Come howl at me, I'll be up in AizenTheGoat's server. The code's https/discord.gg/N4RpjCT7Bq
Gotham City, 5:47am
Uzumaki Naruto hissed as a batarang cut the cloth of his pants and sidestepped out of the way of a punch that would have broken his nose before grabbing the limb and striking his attacker in the ribs and liver. Before he could go for another blow, she leaned in slightly to elbow him in the nose.
He blocked the attack but winced slightly when she stomped on his foot, stopping him from moving back to avoid the gut punch that threatened to knock the wind out of him and delivered an uppercut that made him bite his tongue badly. He grimaced at the taste of blood gathering in his mouth and wrapped an arm around the girl's neck, pulling her in close enough for him to return the favour with a knee to the face.
She jerked and as he lowered his leg, punched his kneecap before swinging again, this time nailing him in the gut for what felt like the hundredth time this night. He let go of her and struck her in the nose with a vicious uppercut. She grabbed his arm and attempted to hip toss him, but he jerked the limb to the side, forcing her to move with it and stepped to her side before tossing her over himself.
The girl straightened her whole body in mid air so she'd land on her feet and when she did, she was quick to disentangle herself with a punch that caught him in the neck and made him lose his grip on her but sweep her off her feet.
He went in for a stomp but she rolled away and using her arms as support, spun around and kicked him in the leg, causing the limb to buckle. Jumping distances that would have broken a normal person's legs and still having to work overtime to outpace and fight two vigilantes had already taxed his legs greatly.
He wasn't sure he'd be able to take more strikes like that before he went down for real.
YhBefore she could strike him again, he hopped away, giving her enough time to jump to her feet and show him bloodied teeth that made him smile nastily under his mask. Serves her right.
They stared at each other tensely, each preparing for when the other would make a move. Naruto frowned under his mask when he realised the girl wouldn't do anything first anymore. Their little standoff couldn't continue like this.
Fuck it. He lunged at her and drew back as she stepped back to prepare for a counter. Just what he was hoping she'd do.
He took advantage of her momentary imbalance to kick her ankle and land a haymaker on her when she stumbled before kicking her into the back of a billboard. He tried to run away before she could recover but tripped and fell as his legs were forced together by bolas. He quickly turned on his back as she got up.
He rolled around on the slippery floor and grabbed her leg with a hand as she rushed towards him before tugging hard, forcing her to the ground as well. She kicked him in the head with her leg, freeing herself before straddling him and raining a flurry of punches on his face, leaving him unable to do anything but protect himself with his hands. He tried to reach for her face but she bobbed away and grabbed his head before raising and hitting it on the floor twice, making him see stars.
When she slowed down slightly, he grabbed her hand before she could land another one and pulled her in closer before headbutting her as hard as he could. Her head involuntarily jerked back and she rolled off him, clearly stunned. He wasn't in a much better state. Hitting her helmet felt like running head first into a lamppost.
He raised himself up with a hand and punched her in the side of the head with enough force to crack the armoured cowl. Her head jerked back and in a desperate attempt at holding on to something, she grabbed his mask and ripped it off, unmasking him and revealing his yellow hair and blue eyes.
He took advantage of her momentary surprise to punch her again, this time, making her roll off him. From her quiet groans, she wasn't unconscious, just stunned. Now to free himself before she could regain herself.
While she was down, he tried to unwind the bolas from his legs only to find the act a lot more difficult due to the cord being made slippery with the rain and sewage on his gloves. Shit. He glanced at the girl who tried to get up before her hands gave out under her and she went down again, much to his relief.
"This hasn't been a simple task at all, Lady Talia. " He muttered sourly in arabic, still trying to unwind the cords.
He had known things wouldn't be as easy as she told him it would be when she assigned to him the task of assassinating a businessman in Gotham who made plans to build a fracking site in a desert in which one of the branches of the league was located.
He didn't even know why she sent him specifically. Gotham was somewhat of a forbidden area for all but the higher ranked members of the league.
On top of it being a hotbed for vigilantes and absurdly numerous insane metahumans, there was still the fact that it was the stomping grounds of The Batman, who Lord Ra's wanted to succeed him and Lady Talia had an unhealthy interest in.
But unable to refuse a direct order, he went to Gotham. And while finding and offing the businessman was easy enough, he had been lucky enough to avoid a direct confrontation with Batman himself, but not so much to avoid one with his pair of proteges who took it upon themselves to capture him at all costs.
He supposed it was to impress Batman. Being able to take down a member of what was considered to be the top of the food chain of organised crime was an impressive feat, regardless of what rank the member happened to be in.
But he had no plans to be the feather in their cap.
They'd chased him for hours on end, even into the sewers and fought him at every chance they got and as much as he hated to admit it, they'd pushed him much farther than he thought they would, especially with their complementary skillset.
Luckily, he'd been able to deal with Robin a while back, leaving him with Batgirl who proved to him that what she lacked in Robin's skill, she more than made up for with tenacity. A tenacity he had hopefully seen the end of.
He gagged slightly as he swallowed the blood and saliva that had gathered in his mouth. He'd have loved to spit it out but he wasn't about to leave any DNA samples for Batgirl to pick up.
Just as he finally freed himself and got up, Batgirl got up as well and glared at him before coming at him with fists that now sparkled with electricity. This bitch was trying to tase him in the rain!
He narrowly dodged the first blow and had to slap away the second one aimed at his chin. He yelled in pain when she grabbed his hand before he could pull it away, sending dozens of volts of electricity coursing through his body and lashed out with a fist, nailing her in the mouth again. She refused to let go of him and he struck her repeatedly in the face, damaging her armour enough to give him a sight of inflamed green eyes and what looked like freckles on her cheek.
'Just go down already, you crazy bitch!'
He snarled and headbutted her again, getting a pained cry from her as a bit of her armour poked her in the eye and making her grip on him loosen enough for him to force her to touch her own mouth, electrocuting herself. As she shook violently, he kicked her in the side of her knee hard enough to make her leg give out and down her again.
Before she could get up, he bent over her and forced her fist on her exposed skin again, shocking her further. After a while, he let go of her, watching her twitch in pain as her muscles spasmed.
He took advantage of the momentary lull in the fighting to lean against the billboard and catch his breath. Even turning her own weapons on her hadn't left him unscathed. The water had acted as a good enough conductor to inflict a part of the damage on him as well. He wasn't a spasming mess, but the occasional, involuntary twitches hurt like hell.
He had no illusions of being able to leave Gotham in his current condition. If he ran around as he was, he was going to encounter a curious vigilante who would probably be able to identify him by his attire and that was assuming he would even be able to even leave this area without passing out.
