[rl] Harvey and Renee

[thedawniscoming]

What a mess. He nearly said it out loud but the loud crash that blew his hood back covered any sound. It was strange, walking down this mayhem, because he everything felt as though he didn't belong, like watching the scene behind glass. Even as the rubble crashed, a figure fell- he paused before stepping forward.

There were figures all around, rioting, falling. Harvey crouched by the one near him as something caught his gaze, eye widening a touch. She didn't have a face. It took a brief moment to realize the woman was masked, ducking his head as another blast sounded somewhere too close. He almost stood when he felt his coin in his pocket against the shifting, a sigh on his half lips. When he brushed his fingers against the metal it felt smooth. Heads.

The rioting was getting too close, too loud, and Harvey hefted the woman up the best he could, dragging her out of the way of the street and into a more secure alley, stopping only to make sure he wasn't wasting his time on a corpse.

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[nevertheanswer.livejournal.com]

All day it had been like this, fires and riots and police resignations. Poor Gordon had to be swamped with it all. But the GCPD wasn't her concern anymore. What was pretty concerning was how hard it was to breathe. Coughing, Renee roused with a mother of a headache, shifting a hand to her head. "Fuck," she muttered, voice only slightly muffled by the mask. Lifting a hand to her head, she shifted it down to her throat, under her jaw, peeling at the edges of her mask. Getting it over her mouth, she turned her head to the side and spat blood, nose scrunching.


More of the darkly viscous liquid leaked down the side of her face from under the mask, and Renee cursed to herself, touching her forehead. A spot just above her left eye was growing dark with blood, no doubt a gash from some flying debris.

It took that time for her eyes to focus: and when they had, she looked up at her rescuer. She expected Huntress, or maybe Squire, she'd hoped it was Kate, but this? This was definitely not someone from the Network. "Dent! What are you doing here?" Fuck. She was clearly an expert at this damn secret identity thing, wasn't she?

[thedawniscoming.livejournal.com]

The faceless woman started to move then peel at her face. The blood made Harvey wonder vaguely if Crane's toxin was working in his system and it was skin but there was a face underneath.

Renee Montoya.

"Montoya?" He sounded about as confused as the woman though a little less alarmed perhaps, turning only when a wayward gunshot sounded a little too close. He lifted his hood again, wouldn't do to be spotted and mistaken for a mass killer, and turned back to the woman. "Can you walk?" She certainly looked worse for wear.

[nevertheanswer.livejournal.com]

Shit. He wasn't supposed to find out. Tugging the mask back down and pressing it into place, she grabbed at her hat where it had fallen next to her. About to put it on her head, she paused before pressing it onto Harvey's. "I'm fine," she muttered, using the wall to straighten. "But you can't be seen. At all." At least half this damn war was because Two-Face and Penguin were at each others throats. Throwing another Two-Face into the mix would end badly.

Very badly.

"We have to get you out of here." Nevermind that she was the one hurt, of course. Renee grabbed at his arm and headed for the opposite end of the alley; the first two steps sent the world reeling, though, and she had to pause, her grip tightening. Well. This night was turning out fabulously.

[thedawniscoming.livejournal.com]

Whatever he was going to say was lost to distraction when she put the hat on him, and again to the way she seemed force to pause after so few steps. He tried to pull her grip from his arm and moved to support her instead, tone dry. "Good to see you too Renee. Like the getup."

He started moving in the direction she had been heading them in, careful of the obviously injured party at his side. "The grocery store of yours around here or was that bull shit?" he asked, glancing at her.

[nevertheanswer.livejournal.com]

"You kidding? Everyone's got one of these. New fad. Kids are crazy about it." It was meant to be witty, but came out as a mutter. She closed her left eye to keep blood out of it, and the skewed view of the world didn't help keep her balance. Renee let him help her, even held on - though it unsettled her to disturbing levels, she needed to get him out of here.

For a while, she didn't answer, getting to the end of the alley and directing him down the street, avoiding the worst of riots. This was the second time she'd have to replace her guns. "My family owns a grocery store," she finally said. "That was the truth." It was on the other side of the city, safe so far. So far.

[thedawniscoming.livejournal.com]

Harvey snorted at the comment, moving them closer to the side wall when a group ran past several feet away. "Didn't know you were so trendy." He muttered back, out of necessity rather than the pain she was obviously dealing with.

