Welcome once again my friends, to the next chapter of The Red Fox. Two-face is a tough character to pull off for anyone, especially for someone like me who's not even a professional. Strange as it might sound, that actually makes more excited to write him. As someone who's trying to be a legitimate writer, I love a challenge that could help improve my work. You guys have been great about reviewing, and I thank you so much for that. Please, be sure to tell me if there's anything that you think I could be doing better. I write these to help improve me for when I write my books and screenplays. Sorry, I'm rambling...again. Thanks for reading and please review.

Chapter Soundtrack-Ennio Morricone: Rabbia E Tarantella


"Bruce, over here," Harvey called to his friend, "On your left, we're at table six."

Glancing to his left, Bruce saw Harvey sitting at table with a beautiful young blonde woman. He walked over to the table and sat down, "Hey Harv, it's good to see you. So, this is the woman that you've fallen so hard to you. It's nice to meet you Miss, my names Bruce Wayne."

The woman shook his hand with a beautiful smile, "Well hello there Bruce, I'm Grace. It nice to meet you too. Hm, so you're Harvey rich friend huh? Mmh, money and cute to boot. I almost wish that I'd seen you first."

"Haha, what did I tell ya? This woman's really got some guts, eh?" Harvey said, pulling Grace closer to him. The man was clearly head over heals.

Bruce couldn't' have been happier for his friend. He called over to their server, "Waiter, bring us over your best bottle of wine. I've got a beautiful woman to get to know today."

The waiter he called for didn't look at him. He just kept wandering around the restaurant. Bruce tried again, "Excuse me, waiter?"

"Would you shut up?" The waiter snapped and whipped around. Bruce gasped when he saw that it wasn't a waiter at all, but Firefly with his flamethrower, "I'm trying to cook here!"

The pyromaniac began to spew more flame from his weapon. Everyone in the restaurant began to scream and run around insanely. The world around Bruce began to melt until the only thing standing in front of him was his friend Harvey. Bruce tried to reach for him, "Harvey, what's going on? Where did everyone go?"

"Why Bruce?" Harvey asked, as he turned slowly around, revealing his half mangled face, "Why didn't you save me? I thought that you were my friend!"

Guilt began to consume Bruce. He couldn't take seeing Harvey like this, so he began to run, just wanting to get away. Two figures appeared in front of him, stopping him in his tracks. It was his mother and father, covered in blood, "Bruce, you failed. You promised that no one else would get hurt. You failed Harvey and you failed us! You're not a hero...you're nothing!"

Bruce started hyperventilating and fell to his knees. He couldn't take it any more, "NO! Make it stop! Please make it stop!"


"Dad, wake up," Naruto yelled, shaking his father in his chair. He'd begun to sweat and breath heavily, which frighten the boy.

Bruce awoke, startled and unsure of where he was, "Huh? What's going?"

Naruto pointed out their surroundings, which was the waiting room of a hospital, "We're waiting to see how bad Harvey's burns are. Oh, and you wanted to know if that Firefly guy is gonna live or not."

"Right, how could I forget?" Bruce asked, though he knew good and well why he'd forgotten, "Has there been any word on them?"

Naruto didn't have any new information, as much as he wanted to help his father, "No, none of the doctors have been here. Everybody fell asleep for a while, so I guess something might have changed."

Bruce looked around to see Alfred asleep next to him. A few feet away, Barbara had fallen passed out on Dick's shoulder, who was sleeping as well. Iruka was there as well, but he was awake and reading a magazine. For whatever reason, he was fascinated by it. It was clear to Bruce it'd gotten a little late, "You know you guys can go home if you'd like. I just wanna be here when they give us an idea of how Harvey's doing."

"No way," Naruto said stubbornly, "We're a family, and families help each other when one of them hurt or scared."

Bruce put an arm around his son, amazed at how wise he could be, "You know something bud? I think that you joining this family is one of the best things that ever happened to it."

Naruto flashed his foxy grin right as the a doctor finally walked out into the waiting room, "Hello Mr. Wayne. You're here to see Harvey Dent, right?"

"That's right," Bruce said, waking up Alfred so that Naruto could wake up Dick and Barbara. Iruka didn't understand what was going on, since it was all in English, so he just kept reading his magazine, "How bad was the damage?"

