Chapter Eleven
The rest of the drive was made in silence. Reacher's remark had stilled Batman's tongue for the moment. As she rested her elbow on the door, careful to miss the mass confusion of buttons all around her, she looked out the window-slit and watched the scenery of the outskirts of Gotham fly by as he manuevered this tank throughout the woodsy parts of the city. It seemed he knew where every turn and alleyway led to, right up until they passed the city limits. Then he could practically do it with his eyes closed. Reacher didn't really make note of his expertise in driving, she pondered her thoughts and tried to settle the fire bubbling like lava in her belly.
It was funny what this man did to her. While she strived to become better than him, she almost knew she couldn't ever live up to his expectations. She felt like a dog jumping to get a steak tied thirty feet above her head-while she was the experienced one of this trap, he already had her outwitted from the start. His skill was the steak, and she was the yapping dog trying to get her master to comply. She hated him for it. Reacher hated this game of cat and mouse, her always ending up the weak little mouse in the end.
And yet, she absolutely couldn't get enough of his presence. He radiated everything that was right for Gotham-justice, honor, strength. His skill was what Gotham needed. Reacher realized as she sat beside him that God could even use the darkest characters to be the shining light a lost, ashen city needed. Perhaps he was the spark she would need to fully ignite this city. Maybe, just maybe, Batman would be the man to help her rise up.
Because she would rise.
He slowed the tank down and she snapped back into reality. Shaking her curls to awaken herself from her thoughts, she tossed a look at him, but found he was staring at her curiosly. She wrinkled her brow behind her venetian mask and blinked at him, as if waiting for a reply. "What? Are you offended or something?"
He clicked a few buttons on the dash closest to his side and a compartment popped open. He retrieved some of his fancy Shurikens, and began to place them throughout the compartments on his belt. She watched his movements as he closed the dash again and it locked down. Pressing a few more buttons, he looked back to her and his face bore a blank expression-whatever much of his face she could see. "I don't take offense easily."
"That's good. I can..." her voice trailed a moment as she reached across his hand, which sat stationary on the gear-stick, "...be pretty offending sometimes." With a few presses, she had the dash open again and plucked some of his weapons from the compartment. Putting them inside her thigh belt, she took the last one and held it in her thumb and index finger, wiggling it and smiling devilishly. "You're not the only one with brains in this city, Bats."
He nodded slightly. "Impressive. A good memory serves for good defense." Pressing a few buttons more and then flipping a lever, the compartment door above them open with a clank. He reached up and grabbed the ledge of the door and pulled himself up quickly. She did the same and surveyed the area, looking down the alleyway he'd parked in. She blinked a few times and found he'd parked adjacent from her apartment building. Looking at him, he stood still in the shadows next to the vehicle, cape surrounding his entire frame in a inky array. "Get what you need. I'll wait here."
She frowned at him and jumped off the tank, hitting the ground gracefully. "Who said I needed anything?" Reacher mentally chastised herself. She needed to stop this aimless argumentative conversation and act like an adult. He stared at her sharply.
"Everyone needs something." he rasped. Then with a quick movement, he disappeared into the tank with a leap and was gone. She huffed and rolled her eyes, and then scanned the area of the apartment complex. It seemed quiet enough, except for the children running across the street and kicking a tin can around for fun. A dog barked higher up-probably her Curley. A smile painted onto her lips and she was about to imerge when deafness struck her ears and fire burned across her eyes.
BOOM!
Her body seemed to have been kicked by a giant. Reacher flew backwards a good twenty feet, right into the windshield of Batman's vehicle. Fire blazed around her entire body, sucking the oxygen from her lungs and filling them with burning smoke. Her head cracked against the window on impact and her abdomen exploded with pain. She felt the stitched let loose and blood began spilling from her body. She moaned and tried to sit up, but she couldn't move. Reacher's ears rang like two bells had invaded her ears which completely botched all hope of balance. She blinked agains the black dots dancing across her vision and stared at the fuzzy blob or orange and yellow heat blaring a good 100 feet ahead of her. She didn't notice that the tank shifted as Batman practically flew from the inside.
He appeared below her, on the ground, and forced himself up on the hood of his massive vehicle. Pain seemed to have replaced the blood in her veins, because every nerve within her shook with pinpricks of it. Reacher hadn't noticed she'd began to tremble, and she couldn't hear her sobs pierce the air around her, which was crackling with the burning wood of the buildings around them. Her screams couldn't match the hissing flames licking up all signs of life in the broken, crumbling building.
