A cold Thursday night in Old Gotham. The winds blew with the same indifference over everyone, slowly making their way down the peaks of the buildings until they reached the localities of the Clock Tower. Many forces were concentrated in that place, at that moment, a masterful anticipation filled the air with an invisible presence of strong tension. The vehicles of the gang entered the passage from the Tower, and all the hours came out of them, all eleven led by Midnight walked the set of stairs until they reached the main office of their leader, between the gears of the large display of numbers and hands.

         Clock King was sitting in his chair at the work table, they all saluted him. He smiled, and began to speak:

- The Hour is almost here. Lacking, careless governments have put us in a position of vulnerability and neglect. We are the buzz of twelve hours counting down to the moment of our revenge! We will begin in Gotham, and then countless governments around the world will know the cold, indifferent precision of the moments of rise and fall of human civilization as we know them. Civilizations that will be rebuilt by the power of the Clock King!

         But, hidden among the gears once more, the young vigilante watched the megalomaniacal speech of who she believed to be Temple Tockman. Having arrived just in time to hear the bit about "the great revenge" against modern civilization, she was still guarding the crowbar she had used to force her way into the building. Dick was monitoring everything from the cave, no repeat of the walkie-talkie incident as Barbara had said, as her friend breathed heavily through her communicator, clearly reliving frightening memories.

- Batgirl, they've been keeping radio silence for about 10 minutes, is everything okay out there?

- Clock King is giving an amazing fascist speech, Oracle, everyone's here.

- What about you, are you okay?

- More or less... Trying to stay calm – She pulled the Batarang out of her pocket again – We need to make sure we listen to everything, I'll leave the communication on speaker mode for you to hear.

- Right.

         Doing as she said, Batgirl clicked the device in her ear, and Dick could now hear what the criminal was saying. Continuing his eloquent manifesto, he talked about pride, power, and especially retribution, something that always aroused an intense inner anger behind the eccentric glasses with pointers.

- ... And now, revolutionaries who have given their lives for this cause, prepare to be commanded to victory – He took a map from your desk, and spreaded it out on the ground. It was a huge map of Gotham with three dots in red highlighted, and several routes traveled between the streets in every possible color – Three pillars! Watch society, as we know it, crumble! We have worked countless days toward that goal. Already installed and ready, our tools will do the service of removing the mind, soul, and spirit of Gotham.

- Batgirl, can you see what he's showing?

- I can – She replied – It's not very clear, but it's three points on a map, several routes, some kind of invasion maybe? I think I can locate the Clock Tower, it looks like... All routes leave from there.

- And where are they going?

- Out of town.

- You still can't see the dots?

- I just know they're all in the New Gotham area, I'm too far away to see clearly.

- Clocks are a wonderful thing! – Tockman continued – Whether it's wrist, wall, or as beautiful decorative artifacts like Grandfather Clocks, they can even be big, majestic buildings like the one we're in. But the most wonderful thing about them is their multitude of uses. Wide, varied in their applications and formats. They can build up the routine of billions of people around the world... And destroy their lives at the exact moment that was scheduled for.

         And then a movie flashed through Barbara's mind. A series of disjointed points suddenly began to make sense after that last sentence. The cover-up of tracks, the attack on the docks, the transport of items through the city, the stealthy operations, and especially Batman's lack of action. One thing he had said on the day of their meeting: "I picked up reports of explosives being smuggled into the Clock Tower a few days ago. I can assure you that I didn't find anything but dismantled clockworks there." Of course there were only dismantled clockworks there, that was all he needed. Without another moment of hesitation, she began to say aloud.

-Bombs! – All hours began to look around, confused, looking for the source of the hero's ubiquitous voice, but Clock King raised his gaze slowly – That's your plan, isn't it? Equally poetic and clever, it's a wide-ranging terrorist attack on all of Gotham. I didn't have explosives to find here because they were made with clock mechanisms. Literal time bombs.

- Glad you joined us after your amazing harbor encounter survival, Miss Bat! – King Clock gestured for his followers to get in order again – There is no stopping my plans, they will come to fruition soon, and you were part of it, you can see events unfold around Gotham as the siege closes. You can even escape with us if you wish, someone resourceful like you deserves a route to survival, and then we will go our ways...

- You're crazy if you think I'm going to let your plan happen without trying to stop you!

- But therein lies the problem, Batgirl. It's going to happen, it's out of my control now, it's all a matter of it... of Time.

- Where did you put the bombs, Tockman? – Gordon's voice had equal measures of despair and anger.

- I see you've figured out my identity. As you may already know, I was an accountant and had big plans for the future of time management services in a company that I would open to serve this flawed social system in which humanity lives. This power was bound to discover its true value after a day of scheduling failure. One of the city's budget documents was lost in the submission to the system, and my month of work was deleted consequently. The wrath of the system turned against me, and my whole story was erased from the records, a mistake that attempted to extinguish my genius from within the core of human history. I was accused, persecuted, tried... And I chose to retribute... Through the mind, soul, and spirit of Gotham. Can you imagine what they are? The Spirit that gives you the strength to keep moving your gears, the soul that gives purpose to each of your moments, and the mind that coordinates all your movements. There are those who call it the Economic, Legislative and Judicial nuclei of a society, but we know that it is something far beyond that...

- The Stock Market, the Supreme Court, and the City Hall...! You will throw Gotham into total chaos!

- A No Man's Land at the stroke of Midnight! Completely abandoned to its own indifferent fate... Just like you – Soon, One and Two o’clock sneaked up behind Barbara, pointing their machine guns at her, which she only came to realize when they were being triggered – You didn't accept the exit from Gotham, so accept quick death so you don't see the horrors that will fall on this city! Let me release you Batgirl...

         It was twenty minutes to midnight when Barbara saw her life pass before her eyes again. Her days alone with her brother while her father and mother worked; The moments she spent walking the halls of the Police Station; the various schools she attended; the days she met Dick, Harley, Helena; all the algebra proofs she got to hate; All the sweet moments she lived with her father. The machine guns in front of her, ready to fire...