"You seem a bit distracted," Bruce said to Adriana as they trained. She punched at the thick cushions attached to his hands.

"Oh," Adriana said, out of breath, and continued punching.

"Is this about what you saw when you walked in to my office?" he asked her.

"Huh?" she asked. "No..no Bruce."

"I'm sorry that you saw that-"

"No Bruce it's totally okay it was my fault I shouldn't have just walked in," she said. "It's fine."

"Then is there something else going on?" he asked.

"Well...there's something I have been thinking about," she said.

"Anything you want to talk about?" Bruce asked.

Adriana looked into his eyes for a few seconds before swinging again. His eyes were so trustworthy and kind. Maybe she could tell him about her intentions to be a vigilante? How would he react? She wanted to tell him about her plans so visit Club Core the following night. Perhaps as a team they would find out what was going on there.

"Well," she said before taking another break from punching. "I guess training makes me think about..well, helping you."

"Oh," Bruce sighed with a bit of disappointment. "In the field."

"Yeah," she said, and surprised him by throwing an incredibly swift and unanticipated kick at the pad on his right arm.

"Good kick," he said.

"Thanks," she replied. "So...have you thought about it anymore? I mean, I really do think I can help you. I'm not afraid to fight."

"I can see that," he replied.

"So? Is that a yes? I can join you?"

"Adriana, listen," Bruce said. "It's not just about that. Not being afraid to fight. I work out ther as a vigilante..it's about making mistakes and learning from them. Horrible mistakes that you might regret for the rest of your life. And despite all of that, not stopping. Fighting for good."

"I know," she said. "I can do it."

"Could you kill someone?" Bruce asked plainly before pulling the pads off of his arms and turning away from her to place them on a shelf. She looked at his shining dark hair and the muscles in his back that she could clearly see through his black tee shirt, distracting herself intentionally from the question.

"I mean...If I had to..." she said. "I think so."

"Well, that," he said and turned back to her. "Is not the correct answer."

"What is the answer then?" she asked.

"The answer is yes. With no explanation. Yes with confidence. Could you kill?" he asked again.

"Bruce.." she said, unsure of why she couldn't just force herself to say yes.

"I thought I would never do it," Bruce said. "And then the situation with Dent happened. I had never intentionally killed someone before then even though...in the midst of fighting there have been some casualties. But killing Harvey Dent was something I had to do. I had to do it Adriana. Could you do the same?"

"I could learn to. You have to teach me-" she said.

"I can't teach that."

"But Bruce, maybe I could help in other ways...I mean I could knock someone out, subdue them, find out information," she said.

"I'm sure that would be useful," Bruce said. "But I would never bring you into the field. I would be far too worried. Anything could happen and I need to be sure you would defend yourself even if it meant killing another person. Not everyone can be knocked out and subdued."

"In self defense..I could kill someone," Adriana replied, trying to sound confident.

"Could you kill the Joker?" Bruce asked and handed her two ten-pound weights. "Curl."

"The Joker? i thought we wanted to bring him in..to the police," she said as she started bicep curls.

"I'm asking because you have spent time with him. You have talked to him. When you were in the mental institution together and we made sure you two spent time together so you could see his thoughts," Bruce said.

"What does that have to do with it?" Adriana asked as her arm muscles began to burn.

"Could you kill someone you got to know," Bruce asked. "Is what I am trying to figure out. You need to be able to do whatever the situation calls for."

"Oh," Adriana said. She remembered the institution. She recalled sitting and playing Jenga. She remembered going to Dr. Andrews office and seeing the Joker who had managed to get away from security and was running thought the halls. He made her run with him, hiding from them. It was all part of an elaborate plan to get sent back to Arkham. Vividly, she remembered hiding in a closet with him until an enormous spider sent her running out and into a desk. The entire time, she was not afraid of him at all. He had no intentions of harming or killing her, as far as she could see in his mind. But she also knew that could change in an instant. If she had tried to run, perhaps. If she had screamed in fear, certainly. She also remembered the police and security coming in, and beating him. Damien's boasting about giving the Joker a black eye and laughing about it at his desk with his colleagues was fresh in her mind.

"You couldn't, could you?" Bruce asked.

"If he was trying to kill me, then maybe."

"Maybe isn't good enough," Bruce shrugged and took the weights from her. "I can't bring you around hardened criminals that would kill you in an instant without even thinking about it."

