Gordon pulled open the SWAT van backdoor, and Harvey looked over, startled.
The blond man's eyes widened as he saw exactly who was releasing him, before he grinned and relaxed.
"Lieutenant," Harvey said with wry approval. "You do like to play it pretty close to the chest"
Gordon smiled back, before he revealed, "We got him, Harvey."
Harvey's face lit up although he only nodded in response. Gordon extended his hand, and Harvey took it. Gordon helped Harvey out of the van and the two men shook hands, before Harvey looked over Gordon's shoulder as Rebecca appeared behind her superior, grinning from ear to ear despite the clear exhaustion that hung around her.
"Looks like you won't be telling me 'I told you so' after all, Sergeant." Harvey said smugly, and Rebecca chuckled.
"I'm happy not to, Counselor." She replied, before looking at Gordon.
"The press have already arrived." She informed him. "Couldn't keep the hyenas away. Sorry."
"It's fine." Gordon shrugged, before nodding at Harvey. "Just help the Counselor get through them, okay?"
"Yes sir." Rebecca answered with a mock salute, and Gordon wagged a warning finger at her.
"Don't you get cheeky with me, Sergeant." He mock-warned and Rebecca smiled.
"Wouldn't dream of it, sir."
Gordon chuckled as Rebecca led Harvey with her, the pair almost instantly getting assaulted by the press while more of Rebecca's men hurried to provide a police escort for Harvey.
"Mr. Dent! Mr. Dent!"
They all called, while one of the reporters shoved his microphone in Harvey's face as he asked, "How does it feel to be the biggest hero in Gotham?"
More microphones clamoured to get Harvey's reply, and Rebecca did her best to keep the pushy press from getting too close even as Harvey replied graciously, "No, I'm no hero. Gotham's finest, they're the heroes."
"Have you and your office have been working with the Batman all along?" The reporter insisted, and Harvey shook his head.
"No." He corrected. "But I trusted him to do the right thing."
"Which was?" Another reporter prompted and Harvey replied without missing a beat, "Saving my ass."
With a polite nod, he pushed his way forward and Rebecca aided him as she called, "All right, that's enough! Let him through, please!"
Ramirez joined in to help keep the press at bay as Rebecca escorted Harvey to the police car that had been prepared for him.
"Thanks, Rebecca." Harvey muttered in relief as soon as they were out of range of the reporters, and she shrugged.
"It was the least I could do." She answered, and Harvey insisted, "No, really. I have a date with a pretty upset fiancee, so really appreciate it."
That had Rebecca screeching to a halt.
"You proposed to my sister?" Rebecca asked, turning on Harvey in shock.
He blinked, before muttering sheepishly, "Oh, um… yes."
At Rebecca's gawking, he added hastily, "She only accepted last night, so she probably just didn't have the time to tell you."
"Uh huh." Rebecca nodded as her mind whirred. Suddenly, her sister wanting her to call made sense - she probably wanted to make sure they talked.
Rebecca then fixed her eyes back on Harvey as she demanded, "Wait, so you proposed to my sister then set yourself up as bait for the Joker?"
Harvey's guilty look was all the answer she needed, and Rebecca shook her head.
"May God help you when you get home." She told him and Harvey grinned.
"Thanks Rebecca." He said sincerely. He turned to clamber into the vehicle, before he paused and turned back to her.
"And I swear, I'll look after Rachel. I'll make her happy."
"You'd better because if you don't, I don't care if I'd lose my badge I'd take you down." Rebecca threatened but a playful smile was on her lips. "Although I believe in you, Harvey Dent."
He smiled back before he finally got into the back of the car.
Rebecca moved to get into the driver's seat, but Wuertz offered, "I can drive Dent home."
"It's okay, I've got it." Rebecca replied, but Wuertz shook his head.
"You're exhausted, Serge." He pointed out. "You've been on the clock for thirty eight hours and you still have to check in at the station before you can go. We've got the Joker - you should also get some rest. I'll take him home."
Rebecca hesitated; but Wuertz was right. She was exhausted, and she was worried about Bruce.
"Thanks, Wuertz." She agreed at last, and he patted her shoulder.
"Don't worry about it, Serge."
Rebecca waved at Harvey as Wuertz climbed in, and he smiled and waved back. She watched the car drive off before she turned to Ramirez who offered, "I can drive us to the station?"
"What is with you people today?" Rebecca asked and Ramirez asked wryly, "You haven't looked in the mirror yet, have you, Dawes?"
"No…?" Rebecca answered slowly and Ramirez explained, "You look a wreck, Dawes. You've been working nonstop since we thought Gordon was killed. Now that you can afford a break, you should take it."
"Breaks? What are those?" Rebecca joked and Ramirez's lips twitched with amusement.
