The One-Seven

Chapter 13: Starting Over

It had been a hectic few weeks. The attack on Gotham, and the entire planet, had been bad. Over four hundred dead, and nearly two thousand wounded, and that was just in Gotham. It was the single largest, organized villain attack in the city's history. But Gotham was rebuilding. Percy had a lot to say about his new home, but he couldn't say that they weren't durable. As soon as the morning after the attacks, construction crews were already hard at work rebuilding the destroyed portions of the city. It certainly helped that Bruce Wayne had pledged nearly unlimited funds in the efforts to restore the city. But Wayne wasn't alone in doing his part.

Percy and Montoya had been working nearly around the clock. Whether an intentional target, or simply an unfortunate accident, Blackgate's walls had been breached by the attack, and nearly two hundred inmates had been released into the city. Percy and Montoya had been spending their days pounding pavement, tracking down the fugitives, and returning them to their iron home. Thankfully, they hadn't been working alone. The FBI had pledged nearly a hundred of its agents to assist in the recovery. Normally Percy wouldn't have been pleased to be working with Feds, but with the Department being so low on manpower, he wasn't about to deny help when it came. With the help of the Bureau and their nearly unlimited resources, they had managed to find nearly two-thirds of the escaped convicts.

Percy pushed open the door of his car, and climbed out. Striding around the back of the car, he popped the trunk, and pulled out a pair of worn-out sneakers. Propping himself up on the back of his car, he began switching out his shoes.

"Really, Metro, wardrobe change?" Montoya asked as she lingered by his side, lounging against the side of the car.

"Don't mock, Monty," Percy shot back, "The last four guys all ran, and I'm not ruining my shoes again. I'm already on my third pair, and shoes are too expensive. Besides," He stood up, and gave a meaningful look at the shoes on Montoya's feet. She had showed up to work that morning, not in her normal dress shoes, but in a pair of all black athletic shoes, "Don't be calling the kettle names when you're the pot,"

Montoya rolled her eyes, and Percy closed the trunk. He walked back to the driver side, and opened the door. Reaching in, he retrieved a radio, and attached it to the belt on his hip. When cornering escapees, he had found it handy to have radios on hand just in case he and Montoya became separated. With his tasks done, he gestured at Montoya and the pair took off at a brisk walk. They were in The Cauldron, an industrial district on the Bleake Island Borough. They'd gotten a tip off from one of their FBI groupies, that two of their escaped prisoners were using an old warehouse at the far pier as something of a hideaway.

"So how much you want to bet we're about to walk into an utter shit show?" Percy asked, as he took out his sidearm, and checked the slide to make sure there was a round chambered. Then he ejected the magazine and made sure that the magazine was full. Slamming the magazine back into place, Percy re-holstered his weapon, and reached behind him to repeat the process with his personal sidearm, holstered on his back hip.

"I don't take sucker's bets Metro," Montoya said, as she began checking her own weapon. They approached the warehouse, softly, Montoya tested the door handle. To no one's surprise, it was locked, Percy gestured for her to step aside, and he pulled out a set of lockpicks.

"Pretty sure those aren't standard issue," Montoya said,

"Leftovers from my Teams days," Percy commented as he began feeling around for the locking mechanism, "Surprised you aren't giving me shit about this."

"Give you shit about what?" Montoya asked, as the lock clicked and Percy pushed open the door, "All I saw was you open the door."

She pulled her weapon free and stepped inside, with Percy following suit. Inside was an unlit hallway, reaching out with his senses, Percy could feel the water in the bodies of two individuals in a room halfway down the hall. Taking lead, Percy crept down the hall, taking care to make sure each step was soft, and unnoticeable. They stopped at the door, and Percy placed an ear to the door, he could hear the sound of a television on in the other room, and the muffled sound of men talking to one another. He stepped away from the door, and exchanged a glance with Montoya, before eying the hall. She gestured with her head and Percy nodded his assent. Checking the end of the hall, Percy saw that there was a second door around the corner of the hall.