Rebecca drove the SWAT van in silence, her tight grip on the handle the only sign of her nervousness as she followed the police car leading the convoy down the streets.
The night was unusually still and silent, the GCPD having blocked off all streets within 5 mile radius' of the route they were intended to take to get Harvey to central holding. It added to the feeling of ominousness and while Rebecca couldn't say this was the worst drive she'd ever taken in the darkened streets of Gotham, it was definitely the most nerve-wracking. Her "backseat" passenger of course only made it all the more so.
'He had to raise the stakes.' Rebecca thought sourly as she drove carefully down the streets, most of her senses on high alert as they waited for any sign of the Joker. 'Harvey could have just stayed low and safe with Rachel but he had to raise the stakes. I'm starting to realize what Bruce feels when he sees me going out on limbs to catch criminals that he's already working on.'
"Hang on, we see something. Over."
Rebecca tensed at the message that came over the police radio, and beside her, her shotgun officer's grip tightened on his gun.
Grabbing the microphone on the radio, Rebecca asked, "What is it? Over."
"Obstruction ahead. Obstruction ahead." Detective Stephens called. "All units, be advised. All units will exit down Cheviot west and proceed north on lower 5th avenue."
Rebecca frowned, disliking the idea. The tunnel was too cramped, too easy to block and too easy to set up ahead of time for an attack. They could easily be trapped or made into targets if they went down Cheviot west, but at the same time she knew they had no choice. By now, they were close enough that they could also see the faint outline of a burning fire truck in the middle of the road, blocking their path completely. Besides which, it was a direct order from Stephens and most of the convoy would obey.
"Better buckle up." Rebecca muttered, and she swore her shotgun rider snorted softly.
But it was with grim seriousness that Rebecca turned the car handle, shifting left as the entire convoy moved away from the streey and down the Cheviot west tunnel.
They had barely made it fully into the tunnel when another van - more of a small truck - came out from the shadows behind them and raced up alongside the last police car in the convoy.
"Coincidence?" Rebecca asked dryly, and beside her the SWAT officer shook his head. "Yeah, I didn't think so either."
It was as Rebecca spoke that the mystery truck - which she now realized was a garbage truck - rammed into the side of the police car, sending the vehicle spinning away where it crashed into a pillar. Rebecca's jaw tightened as the truck closed in on them, ramming the next police car out of the way as well.
"Sh*t." She muttered, just before the garbage truck finally caught up to them.
The truck rammed into the back of their van just as Rebecca stomped on the gas. They all jolted at the impact of the truck's hit, but Rebecca then sped them away, coming in dangerously close toward the SWAT van in front of theirs.
"We have a situation here. We need backup. Over!" She called into the police radio, just as the truck rammed into the back of their van again.
"Affirmative." Came the response from the van in front of her.
"I really hope Dent put on his seatbelt." Rebecca muttered.
In quite possibly the worst twist of irony, a truck - one of the heavy, container ones - came barrelling out of the shadows, ramming right into the SWAT van in front of theirs.
"Oh, SH*T!"
Rebecca swerved their van, barely managing not to smash right into the truck now obstructing their path while the other SWAT van went careening out of control. The garbage truck that had been following them tried to chase them but it was heavier and didn't make the turn fast enough and it bumped into the larger truck. The truck that had smashed into the other SWAT van wasn't done however, and it rammed forwards once more, sending the SWAT van spiraling away before it smashed right through the concrete barrier of the lower level tunnel. The van flew into the Gotham river, and Rebecca sucked in a sharp breath.
"Hold on!"
She stomped on the gas, and her partner grunted slightly as he was pressed back into his seat at the sudden start. Rebecca paid him no attention as she screeched down the road, while the garbage truck that had been tailing them followed quickly. The large truck was close behind as it rammed its way into the opposite lane where it picked up speed to catch up with Rebecca's van.
"What the hell?" She muttered as the truck came up alongside them and she glanced to the side before she grimaced.
On the side of truck's container was an advertisement for a carnival of some kind, with a picture of a ferris wheel and the slogan, 'LAUGHTER is the best medicine.' Except someone, and Rebecca had a strong feeling she knew who, had painted a big, red 'S' in front of the word 'LAUGHTER'.
