"Lila!" Squeeled the older girl. Lila often forgot that her sister was 25 and not a teenager. The woman had a steady high paying job and yet she acted like a teenager most of the time.

"Ali! Hi!" Lila hugged her older sister back. It had been a while since they had last seen each other, not since Gran's funeral the year before. In that time, Alison had acquired a job in Gotham. Where… Lila had no clue. Ali never liked to talk about it.

"Look at you. You cut your hair!" Ali twirled the ends of Lila's shoulder length hair, "Last time I saw you it was down to your butt."

Lila shrugged, "It got to be too annoying."

"I know that feel. Ok lets get going. I don't think I put any money in the meter and I kind of don't want my baby to get towed." Alison lifted up her sisters duffel bag and looked around to see if there were any other bags, "this is it?"

"Light packer." Lila replied as they made their way to the parking garage. The rain was beginning to lighten up.

"So a few things you should know about Gotham," Alison said as they drove onto the freeway approaching bumper to bumper traffic, "Rule number 1. Don't go out by yourself at night. Avoid the alleys and small streets and stay in well lit areas. Actually, just don't go out at night at all."

"Why?" Lila skimmed through her sister's well organized cd collection.

"Lets just say Gotham is home to a large amount of crime. And a few psychopaths. Batman can't save everyone, y'know. I don't want my little sis to be that one."

Lila laughed as she looked at her sister. Alison had to be kidding right? Batman was just made up by the media, right? A tall tale. Alison's face sad it all though, she was serious.

"Batman? Really? He's not made up?"

"Hon. Trust me, he is 100 percent real." Alison took a sharp turn off the freeway and into the crowded streets of Gotham.

"How do you know? You've seen him?" Alison nodded as she swerved through the streets.

"Well how about that…" Lila took in the new surroundings. Large old and new skyscrapers loomed high above the streets. Everything looked grey and dingy which was completely unlike Florida. As the drove, Lila noticed several homeless people sitting on the sidewalks using patched up blankets as protection from the rain. People bustled by, all wearing the same dark clothing and carrying umbrellas. They all walked quickly through the city as though something was going to jump out and grab them. Alison parallel parked in front of a tall brick building.

"Well here's home. Not to shabby of a neighborhood but i still don't recommend you running about at night. Or early morning." Alison unbuckled her seatbelt and got out of the car. Lila followed her lead and they got her bags out of the trunk.

"I thought Uncle Bennett would've put you up in… I don't know… a penthouse in downtown Gotham," Lila told her sister as they climbed the stairs up to the third floor of the apartment complex. Alison responded with a snort.

"Please. Old uncle Benny may pay for a first class ticket into Gotham but once you're here, you're on your own," Alison stopped in front of her apartment door, "Plus, he's paying for your school. Which is why I'm stuck here."

"Sorry my education got in the way of your penthouse then…"

Alison chuckled, "Li. Your schooling is way more important than where I live. Plus this little place is home." She unlocked the door revealing a tiny apartment. The living room was pretty sparse, aside from a sleek white couch and a glass coffee table. There was a small bookcase located near the small window. The living room opened up into the Kitchen and dining room, both sparse once again. Alison directed down a small hallway off the living area. Lila's room was right across from the bathroom and the master bedroom was at the end of the hall.

"Ok here's your room. Oh and sweat pea, don't go into my room." Alison added.

"Of course not. Why on earth would I want to do that?" Lila answered sarcastically and dragged her bags into her room. It was, like the rest of the apartment, compact and sparse. There was a twin sized bed pushed up against the wall with a chest of drawers next to it. Underneath the big window, there was a wooden desk.

"Ok well I'll let you get settled in. Oh and I was nice enough to pick up your uniform. Its hanging on your closet door," Alison shut the door as she left.

