Ch. 2 Ex-Boyfriend Wonder
It's a good thing that Gotham's thugs never seem to take a holiday, or else my Sunday night would be a lot more boring. I just caught a group of punks trying to mug an old lady. I mean c'mon, how low can you go? As soon as I dropped down into the alleyway I could tell they were scared. I guess that's the perk of having a bat on my chest. While the thugs were stunned, the lady took the opportunity to escape. Unfortunately they weren't scared for long and decided to rush me. I quickly blocked the leader's punch and flipped him on his back, effectively knocking him out. The next three guys thought it would be smart to surround me; they were armed with knives, chains and a broken bottle. They started to yell some tasteless curses trying to psych me out. I answered with a smirk and pulled out my boomstick, ready for the charging opponents. I dodged the knife slashes as I sidestepped and struck the chain-wielding thug in the head, knocking him out. The thug with the broken bottle attempted to thrust his weapon at my stomach. I flipped over him and kicked him in the back, causing him to crash into the wall. As I completed my flip, I threw a batarang that electrocuted the last thug, causing him to drop his knife and collapse on the floor. As the last thug stopped squirming, I contacted Proxy to call the cops to pick these guys up. However, while I was talking with Proxy, I completely missed the fact that the leader regained consciousness and pulled a gun.
"Batgirl watch out!" I heard a gruff voice yell as a throwing disc collided with the gun. The next thing I noticed was a flash of red and black as the source of the voice kicked the thug out cold. The gruff voice spoke again, "You should've been more careful, he could have shot you."
"I'll be sure to be more aware of my surroundings next time, thanks again Red Robin," I grumbled as I concealed my weapon. I definitely could not deal with his condescension right now. It's been about a month since I spoke with Barbara and I still haven't confronted Tim about what I saw. Sure when I was around him, I acted cool and I still helped him when he needed a hand on a mission, but I still felt awkward. A few moments of silence passed between us, until the oncoming police sirens broke it.
"Anyway I need to go stop Lynx before her gang does something stupid, are you alright here?" Tim asked. I simply nodded, however I didn't let him see my eyes widen when he told me this evening's plans. He was going to see Lynx again? Tim shot his grappling hook and he was pulled away, saying a simple goodbye before disappearing into the night. The cops were already here, so my job was more or less done. I decided to follow him, so I shot my grappling hook onto the top of the building and trailed him. That's when I heard the comm link in my mask go off.
"Where are you going?" Proxy questioned. Crap, I completely forgot that I was talking to her before that thug pulled the gun on me.
"I'm following Tim," I confessed. Why lie to Proxy? She could tell where I was anyway.
"You do know that following him kinda makes you a stalker ex-girlfriend," Proxy accused.
"Take that back! I'm not a stalker, I'm just making sure that Tim is alright!" I feigned. In reality, I was kinda stalking Tim. I needed to make sure that he didn't try anything funny with Lynx. Maybe they didn't really kiss that night? Maybe my eyes deceived me. It was dark and I could have misinterpreted why they were so close to each other. In any case, tonight's as good a night as any to talk to him.
"Whatever you say Steph, just be careful, okay?" Proxy insisted. Proxy - Wendy Harris - was also a child of a criminal, trying to make a difference in the hero business. You could say that we're kindred spirits. She's been through a lot with the loss of both her legs and her brother. Whenever Oracle is too busy to be my eye in the sky, Proxy is more than happy to keep tabs on me.
"Always am," I replied before there was radio silence between us, leaving me to the privacy of my thoughts. I kept a few buildings between Tim and me so that he wouldn't recognize me tailing him. Tim continued to run until he reached a run down warehouse, where Lynx's hideout should be and entered it. Since I didn't want Tim to know that I waited for him to come out of the hideout, I stayed a few rooftops away and waited patiently.
