“Am I going to get in trouble by helping you? Don’t worry I won’t stop helping if the answer is yes but I’d like to know if the cops are going to come knocking on my door. Id have to hide some...stuff if they do.” Some magical artifacts he has have been... liberated from previous owners.

"Mnh." She attempts to wobble her hand in a 'so-so' gesture without picking it up from the couch; this only sort of works.

Well...he can deal with that. Lots of his friends are criminals. “You...got anywhere to go? Family? Friends? I couldn’t just let you die but I can’t keep you here indefinitely. It’s not very safe around me.”

This time she does curl up, knees to chest, head tucked.

“Not going to ask you to leave right now.” Holding up his hands placatingly. “But if you have nowhere to go then I need to find somewhere for you to stay that can handle... abilities and trauma. Not like I can just hand you over to the system that wouldnt work out for anyone.”

She doesn't respond at all, to that.

“Well you can stay here for a while at least... just bang against the coffee table if you need me I guess. I made soup if you feel up to eating a little.” And John goes off to the kitchen connected to the loungeroom to make himself a drink.

So the next few days are spent in relative silence with John rarely getting called over by the girl he knows as Anet. He makes sure she eats once a day and all the other basic health stuff to make sure she recovers. Otherwise he doesn’t interact with her very much as she doesnt seem particularly interested in interacting with him.

He spends his free time drinking in the corner of the flat or doing diagnostic charms in the kitchen to make sure nobody is looking for him. The charms result in the odd puff of coloured smoke or flash of white flame that the girl can see from her position on the couch. He seems almost relieved she isn’t requiring scintillating social dailogue from him.

After a few days of this he comes back and kneels in front her couch. “Hey Anet, you doing better?”

She's still weak, but she's been recovering reasonably well, and is much calmer now that some time has passed without anything alarming happening. She still tenses up a little at this deviation from the routine she's used to, though. "Mnh," she opines.

“So...I know this guy, really experienced with people with abilities. Bit of an antisocial git though. Thought maybe you should meet him? That okay?” Batman, as much of a git as he could be, had already had a boy wonder and batgirl under his care and he ran a whole team of meta humans and aliens and lived right here in gotham. Probably the best bet for who she could stay with right now John thought.

She makes a deeply dubious face, but nods after a second.

“Okay good, I will call him over and he might get here by this afternoon.” Well that went well for a usual “conversation” with Anet.

So John calls the number the Batman gave him. Blimey it was such a stupid fucking name Batman, could barely manage to call him that with a straight face when they were together. John tells Batman he has a meta-human he should meet at the flat, of course Batman already knows the adress even though John has been trying to do a very good job hiding.

Sometime in the Afternoon the doorbell rings. Well that was polite of him he usually just appears behind you all spooky like. John gets the door and lets the Caped Crusader himself into the flat. He hopes Batmans spooky black outfit doesn’t freak Anet out.

“Hey Anet this is the guy I told you about, maybe I should have mentioned it was Batman but pretty cool right?” Kids liked Batman right?.

Batman just stands there being a grown man in a black cowl and cape standing there trying to be intimidating. 

...Batman. Like, from TV, Batman. She hadn't actually been entirely sure he was real before this moment.

She tries to communicate "I have no idea what you expect me to do here" to John through the medium of facial expression and a baffled noise.

“So John what is this all about? Why call me here?” Batman asks in his gravelly voice.

“Well...I found her behind a dumpster near starved to death comatose from refeeding syndrome and she can shoot electricty from herself? I don’t know mate you are the one with powered friends being the super squad all over the place. I thought you might be able to help or have some advice. You’ve dealt with super kids before.” John runs his hands through his hair nervously.

“Huh. Good point.” And Batman looks the girl over much more intently.

She stares back, having pushed herself a bit more upright while they were talking - she's too weak to sit up for long, still, even propped up like she is, and to his eye that's probably pretty obvious, but she's making a good show of it, anyway.

Batman smiles a little seeing her stare back, its barely noticable but for someone as stoic as batman is he might as well be grinning.

”So, electricty huh? Can you show me?” He says in a less gravelly voice than usual trying to be less scary, but it’s still a pretty gruff voice.

With one hand busy holding her upright, she's pretty limited in what she can do, but she shows off her free hand covered in sparks and then considers the height of the room's ceiling carefully before showing off a small bolt of lightning, sized to dissipate well before it hits it.

“Good control. You ever think of doing something with that power?” Batman looks all aproving at the display.

“Jeez she’s just a kid, I was mostly hoping you would know where she could stay and not have her get sent to some home. You know that wouldn’t work for someone with powers. Didn’t expect you to try and recruit her.” John knew batman had kids for sidekicks, but having spent some time just existing around Anet and seeing her all frail and weak he doesn’t like the idea of her being out there in danger.

She ignores John entirely, beyond waiting for him to finish talking, and shakes her head. "New," she produces, with some effort.

“New power?” Batman tilts his head questioningly.

She nods.