Chapter 10
I slammed onto the fire escape of the next building over. It hurt a lot more than I thought it would, but I embraced the pain. When I lived in Metropolis, before my attempted suicide, I would cut myself to deal with depression. The mind has a pain "gateway" which focuses itself on the most prominent pain. That's why I had cut. This pain, of me landing on the fire escape, stimulated me. It made me less depressed.
Once I had recovered somewhat, I climbed up the fire escape, onto the roof of the building. It was a store with an apartment complex on top, I believe. When I got up there, I ran across the roof and jumped to the next building. I soared through the air and landed on the roof of the building. I rolled once I hit, and continued my run.
I was looking for crime. Any crime. I didn't care whether it was a drug dealer or a purse snatcher, I was determined to stop some sort of crime from happening. I didn't care what Batman said, I was ready.
I had ran about three blocks on rooftops when I spotted my first crime: a mugging. There were two guys, both in ski masks, kicking another guy who was on the ground.
I dropped down off the rooftop, down one story, before I hit an awning. It bounced me up into the street, and I rolled as soon as I hit the ground so I wouldn't get hurt. I took my bat off my back, and ran towards the guys. I leapt off the wall, slamming into the guy on the left. He fell down, as I swung my bat into the man who was still standing's knee. I heard a pop, and saw it bend an un-natural way as he fell to the ground, crying out in pain. The other guy was standing now, and was ready to attack with knife in hand. He swung the blade at me, but I was too quick. I blocked it with my forearm (which was armored with a steel plate and blade-catching fins) and jabbed him in the gut with the end of my bat. He collapsed. I pulled a zip tie out of a pocket on my belt and tied his hands to a lamp post in the alley. I saw the guy they were beating on getting up, and I left. He was ok, and that's all that mattered.
I ran down the alley until I found a fire escape. I ran part way up the wall until I could grab onto the ladder. I pulled myself up, and started climbing towards the roof.
Once atop the building, I scoured the area. I noticed a bunch of shady looking guys heading into a warehouse a few blocks away. I ran my way across the rooftops until I was on top of the warehouse. It had one of those cast metal roofs, but it wasn't in good condition. There were holes all over it. I found a hole big enough for me to get through and lowered myself down. There was a beam right below me, and I dropped down silently onto it.
I crawled across it until I was above the group of men who had walked in.
"The boss told us to wait here for 'im." One said.
"Man, I ain't gonn' wait for Batman to show up, just so the boss don't get mad." Another said.
"The Bat isn't comin'. Made sure'a that. Locked the door."
I crawled all the way over to the wall, and dropped down on top of the warehouse office.
"What 'bout the windows? Bat can smash glass, y'know."
"Oh right... I didn' think'a that."
I leapt down off of the office right in the middle of the group. I'm sure it looked pretty cool, but it wasn't the smartest combat decision, but I didn't care.
"What the?!" One said, falling backwards. I drew my bat, and swung it at the first one like a professional batter, straight at his shoulder. He fell over clutching his shoulder, crying out in pain. There were about five left standing. I swept one to my right's legs out from under them, and ran out of their circle. Two of them charged me. I managed to hit one in they head with my bat, but the other kicked me square in the chest. I stumbled backwards, stunned.
The one who had kicked me jumped toward me, readying a superman punch. I threw up my bat at the last minute, deflecting his arm away. Unfortunately, I had left myself exposed to his knee. It went into my gut, and I stumbled back more, slamming into the wall at my back.
By now the one I had knocked down with my sweep was standing, as was the one who had charged me with his buddy. The one who's shoulder I had hit was still down. His arm was probably broken.
I nailed my current attacker in the collar bone with a flying elbow, and pulled his head into my knee once he dropped back. He collapsed to the ground, moaning in pain.
I leapt towards the three standing and switch kicked the one on the far left. I nailed him in the head with my bat, and then in the side of his torso. He wasn't quite down yet, so I rolled across his back, locking my elbows with his, and launched him into the nearest thug. They both fell to the ground as I turned my attention towards the last one.
He was ready for me. He'd broken a lead pipe off of a nearby wall, and now held it like a spear. He tried to jab me with it, but I hit it to the side with my bat. I tried to knee him in the head, but he had the advantage of range, and dropped back before I even got close. I was completely exposed now, so he swept my legs with his makeshift spear. I fell flat on my back as he tried to jab me in the throat. I grabbed the spear about six inches away from my neck.
He pressed it harder, and I could feel it slowly nearing my esophagus. I tried to push back, but he was putting his weight on it, and I didn't have any leverage. Right when my muscles were about to give way, we heard a voice.
"Enough!" A voice called, as the door was kicked down.
My would-be killer grumbled something, threw his spear aside, and picked me up, jamming my arm behind my back as he faced me towards the voice.
"Well, what do we have here?" A voice said. The owner of the voice was unusually tall, about 6'4, and was wearing a white pinstripe suit with a black tie. That isn't what caught my attention. What really caught it was a black skull mask, covering the man's whole head.
"Black Mask..." I muttered angrily. Roman Sionis, aka Black Mask, is one of Gotham's most notorious crime lords. Everyone and their mothers have heard of Black Mask, from Metropolis, all the way to Starling City. He has his hand in every city, and his reputation in the mind of every person. He's known for his cruelty, and love of medieval torture methods.
"So, you know who I am. Good. Now, who are you? One of Batman's new brats?"
