Book three: Siege

Chapter 27

Thanks for reading this story.

New Chapter, read, enjoy and review.

As he had every year, Bruce had organized the Harvey Dent memorial at the Wayne mansion. As he had in the last few years, he had not shown himself. As for myself, I wandered among the many guests at the reception. I was dressed in a black jumpsuit, long-sleeved and with a swallowtail. I looked at the faces around me. Some of them I knew by name, others not so much. Mayor Garcia was conversing with Commissioner Foley and Congressman Byron Gilley. Gordon was by himself a glass of scotch next to him. He was reading a piece of paper. I knew what was on that piece of paper, his speech in which he revealed the truth about that fateful night. The truth about Harvey Dent. I took a sip from my champagne. Rachel and Liam were with Joanna and her new beau. Another billionaire from Star City. His name—Oliver Queen. I know, The Oliver Queen. However, Oliver Queen may exist in this reality, unfortunately, the Green Arrow did not. Everyone was here. Miranda Tate was speaking to Daggett while she looked around. And Selina Kyle was serving the hors-d'oeuvre.

"Harvey Dent Day may not be our oldest public holiday." Mayor Garcia stood on the stage, facing the assembly. "But we're here tonight because it's one of the most important. Harvey Dent's uncompromising stand against organized crime had made Gotham safer than it was at the time of his death, eight years ago. This city has seen a historic turnaround. No city is without crime, but this city is without organized crime because the Dent Act gave law enforcement teeth in its fight against the mob. Now people are talking about repealing the Dent Act and to them, I say, 'Not on my watch.'" The audience applauded him. "I want to thank the Wayne Foundation for hosting this event. And I'm told Mr. Wayne couldn't be here tonight. I'm sure he's with us in spirit. And now I'm gonna give way to an important voice." I looked over at Gordon who was still reading his written speech. Interrupted by Congressman Gilley. "He can tell you about the bad old days when the criminals and corrupt ran this town with such a tight grasp that people put their faith in a murderous thug in a mask and a cape. A thug who showed his true nature when he betrayed the trust of this great man—" The mayor turned over to Harvey's picture. I looked up at the manor. I could only perceive his silhouette against the dark sky. "—and murdered him in cold blood."

I put down my glass and moved through the crowd as the Mayor kept on with his speech. Eight years of pretending that Batman was the villain of the story. Eight years of pretending that Harvey Dent was the hero. Eight years of putting up with this masquerade. Few of us knew the truth and all of us were getting sick of the lies and the secret we had to keep. I was tired and exhausted from this. And I thought I had done enough mingling for one night.

Miranda Tate was speaking to Alfred when I crossed paths with them. Yet, again asking to see Bruce.

"Good evening, Detective Sanders." Alfred bowed his head slightly.

"Alfred." I returned the gesture. "Miss Tate, I presume," I said turning to the woman.

"And you are Detective Emma Sanders." Miranda greeted me as Alfred went up the stairs. "Mr. Wayne's infamous girlfriend."

"I prefer life partner," I said back. "I have to say that you are certainly persistent."

"I have important matters that I wish to discuss with him. Maybe, you can convince him to see me." Miranda asked me.

"Well, Mr. Wayne and I have a strict policy of not getting involved in each other's field of work but—" I smiled at her. "I can appreciate your perseverance. I'll intercede in your favor." I winked at her, as I moved to the side.

Her eyes narrowed as she watched me move. She was really good at keeping up the façade I had to give her credit for that. But the simple gesture changed something in her face. For a split second, she looked cold and calculating.

"Thank you, Detective Sanders."

I gave her a nod and climbed the stairs. Eight months ago, I still had no intention of interfering with the event that would take place within the next few months. Bruce knew of what was to come but not all the names. Eight months ago, I had every intention of letting things play the way they were supposed to. With as little to no interventions on Bruce's or my end. But that was eight months ago.

I had eight years to be prepared for this final confrontation. Eight years in which the most I did was to train and get stronger for the D-Day. Nothing more. I did reveal the truth to Bruce and if anyone had done anything to limit the damage. It was Bruce more than me. Eight years, in which I lived in fear. As a coward. I had convinced myself that terrible things would happen if I ever did anything. And yet, it was within the last eight months, I realized that doing nothing was even worse.

Take Sofia Falcone for instance, daughter of Carmine Falcone, she wanted blood. We had arrested her father, he had been judged and put in jail. And he died of final-stage cancer. Alone. Sofia wanted revenge and claimed to take back what was rightfully hers: Gotham City. Her first target was Rachel Dawes. She almost succeeded. Rachel had been shot in public and badly injured and remained in the hospital for two months. Most of which had been spent in a coma. That was seven months ago.

