A/N: YAY! I'M UPDATING! It's a happy day today! For no reason at all... Moving on. So, thank you for all the reviews! I'm glad you are all liking it so far! Time to introduce another character! I hope you like her, and I hope I portrayed her like you wanted! By the way, I do not know the street names of Gotham City, so instead of trying to come up with one, I decided just to do street numbers. Now, time to continue! On with the story!
All her visions seemed to always start playing in fast forward. Everything rushes past her, looking like nothing but blobs of colors. It begins to slow down when it gets to a certain event she's meant to see.
The scene stops, but she's still moving fast. She notices she's passing through the Gotham streets at night. For what reasons? She's not quite sure. Everyone who lives in Gotham knows its not safe to be outside at this time of night. Though she's not scared of getting jumped. She could protect herself, even if using her powers are against the law.
The city is passing by her almost like a blur, and it's then that she realizes she's riding her Harley. The engine roars as she speeds down the street. The street lamps are her only source of light. She could feel the drops of rain pouring down her head. Why was she riding in the rain?
A street sign passed her vision. She could make out the words: 26th Street. Nothing but apartments and the docks. What's so important over there that she had to go there in the middle of the night?
She was too involved in her thoughts to notice the girl walking across the street. Once she did, it was too late. She pressed on the brakes to hard and went skidding right through the girl. She flips, and finds herself on her back. Pain floods through her as the rain continued to pour down on her. The strange girl rushes to her side, trying to shake her awake, but she's losing her consciousness. The girl's pale blue- almost gray- eyes stared down at her as her mouth continued to move yet she couldn't hear her words.
Then the world around her fades to black.
"Wait, wait, wait," Brawler looked from Portal to Apparition questioningly. "So what you guys are basically saying is that you're looking for the world's forgotten heroes, who haven't been seen for at least twenty years. Heroes that most are not only metahumans, but are strictly forced into hiding because of the law?"
Portal, not looking up from his work of tending to Apparition's wounded arm, calmly answered, "Yes, that's what I'm basically saying."
After making their escape away from Denver, the three managed to find an abandoned warehouse where they could hide from the police. Portal had began working on Apparition's wound as soon as they hit the ground of the warehouse. As Apparition got her medical attention, she let Brawler in on what exactly they were doing and who it is they were looking for.
"Why?" Brawler couldn't help but asked. It made no sense; they weren't in any danger. Sure, a bunch of metas had caused an uproar, but it's nothing the police can't handle, right? Somehow, he couldn't convince himself to think otherwise.
"Did you see that news report? The one about those metahumans causing chaos?" Apparition asked, wincing as Portal cleaned the wound with disinfectants. She glared at Portal. "Ow, calm it down with the disinfectants, Port." Portal ignored her pained whining as he wrapped the gauze around her arm.
"Yeah, it was on this morning." Brawler replied, remembering that tragic newscast.
"Those metas are dangerous. More dangerous for even the police to handle. We've had a run-in with one of them," Apparition explained, shrugging her silver long-sleeve back over her head. The blood on her sleeve had now dried up, leaving a brownish red color. She grabbed her cape and secured it around her shoulders. "Let's just say they weren't all sunshine and rainbows."
"But why do you need other heroes' help?" Apparition opened her mouth to answer, but Portal beat her to it.
"They're planning something. We don't know what, but it's certainly not about world peace." Portal crossed his arms over his chest. "We can't do this alone. Not without any training or knowledge."
"But what if they don't want to help? They've been in hiding for twenty years. Do you really think they'd even talk to us about metahumans or even train amateurs like us? No offense, by the way."
Apparition put a hand over her heart. "Amateur? Gee, Brawler, you do know how to make a girl feel special." She mocked before rolling her eyes. Brawler just shrugged. He's always been honest, never one to lie to others.
"I'm just saying that if they haven't gone out of hiding all this time, why would they start now? The whole world had shunned them out and now they're asking for help? No one would want to help."
"Heroes have a mindset that the whole world is their responsibility." Apparition was nodding her head as Portal began, his words from before echoing in her head. "No matter how many times the world pushes them away, they'll always be there to protect them."
Brawler could see his point, but there was a great possibility that the Heroes won't help. "And if they turn the other cheek?"
