Chapter 1
Rachel
Panting, Rachel ran into an alleyway. She slammed herself against the wall of a dead end and sunk to her knees, ignoring the screaming protests of her side as she curled into a ball. She started to sob, half wanting to believe that what just happened wasn't real, that she'd wake up in her bed to her father leaving for 'work'. But no, now she was free from him. Her breath started to slow and she felt limp and completely exhausted. One part of her thought that sleep sounded good right now, but this was Gotham, no one was safe here, especially not an injured girl in an alleyway on a Friday night. Despite that, the adrenaline was pumping more slowly through her body and soon she could only hear the rain splashing on the floor and her own labored breathing. She blacked out.
When she woke up, she opened her eyes, just slightly, to see where she was. She was still lying to the floor of the alleyway, but there was a figure, casting its shadow over her. She opened her eyes fully and saw the figure was clad in black, red and yellow. He had a finger to his ear and was talking to no one.
"Yeah, I can see blood, she's lost quite a bit but-" he turned when he heard her shifting to a more comfortable sitting position, "Oh, you're awake," he said. Rachel got a good look at him now, his canary yellow and black cape, his black Kevlar gloves and his domino, black and white mask and- holy crap, it was Robin! She groaned and closed her eyes, right hand still tightly clamped to her left side. Robin frowned.
"Hey, can you take your hand away for a second?", he asked gently. She took a shaky breath, opened her eyes and slowly pulled her hand, now slick with crimson blood, away from her side. Robin grimaced. "Ohh, that does not look good," he remarked. He put his hand back to his ear, eyes never leaving her wounded side,
"Yeah, you're gonna have to come here to stabilize her and help me bring her to hospital. Luckily, there's one not too far away…" Fear gripped Rachel's heart as she remembered; her father dead on the hospital bed, the mobster shooting at her, the pain flaring in her stomach. "N-no…" she murmured, "No hospital…please…" Robin frowned again, "Why not?" he asked softly. Rachel pointed to her side weakly before whispering, "It happened there, t-the mob…" The lenses of the boy wonder's mask widened, then narrowed as he put his finger back in his ear, "Hey, can you check out the Gotham Free Hospital near us? She's saying the mob was there and that's how she got hurt.", he waited for a second, then replied to the answer he was given, "You sure?... Ok, we'll wait for you, not like I can drive anyway… Yeah ok, ok, I'll get a better look at it… Ok see you in a sec" He turned to her, smiling slightly, and started to say something before she blacked out into the cool nothingness.