Over the next few days, nothing much seemed to happen.
Gordon was discharged from the hospital. The first thing he did upon returning to the precinct was reinstate the citywide manhunt for Jonathan Crane, but leads were scarce. The specter who spread fear seemed to have melted into Gotham's shadows, vanishing without a trace.
Outside the Eastern District Precinct, large trucks arrived one after another, delivering a constant stream of building materials. The roar of machinery, the screech of metal being cut, and the workers' shouted calls almost never stopped, turning the entire area into a vast, noisy construction site.
"Easy, easy! Damn it, that's specialty reinforcement steel, not your breakfast bacon!"
Wilson stood in the yard with his hands on his hips, a yellow hard hat he had swiped from some worker perched crookedly and absurdly on his head. Spittle flew as he bellowed at the passing trucks and construction workers. But with double overtime pay on offer, the workers not only took no offense, they cheerfully greeted him.
They were doing more than fitting out the attached Children's Shelter School for displaced children and the officers' dormitory. The old East End Police Department building was being reinforced at a frantic pace as well. Heavy precast concrete slabs, rolls of barbed wire, thick steel I-beams, and bullet-resistant composite panels were delivered to the Eastern District Precinct day and night.
Layer after layer of steel bars and hinged bulletproof steel shutters were fitted over the windows. Sturdy steel frames were welded onto key load-bearing sections of the exterior walls, and even the ventilation openings were fitted with barbed grilles.
"OMG..."
Oswald Cobblepot stood in the precinct parking lot, dumbstruck as he watched the building grow steadily more massive.
"Jay, you... you..."
He opened his mouth several times before finally finding