It's here! I know a couple of you were like "Hey take you time on getting this out :)" but seriously if I didn't get this out quickly it would probs be months before I did.

I'm very excited to start this, I want it to be ten times better than "Time Flies By When You're in a Madhouse". Hopefully I won't disappoint you all. But anyway's I hope you enjoy the first chapter of "No Place for a Hero"!

Outside the world rushed past, now and again a car would over take them and speed off into the distance down country lanes. At the speed her mother was driving , the trees became blurred shapes and whizzing shades of green. There was no sound, no talk or music from the radio. Ever since her parents started attending marriage counselling sessions things had gotten tense between them all, the meetings were meant to be helping but Emily thought they just made things worse.

The only way Emily found comfort were her daydreams of Arkham asylum and she thought about the possibilities of going back and adventuring in Arkham City. Since she had been in the asylum Emily wanted to be just like Filly, she wanted to at least have fighting skills and be more physically fit and she tried, personal trainer and healthier food but deep down she knew that there would be more to it. She was at gym, martial arts and visited her local swimming pool whenever she could, her brother told her at the rate she was going at she'd be like an Olympic athlete. But her physical routine had started to worry her parents, their concern grew greater when they discovered that during certain nights she would sneak out the house and do free running.

But her father seemed to convince her mother that she was going through a phase and that everything would return to 'normal' eventually. To try and calm her down a bit he had bought her Arkham City and other Batman merchandise to keep her away from her usual routine. And it had worked, her trips to the gym had stopped but they hadn't stopped her from going swimming. Her comic collection grew to fill five cardboard boxes, selves that had occupied books had been replaced with figurines, her chess set were no longer normal pieces but now the Batman heroes and villains.

She only recently fully completed Arkham City, all the side missions done and after hours of hunting all the Riddler challenges, trophies and riddles she had finally solved every single one of them. Emily couldn't wait to finally give the Riddler a good thrashing but unfortunately all he got was a surprise take down which left her feeling a bit unsatisfied. Apart from that the game had been almost perfect, the story, all the side quests, characters you meet and all the little easter eggs, the only thing that let it down was stupid glitches now and again.

The ending was sort of brutal. No matter how much she tried to force tears to fall from her eyes to rid of the emotion she couldn't. When Batman carried the Joker from the theatre Emily realized that she felt nothing as the whole thing made her empty, she didn't want to accept that her Uncle Joker was gone.

From the front her parents began to argue about something but her music drained their voices away. Their shouting contests had be an occurring thing the past couple of months and the cracks were getting longer and longer in the relationship. Emily knew it was only a matter of time until one of them slapped divorce papers on the table, her brother Thane was hoping they'd work things so she never said anything about it to him.

At least she could say that she had lived a dream but it was enough to get her hooked and obsessed. She'd do anything to return to the Gotham universe.

Sighing and dragging her eyes to stare at her bickering parents a stag had jumped from the trees and landed in the middle of the road. It was still like a grand statue and a monster was raging towards it about to cause destruction.

"Mum watch out!" Emily cried, her bother's hand shot past her face pointing out the stag but her cry came too late.

Her mother braked hard but in the fright Emily lost her sense of time as the car swirled to the edge of the road began to tumble down the side of the hill. The window glass shards stung her eyelids and the movement of the car made it difficult to breathe. All she could see were shades of green, brown and red, she was sure that there was a cut in her head and the blood was dripping into her ear but it didn't block out the sounds of Thane's shouts of agony, her mother's banshee cries and her fathers sobs of pain. After several more moments the wrecked car stopped, upside down she figured her way out of her tangled seat belt and crawled painfully out the window. Weak and scared she told herself to call for help but she she opened her mouth all that came out was blood. A phone began to ring, it was her own now with a badly damaged cracked screen she tried to answer it but the screen wouldn't register her finger.

Tears falling from her eyes Emily rolled on to her back and stared up at the sky that was getting darker and darker, rain fell and pattered off the car and the light sound forced her to close her eyes. She drifted off, the sounds drowning her senses, forgetting the pain she succumbed to the blackness.

Then something poked her. Air rushed down her dry cracked throat, she could taste something she could only describe as 'clean'. It reminded her of hospitals.

That was quick...I'm not dead...mum, dad...where's Thane? Are they all OK? Wait, why am I strapped down so tightly? Am I in the ambulance?

