Chapter Six

Barbara sighed and wheeled her chair across the floor. Why was every criminal out now? She should be out in the living room prepping for her daughter's fourth birthday party tomorrow, but no. Every damn criminal decided to crawl out of their holes and create chaos. Her headset crackled in her ear.

"Oracle here, what's up Spoiler?" Barbara said, clicking her mouse.

"Yeah, hi. I've got a bogie over in the west quadrant." Snort. "Bogie."

"A 'bogie'? There are criminals are all over the place tonight. I should know. My husband is out in uniform working the streets with my father and my father-in-law is working the streets in tights with the rest of my family. Meanwhile, I'm stuck at home, trying to decorate for my daughter's party."

"Ooh, I'm so excited. I got her the best gift ever."

"You, her father, Clark, Bruce, I think she's going to be one spoiled little girl of you all keep this up," Barbara muttered.

"But that's where you're wrong. I made her my present."

Barbara rubbed her tired eyes. A red light flashed in the corner. That needed attention.

"I have to go Spoiler, the big boss is calling. See you tomorrow at the party. Keep safe and get some sleep."

"Right-o."

Barbara sighed and opened the channel with her boss.

"Batman, this better be important. I'm just about lose my cool. I still have to decorate half my house for tomorrow."

"That party may have to wait a while, Joker's just escaped from Arkham."

Barbara's blood ran cold. Damn it.

"Momma?"

Barbara turned and there stood Ellie. Half of her black hair was falling out of the loose ponytail her hair was put in earlier in the evening. Her batman footie pajamas were still a bit large and flopped around her toes. She clutched her bright blue blanket to her chest and was rubbing her eye.

"What's wrong baby?"

"A monster outside the window."

Barbara stood from her chair and walked to her daughter. She lifted Ellie up and rested the girl on her hip. Ellie placed her head on her mother's shoulder.

"What kind of monster?" Barbara knew of one type of monster that was loose on the streets, but he wouldn't look through a little girl's window on the fifth floor of a building.

Ellie looked up at her mother with the same eyes.

"Faceless. Glowing eyes. He was watching me."

Barbara's eyebrows knit together. That description didn't match any of the previous 'monsters' that were lurking under her bed before. And that certainly didn't match the rogues on the street tonight.

"Want to sleep in Momma and Daddy's room? There are no monsters in there."

Ellie gave the tiniest nod before falling asleep in her mother's arms.

He was running across the rooftops as fast as he could. His heart was pounding in his chest. He didn't think that seeing that, that, girl would affect him so. She was just a little girl. He didn't even realize why he was watching her. She slept the same way her dad did, arms and legs all over the place. He'd been watching her for the past week. This was the first time she had woken up. She looked at him through the window with a blank look. There was not the fear he expected, nor was there the surprise. She simply looked, then walked out of the room dragging that blue blanket behind her.

He'd spent the most of the past week surveying those that he had known. He'd always known that Blueboy and Barbie would end up together in come form or another. He didn't expect a kid though. He guesses that he never really knew them as well as he thought he did.

He managed to make it back to his apartment without any attraction from the Bat. He was curious why that was. The traffic had been unusually heavy that night, but usually that was nothing that would keep the Bat from his normal patrol route.

He passed along the rooftops before slipping into the abandoned building that was serving as home for the moment. He saw the cot sitting in the corner, sheets still messed up from when he woke up earlier that day.

"Hello Bed," he muttered.

He wasn't expecting it to answer him. That was insane. But for some reason he felt compelled to say hello when he entered the room.

He chucked his leather jacket on the back of some chair he rescued from the trash and flopped down on the cot. He stared at the ceiling for a moment before reaching over and turning on the police scanner.

"-Er, ten-four on that. There's no one in the area."

"-In pursuit of a dark green Honda going seventy-eight down Park Avenue. Requesting Road block on eighth and Broadway."

"Negative on the road block. Every available patrol is out searching for the Arkham escapee."

Instantly he was awake and listening very intently to what the police were saying now. One half of him was hoping that it would be who he wanted it to be, the other half prayed that he was wrong. His hands itched towards his guns, strapped to his hip.

"Is the Southside district clear?"

"Ten-four on that. Joker's nowhere in sight."

Before he realized what happened, his gun was out of its holster and a single round was fired into the radio. The tip of his gun was still smoking. Fury was flaming in his eyes.

"Dammit," he growled, when he realized that he would have to swipe another one. "Damn him. Damn him. Damn them all."

He threw his jacket over his shoulder as he made his way out into the August night air.

