I had to sneak out the back before anyone noticed.

A few nurses and doctors were on their smoke break as I walked past them nonchalantly. None of them seemed to care who I was or where I was going. It was too cold.

Shivering, I walked briskly across the street to a local pharmacy. There I bought some scissors and hair dye. Luckily the scrubs I had stolen had a ten dollar bill and some change crumbled in the back pocket.

Here we go again with the hair dye.

Carrying my bag of purchased goods, I knew I had to get away from any CCTV cameras. Eventually the hospital would find the unconscious, half-decent nurse on the floor of my private hospital room and begin their search. Nightwing and the police wouldn't be far behind. My only shot was the Narrows.

Gotham seemed like a big city, but everything was fairly close together, and I had just enough money left for a bus ticket to get to where I was going. I'd run back to my old apt to grab what was left of my wardrobe and figure out what to do next.

Stepping onto the bus, I got a few looks as I was far from properly dressed for this weather. Sitting down in an empty set of seats near the back of the bus, I glanced at my reflection in the window. Wind blown hair, gaunt and paler than usual… I could have looked better.

After a few stops,a man came to sit down next to me.

"Mind if I sit here?" he asked. I shook my head. He was an older black gentleman carrying a briefcase and a cane. I hoped to god he wouldn't try and spark a conversation.

"Lose your coat?"

Here we go.

"I forgot it at the office, I had an emergency at home…"

"Oh I'm sorry… I didn't mean to pry…" he said, staring down at his briefcase. He looked genuinely empathic. There was a time that I would have felt the same way.

The rest of the bus ride was silent. Finally, the man stood up to leave a few stops before mine. He hesitated at first, but then took off a scarf that was wrapped around him.

"Here, take this. My wife told me to get a new one anyways. You need it more than I do."

I was speechless.

Handing me the scarf, I couldn't protest. It was freezing.

"Thank you-" I said softly. I felt a tinge of sadness in my voice.

He nodded and walked towards the front of the bus, stepping off to pay the driver and walk towards wherever he called home.

I gulped down an urge to cry. Why did this sudden act of kindness break my heart? I really hadn't had time since Halloween... To take it all in. Everything that had happened since then.

When my stop came, I ran out as soon as I had paid the driver. Running into my old apartment with little care as to who was inside, I slammed the front door behind me and slid down against it. I let myself cry uncontrollably.

I did my best to clean myself up in the bathroom. My side hurt terribly, but luckily none of the stitches had come undone. There wasn't any hot water nor heat in the building, so I cut and dyed my hair in the cold.

Finally rinsing what was left of it in the sink, I looked through the mirror at the woman staring back at me. My beautiful hair was gone. The black pixie cut made my already pale face look ghostly. I had changed so much over just a few months... I realized that I barely recognized the face staring back at me.

Rummaging through my old room, i searched for any remaining makeup. From now on, I really had to blend - look semi decent. I also had to leave this apartment… as soon as possible.

The adrenaline I felt at the hospital had worn off after my long cry, and I was feeling somewhat human again.

Applying some old lipstick and eyeliner, I reached under my bed to retrieve the clothes I'd originally ran away in. I had purposefully left them behind, hoping to never look at them again. However, as luck had it, I hadn't thrown them away.

Pulling out the fitted black dress and fur coat I had stuffed underneath my bed, the memories of the night I fled the mob came flooding back…

. . . . . . .

I was staring out the window of a black Cadillac, waiting to hear back from the lead men on the job Marconi had assigned us. Another routine house call. We were idling outside a ritzy set of apartment buildings in the historic district of Gotham. It was mid-August and the leaves on the trees had hit their maturity. It wasn't sweltering today like it had been for the earlier half of the week, and I was grateful for it.

I was still a new recruit to the new mob boss. I had to earn my wings, so to speak, at ground zero.

Using me, an attractive twenty something year old to lure men out of their hiding places was what I was best at - at least for them. Whoever owed the mob money was as good as dead. So there I sat, waiting in the passenger side seat for the signal.

The job was with a few guys I barely knew, one older Italian gentleman in the driver's seat and two younger rookies in the back. They would take down the target.

