Sunday Night

Wayne Manor

Yet again, I was dragged into Selina's room!

"You know, people are going to start talking!" I laughed.

The look on Selina's face was not a very nice one.

"Sorry!"

"Spit it out then!" Selina demanded, smiling.

"What?"

"Come on, what did you think about them?"

"It felt really strange having them there; I mean, to be accurate, they are killers – all four of them; they have all killed, at some stage or another..."

"Some people deserve to die..."

"I suppose..."

I was not totally convinced about that.

"The man that killed your parents; you'd love to see him die...

"That's different!" I exclaimed.

"Why?" She demanded.

I stayed silent; I had no decent argument.

"Those people dish out justice where it is deserved; they save people! I've heard that many people are alive today, because of them; you said so, yourself."

"I did! It's just going to take some getting used to..."

"You telling me that if Hit Girl walked in here, right now, with the man who killed your parents and handed you a gun, you would not do anything?"

Selina, was right, I would take the gun. Then, I would shoot the man; at least I would want to, however whether I would actually go through with shooting the man...

"What was that card Mindy gave you?" Selina asked.

"It has her contact details, in case we need her help."

"We?"

"Both of us..."

Selina grinned and rolled her eyes.

"There is no 'us', Bruce – now I'm going to bed and you need to go to your own bed!"


Northeast corner of Uptown

"Now what could that freak of nature be doing all the way out here, at this time of night?"

We watched as the strange man moved in his own rather strange way and time, to a seedy looking nightclub that had a pink fish-thing outside it. We watched as the man pulled open the door and walked straight in.

We waited to see if the man came back out again.


Fish Mooney's Nightclub

"You sure you want to go through with this?"

"Butch, don't you go getting scared on me, now," Fish Mooney said to her second-in-command.

"Never, Boss!"

Butch looked up as the outside door opened. Fish turned to see who had entered and was mildly surprised by who she saw.

"Oswald, you're back!" She said without preamble.

Oswald Cobblepot chuckled without saying anything.

"I'm starting to think that you enjoy being hurt!" Fish continued.

"I was passing buy and thought I'd say, hello!" Oswald said with another chuckle.

"Well, you've said it!" Fish replied, slightly angry. "Now, why are you here?"

"Honestly, I'm just trying to be friendly."

Oswald took a large over-exaggerated 'sniff' of Fish, before breathing out, "Lilacs!"

Fish did not look amused!

"You smell good!" Oswald grinned.

"You don't!" Fish replied angrily.

Oswald laughed.

"Snappy as ever! Well, goodbye then; sorry you're still grumpy with me! But, you know, reaching out in friendship is never wrong."

Oswald turned and headed for the door.

"Man, that dude's creepy!" Butch commented.

"Forget him!" Fish said. "He's nothing!"


Northeast corner of Uptown

The strange man reappeared after less than five minutes, grinning as if he was really, happy about something.

Trojan thought that the man was a curiosity; however, I sensed something untrustworthy about the man. I was convinced that the man would be trouble at some stage in our near future.

"Come on, let's get back – it is way past your bedtime!"

"Superheroes don't have 'bedtimes'!"

"They do when they're eleven!"

"That sucks!"


The next morning
Monday

Gotham City Police Headquarters

The place was somewhat depressing.

It was an old building, no longer suited for its current role in Gotham. Certainly, those man and woman working in the place were not exactly overflowing with enthusiasm.

Well, except for one man.

..._...

"What in the hell are you looking so goddamned pleased with yourself for?" Harvey Bullock complained. "You smiling usually means trouble for me!"

"I'm at work; do I need an excuse to be happy?"

Bullock glared and then looked around the decidedly depressing Police Headquarters.

"What is so goddamned happy making about this place?"

"You heard about the new guys in town?" James Gordon asked ignoring his partner's morbid mood.

"I might have known!" Bullock moaned. "I knew you'd get your goddamned hopes up!"

"Parsons, Edwards; get up here!" Gordon called out.

Two Police Officers appeared by the desk.

"Tell Detective Bullock what you saw, last night," Gordon suggested.

The two Officers looked at each other before replying.

"We were shooting at those two dumb fucks who turned over that store..." Parsons began.

"... Then from nowhere, a large purple motorcycle appeared flying down the street..." Edwards cut in.

"... It came from behind the dumb fucks. It had two people on it; I'd never seen anything like it – they wore some sort of armour and I err, they looked kinda cool!" Parsons continued.