Her vision had cleared now, and some of her hearing had already began to improve. She heard the faintness of sirens in the nearby distance, an Batman's yelling commands were loud to her. Her apartment complex had completely vanished in an instant; all that was left was the foundation and the tumbling blocks of cement and brick being licked by flames. The other two buildings suffered massive damage, half of the one was gone and the other was already on fire. Batman put hand behind her back and helped her sit up. She fought him tooth and nail, screaming at him to leave her alone and get his hands off her. Placing a hand to her side, she fell off the front of the vehicle and hit the ground hard. Her chin smacked against the concrete and blood burst forth from her mouth. Sobs racked her body and claimed the air in her lungs. She hit the ground with a fist and pushed herself up as best she could.
"NO!" she screamed hard, sore burning with smoke and lack of oxygen, "NO! No! God, please, NO!" Batman's two arms wrapped around her and she thrashed against him. He held her tightly and began walking back towards the tank. "Curls! NO! He's in there, I have to-" he swung her around and grabbed her shoulders, shouting back at her roughly.
"Reacher! We have to go!" he thrusted a finger towards the street. "They can't see us here!" she scowled at him and pushed him away from her, then spun on her heel and took off down the alley. Sobs erupted from her chest, swirling around her mind and clouding her thought. Batman was faster than she was and attacked her from behind, tackling her and pressing her body to the hard ground roughly. His elbow dug into her shoulders and he forced aside her quiver, body on top of her now. Grabbing her arms, he clasped his rough hands around her wrists and wrestled her. Finally, something sharp struck the skin of her neck and she realized it was a syringe needle. Finally Reacher just screamed and sobbed, forcing her forehead to touch the cool earth beneath her. The next thing she knew, he was whispering in her ear.
"We have to go," he rasped darkly, "we don't want to be seen around here when they begin and investigation. That's the last thing we need."
She didn't reply. When he knew she'd stopped thrashing, he got up and helped her to her feet, but she stumbled foreward again. Reacher forced her waning attention to the burning building, watching as the firemen and police officers began to work. People began lining the streets and pointing fingers at the crackling flames. Her strength failed and her legs came out from under her. Her mind began to cloud. His arm swung behind her back and he ducked his other to come up under her legs. Instantly he swept her up as if she were nothing and spun on his heel. He began to head towards the tank again, and through her fading vision she saw the firemen begin to shower the flames in white, bulleting water.
Blackness stuck her eyes.
Reacher awoke later, what she assumed to be many hours. Hoping for daylight, she was distressed to find that she was indeed still in Batman's confining prison of a vehicle. Her head was throbbing like a war drum and still seemed cloudy. Pressing a hand to her forehead, she moaned and inhaled a breath. The interior of his tank smelled of leather, kevlar and smoke. She dared a look in the window and chuckled lightly at her appearance. Filthy, from head to toe. A bandage wrapped around her head, and she felt in the back. Gauze covered some type of stitching, she assumed it was his handiwork. Stealing another look out the slit window, she frowned and slammed her heel into the floorboards. Surprisingly, no pain shot up her abdomen. Actually, she had no pain at all.
The Narrows glared at her, surrounding her prison, taunting her despite her seclusion. Looking around the car, she immediately began to plot her escape. No way was Batman about to drop her here and solve this himself. It was her mission, just as it was his, and he was lucky she was actually sharing this case with him. Feeling around the roof with her hands, she found no creases, no ledges, nothing. Instantly Reacher began to push buttons and pull levers, but the vehicle remained motionless and dead. She frowned and shrugged back into her seat. He'd sealed her up good, that was for sure.
Something caught her attention on the dash. Paper, with two pills and a bottle sitting on top of it, scrawled in handwriting which only belonged to him. He grabbed the note and then the pills, scanning over it quickly before downing the medication.
To clear the cloudiness. The bottle is xyma; a plant cream. Apply generously.
