Chapter Three — The Batman
1991 ; ten
"When my shadow reaches out in the dark and when it joins another I often find that I am still left alone."
Arley was in her mothers hospital room, flowers from citizens she had saved— and just random citizens she hadn't saved but were appreciative for having a hero patrolling the planet —littered the room. It was dark out, the glow from the surrounding buildings peaked through the blinds of her mothers room, and Arley in civilian clothing— as she held her mothers hand —and with her feet resting on the lowest metal bar of her mothers hospital bed, watched the television.
The news was on; Arley tried to listen to what was happening on CNN. Though Carol's assistant wrote up daily news briefings for her to read and keep up to date on, Arley was bored and absolutely did not want to touch the coursework she had brought with her to the hospital.
It wasn't that Arley didn't want to do her work, the Lantern still very much loved learning but she had only just gotten back to Earth. For the past week she had been overseeing a peace treaty that had fallen apart when the Viceroy of Dantooine had tried to poison the Queen of Nyirann. The Viceroy had taken a hostage when he'd been caught. Some servant younger than Arley; the alien had been so scared.
Arley had been terrified. The Yellow Lantern still haunted her.
The Viceroy would too.
Arley's eyes had only just started getting heavy— she hadn't slept in nearly two days; she couldn't —when her ring beeped.
The ten year old girl straightened in her seat as her ring hand flew in front of her face; a holographic-like screen appeared over the ring.
Suspicious alien activity.
People had been going missing in Gotham and while that wasn't anything new— people disappeared easily enough within the city limits; there were warehouses in Gotham dedicated to housing the city's Missing Persons files that had accumulated throughout the years —someone calling themselves the Batman was.
From all the information Arley had managed to collect it seemed that only a few months ago, only a little after Arley had made her debut as the sector's newest Green Lantern, Gotham criminals had started whispering about a man dressed in black— in a cape —taking them down. Grainy video footage showed someone stopping various low level criminals from robbing bank vaults, to saving the average Joe from a late-night beat down.
Two months ago though, a man was captured on an ATM taking money out of the bank.
His wife was pregnant and he needed to get dinner; he was a good innocent man, and just as the money had reached his hands a black blur had shot across the screen and snatched the man leaving him to never be seen again.
Which didn't make sense. The criminal underworld hadn't stopped whispering about this Batman and how he still showed up in one place or another, ready to stop them.
How could he save one innocent and abduct another?
Arley threw herself from her chair and raced out of her mothers room; Arley had to be fast— had to be the hero the people of Earth expected her to be —or someone could get hurt, and that would be on her.
Whenever something bad happened nowadays people always seemed to ask where she was. Why she hadn't stopped it; it always seemed to circle back to, what good was she?
The door to her mothers hospital room hit the wall loudly and while a nurse that had been walking through the halls jumped at the sound Arley paid the woman no mind as she, mid-transformation, barreled through the glass doors that lead to the hospital balcony that had been designated for staff, visitors and patients all to smoke on.
An alarmed murmur echoed through people— the civilians —that were on the balcony.
Arley, now no longer donning her jeans and sweatshirt but rather her uniform, dove over the hospitals railing and into the Gotham sky, a collective gasp seemed to echo throughout the small group of doctors that had been smoking before she rose— bathed in a protective green light —high over the Gotham University hospital.
"No way!" Someone called out, "It's the Lantern!"
When the whispers had first started circling throughout the streets of Arley's hometown— and Arley had first heard of this Batman —a thrill she would never admit to having, had zapped through her. She might have been the only Lantern around but this man meant she wasn't the only hero.
Batman had meant she wasn't alone in this fight. That someone else would finally be able to understand the weight crushing against her chest at night, keeping her up and urging her to patrol the Earth— the sector —once more that day.
But then the video of the man being snatched from the ATM had been brought to Arleys attention and any hope Arley had was dashed. Arley couldn't ignore how the evidence looked; how it made Gotham's supposed caped crusader look.
