Disclaimers: We do not, I repeat; DO NOT own any of the DC Characters, and the events happened in the DC Universe. The places also count. But we do, however, own every other original piece of creation. That includes Scarlet and Jessica.

Gotham General Hospital, the clock shows 7. It's a cruel evening in March; that succeeds at manipulating itself. The halls of the "sick house" are getting emptier and emptier every minute, except there are a few doctors and nurses who will "stand guard all night long to protect what they have": Their patients. It is their duty tonight.

In one of the corners; a young, beautiful nurse talks on the phone.

"Yes…No; I'm busy tonight…What…? Oh I'm on duty tonight at the hospital…No, don't come to visit." She giggles as she plays with her red hair. "There are many under intensive care, I don't think I'll be able to find a moment…Jackson! You know I love you, that's not the issue…Ok…Yeah, I do honey, I do love you…Kisses, bye." With a huge grin on her face, she hits the 'END CALL' button. She has to check on her patients, so she walks down the hall and steps into their rooms whenever she comes by one of them. At the end of 15 minutes, she enters the last one.

"How are we doing, Mr. Norman?"

Lying in the bed, the old man looks at his nurse, who has came to his side. "I feel awkward, child. The medicine in this thing gets me pretty dizzy." He says, pointing at the serum connected to his vein.

"Then, this should do…" The redhead says, reducing the amount by pressing a button, and then she straightens the elder's pillow.

"You have to be wide awake you know, for your injection." She turns around to leave.

"Call me if you don't feel well." She stops outside the door, taking notes on her report papers.

"Psst, Scarlet!"

"Jessica?" The redhead raises her head.

"Have you finished all reports?" Her friend/colleague asks her.

"Yep, just now."

"Good, come on; let's take it easy for a while, huh? We'll hang around in the cafeteria maybe?"

Scarlet immediately accepts it, and together they head for the dining hall.

"So you mean you aren't seeing Nick anymore? –Man, how I love lemons…" Jessica asks Scarlet, while she nibbles the lemon in her hand.

"I've never been seeing him, Jess! The guy is my gymnastics coach, I mean, how would I even do that?"

"But you don't object when you're having sex with him in his bed?" Jessica makes a sarcastic comment; unfortunately a true one. Scarlet looks at her like she has been bitch-slapped on the face.

"That was one time, and we had just got out of a bar that we had gone in to celebrate my state championship! Look, we were drunk, I don't remember anything."

"This is such a cliché!" Jessica laughs. The other nurse tries to defend herself but she cuts it out.

"Alright, alright…Tell me, who is this new guy?"

"Jackson Keller-"

"Gabriel Keller's son?! I mean the beer company guy?!"

"Yeah, that'd be him-"

"Girl, where the fuck did you find him anyway?" Jess laughs, her friend joins her.

"Well, he was sitting next to me on the plane to New Jersey. I couldn't believe it at first but yeah, this is just pure luck."

"Man, doesn't he fly in a private jet or what?"

"I thought so, too! It's really weird." Scarlet checks the time.

"Holy shit, Mr. Norman has to get his injection now, can we go?"

"Sure, I'm done."

The two nurses enter the hall and walk the way down until they see two masked men with guns standing in front of the exit door. There's no one else around, as if all of the sailors had abandoned their ship during a pirate attack.

Though for the two, it gets scarier when they hear footsteps approaching from behind. A man lets out a funny laugh.

Max Torres is sitting on his favorite, brown couch as he zaps to see what's going on in Gotham. Every time before changing the channel, he stops for 4 or 5 seconds to understand what the news are about.

"Oh, Gotham Tonight has started…" he says, and puts the TV commander on the coffee table in front of him.

"Good evening, I'm Mike Engel from Gotham Tonight…"

"Leona! Gotham Tonight has started!" Max calls onto his wife. In a moment, she shows up and sits next to him while cleaning her hands which she'd accidentally dipped into pesto sauce.

"…Now, there's a group of reporters on the line, they want to connect live to our studios. We are watching their news."

