Ten swung open the door to her apartment. The T.V. was already on, which probably meant that Jack came and left. She closed it behind her and quickly took off the mask. She dropped it on the ground and jumped onto her bed. She screamed into her pillow in frustration. She looked up, only to see a small portrait of her family staring back at her. She slowly got up, made her way to it, and held the portrait in her hand. She looked at a young picture of the four of them. She focused on herself, and then her mom. Then she focused on the eyes of her dad, King. She stared at it for a second. Then she smashed it onto the ground and shattered the case.

"I HATE YOU!"

She stepped on the picture and tried to smother the face of her dad

"All of this is YOUR fault! You're the reason why I have this horrible life!"

She stopped and sobbed for a moment. She picked up the picture again and stared into what remained of her Dad's face.

"Hear this Dad. I swear. You're going to pay for what you did to me and this family. I'll make you pay with your life."

Suddenly, something that was playing on T.V. caught her ear. She looked at the monitor. The headline "BATMAN MISSING" flashed across the entire top of the screen.

"Batman?"

She dropped the portrait and turned up the volume. The reporter was in the middle of his sentence

"…Police Commissioner Barbra Gordon, who was the only one contacted about the issue. She had this to say when questioned further."

Barbra Gordon appeared on the screen and was in front of several news reporters. She spoke loudly.

"The rumors are true. I was the only one who was contacted by Batman's kidnappers, and I was specifically instructed not to do or say anything but this…"

-x-

There was a flashback to the phone call Gordon had gotten a little earlier. She picked up the phone.

"Commissioner Gordon."

"Nice evening, isn't it miss Gordon…" Willie's voice was on the other line

"Who are you and why are you calling this line?"

"Woah, woah. No need to get frisky."

"I'm dropping the line now. Don't call back."

"I wouldn't do that if I were you. Because if you did that, then you may never even know the location where your city's Dark Knight died…"

"Batman?"

"We have him with us. His suit is one hundred percent disabled, which means that he won't be flying anywhere anytime soon. He's very vulnerable right now. And we'll kill him now unless you do exactly as we say. You're Gotham City's commissioner, which means that you should have a good idea on who the richest people in town are. I'm about to give you the address of where he is. Now, the one and only thing that you're going to do with that information is this. You'll declare Batman missing, and use your power to order Gotham's richest people to give us a generous donation. If we're satisfied with the amount, then we'll give Batman back. Plain and simple."

"I don't know who you are, but let me tell you, I refuse to abuse my power like that"

"You don't have much of a choice. Your city isn't anything without its dark knight. So unless you want to see your precious city's crime rates to spike up, you'll do as I say."

Barbra closed her eyes. She opened them a moment later.

"Give me the address"

"Now listen closely. If we see one cop, one person who's not you anywhere near here, we kill Batman right away. And believe me, I could make his heart stop beating if I focused hard enough."

Now she recognized the voice. It took her a while, but now she remembered that she led an investigation against this particular person. Willie Watt.

"You actually expect me to believe any of this? That you have Batman."

"Believe what you want Comimsh. If you wanna take chances with this then it's fine with me. So since you don't want the address then I'll just drop the phone and finish Batman now. Unless, we have a deal that is…"

"Fine. Give me the address."

-x—

Barbra Gordon spoke up

"He's being held for ransom. In a few hours we'll be holding a bid. And whoever is the biggest bidder has to give the money to me, and I can get it to his kidnappers. Batman will be set free once that happens. That is all."

The Commissioner turned around and walked inside the building. Roars of disbelief emerged from the small crowd that was there. Questions such as "where is he being held?" and "is it right to give into terrorists?" were repeated several times. Some reporters tried to follow her in, but the police officers stopped them.

Melanie could not believe what she had just heard. The news reporter appeared on the screen again.

"The commissioner has released no information on who the actual kidnappers are, but the public already has its suspicions. Earlier today, two convicts escaped from prison, one was identified as William Watt, who had just been transferred to Gotham General, and the other one was the notorious Mr. Walker, better known as King of the Royal Flush gang."

Melanie couldn't move. She dropped the remote and the back cracked off. With bitter disgust in her voice she said

"Dad…"

"Many citizens already fear that if these are, in fact, Batman's kidnappers, that Batman may have finally met his end. This is Kevin Carr, Gotham City news."

"So it looks like Batman's finally met his match"

The voice came from behind Melanie. She turned around. Jack was standing there.

"And what do you know. It turned out to be Dad." Jack said

Melanie quickly realized that she was still wearing the Ten suit in front of him. She tried to quickly leave and go change, but obviously, it was useless.

