Thank you again for the comments!

A lot of people asked what Bruce's reaction would have been if he'd encountered Evelyn after a one-night stand, so I thought I'd put it here;

It depends on where in the story it happened, before they know each other well or after

Batman Begins era; he'd be a bit awkward because whoops, didn't mean to intrude, sorry to have to intrude, duty calls

Dark Knight/where the story is at as of this/previous chapter; stunned. shocked. has stopped working. This man has known Evelyn about a year and not once has he even seen a hint that Evelyn had so much as flirted with anyone. A one night stand is not Evelyn Pendragon's style, and it would take a good few seconds for Bruce to process what the hell was going on, probably wonder if she'd downed a bottle of vodka. Then he'd be a little shit, not as bad as Evelyn in the last chapter, but a little of a little shit, likely making a show of being grossed out like she did, probably almost a little impressed that she did something so unlike her.

He'd then probably go on to question how good his people reading skills are. It would make him feel a little bit distanced from Evelyn, partly because whoops guess he didn't know her as well as he thought and also because for him a one-night stand isn't something unordinary so he wouldn't bother mentioning it, but for Evelyn it's huge, and they know pretty much everything that the other gets up to. He'd be a little put out that she didn't tell him.

That's all I have for that.

Without further ado, a chapter that will make you want to grab a cup of tea.

Maroni was at his usual nightclub. We got in through the roof and looked around. Batman saw Maroni in a booth on the upper level, amidst the horrible lights and music that pounded into my skull.

I blinked against the strobe lights; mood as low as it would go. Together we moved through the club along the level, approaching Maroni and his sea of guards.

Most people didn't give us a second glance, since crashing into Batman or Thunder while you were dancing in the club wasn't a likely thing to happen.

Maroni frowned as we approached, catching glimpses of us through the dark and light.

Batman kicked a guard over the railing as Maroni summoned more.

We made quick work of them in no time.

Batman landed on the table, grabbed Maroni by the scruff of his neck and glared. The woman with him ran and the crowd dispersed with one vaguely threatening movement from me.

We dragged him out of the nightclub. He was confident and wore a grin, but there was a trace of fear in his eyes, however hard he tried. Finally he was face to cowl with his enemies and he wondered why he had been so interested to see them before.

A nearby deserted block was our destination.

We got to a decent height on the stairs outside and Maroni suddenly seemed more confident, almost laughing at us.

'I want the Joker,' Batman growled as we held him by a shoulder each over the drop.

Maroni glanced down. 'From one professional to another,' he said smugly, 'if you're trying to scare somebody, pick a better spot! From this height,' he shook his head. 'The fall wouldn't kill me.'

We weren't playing. Gordon was dead. 'We're counting on it,' we growled at the same time and let go.

He yelled in surprise as nothing held him up and he plummeted to the ground, screaming.

There was a crunch as his legs broke from his landing and he rolled over the ground in pain.

Batman and I vaulted the railing and followed him, landing either side of him as our capes rattled from the air.

I kicked Maroni in the legs before Batman could grab him. I didn't yell. 'Where is he?' I asked lowly.

Maroni winced and yelled in pain. 'I… I don't know where he is, he found us.'

'Associates,' I responded. I put my foot on top of his leg.

'Aaargh!'

I increased the pressure in my foot.

'Now,' Batman snarled.

'Nobody's… aaargh! Gonna tell you nothing. They're wise to your attitudes. You got rules. The Joker… he's got no rules. Nobody's gonna cross him for you. Or do you wanna let a couple more people get killed before you make up your mind?'

While Batman looked a little lost, I moved closer to Maroni. 'Bet your life on that?' I kept my foot on the break in his leg and leaned closer.

He howled. 'AAARGH! LOOK! YOU WANT THIS GUY?!'

I complied and moved my leg back.

'You got one way,' Maroni babbled, exhausted. 'But you already know what that is! Just take off those masks, let him come find ya!'

I kicked his leg sharply in annoyance. He howled again and curled in on himself. 'How does a quick death sound now?' I barked at him. I kicked again, in his gut. Then I stood on the leg I had left alone before and picked him up.

He writhed and tried to twist, but I brought him closer and closer to my face, glaring at him. 'There's nothing! I know nothing!' he finally admitted. 'I don't know, that's it! That's all I know; he goes to who he wants! Find who he wants, that's all I got!'

I threw him back to the ground and stalked off into the darkness. Batman eyed Maroni as tears came out of his eyes from the pain for a second and then followed me.

We got into the tumbler. There was a missed call from Alfred.

I called him back as Batman drove in a set, notable silence. I glanced at him before Alfred picked up.

'Alfred?'

'Hello madam, I'm just on a call with Miss Dawes, I've added her if that's alright.'

That got Bruce's attention. His gaze shifted momentarily from the road to the screen.

I frowned, as much as I could in the cowl. 'Go ahead.'

'Rachel?' said Bruce.

'Bruce, Evelyn,' came Rachel's voice, though it didn't sound as clear since her call was patched through Alfred's, 'Harvey just rang me, he said the Joker's named me next.'

There was a slight change in the tumbler's speed, just for an instant.

