I'm not sure how I feel about this chapter. I had it planned out since the beginning of the story, and I knew there was going to be a shift in tone once Peter met Batman, but after reading what I wrote, it feels like the tone shifted too much. However, I don't know how to fix it because the main reason why the shift in tone happens is because of a character that wouldn't do anything other than what she did. You'll see what I mean, but I would be very interested to hear your opinions.
...
Kara was beginning to understand why her cousin was so reluctant to allow her anywhere near Gotham City. Why he tried to keep her cooped up in Smallville and smother her with overprotectiveness. It still annoyed her, but she was beginning to understand.
Gotham was...filthy. Compared to Metropolis, the city of tomorrow, Gotham City was a pile of hot garbage. Trash littered the streets, broken glass, boarded up windows, bullet holes in buildings, dried blood on the pavement, graffiti marking a gangs turf but it was illegible due to hundreds of layers. In the street she walked down, taking in her surroundings, the lights flickered, the few cars on the road looked like they hadn't moved in a decade or were stripped for parts until only the frame remained.
The crime...dear lord, the crime.
'I shouldn't have made that promise,' Kara thought to herself, gripping her handbag a little tighter. Now that she was in the city, walking its streets when the sun was down, she felt why Gotham was known as 'The Crime Capital Of America,' all capital letters. After a few years on earth, one of the first things she learned was how to reduce most sounds into white noise or she would drive herself insane by hearing billions of heartbeats across the world. Her hearing was almost as good as Kal-El's, but he had a few decades on her when it came to being exposed to the yellow sun.
However, even reducing as much as she could to the point she could barely hear anything happening a few blocks over, it was disturbing just how much crime was going on around her...and heartbreaking hearing how scared people were.
It hurt seeing a city like this and knowing that she couldn't help. If not because of the promise that she made to Barbara, but because of the consequences from the Dark Knight himself. No one could hold a grudge quite like Batman and she heard horror stories about those that broke Batman's number one rule; don't work in Gotham without his say so.
However, that didn't mean she couldn't work around that rule.
Which was how she found herself walking in the most infamous alleyway in the most infamous city in America. Crime Alley. There wasn't a crime under the sun that this alleyway hadn't seen and odds were, it's seen all the ones that happened in the dark as well.
Barbara made her promise not to use her powers, and she wouldn't...but, if some thug tried to punch her and broke his hand, then that was hardly her fault, now was it?
Grinning to herself, she heard someone walk behind her. She glanced over her shoulder and saw a man dressed like a typical thug with a smile playing at his lips that made Kara feel uncomfortable. She recognized it, she even expected it. However, despite all her superpowers, there was something unnerving about being eyed up like she was a piece of meat.
Kara heard three others come out of the shadows as she looked over her shoulders. Turning back, she gave them an utterly unimpressed look. They seemed to find that amusing, thinking that she was just some blonde bimbo that was acting tough.
Soon enough they would learn.
"Hey there girly, was a beauty like you doing in a place like this at this time of night?" The one in the center asked, putting his hands in his jacket pockets as he stepped forward. As he did so, Kara heard a click. It was faint, but she heard loud and clear. A quick use of X-ray vision and she saw it was a taser.
"Same reason why they always come here. She wants to take a ride on the wild side," one of his lackeys said, seemingly pleased with his wit and where he thought this was leading. Kara resisted the urge to sneer; they weren't making any secret of their intentions.
"That so? You up for some fun with us?" The leader asked, taking another step forward and Kara got a better look at his face. What she saw surprised her. Kara expected to see lust in his eyes, like she saw in the other three, but instead she saw...greed. He was looking at her like she was a paycheck.
"No," Kara said, folding her arms over her chest. She glowered at the man, letting him know that his advances were unwelcome.
Undeterred, the thug took another step forward, so he was in striking distance. "Fair enough. What we had planned wasn't going to be fun for you anyway," he said as he yanked the taser out of his pocket. Kara watched the movement as if it was happening in slow motion.
Almost lazily, she watched it crackle to life as he lunged at her. She stared unconcerned as the taser came closer and closer.
"You're going to be worth a pretty penny," the thug said as the taser made contact. Kara felt electricity flow through her faintly, but that could have been a trick of the mind she doubted that any commercial taser packed enough of a punch to make a Kryptonian feel it. The thug laughed for a moment, expecting her fall to the ground twitching like every other victim he attacked. It was short lived.
