I do not own Batman, or any other familiar character besides Samantha Gordon. Yumeilli, I feel you! My winter classes started up again, which is lame :| I'm glad I can make your day better! :D I seriously wanted me to make this my second to the last chapter, but I can't bring myself to end this story – even though I made a sequel. I'm way too attached to it, so obviously my ending doesn't really go hand in hand with the end of The Dark Knight.

[Rooftop Building]

Gordon paced around the roof of the building, trying to calm down his nerves, but he knew that every second of this situation was crucial. He watched as his SWAT men were clutching their guns to the Prewitt building across from them, waiting for Gordon to shout his orders.

"I've found hostages!" A SWAT Sniper yelled.

Gordon quickly walked towards the edge of the roof, "It's a shooting gallery. Why'd he choose a spot with such big windows?"

"He likes the view." A familiar deep voice spoke from behind.

A SWAT member turned towards Gordon, "We have clear shots on five clowns. Snipers take them out, smash the windows- a team rappels in, a team moves in by the stairwells. Two or three casualties max."

"Let's do it." Gordon spoke without hesitation.

Batman shook his head, "It's not that simple. With the Joker, it never is."

Gordon looked at Batman was frustration, "What's simple , is that every second we don't take him, those people on the ferries get closer to blowing each other up!"

"That won't happen." Batman stated.

"Then he'll blow them both up," Gordon raised his voice, "There's no time- we have to go in now-"

Batman interrupted him, "There's always a catch with him-"

"That's why we can't wait, we can't play his games-" Before Gordon could finish, Batman turned around and walked towards the edge.

"I need five minutes. Alone."

Gordon shook his head, "No. There's no time. We have clear shots."

Without stopping to listen, Batman continued to walk and stood up on the edge, carefully planning his next move.

Gordon quickly pulled out a gun, "My daughter is in there with him! We have to save Samantha! I have to save Samantha!"

Batman leaped off the building and opened his cape, soaring smoothly across the gulf between the two buildings.

Taking his eyes off Batman, Gordon turned back to his SWAT remembers, "Two minutes, then you breach."

[Samantha's POV]

With each step I could feel my heart beat faster and faster, like I was trapped on a roller coaster and was about to go down the first big drop. Part of me wanted so badly to turn back around and run out of the empty Prewitt building as fast as I could, but I knew there was no going back. I had done so much to convince my father and Batman to trust me into helping bring down the Joker, but I was secretly afraid that the plan was going to fail. We were talking about the Joker, where you were to always expect the unexpected.

The moment my feet hit the top floor, I heard the sound of dogs viciously and loudly barking. I could faintly make out their two large figures by a window, standing next to a tall, broad man. I tried to continuously reassure myself that I was doing the right thing- that in the end this mess would be completely over with.

"You came," his voiced called out, "I'm touched."

"You wanted me. Here I am." I replied trying to hide my shaking voice as I crept closer.

"I wanted to see what you'd do. And you didn't disappoint."He smirked.

I could see the pale moon hitting his smeared white face and greasy hair. The next minutes we spent together where the most crucial minutes in my entire life and I had to play my cards right.

"They're not going to do it you know," I tried sounding confident, "the ferries - they won't give into your demands."

"You'd be surprised at how quickly people will turn. You see, madness is like gravity...all it takes is a little push!" the Joker laughed.

I stopped walking, "This city isn't as ugly as you-"

"Stop," The Joker said in a disgusting manor, "Don't talk like one of them- you're not, even if you'd like to be. To them you're a freak like me. "

"No," I shook my head, "I will never be like you."

The Joker walked closer, his back still hunched and a remote was in his hand, "Tell me Sa-man-tha, why must we do as we're told, when we both know that there's no one we can trust?"

"I can trust the police and –"

The Joker let out a wave of laughter, "you really think you can trust the police? I mean, I know that your father is one but trust them and their constant rules? Before you know it, breathing will send you to jail. Why should I listen to them?"

