𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐃𝐨 𝐖𝐞 𝐅𝐚𝐥𝐥?

"With every swing and jump,
She fights for what is right,
Defending the defenseless,
In her courageous flight."

Penny had never seen Gotham City, New Jersey before. She had never even heard of it before this instance.

For whatever reason, the only thing the girl could think of was how she missed the fresh air in the factory she was previously restrained in. The fumes of Gotham that filled her lungs were bitter and unwanted. She took in the sights that surrounded her. The buildings towered over her, much like they did in New York. The shadows that she was enveloped by, however, did not provide her with comfort. It felt like a blanket, strangling her and leaving her immobile.

Those who past her by regarded her with disdainful glances, their eyes lingering on her wrapped-up leg. The fabric swathed around her mangled flesh is stained a deep maroon and each step Penny took had her wincing. The girl managed to walk a mile within the city of Gotham before she began to feel the effects of the blood loss. Her pace grew slower and her breathing grew heavier. Even with her skin paling and her eyes slowly closing, no one stopped to help. Penny, using the wall for support, walked into an alleyway.

It was there that her consciousness was lost.

▀▄▀▄ ••••••••• ▄▀▄▀

'Beep...'

'Beep...'

'Beep-'

The third aggravating beep was cut off by the connection to Penny Parker's heart rate being lost. The girl woke up frantic and ripped off the cords attached to her. The loud flatline noise had nurses rushing into the room. Rather than seeing a deceased teenager on the cot, they found a panicked girl in the corner of the room, waving around a scalpel.

"Where am I?" Penny questioned, eyes wide in fear. One of the nurses, a woman in her late 50s took a step forward, her hands raised in a surrender-like motion. She approached Penny as one would a startled animal.

"You're in Gotham General Hospital." She stated, her tone unwavering. "You were dropped off her a few hours ago."

"By who?"

"He's called Batman." Another nurse piped up, this one younger than the first and leagues more frightened.

"Batman?" Penny repeated, never having heard the name before. Granted, she hadn't even heard of this city before a few hours ago.

"Can you tell me what happened to your leg?" The older nurse asked. Penny squinted her eyes in order to read her name tag. The words 'Susan' were scribbled out in black ink. She then thought about the question.

Slowly, the girl shook her head.

"What about your family? Is there anyone we can call?" Susan continued.

Penny shook her head once again.

The nurses looked at one another before returning their attention to the teenager. Penny dropped the scalpel and shifted her gaze to her leg. It was pristinely wrapped in white bandages, with gauze packing the wound. The women that surrounded her were no threats. Her spidey-sense would have alerted her if they were. Slowly, Penny crept over to the bed and took a seat.

"Sorry." She apologized sheepishly, gesturing to the knife on the ground. This seemed to surprise the women. Most, if not all, of them, had been threatened when on the job. Penny would be the first to apologize for doing so.

"No worries, honey." Susan brushed off the apology and stepped to her patient's side. "You live in Gotham long enough, you get used to it."

Though Penny did not understand the joke, she laughed along. The young girl watched as Susan unwrapped the bandages that swathed her leg and faltered. Her gaze shifted from the wound to a confused Penny and then to the other three of nurses in the room.

"If you two don't mind, I'd like to talk to our new friend here privately." Susan requested, her tone making it resemble more of a demand. Penny silently watched as the nurses shrugged their shoulders and exited. Susan looked down at the teenager and smiled. It was a warm smile that reminded Penny of her aunt May's.

The very thought of the deceased woman had Penny freezing. She looked down at the blue sheets of her cot and was brought back to the twin bed she used to sleep on in Queens. The bed that May and her uncle Ben had put together. Years before the spider bite. Years before Penny was forgotten.

"What's your name, honey?" Susan's question brought the mutant out of her trance-like state. Penny glanced up towards the nurse and hesitated, wondering if she should tell the truth. Susan must have noticed this, as she laid a reassuring hand on top of the teenager's. "You have nothing to worry about. Everyone here just wants what's best for you."

"I'm Penny. Penny Parker." Said girl introduced herself. The elder of the two paused for a moment as if thinking over her next words very carefully, causing Penny to begin to bite her lip nervously. "What's wrong?"

"Does anyone know?"

"Know what?"

"That you're a meta?" Susan elaborated and gently moved the bandages to reveal Penny's nearly healed injury. The once-deep wound was shallow. The bruising that had surrounded the laceration had gone from a gruesome shade of yellow and green to a light purple. It looked nothing like it did when she was brought in.

Penny chose not to comment on the rapidly healing laceration and focused on Susan's strange words.

"A meta?" She repeated. Never before had she heard of such a terminology to refer to her enhancements. She had been called many things over the years. An enhanced. A mutant. A freak. Never a meta.

"You're new here, aren't you?" Susan assumed.

"What gave me away?" Penny asked with a light chuckle.

The nurse rose to her feet and spoke as she closed the blinds, preventing any prying eyes from peering in. "Aside from the fact you've never heard the term 'meta' before? I'd have to say your accent. What part of New York are you from?"

Penny basically had to force the words out of her mouth. "Queens."

"I was born in Manhattan," Susan stated as she returned to the teenager's bedside. "I can still remember the smell in the cold mornings some days."

"God it's awful." Penny groaned, earning laughter from the woman.

"Just wait till December rolls around. You'll be missing it." Susan informed her. Penny's smile dropped at this. She already missed it. She missed Ned and her building Lego sets for hours on end. She missed MJ and her reading in the school library after their last period and basking in the silence. She missed May's attempts at cooking. And she missed Mr. Stark. Oh god, how she missed Mr. Stark.

