Y'all. She's nearing the end :(
THIS CHAPTER WAS UPDATED AND PROOFREAD FOR TYPOS, GRAMMAR, AND PLOT/TIMELINE ISSUES AS OF 7/18/2020
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Anslee had a lengthy drive to the location that Ramirez had given Barbara. She didn't think that she'd ever been there before, but as soon as she pulled up, Ans recognized the location from news reports broadcasted only days prior. Although the last time she'd seen this place, it had been engulfed in flames. It was the sight of the building Rachel had been killed in.
Her heart ached as she thought about Rachel's last living moments were literally in the place that was barely there in front of her. But she had to put that hurt aside and focus on what was happening.
Ans looked around her and saw two cars. One she recognized to be Barbara Gordon's, and then another one she didn't recognize at all. After undoing her seatbelt, the teen turned off the car she was in and opened the drivers side door as quietly as she could. Avoiding detection at all costs was the goal in this case. She snuck around her car and tried to keep a low profile as she attempted to follow some voices she could hear off in the distance.
As she made her way maybe a good fifteen feet from the car, she heard a clicking noise from behind her. It sounded like a gun being cocked. Anslee froze in her tracks and turned her head slightly. Behind her was Jim Gordon holding his gun so it was pointing towards her.
"Anslee Wayne? Is that you?" the man narrowed his eyes in the dark hoping to see her better.
"Jim?" Anslee turned around slowly with her hands in the air to show him that she meant no harm.
Gordon lowered his gun and began to walk towards the teen, "What are you doing here? It's incredibly dangerous!"
"I-I mean I just..You see I-"
But Anslee was cut off when a panicked scream rang out into the darkness. It didn't sound too far from them either.
"Stay behind me," Jim ordered, motioning for Anslee to move behind him so he could protect her if he needed to.
"Dent!" Jim yelled out as he made his way towards where the scream had come from.
Dent? Did that mean that Harvey was there? Did he make it out of that hospital alive?
The two climbed a set of stairs and hung a left. Almost immediately, three figures huddled closely together on the ground could be recognized as Gordon's family. With no regard to anyone being around them, Gordon sped up his pace and made his way towards his wife and kids. Ans kept up, but stopped when a figure came out of the darkness and tackled Jim to the ground with a loud groan.
The man turned and Anslee immediately recognized him. Well...almost. While one side of his face looked completely normal, the left half of his face was completely exposed of all his tendons, muscles, and bones. The fleshy anatomy beneath the skin was a sight to behold, but an ugly and disgusting one at that. It didn't even seem like Harvey had noticed Anslee was with Gordon.
"This is where they brought her, Gordon. After your men handed her over. This is where she died," Harvey growled out.
"I know, I was here..trying to save her," Gordon responded as he tried to keep his cool from the ground.
"But you didn't," Harvey scowled.
"I couldn't," Gordon reasoned.
"Yes, you could've if you had listened to me! If you stood up against corruption instead of doing your deal with the devil!" Harvey yelled.
"I was trying to fight the mob!" Gordon exclaimed back.
Harvey held up his gun and cocked it almost immediately, and a panic set in within Anslee. She stepped forward almost in front of Gordon.
"Harvey, stop, you don't want to do this," Ans tried to reason with him.
Harvey moved forward and shoved Anslee out of his way. She hit the ground with a thud and turned back to look up at the man as she gained on Gordon.
"You wouldn't dare try to justify yourself if you knew what I had lost," Harvey breathed out.
Anslee wanted to chime in and try to stop him, but all seemed to be lost, and reasoning with him didn't seem like it was going to be an option in order to change his mind. But maybe she could buy some time as a diversion.
Harvey had looked over at Gordon's cowering family, "Have you ever had to talk to the person you love most, tell them it's gonna be alright, when you know it's not?"
"Harvey, don't," Anslee shook her head, "You know he doesn't know what that feels like, but I do. Harvey you know how that feels, and you don't want to inflict that type of pain on someone, please."
