Injustice: The Path to Hell

Birds of Prey

Chapter LXVII - Godfather

Monday 5th July 2010, 08:40.
New Jersey,
Gotham City,
Gotham Police Station.

Filling out the rest of the paperwork, Esau handed over the forms to the police officer behind the desk and looked back to Jason who was moodily sitting on one of the benches. His arms were crossed over his chest and a prominent scowl was on his face as he glared angrily at the ground, feet swinging harshly as the soles of his shoes scoffed the ground.

It had taken him only a few minutes to actually find Jason who while being sneaky, was still only a child and Esau easily caught him. After that, walking to the police station was the longest task simply due to how difficult Jason was. He struggled and fought against Esau every step of the way until they eventually reached the police station.

At this point, all the fight just seemed to leave him.

"Is Jim Gordon here?" Esau asked after turning away from Jason.

The police officer behind the reception looked at Esau suspiciously, but before she could answer, someone else intervened. "Well, I'll be damned, if it isn't Esau himself. Come to see, Jim?" One, Harvey Bulloch exclaimed as he strolled up towards him. "Jesus, look at you. I remember when you were just a little brat causing Gordon to grow a few extra grey hairs."

Esau just smiled. "And I remember you being a cause for just as many." It had been a trend between them all as Esau had driven Harvey up the walls as a kid with him constantly running away from orphanages. Jim then went to find Esau and naturally, Harvey accompanied him, the constant trend of events led to the two being at odds with one another constantly, only putting it behind them when Esau turned fifteen.

"Hah." Harvey barked out a laugh before taking a look at the forms the police officer was still filling, only managing to catch a name. "Jason Todd, huh?" He questioned, looking to see the kid in question and then turned to Esau with a smile. "Kids almost as bad as you were, karmas a bitch ain't it?"

"True, but even karma hasn't got shit on your last girlfriend." This made a few of the nearby police officers stifle smiles and chuckles of amusement as Esau smirked cockily.

"Very funny," Harvey grumbled in good humour. "Jim's in his office, do you still want me to hold your hand?"

"Think I can manage but if it'll make you feel better then by all means, I'll hold your hand. Don't worry, the police may look all big and scary, but I promise they won't bite. She might though." Here Esau winked jokingly at the policewoman who had finished filling his forms, only to receive an unimpressed look in return.

Shaking his head, Harvey just chuckled and flipped Esau the bird, Esau responded in kind as he walked by Harvey, heading towards Jim's office.

Knocking on the door, Esau waited till he received a, "Come in," before doing just that.

Pushing open the door, Esau looked inside to see Jim sitting behind his desk, so engrossed in his work that he didn't even look up. "Hey, Jim." He greeted and instantly Jim's head shot up before he smiled happily.

Laughing, Jim got to his feet and embraced Esau who returned it, conscious though to keep his own strength in check. "Esau, how are you?" He asked with a smile, taking a step back to look at Esau. He looked fine physically and Jim could tell he had been working out due to the way he filled out his clothes, a simple pair of jeans and hoodie, with a t-shirt on underneath.

"I'm good, you?" Jim just waved it off, ushering Esau to a seat while taking his own once more.

"How long have you been back in Gotham?"

"Just a couple of hours. Ran into Jason Todd and brought him back here, thought I would come to see you as well while I was at it." Jim just nodded his head with a smile.

"So what have you been up to recently, you left in a hurry soon after..." Jim trailed off as his smile turned into a frown.

"Don't worry, I was out when it happened. I was getting some extra clothes to wear on my travels and when I found out that it was my apartment, I just decided to leave there and then. I didn't really fancy staying in Gotham much longer after I found out what happened." A straight-up lie, but Esau wasn't going to tell him that he was abducted by the government, implanted with a bomb in his neck and involved in the Arkham incident over a year and a half ago. 'Yeah, that would go over perfectly.'

"You know you can't just do that, Esau," Jim said and Esau nodded his head sadly.

"I know, I just," outwardly, Esau projected an image of sadness, but inwardly he felt sick. "I just didn't feel safe." Lying to Jim was never easy and always made him feel like a piece of shit, but Esau was equally scared of revealing that he was, or used to be Black Hood. If Jim thought of Black Hood in a similar way to how Barbara had before knowing the truth, then Esau didn't want to go through that again.

