Chapter One
JADE'S POV
It's dark out tonight, I thought. It was so dark I didn't wanna go, but I had no choice. I had to eat.
I was waiting for Ryan. He was late. They were supposed to be holding up a tobacconist's together. It would be my first ever job. I'd committed crimes before, but not like this, not so directly. Not with a victim.
I was about to loose my innocence and I was only eleven. But I lived on the streets and the others had expressed discreetly their thoughts on supporting me; If I wanted to profit from their crimes I had to help commit them.
On the other hand, I thought, it could be worse; there are kids in this city who sell their bodies to perverts. At least this doesn't involve some creepy "uncle".
I shifted my weight a bit. I was sitting on a curb and the cold of the concrete was creeping up through me or perhaps it was just nerves, but I was shivering. I didn't feel well, I had a cough and perhaps a low fever but it was no excuse for bailing on Ryan and his... friends.
A car pulled up. It was old and rusty but someone had managed to bulk out the engine. It had five seats. It was currently trying to seat seven.
Ryan leaned out of the front passenger window, his long black dreadlocks dripping over the door. His "friends" leered at me.
"Get in, Rat!" he ordered. A door opened and I clambered in. One of the guys tried to touch my bum but quickly stopped when Ryan passed me a pistol.
I looked at the gun. I'd never fired one before; I'd never even touched one. It scared me.
The guys had noticed. They started cracking jokes about me never having seen a gun before. Virgin, they called me. Ryan leaned around his seat at the traffic lights and showed me how to prime and load it, demonstrating the safety catch. It was a crappy revolver. Four of the chambers didn't work. I only had two shots. Ryan gave me one bullet; said if I screwed up I could only shoot one of them. Not that he intended me to have to fire it, he added quickly, seeing my panic.
We arrived all too quickly. The mall security guards were weird. They all had pale skin and greenish hair. They leered at me too.
We waited around looking for a park that allowed a fast getaway.
One of the guys handed out balaclavas. I took one. I was the only girl in this heist other than the driver so he gave me a pink one.
I.
HATE.
PINK.
I glared at him. He snickered. I put it on anyway.
We piled out of the car quickly and efficiently. We swung through the tradesmen's entrance. Everyone screamed and cowered when they saw us. I didn't like the screams, but I kept going. We saw a security guard running down a side entrance. He stopped suddenly but he hadn't seen us. He was just heading towards the screams. He turned and ran in the opposite direction. I looked at Ryan. It was hard to tell through the balaclava but I think he was just as confused as me.
Batman sat at his computer. He was not happy. If Dick or Alfred had been their they would have probably commented something like "and this is unusual because?" but they weren't. Dick was upstairs watching a movie and Alfred was keeping him company.
Again, he was not happy. It was too early to go out patrolling and Dick was taking a break from training. He could try pumping iron or meditating, but boredom was not his problem. His problem was the very complicated virus and chemical mix mapped in front of him on his computer.
It was the virus in the Joker's new gas. It had already proved deadly to two innocent bystanders at a robbery. He had to find an antidote before the Joker implemented his plan - which he still didn't know. He'd worked twelve hours straight and he'd had no luck. He'd deconstructed the virus, viewed it under microscope and even been reduced to seeing what it reacted with – it was immune to antiviral medication. The only thing that killed it that wasn't deadly to humans was pain – it triggered the immune system, which after 48 hours had produced enough antibodies to fight it off. But pain caused the heart rate to speed up and all sorts of things. The chemicals mixed in became deadly to the vital organs when moved around so much.
Nothing gave him a lead on how to beat it.
Alfred called down from upstairs.
"Sir, you are needed."
The bat signal was up. Dick skipped down the stairs looking worried. He always looked worried. He always wanted to come along, which was ridiculous.
Batman shook his head, feeling like a murderer at the look on Dick's face.
"No." He said
Dick grumped a bit but cheered up when Alfred suggested he have some ice cream.
Batman pulled the bat mobile out of the cave and headed towards the GCPD.
He pulled up and made his way to the roof, managing to surprise Commissioner Jim Gordon as always. Jim made no comment. It must've been a bigger problem than normal if he didn't mutter under his breath.
"We have a lead on the Joker." He said quietly.
" A security guard who works at the main plaza in old Gotham was found dying – joker gas. It didn't work as quickly as usual on him - he got a few words out between his last convulsions. Told us Joker's goons had stolen his uniform and headed towards the plaza. None of the other security guards have reported for their shifts. We've got plain clothes people investigating but we lost contact a few minutes ago." He concluded.
Batman nodded.
"Any threats?" he asked
"Not yet."
With that he slipped away. Gordon would send the SWAT team in after he was done tying up the Joker.
He drove to the plaza at break neck speed, though he'd never admit it, he loved the rush he got from driving that fast, but now was not the time to enjoy it.
He leapt from the bat mobile and used his grapnel to pull himself to the roof. He checked the roof and the building exits: both clear.
The plaza had twelve huge skylights with five story drops below each, and two roof exits.
He checked his surroundings before crouching down and peering through into the building. He doused any nearby light sources so his silhouette wouldn't shine through the window. It still would show up a little against the stars. There were two civilians that he could see, a grandmother and a little girl, hiding behind a pot plant. The grandmother had a walking stick – she couldn't move fast. He was going to find a way to keep this rescue self-contained. He couldn't evacuate the building without risking them.
He heard the SWAT vans arrive. No more time to waste.
Batman pulled a bottle of acid from his utility belt. It would dissolve the seals on the glass. He traced around the glass plate with it and gently levered it out and placed it on the roof beside him. Next he took a small black box and attached it to the window frame. A sonic resonator that would keep his exit clear and knockout anyone who came within a meter of it. At five meters it would burst their eardrums. All he had to do was activate it and he'd be the only person who could get past – his cowl insulated him from its waves.
The next step was finding out where his enemy was.
He gently swung himself into the building, sticking to the corner with the shadow.
He looked at the two civilians crouched beside the pot plant. He swung side ways and dropped to the floor. He let his feet make noise so they'd know he was there. They whimpered.
"You need to find a better hiding place." He growled
They looked up and jumped. He always had that effect, even if they knew someone was there.
"My Gran," whispered the little girl "She can't walk. She needs two sticks. She lost her other one."
Batman nodded. There was a shout and maniacal laughter from two floors below. The enemy was quite close. He examined the pot plant they were sitting next to. It was fake. He ripped the leaves and greenery of it until it was nothing more than a long steel rod, which he the pulled from the flowerpot. It was a bit heavy for the old lady, but it would do. He handed it to her.
He used his heat vision in his cowl to see a safe way out of the building.
"Go that way," he pointed, "until you reach the toilets. Turn into them but keep going along the corridor until you get to the staff room. There's a direct exit out from there into the car park. Got it?" The girl nodded and hoisted her grandma to her feet.
Batman took out a nearby camera with a batarang in case the Joker had a man on surveillance. He retrieved the batarang
He chose a pillar on the side of one of the large holes in the floor made to hold escalators. He swung down, taking out every camera he could. Two floors down he stopped. He was on level three of the building. Near the cinemas and food court. In between them was a toilet and tradesmen's entrance and opposite them a chemist and tobacconists. The yells and cries were coming from the food court. Shots broke out and he ducked around a pillar. He put on his gasmask and unhooked his grapnel. He pulled his remaining batarangs from his belt. 3 left and plenty of smoke bombs. He could handle this easily. He looked into the food court. There were twenty henchmen and lots of civilians hiding under tables - at least two dead. He cursed himself. He should've been here sooner.