Her eyelids jittered open, vision blurred at first she could make out dark shapes hovering over her. Above, lights blinked on and off constantly and people wearing surgery mask stared down at her with menace, they spoke but the language she was sure was english sounded so foreign to her. Had she been hurt that badly in the crash that she needed surgery immediately? Why had that Doctor looked her evilly? Moment's later she was being stormed out through double doors and rushed down a series of filthy corridors.

This was Arkham Asylum. Of course she'd have to wake up here and not somewhere else like Wayne Manor.

It's great to be back...

The countless faces she passed were of Doctors and guards, they all avoided her confused gaze. Now as she was rushed past huge glass cell's inmates stared out to watch. She didn't recognise any of them as some were wearing bandages around their heads, some had their backs turned and her vision hadn't fully focussed yet. She half expected all the villains to one by one step up to the glass and say there part of this dream but instead she was thrown through huge double doors and wheeled into the centre of a almost completely pitch black room. A bright spotlight was shone down on her as the Doctors and nurses around her quickly began to set things up, her bed was adjusted so that her body was level to them all. A silver table was rolled beside her her, sharp surgical equipment neatly placed side by side, there was also a thick roll of what looked like kitchen paper. Soon the Doctors and nurses sharply scurried away like rats and left her in silence.

Then suddenly came a creak of an opening door followed by slow, sinister footsteps. Like a ringmaster stepping out to welcome everyone to his circus, a Doctor came out from the darkness, he wore a more cleaner outfit than the others and a mask around his mouth. Emily had expected it to Hugo Strange at first but her gut was telling her that she was wrong. He approached her with small steps as if she was enjoying the suspense, he glanced at the trolley with a boyish spark in his eyes and picked up a pair of scissors, he then turned to her and she could see the smile he was hiding behind the mask. He took a step to the side so he was fully in front of her then removed his surgeons mask to reveal who he was.

Doctor Jeremiah Arkham chuckled as he swished away dark black and grey greasy hair from his face. His eyes were a chocolate brown shade and they looked eager to play with his toy. Emily hated that the first thought she had of him was that he looked attractive for his age, she guessed that he would be around forty years old. This was the man who had tried to steal her gifts and kill her, she should of been thrashing about trying to get out of her restraints!

The gown she was wearing could have been easily ripped off her with a tug of his hand but he delicately lifted the hem of the paper-like gown, and slowly began to snip up the front. Her eyes shut tight trying to keep the tears back but each sound of the scissors cutting it's way up made stomach turn and bubble, and her throat became dry and cracked with sickness.

"My, my, didn't you grow up fast." His sick words made her gag, she wanted to throw up but it was as if her body wasn't her own. Jeremiah began to touch her stomach in a soothing manner but couldn't feel his fingers, even when he touched her neck, legs and sides there was no sensation. Then from the tray he picked up a much larger knife and he began his sick deeds.

There was no pain when the knife tore off the flesh around her heart, even when he carved deeper and pulled apart her bones she didn't feel a thing. No matter how badly she wanted to cry her eyes wouldn't create any tears to fall, she couldn't even take her eyes away when he carefully pulled out her heart.

Her stare was dead, all light and life gone but she locked on to his gaze and simply said, "Uncle Joker is going to hang your insides above his fireplace."

His blood covered hand went up to caress her face, he smothered blood over the right side of her face, "Beautiful." The next thing he did, was place her heart to his lips and took a large bite from it then within a matter of seconds Emily screamed. It was terrifying and glass shattering, she felt everything, his soft touches and the mutilation. It wouldn't stop until the sadistic doctor and devoured her entire heart.

Once it was over she didn't have a chance to have a short moment of relief as Jeremiah grabbed a fistful of her hair and pinned her head hard on to the back of the bed. His face got very close to her's, so close that she could hear his thoughts. "You are mine."

Frightened to the core Emily unleashed her final scream and shut her eyes tight. Her scream seem to last forever but when she had the courage to open her eyes again she wasn't with Jeremiah any more, now she was lying on a bed with fluffy pillows, sheets and a toy horse.

Emily threw off the duvet to inspect her skin, there was no scars or blood stains on her, it had only been a nightmare, a very realistic nightmare. But it took a few seconds to realize that she was fully nude. She didn't often sleep in the nude, usually if she had a bad night shift at work she'd tear everything off and just fall into a soft heap on her bed. Her eyes shut tight and her hands ran through her hair and rubbed her face as Emily replayed the events of the car crash over and over, the nightmare had left her sweaty and whenever she stopped thinking about the car tumbling her mind would put Jeremiah's smile in front of her.

