BLUDHAVEN
Co-Authored by Fallen Angel Overlord and The Dark's Familiar
01: That Nouveau Olde Behaviour...
Naoko laughed as Tim showed her the pictures from the trip to the funfair. It lay heavy on his heart that he was having so much fun so soon after the deaths of all the people in Gotham. It had been 2 weeks, he'd discovered a long lost uncle, his step-mother was barely coping and he was placed in Bludhaven...uprooted.
Naoko was much alike. Though she didn't run around rooftops in a costume.
Naoko had lost her father back home in Japan. She'd moved out here to live with her estranged mother and like Tim she'd not gotten to be friends with the Three C's. Chloe, Courtney and Cecily. Ick.
Speaking of whom.
"Hey gunslinger boy. Wish you'd sat at our table yet?" Cecily/Courtney/Chloe asked.
"I doubt he does" Naoko answered. "Hell's not frozen over yet"
One of the C's opened her mouth - Naoko gave her a glare that said: "Go on, do it, give me a reason, all I need is one, and I will rip your head off and go bowling with it" and there was no retort from the C's. They retreated.
"So doing anything tonight?" Naoko asked as she and Tim walked out of the school
((A/N: Ideal Music: I don't give a damn about my Reputation!))
"Yeah" Tim said. "I have to do volunteer stuff" he shrugged. "Anything to avoid "Bonding Night" with my Uncle. He's great but he takes the Bonding thing toooooooooo far"
"Hear that" smiled Naoko as she adjusted the chopsticks tying her hair up. "Bonding - my aunt does shopping as bonding so I accept it. But then again there's times when you wish they'd take it in the right manner and dosage"
"yeah" Tim smiled. That's when they heard the 'oof' and gasp that followed the sound of a foot making impact with flesh. The bleachers were right there beside them...the football team used the basketball field when they felt like it. Right now they were using it to hide their beating of a boy.
Tim recognized the boy. Donatello Valentine, a quiet boy, brown hair and blue eyes...not much acne and always wearing clothes that were baggy and covering of his body.
Derek Moore and his pals were doing the punching shouting "Freak! Queer! Loser! Loner! Dork! Sap! Weirdo!" as Derek rhythmically matched his kicks with his words:
"You're such a freak Valentine, you - aren't even - worth the energy - you're scum - the worlds a better place - without you so - why - why don't you - kill yourself and - get it -over with!" Tim wrenched him off the boy and Naoko kneeled swiftly by the boy.
"Oh poor Derek" Donnie sighed. "Your funs been ruined. You must be feeling bad..." he grunted. "I'd be afraid of a ruptured spleen but I don't have one you see." Tim flinched when he saw the long scar across the boys stomach. It was relatively old...but nast looking.
"Your boyfriend won't help you next time" hissed Derek.
"Like I care - what's the point in fighting back?" Donnie muttered.
"Leave him alone Moore" Tim said.
"Knew you were a puff you newbie loser!" Derek hissed. He nodded and his friends followed him away. Naoko and Tim helped Donnie to a seat on the bleachers where he opened his bag and took out a first Aid kit. Naoko handed him a few books he'd dropped.
"Why didn't you fight back?" Tim asked at last as Donnie finished rubbing cream into his bruises. The boy turned an icy blue gaze to him.
"Why bother? I'm not strong enough, they'd have hurt me more for it..." he said quietly.
Tim had seen the boy at gym practice, he was always first into the locker rooms, he got changed and was in the hall when everyone else arrived. He was also the last to leave the gym, when everyone was just finished he'd either be nowhere in sight or still in the hall. More to the point Donnie was actually quite a decent athelete but he hadn't the drive to do anything - he was dead inside. And Tim wondered why.
Naoko took the cotton wool from the boys trembling fingers and dabbed his forehead with it. "You know the police could-"
"Derek and his friends have protection from their overly powerful families who sent them to John Wayne because its gun fight free and three Pro-players have come out of it. Let's be real here...it's not going to happen" Donnie snorted. He touched his nose. "And my nose has stopped bleeding at least."
