Walking down Gotham streets at 4 a.m. never was Angela's favorite part of the day. One had to be weary of not only muggers, but drunk drivers, and even the occasional notorious criminal or henchmen of notorious criminals. Sure she had taken a few self defense classes, but she hadn't exactly learned enough to classify her hands as weapons. So she kept her hands in her pockets, wrapped around her taser in case there was ever a need to use it.
Her everyday life consisted of pretty much the same thing. She would spend a majority of the day on her laptop, studying and handing in her assignments through email to her online professors and work nights at My Alibi. She couldn't afford to go to an actual university to study, so taking online classes was her only choice if she wanted to become a doctor.
It hadn't always been the career she saw herself pursuing. Before all of this she had been studying at Gotham University to become an engineer, but after her father died the money stopped coming in and she had no one else to help her pay off tuition. They weren't rich by any means, but her father was an orderly at Arkham and that landed them in middle class range, at least. After his death Angela decided that she would pay homage to her father by becoming a medical student.
Things were difficult for her now, even though her classes were much cheaper than they were before. She had to resort to finding an apartment in the Narrows, where crime ran rampant. She was able to afford her first months rent, a few self defense classes, and a fairly modest security system before her inheritance ran out.
It was a bad habit she had, but as Angela walked down the street she allowed her mind to wander. She was thinking of how she was going to be able to afford her water bill this moth and questioned whether she would be able to handle existing another week solely on ramen noodles and toast.
She was a block away from her apartment when she heard scuffling in an abandoned apartment building she was approaching. She kept her nose down and refused to look in the direction of whatever was going on, as was customary in this part of town. She did her best to mind her own business but doing so became difficult when someone was thrown out of a second story window and into the alley she needed to take in order to get home. She stopped dead in her tracks. The shock of what she was seeing was taking her brain a moment to process.
In the cluttered alley, the man that had been thrown through the window made a feeble attempt to get up off the ground. The attempt was stopped short when another figure dropped down into the alley and picked him up. Angela couldn't believe her eyes. The Batman himself was standing right in front of her and was about to bring an end to one of Gotham's rogues, but oddly enough, something didn't seem right.
He threw the man he was holding up against the wall and began beating him with relentless force. The man against the wall was wheezing through the mask he wore over his face. That was when something in Angela snapped to attention. People in Gotham saw Batman as their savior, but what she saw in front of her was a menace. He was a bully that the other bullies were afraid of, and apparently with good reason.
She had no idea what had gotten into her but she ran towards the Batman and started slamming her fists onto his back, "Let him go! Stop it, you're going to kill him!" she knew she was going completely unnoticed when the Bat slammed his fist into the man's rib cage another time. There was a horrifying cracking noise as his fist landed again.
Angela reached into her pocket and dreaded what she was prepared to do next. She waited for an opening and pressed her taser into Batman's side. He wailed in pain before pulling his elbow back and slamming it into her shoulder. Angela yelped as she fell to the floor, but her momentary distraction had given the other man the chance to stick Batman with a needle filled with a golden-yellow substance.
Batman fell and began screaming, a look of horror on his face, giving Angela the chance to run over to the other man and wrap her arm around him as he fell back onto the brick wall of the alleyway. He was Wheezing harder now barely able to breathe as she helped him stumble out onto the next street. Luckily her apartment was right up the street.
"Come on. We can make it. It's not far." She told him as it began to drizzle. He was relying heavily on her in order to move and was on the verge of passing out. Luckily for her he was extremely thin, making it easy to still move quickly despite his injuries.
They were in front of her apartment building now and as soon as they made it into the entryway he collapsed and mumbled what sounded like "Stupid girl," before passing out completely.
Angela huffed and sat on the ground of her complex's entryway. She leaned her cheek against one of the letterboxes embedded into the wall and let the cool metal calm her down as she caught her breath. "Shit. What have I done?" she said, burying her face in her hands. The rain outside had made her hair and face slick and she was desperate to get into her apartment.
She looked in front of her and groaned. What was she going to do with this guy? Could she leave him here out in the hall and hope that he would find his own way to safety? That was doubtful. He was out cold and it was more likely that some sicko in her building would get to him first. Dragging him into the elevator was going to be a bitch.
Angela stood and removed the heels she was still wearing from work, "You better not wake up and go all crazy on me," she mumbled as she hooked her arms under his from behind and lifted him. She was grateful he was so thin because it made dragging him towards the elevator doors a little easier, but he was still heavier than her and it was still more difficult than she cared to admit.
She was finally able to get him in and press the button leading to the fourth floor. She dragged him into her small apartment and disabled her home security before pulling him up onto the couch.
Unfortunately her work didn't end there. She threw her jacket and work vest onto her coat hanger and headed straight into the bathroom to find her medical supply kit.
Before getting started she made sure to discretely, but thoroughly, pat him down to check for any weapons. She found three vials of whatever he had used to stun Batman and a razor blade hidden in one of his sleeves. She hid his things, not wanting to go through any psychological or physical damage once he woke up.
She then removed the burlap mask that covered his face and was slightly surprised at how defined his cheekbones were, though that could have just been a consequence of his malnourishment. She wiped the dirt and sweat from his face with a damp cloth and was sure to be gentle around the bruise that was already forming on his brow. She then cut open the shirt that covered his chest and prepared to clean and bind his wounds.
It was time for her to put all that medical knowledge to good use.
AN: And that's chapter two! I'm sure you can all guess which one of Gotham's rogues Angela has run into.
This chapter is still pretty short but I was just so excited and thankful for all the people who reviewed, followed, and faved. Which, of course, would be appreciated if I got some love for this chapter too. Let me know what you all think of Angela. I want to be sure I'm writing a believable character.
And of course, all other characters besides Angela belong to DC.