Batman Begins/Dark Knight 1. Chapter 1

Living in Gotham city didn't seem like anyone's dream, it featured on the news so often with their stories of mass murderers, and masked villains and the amount of break outs there had been at the Asylum there. It didn't have a good image, which was probably why so many people, unless born there, tried to keep out of such a dark and corrupt city. Everyone knew not to be out at night in Gotham, the fears of what happened in the dark were enough for the citizens not to want to sleep at night, and the politicians did nothing to help those living there. Many in power in the city were also corrupt, living by their own rules, and no one crossed them out of fear. Though, there was that one beacon of hope, the masked vigilante that spent his nights protecting the citizens of the city, most people didn't know whether to trust him, or to be afraid of him. But one thing for sure was that he was keeping the innocents out of harms way.

Jessica knew all of this; she had heard all the stories recited to her by her parents as they warned her not to move out of Metropolis. It wasn't as if Metropolis didn't have it's own problems, but her family home was well out of the way, so they managed to avoid all the hassle that was cleaned up by their own 'superhero'. The reason for the 24 year olds move was a job opportunity, for years Jessica had been trying to make it big as a news presenter, but half the people in the city wanted women from a posh background, people to make Metropolis look good, and so no one had ever taken her on. However an internship with Gotham's news department was exactly what she needed, after a two-week trial period they would decide whether she would have the job permanently.

"You will write?" questioned an elderly woman, she was slim, bones poking out everywhere and a tired wrinkled face, but still it held warmth and kindness as she smiled looking at Jessica.

"I promise, I'll send you letter with all the gory details at least twice a we-"

"And you'll call, every night?"

"Yes…Don't worry about it, I'll be fine," Jessica said, her tone sounded as if she had repeated those words hundred of times by that point, which was quite possibly true.

"Alright…Well good luck," her mother said, tears coming to her eyes as she wrapped her arms around the red headed girl. A small smile came to Jessica's lips as she held the woman to her tightly, at 24 she still lived at home and this would be the longest she had been away (other then her holiday to Spain about 3 years ago).

Jessica stepped into the taxi closing the door and looking out the window as her mother began to wave, she smiled lightly waving back before the engine started, taking her further away from the home she had always known. It was a long drive to Gotham and she wasn't too fond of that, the taxi by that point had drifted into an awkward silence and so she took to staring out of the window, letting the world outside entertain her for the few hours she spent there. For a moment her eyes went to the mirror, though she instantly regretted it as her bright green eyes made the hazy grey ones of the driver. She quickly turned back to the window, hoping for the drive to pass even quicker by that point.

"So…What's ya name sweetie?" questioned the gruff voice from the front seat.

"Jessica."

"Little Jessie," he murmured to himself causing her to shudder slightly at the way it came out, she could have literally left the taxi at that moment but seeing as they had just entered Gotham she wouldn't have any idea where to go. Nor did she trust the streets of Gotham any more than the man driving her to the location.

Around 10 more minutes passed before the taxi pulled up at the side of the road, the driver turning to her with a small smirk on his lips.

"Come on little Jessie, there's enough room in that back seat for the two of us."

"It's Jessica," she reminded him, calming herself even though she could feel her heart thumping in her chest, her eyes looked past the slimy man to see how much the fare was before she handed him the money, being careful not to touch his hands. "Thanks…"

She stepped out the taxi, her eyes looking up at the large building before her; she just remained in that spot for a few minutes before taking in a deep breath and dragging her suitcase with her inside. She fished her apartment key out and looked at the number on it, which she waited for the elevator to come down, her foot tapping on the floor beneath her. A loud slam came from the elevator before the door shuddered open; she slipped inside and then pressed the number 9 on the keypad before the doors shut again. She leant back against the shattered mirror wall and only hoped her room was better than what she had seen already, her eyes stared ahead through the window on the door looking out onto the elevator shaft. Peeling paint walls, graffiti and strange brown stains covered it, along with the pitch-black halls of the other floors and she counted them waiting for the ninth floor to arrive.