The doctor looked at his chart, letting a 'Tsk' out as he did, "Well, we got all of the burned skin off that we could manage, but there's still a lot of complications. It'll take a skin graft to repair the damage, but even then, there'll be scaring. However, that's not the part I'm worried about. The psychological effects is likely going to bigger issue."

"Psychological damage?" Barbara repeated, rubbing the sleep from her eyes, "You mean the stress from being in the building?"

The doctor looked though the chart some more, "Not exactly, give me a moment. Ah, here it is. It appears that Mr. Dent suffers from multiple personality disorder. Something about getting burned like he did seems to have had a strange effect on his problem."

Just then, a wiry man in nice suit and round glasses entered the room. He was creepy by all means, but still had a respectable look to him. Bruce knew that it was Jonathan Crane, and he seemed to be very interested in what was happening to Harvey, "Ah, Mr. Wayne. You must be here for Harvey. What a good friend you are. I can't help but fear for the man myself. Burning his face like he did could only exacerbate his newly developing personality."

"Wait just a second, how did you know about that?" Bruce asked, already finding that his fears about the man were valid, "The only people that he told were his closest friends and his doctor."

Crane almost smiled at the question, but managed to keep himself professional looking, "His psychiatrist has handed the case over to me. With all of the, 'Unique' psyches that I see in Arkham Asylum, she felt I would be best suited for the task. I'm going to have a chat with him in just a moment, but I need to see another patient of mine first. Garfield Lynns is his true name, but you likely know him as Firefly. I'm curious as to whether he'll survive this or not."

Naruto tentatively asked the doctor, "Firefly's gonna live, right? I don't want Harvey to get in trouble for this."

"Oh, Mr. Dent shouldn't be in any trouble," Crane said, pushing his glasses back on his nose, "He was under extreme emotional distress when he fired the at Lynns. No jury would convict him. I may tell you more about it later when you're in the interview room with me."

Bruce was about ready to jump out of his skin when he heard that, "Wait, you want us in the room with you when you interview him?"

Crane acted as though it was a very obvious thing, "You're his friend Mr. Wayne, he'll be more comfortable with you in the room. He'll be more likely to trust me."

"I still don't know," Bruce said, as he didn't even trust the man. Did he really want his friend to?

Crane seemed bored of the conversation, "Bruce, you're going to be in there. My methods are unconventional, but they work much better than those other quacks who are so quick to judge me. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to see Lynns. Be ready once I return."

Bruce wanted to knock Crane's head off with the way he talking to him, but just sat back down instead. He grumbled to himself, "Want me to trust you with my best friend and then you treat me like that? Buddy, you are something else."

Naruto could see his dad was stressed and needed to be alone for a bit. He walked over to Iruka to fill him in on what was going on, "Hey, Iruka-sensei, you want me to tell you how everythings going?"

"Um, sure," Iruka said, putting down the magazine, "I guess I am kind of bored. The pictures in the magazine were interesting, but I couldn't read any of the articles."

Naruto sat down next to Iruka and told him the whole story about Harvey and Firefly, adding in the little bits about Crane as well. Iruka was shocked at just how much had happened in such a short period of time, "All Alfred did was drive me to mansion and then here, how did I miss that much?"

It was a little hard for Naruto to believe as well, "Things happen fast in Gotham, but you get used to it."

"Still, it must have been pretty dangerous being near that Firefly person," Iruka said, a little concerned for the boy, "You probably should've come with me back to the mansion."

If Iruka thought that Naruto was gonna stay at the mansion during all that, he was nuts, "Hey, I wasn't gonna leave my family behind. If you weren't here, I bet Alfred would've come with us."

It was very clear to Iruka that Naruto loved living here, which actually made him a little sad. He was completely loyal to the Leaf after all, "I'm glad you're happy here, but...do you ever think that you might wanna move back to the hidden Leaf? It is your home, right?"

"No, not really," Naruto said, which disheartened Iruka a bit, "But neither is Gotham. My home is wherever my family's at. They're the important part."

Iruka could hardly comprehend that an answer like that had come from a child, "That's a very mature answer Naruto. So, do you think that you'll at least want to visit the Leaf?"

Naruto had actually been thinking about that, "Of course I'm gonna visit the hidden Leaf! I lived there for eight whole years. Someday I wanna go and see the Old Man and the gang at Ichiraku Ramen. Plus, I've got some new friends in the hidden Sand, and I wanna see what it's like where they live. Dad said that we're going to visit there at least once a year, because it's important to remember where I came from. I know he's super busy, but we'll find a way."

