My number one priority changed from hunting down Bruce Wayne to redeeming myself. Saving people. Ugh. How was I even going to do that? As I sat on my couch and watched Grey's Anatomy, I kept thinking of things I could do to redeem myself. I hadn't had a breakthrough yet. Maybe it was because I was high. I took another hit, and laughed a little at how fucking weird the past couple of weeks have been. The only thing I hate about getting high is that I forget what I'm thinking about. Actually... that's probably one of my favorite parts. I heard my door open and saw Tiffany walk in. She looked a little better today than she did yesterday. She sat down right next to me and I passed the bowl to her.
"Is this how you're going to spend your days from now on?" she stuttered in between coughs.
"Yeah... No... Maybe... I don't know." I laughed.
She rolled her eyes and laughed. "Your eyes are really red, dude."
I gasped. "How am I going to go to school like this?!" We both laughed at that, remembering the good old days when me and Tiffany would smoke weed at lunch and get completely blazed, and then freak out about going back to school because... what if a teacher knew we were high? Looking back, I'm pretty sure every single teacher knew I was high but didn't say anything. All the teachers smoked weed anyway.
"So, what's your plan?" Tiffany asked.
I sighed. I couldn't really talk about anything serious right now, but I'll give it a try. "You're not gonna like it," I said. She narrowed her eyes.
"Just tell me, dude," she said.
"Okay. I'm really high right now so just bear with me. Is it bear or bare? Like b-e-a-r or b-a-r-e? Like -" Tiffany cut me off.
"Oh my God, just tell me!" she laughed.
"Okay. This time I'm really going to tell you. Right now. Right here, right now, at this exact very moment at this exact very place. I'm going to do it. Are you ready?" I asked.
"Yes," Tiffany said with a giggle. Her eyes were getting pretty red too.
"Dude... I forgot what we were talking about," I confessed.
Her eyes widened. We both turned out heads and looked at the TV and sat in silence for what seemed like forever, but it was actually only a minute. "Oh!" Tiffany exclaimed. "We were talking about your future plans about being Raven."
"Oh shit, that's right!" I exclaimed. "Haha!"
"Haha!" Tiffany and I both laughed pretty hard in unison.
"Okay but for real though. So, what happened yesterday is I went and told Bruce the truth. Like, I told him everything. I told him my past and how I got kicked out of the Assassin's, and I even told him how I was sent to kill him," I said.
"Whoa. What did he say?" she asked.
"He didn't ... he didn't like, care that much. I think he trusts me, dude. I don't know. He was pretty mad when I told him Ra's al Ghul sent me to kill him, though. He said he's not building weapons and I believe him. But, anyway, I know you said if I kept on doing what I'm doing that you're going to leave me. I really hope you don't because I'm not going to stop being Raven. I'm going to try and get back into the Brotherhood, Tiffany. I'm going to redeem myself and Raven Black's name. I just don't know where to start," I said.
She sighed, but a smile was plastered on her face and I knew it was only there because she was high. "This is ridiculous," she said, laughing. "I mean, ten years ago, we imagined our lives so differently. Remember when we would sit on top of Wal-Mart, our legs dangling over the edge, talking about how maybe, just maybe, someday we'll be happier? We'll be comfy and cozy everyday, never have to deal with crime, and just be happy. Now look at us. I started a business that only criminals come to, and you started killing people but apparently you killed them in the wrong way so you got kicked out of the Assassin's and now you're trying to figure out how to kill people in the right way. Like, what the fuck is our life?"
I laughed. "Right."
"I just don't want you to die," she whispered.
I didn't even know what to say to that. "But if I died, would it really be that bad? Just think about it. I'm a notorious villain, a criminal, a killer, you name it, that's what I am. If someone as evil as me tried to change into someone good and died in the process, would it really be that bad?"
Tiffany glared at me. "Stop fucking thinking like that. There are people who care about you. Even if it may only be two people, that's a hell of a lot more than some people have. If you died, Raina, I would be devastated. You are my best friend. You've been my best friend for 14 years now."
"I know that," I said.
She sighed. She's been doing that a lot lately. "So, you want to redeem yourself but you don't know how."
"Yup."
"I think I have an idea... but you're not going to like it." Tiffany smiled.
"I'm really down for anything at this point," I said.
"I think you should try and team up with Batman," she said.
She said I wasn't going to like that idea but in fact, I loved it. It was absolutely fucking perfect. Team up with Batman. He's literally the hero of Gotham. He probably has so much work to do, I can help him. That's such a perfect idea that my high mind couldn't even wrap itself around it. I'll find Batman tonight. Hopefully he doesn't beat the shit out of me.
Tiffany and I both passed out on my couch, and when I woke up, it was pretty close to night time. I was sober, and ready for the new me. The new and improved Raven Black. I went and put my Assassin uniform on, and when I was about to leave, Tiffany woke up.
"You can stay at my house and do whatever," I said, and then left before she could even respond. I climbed to the roof of my house and started my running jump. I jumped off the edge of my roof and flew away. I needed to go to the spotlight. I know that's what Gordon uses to signal Batman. I landed pretty gracefully on the building, and saw the spotlight. It was actually pretty cool looking. I turned it on and all I had to do was wait. I really hoped nobody just randomly saw me and started shooting.
After what felt like forever, which was probably a half an hour, I heard the sound a cape behind me. He must think I'm a regular human who doesn't have amped up senses. My eyes can see tiny little muscles movements and he thinks he can sneak up behind me. I laughed and turned around to see him. Batman was truly awesome. He took my breath away. He just looked so dark, and his suit was so cool. He had a dark look on his face, and he seemed mad but I was starting to think that's just the symbol of Batman.
"What do you want?" he growled.
