Her father had been called to the headmistress' office, she was waiting outside. She was trying to come up with a thousand and one excuses to talk to her old self, as usual, but she knew she couldn't come up with any excuses to justify it. Deputy Gordon left there with a calm but restrained expression, the girl already knew what to expect. The headmistress left her office and went somewhere else, giving a moment alone between father and daughter, and James sat down next to her on the aisle bench, sighing deeply, placing a hand on his head, clearly irritated by the situation.

- Do you want to say something? — He started the conversation.

- … No.

- What were you thinking, Barbara?! — The deputy shouted, indignant — For God's sake! Can you at least tell me where you've been…?

- … No.

- Oh… — He looked away, putting his hand to his mouth this time, his gaze had extreme concern.

- I didn't do anything wrong! I mean… Not at all what reckless girls tend to do…

- I don't know if I'm relieved or even more afraid. — He said, resolute, the calm in his voice screamed much more than any reaction of despair — Daughter, you are a... Very special girl. You're not in this Academy for nothing, you're going to become an amazing woman, you're going to do really great things, but you... You still haven't discovered that potential within you.

- It's not that…

- The fact that you keep denying everything I say only makes me more sure, Barbara! It doesn't matter what you've done or what reasons you tell yourself it is, deep down you know this is it… — Barbara ducked her head, embarrassed. — But I suppose that's partly my fault...

- You have nothing to do with this!

- Barbara, you started doing these things since your mother and I divorced. You feel like a lost child, I know how it is, and it started because of this change in our lives.

- But… I like my life.

- That's not what I said. — Gordon replied, looking deeply into his daughter's eyes. He adjusted his glasses and stood up. — I won't do anything about it for now, but you just got a warning, you're welcome. Do you want to stay here or do you want to spend the rest of the week at home?

- I… I want to stay here, if you let me.

- Are you certain? Don't get in trouble with that Harley.

- It's okay, there's bigger fish for her to worry about.

- Bertinelli? — Gordon asked, Barbara nodded in confirmation. — Well… Come here.

Barbara stood up and Jim shrugged to envelop her in a hug. He kissed his daughter's forehead before saying goodbye and heading back to the police station. Barbara had one more chance to make things right, she couldn't screw it up the way she did now. The first thing she did after getting ready for the day at the Academy was looking for her friend. It wasn't until recess that she found him again, sitting next to the statue of the founder of Gotham Academy, in the typical acrobat position he always did when he was alone, which he didn't like to acknowledge, but she always took note. He had a sandwich in his hand when she approached, and he swallowed another big bite when he noticed.

- Hi Dick…

- Babs. — He replied silently.

- Sorry about the other day. I talked to my dad today and… Well, it got me thinking. You were right. — He raised an eyebrow, and finally looked at her face — I'm really being affected by this situation with my parents. They were everything to me and now… Well, they still are, but that's changed. It's like their feeling has cooled off, I don't feel safe anymore when I think about them, it's like my life without them has just begun, but they're still there, it's very confusing and makes me scared. And I need you…

- Need me? — Grayson's eyes lit up at what Barbara had just said.

- Yes, I need you. You're my best friend, I… I love you, you know. No one but my parents knows me like you do. And I need help figuring out what I do now…

- What do you do? Say, of your life?

- Yes, and other things too, see that? — She pointed to the sling — Do you know how I did it?

- How?

- I went to the Clock Tower yesterday… — She whispered.

- What?! — Dick almost shouted, lowering his voice soon after — Are you crazy?

- Calm down… I'm alive, aren't I? I discovered something there, Dick… A frightening thing.

Later, in the late afternoon, the two gathered in the Academy square once again, some people were walking there and the lights were already starting to come on, they sat with Barbara's laptop and various papers and books from their research on Gotham. Barbara took a deep breath and started to recount everything that had happened, tried to be as detailed as possible about everything, and Dick just listened, static. When she finished, it was his turn to take a deep breath before adding his observations to the account from the friend. He took a notebook and a pencil, and began to speak.

- Right… That “Clock King” you mentioned, he's clearly obsessed with schedules, right?

- Yea.

- He must only have twelve henchmen, from what you told me, the scariest is this Midnight person. To understand what they want to do, we just have to understand the codes and the things you heard. What part of the conversation did you say it was?

