Hi! I've returned to FF after a long hiatus, due to the death of my muse. I've never written for JL before, but I had this idea and couldn't find a story like it so decided to write it myself. I'm going to try and write this quickly whilst I'm still inspired so I'll actually get it finished! Unfortunately I tend to go through phases and if I'm not inspired anymore the story tends to just get left undone. Hopefully my muse will last long enough this time! Hope you enjoy the story.

The bank was quiet, as all banks should be in the middle of the night. However, it was not empty - of this the Dark Knight was certain. Cliché of clichés, there was an intruder in the vault. Batman dropped from high in the old world style vaulted ceiling, which would have been beautiful in the daylight, and landed silently like only he could on the floor below. Without so much as a flutter of cloak to betray him he made his way forwards. Batman was not in Gotham tonight, this particular bank was in a large generic city far from his usual haunt. He was here for a specific reason. There had been a string of low level robberies in many cities recently, evidence from the scenes - specifically a few long blonde hairs - suggested the perpetrator was a female metahuman. Despite the fact that these were low-key crimes she could pose a significant threat and so Batman had taken on the task of bringing her to justice. The nature of her particular abilities was unknown, however it was clear that the destruction she caused was not possible for an ordinary human. Metahumans committing crimes was no odd thing, however what made these crimes different was that despite the apparent scope of her power this particular metahuman held herself back - she took far less than she could; avoided interfering with guards, despite how much more difficult this made the job and caused only as much destruction as necessary to gain access to the cash. Anticipating where she would strike next had been a challenge as all her targets were fairly generic and she moved from city to city. Since no one had actually seen her Batman had no accurate description of the thief and hadn't even been sure the hairs had belonged to the intruder. He was glad to finally confirm this as he stopped in the doorway of the vault to observe the girl bent over an open safe deposit box with her back to him.

"Having fun?" Her voice startled him, although he only narrowed his eyes in response. Through her dark, figure hugging long-sleeved jersey and pants her frame was womanly, yet slim. Something of adolescence still clung her. She was probably 19, or 20 at the very most. The strong mature tone of her voice surprised him. The sound of ruffling and clinking ceased and she casually straightened up and turned to face him. She was beautiful, fortune had given her a perfectly sculpted face, with bright blue eyes and full soft lips. Her eyes were guarded and her muscles tense as she held his gaze.

"No mask?"

"Nothing to hide." She acted uncaring, a little aggressive, but he could see something else in her. Fear.

"Nothing to hide? You're a thief. Who are you?"

She just held his gaze, a challenge in her eyes.

"You're going to jail for your crimes. Who. are. you?" His hand strayed to his utility belt as he spoke.

"I'm not going to jail, get out of my way." Her attitude did nothing to distract Batman from noticing that the hand not carrying a full rucksack was shaking almost imperceptibly. His eyes narrowed to slits. Something was . . . not right about this girl.

"You had your chance." The girl held her hand up and it glowed gold. Behind him, Batman heard a grating sound. Whirling around he watched as the two stone eagles that adorned the pillars supporting the vaulted ceiling were moving. As they swooped towards him he cursed the owners of the bank. Why did they have to choose such a gothic building? He threw some mini explosives from his belt at them which had no effect and then ducked and rolled to the side as one swooped towards him. Instead of hitting him it smashed on the floor. The second turned in time and wheeled around to have another go. Instead of attacking the eagle he pulled a smoke bomb from his utility belt. The girl momentarily disappeared in a cloud of dense smoke and the eagle crashed to the floor when her concentration broke. Batman turned to tackle her but had to dive out of the way of several metal deposit boxes came flying at him through the smoke. As he stood up he caught sight of a flash of gold high above him in the darkness before slabs of marble flooring glowing with golden light nearly crushed him. He barely managed to save himself from the attack and by the time it was over the nameless girl had vanished.

Suddenly, he smirked.

"Batman to Watchtower. Beam me up."

"And her behaviour was inconsistent with that of a young human?"

"Yes, she was afraid of me, but she worked unusually hard to conceal her emotions. Most young criminals are cocky. She barely spoke."

"Were you able to find out the nature of her abilities?"

"No. I suspect there is a lot we still haven't seen of what she is capable of."

"What do you require from me?"

Batman lead the deadpan Martian to the computer console in the control room and pulled up a national map. "The smoke bomb I threw was laced with experimental nanobots I've been developing. They are designed to attach to organic tissues. When she breathed them in they will have attached to her internal organs such as the stomach, throat and lungs and are too small to be felt by the host. They emit a signal I am able to track, however they will be broken down by the body within 24 hours. I want you to come with me to apprehend her and interrogate her. I doubt ordinary holding cells will contain her and we need to find out more about her past and her abilities. We can detain her here in the watchtower." Batman glanced away from the monitor to gauge the Martian's reaction.

"You expected her to escape you?" After glaring at J'onn for a few seconds Batman told him to inform the founders where they would be whilst he traced the signal. Batman could have sworn J'onn was smirking as he left.

Hope you liked it! Next chapter will show more of "the girl's" character and will reveal a bit more of the story, this was more of an introduction. Some parts are gonna get pretty heavy, but I'll add in some lighter stuff to balance it out. There'll also be more characters from the JL so hopefully the dialogue won't be quite so serious in places! I'd really appreciate it if you could take the time to review, thanks for reading.

CP