"It is natural to die as it is to be born."

Reviewing footage may be one of Alex's favorite tasks at work.

GCPD had received footage from The Dark Side; one camera from the inside and one from the outside looking at the front door. Although it was choppy and very pixelated, she was curious nonetheless. There could be something here that the witnesses may have missed. At this point, her and Gordon haven't had any leads or clues. Deep inside she knew it wouldn't be a one off thing. Alex pops the CD into the disk drive and it boots up. Clicking around, she fast forwards closer to the time just before the killing. She first reviewed the tape from inside. The unfortunate thing was the shitty camera quality plus the dimly lit area made it very difficult to make out any faces or ID's. She could barely even make out any witness identifications. Just messy pixelated blobs of people, moving around at a quick pace.

Suddenly she sees a silhouette stumble on stage. Although the stage was lit up, it was way too bright in the dark vicinity, making his features bright and distorted. He's talking but everyone's dismissive or waving him off stage. Alex really wished this tape had audio right about now. Then Samuel Locke appears, before death, walking over and dragging the scraggly guy off stage in a rather rough manner. The frail guy puts up a fight though, his thin limbs flailing about.

She fast forwards a little bit until she can see the reflection of red and blue lights lighting up the bar. She curses and takes the disk out and pops in the outdoor one. This gave her even less. It was pitch black and rainy.

"Useless." She grumbled, pushing herself from the desk and standing upright. She places the disks in the cases and leaves the computer room. She was at a standstill at the moment, unable to come up with any leads or new information. She almost wanted to write a closing report and file it away. She could reopen it if another similar murder shows up in Gotham.

Alex makes her way down the hall back towards the bullpen, but pauses, her ears picking up some rather interesting conversation from the break room to her left.

"She probably fucked the Sarge to get Detective." She immediately knew she was the topic of conversation at this moment. She recognized the voice. Officer Joe Sims.

"Flores? Nah, he wouldn't do a dirty broad like her." Chimes Officer Bradly Smyth. She can picture their smug faces right about now. When she was in their line of vision they always played fake nice, those dumb mother fuckers thought she was an idiot.

Ah yes. The only way a woman could beat a man for a position was to fuck her way there. It just shows how horrible some boys were raised in Gotham. Hate and misogyny flowing through their blood.

"You're right you're right." His voice then becomes condescending. "Apparently she's smart." They both crack into a fit of laughter.

The words didn't even sting, she knew the dark and insecure place they stemmed from. She felt sorry for those animals. The blow to their ego, being beaten by someone they deem frail and weak. They don't know the first thing about Alex. And they don't deserve to.

She popped her head in the doorway and almost laughed at their shocked expressions when they saw her there, like scared little deer in headlights. "If you boys want to speak about any issues you may have with me, I'll be in my office." Flashing a smug smile; she leaves them to wallow in their embarrassment.

...

"Afternoon Alex." Jim Gordon strides into her office, from his next door. "We're headed to Samuel Locke's funeral."

"Hm?" Confused, she looks up from her mundane paperwork.

"You know the chance of a killer visiting the funeral of their victims." He suggests, like it's obvious.

"But as far as we know, this is the only killing... that's more common in serial killers, no?" Alex retorts quickly, not truly understanding his angle at the moment.

Jim sighs, rubbing his forehead with his hand. "Are you doing anything more interesting here?" Also known as, the day or boring, let's go for a joyride.

She shrugs. "Guess not." A smile then tugs at her lips.

"Then let's go." They hopped in Gordon's car, and rode in silence. They hadn't gotten any new development the last couple of days, they haven't spoken much the last couple of days.

Some time in the car towards the cemetery, she realized something. "Oh shit, did I show you this?" She digs through her pocket and pulls out the device from the Batman. She shoves it into his peripheral vision, seeing as he's driving and all. "Your guy gave me this. In case another murder happens!"

"What in the hell- I've been working with him for years, he's never given me something like that..." Gordon says in disbelief, eyes moving from the road to the device, trying not to swerve into oncoming traffic.

