Wild ||Edward Nygma|| [2]

Chapter Nineteen || The Court

"Beware the Court of Owls, that watches all the time, ruling Gotham from a shadowed perch, behind granite and lime. They watch you at your hearth, they watch you in your bed, speak not a whispered word of them, or they'll send the Talon for your head."

- Scott Snyder, 'Batman, Vol. I: The court of owls'.

James Gordon was drinking his morning coffee, his head full of thoughts about Gotham's future, Lee Thompkins and the whereabouts of Nathaniel Barnes. A secret group threatened to release a weapon on the city and he struggled to find out what it was. The suicide of his uncle Frank, a man he didn't saw for twenty years, was determinant for him to infiltrate in the group. The problem was since he was a new member he wasn't trusted with all of the group's affairs. A woman named Kathryn Monroe seemed to be the only one who knew what the secret weapon was. Gordon found no clues on the group's chambers so he would go to 450 Clinton Ave in order to search for clues. It was risky, but he didn't have any other choice.

Now Lee was also causing James many headaches. His partner, Harvey Bullock, told him how she wanted to open an investigation to figure out what happened to his uncle Frank. Lee suspected he was somehow involved, but she couldn't know the truth. The secret group he was investigating was very dangerous.

Barnes was a big problem too, but on account of everything that was going on, he was pushed to the back of Gordon's mind. Bullock told him Barnes had been transferred from Arkham Asylum but no one seemed to know where he was taken. Harvey put Alvarez looking for any signs of their former Captain who had been infected by the Alice Tetch virus.

Gordon walked out of his apartment and turned around only to come face to face with the last two people he expected to see.

"Oswald," he breathed out the name almost in a whisper. "Charlotte".

"Hello, Jim," Oswald greeted with a smile. For him, it was quite funny to see the look on people's faces when they figured out he was alive and well.

"Hey," Charlotte said from beside Oswald.

Gordon glanced at Charlotte and then looked back at Oswald. "Guess I shouldn't be surprised you're still alive".

"Yes, I am quite hard to kill," Oswald stated.

A noise from behind Gordon, made the Detective turn around. Firefly was there with her flamethrower in hand. She fired a few flames to the side as a warning sign for Gordon not to try anything.

Gordon looked back at Charlotte and Oswald with a sign. "I take it this isn't a social call".

"Charlotte and I are looking for Ed. We have some unfinished business," Oswald said, "and it turns out you are the last one who saw him".

"Yeah, before he escaped police custody," Gordon lied. The truth was he had handed over Ed to the secret group he had infiltrated into. He didn't want to but it was the only way to prove his loyalty to them.