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Boiling Point: The The
"Hey. How are you guys doing?" Lee walks over to me and Jim.
"Been better." Jim takes off his jacket.
"You seen Harvey?" I fix my hood over my head.
"No." Lee replies.
"Any word on Barbara?" Mom heads over.
"They haven't found her body yet, so there's a chance she's still alive." Jim tells her.
"When's the last time you slept?" She cups both sides of my face.
"I'm fine." I hold her wrists before sitting down.
"Last time you ate?"
"I'm fine." I pull out the file.
"I know better than to try to get you to sleep, but you really should eat something, honey."
"The both of you." Lee sets a bag beside me.
"I'm not hungry." I move the bag over.
"Brianna, it's not your fault." Mom grabs my arm and I bite the inside of my cheek before getting up.
"I did this. I pressed Loeb, he sent the Ogre after me, and I didn't stop." I inquire.
"It's not your fault." Jim tells me.
"Yes, it is. I did the press conference."
"We did that together."
"But I spoke. He wanted me, not you. It was bad enough I knowingly put you in danger. I didn't even think of Barbara."
"You were doing your job." Lee says.
"But we should've known." Jim nods.
"How?" Mom questions. "Y-You weren't together. Do you blame yourself for falling out of love?"
"Maya, it's my responsibility. There's nothing you can say that changes that. Whatever happens to Barbara, it's on me."
"I understand."
"Mom, please, just stay here with Lee until we catch the guy." I whisper.
"Kid! Jimbo!" Harvey slurs out. "Meet Jake the JV pimp. He's been bragging on the streets that he knows who the Ogre is."
"I keep telling you, man, you been lied to. I don't know nothing." Jake deadpans.
"Yeah? We'll see about that." He drags Jake away before me and Jim follow.
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"Nope. Never seen him before." Jake pushes the sketch forward.
"We think this is a serial killer called the Ogre." I hold it up to him. "He's kidnapped a woman, and he's gonna kill her unless we find him first."
"Bummer."
"Just so you understand, the lady in question is a real good friend of ours." Harvey informs.
"Supposing, for the sake of argument, I did see him before. What's she worth?" Jake asks.
"What's she worth?" Jim questions.
"Yeah, you know, if you had to assign a dollar amount."
"Brianna, Harvey, I'm about to violate departmental policy on interrogation techniques."
"Think I saw some donuts outside with our name all over them." Harvey starts to leave and I follow him out. "You okay, kid?"
"Fine." I nod as we tune out Jake's pleas.
"So how you liking the move?"
"It's fine."
"You tell Clark?"
"I was waiting for that." I scoff before leaning against the wall.
"So I take it you didn't tell him." Harvey inquires.
"I'm only a three hour flight away, there's no need to me melodramatic about it."
"Jake worked as a barman at a brothel called the Foxglove." Jim heads over to us. "Said the Ogre was a regular. Can't give us a location."
"Yeah, cause they never use the same place twice." Harvey tells him.
"What, you know it?" I furrow my eyebrows.
"Not personally. The Foxglove is very high-class, very extreme. You gotta know someone who knows someone."
"Uh, we might know someone." Jim puts on his jacket and I nod.
"Oh. You talking Penguin?" Harvey guesses.
"Yeah." I nod.
"If you get any deeper with that clown, he will own you."
"We don't have a choice—the Ogre has Barbara." I start to walk with Jim.
"Let me shake a few trees. Take the time, grab some z's. You guys are burnt!"
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"Brianna. Jim. So lovely to see you. To what do I owe this wonderful surprise?" Oswald grins as we walk over to him.
"We need to know where the Foxglove is." I nod.
"And we need an invitation." Jim adds.
"Well, someone's in a mood." Oswald comments.
"Can you help us out? Yes or no."
"Jim, I do so love our give-and-take relationship. But it's starting to feel a bit one-sided."
"Fine. I'll owe you a favor." I inquire.
