Hot On The Trail [Harvey]

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Summer waited impatiently outside of the police headquarters with the rest of the press, though she was up front and contributed the biggest crew to the contribution. At least half of the crowd gathered outside was part of Gotham Live, eagerly hoping to catch those who excited the building off guard with an ambush of flashes and questions as they hoped to return home after an exhausting day. Summer herself was practically forcing herself to stay standing. A great deal of coffee and energy shots had kept her awake so she could cover the explosions on her show throughout the night, carefully tracking the events for the past twenty four hours. The only reason that she hadn’t personally visited the scene was because the dust had yet to settle after the violent series of explosions. However, after she left the police department that was her next stop.

Blinking, it had been a considerable amount of time since someone had exited the building. Fully knowing that she might be able to get a statement out of the Chief Commissioner for the reassurance of the community was the only reason she continued to stand outside with her crew and wait. However, the every persistent news reporter had other matters she needed to attend to. According to her research, Harvey Bullock was the first on the scene, making him the real target of her questioning. While most of the other forms of media simply wanted word of reassurance from Gordon so they could go home, Summer was going to get the full story.

“I’m going to get a coffee. I’ll only be a moment-“ Summer started, only to have her upper arm seized by her camera man, informing her that she needed to stay unless Gordon came out and that one of the interns could get her coffee as always. Pulling away from him, she shot him a look, “We have been standing here for an hour. And Gordon’s car isn’t even in the parking lot idiot.” However, Harvey’s was. The redhead circled the building, noticing a chained up fence that led to a back door. A spiral wire lined the top of it, quickly informing her it would be impossible to climb over. However, there was just enough space between the chained doors for her slender frame to slip through. With a bit of difficulty forcing her hips through the limited space, she eventually managed.

Following a trail of smoke, she was fortunate enough to approach the man she had been looking for. “Mr. Bullock?” She began, “I know I am not supposed to be here, but I was just wondering if I could ask you a couple of questions – off the record of course.” She finished with an innocent smile and a bat of her pretty eyelashes, hoping that her good looks might play to her advantage once again. If not, there were plenty of other tricks up her sleeve to get him to talk to her.

outfit: click here

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Harvey was smoking a cigarette and looking miserable. His arm was casted up and something was on his fore arm and upper arm to hold his elbow from changing its angle, all of it laid up in a sling. There was a little bandage on the bridge of his nose and his eyes were black from his nose getting broken the day before.

The room he was in was some sort of break room. He was leaned forward, his good arm's elbow on the table, his head resting on his fingertips by his forehead, cigarette hanging between his lips. He had a file before him, he was reading the report when he heard someone say his name. Not just someone, but that god damned harpy known as Summer Gleeson. While he may have not been pleased with her since the abrupt end to their former lust ridden affair about a year ago, she was still a sight to be seen. A mixture of attraction and hatred spread across his face and he grimaced at her, grunting through his teeth.

"Ah, well hello, Satan, err I mean Summer."

He let out a long sigh, his chest rising and falling slowly, a cloud of smoke forming after exiting through his nostrils.

"You snuck in, didn't ya?"

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It was time to cut the act – while she didn’t like to admit it, she and Harvey had a very complicated past. Basically, back when Summer was a new face in the media she had made one key move in her in her career by seducing the man. Once she was caught red-handed, the little lustful endeavor came to an unpleasant end. She knew that getting him to talk to her was going to be a bit of a challenge, though she was willing to risk it. The series of explosions were practically begging to be covered and right now there were so many questions swirling around Gotham that Summer wanted to answer.

She noticed how banged up he was, feeling slightly guilty even though she had no contribution to his appearance. Unable to resist rolling her eyes at his comment, she started toward him. “Haha, very funny.” She started sarcastically. “I couldn’t tell you how many times I have heard that one.” She looked him up and down, her eyes lingering on the file in his hand. “Well, you look….old. I see smoking has finally taken a toll on you.”