"Naoko's right, if you tell the police they can't ignore it!" Tim didn't totally believe that. Evidently neither did Donnie who gave him a skeptical look. Eventually Donnie limped away and Tim looked at Naoko.
Donnie's parting words had been: "Look, bullying is accepted by people everywhere because they need to feel superior, atheletes need to be kept strong so teachers look the other way when the smart or different kids get thrashed for being -gasp- different. They love to think their golden children do no wrong, that the victim is oversensetive. This world is based around protecting the perpetrator and not the victim." They rang in Tim's ears as he leapt over the rooftops. He understood just what Donnie meant.
The room smelt strongly of caviar, ice, champagne and seafood. It was the Glacial Grotto, the Penguins new base in Bludhaven. He was sitting opposite Okudo Katuyara who had a Geisha pouring him tea. The Geisha was a beautiful, docile creature...heavily make-up-ed but pretty beneath it all with a slender figure. She wore the white and red robes and woven hat with an elegance that was incredible...and the stooping neckling that showed off the chinese spell circle tattooed just above the slope of her breasts...Oswald realised he was drooling.
Okudo was his concern, the Japanese man was part of a massive criminal network and was offering all manner of weaponry to the Penguin.
"You must understand Cobblepot-san I am a man of business" his wrinkled face seemed too cheerful for a man of business. He raised his cup. "I would not offend a fellow man of business by offering wares without a demonstration. I have hacked into cameras in a shop that my men, led by one of your men, are robbing"
"That's where Robbard got to" mused The Penguin. "Do tell"
The Geisha handed the remote to her master and kneeled beside his seat.
Robbard was a bald man with too much muscle. His stubble framed his mout tightly and underneath the heavy Night Vision Goggles he had beady blue eyes. The four Yakuza men worked fast. They used the weapons to disable the alarms, move silently...
"Have their been any sign of the police?" The Penguin asked through the ear piece.
"No sir, we may have to use weapons on dummy targets" Robbard reported.
"But my merchandise destroyed the security system and rendered the alarms totally useless but in such a manner no one has caught on!" Okudo interjected.
Robbard turned around. The redwing hit him in the chest and with a wheeze he stumbled backwards. "Sorry boys" Robin said as he swung his bo-staff into the side of a man's head. "But this isn't a 7-11 they're closed right now!"
"This just got interesting" muttered The Penguin
"Who's this?" hissed Okudo
"Robin the Boy Wonder...an insult to birds!" The Penguin snarled.
Robbards lifted the pulse rifle, aimed and fired. Tim barely avoided it...
Donnie heard the engine and he could feel something welling up behind his eyes - like a sight he should see but couldn't. He got feelings light that a lot. He hurried towards the pokey flat he was renting from a drunken land owner. His shift at the docks had run late and he'd been delayed in getting to the fish gutting place...so his homework would either not get done or would smell like squid when it did.
"HEY VALENTINE" Donnie heard the voice, prayed he was wrong...knew he wasn't...but he foolishly hopened he was. Derek grabbed him by the collar and tossed him into trashcans in an alley. Donnie looked up and saw the aluminum bat. "You've had this coming you puff, no boyfriend to save you now..."
Tim ducked another blast. He skidded as the five men opened fire. He used every acrobatic trick Bruce or Dick or Cassie or Steph had ever taught him. Even Selina had begrudgingly taught him one or two of her personalised flips that none of the caped crusaders could pull off. And he'd been much the same. Some of her flips were just beyond his grasp - right now more then any time before he wished that wasn't true.
The white pulses was crushing the wall like launched rocks.
Robbard tugged on a switch and aimed again. The laser tried to get a lock on Tim. It flickered green when it touched him.
"The Concussion function is good" Okudo said. "But the bio sensor is standard for use with the tessla shot." The electric bolt hit Tim dead in the chest, blowing him out of the air and crashing him onto a display case. "See?"
