Hey look, a new chapter! Finally! And I finished it on my birthday, so it was kinda my gift from me to me. This one has a little more action.


Darkness had fallen faster than Kim had expected and caught her walking alone down a street she wasn't familiar with. She had been in Gotham a little over a week, but didn't really know her way around. The park she had gone to was only a few blocks from her grandfather's house, but after an hour of walking she had gotten all turned around and lost. She thought about calling her grandfather, but had left her phone in her room.

"Smart one, Kimmy." She said out loud to herself. The street she was on was deserted and old, rundown buildings lined the sidewalk. The windows were smashed and the doors were boarded up. Charming. Kim thought to herself.

She wasn't aware of the shadow that was trailing her on top of the buildings.

Coming to a cross road, she stopped, took a deep breath, and turned in a slow circle. Looking between her three roads of choice, she wrinkled her nose. "Considering this walk didn't go as planned, I guess when nothing goes right you gotta go left." She shook her head and started to walk down the street to her left.

"Talking to yourself isn't a good idea."

She turned and looked around for the owner of the voice. A large figure was coming out of the shadows towards her. She knit her eyebrows together and watched as the figure came closer.

The man stepped into the street light and grinned at her. He had a dark mop of hair and a goatee with dark eyes. He didn't look like the neighborhood welcome committee. "What's a pretty thing like you doing down a road like this?"

She didn't say anything, just watched the man as he walked in a slow circle around her.

"Didn't anyone warn you not to go down a dark street at night in Gotham? Girl like you could get hurt." The man stepped towards her and touched her shoulder.

Kim grabbed his hand and twisted around with it, causing the man's arm to twist behind his back. He cried out as she shoved him forward. He let out a string of swear words and reached into his pocket. It the dim streetlight, Kim could make out a thin blade in his hand.

He lunged at her with the blade, but she ducked and he fell forward beside her. As she stepped to the side, she jabbed out with her right hand and delivered a blow to the man's side. He hit the ground and grabbed his side.

"You little. ." He lunged forward and swung at her. She tried to sidestep him again, but he had figured out her move and slung his arm wide. The blade dug into her arm and sliced her sleeve open. Kim cried out and grabbed her shoulder. A thin trail of blood crawled through her fingers.

The man grinned and circled around her again. Kim glared at him while keeping an eye on his blade hand. As the man stepped to his right, he slightly stepped outside the circle of light the lamp gave out. As he did, a hand reached out and tugged him roughly backwards. The man was caught off guard and fell backwards, the blade sliding out of his hand and off the sidewalk. A shadow fell across the man and in seconds he was out. The zipping of handcuffs rung out twice as the man was handcuffed to a metal pole that had once been a bike rack.

Kim watched as the shadow stood up to its full height and turn towards her, confirming his identity. "The famous Nightwing, I presume. Unless there is another blue and black vigilante in Gotham, but at this point I wouldn't really put it past some people in Gotham."

The man smiled down at her, making his domino wrinkle under his eyes. "I'm the one and only." He stepped towards her and peered at her arm. "Are you okay?"

Kim glanced at her shoulder. The blood was running out faster now. She hadn't realized how bad the knife had got her. "I'll be okay. Thanks."

Nightwing pulled something out of his pocket and came to stand beside her. He pressed a square cotton pad to her arm and sighed. "What are you doing on this side of town this time of night?"

Kim frowned at how familiar he sounded. Not just his voice, but how he acted like her knew her closely. "I got lost going home."

He nodded and checked her shoulder. "You'll need to get that check out as soon as possible, but it'll be fine." He turned back the way Kim had come and she fell into step beside her. Kim almost laughed at her situation. She was walking down the side of the street with a very well-known superhero like she had known him forever. Only in Gotham.

Nightwing was walking easily beside her. His arms swung gently and he shortened his stride so she didn't have to run to keep up. "So, new in Gotham. What do you think so far?"

"Well, there was a murder on the first day I got here and I just got attacked. So far it's reputation precedes it." She shrugged. "How did you know I was new in town?" She peered at him.

He grinned lazily. He seemed to be ill at ease. "You Commissioner Gordon's granddaughter. I work close with the police and especially Gordon."

She nodded. "Did you know my mom?"

The question seemed to throw him slightly. His smile fell and he gave her a thoughtful look. "Yes, I did know her. A long time ago." He fell silent after that. They walked for a few minutes with only the sounds of distant car horns reaching them from somewhere far off. "You look a lot like your mother. I'm sorry about what happened to her. And your father." Nightwing finally said.

Kim nodded. "Yeah, me too." Kim bit back the pain that shot through her heart. "I was little though. Didn't really know her."

"Well, I can promise you she was a great person." He smiled softly.

"What about you?" Kim asked, swallowing her pain and trying to change the subject. "Are you close to your parents?"