He was tired, felt like Superman had practiced his boxing on him, smelt like sewage, was cold from the heavy rain and hated Gotham City more than anything now.
After a few moments, he pushed himself off the board and stared at the twitching girl, idly scanning her as he waited for his muscles to stop hurting. She looked a bit older than him which wasn't saying much considering he was nineteen and he could see a bit of red hair sticking out of what could only be a hole in her mask.
He walked towards her as her body stilled, uncaring of her defiant glare. "You're lucky you're with Batman. Very, very lucky."
For some reason, Lady Talia had been very insistent on him not doing anything permanent to them unless he had no other option.
She tried to say something but couldn't open her mouth through her clenched teeth. Getting electrocuted in the rain tended to do that to a person. It always felt good to see people fall into the same pit they built for others.
He smiled slightly under his mask at the sight. He wasn't able to see her full face but he could tell she was a very attractive person behind the cowl. A particularly crude teammate of his would have said she had dick sucking lips if he were here. He'd have probably tried flirting with her a little if she and the boy wonder didn't catch him at a bad time and piss him off so much.
Oh well. He kicked her in the head, knocking her out well this time before leaning her against the billboard and checking himself for trackers. Upon finding none, he walked over to the edge of the building and stared at the ground in the distance, wondering how he'd get down.
He had only been able to get this high because he'd taken Robin's grapple gun and he couldn't keep it with him out of fear of it being bugged. He couldn't take Batgirl's own for the same reason and the two vigilantes had forced him to leave his whole bag behind.
He stared at a building beside the one he was on. It wasn't too far for him to jump to, but the height difference was enough that he'd have broken bones unless he nailed the landing right.
What did it matter? He couldn't even leave Gotham anymore. He had no money, he didn't know if there was even a league branch in the city, couldn't contact anyone to come get him and was too tired to even leg it out. Even if he went somewhere else, he was sure Batman would have alerted every superhero in the neighbouring cities about him. He was fucked anyway.
And he'd be even more fucked if he met Batman here. Compared to that, he could deal with a few broken bones so long as it got him to the floor and let him think of a plan.
He sighed. "If I ever set foot in Gotham again after this, it better be to deliver a message or just pick someone up."
6:17
"...rl? Batgirl? Wake up, Barb."
Batgirl snorted rainwater from her nose as she came to. As her vision became focused again, she saw a worried Robin shaking her gently. "Robin?"
"Yeah. It's me, Robin. What happened?" The boy wonder asked. She noticed his voice was slightly slurry and his face was red.
She scowled at him. "What do you think happened? He got away."
"No shit, he did a number on us too." Robin nodded as he tried to determine the extent of her injuries.
She had a displaced piece of her cowl poking a blackened eyelid hard enough that she wouldn't be able to open her eye without getting the skin torn open, her lips were bruised and he didn't have to open her mouth to know she'd have a few teeth bashed out of place if the bleeding was anything to go by.
He was only a little better himself. The assassin had broken his nose, dislocated his left shoulder and left him dangling upside down from the edge of the roof for nearly an hour, cutting off blood to his leg and leaving him feeling lightheaded when he finally came to.
"Tell me about it." Batgirl licked her teeth and grimaced when she pushed one, sending pain shooting through her gum. "How did you even get here? I thought the bastard took your grapple gun."
"He did." Robin's face soured at the reminder. "But I got found by, well…"
He pointed at her side, making her look to see a tall figure staring at them both. She groaned inwardly. "Were you following us?"
"I found you both via the trackers on your utility belts." The man said. "Your gun's broken by the way, Robin."
Robin sighed. Of course the bastard wouldn't just drop it gently.
"You two should have told me you found a member of the league." Batman frowned at them. "I've told you multiple times that you're not ready."
"Forgive us for not taking time to tell you that an assassin was making an escape after causing a panic." Robin rolled his eyes.
"Yeah." Batgirl grunted as Robin helped her up. "The guy's as slippery as an eel. We almost lost him a few times."
"I would know." Batman retorted. "They're all like that. You're both lucky he didn't kill you. Most others would."
"You still don't get it, Batman." Robin pressed. "We've taken on the league before. Even for them, this guy's something else."
"Yeah, about that…" Batgirl narrowed her eyes at him. "He said I'm lucky I'm with you. Are you in cahoots with the league or something?"
Robin's eyes shot towards the man who didn't respond.
'Talia.' Batman thought. The only league members who refrained from attacking him or his apprentices with lethal intent were the ones sent specifically by the demon's daughter. One of them revealed to him that anyone who did so against her wishes would meet death.
He never thought he'd be grateful to the woman in his life. Had it not been for her fixation with him, he highly doubted that the assassin would have just knocked the two teenagers out if he wasn't told to.
"Let's go home. It's almost dawn." He said finally. As if on cue, the batjet flew above their heads and a ramp leading to the interior lowered as it hovered at the edge of the building.
"You don't think we're just going to drop this, do you?" Batgirl tilted her head annoyedly before spitting out another
"No, but we can discuss that later. Right now, you both need treatment. You, more than Robin." The dark knight responded, easily noticing all her injuries. The girl looked like she wouldn't even be able to run a hundred metres without falling over.
She let out a shuddering breath. Now that the adrenaline had worn off, the pain from her injuries was almost unbearable. "Fine, let's go."
Robin smiled sympathetically at her and got into the jet and she followed under Batman's watchful eye. As she stepped foot on the ramp, her eyes widened as she realised something.
"Shit, I've got classes by nine!" She nearly yelled and heard Robin laugh at her.
Batman sighed. No amount of treatment could get her to full condition in the space of four hours, meaning he'd have to call an ally for a favour. "I'll call Zatanna over."
Batgirl grinned. "Man, I'll never get over the fact that you have a magician for a friend."
"And they're fucking." Robin called out, getting a pointed look from the caped crusader.
"Just get in." The man sighed.
7:00am
Barbara Gordon sighed as she tried to sharpen the satellite footage she was able to get of the area where she and the assassin fought earlier in the day. Aside from the fact that he left in the direction of the market district, she wasn't able to find anything further about his location.
"You've been on that computer since Zatanna healed you up, Barb." Robin walked into the batcave dressed in his school uniform. "Weren't you the one panicking about having class by nine?"
She glanced at the boy and went back to the computer. "It's just seven, Dick. There's still time. I need to find out where that guy went."
Dick Grayson scoffed. "Even if you knew, it wouldn't help 'cause he's not going to stay in one place."
