#26: When One Door Closes… (Burchette / B)

Everything in young Tim Drake’s life had led up to this moment; a moment that for him, was now happening in slow motion. He had turned the handle to a door that would cease the existence of his world as he knew it, and begin a course that he would have never expected. But like many paths of true heroes, the road always seems to start with tragedy.

When Tim opened the door, in search of his father, and answers, the last thing he expected was the sound of gunfire as the man he recognized from the news articles as Two-Face unloaded his weapon into him.

There was a crashing of glass at the same time as Batman came careening into the room, a batarang being thrown in the direction of Harvey Dent’s gun. It struck its target, but not before four rounds left the chamber and pierced through the jacket of the teenage boy, who let out a cry of pain as the impact flung him back out into the hall. He struck the wall outside of Boss Maroni’s office and slid to the floor.

“Harvey! NO!” Batman cried in horror as he tackled his one time friend. The gun went flying from the villain’s hand.

At the same moment that the bullets had struck Tim, three more were piercing the flesh of Jack Drake as he, too, had made a dive for the deformed Dent. The bullets from the gun of Black Mask and Jack’s one time partner, Danny Tate, stopped him from reaching his goal. His body spun around as he felt the lead rip into it. His cry was not due to the piercing pain that went through his body, but rather for the sudden loss that now lay on the floor outside the office.

Harvey Dent brought his elbow back, feeling it connect onto Batman’s jaw. There was a crunching sound, and Two-Face grinned with satisfaction as he saw a tooth fall to the floor. Causing Batman pain, he suddenly realized, was euphoric on a level he hadn’t felt since before he had been scarred. He liked it!

Batman stumbled backward, losing the grip he had on Harvey’s arm. This man in front of him, the one who had just smashed his teeth in, who had just murdered a child, was the man he had once called friend. He heard the other shots and watched in horror as Jack Drake spun around from the impact, the DEO agent’s body also crumbling to the ground.

Death! It was all around him again, no… still. His parents… Jason… Julie… even Harvey. It just kept going, a malignancy that seemed to surround him at all times.

“This stops now, Harvey,” he growled as he caught himself on the corner of the desk and turned back to his one time friend.

“You’re losing it, Batman,” Two-Face exclaimed with a snarl. “Or perhaps the irony is lost on you. Two bodies lying on the ground, both probably dying as we fight, and you’d rather take me down than save their lives? Now that says a lot about how that brain of yours ticks - doesn’t it.”

The cowled hero hesitated, struck by the words. Two-Face was right. Damn him! There wasn’t time to do both. Unless…

He went for the batarang in his belt, planning on striking Harvey with it as he made his way to Tim, but he had barely gotten it out of the compartment in his belt when another shot rang out and the bullet removed the metal weapon from his hand. He turned to see Black Mask standing there, his gun aimed at Bruce’s face.

“Oh, how I’ve been waiting for this day,” Roman said in his hollow voice.

“NO!” Harvey screamed as he dove forward and tackled Black Mask as the gun went off.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?!” Mask screamed.

“If Batman dies, it’s by my hands and mine alone.”

“Look what he did to me,” Black Mask was nearly howling his words.

Two-Face stepped in front of him, the same amount of rage showing in his face. “And look what he did to me!”

“You idiot, your wife did that to you.”

“Why you son of a…” He threw a punch that landed squarely at Roman’s wooden-faced jaw.

Batman could have overcome the villains at that point, as they argued amongst themselves, but that would have to wait. Saving innocent lives had to come first, and was really the only thing that mattered; that was a lesson he’d learned in Crime Alley.

Meanwhile, the DEO traitor, Danny Tate, watched the new development with growing horror, but he was pulled away from his bosses’ sudden and vicious attack on each other as the sound of a helicopter loomed closer from outside of the building.

“Boss, they found us!” Tate screamed, trying to break the two men apart.

Black Mask was the first to realize that sirens could be heard from below, and the helicopter from above. Harvey soon followed in this realization and the three of them headed for a secret room. It was a room that Boss Maroni had created for an emergency getaway; just like the one they needed now.

