"Ready?" Bruce asked me as I walked back into the augmented reality chamber. The floor was soft under my bare feet; it would still hurt to hit the mat, but it had a little spring in the floor to prevent from broken cheek bones. I hoped nothing got that intense today.
"Ready," I answered, checking the tape on my knuckles. I was as ready as I was going to be. I looked up to a camera in the corner of the room. I knew Dick was watching me on the monitors in the Bat Cave, but I shook my head and looked away from the camera; he didn't have to know I was thinking of him. I wasn't thinking of him. I needed to focus on the simulations. Today would be some of my greatest trials. Bruce would stay in the AR chamber with me and coach me through fights. I needed to prove my mettle today.
"Alfred, initiate phase one. Let them progress as she completes them. No breaks," Bruce called. The lights dimmed and one burley but unarmed attacker appeared in front of me.
"Just one, Bruce?" I asked as I sunk into my fighting stance.
"We're focusing on technique today," he said, his arms at his side as he watched. "Dispatch him. Don't kill him, but ensure he won't get up again." I nodded, my eyes meeting the AR figure. "Begin."
As soon as he said it, the AR man rushed me. He reared his fist back and I raised my arm, blocking his strike with an interlocking forearm and countering with a jab. His weight shifted to his back leg, and I brought my right arm against his collarbone and pushed as my calf wrapped around his, sweeping the leg out from under him. He crashed down to the ground and I pivoted on the ball of my foot, raising my opposite heel in the air as high as I could and dropping an axe kick on his head. He wasn't getting up after that.
The AR figure dissolved. Another appeared, but this one was holding a baseball bat. He rushed me and I attempted the exact same move, but this time grabbed his bat with my left hand as the right arm pushed him to the ground. I saw no need to alter my finishing move once he was disarmed and on the ground, so I axe kicked him and his figure dissolved.
Now three attackers appeared, two with bats and one unarmed. I let out a breath as I sunk back into fighting stance. I lunged towards the first man with a weapon and delivered a swift heel of my palm to his nose, hooking under his elbow with my other arm and turning him around. I pushed him towards the unarmed man and the two fell to the ground, giving me a temporary moment to deal with the other armed man. As the short swing of the bat came at me, I blocked it with my forearm then let my arm slide down to grasp it in my palm. I pushed the heel of my right hand against his elbow, causing a break in the arm that dropped the bat. I reared the bat around my head and struck him with the neck of the bat in the head, knocking him down as I dropped the bat. The other two men were back on their feet. I ran at one and threw my weight against him in a kick that landed squarely on his chest, propelling me into the air. I raised my knee and it hit the other man square in the jaw, dropping him to the ground. I landed over him, bent over his body, and turned to look for the third body. He didn't get up. The figures dissolved away. None reappeared.
"You fight well," Bruce noted as he stepped casually towards me, "but inefficiently. See if you are able to expend less energy in dispatching them. Use their body weight to propel you."
"Okay," I panted out. The same three men rematerialized in front of me. I let out a quick burst of breath as I waited for them to approach me. The first ran at me with his bat, but I leaned forward towards his opposite shoulder and pushed, turning him in a dazed circle, as the unarmed man came forward with arms outstretched to grab me. I allowed him to, and rolled down onto my back, flipping him over me using his momentum. I rolled back over top of him, my knees straddled over his abdomen, and used the momentum of the roll to lift his head off the ground just a bit before slamming it back to the floor. One down. The second armed man was approaching quickly, and I turned on my left knee, getting my right foot below me, as I punched his stomach. He keeled over, but still held his bat, until I thrust upwards, grabbing his shoulders to aid in my standing, and knocked his head with my knee. He and the bat dropped to the floor. The first man returned with his bat and swung at me, a swing harder than I was comfortable with blocking on my forearm. I dodged, moving backwards as I sucked in a breath. But there was a pause in his attack that felt palpable. I raised my arm and casually punched him square in the nose as my other hand grabbed his bat from his hand, breaking it in two over my knee. I finished him off with a front kick to his abdomen that knocked him back and down. They dissolved and it ended.
"Better," Bruce nodded. I let out a breath.
