v. BETTE HUFFED, GETTING OUT OF THE CAB and stepping out into the coldness of Gotham. She shivered and snuggled even more into her coat, burying her face deeper in her scarf.
She glanced up at the looming figure of the Wayne Manor and scowled. She didn't even want to be here but considering recent events and there being no one else to take care of her, she had to settle with her probably rich and snobby cousin she never even she had until yesterday.
Grudgingly, she stomped over to the gate and pressed a button. The thing seemed to crackle and make all kinds of ungodly sounds before a click sounded and a posh voice greeted her.
"I presume you are the young Miss Bette?" the man asks. Bette doesn't answer back and the man sighs. "I take it as a yes."
The gate creaks open like a horror movie waiting to happen but she steps in anyway, and the gate shuts behind her. She takes small steps, counting them until she reaches the steps of the manor and the door swings open.
A man—Bette assumed he was the butler of the house and also the dude from the speaker she heard earlier—stares down at her. "I must say," the man starts, "are all you Waynes this grumpy?"
Bette snarls, "I'm a Kane."
The man hums. "I suppose so. Very well, come in. It doesnt seem to be very nice standing in the cold now, is it?" And he steps aside, leaving space for Bette to pass by.
Bette sighs, stepping into the warmth radiating inside and finally unwrapped the scarf around her neck. She feels the cold shut out and warmness spread through her body as the main door closes.
"Coats and scarves on the rack," the man calls out, already heading deeper into the house. Bette obliges, and hangs her clothing on the rack by the door.
She studies the living room, seeing the fireplace near where she stood and smiled. The place looked so comfy, but so lonely. A sound of someone clearing their throat snapped her out of her thoughts and she raised her eyes to the top of the stairs where the one and only Bruce Wayne stood.
"I believe we've never been formally introduced before." Bruce says, a smile gracing his lips. "I'm Bruce Wayne, and you are?"
Bette snorts, not amused at the slightlest of Bruce's attempt to put them at equal levels. "Bette Kane, and don't you dare forget it."
iv. BETTE GROWLS, STORMING OUT OF THE MANOR. She couldn't believe Bruce had the audacity to do that to her! One thing to hide about being the Batman of Gotham, the very hero she looked up to, and knowing who she was as Batgirl but to know who killed Batwoman and do nothing about it?
He was just going to let their aunt's murderer get away like that?!
"Deep breaths, Betty. Deep breaths." Bette muttered darkly, trying to calm herself from doing anything she would regret.
Finally breathing normally, she sighed and studied her surroundings, finding herself farther from the Wayne Manor that she didnt even realise where she had went.
Uneasily, she didn't know where to continue from here. She had left in a fit of anger, but from the years of her living here in this hellhole, she knew walking the streets of Gotham was to be asking for death or robbery.
Pursing her lips, she continued forward anyway, refusing to return to the manor out of pettiness. For a moment she considered letting herself stay in the streets to die and join her Aunty Kathy, but she discarded the thought as fast as it came.
She shivered at the thought of dying alone, so she went back to walking forward although unknowing where she would be heading to. Surprisingly, she made it safe and sound up to a giant circus that seemed to be closed at the moment.
There were a few people lingering around inside the place and Bette felt shy to approach them, instead opting to just staring as they set up their things. She contemplated between turning around and going back to Alfred's cookies or asking if she could stay around just for the night to avoid Batman for the moment.
Before she could do anything, one of the people—a little boy, maybe a year younger than her—spotted her and tugged his mother's sleeves. The parents both caught attention of her and waved her over.
Bette nervously shuffled over to the family, tugging the strings of her hoodie lower in hopes she could choke herself from the tightness.
"Hullo!" the boy greets in a non-Gothamite accent—Bette assumed from somewhere else seeing as it was a traveling circus—and bouncee over to her. "Who are you?"
Bette glances at the mother and father, and they watch the two of them with a small tight smile. Bette clears her throat. "Bette Kane, and you?"
The boy frowns, trying to pronounce her name. "Bet, Better, Betty?" the boy echoes, and then shrugs. "Well Betty Kane, 'm Dick, mami says short for Richard. What 'ere you doing 'round this... place?"
Bette smiles at how the younger struggles to find the correct words to phrase his sentence. "I ran away from home. But that's a secret." she says, bringing a finger to her lips. "You reckon your parents or the people running this place might let me crash for the night before I return?"
The boy think, before running off to his parents. She sees them talking and glancing at her before the three all walk over to her.
"Say, Betty Kane," the mother muses, "you would like to stay the night with us? We're holding a show tonight, and we'd be glad if you can attend it."
Bette grinned, a shine in her eyes, "Wouldn't miss it for the world."
iii. SHE STUDIES THE LITTLE BOY HIDING BEHIND BRUCE. Bette raises an eyebrow at her older cousin, arms folded.
"Don't tell me you're taking in another kid." she says, her lips curling up in amusement. "You could barely take care of me."
Bruce grins sheepishly, "Well I'm always one up for a challenge?"
Bette rolled her eyes. "Before long you're going to turn into an orphanage, Brucie." she teases.
"Maybe I will." Bruce huffs.
She snorts at his childishness, and instead gives her attention to the little boy behind his leg, ignoring the older man altogether. The boy looked to be around the age of Dick, whom she hadn't seen in a long time as he was off somewhere else in the world with his traveling family.
"Hello," Bette greets softly. "What's your name?"
The boy scrunches his nose at her tone. "Jason Todd. And you're supposed to be...?"
Bette claps, her eyes lighting up. "Bette Kane. I'm Mr Broody over there's cousin."