"Come on, Sergeant." She said. "Time to go celebrate."
At the station, Rebecca hugged Gordon as soon as she entered his office.
"Good to have you back, Jim." She said as she let him go
He smiled back at her as he replied, "Good to be back, Becky."
His eyes then steeled and he asked, "Ready to go check out what we're dealing with?"
"Nope." Rebecca answered with a grin. "Let's go."
"Atta girl."
The two strode out of his office and down into the holding area. Rebecca could hear clamouring and the distinct sound of banging metal and she groaned.
"Great." She muttered at the same time Gordon's jaw tightened.
The two burst into the area as Gordon yelled at his men, "Stand away! All of you."
The officers stepped immediately away from the bars where they'd been banging their clubs at the Joker's cage while Gordon shouted severely, "I don't want anything for his mob lawyer to use, understand?"
Stephens coughed, and Gordon looked over to see the Mayor himself walking into the holding area. The Mayor smiled while Gordon nodded in greeting, before the former reached out his hand.
Gordon shook the offered hand while the Mayor said casually, "Back from the dead."
Gordon shrugged sheepishly and as the Mayor continued to look at him questioningly he explained, "I couldn't chance my family's safety.'
The Mayor nodded in understanding before he returned briskly to business. Looking over at the Joker in his cage, he questioned, "What do we got?"
Gordon sighed before he replied with the results of all of his men's - including Rebecca's - reports.
"Nothing . No matches on prints, DNA, dental. Clothing iB custom, no labels. Nothing in his pockets but knives and lint. No name, no other alias... nothing."
"Go home, Gordon." The Mayor advised. "The clown'll keep till morning. Get some rest- you're going to need it."
Gordon looked at the Mayor with a puzzled look as the Mayor continued mysteriously, "Tomorrow, you take the big job."
The Mayor looked at Gordon, who continued to look confused, and his smile widened.
"You don't have any say in the matter, " the Mayor ordered before finishing in a loud voice. "Commissioner Gordon!"
Rebecca's eyes widened as did Gordon's at this sudden announcement. Rebecca's face then broke into a smile and she and Stephens led the cheer as the other officers clapped and hooted for their new Commissioner.
Gordon himself looked slightly stunned by the news, but he eventually recovered a little and he nodded thanks to the Mayor before turning and shaking hands with Stephens, Rebecca, Ramirez, and the rest of his team. They all shook his hand back in congratulations before continuing their cheers… only for it to all die down when they became aware of the loudest claps coming from the back of the room.
Gordon and Rebecca slowly looked over to see the Joker clapping his hands before him, and a smirk pulled up the corners of his scarred and terrifying mouth.
The Joker's smile stayed in Rebecca's mind as she drove toward Bruce's penthouse.
It had been chilling, and she had already been feeling extremely unsettled that the Joker had seemed completely unfazed at the fact that he had been caught. He hadn't cared when they'd arrested him, in fact he'd barely even seemed to notice the handcuffs Rebecca clapped on him. Instead, his eyes had remained fixed on the Batman as the vigilante took off into the night as soon as the police had the Joker and his men secured.
His shouts toward the Batman also rang in her mind continuously, and Rebecca couldn't shake the disappointed look that had clouded the Joker's face when Bruce had refused to run him over from her mind. Despite the fact that they'd finally nabbed the guy, and now that the joy of seeing Gordon again and hearing about his well-deserved promotion had passed, she still felt uneasy.
'It's in your head.' Rebecca scolded herself. 'And you're just worried about Bruce. Everything will be fine once you see he's okay. You'll see.'
She pulled into the garage of the apartment complex Bruce lived in, and she quickly locked up her car before heading to the elevator.
As she pressed the button, she rummaged with her other hand for her phone and she checked it while she waited for the elevator to arrive. A frown pulled her brows together momentarily when she saw no missed calls or messages from Rachel, and Rebecca pondered it as the elevator door dinged and opened.
She walked in absently, keying in before pressing the button for the penthouse as she stared down at her phone and and hesitated. She wanted to call Rachel, not the least because Rachel had asked her to call her, but what if she was with Harvey now? It was the first night the pair had had together since their engagement if Harvey was telling the truth, and they would likely be celebrating. Especially after Harvey delivered the good news that the Joker was finally captured.
Not wanting to bother them if they were having a private celebration, Rebecca sent a text to Rachel and closed her phone just as the elevator doors opened.
Bruce was waiting for her and he crossed the threshold immediately once he saw it was her. Rebecca stepped out of the elevator to meet him, and she wrapped her arms around his shoulders at the same moment he wrapped his own around her waist and kissed her.
"Are you hurt anywhere?" Rebecca breathed when they finally parted, and Bruce shook his head.
"What about you?" Bruce asked, and Rebecca smiled and shook her head.