Harvey glanced back for one second to see his nemesis making his way towards Jack Drake. He knew that the time was coming, very soon, when he would finally have to make the decision whether to eliminate the Dark Knight once and for all. He was glad that no one had seen the look on his face in that second… because he couldn’t have hid the doubt if he had tried.

As the Gotham City Police Department and agents of the DEO converged on the building that was once home to Boss Maroni, Batman was checking the pulse of Jack Drake, who lay bleeding from four gunshot wounds in his chest and stomach. The Dark Knight had removed his cape and was using it to try and stop the bleeding, but the blood was pouring out, and it was dark. It was obvious that a main artery had been pierced. There wasn’t much hope.

He turned to check on Tim, fearing the worst, and was surprised at what he saw. The boy was walking toward him, not a drop of blood anywhere on his shirt. He could see where the bullets had made the holes in the fabric, but the kid seemed to be unharmed; although the look on his face showed that it was only the physical damage he was escaping.

“Dad?” he whispered. “Oh, no…”

Jack opened his eyes, as if his son’s voice had woken him. He looked at his son, then at Batman. The grim look on the defender’s face told him what he already knew. He could feel himself slipping away.

“Tim, come here,” he whispered. When his son knelt down he took the boy’s hand. “Don’t be afraid. It happens to everyone. There’s not much time and I need to tell you the truth. You deserve that much.” He coughed then, blood bubbling up from his mouth. Batman turned him on his side so he wouldn’t choke.

“Your mother and I kept this from you because we never wanted you to worry. I actually worked for the government, son. I was FBI for many years. I helped take down some pretty big criminals.”

“Dad… save your strength…”

His father shook his head as another coughing fit racked his body, “Time’s almost up, son. You need to know the truth… you deserve to. When we lived in Hub City, I was investigating a mob boss and his connection with a D.A. from Las Vegas. We were closing in on him too, when I got the warning. I was told to drop the investigation or else you and your mom would be harmed. I was going to get off the case, couldn’t let anything happen to either of you… You were my… everything.” Another coughing fit stopped him for a second and he began to gasp for breath. When he spoke again, his voice had a distinct wheeze to it.

“Your mother wouldn’t let me. She knew how important it was to me… how much I loved my job. God, I never thought she would be hurt… I’m sorry son. The robbery in the store was a set up, a distraction. We had a couple of men watching her, but when the store was robbed, they went to work. Your mom hid in the back of the market… but he had hired an assassin. He had gotten to her anyway. It was all my fault.”

The tears were now pouring down Tim’s face as he watched the color begin to drain from his father. He couldn’t lose both of his parents… not like this… he was too young!

“Who?” Batman asked, speaking for the first time. “Who put out the hit on your wife, Jack?”

“His name was … Bertinelli – Vito Bertinelli.”

Bruce’s blood ran cold. Bertinelli did have ties to Hub, as well as Gotham; however, Las Vegas was where he had run most of his operation from. He had learned the whole story from Barbara Gordon. How D.A. Brennen had been on the take from both Vito and Anthony Scarapelli.

Batman could hear the faint sound of the elevator beginning to move. The police were coming; he didn’t have much time left.

“Jack, do you know who Bertinelli hired? Do you know who murdered your wife?”

His eyes were beginning to close as he nodded. “Yes. It’s the reason I left the FBI and joined the DEO… hoping that I would one day catch him… make him pay…”

“Who, Dad?” Tim asked through clenched teeth.

Jack’s eyes opened wide for a moment and he grasped his son’s arm with his other hand. “Be good, son. Your mom and I… we’re so proud… proud of…”

He was gone.

Black Mask and Two-Face had made it out through the escape tunnel that Boss Maroni had had installed many years ago. When they reached the other side, they agreed to split up and meet back at Roman’s old home, where the False Face Gang were waiting for them. They knew they didn’t have much time before the authorities would figure out to check there, but they had to regroup.

As Black Mask and Danny Tate took their own mode of transportation, Two-Face headed down a back alley and into a side street, where he spotted a gentleman stumbling to his car; obviously intoxicated.

“Do you really think you should be driving,” he asked as he approached the man.

The man’s eyes bulged in horror as he saw the disfigured face of the villain coming towards him. “I do now,” he said, slurring his words, as he tried to pull out his set of keys.