As Arley flew through the streets, following the directions her ring had laid out for her, she could hear a woman screaming; adrenaline pumped through Arley's veins as she caught sight of a large capped figure and a struggling woman in its arms.
Swooping down low as the figure jumped between one roof and the next Arley shot up, in between the roof the abductor and the civilian woman were on, her ring shining brightly, practically leaking light.
Arley looked at the woman for a split second, there were tears in her eyes and her arms had cradled themselves to her chest; the abductor's hood hung just low enough over its face to hide just who had been taking the civilians off the street.
"Going somewhere buddy?" Arley arched a brow.
The figure pivoted and threw both itself and the woman it had taken to the right, Arley's tongue darted out and swept along her bottom lip.
"Alright," she said to herself, her eyes narrowing, "Game on."
Arley pictured a dragon— a fearsome looking beast with large, almost car-sized tuberculate scales along its back —as she threw her fist out. A glowing green dragon shot out of her ring and curled around the capped abductor and the woman; the dragon as its back arched and wings spread out opened its mouth as if to roar.
Arley flew closer as the dragon bared down upon the two and with a smirk her chin tilted upwards; she could hear the woman sobbing in her captor's arms.
"You're under arrest," Arley called out confidently as the tail of the beast she had constructed with her ring began to circle the hooded criminal.
The caped figure raised the woman over its head— "No! No, don't!" Arley had yelled, panic evident in her voice —before throwing her down, towards the street, the same way a quarterback would toss a football at their feet in the end zone after a winning play.
"Crap!"
Forgetting about the dragon and allowing the construct to dissolve— and the abductor to get away —Arley dove after the screaming woman.
With her hands out in front of her Arley made a glowing green baseball mitt to catch the woman before quickly changing the green construct to an elevator; the walls of the elevator closed around the woman as it lifted her up to the roof of the closest building.
Arley's breathing evened out in her throat as the woman— whose arms had wrapped around herself and mouth was hung slightly open —stepped out of the elevator. Arley smiled at the woman.
"You saved me," the woman said in an awed tone, "You're the one on television all the time, right? That kid?"
Arley's smile dropped, she wasn't a kid. Sure she was ten but she wasn't some kid— she wasn't the or a kid —she was a Green Lantern. Protector of the universe; the only one of this sector.
She wasn't that kid .
"You're welcome lady," Arley said dryly as she lifted herself back into the air, the woman took a step forward,
"Wait a minute!" She squawked— Arley ignored her as she shot out in the direction of the hooded criminal that had snatched the woman off the street —after Arley, "How am I supposed to get down from here!"
Now, Arley thought three blocks down, where her ring's map had directed her to go, Where did my creepy crawly get too?
But just as she had thought it, Arley felt something grab her from behind, forcing her down through the large and brightly lit RiteAid sign that had been perched at the top of one of the buildings.
Arley felt heat explode around her as glass bit at her face and uniform; bleeding, now on the roof of the building Arley cracked her eyes open to see the hood, the figure had been wearing go up in flames.
Whatever had been snatching Gothamites off the streets was a large hideous looking alien; the aliens' sharp, pointed teeth were yellow. And its obviously high tech golden armor gleamed in the fires light and the bright blue veins that stuck out between the pieces of armor looked almost luminescent against its dark gray skin.
"You are so going to have to do better than that ugly," Arley sneered up at the alien. The alien grabbed Arley but the front of her uniform and its armored fist hit her stomach; spit flew out front the girl's mouth as she forcefully uncurled the alien's fingers from her.
That— though she'd never admit it —was better than just a menacing roar.
Before Arley could space between herself and the alien the golden plated alien hit her once more, sending her through scaffolding and off the building roof and onto another. Arley didn't have the chance to get up before the alien was on her once more, its clawed foot pressed against her chest and just as Arley lifted her glowing ring— ready to shoot the alien off of her —something swung past her and knocked the alien off of her.
