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Nat couldn't grudge her parents sending her to the EZmart, Cara was sick as a dog, and mom was panicking, and dad couldn't juggle Cara, Cole, mom's panic, and go get kid's tylenol and pepto. And Nat had exams in the morning and couldn't afford to get whatever Cara had.
So the division of labor made sense.
It was just that they lived in a shitty neighborhood, the EZmart was five unlit blocks, and there'd been more gunshots than usual the last three nights.
But Nat had to go, so she pocketed the pepper spray, hoisted the taser, and stuck her real wallet down her bra and the decoy wallet in her back pocket.
"Be safe," Dad pleaded, and Nat only nodded.
Head up, she reminded herself as she walked. Shoulders back, move with purpose but don't hurry. Put on what Bette calls your murder strut. Resting bitch face activated, she thought facetiously. She wasn't entirely sure an actual criminal would be deterred by a five-foot-two coed, no matter how grumpy her face, but it might put off the gang of street kids who'd been all over NextDoor for awkward mugging attempts.
The EZmart was crowded, for eleven pm on a work night, but Nat supposed shift change had just gone down. The polite man behind the counter took her money with the sympathy kid's medication being purchased by a teenager probably warrented.
Nat didn't explain that her parents were at home. It didn't matter. She just wanted to get home. She nodded at the huddle of construction workers, all in hi-vis, staring hopefully at the dripping coffee pot, and stepped back into the Gotham night.
Ten steps out of the EZmart, a noise down an alley made her flinch.
Nat gritted her teeeth, trying to tell herself to keep walking. Just a cat, she told herself.
She shined the flashlight on her taser down the alley against her better judgment.
It was all shadows and water, and the glint of blue.
Nat stopped. She closed her eyes once, and then turned down the alley. "Hey," she called softly.
The shadows resolved into a body, and the reflective blue into a spread-winged bird.
"Nightwing?" she said quietly.
The vigilante didn't move, sprawled in the wet alley like a dropped doll. His mask or whatever was still shining white out of his eyes, but she didn't think his eyes were open behind them. There was blood all across one side of his face.
There was a crash further up the alley. "Where'd he go?" someone said.
"Shh!" another voice hissed.
Nat looked down at the vigilante. She clicked the flashlight off. She clutched the taser tighter, and set her feet.
"Ragazza?"
Nat flinched, looking behind her.
Two of the construction workers from the EZmart were standing at the mouth of the alley. "You okay?"
"Uh," Nat said.
Nightwing made a low noise at her feet.
"There he is!" came echoing up the other end of the alley.
Nat was shaking, but she stood her ground. She couldn't take her eyes off the four men stalking their way up the alley.
"Walk away, little girl," one of the men snarled.
"No," Nat said, lifting her taser.
Faraway streetlights glinted off knife blades as they slinked closer, circling like wolves.
The clank of a pipe behind her made Nat flinch again, but it was the construction workers stepping up at her side. "Fuck off," one of them said.
"Leave us the bird and no one else needs to get hurt," the ringleader bargained.
Nat shook her head. Next taser is going to shoot prongs, she thought desperately. She did not want to be closer to the men with knives, but her taser was useless at this range, and she didn't want her allies to get caught in the pepper spray cloud in these close quarters.
The sound of a shotgun racking was unmistakable. "I'm going to count to five."
Nat dared to glance.
A man on the fire escape above them had a sawed off shotgun hefted to his shoulder, staring down the barrel at the four men. "And when I hit five, I'm shooting whichever of you assholes I can still see."
The ringleader of the thugs snarled wordlessly.
"One," the man on the fire escape said. "Two."
Almost as one, the men decided a shotgun was more than they reckoned for, chasing a downed bird, and turned and abandoned the hunt.
When she was sure they were gone, Nat turned back to the vigilante on the ground.
Nightwing had curled tighter, one arm over his bloodied face. He made a low noise, hurt and fear, hunching back into the shadows at attention turning to him.
