The Courthouse District - Dawn
The Gotham County Courthouse was a ruin. The marble pillars were cracked, and the statue of Lady Justice had been beheaded by a stray mortar shell.
Around the block, Two-Face's army was dug in. They had the Clock Tower surrounded. Inside that tower was Oracle—the eyes and ears of the resistance.
Batman, Nightwing, and I watched from a rooftop across the square.
"He has fifty men," Nightwing (Dick Grayson) said, scanning with binoculars. "And they have heavy machine guns pointed at the Tower's exit. If Babs tries to leave, they turn the building into Swiss cheese."
"We can't fight fifty men without heavy casualties," Batman said. "We need them looking the other way."
"I shall provide the distraction," I said, adjusting my cuffs.
"Sebastian," Dick warned. "Harvey isn't rational. He shoots people because a coin tells him to."
"Mr. Dent is a man of the law," I smiled, though it didn't reach my red eyes. "And I have practiced law in courts much older and far more unfair than this one."
I handed Bruce my tactical headset.
"Give me ten minutes. Then send in the Shadow."
I pointed at Cassandra Cain, who was crouching on a gargoyle, perfectly still.
"And the Acrobat," I nodded to Dick. "Bring Miss Gordon home."
The Courtroom
I walked through the front doors of the Courthouse. I held a white handkerchief in one hand and a briefcase in the other.
"Halt!" a guard shouted. "State your business!"
"I am legal counsel," I announced, my voice projecting clearly. "I wish to file a motion with the District Attorney."
Two-Face was sitting on the judge's bench. Half his face was handsome; the other half was a charred, purple ruin. He was flipping his coin. Ding. Ding.
"A motion?" Two-Face rasped. "We don't have motions. We have verdicts."
"I am representing the Batman," I said, walking down the aisle. "And I am here to negotiate the terms of your surrender."
The guards laughed. Two-Face didn't. He stared at me with his good eye, then his bad eye.
"Surrender?" Two-Face slammed his fist on the bench. "I control the bridges! I control the law! Why should I surrender?"
"Because," I said, stopping at the defense table. "If you do not, you are violating the RICO Act, the Geneva Convention, and several municipal zoning laws regarding the obstruction of a historic clock tower."
Two-Face paused. The lawyer in him—the buried Harvey Dent—twitch.
"He's mocking us!" the Bad Side roared. "Kill him!"
"Wait," the Good Side said. "Let's hear him out. Everyone deserves a defense."
Two-Face held up the silver dollar.
"Heads, we hear your arguments. Tails, we blow your brains out."
The courtroom went silent. He flipped the coin.
It spun in the air, catching the dim light.
It landed on the wood.
Heads.
"You're in luck, Butler," Two-Face grinned. "Court is in session."
The Infiltration
While I began my opening statement regarding the jurisdictional nuances of No Man's Land, two shadows moved across the rooftops.
Nightwing and Batgirl (Cassandra) dropped onto the roof of the Clock Tower.
"Quietly," Dick whispered.
Cassandra didn't need the instruction. She moved like smoke.
They slipped through the skylight.
Inside, Barbara Gordon was frantically typing on three different keyboards. Her wheelchair was positioned in the center of a chaotic web of wires.
"Babs!" Dick whispered.
Barbara spun her chair around. She had a shotgun across her lap.
"Dick?" She lowered the gun. "You shouldn't be here. Dent has the perimeter mined."
"We're getting you out," Dick said, running to her. "Sebastian is buying us time."
"I can't leave," Barbara argued, gesturing to the servers. "This is the database! The identities of every operative, the police records, the maps... if Two-Face gets this, the war is over."
"We're taking the drives," Dick said, pulling a magnetic decryption tool. "Cass, watch the door."
Cassandra nodded. She stood by the stairwell door.
She tilted her head. She read the vibrations in the floor.
Footsteps. Twelve men. Ascending.
She looked at Dick. She held up ten fingers, then two. Then she made a fist.
"Twelve hostiles coming up," Dick translated. "Babs, how long on the download?"
"Two minutes!"
"Cass," Dick said. "Buy us two minutes."
Cassandra cracked her knuckles. She didn't look scared. She looked bored.
She opened the door and slipped into the stairwell.
