CHAPTER ONE
⃗✧◦ what the shit ◦✧⃗

SOLAN MARTEZ WAS NOBODY'S HERO.

She wasn't a bitch or anything to her fellow man (most of the time). If she saw someone drop their wallet she would make sure it made it safely back to its owner, or she would help an elderly person cross the road before the cars would get sick of waiting. Being a good citizen and making life's minor inconveniences easy to get over? Solan was absolutely for it.

But if she was passing a dark alleyway at night and heard someone scream? She would look the other way, wait until she was out of view, then run like Sonic the hedgehog until she could get somewhere safe and call the GCPD.

Sticking out her neck for people wasn't exactly Solan's forte, and she had no intention of making it as such. Unlike many children who grew up in the age of heroes, Solan wasn't dreaming of rising up in her home city to defeat plagues of evil. She wasn't mentally designing a suit of armor or spandex that would match her equally dramatic alias, or deciding what powers she would crave the most.

Perhaps it was due to her mother that Solan never considered being a superhero to be the best way to do good, as Wella Martez was a soldier, fighting for her freedom thousands of miles away. Every time Solan thought of her mother, all she could think about was how the woman raised a daughter on her own while working two jobs to put food on the table. What did Superman do that could compare to that?

Maybe it was also because the city of her current occupancy was already being guarded by one of the most fearsome of heroes. Gotham City was still one of the most dangerous places to live in the United States, but criminals were certainly shaking in fear over the prospect of the Batman bringing them to justice. So what could Solan so that would compare to the ferocity and power of the Batman himself?

Absolutely nothing. Until that day.

That day started as any other for Solan. Her Aunt Maria woke her up in the same snappish tone she used for everything, demanding her niece wake up in time to get a proper breakfast before school. Maria Martez had a fantastic way of being caring while still sounding angry about it. It was something that anyone who met her could both fear and admire.

Solan groaned and groggily attempted to convince her aunt that she was up and ready to start the day, which she was definitely not, and already planning how to get back to sleep without Aunt Maria noticing.

"How your mother dealt with you for fifteen years is beyond me, you lazy child." Aunt Maria scolded when she came into Solan's room and found her fast asleep.

"Alright, I'm up. Jesus." Solan said irritably, sitting upright and rubbing the sleep from her amber eyes.

Aunt Maria stopped in her tracks and turned around. "What did you say?" She asked in a scary calm voice.

"Jesus." Solan said, regretting opening her mouth. "Am I not allowed to thank the Lord and Savior on this o' blessed Monday morning?"

Aunt Maria rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah. Just get up and get ready for school."

Solan waited until she heard the footsteps retreating from her door. Then, she smirked and laid right back on the mattress of her welcoming bed.

"Solan!"

The seventeen-year-old leaped up as if someone had just poked her with a burning prodder. "That fucking woman always knows." She hissed to herself angrily, finally pushing herself to her feet.

The sounds of early-morning Gotham City greeted her as she walked over and pulled the drawers of her dresser open. Cars were humming and honking on the streets outside the Martez's apartment building, all pushing through the sleepy haze to get to where they needed to be at such a time. Police sirens were already chiming their way through the city, responding to whatever one of the thousands of criminals in the city had done.

Solan pulled out her outfit choice of the day, breathing a quick thanks to a higher power that she went to a school that didn't require uniforms. One of the few perks that came with not attending the richer schools like Gotham Academy.

Ten minutes later, after she had washed her face and brushed her teeth, Solan walked out to the kitchen with a little more energy, then sat down at the counter while her aunt piled one of her delicious meals onto a plate.

"Thanks." Solan said gratefully as Aunt Maria placed the breakfast in front of her niece.

"You're welcome." She said, smiling and turning back to the stove. "By the way, I won't be able to give you a ride to school today."

While Solan found that news to suck, she didn't voice a complaint. Aunt Maria was always taking extra shifts at her job as a chef in the richer part of town, and while she said it wasn't because of her niece, Solan doubted her. Ever since Solan's mother asked Maria to take care of her while she served two years ago, Maria was getting steadily more stressed. There were more greys lining the dark locks of her hair than there were before Solan came to live with her.

"It's fine. I'll just walk." Solan said with a shrug through a mouthful of waffles.

Aunt Maria scowled. "Don't talk with your mouth full. And are you sure? What about the bus?"

Solan almost laughed. She didn't like to stress out her aunt, so she never shared that it was a safer bet to just spend five minutes walking to school instead of waiting out on a Gotham street corner. You might as well paint a target on your back.

"It's just quicker than waiting." Solan said. "And besides, I could use the exercise."

Aunt Maria still seemed unsure, but she didn't argue. She finished making the second plate of breakfast, and sat next to her niece just as Solan finished her plate.

"I better get going." Solan sighed, noticing the time on the clock by the microwave was about ten minutes before her classes started. She leaned over and kissed her aunt on the cheek. "Breakfast was delicious. Thank you, again."