"You saved my life back at the house, you don't owe me anything, Brianna." Oswald shakes his head.
"Fine. I'll owe you a favor." Jim says.
"You already do."
"Then I'll owe you another."
"Cards on the table. The Foxglove makes a lot of money for some important f—" Oswald is cut off as Jim yanks him up from the chair.
"Jim!" I shout and Butch gets up before Jim points his gun at him.
"You think you know who I am. What I'm capable of.
You have no idea." Jim rasps out.
"Today is an important day for me...so I will accommodate your request. But, Detective, mark my words. You owe me a big favor." Oswald nods and Jim scoffs.
"Jim." I place my hand on Jim's arm and pull him off of Oswald.
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"The Foxglove is in the old Klondike Building on Mayflower." I inform as we walk over to our desks.
"You guys score a ticket?" Harvey questions.
"Yep. But only one. We figure you go in, pose as a john, find something to bust them on, then we squeeze them till they talk." Jim places the ticket down.
"Smart move sending me, hmm? You couldn't look more like a cop if you wore a blue uniform. The both of you." He grabs his jacket and stands up.
"You got something to wear?" I sit down with Jim.
"You, uh, are gonna need to fit in." Jim adds.
"Don't worry. Alvarez busted some guys smuggling Italian suits last week, and a couple fell in my locker on their way to the evidence room." Harvey laughs before walking away.
"I'm gonna call Bruce, let him know what's going on so he doesn't worry." I take out my phone.
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"You run this place?" Jim asks a dark skinned woman as we enter the club.
"We're looking for this man." I hold up the sketch of Jason.
"Arrest me if you want to. I don't talk about my clients." The dark skinned woman says.
"One call to the Gazette, they'll send a reporter down here. We'll perp-walk each and every one of your clients in front of the cameras. How's that sound?" I raise my eyebrows.
"Talk to Sally." She turns her head and we head over blonde girl in a mask.
"Sally?"
"Yes." She turns to us.
"Brianna Brady." I hold out my hand. "This is my partner, Detective Jim Gordon."
"Hi." Sally shakes my hand.
"We heard that you know this man." I hand her the sketch.
"I do." She thickly swallows.
"You sure?" Jim questions.
"I'm sure." She hands me the sketch and pulls off her mask to reveal the scar around her eye. "He said his name was Jason. He was sweet. As soon as I got into his car, he pulled a hood over my head and tied my wrists. He took me back to his apartment. That's where he did this. I don't know why he let me go."
"When was this?" I rasp out.
"Almost nine years ago."
"About a year before the first murder. He was working his way up."
"Why didn't you go to the police?" Jim wonders.
"I did. I was a hooker—he was a rich man with no name." Sally inquires.
"Anything else you can tell us? Anything about his apartment? The smallest detail might help." I nod.
"The elevator opened right into the apartment. You can see out into the city. We were in midtown. And there was a big neon sign on the building across the street. I could only read the last four letters. O-Y-A-L."
"O-Y-A-L. Hmm. Loyal, royal..." Jim trails off.
"Royal." Harvey walks over. "Gotham Royal Hotel."
"That's in midtown. 10th and Gainsly."
"Thank you, Sally." I nod.
"Promise me, when you find him, don't arrest him." Sally grabs my shoulders. "Kill him."
"I promise." I take out some money before placing it in her hand. "You can stay at the GCPD station. My mom is there too. Her name is Maya. Stay warm until then." I pat her shoulder before leaving with Jim and Harvey.
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"Kid? Jim?" Harvey calls out as we search the place.
"Yeah?" I answer.
"Place is empty. But there's something you should see."
"What?" I head over with Jim and we follow Harvey into a room of tools and other devices.
"You see anything that connects to Barbara?" Harvey asks. "Maybe she was never here."
"No, she was here. I can still smell her perfume." Jim inquires.