"I know that." She opened another clip. "But if we know where he went first, it'll make finding him easier."
"And we can't use any of his equipment." Robin reached into the bag of disabled items. "At least we got a fat wad of cash and a few new toys to play with."
Batgirl ignored him toying with a disassembled rifle in favour of playing another clip. Before she could work on sharpening the quality, the screen went off, much to her surprise. She turned back angrily, ready to yell at Dick, only to see Bruce Wayne standing behind her with a remote.
"Back from the boneyard, Bruce?" Dick snickered, juggling pieces of the rifle.
Bruce snatched the pieces out of his ward's hands. "That's enough, Barbara. Go change out of your suit and head on to college."
"You can't be serious." Batgirl got off the seat.
"I am." Bruce's eyes narrowed at her. "I understand that you're angry about earlier this morning, but it's passed now, whether you like it or not."
"He could still be in Gotham." She pressed.
"It's unlikely." Bruce shook his head. "They never linger after the job's done. If he's anything like the typical shadow, he'd leave Gotham by foot if he has to."
"I doubt that'll happen." Batgirl folded her arms.
"What do you mean?"
"The fight wasn't exactly one-sided, Bruce. I think I gave out as much as I took." She leaned against the computer. "And considering he probably doesn't have a mystic to heal him and can't go to a clinic…"
"He's probably still in no state to leave." Dick caught on. "He could be somewhere in Gotham trying to recover enough to leave."
"It won't be of much help anyways." Bruce shot them down. "All he has to do is take off his mask and put on normal clothes and that's the end of that unless either of you got anything to identify him by."
Barbara didn't know why she couldn't bring herself to tell the man she'd seen his face. She shook her head as did Dick.
"That's what I thought." Bruce sighed. "If you're not out of your suit in five minutes, Barbara, Zatanna's going to make you sleep the whole day."
"What's with you and wanting me to leave so soon anyway?" Batgirl grumbled. "I'm fine."
"She might have healed you, but it doesn't mean you're fine." Bruce said. "You're off patrol for the week. Take a break."
"What?!"
"It's either that or Zatanna. Eitherway, you're not putting on a suit for the rest of the week."
She glared at the man before backing down and nodding.
"I know how you feel, Barbara." Bruce's tone softened. "But trust me, he's not getting away. Dick and I are going to keep track of every phone call and surveillance footage we can."
"We?" Dick asked loudly. "I didn't agree to anything. And I have school too!"
"I already informed Gotham High you'd be away for the rest of the week." Bruce said. "Yes, we."
He turned away from the grumbling boy to look at the girl again. "Go to school, Barbara. Your father wouldn't like to know you skipped school to stay in Wayne Manor."
Barbara scoffed. Spending the whole day with a known playboy? Her dad would throw a fit. "Fine, fine. I get it."
"Good. Don't go out on your own. I'll know."
"Whatever." She stared at the screen sourly.
"Don't worry, Barb." Dick snickered. "We'll find your boyfriend if he's still in Gotham."
She flipped him the bird.
…
When the two vigilantes were sure Barbara was gone, Dick frowned at his father figure. "You didn't tell her about the phone."
Bruce didn't respond. He'd received a phone on his doorstep that required his fingerprint to unlock and within the device was the assassin's unique identification code and the module details so they'd be able to find him if he contacted the league.
Whoever had sent him to Gotham clearly didn't want him getting out.
That had confirmed his suspicions that Talia had been the one to send him, but the whole thing was too convenient. She actually wanted the assassin to get captured.
"No, I didn't." He said. "She has more to worry about than getting as involved with the league as we are."
"And you didn't tell her the truth about the equipment either." Dick pressed. "She wasn't the one to disable them, he had a small scale e.m.p smuggled in there. Someone wanted this guy to fail."
"It's probably for the best that she doesn't know about that either." Bruce sighed. The girl wouldn't have agreed to leave if she knew of a guaranteed way to find the shadow.
Dick didn't agree with the man, but nodded anyway. "Yeah, best hope she doesn't have time to realise that us being able to tell if it's the guy talking means we already have a means of identifying him."
Bruce's face soured when he realised his mistake. "Shit."
"I'd go screw Zatanna a few more times if I were you. Get all that stress out before Barb comes back to raise hell." Dick smirked at him and got up. "If you need me, I'll be in the pantry. Thanks for getting me out of school."
Bruce sighed as the boy walked past him. Hopefully, they'd be able to get the assassin behind bars before Barbara got the chance to come back. At least then, she'd be less likely to go the 'I told you so' route.
And he still had to figure out why Talia wanted the man gone.
The next day
"Sahara twelve fourteen, Althaelab, I'm stranded in Got-fuck!"
Naruto groaned when another payphone went dead permanently; a consequence of trying to connect to the league's encrypted communications network with a phone that wasn't pre-linked to the network.
He opened the makeshift wallet he crafted and sighed when he saw only a few notes left in the space. He'd spent the whole day doing nothing but menial jobs that didn't need any form of identification to take and while he got paid, he still hadn't made enough to get himself a good meal, much less a change of clothes.
He'd spent the previous day recovering from his fight with the two sidekicks in a house in Gotham downtown he acquired after 'evicting' its previous occupants but as much as he enjoyed not having to move and feel his bones rebel against him, it was only a matter of time before one of the bats managed to trace him to his current location.
But at the moment, he was more afraid of the trail of decommissioned payphones he was leaving behind himself in an attempt to contact the league for an extraction. He understood why they weren't linking him through, but it didn't mean he was any less annoyed by it.
Maybe it was time to try his luck with a cellphone. It was a lot easier to spy on, calls were easier to listen in on and trace and he'd be fucked if the authorities were searching for it, but the league were less likely to ignore him if they had a means of finding him.
As he got out of the phone booth, he looked around, searching for the least likely person to notice they'd gotten their phone swiped, which was a lot easier said than done; the majority of the people in downtown Gotham appeared to be criminals who probably already knew what to expect from a pickpocket.
He saw someone, a man fiddling with a poorly hidden firearm in his jacket, walk past him. He most likely just robbed or murdered someone. Maybe both, he really didn't care. What he cared about however, were the bulges in the man's. pockets. It could be a phone or a wallet, either was good for him.
He smiled slightly and went in the same direction as the man, taking care not to look like he was following him. As if some higher power favoured him, the man walked into an alley.
Naruto tried not to grin as he walked in as well and saw the man knocking on a metal door. He slowly walked nearer to the criminal who finally noticed him and glared at him.
"Hey, who the fuck are you?" The man asked, his hand moving to his jacket to grip the gun.
