James: Chapter 25
There were bodies everywhere. Some bore the crimson armor of Lannister, others the white of the City Watch, and then some…wool, leather, cloth, worn by the innocent men, women, and children that had been slaughtered.
James' men had met the procession of Lannister armor as they attempted to cross the bridge into the Narrows. With their shields and positioning they held advantage, but had soon lost it to overwhelming numbers. Now they stood ground six streets back, near the heart of the Narrows. Why the Lannisters marched towards the seedy underbelly of Gotham rather than up the hill to Wayne Castle was beyond James, but it mattered not. He would protect every citizen of Gotham he could, whether a criminal or innocent life.
Batman, Princess Diana, and her Amazons had left to meet the Lannisters on the other front. As the group James fought was marching Southwest into the Narrows, the other troop of Lannisters marched due south to take the wealthier district. May they fare better than us.
James had lost two centuries of men thus far, and that was only by those he dared count. Not all were of the Watch. Some were blacksmiths, others sellswords, even a few young boys died in battle. I will count every last corpse and deliver ten times that number to Tywin Lannister's feet.
As James parted a Lannister soldier's head from his neck, he gazed out upon the bloody street. Wave upon wave of crimson flooded down the street from the gates off in the distance, while James and his men slowly were pushed back more with each minute, lest they fall beneath the crashing waves of Lannister steel.
His arm grew tired, the sword grew heavy in his hand. His face was splattered in the blood of Lannisters, and his city flooded in the blood of its people. When I retire from this, should I live, I may just pray to the Seven to ask how Gotham spurned them to deserve such a fate.
James' breath caught in his throat, as he saw the river of red armor part. Jaime Lannister strode to the front, sword branded in hand, contemptuous smirk upon his lips. "Ser Gordon! At last we meet upon the field of battle!" The arrogant fool called out.
"Aye, now come at me and let us be done with this," James retorted as he pressed forward. Sarah grabbed his arm, but James shrugged it off. Not in my city, not in my city will you keep that smirk you miserable sack of shit…
They met each other with a few parting blows, tasting the other's skills. "Two knights, two swords, one survivor," Jaime taunted as he parried James' attack.
"One survivor, true, but only one knight stands here Kingslayer," James corrected.
The Kingslayer turned and brought his sword edge down upon James' arm, rewarding a light cut. "Ah, how everyone in this kingdom adores that name. Kingslayer, it only warrants to be seethed with distaste when parted from tongue does it not? I am a knight, whether in title or your eyes alone it matters not, but I stand what I am."
"A slaughterer of innocent women and children in a city that has brought you no harm. In my city!" James roared as he brought his sword down upon the Kingslayer's head. Jaime spun and brought James' feet from beneath him with a swing of his sword. As James' fell to the earth, he felt the eyes of his men upon him. All of them watching the Kingslayer best him with ease, Bullock, Sarah… No, I cannot die this day.
Jaime kicked away James' sword, pressed a boot upon his arm, leaving him defenseless. "Perhaps in your prime you could have proved a worthy adversary Ser Gordon, but I have seen perfection with a blade, and you Ser, are no match for me. I shall send you to the afterlife with an honorable death. No need to thank me."
As Jaime brought his sword down upon James, his mind raced. He thought of his wife and son that had left him, of Barbara, the sweet girl he would leave behind, and of Sarah, whose embrace he would never truly feel. James gasped for air one final time as the point of the Kingslayer's sword pierced down like a bolt of lightning cast by the gods.
Before it could reach James' neck, a blur flew through the air and clanged off of it, causing it to stray from its target. Jaime looked up from Ser Gordon laid on the ground before him to set his eyes upon his attacker, but James knew the identity of his savior before his ears could even grasp the cold, gravelly sound of his voice.
"KINGSLAYER!" Batman roared down from a nearby roof. Jaime smirked, and gazed up at the helmeted vigilante that had come to James' rescue.
"Ah, so we meet again Batman! I hope you provide more contest than this aged hero on the ground before me!" He smugly called up.
