment and revenge on everyone involved.

The sounds of Gertrud's relieved and loving laughter filled Bird's ears as she pulled her eyes away from her friend and his mother; maybe, just maybe, she thought to herself, she could find a way out of this for all of them.

But her gaze snapped back over to where Oswald and Gertrud were standing when the older woman's laughter came to an abrupt stop.
She watched as Tabitha stepped back and the handle of a large knife was visibly protruding from Gertrud's back.

With a gasp, Bird felt the tears well back up in her eyes and when his mother slumped forward against him and he too saw the knife, Oswald's voice echoed throughout the space as he screamed out, "No! No!"

As his mother's legs gave out, Oswald lowered them both to the floor as gently as he could, still clutching onto her quickly weakening body –as if he could somehow hold her life in.

"Oswald..." Gertrud said with a confused expression on her face as she rubbed a hand over her son's cheek, "What is wrong? You look so sad."

With tears running down his face, Oswald mustered every ounce of strength left in him to remain strong for her.
Gertrud hadn't fully understood what was happening. She was dying and by the grace of something higher, wasn't in pain from where she'd been stabbed.

With a shaky smile, Oswald tried to ease her nerves, "Nothing's wrong, Mother. Nothing... nothing at all."
Swallowing hard and looking into her eyes for what he knew was the last time he continued, "We're together now... that's all that matters. That's all that ever mattered, right?"

"Ever since you were little baby, my little Cobblepot." Gertrud lovingly agreed, reaching to stroke the side of his face again.

"Interesting choice." Theo stated, turning slightly to get a better look at his sister.

With a wicked smile Tabitha motioned towards Bird and replied, "She wants to die... where's the fun in that?"

Bird could feel the tears still running down her own cheeks, but she wasn't aware of much else now. Every breath she pulled in felt like a punch to the chest and the ringing in her ears blocked out all the sounds from the room.

She could see Gertrud and Oswald still talking to each other, but their words weren't breaking through to her.

It wasn't until Theo instructed Butch to kill Oswald that Bird slowly managed to come back into her surroundings.

Gertrud was dead now, no life was left in her crumpled body and Oswald was still knelt over her, tears falling like rain.

Bird's blurry sight went to where Butch was standing behind them with a look on his face as if he really couldn't believe what had just happened.

"You will pay for this!" Oswald screamed out once he was able to pull his eyes away from his mother's corpse.

"Kill them both." Theo apathetically instructed Butch, "Dump the bodies... anywhere." He added as he shoved Bird forward towards the heartbreaking scene in front of her.

"Uh-oh." Tabitha teased, "Looks like we'll have to take care of this one ourselves." She said motioning to where Bird was standing.

"Wait." Butch finally spoke, "You promised you weren't going to hurt her. You said she was just gonna be used against Penguin and that-"

"Circumstances have changed, Butch." Theo Galavan dismissed his argument, "She no longer has any use to me. Turns out she's signed away the shares she owned in Wayne Enterprises. No, better to do away with her now... she's far more trouble than she's worth."

Butch's shocked expression grew. As if he honestly never thought they were capable of killing an innocent old woman and as if he'd believed in his bringing Bird to them that he hadn't put her life in mortal danger.

Bird's teeth gritted and anger focused on Butch; how could he have ever believed anything they'd told him?

Oswald's bloodshot eyes darted between where Bird was standing and then over to the Galavan's, before falling to the handle of the knife still lodged in his mother's back.

"You don't have the stomach to kill me yourself?" Oswald spat at him, "No wonder your family was run out of town. You come from a long line of cowards!"

With a burdened sigh, Theo said, "Fine, fine. It's just as well considering it doesn't appear like Butch here has it in him to kill Bird." He walked over to where Butch was standing and held out his hand for the gun.

There was a small moment of hesitation before Butch finally handed over the gun he'd been holding and would no longer make eye contact with Bird.

"No!" Bird yelled, slightly stumbling over her own feet in a rush to intervene when Theo cocked the gun and pointed it right between Oswald's eyes.

"Uh, uh, uh." Tabitha smiled as she grabbed onto Bird and held her back, "Wait your turn."

"Any last words?" Theo questioned as he leaned down to get more in Oswald's line of sight as he was still knelt above his mother's body.

"Yes." Oswald shakily said and Bird's weakened posture straightened when she heard the tone of his voice. He wasn't crying anymore. No, his tone was quaking with rage over heartache.

"I'm going to kill you!" Oswald then yelled out mere seconds before pulling the knife from his mother's back and swiping it through the air and across the side of Theo's neck.

Bird raised her leg and slammed her foot down as hard as she could on top of Tabitha's foot and then brought her bound arms over to one side and elbowed her right at the top of her stomach.
With a groan of pain and the air effectively knocked out of her, Tabitha's grip on Bird faltered and she broke free.