Aunt Maria smiled. "You're welcome, again. Be safe. Love you."

"Love you, too." Solan called as she walked out the front door, swinging her backpack over her shoulder. She closed the door, and made the walk down two flights of stairs, all the way to the ground floor that would take her to the outside.

The walk to school took no time, moreso because Solan kept her head down and thoughts occupied the entire time. Even though she had lived in Gotham for two years now, she still found that it was easier when she didn't think about it.

She made it to Gotham City Public High School minutes before the bell signalled them to make their way to their first class. Solan spent this time rapidly completing half of the homework she neglected the night before, only getting one full sheet of history homework done. Solan sighed at what was probably going to get an F, but then decided she really didn't care. Then she put her homework dotted with wrong answers back in their places.

"Boo!" Someone shouted in Solan's ear, making her yelp and jump.

As Solan caught her breath, her only friend at school laughed so hard he was wheezing.

"Go fuck yourself, Eli." She said irritably.

The bell rang over the school grounds, making each student slowly move towards the front doors. Solan threw her backpack back over her shoulders and trudged to the stone steps with Eli Woodson at her side.

"Guess who I saw Saturday?" He asked, pushing through the crowds of students so he and Solan could get to their shared first class.

"Another member of the cheerleading squad?" Solan asked sarcastically.

"No, I'm done with cheerleaders, they're so fucking bitchy." Eli said, shaking his head. "No, I was coming home from work and I saw fucking Batman."

Solan raised an eyebrow. "Really?"

Eli nodded. "Yeah. He was jumping across the rooftops. It was so fucking badass. His cape was flying behind him and shit."

Eli had a borderline obsession with capes crusaders, especially the hero of his hometown. His entire family had been enticed by the dark knight since he saved Eli's mother from an attempted kidnapping before Eli was born. So, he was pretty much raised on idolizing the superhero of Gotham City.

"You know you can see freaks dressed like furries any Friday in the woods, right?" Solan snorted, making Eli shove her lightly.

"One, don't insult Batman like that. Two, it disturbs me that you know when and where furries meet."

"Every Friday night by the old oak tree, baby."

"Seriously, you freak me out."

Solan laughed as they came upon the door that would lead to the classroom of first period history. The pair made their way down the aisle of cheap desks, sitting down at the two in the back corner. Students chatted as they followed in, all taking their respective seats while the teacher looked around the room tiredly.

"Alright, class, settle down." The teacher droned, not making a dent in the noise. "I know it's a Monday, but this is still class."

The bell rang again, signifying the break for getting to the right class was over. The students finally brought their talking down, looking to the teacher as he stood up from behind his desk at the front of the class.

"Good morning." He said blandly, getting a few greetings back. "Let's start the class by taking out your homework from over the weekend. Sally, would you please walk around and collect it?"

Solan pulled out her designated folder for history, pulling out the sheet of paper she rushed through not ten minutes before. Eli raised his eyebrow at it.

"Literally not one of those answers is right." He said amusedly.

"Well, I literally did not give one fuck about the homework." Solan answered, moving a bit out of the way as Sally Millsik walked past her desk and slid the sheet of paper off the corner of Solan's desk.

Sally stopped and frowned at the paper, then turned to Solan with both eyebrows raised as if to ask, "Seriously?"

Solan waved her away, making her classmate roll her blue eyes, but keep walking.

"Are you ever going to get back on your ADHD meds?" Eli asked.

"They make me sleepy." Solan said defensively.

"They also make you not be like that." Eli said, nodding over to Sally and her stack of papers, referring to Solan's future F.

"Thank you, Ms. Millsik." The teacher said, taking the thin hoard of papers and placing them on his desk. "Now, if you could all walk over and grab a history book from the cabinet, then turn to…"

History class went by like a glacier, obeying the stereotype of a Monday morning. Solan tuned out most of what Mr. Nethin said, only tuning in when he announced that the homework was an essay of two pages, asking for the person's opinion on if the U.S should have joined World War One, and that it was supposed to be turned in two days from then.

After history, Eli and Solan were forced to go to their separate classes. They bid each other sarcastic farewells that were full of swear words, and Solan made her way to the second floor.

English was remarkably more interesting than Mr. Nethin's history class, and not just because Solan found it more interesting.

The teacher, a soft-spoken woman in her mid-thirties, was one of the few teachers to genuinely care about her students and their education, and Solan appreciated that she could still feel committed even after they had to introduce 'Joker Drills' into their days. After she had given the activity the class was supposed to turn in before the bell, she called Solan up from her desk and invited her to come up to the teacher's desk.

"What's up, Mrs. Mattis?" Solan asked.

"Have a seat, Ms. Martez." The teacher said gently, pulling out a slip of paper from her desk drawer and putting it down on the top.

