Another chapter for you wonderful people- please give me feedback, y'all, and remember- there'll be more Bruce/Jim fluffiness (maybe more, depending on what y'all think xD) in later chappies. For now, here's the next one!
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Chapter IV: With Love
The room stood still for all of five seconds before the Joker laughed. It started out small, and grew, until his shoulders were shaking, his hands accidentally sliding the gun around on the side of his head. Batman growled deep in his throat at this, but he knew without the shadows of nightfall, he'd lost most of his intimidation.
Harvey, in the meantime, had both his eyes glued on Batman; one eye, full of anguish, the other wide and staring out of a gaping mess of a face. "Batman," he finally said his voice ragged and raw with emotion.
"Harvey," Batman said in return, taking a step forwards; turned out he should've stayed put. He could see Harvey's arm spasm, but instead of shooting the man who had it driven up against his head, it leapt out to aim for Batman.
His eyes widening, Batman said, "Harvey? What're you doing?" Even the great man of shadows couldn't keep the surprise out of his voice. The atmosphere in the room was heavy, laced with the poison the Joker seemed to spread like a dandelion that had just been kicked.
Lifting up a coin- the coin Batman had returned to Harvey- he said, with a voice resolute, "Heads, you live, tails, you die."
"Don't do this, Harvey-"
"Shut up!" Harvey boomed. The Joker, the gun now away from his head, began to giggle once more, staying close to Dent for reasons probably only he could give.
"Better let him do what he wants, Bats, he's crazier than I am!" This little comment didn't help the atmosphere, and both Harvey and Batman's fists clenched.
"Can't you see what he's doing to you, Harvey?" Batman growled finally. Harvey began to shake his head, keeping the gun aimed at the man he had once helped. Batman didn't fail to miss the fact that the gun's mouth was now smeared with white, from resting against the Joker's temple. He'd never thought that the same gun that was pointed at a man as disgusting as the Joker would be pointed at him with the same viciousness.
"The Joker's- the Joker's just a mad dog. You- you could've done something. You could've done something about Rachel!"
"You don't think Rachel's death hurt me too?" hissed Batman before he could stop himself. Harvey's eyes narrowed at this, his teeth visibly grating together through the gaping hole in his jaw.
"What the hell did Rachel mean to you, anyways? You have no right to claim Rachel's death hurt you-!" He was cut off by the Joker, who had begun to giggle once more, insanely and uncontrollably. Batman caught the look on the mad clown's face, and he felt a moment of terror.
"Yeah, Bats, what did Rachel mean to you?" Batman knew the Joker knew, because they'd been in that warehouse with him. He and Gordon had been caught in the spider's web, and the Joker knew more about Batman than almost anyone. Besides Gordon, of course.
Batman flinched visibly; he couldn't think about the newly appointed Commissioner right now. He needed to focus on the situation at hand; Harvey could very well be dangerous, and if he knew Batman's real identity, it'd only make a mess. For some reason, however twisted it was, Batman knew the Joker wouldn't reveal his identity to all of Gotham. But he might lead Harvey on with enough hints that would lead to disastrous results.
Hesitating visibly, Batman refused to reply. This seemed to enrage Harvey further, and he shoved the gun forward further, spitting out his next words. "That's what I thought. She was just another person to you, wasn't she. What's one person compared to all of Gotham, hey?"
Harvey's sarcastic words held more bite than he could ever have imagined; Bruce might have realized he didn't like Rachel sexually, but he had certainly loved her like a sister, and her death had nearly broken him. Having Harvey say things like this- the dramatic irony of it all hurt Batman more than the bullet Harvey could send flying for his chest at any moment.
"Was I the one who set up the bombs?" Batman finally said, through teeth that could barely unclench long enough for him to speak properly. Harvey's mouth was half open when the Joker, whose eyes had been flickering back and forth between the two imposing "heroes", made a sudden move away from the bed.
Harvey's eyes widened, and the gun point was almost immediately pointing at the Joker's chest once more, rather than Batman's. "Where do you think you're going?!"
