Chapter Text
Normally he would have been the one to arrive at the scene. With Harvey by his side. With every right to be there. To look for clues. To assess the damage made to the bodies. First one to ask Nygma what it is that he’s got for them. He would have never thought that at one point in his life he won’t be the one to investigate the crime scene. That instead he will be the one that police call after a very long time as their last resort at catching the killer. Now Jim Gordon was no longer a Detective Jim Gordon. Just Bounty hunter Jim Gordon. And to say that his acting captain did not like that transition was an understatement. That’s why on this morning when the phone called Jim could easily guess that either Harvey had to do some hard convincing to make Barnes contact him off all people or they really had no other option but to use him as bait. Jim agreed to come down to the precinct and then got up from his bed. He didn’t have anything else to do today anyway. Might as well help, Jim thought to himself while dressing up, ignoring that little nagging voice in his head that told him that perhaps he should just drop the act and go back to being a detective. He couldn’t do that. Not after all that happened. He didn’t deserve Lee and he didn’t deserve the badge either. How could he?
After all, not only did he help Penguin kidnap Galavan but also put a bullet in the guy’s head instead of bringing him to justice. That is not something a good detective does. He swore to protect the United States from people such as Oswald Cobblepot. He should have brought Penguin to justice as well a long time ago, but instead he ended up murdering someone with the guy. To make the matters worse he also worked against Barnes not so long ago and gave Fish Mooney to Oswald. But did it even matter anymore? It was just another deal. Just another string connecting him to someone who once owned the city as a King of Gotham and now owned it as a mayor. Funnily enough there was a time when he thought that Oswald Cobblepot was a living proof that Jim Gordon will never let anyone corrupt him. That he won’t ever confirm to the city’s rules. That Jim Gordon is different from all these corrupt cops in the city. But now every time he looked at Penguin Jim was reminded of his failure. He failed at cleaning the city from criminals. Failed at cleaning the GCPD. Somewhere along the way he did confirm to the city’s standards. Lee was right: he did change. He was no longer the city’s greatest hero. Even though the only criminal he’s ever sided with, except for that one time when he wanted Falcone to take the power back, was Oswald Cobblepot. Even though he tried over and over to put distance between them. Even though he was such a jerk to him he sometimes wondered where the line was. How much of an asshole Jim can be to him before Oswald finally snaps and slits his throat? But he never did. And Jim always found himself going back to him or bumping into him in the least expected moment. It was unnerving and annoying to him when he was a detective, but he told himself that now he didn’t deserve that badge either way. So what if he makes another deal with the devil himself? There is no redemption for him anyway.
Jim shook his head, focusing on choosing the outfit for today. He had to get out of his head.
Instead of a white button-down shirt he would usually wear for work he opted for a black tank top and a leather jacket that gave him more of that tough guy look that turned out to be very useful in his bounty hunter life. It took him approximately thirty minutes to get to GCPD and just half of that time to realize that coming in on that day was a huge mistake.
Right after he’s got there Harvey came running to him hurriedly. He was twisting his face in a half smile even though he was clearly disturbed by something.
“Jim!” Gordon instantly looked to his right and focused on Harvey instead of Barnes office.
“Hi, Harvey!” Jim smiled instantly. Seeing Harvey made him realize how much he actually missed the guy. With Harvey swamped at work and Jim running around the city hunting bad guys they rarely went out anymore and if there was something Jim missed from the precinct it was Harvey’s sense of humor. He would, of course, never admit that to anyone but himself. “How are you holding up?”
“Me? Good. You? Should get the hell outta here right now, ‘cause let me tell you: you’re not gonna like what’s coming.”
Harvey put his hand around Jim’s shoulder and started leading him towards the exit. Jim stopped him though.
“Oh, come on, Harv. I’ve already been undercover quite a few times. And what is that anyway, you don’t believe I can do it or what?”
Jim kept smiling at his ex-partner while he turned them both around and started walking towards Barnes’ office.
“It’s not about you not being able to do it. It’s about you not really wanting to do it, because it’s crazy. This whole idea can’t and won’t work. Barnes is just desperate, obviously, since...”
But Jim didn’t listen to him. Instead he got up the stairs and then stopped immediately looking through the glass doors of Barnes’ office.
