Kris Knight—Thank You!!! That is a huge compliment, I hope you know. I wasn't actually sure that it would turn out well at all. So thanks. I hope I can top it, because I've been looking forward to this chapter like the entire story, so I really hope that I can top it.

Madelineex3—Yeah, there will definitely be a sequel, but it may take a little longer to get up because I have some key points, but not enough to have a full plot yet. So I will work on that quickly, and whenever I have time so I can let you all read it.

Sabre—You were definitely long winded, which makes my review-reply thing also long. I'm so glad that this chapter was so amazing. I thought that it would make it a little interesting if she ordered the SWAT to take out Batman. You are totally right about why she did it, but just imagine how she felt, since she thought it was Bruce, the guy she's liked since high school, and the fact that he had always been on her side. I think that what she did was incredibly gutsy. Trust me, I'm also excited/nervous about this chapter too!!! AAH! Wish me luck.

Fairy Skull—I'm glad that you love it. Sequel huh? Well, it's definitely kinda romance, if it goes as planned, but it will have a lot of cop stuff in it too. Definitely. Can't have Al without police. =) Well, that's definitely encouraging. I will get it up ASAP.

Johanna—I see now about the crapamole thing. Don't worry; we've had fads at our school that never seem to go away for some people. I cracked up so hard at the Meany McMeanykins! I'm not kidding! It made me laugh sooo hard. I agree with you, but still it's funny.

Blpaul—I'm not sure how action-packed this one will be, but I hope that you like it anyway. And you're making me more nervous about this. _

Were-girl19—Yeah, this chapter will be very interesting. I'm not even sure how it's gonna turn out… Eek!

Bunny94—Well, so far means almost done, but I'm really glad that you like it. Thanks for the compliment. Here's the update.

Hannah—Aww! But I love cliffhangers! They're just so much fun =P. Here's the update.

Okay. I'm really nervous for this; I even have adrenaline running through my veins….. Please wish me luck. I think that it'll be okay, but I'm not sure and I'm a little nervous. Okay, a lot nervous. I'll stop rambling

Dad and I were in the car on the way to 250 52nd Street, and I could tell that Dad was really nervous about this. His face was taught, and his leg was bouncing up and down on the floor of the car. I was definitely glad that I was behind the wheel because I wasn't as nervous; I just wanted this guy to pay for the trouble he had caused us all. I grabbed the radio as we pulled onto 52nd Street. I had a feeling that we were going to need back up for this situation.

"This is Sergeant Gordon," I announced. "I need as many men as you can get over at 250 52nd Street."

Dad shot a glance my way. "What are you doing? This is family business."

"This is a hostage situation," I corrected.

Dad just shrugged.

"What for?" Wilson responded over the radio.

"Unknown situation. I just need a perimeter and wait for either the Commissioner's or my signal."

"Aye aye," Wilson said.

I put the radio back in the cup holder and slowed to a stop outside of the warehouse that was pretty much a skeleton from the explosion that took place about 24 hours ago. I turned off the ignition, but Dad was out before the car even stopped moving. He had his gun drawn and was moving towards the burnt building. I rolled my eyes, knowing that him getting this emotionally involved was going to get him hurt. I stepped out of the car with my gun drawn and held it tightly by my side.

Dad was all ready in the warehouse by the time I caught up to him. His gun was lowered a little bit, but his eyes were darting about with his head looking up. "Dent!" It echoed off the scorched walls. He continued to move forward, not even paying attention to me. He began to climb the stairs.

I grabbed his shoulder, turning him around before making our ascent. "Dad," I hissed softly, "this could end badly. Be cautious."

He nodded, but I doubt that was even focusing enough on me to make any difference. He climbed up the metal stairs with me not far behind him. We made it to the second level, which was somehow covered in dirt, with no sign of Dent. Dad was being a little more cautious, but once he saw his family, he threw caution to the wind. He began to jog in their general direction, but I covered him by going around a little back way. I heard Dad fall to the ground and Barbara screaming quietly. I assumed that Dad was disarmed, and that Harvey wasn't expecting me, or so I really, really hoped. I hid behind one of the supports, probably like Dent did to ambush Dad. Well, let's hope it would work for me too. After a few seconds, the only gravel I heard crunching were footsteps, but Dad hadn't gotten up off the ground yet.