Arley turned to see a caped man— not an alien, but a man —roll on top of the golden plated alien several feet from her. His cape was long and black; and there were two points that stuck up on his head. Ears ; the points atop the caped man's head were bat-like ears.
"What were you doing down by the docks!" The man asked, his voice was graveled; low but not incredibly and unusually so.
Batman, she thought with wide eyes. Arley couldn't see the symbol that was whispered to be on his chest but she could feel it in her bones; Kilowog had said to trust her instincts, that on the field they were the only thing that would save her.
He is real.
He wasn't the one snatching people off the street. She wasn't alone in this fight.
The alien spit a line of fire up and Batman moved to avoid it; Arley moved as the alien got to its feet and drew another breath of fire at Batman. Arley flew into the air and thought of a train; nothing fancy like she'd observed on other planets, just something that was part of the old train sets she'd see old foster brothers playing with.
Batman rolled the side; he hung off the side of the building as the train drove the alien into a wall that had been built into the building's rooftop; the alien laid in a pile of rubble as Arley allowed her construct to disappear and a bright green fog light to form instead.
She'd scan the alien with her ring so that she could find out just what kind of alien it was and where it came from in a moment.
Batman stood crouched on the edge of the building with his hand in front of his face. Arley saw the symbol on his chest; a black bat. She bit back a smile; she wasn't alone, or at least, not as alone as she thought.
"Holy kriffing fuck," Arley breathed, containing her smile; Batman made a sound in the back of his voice as he looked up at her through the spaces between his fingers, "You're real."
"Turn off the light!" Batman snapped; Arley's lips tipped downwards at his sharp tone.
"I had him," she told Batman. Because she had; sure the alien had gotten the better of her but only for a moment. She was the youngest Lantern in history. She was a damn good soldier— just as good as her predecessor, Hal Jordan, if not better —Kilowog had said so, not just to her but to the Guardians.
She had two Yellow Lanterns to her name, a Surrian soldier and multiple planet-destroyer class ships she'd singlehandedly taken out all under her belt.
She wasn't a novice she could do her job not matter what.
"Yeah it looked like it," Batman said sarcastically; Arley dropped to the rooftop with her ring still shining a light on him. There was fat on his cheeks, his jaw was sharp but not defined. His shoulders weren't large; they weren't broadened walls that had taken years to cultivate.
He was older than her but not old-old; he was old the same way Arisia and Carol were, only slightly. And though his time had been nothing short of surely Arley still felt joy rush through her veins; Batman was like her. She wasn't alone.
She wasn't alone.
"Now turn off the light before they see us!" Batman ordered.
"Before who sees us?" Arley asked with knitted brows, and as if daring the universe a light shone upon the two and a helicopter whirl was heard; Arley turned to see not one but three GPD helicopters coming closer.
"Put your hands in the air!" One of the helicopter's speakers announced over the whirl of their engines, "Put your hands in the air." Arley complied, Batman didn't. "Put your hands in the air!"
Arley looked at Batman, "What's their problem? Don't they realize we're saving the day?"
"The world's afraid of us," Batman replied and Arley frowned.
She'd heard the talk shows— The Snapper Special with Lucas Carr and the Glorious Godfrey Talk Tank —even though she was chosen and even though she was trained and even though she had proven herself across the entire sector, not everyone thought a child should wield such a powerful weapon as the Green Lantern ring.
Not everyone thought she was good enough. She would prove them wrong though; she had to.
"You're saying it like it's a good thing." Carol accepted her, the Corps accepted her but Arley was ten and even though Carol and the Corps were enough— should be enough —part of Arley wanted more.
Part of her wanted people to accept her the way they once had once accepted the Justice Society; wholly and fully and not like she was some kid playing pretend.
"It's necessary."
The alien whined behind them and as Arley and Batman turned to look at the alien— Arley's arm rose and her ring practically leaking light, the same way an old, rusty faust would leak water —only for Batman to tackle her out of the air and out of the way from an oncoming stream of fire the alien had breathed out.