The tube shows a weird place with two girls sitting on chairs, their feet and hands tied.

"Are we on? Are we? Ahem…"

A weird man with weird make-up steps into the screen.

"Hello there, my city Gotham, I'm The Joker from Gotham Tonight." He laughs.

"I hope you all enjoy yourselves in your cozy little shelters, watching my show."

The camera is shaken.

"Hold the damn thing right!" He roars, and then, looks at the camera again. "The show is called: 'The Clock Is Ticking', aand…the rules are; there are no rules. There are conditions. In Condition 1; The Show is disconnected from Gotham Tonight. Then, the pretty girls here end up being gassed by my very own aerosol combination!" He points at two strange black cylinders in his hands. "In Condition 2; Batman doesn't reveal his real identity in 15 or 20 minutes, well it depends on the limits of my patience, and the ladies here again end up being gassed. You people still have a way to win!" He grins, and his eyes reveal the psychotic freak in him.

"Oh yes, I was almost forgetting about our performers! Let's get to know them!"

He pretends to have a microphone in his hand.

"So, Carrot, tell us your name."

The red haired woman frowns, yet her mind is still swimming in the pool of fear. "Scarlet Raith." A hesitant answer.

"What about your name?"

"J-Jessica…Torres."

"And, what do you pretty ladies do for a living?"

Scarlet gathers the scattered pieces of her mind, and replies: "We… We work as nurses… In Gotham General Hospital."

"Lieutenant Gordon, Lieutenant Gordon! Open Channel 5, quick!" A female voice boomed in the phone.

"Alright, alright! Wait a sec." Worried and curious, Gordon reached to the remote and pressed the red 'on' button.

It had been his day off. He had been enjoying the day with his family of four; him, his wife, his daughter and his three year old son. He had thought; 'This is going to be a good day. Nothing can spoil it.' But he had been wrong. Dead wrong. In Gotham, it was very hard to assume things.

Joker had assaulted yet another place. And had taken two hostages. Two nurses from Gotham General Hospital. He had received the call while he was 'cooking dinner' with his wife, if it could be called that. Laughing, he had opened the phone, and his face fell down. And then, while his wife trying frantically to learn what happened, and while he was dressing, another call had came. Telling him to open the TV and switch to Channel 5. Quick.

And now, he was seeing that Joker had hacked the cable system, and was airing his own 'show' through the connection of Gotham Tonight.

"We...we work as nurses... In Gotham General Hospital..." he heard one of the girls said.

The police officer in the phone was rambling things which Gordon weren't listening as he shot out of the couch he was sitting in, ran to the door, and struggled to dress while trying to explain his wife what had happened. He hurried to his car, slammed the door shut, and started driving to the police station while fumbling with his little portable TV. When he got that to open, he lit the car's siren, indicating that he was an officer.

"So, you like helping the people at need, I suppose…" Their abductor asks as he lowers himself to his hostages' eye level. He smirks, tilting his head, looking at them both.

Jessica Torres is scared out of her mind. She doesn't know why they, of all people, are there; why they, of all people, had to be taken as hostages. Her thoughts are jumbled, her heart beats frenzy, and the back of her head hurts, from a possible hit she might've during their abduction; she doesn't remember.

"ANSWER THE QUESTION!" The clown prince suddenly roars in that brutal voice he used to scold the cameraman before.

First hesitant, Jessica nods her head, then a short "Yes," comes out of her mouth. Nothing more. The Joker examines her face closer; she shuts her vibrant green eyes to avoid his gaze.

"Hmm…" The Joker now looks at Scarlet, one eyebrow raised. The redhead stares back at him defiantly, even a bit rebellious.

Of course, Jessica wouldn't know. Her eyes are still closed, though now calmer. Any time now she expects her or her friend's death.

"Hey, carrot. Answer the question…" Impatient; Joker taps his foot on the floor, his smirk gone. "Or is it just because of the money?"

Scarlet shakes her head once, as if to say; No, I like what I do, and I'm good at it.