"Good, I was worried you held some hard feeling towards your homeland," Iruka said, relaxing in his chair.

Naruto was about to reply, but suddenly stopped as if something popped into his head. He looked up at the man and asked, "You don't hate me, right? You're not just pretending to be my friend because the village said that you had to?"

Iruka was startled by the question. He certainly had feared meeting the boy, as he knew that he contain an incredibly demonic monster. That didn't mean that boy himself was the monster though, "I don't hate you. In fact, you seem like a very nice person."

"Then why does everyone in the hidden Leaf hate me?" Naruto asked, actually getting to his real question, "And please, don't tell me that you can't tell me! I hate that people keeping say that!"

Iruka had no idea what to say. He couldn't tell the boy the truth, as it was against the law, but Naruto seemed so desperate. What could the man say? "There's only one answer that I can honestly give you, and you won't like what it is."

Naruto wanted to hit something he was so angry, "Why won't someone tell me? I just wanna know what I did to them that makes them hate me!"

"You didn't do a damn thing to them Naruto," Iruka said, stressing how important that was, "And that is the truth. They've got no good reason to hate you."

Naruto sighed in defeat, "Yeah, but I still wanna know what that reason is. I think that Dad knows, but he won't tell me either. Why won't anyone just tell me?"

A firm hand came down on Naruto's shoulder, which he knew to be his father's. Bruce leaned down by the boy and said in Japanese, "I know that it's not fair of us to keep something like this from you, and believe me, I want to tell you the truth so desperately. You have to understand though, now isn't the right time. Once all of this craziness with Harvey is done, I plan on taking you to the hidden Leaf. When we're there, then I promise to tell everything that you want to know. Can you live with that?"

"For real? I finally get to know?" Naruto asked, almost thinking that his father was lying to him, "And I get to visit the Leaf too? That's what I'm talking about!"

Iruka questioned whether or not that was a good idea, "Mr. Wayne, not to be disrespectful, but are you sure that's a good idea? He's still so young."

Bruce had faith in his son, more than enough to tell him the truth anyways, "He's more mature than half of the adults I've met in my lifetime. Naruto is more than ready to know about the power he holds."

Naruto didn't catch that last part, but he was too excited to really care, "Man, I can't wait till we're done with this stuff so we can go. That reminds me, do we really have to sit in with that creepy doctor guy when talks to Harvey? I get a really bad feeling when I'm around him."

"A bad feeling?" Bruce asked, "What do you mean? Like you just don't like him?"

Naruto shook his head, figuring out how to describe his feelings, "I don't like him, but that's not it. Whenever I'm around him, I get this feeling in my body. It's like, something in me doesn't trust him. Even if I don't know them yet, I can get that feeling about people."

Iruka thought that he knew what was going on, so he whispered to Bruce, "It's gotta be the Kyuubi. That thing needs Naruto alive if he wants to live, so he must warn him when he's around dangerous people. A creature like the Nine Tails can sense when a person has bad intentions."

"Well that could come in handy," Bruce muttered to himself, then returned his attention to Naruto, "I'll explain what that is to you when we go to the Leaf. For now, just take a little nap before Crane comes back. We need to be on high alert when that nut is near Harvey. I don't trust him anymore than you do."


Garfield Lynns had burned over 90% of his body when the tank on his back exploded, and he blamed Harvey Dent for every last percent. Thanks to that crazed lawyer, he was in constant pain. His body stung worse than anything he'd ever felt in his entire life, including all the burns he'd gotten before this. The doctor thought that he was gonna live, so at least he'd be able to get his revenge once he was all healed.

He raised up his hand and looked at his scorched skin in anger, "I'm going to find you Dent, and then I'll barbeque the other half of your body. No one's gonna be able to recognize you."

"As your psychiatrist, I must say that you're anger is extremely unhealthy," Crane said, opening the door to see his patient, "However, I don't think that you'll be angry much longer."

Lynns painfully turned his head to greet the man, "Doc, it's good to see you. Did you hear what the other Doc's are saying? I've got a 5 in 6 chance of making it through this thing. That pretty good, huh? I'll be working for you in no time at all."

Crance sat down his briefcase and opened it up. He soon found what he was looking for, which was a syringe with a clear liquid inside, "Maybe, but you're not out of the woods just yet."

