Calling Cardinal

Bombs Away

"He's not going to listen to me."

"And you think he's any more inclined to hear me out?"

"I'm still playing my part with Barbara," I say. "Besides, you can threaten him. I can't."

"Fine, fine. I hear you," Oswald buttons up his suit jacket. "Maybe it should be me to deliver the news of our engagement."

I zip up my boots. "Are you sure about that? He can definitely kill you. He can't kill me."

"Perhaps we should wait until things with The Court cool down. Such exciting news might cause him to react poorly in such a time," he corrects himself.

"Good thinking."

"I trust you'll be at the ready, should I need you. With Ed missing, we have to assume it was The Court's doing. After all, it was the idiot who broadcasted their existence to all of Gotham."

"And it's not below Jim to hand him over. I don't know how far he'd go for these people, anymore. I'll keep working my way up the ladder with Barbara, and yes, I will be a phone call away."

"I'll leave Katherine alive for you," he says, planting a kiss on my cheek. "I love you."

"I love you, too."

"Stay safe, today. The Court could very well be coming after you, again."

"I wish they would."

We part ways at the driveway. I go alone to The Black Canary, while he stops by the precinct to see my brother. I'll have to talk to him sooner or later. Perhaps I should bite the bullet before it fires.

I continue preparations at the club as usual. Butch stops in with lunch to check on progress. Other than that, all is quiet on the Western front until an old ghost rolls into town.

I hear her before I see her. Her heels clomp on the marble floor. She brings in two bodyguards behind her. The club suddenly smells of lilacs.

"My, I simply adore what you've done with the place."

"Fish Mooney," I greet her, turning on my heels. "Why thank you. Though, I do miss the red and gold, sometimes. Perhaps it's my own nostalgia getting the better of me." I clean a glass and pour my best red wine for the former owner.

"Time is the most inevitable form of change, darling." She pulls the glass to her lips. "Everything has its time, and it was time for Fish's to go."

"Then what are you doing back here? I thought you got out of Gotham with Hugo Strange."

She sighs. "Not quite. The little punk escaped me with the help of some mysterious Court of Owls."

"It seems we have a common enemy," I say.

"Yes, so I heard." Fish spares a knowing smile. "That's why I came to you, actually. A little bird told me you were after them as well. Let me help you get them. I want back in the game."

"Getting backstabbed by Fish Mooney is not on my to-do list, sorry."

"Smart girl. Look, I understand we don't know each other that well, but I do understand what kind of pull you have with the real king around here. Getting in good with you also means getting in good with your fiance."

I throw a hand up to the air. "He's dead. Ed shot him and threw his body into the Gotham Bay a month ago."

She raises a finger. "Tsk. Tsk. We both know people rarely stay dead in this town. Come, now. Let's be honest with each other."

"Fine. I hope you came here with something."

"Oh, I did. There's a charity ball for the daughters of Gotham. All the lady socialites and their daughters are gathering for tea and cookies this afternoon at the First Gotham Bank. If your Court was going to show their faces today, that's where they'd do it."