For a moment, I was reliving what had happened with Sue. One of my friends was dying and it was all on me.

"It happened again," I said. "Rachel is—in a coma. It's all because of me."

"Miss Dawes is a District Attorney. This line of work is not without its risks." Alfred told me. "Her being in a coma is not of your doing."

"But it is," I replied. "Had I not been there—Had I not—"

"Miss Dawes would have certainly died." Alfred cut me off. "You saved her life as you did before." I sighed. "Miss Sanders, I have watched you in the last few years. And I have watched you be crippled by your fear of losing him."

"I almost have. And sometimes, I think I did." I said. "So, what should I do? Conquer my fear?"

"Fear doesn't need conquering, Miss Sanders." Alfred smiled. "Fear tells you where the edge is. Fear is a good thing." He leaned over to me, his elbows on the countertop. "Now, you should ask yourself, where is that edge?"

Where was that edge? I was on that edge and I was about to fall over. Fear was guiding everything I was doing. The way I was living my life and my relationship with Bruce. Fear had become my enemy. I needed it to be my ally again. If it ever was.

So, within the last eight months, I did my best to help Bruce. He was right. I had this knowledge and it was a crime to not use it to help as much as I could. I dropped a few names and I gave him all the tools to survive Bane. I knew what could come of it. What could come of my intervention? I was scared of losing him. But I'd be damned if I did not do everything I could to stop it from happening. To lessen the blow a little.

"She's very good," Bruce said as I walked into the upstairs study. He stood up.

His appearance had changed slightly in the last months. His beard had grown longer and he started to grow grey. His cane stood against the wall. He was not as skinny as he was portrayed to be in the movies. As a matter of fact, when I decided to give him a list of names of the people that were involved in this scheme. It was as though, it was a breath of fresh air for Bruce Wayne. He kept to himself still but we trained together. As we used to.

As for his knee, well, his years of being Batman were not without consequences. He had been beaten up, fell from buildings, had run across town, and jumped from a building to another. His kneecap was completely gone. So, the braces came a little earlier than in the movies. He could work better now and his knee wasn't bothering him as much. In fact, it wasn't bothering him at all. His cane, the beard—although real—were all for show. All for the public eye.

"I found that she has a taste for theatrics," I smirked back.

"She does," Bruce said walking towards me.

"You are aware you are going to lose everything." I reminded him. "We could have stopped her."

"I know." His hands went up to my arms. "But she's not the one we want." He reminded me. "She'll lead us to him."

"Bruce, even with everything you know now, you still want to go through with this?" I asked him. "We can stop it. We can flood the reactor now. No one would know. We can stop everything."

"And then what will happen?" Bruce asked. "At least, we know what's coming. And we can change it to our advantage. They don't know what we know." Bruce locked eyes with me. "It's too late to change anything anyway."

"Yeah." I breathed out. "I hope it's not too late for anything else."

"Is there something you're not telling me?"

"I told you everything," I assured him. And I did. "And you are still gonna go through every one of them. And I wish you didn't."

"You are the one who didn't want to change anything." He said walking towards his cane.

"Yes, and I changed my mind," I argued back following him. "And I thought that we would enroll Lucius to help. But now, I'm truly thinking that you are going through this, just because you get to be the Bat again. There is a high possibility for you to die."

"That still can happen even if we were to change things." He said twirling his cane in his hand.

"It's still not a risk I'm willing to take." I snapped back. "Don't you understand? I told you everything so you can avoid that. Not for you to welcome it."

"You were still gonna let me go through with this."

"And yet, there was a chance for you to survive it." I let out a long breath. "Rachel's close call with death felt like this world was trying to set things back into place. She survived. So, I thought that telling you would not be as risky as I thought it would be. It doesn't mean I'm okay with you still wishing to go through with it."

"If I don't go through with it, there's a chance that Talia finds out about you." He said back. "And instead of me, it's you that would end up in the pit."

Bruce was right. I did want to let him go through with it still. And now that he was willingly going through it, it didn't sit well with me. He knew everything there was to know. Bruce was still making decisions that were infuriating. He could have flooded the reactor, I had expected him to. And he didn't. I expected him to hire Lucius' help. And he didn't. There were many things that he or I should have done and we simply didn't.

Was it too late to change the tide in our favor? I did not know. Many things could still go wrong. Many changes may still occur. Changes that would probably not play in our favor. Changes that may cause the death of many. I was not ready to shoulder that responsibility. That burden. But I would go through it nonetheless.

It was too late now. This was where it all began.