Ultimatum

The phone rang abruptly while Li Jie was still half asleep. Groggily, he switched on the bedside lamp, fumbled for his phone, and squinted at it with a frown.

Two forty in the morning. Fucking hell.

Cobblepot's name flashed on the screen. If this wasn't something serious, Li Jie swore he would break the bastard's other two legs over and over tomorrow.

"Hello? What the hell are you..."

"Jay, he came," Cobblepot interrupted. "Just now!"

"What?" Li Jie froze, then immediately caught on. "Is he with you? Is it safe to talk?"

"It's safe. He's not here." Cobblepot's voice trembled slightly, but remained fairly steady overall. He didn't sound frightened so much as furious. "He... sent someone with... a gift..."

"Wait there. I'll be right over."

He jumped out of bed, splashed cold water on his face, grabbed his service weapon and car keys, and drove his Three-Ring Cherokee straight to the Iceberg Lounge.

Li Jie had seen bars at this hour before. Usually, the liveliest rush had passed, leaving patrons whose desires were running high on alcohol and assorted illegal substances. But the Iceberg Lounge was eerily quiet, with two underlings guarding the entrance. When they saw Li Jie, they hurriedly opened the door for him.

"You'd better have a decent explanation. I've already notified Gordon, and he's just as cranky when someone wakes him up. He'll be here in..."

"Come take a look, Jay. Come take a look."

Li Jie began to feel something was wrong. He had never believed Cobblepot's usual cautious, humble manner meant he genuinely feared him or the Gotham Police Department behind him. It was merely protective camouflage born of habit. But now the man's voice sounded inappropriately calm, as though he were forcing each word through clenched teeth, and it gave Li Jie a bad feeling.

He walked toward the booth at the very back, where they had once sat across from each other. Oswald Chesterfield Cobblepot sat expressionless on the upholstered bench, his face flushed crimson, with only the muscles around his mouth and jaw tightening from time to time.

Gabe, the bodyguard who never left his side, wasn't behind him. A roughly made wooden box sat on the table instead.

As Li Jie approached, he noticed Cobblepot's fists clenched fiercely beneath the table. The man seemed oblivious to his approach. Li Jie took a mask and rubber gloves from his pocket, put them on, drew a deep breath, and lifted the lid.

Even though he had gradually grown accustomed to Gotham's many murder scenes, Li Jie couldn't stop his stomach from churning.

Dirty sawdust lined the box, with a human hand lying on top, severed at the wrist. The cut was ragged, as though an axe had hacked it off by brute force, and the blood had turned dark red. The fingers curled at grotesque angles, dirt and crusted blood packed beneath the nails. A pungent stench of blood and decay hit him.

Fighting back his nausea, he carefully brushed aside the sawdust and discovered a folded note beneath the hand. A sentence had been assembled on it from letters cut out of newspapers:

"Prepare the weapons and matching ammunition on the list. Tomorrow night, await the location. Fail, and the next box will contain your mother's eyes. -B.M."

The reverse bore a long list, likewise pieced together from newspaper clippings. Li Jie gave it a quick scan. From assault rifles to submachine guns, pistols, and even explosives and some anti-armor weapons, every item was quality hardware.

"Jay."

Li Jie looked up to find Cobblepot raising his head, his teeth clenched as he stared fixedly at the box in Li Jie's hands.

"He dared threaten me with my mother! How dare he! I'll kill him with my own hands!"

"Calm down first!" Li Jie raised a hand, then pointed at the wooden box. "Are you sure this is your mother's..."

"No. I don't know."

Rage mingled with fear made Cobblepot tremble all over. "I've already sent Gabe over there with some men. If he dares! If he really dares..."

His nails dug deep into his palms. The sound of the door opening interrupted him as James Gordon strode briskly into the room, bringing a gust of cold air with him.

"What's the situation? Whoa."

He stepped forward, shook his head at the severed hand in the box, and put on gloves before accepting the note Li Jie handed him and quickly reading it.

"B.M. What does that stand for?"

"Black Mask, obviously. Think about what they wear on their faces. What else could it be, Black Monkey, Black Mouse, or Black Moon?"