Slowly, making sure that he understood perfectly, Kara grabbed his arm and pulled the taser away from her. The thug's jaw dropped, and the others looked just as surprised, apparently not expecting any kind of challenge from her. She squeezed down, using a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of her true strength, and the thug let out a pained cry before he dropped the taser.
It was then that a new player made his presence known.
"Oh...seems like I'm not needed here," Spider-man said as he looked down at the confrontation from his perch on the fire escape. They all looked up at him, surprised by his sudden entrance. However, Kara and the thug's reactions were very different.
Kara gave the teenager in black and white tights a megawatt smile while the thugs took off running. At least the ones that could. The one Kara had in her hand tried to yank his arm out of her grip, but it was like steel. All he managed to do was bruise himself. However, she gave him a quick kick to the groin so he would stop being annoying and couldn't ruin her meeting with the newest hero of Gotham.
"And there they go...why do they always run?" Spider-man asked himself before he shot twin webs out of each wrist, the ends attaching to two thugs before Spider-man yanked their feet from underneath them. Their heads smacked into the pavement with a thunk, knocking them both out. Spider-man webbed their feet, keeping them from running before he stood. With an inhuman jump, he flipped through the air and landed in front of the third thug.
Kara watched him, idly thinking she liked his other costume more. Red and blue were the way to go for costumes. Then she blinked, not sure if she was seeing things. "His spider has cat ears," she muttered to herself, her lips quirking up into a smile. It looks like someone's shipping SpiderCat.
"Shit," the man cursed before frantically reaching into his pocket. With a dramatic flip, he held out a pocket knife.
"Oh my god," Spider-man cried out, shocking Kara out of her amusement, throwing up his hands. "Is that a real knife?" He asked in a high pitched shrill, falling to his knees at the sight of the two inched weapon.
"Yes, it's a real knife!" The thug spat, feeling empowered by the superheroes reaction. Kara just watched the scene, knowing exactly what was happening and she could stop the chuckle that escaped her.
"My only weakness! Small knives!" Spider-man wailed before he webbed the man's hand to the wall behind him with a jab. The thug cried out as he slammed into the wall, looking utterly shocked by his sudden defeat. It took a moment before he realized what happened.
"You were making fun of me!" He shouted at Spider-man and Spider-man just laughed as he stood up.
"Yes. Yes I was," he said before he turned to Kara, who was immensely amused by the way he handled that. She smiled widely, still holding the thug absentmindedly by the wrist after kicking him in the crotch.
Spider-man hesitated taking another step before he squared his shoulders and kept moving forward. She heard his heart lurch in his chest, but he seemed fine. Kara rose an eyebrow, her smile widening a fraction when she realized he was trying to impress her. She didn't want to say that it happened often, but it did her pride some good knowing others found her attractive. Superhero or not, Kara was a teenager.
"Sorry for stepping in there, I thought you needed help dealing with these guys," Spider-man said as he walked. Kara blinked in surprise before she realized that he didn't know who she was. The thugs were understandable since she lacked the signature S on her chest and it was dark and the last thing anyone in Gotham would expected was Supergirl walking their streets. However, it wasn't like she was trying to hide her identity much. She didn't even put on the glasses that Kal-El gave her!
'He thinks I'm human,' Kara thought dully. Not an average human since she didn't need help dealing with a couple of thugs, but a total badass that could take care of herself. It was a nice change from having Kal-El always hovering over her shoulder when she was dealing with villains she could take on in her sleep.
It was a welcome change to be acknowledged that she could take care of herself. After all, she was only one of the strongest beings in existence.
"Eh, no biggie, Spider-butt," she said and saw Spider-man go ridged before he relaxed.
"Finally someone appreciates how many squats I do," Spider-man said dramatically, placing his hands on his hips and cocked them to the side. "I even wear spandex and not one compliment until now," he added, adopting a sassy tone.
Kara laughed. She couldn't help it. It was refreshing to meet someone that didn't take themselves seriously. Especially considering that his personality and his suit were completely at odds.
She saw Spider-man grin under his mask, but he dropped his hands and in a more serious tone asked, "are you sure you're alright? I thought I saw him get you with the taser." He seemed worried, so she gave him a cocky shrug to put him at ease.
"I caught his hand before he touched me. I'm good," Kara answered, lying easily enough but she still felt a little guilty about it. It took her a moment to figure out why, though.
