In The Shadow of the Bat

Interview

Dani Grayton smiled as the Gotham city reporter headed into the busy cafe, long blonde hair flowing down her back. She looked around for the woman she planned to meet, then hurried towards the table in the back. "Miss Ludlow-Dalt?" she asked politely.

The black haired woman smiled slightly, "It's Teresa, please." As she waved Dani to a seat she added, "And if you want to piss me off, call me the Spider."

"Not happy about being a costumed hero?" Dani asked as she sat down, setting her bag on the table nearby so she could get at her recorders and other reporter's equipment.

"Considering I had to take on the identity because of people who hate my father...," Teresa shrugged eloquently.

Dani nodded, "Fair enough." She flagged down a waiter and ordered a coffee, noting how Teresa warily watched her surroundings. "Are the Seven Soldiers still after you?" she asked as she mixed up her coffee with cream and a bit of sugar.

"They still take the occasional shot at me," Teresa sighed. She looked at Dani intently, "I understand my brother visited Gotham?"

"Lucas, yes," Dani agreed, "wearing the original yellow shirt and blue shorts."

"Just like Dad," Teresa winced. "He didn't make a very big splash, at least looking through the paper archives."

"He ran into the second Batgirl," Dani informed her, "at least according to my sources. He had come here to prepare to fight the Shade..."

"Makes sense," Teresa conceded, "the family has always been nuts about the Shade. What did Batgirl do to him?"

"Beat him within a inch of his life apparently," Dani said with some satisfaction, "made him flee town with his tail between his legs."

"Couldn't have happened to a nicer guy," Teresa toasted her with the cup of coffee,

"I also heard some rumors about Thomas Dalt Jr," Dani added. "Apparently he was sighted in New York, helping fight off a monster invasion."

"Tommy did that?" Teresa raised her eyebrows.

"Unconfirmed reports," Dani cautioned. "Things were pretty crazy, considering there was a giant floating island over the city."

"Happens every other week in Metropolis," Teresa joked.

Dani chuckled softly as she nodded, "True true." She drank some of her coffee as she noted, "Say what you will about Gotham crazies, but at least we don't have critters trying to destroy the city."

"Or planet," Teresa added.

"That too." Dani smirked.

Teresa sat back, drinking some more coffee then waving for a refill. "So Lucas got his ass kicked here, then went to Opal City," she mused, trying to mentally figure out what he had done in what order.

"Where he fought Starman and the Shade," Dani agreed as she waved down a waiter and ordered some cinnamon buns. "He got his ass beat, then tried to set himself up as some kind of arch enemy to Shade."

"I heard Shade drove him out of town," Teresa noted, trying not to let her mixed feelings show in her voice. He was a crook and a scoundrel, yes, but he was still blood damn it.

Obviously Dani picked up on that a bit, giving her a sympathetic look. "Yeah, after he took a shot at one of the O'Dares."

"Then he hit Star City and took on Green Arrow," Teresa shook her head ruefully as she grabbed a bun, "what was he THINKING?"

Dani looked amused, "Trying to prove himself as a archer, I suppose. Not a very smart move, but understandable."

"I suppose," Teresa admitted, "I just find it embarrassing to have such stupid relatives."

Dani seized the opening to ask, "So, do you disapprove of your family more strongly after all you've learned about them?"

"Hell yes," Teresa snorted, "I mean, I think they were worse than I originally thought. Do you realize that the family has been obscenely wealthy more than once, but has never been able to hold on to it? They always have one more score planned, and end up in jail."

"Being a criminal never pays off," Dani offered mildly.

"Exactly!" Teresa agreed. "Every Ludlow has ended up betrayed by his allies, in jail or simply dead, often by mysterious causes."

"Like?" Dani had to ask.

"More than one is at the bottom of lakes or oceans, I suspect," Teresa noted with a grim smile, "and the Shade has killed a few that tried to kill him." She shuddered faintly in memory.

"What?" Dani had to ask.

"A Ludlow actually seduced Shade once, under the name Marguerite Croft. He fell for her but she poisoned him, declaring she would continue to try to kill him," Teresa told her, "Shade tore her apart in his grief and rage."

"Eww," Dani winced.

The two women changed the subject, the talk rambling through living in cites with superheroes to where to pick up the best take-out. They were nicely buzzed on caffeine as they left the cafe together, walking side by side.