"Uniform?" Lila muttered and looked at the dark blue and white garments hanging on the hook of her closet door. She felt the heavy material and saw the monogrammed symbol. Gotham Academy. Oh great. Uncle Bennet was sending her to a private ritzy school, wasn't he? Joy. She stuffed left the dark blue skirt and blazer hanging on the hook and lifted her duffle bag onto her bed to unpack. When she was first told that she was going to Gotham, she had thought she was going to live with Uncle Bennett. She had never met him, but she had heard stories that he lived in a fancy penthouse for a few months in Gotham and the rest of the year on his estate in England. But no, she instead was living with her older sister. she didn't mind too much considering it was Alison after all. And Alison had always been fun to hang out with.

Lila pulled out a picture frame from her bag and placed it on her desk next to the lamp. She looked up out the window. She snorted when she realized she had been expecting a nice view of a park or something. But this was Gotham. She instead looked out at the cold metal bars of a fire escape and then the dingy bricks of the next building. Oh and who could forget the lovely dumpster right below her.

"Yo, Lila! I totally forgot I'm having dinner with a coworker tonight. So I'm totally sorry that I'm going to have to abandon you for the night." Alison yelled from behind the door.

"Oh its.. uhm… Its cool, Ali."

"Yeah. My TV set was stolen a couple of months back and I never got around to replacing it, but there are some books and newspapers right over there. And I have some paper and pencils, you liked to draw right?" "Totally." Back when I was six, She thought. First night in Gotham and Ali was ditching her. Typical.

Wait… stolen?

"Your apartment was broken into?!" She yelled, slamming open her bedroom door.

Ali was sitting on the couch reading and laughed, "Yeah I know. Its totally ridiculous. Luckily I wasn't here."

"You're laughing about that? Really? You got ROBBED!" Lila could not believe it. Her sister was leaving her alone… in an apartment that could be a target.

"Lila. Chill out." Her sister pushed her glasses up onto her head and looked at her baby sister, "They rarely rob the same place twice. Besides, this place is pretty empty. You'll be fine tonight, I promise."

Lila huffed and crossed her arms, "I better be. If not, I will kill you."

Alison looked at the clock and jumped up. "shit! I have to get ready. There's some Jimmy dean breakfast sandwiches and leftover chicken in the fridge if you get hungry. I promise to bring you back something delicious from the restaurant." Alison rambled as she glided down the hall to her room and slammed the door.

Lila rolled her eyes, and flopped onto the couch. Whats a 16 year old supposed to do on a Saturday night? She picked up the book her sister had been reading, "Fear and Phobia by Dr. Jonathan Crane. Oh that sounds fun…" She muttered and set the book back down. She scanned the coffee table where various newspaper sat and read the hide lines, "Two Face caught once again by the Batman!…. Hundreds injured in bank heist. Diamond still missing. Suspect claimed to be Catwoman….. Dynamic Duo strikes again!Just who are these masked heroes?… Gotham City Connect blown up in Hostage situation."

Lila couldn't believe some of these headlines. They sounded almost as fake as the tabloids about the Kardashian clan. Boy..oh boy, was Ali not kidding.

"Tadaa! How do I look, boo?" Lila looked up at her older sister, who twirled around. She was wearing a sleek sleeveless red dress and black heels. Her normally poofy blonde hair was straightened and pulled back into a high ponytail and Alison's makeup was done perfectly with smoky grey eyeshadow surrounding her vibrant green eyes. Her lips were bright read and the blush on her cheeks excentuated her high cheekbones.

"Gorgeous as always, Al." Lila smiled, it was true. Her sister had always been the pretty one and Lila was just… Her 5'3 stature was nothing compared to her sister at 5'7, she had boring brown hair compared to her sister's blonde. And instead of the pretty green eyes, hers were hazel. The one thing they shared was the high cheekbones and poofy hair which came from their mother.

"Aw thanks, Lila! Now, I'll be back by midnight… maybe. If anything happens, theres a baseball bat by the door and the knives are in the drawer by the fridge. Call 911 though. Ciao love." Her sister flounced out of the apartment pulling on a black coat.

