Chapter 42: Jay
Years had passed and things have returned to normal for the Wayne family and their allies. The Wayne children had little to no memory of their kidnapping incident, only in terrifying nightmares about the sea and clowns were the only impact left from their traumatic ordeal. The doctors explained to both Bruce and Harley that traumatic experiences could be repressed as a defense mechanism in the brain. Even when they had staged their rescue attempt to save their children from the Joker and the Legion of Doom they had been careful not to expose that Batman and Batwoman were indeed their parents. It seems in a twisted way, Abigal and Thomas's repression of the event helped solidify that their secret was safe. Even though both Abigal and Thomas were fourteen now, Harley and Bruce still hadn't reached a decision on whether or not to reveal to their children that they were superheroes and if they should bring them into the family business so to speak. Harley was staunchly against it, wanting nothing more than a normal life for her children while Bruce reluctantly wanted to bring them in and train them. He knew a time may come where they would be drawn into their world, little did he know it was going to be sooner than he expected.
The bell rang loudly throughout the school grounds, signaling an end to a long day. The Wayne twins, Abigal and Thomas, alongside their childhood friend Mazie, walked down the street away from school. Crane was destined to pick up the three kids a few blocks away from their school, much to their relief. For years Crane had driven the kids to school, much to the amazement of their classmates. It was hard enough being the rich kids to Bruce Wayne, they didn't want to constantly flaunt it at their fellow classmates and draw more attention to themselves. So after much begging and pleading, they were allowed to walk a few blocks away from the school.
" Thank god it's the weekend finally." Thomas complained, his shoulders slouching as he walked alongside his sister and Mazie, who was stroking a flower she had in her hair.
"Come on Thomas. School isn't so bad." Mazie countered, " Besides you just goof off most of the time anyway."
"Whatever you say Twig." Thomas replied, rolling his eyes.
"I hate that name Tom! Quit calling me that." Mazie shouted, her eyes boring holes into him. He simply waved her off and kept walking.
"Can we not do this every single day after school?" Abigal said, groaning as she walked ahead of her sibling and friend. Thomas was so obvious with his flirting, even if he was too immature to know what he was doing, and Mazie, well...she was too dense.
"Admit it. You wish any boy in school would give you the kind of attention Thomas showers Mazie with, am I right?" a voice said beside her.
"Shut up Jay." Abigal said, through clenched teeth.
"What did you say sis?"Thomas asked from behind her.
"Nothing." she replied, which earn a cackle from the voice beside her. She looked at the origin of the voice out of the corner of her eye.
Walking beside her was a boy around her age. Oddly enough, he had many similar features she did. Pasty white skin, black fingernails and even green hair, although she only had a streak of green in her own while his entire hair was the color. Like her, the boy had piercing green eyes, which were now looking directly back at her. He wore a purple T-shirt and green cargo pants as well. She frowned as already the boy was trying to get on her nerves.
Ever since she was little, Jay was right beside her. She always had someone to talk to and play with, so she had never been lonely. Though Jay tended to get on nerves a lot and she never liked his jokes no one else could see or hear him, so for the longest when she was little she assumed he was her imaginary friend. Now though that she was fourteen years old and Jay was still around, she wasn't sure what he was. Anytime she asked him he didn't know either, or just didn't want to tell. He claimed he was her guardian angel, but to her he always looked more like a demon.
Suddenly a cry rang out from behind Abigal and she quickly turned around to look at the source. Both Thomas and Mazie were gone. They had just passed an alleyway, so looking around that was the only place the pair of them could have disappeared into. Running back and turning into the alley, she could see a little ways in two men were holding the kids to the wall, a knife in each of their hands.
"Oh ho! It's the Wayne kid!" one of them said, grinning. "I bet they carry hundred dollar bills for lunch money."
"As if this rich brat eats school food." The other laughed, shaking the boy by the shoulder. "Either way, I'm sure he has some money on him. Probably the girl too, since she's always around the boy."
"Let us go!"Thomas shouted, trying to keep at them, obviously not the least bit afraid of the sharp knives the two men held.
Perhaps not thinking properly, Abigal screamed at the men, rushing towards them. The one nearest to her reacted too late, as Abigal smacked into him from his side. However, he only momentarily lost his balance and grabbed onto her, throwing the girl against the wall beside her brother and friend.
"Damn brat!" the man shouted, backhanding her across the face. The force of the blow causing her knees to buckle and fall to the ground. "I forgot Wayne had two of them running around."
"Relax man." the other one replied, smirking a bit that his friend got attacked by a little girl, "It just means we get even more money now. I'm sure both of their allowances are more than we make in a month."
The man Abigal had pushed smiled at that, grabbing Mazie by the hair and pulling her into his grip. Mazie screamed as the man pressed the edge of the blade to her neck, "Now listen here Wayne brats. Just give us all your money and we'll let you go back to your nice little mansion."
"Maybe." The other thug whispered, but unfortunately all three children heard him.
"You're in serious trouble you know Abby?" a voice called out to her. She looked over to see Jay, leaning against the opposite wall of the alley with his arms folded. "I can help if you let me."