Batman leapt from the second story roof and landed on a Lannister soldier to break his fall. He rolled to his feet and came to a stop a few paces from where James laid.
Jaime clapped mockingly. "Impressive, for a masked freak. Now, shall we see who is truly the most infamous man in the Seven Kingdoms? The Kingslayer, breaker of vows? Or the Batman, outlawed vigilante that defies an armada?"
Batman glared at Jaime, unmoving. Jaime paused a moment in his taunting to gaze around. "Hold a moment, I see Gotham's armies retreating, losing heart after watching their leader fall to his back by my hands. Hmm, wait, what happened to those women of yours Batman? My brother loves his cunt more than any man, so I'm sure you two would get along as brothers! Tell me, where are those tasty little cun-"
Before Jaime could finish his taunt, Batman roared out in response. "NOW!"
Suddenly, spears and arrows reigned down from the rooftops above. Armored women burst from the alleys surrounding the street, and Lannister corpses soon followed. Amidst the chaos, James stood, paying no mind to the two titans locking gazes before him. Sarah helped him back to a horse, as James shouted from its back, "Men! Advance, retake this city, and show these Lannister cunts that this city is not theirs to plunder!"
Men roared all around him as they charged forward to help the Amazons push back the Lannisters. As James gazed out upon the struggle of steel and flesh, his eyes returned to the battle flaring at its center in the street.
Batman dodged the Kingslayer's slashes as he back stepped with great haste. James was near enough to hear the shouted words Jaime threw as he pressed an offense against Batman, but no whispers or replies from the Dark Knight.
Jaime moved like water with his blade. No tight angles or pauses, but a constant and steady flow of wave after wave of flurries, as if his blade's edge were soft sea waves kissing the sandy shore. Each blow whisked past its target, or clanged off of Batman's edged gauntlets with the three angles spikes.
"Oh come now Batman! Display a proper contest, give me a fight to never forget!" Jaime flared as his sword danced and kissed Batman's exposed jaw, planting a small cut opposite the one he already bore from the night past. As blood trickled down Batman's jaw from the wound, the Kingslayer chuckled, "So the god does prove mortal. Good, mortal men I can kill."
He swirled his blade around over his head and brought the blade down over Batman's a moment later. Batman ducked, and delivered an armored fist to the Kingslayer's jaw. Blood flew from the golden haired peacock's lips as he knelt to catch himself. He glared back up at Batman. "Ah, the beast awakens!" He cried with joy as he brought his sword to Batman's side.
The outlaw blocked it with his arm, spun, and brought the back of his other fist across Jaime's other cheek. Before the Kingslayer could fall, Batman wrapped a hand around the back of his head and brought Jaime's gut into his waiting knee. Blood and breath fled from Jaime's mouth, as Batman reached to the street floor, and picked up a fallen sword. Then, he grasped the Lannister by his glowing blond hair and raised him up to stare face to face in the moonlight.
"I was toying with you before Kingslayer, but now you'll feel every tear of sweat I've poured in my years of training," Batman growled between gritted teeth. Before the Kingslayer could find witty words to reply with, Batman's fist had delivered another blow to chin.
James watched as a flurry of brutal, but carefully struck blows befell the Kingslayer. A knee to his thigh, a fist to his ribs, a slash to his knee, another to his shoulder. The Kingslayer tried to keep pace, but was left paled in comparison to the strikes of Batman, each one glowing with animosity and raw strength. With another parry, Batman had disarmed the Kingslayer, flipping his sword into an outstretched hand. Now Batman continued his attack, wielding two blades. Their duel with blades quickly turned into a relentless assault decimating a shriveling defense. If Jaime moved like water, than Batman was an inferno, burning with rage and skill that overtook Jaime's salt sea until it lay an evaporated wasteland. Robbed of strength, the Kingslayer fell to his knees before Batman, who stood towering over his prey.