"Hey, we're gonna find this guy, but you need to prepare yourself...that we might not be in time to save her. The both of you."
"That is not an option." I clench my jaw.
"It's the most likely option." Harvey tells me before the phone rings and I answer it.
"You got a lot of nerve calling me again." I put the phone on speaker.
"Brianna, I assume you are the one who triggered the alarm." Jason says.
"You son of a bitch. Where's Barbara?" Jim seethes.
"With me, of course."
"If you've hurt her-"
"She's as safe as milk. Safer than she ever was when she was with you."
"What the hell does that mean?"
"She doesn't need your protection, Jim. Fact is, she never did. I'll see you around, Brianna." Jason hangs up.
"Wait!" Jim exclaims.
"He was driving." I realize.
"To Tahiti if he's smart." Harvey deadpans.
"Yeah, there was a noise, right? A thumping, like he was going over a bridge."
"You know, I heard, uh, a horn, like a train horn."
"Okay, so, which bridge has a train?" Jim questions.
"Um...damn. Um...Whitecross, but that's the upstate train." Harvey says.
"Upstate. It's where her parents live."
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"I'll go with Harvey." I whisper to Jim before me and Harvey part ways with him.
"Brianna." Jim whispers back.
"I got her, don't worry." Harvey tells him.
"I don't need protection. Go." I tell Jim and I raise my eyebrows before continuing to walk with my gun raised.
Harvey catches up with me and I tighten my hands around my gun as I look around. I nod my head to the side at Harvey before stepping into another room. I look around for any sight of Jason. I then whip my head around at the sound of a grunt. I rush out of the room and stop before I see Harvey at the bottom of the stairs.
"Harvey!" I run down the stairs and he groans before waking up. "Harvey!"
"Kid." Harvey groans.
"C'mon, he's after Jim, we gotta help him." I help Harvey up and lead him back up the stairs. "Jim!" I whisper as I start running and I then stop to see the back of Jason's head as he holds Barbara. "Jason." I raise my gun and Jason turns to me before I put a bullet in his head, making him let go of Barbara.
"Barbara? Barbara?" Jim kneels down to Barbra and I join in.
"Barbara? Hey."
"He's dead?" Barbara pants.
"Yeah. He's dead." I nod. "It's gonna be okay."
"Look at me. Barbara?" Jim places a napkin against Barbara's cut neck. "It's gonna be okay."
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"Congratulations. You're a hero." Lee smiles as the officers clap for me.
"Yeah, it won't last." I tell her before hugging my mom and she kisses my forehead. "Tomorrow, they'll go back to hating me."
"Well, then I'll remind them." Mom grins before kissing Jim, then hugging him.
"Yesterday, you were trying to help. I couldn't hear it. I'm sorry." Jim tells her.
"I would never try to change you, Jim. Your sense of mission...it's part of what I love about you."
"I thought it was my devastating good looks. That's a joke." He inquires and she laughs.
"I was scared. Scared that Barbara would get hurt and you would blame yourself for protecting me first, and then whatever we had would die. It wasn't heroic. It was selfish."
"Maya, I love you. Not her. If I had to do it again, I'd still protect you first. The both of you." Jim looks at me.
"What did you do?" Lee questions.
"Uh, grabbed a...knife by the blade." Jim holds up his bandages hand.
"Of course you did." Mom scoffs.
"Let me see." Lee says.
"Go, I'm gonna head to Bruce's." I tell mom and I pat Jim's shoulder before walking past down the steps.
"Everybody listen up!" Captain shouts and I stop before turning my head. "Just got wind of three separate attacks on Falcone businesses in different parts of town. Word is it's Maroni. As of right now, all leaves are canceled, and all units are called in for active duty. We're in a shooting war, people." She looks at me and I clench my jaw before sharing a look with Jim.
Game on, motherfucker.
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AUTHOR'S NOTE
🪐🌙✨🚀🌌☄️
this is now war
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