The alien darted across the rooftop— both Arley and Batman scrambled to their feet —and wings spread out from its back as it took a running leap off the building; the Gotham Police helicopters veered to the sides in order to avoid the alien crashing into them.
"Take your glow stick and go home, Gothams mine," Batman snapped over his shoulder as he pulled something from the yellow belt around his waist. Arley frowned deeply as the end of Batman's grappling hook shot out and connected itself to the back of the alien's ankle; Batman flew off the roof as the alien surged forward.
A sour taste flooded her mouth as she took off after Batman.
"I don't think you get it, Bats, this whole space sector is mine, Gotham included!"
"Uh-huh," Batman said as the alien sped up; Arley lagged behind as her mouth further twisted into a frown. Batman might have been like her— he might've been a hero —but he was also a colossal douchebag.
"I'm not kidding-I'm Green Lantern!" Arley snapped back as she fired a bolt of energy at the alien; the alien barrel rolled through the sky. Arley fired again and the alien turned the corner onto First Avenue.
Batman, still holding onto the grappling hook that was attached to the alien— as it flew low against the flow of Gotham traffic —ran over the length of a blue four door car.
Arley fired again as Batman was left to roll along side the length of a truck; the alien turned and shot fire out of its mouth, Batman jumped out of the way and Arley tossed her closed fist out in front of her; a bright glowing green bubble formed around her and though Arley was pushed back by the force of the fire she was completely unharmed.
Dropping the shield once the flames were gone Arley urged herself forward. Batman ran along the side of a building, breaking the windows under his feet as he did. As she flew by Arley saw a small boy on the floor of his home and his parents rushing into the room.
"You know Bats, if Gothams so your turf then maybe you should end this now?" Arley's eyes were narrowed as she flew alongside the caped man, "Before someone gets hurt."
Batman let out a sound of agreement. He fished a second grappling hook from his belt and fired it out the side of a chimney before he clicked that grappling hook and the one he had been using to hitchhike behind the alien, together, leaving him to hang there.
Arley imagined clamps, the kind she had seen in tool boxes; the construct caught the aliens' wings between the glowing green clamps, only for the alien to rip itself from its wings and go crashing to the ground below.
Oh come on , Arley bemoaned via inner thought as the alien landed on a car; exploding it.
Arley pointed her ring hand at the thick cloud of black smoke that billowed around where the car had exploded and a bright, glowing green fan appeared. When the smoke had cleared, and the only traces that the alien had been there was a smoldering car and an open manhole covering, both Arley and Batman dropped down to the street.
"So what do you think it's doing in Gotham?" Arley wondered as she and Batman began to lower themselves into the Gotham sewers. "All I know so far is that it's taking people, and since this is your turf you've got to have something," Arley drawled as they hit the dirty water.
Batman let out a growled sound from the back of his throat, whether it was because of the water and the smell of the sewers or because Arley still hadn't left, she couldn't tell. Not that she cared; Gotham was as much her beat as Fawcett or Star City, it was after all, in her sector.
"Witnesses saw this thing planting something that looked like a bomb down by the docks. When police confronted it, it started spewing fire," Batman explained as he set off down the sewer tunnel.
Arley sped up so that she was flying next to him, she shot Batman a measured look.
"I've fought in wars, I just oversaw a peace treaty and stopped a political assaination all by myself, Green Lanterns like me can do anything you know," Arley told him. She wasn't some stupid kid, she knew the job was dangerous; Kilowog and Hal had read her the riot act already.
Green Lanterns have short lives, no one's life was guaranteed; to grow old in the Corps was a privilege not a right.
But she already lived longer than she should have; she had survived the streets, lived through the fight with Amon Sur and every other fight she had been in since getting the ring.