Solan sat in the chair in front of the desk and fiddled with her thumbs.

"I wanted to talk to you about your essay you turned in last week." Mrs. Mattis said, and Solan realized the paper her teacher pulled from the desk drawer was the assignment she referred to. "More so, about this line at the bottom. 'While it's true that most of us don't know the purpose to our existence, or the purpose of life, what we should understand is that the ones who have someone to figure it out with are the luckiest of us all.'"

Solan pressed her lips together and waited for the explanation.

Mrs. Mattis laid the paper down on the desk again. "At first, I was struck by how wonderfully you interpreted the work. Then, the more I looked through it again, I realized that this seems to be the theme of the entire essay, more so than the work you were supposed to give your opinion on."

"What does that mean?" Solan asked, politely, but confusedly.

"It means, I noticed that having someone and loneliness seem to dictate the essay." Mrs. Mattis said. "And when I went back to some of your other works, I noticed that those themes seem to be present in a lot of them."

Solan didn't say anything, but she felt annoyed. Yeah, her emotions were represented in her writing. Her teacher was always saying to write from the heart. But if knew that being honest was going to get her this uncomfortable conversation, she would have dimmed it down a little.

"Ms. Martez, Solan." Mrs. Mattis said gently. "I'm going to recommend you to the school counselor."

Solan shook her head with a laugh. "Mrs. Mattis, that is really not necessary." She said.

"Just one session, that's all I'm asking." Mrs. Mattis said. "Mr. Rameiz is a great school counselor, and a licensed therapist. Just talk to him and hear him out."

Solan sighed. "Alright, yeah, one session." She agreed warily. It was completely pointless, though, as refusing an order from a teacher was already against the rules. It wouldn't be like she would have a choice.

Mrs. Mattis smiled. "Great, you'll love him. I'll put in a word, and he'll send for you when he has the time."

The remainder of Solan's classes that led to lunch went by much quicker, more because Solan now had the prospect of school counselor Mr. Rameiz to fume about to herself.

Eli was standing outside the cafeteria, talking with a few of the other boys from the football team. Solan groaned when she saw them. She was much more of the loner-type, and Eli was the only exception she made in the two years she had lived in Gotham. Even when she lived in D.C, her hometown, she spent her time with about four friends she refused to let go of from age ten until she moved. She always thought that was perfectly normal, but when she moved and each of the four immediately stopped texting her back, she figured it probably wasn't.

"Hey." Solan said warily as she walked up to her friend.

One of the football boys grinned and clapped a hand on her shoulder. "My favorite Chernobyl cloud! How was your weekend? Did you attend the weekly Gotham Rogues meeting?"

Solan grinned back with sarcasm. "Ah, walking-talking chlamydia! I thought that was you."

Solan didn't get along with most people at her school, but she and Eli's other best friend were practically mortal enemies. When Solan first moved there, she was the weirdo who sat in the back of the class with a glare and a middle finger for every person that walked up to her. And Clarence Hemworth was the star football player who still gave wedgies to the nerd kids, so they were pretty much destined to not get along. The only thing they respected each other for was the other's sarcasm, which they frequently used against each other.

Eli was clearly trying not to laugh as he attempted to calm them both down. "The guys wanted to sit with us today." He said to Solan, who nodded.

"Whatever. Just tell the example of why football players need better helmets to stay away from me." She said.

The group of five walked in the cafeteria and over to the lunch table Solan and Eli normally sat at. As soon as they sat down, the boys immediately began talking about their shared sport, which Solan tuned out of. She thoughtfully ate her lunch, wondering what kind of questions Mr. Rameiz would ask her.

She was never one for opening up too much to someone she didn't know, and immediately talking about the crippling loneliness she felt for the past few years certainly wasn't a good topic to use as a first impression. She didn't want to just sit down and start explaining in detail how lost she felt when she had to say goodbye to her mother, her friends, and her home city in one fell swoop.

"Hey, you awake in there?" Eli's voice asked, bringing Solan back to reality.

"Yeah, just don't know what the fuck a free throw is." She said, smiling.

Eli wasn't convinced in the littlest way. "What were you thinking about?"

Solan huffed, the smile falling right off. "Mrs. Mattis. She told me I should meet with the school counselor."

"What? Why?" Eli scoffed disbelievingly.

"I don't know." Solan lied, not feeling like getting into her problems in front of his football friends.

"Well, I think that's stupid." Clarence said. "If anyone at this school is the picture of mental health, it's the girl who probably hissed for the first fourteen years of her life."

"Hey, Clarence, how does it feel to have your picture as a warning label on condoms to make sure it's safe sex?"

"What was that? I'm sorry, I couldn't hear you over the sound of your back screaming for you to sit up straight."

"Oh, is that what that noise is? I thought it was the girls who fucked you screaming when they pee."

