Robin couldn't believe this. Sure, the girl came back to life. Sure, they didn't know anything about her yet. But that still didn't clarify as to why she got a free ride in the Batmobile. She was blindfolded so she wouldn't know where they were going. But it just wasn't fair in the male teen's eyes. Tim himself had to earn his place in the vehicle; he had to show he deserved it. This girl got a free pass.
The bird huffed out his annoyance with a few choice words he mumbled under his breath.
It didn't go unnoticed by the girl. "Do you have something you wish to say?" She asked from the backseat.
"Nothing," Robin spat out harshly. The girl's barely spoken and she was already getting to him.
"I am glad you express your feelings so easily," She said clearly.
Robin turned around in his seat to face her, even though she wouldn't see. She wouldn't see the slight twitching of his eye either, thankfully. "Excuse me?" He questioned.
"All I mean is that you clearly show distaste to me."
"No kidding?" He threw out sarcastically.
Batman had let it go on that far. But his protégé looked ready to pounce on the girl. Neither of them knew what she was capable of so that wouldn't be the brightest of ideas. "Robin, sit down," The orders came bluntly.
With a few more grumbles the teen complied. The Dark Knight didn't miss the girl's smirk in the back mirror.
They all drove in silence until they reached the Bat Cave. Once there Batman ordered Robin to keep a watch on the girl while he went to go grab food so the girl would start talking. Alfred usually left leftovers in the kitchen so both vigilantes could eat after patrol.
In retrospect, leaving Robin with the girl wasn't the best of ideas.
"So, Robin, I believe is your name, why is it that you dislike me? Jealousy perhaps?" The girl was picking at his last nerve. Not having slept in over twenty-four hours didn't help anything.
"I'm not jealous," He scoffed at the end for his own needs.
"Your behavior suggests otherwise," She noted with a hand gesture.
"Once again, I'm not jealous," He tried doing a Batman-like growl for a sense of finality on the subject.
"Whatever you say, Birdy," She sighed.
"Birdy?" He repeated questioningly.
"Your alias is a robin. A robin is a bird. Thus Birdy," The girl explained.
"What gives you the right to give me a nickname?"
"What takes away such a right?" She quipped back.
Both teens were leaning in for an intimidation factor with scowls on their faces. Although the girl was still blindfolded so Tim felt his own leaning in had no point.
Batman chose that moment to break up the friendly conversation. "Robin," He barked out.
The bird broke out of his "stare down" with the girl and turned towards Batman, "Yeah?"
"Go to bed, I'll deal with our guest," The order came clear as a bell.
Robin looked like he was about to argue with his mouth open to speak. He then shut it at the look on his mentor's cowled face. Neither one of the duo had slept for a while so crossing him was a bad idea. Not that he was going to give the girl that advice. So without further adieu the bird hopped out of the Batmobile and headed up the stairs to his room in the Manor.
"Remove your blindfold," Batman ordered the girl.
"Will do Mr. Batman," She whispered sarcastically as she untied the knot on the back of her head. Once she was done she continued sitting in the Batmobile, awaiting a direction.
Batman moved his chair from the Bat Computer and sat it in a more open space a little ways away. "Come on," He motioned for her to get out of the car and come sit in the chair.
The girl followed the order and sat. Batman promptly cuffed her ankles around the leg of the chair. She accepted it with little more than a flinch from the unexpected touch.
"Taking precautions?" The girl asked, trying to keep up a cool demeanor.
"Here's your food," Batman handed her the plate of chicken alfredo without answering her question. He then pulled up another chair and sat across from her.
The girl brushed it off with a, "Thank you." And dug into the small mountain of food.
Batman waited for her to finish. By the way she was attacking the food you would think she wouldn't have eaten in days. As she ate, he formulated questions to ask her. There were the basics; her name, age, reason for coming back to life. Then the slightly harder ones; why she was in Gotham alone at night seemed to be the toughest from the list.
The girl finished off the last of the pasta with another say of thanks and set the empty plate on the floor next to the chair she was placed in. "You may ask your questions now," She allowed.
"What's your name?"
"Avery Brave," Came the simple answer.
"Age?"
"Fifteen."
"Why did you come back to life?"
