Nightshadow: Chapter 21:

They say light travels faster than sound.

A column of bright orange flame erupted into the sky a split-second before we heard a deafening boom. I shielded my eyes from the blinding fire to look around the rooftops.

No Renee.

My chest felt hollow.

"I won't leave you."

~Renee's POV~
Roughly Ten Minutes earlier…

"Clockwork." I growled, trying my best to be menacing. I forced myself not to look around, convinced that if I let my eyes wander, I would betray Robin and what he was doing.

"Nightshadow, how nice of you to finally grace us with your presence." Clockwork responded in a gentlemanly manner. I suppressed a shudder. That bastard.

"What the hell do you want?" I asked in my best exasperated tone. I rolled my eyes at him, just for effect.

"Well, child, isn't it obvious? I won round one, you won round two. We're tied. This is our tiebreaker." He responded calmly.

"What the hell, you psycho? Wait, how many bombs did you use this time?" I felt the panic bubble up inside me. What if they don't have enough time? I wanted to punch my subconscious. It was totally not helping.

"I lost track at seventy-two." Shit. Shit shit shit! I wanted to scream. Sure, the bombs were all probably really small, so that the entire street wouldn't go up, but still. He was going to level the building, and it terrified me. I saw out of the corner of my eye the swish of Robin's cape.

Good. They'll make it out in time. But just in case…

"Don't forget to wake up the henchmen. Clockwork may leave them for dead, but we won't. Meet me on the roof of the St. James Theatre. 246 West 44th street. It's between Broadway and 8th." I told them via the mind-link. I didn't want a repeat of last time. The guilt would be too much.

"I have a question. What is it with you and calling me out?" I asked scathingly, hoping that he couldn't hear the undertone of fear that was painfully obvious to me.

"Well, it's simple, really. A bright girl like you should've figured it out. I never meant to make an enemy like Batman. I was purely using him to get to your precious mentor, Ra. My gripe was with him. Everything was working as planned. You were getting the Batman and his little sidekick out, and I was going to use you to get out of there before Ra went up in flames-"

"Wait, you were going to kill Ra all along? You-you sick bastard!" I cut him off mid-sentence, my eyes wide.

"Yes, yes. He was going to die. It was inevitable. But all those other people – they were your fault! I had them all frozen so that they would make it out alright, but then you had to go and do what your little Ra told you and teleport out of there after I pressed the detonator. I had to freeze time to get out of there, which meant my hold on all those innocents were broken. Some of my best henchmen were killed that day, and it was all your fault." He paused to take a breath, and I took it as an opportunity to interject my own thoughts.

"Wait – you can freeze time itself now? What the hell? And how is it my fault? You could have done the noble thing and sacrificed yourself. Or you could've not pressed the detonator until they all had gotten out of there. Weren't your henchmen getting them to evacuate? You could've waited another minute or so, so that they would be safe. But no, you pressed the button; you committed the act of murder." I was struggling not to scream. Or punch him in the face. I didn't want to make the first move in that department. That would give him the advantage of my anger.

"Oh, you silly little child. I'm a psychopath. Of course I'm going to blame you and not listen to reason. Don't take it personally. But yes, I can freeze time itself. The problem is, it ages me – makes me ill. I was all for ignoring you and leaving you to your pain and misery until you stopped me from robbing that bank in Hong Kong. Then, I thought – and this is one of my most brilliant thoughts – why not finish the job? I finished off Ra, why am I letting his sidekick slide with just misery? So, I devised a brilliant plan – you would end the exact way Logan did." He clamped a hand to his mouth, his eyes wide.

Logan…how does he know? I thought, puzzled. Then I remembered the picture of Walter Snow – of Clockwork's alias – and it hit me.

"You – you're Reed Alexander! You – you were Logan's roommate in college! What the hell, you sick bastard! You killed your friend!" This time I really did scream. The psychopath just chuckled.

"Silly little girl, I don't have friends. I'm a psychopath. Maybe you should look it up, since you obviously don't know what it means."

"Wait, you stopped time again, didn't you? That's how you survived the second explosion. But that means…you're dying, aren't you? That's why you called me out again so quickly." Something clicked in my brain. It all made sense, now.

"Yes, very good. You're catching on!" Clockwork – Reed – clapped his hands gleefully. I remembered Reed. He was a nice little nerd-kid, double majored in sociology and psychology. (Which was ironic.) He would always help me out with my homework when I went to ask Logan and he was off being a superhero.

If only I had known. I thought ruefully, staring at the sick villain in front of me that had ruined my life.

"Don't patronize me, Reed." I snapped, and the affect was instantaneous. Clockwork's gold armor-like mask was ripped from his face to show his maliciously glinting eyes and pursed lips.