'He said to go somewhere safe with someone we can trust, and well… there's only one answer. Can I go to one of your houses?'

'Wayne Manor is safer,' I said to save Bruce the trouble as he was driving. 'But it's a lot further away.'

Alfred interjected. 'I can drive her, madam.'

'Okay, Rachel, Alfred won't be long. We'll see you when we can.'

'I understand, thank you,' she replied and the call ended.

'What on Earth is Dent doing?' I grumbled to Bruce.

'We're about to find out,' he replied, a little distracted. I didn't blame him.

We arrived at an old warehouse, spotting the ambulance from the CCTV footage a few paces in.

The sound of a gunshot put a disruption in our smooth strides and we changed direction toward the sound.

The faint shout of Dent's voice carried through the harsh structure. The echo was hard to trace and we followed it with concentration.

Dent was flipping a coin with a gun to the man's head. He was tied to a chair.

I remembered the information we'd brought up on him and sighed. Dent's rage when Rachel was involved was an undoing waiting to happen. And when the Joker learnt this…

Batman caught the coin before it landed in Dent's hand again and he turned in surprise.

'You'd leave a man's life to chance?' Batman asked in disapproval.

'Not exactly,' Dent replied urgently.

'His name's Schiff, Thomas. He's a paranoid schizophrenic,' Batman continued angrily. 'A former patient at Arkham. The kind of mind the Joker attracts.' Batman moved away. 'What do you expect to learn from him?!'

Frustrated, Dent glared down at his captive and followed Batman. I eyed the back of his head and walked with him.

'The Joker killed Gordon!' Dent hissed to us when we stopped. 'He's gonna kill Rachel!'

A low sneering growl left me. Dent's eyes danced, suddenly uneasy, toward me.

Batman took the task of talking, knowing I was far angrier than him. I was, after all, the more cynical of us. 'You're the symbol of hope that we could never be. Your stand against organized crime is the first legitimate ray of light in Gotham in decades. If anyone saw this, everything would be undone- all the criminals you pulled off the streets would be released. And Jim Gordon-,'

I soured at the name.

'-will have died for nothing.'

Dent lowered his eyes.

Batman didn't say anything further. Dent inhaled a few times. 'What are you going to do about Rachel?' he said, calmer.

I stepped forward, the same distance away from him as Batman was. He met my eyes and my body language and understood my question.

'No, she doesn't know I'm here. She doesn't know about this. She's heading to Wayne Manor or Evelyn Pendragon's penthouse, it was her idea, the first places she thought of, it was the best I could do.'

'And risking everything you've done, everything we and Gordon worked for all this time… in a blind panic over Dawes is worth it?' I snarled.

Batman moved away without a word.

Dent opened his mouth, glancing after Batman who seemed to almost be retreating.

My eyes were fixed on him. 'You're not just risking your work, Dent. You want me to protect her-,'

His desperation made him nod despite the fact it wasn't a question.

'-you calm down, you keep a clear head and you don't get reckless again.'

I was so angry that Dent risked everything. Batman was, too, but he was better at hiding it, and less disappointed than I was.

'The moment you start going off like this is the moment it starts to fall apart. You wanted to work with us. We knew Gordon longer. We're all angry. Get yourself together.'

My fury was so obvious that Dent took a step or two back. 'Okay,' he said, breathing in and out. 'I understand. Thank you,' he said to me meaningfully.

I held his eyes for a moment and then turned around in a flurry of black fabric and stormed away.

Batman was left and he stepped back from the pitch black. Dent frowned. 'More to say?'

Batman gave him his coin back. 'You're going to call a press conference. Tomorrow morning.'

Dent frowned, glancing at where I no longer was. 'Why?'

'No one else will die because of me,' Batman replied quietly. 'I'm drawing him out.'

'That's suicide,' Dent breathed in disbelief, giving him a moment of vacancy.

'I trust Thunder. Gotham is in your hands, now.' He turned away.

'Wait,' Dent panicked, 'what if it goes wrong? There's no guarantee the Joker's the end of it, we can't lose you!'

He kept walking. 'If you need Thunder, leave a light on.'

Dent began to pant, angry. 'You can't,' he hissed. 'You can't give in,' he said to Batman's back. 'YOU CAN'T GIVE IN!'

I left Batman the tumbler and moved through the city myself, retracing steps of people from that day, and taking a moment to stare at the spot the podium had stood in, able to remember seeing Gordon's body lying amongst the chaos.

Finding the Joker would be hard. He acted like he was spontaneous, like he did whatever popped into his mind a second before. But to capture policemen like that, to break into the parade… he had plans. Not a driven plan, not a meaningful plan…. Plan was the wrong word.

He had ideas. He had intricate things to do, to make his ideas into something, on display.

I found myself home early, walking around the massive penthouse as if it was the size of my old three-room apartment with a glass of what I almost wished was alcoholic.

The Joker's next play… we did well with the apartment over the parade. We just had to be faster.

I began to think like the Joker or try to. I thought of Alfred's story, of the jewel thief in Burma. I don't want the jewels, they mean nothing. The idea of the jewels, these gemstones being precious. That was the important bit.

