Disclaimer: I do not own Batman.
A/N: Happy holiday, everyone! It's a miracle that I updated today! (*blows party horn again*)
Special thank you to:
Lady Cocoa: Yes, it is a punny name. And I don't know where I got the party horn from, actually…
Steampunk Splatter 21/Steampunkgirl19: Thank you for the compliment! Virtual high five!
purplelavenderpony: I don't think she's going to be taking action now…
Milly: I'm so happy that you like this story!
There's a Dark Knight reference lurking here somewhere…
Earlier that morning, two men stood in front of the orphanage. It was disturbingly quiet, discounting remote police sirens in the distance.
"I talked to a couple of the survivors," said Commissioner Gordon, "about the girl that was taken. Bonnie."
Across from him, Batman frowned. "What did they say?"
"Everyone I talked to didn't know her well," Gordon answered. "She kept to herself. One of them said that she takes showers at off hours in the night sometimes, but that's it. Everything else I found about her was in the old records."
The Dark Knight's eyes squinted, but he kept that note on her in the back of his mind.
Gordon continued, "A doctor named Beatrice Hatch adopted her when she was five. The girl was sent back after Hatch died in a fire a couple of years ago."
"Where was the fire?" asked Batman. Gordon's eyes darted to other buildings.
"In their apartment. Bonnie was there, but she escaped. Hatch wasn't so lucky."
Gordon's face was etched with a mesh of frustration and guilt.
"Was it foul play?" Batman said, his voice low.
"It's a cold case," said the commissioner. "Could be arson, but we don't know."
Gordon's arms were crossed as he stared at the shadows of the sky. It would be a long time before the sun rose.
Underneath the mask, Bruce's face went into the same tight position as the commissioner's. Bonnie Hatch seemed to have a dark background, but he wondered why the Joker opted to abduct her rather than the easy targets on the first floor. When he had arrived too late, the Joker escaped through the attic with her. Why would he go out of the way to take her, of all people?
"Was she sent to therapy after Hatch's death?" he asked. Gordon emptied his throat, and he then nodded.
"She did," Gordon sighed heavily. "It only lasted for two months. Her therapist said that she didn't show symptoms of PTSD."
"Who was her therapist?" Batman asked, stepping back.
"Dr. Clara Crow." Gordon turned his head to him, about to continue.
Except he wasn't there.
"Why does he keep doing that…?"
A woman with ashy hair typed up her last word on her computer. Her plain eyes scanned the window disinterestedly, with her glasses reflecting her emotions.
If her job was an image, psychologist Clara Crow would have gazed at it with the same amount of indifference. She never really enjoyed it, per-say, even though she felt that the job had promise for the future. Of course, that future kept sneaking up on her, and she couldn't keep track of how many years she's been working in the place.
She didn't completely hate it, however. There were a few children that didn't get on her nerves and produced some interest out of her, but she barely remembered their names a week after their sessions were complete.
Crow hastily stood up and was about to make the usual click-clack of her pink heels towards the door. She flinched when a man with a pointed cowl stood in front of it.
Oh, good Lord! she thought. What is he doing here? I didn't do anything wrong! How could I have done anything wrong? I can't go to Blackgate or get shipped to some other prison! And—oh, no, did Wanda get blackmailed to get sent to Arkham, of all places? I swear, I'm going to—
"Don't worry, Dr. Crow," the Bat said. "I'm only here for some information on one of your previous patients."
Crow sighed, running a hand through her hair.
"Well, alright then," she said. "That was quite the entrance you made."
Batman didn't answer. Crow crossed her arms.
"Which patient did you want to know about?" she said. She had forgotten that it was unethical to tell someone confidential information about a patient, but that hardly mattered when Batman was a mere meter away from her. Batman, of course, knew that Crow had responded incorrectly to a trick question, one that should have marked her as being professional or unprofessional. He made a mental note of her carelessness.
"Bonnie Hatch," he said. Crow came up with blanks before a red-haired kid popped in her head.
"What about her?" she said. She shifted impatiently.
"She's gone missing after a raid on the orphanage."