Portal gave Brawler a blank stare before shifting his gaze to Apparition then back to him. He shrugged his shoulders.
"Then it's up to us amateurs to save the world."
Confused. She was confused. Usually her visions show a woman getting her purse stolen and she had to swoop in a kick the robber's behind, sometimes she sees where a drug dealer is selling and takes them out before the cops come. Heck, she even gets visions about tripping down the stairs.
But nothing like this has happened. Nothing that really involved herself. Only occasional things like this happen, and they're usually the most important kinds of visions.
She couldn't help but feel jumpy this morning. She nearly jumped out of her seat when the bell on the door of the coffeeshop rang. She doesn't even know why she's so panicky this morning. So what if her vision freaked her out a bit? She's seen worse. Then again, its best to keep alert. She was just getting used to Gotham, she didn't want to move any time soon.
"Kathryn!" The barista called out. She pushed back her seat and walked up to the counter, grabbing her coffee and muttering a small 'thank you' before making her way out of the shop. The TV near the door was blaring the newscast from yesterday about the incident with the metas.
"Reports say that no evidence was left except for two inscribed L's on a tree near the street. Authorities are still searching for dangerous metahuman criminals. For now, all we can hope is that they will be found before any more damage is caused-" Kathryn had walked out before the reporter could finish.
Those metas are making it more difficult for other metahumans to live in secrecy. The more they do this, the more the laws get stricter. Soon, they might decide to have a mass-murder on all metas- good or bad, it won't matter. The world will want to destroy them. Everyone believes all metahumans have tainted their world.
No one even knows the real reason why metahumans are put into hiding. Apparently, metahumans had caused too much destruction and had let thousands of civilians die. But Kathryn knows better than to trust history books and the media. They were created to make metahumans look bad. The real reason had become lost for twenty years. It seems that even no one will ever know the answer to that.
Kathryn took a sip of her coffee, taking a small stroll through the city. She's already grown used to the polluted air and crowded sidewalks. Keeping one hand on her coffee and one hand in her pocket holding her wallet, she got lost in her thoughts... Only to bump into someone, causing her to spill her hot coffee all over her shirt.
She let out a small shriek of pain as the hot liquid soaked through her shirt. She quickly began dabbing her shirt with the napkins in her pocket. "Watch where you're going!" She cried not looking up.
"Maybe if you looked up while you walked, this all could have been avoided." A deep voice remarked calmly. Kathryn looked up to see the guy in front of her standing in front of her. He looked as if he hadn't seen sun in his whole life with his pale skin. His black hair falls past his shoulders, and his eyes were hidden behind a pair of sunglasses. He had a rugged face with a strong, angular jaw. In short, this guy was hot. In any other case, Kathryn would've took this oppurtunity to flirt with him, but this guy is a complete jerk!
Kathryn glared at him. "Don't blame this on me! You're the one who bumped into me!" She exclaimed as she gestured to her coffee-stained shirt. Doesn't this guy have any manners? He should've apologized like a gentleman! Who cares who bumped into who...
But the guy just rolled his eyes. "I don't have time for this." He muttered to himself as he pushed past her and blended into the crowd, disappearing from her sight.
"People these days..." Kathryn mumbled under her breath. She walked toward a trash bin and disposed of her now-empty sterofoam coffee cup. She turned the corner and hopped on her Harley, driving off back to her home.
"I'm back." Brawler said monotonously as he walked in through the door. He had a scowl on his face, thinking about the girl he bumped into this morning. Why do girl always think they the guy should apologize first? It's just annoying. He doesn't have to apologize for something that wasn't his fault.
He shook his head and decided not to think about it. It's just a civilian, there's no reason for him to think too hard about it. He put down the pizza box he was holding on to a random crate. As soon as he put the pizza box on top of the crate, Apparition appeared, sitting on the crate next to it. Brawler jumped at the sudden reappearance, still not used to her Houdini tricks.
"Mmm, smells good. I haven't had pizza in a while!" Apparition explained as she took a slice from the box. Before she could even take a bite in it, Portal took the pizza from her hands, taking a bite from it himself. Apparition pouted then shrugged, taking another slice and biting into it.
Brawler couldn't help notice their odd relationship. They seemed more intimate to be just superhero partners. Yet they're total opposites. Portal is reserved and stoic and comes off a bit as brooding. Apparition is friendly, but a bit on the naive side. Though, somehow, they just fit together. If they were just normal civilians, Brawler would've believed they were dating.