"I'm a fighter, I'll get through it," Lynns said, watching Crane flick the syringe like doctors do, "Whatcha a got there? Something to numb the pain?"

Crane walked over to him, syringe still in hand, "You could say that, yes. I promise that you feel no pain after this."

In an instant, Crane stuck the needle in in Lynns arm and injected him with whatever was inside, "Ow! Don't you think that you should ask me before you prick me like that."

"Oh, now I couldn't do something as silly as that," Crane said, and began to pack up his things, "I highly doubt that you'd let me inject you with something as deadly as what was in that syringe."

Lynns shot right up, not caring about the pain he was feeling, "Deadly? What in the hell have did you just put inside of me?"

Crane closed his briefcase, ready to make a quick exit, "Just a fast acting toxin that won't show up on an autopsy. It'll appear you died from your injuries. You know far too much about my operation, and the now the police will surely be questioning you, along with the Batman. I know that you'll spill your guts once he enters the room, and there's just no way I can let you tell him about my little escapades as the Scarecrow. So, there was only one logical conclusion I could come to."

"Logical? You think that killing me is logical?" Lynns did his best to scream, but the throat was still very burnt.

Crane forced his hand over Lynns mouth, making sure the man wouldn't be heard. Lynns was ready to try something, but then he looked into Crane's eyes. The man's glare had shifted to much darker tone. This was no longer Dr. Jonathan Crane he was speaking with, it was the Scarecrow, "You listen to me you worthless little lepton. I've worked long and hard to get Gotham into the perfect position for the final phase of my plan, and you won't ruin that. Once I become Mayor, I can get all the funding I need to perfect my fear toxin. Then, when it's ready, I'll use my connections as the Scarecrow to get it distributed. I'll use one of the most powerful cities in the world to show the entire planet how powerful fear really is!"

The toxin was setting into Lynns system, so he had very little energy to ask, "What the hell are you planning to do?"

"As the Scarecrow, I'm going to see to it that my toxin rains down on this city like a cloud of death," Scarecrow said, his voice becoming utterly terrifying, "And then, as this city's Mayor, I'm going to make sure the police can't do a damn thing as this city rips itself apart. Once the city has reached the brink of oblivion, then I'll announce they've found a way to cure everyone. They'll be just enough people left alive to rebuild this city back up. The world will see what fear was able to do and they will respect its power. All of the data that I'll get on how people react to fear is just a bonus."

Lynns could barely rasp out, "You're insane. Batman's gonna stop you."

The Scarecrow took his hand off the man, going back into his Crane persona, "No, he won't. I've abandoned all fear, making others powerless to stop me. Please Mr. Lynns, enjoy the afterlife. I'm sure there will be lots of fire to play with where you're going."

Crane walked out just as Lynns flatlined. He wore a bizarre kind of smile on his face, taking great joy in what he'd just done. This was turning into a good day for him.


After deciding to go on the big trip, Naruto, Bruce, Alfred, and Iruka had a lot of planning to do. They agreed that they might as well use the time they have at the hospital to get everything sorted out. Dick and Barbara sat near them, discussing something similar, "So, you and the family are going to Japan, huh? That's gonna be fun."

Dick could hear in Barbara's voice that she was happy, but also sensed a bit of disappointment, "Don't worry Barb, we won't be gone for long. A week at most. I'd love for you to come with us, but something tells me your father might have an issue with that."

"Yeah, like daddy would ever let me go anywhere with a boy if he's not around," Barbara said, rolling her eyes a little, "My dad is so overprotective of me sometimes. I'm a big girl, and I can take care of myself."

Most boyfriends would be annoyed by a father like that, but Dick had a good understanding of where he was coming from, "That's not entirely fair to him. He spends all day dealing with the worst people the world has to offer. Murders, rapists, and drug dealers are the norm for him. You gotta understand how he feels. You've dealt with a lot of those people too ya know."

Barbara knew that he was right, but wasn't in the mood to hear it, "Stop being rational and kiss me already."

Dick was happily about to lean in, when there was a commotion nearby. Bruce shot up when he figured out where it was coming from, "Wait a minute, is that Harvey's room?"

"I told you, we're not crazy," A voice yelled, clearly Harvey's. It sounded like the one he'd used at the DA's office.