"Alright." Despite that, Esau could just tell that Jim wasn't fully convinced. "So, tell me where have you gone?"

Smiling, Esau answered with half-truths, there weren't certainly easier because it wasn't a complete lie. "I went to, France, Egypt, Turkey, Norway..." Esau listed off a few more countries and each one was the truth because while Slade had taken fewer missions so that he could focus on training him and Rose up to his minimum standards, that didn't mean he stopped taking missions altogether.

No, when Slade had a mission in a different country, he would take him and Rose along with him.

Considering that Slade had a safe house in not only every country but also in every state and major city, that made it simple. So while Slade was out on the mission, Esau and Rose would be given certain training tasks to complete, while Wintergreen would watch on to make sure they completed them.

"Sounds like you had a lot of fun travelling." Jim pointed out and now that he thought back on it, he was strangely surprised to see that he did. While training had been difficult, he had enjoyed it, not every moment due to other circumstances, but he had enjoyed himself more than he had realised.

"Yeah, I did." He replied, still shocked at this discovery.

Seeing that Esau was reeling from an unknown – to Esau anyway – discovery, Jim allowed himself to study Esau closer. He had grown a lot, not just physically, but mentally. Esau had always been childish, it was part of who he was.

Even when Bill died, Esau hadn't been overly affected.

This wasn't because Esau didn't love Bill, but because Joan worked hard to keep Esau's life normal.

It was this that eventually caused Joan to die from exhaustion.

All the while Jim could do nothing but watch as Joan, once a vibrant full of energy and life, slowly grew gradually more and more exhausted. The abundance of life drained away from her till she just couldn't continue on with the illusion any longer, paining him greatly with his inability to help as she rebuffed his every offer of aid. Stubbornly believing that she could care for Esau on her own, or that was what he had thought until he learned about the debt she and Bill had owed the crime lord, Black Mask.

Not only had she been protecting Esau, but also him and Barbara.

Yet as painful as all that was, it was nothing compared to once again being unable to do anything except watch as Esau's entire world came crumbling down to the ground.

The bubble Joan had built around him after Bil''s death popped and with it, Esau shattered.

Once again, Jim had been unable to do anything.

However, for the first time, he was starting to see parts of the old Esau once more.

The parts of Esau that only appeared when he was with Barbara.

It was as if Esau after all this time was starting to heal, not fully there was still a long way to go, but Jim was starting to see the image of who the man Esau would become. It was a great relief to him because the image of who Esau would eventually become was once a terrifying thing to see, an image of a boy beaten down by the world and becoming every bit as monstrous as those around him.

"Where do you plan to stay?" Jim eventually asked.

"To be honest, I was just planning to go to a motel." Esau shrugged, he hadn't really thought of where he was going to stay now that he was technically homeless, not a smart idea, but Jason's predicament had taken precedence at that moment in time.

Jim shook his head. "No, I have a spare room and you are more than welcome to stay. It would mean a great deal to me and Barbara, she's missed you more than me." Esau remained silent, he certainly didn't feel the same anger towards her as he once did, now things were just awkward with neither of them knowing what to do from this point on. "It's the least I can do to make up for not being able to help you when you needed it most."

"You know I've never blamed you, right?" Jim nodded his head at Esau's question. "You know as well as I do that no matter how much you tried, Black Mask would have never let you do more than you did. If you tried to push for even more, you and Barbara would have both been at risk. If that happened, I would never have forgiven you."

"I know," Jim responded. "But it doesn't change that as your godfather, I should have been there for you more. And now that I can, you don't seem to want it."

"It's not that I down want it." Esau interrupted. "It's just that I no longer need it. I've practically raised myself since mum died." Jim winced at the reminder of how little he had been able to do and Esau realised he should have probably phrased that better. "You've done everything you could with what little room Black Mask allowed you, that alone was more than enough for me. But just because I don't need it, doesn't mean that I wouldn't like your help every now and then."

The smile on Esau's face told Jim all he needed to know. "Takeaway suit you?"

"Have you actually managed to learn to cook a proper meal in the time I've been away?" He asked cheekily and Jim smiled. "Yeah, it'll do fine. I'll head over there in a bit, got something of my own to do first."

So, another chapter is done and I hope you all enjoyed it. Anyway, if you have any questions or suggestions, please let me know.