"Don't you dare call me that! I am no longer that helpless nerd! I am Clockwork! I am the Master of Time! I killed the mighty Ra! And now I'll kill you, too!" Reed lunged at me, and I teleported away.

"Stay still, you imbecile!" He screeched as I teleported around the theatre continuously, stopping only for a millisecond at a time. Clockwork's face was red with rage; he started just freezing things wildly, hoping that he would catch me, but I was too fast. I was in his head. I had the advantage. All I had to do was keep moving.

My body was screaming at me to slow down, and I was wearing out fast. I had no idea what would happen if I kept going, but I knew that the lives of my friends depended on it. Dick's life depended on it.

Dick. I repeated his name in my head, over and over again, hoping that somehow it would give me the strength to keep going.

"Hurry up, guys. I dunno when he's gonna set them off." I told the Team, knowing that he was about to get impatient.

"Enough!" Sure enough, Clockwork screamed and pulled out a little black box – one that I had way too much experience with.

"No!" I screeched, and I teleported one more time, effectively tackling him onto the ground. The trigger for the explosives skittered out of reach.

"We heard Renee's message. We have gone to the roof." Kaldur's strong and level voice rang in my head as Clockwork and I literally rolled around on the floor of the stage, both of us trying to reach the trigger.

Suddenly, in a burst of strength, Clockwork threw me off of him and grabbed the trigger.

"Buh-bye!" His voice was laced with maniacal glee. My eyes went wide.

Dammit, this was his plan all along! He's going to kill himself, too! No evidence, no conviction, no Batman on his ass about it. I didn't wait to see him press the button. Without thinking it through, I teleported to where he stood and grabbed onto the arm that wasn't currently pushing the button that was going to blow us to smithereens.

"What the he-" Clockwork began to say, but the rest was cut off by a small popping sound and a puff of black smoke.

"-ll." I heard the boom that went with the explosion. I had gotten us out just in time, though I was unsure exactly where we were.

Looking down, I saw a giant neon sign for "Billy Elliott". Imperial Theatre. Why the hell did I think of this place? I wondered, but any analysis was pushed aside for later.

"Clockwork – Reed – come on, just turn yourself in. Live out the rest of your days." I tried to reason with him, but he just started to walk away.

"Not a chance – oof." I tackled him to the ground, pinning his arms behind him.

Man, wish I had handcuffs. Dick probably – shit, the others are waiting for me! I suddenly remembered what I had told them.

"Imperial Theatre roof. Hurry, I can't hold him for long." I told the Team as I struggled to keep a squirming Clockwork pinned on the ground. A chorus of 'Renee!' and 'Oh thank god' began rattling around my brain.

They all thought I was dead, no doubt. Oops. I thought in passing. Nothing I can do about it now. I mixed up what was playing at the Imperial and what was at the St. James. I realized that I had been thinking "Billy Elliott" as I had teleported Reed and myself out of the Minskoff, without really remembering that it was playing at the Imperial theatre. I couldn't remember the name of whatever Harry Connick Jr. was starring in at the St. James.

"Nightshadow!" I heard Wally before I saw the speedster skid to a stop in front of me. "Need some help?" He asked, and I nodded. Robin slid off of KF's back, and the bio-ship with everyone else landed on the rooftop shortly after the two boys had Clockwork in cuffs.

"Man, you look like shit." Zatanna said as she walked towards us. I looked down. My suit was ripped and charred in places from the explosion and the scuffle that had happened right before and after it.

"Yeah, well, sometimes that's the price you pay for getting the job done." I said with a smile, making her – and everyone else – laugh. Truthfully, I felt like crap, too. My head felt like lead, and I didn't know how long my legs were going to hold me up.

Note to self: extreme exhaustion comes from teleporting that much that quickly. I logged the new information about my powers in the back of my brain and let Robin carry my bridal-style back into the bio-ship.

"I thought I had lost you. When you didn't show up, and the building exploded – never do that again." He murmured into my hair, and I wrapped my arms around his neck.

"Trust me, Rob. I'm pretty damn sure that was a one-time deal. I didn't mean to scare you…I just teleported here instead of there by accident." I whispered back, my face buried into his chest. I felt him chuckle.

"It's okay. Just…don't do it again." He laughed again, and I joined in. We flew back to Mt. Justice in silence, Rob's hand entwined in mine.

Yay! Clockwork's been vanquished! Haha. This isn't the end though, so don't worry. I have some more stuff I'd like to do.

I'm really proud of this chapter. I hope you all liked it.

Word Counts:
This Chapter: 1,903
Total: 30,557

Lots of Love and Happy Writings,
Vid.