Rolling her eyes, she crumpled the note and slid the cylinder looking bottle in her thigh poutch. Now to escape this prison. Slipping over the gear-stick, she took the driver's seat and began to mess with a couple of the buttons. Nothing yet. She shook her head and looked around the dash and the panel to her left, then spotted the mystery to the entire lock-down. The control panel was commanded by a keypad, numbered one through nine. She chuckled and pressed in the code she'd caught earlier that evening. Immediately the vehicle came to life as the buttons and lights activated, all the systems showing ready and waiting. She chuckled at herself and murmured.
"You still got it good,"
Flicking a few switches, the hatch overtop opened quickly. Grasping the ledges, she hurled herself up and balanced on the outer rim. Before she could leave, she spotted a receiver behind the driver's seat head-rest. It was small, with a touchscreen, a small button in the lower right corner. She pressed it and instantly the entire vehicle shut down again, darkness overtaking the interior. She smirked and tucked it into her sleeve, then patted the hood of the massive tank.
Backflipping off, she grabbed the receiver again she touched the screen. It lit up with a map of Gotham, and she spotted a green blinking 'X' somewhere to the southside. She zoomed in on the 'X' and found it was a tracer, because it moved consistantly. The blinking letter dodged the boxy buildings and zigged the streets, and she laughed, slapping her free hand against her thigh. He knew she was going to get out, and he had decided to play nice.
He was moving fast, about twelve blocks east at this moment. Not terribly far away. She figured he was going the pace of Crane and his henchmen. It would give her enough time to catch up with him and perhaps form a plan of attack. She-actually, they-needed to know what Crane was up to, why all the major crime lords were suddenly deemed 'insane', and what was going into the water system. There were plenty of catagories to get Crane to talk about. It wouldn't be a dull night.
Reacher ran most of the twelve blocks. At the tenth she decided to take to the rooftops, seeing as this part of the Narrows was heavily populated. She couldn't risk any more "side missions", and decided that her appearance, as well as experience earlier this evening, wouldn't probably do the citizens any good if someone called her in at the cop shop. So, she jumped alleys and crawled fire-escapes, until she perched ontop of a huge air conditioning unit and spotted his dark sillouette overlooking the street across from them.
"Fancy seeing you here," she whispered into the wind. He made no move to acknowledge her presence and she joined him. Squatting, she pressed her fingers agains the rooftop to balance herself and wrinkled her brow as she scanned the empty streets. "Any sign of Crane?"
"No," he spat deeply, "he'll be here. I see you're doing better."
She nodded. "Yup. What'd you drug me with?"
"Isoflurane. It's an-"
"-inhalation drug," she nodded slowly, extending a finger outward to pinpoint an oncoming Mercedez Bens, with no license plate. "I know most of them."
He followed her gloved finger. "That's them. What do they want with a populated complex?"
"I dunno," she replied casually, standing and reaching behidn her for an arrow and her bow. "Let's find out, shall we?"
He rolled his eyes and reached out, grabbing the bow and lowering her aim. "This is faster. And it also doesn't waste a jumpline." he grabbed the grapnel gun and fired it, releasing the lever and extending a hand. "You should really get one."
She sighed and took his hand.
They leapt off the roof together and soared through the air, closing the gap nicely. They released and hit the ground lightly. Ducking into the shadows, they knelt and he removed something from his belt and handed it to her. She looked at him strangely.
"What is this?"
He took it from her and fastened it securely to the kevlar hem of her mask. "A com-link. We'll be able to communicate."
She raised her brows behind the mask. "Oh, so we're partners now? I thought we still hated each other's guts."
He dropped his hands and gave her a smirk. "For the record, I never hated your guts. You hated mine, remember?"
He took off for cover in the alley. Within an instant she followed, Batman going on down the alley a little farther. Reacher attacked a balcony and swung herself up like a gymnast on monkey bars. Both of them climbed easily until they were at the same level as Crane and his men. Batman peered in one of the windows and she continued her climb until she mounted the roof and surveyed him. He looked up and pointed to the window and she nodded. He was going inside. She, basically, was his eyes.
"You hear me okay?" his line was fuzzy for a moment and she touched hers. Instantly the line cleared and she nodded to herself, kneeling at the ledge of the building, looking down into the alley.
"Loud and clear. Any sign of the drugs Falcone was delivering? Flass said the Narrows, remember?"His footsteps were barely noticable over the line, but she could still hear them. He rustled a few things and something toppled over. He cursed lightly, and she frowned.