Oswald made one swipe of the blade through the air trying to injure Butch, but he was able to block the hit with the metal mallet attached at his wrist.

Their pair of friends looked at each other and then over towards a window, both of them knowing that simply running out of the door wasn't an option.
They both took off running and crashed through the panes of glass down onto the hard cement below while Tabitha had retrieved the gun from the floor and fired every last round left at them.

"Are you hit?" Bird questioned as she rolled over from where she'd landed on her side and used her knees and elbows to maneuver around in order to get stood up.

Struggling with his bad leg and the pain from the fall, it took Oswald a little bit longer to get stood up but when he did he shook his head from side-to-side. Physically he was intact; however, emotionally he was sure he'd never fully recover.

"You?" Oswald questioned, visually checking her over for any wounds or blood.

"I don't think so." Bird answered as she knelt back down and picked up one of the bigger shards of glass and quickly got to work on cutting the ropes that bound her wrists while they ran together over to the car that Butch had driven Oswald there in.

Letting the ropes fall to the ground, Bird scrambled to open the driver's side door while Oswald was getting into the passenger seat, it was only a matter of time before Theo, Tabitha and Butch would make their way outside trying to finish them off.

•••

With a small groan, Bird's eyes started to open as she squinted in the sun from the windows in the living room at the safe house they'd driven to the night before.

She grimaced when she started to try and move and felt like something was being pinched inside her lower back; a symptom of apparently falling asleep sitting up the night before.

It was then that she realized Oswald's head was against her shoulder and he was still asleep.

Carefully as to not wake him up, she scooted to the side and carefully lowered his head down onto the decorative throw pillow she'd pulled over from the very end of the couch.

She stood up and stretched trying to loosen up her tensed muscles before she bent down and gently grabbed onto his legs to pull them up on the couch so he'd be more comfortable.

Grabbing the throw blanket off the back of couch, she unfolded the fabric and draped it over him.

Once they'd gotten to the safe house the night before, they'd called the most trusted of Oswald's henchman to be there for protection and ready to spring into action when the crime lord figured out their next move.

From there Bird hadn't left her best friend's side, she'd held him while he'd cried and sworn she'd help him kill Galavan –even if it were the last thing they did.

With another stretch, Bird rubbed the side of her neck as she drowsily stumbled into the kitchen to find Gabe and three other men sitting around the kitchen table.

"Mornin'." Gabe greeted as he stopped her and the other guys nodded to her but kept their attention focused on the small TV screen on the counter.

"Hey." Bird hoarsely replied.

"How's he doing?" Gabe asked as he stood up and followed Bird over to the coffee pot.

"Still sleeping." Bird admitted, getting a cup down from the cabinet and adding, "I think we should let him get as much rest as he can, you know?"

He nodded in agreement with her then pulled in a deep breath, "Galavan's winning the election by a landslide. News stations are already calling the results."

"He was always going to win." She offered up a small shrug, "Now, we just have to make sure he's dead before he can ever step foot inside that office."

Bird grabbed the fresh pot of coffee up and then paused with it over the mug she'd chosen; with a sigh she returned it to it's place and turned towards the door.

"Where you going?" Gabe asked, "Probably not the smartest idea to be out there by yourself."

"Galavan's win as mayor just complicates things even more." She complained, rubbing her hands over her tired face, "He's going to be even more so in the public eye now and can make GCPD bend at his will."

"Your point?"

Looking up to Gabe, who stood at a considerable height difference than herself, Bird admitted, "I'm going to get help."

"From who?" Gabe's voice raised slightly as Bird was already half out of the door.

Without answering his question, she nodded towards the living room doorway and said, "Just keep an eye on him, okay? And make sure he eats something."

"Bird!" Gabe called after her, but the young woman was already gone.

It was over an hour later that Bird stood at the bottom of the steps leading up to the doors of the police precinct.

Jim Gordon had promised her that if she told him the truth –he'd believe her.
Now it seemed as though trusting in what he'd said was the only option she had left.

Bird walked over to where Jim's desk was, but it was empty, along with Bullock's desk across from it.

Her tired eyes were alert as possible while she scanned the entire station until she caught sight of a group up in Captain Barnes' office. She took the stairs as fast as her legs could carry her; just as she reached the open door way she slowed to a stop.

"I assume you have something for me?" Barnes asked as he looked to where Harvey Dent was standing. He'd just been informed that Oswald Cobblepot had tried to kill Galavan the night before.

Theo's story was that since Oswald knew he was poised to win the election, he'd came to him seeking an alliance, but when Galavan declined –Oswald had snapped and attacked him.

"Yes." Harvey nodded as he reached into his interior coat pocket and pulled out a stack of papers, "Arrest warrant for Oswald Cobblepot, as well as search and seizures on all his properties and known associates."

Opening up the stack of papers, Barnes' eyebrows raised as he commented, "Quite a list."