"Hush!" Dent yelled down to the seventeen year old before turning back to Gordon, "You're about to know what that feels like, Gordon. Then you can look me in the eye and tell me you're sorry."
"You're not going to hurt my family," Jim shook his head.
"No," Harvey almost scoffed, "Just the person you love most."
Harvey stalked over towards the wife and children that were sobbing and cowering under Harvey's gaze. The two-faced man crouched down to their level and held the gun to Barbara's head. The woman visibly shook as tears ran down her cheeks.
"So, is it your wife?" he asked in a sinister tone.
"Harvey, stop, please. This isn't you!" Anslee called out.
"Put the gun down, Harvey," Jim reached out, "Harvey put the gun down! Please put...please Harvey!"
Dent moved the gun from Barbara's head down to his oldest son's head. James shook as well as the weapon was put in his face.
"Oh, god damnit will you stop pointing that gun at my family?!" Jim exclaimed even louder as the gun moved to his son.
Harvey pulled little James away from Barbara, making her cry out as her oldest was pried away from her.
"No! Jim, stop him!" she begged.
"We have a winner," Harvey growled out as he held the boy against him.
"Harvey, stop, you don't know what you're doing!" Anslee cried out.
"Harvey! I'm sorry!" Gordon yelled out, "For everything! Please don't hurt my son."
"Please, Harvey," Anslee begged in almost a whisper.
All of a sudden, the sounds of dogs barking could be heard from a distance along with the indistinct shouting of what seemed to be fellow police officers.
"You brought your cops?" Harvey asked annoyedly.
"All they know is there's a situation," Jim groaned, "They don't know who or what. They're just creating a perimeter."
"You think I want to escape from this?" Harvey demanded, "There is no escape for this!"
"You don't want to hurt the boy, Harvey!" A gruff low voice sounded from the shadows.
Anslee turned her head, and relief washed over her. Finally her father had arrived. He was there to save the day any other time she was in immediate danger. This wasn't any different from those other times.
"It's not about what I want, it's about what's fair! You thought we could be decent men in an indecent time! But you were wrong. The world is cruel. And the only morality in a cruel world is chance," he held up his double sided coin, "Unbiased. Unprejudiced. Fair."
"His son's got the same chance she had," Harvey spat, "Fifty-fifty."
"What happened to Rachel wasn't chance!" Batman growled, "We decided to act, we three!"
"Then why was it me who was the only one that lost everything?" Dent demanded.
"You weren't," Anslee chimed in, "Harvey I lost my Mom that night! You weren't the only one that suffered that hurt and pain. You aren't alone, okay?"
"The Joker chose me!" Harvey yelled.
"Because you were the best of us," Batman retorted, "He wanted to prove that even someone as good as you could fall."
"And he was right," Harvey muttered.
"Because you let him be!" Anslee yelled back at him, "You didn't have to turn this way, Harvey, you had an alternate choice!"
"You're the one pointing the gun, Harvey. So, point it at the people responsible," Batman shot back at him.
Harvey looked to be considering his options for a split second before he made a move, "Fair enough," he held up his coin, "You first."
The coin made a clicking sound as the man flipped the silver coin into the air. He caught it a second later, and without a moment's hesitation, moved the gun from James's head and towards the Batman. He shot off a single shot, hitting the Caped Crusader in the abdomen and making him stumble backwards from the impact.
"No!" Anslee cried out. It was hard seeing your hero in armor being taken out like that, but now that she knew that was her own father, the hurt struck her a little harder.
Harvey moved the gun to his own head, "My turn," he shrugged as he flipped the coin into the air again with his opposite hand. Once he caught it, he was quick to return the gun back to James's head.
He tauntingly ran his hands through the blonde boy's hair. The little boy cried as he looked down at his father.
"Harvey, you're right," Jim spoke softly, "Rachel's death was my fault. Pl...pl-please don't punish the boy. Please punish me," he begged.
