CHAPTER 26: "The Noose Is Tightening..."

*GCPD Major Crimes HQ

Detective Bullock was working on paperwork yet again late in the evening. It seemed more and more of his time was spent working on paperwork and after-action reports than actual investigating.

Christmas and New Year's had been a pleasant experience for Gotham. Possibly some of the events in the past month such as the fall of Penguin, the re-emergence of Carmine Falcone, and most of the hired guns being killed in the fighting had provided a period of peace. Even the psychos had been on the quiet side of things.

Really, the only real downside had happened a little before Christmas with Montoya...

He sighed, 'So young and full of spunk. Would have made a hell of a detective.'

Benjamin Montoya was well-liked amongst the uniforms of the GCPD, he was funny, diligent, competent, and had a bright future in the department. It helped in part that his sister, Rene Montoya, was a detective in Major Crimes. It certainly opened a few doors and gave many a positive impression of the young man, but to his credit, he never used it to elevate him. No, he made it a point to stand on his own two feet.

That had made things tense among the rank and file as the brotherhood of police force howled for blood. For a few weeks, every crook and lowlife had hidden in any nook and cranny they could find to avoid the cops. They wanted blood, and they had yet to be satiated.

It had made things difficult for the higher-ups and especially the Commissioner who had tried to wrangle the men from starting a full-blown mob.

Rene had not made things easier...

She had been working non-stop, cashing in favors, reaching out to every informant for information on the culprit behind the Wayne Industries robbery. It had grown to be a problem as she was constantly bringing suspects, sometimes with no due cause. Other officers would report her working well into the night, only for them to leave and come back to the station to see her still working. Reports of overuse of force had also been leveled against her and the only reason the Internal Affairs hadn't launched an investigation against her was thanks in part to the paperwork Bullock was doing now. He was not sure how much longer he could protect her from her understandable but erratic behavior.

Interrupting his thoughts and paperwork, the door to his office slammed open with Detective Montoya herself barging in.

"Montoya," he greeted dryly and with no amusement.

She walked up to his desk and slammed a piece of paper on it.

"I need support from you to convince Judge Mallary on this warrant."

Folding her arms she looked at him with a demanding demeanor that emphasized the seriousness of what she wanted.

Giving her a tired look, he didn't need to even look at the form to see who this warrant was targeting. She had tried this method in her personal investigation of her brother's death a few times before. Somehow she seemed to think this would be the time that it would work.

Arms leaning on his desk he tried to be patient, "Montoya..."

"No Harvey I don't want to hear it!" She shook her head, "It has been almost a month now with no progress on the case. I told you I should have been handed it from the start but you and Gordon refused me!"

Placing her hands on his desk she leaned forward with a snarl, "I will not stand by while Benny's killer walks around free!"

"The answer is still no Rene," he said softly.

Most who have met Detective Harvey Bullock would be surprised by the restraint and calm he was showing. Several junior officers who were new had given lip to Bullock before only to regret the temper and rage the man would unleash using every descriptive word that would make a sailor blush. The fact was that they had had these arguments over the last few weeks. He had lost his temper a few times with her on this matter and had not budged. Now though, while his resolve had not wavered his fire for this fight had. He was feeling sorrow for his former partner as time went on. He had seen this happen before with other officers, and almost each time it never ended well.

"Look Rene," he spoke carefully, "Maybe you need to take some time off? Spend some extra time with the kids, just until your batteries are recharged and you can jump back into this."

She snorted, "I don't need time off. I need support!"

"You have been offered support Rene but you keep refusing it."

"DO NOT START!" She yelled.

Outside his office, a few heads peeked over their computers to try to catch a glimpse of the growing fight. The door to his office had remained open during this conversation and a few had seen how agitated she was when she entered.

Bullock looked at Montoya with a sad look. Seeing her now her clothes, a casual business outfit was ruffled and slept in. Her eyes were sunken in from lack of sleep, with pupils red from irritation. She honestly had the energy and look of some of the junkies he had cornered in some of his collars. A far cry from the model detective that she once was.

Seeing his look she huffed, "Don't give me pity Harvey, help me!"

Looking back on the warrant he shook his head, "No Rene."

Her reaction was mixed. Anger, disappointment, depression, and so on. She looked as likely to rip his head off as to start crying.

"Fine, don't help, I will deal with this myself." She grabbed her paper and walked out of his office, past the growing whispers and stares of the other officers and detectives.

Watching her go, he grabbed his phone and hit the speed dial on one of his most important contacts.

RING RING RIN..."Hello?"

"Hi Commissioner, Detective Bullock here."

Commissioner Gordon's voice sounded surprised, "Harvey, what is it?"

Clearing his throat he said, "Rene came to my office with another warrant request for Penguin Lounge."

"... Why is she so certain the Lounge has information about the robbery?"

Bullock rubbed his forehead, "She knows Gordon."

The phone was silent for a second, "Damn, we wanted to keep that on the down low."

"What? That the assailant is most likely the Hound? I hate to break it to you Commissioner but most of the detectives put that one together."

Bullock leaned back into his chair, "I don't even know why you want this kept quiet, guy killed a cop."

"Yes," Gordon sounded frustrated, "Yes but talking with the Batman, he wants to bring him in himself, and I agree. Right now the men are ready for an old-fashioned lynching, we can't let this get out of control."

Bullock took out a cigarette and lit it, taking a long drag he remarked, "There is something else you are not telling me, sir."