"It was difficult to see what was happening, but they stopped and the shorter of the two riders jumped off and knocked out both of the dumb fucks!" Edwards said.

"Damndest thing I ever saw; even in Gotham!" Parsons exclaimed.

"They then took off and we went over to the dumb fucks and they was both out cold!" Edwards finished.

"Easiest collar in weeks!"

Gordon smiled at his partner.

"God save me from dumb bastards!" Bullock growled. "You think that they're here, in Gotham, to help us?"

"Why not? They helped these guys, not the crooks!" Gordon pointed out.

"What is it with you, Gordon?" Bullock moaned. "Do you dislike a nice easy, peaceful life?"

"If you put it that way, then yes; difficult is a challenge!"

"I need a new damned partner!"

"There's always Nygma!" Gordon grinned.

"What did I do to deserve you?" Bullock moaned.


The warehouse

"Listen up; Gotham now knows we are here. They may not know what or who we are, but they do know that we are dangerous."

The team were seated before me in the RV.

"Gotham is a complete unknown to us, the two top gangs just happen to be Italian Mob and there are plenty of lesser gangs. As you know, we are aware of Salvatore Maroni and Carmine Falcone. Now, these two don't get on too well, much like Megan and Chloe the other week!"

Megan and Chloe grinned at each other with Megan mouthing 'bitch' at Chloe.

"Those two are bad news!" I continued.

"Who? Megan and Chloe?" Josh quipped.

"Funny, Jack!" Megan growled and Chloe scowled.

"Let's get serious!" I warned. "Those two Mob Bosses have been accused of a lot of nasty shit, I kid you not! Both are very powerful men and ruthless to the core."

"I would hate to say this, but these two are on a par with our good ex-friend, Ralph D'Amico!" Dave added seriously and I nodded in response.

"The GCPD cannot be relied upon to help us, as they are rotten to the core. However, we have information that at least one man in the GCPD may be able to be trusted. Bruce Wayne has identified one man, Detective James Gordon, as being a genuine Cop who wants to do his job to the best of his ability. If we need help then we might need to call on him. However, we will not put his life at risk by getting him linked to us," I continued. "Dave and Curtis have also identified another dangerous player, Fish Mooney. This woman is known to be particularly sadistic and from what Marty has been able to find out, she is dangerous. Where she fits in with Maroni and Falcone, we don't know yet."

"There is another man, who we do not know much about; Curtis calls him 'The Penguin', due to how the guy walks. He was visiting Fish Mooney's dump, last night and well, I don't like the look of the guy and I am convinced that he is trouble, so watch out!" Dave lectured.

We all had our work for the day, so we went about our tasks.


Wayne Manor

"Good morning, Cat!"

"Oh, morning!"

"How'd you sleep?" Bruce asked Selina.

"Your house makes noise."

"It's old!"

Selina grabbed a croissant and sat down across from Bruce.

"Detective Gordon told me that you live on the streets," Bruce said.

Selina smiled and nodded, "Yeah, so?"

Bruce shrugged, looking very interested in the subject.

"What's it like?"

"Not as nice as here?" Selina replied with a grin.

"So you live alone?"

"You gonna ask me questions all morning?" Selina asked, getting a little annoyed. "Aren't you supposed to be in school or something?"

"I'm developing my own curriculum – it lets me move at my own speed and focus on academic areas that interest me."

"Why?" Selina queried, partially impressed. "You're a billionaire; what's to learn?"

"That's a strange attitude!"

Selina seemed a little confused and picked at her croissant.

"So, err, where are your parents?" Bruce asked carefully.

Selina did not answer.

"They alive?"

"Urm, sure. They're around."

"Where?"

"What's that to you?"

"Nothing, I just thought..."

"Yeah, well, you thought wrong!" Selina interrupted, her voice raised. "I'm not an orphan! I've got family all over."

Selina got up and headed for the door, bumping into Alfred as she passed him.


That afternoon

The Docks

It was time to look around.

Dave and I used another vehicle that we had acquired; never mind from where! It was a BMW 7-series sedan, fitted with a six-litre, turbo-charged, V-12 engine and equipped with X-Drive. It was black and fitted in with the image the Dave and I had shown, publicly, at the fundraiser.

Our cover was that we were looking to purchase some Dock facilities. I wanted to scope out the Docks in daylight, before we tried to visit the place after dark. We would also be putting some advance pieces, into position.

