Here is the start of the companion story, I'm not going to follow my schedule for this story, and instead just update whenever I get a chapter finished and edited.


It all started on this day, five years ago, I was twelve at the time, my entire childhood had been a pretty normal one, up until my parents had a giant argument.


"What do you mean you lost your job!" Tiffany yelled as she slammed her fist onto the table she was sitting at. "I told you exactly what happened, I wasn't getting enough work done within my hours, and I refused to work overtime, it was that or get demoted for slacking off!" John yelled as he pointed his finger at her. "I know that, why didn't you just decide to get demoted, you know what we had planned for Mason, to finish his years at Gotham Academy then go off to college, he was lucky to be able to get in so young...what are we going to tell him?" She said as she stared down at the cup of tea she was holding in her hands. "At least he got in through a scholarship." She said as she let out a sigh and turned to look out the window.

Little did they know Mason was hiding outside the doorway, eyes widened at the news.


M'gann gasped. 'So, it wasn't always like that with his family, at one point they had been a caring and loving one, not cold and abusive.' She thought as she floated further into the memory.


The next day I pretended not to know anything, but when I got home though, I smelled the faint scent of alcohol, I know I should have just gone straight to my room, but I didn't.


"Mom, I'm home!" Mason called out from the doorway of their small house that was only a few blocks away from the school, he stood there for a few seconds, when she didn't answer he shrugged and walked into the kitchen, little did he know he would regret it. "Mom?" He asked as he entered the doorway, while he was approaching he started to smell vodka, something that was unusual to be smelled in his house, when he entered the kitchen however, there sitting on the chair at the table was a drunk Tiffany Bolt, her blonde hair falling in front of her face as she looked up. "Hi my baby boy, how was the pet shop?" She asked, clearly extremely drunk.

"Mom, I was at school, and it was good, I met a new friend, her name is Barbara Gordon, she went to the school a few years back, and decided to come back and help out the teachers." Mason said as a smile worked itself onto his face. "I'm going to my room to do my homework, I'll be down in a bit to give you some crackers or some bread." He said as he started to leave the room, only to get grabbed from the wrist. "Why are you talking back to me?" Tiffany growled in a low and dangerous tone. "I wasn't!" Mason unknowingly screamed, this just caused the hold his mother had on his wrist to tighten, luckily his Dad had entered the house, causing her to let him go, allowing him to take hold of his wrist, it was clear that there would be a red mark there tomorrow, luckily Barbara had given him a bracelet, which unbeknownst to him was secretly a mini bat signal, that alerted her when he was in danger, she had given one to all of the students. "I'm going to my room." Mason hesitantly said as he picked up his backpack and walked out of the room, walking upstairs.


That was the day it all started to go wrong, I had stayed in my room until morning, I didn't think there would be a problem, until I came across her once again drunk, luckily she had fallen asleep.


"Morn-" Mason had began only to stop when he noticed the bottle next to the recliner in the living room, he remembered what happened last night, but it's still his mom, he still loved her and had to check on her. "Mom, you okay?" He asked, when he looked over the arm of the chair, his Mom was passed out, he took the blanket from the couch and draped it over her, and sat a bottle of Advil and a glass of water on the coffee table in the middle of the room. "Love you Mom." He whispered and kissed her forehead, after that he went to leave for school.


"I see you're wearing the bracelet I gave you." Barbara said as she jogged up to Mason, he turned around to where he was walking backwards, a small smile on his face. "Yeah, I am, I thought it looked cool, so I just decided to put it on today, think it goes with this?" He asked as he raised his hand to reveal the lightning bolt shaped ring. "My Great Grandfather had it designed, and now its a family treasure, the materials that were used to make it can't even be found anymore, so its a one of kind ring, and my father gave it to me for my birthday, said to 'Take good care of it'." Mason said as Barbara took his hand in hers to closely examine the ring in better light. "I think it looks good, reminds me of a certain red head and his best friend I know." She said smirking at the memory. "A lightning bolt and definitely go great together." She finished a small smile still glued to her features as she let go of his hand. "Well, I better let you get to class, don't want to ruin your attendance." She said as she shook her hand around in his hair, messing it up.

Mason shooed her away and fixed his hair as he walked to his classroom.


M'gann had been observing Mason from afar, after he entered the school, she flew forwards, stopping once she was in range of Barbara's phone conversation.


"How's the Academy doing, any signs of the bomb Joker was going to release?" Dick asked through the phone. "Good, and no, there's no sign of the bomb, you sure he was going to release it here?" Barbara asked as she leaned against the corner, a few days prior Joker had sent the entire Bat Family a video detailing one of his latest plans, and that was that he was going to release a giant dosage of Joker venom in the form of a bomb on Gotham Academy, this provoked Dick and Barbara to respond, they both tried to reach Artemis to let her know about it, but she had been ignoring both of them. "I'm sure, I tracked the chemical compound to the school, if you can't find any trace of it, then he probably hid it under the school." He said, it was true, he had Bruce help track it down, turns out it was a new compound, so it was harder to track. "Knowing him he'd have Harley nearby, if you find her in the school then that means the bomb is there." He said, Barbara let out a confirming grunt before hanging up.


