"...if you're just joining us, we've recieved a late breaking development on the ensuing attack on the Gotham City Courthouse that errupted just moments ago. Witnesses describe what can only be said as a force of nature gone terribly wrong to have overtaken the landmark structure, sealing the pedestrians inside. City officials have yet to comment, though it has just been revealed that the Courthouse has been actually overtaken by a combination of thick ice and live plant vines. Though police involvement has been requested by numerous pedestrians in the surrounding neighborhoods, few officers seem to be on hand at this time. There has been no official word on what has caused the attack... however, many believe this to be the work of the recently escaped criminals Victor Fries and Pamlea Isley, better known as the superhuman criminals 'Mr. Freeze' and 'Poison Ivy'. Both convicts were said to have fled care at the Arkham Rehabilitational Institute just two months prior, though again, we have yet to confirm either one's involvement. We go now to Vesper Fairchild, who's live on the scene..."
Two-Face's hands clasped together, as he looked upon the television screen with satisfaction. Both halves of his mind took in the news of their success with the utmost expectation, yet they still couldn't contain their shared pleasure out of watching Gotham slowly fall apart.
Two months ago, Harvey had been nothing. He had lost his wife, and avenged her death. Two-Face had been born... yet, in a twisted sense of irony, he himself was now running from the very law that he once represented. It seemed as if, with Harvey Dent truly dead, Two-Face existed to no purpose. But that was when he began to think of all of the people that had betrayed him. Cobblepot, for sending the dogs upon him, as if he were nothing but a common crook. Rachel, for taking his position as District Attorney, and never once extending her hand to help him find his way again. But then again, compared to the last, those betrayls were nothing of concequence. It was Batman who had to pay for ruining Harvey Dent. For exposing him as some twisted killer, rather than a man looking to avenge what was rightfully his to honor.
It had been ludricrous. To think that he had once been one of the city's most respected officials, only to have the life he knew taken from him by such cruel circumstance. He couldn't let it stand. And luckily for him... Two-Face wouldn't, either. So all at once, Harvey Dent once again found a purpose. To avenge those who crossed him, and turn Gotham into his own domain of personal justice. It would be the ultimate revenge against all three parties he blamed, but he knew it would get to Batman most. He risked his life, night after night, trying to make the city a better place. Now, Two-Face would make it the ideal city, and usurp the Dark Knight at every corner... and this was just the way to do it. With something the city and it's protector recognized all too well: Anarchy.
Looking to his left, Two-Face saw the absolute horror on Oswald Cobblepot's face, as he found himself staring down the barrel of a gun that Two-Face himself was clenching onto tightly. It made Harvey smile, in realization that he had finally gotten under Cobblepot's skin. Just another victory to add onto the pile.
"What's the matter, Ozzie?", Harvey asked, sardonically.
"I'm really doing you a favor with all of this. Gotham was a reall mess, under your tutilage. At least this way, things are finally getting accomplished."
Oswald was silent. He didn't know whether to speak freely or not, given his current circumstance. But eventually, as Two-Face stared him down, he found the words that were just barely hanging off of his tongue.
"You haven't a chance in hell, Harvey."
Harvey raised his eyebrow.
"Beg your pardon?"
"You heard what I told you.", Oswald shot back, angrily.
"You're deluded. Little more than an anarchist hoping to bring me to my knees because you think I, somehow, turned you into what you are. But honestly, old friend, what could possibly possess you to actually think you're to get away with this?"
Instantly, to Oswald's shock, Two-Face lunged out of the chair, grabbing Oswald by the jacket and holding him close to his scarred features, in order to send him quivering again.
"Are you blind, you pudgy little dwarf?!", Two-Face shouted, indicating the television.
"Take a look at that report! We've already won, you upper class piece of s***! It's only a matter of time!"
Oswald stared Harvey dead in the face, skeptical.
"If you truly believe that, you're in far over your head... or heads, as it were, you misrable miscrient.", He hatefully spouted, much to Two-Face's anger.
"Yes, it will be only a matter of time. Before the police arrive, take you down, and lock you up with the rest of your little compadres. There's no stopping it. Even if you end my life, you're to pay for it with your own."
Two-Face growled, ready to strangle the Mayor until his eyes bled out his innards. But just as he was about to throw a punch, Harvey regained control, as Two-Face's growl turned into a light chuckle from the District Attorney.
"You really think you know everything, don't you? Same old Ozzie...", Harvey scoffed, before letting go of Cobblepot, and pointing the gun at him.
"Your 'police', as it were, won't be arriving anytime soon. The Courthouse attack wasn't all that I have in store. If you think you've got friends in high places... you clearly haven't met mine."
Oswald's eyes widened.
