After the rain stopped, Gotham looked as though someone had given it a careless wipe with a dirty rag.
The streets were still filthy, shards of glass still glittered beside the drains, and the smoke over Happy Valley Amusement Park hadn't completely cleared.
But dawn had come. The handful of public transit routes sponsored by Wayne Enterprises still ran, the clean, sanitary breakfast stalls still sold food, and the school buses, likewise funded by young Master Wayne, still stopped at the intersection.
How would Gotham even function without Wayne Enterprises?
The children sponsored by Wayne Enterprises carried their standard-issue backpacks around the police tape left on the ground and went into school.
There had been another shooting outside the school gates yesterday. Perfectly normal.
Putting up police tape had been unnecessary.
That was Gotham.
Bombed yesterday, classes today.
Chen Mo stood outside the school gates, looking down at his phone screen, which he had ended up cracking at one corner after all.
Happy Valley Amusement Park attack update: Joker transferred back to Arkham.
Police confirmed multiple survivors rescued; rescue efforts continued until early morning.
Red-and-blue figure reappears in Gotham; citizens say he and Batman prevented explosion.
The last news story came with a photo.
In it, Spider-Man was leaping through a hole in the haunted house's ceiling, dragging an overloaded battery wrapped in webbing. Rainy night, firelight, shadows, cape-all blurred into one mess.
Chen Mo stared at it for two seconds.
"What an ugly shot."
A younger kid beside him looked up at him.
Chen Mo locked his phone.
"News photographers have less and less sense of aesthetics."
The kid blinked.
"Did you not sleep last night?"
Chen Mo looked at him.
"How could you tell?"
"Because you look like a truck ran you over, then someone dragged you out