#Gordon's here I guess but not enough to Warrant tagging him

[halflifebutawesome]

I had brand new city by mitski on loop for an hour

[vegetacide]

TaG: Bloodlines (Part 11)

Veg • notables: Still kicking...

As always TY @gumnut-logic and @scribbles97  cause they put up me invading their PM’s

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Rating and General warning: Mature content head. If you are not a fan of medical issues of a female nature in relation to pregnancy please proceed with caution.

Characters: Virgil/Kayo.

E N J O Y

8-8-8

Part 11 - Pengalihan

Thunderbird Two banked around the crest of a hill to come across a scene of complete madness.  The red and blue lights of emergency vehicles flashed all around, people were scattered about in unorganized chaos and a couple of GDF troop carriers had just arrived and were off loading personnel and equipment.  In the middle of it all sat Thunderbird One, her long streamline haul gleaming in the bright utility lightings that were being used to light up the mining sites service area.  She was  cordoned off and guarded  by a row of black and whites that were doing their best to keep the gawkers back and out of the way.

Hitting the comms, Virgil brought Two to a hover some hundred meters up the rise. VTOLs blasting the hill side and flattening what little vegetation still remained among the scree and debris that had been dumped along the embankment.

“Thunderbird Two to Scott. On site,  you got a place for me to set down.”

“I see you Thunderbird Two and I’m working on it. Veer left ninety degrees.  Once those dozers have vacated you should have enough room to set down and plenty of room to work.”

Virgil looked to his left and watched several hard hats racing towards a group of parked dozers in a back lot just behind what looked like a collection of construction trailers. From his vantage point he could make out a clear line of sight to the mine shaft so getting pods to where they need to be wouldn’t be a problem.

“F.A.B,”  He adjusted Two’s altitude to kill some of the turbulence rushing down the hillside and kicking up dust down below.

“Wow, it’s a mess down there.” Gordon said from his copilot seat,  his nose almost plastered to the right view port.  “Who’s in charge of this mess?”

“No idea,  it’s a collaboration of a couple big construction firms last I heard. No wonder Scott is having a hard time of it.”

The chair next to him swiveled in his direction and Gordon pointed a thumb back over his shoulder. “You don’t seem all that surprised by this.”

He shrugged,  his eyes scanning over his controls and keeping an eye on the progress of the dozers below.  “Been keeping tabs on the progress on a few engineering sites. This project has had a lot of set back in recent months.  The other construction firm was brought in ahead of schedule in hopes that it would speed things up. .  Stupid idea if you ask me,  they were no where near ready for the extra crew.  No way they could keep proper safety measures in place with these extra bodies in play.”

One of the many downfalls to projects of this nature. The money behind it all wanted results and their quarterly statement to be in the black. There were a lot of funds riding on the transcontinental transport tunnel that was going to bridge the gap between the Western tip of Russia through the Diomed Island chain and across to the Eastern end of the Alaskan land bridge.

It was a daring venture to say least.  The Bering strait was rough on the best of days,  trying to construct a tunnel system some fifty odd meters down in a sedimentary trench deep enough to hit bedrock was anything but easy.   An engineering feat of epic and mind blowing proportions.  If they could accomplish it,  the implications on commerce would be huge and add a whole new avenue for transporting goods from one end of the world to the other.

Top that with the latest in maglev rail systems and it would revolutionize the shipping industry.  Run with robotics and minimal manpower in transit,  low impact on the ecosystem once fully implemented and someone was going to be sitting pretty on a pile of cash.  That was of course if they could get it built.

One delay after another had plagued the project from the get go. From faulty equipment,  personnel issues and bad timing with the weather.  Now it seemed something had failed in a big way and from what little information John had been able to provide on route, there may or may not be upwards of forty six workers trapped down the this access shaft.

Securing Two, Virgil swung about and signaled to Gordon to follow.  Passing through the bulkhead they made their way to the pod bay, Two starting to rise up on her struts as soon as they had cleared the reinforced doors.  The hull beneath his feet rumbled as she trundled upwards but he paid it little attention,  pod assembly first and foremost on his mind.

