A wailing screech rent the air causing Elizabeth to double over clutching her ears. Around the corner zoomed two cars one a dark red whose occupants were shooting at the car—no—Bat-mobile behind them. Something shot from underneath the Bat-mobile and hit one of the other car's tires, causing it to spin out of control. Elizabeth ducked into the alley way to avoid being hit by the car. There was a deafening crunch and wheel bounced past the alley. She peeked around a corner and saw the red car's hood wrapped around a lamp post. The door shook and burst open.

Elizabeth saw the leg of a suit pants step out and then the other leg: one black and the other white. She swore under her breath, couldn't she go one day without running into a Rogue. Two-Face stood and began firing at the Batmobile which drove past Two-Face and around the corner to avoid the fire. When the crusader's car was out of sight Dent turned and bolted down Elizabeth's alley. She shrunk against the wall hoping he wouldn't see her. He did.

"Come here," he growled grabbing her arm and pointing a small revolver against her temple. He began dragging her backwards as the Batman came into sight.

"Stop," Two-Face yelled, "or I'll blow her head off!"

"Don't do it Harvey!"

"Then I suggest letting me go," he took a few steps back careful to move as little as possible. Batman went to take a step forward but Two-Face cocked the gun. Elizabeth could feel her heart racing, blood pumping through her veins. Everything was coming into sharper focus, the sound of Two-Face's heart, his ragged breathing, the smell of sun powder, gasoline, and sweat. As her surroundings became clearer Elizabeth's thoughts became muddier.

Batman saw Elizabeth fall still, it wasn't the forced stiffness she had earlier she looked almost relaxed. Two-Face looked down at his captive. Her head was tipped forward slightly and her body was shaking but not with fear. He released her and pushed her away as a dark laughter seeped from her lips. Batman approached her cautiously as Two-Face backed up even further.

"Miss Howard?" He reached out cautiously.

"Don't." She growled. Elizabeth hunched over hugging herself trying to control herself. A true growl ripped from her lips and Two-Face ran. Batman watched him run cursing himself for not being able to catch Two-Face but Elizabeth was more important now. Elizabeth's shaking had stopped but she was now rocking back and forth slightly her nails digging into her arms. Her head began twitching to the side. She growled again sank her teeth into her arm.

"Miss Howard!" Elizabeth took several depth breaths then released her arms. Blood swelled to the surface and trickled down her arm. She stared at it for a moment then looked up at Batman.

"I think I'm okay." Batman was taken aback by her sudden shift.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah…you should probably go after Two-Face."

"He's long gone, let's bandage that up." Batman pressed a button on his utility belt and soon the Batmobile had pulled up in the street. He retrieved a medical kit from inside and bandaged her arm.

"What are you doing in the Narrows?" Batman asked knotting the gauze harder than need be.

"Well I was going to visit a friend from college but now I'm wishing that I had waited."

"Visiting a friend?"

"Yeah, not all my friends abandoned me after the Wayne incident."

"I'm sure they didn't, but I hear you made some new ones too."

"Well I wouldn't call the guys at work friends, more so people I have to tolerate."

"I wasn't talking about them. The day you were released you received a call from Arkham from Nygma and Crane was seen around your apartment building yesterday."

"What!?" Elizabeth forced her face to go pale, "w-well that doesn't mean I'm friends with him, he's a Rogue after all."

"You were pretty amiable with the Rogues in Arkham."

"I was just trying to survive that place better to make friendly with them than having them see me as fresh-meat to be played with." Batman grunted and hopped into his car.

"Keep out of trouble."

"Wait!" Elizabeth called as the covering began to slide shut. It stopped and Batman stared up at her.

"Have you found out anything about Cuvier?"

"No." The cover snapped shut and he drove off. Elizabeth sighed, she went to pick up her bag, that she dropped when Two-Face had grabbed her, but dropped it again as her arm throbbed. She hadn't felt any pain before because of the adrenaline and now that it was wearing off she'd have to pop a few painkillers so she could work. Grabbing the bag with her other arm she set off and had just made it to her destination when police sirens began wailing in the distance.