James heard Sarah's voice calling out to him to attack, but James could only sit upon his horse and watch. He had just witnessed a battle unlike any other. Jaime Lannister, a swordsman who most would deem a god with blade in hand, charged into battle to terrify all of Gotham, only to be met with an even greater force. The way Batman moved, how he predicted the Kingslayer's strikes before the fool's arm could so much as tense. How the caped combatant could tear a god like Jaime Lannister down to his knees, besting him with his own weapon of choice, it was awe inspiring. James sat in amazement, having witnessed a god, being torn down by nothing more than a man. No, not a man, James reminded himself. Batman is not a man, he is an ideal, one so powerful that a brazen, arrogant fool such as the Kingslayer could not but tremble in its wake.
Jaime sat on his knees before Batman, whose blades were now crossed at his neck. James heard the Kingslayer speak, "Can you do it I wonder, can you take my life? No…I see it in your eyes. You don't have the heart to kill me, or should I say, lack of one. You won't do it."
James dismounted and was running towards Batman now, without even realizing it. No…I can't let him do it. I must stop him. He continued running, but it felt as if he were running in sand, and his feet would bring him no closer to the scene no matter how hard his legs moved.
"No!" James shouted as he finally wrapped his hand around Batman's arm. Even through the leather he could feel how tense the helmeted stranger's muscles were. A small trickle of blood slithered down the blade as it pressed gently into Jaime's neck. "You can't do this," he ordered Batman.
"He attacked Eddard Stark! This pitiful excuse of a knight crippled him, and ran like a craven!" Batman roared.
"Ha, so that's what your issue with me is. The fact that I attacked warm old Ned? Would you like to hear how I killed his man? Long and slow, the blade cut into his eye like a knife through water," the Kingslayer taunted from his position on his knees.
"You can't kill him. It will only bring even more wrath down upon this city from Tywin. It will spell certain doom for Gotham. Let him live, let him carry his burden of shame for the rest of his life. You are better than this," James assured. Cold sweat trickled down his brow. In these next few moments, Batman could prove to James the breed of man James knew he truly was, or sign Gotham's death sentence.
After a few moments of tense delay, Batman finally sighed and let the swords drop slowly from Jaime's neck. "I vowed never to use swords again…"
The Kingslayer snickered, "Then I suppose we're both oath breakers, aren't we? I knew you didn't have it in you. Well, I suppose we know the type of man you are the-" Jaime was cut off by the butt of James' sword as he brought it down on the Kingslayer's head. "No, you know exactly the type of man he is, but you're just learning of me you miserable excuse of a man. It dishonors me as a knight that you can be counted among our ranks." He spit on the unconscious Lannister for good measure.
"Should we tie him?" He asked Batman as the vigilante appeared to regain his composure.
"Have some of your men bring him to your keep."
They left the great Jaime Lannister there, face down in the mud and blood on the street. As they rejoined Diana at the front of the assault, she nodded in approval. "I see you bested the arrogant fool with the blonde hair."
"Yes, how do you fare?" Batman asked as he dodged an axe and brought his knee to the man's teeth. "Better, my Amazons have pushed the cravens back into the entering streets of the city. I've heard word the other group we left have nearly won, and are closing towards the gate now. Ser Gordon, any word of your men at the wall?"
"Yes, I'm told they have retaken the gate. All defectors are in chains, but Nigma has evaded grasp," he called out as he cut another man down. "Where's-" James was about to ask before his answer presented itself.
Robin flew down onto one of the Lannister's shoulders, then brought one of his metal sticks down on his temple, before flying through to the air to land behind Batman.
"Report," Batman ordered as he flipped a man and set him on his back.
"That group's finished, the Amazons move to join us. They move too slow, so Catwoman and I ran ahead," he replied as he kicked off a wall and brought his knee into a man's nose.
Out of thin air, Selina Kyle dropped down, once again garbed in her Catwoman attire, brandishing whip in hand. With three cracks of it, three Lannister soldiers lay on the floor. The boy flipped to each, delivering a final blow to send them into unconsciousness.
"Fools stood little chance against a pack of wolves in woman's skin. Nor against me," she chimed as she brought a bladed heel into a soldier's thigh.
"We aren't out of the woods yet I fear," Sarah shouted, joining James' side.
James' men, along with the Amazons, were turning the tide now, pressing forward in greater numbers and intensity. The Lannisters slowly lost formation, as some began to flee.
