I had a dream.

It was scary at first. There was Jerome's face with his signature Cheshire smile and his laugh. Then I saw my slaughtered hand, blood splattered everywhere. Then there was Edward smiling kindly at me, and he raised his hand. I approached him, wanting to hold his hand, but there was a switch on his palm. He pressed it and suddenly the floor beneath me disappeared. I keep on falling and falling.

Then I heard Mother's voice, followed by Father's. I called for them and my falling stopped.

I opened my eyes. I clenched them shut again, because I was still a bit dizzy. Thank you, God, I'm alive. I was relieved but we're still stuck in Arkham. In front of me, Bruce and Lucius had just woken up as well. Whatever that gas is, it didn't make me feel good. My chest still felt uncomfortable. I noticed Jim was strapped in a chair. Lucius called out his name.

"Hi," Jim greeted and we replied back. I force myself to stand up slowly.

"Are we alive?" Lucius asked and I let out weak laugh, relieved that all of us are alive.

"So far, so good," Jim responded, but to me he doesn't look good.

"Had to be sure… I thought we were dead."

I helped Bruce get on his feet and asked if he's okay. He only retorted a quick yes and then proceeded to Jim. He was still worried about Jim after what had happened to him.

"Wow, that was unpleasant," Lucius groaned. "How are things going for you? We've had a Hell of a time." I looked at him incredulously. Didn't he see Jim is tied up in a chair and looked like he's on drug?

"Same. I'm a little groggy. He drugged me. Made me talk," Jim mumbled. We untie the straps on his wrists and chest. He said that Professor Hugo had made him talk about everything and he apologized to Bruce about everything that he had done. He even blamed himself for everything. All of us stared at him warily. Professor Strange must have did him good. He's not being himself.

I glanced around the room, finding for another way out because the gate is locked.

All of a sudden, there was a loud buzzed sound and the gate opened. Selina walked in with a few Arkham staffs (whom are armed with big guns). I was a bit eased that she was safe. I supposed she got to the good side of the bad side. I was about to call and approach her but she raised her hand to stop me.

"You," she commanded, signaling Bruce to approach her.

Bruce was hesitated at first, but Jim gave him a sign of encouragement. Bruce really does listen to Jim. Selina and Bruce chatted for a while, we can't really hear them but I hoped she brought good news. Once she left with the staffs, Jim asked him what she told him.

"She'll do what she likes," he said.

"But she always does what she like," I reacted.

"And there's a bomb."


When Bruce told us that the place is going to blow up, I shook. Professor Strange is going to destroy everything, with us inside it. All the evidence would be gone as well, and we won't be able to get him arrested. I hope Selina got a plan to release us.

There was an abrupt muffled rumbling. The whole room shook from an unidentified explosion.

"Sounds like warfare," Jim assumed. Jim had fully awake from the impact of the drug. It was nice to have him back. We need an action combat man here. I'm only a beginner in Thai-boxing, but I could not fight all the henchmen on my own.

The gate of the room opened, and Selina marched inside quickly. Bruce questioned her about the situation.

"Simple psychology," she coolly responded. "Been waiting for the right moment."

"As much as I hate Gotham's polluted air, I can't wait to smell it. I don't want to stay here much longer," I said, moving towards the gate.

"You coming or what?" she asked the men. They were still blurred I guess because they remained still at their position.

Our feet rushed towards the exit, which was where the sound of combustion came from. I could feel both cold and heat from the fire. There was a falling out between them. Mr. Freeze and a lady, whom I did not recognize, were shooting against each other. Ice blasts from Mr. Freeze and flame blasts from the lady.

"Fifteen minutes to detonation," a mechanical female voice announced from the speakers. "Fifteen minutes to detonation."

All of a sudden, Professor Strange ran towards the exit when the two shooters were still battling. He ran right in the middle of them. He was frosted and charred at the same time. He fell unconscious once the two shooters stopped shooting.

Jim called out his name and hurried to him, while the rest of us approached with caution. I could only see his left side and it was blue. I remembered the time when I got frozen by Mr. Freeze. Not a good experience by the way.