Naruto shrugged. "This place isn't yours alone, pal. Some of us actually pass here to do our shit."
He was ready to kill the man, but he didn't want to have to fight any harder than needed. It still hurt to even walk around.
"Bullshit you go through here." The criminal scowled at him, finally noticing his slightly oriental features. "Wrench don't allow chinks in his turf. "
Naruto inwardly rolled his eyes at the slur. "Don't have much of a choice. Guy's gotta eat somehow."
"Guy can't eat if he loses his life." The man finally brought out a homemade handgun and pointed it at his midsection.
If it wasn't for the makeshift bulletproof vest he wore beneath the clothes, he'd be more afraid of getting shot. Naruto sighed. He was never coming back to Gotham.
"What life?" Naruto pointed at himself, emphasizing the faded, ragged clothes wore. "I got no life, I only have a living. And this is how I make that living."
The man smiled pitilessly and his finger went to the trigger. "And you ain't gon' be living much longer. Wrench gon' give me a good buck for your body, chink."
Click. Naruto, who had already been prepared to feel a bullet slam into his gut, blinked at the same time as the man. The former grinned maliciously when he saw the issue. One of the pieces on the gun's frame had shifted out of place and prevented the hammer from moving properly. The gun had jammed.
"Fucking piece of shit, again?!" The criminal tried to fix the gun, but when he saw Naruto rapidly approaching him, he tried shooting again to no avail and knocked frantically at the door.
"Ben! Fucking open this door, I'm going to die out here, Ben! Open the fuck up!" He screamed at the door. As Naruto got to him, he gave up and tried to run away.
"Oh no, you don't." Naruto grabbed him by the collar and slammed him against the wall before he could shrug off the jacket. He bobbed his head out of the way of the man's desperate headbutt and forced his head into the wall again, stunning him enough to let go of the gun.
The assassin kicked the firearm away and leaned into the man, using force and his own weight to press him further against the wall, a slightly difficult feat considering the man was taller than him. As the criminal tried to elbow him, he grabbed the offending limb and broke it at the elbow, eliciting a pained scream from the man and kneed him in the back of the legs, forcing them to buckle.
'You know, to an outsider, I probably look like I'm getting my Fleece Johnson on.' Naruto thought bemusedly as he drew a knife before raising the man's jacket and stabbing him in the back, making sure the blade slipped in between the vertebral discs. The now paralysed man went down screaming for his life.
"Fuck! You crazy bastard! I can't feel my legs! Someone help!" The criminal writhed in agony and tried to reach for his gun. Ignoring him, Naruto squatted and slashed at the hands that tried to grab him, earning another pained cry for his actions.
"You're lucky you're taller than me." Naruto said, fishing through the man's pockets and taking out everything he found. Three wallets, a phone, finally and a…used condom?
He snickered and brought the filled rubber to the man's face. "Trying to escape child support or don't want a DNA sample in some unlucky lady?"
"Fuck off!" He spat at the boy who blocked it with the knife.
"Definitely the second." Naruto shook his head. "I'm not a fan of that, by the way. It shows a lack of control a human shouldn't possess. I mean, it's not like you'll die if you don't get laid."
The man didn't respond. Naruto sighed and got up. Fuck, squatting was a bad idea, his ribs were practically screaming.
"I was actually going to keep you alive, but you had to go and do that." Naruto feigned pity before grinning. "I'm just joking, I wasn't going to let you live. You saw my face after all."
'Batgirl saw your face and she's still alive.'
He shook his head and slit the man's throat, making sure to sever an artery and got up to look at the door. No displacement on the floor, a sign that it hadn't been opened. Whoever was behind clearly didn't even want to know what was happening outside. Good for him.
He left the alley and went back to the phone booth he'd left before. When he got in, he opened the phone and nodded satisfiedly when he saw the SIM still in.
He closed it and turned it on. When he did, he quickly typed in the league's code again and tried to call again. The line connected without ringing and he spoke again. "Sahara twelve fourteen, Althaelab, need retrieval team as soon as possible. I'm in Gotham downtown, will settle rendezvous point with an agent."
Thankfully, the line didn't go dead but a female automated voice responded. "Please hold on while we transfer you to an agent."
He sighed in relief. Fucking finally, he'd get out of this damned city.
"Speak."
Whatever tension that left him came back immediately. He recognised Talia Al Guhl's voice anywhere and while he was sure the line got encrypted the moment they linked him to the woman, he wasn't in a safe enough place to say her name comfortably.
"Miss Ducard." He greeted her quietly. "That thing you asked for a while ago finally went through. Mister Bolton finally got his application accepted."
"I'm aware."
"Ah, great." He shuffled awkwardly. A part of him already knew Talia would reject his request for an extraction team, the woman seemed to have it out for him since her father commended him in front of her son.
"You're not calling to say you've completed your task. What is it?"
He looked around, making sure nobody was trying to approach him before speaking again. "I've been compromised by Batman and his proteges and can't leave Gotham on my own, I need an extraction group."
Talia didn't respond for a few moments before she spoke again. "That will have to wait. For now, I have another task for you."
Fuck.
Naruto tried not to sound frustrated when he responded. "Is it still in Gotham?"
"Obviously. There's an auction at the Willard Bare house scheduled to start at exactly six o'clock post meridian time. One of the items being auctioned is Caliph Mehmet's cane. Your task is to retrieve it. There'll be a retrieval squad waiting for you from the space of nine o'clock to nine oh five."
She had to be joking. "That's going to be a bit difficult considering I have no equipment, Miss Ducard."
"There should be repercussions for your words, but I'll forgive you this once. Do not forget who you're speaking to, Althaelab."
"Of course, Lady Talia." He scowled. If she wanted to potentially expose him, he'd do the same.
"...In Gotham time, you have four hours to prepare. We'll link you to a bank account, stand by for the number."
After that, the line went quiet again. Naruto leaned his head against the wall of the booth. Why was he even surprised anymore? Ever since the woman took over the branch he was placed in, the tasks he received were often of a difficulty that bordered on suicidal. He didn't know how to prove it, but he was very sure she was trying to get rid of him.
Only four hours to prepare for an auction in uptown Gotham. On top of the high security, he bet his life that at least one vigilante would be watching out for people like him.
He closed his eyes. 'Where there is light, there is shadow.'
In spite of being one sentence, there were surprisingly many interpretations to it, one of which meant there was no place in the world where a shadow could not be found. For him right now, it meant there was no place a shadow couldn't sneak into.
He hoped that saying would hold up for him this evening.
