Hello! I hope you all enjoy my story! I'm really excited to be posting this, especially since I haven't been active for a while. Better yet, I know EXACTLY how this story'll play out, so I won't run into the same development problems that I normally do *awkwardly nods to list of incomplete stories* But, in any case, I really hope you like it! Of course, any comments, reviews or critiques are very appreciated (Even just a couple words!). Thanks!

FYI: Given that it is now 2019, my notes on the 2016 American Election has now been moved to my profile page.

Prologue

The voices around her were overpowering. She couldn't think, couldn't breathe as she stumbled along the sidewalk. She wanted to leave the city, flee the constant tsunami of thoughts and feelings and memories, but she couldn't survive in the wild anymore. Judging by the sorry state of her grey hoodie and jeans (neither of which she could remember buying), she must've been in the woods for the better part of a month. Her stomach ached fiercely, and she smelled worse than she looked. Not to mention it was getting colder; a few more weeks and she doubt she could withstand the dropping temperatures.

A man wearing a giant pumpkin costume shoved a flyer in her hand, shouting promotions to everyone in earshot. Their hands touched as she automatically accepted it, causing a familiar jolt of energy behind her eyes.

The man was Arthur Manting. He was 43, single, and hated his job. He wanted to work out more, increase his chances of finding a wife, but could never find the time. He shared an apartment with his older brother in the bowls of Gotham; about ten miles from were they grew up. His brother was a heroin addict and was behind on his half of the rent. His mother died last month, but it was expected and Arthur had recovered quickly. He drank too much, but never drove. He cussed too much, but never at kids.

She gasped as the information uprooted her. She knew his favorite color, his first pet, the route he took to school when he was eight. She saw his memories, his gripes, his hopes and his weaknesses. She saw everything the man knew about himself. She lived it, unwillingly, in an instant.

No one had noticed her bizarre reaction. By now Arthur had turned away, trying to push the coupons for Harry's Haunted Halloween Party Store into another pedestrian's hands, unaware he had just revealed his life story to a stranger. The girl, feeling overwhelmed and inexplicably guilty, stiffly walked over to a small alley only a few paces away. Pressing her forehead against the cold brick, she resisted the urge to vomit. She didn't know when she had last eaten, but it had not been recently, and she couldn't afford to lose any of the nutrients now.

Despite not being in direct contact, the voices continued to crash into her mind. A little girl wanted to be Wonder Woman for Halloween, but her mother thought the outfit was too mature. A homeless man around the corner remembered the mine that claimed his leg in Vietnam. A runaway teen wondered if his parents would rather have a gay son or a dead one. Some were quiet, some were loud, but all of them were nearly overpowering as they seeped into the girl's brain like butter on warm bread. From underneath the onslaught threatening to drown her, she was able to gather one important thing:

She was in Gotham. If Batman couldn't help her, no one could.

She took several deep breaths as she struggled to close her mind, to form a barricade between her own psyche and the rest of the population's. The relief was objectively miniscule, nearing irrelevance, but even so it felt like an expressed gift from God. The door that had been thrown off its hinges from her encounter with Arthur was reset, although it remained stubbornly open.

Feeling her body's meager heat continue to escape from her head, she flipped up her hood, enjoying the additional barrier. Despite the improvement, she still needed to get out of the cold; her sneakers were soaked with dew and her fingers were chilled stiff. She was tired enough to sleep where she stood, despite the fact she had been slumbering under a bush less than six hours ago, which only cast further doubt on her health.

With a determined huff, she pushed off the wall and shuffled back onto the street. She didn't have any real destination in mind (after all, Batman wasn't exactly in the Yellow Pages), but she figured she could pick up on something useful just by absorbing as she walked…if she didn't pass out before then.

The thought was almost intriguing. She didn't know what it was like in the moments before passing out (as far as she could tell, she'd never done it before), but the combination of her prolonged absorption, dizziness, fatigue and hunger were beginning to paint a pretty reasonable picture. Regardless, it wasn't something she was prepared to deal with. In fact, she was reasonably sure that if she did faint she might never wake up again.

So she plodded on, hopeful that she would find a safe haven before her body gave out. As she walked, she learned more and more about the city around her -its best and its worst- staying careful to avoid direct contact with its inhabitants.

Listening for any specific thought was beyond difficult, but as her surroundings became more and more impoverished, the mentions of Batman and Robin increased exponentially. The stories of sightings and encounters were almost singlehandedly fueling Gotham's most downtrodden citizens' gossip, and the girl was quick to tune in.

She soon realized that many of these "sighting" were lies, but distinguishing them from the truth was effortless. The true ones were always accompanied by a memory, one that blipped into her mind like a newsreel, replaying how that person was saved by the Dynamic Duo…or how they had their nose punched in, depending on the guy. The remainders, which could be lies or just second-hand stories, showed what people imagined them to be, and the difference between the constructions and reality was pretty clear.

