Once Aaron drove the four remaining Maniax members a safe distance from the scene they parked the car and got out. Isabelle took the police outfits out of the bag and passed them around according to their sizes. They all unstrapped their straitjackets to reveal blue button up shirts. They put on black jackets, black pants, and police caps and walked the rest of the way to the police precinct.
They got to the front of the building and were met by Galavan's men and Barba. At the sight of their arrival she entered the building. Knowing the number by heart Barbra dialed the number. After a moment of ringing she heard Jim's voice.
"Gordon"
"Hello Jim, it's Barbra."
"Hi Barbra, how are you?"
"Oh, me? "I'm fabulous. How are you?"
"I'm good. What's new?"
"Mr Cool Guy, huh?"
"You must be so mad at me."
"Listen to me. If you turn yourself in, I can help you."
She scoffs. "How Jim? By taking me back to Arkham? I don't think so."
"You're sick."
"Of course. Everythings always my fault. So typical."
"Listen to me." Jim says more seriously. "I know you Barbra. I know you. You're a good, kind woman. This isn't you"
This causes her to chuckle derisively "You could always make me laugh." she says then laughs evilly.
Jim could have sworn he could hear the laugh in person and looked over his shoulder to see Barbra inside the building. "How do i look?" she asks with a smile.
Jim hung up the call and followed her out of the building.
Jerome saw a woman with blonde hair and red gloves and knew it was Barbra. That was their cue.
He turns to Isabelle "Ready cupcake?"
"Yep"
He laughs at her obviously fake smile. "Oh come one Belle, this will be the funnest mission yet!" he reassures and takes the lead into the building.
Isabelle wondered if Jerome kept a list of nicknames, or if he just pulled them from thin air.
Galavan's men spread throughout the building, looking for the best advantage points. Greenwood and Isabelle stayed at the back of the room with smoke bombs ready while Jerome continued into the commissioner office.
For fun he put on a thick Jersey accent. "I need to talk to Commissioner Essen right away. It's an emergency."
An officer cluelessly replied "Yeah, go ahead, she's eight upstairs."
He entered her office. "Yo commish"
She looked up from her desk "Yeah?"
Her shock made Jerome smile. She tried to quickly dig a gun from her desk drawer, but Jerome was quicker. He pulled the gun from his holster and Essen froze.
"Heard you were looking for us." he said quietly.
Greenwood and Isabelle activated their smoke bombs and tossed them across the room. The explosion caused Jerome to jump. The eruption of gunfire made Essen squirm, eager to help her fellow officers. Jerome kept a big smile as he held Sarah at gunpoint.
Meanwhile Barbra baited Gordon to an alleyway near the precinct. With Jim gone, killing everything that moved was an easy task.
Once they were sure everyone was dead Jerome instructed Isabelle to tie the commissioner to a chair. She groaned at the newfound power the russian roulette stunt he pulled gave him.
Isabelle finished with the ropes and said "There you go J" putting emphasis on his nickname.
She was still curious with his reaction to the nickname the first time she used it.
"Thank you Cherry Blossom." he smiled.
He had to admit, it was fun to see what type of names would get a reaction out of her. He'd been thinking about using things a couple would use like "Honey" "Sweety". The mix of emotions on her face when he used "Darling" that morning could still make him chuckle.
Jerome moved in front of Sarah. He whistled as he threw his hat to the side. "Hell of a first week you're having commissioner. I wish I could tell you that things are gonna get better for you." he said, taking off his jacket.
Isabelle sat on a desk behind him and copied his actions. Greenwood set up the camera brought by one of Galavans men and pointed it at dead bodies as they weakly begged for help.
"Hey Green, bring that up here. Get a better angle of the room."
Isabelle raised an eyebrow "He gets a nickname too?"
Jerome couldn't place what emotion her tone held so he twisted slightly to see if her expression would do better. It didn't.
"Why? You jealous, gumdrop?"
Yeah, definitely pulls them out of his ass. Isabelle looks away to hide her smile. Jerome saw it anyway which only encouraged him. But before Jerome could continue Essen cut in.
"Why are you doing this?"
"To rule the world. Bla, bla, bla. But we'll settle for some dead cops and some good PR." he breaths a laugh but goes back to his serious expression. "Kidding"
"Yeah, whatever, I get it. You're just crazy."
Jerome tilts his head at the label. "Crazy?" he stalks forward and kneels in front of her. "Look at me" he says darkly, creates an intense eye contact, and gestures to himself. "You can see i'm not crazy."
"Very soon little man, you will be dead." she says just as dark and maintains eye contact. "And the world will go on without you." she continues in a whisper. Jerome lays his head on his fist. "You'll be nothing. No one will even remember your name."
