No One's P.O.V
Bruce was starting to get worried. Melody had left to get some fresh air over ten minutes ago. He had won the auction for the ruby penguin like he planned. Three other people had bid on it and he made a mental note of their numbers. He could correlate those later with the names reserved for those numbers.
The auction was still going on but the main reason why he was there was now done. He looked around him. Melody should be back right now. That's when an empty spot caught his attention across from him.
Oswald Cobblepot was gone. Bruce had a bad feeling in his gut. Melody wasn't back yet and now Oswald was gone. Was this just a coincidence? Bruce stood up from his seat and made his way out of the room.
He pulled out his cell phone and dialed Melody's number as he walked outside. He froze when he heard a cell phone buzzing. He slowly turned his head towards the noise.
He cautiously walked closer to a concrete pillar. Bruce felt his body go numb as he stared at Melody's phone laying on the ground. He ended the call on his phone and bent down to pick up hers.
Bruce's jaw tighten at the thought of Melody getting taken. This was Rachel all over again. No…he wouldn't allow history to repeat itself. He was going to get to Melody in time.
He knew exactly where to go find her. It was no longer a coincidence. Oswald is the Penguin. He'd be heading back to the nightclub.
Bruce walked behind the valet podium and found his marked car keys. Penguin was going to pay for taking her.
Melody's P.O.V
My eyes fluttered open and I felt a dull ache on the side of my temple. What happened? Memories of getting hit by Penguin's umbrella came back to me.
Right. He knocked me out. Despite appearance, Penguin was a lot stronger than I took him for. What was that umbrella made of anyway? It felt like I was getting hit by an aluminum bat.
I looked around. I was being held in a small room with no windows or furniture. My hands were zip tied around the back of a wooden chair. No metal huh? I then looked down at myself. My suit still fully covered me but I could see water droplets run down the metal. I frowned, had they been continuously dowsing me while I was unconscious?
"Look who's awake." Penguin said as he walked in through the door. He closed it behind him and stood in front of me.
"What is that umbrella you carry? It's a gun and hits as hard as an aluminum bat." I questioned.
Penguin beamed a look of pride, "Oh this old thing? I had them made like this. I have a whole slough of these babies. They all do something different. I have the same question about your suit? What's it made out of?" He asked. He lifted up his umbrella and used the tip of it to tilt my chin up.
"Couldn't tell you. It's not from earth. The person that manufactured my suit use materials found from an asteroid." I half lied.
Penguin set down his umbrella and began to laugh in hysterics. He had a grin on his face and finally calmed down enough to talk.
"You're telling me that you're wearing a spacesuit? That's rich. You know, Voltess. I like you much more than the bat. You're personable and you crack jokes. I watched your fight with Morozov. I would have paid money to see that fight again." Penguin chuckled with a smirk.
"I don't get why Cyclone wants you dead so badly, but he's not here. I know you and Batman caught him the other night. Gotham PD managed to transfer that decompression chamber to Arkham Asylum." Penguin informed me.
"Cyclone and mine's history is complicated." Penguin laughed again.
"You can say that again. He told me his whole spiel. He belongs in Arkham. Right next to the clown." I frowned at that. Clown? What clown?
"So huh…what's exactly your plan here? You really think this can hold me for long?" I asked curiously.
"Like I said before, you're the bait for the bat. We've been dumping a bucket of water over your head every fifteen minutes to make sure your powers don't come back." So they were dumping water on me constantly.
"One flaw about your plan though, chief. Batman doesn't know I'm here or that you took me. I was alone tonight, remember?" I reminded the mob boss.
Penguin smirked, "Oh he'll be here. I don't think it was a coincidence you appeared so suddenly tonight. You want to know what I think?" I said nothing and watched as Penguin paced back and forth.
"I think both you and Batman were at the auction tonight. I know that cop ratted me out and he won't be doing that again. I had my guys shut him up…permanently." My blood boiled knowing he meant that rookie Martin told me about was now dead. A sick kid just lost his dad.
