I spent the following night with a bottle of vodka from Bruce's secret stash. After my conversation with John, I wanted nothing more than to numb myself with something other than my own rage.

All over again, I felt like the little girl who lost her mother. The room spun around as I lay on the floor, drinking from the bottle. All the things that had been suppressed in the back of my mind were finally coming to the surface.

I thought about my van ride back to the manor. The Joker was helping me because I was his muse? Was I fueling his madness? Was I becoming obsessed? I looked towards the closed windows and fantasized about if he would pay me another visit. My last thoughts before passing out were about his dark eyes, and how they held the same emptiness I had felt my entire life.

I woke up the next morning with a splitting headache - half the bottle of vodka gone and the remaining bottle shoved into the sheets of my bed. Stretching and dragging myself to the windows, I opened them to let in some cold fresh air. Barely awake, I hadn't realized that the boys were back from their field trip and were now playing in the yard. A few of them turned to look at me and I quickly shut the door and hid behind the curtains. Blushing, I had only been wearing an oversized t-shirt.

After showering and brushing my teeth, I made the decision to go along with John's plan. I had nothing to lose. With the Joker and Nightwing on my side, I could finish what I started with my father.

Of course, John would never allow me to do away with my father. He didn't have to know about my ulterior motives… At the end of it all, nothing else mattered besides revenge.

The last week of October went by fast. I went to see Lucius Fox, one of the most brilliant men in the city of Gotham. Financial manager for the late Bruce Wayne and now head of Wayne Enterprises, he had been working with John to invent the Nightwing persona. It was my turn to pick my own alter ego.

As we pushed through revolving doors, there he was, standing to greet us in a crisp suit and tie in the middle of a large foyer.

"Lovely to meet you, Ms. Falcone." We shook hands as he noticed my brown leather gloves, "I've heard quite a lot about you," he added. My reaction was closer to a wince than a smile.

I had been wearing gloves in public to avoid any uncomfortable contact. There wasn't any need to pry into others' thoughts without an intent to do so. And honestly, I was drained enough handling the thoughts of John and the Joker.

"Just Lucy, Mr. Fox. And I'm sure you have..."

"Just Lucious, Ms. Lucy, and no need to worry. I'm a professional secret keeper." he said, winking.

John, Lucius and I made our way to the basement of the building, walking through a few hallways that required different security clearances.

Finally we made our way to a set of steel doors that opened via retina scans. As the doors slid open, motion detectors switched on bright lights, revealing a room that must have been the size of a football field.

"Home sweet home" Lucious said, walking towards a set of desks and monitors in the center of the open space.

I realized how awestruck I must have looked when John elbowed me, smirking.

During our visit, Lucius had asked me about a name I could use as an alter ego.

"Perhaps an animal totem?" He suggested.

It didn't take me long to settle on one.

Tiger's Eye… My homage to my mother.

We finished the visit by designing blueprints for a suit. It was sobering to know that I was taking steps towards a future that I could control. I wouldn't need to run away. On the contrary, I would become the predator.

Another week passed by quickly. I did my best to focus on training with John and keeping myself grounded in reality. My feelings towards this man were unclear. Although he was attracted to me, I couldn't quite level with him. Most nights I fell asleep thinking about the Joker. It was becoming an unnatural obsession.

Halloween Day was spent readying the charter school students for trick-or-treating. Lucious also came by to drop off my finalized suit: a black, bullet proof, light weight, fabric with a full coverage mask and stripes of blackened gold fabric along the chest. Small indicators of tiger ears as well. The suit gave me the ability to jump higher, tolerate blunt force, but most importantly, the fingertips allowed me to control the use of my insight.

As the students left the manor to go trick-or-treating, John and I were in the bat cave checking police reports and news updates. Combining Lucius' private CCTV footage and John's access to the GPD police radios, we quickly concluded that so far the night remained relatively somber. John trusted the police force to handle most of the light to moderate criminal activity. Intervention would be saved for more delicate situations.

I was inspecting my suit as Alfred came down with some protein shakes.

"Ms. Falcone, are you ready for your initiation into the family?" Alfred said smirking, handing us both green smoothies.

"Oh god, not this" John moaned, taking a breath then gulping it down while holding his nose. After exhaling, John stifled the urge to gag. "This is the most disgusting thing you'll ever taste."

I eyed John and Alfred suspiciously, sniffed my drink, then took a sip.