"Because you kill people," I yelled, "you are completely psychotic! You enjoy putting others in pain; you have no care for anyone else-"

The Joker smirked, "Well I obviously care for you, I kept you alive this long."

Every word the Joker said only made me want to scream at him even more. I was growing tiredly frustrated at his single-mindedness, but there was no way this was going to end on his terms.

"You're still nothing to me." I said in a matter-of-fact tone.

The Joker quickly reached out and grabbed my throat, his lust filled eyes looked into my blue ones, a small smile was starting to spread across his face,

"You know the only thing you can't resist is temptation, babycakes."

I couldn't decide if I wanted to laugh or throw-up, but I realized that neither was in the plan I made with Batman and I needed to focus…or buy more time.

I looked at the Joker, not reacting to his grip on me, "You want everything to change because you are afraid of losing."

By the look in his eyes I couldn't tell whether he was growing angrier or shocked by my words. I knew he found being analyzed a joke, but I knew the more his anger took over, the more vulnerable he would become – which ment I could be in control.

"I never lose," he shook his head, "just look at how much I turned this city upside down in the past six months-"

"How?" I asked.

This was my time to dig deep into the Joker and cut every string of emotion he felt, it was my time to bring him down in my first phase of the plan.

The Joker looked at me with a smirk, "how what?"

"Did you get those scars?" I simply asked, "you've never stuck to one story."

The Joker let go of his grip on me as I stumbled to catch my balance. He was stilling facing me; the detonator was still in his leather gloved hand.

"Which story would you like to hear? My father or a past wife-"

"How many lies will you create?" I interrupted him.

He licked his lips and turned his head sideways, I knew that I was slowly getting to him.

"You're such a mess," I smiled, "you can't even learn to speak the truth."

Before I could react I felt the hands of the Joker roughly grab my face as he still held the knife, which was now close to my mouth.

"Their morals, their code… it's a bad joke. Dropped at the first sign of trouble. They're only as good as the world allows them to be. You'll see- I'll show you… when the chips are down, these civilized people, they'll eat each other."

"You monster," I growled.

The Joker shook his head, "I'm not a monster… I'm just ahead of the curve. You think these rules are going to save you?" His tone was switching from sinister to almost a giggle, "The only sensible way to live in this world is without rules."

"Rules keep boundaries and don't let people run around showing that killing others is ok-"

"Exactly!" He interrupted me, "Boundaries! These civilians aren't who you really think they are. Half the police work for the mob and we both know your little daddy can't control them."

He leaned his head closer, his forehead touching mine and his eyes still burning through mine, a smirk on his face.

"You've got nothing."

I could feel myself letting my guard down and relying on my emotions and not my common sense. The Joker was always better at playing emotional games with others, which only increased the difficulty of turning the tables on him.

"At least I'm not alone." I smiled, this time watching his smirk fade.

"I may have nothing," I straightened what control of my posture I had, "but at least I have someone. I've got family and friends who still love me, even after everything you put me through. But you, you are all alone. You're goons work out of fear and this city wants nothing more than to see you dead. Do you enjoy it? The pleasure that no matter what point you prove, no matter who you kill, nobody wants you."

Instantly my body was thrown down to the marble floor and I could already feel my forehead in pain. When I flipped over, I saw the look of fury in his eyes as his hunched body was eyeing mine – I got to him and I wasn't stopping now.

"Especially," I smiled as I picked myself up off the floor, "you hide underneath all the makeup. Are you scared of what the city would really think if they saw you? You just hide under that clown look because deep down, you know that you truly are mocked by this city?"

The Joker quickly reached into his coat pocket and slid one of his knives at my feet. He opened his arms up and slowly walked towards me.

"Come on, kill me!" He licked his lips, "prove to me, how strong you really are Samantha. Unless, of course, just like your father – you're all talk."

MAJOR QUESTION!!! In the scene in the jail, right before you see the Joker sitting in the cell, is the man with the rubber gloves taking knives out of his pockets the Joker? Cause I feel like it would be, seeing as I don't know why a cop would, but then in the background the Joker is sitting in the cell. I'm way confused:|