School that day was a pain. The little bat she saved was sick and girls were screeching with joy over the upcoming dance. After school wasn't much better.

Citrus ran as fast as she could from the monsters who were chasing her. It wasn't some sort of dream sequence. She was really running from some of the worst monsters imaginable, girls dreaming of the perfect dance, infatuated with fashion. They were on her trail like a pack of wolves, trying to get her into the perfect outfit for the upcoming masquerade dress funded by teen heartthrob Bruce Wayne. If the girls were like this now, just wait for prom.

Citrus ran around a corner to hide and catch her breath. She really didn't have time for this, she had to prove that Jonathan Crane assaulted her and whoever his other victim was. That and she had a homework assignment from Music to make up for her absence.

At first, she had thought whoever assaulted her was dressed as a ninja, but he wasn't. In fact, last night she fought alongside the stupid ninja against some gangsters. One would think that if she was able to handle gangsters, than Citrus would be able to handle teenage girls. Nope, they were a whole different story.

"You know they're gonna catch you eventually."

Citrus almost screamed and looked at the direction the male voice was coming from. It was the devil himself, Bruce Wayne. Why was he smiling so brightly at her? It was creepy.

"Uh, sorry about yesterday. You know, for screaming at you?" Citrus apologized while backing away.

He raised his eyebrows, " That's what you're sorry about? Not that you almost gave me a heart attack for the glare?"

She tried to sound brave, " You almost gave me a heart attack just now! How'd you sneak up on me?"

"I'm just that good."

Citrus rolled her eyes, "What do you want?"

Wayne tipped his head to the side a little, "Weird, sometimes you act like a timid mouse and other times you're completely fearless. I wonder why that is."

Citrus wrinkled her nose, "Are you talking to yourself? 'Cause we already have a enough psychopaths in the school."

He frowned, " How come you're so hostile towards me and not others? What did I do?"

She felt guilty all of a sudden. After all, he didn't do anything wrong. "It's not really you. It's just..."

"Found you!" Babs sang.

Citrus tried to make another getaway, but found she was surrounded. Oh terrific.

"Good luck," Wayne chuckled.

Citrus wanted to choke him at that point. Jerk.

...

After being hassled into more than a dozen dresses and outfits, the girls finally asked what her favorite colors were.

Citrus flushed, "If I told you, you'd laugh."

"What? Is it orange or pink? Ya know, like citrus fruits?" Harley laughed.

"No. Fine, it's black and gray."

The girls stared up at her.

Citrus waved her arms above her head, "What?! I'm not Goth or anything. Black and grey just happen to go with everything. Don't you dare laugh."

"Black and grey? Don't you want something a little more flashy? It is a dance after all," Ivy asked.

Citrus shook her head, "I hate expensive or flashy. That kind of stuff is either irritating or too stuffy."

Selina walked into the back and brought out a silver, sleeveless bow and ruffle Victorian dress. Citrus had to admit it was beautiful and somewhat simple compared to the other outfits. She was pushed into the dressing room to change.

The dress was snug, showed a little cleavage, and was a little tight, but it was better than a lot of outfits that girls wore these days. Citrus looked at herself in the mirror before putting the mask on. It wasn't her. That person in the mirror was a total stranger. The girl looked like everything Citrus wasn't. She seemed beautiful, graceful, and something that Citrus loathed. How could she complain though? The girls put this much effort into finding a dress for her and she had acted like a total jerk.

She bought the dress to the girls' delight. What else could she do?

"Hey Lemons, ya got a date?" Harley asked.

"No, she won't accept any dating advice or anything like that. She wants to go stag," Babs claimed.

"Wouldn't it be doe?" Ivy asked.

"No. It really should be, but I guess that it's a term no one can change," Selina said.

After buying the dress, the girls decided to grab some pie from a restaurant chain called Bibo's Diners. It originated from Metropolis and was spreading quickly. Good thing too, the pies were amazing.

Citrus ordered an Oreo pie to which her friends inquired.

