Chapter Two

Despite the circumstances, I'm not crying. Instead, I'm making a note to stay strong enough to make it through the night, protect my dad, and make it out alive to be with Robin again. And where does Bruce fit in to this? Without him, we wouldn't have a strategist. Without him, we wouldn't have the suits to help us in a time like this. Without him, I wouldn't be standing here. He means more than I realize, even when I don't think that much about it. It occurs to me that my Batarangs are still operational, but not my Grapnel Gun or anything else. And our comms are broken. I tell Batman this, keeping myself together, surprisingly. "Our comms don't work. How are we supposed to know each other's status?"

"We'll rendezvous at Gotham Central in two hours or so. Robin and I are going to the Iceberg Lounge to interrogate the Penguin, see if he has any useful information. When you take down some of Child's Play's gang, take their comms so you can listen in on the activity on the other side."

My dad questions. "But wait, the technology's been EMP'd. How's that work out? And how'd you know they have ear comms?"

Batman answers back. "Most likely, the EMP only targeted technology in Gotham, and not his men. They were either away from the blast, or they're in some sort of database that protects their own technologies. They'll have comms, no doubt. In a scenario like this, they'd be stupid not to."

He takes a deep breath and thinks of something before sending us off. "You know the drill. You'll have to go on foot." He says looking at me and my dad. Robin and Batman jump off the building and down to the Batmobile. I look at my dad, keeping my cool. Telling myself not to be afraid. We go down the door on the roof to ground level. We find a member of Child's Play's gang waiting for us at the end of the stairs. The second we peek our heads out, he fires his gun. I tell my dad to stay down and let me take care of this, since my suit is bulletproof. But I still need to be careful. I leap towards him, he blazes his gun at me and I knock him down to the ground, punching him out for good measure. I grab his ear comm and when I do, another appears from a wall and fires at me. I toss a Batarang or two at his shooting arm. He drops his gun, screaming. From behind me, I hear a gunshot. I turn around and my dad is holding the man's handgun. The man I knocked down. I question him. "What about your gun?"

"This one's better." He jokes. "And this is war now. There's already causalities left and right. But after this, no. I'll never take a life."

He answers the question in my mind. Though, I wouldn't be firing a gun right now. Or trying to kill people. I shake my head in agreement and I grab the ear comm again. It has a bullet through it. I grab the other man's ear comm and take off my cowl, putting the ear comm in my ear and putting my cowl back on over it. "Let's get moving." I bark at my dad. We do, and I see the face of the man I threw the Batarang at. He seems like an average man. I shake my head and keep moving to Gotham Central. From here, on foot, it just may take two hours. Through the comms, I hear someone announcing that the Bats have arrived, and Child's Play's voice comes over the comms. "Excellent. Do your mission as instructed. When you're done, find a nice, warm spot to watch Gotham burn."

Everyone acknowledges in agreement over the comms. If Child's Play's technology isn't scrambled, then I bet his suit is going to be better this time around. Like it'll be powered by something. After running for awhile, my dad instructs that we should take a breather. I agree, which is more for his benefit right now. It wouldn't hurt for me to relax either. My dad rests behind a pillar of a building that's already been burnt from the inside. The bricks charred, some fallen out. I slide down a pillar, bringing my legs up to my chest and resting my hands on the ashy remains of the floor of the building. I reassure my dad, almost panting. "We'll get through this."

I know that there's not a lot of fire around, but some of it still lingers. Some embers making their way towards us every now and then. My dad coughs, panting. "I know we will."

He takes off his glasses and rubs his forehead, making an unrealistic wish, considering we, (1. May be out of range of any water, or (2. Some of it's being burned in grocery stores. But we do need to find some water. For my dad's sake. I point out the reasons why water may be obsolete right now, but he spits back. "It's all right. Thirty-five years old, and I'm not going down like this."

He just needed a chance to gather up his energy again, and he gets back on his feet. Nearby, we hear screams. I turn to the sound and I find a house is catching on fire. We see the gang members we've been fighting throwing fire into the building. At least they're not laughing at it. And of course, the Joker's going to have to take advantage of this situation and make it even worse for everyone. No sign of him yet. All we can hope for is that he never shows up. More people will die under him than Child's Play, that's to say his kill count hasn't already skyrocketed in the time this started to now. Give or take almost an hour. I tell my dad to be silent while we sneak closer to the gang members, and I'll signal him when it's time to strike. We go inside a building adjacent to us and we try to sneak past the windows without them seeing us. Fortunately, it's dark in here. The downside is that some of them are on watch. I whisper to my dad. "When I break open this window, you shoot. Then I'll break for the building to save anyone inside."

