Like a Child

Wind whipped out of the dark street and down the narrow alley, harsh and cold against Lee's dry skin. She walked headlong into the gale, feeling bullet-like raindrops pelt her from head to foot. Her clothes were soaked and plastered to her skin. The tattered legs of her jeans dragged along the wet cement. A car sped by just as she reached the mouth of the alley, drenching her further as it plunged into a puddle at the side of the road. The driver didn't seem to notice her, because the car was soon rumbling out of sight.

That was what she loved about Gotham. In any given street at any time of the gloomy day, she had a chance of blending in and going unnoticed. The rain, bless every drop, painted her the colour of the cement and the brick. Everything was a shade of blue, or a shade of gray, when it rained. She felt to be literally a part of the city she knew so well.

To her right, and some way down the road, the steady rhythm of night-club music thrummed against her ears. Squinting, she saw a blurred doorway with some light spilling out into the night, swallowed up by the dark. Once in a while, the light would flicker, and a person walked in or out. She dragged a lock of dirt-black hair from her face. The night club was as good a place as any to make some money.

She dragged her water-logged shoes over the pavement, and shook her hair out once she'd reached the sheltered doorway. The club was low-profile enough not to have bouncers at the door, but well enough known to be packed to the very edges of the room. She stepped inside, feeling not at all out of place, even in her clothes that were so wet they felt like a second skin. Plenty of the patrons at the club were just as soaked as she from the rain, and were compensating by tearing articles of clothing from their persons and gyrating wildly to the bass tone that was trying to be music.

She skirted the edge of the club, her eyes at waist-level. To many eyes, she was just a girl trying not to be seen. To any trained eye, she was a girl looking for loose wallets on plastic chains.

Sometimes she found herself club-hopping just to find a decent payoff. Many nights she'd gone to sleep hungry, craving a cigarette. Luckily for her, though, this club was full of many particularly careless and tipsy young adults. She'd grabbed three wallets upon circling the room completely and, feeling daring, snagged a bottle of beer off a nearby table and sipped at it casually as she walked.

By the time she was out of the building and walking down the street, she felt great. She'd decided, on a whim, to wander to a different part of Gotham and see what business was like there. Around the neighborhoods she usually frequented, the loot wouldn't have been half as good as it was here. She'd done a weeks worth in half an hour.

As she walked, she pawed through the wallets and pocketed any money she found. She broke the credit cards and tossed them aside. She didn't see this as a disservice - indeed, she thought she was helping the poor bastards. If they didn't have a credit card, they wouldn't need to pay off their debts instead of paying their bills. Might as well pay of the remainder of the debt and move on.

She had just thrown away the last wallet and was swallowing the last of her beer when she realized she didn't recognize the part of town she was in. No, she didn't often come here, but she knew the city well enough to name landmarks and buildings. She'd never been lost before. Now, though, the warehouses and broken-down shops surrounding her were completely unfamiliar. The rain had stopped. She shivered as a breeze tickled her skin.

If she hadn't been actively waiting for something unexpected, she wouldn't have noticed it.

The breeze carried on it a very faint scent - one that, at first, she couldn't place. Her footsteps slowed, and she dropped the bottle into a nearby trash can. The gust grew in strength, and with it the strange smell. She inhaled deeply.

Just as the word, "Smoke," fell from her lips, she heard a dry footstep behind her. Before she could even turn in surprise, there was a shick, a blinding arrow of pain in her shoulder, and the world went black.