Paralyzer [Gotham]

19

Victor had gone out to look for supplies while I caught Andy up on all that he'd missed. It was far more than I could explain in one sitting, after all he'd been comatose for four years and for the fifth he'd been completely AWOL. My first ever visit with Falcone gave me some insight on how deeply he'd been interwound in the underworld, but hearing the first hand account was nothing I'd ever pictured for him.

There'd been so much death to take place within the last year alone it was hard to keep track of every name. I'd also been involved with so little, even when I was in the direct path of the current danger I was far out of the loop. My whispers of information, as helpful as they were, rarely held any footing and came few and far between these days. I looked at my watch and frowned as Andrew trailed off, meeting his eyes with a lopsided frown. "What's wrong?"

"Zsasz said he was going to stay in this zone, but he took the big gun, and with the explosion that went off last night I don't have any good feelings," I sighed, looking to where Andromeda played with her toys.

"Do you want me to go out there?" I met Andrew's gaze with a soft but condescending smile.

"Brother mine, all your contacts are dead or hiding in a hole," I chuckled. "I've got better luck if I go out there myself and investigate." He nodded and saw the truth behind my words, following my previous gaze to the infant.

"I can handle Andy 2.0," he informed. "Me and her got this in the bag." I chuckled and leaned forward to kiss his cheek, getting dressed and kneeling beside my daughter so I could kiss her head. I grabbed the gun and the half loaded mag Victor'd left, clicking it into place and tucking it into my waistband as I neard the door. "Luci, one more thing." I turned back and raised a brow, honestly the sooner I was on the ground the better. "What's up with you and the bald dude?"

I sighed and decided to pull on a jacket, pulling my hair out of the collar as I found the right wording. "Twin confidentiality," I instated, waiting for a nod to continue. "He's the father of my kid," I breathed, leaving it as simple as that. He really held no other title. "Thanks for babysitting." I didn't leave him room to respond, quickly making my way to the ground floor and to check the city.

[]

It wasn't hard to find Victor. After some commotion within the GCPD, Penguin apparently decided to put him on trial. The only people I'd heard from were angry refugees from the place that had blown, there was too much bias for me to pin down exactly what was happening outside of the trial at City Hall.

If I thought being a pedestrian in New Jersey rush hour was difficult to stand through, it was nothing like trying to make my way through an angry mob. The best I could manage before anything started was a raised step on the stairs. I watched them drag him out, a confident smile on his lips as he surveyed the room, eyes drifting over me without hesitation.

Jim Gordon was speaking to, I believe, his partner as they came down the steps. When he passed by I put a hand on his elbow, the question must've been blatanly obvious, because it took half a second for him to recognize me before assuring, "He's innocent." My body sagged with relief as I turned back to the front of the room, feeling the eyes of Gordon's partner on me as they continued to speak amongst themselves and push their way through the crowd.

No matter how you looked at it, Victor was not innocent; any shred of innocence left him long before he began working for Falcone. But whatever Oswald was trying him for, he held no part in, and all over again I was set with unease. Once the bird was ready, he limped up to the podium and began banging down a gavel. "Order in the court!" he demanded, drawing silence in the room.

It was quickly followed by, "So, um, will I be appointed a lawyer? I feel like my rights are being violated." All things considered, I couldn't help the chuckle that left me. He shouldn't be so calm, and yet here he was cracking jokes.

The crowd had some discourse over that but Penguin spoke over it, unfazed. "Not you right to remain silent. Bailiff." Whatever humor Zsasz temporarily instilled in me left as the closest guard gagged him with duct tape, growing quickly impatient with worry. Penguin left the podium and approached the makeshift witness stand, just a chair within a wooden baby gate it seemed, but creative none the less. "And where exactly did you see the defendant minutes before the explosion?" he asked, conducting a majority of the trial on his own, it would appear.

"Coming out of the building," the man spoke in monotone. God, that couldn't have sounded more rehearsed than a terribly written play.

"The very building that mere monents later was engulfed in flames that would claim so mamy beloved souls?" With further discourse among the crowd, the witness simply nodded in response. Shaking his head, Penguin checked, "Are there any other witnesses that can back up his claim?" All at once, the entire floor raised their hands, all the angry refugees looking for someone to blame.

Scoffing at the majority, Cobblepot continued. "Captain Gordon would have this court believe that all of you fine citizens are mistaken." I closed my eyes as he riled them up, this wouldn't take any easy paths. "He claims that Mr. Zsasz is not responsible for the bombing." He allowed the clamour to grow a moment before passing off the torch, "Captian Gordon, if you would like to say something, now is the time."

The police captain took his time to gather his rebuttal, trying not to hold my breath. "It wasn't a bomb." The crowd only grew even further disgrunted, repeating the statement as Penguin culled them to shush. "A rocket-propelled grenade, fired from a rooftop," he explained as he came to stand on the court floor. "If Zsasz was on the ground, as your witnesses claimed, he couldn't have done it."

Hearing that should've put me at ease, logically the defense was solid, backed up by Penguin's own witnesses, Victor should've been free. But angry mobs didn't operate on logic, only cold, bloodthirsty thoughts of revenge. "I know you all want justice. So do I. You're angry, you're scared. For months now, you've been hearing me say help is coming. Truth is, we may be on our own. And if that's true, what we do now is more important than ever. This... This is not justice." He held a hand out to Zsasz and surveyed the crowd. "This isn't justice, it's not who we are."

I nodded, taking a deep breath as Penguin spoke quietly to Gordon before adressing the refugees. "Now that the defense has rested, let's put it to the crowd. What say you, jury?" I brought my thumb to my lips and looked over the silent citizens before me, just a short breath before they all errupted in chants of 'guilty.' The guards pulled Zsasz from the chair, showing off their trophy and allowing his gaze to hold mine a short moment before walking him from the room.