Disclaimer: See first chapter + warnings

Nonchalance For Infamy

Maria considers staying quiet about her detour home, but it's difficult to when Eliza grills her about coming home 4 hours later than usual. The response to her retelling of her evening is not great; Sal starts calling her a dumbass and throwing things around the kitchen, while Eliza starts to sob and recite scripture at her. Maria eventually calms them down by telling them that it's better to be friends with the mafia rather than on their hit list and this way they don't have to skip town.

She goes up to her room after that but finds it far too tense in there as well. The worried voices of her landlords waft up to her and are clearer with her enhanced hearing. After a few moments of glumly staring at a wall, Maria strips out of her clothes and shoves them into the laundry basket in the corner, then cleanses herself in the bathroom. When she can still hear the voices below, Maria decides that a night-time run is in order.

She grabs a worn pair of trackies that she's owned since joining the army and a newer black hoodie that is zipped up to her neck. She ties her boots on securely and then climbs out onto the outside ledge of her window. In the dark, no one below sees Maria twist and pull herself up the drainpipe to the rooftop. Maria sucks in a deep breath, and then throws herself forward, crossing the gap to the next rooftop in one gazelle-like leap. Not a moment is wasted as she continues on with the same intensity along the skyline of Gotham, letting her thoughts blank and with a wide gleam in her eye.

Finally, Maria finds herself climbing up the tiled turrets of a church with a sloping graveyard. She digs her nails in-between each plate and hooks herself up as she elongates her nails, relishing the burn of keratin piercing flesh and the lurching of her biceps. At the top, she swings up into a crouch with the balls of her feet pressed against the horizontal bar of the large crucifix steeple. With the persistent wind, her loose braid comes undone and sweeps around her like some ragged flag.

Up here, away from the wandering eyes of Gotham's citizens, Maria doesn't have to hide. With a controlled exhale, she feels the tell tale rippling through her body as her eyes glow blood red, her teeth twist to points and her skin and hair begin to shine white in the moonlight.

Tonight, a different kind of Dark Knight watches over Gotham.

It feels like Maria is destined to run forever in the cold, scratched from branches and terrified.

Her escape was ironically possible because of Bobby. As she cried into her mattress that night, Maria turns over when a soft click comes from the door. Her eyes widen when she sees Bobby close the door behind him.

"What are you doing? Go away, Bobby!" Maria snarls, enraged when he chuckles at her.

"Don't be like that, sweetheart. You're not stuck outside now, are you?"

Maria shuffled away frantically and Bobby kneeled over her. "You said you were taking me home, Bobby! You lied to me! I hate you!"

Bobby slaps a hand over his heart. "Ah, you wound me! It's not so mad here, and it's your new home now. Hey, I bet I can cheer you up though." Maria yelped as he grabbed her ankle and pulled.

"Stop it! What are you-mmm!" Maria's protests are squashed when Bobby's chapped lips smash into hers. She's revolted, terrified as she helplessly fights under his body. The panic gets worse when she feels Bobby's sickly hand stroke down her stomach and rub between her legs. She is hyperventilating, blood pumping into her head like a sledgehammer and all she can grasp is her terror and the rage she feels and how dare he as she feels him groan against her.

Then like a popping gas tap, Maria feels ripples through her skull and something drives her to drive her sharpening teeth into Bobby's jugular.

There is so much blood, and Maria is intoxicated with vengeance and the hot liquid flooding her mouth. It's the most delicious thing she's ever had, she's in ecstasy…until she registers the stomping coming up the stairs. Maria scampers to stand behind where the door will swing open, and waits to slip out as soon as Bobby distracts them.

Almost a month after meeting Vincent, Eliza storms up to Maria and says. "Bella, get a godforsaken cell phone."

Maria looks down at her with bemusement. "Why? Who's going to be calling me?"

"How about Vincent Maroni who wants to you to know that he'll be picking you up at 6 to go to the opera." Eliza snaps. "I almost had a heart attack when I answered."

"The opera?" Maria gapes then scowls. "He's just assuming that I have no plans today?"

Eliza shoots her a warning look. "Be careful with men in this business, Maria. You're lucky that he just wants a beautiful date to the opera house and not a new mantelpiece."

"I don't like being ordered around by some man."

"Well then think about how much you want to survive this mess." Eliza snaps again. She then sighs and patted Maria's arm. "I'm sorry, Bella. Sal and I are just worried."

At that Maria, face turns solemn. "It's my fault you two are involved; I shouldn't have made a scene at Donito's."

"Ahh, you were protecting us, and maybe we would not be here today if you weren't so brave. We're proud of you, Maria."

Maria stares at Eliza's retreating form, then shakes her head and followed her down to the kitchen. No one's ever said that to me before… She thinks numbly.

As usual, Sal is keenly invested in the morning paper. When the two women enter, he grins and points to the front page. "Hey, looks like you've got competition, Maria!"

Bemused, she takes the paper from him and begins to read out loud.

"New Vigilante Saves Schoolgirls.

Several reports of a new masked protector of Gotham have been circulating this month, with eyewitnesses giving detailed a description to the police. Emily Tucker, with her sister Hannah and their friend Joanne Liley were walking home late this Saturday when they were cornered by a gang of armed men. Before police could respond or any injury could come to the terrified girls, and 'tall and terrifying' figure dropped into the street and began to fight off the gang members

Miss Liley describes the scene to us; 'We were so scared, all we could do was watch as this guy beat them up. They were like some sort of ninja; they dodged everything and even threw one guy into a wall! When they were done, we realised it was a woman, 'cause she told us to go home, and that 'she'd be watching!'.

Several other reports have linked this female fighter to another case where an unknown figure of the same description prevented a robbery in a small corner store in North Gotham, a breaking and entering near the Palisades and multiple individual assault attempts in the Narrows. On every occasion, the perpetrators of these crimes were left unconscious at the scene for police to apprehend. This newspaper ventures to call our new masked saviour a 'Spectre' of the city, as in most reports she calmed victims by saying that she would 'be watching' until the police arrived. Our contacts in the GCPD state that the police have no statement to release on the matter."

Once she's done reading, Maria's eyes wander over the police sketch of herself. She's pleasantly surprised at how accurate it was. The drawing is of a slim, broad female figure in a black hoodie pulled over long white locks. The face has a plain bandana covering the lower face and neck, while a set of thick ski goggles cover the rest of the face.

"'The Spectre'?" Maria questions with a raised eyebrow.

Eliza laughs. "I'm fairly certain they meant 'spectator'."

"I bet some intern's gonna get fired for not spottin' that." Sal sniggers. "Can you imagine pissin' off some hardass like that by callin' them an omen of evil?"

"Well it's not necessarily an insult," Eliza argues. "It usually means a phantom or apparition, Sal."

"Are you really correcting me fer' the sake of it, woman?"

With a smirk, Maria passes the newspaper back. Looks like I won't have to save another restaurant. She thought as the Ghiandonis began to bicker again.