- They were talking about... A distraction, at Stagg Industries. It was followed by a code, I think each one means a plan of action.

- And what were the codes like? — Dick started scribbling something in his notebook.

- Ah… “23 and 30”, “9 and 32”, “1 and 47”, “10 and 5”.

- How... Like this? — Dick revealed what he had drawn

In the notebook, a clock without hands, and there were two numbered circles, one that went from zero to twelve, and another that went from thirteen to twenty-four. Barbara didn't quite get it, so Dick tried to be more explanatory.

- A day has twenty-four hours, Barbara. We separate the times into AM and PM, the first half and second half of a day. This clock king only uses the most… Classic way of measuring time, so to speak. “23 and 30” is no more than eleven-thirty PM.

- Oh… Makes sense! — She approached the notebook — That's why the first number was no more than twenty-four.

- Yes, and look… They are even programming what their “devices” are going to do. A distraction at Stagg Industries, a setup spread all over Gotham's perimeter, and it all started because Batman was there… But you said you didn't see him.

- Dick… I think Batman doesn't know what's going on.

- Well... There's always the possibility that... You know.

- What?

- … He doesn't exist. Suddenly, Gotham can only be a dark place full of terrorists, and there really isn't a night entity to punish criminals and protect the innocent.

- No… No, no, I refuse to believe that. — Barbara looked away, startled at the prospect of Batman being nothing but a legend — Their distraction was certainly to distract Batman.

- So he's eluding Batman with chronological accuracy. If we don't warn him, this “Clock King” will actually have time on his side, and it will be too late for… Wait, what exactly must he be planning?

- I don't know… At the very least, he's planning an attack on Stagg Industries. That has to be enough to convince...

- Convince who? Your father?

- No! The Batman!

- Do you want to try to contact Batman?!

- Of course! He's the only one who can stop The Clock King, just like the Joker and the Riddler.

- But… That was the police.

- It wasn't… — Barbara smiled.

- What has your father been telling you?

- Nothing… Other than that there's a guard out there doing some of their work.

- I think you'd better be right, Babs. How are we going to contact the Dark Knight?

- Simple: We put a beacon for him to follow.

- Like a signal?

- No, you fool, a decoy, an indication that some crime is going to happen.

- And how do you intend to do that without…? You know, getting the attention of the police and getting into trouble.

- Dark Web — Barbara began typing frantically on her laptop — If Batman can smell the scent of crime, he surely must have an almost psychic connection to this stronghold of the internet. Human Trafficking, recorded murders, hiring of mercenaries, broadcasting live torture realities, selling stock confidential and defamatory data, it’s the stronghold of criminals he would love to get his hands on.

- And what exactly are you going to do there?

- I'm going to join a community of hired assassins and pretend to be one. I'm going to file a service that's going to be on the police file tomorrow, and I'm going to make it look like something big...

- Like a terrorist attack?

- Don't get me wrong, I don't want to come off as a generic Joker, I'll be very specific. I'm a professional sniper, for him to search the tops of buildings, I'm going to record the death of an important public figure in the city, but who...?

- It would be nice to be someone who can't get us into more trouble, like… Well.

- Who?

- Your father. An important police chief who annoys a lot of people.

- Someone whose routine I know and, if he finds out, he won't do anything to me but ground me for the rest of my life… I think it's worth it.

- Are you sure, Babs?

- No… But desperate situations require desperate measures, and I have nothing but my computer and my computer skills, it will have to do too.

- Will you want me to go with you?

- No… I started this myself, Dick, I don't want to involve you any more than you are already involved.

- At least let me show you something… — He took out a map very familiar to both of them. — I've studied the catacombs of Gotham. If they are really real and that cave that we found is this point that we signaled here, then there are two other very useful passages. Here it is close to your house, it leaves at Old Gotham subway. And here… You won't believe it. It's under the girls' dormitory here, if you can find a way through there, it's a direct entrance to the catacombs, you can get around without missing a beat.

- Wow… This is amazing. What would I do without you, Dick? — She hugged him, and he reciprocated — I need to get ready to meet Batman then.

- May I make a suggestion?

- Like what?

- You need to go unnoticed, you can't just show up there in the Academy uniform, you need to blend in with the shadows and not draw the attention of anyone but Batman.

- What are you suggesting? — Barbara opened an expression of confusion, and Dick smiled broadly.