Naruto knew that voice was bad, "Uh oh, that's not good. Why did he say we're? Is there more than one person back there."

"Let us go you bastards!" Harvey yelled, running out into the waiting room. He was still in his hospital gown and Grace was chasing after him.

She looked scared of him, "Harvey, please, get back in there! The doctors just wanna talk to you."

Harvey turned around and backhanded her, "Shut up! They don't wanna talk, they just throw us in the looney bin! We can't let that happen!"

At first Harvey looked angry, but then he got a closer look at what he'd done. Grace was on the ground crying, shocking Harvey into his normal voice, "We hit her? Oh god, we must have hurt her!"

"Oh suck it up!" Harvey screamed, back in his other voice, "Grace can't handle us now. She can't take what we've become. Harvey Dent was too weak, but his darkness was too stupid. Now we're something better. He's gone, and only Two-Face remains!"

Harvey kept thrashing, battling with himself. All of a sudden he stopped, pulling up his head. There was a look on his face, a clear look of acceptance, "There's no use fighting it. The more we fight, the worse it gets. It's time for us to be who we are, and do what we are destined to do."

Grace ran up to him, draping herself over his arm, "Stop talking like that! You're not Two-Face, you're my fiance and I need you!"

"We're sorry Grace," Two-Face said, running his hand across her cheek, "You've been good to us, but there's no part for you in what we're about to do next. Sleep well darling."

Without warning, he clenched his fist and smacked her hard. Grace went out like a light, shocking everyone in the room. Two-Face looked at all of them in anger, then turned to the nearest window. He sprinted for it and dove out before anyone could do anything about it.

Bruce couldn't believe what he'd just witnessed, "Harvey, what in god's name happened to you?"

"Fascinating," Crane said, causing everyone to notice that he'd been watching the whole time, "It seems that those burns altered his psyche. It's like they merged together. I've never seen anything quite like it. Amazing, truly amazing. Two-Face, however, is a very odd name to choose. I wonder where that could've come from."

Bruce was not in the mood for his observations, "It's something they started calling him back in law school as a joke. Alfred, would you mind keeping an eye on Grace for us? I need to try to track down Harvey."

Naruto knew that meant it was time to see who all was going to track him and who was staying with Alfred, "Are you gonna need help getting him? It'd be kind of bad to leave Iruka here alone with Alfred again."

"If we did leave somebody with him, it'd have to be someone who speaks Japanese so that they can talk to him," Barbara pointed out, making a very good observation, "Alfred can't tell him war stories all night."

Bruce didn't want to spare anyone for this, and luckily he wouldn't have to, "Naruto, make a clone and have it stay with Iruka and Alfred. I need to be certain Harvey won't do any more damage to himself or others. He was talking like he already had something in mind."

Naruto was glad he wasn't going to be stuck at home, "Sure, once we're somewhere that people can't see me, I do it."

"And I'll go and get the suits," Dick cut in, ready to get this moving, "How long before we can leave?"

Bruce was already in his Batman mindset, "The moment that we can. I've seen a lot of good people in this city lose themselves in the darkness, and I'm not going to let it happen to Harvey. Not if there's anything that I can do about it."


Rupert Thorne was feeling very good about himself right now. The court battle was all but over, and he'd emerged victorious. The prosecution's key witness had recanted his statement, meaning that the cops had nothing on him. He was as free as a bird for the time being, and he planned to stay that way.

He was currently using his freedom to visit Gotham National Bank in order to make a few transactions. It was harder to trace his money when he was constantly moving it around, so that's what he planned to do today.

"Now this section of my money needs to be moved to the account for my construction business, and this cash here, move it over to the waste management fund," Thorne said to the bank teller as he stood at the counter, his two guards behind him.

The teller was busily trying to write all of this down, but it was a lot of money to handle, "Yes sir, we can do that for you. Do you wish to pay for the fees out of your general fund as usual?"

Thorne was going to say yes, but a metallic sound hit his eardrum. The man behind him was flipping a coin in the air repeatedly, and it annoyed Thorne to no end. He looked at the man, who was wearing a trench coat, and told him, "Stop fiddling with that damn coin. I'm trying to focus here, and your noise is making that impossible."

"Really?" The man asked in a disgusted voice, "All the shit you've done in your lifetime, and you're going to snap at a man for flipping a coin? Now isn't that ironic?"

