I sat down on the wet grass next to the "Wilsonburg's School" sign. My mother had forgotten again to pick me up from school. This had to be the third time this week…and it was Wednesday. I checked my watch. 4:13. It'd been an hour since school had been out. I stood up, aware that my mother truly had forgotten again. My mother had a severe case of schizophrenia. She just…wasn't all there. My father…well, I never really talked about him. To anybody.

By the time I noticed I was being followed on my way home it was too late. I finally opened my eyes to where I was. And I was definitely not where I was supposed to be. The Narrows, I thought, Brilliant Maddie, you're going to mugged…or worse. I glanced around quickly, and immediately wished I hadn't. There were probably ten to fifteen child molesters waiting around here in the alley-ways. It wasn't like I was I child, but…

I hated myself for being so foolish and felt the first shiver of fear as someone came up behind me and touched my shoulder, sliding down to the bra clip.

I whipped around, face to face with someone I would never know. A creepy scum-bag waiting for some sort of control other then himself. The hand moved to my chest, hungry; unafraid.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" I yelled angrily, slapping off the crummy man's hand.

"Ah, pretty young ladies shouldn't roam the streets alone", the man's toothy grin sent shivers down my spine as I tried to back up.

"You get your slimy hands off me!" I said, turning to run, but finding a dead end. Oh, great. I felt the claws of absolute terror and despair close around my heart.

"You're a feisty young thing, aren't you" the man said, grinning masochistically.

I spit in his face. He slapped me and I held in a whimper. The man yanked me towards him violently, "You little—you'll be sorry for that"

"I'd like to see that" I said, my cheek burning.

"If you're not the sorriest, you'll be the sorest", he ripped off my jacket and flung me to the cobble-stones. I screamed and kicked him in the stomach, trying to scramble to my feet. The man recoiled, but advanced faster, shoving me to the ground. I heard footsteps behind me and lost all hope, I was doomed.

"You really shouldn't walk around all by yourself." The man said, in my face, his putrid breath flowing over my face.

"What makes you think she's alone" the voice was young, but had a sense of authority.

Then the man froze stiff, looking behind me, utter fear on his grimy face. The man scrambled away as fast as he could, a scream echoing down the alley. Someone in a red outfit ran after him, and chased him until he was out of site, "Get lost!" the boy yelled.

He sprinted back to me and I realized that it was one of Batman's buddies. I backed away, they were great at what they did, and I couldn't help but be a little intimidated. He was tiny, but it didn't matter, "Wh—who are you?" I said.

"Ugh" he said, I caught agitation behind his mask, "Nobody ever knows who I am" I heard under his breath. He pulled me up off the ground, "Robin"

"What?" I asked, stuttering from shock, "What's Robin?"

"My name" he said, starting to walk away.

"Oh" we looked at each other for a minute and I started to notice something…he looked familiar... I started to something when he grabbed my wrist and flew off into the sky. I screamed as he lifted me from the ground. We flew six stories off the ground to the roof where he released my arm.

"Where do you live?" he asked.

He rolled his eyes as I hesitated, feeling an invasion of privacy, "Really, miss? I'm not going to spy on you. I have better things to do."

"You can drop me off at the park. I only live a few blocks from there"

"Alright" he said, and pulled me off the roof, my scream echoing through the alley.