A/n: Story inspired by lil'hawkeye3 's The Villian Wrangler But will not be the same premise, but a similar idea? I think?

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the Batman/DC comics/enterprises, that would be amazing if I did.

It's funny how one can despise the place they live in while at the same time know they couldn't live anywhere else. Sure, it's true that with the constant supply of new heroes and the equal amount of villains, every city faces the same issues. Yet that being said, Gotham was unique to all other hero-villain cities, at least to put it nicely. That was the case for Stephanie Claue.

Being the daughter of wealthy Gothamites, Stephanie would, of course, always have a place in her heart for the grim city. Though whether or not it was a positive viewpoint or completely negative view was unknown.

Her childhood wasn't anything to really share. She had both parents, a house, food, clothes, and friends, which of course wasn't the most common backstory to any child of Gotham yet it wasn't the most glamorous. That being said, there was little to nothing that made it stand out among the rest.

After her parent's untimely death (caused by yet another domestic villain attack), the new college graduate returned once more to the city she had previously been so adamant on leaving. Left with her childhood home and funds and stocks worth millions, Stephanie did what any young person would do when given access to millions of dollars, she became a full-fledged hermit.

Yes, in most cases, those published and laughed at, people spend everything they had on luxurious access. But luckily for the Claue bank account and holdings, Stephanie was not and would not be like most cases. Once she had received her parents' last will, the young adult had been faced with a few choices.

She could, of course, be indulgent and spend her family's wealth, but then again that would be wasteful and if there was one thing you learned as a kid in Gotham, rich or poor, you don't do things that won't benefit you. It was a question of survival if that kid you befriend will be your savior or your murderer if that $100 you steal will make you a millionaire at the end of the day. It was all about being smart, surviving till the next day, and not wasting the things you had.

In the end, after weighing her options she decided to retire to her family's home and live a life withdrawn from society. Sure it wasn't the healthiest option, and true she could've done a lot with her wealth. Perhaps she would have made another Claue funded charity or a school or maybe take a card out of the Wayne foundation and supply the city of Gotham with money. But she wasn't good like that, she enjoyed the idea of not working, she liked the isolation away from others, besides it wasn't like she owned Gotham anything.

For a while, however, she did toy with the idea of opening a coffee shop probably in Metropolis or Star City, definitely away from Gotham and it's corruption (to be fair, the chance of her shop being destroyed by a terrorist gang, police riot, and or hero-villain scuffle was nearly triple compared to any other city). It wasn't like she needed the money and it wasn't ever a childhood dream of hers to have her own business, but it was a time passer and a way to make her own clean money. Not to say the Claude's had a dirty business with blood money, but no money in Gotham was ever gotten honestly.

Stephanie wasn't upset when she looked at where all the money in her family bank had come from, at least not as upset when she found out the truth behind some of her father's dealings. It wasn't anything too corrupt, no sex trafficking, no faulty products that ended in someone's death, and no hitman mysterious murders. No, it was more like tax evasion, business, and contract loopholes, and the thing that did upset her was the funding that had gone into the Arkham project.

Arkham had been one of the things that she had a strong opinion on, at least in high school. Did she agree with the institution or the idea of an "Arkham City" (which didn't come to fruition thankfully) no not really? She agreed that perhaps some villains needed professional help but she heard of the terrible horrors that plagued the accursed asylum. Hell, when she had written her senior paper on the place, Stephanie visited Arkham Asylum and had truly been shocked by the limited things she saw.

So when she found out her parents had voted for the asylum and saw no wrongs in the things done to the patients, the girl had packed up what she had and left the city, cutting off her parents in the process.

When she heard of her parent's death over seven years later she quickly returned to the infamous city. It had been a long time since she had been back, and she definitely regrets a lot. Some might've thought that because she felt guilty that her parents died without her saying goodbye, she thought staying cooped up in the large dark manor alone was retribution. Stephanie would always argue it wasn't the case, but whose to really say?

In had been a good six months of solitude alone in the Claue manor with very limited contact with the outside world. Thanks to the joys of online shopping and retail, the 26-year-old had very little reason to leave the house. A food delivery came every Sunday and besides the warm thank yous to the workers and the truck driver, that was pretty much all of her human contacts.