As if to confirm her suspicions, the door of the container slid open to reveal the Joker in his purple-suited glory along with several of his henchmen.
"Aw, hell."
Rebecca's grip on the wheel tightened as the Joker drew his gun. And then he did the first predictable action that she knew of: he fired on the SWAT van.
Rebecca grimaced as she and her shotgun partner ducked forward just in case one of the bullets managed to crack the windows on the driver cab while the Joker opened fire on the van. The bullets made dents in the heavy metal, but luckily the SWAT van did as it was built to do and none of them pierced through.
Rebecca grunted as the garbage truck behind them rammed into them again, before she yelped as the Joker - having run out of bullets in his machine gun - began to fire a shotgun at them.
"Hell!" She hissed as she slammed on the gas.
But it only succeeded in creating a minor distance between them and the garbage truck while the Joker's truck drew up alongside them once more as the Joker pelted all of his bullets into the side of the SWAT van.
Still, the van's armour held, and Rebecca inhaled deeply when the Joker ran out of bullets in his shotgun. Please let that be all he had, please let that be all he prepared...
The Joker held out his hand, dropping his useless shotgun, and one of his minions handed him a RPG.
'Son of a-'
Rebecca swore as the Joker fired at the police car in front of their van, taking out the car's back wheel. It slowed the car down, forcing her to slow down as well and Rebecca grunted as the garbage truck slammed into their van once again.
The Joker meanwhile had reloaded his RPG and Rebecca's grip on the wheel was white.
"Come on, where are you..." Rebecca muttered, just as the Joker fired… only for the missile to hit the road right beside the front police car as something hit the butt of the Joker's RPG and caused him to misfire.
It still sent the car careening out of the way but Rebecca now had a clear path. And a small smile appeared on her face as she saw the Batmobile speeding down the tunnel right toward her.
'About time.' Rebecca thought before she slammed down on the gas now that her path was cleared once more.
Beside her, the shotgun soldier's grip tightened almost reflexively on his rifle as the Batmobile came speeding right for them.
At the last second, Rebecca swerved out of the way, fighting to remain in control of the van least it go skidding, while the Batmobile rammed head-on into the garbage truck that had been tailing Rebecca's van.
The force of the impact had the garbage truck tilting back, but the Batmobile continued on, ramming itself into the underside of the lifted truck. Inside the vehicle, Bruce worked his controls as he forced the truck backward, disabling its wheels completely while taking it far away from Rebecca, before he finally released the truck and spun the Batmobile around once more.
As soon as he was facing forward, Bruce hit the gas and the Batmobile shot forward after Rebecca and the Joker who was still tagging along right beside the SWAT van. As he drove, Bruce adjusted his controls, shifting his seat from the left of the car to the centre and he tilted the handles before leaning forward. Immediately, the seat shifted again, pushing him into weapons mode as Bruce aimed.
Up ahead, Rebecca was swerving down the road, avoiding civilian vehicles as they finally hit the part of the tunnel that had not been in the police radius - not ideal but it was that or stop inside the radius and wait for the Joker to kill them. And she really preferred not to do the latter. Especially since the Joker appeared to already be pissed at them.
The Joker's henchmen were firing at the SWAT van, but as of yet the Joker had yet to be able to have stable enough balance to fire his RPG again now that he too was faced with civilian vehicles blocking his path. His driver - not wanting to slow them down by hitting the other cars - was doing his job by avoiding as many crashes as he could but the result meant that the Joker and his men were constantly swinging about as their truck swerved unpredictably.
Finally, he straightened and managed to position the RPG over his right shoulder. He took quick aim at the SWAT vehicle… and fired.
And Rebecca sucked in a sharp breath as there was a bang and a ball of flames erupted at the backend of the Batmobile where the missile hit the vehicle as it literally flew up into the air between the Joker's truck and the SWAT van.
"Oh, God." Rebecca breathed before she grunted as the Batmobile hit the back of the SWAT van as it went crashing down.
The force sent the SWAT van off course, and she held the wheel for dear life as the van swerved violently while the Batmobile went screeching along the road behind them. The black vehicle was lit in flames as it smashed through barriers and pillars from the force of the missile hitting it at point-blank range.
