Chapter 1—Abnormaly Normal

She was your average, everyday, run-of-the-mill teenaged girl. She had a simple, average attitude that was nothing really special, and a simple, average look. She was just what you'd expect. Unexceptional dark brown hair that swept just past her shoulders, light brown eyes that didn't really seem any different, pale skin with nothing noticible or outlandish to it; that's all there was to her. She was just a typical girl.

The only thing about this girl that anyone would see as odd or different, was that she lived in Gotham. She could've moved to sunny San Fransisco with her parents when they'd had enough of Gotham and its ludacrous inhabitants. She could've left crime city behind her. She could've gone and lived a safe, happy life away from there. But no; for whatever reason she kept herself firmly planted in the city of crime and fear.

She had a small apartment that was pretty nice for the part of town she lived in, a steady job, and a few friends to hang out with on Friday nights. She wasn't noticible. As was already pointed out, she didn't really stand out in a crowd. She was just…average. She dressed in a non-flashy way that was easy to ignore: Band t-shirt beneath a zip up hoddie and skinny jeans with black tennis shoes. Easy to overlook. Easy to forget about.

She'd spend her weekdays working 13 hour days then go 'home' to work on papers for work or maybe even take a few minutes off and take a nap. One of the few weird things about this girl; She did NOT sleep. The most she'd ever managed to sleep was two (maybe 3) hours at a time. Then she'd spend her Friday nights out on the town—at least the safe parts of town—with her friends. She'd spend Saturday at home, writing for her job, and then go straight to work Sunday morning until the evening. After work she'd rush home and hope not to be mugged on the way.

On this particular, regular, typical Sunday evening the same regular, unnoticible girl was walking home. Alone. Through the worst part of the city. Was it yet mentioned that she was alone? To make the fact that she was alone worse, the street lamps hadn't come on yet. So it was a dimly lit street with only a few cars going by and very few pedestrians. The perfect night for street scum. The same teenaged girl had walked home during the day; even THEN in broad daylight it was bad. But the number one thing you didn't want to do is get stuck on Gotham's streets at night.

Pick pockets, muggers, swindlers, mobsters, gangsters, drug dealers, perverts, drunks, druggies, and even off-duty cops were waiting to rip you off or even kill you. To say the least it was dangerous and stupid to be out on the streets. But it didn't seem to bother the teen as she walked to her apartment complex.

She wasn't worried at all. In fact, she hummed as she went along the sidewalk. Maybe it was the fact that she had black belts in three different divisions of self defence…maybe it was that the Batman was out on the prowl and criminals were running scared…or maybe it was even the large can of mace she had in her over-the-shoulder canvas bag that made her feel safe. Whatever the reason, nothing scared her. For whatever reason this regular, typical hummed happily as she trekked towards her home in the dangerous, crime ridden streets of the city known as Gotham.

She pushed her drak brown bangs out of her eyes and let her black hood fall from her head. No nothing bothered her. Not anymore. Ever since the idea had come to her she had been relentlessly cheerful. Ever since she had started to plan she had been at ease and calm. A man went by on the opposite side of the road, wolf whistleing at her. She ignored him and continued her journey home.

Hah. Home. As if anyone would consider that desolute apartment home. It was ridiculously below standards. The floresent lights flickered endlessly, none of the outlets had covers and some didn't even work, some windows didn't close all the way OR were jammed closed, phone service sucked, there was barely ever any hot water, and if you thought that you were going to be living in a cockroach-free enviroment you'd be sadly mistaken. In short, it was the nicest apartment building in the entire east side of Gotham.

The stars were coming out as the young woman finally arrived at her destination. She entered, pulling her key out of her pocket. She ignored the creaking of wooden stairs as she ascended to the top floor of the building. (It was such a cheap place it had no elevator.) She went over the beautiful plan again as she jammed her key into the knob on room 6-14. Sixth floor, fourteenth room. She turned the key violenylt—that was the only way it unlocked the door without sticking—and stumbled in.