Then again, this is Apparition and Portal we're talking about. Brawler can't imagine what they would even be like if they were normal. Heck, he doesn't even know what normal is anymore. That girl he bumped into is probably as normal as it can get...
The thought made him scowl again. He has to stop thinking about her. The image of her blue/black hair (probably dyed because there's no way that can be natural) and blue eyes with specks of gold. He remembered the dark coffee stain on her loose gray tank top under her leather jacket, some drops of coffee on her gray ripped jeans. Anger evident on her face, and he knew she was close to kicking him in his holy place with her biker boots. Though, he does have to admit: she was pretty.
No, now's not the time to be thinking about that girl...
"Hey, Brawler. You okay?" Apparition asked, noticing that he was only staring at the box. "I thought you wanted pizza. You're the one who offered it."
"Uh yeah. Sorry, just got lost in my thoughts." Brawler replied before taking a slice himself. Apparition looked as if she wanted to go deeper into the subject, but decided to drop it when she noticed the look Portal was giving her, probably reminding her that she shouldn't get into someone else's business.
"Okay," was all she said. She grabbed another pizza slice. "So what's the plan for tonight?"
"The plan is to search for the leader of the Titans himself." Portal explained, getting another slice. Apparition stopped chewing and looked at Portal, a shock expression on her face.
"Wait, are you saying-"
"Yes," Portal nodded, grabbing a piece of paper and handing it to Apparition. She put her pizza down and immediately grabbed the paper out of his hands and looked it over. A huge grin spread across her face.
"No way. We're actually going to meet the Boy Wonder?!" Apparition was excited. It was obvious by the way she stared at the paper with admiration.
"Big fan?" Brawler asked as Apparition nodded vigorously.
"You have no idea. This guy's a legend! Better than the Batman if you ask me." Apparition answered as she continued to grin. Her grin faltered a bit as her eyebrows creased in confusion. "There's not an exact address on this."
"That's where we start." Portal looked at Brawler and Apparition. "We need to search for a Richard Grayson. The real deal and not some hoax with the same name."
"What should we do? We can't just post fliers saying: 'Looking for Long-Lost Hero, if found please bring him to the abandoned warehouse by the docks where three metahumans are hiding. For reward, turn in the metahumans to the cops and have them arrested. Thank you!'" Brawler replied sarcastically, which received a glare from Portal.
"We'll do it the old fashion way." Portal said, shaking the crumbs off his hands. "Do you know where the closest library is?"
Kathryn tossed and turned in her bed, but sleep would not come to her. There was a nagging tug in the pit of her stomach. Her brain was telling her to get up out of bed, hop on her Harley, and go to 26th street. Kathryn had to find out who that girl was.
The loud clap of thunder pulled her out of her thoughts. She turned to her window and saw the raindrops pounding hard on the glass as another streak of lightning lit up the sky. Riding outside in the rain is dangerous, but Kathryn can take care of herself. Besides, this isn't the most dangerous thing she's done.
Pushing the blanket off her, she got up from bed and to her closet. Kathryn began changing out of her pajamas into her usual attire of ripped jeans, leather jackets, and biker boots. She grabbed her helmet and keys and ran straight out the door into the stormy night.
Sneaking into a police station's personal files? Check. Apparition thought as she floated up, still invisible, to the security camera. She unscrewed the side, fiddling with the wires, before rescrewing the side back in. Hack the security camera? Another check.
"That should buy me at least an hour or so..." Apparition mumbled as floated back to the ground. She made herself reappear in the empty room before turning to the file cabinets. "Now, where's G for Grayson?"
After the trip to the library, they still couldn't find much about Richard Grayson. Only that his family died in a terrible acrobat accident and that he was adopted by multi-billionaire, Bruce Wayne. Of course, they opted looking for the Wayne Manor, but a news article had mentioned that it had been abandoned when Bruce Wayne mysteriously disappeared during the same time that the metahuman/superhero banning law was announced and became official.