Kara, unlike Kar-El, didn't have a secret identity. Kara was Supergirl and Supergirl was Kara. When she wore her uniform, then she was Supergirl in uniform. When she wore casual clothes, then she was Supergirl in casual clothes, like she was right now. Kara was always Supergirl, but Supergirl was never Kara.
However, at this moment, she kinda wished she had a secret identity. Spider-man had no clue who she was; that was made clear when he was worried if a taser of all things had managed to hurt her. To him, Kara was just a normal girl with some kickass moves. A strong, independent woman.
Not Supergirl.
There was no comparing her to her more famous cousin, no thinking that he knew her because he knew Conner and heard enough about her through the grapevine, no intimidation of meeting one of remaining Kryptonians. Right now, she was just Kara Zor-El to him, she was making her own impression on him through her own actions and words instead of having her character painted for her through other sources.
And...she kinda liked that...
"Good," Spider-man said, sounding relieved. "If you wouldn't mind, could you call the police? Or someone to walk you home miss...?" He trailed off, and Kara realized what he was fishing for.
"Kara Zor-El," Kara said smoothly, trying to pull off that her last name was just foreign. Spider-man seemed to buy it easily enough. "And sure, I'll give them a quick call," she said, pulling her phone out of her handbag. Then she recalled what the thug had said. Kara looked down at the man, who looked like he was doing his best to become invisible, which explained why he had been so quiet during their conversation.
"But, before that, you might want to interrogate him...or something," she added, thinking that a normal teenager wouldn't be used to the idea of getting answers out of a bad guy. "Before you came in, he said 'you'll be worth a pretty penny.'" She repeated feeling disgust rising in her chest. She glared at the thug, who shriveled up in response, his hand cupped around his groin as if that would protect his family jewels from her wrath.
Out of desperation, the thug turned to look at Spider-man.
Spider-man's hands curled up into fists as he walked to the fallen thug. Kara watched the transformation with fascination, like a flip of a switched, Spider-man went from jokes and lightheartedness to stalking the criminal and fury.
"Is that so?" He asked as Kara stepped out of her way and tapped on her phone. However, instead of notifying the police, she sent Barbara a text letting her know what just happened. A moment later her best friend told her that she was on her way.
"You are going to tell me where you take the people you kidnap," he stated. He didn't tack on a threat at the end of it. He didn't need to.
Perhaps it was how effortlessly he was beaten before by Kara, or perhaps he heard something in Spider-man's voice, or maybe the thug was just a coward. However, when he looked into Spider-man's large reflective eyes, seeing nothing but his own terrified expression, he caved instantly.
"The old train yard! We take them to the old train!" He shouted, squirming in Spider-man's grip. When he wasn't let go, he assumed that more was needed. "In the control center, there's a red switch that opens up the storing room! That's where we take them! Now let me go!" The thug cried as he kicked, but his feet bounced off Spider-man like pebbles off a wall.
"Gladly," Spider-man said before tossing the thug into the air and weaving a web behind him, suspending him in the air. The thug thrashed, but no normal human could break free of his webs.
Kara watched the exchange with a raised eyebrow, feeling impressed despite herself. To tell the truth, she expected for Spider-Man to dangle him off a building or something. You know, the Batman way. However, the guy just caved like a house of cards the moment Spider-man got in his face. Maybe it said more about the thug then it did about Spider-man, but it definitely said something about the spider-themed hero.
"Sorry, but it looks like I won't be able to walk you home," he stated, bowing at the waist in an overly gentleman fashion. Kara giggled in response, but when he went to raise, despite his superhuman reflexes, Spider-man felt something press against his cheek before he could react.
Dumbly, he realized that it was Kara's lips as she pulled away.
She flashed him a smile, "That's okay. Go get'em, tiger," she said before turning away and walking out of the alley, a pep in her step. She did one of the things she came to Gotham to do, and Spider-man did more than impress. As she left Crime Alley, her mind was turning over dozens of plans.
Some might ship SpiderCat, but she was determined to make SpiderBat a thing. Barbara needed a rebound guy desperately to get over Dick, but her best friend was stubborn and wouldn't seek one out on her own. Which meant it fell to here to find her a decent man. However, that was for later. For now, she needed to find some more low lives to trick into breaking their hands on her and placing them under citizens arrest.
….
Catwoman wondered if Spider-man was alright. He was a good kid, and he could trade fists like nobodies business, but Batman had well over a decade of experience with dealing with both heroes and villains that hopelessly outclassed him. More often than not, it was Batman that was left standing at the end of those exchanges. Usually with whoever he was fighting underneath his boot.
