'Thump, thump, thump,' Two-Face listened as his heart beat pounded rhythmically with his running feet. He dared a glance back to find that the police had not yet rounded the corner. Looked like Gordon did not pay too much attention to the physical ability of his officers. He looked around for an escape and quickly spotted an alley. He ducked in and dove behind a dumpster. While not breathing, he watched as the small, armed group ran past, chasing some poor bystander in the same grey suit he now wore. It would not be long before the cops realized they had the wrong guy, so he shot back out into the street and began for the Narrows. He needed a place to hid, and he knew just the haunt.
Eventually the noise of the inner city died down and the quiet rumble of the slums replaced it. He slowed down some, but made sure to keep to the shadows. With the amount of trouble he had been stirring up, it would be no surprise to him if there was a reward on his head. Anyone of these poverty stricken people would love to get a hold of him, and it was just dangerous enough here, that they might actually have a chance. The rundown warehouse came into sight and he slowed down to a brisk walk, trying to catch his breath in the process. It was a good thing that the Joker had nothing ridding on this little adventure, otherwise he should have been jumping towns.
Someone must have tipped him off. The police had arrived too soon for an alarm to have been activated, and there was not chance that a squad of armed officers would just randomly show up at Judge Tepred's home. No, he had been set-up, the question was, who? The only person that had known was the Joker, and he was his business partner now. It would not make any sense for him to let the officials know. Someone must be spying on him or something. That ticked him off, and when he found out who, there would be blood.
Two-Face entered the warehouse and began up the flights of stairs. It was a dilapidated looking building on the outside, and the two first levels were shoddy at best, but the third must have been stable considering that's where the Joker was. He heard several sets of footsteps from above and heard a distinctly feminine voice. That threw him off guard. He had never taken the Joker to be the kind to keep women, but he was technically a man after all. Hopefully he wasn't about to walk into something awkward.
He finally reached the third floor and looked down to find a rubber lined door. This was odd, but considering the resident, it was not entirely unexpected. To his surprise, the door was unlocked. He had expected to find more security, but again, Joker was a few quarters short of a dollar at times. He would need to enlighten him on the importance of door locks. He continued down the long, narrow hallway toward the two voices, one which was definitely the Joker, and the other female voice that sounded eerily familiar.
"I told you, you are not allowed to leave that bed until you are properly healed. That's an order!" the voice commanded. Oh, he knew that voice, but it couldn't be!
"But I'm bored!" the Joker protested. "Come on Rach, at least let me move to a different room." In any other situation, Two-Face would have found this humorous, but that voice combined with 'Rach' was too compelling. He broke into a brisk jog and rounded the corner.
Harvey's jaw dropped as a tray fell to the floor.
XXXXXXXXX
As she had imagined many sleepless nights, her body acted on its own accord as she propelled herself in Harvey's arms. As they simply held each other, her hands roamed his back and up his neck to ensure that he really was here and not just a hallucination. Sure enough though, she could hear his heartbeat, feel his breath on her neck, feel the scarred skin of his face that she remembered so... wait, when had that happened? She leaned back a bit and inspected the left side of his head. The skin was angry red and lumpy. His lips pulled away from his teeth, and there was something unnatural looking about his eye lid. How had this happened? He looked like... Freddy Kruger in a way. All he needed was a Christmas sweater. Harvey gently took her hand as it traced down his face and closed his eyes as he explained weakly.
"When Batman was carrying me out of the warehouse, it exploded and my face caught on fire from the gasoline that had splashed on it. The doctors forced me to have skin grafts and this is the result. I hardly feel your touch," he explained bitterly. She accepted this, her mind too blank to think, and held him tighter, feeling his pain. "I thought you were dead Rachel," he whispered. "How did you escape?"
"The Joker carried me out when... but... if Batman was saving you then how could he have been trying to help me?" she realized. "He... he told me that Batman was trying to save me against my wishes and was rendered unconscious. He lied to me," she spat, betray deep in her voice that Harvey could not help but notice.
"He lied to both of us. He told me you were dead and... a bunch of stuff. I'm just so happy you're alive. Come on, let's get you out of here. If I'm not much mistaken, we still have a wedding to plan," he reminded her. Rachel felt a smile erupt on her face and her heart sing at the idea. She would finally get marry Harvey Dent, the man of her dreams. Her happiness could no longer be contained and she kissed him passionately. Her dreams were finally coming true.