The SWAT van meanwhile came to a screeching halt as it finally stopped spinning, and Rebecca groaned. Her head was buzzing from the shock and the impact, and her first thoughts were, 'Please be okay, Bruce. Please, please, be okay.'
Then her police training returned and Rebecca looked up to see the Joker clambering into the driver's seat of his truck, clearly ready to take things into his own hands.
"He couldn't just die." She muttered before she hit the gas once more.
The one, small miracle was that the van had stopped spinning while facing the right direction. So she didn't have to waste any time as she sped down the road once more, swerving around other cars that did their best to move out of the way after the fiery display they'd just witnessed.
The somewhat unfortunate result of this was that the Joker's path was equally clear as he smashed his way onto their side of the road before speeding after the SWAT van.
'Bruce, please be all right.' Rebecca pleaded to herself as she drove. 'And God I hope I live to meet him when he comes back.'
Rebecca swerved onto the off-ramp at last, heading back up out of the tunnel. The Joker sped after her, heedless of the way his reckless driving had the container hold of his truck smashing into the tunnel pillars after his crazy turn to follow her.
Now that they were back up on the street, however, the advantage was with the GCPD, and Rebecca called into the police microphone, "Sergeant Dawes, requesting air support. We've got the Joker tailing us. Repeat, requesting air support. Over."
"Roger that, Sergeant. We've got your signal. We're heading your way now. Over."
Rebecca let out a shaky breath though she remained on high alert as she sped down the street.
"Right turn." Her shotgun partner said suddenly, and she muttered, "Now you say something, and it's to say that?"
But she did as he said, pulling a sharp right that led them onto a large, wide street back within the police perimeter. A moment later, their police chopper came flying into view, the search light flashing brightly as the Joker's truck turned the corner after Rebecca.
But then something strange happened.
The chopper suddenly jerked, as if it had hit something invisible in the air, before it suddenly spun. And Rebecca's eyes widened as the chopper swung around some invisible line before it came spinning wildly down toward them. The tail smashed into a building on the chopper's way down, crashing into the office windows before the chopper fell right into the street before them.
Rebecca braced herself as the chopper exploded upon hitting the street, skidding toward their van. The combined momentum of the two vehicles had the chopper going crashing over the front hood of the van, over the roof, and smashing back down on the other side. The SWAT van swerved unsteadily but Rebecca fought to maintain control and she soon had them racing down the street once more with the Joker's truck behind them.
"Where is he?" Her shotgun partner asked in a low voice, and Rebecca answered tightly, "He'll be here."
Her partner didn't answer, and Rebecca could almost feel the heavy skepticism in his silence.
"He will." She insisted. "I believe in him."
Almost on cue, something dark and billowing came crashing through a pile of trash cans from a small alley just behind them. And Rebecca smiled as she saw the Batpod swivel so that it was in the middle of the street with the Batman facing the Joker's truck. As soon as the Batpod was steady, it shot forward once more, heading right for the Joker's truck.
Inside the driver's seat of the truck, the Joker's lips curved into a smirk that was dark and had no hint of the amusement he usually seemed to exude constantly.
"Come on. Come on." He muttered as he stared the Batman down.
On the Batpod, Bruce leant even more forward, flattening himself against the bike while he clicked on the controls of the Batpod's guns. The guns cocked, loaded and readied, and he grit his teeth as he approached the Joker's truck. He had one shot to time this right.
As the two vehicles came within twenty feet of each other, Bruce fired. The harpoon shot out from the Batpod, latching onto the front grate of the truck. The steel rope attached to it tightened as Bruce swerved the bike to the right quickly, narrowly avoiding ramming head-first into the truck, and he bent even lower forward as he swiftly swerved left. The Batpod shot under the container of the truck, coming out on the other side, and Bruce quickly sped down the street behind some street lights.
He released the rope still attached to his bike, letting the end weight hit the butt of one of the street lamps, while inside the truck the Joker shouted incredulously, "He missed!"
