The press was absolutely silent as they stared at the fallen hero on the pavement before them. Blood spattered the notorious costume and, face down on the asphalt, laid the legendary Batman.
A small yellow-clad figure clawed their way from the rubble behind them, staggering out of the wreckage, wounded shoulder clutched haphazardly by her other gloved hand.
She sprinted over as soon as she saw Batman, falling to her knees beside him. The police on the, even the few press members who had showed, were dead silent- not a single camera flashed, you could hear a pin drop in the icy silence...
She shook him. "Wake up!"
Bodies hitting the floor, the horrified screams of the crowd, the way their ivory bones peered out of their limbs and there eyes were glassy, how no matter how hard she shook, how loud she screamed, they wouldn't get up...
"Wake up! Batman, please!" her voice was growing more frantic as he didn't move. Tears carved paths of clean skin down her dirty face, looking down at him desperately.
Her hands fell uselessly to her side when she realized it- he wasn't going to get up. She sat there for a moment, shaking as she tried her best to hold back the sobs that tore at her throat...
"W-wake up. B-Batman- daddy, please- wake up. Or take me with you." she lifted his limp arm and crawled beneath it, desperate to be close to him, desperate for comfort-
It was at that moment gas exploded all around them, noxious green fumes taking to the air like fire. Screams of alarm erupted from the people around the scene, and it was all she could do in her numb state to look up, startled, before her eyes were on fire and her cheek was glued to the pavement. The last thing she saw was a pair of approaching shoes and bleached white skin, a hand reaching for her- before she was dead to the world.
ONE HOUR EARLIER
They'd been perched on the edge of Wayne Towers, like always. She crouched atop her gargoyle on Batman's left- Robin had wanted to patrol the South Side tonight, and since the boy was thirteen, and the South ide was a relatively low crime area. He also wanted to keep special watch on his daughter- they hadn't had any one-on-one time in awhile.
His nine year old looked up at him from where she'd been nibbling on a sandwich, eyes bright beneath her mask. He didn't know whether to be happy or alarmed that the girl loved the nights almost as much as he did.
The radio receiver was to their right, monitoring all the police scanners in the area. So far there hadn't been much- it looked like a quiet night.
"So- what's your favorite color?" she asked, cocking her head at him curiously as her gloved fingers tapped idly on the stone gargoyle.
Batman hid the smile that was beginning to tug at his features beneath the cowl- Batman didn't smile.
"Black." he grunted.
"Second favorite color?" she asked, not at all put off by his answer.
"Gray."
"Third?"
"Focus." Batman reprimanded.
Sparrow sighed, vaulting off her gargoyle, a hundred feet above the pavement, and landing perfectly on the next one.
There was silence from the nine year old for one moment, two... Batman thought she'd devoted her entire attention to scanning the streets below, and was about to do the same, when-
"What's your favorite number?"
Batman pinched the bridge of his nose beneath the cowl. His kids were incredibly amusing, but he couldn't let it distract him...
All of a sudden there was a crackling on the radio, followed by several snatches of a voice. Instantly sparrow was on her feet, staring at him attentively...
"It's nothing big- a gas leak. The fire department can handle it." he turned back to watching the streets.
His daughter didn't take her eyes off him. He ignored her for one second, two... "What if there are people in there? What if they get hurt?"
He was bored, too. And the kid had a pretty good point. He ignored the smile tugging at his lips again, nodding to her as he fired off his grappling gun. "Let's go, then."
The building was in the poorer districts of town- it was an abandoned hotel, with windows broken and paint peeling.
"It's been condemned for years. No one lives here..." except the homeless, who decided to take shelter from the elements inside. They were people, their lives had meaning, as well...
"I can check the upper floors real fast." his daughter chirped, as though reading his thoughts. Batman nodded. "Quickly. Use your re-breather- if you start feeling sick, bail."
She nodded, before she was darting upstairs. The smell of gas assaulted him as soon as he stepped into the room- he searched the lobby carefully, looking for anyone sleeping behind old desks or furniture.
He couldn't find anyone- he wondered briefly if his daughter was having any luck upstairs when something caught his eye. Amid the torn up couch cushions and broken glass, something metal, a wire...
His eyes widened when he realized what it was. A delayed ignition device, this had been a trap, the whole thing had been a trap-
He pulled out his comm, heart pounding frantically in his chest.
"Sparrow- get out of here, now-" he was cut short was the very air around him ignited, the force of the explosion blowing him through the glass doors of the building and onto the sidewalk, and he was dead to the world.