𝔾𝕠𝕥𝕙𝕒𝕞, ℂ𝕚𝕥𝕪 𝕠𝕗 𝕃𝕚𝕖𝕤 | Ｅｄｗａｒｄ Ｎａｓｈｔｏｎ

Ｔｈｒｅｅ

It was late at night. Bruce was waiting at the table for the food to arrive so he could leave to work. It was odd to Alice how this seemed to be frequent. Asking him to stay and eat dinner was out of the option, and Alice didn't ask any further questions but one. 

"Can I go out tonight?" 

"No, not tonight. it's too dangerous" 

"well, I really shouldn't ask for your permission. I'm not sixteen" 

"My house My rules." 

"You mean OUR house?" 

"Who has lived here longer?" 

"Did I even have a choice to stay!?" 

"Enough from the both of you!" 

Alfred slammed his newspaper onto the table ending the dispute between the siblings.

"I'm not hungry" 

Alice stood up from the table and walked upstairs to her room. Bruce didn't call her to return even though Alice deeply wanted him to. She wanted her brother to feel like he was glad she was here. Maybe there's a reason he's such an asshole, but Alice wasn't going to waste another precious year finding out. She waited for Bruce to leave before changing into a pleasant outfit.   She wasn't sure where she would go, and she knew it would be dangerous in Gotham tonight. She just didn't know how dangerous. Alfred wasn't anywhere near insight, so walking out of the home wasn't a problem, it was  Bruce finding out that would be a problem.  

She walked the streets of Gotham City once again and attempted to hide her appearance well. It was busier at night, she could tell, and an awful lot of children and teens walked the empty roads to the big houses which would be loaded with king-size candy bars. She finally passed the crowds of people, and into empty streets. She would occasionally be stopped by randoms who would ask obvious disgusting questions. Alice wished someone accompanied her, but she didn't even know where she was headed. She probably wanted to find a random bar with good liquor. It was what she would do after she had a hard week at college, but wouldn't get too wasted because she had no one to look after her. 

She continued walking until her feet started hurting.  She stood at a nearby wall, repositioning her worn-out shoes. She looked up noticing what seemed to be a bat symbol. She was confused about what it indicated. Was there some circus nearby? She was confused by this until she read a newspaper titled:

𝕿𝖍𝖊 𝕲𝖔𝖙𝖍𝖆𝖒 𝕲𝖆𝖟𝖊𝖙𝖙𝖊

ʙᴀᴛᴍᴀɴ

ꜱᴀᴠɪᴏʀ ᴏʀ ᴍᴇɴᴀᴄᴇ?

Alice continued skimming through the newspaper. The Batman was a vigilante, he would only appear at night in a dark, black "bat costume" which earned him his name. She wondered if he was another conceited guy who earned enough cash to do what he did. But it wasn't her business, he was keeping the city tidy; that should be enough for the cops.  As she continued walking, the streets seemed to be scarier and scarier. She had nothing but a pepper spray in her pocket, but she was unsure if It worked or not. Alice made her way into an alleyway that was surrounded by poorly constructed apartments. She noticed a guy behind her,  his face was covered by his hood, and his hands were shoved in his pockets. Danger. Everything about this screamed, Danger. She fumbled in her pockets and pulled her pepper spray out. She was trembling, her whole body was trembling, and she was alone. She turned around again, and the guy was now much closer. Alice didn't know what to do. She thought about running but her feet disobeyed her. She bit her lip to stop her teeth from clattering and folded her arms as the air got more chilly. She glanced behind her and now the guy was inches from her. She let a shout as he lunged at her.

Now Alice was fighting for her dear life. The man sat on top of her, attempting to grab her hands together to stop Alice from fighting. The Pepper spray was thrown somewhere in the darkness, and tears streamed down her face as she felt herself dying. She wasn't hurt, but she knew she soon would be. if only she listened to her brother, if only she wasn't so petty and stubborn. Before she could accept her fate the man was pulled off of her and got himself nearly killed. Alice sat up, walking a few feet away from where she lay. Grunts and groans were heard from the guy, and the attacker was holding a mask in his left hand. His hair was a dirty blonde. His type of clothes wasn't able to make out in the little light they got from the street lamp but he didn't want to show his identity to Alice. Not yet, it was too soon. He glanced slightly over his shoulder, not showing his face fully. 

"Get--Get out of here..."  

Alice didn't respond, she ran. Ran faster than she's ever done in years. She didn't thank the man, she couldn't. Because he was much of a criminal like the one who attacked Alice. She just didn't know how much. But it was now risky for Edward. Because he just saved Alice Wayne.