The Gotham Docks were part of North Point, which itself was a district of Uptown. The place had a reputation and not a good one, either. The majority of the docks were openly run by the competing Mob families and as a rule, the GCPD avoided the place.

..._...

We drove slowly around the perimeter of the Docks, examining the security and the lack of security. The main gates were only loosely guarded and it was easy for us to drive in along with the other traffic, which also included Mia, being driven by Marty.

Dave was driving and I kept my eyes open while Dave ensured that we did not end up in the water. Although, looking at the water, I was not sure if you could not just walk across it; there was so much rubbish visible!

We could see three ships moored alongside the piers and they were unloading containers of unknown origin and manifest. On our second go around, we drove past a dark blue Mercedes van discreetly parked amongst some piles of cargo. There was no sign of anybody behind the wheel, but I knew that Marty, along with Erika and young Tommy, were inside and preparing for the night's activities.

At several locations, we stopped and pretended to take in the scenery, examining buildings and the wharves.


Wayne Manor

Selina pushed open the doors from the Study to the garden.

"If you want to go somewhere, we can call you a taxi," Bruce said.

Selina turned, surprised by Bruce's arrival.

"You move quiet," She said.

"So do you."

Selina closed the doors gently.

"Are you leaving?" Bruce asked with his voice full of concern.

"Thinking about it."

"I'm sorry if I've upset you."

"I'm not upset."

"You seemed kind of upset."

Selina looked around and then walked over to the desk, picking up a framed photograph.

"That's your Mom, huh?" She asked.

Bruce nodded.

"She looks nice," Selina said with a genuine smile.

"She was. You saw her – the night she was killed."

"Uh, huh."

"And you saw me, what I did? What I didn't do?"

"What are you talking about?" Selina asked. "What could you have done?"

"I don't know; something!"

Selina walked towards Bruce.

"You're dreaming, kid!" Selina commented, showing concern. "A gun's a gun! You're not a Vigilante, not like them..."

"Maybe...," Bruce replied.

She smiled.

"Did you ever kiss a girl?"

"Why'd you ask?"

"Just curious!" Selina replied with a smirk.

At that moment Alfred appeared. Selina smiled innocently and Bruce seemed somewhat relieved.

"Time for your studies, Master Bruce!" Alfred advised.

"Thank you, Alfred."

"You're more than welcome to join us," Alfred said looking at Selina.

"Right! I'll see you later."


That night

The Docks

It was time to make some noise, down at the Docks.

"This is Battle Guy; we have some activity, Pier G!"

"Copy that!" I replied and nudged Kick-Ass. "Wake up, time to go to work!"

"Just point me at the action, honey bun!" Kick-Ass growled good-naturedly.

We were just around the corner of a warehouse, from Pier G. We had received intelligence that identified Pier G as belonging to one of the Mob families, so had decided to stake that out first. Kick-Ass and I headed towards Pier G and stopped when it was in sight.

..._...

"It's that woman, Fish!" I growled.

Fish Mooney had her minder with her and she seemed to be meeting some men of unknown origin.

"Pushing up the audio!" Battle Guy announced from Mia. Dave had 'dropped' some eavesdropping devices around the docks earlier that day.

We heard footsteps and then a woman's voice.

"You kept me waiting!" Fish commented, waving her finger at the closest man.

"We ran into a little trouble," The man advised in a strong eastern European accent. "Nothing to worry about!"

"Good, I've got a lot riding on this job."

"You said."

"Your Boss, Nicolai, is dead, because of Falcone. You want to get back at him, you hit him where it hurts, his money! Ain't that right, Butch?"

That Fish was a crafty bitch, I thought!

"Yep!" Butch replied. "The root of all evil."

"We'll take his money. No problem, as long as it is there, like you said."

"Oh, it's there. I'm positive. The truck you needed."

Fish handed the man some keys.

"And Gregor," Fish added as the man walked away. "Break a leg!"

"She's a fucking nasty peace of work!" Kick-Ass growled.

"Tell me about it! She's so fucking slimy; just like a damn fish!" I growled back.

..._...

"Time to move!" I called.

Kick-Ass moved forwards, raised his Heckler & Koch G-36K, and sighted on Fish Mooney's Cadillac. He fired a pair of three-round bursts that sent everybody running for cover and then sent a forty-millimetre grenade into the trunk of the Cadillac, which came apart in a violent explosion.

