It was his eyes that really scared her, they seemed like deep pools of emptiness, but if she was being honest with herself she was already pretty scared after he suddenly appeared before her in the alleyway. His bulky armour was pitch dark yet the full moon cast a light which reflected on it giving it a silvery hue across the shoulders and the cowl. The eyes were in deep shadow and the intensity bored straight down to her soul. She felt herself shiver under his gaze as though in the presence of something that wasn't quite human in origin.
His whole demeanour gave her a sense of horror and fear as they stood facing one another. She wasn't usually a fanciful kind of person but she could sense his annoyance at her as if her presence in the stinking alleyway offended him in some way.
Did he realise who she was? If he did he gave no indication of it but then again why would the commissioners 15 year old daughter be in a dark alleyway at 2am in the morning?
The sudden rasp of his voice sent a shudder of dread down her spine.
"This is no place for a little girl. Go home"
She began to pull herself together emotionally, after all this was the man who her father had once considered a friend. That was of course until he had turned into a murder and kidnapped her mother and siblings, subsequently becoming the most wanted man in Gotham, even more in demand than the criminals he used to defend the city from.
Under other circumstances she would have taken offence at being called a little girl but he was right in that she shouldn't be here. Her nerves had the advantage and her initial reply to him was too low in volume for him to hear so she repeated herself.
"I would go home but I'm lost" her voice sounded soft and pathetic in direct opposition to his deep rasp.
She was quite sure that he gave a sigh but only because his body moved slightly rather than because of any noise escaping his mouth. He reached a hand to his belt and must have pressed something because a sudden loud roaring noise penetrated the air and a huge black tank appeared as if from no where.
Barbara shot back into the shadows of the alley and felt the dirty wall at her back as the machine came abreast of them. She knew that she should run from him but where could she go? The alleyway ended in blackness and the dark had always scared her a little. Was that his car? There was no wonder her father's men had trouble catching him if that is what he drove. It looked indestructible and very fast.
He hadn't moved from his original position but the nearest door on the monstrous machine swung up and open revealing the inside of the beast.
"Get In"
He expected her to get into the tank thing, into the car of a alleged murderer! Her mind told her to run, to get out of there as fast as possible, but she found that her feet simply wouldn't move, she was too scared and simply stood there in the alley with the Batman and his car.
His quick movements took her by surprise and before she could assimilate her surroundings a draft of cold air was around her bare legs and he had swung her up in his arms bridal style and deposited her in the passenger seat. Her senses returned and she began to panic. He was abducting her or worse! She banged on the now closed door and searched in desperation for the non existent door handle.
As if her night hadn't been bad enough already. She had made plans with her friends to sneak out and go to a new club in the centre of the city. At fifteen she should have been far too young to be allowed in but the owners weren't bothered as long as they spent money. She had lost touch with her friends after half an hour and left to find her own way home. To top it all she was now being abducted by the most wanted man in Gotham! If she survived this her father was going to ground her until she was 30.
When she felt Batman's presence in the car next to her she stilled. Then gave him her best glare, she was a Gordon and Gordon's did not go down without a fight. His facial expression hadn't altered up until that point but now she could see a twitch of his thin lips as he observed her. As if he got some sort of pleasure from the situation. Her hand curled into a fist and before her common sense could intervene she punched him in the jaw. He gasped slightly in shock at the unexpected impact and rubbed his chin with his hand. His glare no longer had any sense of calm as he looked hard into her face with an expression of rage in his eyes.
Barbara had never felt fear as much as she did at that moment, she was expecting retaliation and braced herself for the pain. She had socked the Batman in the jaw and her hand was seriously hurting. Her common sense realise that there was no escape now … he would kill her!
"Sit still and I'll take you home. Otherwise I'll leave you here to see if you survive the Narrows at night" His voice was even deeper than before and she felt dizzy with dread but his words made no sense to her in her shocked state.
He was offering to take her home after her attack on him? She hadn't realised in her futile attempt to get home that she had wandered into the most notorious part of the city. Even the police would balk at being here with no backup at night. Was she better off with the Batman than walking through the Narrows?
She gave a short nod of acknowledgment before saying, her voice a little more confident than she felt.
"Are you really going to take me home?" She knew she should apologise but the childish part of her brain thought that if she didn't mention the punch she could pretend it hadn't happened.
He didn't reply but simply started the beast and with a roaring noise they were passing through the streets of the Narrows at a speed that made her head spin.
She gripped hold of the seat as they swung around the next corner and her stomach lurched. She had made the mistake of having an alcoholic drink at the club and regretted it now as her body protested and she really needed to pee. She tried to concentrate on their location to figure out where he was taking her. She was very much aware that he hadn't answered her question and although she had originally heard him say he would take her home she had doubts about his motives.
The journey took less time than she had imagined and she realised that they were nearing her neighbourhood. She looked at him quizzically, how did he know where she lived?
His voice shattered the uncomfortable silence. "I'm sure you can make it home from here without getting into any more trouble."
The tank pulled alongside the curb and the passage side door opened. She didn't say anything as she dragged her body out of the vehicle. By the time she had turned around the Batman and the tank were already back in motion. She stood there a block from her home and decided that in the future she would have a lot more respect for this city. She had nearly died tonight and vowed that nothing would ever make her forget how scared she had been at the hands of that mad man.
/
The shrill ringing of the telephone in the Gordon's house shattered the silence and before it could ring a second time it was firmly in the commissioners hand. He already knew who would be calling at this hour so didn't bother to go through the traditional welcoming hello.
"Is she OK?" he knew he was being abrupt but he also knew that the caller would understand.
"She's fine Jim. She'll be home in a few minutes. She's scared … but in good health which is more than can be said for me" there was a hint of humour in Bruce Wayne's voice. "She punched me in the face and it's going to leave a bruise."
Jim couldn't help laughing at his friends woeful voice. "I'm sorry I just can't imagine you getting punched by a 15 year old girl, Bruce. What happened?" He was on the one hand proud of his daughter but didn't she realise that punching the Batman in the face was a bad idea?
"I followed her out of the nightclub your lieutenant spotted her in. She left by herself and got lost pretty quickly. She won't be doing it again in a hurry, I think I scared her enough." he paused "I feel awful for scaring her Jim and it just doesn't seem right but I've got to hand it to her she's got a mean left hook!"
"Bruce I owe you for keeping her safe. I'll let you get back to work. Speak to you tomorrow. And Bruce … thanks again for doing this" He put the phone back on the stand and tried to suppress the guilt he himself felt. He didn't want his daughter traumatised by tonight but she had to learn that the bad things out there on the streets of Gotham were very real. He slowly turned the lights off and made his way up to bed before his wayward daughter returned home and tried to get into the house without waking anyone.
Authors Note: Thanks for reading! I know I made up an extra daughter for the Gordon's but I guess she could have been staying with grandparents or something when the movies were taking place. I'd love to hear people opinions so please review!