Getting out of bed she stood in the room nude, not bothering to cover herself she looked around curiously. The bedroom she was in was very bright, white walls, wardrobe and one large mirror, there was also a door which lead into an one suite bathroom. In the next room was the living room and kitchen area, it was the typical student apartment, it looked clean and nice.

A pile of letters sat at the bottom of the door, inspecting them they were all junk mail addressed to the home owner. Sitting by the TV was a photo of herself with Cash, then a photo of herself blowing out birthday candles with the Doctors smiling behind her. So it was clear that the apartment was her's. Sitting on the edge of her blue leather sofa she leaned her head in her hand and tried to settle her nerves and focus on the now.

How long had it been since she left the asylum? By the look of the letters she guessed around six to eight months even thought the apartment still had that 'new' smell. On the table was a diary that she picked up flipped through; in different dates, mostly at weekends were times and next to it was a word, 'Lizzies', it took her a moment to realize that the place was a strip club, her eyes grew wide until she noticed that in a previous date she had wrote: 'Interview for bouncer job.'

I'm a bouncer for a strip club? She couldn't help but laugh at that.

On the fridge there was a yellow post-it note with capital letters; BRUCE'S PARTY, 13TH JUNE 7.30. Checking the calender on the wall tonight was the night which was perfect, plus when she had awaken the time had been five o'clock not giving her much time to catch up on what she had missed. While having a quick shower she searched on the internet all of the big stories from the Arkham asylum take over to now. Although she didn't get to read most of the articles she came across she managed an OK job at her natural looking make-up, inside the wardrobe there was a long dark blue dress covered in a protective sheet, the perfect dress for a party. She was tempted to wear a pair of converse shoes with it as the heels in the wardrobe looked like they could kill her but she found a smaller pair of black ones. In the mirror Emily looked at herself and sighed at the reflection, to her she looked like a little girl trying on her mothers make-up and clothes, trying to hard to look older.

Mum...

But now wasn't the time to think about that or the nightmare, she was awake and they were just dreams to her now...

Grabbing a clutch bag she decided she was ready and began dialling a number for a taxi. Was it embarrassing to go to a party like this without a date or a friend? If so she would just have to make a quick entrance and hope she didn't make too much of a fool of herself. The taxi arrived twenty minutes later, she locked her apartment door and ran as quickly and carefully as she could down three flights of stairs. Opening the double doors of the apartment block the taxi was sitting waiting patiently for her. Wasting no time she opened the door and gave the address to the party. She didn't really care if she didn't arrive in style like most of the guests that would be there.

Arriving a the building that was hosting the party she threw money at the driver not caring how much it was. Upon entering she as a little confused as she searched around her building and didn't find any kind of ticket for the event but a doormen standing between a flight of stairs and elevator welcomed her with a cheery smile.

"Good evening Miss Emily, taking the elevator as usual?" he chuckled. Politely smiling back he called it down then tipped his hat to her once she was inside and the doors shut.

The journey up seemed like it was taking forever but then came the usual ding and the elevator doors opened. Emily prayed that once she stepped out not all eyes were fixed on her. Cautiously taking baby steps she managed not to attract too much attention, she hid behind groups of people keeping to herself and avoiding waiters carrying trays of bubbling champagne.

She had to be here as she was one of Bruce Wayne's 'toys', well that's what the online gossip websites said. After the incident at Arkham Asylum Bruce had made clear that he wanted to help the patients and the asylum get back to good health even though he was already giving funds to them. So Emily was the patient that would receive the most attention and help to recover outside the asylum walls. Once the vague news of this was out there were so many theories of who she might be. One article said that she was a patient that Wayne had knocked up, that gave her the giggles. But most other media sites and newspapers saw it as just another one of Bruce Wayne's outrageous charity schemes but that was the whole point.

Emily was used to having a large table filled with snacks such as cocktail sausages on sticks, mini slices of pizza and sandwiches that always had butter in them. But all the food was beautifully displayed there was not a paper plate or a plastic fork in sight. She was almost too scared to remove a piece of shrimp from it's display as she didn't want to ruin the delicious view of expensive food.

All around her were people, some of them were possibly very important people from the comics and game and she had no clue what they looked like. However she was certain that she recognised a couple of names being mentioned like Minerva Matthews who was a well known millionaire who had a keen interest in music and instruments, Roland Daggett the man who was a thorn in most people's sides and Dana Blessing who was Bruce's secretary. Things were beginning to get very claustrophobic and she needed fresh air.

