Chapter 1:
I open my eyes. I am welcomed by a ugly brown stain on the ceiling, and dripping water hitting me in the forehead. I stretch my arms up sitting up. I wipe my mouth, and in return get drool all over my forearm. Yeah I apparently drool in my sleep. I am trying to stop, but my subconscious isn't as helpful. Sleeping on your side kind of makes drooling unstoppable, you know unless you actually sleep with your mouth closed, but who does that? Not me that is for sure. I guess I could try sleeping on my back, but since I drool would I choke on the spit if I slept on my back? I have no clue. I rubbed my eyes, and stood up. I took in the trash on the floor, with the hot dog wrappers, and the three musketeers bar. Ugh I really need to pick up, but I really don't want to. I run my fingers through my hair encountering a world of knots. I pull them out, and comb through my hair, until all the major knots are gone. I pull my hair into a ponytail, getting it out of my face.
"Well it is now time to start the day." I head to the window, and trip over a loose board. I am sent sprawling, but before I hit the ground I put my hands out and barely manage to keep myself from hitting the wall. I did that once, but you know when I wake up I am not really all there, I am still in the last dregs of sleep. I open the door, making a horrible squeaking sound effectively making goosebumps run on my body. There is a chill, and I grab my jacket. I head out the window, and hop down onto the fire escape a floor down. A shock runs up my ankles, and I hear squabbling from the Crabbies. Well that's not their real name, but they have been given the nickname due to fighting nonstop, and at least once a night somebody in there house firing a gun. I almost got shot once when the gun ended up being aimed up. Some people are asking why didn't anybody call the cops. Well the answer, because if somebody called the cops most of the time they would be giving their location to the police, and when the entire building is filled with crooks, and pickpockets that would be bad. When we got a new landlord he didn't really like having criminals in his building. Lets just say Big Jim, and Stripes straightened him out. Now he is happy to let any criminal stay in here he just disappears if the cops show up. So he is rarely here. As are most of us. We sneak out when the the red and blue lights show up. Survival of the fittest. It is mostly the stupid people who get caught.
I climb down the escape catching the night air, and breathing in the smell of cigarette smoke which starts me coughing. I pull my tank top over my nose trying to block out most of the smell. Can't stand the stuff. walk around to the alleyway, where I look up into the sky, where you can see a few stars. The light pollution in the city dims them making them harder to see. I head over to one of the bars in what the fancy folk call the "bad part" of town. Me I call it home. You know perfect area for a girl living on her own to, but actually once you know where not to go you don't run into trouble. In the building we have little sections where we hang out, and we stay out of other peoples. Like me I hang out mostly around 18th street alleys, where they have some of the more rowdy bars, and people often come out drunk, high or both. If they aren't drunk or high they are normally one of the bartenders or dancers. I hang around them, because the people who come out are often not as much of a challenge, so it is easier for me to take them down, and they normally have good cash on them. About twenty to two hundred dollars. I don't really pick on the people with the big cash, they normally have some form of guard or taxi somewhere. I don't like pick pocketing, but I have to so that I can eat.
I am normally broke, and I don't really steal. I end up normally helping the little people. The kids like me where you ran away from where you were living, and you are trying to get on your feet. The thing is that most of them even with my help don't last long. Not here. Not on the streets. In fact only two that I know of have lasted more than six months, and even then they sometimes don't make it. It is a dangerous life, and sometimes I love it and I could never go back to who I was. Other times I hate it and I want to go back, but the thing is I can't go back. Not then not ever. A man stumbled out, and I looked him up and down. I stood in the shadows taking in the scar that cut across his cheek, and the way he rocked back and forth. He had jeans, and a leather jacket on. His hair was falling in his face, and it was greasy. He looked greasy like a snake, but a lot less dangerous. The only issue is that he was probably armed with a gun probably a pistol or a knife. I went up in front of him. My eyelashes were fluttering, and he smirked.
"Look hon, unless you are gonna give me a little umph get outta my way." He winked before reaching for my face. I jerked back, and his smile faded, and he reached for my face again. I ducked,and dove under his legs. I realized a little to late that this guy was nowhere near as drunk as he seemed. My eyes widened, and then they hardened back again. I smirked, and then I put my fists up one covering my face, and the other covering my chest. I put my left foot forward, and then he laughed. He smiled, and then he lunged.
He was fast, and he was good. He didn't really fight dirty I guess you would say, but he didn't fight nice. I dodged most of the blows, but one of them hit me in the jaw, and I went flying. I hit a wall before I dropped. I felt blood gushing from my nose, and I kept my mouth not wanting to get a mouthful of the thick red liquid. He started circling around me, and I didn't move, but my eyes followed him when he went around my back I dropped to the ground, and then when a punch went above me I grabbed his arm, and I flipped him on his back almost dislocating my shoulder in the process. I stepped on his stomach, and brought my right foot down hard on his knee. The crack wasn't as loud as I wanted, but he still grunted in pain. When he went to get up I was running. It wasn't worth it. In order to get the wallet off him it was going to take a lot more than I could give, especially with my throbbing nose, and my shoulder. Besides as my brother would say he isn't worth it. He is scum, but you would have to kill him to get ten bucks off him.
