Chapter Three
Night had befallen Gotham and stretched its fingers across the sky, casting pinpricks of light across the deep blackness of space above the slumbering city. Like all nights; this place held its nocturnal creatures, perhaps the most dangerous kind to encounter. These creatures bore illegal grade weapons such as AK-47's, Uzi's, and .12 gauge's at free will. Around every corner men and women were dawned in ammunition with combat weapons as well-arsenals including machete's, long-blades, and some even nun-chucks. Gotham's underbelly had some of the most lethal forms of torture and the most frightening attacks. And they roamed the night like monsters; terrorizing whomever stood against them.
This night was no different.
He'd been outside the GCPD for almost an hour, scaling the skyscraper as if it were a rock wall. The suit he'd "borrowed" from Wayne Enterprises moved well with his body movements; roomy enough to be comfortable, and edgy enough to be intimidating. He flew through his scaling with ease. Dawning one of his masks from Ducard, he resembled the ninja's portrayed in fairy tales; and felt the power of stealth pump through his blood. He'd been longing for this day, waiting for it for years. It would not be complete without the full costumed affect, but that would come in its own time. For now, his suit and weapons would do him fine.
It had taken all but an hour to stake out the Sergeant's office where'd be alone and without backup. That gave Bruce the opportunity he needed to introduce himself. Looking to either side of him, he carefully balanced himself on the ledge of the building, crouching to his haunches to test the window sill for locks. It rose a few inches silently, and he whipped his attention to the dimly lit room. Unaware, the man was still at his desk, scribbling notes quickly on a legal pad in shorthand. Unwilling to look down at the staggering height, he used his legs to push up the window and slipped in feet first. Grabbing the top of the pane, he swung himself inside and silently rolled across the floor and froze, watching the Sergeant. He made no movement to recognize his presence.
Crouching, he approached the back of the chair quietly. The man suddenly pushed back the rolling computer chair and he panicked, jumping back a few inches and watching as the man shuffled his handwritten notes. He sucked in a quiet breath and held it, waiting for the man to turn around and ruin everything. When he didn't, he released his breath carefully and approached the man. Grabbing the device from his belt, he pressed a button the light in the room evaporated. This caught the Sergeant's attention and he straightened. Hand immediately reaching for his belt, the Sergeant called out quizzically. "Hey! Who shut off-"
Bruce pressed the desk's stapler to his shoulder and leaned in over his ear. "Don't turn around." He demanded with a husky rasp.
"What do you want?" Gordon asked quietly, both hands rising in the air slowly. Bruce smiled at this, pleased that his plan was moving along perfectly. Looking down at the man's gun, he reached inside the holster and grabbed it, holding it with a finger at the trigger cage. Twirling it, his grip fastened down hard on it and he whipped it over across the floor.
"You're a good cop," he began with a low hush, "but you're just one guy. Falcone brings in shipments of drugs weekly off the docks. What would it take to bring him down?" The question hung in the air, seeming to seep up all the air in the room. Sweat poured down Bruce's spine, and he made a mental note to talk to Lucius about ventilation.
Gordon straightened as Bruce pressed the stapler into the back of his spine. "Leverage on Judge Faden. A DA brave enough to prosecute wouldn't be bad either. A few straight cops like me would be a plus too." He tried to look over his shoulder slightly. Digging the tool back into his spine, he looked forward. "I'm just one man, 'member? Just who are you, anyway?"
He released some of the pressure on the man's spine. "Watch for my sign." He whispered with a rasp. He was about to continue when he heard something whizz by his ear in a quick fwap!
Thwack!
Startled, both men looked straight ahead at the intruding object. Bruce narrowed his eye at the strangely designed arrow. It was a short thing, with what looked like fiberglass fletching and was painted black with purple vines swimming across the body and into the white fletching. It stuck out of the door with a note hanging by a thread. He looked behind him out the window to the adjacent building, and saw a figure backflipping across the roof and disappearing over the ledge.
"A friend of yours?"
"No." he growled.
Then, whipping the stapler out the window, he began backing up a few steps. "Now we're two."
"You mean three," Gordon corrected. "If that's what I think it is."
With that, he backflipped, pressed his hands against the floor and fell out the window. He rapidly headed towards the earth and then fired his grappling gun across the expanse between the PD and the building across the street. The line collided and it pulled it taut, and then went flying across the air.
The last thing he heard from Gordon was a faint. "We?"