"Sorry I'm late Ms. Quinn." Mason said as he sat down at his desk. "Mason, I told ya all ta call me Harley" Harley said as she turned around from the desk she was sitting at. "I hope ya all finished tha' assignment I gave ya." Mason pulled out his text book and pulled out the paper and sat it onto the desk. "Hey, Sunburn I can't help but notice that ring on your finger, who'd you steal it from?" With that comment half the class burst into laughter, secretly Harley was gripping her giant mallet behind her desk, she may be a villain, but if there's one thing even she can't stand its bullying, she turned around and gave the kid who started the laughter a glare that would scare even the Batman. "Mista' Prescott, go ta the principal right now." She ordered as she gave a sympathetic look to Mason, he nodded telling her his thanks. "Now, back ta what we were doin'."


"Harley is here!" M'gann screamed, she didn't really care, because she knew that there wasn't a way for her to be heard from the people within the memory. "That means that the bomb is a real thing." She stated as she flew once again further into the memory.


Once the school day was over, I went home, luckily mom was sober, and her normal kind and loving self.


"I'm Ho-" Mason screamed from the door, only to get hit by the clear smell of one of his favorite meals, at least, that's what he thought it was, he walked into the room and surely enough a plate holding on it a Sloppy Joe. "Hey honey." Tiffany smiled as she sat down the plates for her and John. "How was school?" She asked as she took his bag and sat it over by the stairs, before taking a seat at the table.

"It was good, well..." He trailed off, unsure if he should tell her about the comment Prescott made before. "Well what?" She asked curiosity laced hidden within her voice. "I had a talk with Barbara today, I asked her about what she thought about my ring and the bracelet together, she said it reminded her of some red head and his best friend, do you know who she could've been talking about?" He asked, she raised her finger to and chin and started gently tapping it. "Well, five ten five years back, there had been the first Robin, and everybody who saw him swear they also always saw a blur of yellow and red rush by as well, i'm guessing she was talking about the now Nightwing and still current Kid Flash." Tiffany said as the door opened. "Hey Honey, how was work?" She asked, clearly pretending, but they didn't know that Mason knew that. "It was good, the boss had to let Clarice go today, apparently she messed up one to many coffees." He said, the rest of dinner the three of them just sat in silence and ate. "Well, I'm going to g get the reading assignment Harley gave us done, she said it was an E-book that she would have up for download." Mason said as he stood up and placed his plate in the sink, grabbing his bag and walking up to his room.


Once he was in his room he pulled out his laptop, and pulled up the book. "Huh...whats this?" He asked when he saw that the link led to a video, he clicked on it, oopening up the video called 'Announcement of the Joker'


In The Video


It started out with the Joker's maniacal smile, when he backed up he saw Prescott lying on the floor, as if he had literally died of laughter. "What the he-" "Welcome to the show boys and girls, I hope you all noticed the kid in the background, now keep in mind that this is all filmed live, no editing, I am the real Joker, and that Prescott fellow...well...lets just say hes hit the hay forever." Mason's eyes widened, was he essentially saying that he killed him? "Now, in ten seconds this message will end, and in that time feel free to spend it as you will, because as soon as this video is over, a hidden bomb within your computers will go off and release a lethal dose of Joker venom, s-" "Kids, can ya'll hear me?" Mason heard Harley ask, "If ya'll can, this message is prolonging the countdown, please if any of ya'll can hear this, then throw tha' computer out the winda' right now!"


Back To Mason


When he heard her say that he went right to it, he picks it u and runs to the window, opening it up and throwing the computer out, a few minutes later exploding, little did he know he activated the built in bat signal.


"Are you okay kid?" Batgirl asked, when she saw Mason nod. "Good." she said as she turned to her glove and pulled up the holocomputer to look at the casualties. "Half of Harley's class didn't receive the message...Dammit!" She screamed through gritted teeth as she pound her fist into her knee, this caused Mason to pale, had it only been his class that had been targeted? When Batgirl turned back, she saw the conflict clear on his features. "I know I shouldn't do this...but I'm going to anyways, if I do though, you can't tell anybody, promise?" She asked. "Promise." Mason confirmed, his jaw dropping as she pulled back her cowl.

"Barbara?" He asked, when he saw the red headed girl looking back at him. "Hey Mas, now you see why I gave you all that bracelet, it's like my bat signal." She stated, holding out the holocomputer, showing small parts of the city with blinking red dots. "Your the only person I've shown my identity to though." She said as she pulled her cowl back up over her head. "Just press the button on the side of it if you're ever in danger!" She screamed after she grappled to the next rooftop over.


"I think I should fast forward towards the end of the year, seeing as it seems that the first few months weren't bad." M'gann muttered, unaware of the shadowed figure watching her.


And there's the end of the first chapter, please leave a review and let me know how you liked it, and who you think the person watching her is.