Eventually the door shuddered open again revealing a green metal door with the number 9 painted on it, and with a hard push she was welcomed to her floor. Her fingers ran over the walls hunting for a light switch which she eventually found before she tugged her suitcase clear of the elevator doors. A loud bang from behind her caused her to flinch in fear, her eyes frantically searching through the dim orange light for her room.

"901," she breather out, rushing over to her room as the elevator began moving back down the shaft again behind her, clunking as it did. She stumbled in upon unlocking the door and left the suitcase to the side, there was no point in her unpacking seeing as it had gone 1 am and she was at work early the next day so she stripped off and climbed onto the bed. She was rather happy that the sheets smelled clean, no disgusting smell lingering on them and her hands went to the TV remote, turning on the news for a brief moment.

Murder. Breakout. Murder. Kidnapping. Murder. Batman.

Her eyes stared at the screen and she swallowed hard before turning the TV off again, it wasn't such a good idea for her to have done that, it did nothing for her nerves. She leant back in her bed, eyes closing as she listened to the sounds of the city, the occasional angry driver, muffled voices from the room next door. Gunshots. Gunshots?

Her eyes opened for a moment before she grabbed her pillow holding it against her ears to block all the sounds out, she didn't want to hear any of it, and she just wanted to sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

Morning arrived far to soon for Jessica's liking, though that was perhaps her own fault for watching the news before bed, so at least she had learnt her lesson for every other night she would be staying there. She felt it rather lucky that she wasn't prone to nightmares, if she had been the night before would have been littered with them, each one around the many faces she had remembered over the years from Gotham's new stories. Her eyes went to the clock beside her, it told her that she had indeed only had around 4 hours sleep, but she still swung her legs lazily over the side of her bed. Perhaps that night she should try and get to sleep earlier, especially if this was how it might be for the next few years if she got the job. A yawn left her mouth before she rose up, fingers idly going to her hair, twisting it around one finger as she wandered to the bathroom to get ready. As the stereotypical woman's morning routine went, it took her an hour before she felt ready to leave the house, she felt ready for the day and her smart attire was sure to impress (at least that was what she hoped).

As she opened the door however there was a look of surprise on her face, police tape was placed around next doors apartment, the one that she heard the murmuring from and around 5 officers looked towards her as she stood there in surprise. Her first thought however wasn't about what had happened, but more about the fact that she couldn't be late for her first day.

"Do you mind if we ask you a few questions?" asked the officer now in front of her.

"Well, actually I really ne-"

"It will only take a few minutes," he said cutting her off, to which all she could really do was give a small nod.

"Did you hear anything peculiar last night from your neighbours?" he started, pulling out a small pad in which to write everything down in.

"No, I only just moved in last night and all I heard was talking, but nothing I could make out," Jessica replied honestly.

"And what about-"

Luckily this time it was the officer who was cut off, though not my Jessica, but by a scream from the floor above, it was long, shrill, and cause the hairs on her arms to stand on end.

'What a great first day in Gotham,' she thought to herself, the officers all raced off to the stairs, and really she should have been thankful that it gave her the chance to leave. But she couldn't help wondering what it was that had happened, but if there was any luck by the time she reached the news desk she'd find out soon enough. So she locked up her apartment and headed to the same elevator that had brought her up the previous night, though this time she chose not to stare out the small window and just to look at her own muddled reflection in the broken glass.

The clunk she heard indicated she was on the ground floor and soon stepped out the building where a taxi sat there waiting for her, she climbed in and off they went and she was rather thankful that the driver kept his eyes on the road and not her. It made a change from the night before. They drove deep into the city before arriving at a tall glass building, very posh looking and all she could hope was that she'd fit in, she handed some money to the driver before making her was inside to the reception desk.

"Hi, I'm Jessica Smith, I'm the new-"

Again she was cut off, it was seemingly becoming a habit, but this tim eit was the receptionist shaving a large brown envelop under her nose, she took it and muttered a thank you to her before walking past the desk opening the envelope as she went.

