Book Two: Chaos

Chapter 20

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"You must know how many were inside. You have patient lists, roll call." Gordon reasoned.

"Right now, we're showing fifty people missing. One bus." Evans informed us. "All these other buses were heading off to hospitals. My guess is we missed one."

"Your guess?" Rachel asked in disbelief. "And what is your guess about Harvey Dent?" She now asked angrily.

Gordon stepped between her and Evans. "Keep looking. And keep it to yourself. Anybody asks, we got him out." Gordon instructed him. He then turned to me. "Get me the Mayor's office on the line. We're gonna need the National Guard."

I knew where Harvey Dent was. I just didn't understand why. I mean, the only reason it went after the corrupted cops, was only because Rachel died. Or maybe I was underestimating Harvey's thirst for revenge. Maybe it didn't matter if Rachel died or lived, either way, Harvey would have wanted revenge. Maybe, in the movies, Rachel's death was one more reason to go after the bad guys. That's what happened in the comics and other adaptations of Batman. He was burned either by fire or chemicals and he went after Batman, blamed it all on Batman. It was all for revenge.

"I'm now being told that we're cutting to a video GCN has just received." The reporter on TV said.

Then it cut to Mike Engel, hanging upside down. The words "Breaking Down" was painted behind him. "I'm Mike Engel for Gotham Tonight." He started and then he read the script the Joker gave him. "What does it take to make you people wanna join in? You failed to kill the lawyer. I've gotta get you off the bench and into the game." The Joker could be heard in the background repeating and laughing at some of the words. "Come nightfall, this city is mine. And anyone left here plays by my rules. If you don't wanna be in the game…Get out now. But the bridge and tunnel crowd are sure in for a surprise. Ha, ha, ha."

"What is he playing at?" Rachel asked.

"A cruel game." I answered.

The bridges and the tunnels couldn't be used because of the Joker's threat. The ferries could be use but thirty thousand people were waiting to board. And as for the road, well, the traffic was completely jammed, backed for hours on end.

I knew what was coming next, the ferries being stranded on the river, both prisoners and civilians have to decide of each other's fate. Gordon talking to the mayor and Ramirez have been obligated to call the Gordon's family. These events were all about to happen.

My biggest problem now, was not all these events being changed, somehow by my presence. Except maybe for the culprit who has taken Sue and trapped her. Ramirez was never a part of game, not here. I didn't know who it could be, who would make that call for Harvey? I had no idea.

All I could do was to wait for Gordon's call or for Batman to find where the Joker was. The addresses were probably the only information that I didn't give Bruce. The Joker needed to feel like he was controlling everything but maybe by not doing so, I gave him this control. He clearly had the upper hand. Or maybe, the story didn't want to be changed. As if this world put me there, only to be a witness and nothing more. I failed at saving Harvey Dent, I failed at saving Sue. Still, I hoped I could change Batman's fate. If Batman is still active, he could have been prepared for Bane and Talia. Or maybe, I'm just fooling myself.

It was already dark outside; Rachel and I were both looking for Harvey Dent. Well, Rachel was. I could have told her that it was useless but I thought it'd be wiser not to share what I know with her. I've learned my lesson. Sharing my knowledge with them means putting their lives in danger.

"Sanders." I said picking up my phone.

"We know where the Joker is." Gordon said on the other side of the line. "Prewitt Building. Join me on the building opposite."

"On our way." I answered before hanging up.

"What is it?" Rachel asked me.

"They found the Clown." I replied making a U-turn.

"Is Harvey with him?" Rachel asked hopeful.

"If he is, Gordon didn't tell me." I told her. "But he could be."

Pretending as if I didn't know was killing me but I wanted to be there for when Harvey called. I wanted to be there for when Gordon would go to his family. I was hoping that maybe…Rachel could reason with him. Then again, I might just be fooling myself.

I knew the passengers of both ferries made the right decision. I knew Batman could handle the hostage situation on his own. I also knew that he wasn't able to reason Harvey. He wasn't able to save the latter. I hoped that Rachel being alive could at least change that.

"We found the missing hospital bus." The SWAT leader reported to us.

"Then we have a hostage situation." Gordon looked through the goggles. "It's a shooting gallery." He handed me the goggles. I looked through the windows. The "hostages" were kneeling on the ground, held "captive" by "the clowns." "Why would he choose a spot with such big windows?"

"We have clear shots on five clowns." The SWAT leader continued. "Snipers take them out, smash the window, a team rappels in. Team moves in by the stairwells. Two, three casualties max."

