Getting the Job Done
Oct. 20th, 2008 08:10 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
liptonrm_ficTitle: Getting the Job Done
Fandom: Batman Begins/The Dark Knight
Rating: PG-13
Summary: There are still reasons to fight.
You don’t go to work for the Gotham City District Attorney’s office because you want to save the world, you do it because you’re a frigging masochist.
Actually, come to think of it, it’s probably all Rachel Dawes’ fault. You can still remember the way she looked while she was speaking to your Criminal Procedure class at Gotham University, the light in her eyes and the animation in her face as she talked about the strengths and responsibilities of the legal system. She had a certain tone in her voice when she talked about the need for real justice in Gotham that you could hear for days afterwards. It made you really believe that the only way Gotham could be saved was through the efforts of good, decent lawyers like you. The spark she lit in you made all of the mind-numbing hours between that time and the bar exam somehow bearable. For the first time you thought that maybe you could do something meaningful with your life, that you wouldn’t end up being just another statistic on the evening news.
You do wind up taking that job with the Gotham D.A., even though it’s not the highest-paying or most prestigious opportunity that was punted your way. You know your mom is a little disappointed and worried—she’s pretty much certain that some gangland killer is going to shoot you in the courthouse—but you think your dad is a little proud of your decision, though it’s always hard to tell with him. But what matters the most is that you’re happy with your choice. Doing your part to fight the criminals that have put your home under siege feels good—just—even if the hours are long and the rampant corruption is disheartening. At least you’re finally fighting back.
Unfortunately, it never gets any easier. Even after the Batman makes his debut the criminals still crawl out of the woodwork and kids still get shot on their way home from school. Harvey Dent gets elected and you want to believe in him, you do, but there’s not much left in you that remembers how to do that. All you know anymore is the job and every time a dirtbag gets off because some corrupt cop maneuvered his way into a technicality you feel another little piece of you breaking off. You vaguely remember the starry-eyed way you used to look at the Fourth Amendment and Miranda v. Arizona but now you think you’d be willing to chuck all of that hippie bullshit out the nearest window if it meant that something would actually get done.
Your parents notice the way the job is getting to you and your mom begs you to get a new job, especially at that nice firm downtown. It’s only your love for her that keeps you from blowing up, from telling her that you couldn’t work anywhere else, and especially not for the sons of bitches who keep putting Falcone’s old buddies back on the street. Falcone might be in Arckham for good now, but that’s not much of a comfort. All of Gotham’s an asylum and the inmates are running the show.
For one brief, halcyon moment, everything starts to go right. With the Batman patrolling the streets and Gordon’s task force cleaning up the force and Harvey Dent steamrolling over all of the judicial corruption you start to actually think that things might get better. And then the Joker shows up and proves your point about who’s actually running things in Gotham. Things go from bad to worse and all you can do is sit behind your desk and do your best to help bail out a sinking ship.
It hurts like hell when Rachel dies and Dent is put in the hospital. You start wondering how fast you can get out of town with your own skin intact. You even start flirting with the idea of taking one of those high-priced gigs, either here or in Metropolis, because you’re beginning to think that if you can’t beat them you might as well fucking join them.
When the Joker makes his big announcement and everyone starts running to the ferries you stay at your normal place at the bar and get thoroughly shitfaced. A little purifying fire feels like just the thing. Of course, it’s just your luck that the Joker was only, well, joking, about that whole Apocalypse, Gotham-style, and you end up having to go back to work in the morning. It seems that you aren’t any good at getting yourself killed.
The day after Dent’s funeral you head back into the D.A.’s office. It’s nearly empty, only a couple of the secretaries and paralegals ghosting around the place. You close your office door and pull the letter of resignation out of the bottom drawer of your desk. You stare at the crisp black letters and you think about what Gordon said at the funeral. More importantly, you consider everything you’ve done in the past few years and the trials you’ve endured. Finally, you see Rachel Dawes and the way her face lit up with passion as she talked to your Crim Pro class all those years ago.
You carefully tear the letter into tiny pieces of confetti. You won’t give up on Gotham, not yet. There’s still a whole lot of work left for you to do.