"Strange. We need you here. Wake up!" Jim shouted. The color of Professor Strange's skin gradually returned normal, which was very shocking. He really had created dangerous monsters in his secret lab. Jim abruptly smacked his face many times. "Wake up, Strange. I knew you're in there."

Then his eyes opened. He turned his head to the person before him. "Oh, Gordon," he spoke in a casual manner. "I surmise my plan must have gone awry."

"You're gonna give us a tour of your secret lab," Jim hissed, pulling Professor Strange up to his feet. He refused the order in fear. "You don't have a choice," Jim added.

"No, we can't go down there. I set a bomb. The lab is going to blow up," he pressed, his eyes wildly looked at him as he was desperate to escape the place. "We have to get out of here! In ten minutes, everything within a quarter mile radius will be dust."

"That's madness," Jim snapped. We won't going to make it far enough if we don't go now, I thought. Unless Jim can stopped the bomb.

"If you want to live, which I do, frankly, we had better leave."

"We detected a radioactive material down there. You got it out first, right?" Lucius question.

I blinked as realization dawn to me. If the radioactive material is still down there, then the explosion will affect the main city. Thousands of people will be exposed to the radiation and die.

"There wasn't enough time," Professor Strange cried. He was as frustrated as we. "They forced my hand, but I calculated, the chances of a radioactive cloud is fairly low."

"If you're wrong, thousands of people could die," said Lucius.

This is massacre! I screamed in my mind.

Strange said that it was better this way than releasing his experiments from the lab. What are we going to do? If we ran away now, it's already too late. Deactivating the bomb is the only way. Jim demanded to the professor how to shut down the bomb. But he said that the lab is sealed already.

"There must be some way in," Jim shouted again. Professor Strange kept insisting on leaving the place. Jim had lost his patience and grabbed his collar. He spat on his face. "Tell me how to get that bomb and shut it off or I'll batter you to death right here!"

But Professor Strange said that he would rather die. All of us were shock of his willingness to die just to set the bomb off. I was beginning to feel troubled on what creatures are down in the lab.

"Wait. Nygma knows a way down there," interrupted Selina.


"Guys, it had been too long and there's no explosion. I think they did it. They shut off the bomb!" I said, looking at my phone for the time. I think about ten minutes had passed. "Let's go back!"

"Are you sure?" she asked. We weren't that far away outside Arkham Asylum's gate.

"Yes, I'm very sure." I was worried about them. Also, Edward was in my mind when Selina mentioned his name earlier.

Selina did a Fast-and-Furious drift and turned the car around back to the asylum. I hold the grab handle for my dear life when she did that. Where did she learn how to do that?

I heard police sirens from behind and twisted my body to look at the back. Multiple patrol cars were speeding towards us. I guessed Bullock or Alfred had come for rescue. They were late but at least everyone is safe. Once we arrived, Jim and Lucius waited near the exit with a tied up Professor Strange.

Jim talked to a few patrol men, when I got out of the car. GCPD is here and that's a relief. Alfred is here as well. He hugged Bruce the moment he saw him and I was moved by that. I noticed Selina rolled her eyes as she saw the hug. I approached her with a playful grin.

"Embrace me, oh Selina," I dramatically said and hugged her tightly. I purposely squeezed her face to my clothes so she can't complain because I knew she didn't like the contact. She struggled in my arms and I finally let her go after a few seconds. I don't want her to suffocate to death in my embrace.

"Stay away," she snapped at me.

"You're welcome," I snickered, patting her cheek. "Nice hairstyle by the way. It suits you. I almost fell in love." I winked and walked away before she actually punch me. I noticed Jim and jogged to him.

"Hey, didn't really know that you were in Arkham," he questioned. Oh, nobody knew that I actually visit Arkham every week to meet Edward. And I wasn't initially in their plan to infiltrate the asylum so I bet he was surprised to see me here.

"I… Um…," I was afraid to tell him why I was here. "I'm always here every week to visit Edward. But I never really meet him because he refuses to see me," I blurted quickly. I bit my lips as I was waiting for him to get angry at me.

"I know," he replied and I looked at him with wide eyes. How did he know? He flashed me a sad smile. "You didn't give up on him." I didn't expect him to understand me but I must have reminded him of Lee. Because she never gave up on him until she loss the baby. My eyes began to water but I tried to blink them away. I decided to change the topic to the current situation.