"This is where they brought her, Gordon. After your men handed her over." It was then that I realized the footsteps were coming closer, and Dent was definitely coming in my direction. He stopped right next to me, and I felt my breathing slow to a near stop. "This is where she died."

I peeked around the support to see him staring up into space. I locked eyes with Dad for a second and gave him the thumbs up.

He nodded and tried to buy me time. "I know; I was here." He rolled over onto his side, holding his head. He locked eyes with me again to make sure that I was okay. "Trying to save her."

Dent turned. He was still close enough to me that any movement could get me killed, but his attention was on Dad now. "But you didn't."

"I couldn't," Dad pleaded.

"Yes, you could've. If you'd listened to me, if you'd stood up against corruption, instead of doing your deal with the devil." I felt my hand clench around the gun, and knew that if he kept this up, I would be blowing my cover in a heartbeat.

"I was trying to fight the mob!" Dad argued, obviously angry too at Dent's accusations.

Dent loaded his gun, but didn't move. "You wouldn't dare try to justify yourself if you knew what I'd lost." I did, but Dent didn't know I was there, so I kept my slightly unhappy opinions to myself. He didn't say anything for a while as if pondering what to do. He moved backward just a little bit, and that space that was filled brought him closer to me. "Have you ever had to talk to the person you love most? Tell 'em it's gonna be all right, when you know it's not?" He nodded and pulled me from the shadows and had my gun out of my hand before I even knew had happened. He pressed his gun to my head. "Well you're about to know what that feels like. Then, you can look me in the eye and tell me you're sorry." He loaded the gun.

"Don't you dare touch my daughter!" Dad begged with pain in his eyes. "I swear I'll kill you with my own two hands!"

Dent smirked. "Well, you seem to need her pretty badly," he teased.

I squirmed around and tried to get free, but the muzzle of Dent's gun pressed deeper into my temple. "Get your filthy hands off me."

His smirk widened. "Talk to her, Gordon. Tell her it's gonna be all right."

Dad's face had this fear/pain stricken look on it as he tried to find the right words. "Al, sweetie, I swear that it's gonna be just fine." He swallowed hard, trying to fight back the tears. "You're gonna make it out of this; I know you will."

I raised an eyebrow at him. Dent had a pistol to my skull; why was he thinking I could make it out of this? I could see a tear run down his face. This was going to be exactly like when Mom died, except I was still talking. Light bulb moment! I could turn this plan against Dent, by talking back to Dad. "Dad, don't worry about telling me it's gonna be okay, because I'm not afraid of death." I saw Dad and Dent's face change to surprise, but Dad's face quickly changed to sadness. "I'll be dying in the line of duty, and that's what I want."

A tear came to Dad's eye, and rolled down his cheek. "Don't think that way, Sweetie. You're gonna be fine. I'm sorry, Al. I'm so sorry." He looked up at Harvey. "I'm sorry. Just letter go."

Dent didn't say anything.

I felt tears come to my eyes. "You'll move on, and everything will be okay. Life goes on, Dad. Didn't I tell you not to worry about me?" I smiled.

Dad nodded, and Dent just looked completely surprised. Apparently this wasn't how he intended this to be going. He pulled out his coin instead. He held the scorched side up, "She dies, and you're precious daughter is no more." He flipped it over, "She lives and I move on to the rest of your family." He tossed it into the air.

"Please let her live," I heard Dad praying as the coin flipped over and over. "I can't stand to lose everything of Jenny." I heard soft, slightly held back sobs as the coin landed.

Dent flipped it over one last time before showing it: it was the unscorched side. I sighed in relief. "She's a lucky one, Gordon. You should keep her around." He raised the gun up and slammed it into the right side of my head, sending me to the ground.

I lay there helplessly, still coming back from the shock of getting hit in the head as he moved over to the rest of Dad's family. I reached up to the spot where he hit me and pulled my hand back covered in blood. Great! Just what I needed. "That hurt, you two-faced son of a bitch!"

Dent looked over his shoulder at me, but still moved on.

I looked at my dad and shook my head in apology. I had tried to buy his family some time, but that didn't work.