I pinched the bridge of my nose trying to stop the flow, and when it was finally reduced to a trickle I hid out in an alleyway near the edge of my section. I normally have a reputation for being ruthless, and hard to beat, but I don't know if I was off my game, or if I was just out of my league, because I had almost gotten my butt handed to me. I rubbed my temples trying to think. I was starving, and I was out of cash, but there was a bar a few blocks down, and I could probably order a root beer without being questioned. I had been in there a few times before, but in order to get the root beer without it being spiked I would have to pay extra. Darn it. I stood up, and tried to estimate the time, it was late, and the sky was still pitch black. The street lights created a hazy light across the sky. I needed to head to library the next morning. I needed to do some research. I didn't have a ton of experience with computers, but I did the best that I could.
I started walking to the building, and I saw a flash of red and blue lights as I neared it.
"Crud." I ducked into the nearest alleyway, and started walking. The cops were there. Ugh. I bet it was Geo. Also known as Sticks, he doesn't really think things through. He kind of just does stuff. Most of the time Big Jim picks up his mess, but now most of us would end up scattering for a few weeks, and we would all be on the down low for awhile. Luckily the landlord doesn't keep every bodies real names in there, we actually barely pay anything, mostly due to the fact that Stripes doesn't like to pay in cash. He pays all of our rent by not kicking the landlords butt. Stripes is one of the guys that you just don't cross. At all.
I keep walking, and I see two guys at the end of the Speedster alley. One of them is a fifteen or sixteen year old boy, and the other is around nineteen or twenty. They both have had at least a broken nose, but they also have scars. They are one of the duo's of crime that ran away from home together. I nod, and they don't glare so I sit down.
"Hi." The younger boy is a few years older than me, and he looks cute, not hot, but cute. With dirty ash brown hair, and a little ridge on his nose.
"Hey." His voice is quiet, and hoarse. The older boy looks me up, and down seeing if I will end up being a threat, He doesn't seem to think so, and he nods.
"Do you read the papers?"
"Only if I can find them. That isn't that often."
"Well, then whats your name?"
"Lizzy." Actually I normally go by Ellie, but when I am trying to look younger I go by Lizzy, and I don't always want people to be able to find me."
"Well apparently Batman has a new boy wonder."
"Great we don't live in Gotham."
"It was just in the papers. Just in case you wanted to know." He handed me the paper, and I looked at the date. Sept. 15 2008. I didn't want to burst his bubble, but the paper was from five years ago. The kid looked to be about ten to twelve years old, and he had black hair, and he was wearing a ridiculous red, yellow and green costume, and his eyes were covered by a mask. Something wasn't right. Something seemed familiar. I couldn't place my finger on it.
"His costume is ridiculous," I snort. "Can I read this?"
"Sure, why not?" I flip through the paper scanning the news from five years ago. I saw the headline." BRUCE WAYNE ADOPTS AGAIN! Below the headline I saw a picture. It was fuzzy, and I could barely make out a boys face, with a black mound of hair, and bright greenish blue eyes. I drop the paper my face turning white, and then I shake my head.
"Jason?" The boys stare at me like I am nuts, and I don't blame them. "Sorry I know him, or yeah I know him. I'm pretty dang sure." One of the boys nods, and I stammer out an excuse for having to run off. It probably sounded stupid, but I could barely think. Jason was alive and the ward of a millionaire. I hand the older boy the paper, and run off my head swimming and a few tears running down my face. I brush them off, and rub the bridge of my nose. Jason was alive? And living in Gotham? I hadn't seen my brother for over six years. And he WAS ALIVE! I seriously thought he was dead. Gone. Yeah no apparently not. I climb up an old apartment fire escape, and balancing manage to climb up onto the roof. I almost scream, but a girl at three or so in the morning on a roof screaming would attract attention. And that is something I really don't wan't.
I kick the air, and almost end up falling on my face. The moon is fully risen in all its Cheshire cat smile glory, and I stare up at it, the moon reflecting the now dry tears on my face. I sit down on the cement roof, and hug my knees to my chest. I bury my head into my knees.
"Jason you will pay. I will find you and I will make you see what you have made me become. Because you left me. You left me to fend for myself, and I will show you what that did to me. I will show you and you will be broken when I am done with you."
Author's Note:
Before people ask I am not going cannon with this story, this idea came from Batman Under the Red Hood, and it expanded. Before people get confused I am using the more well known version of Jason Todd's backstory, and I will be skipping around with this because my evil bunnies don't like to stay still. So ages will be all over the place, and I will do my best to try to make stuff make sense but it might not. Before people also get confused Ellie(main character is of my own creation) but no other main characters belong to me so please don't sue me. Any comment whether it be criticism grammar/spelling errors, or anything like that is appreciated, and also YAY I finally got the courage to do this!