"Rachel, Rachel?!" Batman called her name, but there was no answer.
He scooped her up, holding her limp body like a broken doll, and flew the Batplane straight to the hospital.
Liu A'dou's furious punch didn't land on the female officer—instead, it tore right through the car door. He then kneed her hard in the stomach, knocking her out cold.
It was the enhanced strength patch, based on Professor Agasa's reinforced shoe technology. Liu A'dou had attached electromagnetic generators to key pressure points on his body. Once activated, the device granted him strength several times beyond normal. But pushing his body like that came with a heavy toll—he could only sustain it for 60 seconds. This was the device he'd asked Batman to help build, which Batman had assumed was an electromagnetic jammer for security cameras.
Only 60 seconds. Just one minute. Same duration—but Liu A'dou felt it in two completely different ways.
60 seconds was too short to do anything. Yet that minute felt impossibly long, as if time stretched out to fit everything that had happened. Such a long, endless minute.
He felt a pang of guilt. If he hadn't left in such a rush, Rachel might not have been hit. What had driven Gotham to such depths of decay? The longer he stayed, the more he loathed this city. And Batman, willingly giving everything to protect such a filthy, rotten place—Liu A'dou could only shake his head in disbelief.
He could only hope Rachel would be okay. That was all he could do now. He wrote down the female officer's crimes, cuffed her with her own handcuffs, and left without another word.
What a miserable day. Everything had gone well—until one traitor ruined everything. What a joke.
He headed straight home, tore off his uniform, and didn't even think about going to work. He'd never experienced anything like this before, and it left him in a foul mood. More than that, he blamed himself. He knew how dangerous Gotham was, how many bad people lurked in every shadow—and yet he'd still foolishly left Rachel alone to wait for help. Even when he heard the sirens, he hadn't been alarmed. It was his carelessness.
"Snap out of it." Liu A'dou slapped both cheeks. "First, I need to find out how Harvey's doing." What was done was done. He couldn't change it, only pick himself up and move forward.
Back at the TV station, the place was chaos. As soon as he stepped in, Iselin stormed up to him, eyes blazing. "Where have you been? We didn't cover a single one of today's big stories. And your phone? Why can't I ever reach you?"
His phone was in the desk drawer. "I forgot to bring it." He pulled it out and saw it was dead. "It must've shut off. I probably forgot to charge it."
"Where have you been for the last few hours?" she pressed.
"I needed some time alone to cool off. Watching those hostages suffer while we couldn't do anything—it really got to me." He threw out a quick excuse.
Iselin seemed to understand. It made sense to her. But still, they were reporters. If every horrible news story sent them running, they'd never last. "We're reporters. I don't like covering these stories either, but we can't just walk away. You taught me that, didn't you?"
"You're right, Iselin. I lost my head. Harvey Dent's our friend. We knew the gangs were targeting them, but still let them get taken. I couldn't handle it, so I hid."
"This isn't your fault. How could we have known Joker had people inside the police?"
Liu A'dou thought there was another reason for all this—Joker was just too damn fast. If he'd taken even two days, or just slowed down for one, Liu A'dou could've had time to send out the magic pigeons. But Joker? One night and he'd already stormed Gotham Hotel, poisoned City Hall, kidnapped Harvey and Rachel, then had Harley Quinn attack the police station to bust him out. Everything happened too fast. No one could keep up. Joker hit them with a relentless combo while Liu A'dou had just barely gotten into position. The fact he wasn't dead yet? Pure luck.
He glanced at the paperclip on the desk, thinking how accurate that bad omen had been. Only it wasn't Harvey who got hurt—it was Rachel. Just more cruel irony from the so-called god of magic.
Rachel had been rushed straight into surgery. When Gordon brought Harvey over, Batman stepped out from the shadows. He'd never left the hospital.
"Gordon, where's Joker?" Batman asked, still focused on the bigger threat.
"Joker and his crew have been caught. This time, there's no way he's escaping." Gordon had gone to the station first to confirm it himself. "How is she?"
"Not good." Just four words, but they hit like a hammer.
"Why didn't you save Rachel?" Harvey Dent glared at Batman. Clearly, he thought Batman had been the one trying to rescue her.
Batman stayed silent. It wasn't Kaitou Kid's fault—Kid had gotten Rachel out of the fire. Even Batman couldn't have done better. It was the crash after, the police car, that had done this to her. Batman explained, "Joker rigged the doors. Open one, and it would trigger the bomb at the other location."
Gordon froze. He remembered shooting the lock and opening the door to free Harvey. If Joker had really set that kind of trap, then Rachel's injuries... they were on him. "Rachel got hurt because of me."
"No. When the bombs went off, Kaitou Kid already had her out. She was hit after, by a police car. None of us knew Helen was working with Joker."
"You mean Helen?" Gordon hadn't gotten that intel yet. His face darkened. Now it made sense—how Rachel had been kidnapped under police protection. Helen had been the leak.
"If Rachel dies, I won't let Joker or her off the hook," Harvey snarled, slamming his fist into the wall, leaning forward like he might fall. Rachel had said yes. They were supposed to have a future. Joker had destroyed it all.
In this moment, the so-called unshakable Iron Triangle of Gotham showed a crack. That crack was Harvey's rage. The other two didn't notice it yet—they didn't see how Harvey was already thinking of revenge, thinking about tearing Joker apart with his own hands.
Joker, the traitorous cop—it didn't matter. If Rachel died, Harvey Dent swore he would kill every last one of them.
"Even with Joker in custody, he might have more tricks waiting for us. We can't let our guard down," Batman said, turning away. He needed to keep watching the city. Joker might've left more nasty surprises.
Gordon had to get back too. With a traitor in the department, he couldn't trust anyone else to keep Joker locked up. Only by being there himself could he be sure.
Harvey couldn't help much. He'd been knocked out cold during his capture and had no intel. All he could do was stay and wait for Rachel to come out of surgery. The anxiety ate at him like a storm cloud, refusing to lift, leaving him more agitated by the second. His heart was in that operating room, trapped with Rachel, her fate still unknown.