It had been a few hours since she returned home, and still no sign of him. With a heavy sigh, Jocelyn got out of bed. Trying to sleep was a losing battle. The anxiety inside of her kept rattling its cage. At this point, her anger had mellowed out into sorrow. As much as she wanted to deny it, the warning signs were clearly there. It seemed now they were at each other's throats more often than not.

Jocelyn walked over to the window. She pulled up the blinds, and then undid the window latches. As she opened the window, she saw that the warehouse fire had been subdued into a pillar of smoke. She leaned on the windowsill and watched the dark, cloudy trail rise up through the rain. No doubt the local news would be all over the warehouses tomorrow. They'd find out in a flash that the two of them were behind it; they always did. She could practically imagine the cheesy one-liners they'd fling out: "The Specter and Red Hood… is there anything that pair can't do?"

"How about get along?" Jocelyn mumbled sadly. She quieted down when she heard chatter flow through the air. It was the neighboring unit, a couple in their late 30's. They seemed to always be complaining… loudly. Anytime the bedroom window was open, they could clearly be heard ranting about their latest favorite topic. Usually, it was about Jocelyn and Jason. Tonight it was the sirens.

"Every night, I tell you! Don't they realize that people sleep at this time?"

"And they're so loud! Why can't they tone down those damn things? If there's an emergency, no need to wake up the rest of us that aren't involved!"

'How about the policemen and firefighters that have to actually work to save lives every night?' Jocelyn wondered angrily. She pushed off from the sill and shut the window. Calming down enough to sleep was her main objective, and those dumbasses next door weren't exactly helping.

The front door of the apartment opened and slammed shut. Jocelyn looked over her shoulder, feeling a hurricane of negative emotions flare up. So much for calming down. From outside the bedroom, there was a mix of noises: scuffling footsteps, ruffling clothes, opening and shutting doors. Finally, the bedroom door opened. Jocelyn quickly turned back to the window as he entered.

Jason didn't say a word to her. She heard the mattress creak as he lay down. So they were doing this cold shoulder thing again. Who knows how many times this had happened? If these walls could talk… She found herself so unsettled that it was hard to breathe. There was no way she could stay in the same room as him. Giving him a concealed, sideways glance, she left the room and walked into the kitchen. The first aid kit was still where she had left it out on the table. Untouched. But from what she saw, Jason's arm was already bandaged. Maybe Selina dressed it for him. Jocelyn grabbed the first aid kit and headed back to the den to put it back.

The 'den' was actually the second bedroom, which had been converted into a small monitoring and communications room. There were a couple of computers, several monitors, and several other machines the Specter used to build upgrades. Naturally, the place paled in comparison to Verlix's lair. But it was all she had.

Jocelyn crossed the room and opened the closet. She put the first aid kit on the shelf above the Specter's suit. The Red Hood's outfit had been thrown haphazardly onto another shelf. Jocelyn pushed the red helmet aside and took the clothes out. She folded them before tucking them back onto the shelf and resting the helmet on top. Then she shut the closet door and collapsed onto the chair. For a while, she just stared at her blurry reflection in the black monitor. It was times like this when she wished she still had him to talk to, even if he was nothing but artificial intelligence. At least he'd listen and care. And then he'd reassure her, or give her advice based on his endless knowledge.

What would Verlix say now if he saw the life she was living? Jocelyn, the relationship is dead. At this point, it's purely physical. There is no real emotion, and there is no saving it. You should get rid of that trashy prince charming while you still have the chance. The fairytale is over. And he'd be right. 'Once upon a time' started when they had met as teenagers. During those days, the world was theirs and they felt invincible. That was their 'happily ever after,' but she never realized it until now. She was living in the part where the pages ended, the bitter aftermath that no one really mentioned because no one liked it.

Jocelyn blinked heavily as she tried to fight back against the burning in her eyes. With a huff, she put her arms on the tabletop and rested her head on them. Would Verlix really tell her that? On the other hand, he had given his 'life' to save Jason. Maybe the AI would have warmed up enough to take his side. Jocelyn, try to understand where Mr. Todd is coming from. Remember when those cruel men took you? Remember what they did to your arm? That was only one day, and I was there to save you. He was locked away and tortured for nearly a year. No one was there to save him. No one was there to nurse him back to health. A part of him, that rowdy teenage boy, is dead and gone forever. You have all that is left of him. Whether you choose to still love what's left is up to you.

That rowdy teenage boy. Jocelyn's eyes drifted close as she pictured his spunky grin and those bright eyes underneath that little black mask. There was no 'J' on his face as he ruffled his messy hair. He was holding a small metal disk in his hand, waving it arrogantly in front of him. "You want it back? Meet me behind the billboard…"

The last thing she remembered before falling asleep was the sound of his carefree laughter.

The table was too high for her, so she drew on the ground instead. She was lying on her stomach, her feet crossed at the ankles and swinging. The yellow crayon was missing from her set, but that was okay. She just needed the brown one right now.

The android was standing a few feet away, busy at the large supercomputer. The lair's florescent lights reflected dimly off of the android's dark brown plating.