"Wish I had this kind of practice room at home," I laughed, "beats the folks at the community center."
"I want you in here as often as you can," Bruce nodded. "If I'm not around, have Alfred let you in. I don't want you out on the streets until I know you can handle it."
"I can handle it," I nodded as I panted. He eyed me skeptically, but I held his gaze.
"Alfred," he finally called, "skip to phase 8."
"Are you sure?" Alfred called over a speaker.
"She can handle it," Bruce answered with a smile. I smiled as I settled back down into my fighting stance. Three armored men appeared, all with knives. This round would be a little trickier…
As the first came at me, I grabbed his wrist before he could slice down at me and put him in an arm bar, then raised my knee to break the elbow. I threw him aside on the ground and prepared as the next charged me. I blocked his knife slice with my left forearm and hooked my right fist into his stomach, then grabbed his knife holding wrist and pressed it back until it snapped. The knife fell out of his hands and he dropped to the floor. One left. He charged me and sliced down left, across, then up right; I dodged each in turn, and when the knife was high again, I grabbed the arm holding the dagger and pulled his wrist back towards me, his elbow buckling and breaking. I swept my ankle around his and dropped him to the ground, and axe kicked him in the head for good measure. I looked back to Bruce to see his impression. He nodded with a curt smile.
"You shouldn't have given that last one a chance at cutting you," he noted. I stood up straight and nodded.
"I'll get better," I assured him. He nodded back, scanning me. The lights came on in the room in full. The simulations were over.
"Use their weight against them. And I've seen how high you can kick; you don't use it enough in combat," he said as he turned to go.
"Anything else?" I asked.
"Use your body more," an answer came, but it wasn't from Bruce. Dick hurried into the room in sweatpants and a tight black shirt, wrapping his wrists hurriedly. As he passed Bruce, he gave a playful smile. Bruce stopped in his tracks and watched Dick approach me.
"Excuse me?" I asked.
"You fight with your extremities," he explained. "An arm blocks, a leg kicks, a fist punches… a couple times in there, you used your whole body to disarm someone or pin them. Not only does that make you better, but when you do it it'll stun your opponents."
"Stun them?" I asked as he checked his wrist wrappings and reached me. His black hair hung over his forehead as he looked at me with icy blue eyes.
"A chick like you straddling them? They'll be hopeless," he explained quietly. I felt my cheeks flush red as I looked past him to Bruce. He didn't say a thing; he just watched Dick and I. Maybe to see how I'd handle him hectoring me? Or to see if I'd flirt back?
"I think they'll be pretty hopeless regardless," I said, pushing past his shoulder and walking towards Bruce.
"Try it," he suggested behind me. I stopped and slowly turned back to him. "Try it on me," he smiled flirtatiously.
"You're not serious," I shook my head.
"Think I can't handle it?" he asked. I rolled my eyes and turned away, trying to formulate an excuse. "Or are you afraid you can't?" I met his eyes again and his smile turned from flirtatious to mischievous. I couldn't help but smile back. I lowered into a fighting stance, and he pivoted back, preparing for me. "I'm going to try to punch you. You will jump onto me, wrap your legs around me, and force me to the ground for a takedown." I sucked in a breath, and he started rushing towards me. I ran at him and leapt, my legs around him. My momentum and weight hit the top half of his body. I heard the air leave his lungs as he fell backwards, and I landed softly on my toes with my elbow cocked to punch as he slammed onto his back. "Good," he said, regaining his breath quickly and seeming a little too happy. I stood and stepped away from him. "Again," he insisted.
"You sure?" I asked as he stood. "That didn't look to comfy for you."
"Don't worry about me," he smiled. "You should be worried about you."
"I'm not worried," I smiled back. He ran at me again and I tried the same move, but this time his body weight turned as my legs wrapped around him and the momentum carried us to the floor. This time, though, it was my back that slammed into the ground. I let loose a grunt of discomfort as I felt his knees collect under him.
"From here, I can grab your shoulders and slam you into the ground again," he panted out. "If you'd been a bit faster, you could have rolled me over you…"
"That so?" I panted out, ready to prove myself.