“Grab a medkits and blankets and a couple backer boards,  we have no idea what we are heading into.”

‘Got ya,” Gordon nodded, already heading to the supply area at the back of the bay.  “Think John or Scott have any new info yet.”

Distracted by the controls in front of him, Virgil shrugged non-committedly. “Your guess is as good as mine.  Comms down the shaft seem to be fried and John was having a tough time getting thermal readings. Too many metallurgical components in the surrounding sediment are throwing his readings off.  We’ll have to take our own scans while we are down there."

“You think that will work?”  Gordon’s voice carried back through the bay.

The heavy assembly system kicked into life.  Not knowing what they were walking into, he decided against the track system and went right for the bifurcated spider legs and traction gear.  He just hoped that that tunnel wasn’t flooded, thought the pods could easily handle it.

He eyed his exo-suit a moment and with the easy brush of a finger on the console it unlocked from its loading bay.  Another quick flick and it was loaded up on the back of the pod.  Better to have it and not need it.

Task completed, he turned to give Gordon a hand with the gear.  “Ya,  it should as long as the tunnel hasn’t been too compromised and isn’t flooded we shouldn't have an issue.”

Gear stowed away, they climbed aboard the pod and without further adieu the heavy blast door of the pod compartment rolled up and out of the way.

The scene outside hadn’t changed much in the few moments it had taken them gear up and unload.  People were still scattered about but now the GDF was corralling them into groups further back from the shaft entrance.  Several bulky shapes of GDF flyers were circling above, kicking up loose debris as they chased off news droids that had invaded the DZ airspace.

Thumbing his comms, Virgil signaled to Scott and his figure appeared out the mess of suited and uniformed people crowded near One.

He didn’t look pleased to say the least, the crease between his eyes evident even from a distance.  His long legs ate up the distance, the GDF that appeared behind him forming a blockade to keep the riff raff at bay.

Virgil popped the canopy,   the plexi-shielding swinging up.  He squinted and grabbed his helmet as the one of the flyers came close, its Vtol downdraft warm and swirling up dust.

“Scott,”  He nodded with a grunt as he swung down out of the pod,  his heavy soled boots thumping.  “We got a sit-rep yet?  John was surprisingly vague.”

“Not intentionally.”  John’s voice crackled through the comms in his ear.  Virgil wasn’t surprised his brother had been listening in and his early words hadn’t been meant as a slight though he knew John wouldn’t take it that way.

“For a construction project this big you would think they would be more organized..” Scott huffed skidding to a halt, his eyes doing a quick scan over the gear that was assembled. “We’re getting contradicting accounts of what happened.   Some say there was a section collapse.  Others, an explosion of unknown origin.  I’ve taken some preliminary scans but the results are inconclusive.  All I know is there is a pocket down there about hundred and fifty feet down the shaft that’s blocked off.”

“Signs of life?”

Bringing up the scan details on his wrist comm, Scott pointed out the area in questions. “Audio’s picked up tapping.  Standard Morse Code but it stopped about twenty minutes ago.”

That wasn’t a good sign. “Number of missing still the same?”

“I’m waiting for confirmation.  More came up the shaft after the initial count.  Visibility is poor down there so we’ve had some stragglers.”

“Take the pod down, check the integrity and see if you can get further signs of life. I’m going to try and get the story up here and a firm headcount.  I’ll also relay info up to John. Comms in the mine are sketchy at best so line of sight is required.” 

“F.A.B.”

Eyes track the movement of the spider legged pod as it crossed the compound.  The machine was a wonder and from what he could see from his vantage point the interior of the pod bay it had departed from was no different.

The technology was revolutionary in innovation and design. International Rescue reputation was well warranted in that regard and he could see why his employer would be so obsessed with them though he knew there was an underlying darkness to the obsession.  He’d seen it himself a time or two.  Disposing of the remnants of whomever it was that crossed his path.

It was a thankless job but he was paid well for his efforts and his well financed employer never skimped.

Slipping between two of the many supply shipping containers that dotted one side of the service area,  he obscured himself in shadow.  Away from the hubbub and chaos of people darting to and fro there was little chance he would be spotted.  The GDF were too entangled in their own task of trying to bring some sort of order to the situation to take notice of one solitary figure.

