(A/N I've taken some liberties with Carrie. She has like 3 versions so I just decided to do what I want with her. I hope everyone enjoys!)
Carrie was messing with her straw while the two waited for their food to be done. Lance had his helmet off, a black domino mask covering his identity. Carrie scrunched up her nose when she'd first seen it, and was still looking at him funny every so often. Eventually, Lance flicked her forehead. She rubbed the spot he hit.
"You have a second mask." She says, pointing at the domino. Lance smiles.
"Yeah, so I can take my helmet off to eat every so often." Carrie's eyes widened.
"Does that mean you live in the suit!?" She asks, concern in her voice. Lance bites back a laugh.
"No, I take it off when I go to sleep or shower." He says, and Carrie nods her head slowly.
"That's good. I don't think you could get clean or fall asleep with that on." She says, and Lance can't stop from chuckling.
"I did almost fall asleep the other day in this thing though." He says, and Carrie gasps.
"Really!? How!?" Lance opens his mouth, but closes it as he notices a server bringing the food to the table. The young man, gratefully, only took a second glance at the Arkham Knight before fucking off back to work. He supposed he was still pretty intimidating even without the helmet. Especially with the J scar on his cheek... At least Carrie ignored it.
The redhead's eyes lit up at the food, before she started to dig in. She wasn't eating that fast though, so Lance let her be. He picked up his sole burger and took small bites as he watched her devour her food.
"So, what brings a kid like you over here to the Bowery?" He asks, trying to sound nonchalant and kind. It either works, or Carrie really hasn't been out on the streets that long, because she opens up easily enough.
"My parents died a while back." She says, slowing down her eating, but not necessarily showing signs of sadness.
"I'm sorry." He says, and Carrie just shrugs.
"... I miss them." She says softly, and shit, this is bad. Lance thinks for a moment before he flicks her head again.
"You were saying?" He says, amused when she pouted at him, and rubbed her head before sitting up straighter. Good, that was one crisis averted.
"Anyways! I was over here because I was trying to find a new hideout! The Blake Blades took over mine and told me to get lost." Now she looks downtrodden, and Lance mentally pushes the Black Blades up by one notch. At the very least, they didn't hurt Carrie, nor forced her into the gang. Still, they did throw a child out of her only safe place. Lance didn't need to ask why she wasn't in the foster system. Either she ran away before she got put into a bad home or she ran away after. He didn't need to open up anymore wounds.
Instead, he lets her eat in silence now. He finishes up his burger and throws the wrapper in a nearby trashcan, before turning back to Carrie.
"So Carrie, have you managed to find a place to stay yet?" He asks, and Carrie frowns.
"No, I got sidetracked." She says, sounding out the syllables. Lance smiles again.
"Ah, I see. How old are you Carrie?" She matches his smile with her own, even brighter than his.
"I'm gonna be ten in four months!" She says excitedly, and then her eyes widened.
"Oh! Wait, I know where I can stay! Down by the pond!" Lance tilts his head.
"The pond?" He asks, unsure of where she's talking about. She nods her head rapidly.
"Yeah the pond! I went there a few times when I first left Ms. Fury's house! I made a few friends there and everything!" She says, and then laughs softly. Probably remembering something. Lance just shakes his head. At least he knows when she 'escaped' the system.
"What friends did you make?" He asks, and Carrie holds up two fingers.
"Two ducks! Quacky Chan and Duck Norris!" Lance unvolantarly snorts at that, and Carrie pouts.
"You better not make fun of their names!" She says, and Lance quickly nods.
"Of course. I'd never do that." He says, before taking a breath to calm himself down.
"So where is this pond anyway?" He asks, and Carrie immediately sinks into herself.
"Oh... I can't use it anyway. It's in Robinson Park." Ah... Ivy's territory. Ivy may have chilled down a bit on the murder in the last few years, but kid or not, she's probably not going to let anyone in there without a major fight. And since she's been behaving - for lack of a better term - Lance doesn't want to get on her bad side. He takes another look at Carrie, looking all sad, and in a dirty hoodie that's two sizes to big on her.