"Are you going to stop them?" One of the other football boys asked Eli, who scoffed.

"Are you kidding? Get the fucking camera."

━━━━━━━━━━

Solan sat in the last period of the day, fully ready to just go home and complain about her day to her aunt over one of her delicious meals. Luckily, she had this class, seventh period chemistry, with Eli, so at least she could bitch to him while they waited for the bell to ring at their table in the middle of the classroom.

She explained the situation in more detail to him, while he listened patiently. She didn't delve into too much, moreso because they only had a few minutes before class would begin and they would have to focus on the teacher instead of talking to each other. Eli, surprisingly, sided with Mrs. Mattis, citing that if Solan was that sad, then she should talk to someone.

Solan huffed and called him a bitch, right when the bell rang and the teacher walked in.

"Good afternoon, class." Ms. Herris said with a grin. While she wasn't her favorite teacher, Solan liked Ms. Herris. She gave the vibe of someone who did too much acid in the seventies and was still tasting sounds. With her dreamy, distant voice, and constant display of every color she could manage to wear, she was certainly entertaining.

The class said their greetings back in one voice. Ms. Herris clapped her hands together.

"Amazing." She said. "So, today, we're going to be starting a project that will last this whole week. You will pick your own partners and work together to build a model of the table of elements."

Solan nudged Eli.

"Yeah, about that." Eli said, looking at someone behind him.

Solan frowned and followed his line of sight to a new student sitting by herself in the back. She noticed the girl had a sticker on her backpack that had the school cheerleading squad symbol on it.

"I thought you were done with cheerleaders." Solan said.

Eli shrugged and picked his backpack off of the floor. "This one's new." Without another word, he turned and walked to the girl's table.

Solan sighed frustratingly, looking around the room. Everyone else had partnered up already, and Solan was the only one by herself.

"Traitor." She hissed at Eli.

"Oh, Solan, it's for you." Ms. Herris said dreamily. Solan turned around and realized that someone had come in with an office message to hand to Ms. Herris.

Solan knew that it was probably Mr. Rameiz, and she didn't want to go to the appointment, but she also didn't want to sit there without a partner and have to do the entire project by herself. She pushed her chair out and walked up to the teacher's desk at the front and took the slip of green paper from her.

"Mr. Rameiz's office, sweetie." Ms. Herris said kindly.

Solan smiled and wished her a good day, then walked out of the room.

She took her time with the walk down to the front office, hoping in vain that maybe school would suddenly finish early and she would have to just go to the counselor tomorrow. Unfortunately, she was a quick walker even when she was walking at half speed, and she reached the front office in a few minutes.

She swung one of the glass doors and strolled in. Neither of the two older ladies at the front desk looked up when she walked in, and when Solan stopped in front of one of them, the woman took a full minute to acknowledge her presence.

"Can I help you?" The secretary asked boredly.

"Yeah, I have an appointment with Mr. Rameiz." Solan said in a defeated voice.

The effect on the secretary was instantaneous. She suddenly snapped her head to look at Solan, with a mixture of joy and nervousness on her face.

"Mr. Rameiz?" The woman repeated, glancing at her fellow secretary. They shared a look of excitement, making Solan both confused and annoyed.

"Yes, can you show me where to go?" Solan asked.

The woman stood up so suddenly from behind her desk that she knocked one of the folders off the desk. "Yes, right this way." She said with a blush.

Solan decided not to comment on the fact that she meant for them to just tell her which door, or which hallway she had to go to. She let the secretary guide her down the hall to the right, past a couple doors of other school officials, and to the very end of the hall. The older woman rapped her knuckles against the door lightly.

"Come in." A masculine voice called from the other side of the door.

The secretary gently opened the door, and Solan knew immediately why the two women were so giggly when it came to the counselor. He was a very attractive man, way too old for Solan, obviously, but she could tell he probably got a lot of attention from women. He looked up from his paperwork and smiled at Solan kindly.

"I take it you are Ms. Martez?" He asked.

Solan nodded, still grumpy. Just because the counselor turned out to be hot did not mean she was suddenly hyped for getting the medical equivalent of roasted.

"Why don't you have a seat?" Mr. Rameiz said, gesturing to one of the two seats in front of his desk.

With a repressed sigh, Solan walked over and sat down in the chair. Mr. Rameiz looked back to the secretary, who was still hovering by the door.

"Is there something else, Julian?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.

The secretary seemed to realize what she was doing and quickly shook her head with a blush across her cheeks. "Oh, no. I'll leave you two to it, then." She said awkwardly, shutting the door behind her as she left.

Solan snorted. She didn't mean to, but she couldn't help it.

Mr. Rameiz looked over at her in amusement. "Three weeks at this job and she still hasn't gotten used to me. I wonder what it is." He said, but Solan had a feeling he knew exactly what it was.

