I got her to write a chapter! YAAAAAAAAAAY! Remember, kids, pestering really does work.
Here's another chapter, my faithful readers. I want to send a shout out to my great friend who is helping me post while I'm at my swim meet. (Dat's me!) I couldn't have posted without her laptop and wifi :) (Well... My phone) I hope y'all enjoy this one. And please review if you can. I'm open to ideas if y'all have anything. Disclaimer: Guess what my friends? I love Margie and India.
Chapter Fourteen: Relive and Prevent
"Breaking news," the familiar CNN music blared through the TV, "two bodies were found last night and early this morning in two different parts of town. One, a familiar face at the upscale restaurant, Winston's Fine Dining on the west side of the city was found apparently stabbed to death. The other victim, a Leslie "Bunny" McDaniel was found in the south side earlier this morning by the Gotham City Police Department. She was pronounced dead at the scene and the cause of death was ultimately fire." The reporter looked up briefly from her notes, confused, "I thought I had read this wrong, but it seems that, according to a witness, McDaniel spontaneously burst into flames after he saw a blue light coming from some sort of flashlight or other device. We all know about the past six deaths in the city, all of which were tragedies. The next question is, how are we to stop these deaths? Murder has not been seen since the Purge back in 2008. Where are our superheroes, and why aren't they responding to these attacks?"
Bruce Wayne slammed the remote down with such force that the back opened and the batteries fell out. He angrily put them back in and hit the power button repeatedly until the screen finally went black. It had been three months since that girl had escaped from the Batcave, and within those three months she had killed nine people. Not only that, but she had proven to be quite elusive and cunning, which was quite detremental to not only his reputation, but his ego. He couldnt help but be reminded of the Joker and a certain woman he could never catch. She had been in Gotham only a short time but in her wake she left a good twenty unsolved murders, much like the prostitute's death. He racked his memory for the woman's name. It was something exotic and unknown to this part of the world. Bruce massaged his temples in frustration and stood. He couldn't remember for the life of him.
"Bruce!" Natalia's voice filtered through the thin walls of the modern mansion. He was happy to have the girl with him. He wasnt one to show love but he couldnt help but feel it for the blonde teenage girl. She was practically like a daughter to him, more than a friend. Over the past two months of her living with him and Dick she had progressed monumentally as a fighter, and was a relief from all the testosterone in the household. "Bruce," she called again, this time closer.
"In here." He sat back down at the table and pretended to be reading the newspaper. Natailia entered in her Mockingbird costume and stood in front of him silently, her hands on her hips and foot tapping. Bruce looked up. "What?"
"You said that you were going to do my training today. Something about wanting to do a skills check and driving lessons." She chirped.
"You must be mistaken. Dick was suppose to do your training today and the skills test will be next week." He waved his hand as if to dismiss her and went back to reading the paper. Natalia cleared her throat to show that she wasn't leaving. Bruce sighed and gave her an exasperated look.
"You don't understand, Bruce. I can get Dick down within five minutes. I know I'm ready to go on patrol!" she said, her voice slightly whiny, and stuck out her lower lip. "Please!"
Truthfully, he wanted to keep her indoors at all time. It took a temper tantrum on her part to get him to actually let her train. One could say that he didn't want to see his 'little girl' get hurt. With the murder count rising and no lead on the girl, it was a major possibility that she could get hurt or kiddnapped, or worse - killed. Bruce sighed.
"Natalia. I want you to help me figure out some Intel stuff tonight. Dick and maybe Wolverine or even Superman can be your and my replacement." Natalia huffed and knitted her eyebrows together. She crossed and uncrossed her arms repeatedly, but Bruce held his ground. "Don't get pissy with me, okay? You're the only person so far who has ever talked to or seen this girl that's on the streets, do you see where you're needed?"
Natalia blew air out of her nose. "And thats the exact reason why I would like to be patrolling the area!" she huffed. "Why do I have to sit here? I'm sorry, but need I remind you that I am fully capable of taking care of myself and all I see you doing is sitting here on your sorry ass as the murder count rises!"
Bruce slammed his fist on the table, "Listen here, young lady, I am well aware of your capability, but that arrogance is the thing that will get you killed! Do you understand that? The last time someone was that arrogant, he was kidnapped and tortured. If I hadn't saved Dick," Bruce paused and swallowed back the memory, "he would have been dead."
Natalia was silent. Bruce knew that the news had hit her hard.
"I didn't know," she said in a small voice. She walked over and sat heavily in the chair opposite of Bruce. "What happened?"
He sighed. He hated relieving the painful memories from before the Purge. There had been some close calls, but that time had been the worst.
"Back before the Purge, there were villians all around Gotham. I must say it kept us occupied, but back then Dick was only thirteen and still inexperienced. You know of the Joker, obviously. Everyone knows him and he's gone down in history as one of the most vicious villians to have step foot into Gotham. What people don't know is that he had a prodigy. Or at least, that's what I would consider the man as. His alias was Sweet Tooth. He was becoming the next great villain, after the Joker, of course. But his attacks on the city were growing more and more complex and violent.
We had him cornered one day. It was just off of Robert Street, or maybe John Street, but that's beside the point. Dick and I were definitely outnumbered. There were maybe eleven, including Sweet Tooth, and we were surrounded. I took the biggest guys and Dick took on Sweet Tooth. He was much stronger than he looked. You would have been surprised. At one point Dick was going strong, meeting the bastard blow by blow. I turned around for a second to admire his skill, and that's when I was hit from behind. Dick saw me and stumbled after a round-the-house kick. I can still hear Sweet Tooth laughing as he struck Dick with his cane. There must have been a kind of poison or something because he just went limp. The other guys had me pinned down and tied a bag around my head so I couldn't see which way they went.
I scoured that goddamn city for him. Even called reinforcements so that I could continue to look for him. It took me two weeks to find him. Two weeks of constant taunts from Sweet Tooth; I got videos of him torturing the kid. Beating the shit out of him with his cane and injecting him with these crazy medications. I could barely forgive myself for what happened. I can't let that happen to you too, Natalia."
Bruce's eyes felt heavy and he rested his head in his hands. Natalia placed her hand on his back, "I'm sorry, Bruce. I won't ask again. I'll stay and help with Margie's profile." She gently kissed his forehead and went to leave the room.
"Your skills test will be tomorrow. Go change and meet me back down here in twenty minutes. I want to get this done soon." Bruce smiled wearily at Natalia, who returned it before she left the room.