“Well, let’s see what your options are,” Harvey said as he drew the coin from his pocket and flipped it into the air. It landed in his palm… the scratched side up. “Sorry, my friend, but you have been found wanting.” He pulled his gun and shot the man dead.

He grabbed the man’s keys and got into the car. Just as he turned the ignition on, there was a loud crash and the car shook as a pair of black boots landed on the hood of the automobile.

“Give it up, Harvey!” Batman shouted as one of the boots came crashing through the windshield.

“Not going to happen, you freak,” Two-Face screamed as he threw the car into drive, feeling it jerk forward as he hit the gas.

He grinned with satisfaction as he saw, and heard, his enemy go flying onto the roof of the car. Taking his eyes off the front of the road for just a second to watch Batman’s body go flying into the car behind him, he was confused when it did not play out that way.

“What the hell…?”

It was all he got out as the fist came crashing through the driver’s-side window and struck him in the side of the face. Harvey cried in both pain and anger as the car veered to the left and struck the back end of a parked delivery truck. As the air bag deployed, he was able to see Batman flying through the air, and then striking the back panel of the truck.

Two-Face sat there for a moment as he felt the trickle of warm blood pouring down the maimed side of his face. He was shaky, but conscious. How did The Bat even know where he was?!

He tried his door and found that it opened. Clawing his way around the air bag, he was able to fall out of the car and onto the deserted street. He could hear the helicopters still in the distance, but at the moment, he was safe.

Harvey got to his feet slowly and stumbled towards the truck. He found Batman lying on his back, conscious but stunned. Dent, who was once nicknamed Apollo for his good looks, stared down at his foe with a mixture of contempt and pity. He pulled his gun out and placed it on Batman’s forehead.

“It’s got to be done. Wish I could tell you I was sorry, but I don’t think I am.”

“It’s your choice, Harvey.”

Two-Face hesitated. “No. None of this has ever been my choice. Free will is not an option in this world, Batman. Fate dishes out exactly what it wants us to have, and there is nothing… nothing we can do to stop it. We don’t make our bed; it’s already been made for us. No matter what choice we think we’re making, it’s already preordained.”

“You don’t really believe that, Harvey. If you pull that trigger, it was your choice and your choice alone. It’s called free will, Harvey, and it’s been yours all along.”

“NO! AND STOP CALLING ME HARVEY!” His eyes were blazing with hatred now. “I’m Two-Face! TWO-FACE! I’m the man who is finally going to bring this city to its knees. It’s what fate has in store for me.”

“Then kill me… Two-Face; pull that trigger and prove me right. No one is whispering in your ear to do it. It’s just you and me. There’s nothing random about this. Fate isn’t something tangible that is squeezing the trigger for you.”

“Don’t do it, Harvey!” The voice of Jim Gordon echoed down the empty street.

“How did you know where we were?” Harvey asked, never taking his attention away from Batman, his finger still gently squeezing on the trigger. He sounded almost amused at the fact that they had been found.

“I told him,” Batman said. “When we tussled earlier, I placed a bug on you. While we’ve been talking, I was able to contact Jim’s cell phone with my own, in my belt. I knew he would trace it.”

“You came alone?” Harvey asked his old friend.

Jim Gordon took a few steps closer, his gun drawn and aimed right at Harvey Dent’s right temple. “Yeah, alone. Everyone else is going after your partner. I kind of thought this should stay between the three of us. Batman is right, you know. You can still stop this. We can get you help, Harvey. We know what you’ve been through, but we also know all the good you’ve done. The three of us, Harvey; the three of us were unbeatable for a while. That part of you hasn’t left; you’ve just got to find it again, and we can help you.”

“You’re both damned fools!” Harvey spat as he continued to glare at Batman. “We accomplished nothing! This city is still a cesspool of slime and filth and lunatics. We were just kidding ourselves. None of us will ever be able to turn this town around.”

Jim could see that Harvey’s hand was beginning to shake; in his experience, that was not a good sign. He cocked his gun.