He glanced over at the comment, nodding before looking out again. "Tell me where to take you." he said. Somewhere the hell away from this madness if possible. If it was anything like his Gotham he knew it wouldn't be so easy.

[nevertheanswer.livejournal.com]

"I'm a jet setter or trend setter or whatever the hell it is. Surprise." She was half hoping to just find a gun along the sidewalk. Empty holsters felt weird. But any abandoned gun would be out of ammo, and she'd lost hers in the chaos.

Where to go was a very, very good question. The taxis had stopped running days ago. Besides, where was there to go? Her place, Kate's place, her parents' place. Benny stayed with them when he was in the city, and she wasn't taking Harvey Dent to anyone she knew. Anyone who knew what he'd put her through, anyway. Or what this world's Dent put her through...whatever.

"I have an apartment," she finally said. "Ten blocks east." Just out of range of this particular fire zone.

[thedawniscoming.livejournal.com]

"Should have known from the hat." Harvey answered dryly. Everything reminded him of the recent riots in his own Gotham, even months before, before he had lost it all. Not the fire and destruction but the feel, like everything was moving too fast and he couldn't grasp one event before another shook the foundations. He half expected to see a glasglow grin over his shoulder. Not that it mattered, his mind always supplied one.

"Then we better start walking." He began walking again in that direction, faster than before. He couldn't touch this Gotham or it's crime, even when his fingers twitched over his pocket and gun handle respectively. It wasn't his world to play in. He glanced to Renee as they moved. "How did these start?"

[nevertheanswer.livejournal.com]

"Hey. The hat's in style." On occasion, anyway. The dizziness had faded, and she shifted his supporting arm away, walking on her own. A massive headache had set in instead, but that wasn't something she was unaccustomed to. She eyed the rioters around her, turning away from Dent every so often to mutter into a communicator to the Network. She was temporarily out of commission, but here's something that needs tending. Mostly, she ignored the chatter in her ear.

When Harvey asked, Renee laughed dryly, glancing at him. Yeah, this was going to be a fun conversation. "When Batman died." She pointed up at the sky, where another of the warped signals had just lit: the Batsignal, with R.I.P written in its body. "City has a sick sense of humor, huh?"

[thedawniscoming.livejournal.com]

"Maybe it was in the fifties." Harvey answered, eyeing her when she moved away but relented when she seemed able to walk on her own. Tough girl. He quickened his pace, curious on several things - who she was speaking to, what the hell was going on with the mask and getup- but keeping the peace for now. It could wait. Grocery store worker. Well played.

He looked up when she pointed, at the warped signal that he hadn't seen in a long while. He heard they crushed it after the Batman had 'killed' him. The city always did turn so quickly for fear. "It is Gotham." he answered, ignoring a rather loud crash nearby as they moved. "Guess your city really does need the guy around." he nearly laughed. "Or more time to grow apart."

[nevertheanswer.livejournal.com]

"Retro's very in right now." If anyone told her she'd be having this conversation with Harvey Dent a few years ago, she'd have laughed in their face. Putting the blocks behind them, teeth grit at every crime she couldn't stop to deal with, Renee kept Dent in sight, made sure his face was still hidden. "Don't lose my hat."

The signal the gangs had been putting up - or the villains, she didn't know who it was - was unsettling. It was disturbing. Hell, it made her gut clench and churn. It wasn't right, that the man who'd done so much for this city could be killed, and mocked like this. "Every Gotham needs Batman, Dent. I'll never understand how some people just don't get that."

The streets emptied as the went, quieted, if barely. Abruptly, Renee turned a corner, grabbing Harvey's arm to keep him with her. "Here." Keying into the building, hoping he didn't put much stock in street signs, she led him up to her apartment, peeling the mask off once inside, rolling it back into a ball. She'd clean it later.

[thedawniscoming.livejournal.com]

"Right." Harvey responded, lips nearly quirked at the order until his expression grew colder once more. "Don't think our Gotham's are the same Montoya." Maybe once Batman had been needed, hell he had been one of the vigilante's biggest supporters from afar (and quietly of course). Things were different. "Things change." He barely noticed he said the words aloud.

