It was almost time for the end of curfew again, but this time Barbara would be staying near the Clock Tower in Old Gotham. She was in an abandoned building on the next block, with all the equipment she thought she needed for the mission scattered on the floor. It was her laptop, her notebook, some “personal protective equipment” and, of course, the walkie-talkie, with which she waited for last night's cryptic transmissions. She looked at him intently, silently within the darkness of the building, where she found some peace, it was really comforting to be in an empty place that she was fully aware of, the silence was like cushions to her agitated mind, the cold like a alarm clock to draw your attention to the task at hand.

If some time had passed while she'd waited for a sign, brooding, she could see now why Batman stayed there. Or did it come from there, who knows where it really came from? It was then that she heard the strange man's voice once more, he began the curious dictation of numbers again, which she was patiently writing down in her notebook. There was a pattern she couldn't quite understand yet, but it was there. “8 and 37, loading transport. 9 and 32, load preparation…”, the starting numbers were always increasing, but the endings were practically random. She was jotting down a few more commands that the voice suddenly went silent, only to, a few moments later, begin to speak actual commands.

- Five o'clock, how's the perimeter watch? — Asked the hoarse voice.

- All on time. — came another voice, finally, also that of a man.

- Very well, from five until eleven, start setting the explosives… — Barbara shivered at that. Explosives? Five to eleven?

- Right. Leaving the top post now.

The Top Post… Top of what? She wondered to herself for a while, nothing came to mind but the top of a building, but she couldn't say which one. The tallest building in the area, but which one… The Clock Tower! The tallest building in Old Gotham, where the van left the day before. Sinister people planting explosives somewhere in the city, this had just gotten too serious. She needed to tell the police, but… This is definitely the kind of thing that appeals to Batman. Imagine meeting Batman fighting crime! Maybe even help him, which is why she was here. That was definitely why. She needed to get to the top of the Tower, and she had an idea how to do it, but it wasn't going to be easy.

She was on top of the abandoned building, crouched down so she wouldn't be seen by the group of armed criminals who left the Tower on their motorcycles. She counted, there were seven of them, and remembered the message, “From Five to Eleven”, seven numbers. She had to jot this down in her notebook before continuing, she figured putting all the clues together would give away the full story later. She got to her feet after everyone was out of sight, and looked around, looking for a route to the tops of the buildings, and managed to see it. Two buildings and then a jump to one of the Tower's windows. But she reminded herself, it's the top that was untraveled, she'd have to climb one more floor to reach the top entrance. That should be easy, it wasn't such big jumps, and she practices rock climbing at the Academy… Right?

Well, there was only one way to find out, she stuffed the notebook back into her backpack and stared at the gap between her building and the next. Taking a few steps back, she took a deep breath, telling herself that she could, even though the odds weren't high. She tried not to think… And she ran. As fast as she could, she lunged and jumped, the rush of adrenaline coursing through her body as she rolled to the landing on the other building. Trying not to miss the moment of acceleration, she got up on a quick impulse and kept running down the path, and as she approached the second span, she had to take a bigger leap than she'd expected. The gap could have been longer, but she reached the second building with a few inches to spare, landing in a crouch this time. Sweating in a cold sweat from the last maneuver, she slumped to the penthouse floor, panting from the maneuvers she'd performed.

Shortly after, she rose again, approaching the gap between the building and the tower. She concluded that she wasn't going to be able to reach her goal with the extra weight of the backpack, so she grabbed her Walkie-Talkie and cell phone, leaving the backpack on that terrace, she would end up having to go back there eventually anyway. Tucking both into the pockets of her blouse, she backed up to the far edge of the terrace, kneeling down and putting her fists on the floor. She took another deep breath, and broke it with all the strength of her legs. It must have been the biggest leap she'd ever taken, thought to herself, as she grabbed for the nearest gargoyle, dangling several feet off the ground. With much effort, she leaned over the statue, and after taking a little more breath, she got up to climb the ledge. Old buildings were full of parapets and spare decorations that could be climbed, every now and then she tried to do it when she was bored at her house.

She began to climb, leaning on every piece she could find to the top, a small ledge with a trapdoor, and above that, a hanging bell, to mark each hour. She grabbed the Walkie-Talkie and put the hood on it. It had been hard work getting here, but the hardest part was now: Keeping still. “Think like Batman, Barbara. Be Batman.” She whispered to herself. Passing through the trapdoor, she went down the stairs slowly, she couldn't hear anyone else, but she could hear some voices in the distance. She stepped out of the stairs between the gears of the giant clock, her Walkie-Talkie finally receiving a broadcast signal, and she crouched down to listen intently, turning the volume down to a level only approaching her ear she could hear.

