You guys! I'm SO, SO, SO sorry that it's been so long that I've updated! College has been insanely busy, as I'm taking classes full-time, working part-time, and I have an internship. I'm going to do my best to post a couple more chapters while I'm on break, you guys deserve it!


My body quivered, an exorbitant amount of stress on my mind. Blood still seeped from the crude stab marks on my shoulder. My tears eventually dried, and I found my mind wandering back to Bruce. Was he okay? Did the Joker and Harley Quinn take him, too?

Bruce. The date that was cut off between us had been perfect up until then. Perfection in how he looked, how he had treated me like royalty. He not once treated me inferior. The way he ogled me when I opened my apartment door still made me smile. But my situation was precarious to say the least. I was in the hands of the Joker - Gotham's most heinous and most evil person. If you can even call him a person, that is.

I was rapidly losing blood, losing hope of rescue. Exhaustion claimed me, and I felt my body slump to the floor, darkness swallowing me whole as the door opened once again.


Bruce was feverishly searching for any clues as to Evangeline's location. So much so that he didn't realize that he had spent the previous four hours looking; it's now nearly two in the morning. As soon as he had gotten back to the Manor, he wordlessly disguised himself as the Dark Knight and tore out into the City that he had such a cruel love-hate relationship with.

"Master Wayne, I've pulled and analyzed the feed from the traffic cameras all over Gotham," Alfred's voice pipes in over Batman's in-suit communication technology.

"Find anything?" He gruffly asks.

"Yes, sir, it appears as though our friend was quite sloppy this time. I was able to track the vehicle used to kidnap Miss Price all the way to the abandoned theater just to the east of the old stadium near Newtown."

"Any way to pull feed from the buildings in there?"

"I'm attempting that now, sir."

There was a moment of silence between the two men.

"Master Wayne…" Alfred hesitantly began. "You cannot blame yourself."

Bruce clenched his jaw, momentarily stopping his stride, more of a pace along a rooftop.

"I was right there. I should have grabbed her and held her back."

"You cannot dwell on that, sir. You must save her; and she deserves to know the truth, as well, I might add."

Bruce unconsciously let out a sigh mixed with a pained groan.

"I know. I'm going to, but when the time is right."

It's no secret, Bruce didn't enjoy keeping his double life hidden from Evangeline, but it was necessary; she would be in even more danger if she knew.

"Sir, I've got something. Another vehicle pulled up to the location where Miss Price presumably is about twenty minutes ago."

"Why 'presumably'?"

"I believe that the feed has been corrupted, there was no footage of Miss Price entering the building. Wait…"

Bruce waited with bated breath.

"All of the footage has just been erased. It's all gone."

"I'm on my way there. If video feed comes back online, notify me straight away."

"I shall. Be safe, Master Wayne."


The light bulb above me was still, as though the room had been untouched, unintruded for a while. The thought gave me a small amount of comfort; no one had bothered me since Joker last time.

"Have a nice nap?"

I jump in surprise, leaping to my feet in response.

"Who's there?" I half-shout, trying to look around me, behind the pipe that I'm bound to.

"Relax. I'm a friend of a friend of yours."

"A friend of a friend? That's awful comforting," I quip.

I'm met with a chuckle, sounding much more sinister since I still cannot see who I'm talking to.

"Oh, yes, you see, we have a mutual friend in Batman."

"Batman? What makes you say that? You get caught up in some trouble and run into him or something?"

Suddenly a face appears from the darkness around me, making me jump in shock. I lose my footing and stumble back to the ground, landing hard on my bottom. A man's face glares at me - a slight mustache and goatee and five o'clock shadow evident on his face and piercing dark blue eyes staring at me, searching my features.

I have to break the eye contact, the glare is so furious. But a hand cups itself gently around my cheek, and I am forced to look at him. This time, his gaze is much gentler.

"I'm setting you free. This wasn't part of the plan."

"W-what?" Is all I'm able to stutter as I feel the handcuffs around my wrists shatter, my arms falling freely to my sides in response.

The man suddenly stoops and hoists me off of the ground, holding me close to his chest, and with one quick movement, he pins my arms so I couldn't fight back.

"Let me go!" I scream, more so out of pure adrenaline and fear as it coursed through my veins.

"If you promise not to fight, I'll let you walk freely," he cooly spoke.

I found my head bobbing in agreement and he immediately released his grip, red marks left in their wake. He picks up a slow but long stride, and we set off into a corridor.

"Who are you?"

The man doesn't respond, his stride not once faltering. I examine my options for escape, not trusting the man in front of me. I spot a small window, but it's high up on the wall and nothing is around for me to climb up to it. There's a light coming down from the corridor to my left, and I keep the location in mind. No way in hell am I following this stranger and not having an escape route in my head.

"I wouldn't suggest running," he half-whispers, as if he was reading my thoughts. He turned his head slightly toward me, and no doubt saw the dumbstruck look upon my face.

"Your stride slowed. Your footsteps betray you, Miss Price."

I feel my cheeks redden in embarrassment and my eyes widen.

"H-how… How do you know my name?"

"I know many things, those of which I am not at liberty nor have the desire to share with you," he quips, opening a door at the end of the hallway.

Wow. What a character this guy is. Who does he think he is? I unconsciously scoff aloud.

He grips my arm tightly and pulls me through the open door behind him, quickly pulling it shut again.

Inside, he releases me and lets me walk around the small room on my own; but he doesn't leave. No, he stands in front of the door, blocking my one and only exit.

"I thought you were setting me free?" I angrily ask.

The man chuckles.