Why did people like gemstones? Why did people like their money? Rob a bank to get the mob's attention. Stir the city, aim for Dent, Loeb, Surillo. Aim for the mayor, get Gordon. I kept going without a pause at Gordon, not able to if I wanted to keep thinking like the Joker.

So who next? Well I knew it was Rachel, but why? Why Rachel?

Who was Gotham's strength? Who had just emerged? Why it was Harvey Dent!

So what was Dent's weakness?

I began to pace weirdly, trying to recreate the way the Joker walked. He'd thrown the champagne out at the party and drunk the last bit. Do things for no reason. Spontaneous, what does it all mean? Almost performance art.

I walked down four steps then stepped backwards up three the rest of the way down the stairs.

Rachel… knew Dent. Dent was a bomb waiting to explode when it came to Rachel. I knew that, and by then the Joker probably did, too.

Or did he? Well he did now after Dent went mad the second she was named. So he was testing a theory about Dent?

Or was he after someone else through Rachel?

That Pendragon woman had thrown herself in front of Rachel at the party. Rachel was beloved by the public, she worked hard. She knew Jim Gordon. She worked well with Jim's men. Even Batman protected her enthusiastically. Was she that valuable to the city, or was Harvey Dent under that Batman cowl, just maybe?

I threw my glass out over the floor, pretty much in the same spot the Joker had and walked around the same area he had, still striding wildly like he had. The lights were barely on and it was quite dim downstairs, which helped me remember.

Rachel… was… I stopped, staring at the space Batman had charged between Rachel protectively.

She wasn't the Joker's way to Harvey… she was the Joker's way to Batman. Despite all his self-control, it had slipped through, right then and there when she was in immediate danger.

I prowled forward like the Joker toward where Rachel had stood. Well, well, Batman… if I'm to try and break you, then Rachel might be my way in. Maybe Thunder knows you as well… maybe, maybe, their composure, their nobility and minds will fail them, if Rachel is so much as named as the next target.

Oh, and the Joker's delight when he saw Dent today.

I cursed Dent, not for the first time and not what I imagined would be the last.

So who do we want, who do we want? What does the mob want? Lau. Who's working on Lau? Gordon, Dent and Dawes. Gordon was dead. Dent had already been named, so it was time to name Rachel and get at Batman and Thunder.

I sighed and got a towel to wipe up my drink. Guarding Rachel would just make the Joker do another threat and Gotham would start demanding she turn herself over to stop the access tunnel or something going sky high.

Was trapping the Joker possible? I titled my head and went upstairs. I was heading for the sitting room with the secret room when Bruce's voice called through the house.

'Evelyn?'

'UP HERE!' I called back and waited in the corridor.

Bruce appeared a minute later in a suit, hands in his pockets.

I studied him. He was up to something.

He took in a long, centring breath. 'I'm turning myself in.'

I froze. And stared, from miles and miles away. I couldn't think of much to say as I processed. '…And leaving Gotham at the mercy of the Joker?'

'People are dying because we haven't taken off the masks.'

I could barely focus. 'Wh- People were dying when the mob ruled Gotham. The world wasn't perfect, that's why there's two Kevlar vigilante suits in this house. The Joker's actions aren't our fault.'

'We stopped those people from dying,' Bruce said quietly. 'Now we have to stop these people from dying, too.'

Slowly the shock faded. I understood. I wasn't even surprised. 'So Batman and Thunder rot away in a cell, and everything comes undone.'

'Not with Dent around,' Bruce corrected, determined.

'Dent,' I muttered darkly, and drew in a breath. I shook my head, nearly growling in frustration. 'I don't have your faith, Bruce. Dent can't handle the Joker. The second Batman and Thunder are gone, the Joker will turn this city inside out just to prove a point and make them watch, powerless. And Dent will stumble and fail.'

If I also took off my mask no one would be there to catch the Joker. And the mob would go after Ryan. If only Batman did, the Joker would stop at nothing to get Bruce and do anything to make him reveal who Thunder was; and Bruce never would. I willed my eyes shut, and the nightmare fell over me.

I forced my eyes open again. 'I can't protect you from everything. The only way he'll go openly enough for Dent to stand a chance at getting him is-,'

'Is if we both are revealed, yeah,' Bruce finished quietly, saving me from having to. He knew, he had known since the thought came into his head that I wouldn't turn myself in.

Bruce glanced away, pushing his hands further into his pockets. 'So I'm drawing him out. He'll come for me.'

He'd give up everything… to buy me one chance.

Bruce pushed more warmth into his expression, telling me he had faith in me.

If I was thinking a little better I would have talked more. Thought it out more. But all I could focus on, was the sudden danger looming over Bruce's head.

My organs twisted and I closed my eyes. With Thunder still out, the Joker wouldn't miss a beat. Protecting Bruce would be the hardest thing I'd ever done. There was no swaying, him, either.

Bruce's footsteps opened my eyes as he began to leave.

Our paths were splitting, right then.

We knew, but it had to be said. 'Bruce.'

He stopped, looking at me and waiting for me to continue.