It only took a few minutes before I heard a crash coming from the gang's hideout. I saw Lynx tackling Tim out of a window, the couple falling through the air struggling against each other. Through the flurry of punches and blocks, I noticed that Tim started to relax, and a smile spread across his lips. The two of them in the air looked almost like an intimate dance. Tim's cape seemed to engulf Lynx, bringing her closer to him. Before the two of them fell too close to the pavement, Tim launched his grappling hook, pulling him and Lynx to safety. I saw Tim bring them to a nearby rooftop; their landing caused them to roll around in order to safely stop their motion. Tim was on top of her, his breathing erratic. As he bent down Tim removed Lynx's mask, prompting her to raise her head in order to meet his lips halfway. Their mouths intertwined in a battle for dominance. I couldn't help but feel the warmth rush to my face as I stared. This was really happening. My eyes didn't play tricks on me the last time I saw them. Why was he kissing her? Why did I care so much? Why couldn't I look away? Tim was a big boy now; and he could kiss whomever he wanted. Before I knew it I was standing one rooftop away from them, oblivious to the fact that they had stopped their little make out session, and were looking straight at me.
"Batgirl?" Tim questioned in a voice that was between his Red Robin voice and his regular one. Tim had promptly stood up and helped Lynx onto her feet, positioning her behind him in a protective manner. Well damn, I was caught. I decided that it was a good a time as any for that heart to heart. I jumped across the crevice to meet Tim. He was the first to break the silence, his voice like sandpaper, "What are you doing here? I thought you were cleaning up after those thugs back there."
"The cops got there not to long after you left. So I thought I'd tag along and help you out with Lynx. But it looks like you have her pretty preoccupied," I snapped. I could see Lynx behind Tim give me the evil eye. I moved my gaze from Lynx back to Tim, his scowl unchanged.
"Lynx is actually an undercover officer from Hong Kong, we were just comparing notes about what was going on in Gotham's underground. She's on our side," Tim spat. I couldn't believe it. Tim just completely disregarded the fact that I caught him making out with Lynx on a rooftop.
"How can you even be sure that she's telling you the truth, huh? How can you trust her?" I couldn't contain myself; everything from the past month was just erupting now. I saw Lynx perk up in an attempt to defend herself, but Tim put his hand up stopping her in her tracks.
"I talked with Black Bat about it while I was in Hong Kong and she confirmed that the Hong Kong police was using teenage operatives for undercover assignments," Tim said matter-of-factly. Then he turned around to Lynx whispering something to her, she nodded and brought her hands to his face bringing him into another kiss. I swear I saw her eyes dart over to me, a smirk curling over her lips as she released Tim from her embrace. She then replaced her mask on her face and jumped off of the rooftop, blending into Gotham's darkness.
"What the hell was that about Tim!" I gasped. At that moment I noticed Tim's shoulders loosen and his scowl ease itself off of his face. He then started to walk over to me. I instinctively took a step back, distancing myself from a man I no longer seemed to know.
"Steph, I asked her to leave so we can have some time alone to talk. I owe you an explanation," Tim confessed, switching to his regular voice.
"The hell you do! What the hell were you doing with Lynx in the first place? Better yet, why did you help her escape from the cops?" I blurted out.
Taken aback, Tim continued to walk towards me, and this time I didn't step back. A confused look painted his cowl-covered face. "I felt like it was the right thing to do."
"Oh is it because she lets you kiss her? I saw you guys the night you sprung her, but I didn't want to believe it," I shouted. The tears started running down my cheeks, carving wet trenches over the dirt and blood that accumulated over the course of my patrol.
"Steph, you need to know that I believe she can be an ally on the inside. She can help me fight," Tim pleaded, obviously disturbed by the fact that his transgressions had hurt me so much.
"And what do I do Tim! What am I even here for? Can't I help you fight?" I cried as I threw my hands up in utter frustration. This was getting to be too much for me. The city's cold night air stung like knives when colliding with my tear ravaged face.