“What’s Penguin doing here?!” And there it was. That edge in Jim’s voice that would appear every time they were talking about or seeing Penguin. At first, back when Harvey didn’t know that Jim hadn’t shot the guy at the pier, he just thought that Gordon hated this reminder of his darker self. Then, after Cobblepot revealed to them that he was in fact far from dead, Harvey thought that Jim was just angry at the guy for coming back. For making things even more complicated for him. But no, the time has passed and Jim’s emotional response to Penguin didn’t go away. In fact, Bullock thought that Jim himself wouldn’t be able to tell why he was constantly so angry at that little freak. Don’t get him wrong, Harvey hated that little punk as well, but the twisted relationship that Penguin and Jim formed could come in handy just as Harvey’s relationship with Fish did quite a few times when she was the one in power. For this reason, Harvey thought Jim should play nice with Penguin, at least so that the guy actually helped them when they needed it.
“He’s here for the same reason you...”
Jim didn’t let Harvey finish. Instead he let go of the man and rushed inside, leaving Harvey no other option but to follow him.
“’Kay. Just don’t say I didn’t warn you.”, Harvey murmured under his breath and went inside to watch a shit show that was probably going to begin in just a few seconds.
“You wanted to see me, sir?” Jim asked, straightening his posture a little and not even sparing the Penguin one glance. The little guy was not going to let that slide though. Before Barnes could answer Jim Penguin chipped in:
“Hello, James, old friend, pleasure to see you.”
Jim pursed his lips together, but looked over at Oswald, who’s face lighted up with a smile. A little blush colored Cobblepot’s cheeks when Gordon sent a thigh, forced smile his way.
„Oswald,” he offered in a form of greeting and was already turning his face away from Penguin when the mayor spoke again.
„How are you these days, my friend?”
Harvey could swear that if Cobblepot calls him ‘a friend’ in front of Barnes one more time Jim will finally snap and shoot him right in that smooth face of his. Jim’s lip trembled a little at the mayor's words, but other than that he managed not to show any emotions.
„I’m fine, Oswald,” He spitted out his name through gritted teeth, a new found tension evident in his smile. He sent Penguin a warning look, but Cobblepot’s smile never even wavered.
Jim swiftly turned his attention to Barnes, who was watching the whole exchange with the crease between his eyebrows, and Harvey had to hold back a chuckle. Barnes has never seen the two interact with each other before and Harvey could only imagine how insane the idea of the two of them working undercover together seemed to him before Jim walked into that office. James was his golden boy and before that whole fiasco with Nygma he probably would have never even imagined Jim having any sort of acquaintance with a notorious criminal like this. After they cleared Jim’s name of the accusations it was evident that Barnes’ faith in his little soldier was restored again. This is why he was so angry with him for not coming back to GCPD. Now, however, Jim unknowingly confirmed that he was more than familiar with Cobblepot. Even though he was putting a great effort into making it seem that he is not he himself jeopardized it by calling Penguin by his first name.
Nobody at the precinct would ever do that and Barnes knew that.
“Yes, right” Barnes was probably still trying to assess just how closely Jim knows Penguin. When the punk had told him before that the only way in which this is going to work out is if he works with Jim Gordon, Barnes choked on his coffee. It took Jim approximately a few seconds to make him wonder if the mayor’s request was not in fact as crazy as he thought Harvey could tell by the grimace on Captain’s face. “I called you here today, because I need mayor’s assistance with the case and he refused to work with any of my officers. I was reluctant to put you on this case, but as mayor has put it, because of the specific nature of this case it would make more sense for him to go undercover with someone who has…” Barnes hesitated. His eyes left Gordon’s and focused on Cobblepot’s for a short moment. A grimace appeared on his face and when he finally finished the sentence it was evident that he is not using his own words, but Penguin’s. “history with him.”
“We don’t have history.” That positively smashed that silly smile off Penguin’s face even though everyone in that room except Barnes knew that Jim has just lied.
“You don’t?” Barnes sounded hopeful and Harvey couldn’t help but snicker, enjoying this a little too much for his own good. “You have something to say on that matter, Bullock?”
“Oh, no, no, Captain. Just something stuck in my throat.” Harvey raised his hands and Jim turned around to give him a hateful look. “You know what? I’ve just remembered Alvarez wanted my intel on some case, so…”
He let himself out, leaving Jim with Barnes and Cobblepot.
“So where were we? Gordon, I really need you to be honest here, alright? It is really important for me to close that case I was just telling you about, however, this will require you to work with mayor Cobblepot.”
