Title: Whiplash

Summary: Leo was never one to stay in one place for very long. She hated moving, but she hated routine even more. So if her world was, literally, ripped out from under her - how mad do you think she'd be? Our favorite heroes are now on the receiving end of one very ticked female and learn that setting down ground rules is a lot harder when someone doesn't know you're famous. Much less care.

Chapter I
Fender Bender

Leo

"Ow," she groaned, "ow, ow, ow."

The door's stuck. She realized dumbly. Her world was a spiraled mass of red and white with blotches of black that appeared and disappeared with every heavy blink. Dear God, what hit me? All she could remember were headlights high over the hood of her small car. A loud blare of a horn before the headlights completely flooded her vision and her body felt like it rocketed backwards. One arm, from what she could tell, was pinned between the door and her seat. Her legs were crunched in the metal and hard plastic from the front and she could barely wiggle them, but at least she could feel her toes. That's good.

There were shouts and screams from outside. She was dizzy, she couldn't tell if her car was right side up or tipped over. Lights filtered through her haze and flashed like search lights, to and fro. Search lights. Search... She turned her head and it felt as if a lead weight shifted and rolled. Her head spun again and bumped against the window pane of her door. It sent a throb of pain over her skull. The lights dimmed and faded away. Panic struck her and she leaned heavily against the window, her breath fogged the glass.

"Wait," she hissed piteously, "please, wait!" There was a low and long creak before the door suddenly swung out and open. She inhaled sharply as her body dropped forward like a lead weight, but arms soon materialized under her and held her steady. Pain shot through her broken right arm and she screamed.

"Oh, damn." A male voice hissed. "Bats, she's bashed up just as much as the car is!"

"Get her out quickly – but careful! We don't know what else could be injured." Another, deeper voice answered roughly.

"I know that," the first replied flippantly, "I'm not going to hurt her." Her eyes fell shut against the lights, all of which blinked into a multitude of different colors and different places. Must've been hit harder than I thought. Her head spun again as she was carefully lifted from her seat and cradled against a cold and armored chest. What the hell? Why is there armor? Her world shifted up and she felt like she was floating and her stomach went up faster than the rest of her body.

"Hey, girl," the first voice asked gently, "what's your name?"

"Leo," she replied and swallowed back a burp of vile, "Leo Thomas."

--

I'm in a hospital. Crap. The bright lights and funny clean smell were a dead giveaway of her current situation. I'm gonna be sick. She kept her eyes closed. The sight of needles in her skin never failed to turn her stomach so violently that she vomited it up along with its contents. Her head rolled from side to side and she was happy to find that there was no longer a lead ball rolling its weight around in it. She swallowed twice, but the moisture in her throat just wasn't enough.

"Ms. Thomas?"

Leo forced her eyes to open. An elderly nurse stood above her and blocked the light from the ceiling. Leo swallowed again and offered a weak grin. The nurse took it as a good sign and leaned away to retrieve something. Leo grimaced and turned her head away. The steady beep of the machine to her left echoed in her ears for a moment before her mind focused and there wasn't a stab of pain with each beep. The nurse returned and added something to the tube that traveled down into her arm.

"Ms. Thomas, are you coherent?" The nurse asked softly while she brought a little flashlight and checked Leo's pupils.

"I understood that... so I guess I am." Leo replied forcefully, the drugs still had a hold on her. "If you could, don't add any more morphia or painkillers."

The nurse paused. "Oh? Are you a recovering from a previous addiction?"

"What? No." Leo snapped. "I don't think the benefits outweigh the sensations. Please, no more."

"Hon," the nurse argued, "you're suffering from several severe lacerations, you've broken your right arm, and perhaps a concussion."

Leo glared. "You've probably seen the scars, because I don't feel grimy... I've been through worse." The nurse looked reluctant to give up the fight, but otherwise relented and moved to leave. Leo sighed heavily and dropped her head back onto her pillow. There was a dull throb from the back of her head, but she ignored it, just like she was going to ignore the upcoming pain from her broken arm. She had never broken a bone before, despite her history, so this was going to be a new level of pain.

"That's an interesting decision." Leo's head snapped around toward the window of her room and for a moment she watched as its whole image twisted violently. Her eyes darkened for a second, but they came to rest on a dark figure resting against the window sill. Oh. It's dark out there. Night? So soon? How long have I been out?

"About three days." The dark figure answered roughly. "Your car was almost completely destroyed. It's a miracle you came out intact, let alone alive."

"My luck's weird like that." Leo replied off-handedly. "I've come out of situations that I should've died in, too many to count."

"Is it a natural repetition of such situations?" The figure moved and Leo stiffened at the sound of fabric sliding against the floor. Is he wearing a cape? What the hell have I gotten myself into?

"I don't go looking for trouble, if that's what you're asking." Leo growled. "I don't even rightly know what happened to me. I was hit, but why and how?"

"I was hoping you could answer those questions." Finally, Leo could get a sense of definition to the figure. It was tall and seemed to loom up from the shadows. He turned out the lights without me knowing. She could make out the cape over broad shoulders and her spine stiffened even more. His blue and gray uniform would normally have her in stitches from laughter, his stern and straight face told her it was a Bad Idea.

"I was driving along the highway, coming home from the airport." Leo began after a few moments of silence. "I was going seventy, on the dot. Next thing I know, there's a horn blasting from in front of me and the headlights slam into my face."

"That's interesting." The figure murmured thoughtfully. "I must tell you, you were the only vehicle on the road when the paramedics arrived on the scene. Imagine the surprise when your car practically appeared from thin air and looks to have been on the losing end of a truck rally." Leo felt her eyes go wide and her voice disappeared within her throat. She settled back against the pillow and inhaled deeply. Maybe... I'm in a coma? Right? Kind of like those weird shows on the late night... people get stuck in comas and practically live in another world.

"Ms. Thomas?" The bat man's voice recalled her from her thoughts. Leo swallowed and turned to look at the shadowy figure. What the hell is all this? What kind of twisted nightmare has my mind created?

"Who are you?" Leo demanded with a weak voice. No. Don't you dare cry, Leosila, you'll never let yourself forgive it.

"I am known as Batman." The figure answered. Leo was pulled between a watery laugh and hysterical tears. "You've appeared in my city."

"And what city would that be?" Leo spat. "Because I sure as hell ain't in Gotham anymore." The figure, Batman, paused so suddenly at her words that is seemed as if time had stopped around him. Finally, he stepped into the overhead florescent light from above her bed, the dark shadows were enhanced over his physic and it looked all the more demonic. Leo childishly shrunk into her bed and resisted the irrational urge to pull the blankets up around her face and head.

"You are," Batman whispered with some surprise. "In Gotham, that is."

"... Don't you shit me," Leo whispered back, anger colored her tone. "You just told me that I appeared out of nowhere into your city's street. I was on the fucking highway, not in some city."

"I'm being honest." Batman replied smoothly. "You are in Gotham City... you must have been transferred here from an alternate world, but how I'm not yet sure. The force of the crash could never be enough to propel you through the space tim –"

"Stop." Leo hissed. She shut her eyes and brought her hands over her face. She could feel the heat from under her cheeks bleed into her cold fingers. It was a small relief, as was the silence that the bat man offered after her frightened command. "You can't be serious – are you listening to yourself? I did not warp through time, or space, or whatever the hell you just said –" Her voice vanished once again.

The bat man never moved, not in her eyes, but he was gone in a swoosh of his cape.

A/N: If you'll believe it, this was actually a dream I had after my friend was in a car crash. Why Batman was there, though, I'm not sure. I think he was hallucinating.