"Everything but shut up apparently," Batman sniped. Arley's fingers curled into her palm; for the life of her she couldn't remember why she had been happy that he was real and not some urban legend like BigFoot or Mothman.
The pair reached a fork in the sewer system, Batman looked both ways before going left.
"So," Arley wondered, "What'cha got? Super strength?"
"No," Batman said dully as he stormed forward.
"Can you fly?" Arley asked.
"In a plane." The space between her brows creased together.
"You're not some guy in a Bat costume, are you?" Batman turned, his lips lifted into a sly smirk and Arley felt her face drop. She was alone, not because Batman was a jerk, but because he was just some guy not much older than she was, running around in a suped-up Halloween costume.
"You've got to be kriffing kidding me right now!" Arley exclaimed as she settled on the side of the Gotham sewer, out of the water and four inches higher then where she would be if she was in the water.
The young man in front of Arley was no different then Wally or Carol if they had decided to start running around, fighting crime.
"What?" Arley's eyes narrowed, "No one asked you on a date so now you dress up in a bat costume and jump around your parents basement?"
"What's this do?" Batman asked, holding Arley's ring between his fingers.
Her eyes went wide. Arley felt her heart stop as he twirled it between his thumb and forefinger. Arley's uniform disappeared, leaving her in jeans and a sweatshirt. As Batman turned and held her ring up higher Arley felt her clenched fist tremble.
The lesson after never forgetting to charge your ring— and the most important that they had learned in boot camp —was never lose it. Never let it be taken; that ring wasn't just your weapon it was one of the greatest in the universe.
And she had allowed it to be slipped off her finger.
"No buttons, I assume it works on concentration," he said aloud.
"How-hey!" Arley shouted, Batman turned, "What the fuck!"
Batman's eyes narrowed behind the cowl he was wearing but his lips tipped back up into an infuriating smirk.
"You weren't concentrating," he said.
Arley threw her hand out in front of her and willed her ring back onto her finger, the same way she would will a construct out of it. Her uniform reappeared instantly and Arley swept over the Gotham swear water and close to the costumes man.
"You won't be doing that again," Arley said severely. Green Lanterns weren't supposed to be afraid, they ate fear for breakfast, and yet a quiver ran through her at the thought of what the Guardians might do to her if they ever found out someone like Batman— a perfectly normal human being —was able to take her ring.
They'd kick her out for sure.
Would Carol still want her? Carol had only taken her in as a favor for Hal and if she weren't part of the Corps like Hal would that mean Carol no longer had to do that favor for him?
Would it mean that she would be all alone once more?
No . Arley told herself, it wouldn't; Carol wouldn't just kick her out if she no longer had her ring— which she would; Arley was ten and knew she would die with her ring burning bright on her finger —Carol cared about her.
"Not unless I want to," Batman said; Arley felt her already clenched jaw tighten.
"You know what asshole, let's go!" Arley snapped; only before she could take a step towards Batman he grabbed her. One of his hands covered her mouth while the other hovered his own lips; the caped and cowled young man let out a shushing sound as he bobbed his head to the right.
Arley strained her ears but heard— over the squeaking of rats and rushing flow of sewer water —a clicking growl be wined out.
Batman let go of Arley and the pair— under a tense air —crept forward and turned the corner to see the alien that had attempted to abduct the woman and attacked both Arley and Batman and placed a square device against the sewer walls.
The device was the size of a textbook; it looked like the alien; the four corners of the deceive were golden and just like the alien, a bright blue ran over the darker parts of the deceive. A large red button laid in the middle of the device.
"Hold fast," Batman breathed out in a whisper, "We need more information."
The alien pressed the red button in the device's middle; the device glowed red, the blue turned to yellow and Arley's eyes widened as the device seemed to pulse against the sewer wall.
"Like hell, that's a bomb and he just armed it!" Arley snapped.
She shot out around the corner— Batman was only a step behind her —and the alien turned. It spoke, for the first time that night in a gravely and hissed sort of voice.
