The Flightless

Joining the Team

I grab onto Jim's trenchcoat. "You have to arrest her!"

"What? Sera, what's going on?" He pulls my hands from his clothes and wraps a calming embrace around my shoulders. "What do you mean?"

Lee also comes to the door, but I can't afford to pay her any attention.

I frantically weep in the arms of my brother. "She's got her, Jim. Waller kidnapped Dinah! We have to go! We have to—"

"What?" Lee gasps. "How do you know?"

"I left her with the nanny and then Deadshot came to my club. He's— he's on Waller's team. I couldn't see Dinah's vitals and when I went home, someone had broken into my house. They— they kidnapped my daughter! I know it was her!"

My brother throws on a scarf. "Let's go. She has two warehouses that we know of. I'll take the facility on Gotham's lower end. You take the one in the Narrows." He quickly jots down the address on a slip of paper. "Be careful, Sera. This is a power move. She's trying to draw you out."

I run through Gotham's wintery night. I stop short of the facility to dial a phone number.

"Harleen!"

"Sera? Is everything okay?"

"Where are you?"

She whispers into the phone. "I just— I had to stay at school to study. Is everything okay?"

"No," I cry. "Agent Waller kidnapped Dinah. Kent went with them to make sure she stayed safe. Don't go back to the mansion. I'm hunting them down, now. Don't come looking for me. Find my brother."

The second call I make is to Blackgate Penitentiary. My heart cracks in my chest. "I'll accept the charges. Put me through to Oswald Cobblepot. It's an emergency. His daughter has been abducted."

It takes the guard a second to rouse Oswald, but my husband finally answers the phone. He sounds tired. He must've been sleeping. How can I deliver the news? A string of sobs rises in my throat.

"Sera? Is— is everything okay?"

"She took her. Our daughter is missing."

He's silent.

"This is what you were warning against. I should've listened to you. I'm so sorry, Oswald."

"No, this is only the beginning. This is only the start of the nightmare. I'm so, so sorry, Sera. I wish I could save you from this fate. I would do anything to take this from you." He's too heartbroken to lament with me. I know the pain in his voice. This is what he sounded like when I died in his arms.

What could possibly be waiting for me?

"I'll come to see you," I choke out, "when this is all over."

Oswald sighs through the speaker. "Until we meet again, I will be eagerly awaiting your return, Dr. Gordon."

I hang up and break down the door with a swift kick to the lock. All is dim throughout the facility. Though it appears like a normal warehouse on the outside, the inside is some kind of in-depth government office space.

I find no ounce of life in the office. Maybe this isn't the place Waller is at. Maybe I missed them. Maybe Jim has my daughter safely in his care.

All the lights switch on. A sharp pain registers in my neck. I remove the tranquilizer as the drugs seep into my bloodstream.

My knees collide hard with a metal floor.

"What've you—"

"Restrain her," a man instructs the guards to his side. "Get them tight."