A set of keys fell into her hand, yet another room number on them, and that meant actually locating the room too, unluckily there was no map to guide her around so it became an act of trial and error. To begin with the figured she was doing rather well, that was until she walked in on the live broadcast, ran into the dinner trolley and slipped on the wet floor outside one of the bathrooms. Finally however she reached the news room, already each desk had been filled and the only one left free she presumed would be hers.

"Jessica Smith?" questioned a voice as she reached the empty desk, she looked up and came face to face with someone she certainly recognised. Vickie Vale, the new reporter, most people knew her by that point, in fact just last year she had been taken hostage and yet still didn't leave her job, though Jessica was sure her pay would have gone up.

"That's me," she replied smiling at the slightly older woman.

"Your with me, watch closely, learn, and just maybe you'll have my job one day," she said, indicating for her to follow.

Jessica gathered the things she had set down at the desk and rushed off to follow Vickie, she didn't really know what to expect over the next two weeks but she certainly hadn't expect to go out into the field on her first day.

Not too long after she had arrived Jessica found herself sat in the news van, Vickie, along with the camera operator and sound guy were all sat in it looking over the recent files to do with the mass blackgate prison breakout.

"Not too far from here is where they struck, three of them broke into a jewellers, after taking what they could they committed their first kill, apparently right now they're holding a family hostage at Gotham Bank. That is where we're heading," Vickie said, Jessica nodded to her; again fear taking over as her mind thought about being that close to a dangerous criminal. But she swallowed hard and buckled herself in as the van started up.

"Don't worry about it, that's why we have the vests," muttered the sound guy from next to her, she looked down at her own apparently bullet proof vest and sighed lightly. "Seriously, I was like this on my first day, but eventually you get used it and each day becomes like the rest."

"So what, you just get used to people being killed every day?" she questioned raising one brow at him.

"Yeah, pretty much."

She didn't know if she liked the sound of that, the idea of being desensitised and it all become normal didn't sound right, it was that fear that kept some people alive. Her eyes went to the window, watching the many people walking to work and wondering just how many of them had already become used to the way Gotham was, how many of them were afraid to go out at night.


	3. Chapter 3

The moment we closed in on the bank the more people we saw staring, they recognised the van almost immediately and the odd jeer came to follow. Vickie seemed pretty used to it by now, but that was what was to be expected of her, she couldn't just pack it all in cause a couple of people didn't like her hard-hitting news. Eventually the van stopped and all four of them raced out trying to find a spot with the best visuals, after pushing past a few hundred people they arrived at the patrol cars and finally the camera was on.

"This is Vickie Vale coming to you live outside Gotham Bank, as you heard already a family of 7 is being held captive inside by one of Gotham's most dangerous criminals. He broke out of Blackgate early yesterday morning and there is still no sign of him letting anyone go at this stage."

Jessica watched for a few moments before her gaze fell on the bank, from their position you could clearly see two men stood guard of the doors, both heavily padded up stopping the cops from doing and real damage if they shot at them. Past the two men you could only just make out the bald headed man inside, strolling up and down, but as he looked out the door she flinched. It was almost as if he had looked right at her, but there were so many people outside at that moment, it wasn't really possible.

"Well, well, well, Miss Vale, no surprises that you would be here."

The voice broke her train of thought, at least for that moment and she looked at the officer before them, she eyed his badge for a minute looking for a name but Vickie had beaten her to it.

"Jim Gordon, no surprises either. Don't suppose you have a comment?" she questioned, as if on queue the cameraman turned the camera on him and a look of displeasure washed over him.

"You'll never learn," he muttered under his breath and the camera moved away from him, it was then that his gaze turned on the only one he didn't recognise. "Whose this? Got a new member to try and get some dirt?"

Jessica scowled at that, every office seemed to have a grudge against every journalist, it was obvious why but that didn't mean she had to like it, she also didn't like that fact that the officer hadn't actually addressed her. She was stood right there.

"This is our new intern, she's on a two week trial and then she'll have her own crew Gordon, better watch out," she added winking at him, she knew how to get under his skin that was apparent but with all the excitement going on their eyes hadn't been on the building.