Bird ducked out of sight knowing that she was more than likely on that list and despite how much she hated Galavan, she needed to try and play this smart. Wait until she could get Jim alone to speak to him.

"We'll get right on it." Barnes dropped the list to his desk and questioned, "Anything else?"

"Yes, in light of recent events, Judge Turnball has declared a state of emergency and granted the mayor's office additional powers." Harvey explained to them.

"The moment I'm sworn in, I'm implementing a curfew and ordering your strike-force to begin door-to-door searches until Mr. Cobblepot is apprehended." Theo explained.

"You're talking about marshall law?" Jim questioned.
He knew extreme measures needed to be taken, but sending the city into a police state would only cause heightened panic among the citizens and their already wavering trust in the police would begin to crumble.

"We're talking about bringing a dangerous fugitive to justice." Barnes argued, "We'll be acting within our legal rights, am I right, Mr. Dent?"

"Absolutely." He agreed.

"You'll have our full support, sir." Barnes agreed as he shook the soon to be mayor's hand.

"Thank you, captain." Galavan spoke with enough sincerity to be believable.

Stepping back from Galavan, Barnes caught sight of Bird standing in the doorway to the room.

Her face was twisted up with an unreadable but nearly wild expression and the look in her eyes was nowhere in the realm of stable.
Her clothes were dirty and it would appear that her last shower had to have been days ago.

"Uh..." Barnes breathed, "Miss Wayne?"

"It's him!" Bird yelled out as went the rest of the way into the office and pointed at Theo Galavan, "It's been him all along!"

One moment she'd been trying to convince herself to handle the situation as smartly as she could and the next she was seeing red and storming into the office in front of all of them.

"Oh boy..." Bullock mumbled under his breath at seeing just how unhinged she appeared to be. Nudging Jim's side he quietly added, "You wanna know why I call her crazy eyes? This is why."

Jim side-eyed him with an unamused expression and stepped forward as he asked, "Bird? What are you talking about?"

"The Arkham escape and the fires and the hits on the other mayoral candidates. All of it and so much more, it's him!" She continued to yell still pointing a finger at him.

"I..." Galavan stammered with a stunned expression, "I don't know where this is coming from."
Looking at her he spoke with feigned concern, "Miss Wayne, are you alright?"

"You son of a bitch!" She screamed out, "I'm going to kill you!"

When every single set of eyes in the office stayed glued to her, each of them eyeing her as if she'd just broken out of an insane asylum, her breathing grew increasingly rapid and she ran her fingers through her hair roughly enough to pull away with her tangled hair pulled from her scalp and twisted around her fingers.

"Oh my god. You're all so stupid!" She continued to come unglued, "It's him! He's right here and you're all so blinded that you can't even see it. He is a monster. He's tried to kill Oswald and he tried to kill me."

"I-" Galavan started to try and argue, but Bird shot him a threatening look and continued to divulge the secrets she'd been holding in for so long, "He was the one that framed me for murder. He wants me dead."

"Miss Wayne?" Barnes interrupted her, as he held his hands up to try and get her to calm down some.
Seeing that she was having a breakdown of some sort, he spoke in a clear and calm tone as he tried to reason with her and bring her back to reality, "Those are some very serious accusations you're making. You need to think about what's going on here-"

"I'm telling the truth!" She yelled.

"What reason could he have to want you dead?" Barnes continued.

Shaking her head and blinking at a rather rapid pace, "It goes back to Caleb and Celestine and the Dumas and-"

"The what?" Jim questioned, taking another step closer.
He was trying to follow everything she was saying, but it sounded like complete nonsense.

"Starling..." Harvey said, drawing her attention over to him.
He was wearing an expression very similar to the one her brother wore the night she'd embarrassed him at dinner.

Apparently all she was doing anymore was embarrassing the people close to her.

"Harvey." Bird countered, her face twisting in pain when their eyes locked, "You have to believe me. I'm telling the truth."

His dark brown eyes were still locked with hers and he could see that she fully believed in what she was saying –the problem was that what she was saying was sounding crazier by the second.

When he finally pulled his gaze away and his line of sight fell to the floor, Bird yelled, "What?"
Growing more frantic by the second, her voice cracked when she yelled, "After everything, Harvey. After all of it... how can you not believe me?"

Walking over to Barnes' desk, Harvey picked up the tablet that he'd been shown earlier that morning.

"GCPD recovered this from your car when you had your accident." He stated handing it to her.

Bird looked down to her tablet with the cracks now spanning the screen, she didn't even have to bring it to life to know what he'd seen.
The camera feeds of all the cameras she'd had installed in the house.

"I..." She huffed out with her cheeks darkening, "I... I can explain."

"Explain?" Harvey echoed, "Explain to me to how you failed to mention that the security system you had installed was rigged with cameras... cameras with a feed streaming directly to this?"

