Life in Gotham: A Gotham City Municipal Election Series 2015 Special Finale.

[Bigby]

Indecision:

The Batman tried his hardest to talk Bruce Wayne down, to make him relent. The vigilante appealed to Wayne's family pride, to what his parents would think, to what Alfred would think. "Bruce, think about what Thomas and Martha would think about their son holding family friends hostage. Or what Alfred would think. It's unbecoming of a Wayne to give into these dark urges. Think about how they would want you to act!" It worked initially, but Two-Face won the internal battle as Bruce's face turned blue and veinier from the White Rose. All this reminding of his family took Bruce back to the Owl Hunting, and back to Dr. Strange's mistreatment and reckless murder of Alfred Pennyworth. The now infuriated Bruce Wayne yelled at Batman at how grave of an offense this was, pointed his gun at the eldest Dent son, and flipped the coin.

Luckily for Batman and for the Dents, the coin landed on the unscarred side. "Looks like Harvey Dent gets to keep Warren after all, Bats.  up again and the next target won't be so lucky. I don't know about you, but I find this fun." Bruce Wayne's voice turned its Two-Face guttural at that last point. "Honor the deal, or else I flip for the eldest daughter next."As Bruce Wayne cackled, Batman realized that Two-Face had won. Bruce Wayne let himself die, only to allow Two-Face full control. The gun was now pointed at Duella Dent, and Batman had to choose. Should Batman risk it again and reveal his secret identity to Two-Face, or is it better to put the monster down that is Two-Face? Batman has entered an even deeper bind, though he has arguably bought more time.

Option One: Batman Finally Unmasks Himself.

While Two-Face has shown that any good in Bruce Wayne is long gone, perhaps caving into his demands will allow the Dent family's freedom. Warren Dent's life has already been secured thanks to Batman's stalling, so maybe Batman can get lucky and save the rest of the family. On the other hand, Two-Face has also shown that he is even more unhinged and unstable than previously thought. He still might lie about his promise in regards to freeing the hostages and might just kill them anyway, Warren included. Even though the public of Gotham adores Batman, and the city government has refused to even investigate charges against the heroic and relatively lawful Batman, exposing his own identity still exists as a liability for the Batman, both legally and factually. While Warren's salvation gives Batman some hope, the lingering doubt about Two-Face's honor definitely remains. Two-Face has definitely shown a lack of mercy or goodwill without the coin's mandate.

Option Two: Batman Kills Two-Face.

Then again, this debate has revealed one thing: Bruce Wayne died, and only Two-Face exists in his stead. Batman remembers that this hostage situation is being filmed live by a Children of Arkham mercenary, so everyone in Gotham saw what he just saw. Two-Face has no honor, no mercy, no compassion, just his obsession with chance. Can Batman trust a man who decides every life decision on the whim of a damaged silver dollar? The public at this point might see Two-Face as even worse than Clayface, whom they did not mind the death of in of itself. Then again, Batman has no time nor ability to take a straw poll to make that assessment. Batman does, however, have the Dent family to protect, as well as his secret identity. Batman would still need to wait until Two-Faced attempted another kill, which is a gamble in of itself. However, Batman considers it far less of a gamble than revealing his identity. Killing Two-Face may tear at his conscience, but more than his own life is at stake unlike with Clayface's demise. Perhaps if Bruce Wayne has died, then so must Two-Face.

You have 48 hours to vote from now, so voting ends on Saturday. You may change your vote like before, though with only two options, this finally gets resolved. I will work my hardest to get the epilogue written as soon as the voting ends. Once again, remember that the in-character world will ONLY know Batman's identity should Option One be chosen, but Batman's identity will be revealed to the readers OOCly. Thank you for playing.

[PPT Spiral]

Daunting decision.

[Bigby]

Daunting decision.

Glad to see my intention translated into reality. Batman's probably a sweating mess during this entire ordeal.

[Antonio the Sixth]

The Batman I grew up with (the one from TAS) would take the selfless, heroic and humane option.

[Bigby]

The Batman I grew up with (the one from TAS) would take the selfless, heroic and humane option.

And would fight against a villain with sweet, sweet voice dialogue from the legendary Mark Hamill.

[Bigby]

You now have about an hour left to vote. Make sure you cast your decision!

EDIT: And now Batman must reveal his identity for the safety of the Dent family! The finale is being written ASAP.

[Bigby]

Decision:

Batman wanted to believe that perhaps a little of Bruce Wayne remained inside Two-Face. If he gave into the villain's demands, perhaps the good in Two-Face would emerge. Normally, meeting a hostage taker's demands only encouraged them further, but Two-Face was a mentally ill man who took a coin flip's instructions higher than God's. It would remain a costly gamble, but one Batman must take. Not wanting to risk potential public backlash, the accidental death of a Dent family member, or government action against his actions for the first time, Batman decided to reveal his identity to the world. With a flip of the cowl, Batman revealed himself to be none other than Mayor Harvey Dent.

Harvey Dent has been Batman all along, since Batman's inception back in late November 2000.

