Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters in Batman, only the OC's


Chapter Seven

The exhilaration was addicting. It has been a few months after donning the batsuit and the excitement from running over the rooftops could still be felt. Silently scaling the tall buildings, he saw at least three men chasing a lone individual into the alley, gun shots could be heard through the air. Stopping, perched on top of a stairwell, Batman looked down, and could see a woman being chased deeper into the alley below by two of the men. Listening closely with a directional eavesdropping device placed under the right ear of his cowl, he could hear bits of the conversation passed between the men.

"Shit! How hard is it to knock off one chick? The boss is going to be pissed!" One of the men shouted.

Isn't that interesting? A hit? Possibly a mob boss.

It's the chase. Pursue the prey. The hunter becomes the hunted.

Batman jumped down and landed in a crouch. He ran through the narrow alley and came across one the men already unconscious. He continued further down and then spotting the one with the gun. Batman crouched down and slowly crept towards his target while he was distracted scanning the area.

After a moment he sprang forward and grabbed the unsuspecting gunman by the wrist. He then twisted the gunman's wrist until he dropped the gun, smashed his elbow across the gunman's face, and Batman rotated his body, throwing him to the ground. The man let out a painful cry. Grabbing the fallen man by the shirt collar, Batman growled, "Who are you working for?"

"S-Salvatore M-Maroni" he replied as blood trickled down his face. Batman then smashed a fist to his face to make sure he stayed down.

Batman ran farther down as he turned a corner; the sharp end of a glass bottle was swung at his face. Quickly ducking, throwing a forward punch to the attacker's abdomen, following an elbow strike upwards towards the jaw. It was sure to cause the attacker's teeth to rattle. Batman then attacked with a side thrust kick with enough force for it to hurl the man towards a stairway. He saw that the man landed face first. It did not escape his attention that he heard a gasp from under the stairway.

Once again he scaled up the buildings and dropped down into a crouch, his form hidden in the darkness. He could hear the woman's breath quicken and her scurrying around. He made certain that he would cut off her exit.

While he lurked in the shadows, he noticed her scanning the area and she nearly rammed straight into him. Her bloodied face rapt, she gazed upwards with her eyes widening in surprise; she then tried to throw a punch at him which backfired on her. The shaken woman pulled back her hand in pain and started to back away from him. He could tell by the way she started to shift slightly to the left; she was ready to take off. His arm shot up to block her from running. How is she involved?


Still staring at a loss of words, Rene was quite flabbergasted when she realized who appeared in front of her. He looks bigger and more intimidating in person. If he's here, then there must be more danger lurking around the area. I need to get away from here. She quickly noted. Quickly scanning the area for a possible opening, she prepared herself to take off. However, Batman quickly closed the distance, shot out an arm, and backed her into a corner. Clutching her bag and stomach, she could feel herself start to shake from the frustration and exhaustion.

"Why are they after you?" Batman asked in a low, hoarse, gruff voice.

Swallowing, it took a few seconds for her to gather her thoughts. "I don't know…t-to rob me? It's not that unusual in Gotham City," she answered while averting her eyes.

"They work for Salvatore Maroni. Why would he send them to kill you?"

"I-I don't know what you're talking about."

"Did you owe a money debt?" Batman kept pressing.

She simply stared, confused at the strange question. "I may be an unemployed, job seeking engineer, but I would never think to beg for money from criminals," Rene replied sharply before turning away.

"Or were you impregnated by him or by someone in that mob and wanted compensation?" he continued egging her on.

Her head turned and snapped up at him with clear fury in her eyes. She stared in disbelief at the sheer gall of the question. "You have got to be kidding me," speaking more to herself. She looked back up at Batman. "No, it's not. I am not that kind of person," she sneered.

Rene paused to take a deep breath, tried to calm down, and speak civilly. "But thank you for helping me," she said as she tried to push pass him; he did not budge.

"The Gotham City Police Department is two blocks from here." He pointed in a direction and his hard gaze continued watching her face.

Hearing Batman directing her to go to the police department, she practically spluttered at the notion. "Them…there?! Why would I go there? They're on the mob payroll!" She seethed.

"I know. Not everyone. Ask for a Lieutenant James Gordon. He'll help you," he instructed as he stepped aside.

Her brows furrowed. Gordon? That name sounds familiar. She thought, walking pass toward the street.

"You can trust him. He's one of the few good cops around."

"What if there are more of them out there or at the station? They're going to try to ki…" Her voice started cracking at the risk of walking towards hostile grounds.

"They won't."

Rene wanted to say more but, when she turned around Batman already disappeared. She looked up in time to see the dark shape dart across the buildings. She then wobbled along the street, feeling that Batman was most likely watching from the rooftops. When she finally reached the station without encountering anyone, she was exhausted, what once had been her waist; her pregnant belly hung with the weight that felt like a few sacks of potatoes.

The blood from her injuries began to congeal; her face was smeared with blood. More of the life sustaining liquid had dribbled down her throat from her face and had dried and stained the collar of her shirt and coat. Her sleeve was drenched as the red fluid slid down her arm to her fingertips. Wobbling as quickly as her swollen ankles can carry her, she made it to the front desk where the woman was startled at Rene's disheveled, injured appearance.

The woman stood up and walked around the desk towards Rene. "What happened? You need to see a doctor right aw-." Her voice filled with concern. She would have said more but she was interrupted.

"No," Rene forcefully spoke over the woman. Grabbing her wrist, while leaving her red stained handprint on the woman. "I need to see Lieutenant James Gordon."

The woman nodded and started to dial on the phone. "Lieutenant…"


Lieutenant Gordon walked up a flight of stairs and opened the door to his office. Slamming the door shut behind him, he slumped into his chair. Turning on the small lamp on his desk, he pulled a stack of reports from the corner of his desk. He began to write out a report before he called it a night. Though he wondered why he even bother to, he was pretty sure not even half of them will be filed.

