Wait a Little Longer
Daleville, Connecticut
11:29 A.M. EDT
Why can't this town have more interesting hang outs? Roy thought dully as he sat on a bench, waiting for Kaldur to arrive so they could collaborate in his search for any sign of the Nightingale.
The skate park had quite a few skaters were already there, performing stunts that Roy could easily imagine the Nightingale replicating with ease, but there wasn't a female among the skaters today and Roy was fairly certain that the diplomatic attitude that the Nightingale had approached him with belonged to someone more like a student. A punk demeanor and skater day life didn't match the girl he'd met in some respects.
A rebel maybe, but definitely not a punk, Roy had assessed earlier that morning when he'd evaluated the previous night. And also an obstinate person, she's probably too stubborn to die of natural causes.
He'd made a list of traits he'd observed the Nightingale of having. He's also made one for Scourge, but it was considerably short than the one for the heroine, but Robin or Kaldur might find that they could use it.
What's so interesting about this place that the Shadows have to steal it? Roy wondered. Any historical importance about this place isn't advertised and it definitely isn't a vacation hot spot.
"Well, look who showed up again? It's Roy, right?" a moderately familiar voice said. Roy looked off to the side to see Alonzo approaching.
Roy thought for a moment. He hadn't spotted the skater earlier. Must be just arriving.
"Yeah, had nothing better to do," he responded with a shrug. "Besides my aunt kicked me out of the house, said I didn't go on vacation to watch TV at her place."
"Heh, I know the feeling. My folks want me out of the house most of the time," the skater said amiably, taking a seat next to Roy. "But Daleville High don't want me either, so I come here."
Roy nodded. "Why doesn't the local high school want you there? Drop out or something?"
"Nah, they kicked me out a few months ago. But I guess that's what you get when you 'accidently' break a window or two," Alonzo answered adding air quotes to his statement.
Roy raised an eyebrow weary, questioning, and impressed with Alonzo. The worst he'd done in high school was ditch a few of the more boring classes, though he was pretty sure that Ollie would have grounded him for a month if it was anything more than that, and if Ollie didn't punish him than Dinah did.
"So you stay here because no one wants you anywhere else?" he asked to clarify.
"Yep, that's pretty much my lot in life," the skater replied with a nod. "So, what do you do when you're not on vacation?"
He regarded Alonzo for a moment. He'd thought there was something suspicious about the skater during their last conversation and he had to wonder if his uneasiness wasn't undue now that he felt it a second time.
Roy simply shrugged as he answered: "Life's pretty boring for me right now. Just graduated. Came here to take a break from stress, but even my aunt is pressuring me to find a job somewhere or apply for college."
"Got any hobbies? Or were you a school boy before you graduated?" continued the skater.
"Nah, I wasn't pretty high in mu cohort," Roy responded smoothly. "As for hobbies, I haven't got much of one. I've skateboarded before, haven't done it in a while though."
Alonzo nodded with a thoughtful look on his face. "Got nothing better to do, care to try your hand at again now?"
Roy hid a doubtful under small smile as he looked for the skater to the board he was being offered. He was somewhat skeptical, but he really didn't see the harm in it at the moment.
"Sure, why not?" He got off the bench and Alonzo handed him the board. He had now had something to do while he waited for Kaldur.
"What the hell?" Travis muttered as his cell phone roused him from his exhausted slumber. After a quick breakfast with Flynn's family, Travis had gone to his own small apartment and crashed.
The night had exhausted him with the steak out and the unexpected crime scene at the water front, but evidently his day was only beginning for him.
"Travis Miles here. What's happened?" he demanded in greeting. Usually he was less irritable, but after what he'd been through he wasn't in the mood to be awake for anything petty.
"Commissioner, we've got another Nightingale scene," responded whoever was on dispatch at the moment.
"Where?" Travis climbed off his bed and began grabbing his police uniform off his dresser.
"Twenty-second Brooks and Goodwin."
"Thanks, I'll be there."
With that the brief conversation ended and Travis was already half way out his door.
Another? he thought as he exited his apartment. Exactly what was the Nightingale doing last night and just how fast can she travel when she wants to?
As he drove, Travis wished that he had time to spare as he passed Aaron's dinner. He really could have gone for a cup of coffee and the ever so clichéd donut at the moment, but whatever had happened in the slums of Daleville was at the forefront of his priorities.
If the Nightingale was actually at the docks, then why did she go to the slums or rather when? Travis shook his head as he tried to wake himself up some more. She couldn't have been in two places at once, but she still could have gone to both places in one night. Though, why she would go to the dock and the slums in the same night? What is she up to?
Travis stored his thoughts as he pulled up to the scene where the Nightingale supposedly had been. Police cars and the usual yellow tape had quarantined off the area.
"What have we got?" he asked as he ducked under the tape. As usual, the rookies jumped rigidly as his question, the only rookie seemingly accustomed to him was Stephen, while the senior officers were relaxed.
