I'm back with more!! I really hope this is a good chapter cuz I went
through some major writer's block while putting this together, so let me
know!!
It had been two weeks since our kiss on the rooftop when I had to light the Bat-signal. To say I was nervous about seeing him again was nearly the understatement of the century. Bullock and Montoya were on the roof with me, and it was raining. I was soaking wet, and believe me, I was not in a good mood. I was getting ready to go over everything that had gone wrong that night when I heard Montoya gasp from behind me.
"Evening," I said, a feeling of déjà vu washing over me as the smirk I knew he was sporting sent shivers down my spine.
"Jim," he acknowledged. This was getting creepy.
I turned to him and pulled out a file, hoping it didn't get too drenched to be useful.
"As I'm sure you're aware, Joker escaped yesterday. He's got twelve hostages in the elementary school on 23rd street and rumors are going around about Harley holding at least a dozen students and teachers at the high school around the corner. Both are said to have bombs set up in several hallways of the buildings and a good number of hit men patrolling the area. We have both schools surrounded right now, but I wanted you to go in first. Figured it would be cleaner that way."
He nodded gravely, took the file under his cape, and made his way toward the edge of the building.
"Careful, old friend," I heard myself say.
He stopped and looked at me, "I always am, Jim," was his gravelly reply.
As I watched him disappear over the side of the GCPD headquarters building, I found myself shaking. My fingers were numb, and I moved only out of habit down the stairwell and out to my car. Truth be told, for the first time in years, I was afraid for him.
Halfway to the high school, I heard that the bombs had been disabled, Harley was in custody, and the hostages were all safe. I turned right at the next light and started my way over to the elementary school. Ten minutes later I was standing out in the rain again, among thirty odd dedicated men and women ready to give their lives for the hostages inside that building. And I had sent in a vigilante who was rumored to be insane and seemed to have been particularly unstable as of late. I needed a cigarette.
I was struggling with my lighter when suddenly a huge explosion from the school grabbed my attention. The cigarette fell from my mouth, forgotten and useless anyways because of how soggy it was, and likewise my lighter was dropped numbly to the ground and I raised a shaky hand. I signaled my men to get ready, and waited. I was holding my breath, almost expecting Joker to come out with a dead Batman over his shoulder and find twelve mutilated kids inside.
We must have stood there for twenty minutes. I was over my initial shock and had gone through four cigarettes, fighting the urge to pass out. The one I was on was approaching the filter. That's when the doors burst open - the cops all cocked and readied their guns..and all the children came running out. A wave of relief swept through the officers and we went up to get the kids towels and some hot cocoa, courtesy of some older friends of a senior officer. After all the children were taken care of, a small group of my men followed me into the building to make sure there weren't any stragglers and to see if Batman had left us anything.
It was dark and musty, and one of the bombs had in fact gone off in the cafeteria. The smell of the smoke was almost unbearable and it was extremely difficult to see much of anything in the already dark hallways. However, we finally got down to where we had suspected the hostages had been kept - the theater.
Low and behold, in the theater we found all of the Joker's henchmen tied up and hung from the stage lights. However, there was no Joker there, so we got the goons down and loaded them into police cars headed towards Gotham Prison - actually the other men on my team did that. I made another scan of the building to see if Batman was still in there and needed any help. I didn't find him, and as much as I tried to resist, my heart rate picked up when I discovered he was still out there somewhere.
Well, I figured there was nothing I could have done to help him at that point, so I got in my car and began back towards my empty house. I was about a block away from home when I got a call from Headquarters that Joker had been returned to Arkham. Everything was back to normal..well, as normal as things get in Gotham City.
I was exhausted when I got to my front door, and fumbled with my keys for a good minute before I finally put them in and got inside. I made it about three steps before I felt the hairs stand up on the back of my neck and I began to panic. I was sluggish, unarmed, and there was someone in my home. This night was turning out perfect.
Just then I heard a groan from the corner of the living room. I searched for a weapon, but the best I could come up with before going toward the source of the voice was an umbrella. Cautiously, I made my way across the hallway, leaving small puddles of rainwater in the wake of each footstep. I was too afraid to turn on my lamp, so the only light was from the streetlamp across the road, pouring foggily through my living room window..my very open living room window. I had long since broken into a cold sweat, and I was starting to feel dizzy as I walked around the coffee table.
That's when I heard a raspy voice grind out, "Jim," and I knew who was in my house - I glanced at the digital clock on the VCR - at 2 a.m.
Without wasting another second, I moved over to my right, flipping on the lamp in the room, flooding my vision to the point of near-blindness for a moment. I took another look around the room, eventually glancing back towards my window, and it was then that I noticed the crimson dripping from the windowsill, staining my eggshell-colored carpet. The blood moved in a sloppy trail up to a corner on the other side of the room where there was a bookshelf, on which a very injured Dark Knight was now leaning. My breath caught and my heart skipped a beat, but I was by him in an instant, holding him up with an arm around his middle and fingers wrapped around the gloved hand now slung over my shoulder.
"My God," I murmured, as I lowered him onto my couch, "what the hell happened?"
Well, is this ok?? This chapter is way longer than the other two, I know. Let me know how you like it, and I'm totally open to suggestions!!