Ever since Jay was with her he had occasionally asked to "take over" for her. Like one time when she came across an aggressive dog or got lost at a theme park during a vacation with her parents. Anytime she said yes she always lost consciousness and never remembered what happened to her. Every time she came to she always asked Jay what had happened and he simply said he protected her. For some reason she got the feeling to never allow Jay to take over, no matter if he was her friend and protected her.
However, the circumstances were dire. Her father always warned her to be safe and it was always a possibility that strangers might kidnap her for a ransom, which was why they were never suppose to talk to anyone they didn't know and follow their father's strict rules. Now she was regretting not allowing Crane to pick them up at their school. As Abigal stared at the knife pressed against Mazie and the other men holding Thomas against the alley wall, her eyes turned back to Jay, who watched her with a grin.
"Little girl, what are you waiting for!" the thug yelled, pulling Mazie's hair back, causing her to scream out in pain, "Give us your money or your friend will get hurt!"
"Okay..."Abigal said, barely a whisper, "Help me Jay."
Jay smiled wide as he pushed away from the alley wall, "About time."
Jay suddenly vanished from her view. Before she knew it her world became dark.
Thomas struggled against the man holding him to the wall, the knife he wielded didn't matter in the least to him. The other man was hurting Mazie and Abigal. He had to protect his sister and friend. He managed to land a kick to the man's shin, which earned him a quick punch to the gut. It caused him to double over in pain, clutching his belly.
"Settle down kid. You three are starting to get on my nerves."the goon stated, gritting his teeth as he kept his temper barely contained.
"ha ha ha..." a small laugh came from Abigal, causing Thomas to look over at his sister, along with everyone else.
Instantly Abigal jumped up and grabbed the man who was holding Mazie by the wrist, twisting hard. The goon yelled out in pain, dropping the knife he was holding in his hand. Abigal caught it in the air, spinning it in her fingers and sinking the blade into the man's thigh. The thug screamed in pain, dropping Mazie as he reached to pull the blade from his leg.
"You know this reminds me of a joke.."Abigal sneered, pulling the blade out of him and jumping away, spinning the blade through her fingers, "A man with a gun goes into a bank and demands money."
Everyone watched Abigal in confusion and horror as she started walking towards the two goons, the knife in her hands still dripping blood, "Once he is given the money, he turns to a customer and asks: "Did you see me rob this bank?"
A wide grin spread across her lips as she threw the knife at the man holding Thomas, the blade sinking into the man's shoulder. He screamed and clutched his shoulder, dropping the boy. Abigal leaped over the first man, landing on the other, and pulling the blade out of his shoulder, "The man replied, "Yes sir I did." the robber shot him in the head, killing him instantly."
She then kneed the man in the groin, causing him to hunch over, Abigal delivered a kick to the side of his head, making his body surge to the left and smack into the wall nearby. The other man, who now wore a gaping leg wound, screamed as he rushed at her, Abigal turned to meet him, "He then turned to a couple standing next to him and asked the man, "Did you see rob this bank?"
As the thug tried to tackle Abigal she simply jumped out of the way, slashing along his back with the blade, earning another scream from the man. She started cackling but tried to suppress it, "Let me finish the joke now. Anyway, the man replied, "No sir, I didn't, but my wife did!"
Grabbing the man from the back by the collar, she tugged him to her, wrapping her arm around his neck and holding the knife to his face, "Get it? I love that joke! HA HA HA HA!"
"Please don't kill me!" The thug pleaded, his eyes filled with terror.
"See that's the wrong response," Abigal answered, clicking her tongue in annoyance, "You're suppose to laugh at the joke!"
"Abigal that's enough!" Thomas screamed at her, causing her to flinch. Abigal clutched the side of her head, shaking it.
"Wh-What's going on?"Abigal said wearily, looking around. The thug she was holding dropped the floor, shaking as he crawled away. She watched in confusion before looking down at her hand, which was holding the knife.
Blood dripped from the blade, the drops hitting the alley ground below. Abigal's eyes widened in freight as she dropped the blade, the metallic ring filling the air as it hit the ground. She then looked around, her whole body shaking. Beside her, leaning against the wall, was Jay.
"You're welcome Abby." he said, smiling big.
"What did I do?" Abigal said, looking at her trembling hands, in the distance police sirens could be heard, the police had probably been called due to the screaming. Suddenly Thomas reached out and grabbed her hand in his.
"We need to leave Abigal...NOW!" Thomas screamed at her, trying to get her out of her state of shock. In his other hand was Mazie's hand. Both of them looked at her with confusion and fear, but Thomas pulled them all out of the alley and in the opposite direction of the police sirens, towards where Crane was suppose to be waiting for them. Passerby looked at them in confusion as the three of them ran past.
"None of this happened ok!" Thomas growled at them, "We don't need our parents to blow a gasket!"
"But-" Mazie started to reply but was cut off by Thomas.
"None of this happened!"he repeated as they saw the limo in the distance, " Let's just forget what happened right Abigal?"
"R-Right." Abigal said, as she looked behind them. Walking behind them at a leisurely pace was Jay, his hands behind his head and a huge toothy smile on his face.