I hated this kind of work, but if I was to slip my way in again, I needed to play by their rules.

"Lookin good as always, Luce," said a man from the radio. He was one of the men from the night Skylar and Derek had set me up. A sleeze ball… and of course one of my dad's favorite men. It meant they could see us. It meant we were in position and ready to move in.

I looked at the Italian man in the driver's seat who gave me a nod.

"Let's make this quick, we'll be right behind yah" he said in a raspy, italian-american accent. I nodded back and swiftly opened the car door.

The dress and coat I was wearing were a gift from the man waiting for me behind these set of doors. Tonight I would be the arm candy of a wealthy, foreign stocktrader who had swindled a fair amount of money from the mob through the black market. From what I knew, he was blissfully unaware of the events that were to follow tonight .

Walking up the cobblestone steps, I adjusted the shoulder strap of my purse and repinned a strand of my long brown hair that had fallen out of my updo. Then I buzzed in. A receptionist with a Chinese accent picked up the phone.

"Residence of Mr. Hu"

"Hello, I'm Michelle Clark - I'm here to see-"

"Yes just one moment Ms. Clark" she said curtly, as if she was expecting me.

After a few seconds, I heard the doors unlock. A large, muscular man greeted me at the door. I knew the drill. I handed him my purse and coat for inspection and he patted me down gently for any weapons. The asian bodyguards, I had noticed, were always very respectful of their clients' women.

After he was satisfied, he nodded and led me into a grand waiting room. Marble floors, rococo decor and beautiful pieces of china that must have been centuries old.

"Wait here, Ms. Clahrk" the man said in broken English. I bowed my head in thanks.

Sitting down in a handcrafted, wooden chair by the door, I stared down in silence. Another routine, another rouge.

However, not long after settling into my seat, I heard the pitter patter of little feet scuffling in from a far door that had been left ajar. From behind the doorway, one pigtail followed by a set of two, curious glimmering almond eyes peeked into the hallway at me. Eventually the form of a tiny little girl, probably no more than three, walked curiously over.

I was caught off guard. She was so joyful and full of life. Giggling, she went straight for my fur jacket.

"xiǎo māo" she said in a squeaky voice, petting my black fur coat like a cat.

I couldn't help but lose myself for a moment in her innocence.

"Bùshì xiǎo māo, shì pí dàyī" I said back, smiling, in my broken Mandarin.

"Liling, Nǐ zài nǎlǐ?" A voice came from the open door. Out walked my date. For a 30 something year old businessman, Yìchén Hu was quite attractive. I had met him once before at an auction. My "chance" encounter with him obviously made a good impression, because here I was.

"Liling!" he said in an English accent, "please come and finish your dinner". It was a firm, but kind, request.

"Bàba! Hǎo de!" She ran over to him, hugging his leg briefly and disappearing back behind the door.

"I apologize," Hu said to me, gleaming at my outfit. "My daughter is always very curious."

I shook my head and smiled, "No apologies necessary. I was very much the same when I was her age."

He smiled and held out his hand. I obliged, lending him my gloved hand. He kissed it gently.

"You look very beautiful this evening, Ms. Clark."

"Michelle… please. And thank you Mr. Hu."

"Yichen" He corrected, smiling.

I felt sorry for him. He was going to leave such a beautiful girl behind. It tugged on vulnerable heartstrings inside me.

As he put a summer coat on over his expensive tuxedo, we headed back down the steps and into one of his private cars waiting for us outside. Tonight we were to go to an Opera together. An Opera he wasn't meant to return from.

On the ride there we made small talk. He was gentlemanly and charming, not something you usually see amongst the wealthy in Gotham. I wondered why he stole from the mob- why get your hands dirty and endanger your family? I kept thinking back to his daughter. How her life would never be the same again.

My far away look gave me away.

"Is there anything bothering you?"

He was so genuine. I was trying my best to stay in character… I needed to stay focused.

I shook my head and smiled.

The plan was simple. As soon as we were settled into our balcony seats, I would distract his bodyguards long enough for one of our men to take a clean shot at Mr. Hu from the rafters. Hopefully, by then I would escape during the confusion. Hopefully.