"Have fun!" Lila called after her and closed the door. She took a few steps into the apartment and then turned back. She then locked both locks and picked up the baseball bat and sat on the couch. Whats a girl to do, now? Lila had already unpacked, there was no TV and her phone was charging.

She sighed listening to the faint sounds of police sirens in the background and scanned the titles in her sister's book shelf. All the books were on psychiatric help and psychology as well as medical texts, nothing fun. Lila pouted at the severe lack of entertaining things in the apartment. she peered out the window. There was still some daylight left, maybe a half hour or so. A short jog around the neighborhood, maybe? Yeah that sounded good.

Lila got up and scrounged around her room to find her sneakers and leggings. She pulled on a sports bra underneath her tshirt and pulled her shoulder length poofy hair up into a ponytail. She unplugged her phone, noticing it was still only on 15 percent and slipped it into her sports bra before setting out. She stopped around halfway down the stairs of the building. Her sister did say not to go out alone… "Pfft. What will she know? I'll be back before she gets here. Plus its a short jog." Lila reassured herself and exited the building, stepping out onto the wet pavement. It had finally stopped raining and the clouds had cleared to let the sun's setting rays through. Lila noticed that there wasn't too many people out and about and shrugged deciding to go left.

Her feet thudded on the wet pavement and she jogged.

"Ok. I swear I turned the right way…" Lila muttered. The sunlight had just about left the sky and Lila had been too busy swept up in her thoughts to realize she had no idea where she was going. Now she was lost.

"Excuse me! Excuse me!" She tried to flag down a woman who hurried away and got inside. It began to drizzle. "Oh fuccck me. This is great. Just great!" Lila was exasperated as she began to walk slowly down the street. Wait..GPS! She did a little fist pump and pulled out her phone. She tapped the maps app, but to no avail she got the lovely warning symbol that said "Sorry! Your phone battery is too low to do that." She groaned. There was no way she was going to call Alison because her sister would be mad. And Alison's fury was scary from what Lila could remember. "Ok, its a red brick building… How hard could it be to …find." Lila's shoulders sagged as she noticed everywhere looked the same. Even worse, the rain began to start again. Lila hugged herself as she began to walk and wished she had worn her jacket. It was now beginning to get dark and the few street lamps illuminated the street as the rain began to grow stronger. Lila slid her phone back into her sports bra, and hoped that the rain wouldn't soak through both her shirt and bra to her phone.

She had lost track of how long she had been out here in the rain and to add to the soaking wet miserable cold, Lila was utterly lost in a huge crime-filled city. Where was her hero on the plane when she needed him? She snorted. It was so typical of her to go out and do this shit. She couldn't have stayed in the nice warm apartment reading psychology books, could she? Alison is going to skin her alive if she doesn't get back soon. She had written the address of her building on a slip of paper inside her phone case, but she couldn't find 42 Sparrow Street anywhere. The sky was pitch black as the rain continued to fall and she shivered.

"ah what the fuck?!" She yelped as she was grabbed violently. She had been too busy mentally abusing herself for this major fuck up to notice the two sleazy guys following her. She swung her arm around to slap the guy holding onto her arm , making sure to scratch his cheek. He let go of her immediatley and she stumbled backwards, only to be pushed into an alley by the other.

"You little bitch." The guy she scratched growled, "You're gonna pay for that."

"Oh thats original. Though little bitch, thats a new one." Lila rolled her eyes as she responded sarcastically, "fuck!" She was slammed up against the wall with the guy's arm pressed up against her throat.

"Lets just get the money, and go, man." His companion was clearly nervous about this getting out of hand.

"Not uh. This little bitch needs to be punished." He smiled sadistically at Lila, who let out a shrill scream. maybe someone will hear her? Doubt it.

