Valarie woke up slowly, seeing only deep shadows punctuated with brilliant white light. The contrast made her squint for a second, wondering where she was. Then it all came flooding back to her. The prank. Robin. The Batmobile. Sitting up quickly, Valarie's vision went black. She put her head in her hands, waiting for the head rush to pass.

When she could see again, Valarie could see she was on a table, stainless steel, and that the Batcave was…exactly that. A cave. Granted, it was filled with technology of all types and probably the nicest cave in the history of all high-tech caves.

She hopped off the table and looked around. There were thin strips of metal running around and around, connecting different areas to each other. Valarie could hear voices from the end of one of the catwalks, and she followed the sound, ending up in a cozy looking area, complete with chairs and a table. Batman was at the huge computer.

Valarie couldn't see what he was doing, but it looked important. The screen of the monitor itself was bigger than her bedroom. Not that that was saying much, seeing as where they lived.

"Cupid! You're up!" Julius engulfed her in a hug, pulling her in close. He whispered in her ear. "Here. You might want this." He pressed something into her hand, then stepped back.

Valarie looked down. It was one of the outrageous gloves that had been part of her Eros costume. Thankful that her brother had noticed and helped her cover the hideous scar on the palm of her hand before anyone else spotted it, Valarie pulled on the glove.

She then noticed with embarrassment that she was still wearing her Eros costume. It was garish, noticeable, and not at all her style. Valarie didn't know when Julius had had time to make the costume, but it was something that she'd only wear once in a blue moon.

Valarie preferred an old black hoodie of hers that had the color wheel painted on it in the shape of rock guitars, paint splattered (that was the style of the sweatshirt), with eighth notes painted on it and sprinkled with little rhinestones.

She loved that hoodie, and normally paired it with combat boots and black skinny jeans. Valarie also wore her gold locket. Valarie touched the locket. So many things were bittersweet. Her locket, paired with her scar. The terrible things that she should have done something about… No. Valarie told herself firmly. I'm not going to think about those things. It doesn't help to think about what I didn't prevent, but could have.

Robin wasn't really paying attention to anything that was going on around him, but was staring off into space. It was cute, but irritating. "Hey!" Valarie snapped her fingers right under his nose. "Boy Blunder! Does this little bird have a brain?"

Robin jolted out of his trance straightaway, frowning as he processed her words. "I think I've been called that before. I just can't remember who…"

Valarie inwardly cursed herself. Stupid, stupid, stupid! "Well, yeah! Of course, a lot of people…say that! Even in our neighborhood! Sorry, it must have rubbed off on me."

Robin nodded, but didn't look totally satisfied.

"So, anyway." Julius broke in, trying to look calm and collected. He was succeeding, too, except that Valarie knew him so well that she could see clearly how much her slip-up had rattled him. "We had something that we thought would be a good idea to tell you."

Robin reluctantly turned to him. "Yeah, you did. And what is this 'valuable piece of information'?"

"We – that is, we," Julius gestured to his sister and himself. "Believe that Dad is being held in either our area of town, or in one of the abandoned areas of town, like the shipyards."

Robin crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow. "That helps us narrow the search a bit, but it'll still take us weeks to search all of your neck of the woods and all the abandoned buildings in Gotham."

"Julius and I can take care of our neighborhood." Valarie jumped in. "That narrows it down a lot."

"I don't think that's good idea." Batman turned from the computer. "But I think we can find somewhere for you to stay until we find Dr. Song."

"You don't think we can take care of ourselves?" Valarie asked skeptically.

"No, I just think it would be safer with-"

"With who? The Bruce Wayne Foundation?" Valarie threw her head back and laughed scornfully. "Believe me, we're not that desperate."

Robin, having started up at Valarie's scorn of Bruce Wayne, sat down again at a look from Batman.

"And don't even get me started on the play boy himself, or that ward of his." Valarie said the word 'ward' as if it was a bad word.

Batman caught Robin's eye again, and almost imperceptibly shook his head. While they could defend Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson, they couldn't sound too close to the two prominent figures, otherwise the Song's might start to guess something was up.

"If you believe you don't need protection, Ms. Song, then we shall take you home."

Valarie nodded her head decisively. "And I'll show you how I can take care of myself."

PAGE BREAK

The ride back to the Song's apartment was very quiet, mostly because they were unconscious for most of the time. When they did wake up, they decided not to disturb the silence.

The route that the Batmobile took wound in and out of an old warehouse complex. Robin didn't know why they were coming this way, but he trusted Batman's reasons. The sky was cloudless, but there was only a crescent moon that could be seen. The stars twinkled as if they were saying, "We know something, but we can't tell you what."

It wasn't in a mean way, but more in an apologetic way that the stars were sending the message.

Suddenly, the stack of crates right next to the Batmobile exploded, sending debris everywhere. Batman pulled on the wheel hard, spinning the vehicle in a complete circle.

After Robin had recovered from the blast, he looked into the back. Valarie was staring, wide-eyed, out the window. Julius must have hit his head, because he was out cold.

"Did you see him?" Valarie exclaimed.

"Who?" Robin asked, confused.