"She's probably just never met a licensed therapist that doesn't go by Dr before." She said with a smirk. She didn't usually get snarky with any authority figures, as she wasn't one for confrontation, but she knew that he wouldn't be angry. He gave off the feeling of a teacher who didn't care for professionalism.

"Probably not. But I don't care much for labels, and I don't like feeling all stuffy and boring." He said with a shrug. "So, Ms. Martez, why don't you tell me why you think you're here?"

"Well, my teacher thinks I'm depressed." Solan said, deciding to not skate around it.

"And are you?"

"No." She responded flatly. "I mean, I get sad sometimes, of course, but everyone does."

Mr. Rameiz nodded as if she had a point. He leaned forward and shuffled through some papers on the top of his desk. "True. But depression isn't just feeling sad all the time."

Thanks for the description, Mr. Dr, can I fucking go now? Solan thought to herself.

"I'm still not depressed."

Mr. Rameiz studied her for a second. He glanced down at his papers. "Mrs. Mattis sent me some of your works. Very impressive."

"Thanks." Solan said. "Can you just say the reason you brought up my papers? 'Cause it's not to tell me how impressive they are."

The counselor smiled with a sigh. "Insightful. Alright, Ms. Martez, I'll stop beating around the bush. You seem to touch on feeling lonely and without a purpose quite often."

Solan shrugged, waiting for him to ask a question or request an explanation.

"Ms. Martez, have you considered what you want to do after high school?" He asked.

"No." Solan responded. "Nothing really interests me."

"No? Not even writing?" Mr. Rameiz asked.

"I mean, I enjoy it, but I don't think I'd ever pursue it." Solan was one of those people who could be amazing at something she hated to put extra time into, and be terrible at the things she loved doing. It was a very inconvenient skill set.

"Any hobbies?"

"Nope."

Mr. Rameiz sighed. "And you haven't considered any career for the future? No college?"

Solan shook her head with a shrug. "Nope."

"It must be very easy to feel like you don't have a purpose when you don't see yourself having a future." Mr. Rameiz noted, his tone becoming sympathetic and soft. "I will say that I am relieved you're not another one of those kids who wants to be Batman, though. I've had three in the past three weeks."

Solan briefly thought of Eli and chuckled. "I'll leave the hero stuff to my mom."

"Yes, your mother. I read your file. You must be very proud. Have you ever considered following in her footsteps and joining the military?"

Solan scoffed. "No. Why the hell would I put my life at risk for a bunch of strangers?"

Mr. Rameiz raised an eyebrow at her. "Well, some people say that helping people can be very fulfilling."

"What could be fulfilling about dying?" She asked disbelievingly.

"I suppose you may have a point." The counselor said carefully, as if he wasn't sure of what he was saying. Then he seemed to decide to change the subject. "Why don't you tell me about D.C?"

Solan didn't understand the point of that, but indulged him nonetheless. "It's where I was born. I lived there for fifteen years."

"And you don't miss it at all?"

The seventeen-year-old could tell, with a little pleasure, that the counselor was getting frustrated with her lack of answering and indifferent attitude to her past hardships. She felt so angry with the whole situation of being forced down to talk about things she didn't want to, enough to make the entire conversation as stale and one-sided as possible, even if he was just trying to help. She didn't want, or need, any help.

"I guess. It's just a city."

"I know you don't want to be here, Ms. Martez." Mr. Rameiz said, finally having enough of her cold attitude. "But you're here because people care about you, and want you to feel better."

"Actually, I think I'm here because Mrs. Mattis didn't want me on her conscience. Or because they didn't want to have to dedicate an entire yearbook page to me." Solan fired back, issuing a silent challenge. "Whichever one."

"You can stop using sarcasm to fight someone from breaking down your walls, this is a judgment-free zone." Mr. Rameiz said. His tone was gentle, but his eyes were growing slim and full of annoyance.

"Thank you, Roastmaster Rameiz." Solan said with a sarcastic smile. Her blood felt like it was pumping twice as fast as it should have been, and her fingernails were digging into her palms to exercise some form of control. "I don't have walls. I just don't like talking about my problems. Especially not with people I've never met."

Mr. Rameiz sighed. "I see we won't be getting anywhere today."

"Ever." Solan corrected smugly.

"So I think I'll schedule another appointment."

The smug grin fell right off of Solan's mouth. "You… I told Mrs. Mattis only one."

But Solan knew that there was no changing the counselor's mind, as he seemed just as stubborn as she was. The two opposing sides of the conflict were both silently conveying their annoyance, but Mr. Rameiz was in a position to actually enforce his opinion. She could hardly refuse to go to the counselor, and even if she did, it would probably only make her seem more in need of help.

"So, then it's settled." The older man said, spinning his chair around so he could roll over to his computer. "I'll send for you the next time I have an opening."

Solan stomped out of the front office, trying to convey just how angry she was without saying it. School was shit enough without having to deal with the smug, cocky guidance counselor forcing her to talk about her problems.