6:16
Batgirl vaulted over an air conditioning unit and leapt across the gap between two buildings. As she landed, she rolled out of the sight of the dynamic duo who glided past her.
'"Take a break, Barbara," he said. "We'll find him when he calls the league," he said.' She scowled at the two. 'Does he think I'm an idiot? They'd have to be able to know it's him somehow and it won't be because he's going to talk about Nanda Parbat.'
Even if she wanted to, she couldn't take a break. Crime never took a break and neither would she. Well, that and she was practically addicted to the vigilante lifestyle. It was the only form of excitement in her otherwise mundane life and opened a door of opportunities for her to meet people she never dreamed of being able to meet in her life.
How many people could brag about playing cards with Superman or having ice cream with Black Canary or being best friends with Supergirl?
Why did it even matter what he said? She wasn't his ward or apprentice, she only took up the name 'Batgirl' out of respect, not because she was supposed to be Batman, but female and younger. He wasn't her boss!
She wasn't even sure if they managed to locate the assassin or not but she didn't plan on following them to find out. For now, she had something else to do.
After a few minutes of parkour and zip lining, she finally reached a rooftop overlooking the Willard Bare house, noticing the lineup of cars ten times the price of her house and the absence of any crimefighter beyond the police. That was good. That was very good.
She learnt from her dad that there was going to be an auction and she was sure Batman and Robin would probably continue their search for the assassin with the same obsessive determination they only got whenever something had to do with the league or The Joker. The point was, they were unlikely to give a shit about the auction.
Which meant the duty of watching over them fell on her. It was only right someone be there to make sure the items didn't get stolen by criminal elements.
Like assassins.
She looked at a closed window and bared her teeth, seeing pearly white, perfectly aligned teeth in the reflection. Teeth only magic could give a person.
The assassin's face still hadn't left her head and for some reason, she couldn't stop her heart from beating harder when she remembered how he looked even when bloodied and drenched in rain and sewage. It was like whoever loath she had for him got washed away with the pain from Zatanna's healing spells.
She didn't even know why she didn't tell Batman she'd seen his face. She was sure the man would be able to find him and she wanted to see him again, this time, not necessarily to have a second round. She just wanted to see his face again, to see if she'd still feel the same way she felt from thinking about it if she met him up close.
Shit, his voice still made her feel some kind. It didn't matter much that he'd been talking about killing her, she wanted to hear him talk again. A part of her hoped Batman got him so she could be able to see him in a cell, maybe try to get closer to him…
'Kara would have a field day if she ever saw me like this.' Batgirl snorted. 'The commissioner of police's daughter infatuated with the homicidal criminal who beat her black and blue two days ago.'
Knowing her friend, she'd ignore the 'homicidal criminal' part and tease her about them going to a boxing ring for their dates.
She glanced at the clock in her vision. Disconnecting from the batcomputer took away most of the features of the cowl, but at least she could still tell what the time was. Six twenty-four. The auction had began.
She took out the grappling hook she used when she first started out and fired it in the direction of a building near the auction house. Hers didn't have the same strength or range as Batman's, but it got the job done and didn't have the same tracker the man installed in all his gadgets.
She reached the next building just in time to see someone quickly unscrewing a vent on the roof. Her eyes narrowed at the sight. He was clad in a dark hoodie and wore dark goggles over a familiar looking mask.
Come to think of it, he even had the same build as the assassin and she could swear the cut on the pants was the same as the one she'd caused by throwing her batarang at…the…assassin.
Her eyes widened. It was him!
Not wasting any more time, she leapt off the edge and grabbed her cape, activating the mechanism that turned it to a glider. As she neared the building, she angled her grappling gun to fire at the edge and disabled the mechanism as she was dragged forward.
It was the unfortunately familiar whirring of a grapple gun that caught Naruto's attention and made him turn around to see Batgirl standing behind him much to his surprise. He was very sure he'd dealt her and her partner enough damage to keep them out of fighting condition for more than two days.
On the upside, she was likely here alone, meaning he had a greater chance of ending this quickly but on the downside, she looked to be back to a hundred percent, unlike him.
"I thought you'd be here with Robin." He raised himself to full height.
"We had to split tonight." Batgirl lied, hiding her excitement at seeing him again. "I thought you'd have skipped Gotham by now."
"It's easier said than done." Naruto shrugged. "Are we really doing this again? The last time didn't go so well for you and even then, you weren't alone."
"I think I should be asking you that." Batgirl smirked. "You look like you should be laying down, not trying to break into an auction house."
Naruto snorted. "If I can stand, I can work. How'd you even get well so fast? You were worse off than me."
Batgirl's smirk widened. "Now that would be telling."
"Figures." Naruto sighed, watching the vigilante carefully while trying to be as alert of his surroundings as he could be.
She didn't seem as eager to attack him as she did last time, but he couldn't put it past her to just be trying to get him to lower his guard or distract him enough for Batman or Robin to sneak up on him.
"I'm surprised you're not attacking me yet." He spoke again. "The last time, you were very eager to maul me."
"I was hoping I could talk you out of doing what you're trying to do and convince you to leave."
He smiled and shook his head. "Believe me, I'd have preferred to talk things out to, but I'm afraid I can't do that this evening."
"Why not?" She asked.
'Because if I go to the rendezvous point without the cane, I'll be killed.'
"Let's just say it's one of those times you have to see things through in spite of not really wanting to." Naruto said. If she wanted to talk, he'd rather not let her ask too many questions about himself. "But enough about me, how are you doing?"
"Still trying to figure out why you let me live."
"There's not much to think of. You're in Batman's group."
"That's not enough reason not to, pal." She frowned at him.
"Call it an act of self preservation." Naruto lied. "Why are you so curious anyway? Most people tend to be thankful for not getting killed."
"Yeah, you're right. But I…you know, I saw your face. I thought you guys weren't into letting people who do that live."
Ah, that. Naruto grinned at her. "Well normally I wouldn't, but you're special."
'Well shit.' Batgirl hoped her cowl covered her blush. "Gee, thanks. I feel warm all over now."
Naruto wasn't very sure if she was being serious or sarcastic. "That's nice to hear. I don't suppose you'll return the favour and take off yours?"
"Nah." She grinned at him. "I would, but I don't take them off till after the fifth date."
Naruto blinked. Was she trying to flirt with him?
Well, he still had a bit of time since the came wouldn't be taken to the display till eight o'clock. "Seeing as how we're meeting on a roof again, I'll assume this is our second one."
"I'd say this is the stage where we decide whether or not to go out." Batgirl shook her head. "You did knock my teeth out of place two days ago before kicking my head like a soccer ball."
