Thank you to those who have already put this story of follow and for BreeBree12345 for the lovely first review :D I hope I got Blake's character close and please let me know in a review or PM if you think I missed a mark on what he would say or do or if you think I did his character justice.
Enjoy!
"Heroes are made by the paths they choose, not the powers they are graced with."
― Brodi Ahston, Everneath
I felt the cool air rush against my skin as the midnight breeze of Gotham rolled through the streets. I looked around at what I called home, streets covered in filth. Sure, the 'Dent Act' kept criminals behind bars but not everyone saw the same people as criminals; I personally care to take down those who pay off the higher up officials from putting them in the prison.
The judges, police officers, the CEO's, the ones who craved young flesh, the ones who craved the lives of the innocent…the corrupt. Those were the people I killed, the people I hunted down like the animals they were. Thinking about them set my teeth on edge. I exhaled and popped up the collar of my coat, breaking the wind from running along my neck; another feeling I hated.
Walking the streets at dark isn't what makes this city scary; in fact it's usually the safest time. Most petty thief's thought if you wore a long jacket and nice clothes that you were either wealthy enough to pay off officials or you were a cop, so, if anything, night time was the safest time in Gotham. It wasn't always like that though.
There was a time when all criminal's feared the night, even I scarcely killed under the moon's light when Batman was on a villain kick. Mind you, I was no villain but in the eyes of that vigilante, a petty car thief is worth locking up, let alone a serial killer like myself. He wanted us all behind bars because in his mind, that's where we belonged, but what about the rapists, the petty murderers? Did they not deserve the sweet justice that I gave them, or were they what we're expecting from the 'regular Joe's' of Gotham? It was common knowledge that if someone was missing for more than 2 days in this city that you should start checking rivers and other popular body dumps.
Luckily for me, I did a few people some favors when I was young and I have had a secure dumping ground for my bodies since then. Unknowingly, I ended up killing some mobster who liked 12-year-old pussy, who also happened to be harassing the family who ran the garbage company for Gotham. When they found out who killed him and found out what I did on a regular basis, they promised to keep my secret safe if I kept them safe. I wasn't thrilled to protect people, and it was a pretty stupid move on their part trusting a sociopath with their lives; something my kind of people never found the need to care for. But it's worked out pretty well so far, I dump my bodies there regularly and they always invite me in for tea. We talk about their business and my pleasure and then we part ways. I scratch their back and they scratch mine; it's how I view our business agreement.
I breathed in the cold air, filling my lungs with the night's filth. I loved it. My eyes scanned as I saw the prostitutes and escorts start to rise from their slumber and populate the street corners. If there were one thing in the world that could fix my inability to feel sad, it would be the girls who sell their bodies to survive and the fact that they have nobody to protect them. I can show I'm sad for them; it's the logical feeling a person who cares would have, especially since I used to be one of them. Any other regular human being would feel compassion towards those who suffered much like themselves, on a weird and twisted level I guess I do feel that connection, I just feel it stronger towards killing the people who caused them to suffer; but I guess that's as close as I will ever get to having normal human feelings and emotions.
I smiled at the memories of standing on those corners. I had started when I was 10, luckily I knew how to act and dress older so most perverts though I was at least 13 but when I confessed that I was 10, it never stopped them. It was an easy way to find prey, all the sick individuals needed to be serviced at some point and god knows they didn't have a woman waiting back home for them; nobody could be with the creeps that I killed and if they did have a significant other, I liked to think I was freeing them from their ball and chain. I always killed them before they could touch me though, I never allowed anyone to touch me and even Selina goes too far with her familiar caress, but I find myself sometimes enjoying that touch. I felt my body tremor at the idea of being touched in a sensual way.
"Erin?" I froze; people knowing your name around here wasn't always a good thing. I slowly turned around and saw the last person I wanted to see. His hair was perfect as always, his eyes clear and kind and his uniform so…nicely fitting. There was something about him that always made me lose my composure and feel…just feel.
"Robin." I threw my hand up, stopping his predicted protest. "No sorry, John. Or was it Blake? I get confused with all your name changes." He smiled at me and shook his head.
"Speak for yourself. I gave up after remembering Erin." I nodded and smiled too. It frustrated me beyond hell what being around him did to me, more so because I didn't understand it. Logically speaking, I would say I had feelings for him but I didn't have feeling for anything, so it wouldn't be logical for me to feel for him. I groaned as I felt a vicious and endless thought process loop through my mind. "You okay?" He grabbed my arm and I went rigid. He quickly released me from his grip and stepped back, giving me space. "I'm sorry. I forget." I gave him a meek smile. What is wrong with me?
"It's okay. It happens." And then I kill the person who does it to me. I grumbled miserable thoughts in my head in between sentences; it was a habit I had grown to have around him. I couldn't bear to be cruel or rude to him, something prevented me from doing it, so I had to suffer in silence as another side of me took over my body. "So what brings you to my part of town?" He scanned around.