~~~
Fandom: Batman Begins/The Dark Knight
Rating: PG-13
Summary: There are still reasons to fight.
You don’t go to work for the Gotham City District Attorney’s office because you want to save the world, you do it because you’re a frigging masochist.
Actually, come to think of it, it’s probably all Rachel Dawes’ fault. You can still remember the way she looked while she was speaking to your Criminal Procedure class at Gotham University, the light in her eyes and the animation in her face as she talked about the strengths and responsibilities of the legal system. She had a certain tone in her voice when she talked about the need for real justice in Gotham that you could hear for days afterwards. It made you really believe that the only way Gotham could be saved was through the efforts of good, decent lawyers like you. The spark she lit in you made all of the mind-numbing hours between that time and the bar exam somehow bearable. For the first time you thought that maybe you could do something meaningful with your life, that you wouldn’t end up being just another statistic on the evening news.
You do wind up taking that job with the Gotham D.A., even though it’s not the highest-paying or most prestigious opportunity that was punted your way. You know your mom is a little disappointed and worried—she’s pretty much certain that some gangland killer is going to shoot you in the courthouse—but you think your dad is a little proud of your decision, though it’s always hard to tell with him. But what matters the most is that you’re happy with your choice. Doing your part to fight the criminals that have put your home under siege feels good—just—even if the hours are long and the rampant corruption is disheartening. At least you’re finally fighting back.
Unfortunately, it never gets any easier. Even after the Batman makes his debut the criminals still crawl out of the woodwork and kids still get shot on their way home from school. Harvey Dent gets elected and you want to believe in him, you do, but there’s not much left in you that remembers how to do that. All you know anymore is the job and every time a dirtbag gets off because some corrupt cop maneuvered his way into a technicality you feel another little piece of you breaking off. You vaguely remember the starry-eyed way you used to look at the Fourth Amendment and Miranda v. Arizona but now you think you’d be willing to chuck all of that hippie bullshit out the nearest window if it meant that something would actually get done.
Your parents notice the way the job is getting to you and your mom begs you to get a new job, especially at that nice firm downtown. It’s only your love for her that keeps you from blowing up, from telling her that you couldn’t work anywhere else, and especially not for the sons of bitches who keep putting Falcone’s old buddies back on the street. Falcone might be in Arckham for good now, but that’s not much of a comfort. All of Gotham’s an asylum and the inmates are running the show.
For one brief, halcyon moment, everything starts to go right. With the Batman patrolling the streets and Gordon’s task force cleaning up the force and Harvey Dent steamrolling over all of the judicial corruption you start to actually think that things might get better. And then the Joker shows up and proves your point about who’s actually running things in Gotham. Things go from bad to worse and all you can do is sit behind your desk and do your best to help bail out a sinking ship.
It hurts like hell when Rachel dies and Dent is put in the hospital. You start wondering how fast you can get out of town with your own skin intact. You even start flirting with the idea of taking one of those high-priced gigs, either here or in Metropolis, because you’re beginning to think that if you can’t beat them you might as well fucking join them.
When the Joker makes his big announcement and everyone starts running to the ferries you stay at your normal place at the bar and get thoroughly shitfaced. A little purifying fire feels like just the thing. Of course, it’s just your luck that the Joker was only, well, joking, about that whole Apocalypse, Gotham-style, and you end up having to go back to work in the morning. It seems that you aren’t any good at getting yourself killed.
The day after Dent’s funeral you head back into the D.A.’s office. It’s nearly empty, only a couple of the secretaries and paralegals ghosting around the place. You close your office door and pull the letter of resignation out of the bottom drawer of your desk. You stare at the crisp black letters and you think about what Gordon said at the funeral. More importantly, you consider everything you’ve done in the past few years and the trials you’ve endured. Finally, you see Rachel Dawes and the way her face lit up with passion as she talked to your Crim Pro class all those years ago.
You carefully tear the letter into tiny pieces of confetti. You won’t give up on Gotham, not yet. There’s still a whole lot of work left for you to do.
~~~