My voice was warm and farewelling. 'You know I can't follow you.'

The tender warmth in his expression was so open and genuine, as the trust in his eyes said that whatever happened, he knew I would prevail, his small smile thanked me for everything, and the tilt in his head said gave away the agony within him that he wasn't feeling and said goodbye.

He let his head drop into a farewell nod and he turned to leave.

I watched his back as he walked away down the dark corridor and I felt sick. I wouldn't see him safe and in a normal environment for years at best, and at the worst... I was seeing it for the last time.

He passed out of view. I looked at nothing in particular as nothing happened, as I stood alone.

Then the nausea hit.

Bruce walked through the bookshelf door of the batcave and into the manor, rubbing his shoulder with a thoughtful hand.

'Miss Dawes arrived a few hours ago, sir.'

'Thanks, Alfred.'

Alfred lowered his head solemnly.

'It went fine,' Bruce managed. 'Which only made it worse,' he confirmed admittedly.

Alfred found he had no words he could summon, mourning for his own loss of me.

Bruce gravitated toward the nearest chair and slumped into it, putting his head in a hand. He wasn't lost enough to say it, and he knew the answer exactly, but when Alfred looked at him, he was screaming "what have I done?"

'I'm sure with Madam Evelyn there you will be safe, sir.'

'That's not what I'm worried about,' Bruce rasped.

He looked distraught, and it brought Alfred so much pain. 'She understands, sir.'

'I know,' Bruce said, looking up to nod at Alfred. 'I know.' He shook his head as he looked down again, arms falling over the arms of the chair. 'She'll hate me. I've left her all alone.'

There was a knock on the door and Rachel entered.

Bruce looked up and let a small smile onto his face.

'Alfred said you'd be home soon,' she said, looking worried.

'Hi. Are you alright?'

'I am. Bruce… Harvey rang. He said you were turning yourself in.'

Bruce's face hardened again. He nodded gently. 'No one else can die because of me. I'm drawing him out.' He drew in a deep, long sigh. 'I've left everything on Evelyn.'

'You gave it up after all,' said Rachel, suddenly feeling quite awkward. It had been two days since she had left his romantic life.

Bruce didn't even react, not for a second. His head was back in his hand. 'Alfred.'

'Yes, sir?'

'If you… if you ever get the chance…' he gave up with a shrug of his shoulders and a wide gesture. '"Sorry" wouldn't mean anything,' he muttered and rubbed his hands over his face. 'I never wanted to hurt her. In any way.'

'I know, sir, but this…' Alfred chose to say his true opinion later. 'This is out of your control. It's not your fault that things have turned out this way. You didn't shoot Officer Gordon.'

'But I put myself at risk,' Bruce said quietly, 'and she will do anything to protect me.'

Rachel smiled with sympathy and sat down with him.

'I don't mind being locked away, but I can't help her from a cell. And if the Joker gets me…' Bruce trailed off, shaking his head.

Rachel's face twisted at the idea and she looked down, a tear in her eye.

He found his thought again. 'If the Joker gets me, make sure she knows, however long it takes, that it wasn't her fault.' Bruce was tearing up. 'I can't have my death on her conscious.'

Alfred looked at him in time to see the bare fear in his eyes. He inclined his head. 'Very well, sir.'

Bruce made a strange noise. Alfred was right. He didn't cause the situation, and if he didn't think it was the best option he wouldn't have done it. But the hollow feeling in the place of guilt was maybe more unbearable. The simple knowledge that I was probably sick at that moment… it was horrible. 'She's alone.'

While Rachel went to answer a phone call and put herself to bed, Bruce and Alfred went down into the cave.

'We need to move anything that links Batman with Wayne Enterprises to the bunker and remove all traces of Thunder from the cave in case it's discovered,' Bruce said the second they stepped off the lift. 'I'll say I have no idea who Thunder is, we kept our identities secret and I gave her any and all tech and equipment.'

Alfred followed silently behind as Bruce moved like a whirlwind through the cave, pulling Thunder's shurikens out of the weapons cupboard and beginning to pile everything onto a table. He stood at the end of the corridor silently.

Bruce pulled the case with the cave's Thunder suit out of the railing it was slotted into, heaving it toward the table.

He then began rifling through the cave, pulling everything to do with me from cupboards and cases and computers, adding them to the pile, from casts of my hands to fit the gloves to my hand drawn sketches, anything with my writing on it was thrown on immediately.

Bruce paused for a moment when he saw Alfred was standing patiently where he'd left him a minute earlier. 'What is it?' he asked, mid-turn.

'We have plenty of time, sir,' was the only thing Alfred said and calmly began to help, searching methodically through files, pulling anything to do with Rachel, Lucius, Wayne Enterprises and me, stacking them neatly in a pile beside the heap of equipment Bruce was still growing.

Alfred knew better than to bother trying to talk to Bruce and let him surge around the cave, stuffing everything into the cave's tumbler.

He frowned at a pile of paper. 'Logs as well?'

'Everything,' said Bruce, dejected after finding nothing further to do. 'She's going alone, we can't let a single trace of her here be her downfall.' He determinedly around, lost, looking for anything he'd missed. He looked over and saw Alfred's expression as his butler bared his whole opinion.