"Thanks for inviting me out," Teresa smiled up at her, "it's nice to get away from the research for awhile."

"You don't mind my writing a story on you?" Dani asked curiously.

"Not really," Teresa shook her head as she pointed out, "after all, I'm doing the same sort of thing to my own family."

Dani was about to say something else when they heard a cry of alarm coming from up ahead and to the left. Her reporter instinct made her hurry up to look, and blinked in surprise. "Well damn," she muttered softly.

"Tell me it's not some of my usual crazies," Teresa sighed as she took a look.

"No, it's a guy in a tank robbing a bank," Dani blinked, getting on her phone and calling the Gotham emergency line.

"Well crap,' Teresa muttered as she ducked in a alley, emerging in her altered version of the Spider's uniform.

"What are you doing?" Dani yelped as the woman rushed by her and loaded a explosive crossbow bolt into her crossbow.

"Until the cops get here someone has to slow the thing down," Teresa answered briskly, looking like a real hero as she fired off her bow.

As Teresa hurried forward and the bulky vehicle swung around towards her, she was glad it wasn't actually a tank. Instead it seemed like some kind of armored personnel carrier, with a heavy cannon built in on top. Taking careful aim she fired her bolt at where the seam connected the gun to the roof, then ducked as it struck.

The boom was loud, as expected, and Teresa looked up warily to see the metal at the junction warped and broken. 'That should stop them using the canon,' she decided, scurrying to the side then hurrying to the hatch in the side of the vehicle.

Before Teresa could reach it the hatch slid open, smoke billowing out from inside. "I thought we just had to worry about Batman?" the man complained bitterly as he staggered out, coughing.

"Shit!" another man dressed in civilian style fake military camo blurted, raising his pistol to aim at Teresa.

Aiming and firing with the practice of long experience Teresa nailed him in the arm, blood splattering as he cried out and dropped the gun. Seeing the other men stirring she shoulder checked the first guy into the second, sending them both falling inside onto their own guys.

Switching shafts she fired a smoke bomb into the carrier, making things even more confused in the tank. "Surrender!" Teresa yelled, "You do not want to see what I'll do it you keep going!"

"Yeah, right," one man coughed as he waved away smoke.

Calmly Teresa put a arrow through his shoulder, the man hollering ion shock and pain, "I warned you."

"I'll...," a uninjured man started, only to trail off as a figure fluttered down beside Spider.

'Back up, I hope,' Teresa thought, looking sideways.

A mini crossbow was mounted on the purple arm, then she cocked it quite deliberately. "I'm the Huntress you bastards," the woman said coldly, "and unlike Batman I have no problems with just killing you scumbags."

All the crooks visibly wilted, clearly knowing Huntress' reputation. They climbed out of the vehicle even as the wailing of police sirens were heard, swiftly drawing nearer. "Thanks,' Teresa murmured to Huntress.

"No prob," Huntress answered, "you had it pretty much handled. Next time, shoot 'em somewhere painful, they'll give up faster."

"Thanks," Teresa answered as the cops finally arrived.

What followed was the arrest of all the goons, as the officers also interviewed Teresa to a annoying degree. They didn't seem to want to accept that she was only minding her own business before the attack, in fact one or two seemed to want to arrest her too.

But Dani jumped in, too, and that made a big difference. No one wanted to arrest the hero of the hour for stopping the crooks, and the witnesses all agreed that Teresa had been a hero. They insisted that Teresa promise to stay in town for the trial, but then bundled up the crooks and drove away, ordering the troop carrier towed after them.

"I can't decide if you were incredibly brave or crazy," Dani told her once Teresa ducked into the bathroom and emerged in street clothes.

"Both?" Teresa shrugged.

"I thought you didn't consider yourself a hero?" Dani asked her curiously, taking the other woman's hand.

"I'm not," Teresa insisted, "but I couldn't just stand by and let those crazies hurt people."

'That's pretty much my definition of a hero,' Dani mused as they walked along together. "Doing anything tonight?" she asked.

"Nothing pressing," Teresa admitted, "why?"

"Let me show you the good side of town," Dani smiled at her, mentally adding, 'as a reward for saving us all, hero.'

"Lead on," Teresa grinned, the two walking off closely together.

To be continued...