Jim glanced at Oswald. The expression on Penguin’s face wasn’t a happy one anymore. Jim probably ruined his good mood when he started denying their acquaintance. He couldn’t help himself though. With Essen it was easy to be honest. She didn’t judge him, because she knew how things were in Gotham. But Barnes? Barnes would never understand that Jim had to take certain measures in order to be able to work in GCPD, in order to make a change that Barnes also wanted to make. When Gordon arrived in Gotham he was the same: he thought that law stood above everything else, that there was only white or black and that there was no validation to working with a criminal, to be acquainted with one, exchange favors with them or even worse, commit a crime with them… Gordon learned the hard way that to survive in this city, to be able to fight for what you believe in, sometimes you have to do something you’re not proud of. Lee thought it was something he’s just told himself to justify his actions and perhaps she was right, but if Jim was totally honest with himself, he didn’t think there was another way around it. Still, these favors, the thing’s he has done, destroyed his life. Put him in jail after all. Put him away from the woman he loved. Made him undeserving of the badge he was carrying for so many years. Made him question his own character, his values and ideas. The world turned out to not be black and white and Jim still struggled with this fact. He still didn’t know how he fit in this grey world and what this strange relationship with Cobblepot has made him into. So how could he admit this to Barnes? How could he look him in the eye and say that their acquaintance goes way back? That it’s complicated and hard to explain, that it is so strange that he rarely even admits it to himself, but for some reason he does not treat Cobblepot like the rest of the criminals he encounters? That his first response to whatever Oswald proposes or wants from him is always ‘no’, but somehow he ends up doing it anyway? How could he explain to Barnes that even though he would claim loudly that Oswald Cobblepot is a liar, a psychopath, criminal and manipulator, Jim still would go to him for help? Of course, he wouldn’t be happy, he would be angry at himself and at Cobblepot and he would be harsh on the guy, because Oswald made his life difficult and because Jim hates talking to him, because it makes him feel uneasy. He would bitch about it to Harvey, argue with him that they do not need Penguin’s help, but somehow he would always end up at his door, waiting to be let in. Jim didn’t like the thought of it. Didn’t really let himself think about it too much. He preferred pretending that Oswald Cobblepot didn’t exist, that he’s never brought Oswald to that pier, never let Penguin live or that Cobblepot has never returned to the city after that. And most of the time it worked. Until it didn’t and that’s when Jim would get angry. It was complicated and Jim didn’t know what to think about it anymore, so he didn’t. Just like he pretended not to think about Lee.
“What exactly needs to be done?” Jim asked finally, not answering any of the questions asked by Barnes.
“We’re after a serial killer, who’s been active for the past nine years. He was never dealt with before, his case closed right after it opened and I think that’s because he has some powerful friends. Connections that got him out of this many times before. At least, that’s how it looks. He was only ever killing corrupted politics and other powerful people that had some dirt on them, so apparently it didn’t bother no one in the GCPD. Mayor Cobblepot brought this case to me after the murderer struck again.” That surprised Jim, who still remembered how Oswald discredited GCPD in front of all those journalists. How he used “GCPD’s incompetence” in his campaign. And now he wants to work with them? Help them catch the killer?
“With all due respect, sir, but I thought that mayor Cobblepot finds GCPD rather incompetent? What makes him want to work with us all of a sudden?”
Jim purposely directed his question at Barnes and not at Oswald, however it was the latter that answered him.
“Oh, James, but I don’t,” Jim couldn’t help looking over at Oswald with creased eyebrows. Cobblepot smiled at him sweetly. “want to work with GCPD, I mean. From what I recall you are not GCPD detective anymore.”
“Then why you didn’t just come to me with this? What exactly do you want from GCPD?” Gordon turned around to face him and even moved in his direction, getting into his personal space, forgetting for a second that Barnes was still watching them intently. Now his focus lied solemnly on Oswald and if the other’s smile was anything to go by this turn of events was the one he wished for.
“It’s pretty simple really. You see, my friend, now that I’m a mayor I need the GCPD to actually do its job. So we are going to catch this killer and put him behind bars and GCPD is going to take credit for that while I’m going to get praised for not only working with them, but also improving their performance.”
“And me? What do you need me for, Cobblepot?”
Oswald didn’t answer right away and for a moment Jim saw something flash in his eyes and even though he had no idea what it was, it told him the only thing he needed to know: Oswald, obviously, was hiding some ulterior motive.