But the Batman's intentions became clear one second later when the truck suddenly jerked. The street lamps were pulled sharply up out of the ground, like carrots being pulled by a farmer, but it was still enough to force the truck to come to a stop. The sudden stop and the rope caused the truck to trip up, and the truck toppled forward over the steel rope. The momentum pitched the back of the truck high up and over, and the truck came to a crashing halt upside down in the middle of the road.
Rebecca hit the brakes, stopping their van further down the street from the Joker's crash-site, and she quickly unbuckled herself at the same time as her partner did.
Outside, the Batman spun his Batpod around, revved his engines, and then with the loud screech of tires on asphalt he sped toward the Joker's truck.
The Joker himself forced himself out of his seat, his hand still on his last machine gun. He fell out of the driver's cab of the truck, landing on his back on the road with a groan. He recovered quickly as he jerked himself up to his feet - at least, he thought he had recovered until he quickly lost his balance in his dazed state and he pitched forward.
His finger - still on the trigger - curled reflexively as the ground came toward his face, and the Joker groaned as he fell forward while he accidentally fired bullets everywhere. He pushed himself back up, using the gun like a walking stick, and he looked around at the crash, the crushed truck and the steel rope that swung above him.
The sound of screeching tires had him look to the end of the road, and he leered when he saw the Batpod approaching him.
Stalking forward, his steps growing stronger with each step, he strode to meet the Batman at the same time he lifted his gun and opened fire. But he made no attempt to fire at the Batman, instead hitting the vehicles parked along the road on either side of the approaching vigilante.
"Come on." The Joker muttered as he watched the Batman approach. "Come on."
The Batman's speed increased as he came closer and the Joker fired just to the left of the Batman, some of his bullets clanging against the Batpod's metal sides.
"Come on. Come on, I want you to hit me." The Joker muttered as he stared the approaching vigilante down. "Come on, I want you to hit me."
Bruce's eyes narrowed behind his mask as he noted the distinct way the Joker was aiming to his sides, and he read the crazed intentions on the painted clown's face.
"Hit me. Hit me."
The Joker had at this point lowered his gun, holding it loosely at his side as he drilled holes on the Batman's forehead with his gaze he was staring him down so hard.
"Hit me. Hit me!"
Bruce's jaw tightened as he approached the madman at impossible speed, neither he nor the Joker yielding as they faced each other dead on.
"Hit me! Hit me!"
Bruce let out a wordless yell as he came within fifty feet of the Joker, who shouted again, "Hit me!"
But the Batman didn't, instead swerving to his right at the last second. The Batpod skidded as the Batman turned the vehicle in a last minute attempt to brake, and the Joker turned with almost disappointment on his painted features as the Batpod hit the crashed truck and the Batman tumbled off onto the road.
The Joker tsked, before - completely ignoring his gun - he reached into his left pocket and pulled his switch knife. One of his henchmen - one of the few survivors from the crash - was already pushing the Batman onto his back as the Joker approached. The henchman reached down to remove the Batman's mask… only to be electrocuted by a blast so powerful it sent him flying back.
"Ha!"
The Joker let out a joyous little laugh as he skipped the last few yards between him and the Batman, and he leapt atop the Batman. Blowing a raspberry in the Batman's face, the Joker then proceeded to kneel down over the Batman and he grabbed the man by his lapels with one hand while he pressed his knife to the Batman's jugular with his right hand.
But before he could even place the knife to any exposed skin let alone a vital point, a barrel pressed against his head along with two audible clicks two guns being cocked.
"Oh." The Joker groaned in disappointment before he wheedled, "Can you just give me a second?"
The owner of the gun against his temple was obviously not amused as he shoved the Joker to the side. The Joker fell onto his back and immediately a foot landed on his right wrist, stopping him from raising his knife. The Joker looked up to see none other than Liuetenant James Gordon, dressed in full SWAT gear sans his helmet as he pointed his rifle at the Joker's chest while his foot pressed down firmly on the Joker's wrist.
"We got you, you son of a b*tch."
The Joker released his knife, and his eyes travelled to the side as a second figure appeared and quickly kicked the knife out of reach. His dark eyes met the gaze of Sergeant Rebecca Dawes, who also had her gun pointed at the Joker, and the Joker smiled.