Hey Everybody! It's me Synk! How you doing? Well I'm doing great, thanks for asking. Just wanted to clear some things up before we start. This is my first story! I'm working with Vid to write this. We are each taking turns writing and it happens to be my turn. If you have any suggestions, please feel free to tell me. But try not to be too harsh, please?

Anywho, I guess I should get the disclaimer out there, huh? I do not own anything! I only own my OC and some of the plot!


Darkness: Chapter Two:
~Aven's POV~

No way. No way no way no way. This is not happening. I mean there has to be a way to explain this. Maybe it's a dream, yeah that must be it. Then again my dreams are never this realistic. Most of them include a pink monkey chasing after me with a 50 pound hammer. This is too real.

I guess that I should introduce myself. I'm Aven also known as Black Areo. You'll find out why later. Basically I'm one of the heroes here in Gotham. But unlike, say, our resident Bat and the Boy Wonder, I only take care of the minor jobs. Robberies and what not. And not to toot my own horn, but the baddies never see me coming. It's only 'cause I wear all black.

Well, back to the current problem. You see, I have this problem with following orders. So the police and even Batman told everyone to stay back, that they were going to handle it. Yeah, right. So being the dumb butt I am, I went into the building anyway.

Now you see this was not just some fire or robbery. This was a hostage situation. Everyone was told to keep out until little ole Batsy shows up. But seeing as how that is an order, well, we can all guess what's going through my head, no? Well in case you are clueless and have no idea whatsoever, here's a tidbit of what's running through my head:

Voice 1: 'You know that you should do the sane thing for once and not try to get yourself killed.'

Voice 2: 'Ahhhh! But that's no fun and you know it. And besides the man did say that it was advisable to stand back, and plus he wasn't talking to us, he was talking to those stupid, uncontrollable, thick skulled, annoy...'

Voice 1: 'You're getting off track.'

Voice 2: 'Right right. But anyway he wasn't talking to us. So really we don't have to do what he says, so ha!'

And scene.

And yes before you ask questions, I do argue with myself, and that's not even the sad part. The sad part is that I most of the time lose to myself!

But never mind that. After I banished those Voices, I did just what Voice 2 suggested, and that is blatantly disobey orders and go in there to kick some Harley Quinn butt.

It took me all of one minute to get passed the police and enter the Forbidden Land. You would think that villains would choose more fashionable places to conduct their evil schemes - or at least choose a nice hotel to hold the important people hostage. But no. It has to be in some run down old warehouse.

It didn't take me long to find Miss Harley Guinn. You can tell that she's not even trying to hide. She has no reason to. Everyone knows that she's here, so why bother trying to stay undetected?

After that, well I couldn't tell you 'cause all that I remember after that was the most painful black I have ever seen.

~BLACK AREO~

I have the worst head ache ever! It feels like the Joker is doing a jig with spiky shoes, banging a hammer on the side of my head and I swear that he is singing Old MacDonald.

The first thing that manages to make it through that horrible song is the fact that I can hear someone close by. From the sound for it the person is trying their hardest to be quiet, but man is that person failing.

Slowly dragging my bound feet and hands till I'm in a somewhat upright position, I glance around. OK, it looks like I'm in the same warehouse that I stared out in, and it looks like that other person that I'm hearing is the hostage. Although I guess now I'm a hostage also. Well that rescue mission failed epically.

We, the boy and I, are wedged in between what appears to be some very old crates. Want to know how I know that they're old? Well for starters they are incredible dusty. Another give away is that fact that they are in this warehouse in the first place.

From where I'm sitting, I can just barely make out the place that I entered. I entered through one of the many holes in the roof. This place is literally falling to pieces. The ceiling has too many holes to count. I think that at one point in time there was some kind of tunnel system under this area, because parts of the ground have caved in leaving large gaping holes in its place. There weren't too many crates in here, only ten or so. Two of them happen to be digging into my spinal column and my poor fingers. Man that is going to hurt in the morning! Oh well, let's worry about that when I'm not tied up shall we?

I had just finished nitpicking my new hotel room - man there were so many bugs! - when I heard what sounded like someone laughing.

Glancing over at the over at the boy next to me, it didn't take long to realize that it wasn't the boy. If anything he looked as he had seen a ghost. I sighed. You see how useless boys are? So much for us girls being the damsels in distress.

Not two seconds later, the kidnapper herself showed up. And man was she somethin' else. And not in the good way. It's too dark to properly see her, but everyone who is everyone knows what she looks like. Her and the Joker, but, thank the High Heavens; he is not here right now.

