Disclaimer: Batman and all associated characters, from either the comic books or the movies do not belong to me. However the story and some related characters are original and mine.

A\N: thank you to all reviewers. It means a great deal that you take the time to read my story. If you can, please comment. Critical commentary is greatly appreciated.

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It's that funny feeling you get when you think someone is watching you. That feeling that floats in the bottom of your stomach, setting your nerves ablaze. Tricking the rest of your senses into believing what ever crazy notions your paranoid mind is generating. I'm very familiar with that feeling, as I get it at least twice a week when I'm forced to walk the four in a half blocks home to my shitty little apartment on the east side of the Narrows, which I may add is in the shittest part of Gotham.

Anyway, I make this trek home because my manager at the bar where I bartender feels the need to make me close every Friday and Saturday so he can leave a little earlier with whatever cheap looking, easy tramp he's picked up for the evening. Consequently, the buses usually don't run my way at four in the morning, and even if they did I think I'd still walk… especially cause I've seen the people who ride the buses to the Narrows. So why might you ask am I living in the Narrows? Well, because I'm a big city girl trying to hack it on her own, while obtaining a college degree so I can hightail it outta this hell hole. Don't worry I'm not going to give you my sob story… all you need to know is that Gotham and the crazy people inhabiting it messed up my life from a very early point. I lost my parents to Gotham when I a teenager and I've been fighting ever since to make sure I don't meet the same fate. College, was as I prayed, my ticket to a new life, a fresh start, an opportunity to rise above my current status. And prove to the world, well maybe just Gotham, that a girl from the Narrows could amount to more than just a whore or a criminal.

But back to when things in my life really started getting exciting. It was a Friday night just after three in the morning, and I was briskly walking, my head down, and my ears perked, attentive at the very least with a can of pepper spray in my pocket. I know what you're thinking, c'mon is your city really that bad? And my answer to you is yes, it is! Or at least it was that bad till someone stood up, and began to fight back for the helpless. But wait, I'm getting a head of myself.

I was maybe a block away from my apartment when the cat-calls began. They started off as snickers, and became louder and louder as the delinquents neared. They remained in the shadows for the most part, darting back and forth across the street, calling out to me, making me sick with fright. To be honest it wasn't the first time I had encountered this time of behaviour, so I tried to ignore it as best as I could, praying that none of the hooligans were brave enough to actually interact with me. I was feet; I repeat feet away from my building when one jumped in front of me, setting me back with a shriek.

"You're a cute little thing!" He cooed, revealing yellowed warped teeth. "Why you hurrying home? Don't you wanna play with us for a while?"

I mustered a little courage and retorted, "I think I'll pass. It's a too late at night to be joining the freak show." This in hindsight was probably not the best answer; however my innate sarcasm couldn't be controlled despite the obvious terror that should have kept it in check.

The man tried to grab me, and I dodged him pulling out the pepper spray and dosing him with a lethal amount, he screamed, clawing at his eyes. I felt victorious for a moment but it passed as I was grabbed from behind the can of pepper spray shook from my hand. I screamed, only to have a dirty hand clamped over my mouth. Although I was disgusted, I bite into my capturer's hand, and he yelled, pushing me away. I ran forward and into the path of yet another man, who gave me a solid backhand across my cheek that set me to the ground.

They circled on me, and one bent down over me, touching me, "We're gonna have some real good fun with you…" He gripped my hips, jerking me against him, I screamed again as the realization of what was happening set in on me.

I heard a thud as one of the hoodlums fell to the ground. The man who was on top of me stood, "What the hell?"

What happened next was so fast that I could not, and still to this day properly depict what happened. The four men that would have most likely beaten and raped me that night were reduced to quivering bloody heaps in a matter of minutes. They screamed in pain, limbs broken or gashed and I lay on the ground despite the blown I'd received no worse for the wear. And there in front of me stood the one man Gotham would soon come to fear, hate and yet, respect…Batman.

"You shouldn't be out this late…" Was all he managed to growl at me before he fired a gun propelled catch cord and took off into the night.

"Holy…" I surveyed the damaged the Batman had accomplished in a matter of minutes. I stood shakily, but I managed to make my way into my apartment, locking the door and sliding my small china unit in front of the door for good measure.

I sat at my kitchen table for a long time just sitting there, thinking… It was like I was in a daze and then I blinked and it was morning. The sun had risen and was shinning through my tiny kitchen window warming me, and I felt safe once again. I stood, and walked into my bathroom, the woman I saw in the mirror was me. But something had changed, not a physical change although I did have a brilliant purple bruise strapped across my chin and cheek were the man had hit me last night.

I stood under my shower for a long time, letting the water run over my body cleansing my skin and making me shiver. I'm not sure if my epiphany came to me in the moment or it had just resonated over night and now I was suddenly aware. But I got out of my shower, got dressed and took the bus to my college. That afternoon I made some decisions that made me doubt my own sanity, but I was overwhelmed with a confidence that wouldn't let me change my mind.