Disclaimer: I own nothing but Scarlett. If I owned anything else, I would be rolling in cash. 500 million and counting for TDK.

Well, we're halfway through the story and I've got the whole story pretty much finished. I think I might do something with The Prestige next. I know that there is no category for it so it will probably have to go in the MM part.

Anyway, thanks to everyone who is reviewing so far. I really thank you for it.

"Scarlett? Scarlett, wake up."

Looking at her friend, who was lying motionless on the ground, Rachel bit her lip and felt tears come to eyes. She glanced around the room one more time to make sure she wasn't dreaming. She was still tied to a chair and there were thousands of oil drums set up all around her and Scarlett. But for some reason, Scarlett was not tied up at all. Perhaps who ever had tied them up had an ounce of good left in their being, Rachel thought. Still, Scarlett had taken the brunt of the stun gun and had been knocked out for sometime. Looking back towards the ticking clock and phone in front of her, Rachel began to scream for help.

"Hello? Can anybody hear me? HELLO!'

Suddenly a voice came from the other end of the phone.

"Rachel?"

It was Harvey. Rachel felt a surge of joy in her stomach and she shouted, "Harvey? Oh Harvey, thank god. Are you ok?"

"I'm alright. I'm in a warehouse. They've got me wired to these oil drums."

"I am, too. Harvey, Scarlett is with me."

"Is she alright?"

"She's fine, I think. Whoever did this to us didn't tie her and she's just lying here."

"Try and wake her up."

"Ok," Rachel said.

She then looked down and managed to move her foot so she could nudge Scarlett once more. From the floor, she saw Scarlett begin to move and she lifted her head up from the ground and said, "What…where am I?"

"Scarlett, are you alright?"

Pulling her body into a sitting position, Scarlett looked up at Rachel with glazed eyes and said, "Where are we?"

"I don't know. All I know is that I'm tied to a chair and we have five minutes remaining on that clock."

Scarlett turned back around and her eyes widened when she saw the red numbers ticking. She turned back to Rachel and said, "I'm getting us out of here."

"What about Harvey?"

"What?"

Motioning towards the device in front of her, Rachel said, "Harvey, she's awake."

Scarlett turned towards the clock once again and her heart sank when she heard his voice come from the other end.

"Scarlett? Thank God. Listen to me; see if you can get Rachel out of the restraints."

Getting to her feet, Scarlett kicked her shoes off and got behind Rachel. The ropes were tied tightly but Scarlett began to pull on them anyway. As she worked on the ropes, Rachel turned back to the clock and said, "Listen, we don't have a lot of time. He told me that only one of us was going to make it. And that they were gonna let our friends choose."

On the phone, Rachel heard Harvey take a deep breath before he said, "Ok, Rachel. It's going to be ok. They're coming for the both of you."

"Alright, I'll help you. Just talk to me. Talk me through what's going on with you. Can you find something…anything sharp to cut your restraints off?"

Behind Rachel, Scarlett began to panic. The ropes wouldn't budge on Rachel's hands. She had successfully gotten the rope around her feet off but was having trouble with the ropes binding her hands. She heard Rachel's voice suddenly go a bit higher when she had no reply back from Harvey. Scarlett only heard grunting and then something sounded like it toppled over.

"Harvey? What's happening?"

There was no response and Rachel turned back to Scarlett and said, "How's it going?"

"I can't get the rope around your hands off. Maybe I can somehow break the chair so you can get out."

Rachel nodded before she turned back to the phone and saw the numbers getting closer to zero.

Swallowing down fear, she said, "Harvey, just talk to me for one second."

There was silence from the other end. Nothing except a few coughs. She felt Scarlett working on the roped on her hands and she winced at the burning. She knew it was hopeless and that this had been planned. Rachel closed her eyes, knowing what she was going to ask Scarlett to do would seal her fate. Turning her head, Rachel said, "Scarlett, can you do something for me?"

Scarlett came around the other side and said, "Just hang on, Rachel. I'm going to get you out of here."