And that about brings us up to the present, where I happen to be panicking. I might be a superhero, but that does not mean that I can't internally panic. The key is to not show that panic.

I take several deep breaths to calm myself. When I finally work up the nerve to question her, she beats me to it.

"So little one, I don't believe that I've had the pleasure of meeting you before. Although judging by the look on your face, not that I can see it," she added, although I don't like the way that she's eyeing my mask, "that you know who I am? Good that saves time. Now then since you are clearly a Gotham hero, I would like you to call the famous Bat for me? There's a good girl."

"No thanks," Is all that I reply. Okay, I know that that was not a smart thing to say, but I don't have a filter that stops words, so the words tend to just come pouring out.

The boy, who has been extremely quiet this whole time, chooses that time to unceremoniously kick me in my ribs. I glare over at him. I can't help it. I know that I should feel pity for this poor boy, but really he's pushing his luck.

"What was that for!" I demand.

Before he has a chance to retort, there is a loud shattering noise. From the spot I'm in I can't see what caused it. But clearly she can.

"The Boy Wonder. Why am I not surprised. The Bat send you to take out the trash? Hm? Or are you here to take this pitiful excuse for a hero before I get to have my fun?"

"Hey! You watch your tongue, you over-dressed hobo!" Have I mentioned the lack of filter on my mouth?

By some divine intervention, though, she does not get a chance to kill me. The Boy Wonder himself steps in to prevent that.

Using this distraction to my advantage, I slice through the rope on my hands and my feet. Turning to the boy, I do that same with my Arrow Knife. Pointing to a small gap in between the wall and the crates, I make sure that the maybe 15 year old boy gets there. Now comes my favorite part. Time to kick some bad guy butt.

Leaping up over the made-up hobo, I land next to the little bird. He casts a quick look my way and raises one eyebrow at me. I role my eyes in return before I had to dodge a punch from the clown. Robin lets out his creepy laugh and throws down some smoke pellets. Using the new cloud of smoke to my advantage I slip in and summon my Arrow Ties.

They are, to put it I terms that you would be able to understand, 2D black arrows that I can use to make anything. This includes, but is not limited to: swords, knifes, ropes, grappling ropes, and one of my more powerful moves, tornados.

Moving in, I can hear the two engaged in battle. Following the sounds, I am able to locate them. Being careful not to hit Robin, I duck under Harley's arm and sliced with my arrows. She ducked and pulled one of those survival knifes and took a stab at me. Robin took that as an opportunity to toss in some of his Batarangs. This little dance carried on for about five minutes. Finally have enough of this I used my Arrow Ties and allow the arrows to wind themselves around her body and then up her arms and them down to her legs. She now looks like a black mummy.

"Congrats, Harley, you are the first black mummy to ever be found alive," I clapped my hands loving the look on her face as she screams whatever profanity comes to mind.

Sensing someone behind me I turn to find the Boy Wonder standing right in my face.

Jumping slightly, I almost trip over Harley who is still screaming like it's the end of the world, which for her it probably is.

"Thanks for the help," Robin states smirking at me, "it would have taken all night to round her up. What's your name?" He looks at me with a slightly wary face. Not that I can blame him. I can guarantee that he has never heard of me.

"Oh I'm Black Areo, and you are the Boy Wonder himself. It is a pleasure to meet you and all, but I got to go. Bye and thanks again!" I call as I shoot my version of a grappling hook up into one of the holes in the roof.

"Yeah, no problem!" He calls after me.

~BLACK AREO~

It doesn't take me long to make it back to my house. We live in one of the relatively good neighborhoods. Not a lot of baddies make it this far without being caught.

I cautiously open my window hoping to the High Heavens that it doesn't make any noise. Last thing I need is a lecturer from Murth. He is a total killjoy. He hates all meta-humans and all of the Justice League. The world must feel like giving me a 'Get Out of Jail Free' card tonight. No creeks or squeaks. The house itself seems to be trying to be just as quiet as me. There is no noise in the entire house. That's odd. There is always some kinda noise. This reminds me of that Christmas poem. Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse. Creepy.

Then I find out why there was no noise. Murth is sitting in my room. Staring at me. Even if you are a fearless warrior like me, you can't help but be afraid of Murth. Murth is about six feet tall and has all the muscles a guy could want. He has tan scarred skin and a buzz cut. He has very light blue eyes that I swear can see into your soul.

"Oh, um, hi Murth?" It came out more of a question then I would have liked but at least I didn't say anything about the fact that he's in SpongeBob boxers. That would have been suicidal. And believe it or not that is one of the things that I'm not.