Bird's lips curved up into wild smile before she broke out into a fit of unstable laughter and took a few steps back to survey the near matching expressions of everyone in the room.
She felt like a lunatic herself now, so she could only imagine how mad she must be coming off to the rest of them.

But she'd had reason for what she'd done.

"Okay..." she continued to laugh in a tone that made the entire atmosphere of the room shift, "I know how this looks. I know this looks like some sort of crazy stalker ex-girlfriend stuff –but that's not what happened. I was just trying to keep you safe."

"By spying on him?" Bullock couldn't hold his tongue at how ridiculous the excuse sounded.

"I had to be there for Oswald and keep an eye on my brother and I couldn't be around you all the time, but no matter where I was... with this I could keep an eye on you. To keep you safe." She pleaded for understanding.

"Safe from what?" Harvey pushed.

"From him!" She shrieked causing everyone to jump when she pointed at Theo, "He threatened your safety-"

"I think we've all heard enough." Barnes interrupted.

The room fell into silence with the only audible sound being Bird's erratic and heavy breathing.
This was the precise reason why she hadn't told anyone about what was happening sooner, because she'd feared that no one would believe her.

Bird looked over to Jim who avoided her eyes and then whipped her head back to look at Harvey who upon seeing the broken expression on Bird's face, he cleared his throat and tried to excuse, "She's, uh, she's not really been herself since the time she spent in Arkham-"

The end of his sentence was abruptly cut off when Bird lunged forward and in a fit of anger and betrayal, slapped him across the face.

Harvey stumbled back with his hand cupped over his fire-red cheek and a stunned look in his eyes.

Jim and Bullock quickly rushed forward and each took hold of one of her arms to make sure she wasn't able to hurt him further –or strike out at anyone else.

"Get off me!" She yelled trying to break free, but they both had iron tight holds on her.

Over the threats and profanities she was screaming at the top of her lungs, Bird could just barely overhear Barnes say something about putting her in holding cell and something about a psych evaluation.

She never gave up fighting the entire way down the stairs and to where the holding cells were located. Bird had nearly managed to squirm free of their grip several times, but in the end she was placed into the cell the bars slammed in her face.

Bullock headed back to his desk while he readjusted his clothes and hat that were askew from the struggle, but Jim lingered at the cell a little while longer.

"I'm sorry." He finally said in a soft tone even though he wasn't entirely sure what he was apologizing for.

Maybe it was that as much as he wanted to believe her –everything that left her mouth sounded like a far-fetched tale, or maybe it was an apology for not realizing the serious turn that her mental health seemed to have taken.

"You promised me, Jim." Bird replied back in an eerily calm voice. A stark contrast to the shouting and screaming she'd been doing just moments before, "You said all I had to do was tell you the truth and you'd believe me."

Unable to conjure up anything to say back to her, Jim gave one last empathetic look her way before finding his way back over to his desk.

"If looks could kill..." Harvey breathed as he looked past his partner over to where Bird was standing at the front of the holding cell shooting daggers towards them with her eyes.

"Yeah..." Jim breathed as he glanced over his shoulder and then loosened his tie to pull in a breath.

"Coffee?" Bullock offered as he back stepped away from his desk planning to hit the break room and get a drink. Jim shook his head and declined the offer.

"Detective Gordon." Galavan called out as he walked over to where Jim was standing, "I couldn't help but notice you seem... hesitant with the Mayor's office stepping up to induce Marshall Law."

"Cautious." Jim corrected him.

With a heavy sigh and a look of confusion painted on his face, Galavan pointed out, "You told me we needed to use every method at our disposal to go after Penguin. Men who don't play by the rules. Desperate times call for strong measure."

"I have no problem going after Penguin –with everything we've got. But if we start kicking down the doors of average citizens and start policing through fear, we're no better than he is. The city still needs to trust us." Jim explained what had him worried about the city going into a police state.

"And we will." Galavan assured him, "Because at the end of the day all people want is to feel safe."

Jim managed a smile and nod as he watched the next mayor start to walk away, that was until Galavan turned back and said with an unreadable expression, "Just remember detective, you came to me."

The smile fell from Jim's lips as the words sounded much more like a warning than simply reminding him of how he'd offered up his public support of Galavan's run for office.

He was still standing there lost in his own thoughts when Bullock returned and asked him about what their next move was going to be. When he didn't get a response, Bullock repeated, "Jim?"

Shaking his head, Jim asked, "Yeah?"

"Hey, there you are." Bullock teased as he took a drink of his coffee, "Get your head in the game."

"Sorry." Jim apologized before asking, "Do you believe Galavan's story?"

"Questions like that are above my paygrade and below my sense of wonder." Bullock tried to dismiss and hoped his partner would follow suit, but Jim argued, "It doesn't make any sense. First Penguin is going after mayoral candidates and then next thing you know, he's burning down buildings?"

