Chapter 5

"You're two late, Copper!" Two Face cackled as he careened down the road in his getaway car, tossing something behind him. The wind caught in his hair, whisping it over his eyes; billowing his cackles into the grime-stained alleys of Gotham. Whatever he'd tossed exploded, shoving debris into the Gotham street, effectively burying the cop's car.

Anakin narrowed his eyes, ducking against the cold stone of the alley.

He wasn't going to catch up to Two-Face if he passed car needed to stop, needed to stop now and… his hand flexed, trembled, reflexively. He didn't want to. Oh, he didn't want to.

The car screeched, tearing around the bend: one car first, another behind, Two-Face's twisted presence coming from the one in the back.

Anakin's hand drifted for his lightsaber: pulled back. His hand tensed, trembled. A car billowed past him, dust flying upwards, choking and staining and then a second car, far, near, closer…

And then it exploded. A shadow landed thudded onto the roof, glass shattered out of the windows, and it swerved, wildly, careening to scrape against the building in an unearthly scream of disfigured metal. The shadow didn't move, and when the car finally jolted to a broken halt, it slid gracefully before the car, one flickering headlight all that was there to illuminate it. Her.

Anakin could feel it.

The other car stopped, careening back towards them, halting in time for a hail of bullets to erupt from it's interior, occupants all doing their best to hit the shadow.

The shadow had no intentions of being hit.

She darted towards the wrecked car, where it's men were stumbling out as the pervasive smell of leaking gasoline filled the air. Two-Face growled, and leveled a glock at her head. She ducked, spinning behind him, to block the 1st car's gunners. A hand snaked out to grab the weapon, and Two Face growled, grabbing for her hand as another goon tried to shoot her in the side.

Anakin's hand flew out and shoved the man backwards, sending his bullet whining into the air. Charging out of the alleyway, he positioned himself between the 1st car and the shadow, twirling his lightsaber too fast to be followed, reducing the metal insects to so much slag.

He felt the force welling in him, wanting to grab them all together and toss them down the street, end this all so easily… but he wouldn't. He wouldn't. What if he went too far-what if he...

He settled for charging. Somewhere behind him, the shadow was slipping between men, untouchable and fluid.

He needed to grab the guns… but he shouldn't… but what if it ricocheted? What if it hit someone?

He reached out and yanked the weapons from their hands, sending them skidding away from all combatants. He felt sure that he was making the wrong decision. He switched off his lightsaber.

The men glanced at each other, confused. "Hey, you can't do that! No capes in Gotham!"

Anakin pursed his lips and closed the gap between them. The man growled, and threw himself forward, fists first. Anakin grabbed his wrist and flipped the man head over heels, making sure to clip his head against the ground to keep him down.

The other three narrowed their eyes and charged, one from the left, two from the right. Anakin planted his feet.

They couldn't all charge him at once, so two came on first, one aiming high and the other aiming low. Anakin dropped and swept the legs of right-guy out from under him, grabbing and spinning to throw him into left-guy.

And then there was a knife in his face. Guy 3 had recovered quickly. Anakin leaned backwards, eyes widening, as he took advantage of Guy 3's open posture to knee him in the groin as he used the upwards momentum to throw him up and over, cracking his head on the ground.

He was heavy, though, and Anakin was unused to fighting like this. Anakin was pulled over with him, landing heavily on his back as the other two lurched forward, switchblades coming out of their pockets.

A wraith flew over Anakin's head and twirled, a blur over the two figures… and then they were down.

Anakin started to push himself up, then gasped, falling onto an elbow and holding his left wrist.

"Ugh."

The girl stepped over to him, and crouched, pushing her face forward to inspect him more closely. He blinked.

This was a bat. No doubts about it. The ears sort of gave it away. But… there wasn't much else to see. The mask looked… hand sewed, with stitching in a half-moon around her mouth, and hollows under the eyes. She felt young. And… good. Pure.

She motioned for his hand, and he scooted into a sitting position to give it to her.

She pursed her lips. "Sprain."

Yeah, no kidding. "What's your name?"

She looked up. "Batgirl."

Anakin nodded. "Anakin."

She nodded. "Help?"

"Not a very talkative type, are you?" He hadn't entirely expected a response, so he wasn't surprised to not get one. "Well, if you've got any ice close to here I guess I could use it. I've got work tomorrow…"

She stared at him, then nodded, curtly. She pointed to an alleyway, then held a finger straight up. While Anakin was trying to decipher what that meant, she dashed off towards the buried cop car. Right.

-Go to alleyway. Hide.

Anakin could manage that. He dashed to hide against the buildings, holding his wrist tight to his chest. Clenching his teeth, he leaned his head against the wall, debating force healing to speed up the process.

If he tried it… what if he went too far? What if he used it to heighten his abilities too? What if… he didn't really need it. He would heal by himself, it was only a sprained wrist. He had a robotic arm. He would still be able to work-

And suddenly, Batgirl was there, with a surprising fluidity that made so many people declare that Bats could teleport. Anakin wasn't so sure - even dampening his abilities as he was, it didn't feel quite like teleporting… but who knew.

Batgirl motioned with her hand for Anakin to follow her, and Anakin let out a breath, trying to follow her effortless movements. She would move ahead and pause, allowing Anakin to catch up with her, leading him through the concrete jungle, over fire escapes and rooftops, and, soon, into a decrepit warehouse with boarded up windows.

Anakin followed her prompting to enter through a hole in the boards, moving to a couch as she slipped away, quickly returning with ice and bandages. For some reason, she had taken off her mask, showing asian features with short black hair pulled into a ponytail. He let her grab his hand and wrap the bandages tightly around the joint before pushing ice on top.

She glanced up at him, then, and guestered to his other hand curiously. Anakin sighed and rolled his eyes, tugging off the glove.

"Look pretty cool?"

Her eyes did indeed go wide, staring at the metal limb in undisguised wonder. She grabbed it and turned it over, inspecting it from all angles.

Anakin sighed, resigned, but not really annoyed.

Batgirl eventually put down Anakin's hand, and scooted closer.

Anakin shifted, uncomfortable with this new form of scrutiny.

"Why help?"

Anakin grimaced, not sure if he was going to be able to communicate the force to this evidently linguistically challenged vigilante.

"It… it was something I needed to do. And I wasn't going to let you get hurt."

Her head tilted, and Anakin felt like she was pulling him apart, inspecting him in a way no one without the force ever had.

"You… uncertain. Guilt."

"Wha-I'm not-" There was clearly no point in lying. "Yeah. Fine. But that's my business. Thanks for the help, but I think I'm good-"

"Good person."

Anakin froze. "What?"

"You are… good. Good heart."

"You have no idea what I've done."

"I've… done bad too. But you are... good." She reached out and put a hand over his heart.

"You think from here. Broken heart… broken… thoughts. But, good heart. Will be good."

Anakin felt his throat go dry, as his eyes burned.

And then her mask was on.

And then she was gone.

Anakin picked himself off the ground. He had a long way to go to get back home.