"Bruce please-"

"No."

.

.

.

Adriana pulled her hair back tightly under the wig cap. She didn't want anyone to recognize her and felt her hair was too distinctive. The long jet black wig with blunt bangs suited her perfectly. She secured the hair in a braid, deciding she shouldn't leave the hair free in case she needed to fight. She put the deep brown contacts into her eyes. Her eye color had been stable for several days. When Sidi first treated her, it seemed like her eyes would dramatically change colors every few days. Now they were consistently her normal fair blue color. The dark contacts would keep her identity hidden even better. She put on a bit of makeup and then pulled on her suit and mask. It was Halloween, which made it lucky for her that the first time she went out with this suit on, no one would pay it much attention, hopefully.

Club Core was packed and loud techno music and blue and green flashing lights danced off the walls and faces of everyone there. The dance floor was a sea of energy which Adriana could see was fueled by drugs. A few people, in their drugged haze, seemed to stare at her. Giving approving looks at what they thought was an absolutely amazing costume.

She could see herself through their eyes as she scanned their thoughts. Shining jet black hair falling over the amazing material of the suit. Several of them didn't know if the reflections of color they could see on the suit was really there or if they were hallucinating from the amazing pills they had been taking. She looked incredibly powerful and mysterious, the mask intrigued many of them.

"Love," a man with spiked red hair came up to her with a pill in between his fingers. He offered it to her and she smiled politely and shook her head, no.

"More love for me," a woman beside him said and touched his shoulder. Her head was shaved and she was wearing what looked like the bodysuit of LeeLoo in the Fifth Element. "Happy Halloween."

"Indeed," he said and placed the pill on his tongue and grabbed the woman, pulling her into a deep kiss. She took the pill into her mouth and was laughing loudly a few seconds later.

Adriana gave them a friendly smile before walking over to the bar. She scanned the minds of everyone there as she walked across the length of the bar, looking around, unsure of what exactly she would be looking for. Would the Joker be here?

One of the bouncers was staring at her intently.

She noticed him over by a stairwell he was posted to be guarding. Adriana remembered that the stairs leading upwards went to an office where the club's owner was. She had committed the blueprints to memory,

She walked as closely as she could to him without drawing too much attention, and searched his mind. She found it easily. Everyone that he had seen. And then she saw him, the Joker, he had seen him in passing. The Joker had a meet with the owner of the club, Mateo.

This alone could be enough information for Bruce to see her worth in the field. But she felt like she needed more. A bouncer did not know any details about what the Joker was meeting with his boss for. She had to get closer to the club owner. He was there, upstairs, in his office. There was no way to get past this guard who Adriana was sure, was the largest man she had ever seen.

In the corner of her eye she could see the girl in the white strip suit and shaved head. She needed a distraction and maybe this girl could help her. She walked over and the girl immediately smiled.

"Changed your mind?" she asked Adriana.

"Not exactly," Adriana said. "Could you do me a favor?"

"Oh? Like what?" the girl smiled seductively, revealing several gold teeth.

"Could you fake a seizure?" Adriana asked her.

"Hahahaha," the girl laughed hysterically. "What?"

"I'll pay you," Adriana offered.

"No, no," the girl kept laughing. "That sounds fun I'll do it for free."

"Could you do it right there a few feet away from that guard?"

"Sure, miss mask," the girl's eyes sparkled as she picked up another pill and immediately walked over past him.

Adriana was surprised when she saw the performance that the girl put on. She popped a pill into her mouth as she passed by him and a few seconds later dropped to the floor and began convulsing violently. Adriana could see that she was smiling as she shook on the floor. The guard immediately went over to her and Adriana was able to slip past him and up the stairs. The girl gave her a smile and a wink as she shook even more aggressively on the floor.

She found the office easily. It was closed and locked. She found where the cameras were pointing instead of out of sight. While standing in the corner she closed her eyes and focused intently on the thoughts of the club's owner. He did know the Joker. He had something to sell him. Everything was very vague because Adriana was too far away. She needed to get in there.

Her eyes shot open as she realized that the owner in the man that was in his office with him were about to come out. They would see her. She was unsure if any of the security had seen her on the camera footage, she knew she would have to work quickly in case they had.