Butch pulled out a large automatic pistol and started shooting in our direction, shoving Fish into one of the foreigner's SUVs and then jumping into the driving seat and roaring off. The eastern Europeans, who were most probably Romanians, produced AK-74U assault rifles and sent dozens of rounds in our direction, peppering the steel-sided warehouse beside us.

There was obviously something important in the truck that Fish Mooney had given them as they guarded it and gave it time to drive off towards the main gate of the Docks. We dropped three of the remaining men before they turned tail and ran. Our task for that night was to lay a trail of fear within the Criminal fraternity of Gotham, not to fight.

Only Salvatore Maroni never got the memo!


Outside The Docks

"Going somewhere are we?"

Cobblepot's eyes went wide at the sight before him.

"Please, I beg of you..."

"Wimpy little shit, aren't you?" The dark form, with long pointed ears, growled in a voice that was definitely not human.

"Please, just let me live!"

"Why should I let you live?"

"I'll do whatever you say – I'll tell you anything you want!"

"What could you tell me that is of the remotest use – you've a snivelling little whelp!"

"I know about Falcone; I know things – Maroni, too!"

"Shut up!"

"Yes, yes..."

Oswald Cobblepot looked up and saw that he was alone.


Pier G

"Going somewhere are we?"

I turned to see a large man in a dark coat. I recognised him, even in the dim lights.

"Maroni!" I growled. I had not anticipated meeting him yet.

"These here Docks; they are mine. Nobody starts a fight without me. Now you jumped up circus wannabes are gonna get the hell out of my City!"

We stood our ground.

"Sorry – we just got here; we're paid up the end of the month!" Kick-Ass growled.

Maroni snapped his fingers and over a dozen men appeared from the shadows. They were armed with a decidedly interesting array of violent weapons; I actually approved!

"You staying to fight, m'lady?" Battle Guy queried over the comms.

"Bring it on, Maroni; we eat Mob bastards like you for breakfast!" I growled savagely, drawing both Katana blades from my back. "I think it is time for you to meet my good friends, Frank and Ralph D'Amico!"

I saw Maroni's smirk flicker slightly at the mention of two, very dead, Mob Bosses. Nevertheless, the smirk became a smile.

"Then, I have some avenging to do!" Maroni sneered. "May I know your name…? For the headstone?"

"I am Hit Girl and you are going to leave Gotham or die!"

"Full of yourself, aren't you!" Maroni laughed.

..._...

I heard comms reports as other Fusion members checked in.

"Mist checking in!"

"Jackal arriving!"

"Shadow's here to play!"

"Splinter ready!"

"The gate is closed; Trojan and Wildcat are standing by!"

I heard the squeal of brakes as two motorcycles stopped and we were joined by Shadow and Jackal. Mist and Splinter appeared out of the Shadows. Maroni seemed to take a step back at the sight of six armoured Vigilantes. His men closed ranks on their Boss and he seemed to melt between them.

A gunshot rang out and Kick-Ass glanced down at his chest before looking back up at the men arrayed before him. He casually reached up, drew his Ko-Wakizashi swords and took up a fighting stance. There were a few murmurings and unhappy looks among our enemy.

"Well! Are we going to fight?" Jackal demanded in his intimidating electronic voice.

..._...

The fight kicked off!

Mist got in the first shot, sending the lethal point of her chain whip into the face of one of the men nearby. The man went down screaming, his hands to his face as blood welled through the fingers. The next man fell as he tried to avenge his colleague, with a Sai to the throat; Mist was a crazed bull in a china shop!

I ran forward with Kick-Ass a few paces behind me. Splinter was over to my right while Shadow and Jackal formed their own team over to our left, slicing through the men there. Bullets were flying and some collided with our armoured suits. We lived for fights like the one we were in; a melee fight was so much more enjoyable than a shoot out!


Several blocks south

"Something's kicked off at the Docks!" Gordon said to his partner.

"And we're going nowhere near it!" Bullock replied quickly.

Gordon just stared at his sardonic partner for a minute before replying, "Oh yes, we are!"

"Like hell we are!"

"Then let's go, Harvey!"

Harvey turned the wheel muttering foul obscenities under his breath and ignoring the broad grin on his partners face.


Pier G

It seemed that Maroni was a very calculating man and reinforcements seemed to appear from nowhere. He was definitely a shrewd operator and we would have to watch him carefully. He also reminded me of that cunt, Ralph D'Amico, another devious, although challenging opponent.

