Title: Vespertilio
Chapter: Prologue
Author: Svelte Rose
Rated: PG-13
Summary: Watchtower's been kidnapped. Batman works with the Justice League for the first time.
Pairing: Eventual Oliver/Chloe. Maybe a hint of Bruce/Chloe?
I've been meaning to write Chlollie. This is my first. Hope you enjoy! Let me know what you guys think. ;]
xxxxx
Lucius Fox was not easily startled. That was the nature of his job. So when the impish voice sounded through his blue-tooth without a single warning, he jerked in his seat and immediately slammed his foot on the brakes. He half expected someone to hit him. Gotham highways were notorious for their congestion.
"Don't worry about them," the voice in his headset answered the unasked question, "it took a bit of crafty maneuvering, some red-lights, and easy hacking – who knew that many cars in Gotham were computerized? - but I managed."
Managed what? Lucius wanted to ask.
"I know you don't pick up calls from 'restricted' callers. Definitely not unidentified numbers and I needed to get your attention right away so I figured this was my best option. Of course, the entire point of me doing this would have been pointless if you'd gotten into an accident so…" she seemed to have realized she was rambling and tapered off.
He pulled his foot off the break and started driving again, albeit slower this time. A glance up in his rearview mirror showed the many headlights in the distance had also just started to move.
"Anyway, now that you know I'm here, let's get down to business. Can you pull off to the side of the road?"
He didn't answer and instead continued driving.
"Okay," she drawled, "that's a no. Well, you have no good reason to trust me."
But he was curious. It was the only reason he hadn't hung up yet.
"It's about Mr. Wayne, the Winged Vigilante, Batman – whatever it is that Gotham call him nowadays."
This time, he swerved off the road and set his car into park. "Who are you?" he asked, voice with a touch of bewilderment.
"Listen, there's really no time to talk. I need you to do this quick for me or we're going to find ourselves minus one superhero." The friendly speaker with a tendency to ramble quickly turned sharp and militant.
Lucius deliberated for what may have seemed like minutes but in reality, it was a couple of seconds.
"I'm listening."
xxxxx
There was a hiss and a grunt. Alfred dropped a bloody cotton swab into the wastebasket.
Lucius placed the (unfortunately) slim manila folder in front of the injured man who winced again. It was followed by another bloody cotton swab.
"This is it?" he asked.
The corners of Lucius' lips quirked up in a half-smile. "I tried to track her down while she was linked with you but every time I brought a firewall down, two more returned in its place."
"Elaborate system."
"No. I was able to take that down. This was all manual." Lucius placed a flash drive on top of the folder.
"What are you saying?"
"How much do you remember from your Excelsior days?"
xxxxx
Oliver shrugged on a t-shirt, aching muscles protesting. Getting kicked in the ribs had not been one of his finest moments and Chloe's fingers jabbing them afterwards when the team reconvened in the clock tower hadn't made them any better.
His fingers fumbled around for his water glass and found his compound bow instead. In a single beat, he had the weapon cocked and pointed at the intruder.
What the hell, he was in a penthouse for Chrissakes.
The black cowl should have frightened him like it would have any other but considering he spent the better part of his youth sharing a dorm with the man, he blew out a breath of exasperation instead and set the weapon back down on the table. "You couldn't just knock, Bruce?"
"This was easier."
How? Oliver wondered. He arched an eyebrow and took a swig from his glass. "Well, since it can't be Justice League business -," a reference to Bruce's refusal of Oliver's invitation –, "what brings you to Metropolis?" He didn't really care. He was sore. And tired. Really, couldn't this have waited?
Batman pulled off his mask and shut off the voice distorter at his neck. "It is about your little band of merry men."
Oliver glared.
Bruce placed his Blackberry on the countertop. He pressed a button looked expectantly at Oliver. There was a mess of static before a very clear and familiar voice sounded through.
"So listen." It was a demand, an order, and definitely not a request.
