A/N: Now, a lot of people have commented on the similarity between my story and Daredevil – its NOT unintentional. I said in the disclaimer I own nothing except the character! And also I've gotten a few things wrong with her being blind, HOWEVER, I now have my wonderful, wonderful beta to correct my mistakes – so thank you thank you thank you to Thought, and I hope you enjoy!
Chapter Three – Echo
The sound of a coffee cup being put down on the boardroom table woke me, along with Lucius Fox's slightly amused voice. "Late night, Mr Wayne?"
Blinking rapidly, I picked up the cup and drained the scalding liquid in three gulps, uncaring of the temperature. I needed caffeine more than I cared about the burn in my throat. "Five am," I finally answered. "Four attempted rapes, three muggings, two armed robberies, a drug bust and an attempted murder." Still, busy nights weren't so bad – yeah they were more tiring, but at least I felt like I'd accomplished something. Fighting actual criminals was satisfying; fighting the corruption in the city's judiciary system was harder, especially since Dent…no. Best not to think about that. That only led to thinking about Rachel.
Fox pointed at the abrasion on my temple. "And that?"
"Thug got lucky." I wouldn't have risked being seen with it, but thanks to whatever magic Alfred had worked, it wasn't all that noticeable. But then Fox was good at noticing the unnoticeable. Even so, had it not been important that I see him as soon as possible, I probably wouldn't have left the manor for a while until it had healed fully. Getting to the point, I stood and joined him at the window. "The car needs to be faster."
"You want me to get on the phone to Ferrari?"
The corner of my mouth curled up before I elaborated. "The sun was up by the time I got back, and in a few weeks it'll be rising earlier. I'll be too easy to follow." Fox had come up with a new design for the car – it still black and virtually indestructible, but sleeker, longer, less squat than the original tumbler.
He absorbed that with his usual thoughtfulness, then nodded. "Alright. I'll see what I can do. I'll need access to the car, though," he added as I walked away.
I pointed to the pile of documents at the end of the board-table. "I'm sure you'll need me to sign something in that. Come to the manor later. Alfred will be glad to catch up with an old friend."
His chuckle followed me out of the room. "I'm sure he will."
Throwing a grin carelessly at Jessica, I left, heading for the elevator. Mercifully, it was empty, and I took the opportunity to gingerly prod the lump on my temple. Most of the swelling had already gone down; it was the purple bruising that was the problem. Putting my hands in my pockets, I slouched against the wall, thinking about the blind woman last night. I couldn't get her face out of my head. It wasn't the fact that she was good-looking – she'd been pretty, but not particularly beautiful, not compared to some of the women I've dated. No, it had been her strangely fearless demeanour that fascinated me, the determination in her unseeing green-eyed gaze. Getting mugged is pretty terrifying for anyone; if you couldn't see what was happening I imagine it would be far more so. But she hadn't been scared of the thugs, and she hadn't been scared of me. I smirked. And she lived in my apartment.
Walking through the lobby, I resolved to at least find out her name. Alfred and the car were waiting outside, the door already open. "Good afternoon, sir."
"Afternoon, Alfred."
On the leather of the backseat, the day's newspapers were waiting. I picked up the top one, unfolding it to look at the headline. Oil prices rising another 1.5 percent. "Home, Master Wayne?"
"Mmm." Next paper, the Gazette. Headline and leading article about the new wind-powered power plant Wayne Enterprises was building just outside Gotham. The reporter who'd written it didn't seem all that impressed. Some people were never happy.
Once the broadsheets were done, I moved onto tabloids. Realistically, if anyone was going to come up with a theory of Bruce Wayne being Batman, it would be the tabloids. This week I was lucky – and apparently engaged to the princess of Denmark.
Chuckling, I passed the paper to Alfred. He glanced at it and smiled. "Congratulations are in order then."
"It would seem so. Was there anything else, Alfred?"
"An invitation to the Mayor's ball in two weeks. And you still haven't confirmed if you'll be attending the opening of Symphony Hall. That's in three days."
"Yeah, I'll go. Haven't been seen in public for at least two days."
"And will be requiring a date for the evening, sir?"
"Probably. Though I really should invite my fiancée."
"I believe the princess has returned to Europe," Alfred grinned. It faded as he carried on. "But I'm sure I can procure whichever socialite is flavour of the month."
I suppressed the urge to wince. Alfred was the only person who could make me feel like a naughty kid again. He'd never made any effort to disguise his distaste for the airheaded gold-diggers I 'dated', though he understood why they were necessary. Sometimes I didn't.
Now that the manor was rebuilt, it took slightly longer to get home from the office. Enough time to fall asleep. Not that I'd planned to do that, but I woke with a jolt when Alfred switched the engine off. "Damn it."
"Will you be patrolling again tonight, sir?" he asked me as we went inside. I headed for the staircase, sleep becoming more and more alluring with every passing second.
"No choice. Without the signal there's no way of knowing if Batman's needed or not." I turned at the top. "And Fox will be coming at some point to have a look at the car."
"I take it you don't mean the Aston?"
"Goodnight, Alfred."
---
"Are you sure?"
"Ben, I'm going to put the phone down if you ask me that again," I said lightly.