The Cross-Examination
"Objection!" Two-Face shouted, slamming his gavel (which was actually a magnum revolver). "You are stalling! Your argument about 'Force Majeure' is irrelevant!"
"On the contrary, Your Honor," I said calmly, leaning on the railing. "If the earthquake was an Act of God, then the subsequent abandonment of the city by the Federal Government renders all property rights null and void. Therefore, your claim to the Clock Tower is legally baseless."
"Baseless?!" Two-Face stood up. "I am the law! I define the base!"
"You are a squatter with a coin," I countered coolly.
"Watch it!" Two-Face pointed the gun at me.
"Are you threatening the defense?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. "That is grounds for a mistrial."
Two-Face growled. He was getting frustrated. The logic was sound, but the chaos was itching.
"I've heard enough," Two-Face said. "Closing arguments are over. The verdict is..."
He raised the coin.
"Wait," I said. "I have one final witness."
"Who?"
"Gravity."
BOOM.
A massive explosion rocked the building next door—the Clock Tower.
The Escape
In the stairwell, Cassandra Cain was a whirlwind.
Twelve men had come up. Twelve men were now tumbling down the stairs, limbs tangled, guns useless. She hadn't killed anyone. She had simply dismantled them.
Upstairs, the download completed.
"Got it!" Barbara yelled, clutching the hard drive.
"Let's go!" Dick grabbed the handles of her wheelchair. "Bat-Line!"
Batman, positioned on the adjacent roof, fired a high-tension cable that smashed through the Clock Tower window and anchored into the wall.
Dick clipped Barbara's chair to the line.
"Hold on, Babs!"
"I hate zip-lines!" she screamed.
WHOOSH.
They slid down the wire, soaring over the heads of Two-Face's army, landing safely on the roof of the library where Batman was waiting.
Cassandra followed, sliding down the line on just her boots, landing with a silent thud.
The Verdict
In the courtroom, Two-Face watched his prize escape out the window.
He turned to me. His face was purple with rage.
"You played me!" Two-Face screamed. "You stalled so they could rob me!"
"I represented my client's interests," I said, checking my pocket watch. "And now that the assets are secure... I rest my case."
"Contempt of court!" Two-Face roared. "The sentence is DEATH!"
He flipped the coin. He didn't even look at it. He raised the gun.
"Tails, Butler. You die."
I smiled. My shadow elongated, stretching up the walls, towering over the judge. The courtroom darkened. The candles flickered and died.
"Mr. Dent," I whispered, my voice echoing from everywhere at once. "You believe in chance. But I believe in consequences."
Two-Face froze. He looked at my shadow. It wasn't human. It had horns. It had wings.
"What... what are you?"
"I am the bailiff," I said.
I snapped my fingers.
A smoke bomb—which I had kicked under the defense table ten minutes ago—detonated.
Thick gray smoke filled the room.
Two-Face fired blindly into the cloud. BANG. BANG. BANG.
When the smoke cleared... the courtroom was empty.
On the defense table, there was a single item left behind.
A silver tray. And on it, a business card:
WAYNE ENTERPRISES.We appreciate your cooperation.
Two-Face screamed, flipping the table over.
"HEADS! IT WAS HEADS!"
The Bunker - Night
Barbara Gordon set up her equipment in the bunker. It was a downgrade from the Clock Tower, but it was safe.
"Network is up," Barbara said, her face illuminated by the blue light of the screens. "I'm tracking GCPD movements, supply drops, and... wait."
"What is it?" Bruce asked.
"I'm picking up a signal," Barbara frowned. "It's coming from the Power Plant."
"The Power Plant is offline," Tim said. "It has been since the quake."
"Not anymore," Barbara typed furiously. "Someone just turned it on. But they aren't feeding power to the grid. They're feeding it to... a transmitter."
"Who?"
"Unknown," Barbara said. "But the encryption... it's LexCorp."
The room went silent.
"Lex Luthor," Bruce whispered. "He's finally here."
"Why would Luthor care about a ruined city?" Dick asked.
"He doesn't," I said, placing a cup of tea on Barbara's desk. "He cares about real estate. If he rebuilds Gotham, he owns Gotham."
Bruce stood up.
"We fought the gangs. We fought the maniacs. Now..."
He looked at the map.
"Now we fight the billionaire."
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