"You're not gonna hurt my family," Dad reasoned.

"No," Harvey agreed. "Just the person you love most, next to your precious daughter."

I spit on the ground to show my dislike in what he just said.

He spun on his heels. "You wannanother chance to die?" he threatened. He shook his head, apparently through with me. He knelt down and loaded the gun, pressing it to Barbara's temple. "So is it your wife?"

Dad raised his hand in a weak attempt to stop him. "Put the gun down, Harvey. Please, Harvey, put down the gun." It seemed to be a little bit of a shaky marriage from what I could see. Dad still really loved Mom, and no woman could ever replace her. Barbara was shaking and Dad's efforts to get Dent to leave her alone rose a little bit, but apparently not enough for Dent's liking.

He moved onto Jimmy, placing the gun in his blond hair. He looked up to watch Dad's reaction.

"Oh, c'mon. Dammit, Harvey! Will you stop pointing that gun at my family?!"

I shook my head hard. No, Dad! Stupid move, Dad! Jimmy's so screwed now! I cursed silently. I pounded the ground with my fists! Then, I saw my gun poking out of his belt. If I could just get him on the ground, I could get my gun, disarm him and end this whole thing.

Dent laughed, and pulled Jimmy up. "We have a winner," Dent announced.

"No! No!" Barbara sobbed. "Jim, stop him!"

"Harvey," Dad pleaded as Dent carried him past me.

I dragged myself and tried to grab at Dent's pants to pull him down. I needed to get to my gun, but as soon as I made contact with his leg, he turned and kicked me in the face, nearly knocking me unconscious again.

"Alex!" Dad cried, rolling to face where the action had gone. "Harvery! I'm sorry! For everything!" Dad's eyes were brimming with tears. "Please don't hurt my son, and leave Alex alone. You all ready said she was out."

Dent held Jimmy close by his head with the gun held up. Jimmy was crying.

I looked to the sky, hoping for our black winged savior to appear and get rid of Dent. Dogs began to bark, meaning that instead of Batman, the police were here to save us. I smiled.

Dent rolled his head, and eyes, which was quite frankly creepy. "You brought your cops?"

"All they know is that there's a situation," I explained carefully.

"Shut up!" Dent yelled, pointing his gun at me again.

"They don't know who or what," Dad finished. "They're just creating a perimeter."

"You think I wanna escape from this?" Dent demanded. "There is no escape from this."

"You don't want to hurt the boy, Harvey," a deep voice rumbled from the shadows.

I rolled my eyes and held my again, wishing he had shown up a little sooner considering all the blood spilling out of my head. When I pulled my hand away that time, I felt everything start to spin and my vision go darker. Hand either stays on or off the wound, I decided.

Dent looked a little nervous now that Batman had arrived, meaning there was more room for screw-ups. I knew I was going to need as much energy as I could get to pull off any stunt that would work so I closed my eyes and lowered my head onto the dirt.

"Al," I heard Dad whisper.

"It's not about what I want!" Dent argued. "It's about what's fair!" That one echoed through the warehouse. "You thought we could be decent men in an indecent world." I heard him panting, and I was kind of glad that I wasn't watching this all take place. "Well, you were wrong. The world is cruel, and the only morality in a cruel world is chance. Unbiased, unprejudiced, fair. His son's got the same chance she had."

I clenched my fists on the dirt, picking up a little bit of sand and rocks inside my fists. I was going to prove to him that people could totally screw up chance, because he wasn't going to die. Not on my watch. Jimmy was too young to die. I opened my eyes and slowly, quietly rolled over.

"50/50," Dent said.

"What happened to Rachel wasn't chance," Batman protested. "We decided to act. We three." He motioned to Dad, himself and me. When his eyes met mine, he nodded, like he had a plan.

"Then why was it only me who lost everything?" Dent pleaded. I could hear the emotion in his voice.

I looked at Batman. He was the only one who could do anything at this point in time, and I really hoped that we were thinking the same thing. I saw Batman's lip quiver and his breathing hitch. I was positive now, without a doubt in my mind that Batman was Bruce Wayne. "It wasn't."

"The Joker chose me," Dent complained. I forgot how petty he could be sometimes.