He agrees with me without saying anything, and I proceed to kicking open the window. My dad starts shooting the gang members as I throw my Batarangs at some of the thugs' gun arms, rushing in-between them and giving them some bruises to remember me by for the fun of it. I take off my cape and I wrap it around my mouth like the Carnival Nightmare. But this is a better cape. Fire-retardant and suitable for this conflict. Should watch out for my eyes, though. I take a quick look behind me and my dad finishes up a gang member with a jaw-cracking punch, shaking his hand. He's not used to hitting so hard, I guess.

I make my way towards the sounds and kicking down doors when necessary. The closer I get, I find it's three screams. A woman, a child, and a baby. A gasp escapes me. Child's Play. You bastard. I tell the kid to get on my back, put the baby in my arms, and situate my arms to grab the woman's hand, escorting her out of the building. Child's Play is playing this out as a sentence for Gotham's Crimes. I just know it. When we reach a door that I knocked down, we find there's a barrier blocking our way. The roof fell. I turn around and another falls down, blocking the other door. I search for anything useful and I look out the window on my floor. It's a long drop, but it's my only option. I kick it open and I jump out, hoping to land on top of a car parked on the curb. And I do. My feet throb afterwards. I drop down from the top of the car, and tell them to hide. To keep quiet, out of sight until all this boils down. That's to say they don't end up being found. It's all I can do. My dad escorts them to the building we snuck into. I unwrap my cape from my mouth and attach it back to my shoulders. My dad makes his way back to me, frightened. "How many people like them do you think died?"

I take a deep breath, trying to stay calm. To stay strong. But my voice comes out weak, like a scratch in my throat. Almost. "Too many." I clear my throat.

A voice comes over the comms. One of the gang members. "Batgirl just saved a family in a burning building on 42nd Avenue North."

Where the hell do they see me at? Child's Play's voice comes on. "Keep her on watch and keep me posted."

"Affirmative." replies the gang member.

One thing I want to do is toss one of the bodies into the burning building, but I can't. I made my vow. And I'm better than they are. We keep moving and come across a roadblock of police cars with police officers shot down on top of their cars. Fires everywhere. I see a giant building burning on the lower levels, no one's screaming for help. They must already be dead. I park our over the police cars and my dad steps over it. When he gets back on ground, he falls flat on his face. He's losing energy and he's beginning to get severely dehydrated. I look around for something to use and I see a gas station that's already been burnt down. I'm starting to feel the panting coming on, too. But it's not as definite as my dad's. It's hard to stay quiet when you have someone hyperventilating. I put my dad's arm around my neck, carrying him. By now, it's about an hour and fifteen minutes. My dad's resolve begins to slip away slowly, and he ends up coughing, his words not completely understandable. God forbid, if I watch my father die…

I see a fire hydrant and it's my option right now. I rest my dad against the hydrant and slide it open, water spewing out. I lift up my dad and he takes gulps of the water, laughing and smiling at the relief. He gets strong enough to stand on his own and I let him stand. When he tells me he's had enough, I slide the lid back on. "Let's keep moving." I demand.

A gang member hits me in the temple with the butt of his gun and my dad jabs him in the stomach, but the man back hands him to the ground. I begin to get angrier, mad at him for assaulting my father. I take a shot at him and kick him against a wall, punching his face bloody and stop myself to give him just enough life. I look at my bloodied glove and I look at my dad, who's just now getting up with his hand on his stomach. It must've really hurt. My dad sees my glove, halfway covered in blood. "This night is messing with your mind."

"Different, he wasn't innocent." I bark back. The scratch in my voice nonexistent. "But I can't kill him."

My dad asks me. "Why not?!"

"Because I made a vow." I bark back harder. I make my way again to Gotham Central with my dad following behind me. He's right, though. I'm smart enough to be aware of what my psyche is transforming into. And I'm also smart enough to know when to snap myself out of a fit of rage. But sooner or later, if what's already happened keeps up, and something bad makes its appearance, I just might snap. No. I still have the vow. I will keep my vow. To my dying breath.