Two-Face just blinks and frowns as this shocking revelation sent him into near silence. All Wayne could do was ask Harvey why he would risk everything to become the Caped Crusader. With a heavy sigh, Harvey explained himself. "I've always believed in the law, both as Harvey Dent and as Batman. But after Scarecrow released the original five freakshows upon Gotham City, I realized that Harvey Dent alone could not save Gotham City. The law itself was never the problem, just the law becoming overextended. I donned the cowl and the cape so I could keep the city I love safe. It has come with several sacrifices: the Riddler forcing me into some VR nightmare, seeing Clayface die so horribly, and now my family's safety. Being Batman has never been easy, but it has always been necessary. I've only done it to protect the people of Gotham, and that included you, Bruce."

Two-Face was melting back into Bruce Wayne, at least for a while, as Harvey Dent continued. The way Harvey spoke... it sounded so genuine yet so pained. "I'm sorry I wasn't around as Batman when your parents died, Bruce, but their death was a factor in my decision making. I was only a law student when they died; I didn't have the power or resources back at age 23 to do anything about it. But believe me, if my strengths included time travel, I would bring Thomas and Martha back in a heartbeat. As much as I've always worried about them, my family has supported me for the past fourteen years or so that I've been Batman. Please spare them, Bruce. It was wrong for Joe Chill to kill your parents, and I'm begging you not to go down the same path." By this point, the legendary Harvey Dent was barely able to hold back tears, as was Bruce Wayne.

That last sentence from Harvey dug into Bruce's skin like a foot-long needle. Joe Chill was the monster who ruined Bruce Wayne's happy life, and now he was about to do the same to Harvey Dent. Bruce Wayne began to visibly shake as the realization donned at him: he became the monster that he always feared and hated. "God, I'm no better than Joe Chill, am I?" Bruce Wayne asked the silent Harvey. "There's no going back now. There's only one way to remedy this. Goodbye, Mayor." With a flip of his coin, Bruce Wayne aimed his pistol at his head and determined if he got to die. It landed on the unscarred side, meaning that Bruce must live with what he has done. An angry Two-Face just holstered his weapon as he allowed Harvey Dent to cuff him and leave him at the mercy of the authorities.

Finality Brings Uncertainty.

The Dent family escaped Two-Face's clutches unharmed, with Gilda and her four children returning home safe. Harvey willingly went with the GCPD, though curiously enough, none of the officers pointed a gun at him, cuffed him, read him any Miranda rights, or any customary arresting action. In other words, the Batman was revealed and still no actual action has been brought against him. Despite the statutory code against vigilantism, no one could ignore the reality that Gotham City sees Batman as a hero rather than a criminal. It now makes sense why Harvey Dent never pressed charges against the Batman as District Attorney, but the D.A.'s Office under Acting D.A. Dinah Lance continued this policy even now. With the police force, Dent's activities as Batman actually helped far more than they ever hurt. Batman's insistence on not tampering with evidence, reading criminals their Miranda rights, and cooperation with the police now made perfect sense. Though technically not the right thing to do as District Attorney, Dent always acted as Batman for the law's benefit even if merely being Batman was not entirely lawful in of itself. Dent was not even detained to a jail cell, though he patiently waited at the precinct while his fate was being determined.

No one wanted to see Harvey Dent behind bars, even with his vigilante activities as Batman considered. The administration of Gotham City already formed an idea for what to do with Harvey Dent, though it was a gamble that required the agreement of the New Jersey state legislature as well as the state's Governor. Delaware and Pennsylvania are two states that have recently passed legislation that allows for their statewide governments to license and deputize specially trained individuals to act as heroes to combat special or intensely pervasive normal crime and threats that cannot be handled by regular police or state troopers. This "Sanctioned Vigilante State Official Act," or the SVSOA, has seen success in Gotham to allow heroes like Starfire and Raven to operate unhindered by the law because their actions have been made lawful! As Batman, Harvey Dent has already shown the skillset, the training, and the moral character befitting a state vigilante. To operate as a legal vigilante, Dent would be required to resign from his position as Mayor and would need special permission from a state Governor if he ever needed to work outside of New Jersey, but Dent seems unbothered by these details. In fact, when interviewed by the press while waiting for his fate on voluntary house arrest, Dent happily proclaimed that "there are no regrets. I'm proud of my actions as Batman." Mayor Dent will almost certainly not remain Mayor for long, but this special convening of the NJ state legislature to pass an NJ version of the SVSOA might save Dent's skin after all. Gotham City definitely supports it so the adventures of Batman may continue....

---

Thank you everyone for participating! It is a shame to see this series end, but this has been a very fun month to write and play out this series! However, Life in Gotham is not dead by any means. The title may be different, but sometime soon I intend to transfer this series to AH.com to write out in greater detail. This will allow me to revisit the series all over again and flesh things out in greater detail, rework minor details to further enhance the story, and allow me to explore things that I was unable to or was unable to do so deeply. As such, I will keep the Master Thread in my signature and will link to the AH.com thread whenever it is started. As I have a Legal Writing motion to write, the AH.com thread may not come for another three weeks, but I will try to make the time to start it early if possible. Thank you for playing, as this has been incredibly fun!

[Antonio the Sixth]

Thanks Bigby, this series was a lot of fun.

[Bigby]

Thanks Bigby, this series was a lot of fun.

I'll make sure that everyone stays tuned for the expanded version on AH.com. As a special side-note, I actually flipped a coin for Two-Face's fate. I am still deciding on whether or not to make a Gotham Beyond, and if I do, whether to run it concurrently, before, or after expanding this series.