"Let's do it." Gordon agreed.

"It's not that simple." Batman said from behind us. "With the Joker, it never is."

"He's right." I agreed. "You said it yourself. Why the big windows? He knows we're gonna call in the snipers and the SWAT team. So, why give us a clear shot?"

"What other choice do I have?" Gordon snapped. "Every second that we don't take, those people in the ferries get closer to blowing each other up."

"That won't happen." Batman answered.

"Then he'll blow both of them up!" Gordon shouted.

"I need five minutes alone." Batman asked him.

"No! There's no time!" Gordon answered, yelling still. "We have clear shots!" Gordon aimed his gun at the Dark Knight.

"And that's exactly the problem!" I snapped back.

"Gordon is right!" Rachel told me. "Harvey is in there. Somewhere. We have to save him."

The Dark Knight ignored them, simply. He walked to the edge of the building and let himself fall. He opened his cape, large and wide and flew to the opposite building.

"Two minutes and then we breach." Gordon ordered to the SWAT team. He was willing to give Batman a chance. His phone rang immediately after. "Hello?" Rachel and I glanced at each other before focusing on Jim. "Barbara, calm down." We could only hear one side of the conversation. "Harvey?" Jim said looking up at us. Rachel grabbed my wrist with a gasp. "Where's my family?"

"Gordon, where's Harvey?" Rachel asked him worriedly.

"Red Team, go! Red Team, go!" The SWAT leader was ordering in his radio.

"He has my family." Jim answered as he started walking. "I have to go."

"I'm coming with you." I said following him.

"Me too." Rachel said next.

"No!" Gordon stopped and turned to us. "I'm going alone."

"They're my family, too." I argued. "You can't do this alone."

"And Harvey is mine." Rachel continued.

"He won't know we're with you." I said. "Just give us the address and we'll meet you there."

Harvey has taken Gordon's family back to the place where he lost half of himself. Where he truly became Double Face. Rachel was truly worried about him and I felt for her. All she wished for was to save him, make him feel whole again. I hoped she would succeed. Because if we couldn't save Harvey, we couldn't save Batman.

"Dent!" We heard Gordon called as we remained in the dark, quiet. We followed Gordon quietly. Not making any sound or as less as possible. The place was empty, burned up, cold.

Barbara and the children were sitting on the ground against a pillar. Gordon rushed to them only for him to be strike down. Rachel let out a small gasp. I pulled her behind me and drew out my gun.

"This is where they brought me, Gordon, after your men handed me over." Harvey started. "This is where I died."

"You survived." Gordon said from the ground. "Not everyone had that chance."

"Look at me." Harvey said. "LOOK AT ME! You call this surviving." He said showing Gordon his face. Rachel looked at me. I just put my index to my lips asking her to remain quiet. I needed to get closer.

"I tried to save you." Gordon said softly.

"But you didn't." Harvey retorted.

"I couldn't."

"Yes, you could've. If you'd listened to me." Harvey countered. "If you stood up against corruption instead of doing your deal with the devil."

"I was trying to fight the mob!" Gordon snapped.

Harvey aimed his gun at Gordon. "Harvey, no!" Rachel rushed up to him only for him to aim his gun at her.

I stepped up behind her, my gun aimed at him. "You don't want to do this."

"What do you know of what I want, Detective?" Harvey asked me. "You who even couldn't save your friend. Sue is another victim to your doing nothing." He spat.

"You're right, I couldn't save her." I swallowed the tears that were coming back. "She died because I tried to stop them."

"Harvey, please!" Rachel begged him. "You don't have to be like that. They can help you." She took a step forward. "They can fix you."

"I don't want to be fixed." Harvey told her. He turned to Barbara and the kids. "A price has to be paid for your incompetence, Gordon." He crouched down, my gun still on him. "Who is it going to be? Your wife?"

"Put the gun down, Harvey." Gordon pleaded him.

"Harvey, please don't do this." Rachel took another step towards him. He ignored her as he pressed the barrel of his gun to Jimmy's head.

"Oh, goddamn it! Will you stop pointing that gun at my family?" Gordon snapped.

"No!" Barbara yelled.

"We have a winner." Dent said pulling Jimmy out of his mother's arms.

"No! Jim, stop him!" Barbara desperately pleaded.

"Harvey!" Rachel called. "If you do this, they won't let us be together." Rachel said. "We are supposed to get married. You and me, together, until death do us part."

He kept pulling Jimmy with him, his gun aimed at Rachel. "Look at me, Rachel. Do you really want to marry this?"

"Yes, I do." She answered taking another step.

