The next morning I wake up in my bed with a raging headache, the Joker had gotten away after knifing Harley as a distraction. I myself though had been awoken by the paramedics and then had been driven home with my parents after being checked for a concussion and broken ribs. I swallow down three Advils and take a shower, towel off, and dress in skinny jeans, a lace top, and black wedges, then pin back my curls into a messy bun. Dad had kept his promise and I could spend the day with Miles, my cancerous little brother. I look at myself in the mirror as I bring the concealing sponge to my bruises from last night.
"I'm not going to be vulnerable ever again." With a new fire I wipe off the concealer I had put on and smudge my eyeliner. Walking into my room my grab my laptop bag and a graphing paper notebook, my brother has a 196 IQ and is working on a degrees online in bio and mechanical engineering. He's only twelve, which is the best part. I walk down the grand staircase and into the kitchen where I find Martha, our cook making up breakfast.
"Good morning, Mistress Charlie." Martha greets me, handing me two paper bags that I know are filled with a home cook breakfast from a graduate of La Cordon Bleu.
"Good morning, Martha, thanks. I can't wait to see Miles." I kiss her cheek, the older woman smiles, wiping her hands on her lacey apron,
"Have fun, tell Master Miles I say hello." I grab my leather jacket and walk out to the car garage and hop onto my motorcycle and speed out of the driveway.
Twenty minutes later I pull up in the parking lot of the Gotham Medical Research Facility (Fancy way of saying hospital for the wealthy) and walk in with grace and authority.
"Good morning, Miss Sparrow." Marsha, the nurse at the front desk greets me,
"Good morning, Marsha. I'll be with Miles all day, I'm assuming my father called?" Marsha nods and I notice she got a new weave,
"Yes, all non necessary check ins and interruptions have been rescheduled." I give a dazzling grin,
"Thank you, and Marsha?" She looks up from her paperwork, "I like your weave." She thanks me as I walk to the elevators and ride it up to my brother's private room on the third floor. I knock on the door and walk in, "Guess who came to see her favorite little brother!" Miles sits up in his bed with messy blond hair and bright green eyes,
"Charlie!" I rush over and hug him,
"God, I missed you, Miles." He pulls back and catches sight of the bags I have,
"Martha made breakfast?" I rustle his hair,
"You bet, Scout." He takes in the bruises spraying my face and reaches out to touch them but I catch his wrist, "I'm fine, Scout. Dad's company party got hit by Harley and Joker." Miles nods, party crashers were usual in Gotham. I toss him a bag of food and drag over a chair to the bed and open my own, I find a ham and cheese bagel, an apple, and a bottle of water. Not first class, but my favorite. After we both hurriedly scarf down our breakfast I grab his hand,
"What's up, Charlie?" He asks quizzically, I grab a sketchbook that I had been doodling in last night,
"I was wondering if you wanted to become a superhero with me." He opens his mouth to say something but I intervene, "I mean you could make something so that you could be there with me the whole time, after last night I want to be the hero, not the victim." Miles bites his lip but slowly grins,
"I think that'd be awesome, Charlie. Like I could design stuff and email it to the lab, they could make it, and then you could be the public figure." I nod and flip open the book to a diagram of a pocket watch,
"So here's what I was thinking…"
A month later I sit on the floor of my bedroom doing crunches. In the past month a lot has happend, Miles and I had been working closely with his friends at the university to come up with all the gadgets I would need to be a hero, all of them looking steampunk.
I had also, with a generous check, gotten my hands on a steel corset like in Finley Jayne. It was slightly uncomfortable but gave a nice amount of protection.
My father, of his own free will, decided to buy a gym with an on call staff of personal and defensive trainers that I had been utilizing at every available moment.
Tonight was the night that I was finally going to go out as my superhero persona, Tick Tock. I had decided that for my first night out in a lightweight but layered skirt of a deep brown color, a red blouse over top of my corset and slip that was vertically striped at the collar area, I have a belted red and brown belt pouch around my waist, I braid my hair but my bangs still hang in my face when I strap on my computerized goggles. A small image of Miles pops up and he's wearing a Batman mask, I chuckle,
"What's up, Scout? You ready for this?" The mask nods,
"You bet, Charlie. CCTV at a local jewelry store just caught a break in, there hasn't been any alarms tripped yet but I suggest you hustle, coordinates are being sent to ." I thank him and grab my staff with an electric claw at each end and strap it to my back and duck out of the window.
I had also managed to buy a new bike (not very legally) that was vintage and it was great so I zoom out towards the jewelry store.
I jump through the broken window (How did they break a window without tripping the alarm…) and immediately inhabilitate one of the three robbers with my electric staff end,
"Tick Tock, boys. Looks like your time is up." My voice modulator makes my voice eerily mechanical,
"What the hell?" They turn around and I pull a pocket watch looking smoke bomb and click the button, throwing it at them, with a small chime it goes off, the two men randomly swigging out at me, dropping down I kick their legs out from under them and incapacitate them with my staff. Miles is jumping down on his hospital bed, whooping in excitement.
"You did it, Charlie!" I grin,
"Thanks, Scout." I pull a length of rope from my pouch and tie the three bad guys together, moving their weapons to the other side of the room with the jewels before leaving a small note on the front door.
'Tick Tock goes the clock.'
A/N: Thanks to everybody who reviewed! I really do love the comments, right now the love interest race is at a tie between Batgirl and Artemis 1-1. Right now I am leaning towards Batgirl, they will all meet at some point in the story, I'm not sure if I will have Charlie join the team or not, maybe just be a partial member and work with the Bats or maybe another mentor? Tell me what you think, darlings and I hope you enjoyed the chapter.
-M