So, Selina didn't exactly put her money on Spider-man for that fight. Maybe if he had more that four days worth of experience being a hero, that could change, but Spider-man was a rookie. Batman had that fight in the bag, superhuman or not.
Selina let out a sigh as she ran along the rooftops, searching for trouble. That didn't mean she had to like it. Her sidekick had lasted for all of two days before Batman was going to snatch him away from her. Once Bruce figured out that Spider-man didn't have a mean bone in his body or heard his origin, the few soft spots that Bruce had were all going to get hit. Next thing they knew, Spider-man was going to change his name to something bat or bird themed. Knowing Spider-man, he'd try to change it to Bat-man and claim that the hyphen was silent.
With her lips quirking up at the thought, she dropped from a roof onto a fire escape before flipping onto a thugs shoulders. He let out a loud scream as his collarbone caved in but Selina just rolled her eyes as she flipped off him. Some people just didn't have any pain tolerance and, more often than not, it was the ones that barked the loudest. As the thug collapsed into a ball and squirmed in agony, she flashed a smile at the prostitute that was cupping her blackened eye.
"Hon, the kind of customers that are out tonight aren't the kind that are going to pay. Stick with your regulars until this all blows over, 'kay?" She said as she kicked the thug over onto his back, rolling her eyes when he groaned. "Oh, suck it up, you big baby. If you hadn't been such a sleazeball then this would have never happened, now would it? Think about your life choices next time, preferably in your cell in Blackgate," she said unsympathetically as she roughly pulled his uninjured arm and hand cuffed him to a drainage pipe.
One perk of going solo was that she didn't have to pull her punches anymore. Spider-man had kicked up a big fuss when she broke some gangbangers legs and made her pinkie swear not to do it again. Which she did, though her fingers were crossed behind her back so it didn't count. As the thug whimpered in pain, she noticed that she didn't hear the sounds of footsteps from behind her and saw the corner worker shifting from foot to foot.
With an eyebrow rising, Selina asked, "is something wrong? Other than the shiner?" She asked, crossing her arms.
"You...help people right? I mean I know you help people, but you can help find people? Or, uh, is that Batman's thing?" She asked, and Selina nodded slowly, this conversation taking a turn that she hadn't been expecting.
"I can help you, or I'll put Batman on it, but have you gone to the police yet?" Selina asked in a tone that could be described as out of character by those that didn't know her. However, she grew up on these streets, and she had a special soft spot for prostitutes and kids. She knew better than anyone that when one of the two went missing in Gotham, then the odds were bleak that you'd ever find them again. If they were ever found, they were either dead or wished they were.
The woman let out a breath, and it looked like a weight had just been lifted from her shoulders, even though she was shaking her head. "No. Thomas hasn't been missing for more than a day and the cops…" she shook her head, and a frown passed over her expression, but she didn't say anything else. She didn't need to. "But he just disappeared! There wasn't a note, and he didn't tell me he was leaving before…! I-Thomas is a good kid. He doesn't do drugs, he doesn't run with gangs, he-he never gets in trouble," the mother said, her voice steady growing thicker with emotion. By the end, the words were just falling out of her mouth in a rush to get out.
"Hey, hey, I believe you. How old is he? Do you have any idea where he could be? Friends, places he likes to hang out, that kind of stuff," Selina reassured, closing her eyes briefly when the thug cursed at her underneath his grunts of pain. When she opened her eyes, the mother was shaking her head again.
"He's fourteen," she began, and Selina wanted to curse. That was the age when kids got into trouble most often, and by then, they knew how not to get caught. For the most part. So, the information she had became a lot less reliable than she thought it was. "He hung out in Downtown a lot, though, around the coffee shop on Fifth? His friends said they don't know anything, so I'm not sure how much help they would-" Selina cut her off with a hand.
"Every little bit helps," she said in a gentle tone and the mother rambled off some names that Selina memorized with a nod.
"I can't promise you that we'll find your son," Selina said after a moment of silence when the mother was done giving her any relevant information. The mother's face became blank, but Selina easily saw the fear deep within her eyes. The fear of not knowing that you'll ever see someone again, someone that you love was radically different than being afraid of...bats, for instance. Your heart didn't race, and you didn't sweat. It was the exact opposite.
