THANKS CampionSayn for Betaing, your are nothing short of amazing.
Chapter Seven
(Saturday night, The Captio Building)
The nights started to get colder as winter approached.
In the high, well lit streets and skywalks of Gotham, well-to-do men and women were quick in step between their cars and their destinations. It was too cold for leisurely strolls and too dark to offer any view of her nightly beauty. In the lower streets and lesser levels of Gotham, less well-to-do men and women still scurried from destination to destination; cold weather wasn't a good enough excuse to put off their plans. And besides, colder nights brought fewer dangers, at least for a while – Jokerz and T's, for all their power and attitude, were still human and like everyone else didn't want to spend more time in the cold than they strictly had too.
Tonight the streets were all but abandoned as it was only with the most urgent of reasons citizens put their foot outside their doorsteps. The temperatures, in both upper and lower Gotham, had plummeted downwards all day and it was close to freezing – frost bit hungrily at any exposed skin and stole into unsuspecting lungs to make people cough bitterly. People hunched over from the penetrating chill and walked quickly with the pointed winds at their backs.
Surprisingly there was one young women out that didn't care for the weather at all. In fact, the hostility that seemed to be projected by Gotham that night suited her just fine – perhaps Gotham was sulking over her absent lover, her darling Dark Knight who, like the other, had abandoned her temporarily. The idea, the image of the darkly seductive Gotham as a jilted, possessive lover flickered across her eyes and made her snort into her mask. That in turn sent a burst of shocking air into her lung and made her gasp. Apparently, Gotham didn't like one of her children to mock her and her love.
'He'll be back soon. Men always come back in the end, not matter what kind of trouble they find themselves in,' she thought confidently, both to herself and to Gotham. The winds let up a little at that moment, enough for her to swing herself up a few levels – she took this as Gotham being reassured by her faith.
Perched, bird like on a narrow window ledge, the masked women pulled out her pocket computer and consulted it. If her information was right (and it bloody well was because she was never wrong) then her target was... three windows over and six stories up. Brilliant.
Instinctively the woman turned around and craned her neck to check – Not so brilliant. She let loose a few curse words which were thankfully snatched away by the returning winds. Somehow she felt like a scolded child – was Gotham about to wash her mouth out too? - Oh no, she hoped not, rain was not something she wanted tonight of all nights.
Shivering, the woman moved back, so that her back was flat against the black, icy glass. The same smooth, unbroken surface that extended four stories up.
The woman sighed as she reached into one of her utility compartments. The suit she was wearing wasn't...normal. A full length cat suit, colored in silver that absorbed light instead of reflecting it, splattered with a white star like shape across her chest. She had a white utility belt and across her chest, upper arm and leg she had attached additional metal bands to hold the specialist gear she was carrying tonight. Her mask–like-helmet was shaped like a full face mask but made of what seemed to be white bandages – the same pattern on her gloves and boots.
Despite what one might think while looking at her, she was more than aware that her suit wasn't anywhere near finished. The design was finished but the details weren't. She had claws in her gloves and friction boots for climbing and a whip, but her jet boots had to be put on hold. Her mask wasn't completely finished, she hadn't had time to connect the internal computer and only enough to tweak the lens. She hadn't even tested the material to see if it would work. Half her equipment she was running on blind faith and unproven theories.
But tonight couldn't be put off any longer. Tonight she had to kick start her plans a little earlier than she had originally hoped for. She prayed she didn't get caught because of it. He'd kill her if he caught her in this outfit. But this was a matter of life and death, she needed to help him. She had to.
Sighing painfully, she twisted a dial on her costume and felt her creation flair to life under her fingertips. All things going well, her pet project should work and work well. She turned to face the glass and after a short prayer that this was going to work, started to climb.
The problem with four stories of clear glass wasn't finding hand and foot holes, it wasn't the fear that she might fall nor was it the fear that she might trip an alarm. She was confident enough in her skills that they weren't a problem. The problem was the fact than more than a few of the offices between her and her target were occupied and normally the sight of a young women scaling past your window tended to spook people.
And she didn't want to spook her targets – yet.
The winds tugged at her on her way up. More than once she had to stop and hold her breath as she was pushed from side to side, eyes firmly fixed on the ignorant workers. No one stirred and when the winds calmed she continued, clambering with the grace of a monkey. It was as if she was invisible to the occupants of the offices - but in reality, the cloth she had chosen for her costume, which certainly hadn't been for its weak defensive structures or its fashion statement, was because, treated in the right chemical and with the right stimuli, could cause its wearer to become if not invisible then unnoticeable to the naked eye. With this little nugget of gold, she was able to bypass the most basic of security as long as she kept an eye out for cameras.
