[ drabble : spoilers for The Dark Knight ]
Player: arcesso
Subject: Bruce Wayne
Table: B
Prompt: 018 - Believe
The slogan was ridiculous - but what was more ridiculous was that Bruce was thinking of the ex-D.A.’s slogan while letting Gordon lead him through the rubble of 250 51st Street. It was hard for both of them, for different reasons. The last time Bruce was here, he had been disguised and helping the retrieval crews search for the remains of his best friend. For Gordon, he had been held hostage with his entire family, their fates at the hands of a madman. Bruce seemed to be repeating the experience, and all he could hope was that Tony would stop baiting the Joker so that the same didn’t happen again. Gordon was leading him to the edge of the building where there were stairs, or a 20-foot drop, to where Harvey’s body had laid only moments before. Now, he was in a gurney, on oxygen. Bruce was listed as the emergency contact, much to the commissioner’s surprise - a fact that he was not attempting to hide and was gradually wearing on Bruce’s already thin nerves.
He stopped before they reached the edge of the building’s foundation, looking down in the soot-stained dirt at something that glinted in the artificial light that the cop cars were producing. He kneeled down, disregarding the chore that his dry cleaner would have while trying to get the stain out of the trouser leg, and dug through the ashes to pull out a shining coin - or rather, one side still glistened. It was a dollar coin, but the sides were the same. He’d seen it before, when he put it on the side of Harvey Dent’s hospital bed, when he’d seen Harvey Two-Face flipping it to decide if he would shoot or not. The memory made his stomach churn, and he shut his eyes for a moment to fight back the wave of nausea. Gordon seemed to think he was fighting back a wave of sadness, and put a hand on his shoulder. Bruce let him think that was the truth and just stood, nodding, and heading to the stairs with him. The closer they get the worse shape Harvey seemed to be in, but Gordon assured that he was simply unconscious, and that the injuries were mostly superficial - broken ribs, a sprained wrist, a separated shoulder - nothing serious, and Bruce knew that he was telling the truth.
It was more painful than the playboy would like to admit, reaching into his pocket to pull out the business card of a doctor who he knew to be above the bribes and darkness that had sucked most of Gotham in. He explained to Gordon that she ran a clinic just outside Gotham city limits that specialized in patients who had become injurious to themselves and others, and facilitated their rehabilitation. It was much better than Arkham, mostly because it didn’t run on federal funding. He explained that he would anonymously foot the bill for the facility, and asked that Gordon inform the press that Harvey had chosen to step down as District Attorney until he had fully recovered, and was considering running for another term after that time had come. The grim look on Gordon’s expression told Bruce that he didn’t believe that a second term would be coming, but Bruce’s faith didn’t seem to waver. He really believed that Harvey Dent would recover from this - and thanks to Batman harboring the blame, that was an option.
Once he was conscious and had ceased to fight the doctors over his incarceration in the facility, then Bruce would visit him. Maybe. It was still a toss-up of whether or not his stomach would be able to handle the self-loathing for putting Gotham’s white knight there.
Subject: Bruce Wayne
Table: B
Prompt: 018 - Believe
The slogan was ridiculous - but what was more ridiculous was that Bruce was thinking of the ex-D.A.’s slogan while letting Gordon lead him through the rubble of 250 51st Street. It was hard for both of them, for different reasons. The last time Bruce was here, he had been disguised and helping the retrieval crews search for the remains of his best friend. For Gordon, he had been held hostage with his entire family, their fates at the hands of a madman. Bruce seemed to be repeating the experience, and all he could hope was that Tony would stop baiting the Joker so that the same didn’t happen again. Gordon was leading him to the edge of the building where there were stairs, or a 20-foot drop, to where Harvey’s body had laid only moments before. Now, he was in a gurney, on oxygen. Bruce was listed as the emergency contact, much to the commissioner’s surprise - a fact that he was not attempting to hide and was gradually wearing on Bruce’s already thin nerves.
He stopped before they reached the edge of the building’s foundation, looking down in the soot-stained dirt at something that glinted in the artificial light that the cop cars were producing. He kneeled down, disregarding the chore that his dry cleaner would have while trying to get the stain out of the trouser leg, and dug through the ashes to pull out a shining coin - or rather, one side still glistened. It was a dollar coin, but the sides were the same. He’d seen it before, when he put it on the side of Harvey Dent’s hospital bed, when he’d seen Harvey Two-Face flipping it to decide if he would shoot or not. The memory made his stomach churn, and he shut his eyes for a moment to fight back the wave of nausea. Gordon seemed to think he was fighting back a wave of sadness, and put a hand on his shoulder. Bruce let him think that was the truth and just stood, nodding, and heading to the stairs with him. The closer they get the worse shape Harvey seemed to be in, but Gordon assured that he was simply unconscious, and that the injuries were mostly superficial - broken ribs, a sprained wrist, a separated shoulder - nothing serious, and Bruce knew that he was telling the truth.
It was more painful than the playboy would like to admit, reaching into his pocket to pull out the business card of a doctor who he knew to be above the bribes and darkness that had sucked most of Gotham in. He explained to Gordon that she ran a clinic just outside Gotham city limits that specialized in patients who had become injurious to themselves and others, and facilitated their rehabilitation. It was much better than Arkham, mostly because it didn’t run on federal funding. He explained that he would anonymously foot the bill for the facility, and asked that Gordon inform the press that Harvey had chosen to step down as District Attorney until he had fully recovered, and was considering running for another term after that time had come. The grim look on Gordon’s expression told Bruce that he didn’t believe that a second term would be coming, but Bruce’s faith didn’t seem to waver. He really believed that Harvey Dent would recover from this - and thanks to Batman harboring the blame, that was an option.
Once he was conscious and had ceased to fight the doctors over his incarceration in the facility, then Bruce would visit him. Maybe. It was still a toss-up of whether or not his stomach would be able to handle the self-loathing for putting Gotham’s white knight there.