"We don't have time. The longer you try and get me out, the less of a chance we both have."

"What do you want me to do then," Scarlett said, hanging her head.

"I want you to get out of here. Go and get help. The cops or Batman have to be on the way. You need to go outside and wave them down. So they know that we're here."

"I can't do that. I'm staying with you," Scarlett said.

"No, I need you to do this. If I die, Bruce could live with it. Harvey couldn't. But if you die, Bruce could never live with himself. Gotham needs Batman. Gotham needs a hero."

"What about Harvey? You said he can't live without you."

"This is why I trust you. I trust you to go get help. Please, do this for me."

"I can't," Scarlett whispered.

"Yes, you can. You need to do this for me."

"No, Rachel. I am not going to leave you here."

Grabbing Rachel's upper arm, Scarlett leaned down next to her and said, "I will not leave you here to die."

"I was wrong about you," Rachel said.

"What?"

Smiling at her friend, Rachel said, "I was wrong about you. I thought you were just some rich girl who decided to marry into the Wayne family. I thought, when you came to work for Harvey, that you were just trying to get back at him. Conflicting stories in the papers. I shouldn't have trusted those rags."

"Rachel, it's ok. I'm not..."

"Scarlett, listen to me. If you get out of here, I want you to take Bruce back. He needs someone to be with him. You can be the one good thing he has. All the other bimbos have tried to be you and try to make him forget. But they can't and I saw more protection in Bruce's eyes at the fundraiser when The Joker had his hands all over you. Now, please, go."

In spite of what she knew was right, Scarlett then turned and ran towards the door. She knew she didn't have a lot of time and when she got to the door, Scarlett opened it and turned back to Rachel. The brunette was smiling at her, sadly and Scarlett said, "I'm coming back for you. I promise."

Scarlett then turned and began to run down the dark hallway. She didn't exactly know where to go but she knew Rachel was depending on her and she would not let her friend die. Running through the dark corridor, she saw a flight of stairs to her right and she sprinted down them. Her feet were being cut up on broken glass and rocks but Scarlett ignored the pain. As she reached the bottom floor, Scarlett saw that all of the glass windows were covered.

Sucking down a sob, Scarlett began to hobble towards the door that was located on the end of the hallway. Her feet were bleeding badly and she had rope burn on her hands from trying to help Rachel. As she got closer to the door, Scarlett heard sirens and saw flashing lights coming towards where she was. Giving it all her energy, Scarlett finally reached the door. But it was locked.

"Oh, come on. Not now," Scarlett moaned.

She then began to pound her body against the door, willing it to open. Her blouse had begun to rip at the sleeves and her black pencil skirt already had a long gash down the side. As she kept hitting the door with all her strength, up above her, Rachel heard her friend screaming and pounding on something. Feeling tears run down her face, Rachel watched the numbers tick down to forty seconds. Knowing that Harvey didn't have a lot of time left, Rachel said, "Harvey, just in case, I wanna tell you something, ok?"

"Don't think like that Rachel. Scarlett's going to bring back help."

"I know she is but I don't want her to. I don't wanna live without you and I do have an answer for you. And my answer is yes."

Down below, Scarlett had found a large metal bar and was hitting it as hard as she could against the door. She hit it as many times as she could muster. Ignoring the pain in her feet, Scarlett finally got the wooden door open and she fell down the stone stairs, the metal bar in her hand. She looked up to see Jim Gordon running towards her. Ignoring the joy of seeing that Gordon was alive, she quickly got to her feet and yelled, "Gordon! Gordon, help us!"

Jim quickly ran to the young girl, who had found in a similar situation months ago and began to drag her away from the building. As she did, cops ran past the both of them and into the building. Gordon was still shouting orders and as Scarlett watched the cops enter the warehouse, a surge of hope washed over her. Until, suddenly, the building exploded and burst into flames. Gordon and Scarlett both turned and the young girl suddenly tried to run from Gordon's arms. Gordon held her arms back as she screamed, "Rachel! Rachel, no, she's still in there! Rachel!"

