Author's Notes: Written for the LJ Community Knightfest Prompt #14. A huge amount of thanks goes out to LJ user mistress_kabuki for being the ever-willing beta for this fic! Thank you for helping me transform this thought into a fic.

Disclaimer: I don't own any of them, unfortunately. Though I'd really like to. You know, just so I could help think up the plot for the next film. xD

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14. We work too hard.
We're too tired
To fall in love.
Therefore we must
Overthrow the government.
- Rod Smith

Chapter 1:

He could hear them speaking, but their voices sounded very far away. Their words were lilting up and down and Harvey could only make out bits and fragments of what they were saying. He latched onto the noise, doing everything he could to pull himself awake by listening to their words. He heard their footsteps move closer to him.

"What about his reputation? Five murders, two of them cops. That's not something you can sweep under the rug!" Gordon. It had to be him. Anger filled his heart as he recalled his failed attempt to teach him what he'd had to learn so painfully. The boy, he hadn't fallen. He'd been staring down at him when the Bat grabbed the tiny arm, barely holding himself and the child from the gaping drop below. His saucer eyes full of fear as Harvey had fallen away. Then there'd been pain at the back of his head and his chest and then darkness.

The pain, that's what was coming to him next, almost as in answer to his thoughts. His chest was throbbing, but his head was worse. His bad eye was staring at the ground, which didn't help him to figure out what was happening. For now he needed to learn more about what was going on, and who else was here with Gordon.

"No, you can't!"

"I can take it. I can be what Harvey was. Tell them I did the killings." It was the Bat he was sure of it. But why was he still here? They were hatching some sort of plan, but Harvey couldn't tell what. His mind felt foggy and he couldn't quite put the pieces together.

"Why is he running, Dad?" the boy. He'd have to flip again for him later. If he got out of here that was.

"Because we have to chase him." Gordon started telling the boy some nonsense Harvey couldn't keep up with. He was too distracted by the police sirens in the distance. They were getting louder. He couldn't risk lying here listening any longer, he had to get out of here while he had the chance, Bat or no Bat. He opened his good eye and ignored the pain in his head the best he could. Gordon and his son were standing just a couple of yards away, the Bat was nowhere to be seen. That was a good sign, he might actually have a chance of getting the hell out of here before Gordon's flunkies showed up.

As the sirens grew louder, Harvey forced himself onto his side, feeling his chest become alight with pain as his innards felt like they were moving in all the wrong directions. He repressed a groan and a sudden urge to hurl. He had to stay focused, and this was not the time for his body to start giving out on him. Half crawling, half walking, Harvey found his way into a nearby alley. He held himself up against the wall as he gave one last look to Gordon and the kid. Jim was now on his phone, probably telling his men that they'd apprehended him finally. Barbara and their daughter were moving down the stairway now to join them, the son was up ahead of Jim, seeming to watch something in the distance. It didn't look like they'd noticed him yet, but something else was going on. Even though he could only see the back of Jim's head, Harvey could tell there was something off about his posture. Something else was going on. Damn, Gotham never slept, did it? Harvey felt a sharp pain in his side and hissed. He'd have to find out about it later. Now he had to get the hell out of this place.

He made his way through the alleyways, clutching his side as he leaned heavily against the crumbling walls. Rachael's death had certainly left its mark here. That was precisely why he'd chosen it to be the place where Gordon lost everything he cherished. Just like Harvey had. Harvey had wanted him to understand his anger, to realize what he had put his supposed friend through simply due to his own arrogance. As he felt a trickle of blood slide down his exposed cheek he realized this might end up being his own grave if he didn't get moving. He reached the opposite end of the alleyway and realized foolishly that he'd reached the other side of Gordon's goddamn perimeter. Cop cars were flashing blue beams across the hollow building remains and dogs were barking in the distance, but Harvey saw no sign of policemen anywhere nearby. What had pulled them away from their watch?

As Harvey raked his eyes across the array of vehicles, he saw one that was pulling up dangerously close to where he was. He took several steps back, considering moving back towards the Gordon family, perhaps he could take out at least a few of them before Jim finished him off. At least the boy if nothing else, but then his leg buckled as he turned. He tried to catch himself on the wall but the pain stabbed again in his chest and he folded to the ground. Running wasn't an option this time.

Footsteps behind him. Had the cop already gotten out of the car? Had he heard or seen something suspicious? The grim image of half a man collapsing in an alleyway? Either way it didn't really matter now. Harvey shakily went for his coin in his coat pocket. How was this going to end? The footsteps were moving closer behind him, more assuredly this time as Harvey flipped his coin.

Heads. Dammit. Harvey closed his eye and waited for the shocked exclamation behind him, waited for the handcuffs and humiliation of being so close to victory again, and once again having it snatched from him.

"Tsk, tsk, now this won't do."

Harvey turned slowly. He recognized that voice.

"I thought you were gonna be killing them! Not the other way around." The Joker stood behind him dressed in a rather messy police uniform, one of his wrists bound with handcuffs, and a sly look in his mischievous eyes.

Harvey sighed. He did not need the clown right now. Him being here may possibly be worse than the police, especially if he decided to finish the job this time. "That was the idea."

Joker grinned, his scars and faded makeup making his mouth look even larger as the blue lights continued to flash behind him. Harvey stood up slowly, using the wall for leverage. The police uniform was far too large for him, and the shirt was un-tucked on one side where a particularly large blood splatter made it look dyed. On his left shoulder, Harvey could see three embedded objects that looked like tiny knives. The trickles of blood they made striped down the length of the uniform. "So ya need a lift, Harv-ey?" The clown gestured behind him to the waiting car.

Harvey nodded slightly and started staggering over to the vehicle as Joker smiled broadly, barely suppressing a laugh and hopping back into the driver's seat. Harvey dropped into the passenger's seat, his chest still aching but feeling much better off his feet. Joker backed out of the abandoned police car perimeter the same way he'd entered. His posture was huddled still but his eyes darted back and forth looking for any sign of danger. Almost as if he was daring them.