"And here you are with perfect teeth and zero concussions. See? Special." Naruto said.
If he thought hers were good, he needed to meet Zatanna. The woman looked like something out of a comic book.
"If you didn't kill people for a living, I'd probably
"You've been awfully chatty for a shadow." Batgirl said. "The only ones I've encountered don't make a sound, not even when you punch them in the face."
"It can't be helped that they can take more pain than you can give." Naruto shrugged again. "Well, it's been nice talking with you but as you can see, I have work to do."
"And that's where we have a problem." Batgirl smiled at him. "I can't let you do that."
"So we'll end up fighting anyway?" He asked tiredly.
"It looks that way." Batgirl stalked closer to him.
"I guess we won't be having that date anytime soon. I'll have to come back for that, then." Naruto tried to ignore the aches as he got into a stance. "I thought you'd be more cautious of throwing the first punch."
"You don't look like you'll even take a pinch." She grinned. She was still rightfully cautious of him, but she didn't think for a moment that he'd win a fight against her as he was without assistance.
She wasn't entirely wrong. Naruto didn't really know if he would win a fight with her in his current state should it come down to it. And it most certainly would.
"You really shouldn't take things as you see them, Batgirl." He said. "I just might be the one to down you with a punch."
"We haven't even started going out and you're already talking about hitting me. That's not going to endear you to me at all." She shook her head.
"I'll make it up to you when next I'm in Gotham." Naruto stepped back as she got closer.
Batgirl bit her lip to hide her eager smile. "When's that going to be?"
'I don't know if she did it on purpose, but that was hot.' Naruto thought. "You'll have to find out, won't you?"
"An unspecified time that might never come up. Got it." She nodded.
The two circled each other slowly before Batgirl once again made the first move by closing in with a lunge. Naruto's eyes widened and he lashed out with a fist, aiming to use her momentum to deliver a knockout blow.
Much to his surprise, she twisted away the fist at the last moment and lowered herself before twirling around on a leg and mule-kicking him in the chest. He coughed and grabbed her leg with both arms before throwing her to the side.
Batgirl couldn't help her grin as she regained her balance and saw him getting closer to her. She raised an arm to block a heavy haymaker and placed the second in the way of his other fist before placing both arms together and lowering them to block a gut punch and raising them again to block another strike headed for her face.
She was forced to spend the next half minute forced to defend against the assassin's barrage as he continued to rain blow after blow on her, determined to wear her out or get past her defenses. It was probably the adrenaline dulling the pain, but while his attacks were still as blindingly fast as before, they were significantly lacking in power now. Maybe he was a lot more weakened than she thought he'd be.
Another punch landed on her arms and dented the armour slightly, getting her to wince at the dull ache. Nope, not weaker at all.
When his attacks finally slowed, she ducked under his next blow and punched him in his side hard, getting a pained bellow from the boy who lashed out with an uppercut that caught her in the chin and sent her stumbling back.
'Jesus, that hurt!". She held back from rubbing her chin.
Naruto hopped away from the girl, wincing as agony pulsed through his side. What was with her and going for the ribs?! "What is it with you and the ribs?"
"It's not as incapacitating as a liver punch, but it hurts people real bad." She lunged at him again and feigned a right hook that got seen through before trying to kick him in the knee. He raised his leg in time for the blow to meet his calf, but she was quick to twirl around him and kick his grounded foot out from under him and as he lost his balance, she hip tossed him.
Naruto grit his teeth as he quickly wrapped his legs around her arm and twisted as much as he could before a pop sounded followed by a pained grunt. Before he could do anything else, she forced herself up and punched him in the face twice, forcing him to let go of her.
Before she got up, he kicked her in the side of her head before spartan kicking her square in the face, pushing her back a small distance and using the force to roll backwards to his feet just as she steadied herself in a surprising show of flexibility.
"You're into gymnastics?" He asked curiously, preparing himself for another round.
"I dabble." Batgirl, who popped her arm back in place, smirked at him.
"Nice."
Without any further words spoken, he rushed at her. The two engaged in furious battle as the skies around them darkened and the lights from the buildings were the only form of illumination they had.
Batgirl had to admit, the guy was a lot better than she gave him credit for. Even though it obviously hurt him to do so, he kept up with her as best as he could, matching her blow for blow and feint for feint. With each moment that passed, she became more certain that had he been at his peak, the fight would have ended a long time ago and she wouldn't be the wimner.
Even Robin wasn't able to keep up with her for this long. While the boy was more skilled and agile than her, he never won when it came down to a battle of attrition, which it usually did. And yet, an injured assassin was still capable of keeping up with her after what felt like a dozen minutes of combat.
No wonder Batman told her she wasn't ready. If this guy wasn't even among the top members, she didn't want to think of what kind of people were in the upper ranks.
Naruto grunted as another fist lodged itself in his gut and headbutted the vigilante before she kicked his legs out from under him and pressed her weight against him, forcing them both to the floor.
He winced inwardly when he saw her straddling him with a fist cocked back. 'Not again.'
He raised a hand in time to catch her fist before it could land on his face and pushed it to the side but wasn't able to block the second fist that came crashing down on him and made him see stars as his head got forced to the ground. 'Fuck!'
This couldn't go on forever. He pushed her forward by bucking his hips and reached for her utility belt with a hand while he struggled to keep her from delivering any more blows like that with the other.
Batgirl's eyes widened when she felt the assassin thrust upwards, forcing her to lay on him as his hand grazed her ass. It felt a lot better than she'd ever admit, but if he thought he could seduce her on a rooftop, he had another thing coming.
"Feeling naughty, aren't we?" She smiled humorlessly at him and tried to wrap her hands around his head to choke him out.
Naruto bobbed his head to the side to avoid the girl's hands as his fingers subtly went around the contents of her belt, opening pouch after pouch for anything useful until he found what felt like pills. No, not pills. They were too large. Pellets.
"Maybe." He grunted out as he stiffened his neck to stop her from forcing him to face her.
"I don't do that until the umpteenth date." She grinned at him before forcing his goggles off, exposing blue eyes and taking the rest of his mask off. "But I might make an exception for you."
She stared at his panicked face, feeling multiple emotions surge through her. Seeing him like this felt even more intense than the first time. "I'm not sure if you get told this by anyone, but you're very good looking."
"Thanks a lot." Naruto scowled at her, upset at being unmasked for a second time by the same person. His fingers slowly drew one of the pellets.
"You can thank me by telling me your name." She grinned at him. "It'll be our little secret."
