A Man's Work Is Never Done..

[Commissioner Jim Gordon]

To say times were hectic around Gotham would be an understatement. But now imagine how things are for the one man in charge of trying to make sense of it all. His position as the Commissioner of the GCPD put him in the limelight more often than not. Jim Gordon was fine with it and had grown accustomed to having to appear in front of the camera, to tell the city of Gotham it needed to hear.

James Gordon is a good man. One of the few "good" cops that was left when the city was crawling with crooked cops. But with the emergence of The Batman, there seemed to be just a glimpse of hope in that things might just change for the better. Some people saw that this masked vigilante was just what the city needed to help rid itself of the high criminal element that plagued it. He had proven effective when the GCPD wasn't. And so, the two formed a bit of an alliance, a common goal on taking out those whom sought to destroy or otherwise make Gotham unlivable. And after many toils and outtakings on both men's part, the city seemed to flourish, atleast for a little bit.

With the recent death of Gotham's White Knight, Harvey Dent, and the villianization of Batman in order to help protect the name of a man that helped signified hope for the common folk of Gotham, that gave them an image that they could believe in. But Jim, his son, and Batman are the only three whom know the real truth. And, initially, Jim refused to go along with the plan, he did not want to lead a witch hunt on a man he had considered a friend, for what he has done for himself and the city he loves. But, after some time and rationalizing it out, he knows that Batman is right and it needs to happen, for the city's sake, they need to hate The Bat, atleast for a little while. He might not like it, but it's really the only way.

Soon after demolishing the Bat-Signal, Gotham kept going on in the wake of the crisis left by Dent and The Joker's dealings, like life generally does. And it has given Gordon plenty of things to do, plenty of things to investigate and not enough time to sit and dwell on his own inner strife. No, thererwas no time to feel sorry for himself, he, of course, had a job to do.

And unfortunately, his job seemed to keep him on television alot lately, and his stress level high. Along with trying to restore order after Dent's death and trying to repair the massive damage done by The Joker, Jim also has to deal with Bruce Wayne's car accident and the mysterious murder that happened at WayneTech. As one can imagine, the life of the Commissioner is never dull.

John Blake :You wanted to see me, sir?

Jim Gordon was in his office, facing the open window, a cigar puffing smoke from his lips. He pulls the cigar from his lips and turns around, placing the lit cigar on a nearby ashtray. Jim slides into his own personal desk chair and motions for Blake to have a seat, which the younger man does. Jim pulls out a file, looks over it for a second and then passes it off to Blake.

Commissioner Jim Gordon : Tell me what you see there.

The young officer glances through the files, turning page after page slowly. He then lays it down in his lap, looking back up at the Commish.

John Blake : I see the details concerning our bust on that boat, the one we picked up Cobblepot nearby. The one you and I both know he was more than likely behind..

A small smile creeps on the aged face of Gordon's.

Commissioner Jim Gordon : And you saw first hand exactly how much firepower was in that boat, too.

Blake gives an affirmative nod.

Commissioner Jim Gordon : That probably put a dent in Cobblepot's plans, but I seriously doubt that it'll stop him. He'll try and get some more guns into the city some other way. I just know it. I have an assignment for you about this.

John Blake sits up straight, looking a bit curious.

Commissioner Jim Gordon : I want you to see if you can kick up some dust on Cobblepot. Do some good ole fashioned grunt police work and try and see if you can find something, anything that can link Cobblepot to those guns, or that stolen electronics. I'm willing to bet that there is some small detail that the man left. See if you can get some one to talk. Anything would be beneficial.

Blake nods again. This caused Gordon to smirk, just a little bit. He was a good kid, this John Blake. He seemed genuinely interested in making a difference, and that in and of itself was something refreshing, a quality he himself shared with the younger cop.

John Blake : I'll get right on it.

The two exchanged glances and Blake started to get up.