James fell in line with the others, Batman and Robin to his left, Sarah, Princess Diana, and Selina Kyle to his right. "Alright, let us finish this. FORWARD!"
In unison they ran ahead into battle. Selina with her whip poised to lash out like a serpent's strike, Diana with sword and shield clasped in hand, Sarah and James each clutching a sword, Robin with his sticks in hand at the ready, and finally Batman, cape flying behind him like black wildfire, eyes glaring forward lighting their path to victory.
Harvey: Chapter 5
"What do you mean my son was taken?" Lord Tywin seethed with the rage of a forest fire behind a calm wall of ice. Harvey could see it though. Laying there behind the burning glare of rage was the smallest flicker of fear, soon to consume the man. With Tyrion kidnapped by Lady Stark, Jaime's capture would surely plunge the Lannister name into the mud.
The news was brought by a weary soldier who had been on the front lines in the twilight insurgency. He had a whip lash across his jaw, and a bleeding wound from his side. Tywin had sent nearly two thousand men into the city before Ser Gordon's managed to close off the walls. At least a thousand of Tywin's men lay dead, a few centuries managed to escape, but most remained prisoner or worse within Gotham's walls. With Jaime on such list, Lord Tywin's wrath would surely come down on Gotham in full force now.
"You are telling me Jaime fell in battle? You witnessed this with your own eyes?" Tywin pressed, his rage barely being held back.
The bloodied soldier nodded, "Aye m'lord, the Batman took up two swords, and bested Ser Jaime. The fighting prevented me from seeing the finishing blow, but I saw some of Gotham's watchmen chaining him up and hauling him off. That's when the men lost morale, and Ser Gordon and those armoured bitches of his pressed forward."
"And there were no signs of Nigma upon your departure?"
Nigma? Whose Nigma? An inside man? That would shed light on how he managed to secure two thousand men safely within Gotham's walls. The soldier stuttered, "N-no sign of him m'lord. Nor of the others he had paid off. They must have been found out and killed or arrested."
Tywin gave no sign of acceptance or appreciation to the man, only turned and walked away. The soldier sighed, and his body felt from its upright, tensed position as he limped off. Harvey stood at the center of the camp, seeing the men that stood ready for battle strip themselves of their armor now that their access to the city had been denied. Bloodied and bruised men were still returning, and all of them reeked of defeat.
Harvey sighed, and turned to return to his tent before hearing a cry out from one of the men. Then others took up the chorus, all shouting with panic and terror in their voice. Harvey turned, and saw the frightening spectacle slowly riding towards them.
A horse rode through the flood of Lannister men, the shores of crimson parting to allow its passage. Atop it rode a man, or the remnants of one. He still clung to life, if only just. A scroll of parchment was tethered around his neck, but this was not his most striking feature. The rider's face was painted white, and was paler than the moon's reflection upon a lake. His lips were cut at their corners, torn back to his cheeks in a brutal and bloody spectacle of maimed flesh. Blood seeped down his jaw, falling to his legs and the horse's back beneath him. The man hung limp in the saddle, and nearly collapsed to the ground when the men helped him from his mount.
Tywin strode back briskly, his face contorting in even more consuming rage when his eyes fell upon the maimed soldier. "What is the meaning of this?" The old lord demanded.
"I fear I don't know m'lord, he has yet to-"The soldier was interrupted as his comrade lying at death's door with the bloody smile strove to speak.
"M-m'lord….Joker, he…." The man's voice fell short as blood bubbled up from his jaws and he choked on it. He spat more blood to the floor, and resumed, "Joker…he killed them all. All my men…he said…he said…"
Tywin kneeled at his side and jerked the man up to match eyes as he growled. "Speak damn you! Tell me what happened."
The man gurgled blood once more. "He…is not a man. He does not walk among mortal men…as an equal. He is the Stranger in man's skin. His eyes…those eyes…" His voice fell faint once more.
The enraged lord brought the wounded soldier even closer. "Did you get it. Did you complete the task I assigned you, the damn reason I sent you after him?"