He’d snuck around easy enough before the evacuation order had been announced. After the noisy blast of a  horn in triplicate it was as if he was invisible. The contradictory rally points purposely imposed and uncorrected making the ensuing tangle of people the perfect cover for him to slip in amongst the moving mass of bodies.

His counterpart had been waiting for him, standing off to the side and obviously not one of the many clambering workers with his pristine coiffed hair and tailored pants. The dirty hard toes boots a decidedly tacky but necessary accompaniment to his apparel.

The acknowledgement of the others presence  was simple and took but a second of eye contact and a briefest of nods. His associate then easily donned the façade of a simpering idiot  and joined the hurried workers. Disappearing as the first thundering roar of rescue entered the scene.

The man truly was an idiot though so slipping in to the role he was to play was only natural.  He really had no idea how much he was being manipulated. Every action, one his employer had direct,  every reaction one that was completely expected.

The association with the billionaire inventor was just one part of the puzzle, a naïve one at that as the twit had no idea who was really behind all the careful planning.  Planning that had been meticulously cultivated over the last several months so that all the players would be exactly where they needed to be at precisely the right time.

He knew exactly how important this next stage of the plan was and there was  the real threat of cold steel at his neck and an unmarked grave in his future if things didn’t go the way his employer envisioned.  Not an appealing end to his career to say the least.

Billionaire dealt with, he returned his steely gaze to the task at hand. Tracing the path the pod had taken he watched as the canopy opened and one of his targets hopped down, followed shortly thereafter by another and a greeting of sorts took place between them and a third.   He knew as much as his employer would divulge about the ongoing grudge with the first responders though he cared very little about the true nature behind it.

He was being paid handsomely for his work and the bonus of screwing over that family was rather appealing.  Taking them down a peg or two was something he had wanted to do from the first time he’d met them.

Further pondering though would have to wait for a more appropriate time as he had a task to complete.  Part one of the plan had gone without a hitch and the true responsible party’s identity was safely out of sight.

It was only a matter of time before their patsy’s involvement would be discovered.  He was a well known man after all. Infamously so when it came to International Rescue and he wouldn’t be able to hide in the crowd for long. His reputation for failure in his chosen field was well known and his employer had made sure that his ineptitude was something that couldn’t  be missed. Use of him as a distraction in the past had already proven rather successful in aid deflecting from their true goals and there was no doubt that he would be again.

He himself was a part in the grand scheme and he took a certain amount of pride in the subterfuge his involvement had incurred.  The Tracy family really had no clue. 

Leaning on the shipping container,  he zeroed in on the sudden bustle of organized activity.   It appeared things were moving again as two of the brothers hustled back into the pod and it started moving towards the mouth of the shaft.

Palming a small, encrypted communication device he quickly activated it.  “Targets on site and entering shaft.  Phase two is a go.”  

Message sent, he snapped the device in two and tossed it over his shoulder into the brush. His thick padded work jacket and mining helmet soon followed.  Straightening he did one final check of his GDF Blues  and stepped out  into the harsh halogen brightness of the industrial lights.;

8-8-8

TBC

Chapter 1 |Previous Chapter | NEXT

[darkestwolfx]

Legacy - Re-Review #26

We’ve made it! The end of Series 1 is here!

“This is so not good.”

Yeah, I’m with you Gordon.

Because with the end of series one here, of course, so is The Hood. You can’t have a series finale without your series villain. Wouldn’t it be disastrous if this image was how it all ended? Yeah, no thank you. Still, it has to be said that his timing has not improved - because, excuse me Hood, but you don’t interrupt a girl when she’s trying to tell her family something really important! Seriously, this family hardly ever get the time they should together and he interrupts them for a trick? I’m not even going to mention how well planned and thought out it was because I don’t want to be giving the villain credit, but damn he is intelligent.

"Next time.”

“I just hope I’m not too late.”

“Me too.”

And of course we all know that means that it will be. I also love how right from the start in ‘Ring of Fire’, Grandma has been shown to know the truth. She’s a good secret keeper.