Oliver snorted.
"You can't defuse the bomb." "Who is this?" "Well, you
"What do you mean?" "There's a total of three bombs in that building but because two are equipped on the same radio wavelength as the hospital staff walkies, they won't show up, no matter how sophisticated your bomb detectors may be." "If it doesn't show up on any detectors, how did you find them?" "I have my ways –,"
Oliver snorted again.
" – but seriously, we don't have much time left. If you want these people to live – yourself included – you're going to have to do exactly as I say."
Bruce stopped the audio feed and crossed his arms. "She tracked down my employee by hacking his blue-tooth, several cars, Gotham's highway system in order to contact me."
"Did it work?" Oliver prompted.
"Two of them were defused. The third one was accidentally set off mid-transfer taking out a good chunk of the highway with it."
"Bet she didn't expect that one." He muttered under his breath.
Bruce leaned forward. "Nonetheless, she was well-prepared. The fire trucks and ambulance had already been dispatched thirty minutes prior and the traffic system had been hacked, causing a mix-up in an intersection. Traffic's all plugged up and it probably won't clear for a good few hours,"
"I hear a but coming."
"The intersection led straight to the highway where the caravan carrying the bomb exploded."
Oliver cleared his throat. "What does this have to do with the Justice League?"
Bruce pressed a sequence of buttons.
"Batman! Do you copy? I need an audible!"
Oliver could hear sirens faintly in the background and something crunching.
"Still here." "Oh, thank god."
Silence.
"Are you okay?" "Yes."
Typical Bruce Wayne-fashion.
There was a loud crackle.
"What was that?" "Oh crap! I thought I put that on mute."
This one was much more faint than the two primary speakers but damn, he had a distinct voice.
"Arrow to Tower. Arrow to Tower. Do you copy?"
Oliver stifled a groan.
"Yes, I'm here!" Then some more shuffling. "Got it!" There was a click. "Please, please, PLEASE tell me you didn't hear anything."
Bruce shut it off before his answer could be heard. He arched an eyebrow at the blond billionaire complete with a pointed look. "I know it's not in your nature to accept 'no' as an answer. But this is going a bit far, don't you think?"
Oliver ran a hand down his face, stopping at the mouth.
"I work by myself. I thought I made this very clear the first time around." Bruce was most definitely angry now. "Forcing one of your people on me, hacking Gotham's traffic system, sending out false emergency calls –," he stopped, jaw clenched, eyes narrowed at Oliver. "Are you laughing at me, Queen?"
The blond's hand dropped and he held it up in a mock surrender, a wide grin on his face. "I had nothing to do with this."
A muscle in his jaw ticked.
Oliver sighed and grabbed his keys off the table. "Come on. There's somebody you should meet."
xxxxx
Impulse had one finger on the phone just as two hooks came flying through the broken window. Cyborg was already on the floor, plugged into one of the decimated computers. Impulse wasn't as tech-saavy as Watchtower or Cyborg but even he knew that they wouldn't get much (if anything) from the totaled systems.
"What the hell happened here?" Green Arrow asked as he leapt down from his wire.
Impulse didn't answer. His eyes widened as the winged man that followed, landed. Dark eyes shadowed by a black cowl quickly took in the room's destruction. He would have normally been amazed (and a small part of him still was) but as it was, "you guys have good timing."
There was a brush of air and Clark stood before them. The only one in the room not in his uniform, he seemed extremely out of place. "Where's Chloe?"
Aquaman shut off his phone. He'd been the one who had called Clark.
"You mean you don't know?" Green Arrow's jaw clenched as he ripped off his sunglasses. "What about Lois?"
"She was with me when AC called." Concern lined Clark's eyes. "What's going on?" He glanced suspiciously at the new addition.
"If Watchtower's not with you…" Aquaman started.
Cyborg suddenly stood up with a grim look. "You guys need to see this."