That fear was like something grabbed your heart and froze it solid. When there was a sign of them, either real or imagined, the relief was freeing in ways that couldn't really be described. However, if it was false hope…? There were few hells worse.
"But, we're going to do everything we can, okay? Until then, go home and stay safe. It's not going to do Thomas any good if we do find him and you're dead because you were out at night looking for him," Selina said gently, giving the woman a firm squeeze on the shoulder. Selina felt like a hypocrite telling her that the best thing she could do was wait when every time she was told to the same, she unsurprisingly didn't listen.
As she expected, the mother frowned like Selina shoved poison down her throat, but Selina pressed on. "I know, but it's the best thing you can do for your son and yourself," she said, giving her another gentle squeeze before walking deeper into the alley and vanishing into the shadows. There was nothing else she could have said, and it would have sounded fake if she tried.
"You got all that Harley?" Selina said into her earpiece. Alfred was refusing to answer her questions on what Spider-man looked like, and if Bruce was already pushing through the adoption papers, so she was giving him the silent treatment.
"Yep! Lookin' through your search engine thingamajig for anyone that fits the bill now. You heroes really get all the cool stuff! Me and Mistah J had to use Ding," Harley chatted in her ear. Selina frowned at the mention of that monster, and she could only hope that Bruce was making good on his promise to do something about the Joker's memories. However, she wisely didn't mention anything to Harley about that, though. Harley was a good friend; fun, funny and loyal right up until that…
Selina let out a breath as she ran across the rooftops. 'No point stressing out about it,' she thought to herself, 'you'll give yourself wrinkles. Bruce will handle it.'
"Any word on Spider-man?" She said, trying to steer the conversation away from the Joker.
"Yuck," Harley said in response and Selina waited for a moment, but her friend didn't continue.
"Oh, don't be like that! What did Spider-man ever do to you?" Selina asked, a grin in her voice. Ever since Harley first crashed at her place, she turned her nose up every time the news or she mentioned the spider-themed hero.
"He made all my hard work go to waste! Do you know how tedious it is to remember every gang's rivalries and that stuff? My cheat sheet was like miles long, and it took me all day to call all the criminals. And for what? Mistah J's plan didn't even get to start because of some rookie! It was a funny one too," Harley muttered, and Selina could imagine the pout she wore with ease. However, she couldn't bring herself to smile at the mental image.
"Ahhh," Selina hummed, frowning at that little revelation. "Let's keep that on the down-low Harl's. Batman will get his panties in a bunch if he hears that you had a more direct hand in making this mess," she advised. By that, she meant Batman was going to be furious and make extra sure that Harley's next trip to Arkham was a long one.
"'Kay," Harley agreed easily enough, thinking nothing of it.
"Right. Just let me know if you get any pings on the kid but, in the meantime, do you have anything else for me?" Selina asked before the sounds of gunshots got her attention a few blocks away. "Scratch that, I found trouble," Selina said, tapping on her ear. She let out a yawn as she raced towards the sounds of gunfire and loosened up her back with a couple of cracks. There really wasn't any rest for the wicked.
The sounds of gunfire continued until Selina jumped across an alley onto the building that the gun fight was happening. Now that she was closer, the guns themselves seemed a bit...heavier. Instead of the pops of pistols, she heard the sounds of shotguns and assault rifles.
"Damn it," Selina cursed as she looked into the building from the skylight and she cursed again. As she expected, Selina saw a little over a dozen guys scattered out in the building, all firing in the same direction. The thing was, Selina meant that in a much more literal case when she saw a severed arm and a spray of blood on the wall like some kind of horror movie.
She recognized them as Yakuza, which made sense since she was in Chinatown, in a racist sort of way, but she also recognized the weaponry in their hands. It was the same hardware that she and Spider-man stopped a deal earlier tonight. It seems like Spider-man suspicion that it wasn't an isolated incident was true, unfortunately. That meant more work for her. Great.
However, that wasn't why she was cursing. Sure, it meant more work for her, and this gang war was going to get kicked up a notch before going out, but that was wholly less threatening than what they were shooting at.
Selina watched in muted horror as Rose Wilson jumped over a desk as she swung her sword through a gunman's neck with ease like it wasn't even there. As his head flew free, in the same motion, Ravager kicked it and sent it straight into another gangsters head that was behind a counter. All the while, she was firing shots off from one of her pistols with disturbing accuracy.
