An odd assortment of birds chirped and tweeted outside of Barbara Gordon's window as the sunlight first began to creep inside her room. She hadn't slept that night. Around midnight, her father received a call on the phone before dashing out of the house. He didn't say why, but he looked extremely worried as the door swung open and shut with his passage. She had waited all night for him to return, but had received no news. As the minutes ticked closer to the start of school, a knock on her door picked her up out of her daze.
She rushed to her door, tripping over a pile of textbooks as she went, to greet her father. But as she twisted the knob and pulled, she couldn't help but be a little disappointed to see her mother. Her face was pale, almost a bit sickly. Beyond that though, most people could be forgiven for mistaking her and Barbara for the same woman. She looked a bit worried, and her bright red hair was rather disheveled. The bags under her eyes hinted that she hadn't slept.
"Barbara, dear, it's almost time for school. Are you all ready?"
"Yeah, mom." Barbara told her mother as she scrounged up a few books and shoved them in her bag.
The two walked downstairs, not even glancing at the empty kitchen; Barbara's father was always the one to make breakfast. Mrs. Gordon took Barbara and her little brother out to the spare car, to deliver them to school herself in the absence of her husband.
The ride to Gotham High was silent. All of them knew what the others were thinking, however. On overnight cases it was commonplace to get a call from Jim letting them know that he would be "a few minutes late". The phone never rang that night. They knew that whatever was happening it was something important enough that he had no time to contact them. They refused to think of a situation more dire than that.
The old car sputtered up to Gotham High, the front mysteriously lacking students. Barbara looked around, expecting to see Bruce waiting for her by the steps. Or at the very least Eddie creeping around, waiting for her. But not a soul populated the exterior of the stately old building. She looked at her mother, who gave a very sad smile and kissed her on the cheek before gently motioning her out of the car. Her mother blew her another kiss as the jalopy backed out and drove away.
With a deep breath, the girl turned and marched toward Gotham High's front door. Something odd was going on, and she was curious. Perhaps a bit nervous, too. Something seemed wrong, today. She ascended the steps, noting how convenient they were when she didn't have to weave through a crowd to use them. When she finally got to the door, she peered through to see the inside nearly as barren, save for a single individual plodding through the hall. The scrawny kid with red hair and thick glasses. Unmistakable.
"Eddie!" Barbara shouted as she shoved the door open, doubling her pace to keep him from losing her. The effort was unnecessary, as he stopped in place and waited for her like a faithful dog as soon as he heard her voice.
"Hey, Babs!" he shouted in his excitement. Barbara considered punching him for the nickname. He seemed so happy, though, she couldn't bring herself to do it. "Is there something you need assistance with?"
"Yeah, actually, there is." Barbara responded, looking around at the starkly empty hallway. "Is… anybody here today?"
Eddie pondered this for a moment. It was as if he'd just noticed the utter lack of other people on this morning. Barbara questioned if he noticed them on other days, either. He scratched his head, thinking on it for a moment before finally snapping his fingers, giving a little "oh!" in realization.
"There's an assembly!" he said. "In the auditorium!"
"Assembly?" Barbara asked. "There wasn't anything in the announcements yesterday about that…"
"Yes, I suppose it's kind of a last-minute sort of deal." Eddie explained. "Best as I can tell, Oswald had his dad pull some strings to call it. But even he doesn't really know what it's about."
Barbara almost let her jaw drop open in confusion. "How does that make any sense?" She asked. "Why would he call an assembly and not know what the assembly is about?"
"You've got me there, Babs. But you know, it's a real mystery isn't it…"
Eddie leaned against a locker, his face scrunched into a sleuthing look. Barbara decided to leave him there and let him go on his fantasy trip while she rushed to the auditorium. She burst through the red-tinted doors to find the entire student body packed into hundreds of rows of seats. A cacophony of voices filled the air as students bickered and chattered. Barbara attempted to find a seat, and noticed an arm beckoning to her from down the aisle. She recognized Bruce, and shimmied her way past a dozen people before sitting down in an empty seat next to him. He gave her a quick smile and said hello.
