A/N: Hello all! Well, I'm breaking all kinds of records with this fanfiction! Most amount of pages in Word, most amount of words, largest fandom I've ever posted in, and most chapters! And unlike previous stories where I simply add in a character into the movie, this one is ALL me! Well, you know, as much as fanfiction can be all me...

Anyway, I have the whole thing written out and uploaded into the Doc Manager. There are seventeen chapters in total and I will be updating this story every three days.

It's taken me a month and a half to write this whole thing and I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out. If any of you lovely readers want to leave suggestions, I will gladly consider them! When I say suggestions, I mean little things that could be considered a one-shot. Nothing plot-developing because that's all worked out!

Many, many, many, MANY thanks to my good friend Will Cloud for helping me SO very much with this story. Nerds unite!

The fantastic Will also made the lovely cover photo for this story. I cannot thank him enough for it! :D

Here is the very first chapter! :D

Bruce Wayne was no ordinary guy. He had an endless supply of money, he was pretty powerful, he wasn't bad when it came to looks, and he was great with the ladies. But that was all just a cover to hide who he became every night: Batman. Avenging his parents' death, he became a vigilante in the night, protecting the innocent and bringing the guilty to justice.

It was difficult living such a double life, but he managed to play the part well.

Bruce had an image to uphold, which he did so by hosting various parties for no specific purpose. That was just the thing the people expected someone rich to do, and he had to live up to their expectations. If he managed to convince the city that he was a playboy with little regard for anything else, and he had certainly done so, no one would ever suspect him of being Batman.

Tonight was one of those meaningless party nights. He walked around and spoke to a few of his guests, though he didn't even know three-fourths of these people.

When he thought he had talked to everyone, he spotted one girl he hadn't even seen yet, much less spoken to. Well, he couldn't have that! Bruce Wayne always talked to every girl at his parties!

"Excuse me," he said as he walked up behind her as she talked to another girl.

She spun around, flustered at the sound of his voice. "Um…hi," she stuttered nervously.

He discreetly looked her up and down. She was wearing a navy blue floor-length dress with a low v-neck cut and a sash of the same color around her waist. Her long dark brown hair was pulled over her left shoulder in a fancy ponytail with little jewels sprinkled throughout it. She must've been only a couple years younger than him.

"I don't believe we've met yet," he said with a smile as he shook her hand. "I'm Bruce Wayne, but you probably already knew that."

"Oh, I'm…um…I'm…"

"Dani," her friend finished for her.

"Right!" she said. "I'm Dani! Well, uh, my name's not Dani. That's a guy name. No, my name's Daniella, which is a girl's name, but people call me Dani for short and have ever since I was young because it just seemed to stick, and…" She put her hands to her forehead. "Oh, I'm rambling again. Sorry, I'm just not used to all of this. I mean, talking to…um, well, people who are just…" She sighed. "Completely outside of my social class."

Whoa, that whole conversation took a sore dive!

"Excuse me," she said as she ran off.

"Hey, wait!" Bruce called.

For a girl in a pair of heels, she got away pretty fast. He finally found her secluded from the rest of the guests in a little hallway.

"Hey," he said as she turned to face him.

"Sorry about that," she apologized. "I just…I can't—I don't really…"

"Just spit it out," he laughed quietly.

She gave him a huge sigh. "I'm the biggest faker here."

I wouldn't be so sure of that, Bruce thought.

"All of this just isn't who I am. An old friend of mine came to me today and said he needed a pretty face to accompany him to this party tonight so he didn't look bad showing up by himself, and he could give me everything that I needed to look the part and pass off as one of them. But I'm not. I'm a girl from the Narrows who can barely afford three meals a day. I have to watch every step I take so I don't get mugged of the ten dollars I've got on me because that's all I've got left! This isn't my world. It's yours. And I don't belong in it."

She ran off once again and when he followed her, he saw her angrily passing the person he assumed had escorted her here.

"I never should've come here," she said to him.