“I believe Captain Barnes was going to tell you that before you, so unkindly, excluded him from this conversation.” Now Oswald turned away from him wordlessly and Jim gritted his teeth yet again before facing captain Barnes as well. He didn’t move away before doing so and now they were standing so close to each other that their shoulders brushed. With the corner of his eye Gordon saw Oswald eyeing him expectantly, so he did not move. If Oswald didn’t like the proximity he could move away himself, Jim thought and even though he realized how childish it was of him, he still stayed in place. So did Cobblepot.
Barnes cleared his throat, visibly uncomfortable and if Harvey didn’t leave the room before, he would definitely do it now.
“Our killer targets people, who are in some way dirty. Whether their criminal activity concerns corruption, murder, child pornography or even adultery seems irrelevant to our killer. Our EM deduced from the pictures of the crime scenes and reports from them that the killer is punishing these people for their activities. He doesn’t just put a bullet in their heads either. Their bodies are usually violated in any possible way and posed, if one may call it that, in a manner that relates to the crimes they’ve committed. The killer almost always kills the spouse or a partner of the person targeted. Usually it’s because they knew about their incriminating activities and did nothing.
“Usually?” Jim asked.
“Yeah, there was that one time when the spouse was clean, but she walked in on her husband being murdered and tried saving him. Apparently she hit the murderer with the vase, but the impact was too weak to knock him up. From what it looked like he was sorry for killing her in the end. Her body was the only one that was put gently on a bed and with some flowers next to her as if he was saying sorry. He probably thinks he’s some kind of a hero. Cleaning Gotham. We cannot allow another criminal to run around thinking he’s giving people justice.” With this sentence he gave Oswald a pointed look and Jim smirked seeing Oswald make a face. However, the smirk was gone in the next few seconds when Barnes started talking about his involvement in catching this killer. “We believe that over the years he started picking his victims at prestigious parties organized only for the members of high society. Since these gatherings are highly exclusive and usually kept secret from the public, people attending them are not willing to talk or even allow anyone from the outside to join in on the activities. We think that the best approach is to lure him out. Go after someone that we will have our eyes on.”
“So I’m guessing that you want our new mayor to pose as a bait?” Jim inquired and Barnes nodded.
“Yes, but I’m not going to send a civilian to bait a murderer and just watch what happens from a distance. That’s why we need your help, Jim.”
“What do you want me to do? I’m not exactly from high society, I can’t go to that party…”
“No, but you don’t have to be. Not if you come with someone who is. Mayor Cobblepot doesn’t exactly fit in the profile, because he doesn’t have a partner or a spouse.” Jim’s face paled. No, Barnes couldn’t possibly mean…. “We need someone on the inside. Someone that I can trust, Jim. And since nobody would believe that mayor Cobblepot’s partner is working on GCPD you are our best bet. As a bounty hunter and someone who apparently has history with our new mayor you can very quickly convince the public that you and mayor Cobblepot are an item now…”
“Sir, with all due respect…” Jim tried telling Barnes how this would never work, but Barnes didn’t let him finish.
“It would also make you fit the profile since you were a cop, someone who is supposed to have principals, who is supposed to take down criminals…” Barnes cut himself off and for a second there Jim thought that he wasn’t going to add anything else, but then he went ahead and made it even worse. “not date them.” If Oswald’s huge intake of breath was anything to go by Barnes was lucky that he was at the precinct, surrounded by cops. If that wasn’t the case Cobblepot would probably murder him at the spot for openly calling him a criminal. Barnes continued, seemingly unbothered by their angry, defensive glances. “The way I see it, mayor Cobblepot is known for his past connotations with the mob and you are known as a good cop, who had his reputation ruined by some criminal. But perhaps you’re not a saint, huh? If we can make the public believe that during all these years you were covering up for Mr. Cobblepot, that in fact, you are corrupted, then I’m pretty sure he won’t be able to resist this.”
Jim felt physically sick. He couldn’t even look at Oswald. It was as if his worst nightmare was coming true. Not only did Barnes suggest that Jim was corrupted, but he also wanted to make the whole town believe it. And what was even worse was that he wanted them to believe that he and Cobblepot were something more. He could barely stand the thought of anyone assuming they were friends, let alone a freaking couple.
“That… That is not going to work, sir!” He opposed when he finally shook himself out of the initial shock. “Who would even believe such a thing?!”
“Oh, Jim, you can’t be serious! People will believe anything. I mean, they did believe that you, Gotham’s golden boy, killed someone, didn’t they?”
Oswald had a point. It didn’t change the fact that the whole thing made Jim nauseous. He couldn’t possibly pretend to be in a relationship with him. Wouldn’t be able to.
