A/N: To clear up what's going on in this chapter Although they're not connected to the mastermind, a company called Admospherics, LTD has discovered a way of putting subliminal messages into videos that works in the same way that the suicide messages do. They produced the anti-shoplifting messages for Schreck's, messages which are very threatening--'They're after you. They're going to catch you.' and so on.

If a person who's already paranoid is exposed to those messages, they melt down and have a psychotic episode.

If someone who has been primed to commit suicide comes into contact with the messages, they try to commit suicide. That's what's happening in this chapter. Once Batman and the Gotham City Police Department find out about the messages, they will be on their way to blocking them.


"What do we have here?" Gordon asked as he got out of the cruiser in front of Schreck's Department Store, a venerable Grand Dame of a building dating back to the Edwardian era. Among the newer structures and edifices, she looked like a grandmother dressed for the opera amid a younger generation dressed for a rave.

His people had already cleared a wide section of the street and set up floodlights, aiming them at the water tank on the roof. The building was five stories high, but the tank rose at least another story above that. "Someone said there was a hostage situation?"

"No, sir. That was a miscommunication, because the officer responding called for a negotiator. There's a thirteen year old girl up on top that tank, threatening to jump." Byrd told him. "Her name's Jennifer Snow—and she's on the Risk List." That was the name the department had given to the girls from the Mercier Modeling Bureau files. The Risk List had been released to the media, so no could say they were not informed.

"What happened?" The commissioner was not about to waste time asking why she hadn't been watched more carefully.

"As far as we can tell, she was shopping with her mother and her younger brother. She was waiting while her mother was busy in the dressing room with the boy when she screamed and ran. She took the escalators to the rooftop café, and from there she climbed the maintenance ladders to the top of the tank. She's standing on the wrong side of the railing, scared out of her head and screaming for everyone to keep away."

"Binoculars." Gordon ordered, and Byrd handed him a pair. Gotham City's commissioner swept the water tank with his enhanced vision, found the slight figure of Jennifer Snow, and focused on her. She wore a red coat, and her short, mouse-colored hair was cut in a feathery pixie style. The wind toyed with those silky, pale strands, whipping them about one moment, then tousling them as if with affectionate fingers the next. Her face was contorted with terror, and she gripped the railing with all her strength. He could see that she was trembling. Was it out of fear? Was it fatigue, or was she shaking with cold? Perhaps it was all three.

"Where's the fire department?" Gordon asked, thinking of their safety nets.

"Fighting a blaze over in the Gotham University dorms. They say they'll be here as soon as they can."

"Damn it!" Gordon swore. "What are we doing to save this girl?"

"We have a trained negotiator up there trying to talk her down." Byrd defended.

"Not good enough." Gordon shoved the glasses back into Byrd's hands and strode into the store. From the outside, Schreck's strove to maintain the old traditional look, but inside it was pure twenty-first century, natural materials married to cyber-age design, slick and organic at the same time, with huge video walls showing a time lapse film of a forest changing from her summer green dress to fall's rich brocade. "Which way is the elevator?"

It seemed to take a lifetime to get to the roof. More than long enough for Jennifer Snow's life to end. But eventually the doors opened to reveal the famous cast-iron and glass Orangerie Café, all Art Nouveau curves and swirls.

At that hour, they should have been serving dinner. Instead it was cleared of everyone but security guards, a few police officers, and Maximillian Schreck himself. The billionaire owner began, "Ah, Commissioner—.", but Gordon stormed on past in his haste to get to the water tank.

Looking at the narrow ladder Jennifer Snow had to have climbed to get to the top, Gordon paused. Surely there were enough people milling around up there. He could hear feet clanging on the metal, voices raised to send reassuring messages. Instead he stepped around to the street side, where a woman and a boy no older than his Jimmy huddled, with two of his officers, out of the wind. Icy tears burned on the faces of woman and boy.

"Are you Jennifer's mother?" he asked the woman.

She nodded, swiping at her eyes. "I don't know—I don't—I wanted to cheer her up, so, so I—."

"It's all right, Mrs. Snow. We'll save your girl. Is there something everyone calls her, like Jen or Jenny?" Gordon smiled as genially as he could manage.