Susan must have noticed the shift in emotions of the young girl and decided it was time to focus on the topic at hand.

"A meta is someone who can do things no one else can. There are people who can fly, who can run at the speed of light, even move stuff with their minds." She explained. Penny listened with interest. Maybe this world wasn't so different from her own. "Some keep their powers secret, others use them."

"What do they do?" Penny asked, already knowing the answer.

"We have a place in Gotham called Arkham Asylum. The people who use their talents for evil are sent there by the Dark Knight." Susan said. Throughout her years in Gotham, she had seen villain after villain rise and fall. She had watched as the vigilantes of the city brought justice.

"Who?"

"Batman. The Caped Crusader. Gotham Guardian." Susan clarified and began to list off the other nicknames the man had acquired over the years. Penny could only assume that Batman was for Gotham what Iron Man was for New York. "Does anyone know?" The nurse suddenly asked.

Penny began to nod her head but paused. She then began to shake it from side to side. "Not anymore."

"You seem like a good kid." Susan smiled. She then began to re-wrap her patient's leg with new bandages and gauze. "Which is why I'm going to help you."

"What?" Penny was in complete and utter shock. She stared at this stranger in amazement.

"By now the other nurses have probably called CPS to come and pick you up."

Penny froze at this information. The last place she wants to end up is in foster care in a city such as Gotham. She hasn't even the slightest idea what will happen to her when they realize that she is not in any system in their database.

"You can't go with them. No one can know about you being what you are. Batman has shut down most of the testing facilities around here, but there is nothing to say there aren't any left in Gotham."

"Testing facilities?" Penny repeated, the words tasting like poison on her tongue. They had those in her world as well. Penny was all too familiar with them, having been stuck in one for approximately three months before she was able to break out.

"I don't even want to think about what they would do to you if they found out about your healing." Susan shuddered. "I-"

The nurse was cut off by a knock on the closed door of the room.

"That'll be them." Susan frantically looked between a terrified Penny and the door. "We're two stories up, but there should be a fire escape outside the window." Susan quickly passed folded-up clothing to the teenager and rushed over to the window. With some effort she managed to open it, revealing the dark Gotham City. "You have to go."

Another knock sounded.

Penny pushed herself to her feet and stumbled over to the window.

"I don't know how to repay you." She told the older woman.

Susan laid a gentle hand on Penny's shoulder and smiled. "There's no need to." 

Yet another knock at the door, this one harsh and impatient. Penny wasted no time in climbing out into the cold night, with only a hospital gown to give her warmth. Susan closed the window behind her and waited until the mutant was out of sight before opening the door. A man in an ill-fitting suit entered. He held a clipboard in his hand and he repeatedly tapped his pencil upon the sheet of wood and paper. He seemed agitated at even having to be here. He towered over Susan's 5'4 frame and looked as though he could a round with Thor and come out victorious. His beady eyes scanned the empty room before returning to an obviously nervous nurse.

"Where is she?" He asked, his voice deep and demanding.

"When I was going to grab new bandages she ran. Climbed out the window." Susan lied through her teeth. Penny, who was intently listening from the fire escape heard the social worker's heavy footsteps approaching. Swiftly, she climbed up the all and stuck directly above the now opened window. The man peered out, looking at the ground below, rather than above where Penny was hidden.

"She can't have gone far." He muttered before returning to face Susan. Penny did not have time to hear the rest of the conversation. She scampered up the brick wall to the roof, the clothes given to her tucked tightly under her arm. Her leg ached with every movement made, but the adrenaline that pumped through her veins prevented her from slowing down. As soon as she reached the gravel-paved top she shed her hospital gown and changed into a pair of loose trousers and giant white t-shirt. Penny was never one to complain, even less so now when this was all she had. Slowly, her eyes traveled down to her bare feet. Mentally, Penny began to make a list of what she needed to survive in Gotham City. Shoes were now at the top of the list.

"Alright." The teenager mumbled, stepping to the edge of the building. She was in no way fearful of falling. Rather, she was fearful of not being able to fly. She stuck out her wrist and watched as webbing shot out and stuck to the building across from her.

With a deep breath, she jumped.

▀▄▀▄ ••••••••• ▄▀▄▀

Tim Drake was on his fifth cup of coffee that morning and was surrounded by empty packages of pop-tarts. He typed away on his computer at a speed that would have the Flash jealous. Behind him sat Bruce Wayne and Richard 'Dick' Grayson. All three were waiting for the DNA test results to come back for the blood found in the abandoned factory. It was silent in the cave, aside from the clicking of the keyboard and the occasional slurp of coffee. A loud 'ding!' suddenly sounded from one of the three computers set up on the desk and echoed throughout the room. Tim slid his rolling chair over to the computer and pulled up the document which contained the answers they were looking for.

"What the fuck." The Drake boy mumbled as he scanned over the information.

"Language." Bruce instinctively scolded, earning an eye roll from both of his sons.

"What is it?" Dick questioned, walking over to Tim's side.

"Our mystery person, according to this, does not exist."

"Then who the hell stopped the Joker?" Bruce rhetorically asked, running a hand over his face. Tim jumped to his feet and raced over to the lab setup where he had been testing the webbing which had managed to stick the villain to the wall. Red Robin seemed almost excited as he watched the last bit of webbing dissolve into nothingness. He turned around to face his family and grinned.

"Whoever it was, I got to meet them. This shit is a work of art."