For a moment he wonders if he's feeling what Bruce felt when he saw Jason for the first time. Lance sighs, and then quickly looks around. No one else is in this BatBurger this late at night. He turns back to Carrie.
"Carrie, if I take you somewhere safe, you promise to never tell anyone about it?" He asks. He shouldn't do this. He really shouldn't, but... Carrie's eyes widen slightly as she looks up at him.
"Are we going to the Batcave?" She asks in a loud whisper. Lance smiles, shaking his head.
"Nope. We're going to MY Batcave."
(...)
As Carrie followed the Arkham Knight (she really hoped she was thinking his name right) through the sewers, she became less and less agitated. Yeah, he wasn't Batman, but he was just like him! He was very, very nice and had even fed her a whole bunch! Stranger danger was a thing - and she'd learned that since she was five thank you very much - but she trusted him. Besides, she was fast! If this did turn out to be something bad, she could definitely outrun someone wearing that heavy metal costume!
They made a quick turn to the left when they both stopped. Right next to a wall was a bag of some sort. It was definitely out of place in this stinky cess... Cesspool? (Again, she hoped she was right).
The Arkham Knight was definitely interested in it though. He grabbed the bag, and then placed his hand on the wall. After a second, the wall slides up! Carrie's eyes go wide. That was so cool! The Arkham Knight turns back towards her.
"Remember Carrie, no one can know about this ok?" She slowly nodded. She'd never tell a soul. She was good at secrets! She never told anyone when Trent had put that fake spider in Becky's backpack in third grade.
The two walked down the darkened tunnel, but thankfully it didn't smell anywhere near as bad. They walked for maybe ten more minutes before he walked over to another wall and put his hand on it. It too, slid right up, and Carrie was shocked.
Inside, it was a large, LARGE room. There was a huge tunnel at the opposite side, the Batmobile and three bikes parked right next to it. In the middle of the room was a large table with a lot of computery stuff on top of it. On the left side of the room, near the back was a bunch of glass cases with the suits of the other - well, former now - heroes of Gotham! There was also a few random tables here and there with different stuff on it, as well as a bunch of lockers. And finally, on the right side of the room, there was a white door. The Arkham Knight pointed towards it.
"Past there is the showers. There's a few, you can use whichever one you want." He says, before he suddenly turns to face her.
"You can... Take care of yourself in there right?" At first, Carrie tilted her head, confused. But then she realized what he was asking. She huffs, and puts her hands on her hips.
"I am almost ten years old! I can take a shower by myself." She says, putting on the meanest looking face she can think off. The man raised his hands, and chuckles.
"Ok, ok. Just checking. Throw your dirty clothes in the hamper in there and I can wash them later." Carrie shook her head.
"If the washer and dryer is in there, I can do my own clothes!" She says proudly. The man crosses his arms.
"Well, alright. But if you don't know how to work it, lemme know ok? I'll have something for you to wear when you come out." Carrie nodded, glad that he was at least sensible enough to understand that she was a big girl and could take care of herself. She took the biggest steps she could take (and totally not to make her shoes light up), feeling like a grown up as she walked over to the door and went inside.
(...)
Shit. Shit. Fucking shit, what the FUCK was he supposed to do!? He didn't have any clothes that fit her! Ok, deep breaths. He can probably find some old shirt of his in one of the lockers around here. Then she can at least wear that to bed - OH HOLY FUCKING SHIT, THERE'S NO BED IN HERE! He resisted the urge to scream. He's not a child. He is a grown ass adult and he can fix this. He can think of something...
Wait... Does he have an extra toothbrush? He rushes over to the locker with his personal belongings in it and starts digging around like a mad - a perfectly sane individual. And, as a perfectly sane individual, it is completely normal to scream profanities at full volume when one cannot find what they are looking for.
