CHAPTER TEN
Robin never came for Barbara the night of her test. Instead, when she slid down the rope she had hung outside her window she found a note stuck to the floor beneath it. What heals the wound made by a stinging plant? The note said. It was hand-written in a scrawl that Barbara was almost certain would match Dick's if she had it tested. Barbara was baffled for a long while. She sat on the ground, reading over the note a dozen times. Of course, she knew the answer, dock leaves, but what the hell did that have to do with anything?
She wanted to call Robin on the transceiver he'd given her. But that would mean defeat. He'd given her this test because he thought she might be ready, she had to pass. She had to prove all that training had worked.
'Dock leaves,' she said out loud, quietly so her Dad wouldn't hear. 'Dock…'
Docks, she thought. He wants me to go to the docks.
Luckily, Barbara knew the way to the docks, her Mum used to take her and her brother there when they were small thinking that watching the boats would calm James' aggression. Little did her Mum know that the docks were full of crime, more so than the rest of Gotham. When her Dad had found out, he'd told her never to take Barbara and James there again. It wouldn't be good for a detective's family to be spotted snooping around the docks.
Now Barbara was heading there at peak crime time, sneaking along the shadows of alleyways because she wasn't too sure on rooftops just yet. Most of the deliveries to drug cartels and the mob were made via the docks in the late hours of the night and early hours of the morning. She wasn't ready to fight the mob, at least not alone.
She decided that unless Robin's test depended on her confronting a foe, then she would steer clear. It wouldn't be good for her reputation as a new hero to become smushed brains under some mobsters boot the first time she was allowed out alone.
When she arrived just outside the docks, Barbara decided to take a quick look around from up high. She climbed atop the harbourmasters cabin and laid down on her stomach. From her utility belt, she pulled out her binoculars and took a look around. It didn't look like anyone was there except a few tired looking workmen. Maybe she'd come too early for the bad folks to arrive. A big part of her was very glad about that.
Barbara climbed off the cabin and took a closer look around the dock. She stuck to the shadows of the boats and containers and searched each pontoon and boat thoroughly. Nothing seemed amiss and Barbara began to worry that she'd guessed the clue wrong. Maybe Robin had wanted her to find some dock leaves. But then she came to the last pontoon, in the middle of it was a small bird cage, inside of which was an adolescent Robin. It tweeted at her as she came close. Tied to the birds' foot was a note.
Barbara carefully undid the cage and coaxed the Robin into her hand which was easier to do than she expected, perhaps because the Robin was so young. She held the bird firmly but gently as she untied the note from its foot, then she lowered her hand to the floor and let the little guy go. He tweeted at her gratefully before hopping off towards the city. She hoped it would find a park somewhere.
'What are you doing kidnapping Robin's, Robin?' Barbara said to herself as she unfolded the note. You rescued the first hostage, well done. That was all the note said. But she was sure the trial wasn't over, first wasn't a word that made things sound over.
Barbara took a closer look at the cage. There was nothing inside it, but maybe underneath… She lifted it, and there it was, the next clue. It was an A4 piece of paper decorated with letters cut out from magazines. When the punishment it's the _ the criminal needs a _.
The first word was obvious to Barbara, Crime. But the other, not so. Lawyer didn't make sense, neither did attorney, nor did friend. Nothing fit, hug, piece of cake, ally. Ally, that was it, Crime Alley.
Barbara ran from the docks, not really worrying if she was spotted. They might see a caped figure running along, see the pointy ears and think it was Batman, that'd be kind of cool. It wasn't far from the docks to Crime Alley. She made it there in less than ten minutes, but she was panting by the time she arrived.
She walked down the street, nervous that someone was following. Nervous that she might be seen. She heard a footstep, span around, no one appeared to be there. A shuffle up above. Still, nothing. Barbara moved closer to the wall as she walked down the notoriously corrupt street. She saw no one, and perhaps that was worse than seeing someone, because she got the feeling that she wasn't alone.
A few paces down the alley, Barbara spotted a pearl necklace on the floor, some of the beads were broken and the string was snapped. She bent down to have a closer look, picked up one of the pearls with her gloved hand and held it close to her face. The pearls were fakes, and not very good one. Cheap knock-offs from some chain jewellery store. But it was weird seeing it there, the Wayne's had been murdered in this street for a pearl necklace. Had Robin put it there. Barbara pocketed the bead and looked around.
A few feet away to the right of the beads was a bird cage, similar to the one at the docks, the next hostage. Barbara turned to move towards it when, as soon as she moved, she felt something slice her upper arm through her uniform. The wound stung, then throbbed, it was deep, though not deep enough to cause permanent damage.