This was exactly why she wasn’t going to sit outside and wait for him to come out. An interview with Harvey in front of all of her crew was simply going to result in a war of bickering comments and waste of film. Not to mention, it would displease her boss and humiliate her in front of the crowd. Yes, it was very good that she had insisted on seeking him out herself in private. “Well, you know me. I’m really good at fitting into tight places. Why, are you going to arrest me?”

outfit: click here

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Harvey just shook his head and looked back at the file. At the mention of looking old he looked back up to her and grimaced. That was a little below the belt.

"I just can't wait until you get crow's feet. Maybe then you'll have a better appreciation for the classics."

Harvey had caught her red handed snooping through his files, that was what ended their little liason. He kicked her out of his life as completely as he could, though he could never escape her face on television, mentioning his name, talking about the cases he was already working on. Harvey had a bit of preference for red heads, but she was the only one that put a sour taste in his mouth.

He could not stop the twitching at the corner of his lip when she made the sly little comment about fitting into tight places. God did he know that...

"What do you want? I got work to do. You wanting to hear all about those explosions, then?"

Harvey would rather deal with her quickly and get her out of his hair now than bicker with her all night. He finally leaned back in his chair.

"Spit your venom."

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Summer managed a sickly sweet smile. While she was very mature for her age, the twenty-five year old felt somewhat invincible when it came to her looks. The competition for media relation positions were very hard to come by without the perfect storm of qualities and Summer exceeded expectations, which is why she had he own show at such a young age. Her vanity made her a little stuck-up and her youth made her invincible. “Sweetie, with what I spend on skin care products I am never going to get crow’s feet.”

Finally, they were able to get past their little back and forth and Summer had the possibility of getting some real answers from him. Knowing that he would be dying to get her out of his hair as soon as possible, he was sure to tell her whatever was going to get her out of the station and distance herself from him – then it would be up to her to sort out the facts. “Well of course, you didn’t think I was here to visit did you?” She managed pleasantly, her glance occasionally going back to the file he had. It was basically calling her name; she longed to take a peek at its contents.

“Just tell me the facts, and I will be out of your hair. I know the timings and the results obviously, as well as who was on the scene – both masked and not - and at what times. My helicopters have over 24 hours of live footage and were still rolling. What I need to know is what the source of the explosion is and any possible leads you have as of this point.” She said professionally, sitting down across from him and crossing one smooth, long leg over the other. “So let’s hear it.” Summer smiled, hoping to get the answers she desired.

outfit: click here

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Harvey sighed. Of course the things she wanted to know were the kinds of things the public didn't need to know just yet. Mentions of the Joker generally caused a lot of people in town to get their hairs standing on end, but Harvey didn't care so much about that. He was the type of the man that would rather have people on the look out, keeping their eyes and ears alert than just being in the dark and more panicked.

"We were investigating a murder scene. One of my detectives went to check out the basement and before he could get out the place got blown to bits. I was one of the first on the crime scene and I could tell it was Joker within minutes. After my junior detective got there and then went to go check the rest of the place, I felt a little funny about it so I ordered everyone out. Thank God for whatever the hell made me feel weird because there would have been at least a dozen dead police and forensics people. I guess I just have the right guts for this shit."

Harvey took another long drag of his cigarette. Some people might try to tell him he was a hero or something, Harvey never bought that crap. He was just a man doing his job, but then again, there was a reason he was a Lieutenant and the shift officer, not to mention head of Major Crimes.

"There was another explosion later, some kid, whom I still don't know the name of, discharged the bomb and managed to take most of the blast herself and somehow walked away from it. I got a glance of her, if I had to give and educated guess, I think it was that same kid who woke up in the rubble of that building that came down over on 42nd forty days before. You guys actually reported on that after the video went viral on youtube."

Harvey wondered where that kid had stormed off to after all the explosions yesterday. Harvey had a stack of missing person's reports under the file he was currently looking through.

He wanted to know who the hell she was.

