Author's Notes:

Welcome to the newest Batgirl of the Future installment! *Plays a kazoo* I've been considering working with the episodes "Big Time" and "Betrayal" for quite some time now.

Anyway, with this story, I'll be taking a few risks. For example, one subject in this is a really sensitive one that hasn't been used in my stories before; attempted rape. Aside from this difference and some others that'll appear, I'll be trying to get back to certain roots of what this story series had started as: a look into Terry and Coba's sibling bond. Of course their bond will be a bit strained when Charlie "Big Time" Bigelow gets out of prison, but how so this time? That'll be answered as the story goes along.

I know I usually post the first chapter the same day as the prologue, but I have no idea when I'll have Chapter 1 completed and posted. Heck, I haven't even started the first chapter!

Recommended order of reading:

1. Rebirth
2. Running Out of Inque
3. Remember
4. Eyewitness of the Past
5. Last Resort
6. Big Time
7. The Call
8. Truth Be Told
9. In Waves (which doesn't follow any episodes)
10. What Lies Within (Teen Titans crossover)
11. Betrayal (Part 2 of Big Time; upcoming)

Warning: this chapter discusses an attempted rape. Though it doesn't go into explicit detail to avoid having it be rated M, it could still unsettle others. Viewer discretion is advised.

Anyways, please R&R and enjoy. :)

Gotham City

May 14, 2037

A tall, dark-haired woman stood next to a hospital window, looking at the outside world from inside. Her normally calm green eyes were darkened by rage and fear. She had been in a hospital before, but the reason was too painfully familiar. Her daughter was currently fighting for her life in a hospital room, as she had as an infant fighting cancer. But it's not cancer this time, the woman reminded herself. It's something else, something different in almost every way.

Just the night before, the woman had been home alone when a young blonde-haired man broke in. In spite of being in her late thirties, she looked like she was twenty-one, which she could tell was what the man thought she was when he said something about her being "too hot for a university." Before she had the chance to do anything, he had pinned her down on her bed, managing to tie her left hand to the headboard with a tough rope. He was about to tie her other hand when her ten-year-old daughter rushed in suddenly, calling urgently for the woman. It was obvious the small girl somehow knew of her mother's predicament in spite of being at the park almost all day. At the sight of each other, the three of them froze in surprise, with the brief silence broken by the woman screaming to her daughter. "Run, Coba!"

The girl had little time to run before the man left her mother on the bed, almost instantly catching her. He threw the small girl up against a wall. She gasped out in pain as her back collided with the sturdy structure, then slumped painfully to the floor. The man then knelt down, unstrapped the metal brace on the girl's right leg, and hit her repeatedly with it. Seeing her only child in distress, the woman worked hard at her bonds. With each pained cry from the girl came a quicker, more powerful attempt until she finally broke free. A dark rage took over the woman's senses as she charged at her daughter's assailant, thrusting him away from the beaten girl. The man was shocked by his original target's response, his surprise allowing the woman to beat him repetatively. Realizing he could not fight off the enraged mother, he fled the scene, dropping the girl's brace behind him.

The woman knelt beside the injured little girl, her anger transforming into worry. The child was barely conscious, her entire body either bruised or bleeding. Blood was gushing from a laceration on her head. Her mother quickly wrapped a piece of cloth tightly over the wound to staunch the bleeding, then, grabbing a cell phone from a nearby coffee table, called for an ambulance. The girl had fallen unconscious by the time the paramedics arrived, falling deaf to the woman's soft, comforting murmurs.

All through that night, the woman was at the hospital the girl was taken to. She had not been able to sleep, the possibility of not being awake if her child were to pass away egging at her mind. Instead of receiving bad news, however, the news station delivered some good.

The man who attacked them had been arrested.

He and a younger, dark haired boy were arrested for an attempted theft several blocks from where the mother and daughter lived a few hours after he had intruded their home. Although she went to the cops and reported the crime against her and her child, the woman knew that, considering how corrupt the police force in Gotham was in spite of Commissioner Barbara Gordon's efforts to set it right, her report would go unheard since it was not on television. At least he'll be put away for a while, she thought ruefully. Even if he doesn't learn from this, he won't be anywhere near Coba and me for a while.

"Ms. Brooklyn?"

The woman turned from the window upon hearing her name, the horrific memory interrupted. She looked at the speaker anxiously. "Is Coba alright, doctor?" she demanded.

The doctor nodded sagely. "She's still unconscious and has lost a lot of blood, but we got her stabilized. She's going to be fine, Natalie, though we need to keep her here for a couple of days to make sure she doesn't take a turn for the worst."

Natalie breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank you." A thought occurred to her. "Will she have trouble with memory loss?" she asked the doctor.

"It's hard saying," the doctor replied, her voice solemn. "I would imagine that she won't remember the attack, if there is any memory loss."

If so, it may be for the best, Natalie thought. I'd rather she didn't live with the memory of it for the rest of her life. "When can I see her?"

Before the doctor could reply, a nurse rushed into the room. "Doctor, Coba Brooklyn's awake," she said urgently. "She's asking where her mother is."

"Well, that answers your question," the doctor told her patient's mother. "Come with us."

With a nod, Natalie followed the nurse and the doctor to Coba's hospital room, her heart racing. Does Coba remember the break-in? she wondered. Does she at least remember he was stopped?Upon entering the room, she had a hard time staying composed; the girl's forehead was covered with bandages, her face bruised with only a few small cuts, and her arms bruised with several gashes.

Coba looked up at Natalie, tears of relief, pain and fear falling from her cobalt blue and reddish-brown-spotted eyes. "Mom, you're okay!" she cried.

Natalie went over to the ten-year-old's bed, then sat down and gently hugged her. A single tear fell from her right eye. "I thought I lost you, my little one," she murmured.

"I thought I lost you," Coba replied, her voice strained with emotion.

There was an emotional moment of silence. "Do you recall anything?" Natalie asked softly at last.

"Not really," Coba confessed sadly. "I don't remember what happened. I only remember you were in trouble." Her eyes suddenly lit up. "I did figure out how to get that animal communicator to work, though."

For the first time since the incident, Natalie smiled. At least there's a bright side to her day. "That's great, Coba," she said happily.

Almost as soon as Coba smiled, it evaporated. "Who did this to me, Mom?" she asked.

Her mother's smile faded as well. "I don't know," she replied. "I saw him on the news last night, though. The police arrested him. He won't bother us again." I won't let him, Natalie mentally added, hugging Coba a bit tighter. I'll keep you safe from now on, my child. I won't let anyone try to take you away from me again.