"You and Batman knew I would be there. So you two snuck in by using your secret identities. I don't know who you or Batman really are behind these masks, but Batman will notice that you're suddenly missing. It won't take him long to connect the dots and when he does…we have a surprise in store for him." Ryan never told him my identity? I thought for sure he would have.
"What surprise?" I asked with an edge to my voice.
Penguin's smirk grew, "I wouldn't worry too much about that, sweetheart. You'll be following him to the afterlife shortly after him. It shouldn't be long now. Sit tight." He laughed as someone on the other side opened the door.
"Watch her." Penguin ordered as he left. Two men walked in and one had a bucket.
I flinched back slightly as the guy with the bucket threw the water on me.
"Thanks…you know you could have just told me that I smell." I quipped. The two men said nothing and remained stoic. The guy with the empty bucket down in front of him.
A tense and awkward silence filled the room, "You guys aren't much talkers…are you?" No response, "Got it. The quiet brooding types." I said with a nod.
Okay, I need to start planning an escape here. I can't use my powers for obvious reasons but I could still fight. I could easily break the chair but my hands would still be tied. My eyes flickered down to my legs. A smirk grew on my face. My ankles weren't bound. I could work with that.
I glanced at the empty bucket in front of one of the men. It was within reach of my foot. Yeah, this could work. Now to get their guards down.
"So… nice weather we've been having recently right? It's been perfect. No clouds, sunny all day, a nice breeze." The men glanced at me. They're hard ones to crack.
"What are your guys' names?" I looked back and forth between the two. They were staring at me now but still silent. Getting closer.
"Not going to tell me? Okay I'll name you with the frown, Grumpy and I'll name you Bucket. You know, since you brought in the bucket." Grumpy and Bucket tilted their heads at me.
I could see annoyance on Grumpy's face. He's the one to target.
"How was your day, Grumpy? Was it that bad? Is that why you're frowning?" I asked him. I could see his upper lip begin to twitch. Almost there.
"Getting some fresh air always lifts my mood. You should try i-"
"Shut. Up." Grumpy finally broke.
"Well that's rude. I was just offering some friendly advice." Grumpy let out a growl.
He pulled out a switchblade and walked closer, "I said shut up, bitch."
I didn't have time to rebuttal when all three of us heard what sounded like fighting come from outside. Bruce. He's here.
I noticed Grumpy and Bucket were now distracted. Now's my chance. I kicked the bucket backwards so my right foot would stick inside it. Grumpy went to grab me but I quickly launched the bucket from my foot to hit his head.
It disoriented him enough for me to jump up in the air. I turned my body so I would land on the wooden chair. The chair broke instantly from the force. My back was now lying flat on the wet ground.
Bucket now made a rush for me. I quickly crunched up and swiped his feet out from under him. I twisted my body around until I had one leg crouched and my other leg was extended.
"Sorry to cut this short but my friend's here." Grumpy snapped out of his daze and came at me with his switchblade.
I stood up and leaned backwards to avoid the swipe of the knife. I needed the blade to stay intact to cut the zip tie. I brought my knee up and nailed Grumpy in the groin.
He immediately recoiled from the impact and dropped the knife. Bucket was now up and grabbed a beat stick from his belt loop.
I dove forward in a roll to dodge Bucket's swing and grabbed the knife on the ground as I rolled over it. I quickly flipped the knife in my hand and put the edge of the blade to the zip tie.
Bucket and Grumpy both recovered and rushed at me again. I cut through the zip tie and dropped the knife at the same time.
I swung a right hook onto Bucket's face and reeled back my arm to elbow Grumpy in the jaw. I grabbed Grumpy by his arm and flipped him over my shoulder.
Once he was down, I kneeled down and delivered one swift punch to his face. His body went limp signaling he was knocked out.