Her grin looked a bit too rapey for Naruto's comfort. He finally managed to balance one of the pellets between two fingers. Whether it was smoke, a knockout gas or just tear gas, it didn't matter. Anything was better than sticking around with this crazy girl.
He squeezed his eyes shut and held his breath as he crushed the pellet. As soon as he did, a cloud of smoke engulfed them.
Batgirl, having accidentally breathed in the gas, groaned as a wave of dizziness engulfed her and she felt her muscles relax and become numb. She barely felt the assassin push her off and tried to crawl away.
Naruto put his mask and goggles back on and looked at the vigilante who was trying to crawl out of the smoke. It didn't matter if she did or not, inhaling knockout gas meant it was only a matter of time before the pull of sleep became too strong to resist.
Ah, the benefits of being able to hold your breath for minutes on end.
"You took off my mask twice now." He approached the girl. "It's fair I see you as well, don't you think?"
He gently pushed away the girl's sluggish swing and pulled off her cowl, finally seeing her face for the first time.
He was right, she was very attractive. She had bright blue-green eyes, cute freckles and shoulder length, red hair. He always had a thing for redheads and the shape of her face, coupled with her features put her in the perfect middle between cute and sexy.
Nice, very nice. But that wasn't what surprised him, it was the fact that he could attach a name to the face.
Batgirl was Barbara Gordon, the famous commissioner's daughter.
"I don't think your dad approves of you doing this, does he, Miss Gordon?" Naruto asked quietly so as not to waste air. She glared at him impotently as he put her cowl back on for her and dragged her back into the cloud.
He looked at his watch. 7:19. He took off the vent covering and looked back at the girl who still hadn't passed out. It was impressive, really.
"My name's Naruto." He told her and saw her eyes widen. "It won't be of much help to you anyways seeing as how it may or may not be an alias but you'll know which if we get to meet again hopefully under better circumstances."
His words were drawn out and chopped in Barbara's mind but she got the last part. He was coming back?
He watched her eyes roll back and her body slack as she finally went unconscious. He chuckled and looked back into the vent.
"And for the fifth item, the revolver of Slade Higgins, the first mayor of Wonder City, going for two fifty thousand dollars!"
He sighed in relief and looked at the girl again. 'Barbara Gordon, huh. Maybe I'll come back to Gotham afterall. Visit you in the afternoon when you can't attack me.'
"Is there a three hundred thousand among us?"
Well, time to get to work.
Barbara slowly opened her eyes only to shut them again as a bright light threatened to blind her. She placed a hand over her eyes and opened them again to see a lamp hovering above her.
Her eyes widened and she sat upright to look around. Damp walls, chilly, humid air and the familiar smell of guano and urine. The presence of a giant playing card and a robotic tyrannosaurus rex confirmed her worries.
She was in the batcave.
"Well shit." She muttered and got off the bed. Where were Batman and Robin anyways? It wasn't like the latter to miss the opportunity to rub things like this in her face.
"Shit's a giant understatement, Barb."
She sighed and turned around to see the grinning boy. "Dick."
"And Bruce too." Dick pointed at the taller man who stared at her expressionlessly.
"How did you two even find me?" She narrowed her eyes at the two vigilantes.
"Selina called Bruce to come pick you up from the rooftop you were taking a nap on." Dick said. "Turns out there was a giant auction taking place there and she wanted to snatch up a few things before they got put on display."
"I thought she'd have only called you on her way out." Barbara muttered.
"She had to cancel the whole heist because of you." Dick nodded. "You're just lucky she only wants a few hundred thousand dollars and a good dicking from Bruce as compensation."
"Dick." Bruce glared at the boy.
"I'm not wrong, am I?"
"I told you not to go out." Bruce ignored his ward in favour of speaking to Barbara.
"I wasn't going to." She lied. "At least not until I realised you knew how to identify the guy."
Dick puckered his lips and looked away.
"And even if you knew, what would it accomplish?" Bruce retorted. "We would only know it was him if he contacted the league. If he didn't, he'd still be able to slip away."
"Well did he?" She frowned at the man.
"He did." Bruce admitted. "We were planning to intercept him on his way to the rendezvous point, but had to go to the auction house because of you."
Her frown softened. It was honestly touching that they'd abandon something that important in favour of rescuing her. "Oh..thanks, I guess."
"And that brings us to the second matter. How did you even get knocked out?" Dick asked.
"I found the assassin." She said simply. The two males looked at each other.
"And?" Bruce pressed.
"What do you think? We fought, he knocked me out, that's it."
Dick snickered.
"The shadow was the one who stole the cane of Caliph Mehmet." Bruce frowned. "The very same cane Selina was hired to steal."
It spelt Talia all over. Revealing the assassin's planned location for them to capture him or at the very least, occupy him long enough for Selina to steal the cane instead. Eitherway, he would fail. What exactly did she have against this man?
"Yeah…how were you even able to intercept the call or do whatever it is you did to find out where he'd be?" She asked suspiciously.
"I'll be in the pantry." Dick walked away swiftly before Bruce could talk. He wanted no part in Barbara's anger.
Bruce sighed again.
One month later
Naruto swore if he took another sip of tea, he'd die of tannin overdose. But when the little girl offered him another cup with a proud smile on her face, clearly pleased to play waitress, he didn't have the heart to turn her down.
"Thanks so much, Iesha." He smiled at the girl as he took the cup from her and tried not to gag as he inhaled the scented steam. "But you know what'd make uncle Naruto happier than seeing you being so hardworking?"
The girl shook her head. "No, what?"
"You playing with the new toys I got you." He tilted his head in the direction of the gifts he got her before bending down to whisper loudly. "I packed chocolates into the giant robot but don't tell mom and dad, okay?"
The girl squealed excitedly, exposing her missing teeth before running off, leaving him alone with her father, a middle aged man of middle eastern origins who sat facing him.
"You spoil her too much." The man spoke when the girl finally left for her room.
"Unlike you, Omair, I don't believe in teaching kids to make do with less." Naruto said.
"I'm not teaching her to do that, I'm teaching her contentment." Omair argued, causing Naruto to roll his eyes.
"If you say so. But there's a fine line between teaching contentment and just being a stingy dick in her eyes."
"She'll appreciate it in the future."
"Or turn out wayward because she believes there's no point in asking you for anything." Naruto sighed and drank the tea, grimacing as the tannin dried his throat.
"That's how we were raised and we turned out well." Omair argued.
"It sounds so much like you're planning to bring her into the same life you left," Naruto narrowed his eyes at the man. "Is that what it is?"
Omair absently rubbed his chest as he glared at the boy. "You know it's not."
