Chapter 2

"In recent Batman news three of the mobs hired goons have been arrested today as they were found tied up in an alley after attempting to mug a young woman" the reporter said as Esra instantly recognised the alley just down the road from her and that they were talking about what had happened to her! "I should've stayed and got an exclusive interview" she said as the usual guess who Batman is time appeared, the segment was dedicated to people phoning and guessing on who they thought Batman was "Yeah I think it's that Bruce Wayne character" one of the callers said as Esra scoffed "It couldn't be Bruce he's a rich pompous ladies man with a ton of money nearly the complete opposite to what Batman is" while this is how Bruce was portrayed in the media Esra also knew first hand as she worked at Wayne enterprises as a secretary and she had seen Bruce around the office every now and then. The polls even agreed with what she said as only 4 votes were on Bruce Wayne as the program finished she decided it was time for bed as tomorrow was another busy day of work, climbing into bed with her cat laying at the end she felt safe knowing that even though the streets were dangerous someone like Batman her guardian angel was watching over them as she slept.

The front door creaked opened ever so quietly but that still was enough to rouse Esra from her sleep as she grabbed the baseball bat lying next to her bed and slowly moved out into the hallway, peering around the corner she spotted the shadows of two men slowly creeping inside armed with crowbars. "So is this the broad's place who got your bro captured and put in jail" a short stumpy man said while the tall skinny one grunted "This has to be it's the exact location he gave me, I ll make her pay for putting him away". Splitting up they began searching each of the rooms as Esra quietly slipped across into her kitchen unnoticed, a shadow quickly appeared in the doorway as she hid behind the fridge watching the small man walk right in and look around. She prayed he wouldn't turn to find her and was about to step out of her hiding spot when he swivelled around looking at her straight in the eyes as she froze dead on the spot, although he was looking right at her he couldn't see because that part of the room wasn't illuminated as he looked down and found an apple in the fruit basket. Pulling out his knife he stabbed the apple picking it up before taking a huge bite out of it, as he turned back around again Esra quickly moved raising the bat up and bringing it down on the back of his head as he collapsed onto the ground with a loud bang.

Footsteps could be heard racing from her bathroom as she ducked behind the counter only a split second before the other man came bounding into the kitchen to see his partner lying on the floor. "Alright I know you're in here so come out and make it easier on yourself" he said pulling out a knife slowly and turning his back to the counter, slowly Esra crept out and raised her bat up ready to knock him out. At the very last second he dodged to the right causing her swing to miss as she stumbled and fell onto the floor "HA thought I d fall for the same trick sorry but I m much smarter than that". Picking her up by the hair he raised the knife to her throat "And now to finish th.." before he could finish speaking the kitchen window shattered and a giant caped figure floated into the room. Rolling across the ground the figure of Batman jumped to his feet as he reached into his belt throwing a batarang through the air, it sliced across the man's hand as he dropped the knife he held and clutched at the gash while blood trickled through his fingers. Turning to run Batman pulled out another gadget which appeared to be a gun as he pointed it at the door and fired, a grappling hook flew forward and lodged itself in the doorway as the man ran straight into the rope knocking himself onto the floor.

Esra stood there completely stunned by what had just happened, one minute she was about to be killed and in a split second her attacker was lying on the floor out cold while the giant shadowy figure of Batman stood in front of her, despite his intimidating appearance she couldn t help but feel safe when he was around. As he turned back around for the first time she actually saw how he looked up close instead of on TV, his chest armour was sculpted perfectly to his chiselled torso while his muscular arms could be seen beneath all of the fabric he wore. She wanted nothing more than to run her hands across his armour but as she took a step forward the whole intensity of the situation took over and she found herself falling to the floor only for a pair of muscular arms to catch her fall and cradle her close to his chest.

Stirring back to consciousness Esra slowly opened her eyes and sat up in her bed suddenly "Was all of that a dream or did it actually happen?" she thought to herself slowly as she jumped out of bed and walked into the kitchen. The pale moonlight shone in through the open window as she spotted a note stuck down to the kitchen table by another batarang. Unfolding the note it simply said "You really have to stop getting into trouble I won t always be around to make a habit of saving you" and was signed off with the bat sign. Unable to sleep now due to her overwhelming amount of excitement Esra sat up for the remainder of the night replaying all the events that had happened during the past few hours and how her hero of the night came to rescue her each time. "I wonder if there is a way I can get to see him again" she thought of perhaps getting into another dangerous situation but didn't want to risk the fact he might be busy elsewhere and just like that the idea popped into her head "YES IT'S PERFECT" she yelled jumping up as the neighbours next to her bashed on the wall "HEY KEEP IT DOWN SOME OF US HAVE TO SLEEP!"