Chapter 4

Advisory: This chapter is rated M for scenes of violence and very dirty language. Don't say you weren't warned

Officer Rosa Montoya had known that for the past few weeks, something strange had been going on in Gotham City.

No, check that--- something stranger than the usual for Gotham. With all of the public 'vampire' style murders and the more secretive underworld killings that had been taking place, it was no secret that citizens on both sides of the law were extremely nervous about being out on the streets.

So when her car was radioed on the signs of some kind of gang fighting just south of Crime Alley, Montoya was almost relieved to find her squad car being called in on something she and her partner Officer Riggs could handle.

Unfortunately, it had soon become clear that her assumption was a mistaken one. For one thing, by the time they got where they had been called to go, any violence was clearly over. Only this time, instead of coming to a near empty street, Montoya and Riggs found that there were several people scattered on the sidewalk.

"What the hell happened here?" asked Riggs. Montoya knew the question was a rhetorical one, but in her mind, she was asking it herself. What was going on?

Both asked it again of themselves as they surveyed the scene – this made no sense. There were five of them –gang members, and they had been beaten badly, but all of them were still alive. That was what made no sense. A gang member on the concrete in Crime Alley was a dead gang member, and those still living didn't stick around to wait for the cops unless they wanted to get arrested.

The situation had gotten even stranger as Montoya began to approach the five. The first was unconscious – he had had the shit kicked out of him. That was, however, not the reason he was still in the street. Someone had trussed him up like a cow. She had never seen any of the gangs do that – beat their opponents nearly to death, yeah, but leave them tied down? It would never happen.

"Better call for an ambulance," Montoya yelled over to her partner.

"We're gonna need more than one." Riggs said as he picked up his walkie-talkie.

The next one she saw was still awake, and he was moaning in pain. He was a big, well-built man, with tattoos on both of his forearms – skulls. He didn't look like the type that could be pinned down by standard rope, but all his wriggling around was doing was tightening the knots even further.

Montoya kneeled down beside him. "If I untie you, are you going to behave?" she asked.

"Lady," the thug answered, breathing hard, "does it look like I have enough left to try to piss you off?"

Montoya began to untie him, keeping her revolver well out of the reach of this would-be gang banger.

"You have a name?" Montoya asked, not expecting a response.

She was, therefore, surprised when she got one. "Don Byrnes." he said tiredly.

"And what did you do to deserve this?" she asked, managing to keep the curiosity out of her voice.

"Not a fucking thing, lady." Byrnes managed to turn his head a little to his left. "In fact, now that you're here, I want report a case of assault and battery!"

This, at least, sounded a little more like the average crook. She decided to play it out after a moment's thought. "Against who, Mr. Byrnes?" She asked, finally managing to open the knot binding his wrists.

"Fuck if I know." Byrnes was starting to sound pissed.

"Me and my boys were just waiting for the next bus to come. Then this strange skanky chick walks up to us. She asks us how tough we are."

"Yeah… And?"

"Marcellus here says she's got to be really fucking thick to ask a question like that." She had finally untied the last of the knots, and he was able to sit up and face her, rubbing his wrists just above the rope burns. "It was a goddamn joke, but that stupid bitch took it personally. Next thing I know Marcellus's lying face down on the ground and she's kicking him in the stomach."

"Uh-huh." This guy was lying, and Montoya didn't bother hiding her disbelief as she asked her next question. "And which one of your friends is Marcellus?"

Brian pointed past Montoya to a black, bald-headed man who was on the concrete ten feet away. Riggs had untied him, but he was still having trouble getting to his feet, a gash on his forehead, his eyes still somewhat glazed over. "That's him." Byrnes shook his head. "Bitch probably broke a few of his ribs."

"And my heart bleeds for him," said Montoya sarcastically. "So, after this woman knocks you down, she starts trashing the rest of your gang?"

Byrnes shifted his eyes away from her. "Hey, the skank was out of her fucking mind, Lady!" He took a breath.

"She starts swinging at Nick, she nails him. Well, now all the fuck any of us wanted to do was get away from Layla Ali. We started running, and that bitch just went medieval on our asses." Byrnes looked his hand. "Then she starts tying us up like we were in one of those sex clubs. Only after she finished, she takes off without doin' a thing."

Montoya had now taken all she could. "Mr. Byrnes, do I strike you as an idiot?" she said, keeping her voice calm.

"Look, lady—"Byrnes started.