With another cough, the man's blood splattered onto Tywin's face. Tywin let the man drop to the floor in disdain as he wiped the offense from his face. "Those eyes…staring into a pit and seeing…your own death glare back at you…taunting you…welcoming you…" The man's eyes closed as his head fell limp against the dirt and mud beneath it.
"Clean this mess up," Tywin ordered as he returned to his tent in an enraged stride that would strike fear even into a lion that stood on four feet not two.
Harvey looked back to the bloody spectacle at his feet. The blood was pooling beneath the man's head now. His face is so pale…and his lips, parted in an ungodly smile. May whatever gods he prayed to feel pity on his soul now.
He left the scene and returned to his tent. He worried for his friend. Jaime was renowned for getting himself into troubling situations, aside from killing a king, but this was the first time he had gotten himself captured.
Jaime fought the Batman, and was bested no less. Whoever is beneath that mask, to be capable of a feat such as that, they surely cannot be any normal man. Despite Jaime's shortcomings and degrading title of Kingslayer, no one dared mock him publicly for his prowess with a sword could only be matched by Ser Barristan Selmy, or Barristan the Bold. If Jaime's renown for swordplay was immortal, then Barristan's was immaculate. The man had fought and killed some of the best swordsmen to grace this world since Aegon conquered Westoros three centuries ago.
If Batman can defeat Barristan in combat, then I will throw my coin into the ocean and take up whichever gods he worships. If Batman could defeat Jaime, then he may stand a chance at defeating Barristan the Bold, but age had proven Barristan's most dangerous foe. He had aged considerably, and was no longer the young swordsman he was decades past. In his prime, not even ten Batmen would best him.
The hour seemed to stretch an eternity. Jaime lay awake in his cot, straining for sleep to overtake him. He heard the bustling of metal and footsteps outside. With Jaime captured, Tywin would surely forgo rescuing his disfigured son in place of saving the only one he truly cared for. An Imp being kidnapped was one matter, the famed Ser Jaime Lannister, was another.
Just as sleep was finally courting Harvey, he heard men begin to cry out from outside his tent. He quickly jumped from his bed and ran outside his tent. Sure enough, Jaime Lannister was marching through camp, bloodied and bruised, but free. As he walked past Harvey, the golden haired knight gave him a nod, before looking back to the path before him towards his father's quarters three tents down.
Harvey followed his friend inside his father's tent, where the old lord had already stirred from his bed and stood in his night robes. "You've returned, how?"
Jaime smiled, reflecting pain in his eyes that probably only went noticed to Harvey. "Good to see you as well, father. I do not know, I was being carted off by two of Gordon's men when a cloaked stranger set upon them, subdued them, and saw me to the wall. Timing our ascent, he found me to an open place at the wall and let down a rope ladder. Once I hit ground I ran here as fast as I could for risk of being discovered."
"And you didn't see your rescuer's face? What if it was part of their plan? And this stranger was no more than Batman or one of the other masked freaks traipsing about behind those walls?"
"His face was hidden by the dark of night, and if it was a plan, it was a poor one. They still have our men, the ones left alive at least. What should we do?" Jaime asked, but he and Harvey both knew what they would do. Those men were of no nobility, if they numbered fewer than a few hundred, Tywin would surely cut them loose and continue on with his quest to reclaim his family's honor. Tywin's numbers were already growing beyond measure by the day, three hundred would prove nothing.
"Do you know how many men are in their possession?"
"At least four centuries, maybe five. The rest dead or as I've spied, found their way back safely to camp. The first to turn tail and run I'd bet. Now, if we go out and meet with them, hear their deman-"
Tywin raised a hand and cut his son off. "No, we leave at dawn. I cannot afford any more time here with this piss hole of a city. It will still be here after we've defeated the Northerners and reclaimed Tyrion."
"The Northerners?" Jaime questioned. This too was news to Harvey.
"Yes, I received word shortly after you left that the Northerners have rallied their forces. Ned Stark's boy plans to lead them. We will cut them off at the Neck should we move quickly enough, and see this little uprising pummeled into a bloody travesty that should set example if any others deem it fit to rise up against the crown," Tywin growled as he moved to his armor on the far side of the tent.