As we entered the Opera House and up the stairs, my anxiety about his daughter only got worse. I needed to find a moment to collect myself before the show began. My guilt was growing heavier and heavier by the moment. So much so that I was stifling my breaths.

My mother… what would my mother think about this?

"I'm going to use the ladies room before the show" I said softly, meeting his eyes again and feeling that ping in my heart.

He nodded and offered a bodyguard. I graciously declined and told him I would meet him at our seats.

As soon as he and his men were out of sight, I walked into a side hallway and exhaled.

This was going to be harder than I thought. Did I even want to go through with this? Something was holding me back. Was it my mother in the spirit world? I keep taking deep breaths.

Maybe it was because of my mother that I had stepped into that particular hallway, because I noticed the two rookies from my carride entering a side door to the opera house just around the corner. They were in mid conversation as I slipped behind a niche housing one of the romanesque sculptures lining the hallway. They'd be wondering why I wasn't with Mr. Hu - I couldn't risk any suspicion.

"...I don't get why both of them have to go," said one to the other as they walked through the hallway.

"Bosses orders" said the other one curtly. The other one sighed as they turned a corner.

"Too bad… She's a cutie too."

My heart sank...

They were killing two birds with one stone.

I wasn't there to do the job…

I was the job.

I could only assume one of my father's men must have ratted to Marconi about my gift. In the eyes of many, I was truly better off dead than a liability. The insight my mother had was always rumored to be gifted to me- but I had hid the gift well. Or so I thought. It must have been that sleaze on the radio. That two-faced snake.

So then. It was now or never. I had to run.

As soon as I knew they were long gone, I walked briskly down the hallway towards the main entrance. Towards the front doors.

Curing midstep, I stopped, suddenly remembered Liling's smiling face as she hugged her father. I couldn't abandon them.

'This was it' I thought to myself, 'then I was gone.'

As I made my way to our seats on the balcony, my heart was pounding. I hoped I had enough time to warn Mr. Hu and get the hell out of there.

His two body guards at the door saw me coming and patted me down again, finally letting me back in.

"Ah, Michelle. I was beginning to wonder where-"

"We don't have much time" I began quickly. His temperament changed just as quickly as mine had as his eyes narrowed in on me. "The mob has sent men here to kill you. They know about the money you've swindled and they want payback. In blood. You need to leave."

Hu's eyes widened and then eyed me curiously.

"You work for them"

"Worked. I'm done. Take care of your beautiful daughter. I don't want her to lose her parent like I lost mine-"

He leaned in and kissed me. I wasn't sure how to react except to let him. He was so passionate.. Maybe in another lifetime it would have worked out, somehow.

"Yichen-"

"I should have my men kill you, but for your kindness I will spare your life. Tell me where the snipers are and I will escort you out-"

Suddenly shots began firing from the balcony across from us and. I ducked as his two bodyguards were instantly at our side, one pulling us from the balcony and into the hallway. Screaming erupted around the opera house as his other bodyguard pulled out a pistol, shooting back at the two rookies.

As soon as we were in the hallway, I realized Yichen's shoulder had been hit.

"You need to leave out the main entrance. They'll know by now something went wrong" I said, as we ran towards the main staircase. "Lose yourselves in the crowd. They won't shoot civilians" I said.

"You're not coming?" he grunted, holding his shoulder.

I shook my head.

"You weren't the only one they were planning to kill tonight. I need to disappear… I'm sorry I lied to you."

He smiled and handed me something from inside his jacket. A gun.

"Goodluck Michelle, I hope we can meet again someday- under better circumstances. I'm not sorry we met. This has been an adventure."

I smiled and nodded in thanks, taking the gun. With that I ran. Without looking back.

. . . . . . .

Holding the dress and coat in my hands, I thought back to Liling and Yichen. I hope they were both safe. Somewhere, somehow.

As for me, I was picking up where I last left off. In hiding and on the run once again.

But this time, with vengeance.

I was no longer afraid of the mob. I was no longer afraid of the police... Of Nightwing... of the Joker. I hid because I had to finish what I had started long ago. I had to carry out what I had yearned to do since the night my mother left me, for the last time, in my bedroom.

No matter what it took, I was going to kill my father.