Chapter 8
A chemistry textbook lay open on the bed with a notebook full of scribbled notes beside it. A pencil tapped the page over and over. With a groan, Barbara Gordon's head hung inches away from the page.
"Talk back to your cop dad, get grounded for the week," she muttered as her hand hunted for the TV remote. She clicked through channels with a bored expression on her face. She finally stopped on a channel, her eyes perking open as her attention was suddenly piqued. She turned up the volume and shuffled her stomach closer to the edge of her bed with her legs crossed, hunching closer to the television screen set on top of her dresser. Gotham Action News' Anchor, Alex Knox sat in front of a blue screen with a headline set over his right shoulder.
POLICE OFFICER ASSAULTED
"Tonight a Gotham City Policeman was brutally assaulted down in Park Row." We have reporter Viki Vale live on scene, Viki." Barbara held her breath as the image on the screen changed to the live broadcast of a petite blonde woman wrapped in a tan, double breasted coat, holding a microphone just under her pink colored lips. She had to hear the name and was praying it wasn't the only one she cared about.
"Thanks Alex," she said with a smile before her expression focused again. "Just half an hour ago, Gotham Police Detective Arnold Flass was found in this alleyway, viciously attacked." Barbara let her breath free. Not only was she relieved to find that it wasn't her father, now she found herself quite interested. Flass was a name she'd heard from her father before and never in good context.
"He has suffered a concussion due to blunt trauma to his head, multiple cracked ribs, a broken wrist and a dislocated shoulder. No official statement has been made by police as to the cause of the attack, however, many similarities can be drawn made to the hundreds of battery cases against alleged criminals. Multiple witness accounts describe their assailant as a giant black creature, few even going as far as describing it as a giant, bat, human hybrid." A smirk set on the reporter's face as she continued. Barbara felt herself inching even closer to the screen. She pressed her glasses to her face as she watched, eyes wide with intrigue. "Certain insinuations have even gone as far to say that this Bat-Man was implicate in the apprehension of the infamous criminal, Salvatore Maroni. Here comes Captain James Gordon now from the scene." From behind the reporter, Gordon strode away from the bustle of paramedics and police officers. His expression was tired, his short ginger hair slightly disheveled as he wiped the lenses of his glasses on a handkerchief. "Captain Gordon!" Viki Vale called out as she scurried over to him. Barbara never realized just how small Vale was until she stood beside her father, a rather unremarkable looking man.
"No comment," Gordon blurted sternly.
"Captain, is this another attack by this vigilante, the Bat-Man?" she pressed on as Gordon tried to avoid her.
"No comment," he restated sharply. Again he moved to get away but she intercepted his path, showing just how quick and stubborn she was.
"What do you say to the insinuations that the Bat-Man was in fact the one that apprehended Crime Boss, Salvatore Maroni?" Gordo replaced his glasses and fixed her with a harsh glare.
"Look, there is no Batman." Without a single word, he turned away briskly and darted straight away from the camera. Viki Vale returned the microphone back in place under her mouth.
"More on this story as it develops. I'm Viki Vale, Gotham Action News. Back to you, Alex." Barbara ignored the anchorman completely as he mind was still transfixed on the last story. She stared at the television screen, her blue eyes wide and mouth hung open.
"Too cool."