Said Mr. Broody gasps in offense at Bette's accusation. "If I'm Mr. Broody then what are you? Mrs. Bratty?"
Jason giggled and Bette followed along. "Maybe so." she cackles, causing Bruce to groan as the two start laughing again. Before long, the older man was joining in the laughter.
"If I do say so myself, it is a rare sight to see Master Bruce laughing like that." a voice interrupts them.
"Alfie!" Bette squeals as Bruce laments about everyone ganging up on him. "Meet Jason, isn't he the cutest?"
Jason scoffs, stomping his foot. "I'm not cute!"
Bette giggles. "We'll see about that."
ii. A WHOOP SOUNDED FROM ABOVE before a blonde girl landed in front of Bruce. She had slid down the banister, a wide grin on her from the exciment of seeing her friend, Dick Grayson, again.
"Bruce! Bruce! Hurry up, you old man!" she shouts as Jason comes stumbling down the stairs sleepily behind her.
Bruce smiles from behind his cup as the younger boy groans from annoyance. "Do you have to be so loud in the mornin'?" the boy slurs.
"Yes!" Bette shoots back, a hmph sounding from her mouth. "Dick is returning to Gotham again after a year! He's so much better than you would ever be."
Jason stutters, grabbing a chair at the table and sitting down. "I just don't see what's so special about a circus. It's just animals and tricks."
Bette scoffs. "Maybe to you, but personally seeing it up close is magical. If you would give it a try, you might end up liking it too."
Jason rolls his eyes, "Sure, whatever you say."
Bette gobbles up her breakfast and gets up from the table. The two glanced up at her with eyebrows raised. "Well, what are you waiting for? Dick's probably wondering where I am."
Jason sighs, finishing his breakfast as well. "Let's just get this over with."
An hour later, they found themselves at Haly's Circus. Bette hopped out the car before it could even stop and was already running away before Bruce could scold her. Jason snorted, and Alfred only sighed exasperatedly.
"Dickie!" Bette calls out, skipping over to the younger boy.
"Betty!" Dick shouts back, grinning and running over halfway to meet her in a hug.
"How have you been???" Bette squeals, refusing to let go of the younger, who was struggling to get out of her grip.
"Fine, but I can't breathe." Dick wheezes. Bette reluctantly releases him from her hold just as Bruce, Alfred and Jason walk up to her. He squints at Jason. "Who's that?"
"Dick, meet my family. You already know Bruce and Alfie, but last year I got a younger brother, Jay." she proudly states, gesturing over to the boy. "He's your age so I'm sure you two would get along nicely, right?"
Dick's eyes lit up, a mischievous look dawning his face. "Get along, you say?"
Jason chuckles nervously. "What the fuck?"
Bette bites back a laugh at Jason trying to hide behind her. "It's fine, he doesn't bite. Unless you piss him off, that is." Bette informs in a serious voice.
Jason narrowed his eyes and Dick smiled at him innocently in return. "I mean, what could fucking go wrong, am I right?" he mutters to himself, already wishing he was back at the manor.
A few minutes later and Jason was screaming as Dick tried to teach him a few tricks that required flexibility. "I'm going to fucking die and it'll be all your fault, Beth!" he screeched, holding on for dear life onto the pole.
Bette was below, laughing at his misery. "Stop being so... stiff, Jay." she cackled, taking pictures of him on her phone.
"Fuck you!! OH MY GOD STOP TAKING PICTURES, YOU BITCH!"
"Language, Jaybird." Bette yawns, smirking at him.
Dick rolled his eyes, holding onto a rope. "God, you're even more of a pussy than Bette was."
Bette snorts, "Right? At least I had some courage."
"How do you even know what pussy is." Jason asks, looking scandalized.
Dick winked. "I travel the world, I tend to learn a lot. Gotham ain't the only English speaking city, y'know."
Jason grumbles. "Yeah, yeah, whatever. Now can we please get down."
Bette snorts. "Pussy."
Jason ignores her as he tries as quickly to climb back down the steps without looking down too much. "Jesus Christ, why did I even agree to this?" he moaned, finally reaching ground.
"Because you're a stubborn ass loser." Bette retorts, leaning on Jason's shoulder as they watched Dick start preparing for practice. Jason kept his mouth shut.
Dick glanced down at the two of them. "Aight, so ready to see something cooler?" he asks, even though they were the only audience.
Bette hoots sarcastically, jumping up and down. "Go, Go, Flying Graysons!!"
Dick snorts in amusement and begins streching before taking hold of the rope in front of him. Bette and Jason watched in awe as he swang back and forth between the ropes before Bette heard a noise. She saw the rope Dick was currently gripping on tearing at the seams.
"Dick, the rope! It's breaking!" she shouts in fear, and Dick glances up in shock as the rope snapped and he fell. Bette sighed in relief as she saw the net below to catch him.
Except the net also falls.
i. THE DOOR SLAMMED SHUT BEHIND HER and she found herself back in the coldness of Gotham like all those years ago. It's always been so cold here.
She starts to walk away from the manor but then she stops and turns around. She mournfully stares at the place she came to call home after all these years.
"Goodbye, Alfie. Goodbye, Jason. Goodbye..." she clenched her teeth and turns back around. She continues onwards without so much as a glance behind as she left.
At eighteen years old, Bette leaves behind the name Batgirl and comes to be known as the anti-hero, Hawkfire.
•••
THIS IS LITERALLY MORE THAN I'VE WRITTEN IN A YEAR LMFAOOOOOOOOOOOOO 💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀 LIKE??? 2K WORDS??? omg i gotta congratulate myself wig 💆♀💆♀