"Alright…" Joker straightens again, smirking at last once again. He turns to the camera again. "Batsy… We're waiting… And these pretty ladies already lost 5 minutes… Be quick, Batman."

The police car cut the traffic with a high pitched sound as Gordon scolded the person on the other end of the phone line.

"Yes, I'm watching… Of course I'm coming Adams! ... Right…" He looked at the TV screen upon hearing Joker's roar. Nothing important. Just yelling at the hostages. He turned back to the phone. The voice of the female cop; Shirley Adams; was squeaking in his ear.

"I'm calling the team in, Lieutenant. To move out, if needed."

"You do that." Gordon said, distracted by the road and his thought. "But don't do anything before I come there and unless I tell you to." He closed the phone shut.

Then, Joker caught his attention again. "So, girls, what do you say? About a game? Have you decided?"

The Joker walks around his hostages and he checks both of them out as he waits for their answers.

"So, have you decided?"

Jess looks at Scarlet, worried. She DOESN'T want her to reply.

Playing games with the Joker? , She asks to herself. Count me out.

"HAVE YOU DECIDED?"

Scarlet gulps as she glances at the brown-haired nurse. As if it would ease her down, she pretends like she's talking to Jess in her mind.

If one of us doesn't give him an answer, it will just hasten our deaths. You aren't the one to talk to him, so let it be me.

"We have…"

"And let me hear your answer, then?"

"We accept it."

"Good girl!" The clown tweaks Scarlet, then messes her hair.

"So who wants to start first? May I start first?"

"Be my guest…" Jess says, then again, she tells herself:

If we are all going to die here, then why be so frightened and polite? This is just pointless.

"Hmm, let me think then…I spy…I…spy…" He looks at Jess to find something worth picking on, but his effort is useless.

"No wedding ring? Not even your granny's betrothal necklace? A girl like you?" He laughs, his eyes wide open. The nurse, instead, glares at him.

"Well, no one is concerned about you, then." He averts his gaze to Scarlet. After searching for something valuable that she's wearing, he makes his decision.

"I spy... Something silver and shiny all over..."

Scarlet's bitter expression softens as she remembers her necklace. She remembers Jackson, and for an instant she feels safe.

"Come on, Orange, ask me a question!" The Joker destroys her temporary sanctuary.

"Well…is it in the shape of an angel?"

He laughs as he waves his finger at her.

"Smart, you are very smart. Yes, it is in the shape of an angel."

"Then I suppose…it is my necklace-"

"Which probably your fiancée has given you and that means there are people who love you out there and now they watch my show with hilarious expressions on their faces!" The Clown Prince reveals and starts jumping up and down.

"Can't be worse than you…" Jess says under her breath, which is not, fortunately, heard. She frowns as she tells herself that people are crying in front of their TVs for her too. She tells herself that she is not alone. But after all, they are all alone, without a single sign of Batman.

Joker looks at the clock hanging on the wall. "10 minutes left…" He mused. And still no Batman."

The door of the station opened, and an angry Gordon stepped inside. He looked at the open TV screen to see that the Joker's show was playing still.

With relief, he looked around.

The crew had all been gathered. Even though Shirley Adams was annoying, she was good at these kinds of stuff. What did he expect, though? A typical Metropolis cop.

"Welcome, Lieutenant." Shirley addressed him.

"Adams," He acknowledged her.

"Gordon! Lieutenant Gordon."

Damon Seaford, another officer, approached at him with two cups of Starbucks coffee. Gordon could smell the delicate taste of Iced Mocha before Damon gave it to him.

"Have you tracked the signals?" He wondered.

"Yes, about 2 minutes far from here. Are we moving out?" Damon wondered.

"We'll give Batman a chance. If he doesn't appear in five more minutes, we'll move out." Gordon pulled a chair and sat on it. Damon took his place next to him on another chair.

"Lieutenant? What are you doing!?" Adams practically shrieked. "We have to move out now; we have to save those people!"

"Batman still didn't show up, Adams. If we interact with the situation now, we'll get in his way. That's what we always used to do."

