Something hard and with all the force of a speeding truck slammed into Barbara, knocking her flat on her back. Head spinning, she couldn't even scream as a pair of fangs descended on her. Without thinking, Barbara swung the stake out in front of her just in time to avoid having her throat ripped out by the demonic bride.

As Pamela bit down on the length of wood, snarling and clawing at the girl trapped beneath her, Barbara could hear screams and gasps from the other guests. She didn't dare look away, knowing the second she took her attention off Pamela, she would rip her teeth free and bite her. With nothing but the stake separating her from the mouth of gnashing fangs above her, Barbara desperately pushed back, using all her strength to keep Pamela at bay. Damn it, why hadn't she been pumping iron all those weeks instead?

A string of white saliva trickled from Pamela's lips and onto Barbara's cheek. Unlike regular drool, which was hot and sticky, this felt like a melting ice cube pressed against her skin. Closing her eyes in disgust, Barbara prayed to whatever god was listening that this would be over soon and the end wouldn't be as painful as she imagined. But as she opened her eyes and stared into those blood-red ones only inches above her, Barbara knew her death would be excruciating.

Just when she thought her arms would give out, a black figure with the eyes of glowing embers came into view above, tackling Pamela to the ground. Now able to finally breathe again, Barbara swallowed down huge gulps of air, thinking each one might be her last before Pamela's crushing weight fell over her a second time. Listening to the horrifying, animalistic sounds coming from somewhere off to the side, Barbara's world was suddenly sent spinning as she was lifted upright.

"Barbara! Are you all right?" Her father's worried face appeared in front of her, his glasses slipping off the tip of his nose. "Did—Did she hurt you?"

Barbara shook her head, clinging to him in fear that the moment she'd let go, he'd disappear. "No." She glanced down at the stake still clutched in her still-bleeding hand.

Shit.

"We need to get out of here!"

Without another word, James grabbed the back of her wheelchair and pushed Barbara forward down the aisle. But they hadn't even made it halfway when they abruptly stopped, noticing a crowd gathered by the doors. What the hell? Did they not see what just happened? What were they standing around for instead of running for their lives?

"I smell smoke." James's voice wavered from behind.

Barbara glanced down, and sure enough, a haze of thick, black smoke was seeping out underneath the doors. From what she could see in-between the cracks of huddled bodies, large orange flames burned out in the hall, growing bigger and brighter with each piece of rotting wood they consumed. The oil-based paint coating the walls didn't help any, only adding the fuel to keep it from smoldering out.

That explained why the guests were at a standstill; they were trapped.

Seeing there was no way past the frightened, indecisive crowd, Barbara turned to her dad and yelled, "Is there another way out?"

James shook his head as he steered Barbara back from the ever-rising cloud of smoke. "That's the only way!"

"Then we're just going to have to—"

Barbara froze mid-sentence as she saw the figure standing in front of them, blocking their path. Covered in fresh blood and scratches, Pamela circled them, her mouth twisted into a horrifying grin that nearly stretched ear-to-ear.

"Where are you going, James?" The glare on her face burned hotter than any of the fast-approaching flames. "The wedding isn't over yet!"

"Stay away, Pamela!" He whipped out his gun and ran out in front of Barbara, all while keeping the gun aimed on Pamela.

As if the night couldn't get any more surprising, Barbara realized he had been carrying his gun this whole time. And at his own wedding. Had the James Gordon she knew and loved finally returned? Or had he always been here, right from the very beginning?

Pamela inched closer, licking her lips as she stared at the wound on Barbara's hand. "Step away from the girl, James."

"No." He pressed the trigger. A bullet ripped through the air, whirling straight into Pamela's eye. She barely even flinched as her eyeball burst into a splatter of blood.

Pamela let out a dark chuckle. "Oh, Darling. Your bullets won't even leave a scratch on me."

James gasped, the gun in his hand trembling as he watched Pamela's eye socket slowly mend itself; the tissue and nerves connecting until a perfectly shaped eyeball was formed.

"Get back!" Barbara held out the stake, thinking it could ward her back. To her horror, Pamela continued forward as if it were nothing but a pencil she was holding up in front of her.

"What—What the hell are you?" James choked out through the dense smoke.

Pamela smirked, her fingers curling into claws at her sides. "Your worst nightmare." Her hand shot up and slashed James across the chest, sending him flying backward through the air.

"DAD!" Barbara shrieked as she saw his body tumble down the aisle and go limp.