"No, wait, Dani! Dani!"

She left without another word or a glance to anyone. Bruce watched her go and a thought hit him. If she was telling the truth and really did live in the Narrows, she was going back home in the dark dressed like that where criminals sat in waiting. Not to mention, she was feeling emotional which made her more vulnerable.

"Hey, Alfred," Bruce called to his butler. "Keep the guests busy. I have something I need to do."

"Let me guess. You're going after her," he said.

"You got it."

Tears were coming down Dani's cheeks as much as she tried to hold them back. Not only did she feel uncomfortable that entire night in a place where she didn't fit in, but she had poured out almost her whole life story to none other than Bruce Wayne, who most likely didn't even want to hear the sob story in the first place.

She walked down the street, trying to make it back to her apartment before something bad happened. This was the most dangerous part of Gotham City and she just had to live there.

Suddenly, a hand went over her mouth and she was pulled into a dark alley. Just when she thought this night couldn't get any worse.

"Hey there, pretty lady," a sadistic male voice whispered in her ear as he fingered her neck and waist. "What's a little thing like you doing out here this late at night?"

"Please," she cried. "Please don't hurt me."

"Why don't we have some fun then?"

He roughly spun her around and she saw that three more men had joined the first in the alley. They all started inching towards her with sickening smiles on their faces. She got backed up into the wall as the space between them got smaller and smaller.

Dani started screaming so one of the men took a long piece of cloth and put it around her neck. She began to choke, all oxygen completely cut off. Her fingers clawed at her neck, trying to get the cloth off her, but he just pulled it tighter.

Suddenly, she was no longer restrained and she fell to the ground, coughing and gasping for breath. She turned around to find none other than the Batman fighting with all the men who had attacked her!

It didn't take long for all of them to be on the ground in pain. Batman went over to her and extended his hand. She slowly took it as he helped her off the ground.

"Are you alright?" he asked in a deep, raspy voice.

"Yes," she breathed. "Thank you."

There was a noise and they both turned to find the men getting back up and advancing on them once more.

Batman grabbed Dani's waist and pulled her close to him.

"Hang on."

He took some kind of tool from his belt and suddenly, they were being lifted into the air. Dani threw her arms around his neck to keep from falling to the ground far below. She wanted to scream, but her voice was stolen from her as they climbed higher and higher. They finally made it to the roof of the building he had latched onto, and her feet touched the ground. Immediately, her jelly legs buckled from under her, but Batman caught her before she fell. When she could finally stand again, she put her hands on her forehead and started walking around on the roof.

"Whoa, what just happened? I mean, what just happened?!"

"Just take it easy," he said in that rough voice of his.

"How can I take it easy?! I was almost killed by those freaks!"

"Well, you're safe now." He roughly took her arm and led her over to the fire escape. "When you get down those stairs, can you make it home from there?"

"I think so." She turned to point it out and when she turned back, he was gone. Dani took off her heels, climbed down the fire escape, and ran as fast as she could back to her apartment.

Bruce quickly changed out of the Batsuit into his regular suit, and booked it back upstairs to his guests, who were sure to get antsy in his absence.

"Master Wayne," Alfred said as he noticed Bruce come up. "Your guests have been asking where you were."

"And what did you tell them?"

"That you were in the restroom."

"For forty-five minutes?"

"I used the excuse that the appetizers did not agree with you."

Bruce groaned and hung his head in his hands. He wanted Alfred to make an excuse for him, but that certainly was not what he wanted everyone to hear.

"The girl? Is she safe?" Alfred asked.

"She is now. Good thing I went after her because, like I predicted, she ended up getting attacked."

"Very good, sir. You should get back to your party. Apologies for the excuse I created."

Bruce had to smile at his butler's kind actions. The truth was he couldn't be angry at Alfred if he wanted to. After his parents' death, Alfred became a fatherly figure to him and helped him with the trials of growing up. "No worries, Alfred. As long as they're off the trail, I'll take anything you give!"