Lillian counted the steps from the grocery store to the corner. She knew what she was doing. She was trying to distract herself from seeing shadows at every turn. Since she had left Gotham after its "liberation" was over, she had found herself being overly paranoid and doing precisely that.

"Stop it. Just stop. There's no one there." Lillian allowed herself to count ten more steps before she quit counting and faced that there was no one in the shadows.

She continued to walk for several blocks before she realized that her paranoia this evening was not unfounded. She was, in fact, being followed. She didn't see them at first, but she caught sight of one of them under a street lamp and then once more while she was crossing the street.

She didn't know why she was being followed or why someone would follow her for so long, but she wasn't happy about it. She rearranged the paper grocery sack in her arms and headed into the nearest discount liquor and tobacco store. The place stunk.

She set the paper bag on the lottery stand and slipped off her backpack. As she rearranged the backpack to accommodate the groceries, she was thankful that the store had been out of reasonably priced eggs. She didn't care what health benefits they claimed to provide she was not paying $5 a dozen for eggs. She knew some of the customers were staring at her. She even overheard the cashier whisper in his thick Indian accent, "Survivor of Bane's occupied Gotham."

That's right. She was a survivor. She had gotten out of Gotham alive and relatively sane. She would survive this night as well. She zipped the backpack up, took a deep breath, and headed to the door.

At first, she thought that they had either given up on her once she had entered the store or she really was paranoid and no one had been following her to start with. She was wrong on both accounts. They had simply hidden and watched from the shadows. They were also much better at hiding once she emerged from the store.

When she noticed them again, she started to calculate. She could either go to her apartment which was five blocks to the East. This seemed like a terrible idea. Assuming that they had randomly seen her and didn't know who she was, she didn't want to lead them back to her domain. The only reasonable solution was to head to the police station that was four blocks to the West.

She made it another two blocks before they picked up their speed, and she broke into a sprint. She made it another block before one of them managed to catch up and grab her. She started kicking and elbowing. She was desperate to get free. The second man quickly caught up and injected her with something.

"I have a doctorate in nuclear and theoretical physics, a masters in general physics, and a double major undergraduate in physics and biomedical engineering." She had woken up on a warehouse floor. It was cold and darkly lit. She stood up, and the room spun. When the world finally came into focus, she recognized several of these men from Gotham. These were men who had spoken hardly a word but had created a living hell. Tonight the demons of hell had come to take her life, and the realization had caused her to blurt out her life's achievements.

"I don't recall asking." The tone of the man before her gave nothing away.

"I have an interview on Tuesday. If I am not going to make it, I want someone to know what I was going to say even though the chances are much higher that they'll find it impressive when it would have seemed rather mundane to the interviewer."

"You disarmed Gotham." The mechanical rasp came from a shadow in the corner of the room that Lillian had not previously seen.

"Batman saved Gotham." The news had covered it as such. Batman had finally come out of hiding in Gotham's final hour to save the day. The Dark Knight's return had inspired someone to disarm the trigger woman, the socialite Ms. Miranda Tate, and a few police had been instrumental in locating the correct vehicle, protecting Gotham from anyone else detonating the bomb.

"No, no." The man, Lillian recognized him as Bane, shook his head. "Don't lie. It doesn't become you. It is a sign of weakness."

"I am not lying. Batman saved Gotham."

He titled his head and laughed. There was no true joy in. Humor, but no joy. "You are but a child. Yet, you ruined our plan."

Lillian had a distinct feeling that she was being mocked. She didn't know why it mattered to her, but it mattered a great deal. If she was going to die here tonight in this cold building, then she would do so with dignity. "My name is Lillian."

Someone else laughed in the room. Their laughter wasn't as harsh as Bane's had been, but it lacked joy just the same. "My name is Lillian. A weekend visit to my roommate's family turned into six months of living in a hell that you and your plan gave birth to. On February 19th, I disarmed a fully primed neutron bomb in Gotham City. My name is Lillian O'Conner, and I will not apologize for what I have done."

The room was nearly silent. The only sound to be heard in the room was Lillian's frightened breathing. Nothing else in the room moved or made a sound. If it wasn't for the fact that she could still make out the outlines of a few of the men in the room, she would have sworn she was alone.

The silence had become suffocating. She was assured that it would choke her to death in the end. "You may go."

She was unsure as to whether or not she had heard it. It was not something that she would have ever imagined the tall brute saying. She noted her backpack sitting to the left of him by a door and headed for it. She never looked back, praying the entire time that he wouldn't change his mind or she wouldn't find herself shot in the back.

Author's note: Thank you for reading. Please review.