We keep moving forward and we witness three police officers be shot four times for each one, gunned down before our eyes. I get in front of my dad, using my body as a shield. I leap a distance I didn't know I could until now and start beating up the thugs. One hits me in the mouth with a handgun, spewing out some blood and I counter with a jab to the cheek. Shot in the stomach and falls to his death. My dad throws away his handgun and grabs another handgun someone was using. He doesn't pick up the machine guns though. "This may be war, but I'm not using a machine gun. Too dangerous." He points out. It seems he got enough water from the hydrant to keep him going for a while. Good. I decide to pause and rest behind a building, to take a breather. To give myself a resting period in the midst of this mayhem. I try to breathe, but the fires are stronger the further we get to Gotham Central.

The smoke is stronger the more fires we encounter. I can't breathe as easily because I'm getting to the point where I'm emotionally weakened. But I can keep going. I'm about to be dehydrated; though, not as strongly dehydrated as my dad was. I can see hints of tiredness in my father. He still says he can keep going. A voice comes over the comms. "At least forty percent of Gotham is in flames now."

Child's Play responds. "Good. Keep going."

"Yes sir."

Another gang member chimes in. "Sir, do we deploy Squad Fifty-Fifth?"

"Give it a few minutes" replies Child's Play.

Squad Fifty-Fifth? Is that like some variation of a Tactical Ops Division? I keep waiting for the National Guard to show up, but they'd never stand a chance right now. Especially when there's already some talk of some people being deployed to make matters worse. I hold my father's hand tightly, he looks in my eyes. He must be looking for something inside them. "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine." I answer back.

I spend a few minutes of recovering my strength. Another building catches on fire when I turn my head to the left, two more to the right. Child's Play may be worse than the Joker at this point, but I'd rather not find out still. And just as when I say that, I hear his demented laughter. Not him. Not now. I close my eyes, thinking to myself. Please, not now. Not when my father's here. Not when I'm so vulnerable.

But when he comes around the corner, he sees me and my dad holding hands still. He finishes the puzzle and squats down to our level, leaning behind an ashen taxi car. "Well, well, well. Looks like it's your typical father and daughter moment."

I spit back at Joker furiously. "What're you doing here, Joker?"

He sits down in front of us, talking. "This was what I was going to do, and some freak ended up orchestrating this whole thing without telling me!"

Shockingly, he's not laughing or smashing us with crowbars by now. But actually talking to us. "So, I'm going to have to stop this on my own since I haven't seen Batsy anywhere and you two obviously aren't being any help."

He smiles at that, though. He gets up and gets out his gun, shooting at the side of my dad's head, just missing his temple. He chuckles lightly, remarking. "So if you want to keep those sideburns of yours, I suggest you do your job, 'Commissioner James Gordon.'"

I let go of my dad's hand, wrap my hands around Joker's throat, throwing him to the ground and as he rolls over to see my cowl, I step on his throat hard enough to keep him from talking for awhile. Hopefully. "If you think you can get away with threatening my father, and utilizing this city's madness-driven scenario to your own insane ploys, you'll never get that satisfaction."

I bring my knee down on one of his knees, and shatter one of his shoulders. "Who's laughing now?"

I get back to the mission at hand and make my way back to Gotham Central. My dad continues to follow behind me. It's almost two hours now when we reach Gotham Central. And just as when we reach the center of our destination, I look up to see a giant clock mounted on the front of Gotham Central, just striking at the two hour mark. When I turn around to look for the Batmobile, Batman and Robin are already getting out of it and making their way to us. A voice comes over the comms before they can say anything. Child's Play's voice. "Deploy Squad Fifty-Fifth now."

Multiple voices join in. "Yes sir."

Batman talks to us. "Squad Fifty-Fifth is apparently intended to pick up any stragglers." Stating his theory. Then he gets to the point. "We interrogated the Penguin and he has no idea who Child's Play really is, or why he's doing this. But what we think is it's a sentence for Gotham. Though, Penguin did mention something about lending weapons to a powerful individual. And I think I know who."

"Who is it?" asks my dad.

Batman takes his time to answer, and answers with a grim tone. "Bane."

Robin asks Batman in a curious but scared tone. "Bane? Didn't he break your back?"

"He did." answers Batman. I can't imagine someone actually beating Batman in combat, but it happened. "I've worn a back brace ever since then. My suit wasn't enough to protect me when he utilized a substance called Venom."

Or, more likely, Bane cheated his way to beating Batman in combat. That's unfair, but it's enough to keep me away from him. I ask Batman. "When did he break your back?"