"Because you were the best of us," Batman explained. "He wanted to prove that even someone as good as you could fall."

There was a moment of silence with just Jimmy and Barbara quivering. "And he was right," Dent finally said.

"You're the one pointing the gun, Harvey," Batman pointed out. "So point it at the people responsible."

Dent looked at Dad, then at me (I promptly closed my eyes again), and then finally at Batman. "Fair enough." He held up the coin again. "You first." He flipped the coin, looked at it, and fired the gun into Batman's stomach.

I felt my breath catch as he fell to the ground. I cursed silently. There went my plan! Then, I felt tears coming to my eyes, which was something I was not expecting. Not only was Batman the most loyal "cop" we could get, but Bruce was someone that I could actually call my friend. Besides, I didn't want to see someone else get killed because of this madman called the Joker. I looked over at Dad, who was also getting tears in his eyes too. This was not turning out how I planned, and I guessed that I was going to be given a second chance at death, but instead he held the gun to his head.

"My turn." The coin's singing went up in the air and back down. Dent turned the gun on himself, but once the coin landed, he lowered the gun to Jimmy's head.

"Harvey, you're right. Rachel's death was my fault." By this time, Dad had tears running down his cheeks. This must have just been killing him. "Please don't punish the boy." He looked over at me, but I was still lying in my unconscious stage. "You all ready punished her. Please punish me."

"I'm about to," Dent said quietly. "Tell your boy it's going to be all right, Gordon. Lie, like I lied."

I felt hot tears of anger and fear trickle off my eyelids and onto the dirt. This could not be happening. I looked up at Jimmy, who was crying himself now.

"It's going to be all right, son."

Dent flipped the coin up and followed it with his eyes.

I scrambled to my feet, ignoring the world going black around me, and charged Dent. I heard a growl beside me as Batman and I both rammed into Dent. I connected with his stomach and flew off the side of the building, out of where the window should've been. I grabbed hold of Dent's waist as soon as I felt Jimmy disappear. Everything was happening so fast that I wasn't sure what exactly was going on.

"Alex!" I heard Bruce yell.

I rolled over slightly on Dent and reached up to his hand, where Jimmy was holding so tightly. His fingertips brushed mine, but I was all ready to far down for it to count. I collided with the ground on my shoulder. I heard something pop from my shoulder and I was in agonizing pain. I grunted and held my shoulder as I rolled off of Dent onto, surprise, more dirt. I closed my eyes, trying to ignore the burning in my head and shoulder. I groaned as I rolled my head to see if Dent was okay. He wasn't; in fact, he was dead. I sighed and just lay on the hard, itchy dirt with my eyes closed. Wood broke and I heard a thud beside me. I swallowed and endured the pain I had as I turned my head the other way, very slowly, to see who fell next to me. It was Batman. I felt my heart drop and closed my eyes again. It was almost too painful to keep them open.

I heard footsteps and the sound of Dad's wedding band scrape against the handrail. The gravel crunched as he approached me. The footsteps stopped by my stomach and I felt Dad's hand upon my cheek. I heard him sob once. "Alex, why? Couldn't you just stay unconscious?" A tear hit my cheek. "Did you have to be so brave? Why, Ali? Why?" He rubbed his hand against my cheek and through my hair since it had fallen out of its ponytail.

I couldn't stand hearing Dad this way, so I slowly opened my eyes and looked up into his brown ones. I was just going to have to endure the pain. I made a small smile. "I learned from the best," I whispered and coughed. Apparently the impact had knocked some air out of me.

Dad let out a relieved laugh. "Are you all right?"

I narrowed my eyes at him. "Gosh, you are pathetic," I exasperated. "I just fell a couple stories onto my shoulder after getting hit in the head. Yeah, I'm perfectly fine." I lifted up my right arm, since it wasn't in excruciating pain. "Now, help me up."

Dad grabbed my hand and pulled me to my feet.

I cradled my left arm and stuck out my hand to Dad. "Can I borrow your tie?"

"Why?" Dad asked, holding his tie in his hand.

"I wanna be an Emo rockstar," I faked. "Sling." I pointed to my arm.

He pulled it off quickly, and squatted down next to Batman, who was still lying unconscious.