The two construction workers hastily stepped back.
Nat knelt down, staying out of arm's reach. "Hey, Nightwing," she said softly. "It's okay, you're safe."
"Is there someone we can call?" the guy on the fire escape called.
"How does one call Batman?" a construction worker wondered.
"Nightwing?" Nat asked softly.
He whimpered again, and his tense frame went slack.
Nat stared at him. Then she pulled out her phone.
"Nine one one, what's your emergency?"
"Hey, yeah, do you have a way to like, get to the Bats?" Nat asked.
"I'm sorry, we can't do that, I can dispatch an officer to your location?"
"I don't need help," Nat said quickly. "I have. Nightwing's here and he's hurt."
"I'm sorry, you're connection is unclear, can you please repeat that?" the operator said. Then the line crackled, and something changed.
"Is he responsive?" a new voice asked. A woman, Nat thought, but highly mechanized.
"No," Nat said. "He was unconscious when I found him, and he seemed to wake up a little, but he didn't say anything, and he's gone still again. He is breathing." She stared hard, making sure.
"Thank you," the voice said. "Red Robin is on his way. He should get to you in about five minutes."
"I can stay on the line," Nat offered impulsively. She needed to go home, but Cara could wait ten more minutes.
There was a beat of silence. "Thank you," the voice said. "Are you alone?"
"No, there's some guys with me, they ran off the guys who were chasing Nightwing." Nat smiled up at the men. Thank you, she mouthed.
They both nodded at her.
The guy with the shotgun saluted cheerfully.
"I'm Oracle," the voice said. "What's your name?"
"I'm Nat," Nat said. "I just- I had to run to the EZmart, I was mad about it," she admitted. "But I'm glad I did."
"Me too," Oracle said quietly.
"You don't have to answer," Nat said. "But Gul would never forgive me if I didn't ask. But is he- is Nightwing really the first Robin?"
Oracle laughed over the line. "He is," she said. "And he'd be fine with me answering that. You a Robin fan, Nat?"
"I like the new stabby one," Nat said fairly. "I like how he looks after the strays. And stabs people who need it."
"I'll tell him you said so," Oracle said.
"But no," Nat said. "Batgirl's my favorite. The first one. I mean, I've liked all of them, but the first one was the best."
"I'll tell her," Oracle said softly.
"Is she-" Nat started hopefully, and then she reigned herself in. "She's okay?" she said more carefully. "When she disappeared," she trailed off. When it became obvious, after six months, that Batgirl was really gone, ten-year-old Nat had been inconsolable. She'd been sure her hero was dead.
"She's great," Oracle promised. "Just. Doing something different now."
"Good," Nat said. "Tell her- Please tell her she made a difference."
"I will," Oracle said. More briskly, she said, "Here's Red. Thank you, Nat." Then the line clicked dead.
Nat put her phone away, and stood.
Red Robin dropped graceully on a line from the rooftops, and strode right over. "Oh N," he sighed, dropping to one knee and gently touching Nightwing's face.
Nightwing moaned softly.
"You got it, Little Red?" the guy with the shotgun asked.
"Yeah," Red Robin said, glancing up. "Thank you, citizens," he said, cheerfully lilting his voice, obviously playing. "I'll take it from here." More seriously, he added, "Batmobile is on its way, so I can get him home."
The men all nodded and made themselves scarce, but Nat hesitated. "Is he-?" she asked.
"Head wound looks to be the worst of it," Red Robin answered. "He's hard headed," he added, mouth curling ruefully. "He'll be all right."
Nat nodded.
"Get home safe," Red Robin said in farewell. "And thank you."
As Nat strode briskly out of the alley, she heard the low rumble of a powerful motor. She didn't look back to see the batmobile (and how thrilled would Gul be with the confirmation that they actually called it that?), but she did smile a little as she made her way home.