It had been two weeks since our kiss on the rooftop when I had to light the Bat-signal. To say I was nervous about seeing him again was nearly the understatement of the century. Bullock and Montoya were on the roof with me, and it was raining. I was soaking wet, and believe me, I was not in a good mood. I was getting ready to go over everything that had gone wrong that night when I heard Montoya gasp from behind me.
"Evening," I said, a feeling of déjà vu washing over me as the smirk I knew he was sporting sent shivers down my spine.
"Jim," he acknowledged. This was getting creepy.
I turned to him and pulled out a file, hoping it didn't get too drenched to be useful.
"As I'm sure you're aware, Joker escaped yesterday. He's got twelve hostages in the elementary school on 23rd street and rumors are going around about Harley holding at least a dozen students and teachers at the high school around the corner. Both are said to have bombs set up in several hallways of the buildings and a good number of hit men patrolling the area. We have both schools surrounded right now, but I wanted you to go in first. Figured it would be cleaner that way."
He nodded gravely, took the file under his cape, and made his way toward the edge of the building.
"Careful, old friend," I heard myself say.
He stopped and looked at me, "I always am, Jim," was his gravelly reply.
As I watched him disappear over the side of the GCPD headquarters building, I found myself shaking. My fingers were numb, and I moved only out of habit down the stairwell and out to my car. Truth be told, for the first time in years, I was afraid for him.
Halfway to the high school, I heard that the bombs had been disabled, Harley was in custody, and the hostages were all safe. I turned right at the next light and started my way over to the elementary school. Ten minutes later I was standing out in the rain again, among thirty odd dedicated men and women ready to give their lives for the hostages inside that building. And I had sent in a vigilante who was rumored to be insane and seemed to have been particularly unstable as of late. I needed a cigarette.
I was struggling with my lighter when suddenly a huge explosion from the school grabbed my attention. The cigarette fell from my mouth, forgotten and useless anyways because of how soggy it was, and likewise my lighter was dropped numbly to the ground and I raised a shaky hand. I signaled my men to get ready, and waited. I was holding my breath, almost expecting Joker to come out with a dead Batman over his shoulder and find twelve mutilated kids inside.
We must have stood there for twenty minutes. I was over my initial shock and had gone through four cigarettes, fighting the urge to pass out. The one I was on was approaching the filter. That's when the doors burst open - the cops all cocked and readied their guns..and all the children came running out. A wave of relief swept through the officers and we went up to get the kids towels and some hot cocoa, courtesy of some older friends of a senior officer. After all the children were taken care of, a small group of my men followed me into the building to make sure there weren't any stragglers and to see if Batman had left us anything.
It was dark and musty, and one of the bombs had in fact gone off in the cafeteria. The smell of the smoke was almost unbearable and it was extremely difficult to see much of anything in the already dark hallways. However, we finally got down to where we had suspected the hostages had been kept - the theater.
Low and behold, in the theater we found all of the Joker's henchmen tied up and hung from the stage lights. However, there was no Joker there, so we got the goons down and loaded them into police cars headed towards Gotham Prison - actually the other men on my team did that. I made another scan of the building to see if Batman was still in there and needed any help. I didn't find him, and as much as I tried to resist, my heart rate picked up when I discovered he was still out there somewhere.
Well, I figured there was nothing I could have done to help him at that point, so I got in my car and began back towards my empty house. I was about a block away from home when I got a call from Headquarters that Joker had been returned to Arkham. Everything was back to normal..well, as normal as things get in Gotham City.
I was exhausted when I got to my front door, and fumbled with my keys for a good minute before I finally put them in and got inside. I made it about three steps before I felt the hairs stand up on the back of my neck and I began to panic. I was sluggish, unarmed, and there was someone in my home. This night was turning out perfect.
Just then I heard a groan from the corner of the living room. I searched for a weapon, but the best I could come up with before going toward the source of the voice was an umbrella. Cautiously, I made my way across the hallway, leaving small puddles of rainwater in the wake of each footstep. I was too afraid to turn on my lamp, so the only light was from the streetlamp across the road, pouring foggily through my living room window..my very open living room window. I had long since broken into a cold sweat, and I was starting to feel dizzy as I walked around the coffee table.
That's when I heard a raspy voice grind out, "Jim," and I knew who was in my house - I glanced at the digital clock on the VCR - at 2 a.m.
Without wasting another second, I moved over to my right, flipping on the lamp in the room, flooding my vision to the point of near-blindness for a moment. I took another look around the room, eventually glancing back towards my window, and it was then that I noticed the crimson dripping from the windowsill, staining my eggshell-colored carpet. The blood moved in a sloppy trail up to a corner on the other side of the room where there was a bookshelf, on which a very injured Dark Knight was now leaning. My breath caught and my heart skipped a beat, but I was by him in an instant, holding him up with an arm around his middle and fingers wrapped around the gloved hand now slung over my shoulder.
"My God," I murmured, as I lowered him onto my couch, "what the hell happened?"
Well, is this ok?? This chapter is way longer than the other two, I know. Let me know how you like it, and I'm totally open to suggestions!!