"Mr. Wayne" came the voice through the intercom.
Bruce looked up from his surveillance work on the Joker murders, and pressed the reply button on the intercom "Yes Helen?"
"Miss Rachel Dawes from the D.A.'s office is here to see you sir."
"Oh great, send her in."
Bruce quickly shoveled his notebook and newspaper clippings into his desk, and quickly X-ed out the report on the Gotham Daily News' website. A knock on the door echoed through the office and in stepped Rachel Dawes dressed in her usual formal attire, clearly on her lunch break from the office.
"Hi Bruce how are you?" She exclaimed, clearly a little nervous about seeing her old friend for the first time in a few weeks.
"Rachel, it's great to see you again" Bruce said as he leaned in for a hug, and received a rather cold return on his attempted sign of affection. "How have you been?"
"Oh Bruce you know better than anyone how busy things have been at the D.A. the last few months. Much of it is thanks to you of course."
"Rachel, I'd rather not get into too many details about what I've been up to in that job."
"Don't worry Bruce I'm not here looking for any inside information. Believe me, I don't want to know those things."
"Okay, well why don't you have a seat and we can talk about whatever it is you came here looking for." Bruce said somewhat hesitantly as he gestured toward the seat across from his desk as he began to worry what exactly Rachel had come here expecting to hear.
"Bruce relax okay? Believe me, I've noticed how little you enjoy talking about this, but I think that we both need to come to terms with what you're doing, and ignoring it is only making things awkward between us. Listen Bruce," Rachel said as she sensed Bruce was about to cut her off, "I'm not here to yell or scold, I'm just trying to make sure that you are still okay. Bruce, you've been doing some awful things recently, and frankly, I'm getting a little concerned for your own well-being." This time, though, Rachel wasn't able to stop Bruce from cutting her off.
"Rachel, I'm fine, got it? I don't need you coming down here telling me about the things I have to do, I'm there, I'm doing it. I'm fine, alright? This city needs me, needs Batman for what he's done for them, and I don't have a choice."
"Bruce you DO have a choice, you CAN stop, this isn't healthy for anyone to act like this for this long. Don't you want to be able to move on? The tide is turning to our side now. You've done your job, we have enough good people now that we don't need Batman. Harvey is terrific, Lieutenant Gordon is as tough as they come. Gotham finally has a chance against these thugs, you no longer have to sacrifice yourself for the good of the city."
"Rachel, please, I just can't do this right now. But trust me when I tell you that Gotham isn't out of the woods yet. Dent and Gordon only have gotten to this point because of me, and without Batman, the mob will come back, and now with this Joker on the loose, who knows what is going to happen next with him. Now please, Rachel, you have to go, I'm not going to sit here arguing with you all day."
"Bruce please," but that was all the farther Rachel would get because at this point Bruce's private phone to which only Alfred had the phone number for emergencies began ringing. Startled by the phone which had almost never been used before, Bruce jumped up and gave a hushed answer as he picked it up. "Alfred what's going on?" In the background of his office, Bruce heard Rachel's phone ring a piercing sound and she quickly flipped it open with the response, "Harvey what's happening?" But Bruce was not able to hear what happened next, as Alfred hurriedly said through the phone, "Master Wayne, it seems the Joker has struck again, actually I should say, is striking again."
"Is?"
"Yes, the police seem to be under the distinct impression that he has hostages held up inside First Gotham National Bank."
Before Bruce could reply he heard Rachel say quickly into her phone, "My God, you're kidding. What are the police waiting for?"
Bruce knew exactly what they were waiting for and quickly said, "Thanks Alfred, I'll be departing from here," and he quickly flipped shut his phone.
"Harvey I'll be right there" Rachel said as she too flipped shut her phone, clearly wanting to get to Bruce before he left.
"Bruce wait a minute, Harvey just told me-"
"Yeah, I know, Rachel, listen, I have to go."
"I know you do Bruce, and it sounds like they need you down there."
"Rachel, I'd love to be able to give this up, but I just can't."
"I know Bruce, but please, please be careful out there. They don't know what this man is capable of yet, he seems to be a total psychopath though."
"I'm certain of that much, let's just see how he is face to face though, and not while he's running away scared." Bruce said in the all-too-familiar growl as he readied himself for what he knew was sure to come next.