The fight was going well, though, and I could see several bodies on the ground, none in Fusion combat suits, thankfully. I could hear snippets of the fight over the communications, as Marty helped to guide operators away from danger and to good attacking and defensive positions.

I found myself fighting a very large man that had to be seven-foot tall and about eight wide! He may have been big, but he could move and he had a pair of wicked looking machetes, which seemed very battle-ready and had obviously seen plenty of use. The brute knew how to use them, too!

I weaved in between his thrusts and sweeps, keeping myself on the move and attempting to drive a Katana into the bastard's fat gut. The man was a challenge and he landed a hard thrust onto my right thigh which sting like fuck, but did not penetrate. The pain only made me mad; I was not going to stand for that kind of abuse.

The man insisted on grinning throughout the fight; what kind of person enjoyed killing, as that man obviously did? Then I noticed something that concerned me, the fat bastard was slowly pushing me away from the main fight and away from any assistance. I quickly checked all around me and there, in the shadows I saw what could only be an ambush.

"Fusion, Hit Girl, I need assistance; I'm about to be ambushed..."


I heard Hit Girl as she was cut off by a burst of gunfire.

The man I was fighting was, just for a brief moment, distracted by the gunfire so I drove a Ko-Wakizashi into his stomach and as I pulled the blade out, I eviscerated him. I left the body oozing blood across the wharf and ran towards the gunfire, I could see Mist and Splinter fighting over to my left; they made a good team those two.

Hit Girl was kneeling on the concrete, her swords beside her and a pistol in each hand, shooting at the ambush. There was a large man who was keeping out of the line of fire, however the big bastard had not seen me and he was trying to get close to Hit Girl.

Nobody crept up on my girl! I started to run hard, the noise of the gunfire covering my footfalls as I closed on the man, then when only feet away I swung my blade and the enormous man dropped to the concrete, his head following a second later. The gunfire seemed to falter as I stowed my blades and drew both of my Glock 17 pistols. I was full of hatred for these men and they were going to die. I pounded past Hit Girl, triggering off round after round from each pistol, ignoring the bullets that drove into my chest armour.

"Careful there, battle tanks can get holes in them too, you know!" I heard Hit Girl comment.

"Rather in me, than in you!" I replied as the last man fell.

I dumped my empty seventeen-round magazines and inserted another pair. Both pistols were smoking from the rapid shooting, as I replaced them in my holsters.


The Docks

"What the fuck!"

Bullock exclaimed, as he slammed on the brakes and skidded to a halt, all the while staring at the two objects in his path.

"Identify!" A strange electronic voice growled out from the taller of the two, who had a P90 PDW at his shoulder. Gordon fumbled with his GCPD identification and waved it out of the car window.

"Pass!" The other armoured vigilante growled in a similar, electronically augmented, voice.

"Err, thanks!" Bullock yelled from his open window as he passed through the dock gates.

..._...

"Damn you, Gordon!" Bullock yelled a few minutes later as the bullets flew around him and zinged off the hood of the car.

Gordon and Bullock opened fire on the obvious targets, Maroni's men who had completely ignored Bullock bellow of 'GCPD'!


Pier G

The man fell just inches from me and I nodded my thanks to the rather handsome Police Officer that I immediately recognised as being Detective James Gordon. The scruffy man beside him had to be his partner, Harvey Bullock. That man was an enigma if there ever was one. It had taken a while but Marty had been able to hack into the GCPD computer systems and obtain records of Criminals and Cops alike.


Strikingly intimidating!

She had nice curves! I had to admit that the suit showed off the hips and other parts very nicely. Other words came to mind: alarming, formidable, imposing, fearsome, and stunning. They all seemed to describe the Vigilante who was clad in purple body armour and armed with a pair of vicious looking Japanese swords.


He was checking me out!

I liked it, however that moment was not the moment to enjoy it; I would have to watch out for Detective Gordon! I almost regretted my distraction as a baseball bat entered my peripheral vision and I threw myself sideways into a roll and came back up sweeping my blades horizontally and severing my attacker's legs just above the knees. I followed up with a single blade through his heart, and then I moved on.


"So we finally meet!"

Detective Gordon and I were crouched behind a steel container and we were both pinned down by two men with sub-machine guns.

"Good evening, Detective Gordon; my name is Hit Girl!"

"Hello to you good lady!" Gordon replied with a smile.

Was he hitting on me?

"You cover me and I'll get those two bastards!" I growled getting back to the task in hand.

"Definitely!" Gordon grinned.