"Hi, I'm Pavla," the governor's six-year-old said to Adriana.

Adriana was sitting in the living room of the governor's mansion as he and Commissioner Gordon chatted in the parlor. They had driven nearly two hours to visit the governor and as they chatted Adriana concentrated on searching the minds of his staff. Gordon and the governor were good friends so it wasn't unusual for Gordon to make an unannounced visit.

"Hi, Pavla," Adriana said as she tried to focus. So far, none of the security detail working to protect the governor had been bribed or threatened. They were all there to do their jobs properly and honorably.

"What's your name?" the little girl with straight brown hair and large beautiful round brown eyes asked and leaned on the arm rest of the couch Adriana was sitting on.

"I'm Adriana," Adriana smiled. "I'm a friend of Mr. Gordon's. What's that you have there?"

"A ballerina," the girl said and held up a small doll.

"She's so pretty," Adriana said. "What's her name?"

"Mimi," the girl said and held the doll out for Adriana to take her.

"Oh, hello Mimi," Adriana said as she held the little doll with red curls. "I love your ballerina slippers."

"She says, thank you," Pavla said and touched the dolls foot. "I'm going to dress like Mimi on Halloween."

"You'll look so cute!" Adriana beamed. "Will you have curls too?"

"Yes, my mommy will do it," Pavla sounded excited. "Want to see?"

"See your hair? On Halloween?" Adriana asked and handed the small doll back to Pavla.

"Yes, we will go to a party," Pavla said.

"That's a wonderful idea," Adriana heard the governor's voice coming from the doorway. "You both should go," he said to Gordon who followed him in.

"You're having a party?" Gordon asked.

"There will be a masquerade ball at the Rittenhouse Hotel downtown, on Halloween," the governor explained. "We won't be there long, since it's not a party for children and someone will have school the next morning. I'll just be there to show a little face time."

"I'd love to," Adriana said.

"I'm not sure I can make it, but I will try," Gordon said.

"I'll make sure you're both on the list," the governor replied.

"What's face time?" Pavla asked sweetly.

"It mean's you go to show your face," the governor laughed. "Then leave."

"Can I still go trick or treating?" she asked.

"Yes, your father will take you before we leave for the party," he answered.

"Okay," Pavla said and tugged gently on one of the doll's curls.

"It was lovely having you both," the governor said.

.

.

"You're very swift," Bruce complemented Adriana.

"Thanks," she said, holding the knife he was teaching her to take from him.

"We should practice with a gun too," he said.

He would never introduce such a dangerous and risky move to a student who had only a few lessons, but Bruce was thoroughly impressed with how quickly Adriana was advancing. Her strength would never come close to his but she was able to move just as quickly, if not quicker. The fact that her reflexes and agility were better than his was not something he was ready to admit to her. If she was reading his mind at all right now, she would know. Bruce wondered, if she had trained since youth as he did, would she be able to win in a true fight against him?

"A gun," she said and handed the knife back to him to practice taking it again. "Will you teach me to shoot too?"

"Of course," Bruce said. "I'm not sure when I will have time though."

"That's okay," she said. "I don't think I will ever be in a gun fight."

"You never know," he replied and held the knife and lunged towards her. She had it from him even quicker than she had previously. "Wow."

"This is fun," she smiled.

"It's..astonishing," Bruce said.

"Thanks," she said as he walked away to retrieve an unloaded handgun.

"So," Bruce said, coming back with the gun aimed towards her then stopping in front of her. "Watch closely-"

Before he could instruct her, she had the gun as quickly as she had taken the knives. He stood without speaking for a few moments.

"Sorry, I-"

"No, don't apologize," he said. "Have you learned this before? That technique.."

"Never," she said. "I mean..not me."

"What do you mean?"

"Well...I've seen a lot. Ever since I was a child..I have seen things done. Fighting, disarming. Maybe my brain is doing statistics," she said, thinking out loud.

"Statistics?" Bruce asked.

"Yeah..I think the way I took it from you worked most effectively," she said. "I feel like I have seen it done a million times. I think I've seen everything done a million times."

"Okay," Bruce said, taking in what she was saying.

"It's weird.." she said. "Knowing how to do most things. I have seen almost every type of surgery performed over and over...I can fix most things in my home if they get broken...I'm pretty sure I could fly a plane or helicopter easy..maybe even a fighter jet."

"This is incredible," Bruce said in awe.

"The only think I have never been able to just grasp without having to learn, is languages," she said.

"Do you want to try to fly a plane? Or helicopter?" Bruce asked.

"What?" Adriana laughed. "I couldn't-"

"You just said you probably could," Bruce encouraged her.

"Well I'd have to go to school to be allowed to do that. And get licensed."

"Maybe not," Bruce said. "I have both. Plane and helicopter."

"Wait, you really want to me to do this? No, no, this is terrifying."

"I can fly them both as well. I will be right there the whole time."

"Seriously?" Adriana said, suddenly nervous. "I mean we could try I guess-"

"Let's go!" Bruce said with a huge smile.

.

.

"This is so crazy," Adriana said as she and Bruce sat in his helicopter. "It's so dark."

"Don't be nervous," Bruce said. "I'm here to help."

Bruce watched in astonishment as she did a pre-check and started the helicopter. As he watched her, he noticed her posture and movements reminded him of military pilots. Maybe this is where she had seen the most helicopter action in the minds of others. As the helicopter lifted, Bruce saw that she knew exactly what she was doing and didn't seem at all nervous. They flew over Bruce's personal airfield for a bit before Bruce decided to give her a challenge.

"We should fly over the city," he suggested.