- Heads up. One o’clock, we need coverage of the weekend's events as soon as possible, enjoy, this is the only non-schedule event you will receive. – The Leader said again.

- Understood. — A female voice answered this time.

Barbara started to move in the direction that the broadcast signal was clearer. The sounds reverberated in her ears as the rhythm grew closer to the source. It didn't take long, she was in a gear several meters above the pointer screen, only on the inside. You can see under where it was, and there was a hidden platform, on it, a table with various office supplies, some chairs, some cabinets, surprisingly, lots and lots of clocks. She put away his walkie-talkie, she could hear the orders of the leader of the operation himself, who sat at his desk, and in front of him, a tall woman, wearing a kind of costume that covered her entire body, the material of something that Barbara couldn't identify, but it made her much more robust. The Mask, covering the entire face, being her and the entire suit completely black, with some white dots scattered around, and the number twelve marked on the chest.

- Everything is going completely as scheduled… — The man at the table said, still hidden by the shadows of the place.

- What will be the next one? — The woman's muffled voice answered, Barbara wondered if she could see.

- For you, Midnight: 23 and 30, cause a little trouble for the Stagg Industries arms trade, it will get the bat's attention enough.

- Bat… — Barbara sighed quietly, Batman was really involved in this.

- All right, King. — The woman replied, standing up.

- Just a moment... — He asked the subordinate to stop, taking a big old walkie-talkie in his hands — Four O'clock…

Barbara had left her walkie-talkie on the surface of the gear, and when he spoke into the device, Barbara's reverberated, his words through the clock's metal frame. The child froze in fear, and flinched, grabbing the walkie-talkie as fast as he could. The crasher couldn't see, but the man stopped immediately and looked up, the Midnight woman too. Gordon even held her breath, and began to creep in slowly to watch them again. When she stretched her eyes out again, she was lucky the two of them weren't watching her directly, just the area towards her. Seeing that she couldn't get their attention anymore, she went completely still. The Man got up from the table and approached Midnight... He wore a bowler hat, glasses, a suit and a cane... The problem was that the cane was a big clock hand, sharp by the way. The tie, several watches stamped on it, and the glasses… They had pointers too. Each lens was a clock with a different time stamped on it.

Gordon couldn't believe what she was seeing… What kind of freak had she just met? This was the kind of thing she only saw on TV or in the distance on some Gotham street with the police right behind them. She'd overheard her father talking about encounters with these mega-villains, but now… There was one right in front of her. The Midnight Woman had called him King...

- Clock King… — Barbara whispered to herself again, finishing the name.

- Midnight… Go check out our rat infestation, please.

- Yes, King.

Barbara was static with fear as the woman began to climb one of the walls with only her left arm, burying her hands in the bricks and pushing herself upward. Fear freezes her senses, she was still standing there watching Midnight approach and didn't know what to do, until ten o'clock chimed, the whole clock ticking and moving frantically, this not only woke Barbara up, but gave her the cue to run out of there untracked. She wasn't sure, but she could have sworn that when it hit the bell, Midnight had fallen, but she couldn't hear anything yet as the bell rang ten times. She reached the top of the Tower again, and could hear the movement inside the building as she thought about how she was going to get away.

She was a span and a floor away from the trajectory she needed to get to, and she needed to get there fast. She had an idea that she was sure she was going to regret, but she didn't think, just… Jumped. Falling from a height of one floor, she could hear her left arm dislocate with the impact of the jump. She spent some time beside her backpack, trying to bear the pain without screaming, wondering what she had just gotten herself into. She scrambled to her feet, slipped the strap of her backpack through her right arm, and ran to jump the two buildings again. It was when she finally reached the original that shots began to be fired near her. She couldn't hear them, they were using silencers, but she knew they were coming from the top of the Tower, they couldn't let her escape. She managed to run a little farther to get to the staircase in time, gunfire still ringing outside.

Her eyes snapped with fear, she didn't know what to do or think but to run away from there at that moment, they were going to come after her at any time, and she should take advantage of the reduced team. She descended the stairs as fast as she could, terror easing the pain in her arm for a few moments to accomplish her escape. As soon as she could get out of the building, she blended into the shadows of Old Gotham just like she always did when she came home late. She had to walk to Gotham Academy, which wasn't easy, staying all night until she got there in the morning, when they were already waiting for her. She was isolated in the girls' room for an hour after treating her dislocated arm. She knew there would be consequences, but she didn't know what they would be... She just knew one thing, she needed to warn someone, and most of all…

She needed to warn Batman.