Commissioner Jim Gordon : Oh, I shouldn't have to say this, but I will anyway. Watch yourself out there, kid. You know how rough it is out there.

Blake nods in response and turns to open the door, his hand on the knob when Gordon speaks again.

Commissioner Jim Gordon : If you see Bulluck out there, send him here, please. I want him to take a closer look in on that murder at WayneTech.

John Blake : Gotcha, Boss.

And with that, Gordon pulled the file laying on is table and put it back with the stack of them on the corner of his desk, he then grabbed his cigar and took another long deliberate drag. Being commissioner of a city like Gotham wasn't the easiest job, but if there was anyone capable of handling it, it was Jim Gordon.

[John Blake]

John Blake had left the office of his boss, Commissioner Jim Gordon, and headed home for the evening. Tomorrow morning he was going to jump into his new assignment full-steam. Like the commissh had said before, it was going to be very difficult to connect Cobblepot and the gun bust. Difficult but not impossible.

On his way home Blake decided to stop into his fave lil Ma & Pa store for a bite to eat. They somehow were still hanging on in this economy and had teh best coffee this time of night. On this night though when Blake arrived his heart dropped. He saw blue lights flashing like crazy. There was a crowd of people being held back by a few officers. So John parked his car and got out. He flashed his badge and got past the officers.

The inside of the store was a mess. John could only shake his head at the destruction in here. Seeing a congregation of officers behind the counter he swallowed hard and walked up. Looking over he saw a body on the floor covered up by a white sheet. Blood had stained teh sheet red over the chest.

Yo John, what 're ya doin round here? Thought ya was headed home..

I am Smith. Always come by here for a cup of coffee before I head that way.....What happened?[/i]

Well Ma Kettle over there says that her an Pa there...

"Smith" motioned to the body on the floor.

..were cleaning up. They was gonna be closing in a couple hours an business isn't that much this time of nite.

John nodded as it was true. This time of night the older couple were generally just waiting on him. He never really understood why they kept their store open so late for just one cop. Guess now he never really would.

So some punks come in here waving some shotguns around. They tell 'em Ma an Pa here..

Mary an Warren...

Blake corrected Smith.

Yeah, ok, whatever. So they tell these two that there's a new player on the scene. Start sayin how Falcone's crew is the old and its tiem for a new boss. Well ya know how these things go. The punks offer protection and Warren here isn't having any of it. He declined and tehy went to tearin this place apart...

And this is what Warren had worked his whole life for. This store was everything after he left WayneTech several years ago. He loved this place. I can imagine he wasn't going to let these guys destroy it. Nor would he be intimidated by them.

Smith nodded now. Blake was right on the money.

And so he takes a bat from under the counter and clobbers one. Well the other's didn't appreciate that so they made like that scene from Robocop when they murdered Murphy..

John shook his head. He didn't need to hear anymore. After talking a few moments more with Smith, Blake walked over and gave his condolences to Mary. She was understandably severely upset by what she'd witnessed. Poor woman would be tramautized for life. But she kept having one question for Blake. She wanted to know where The Batman was. Why had he not saved her an her husband from this? Wasn't this the kind of thing he stopped routinely? The truth is that these are exactly the kind of people that Batman protected night in an night out in Gotham. The good, hardworking people who do what's right. Sure the commissh had told everyone that Batman went an killed Dent. But for Blake? That just didn't sound like the guy. He failed to believe the Batman was a murderer. Batman was a hero. But where was he? There'd been no reported sightings of the Dark Knight for a few days now which was strange...

The flashing blue lights grew dimmer as Blake drove away from the scene, finally headed home. But while those lights grew dimmer that one question grew louder: "Where is Batman?". Had he had enough of the way this city had turned on him? Was he sick or hurt? Worse yet had some creep gotten lucky? John had plnety of questions but no answers. He knew one thing though. After teh arrival of Batman? The game changed. Gotham would always need a protector, it would need Batman. Or someone like him at least....