"Just after I left? Or this afternoon while we were preparing for the attack? Seizing Gotham would have been an awe inspiring first strike in your campaign against the Northmen would it not? Heh, sending your own son into the fire so that you may bask in the warmth. A true hero to the kingdom you shall be. "
Tywin thundered, "Were it not for your fool of a brother and whatever he may or may not have done in regards to the crippled Stark boy, and you mindlessly assaulting Ned Stark so rashly, all of this would have been avoided. Those men's lives in Gotham are in your hands, and your brother's, not mine. Now go to your tent and prepare to leave. We leave at dawn in two hours' time."
They left the seething lord to his preparations as Harvey and Jaime began to make way for their tents. Even now they could begin to see men taking down tents and putting out fires. "My father would only have stayed so long as I remained in their possession. He had all the men ready for departure at a moment's notice. The honor of House Lannister indeed. Well, at least his little campaign will restore my brother from captivity as well."
"Don't make this some brave quest for freeing your kin, Jaime. You and I know very well what it is, a quest for power, seeking submission from the North, and most of all, restoring the name of Lannister to former glory," Harvey stated from behind gritted teeth. They were in front of his tent now, Jaime's down two nearest the largest of the fires. Harvey suddenly noticed that Jaime's gaze had been upon the ground for most of their walk back from Tywin's tent.
His friend did not look up from the ground. "Perhaps to my father that is all it is. Goodbye my friend, I hope you continue to serve our king proudly," was all the fearsome Kingslayer said. There was a thin layer of regret, or sorrow in his voice, Harvey could not tell which for he heard it so rarely from him.
With that, Jaime Lannister left Harvey's side and returned to his own tent. Harvey tried to sleep that night, but failed. In part, due to the loud clamoring from outside, but mostly due to pain, at watching his friend fall lower and lower simply to please his father.
The majority of the Lannister forces were gone by day's end the next day. What once was a majestic, sweeping sea of long grass spreading before Gotham was now a muddied wasteland. A brown sinkhole with green shores of what grass remained.
Harvey was admitted passage by the City Watch after agreeing to strip bare and show he had no hidden weapons. It was not the most demeaning thing he had done in his life, but it was certainly not pleasant. Even a representative of the crown was treated with no more kindness than a common stranger or weary traveler. The charm of Gotham.
Shortly after passing beneath the walls and into the city, the familiar knot in his stomach tightened. His days of this horrid city from his youth were coming back. The way the city stank of corruption and filth. He rode his horse through the streets, remembering what used to be what from his childhood. He passed a whorehouse that was once a flower shop. A bakery that once was an overstock prison for the City Watch. All so different, and yet still the same.
When he finally arrived at the main City Watch keep, he saw the building was bustling with activity. Everywhere bronze and brown leather armored men were escorting chained men, or rounding up corpses, or tending to wounded. Harvey dismounted and walked up the steps into the keep. Inside, the smell of death was everywhere. Men lay dying in makeshift beds, wounded laid on the floor, clasping to life. Amidst the chaos Harvey spied the orange hair of Ser James Gordon moving from group to group.
"Ser Gordon," Harvey addressed as he caught up to the man. James turned around, and his eyes widened as they met Harvey's. "Harvey Dent? What in the name of the Seven are you doing here?"
"I was sent on a mission. Tywin was already at your gates when I arrived, and thusly prevented my entry. With his forces heading East, I was allowed passage at long last," Harvey told, hoping James wouldn't doubt his word or think him a spy.
"And why come here? What is your mission?"
Harvey smiled. "A matter best discussed in private, Ser."
James nodded and led Harvey up the stairs. Upon entering his chambers, he found two women hunched over James' desk. One was blond haired with a fair skin color. She wore green dressings with leather armor strapped to them. The flower of Highgarden stood on her breast. The other was a rather queer sight. Her hair was raven dark, and she wore crimson armor with golden trim. Her eyes were piercing, yet studious, and carefully looked Harvey over from head to foot.