"That's really it, Summer. You got anything else you want to ask?"

Harvey seemed to relax a bit more, his tone had calmed and his face smoothed over a little more, looking less harsh and stony.

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The Joker; the name alone ran chills down her spine. She spent most of her college career covering his many misdeeds and actions. Though she had never met the man in person, she could talk about him for hours without running out of information to spew from her full lips. He was a fascinating subject – from the comfortable distance of her cozy life. When she was briefly with Harvey, she managed to pull some of his confidential files with cases regarding the man that were hard for even her to read. He was a disturbing, flawed character with a manic disposition. And yet, she was nearly as obsessed with him as she was the Batman.

“I knew it was the Joker….I have been studying him ever since I arrived in Gotham. Explosions seem to be his thing.” She said, mostly to herself than to him. It was a small victory for her to know she was one step closer. However, there was a more serious matter at hand. A regretful look masked her pretty features at the news of how many they had lost. “I’m really sorry,” She began almost awkwardly. “About your losses. I will be sure to have a moment of silence on my show. If you give me a list of names I can have my people put together a bit of a tribute for them that can go on the air tonight.”

Summer made a face of disgust when she caught another whiff of his cigarette smoke. “Goodness, I could do a whole exposé at how many packs of cigarettes you go through a week.” She mocked, fanning the smoke out of her face. However, she managed to distract herself from the smoke at his next statement. “A kid? Care to give me an age assumption? ‘Kid’ to you is anyone under twenty.” Summer longed to know the girl’s name that had been assisting in such chaos. It was unusual for her line of work to see an aspiring villain not cry for attention as they strived to be infamous.

“I had some of my best people on it, even friends who owe me favors from college, we couldn’t find a trace on the video. So you all still do not have a lead on her either? Or is there something you are just not telling me?” She said, sounding somewhat defeated, but that wasn’t going to stop her from trying. She only paused to clear her throat, making mental notes of the information he had told her. “Why do you think that the location was a key in this at all? I mean, do you think the Joker selected these buildings for a reason or they were just chosen at random?”

outfit: click here

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Harvey sighed. He tried to move his other arm, forgetting it was all bound up. He growled quietly at the back of his throat, at himself, not her.

"As nice as that would be of ya, don't. Don't bring attention to us. Give Joker his spot light. If we get too much attention he'll just come after us."

Harvey had been doing this long enough to know what he was saying here.

"I don't know anything about the kid, but she ain't a little girl either, she's grown. She found one of his bombs, alerted us, and just hugged it when it went off, and somehow survived. Somehow, a while later, she was back up and back to doing some good."

Harvey shook his head and leaned forward again, face palming at how tired and beat he was. She was just making him realize it by questioning him. That was actually one good thing about her. Her tenacity and smarts always made Harvey's brain juices go into high gear, but it had its toll.

"Its not the location that's the key, it was a trap. He wouldn't have left the crime scene in the state he did if he didn't want us to know who it was. I suspect he wanted to hit the police. He wanted the lot of us to die in that blast."

That last part made Harvey ball his right hand into a fist, the same hand that was upon his busted up arm. He dug the fingertips of his left hand into his face, but eventually loosened his grip, finally looking up to her as another plume of smoke came from his nostrils.

"You really gonna gripe 'bout my smokin'? Look, people er trying't kill me every day, I ain't worried about cancer, I'll be lucky if that's what does me in."

[Deleted]

Suddenly, the lights go out in the police station, casting the place into darkness. The only light Many present are complaining about their phones and mobile devices were defunct as well. In the lower parts of the station the dozens of people being held for questioning or transfer suddenly realized their cell doors were unlocked since apparently the backup generator wasn't kicking in and burst out causing chaos below easily over powering the few cops that were down their & taking weapons. A gunfight soon began within.

(The blackout is the result of an EMP that went off in this thread. gotham-cityrpg.proboards.com/thread/3776/who-batsignal-anyway-open Feel free to continue there! -J)