"Hey, I don't know man, he just gave this to me." Alex shrugged. "He didn't say why."

"Maybe he doesn't want you going up there in that dark abandoned construction place alone, so maybe he thinks calling him might be safer?" Gordon suggested, not realizing how he sounded until the words came out.

Alex sarcastically laughs loudly, attitude laced through. Gordon winces. "That's so sexist. I was there alone when he showed up! You left me there, alone!" She's irrational and knows it.

"I'm just spitting ideas, Flores, I don't know. Maybe he's got a sweet spot for you." Gordon joked, trying to ease her all outburst.

"No, he doesn't know me. That guy was stoic." She retorts. She crosses her arms, eyes drifting out the window. They arrived at the cemetery and parked behind several cars. They both watch friends and family of Samuel walk up, umbrellas drawn, sullen looks on their features. She felt bad, knowing that this was 100% a random killing with no pure motive behind it. Samuel, from what Alex found from his background, was a pretty kind and stand up guy who didn't deserve to die so soon, let alone be murdered in the way that he was.

Gordon cuts the engine and turns to Alex. "Did you get a good look at the guy in the tapes?"

"No, those cameras were garbage, as you'd expect." Also, they didn't even know for sure if that was the guy, but it only made sense. Getting kicked out, if you're drunk and belligerent. Who knows what a person could do in that state?

The two get out of the car and begin slowly walking towards the crowd, making sure to keep their distance, not wanting to draw any attention accidentally.

"Today I heard Joe Sims and Bradly Smyth were talking about me in the breakroom." Alex spoke up, not being able to help herself from making some small workplace gossip. If they could talk all they want about her, the least she could do was share their idiocy.

"Oh those two clowns." Gordon chuckles. "And what were they saying? Nothing that'll get them investigated by HR I hope."

"Not entirely... Now, don't be weirded out. I'm coming to you as a friend about this." She prefaced. He gave her the side eye, but nodded for her to continue.

"I don't know what they said before this, but Sims talked about how I probably fucked the Sarge to get Detective. And then Smyth proceeded to protest, because the Sarge wouldn't do a dirty girl like myself. I just thought it was funny." She says, chuckling afterwards. Gordon could tell she genuinely thought it was funny and wasn't just trying to seem tough about it. Although he knew she was tough as nails, words can hurt to some degree.

He groans, not being able to believe their behavior. "Oh for Christ's sake. Are you okay?"

"Oh yeah I'm fine. I messed with their heads, popped my head in the door and said if they wanted to chat with me about anything they could come see me in my office. The looks on their faces, god it was hilarious." She replies, crossing her arms over her torso, trying to suppress laughter.

Gordon laughs along with her. "Yeah, nothing can get you down, it's what makes you a good worker." He chimes in. "But if it does bother you at all, we can talk about it, you know. I know you're one of the few women at the station, so I'm sure some days it can feel overwhelming..." He trails off. "But I know myself and a lot of others got your back."

She didn't expect the little speech but it was nice to hear anyway. She could handle herself, she's been on her own for quite some time. The life she's lived desensitized her more or less.

...

Bruce felt himself becoming hesitant to go out in the evening or his usual rounds, thinking he'd miss a call from Detective Flores. It's been some days since he'd heard from Gordon and met her. He had an inkling she would have contacted him sooner, even if it wasn't pertaining to the case. Not to be cocky, but he was used to that sort of thing. The townspeople of Gotham reached out to Bruce more than he'd like. GCPD, the members that actually liked him, tried to reach Batman. He more so answered Gordon the most, the trust was there with him. He was unsure of the rest.

He knew if the device got through, he'd miss it, if he wasn't in his cave.

Bruce started getting that sinking feeling again, that he was lacking, not doing enough for the people. He worked himself to the bone to help the national guards with the aftermath of the Riddler. The nightly rounds were almost mundane for him, stopping small petty thieves or muggings. A part of him was glad he could be there to help the little guys. Another part wanted more, as awful as that sounded. He also did not want lives to get lost. Conflict was within him.