Gotham and you

19

Alfred stood aside to let you in, his gaze full of confusion, sadness and pure joy.

"Where's Bruce?" You asked stepping inside.

"Oh umm." He straightened his vest slightly. "He's up in his room. Packing."

You didn't bother with asking any questions as to why he was packing, you just sprinted up the stairs towards his room.

His door was open and as soon as he heard footsteps come if towards the door he turned. When your eyes met his he dropped his bag on his bed and ran towards you.

He held you tight sending an agonizing pain through your shoulders.

He felt you flinch and let go "what happened?" He asked as tears threatened to fall down his face.

"Strange." Was all you could say in the moment.

Bruce nodded as if he understood. "What did he do y/n?" He asked softly.

The pain in your shoulders subsided and you finally found your voice. "He did something to my DNA, I can survive in any environment. And trust me Bruce, I mean any environment." Alfred came and stood in the door to listen to you explain what happened. "Hell, Strange once told me that if I was thrown into a volcano the fall would kill me and the lava would leave my body untouched." You let out a weak chuckle. "But if I survived the fall I would feel it all." The tears began to fall. "My nerves are in constant overdrive. It hurts."

"What hurts?" Bruce asked in a sweet voice.

"Everything." More tears came. "The floor under my shoes, the scratchy fabric of my shirt. Everything."

"What do you mean exactly, when you said you could survive any environment." Alfred asked.

You walked over to the bedside table where a single candle was lit. "It won't burn me." You said sadly, holding your open palm over the flame, allowing it to face between your fingers and tickle your knuckles. It hurt, a hundred times worse than it ever felt before, so you set the candle back down, trying to focus on anything but the pain.

Bruce set a gentle hand on your shoulder. "We're leaving for Switzerland tonight, please y/n, come with us."

You shook your head and went back towards the door. "I can't. I need to figure some things out here. But I'll be right here when you guys come back."

They both silently nodded as you left to go back to your room.

Time skip

Bruce and Alfred has been gone for a few weeks, in that time you went through every piece of clothing you owned and felt every inch to make sure it wasn't uncomfortable, in the end you had given more than 90% of everything away to the homeless kids around Gotham. And with Cat helping it didn't take too long.

You had also been working in getting a grip on your pain, you sat for hours everyday, holding your hands over flames, mainly because it was the easiest to control.

Eventually you figured it out, you found out that you could cast out your pain, and as you let the fire from your lighter dance across your skin you only felt the warmth, and damn did it feel good.

You had placed an order for the same chemical that Strange had bleached your skin with. After a bit of convincing you figured out what it was and ordered a few cups.

The process was unbearable, but eventually you got it, and now you sat cris cross in the study with the bowl of bright green chemicals in front of you.

That chemical, whatever it was, was the single most painful thing you had ever experienced. And you knew that if you could handle this pain, you could handle any pain.

You rolled up your sleeves and looked at the pale streak on your hand, deciding to dip that hand instead of the other.

You put your hand in quickly, completely submerging yourself up to the start of your wrist. At first it burned, but only for a split second. Then it was a simply buzz of pain, like someone had just slapped the back of your hand.

You giggled to yourself pulling out your now completely pale hand, mainly because you finally had full control of your pain.

You carefully discarded the chemical and rinsed off your hand.

You didn't want anyone to ask about it so you went up to your parents old room.

It was still completely untouched, you and Bruce had decided not to move anything or change it, so it was exactly how it was the night they died.

You walked into their large closet, eventually finding a box on your mothers side with a pair of gloves engraved into the top of the wood.

You dug through the soft and thick winter gloves, and the thin silk ones she would always wear to party's until you found what you were looking for.

A pair of pitch black elegant leather gloves.

You pulled them on, and they were a perfect fit, even going slightly passed your wrists so even if they did slip no one could see the pale skin underneath.

Time skip

You sat on the couch in the living room, watching the news. All the monsters from Indian Hill were being captured one at a time.

Even a few days ago Gordon stopped by to ask if you knew anything. Since you were at Indian Hill for so long it didn't surprise you that Jim, and even Harvey at one point came asking.

Now there was another knock at the door. You let out a deep sigh pressing the mute button on the TV.

"Oh hey Cat." You opened the door to see Salina. "What's up?"

"Fish wants to see you." She said with a rather sour tone.

"Why didn't she come herself?" You crossed your arms.

"Penguins got a million bucks out for her head, she can't exactly waltz up to the Wayne Manor out in the open you know." She stepped inside.

"Well why haven't I heard from her since the escape? A phone call, or letter would have been nice." Salina just sighed as you wrapped a flannel around your shoulders, keeping your gloves tucked into the sleeves.

"Are you coming or not?" She eventually snapped.

"Well yeah. My aunt Fish wants to see me." You grabbed your car keys and headed out.

Time skip

Salina had been giving you directions as you drove, and you had eventually pulled into the lot of an abandoned bank.

She led the way through the long empty halls, until you came to a large room.

"Hey Fish, heard ya wanted to see me?" You strolled through the room, not afraid of the other people around you. You knew what they had been through, and they knew what you went through. It was a mutual respect of past trauma.

"Awe yes. Y/n dear, I wanted to ask you a few things." She stood with more power than she did before.

"Alright. Go ahead." You said so she could continue.

"Since you, being a Wayne, have access to the Wayne company. I'd like you to figure out where they're keeping Strange."

You had wondered the same thing, but never actually thought to look into it. "Why so suddenly?" You asked.

"Well you see, I'm dying. Every time I use my powers I get weaker. And I want Strange to fix me."

You nodded. "Is there anything else?" You figured she would at least ask how you were doing, or say something other than that.

"No. Just find Selena and let her know, or come back here and tell me yourself, whichever way you prefer."

"Alright." You said duly. "I'll let ya know if I figure anything out, but for right now." You paused. "I've got a little brother who's supposed to be home in a few hours." You turned and started leaving. "Always a pleasure talking to ya Fish."