"Lockdown in: 3 minutes-"

The alert spread misery across Arkham.

Cassidy stood motionless as staff and inmates shoved past each other. Some crammed into the elevators.

I need to get out...

She couldn't bring herself to move.

The shutters were already down by the front entrance. Nowhere to run.

"Everyone, please! Calmly make your way to the South Wing-" One of the doctors said, gesturing to the door behind him "There's no need to panic- just-"

An ear-piercing bang fired outside, followed by screams. Some dropped to the floor, others ran.

A tidal wave of people swept through Cassidy before she could blink, pushing and shoving in an attempt to flee.

The gunshots continued.

She was thrust into the onslaught of elbows and arms flailing in all directions. Cassidy thought she would end up knocked down. Trampled.

Joan cut through, tugging her to the stairway door.

"We need to go. NOW"

Joan took Cassidy's hand as they ran to the 2nd Floor.

///

Joan and Cassidy barged through, knocking into a beaten figure by the door.

"Aaron!" Cassidy yelled.

"Jesus Christ! What happened?!"

"I'm alright" Aaron groaned, his arm trickling blood. "Listen, some of the patients escaped- they've got weapons! I don't know how but my guys are-"

"Lockdown in: 2 minutes"

"There's no time! Just get to safety!"

Joan grabbed his sleeve before he could run.

"No! Don't go down there! You'll be killed!"

"I have to!"

Aaron broke free, a piece of torn sleeve in her hand as he disappeared down the stairway.

Joan paused, shutting her eyes.

They kept running.

They stopped at the frantic traffic of staff, swiping their keycards on top of each other. No time for the door system to register who was actually trying to get in.

Joan spotted an adjoining corner, and turned, praying it was a shortcut.

"Lockdown in: 1 minute"

"Shit shit shit-"

Joan panicked, sprinting around the maze of corridors as the time counted down.

Cassidy couldn't keep up, no matter how hard Joan dragged her arm. And it was ready to rip out the socket.

"Over here!"

Staff down the hall shouted, ensconced inside the Panic Room.

"Lockdown in: 10, 9, 8..."

But Cassidy couldn't go any faster.

Either that she was unfit, or her legs were too short, Cassidy knew that she was the slower of the two, and at that point, neither of them would make it.

At the cost of her own footing, she shoved Joan ahead, sending her tumbling toward the door as the staff grabbed her, pulling her inside in time.

"NO!"

Joan scrambled up, but it was too late.

The metal shutters dropped, trapping Joan and the rest of the staff inside the Panic Room.

A few feet away, Cassidy closed her eyes.

She was as good as dead.

And everyone knew it.

"//Lockdown initiated//"

Joan banged on the door, but Cassidy managed a smile. Bittersweet. No matter what happened, at least Joan would be safe.

Cassidy approached, pressing her hand against the door as Joan screamed.

Then, the red lights shut down one by one at the end of the hallway. Power rebooting.

She ran as the darkness closed in.

///

GCPD Headquarters stood tall in Gotham. A giant among giants, its rusted eagle statue perched between the towers- guarding the cable bridges below.

The Commissioner's office wasn't as memorable. Apart from the gold-rimmed nameplate labeled 'James W. Gordon', the rest of it could have been mistaken for any room in the station.

Jim leaned on the desk, littered with empty cups and a half-eaten bag of chocolate chip cookies as he dunked one in his coffee.

"Mhm, I'll pick some up later... yep, yeah I'm sticking to decaf"

Juggling the phone on his shoulder, he raised the half-soaked cookie to his mouth until a guilty expression dropped over him.

He relented, sulking.

"... Yeah... I know what the doctor said..."

He threw it in the bin, sighing as he heard a loud knock on the door.

"Hold on Barb, someone's at the door- I'll call you back"

Jim hung up as a police detective burst in. Renee Montoya; her brunette hair tied up over a blazer suit.

Dripping with sweat, as if she had seen a ghost.

"Jim! We've got an alert from Arkham! Security's gone down!"

"WHAT?!"

Jim leaped up, knocking over his coffee as he ran past Renee.

"Call them! Find out what's going on!".

///

"Your call has been forwarded to our automated voicemail system. Please leave your message after the tone-"

Cassidy trembled in the closet, huddling up to herself as the phone beeped.

"Dad..." Cassidy whimpered "... I'm sorry-"

Footsteps approached as she hung up.

She covered her mouth, unable to do anything but wait.

No...

The closet door creaked open, hungry, as the light shone in.

But no one was there: no attacker, no friend.

Cassidy took a second, moving her legs inch by inch until they hung out completely, allowing her to step down without fuss.

She looked around the Med Room to find that nothing had changed. The first aid boxes, toppled over as she had found them, along with the heart monitor, beeping, caught in a tangle of wires on the floor.

Cassidy relaxed, shoving the phone back into her pocket. It was her knee that nudged the door, or maybe her shoe, or-

"GOTCHA!"

The last thing she saw as the cloth smothered over her face- was a familiar red smile.

Cackling.

A/N: Looks like her sacrifice didn't pay off well.