It was strange how different the two cities were structurally, though there were the faintest hints of the familiar every time he turned his head. He kept an eye around him and attention on the woman beside him, on her obvious injuries in something that at one time of his life may have been concern. Now it felt like a vague curiosity.

He waited until they were inside before he pulled the hat off, tossing it onto some nearby surface and glancing the woman over. "The hell is that?" he gestured to the discarded mask. Another vigilante perhaps- how quaint.

[nevertheanswer.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, no shit they change." She sent him a meaningful look. This wasn't the Gotham she'd spent years defending. Those had been dark years for her, full of addictions, secrets, and anger she didn't know what to do with - but they were nothing to this. When fires burned then and people like Penguin and Two-Face warred, Batman was right around the corner to put things back to the way it should be. "And I haven't seen your Gotham yet, Dent. Don't intend to have this conversation with you, either." After the last Crisis? Fuck the multiverse.

Once the mask was off, Renee moved to her tiny bathroom off the living room - the first room they'd walked into. Her face was cut up, and there was a big gash over her left eye. Muttering curses to herself, she splashed water over her face, wiping off sweat and drying blood, before trying to tend to the gash. Glancing over when he gestured, she looked back at the mirror, thinking.

Well. Fuck.

"Pseudoderm," she finally said. She could answer that question, even if it might raise three or four others.

[thedawniscoming.livejournal.com]

"Then we're in agreement." Harvey answered, on the changing and on the conversation change. He had spent enough time now, sat back and really saw the two faces of Gotham- his Gotham- beyond what he had thought he knew. Batman was chaos in his own sense, the breaking of rules and the forming of new ones. His rules couldn't save him, didn't her. They wouldn't save Gotham.

He watched her walk to the other room, gaze falling on the area around him in vague curiosity. He only looked back when she answered, brow raising and voice deadpan. "Do I even need to ask the next question?"

[nevertheanswer.livejournal.com]

"You always need to ask the question," she said from the bathroom, vaguely amused, capitalizing the Q in her head. Her hand shook the second time she tried to deal with the gash, and threw the q-tips she'd been trying to use in the sink. Fuck it. Grabbing a gauze pad and an anti-infection cream, she taped it over her eye, hissing between clenched teeth at the sting.

Ignoring the rest of the mostly minor cuts, she walked back into the living room, pulling her sleeves up. "It was meant to be synthetic skin. It works with a binary gas." And he really didn't need more of her secrets than he already had, so she crossed her arms, frowning up at him. "What are you doing here, Dent?"

[thedawniscoming.livejournal.com]

Harvey snorted but glanced over, leaning against a nearby wall as his coin turned through his finger tips. "Need any help?" He offered, expecting a no and not particularly caring either way.

He glanced at the mask, brow raising the half dead skin. "So you have some title too then." he may have said more but her question caught him, making him regard her a moment before looking to the window. "I wanted information on someone here."

[nevertheanswer.livejournal.com]

She didn't even bother to answer; he knew the answer as well as she did, and this sloppy job would work for now. Renee started to arch both eyebrows, but stopped as she felt tape and skin pull, stopping a grimace.

"I might. Does it matter?" She didn't back down, stayed where she was and frowned. That answer left a bitter taste in her mouth. Renee grunted. "Who?"

[thedawniscoming.livejournal.com]

Harvey tilted his head at her answer, then gave an answer of his own. "Does it matter?" he repeated her words, taking a step to the window and glancing out.

"Gilda. I wanted to know more about her here." He said before looking back over. "What's your title?"

[nevertheanswer.livejournal.com]

Very funny, she should, mouth quirking to the side. "No point in questions if the answer doesn't matter," she told him glibly. Her gaze went sharp as Harvey admitted his intentions here. Could that possibly bring any good? The stories she'd heard - just from cop-talk at Central, years ago - hell. They weren't exactly pretty.

Grabbing a hair tie from the coffee table, Renee gathered here hair and put it up, frowning lightly. "The Question. How'd you end up in that part of town, checking up on her?"

[thedawniscoming.livejournal.com]

"Answers always matter." Harvey answered, turning his back fully to the window as he looked over. It took a moment to realize the name was 'the Question'- not exactly his idea of a hero name. Better than throwing a random description onto 'man' or 'woman' in any case.