"There is the question of the night. The simple answer is that I have regenerative abilities. So far I have come back from being stabbed, shot, starved, and a billion other ways you could name. Besides that I have rapid healing. It is also what makes me have such a hearty appetite as you have just seen a prime example. Getting shot really takes it out of a person," Avery answered as she shuffled with the bag that was still over her shoulder.
It was a sort of small backpack that she pulled a container for eye contacts out of. She pulled out the contacts that were making her eyes look a dim grey to reveal bright blue-green eyes. Once she put the contacts away and in her bag she pulled out glasses with frames that didn't look like they belonged in this century. When she put them on they made her look slightly dorky instead of the punk look that it seemed she was going for with her hair streaks. Although even the colorful hair streaks proved to be fake as she unclipped them from her hair and placed them in a plastic baggie she produced from her bag. As the last streak was taken out it revealed her just to have choppy black hair that almost reached her shoulders.
"Any other changes I should expect?" Batman asked.
Avery let a small chuckle roll off her lips, "No, that is all."
"So this is your regular appearance?"
"Give or take a haircut, yes."
"You change your appearance often?"
"Yes. Rapid growing hair and nails is another downside of my abilities, it allows for me to change my appearance more often than others though."
"Why do you change your appearance then?"
"I relocate often, so changing my appearance goes hand in hand with a new locale," Avery explained while pushing her glasses back up the bridge of her nose.
"Is there a reason that you move around so much?"
"I simply like moving after spending too much time in a place. A year here, a few months there. Whatever suits my needs at the time."
"What need do you have to be in Gotham?"
"Simple, I wished to contact you, the Batman."
"Why?" He asked as he leaned back in his chair with his arms crossed. This better be a good answer for letting a stranger into his cave.
Avery fidgeted in her seat slightly and her cool manner was breaking more quickly, "There have been some less-than-kind people who have been trying to learn the secret to my abilities. As I was not born with them, and am the only person alive with the information as to how to manifest these abilities in a human, I am the one they are after."
"'Only person alive'? Was there someone else at some point with the information?"
"Yes, but that was many years ago."
"How many?"
The black haired girl fidgeted again, this time pulling at the edges of her long sleeves so they would completely cover her arms, "Around seventy-five years ago."
"How did you come across the information?" Batman could tell the subject was uncomfortable with the girl. It was best to get through it as best as possible to avoid a breakdown. No matter how strong the girl seemed there is always unchartered territory with any person that will make them collapse in a puddle of tears.
"When I was experimented on," She whispered and pushed her glasses back up the bridge of her nose.
"When did the experimentation happen?"
"Around seventy-five years ago," She said even quieter.
Batman did a double take for a moment. "If that is true, then you're not fifteen years old."
Avery sat up straight for a moment to defend herself, "I have a body that has aged fifteen years. You asked my age, not the number of years I have been on this earth."
"How many years have you been on this earth then?"
"Eighty-nine," Came back the confident reply.
"You mean to tell me you were experimented on around the time of World War II and have lived until the present day."
"Not around the time of World War II," Avery clarified, "During World War II."
Batman sighed, her story did meet up in its key points. There was something that this Avery girl wasn't revealing though. All the information was staring him in the face. Batman gave up and went out on a theory that had been slowly formulating in his mind. "Roll up your left sleeve," He commanded.
Avery in turn tugged down her sleeve more. "That is none of your business."
"Roll up your sleeve," He commanded with more force.
"No," She practically growled back.
Batman was fed up. He rose from his chair and forcefully grabbed her arm. With one swift movement he pushed up the sleeve on her left arm to reveal four black numbers, '1,632'. Those numbers confirmed the theory. This girl was a prisoner and medical experiment in the Auschwitz concentration camp during World War II.
A/N: Have I mastered the art of troll cliffhangers? I realized how twisted and cruel my mind is when my OC is compared to others. Everyone else's is all happy and throwing peace signs. Mine was a prisoner! Yeah, I'm a horrible person. Well if anybody didn't understand, Avery was a medical experiment back in WWII, that's what gave her the regenerative abilities. That's all for now folks, there will still be a lot more explaining next chapter though. Feedback is appreciated to know if anyone's out of character or anything. Reviews are welcomed with open arms.