"He's got a gun!"

The officers shout was followed by hundreds of screams and a stampede of feet, Jessica looked around frantically, Vickie however had disappeared along with the rest of the team and the only thing she could do was follow the crowd. That wasn't easily done, there were than many people it was rather difficult to move until a hand gripped her shoulder. She turned in relief expecting one of the cameramen or even an officer, however the colour orange filled her sight and her eyes widened in horror.

"Stay still," he snarled as the gun was held at her head, his arm wrapped around her throat tightly, keeping her in place as he turned to the police cars. "Now put your guns down."

Jessica's eyes searched for Vickie, for any of the others, but when she found them she couldn't have been more surprised, she was there talking to the camera before the camera turned on her. This was the last thing she had wanted on her first day at work, and should her parents find this on the news that day they would come and pick her up themselves.

A clatter of equipment on the floor made her look back to the police, they had all done exactly as asked, that caused her to breath a sigh of relief, with some luck she wouldn't actually be dying on spot. That was what she thought a first until she heard a click from the gun. Her eyes widened more as she began to struggle against him, she didn't want to die then and there, she had too much that she wanted to do, a million thoughts went through her head, things that she wanted to do with her life.

"D-Don't do this…I…" she started off, but his hand covered her mouth, the smell was terrible and she instantly wished she had kept her mouth shut, but whines still echoed from her throat as tears fell from her watery eyes. She should have listened to her parents and stayed at home, she should have applied for a normal job, worked at the local store, then at least she wouldn't have been there right now. "Now then…Any last words for the camera?"

She was forced to turn towards it, her eyes looking dead in the lens as his hand moved, she blubbered ever so slightly before sniffing up hard.

"P-Please don't kill me," she sobbed out before the hand covered her mouth again, his other hand went to stroke her hair using the gun to do so as he whispered in her ear.

"Let her go," said a gruff voice from behind them, the man holding her spun around and her eyes settled on the cloaked figure before her, the infamous Batman. The sound of guns being picked back up game from behind her and they all began shouting freeze towards him. "Hold your breath."

Jessica looked to him confused before realising he was talking to her, so without a second thought she did so just as he threw two small pellets to the floor. A thick fog covered the area and the arms once holding her moved as a loud cough echoed behind her. Though within a second she felt a strong wind and two muscular arms gripping her tightly, she closed her eyes at this, clinging onto whoever had hold of her and upon feeling hard ground she opened them again.

"T-Thank you," she stammered, her eyes looked towards the Batman, the one who had just saved her but his eyes didn't look at her, he merely turned away.

"Someone like you shouldn't be working with the press," he said in his usual gruff voice.

"Pardon?"

"The press, Vale, Cops, they're all first in line when it comes to picking someone out of the crowd to hold hostage, it causes more of a stir. If you can't hack it, get out of the city."

Those were his last words to her before he left, and immediately her mind went to work thinking over everything he had just said, she knew that Vickie had been kidnapped perhaps 5 times before. She was well known though, she hadn't even gotten through her first day yet. Besides, who wouldn't be afraid if an armed man had hold of them?

"Jessie that was a brilliant performance."

"Excuse me?" she questioned facing Vickie who had come racing towards her.

"You know, the whole 'Don't kill me' to the camera, we made big news today kid," she said excitedly, which was something she couldn't believe.

"Performance? He had a gun at my head!" She cried out staring at her not quite believing what had just come out of her mouth. "I was shitting myself that entire time and you had the camera on me!"

"You still have a lot to learn if you ever expect to have this job kid," she added before turning away. "Batman was always going to save you anyways, that's what he was waiting for. He wouldn't have killed you. Feel free to take the rest of the day off."

With that she left, Jessica however stood there not believing what had happened, the fact that both Batman and her mentor basically told her off that day was something she hadn't quite expected. That was her first time in such a situation, how else was she going to act but scared to death by it all? Sighing, she turned away from the scene, so long as she found her way home before darkness fell she would be safe, at least that was what she told herself. So she wandered the city, bought a few new items of clothing and had her dinner in small café close to the docks. Gotham wasn't that bad, it just depended where you were.