"Not long ago." He's done playing catch-up with him and Bane, and asks me and my dad on how we're doing. My dad answers back. "We managed to rescue a family from a burning building and witnessed multiple deaths along the way. There were so many that we couldn't save."

I comment. "And I ran into the Joker who tried to turn this scenario his way, but I stopped him."

Batman steps closer to me, interrogating me. "I told you to not engage him."

In the heat of the madness all around me, I shout back at him. "There's bigger things at stake than me engaging a psychopathic, homosexual, heartless clown that wants to kill every-"

I feel something inside me. It hurts. I put my hand over my chest where my heart should be. I feel like I'm going to faint. I can't breathe. I can't focus. I'm having a heart attack. I've dealt with too much. The second I realize I'm having a heart attack, I pass out right there. I wake up to Robin doing CPR on me, shouting at me to not die. I'm still at the place I was at when I passed out. Batman and my dad are somewhere else, I guess. Couldn't waste time. Robin sees my eyes open and I've never seen him so happy. He hugs me tightly, and I don't object. I decide to let go after a while and ask Robin where Batman went. Robin's expression changes from excited to hurt. I know he wants this moment to last forever, I wish it could too. Unfortunately, we have to stop this war before it escalates out of control. Robin answers with a scratch in his voice. "They're looking for Child's Play's headquarters."

"How long have they been gone?"

"Couple of minutes."

I look up at the clock and find it's twenty minutes past the last time I saw it. I try to get up and Robin steadies me. I tell him I'm fine. Robin reminds me. "You just had a heart attack!"

I give him a scowl. Doesn't matter when more people are dying. I hear the comms come on again. "Sir, this is Commander Liquith with Squad Fifty-Fifth. We've finished our search throughout Gotham and the sweep is complete."

Something occurs to me. I ask Robin. "Is Batman in the Batcave?"

Robin looks at me, flabbergasted. "How'd you know?"

"Just a hunch."

He takes his gaze off of me and looks around, technology is active again. But there's less of it thanks to whatever Child's Play was doing. Gotham Central used to be a place flooded with jumbo screens; now, there's only two or three screens still working. Batman's tracking the location of the chatter over the comms with my dad somewhere safe. Good. The farther away he is from harm, the better I feel. Something good that happens tonight. Robin informs me. "There hasn't been much chatter over the comms except for now. Expect Batman to return into action shortly."

I shake my head in agreement. He also points out that the EMP was only temporary until Squad Fifty-Fifth showed up, according to a guess. I look in his eyes and kiss him for five seconds like our first kiss. We don't look away this time, but we rest each other's foreheads against one another's. Robin tells me in a more serene voice. "Thank you."

"You're welcome."

As we continue to rest our foreheads together, Robin compliments. "Y'know, you're starting to get smarter every day."

"it's in my blood, I guess."

As much as we want to kiss again, we hear Child's Play a little frustrated. Better than a kiss right now. "Commander Liquith, do you copy?"

No response. Robin and I both end up laughing because Child's Play is actually having some difficulties with his plan now. I put my hand on the other comm, the one in in my cowl. "Nice work, Batman."

Things are going to get worse before they get better, but I'll think of this moment as a victory. Seconds later, Batman informs us. "I know where we need to go next."

"Where?" asks Robin.

Batman continues. "Gotham Life Building."

We make our way to the building with our Grapnel Guns, launching us into the air and gliding the way with our Bat Mode. It's good to have our tech working again. We collide through the windows of the top floor, using them as a break. We progress further into the building and Batman tells us to turn on our detective mode. As we do, we see hostages in the next room. "Squad Fifty-Fifth was intended to survey Gotham from above to give information out to Child's Play on how the Incendiary Initiative performed. And the Initiative was intended for sentencing the innocent and the corrupt of Gotham to death by fire."

As a child, I used to play with fire, I think of the words Child's Play said when Gotham went dark. We get into the next room and Batman goes in first, planting a Batarang on the side of a wall, sending off a low-pitched sound and Batman puts it back in his belt. Robin asks. "What kind of Batarang was that?"

"Security Sensor."

We all step inside and rescue the hostages. They're workers here. When we get one workers' mouth fold off, he shouts. "You need to get out of here! Now!"

When he says that, more gang members come in, shooting at the eight hostages. We're about to throw our Batarangs when Child's Play walks in the room. His presence is enough to advise the gang members to draw down their machine guns. Child's Play sounds furious, but he looks calm. "So Liquith told you everything."