"I came back cause I forgot my jacket. And don't worry…" Jack said, "They're your true colors. They're both of our true colors. We can't change who we are. Dad decided our fates."

He picked up his jacket from the other side of the room. He went for the door.

Jack muttered one last thing before he left the room. "I'd give anything to be able to decide his…"

He shut the door. Melanie stood there motionless for a moment.

"So would I. And Batman…Batman must have gone missing right after stopping me." She pulled out a card from her suit pocket and twirled it in her hand.

"Maybe if I wasn't there, none of this would have happened." She took a closer look at her card. She closed her eyes and quickly recalled how Batman deflected her card from before with his Batarang. She quickly opened them

"Wait a minute…"

She played the scene out in her head again.

"That's it. If I can get a hold of that thing, then maybe…"

She didn't hesitate any longer. She knelt down and picked up her mask.

-x-

Barbra Gordon, who was accompanied by two security guards walked up to a locked door. She took a key card out of her coat pocket and swiped it. The door unlocked.

"Just stay out here." She said bluntly

"But Commisoner, for your own safety we should stay with you…"

She turned and looked the guard in the eye.

"And for your own job, I suggest you do as I say. Have I made myself clear?"

"Yes maam."

She turned back around and opened the door. She went into her office and closed the door behind her. She turned the light on only to see someone else sitting in her chair. Luckily for her though, it wasn't an enemy. It was Bruce Wayne.

"That was unsafe." Bruce said calmly. "For all you know there could be an armed terrorist sitting where I am right now."

Barbra didn't even act surprised. She would've asked how he even got in there, but decided against it. It didn't matter. When Bruce wanted to get in somewhere, he got in. That's something that had never changed since his younger years.

" I don't have time for your lectures, Bruce. I've got enough trouble sitting on my plate as it is. The last thing I want is for my security guards to be following me around like hounds everywhere, poking their noses into business that isn't even theirs. Of course…it looks like you've already got that position covered for them. Don't you have a basement to sit in all day, Bruce?"

"I think you and I both know why I had to pay you a personal visit"

"I'm not telling you where they're keeping him."

"You must be joking. You of all people are going to conform to terrorist demands?"

"It's not conforming, Bruce, it's called playing it safe until I think of a good way to get him out. If I told you where he was at, you'd run in there and get yourself and Batman killed."

"You've handled people like this hundreds of times before, what's so different now?"

"The fact that Batman's suit is completely disabled, and Willie Watt is the one keeping him captive."

"Watt? You mean that kid with the psychokinetic powers."

"He may be a kid, but he's very dangerous. One thought and Batman could be dead. If he's really teamed up with King from the Royal Flush gang, and Batman really has no way of escaping there, then this could be bigger than anything that Batman's fought before. That's why I need to think this over. Alone."

"So what exactly are you planning to do? Give him the money and teach the criminals of Gotham that they own the city?"

"I'm not ruling that out."

Bruce scowled

"A decision made out of fear is never the right one. Batgirl understood that. Once…"

"Batgirl is gone now. And as surprising as this may sound to you, Bruce, I don't want to face that life anymore. I have better things to worry about now, like my job. So if you'll excuse me, I'm giving you a police order to get out."

"You're better than this, Barbra"

"I said out! I'm calling security."

She pointed towards the door. Bruce slowly got up and walked out the door. He stopped right before he exited the door way and turned his head.

"I don't think Batgirl's the one who you can't face"

He shut the door behind him.

-x-

Wayne Manor. It was completely dark inside. A strip of light hit the floor from above. Then, it went dark again. A fully suited Ten hit the ground. She had just snuck in from the top window.

"There has to be something here that can trace me back to…"

All of the sudden, loud barking roared from behind her. She turned around, and Bruce Wayne's black dog Ace was preparing to attack her. Ten stepped back. Ace barked louder, and then pounced towards her. Ten reached her left hand out and sprayed a gas in front of Ace's face. Ace promptly fell to the ground and started sleeping. It was a powerful knock out gas that she never really used until now.

"That was too close"

She walked around the house for a couple minutes, looking all over. She eventually passed the grandfather clock that was against the wall in the family room.

"Maybe there's nothing here…"

She looked at the clock. It said it was already half past six.

"That can't be right."

She moved right next to it. Suddenly, the radio transmitter that she had attached to the inside of her suit went crazy. There was so much static coming in from the other side. She quickly switched it off. She looked towards the grandfather clock. There was only a wall behind it. How could she be picking up signals from a bunch of concrete?