Sure there would be a reporter who'd try to barge past the iron gates and those who did make it pass were promptly ignored till they left. After the third month, the slow stream of reporters and news agency who tried to visit or call soon ended. Apparently, while her family was not the richest nor popular, they still were known in the community so with their death and subsequently the return of the "mysterious daughter who hasn't been seen in years" caught the greedy attention of the media. Thankfully another clown attack at a downtown gala turned the spotlight away and quickly following sightings of yet another hooded vigilante rocked the city (Stephanie really lost count after the 5th bat like hero appeared, there really was too many).

The only other visits she'd receive would be the police chief, Commissioner Gordon. It really was just a social call, checking in every month to make sure she wasn't, you know dead, being held hostage, under mind control, or the most common thing for rich people, turn into deranged murderers and mad scientists. All of which she assured Gordon wasn't and hopefully wouldn't ever be true. Once or twice his daughter would tag along, Barbara she believes is her name, nice person around her age but Stephanie wasn't really into making friends no offense to the pretty redhead.

Besides the family gardener, who came every week, a charming man named Donovan whose father had been the previous caretaker to the place and the two maids who cleaned biweekly ever since she was a child, Stephanie Claue saw no one else during her stay.

Unfortunately for her, her quiet life and hermit lifestyle would drastically change upon the unexpected and unwanted visit of her aunt and uncle. To their credit, Stephanie's relatives were their own self-made millionaires and were quite nice to her, however arriving unannounced didn't really put her in a great mood. To top it off, the pair had the audacity to judge her current way of living, proclaiming it unhealthy (admittedly she knew it was but hearing it from any nagging family member didn't make it better) and insisting she move in with them and her three cousins in Central City. Of course, Stephanie declined their very generous offer though it hadn't really been the end to that seeing as how her refusal got her in her current mess.

After turning down her aunt and uncle, they made her promise to go outside, to live a little, and seeing how, to them, someone so young and pretty shouldn't waste away in the dark Claue manor, Stephanie finally relented, agreeing to make an effort of living the house once and awhile. Happy with the response, they followed up saying she ought to get a roommate or two and perhaps hire a security detail and update the security cams. Because, as any sane person knows, Gotham was a scary place, filled with corruption, crazed murderers and villains, all of which could easily end Stephanie's life.

Yet again agreeing with their reasonings, Stephanie promised, albeit half-heartedly, that she would find a roommate and get an upgraded security system. After her aunt and uncles three day check in with her and the manor, they left satisfied knowing Stephanie would follow through with her promises (and the bribes she'd received from them in the form of the newest and exclusive video games didn't totally contribute at all). All of this is what led to Stephanie Claue finally leaving the Claue manor and back into the streets of Gotham City, this was her first mistake (though looking back, simply letting her relatives barge into her home was probably the first mistake).

While it did take her a good 2 weeks to actually commit to leaving the house and then a few more days to physically do it, once Stephanie was out the door and into her car she knew there was no turning back. Visiting a few old memories, even if a few places had apparently been blown up by something (at this point a freakin otter in a tutu dress could blow up town hall and she wouldn't even blink an eye), and running into a few old friends, Stephanie felt confident that she had done enough socializing for the day and made her way back home.

She really shouldn't have turned down that street because guess what? It was of course just her luck to run into something she probably shouldn't have. What did she come across that made her rethink ever leaving her bed ever again?

Well straight in the middle of the street, in all its glory was a fucking man wearing a red hood, covered in blood and decked out head to toe in weapons. Her headlights highlighted the glistening dripping blood on his face mask as he stepped forward, guns in hand. Hitting the breaks immediately, Stephanie was already putting the car in reverse to high tail out of there when, of fucking course it does, the man in the hooded mask thing falls face first into the concrete street.

Now like any smart would do if you saw a strange man who looked like he could kill you in a mere second, you would run away, leave him in the street and pretend nothing happened. And Stephanie believed she was intelligent enough to make the smart choice, she did grow up in Gotham after all where only the smart survived and the criminally insane, and those who were millionaires, or those who had the brute strength or had superpowers or- the point was she knew what most people would have done. Unfortunately for her and her subsequent future, she didn't do what she should have done.

The rules of Gotham were to survive at a cost, yet here she was hoisting a man a good double her weight into the back seat of her car, carefully picking up and throwing all his weapons in too and then getting the fuck out there. She wasn't sure what compelled her to that, hell, she was probably going to be murdered once the strange man was conscious. And knowing her luck that man would probably end up being a mass murdering criminal wanted for over a million things because fate seems to really like fucking with those who live in Gotham.

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A/N: Don't worry, I haven't abandoned my other works. I fact this was, beside my PJO one was actually written before any of my other ones!