The Dark Knight

[Nikki]

I hear footsteps.
"Has she said anything?" James Gordon appears next to the Ramirez woman, seeming a little out of breath after climbing the stairs. He hands her a cup of coffee.
"She's talking in her own little language," Ramirez says, taking a sip. Her voice is low and smooth and fits her well.
"Too far gone to get anything out of?"
"Don't know. Haven't pressed the issue."
Gordon makes eye contact with me, and what I see in his face knocks me back to my senses. He looks sad. Disappointed.
"What a waste of a great mind," he mutters, as if I can't hear him at all. As if I'm not there.
"It's scary, what he does to them, isn't it?" Ramirez says, though her voice doesn't betray any emotion. "Like brainwashing. It's like he has a crazy cult fanbase and even the brightest of us could get sucked in."
Gordon pauses for a long moment, unable to look away from me. "That's what scares me."

[boo radley]

It wasn't easy, the struggle. But I'm walking in the hall with an unbuttoned straitjacket with my "buddy ol' pal." He's kind of a prick. I think I'll kill him once we get outta here.

I don't want to stop for anyone. Except maybe Harley. Maybe. Not with a big enough bang. We walk past her hall - and she sees us. I continue walking. She probably won't have a clue as to where I'm going, or what I'm doing. Probably thinks I'm leaving. Ah, well. To the control room, we go.

The guards out there are easy done with one knife and just enough menace. A scar story, maybe. This time, I decided to go with "Daddy was a racecar driver." And then.... there. Blackgate's power room.

[Nikki]

I think I'm going to spit out my heart when I see him walk by. It's like one of those movie moments where everything slows down and a dramatic string section drowns out all the sound. I think they call this viscosity.
In any event, there was a lot of drag in those four seconds. But I couldn't do anything except try to kill Gordon and Ramirez with my eyes.
So far it wasn't working.

[boo radley]

I see all the cameras. The lights. And then the power blocks. I turn to the henchboy next to me and spit in his face to get his attention. "Get the suits." He should know whose suits. I turn back to the control board. This was all surprisingly easy, considering it's Blackgate. (Then again, most of the officers and guards were bought out ahead of time.)

First: I power down the lights.
An old maybe-memory. Lights out. I'm a little boy. Watching. Waiting. Robbers in the house. Mommy's holding me back. Hiding in the bathroom. "Don't cry, Jack. Don't cry." I just want her to be safe... I just want her to be safe. She's all I've got. Daddy's a little fucker who ran away. The bathroom door breaks open. Mommy's screaming. Blood everywhere. And then they stick the blade in my mouth...

I shake out of it. Not much time.

Second: I turn off the cameras.
Another vague memory. Maybe. Just turned off the camera. Wife's just cooked dinner. Trying to have a happy night. Wife gets a phone call. It's the sharks. "I'll have your money for you Friday, I swear. I promise." She can't keep that promise. We don't even have fifteen dollars to scrape by for the week. And she needs two thousand. "I swear. I'll have it for you."

What the hell is happening to me? I take the near-empty plastic cup of water and splash my eyes a little. Makeup's running down my face. Stay. Awake.

Last: I shut off the power.
Pulled into the past.

Walking through an old building. Holding a bag full of money. One on each hand. Heavy. Should help the situation I'm in. Right as I'm about to leave, the power shuts off. Robbers? Policemen? SWAT? Someone knocks me to the ground. Starts beating me up. "You gonna take this? Fucker." Beats me up. Takes my money. Sticks a blade in my mouth.

It all boils down to the blade.

I twist my neck, stand up, and go out. Time to get the Harlequin out - and it might even mean saying hello to Jimberoni again.

[Nikki]

Then I can't see anything. I know it's him. I thrash around like an idiot and knock Ramirez's coffee out of her hand. The mug shatters on the floor. They were about to start their questions, and I was really glad the darkness happened because I didn't want to start laughing and crying again.
And I didn't want them to poke at me. I wanted to poke at them.

[boo radley]

I reach Harley's hall and point a gun at the idiot who's trying to stand in the way. "Get out of my face."

He looks stupid. "No."

Well, okay, then. BANG. That solves everything. I step over his corpse and look around for Harley. It's kind of hard to see, considering I was just in a bright room. But I can hear her. "Hurry up, Harley."

[Nikki]

"I'm not fucking Houdini!" I snarl at him, but it's a happy snarl. Overjoyed, in fact, and he knows it. "Cut me out of this thing, quick."

[boo radley]

Cutting, I can do well. "Sure thing." And with that, we're ready to bust out. Only problem is, how do we get off this prison-island? Not like they leave the boats here. Boats come from the mainland to the prison only when people are supposed to get picked up. Like the watchmen. I glance at Harley. She knows what I'm thinking. We get out to the base of the place - a rock. It's windy, rainy, stormy out. The water's splashing up against the rock, spraying in our faces.

[Nikki]

"Oh, fuck," I say. And I look at him. "Really?"

[boo radley]

"Yeah... Whoops."

Lightbulb.

"Harley, the unconscious guard by the door - take his radio. Comm in the mainland. Ask for a boat."