"What? I love Oreos," she vindicated. Love? No, she went crazy over them. Nobody gets between her and the Oreos.

"Hey Grapefruit, how come you don't feel the magic of dances? Ya know, the beauty, the dancin', the food, and all that good stuff?" Harley asked.

Citrus sipped her soda before answering. Dang she had to stop taking in so much junk food, she was already ten pounds overweight. "I don't believe in what I can't see, and that includes magic. I don't see beauty in dances, I see death trps waiting to happen."

"Don't ya believe in air? 'Cause yer head seems to be full of it," Harley retaliated.

Citrus chose to change the subject to avoid a fight. She decided to ask questions to see if she could find anything about Crane or that idiot ninja.

"Hey, does anybody in the school have a friend or family member that's died? Of a violent nature?"

Now that she reflected on her question, it had sounded really stupid. This was Gotham, of course there would be people like that. And why was she worried about that idiot?

"There's whole lot of people like that. Bruce Wayne, Helena Bertinelli, Andrea Beaumont..."

"Wait, Wayne lost somebody?" Citrus asked.

"Yeah, his parents. They were shot and killed in Crime Alley by a mugger. Bruce witnessed the whole thing when he was eight years old," Ivy explained.

So, Wayne knew that kind of pain? And here she thought he was a spoiled rich boy. Across the street, Wayne got into a limo with an elderly butler. Through the window, she saw his face lower. A shadow was on it, but she could still see an expression full of anger, frustration, and confusion.

" But he's gotten past all that. He must have those memories repressed or something," Harley exclaimed.

Somehow, Citrus doubted that. The first time she saw Wayne, he had some sort of darkness in him. She was willing to bet it was still there even though he tried to hide it. She better change the subject before the girls go all goo goo over him.

...

Citrus chose not to tell the girls about her suspicions of Crane. They wouldn't have been able to or want to help with their fantasizing over the dance. She didn't want to ruin their moment. When prom came, all of hell would break lose. For now, she had to solve the current situation at hand.

All day Citrus tried to find something on Crane and had no luck. She watched him through air ducts, from the school roof, and almost the bathrooms. She tried to avoid the bathrooms once she realized where he was headed. How did detectives do this? No matter what she did, Crane was either gone or doing something normal for any other student. Maybe she was wrong about him like she was Wayne? Better throw in the towel for now. It was dance night and the girls would have fun while boys moaned. Citrus felt like joining the guys in their excessive whining.

Once again, she didn't know that stranger in the mirror. At least the girls didn't make her wear makeup or any other girly stuff. Citrus clutched her skirt, ready to tear it when somebody knocked.

"Hey Lemons? It's Harvey. Ivy's sitting in the car with the others and she wanted me to get you."

Citrus sighed and opened the door. Harvey stood there in a outfit that looked Roman. He had two fake beards and a wreath. Citrus tried to keep from laughing, barely.

"Like it? I'm the Roman god, Janus," Harvey smiled.

"Janus? Like January?" she asked.

"Yeah, it's said that he had two personalities and... Wow, you clean up nicely."

Citrus flushed as realized he was looking at her chest," Ahem, my eyes are up here."

Harvey flushed and looked up.

"Aren't you going with Ivy?" Citrus growled.

"Yeah, sorry," he shrunk. His eyes became serious, "Wayne's not coming though."

Citrus's head snapped up, "How come? He's funding it after all."

" He said that some people probably didn't want to see him there as himself. I think he meant you."

Citrus felt guilt all over. Okay, she should ease up on Wayne. It was his party after all, and he wasn't going because of her. Then again, why should he care? She barely even spoke to him.

"Hey Harvey, how close are you and Wayne?"

"If you're insinuating something..."

"No, I just want you to give him a message if you can. Tell him not to hide for my sake or anyone else's. I never meant to hurt him or anyone else. He should be his regular playboy self, no matter what anybody thinks."