Thorne didn't like the tone the man spoke in, "Do you have any idea who you're talking to? If you've got any sense at all, turn around and leave here right now, before my bodyguards make you."

The man in the trench coat held up the coin he'd been flipping, "Tell ya what, we'll flip this one more time. If it lands on this side, we'll leave you be. If it lands on the other side though," He flipped to the coin's other side, which was burnt, "Well, then you'll see."

"A coin toss?" Thorne scoffed, sure that this man was crazy, "That's fine by me. I've always been a lucky guy."

The man seemed pleased by the answer, flipping the coin the moment Thorne stopped speaking. It landed right in the man's hand. Only he could see what the results of it were, "Well, looks look like your guards don't share that trait with you."

He took out his gun and shot both guards directly in the forehead. Everyone in the bank screamed while Thorne simply tried to understand what was going on. The man drew his weapon faster than a gun slinger, "My men! Do you have anyone what you just started?"

"Actually, you were the one who started it," The man said, taking off his hat to relieve that it was none other than the newly dubbed Two-Face, "You burned half our body and half of our father's coin. This is all on you Mr. Thorne."

Thorne cringed at the man's appearance, "Oh shit, that Firefly guy did a number on you. Well, I guess that's what you get for playing the hero pretty boy."

Two-Face wanted to see this man afraid, but right now he seemed so calm, "You're awful brave for a man with a gun pointed at him. Do you think that we won't shoot?"

"I've been around the block a couple of times Harvey," Thorne said, still unphased, "If you were just here to shoot me, you would've done it already. You've got something bigger in mind. The question is, what could that be?"

Two-Face could see this was going to be easier than he'd thought, "Simple, we're going to finish your trial. You didn't think that our injury was going to stop that, now did you?"

That was exactly what Thorne had thought, "Well, looks like all the effort we put into stopping you was just wasted energy. Fine, how do you plan to have this little trial of yours?"

"Oh, you'll see," Two-Face said, his gun still raised, "Now let's take a little ride. Do what I say, and you just might live through today. It all depends on the toss of a coin."


Naruto, now in his Red Fox gear, was doing his best to stay calm in the back seat of the Batmobile, but he couldn't ignore just how distraught his father was. There was a look of determination on his face that the boy had only ever seen on himself. He wanted his dad to be happy, so he was just as driven to make sure that Harvey came out of this with his sanity intact. First though, they needed to track Harvey down, "So dad, where do you think he'd go? You said that he was going to do something, but we have no idea what that thing is."

Batman had actually just picked up something on the scanner that answered the question for him, "Harvey's planning on doing something with Thorne, I know that much. He just shot up and bank and kidnapped him. I've got a feeling I know exactly where he's taking him too."

"Really? Where?" The Red Fox asked. He was the only one talking to Batman right now, with Robin typing away on his Holo-computer and Batgirl checking out her gadgets.

It required Batman to think back quite a few years, but he remember enough that something big came through, "There's an old place that Harvey and me used to talk at. If I'm right, which I'm almost certain that I am, that's where he'd want to settle this all."

The Red Fox didn't wanna ask anymore than that. It sounded like a pretty personal, so pushing the matter couldn't be a good idea. Still, he had to wonder…


Bruce and Harvey sat alone in an abandoned courthouse in the run down section of Gotham. It had been one of the first court houses in the city, being around for over a hundred years. Now it merely sat in disrepair, the wood barely holding the old building up. The two men sat alone, drinking a beer and talking about recent events. They liked to meet here, as no one bothered them about Bruce's celebrity or Harvey's legal career. This was a nice, quiet place to meet.

Harvey sat behind on of the rotting desks and cracked open his drink, taking a large gulp before they began, "So, I heard that you just adopted a kid. That true?"

"It's true alright," Bruce replied, sipping a beer of his own, "His names Dick Grayson. Great kid, but he just lost his parents right in front of his eyes. Needless to say, we found something we had in common."

Harvey had never thought about it, but his old friend would actually make a very good father, "Well, I guess were kind of like a big brother to me sometimes, so it should all work out. Besides, Alfred raised you, he'll save your ass if need be. I do like that this'll give you reason to stick around Gotham and not vanish for almost 8 freaking years again."

Bruce knew he deserved that one, "I was 16 Harvey, and I needed some time. You were over your father's dead, but there was still a part of me that wasn't over what happened to my parents. In a way, I still didn't trust this city. Don't tell that you think I came back a worse person?"