"Stay where you are! Don't move!" He ordered her. "Stop lying to yourself, Rachel. You can't love me. You will never love me again. Not with this face." Dogs were barking outside. Several of them, brought here by our men. "You brought your cops?"

"All they know is there's a situation." I answered him weakly, my eyes on Jimmy. "They don't know who it is or what it is. They're just creating a perimeter."

"You think I wanna escape from this?" Harvey asked us. "There is no escape from this."

"You don't wanna hurt the boy, Harvey." Batman grunted finally showing up.

"It's not about what I want, it's about what's fair!" Harvey spat at him. "You thought we could be decent men in an indecent time." He looked at Gordon, at me, at Rachel and at Batman. "But you were wrong. The world is cruel. And the only morality in a cruel world is chance." He held up his coin.

"You're right, it is a cruel world." I told him. "But this cruel world needs people like you, people who fights for justice, who fights for the defenseless. We need people like you Harvey."

"You don't need me. You need chance." He replied.

"What happened to you wasn't chance. We decided to act." Batman reminded him. "We, four."

"Then why was it me who was the only one who lost everything?" Harvey countered.

"It wasn't." I told him.

"You have me." Rachel said through her tears.

"The Joker chose me." Harvey said.

"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."

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

"Fair enough." Harvey agreed. "You first." He said flipping the coin and pointing his gun at Batman. And he shot.

"No!" I screamed. I could have shot him and stop this madness. I should probably have but I didn't. I hoped to save him, I hoped to the very end.

"My turn." He flipped the coin. His gun held against his temple. He looked at the coin that fell into his hand.

He then pointed his gun at me. He flipped his coin once again. I waited slowly lowering down my weapon. Realizing that there was no saving Harvey Dent. No saving Batman.

"Harvey, you're right." Gordon said. "What happened to you was my fault. Please, don't punish the boy. Please, punish me."

"I'm about to." Harvey replied to his begging. "Tell your boy he's gonna be all right, Gordon."

"It's going to be all right, son." Gordon said to Jimmy. Jimmy nodded at his father.

Harvey flipped his coin and at this moment Batman sprang up to him and slammed his body onto Harvey's, pulling Jimmy with them while they fall. Barbara screamed, I dropped my gun and rushed to the edge with Gordon. Rachel followed us crying.

Harvey had fallen to his death while Batman was holding the edge with a firm grip on the boy. I let Gordon pull up his son. While I tried to help Batman, I grabbed onto his hand when he lost his grip. "Don't let go." I asked him. "Please, don't let go." But I could feel his hand slipping from my grip, Gordon came to help me but it was too late. Batman fell.

I rushed down the stairs. I saw Rachel rushed to Harvey's lifeless body as I knelt down next to Batman.

"Dad? Daddy is he okay?" I heard Jimmy asked his father.

I was solely focused on him. On Batman. Praying that my meddling with the story, my intervention didn't lead him to his death. Gordon pulled out his radio but the Dark Knight stopped him. He got on his knees and remained there.

"Thank you." Gordon thanked him.

"You don't have to thank me." Batman told him.

"Yes, I do." Gordon argued softly. "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. We bet it all on him. The Joker took the best of us and tore him down. People will lose hope."

"They won't." Batman said and I choked a sob. I knew what he was about to do and I didn't stop it. I wished I could. I hoped I could but I've failed. "They must never know what he did."

"Five dead." Gordon retorted. "Two of them cops. You can't sweep that…"

"No." Batman stood up. "But the Joker cannot win." He said limping towards Rachel and Harvey. Rachel watched him as he turned Harvey's face over, so the unburned part of it could be seen. "Gotham needs its true hero."

"What do you mean?" Rachel asked him with a teary voice.

"You either die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain." He quoted and Rachel looked at him stunned. "I can do those things because I'm not a hero, not like Dent." Rachel stood up. "I killed those people. That's what I can be."

"Please, don't do this." I begged him. "You can't. Gotham needs you."

"I'm whatever Gotham needs me to be." He replied. "Call it in." He ordered Gordon giving him back his radio.

"They'll hunt you." Gordon told him.

"You'll hunt me." He said. "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." And he left.

"Batman!" Jimmy called after him. "Why is he running dad?"

"Because we have to chase him." Gordon answered.

"He didn't do anything wrong." Jimmy said confused.

"Because he's the hero Gotham deserves, but not the one it needs right now." He explained. "So, we'll hunt him because he can take it. Because he's not a hero. He's a silent guardian. A watchful protector. A Dark Knight."