She went over to the door right before they opened it and stood against the wall. The door flung open and she was out of sight behind it is the club owner and his associate walked out. Adriana quietly grabbed the door before I could shut and slipped into the office. Once inside she felt terribly out of breath and felt her heart pounding. She felt herself reaching and grabbing for the thoughts of the club owner as he walked away.

He was selling the Joker a very potent poison later that evening. A poison meant to kill in an incredibly painful way. It needed to be confiscated.

She looked around and found the safe. It was hidden behind one of the frosty colored tiles on the wall. She touched it and it slid to the side.

"Hey!" the club owner had come back into the room alone. He was wearing a deep blue suit and had a shaved head.

"Shit," Adriana said under her breath.

"Freeze," he said and pulled out a gun at the door shut behind him. "Trying to steal from me? On your knees."

Adriana knelt slowly as he approached quickly. She felt a surge of power as she lept up grabbing his wrist with both hands easily removing the gun and swinging her right foot up in a kick fast enough to send him down to the floor. She pointed the gun at him to intimidate him and to make sure he wouldn't try to get up.

It had gone so smoothly she almost couldn't believe it. In that moment she knew, she was meant to be a vigilante. It was her purpose.

"Stay down," she ordered.

"Okay," he said and looked into the barrel of the gun. "You want money? I have money-"

"Listen," she said firmly. "Tell me how to open the safe. What's the code?"

"No," he said. "There's no money in there."

"Tell me now," she said, closer still pointing the weapon at him.

"No," he said again.

Adriana was unsure if she could hurt him but then she thought of the poison. Poison that would be used to kill. She swung the weapon at his face and heard it hit his cheekbone.

"Tell me!" she ordered again.

"Okay!" he said, thinking that this woman just wanted money. She would be uninterested in vials of what looked like colored water. "555912"

"Five five five nine one two," she said as she pressed the digits. A light went green but the safe did not open. "Now what?"

"48033" he said.

"This better not be a trick," she searched his thoughts. Once she put in the second set of numbers security would be notified. It was a trick.

"It's not I promise," he said.

"You're lying," she said and found in his memories the code to open safe without security being alerted.

She pressed a circle button three times and then put in the real code, 818166. The safe opened.

"How the hell?" he asked out loud. "Who told you-"

There was a tray that contains 40 vials of the fluid.

"There we go," Adriana said.

"You don't want that," he said, "It's worthless. Hey-careful!"

He sounded terrified as she lifted one of the vials with her bare hands. She used her thumb to remove the cap and poured it out onto the floor.

"What the hell are you doing?" he asked has a gray smoke began to waft above the spot on the wooden floor where she had poured the solution. The poison was eating away at the surface.

"So it's harmless to glass," she observed and pulled out another vial and began to empty and onto the floor.

"Stop that, you stupid fucking bitch," he said. "You have no idea who you're dealing with."

She walked over with the third vial and flicked the cap of it off above his face, dangling the vial above his forehead.

"Okay! Shit! I'm sorry!" he pleaded.

"Yeah," she said and turned around to empty it on the floor.

She emptied most of the vials before there was a knock at the door. Quickly she began pouring out the rest of the poison until there was just one vial left. The knocking at the door got louder and the hole burning into the floor expanded.

"Tell them to go away," she ordered.

"Help!" he shouted. "Help me-"

She gave him a swift kick in the face, hard enough to knock him unconscious. There was no time to empty the last vial. She grabbed it and tucked it into her belt as the two men barged into the room kicking the door in. They saw their boss on the floor and immediately charged at her.

Adriana felt like she was not even in her body as she fought them. The taller guard threw a punch with she dodged while reaching up and twisting his wrist with one hand and using the base of it to break his own nose. The second pulled out a gun which she had from him in seconds. She gave him a hard knee to the rib cage and an elbow in the jaw and sent him down to the floor. Once he was down she struck him with the gun knocking him out. The other guard reached for his gun but stopped when she pointed the two guns that she had in her hands at him.

"Don't even think about it," she said.

He raised his hands and surrender as she breezed past him and went over to the window. He looked confused, but she knew what she was doing. She looked down and saw fire escape. She lept onto it and was sure that he would be at the window in a few seconds shooting down at her so she ran as fast as she could until she was down at the street. She heard him fire a few rounds as she ran off into the shadows.