"So where's Mr. Freeze and the fire lady?" I asked.

"We lost them after we stop the bomb. We only got Strange and his assistant."

Jim pointed at Professor Strange, who were escorted by two patrol officers. He kept on begging the officers to find his people. I wondered what is that all about. Did the experiments escape?

"What people is he talking about?" I asked Jim, uneasily. I hoped it's not what I think it is.

"The monsters he created."


Uncle Nate had used his secret weapon to keep me away from intervening police business. He told my parents everything I had done in Gotham. I was shocked that Mother and Father were standing in front of me when I opened my apartment door. They had come to Gotham to give me a lecture. Father was furious at me, endangering myself while I'm not a cop. He kept on shouting at me, enlisting the things that Uncle Nate had told them. Even the recent one with the bomb in Arkham which was a week ago.

"What were you thinking?!" Father boomed. His face was red and his eyes were glaring daggers at me.

"I was-"

"And your former boyfriend is a murderer?" he interrupted me. I looked at Mother for help but she was staring at me disappointedly. "What actually happened to you in this city? You've changed."

"Please listen to my side of the story," I begged. "I want to help my friends. And Edward is servi-"

"You're not a cop! If you are, then I understand. But you're not. And you're bending the law to help your friends."

"Because there's no other way. I cannot let my friends die without doing anything. If I wait for the law, or the police to do something, my friends will be dead already."

"So you're a hero now?"

I fell silent at that. I still believe that I'm not doing anything wrong. I always pray to God that I hope my parents will understand if they know about this. But they don't. I bowed my head low since I don't know how to convince them. I began to think more of my past actions. I have been hiding all that had happened from my parents so it means I had known all this time that what I did was wrong. Right?

I had made my parents sad because of my actions.

After a few moments of silence, I felt arms around my body. Slowly I wrapped my arms around the two most important people in my life.

"You meant well when you did all that, right?" Mother softly asked. I nodded. "Then I don't think we should stop you. But we hoped you'll do the right thing in the right way."

"I'm sorry I yelled. I was troubled by your actions," Father murmured. "You even dare your uncle to arrest you. Thinking how uptight your uncle is, I really thought that he will arrest you in the future."

I apologized to them for making them worry about me. I don't want them to live in restlessness, distressing about my safety in Gotham.

"I promise not to get involve in unauthorized danger and I promise to try to listen to Uncle Nate," I said. "I promise that I will do things the right way."

"Unauthorized danger?" Father questioned, letting go of the hug.

"If it's authorized, which means that I got Uncle Nate's approval and there will be back ups and so many police will get involved so I will be less in danger," I logically explained.

My father let out a heavy sigh and then turned to look at my mother. "Our daughter has too much courage." I couldn't hide my smile when he said that. From the tone of his voice, he's not that angry anymore.

"Where do you think she got that from?" she responded, raising her left brow playfully.

"Yeah, you fought in army before. You should understand me. And you're the one who always taught me to watch over my friends back," I quipped and squared up my shoulders. He is lanky now, but 30 years ago, he was agile and muscular.

"So it's my fault now?" he exclaimed, feeling unfair to where the conversation is going.

"I'm grateful for everything you have taught me, Father." I tiptoed and pressed my lips onto his cheek. "And I apologize again for my past engagements. Please forgive me."

"So I have a request." Father's eyes intently stared at me.

I eyed him warily. Anxiety crept in my stomach thinking of the request. I tried to remain cool and asked him what it is.

"When can we meet your friends?"


I managed to convince my parents to visit Uncle Nate first in the hospital to waste time and I hope they would forget about meeting my friends here. If my Aryan and the others were here, I would without further ado, let them meet them. And Lee is also not here. And I heard Alfred and Bruce flew to Switzerland for a few months. So I don't really have civilized and well-behaved friends in Gotham at the moment to flaunt to my parents.

There's Amelia but I just know her and her boyfriend, Harvey, but I'm not that close with him. There's also Lucius, but I don't have his contact information.