As darkness began to settle, the girl suddenly realized the predicament she had made for herself. She was weak, starving and dehydrated. She was defenseless, alone, and in the bad side of town. And since she had spent the last four hours sampling the neighborhood's thoughts and memories, she knew exactly how bad this town was.

She wasn't prepared for this danger. Judging by her complete lack of survival instincts, she knew she had probably grown up on the right side of the tracks, with parents to look after her and a roof over her head. As she glanced sharply around her, fearful of the growing shadows, her mind began to spiral.

Shelter, she decided after a moment of fluttery panic. I should go find some shelter. Taking a calming breath, she looked around again, this time for a hideout instead of shapeless threats. She found it in an alleyway, where there was a gap between a dumpster and a wooden fence. This way, she could tuck herself away in the small nook between the dumpster and the parallel barrier while having a brick wall at her back and another concrete wall about eight paces in front of her. Not to mention the small space would help her conserve body heat, which she was losing more rapidly as the evening temperature continued to drop.

Standing before her discovery, she examined the spot again in a dazed sort of amazement. She knew her circumstances were strange, but her excitement from discovering the nook was both intensely real and completely ridiculous. Surely it hadn't always been this way. She knew she was born with these abilities –that she remembered with stunning clarity- but this couldn't have always been her life. She couldn't have always become so excited by such an objectively dismal solution to an obviously dreadful situation. At some point, perhaps a long time ago, she would have never believed she would be sleeping in an ally, regardless of the circumstances.

Right?

She cringed as a particularly loud mind stampeded into her awareness, alien in nature but sharing the same clarity of her own thoughts. It was from a woman in her early twenties, although she was made older by the harsh reality she lived in. She was scared about losing her job as a cashier because the two-hour bus ride to work always made her about twenty minutes late, and her boss was starting to object. The woman continued her nervous fretting, unaware of her unwilling witness. The girl couldn't be sure, but she suspected she lived in the building behind her, although it didn't really matter.

The girl breathed deeply, attempting to block the woman out with no real success, and acceptingly plopped down into her alcove. Typically, she would have worried about a voice of that strength keeping her awake, but she fell into an uneasy, frigid sleep within minutes.

l-l-l

She woke up suddenly, without any definite cause. By now night had settled firmly on the area, blanketing everything in its murky darkness. The girl blinked, curling herself into a tighter ball as the frigid air clawed through her clothes. The voices were sparser now, although she could make out the watery images of nearby dreams as they wisped through her mind. It was nothing compared to the terrible din she had suffered though that day, and in the relative quiet she was able to shut the door within her mind a few more degrees.

Then she noticed.

Why am I wasting my time out here? A young boy grumbled. In her newfound tranquility, the thought filtered into the girl's mind with ease, instantly occupying her attention. Batman didn't even tell me where he was going. It must be pretty dangerous if he didn't want me along. She felt the boy's agitation rise, the hair on her arms and neck rising. Goddammit, avoiding this kind of useless busywork is why I joined the Team in the first place! If he wasn't planning on giving me a real assignment, why the hell didn't he let me go with them on the mission tonight?

The girl barely concealed her excitement. She had found Robin! She could feel the boy's presence as his thoughts wafted into her mind. Sure, it wasn't Batman, but she wasn't about to complain about finding a lock pick when she needed the key. Ignoring her stiff muscles, the girl sprang to her feet. The darkness was thick, but she searched wildly anyways as she exited the alley.

For the first time she could remember, her body felt agile as she flitted around the empty street. Her excitement was exhilarating. Robin! Robin! I found him! I did it!

Unable to locate his position, she focused inwardly to pinpoint his voice. Perhaps there was someway she could discover his location through his thoughts, or she would learn more about him, just gain something.

I'm starting to get why Speedy- ah, I mean Red Arrow- refused to join. After everything I've done, he still treats me like an overeager kid. Sometimes I really-…wait…what is moving…is that…a girl?

The girl clenched her fists in excitement, sending her heart pounding. He can see me! He's close! Oh, Robin's close and I can find him and Batman'll finally be able to rid me of this curse! They'll help me! They'll help me! They'll-

The girl's knees hit the ground, jarring her upper body. Her mind was reverberating like an old clock tower's bell. Her warped voice echoed inside her head, HeLP hELP HELp, as her psyche collided with Robin's. Simultaneously, she heard the boy mentally lash out in confusion, recoiling from her existence. The girl tipped to her side and choked as muddy puddle-water sloshed into her hood, clawing icy trails down her back. She couldn't breathe. Her voice, her horribly tangled mess of screeching, stampeding words cascading within her skull: hElP HeLP HELp!She gasped, writhing in the arctic water, the door disintegrating within her.

Robin! She thought desperately, her tears mixing with the puddle below her. Robin…help!