XXXXXXXXX
'Well, this is sickening,' the Joker thought as he watched the lovers' reunite. They seemed to have forgotten where they were or who was with them, so he decided to make his presence known.
"That'll be rather hard won't it now, being a wanted man and all, right Two-Face?" he resoundingly exclaimed. Two-Face tensed noticeably and growled as Rachel flew from his arms.
"Two-Face?" she gasped with an air of disgust and confusion. "Your... your student?" she glanced accusingly at the Joker who had a 'surprise!' look on his face. "You're working with him? That... that can't be. No, I... Harvey how can you... tell me that's not true!" she finally spat out. Harvey's pause confirmed her suspicions even before he sighed and took the step forward the way most men do when they have unpleasant news.
"Rachel... I... I thought you were dead," Harvey whispered as if that explained everything. Really, that was his explanation. That was the reason that he had been turned, but Rachel was an innocent creature and would not understand that. Harvey would need to do better. "I thought... no, they still did fail to rescue you. You were still stolen from me and they needed to pay."
"Harvey!" Rachel yelled. "What are you thinking? I was captured by the Joker! Of course they probably weren't going to get to me! He's the single most intelligent criminal in probably the world! Give them a break. You," she paused and her expression grew softer and more defeated, "you worked so hard to rid the streets of evil, to protect the city, and now... now you're as bad as him." 'Hey, I am way eviler!' Joker protested, but kept his peace to see how this would turn out.
"No, I'm not! I don't decide people's fate, chance does. It's unbiased. He just kills people," Harvey reasoned.
"He gives them a chance too!" Rachel countered to their surprise. Hm, she might be more ready than he thought. "He gives the people a choice of who lives. He doesn't care who's chosen, but you do care about the outcome. You want the coin to be heads or whatever the system is!"
"You're defending him! Rachel, I love you. I did this for you!" Two-Face roared in frustration. He could not see what was holding her back, but the Joker knew. He heard her talk about it in their philosophic conversations, saw it in the way she looked at him and how she now looked at Two-Face now.
"But, I didn't want you to," she whispered, her voice cracking with emotion. "I wanted you to save the city for me, so that no one had to know your pain, had to suffer my fate. I... I'm sorry Harvey," she full out sobbed and ran from the room. The two men watched her run away for a moment before the Joker finally sighed.
"That's a bummer," he commented. Two-Face turned rigidly, murder in his eyes. He stalked toward the bed and punched the clown square on the cheek. A giggle escaped the Joker, provoking him further.
"You bastard! Is this just a game to you? Is that all my pain's for, a game?" Two-Face yelled, grasping for his coin. Even now, he could not bring himself to kill without justification.
"Duh! Of course! You were made to make a point. Here you were, the White Knight of Gotham and now, you're a criminal like me. Give it enough of a push, and anyone can go bad. You were a social experiment, and a great one at that. I'll tell you Two-Face, I do like you. None of my games have been this satisfying... except maybe Batman... oh and Rachel is great fun too," he commented just to provoke him. It worked. A fist slammed into his face again, drawing blood this time.
"Leave her alone. Do what you want with me, but leave her out of this," he demanded. This only made the Joker laugh harder.
"Rach is a free player. She's been kept here for a week with nothing holding her in, and she still chooses to stay. She wants to play now. Well, I'm rather tired, long day and all, so if you would be so kind as to flip your coin and leave, that would be wonderful," he ended the conversation. Two-Face gave him a look that clearly said they had more to discuss, but he flipped it anyway. To the Joker's amusement, it came up heads. Two-Face gained another punch, but left anyway. He was an agent of fate. If he was destined to live, he would not go back on that. The door slammed shut such that the floor shook angrily. Now, he had a girl to comfort and an opinion to sway.
A/n: Yay for school starting and distracting me!! That's why this took forever. I totally have the next chapter planned out. It's the emotional climax of Rachel and therefore will be written in the first person. I will try and get that up in a more timely manner. I need to update my Star Wars fic too. Hmmm... yeah. So please review!