SEL Chapter 38

The story runs, and it has plenty of legs, but Viti Saxena’s campaign has plenty of money. The pushback is swift, and in no time, Viti gives an almost condescending press conference in which she makes it perfectly clear that she doesn’t find the allegations at all believable. She attacks Barbara for trying to evoke her father by painting her opponent as one of Gotham’s collection of especially grotesque criminals.

Viti’s framing of it cuts both ways: Gotham doesn’t like costumed criminals with gimmicks, and many of them still do like Jim Gordon. Even though Barbara is not behind the attack, this tactic would have been an effective one.

Meanwhile, in a sane world, Alfred’s package of evidence would have been a killing shot. In reality, with so little time, it isn’t even close. The voter on the street watching a news anchor summarize Alfred’s painstakingly complex labor in two or three sentences has nothing even approaching the full picture. Meanwhile, these are Americans, and naturally disinclined to changing their minds. The bulk of Barbara’s supporters believe the allegations, while Viti’s do not. The media isn’t what it used to be, and confirmation bias rules their decisions, not logic.

Alfred can only watch and hope that he’s done the right thing.

SEL

The debate is being held at the Wayne Heritage Concert Hall. Gotham is one of the largest cities in the country; there are more people in the Gotham metropolitan area than in any three or four of the flyover states combined. To be mayor of Gotham is a bigger deal than being the governor of many states, so it’s a full house. The venue has a gothic exterior, but the inside is a little more contemporary. It’s meant to have a classical look with plush red seats and carpet.

The stage will look vast with only Barbara, Summer, and Viti on it. The three women will look tiny, particularly Barbara in her chair.

Two makeup artists put the finishing touches on Barbara, who can’t hear even a hint of the crowd noise. The soundproofing is almost scary.

The scandal that broke today has to be Stephanie’s doing. She probably thinks that she’s helping. Maybe she is, but what she has really done is completely upset the chessboard. Now this debate is trapped under the weight of a new story that no one is fully prepared to deal with. Viti has done the objectively correct thing and used it to attack ferociously. For Barbara, there are two viable counters: an ugly one and an uglier one. She still hasn’t fully made up her mind about what is going to come out of her mouth when she’s on that stage.

There’s a part of her that wants to show Viti what ferocity really looks like, but she’s not convinced that Viti even knows that she’s married to the Spider. It would take a lot of self-delusion for that to be true, but no one is immune to that.

Barbara sees Summer’s face in her mind. Ivy’s. Dick’s. No one is immune.

Aki Aramaki is a sociopath without limits, but Barbara is not convinced that Viti Saxena is the same. She sighs, feeling as though it’s not really Viti that she’s running against at all.

It doesn’t help that for all she knows, she might be outnumbered onstage. She doesn’t think that Summer will act out of spite, but Barbara hurt her badly. Hurt people do things that they might not otherwise.

An aide enters the room. “Ms. Gordon?”

“Yeah?” Barbara gazes at her reflection. She stubbornly insists on wearing her glasses. She’s dressed nicely, but she will contrast heavily with Viti’s polished presentation.

“Phone call. He said you were expecting him.”

“OK.” Barbara takes the phone. “Lucius?” She knows exactly what he’s going to say.

“Not exactly,” replies Oswald Cobblepot. “Good evening, my little cardinal. The time for idle chirping is over. Allow me to be blunt: you’re going to go onto that stage and resign from this race.”

“And what’s the threat? What are you gonna do? Kill me?”

“No. I’ll kill your father and Summer Gleeson, and Viti Saxena. If you think I’m bluffing, your father keeps all your gymnastics trophies on his mantle. His bathrobe is purple. He ordered pizza tonight. Sausage and mushrooms. I won’t kill you, Barbara Gordon, but I’ll make you wish that I had. They call me the penguin, not the peacock. Don’t test me.”

Barbara draws in her breath. She’s kept her cool in worse situations than this. “I’m not even ahead in the polls.”

“This wouldn’t have been necessary if you had the nerve to get your beak wet. I know you’ll do the prudent thing.”

Cobblepot hangs up.

“Ma’am, is everything OK?” one of the makeup artists asks. They heard Barbara’s side of the conversation.

“Not really, but I’ll handle it,” Barbara replies. “You can go.”

“Ms. Gordon, we’re on in two,” her aide warns.

Barbara takes deep breaths. Oswald timed this well; there’s little time to think.

Oswald wants Viti as mayor, but he also threatened to kill her if Barbara defies him. Taking out Viti this way would effectively end Barbara as a candidate and set a precedent that will ensure that whoever comes next will never dare to stand up to Oswald’s pressure. Oswald is one of Gotham’s more patient troublemakers. And with Viti dead, her office would be in disarray. People would be afraid. The odds of making something stick to Oswald legally would drop off a cliff. Someone in a costume might be able to get to him, but he would still own the mayor’s office. He could also weaponize the mayor and the GCPD against costumed vigilantes; he wouldn’t be the first to try to protect himself using that tactic.

Barbara’s brain can run down a thousand possibilities, but she only has a minute left.

“Ms. Gordon,” her aide presses.

The window to make a decision, let alone some kind of play, is closing fast.

Should Barbara drop out of the race? Or stand her ground and put Stephanie and Helena on Penguin’s threat?