Harvey looked surprised, " I thought you hated him. "

"No, there's somebody who looks a lot like him that I hate. I was a jerk for acting like that toward Wayne and I'm sorry."

Harvey frowned, "Deliver your own message. I'm Janus, not Mercury."

Well, this was high school drama she guessed. Nothing ever worked out and there was always something to bring down spirits. Right now, Citrus would rather fight mobsters again.

Hold on, tonight was supposed to be fun. So why did she get the feeling tonight was going to be a disaster?

...

Everyone was in a costume of some sort. Joker and Harley were clowns as usual. Ivy was Persephone. Barbara was an Oracle. Dick was some sort of birdman, and Selina was a cat. Riddler was an owl and Meister was a composer.

Citrus sat in the corner, watching all of the fun. She didn't dare dance. Even if she could dance, she wouldn't dance with these kids or any stranger. Why dance with somebody you didn't know?

"Don't worry princess, a knight will come and rescue you from the belly of the beast known as high school," Selina said.

Citrus laughed, "I don't need a knight. I can protect myself."

"Way to be tough. I'm going to look for some prey, will you be okay?"

"Yeah, go have fun."

Selina looked at her nervously and murmured, " Please don't be another Holly."

Citrus barely caught it as Selina walked away. Who the heck was Holly? She tried to focus on how to prove Crane behind the fear gas crime when the room became silent.

Citrus looked up and saw a guy dressed up in black armor, a Dark Knight. His cape flowed like wings in flight, and his head looked like it had devil horns. It was either that or really pointy ears. On his chest was the marking of a bat. Weird, something was familiar about him even though she couldn't see his face. She knew him somehow. Citrus looked around and noticed that everyone had shrunk back in fear. Girls looked at him with lust and fear while boys looked in fear and confusion. What were they afraid of?

The Dark Knight turned in her direction and stared at her, silently asking to dance. The room filled up with whispers and deep breathing. Somebody started to play music, from the corniest movie Citrus knew. She didn't know what to do. She didn't know this guy, and the people in the room looked at her with expectancy. Why on earth would she dance with a total stranger? This wasn't a fairytale where she starred as Cinderella and she wouldn't play someone else's game.

Citrus decided to follow her gut, "I appreciate the offer, but no thank you."

She had to get out of there. Things were becoming weirder than normal. Citrus walked toward the gym doors, only to be met with eyes of a blood red color. She tried to jump back as she sensed danger, but something caught her arm. She looked up and realized with anger that it was a scarecrow. No, not a scarecrow, the Scarecrow. It was the Scarecrow from Jonathan Crane's journal. Screams surrounded her. They must have seen him. What was worse was that fact he had a gun in one hand and a canister in the other.

A gun. A gun meant shooting. Shooting meant death and blood. A massacre, a school massacre.

Citrus couldn't let him expose the others to that madness, not matter what craziness or violence they may be already exposed to. She kneed Scarecrow and carefully tugged the gun from him onto the floor. She tried to reach for the canister, but he twisted he around so that her back was to him.

"If you value your lives, unlike this stupid girl, get down to the ground and beg for mercy from the Scarecrow!" Crane cried. Then he whispered to Citrus, "You will be the first to die blond."

He squeezed his hand around her throat. Everyone except for the Dark Knight slowly got down to lay on the floor. The Dark Knight stood, staring at Scarecrow.

"Let her go," he growled. His voice sounded like he was gargling marbles. It sounded really familiar.

"Or what? I've been waiting for years to do this to get my revenge on these people. Do you know how many times they've ridiculed me and had me sit in fear? Now I control fear, and everyone will know me and fear me when they find out what I did to these stupid little children. I will always be remembered."

Citrus wondered for a moment if that's why people did that kind of stuff. For fun and fame? No, she wasn't going to let this jerk haunt everybody. He would not make others feel fear. She wasn't going to let any kind of bastard like him win.