Elizabeth spent the next four hours working in Jonathan's warehouse. Though someone was watching her she continued her work. The feeling she got didn't feel judging as if it was Batman; it felt malicious, terrifying, in fact, so she assumed it was Jonathan.

"You can come out I know you're there." She said when she had finished with the prototype. There was a rustling and Jonathan stood up from his hiding place behind some crates.

"I thought I was being quiet." He said brushing some dust off his pants.

"You were, for a normal person, but wolf genes have their advantage."

"Ah, naturally."

"Come here and try this on, see how it feels." Elizabeth held out the wrist device for Jonathan to put on. "Careful I didn't grind all the edges down." Jonathan grunted showing he understood. Elizabeth continued to clean up the area making sure no stray pieces of metal were lying around. The sound of Jonathan movements stopped, Elizabeth looked at him. His eyes were alight as he stared at the device on his arm. A grin spread across his face as he slowly moved his arm around admiring it from different angles. He slowly reached for his pocket and withdrew a small canister. Elizabeth paled as he popped it in place.

"So does it fit?" She asked nervously. Jonathan triggered the device causing a small stream of fear gas to spurt into the air and Elizabeth readied herself to run.

"Jonathan!?" A familiar voice called out from the warehouse door. Jonathan blinked coming back to himself.

"Back here," he called slipping on his suit jacket so the device was hidden, "I have a surprise for you."

"Oh? You do spoil me sometimes."

"No!" Elizabeth hissed so only Jonathan could hear, "I'm not here." She could hear the clink of a cane getting closer and she ducked around a box and hid. A green hatted head poked around the corner. Jonathan opened his arms wide.

"Well?"

"Well?"

"What do you think?"

"I'm terribly sorry Jonathan I don't think of you that way."

"No you idiot, my arms."

"…you got a new wrist device," Edward said realizing what his least annoying comrade was talking about, "but I thought you didn't have time to make one. Who did?"

"Someone just desperate enough."

"Really? Interesting…a quandary for you, Jonathan. What is mysterious, silver in colour and isn't home right now?"

"You were at her apartment?"

"Yep, I found that journal you were talking about and boy was it a good read." Behind the boxes Elizabeth was having a hard time controlling herself. She wanted to step out and beat Edward a pulp but she knew that it was a very bad idea.

"What do you really want?" Jonathan asked taking off the wrist device and setting on the table.

"Well, I was wondering…where I might find some of this," Edward handed him a piece of paper, "as owner of Crane Chemicals I thought you might have some ideas."

"This is a pretty unstable chemical and won't come cheap, what do you want it for?"

"Just call it an investment."

"…okay. I can get this for you, how much do you want?"

"A gallon or so should do."

"Easy enough, I'll have it for you in two weeks."

"Thank you Jonathan, I believe I shall take my leave now…oh! Did you hear? Two-Face was nearly caught by Batman just a few blocks from here. If his hostage hadn't distracted Bats he would have been. I heard she nearly attacked both of them she was so scared; she was like an animal. Toodles!" Elizabeth didn't come out until she could no longer hear Edward footsteps. When she did Jonathan was looking at her in a combination of fury and interest.

"You knew Batman was around and yet you still came here!?" He growled.

"Yes, he had no interest in following me I assure you. Though I'd be more careful next time, someone saw you around my apartment and I don't know if he bought my ignorance act." Jonathan scowled.

"The device fits fine, don't change anything. Get me a finished one as soon as you can." He turned and walked off in somewhat of a huff. Elizabeth shoved the device into her purse and left.

It wasn't until later that Jonathan realized the significance of what Edward had told him. If Elizabeth had been that scared that she nearly attacked Two-Face and Batman then she in a psychotic break like the one he had had caused or near one at least. But then she was here perfectly fine and working for hours with any sign of insanity. 'She can control it…' Now that was interesting. If Elizabeth was able to control her outbursts so that she came back by herself then she should be able have more control in them; and if she could do that then…

Jonathan smiled wickedly. Opportunities abounded with Elizabeth. Now if only he could figure out how to use them.