"Yeah, but now you're pretty…" Before he could finish his thought, I pressed my hips up and to the right, rolling him to his side as I threw my weight over him. But he sensed my movement and we rolled again. I knew I wouldn't get to stay on top of him in this position and maintain control, so on the final roll I unhooked my left ankle from his back and slid off him into a low lunge. He rushed into a low lunge off the floor and met my eyes. For a brief moment, we each considered laughing and stopping the fight then. But we knew that wasn't going to happen. We sprang upwards and I thrust a kick up at his face, but he caught my ankle and held it at his shoulder level, thinking it would destabilize me. He was wrong. I punched him in the stomach and he keeled forward just enough for me to launch myself onto his shoulders, which forced him down to his knees. I pushed myself off his back and pushed his shoulders forward towards the floor. As I flipped back onto my feet, he flipped forward onto his. He smiled mischievously at me, this time waiting for my approach. I ran at him, preparing for him to block a typical punch or kick. I jabbed left, but brought my right hand forward to grab his arm. He anticipated my arm bar, though, and not only blocked my jab but grabbed my wrists and crossed my arms in front of my chest. I pushed outward, dispelling the lock and pushing away, but he came in on me again with a roundhouse kick. I blocked the kick and grabbed his ankle, pulling towards me. The split didn't seem to bother him, and he used the nearer position to grab my waist and pull me to the ground with him. I rolled onto my side and elbowed him in the side as I did so, but he reached over his torso to grab my shoulders, keeping me in a vulnerable position. I realized resisting the grab was pointless, so I planted my wrists at my side and flipped backwards in a somersault over him, landing low at his side as rolled into a plank position. I launched myself forward towards him, rolling him back onto his back and straddling him with my knees planted at his sides and my hands holding his arms down.
He didn't resist. He looked up at me with serious eyes, his black hair sweaty as it dangled over his brow and he panted up at me. "See?" he breathed out. "Hopeless." I laughed a little under my breath, but was very conscious of Bruce's presence in the room. I looked up to see him watching us. He nodded thoughtfully.
"Get in here as often as you can, Barbara," he shouted. I sat up and watched him turn his back and leave.
"I will," I answered as the door closed behind him. I sat there a moment, hoping he wasn't too disappointed in my performance.
"Not to disrupt your thoughts or anything," Dick said, drawing my attention back to the fact that I was sitting on top of him in a fairly suggestive position, "but I am much more of a top."
"Not from where I'm sitting," I said with a curt smile. Something about him was magnetic. I knew I shouldn't be teasing and flirting with him, but it felt impossible not to. I stood and reached my hand down to help him up. He smiled at the gesture and laughed a little under his breath. "Fine," I said, turning and starting to walk away. But he grabbed my hand at the last moment and pulled himself up, forcing me to counter my own weight being pulled down. I staggered closer to him in the moment and caught myself by placing a hand on his chest. He stood tall in front of me, and our bodies were so close we could kiss. His cool breath hit my cheeks, cooling my sweat. The beads of sweat on his face seemed to amplify how blue his eyes were.
"You're getting there," he smiled at me. "Just need a little more practice."
"And I'm sure you think you're the one to teach me," I suggested. He shrugged slightly, his eyes scanning down my body quickly before returning to meet my gaze.
"I'm always up to roll around on the floor with you. Just call," he laughed. I chuckled slightly and pressed away from his chest as I turned to go. But he held onto my hand. I'd almost forgotten he was holding it. I turned back to face him as his grip softened and his fingers clasped around my palm. He had a slight smirk that he tried to hide. "Wanna get a drink tonight?" I blushed and turned away a moment, smiling to myself. I turned back and met his eyes again, those icy blue eyes that cooled me off in an instant. I smiled widely.
"Oh, Dick," I answered, my fingers tightening around his hand, "you really are hopeless." I laughed to myself and turned away, pulling back my hand and heading for the door.
"You owe me a few rounds, remember?" he called after me in a confident tone. I smiled to myself as I reached the door.
"I don't owe you anything," I laughed over my shoulder as I left the room. I could almost hear him smiling as the door closed behind me.