He closed the locker with more force than necessary and then sighed heavily. What the hell was he doing? This place wasn't fit for anyone to live in, let alone a child to stay in. Lance took a deep breath. Ok. First things first. She can use one of his shirts as a night shirt. Second things second, he knows for a fact there is a second sleeping bag around here.
And in terms of brushing her teeth, it may be unhygienic, but she can use his and tomorrow he'll buy her one for herself. Wherever she ends up in a day or two, at least she'll have her own toothbrush and the clothes on her back. Lance walks over to the next closest locker and opens it up. He finds the other sleeping bag easily enough, and right underneath it, he finds a large cup of spare toothbrushes, still wrapped up.
Oh yeah... He grabbed a bunch from the Manor before Knightfall. In fact, there's a lot of things in this locker from the Manor, including old clothes of his from when he was Robin. (Why did he grab these? Was he feeling sentimental?)
He grabs a pair of shorts and a shirt he thinks will at least somewhat fit Carrie, and lays them out on the table. He then grabs one of the toothbrushes and sets it on top of the clothes, folding them neatly and walking into the showers.
Now the shower room was neatly divide into three sections. As soon as you enter the room, you're next to a few sinks. To the left down a small hallway was the showers and to the right was a washer and a dryer. He can hear both the washer going and the shower running. He sits the clothes and toothbrush down on the sink, making sure the toothpaste is nearby and then stalks over to the washing machine. A quick check shows that yeah... She had set it just fine. Satisfied that she did it right, and also slightly worried that she knew exactly how to do so at a young age, he quickly walks back out of the showers before she can finish.
He then walks right over to his computer and searches up Carrie Kelley. Yes, he should definitely check the information that Draper dropped off (and he would check the cameras around here if he'd managed to find any working ones within a four block radius) but right now he had a kid that he was responsible for (for a day or two) and he needed to make sure she was safe.
Carrie Mckenzie Kelley. Born almost ten years ago on October 2nd, she was raised by her parents Dave Kelley and Lilian Kelley, a low-mid class family living in the Narrows. They were a seemingly normal family until the two died seven months ago in - Lance pauses. He briefly wonders what kind of diety is playing a prank on him.
They died when a gas line exploded. Carrie was at school. Lance's parents died when a gas line exploded. He was also at school. Lance almost wanted to laugh. The fucking chance of that... There was some fucked up god meddling in his life wasn't there?
"Fuck you asshole." He says softly. If there is something there, he hopes it can hear him. He goes to back to the computer and sees that she went into one Elizabeth Fury's home around a month after her parents died. The woman hadn't ever fostered a child before. Which isn't necessarily a red flag in and of itself. Lots of people had to have gone through their first foster after all. No, what IS a red flag is that Carrie is still listed as being there. Even though from the way Carrie has talked, she hasn't been there in a long time.
Lance immediately sent an anonymous tip to the CPS. He didn't know if it would do anything, but at least they could hopefully get a strike against the lady if not ban her from fostering completely. Right around this time, Carrie peaks her head out the door.
"Um, Mr. Knight sir?" She asks. He turns to face her.
"Just Knight is fine Carrie. What do you need?" He asks calmly. She walks out of the showers, looking both clean and surprisingly able to fit decently well into his old clothes. She's holding the toothbrush carefully.
"I can use this?" She asks, and Lance nods. For a moment, he wonders why she'd be so nervous. If Fury... No. Not gonna go there. He's just going to keep an eye on the woman and make sure she doesn't foster any kids. He nods.
"Yeah kiddo, you can use it. In fact, you can have it." The way her eyes light up over a simple thing is... It's heartbreaking.
"Really!? Thank you so much Mr. Knight!" Lance sighs, though he does smile.
"Just Knight." He says, and then thinks for a moment.
"I guess you could call me AK. You know, because of Arkham Knight?" He says questioningly, though he's not sure if he likes the -
"AK? Sure! That sounds awesome!"
