The gun that had been aimed at her was put down swiftly after she had so eloquently voiced out her surprise.
Sophie did not like the idea of meeting him in her neighbourhood at night. Yet, the initial fear she had felt strangely ceased to a larger extent than she would have anticipated after she realized that the figure in the shadows was him.
She wasn't sure why recognizing him in a dark alley calmed her down, it was definitely not normal to feel relaxed when encountering a murderer in an empty street. But living in Gotham seemed to slowly erase her normality and to replace it with unreasonable recklessness.
The fact that he hadn't harmed her before and even tried to do her a favour the last time they met assured Sophie that he wasn't too likely to kill or harm her unless she gave him a good reason to. At least that was what she chose to believe for her own sanity's sake.
She decided to give in to her curiosity and gave him an ironic smile. "Hi. Am I right to assume that you are walking away from that?", she asked boldly and pointed to the direction of the noise.
When he stepped out of the ally and into the dimly lit street, Sophie could see that he wasn't in the best mood. She quickly turned off her smile and was glad that she hadn't tried to be funny.
Frowningly, he gave her a short nod. Sophie was surprisingly pleased that he wasn't in his usual taunting disposition. He seemed more like a normal person when he looked this pissed.
It was utterly fascinating.
Sophie wasn't sure why he stopped and she immediately started racking her brain for possibilities. Was he expecting her to help? If so, in what way? She felt his intense gaze on her and thought that maybe he was contemplating the same.
Her instinct told her that it would be best to not offer him any help. She didn't want to make a fool of herself and she also didn't want to volunteer for becoming an accomplice to whatever he had done now. So she remained silent.
But she knew, that if he asked her for help, she would not say no. Not that she thought he would accept a 'no'.
When Sophie realized that the idea of helping him did not repulse her, she became more absorbed by her brain and its efforts to figure out why her ethical convictions had gone on holiday, and paid less attention to the man in front of her.
Her face must have taken on a puzzled expression or at least given away her lack of attention, because the bald man suddenly decided that their one-sided conversation was over.
Without another word, he passed her by and walked towards where she had come from, leaving her standing where she was dumbfoundedly. Baffled by his rudeness, she looked after him.
Sophie got the impression that neither her words nor her (lack of) manners had had an effect on him. He probably would have gone as unceremoniously if she hadn't said anything at all.
Giving a silent sigh and a shrug, Sophie took her eyes off the shadows he had stepped back into and started moving herself, not wanting to humiliate herself by gaping after him any longer.
"Don't tell anyone you saw me", he called over his shoulder, not sparing her a second glance.
How could I, she thought, I don't even know your name.
Instead of dignifying him with an answer, Sophie kept on walking. She would pretend that their paths had never crossed.
Author's Note: Thank you so, so much for your lovely feedback! It makes me very happy to hear what you think and I also feel really euphoric whenever I see that someone followed this story or even added it to their favourites. :)
I plan to make some changes on chapter eleven at some point because I am not satisfied with its time leaps, but I won't tamper with it plot-wise.
Oh, and I promise that the next two chapters will be significantly longer.