"Neeks! Will has his shirt off!"

"Where?" I shout, as I flip up and land on top of my bed.

I hear a thud as I open my eyes and see Will rolling on the floor laughing.

"Really! Do you have to laugh?"

Wheezing, he said "Yes... How did not realize I said that?"

"Because I was asleep! Why do I need to be up?"

Will asks "What is the time?" as he started chucking clothes into his Shadowhunter's backpack.

"Um, seven a.m.?"

"When was the last time that you checked in with the Waynes?"

"Who?"

"Bruce Wayne? You know? The person you're living with?"

"Holy Schist!" I yelled, as I grabbed a pile of clothes off of the floor and ran into the bathroom.

"Neeks! Don't change!"

"Why?" I asked curiously.

"Because Bruce will be more confused if you show up in a different set of clothes. If anything, go roll around in the bushes outside and get yourself dirty."

"Because?"

"So that you can say that you fell asleep in a tree or something. I'll be ready to leave in ten."

I walked straight through the front door and started walking to my room until I was stopped by Alfred. "Where were you last night Master Nick? The four of us were searching for you frantically! Master Bruce even called the police who started a search for you!"

"I fell asleep in a tree," I deadpanned.

After taking a few deep breaths, Alfred said "I'm going to call Master Bruce and you can explain yourself to him."

Before he could turn to his phone, I calmly said "Also, while I was walking back here, I found someone."

Alfred looked behind me and finally noticed a tall blond that was standing against a wall behind me

Alfred looked behind me as Will waved from where he was standing.

"Oh my! Hello there, my name is Alfred. I'm Master Bruce's butler."

"My name is Will. Will Aelius. Pleasure to meet you."

"Pleasure to meet you too, Master Will. Why don't you two take a seat in the main living room while I call Master Bruce. Can you find your way there Master Nico?"

"Yeah. Fifth door on the second hallway, right?"

"Correct."

"Come on Sunshine," I told Will as I started walking. "So, first things first. Bruce has cameras in every room excluding bedrooms and bathrooms. Those rooms are soundproof, along with the offices, business rooms, and athletic areas, like the pool and gym."

"Okay. And what about the people?"

"There's going to be six of us total. You, me, Alfred, Bruce, Jason and Dick. Most of them will be able to introduce themselves to you, because we're here."

"Today now marks the third week of the disappearance of the Dark Lady. If you have information on her current location, please call the police station at 704-970-1836. On other news, a mysterious figure has been turning criminals in at the police station. He has been described as being of medium height, while wearing a hooded cloak. If you have any information on this person, please contact 704-970-1836. I repeat, 704-9–" The news cut off as Bruce hit the remote.

"Nicholas Dalton! For the love of all things good, where were you last night! We called the police in and everyone searched for you all night! I had Dick skip his classes today to help look for you!"

I looked Bruce dead in the eyes. "I fell asleep in a tree."

"Do you know how dangerous Gotham is? What if someone found you? Mugged you? Heck, kidnapped you?!?" Bruce yelled.

"To answer your question, yes, I know how dangerous Gotham is, people wouldn't be able to find me, if they tried to mug me, I would fight them, and if they kidnapped me, they would have one h*ll of a time trying to keep me."

"And how could you possibly know that?" Bruce yelled.

"Because I've done it! I've been through things that you will never be able to do! I've been-".

"Nico, calm down. Don't say something that you might regret later." Will calmly said.

I sat down on one of the couches with Will, while Bruce sat on the one across from us.

"So then. Who are you?" Bruce asked.

"I'm Will, Nico's boyfriend, doctor and self-control."

"And your full name?"

"William Aelius. I'm seventeen, and I've been living on the streets for the past three years. Now, I have an idea. What if you set up something that we have to escape out individually? Both Nico and I have a tendency to go out and stay out late, so you might as well try both of us." He stated calmly.

"Interesting idea. Follow me to the gym. We should be able to do this now. Are both of you skilled at hand to hand fighting?"

"Yes," I replied.

"Then I will call Jason and Dick and we can set this up."

