All recognized characters belong to DC comics. The poem is original work, please don't use without permission or crediting me at least.

This story is going through an edit/rewrite and a new chapter will be up within the next 24 hours.

Acacia leans back against the grass, her elbows supporting her torso. She stares over at the groups that claim the bench-tables, pondering. Why were they considered elite? Why were their families the privileged and wealthy?

Hard work was how it started. Work, determination, responsibility. That was how each of these people could afford their expensive clothes and fancy new phones that were replaced and disposed of the moment the next one came out; even if there was hardly a difference between the two. These people hardly knew the meaning of the words work, determination, and responsibility.

Well, no, that isn't entirely true, she muses, Tim Drake certainly knows the rougher side of life. Yes, Tim Drake is similar to her. They both gained scholarships; they both have to study and keep a 3.0 GPA to keep said scholarship; they both have after-school jobs. However, Tim is more accepted by the students of the Gotham Private High School because of his connection to Bruce Wayne—richest and most eligible bachelor in Gotham.

Acacia sighs and allows herself to fall backward onto the manicured lawns of the school, closing her eyes. She is more than likely getting grass stains on her school uniform—a button up white long-sleeved shirt with a blue tartan skirt—but she couldn't bring herself to care at this moment. Everything is peaceful; a rare warm, sunny day has fallen upon Gotham, something most students at the high school are taking advantage of.

"What are you grinning about, Dent?"

Acacia cracks open her eyes to see Crowe Moore standing over her. She gives him a lazy smile, "The rare sunshine. Not all of us want to be mistaken for the undead."

He snorts and sits next to her with the grace of a caged lion. It wouldn't seem possible to be as silent and graceful with a quarterback build and Yeti feet. He stretches his legs in front of him and leans back on his hands. "So, what's today's creepy rhyme-slash-poem?"

Acacia grins. The first time they met, Acacia was partners with him in English freshmen year and they had to memorize and read poems. She chose the creepiest poems she could find to see if she could scare him. He had, in turn, found the silliest poems to counteract her. This led to their friendship, which then led to her daily tradition of finding creepy poems and rhymes and reciting them.

Acacia now clears her throat and says,

"Lizzie Borden took an ax

And gave her mother

Forty whacks

And when she saw

What she had done

She gave her father

Forty-one."

Crowe looks at her with a cross of amazement and horror. "Where do you find these? Do you Google them or something? Scavenge every book in the library just for creepy poems?"

"That actually wasn't a poem. It's part of a children's nursery rhyme. I haven't memorized the rest."

"That's more than a little disturbing."

"No, disturbing is your father reading you the original Grimm fairy tales and just original fairy tales in general to show that the world is not a nice place." She turns her head away from him. The bell rings at that moment and she grabs her stuff, rising to head to class. Moore doesn't say anything, but is a steady presence against her back.

As Acacia sits down in English 11, she thinks back to her childhood. Acacia Elise-Rachel Dent is the daughter of Harvey James Dent, the best district attorney that Gotham has ever had. He is also one of the Rouges of Gotham, Two-Face. She was an unplanned accident. Acacia's mother dropped her at one of his more famous hideouts and left. Nobody knew the little baby was there until she woke up hungry and cold and started crying.

She reaches up and clenches her locket in her fist. Inside is the note her mother had left for the girl's father to read. Her father had a copy in a matching locket with a picture of her as a child on the other side. Hers had a picture of him. He wasn't the best father, but he did try. He never hit or verbally abused Acacia. But she did see a multitude of crimes at a young age, which caused her sense of right and wrong to be different from most people. She stayed with her father until she was eight, which was when Batman discovered her existence.

~~ I was playing with my stuffies, introducing the new one to the others. She was a giraffe named Ellen. The door shuddered and I looked up. A bang came from the door again and I grabbed my stuffed pony Rachel and backed away from the door. Where were John and Mark? They were supposed to keep me safe. Daddy said that they were knights for me, his princess.

The door shook again, cracks appeared in the wood, and I whimpered. I hurried to my closet and opened it. I then opened my hidey-hole and went inside, closing the door behind me. I heard the door crash to the floor and flinched backward in the small space.

"Batman, this looks like a little girl's room," a male voice said.

"Jesus, is Two-Face turning into a pedophile? Look at this, it's every girl's dream room," said another, deeper voice.

I didn't know what a ped-o-file was, but it sounded mean. These men called Daddy by the bad name, so I knew that I needed to stay hidden. I shifted further back, clutching at Rachel tightly.

"Nightwing, Red Hood, search the room. Robin, come with me. Make sure nobody is in here." The man that said this had a rough, scary voice. She was glad he was leaving.

"Sure thing, Batman. C'mon, Red, there might a clue as to where the girl is." That was the first man.

"Fine." The second.

I heard the two men left behind start going through my things. One of them headed closer to where I was hiding and I started breathing faster. He opened the closet door and pushed aside my fancy clothes.

"Yo, Wing-nut, there's a hidden door here. Come and see if you can get it open."

No, no, no. They found me. I started crying. I wanted my Daddy.

"Hey, sweetie, it's okay. We're the good guys. We're gonna get you out okay?" I knew the first man was trying to calm me down, but I didn't want him to find me. I started sobbing into my pony.

"Damn, Wing-nut, you scared her even more." There was the sound of something hitting something else and the second shouted, "What the hell was that for?"

"Don't cuss. There's a little girl in there. She can hear you."

The door to my hidey-hole opened and I saw a man wearing a blue and black mask. His hair was black and messy; he also had bright blue eyes. "Hey there, sweetie, I'm Nightwing and behind me is Red Hood. Can you come out? You're okay now."

I shook my head. "No."

