I just had this idea stuck in my head about a girl trapped in an alternative reality (which happens to be Gotham-the home of all my favourite villains and heroes) who manages to screw everything up immensely!

Disclaimer: Allegra is an OC that I made up, but the rest belongs to DC comics.

I really hope you'll enjoy it! I would love some opinions and comments :)

Changing the Game - part 1: the worst luck

Allegra Serino could not believe her blasted luck. First she'd been mugged on her way back home, and then by some weird force of nature—definitely not a miracle of any sort—she'd been shunned into a parallel universe. It had begun a shitty day, and it didn't seem to get any better. The first day she'd walked around, gaping and staring, convinced she'd passed out and was having the weirdest yet most realistic dream in her twenty-one years of existence. The second day she'd been chased through the streets and alleyways by a couple of thugs. She had been certain that would be the end. Terrified beyond words. Dream or not, she did not want to be murdered. Or worse.

But just as the men had been throwing themselves at her, knives glinting in the glow of a stray streetlight, a dark shadow had swooped down from above, jagged wings landing softly on the ground, eyes glowing white in the night. The creature had saved her. Beat the thugs to a pulp. She'd heard the cracking of bones as the creature had twisted one of their arms backwards, breaking it. She'd stared, horrified, as the creature had turned to her. And then it had spoken, asked her if she was hurt, and she'd realized; it wasn't a creature. It was a man. Dressed as a bat no less.

The third day it had all sunk in. It wasn't a dream. She'd stumbled into another world. An alternative world. Where a place with men dressed as bats and ridiculously-dressed thugs ran about the streets. Gotham. She'd been stranded in bloody Gotham. Out of all the places in the world, she had to end up here.

It had only gotten worse from that point. After meeting the Bat—she felt silly calling him Batman—she'd sought refuge on a fire escape, hoping dearly that the thugs and criminals of Gotham wasn't fond of heights. She'd spent an hour there, before a resident had seen her through a window and screamed bloody murder and threatened to call the police on her.

Allegra had roamed the streets without destination. She'd had no place to go. No money, no identity, no friends. Naturally, her bad luck hadn't run out quite yet. She'd walked into the Narrows, guided by her complete lack of direction. She'd barely escaped another set of thugs, but managed to outrun them. And then by pure misfortune—which she'd been granted generously lately—she'd stumbled across the Red Hood gang. They took a liking to her, had seen potential in her agility and speed. One threat lead to another and suddenly she'd been part of the family.

Now here she was, standing inside Ace Chemicals, with a stupid-looking and weird-shaped red helmet on her head. A man they called Jack was supposed to lead the way. He'd worked here once, he was supposed to know the place. The others were hopeful. But Allegra knew better. This would not end well. She'd read the comics, seen the animated series. She was standing at the very beginning of what would develop into years of murder and insanity and laughter. Jack would fail, and when approached by the Batman he'd fall into the chemicals which would turn him into one of the most frightening and interesting villains the world had ever seen.

The Joker.

Allegra realized then that maybe it didn't need to turn out that way. Maybe she could change the outcome. Spare millions of lives. Jack would stay an ordinary person, free to go back to his life, start over. She had to try.

As expected, the policemen rushed in, guns blazing. Jack was running, trying to avoid being hit by the bullets flying past him. Allegra followed, cursing the darn helmet for being heavy and in the way. Two of the Red Hoods were shot on sight and killed. Allegra heard the voice of the Batman growling at the police to stop firing.

"Jack! Stop!" Allegra shouted, running after him best she could. He was fast, but so was she. She caught up with him, calling his name once more, and this time he stopped and turned around.

"We need to get…out of here," Allegra said, catching her breath.

Jack nodded, but stiffened as the Batman landed in front of them. Well, bollocks, Allegra thought. The odds were dwindling by the second. Things were still playing out the way they were supposed to. The Batman approached, threatening and scary as he looked in the greenish light from the chemicals, and Jack backed away, terrified. He was holding a gun, pointed it at Batman with trembling hands. The masked vigilante came towards them, cape billowing behind him. Jack let out a startled whimper and took another step back. Allegra turned to him, about to tell him to drop the gun and just give up, when he fired. The bullet bounced off the Kevlar armour and did very little damage. It did, however, stir a reaction from the Bat.

"Drop the gun!" Batman growled in his deep voice.

Allegra held her hands up in defeat. Things were starting to get out of hand. She had to do something.

"Wait!" she shouted. "Please. He was frightened, that's all!"

Batman hesitated for a short moment, but continued his stride towards them. Jack was panicking now. He dropped the gun, backed into the reeling and lost his balance. Allegra rushed over to him, grabbed his arm to pull him back, but he fell backwards, the weight pulling her with him. She heard Batman shouting something at them as they fell towards that pit of luminous green liquid. As they plunged into the chemicals, her skin burned with an agony unlike any she'd ever felt and the pain ripped her from consciousness.

When she woke up, she lay outside. She sat up, blinking, wondering what the hell had just happened. At first she couldn't remember, but then it started to come back in pieces. Batman. Jack. The Chemicals. They'd fallen in! She stared at her hands. They looked like hands. It was hard to tell in the dark, but they looked all right. She breathed out, relieved. But where was Jack?

Allegra searched for him, but all she found was footsteps in the wet grass. He'd been washed up further along and by the looks of it, he'd left already. Allegra swallowed. She was feeling okay. There was a chance Jack had—by some unknown miracle—avoided his fate as Batman's arch-nemesis. She supposed she would find out soon enough.

Hope you liked it! Stay tuned for the next chapter :)