Bullock opened his mouth to argue but didn't get a chance as Jim voiced everything that was weighing on his mind.

"Penguin's a pragmatist. Hitting Galavan for refusing an alliance? That doesn't get him anything but heat. And then Bird?" Jim blew out a breath, "Something has been bothering her for months now and she wouldn't tell me what it was. She said no one would believe her."

"So?" Bullock shrugged.

"So..." Jim led in, "She finally tells us something and guess what –none of us believed her."

"Jim..." Bullock complained, "The pair of them are an abacus of crazy. Nothing they say or do surprises me."

Seeing the look of disbelief on Jim's face and watching as his partner looked back to where Bird was still in the holding cell trying to burn them to the ground with her rage filled stare, Bullock said, "I know you got a thing for crazy eyes –and hey, whatever, no judgements. Each to their own and all that, but Jim... if it looks like a dog, walks like a dog and barks like a dog –then it's a dog. That girl is madder than a bag of squirrels, I'm telling ya."

"I don't have a thing for-" Jim sighed, but Bullock quickly cut him off with the reminder, "Each to their own."

"Look." Jim huffed, rubbing his forehead, "A few months ago, nobody knew who Galavan was, right?" He continued to get his point across, "Now all of a sudden he's mayor? That doesn't happen by accident."

Bullock heard him out, but didn't give much credit to what was being said. In his mind, guys like Galavan –born into extreme wealth with the entire world at their feet, were practically born on third base with stealing home base as their birthright.

Bird watched as Jim and Bullock spoke amongst themselves for a while before grabbing their coats and leaving.
She didn't know where they were going, but she hoped that Oswald was still tucked away at the safe house for now.

Slinking back into the cell, she dropped down into a seat on the built in bench and blew out a breath that seemed to rattle from her core.
She couldn't believe how the day had gone. She'd known better than to make a scene like she did, she knew how to handle situations like this and maybe she could have garnered a better outcome from speaking to Jim one-on-one.

Then she'd have had the chance to explain everything, connect all the dots for him without rambling on like a lunatic and getting the police captain, her ex-fiance, Jim and Bullock to all look at her like she was insane.

Most days anymore, she couldn't be entirely sure that she wasn't crazy. She was seeing things that weren't there, having dreams so vivid that sometimes she couldn't even tell the difference between sleeping and reality and reacting to situations in ways in which she couldn't explain.

Her inner thoughts were interrupted by horrified screams as two uniformed officers brought a man into the station who was screaming out in fear about how the walls were covered in spiders and the floor was a slithering bed of snakes.

"What the hell?" One of the other officers yelled out and one of the uniforms who'd brought the man in answered, "This idiot got into some kind of hallucinogenic drugs; swore the car was filled with wasps."

Slowly Bird rose to her feet and walked back towards the front of the cell.

For weeks she'd known that Galavan was controlling outside forces to make her appear unstable and for the most part she'd played right into it –but there wasn't any way he could control or alter what was going on inside of her head... or at least she hadn't thought so.

It wasn't much later that one of the officers walked over after carefully checking his surroundings and unlocked the cell that Bird was being held in.

When she eyed him suspiciously, he pushed a flip style cellphone into her hand and said, "Penguin's trying to get a lock on a location for Gilzean; he thinks you might know where he's hiding out."

Understanding that her friend must have figured out exactly where she'd taken off to when she said she was going to get help, Bird tightly clutched the phone and nodded in thanks.
As she stepped out of the cell the officer warned, "I overheard Gordon and Bullock saying they were gonna try and track Gilzean down."

Bird nodded and quickly moved to get out of eyesight before Barnes or anyone else saw her, but instead of leaving the building, she tucked the phone in her pocket and tuned down a hallway.

Lee was sitting in her office going over the last of the paperwork from an autopsy she'd completed when she heard the door open.

Assuming that it was an officer she started to let them know she'd be with them in just a second, but her stomach knotted when she heard the door quickly shut and the lock click.

Raising her head, her eyes widened and she scrambled to her feet as she saw Bird standing there, looking far more unhinged than she'd ever seen her before.

It wasn't all that long before that she could hear Bird screaming from across the station, she hadn't gotten a chance to talk to Jim and find out what was going on, but she'd heard whispers among the other detectives of how she was being held at the station.

Lee's eyes quickly went the phone laying on the desk, but before she could make a move, Bird cautioned her, "I wouldn't do that if I were you."

"What are you doing in here?" Lee asked her, trying her best to stay completely calm.

"I'm not going to hurt you." Bird honestly answered, "I just need your help."

"My help?" Lee's eyebrows lowered, "What could you possibly need from me?"

"For months, I've been questioning my own sanity." Bird admitted, walking further into the office, "After all, someone can move outside forces to make me look like a lunatic... but they can't control what's in my head, right?"

Not giving the medical examiner time to answer, Bird added, "But now I'm thinking maybe they can."

