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White Flag

Angela felt the remaining air in her lungs explode out of her mouth as her body hit the mat on the floor. She rolled before the black-booted foot could connect with her body and lurched to her feet once more. Angela faked an attack, only to roll past her opponent to grab the escrima sticks on the floor behind him. They had been knocked from her grip not a breath or so earlier and she knew that she needed their advantage. Her hands closed around the weapons just a black-gloved hand closed around her ankle. With a twist, Angela was now flipped on her back and at the apparent mercy of her assailant. Angela let her body continue the rotation and kicked out with her other foot. Not that it did any damage, but the movement did succeed in breaking her free. Angela flipped to her feet and made a run for it. She kept her speed until she literally smacked into the door of the practice room. She glanced over her shoulder and saw the dark figure relax his guard completely; only then did Angela slid to the floor in a slump.

For the past several hours, Angela had been facing off against Batman in drills and simulations, each designed to sharpen her instincts and her physicality. There was a bit of a trade off that Angela would laugh at once she recovered her breath. This Batman—though skilled and certainly younger—was not as practiced as Angela's father. However, this Batman didn't hold back against Angela any more than he would with any of his protégés. Overall, Angela was just glad that she had begged for extra training from Barbara and Dinah in her time. It was the only thing saving her from more bruises—but not completely.

"How much did your father work with you?" Batman asked, gazing at her with his trademark intensity.

"About an hour every morning from when I was seven," Angela answered, getting to her feet to stretch out sore muscles and assess any lasting damage. "Mostly defensive stuff to keep me in one piece and one place until help could arrive. He never wanted me to be a hero." That last came out bitter despite her intentions.

"Most likely he didn't want you running into danger," was all the Dark Knight would say.

Angela shrugged. "Any way… when I was thirteen I convinced some other associates of his that I needed more techniques and some of them agreed."

It was all Angela could do to keep her secrets straight. Add that complexity to her growing temptation to tell this Batman everything and Angela was grateful for being too tired to agonize too much.

Angela jerked her head up when Batman spoke again. She had been lost in her thoughts.

"We'll continue later."

She nodded slowly and watched him walk off, presumably to perform a cursory sweep of the Watchtower's systems. Now free from his watchful eyes, Angela allowed some quiet tears to track down her face. This was how her father should have trained her from the start. Oh, maybe not right away for a young girl like when they had begun, but certainly after the first attempted kidnapping, the training should have intensified and never had. Maybe if he had made me train harder, I would have been good enough to make a difference and then I wouldn't be in this mess. Damn it, Dad, why didn't you think I was worthy to help protect other people?

While she was feeling grimy from the work out, Angela went through some ballet dance sets to clear her mind. Ballet lessons had been with her since she could remember. Her mother had scraped her small amount of earnings in order to give her daughter something to occupy her time. Her father had switched her academies, but encouraged her to keep her lessons a priority in her life. Then again, I could have become a recluse at the age of six since Helena taught me at the Manor by myself and I only had Lian as a friend. Ballet at least kept me in social skills. Lucky thing, too. Coming into a school at the age of eight had been difficult enough for Angela without the added problems of her father's fame and money and being ahead of her year-mates.

Completely focused on her thoughts, Angela lost all track of time. It was with a shock that she came to the end of all the patterns she could remember and looked at the clock. She had been at it for another two hours. Angela found her way back to her guest quarters and found a welcome surprise on her bed. Someone had cleaned her school uniform. Angela smiled just thinking about wearing clothing she knew fit her properly instead of whatever was left in the Tower from Diana and Shayera.

Showering quickly, Angela dried off and slipped into her shorts, skirt, blouse, and stockings. That night so long ago had only allowed her time to shuck off her jacket and vest before she was chasing after children. With a new sense of purpose, Angela also stopped by the infirmary to re-wrap her wrist which was slightly swollen still from the initial injury and the irritation of her physical exertions. The only concession Batman had made for her was her wrist. He may have never struck it directly, but made gestures that still proved to her what he could have done and what Karkinoma would most likely do.

Feeling more like her old self than she had recently, Angela searched out Batman and found him in front of the computers. She was just in time for an incoming transmission.

"…so she wants to go back to work and I don't think I stop her," Superman was saying.

Angela hid a smile at the thought of the world's strongest being unable to stop his "normal" wife. Faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, able to leap tall buildings in a single bound…and completely incapable of saying "no" to Lois.

"And the others?" Batman asked.

"I think I can convince the others to stay underground for their safety, but you know Lois."

Angela saw that Batman was also hiding a smile, or probably a smirk.

"I'm also running out of excuses for Perry. She's also going stir-crazy. I just would feel a lot better if we knew was Karkinoma was up to. He's been too quiet for the last few days."

"I think it's time we took some calculated risks," Angela found herself saying. "I know that we checked out the Daily Planet for safety measures along with everyone else's work places and homes. It's as safe as we can make it."

"I'd still feel better if there was someone there besides me in case Karkinoma decides to make an entrance," the Man of Steel asserted.

"Bruce Wayne could make a surprise visit," Batman suggested. "He's due to check up on the Planet anyway."

The relief was obvious to anyone in Superman's voice. "I'd love to be able to look back on this and say we were overly prepared."

"Understood. Try to hold her off until nine and Wayne will make an appearance at ten."

Angela turned to Batman and looked him in the eye. "I want to come with you."

"That's not necessary—"

"Lois isn't the only one getting cabin fever," Angela argued.

"That's still not a reason to put yourself in harm's way," he argued back.