She pulled the face of the grandfather clock. All of the sudden, the clock moved aside. She jumped back in fear. There was a long staircase leading down in front of her. She hopped down. When she was at the bottom, she looked all around. At first, she strolled through, casually looking around. Then she was running from place to place, taking a look at all of the stuff that was down there.

"Wayne, I knew you were rich but…this isn't even fair."

She walked up to the giant computer screen. After staring at it an awe, she turned around. For a moment, she thought her eyes were just deceiving her. But after staring for even longer, she realized she wasn't imagining anything. She was looking at the old Batsuit. The case held his old suit, and two other suits that she didn't recognize, and an empty case.

"Oh my goodness."

She thought for a moment

"But where's the new Batsuit?"

She looked under the table. She saw something that she thought she recognized. She knelt down and dragged it out. It was Terry's brown backpack.

"This looks just like Terry's"

She slowly opened the side pocket. She reached in and sitting right on top, was something that confused, saddened, and upset her all at the same time. It was the picture of her and Terry. The same one that she had under her pillowcase.

"This is Terry's…." She whispered. Then it clicked.

"No…it can't be…"

She looked at the other things inside his side pockets. There was a variation of small bat-shaped weapons. She felt like crying. This couldn't be happening. She did the one thing that she knew would change the way she looked at Terry forever. She opened the front pouch. She reached in and pulled out the new Batman suit. She stood up and held it out in front of her. Then, she dropped it.

"Terry's…the Batman."

She slowly turned around. Someone was standing right in front of her. She jumped back when she realized it was a scowling Bruce Wayne.

"Leave. NOW!" Bruce demanded

Ten held her ground.

"No!" She yelled

She pulled of her mask and threw it on the floor.

"Do what you want to me, but I'm not leaving!" She yelled

"How did you even get here?" He said

"To make a long story short, I got a hold of Batman's Batarang. And since my family has a history of being in cozy terms with Paxton Powers, I knew Wayne-Powers tech when I saw it. No other company in Gotham is rich enough to produce weapons of that kind of metal. Once Batman went off the grid, I thought that I'd pay you a visit to see if you knew anything about your accomplice."

Wayne stared at her

"But Terry's more than just an accomplice to you, isn't he?"

He still didn't respond

"Honestly, I don't like him. I never did. But you wanna know why? Because he's the only person in my life who tells me the truth. It doesn't even surprise me that much that Terry's Batman. Both of them have always stood for something better than what half of Gotham stands for today. So I don't care if you throw me in jail or tell everyone who I am after the fact. I'm not leaving until I know where Batman is, and I have a way to save him. Have I made myself clear Mr. Wayne?"

Bruce kept looking at her blue eyes. Then he chuckled.

"You're a stupid kid…"

He turned around.

"Just like McGinnis." He finished

"I can save him, Wayne."

"No you can't. You think like a common criminal."

"Well I'm not. Not anymore. But you…you trained Terry, didn't you? You're the reason why he could become Batman."

She turned around and faced the cases.

"And the only way that could have happened is if you were Batman first." Melanie finished

She looked one case over

"So there was a…Batwoman?"

"Batgirl. A fact which is none of your business."

"How old was she when you trained her?"

"I didn't." He said blatantly "Not at first anyway. She showed up and started fighting with a batsuit on her own, regardless of what I had to say about it."

"So someone trained her before you?"

"Fighting ran in her family. But she had already decided that she didn't want to be like her dad."

"Kind of like me…" Melanie thought.

"This was her own way of deviating from her family lineage. She looked up to Batman. She wanted to be me. But she became her own respected identity entirely."

"Even you respected her?"

"I never advocated what she did. But in a way, yes"

"Is she like that now?"

"You ask too many questions. It's time for you to get out" Bruce said.

"I already told you I'm not leaving. Not until you tell me where Terry's at."

"And I already told you that you wouldn't be able to free him if you tried. Dangerous people are holding him."

"I think I'd have an idea on how to defeat my own dad!" Melanie said

Bruce stared at her

"Not just him" he said. "There's another who's much stronger. We don't even really know the extent of his power. Going in there with your level of training could be suicide."

"Careful Wayne, you're starting to sound like you care about me."

Bruce ignored her

"What about you? If I lack the training so badly, then why don't you train me? The same way you trained Batman?"

Bruce looked her straight in the eye

"I don't train criminals" Bruce said

"Tell that to Terry…" She responded. For a moment, Bruce was speechless. "You're not the only one who Terry shared his life with." Melanie said

"You really are serious about wanting to save him."Bruce said

Melanie nodded

"Tell me about the supposed training you've already had" Bruce said

"Um, well. I don't really like to talk about it."