"Yes, there is something else... I need you to trust me Harvey, myself, and Batman have our reasons for handling the suspect. I know it is not easy, but I just ask you to give us a little more time."

Sighing, Bullock put out his cigarette, "Of course Jim, I know you, I just don't like being kept in the dark."

Gordon sounded relieved, "Thank you, Harvey, I promise to explain when I can."

He paused but then spoke with excitement, "One thing I can let you know is that the Cyber department had a breakthrough with some of Penguin's encrypted files."

Bullock jumped to his feet, "Wait, they actually cracked them?!?"

The files in question were recovered after the Penguin went down. After his arrest several search warrants that lacked just cause suddenly found themselves signed which led to various apartments, businesses, and even the Iceberg Lounge being raided and files taken. Many of the files though were digitized and encrypted with little hope of cracking them.

At least until now.

He could feel the grin from Gordon on the other side of the phone, "It is small but one of the egg heads managed to get access to a file that lists out a payment sheet Penguin made."

Bullock lowered himself back into his chair, "That doesn't sound like much."

"No and truthfully it isn't," Gordon explained, "but what it will allow is us to trace who Penguin made payments to and bring them in for questioning. We have dozens of accounts with potential witnesses we can get to keep him locked up for good."

Realization set in with Bullock. Since the document did not state what services were paid for, a lot of these could just be catering companies. They could not really use it to prosecute the many hired associates of Penguin. But it would give them banking data which they could use to identify a wide swath of those who had stayed under the radar. Everyone on that sheet could be identified, questioned, and investigated. It made hunting all the unknown associates so much easier and would bring to light many hidden figures of the Mob.

"This could work," Bullock muttered.

The two men talked for a little while longer before hanging up. Bullock began turning off his office lights as he prepared to make his way home for the night.

'The noose is tightening on Penguin, we will get him soon,' Bullock thought with glee as he left Major Crimes.

As long as things stayed quiet, they would be able to make some real difference.

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*City Hall, Gotham

'Out here in the fields...'

A hooded figure carrying a small backpack made their way across the grounds of city hall. They walked casually but a close observation would notice their careful avoidance of the street cameras and patrols from the late-night officers.

'I farm for my meals...'

City hall boasted an impressive entrance with tons of grass, trees, and foliage neatly arranged in an ordered manner. With benches and several street lamps lighting it, even at night, it tended to be an active place with joggers, government workers, patrol officers, and couples cuddling on the benches.

'I get my back into my living...'

Walking down the path to the side of the City Hall, the figure looked around. Nodding in satisfaction at not being monitored and avoiding any cameras they shrugged off the backpack and moved closer to the wall of the building.

'I don't need to fight... To prove I'm right...'

Reaching into the bag, they pulled out a grey box that looked similar to a rat catcher. That was in part on purpose for the intention of camouflaging it. Taking the box they put it carefully behind a bush next to the building. It would be concealed from most eyes and those who did see it would assume the maintenance staff put it there for the rodents on the grounds. Sometimes the simplest solution is the right one.

'Sally take my hand... will travel south crossland...'

Standing up, they took out a small cellular device and clicked a few buttons on it. The device gave a quiet beep in confirmation, after which they put it back into their pocket.

'Put out the fire and don't look past my shoulder...'

Looking around to make sure they were not seen the figure twisted his neck to crack it before walking in a calm manner back onto the street and away from the area.

'The exodus is here... the happy ones are here...'

The figure had walked a few blocks away out from the site of City Hall when they came across a strange scene.

'Let's get together before we get much older...'

Two thugs with their pants sagging and too-large shirts were roughing up a woman right on the street. One had what looked like a blade out right next to her neck while another was ruffling into her bag. Despite it being later there were other pedestrians and cars passing by. No one seemed to be willing to help though.

Now only a few yards away they were able to overhear one of the thugs with the knife, "Listen b#&*h let's hurry this up before we decide to take something a little more personal from you."

To emphasize the point he let his knife lower to the private region of the woman. Letting it lightly touch the fabric of her clothes. The woman was both terrified and beginning to cry with the implication.

"I am not finding anything man," the other thug said as he kept dumping stuff out.

"Dammit, this is such shit!" Waving the knife around in front of the lady caused her to flinch.

Seeing that, the thug sneered and leaned in close to her, "You know, maybe we will have to find a way for you to pay us back."

"You are rather pretty, might be worth it just to f&*k yo..."

The knife-wielding thug was unable to finish his sentence as he felt himself being thrown away from the woman out onto the street.

Shocked and looking around for who grabbed him he was not able to think too long as a bus came screeching right into him.

The woman looked wide-eyed at seeing her attacker being thrown into a moving bus by some invisible force. She was so shocked that she did not notice the other thug was holding his throat with gurgling noises coming from it.

While the armed thug met his demise from public transportation his partner, who was also shocked by the sudden attack did not see the knife his partner was using flying from his grip and directly into his throat.

The stabbed thug collapsed to the ground as he held his throat gushing blood. The woman next to him gave a terrified scream and now with both thugs incapacitated the local pedestrians began to surround the woman, both as helpers and spectators.

The hooded figure who had come across this scene never broke their stride as they walked past the bus-crashed thug, the crying woman, and the bleeding-out thug. They continued making their way down the street never looking back on the scene.

'...teenage wasteland...it's only teenage wasteland...'