"What?!" she screeched into her headset, never loosing focus on the helicopter's controls. "It's nighttime right now."

"A good pilot can fly a helicopter over a city at night," Bruce smiled.

"Okay, but I'm not even a pilot," she said. "Nevermind a good one."

"You are," he said. "Let's go. I trust you."

"Alright," she sighed. "But if we die it's your fault."

They flew over Gotham for nearly an hour. The city looked calm from above. Bruce looked down as they coasted over the city, where the Joker was. What he was doing and who he was possibly hurting or killing. He had to be plotting something. His thoughts halted when she flew very close to a building, barely missing it.

"Sorry!" she said. "I told you! It's like my hands and feet aren't use to controlling this thing yet."

"You're doing great, just stay a little further from the roofs," Bruce exhaled.

"We have about 40 minutes of fuel left, maybe we should head back?" Adriana said.

Bruce looked at her for a while. She even know how to estimate the amount of time the helicopter could remain in the air simply by looking at the fuel gauge.

"Yes," he said. "Let's go back to the air field."

.

.

"We should try the plane next time," Bruce said as the crossed the stretch of asphalt at the airfield on foot to Bruce's car.

"Higher flight," Adriana said. "Means a worse crash."

"You won't crash," Bruce laughed. "You went a little close to one building tonight but you didn't hit it. You had a perfect take off and landing, the smoothest I've seen."

"I'm afraid to fly the plane," Adriana replied. "I don't know if I want to."

"Okay," Bruce stopped walking and took her arms. "If you really are, we don't have to. But I must admit I am really..astonished and impressed at how well you're doing everything."

"Thanks," she said.

"I was thinking about something earlier," he said.

"What's that?"

"I thought you'd already know."

"I wasn't in your head," she smiled. "I'm respecting everyone's privacy for the most part these days."

"I was thinking," Bruce said. "You're an excellent fighter."

"Oh," she said, "Well you've told me that."

"Yes," Bruce nodded. "It's a bit flustering to admit but I am not sure which one of us would win."

"In a fight?" Adriana said curiously.

"Yup," he replied and held her by the shoulders. "You're better than me in some ways."

"If you say so," she smiled. "Maybe we should put it to the test."

"Put it to the test?" Bruce raised his eyebrows. "And fight each other?"

"Sure," Adriana said half serious. "Why not?"

"Well," Bruce said, admittedly curious about the idea. "Let's do it."

.

.

"So," Bruce said as he wrapped Adriana's knuckles. "I guess we should have some ground rules."

"Okay," Adriana said and yawned.

"Tired?" Bruce asked.

"Mhm," Adriana said and tilted her head as Bruce wrapped her other hand. "Yeah..long day, donating stuff to the charity shop and training with you and almost crashing into that office building downtown, plus I'm on my period...Sorry, to much information."

"Not at all," Bruce said and handed her a mouth guard.

"Ground rules," she said and stretched her arms tiredly above her head. "Like what?"

"We won't be using any weapons right now, to keep it simple," Bruce said. "We're just doing this out of curiosity so no knives or anything needed."

"You know you're going to win," Adriana said lazily. "I just need to show you, I'm not better at you than anything. Even if you think I am."

"I don't mind if you're not," Bruce went on. "Like I said, just curious."

"Okay so what's the rules?" Adriana asked and held up the mouth guard. "You won't knock out my teeth right?"

"No, of course not," Bruce said and took the guard and slid in into her mouth before giving her a soft kiss.

The kiss was welcome but a bit surprising to Adriana. They had kissed very deeply during their first training session but since then Bruce had been very distant and distracted, which was understandable. Their last two sessions, though tiring, went very professionally.

"The rules will be," Bruce said. "You can hit me as hard as you can, I don't mind. I won't hit you, if I see you're unable to block or dodge my throws."

"Waaso," Adriana tried to talk with the mouth guard and then removed it. "Wait so how is this a fight then?"

"Adriana, obviously I won't be hitting you. It that what you thought I would do?"

"No," Adriana laughed. "I guess I just don't get it. I'm tired.."

"Okay then let's get this over with," Bruce said and put her mouth guard back in. "I just want to see what you can do. Things I taught you or otherwise."

"Right," Adriana said, noticing that Bruce did not bother to put in a mouth guard or wrap his hands.

"Let's go," Bruce said, his stance turning defensive.

Adriana nodded and Bruce swung at her rather slowly, and she easily dodged him. He smiled and then swung a few times, each time a bit faster. She dodged and blocked him easily and effectively. He then lunged at her and she felt something strange happen. Her vision shook as if she was looking through a window that was shaking in an earthquake. If seemed like a split second but when her vision stabilized, Bruce was on the floor and she was standing over him. His eyes were shut tight momentarily as he sat up and massaged his neck.

"Wha.." Adriana said. "What just happened."

"Heh," Bruce said and touched his bottom lip with the back of his hand.

"Seriously...I don't get it.." she replied.

"You," he looked up into her eyes. "Are better than me."

"Did I.." she went to ask but then her own memories came flooding back. She remembered everything but it felt like she was watching a movie as she kneed him hard in the face and in the side, hard enough to bring him down to the floor.

"I might need some ice for this," Bruce laughed. "This is actually scary."

"Yeah," Adriana said breathlessly and noticed Bruce was frowning at her.

"Do you have contacts?" he asked. "I didn't notice before."

"What? Oh, my eyes have been changing color a bit.."

"They're dark," Bruce said. "So contacts? Maybe I didn't notice earlier-"

"Huh?" Adriana said and walked over to the floor length mirror in Bruce's training room. Her eyes were so dark, they were almost black. She couldn't even distinguish where her pupils were.