Legacy - good title for many reasons. International Rescue was always seen and implied to be Jeff’s legacy, so it makes complete sense.

“It’s like the perfect storm of emergencies all across the globe.”

Of course it is. Because The Hood is actually a good, but ultimately bad, villain!

And look at Grandma back in the main seat and helping out.

“And I’ll take over monitor duty!”

She sounded so happy with that option.

That Island launch for Thunderbird Four though... I have been waiting to see that for a long, long time. It kind of tributes to TOS ‘Terror in New York City’ which saw the only island launch of T4. I know (now of course, but I didn’t know it then), that we will see this launch procedure a few more times, but this first instance made me so, so happy!

And that launch montage that went with it was perfection.

“Everything is RAD.”

“RAD?”

“That’s my new catch phrase..?”

“Alright then.”

But let’s all be honest, everything is not RAD, or even FAB.

No, there’s trouble ahead!

“Tracy Island has been compromised!”

Kayo realised it, which is probably the lifesaving fact of this episode, because else it might have taken Lady P some time to realise and who knows what trouble The Hood could have caused (beyond what he does get away with anyway). Seriously though, this should have been a little expected from ‘Ring of Fire’. Apparently The Hood is good at making explosive devises.

“Scott, I’m back on the Island, we have a situation.”

“You’re not the only one. I’m looking at some kind of explosive devise.”

“Me too.”

“Same here.”

“It’s all of us.”

“You were right about us being tricked, Kayo.”

“That’s not our only problem. Tracy Island has a visitor.”

“Nice view. I think I’ll take it.”

Ur... Mr Hood... You are aware that this isn’t Homes under the Hammer or Escape to the Country or anything like that right? This is Thunderbirds Are Go - which kinda means the Island isn’t on the market.

“You lured every one of us into a trap.”

“And yet only you were able to see through it.”

Yep, family, I’m calling it - and I’ll explain my thinking on it later on in the review.

“When it comes to family, I’m a man of my word.”

I’m sure he is. Well, actually I think he could be. I think that could be the one honest quote The Hood has ever given us. After all, he did save Kayo’s life in ‘Touch and Go’ and he didn’t have to.

“It’s funny how our lives took such different paths. You on a fool’s mission to save the world. And me-”

“Bent on destroying it?”

“Hardly. I want to build. Create. Sometimes that means starting with a clean slate.”

See now that is the sort of brilliant back story hints I’m also going to talk about a bit later! I really wish they’d continued to the end. And let’s just ignore The Hood’s little bit of poetry in that last line. I don’t think he realised that create and slate rhymed... If he did, maybe he’s in the wrong business.

“Execute WASP protocol Alpha.”

That’s another nice reference to TOS backstory considering Gordon worked for WASP.

“I am not amused, Kayo! What have you done?”

Turned into Queen Victoria (apparently) have you now, Hood?

Hmm... anyone see the resemblance..? Because I don’t.

“You have to trust me.”

“Trust? Would he trust you knowing the kind of secrets you’ve been keeping?”

Here we go.

“What’s he talking about.”

“She’s been working for me the whole time.”

“That’s a lie.”

“Is it? And would I be lying when I tell them I’m your Uncle?”

“Kayo, is this true?”

“Yes, it’s true. The Hood is my uncle.”

“The Hood is your uncle? The same evil mastermind responsible for us losing Dad?”

Yes and yes, Gordon. But let’s see in the end we do know about most families that blood is thicker and water, and that family can always be the one we chose, not the one we have by strict genetics.

“There’s only one question we need to be asking ourselves now. What would Dad do?”

Well your Dad knew and still kept her as part of the family so... Yeah, I think they come to the right decision channeling their Father. After all, The Hood was responsible for them losing Jeff, Kayo played no part in that.

I’d also like to say that Grandma and MAX have a pretty good apprehension plan;

“You two look hungry.”

Cue tray of burnt cookies... yeah, I’d rather them than us.

Look at this team of brother’s. They’re unstoppable at the best of times, but we actually forget about a lot of the ground work that Kayo does which is what actually allows these boys to swoop in and be the heroes.