Crow raised an eyebrow. She never heard of something like that happening and was almost offended that Batman knew something before she did. After all, she heard all of the gossip in the city, whether she was in her office or not.
She adjusted her glasses unnecessarily. "What do you want to know about her?"
"Everything you know, doctor," the Bat said. Crow tried not to huff.
"Well, she didn't have any mental issues after that, um, fire that she was in. That girl was very perceptive and sane, and once said that I," she chuckled, "did not have to diagnose her with any 'social anxiety disorder' or 'whatever disorder shock has to do with' just because she was introverted. She was always very on guard, and–"
"She seemed distrustful at all to you?" The Bat glared at her.
Glared! Crow thought. At me!
"Well, I-I—she—"
"Did she show any interest in fire?"
"She's only mentioned it once—"
"Has she ever told you of other things that have happened to her? Anything you actually happen to care about?"
Ouch! Crow felt her ego take a hit.
"N-no..."
"Tell me, Dr. Crow, have you ever felt like you've been missing something in terms of knowing your patients? Or were you too dismissive to even care? Did you ever think that you were fit for this kind of this job? You do realize that you gave away private information about a patient, don't you?"
Silence.
"Get out."
Silence again.
"I've already considered it."
And then the Batman vanished.
Batman had five newspapers in front of him. The obscurity of the Bat Cave blanketed over him as he read the first one from a couple years ago. He found the article several pages later, right after news reports on the Joker breaking out of Arkham.
Doctor Dead in Fire
By Victoria Monti
Dr. Beatrice Hatch, 38, was pronounced dead at Gotham General Hospital at 4:01 am after a fire had her apartment in ashes. The police ruled her death from burning. There was claimed to be possible evidence of criminal activity in her death; a "knife mark" was found on her face when she was being examined. The GCPD does not have any leads at this time.
"If this isn't ruled an accident, we will get whoever is responsible into custody immediately," Commissioner Gordon said, who is investigating the sudden death. "We can't let criminals take anymore lives like this."
On the other side of the apartment, her adoptive daughter, 10, was found to be "miraculously alive." She will be sent back to Gotham City Orphanage in the mean time.
The man stopped. Only a few months later, two other newspapers were published, having larger headlines saying, Apartment Buildings in Ashes: What Now? and More Fires: Rogue or Not?
He especially took notice of the last one. The answer should have been more obvious to him before: the criminal hid behind other criminals to get her work done. The Riddler escaped Arkham when the third newspaper was published, and Selina...Catwoman was downtown (exactly where the buildings were) in the former. The two rogues both set fires to buildings at one point, but they weren't the buildings the arsonist burned down.
The pyromaniac wasn't looking for attention at all.
She was getting her anger off on something.
Bruce eyed at the fourth newspaper that came out a few days ago: Apartments to the Ground: The Joker Again?
As he knew already, those fires were never because of the Joker. The Joker liked "meeting" with his victims first, and then the blood would have been shed. It was rare for the Joker to not look his victims in the eye.
That was when the Batman looked at the last one, which came out rather promptly: Orphanage Attacked: 11 Dead, 1 Missing.
This was the Joker. He usually directly encountered his victims, and the orphanage raid was no exception.
And this was when the child went missing, just days after the fourth paper came out. He remembered that. He remembered seeing the Jo—
Oh, no.
Of course that would have been the reason the Joker (or possibly Harley Quinn) would have knocked him out! They met her one way or another, probably at the scene itself.
A livid spark lit Bruce's eyes. He really shouldn't have kept his guard down at such a crucial moment. The guilt was in Batman's hands for having the troubled child…under the clown's wing.
And now, he needed to get her back.
It was fairly clear to Bruce who the fire-starter was at this point. Now Batman just needed to find her, before the girl was further endangered by her captor.
"Master Bruce, what seems to be the problem tonight?" Alfred took notice of Bruce clutching two newspapers. They both had photographs of buildings crumbling down from flames on them.
"The Joker's taken an interest in someone. Someone to manipulate again."
"And who is this?"
"A child."