"Go to-" I started to yell, before being punched in the face by Black Mask.
"You know, you should be more thankful." Black Mask said, as he rubbed his fist, "I did save your life, you know."
I remained silent.
"C'mon kid, I want you and I to be friends."
I still remained silent. Batman always told me, if an interrogator is still asking questions, you are still alive. Don't answer them.
"Fine. If you're not going to tell me, then I'm going to have to use... Other measures. Let him go." Black Mask said, taking a step back.
"But Boss..." The one holding me protested, "He took out four of our guys."
He was right to protest too. Black Mask had only brought in three guys, two of which seemed like just suits, men who I could easily take out. The third I didn't get a good view of, because he stepped into the shadows. I could only see the shadowy figure, but as far as I could tell, he wasn't any more impressive than the men I had just beat.
"Just do as I say!" Black Mask barked out. I don't know if it was out of fear or obedience, but the guy dropped me. I fell to my hands and knees, and stood up to see Black Mask walking towards the two other men, and motioning towards the third one.
The man in the shadows leapt towards me, landing five feet in front of me. He was wearing impressive looking armor and a mask with one eye hole that was half black and half orange.
"Mystery Kid," Black Mask yelled at me in satisfaction, "Meet Deathstroke. This is your last chance to answer my questions. If you don't, Deathstroke here is gonna kill you. Slowly."
I was silent, telling Black Mask that I wasn't going to answer.
"Go on ahead." Black Mask told Deathstroke.
Deathstroke. That was a name I recognized. People have called him the World's Deadliest Assassin. They say that he was in the military, and that they experimented on him, so he could now use ninety percent of his brain. He was also super strong. Rumor has it that he can pick up a car, but Robin thinks that he's only a little stronger than the normal human. He had probably thought of about fifty ways to kill me already.
He drew his sword off his back, and kicked my bat towards me. I caught it. It seemed like he didn't want to completely slaughter me. He wanted to give me a "chance" though that chance wasn't a lot.
"What's your name?" He asked quietly as he spun his sword around.
"Why?" I replied back, readying myself.
"Because I wanna know who I'm killing." He said in a snarky tone. He must have been smirking underneath that mask.
"Dayhound." I replied to his first question. I was legitimately scared. He nodded at this reply, then charged me.
He leapt into the air, spinning and raising his blade in the air. This was too flashy for a trained assassin to use. Maybe he was trying to make a show out of it.
I threw up my bat with both hands, and blocked his blade as it came down. There was enough force to collapse me to one knee, but otherwise I held strong.
I forced myself backwards so that his blade fell forward, surprising him. I swung my bat as hard as I could at the black side of his mask. I thought I had a few seconds, because I had thrown him off guard. I was mistaken. He had grabbed my bat and used it to swing around me. This forced me to the ground, sprawling. He now had my bat. He put his sword away, then pulled me up by my neck. His one eye was a familiar shade of blue. It stared angrily into my eyes for a second, before he threw me across the room. I slammed through a steel shelf, scattering papers everywhere. I didn't want to get up, I just wanted to die, I was in so much pain.
I started to black out. I could feel my consciousness slipping. I knew I couldn't take much more of this, so I started to let my mind slip away from me.
That is, until I thought of my mother.
I could see her crying. The police had just told her I died. I wouldn't let that happen. I couldn't let that happen. So I forced my eyes open.
I did it just in time too. I saw Deathstroke about to stab me in the heart with his sword. I rolled out of the way quickly, and was back to my feet in less than a second. I threw a hard left hook at a surprised Deathstroke. Much to my amazement, it made contact. It sent him stumbling.
"You have heart kid, I'll give you that." He said to me with satisfaction.
"I have something besides money to fight for." I said, still very exhausted.
He lunged at me, sword arm extended, but I ducked. He flew straight over me, towards the wall. He spun and landed, sliding. He couldn't slow himself down fast enough though, so he hit the wall with enough force to crack it. I saw pain in his eye for just a split-second, but then it was back to anger. He charged me once more. I started to charge him back. It may have been a stupid idea, but I wasn't thinking straight.
We never made contact. When we were eight feet away from each other, the window in the middle of us shattered, and in flew Batman. He took a fighting stance towards a still Deathstroke, and the two pounced towards each other.
"Everybody clear out!" Black Mask yelled, running toward the door. I chanced them out, to find Batgirl standing over their unconscious bodies.
"Jeez D," she said, lowering her stance, " You look like crap."
"Feel like it too." I replied, nearly collapsing. "Batman's in there fighting Deathstroke."
"Not anymore." Batman said from behind me, "He escaped. Nice job catching Black Mask though, Batgirl."
"Thanks Batman!" She exclaimed with a smile, a wink, and a peace sign.
"And as for you, Dayhound," Batman said angrily as I faced him, "I ordered you to go home."
"I know..." I replied remorsefully, "I just wanted to help."
"As mad as I am, I have to admit that you did. You kept Black Mask there until we could arrive." Batman said to me, a little less angry sounding, "You did good. Go home, and rest, it's not every day that a member of my team holds his own with Deathstroke."
I smiled. Batman had just complimented me. He didn't even seem mad about me disobeying him.
"Oh, and Daniel," he said, readying his grapple gun, "Disobey a direct order again, and you're fired."
He grappled away. Batgirl smiled at me, then followed his lead and grappled away. I stood there for a second, then started to walk home, a smile on my face.