Despite her lack of depth perception, every time she pulled the trigger a hole appeared in the center of every gangster's forehead that she happened to be pointing their gun at. Selina had watched the video of Spider-man taunting Ravager, making a fool of her, a couple of dozen times and she almost forgot that Rose Wilson was a killer. Through and through. Selina also forgot just how good at it Ravager was too.
Ravager flipped over the counter and from her birdseye view, Selina saw Ravager put her gun against the head of the gangster she had 'headbutted' and ignored his short plea for mercy that Ravager silenced with a bullet. The remaining gangsters began firing at the counter and splinters of wood, broken glass and alcohol rained down on Ravager.
Now that Ravager wasn't a blur of motion and violence, Selina saw that the baby terminator wasn't in great shape. Her white hair was dyed red with blood, and her skin was smudged with smoke, grease, what looked like oil and more blood. Blood dripped down from a wound on her shoulder, but Selina saw that it wasn't a bullet wound. Whatsmore, it had been stitched shut, but Selina guessed that the wound reopened when Ravager started her little killing spree.
Selina frowned when she saw Ravager grab the head and kicked over a mop before she began unscrewing the head of it. While she was curious what she was doing, Selina was debating if she should even step in. Ravager was a clever and dangerous girl, so odds were that she was going to make it out of this but only after she killed all of the gangsters.
Now, Selina was giving this hero thing a try but fighting Ravager? There were easier and less painful ways of committing suicide. Spider-man could fight her while cracking jokes and Batman could do it by dismantling how she fought with perfect counter attacks. If she tried then the best she could hope for was a bullet to the head because she sure as hell couldn't dodge bullets like Spider-man could and she didn't have Batman's decade-long combat training from some long lost monk or something. She was just a thief. A fucking great one, but her abilities weren't meant for combat with people like Ravager.
The only reason she hadn't slowly backed away and got far, far away was that she had questions. The most glaring were how Ravager managed to escape police custody, but what she was doing here was a close second.
Shoving her questions to the side, Selina watched Ravager fit the mop head roughly over the severed head and dipped it into the blood of the poor guy's head she blew off. Then, she threw the head up ever so slightly, just so the top of the head could be seen over the counter before Ravager moved in the opposite direction she threw the head. As expected, the gangster saw the flash of movement and began unloading all that they had in that spot, but it didn't matter.
While they were wasting their ammo, Ravager slipped away from the counter and lifted an assault rifle from one of the many corpses she created. Taking cover behind a pillar, she aimed up her first shot before she fired. Again and again and again and again and again. Every time she pulled the trigger, one of the gangster fell dead with his brains painting the walls.
The first few didn't realize what was happening until three of them were dead. By the time they found Ravager, another two had been killed. When they started firing, another two were dead until it was only one.
The gangster let out a scream as his leg gave out from underneath him when Ravager kneecapped him. Still, stupidly, he tried to raise his gun to shoot at her, but his hand was reduced to...meat when Ravager shot him in the hand as she calmly approached him.
"Where did you get your hardware," Ravager demanded in perfect Japanese, pressing her sword against his neck. Her tone was...not quite emotionless, but it was damn close. Professional described it the best.
"Fu-" The gangster started, but he was quickly cut off when Ravager plunged her blade into his only hand,
"None of that. I'm not in the fucking mood. I've been shot three fucking times, I've been stabbed twice, I haven't bathed in twenty-four hours and my blades' nicked to fucking hell because dumbasses like you think you have what it takes to claim my bounty. Now, you're going to tell me where you got your guns and where the rest of them are at, or I'm going to start chopping pieces of you off before feeding them to you," Ravager snapped in that calm tone before she twisted the blade and earning a howl from the gangster.
"I-I won't tell y-you shit," the man cursed, spitting at her for good measure. Ravager didn't even flinch, though she looked up at the ceiling, making Selina duck her head back quickly to avoid being seen, and let out a long-suffering sigh.
"Fine. Dealers choice; would you rather keep your only hand or your dick?" Ravager asked, pulling her sword out and kicking the gangster over. "You have three seconds to choose before I pick for you," she continued, pressing the blade to the gangster's crotch, letting him know what she was going to pick.
The criminal went white as a sheet and only stammered as Ravager counted down. When she got to one and her blade began slipping through the gangster pants, he broke.
"One of our contacts! One of our contacts got his hands on a shipment meant for the Russians and sold it to us! I-the van! The van's at our hideout, on Bakers Street! Now l-" the gangster was cut off when Ravager cut his throat with a flick of her wrist.