Yes, they probably would have coped, but had they not turned up, I’m pretty sure Kayo still would have had a back-up plan to make sure The Hood didn’t get away. In fact, we should remember that the boys being able to be here to stop The Hood was essentially also part of Kayo’s (hoped) plan.

International Rescue may not be in the “bad guy chasing business” unless they’re making “exceptions”, but the fact is that Kayo, like a shadow (much like the deserved name of her Thunderbird), is always looking out for them even when we don’t necessarily see it. The fact is that her knowing The Hood as her Uncle probably made her know him better. There is a proven statistic that you are more likely to die at the hand of someone that you know. It is also proven that you are more likely to be able to survive at the hands of someone you know - because you know them well enough to either be able to predict or manipulate what they will do.

Kayo may not live with The Hood and she may not accept him as her family, but the fact is, she still knows he lives and thrives off manipulation and mind tricks, and she reflects those right back at him in getting him to think he is gaining and then blowing up Tracy Island. Throwing his own tricks right back at him... pretty successful plan I’d say.

The Hood’s face as they break apart his ship! That was well warranted though in my opinion, and really if we look back at The Hood’s history of escape attempts in TOS we should have known they’d catch up with him in TAG eventually. I mean (warning: big TOS spoilers ahead), we had;

A plane crash [into a building] (’Martian Invasion’)

Car tumbling into a river (’The Edge of Impact’)

Flooded, crashed and exploded submarine (’Desperate Intruder’)

Car falling off a crumbling cliff side (’Cry Wolf’)

Car shot at, set alight, and tumbling over a cliff (’Trapped in the Sky’)

But crucially, he always survived them all - even though I personally think the events of ‘Trapped in the Sky’ and ‘Martian Invasion’ had very slim chances of survival. On the other hand, in ‘Cry Wolf’ he got lucky to be caught on the cliff side and so not in the upturned car - which is actually highly probably in cliff side car falls, because clothes snag on rock and vine (although injuries are usually major, like internal bleeding or debris puncture wounds). But from all that Scott could see it did look highly probable that he couldn’t have survived;

“He couldn’t have stood a chance. Well I guess that’s the last crooked game you’ll ever play.” (Scott, ‘Cry Wolf’)

In fact, out of the six episodes in which The Hood was the main villain, he only made a clean getaway in ‘The Mighty Atom’ and the others - in most real life cases - would have resulted in series injury and/or death. So we should have expected his clean getaways in TAG - ‘Crosscut’, ‘Fireflash’, ‘Unplugged’, ‘Under Pressure’, ‘Touch and Go’ - would eventually come to an end.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9pq-4ojxFA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXokXzofNjs

Back when TAG first aired, it was kinda rumoured that Amazon had funded more series’, so I kinda knew The Hood would probably be back in some way, shape or form, but re-watching it again now, I can see all the clues in the animation of how The Hood takes his defeat.

For all the ‘scooby-doo’ moments of-

“Curse those stupid boys, curse their stupid father, curse International Rescue!” (’Cry Wolf’)

As a side note I could go on here about how disappointed i was with TAG’s backstory on The Hood, especially considering this implication and all the one’s they gave us prior, but I’m actually going to do that (and the rest of this) in a separate post, so keep your eyes open.

-along with a miraculous escape which they gave us in TOS, in this it’s defeat taken quietly in the end and that gave everything away; no villain of The Hood’s caliber would go quietly. Not to mention, we know he’s smart and has some serious tech, for we saw him get into a GDF jail to see Janus in ‘Chain of Command’. No cell can hold him and now we’re ready for series 2.

And to end with, this soundtrack is legendary - and not just for the CD cover - I completely recommend it!

By the way, as a complete side note, has anyone else (in the UK at least) noticed all the TV glitches lately? Little coloured lines and patches jumping across the screen or scenes pushing and then skipping ahead a couple seconds? I ask just out of pure interest!

