batwomans_gotham | Can't run from me.....

A nod in response. Which was a much warmer reaction than last time. Indeed he had checked her facts, checked everything, and it had all come up right. Of course it could be a very elaborate plot to get close to him, but for right now, he had no other choice than to trust her, obviously. But one's actions spoke louder than one's words, and she had done nothing (much) to prove the point otherwise. He'd tread carefully, for now.

A batarang in one hand, he walked closer to where Katalyn had the scientist in hand...well, on foot, anyway.

"I'll let you have him. I think I got his only gun, but the left pocket's a little heavy. Not heavy enough for a big gun," she shrugged. "Still. Genius type." She blinked and looked down at the weeping man. "Well, supposedly."

Getting off she moved out of the, her hand on her kept batarang as she watched the man struggle to his feet and suddenly spin, her eyes widdening as she saw some fragile weapon being pulled out.

"Watch out," she said, reaching out at the stumbling researcher.

That heavy could have been anything, especially with these scientist types. So with his nerves already on his end, the second that fragile weapon was even thought about being aimed towards himself, his gloved hand swatted it away as he lept onto the scientist roughly, pulling a cord out and tying his arms behind him.

Then the thing that he knocked away hit the ground with a surprisingly musical tink.

There was a terrific blast, a roaring woosh of a noise, and then silence. All had gone black.

Katalyn woke slowly, groaning softly.

Her head hurt, but more than anything the rest of her hurt to. Her lip wibbled as she slowly rolled herself over.

"Momma?" she called weakly, then froze, eyes bursting open. She hadn't thought of her mother since she was very little. She sat up, head swimming, then gasped as she looked around. The alley... it was so big now!

She frowned and tried to remember what had happened, but all she could remember was the mean scientist and the Batman coming. Then... lots of movement, panic.... an explosion?

She looked around, then drew in a shakey breath when she saw, to her amazement, a small, cape-covered body further down the alley, and no trace of a mean scientist.

"Batman?" she said, then started to cough, her voice was so.... weird! But that didn't matter too much, she had to get to her friend. "Batman, wake up!" she slowly rolled to her knees and crawled over, pushing on him. "Batman!"

The pushing made him think of Alfred suddenly. School, a cold winter's morning.

"I don't wanna get up, five more minutes," came his voice. Then he blinked. Wait, his voice didn't sound like that. What was there, helium or something in that explosion that just happened?

Explosion.

He shot up suddenly, almost knocking heads with the little girl in front of him. That was funny, he didn't remember a little girl being with him right now, the only one that was his best friend was Rachel, but she wasn't Rachel, she was...

Katalyn. He wasn't just Bruce, he was Batman. And something very bad had just happened here. He looked down, not exactly afraid to see the change that had been brought upon himself, but more like resigned, knowing what had happened.

"Great. Just great. At least the costumes shrank with us."

She gasped when she saw him, then looked down. "Oh man," she said, staring at her flat chest and awkward legs and arms, which were just starting to outgrow her torso.

"We're kids," she said, falling back on her butt, pulling off a glove and looking at her hand. "Like.... small."

Suddenly her street urchin instinct kicked in, and she pulled on her glove and got to her feet, suddenly feeling extremely vulnerable and almost as if she'd already been snatched and taken by some pervert. "We have to go, now! Now, come on!"

"This really sucks," he looked at his own small self with a sigh. This had happened to him one time too many. He placed his own age about nine or ten, from the height and shape of his body, and prepared himself to deal with the instincts that came along with being a child that fuddled the rational areas of the mind. He had always been mature for his age, as he had said once, he hadn't been a kid since he was eight years old.

"Wait, what about the scientist?" His annoyingly high childlike voice rang out. Boy did that not fit in with the whole Batman scheme. "We have to look for clues, we have to find out where he went! He's gotta be a kid too, and we have to turn ourselves back. Where do you think you're going?"

"Nowhere without you, and we can't stay here any more, it's night time!" she said desperatly, grapping his arm. "Come on, please, just trust me. We'll have to come back tomorrow, there are bad people out at night who just look for kids! The scientist is long gone by now, we can catch him when we get big again, just please follow me."

He began to protest, his stubborn mind totally bent on finding that scientist, and something small in the back of his head reminded him that it was his fault in the first place. But then he remembered that he in fact was a kid and wouldn't be powerful enough to fight of some attackers, no matter how hard he tried.

"Fine. Whatever." He pouted a little and let her lead him to whatever she was talking about.

"There are bad gangs around here," she said, voice soft and full of fright as she pulled him up and then lead him deeper into the alley, finding an old manhole and unsheathing a claw, working at it desperately for a few minutes before she finaly managed to shove it open.

"Come on, these pipes are abandoned. Only people who live here are here," she said, pulling him down after her, feeling a little better when she'd gotten down.

It was pitch black in the tunnels, but she could see fine, and nodded, her tiny heart racing as she tried to calm down.

"Um... that way," she said, pointing and taking Bruce's hand so he wouldn't get lost, pulling him after her as she started leading him down a series of complicated and abandoned tunnels.

He simply let her lead her where she wanted, he didn't really know this area all that well though he seemed to recall knowing the fact that people lived there. Somehow, being down here as a small child, brought an odd feeling to his stomach. It was tingly and not at all pleasant. Oh yeah, fear. That old fear of his that he had buried under so many years he wasn't sure if he was afraid anymore. But now as kid? Oh yeah, he was.

"I hope there's no bats down here," came a small voice behind her, a sheepish admittance at that.

She blinked, then shook her head.

"Big rats... spiders, maybe a snake... but no bats. They can't get in, too far away from outlets," she said softly, a few minutes later she nodded, feeling a little better. "We're here."

"Good." He visibly relaxed, the spiders and snakes and rats didn't bother him as much as those things did. Which stood to reason why in the world was he still wearing his costume, but oddly enough his costume had more of a security blanket feel at the moment.

"What is this nasty place?" He looked around, wrinkling his nose up in disgust.

She had just been opening up the secret trapdoor that went to her cavern, and was pulling him up inside, when the comment hit her. She yanked him up and then shut the door, turning on the light to reveal a dirty, small compartment area that had been filled. One corner had blankets and pillows. Next to it was a cooler for food, and then a few stacks of old, dusty books.

She stared at him, then her eyes filled with tears as she shoved him as hard as she could.

"Shut your mouth about my home!" she yelled, furious. "Not all of us are rich, you know! Not all of us have homes, or servants, or big, fancy lawns and room and rooms full of toys! Not all of our mommies could die coming out of a fancy opera play, some of them died while trying to be able to afford food for the night! We're not all spoiled, rich, dummies that stuff our mouths whenever we please, and we can't all afford nice, safe places to sleep, so shut your mouth about my HOME!"

With that she started to weep, and turned, throwing herself onto the bed, starting to weep stormily and burry herself under the blankets.

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A few hours later

Re: A few hours later

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