It was the kind of Gotham evening that tried to look peaceful. Strings of warm lights hung from tree branches, swaying gently above a field of white tents and folding chairs. The charity event was being held in Robinson Park deliberately open, deliberately vulnerable a quiet statement from Councilman Kinsey that he wasn't afraid to show his face in his own city.
Kieran Everleigh arrived just as the councilman was shaking hands with a cluster of donors near the makeshift stage. The air smelled faintly of roasted chestnuts and damp grass, but underneath it all lingered the low hum of tension that always followed gatherings like this. Gotham didn't believe in safety, that much was apparent by the numerous police around.
Kinsey spotted him immediately. "Kieran! You made it."
Kieran smiled as he approached, extending a hand. "Of course I did. Congratulations on pulling this together, Councilman. There's no better time than now to hold something like this. Shows the people you aren't afraid of some two bit gangs."
Kinsey clasped his hand, firm and grateful. "That's the idea. They've been saying I should keep my head down, stay inside for a while—but I'm not built for hiding."
"I wouldn't respect you if you were," Kieran said lightly. "The city needs to see courage, not curtains."
The two men shared a small, knowing look before both bursted into laughter.
"So," Kinsey continued, lowering his voice, "about the Hope Orphanage how's progress?"
"Blueprints are finished," Kieran replied. "I'd like to meet this week to go through logistics — staffing, permits, the final approval on the lot."
"Wednesday work?" Kinsey asked. "Midday?"
"Perfect," Kieran said. "I'll have everything ready."
They exchanged a brief handshake before parting ways. Kinsey back toward the stage to greet more donors, and Kieran slipping into the mingling crowd beneath the glowing park lamps.
He stopped to greet a few familiar faces — a council aide here, a charity organizer there — before a man in a navy coat approached him near the refreshment table.
"Mr. Everleigh, isn't it?" the man asked, voice smooth, accent clipped. "Connor Hales, Metropolis. I own a few development firms there. Supposed to be here for a few weeks, but…" He cast a glance toward the skyline, where Gotham's smog and distant sirens painted an ugly contrast to the park's calm. "Think I'll cut it short. City's getting restless."
Kieran nodded sympathetically. "Understandable. Still, I'm glad we crossed paths. Real estate's always been an interest of mine — particularly here in Gotham."
"Then I hope you'll visit Metropolis sometime," Hales said, offering a business card. "Assuming this place hasn't collapsed by then."
Kieran smirked faintly as he slipped the card into his pocket. "You'd be surprised how long Gotham's been on the edge."
A burst of applause rolled across the park as Broderick took the stage again, thanking sponsors and donors. People turned, smiling, distracted.
That was when the first crack cut through the air.
For a split second, no one reacted — the sound echoing strangely in the open park. Then another shot rang out, closer this time, and the crowd erupted into screams. Wine glasses shattered. People dove for cover.
Kieran's smile vanished. Instinct took over. He grabbed Hales by the collar and shoved him behind a concrete bench just as a bullet tore through the banner above the stage. Kinsey's security scrambled, shouting into radios. Sirens wailed in the distance.
From the distance Kieran saw a car peeling away at high speeds and the councilman getting ushered hurriedly away from the venue.
Kieran sighed before turning to the real estate mogul next to him, "Isn't this more fun than Metropolis though?"
***
Kieran ducked into the Continental like shortly after giving a short statement to the police. The doorman glanced up from his ledger as Kieran passed, then gave him a quick, respectful nod.
"Keep an eye out," Kieran said, voice low. "They're getting bold."
"Sure thing, boss," the doorman answered, eyes narrowing just enough to show he'd heard.
Nolan climbed the private elevator and eased into his penthouse. The lights were dim, the city a smear of sodium and neon below. He flicked on the TV—live coverage, reporters out of breath, the same grainy footage from the park replaying in a loop. A chyron crawled: PARK SHOOTING — INVESTIGATION UNDERWAY. Nolan watched for a beat, then turned away and went straight for the monitors.
Marcy's logistics dashboard pulsed on one screen: movement queued, routes confirmed, a rolling ETA on a convoy crossing through neutral blocks. Her most recent note pinged at the corner of the display: Merch is moving south batch en route. Expect slight delay at Bridge 9; rerouting now. Nolan tapped a quick acknowledgement.
Naima's message popped up on another line: Rails secured for now. Reinforcements in place. Sending two more teams to the southern quarter. Nolan let out a long, slow breath and rubbed the bridge of his nose.
He pulled a laminated city map onto the desk—folded, marked, worn at the edges. He could still see previous smudges of marker, he began sketching: Odessa here, a jagged red; Whisper lines across the rail yards; his own territory swathing the tracks and tunnels in a heavy black. The ink stroked the surface with the same calm focus he used for everything these days.
He clicked his tongue, glanced up at the empty room, and let the three voices in.
"Kieran," he said aloud, not waiting for anyone to start talking, "Quentin, Vey are we all okay with this plan? This is on a much larger scale than before. If a single thing goes wrong we might have to make concessions."
"We can pull this off!" Quentin urged, "We will be legends, icons!"
Vey scoffed, "It's a good plan, we just need to figure out how to diversify the attention on us when the time comes."
Nolan nodded, "I've talked to two face but he's unreliable, I say we have a fifty fifty chance."
Kieran laughed, "Literally."
Nolan sighed once more but now a smile played on his lips, he was tired so fucking tired but, for some reason he felt fulfilled.
He has never felt like this before.
***
The swamp breathed slow and patient as if time itself had come to rest among the cypress knees. Mist lay low across the dark water, thin as silk, carrying the sour-sweet of rot and the sharp green of new growth. Dragonflies stitched bright lines across the air. A distant heron folded itself into the silhouette of a broken tree and watched, one beady eye glinting like a coin.
Birdsong tried to pretend everything was ordinary. Frogs answered in lazy choruses. The moon, half-swallowed behind a cloud, threw silver ribs across the water and made the moss on the trunks look like faded velvet.
But there was something in the hush that didn't belong to gentleness — a wrongness humming under the surface. The trees leaned in, their black fingers clawing the fog; the mud at the bank looked too still, as if someone had pressed a thumb into the edge of the world and left the impression smudged.
For a long minute nothing happened. The swamp waited and breathed and let small things happen a frog's hop, the soft plop of something tiny falling into water — as if drawing attention away from the one place that could not be ignored.
Then the water broke.
Something came up through the dark snapping like a lightning strike, a hand. It thrust through the glassy skin of the marsh with patient, deliberate force. Mud slid off it in black beads. The fingers were thick, and pale.
It gripped the saturated bank and hauled the rest of itself out of the water with the sluggish inevitability of tide. The hand left a smear of muck and trailing bubbles. Whatever it belonged to let out a low, wet sound not a croak, not a growl exactly, but something that made the leaves shudder and the heron take off with a startled cry.
The swamp folded back to its stillness as if nothing so rude had happened at all, save for the imprint of large feet and a heavy breathing.