Quickly picking up on what was going on, Lee asked, "You suspect someone has been dosing with you with something?"

"I do." Bird nodded as an unhinged laugh slid from between her teeth and sent a chill right down Lee's spine, when she asked, "I mean, I'm not crazy. I don't think I'm crazy... do you think I'm crazy?"

"At this very moment... or just in general?" Lee questioned which earned a smile from Bird.

"I'm not crazy." Bird repeated in a much calmer voice, "And so if it's not my mind making me see the things I've been seeing... then someone has to be behind it and the only way that could happen is if someone was drugging me."

"How long do you suspect it's been happening?" Lee questioned as she slowly let herself relax a little more in the other woman's presence.

"The dreams..." Bird sighed, reaching up and rubbing her temples with both hands, "The nightmares started before I ever got released from Arkham..."

"If that's the case... then you're talking about someone having enough access to you both in and outside of Arkham-"

"I know how it sounds." Bird cut her off, "But I'm telling you the truth."

"So, you want me to draw your blood and test it for traces of hallucinogenic drugs?" Lee's eyebrows raised as she spoke, "If what you're saying is true than I'd imagine having trouble trusting what's in your own head makes it impossible to trust other people. Why me?"

"Because, Lee..." Bird's shoulders slouched in defeat and she admitted, "Right now, you're all I've got."

•••

Bird walked up the crumbling cement stairs to the backdoor of a corner bar in Butch's old neighborhood.
Not wasting any time she pulled the door open and went inside, where she paused long enough to quietly pull the door shut behind her.

She could hear voices that she didn't recognize and the sound of Butch laughing and it only served to enrage her more.

Emerging from the back hallway, Bird already had her gun drawn and was several steps into the room –but the men were too busy drinking their beer and telling stories of the old days when their crew used to run together to even notice they had company.

"Hey Butch." Bird greeted, her eyes darting around as his friends all started to reach for their guns, "Uh, uh, uh" She warned them.

Letting out a heavy sigh, Butch watched as Bird walked around the tables they'd pushed together and stood across from him.

"How'd you find me?" He asked.

"It wasn't that hard." Bird reasoned, "This is your old neighborhood after all –and I listened to every single story you'd tell about your crew and the little corner bar everyone would meet up at. Because that's what friend's do, Butch. They share stories and listen to each other... you don't stick a needle in the side of my neck and hand me over for slaughter!"

"Butch?" The man sitting to his left asked as he slowly started to reach into his own suit jacket where he had a gun.

"It's okay." Butch said holding up a hand to stop him.

"I never thought things were gonna go down the way they did." He admitted as he picked up his glass of beer and took another drink, "But Penguin cut my hand off, remember?"

He held up the heavy, dark prosthetic hand his friends had given him as a welcome back gift.

Butch's eyes met Bird's near wild stare and he wasn't even sure there was a point in trying to reason with her.

She'd never been the most stable person he'd come across, but up until the recent months she'd held things together well enough.
Now, he didn't know what to expect from her. He wasn't so sure she even knew what to expect from herself.

Hearing the little bell on the front doors chime, Bird glanced over her shoulder where she saw a pizza delivery boy carrying two large pizzas. He scanned the room before setting the pizzas down on a table and leaving without a word to anyone.

He'd seen too much in that town to ask any questions or linger in the presence of someone wielding a gun for very long; but just as he was leaving the building, Jim and Bullock stealthily ducked in the doors with their weapons at the ready.

The tension in the room was already so thick it could be cut with a knife and both detectives were immediately on edge from it.

"Bird." Jim said, "Put the gun down."

"Can't do that, Jim." She answered without even looking back at him.

He moved to one side while Bullock went in the other, both of them wondering why Bird was now out to get Butch.

"You gonna shoot me?" Butch questioned, as he slowly stood to his feet and held his arms out to the sides to show he wasn't going to fight her, "You do what you gotta do, darlin'. Either way, I ain't gonna beg."

The hand that Bird was holding her gun in started to shake a she lowered her aim from the center of his head to the middle of this chest.
She'd pulled that trigger countless times on people without even blinking, but now she just couldn't get her hand to follow the command her brain was sending out.

Bullock opened his mouth to say something, but Jim quickly held up his hand to silence his partner.
Bird was hesitating, he could see it in her movements and the last thing he wanted was for any of them to set her off.

"I taught you how to use one of those, remember?" Butch continued, lightly motioning towards her gun, "God, what were you... couldn't have been more than seventeen when you first walked into Fish's club-"

"We're a little past being sentimental, don't you think?" Bird cut him off and readjusted her sweaty grip on the metal.

"I've known you since you were a teenager, Bird." He clarified the point that he was trying to get at, "They told me they weren't gonna hurt you, that all they wanted was Penguin. You gotta believe me. I never would have put your life in danger like that."

"In danger; like what?" Jim questioned as he looked between them, "What happened?"