'People are dying, Alfred,' he sighed. 'What would you have me do?' He gazed at Alfred with a held, intense focus.

'Endure, Master Wayne,' said Alfred, walking toward him. 'Take it. They'll hate you for it, but that's the point of Batman. He can be the outcast. He can make the choice that no one else can make. The right choice. Like Thunder is. The city needs both of you.'

'Well,' said Bruce, looking like a shell, 'today I found out what Batman can't do. Thunder can, but Batman can't. He can't endure this. Today's the day you get to say, "I told you so."'

Alfred gave a tiny grim nod. 'Today, I don't want to.'

Bruce turned around to get into the tumbler, followed by his butler.

'But I did bloody tell you,' he said, leaning in toward Bruce, suddenly able to laugh.

A chuckle left Bruce's nose.

'I suppose they'll lock me up as well,' Alfred remarked as the tumbler's engine started. 'As your accomplice.'

'Accomplice?' Bruce laughed over the engine. 'I'm gonna tell them the whole thing was your idea!'

The tumbler leapt out of the cave and down the country road into Gotham, carrying Bruce to the bunker to unpack everything. He worked later and later, slower and slower, finding himself soaking in the appearance of the bunker, since it would be the last time he'd likely ever be in there.

The couch I'd insisted on. The kitchen Alfred and I had banded together to include.

My tidy computer workspace and the tens of benches filled with equipment and papers.

The two bunker tumblers expertly parked, a partly incomplete batpod engine hanging from the ceiling, nearly reassembled.

The incredible number of mugs in the kitchen for a secret bunker that had only ever held a maximum of four people at once.

He stood in the quiet bunker just before he left, standing still and soaking in the ambience. This was all mine now; in a few hours he'd have no claim to this space ever again. He shut his eyes to wish me luck and climbed back into the cave's tumbler.

I had dragged myself up and spent hours in the small enclosed room preparing for any attack the Joker might have in store, and going through police officer after police officer, learning who Bruce would likely be around and in the morning I woke in a haze, unconsciously aiming straight for the Aston Martin on my way out. It wasn't hard to find out where the press conference was. It didn't occur to me not to attend. There was a message from Alfred saying all the files in the cave had been moved to the bunker, and there was no trace back to Wayne Enterprises to be found. I didn't ask about it.

I pulled up in the parking lot. I stayed in the seat of my car for a long time and finally got out, walking into the building. A flash of ID was over and done with and I was in the foyer.

I was anxious and very uneasy. In a few minutes everything would change. I'd lose Batman and I'd lose Bruce. And he would be in danger.

Harvey Dent approached me. 'Hi,' he said, 'here for the big reveal?'

'Yeah,' I managed, looking normal. 'Good luck with the press.'

He nodded, a faint smile crossing his face. 'Thank you.'

I looked through the crowd. My eyes met Rachel's as she talked to Harvey. Her eyes widened when she saw me, and she looked very concerned, looking at me with such sympathy in her eyes that I looked away to block it out.

Those present began to file into the room and I was left standing in the ring of people around the chairs on the right of the crowd.

Almost opposite me, on the other side of the chairs, was Bruce.

Bruce was shocked to see me. He stared at me as if he had thought I was on the other side of the world or I wasn't supposed to exist. And once our eyes had met, it became impossible to turn them away. The last moments. We were living them. They were now.

Dent cleared his throat. 'Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for coming.'

We looked at Dent. I clenched my jaw.

'I've called this press conference for two reasons. Firstly, to assure the citizens of Gotham that everything that can be done over the Joker killing is being done.'

The judgemental and doubtful murmurs in response to this said it all.

'Secondly, because the Batman has offered to turn himself in.'

There was a gasp from the crowd and a strange hush fell over the room.

I kept my eyes on Harvey. Bruce kept his face passive, hand in a pocket, watching Dent with interest.

Rachel's eyes were, surprisingly, on me. I frowned a little as I noticed.

'But first,' Harvey began. 'Let's consider the situation: should we give in to this terrorist's demands? Do we really think that-,'

A reporter behind Bruce. 'You'd rather protect an outlaw vigilante than the lives of citizens?!'

The noise rose again in agreement.

Dent quietened the outburst. 'The Batman and Thunder are outlaws! But that's not why we're demanding they turn themselves in. We're doing it because we're scared.'

A reprimanded air fell in the room.

I didn't care what the crowd thought. The whole point of Batman and Thunder was that they could be hated when needed, sacrificed when needed. Whatever Gotham needed.

Dent seemed to disagree on that. 'We've been happy to let Batman and Thunder clean up our streets for us until now-,'

'THINGS ARE WORSE THAN EVER!'

Again, that didn't bother me. We'd heard all this song and dance before.

Bruce looked at the heckler and at the angry crowd.

'Yes, they are,' Dent agreed. 'But the night is darkest just before the dawn. And I promise you, the dawn is coming.'

Once again I found myself believing in Harvey Dent.