"I was told there was a sighting of the infamous serial killer around here, just making patrol. You haven't seen any suspicious activity have you?" I told myself to act surprised. "They're calling her 'The Vigilante'." I couldn't help but scowl at the stupid and unoriginal name Gotham had given me, but I stopped myself, as Blake looked at me, confused.
"Nothing out of the ordinary here, not to say that isn't suspicious though, but you know the people who live down here. They're all skittish and strung out on some kind of drug." I paused as Blake looked at me with what I could only assume were worried eyes. Why was he looking at me like that? "I thought Batman was their vigilante." I wanted to change topics. "I just find it odd that they go from Batman to a serial killer. Before we know it, they'll be begging for Falcone and Scarecrow to come back and become Gotham's saviors." I scratched my head, trying to understand why and how I had now become Gotham's new hero. "It just doesn't make logical sense…why a mass murderer? Why make that person their new unknown hero?"
Blake smiled. "She isn't a mass murderer. We've only found five bodies so far but they've shown up over the past few months." Only because I allowed you to find those 5 bodies…idiot. "But that's what I thought at the beginning, why her? But—" I cut him off, almost not wanting to hear what he was about to say.
"You can't tell me that you agree with this person's actions? They're killing people as they please!" One of the positives to hating myself, is I can make it believable to other people that I do, truly, hate this serial killer.
"Well why not? I mean yeah, at first I didn't but she's getting to criminals that the cops can't touch. She's giving hope to those who believed that Batman saved us, and if this person can give another hope, then why not believe in them? I just wish I could help, not kill them, but just help catch the people she wants to kill. They deserve to be behind bars." His tone had hints of admiration in it. I was honestly surprised that I had a cop for a fan, that I had Gotham watching my every move. I could no longer be careless and I definitely could no longer play cat and mouse with the officials.
As a person who has been doing this for 12 years, I got kind bored a few months back. I got sloppy and was almost found in the act of killing someone, luckily I finished the job before the cops showed up but I didn't have enough time to dispose of the body, or at least hide it. But the thrill of almost getting caught, of them knowing I was out there, preying on others; the fear it instilled in the city was intoxicating.
I thrived on that feeling and soon enough, when I got bored I did it again. To feel that adrenaline of almost getting caught, that moment when you're running as fast as you can so you don't get found out. I lived for it; I live for it, but not anymore. I couldn't risk it if they already can find out that the killer's a female.
"A lot of people deserve to be behind bars with the Dent Act." I let a sigh escape my lips as I thought of how much aggravation the 'Dent Act' has caused me. "How do you know it's a female though?" I asked, innocence dripping from my words as I tried to cover my more brooding attitude from before.
"Well." He paused, watching my expression. "They don't, but the way the victim's are always killed, the way the bodies are cut, our forensics team believes that it's a female and that she thinks of the first person she kills every time she kills another. It's theorized that reason is what has driven her pattern." They're right about that.
"Sounds like you know so much about her already. Are you sure you don't know her personally?" He smiled at my joke and I smiled too, more at the direct irony of the situation than anything. But when his smile faded, he stood in silence as I watched him fidget with his uniform. "Can I help you with something Blake?" He looked up at me, his eyes hopeful.
"Um, well I was wondering if maybe sometime you wouldn't mind getting coffee with me?" He quickly continued when he saw my shocked expression, but he misjudged why I looked shocked. "I know it's not the best thing to ask after talking about a serial killer but I never see you and—" My insides were screaming no, the real me didn't want to get involved with Blake, to drag him into the double life I lead, but I wasn't in control of myself at the moment. Unfortunately.
"Yes." I let out a nervous laugh; I couldn't believe what I just did. "Um, yes. That would be lovely. We can finally catch up instead of having these small, momentary talks." Blake smiled at me nervously and then looked down, his feet slightly fidgeting.
"I'm off duty this Tuesday. I can meet you here and we can go for coffee. See you here for midnight? I know you aren't a fan of getting up while the sun is in the sky." I couldn't help but laugh.
"Despite popular belief, I just don't sleep. I'm up all hours of the day; you just never patrol this area during that time so you wouldn't know that. How about noon, that way we can get lunch too. I love lunch." I smiled at him, a genuine smile; something I hadn't done in years. "I uh…have to go. But I will see you Tuesday. It was nice running into you Blake. Be safe." I quickly walked around the corner and continued my path to find the stupid car that I wanted to simply have a joy ride in, but it had lost all appeal to me by this time. Sighing I decided I would just take a detour back home and try to decide how to tell Selina that I had a date on Tuesday and the fact that I, Erin Summers, was Gotham's new unsung hero.
Please review and let me know what you think so far :D I'm pretty nervous with how I did the interaction between Erin and Blake, so please just let me know if I got it right or not xD
I hope you enjoyed the story and more is to come! I should be updating soon, the weekend is starting to look pretty busy for me now so I don't know how soon I will be able to update, but it will be by Monday the latest.
Cheers!
Narrie