"Are you sure we can trust this one?" The raven haired woman asked.
James nodded, "Aye, but he wishes to speak in private, so if you would ladies."
The two women left, and Harvey noticed a golden rope tied to the armored woman's hip. She wore such fine armor, something more gleaming than any armor even Tywin Lannister would wear.
James sat and poured himself some wine, he gestured to Harvey but Harvey refused. "So what is it you require, Harvey Dent, officer of the crown. If you could not already tell, I have myself nose deep in blood and death. A thousand of theirs, hundreds of ours. What brings the word of the crown to Gotham?" He questioned as he sighed and leaned back in his chair.
"The King did not send me, Ser." James set his drink down and pulled his position up to attention.
"Lord Eddard did…" James half asked, half deducted. Harvey nodded, "Yes, he wished for me to speak with Batman."
"There's a pair of them now. Batman and Robin, continued saviors of the city. Why do you wish to share words with them? Lord Stark has a special request?"
"No, Ser, he merely wished for me to see what danger the Lannister troops in Arkham Asylum posed to Gotham. He also made mention of its overseer, Hugo Strange, and another one of Lord Tywin's men, Edward Nigma."
James' face contorted in anger. "Nigma…that sleazy sack of shit. Paid off two dozen of my men to open the gates for Tywin's damn army to catch us unawares. I have them, and the more than four centuries of his men that we captured, chained up in our cells East of here. I'm running out of damn room, and trustworthy men. Five and a half centuries of my men, either directly or volunteers, were killed last night. Countless more wounded. Not to mention the innocent cityfolk that were caught up in last night's attack. So much bloodshed, and for what? On top of that, the damn Kingslayer escaped…"
Harvey was taken aback. "You think he fought his own way out?"
"I believed it so, the men guarding him are still unconscious in their beds. Why?" James sighed.
"Ser Jaime walked into the camp early this morning, claiming a man in a dark cloak set him free."
"Did he say what the figure looked like? Answer me lad!" James stood urgently, his eyes glaring into Harvey's.
"No, he did not catch his face. It surely was not Batman or Ser Jaime would have turned sword on his rescuer the instant he was freed." Harvey wished he had more answers for James, but sadly he was more in the dark on this whole matter than even James was.
The battle weary leader of the City Watch collapsed back into his chair. He rubbed his brow, the stress of all that had transpired clear on his face. "Please, do not refer to the Kingslayer as Ser Jaime in my presence."
"Apologies Ser, I was merely titling him with the position of knight that he has earned," Harvey replied.
James chuckled, "A knight. What a wondrous thing it is. A man fabled of honor, duty, loyalty. The Kingslayer has no such things. Do you know what he had done before my men and I set upon him? Before Batman stopped him in his tracks? He had killed at least a dozen volunteered men, simply serving to protect their city. Before that, he had killed women, old men, those caught by surprise in the suddenness of their attack. So tell me Officer Dent, where is the honor in that?" Harvey's eyes didn't leave the floor. "If you wish to speak with Batman, so be it. He'll be meeting me tonight."
Harvey found an inn to stay at. He would have sought out his old friend, the new Lord of Gotham, but with his current mood and their long time apart he would be unfavorable company. He laid in his bed until the appointed hour, then dressed himself in his dark blue tunic, the balance of House Dent on its breast, and rode out to the keep.
Gotham's night air felt crisper than that of King's Landing. It was a cold embrace for an evenly cold city. The breeze rushing past the turret was even more chilling. There they stood, Ser James Gordon of Gotham's City Watch, and Harvey Dent, Officer of the King, waiting to meet a man dressed as a bat. No words were said, just silent anticipation.
Harvey was about to finally give in and retire for the night when he heard the sound of feet against stone. Then, he saw a dark shadow plunge over the turret wall to stand beside them.
"Any word?" James asked him.
"None, Nigma vanished without a trace, but I'll find him," Batman replied in a growling voice.