"How did you manage to keep an empty seat with this many people?" she asked. All he did in response was show her the seal on his wallet. She wasn't sure whether to groan or chuckle, and ultimately decided on neither. The conversation was dying down as lights began to dim. Still, a pair in front of her were gossiping about something audibly, so she took a moment to listen in.
"…I'm telling you, man, it's all over the news! That crazy bat-guy broke into the Commisioner's house, murdered him in cold blood!"
"You're crazy, bro; nobody up and kills the police commissioner. Do you know how many mob contacts a dude like that's got?"
"Oh, like you'd know a damn thing about the mob. Stop trying to sound like you know more than you do, man!"
The two continued to bicker about subjects that didn't particularly interest her. But she was still enthralled by what they had said. The Commissioner was dead? That would explain why her dad had never come home. She wondered if her mom knew. She wondered if her dad was hurt. The fresh influx of information disabled her for a moment as she became anxious, wondering whether the killer was out for her father as well. A shoulder tapped her on the shoulder. She looked up at Bruce, who had a worried expression tugging on his face.
"Are you all right? You look like something upset you."
She tenderly prodded the corner of an eye, and felt a tear roll down her fingertip. She jumped a bit, unaware that she had reacted so strongly to mere speculation. She lowered her head so Bruce couldn't make eye contact with her. Right on cue, the lights finally shut off, and a single spotlight shone on the stage.
Oswald Cobblepot waddled out onto the stage, accompanied by his brute of a companion. He lifted himself up onto a podium and cleared his throat. Barbara had difficulty making out his face from this far, but something seemed off about him. He seemed very sweaty, even more so than would be expected. She glanced over at Bruce, expecting him to be more observant on the matter than her. He confirmed her suspicions, glaring intently at the fat little man. Before she could say anything, Oswald began speaking in his strange voice.
"Students of Gotham High! Terror is sweeping our brave city!" he began. Though she could not tell what, there was definitely something eating at him. His voice seemed squeaky, as if he were about to faint from pressure. She didn't know a lot about him, but Barbara knew enough to know that Oswald had no trouble speaking in front of a crowd. Something was wrong.
"E-even now, police are sweeping our streets, searching for this man!"
A projector from the back of the room lit up, dust propelled from its vents as if it were waking from a winter's hibernation. A grainy image displayed itself behind Cobblepot, causing more than a few gasps, and the occasional shriek from the more hysterical members of the audience. The image showed a house, completely going up in flames. The police were at the front, weapons trained on a figure that most of the students barely understood. He was dressed in gray and black, a cowl over his head and a cape flowing behind him as he faced down the GCPD. On his chest was a symbol, plain as day—or in the case, perhaps the night—of a bat.
"This creature, this Batman, as he is being called," Cobblepot continued. "is the terror responsible for the death of Police Commissioner Lynns, the father of one of our very own students!"
On cue, the student body booed. They may have been monsters in their own way, but only a few of them ever actually wanted anyone dead. They were appalled that someone could dare to take another person's father from them, most of them thinking of their own dads as they jeered.
"Now!" Cobblepot said, the sweat pouring down his forehead. Whatever was happening, it was going to happen in the next moment. To Barbara's side, Bruce stood and began to inch away. She looked up at him in confusion.
"Where are you going?" she hissed at him. But when she looked at his face, the hairs on the back of her neck stood. He was staring at the stage in what almost looked like horror. She was fairly certain she understood that look now; he had just realized something awful.
"Barbara, come on." He said, tugging at her arm. "We have to get out of here, now."
"Bruce, what are you talking about?"
"We have a guest speaker at today's assembly." Oswald announced. "Please, help me in honoring our dear friend Mr. Garfield Lynns, son of the late Commissioner, who would like to share a few words in memory of his father."