"... D...E...F... G! Here it is!" Apparition opened the first drawer and began searching through it. "Huh, they still use paper and folders. I would've thought they'd do the in-thing and go with electronic catalogs." Apparition spoke to herself while opening one of the drawers. She rummaged through the folders look for the familiar name. When she found none, she closed the drawer and continued on to another one. She repeated the process over and over, but still no name came up on Richard Grayson. Apparition was sure she would find some sort of file on him in here.
She sighed, defeatedly. Might as well leave now. She floated up and was about to phase out of there when a cabinet way in the back caught her eye. It was somehow different from the rest, all the cabinets being gray while this one was red, and seemed to look to be hidden in the back behind all the others. "Hello, what do we have here?" She floated to it and gently landed on the ground.
The strange red cabinet was dusty, a sign showing it hasn't been open in years. Old padlocks hung on each drawer, Apparition whistled. "Would you look at these dinosaurs? No one's used padlocks since lock-scanners were invented." Then again, padlocks made this job ten times easier. One by one, Apparition made each lock intangible, phasing them out of their place and putting them on top of the cabinet. She opened the second drawer, assuming it was in alphabetical order. She rummaged through the drawer, noting that each file was stamped "TOP SECRET" in bold, red letters and found the file all the was in the back. She grabbed it and pulled it out. Apparition opened it and bit her lip to contain a shriek of excitement.
It was him, she could tell by just imagining a mask over his crystal blue eye and him being younger. His picture was attached to a file. It read:
Name: Richard John "Dick" Grayson
Alias: Robin, Boy Wonder
Parents: John Grayson (Father, deceased), Mary Grayson (Mother, deceased), Bruce Wayne (Adopted father, missing)
Skills: Possesses the peak athletic strength and endurance of a man in his mid-twenties who regularly engages in intensive physical exercise. He is a master of dozens of martial arts disciplines and was rigorously trained by his mentor in everything from escapology to criminology, fencing, stealth, and disguise and numerous other combat/non-combat disciplines.
Just as she was getting to his address, the room flashed red and an alarm went off. Apparition looked down and noticed she had accidentally stepped on a trip wire.
'People still do that?' She thought to herself. Apparition cursed herself for not being careful enough. She quickly shut the cabinet, but tripped over her feet. The file skid across the floor to the other side of the room as she crashed to the floor as well.
"Stupid, klutz." Apparition mumbled to herself as she looked around for the file. As she noticed it, she heard voices and a crowd of stomping feet heading this was. Apparition turned invisible just as the door opened. Flashlights flashed through the room before a light turned on. Apparition, still invisible, couldn't help but hide behind a cabinet. She kept her eyes on the file.
"The alarm was triggered here. Search around," she could hear one policeman say, probably the chief of police. Silently as she could, she tiptoed her way around the cabinets, keeping her invisibility up. Carefully, she picked up the file. She smiled down at the file victoriously.
But she cheered too soon, for Portal thought it was the right time to page in and contact her through the walkie talkies they had managed to find.
"Apparition, do you read? Did you get the file?" His voice was loud and clear, attracting attention to her spot near the file.
'Perfect timing, Port.' She thought sarcastically as she picked up the file, turning it invisible as well.
"Freeze!" Out of shock, she dropped the file and had reappeared out of thin air, nearly scaring the man in front of her.
"I found him- er, her?" Apparition looked up to see a young man.
'Geez, not all criminals are males, you know!' She wanted to shout at him but decided against it. That would give them more of a reason why she looked like a criminal.
The man looked pretty young, probably only about nineteen or twenty years old. It was obvious he was a newbie, what with the way he held his gun with shaking hands at her and was already sweating even though she didn't do anything. 'I'll try not to scare him too much.' She thought as a smug smirk played on her lips. Apparition picked up the file, the man's gun following her as she did.
"P-put that d-down, o-or I'll shoot." The man stuttered as he tried to keep the grip on his gun.
"Sorry, but I got places to be. Don't take this the wrong way, I'm one of the good guys." She said as she phased through him and ran to the opened door. More cops tried to block her way, trying to catch her. Bullets were fired, cabinets were knocked down, but they still couldn't catch her. One managed to pin her to a nearby cabinet. She hit the cabinet hard. It wouldn't be surprising since this cop was as big as the Hulk! His meaty hands gripped her arms. She merely smiled as she phased through through the cabinet and turned invisible.