"It tastes like… kale," I said plainly.

"I hate kale," responded John. I rolled my eyes and finished my smoothie.

"Thanks Alfred."

He smiled and winked. "At least someone likes my smoothies."

Alfred stared at one of the television screens broadcasting the annual Halloween fundraiser: a costume contest between all the most popular, well known fashion designers. The fundraiser had begun earlier that night, models were in the midst of strutting down a catwalk inside one of Gotham's historic halls. Socialites stood with champagne glasses, determined to outbid each other on their favorite costumes. The announcer sounded joyful and excited as she interviewed a handful of noteworthy guests.

"This is the kind of thing I can't stand watching," Alfred said, collecting the empty glasses and beginning to walk towards the elevator shaft.

"He says that but he's just going to watch it while having his tea."

Alfred pretended not to hear John's remark.

"I'd wish you luck tonight Lucy, but you won't need it. Make sure John comes back in one piece."

"Thanks Alfred" I said, as John rolled his eyes and ushered him away with a sweeping gesture.

When Alfred was gone, I turned to John, "I'm sure Bruce would have attended an event like this."

He nodded. "Or Batman would be doing what we are doing right now."

I couldn't comprehend how he could transform from civilian to vigilante so quickly. I figured that was Superman's thing. But being a billionaire had its perks…

Suddenly, the TV screen flashed with static. A figure materialized as the picture changed from fuzz into a darkly lit room.

"Well helllooooooo Gotham… didyah' miss me?"

I stopped breathing.

"Ladies and gentle-man…There is nothing wrong with your television... Do not attempt to change the channel... I am controlling the transmissionnnn" the Joker erupted into fits of laughter as his dimly lit face appeared on screen. There was someone tied up in the background. Judging from the surrounding recording equipment, I realized the Joker and his hostage must be inside a newscasting van.

"Allllll Hallows Eve" said the familiar, chilling voice. "When the dead and buried riseeee".

I turned to John but his eyes were glued to the screen.

The Joker paused, adjusting the camera on its tripod.

"Rumor has it, there's a new bat flying around town... could it be?...our dark knight in shining armor? Batman?! Let's ask the audience..."

The Joker positioned the camera towards his hostage, walking towards him and turning him around in the chair. John and I stood in shock. Tied in the chair with an explosive shoved in his mouth was the Italian jeweler John had saved earlier that month. The old man had a fresh gash on the side of his head. The Joker removed the device from his mouth and the man, sweaty and shaky, gasped for air.

"Now. Mr. DeLorenzo... I remember you saying to a lovely news reporter that you came FACE to FACE with this man... could you kindly repeat to the audience what you said his name was?"

The old man was so frightened it took him a few moments too late to collect himself. I jumped backwards as I saw the Joker raise a knife to the man's mouth.

"John-"

"Sh!" I had never seen John like this. He couldn't stand what was happening in front of him... I looked towards the screen, helplessly.

"Night-w-"

"Speak up! Speak up!" The Joker said giddily.

"Nightwing" the man whimpered.

"NIGHTWING" the Joker roared as the man trembled. The Joker cooed the store owner, eventually shoving the device back into his mouth.

"I have a special surprise for you, Nightwing," he said, pushing the chair away from the frame. Behind the glimmer of his makeup, the Joker's face was emotionless as he readjusted the camera and licked the side of his lips.

"To me? You're just a wannabe. A frauuud. If you think it's THAT easy to replace good ole' BATSY… you're just as crazy as I am! My Delorenzo and I have talked it over and think you'll need to audition first!" The Joker whooped with laughter.

John was clenching his fists, waiting for the Joker to get to his punchline. He was drawing on his act, letting the poison sink into John's veins.

"At midnight, you'll need to make a choice… there are two bombs planted in Gotham, but you'll only be able to deactivate ONE of them. Will you save Gotham's millionaires or keep Arkham from becoming a pile of rubble!?"

He ended the sentence with a gesture of an explosion. As the camera fell to the floor with a crash, the picture immediately cut back to a news reporter who was talking into her earpiece. She turned towards the camera.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the doors to the gala have been sealed shut" the female reporter stood shakily as an armed man in a clown mask swiped an expensive looking necklace from around her neck before moving on through the crowd. The entire ballroom was being raided by the Joker's men. Surprisingly, after a few moments, the reporter collected herself and continued.. "W-we will stay live as we approach midnight. I'm Danielle Lee, reporting from the annual Halloween-"

We were running to our motorcycles in seconds.