Uncle Nate was wide awake when we arrived. I mean fully wide awake. Alvarez was there with him, briefing whatever he had been missing in the precinct. There was a faint betrayed feeling in my chest by Alvarez.

So he had been feeding Uncle Nate all this time, huh?

"Nicholas!" Uncle Nate beamed. He still called Father by his old name, though he had changed to Abdul Aziz. Father came to him and gave him a warm hug. I guessed they had reconnected and not awkward with each other anymore. Uncle Nate dismissed Alvarez and the detective left, not before patting my head of course, like I'm a five-year old child.

Mother approached them and greeted my uncle. "How are you feeling, Nathan?" she asked.

"I don't understand why I'm still here for another 2 weeks, Aisyah. I'm perfectly fine now," he answered. The doctor must have extended his stay, he should be out this week. I was watching him with bitter feeling. I was not sure if I should be angry at him for telling my parents, but I knew he did that because he was worried about me. I greeted him anyway. "Is there something else that you need to say, Sarah?" he asked.

"I'm sorry. I made promises to Mother and Father already," I sincerely said. "I'm sorry that I was nothing but a disappointment." I bowed my head down in disappointment.

Mother wrapped her arm around my back to comfort me.

"I never said you're disappointment," Uncle Nate argued. But I feel that way, I thought. "Your intentions are gallant, but the means are not. I'm glad I told Nicholas about this."

"Even though it was cowardly?" I asked with the corners of my lips lifted. I tried to lift up the mood. "Telling my parents behind my back."

"There was no other way," he half shrugged, then reached his hand out for me. I approached him and hold his hand. "I have many things to worry about in this city. Don't make me worry about you."

I told him my promises to my parents and made the same promises to him. He was quite doubtful about the 'unauthorized danger' part but he was okay with after a few convincing words. Father and Uncle Nate continued chatting dynamically when Mother softly nudged me and signaled me to go out of the room. She clasped my hand and pulled me out towards the lobby area. We sat down on an isolated bench.

"Sarah," she began. I stared at her, wondering what she wanted to talk about. "How are you feeling?"

"I… don't know. I'm happy that you guys are here," I responded.

"The things that Nathan had brought up. All of your involvements… after all of that. How are you feeling?"

No one really asked that question except for Lee and Edward. Now both are unavailable, no one really wants to know about my emotional status. Tears of frustration started to build up.

"Thank you for asking," I murmured, wiping my tears away. "I'm holding up well. Angry at myself, most of the time."

"You think that all that happened were your fault?"

I actually was unsure of my feelings. Thinking back, I feel like I could have done better.

"Don't blame yourself, my dear. Stop hurting yourself," Mother said. I must have been quiet for a long time. "You want to save your friends, but who's going to save you?"

"I feel reassured knowing that they are safe. That's enough for me. I'll be okay, I know it."

She appeared to be sad when I said that.

"If you say so," she reluctantly consented. "What about this Edward? You mentioned his name in your apartment but your father cut you off. He was your boyfriend?"

The waterworks are really functioning well today. I will have red and swollen eyes and nose in a few minutes.

"I don't know him anymore, Mother. Thought I do but I was stupid," I hiccupped. I never visited Arkham again after he tried to kill me, Bruce and Lucius. "He was gentle and sweet. When he got arrested and put in Arkham Asylum, maybe, just maybe, I could bring back the old Edward, but…" I couldn't finish my sentences because I wailed. Mother pulled me into her embrace and rubbed my back, whispering things like "I'm here, baby" and "let it go".


As usual, GCPD is hectic. Father remembered about my friends because Uncle Nate mentioned about Jim and Bullock, so yeah, here we are. I tried to convince Father to make us go back to my apartment since they might be busy to catch the escapees from Indian Hill.

"Ayy, Muffinhead! You got something for me?" Bullock casually greeted me while slapping my back, not knowing the Hell he is going to get anytime soon. He even reeked of alcohol. Of all day, why did you slept in the bar today, Bullock? I showed him a grave face, silently wishing he could listen to my thoughts. "I wished we could continue our nightly activity but the escapee usually roams at night so we're busy."

He was talking about our baseball pitching bonding time but I think Father had a different idea.