"Works like a charm every time," Ravager mused to herself, swiping her blade to the side to get the excess blood off of it.
Selina slowly began backing away from the window, but a bullet passed through the glass just next to her head, making her freeze in place. Muttering a curse to herself, Selina looked back into the room and gave the little serial killer a smile and a wave.
"Hey'a there Ravager! Fancy seeing you in this part of town," she greeted, and Ravager's lips didn't so much as twitch.
"Where. Is. Spider-man?" Ravager bit out, and Selina started cursing internally. She should have ran. She should have run the moment she saw this little psycho's face. How was she going to get herself out of this one? Seduction didn't seem like an option since her gaydar wasn't getting any pings.
"Either in the back of the Batmobile or in the Batcave. He and Batman had a little chat, and I think we both know how it's going to end," Selina said smoothly, making Ravager curse in annoyance before another bullet was fired next to her head when Selina began to move away, preparing to run.
"Stay where-no, come down here," Ravager ordered, and Selina hesitated. "Do you really think I can't but a bullet through your skull before you run away?" Ravager added, and Selina had to concede on that point. Unhappily, she jumped into the bar and was hit with the strong smell of alcohol and blood. It was almost enough to make her gag.
"No need to get all murderous. I like living too much," Selina commented as she approached Ravager with an air of confidence that she didn't feel.
"Good. So, when I say you'll loot all of these bodies and get the van for me, you'll do it, right?" Ravager asked rhetorically, her gaze unwavering even as blood dripped into her only eye. Now that she looked at her, Selina saw just how exhausted Ravager looked, injured too. Her outfit was torn and burnt, wet with her blood in large patches. Her mask had been discarded long ago because her forehead had been cut open from something.
It was evident that Ravager hadn't been lying when she said she had some tough nights.
"Happily," Selina lied, knowing that she'd be dead before she knew it if she refused. "So...you mentioned a bounty," Selina began as she began picking up guns, trying very hard not to look at the severed limbs or corpses that littered the room. She had been wrong in her initial assessment of how many people had been in this fight by a long shot.
"Are you thinking about trying cashing it in," Ravager shot back, pulling up a chair and sitting down. Out of the corner of her eye, Selina saw Ravager tending to her wounds.
"Ha, funny. No, just wondering who put it on you. I figured your dad would have taken some issue with that," Selina commented, gently prodding for some information. If she was going to have to loot corpses, then she at least wanted to learn something interesting.
"You don't seem to understand the situation you're in," Ravager observed, pulling out a mini-surgery kit. She wasn't going to…?
"I understand perfectly but I was just curious why you're on your lonesome," Selina said with a shrug as Ravager pulled out a pair of pliers. Oh god...she thought Bruce was hardcore...this teenager was about to perform surgery on herself in the middle of a bar full of people she butchered. That was just...she didn't sign up for this. Selina just wanted to beat up thugs like that prick in the alley, not deal with this...!
"Curiosity killed the cat," Ravager said before she let out a hissed curse as she put the pliers into her side. Selina gave her a bug-eyed look for a moment since she didn't see the baby terminator use any kind of anesthetic or take a couple of swigs of alcohol. However, Selina quickly schooled her expression. She needed to appear like she wasn't actively afraid for her life.
"And satisfaction brought it back. I could find out if I really wanted to, but I'm just curious if your side of the story would be any different," Selina said with a shrug as she threw another wallet into a pile. Ravager let out a grunt, earning her attention and Selina watched as the younger woman pulled a bullet out of her side and dropped it on the floor. Then she let out a low hiss when she poured some whiskey over the profusely bleeding wound,
It took her a couple of seconds to get her breath back, but she did answer Selina, even though she wasn't expecting her to.
"I was a bodyguard for some warlord in Africa. The prick got it in his head that he could get handsy with me, so I told him if he grabbed my butt again I was going to cut his hand off. He touched my butt again, so I cut his hand off but on my way to the states my dad tells me I have a bounty. Five million dollars," Ravager added, and there was no way that she didn't notice that Selina froze at the number.
Selina's bank account was already overflowing after taking everything that the Penguin had, but there was never such thing as too much money. The number wasn't big enough to make her forget what surrounded her, but five million dollars wasn't a small amount by any means.
"So, as punishment for botching the job, my dad cut me loose. He told me I had until the next time he saw me to make my bounty go away or he was going to cash it in," Ravager said, stitching up one of her bullet wounds.
