She shouldn't have been there. They didn't even know she was there until they ran to the bottom flat of the condemned building where she had hidden since she heard them bust in. Joker's gang had people hostage on the first floor from a hijacked bus. The place was rigged to blow when the dynamic duo showed up, and everyone split. Robin disabled the bomb and untied everyone upstairs while his mentor pursued the ones responsible. He heard gunshots from below as the sound of fighting resumed.
A child screamed.
Doors slammed against their stoppers on the floor below.
The sound of people being thrown into walls doubled its pace, and the firing ceased.
When Robin leaped down the stairs to meet back up with his mentor he was met first with the blonde haired girl, who tried to push past him. Batman was too close behind her. He grabbed the hand hold of her backpack to stop her from going further.
"You need to go to the hospital," he said sternly.
Robin looked her up and down. She had a bullet wound in her left thigh, her jeans beginning to soak with the blood. A hole in the right shoulder of her jacket showed proof of another one as well. She grit her teeth.
"I'm fine," the girl spat. The bundle across her chest sniffed.
"Bullet wounds kind of disqualify people from being fine," Robin noted, and she shot him a nasty glare.
"Well I guess I'm quite the exception then," the girl retorted icily.
"We can take you to a friend who won't ask questions," Batman stated, "I'm not going to let you go without getting those treated."
"I can treat them perfectly fine myself."
"That isn't an option."
The wind picked up, whistling through the broken windows.
"I wasn't asking you for options."
"I wasn't giving you a choice."
She spun around, fist aimed at his jaw. He blocked it easily, but a sharp wind knocked him and Robin over, giving her an opening to escape. Doors slammed shut behind her as she glided with a pocket of air under her feet, up the back stairway out to the alley, where she disappeared into the Gotham Skyline.
"So we're just going to let her get away?" Robin asked as they got into the batmobile.
"No, we're going to follow the tracker I placed on her backpack."
"And do what when we find her exactly? She doesn't seem very willing to cooperate," the boy muttered, watching the quickly moving red dot on the computer.
"She has to have some reason to avoid hospitals and clinics. We find out what that is, and if worst comes to worst we have Alfred treat her."
"And then what? Just let her be? She's a meta. There has to be something for us to do."
"I'm not sure yet."
They sped around a corner and into an alley where the point had stopped. She was leaning on a brick wall, under a fire escape when she saw them. She cursed, jumping to climb to the platforms above her, but Robin used his grappling gun to get there first.
"You know, it isn't often you see someone so against getting medical care," he quipped, the two standing across from each other on the second floor support. He could see the clear blue eyes of the child poking it's head out if the blanket it was held in.
"Robin!" the child yelled, and he smiled. The girl leaned her back against the brick wall. She took a deep breath, and kicked him hard in the knee, launching herself over the rail and slowing her descent with a buffet of wind. Batman caught her under the arms, holding her away from himself knowing that she couldn't flail without posing a threat to the child. She glared daggers at him. The position was almost amusing.
"Why are you refusing to receive medical attention?"
"None if your business."
He scowled, and she scowled back. She reminded him of Jason.
"I am trying to help you, and that makes it my business."
"I never asked for your help."
"Are you running from someone?"
"Maybe."
"Who?"
"No one you can help me with."
"Is that why you won't go to a hospital?"
"I have plenty of reasons to not go to a hospital. It being unnecessary, for one."
He sighed, and carried her to the batmobile, placing her on the bench seat in the back before quickly closing and locking the door.
She glared at him through the rear view mirror once the four of them were off. Robin was the first to break the silence.
"What's the baby's name?" he asked, looking over his shoulder to see the child staring at him between the front seats. She was free from the blanket hammock, sitting on the girl's lap in a dirty oversized purple shirt and pair of orange leggings.
"Mary. She's my sister."
"And what's your name?"
"Evelyn."
"Do you not have a last name?" he joked. She paused.
"Johnson."
"Do your parents know where you are?" Batman asked.