She looked around the room quickly. A shredded sofa sat in the corner with a barely working reading lamp on a cracked side table next to it. A small black-and-white TV with tin foil wrapped around the antenas resting a few feet in front of a dingy looking queen sized bed with a thin blue blanket that would barely keep you warm during a 100 degree drought slung over the bed post. A mahogany chest of drawers with several open or even pulled all the way out was propping up a full length mirror with a crack running right down the middle. The bathroom door was still open and the dripping sink was visible from the door. Yep, it was exactly the way she had left it.

Smiling slightly, still enthraled with thoughts of her plan, the young woman unzipped her hoodie and tossed it at the sofa. It landed with a dull thud. You see, this typical teenaged girl off the streets of one of the most dangerous cities in the entire country was about to do something ridiculously stupid. It was such a wonderfully ridiculous idea that she'd originally rolled her eyes and ignored it. But then the idea slowly turned into a plan. And then the plan swiftly became a nagging want that had to be fulfilled.

So, she finally gave in. Over the course of four months she'd carefully purchased different pieces of the plan from different locations. (She did so just in case anyone would try to track the purchases.)

She'd started with the boots. A pair of dark green combat boots, the same kind they used in the military. They weren't easy to find and therefore, they were expensive. But she'd managed to finally get her hands on them at a hunting shop in Northern Gotham. Then she had to get the full body stretch suit. This was much easier to find, especially since there was a large number of costume shops and things of that sort in Eastern Gotham. It was black, so smooth it was almost reflective. If the light caught it just right, the fabric would shine blood red. Perfect. She needed a cape; Again, easy to find. She purchased the cape from a local Halloween shop for a pretty cheap price. It was black and cracked like a whip if shaken properly. From the same place she'd purchased a pair of white ballroom gloves.

Finally, the mask: Central Gotham had a small shopping complex where there was a little store called 'Hallows Eve'. There they had a wide selection of masks; from butterfly shapes to you're everyday hockey mask they had it all. There she'd found it. It was the final piece of the puzzle; her mask. It was simple really, black silk with no extra decoration. It rose into two peaks at the tips. It reminded her of the boy wonder's mask, although his didn't end in the tips like hers did. She purchased it and locked it away with the rest of her costume.

And there she founder herself on that regular Sunday night, pulling on the full body suit, fastening the cape around her shoulders, pulling on the gloves (which she'd dyed red and cut off all the fingers), laced up the red combat boots (courtosy of a last second spray paint-job), and placing the mask onto her face.

She gazed at her reflection in the full body mirror, grinning. It was a beautiful plan. It would help people, save lives, put criminals away, it would be perfect…right? She shrugged off all doubts and beamed at the mirror. "Time to fly," She was ready.

She was Scarlett.

No longer that ordinary, easy-to-forget 19-year-old girl, no longer frightened by the idea of being mugged by common criminals, no longer typical…She was Scarlett.

A kind of electricity danced in Scarlett's veins as she wretched her bathroom window open. She threw herself out of it, landing on the window ledge of one of the floors below.

Time to fly.

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Scarlett fought the bubbling urge to laugh as she raced along the rooftops. It was wonderful to be free. That regualr girl forgotten by eveyone was far behind the new-born legend. Now she was Scarlett, ready to join the crusade against criminal scum and alienated cops. IT would be beautiful. She ran along those rooftops for a long time, heading for Crime Alley. Scarlett wasn't really sure why she wanted to start her branch of the crusade there, but it felt like the place to begin. It felt like the right place to be. No…it felt like the perfect place to be.

Leaping down from the rooftops Scarlett hit the ground running. She passed some lunatic talking to an alley wal and several common thugs (unfortunately none of them were doing anything illegal so she couldn't nab them). She kept to the shadows and out of their sight.

It was cold. Perfect weather if a thug was in the mood to pull something. Not many people would be out on a cold Sunday night. Less witnesses, more profit.

