This story takes place during TDK. First chapter takes place a little before the bank robbery.

The rating will change as the story progresses and will contain violence, language etc. You've been warned!

Chapter 1

She took a long sip of her coffee and glanced at the clock above the empty bar. It was almost midnight. She looked down at her cup as she came near the bottom and glanced over at the TV, it was a rerun of Harvey Dent's small campaign rally, talking about cleaning up the streets of Gotham. The longer she stared at the screen the more it sounded like mindless rambling. She scoffed and took another sip from her coffee as the owner walked by, wiping down the tables.

She didn't look up when the door of the café opened with a little jingle. The man who entered had rectangular glasses, dark brown hair and mustache with flecks of gray. He looked around curiously before spotting her and approached her table.

"Miss. Hargrove," a voice said.

"Gordon" she greeted, glancing upward as the man sat on the other side of the booth. "By the way, you can just call me Jessie"

"I think it's better if I don't, especially if we're in the open like this" he replied

"Whatever makes you comfortable, Lieutenant" Jessie shrugged. They were by themselves in an empty café. If she was on the job in any other setting she wouldn't be okay with someone using her name.

"I'm glad you agreed to meet me, but I wish you'd chosen a less dangerous time and in a more inconspicuous location—"

"You'd rather meet in broad daylight when it's easier for the mob to stalk you?" she asked in a calm yet sarcastic tone. "And this café's safe, no one's walking in or out of here except us so you don't have to worry" she explained, to which Gordon raised an eyebrow questionably. "Let's just say the owner owes me a favor" she shrugged off.

As if on cue, the owner walked out of the back kitchen and placed a steaming coffee pot and fresh cups on their table, locked the front door and pulled the blinds so no one could see them, and dimming the lights just enough that it would give the illusion that they were closed but left enough so she and Gordon could still see each other. The owner looked back to Jessie and nodded once before disappearing into the back kitchen again.

"So…" she continued, pouring fresh coffee into the cups and sliding one towards him. "Why did you want to see me?"

Gordon leaned over the table, holding his cup of coffee. "Do you keep up with the news, Miss. Hargrove?"

"I try to" she replied, ripping two packets of sugar open.

"Then you probably heard about money-launderers the D.A.'s been putting behind bars"

"I've heard about it. Why?" she asked curiously, opening a third sugar packet.

Gordon sighed deeply. "Despite the many money-launderers the D.A. had managed to lock up, the mob's still getting its money out somehow. We're close yet still too far from locking any of them away"

Jessie frowned. "That's not what Mr. Dent said at his press conference last week" she pointed out suspiciously.

"That part…was Commissioner Loeb's idea. Sometimes you need to stretch the truth a little to maintain public assurance" he explained slowly. "Dent might've managed to get a written confession about the new head of the Falcone crime family, but there's still a lot of room for something to go wrong"

What was he getting at? Sure, this little plan to get a mob boss behind bars was shaky but Gordon sounded like he had a backup plan he didn't like.

She stayed quiet and waited for him to finish. There was a long pause before he continued. "I won't beat around the bush" he said firmly, folding his hands on the table. "I'm asking for your help" he finally said.

"My help?" she repeated incredulously. "Forgive me, Lieutenant Gordon, but this is outside my purview"

"I know, this was a last resort for me. Miss. Hargrove, you're one of the most excellent undercover detectives I've had the honor of working with, you managed to bust a human trafficking ring that was operating right here in the heart of Gotham—"

"What about your caped crusader?" she interrupted calmly, folding her arms over her chest. Although she was flattered by his praise it didn't make sense to use her when he had a perfectly capable masked accomplice who worked outside the law to help him. Gordon didn't say anything. "Don't worry. You already know I'm not a rat" she assured.

Gordon exhaled. "Batman's relayed a lot of information to me about crime organizations in the past year and he's the reason so many of them are locked up right now. Thanks to his efforts, the mob don't move around as freely anymore and they might be secretly meeting with other mobsters, even foreign ones"

She furrowed her eyebrows interestedly, folding her hands under her chin as she finally understood. "And you need someone to get on the inside" she finished.

The ends of Gordon's mouth twitched. "We might be able to move things much faster" he nodded.

Jessie sighed and stirred her coffee thoughtfully. "Is this job an offer or a request, Mr. Gordon?"

"I'd like to think of it as a request. Again, I'm coming to you as a last resort" Gordon replied, sipping his coffee.