"Not bad..." The Penguin admitted. The police cruisers pulled up oustide the shop, the lights flickering and flashing ont he camera display before the Penguin and his cohort. "Alas, all good things come to an end. Exit Robbard."
The man saluted to the camera and headed out the back, blasting an officer away.
Tim groaned and sat up, his armour had softened the shock with its insulation but he felt terrible. Slowly he pulled himself out of the mess and fired his grapple to the skylight. The police were entering as he dragged himself out.
Donnie lay in the mud, bloodied and bruised and broken. The jocks were laughing at him, prompting him to get up. But he didn't. Derek kicked him - hard - no response. One of the boys panicked. Donnie didn't move. One guy dropped his cell as he debated calling for help. Donnie didn't move. Derek kicked Donnie again. Donnie didn't move.
Thump-thump-thump--thump--thump--thump---thump--------------------------
And the world was quiet.
Sphinx. She was constantly in the clocktower. The Bludhaven Clocktower. Tim had no idea what her real name was but he did no she was his friend. His Robin-Cave had been based in her Clocktower ever since she had offered it. He felt a little sorry for her. She was in her mid twenties but her life was scarred with tragedy. She'd never revealed her real name but he knew enough about her.
She'd been caught in a nasty explosion a few years ago. Her face was burned by chemicals, the left side of her face in particular, she combed her white hair over that side where green streaks and veins of black decorated it, her eye on that side was green as well...the other was blue.
Sphinx limped a little and had to use a cane...her right had was slashed with green blotches like the left side of her face so she hid it under a glove.
Tim loved her like a sister. She treated him like family. Especially when she was bandaging him up. The chemical explosion had given her certain attributes specifically she could heal any wound but for her own (she'd tried, using all her focus...but to no avail). There was also a nastier power at her disposal but she'd never elaborated on what...
"You know I'm not your First Aid Kit you COULD do SOME of this yourself" she whispered. She never stood still in front of a person. Though she was Bruce's superior in the shadows, she could appear behind you in no time with even less of a clue then the famed Batman.
She was dressed in her flowing black silk gown with the long wide sleeves and the opera gloves and with her long black and white hair styled over her face. She reminded Tim of Two-face with the hair and scars. Thank god she didn't talk in the third person (plural). She wasn't even as badly scarred as he was, it was really town the side of her face it was worst... Tim didn't understand her but she didn't want him to.
"I pulled the glass out of my ass" he sated.
"Indeed and I thank you" she laughed softly. "I checked the Mask-Cam, one of the thugs was Robbard Jackerby - Penguins goon leader. The other four...well not past criminals but I didn't have much to go on aside from the way they spoke."
"What about the weapons?" asked Tim
"That's something I can really help with" she said as she strode across to the high swivel chair surrounded by computers in a C. "They're the same weapons that went missing from a military weapons factory in Japan a few weeks ago. Apparently there's a local gangster involved who flew over here. Okudo Katuyara." She showed him the picture. "Now, if you come to Bludhaven, who do you see to sell some hot firearms?"
"Oswald Cobblepot" Tim groaned. He peeled off his bright costume as he walked behind the screen. "Ow...man...maybe the costume's the reason I got beaten it's a total eye catcher"
"Hunh...what did I tell you before?" she smiled softly. "Eye-catcher"
Time pulled on his tracksuit. "So...what do I do?"
"Hope for the best. There's going to be a sale, but those four didn't have the training of Penguins men - or is it the lack of training of Penguins men? - that implies the sale isn't through yet, we can try and catch him"
"Then we have to figure out where and when" nodded Tim. "Great..."
Thump----------Thump-----Thump---thump---thump--thump-thump-thumpthumpthumpthump
Donnie's eyes snapped open, glowing yellow. He took in a sharp intake of breath and sat up. The cut on the side of his head sealed...the blood flowing from his nose stopped, he felt a pleasent cracking in his ribs as they straightened and fixed...the bruises faded...he stretched and bones cracked back into place. "Wow" he breathed.
