Chapter 2 – Inque to the Rescue
Terry McGinnis had been patrolling as Batman when a familiar-looking scimitar had sliced into the Batcar. Curaré was back. And he was fighting her. She had gotten a lot stronger, too.
One moment, the blue-skinned assassin had been in front of him, and the next she was not. A faint sound behind him caused him to whirl around. The molecule-wide blade was sweeping towards his head …
A thick cord of liquid-like substance curled around the hilt of the scimitar and wrenched at it. The blow went wide, and the scimitar scored a thin gash across his chest instead of taking his head off. The suit shorted out.
Inque and Curaré grappled for another few seconds before a second black tendril whacked the latter in the side. This gave Inque all the advantage she needed. She yanked the sword right out of Curaré's hands and tossed it away. It landed point-down in the grass, embedding itself for more than half its length.
Inque pulled back and resumed her human form. Curaré stared at her for a moment or two before turning and fleeing. The scimitar was left behind. Inque snaked out a tendril and pushed it all the way into the ground. Then she wrenched the protruding hilt off.
"That was easy enough," she commented airily. She glanced at the masked man she knew only as Batman. He was staring at her, in wonder but also cautiously. He obviously thought she was going to turn on him any moment.
"You died," he said finally.
Inque did not respond. She watched the blood trickle from Batman's wound for a moment. It was narrow, but quite deep. "If you keep thinking I'm going to attack you," she said finally, "you'll bleed to death before I get the chance."
Terry glanced down at the bleeding cut. That could have been my head. "Thanks, I suppose," he told Inque carefully.
Inque smiled when Batman thanked her. Just a small indulgence. "Just as long as you don't try to freeze me, electrocute me, dissolve me or wash me away, I won't harm a hair on your head," she offered coolly.
He stared at her. "I'm not back for revenge. Not on you, at any rate," she said calmly. She glanced absentmindedly at the nails on one hand, sitting down on a nearby bench. "Curaré, however … did you know she had to eliminate the entire Society of Assassins because you foiled her mission? The Society does not condone failure. Any who fail a task becomes marked for death."
After a short hesitation, Batman sat down beside her, trying vainly to stem the bleeding. "How did you know?" he asked her.
"A long time ago, I thought of joining them. That particular rule turned me right off," Inque replied. She glanced at him again. "I think that's enough for one night. Whoever you are, get yourself to the hospital." Without waiting for a response, she faded away into the shadows.
Inque wondered where Deanna lived. Her daughter no longer owned their old house. And judging by the rate at which she spends, Inque had no doubt Deanna had spent most, if not all, of the money she had in her bank accounts.
"Deanna, Deanna," she murmured under her breath as she entered an alley. "After all I have given you, how could you turn out like this? Even if it was just money …" She saw a familiar-looking figure silhouetted in a window two floors above. The lights in the particular apartment went off, but Inque had seen enough. Morphing into a flat creeping shadow, she oozed up the fire escape to the window, slipping through a small gap left open.
Inque resumed her human form in the small apartment. Deanna was fast asleep on the bed. She stood there and looked at her daughter. Tears started to well up in her eyes, but she suppressed them.
The lock on the main door clicked. Inque jerked around, preparing to shapeshift. The door swung open with the faintest of creaks. A man, dressed like the personal crony of a rich man, entered cautiously, a gun ready in his hand.
Without hesitation, Inque struck, swift and silent. She became a web of tentacles. One curled around the man's gun hand and pinned it to the wall. At the same time, the others started beating him right and left. The hitman let out a single yell before Inque's assault sent him crumpling to the ground.
Deanna sat up and tumbled out of bed, groping for the light switch. She snapped the lights on. Inque clouted the man over the head, and he passed out. Deanna screamed and ran for the window that led to the fire escape.
"Deanna!" Inque called as Deanna vaulted out of the window and started off down the fire escape. She ran to the window, only to see a terrified Deanna taking off across the main street outside the alley.