"Muffinhead?! Nightly Activity?!" Father roared. All the people in the GCPD halted at whatever they were doing and stared at my father. His steps rapidly approaching Bullock and before I could stop him, he yanked Bullock's collar towards him.

"Father! You're getting the wrong idea here!" I exclaimed. I saw other officers were pointing their firearms at him. "He's my father, guys. Chillax. Just a misunderstanding," I tried to laugh it off. Then I grabbed my father's hand. "Father, let him go. He's my friend. Muffinhead is a… term of endearment and we play baseball at nights. Let him go. Cops are pointing guns at you."

I wished I brought my camera with me because Bullock actually looked scared and it was quite entertaining. Father finally let him go but still gritting his teeth in anger. Mother look unaffected by Father's outburst, she was still studying the precinct with genuine curiosity. I smoothened the creases on Bullock's collar from Father's strong hold and mouthed an apology at him.

"This is Harvey Bullock, my friend. Bullock, these are my parents, Aziz and Aisyah," I managed to breath out. Then I turned towards the other officers. "Go back to work," I whispered to them, gesturing a dismissive wave with my only hand.

Bullock recovered from the shock and forced a smile on his face. Mother warmly introduced herself to Bullock and shook his hand, while, Father took a long hard glare before doing so. I had told Bullock once that my father is the brother of his captain. He might see the similarities in their personalities.

"So Nathaniel told me that my daughter had spent a lot of time with you and Jim Gordon. You're letting her join you in your escapades in secret," Father sharply remarked. "Not committing to the law."

"With all due respect, sir, I would like to apologize first for the wrong impression. Muffin- Sarah is an important friend of mine. Talented than she appears to be. Very reliable, which is why we ended up requiring help from her. But we never force her into anything, sir," Bullock said. He was actually telling half-truth there. Though he left out how nosy I was to get involved in their investigation. "I mean… she's an adult. She can do whatever she wants."

I gave him a high-five at that. But my father was unimpressed by that.

"Of course she can. I just don't want to see her in a morgue, dead." His left eye twitched in infuriation.

Bullock looked at me awkwardly because I actually had been on the morgue table, covered with a white plastic sheet. I quickly whispered to him that they did not know that I was frozen. Uncle Nate did not even have the courage to call my parents when it happened.

"Honey, how do I look in police hat?" Mother interfered. I think she had borrowed it from an officer to try it out.

"Okay. This had been great," I called out, before things go out of hand. "You guys have met each other. Can we go now?"


After Asr prayer, Father and Mother finally left Gotham. I told them it is not safe to go out at night so they had to leave before the sunset. I even followed them behind in a taxi to make sure they had leave Gotham. We had lunch in my apartment and then we strolled around the city, giving aids to the homeless people, like we always did back in Metropolis. Every week, either Saturday or Sunday, we would make plenty of food and put them in paper boxes for charities.

The main reason why I took first aid classes was to provide free examination for the unfortunates. So when we go out to give food, and I saw persons who look weak, I immediately check up on them. We even bought first aid kit supplies. Living in the streets, these people are exposed to unhygienic environment and some of them were wounded because of stupid heartless human who took pleasure in beating them to pulps. Ever since I moved to Gotham, I had been continuing this tradition, but alone. It made my mood lifted when I looked at Mother chatting with them and Father playing with the children.

When I arrived home I instantly dialed Bullock's phone.

"Sarah?" he gingerly addressed. A laugh escaped my lips when he uses my name.

"Line's clear, Bullock. They went home," I snickered. I heard a breath of relief from him.

"Damn! Are all Barnes like that?" he blasted. I pictured him with his hand massaging his temples.

"I'm very sorry for what happened in the precinct this morning. Uncle Nate told my parents stuffs that we did. Father is overprotective."

"Don't sweat it, kid. Be grateful that yours care about you."

"I've made agreements with them. And Uncle Nate."

"I kinda see this coming. You're back as an ordinary baker now, huh? No more dangerous detective-wannabe rendezvous… You know, we're actually doing well even without you."

"Yeah, right." I rolled my eyes. "Go catch those bad guys, Bullock."

"Roger that."

I hung up my phone, smiling sadly. I had made my promises and I intended to keep them. It's time to focus all my attention to my homemade business.