He loves the name. AK. Has a nice ring to it. Carrie rushes back into the showers, presumably to brush her teeth. Lance takes the time to rummage through the bag that Draper left. He finds much less information than last time, yet it's still far more than he suspected he'd get, especially since it hasn't even been a full week yet! He finds a note, just like last time.
Dear Arkham Knight. I'm grateful to be of assistance, you are very welcome for what I provided you with previously. I'm very surprised you asked me something that I've already been working on for a while now. The police have definitely been in bad shape since Jim Gordon was murdered. I've estimated that roughly fifty seven percent of the police in the city are dirty in some way, shape or form. I've collected solid evidence on fifty nine officers and have more in the works currently. I will contact you again soon.
-Alvin Draper.
Lance is getting the feeling that this guy is... Powerful. Like Court powerful. Maybe he really should try to figure out who this mystery man is. But if he scares him off, he'll be left without a solid plan for the cops. And what he's gotten so far is absolutely great. Fifty nine cops? Last he checked there was close to five hundred in the city. That was around ten percent of the supposed fifty seven percent. A nice start to cleaning up the precincts.
Carrie excitedly bursts through the shower doors right as Lance was getting ready to look through the crimes the police have done. Oh, yeah, he's babysitting. How did he fucking forget!? This is fine. He can do everything later tomorrow. Lance turns to face his charge and smiles at her.
"Hey Carrie, you feeling good now that you're clean?" The redhead nods vigorously.
"I'm so glad to be able to have a nice shower! The sinks in the public bathrooms are gross." She says, as she scrunches up her nose. Lance whistles.
"I bet. Are you tired or do you want to stay up a bit longer?" He asks. Carrie bounces on her feet.
"Tired? Not one bit! I can stay up forever!" The young girl proclaims happily.
(...)
Thirty minutes later, the little girl is snoring softly, wrapped up in one of the sleeping bags. Lance sighs, looking at her. He has absolutely no clue where he can take the girl. He's got no contacts of his own, and any of Slade's contacts aren't suited (and most aren't capable) of raising a child. Lance bites down on his lip. He can't ask any of his employees either. While he trusts all of them to be both good workers and good people, most of them are trying to make ends meet. They can't afford another mouth to feed.
And some of them are trying to come up on the straight and narrow. There's always a chance they could fall back down again. He doesn't want Carrie around that. Lance finds himself yawning. Shit he's tired. It's been a long day and a stressful night. He can figure it out after a few hours of sleep. He grabs his sleeping bag, and after sheding all his armor off, besides his domino mask, slips into it.
He's dead to the world in less than ten minutes.
(...)
A poking sensation wakes Lance up. It takes every bit of willpower to not immediately attack, his subconscious aware that it's only Carrie. He opens his eyes and sees her, dressed back in her clothes from yesterday. She waves at him.
"Mr. AK? Can I have breakfest?" She asks, an innocent smile on her face. Lance frowns. Was it really morning already? Upon frowning, Carrie herself seemed to darken.
"Oh, if it's too much trouble-" Lance quickly stands up, being careful to not knock her over.
"I don't have anything here to cook with, but we can grab breakfest to go?" He offers. Carrie immediately brightens again.
"Sure! Can we get a breakfest burrito?" Lance smiles, and nods softly.
"Yeah, we sure can kiddo." He says, and then suits back up. Yeah, it's daytime, but he can't go out with only a domino mask on.
(...)
While the two eat their breakfest, they walk down the streets of Gotham. He gets a few looks from people surprised to see a vigilante in the daylight, but that's about all he gets. Lance looks over at Carrie. She was ecstatic when she first got the burrito, but as she's been eating, she looks a bit more... Down. Eventually, they pass by a bench, and Lance taps Carrie's shoulder.
"Hey, wanna sit a bit?" He asks. There's not really any view they're getting, but maybe she can at least take a load off and tell him what's wrong. She nods, though it's very small. He gulps. He hopes he didn't do something to upset her. The two sit down and watch the cars go by. Lance finishes his burrito and then sets his helmet down by his side.
