Family Line // B. Wayne

three

 Slowly, the monorail screeched to a stop. Lily was up and out of her seat in seconds and heading down the platform. She had stayed late in the hopes of finishing a test she was running on some new modified body armor for Lucius, but that resulted in her walking home in the dark...in the Bowery. It wasn't her first time doing this and it certainly wouldn't be the last, but she still was wracked with nerves every time. Her fingers curled tightly around the object in her pocket the second she stepped onto the street and she focused her gaze on the ground so she wouldn't make eye contact with anyone.

She was five minutes away from her apartment when the first low whistle sounded in her ear. Lily hunched her shoulders closer into her body and raised her chin defiantly, walking with a purpose. She didn't hurry her steps or look scared. That would just feed them.

"C'mon sweetheart, give us a smile!"

Lily shut her eyes for just a moment to regain herself before she forged ahead. She just needed to get to her apartment complex. Her senses went on alert and she could hear every step behind her. Three men walking at a fast pace. She had to make a decision and she had to make it fast.

Lily abruptly turned on her heel and darted into an alley. She pressed herself against the darkened bricks and held her breath against the acrid stench of piss and trash. The footsteps slowed and tentatively entered the alley.

"Dead end," one of the men chuckled. "She couldn't have gotten far."

Lily stepped further back into the shadows and slowly extracted her fist from her coat pocket. She waited until she could see the lead guy's face in the weak moonlight.

"Come out, come out, wherever you are," he cooed.

Lily snapped her switchblade over, the three inch blade flipping out and landing on the guy's cheek. He reared back just as her sneaker clad foot came swinging out of the shadows and clocked him in the gut. She ducked under the second guy's fist and brought her knee up to connect with his family jewels. He doubled over and she slammed her elbow down onto the back of his neck.

The third man charged at her and Lily grunted as his fist landed on her side. She twisted her blade into a defensive position and swung it at him. He dodged it just barely, the tip gashing across the bridge of his nose. Lily backed up to give herself a chance to regain her breathing and adjusted her grip on her knife as the three men picked themselves back up.

"Want your ass kicked some more?" she snapped. "Because there's more of where that came from."

"I like it when they put up a fight," the first guy chuckled. Lily took a step back but her back collided with a solid wall. She bit her lip and prepared to scream when a low, gravelly voice came from behind her.

"Then you'll love me."

The wall behind her shifted and a hulking figure draped in black stepped around Lily. The three men let out another round of laughter but they were quickly cut off by swift punches. Lily stared as the figure hauled the men up and tossed them neatly out of the alley. She swallowed against the lump in her throat and hesitantly raised her blade up once again.

"I'm not going to hurt you," the figure said.

"And I'm just supposed to believe that?" She hoped he couldn't hear how her voice trembled from fear. He stepped closer towards the light, illuminating his tall figure. A mask covered his face, only leaving his mouth and eyes exposed. Two ear-like points stood at the ends of his cowl and she started to piece it together.

"You're him. The one they were talking about on the news. The Batman."

He nodded and she narrowed her eyes but folded the blade back into its hilt and shoved it into her pocket. "Thanks, I guess."

"You need to follow through with your kicks."

Lily scoffed and crossed her arms over her chest. "Excuse me?"

"You have good form, but the power behind your hits weaken if you don't follow through. Increases your chance of getting away."

She blinked the surprise out of her eyes. "Oh...thanks."

He shifted a little, revealing more of his figure in the moonlight. A bat was emblazoned across his chest on some kind of body armor. Lily narrowed her eyes at the symbol and pursed her lips.

"You really went all out for the bat thing, huh?"

"Good night, Miss Amapola. Have a safe walk home."

He stepped back into the shadows and disappeared. Lily stepped over the limp bodies at the mouth of the alley and walked the remainder of her commute home, acutely aware of how the hair on the back of her neck stood up. Someone was watching her.

Her roommates were seated on the couch and watching TV when she entered their tiny apartment. Miles instantly clocked her harried expression and pulled himself up with a grace normally reserved for the stage. He wordlessly passed her a beer and Lily nodded in thanks before she took a long drink.

"What's got you all shook?"

Lily sat down on one of the folded chairs they had nabbed from a dumpster one day and blinked. She tried to form the right words in her mouth and then hesitated before shaking her head to clear her thoughts.

"I think...I think a guy dressed as a bat just saved my life."

Geena leaned over and shut the TV off before she joined them at the kitchen table. "Alright, what the fuck?"

It's not until she's splayed out on her thin, mildew soaked mattress at one in the morning that she realizes something.

She never told him her name.