"You're going to have a visitor." The familiar horse growl spoke from the dark area in the room, causing him to startle.

Gordon turned around with a puzzled look on his face. "Excuse me?"

"A woman injured, bleeding, roughly around average height, pregnant," Batman continued as he detached himself from the shadows. "There were three thugs set on her."

Before Gordon could ask, the phone rang. Picking up the phone and answering it, the voice on the other end informed him that a woman was asking to see him specifically. "I'll be right down." Hanging up, Gordon turned around to ask Batman what was going on. "Wh-" he started to ask, until he saw that Batman was no longer there. I sometimes forget he does that. He stared at the opened window for a few seconds before leaving to greet the unknown visitor.


Walking down the corridors and towards the front desk, Gordon wondered who was it that needed to see him. As he rounded the corner his eyes widen in astonishment as he took in the appearance of the injured woman in front of him. Before he could open his mouth to speak, Rene spoke first. "Could we speak in private?" She asked quietly.

"Of course, but you need to get medical attention first and I insist," he replied firmly before she could protest.


She was led to a room resembling a small hospital room. It had bars over the window. She kept her eyes on the doctor, glaring at her with suspicion the whole time. The doctor who came in attended to the injuries on her forehead and jaw, which were cleaned and bandaged. After the blood was cleaned it made the large dark blue-purple bruise that marred the side of her face become more visible. She then cleaned the wound on Rene's arm and stitched it up. Afterwards, the doctor performed an obstetric ultrasonography on Rene.

"Your baby will be fine, even though you are a bit undernourished. And congratulations you're having a baby boy," the doctor said, trying to make casual conversation.

Rene simply nodded. "Quite the night you're having, huh? I'm sure you gave the front desk quite the shock when you came in," the doctor continued talking.

"Yeah, it's not often you have your head nearly shot off," she mumbled, too tired to want to think about what happened, and started to doze off.

"Well, I guess I'll let you rest now," the doctor said, got up, and left.

After the doctor left, Rene's eyes fluttered opened and she clutched her bag close to her. She did not want to fall asleep, in case it was the last thing she did. Sitting up and turning her head towards the door, she heard chatter. There were people talking outside the room.

Sitting there she went back to thinking about what had happened and she realized how much she wanted to laugh a little at how the past events were absurdly unfair and harsh. No longer sure how she should feel or react, she forced out a small laugh. What was I thinking? What should I do? I listened to a man dressed as a bat. Going to the last place we should be at. The humorless laugh soon changed into silent sobs. She stroked her stomach wondering what will happen next. Here we are, sitting like ducks. Her thoughts continued on to whether or not if she would be able to handle the outcomes of placing her trust with them.

The doorknob turned, Rene quickly wiped her face. Gordon walked in closing the door and pulling a chair next to the bed. "I remember you now. You were at the hospital that day." Rene said.

"Your friend…Tall, dark, and scary… said to trust you," she said, still not comfortable to talk about it with a cop. "You're not going to make me stay here right?" She asked instead.

Gordon just smiled slightly, unsure what to say. "No, I think it's better to take you someplace else."

"Where? Who is taking me? Some of your trustworthy upholders of the law? Maybe even Officer Baker?" Rene asked, spitting out the name and shaking her head. She did not forget that face. "There's no need for that, I have someplace to go. I have friends here in this city… I'll stay with my friends." Maybe not. Henry and Amber have twin one year olds, Henry's aging parents, and Amber's younger college aged brother all living in their two story townhouse, and I would be intruding. She thought to herself.

He noticed the aggravation in her voice as she mentioned Baker's name. "Mrs. Qiao, you need to tell me everything," Gordon asked straight to the point. "What did your husband do or find? Was there anything to do with mob ties?"

One of her hands gripped the blanket until her knuckles turned white. "Let's just say there was something to be found there, that he thought was odd, and was worth scrutinizing," she replied stiffly. Records of the mob's financial statements, shell companies, operations, list of their clients.

"Then please explain it to me or show me what you have," he kept pressing and gesturing at the bag still clenched in her hand.

She was silent for a moment, trying to gather her thoughts. "No, these are my only life insurance until I know we both will be safe."

"I believe this can be made into a case."

"What's the point? The lawyers and… I'm sure whoever the authority figures are...are all bought and paid for," she said in frustration, remembering the last time it happened, proved to dishearten her.

"Not all of them. I know one, Rachel Dawes she's the assistant District Attorney, you can trust her."

"I'll probably get mowed down by a speeding car along the way…" Rene uttered a 'heh', more to herself and at how silly the idea was, even though it was not funny. "I don't want to talk about it anymore," she replied, sliding herself back into the bed. She turned her head away to face the prison barred window.

"We want to help you, but we won't be able to do much if you cannot trust us. We can give you protection while we find and gather enough evidence to make a legal case. Once we gather enough, we can obtain warrants for some arrests or search warrants." Gordon sighed.

"Protection? Who's going to guarantee that? You and the masked vigilante?" Turning her head and looked with a glassy stare. "Why should you even bother?"

"If it comes down to it….You were attacked and have some emotional trauma." He said and stared in earnest. "Let us help you."

"Please, I'm really tired," she said softly, finally turning her head away.

Removing his glasses and wiping them with his tie, Gordon sighed again. "Alright, if you need anything Officer Merkel and Detective Ramirez are nearby."


A/N: Thanks again for reading!

- Was there enough Batman and Gordon in this chapter?

-I hope Batman and Gordon are in character, so I would appreciate it if you wonderful readers would leave feed back if they are or not. 8D