"Not a scratch - thanks to you."
Bruce's face relaxed in relief and he leant in to kiss her again, making Rebecca sigh in contentment.
"You should get some sleep." Bruce murmured when they broke for air once more. "You look like you could really use it."
"But I don't want to sleep anymore." Rebecca answered as she kissed Bruce's lips lightly - teasingly. "I want to spend time with my boyfriend."
Rebecca savoured the smile that lit up Bruce's face at her words; but as they leant in toward each other again, Rebecca's phone rang.
"Hang on, let me check who it is." Rebecca murmured as she glanced at her screen. She stilled.
Bruce tensed instantly, picking up on her unease, and he asked, "What's wrong?"
"I don't know yet."
Rebecca opened her phone, pressing it to her ear.
"Dawes."
"I need you back at the station." Gordon barked. "Now!"
"Jim?" Rebecca asked tersely, but he was swearing while he honked as he drove somewhere. "Gordon?"
"I said, now, Sergeant!"
Gordon sounded furious, and Rebecca's eyes narrowed.
"Gordon, what's going on?"
Bruce was watching her worriedly, but Rebecca focused on Gordon as the officer breathed deeply. She waited patiently, wondering what had rattled her superior so. And then his next words, said in a dark and low voice, sent chilling fear down Rebecca's spine.
"Harvey Dent never made it home. Wuertz was found tied and gagged in the car."
Rebecca burst into the MCU, pushing her way through the swarm of detectives that were crowded in the observation room while inside the interrogation room, the Joker sat calmly at the table.
"Has he said anything yet?" She asked, and Ramirez shook her head. "And my sister?"
"We've sent a car to her." Ramirez reported. "She sounded fine when we called, just shaken at the news."
Rebecca nodded tersely before turning to look as the door to the interrogation room opened and Gordon walked in.
The room became hushed as they watched the Joker looked up from where he sat in basically darkness aside from the small desk light atop the interrogation table.
"Evening, Commissioner." The Joker greeted, purring on Gordon's new title in mocking.
Gordon settled into the seat across from the Joker before he got straight to the point.
"Harvey Dent never made it home."
"Of course not." The Joker replied in a calm, quiet voice that Gordon matched as he asked, "What have you done with him?"
"Me?" The Joker asked, going for the genuinely surprised look as he widened his eyes.
But his wide-eyes just looked fake, almost cartoonish, as he looked around the room while he answered innocently, "I was right here."
He held up his handcuffed hands to add extra emphasis to his point before he frowned as though in confused thought as he asked, "Who did you leave him with? Your people?"
Rebecca's hands tightened into fists as the Joker leaned slightly back before he added almost as though in afterthought, "Assuming, of course, that they are still your people and not Maroni's . . ."
He trailed off meaningfully before tilting his head as he looked at Gordon.
"Does it depress you, Commissioner?" The Joker queried. "To know just how alone you really are? You..."
The Joker turned his head to look right at the two-way mirror, and Rebecca's fists clenched even tighter as the Joker appeared to stare right at her.
"And your precious Sergeant?"
Gordon's jaw tightened just slightly while the Joker looked back at Gordon.
"Does it make you feel responsible for Harvey Dent's current predicament?" The Joker asked, and Rebecca's jaw clenched too as she felt the seeds of doubt being planted in her mind despite herself.
Gordon appeared to be fighting against the same thing as he swallowed, but his voice was carefully neutral as he asked, "Where is he?"
"What time is it?" The Joker asked suddenly, and Gordon asked, "What difference does that make?"
"Well." The Joker shrugged. "Depending on the time, he might be in one spot."
He gestured with his bound hands.
"Or several."
The Joker smiled slightly as he leant forward, giving Gordon a meaningful look.
Gordon's answer was to reach into his pocket from which he produced a key. The Joker didn't even pay it any attention, instead focused fully on Gordon as the newly-appointed Commissioner said in a calm, low voice, "If we're going to play games…"
The Joker raised a brow as Gordon reached over and placed the key into the Joker's handcuffs. With two quick easy movements, he undid the Joker's restraints and the Joker watched curiously as Gordon took the handcuffs, saying nonchalantly, "I'm going to need a cup of coffee."
"Ah..." The Joker mused as he watched Gordon turn and walk away. "The good cop, bad cop routine?"
Gordon stopped at the door, hand on the handle as he looked back at the Joker.
"Not exactly." He replied.
With that, the lock buzzed and Gordon pulled the interrogation room door open. He stepped out without a backward glance and the Joker straightened up just a little as he waited for what would come next.
The door clicked shut, and immediately the overhead lights to the room switched on. The Joker squinted at the sudden brightness, but it wouldn't have made any difference - he never would have seen the blow coming anyway as the Batman slammed the Joker's head face-first into the table from behind.