"What does she mean 'no'?" demanded Red Hood.

"Daddy said that I'm safe here. I'm not supposed to come out until he comes and gets me." I squished myself back further into the small square.

"Jesus, he has her calling him 'Dad'. Christ, what a sicko." Red Hood stormed off to the broken door.

"Please? Your dad sent us to find you. He wants us to take you somewhere safe." Nightwing held his hand out and smiled at me.

I looked at him. He did seem like a nice man. I carefully put my hand in his and he helped me out. I stood up and tilted my head back to look at him. He was really tall, and so was his friend. They looked almost as tall as Daddy, but Daddy was taller than everyone. "Will you take me to my Daddy now, Mister Nightwing?"

He smiled at me and bent down, picking me up. "Sure."

I didn't pay much attention to what the two men were talking about. We got close to Daddy's office and I heard yelling. I lifted my head up to see what was going on and saw Daddy standing with his two guns, snarling at two people in front of him. Jesse and Tom were standing with Daddy, with guns too.

Daddy swung one gun toward me and Nightwing and Red Hood. He then glanced over at me, and his eye widen. "Acacia!" He turned back to the man and boy. "Tell them to let her go, Batman, or I kill them."

"She's not yours, Harvey. Let her go back to her real family." The man with the scary voice spoke again and I realized he was Batman. The bad man that didn't like Daddy.

I started squirming and trying to get out of Nightwing's hold. I hit him with my pony. He lied to me! He said he was Daddy's friend! I bit him in the arm and he yelped, dropping me. I ran to Daddy and hid behind his leg, glaring at the liar.

"Baby girl, what are you doing out of the safe box?" Daddy asked me in his soft voice.

I clutched his leg and started crying again. "I'm sorry, Daddy! I'm sorry! He said that you sent him! He told me he was your friend! I didn't know he was a bad man! He sounded nice and he carried me."

Daddy holstered one of his guns. Keeping one gun on the bad men, Daddy crouched down and picked me up in his arm. I buried my face in his neck; wrapping my arms around his neck I clenched Rachel's leg.

"This is my daughter, Batman. You stay away from her and everyone can leave here in one piece." Daddy was using his mean voice now.

"You kidnapped her, Two-Face! Just admit it! You brainwashed her into thinking she's your daughter because of some sick, perversion you have!" shouted Red Hood, stepping forward.

"SHUT UP!" Daddy roared. "Acacia is MY DAUGHTER! You have no idea WHAT YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT!" I heard a bang and flinched. Daddy tightened his arm around me and I heard Red Hood shout in pain. Daddy had shot him. Good. Red Hood was a bad man.

There was suddenly a lot of noise as people moved and shot off guns. I felt Daddy get knocked down and he rolled so that he covered me. I felt him get torn away and gloved hands grabbing me. "NO!" I screamed. "DADDY! Daddy, come back!"

"ACACIA!" Daddy bellowed and I looked up to see Batman holding my daddy away from me.

I flung myself away from the person behind me in an effort to get to my Daddy. The boy from before launched himself on top of me and sat on me. "Let me go!" I said, swinging at him with my hands.

He pinned my hands down and stared down at me. He wasn't any older than me. He had dark blue eyes and hair that was cut short and gelled back out of his face. "Please, please let me go to my Daddy," I begged.

He scrunched his face and looked over at Batman. "Batman," he said.

"No, Robin. Two-Face is a criminal. He is not allowed near her. We'll do a blood test later. But she's not going back to him either way."

"Acacia," Daddy said in his nice voice. "Sweetheart, they aren't going to let us go. You're going to go to a different family, but I'll come for you, okay?"

I turned my head and stared at him. He was on his stomach, half his face pressed into the floor. He gave me a smile and nodded. "Okay, Daddy. You promise?"

"Yes, baby girl, I promise."

I then stopped fighting. Robin warily let me go after looking at Batman. I sat up and snatched my pony from the ground where she fell. Her coat was dirty and sticky, but I clutched her to my chest. I stood up and sat by Daddy as we waited. I stared at the liar and Robin the whole time. I hated them. I hated the man called Red Hood. But I especially hated Batman. It was his fault I couldn't be with Daddy. He met my eyes and I glared at him with all the hate my eight-year-old self could muster. "I hate you," I told him. "I will never, ever stop hating you."

He turned away from me without so much as blinking.

I would get him back.

I would. ~~

"Miss Dent, you will be working with Mister Drake on this project."

Acacia turns to look at Tim Drake and he smiles at her, dark blue eyes glinting in the fluorescent lights. She smiles back at him, pleased with her partner. They are most likely going to work at Wayne Manor and that is just fine with her.

Acacia is now going to be able to get the revenge that she has been planning since she was eight.

She is going to destroy Bruce Wayne and his closest people.

Batman and his family are done.

Wind blows a lone bag down the street

Left from a surrender to the dark

A child scrounges through the garbage

Taking whatever she can find

Pained cries echo through the street

No one notices anymore

Fear has taken the souls by storm

Souls that were already lost to light

The dusk settles on the city

Many scurry and scamper to make it home before night

The darker soulless come out, rising with the blackness

Knives and guns are strapped on

For protection or to cause harm

It is both and it is neither

There are fewer now than there were at one time

But the fewer are the more dangerous

There is something that each one waits for

A flawless face flips a two headed coin over and over, his other side burnt and grinning

A beautiful woman strokes the petals, her red lips and green eyes watching the skies

A young doctor studies the mask, his blue eyes dance with madness and excitement

A lean man fires off several shots, his painted face grinning in laughter

A cheerful woman dance around stolen jewels, black and red suit hiding her old self

The Rogues of the city