"Where should we go?" I asked.

"Gordon definitely has Arkham covered. We can head to the Gala."

I nodded as I switched my masked goggles to night vision. Speeding out of the gate and onto the main road, we sped towards the city. As we made our way through traffic, things were finally beginning to sink in. I was going up against the Joker… My father was in Arkham… A lot was at stake tonight.

There was no turning back now. I felt ill-equipped and unprepared, but I needed to take things one step at a time. John had trained me a significant amount over the last few weeks and hopefully it would allow us to work well together.

Approaching the Gala from a back alley, I noticed floodlights, cop-cars and police barriers encircling the baroque style exterior. Onlookers stood behind yellow lines of police tape, some of which were news reporters from other local stations.

"We'll enter from the roof," John said, hiding our bikes behind a set of garbage containers. I nodded and followed him quickly up an abandoned fire escape lining an adjacent brick building. As we climbed upwards, I wondered if the Joker was awaiting us below.

It didn't take long before we were met with heavy gunfire. Ducking behind an air vent, we regrouped.

"Those fucking clowns" John hissed.

He unhooked something from his belt, throwing it across the gap from our roof to the Gala's. A smoke bomb.

Pressing a button on my suit, I touched John's face to get a better sense of his plan. It was an odd moment of unintentional intimacy, but he understood I was using my insight. I let him sneak a quick kiss. Smirking, he nodded and we ran in separate directions from behind our cover.

I ran to the edge of the building and jumped across the gap to somersault forward onto the Gala's rook. Ambushing men on both sides, we took them out one by one under the cover of the quickly lifting fog.

"Nice work" said John, kicking a gun away from an unconscious henchman.

The center of the roof was an impressive, pyramid shaped glass skylight . During the day, the light from it must have illuminated the entire central hall. Tonight, it was going to be our most convenient entrance. John took out a tool from his utility belt, suctioned the roof with the apparatus and slowly cut a moderately sized hole into the glass.

Looking down it was pure chaos.

"We have 45 minutes until midnight" John said, "Let's work on taking out as many of the armed clowns as possible as we get the doors open. Aim for no casualties." John said, punching something into his wrist intercom. After a few rings, a voice resounded from within our helmets.

"Already in trouble?" Lucious responded dryly from the other end of the line.

"We need to figure out where the Joker's placed the bombs inside the building… and if they can be deactivated "

"On it" said Lucius.

"Thanks" John said, turning off the Intercom.

"Gotta love teamwork..." I said aloud.

"Remember, we never truly work alone," John said, smirking. I'm glad his mask was similar to Batman's. I could see the curling of his handsome lips as he smiled. A ping of something like butterflies filled my chest.

In seconds, everything below us went pitch black. Lucious had hacked the system and cut the power to the entire building.

We jumped one by one into the Gala. I was impressed at the suit's compression, as I barely felt the impact of falling about 100 meters to the ballroom floor. We stayed low, despite the sudden cover of darkness. Guests began screaming as henchmen fired blindly around them.

"Bombs deactivated for now- I suggest you get everyone out before they're detonated manually" I heard Lucius say through the intercom."

I ran towards one of the main doors and kicked it open, allowing for a steady stream of guests to fly out. Running into the cold with their hands up, they were met by police and EMTs.

Meanwhile, John was busy knocking down numerous henchmen, dismantling guns as he went. As I continued to open the doors, headlights from cop cars flooded the interior.

Someone grabbed me from behind and threw me back into the center of the ballroom. Before I could gain my bearings, I was pistol-whipped and kicked down to the ground. I rolled out of the way as a knife came at me.

I did my best to parry attacks of two different clowns.

That's when I heard a hissing sound. Unable to distinguish the source of the sound, I began to cough.

"Don't breathe it in!" I heard John yell.

He was able to take down both of my attackers while shooting a grapple upwards towards the ceiling. It was truly incredible.

"Let's go, we're done here!" John said, motioning me to do the same.

"You're way too good at this…" I breathed under my mask.

We reached the top of the Gala and fled the scene. As we caught our breath by the bikes, we heard the bomb go off ahead of schedule behind us. The ceiling of the building exploded as glass reigned down on onlookers.

I continued to cough and felt a tightness in my chest.

"Lucy, are you ok?"

When I took a close look at him, I realized what I had inhaled.