There was no way that Harvey could say that, "No, it was good for you. I don't know where you went, but you came back with a whole new outlook on life. It was perfect timing too, because you came back right as I started my career as lawyer. Who knows where I'd be without you. Maybe this time in a couple of years, I'll be trying some big case as DA, huh?"

"I know that you'll get there someday soon," Bruce said, having total faith in Harvey, "You're gonna be Gotham's White Knight. Heck, I might even fix up this old courthouse just for you. Give you a special place to finally end all of the crime in Gotham."

The two buddies laugh at that, clinking their beers together. Bruce was indeed counting on Harvey to be the White Knight so that the Dark Knight could finally retire. Well, maybe someday...


Thorne found himself with his hands behind tied his back and gag stuck in his mouth. He was shoved on his knees and Two-Face had a gun to the back of his head. This was probably the stickiest situation he'd ever found himself in. As much as he wanted to bitch about it, the gag in his mouth made that rather difficult.

He tried to grunt in annoyance, but Two-Face smacked him in the back of head with his gun, "Keep your damn mouth shut! We'll let you talk when it's time. We still need to get ourselves an audience for this trail."

"Mph, hm bugm!" Thorne grunted once again, making it impossible for Two-Face to tell what he was saying.

He could make a pretty good guess at what man was thinking though, "We need an audience to tell the world what occurred here. We don't want this city to ever forget it. We know that someone's going to show up soon enough, it's just a matter of time."

As if on cue, the front door of the courthouse was broken down. Batman was standing in the doorway, his whole team behind him. Two-Face seemed happy to see them, "Ah, the hero of Gotham city. We were expecting Bruce Wayne, but you'll work just as well."

"I followed Bruce here and told him to go home," Batman said, basically lying to him, "This is not something he's qualified to handle. You've got a lot of people who care about you Mr. Dent. Please, put down the gun."

Two-Face cocked his weapon, "Dent is gone. Our name is Two-Face, and we will shoot this man if you come so much as an inch closer to us."

All of them took a step back, "Take it easy, we're only here to keep you from doing something foolish."

"Foolish? Hmp" Two-Face spat in anger, "The only thing foolish about us is that we actually used to believe in the justice system. No, we know how exactly how justice actually works now. It's all about luck in this world. Why do children starve in Africa while politicians in America get fatter by the day? Why does the Joker manage to survive the impossible while police officers die from a single bullet? Why do people like this fat fucker Thorne go on while people like us get burned half to death like some overdone turkey? Luck! It's all luck! It's the only thing in this world that's truly fair!"

Batman couldn't believe this deranged man was the person he'd grown up with all those years, "Please Harvey, you know that's not true. The system works if we just let it."

Two-Face pulled up his burnt coin, "No, you know what works? This coin is what works. It's time to see if Thorne is as lucky as he claims to be."

"HHM! MPGH! HHM!" Thorn grunted once again, as loudly as he could. Anyone could tell that it was call for help.

Two-Face ignored his pleas, flipping his coin anyways. The coin landed in his hand, everyone holding his breath as it did. As the heroes couldn't be sure about what he would do based on which side the coin landed, the tension was high. Looking down at the coin, Two-Face scrunched up his face in dissatisfaction.

Taking the butt of this gun, the smacked Thorne in the head, knocking him unconscious, "Bastard really is lucky."

"Okay, this is good, you didn't have to do it," Batman said, relieved, "Now, put the gun down so that we can talk this out."

Two-Face pointed his gun at Batman, "What about you Dark Knight? How lucky is a person like you?"

Batman was about to say something, but the Red Fox suddenly exploded, "Would you shut up about luck already!"

Two-Face's head shot to him, "We're sorry shorty, what did you just say to us?"

"I said to shut up," The Red Fox snapped right back, "Oh poor you, you've had back luck in your life. Who cares? Everyone's had bad luck! Some people have it worse that others, yeah, but not everyone does bad stuff like you do! I've got horrible luck, but I'm doing something good! Why can't you."

Two-Face glared at the boy, disliking his words, "You've got bad luck brat? Well, why don't we just see about that?"

The coin flipped once again, everyone holding their breath as it did. Once the Two-Face saw the results, he raised up his gun, "Looks like the kid was right."

"Watch out," Robin screamed, ready to push his brother out of the way. Sadly, he wasn't fast enough, and the bullet hit the Red Fox in the gut.