"Uh, we'll find him," the young, vibrantly colored boy titling himself Robin called out as he flipped over the wall. He kneeled upon the shoulder high wall as Batman stood beside it. It was so dark that Harvey could barely make out where his helm ended and the skin began, but the whites of his eyes stood out like the moon against the night sky.
"Batman, Harvey Dent, Officer of the crown. He requested an audience," James stated as he nodded his head towards Harvey.
"You seem to be a hard man to reach. What does Ser Gordon do when he has need to speak with you? Light a giant torch in the sky?"
James chuckled, "Not a bad idea."
"Say what you have to say Officer Dent," Batman coolly ordered.
"Well, funnily enough, Lord Eddard Stark sent me here to seek out whether you judged Edward Nigma and Hugo Strange as threats to your city. But from what I understand, Nigma has already confirmed such fears."
James sighed, "Well, Nigma's gone to ground. Strange and the other Lannister men under his order are all held up behind their walls and bridge claiming to hold no favor with their lord. Seeing the plight of Gotham has opened their eyes to what truly must be done, and were claimed they were unaware of Lord Tywin's plans. It is a headache to deal with, so I'll let them sit tight in there while we seek out Nigma."
"You're here under Lord Stark's orders? Where were you the night he was attacked?" Batman questioned.
Very to the point this one is. "In my home, supping with my wife. No one could have foreseen what Jaime would have done when he learned of Tyrion's abduction." Harvey had grown used to defending his friend, but he mustn't seem in bed with the Lannisters in this city or else he would never leave with his head.
"Jaime. You two are friends are you not?" Batman continued.
Proceed with care Harvey… "Yes, I consider him a friend. Don't mistake such as agreeing with his actions, he acts recklessly and without thought, seeking to appease his father, but he still has good in him."
"Good? Heh, yes what a wealth of good he's done in this world," James jested.
Killing the Mad King saved countless lives, and yet you stand and mock him as if he had assisted in the genocide. "I am not here to debate the actions of a knight of the Kingsguard. But you should be warned that they march for the Neck."
"The Neck? What for?" The boy chirped from beside his master's dark figure.
"To march against the North. The army that Ned Stark's son has gathered, am I correct?" Batman stated as if it were common knowledge.
"Y-yes…how did you?"
"Tywin could only afford to lay siege to our city for so long before Tyrion's capture would bring him away. Our city may have shamed him, but the city was nothing in comparison to one of his own blood being abducted by a Northerner, and a woman no less. He sought to use his victory and spoils here to help spur fear and renown across the kingdom before his fated confrontation against the North. With Lord Stark's wounding at the hands of the Kingslayer, the Northerners would surely call for blood. With Stark's fifteen year old boy sitting in his place as lord until his return, the boy would be pressured into taking up arms. Now Tywin marches without Gotham under his shadow, and with Tyrion in the Vale with Lady Catelyn and her sister. It's sound tactical judgment, he just didn't expect to fail in his invasion of Gotham," Batman finished, his figure remaining as still as it was when he first arrived.
Astonishing. Deducing Lord Tywin's entire plan and the upcoming strife between North and South with nothing but instinct and mental prowess. I can believe this is the man that defeated Jaime with such ease.
Harvey stood basking in the wave of awe that had just rushed over him. Suddenly he was not standing before some fool dressed as a bat, he was standing in the presence of the Batman, the man that had thwarted Lord Tywin, shamed Jaime Lannister, and struck fear into the heart of all of Westoros. I am standing before a man that has not only changed Gotham, but Westoros as well. Even in the North there is not a boy who does not have whispers of the legend of Batman on their tongue, or so has been reported.
"So the North and the South are at war?" Robin asked.
"No, it's far worse than that lad, the North will be at war with the Lannisters," James corrected.
Note: So Tywin fails, Batman kicks Jaime's ass, and all is well in the world of Gotham! I have to add that Batman/Jaime fight was something I've been planning since starting the story and was great to finally write. Obviously going forward, spoiler alert for the remainder of book 1/season 1. Next week continues the fallout from Tywin's attack in Gotham and a new character is introduced! Starting next week is the steady buildup to the end of book 1, featuring plenty of new faces, many returning faces, and other stuff!