Nightwing didn't answer right away. "I didn't exactly grow up in what you would call a normal family, but I was close to my dad. And my brothers."

Kim snorted. "Normal is just a setting on the washing machine." She gave him a sideways look. "Is that why you run around fighting crime at night?"

He laughed. "In a way, yes."

They fell silent again as they passed the park Kim had come through. She glanced at the closed gates as they walked by.

They continued down the street. Kim looked up. Where she had grown up, the stars shined by the thousands every night, but in Gotham you could barely see any for all the lights.

"Where did you learn to fight like that?" Nightwing asked. He stopped as a red light turned green and waited for the small traffic to pass before continuing across the street. No one seemed to pay much attention to the superhero and girl.

Kim shrugged, then winced as her arm ached from the cut. It must have been deeper than she thought. "My grandfather that I grew up with was a Marine and made sure I knew how to take care of myself. I've been boxing since I was six." She sighed heavily. "But I can't find my way home from a park."

He gave her a sympathetic smile. "You're new in town and Gotham is a pretty rough place. Don't let it bother you too much." They were now on Gordon's street. The houses were all older, but neat and orderly. Most of the residents had turned in for the night and only a few dim glowing windows helped the streetlights illuminate the sidewalk. They stopped in front of Gordon's house and Nightwing turned to check her arm.

"That's a pretty deep cut." He noted. "But I think it has stopped bleeding for now. Let the Commissioner patch it up for you and it should be fine." He flashed her a familiar smile.

She gave him a half grin. "Thanks, even though I probably would have been fine on my own." She added.

Nightwing laughed. "There is no doubt in my mind."

The door to the house opened and a large silhouette blocked the glow from the light. "Kimberly?" James called.

When Kim looked back to thank the hero, he had disappeared into the night.

The building was almost fifty years old. It was an old factory that made something the man couldn't remember and really didn't care to know. The factory now served as the base for him and the crew.

His boots echoed against the concrete walls as he slashed through the small puddles that had gathered from the leaky pipes. Most of the lights were blown, so the hallway was dimly lit, but he was following the sound of voices. He could hear the boss and a woman's voice echoing off the walls.

As he approached the light, he faltered. He wasn't a fearful man by any means. Growing up on the streets he had seen some pretty bad things. But his boss, was another matter altogether.

"The man of the hour." The clown cackled. His thin, tight face was painted with pale white paint, with bright red lips that curled up in a smile; all under a pile of bright green hair that stood up in random directions. His appearance would have been comical, if it wasn't for his eyes that had a crazed appearance and shown with menace. That, paired with the bloody, rusted crow bar that was in his right hand, made the clown look like a nightmare brought to life.

Beside him stood a female clown. She was wearing a red and black suit, similar to the purple and green one the Joker wore. Her blond hair was pulled into high pigtails and her make-up was pale with black lipstick. She wasn't as intimidating as the man, but still carried a crazy air around her with her high pitched giggles and broken smile.

"A little birdy told me that you were taken out by another little birdy." The Joker chimed. His grin was broad as he swung himself down from his perch of a beam and came strolling towards the man.

"Had a little run in on a backstreet. Nothing too bad. Joey came and got me before the cops showed." He tried to defend himself.

The Joker smile fell to a frown. "A little run in, huh?" His hand collided with the back of the man's head. "With the senator dead we have to be careful with everything. We can't have anyone snooping around in our business."

The man rubbed the back of his head. "Well, the red headed Gordon didn't look like she would put up a fight. I didn't know Nightwing would be shadowing her."

The Joker was swinging his crowbar around with his twisted glee while the man spoke, but stopped mid-swing. "The red headed Gordon?" He hissed. "I took her out years ago. It couldn't have been her."

The man shrugged. "It was that new kid of Gordon's. Whichever one he brought in."

The Joker's eyes flashed with rage. "How dare she not stay dead! I will not have her putting her nose into our plans again!" He bellowed. "Harley!" He snapped.

The woman, who had been twirling her one of her pigtails, snapped to attention and hurried over to wrap her arm around his. "Yes, puddin'?"

He turned, slung the crowbar over his shoulder, and they started to stroll out. "We've got a little problem to straighten out again. And this time I'll make sure she stays dead."


Dun dun dun. . .

I've never written the Joker before, or Nightwing, so if the characters seem a little off and you can think of a way to fix this please let me know. I will try to fix this is future chapters. Also, I haven't decided if I want the other Robins and Batman to be in this one. I'd like to add them in, but the whole age thing is going to be a little off and if I add Batman it leaves the question, who exactly is Batman? Bruce would be pretty old by the then.

Oh well, we'll burn that bridge when we get to it. Hope y'all liked this chapter.

-horseygeek :)