"The Joker! Running around the side of that building!" Valarie unbuckled. "I'm going after him!"

"Wait!" Robin called, stepping outside the Batmobile. "You can't just go running after the Joker!"

"Watch me." Valarie donned her pink mask and pulled an arrow out of her quiver, racing after the fleeing figure, who Robin could now see with growing dread was wearing a plum colored suit.

Batman had checked on Julius by that point and came to stand next to Robin.

"Batman! She…She just went after the Joker!"

"Does that girl have a death wish?" The Knight muttered. "Come on, Robin! Let's see whether she can manage to stay alive until we get there."

It was easy to follow Valarie. Her bright pink outfit stood out brilliantly against all the dark shadows everywhere. She looked a bit like a fairy, though she seemed bent on chasing down the murderer, not sprinkling pixie dust on all the earth.

The figure in the plum suit disappeared inside a warehouse, and without delay Valarie followed him inside.

Robin was about to dash after her when Batman put out his hand. "Robin! Look!" On either side of the bay doors, which were opened as wide as they would go, was a face that they both knew well. The stuffed face, normally so harmless and endearing, looked sinister and dark with the paint running down it, still wet.

"Oh, no." Robin whispered.

A scream came from within the warehouse, and Batman and Robin shared one glance before racing inside.

Lying curled in the fetal position, Valarie's face had a look of utter terror on it. She screamed again and seemed to curl in deeper within herself.

The thing that both Batman and Robin's eyes were locked on, though, was the figure standing over the girl. His clothes were old and worn, patched, with straw sticking through it from all angles. His mask usually sent crows screeching, trying to get as far away as possible. But in his case, it usually sent the population running, terrified.

"Batman. You need to stop getting new apprentices! I can barely keep count!" The Scarecrow admonished.

PAGE BREAK

Valarie looked around. She was inside a building, absolutely packed with people. There was barely room to walk, much less run, should the need be. "No." Valarie whispered.

She turned around, starting to fight her way through the crowd. She was nearly at the back when she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror.

Rimless glasses, a peach-colored cardigan with a light blue camisole underneath it. Her hair wasn't colored, but it was in two positively adorable pigtails. The denim skirt with daffodil-yellow leggings and gray boots completed the look. Valarie remembered that outfit. She had been wearing it the day everything had changed.

Suddenly, there was a huge blast that sent several people, including Valarie, sprawling. She hit her head on a display case, making her black out for a second. When her vision cleared, a man with white skin and green hair was standing in the middle of a pile of bricks.

People screamed and ran for the doors, only to begin coughing, then laughing hysterically as the purple hued gas hit them. The few unfortunate people who got a large dose were soon on their knees, laughing until tears rolled down their faces, the keeling over, still wearing smiles that were too wide for their faces.

"Oh, come on, doesn't anyone want to hear some of my jokes?" The Joker cackled. Everyone stepped back, except for one little girl, who stood there uncomprehendingly. The Joker noticed her immediately.

"Why, hello, there. And what might your name be?" The Joker said softly, and he actually sounded friendly.

"Marianne." The little girl said shyly, smiling at him.

"Come here, Marianne. I have something you might like." The Joker's voice was so cheery; Valarie should have called out to Marianne, told her to run, but no. She let Marianne make friends with the biggest psycho in Gotham.

Marianne hesitated, then walked slowly towards the Joker. Valarie was surprised by how alike she and Marianne looked.

But Marianne's hair was a dirty blonde, like burnished gold. She had it back in two incredibly straight pigtails, and was wearing bold blue half-rimmed glasses that accentuated the freckles on her fair skin.

The adorable eight-year-old was also wearing a sky-blue half-hoodie that showed off her gorgeous blue eyes, with a school emblem on it. Underneath that was a plain white t-shirt, untucked over a denim skirt with a plaid patch. There was just a bit of the little girl's jeggings peaking out from underneath her skirt, with some heather gray boots over top.

The Joker grasped her head in his hands and placed them forehead-to-forehead. "Now here's something I always want to you remember. Always keep on smiling. You got that?"

Marianne nodded, flashing him the cutest smile ever.

"That's perfect! Now can you keep the smile?"

Marianne smiled as big as she possibly could,

The Joker clapped his hands, his hands, crying out, "That's perfect!"

Then, before anyone could do anything to stop it, Joker reached out and, snap! He twisted Marianne's head sharply to one side. The crack made quite a few people scream, but Valarie was too horrified to do anything but stare at the body of the little girl. The most vomit-inducing thing was the fact that there was still a smile on that adorable face, but the eyes stared at nothing.

"Well, I must be off! Things to do and people to see!" The Joker hopped back through the hole and was gone.

Valarie knelt next to Marianne's body, tears forming in her eyes at she stared at the tiny body. A glint of gold caught her eye, and she reached over and picked it up. It was a gold locket, shaped like a heart.

Valarie pressed it as hard as she could into her fist, but suddenly, she couldn't let go. There was a burning pain spreading over her, starting in her hand and slowly fanning out until it was coursing through her body.

Screaming, Valarie tried to let go of the locket, but her hand stuck to it like glue. The world was growing black around her, and all she could think was, "Please. Let this pain stop…"