"Oh... oh no..."

"What is it?"

His face was terrifying. A dark, gaping empty hole.

"Crane's fear toxin..." I breathed. I knew intimately what it had done to my father. Looking around at the far off crowds, those dressed in costumes began to take on horrific forms. I panicked.

"It's not real, Lucy, it's just a hallucination"

"I know, I know" I said… unconvinced that his face wasn't going to suck me into a dark void.

John took out a capsule from his bike.

"Take this, it's an antigen. It'll help fight the effects for a few hours. Then we'll get you hooked up to an IV and flush the rest out."

I swallowed the pill as John took out a cellphone from his bike.

"This is Gordon," I heard on the other end of the line.

"Gordon, it's John. I'm outside the Gala, it looks like everyone escaped before the bomb went off. It was detonated ahead of schedule."

"That's good news… we've got the inmates packed into armored vans over here. No sign of the Joker yet."

"Are the driver's trustworthy?"

"You think we're going to have a repeat of Gotham General? I don't think so."

"Right. Let me know if you need anything."

"Will do, thanks." With that, he hung up. John looked at his phone for a few seconds.

"We're heading to Arkham" he decided, tucking the phone back into a compartment in his motorcycle.

Getting on his bike, he glanced at me.

"Are you going to be okay? This is a lot for you... with Crane's fear gas... Arkham... your father-"

"I'll be fine" I said curtly, mounting my bike as well. I felt a little better after taking the antigen, but my chest was still heavy with anxiety.

It took a dangerous, winding route along the coastline to get to Arkham.

Thick stone walls lined the perimeter of the grounds, with only a small entrance way to the outside world. Gotham was serious about keeping its prisoners from escaping... making it all the more impressive that only the Joker and a handful of others had managed to escape the grounds during the history of the institution.

As we approached the entrance, the gates were already open in preparation for an evacuation. We slipped through them and up a winding road towards the main buildings. It was an eerie looking place, made even more unnerving by old, skeletal trees illuminated by ancient lamplights.

This plot of land had many past lives: Before Arkham had been an institution for the c riminally insane, it was a boarding school for the Gotham elite. Before that, a colonial mansion. Before that, a lookout for British Naval Ships. Who knew what significance this ground had for the native Americans before settlers even stepped foot on this land. Regardless, the asylum rested upon a treacherous cliff - no way up and no way down. The last stop for many of Gotham's criminally insane.

Red and blue lights lit up the towering white marble facade. The closer we got, the more police activity we could see. We moved around the scene in the darkness, surveying the police cars and armored vehicles that surrounded the building. I spotted Commissioner Gordon giving orders to a few men in uniform, regularly talking into a walkie-talkie.

We parked our bikes behind a set of hedges on the outskirts of the property and made our way towards the action. The Asylum staff were outside, shivering in the cold, unprepared and underdressed for the quick evacuation. Meanwhile dozens of prisoners were being escorted into holding vans by an armed militia. The commissioner was taking every precaution. It was the first big threat the Joker had made on the city and the police reputation was at stake. There was a lot that could go wrong.

"10 minutes to go," John said, adjusting his night vision goggles to scan the building for activity.

This was the first time I was seeing the Joker in action. I'd heard many stories of the chaos he'd caused before. In his attempt to kill innocent civilians of Gotham, Batman had always been able to stop him. I felt more like a spectator than a vigilante in this situation. All I had was a heightened fighting ability and my insight.

Five minutes to go as we crouched there, frustrated and cold.

"We need to do something." John was frustrated. I'm sure he was comparing himself to Batman unremittingly.

We sat in silence, watching idled armored vehicles. I knew that in one of them was my father. I did my best to bottle my feelings for now, as I was in no position to do anything rash, especially with John and the GPD in the vicinity.

"One minute... " I breathed.

As the digital watch on my suit reached midnight, I held my breath.

I wasn't ready for the explosions that followed.

They weren't coming from the building itself. They were coming from around it. Under the ground… landmines.

The armored vehicles revved their engines and sped down the hill, heading towards the exit. The police did their best to stumble into their cars and follow behind, however, the scene was a horror show. Men were running left and right to avoid explosions and shrapnel. Bombs were going off in all directions, threatening to crumble the foundation of the institution and perhaps the cliff itself. I had to turn away, as I couldn't help but observe a few poor victims become pieces.