"For Darkseid." And then the sewer exploded.
Arley turned and grabbed Batman, she threw a bubble up around them and for a second the world around them was bright. The sewers shook violently around them until the bomb blast died out and Arley and Batman were left to stand in the smoldering, horrid-smelling aftermath.
The alien was gone. Burnt away; dead. Arley blinked where the alien had been standing. She hadn't killed him. The alien had blown themselves up.
And yet a hollowness reverberated throughout Arleys ribcage, panging against her heart.
When the bubble fell Batman's shoulders perked up, tense.
"I told you to hold fast," Batman snapped as he spoke down to her, his finger taunt and elongated; pointed at the end of her nose, "I told you—"
"—And I told you I'm a Green Lantern!" Arley cut him off hotly, her heart in her throat. "I'm not someone who decided to just have a go at this, and I'm not new to this! I've been doing this a lot longer than you Bats-I was chosen and I was trained! So stop it! Stop treating me like I don't know what I'm doing! Like-like—" the words, Some kid off the streets, caught in her throat.
Arley let her teeth rake themselves over her bottom lip. She blinked once and then twice, quelling the angry, unshed tears that had gathered in the corners of her eyes in her fit of rage. She sucked in a deep breath of air.
"I know what I'm doing," Arley whispered harshly, "I'm like you."
A beat of silence passed and Batman's shoulders dropped as he sucked in a breath of air; gently, his hand raised and settled on Arley's shoulder. Arley's gaze flickered up to his.
She could see behind the cowl. His eyes were blue. Bright, bright blue.
"You are," Batman said, "I haven't treated you like one." There was no sorry, no you're right tacked on, silence simply followed until Batman pulled his hand away from Arley and allowed it to hang limply at his side, "Now what do you make of the device-of the aliens death cry?"
Arley turned and faced what was left of the bomb— it for the most part was intact; it looked to be though, as if it had been melted from the inside out, as if the pieces of burnt and still boiling metal were blown outwards —and shrugged. She thought back to everything she had learned since joining the Corps and frowned.
"I know of a Darkseid. There's this place-a planet, called Apokolips and back when the Corps was new-like really new—" back before the Manhunters had even been fully retired, "—A Lantern who was in charge of the sector Apokolips is in went to stop Darkseid. He couldn't and when he escaped he went back to Oa for reinforcements."
"You're people didn't stop him did they?" Batman asked, Arley shook her head.
"The book of Oa doesn't tell us what happened to the Lantern who led the charge but he probably died. I mean the book says that so many lives had been lost the Guardians risked everything by leaving Oa and striking up a parley with Darkseid. After months of negotiations they reached a treaty. As long as Darkseid stayed on his own planet and didn't venture out into the universe the Corps wouldn't bother him."
Arley didn't like that part; when she had first read the Book of Oa she'd asked Kilowog why the Guardians would make such a deal when there were people still under Darkseid's reign suffering. Wasn't their job to help and save the innocent? Kilowog had told her that sometimes the best thing wasn't always the right one and that the Guardians weren't supposed to worry about the right things like their Lanterns were, but rather what was best for the universe.
Civilians had to be good, Lanterns had to be right and just and the Guardians had to be the best. They couldn't just do their best but rather had to act in accordance with the best option for the universe.
"Do you know what this is?" Batman's chin jerked out in the direction of the bomb's remnants.
"A bomb?" Arley replied; Batman shot her a dry side glare. "Sorry," she lied with a smirk. Arley raised her hand. "Ring, scan and identify," she ordered.
A light shot out from Arley's ring and scanned over the melted pieces of the bomb and a hologram with only three words— unable to identify —appeared over her ring. Arley's head jerked back with a frown.
"That's impossible," Arley said, she looked at Batman, "The ring knows everything the Guardians know and they know everything."
Batman nudged Arley to the side wordless and with a sharp but questioning look, Arley moved and allowed the young, caped man to stand in front of it.