By the time she got to the window – which thankfully was on a floor that had ledges- she was serious starting to consider following Batman's example and getting a hover car.
And things considered, she could probably build her own one quite easily if given time and space – but being secretive was always a bummer on research and development projects.
Taking a deep breath, she let her slightly trembling limbs relax and tried to refocus on what she was good. Get to target location, check. Bring down security and infiltrate building, not check. Slaggit, how did Batman do this all night? He must have stamina like a god to keep this kind of work up. Groaning she rubbed her eyes through the mask. Personally, she thought she wasn't doing too bad considering this was the sixth building she had broken into tonight and it wasn't even midnight yet.
Fighting back fatigue she pushed herself up from her sitting position and reached for the rest of her tools. She made quick work of the security all things considered and was soon edging the window open. The office beyond was dark and empty as she knew it would be and so she climbed through.
The room was sparsely decorated, if somewhat expensively, and had the air of a room rarely occupied. She took a torch out and turned it on. There was a wall close to her right with what looked like a small closet covered by a curtain like thing and a lamp. The rest of the room was more yielding. There was a desk, a few filing cabinets, an entrainment system and a few couches. The woman moved over to the desk and started to search it.
The drawers were expectedly empty of anything interesting and after turning on the computer and hacking into the main frame she concluded that, indeed, the people she was after weren't complete idiots. They knew better than to leave evidence floating around for someone to discover. Slaggit.
Frustrated she moved onto the filing cabinets but they were no more informative. The woman sighed and leant back against the metal. Where could it be? Where? Frowning she straightened and looked over at the entrainment system – possibly... -
Her belt started to glow, flickering an insistent red.
She started and for a minute panicked. She glanced over the desk to make sure that it looked untouched and then started to seriously scan the room for a place to hide. Someone had tripped her temporary sensors. Someone was coming now.
She looked at the closet.
The light switched on outside the room.
She bolted across the room and had only just yanked the curtain closed in front of her as the room was opened and the lights were activated. She would have sighed but she kept a hand over her own mouth and moved back until she felt the back of the closet.
She had just settled herself between two heavy rain jackets when the curtain hiding her was ripped back.
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Wen-Shen Chang was not having a good night.
Tonight he and his daughter had be scheduled to have an intimate, family dinner with one of Wayne-Power's more prominent businessman and his family, only for Mairyn to feel unwell at the last minute. In many ways it was a blessing in disguise because it gave him a good excuse to cancel and still keep her out of the way.
But being called away by him didn't constitute a good night to him. So he didn't knock on the office door when he arrived at the Captio Building or announce himself in any way, instead he barged in like he owned the place.
He did. One way or another.
The man, still in his own rain jacket, didn't look at all surprised by the sudden interruption or in fact alarmed by the rather gruff look on Chang's face. The man smiled pleasantly at him, a serene sort of cheerfulness radiating from him. A typical Gothamite as far as Chang could tell.
"Mr. Chang, how nice of you to come on such short notice." The man said airily, a mixture of politeness and familiar intimacy.
Chang glared and closed the office door behind him, making sure it was locked properly, "Well Doctor, you didn't exactly give me a choice now did you?" The man's smile wasn't at all affected by the dry distaste in Chang's voice, instead he gestured for the scowling man to take his coat off. "Sit, sir, take a load off while we talk." The doctor took his own jacket off and moved over to a curtained off piece of wall.
Chang counted to three mentally before speaking – already the man was testing his patience, as every meeting did so far. "Doctor, you know very well you are not to contact me, especially not directly. I cannot be seen to be involved in anything – anything like this, like you. Cut to the chase, I'm sure you're as busy as I am."
The doctor paused and then opened the curtain, throwing his jacket in blindly. He turned to face Chang, his eyes sharp, "I understand, sir. However there's been a, well, an interesting development in the goods you have requested and I felt you might want to be made aware of it."
Chang felt for a second a small wave of panic hit him and he managed to grind out, "What kind of a development? What are we talking about here?"
The doctor moved over to the couches, slowly taking a seat and pointing to another. Chang quickly sat down. "I have been conducting tests, as I'm sure your aware, on the goods and well, there seems to have been an unexpected reaction to one of my experiments-"
"What kind of a reaction? Slaggit, Xavier, I'm not paying you to play around with my goods with your – your experiments! I bought a series of tests and an outcome and I expect them to be delivered undamaged!" Chang jumped to his feet, voice rising with every word. The doctor's face was calm but dark. He seemed to glower at Chang's disinterested view of his experiments.