"Shit," Selina said, the word just slipping out. However, Ravager let out a chuckle that was as bitter as poison.
"That sums it up pretty well, doesn't it? I screwed up once, and now my dad's going to hunt me down and cut my head off," Ravager spat, earning a look from Selina. She expected the teenager to be a little upset that her father was going to hunt her down and kill her if someone else didn't do it first but Ravager just seemed angry. If she was upset that daddy dearest was out for her head, then it was buried underneath a lot of anger.
"So, these guys were trying to claim your bounty then?" Selina asked, though she already knew the answer.
"Does it matter?" Ravager asked, stitching up another wound that the bullet went through.
"Yeah. I'm not a killer, but I can understand picking you over the other guy when push comes to shove," Selina said with a shrug and Ravager made a dismissive sound.
"Aren't you supposed to be a hero now? Thou shall not kill and all that other bullshit?" Ravager asked, hissing as she disinfected the wound with more alcohol.
"Just until I can steal to my little heart's content without some idiots trying to hit the same place. I lost a three million dollar necklace to some amateurs because they just blew the vault up," Selina let out a long sigh at the memory. After she covered her tracks and made a couple dozen new identities, she thought she'd pick some stuff on her Christmas list while Batman was busy. Not only did those idiots nick her necklace but they ruined plenty of other baubles she had her eye on because they figured the bigger the explosion, the better.
"Huh...so you're not going to try something stupid like take me in?" Ravager asked, unable to keep her suspicion out of her tone.
"I told you, I like living. Now that I think about it, living is probably my favorite thing to do," Selina said, and their conversation lapsed into silence as she worked. That had been surprisingly...tame? A lot fewer death threats, cursing and menacing tones that Selina expected of the Deathstroke's daughter. And she hadn't been murdered yet, always a plus in her book.
Selina gathered up the last of the guns and dropped them into a pile right next to the wallets. "There all-" Selina began, looking at Ravager while dusting off imaginary dust from her hands but she paused when she saw the younger woman.
Ravager had passed out. Her head hung limply to the side, and the only reason she hadn't fallen over was the counter was keeping her propped up. The tweezers were still in hand but lying in her lap, covered in blood. Selina saw the wound she had been working on because it was dripping in a steady stream down her arm from her shoulder. Enough so that it must have gone all the way through.
Pursing her lips, Selina's eyes drifted to the few stitches she had and saw that they were sloppy. Ravager would have a lot of experience with stitching herself up at this point so it couldn't be hesitation. No, add that to all the blood loss and exhaustion? Her hands must have been shaking too much.
Selina looked at her a long moment before promptly turning on her heel and began marching in towards the exit. The sense of relief that she knew she wasn't going to get iced once Ravager used her to pick up some weapons and money was palatable and the further she got away from the little psychopath the better.
"Awesome, see'ya Ravager," Selina said, waving to the unconscious girl over her shoulder. You know, unless she bled out. Something she was already well on her way to doing since she must have passed out from blood loss. Or, maybe reinforcements would come, or a cop would take an opportune shot. After all, five million dollars wasn't anything to sneeze at for the average Joe. Failing that, if she did manage to wake up in time to get out of here, it was cold outside. All that blood loss was going to give way to a nasty case of frostbite so she could lose some fingers and toes. Maybe a foot…
"Don't do it," Selina told herself, coming to a stop and staring at the door. This was a bad idea. No, it was a downright terrible one. This was, without a single doubt, the worst idea that she's ever had in her entire life, which was chock full of bad ideas. This was Darwin awards level of a bad idea, and if she did die doing it, Selina could honestly say that she deserved it. Not only that, Ravager was a murder. There was no other way to say it. She killed these people to protect herself, but what about that guy she just tortured? Once she got her answers, Ravager cut his throat without a second thought.
Ravager had no interest in redeeming herself and Selina honestly doubted that she could. However, Selina knew that if she left her here, then the best she could hope for was the teenager was killed before she woke up. This was Gotham City, though, so that best case scenario for Ravager wouldn't happen.
There was absolutely no way this wasn't going to come and bite her in the ass one way or the other. There wasn't going to be any kind of profit or net gain that she could use to justify this stupid, terrible idea. It was a stupid, stupid, stupid thing to do and she was stupid for even considering it.
Yet, her feet wouldn't move.
"Batman...Spider-man...you two are the worst influences."