"It's Officer lady, asswipe." Montoya yanked the hoodlum to his feet. "You expect me to believe that five strong, manly men such as yourselves were standing around, minding your own business when this mystery lady walks up to you and starts knocking you around like tin cans?"

"La--- Officer, it's the truth!"

"First of all, you weren't doing nothing." She held out a hand, showing what she had found in the pockets of his jacket when she had been untying him – a crack pipe and a switchblade. "You were either using drugs or waiting here to buy some. And don't tell me that you were using this---"she picked up the knife--- "to clean your fingernails."

Byrnes considered his options. "Okay, maybe we weren't just waiting around doin' nothing. But that don't give some chick the right to just knock us around. Stupid bitch nearly broke my arm!"

She took a good look at him, now that he was on his feet. One of his arms was, indeed, hanging at an awkward angle, and it looked like one of the bones was pressing against the underside of his skin – it was obviously cracked. This did not, however, change her opinion a single iota.

"Well, you have been hurt, and we're gonna get you an ambulance just 'cause we're nice people, us Police Officers... but, after you get looked at, we're going to be taking a ride downtown, so you might well want to consider changing your story."

"To what? I got beat up by a girl and now I'm about to be hauled off to the slammer! How can I possibly change this story to make things any worse?"

"I don't know, but that's your problem. Not mine."

By now the ambulance had arrived. Montoya began to walk Byrnes over to it. When she reached it, the doors were open, and the paramedics were rushing toward one of Byrnes' associates – one that Riggs was standing over. Whoever had done this had done a very good job of it – the sidewalk had blood spattered all over it.

"Not very pretty, is it?" said Riggs.

"I don't know... Red's a nice color." Montoya shifted her attention fully to her partner. "How bad are the others?"

"Not that serious. A few broken bones, a couple of scalp wounds." Riggs said. "You ask me, their egos took a much worse beating than they did."

Montoya wasn't sure that was true, but she decided to let it pass. "What story did they tell?" she asked.

"Same one. Some big bad momma whaled the tar out of them while they were standing around doing nothing." Riggs thought for a moment. "And that is weird enough."

"What do you mean?" asked Montoya.

"How often do a bunch of Skulls tell exactly the same story? I don't mean the 'doing nothing' part. How often would a bunch of them say the same person did it?"

"A criminal lying; I am shocked and awed." Montoya answered sarcastically.

"They generally know better than to all tell the same story, Montoya. They know that we'll call them on it." Riggs looked around. "Which brings up the next question: who really did this?"

"You don't think this was a gang thing, then."

"How many gangs do you know that beat people to a pulp, then tie them up and leave them alive?" asked Riggs.

She considered that. "There weren't any other people on the street. Maybe we should start canvassing the neighborhood… see if someone saw what happened."

"Or you could just ask me."

Montoya and Riggs spun around. Standing behind them was a small, dark haired woman.

"Where the hell did you come from?" Riggs nearly yelled.

"Hey, I've been standing in that alley for the last half-hour." the woman said. "I can't help it if you didn't see me."

"Okay, okay." said Montoya. "Did you see what happened here tonight?"

The strange woman gave a small smile. "In a manner of speaking, yeah, I did."

"What do you mean by that?" asked Riggs.

"The people who beat those morons up?" the strange woman said, still smiling. "They were me."

Neither officer reacted to that statement, but both felt like smiling. She was scarcely more than a teenager – just over twenty one, if that old. Furthermore, she was barely five-six, and if she weighed a hundred pounds when she was soaking wet, she was lucky. The idea of her beating up Byrnes or one of his friends was ludicrous. The idea of her beating all five to the ground and tying them up was even more ridiculous.

"Forgive me if I'm a little skeptical," Montoya began "Miss---"

"That's her! That's the crazy bitch that beat the shit out of me!" Byrnes hadn't been loaded on to the ambulance yet. "You're gonna pay for this, you skanky slut! I'll fucking rip your arms off!"

Montoya turned her attention back toward the woman, who acted as if she hadn't heard anything. "Excuse me, Miss…" she trailed off.

"Call me Faith." the girl said.

"Ma'am, we're going to have to ask you to come down to the stationhouse with us." Riggs said calmly.

Faith shrugged. "All right. But I'm going to need to make a phone call as soon as I get to the station." She began walking to the officers. "That alright?"

"That would be just fine." said Montoya. "I should warn you---"

"I know, I have the right to remain silent, anything I can say can be used against me in a court of law---"

"You're familiar with procedure, then." said Riggs.

The dark-haired woman gave a small smile. "You have no idea how well I know it."

And that was how Faith introduced herself to the Gotham City PD.