"He didn't, uh, specify what 'free' means."

"I…" I feel myself back into a corner of the room as the Joker makes his presence known. He was hiding in the shadows caddy-corner to me.

The sinister grin that will surely haunt me for the rest of my days approaches, something in his hand.

"You see this? This," he tosses it gently in the air in front of me. "This, uh, will lead you to freedom."

He slaps it into my hand and forcefully makes my fingers curl around the device. I feel a button and quickly realize what it is.

"It's a detonator."

The Joker laughs. "Just, uh, take some time to… think about what freedom is for you."

I narrow my eyes. "My freedom is being away from you! What do you want with me anyway?"

"Gotham City has become a cesspit of greed, violence, and death - it cannot be allowed to fester," the blonde man by the door spoke up.

"Here we go…" I hear Joker mutter.

"What do you mean?" I ask, confused.

"How long have you been in Gotham, Miss Price?"

I have to think for a moment. "A few years…?"

"Then you know how the Narrows have fallen into chaos."

"Yes, and Batman stopped it before it could get worse."

"Pssh. Batman," blondie growls and steps away from the door and marches over to me. "I created Batman, taught him everything. He caused the Narrows to collapse, for everything to lie in ruin."

"That can't be true. Batman is -"

"He is not who you think he is, Evangeline."

I have nothing to say to that. Sure, he had saved me a couple of times, but I really didn't know him.

I turn to the Joker, an earlier thought bubbling to the surface.

"Where's Bruce?" I asked, but heard another scoff come from blondie.

"Brucie? Hmm… Harley, what *did* we do with him?"

"We, uh, let 'im go, Mistah J," she replied.

"Oh, yeah. So, don't worry about him, he's fine," he drew out the word 'fine' into a few syllables.

Doubt and concern entered my mind.

"You love him," blondie said more than asked me if I did.

My reply was silent, but it was enough. I felt my face go red, the fact hitting me very obviously and suddenly. I had fallen in love with Bruce Wayne.

I lower my head, trying to conceal my now-whirling mind.

"He's not what Gotham needs."

I snap my head back to attention, clenching my fists.

"Batman *is* what Gotham needs. We just don't deserve him."

Joker laughed in response.

"In case you, uh, haven't noticed," he strides across the room with deliberate footsteps toward me and forcefully grasps my chin. "He's made Gotham worse."

"Gotham is not worse," I growl. "It would still be targeted. Crime doesn't end with city borders."

I see Blondie dip his head in agreement in my peripheral vision.

"This may be true," he begins to cross the room, moving toward me and opening an escape route. "But we had to escalate because he did."

"Well, if it wasn't for him, I'd be dead – and many others, too," I sneer, glaring at the men before me.

"Don't get over excited, lovely," Joker snatches the detonator from my hand.

He holds it out in front of me, continuously licking his lips as his thumb grazes the button on the detonator. The world seems to slow to a crawl as my legs take over and I'm suddenly sprinting with all of my might toward the door. To my escape.

"Ra's!" I hear Joker shout as I leave the room.

I turn my head slightly as I run, seeing Blondie, Ra's I think I heard, running after me. He charges toward me, and I somehow barely dodge him, sprinting further down the corridor. But before I can get too far, an explosion rocks the building, startling me and making me tumble to the ground. As I scramble back to my feet, Ra's pins me flipping me onto my back in this process.

"I thought you were letting me go," I pant.

"Death is your escape, Miss Price."

My eyes widened as I watch Ra's pull out a knife and raises it high above his head.

Goodbye Bruce. I thought, squeezing my eyes shut in fear.

The sudden sound of shattering glass makes me reopen my eyes.

We both look toward the broken window and see the figure at the end of the corridor.

Batman.

I feel Ra's wrench me to my feet, the knife now being pressed forcefully enough against my throat to draw blood.

"And here he is," Ra's purrs.

"Let her go, Ra's," Batman growls.

"Nice to know you remember me."

"Of course I do – you're a murderous bastard."

"Oh," Ra's clicked his tongue. "You don't mean that do you? You wouldn't say that about the man that taught you everything?" he challenged.

"I just did. Let her go."

"I don't think so. Not until you tell her."

Tell me? Tell me what? I feel myself frown slightly, thinking.

I see Batman clench his jaw in response. He's suddenly much closer to us than I remember.

The knife digs deeper into my throat, making me weak in the knees. I begin to tremble violently.

"Tell her! Tell her or she dies – just like Rachel!"

Suddenly, Batman is attacking Blondie, and I stumble away, quickly falling to my knees. I place a hand to my throat and pull it away, my crimson blood staining the skin on my palm. Adrenaline and self-preservation takes over and my body goes on auto-pilot as I get back on my feet and walk, really half-run toward the window that Batman had entered through.

"Go!" Batman commands me, and suddenly I'm encased in strong, Kevlar-wrapped arms securely as we dive out the window. We roll onto the roof of the building.

Flames begin to consume the building, the light casting our shadows on the roof.

Blinding pain sears my body and I groan, feeling blood run down from my still-injured shoulder now, too. I cry out in agony, rolling onto my back.

Dark spots begin to invade my vision, and I know I'm losing blood quickly and probably going into shock.

"Are you okay?" I hear Batman ask me. I turn my head toward him, seeing that he's getting to his feet about a yard away from me.

"Evangeline?"

I say nothing, do nothing in response. I only close my eyes for a moment, and when I reopen them, Batman is suddenly right above my head peering down at me.

Those eyes…

I narrow my eyes slightly, trying to remember where I may have seen those eyes before.

I know those eyes.