	4. Chapter 4

At around 2am Arkham really came to life, screams of the many different inmates echoing down the halls, a greedy chuckle coming from those that enjoyed those sounds. From other maniacal laughs sounded, hand gripping the metal bars that served as their only window to the darkened asylum. The only place the screams didn't reach was the secure wing, the place where the most dangerous were kept, each one strapped down to their beds, their eyes wandering around the yellowing walls that surrounded them. There was no freedom for these people, no talking, no whispering just the endless rattle of the furthest cell where the owner of it kept trying to escape. None of them spoke, but one of them had a large grin on his face, a twinkle in his eyes showing that he knew something the rest of them didn't. His own little secret.

* * *

Tuesday came and went rather too quickly for Jessica's liking, her second day at work fortunately not as exciting as her first. She spent the day observing the tasks that Vickie did, learning what was needed to be a field reporter. It wasn't a difficult task to learn, just that she had to know everything about the situation she would be reporting back on. She was also told that at the end of the week she would get to do her own solo report, she would have her own team and that excited her more than anything.

"Now don't forget, earlier start tomorrow be here for around…5," Vickie said reminding Jessica as she grabbed her coat.

"Alright, I'll be here."

A small smile came from Vickie's mouth before she left that day, in a way it calmed Jessica after the previous days event, though in her hand she clutched a leaflet for self-defence lessons. The camera operator; now known to be called Jack gave it to her just in case, it was obvious she'd never been in a situation like it before and as he said 'it's always best to be prepared'.

The club where the lessons were taught in was only around the corner from her work place, it made it easy enough for her to get there and the moment she walked in she had a feeling that it would take her while to come to grips with everything. She watched the younger class, all of them better than her. A sigh left her lips as she pressed on through the building to the reception desk.

"I'm here for self defence lessons," she said to the woman behind it, she looked up at hair raising a single brow before shaking her head and looking through the many forms she had before her.

"Fill this in."

Jessica's eyes went to the form she had been handed, where she lived, date of birth, the usual, though at the bottom there was a box asking why she wanted to take part, she didn't see why that mattered too much and so she left it blank before handing the form back in. The woman scanned over it before her finger pointed to a room on the left.

"Through there, second right."

Jessica nodded to her before following the instructions and opening the door to the room, inside there were around 5 other people, all much older than her and all looking a little worse for wear. Though she immediately thought that would be why they were there, she hadn't really considered all the attacks that happened every day leaving people scared out of their minds. But she supposed, up until she had moved to Gotham she hadn't ever bothered with it, it was the norm in Gotham now for people to be dying, for muggings on trains, people going missing.

"Are you just going to stand there or are you going to take a seat?"

The voice came from a muscular man stood at the front of the class, not exactly the friendliest looking person out there, in fact if Jessica had bumped into him down a dark alley she would have been screaming for help.

"Now, you're all here because you want to defend yourselves against the nasties of Gotham city, you don't wanna be afraid no more, is that right?"

A chorus of yes' came from the 5 others as Jessica sat down beside one of them, she watched the man go to a small box behind him and pull out a wooden knife, obviously something that wouldn't do any damage.

"I uppose we'll start of with the rogues favourite weapon, a knife, now if someone comes at you with a knife you place your fingers just here when you grab them. No matter if they're bigger than you, you grab it and twist ever so slightly, causing them to drop it, and then you kick the knife away and run like hell. Understood?"

Again a yes was heard from everyone else, though at that moment the tutor's eyes met Jessica's and a small smirk came to his lips.

"Now, since you were late, you can be my helper in showing them what I mean."

Immediately Jessica regretted coming that day, in fact she wished she could just disappear into the chair, but instead she got up and went towards him. He held out the knife for her to take, which she did before he waited for a moment.

"Come at me like you mean it, like you truly mean me harm," he said slowly.