Scarlett smirked grimly when she heard it. A desperate scream echoed from a nearby alleyway. She dashed into it to see three tall, muscular men crowding around a young blond woman. She was clutching her purse close to her, pleading with them to leave. Perfect. Scarlett carefully assessed the possibilities. The odds were three to one with an innocent civilian nearby; not perfect. BUT, there was a large chain and a metal pipe against one of the walls; that WAS perfect. The woman screamed again as the men continued their menacing approach. Scarlett surged into action.

In one, smooth motion she placed herself between the woman and the thugs and a few feet away from the chain and pipe. "You know you really shouldn't be out this late, when the sun goes down the shadows come to life." She growled at them. They towered over her. They had brute strength. One probably had a gun. Scarlett liked the odds more and more every moment. The very moment she finished her sentence she nailed the closest criminal with a powerful right hook. He stumbled back bumping into the alley wall.

The other two began their advance on Scarlett. "Shouldn't all the little girls be in bed by now?" The larger of the two asked, cracking his knuckles for effect. He had short black hair and an uneven goatee.

She rolled her eyes, "Funny, I was just about to ask you three ladies why you were out past dark." She stepped back and carefully closed her fingers around the cold metal of the pipe.

"Why you little—" The man she had punched before bull rushed Scarlett, ready to beat the pulp out of her small frame. She stepped to the side, letting him smash into the brick wall. His knees buckled and he lay still, knocked out cold.

"Whoops, easy there big guy," She nudged him with her foot. "You almost hit me!"

The other two were tired of her smart mouth. The one with the goatee stepped forward and aimed a puch at Scarlett's midsection. She swept the pipe up as if it were a staff and smacked the blow out of the way, following it up with two kicks and another blow from the pipe. Two out of three of the men were unconcious now. The third man pulled out a gun and aimed at Scarlett's forehead as she polished off his two partners. She spotted him a moment before he pulled the trigger and swung the metal pipe as if it were a baseball bat. It collided with the man's torso and he keeled over, the gun clattering to the concrete, followed by a heavy thump as the man hit the ground.

Her first mission was a success. A beautiful success that Scarlett would remember forever; it was the night that started it all. Now all that there was left to do was get the lady to spill and then get the thugs behind bars. "Yeah only one problem," Scarlett muttered. "The civilian already took off." She grabbed the chain from the ground behind her and wrapped it securely around the men. Then she woke goatee man up. "Hey…Hey you," She growled, pulling his face closer with the collar of his shirt.

"No—No please don't hurt me. Please! I'll do anything." He begged, shying away from his captors face.

Scarlett smiled darkly, "Good. You're gonna tell the cops EVERYTHING. About the woman, about the robbery, and about me; every detail goes to the cops and you three are gonna spend a nice long time in the slammer. GOT IT??" Her voice rose to a shout as she held the man inches from her face.

He cowered again, "Y-Yes, I-I'll tell em everything. W-What are you?"

Scarlett turned away from them. "I'm not anything or anyone. I'm just a shadow." So she lied to a thug and scared the wits out of him…so what? He deserved to be scared. He deserved to rot in jail. She pulled a quarter out of her glove and slid it into the pay phon on the corner of the street (she had a hidden pouch in the thin cloth for just this kind of occasion). She dialed 911. The opereator answered:

"Nine-one-one what is your emergency?" It was a male voice.

With her darkest voice she answered, "I just found a few guys ready to rob a young woman. I took care of em but you need to come pick them up. They're in an alleyway on Route 14 in East Gotham. I won't be there." Then she hung up without waiting for a response. She took off running as fast as she could. Her red boots slammed into the pavement over and over again until Scarlett jumped. She landed on the nearby fire escape and clambered onto the roof. Her cape billowed out from behind her as the wind kicked up again and she took off running.