"Blackgate... You're the reason that-"
"Exactly.", Harvey announced, proudly.
"I sent two of my closest pals down there just before this mess started. Maybe you're familiar with, oh, I don't know... Jonathan Crane? I heard he was quite the big deal, in recent years. And not to mention Gotham's leading crime boss in the making, a man who goes by the name of Black Mask. Maybe you've heard of him, aswell?"
Composing himself, Oswald straighted his tie.
"So you've organized the freak brigade. Be that as it may, Harvey, you won't stand a chance with-"
"Oh, you didn't let me finish.", Harvey cut off, covering Oswald's mouth with his gloved hand.
"See, it's a funny thing about your little cub scout troup you call a police station. Because as I recall, they recently put a madman behind bars. The one responsible for the Robinson Park massacre, maybe?"
Silence filled the air. But the shock was all too clear on Cobblepot's face.
"That's right, Ozzie. All of those countless 'innocents', as you called them? The Joker was just the man who pulled the trigger. But behind every great criminal comes a cunning mind... or in this case, two.", He continued.
"The truth is, while I did orchestrate his little massacre... the clown was fully capable of keeping the cops busy for far longer than he did, before his capture. But, well, as he put it... it was 'all, part of the plan'. And as easily as he was caught, he's going to escape, as he was instructed, giving all your boys in blue more than a handful. Which leaves you in a bit of a bind, doesn't it?"
"M... My god, Harvey. What have you become?", Cobblepot asked, astonished.
"Everything that society has made me.", Harvey admitted.
"I'm a sinner. I'm a saint. I'm black, I'm white. I'm good, I'm evil. I'm everything that Gotham City is and forever will be. Two-Faced."
"But those people... all of those lives? You're just going to waste them all?"
Harvey grinned.
"That's another thing that's so gloriously fitting about all of this, Ozzie. I'm not going to do a damn thing. Infact, aside from a few measily battery and breaking and entering charges for what I did tonight, I'm really not going to be responsible for all of this, in the end. They are. They'll do all the work, they'll get all the blame, and I'll plead victim to the whole thing. Eventually I'll get plastic surgery... rejoin society, as I see fit. And by the time anyone's the wiser, I'll have the whole city in my pocket... and you with it, old friend."
"You're out of your mind, if you think for one second that I'll let you-"
"Oh, you'll let me. Infact, you'll practically hand me the key to the city, Mayor.", Harvey mocked, with a sneer.
"Otherwise, well... I'm afraid that I may have to let loose with certain secrets about the city's prestigious, law abiding, squeaky clean leader."
Oswald raised an eyebrow.
"What the hell are you talking about?"
Harvey stared, for a moment, before tossing his silver dollar coin into the air.
"And you call me deluded.", He began.
"You see, when you're on the run on Gotham's streets, you tend to earn new friends. New social circles, willing to take you in and teach you the tools of the trade, so to speak. In this case, I met them all. Drug dealers, pushers, users, and the like. But a rather bizarre shipment actually came to my attention, a few month back. Forty seven kilos of heroin, being shipped in, ironically enough..."
Two-Face looked to the side of the room, at an umbrella rack that Oswald had kept close by. Even then, the sweat was beading down Cobblepot's brow.
"...umbrellas.", He finished, with a smirk, before looking back at Oswald.
"Funny, Ozzie. I always knew you looked the part of a bird. Hell, you never could stop talking about your stuffed maltese falcons. But you can imagine my surprise when I finally realized who, exactly, this drug kingpin that they called 'The Penguin' really was."
Oswald fell silent, again, mentally cursing himself for ever leaving it that obvious. Now, Harvey knew the truth. And with his psychotic mind, it wouldn't take much to provoke him to squeal to the public.
"You know, I think we finally understand eachother!", Harvey exclaimed, sitting back in the Mayor's chair and throwing his feet upon the desk, relaxed.
"Even if you survive the night... which, by the way, is looking less and less likely... you're not completely off the hook. Not by a longshot. It's your life, your career, and your freedom... all on the line, tonight."
The coin finally fell from the ceiling, as Harvey reached out, and caught it.
"We're the same now, Ozzie.", He grinned, maliciously.
"Blackmailed. Betrayed. And split, right down the center."
"Hey, who's the new guy?"
Lieutenant Michael Akins simply stared, as he watched a nameless, faceless officer walk calmly down the west hallway of Gotham Central's evidence division. Sergeant Vincent Del Arrazzio looked up from his paperwork, for a brief moment, only eyeing the officer for a second, before turning back to his work. He was obviously less concerned with it then Akins was. But Michael never stopped staring, because in the past month or so, he had inadvertendly met every member of the Gotham City Police Department, while working his seemingly simple assignments day in and day out. But the guy that had just walked past him was unrecognisable to Lieutenant Akins, both in body language and physical appearance.
