The best things corrupted become the worst. [Ra's al Ghul]

[Deleted]

In Gotham city it was what seemed like a regular Monday morning. The ambiance of Gotham city was just the same as it usually was during the week. People were traveling to work. The telltale sound of cars be driven. The smell of exhaust. The sun just starting to shine as well as a cool breeze. Today was just a run of the mill day in every sense of the definition. It was definitely a regular day for Police Commissioner James Gordon. The man actually got some sleep the night before. More than three hours, that was a rather big surprise. The commissioner had been dealing with a lot as of late. There was the university shooting as well as many other events that took a toll on him as well as the GCPD. He survived, he survived and made it out. Now all he had to do was keep doing his job and maybe, just maybe he would have a shot of getting Gotham and the GCPD out of Arkham city in one piece. 

Today was Monday, that meant having a morning coffee with the GCPD chief of patrol, Benedict O'Hare. The pair of aging police officers met at Robinson park every Monday morning to enjoy a cup of diner coffee. This has been going on ever since they were partners together. Chief O'Hare was a fantastic cop and one of Gordon's best friends. They worked Homicide together for six years and even after Gordon's promotion it didn't take long for O'hare to rise up either. Now the two had some of the most important jobs in the entire GCPD. They weren't reliant on each other but they did come to one another for advice. They had a certain kind of companionship that current partners or former partners had. That friendship that meant they would do anything to protect and serve, but that they would also protect each other. Cover each other. That was the unspoken bond of every police officer. That one would protect and serve the public, as well as each other. 

Your partner. 

The last line of defense between you and an untimely death. 

Commissioner Gordon was already at a bench with his coffee. It seemed that his friend Chief O'Hare was going to be a little late today. He waited. It didn't take that long until Chief O'Hare finally approached Gordon with a smile. 

"What took you so long?" Gordon asked with a smile. The chief sat down next to him and started drinking his coffee. 

"You know, same as it was last week." He said with a slight grin, both him and Gordon laughing. 

"It hasn't changed much, has it? All those years and a lot of it is still the same. We gave our best years to this job." 

"You sound like you might regret some of the choices you made. Its a little late to start second guessing you're career choice Jim." 

"I know Ben. I don't regret becoming a police officer. I don't regret becoming the Commissioner. If I had a chance to do it all again I'd make all the same decisions. I'm here for a reason. We're here for a reason. To keep those in Gotham safe. You don't regret anything, do you?" 

Chief O'Hare was silent for a moment, pondering and drinking his coffee. 

"No Jim, I don't regret a thing." They paused for a moment of silence. Just staring at those in the park. Taking a moment to soak in what was just said. 

"I'm real sorry Jim but there's something I got to take care of. There's always next week, yeah?" 

"Sure Ben, don't let me keep you." Gordon said with a smile. 

Chief O'Hare got up with a final nod at his friend. "Take care Jim, I mean it." Chief O'Hare walked away from the Commissioner.  

Gordon nodded, staying seated at the bench. He still had quite a bit of his coffee left. He might as well stay and finish it. Nothing too pressing was happening today after all.

Once Chief O'Hare was out of sight and ear shot he took his cellphone out of his jacket pocket. 

"Do it."

[Deleted]

If the only thing it takes for evil to conquer all is for good men to do nothing then it is best to remove the decent figure from the equation, mused the figure who sat in the corner booth of the bustling Café as he poured the single serving pot of milk into his bland cracked cup of coffee. Slightly wincing as he took a drink of the corrupted brown liquid, he wondered if America's lack of a decent cup of coffee was one of their more heinous crimes and as a man originating from the same neck of the woods as coffee he knew when he was drinking a good cup. Two hundred years and they still disappointed his taste buds, however it wasn't the drink in his cup that he was truly focused on, rather it was the company that sat chatting around him. What truly disgusted him on that warm late summer morning was the ignorance of the self proclaimed City that marched before him. They would sooner discuss baseball and engine trouble before discussing the economic inequality found in the lower boroughs or the rise in crime which threatened their very safety. But if people will not learn then they will be forced.

Placing the white ceramic mug down upon the tea stained coaster that he was given with it, Ra's al Ghul kept his eyes on the two men who sat chatting on the other side of the diner, enjoying one another's company as they no doubt reminisced about old nostalgia. One was a Police Chief and the other a Police Commissioner, the Commissioner James Gordon. Even if Gordon found himself in a small minority in Gotham of people who actually showed genuine concern for the City, his work was too little too wait. Not only did he betray his office by aligning himself with a vigilant, he had betrayed his very moral obligation by torturing the City with his doomed attempts to reform and drag Gotham kicking and screaming to a better World. The only problem is that there can not be a better World with places like Gotham City in it, as its very scar carved the Earth into something fiendish. If a wounded animal is caught in a trap, the best thing you can do for it is to snap its neck and give it a kick death rather than drawing out its continued suffering. For a month the League had followed the two of them, watching them every day as they came to this very spot to chat about the old times.