“Wait!” Batman said, continuing to lie on the ground. “If this is all fate, Harvey, then where is your coin? If you just shoot me, or die trying, then you have made the choice. But the coin… the coin will tell you what fate wants you to do… won’t it?”

Two-Face seemed to consider this for a moment, then, still holding his gun with his right hand, he reached into his pocket with the left and brought the coin out. He clenched it tight for a moment, then tossed it in the air, snatching it without even looking as it came back down. He flipped it over onto his right arm and glanced down at it.

The three of them were frozen for a moment, Batman staring defiantly up at his one time friend as Jim held his gun firmly. Then, without warning, Two-Face let out a small sigh and stepped away from Batman, tossing the gun down into the street.

As Batman got up, Gordon walked up, pulling out his handcuffs and pushing Harvey onto the side of the truck as he pulled his one time friend’s arms behind him and cuffed him.

“You alright?”

Batman nodded before turning to Dent. “We’re going to get you the help you need, Harvey.”

The man looked from the commissioner to the masked crusader, his face clouding over. “I don’t need help. It’s you two that need help. I’ve finally seen this city for what it truly is and have embraced it. If the two of you don’t do that, it’s going to be the death of you. Just a friendly tip from an old friend.”

Gordon shook his head sadly as he led the man to the wagon that was waiting for him, and eventually to Arkham; while Batman fired his line and disappeared into the night.

The door to the room opened and Chloe Sullivan walked in with a grim look on her face. Alfred stood up, already knowing that something had gone terribly wrong.

“What is it?” he asked.

“Two-Face is in custody, but Black Mask has disappeared off the radar. Reports are that he managed to leave town, but we can’t confirm that. There’s not much else The DEO can do here, if Mask has skipped out. Unfortunately, I can’t promise that you’re out of danger, either, but we’re not going to hold you anymore.”

“I see. I assure you, I can take care of myself, but I thank you for your concern. Now, what are you not telling me?”

Chloe drew her fingers through her hair. “The man who saved your life... Jack Drake... he didn’t make it. He was gunned down by Mask. My department is pretty shaken up by the whole thing.”

“I’m so sorry,” Alfred said, sincerely. His first thought, however, was of young Tim. What would become of him?

“I want to thank you for your cooperation,” Chloe continued. “You’re a good man, and I’m sure you’re a good agent as well. MI5 is lucky to have you.”

“Yes… thank you,” he murmured, lost in his own thoughts as he headed for the door.

“Oh, Mr. Pennyworth,” she said, stopping him, “I almost forgot. You still have one question left. What were you going to ask me?”

Alfred’s eyebrow arched. He looked around to make sure nobody was near the door before he spoke. “Does anyone else in your organization know you’re pregnant, yet?”

Chloe’s eye’s widened and her jaw dropped. “Pregnant? I’m… but… how did you know?”
“My dear lady, I have been around for quite a while now. I can usually tell when a young lady is expecting. They tend to brush their hands against their stomach, usually without even realizing that they’re doing it. If you are trying to keep it a secret for a while longer, I suggest you might want to keep that in mind.”

“I… I will. Thank you, Mr. Pennyworth.”

“Please, call me Alfred.”

“Alfred. You can call me Chloe.”

“It was a pleasure to make your acquaintance Miss Chloe,” he said as he tipped his hat to her and walked out of the room, leaving her speechless.

Epilogue Two

“The smell kept getting worse, until finally I used the master key to let myself in. I never expected what I found,” the supervisor of the broken down apartment building said as he ushered Detectives Montoya and Allen into the apartment.

The smell that the super was talking about hit them like a brick, and Renee gagged as she covered her mouth. The detectives continued into the apartment, and didn’t need to look far to see where the offensive odor was coming from.

“Well, looks like we finally found Danny Tate,” Crispus Allen said as they gazed upon the back of the body that was swinging from a meat hook that had been placed in the center of the living room.

They walked around the hanging corpse and looked up at its face.

“Oh #$@%!” Crispus exclaimed.

Renee gasped. “Is that what I think it is?”

“Yeah… he’s back…” Detective Allen said as he looked at the grinning and decomposing corpse of Danny Tate. “We need to let Commissioner Gordon know, ASAP!”

The Beginning…[/b]