Over the course of five hours Scarlett made four more calls to the police station. Including the first three men she'd put away eight criminals that night. Not all of the fights were as easy as the first. She got a nasty slash to the shoulder when one of her mug-busts got out of hand. It was just two guys then but one had a freakin' machine gun. A MACHINE GUN! How was she supposed to compete with that? The other had a hunting knife that managed to slice right through her costumes thin material. Great, one more thing she had to fix. Then another guy (he'd been alone) managed to give her a huge bruise on the side when he took a crowbar to it. Lovely; one more thing to worry about. But other than those two things there were no other real problems. Eight guys was a descent number for someone's first time out on the streets, especially if those streets were in Gotham City.

The sun was coming up and it was time for the shadows to head back home. With an extreme effort she pulled herself onto the roof of the nearby store. She laid flat on her back, panting. She just needed a second. "Impressive," A deep, soft voice murmered from beside her and she was on her feet in a half second. She came face to face with the brightly clad hero known as Robin. He was a little taller than her, with spikey raven colored hair (in this story he starts out at 19 as well), "Eight criminals in one night with no weapons."

"You followed me?" Scarlett frowned from behind her mask. She'd always admired Robin—at least from affar—and it was weird to be standing in front of him while in costume. "Talk about desperate." She teased with an easy smile.

Robin laughed at this. "Yeah, I guess it was just interesting to see an ametur at work."

She rolled her eyes. "I'm sure it was facsinating and quite educational. I suppose now you're gonna tell me to get off the streets and leave the crime fighting to the professionals who've been doing it for years."

"No," She was a little startled when the other teen's soft voice uttered this response. "No, I was going to ask you if you were okay."

Scarlett realized that a thin line of blood was oozing from the still opened wound on her shoulder. She let her cloak fall around her, hiding her entire body from his view. "I'm fine. I can handle it."

"I never said you couldn't."

"Oh, but you were thinking it."

"I'm sure you can take care of yourself."

"Then why follow me?" Scarlett demanded. "The only reason you went after me was to make sure I wouldn't get in too deep."

Robin flinched visibly. True that was originally the reason he had followed her, but after about five minutes he knew she'd be just fine. "I needed your help." He lied. "There's a mob bank just north of here and I was watching you to see if you'd be able to handle helping me take it down. You win though, you kick some serious butt."

Scarlett caught herself blushing. She turned away from Robin and considered this. "All right I'll help you, but what about Batman? Won't he have a problem with me helping you?"

She was smart too--Robin smirked to himself--and she assessed every angle of the issue before agreeing to things. She was strong and fast too. She would be perfect. But there was a nagging thought in the back of Robin's head. She was also pretty and fragile looking. "Batman is out of town." That was the truth. Batman was in Asia going after a big time mobster with a 60 million dollar heist in tow.

"So you can't just do it on your own?" Scarlett teased, watching Robin from over her shoulder. "I mean you are THE Boy Wonder aren't you?"

"Yes, I could go crash a huge part of the mob's income on my own," He grinned, knowing she wouldn't be able to resist. "Or you could come creep some more crazies out with your shadow talk."

"Fine, you got me. But don't think that it's because of your fancy backwards wording either, don't flatter yourself." She was facing him again, mere inches between them. "You wouldn't be able to snare me with words Mr. Bird." She leaned closer to him, putting only a half centimeter between their lips.

The boy wonder felt his heart skip a beat. Was she really going to kiss him? "I'm gonna need your name." He breathed against her lips. "I can't just call you 'you' now can I?"

"I'm Scarlett. You'll be seeing me around." She whispered then she pulled away (without kissing him), turned on her heels, and hopped off of the rooftops.

"I'm Robin, but you already know that." Robin smiled, knowing she didn't really hear him. She really was a smart one.

******

Okay!!! So the last chapter was even LESS than one quarter of this one. Like it? Love it? Hate it? Review and let me know! I wanna hear what you guys have to say so write a review or send me a message!

Scarlett is my own creation; do not steal her or the story behind her. I don't own Batman, Robin, Gotham, or any other characters affiliated with DC. (Whatever, Fanfiction made me do this.)

Lots of Lazers,

RITS7