The next morning, Barbara woke up, hoping to hear from Kevin. No call or text from him. Barbara waited for him to text or call her as she ate breakfast and drank coffee. Barbara waited for Kevin to call or text her all day. It was now nighttime, dark, stormy, and rainy. Barbara was wearing a yellow button-down shirt, a tan grey skirt, and black flats with no socks. She was pacing the floor as her father kept her company. He was clipping today's newspaper. Hours earlier, he and Batman went into Joker's cell. It turned out The Joker had escaped weeks prior, and in his place was some sort of impersonator. The newspaper was a Gotham Examiner that said, "ASYLUM SECURITY UPROAR! MANIAC ESCAPES AGAIN! CRIMEFIGHTER UNAVAILABLE FOR COMMENT." James sighed sadly. He hated this so much. He noticed that his daughter looked stressed and asked, "sweetie, are you okay? I hope this Joker escape isn't stressing you out or anything..."

"No, it's not that, Dad..." Barbara said in a worried manner, "it's Kevin. He's been gone since last night, and I haven't heard from him all day. I'm really worried about him. I have a bad feeling something horrible might be happening to him..." James gave a sympathetic look and said, "I'm sure it's nothing serious Barb. Maybe your boyfriend got held up in something. I'm sure he'll come back to you and explain everything. You always worried about me, and I always ended up fine." Barbara smiled and said, "I guess you're right. Maybe I'll make some hot chocolate. It should lift my spirits." James nodded and said, "good idea." Barbara then went to the kitchen and made two cups of hot chocolate for her and her dad. She then went back to the living room and gave Jim his cup of hot chocolate. The father and daughter relaxed as they drank their hot chocolate. A few minutes later, there was a knock on the door. "Was that the door?" James asked. "Yeah," said Barbara, "maybe it might be Kevin." She stood up while holding her cup of hot chocolate, and wandered over to the door. She then opened the door to see who it was. But the person outside of the door wasn't Kevin. It was The Joker. He was wearing a tacky tourist outfit with a Hawaiian shirt and a camera. He had a gun in his hand, a malevolent smile on his face.

Before Barbara could react, The Joker shot her in the hip with his gun. The bullet tore through her spine, causing Barbara to fall down and land smack on the glass coffee table, the glass table shattering into pieces! Tears streamed down Barbara's face. She was bleeding, in immense pain, and she couldn't feel her legs. "Barbara?" James said as he checked on his daughter to see if she was alive. "So nice of you to let me in Babs," said Joker, "I really must thank you." He let himself and his two goons in. "You son of a bitch, what did you do to my daughter?!?!?!?!" James asked angrily. As Joker poured himself a glass of vodka, he taunted, "what do you think I did? I just put a bullet through your daughter's spine. Mind you, I can't say she had much of a backbone to begin with." James was ready to attack when Joker's goons took turns beating him up. "I mean, this book isn't in too good of a condition," said Joker, "there's a hole in the shirt, and the spine appears to be damaged. I don't think she'll be walking ever again. Then again, that's the problem with these softbacks. God, these literary discussions are so dry. When you've finished with the old boy, you know where to take him. And please do be careful! After all, he is topping the bill." James was then knocked unconscious and dragged away. Joker then looked at Barbara and tauntingly asked, "ready for your closeups, Norma Desmond?" Barbara tearfully moaned in pain, "wuh... wuh... Why... are you... duh... doing this...?" Joker raised his glass of vodka and said, "to prove a point. Here's to crime." As Joker laughed, little did Barbara know was this was only the beginning of something dreadful for her.