"Now."

Melanie looked at Mr. Wayne. His stern facial expression didn't move. She closed her eyes.

"Ever since I was six years old my life was different from everyone else's. My dad and mom were just starting to take the royal flush gang seriously, and the wanted me to as well. So they trained me to be a criminal. When other girls my age were playing with dolls, I was playing with plastic explosives. I was never allowed to have any friends or go out, not that I particularly wanted to since we were moving all the time. Only one thing mattered to them when it came to me. They wanted me to be the best Ten there ever was…"

A flashback was shown of her childhood. She was eight years old, and inside something that looked like an obstacle course. Motionless robots stood throughout it. Her dad and mom, both in Royal Flush Gang suits, watched her from a distance. Her dad pressed a button. The obstacle course was turned on, and the robots were activated. Melanie was supposed to manage to get to the very end without getting hit by the robot's lasers, or any of the various obstacles. She sprinted from the get go. A couple meters in front of her, there was a ditch, and a robot hiding in that ditch. The robot shot a real laser at her, but she was able to jump over safely. Immediately, she had to use the best of her agility to dodge the row of robots in front of her. They all shot. She ducked over some of them and jumped over others. Perfect. None of them hit her. She sprinted towards them and jumped on top of one of their heads, and sent it smashing towards the ground. The robots turned around and continued to fire at her. She climbed up a nearby pillar and stayed until she knew the robots were out of ammo. She reached into her pocket and threw out mini smoke bombs. They exploded around the robots, and they were temporarily blinded. She knocked them down one by one. When she was finished, she hopped across several more holes, and ran for the finish.

"Impressive" Her mother said

"Not yet" King said

Melanie made one miscalculation. One of the robots wasn't quite out of ammo. It still had one shot left. It shot it's last one towards Melanie. Unluckily for her, the robot's accuracy was amazing. It shot her across the side of her leg. She yelled. Blood began to ooze out. King stood up and walked over to the course. Melanie couldn't keep her balance for much longer, but barely managed to cross the end before falling over. She checked her wound as her dad turned off the obstacle course. Her dad walked up to her. Melanie began to sob in pain.

"Does it hurt?" King asked

Melanie slowly nodded her head.

"Ace…" King yelled. The giant robot, Ace, with a black ace symbol attached to his chest gave King something that looked like a gun with a card attached to the side. Without hesitating, King pointed it at her and shot it. A razor sharp playing card was lodged inside of her shoulder. Melanie screamed out even louder. She turned over and rolled on the ground in pain, screaming.

"You're weak Melanie. How could you have failed a simple course like that?" King said sternly. Jack tried to run up and help her, but his mom, Queen, held him back.

Melanie couldn't stop crying. "The Card! It hurts!"

"Who cares if it hurts? It's not gonna kill you! I shot it less than a centimeter away from your vital vein. A wounding shot. But it's a shot that someone as weak as you're turning out to be can never learn to make!"

Melanie continued to cry

"STOP CRYING!"

He grabbed her face and made her look at him.

"Look Melanie, you're weak. You've always been weak and you'll always be weak until you learn to step up your game. We're the Royal Flush Gang. Now I know to you, that means nothing. But to your mom, your brother and I, it's serious."

"It's…serious to me too"

"The only way that you'll ever be strong is if you're able to take my life. But until then…"

He threw her face down

"You're nothing but a loose end."

He watched her shake as she pulled the card out of her shoulder.

"Put her in again. And make it twice as hard." King looked at her. "You have one minute to compose yourself" He walked away. A twitching Melanie looked at her dad walk off.

"That kind of stuff happened all the time. Almost every day for the next three years I had a training session." Melanie had changed to her actual clothes now. Bruce was sipping a small mug of coffee.

"So do you feel guilty that you couldn't measure up to your father's standards?"

Melanie shook her head

"My anger outweighs my guilt."

Bruce smiled

"You remind me of someone.

"Who?"

"Let's go."

Bruce began to walk away

"Go where?"

"You're the one who asked for it. I'm going to give you training. Real training. As much as I can get to you until it's time for you to rescue Terry."

"So this is really happening. You're actually going to help me?"

"Don't get too excited kid. You'll be doing most of the work. Without that fancy suit of yours."

"About that suit. Can we make some modifications to it?"

"What's wrong with the Ten suit?"

"That's the thing. I can't stand looking at it anymore. I don't want to be Ten anymore."

"Who then?"

Melanie looked at him in the eye. Unlike most children he met, he had trouble reading this girl's thoughts. But there was one thing he was now sure of. Somehow, he knew exactly what she was going to say next…