Holding onto her as tight as he could, Gordon shouted to a few of his men to go surve the damage. In his arms, Scarlett stopped struggling and Gordon held onto her tightly, as she sank to the ground. Scarlett's sobs echoed throughout the area and Gordon quickly wrapped his arms around her and he felt her tears soak his shirt. The remainder of the cops stared up at the building as firefighters began to put the flames out. One of the cops came up to Gordon and said, "Sir. Batman got Harvey Dent out alive but…"

"But?"

"His face. It was badly burnt when the building exploded. He's on his way to the hospital now."

Gordon stood from the ground, his arms still wrapped around the sobbing woman in his arms. "The Joker planned to be caught."

He then turned back to the building and closed his eyes. They hadn't made it on time. They had saved Scarlett Falcone but lost Rachel Dawes. He then turned away from the demolished warehouse and walked a few feet away to a squad car. He opened the door and set Scarlett inside. He watched her curl up on the seat and continue to cry. Gordon put his coat over her, turned to a cop and said, "Watch her. Make sure she does not do anything rash. I'll send the medic over to wrap her feet."

The male cop nodded as Gordon closed the door and walked back to the scene. There was rubble everywhere and he began to walk through to examine the scene. As he walked through the rubble, Gordon stumbled across a pair of burned shoes. Knowing Scarlett had not been wearing shoes, he assumed they were hers. He also found a burnt phone, a jacket and other random pieces that had been left in the abandoned warehouse. However, there was no sign of Rachel Dawes' body. Gordon didn't know how long he was in the rubble but when he turned back around, he saw Batman standing across from him, looking out over the warehouse rubble.

"Dent?"

"He's safe," Batman said.

Gordon nodded and walked over to him. As he stopped in front of the taller man, he said, "I'm sorry. We couldn't get to…"

Batman simply turned away and began to migrate his way through the rubble. Gordon watched him for a moment before he walked out of the mess and over to an open ambulance. He saw Scarlett sitting inside, with his coat on. Her arms were barely visible but she looked warm and that was all that mattered. He stopped in front of her and said, "Did they patch your feet up?"

Scarlett nodded, holding her feet up, which were encased in white gauze. Her face was red and she had black tear tracks down her face. Gordon looked out over the scene before he turned back to her and said, "Batman is here. Searching through the rubble. He got Dent out alive but there was a cost."

Without a word, Scarlett stood and slowly hopped down from the ambulance. She took Gordon's hand and said, "This is not your fault. It's The Joker's. That sick bastard put us into this mess and I promised her I would bring back help and I…I couldn't."

Gordon quickly gave her another hug before she fell apart again. He then led her through the squad cars and cops to bring her in the rubble, and Scarlett didn't even notice when Gordon picked her up so she would not injure her feet. As they stopped in front of the rubble, Scarlett saw dawn was forming and she saw Batman kneeling down and his hand was clasped around something. She broke away from Gordon and began to walk gingerly through the heat and water. Scarlett ignored the looks from the other cops and finally came to a stop behind him. Batman was holding Harvey's coin in his hand and his hand was shaking. She then reached out and put her hand on his shoulder.

Batman stiffened and he stood up. He then turned and laid eyes upon Scarlett. She was covered in soot and her feet were bandaged up. She also had Gordon's coat around her body. He could have done many things but he settled for saying, "You're alive."

Scarlett nodded before she leaned forward and laid her head against his armor. Batman wrapped one arm around her and breathed in the scent of her hair. As they stood silently, Gordon looked around at other officers. They were all giving Batman and Scarlett perplexed looks and Gordon said, "Back to work. All of you."

As the cops hurried back to their investigation, Scarlett looked up at Batman and said, "Can we please go home? I can't be here right now."

He nodded before picking her up from the ground and walking through the rubble once more.

She lived. I really did think about "killing" her and then bring her back during the final scene of movie. Say that she was in "hiding." But, I'm pretty sure that you guys would give me hell. After my last story and having her always being kidnapped, I figured the girl needed a break.