"I'm about to," Harvey spat as he looked down at the crying boy in his hold, "Tell your boy he's gonna be alright, Gordon. Lie...like I lied."
Gordon looked at his son as tears ran down the cop's face, "It's going to be alright, son," the man spoke to his son in a calm tone.
Harvey flipped his coin into the air once more, but while it was still flipping in midair, a dark figure tackled Harvey from the side, taking him and young James over the ledge the figure had knocked them over. Barbara cried out from the sudden attack.
Both Gordon and Anslee scrambled to their feet so they could look over and make sure things were at least somewhat okay. Once they were able to see over the edge, at the bottom, sprawled out on the ground, was Harvey Dent. But holding on for dear life on an old pole was Batman with James in his arms.
Batman hoisted the young boy up so Ans and Jim could pull him up. As soon as they got the boy up, Anslee hugged the boy to her body and held him as he cried. Meanwhile, Jim tried to help Batman up from over the edge, but unfortunately, his grip slipped off the pole and he fell to the ground. He took the same fall that Harvey had. Gordon got up and scrambled over to the eroded stairs so he could go down and make sure they were okay. Once he made it to the bottom, James had pulled away from Anslee and looked back over the edge.
"Dad? Daddy?" the boy called out.
Anslee peeked over the edge as well out of worry. Bruce couldn't be dead, he just couldn't be. I mean come on! He was the goddamn Batman for crying out loud.
"Is he okay?" James asked.
Thankfully, Batman had rolled over onto his stomach and pushed himself up into a sitting position. He was at least alive, and that's all Anslee really needed.
The teen instructed the young boy to stay where he was while she went down to make sure things were actually okay. Ans rushed down the same set of stairs that Jim had taken. When she made it down, she stopped at the foot of Harvey's lifeless cadaver. The burned and scarred side of his face shown in the dim glow of the moon while the lights cast dark shadows and contours on his normal side.
"Thank you," Jim spoke as Batman began to stand.
"You don't have to thank me," The Dark Knight breathed heavily as he spoke.
All three of them had their eyes fixated on Harvey's body as if he were going to get up and start walking around again. It just didn't seem real that he was actually dead.
"Yes I do," Gordon sighed, "The Joker won. Harvey's prosecution, everything he fought for..undone. Whatever chance you gave us at fixing our city dies with Harvey's reputation."
"No," Anslee shook her head, "It can't, this city has come so far, and there's no way that we can let that end now."
"But we bet it all on him," Jim looked over to Anslee, "The Joker took the best of us and tore him down. People will lose hope."
"They won't," Batman spoke in his gruff voice, "They must never know what he did."
Both Anslee and Gordon looked over at the Bat with confused looks on their faces.
"You don't mean.." Anslee trailed off
"Five dead. Two of them cops? You can't sweep that-"
"No..no.." the Bat panted, still trying to catch his break from the fall he'd taken, "But The Joker cannot win."
The man took a few steps and kneeled next to Harvey's body. He reached down to move the normal side of Harvey's face into the light.
"Gotham needs its true hero."
Gordon looked at Batman with disbelief in his eyes. Meanwhile Anslee was still trying to interpret exactly what he was trying to get across. She just hoped he wasn't saying what she thought he was saying.
"You either die a hero, or live long enough to see yourself become the villain."
It was Harvey's quote. The one he said when him, Rachel, and Anslee had "ran into" Bruce and Natasha at that fancy dinner in downtown Gotham. Anslee guessed Harvey really was right.
"I can do those things," the man persisted, "because I'm not a hero, not like Dent."
He stood and looked Gordon in the eyes, "I killed those people."
"No," Anslee shook her head.
"That's what I can be," Batman continued.
"No...no you can't, you're not," Jim argued.
"I'm whatever Gotham needs me to be. Call it in."
Gordon hesitated before he reached up to grab his walkie so he could let the unit know it was okay for them to come around.
"They'll hunt you," Gordon looked back at him.
