Thanks to all my alerters and favoriters! Gives me lots of inspiration when I know people like what I'm posting!
Disclaimer: Don't own Bats and all that jazz.
"We've got to get rid of those circles," I said. "Like, ten minutes ago."
"I'll go to the city and see what I can do," Bruce said, turning and heading toward the study. I followed him for a ways down the hall, explaining how to stop the transmutation.
"If you break the outer circle, even if it's just a little smudge, the transmutation won't work." He gave me a brief nod of understanding, then I spun around and went back into the kitchen. "Uh, Charlotte. We have a new problem." I relayed the information about the circles on the buildings to her quickly.
"That just doesn't make sense," she said, putting a knuckle to her lips. "Greg wouldn't do anything like this. He wouldn't kill a spider, let alone an entire city full of people. Even one as corrupt as Gotham."
"But you said that they were Greg's circles," I refuted quickly as I snatched one of the papers from the table. "His signature. You said that no one could have taken these from his collection."
"Actually, dear, I said it was unlikely that they did," Charlotte replied. "But far from impossible." She took the paper from me and set it on top of the others, then grabbed my wrist and dragged me into the foyer. "We've got to get those circles off those buildings before Gotham's reduced to a pile of rubble."
"I'm still confused," I said as I rerouted us to the garage. "Even if Greg were back, why Gotham? Like you said: he's never even killed a spider, and he freaked out when I did back when we lived together."
"Something's fishy with this entire thing," Charlotte said. "But our priority at the moment is getting those circles gone." We entered the garage, and her mouth fell open. "Being a billionaire has it's perks, I suppose."
"Yeah it does," I said as I dragged her toward the sleek silver Lamborghini Reventón, Bruce's newest addition to his collection. I figured he wouldn't mind me taking it, seeing as us getting to Gotham ASAP was our biggest priority, and seeing as the thing clocks out at just over 350mph, I thought it our best choice.
We reached Gotham in a little over three minutes, since most of the way was a straight road into the city, and I pretty much had the pedal to the floor. I thought Charlotte was going to have a heart attack right there in the passenger's seat.
"Keep your eyes peeled, Eve," Charlotte said. She was staring out the window as I drove slowly through the city streets.
"Got it," I replied, looking on the sides of buildings, trying to find the circles.
"Pull over! Eve! Quick!" Charlotte said, and I cut in front of a taxi to reach the curb. Charlotte was out of the car before I even had it off.
"Charlotte!" I shouted, shutting off the car and running after her. I suddenly felt the vulnerability of not having my suit as the wind blew through the cotton of my lavender blouse and my jeans. I really hope nothing happens. I really hope nothing happens. I thought as I chased Charlotte. That's when I realized she was chasing someone herself. Someone dressed in all black with a face mask, and damn, they were fast. I patted my pockets as I sprinted to catch up with Charlotte, trying to find something that could be even remotely useful. I had my cell phone and lint. "Oh, god dammit!" I said, gripping my cell phone in my hand as I reached Charlotte's side. The alley was coming to an end, and the man in black was almost to its mouth.
I hurled my cell phone.
I guess that all the training with Greg and Charlotte did some good, because my phone pegged the man on the back of the neck, and he let out a cry and face planted onto the concrete right before the alley's mouth. Charlotte and I were at his side seconds later, just as he was pushing himself up onto his hands, intent on running again. That is, until I kicked him in the side. I could feel the impact up into my hip, and whatever ridiculously hard armor that had been covering him instantly bruised the bottom of my shin. I cursed again, and Charlotte grabbed the man's arm, twisting it around his back and kneeling on it before he could even think about getting up.
"Are you the one drawing all the transmutation—OW!" The man had twisted, using his other arm to smack Charlotte off of him as he rolled. She stumbled backward into me, and we fell in a heap against the wall behind us. The man was up and gone before we could untangle ourselves and stand.
"That was a bust," I muttered, rubbing my shin. Charlotte had wandered back down the alley.
"There's a circle down here," she called, and I followed—after picking up my cell phone—to look. Charlotte spit on her hand and destroyed one entire side of it. "One down."
"A hundred to go," I muttered as I stared down at my cell phone and its cracked screen. It lit up suddenly and vibrated in my hand, and I was relieved it still worked. I answered.
"I've got the circles off the major buildings," came Bruce's voice before I could even said hello.
"We got one, too," I replied, turning away from Charlotte. "We also saw the guy who'd been drawing it. Dressed in black, with a face mask. He was going for the classic ninja look, I guess."
"You're sure?" Bruce asked, suddenly sounding super serious.
"Definitely."
"Get back to the manor," Bruce said. "Get out of the city. I know who's doing this." He disconnected before I could ask anything else.
"I don't think so," I muttered, turning back to face Charlotte as I pocketed my phone. "Let's keep looking for the circles." He knows who's doing this, but he's not telling I thought as we headed back toward the Lamborghini. I wonder why.
"That's the fourth one," Charlotte said, wiping the chalk dust from her hands. "Whatever these people are doing, they're bad at it." I looked at her, eyebrow raised.
"How so?"
"They could have had the entire city destroyed by now," she explained. "They had enough circles on enough buildings that it would be an essential domino effect. You destroy the side of one building it falls over into the one next to it, and so on. You could put circles on every other building and the entire city would be devastated, and they had more than enough time to do that." She paused, pondering a moment. "Not to mention the circles on the streets you were talking about earlier. If you set half a dozen of those off, you could take out a city block."
