Gotham city was no place for a girl like me to go to school in. I tried to convince my parents to let me go to a private school just outside of the city, but we just couldn't afford it. We can barely afford food anymore.

Still, I look past it, I ignore it. I do the best that I can. I learn. I hope I can get a full scholarship next year.

But this isn't about my life, it's about one day, the day that changed everything; the day I met my guardian angel.

That morning, I woke up with a bad cramp in my neck. I had had a nightmare, and had twisted around in my bed until my neck was at a weird angle. I massaged my neck and groaned. Great. Just the perfect start to this lovely day in Gotham. I looked out the window at the pouring rain. I shook my head and got up. There was never a decent day in this city.

Getting ready for the day, I turned on the radio to listen to the news report. I wasn't normally concerned with the news- I already knew that there would be a least 2 deaths during the night- but there had been a Batman sighting the night before, and I wanted to hear if there were any more. My best friend, Barbara Gordon, was completely obsessed with the guy, and wanted me to collect news about him so that she could talk about him without me being completely clueless. I just thought he was some freak in a Halloween costume, but hey, Barb's my friend. I'll listen to the news about him for her.

I turned the volume up as I fixed my hair.

"…and in other news, the vigilante crime fighter known as Batman is responsible for terrorizing several fishermen at the city's docks. The fishermen were found tied upside down to streetlamps, unconscious with broken noses and several fractured ribs. Their boat was found nearby with the 200 kilos of cocaine the fishermen were trying to bring into the city. While this was a victory against crime, the Gotham City Police department was not happy. Officer Davis acted as spokesman for the department, saying that, 'We do not need the Batman's help. He is trying to make a statement that we're not doing our jobs, which is farthest from the truth. We do our best to make this city safe, and…'" I turned the volume down until it was background noise.

"Keep this city safe." That was a riot. Just five minutes after a double homicide was reported, the police is saying that this city is safe. I shook my head and grimly smiled. Irony was wonderful.

I opened up my bedroom door to see my father in the living room, searching the want ads.

"Hey, Daddy." I went over and kissed the top of his head. He looked up and smiled.

"Hey hon. How're you?"

"Okay. Getting ready for school, I'm running kind of late, so I'm gonna skip breakfast."

"Alright, just make sure you take your lunch. It's there on the counter." I picked up the paper bag.

"Thanks Dad. Mom working late tonight?"

"Yeah."

"Okay. Right, well, I'm gonna get goin'. Bye Daddy."

"Bye sweetie. Be careful, there are some real weirdoes out there." I just smiled.

I walked down the street looking straight ahead. I didn't look to the left, didn't look to the right. I didn't look down the trash-filled alleyways. I didn't look up at the decrepit apartments. I tried closing my nostrils, so that I couldn't smell the aroma of rotting garbage and urine that filled the city. I tried to take in as little of the city as possible.

Approaching the school, you could see why so many people skip classes. It was a depressing institution that was falling apart at the seams; gave one the feeling of being in jail. Maybe they do that on purpose so that we can see where most of us are going to end up. I don't know. I'm just doing the best I can so that I can get out of this place.

As soon as I walked in through the doors, Barbara attacked me.

"Betsy!" She hit me from the side and wrapped her arms around me. I laughed.

"You're way too energetic for this time in the morning, Barb." I pushed her off of me, and she grinned.

"Oh, but I'm so happy! You see…" she looked around conspiratorially. "I met Batman. He saved me from a rapist! It was so cool!" I looked at her, shocked. Had my friend finally gone off the deep end? I knew she was obsessed with the guy, but he could be dangerous! I didn't like this.

"Listen, Barbie, don't you think that hanging around a guy who dresses as a bat and jumps off rooftops would be a little dangerous? I mean, this guy could be insane." She rolled her eyes and flipped her hair.

"You sound just like my dad." Her father was Sergeant Gordon of Gotham's finest. I liked him, though, because he wasn't as full of crap as all the other police officers. He knew that Gotham was going to hell, and I respected him for that.

"He keeps on telling me not to go out at night, but I sneak out through my window." I stared at her. We were walking down that hallway towards our next class, and I didn't want to yell, because someone would be confused by the loud noise, and eventually there would be a fight. Don't ask me how the transition goes, I just know what happens in the end.

"Barbie, you know how dangerous this city is!" I said fiercely.

"Yeah, but nobody will mess with a girl in a Batman costume." I stopped in the middle of the hallway, staring at her. Barbara giggled and grabbed my arm, pulling me down the hall.

"Oh, Barbie, tell me you didn't!"

"What? I'm part of a new generation of crime fighters!" She made some punching motions, and I just shook my head. My best friend was lost to Bat mania.