"Where were you? And you better not tell me that you were off 'saving the city'," He glowered down at me. At this point he had moved from the wall to stand in front of me. He was even more intimidating now then he was when he was just standing by the wall.

Being very careful to keep my face blank, I looked back at him and smirked slightly, "OK then, I was not out saving the city from all of your old friends." Okay so ignore the part where I said that I wasn't suicidal, with what I just said there is no way I'm living to see the sun rise.

"You know what I said you stupid girl. You will NOT be going out in that stupid useless costume. You won't be fighting any more 'villains'," note the air quotes, "and you will not, I repeat, NOT, be going and using those devil gifts that you call 'powers'," once again note the air quotes.

As you can probably guess Murth, my Step-Dad, is not a fan of us supers. And I think that he still supports those gangs and other villain organizations. He used to be a con, but as my mother put it, 'he has changed'. Yeah right.

He spun around and headed for the door, not before my big mouth opened though, "They are gifts you bastard!"

Now normally that wouldn't be so bad. But this is Murth that we're talking about here. So it's like poking the Joker and expecting him to leave your head on your shoulders. No chance.

He spun around again, but this time facing me. He stalked over and grabbed my already bruised hand. He narrowed his eyes and hissed, "You will watch your mouth when talking to me, girl, or else face the consequences."

At this point I couldn't help but stare. In a matter of seconds he was out the door and the house began creaking again. It was like the house had been holding its breath. I can't believe that he didn't kill me for that. Maybe Mom talked some sense into him? That has to be it.

Walking over to my bed, I flopped down still in my suit, mask and all. Not even bothering to take off my mask I check my phone which was blinking signaling a new message. Picking it up, I opened it. It was from Elena. It read:

April 28th, 3:07 PM

Hey.
Bats showed up at my mom's. Brought me back to Gotham.
Mentioned Boy Wonder's new team.
Any thoughts?
-E

Wow had I really been out that long? Huh. That has to be a record. Nice.

Turning my thoughts back to the text, I thought it over. So Boy Wonder's on the new team that I've been hearing about. How 'bout that.

Hitting the Reply button, I answered.

April 29, 3:03 AM

I ran into the Boy earlier
I have heard of the team,
Why did The Bat want you?
-A

Snapping my phone shut, I closed my eyes trying to picture Elena. It had been a while since I had last seen her. I could only remember that her dad was some big shot superhero. She was a nice girl. She had a bit of an attitude which is an added bonus. She was a nice girl to spar with, too.

Oh well nothing I can do until she answers.

I was just slipping into that wondrous world of dreams, when there was a knock on my window. Being a naturally light sleeper and add that to the fact that I was still tense from the Harley Incident, I was up in half a second.

There at the window was the Bat himself. Blinking to make sure that I had not actually entered the world of dreams, I walked over to the window. Opening it slowly I allowed the Bat to enter my room.

"OK so either this is some kind of stress induced hallucination, or I'm dreaming, yeah that has to be it," I mutter. There is no way that Batman would just willingly come to my house without a reason. Although I guess that Robin could have told him about the Harley thing and he was coming to yell at me about not listening to orders. Or he could be coming to arrest me for living with an ex-con. Yeah I bet that's it. It has to be. Oh great, here goes my paranoia again.

Seeing my panic, he holds up his hand in surrender. "I am only here because I heard about how you tried to save that boy from Harley."

Oh shit, so it was about not following orders and staying away. Oh my god. I'm dead so dead.

"From what I heard from Robin you helped a great deal." Now that is not what I was expecting.

"Wait, so you're not here to yell at me for disobeying orders?" I had to check. Hey you would too! Don't judge me.

"No I'm not. I'm here to ask you to meet me at these coordinates at fourteen-hundred hours. Understand?" I nodded, too stunned to speak, "Good see you then." And with that he was out the window and gone.

I just stood there. I was in overdrive. First I get kidnapped by Harley. OK so it was my fault, but still. Then I don't get killed by Murth even after I call him a bastard. Then I get a house call from the Batman. Wow what a night.

Flopping back down on my bed, I close my eyes. Good lord, if Murth finds out about this, then I am so dead, no mercy. Oh well, I can't wait to see what the Bat wants from me.

Carefully placing the note under my pillow, I stand and get changed into my PJ's. I barely make it to the bed before I'm out like a light.


Review if you love me! And even if you don't, please review! It will help save the lives for little children. OK so it won't, but it would save MY life if you did.

Word Counts:
This Chapter: 3,018
Total: 5,722

Sincerely the ever iNSanE,
Synk