Batman pulled some sort of gadget from his belt and held it up to the remnants of the bomb; Arley peaked around him and peered at his belt, wondering just where the gadget had been pulled from as the belt didn't look like it could contain much.
"I thought this was a bomb?"
"It blew up, it's gotta be, why?" Arley's left brow raised.
"Because it's not reading like an alien bomb or computer," Batman said, "We need to know about this thing. Do you think you could remove it from the wall?"
Arley looked at the legs that had embedded themselves in the sewer walls and then to Batman.
"Sure but-uh, where are we taking it though? Cause I can't take you Oa and this isn't really the best place to operate on this—" Arley flourished her hand in the direction of what she had thought to be a bomb, "—So where do you think we should take this?"
Batman didn't smile, but he wasn't smirking either, it was a mixture of the two; a bit of both as his chest puffed out.
"I've got a place," he said.
….
The Batcave— as Batman had called it —was insane. Leaving Arley, as Batman led her and the wall she had taken from the Gotham sewers through the cave, to worry slightly about both the caped man's sanity and just how the cave had come to be.
"Where did you even find this place?" Arley asked as Batman led her to what he had told her was his lab.
"I built it," Batman said, Arley blinked.
"Like, by yourself?" Batman turned and looked at Arley as the door to his lab opened.
"It's late, shouldn't you call home?" He asked, "You live with Carol Ferris, don't you?" He added. "She might be worried if she doesn't hear from you."
Arley found herself taking a half a step back before she cocked her head; her nose crunched up, and Arley found herself shaking her head.
"Carol knows I'm doing important stuff, she won't worry." If Arley up and disappeared for weeks on end Carol would though; when Arley had come back from overseeing the peace treaty the day before Carol— who was already running late for an important meeting —had caught Arley coming home and took time to pause so that she could say hello and make sure that Arley was okay.
Carol had noticed she'd been gone.
"You don't have anyone to call?" Arley let her head bob forward.
"No," Arley told Batman, "I don't have to call anyone."
"Would you have called anyone?" Batman then asked, "If I hadn't showed up would you have called your Corps for back up?"
"No?" Arley replied.
"You could have died," Batman said and Arley's lips pressed together.
"I've already told you Bats, I'm not just some kid. I was trained to handle myself in situations just like that. I would've had it handled-I did have it handled."
"And if you hadn't?" Bruce asked, "If you had died—"
"—Then I died-if I die, I die. Bats that's sort of how this gig works," Arley said in a know-it-all tone of voice, "If you're not going to stick to bank robbers and the mob and you're going to throw down with aliens working for Darkseid and stuff like that then you're going to die, and you're going to need to be okay with that."
Batman opened his mouth only to close it when nothing came out. He gave Arley a measured look that she couldn't quite decipher as it was over before she could feel its full weight. Batman then ducked his head and when he picked it back half a moment later up he nodded.
"You're young, I just want to make sure you know what could have happened." How could she not have?
"Trust me, I know what's at stake every time I put on the uniform." At ten she had seen more death than most soldiers; she'd been thrown into bloody intergalactic wars with the sole purpose of ending them— by ten she had killed —because that was her job.
At ten she was more than ready to die.
"Then why do you do this? Why not let someone else?"
Because Ganthet had offered her a place to belong; a family. A safe haven and she was selfish.
Arley shrugged; that wasn't the kind of answer people wanted to hear. Carol had coached her on what to say when people asked— when reports asked her on why she had become a hero at such a young age she was supposed to say 'Because I can be and how can I not if I have that power?' —but Batman wasn't just some reporter in the streets, he was like her more than he wasn't, he didn't deserve to be lied to.
"Why do you do it?" She asked in return instead. "Why not let someone else?" She parroted.
Batman let out a breath of air through his nose; he turned his back to Arley, signaling the end of the conversation without bothering to answer.
"This way," Batman said pointing to a table, "You can put the device down here."
And back to work they went.