"So you choose to believe in a possible schizophrenic and not take action?" She wasn't used to this. This calmness, this rate of crime, the gore… In Metropolis, everything was better.

"Just because our hero doesn't have superpowers, or doesn't wear a red cape, it doesn't mean that we don't have a hero, Shirley." Gordon answered, watching the show still. "Until things get clear, let's keep out asses clear from this mess. This is Gotham, not Metropolis. Don't expect criminals to give upon seeing the police force."

Adams scoffed, but did as she was told. She waited.

"It looks like Bats isn't going to show up, girls… And I'm really, utterly bored…" Joker turns to the two hostages merrily. "Do you have anything to say to your beloved ones?" He moved to the side for the camera to shoot the hostages, and got himself ready to gas the place up.

"Shit!" Gordon shot out of his seat for the second time in the same hour. All heads turned upon him. "We're moving out, people! No time to wait for Batman!"

A soundless rumble started inside the office suddenly. Everyone hurried to their cars without saying anything.

Shirley Adams glared at Gordon for a second, and then ran to her own car.

After a moment on hesitation, Scarlet smiled grimly to the camera. "Jackson… Should've listened to you tonight… I love you."

Gordon was driving like mad, with Damon at the passenger seat. "Take that turn!" Damon suddenly blurted out. "It's a short-cut!"

"Good, very good…" The clown prince turned to Jessica. "Now, it's your turn."

It turned out that Damon was right. They arrived to the 5th street straight away without having to corner the other three.

Jessica glared at the clown, no longer frightened like she was 15 minutes ago. Then, finally caving, she turned her solemn face to the camera. "Ma, Pa, I'll miss you. Christian; I'm sorry. I never should've said those things to you."

"That should be the building!" Shirley's squeaky voice boomed in the walkie-talkie, and the car in front of them accelerated towards the light pink building 4 flats away. Gordon stepped on the gas to speed up.

"Ok, you're done, right? Let's get this done, girls."

Police cars stopped in front of the building abruptly. Officers ran out of them in a hurry.

"It was nice talking to you, thanks for joining to my show." The Joker turned to the camera. "Dear watchers, thanks for putting up with our first Live show, and now, for a good effect, we'll end this episode with a real kick." His hand went to release the gas.

Gordon barged in the building. "Fuck…"

"Good evening and night, the city of Gotham!" With that, Joker gassed the room.

Gordon was running with all his might to the highest floor. A gun at one hand, desperate to save the hostages.

The girls, with frenzy laughing fits, fall on the ground. A minute later, they're still smiling creepily, and giggling from time to time, but from now on, humanity is lost from their eyes.

One more floor left. Shirley was close at Gordon's track.

Joker smiles to the camera. "Enjoy."

The camera shakes.

The last floor. Policemen search the rooms.

Joker walks over to the camera, now only his face seen. He holds the sides, and gives the camera a real good shake while it still rests in the other's hands, then holds it still perfectly. "This is how you hold a camera straight." With that, something happens. The camera trembles, a low grunt of pain is heard. The camera falls on the ground, a male's body next to it. Two purple shoes appear in front of the camera, then leave. The line is disconnected.

He couldn't save them.

One dead, two damaged beyond repair. Gordon had thought that he could do it; and he could do it; he would if he hadn't waited one minute longer. He felt like it was his fault.

The ambulances arrived, and took the hostages and the cameraman away. Gordon stared at nothingness for a while, until he was interrupted with Damon.

"Are you ok?"

"Yes…" Gordon sighed. "I'm going home. Do you need a ride?"

"No, don't worry about it. I'm going with Perla."

"Oh, alright. See you tomorrow then."

"See ya'."

Gordon entered in his car, and let himself relax on the leather seat. Disbelief, shock, and disappointment downed in his heart. But he let them go. Surely Batman had a reason not to do anything.

He turned the key and the engine roared to life. He started driving home with a bitter face.

Shirley Adams had been right after all, in one sense. Not the sense that he's make, but certainly a way of looking.