Rites of Passage | Damian x OC

1. Jessica

She'd always been on the run for as long as she could remember. Running from home, authority, shelters, friendships – she'd done it all. It wasn't always her choice, but it was one of the few things that had remained a constant in her life, whether she liked it or not.

Today, though, was the first time ever she was on the run from Gotham's famed dark knight, the one criminals hated, envied, or admired (sometimes all at the same time, depending on who you asked). In a sense, it was amusing because she never would have guessed she would fall under his radar the way that she did. Batman tracking down a 17-year-old girl with a short, flimsy rap sheet? It would've been confusing and downright laughable to anyone else.

If only the situation really was the way it looked, and there wasn't actually more to the story.

Yet, the masked hero was following her into the closed warehouse as she tried to quietly navigate her way through the dark. She found herself in a very large stock room with tall racks of shelving and groups of pallets and boxes everywhere. The cold, night air chilled her skin through the black clothing she wore, and what little light came from the street lamps outside filtered in through the windows. Large shipments of boxed product sat in haphazard mountains across the floor, providing decent cover as she crept into the shadows. The only sound echoing throughout the building was water dripping from a leak somewhere, the droplets pattering in a slow, steady rhythm.

Was it surprising that Batman was after her? After all, she was a part of the small gang committing a string of criminal acts across Gotham... except what they did was far from petty theft and armed robbery. No, what they did was much more discreet with higher stakes and enough of a bother to attract the attention of the city's greatest hero.

"We don't have to make this difficult."

A low voice came from somewhere across from the building. His words echoed slightly thanks to the metal structures and items around them, making it harder to guess where exactly he was. Her heart skipped a beat with the nervousness building in her chest, but she remained still in her position between a pair of tall racks stocked with supplies and boxes. Glancing around at her surroundings, she carefully made her way toward the center of the floor, keeping herself low and hidden among the wrapped pallets. It was a miracle her wet shoes weren't squeaking or making obvious noises.

"We don't have to do it at all," she spoke, relieved to hear the lack of nerves in her voice, which bounced nicely off all the surfaces in the large room. She couldn't let him know she was actually... scared.

It was silent for such a long moment that she wondered if he'd left. Keeping her breathing even, she snuck over to the next pallet just as she caught a glimpse of something dark slipping into the corner where she'd been a minute ago.

Shit. Of course not.

There was a door about twenty, maybe thirty, feet away, barely visible beyond several piles of packages and trash. Judging by the yellow light shining through the small windowpane, it led outside to the back end of the property. That was it. That was her escape route.

If she could manage to make it to the rendezvous point and meet up with the others, it would be quite a story for them to hear. Escaping from the Batman... It was a wonder, though, that he'd decided to chase after her when he and the other hero, Robin, crashed their burglary. Jax and the others had taken off in one direction, and she'd gone in another. Was it really that important to catch the one straggler as opposed to the others who were dipping from the scene in the same direction?

Well, it wasn't like she could ask him.

No, there was no time for that. She could wonder about it later when she wasn't crouching in a dark, cold warehouse with Batman probably looking right at her. Taking a deep breath, she prepared herself for her one and only attempt to make it out the door. A few peeks here and there told her that he wasn't in the immediate vicinity, so she reached behind her head and pulled on the hood of her sweater as if the additional coverage would do the final trick.