Chapter 16

The sun shined through my windows as a cold chill reminded me that I forgot to close the balcony doors from the night before. I was not usually a morning person, but the pink hue in the sky was forcing me out of bed. As I began to pull myself together, I thought about the information I had gathered the night before. The old pervy penguin was going to attempt to kidnap me, yet again. This time, he was teaming up with Strange. A man whom I had never met, nor heard of. From how Robin described him, however, I knew he was bad news. I turned towards the clock, 7:00 am. Usually I'm asleep another half an hour before I even attempt to get ready for school. A lot of things have changed since then. With a yawn and a stretch, I got dressed and ready for school.

A few minutes later my footsteps could be heard descending the grand staircase into the main foyer. Once I had entered the foyer, I could hear the dying whispers of a conversation, catching only one sentence.

"Keep an eye on her."

Bruce? Who was he talking to? I was not one for subtly, so I barged right in.

"Morning." I smiled. Three pairs of eyes had turned towards me. Alfred, Bruce, and Tim Drake. The first two I had expected but Tim? "What are you doing here?" I impulsively blurted out to Tim. People keep talking about this thing called a filter. I should really invest in one of those.

"Well Sarina." Bruce replied. "I think it's best if you forgo school for a while." He stepped towards me, staring at me with his deep blue eyes. Something about the way Bruce looked at you could assure you in an instant. So charismatic. "I'd like to apologize for what happened yesterday. Had I even considered- well, the important thing is you're safe now."

"Thanks Bruce." I smiled. I had assumed this entire thing, housing me in my time of need, was all a publicity stunt. Another excuse to love the playboy philanthropist. However, I was starting to pick up a genuinely caring vibe from him. Interesting.

"Since I will be at the office all day and Alfred will be busy running errands, I figured it would be best that you weren't alone." Bruce explained.

"Is that where Tim comes in?" I inquired.

"You got it." He smirked at me. Bruce looked down at his watch.

"Well, I'd best be going. Have a good day you two." With that, the billionaire l had left the building. Alfred then excused himself to pick up some dry cleaning as Tim and I were left alone.

"Isn't your coach going to kill you for missing practice today?" I smirked at him.

"Sometimes you just gotta play hooky." He answered. "So what do you want to do? Bruce got some movies you might want to watch in the theatre."

"Theatre?" I inquired.

"Right this way Madam." He grinned as he led me down a few corridors into a large home theatre. Leather seats and everything. Tim grabbed a bin from one of the drawers and pulled it out. "Let's see...Mean Girls... Pitch Perfect...You're basics."

"Of course, the basic white girl's movie collection." I giggled as I helped Tim search through the box. Eventually, we had both settled on a movie and had popped it in. The large screen, surround sound and comfy seats gave the feeling of a movie theatre. The only thing that was missing was someone kicking the back of my seat and a weird sticky feeling beneath my feet.

I nearly jumped out of my seat at the sound of a doorbell ringing. I laughed at my own nerves after I noted that movie actually got quiet when the bell rang fancy.

"Tim did you see me jum-" I started, laughing at myself. I instantly stopped when I saw Tim was tense and stiff. Like a golden retriever who heard a suspicious noise. "You alright?"

"Fine." He replied, not entirely listening. "I'll go get the door. Stay here." His voice and commands were very direct and stern. It reminded me of Batman. Could he be the caped crusader? No. That jaw. It just wasn't square enough. After a few minutes Tim came back, much more relaxed. In his hands was a box.

"What's in the box?" I inquired, harnessing my best Brad Pitt impression. Tim smiled slightly as he put the box down in front of me.

"The police have finished analyzing the evidence from your mother's office. Inconclusive. So they decided to give it to you." Tim explained. I glared down at the box. So they wait a few days and then clean out her desk?

"So they're just giving up?" I asked.

"No, they've just gotten all they could from this." Tim explained. I sighed as I rummaged through the contents. It was hard to look though her personal belongings without getting teary eyed. Her pens, her stapler, her giant old tape recorder, her notebook. Finally, I had found a book at the bottom of the box. An autobiography from.

"Dr. Hugo Strange." I read to myself. Could this be the Strange Black Mask was talking about last night?

"He's a total wackjob." Tim said. I flipped through the book which had to be at least five hundred pages. Each chapter was on another one of Gotham's supervillains, diagnosing them in extensive detail. Each supervillain had about twenty pages filled with boring medical jargon. There were two exceptions to this, however. Both the Joker and Batman himself had at least 100 pages describing them in detail. This guy was obsessed and also knew nothing about him. Wait. He needs info on the clown prince of crime, and I'm his one way ticket to seeing him in action, outside of the asylum walls. Could that be Strange's motive? I moved on to my mother's notebook. I scanned through the pages. She certainly had the handwriting of a doctor. I could barely read any of it. I decided to read some of her later entries. Maybe in there would be a clue of where she might be. So like I have done with every book I have ever had to read for a school assignment, I skipped to the last chapter. Only one word was underlined.

Grocery List

Great. Her last words were nothing but an attempt to start a grocery list. I flipped through the notebook. Nope. Nothing. I guess the police were right that all of this junk was useless.

Before I knew it, the credits were rolling on the movie. "Wanna watch another?" Tim inquired.

"Yeah, let me just go grab my phone charger." I replied. "You pick the next one." Tim nodded as he began to dig through the bin of movies, I made my way up to my room. Why the hell would my mother even be writing a grocery list? She has one of those apps where the two of us can write what we need. I froze in my tracks. The app? No. Just to cure my curiosity, I pulled up the app on my phone. One recently added item...two days ago. I frantically opened it, reading the item. A few sentences were written, filled with errors.

Hes hackd cell tower. HE know. Cops cant k. Going to end him. Ending this. Saving you. Cant keep running. I love you so much. Mom

My eyes widened as I put a hand over my mouth. She's going head to head with the clown prince of crime? She is going to be eaten alive. I had to save her. Can't run away. There was one person I needed, and I knew just the man to speak two. Without a second thought I made my way downstairs to the laundry room. Alfred was dutifully ironing various button up shirts and even a couple of my blouses.

"Aw, good evening Miss Gibson." He greeted.

"I need you to send a message. To your night time boss." I stated with all of the confidence I could muster. Alfred stopped what he was doing and paid close attention to me.

"And what might that be?" He inquired.

"Tell him my mother is with the Joker. And tonight I'm going after him. He's invited to tag along though." I summarized.

"Miss Gibson, are you sure this is a good idea?" Alfred replied. "Batman can do this on his own, it would not be wise to put you in danger as well."

"If it's me he wants, its me he gets. I'm done running." I replied. "Thank you." With that, I went upstairs to prepare for tonight. I was going to war.