"Then stop thinking that way. You're not in the league anymore." His action didn't escape Naruto's notice. Even if the wound had healed completely, he was sure it would remain fresh in the man's head.
There were ways to gain freedom from the league to an extent. The easiest one was to become too injured to be functional. The ones who experienced this usually got posted to a random place until Lord Ra's found use for them, which more often than not didn't happen.
But there was also a way to get absolute freedom. The kind of freedom where so long as you kept your lips sealed about your past, you had no obligations to the league anymore. But the path to getting that was one most didn't survive.
In order to gain freedom, one would have to survive a single stab from Lord Ra's ceremonial dagger for an hour. It was said that only those with the strongest of spirits were able to live through the experience and the claim wasn't met with skepticism since most of the people who went through the trial either died instantly or lived for a few seconds to minutes before perishing.
The number of people who actually survived could be counted on one hand. Omair was one of them.
"Yes, but it doesn't mean I'm wrong." Omair finally said.
"Sure it doesn't." Naruto gave up. "Why am I even so concerned, it's not my child anyways."
"Because you still care about people, that's one thing about you that'll never go away." Omair said.
"I like to think of it as my kindness being selective." Naruto shook his head.
The two spent a few moments in comfortable silence before Omair spoke again. "It's not that I'm not happy to see you, but what exactly are you doing here?"
"Yeah." Naruto scratched his chin. "I kind of need a place to crash for the next few days till I leave the continent."
"What happened?" Omair frowned. "You didn't go rogue, did you?"
"No, no. It's, err, let's just say it was a unanimous agreement that it's for the best if I disappear for a while." Naruto smiled halfheartedly. "I'd tell you the whole thing but…"
"The less I know, the better." Omair shrugged. "Works for me."
"Yeah, I was hoping I could stay with you till I got in touch with some people and found myself a place I can go to without getting tracked."
"I'm sorry, Naruto, but you can't stay here." Omair said. "It's not that I can't let you stay, but Tallulah, well, you know how she is."
His wife disliked the fact that he and Naruto were still in contact at all. In her eyes, he was an unrepentant killer who had no business being in the same room as her family. Naruto himself didn't care much of what she thought of him and ignored her whenever they met.
Naruto rolled his eyes. "You should try snapping her out of that if you don't want her mouthing off to someone with a shorter fuse than mine."
"I'm trying, Naruto. I really am." Omair chuckled tiredly. "But she's as stubborn as a mule."
"Well, that was pretty much it." Seeing no reason to stay any longer, Naruto got up. "Take care of Iesha, okay?"
"If it's a house you're looking for, there's one I used to use as a safehouse whenever I needed to disappear for a while." Omair said quickly.
"Really? Where is it?"
"Gotham City."
Naruto sighed. At least he'd get to see Barbara again, hopefully.
Barbara frowned when the stream of flavoured milk flowing into her mouth got replaced with loud slurping. She shook her cup and was rewarded with the sound of ice cubes rolling around in empty plastic.
"Damn, it's empty." She set the cup on the table with a sigh.
The girl sitting opposite her grinned. "No shit, Gordon. You downed a zero degree milkshake in one go without getting brain freeze. They ought to take a picture of you and put it on a gold frame."
"They only take pictures of you going through brain freeze, Jenifer." Barbara rolled her eyes at the amazed looks she got from the employees, especially the one who already had a camera out.
"Must be all that heat you're packing in your head that's keeping you from suffering the same fate as us dullards." Jenifer faked sorrow.
"Packing heat?" Barbara gave her friend an amused look.
"Yeah, packing heat. All that knowledge in there." Jenifer rubbed her own head. "Just skittering around, causing friction. No lube in between them. Sets your mind on fire."
Barbara raised an eyebrow. "Lube?"
"Yeah, lube. Something to prevent you from burning out." Jenifer nodded. "I mean an extracurricular activity you do outside of school so you don't wind up unable to talk about anything that doesn't involve academics."
'I fight crime every night as Batgirl.' Barbara smiled at her friend. "What do you suggest then, oh wise one."
She already knew what her friend would say when the girl smiled impishly.
"Get a-"
"No." Barbara signalled a waiter for another milkshake.
"Oh come on, at least let me finish." Jenifer pouted.
"I already know what you'll say and you know what my answer's going to be. Thanks." Barbara smiled at the waiter who smiled back and walked away.
She took the serviette off the cup and saw a number written on it. She shook her head and rubbed the paper on the cup, letting the condensation blur the digits. What a charmer he was.
Jenifer noticed her and scoffed. "Honestly, Gordon. You'll die alone at this rate."
"I'm only twenty, Jen." Barbara shook her head. "What's with you and playing matchmaker anyways?"
"I'm just looking out for you, Gordon." Jenifer shrugged. "Okay, let's be honest now. Do you have anyone, and I mean anyone you have your eye on?"
Barbara sighed, but humored her friend. "Yeah. There's one."
Jenifer's eyes widened. "Really? Who?"
Barbara didn't respond. What did it matter if the girl knew? Naruto wasn't in Gotham anyway and she doubted he'd be coming back anytime soon if ever.
Unlikely as it was though, she hoped he came back to Gotham. She wanted to see him again.
"Doesn't matter." She shook her head and went down on her milkshake.
Jenifer scowled at her. "Oh, you don't get to pull that with me, Gordon. Who is it?"
Sluuuuuurp, Barbara stared at her friend who's scowl deepened. She knew the girl hated the sound.
"Oh fuck you." Jenifer folded her arms.
Barbara grinned and signalled a waiter for another one. "I can't help that they're so good. You should have brought me here a long time ago."
"Not that I see it, I wish I never brought you here. You'll probably walk out with diabetes at this rate." Jenifer shook her head at her friend.
"I just won't get diabetes." Barbara shrugged. "You said it, I'm nothing like the rest of you."
"Sure thing, Gordon." Jenifer said. "Sure thing. But that doesn't mean y-"
The girl was interrupted by the waiter dropping a new cup in front of Barbara who smiled up at the person. "Thanks. You know, at this rate, I might give you a really…big…"
She trailed off in her shock as the person's appearance registered in her head. There was only one person other than Kara who had bright yellow hair and blue eyes.
"It's nice to meet you again, Barbara." Naruto grinned at her. "Not going to introduce me to your friend?"
I initially meant for this to be the next chapter of the DC's women oneshot but I got tired of writing it and decided not to just delete it and let it go to waste, so I posted it as a separate story. I might continue it if I get an idea or find motivation, but who knows.
For now, I'm just going to focus on the reading story. I might get it out next weekend or during the week, depends.
Peace.