"Oh, I just figured I'd give the two of you some alone time-"
"So you can blow us both up?" Harvey growled lowly, his eyes full of distrust, for both the Joker and Batman.
"I wouldn't let you, my prize, get blown up! Oh no no. And Bats here...he can look out for himself just fine." The two of them seemed ridiculously close to bickering, but Batman ignored the words, and decided it was time to act.
Just like he had in the warehouse, Batman took advantage of the Joker being distracted by another person talking, and summoning all his strength, launched himself from his position to tackle the Joker to the ground before Harvey could fire his gun.
Landing a stiff punch on the side of the Joker's face, Batman felt satisfied when he heard the grunt of pain the man let loose. It was soon followed by a chuckle, however, that squelched some of Batman's satisfaction.
Before Batman could smash his fists into the Joker again, he remembered Harvey, and looked up just in time to see the man, with a snarling face, pull the trigger.
At such close contact, the crack the gun emitted would have been enough to make a man without ear protection to wince. Batman had long since trained himself to ignore noises that he didn't need to waste attention on, and used the couple of seconds he had to dive out of the target area.
It didn't work quite as he'd hoped, however, and the bullet caught his shoulder painfully, grazing through the space between his plates of body armour in the bat-suit. Letting out a low snarl of his own, Batman couldn't stop his body from the continued fall he'd forced himself into in order to avoid the brunt of the bullet.
His shoulder flared, but he didn't even have enough time to roll to his feet before he looked up to see the Joker lifting a chair. Fuck, was the last thing he thought before the steel slammed into his head, and he fell to the ground with a heavy thump.
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When Batman's eyes opened again, he was still on the floor of the hospital room. Looking up, dazed at first, Batman's eyes caught the empty hospital bed, the chair that was lying on the ground nearby, deserted, and the blood that had been spilled on the floor; his own blood, that was coming in rather profuse amounts from his shoulder and his head, the blood dripping despite the protection his cowl had allowed.
The bullet wound was only superficial, but the gun had been fired at such a short range, it had torn up his skin a good bit, and when he struggled to push himself up, it flared up enough to make him shudder slightly. The head wound was worse; the chair had only sliced opened his chin after it had skidded off his forehead and it bled like a bitch. The bit that was bad, however was the actual impact it'd had with his skull. Apparently the head protection he wore hadn't provided quite enough protection, and this was soon proved when he attempted to move.
His head span with every move he made, no matter how small, and the world swam before his eyes. It took him a moment to regain his senses, but when he did, the next thing he saw was a piece of paper lying next to him.
Frowning, he pushed his fingers out, and when he made contact, pulled it closer. Squinting his eyes, Batman discovered it was painful to even concentrate on the wide, erratic scrawl that was covering the piece of paper. It appeared to be some sort of note...written on the back of a medical chart?
He gave a start when his eyes finally focussed; it was from the Joker himself. The writing was jagged, and oddly spaced, with some letters and words bigger than others, without any sort of pattern. And it said-
HeY BaaaatS! iF I know yoU, i BET you'LL reAd this bEfore the whOle building blows sky HIGH! I wAs SO glad tO see You toDay, soRRY our Meeting had TO BE so ShOrt, bUt you know guys like HarveY dent, they're So INTO IT! AnYways, no hard Feelings, Hope you get out OF ThEre alRight! (whIch I knOw you WiLL)
WitH LOVE,
JoKer
PS. SaY HI to tHE CoMMISh for mE
There were random "HAHAHA"s scribbled here and there throughout the letter, and Batman's lips curled. He didn't have time to ponder the letter further, however, mainly because of the warning and reminder that the Joker had added to the letter.
The bomb.
That maniac was going to blow up the building that he was still lying inside. Looking about crazily for the clock he was certain he'd seen when he first entered the room, Batman finally found it, and latched onto the time.
If he recalled correctly, he'd only been out for a couple minutes. But a couple minutes could be deadly; he'd bet anything that the Joker was going to click whatever deranged button he had with him as soon as he left the building, and then it'd be too late. Who knew how long he had to get the hell out of there?
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Review review review, I simple can't say it enough!