Butch glanced over at him and then back on the gun that Bird still had pointed at him.

"Go ahead." Bird frantically nodded, "Tell them how while I trusted you -you stuck a needle in my neck and knocked me out and then you handed me over the very same people who framed me for murder and tried to kill me months ago. Tell them."

"Or maybe I should tell them about how when Falcone wanted me to help get the club back on track last year, how I opted to stay and continue to work with Victor Zsasz instead and convinced him to let you go so you could help Oswald with the club." Bird reminded him, "The only reason you're above ground right now is because of me."

"Tell me what's going on with Penguin." Jim pushed as he stepped a little closer to where the pair of old friends were still in the middle of a standoff.

After giving more serious thought to everything Bird had said that morning, Jim was finding that more and more dots were connecting and adding up to what she'd told them being the truth –or at least some close variation of it.

If Butch could give him the same story then it would be even more reason for him to believe.

"Tell them." Bird echoed.

"Galavan's been telling Penguin what to do." Butch answered as he wiped away the sweat that had started to bead across his forehead, "Knocking off the candidates, torching the buildings... it call came down from Galavan."

"Told you." Bird bitterly stated as she side-eyed Jim.

"Why was Penguin taking orders?" Bullock's curiosity got the best of him, "He's supposed to be running the show now, right?"

"Galavan kidnapped Penguin's mother and was keeping her for leverage." Butch spilled, before directing his attention back on Bird and admitting, "I didn't think he'd do it."

"Do what?" Jim started to ask, but Bird yelled at Butch, "After everything Galavan has done and you didn't think he had it in him to kill an innocent old woman? Really?"

Jim's entire face twisted up and he looked over at Bird with a new understanding of why she'd been acting the way that she had.

He'd only met Gertrud Kapelput once, right after Oswald had taken over Fish's club the year before –but once was enough to see how close they were.
That same day he'd seen Bird and Gertrud interacting and knew they also shared a degree of emotional closeness as well.

"She died in Oswald's arms, Jim." Bird managed to say, "Right in front of me –and then they were going to kill me too, before they planned on killing him."

"I'm sorry." Jim earnestly answered before shaking his head and repeating, "But you have to put the weapon down, Bird."

"He has to die!" She yelled with her arm shaking even more than it had been and in an unhinged voice she added, "He betrayed us... by rites he has to die."

"By rites?" Bullock repeated back as he adjusted the grip on his weapon, "Sounding a bit like dear ole' dad there, aren't you?"

"Yeah?" Bird bitterly chuckled and ran her tongue over her lips.
Looking over to him she said, "I am a Falcone after all, right? No use is trying to be anything more than the criminal I was always meant to be."

"You know that's not true." Jim tried to keep his voice steady, "You always have a choice, Bird. Don't make the wrong one here. Butch is still alive –you can still walk away from this."

With a loud laugh, Bird brushed her sweat dampened hair from her forehead with the back of the hand she was still clutching a gun in, "I think it's a little too late for that, Jim."

"Do the math." Bullock cut in, "We're cops, remember? If you shoot Gilzean in front of us... we're gonna have to take you in. Simple as that."

"Feeling optimistic today, Bullock?" Bird asked glancing over her shoulder to where he was trying to get close enough to disarm her, "That only happens if you make it out of here alive."

Jim's eyebrows lowered and he bit down on the side of his tongue. He had absolutely no idea what to say to her.

This wasn't the same person who'd broken down in his arms the day before.

Long past the point of breaking down in tears –she was a different person now.
She was acting like she had nothing to lose and that made her dangerous to herself and everyone around her.

"I'm here for Gilzean! Anyone who leaves now... leaves alive."

Jim and Bullock looked back towards the door as Victor Zasz's voice rang out from the street just outside.

"Anyone who stays... dies."

Jim looked back to Bird and realized the comment she'd made earlier wasn't a direct threat to them as he'd first thought. She knew that Zsasz would be showing up.

"Sorry, Butch!"
A few of his old crew called out as they all bolted for the door and scattered in different directions outside.

"Seriously?" Butch called after them.

"No honor amongst scumbags, huh?" Bullock commented.

"Sucks when you can't count on friends to have your back, doesn't it?" Bird added as she continued to stare Butch down.

Making his way over to the window, Bullock looked out of the wood slat blinds and announced, "We're way out-manned here, partner."

"You should go." Bird answered back as Jim walked over to see Victor Zsasz standing at the front of a heavily armed group of no less than a dozen people.

"We should go-" Bullock tried to say, but Jim cut him off with a reminder of their oath to serve and protect, "We can't."

Blowing out a breath, Bullock pulled his hat off and looked around the room before reasoning out loud, if nothing else than for his own peace of mind, "Zsasz isn't gonna shoot the place up –not with Bird in here. No, cause Penguin wouldn't be happy about that."

