"Too bad about Dent," the officer said to Commissioner Gordon bending over to lace up a boot. The man then strapped on his belt while placing a loaded gun into its holster. Others followed his motions. Since the explosion, criminals had sprawled out across the city. With dozens of men wounded, the force was down to a very limited amount of troops.
Each attempt to stop a crime had to be thought out and use the bare minimum in the line of people and equipment. "Got a call," the man said informing his other men. Gordon watched the squad in despair. "Two junkies at a standoff. 31st and 7th."
"That's North Ridge," An officer confirmed starting to leave along with the others. "Who the hell would want to take a plant store?"
Gordon looked at his brown, worn shoes. The city had fallen, The Joker had won. Even though he was dead, The Joker had gotten Gotham to resort to chaos. This was the 7th standoff today. Five soldiers had already been critically injured serving this afternoon. It seemed hopeless to try and fight it. Some unkown motivation kept him from giving in.
It wasn't his only concern. Harvey was living in the shadows, staying under the radar. Planning on what, Gordon could only imagine. He had moved his family to Durham, a city not far away in hopes of keeping them safe. To him, he knew safety was just an allusion. He had learned it first hand. Dent could be with them right now and he'd never know it. It was time to face the facts.
Gordon had committed his life to suffering and misfortune. What else would you be signing up to be a cop for? Long days, grueling nights, even the new induced breed of crazies. Their own motivations didn't seem to make sense. And then, there was Batman.
The dark knight who truly sacrificed everything for the city was now a criminal. Gordon tried to wrap his mind around the subject. How could someone be so… inhuman? He was grateful though. At least someone was also trying their best.
The station had seemed practically empty now. Most everyone was out on some sort of call. A few men stayed behind the phones to man calls pouring in from around the city. Gordon walked along staring into the few prisoners who had actually been caught. They seemed ready to leave at a moments noticed. Like they were waiting for something or someone to break in, setting them free once again. Gordon knew they had good reason to believe it possible.
What next? He thought. We can't control Gotham, then what happens? The whole city will be controlled by raging mass murderers and thieves. Then what will they do? Once they have the city, there's nothing stopping them from taking over much smaller ones. The thought was a terrible, sinking one. Where was the government now?
A call coming in through speaker phone caught his attention. "Man down, man down!" Someone screamed out of the receiver. Gordon knew it had been from the men earlier today. He could here another car peel out from underneath the station trying to race its way towards the scene. "Christ! Get me a medic!" Gordon could feel that sinking feeling again. Shots were being fired at the standoff now. "The targets are a man and women. The female is younger, early twenties, red hair, white tank top. The other guy's got some sort of novelty top hat, red trench coat, late 40's. More firing was going on, Gordon wished for it to stop. He walked over to the desk a fat man slept behind, and turned off the radio. He stared at it awhile before turning it back on. Gordon turned up the knob for volume.
"It's him! We've got The Batman down here."