[experimentalmadness]

Interrogation

Back with more OC nonsense. Jacky’s little double act is found out and Harvey’s brought in as part of the interrogation. Remember when I said we only write Harvey as a fundemantally kind person in this house? Well...take a look. And if you’re curious about this OC and the fic that precedes this one check out her tag! Anyway if you’re liking my little drabbles reblogs and likes mean the world. :) 

***

Jacky always imagined the police interrogation rooms would be much colder, more impersonal. The room in the GCPD precinct almost felt like a regular office space. It even had a small, barred window overlooking the street. She could see the monorail line. The bakery was about three stops off of Grand Avenue and Miri would be opening soon. Funny, how that was what came to mind first. 

All those years of careful consideration. Living on the line. Over now. And all she could think of was if Miri was going to be able to handle the morning rush without her to man the registers. 

The door to the interrogation room banged open and Harvey Dent, flanked by two officers came inside. “Case number 0114, Miss Jacqueline Ripley held on suspicion of attempted murder.” 

Jacky had never heard Harvey at his work, never seen him in court, only heard the campaign speeches and the play by plays afterwards over a drink, or while watching a game. One of the officers took out his handcuffs to chain her to the table, which she fully expected. No need to make this nightmare go on for longer than it had to. Jacky put her wrists together and held them up. 

“Thank you, officer, but those won’t be necessary.” Harvey took a seat, pulling out a tape recorder and manilla folder from his briefcase. 

“All do respect, Mr. Dent, but the state we found her in warrants—”

“I’ve dealt with worse.”

The officer just shrugged and pocketed the cuffs. “We’ll be just outside,” and Jacky knew the warning was for her to not do something so stupid as to attack Gotham’s favorite DA. 

They left, the door clicking so loud it set off bombs in Jacky’s brain as she stared opposite of the man who was doing everything in his power not to look up at her. He fiddled with the recorder and opened his files, tapping his pen against the steel tabletop. “For the tape, suspect was found near 1st Street and Quinn in the Cauldron at approximately 3am with a Mr. Robert Young,” he flipped through the file, “Mr. Young was taken to Eliot Memorial with multiple contusions, fractures, and internal injuries. Suspect has given a full confession to Commissioner James Gordon at 5:15am. Are the following statements accurate, Miss Ripley?”

“Yes.”

“And you have waived the right to an attorney is that also correct.”

“I have.”

The recorder clicked off. “Are you being coerced? Officer Franklin has a history of taking cuts from Falcone, Jacky, I can make a call.”

“Harvey…”

“Get someone from legal aid down here in twenty. I can say you won’t talk to me.”

“Harvey, no.”

He turned on the recorder again. “For the record, Miss Ripley, again, are the following statements accurate? Was your confession coerced in any way by any interrogating officers?” 

He nudged the recorder closer to her. That was funny. She’d lived through a lot in her fairly young life already, seen a lot of nasty things, done plenty to make her numb to most, but it was that little motion--out of everything--that broke her heart. She leaned over the table so her mouth was hovering over the recorder. “My statements are accurate, no coercion.”

Harvey slammed another hand down to pause the recording, inches from her face. “Damnit Jacky!”

That was fine, he yelled in all her nightmares, too. Sometimes he hit her, they’d fight, she’d lose. In some dreams he even turned into the Batman—back when she thought they might have been the same person. Now he just sat back, eyes trained on the pages in his folder. “I’ve been doing this a long time, Harvey.” 

He ignored her, clicking the recorder back on. “You came upon Robert at around 2:45am by your statement, walk me through the events leading up to your confrontation, for the tape.”

Jacky leaned back in her chair, tilting her head back to watching the fluorescent lights on the ceiling. “I get calls for odd jobs at least once or twice a month. Robert had been selling--let’s call it information for the record—to Penguin, er, Oswald Cobblepot. That means I do it special.”

“What does special mean?”

She already had the shovel in her hands she might as well keep digging. “My employer likes to send a message. You think it’s easy beating a man to death? Normally it’s quick and clean jobs—”

Harvey was quick to shut off the recorder again. “I only need the details of this case.”

“But I’ve done—”

“You are looking at five to twenty-five years on this charge alone, Jacky. The police only have evidence following this particular case, do you understand?”

