Salvation

26

Entrances were important. A good entrance would set up the whole moment and make it the most memorable part. Harvey shot one bullet in the air while walking through the court room. Of course people screamed and yelled and moved away from him. Anyone with half their mind would move away from a man shooting wildly in the air.

"What the hell's going on?!" A nearby officer exclaimed while running in his direction.

Harvey rolled his eyes. "This city calls for live justice, and here we are to deliver." He said simply while kicking the man away from himself. That one officer fell into three others and in total they all fell to the floor in a heap.

"Order in the court!" Judge Harkness exclaimed while banging the gavel against the desk.

"Order?" Harvey posed. "In Gotham? That'd be a first." He scoffed at the mere thought of order in Gotham. "Ladies and gentlemen, a mobster is being tried in this city. By a jury who were bought and paid for, but that's not in the question." He paused and aimed his gun at Mr Esposito who was by now quivering in his seat. "Neither is the fact that they'll acquit him," Harvey mused and shrugged slightly. "The acting District Attorney, my so called 'replacement', will put pressure on poor Ms Porter down there," Harvey briefly glanced at the dark haired woman who was huddled next to a table. "To offer this man right here, a dear little plea deal...if not then, well, you know...drop the charges completely." Harvey sighed heavily. "The question is, how long will the inhabitants of Gotham stand for this?" Harvey said normally while looking sadly down at the ground. Frowning he looked up again. "The press will have you all believe that there are only ever two choices in things, take the election for example. There's two choices there, or so you believe." Harvey waved the gun and pointed it down at Ms Porter. "See on the one hand, you have my 'replacement', Ms Porter's boss, acting District Attorney, Mort Weinstein," he spoke the name with such venom in his tone it was a little bemusing. "Mort, the defender, or so called defender and advisor to Gotham's old crime families. He's also the man trying to purge the so called freaks out of this city who also call it home." Harvey held a hand up. "May I just remind you, that it was he and his mob friends who helped to create some of those so called 'freaks'." Harvey stated obviously. "I may be crazy, but I sure as hell didn't throw acid in my own face." He said dumbfounded like the thought would even cross someone's mind to do such an act. "Then on the other hand we have the truly honourable Judge Harkness, she who has nearly everything working against her. Literally, she's female, from an African-American background, and did I miss to mention that the elections are getting rigged against her by the remainders of the mob?" Harvey waved a casual hand over to the Judge. "I have to say, even if she won, how much good could she actually do in this city? In this city where law is a joke?" Looking at the gun in his hand he shrugged casually and reached into his pocket. "Listen, law isn't a must. Not really. We created it to try and keep order and whatnot. But to be honest, it doesn't do justice does it? No. You have more chance getting justice from, say, flipping a coin." Looking to Mr Esposito again, he pulled his hand out of his jacket and flipped a coin to him. "Speaking of coins, Mr Esposito, flip the damn coin."

"W-what?" The man stuttered out.

"You see, keeping those two options in mind, may I inform you of a third choice." Harvey aimed his gun so it trained on the quivering man again. "Me." He spoked simply. "Last time I checked, I was still on the ballot. Freak or not I intend to run for election, watch what happens next. And then ask yourself whether you've seen justice like this before." Mr Esposito flipped the coin, "Call it."

"Heads. Heads, okay?"

"We're happy to hear that, good call." Harvey said and then pulled the trigger.

----

Adelaide pulled the hood of her coat more around herself as she watched the television screen which was showing the court hearing. Smiling she stepped back and walked away. It was rather entertaining to say the least. In a matter of minutes Harvey managed to speak more sense than any other person could in that court. Yes, she was well aware that she was breaking the words which Harvey had told her before he left. But how could she not hunt out a television to see what was going to happen in court? It would be a crime to her not to.

"Adelaide." A voice said from the shadows of an alleyway. She stopped, took a step back and peered into the darkened space. Nothing, not a sign of someone. Until someone stepped forward, Adelaide pulled a face and stepped back. "Where is he, Adelaide?"

"I guess it'd be stupid for me to say I don't know, wouldn't it?"

"Yes."

"Well, I don't know." She smiled and took off running down the street. She had to nudge and push people out of the way as she went. Batman on the other hand went skyward. He leaped from the rooftops and kept pace with her rather well, surprisingly. The hood of her coat slipped and she could see him running parallel to her. Then the annoyance happened, he leapt from her right side to the left. She couldn't see him. Tilting her head to the side she couldn't run and keep an eye on him, while trying to avoid crashing into people. Skidding down a side road she turned and stopped. Catching her breath she stood and watched as he jumped down from the rooftop and landed across the road. Slowly, almost effortlessly, he walked over to her.

"I can't keep asking you. I know, trust me, I know how you feel. But you won't be betraying him, Adelaide. You'll be helping him."

She frowned and leaned forward. "Helping him?"

"You do want to help him, right?"

"I don't know what help you could provide." Batman narrowed his eyes at this. Shaking her head she looked up at him. "Don't follow me. Isn't it obvious? Where was Harvey moments ago? Where is he usually always?" Adelaide questioned. "The court house."

"Yes, I know that. But I want to know where you two are staying."

"So you can get to him in the comforts of our hideout." Adelaide stuffed her hands in her pockets. "No. I'm not telling you. And no, I'm not moving from this spot so following me will fail you too."

Batman narrowed his eyes, again. Adelaide smiled and looked down at the floor. It didn't seem so grubby and litter riddled, so she sat down. This just proved her point, she wasn't moving. She was going to sit here, and do nothing. Pulling the hood of her coat up again she shuddered. It was chilly in the city all of a sudden. "By doing this, you think you'll prevent me from finding Harvey. But really, you're going to bring him here." Frowning she looked up. "He'll come and find you, Adelaide. You think this move is a wise one, it's not. It's really not. So fine, we can sit around and wait, if you prefer it."

Standing up and brushing herself down she pointed over her shoulder. "With all due respect, I think I'm going to run again."

He smirked and nodded. "If you want. If you think that move is a wiser one than sitting and waiting."

"Well..." Adelaide trailed off and pointed a finger at him. "That was a rhetorical question, wasn't it?"

"Yes."

Sighing Adelaide turned on her heels and shuffled off sourly. She could hear his footsteps quietly behind her. What was the point of running? Batman would catch her. And either way, he was going to find them. It was the inevitable. Adelaide frowned and stopped walking. Batman talked of help, what help could he possibly provide? A cell in Blackgate? No, Harvey would most likely be put in Arkham. She didn't want him being put in a mad house, no one would want that to happen to someone who was close to them.

Taking a step forward her boot crunched down on a newspaper, looking down she frowned at the article. Ignoring the paper she took another step forward. Each step she took was quicker than the last and she was soon running as fast as she possibly could. Seeing the little building which she'd earlier left, she burst through the door. Harvey was already here and looked at her confused. He was about to say something to her when she pelted it past him, clutching onto his wrist as she passed, she ran towards the back exit.

Harvey was confused, he looked over his shoulder and narrowed his eyes at the sight of Batman. "You let him follow you?!" He shouted at her.

"Harvey, how am I...meant to get rid of that?!" Adelaide shouted back and pointed at Batman as they swerved and darted down an alley. "He's bigger than me, he's stronger, he's taller, he's faster, and did I fail to mention he can kick arse?!"

----

(Edited: 22/Jan/2020)