"Mmm... No. That is where you're wrong, old lady." Jerome says and stands up to grab the sides of the chair and lean over her, getting in her face. "We will leave a mark on this city." he got closer to her and she turned away. "We will spread across it like a virus." he whispered. "Do you know why?" Essen turned back to face the ginger with a glare. Jerome prepared to say his punchline but Greenwood beat him to it.
"There's nothing more contagious than laughter." he said with a chuckle.
Jerome looked up from the commissioner to shoot Greenwood twice in the chest. Isabelle's voice went ballistic thanking God, upset she couldn't do it herself, admiring Jerome's boldness, fearing what Galavan might do when he finds out. It sent the usual pain through her body. She groaned and shook her head but ignored the pain, too happy with the cannibal's death.
She stood from the desk to stand over him and noticed the life still in his eyes, so she took one of her throwing knives she had kept in her pocket and plunged it into the bullet wounds and sliced down his stomach with clenched teeth to finish the job. Greenwood let out one final cry in pain before dying.
The display made the commissioner grimace and Jerome smile and laughed darkly. Isabelle let out a breath to compose herself.
"Look at you Issy." Jerome said with an impressed smirk. Jerome turned back to the commissioner. "Now where was I?"
Essen looked back at him, shock now replacing her anger.
"Oh yes. There's nothing more contagious than laughter." he repeats. He started to laugh in her face, but she spit in his. He furrowed his eyebrows and licked his lips. "That was strangely pleasant." he smiled and leaned in. "Do it again." She headbutted him this time. He grunted in pain and threw his head back.
Isabelle looked up at the bloody mess she made to see Jerome's bleeding nose. She suspected it was broken too. Great. A dead body and a broken nose to explain to Theo. But still, she smiled. He deserved a broken nose, and then some. Isabelle stood up from the pool of blood that came from Greenwood and wiped her hands on her pants.
"That's gonna leave a mark." Essen declared, proud of the pain she had caused Jerome.
He came back forward and was laughing maniacally. "You got me." he admitted with blood dripping down his pale face. "My turn." he said darkly and laughed even darker. He grabbed his gun and pushed it against her stomach, as if to taunt her. "Goodbye commissioner" he growled and pulled the trigger.
He turned around and pointed to the camera Greenwood dropped when he shot him. "Hand me that would ya?" he asked Isabelle casualty, as if he didn't just murder Gotham's commissioner.
"Hurry, I'll go get a car started." she said and handed him the heavy piece of technology.
After a few minutes of waiting Isabelle heard police sirens. Jerome came running out the back door of the precinct. Isabelle honked the car's horn to let him know what car she had hot wired. He joined her smiling like an idiot.
After four blocks of laughing he sighed and put his feet on the dashboard. "What did the cop say at the commissioner's funeral?" he asked.
"Huh?" Isabelle asked, confused at the random question.
"What did the cop say at the commissioner's funeral?" Jerome repeated slower.
"What?" she asked, realizing it's a joke.
"Nothing." he said, laughing at his own joke.
It took Isabelle a second, but once she realized both the cops and the commissioner were dead, she smiled. "Your jokes are as bad as your personal space issues."
Jerome gasped dramatically and put his hand to his chest. "I don't have personal space issues."
"Really? I dare you to go the rest of the day without touching me." she challenged.
"You're on," he said and crossed his arms in his lap.
__________________
Jim ears were ringing from the intense beating Aaron just gave him. The blood on his face had mostly dried. He cursed himself for being manipulated by Barbra. And he cursed Barbra for stooping so low. He groaned and slowly sat up. He leaned behind him to grab his gun and hurried back to the GCPD as best his aching body could.
When he walked in his heart dropped. He could see the dead cops everywhere, he could see Nigma was injured and Ms Kringle was shaking, and he could see Lee checking the twitching officer's pulses.
"Lee!" he called.
She turned to see him and rushed up to him "Jim!"
"You hurt?" he asked.
"No, I was in my office and I heard gunfire, and I hid." She raised a hand to his battered face. "Where were you?"
"Barbra was here. She lured me away." he explained, ashamed he let this happen. He looked up to the commissioner office. "Essen!" he called.
As he ran up the stairs leading to the office he heard an officer say "It's okay. Just breathe. Breathe Come on, it's okay." This told Jim it wasn't okay, and something was very, very wrong.
He moved the officer out of the way to reveal the commissioner on her back with a bullet wound in her side. Lee checked her pulse and felt it was slower than it should be. The look she gave Jim let him know.
He shook his head slightly and kneeled next to her. "Hang on Cap. Hang on." he tried to sooth. She continued to gasp. "Boss. Boss. Stay with me." She looked at him. "Breathe" he said quietly.
She took a deep breath in and out. "It's a new day, Jim." and weakly smiled. Her gasping stopped and her body went limp.