Batman takes a step forward. "He did."

"Tell me, did he scream? Do you scream?"

He slowly makes our way to us, still talking to Batman. "And for the man who saved the day, to what do I owe this pleasure of finally meeting the Great Batman?"

"There won't be any celebratory words after this."

Child's Play cracks his knuckles by hitting them together. "Of course there won't. Because killing me isn't child's play."

"I don't kill." Spits Batman. Child's Play replies. "Shame for you then. Because I do."

When he says that, his men leave the room and the fight begins. Robin gets out his staff and starts attacking Child's Play, at which point the breaks the staff in half with a single punch, giving him Batons. Robin appears frozen, examining the Batons and gets kicked in the stomach into a wall, almost breaking through the bricks laid out. Batman jabs Child's Play in the cheek guard, but not making a dent in the helmet. Batman gets elbowed in the chest, punched in the chin and Batman grabs the attacker's fist, jerking the assailant forward and crossing his chest. I kick his back and I duck the backhand, but I get struck by the knee rise in the throat. He grabs me by the throat and remarks. "And you beat me so easily last time. So this time you need friends to take me down?"

He knees me in one of my ribs, pretty much breaking it, it feels like. I scream and he throws me into a wall, punching my face in. After the first hit, Batman puts his hands together and slams them into the back of Child's Play neck. The attacker head butts Batman repeatedly and hooks his sternum. Robin goes back into battle with his Batons. He strikes the assailant's armor once and he ducks, slamming one Baton against the attacker's waist. He uses the Batons wisely like a countermove whenever Child's Play sends an attack. But that can only last for so long.

Child's Play learns from his mistakes and punches Robin in the face, lifting his leg up to knee his cheek. Batman grunts as he transfers all his strength to one punch to try and shatter the man's helmet. He makes progress; nevertheless, it's not good enough. Batman's throat is grabbed too tightly and is slammed onto the ground, having to bear through the pain of a knee drop to the face. I can't let this happen. Child's Play sends a fist my way; fists up, block the attack. It hurts, but it would've more in the face. I maneuver between his attacks carefully, blocking when needed and avoiding the attacks I can't counter. Though, every now and then, I would get inflicted with major amounts of damage. I keep aiming for the helmet, to make more of a dent. I still have that brace on my other knee the last time I broke Child's Play's helmet, just in case I needed to do it again. To my dismay, he's not going to let me do that so easily. I have to fool him, somehow. When I do shatter it again, it'll just realign the bones back into place. I hadn't realized until now that it was disabled when I was running around with my dad.

I try to find an opening and I have to endure blows to the head and the ribs to do it. When I do, I thrust my leg upwards as hard and as fast as I can. I only cracked it. I scream as I shatter my kneecap again, and scream even more as the brace realigns the bone back together. He hardened his helmet. I should've known. Batman tries to get back up and Child's Play kicks him back down again. Only a few seconds more until my kneecap is working again. Robin returns to the fight and thrusts one of his fists into Child's Play's helmet. And then, as if by some unknown force, his helmet shatters before my eyes. I needed to shatter his helmet to find out his identity, to get a good strike in and I punch his face as hard as I can as many times as I can. I can finally see the face, but I'm focusing on hitting him first, to give him payback for what he's done. After the sixth hit, I punch him harder than I've ever hit anyone. The seventh hit represents justice. The seventh hit represents…that we're done dealing with his ploys. I knock him onto the ground and the gang members come storming into the room, thinking that they're going to shoot us. But they just look at their boss's body, lying on the floor. They drop their guns to their sides and look at us. After seeing Child's Play struggle to get back on his feet, he looks at his once loyal men. "Kill them!" spits the attacker.

The twenty men that were once employed to serve a man, drop their guns and one of them answers back. "We don't work for your anymore."

With that said, they walk out of the room. Joy flows through me unlike anything I've ever felt. Child's Play looks at us and his face is the old Mayor of Gotham: Lhestney Falkes. He was fired for insane methods of punishment involving juvenile acts where men, women and children were involved. Some say he went into a fit of rage one day, when he was fine the day before. From what I've heard from my father years ago. I was a kid at the time, like six, when I first witnessed the outrage the Mayor had gone into. It all makes sense. Lhestney laughs and ends up speaking in a calm tone. "You fool yourselves. This isn't over."