"You know that you're one of my most valued allies Steph, I trust you with my life. I just wish I could understand why you're sounding so jealous," Tim recited nonchalantly, his previous concern wiped off of his face. It was like he didn't understand what was going through my head right now. Was he even there the last time we had an intimate conversation?
"You're wondering why I'm so jealous? Damn it Tim, I've seen you kiss Lynx three times! Every time was like a twist in the knife that you buried in my heart. I still love you." The last part was a whisper. I thought that if he couldn't hear my confession it would be like I never admitted it to myself.
Tim was surprised; he took a minute to gather his thoughts before he spoke again. "I still love you too, Steph, but you made it clear that you needed time. This is me giving you time and space to work out whatever you need to."
"So you start kissing the next bimbo you find? This is what you call giving me space?!" I was completely stunned by his response. For being a great detective, Tim was taking a pretty long time to realize why I was upset.
"What is it Steph? What did you want me to do?" Tim sighed in defeat. It looked like he was annoyed by our conversation. ANNOYED.
"I wanted you to wait for me. I wanted you to fight for me. I wanted you to prove to me that you meant what you said that night when we stopped Ra's al Ghul's attack!" That was the last straw. I completely broke down; tears came cascading down my face. I ran. It seemed like I've been doing a lot of running lately. Running from my emotions, running from my broken heart, running from Tim. I didn't look back as I jumped off of the rooftop and launched my grappling hook to latch onto an adjacent building. After a few minutes of running, I realized that Tim didn't even follow me. I sure know how to pick 'em.
I needed to clear my head, so I decided to make my way back home. I needed a shower and wanted to curl up in a ball on my bed. I realized that I should make my way to Firewall before I returned home, since I needed to clean my blood stained costume. I dried my face and cleaned off the tears as I contacted Proxy to let her know what my plan was. Unfortunately I seem to be a magnet for trouble, because about two blocks away from home base I witnessed some of Two-Face's men starting trouble at the local bar. They were pretty full of themselves too, bragging that they worked for Two-Face. Man the quality of thugs wasn't getting any better. I huffed; I guess I could stop one more ruckus before I turned in for the evening. I waited for the two goons to get far enough from the bar so I could take them down. They walked away looking pretty smug after roughing up the bartender and stealing a couple of bottles of liquor. I decided to sneak up behind them and freak them out.
"Isn't it a little late for you to be drinking so much, boys?" My comment caused both men to jump. Of course they were twins, they were perfect goons to work for Two-Face. When they regained their composure one of the brothers threw his bottle at me. I simply dodged the bottle as it came towards me. My mistake was underestimating these two thugs thinking they were complete idiots; in the split second it took me to dodge the liquor bottle the thug quickly replaced it in his hand, revealing a gun and shot off a couple rounds. I was able to dodge the first couple of bullets, but then I felt a searing pain tear at my shoulder. I looked down to see that one of the bullets went clean through my right shoulder, breaking through the Kevlar and tearing through my skin. The pain was unbearable; I grasped my shoulder after I threw a couple of batarangs in an attempt to disarm the gunman. However, my vision instantly blurred as the other bottle collided with my skull, breaking the bottle and showering me with the contents. My face burned as I felt broken glass embedded in my skin and the alcohol seeping into every cut that I've accumulated throughout the night. I was slipping in and out of consciousness while the two thugs were talking.
"Ha! Not so tough now are ya bitch?" the gunman bragged. He gave his brother a high five as he knelt over me, placing the gun against my throbbing skull.
"Just blow her fucking brains out Eddie, killing a Bat will definitely get us on Two-Face's good side," Eddie's brother goaded. I closed my eyes as I readied myself for my second death. The next thing I heard was two gunshots, killing the two thugs instantly. I heard a thump as a hooded man in a leather jacket landed onto the pavement. He holstered his guns, ran toward me and carefully picked me up. My injuries screamed as he eased me against his chest.
"Damn Batgirl, looks like you could use a hand," the hooded man teased. Before I lost consciousness, I noticed that the man was wearing a red helmet.