A/N: Hi all! This isn't actually DefyingGravityElphaba posting...this is her friend. I've never posted a story on here before, so I'd like lots of feedback. If you like it, review it! If you hate it, at least tell me why! I'd also like to let you know that this story is halfway based on reality. As many of you may know, before TDK was released the studio hosted an alternate reality game for hardcore fans, in which "the Joker" led them on a scavenger hunt through major cities around the world. The prizes were usually new posters, clips and trailers. To adapt the ARG for my story, I removed the movie-related prizes and set the entire scavenger hunt in Gotham. I also had to make significant cuts in the plot of the game for timing purposes. However, all the links and e-mail addresses are valid, so check them out if you're interested! Read and review! ~G

Chapter One: I Believe in Harvey Dent Too

"This is a GCN traffic update," the radio announced, shattering the early morning quiet. "Police activity in the area around the Gotham National Bank Building is slowing cars to a crawl downtown. GCN r--recommends a--alternate r--r--routes…" The broadcast began to go into static, eventually fading into silence. However, the clock radio had done its work; within the minute, Gwen Fleming was out of bed. She leapt over to her closet in the fashion of a ballet dancer, opened the doors wide, and in no time at all had selected her clothes for the day: a peach-colored tank top, a white camisole, and Capri-length pants with lots of pockets.

Dressed, Gwen walked to her window and began to brush out her hair. It was medium-brown, cropped to shoulder length with bangs that hung down in her eyes, flat overall but a bit staticky. Across the street, a Harvey Dent for District Attorney poster smiled back at her. The DA elections weren't until November, but Mr. Dent was obviously getting a head start. "I believe in Harvey Dent!" it declared. "Do I?" Gwen mused to herself. "Do I believe In Harvey Dent?" When her hair was straightened to her satisfaction, she reached into her desk (which overlooked the view from her fourth-floor apartment's bedroom) and pulled out a handful of bangles, which she arranged on her arms with quick dexterity. Her hands were a bit on the large side, her fingers long and delicate. Finally, she pulled her army boots out from under the bed and put them on, lacing them extra, extra-tight. Yes, now she was ready to face the day.

And why would she remember this day in particular in the years to come? Why, of course, for this was the day when everything changed.

--

While she was fixing herself a breakfast bagel, her cell phone rang, the tune of an anonymous concert piece recently released on the Internet ringing through the three-room apartment. She was on it in an instant. "Hello?"

"Hey, G." It was her best friend, Reeva Simms. Reeva, twenty-one years old, hair blond, curly, worked in a comic book shop on Seventh and Main.

"Hey. What's up?" Gwen took a bite out of her bagel as she spoke.

"I found something weird when I opened up shop today. You know anything about it?"

"Don't think so. What did you find?"

"Playing cards. Scattered all over the floor." This made Gwen stop mid-chew.

"Playing cards?"

"Yeah. They're all Jokers, and here's the really odd part: whoever put 'em there stamped 'I Believe in Harvey Dent, Too' all over them. Along with 'Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha'…"

"Yeah?" Gwen was interested now. "Think it relates to one of the ARGs?" The comic shop Reeva worked at sponsored three different Alternate Reality Games: Top of the Town, Yoshitomi Smack-Down, and Caves and Cloisters XI.

"I doubt it. Hey, you want to come down here and see the things before the manager arrives? He'll want to throw them away, I'm sure."

"You bet I do. I'll be there in fifteen minutes."

When Gwen pulled up to the shop in her shiny, black Toyota, the scene was chaos. Reeva hadn't been kidding. The cards were everywhere: all over the floor, scattered on the counter, stuck between the pages of the comic books lining the shelves. Each Joker was different, but the stamped message was the same.

"Dang," Gwen said. "Say, were you just tricking me down here to help you clean up?"

"I can't be specific at this time," Reeva replied with a grin.

The pair spent the next half hour picking the cards out of their hiding places. In the end (8:45, when the manager arrived), they had found 237. Their ill-gotten gains were now loaded into a spare cardboard box, formally used for comic books, and stuffed in Gwen's trunk. She had offered to take them home (mainly because she secretly wanted them for wall art).

"Thanks a million," Reeva smiled as Gwen got into her car. Her eyes flashed back inside. "Oh, crud, wait a second!" She was back to the door in an instant, waving another Joker card between her index and middle fingers. The manager stared at them curiously. "Found another." She quickly gave it to Gwen through the window of the car and retreated back into the shop. "You rock, G!"

When Gwen got home she immediately started looking through the Joker cards in the box. She hadn't really gotten a close look at most of them down at the shop. She looked through them for the better part of an hour, the radio streaming city news in the background, but she still could not find two of the exact same card. With a chuckle, Gwen realized that she hadn't known that there were that many different kinds of card decks in the world.

Once she had all the cards sorted out (stored in a photo album until she could figure out just how to display them), Gwen realized that she hadn't even lent a thought to the purpose of the cards. "What could they all mean?" she mused to herself. She presumed that they were probably supposed to be a symbol of something. Perhaps they were put there by Dent's opponents? No, she rationalized, these were different. Harvey Dent's political opponents no doubt would have included nasty facts about Dent's personal life. The cards were, in a way, a threat. No politician would try to pull something like that.

Gwen walked over to her window and sat down at her desk, contemplating. This is where she usually did her schoolwork. She had moved to the apartment on her parent's money, in order to be near Gotham University. She was a year younger than all the other juniors because of her birthday, July 29. This coming fall, she would be a senior in Criminal Psychology. Now, though, it was the beginning of summer, and she was having a bit of trouble finding a good job. In fact, Gwen thought to herself, she should be spending this time checking the Gotham Times Online for job ads in the classifieds.

As she reached down for her electric green laptop, stored in the bottom drawer of the desk, a thought struck Gwen. She immediately sat back up and placed the laptop on the desk, but her eyes were on the campaign poster across the street. As the laptop booted up, she regarded the small print underneath Harvey Dent's smiling face. "Join the cause at IBelieveinHarveyDentToo . com" The second her laptop was loaded, she entered the Internet and typed in "IBelieveinHarveyDentToo . com".

A/N: Well, there you go. If you like the direction the story is going and want me to continue, make sure and review! Thanks! ~G