""I was not a lovable child, and I'd grown into a deeply unlovable adult. Draw a picture of my soul, and it'd be a scribble with fangs." - Gillian Flynn, Dark Places
•••
Bullock's office was silent as he, Jim and Lucius watched the security video footage play over again for the third time.
"I don't understand." Jim breathed out. Arms crossed over his chest as he stared at the black and white footage.
The picture was grainy with horizontal lines running through the image on the screen; but still clear enough for them to see what happened.
Picking the remote up from the edge of the acting captain's desk, Jim pressed rewind and stepped closer to the TV Lucius had wheeled into the office to show the them footage.
"Right there-" Jim spoke aloud, but he wasn't talking to anyone in the room, "Something happened right there..."
Bullock and Lucius watched the pixels on the screen in the image of Jerome removing the handcuffs from Bird.
They could see him hand her something in a bag, they assumed was his severed face, and then Bird walked over and got into the van with Jerome and Dwight.
Jim started to rewind the footage again but Bullock stopped him, "Sorry buddy, it doesn't matter how many times you watch the movie -the ending isn't going to change."
Dropping the remote back to the desk, Jim let out a sigh.
Like every bit of air had been squeezed from his lungs. Frame shrinking down by at least an inch.
It didn't make sense.
According to Lee, Jerome had taken Bird hostage at gun point.
He'd kept a weapon on her up to the very moment he'd released the cuffs.
Why?
Why would she willingly walk away with him?
Jim closed his eyes, massaged his forehead with his index and middle fingers.
It felt like his skull could crack open at any moment.
Scalding lava behind bone ready to seep out.
"I don't like it either." Bullock sympathized, "But we need to face the facts here. Bird's gone to the dark side."
When Jim shot him a look intense enough it could have turned him to ash, Bullock held his arms out to the sides, "Hey, I said I don't like it either."
"We don't have the facts." Jim argued, pointing towards the TV, "We have no idea what happened there."
"I'm just saying. He was unarmed... if she wanted to, she could have taken him." Bullock reasoned.
"That may be..." Lucius cautiously said, "But it does seem very premature to assume she left with Jerome entirely of her own free will."
Jim nodded in agreement and Bullock bit down on the inside of his cheek.
He'd known Bird for years and his opinion of her had changed hundreds of times over that stretch of time.
He'd seen her as a victim and a criminal. Broken -and other times ruthless.
Her actions were almost always self-serving, but to a few her loyalty was absolute and she'd lay her life down for them without a second thought.
There were times he'd viewed her as... not necessarily a friend, but an ally.
Stranger even, were the times he'd felt protective over her.
And he hadn't forgotten she'd been his savior in a few life or death situations.
But he couldn't let that cloud his judgement, not when he was acting captain and had an entire police force he was in charge of keeping safe.
The one thing there was no doubt about was that Bird was lethal.
YOU ARE READING
Devil's Playground • Gotham Fanfiction •
Fanfiction"Sometimes you have to just sit back and watch people destroy themselves." Bird's own words after watching her biological mother die. Little did she know that apparently it was something she'd inherited. Maybe that's just part of the madness of life...
