Chapter Eight: egg nog or happy juice

Bruce's POV:

Harmony fell to her knees beside me, still tightly clenched in my hand. I was too caught up in the Jokers display to move. Roman Sionis, who was he, maybe Black Mask? It had to be, why else would the Joker kidnap him? The build was right and the suit was the same, it had to be him. I could care less about Roman, more so about what the Joker had planned for, with the toxins I thought were destroyed.

"Why does he do these things, why does he hate everyone so much," I heard Harmony mutter below me. I never thought too hard about what the Joker had going on in what ever reminiscences of a brain he had left. He was empty, longing for a purpose, that unfortunently was Batman. 

"He's sick, a monster," I echoed trying to sound logical. Harmony let go of my hand and used it to push herself back off the floor. I looked at her face, and then at her eyes, which seemed to be prickled with tears. The Joker upset a lot of people, seeing Harmony with the same expression hurt.

"Are you okay?" I finally asked, forgetting to be Bruce Wayne.

"No, honestly, I'm terrible, but it's none of your concern, just a flicker from a dark past."

"You can tell me," I pushed, hoping that she wouldn't. This message from the Joker was a wake up call, I was getting too close to her, it was going to be Rachel all over again.

"I'm not sure that's the best idea," she admitted. I nodded understandingly. We all needed our secrets, I had one of the biggest of them all.

"I hate to leave you, but it's getting late and I should probably get this film developed or downloaded," Harmony said. I smiled, the sooner she left the better, I needed to stop Joker before this gets out of hand, Batman was coming out tonight.

-------------------------

Fox walked into my office unannounced looking sweaty and disgruntled. I was currently speaking to one of our Japanese delegates, not the right time for a crime or tech emergency.

"Yaunto, if you'll excuse me," I apologized, walking to Fox calmly.

"It's not a good time," I hinted. Harmony had already interrupted my meeting earlier, any more of these and I might have to clear my whole day, again.

"I just thought you'd like to know there's a price on your head, or the bats to be specific."

"What? Did the joker place the hit?" 

"Not to what I know of, from what I've heard it's Harvey Dent." I stood up straight with shock, Harvey is dead, I killed him.

"Harvey died nearly two years ago, it's got to be someone else," I repeated from inside my head.

"I'm telling you Bruce it's Harvey, Gordon gave me the tip, I suggest you watch your back," Fox warned.

"I can take care of myself, it'd be nice to know who I'm dealing with, try to see if you can dig anything else up."   

Fox left with a thumbs up, and I returned to my coligue. The rest of the meeting I found myself drifting between sleep, conciousness, and my own mind. Harvey, still alive, I saw him die, he was dead. It was confirmed. Yet one of the only people I still trust, tells me he's almost 100% sure he's not. Inside a dark thought consumed me, thinking of how Rachel could have been alive rather than Harvey still flipping coins around. It's a twisted life. I regretted pushing Harmony away, imagining how she would have some way of comforting me, even if it was only her presence that would do so.

Harmony's POV:

Bruce seemed different after the display of Jokers new toy, happy juice. He looked like he was trying hard to decide something, and more than that he seemed distant. The feeling that I had before of comfort was gone and now it was purely awkward. Since I left on such unpatched terms at the football game a few days ago I'd found myself avoiding him all together.

The rest of the week ran quickly, day after day until I woke up on Friday morning with good intentions. I hadn't seen Bruce since Sunday, and I didn't want to call becuase I was afraid he'd just push me away. I didn't want to lose Bruce, he's the best thing that's happened to me in a very long time.

Today I intended on having a nice time at the Christmas tree lighting ceremony. Thousands of people were going to be there, or not, depending on how scared they were of the joker. That wasn't until seven o'clock, I still had nine hours before a refreshing night of Christmas cheer. What else to do but waste time watching TV. I hit the power button on the remote, again the hypnotic news channel was the only thing that I was intrested in.

"Later tonight we will be a full live coverage of Gotham city's traditional Christmas tree lighting to celebrate the first day of December, until then Commissioner Gordon will give us a few safety tips for any encounter with the Joker, Vikki?" The camera switched to the guy I remember seeing in the police station.

"Today Gordon will give us a brief safety course if you are to ever come in counter with the deadly and dangerous Joker, Gordon what tips do you have?" The reporter Vikki, who swear I could have seen before at the news department, gave Gordon the microphone.

"Well I think it's pretty clear that if you ever see the Joker you must call the police imeadiantly and under no circumstances ever confront him, also be wary of what you eat and drink, there is going to be a city-wide poison test for all restraunts, grocery stores, and other food distributors"

"What information do you have on the poison so far?"

"Nothing until we can get a sample of the stuff, from what we know so far it can only be used as an edtible, not viral toxin." I quicky changed the channel not bearing to hear more of this depressing topic. It was time for another lonely, but uplifting Christmas, not for me to dwell.

I can't even remember the last time my family had a real Christmas. I was an only child, raised by a single mom and her occasional on and off boyfriends, with over time I became less and less attached to. Thinking about it now made me realize that maybe I never had a Christmas, and it wasn't suprising living the way I did. Sure a few presents were exchanged and some sweets, but I've yet to feel the Christmas spirit. A thought crossed my mind, maybe I should invite Bruce to come to the lighting with me. Eventually he was going to either continue our confusing relationship or end it, for the time being I wanted it to continue.

Boldly I picked my phone and called his contact, which now had his personal phone instead of his buisness.

"Bruce Wayne," he answered.

"Uh hey it's me Harmony, I was just wondering-" I didn't get to finish.

"Sorry Harmony I'm buisy, talk to you later," the line went dead. That was weird, I thought we were fine. Not that we were anything at all. I brushed off the problematic relationship with the fact that he has a huge role in the buisness world. Besides what was I kidding myself, Bruce Wayne, intrested in me? I needed to pull my head out of the fantasy toilet and get working on my career.

Dispite the Jokers attempt of scaring Gotham, the Christmas tree lighting had a bigger turn out then I'd ever seen. The fifty foot tall pine sat cheerfully in the center of town, counting down the seconds until it's prime moment. I could make out the wonderful swirls and strands of unlit Christmas lights, and the large light trimmed presents decorating the bottom. The whole thing was glorious, and they hadn't even lit it up yet.

"10" the crowd started to count down.

"9"

"8"

"7"

"6"

"5"

"4"

"3"

"2"

"1!!". In an instant the many cheerful screams could be heard mixing with the screams of terror as two of the presents opened, and two dead men were strung up as part of the Christmas tree. From the close range I was at I could easily see the chemically crafted smiles on the men's faces, not to mention the deep red blood, dried at the corners of their eyes and nose. I had no idea what crossed my mind in that instant, but all I could think was to take pictures. One after another snap, snap, snap.

"This is Vikki Vale reporting at the new crime scene for two of the Jokers 'happy juice' victims." The reporter said from my left.

I was then hypnotized in my thoughts, just staring up at the two corpses. Behind the tree off in the distance I could make out the dark figure, silhouette against the full moon, the Batman. I zoomed in this time, far in, and took a few more pictures, artistically the shots were gorgeous but not newsworthy. I'm sure Batman wouldn't like to be plastered all over the papers of Gotham anyways. In fact I think I was the only one that knowticed him.