When she finished her drawing, the little girl popped up to her feet. She scurried over to the android, holding the paper out. "Look, Verlix!" Jocelyn squealed, raising her arms so he'd be able to see. "Look what I made!"

The android turned away from the computer. There was a soft whirring sound as he bent down to examine the drawing. "Ah," the robot remarked after a few seconds. "Is this a scale drawing of my protoform?"

"No!" the little girl said. "It's a picture of you! See?" She peeked out from behind the paper and pointed at the drawing's arm. "Here's that little purple flower I put on your arm. See?"

"I see." Verlix glanced down at the doodle on his arm, and then back at the drawing. "I do believe the proportions are a little off. The flower in the image should be reduced in size by about 22 percent."

"Oh," Jocelyn said quietly. "… Is it bad?"

"Of course not," Verlix assured quickly. "It would not be reasonable to fault you for such a miniscule error." He gently took the drawing from Jocelyn and held it up to his robotic eyes. "I quite like this image. Do you know why?"

"Why?"

"Because you created it. You have chosen myself as the subject matter to immortalize. I am flattered." There was a click as Verlix's eyes "blinked" quickly. "There. I have saved it." He lowered the picture and offered it back to Jocelyn. "Now the image is both on this sheet of paper, and in here." He pointed at his head.

Jocelyn pressed the drawing against her chest. "In your brain?" she said.

"Yes. But my brain is made of metal, wires, and electricity. Your brain is made of…?"

The little girl's face scrunched as she tried to come up with the answer. "N… Neeew… Nrrrr…" she began.

"Neurons," Verlix finished.

"Neurons."

"That's very good. Now it is time for our next lesson. Are you ready, Jocelyn?"

"Yes!" Jocelyn hurried over to the table to put away her drawing. As she reached up to set it on the tabletop, she asked, "What are we learning about today?"

"Today our lesson will be on—." The android's voice stopped abruptly. Jocelyn looked back at him. Something was wrong with Verlix. He had stopped moving, his body stuck rigidly in its last posture. His eyes were no longer alight.

"Verlix?" The little girl went up to him and pulled at his hand. He did not move. "Verlix, are you there?" He didn't say anything. Somehow, she knew he was gone. She hugged him around the waist and began to cry. "Wake up, Verlix! Don't leave me! I don't want to be alone! Please don't leave me all alone!"

There was an incessant beeping noise in the background. It was coming from the supercomputer. Jocelyn glanced around the motionless android, recognizing the beeping as the sound of an incoming call. She broke away from Verlix and raced over to the computer. Maybe whoever was calling could help them!

She pressed a button. Then another. Then another. She pressed all of them. The beeping continued. The little girl began to panic. "Please help me!" she pleaded to the noise. "I'm scared! Verlix, help me! I'm so scared!" Little specks began to drift through the air. Jocelyn smelled sawdust. There was a loud whining sound above her. She looked up and saw it descending down on her. Spinning, it's jagged edges blurred into a perfect circle. Jocelyn tried to scream, but she found her voice gone. Her body was locked into place. The only thing she could do was watch the spinning saw blade drop closer and closer until finally—.

When her eyes snapped open, the beeping was still there. Everything else was gone. The sawdust, the spinning blade… Verlix.

Jocelyn slowly lifted her head, pain shooting through her aching neck. The beeping was coming from the computer in front of her. Someone was calling.

As Jocelyn straightened up, she felt something fall from her shoulders. She looked down and saw the blanket crumped against the back of her seat. That's odd. She didn't even remember falling sleep, let alone grabbing a blanket.

Rubbing her eyes, Jocelyn turned the monitor on and squinted at the screen. The call appeared to be heavily encrypted. The computer couldn't even identify the caller. Still, it wasn't like anybody could reach them. She accepted the call.

"Yeah, sorry for the absurdly early call," came a voice. Jocelyn knew who it was right away.

"Barbara?"

"Uh-huh. To be honest, I'm kind of surprised you're up right now."

"You actually woke me up," Jocelyn admitted, and then yawned.

There was a yawn on Oracle's end. "Ugh, it's so contagious," she mumbled. "Anyway, I need to deliver a message to you."

"Me?"

"Yeah. Well, you and Jason. Is he there?"

"I think he's asleep."

"That's fine. You can tell him later." Yeah, right. They weren't exactly on speaking terms at the moment. "It's from the mayor."

"How did the mayor reach you?"

"Actually, one of his guys reached out to Tim, who then told me, and now I'm telling you. He'd ask you and Jason directly, but he has no idea how to reach you. So I guess his next option was this weird game of telephone."

"Mmhmm… so what is this message? The same one that GCPD's given us: if we ever find you, you're going down?"

"No, not exactly." Barbara explained the mayor's request. It was something Jocelyn never saw coming.

Addendum: I yawned too. And I bet you have too. If not, do it. You know you want to! YAWN.

Good news and bad news. The good news is that I got accepted into the undergraduate master's degree program for my major (meaning I'll graduate with both a bachelor's and master's). The bad news is that because I got accepted, coupled with being an officer for a university organization and possibly being a teaching assistant, I'll probably be drowning in work once classes start. That means updates are going to suffer horrendously. Or not. We'll see.