“Wait, let me get this clear. You want me to pretend to be in a relationship w-with… “Jim stuttered and gritted his teeth when it made Cobblepot look at him with a snarky smile, “Penguin. To make it public. So that the murderer knows that we’re an item, and then what exactly?”
“Then you go to that secret exclusive party that nobody wants to talk about and you do whatever it takes to make him go after you, or at least you make sure to find him in there.”
“Do we even know how he looks like or how he lures his victims in?”
“The wife of the last victim was killed in their home. We questioned neighbors and got lucky. One of them remembered a guy that was leaving their residence with a trash bag the day she was murdered. When the neighbor questioned him, he answered that he’s their new pool boy and that Mrs. Simonson asked him to take out the trash on his way out. We had the neighbor come down here and meet with our sketch artist. I believe this is how he looks.”
Barnes handled Jim the files and when he opened them he was met with the picture of what could be their killer. He was a caucasian male, had short, blond hair that fell on his forehead, almost reaching his big blue eyes. Full lips. Strongly defined jaw. Nice cheekbones.
“You have pictures of crime scenes and victims in there as well, but I wouldn’t go through them if you had a big breakfast this morning.”
He felt Oswald lining into him even more to look at the pictures from his shoulder and he felt himself tensing up at their closeness. Yet again he asked himself how he was supposed to pretend he was in a relationship with the man when he clearly couldn’t even stand being close to him. Then he looked at the pictures and his stomach turned. This killer, whoever he was, had to be truly ruthless for doing what he did to these people.
“Why are half of the victims missing their eyes and ears?” Jim asked, commenting on the least gruesome detail of them all.
“These are the spouses who knew, saw and heard what their other halves were up to, but did nothing to stop them.”
Jim wanted to say ‘no’ to this. He really did, but he already knew that he wouldn’t be able to do that. The cop inside him wanted his guy behind bars, awaiting death sentence. He couldn’t have someone like that strolling through the streets of Gotham and massacring people. Yes, they were all criminals or related to criminals, but nobody gave this person the right to pass judgment on them.
“When is that party?” Jim asked, resigned.
“In two weeks’ time.”
Jim sighted looking over at Cobblepot. He wasn’t smiling anymore, focused on the pictures in the files that Jim was holding. When he felt Jim’s eyes on him Oswald raised his own from the documents and looked him straight in the eye.
“No public displays of affection” he told him dead serious and Cobblepot wrinkled his brows for a short moment before realizing that this was Jim’s way of letting him know that he agrees to it.
“But of course, Jim. I wouldn’t do anything that would make you uncomfortable, old friend” Oswald smiled at him in the same way he did that when he came to the precinct to invite him to his party. This smile always gave Jim goosebumps.
“I’m serious. You try anything funny Cobblepot I swear to God I will shoot you in the face.”
“You have nothing to worry about, James. There is really no need for us to make out in public. People will believe it anyway.”
“Yeah? And how exactly do you want to make that happen, huh? You have some sort of a plan?”
“Well, yes, I do, but you have to promise to play nice.”
“I am nice.”
Oswald snorted.
“Of course you are, but this…” he made a vague gesture between them, relating to their ‘relationship’ “means you cannot shove me into walls and shout at me whenever you feel like it or spit out words as if talking to me was some kind of punishment. You’re sure you can manage that, old friend?”
Jim didn’t let Oswald take a raise of him. It wasn’t like Cobblepot was wrong either. Jim wasn’t exactly nice to him in the past, but this was for the case. It was different. Important. And if he was going to do this, even if he didn’t like it, he would do all it takes to lure the killer out. Jim, after all, took his job very seriously.
“If that’s what it takes for us to catch this psycho then I think I can stand two weeks of playing house with you.”
“If you’re sure…” Oswald answered, not breaking eye contact. It’s been awhile since their last starring match, but the time didn’t make it any weirder than it was.
“I’m sure.” He caught him off.
“It’s settled then.” It was Barnes who interrupted their starring match. “You have two weeks to make the public believe it. I don’t care how you do it as long as it works. You will have backup with you at the party. Until then I hope there will be no problems. Don’t make me regret enlisting you both on this job. Got it?”
Jim moved away from Oswald then and locked eyes with Barnes.
“Yes, sir.”
“Dismissed.”
Jim nodded and retreated from Barnes’ office followed by Oswald Cobblepot, his soon-to-be-boyfriend.