'One day,' he continued, leaning closer to the microphones. 'the Batman and Thunder will have to answer for the laws they've broken, but to us, not to this madman.'

The crowd stared, moved.

And then a yell came from a police officer.

'NO MORE DEAD COPS!'

I just wanted it over with.

'WHERE IS THE BATMAN?'

'WHERE'S THUNDER?'

'THEY SHOULD TURN THEMSELVES IN!'

'WHY ONLY THE BATMAN?!'

'ARREST THUNDER!'

The yells didn't affect me, but they did Bruce. As the tension rose, I couldn't even glance at him and have someone notice.

Dent knew he had lost the room. 'So be it,' he said, relinquishing his efforts. 'Take the Batman into custody.'

A hush descended and the yells turned to whispers and murmurs, people looking at each other in confusion.

I kept looking at Dent as long as I dared. We knew what was about to happen, we knew it would. My heart beat harder and faster, my breathing slowed. The point, the moment when everything changed. Batman and Thunder separated. Diverged. The moment a few steps forward and a few words changed everything and tore our lives apart, irreversible.

I knew he'd be terrified. Pretending to glance around the room in confusion like everyone else, I let my eyes find Bruce. I watched from miles away as his eyes moved to me for just a second, holding my impassive, blank face like it was the only lifeline in the world and he lifted his foot.

Adrenaline shot into me and I prepared to guard him, standing rigid in fright.

'I am the Batman.'

'And I am Thunder.'

First I checked to make sure I hadn't said anything. Then as I made sure my feet were still planted on the floor I whirled on the spot with the rest of the people in the room.

Harvey and Rachel were at the podium. Gasps ripped through the room and Bruce stopped dead, staring in disbelief.

I closed my eyes and looked down, breathing huge sighs of relief. This had implications, for Gotham, for what we could do to get the Joker, for everything. But for around twelve hours I had been concerned with only one thing; Bruce's safety. And that was all my mind would think about.

Bruce didn't watch what was happening at the front, his eyes had drifted immediately back to me after the moment had settled in.

With the chaos the room was in, the cameras going off all at once at Rachel and Harvey as they were cuffed and taken away, no one noticed me move, or slip, backward, around the crowd to an empty chair pressed against the back of the room, shielded by a mass of reporters from the podium and the noise.

I closed my eyes as everything was let go. Unlike relief, this hurt. Like the difference between being hit by a splash and a heavy wave.

They marched Harvey and Rachel away. Then the media filed out, leaving an empty room and complete chaos outside.

Bruce, one thing on his mind only, filtered through the dwindling crowd, dodging the odd reporter that noticed him and tried to interview him about Rachel, and with a rush of relief he spotted me still in the room.

Finally, guilt washed over him as the situation had passed and he winced, taking his hands from his pockets and crouching in front of me, gently taking my hands.

I grabbed Bruce's hand and shut my eyes for a moment, ending up squeezing it as hard as I could. It hurt like hell but he didn't have a single complaint.

Bruce's forehead creased in agony, for both himself and for me. He stood by his decision, but he could never make it again. Slowly, he pulled me forward and hugged me gently. 'I'm sorry.' His chest was tight and his brow still creased. The guilt scraping through him hurt like nothing else, and he poured as much of his emotion out as he could. The process of repairing the fading bridge, rescued at the literal last second, made the heart tense and the chest tighten and tighten. 'I'm sorry.'

It felt like two magnets had been returned the right way around.

Finally, eventually, when the pain had faded and normality began to return in a warm wave, he stood up, taking me with him.

He made sure my eyes were drying before he let go of me and offered me a sad smile.

I drew in a steady breath and smiled, alright.

Bruce smiled at me, admiringly, proudly.

Normal felt like too much. I put my forehead on his shoulder, letting it wash over.

Bruce tilted his head to rest it on mine. He still hurt, from how remorseful he felt.

The comfort of the other's presence was immeasurable.

He walked after me out of the room. He let me walk us through the building and street to the Aston while he messaged Alfred to say what had happened and tell his butler he could go home; he'd go in my car to the bunker and we'd start working.

Bruce's eyes were wide and happy as he took a moment to look around the bunker when he got out of the car. He gave himself just that moment and a minute later we were at the computers. It wasn't quite normal, the shock in my system was still fading and Bruce was moving around as if there was a crick in his back, waiting for the guilt and relief to wash away and fade.

'They'll process them and move them to county,' I said as the computers started their work. 'Probably in the same van, knowing those two.'

'Not exactly a hard move to predict,' Bruce agreed with a deep breath, following my thoughts.

I indicated the list of suspected corrupt police officers within the GCPD. 'Aside from their involvement, my guess is we're looking at an attack en route to county. Make a lot of mess in the public eye; the Joker's MO.'

'GCPD know this, too,' Bruce continued, leaning on the desk and looking at me as we talked. 'They'll take whatever they expect of the Joker and match it. Air support, multiple armoured trucks…'

'So in goes the Joker, inside men, traps on the route... could be anything. But as far as the Joker's concerned, he's only facing the police. Batman and Thunder are in those trucks.'