After a few moments of idle waiting the other man stood up from the table, sliding himself from the chair before saying his quick goodbyes as he walked out onto the street, phone pressed to his ear. The pawn has made his move, time to strike for the king...eventually. Standing up from his own chair, Ra's picked up the cane that he had by his side and began to move through the crowd of people that stood at the counter calling out for their breakfast orders. In his other hand he held his cup of tea, which he placed down on the free seat next to the table that Gordon sat at. Lowering himself down onto the red leather, Ra's intentionally let out a sigh as he hobbled on his walking aid, smiling a sigh of relief as he finally sat down. Giving an affable look of respect to the man besides him, he gave it a moment before engaging him in conversation. "Excuse me, Sir? Do I know you from some where? I have a talent for faces, I never forget one!" Pausing for a moment, Ra's pursed his lips together as he raised a finger, gesturing for quiet while he thought before stroking his granite beard. "That's it! By Jove, you wouldn't be our prestigious Commissioner would you? I told you, I never forget a face." Exhaling a satisfied laugh, he now reached out with an open palm towards Gordon as a sign of friendship. Catching the clock on the wall with a quick glance he judged that if all went to plan he would have little more than a few minutes before the plan came into action. "Truly a pleasure to meet your acquaintance. "

[Deleted]

The silence along with his thoughts were interrupted. A man was speaking to him. A man that seemed to be a little younger than Gordon. About middle-aged from first glance. The commissioner has never seen this man before. Who was this? He was never one to shy away from someone randomly speaking to him. A number of civilians always approached him at least a few times a week. He was used to dealing with that sort of thing. He was the face of the Police department in Gotham. Citizens approaching him to speak to him wasn't ever really out of the ordinary. So when this man approached him Gordon smiled. "A lot of people approach me and they always know who I am. However I never know those who approach me. I suppose that's something you have to deal with when you're in my position." Gordon answered jokingly. He wanted to seem friendly to whoever this was. Even if there was something a little off about this man. It probably wasn't this man. It was Gordon not getting enough sleep or whatever else. 

"So you know me. May I ask who you are?" Gordon asked, extending a hand to the friendly gentleman that decided to talk to the Commissioner on this day. He had some time to spare. He didn't have to do anything super important today. Probably some paperwork and follow ups on certain events that happened within Gotham in the past few months. He could still stand to be friendly with this person. It wouldn't harm the Commissioner. A few minutes of casual conversation never hurt anybody. 

It was probably even considered good for people.

[Deleted]

Propping himself forward in the chair, levelling clenched fists down upon the gleaming table like a player in a game of high stakes poker, Ra's' once benevolent smile began to shift into a more morose glance at the man before him. Both men physically looked a similar age, even if in reality Gordon was nothing more than a crawling toddler in his eyes. Even if he was a child who understood which shape went through which hole, with some guidance, he was still oblivious to the true state of things, absorbed in his own tiny world of innocent doings. But now it was time that he learned his first life lesson, it was time that he moved from crawling to sprinting. "I'd imagine that you have to deal with a number of trying situations in your position, excluding chit chatting with members of the public such as myself. But no, you should be commended, it takes a certain type of man to keep fighting the unwinnable fight." The smile appeared again as he gave an affectionate nod which didn't match the barbed words coming through his pursed lips.

Reaching for his cup of black coffee, he picked it up and pressed the cup to his mouth as he took a quick drink of its steamy darkness before exhaling a slight sigh of forced satisfaction. "An awful cup of coffee yet I drink it none the less. It leaves an unwelcome taste in my mouth, one which I know that I won't be able to wash out for a while no matter what else I eat or drink. In all honesty I should just throw it away and be done with it, it would be a crime if I didn't complain to the owners." For a moment Ra's fiddled with the handle of the mug, running his finger down its cracks and imperfections before quickly pushing it away from his reach, sliding it roughly across the table towards Gordon. "Day in day out you straighten your tie before the mirror, you put your badge of honour on and you go to work knowing that no matter you do you will never change a thing. Your constant realism as robbed you of your senses, leaving you in a drunken stupor as you indulge on its nonsense. What you and your department have achieved in the last few years can be compared to offering a headache tablet to a victim of an atomic bomb blast."

Today Ra's chose to not wear a tie, a rare period of relative casual behaviour for a man so bent on tradition and principle. But clothes don't make the man, in fact they diminish him and turn him into something else entirely. But that wasn't why he chose not to wear one today, honestly he couldn't remember what brought about the decision, besides he had other more pressing matters to think about. Outside of the café amongst the moving sea of people emerged a young woman, a girl who personified the season of summer with her tanned complexion and flowing blonde hair which would have made goldilocks jealous. Over her shoulder sat a backpack with Gotham University scrawled on it in large bold font, and from her jean pocket ran a wire to her ears deafening her to the outside world. Marching about 20 meters behind her were three GCPD officers however their uniforms were missing their respective name tags strangely.