We ran toward our bikes and that's when we heard another explosion off in the distance.

"Fuck" John said.

I could hear the tumbling of bricks ahead of us. As the dust cleared, we realized another set of explosives had been placed at the entrance shortly after we had entered the facility. Although the trucks housing inmates had cleared the exit, the majority of the Gotham police force was stuck behind the rubble. The gate was now rendered impassable.

"This is what he wanted…" I breathed.

John revved his engine and made his way towards the rubble. I watched him blast a powerful round of ammunition into the debris. As the dust cleared, I saw a path large enough for his motorcycle to drive through.

I was dumbfounded. As I disappeared behind the wall. Suddenly his voice came through my helmet intercom.

"What are you waiting for, slowpoke? Let's go!"

"How come my bike doesn't do that?" I grumbled, revving my engine and following him out of the small, makeshift exit.

Gordon had witnessed everything.

Six vans were headed towards the main roads.

"We need to follow them and make sure they get to the safe house," John said, as we glided along the water's edge.

"How do you know there's a safe house?"

"I was a cop… remember?"

"Well, I hope they also have a plan for getting half the police force out of Arkham."

We rode silently behind the vans for a while until we saw oddly shaped trucks entering the highway from a number of different onramps. Cars swerved left and right to avoid what looked like an army of… ancient looking ice cream trucks.

"You've got to be kidding me" I heard myself say.

"Be on guard, protect the vans!"

I was starting to feel dizzy again as the effects of the pill John gave me were wearing off well before they should have. The dosage of the gas must have been incredibly potent. My mind twisted my perception of the road. The ground was warping into mounds of long, bloody intestines. I swerved to avoid some invisible blobs of flesh.

"John, I'm feeling the fear toxin again…"

"Try to push through it. You're strong Lucy, we can end this quickly. We just need to disable the ice cream trucks".

There were six armored vans, six ice cream trucks and two of us. I would have thought the odds weren't in our favor until John began taking handfuls of black, spiky balls out of his glove compartment. Throwing them under a truck of clowns, the tires shredded, causing the truck to swerve towards the side of the road and crash into the guard rail.

I opened my compartment. Thankfully I had some weird spikey balls as well. However, at the moment they looked more like large spiders.

A truck window opened and masked clowns began firing at us. I sped towards the left side of the truck, throwing some of the spikes under its wheels. Popping a back tire, the truck of clowns swerved to a stop in the middle of the highway. Two down, four to go.

I understood the Joker's plan now - with half of the police force trapped in Arkham, the Joker could disable the armored vehicles so that the inmates could escape back into the city.

The remaining ice cream trucks were persistent, pushing up against the vans and forcing them to exit the highway.

Now that the trucks and vans were single file, they were more vulnerable. Speeding through a four way intersection, one of the vans collided with oncoming traffic.

Swerving around it, we made our way into the shadier part of the city. Driving was getting more and more treacherous as the streets began to narrow. An ice cream truck fired into the driver's seat of a van, successfully executing the driver. The van swerved uncontrollably towards me.

"Lucy watch out!" John screamed into the intercom of my helmet.

Jumping from my bike, I tumbled onto the sidewalk as it collided with the oncoming van.

"LUCY!" John screamed.

I grunted, watching the van crash into an apartment building adjacent to me.

"I'm ok, I'm ok…," I said, "keep going".

I sensed his hesitation.

"Ok...But you're out for the count. Take cover and hide. I'll come back for you as soon as I get these guys."

My head was spinning as I stood. Stumbling forward, I looked at the damage in front of me. My bike was totaled. My body was sore from the impact. I couldn't believe I was standing.

Leaning against a lamp post for support, I saw the back doors of the crashed van kick open. Inmates jumped out and ran in every direction. They all looked like demons. Some of their heads were on fire. Others were skeletons, burn victims, waterlogged corpses… the toxin was overwhelming my senses. I could have sworn I could hear screaming coming from all around me.

It's not real, I kept telling myself.

One of the inmates spotted me.

"Hey you!" he said, gruffly. As he ran in my direction, I saw his face dripping with flesh.

It's not real.

I stumbled backwards, remembering my suit was equipped with smoke bombs. I detonated one and made my way into an abandoned apartment building before the man could reach me. Panting, I slid down a hallway and into a gutted room.

Time stopped for me as I crashed into something on my way out the backdoor. Lying on the floor next to me, illuminated by lamp light, was my father.