"Yeah. I see some of the rabbits and bears, but nothing else. It looks like an abandoned home. A lot of-" he was cut off instantly. Faint voices in the backround startled him, and she heard him hitch a breath-a sign that he had ducked for cover and concealed himself. Reacher readied herself and touched the com again, eyes scanning the area. The voices increased as they neared.
A few moments of his breathing passed, and Reacher found herself tossing desperate prayers for his survival up to heaven. She breathed steadily, waiting for any signal he might throw out to her for help. She heard whistling, probably the henchmen, and then a yelp and shattering glass. Something thudded to the ground and she realized it wasn't Batman, because numberous amounts of punches, kicks and dropping bodies ensued over the line. She found herself smiling everytime another body collided with the ground.
Then, a scrambled voice said something to in regards to Batman. He must've not had enough time to react, because a pop and then a hiss startled her. She gasped and looked down, gripping the edge of the building and looking over. Batman began to groan and hiss and mumble to himself, and she heard him trip over a few things. He made breathy gasps and huffs, as if fighting something. She panicked and placed a palm on the roof, then swung her body over the ledge. Grabbing her bow, she held her arm up and the two curved ends collided with two fire-escapes, stopping her between the gap. Swinging her legs, she managed to wrap them around a rail and twirled the bow to release the hold. Instantly her upper half dropped, but she sat up and grabbed the railing, forcing herself upright and she replaced her bow.
She heard Crane saw, voice scrambled. "You really need to lighten up."
"Lighten up?" she mimicked. Swinging over the railing, she touched her link and furrowed her lbrow. "Batman? What's the probl-"
Overhead, shattering glass pierced the air and a grunt overtook the link. Reacher looked up and screamed, seeing Batman's falling body combine with the pieces of broken glass raining down to the earth. His flaming body alarmed her, and she lunged for the railing. Extending a hand, she grabbed onto his leg as it passed by her quickly, but failed to counter act the gravitational pull. She toppled over the railing and began to fall with him.
Screaming, she noticed he wasn't making any noise at all. This worried her, and she wasn't about to let them fall to their death. Grabbing the bow with her free hand, she reached up again and it managed to catch on two more balconies on the way down. Now only about six feet from the ground, she moaned as his weight pulled on her shoulder. Looking up, she squinted her eyes and twisted the bow, releasing her and him until they fell to a pile on the earth. Flames licked at both of them, but she noticed it failed to harm him. Their suits must've been fireproof, but that didn't stop her from rolling him side to side until the flames were extinguished.
"Batman!" she hollared at him, slapping his exposed skin with her glove. "Batman! What's the problem!?" she demanded. The doctor in her noticed his pupils were dialated and he wasn't fighting the air anymore-he was fighting and swatting at her now. His face was pale and he was sweating, a sign that he was hallucinating. His short, breathy gasps told her he was in desperate need of oxygen before he suffocated. His airway was constricting faster than he could calm down, even if he could calm down.
People were gathering on the balconies. Sweat poured down her back and her gauze was saturated with sweat, as was her hair. She panted for breath, and looked around. They had to get back to the tank before the cops arrived. Reacher wasn't paying attention to the flailing vigilante as much as she was the onlookers, and his fist collided with her chin. She yelped and hit the ground, catching herself with her hands. Swinging around, one hands still on the ground, her boot-heel connected with his chin and he went down with a moan. She gasped and straigthened, forcing the two of them up. It was hard to help such a heavy, tall man down the alleyway away from wandering eyes and comments, but she managed barely.
The two of them had barely made from the alleyway when he hollared and pushed her away. With his last surge of adrenaline, he reached into his belt and somehow managed to pull out a communicator and pressed one. She watched him collided with the concrete and put the communicator to his mouth, and his dialated eyes did not leave hers as he screamed into the phone. Her legs turned to jelly and her eyes widened, all heat rapidly raging from her body and into the air. She couldn't feel her heart beating any longer, and her head turned cloudy again. "Alfred!"
She dropped to the earth beside him, knees ringing with unfelt pain for the moment.
"Alfred!"
Her throat constricted and Reacher's mouth turned completely dry. That's couldn't be Alfred Pennyworth. Not her Alfred. Certainly not Bruce's Alfred. Her eyes widened again as he spoke one last time in the phone, before letting it fall from his hand and going unconscious.
Her stomach lurched and her heart seized.