The entire walk back to seventh period was spent with Solan's sneakers slamming loudly into the tiles of the hallways, echoing off each wall and pushing her anger into every inch she could get it into. When she finally got back to her classroom, there was only ten minutes left in the class, and she realized furiously that she not only lost an entire period of time to work on her project, but she also still had to do it by herself.

"Welcome back, petal." Ms. Herris said when the door opened, and Solan gave a very weak smile back.

She went back to her table, which was still empty. Her backpack sat by her chair, and Solan opened it when she sat down, when she realized she didn't even know how to start the project.

Solan grumpily shot her hand into the air. "Ms. Herris, what am I supposed to do?"

Ms. Herris placed a finger on her chin thoughtfully. "Does anyone not have a partner?" She called out to the other students, which forced the students in the class to notice that Solan didn't have one.

She barely suppressed a groan of embarrassment as the room went silent and all eyes turned to view Solan by herself.

"She can join us." A voice called from the back, and Solan turned and laid her eyes on the new cheerleader Eli ditched her for.

Eli himself didn't seem to enjoy that idea, presumably because he wanted to be alone with the new girl, but he warily agreed.

Solan glanced between her table and the new girl's table, deciding if her annoyance with Eli was worth somehow managing the entire project by herself. She decided it wasn't, and picked up her backpack, kicked in her chair, and sat down on the empty chair to the girl's other side. The new girl gave her a grin.

"Hi, I'm Ella." She said, holding out a hand. Despite the angry look on Solan's face, Ella seemed so genuinely pleased to meet her that she couldn't help but extend at least a little thanks.

"Solan. Thanks for letting me join you." She said, letting her hand fall into Ella's, shaking it lightly.

Ella grinned, flashing a mouth-full of pearly white teeth. "It's no problem at all. The more the merrier, right Eli?"

"Yeah, right Eli?" Solan echoed, narrowing her eyes at her friend. She knew that his only options were lying, or telling the truth and making himself seem like a jerk in front of Ella, so she watched with satisfaction as he managed a weak smile.

"Totally." Eli said, narrowing his eyes, too. "You know, I'm all about friendship. Like when Solan first moved here, she was this loser that nobody liked, because she was such a bitch, until I became her one and only friend."

"That's so sweet of you." Ella purred, resting her head in her palm and gazing flirtatiously at him. She neglected to notice the glares the other two at the table were giving each other.

"Isn't it?" Solan said flatly.

Eli and Ella spent the rest of the class explaining the project to Solan, and when the bell rang, Ella bid them both farewell and left them in the classroom. Both Solan and Eli waited until she had exited out the door, before turning to each other and slapping each other on the arm.

"You couldn't wait until I got in her pants?" Eli asked indignantly.

"You are such a pig." Solan said exasperatingly, throwing around her hands.

"Yeah, and pigs need food, Sol."

With a huff, Solan rose out of her seat and threw her backpack over her shoulder. Eli begrudgingly followed suit, walking her down the hallway and out the large doors of the school's entrance.

"How was the counselor?" He asked after they exited down the front steps of the school and began walking on the street that would lead them to Solan's apartment. He normally liked to walk her home after school, as he knew Gotham was dangerous for everyone, especially women and girls. He normally couldn't walk her to school, as he had early morning practice, but after one of their female classmates reported a car following her on the way home for a week straight, he made it a habit to see Solan safely home.

"Total DILF, but I hate him." Solan answered, scowling.

Eli laughed. "Why? What did he do?"

"He just pushed too much." Solan sighed. "I don't like talking about myself, you know that. But he just kept pushing me and asking questions."

"He's only trying to help." Eli said fairly.

Solan knew he was right, but she couldn't bring herself to care. It had grown from a simple aversion to not wanting to talk about herself and her problems, to a challenge being thrown at her feet.

"Well, he's bad at it." She huffed.

They walked along the street, talking about their days to fill the silence. When they finally approached the front of Solan's apartment building, Eli bid her farewell, and kept walking the way to his own house.

Solan kept her mind occupied as she walked up the stairs and through the hallway that led her to her front door. After unlocking it, throwing her backpack next to the door, and dropping her shoes behind the couch, she sat down and flicked on the TV. (Pointedly ignoring the growing amount of homework in her backpack.)

The news flickered onto the screen, showing the same kind of stories they did everyday. Either tragedies inflicted on the city's inhabitants by the wide range of criminals it housed, or possible tragedies stopped by Batman.

Solan noted with a bit of confusion that the only hero spotted in the stories was Batman, and the absence of his colorful sidekick. They news anchor seemed to spot this as well, and immediately dove into dramatic theories of why this was. Solan wasted time listening to them, before sighing and turning the TV off, deciding that she should at least attempt to do some of her homework.

