(Melissa's POV)

I ran down the street, into an alley, and quickly climbed the fire escape on a Gotham building. I quickly started jumping from roof to roof. My 16-year-old self was quite fast.

Eventually I arrived at the the not-so-abandoned building I was staying at. I stepped in, and walked around the guys. I'm in a gang. I know what you're thinking, 'What on earth is a 16-year-old girl doing in a gang?' The answer is simple, when I was 9, it was the only way I could have a roof over my head.

*flash back*

The man had just walked out of the building. I followed him for half a block, before I ran at him, reached into his pocket, took his wallet, and ran off.

"Hey! That's mine!" He yelled, as he chased me. I ran down an alley, and into an abandoned building.

I stopped to catch my breath, when I heard a slow clap. I looked up to see a boy, around the age of 17.

"Wow. I'm impressed," he said. "Would you like to join my gang? You can steal money for us. You can stay here, and we'll feed you."

It took me almost no time to agree. The boy smiled, and said, "You can come out now boys."

I looked around at all the 16-17 year old boys that stepped out. However, one specific boy caught my attention.

He looked like he was my age. He had red hair, and was much shorter than the rest of the boys.

"Hi, I'm Melissa," I said to all of them, but I was looking at the red head.

"Hi Melissa. My name is Jason," the younger boy replied.

*end of flashback*

He was actually one year older than me. I became really close to him. He was my best friend. After about a month, the other boys started to hit me. Jason always promised he would get me out of here. Two years after that, he left, got adopted by some rich dude, and forgot about me. He died not too long ago. He deserved it for abandoning me.

I gave all the money I stole to Josh, our leader. I turned around, and started to walk away.

"200 bucks? That's it?" He asked, angrily.

I turned around to face him, and said through my gritted teeth, "It's Gotham. Not many people walk around with cash. Plus, it's December. People are broke from buying presents."

He took a step toward me, and back-handed me across the face.

"Don't give me that attitude, Mel! I want more money. Tomorrow, I expect twice as much as you got today!" He spat in my face. I nodded, and walked to my room.

After they thought I couldn't hear them, they started whispering to each other.

"Why is she still even here? We should put her ungrateful butt back out on the streets. She won't last 5 minutes out there," said Brad.

They all know that's not true. They all sit on their lazy butts all day, getting drunk. I'm the one going out there in the cold, stealing money all day. If it wasn't for the fact that I need a place to sleep, I would've been out of here ages ago.

I sighed, and laid down in my bed, and was trying to go to sleep, when I heard gunshots. I grabbed the gun I stole from Josh when he was drunk, from underneath my pillow. I walked the direction of the gun shots. I peaked around the corner, and saw a man in a red helmet shooting my gang. It's the Red Hood! He's been taking over and/or killing off gangs lately.

I aimed my gun at him, and fired. Why am I helping these guys? Because if Red here kills them all, he'll take this building, and will probably kill me, or kick me out.

The shot I fired hit him right in the chest. I got excited until he turned to look at me, and I saw his costume was bulletproof. He turned back to Brad, and broke his neck, leaving only me left.

He started walking towards me. I started backing up, and repeatedly shooting at him. My hands were shaking though, making it incredibly hard to aim.

I finally ran out of ammunition. Red kept walking towards me. I backed into a wall. I felt a tear go down my cheek. Well, there goes my last ounce of dignity.

He noticed, and almost immediately put his hands up and said, "I'm not going to hurt you, Mel."

"How do you know my name?" I asked.

His hands went up to his helmet, and removed it. I looked into his eyes, and felt so many emotions go through me. Happiness that he was alive, anger that he left me, sadness for the memories he reminds me of, stupidity for not figuring it out sooner, humiliation for crying in front of him. You name it, I was feeling it.

"Jason?" I asked with tears in my eyes.

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A/N: So, how was the chapter? Good? Bad? Great? Awful? Let me know in the comments. Also, check out my other stories. I'm still new to this, so I need to know how I'm doing. Don't be afraid of telling me you don't like it. Just make sure to explain why, so I can fix it. Thank you for your time!

God Bless!