Chapter 1
Midnight in Gotham; it was always pitch black, always quiet except for maybe the occasional car alarm or police siren. Not this time. As Batman got closer and closer to the Bank of Gotham the alarm that only sounded if the security had been breached grew louder and louder. He'd gotten the call only a few minutes prior that The Joker and Harley Quinn had broken and were stealing everything they could get. He and Jim both knew that he could get there well before the GCPD. Whatever Joker was planning to do with all that money, they couldn't let him get away again.
Batman parked the Batmobile in an alleyway just next to the bank, the red flashing lights bouncing off the walls from the alarms. He jumped out of the car and entered the bank by diving through a window to the side of the building. He knew that the front door would be too obvious, he was going up against Joker after all. As he stood up fully in the pile of broken glass he'd created he saw that everything even remotely valuable in the bank had been taken. He couldn't see any trace of them so he decided to go to the vault, he knew he'd find them there. He had to break down a few doors to get to the vault, presumably Harley had locked them to buy them a few extra seconds, Joker would never try to prevent the inevitable like that. He found the vault door wide open. The Joker was sat on a table, smiling as he watched Harley filling the bags they'd brought with as many dollar bills as they could carry. The clown's head whipped around when he heard the door open and grinned at him widely, showing his teeth. "Bats, nice of you to join us. Harley and I were just making a quick withdrawal and then we'll be on our way, okay?" He stood up, chuckling a little and pulling a knife out from under his sleeve and staring Batman down. Harley came strolling out of the vault holding the large bag over her shoulder, completely oblivious to what was going on. "Puddin, I can't carry any more, this is all we can get. Oh..." she gasped as she saw Batman glaring at them. "Nice to see you again Batsy" she giggled and looked to her boyfriend, who turned to her, taking the bag off her "Entertain him for a while, my dear, I'm going to look for a way out". He kissed her and she giggled, turning to Batman and brandishing her signature baseball bat. Joker ran out of the room with the bag, laughing as he went and leaving the two of them alone.
"Long time no see Batsy...missed ya" she held her bat up and walked towards him, taking a swing which he easily blocked. He grabbed the bat and yanked it out of her grip, she never did stand a chance to him physically. He threw the bat to the side and began to hear sirens in the distance: the GCPD were nearly here. "Don't make me hurt you Harley" he growled at her and she merely giggled in response "Aww Batsy, I didn't know you cared". Unexpectedly to him, she used her skills as a gymnast to sweep his legs out from underneath him using her own leg. As he fell down, The Joker appeared in the doorway, saying "We can get away from the rooftop Harley...come on". They ran through the door together and Batman heard the GCPD breach through the front door and footsteps coming up the stairs to the vault room. He couldn't wait for them. He climbed to his feet quickly and ran after them up the flights of stairs that led to the roof. Harley had barricaded the door that led onto the rooftop which meant that he took a few seconds to break it down. When he got onto the rooftop he saw them both running across the rooftop, they were going to try to jump to the next rooftop. The next building had had metal railing that Batman measured would probably come up to around his stomach in height, if they jumped correctly then they'd be able to grab it to support them as they jumped. Joker was a little ahead of Harley as she had spent time barricading the door. He began to chase after them and launched one, two, three batarangs in their direction, none of them hitting their mark. As the Joker leaped to the next building, making it and grabbing onto the railing, a dozen cops with guns joined them in the rooftop.
Bullets quickly began to fly through the air towards the Joker, who evidently wasn't waiting for his girlfriend as he took off across the next roof while she hadn't even jumped yet. "Quinn, give it up!" Batman bellowed to her as he chased. He heard more gunshots behind him as the jester prepared to make the jump to the next building. She turned around to childishly stick her tongue out at him and as she did so, a stray bullet hit her in the shoulder. She helped in pain and turned around, desperate to escape with her Mr J. However, the pain from the gunshot meant she couldn't concentrate on the leap and she misjudged, one hand clutching at her bloody shoulder. As she leaped through the air, she fell forward and her head crashed hard into the metal railing, sending her falling the long distance down to the ground below, unconscious. Batman pulled out his radio as he ran and yelled into it "Jim, I've got Harley...you go after Joker" he put it away and dived over the side of the rooftop, streamlining his body in order to catch up to the falling woman. As e ground quickly rushed up to meet them, he wrapped his arms tightly around her and his cape opened up, slowing their descent and allowing them to land safely on the ground.
When they hit the ground, he took her out from underneath his cape to inspect the wound. She was still unconscious and gushing blood from her shoulder, he'd have to stitch it quickly before the blood loss became serious or even life threatening. He took his cape off and wrapped it tightly around her, it was the most he could do to stem the flow before he got her back to the cave. When she was wrapped in the material he lifted her over his shoulder and carried her back to the car. He sat her up in the passenger seat and started the car. She rolled over slightly and leant against the door, stirring slightly.
He couldn't help but feel a twinge of pain at seeing her like this, not after what they'd been through...how much he'd loved her, how much he still loved her. He thought back to just over a year ago, when Bruce Wayne had been dating Harleen Quinzel. She'd started as a psychiatrist at Arkham Asylum just after they got together, he was so proud of her. They weren't moved in together but she'd been to Wayne Manor and he'd been to her apartment a few times. They had been happy...or at least, he thought they were. She broke up with him a few months after they got together and then she broke The Joker out of Arkham a week or so later. Seeing her like this, what she'd become...it was just painful.
To be continued