"Commissioner!" By some miracle, Harvey Dent was still inside, making Barbara immediately take back every terrible thing she said about him as he rushed to her dad's side. But as Harvey struggled to get James up on his feet, he failed to notice the flames creeping dangerously close by. All it took was one spark to catch onto his suit and run up the side of his body, setting half of him ablaze.

Barbara was only glad she wasn't forced to watch the rest as she was turned around and greeted with a pair of glistening fangs closing in on her. Before she could even think to ram the stake down Pamela's throat, Bruce came up from behind, grabbing her by her torn veil and throwing her face-first into the tile. It instantly cracked in two.

She wasn't sure if she should be scared or relieved to see him. Either way, he had saved her, but probably only for himself if the hunger burning in his crimson eyes were anything to go by.

Oh, great. Now she had to face Bruce, arguably the meaner and smarter of the two fiends. Gripping the stake beside her, Barbara prepared herself as Bruce hunched his shoulders, ready to pounce. But right as his feet left the ground, a bullet struck him and knocked him off-course. Wincing as it tore into his left shoulder, Bruce's heels skidded over the checkered tile as he struggled to keep himself upright.

What the—? A bullet? But he should be invincible to those.

"Feast on that, bitch!" Harleen came running up from behind, firing another bullet from the pair of dual guns in her hands. It whizzed past Barbara's ear, almost clipping it before lodging into Bruce's sternum.

Bruce growled, barely dodging her rapid-fire of... wooden bullets? Well, that explained everything. Here was to hoping Harleen's aim was as sharp as Bruce's claws.

Watching as this train wreck unfolded, Barbara caught a glimpse of something moving beside Bruce's feet as he circled Harleen. Since her eyes were watering from all the smoke, she wasn't sure if what she was seeing was actually there or not. But as Bruce swung his arm at Harleen, something did indeed rise from the ground and wrap her hands around his torso, flinging him backward.

"Heya there, Barbie!" A youthful voice suddenly exclaimed from the side of her.

"Jason?" Barbara wheezed through the suffocating air. Though she was surprised to see him—and here of all places—that paled to the dread she felt upon seeing his eyes bleeding red. Ah, shit. Of course, he'd be one of them. "What—What are you doing here?"

"Like I'd pass a chance to get out of the manor for once." Jason's stare flickered to Barbara's injured hand as she quickly hid it underneath her dress. "Come on, it's time to get you outta here!"

"Wait!" Barbara cried as Jason grabbed the back of her wheelchair, pushing towards the smoke-filled exit. "My dad!"

"Sorry, but there's no time for that!" Jason glided through the screaming guests running past him like chickens with their heads cut off. Unlike them, he seemed to know where he was going, not the least bit worried by the flames leaping at him.

"No!" Barbara pressed her hands down on the rims of her wheels, trying to ignore the stinging pain in her palm as the cut reopened.

Jason glared down at her. "What are you doing—Ah!" He hissed as a bullet pierced the side of his neck, sending a spray of blood over Barbara's face.

"What the hell?" Jason turned back, his eyes going wide as a figure charged at him through the smoke and flames. "Shit."

Barbara glanced over her shoulder, barely catching a glimpse of Harleen as she ran full-speed ahead towards them before she was thrust forward again.

It was complete pandemonium. Fire burned in all directions of the building and as far as the eye could see. Smoke as black as night hung in the air, obscuring any possible way out of this inferno. People darted around in circles, tripping over each other as they searched for an exit not blocked by flames.

As Jason forced his way through the blistering flames and blinding smoke, taking hit after hit from Harleen's bullets, Barbara could just make out the outline of the front doors up ahead. She wasn't going to burn to death. She was going to get out.

She was going to live!

Whatever hope she had of escaping into the cool, crisp night was quickly crushed as Harleen suddenly jumped through the air, landing on Jason's back. She wrapped her arms around his throat, choking him as she pointed her gun down at his chest. But before she could press the trigger, two things happened almost all at once.

First, a loud groan like that of a tree about to fall was heard from above right as Jason shoved the wheelchair through the doors. Caught in a free fall, Barbara could only brace herself as she sailed through the air towards the wooden doors. With a painful crash, she broke through the doors and tumbled to the ground like a rag doll. If it weren't for the fresh snow to cushion her fall, she might've seriously been hurt. Or worse...

Shaking the snow off her, Barbara looked back in search of Jason when the second thing happened.

The cast-iron dome, once the symbol of truth and justice, and landmark of the Gotham Superior Courthouse, came crashing down.