She winced and doubled over as the guy cut off her air and punch dyer in the stomach. "Seriously man! Lets go!" His friend panicked, "Assaulting a chick is not something we want on our resume, bro. Lets just take any money she has and go!"

The guy shoved his friend, letting go of Lila for a moment.

"If you wanna go, then leave, pussy! I can handle this myself." Lila took her opportunity to run and she bolted. She was grabbed by the back of her shirt and thrown to the ground hitting her head on the pavement. Mother of pearl, that was gonna hurt in the morning.

She scurried back against the wall, "Look… I'm sure you two gentleman are nice guys and all but.. I don't have any money. I swear? See ? No purse. No pockets. No wallet. Nothing. " Lila gestured to her body.

"Well theres one place women tend to keep personal belongings." The man smirked. Lila was confused for a second until she realized what he meant. She shot up to defend herself but he had shoved her up against the brick once again, scraping her back as his grubby hand slid up her side towards her chest. Oh fuck no. She was not going to be felt up by this ass. She brought her knee up into his stomach and thrashed violently to try to shake him off. He let out a screech as her hand clawed his face again and she slipped out of his grasp and past his friend.

"Don't just stand there! Grab her!"

His friend shook his head and backed away no longer wanting any part of this. Lila tripped over a garbage bag fleeing the ally and that mistake lead to her being dragged back in by the man. She grabbed and empty beer bottle and threw it at him, shutting her eyes. She felt his grip on her slack off and heard a loud thud along with the sound of breaking glass. Had she hit him? She opened her eyes to see a whirl of red green black and yellow kick the guy into a wall knocking him out.

She sat up, seeing this kid in a mask who was probably no older than she kick the two guys' asses.

"Robin." A low gruff voice echoed in the ally, "Thats enough." The kid stopped and Lila felt someone pull her to her feet. In her daze she came face to face with a tall black figure. Her eyes widened and terrified she swatted his hand off her arm and back away, stumbling into the garbage once again. "Shit!" She shrieked, "the fuck is that?!" There he was. The Batman.

"That. Is Batman." The kid responded curtly, crossing his arms.

"Are you alright?" The Batman asked her, looking her over noticing that she was only slightly scraped up.

"Uhm.. yeah. Yeah.. sorry. Holy shit. I'm just.. uhm. A bit dazed? And confused. And what the fuck you're actually real? S..sorry about my language. Ohmygod. You probably hate cursing. Oh shit.. Sorry I can't.." Lila rambled trying to comprehend the situation.

"Shut up." The kid hissed.

"Sorry, mr. Tude. I kind of just had the scare of my life, thank you very much." Lila crossed her arms and huffed in response.

The Bat put his hand on the boy's shoulder to hold him back from doing anything brash, "well since you are alright. We'll be on our way." He pulled out his grappling gun.

"Wait!" Lila called out. They both turned to her and she smiled sheepishly, "Can y'all point me in the right direction? Its my first night here and I kind of got lost. Heres the address…." She held out the small slip of paper. Batman took it and read the address, "Robin. Take her there, please. "

"what?" The boy grumbled, "Do I have to, Batman?" Receiving a harsh look from his father, the boy groaned and walked over to Lila as the Bat disappeared. He took out his grappling gun.

"Well?"

Lila stared at him blankly, "What?"

"Get on my back."

"What?"

He narrowed his eyes at her, "I said get on my back. Its much faster to go my way since you were so stupid to wind up all the way out here"

She hesitantly hopped on his back, hoping her fat ass wouldn't crush the slender kid. But he was a lot stronger than he looked, "So you're just going to run with me on your back back to my place? Makes perfect sense."

"Who said anything about running?" He smirked and shot his grappling up and launched the two of them in the air.

"OH FUCK NO!" Lila shrieked, her relaxed hold on him suddenly turned into a death grip and she buried her head into the hood of his cape as they soared upwards.

*Note: So second chapter of my first story ever and whoah what an original encounter with Batman! Hope y'all like it so far. Hehehe*