We knew there wasn't much we could do about inside bandits with Gordon gone and Dent in detainment. With both Rachel and Dent going forward as both vigilantes, the risk was decreased. We were planning for something far less extreme than if Bruce had been revealed. That and return made me calmer, more confident.

'There isn't gonna be a lot we can predict,' Bruce commented unhappily. 'We'll have to react and defend.'

'Tumbler each, don't lose track of the vans. Great.'

We slept and worked our way through the afternoon and as the sun set we put on the suits.

Bruce hesitated before his hand landed on batman's suit, and again for the cowl a few minutes later.

I straightened out my cape and started the tumblers.

We drove through Gotham's dark streets to the GCPD main building and waited.

Eventually two armed vehicles left the station escorted by three police cars as a helicopter arrived overhead. Batman went down the next street ahead of them, I followed after.

We followed them quietly through the deserted, blocked streets as they turned along the river.

'Burning truck ahead on route,' Batman said.

Another voice came through, what we were receiving through the police radio. 'Obstruction ahead! All units, divert down onto lower fifth, I repeat, exit down! Exit down!'

Shit, shit, shit, no!

Standard procedure for the police was to keep an escort convoy moving at all costs. Which meant, when an on fire fire-truck, the irony wasn't lost on me, though at that moment more than ever I didn't care for the Joker's sense of humour, blocked the route, they moved along on the next possible, closest and quickest route.

The Joker knew this. They'd be safer if they stopped and moved the truck.

We were too far away to get either of the Tumblers to the fire-truck before the convoy had moved down onto the lower avenue, now hidden from the helicopter.

The streets were deserted of cars for the public's safety, but it highlighted all the possible routes the police had chosen very nicely. An entire section of Gotham was quiet.

No sooner had we crept after them did a frightened yell come from the radio. I urged the accelerator forward. A large garbage truck had dispatched the two cars on the base of the convoy and had hit the van with Dawes and Dent inside.

They looked at each other, hands already automatically held as they glanced around the metal that kept them from knowing what was happening.

'What is it?' Rachel asked, looking at the door, where the bang had come from, as the momentum of their transport changed.

The next thing I knew a second truck crashed into the vehicle carrying the swat team and pulled up alongside the one with Dent and Dawes.

The tumbler showed readings of gunfire. I surged closer and closer, leaving Batman behind, and saw the Joker in the back of the truck, firing.

Rachel, Harvey and their accompanying officer ducked down as large dents appeared on one side of the wall.

'These things are built for that, right?' Harvey asked, mostly reassured but feeling the need to break some of the tension.

'He's gonna need something a lot bigger to get through this,' said the officer.

Rachel shut her eyes and put her head down, just in case and listened hard.

'Hey, Rachel, are you okay?' Dent asked.

'Yes,' she managed. 'Yes, I'm okay.'

'Batman and Thunder will protect us, alright?'

'I know,' said Rachel with a genuine smile.

'Missile launcher!' I growled as the Joker blew up the police car in front of the convoy.

The vehicle was pinned by the truck still behind it, pushing it along at speed and the Joker's truck driving alongside.

A second explosion and the final spare car was gone.

'Now's good,' I said dryly.

Batman turned sharply and aimed for the truck behind the vehicle. I surged mine forward.

The truck didn't stand a chance against the tumbler and was taken out, freeing Dent and Dawes from the pressure from behind.

We had cleared the deserted zone. Civilian cars were starting to appear along the road.

'Get the truck,' Batman growled as he turned his tumbler around.

I dove to the side after the Joker's truck and moved my seat to the front driving. The truck saw me coming and swerved. The Joker's shot was delayed as he steadied and Batman's tumbler appeared in front the missile.

I had no time to mourn the loss of a tumbler. The police turned right straight out onto the streets, Batman was behind until he got onto the bike and the Joker was right behind the police.

I could do nothing about the helicopter. One second it was there in front of the chaos, the next it had caught wired and was on the ground in flames.

I steered in front of the police and hit the helicopter out of the way and sped ahead to turn around and escort them closer to county.

'He's down,' came Batman's voice.

Okay. I kept going. Then the police stopped. In blind confusion, I swerved and the tumbler screeched against the tarmac, screaming itself around the other way.

Then I heard Batman yelling and looked past the police vehicle. The Joker was standing in the middle of the road with a gun, and Batman was barrelling straight toward him.

Before I could say a word, Batman swerved and crashed, rolling off the bike and onto the road. I fired at nothing as a warning and opened the top of the tumbler as the Joker and his men descended on Batman.

The tumbler's screen monitoring our vitals showed me he was unconscious, or thereabouts.

The door to the police vehicle hastily shut itself as it saw my tumbler approaching at high speed.

The Joker was about to learn the same lesson Ra's Al Ghul had months ago in Wayne Manor, but given I'd known Bruce for much longer now, he was about to learn it much worse.

With a terrifying yell I appeared from nowhere and kicked the Joker away from Batman.

I landed over him, one foot either side as I crouched down protectively.

The Joker's man to the right of me aimed at Bruce's head.

My eyes moved first. I stepped to the side to block the line and flew at him with a petrifying scowl.