"Just please, please, please be careful when you go out. There are a load of freaks out there."

"Don't worry! I have Batman looking after me." she got a dreamy look on her face and looked up towards ceiling. I shook my head and lead her to class.

The day passed in a worried blur. I was too worried about Barbara to pay much attention during my classes, and I'm sure many teachers got angry at me, but I didn't pay attention enough to care.

After school, and after warning Barbara again to not go out at night, I headed for my job. I worked at a video store; I dealt mainly with geeks renting Star Trek episodes, and the occasionally harried mother renting Teletubbies for her kids.

That night there was a surplus of geeks and moms.

My boss kept me until 9:00. It was dark, it was raining, and it was scary. It was always scary when it rained; the pollution-filled water running into your eyes uncontrollably made it hard to see who was after you. Walking down the street in Gotham was pretty much always scary, but that night, I felt someone watching me. For one wild moment, I thought it was Batman who was watching, but when I looked behind me, I saw a man in baggy clothing. I couldn't see his features, but I was pretty sure he was staring at me. I wasn't very surprised, but my heart raced like a clown had just jumped out of a giant box right in front of me. I turned back around and kept on walking. I was just about to arrive on a busier street, where I would feel a bit safer.

Unfortunately, an alleyway was coming up, and another man was headed right for me. I knew what was

going to happen, and I tried to think of defense techniques, but I couldn't because I was just so scared…

The guy in front of me passed on the side of me, and I almost thought that he would just pass by me, but no such luck. He shoved me down the alleyway, and the guy behind me grabbed my wrist so that I couldn't get away. I thought of screaming, but who was going to save me? No one would care, nor be brave enough to pull two guys off a 16-year girl.

Everything was moving quickly; my senses were overloaded with fear. The two men seemed to be moving at warp speed, spots of hurt were blooming all over my body, and I could smell them, taste their sweat on my tongue, hear their ragged breath as they struggled to achieve their evil goal. I tried not to let them; I wouldn't let them. I fought back, but not so effectively. One pulled out a gun. I finally let out the scream that I had been holding in.

My scream was answered with a laugh, loud and reverberating off the buildings on either side of me. It didn't stop, it kept on pealing out. It was loud. It was scary. It was strangely uplifting, and I knew that it wasn't coming from either of the two men holding me down; it was coming from a much more elemental force. An elemental force that had an insane laugh.

My eyes rolled upward, and I saw a black mass fall from the sky. A gust of air pushed the hair out of my eyes, and I saw details of this black mass. It had boots. And wings. And a face that was twisted with rage, but he was laughing. He was laughing, and he was coming right for me.

Bam! His foot collided with the side of one of the men's face. The man rocked from the forced of the blow, his nose and eye bleeding. In the same move, the dark creature slammed his fist into the gut of the other attacker. He collapsed to the ground, too, his gun clattering beside him.

I fell back against the wall, my knees too weak to support myself. Bracing against the wall, I stared at my savior, who was preoccupied with beating the crap out of my attackers. Bam! Ka-pow! Thwack! Sound effects as if from an old cheesy TV show ran through my head as he hit, kicked, and inflicted general damage upon these evil men.

Shakily, I bent down and picked up the gun that one of the men had dropped. It weighed coldly and heavily in my hand.

"He was going to shoot me." I whispered. My savior looked sharply at me, able to do so, because my attackers were successfully subdued. I looked at my savior, and realized that he wasn't a creature at all, but a scary man in a scary costume. Batman.

"Both of them were going to do much more than that." he said. His voice was too deep. It was like he changed it, just for this job. I wondered what his name was; this couldn't be all of him. I tried to dwell on wondering who he was, but I just couldn't keep out of my head the fact that I was almost raped. I was in shock. I was angry. I turned to the man who had initially held the gun. He looked back up at me.

"You were going to shoot me!" I yelled at him. My eyes screwed up, and I yelled pure rage out at him. "YOU BASTARD, YOU WERE GOING TO HURT ME!" The gun trembled in my hand as I pointed it at him. I wanted to hurt him back, make him pay for his wicked thoughts. Batman just stared at me, his face impassive.

But wait. If I shot him, I would be just as bad as he was. Did I care? A little. I aimed, and fired.

A spot on the side of his leg seemed to explode. Blood sprayed with the deafening 'bang!' that came from the gun. The man screamed out in pain and clutched at his leg. I frowned, threw the gun in the nearest trashcan and turned to the lunatic I called my savior.

"I don't think you'll have any trouble surviving in this hell-hole." Batman said in his growling voice. He grinned wide and terrible, shot his grappling gun, and flew out of sight.

Barbie was never going to believe this.

THE END.