On high alert, Barbara span around looking for the culprit, she thought she spotted them on a rooftop up above, a shadow darting away in the dark. But then she could be seeing things. So, she had been followed, but by who? Had Robin sent them? If that was true, why did they shoot? Whoever they were, they were gone. If they'd wanted to kill her, they would have done it by now.
Barbara applied pressure on the wound with her other hand, wincing at the pain. Something had torn through, it wasn't a bullet, the material was bulletproof. But then Kevlar could be broken with a knife. She'd seen her dad's stab scars from knives that had gone through Kevlar to know that was true. This material was apparently like Kevlar, that didn't mean it was impervious to sharp objects. A knife or… Barbara looked around and spotted it, a sharpened arrow. The shaft and fletching were an army green.
Barbara picked up the arrow, there was no blood on it, it had been to fast that it went clean through, literally. Whoever shot the arrow was an expert. They could have killed her easily if they'd wanted to, So Barbara was sure it was the test.
She moved over to the bird cage, inside it was a little brown bat. It hung on the top of the cage like a Dracula waiting to be fed. There was something unnerving in its black as coal eyes. She told herself she was being stupid, there was nothing dangerous about real bats. There was a lock on the cage, but it was thin and flimsy, Barbara decided to saw it with the arrow but found that the metal on the lock was too tough.
Robin had told her how to pick a lock, but she wasn't exactly a natural at breaking and entering. She took out her lock picks from her utility belt and placed them inside. She moved them gently until, several moments later, she heard the tell-tale click and the lock pick opened.
Now the lock was opened, Barbara undone the cage and held it open for the bat. Realising the creature hadn't noticed it was freed, Barbara reached in and put a hand under the bat. She used her other hand to tap the little bats feet and it let go in shock, falling into the palm of her hand. It was smaller and lighter than she'd originally guessed. Bats were all fluff and bones, that made them kind of cute. Barbara took her hand out of the cage and let the bat go. It flew of into the night, never to be seen again.
Inside the cage was another note. She took it out and read it. Second hostage freed. Now go to the place where all eventually go to the long sleep. Find the biggest resting place, the bed of Ermine Cobblepot. I couldn't come up with a good riddle for this one, sorry. Not that any of the others have been any good. But first, get that wound sorted out.
So, he had orchestrated the arrow. How thoughtful? As for the clue, that was easy, the graveyard. That was where he wanted her to go. What a lovely place to spend an evening?
She needed to get somewhere safe to get a look at the cut. Robin was always harping on about the roof being the safest place. Lucky for Barbara, there were plenty of staircases up to the rooftops, she didn't have a grappling hook so had no other way to get up. The trek up the ten flights of stairs seemed especially difficult with the wound she'd acquired, but she made it up without panting too hard. At the top she sat down, unclipped her cape and slipped her wounded arm out of the sleeve. She took a torch out of her utility belt to get a better look.
There was a lot of blood around the wound even though it didn't seem to be bleeding heavily. She took out a bandage and some antiseptic cream from her belt and she applied the cream and wrapped the bandage as tight as she could, pinning the it together with a safety pin. She pulled her costume on and reattached the cape.
Ready for the next test. Barbara took the rooftops to the graveyard. They were close together in this area of Gotham and the drops weren't quite as sheer as in the more central parts of the city. Besides, being out for the last couple hours alone had given her a confidence she hadn't had at the beginning of the test.
She made it to the graveyard without falling to her death even once and was feeling rather chuffed with herself when she slid down the rope she'd attached to a vent onto the pathway beside the graveyard. The biggest grave was in the centre, she knew that, she'd visited it before with her Mum when her brother had been sent to the asylum. She'd spent a lot of time in this place with her Mum after that, at least until her Mum moved out. Once through the familiar creaky gates that looked even more foreboding in the moonless night-sky, Barbara went to the grave.
Ermine was a long dead ancestor of the Penguin. She knew, she'd looked it up a long time in the Gotham libraries' archives. So, it was strange to find a bird cage, larger than the ones before, with a small brown owl, Barbara would later find out it was a burrowing owl, inside. The owl stared at her as she approached with wise yellow eyes as if it knew why she was here. Barbara opened the cage and stepped back. She watched as the owl hopped out and flew into the trees, it stayed there watching her as she searched for a note. There was none, this was the end.
'Robin, I freed your hostage, what now?' she asked, not really expecting a reply.
There was a laugh from somewhere in the trees behind her. 'I guess I shall take you to my master.' The voice sounded young, a guy's, and they were obviously trying to make themselves sound menacing. There was something comical about the voice.