She always thought he’d stop looking at her like that after he knew. That those earnest eyes would go hard and distant. Why did he still look at her like she was his friend? Like she was someone he was still going to save? Didn’t he get it yet? The charade was over. She’d had a good long run, but the secret was out, it was time for the DA to do what he was supposed to do: clean up Gotham’s streets and put people like her away so things could be better for everyone. 

Jacky squared herself in her chair, slicing off another small piece of herself as she met his gaze. “I’ve killed a lot of people, Harvey.” 

“No,” he said, simply, certain, like she had just told him the sky was purple. “Off the record then,” he closed a hand around the recorder, knuckles going white under the pressure, “Are you protecting someone? Does Falcone have anything over you? I know that night at the shop—”

Jacky couldn’t stop herself from laughing. “There’s no protection racket, Harv! No coercion, no set up! No frame job! Do you haggle with any other suspects like this? Asking them if they were all put upon? You’re Harvey freakin’ Dent. How many nights I spent hearing about how you threw the book at a killer? A dirty cop? A mobster? Here I am, buddy, take your shot.”

Was nothing she said getting through to this idiot? When was he going to drop the act and treat her the way she deserved? Instead he just checked his watch, and ran a hand through his hair. “Right about now I’d be coming into your shop.”

“I’d ask if you had any exciting cases today,” Jacky continued, replaying the routine effortlessly in her mind. She’d slide him the coffee, he’d give her one of his signature grins that would carry her through the rest of the day, she’d make some smartass remark, he’d double it, they’d make plans for the evening or tomorrow, and Jacky would pretend to be the woman who was lucky enough to be friends with a man like him. “Guess I’m getting the news early.”

He covered his face with both hands, elbows leaning against the tabletop. He sucked in a breath and straightened up at once. “Get a lawyer, Jacky,” he snapped.

“Don’t need one, I’m guilty.”

“If you can get the DA’s office any pertinent information on Falcone’s operations I can look into getting your sentence reduced.”

“That doesn’t seem fair to me, you offer that to every other hired killer who sits in this chair?”

Harvey slammed a fist against the table. “You are not a killer. You’re not. I know you, Jacky.”

If she reached across the small expanse to take his hand the cops waiting and watching outside would be all over her in seconds. Not that she would anyway. Her hands twitched in her lap. All he had to do was walk her through the next steps, verify the case, make sure her rights were being recognized and leave. “I am a killer,” she whispered, hoping this time it registered. That it stuck. “I am a good sister, a pretty decent hitwoman--well used to be I guess, and right now a bad friend.”

She might as well have taken out her pistol and shot him with each word she said. Here it comes, she thought, the big bad lawyer all the rest of Falcone’s men would never admit they feared. She almost wished he’d haul off and hit her. 

“This city…” he sighed, running another hand down his face as he stared out the barred window. “It has a way of beating down the best of us. You can’t let it. We can’t let it.”

The bars on the window played a pattern of interlocking shadows across his face. She was prepared for his hatred, for all of that righteous anger she’d seen him direct at the sickness and corruption in Gotham. She hadn’t been ready for his disappointment. 

“So here’s what we're going to do Jacky. I’m going to switch on this recorder again, you’re going to tell me how to nail Falcone to the wall and you’re going to get five years. You’ll make good in Blackgate. Take any classes they offer, do everything right. Get out for good behavior in two. And you're not going to let the worst side of this city win. Got it?”

This wasn’t how it was supposed to go. 

He reached across the table and took her hand, pulling it towards him, covering it with both of his. “You do this with every convict?” He was being a hypocrite and she wasn’t going to be the reason he went corrupt. He squeezed her hand, she kept wishing he’d punch her instead. 

“The whole spiel? Yeah, I do, actually.” He had the audacity to give her a small smile. “There’s enough people in this city that think there’s no other way. There’s always another way. Jacky, c’mon look at me.”

“Didn’t think I was part of the saving crowd. Thought you’d hate me.”

“Oh it’s going to take the full two years for me to stop that,” she almost laughed at his words. His hands around hers kept her steady, pulling her up out of the water that had been over her head for years. 

“But what I want to know, Jacky, is who convinced you you weren’t worth saving?”