Cris watched a woman try comfort her crying daughter. The poor kid hadn't stopped since the earthquake had subsided. Cris searched her jacket pocket and pulled out a mint candy. She smiled as she leaned forward and handed the kid the candy. The child stopped crying and reached out slowly, grabbing the candy, "Thank-you," came the squeaky reply as she unwrapped it and popped it in her mouth. The mother smiled warily and Cris.

Two men rounded the corner of the corridor. Cris stood up and brushed her pants, "And?"
One of them, an African American, Shaun, shook his head, "It's blocked."
Cris sighed and then nodded. She looked at the door, "Looks like we'll have to go back into the tunnel."
She walked up to the door and brushed it quickly with her hand, the steel wasn't hot anymore, just warm. She tuned back to the men and said, "I'm gonna need your help."
They nodded and joined her, in unison all three lifted their right foot and kicked at the door. Nothing happened. They tried again, this time the door moved, just a little.
"One more time," Cris said and then kicked at the door real hard.
The door flew open, revealing something that could only be described as Hell. Cars here and there were on fire, burnt bodies lay scattered across the surface.

The mother gasped, "Oh my…" She covered the child's eyes. The others paled as they surveyed what lay before them. Cris swallowed hard and then turned around. We need to find a way out, but we also need to find survivors.

"Not meaning to sound like a coward, but I wanna try find a way out, I aint good at seeing dead people" one of the men replied, he looked about ready to throw up. Cris nodded, she looked at the mother and lay a hand on the child's back, saying, "Why don't you go with him." She nodded and joined the guy's side.

"If you find a way out, don't worry about us, we'll find our way through too, good luck," Cris said and then turned towards Shaun, "You wanna go to?"
He straightened himself, "You find anybody your gonna need help, I'm going with you."
Cris nodded.

"Good luck," The woman whispered and then the group split.
Cris watched as the two walked away from her, the child, whose head rested on her mother's shoulder waved good-bye, Cris waved back.

Helena knew the consequences of rooftop jumping during the day, but apart from being desperate to reach Barbara and Dinah, she figured everyone would be too busy to notice her. She leaped from rooftop to rooftop at an incredible speed, so incredible she felt as if she was on the verge of loosing control and stumbling.

She ran to the edge of a tall building and then bent slightly down; right at the edge she heaved herself up, vaulting into the air. She kicked her legs, building distance. As the surface of the next roof top neared, she readied herself for the impact. She landed swiftly and softly, just like a cat, but then the building trembled under her. Instinctively she pounced away from the building to the one next to it. She paused and looked behind her as the building crumpled to the ground. She stared for a few seconds at the rubble and then moved on.

Reese pulled up at what was left of the New Gotham High parking lot and leaped out his car. Emergency services had already begun setting up rescue operations for those believed to be trapped under the collapsed school. He jogged towards the fire chief in charge, "Detective Jesse Reese, give me something to help with," he said shaking the Chief's hand.
"Glad you're here Detective, we need all the hands we can get! You can start by removing some rocks, just follow Mr. Pritchard here," he replied patting a passing fireman's shoulder. Pritchard turned around and smiled at Jesse, "C'mon," he beckoned by cocking his head towards the rubble and moved off.

He and Jesse had just begun moving rocks when Jesse heard a commotion near the emergency services vehicles. He looked up and saw 2 firemen try restrain Helena from approaching the rubble. He stood up and approached them, "Hey she's with me, let her in!" Helena ran up to him, "Jesse, Barbara…"

"I don't know," he replied cutting her off, "They say there are a few people trapped below."
"Let me help," she said. Jesse looked into her eyes; he knew there was no way in hell he was going to convince her otherwise, he slowly nodded, "ok."
Helena bent down and grabbed a rock, "Hold on, I'm coming."

Barbara watched Dinah's eyes droop.
"Dinah, stay awake, you need to stay awake, please." Barbara pleaded.
The girl's eyes opened a little more. Barbara smiled, "That's it, I'm here," Barbara grabbed Dinah's hand, "Just stay with me."

Justin took his jacket of and handed it to Barbara, "Here use this as a pillow."
Barbara smiled, "Thank you." She lifted Dinah's head up carefully and slid the jacket underneath, then she lowered the girl's head. Barbara wiped a lock of hair out of Dinah's face.

Barbara suddenly felt a presence, it brought along some hope, and Barbara closed her eyes, "Hurry Helena."

Shaun and Cris picked their way past burning cars and burned bodies. Cris felt a little sick to the stomach seeing charred remains of people. Her heart sank even more when she saw those of children. Her thoughts turned around to Barbara, Dinah, Helena and Matthew. She wondered if they were ok, if they weren't hurt or trapped just like her. The earthquake felt pretty strong. She guessed it'd be around 9, 9.5, considering the tectonic plates would carry the brunt of the quake. If those plates weren't there, things would have been a lot worse, a whole lot worse.

A scream broke her out of her thoughts and her head shot up. They both immediately sprinted towards the direction of the scream.

The ambulance was worse for wear, the front had taken the brunt of falling debris, while the back had caved in a little from a minibus that had ploughed into it. Cris climbed on top of the minibus and crawled to the back of the ambulance, she peered through the small broken windows. A pregnant woman lay on a stretcher, she was breathing heavily, next to her, on the floor lay a paramedic. His neck was bent in a bad way.

"Damn," Cris whispered, "Hang on!" she shouted to the woman and turned to Shaun.
"We need to move this van," Shaun nodded. She jumped off the roof and crawled into the van, deactivating the handbrake. She joined Shaun, and they both started pulling the van. Anxiety turned to anger as Cris tried to summon all her strength.
"Oh C'MON!" she shouted through gritted teeth.
Shaun too struggled to move the van, "Man, wha the hell is in this thing!" he said.
Cris stopped pulling and kicked the back, "PIECE OF CRAP!"
She climbed up to the roof of the van again and crawled to the window of the ambulance, "Shaun, I need you to help me in," she said as she tried clearing away most of the glass. He nodded and joined her on the top, as she started crawling through the small space, Shaun pushed her in from behind. Cris landed ungraciously on the floor of the ambulance, ignoring the cuts she had taken on from her tight squeeze, she crawled up to the woman. "Ok hold on."

"Please, you gotta save my baby," the woman pleaded.
Cris nodded, "I will help with all I can, are you in labor?"
The woman nodded.
Cris eyes widened and then she breathed out, "Oh boy!"