A raucous frenzy of cheers came through the auditorium as the student body attempted to encourage their peer. They respected any man brave enough to speak up about such a heinous crime. But ten seconds passed, and they finally noticed: he hadn't walked on stage. The cheering died out, as people began to whisper among themselves, questioning where their mourning classmate had gone off to. Oswald began to nervously shuffle off stage, leaving a dripping puddle of sweat behind him as he ran. Over the din, nothing could be heard save a small noise that Barbara couldn't quite make out.
It almost sounded like a hissing noise.
Bruce grabbed her by the waist, no longer willing to waste time. He flung her over his shoulder and dashed for the exit. Heads turned to stare at them, but they were unable to question them. In the next moment, the show began.
The ceiling above them burst, red flames tearing away the construction like tissue paper. Shrapnel volleys ejected into the room, tearing up the seats and gashing students as they dove for cover. Barbara curled up, expecting the searing pain to hit her as well, but it did not. She peeked from one eye, and saw Bruce leaning over her. Blood was dripping from his side.
"Oh my god, Bruce, what's happening?" she screamed. Before he could respond to her, another explosion rocked the auditorium. Support beams began to crash down from above, one of them coming right for the pair. Bruce pushed her toward the exit, diving back to avoid the burning pillar as it collided with the ground where he occupied a moment ago.
"Barbara, run!" he shouted. "Get the police! The arsonist is here!"
Her heart nearly stopped, as if it weren't in danger of that already. The thought of the Batman attacking the school made her blood run cold. She attempted to find a way back to Bruce, but the smoke was already beginning to fill the auditorium, and that and the flames restricted her view. He was lost in there, somewhere. It looked like most of the students were already pouring through the exit. She attempted to squeeze through them, but she was cut off. She was surrounded by hundreds of kids all trying to fight their way through the small exits, and she was by no means the kind of powerhouse it took to win that fight. As she struggled to slip through, a hand tugged on her shoulder. Barbara noticed it was the greasy-haired kid from her Biology class. He was grinning at her in a way that was somehow creepier than normal.
"Hey, Babs, looks like you're havin' a little trouble there!" he said with a chuckle.
"Get the hell away from me, idiot!" she shouted. "The school is burning down, so unless you know a faster way out leave me alone!"
"Ah," he said with a devious smile accenting his words. "the thing is, I DO know a way out. One that won't get you trampled by the track team. But, I guess you're MUCH too busy to accompany me, so I'll be off I suppose…"
She cursed to herself for having to be around this sleazy goofball, but she waved him back as he began to leave.
"I'm not dumb enough to get myself killed if I don't have to. Show me where to go."
"Ooh-hoo, YAY!" the grease-hair exclaimed, leaping into the air in joy. "I was afraid I was going to have to go through these creepy burning hallways all by myself! Come on, new best friend, let's go have ourselves an ADVENTURE!"
Before Barbara could protest, her companion wrapped his arm tightly around her neck and dragged her off to a little side entrance that the other seemed to be ignoring. He kicked the door open, blatantly ignoring the fact that it was unlocked, and threw Barbara threw. "Hurry," he said, "before anyone else—"
"WAIT!" came a timid little voice from behind them. The greasy-haired kid dragged a hand down in his face in utter disgust, while Barbara nearly jumped for joy of hearing a familiar voice. Eddie Nashton dashed through the door with them.
"Oh, thank goodness!" he said. "It's like a fiery nightmare in there! I suppose you, my companions, have found an alternate exit?"
"Yeah, yeah." the greasy kid said with a suddenly low, growling voice. "Tell ya what, if you can keep your big-word-usin' mouth shut for the whole trip, I might even show it to you."
He reached into the pockets of his purple jacket and produced two halves of a thin, rod-like cane, twisting them together before snapping it against Barbara and Eddie's behinds, whipping them down the hall. "Come on, kiddos, we've got a long haul before sunset!"
The trio took off at a run down the hall, deeper into the school as smoke and flame began to pour in the door behind them…