"You'll hunt me, you'll condemn me. Set the dogs on me. Because that's what needs to happen. Because sometimes, truth isn't good enough. Sometimes people deserve more. Sometimes people deserve to have their faith rewarded." The words he spoke sounded like a soliloquy straight out of Hamlet. It was poetic.
As the sounds of dogs and officers chattering began to get closer, Gordon turned to Anslee quickly.
"Go back up and meet one of the officers, they'll take you home," he instructed her.
Anslee nodded and turned to leave, but stopped when she heard a deep 'No'. She turned back around to gaze at the Bat.
"I'll take her home, you still don't know who you can trust on your unit, Gordon," he argued.
Gordon looked between Anslee and Batman for a moment or two before he caved and agreed to let her leave with the vigilante. Anslee walked up to him and gave him a nod.
In a split second, the Bat took off in a dead sprint, and there was Anslee right behind him.
XXX
About an hour later, after Anslee and Batman had made it back to the penthouse, they headed separate ways to the showers. Bruce probably needed one, and Anslee always felt a little less stressed after a nice hot and long shower.
Anslee was now walking down the small staircase to the living room where she knew she'd find Bruce. The teen was drying her hair with a towel as she approached the man looking to be deep in thought. When he noticed that she was there, he sat up straight and looked up at her.
"You doing okay?" he asked her.
Anslee smirked and sat down in one of the comfy chairs across from him, "I think I should be asking you that."
Bruce shook his head, "I'm fine, it's nothing I haven't dealt with before."
"So they got him?" Anslee raised an eyebrow
"If by him, you mean The Joker, then yes," Bruce smirked back at the girl.
"What happened?" Anslee raised an eyebrow.
Bruce sighed and leaned his head back, "Once you and Fox located the building, I got there and was able to use the sonar through my suit. Joker had the patients and doctors from that missing bus that was all over the news. He disguised the hostages as his clown minions and dressed up his thugs as doctors and patients so he could throw us off. The GCPD and SWAT were lucky I had figured it out, otherwise there would have been a lot more civilian casualties than there needed to be."
Anslee nodded, "And Joker?"
Bruce looked over at her with an amused smile, "He and I had it out and in the end I left him hanging upside down from the building for the cops to receive."
Anslee laughed at how he described it. After everything that Joker had put Gotham and even her through, Ans really liked the thought of Joker getting a taste of his own medicine.
"Now how did you end up with Gordon and Harvey?" Bruce cocked a brow at her.
Anslee looked down at the ground like a child being reprimanded for doing something wrong. She bit her top lip before she spoke, "I heard the call between Ramirez and Barbara while I was scanning over the radio frequencies with Fox. And I just knew that it seemed sketchy because Ramirez was one of the crooked cops, and it wouldn't make sense for Gordon to give her orders to give to Barbara. Ramirez gave Barbara the address and I left Wayne Enterprise to go find out what was happening. Now I know what you're about to say, it was dumb and what I did was incredibly dangerous. After everything that I've been through I should know by now not to mess with things of that caliber. And I'm sorry."
Anslee looked back up at Bruce to see that disappointed look on his face, but when she scanned him, she didn't see that. Instead she saw a...smile? A smile on his face? She didn't know why he was smiling, but she was very confused.
"I'm not mad, Ans," Bruce spoke, "While it was very dumb of you, I am proud."
"Proud?" Ans frowned.
"Yes," Bruce nodded, "Because it's proved what I've been getting an earful about for years."
Anslee tilted her head, what was he talking about?
"That you're annoyingly independent and you are just like me," he gave her a knowing look.
Those were Rachel's words. Anslee always used to despise being compared to Bruce. She used to not even want to be associated with him in general. But the past few weeks had been incredibly eye opening.
She was more of Bruce's daughter than she had previously thought. And for once, she was prideful of it.
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THIS IS NOT THE END, I DONE TOLD Y'ALL THERE ARE TWO MORE CHAPTERS SO DON'T START CRYING YET.