"Butch has to pay for what he's done –and if I have to die alongside him to see it through, then so be it." Bird said in the calmest tone she'd spoken in since arriving at the bar.

"This is crazy." Butch argued with her and both detectives were inclined to agree, though they did so silently.

"I'm not saying what I did was right." Butch added, "But Penguin ain't innocent either."

"None of us are." Bird countered as her eyes traveled down to the gun in her hand.

She wanted to pull that trigger and deal out the punishment she thought he deserved, but she couldn't bring herself to do it.

She'd always liked Butch and he'd always had a soft spot for her. The only reason she no longer held an immense fear of guns and knew how to use them was because of him.

Even through the blurry shades of pain and anger her eyes painted over his face when she looked at him; she couldn't pull the trigger.

"I trusted you." Bird hoarsely said as she blinked back tears.

"I'm sorry." Butch replied, shaking his head and choking down emotion of his own, "I really am."

"I believe you." She nodded with a sad smile upturning a single corner of her mouth, "But you still have to die... I just can't do it myself."

With her admission, she swallowed hard and laid her gun down on the table over to her side where Jim quickly swooped it up out of her reach before she changed her mind.

Walking around table until she was standing on the same side of it as Butch and looked to where Bullock and Jim were standing as she gave them one last warning, "You both need to leave."

"You know we can't do that." Jim said.

"Suit yourself." She shrugged seeming to let go of any care she'd gained for the value of her own or anyone else's lives.

He paused for a moment before issuing an apology, "I should have believed you back at the station. I gave you my word that I'd listen to you and then I didn't. I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry too." She spoke in a tone that was just as sincere as it was empty; the hollowed out voice of a broken soul.

The cellphone in her pocket started to ring and she retrieved it, as she flipped it open to answer the call and put it to her ear –all eyes in the room were on her.

Bullock glanced back out of the window to see Zsasz was also on the phone.
The detective looked back over to the unstable young woman and held his breath waiting to see just what she was going to say.

As crazy as both she and the entire morning had been, there was a part of him that remained fairly positive that she wouldn't instruct Victor to go through with the hit.

If the hitman and his followers opened fire on the building then there was a chance that none of them would make out alive and Bullock didn't exactly trust Bird, but he also couldn't see her dismissing Jim's safety so carelessly when she'd saved his life time and time again.

Bird looked from Butch, over to where Bullock appeared to be on the verge of jumping out of his skin and then over to where Jim looked about as calm as anyone could in such a situation.

She wished that they'd left when she'd given them so many chances to do so; but Jim had a set of personal and professional ethics he lived by –and was choosing to die by.

Her eyes locked with Jim's and she pulled in a deep breath as she listened to Victor ask her what their next move was.

"Light it up." Bird breathed into the phone before she let the cellphone fall from her hands and clatter to the floor –making no attempt to run to safety.

"Get down!" Bullock yelled as he quickly tried to put distance between himself and the glass windowed store front he'd been looking out of.

A shower of bullets hits the bar; peircing the windows and splintering the wood blinds, ripping holes through the walls and exploding the shelves of glasses at the bar.

Bird looked up just in time to see the small gold bell above the doors be shot clear off of it's holder just before she was knocked to the floor.

With a dazed look on her face, Bird watched as Jim scrambled from where they'd landed when he'd knocked her down for her own safety, to flip the table she'd been standing behind up on it's side for added protection from the countless bullets still raining down over the entire room.

"GCPD! DROP YOUR WEAPONS!"
Bullock screamed out as loud as he could from where he'd taken cover behind another table turned up on it's side.

"Are you crazy?" He then frantically yelled in Bird's direction; still in a state of shock that she'd actually followed through and given Zsasz orders to turn the building into Swiss cheese while she was still inside.

Perhaps she was, she thought to herself, maybe after all this time of trying to cling to sanity and fearing for the lives of everyone she cared about... she just couldn't do it anymore.

Theo Galavan had to die –he had to be punished for what he'd done and removed from her brother's life forever and beyond that she was far too spent to care about anything else.

For weeks her stomach had been sick; tied up into knots with a feeling that her time was running out.
That all the sand was nearly out of the hourglass.

In that moment when she'd told Victor to open fire on the building, the mess of tangled knots in her stomach dissolved.

No longer was she overwhelmed with the feeling of floating endlessly in dangerous, murky water –when she told him to light the place up she finally saw an end in sight.

She'd made peace with her own fate.
She didn't have it in her to kill Butch herself, but he had to die and like she'd said earlier if her own life was the price she'd had to pay to see it through –then so be it.

While Jim and Bullock alternated between returning fire and ducking for cover, Bird looked around and realized Butch was gone.
In all of the chaos he'd managed to slip out the back exit.

Bird gave one last glance over to where Jim was stationed before she broke out into a scrambled crawl towards the same back door that Butch had left through mere moments before.

•••