"There's no new guy.", Del Arrazzio assured him, flipping through a casebook.
"You sure about that, Vince?", Akins asked, with a sneer, as the unnamed officer opened the lock of one of the doors, and walked into the supply room.
"Cause from where I'm standing, some rookie just walked into a place very much on the 'off limit' variety."
"Please. What isn't off limits, anymore?", Del Arrazzio suggested, bitterly.
"Loeb's running this place like we're here own little toy soldiers. Even the Captain was just told to 'piss off'."
"Captain?", Akins asked.
"I was just on my way to see him. He isn't busy, is-"
"Yeah, he is. And no offense, but...", He began, looking towards Gordon's office door.
"With the way the Commisioner screwed him over just now, I doubt he's gonna want any visitors. At least for awhile."
Akins sighed, placing a folder he was holding on his desk.
"Well, that was a good waste of a forty minute drive."
"Hey, serves you right, living in a hellhole like the Narrows.", Arrazzio cut off.
"You couldn't pay me to live there, much less make the effort of the drive."
"What can I say? Wife insists. She'd rather be cut off from the freaks then get away from the poverty.", Akins shrugged.
"Do me a favor, will you? If Gordon leaves his office, tell him he can pick up the file he needed off of my desk."
"Sure, sure...", He nodded, only halfway paying attention, still buried in his case file.
Taking one last look back, in concern, Akins finally let it go, and walked towards Loeb's office, dreading every step he took that made him come closer to it. With any luck, he'd be dimissed quickly, in favor of some other costumed nut that was being brought in for questioning.
It was only ironic that, in that moment, the entire office would be put on it's feet, by the startling exclamation that would come next, from the holding cell halls.
"HE'S LOOSE! HE'S LOOSE! MOTHER OF GOD!"
Del Arrazzio, Akins, Montoya, Driver, and every other officer in the station collectively turned, as the door bursted open, revealing an out of breath Officer Dixon. Blood was trickling down his forehead, and he was only wearing his boxer shorts, and an undershirt. But the expression on his face told the entire story of a man who had faced the attack of a lunatic, as he collasped into Driver's arms, just as the Detective rushed up to him.
"Whoah, whoah! Take it easy, rookie...", Driver stated, uneasily, trying to help Dixon back to his feet.
"Now just slow down, and tell us what-"
"No, no! You don't understand!", Dixon exclaimed, grabbing the collar of Driver's shirt. "He's loose! The Joker... he's..."
In that moment, every officer turned, hearing a loud noise come from the elevator shaft, just across the room. Without thought, Del Arrazzio leaped from his seat, hand on his holster, as he produced his semi-automatic revolver. Dixon had said just enough to send a shockwave of panick within the room, but Vincent wasn't about to see that maniac go on the streets for a second time.
Seeing Arrazzio take to his weapon, Montoya did the same, as Akins and Driver loaded their's. Given that Vince was the the most experienced of the four of them, he instantly took charge, looking towards the four with an authoritive glare.
"Driver, you and Montoya head to the basement. Try to cut him off if he tries to go underground. Akins, you're with me. We're heading up to the top floor. If he's in the shaft, we're bringing the bastard in."
The three officers nodded, as Arrazzio clicked his weapon, a dreadful look etched upon his face.
"God willing, the Commisioner doesn't find out about this."
"...pocket full of posey. Ashes... ashes... they all, fall down..."
The Scarecrow paused, in his merry walk, and looked outside the prison walls, as several free inmates began to cause a growing chaos behind him. Black Mask had gone to deal with some of the other guards, as he offered to stay behind, and look over the courtyard of Blackgate Prison.
The police had arrived just below, as he was told that some would. And thankfully, he had come prepared for such an event. Looking back, Doctor Crane viewed the madness before him, as several inmates began to strongarm random guards, and fend off gunfire, some of which used their shackles to strangle their would-be recaptors.
Crane clenched his hands together, in delight, as his eyes peered down to his palms. A green powder had appeared in his gloves, upon opening them back up, and this was the perfect opprotunity to use it. With a grin wretched upon his lips, Crane once again ceased to exist, as the chemist within him was replaced by the madman lurking just beneath the surface.
The Scarecrow withdrew a weapon, sheathed upon a rope tied around his thin waist, revealing it to be what appeared as a scythe. It was time to see just what Gotham's Finest, and subsequently, the only hope that the city had, really feared in their nightmares.
"Oh, Mister Mask, it seems we have company...", The Scarecrow hissed, as Black Mask returned to the courtyard.
"Shall we let them in? Please, say we should. They're just dying to visit us..."