Tim knew his uncle was watching TV. That Dana was sleeping peacefully. That Sphinx was nestled in her bed in the clocktower. He crawled into his own bed, secure his family was safe. Dick was rooming with Arsenal in the Titan HQ because his room was being fumegated and that was BOUND to cause sparks because the real reason Dick was there was because he wanted to get away from Bruce. Cassie was - wherever - Bruce was saving something or someone. Selina was reputed to have given Killer Croc a new tattoo (MEOW across his chest) as a message to the crimelord of the city (bets on her getting him before Batman had shifted in her favour). He knew where they all away...all his family.
Yawning he squirmed into a comfortable position and slept.
Donnie staggered into his room and kicked the door shut. The three room apartment had barely room to swing one of the many alley cats in. The walls were white, the wallpaper was peeling off. The faucet never worked.
The lights flickered when he turned them on and he had post-its all over his bed frame. They read things like: "Obey! Obey!", "Just go along with it" and "You have no authority".
His Yearbook was resting on the ratty old sofa he'd gotten from a Buy and Sell. It was filled with comments like: "You rock don't ever change Johnny", "Have a great summer Ronnie" and "I'll never forget your personality Mike".
There were school posters and flags he got for free decorating the partment because he had nothing else to decorate with. He sat down in the chair and was quiet for a minute. He looked at the annoying cheap Felix-The-Cat-Clock on the wall. There was the old clothes box he'd meant to throw out it was filled with the clothes the goth-punk-whatever-stereotype-male-hooker who used to live here had worn. But he'd never bothered to even open it it was at the foot of his squeaking bed with its lumpy mattress right beside the sheets he'd gotten when he planned to redecorate.
The grimey shower curtain was covered in yellow flowers...the mirror in the bathroom was cracked. He was suddenly noticing everything.
He hated it.
There was even a picture of him with his family - taken before he'd runaway when he was 9. He didn't look closely at that. It ruined the illusion.
He quietly sat there...staring at nothing in particular...his mind trying to understand...something.
"Rent Day tomorrow..." snarled the landlord Joe. "Don't make me come in there!"
Donnie stood up and blinked. He walked to the door, opened it, punched Joe out and then shut the door again. He lay back against the door for a moment then gave a laugh...dark laughter...he just laughed madly for less then a minute before hitting his stereo. LaLa by Jessica Simpson started playing.
Donnie attacked his apartment. He Yearbook was tossed at the Felix clock which detached from its hook and crashed into the waste basket. the Shower curtain was slashed to ribbons, the school posters and flags were hurled into the pin and set alight. He hurled his matress off the bed and flipped open the old clothes trunk, searching through it, finding old material...clothes and accessories...he opened his own closet and pulled out clothing, tossing a school jacket to the cats who scratched it apart. The fire extinguished as he slapped the faucet and blasted it with water so he could dump the ash into the buckets of paint (red, green and black) that he then slung at the walls. Angry. Not even the half of it.
Streaked with paint, his clothes torn and his eyes flickering between blue and gold...he stalked into the bathroom and looked at his reflection. Yellow-Gold eyes stared back at him before reverting to blue after his fist met the mirror. He slapped the lights, stopping their flickering and then turned on the water. Crawling into the hot stream he pulled the shards from his fist and licked at the blood as it mingled with the paint and disappeared down the drain - not long after he peeled off his clothes and lay there...under the water.
He dragged the clothing to his table, tearing, cutting, stitching and adjusting as he sat there wet and in a towel that was lashed with paint. He folded the outfit neatly and placed it in the centre of the turned over furniture and paint splashed wallpaper then crawled into the pain rags on the floor of his bedroom and curled up the sleep.
TBC:
Well? Thoughts, comments, favourite quotes, jokes and questions are all welcome. We wrote this for YOUR enjoyment. Tell us, ask us and review us!
Next: Meet Whisper...a guy like him should wear a warning. AND Little Miss Ninja and Mr. Crimefighter, a match made in Heaven...or rather. The Haven
Angelo: I know, I know...I try to work with him.
...BLUDHAVEN...