The door was in reach now, but a shot of pain ran through her arm, stopping her in her tracks. She felt her sleeve get damp with blood. Apparition cursed; she must have opened her wound when that Police Hulk crashed into her. She'll have to limit her powers to save her strength. Cursing again, she dashed through the door, narrowly escaping one cop who tried tackling her again. Her footsteps were getting sloppy as she began phasing through the walls. She continued running and phasing at the same time until she was outside. Still, she continued to run, the file still held tightly on the waist of her pants. The rain wasn't making her escape any easier.
"Apparition, are you there? Do you need back up?" She unhooked the walkie talkie from her belt and pushed the button.
"Back up would be much appreciated! My wound opened up, and my powers are very limited at this time." Apparition yelled into the device as she continued to run.
"Where's your location?" Apparition tried to squint through the raindrops and darkness as she searched for a street sign.
"Can't see a street name, I'll try to lose them first." Hooking the walkie talkie back, she ran faster.
Her feet splashed against puddles, and she could hear the sirens of policecars. She cut through an alleyway and onto a street, hopefully losing the cops behind her. Still not stopping, she unhooked the walkie talkie once again. "I'll be hiding near a bakery by 26th street!"
"18th... 19th... 20th..." What if her vision was on a different day? It couldn't have been tonight. Her visions aren't exactly immediate. Sometimes, it could be days or maybe weeks, even months for her visions to come true. Her vision didn't necessarily mean tonight... Did it?
Maybe she was wrong. Maybe it is the wrong day. Still, it felt as if she was being pulled to go there. If she was wrong, then she would have to go home, soaking and possibly catching the flu. Yeah, she'll just go there and check. And if no one was there, she would just turn around and go.
With a newfound reason, Kathryn snapped out of her thought. As she did, she realized it was already too late.
Just as her vision predicted, a girl ran onto the road in front of her Harley. Out of instinct, she hits the brakes and swerves, trying to avoid hitting the girl. She was, however, still too close. She waited for the impact, but it never came. She passed through cold air, which gave her goosebumps and left a pins-and-needles kind of feeling on her skin. Before she could gain control of her Harley or even use her powers to stop her fall, her Harley flips, sending her flying and onto the pavement.
Kathryn was overwhelmed with a pain in her head. She couldn't move her body, and she was flashing in and out of consciousness. She saw the girl rush to her side, just like her vision. She could see her lips moving, but couldn't make out the words she was saying. The girl's pale blue eyes flooded with panic.
And just like the end of her vision, she lost consciousness.
"Please don't be dead. Please don't be dead." Apparition seemed to chant for the past five minutes now. She didn't see the biker coming and panicked immediately when she was about to be hit. Her powers kicked in, luckily Apparition managed to phase through the bike. Unfortunately, the biker and her Harley had flipped, and the biker girl now laid on the pavement unmoving.
"Apparition? Are you at the meeting point?" Portal's voice sounded through the night. Unhooking the walkie talkie, she pressed the button and spoke into it.
"Positive," she lied through her teeth. She hated lying to Portal, but she couldn't tell Portal that she nearly crashed into a girl and made her unconscious all the while. Portal will be furious at her. Apparition was torn at what to do. The Harley on the side caught her eye, and a plan formed in her mind.
"Ok, I'll be right-"
"Abort on the back up. I found myself a ride." Apparition replied back, hooking the walkie talkie back on her belt without bothering to hear a reply back.
"Please..." She let out a huge sigh of relief as she felt a flutter of a pulse beneath her finger tips.
Now the next problem. There's an unconscious girl lying in the middle of the street, bruised and possibly in need of medical attention. Apparition couldn't just leave the girl. From that fall, it was possibly she could have had a concussion. But should she endanger her chances of being caught?
Her hero instinct got the best of her, and she stood up and headed toward the motorcycle. She lifted it off the ground and put the stand up. Apparition then went back to the girl, taking off her hooded cape and putting it around the biker. She lifted the biker up with slight struggle, using some part of her telekenisis to help balance her.
Gripping the handle while trying to keep the girl on the bike, Apparition started the engine. "Ok, let's see if Unc's motorcycle lessons are finally put to use." Kicking off the stand, she drove the bike forward, swerving to the side a bit, but managing to keep up balance. With luckily no car was in sight, she shot through the street at bullet speed to the docks.