"But don't you think tonight is really soon? I mean-"
"You'd think a year from now was really soon," I told him firmly. "And besides, any longer and I'll get rusty. And in this city I can't afford to. Just talk me through the modifications."
"Ok, fine," he sighed. "With the sonar I've improved it; the bursts are of higher frequency and they're faster. You should be able to build up a clearer picture of up to about fifty feet away. Your hearing should take care of the rest."
"Right. Anything else?"
"Nunchaku holster I've moved slightly; it's a thigh holster now." Nunchakus – when they're used correctly – are silent, and utterly deadly. In the strictest sense, I don't use it correctly, and the master who trained me always lamented that fact that I couldn't use it quietly. Though that's not quite true. I could use it without sound, but I like noisy weapons. They let me know they're coming, and where they're going.
"Right, and the grapple?"
"Where it always was. Hook on your belt."
"Thanks, Ben."
"Just don't get yourself killed."
"I'll talk to you tomorrow," I said in a quelling fashion before disconnecting the call. The clock chimed ten pm, and I pushed down the small flutter of nervousness – as well as the excitement. Getting emotional about this was the worst possible thing I could do.
It was easier once I had the suit on. Echo wasn't emotional, or vulnerable. With the mask that covered the top of my face, complete with opaque lenses, Ilaria Simmons ceased to exist. Putting a hand up to the symbol on my chest, I activated the sonar, then fitted the corresponding earpiece.
Immediately, it began firing out pulses of sound, too high for normal humans to hear. At my feet, I heard Jasper whine slightly, and patted his head comfortingly. "It's ok, Jasper. I'll be gone in a minute."
Moving to the doors to the helipad, I opened them, leaving them unlocked. Unless you had a helicopter or a grappling hook it was impossible to get in. Once outside, I stood on the helipad for a moment, just listening. Every city has its own heartbeat, its own soundtrack. With London it's bells – there are steeples and churches everywhere. New York the constant car horns, Paris a sort of fashionable hum. Gotham…it's death. Sirens and gunfire. For a moment I wondered how Batman thought he could possibly do this by himself. It was a mammoth task.
A scream sounded not too far away, breaking into my reflections. I swivelled to pinpoint the sound, then fired down to the ground. It didn't take me long to get there, and when I did, it was to find two women and four men – three armed with knives and one with a gun, about to rape them. I forced the rage down, let it fuel my mind rather than heat my blood. Jumping off a low roof, I managed to land on the one with the gun. At the sudden flurry of movement that followed, the two women started screaming again. I didn't waste time telling them to shut up, instead grabbing the man's wrist and delivering a swift but powerful kick to his side. Unable to withstand being pulled in two directions, his arm was pulled out of its socket. He let out a scream of pain; I took advantage of the distraction of hit the pressure point on his neck to knock him out. I let go as he went down, turning my attention to the other three.
I broke the wrist of one, the sternum of another. The last one got lucky and grabbed both my wrists. A snap kick upward knocked out at least a dozen of his teeth, and knocked him off balance, but not unconscious. Still, it was enough to knock the stab that would probably have severed my femoral artery off target. Instead, the blade scratched along my shin, not quite breaking the leather. Another punch to his temple ensured he was out this time.
The two women I'd rescued both stared at me. "You- you're not Batman," one of them whispered.
I almost smirked. "And you're perceptive." Without further ado, I raised my arm and fired.
Disappointingly, I was out in the city from ten until three, and didn't run into Batman once. I did prevent another rape and a few muggings, and still got the warm fuzzies from that. But still…I wanted to see how the Bat would react to having another person patrolling his city.
It wasn't until ten to four, with the sounds of the first birds arriving, that it finally happened.
I'd caught the sounds of an armed robbery – lots of 'put your hands up' and 'give me the money' going on not too far from where I was. I fired down, and got there only a few seconds after the swish of material that the night before had signalled Batman's arrival. From the amounts of footsteps I could hear – and the swearing – there were nine of them, and one of him. A faint temptation ran through me to just let him handle them – I was certain he could – but I decided to help. It took me five seconds to get into the building. In that time, Batman had taken down three of them. I took down another three – and then found myself in a chokehold. He knew what he was doing. If I moved even a centimetre, his fingers were perfectly positioned at my carotid artery to make me pass out.
"Who are you?"
"Let me go and I'll tell you."
He did, slowly. I also decided moving slowly was a good move, and turned to face him. The sonar pulsed, and I got my first good look at his face. From what there was to see – the mask froze his face into a severe expression, and his exposed mouth was set into a grim line. It was no wonder everyone's heartbeats picked up around him. I could feel mine doing the same thing. "Echo."
"What?"
"My name. It's Echo."
"Your real name," he demanded.
"You first."
"Why are you here?"
"The same reason you are. I'm just trying to help."
"I don't need help," he growled.
"I didn't say you did," I replied. "But this city needs all the help it can get."
He couldn't, and didn't, argue with that. I turned my head as I heard more birds wake and begin calling to one another. Pigeons this time, which meant dawn couldn't be far off. "It's almost morning. I'm leaving."
I turned, and he caught my wrist. "I better not see you out here again."
I wrenched my arm out of his grip. "I think you should count on it."
---
A/N: Review please!