From his seated position Ra's watched her from afar, observing her oblivious reactions to the world around her. Her name was Penny Cormack, she was 23 years old and studied journalism at Gotham State University. She owned a six year old motorbike, even though she'd failed her driving test four times which could probably be attested to her persuasive personality which could be seen through the various articles published by the school newspaper with her signature. A number of these pieces criticised the state of the City's local government, with the most recent one questioning the mysterious land purchasing made without the say so of the taxpayer. A young spirit gunned down in broad daylight by officers of the law, corrupted by the criminal organisations who had laid siege to Gotham City. A potent story Ra's had to admit. "When you go to bed at night do you shut yourself off from the world beyond your window? I suppose you'd have to, how else would you get to sleep knowing what was out there? Knowing that you were merely a drop of rain into the sea, a brief murmur overwhelmed by the eternal tempest. Knowing that your honest side was just as rotten as your opposing side?" Breaking his fixed gaze on Gordon to glance out of the window behind him, a sorrowful face watched the three officers pull out their guns on the young girl, their faces contorted with exclamations muffled by the glass and the distance. She never heard a thing. But Ra's heard the gun shots well enough.

[Deleted]

What would be considered a rather enjoyable conversation turned into something that Gordon couldn't quite put his finger on. This mystery man that approached the Commissioner to have what seemed at first to be casual conversation started to become this man pointing out that what the GPCD did, what the Commissioner of the GCPD did was nothing compared to the true weight of what was really happening in Gotham. James Gordon had felt that way before, sure. That much was apparent. To wake up everyday in the same cramped apartment that reeked of stale coffee and middle class scotch. The same route to work, the same meal at the same cheap diner on the corner two blocks away from the GCPD building. Every single morning. Thoughts of doubt entered his mind before but now he was actually being called out on them. Who was this man, what did he want? Why did he target the commissioner specifically. Out of curiosity the Commissioner didn't interrupt the man, instead he let him continue.


A lot of what this mystery man was saying Gordon had thought true before. A lot of the population of Gotham saw James Worthington Gordon a hero. A man that went up against all odds and still came out on top. They were wrong, everyone was wrong. Those events that happened, his own daughter getting shot in front of him? Pictures of her naked body showed to him while she was lying there, injured? Gordon didn't just walk out of that. A man doesn't just walk away from something as life changing as that. Or as life changing as seeing a life end right before your eyes. The sight of heart-break. The sight of hopelessness, that never leaves a man. It festers within his mind until that man has nothing. Until that man has a hard time seeing what is good and what is bad. Little people knew this but being a cop in Gotham really did have adverse affects on James Gordon.


He has been a cop for his entire life. Realistically that is all he knew, that is all he felt like he could ever do. James Gordon in his own mind wasn't a hero. He was just another man doing his job. The job that would ruin him because he couldn't save others. The job that he felt was his responsibility. The  job that would make a man not care about himself but others before himself. That job was being a police officer within the GCPD, that job was being the commissioner of the GCPD. James Gordon at this point was a fairly hollow man. Or at least a phantom of who he once was. A young and eager cop that wanted to save everyone. One day that cop would wake up and realize that such a thing could not be done. 

It just so happens that the day has finally came. 

Today was the day that Commissioner James Gordon would learn in the harshest way possible that not everyone could be saved. 

When the man stopped talking Gordon noticed that his attention shifted. From himself to some people outside. 

There was a young university student outside. Then there were three patrol officers near the young lady. What were they doing? Why were there three of them? Patrols in areas like this were two officers at most, not three.


That is when the Commissioners heart sank. He saw the first officer draw his sidearm, then the second and finally the third. They all shot the woman, at least once.

Everything around Gordon slowed down dramatically, the man that had recently been talking to him was now drowned out. The young student falling to the ground and everything else was almost like as it was in slow motion.


The cup of black coffee that Gordon was holding fell to the ground, the splash hitting his pant leg. That didn't matter. All that mattered to him was the life of that woman. That innocent woman that was gunned down in public by the police.


No, no. This couldn't be happening. Everything that James Gordon has worked for tumbling down in one fell swoop? No, this had to be some sort of nightmare. This couldn't be a reality.


The harsh fact of the matter was that it was a reality. One that police commissioner James Gordon did not want to face.


He sprung up from his seat, running out of the cafe and sprinting for the body of the woman as fast as he could.

"No, What have they done to you?" The commissioner made it to the dying woman as fast as he could. Unfortunately for him she was taking her last few breaths as he fell to one knee to hold her in her very last moments. 