She bit his hand and as he screamed , she flipped him onto his back. Not exactly easy to do in a dress and heels. The canister went flying through the air. The Dark Knight back flipped high through the air and caught it. Crane shoved her onto the ground. Then he grabbed the gun on the ground and tried to shoot her. Some sort of boomerang shaped like a bat whizzed through the air and knocked it out of his hands. Scarecrow screamed in pain and the Dark Knight came over and punched him so hard she heard a crack. It must have been his jaw. She shuddered as she imagined the pain.

"Who... what are you?" Scarecrow mumbled weakly.

The Dark Knight growled like a beast, it chilled Citrus to the bone. "I am vengeance, I am the night, I am... Batman."

Batman? What kind of name was that? Then it occurred to her. People feared darkness and bats. Not only that, but he just proved he would defend...

Wait, was he the idiot ninja?! That's why he seemed so familiar, they had the same fighting styles and the same voice that sounded like gargled marbles.

Batman threw Crane to the floor before running off. Hands helped Citrus stand up and she dusted herself off.

...

"Batman, the Dark Knight, just who is this vigilante who saved the students of Gotham High against the Scarecrow? All of the students say he is a hero, but who is he really? What do you think Jack?" Summer Gleeson of Gotham Live asked while looking at Jack Ryder.

Citrus had to admit, she was curious as to who Batman was. Whoever it was, needed years of training, money to fund tools, and a good motive. Not only that, but the person attended Gotham High.

Question was, should she investigate? Did she want to since he saved them all? Could she at all? After all, it wasn't until the dance that she was able to prove Crane was behind her assault and the others. She was sure there were more mysteries that Gotham High would have to offer. After her poor attempts in this case, she needed the practice. Unless the Batman posed a threat to innocents or started killing, she'd leave him alone for now. For now.

Citrus stuffed an Oreo into her mouth and pondered for a moment.

The phone rang again, probably from Batman's fan girls. The Gotham Sirens especially liked him. Oddly enough, while he scared villains, apparently girls "loved" him. They called her since "Batsy" somehow knew her. He supposedly was tall, dark, mysterious, handsome, flexible, and some girls said he smelled nice. One, you can't even see his face, so how do you know if he's handsome? Two, he smelled like too much Axe deodorant. Three, he was wearing military style boots, he probably wasn't that tall. What was with these people?

Wait, before she did anything, she had to apologize to Wayne first. She had to do something fun and hopefully with other people around. What did Gothamites do for fun besides fight? Go see movies? Yeah, that would work. Maybe she could convince Babs and the others to go along with them. They wouldn't be friends that quickly, but she had to at least try.

...

A teenage boy sat in front of a portrait of a man and a woman. Next to him was an elderly man with a blanket. The butler wrapped a blanket around the boy.

"Alfred, it just happened. I was going to tell her my story and what I wanted to do. Then all of that happened. Now, I can use this to my advantage and save people. However I need to keep them safe from my enemies as well. How do I handle that? What do I do?"

"Well, I believe that the answer will come to you eventually. Follow your heart Master Wayne. Listen to advise without telling others your secret. I will stand by you no matter what happens."

Bruce Wayne smiled, "Thanks Alfred. Hey, you know that cave underneath the mansion? If I'm a bat, I should have a cave, right? And to stop crooks, I need all the right tools. I need a lab, a computer, maybe even a car."

"One thing at a time Master Wayne. Ms. Gordon called to ask about a trip to the movies with some friends."

Bruce hesitated, "Is that girl going to be there? Or does she truly fear me?"

"Apparently, the girl wanted to apologize to you personally. She wasn't sure about being friends so quickly, but she wanted to give you a chance. Ms. Gordon said she was a little scared, but that the young lady could handle the situation."

"Good, I want to scare people as Batman. Not Bruce Wayne. I hope we can be friends like that. It felt easy being around her as that 'idiot ninja', " Bruce laughed.

Alfred smiled, it was the first time Bruce laughed for real in front of him since Thomas's and Martha's death. He hoped that this was the start of something new and wonderful. Odd since it had such a fearful beginning.

Start of Something New performed by Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens.