The drive back was a tense one.
Not a bad tense, don't get me wrong, just silent, as neither of us really had anything to say. It was silly really, we'd only touched hands, and here we were - blushing and giddy like schoolchildren.
I got the impression he wasn't the best with women, and most likely hadn't had a girl in years. He wasn't as awkward and stupid as a virgin guy, but he still seemed very careful about what he did and said. Which actually wasn't that much after we'd watched the fireworks.
Now, I wasn't going to immediately jump into being interested in him as a boyfriend just because I was getting hot under the collar thinking about him. I wasn't the kind of girl to jump into a guy's arms at the first since of a kind gesture, or write lovey things in my diary about him. Not that there was anything wrong with those kind of girls, they were the ones who ended up happily married with three kids by the age of thirty. I was instead the type who probably would be living with frogs and drinking my sorrows away at that age.
At the same time, I wasn't going to kick him away and do anything in my power to make sure he didn't go any further. He had peaked my interest, and hadn't pushed me to do anything more than touching hands when we were on that hill, so I wasn't outright disgusted by him, like guys that had tried to flirt with me before. I wasn't sure that he wasn't one of those guys that was just using me to get in my pants, but I would just have to wait and see.
My dad would be able to get rid of him easy enough if things went bad.
Just here." I instructed Victor, as he drove toward the place I usually got the school bus.
He scoffed. "I'm not going to let a lovely lady like yourself walk home in the dark. That would be cruel." he replied, but slowed to a halt.
The roads were surprisingly empty, most likely because it was New Years Eve, and people were most likely already at parties. Actually, it was now January 1st, not December 31st. I couldn't believe the year had gone that fast. In a month or so I would be turning eighteen, and I'd officially be an adult, able to go live on my own and do as I pleased. I was pondering not going on to university, as I wouldn't have enough money to pay for it. My dad might not approve of me following the straight and narrow life, but I'd feel bad asking him anyway - he didn't exactly have a stable source of income. Maybe I could find a sugar daddy, and get him to pay for me. Internally I laughed: I definitely wasn't the type to get a sugar daddy. Or sell pictures of my feet on the internet, even though it could be a good business.
"That would be nice, but I really don't want my dad to see you. He might kill you." I responded, my brow creased. It was true, I wasn't sure what my dad would do if he knew I was getting lifts from a man, but I assumed he was the protective type, and he'd kill him as soon as look at him, no matter if it hurt me.
He raised an eyebrow. "Is he really that bad?" he asked, turning to me.
I laughed, shaking my head. "You have no idea." I replied, looking at nothing. I turned to face him. "Thanks for helping me find Kristoff, Victor, you didn't have to but it really helped me out."
He scoffed. "The guy was useless, I'm just sorry I couldn't help more."
"No, I found out that Kristoff and this Happy guy both worked for Don Pacino at some point. That's at least something to go on."
He sighed. "Pacino is a really tough guy, lots of security always around him. The guy only ever shows his face when he's throwing balls, to try and raise his credentials."
"Well then I'm going to one of them, and I'm gonna have a nice chat to this Pacino dude."
His face became a little more serious. "You're not going alone then. I'll have to get out my old tuxedo."
I rolled my eyes. "You don't need to babysit me, y'know. I can handle myself."
He laughed. "Calm down, doll, I actually have some guys to see that I'm sure will be there. So I'm not gonna be babysitting you."
"Ah business stuff. Interesting, but I think I better be getting back, before I have search parties out for me."
The door of Victor's car slammed close behind me as I got out.
He rolled down the window so I could hear him. "Watch yourself, Marcie, I don't want you getting hurt."
"I will, dumbass." I laughed, putting a hand on my hip. "Now, goodnight, I'll see you when I see you."
"Goodnight, stupid." he retorted, grinning, and rolling the window back up.
I gave him a sweet wave, and he pulled away, leaving me around a couple blocks away from the hideout.
I walked down an alley, taking the shortcut back as I always did. One might be on edge when walking down dark streets at night, but I wasn't. The streets were fairly empty, and so I was on my lonesome.
At least that was what I thought.
"Is that your boyfriend?" a female voice asked, scaring me out of my skin.
I took a sharp breath in, and turned around. Expecting to see a random hooker, I scrunched up my face; instead I found nothing, only the empty street I had just been walking.
"Who's there?" I called out, my hand stuffing in my pocket and tightening around the gun Victor had lent me.
"What is your deal with Victor Yaworsky?" she asked, the voice coming from seemingly above me. It had a distorting mechanism on it, much like I'd heard the Batman use.
"None of your business." I retorted, my eyes eagerly searching the space above my head.
"The fact that he threw an unarmed man off a roof when he was awaiting trial is my business." she replied. "If you answer my questions then I can help you."
"I don't need help, just stay out of this." I snapped, putting my gun away and walking out of the alley.
There was a thump as boots came into contact with the floor, along with the motion of a flimsy fabric as it moved against the upthrust of air. I whipped around again, only this time I did find someone. It was a woman, nearly around six feet in height, dressed in a Kevlar and metal plated body suit. She wore a thick Bat mask with no trace of hair hanging out, and a fabric cape, which was being drawn backwards by the breeze. The only visible part of her was her light eyes, as unlike Batman, her lower face was covered by a mouth piece on the mask. That was probably where the voice changer came in.
"Let me guess, Batgirl?" I asked, a hand on my hip, and a tone which indicated that I really didn't have time for this.
The mask moved as it looked like she glared at me. "It's Greybat." she retorted, a serious tone on her tongue.
I gave a short laugh. "Sorry, girl, I'm not from around here."
She stood up straighter. "I know. You're from Baltimore."
My eyes widened. "I'm sorry, I think you have the wrong-"
"You're Marceline Doe, the missing girl from Baltimore, am I right?"
My brow furrowed and a raised my gun. "What the hell do you want?" I knew my bullets wouldn't make a dent in the armoured suit, but I still wanted to make it look like I had some semblance of control.
She didn't hold her hands up or flinch. "I want to help you. You're on the path of revenge, and you really want to get this guy that killed your mother. But doing that won't solve anything."
I narrowed my eyes. "Stop talking like you know me! I don't care about your opinion or whether it'll solve anything, I'm gonna find this guy and I'm gonna murder him in cold blood. Then I can sleep easy, and hopefully get the fuck out of this stupid town!"
She approached me a little, albeit I kept my gun high. "A guy once hurt someone very dear to me, and changed my life for the worse. I used to be like you - running after any lead that would get me to this guy, even though people like Batman tried to stop me. It never got me any further, and one day I realised that the person that was hurt, wasn't proud of me for seeking revenge." She paused. "Would your mother be proud of you for going down this road?"
My skin crawled, and I shot at her feet as I was starting to get a bit jumpy. "Stay the hell back! And you have no idea what my mom was like, but I do! And I know for sure that she'd be proud!"
Greybat stopped in her tracks, giving no quick reply.
"Please... just get out of here and let me go in peace. I don't want your Batfamily and the GCPD to drag me away from here. I've got a purpose for the first time in seventeen years, and I'm not giving that up easily." I replied, my voice breaking up as I shook.
The woman didn't say anything more, but pulled an object from her pocket. She fired it and I flinched, but nothing wrapped around me, or even came into contact with me. I opened my eyes to see Greybat soaring upwards, a grapple gun hooked onto the rooftops above and dragging her weight up. She disappeared without a trace.
Not a moment later, I turned the way I was going and pelted away, not stopping to see if she was following me.