Stepping out into the balcony Emily had her first view of Gotham City, it was wonderful to see all the buildings and lights, there was a chill but it didn't bother her. She imagined that the wind used to be a lot colder and with it carried corruption and greed and then they were dropped into the laps of men and woman. But she made it sound too much like a fairytale origin story.

"Hi there, I'm Brian Rogers, Dick's friend. He said that he would introduce us but he's always one for his disappearing acts."

Emily smiled at the mention of his name as she remembered reading a little bit about him. Him and Dick were room mates when they were at university, he was eager to become a professional football player so that with the sports money he could help out his family. On the day of the game between Gotham State University and State Tech, scouts from major teams were invited to watch and they were looking for new talent. This was his big chance to impress but Scarecrow had infected him the night before with his newish kind of fear toxin and during the game he hallucinated that the opposing team were monsters. He broke down in the middle of the game and he was rushed to the hospital but soon once the cause of his panic had been discovered Brian made a quick, full recovery. And the next day the Gotham Knights signed him up.

They both shook each other's hand, "Please to meet you Mr Rogers. You'll have to forgive me when I tell you that I don't really know much about football."

Brian laughed and leaned casually against the balcony, "Not to worry, we can leave the sports banter for another time. Fancy parties like this are strictly for the business talk right?"

"Yes, and also they're great opportunities for gossiping," she nodded her head in the direction of a few ladies inside who were passing little giggles to one and other, "Some things don't ever seem to change."

"I agree. Then most of the men just talk about all the affair's they've had since the last party." he added. Emily gave him another smile, she forget that not everyone here was a complete high class moron. She liked Brian.

"So what else do you do besides football Mr Rogers?" she asked highly amused that they both had the same last name.

"Well my dear I actually enjoy playing the violin, calms me down after an intense game. At night's I like to do about forty lengths in my swimming pool then occasionally I will have rain fall playing through speakers to help me drift off to sleep. Your turn." he winked and bashed her shoulder playfully.

"I enjoy swimming and running. I'm a fan of playing video games and whenever I find the time I like to paint."

Glancing over her shoulder she saw a tall man watch them from the window, he wore a smirk and his hair was styled well. She was sure it was Dick Grayson wearing a rather pleased look. It was all to obvious what he was doing, trying to get his friend some female company. In all honestly Emily thought that Brian was a handsome chap but she was approaching just the age of nineteen and she guessed that he was around twenty-six or twenty-seven, the age gap was rather big.

From the corner of her eye she saw someone walking towards them, she turned her head to look at the man about to intrude on their cutesy conversation but she grew a large smile when she saw it was no other than the host of the party.

"Good evening Mr Wayne." Brian suddenly stood to attention like a prince had just entered the room.

"Evening Brian, hope you're enjoying the party. May I borrow Emily here for a moment?"

"Of course. It was a pleasure to finally meet you Miss Rogers." he took her hand and kissed it then went back into the party leaving Bruce and herself out on the balcony.

"Have you been hiding from everyone?" he asked voice humorous.

"Sorry it's just, there's no way I'm going to get used to this sort of thing. The fancy food, expensive wine and the gentlemen company."

He walked forward so he was in front of her, "Your outfit is ready for you to test in the Batcave," he said changing the subject, "The devices are still under construction."

Emily grinned and gave a small laugh, "So the Batman and the one they call Shadowmare will soon be fighting crime side by side?" she commented with a wink.

Before Bruce could reply to her comment TYGER Guards stormed into the penthouse, guns pointed at people but they were hunting for one person while causing a panic among the rich and wealthy.

"Emily Rogers?! You are under arrest, please slowly come forward with your hands up!" Her whole body froze when she heard her name being shouted, her legs wouldn't move even when the guards had entered the balcony area. They called her name three more times and on the forth she finally responded to them. There was no point in resisting the arrest so she walked towards them her head staring straight at the floor.

"Surely there has to be some mistake." Bruce walked forward but instantly guns pointed his way.

"Mr Wayne please stay back, you've been warned!" They weren't soft with her, she was grabbed harshly and rushed forward towards the elevator, behind her she could hear Bruce talking and rumours being whispered to one and another by all the guests.

The elevator doors shut with a ding but there was no music to break the awkward tension between her and the four guards.

"Where are you taking me?" her voice sounding a little wobbly.

Even though she knew exactly where she was going, she needed to hear it, "Arkham City doll face."