'Um, you mean Robin, right?'
Before she got a reply, Barbara wasn't on her feet anymore, in fact she was moving faster than she'd ever moved before. She was in someone's arms, thin arms, but strong. Barbara hunched down into them, tried to get as close as she could to her kidnapper's chest. It reminded her of a roller coaster – the wind-lapping at her face, her screams of fear, the sudden rise and falls and drops – except with this roller coaster she had no idea how she'd got on or when she was getting off.
After what seemed like forever but may have only been a few minutes, Barbara felt the decrease in speed. Then they were underground. Then they were still.
Her captor placed her down gently on her feet and she tumbled to the floor.
'Um, are you okay?' he asked, sounding like a normal kid. She knew the voice.
'I'm gonna barf.' She looked up at him and saw that it was Wally, definitely Wally, dressed as Kid-Flash, Dick's best friend. Kid-Flash. 'Uh, Wally?'
'Eep.' His face fell, and he raced off before she could get another word in.
'So, you completed my tests, freed all the hostages. I'm proud.'
Barbara turned around, feeling light-headed. They were in the Bat-cave, her and Robin, she could see it now. But something was different about him. His colours had changed. He wore a black skin tight suit with a blue logo stretched across his chest and shoulders.
'You got a new suit,' she said.
'And a new name, it's Nightwing now.'
'Why the change? I mean, I like the change, but why now?' asked Barbara, her eyes fixed on how the suit revealed his muscles a lot better than the Robin suit had.
'I'm going solo. No more Batman and Robin. At least for me.'
'I guess your solo act has no room for a Batgirl then,' she said, feeling oddly hurt by the revelation. 'That's why the test is now, so you can be done with me.'
'No, that's what I… Batman is unbearable sometimes. You're not. I like spending time with you.'
'So, I passed your test thingy?'
'Not quite.' Nightwing pulled out some escrima sticks from behind his shoulders and took a fighting stance. 'You've gotta fight the big bad.'
'And you're supposed to be the big-bad, huh?'
He smirked, there was something very appealing about that smirk. 'For tonight at least.'
Barbara strolled over and took a ready stance, she held her fists in front of her face and nodded. He lunged in with a stick, aiming for her head. She pushed it away with her left hand, but realised it was foolish, she'd left herself open, that hadn't been a real attack, the stick wasn't going to land anywhere near her head. She should've seen it coming. But then, he hit her with the other stick in the ribs while she was distracted. The blow hurt, that'd bruise horribly. Why wasn't he calling out her mistakes like he usually did in training? Why was he hitting her, hurting her? But then Barbara realised, this was a real fight.
She aimed a side-kick at his shoulder, but he stepped out of the way and grabbed her leg before she had a chance to pull it back in close. Barbara struggled, but she could see she was going to fall. And she did, painfully on her hip. Nightwing let go and she rolled away and got back on her feet. She was vulnerable on the floor, well more vulnerable.
She had to be smarter. He was stronger, better, bigger, faster, but she was smarter, she was sure of that. Smarter and smaller. Barbara ducked as Nightwing aimed a fist at her head. She took the brief moment that he was distracted by his missing punch and pulled out some tear gas from her utility belt and aimed it at him. Before she could release it, it was out of her hands rolling along the floor, he'd reacted so fast.
There was no way to beat him, she knew that. She couldn't pass his test. She parried a blow aimed at the jaw and used her other fist to land a hit on his abdomen. Temporarily winded, Nightwing staggered back. She followed and side-kicked again, this time aiming for his abdomen again and again he stepped to the side, grabbed her leg and pulled her over. Except this time, he didn't let her roll away, but fell to the floor too and used his body to hold her down.
'You lost,' he said, panting.
She could feel the blood in her body, moving fast from her heart to everywhere else. Her lungs heaved. Her heart fluttered. And then there was his body, heavy on hers, his lips so close.
She put a hand, shaking, on his chest, whether to stop him or say yes, she was unsure. Something about it felt wrong. The sweat on his lips. The raggedness of his hair – she wanted to run her fingers through it. The blue of his eyes – and they were blue, she could see now through the lenses because he was so close. The way he was looking at her, no one had looked at like that, not ever.
He leaned down and kissed her. She kissed back. Their bodies relaxed. She ran her fingers over the muscles of his body, imagining the scars beneath his uniform, barely aware of what she was doing. After a few moments, gently, he pulled away. He rolled over and lay down beside her. There was something very careful about his movements. She could tell from the way he sighed that he was thinking he'd made a mistake.