I growled as I wrenched the gun away, broke his leg with a swing of the barrel and kicked him hard in the head. He dropped to the ground and I was back over Bruce, looking at the men all around me.

'Well, well,' said the Joker. 'Thunder! At last…' He ran at me with a knife.

I waited and at the right moment sent the knife flying with one fluid kick.

The Joker leapt back with a giggle. 'You really aren't going to let me get him, are you?' he mused.

I tore him apart with my eyes, wishing I didn't have an unconscious Batman to protect and not liking how cornered I was feeling.

He growled a sigh. 'I really don't like using guns, but...'

Shaking his head as if there was nothing to be done, he grabbed the machine gun off his last conscious man and aimed.

I moved in a whirlwind, arms locked in front of my head, dropping a knee to the ground to cover Bruce's head completely.

I gritted my teeth as the suit absorbed the bullets and I pushed against the impacts to stay over Bruce.

But it barely lasted more than a few shots and there was a whack and a thud.

'We got you, you son of a bitch.'

I knew that voice. I lowered my arms slightly in shock and stared. 'Gordon.'

'You sound pleased to see me.' He opened the back of the truck.

Dent, shaken, looked out and gasped. 'Gor ...'

He helped Rachel clamber out of the wreckage and they stopped in their tracks when they saw me, still guarding Bruce.

I met Rachel's eyes for a second.

'Are...' Dent let out a breath. 'Are you injured?'

I didn't reply, just held his gaze a moment and allowed my attention to move to Bruce, using my bulk to block everyone's line of sight as Gordon cuffed the Joker.

Rachel made to move forward toward us but Dent held her back. 'Leave them to it,' he murmured.

Over his shoulder, Rachel watched fearfully.

Breathing deeply, I studied what little of Bruce's face I could see. He was already showing signs of responsiveness.

I stopped myself from lowering my head in relief and moved robotically, picking him up and carrying him, with the eyes of Dent, Gordon, Rachel and the Joker on me, to where my tumbler had stopped further down the road.

'Wake up,' I growled.

I dropped him the passenger seat, got in and closed the roof.

'Wake up,' I growled again, putting a hand on his shoulder.

It had been about a minute. If he didn't wake up soon I'd have to get him to the bunker.

Dammit. 'Oi,' I hissed, voice as tense as my muscles. 'I know you can hear me. Come on... come on...' I growled, voice rising in tone as I glared at him, shaking a little to stir him.

He groaned and moved his head, waking up.

'Are you alright?' He mumbled groggily.

'Fine. How's your head?'

He closed his eyes in thought and then groaned. 'Seems okay.'

I drove us back down the street as police flooded the area. 'Gordon's alive. Rachel and Dent are fine.'

'Wow,' Batman, or in that moment Bruce, managed. I had to agree.

I left the tumbler in the darkest part of the street, where the streetlamps had been destroyed. Batman made to get out. I put a hand on his shoulder and opened the roof, vaulted out and left him there. He closed it after me.

Gordon was mid-order through the radio when he noticed me no more than two paces away from him on the other side of the truck. He stopped. 'We're taking him to the MCU. Thank you,' he said, taking the time to put his sincerity into it.

'Dent and Dawes?' I asked.

'Unharmed. An ambulance will be here, ETA 2 minutes. Then I'm insisting they go home to rest, under guard. Will you come to the MCU?'

'We'll be there,' I promised, and vanished again. Gordon didn't even react.

I went over to the batpod and rode it back to the tumbler. As I got off Batman flicked at switch inside and the bike magnetised to the tumbler's side.

I got back in with an easy vault. 'MCU.' The tumbler moved down the streets as the first signs of reporters went past us. I eased into the steering wheel and let myself relax.

'What's his next move?' I thought.

'It could be anything,' Batman replied.

We passed the time trying to think of the Joker's plans, finding no matter how much of ourselves we threw around and experimented with, we couldn't match the Joker. I was a little better at it, but it didn't matter.

'I can't guess if his attention is on the real Batman and Thunder or the fake ones,' I near complained when we got closer.

'They're tied together. Taking Batman and Thunder away from Gotham to make an example is still his goal. Judging by his actions tonight he bought that Dent and Rachel were us. He's just learnt they're not, but there would have been a plan in case he was wrong. What's the security on them?'

We arrived. 'We're thinking about this in the wrong order,' I realised. 'He'd have something that could be twisted either outcome. Let's say there's a bomb under the mayor's desk.'

Batman nodded as the roof opened.

'It blows up, he blames Batman and Thunder for not coming forward, announces to Gotham that it's our fault that the mayor went sky high. If we really were Dent and Dawes, then it's his nail in the coffin, his show that he's won whether he's in the cells or not.'

'How much do you think he's going to tell us?' Batman asked as we began to sneak into the MCU.

'Not a word. Unless he wants to. He's cornered, he knows it. Conniving and manipulation won't work for him in there. Whatever it is, it will be straightforward.'

Across the city, Harvey dove in front of Rachel to protect her from the back of a gun. She screamed in fright as he landed over her, unconscious and scrambled to try and escape the car.

It was useless and her eyes found Detective Ramirez as she blacked out.