"The usual and unusual," answered one of the senior officers. "You oughta see it."
"What do you mean, Officer Jerome?" Travis gave the building the event had taken place in a look over before the forensics officer, Jerome, led him in. It wasn't different from any other building surrounding it, shabby and due to be demolished. It was at least four stories tall and most of the windows hadn't any glass in them.
The interior wasn't much better and every officer had to watch his or her step as they went in.
"Well, the attic of this place was the venue for the Nightingale's after party and she brought along some friends besides Scourge," Jerome answered his question as they carefully made their way up some rickety stairs.
"Can we confirm that the Nightingale actually was here?" he asked. He wasn't usually one to go out of his way to find alibis for their local vigilante, but if the Nightingale was here instead of the docks last night it'd give them more reason to investigate Ship Rat.
"Yep, we've got some of her usual weaponry, but it's sliced up. That and some throwing knives, a weird arrow, and some other weird weapon, she must've had one hell of a party."
"Yeah … does that go through the attic too?" Travis gapped at the large hole through the ceiling of the third story, sunlight shown through the hole in the story above like a spot light.
"Yep, but that's the odd thing," replied the officer. "Though the floor's fallen through here, the party happened on the next floor. Someone must have fallen through while they were dancing."
Travis nodded and quickly inspected the debris on the floor before moving onto the next story. It wasn't uncommon for apartment buildings such as this to be in need of repair or in need of demolition, so a participant in the fight falling through the floor didn't strike Travis as odd.
"They found the weirdest of the weapons in that crap below," Jerome said as Travis looked down in the hole in the floor.
"What was it?" Travis took another look over the side before moving away from the edge.
"Not sure yet, but it looks oriental to me and most of the forensic team," Jerome answered. He gestured to the fold up table where forensics had set up shop. Travis went over to it. As he expected there were zip-lock bags containing evidence that'd been found at the scene.
Among these were the items that Jerome had mentioned before: the throwing knives, an arrow with red fletching, and Nightingale's signature weapon.
Isn't it called a bola? Travis wondered as he eyed it. It'd been sliced to bits. He scanned the table and inspected the weapon that Jerome had said was weird. He was right about the abnormality of this weapon.
Travis picked up the plastic bag to inspect the weapon more closely. It appeared to be made of steel and looked oriental in origin, as Jerome had observed. There were three prongs to this odd weapon. It looked almost like a hand held trident. Except the middle one came to a fine point, not doubling back like and arrow head, and the prongs on both the right and left sides curved gently outwards in an almost S-shape.
What have you gotten yourself into, Nightingale? Travis silently wondered as he set this odd weapon down on the table. After examining it, he hoped that the wielder of such a weapon had been on the Nightingale's side, but for some reason he doubted it.
"Alright, let's see the rest of this scene."
"Why does daytime take so long to burn?" Briana grumbled under her breath as she scanned the worksheet Mr. Flora had given her and the rest of her math class.
With a huff, she turned to her notes then back to the steps she'd taken in order to complete the current problem she was working. The worksheet was almost complete, but that didn't mean she would be free to do what she wished when she was done. Mr. Flora encouraged all his class to work ahead when they had the chance and Briana usually had the opportunity to do just that.
She calculated the answer quickly after she referenced her work with her notes and moved reluctantly to the next problem, but her attention was split. It was split between her current problem and the print out folded neatly up in her black cover diary at the bottom of her knapsack, the information that paper could possibly have burned impatiently in Briana's mind.
"It couldn't be a coincident that Ding-Bat and the Flying Grayson's have the same last name could it?" she had reflected during English class, the period before this. She was eager to read the old internet article. The situation in Daleville weighed heavily on her mind and discovering Robin's identity could give her a much needed advantage. Even if it did nothing more than get the Boy Blunder off her back, then it'd help.
She let out a frustrated sigh as she loosened her grip on her pencil to tap a rhythm against her desk.
Get the work done, it'll go faster, Briana reminded herself. It always does.
Briana silently forced herself to remain focused on her worksheet and the notes she had instead of all the other stresses she'd have to deal with later on in her extended day.
I'm so, so SUPER sorry I took forever to write this and now that it's written it is not my finest. I'm sincerely sorry that all my readers had to wait over three months for this chapter, and I have this to show for it.
I was on vacation for a little longer than I should have been and if the characters in this chapter don't seem like themselves, I assure that I will fix that as soon as possible. I kinda fell out of sync with this story, because of the massive break I took. But I'm determined that this story will not be left unwritten. I'm in the process of rereading it, and I'm also trying to rewrite some of the chapter to make them better.
I plan on writing another chapter some time soon, but I've just become a senior in high school, so that may not happen as often as you or I'd like. Plus I have other great stories in the works, I have too many project. Plus I'm considering getting a blog somewhere for all my original stories. Yeah, I have way too many project on my hands, good thing I have ADD I'm a great multitasker.
~Rayner out