We got up and left the room, and Bruce jumped onto his phone. Thirty minutes later, Bruce put a blindfold on me and walked me into the gym, where he put me into a harness and attached it to a series of ropes. After, he told me to lay down on what feels like a stiff rubber mat. A few minutes later, after hearing people mess around with something on the sides of the mat, Bruce said, "I wouldn't suggest trying to roll off of the mat. You won't necessarily fall far, but it wouldn't be fun. Anyways, are you good? The last thing that we need to do is tie you up and raise you up."

"I'm good. Tie me up." I replied.

I felt someone pick me off of the mat while another person tied me hands together behind my back. At the same time, someone tied me ankles together with another piece of rope. When they put me down, I heard them shuffle around before the mat began lift off of the ground. After a minute of being moved up, they stopped pull the mat up and yelled "Go!"

I started to feel around my wrists, until I pulled on a piece of the rope which undid the restraints in my wrist. Next I undid the blindfold, and sat up, which I barely managed to do without hitting my head on the ceiling. After untying my feet, I sat on the edge of the mat and evaluated my situation.

The room is about 30 feet tall, and has a number of different things. The ceiling and half of the room seem to be covered in acrobatic stuff, such as bars hanging down from the ceiling and a large structure that is made out of metal bars and acrobatic swings or ropes. The other half of the room seemed to be split up into three areas. A set of climbing challenges took up one corner, with ropes and things hanging down from the ceiling, as well as ladders and a rock wall. In the center area, there is a large sparring ring, and in the other corner there are targets for archery and other things.

Every seven feet or so down, there were layers of nets to catch anyone if they fall. There was also someone swinging around on the acrobatic structure without a harness and someone who is in a harness was on the climbing ropes.

I grabbed onto the bars on the ceiling and used them like monkey bars, until I managed to jump from them to the first of the six climbing ropes. Using that rope, I swung and grabbed the next one in line so I was holding onto two ropes. I watched as a black figure jumped across the ropes with a dagger at his side.

I smiled and started to swing on the second rope, while holding the first one in my hand. "How are you doing over there Jason?"

"We are in a battle simulation. We do not know each other. Now fight me."

"What do you think I am doing?" I swung around on the rope, having gained enough momentum to fly around him, while also using my second rope to effectively tie his hands to his sides. Stopping my rope, I reached over, grabbed his dagger, and put it at the base of his throat, declaring "You're dead," as I slit his throat and red came running down his throat.

"Nice one," he chuckled, while wiping away the watery ketchup. "Now, the only information that you got out of me is that the window is the only exit to the room, and one of the people in the room has the key, and it's not me. Happy hunting."

He then fell backwards and let the belay start to bring him down to the ground.

While he was doing that, I surveyed the room and saw that there were two people around the structure, and one oddly-shaped lump towards the middle of the structure.

Reaching into my boot, I summoned a heavily blunted throwing knife, and secured my feet into the rope.

Drawing my arm back, carefully aiming at the quickly moving figure, deep breath in, breathe out, and release.

The knife flew through the air, straight at its target, missing Dick by a quarter of a millimeter and slicing through the ketchup packet on his neck, sending red spewing everywhere.

He jerked back, and then froze, letting himself hit the next net below him.

I quickly pulled another knife out of my boot and threw it, delivering the same treatment to Bruce.

Climbing over, I checked them for the keys, which they didn't have, so I climbed up to the lump, which was actually Will. Who. Had. Managed. TO. FALL. ASLEEP???

I took the key from around his neck and climbed to the window, unlocking it, and disappearing into the surrounding forest without a trace.

—————...—————

Hey everyone! So, there are a few things that need to be covered regarding the updates of this book.

School started last week, and that means I will have less time to work on this.

HOWEVER, you will continue to get something every two weeks. That something will either be a chapter, a character sheet, a old fragment, or a concept/ possible teaser.

A chapter is a normal chapter, just like this.

A character sheet is a biography of the character, their backstories, and everything that you could possibly think of when you are creating a character. These could help if you are confused on a backstory or history. YOU CAN REQUEST WHO'S YOU WANT TO SEE.

A old fragment is a section of the first draft of this story. I was writing this story before I published it and decided that it was trash, so I scrapped it. There are concepts in there that could make for an interesting read, so I may post one of those fragments.

ALSO, if you notice that it is past midnight on the West Coast of the U.S on an update day, feel free to spam me until I get something on here

Have a fun week!

-Kat