I felt a hit and pain radiate from my back from where Bucket hit me with the beat stick. I turned around to see Bucket raise his arm for another hit.
I quickly grabbed the beat stick and used my left elbow to hit him in the chin. The blow caused Bucket to relinquish his hold on the weapon. I then swung my right hand and the beat stick made contact with Bucket's head. I could hear a cracking sound as it did so. Bucket's body slumped to the floor.
I dropped the beat stick and headed for the door. I could still hear fighting, yelling, and gun fire coming from outside.
I opened the door and looked around my surroundings. I was on the second floor of a club. Penguin's nightclub. My attention was soon caught above me.
I looked up to see Bruce in his Batman suit on top of the catwalk. There were currently five guys he was fighting. Three behind him and two in front of him. I could see that more reinforcements were coming.
My eyes quickly searched for a way to get up to the catwalk. I found the ladder towards the back. Without a second thought I bolted for the ladder.
Penguin's men were too busy trying to get to Batman to even notice me. I jumped as I neared the ladder and grabbed hold. I started to climb up and hoisted myself onto the catwalk.
I got on just in time to see Batman knock four out of the five guys off the catwalk. He punched the fifth one and went to throw him over the railing. Before the guy went over, he grabbed Batman's cape. The sudden momentum caused Batman's lower back to hit the railing and flip over it.
I broke out into a sprint seeing as he was able to grab hold of the bottom of the catwalk with one hand. He kicked off the guy that was holding onto his cape.
He tried to pull himself up but I saw he was slipping. I dove and slid against the metal grating of the catwalk. Just as Batman lost his grip, I quickly reached out my right and grabbed his hand. I got lurched forward and had to grab the supporting railing from the ceiling with my left hand so I didn't go over.
Batman snapped his head up and I could see his eyes widening seeing that I was the one that caught him.
My teeth were clenched as my tired muscles struggled to keep him from falling. Between him and his suit it was too much for me to try and pull him up with one arm.
"Pull yourself up! You're too heavy!" I yelled out with a strained voice. I felt my arm get pulled as Batman started to pull himself up.
"Aaahh." I grunted in pain. I shut my eyes beneath my mask feeling the pain radiating through the muscles in my right arm. I kept hold of Batman's hand despite the pain.
Batman reached up with his other hand which let me be able to grab him now with both hands. He was able to pull himself up fully back onto the catwalk.
He looked at me where my eyes were through my mask. I could see the worry and relief in his eyes.
"Are you okay?" He asked through his Batman synthesized voice.
I nodded, "I'm fine." I felt the catwalk vibrate as more of Penguin's men climbed up.
Both of us stood up and were now back to back, "Can you fly us out of here?" I heard him ask.
"Can't, Penguin made sure to keep me shorted out." I held my fists in front of me as the men were almost on top of us.
"Looks like we're fighting our way out then. You got my back?" I smirked from behind my mask.
"As long as you got mine." I said back.
"Always." I could practically hear the smirk on this man.
I got rushed at by multiple guys. It helped that the catwalk thinned out their numbers by making them come at us single file. I focused on mainly what I was doing while completely trusting Batman to cover my back.
I did a lot of punching, elbowing, and slamming heads into the metal railing before sending them over the catwalk. I then heard sounds of a semi-automatic rifle being fired. It was coming from Batman's side.
I did a quick one over my suit. It's dry now. I need that kinetic energy from the gun!
"Swap places!" I yelled as I punched and threw over another guy.
"What for?!" I heard Batman yell back.
"I need my suit to take the hits from the bullets. It stores kinetic energy and I need that right now to charge back up!" I informed him.
I heard the gun fire from behind me, "Do it now then!" He ordered.
I sent another guy over the railing before jumping onto the railing myself.
I use both hands to grab the supporting railing. I swung myself over and landed where Batman was just standing. I jumped down in the way just in time for the hails of bullets to make contact with the vibranium.