"You ok Carrie?" He asks, and the girl clutches at her hoodie.
"I... I know you said I could stay the night, and then you'd try to find me someplace to stay, right?" She asks, and Lance nods.
"Yeah, I need to find you a good home." He says. Carrie looks up at him.
"Can I... Can I stay with you?" She asks, her voice so low that it breaks his heart to tell her no.
"Carrie... I'd love to take you in, but I have no room. Not to mention I don't have the time." He says, and he can see the tears forming in her eyes.
"Carrie I think you're absolutely amazing, but you need someone better than me to take care of you." He says, and then Carrie lunges at him, she does her best to wrap her arms around him and holds tightly as she cries.
"B-but what if I-I want you to take care of me?" She asks as she sobs on his armor. Lance can't... He can't take this. He holds her back. Fuck... She's known him less than twelve hours and already imprinted herself on him. Just like a duck or a... Or a bird.
Fucking hell, he can't take her in. He can't. He opens his mouth to say it.
"Ok... Ok. You can stay with me." He says, and Carrie looks up at him, with puffy, red eyes.
"You... You mean it?" She asks, though her voice is a little off because of her crying. Lance smiles.
"Yeah... Yeah."
(...)
Two hours later, he goes on a shopping spree with Carrie. They get hoodies and shirts and shorts and all sorts of things a young girl needs. He also grabs her a few toys that she wants, because there is no way in hell he can tell her no.
Eight hours after that, a furnished apartment was rented in the Diamond District under Jack Bracket's name. It had three rooms, two baths and a nice view of the neighborhood, even though it was only five floors above the ground. He managed to get a little bit more money from Luthor to pay for it. Hopefully the billionaire wouldn't notice. Still, if he needs money, it may be best to grab a few hundred every so often from Luicius. That much won't break Wayne Enterprise, nor will it tip off anyone looking for large amounts stolen.
He'd rather be able to afford this on his own, but for now until the club got more popular, this would be what he had to do. He and Carrie move in right at sunset. She explores the smallish apartment building before claiming the biggest room as hers. They put up her clothes and toys and Lance lays down the ground rules. Bed at ten and no going outside without him.
Simple rules. Hopefully she follows them. Carrie nods happily.
"I promise I'll never leave without you AK!" She says, looking up at his bare face. Lance sighs.
"What about bedtime?" He asks. Carrie giggles.
"Oh yeah, that too!" She says, and he gets the feeling that bedtime is going to be rough. Carrie rushes forward and hugs him tightly.
"Thank you for wanting me." She says, in a voice so low Lance almost doesn't hear it. He holds back a sob.
"I'll always want you Carrie." He says. Maybe she wasn't the only one who imprinted on somebody. The hug breaks, and she smiles.
"So what now AK?" She asks, happiness exuding from her. Lance ruffles her hair.
"My name is Lance. Lance Bruner." Carrie's eyes go wide, and then she makes a locking motion around her mouth. Lance just shakes his head.
"How about we watch a movie real quick?" He asks. Carrie nods rapidly as she runs into the living room. Lance takes a deep breath.
...
How the fuck was he going to raise a kid?
(...)
Rose is shooting targets at the range when her phone rings. She knows who it is. Only one person has the privilege of having a ringtone about birds on her phone. She sets her gun down and picks up the cellphone.
"Yeah Asshole?" She asks nicely.
"So like, you were a little girl right?" Lance questions. Rose blinks.
"... What?"
"Like you didn't form from the deepest pits of hell a pissed off teen. You were young once?" He asks, and Rose chokes on her own spit.
"Why the fuck are you asking this?" She settles on saying. Asshole sighs.
"So like... Around twenty hours ago I met this little girl and she had no place to go. I fed her, she slept in the Asylum and then she really didn't want me to find her another place to live and I - fuck I pulled a Bruce Rosie." Asshole rants. Rose is silent for only a moment, before she bursts out laughing.
"Rosie? This isn't funny, how the fuck do you raise a child!?"
She laughs even harder.