"Unless they've been watching me from above, no."
Silence fell over the car, save for the sound of Mary making spit bubbles. Evelyn wiped her sister's mouth with the side of her unbuttoned shirt.
"How old is she?" Robin asked, trying to keep a conversation going with Evelyn so she wouldn't just pass out.
"She'll be three in winter."
"When's her birthday?"
"January. The 10th."
"When's your birthday?"
"March 20th."
Robin paused, and she glanced at him.
"What?" she asked.
"Nothing," he answered shaking his head. "Where are you from?"
"Indiana."
"How'd you get to Gotham?"
"Boxcars, didn't you see me, like, a month ago or something at the train yard?"
"Yeah."
The sound of water crashing into the roof of the car was sudden and gone just as quickly, making the girls in the back jumped. Robin watched as Mary's face morphed from startled, to angry, to upset, little tears welling up in reddening eyes.
"No no no no," Evelyn muttered, bouncing the child on her knee with a pained expression her face. Soon they were parked and Mary was wailing. Batman was quickly getting a headache.
Robin had to stifle a laugh when he saw the look on Alfred's face at hearing the noise and then seeing Evelyn.
"I do hope you don't plan on making a habit of this," the man said, putting on a domino mask before the guest could see his face and sending a look his ward's way.
"I didn't ask him for help," Evelyn muttered, limping as Alfred steered her to where the medical station was.
"And why, may I ask, did you bring her here instead of say, a hospital? I'm sure they are perfectly capable of dealing with bullet wounds, this is Gotham after all."
"She refused to go to a hospital or clinic. This was the only option."
"That isn't really true since you had the option of leaving me be," Evelyn said sourly.
"And what exactly would you have done if we did that?" Batman asked, irritated, "You would have had no way to take the bullets out,-"
"Dude I have fingers,"
"You can't take a bullet out with your bare hands," Robin exclaimed, "The wound will get infected!"
"Yeah well then you push out the puss until it's drained and then steal a bottle of liquor from the passed out drunk guy at the corner of the alley and you disinfect it!" she shot back, "I've dealt with this shit before okay? I have not survived this long to die from fucking gangrene I can take care of myself!"
"Exactly how many times have you been shot, miss?" Alfred asked, sterilizing the tools he was going to need. Evelyn shifted awkwardly.
"I lived in Chicago before this, things happen." She looked down at Mary, and then at Alfred. "Is anyone going to take her from me or do you plan on making my sis a doctor early?"
Robin came over to relieve her of the girl.
"Support her waist!" Evelyn hissed as the boy picked Mary up under the arms. He hastily adjusted himself under her withering glare. Mary patted the side of his face with her hands, fingers rubbing at the edge of his mask curiously and pulling at his cheeks. The sight made Evelyn snort. It wasn't long before Jason could be heard coming down the stairs.
"You should be in bed" Batman stated, sitting at the computer.
"So should you."
The Bat smirked slightly.
"What were you up doing?"
"Reading," Jason replied, eyebrows rising at the sight of Dick holding the baby and rising further when he noticed the girl sitting at the medical table, back facing him. "You brought some people home?"
"I won't be staying long, of that's what's bothering you kid," Evelyn replied as Arthur took the bullet out of her shoulder. The man commented on how most people wouldn't be nearly so awake after two bullets and twenty minutes worth of blood loss. She replied that she wasn't most people. Batman put down 'regeneration' as a possible power in the file he was writing for her.
"What's your name?" Jason asked.
"Evelyn Johnson."
"How old are you?"
"Sixteen."
"Is the kid yours?"
"She's my sister," Evelyn said sternly. "Her name is Mary." The child in question was silently dozing off on Dick's shoulder, drooling slightly.
"How'd you get hurt?"
"I was shot for asking someone too many questions," she said slyly, twisting at the waist and looking over her shoulder him. Jason frowned, looking at her and then looking at Dick.
They had the same eyes.