It was about two hours of vigorously trying to keep her focus on the assignments in front of her, and just after the sun began settling behind the skyscrapers, when the jingling of keys notified her that Aunt Maria had returned from work.

The woman herself warily made her way through the door, smiling at her niece. "You're actually doing homework? Am I in the right universe?" She asked jokingly, throwing her keys onto the counter and locking the door behind her.

Solan chuckled. "The TV was boring."

Aunt Maria nodded in understanding, smiling. "What are you working on?" She asked, walking over to the kitchen.

"History." Solan sighed, flipping through the two sheets of notebook paper she was using to write her essay on.

"Your least favorite." Aunt Maria recalled. "But we must learn it if -"

"If we want to prevent it from happening again." Solan finished for her, recalling the phrase her aunt loved to say whenever she brought up history.

Aunt Maria closed the door of the fridge, two full containers of milk in each hand. She walked over to the counter and placed one in front of Solan, who thanked her.

"How was school?" She asked, sitting down on the couch and turning on the TV.

"Shit." Solan answered, earning a sharp, "Language."

"Why?"

"They made me talk to the guidance counselor." Solan said, shaking her head.

Aunt Maria frowned and muted the TV. "Why? Are you failing another class?"

Solan, who was probably failing more classes than her aunt knew of, shook her head. "No, my English teacher read too much into my papers. She thought I needed to talk about my problems."

"And did you?" Aunt Maria asked carefully.

"I don't think so."

The older woman hesitated. She herself was never very good at handling children, unlike her sister, who had raised her niece. While Maria loved Solan to pieces, she was always terrified that she would mess something up and ruin her mental state. She never considered herself a nurturer, despite the attempts she gave when Wella asked her to take care of her daughter.

"Well, only you know what's best for you." She said finally, making Solan's eyebrows fly up in surprise. "But the counselor is only trying to help."

"That's what Eli said." Solan frowned, and Maria took that as a sign that Solan didn't agree with Eli's statement.

Maria knew she had no right to sit there and tell her how to think about her own problems, so she decided to switch the subject onto what was on the news.

"Have you seen this?" She asked, Solan turning around on the counter stool and turning to the TV. "Robin's gone missing, again."

Solan nodded and hopped off the counter, sitting down next to her aunt on the couch. "Yeah, they were talking about that earlier."

Aunt Maria unmuted the TV, the pair sitting there and listening to the news anchor give his report.

"People are speculating that it has been over two weeks since Batman's sidekick, Robin, has been sighted." A picture, taken from a distance, of the sidekick, dressed in his signature red, green, and yellow, showed up over the news anchor's shoulder. "That's about how long it's been since the hero was shown on a local news channel in Ohio. He reportedly shouted the phrase, "Titans are back -" uh, maybe we shouldn't say that."

A clip of the broadcast from Ohio began to play, showing a detective talking about dead birds with a newscaster, when Robin ran into the frame.

"Titans are back, bitches!" He shouted, a loud bleeping sound over the cuss word. Solan smirked amusedly, wondering how the dark knight of Gotham City handled his sidekick.

"This caused followers of the dark knight's career as a caped crusader to speculate if Robin has rejoined the Titans, a group of heroes based in San Francisco. Almost five years ago, Robin was part of the team, but it seemed the group had disbanded. This brings people to the question, are they starting the group back up? Or, is Batman going solo for the time being?"

The news anchor switched to another story about some grocery store robbing that Batman stopped.

"Eli's going to be so sad. He loves Robin." Solan said with a chuckle.

"I wonder what made him move." Aunt Maria said thoughtfully. "Remember when he disappeared about a year ago? He was gone for almost two months."

Solan shrugged. "Maybe he got tired of Gotham. Wanted a bit of sunshine."

Aunt Maria huffed. "I know I do."

"Hey, Aunt Maria?" Solan suddenly asked, wondering about another opinion on the question she pondered since Mr. Rameiz's office.

Her aunt hummed, signalling her to ask her question.

"Have you ever wondered about, like, purpose? Like, life's purpose?"

Aunt Maria glanced up curiously. "How do you mean? Like, my purpose?"

Solan shrugged, already regretting talking, as it now felt awkward. At least, she did. "I guess. I don't know. My teacher and the guidance counselor were saying some stuff about it, and I was just curious."

"Well, I always considered life's purpose to just be happy." Aunt Maria said. "Do what makes you happy, be with those who make you happy, things like that."

"But what if you don't know what makes you happy?" Solan asked, crossing her arms on the back of the couch and leaning her head on them.

"Well, then you figure it out." Her aunt said as if it were simple. "Sometimes, it's not easy, but if you want to be happy, then you must fight for it."

Solan sighed thoughtfully, growing quiet, and focused on the distance. Aunt Maria inspected her, wondering how to cheer her up.

"Tell you what." She said, bringing Solan's focus back to her aunt. "How about, after dinner, we have a movie night?"