He reached into his jacket and took out a yellow envelope, sliding towards her. She studied him curiously before opening the envelope and quickly reading over the documents inside, her eyebrows rising higher as she got to the bottom of the page.

"I won't fault you for declining. I know its new territory for you" Gordon said patiently.

"New territory? They might as well be two countries separated by an ocean" she chuckled, glancing up at him. She put the documents neatly back in the envelope and folded her hands over it. "I'll take the job" she decided.

Gordon raised his eyebrows, surprised by her answer. Either he was astonished that she agreed to take on the job or that she gave an answer so quickly, Jessie couldn't tell.

"How soon did you want me to start?" she asked.

He shrugged his shoulders. "Next week would be preferable"

Jessie tapped her fingers thoughtfully against her mug and took a long sip. "Three days" she exhaled, setting the mug down. "Give me three days to read over the documents and come up with a plan and then I'll get back to you. Is that okay?"

"Three days?" Gordon repeated dubiously, "Are you sure that's enough time?"

"I can make it work" she promised. "So do we have a deal?"

Gordon stayed quiet for a moment as he was thinking and finally outstretched his hand and Jessie shook it. They discussed the assignment for another half hour before both stood up and headed for the back door.

"I don't think I have to advise you on not involving any friends of yours" Gordon pointed out as they stepped into the dark alley.

"You don't have to worry, I don't have many friends. Just a roommate" she replied, reaching into her pocket. "Here," she said, handing him a piece of paper.

"What's this?" he asked, unfolding it.

"A lead on Jonathan Crane. A week from now he'll be at those coordinates at that time" she explained, putting on her hood. "Pass that on to your Batman" she told him, slipping on her sunglasses and then went their separate ways.

A light drizzle of rain poured on the quiet streets of Gotham city. More often than not there'd be the sound of blaring sirens driving by, but it was so much quieter now. In a city like Gotham, no less, it was almost…jarring. But she knew why just like everyone else.

It didn't take long for her to get back to her apartment. She kicked her shoes off in the corner and quietly tiptoed through the hall, not looking twice at the necktie on her roommate's doorknob and moved quickly to her bedroom so she wouldn't have to hear their giggles longer than she had to. Jessie shut the door behind her, spread the documents on her bed and began to read them thoroughly, preparing for it to be a long night.

Jessie hardly noticed the rays of sunlight streaming through her window. She was chewing on the end of her pen when her door suddenly burst open. Her head shot up to see her roommate standing in her doorway in a baggy shirt that was hanging off one shoulder and no pants.

"Knock much?" Jessie asked sarcastically as her roommate entered her room with a frown and picked up the coffee pot that was sitting on her nightstand.

"You know, I don't know why we bother putting the coffee maker in the kitchen if you keep bringing the pot in your room!" she exclaimed.

"Sorry, I've been working all night, okay?" Jessie replied defensively.

She batted her blue eyes curiously. "Oh, what're you working on?" she asked, craning her head to look at the papers on her bed.

"I got a new assignment. Do you mind?" she said, slapping her hand over the documents.

"Hey, H—"

Both girls turned to the doorway to see a half-naked man with messy red hair standing awkwardly in the hall.

"Oh, er…hi, you must be the roommate" he said embarrassingly.

Jessie gave an awkward little wave as her roommate tossed her blonde hair over her shoulder.

"Jessie, this is Ben, we met at the bar last night. Ben, this is Jessie. Ain't she gorgeous?" her roommate teased, hugging Jessie's head.

She rolled her eyes and pulled away. "Listen, I'm kind of in the middle of something important. So if you two don't mind a little privacy, please?" she said bluntly.

"Oh, sorry, I'll just…wait in the hall" Ben said clumsily and walked away.

"He's so cute when he's awkward" her roommate cooed, turning to Jessie with her hands on her hips. "You know, you're never gonna get a guy with that attitude"

"Yeah, well, for now I'm married to my work. Oh, by the way we're out of sugar" Jessie added as her friend rolled her eyes and walked away with the coffee pot. "Oh, hey, one more thing?" she called.

She stopped in the doorway and turned her head. "What's up?"

"Do you mind if I borrow that new dress you bought? I might need something like that for this assignment"

She raised an eyebrow as if Jessie had asked to borrow her boyfriend, but she knew better than to ask questions especially in her line of work.

"Just give it back to me dry-cleaned" she said.

"You're a saint, Harley!"

"I know!" she sang matter-of-factly.

Future chapters will be longer and more detailed, this one's mostly just a prologue for what's to come. If you enjoyed this chapter, please review!