The constant noise of the airport was giving Elizabeth a splitting headache, she had taken some pain reliever but it hadn't taken effect yet. Her sister's flight was delayed by an hour so Elizabeth had sat in customs pick up working on possible designs for Jonathan's dispersal devices. A new wave of people came through a few speaking Dutch. This was her sister's flight. Elizabeth stood looking around for her little sister. After a minute she spotted her, her sister's straight blonde hair, a direct contrast to her old wavy brown.

"Victoria!" She called waving. Victoria waved back wearily her ten hour flight couldn't have been good for her. There was no luggage to pick up; Victoria couldn't risk her mother seeing her leave she simply packed all the clothes she needed in a large beach bag that acted as her carry-on. She hugged her sister.

"Come on I rented a taxi to take me to my apartment. You can sleep on the ride."

"Thanks," she said with a heavy sigh. Elizabeth led her to the cab; the cabbie smiled at them and began chatting away. Victoria was so tired that she ignored the prattle and fell asleep within a few minutes. Elizabeth conversed with the man half-heartedly her mind keeping wandering to her sister. Why did she want to come to Gotham? She had plenty of friends she could have stayed with if she wanted to escape from their father. She could have gone to their cabin up North in Montana. But Gotham? They may have been sisters but they never had the best relationship. What could make her sister come to her for an escape? Elizabeth shrugged her questions off all would be revealed in time.

Due to a traffic jam they didn't arrive at Elizabeth's apartment for a half hour. Victoria woke with a start when Elizabeth nudged her.

"Are you sure this is the right place?" She asked while Elizabeth paid the driver his outrageous fee.

"'Ought to be, I think I know my own apartment building." Elizabeth pulled her sister to the front door. "I know it's not what you're used to but it's livable." She let them inside and dragged her up to her floor. "Now if you hear any gun shots from outside don't call the police, there's nothing they can do, inside you might as well try. Don't walk around after dark, if you're outside at night know where you are going and go straight there as fast as you can. Understand?" Victoria nodded. They finally reached Elizabeth's apartment. Elizabeth tore a flyer for pizza off the door and let them inside.

"You can sleep in my bedroom tonight but other than that I'm going to have to make you sleep on the couch. Okay?"

"Yeah…umm…Elizabeth?"

"Yes?"

"I need to tell you the reason I wanted to come here."

Elizabeth smiled gently, "Okay but why don't you have a seat and I'll get us some drinks." Victoria nodded.

"Do you have any Soder-Cola?"
Elizabeth raised an eyebrow at her. "Really? You know I'm a Coca-Cola fan."

"Sorry. I forgot."

"It's okay, do you want me to run down stairs and get one?"

"No, no I'll just have water then." Elizabeth sat down and handed Victoria a bottle of water and opened a can of Coke for herself.

"So, what's wrong? You're not acting nearly as bratty and demanding as you usually do. Something is actually wrong with you. What happened?" Victoria took a gulped of her water and looked around the room.

"Well when I was in Italy, I met this…guy—"

"You're pregnant!" Elizabeth exclaimed jumping to conclusions.

"No! Well maybe…I don't know but he's not up to Dad's standards."

"So he's not military?"

"No…and he's not a Lutheran and he's…he's…"

"It's okay, you don't need to tell me, I get it. Dad's an ass. Why do you think I have come home for the past few years?"

"Dad's not that bad, it was just you." Elizabeth rolled her eyes.

"Whatever, so this guy what's his name?"

Victoria's eyes lit up. "Antonio," she said dreamily, "he's so sweet and kind, his family owns a few businesses and well, he lives here in Gotham."

"Oh so that's the reason and here I was thinking you were finally turning to your big sister for help…does he know you're here?" Victoria took another long sip of water. "He doesn't, does he?"

"No…I wanted to surprise him, he had to leave suddenly and said he'd call me. He did and he said he couldn't come back to Europe for a while. That there was trouble at home." It sounded fishy to Elizabeth. People from Gotham weren't to be trusted in affairs of the heart the corruption in Gotham was too great for anything pure like love, romance barely scrapped by on the dregs of lust and loss.

"How long did you know Antonio?"

"About a month and a half, I know it's not long but Elizabeth, he's so nice, I hope you can meet him."

"As do I," Elizabeth looked at the pizza flyer from her door, it looked like a pretty good deal and Jeffery's was just down the street. "Hey, it's lunch time, why don't we go out?"