"The tests you ordered," he started slowly, "are happening as we speak, but they take time. I feel that, while still uncertain, there is more to be gained here if I continue my experiments than if I –"
"No! I won't have you messing this up, Doctor. This is deep enough, if the Feds-"
Chang was cut off when the doctor stood up. His small stature seemed to grow with the malice shadowed on his face until he filled the room, glowering. "Mr. Chang. I dearly hope you're not backing out on me? That would be..." the man looked thoughtful, but it sent shivers down Chang's spine, "unhealthy for you."
The Doctor's eyes bore into him like laser drills, "I will not have Commissioner Gordon looking too closely at me. Understand? That woman is worse than the entire weight of the CIA baring down on you."
Chang stepped back. There was silence in the office, the doctor seemed darkly displeased and Chang was just trying not to freak out. "Doctor...the goods are...undamaged?" he offered anxiously.
"Yes. Of course. They are still valuable to us."
Chang started to pace back and forth.
"What of the results?"
"I told you, they are incomplete right now – you'll have them soon."
"I-if they are negative, Doctor, I want you to dump the goods as soon and as far as you can. I don't want anything that can be traced back to me, not if I'm going to win the deal with Wayne-Powers."
The doctor tilted his head, "Sir, if the tests are negative – and I assure you, I don't think they will be – then I have no intention of dumping them when they are still valuable to me."
Chang's face flushed a deep red and he swirled around angrily to face the doctor, "No! Damn it, just dump them, they're no use-"
"- To you. To me, however, they still have untapped potential. If they are negative, sir, I will of course offer you the chance to back out, with a refund." The doctor bowed his head.
Chang glared, feeling – and hating it– powerless. He wasn't influential enough to face down the doctor; that was why he had approached him for help when he had first arrived. From the things he had heard, it had seemed like a foolish mistake not to take the risk and see how this venture panned out – oh, how quickly this had gone wrong! He wanted out of this, without its high risk blowing up in their faces, but he needed this. He needed it. His company needed it. As long as the doctor cleaned up, he didn't care what the man did to the goods if it wasn't what he was looking for.
"You'll send me the test results?" His shoulders sank.
"Right away." The doctor smoothed out his clothes and extended his hand. Chang looked at it once, before spinning around and storming back out of the office. He fled the building as quickly and discreetly as he could.
Tonight – and this affair – might still be salvageable yet.
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She didn't breathe until the lights were at least turned off and the door closed. Curled up in a small ball, her heart was pounding against her rib cage, threatening to burst free. She raised a shaky hand to her head, silently thanking God. It was over and she had remained undetected.
– But how fruitless! Of all the things she was wanted to peg Wen-Shen Chang for, illegal use of chemicals and black-marketing was not one of them!
Growling she stood up, knocking the jacket to the floor. What a waste of her time. She could have been doing more useful stuff with her time, like finding relevant information instead of getting an ear full of Chang's dirty-dealing espionage. If she had time she might look further into supposed dealing with the 'Doctor' but right now this wasn't what she needed.
She sighed as she crossed the room, silently and graceful. This was starting to look like another dead end, just like every other lead tonight. The woman cast her eyes doubtfully around the room but decided even if she did manage to sneak anything out of the office, it wasn't going to be useful to her anyway. So, instead, she flicked on her belt and climbed out the window, closing it just as the door opened again. The doctor hurried back into the room, pulled back the curtain and grabbed his jacket – and left. She sighed, relieved, her shoulders dropping. That was close, far too close.
She looked at the drop. It was take a while to climb back down and her arms were already starting to ach – again, how on earth could Batman do this all night? Instead she laughed, flicked out her glider wings and dived.
She tumbled, down, down, down – past the still lit offices – past the flashing mirror windows. Down, through the streaking winds and roaring noise. She twisted her wrists to catch a draft, letting it push and contort her body in its slip stream.
She soared through the dark air; beneath her a few weary eyes glanced up and scurried away. She was no Batman, not by far. But Gotham embraced her in the night-time all the same and the woman loved her all the more for it. Maybe tonight wasn't a waste after all...
:D I. am . ALIVE! Yes, now, for the fan who guess the name of the woman-in-white correctly get a sneak peak or a short one shot of their choice! who says I'm not good?