"Does this ever sound familiar…" she muttered under her breath. She knew that he had heard her, but he chose not to respond to that. "Look, me playing bait is not so far fetched," she tried to keep her voice calm. "This could finally lure out that bastard and we can stop him for good."

Angela waited impatiently for Batman's answer.

ooo

The next morning, Angela tried to keep from smirking as she followed Bruce Wayne into the main lobby of the Daily Planet building. If anything, her presence made the billionaire's surprise visit even more plausible: she was an aspiring journalist student with a Wayne Enterprises scholarship being shown around by her benefactor.

"And you are smiling because…" Bruce muttered out of the corner of his vapid-smiling mouth.

"I'd bet my college funds that eighty percent of the staff will think that I'm your new, very young, love interest and this is just a whim to seal the deal," she replied in the same manner.

"And the remaining twenty percent?"

"They think that this is my prize after the deal is over."

The distracted facial expression never faltered, but Angela swore that she saw Bruce's amusement in his eyes. Angela shrugged slightly and made her way to the elevator. It was most likely Bruce's presence that secured them an elevator to themselves.

"You seem to know your way around," the billionaire commented.

"Didn't I say that the League was basically aunts and uncles to me? I'd visit Clark with my dad at least four times a year or so since I was six."

"I can't imagine what would entertain you here as a child."

"You obviously don't know about Lois' chocolate stash."

Within fifteen minutes, both of them were on the bull pen floor, Angela playing the part of curious and eager teen and Bruce playing the part of interested, but still scatter-brained, sponsor.

Luckily, through chance or interference, Clark and Lois had been assigned by their superiors to show them around. Lois' eyes were shrewd as she shamelessly studied Angela. Angela returned her pointed speculation with causal grace.

Twenty five pertinent questions later and Angela was beginning to regret her decision. Lois hadn't been told Angela's full story and she wanted to know everything. There also had been no sign of Karkinoma.

What more do I need to get this guy to come to us? A neon sign over my head saying "Here I am! Come and get it!"?

Later, she would hit herself for jinxing the situation.

The first sign that something was wrong was the faint sound of screaming coming from the lower floors. Bruce, Clark, and Angela tensed and looked around sharply, searching for the disturbance.

Somehow, Perry White's voice was able to carry over the din of the bull pen. "Everyone! We need to evacuate the building, we've just received a bomb threat. Please proceed down the stairwells calmly and outside of the perimeter being established by the police."

Angela followed Bruce through the crowd as Clark grabbed Lois and came up behind her. With a gut feeling, Angela began scanning the people around her to see if he was there. She wasn't disappointed.

As her eyes locked on his dispassionate gaze, Angela reached blindly for Bruce's arm, hitting it a few times before grabbing hold. He stopped in his tracks with her, causing Clark and Lois to bump into the both of them from behind.

"Bruce, what--?"

"We have company."

Clark followed Bruce and Angela's gaze and found Karkinoma, dressed in a white suit, leaning against the wall in a corner with a small smile on his face. He acknowledged their notice with an ironic salute and waited. At least three quarters of the civilians had gone and the rest were soon on their way; no one caught onto the exchange happening.

"Would someone tell me what's going on?" Lois demanded.

Ignoring the question, Bruce—who had dropped his playboy façade—ordered tersely, "Get her out and call the others."

Clark kept a firm hold on his wife and moved to grab Angela as well to drag both of them out of danger.

"Leaving the party so soon?" Karkinoma drawled. By then, everyone save Bruce, Angela, Clark, and Lois had abandoned the floor. "It doesn't matter if you try to escape, I have fifty men in the building that can take out at least one of you before you take a step outside the stairwell."

"Then why are you letting the other people get out of the building?" Angela asked.

"Because as long as I have you, my dear, in my sights, the rest are just filler."

Karkinoma made his way across the floor, weaving his way through desks as if he had memorized the layout years earlier. Four sets of eyes watched him sharply until he came to a stop two meters away from them. Subconsciously, Clark, Bruce, and Angela spaced out slightly, slipping into a battle ready formation with Lois protected by Clark.

"Angela, I want you to get yourself and Lois out of here and call for the team," Bruce said calmly.

For once, Angela didn't feel the urge to argue. She began to slowly walk toward the other woman, always keeping an eye on Karkinoma.

"I wouldn't," the villain jumped in. "You see, if you don't play by my rules, I'll have to do something drastic again. And forgive me if I'm mistaken, but I believe that dear Ms. Lane is not even as skilled in defense as young Ms. Wayne. I don't think that it would end well."

For a moment, Angela prayed that the other three were paying too much attention on the situation and getting out of it to notice what Karkinoma called her. But as the last few days had proved, Angela was not in the middle of a good luck streak.

She took her eyes off of the villain for a moment to meet Bruce's eyes. It was one of the rare times that Angela had seen a gut reaction from the man with no mask. For all that Batman was the "Great Detective" he had never even entertained the possibility of his connection to her.

I'll take care of this if I survive.

"What do you want?" Angela asked, taking over the conversation as the three adults stood in shock.

"Just you," Karkinoma smirked, taking pleasure in the blow he had dealt.

"If I come with you without a fight, you'll leave them alone." It wasn't a question.

"If I said yes, would you believe me?"

"Not a chance in hell."

"Then I guess that you have to decide between certain death for those with you, or possible death. Your choice."

It wasn't really that hard of a choice. Angela was walking forward before either Bruce or Clark realized it.

"Angela, wait!"

She turned and looked back at them, saw the conflict and bordering panic in Bruce's eyes.

"I'm sorry," she said quietly, hoping he would read that to apply to more than just the current situation.

She heard Karkinoma move behind her and felt a strong pressure on her neck. She faded into darkness.