Disclaimer: Batman and everything around him belongs to DC, I just own my OCs

A/N: So this is my first story in english and due to my wonderful beta Pepper I think it worked out very well! The first chapter is a bit short, but there will be longer ones, promised ;)!The story is completed, but I'm still translating it into english, so there will be updates from time to time.

The events move along Batman Begins, but I changed some things here and there... I refer to my artistic freedom :D!

Enjoy!

How to save a life

Chapter 1:

Like a shade, the dark shape fought its enemies by itself. None remained spared and those, which defied its strength briefly, decided very soon to escape or fell finally due to its strong impacts.

Over the noises of the fight, his ears caught something different and he turned his masked head from one side to the other, in order to locate the higher pitched voice, which stood out so much over the other voices.

He deflected a senseless attack from a large, bulky man and threw him to the ground with a hard kick of his boot. The masked shape leapt onto the fire escape and surveyed the alley, in which the fight had broken out. At the end of the alley he saw three more guys, who circled themselves around a smaller person, who resisted using their hands and feet.

He looked down, where two men had just gotten up onto their feet to escape the threatening shade. He lifted his cape and propelled himself from the fire escape, and floated over the alley hitting one of them with his legs stretched forward. The guy fell to the ground swearing, while the other two let up on their victim and faced the stranger.

He fought with the three enemies with ease and looked around. The alley was swept as empty. From a distance he could still hear the fleeing men, but otherwise the streets were quiet.

A young woman lowered herself to the ground, pressed her fists in front of her face and breathed heavily. He knelt down to her level and grabbed her arm, with a curse she twitched and pressed more firmly against the wall.

"Miss?"

Hectically she shook her head and the dark avenger saw that her whole body was trembling. Under her messy dark hair two fear-fulfilled green eyes looked at him, blood ran slowly over her face. She was clothed in oversized brown trousers and a green cardigan that looked too thin for the cold weather. Her shredded clothes showed how hard she fought.

"You are safe now. Are you alright?'

He grabbed her arm more firmly and pressed it carefully to the side. He discovered that she had a deep wound on her head, which was the source of the blood. He briefly thought about taking her to the hospital, but as he regarded her more exactly he noticed that her clothes had not only suffered from the fight. He noticed that her heavy, leather boots were missing shoelaces and furthermore she looked very haggard and wrecked.

It was very likely that she could not pay for treatment, and she was already at the border of unconsciousness.

He lowered its voice, "You can trust me. "

He ignored her look of distrust and pulled her up onto her feet. The young woman groaned and held onto her left hand. She was much smaller than him, but the masked one lowered himself down to her, put his arm around her shoulders and led her to his vehicle. Each step obviously caused her pain and the woman sighed heavily, when she fell into the passenger seat.

"Who are you?" She asked weakly.

He started the engine and peered at the girl, she looked exhausted and her eyes had already drifted closed.

"It doesn't matter. Fasten your seatbelt."

She obeyed feebly and Batman started the engine.

"Alfred!"

The Butler was already up and was coming down the lift, before he began to make his way quickly to the Tumbler.

Bruce Wayne lifted the unconscious girl carefully from the seat and lowered her down onto the closest table. Alfred immediately began to examine the woman's wounds.

"Master Wayne, are you sure it was a good idea bringing her into the cave?" The older man asked puzzled at the fact that he would potentially compromise himself like this.

Bruce took the cowl from his face and ran his fingers through his dark hair.

"I am. She was unconscious the entire way."

He slipped out of the suit and pulled a shirt and trousers from one of the cabinets.

"Can you deal with her? I think she also broke her hand and I cannot because I have a business meeting—and I'm already late." Bruce asked moving silently around the cave, while Alfred had already began to clean the wounds.

"What am I to do when she wakes up?" Alfred asked simply.

"Take her home, if she is better. She's been through a lot but I think she will be okay."

Alfred nodded, "Falcone's men again?"

"I have a feeling it is getting worse, something big is happening and I have to find out what." Bruce tied his tie and adjusted his suit, before moving to the woman's side and observed her face. He had realized quickly that he could not save everyone, but he still wished he could.

"Master Bruce?"

Bruce slowly looked up and noticed Alfred's questioning glance, "Do you know the young lady?"

He shook his head, "No."

Alfred gently ran a cloth over her face and among the filth and blood gave way to pale, but immaculate skin.

"Like the face of Gotham City." Bruce murmured quietly to himself. Though she looked very gaunt, she was very pretty and Bruce guessed that she was probably in her middle twenties.

"Pardon?" Alfred asked.

Bruce waved it off, "Nothing." He looked up at the older man once more, "Thank you and I will see you later."

He left the cave with fast steps and rode the elevator up into the world as Bruce Wayne.

It was already late at night as Bruce parked his car and entered Wayne Manor. He loosened his tie and let himself fall into his armchair sighing. The business partners of Wayne Enterprises were annoying people, who were a real pain in the neck. They talked business the entire meeting, over the need to renegotiate an already existing contract. He clearly needed some vacation, but when he lifted his legs, the stinging pain in his knee reminded him of the fact that he could not afford vacation because those who roamed Gotham's Underworld do not take vacations.

Suddenly the incident of earlier that evening rushing back to his mind and he was reminded the face of the young woman, whom he had brought here. He decided to visit Alfred and ask about it.

"Alfred?" Bruce called as he moved quickly by the lower dwellings and finally reached the kitchen, from which he heard loud rattle.

„Alfred? "

He spied through the door and saw the Butler, who was tidying the already immaculate kitchen.

"Master Bruce. I did not hear you come."

Alfred turned around and folded his arms across his chest.

"How is our guest? Did you bring her home already?"

Bruce reached for a remainder of ham, which appeared to be left over from Alfred's dinner, before popping it into his mouth.

Alfred coughed slightly and hesitated, "She disappeared from the cave, on her own."

Bruce froze, "Alone?"

"Well, she was still unconscious, so I came upstairs to get something and when I came down again she was gone."

"How did she get out of the cave?"

Alfred shrugged his shoulders.

"I searched for her for quite a while, after all she was injured and I thought, she could not have come far but she was nowhere to be found."

Bruce nodded thoughtfully. "The elevator was at the top of the shaft and the exit of the cave leads far enough away from the property."

Bruce knew that, she could not make a connection between Batman and Bruce Wayne, but something else concerned him, "I hope she doesn't run into Falcone's men again."

"I think I should go to bed Alfred," Bruce stated with a yawn, he had already went out into the night earlier this evening and he was exhausted from the dinner meeting.

"I will clean things up down here." The older man turned away from his charge.

"Good night, Alfred." Bruce moved back toward the elevator, still haunted by the pale broken face of the unknown woman.

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