Watching the arrow collide with the door across the street from her brought a sense of satisfaction. A smirk fell onto her lips and she nodded to herself in accomplishment. Slipping the bow into the quiver on her back, she pressed her fingers into the cement rooftop and pushed herself backwards. Her feet hit the cement in an arch and she pushed off, the world a kaleidoscope of blurs as she made her way to the ledge of the building. The dizziness did not bother her, only fueled her on.
Stopping at the ledge, she did not hesitate to jump. Gracefully diving off the edge, she began freefalling from the top of the building, plummeting towards the earth. Adrenaline laced her blood and she righted herself, reaching for the flagpole to her left to stop her fall. Her fingers wrapped around it and she swung herself over it as if it were a monkey bar. Then, balancing on the steel pole, she reached for the crossbow and prepared a line-arrow. Making sure the arrow was securely tied to the string; she aimed to the building to her left.
Aim, pull back, fire. It exploded in a shot and whizzed across the air. It wasn't the most effective way of travel, but the more she did it, the better she improved. Granted, if there were perpetrators or gunfire she'd be seriously wounded; the procedure took all of two minutes to do. But, thankfully, there were none of the latter to worry about. Pulling the mechanism on the crossbow back, it began retracting and she leapt off the flagpole, falling through the air and making her way up the building before colliding with the brick and mortar.
Once to the ledge, she reached up and swung herself over. Checking her surroundings, she sprinted low across the roof's ledge and then checked behind her. She'd gone a few good yards from her firing point and had left a decent amount of space between them. She just hoped the man with the mask had enough smarts to stay away from her than to pursue. Something inside her gut brewed wildly and told her that he would indeed pursue her; this stranger with the same agenda.
If they even had the same agenda. She feared that they were two completely different people caught up in the same cruel city. She stood for justice, peace, unity. All she wanted to see was Gotham rise up from the ashes it had been buried in for so long and to see the rich give back to the poor. To see the poor preyed on drove her to madness. Crouching low behind an air conditioning unit on top the building, she checked her belt for a marking point to leave at the GCPD in a few hours. Hopefully by then he'd be gone and call it a night.
Then again, a part of her wished he wouldn't.
"Missing something?"
Gasping, she whirled around and threw her fist into the air, blowing right through her surprising target. Stumbling forward, she spun about again and found him standing a good ten feet away, crouching on the ledge. She glared daggers at him, rage flowing through her veins. This would earn her at least a good three hours of stealth training to bring up her skills. Straightening, she replaced the tracker and turned to face him, chest rising in falling in sudden surprise. Suspicion overcame her and drove her to ask the next question.
"What do you want?" she demanded.
"Solace."
She snorted. "Highly unlikely. This is my city."
He stepped off the ledge and stood before her, at least a good two feet. His ski-mask was less than impressive, but his suit! She studied it carefully, taking in its structure and design. Triple weave by the looks of it; comfortable, flexible. It moved with his body well, though it seemed harder to maneuver than her own choice of clothing. Begger's couldn't be choosers, and she had to stop herself from asking where he acquired such an outfit.
"Wrong. This city has been mine since it was born."
A daunting statement, but one easily outmastered. She kept quiet and turned on her heel. "We'll see. I have as much rights here as you do. Not everyone is worthy to wear a mask." Slowly she reached for her bow and slipped an arrow between her fingers.
"So some might think."
With that, she nocked the arrow within two seconds and swung around, aiming the blunt at him and firing. He dodged it easily, but she took the few seconds to get a running start. She sensed his flight behind her and sped up a little, then threw herself forward into a cart wheel and then turned it into a backflip. Her entire balance was tossed as the world blurred, but her experience with the move held her firm. Quickly catching sight of the building's end, she stopped on her feet and looked over her shoulder. He stood, watching her for a moment and she tossed him a wink.
"Choose your allies carefully. And your enemies even more carefully," she then narrowed her eyes at him and knelt on the ledge, fingers pressing against the brick. "You do not want me as your enemy, new guy."
"My name is Batman. Keep it that way." He rasped. "And I don't know if I want you as my alley, either."
"Either way, be careful. Gotham is a dangerous place to choose your battles." She then looked down to her drop. "Nice suit, by the way."
Then, she pushed herself off and grabbed onto the drainpipe, quickly sliding down and spinning through the air like a bird. Within seconds she hit the ground gracefully and took off into a sprint down the abandoned alleyway.