Set after The Dark Knight.

Obviously, Batman isn't mine. I wish. Well, mainly I wish Christian Bale was mine, but I digress.

Prologue | Phone Call

In the dead of the night a woman was sleeping soundly. Through her thin curtains the red lights of the level crossing could be blurrily seen flashing and because her window was closed the tolling of the bell was not audible. It was eerily silent in her bedroom. You would have had to listen very closely to discern her breathing, for otherwise it was too soft to disturb the silence. If a swat team had busted through her door at that moment they would have thought she was dead. Suddenly the cell on her nightstand started to ring softly. The woman moaned and turned over in her sleep. The ringtone kept getting louder and louder until the woman slowly awoke and pressed the green phone symbol.

"Yes?"

"Hi honey," the voice on the other end attempted cheerily, but Alex wasn't fooled as she sat up straight.

"Mom, what's wrong? Did something happen to Earle?"

"Oh no, Earle is fine. Don't worry about him. And I'm fine too," her mother was quick to reassure her.

"Then what?"

"Have you watched the news or listened to the radio today?" her mother anxiously asked.

"No, should I have?" Alex asked, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.

"You should always try to stay up-to-date, dear. The number of times I've told…"

"Mom!" Alex snapped

"Ok, ok. I don't really know how to... So, I'll just… Your father was killed. He was shot," the disembodied voice informed her.

"Oh," she managed to respond and then, "Did they catch the murderer?"

A lengthy silence followed until her mother cleared her throat and laughed awkwardly.

"Do they know who did it?" Alex tried again.

"Well, they say they know who it is, but is all seems so ridiculous," her mother finally offered.

"Who?"