A grin spread across her niece's mouth. "But it's a Monday night." She said, as whenever they had nights in like that, it was usually on a weekend.

Aunt Maria waved her hand. "I'll get dinner started, and you finish your history work."

The next hour was spent with Aunt Maria busying over the stove, making another one of her dinners that could make even the best of chef's mouths' water, and Solan was completing her essay. She finished it just as Aunt Maria announced dinner was done. The two ate, then spent the next two hours on the couch, eyes on the TV, which was playing some old comedy from the nineties.

When the credits began to roll, Aunt Maria declared they should put on another one.

"I'm down, but I'm hungry again." Solan said, hungering for some kind of sweet dessert to follow up dinner.

"How about you pick another movie and I'll go get us some snacks?" Aunt Maria suggested, already getting up off the couch.

"I can do it." Solan volunteered, not wanting her aunt to have to go out after spending all day on her feet at work.

Aunt Maria warily glanced at the digital clock by the microwave, which read to be well into the evening. "Are you sure? It's late. You know that's when the freaks start to come out."

Solan scoffed. "Freaks are always out, Aunt Maria. It's Gotham, it's always dangerous."

Aunt Maria bit her lip, pondering it. "Fine. But take the car, I don't want you walking out there."

"Really?" Solan asked, catching the keys as her aunt threw them from the counter. She was set to get her license the next year, but driving alone was a new milestone.

"Yeah. Just be careful." She said, walking over to her wallet and pulling out a ten dollar bill. "Get some snacks and soda. And be careful."

"Got it." Solan said, grinning and taking the cash from her aunt's outstretched hand. "Careful. That's practically my middle name."

"Careful doesn't sound like Elizabeth." Aunt Maria said amusedly as Solan pulled on her shoes.

"It does if you want it to." The seventeen-year-old laced up her shoes and tied them tightly, then grabbed her hoodie from the coat rack. Despite being the middle of spring, and while the rest of the country warmed up around this time of the year, Gotham remained as cold and dreary as it did the rest of the seasons. Except for winter, of course, as then the snow would settle in for the season and make it even colder.

Solan really wasn't sure of her opinion on Gotham. Most hated it, with good reason, as it was one of the most dangerous places to live in the country, even before the villains started dressing like clowns. Also because of the whole 'never any sunlight' thing, and the general feel that it gave off. Like somehow, when you came into the city, you were entering another dimension, where it was normal for women to manipulate plant life, or men dressed up like clowns to terrorize an entire city for fun, or where mysterious men cladded themselves in expensive armor and fought the ones making the city so sick.

Or, as Solan would realize after about five minutes of driving to the closest convenience store, where someone sitting at a red light could turn and watch four people run out of a museum, completely dressed in black and with ski masks covering their heads. Not to mention the two duffle bags full of whatever they had just fucking stolen.

Security really should have been the first thing that went through Solan's brain. She might have been kind of a bitch, but she was the one in an argument to back out as soon as it seemed like it was leading to something physical. A coward, in simpler terms. Trouble was something she always preferred to avoid, even if it wasn't hers.

But interest grabbed her attention, and made her forget to realize she hadn't locked her car doors. As it was later into the evening, and most people had already gone home from work, the streets were relatively empty. A Monday night was normally reserved for getting as much sleep as you could before the next day, not for driving around.

So Solan's car was one of two, and the one closest to the curb. A black van was parked a ways away from the entrance to the museum, and Solan guessed it was there to avoid suspicion, but the incoming police sirens signalling the GCPD were tipped off to the heist, and were approaching quickly.

There was no time to run to the van, and Solan realized they were running right to her car.

They were there quicker than she expected, the four running to the doors they could get through. One of them, one holding a duffle bag, pulled out something from their waistband and pointed it directly at Solan's head.

"Fucking drive." The voice was very masculine, and it led her to believe he and the other three were all men.

Solan felt many things running through her at the moment. Fear, disbelief, shock, her dinner feeling like it was going to make a reappearance, and she couldn't really understand it, but she somehow felt each one at the same time.

She immediately held up her hands. "Just fucking take it." She said, jumping out of the car as fast as possible.

The man debated on stopping her, but decided against it, and climbed into the driver's seat from the passenger side.

He drove off in Aunt Maria's car, leaving Solan on the sidewalk, wondering what the fuck was happening as several GCPD cars stopped in front of the museum.

Solan only pointed at the white car speeding down the street. No officer gave her a response, just started their chase back up.

"What the shit?" Solan asked herself, burying her hands in her hair that was tucked under the grey hood of her jacket.

- a/n -

Finally publishing the first chapter after so long. I was trying to get some more prewriting done before I published any chapters, but I had to post the first one.

But yay :D! Chapter one!

Seriously tho, I'm so excited to finally share this story with you guys. I hope y'all love this as much as I do 💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