"So you're saying that whoever's doing this doesn't really know what they're doing?" I asked.
"Either that," Charlotte said, "or they're going for overkill. These many circles, the city would never be able to be rebuilt. There'd be no foundation. Hell, it'd probably be flooded from the rivers. If all these were activated, Gotham wouldn't only be destroyed, it'd be annihilated. It would be like dropping an atomic bomb. It would be like having a meteor the size of Rhode Island crash into Gotham. It would be like a thousand other scenarios." She looked at me gravely. "Times a thousand."
"Fantastic," I said sardonically. "Let's keep looking for—"
A bright, flashing light to our left interrupted my sentence, and Charlotte and I turned in time to see the pavement rising up like a wave, and heading straight for us. "Move!" Charlotte shouted, and she pulled me as she began to sprint away from the wave.
"Who the hell is doing a transmutation!?" I shouted as we came to the mouth of the alley we'd been in and flung ourselves around the corner, out of the path of the attack. The wave of concrete, like there was a huge subterranean creature was moving just under the surface, exploded into the street, and taxis and cars swerved to avoid the wreckage. Charlotte and I were already moving away from the alley.
"Someone doesn't like the fact we're ruining their plan, I guess," she said as we sprinted back around toward the Lamborghini.
"You think it's our ninja friend?" I asked as we rounded the corner. The Lamborghini was in sight, and then it wasn't, because it was suddenly shrouded in a bright light, and I could make out the silhouette of a man crouched beside it before it was blown sky high. The car came crashing onto the pavement with a horrendous crunching of metal and plastic. Bruce is not going to be happy with me I thought as I grabbed Charlotte by the wrist and dragged her into the pawn shop to our immediate right.
"They blew up his car!" Charlotte exclaimed as we ducked behind a row of lawnmowers, hiding in case whoever just sent 1.5 million dollars fifty feet in the air was hoping to do the same to us. "Who the hell are these people?!"
"That's what I'd like to know," I replied, peeking between the handle of one of the mowers, trying to see if anyone were outside the pawn shop. All I saw were Gothamites running to see what had happened to the Lamborghini. "We know one thing, and that's that whoever just attacked us was an alchemist, and a talented one at that. But I don't get why they haven't destroyed the buildings yet." I looked was still staring out the window. "Come on. I think we're safe."
"I don't think they're all alchemists," Charlotte said as we cautiously left the pawn shop. "Otherwise Gotham would be a pile of dust and bodies by now." We made our way opposite the still burning wreck that used to be a Lamborghini. She grabbed my shoulder suddenly, and jerked me around to face her. "A chain reaction," she said. "That's got to be it! That's why they haven't destroyed Gotham yet! Evelyn, Evelyn, Evelyn." Charlotte had a wild, excited look in her emerald eyes. "Where did the circles start showing up? What part of Gotham?"
"This part," I replied. "The Upper East Side."
"And they moved south from there, didn't they?" I thought about the buildings that Bruce had told me the circles had appeared on, and the connection clicked.
"They did!"
"Then whoever's planning this is in South Gotham," Charlotte said. "With this many circles, you could set off one, and with enough in a consecutive sequence around the city, you could set all of them off in a domino effect. That's why Gotham's still standing, and our man is in the Southern part of the city."
"Wayne Tower," I said with dawning realization. "It's the most important building in the city practically! And it's in South Gotham." I quickly pulled my phone out of my pocket and dialed Wayne Manor. "Alfred!" I exclaimed, already dragging Charlotte down the sidewalk. "Alfred! We need you to come pick us up! Right now!"
"Didn't you take the Lamborghini, Miss?"
"I'll explain everything later, but right now, I need my suit."
I managed to get Alfred to distract Charlotte long enough for me to rush to the Cave, get my suit on, and get back upstairs. I had my mask in my hand as I fixed the communicator in my ear and entered the foyer. Charlotte stared at me.
"I told you I was a crimefighter," I said simply. I switched on my communicator to Bruce's frequency. "B, we know where our guy is."
"Wayne Tower," came Bruce's immediate reply. I frowned. Somehow he always seemed to know everything before anyone else.
"Yeah," I said. "I'm on my way."
"No you're not," Bruce said. "Stay out of the city."
"I don't think so," I replied flatly. "Whoever this guy is tried to kill me and Charlotte, and hell if he's getting away with that." I pulled a Bruce, and disconnected before he could protest.
"Are we going back?" Charlotte asked.
"I'm going back," I said. "You're staying here with Alfred." I could already see the refutation forming in Charlotte's eyes. "No arguments. You don't have any protection, and I'd probably beat myself up forever if anything happened to you, Charlotte." My voice went soft. "So please, please just stay here."
"No," Charlotte said. "Like you said to whoever you were talking to: he tried to kill us. He's not getting off that easily. Not when I'm around."
"You're so stubborn!" She shrugged.
"Exactly. You know even if you forced me to stay, that I would find a way into the city, anyway. And then where would I be? Alone in Gotham, with no one to protect me." She looked sternly at me. "Wouldn't it be safer for me to go with you, who's protected, has weapons, and knows Gotham like she knows her own face?"
"Stubborn ass," I muttered, but knew she was implicitly right. "Let's go, then." I just hope we're not too late.
Thanks for reading!