I stood still until the man with the rifle realized what was happening. He stopped firing and stared at me. My suit was probably giving off a bluish hue at this point from the charge.
"Suit is fully charged, Mel." That was music to my ears. I smirked under my mask.
"Playtime's over, fellas!" Blue electricity sparked around my body. My body once again felt energized as my electricity pulsed through it.
"You might want to duck." I said loud enough for Batman to hear.
Electricity engulfed both of my hands. I put my arms out on either side of me as Batman kneeled down on the catwalk. Streams of electricity shot out to the men coming at us.
I channeled more power through my arms as I raised them up. The men caught by the stream began to float above the catwalk.
I clenched my teeth together and coursed more electricity through my arms. The more people or heavier the object the more power it took to magnetize and levitate them.
I checked both sides and I could see that all of them were now over the height of the side railing. I flung my arms back and canceled both streams. The momentum caused all of the men that were on the catwalk to be sent flying off.
I lowered my arms and began to pant heavy breaths from the amount of power I just had to use. Batman stood up and grabbed his grapple gun from his belt.
He wrapped his left arm around my waist and pulled me towards him. His right hand with the grapple gun pointed straight up. There was a glass ceiling above us. Part of it was already broken. More than likely that's how Batman got in.
"Hang on." He stated. I felt his grip around me tighten and I heard the popping sound of the grapple gun going off.
I wrapped my arms around his armored torso as I felt my feet leave the catwalk. We shot up to the roof of the nightclub.
I felt my feet make contact with the gravel of the roof. The sound of a car engine filled the night air. Both Batman and I released our holds and rushed to the edge of the roof.
I saw a white car start to drive away. My vision zoomed in and I could see Penguin in the backseat.
"That's Penguin." I informed him.
Batman quickly grabbed something from his belt. He reeled back his arm before throwing it at an upward angle. I watched as the small device he threw landed on the roof of the car. It's a tracker.
Feeling that we were in the clear for now. I let the vibranium mask recede to my neck.
I turned around to face Batman to say something but I got interrupted. I felt Bruce's lips on mine in a feverish kiss. My eyes immediately closed and I placed my hands flat against his armored chest while his arms went around my waist.
I could feel the end of the nosepiece of the cowl dig into my own nose. I didn't care in the slightest. I kissed Bruce back just as feverishly as he was. I felt his grip around me tighten in response.
We both broke the kiss and we rested our heads together. Both of us breathing heavily from the fight that just happened and the lack of air.
I opened my eyes and pulled back my head slightly. We locked eyes and Bruce raised one gloved hand to my cheek.
"Did they hurt you?" He whispered with his natural deep voice. He must have turned it off when I dropped my mask.
"Aside from my head, I'm fine." I could see Bruce's eyes narrow from under the mask.
I felt him gently use the hand already on my face to turn my head. I unwillingly flinched when I felt his fingers touch my temple where Penguin had hit me twice.
Bruce froze and his jaw tensed up. I could see the anger in his eyes.
"Who did this?" He practically growled out.
"Penguin." Bruce turned his head and glared at the direction the car had disappeared to.
Distant police sirens could be heard. From what I could see on the roof, the flashing red and blue lights were heading towards us.
"We need to leave." I noted. Bruce lightened his grip on me enough to back away.
"Car's this way." He said and walked over the adjacent side of the roof.
I followed him and looked down at the alleyway. The Batmobile was parked just below. The darkness of night covered it well.
"You have enough power to get down?" I nodded. I threw my board as I jumped off the roof. My feet planted on it and I hovered down as Bruce glided down with his cape.
I retrieved my board as I landed in front of the Batmobile. The hatch opened and I climbed up into the passenger side. Bruce hopped into the driver's side and closed the hatch.
I could feel the vehicle rumble underneath me as he started the engine. Bruce hit the gas and I felt myself get pushed back into the seat. This has been one hell of a night and it didn't go the way I had expected.