Li Jie suddenly felt that the name Black Mask sounded familiar. Wasn't this guy a supervillain too, and a pretty rich one at that?

Fuck. Rich people were all goddamn freaks.

"Jim, he's going to hurt my mother." Cobblepot looked at Gordon pleadingly. "You've met her, haven't you? She's innocent."

"Yes. The police will protect her." Gordon nodded, regarding Cobblepot with a complicated look. "Give me the address. I'll send officers over."

He turned to Li Jie. "What's next? Any plans?"

"Let's sit down first and collect ourselves." Li Jie gestured to the two men. "Oz, how was this thing delivered? Did he show up in person?"

"No. Someone stuffed one of my men into a sack in the back alley and broke his leg, then told him to bring this over." Cobblepot steadied his breathing, his expression grim. "I've already sent him to the hospital."

"Is this guy reliable?"

"He should be." Cobblepot nodded. "He's been with me a long time."

"All right. Let's assume there's nothing wrong with any of that." Li Jie turned to Gordon. "If you were Black Mask, and you'd beaten up his man and delivered the gift, what would you do next?"

"I'd keep an eye on him." Gordon pointed at Cobblepot. "See whether he tries anything. In other words, someone could very well be watching this meeting from the darkness outside right now."

"But he didn't say not to call the police, which means..." Li Jie picked up the thread. "Maybe he doesn't care if the police get involved, or even wants to pull something big right in front of them... no, Black Mask isn't an idiot. That's too dangerous. Maybe once we leave, he'll try to kill one of us, then toss our head to Cobblepot to scare him out of his wits."

"But that would mean taking on both Gotham's police and its underworld. I wouldn't do that, at least not before getting the weapons." Gordon thought it over as well. "I'd lie low. Once I tell Cobblepot the location, the police will naturally try to set a trap and catch me. Then I'd..."

"Create a diversion?"

All three shouted in unison, only to lapse back into thought.

"That's just our own speculation. Even if it's true, what would his actual target be?"

"The stuff he's demanding from you would be enough to arm fifty men." Li Jie glanced at Cobblepot, then at Gordon. "Have any gangs been recruiting on a large scale lately?"

"No. I checked on most of the dangerous individuals throughout the day. Only a few arsonists were missing. The others probably received a warning from the Roman and have been behaving themselves."

"That's right. There's been no word of anyone recruiting in the underworld, either. Nobody wants to get on Mr. Falcone's bad side at a time like this," Cobblepot added.

"Hmm. Then this equipment is for his future men. Where could he find that many criminals willing to wreak havoc all at once? Unless he's planning to attack Blackgate Penitentiary."

Li Jie smiled. "That would be suicide, so we're probably looking in the wrong direction."

"No." Gordon's expression suddenly grew serious. "There's another place. If those people got out... it's hard to say whether that or Blackgate Penitentiary would be worse."

"Where?"

"Arkham Asylum."

Uh... all three fell silent for a moment.

"A bunch of lunatics... how much could they do?"

Li Jie pondered the question aloud. Arkham, that illustrious breeding ground of talent, certainly had a formidable reputation. But he hadn't heard of any major villains being locked up there yet, nor would he ordinarily go out of his way to take a look inside. He wasn't sure just how much fighting power its current crop of psychiatric patients could muster if they went berserk.

"Gotham City's government has paid very little attention to psychiatric patients over the years. Whenever one turns up, they just toss them in there and call it a day." Gordon shook his head disapprovingly. "So practically nobody knows how many people are packed inside. Maybe I could ask Doctor Strange when he comes to Central Headquarters on Friday, but we don't have that kind of time."

"Let's get moving. We need to prepare early." Li Jie checked his watch. It was around four ten in the morning, the darkest hour of the night.

"Regulations require you to report to your superior promptly." Li Jie nudged Gordon and showed him the watch face. "Call Loeb. Nobody gets to fucking sleep!"

Although Gordon's face remained tense, the corners of his mouth began twitching upward despite himself.

"Sergeant, I admire your commitment to procedure. That's what we'll do. I'll report to the chief immediately!"