Tim was sitting on the roof surveying the warehouse district. He didn't understand why he was here. Having him sit on a bunch of empty warehouses wasn't really helping anyone. He should be out there with his adopted family scouring the city for the madman. But he knew why Bruce had told him to sit on the warehouses. It was because of the Joker.

They, Batman and Nightwing, couldn't bear to lose another son/brother.

It still didn't hurt any less when he was asked to stand down while Dick and Cass could go out and handle the harder assignments solo. He understood why that was so, a little. Dick had been doing this for nearly fifteen years. And Cass had been raised by assassins, until she ran away in horror at what her father was having her do. But Tim was capable handling himself.

"Is there anything going on down by you Robin?" Batman's voice came over the comm.

"Nothing. There's nothing happening down here. I really think that it would be better if I were combing the streets with you and Batgirl." Tim sighed.

"Negative. Stay."

Just like that it was him by himself again. Had he been Dick, he would probably start doing something that would amuse himself, but would ultimately distract himself from the task at hand, but he wasn't.

So he continued to stare down at the emptiness of the warehouses. But that didn't stop his mind from wandering out from what his task was.

He thought about Stephanie and her, well, everything. The way that her blonde hair fell in her face during one of their sparring matches. The way her laugh seemed to brighten up the day, no matter how solemn it had been before. The way his chest tightened when she was in any type of danger. That feeling confused him. He'd always been concerned about her welfare; he was concerned about everyone's welfare. But this was a new development. He wanted to ask someone about what it could mean, but he wasn't sure who.

Bruce was automatically out of the question. That man bottled everything up and didn't know how to express himself. Although he'd been getting a lot better since the birth of Ellie, he still wasn't one that could offer out sound advice.

Dick might offer some good advice, but then again, he has given some really crappy advice too. Tim shuddered. He didn't need a repeat of what happened before on Dick's advice. He rubbed his cheek subconsciously at the memory of the bruise.

Tim reasoned that he could talk with Alfred, but he didn't want to burden the older gentleman with the small details of his teenage life. Not that he was a teenager any more. Legally, he was eighteen now, and therefore could handle his own problems.

"Robin?"

Tim shook himself from his contemplations to answer the comm.

"Oracle? Is there any leads yet as to where the Joker might be? Staring at an empty street is staring to mess with my head."

"Oh?" Tim heard the rustling of plastic from over the comm. "What could possibly be messing with the Boy Wonder's brain?"

"Never mind. It's not important."

"It's obviously important, if you're thinking about it during a stakeout. C'mon share with the all-powerful Oracle."

Tim snorted. His eyes scanned up and down the block again.

"It's dumb, I don't even know why I mentioned it. We don't really have the time for this when the Joker is out there."

There was a pause. "Fine. But after this is over, we are going to talk about whatever is on your mind, got it?"

"Yeah, yeah. Hey, listen I have to go; there's some activity on the west side of me. I'm gonna go check it out."

"Stay safe."

"You know me," he responded before the comm went silent again and he started running across rooftops.

It wasn't the biggest amount of activity in the world. It was only a car driving on the street. But it was an excuse to get out of the conversation and for him to get his legs moving again. He'd been slowly getting the pins and needles feeling in his legs.

He landed on the rooftop next to the one where the people were parked. He watched as the two men in the car walked in and out of the warehouse carrying rather large boxes between them. He pulled his binoculars from the back of his utility belt and focused on the uniforms that they wore.

There was no identification that he could see. But they had a large box, nearly as large of the two of them, pressed between them. It was an old box. There was yellowing tape on the corners of the box, which was holding it together. The logo was faded beyond recognition.

Tim sighed. The two men came back out and got in their truck and just drove away. Probably only dropping off something for the company. Although the timing was suspect.

Beep, beep.

Tim's alarm signaling the end of his patrol breaking the silence. He sighed again. He was tired. His sleeping patterns had been disrupted recently. He would say his insomnia was back, but that would require that he would have to admit that he had a problem.

He shot his grappling hook off into the air and swung into the night air. Maybe tonight would be different. Maybe tonight he would be able to get more than a few hours. It wasn't likely. Not with the Joker out of Arkham and roaming the streets.

Here's to hoping.

Binoculars lowered down from his face. A large smile spread across his pale white face. The sight of her turning out the lights and crawling into bed made him smile. Hubby wouldn't be home for a while. Not while there was an escaped convict on the loose.

He opened the revolver and slid one bullet into the barrel. His sharp cackle started to echo on the empty rooftop.

This was going to be fun.

A/N: And I realize that this chapter is way shorter than usual. I have a lot planned for part two, because this is going to be more of a multi-chapter arc than the usual one-shots. As always, review.