"Jen. She wants to be called Jen, now that she's a teenager." Mrs. Snow told him.

He cupped his hands around his mouth. "Jen? Jen Snow? Can you hear me?"

"Who—who are you?" A thin, quavering, young voice floated back to him. "Keep away from me! I'll let go before I'll let them get me!"

"I'm a friend, Jen. I'm here to help you. I don't want you to get hurt."

Whatever answer she might have made was drowned out by an angry shout from above. "Who the hell is that?" He didn't recognize the voice, but the wind and distance distorted sound.

"It's Jim Gordon." he called back, not wanting to alienate the girl with his title. She sounded paranoid.

"Oh. Sorry, sir."

"Can you still hear me, Jenny?" he called. "I'm nowhere near you, sweetheart. I'm staying away. I can't even see you. Are you still there?"

"Yes." came her reply.

"Can you tell me what's wrong? I want to understand what's going on."

"They know—they know what I did, and they're after me!" she shrieked. "Keep away, keep away!"

"I will stay away, and I want everybody else to keep back too. Do you hear me? Jen is just a young girl. I don't know what she did, but she's not in any trouble for it." He tried to put as much authority into it as he could.

Backing away from the tower's shelter, he moved to a place where he could see Jennifer Snow silhouetted against the high-rise next door. "Jen, look to your right, down on the roof. Can you see me? I'm the man waving at you." He raised his hand and swung vigorously.

"Yes!"

"Good. Look, I promise I won't let them get you. Whatever you did, I promise you won't be punished, and nothing bad will happen to you. Aren't you cold and tired, Jen? If you come down, you can rest and have hot chocolate in the café with me and your mom and your brother. Just step back inside the railing, and it'll be all right, I promise. I won't let anybody get you."

She stood still, but he could sense a shift. She was listening. His persuasion was working. She shifted her grip, swung one leg back over the rail—and slipped.

"NO!" Gordon shouted, but it was too late. She was falling…

…yet as she fell, a dark shape blotted out part of the sky to swoop in on ragged-looking wings and snatch her up to fly away with her—but no, it wasn't a colossal raptor, some night predator of prodigious size, it was a man. Batman. A cheer went up from the roof and the street below as Gotham City finally saw her hero act as a hero should act: saving the day, saving the girl.


Batman winced. The movies made it look so easy. However, catching a hundred pound weight that was falling at thirty-two feet per second per second with one hand while holding on to his line with the other was difficult and painful. He would be lucky if he hadn't cracked a rib. Then add in the fact that the weight was alive and literally kicking and screaming, and those factors squared the difficulty.

Seeing a parapet coming at him, he raised both legs and shoved back before they crashed into it. As they swung back toward the department store, he triggered the reel-up, then let go so they tumbled on the roof top, he shielding her with his own body, and that just plain hurt. Dazed for a moment, he let the girl go. She sat up and immediately began to cry noisy tears, her mouth wabbling like that of the infant she had once been.

Gordon rushed over to the girl, catching her up in both arms. "Are you all right? It's okay, Jen. Everything's going to be okay."

A moment later, a woman skidded to a halt by them, falling on her knees in her haste to get there. "Jen—oh, Jen, oh, thank God you're all right, baby…" she wept into the girl's shoulder. "Thank you, Batman, thank you!"

Other people took over from there, and Gordon helped him to his feet. "You all right?" the commissioner asked his friend and newest deputy. "Well done." he replied at Batman's nod.

"What happened?" asked the masked crimefighter.

"I've no idea. Her name is Jennifer Snow. She's one of the girls on the Risk List. All I know is that she was shopping here with her mother when something triggered her into coming up here and threatening to throw herself off the water tower."

"There are no other reports of attempted suicides." Batman rasped. "So the trigger must be something in the store."

"I agree. If you're up to it after that stunt, I want you to look into it--you have full authority. Take who you need. Go through the store with a fine tooth comb. If Schreck objects, threaten him with the media. Being uncooperative would make for very bad publicity. Right now, I have a promise to keep to Jen involving hot chocolate."


A/N: A second chapter without Jay and Grace? Sorry, it just didn't work out any differently. They'll be back next chapter. I promise.