The Red Fox fell to the ground just as his brother got there. Batgirl ran up as well, looking the boy over, "Oh thank god, the armor stopped the bullet. That's gotta hurt like hell though."

"Ya don't say!" The Red Fox yelled, clutching his gut in pain.

Batman stared in disbelief as Robin turned to the villain, "Are you proud of yourself? You just shot a child! What kind of person does that? What gives you the right to flip your coin and do that?"

Two-Face was taken aback just a bit. He'd hurt a child, just like his father, "What does give us the right to do that indeed? How can we use this coin if we won't turn it on ourselves? That's it...that's what we have to do."

"Harvey, don't," Bruce started, but it was too late. That coin was in the air and ready to decided Two-Face's fate.

He caught the coin, quickly glancing at where it had landed. It was the burnt side, "Well, there it is. I guess we shouldn't be surprised."

Two-Face put the gun to his throat and prepared to fire, but something flew through the air at him. A batarang hit his hand, sending the gun flying out of his hand. Batman was in front of Two-Face in mere a second, quickly smashing his knuckles into the man's face. There was no holding back with the hit either, because the man went down. He was only semi-conscious, but he could hear Batman saying something.

"Harvey...why'd it have to be you?" The Dark Knight asked, heartbroken.

Two-Face faded out, not sure if he'd even heard what he'd said right. Batman looked at the man for a second, then turned away. He just couldn't look at him anymore, "Batgirl, call Gordon so that he can come and pick him up. Oh, and Red Fox, are you sure that you're okay?"

The Red Fox walked over to him, still holding his side, "I think I'll have bruise, but it'll be okay. What about you Batman, are you alright?"

"It's nothing that I can't get through," Batman said in an unconvincing tone and looked down, "I just never thought I'd be doing this with him. If I can't even protect my best friend, then what can I do?"

There was no way that the Red Fox was going to let his father feel like this. He walked over and whispered to him, "Dad, this wasn't your fault, and Harvey's not gone. He's just lost. You can't be sad, because you're his best friend. You need to help him find his way."

Batman didn't even look up, he just pulled his son into a hug like he had at the hospital, whispering, "Don't ever change son. This world is needs people like you too damn much."

Gordon arrived 15 minutes later and carted Harvey off to Arkham. He was going to need a lot of treatment if he was ever going to get back to his old self, assuming that he ever could. No matter what though, Bruce would never stop trying. That would be letting his son down.


After putting Naruto to bed and sending Barbara home, Bruce decided to make one last scan for the night as Batman. Well, it wasn't so much of a scan as it was an excuse to get some fresh air and think. He was standing on top of building, just watching the city. Harvey crept into his mind more than once, but he wouldn't be in his mind much longer. Not when he saw who was standing behind him.

"Well hey there tall, dark, and handsome," Said a seductive voice, "What brings you to my neck of the woods?"

Batman knew that it could only be Catwoman, "I just needed to clear my head. You could say that I had a very rough day."

Catwoman had already heard about it, "You mean everything with the DA and Firefly? It's been the talk of the town all day."

"I'm not surprised," Batman responded, "It's one of the bigger blunders that I've had as of late."

Catwoman came up and snaked her arms around him, attempting to comfort the man, "Still blaming yourself for the world's problem big guy? You know that you can't do that to yourself."

Batman faced her, drawing slowly closer, "You know it's funny, Red Fox said something pretty similar to that today."

"He's a special kid," Catwoman said, thinking back to the boy, "I'd like to get to know him a little better."

Batman looked into her emerald eyes, nearly losing himself in them, "I don't know how you'd do that. I should be arresting you right now."

Catwoman licked her lips, bring them so close that Batman could feel her breath, "Are you say that you want me to stop?"

"Not a chance," Batman said, closing the gap between them. They moaned, deepening the kiss. After a few moments, they broke for air, panting heavily.

Catwoman knew what he needed, "If you're looking for some comfort tonight, I know right where you can find it."

Batman only had one rule, "So do I, but you know how this works. The masks stay on."

"Deal," Catwoman agreed. This wasn't the first time they'd done this, "Maybe I'll keep the whip this time too."

Batman fired right back with, "Then maybe I'll break out the cuffs."

Catwoman didn't respond, just pulled him back into the kiss. It would be quite the night for the two of them.