She paused for a moment, looking down at the wooden knife in her hand before weakly going as if to stab him, immediately his hands were on her arm and then pain pulsed through her hand causing her to drop it immediately.

"What the hell!" she yelled out to him, holding her arm close to her.

"I told you to come at me like you meant it, you weren't using any of the muscles to drive the knife towards me, meaning I didn't need to apply much force to you…Now do it again like you are really going to kill me."

"I gladly would right now," she muttered under her breath nursing her sore arm, but again she readied the knife, her fingers curling around it and holding more tightly. Her eyes looking deep into his before she raced towards him knife in hand, she put all her force into stabbing that knife right into him. Again his hands gripped her arm, squeezing the same spot before she dropped it, but this time it wasn't as bad for her, the pain not forcing her to the floor much like it had before.

"And that is how you stop someone from stabbing you, now pair up."

His voice came out distorted in her mind, her eyes staring at the knife on the floor, she hadn't actually expected to lose herself in the moment quite like that, nor had she expected to scream out at him the first time he made her drop the knife.

"Excuse me," a quiet voice called from behind her and she spun to face a woman, she guessed in her 40's. "I'm your partner…So…Do you want to go first?"

Jessica paused for a moment looking at the wooden knife again before nodding and handing it to her, the session went on for around an hour and it turned out that getting the right spot to cause someone to drop the knife wasn't as easy as it sounded. Though towards the end both Jessica and her partner had achieved what they had set out to do that day.

"Well done! Now next week we will be looking at blocking a fistfight! Try and get here on time."

Jessica could almost feel the tutor's eyes on her, but she ignored it and grabbed her coat up from off the floor.

"Do you want to walk with me?" questioned the same soft voice of her partner, Jessica again nodded to her and waiting for her to grab her own things before they left together.

"I'm Julie," she started as they walked side by side.

"Jessica."

"I saw you on the news the other night, the robbery at the bank. I'm sorry that happened."

"These things happen, though I suppose not everyone has it broadcast live for everyone in the city to see do they?"

"I started the self-defence because of an attack…lost my husband in it…and my child," she muttered pausing for brief moment in between. Jessica noticed the hand that went to her flat stomach and she didn't need to be told any more, she didn't even know what to say in return to it and so a silence fell over the pair. "Why were you there that day?"

"Working, I'm hopefully going to become a new reporter."

"Like Vickie Vale? Good luck," the woman half laughed as she spoke causing Jessica to raise a brow to her. "You see, there have been a lot of pretty girls come here trying to get a job with Vale, and yet every single one has just gone straight back home after realising what Gotham is really like. Keeps Vale in a job you see."

"I'm not going to just head home because of one thing, I want to stay here," Jessica said defending herself. "Maybe she just employs the wrong people?"

"Perhaps…just be careful, this is after all a city you don't know."

"And how exactly do you know that?"

"Your voice, your clothes. You can tell those that have lived in Gotham all their lives and those who have just moved here, this city does something to the people, especially those not sitting on a velvet cushion all their lives."

Jessica frowned upon hearing this, it was just yet another person acting as if the city wasn't for her, another person telling her to go home.

"Try to prove me wrong…It'd be nice," Julie muttered before stopping outside a small house. "This is me…I'll see you next week dear, good luck on the job."

Jessica nodded to her and waiting until the woman was inside before she continued through the city, it was still light but she didn't feel like staying out much longer and so attempted to find her way back to the apartment block. It took her a good hour, 4 wrong turns, 2 stops for directions and eventually she was back home. She hurriedly made herself something to eat and sat herself on the small balcony of her room looking out over the city as the sky turned black. It was a beautiful city from up high, the lights that shone, the music that came from the many clubs, it was just a shame that it had to be so corrupt at the same time.

By around 10 Jessica thought it best to go inside and sleep, but just as she turned she saw something out the corner of her eye, a symbol in the sky, a bat.

"I'll prove you wrong, stupid bat."

* * *

"Name?"

"Why don't you, ah, tell me yours first doll?"

"Name?"

"Not in the mood for chit chat?"

"Name?"


End file.