Batman struggles to get up because of the inflictions Lhestney caused with his more powered suit. We're all lucky to be alive, as is. Batman gets to Lhestney and grabs him by the shoulders, one hand poised to strike his face with an iron fist. Batman shouts at him. "Why'd you do this, Lhestney?"

Lhestney spits at him, laughing. Batman punches his face, asking again. "Who did this to you?"

Lhestney smiles before he answers. "You want the truth? I'll give you the truth."

He takes a deep breath before finishing. "I was a sane man until I had witnessed the peak of corruption in my day. Witnessing how authority was twisted to benefit this city."

I listen, but halfway care. If there's any chance of forgiving him for what he's done, there'll never be a moment I'll do it. He goes on to explain how he went into hiding after he was discharged as Mayor, how he went with his own free-will into Rehab and was later sent to prison for murdering all his therapists. He was busted out of prison by a friend he earned in Rehabilitation and ended up killing him afterwards, too. Lhestney's actions can only be described as signs of a man who has no control of what he does, and only seeks revenge on everyone that cared or didn't care about the condition of Gotham, or anyone else. He goes on to later find out how to deal with his anger, his mental instability, his inability to belong in society because of his actions. He went into Blackgate and he found someone that could relate to him. Eventually, he felt his mind meshing back together, but it wasn't enough. One night, in Blackgate, a prisoner had set the electrical systems to short out and have a blackout for days on. During that period, Lhestney stayed in his jail cell, waiting for the power to come back on. It was with the help of Rebecca Artrode, the woman who helped Lhestney's mental and emotional problems, that Lhestney began to slowly turn into a more dangerous man.

The kind of man that watches and waits for the right opportunity to strike, the kind of man who observes you carefully. A madman with the mind to wait for the time to kill you.

When the lights came back on, the prisoners were forced into their cells after using flashlights to scour the prison. Guards later found out that the Blackout was a part of a plan to try and derail the prison's security. When they looked in Lhestney's cell, they found he was still there.

Rebecca helped Lhestney become a more refined madman. And one to strike terror in people. When everyone least expected it, Lhestney broke out of Blackgate, and it took a month before people realized he had left. He formed an organization, a mobster-esque organization, that later escalated into something bigger. Something that Lhestney had been planning for years. The Incendiaries. That's what the gang members' group was called. He also goes back to his childhood to explain the name when someone asked about it one day. He explains how he played with fire, how he was using a switch to set a campfire by himself one night. He ended up burning half of his body instead of just his face.

Somewhere inside me, I think there would've been compassion instead of hate. But right now, I still don't forgive him for what's he already done. Batman asks Lhestney. "Did you have any parents?"

"I never knew them. And I was adopted into a family that didn't give a damn."

Batman's body has stopped tensing up. He tells Lhestney. "Now you can do the same in Arkham Asylum."

Just as Lhestney activates something on the palm by bending his fingers, we all hear a beeping sound. "I don't think so. You cross my path, and I'll make sure you'll remember me. One way, or another."

He laughs lightly before he finishes. "Play with fire, and you'll get burned."

Batman hoists him on his shoulder as we all run out of the room with him; and as expected, we still get the impact of the explosion. I guess Batman's Security Sensor Batarang couldn't detect bombs. Lhestney is on his hands and knees, breathing heavily, questioning. "How…could you…save me?"

Only Batman would think of saving him right now, but I'd have had to save him, too. Batman answers back. "Because it's what I do."

Lhestney thanks him, and seconds later, he makes an attempt to punch his face but Batman grabs the fist and kicks his chest as hard as he can, knocking him back about seven feet. Amazing. And ridiculous. Batman saves him, and he's still trying to kill him. But I like that Batman paid him back ten fold. One thing's for sure, his madness is over. For now. And he'll wake up in Arkham. Robin, Batman, and I get back on our feet. I hug them both, laughing at our victory. If it weren't for my bruises in my rib cage, I'd enjoy this moment more. Robin hugs me back, and to my surprise, so does Batman. This simple act alleviates the pain I've felt all night. A tear of joy streams down my eye. I remove myself from the group hug and thank them for helping me. Batman's like a gentle giant when it comes down to it. I take off my cowl and toss away the ear comm I captured into the trash bin, putting my cowl back on. Alfred's voice comes over the comms in our cowls. "I hate to ruin your victory, but there's a more pressing engagement elsewhere."

Batman answers back. "What is it?"

He takes a second before he finishes his sentence, and the threat Dick and I know we can't help him with. The one who broke the Bat. "Bane."