Her life shouldn't have ended like this. She had a future. Police Commissioner James Gordon was supposed to make sure that future happened. It was his duty. He was sworn to protect, it was his duty to protect her. He failed. 

The woman's blood was on his hands, literally and in his mind figuratively as well. Police officers gunning down a young university student in the street? Why would someone do such a thing? She was a daughter. She had family. Her future was ended in less than ten seconds. What was this for? To send a message? To try to break a man like Commissioner Gordon? 

The woman struggled to say a word to the Commissioner, however it was too late. The officers had already disappeared into the crowd by the time Gordon was there, that much was clear. He didn't even notice. He had to be with her during her final moments. 

That much was clear. This was on him. 

The commissioner took off his trench coat, covering the deceased from the public eye. She deserved that much. 

There were citizens around him, as well as sirens in the distance. Some asked questions, some called out his name. 

He couldn't hear any of it. All he could focus on was the woman whose life ended in front of him people who should have kept her safe. 

Was this any different than seeing death and murder before? No, it was an all too familiar feeling. 

However this was the time when it truly got to the commissioner. 

Police Officers that he was supposed to lead just killed a young woman and robbed her of her future. 

That was the worse thing to see. To see and finally realize that the system was not as good as once thought. 

And maybe James Gordon was surprised that he wasn't crying. Although that just let him realize he was dead inside. 

He had been for a long time.

 

[Deleted]

After the initial fright that was the gun shot, a large crowd began to swarm the presumed to be deceased girl, watching the dogged Police Commissioner push through to her. From the wounds which had so brutally cut through her once athletic figure, a pool of crimson blood began to slowly spread out under her body as her last breaths desperately ejected it out onto the pavement. Some of it even reached the road, dripping down into the sewer grate that sat by the curb, which coughed up a light murky mist from below. Perhaps it was the lack of milk which made his coffee so bland, Ra's wondered as he picked up the half empty pot that Gordon had left, pouring its content into his own mug before trying it again, deciding once and for all that there was no hope for the tar like substance. At this point he was the only one still sat in the café, all the other customers had broken away to join the mob that stood further down the street.

Rising from his seat without the aid of the cane that he held in the palm of his hand, he took an exact amount of change from his inner coat pocket, leaving it on the table for the Waitress upon her return. He wasn't a thief after all. He wasn't stupid either, he made sure to leave no prints on either the cup or the dollar bills as he looked on his gloved hands. Walking out into the encroaching autumn breeze he ran his fingers down his long coat's buttons, folding them neatly into their respective holes before he turned around and steadily began to fade away into the crowds that continued to ferry down the street in the opposite direction. All the King's horses and all the King's men... He'd be seeing Gordon soon enough.

The three officers that had committed the atrocious act suddenly began to back away into the crowd as they heard the approaching sirens bellow down the avenue, waving their guns at anyone who tried stop them. "Back off and no one gets it!" As they advanced backwards the crowd failed to part to their demands, resolutely standing their ground in the face of the armed assailant's potential for a continued shooting. Each and every face in the crowd was one of an intense hatred and loathing, the sum of years of despair and depression at the poor state of affairs in Gotham. Was this the straw that would break the Camel's back? The League of Assassins hoped so. "I said get ba-" The one who had barked the first order's second demand for compliance was cut short by a hefty stone which shot out of the crowd, breaking his nose as it slammed into his nose. With blood gushing from each nostril and blurred vision he began to stumble slightly before his co conspirators new what was happening, giving a few irate bystanders the opportunity to lunge for them. With in a second the injured Police Officer had had his weapon struck from his hand, with the gun now sat firmly in the direction of the two others as the Broker who caught it squeezed his finger on the trigger. "You bastards don't even deserve to live!" His out cry sparked a wave of support from the crowd who now pushed on past Gordon and the corpse to the Officers who stood bewildered and surrounded.

Stretching his finger around the trigger until the magazine had run dry, the vigilante who had disarmed the first officer had shot the three Lawmen dead. Their bodies had no time to hit the floor as like animals at feeding time the Crowd sat upon, tearing their uniform to the pieces as they lifted the corpses up for all to see. "This is what happens to scum in our City!" A soccer Mom roared out to the approval of many who chanted in agreement to her message of public retribution to the point that they had forgotten about the Young Girl who lay on the floor meters from them. Distant sirens became an immediate warning as a number of response vehicles pulled up next to the group of pedestrians who now numbered close to one hundred people. Slurs of disgust from the Militant Crowd shot out as the reinforcements began to break through to Gordon, the dead Girl and the dead Officers with some effort. How could the Police now defend a public who would despised the badge? And the League would make sure that they knew every last little dirty secret about the whole scandal, more kindling for the inferno to come.