"I was trying to find a certain street. This Gotham is more different than I had assumed structurally. Our streets only barely match up with yours." He answered before continuing. "Why the Question for a name?"

[nevertheanswer.livejournal.com]

"Yeah. They do." But they were inherently worthless without their questions. Nanda Parbat had taught her a hell of a lot of vaguely existential concepts.

Settling her hands on h er hips, Renee smiled a little wryly, a little sadly. But it was gone fast enough as she tilted her head to the side. "You'd have to ask the guy who called himself that first. But he'd probably tell you that Questions are a necessity most people take great joy in forgetting. He liked to remind them of things they let by the wayside. Why were you looking for this certain street?"

[thedawniscoming.livejournal.com]

Harvey raised his brow at her answer. "So the title passed on to you. How did that happen?" He asked, finding himself snorting. "The guy was right. Complacency might as well be a sin these days." His lip nearly curled. "Look where it led us."

He took a moment before speaking again. "I thought she would be there. I was wrong." He glanced over. "You know of her, don't you? Is she dead?" His tone was apathetic despite the dark question.

[nevertheanswer.livejournal.com]

"He died." Charlie's death meant she'd never touch another cigarette. His time with her meant she'd never drink again. Renee owed him a hell of a lot, and all she did was drag him through the know while he died. But this wasn't a time for mourning. "'Us?'"

Renee shrugged vaguely. "I know the stories. Don't know where she is now." She nodded out the window. "Days like this, it's fair to assume anyone's dead."

[thedawniscoming.livejournal.com]

"How?" There was a time he would have been tactful about it but now the whole process seemed a pointless gesture. Funny though, he found himself caring what Renee Montoya thought. He glanced to the window. "Us- Gotham. Complacency is what let the mob get the control they did." He answered.

"So she may not be in Gotham." He mused, coin twirling through his fingers. "Good."

[nevertheanswer.livejournal.com]

"Lung cancer. Hope you're not a smoker." There was a wry twist to her smile, and she crossed her arms again. "This isn't just the mob. This is the damn city." Shrugging again, Renee tilted her head to the side, eying the coin for a moment.

"Maybe. People never really leave t his town, it seems." They just kept coming back, like a birthright they never really wanted.

[thedawniscoming.livejournal.com]

"In college occasionally. But-" Harvey stopped. Ha, Rachel hadn't liked the stress induced habit, no matter how infrequent it was. He tilted his head back. "Stopped the gamble." He nearly sounded amused in a bitter way.

"In my Gotham-" my gotham, who does that sound like? "-that was it. Corruption, criminals. Now-" he raised his brow. "I guess it evolved." He ran his thumb over the top of the coin.

[nevertheanswer.livejournal.com]

"Me too." She matched the tone of voice. Her lips twisted in a sour smile, and Renee pulled her thoughts away from the white expanse of snow where Charlie died. Just outside the place she was sure could have saved him. It was the only question she would never answer. What if?

Tugging the end of her pony tail, Renee snorted, drifting through an open doorway to the kitchen. Grabbing a water bottle from the fridge, she paused before grabbing a second, returning to hold it out for Harvey. "Running water's been undependable," she said quietly. Contaminated or cut all together. That and the power outages made this insanity all the easier. "It always evolves, Dent. Everything does."

[thedawniscoming.livejournal.com]

Harvey's good eye fell to the offered water and after a moment he took it, opening the cap and taking a careful drink. Funny how he barely noticed the way he needed to tilt his head, chew on one side, slow down. Adaptation.

"Your Gotham always such a mess?" He asked without condemnation, he was used to something similar enough. Hell he was born and raised within the place, even if it was never quite this bad. "So that's what we are huh? The products of evolution." he snorted.

[nevertheanswer.livejournal.com]

"Nope." She watched him bring the water bottle up, watched that first careful sip before turning away. It wasn't that it was too gory, that was hardly the case. It was called up memories of a forced dinner date. Eugh.

"I told you. Happened when Batman died." She wished she could settled for 'disappeared,' but whoever was gallivanting out there new made her feel like a cop again. It wasn't the Batman she'd defended. Laughing, more than a little derisively, Renee glanced back at him. "Hope you're not a Catholic." Which came out a little bitterer than she'd meant it to.