I tied it around my neck and knelt down beside him. I put my hand on Batman's stomach, where the bullet went in. I teetered a little bit as the world continued to get darker through my eyes.

"Dad! Dad, is he okay?" Jimmy squeaked from two stories up.

Dad pulled out his radio to call it in.

Batman grunted as he pulled the radio out of Dad's hand and rolled over. He struggled to get up, holding his side.

I held out my right hand against his chest to help him out.

He took my hand in his, and looked me in the eyes as he stayed on his knees for a while, panting for breath.

I pulled my hand free and stood next to Dad, who gently put his arm around my waist.

"Thank you," Dad said.

"You don't have to thank me."

"Yes, I do," Dad said.

"Though it would've been nicer if you came earlier," I mumbled holding out my hand that was still covered in blood.

He nodded sadly.

I looked at Dent, leaning my head on Dad's shoulder in exhaustion. "The Joker won." I stared down at the body, leaning more and more on Dad for support.

"Harvey's prosecution, everything he fought for. Undone."

"Whatever chance you gave us of fixing our city… dies with De—Harvey's reputation."

"We bet it all on him," Dad admitted. "The Joker took the best of us, and tore him down."

"People will lose hope," I sighed, looking up at Batman.

"They won't," Batman promised. There was silence for a while. "They must never know what he did."

"Five dead," I exclaimed, immediately regretting it. My head was throbbing. "Two of them cops? We can't sweep that off."

Batman struggled to his feet. "But the Joker cannot win." He trudged over to Dent and knelt down, turning Dent's over to the unburnt side. "Gotham needs its true hero."

"No!" I breathed heavily.

"You either die a hero, or live to see yourself become the villain," Batman quoted. "I can do those things. Because I'm not a hero, not like Dent. I killed those people. That's what I can be."

"No! No, you're not!" Dad added.

"You are a hero though," I interjected. "You can't."

"I'm whatever Gotham needs me to be." He handed the radio back to Dad. "Call it in."

"They'll hunt you," I tried.

"You'll hunt me," he agreed. "You'll condemn me, set the dogs on me because that's what needs to happen. Because sometimes the truth isn't good enough, sometimes, people deserve more. Sometimes people deserve to have their faith rewarded." Batman looked at me hard in the eyes, and then turned to run away. His feet left the ground as he glided forward.

This was probably going to be my only chance, so I went for it. I broke free of Dad's grasp and followed after Batman. I heard Dad tell me to stop. That it wasn't good for me, blah, blah, blah. I finally caught up to him. The only reason why I did was probably because he got shot. I grabbed his shoulder and spun him around, which took a lot of effort on my part. He wasn't really happy about stopping, but he stared at me anyway.

"No interruptions," I whispered as I leaned into him.

He leaned into me and pressed his lips to mine. He wrapped his arm around my waist, pulling me close to him. I snaked my right arm around his neck and let my mouth open so that his tongue could slip next to mine. After about thirty seconds of the best kiss of my life, I let go and pulled back. Batman pulled away, but left his arm around my waist. He smiled at me before letting go and running off into the shadows. I smiled and trudged back to where Dad and Jimmy were. I felt relatively lightheaded now, and I knew that I wasn't going to stay conscious much longer.

"He didn't do anything wrong!" Jimmy protested.

"Because he's the hero Gotham deserves," I said as I slid towards Dad's side. "Just not the one it needs right now." I ruffled Jimmy's hair and leaned on Dad, feeling weaker and weaker.

Dad wrapped his arm around my waist to balance me, since my shoulder hurt. "So we'll hunt him because he can take it," Dad explained. "Because he's not our hero, he's a silent guardian…"

"…a watchful protector," I added in a whisper, seeing the entire world fade to black. "A dark knight."

Dad nodded.

We stared for a second at the spot where Batman had vanished, but I had lost enough blood and was in enough pain that I just gave up. Everything went black and I collapsed on the ground.

Well, that was a Hell of a lot longer than I expected! It's like 12:50 AM as I'm typing this now, and no matter how much I wanted to go to bed I couldn't stop writing it. It's eleven pages on Word and it's just about perfect in my standards, or at least what I had in my mind. I want lots of reviews on this because it took me like five hours to write. Please, please review! Clicky the nice little button there. =D 3