"A couple of things," I said, smiling. I didn't know where to start and he was kinda freaking me out. But I knew I had to do this. "I wanted to say thank you for saving my life. I owe you one. Maybe, just maybe, I even owe you two. Not only did you save my life, you saved me... in a way. The last time we fought, you told me I was a disgrace. And I wouldn't hear it then but trust me, I've heard it now. I really have. I know you can't trust me, I know that, but please trust that I understand what I've become. I understand fully what it means. And... I want to change."
"You were going to let yourself die on that building," he said, his voice still a growl.
"I was, yeah. That's because I thought I was worthless, evil, disgusting, terrible, and I thought I deserved to die for the things I have done. That hasn't changed. But I'm an Assassin at heart; and I fight for the Creed, not for myself. I'm trying to change for the Creed... and for my best friend," I said.
"What does that have to do with me?" he asked.
"I... I thought that maybe I could start this journey by... by accompanying you on missions and saving people."
His eyes widened and there was genuine shock on his face. I could barely see his eyes. He does a very good job at hiding who he is. Then his face turned to a scowl. "No, I work alone," he said, and then jumped off the building and flew away. I did not waste any time and jumped right after him, following him. I flew on top of him. If I reached my hand out, I could touch his back. He veered to the right, but I could sense that what he was going to do and followed him still. I could tell he was getting annoyed and he finally landed on a building. I landed right in front of him.
"I work alone!" he snarled.
"No shit! Do you think I need someone at my side all the time? No, I don't! But you're... you're Batman! You're supposed to help people and save this city! So I'm asking for your help! Help me become a better person! I will follow all of your rules and I will not betray you. Just let me prove it to you, please," I begged. I don't know why I was acting like this. I felt like a completely different person already. I was so desperate to be good, to be an Assassin again, and I knew Batman was my way to get there.
He sighed. "One mission and we'll see from there." My heart leapt out of my fucking chest and I almost wanted to hug him, but I refrained.
"Thank you, oh my God!" I exclaimed.
"No killing. If you're an Assassin, you should know how to knock people out properly. No guns. You do as I say. Do you understand?" he growled. It felt like I being initiated again. I can still clearly remember that moment when Jacob took me to the Creed, and the leader of the Assassin's, Arno Dorian, initiated me.
"Stay your blade from the flesh of the innocent. Hide in plain sight. Never compromise the Brotherhood," he said. I will never forget looking up at him and seeing the scars on his face. Across his eye and on the cheek. He had such a fierce look to him, but after I got to know him, he seemed like a normal person to me. I don't believe in God, or any religion for that matter, because I learned the truth from the Brotherhood. Ever since I got kicked out, I question it because I don't think the Assassin's afterlife applies to me anymore. Assassin's are reincarnated. Arno was an Assassin during the French Revolution, and when he died, he was reborn and became an Assassin again. It makes me wonder if I had a past life.
"I understand," I said. Batman walked to the edge of the building and stopped. I followed him.
"In that warehouse down there is Michael Murphy. He's been kidnapping children. We're going to save those children and then give Michael the justice he deserves. We'll leave him for the police. No killing, Raven. None," Batman said.
"No killing?! Michael Murphy doesn't just kidnap children! He kills them and he -" Batman cut me off.
"I know what he does to them. My rule still applies. If you kill him, you will not work with me anymore."
"If I was an Assassin, they would have me kill him..." I muttered.
"You're not one, and you're with me, so do as I say, Raven, or I'll fucking -" I cut him off this time.
"Christ, I got it! Let's just fucking do this then."
He sighed, then jumped off this building and very beautifully landed on top of the warehouse. I followed him and landed even quieter. He glanced back at me, but continued. He opened a window on the roof, and I thought he was insane for doing that. There could be traps underneath; but luckily, this time it was safe. He dropped down and landed on a beam. I did the same thing, and then stopped to assess what was going on.
Underneath me was just beds. Except that those beds and kids on them and they were chained to the beds. There was another room, and I assumed that was Michael's room. There were only a few guards, but knowing I couldn't kill them made this harder. There was seven guards patrolling the barracks. I was trying to come up with my own plan but I knew I needed to follow Batman's plan. I looked at him and waited for some signal.
He took out a blade that was carved into his Batman symbol, which I thought was cool and funny, and he threw it at a guard. What happened to no killing?! The guard he threw it at went down, but I realized he had injected his blades with some sort of serum to make them pass out. Probably anastasia. Too bad I couldn't do that because my poision blades don't work that way.
The other guards immediately turned and ran to the guard that fell down. They saw the blade that was in his arm, and they all started freaking out. "Batman's here," one of them growled, holding up his gun. I decided to take some initiative and throw a smoke bomb. I dropped down from the beam and grabbed one of the guard's pressure points, pressing hard. I knew he was knocked out and managed to do it to two other guards before the smoke cleared up. I claw shotted back to the beam Batman was on, and then assessed the situation again.
Three guards left and the kids were screaming. One of the guard's started shooting randomly around him, screaming, "where are you?!" Batman and I both dropped down and landed right behind the guards.
"Here," Batman whispered and knocked that guy out. I knocked the guy in front of me out, too, and that left one guard left. Batman was already on him, and he fell to the floor. All we had left was Michael Murphy and to let the kids go free. Batman and I stopped for a moment, catching our breaths. I heard something odd. It was so faint, though. I started concentrating on the sound and closed my eyes to hear it better. Tick, tock. Tick, tock. My eyes flung wide open.
"There's a bomb!" I exclaimed and I saw Batman's eyes go wide. "We have to save the kids!" I got my mini saw out and went to the nearest bed. It was a little girl and she looked terrified but she was deathly skinny. I cut her chains and grabbed her, hoisting her over my shoulder. Batman had disappeared, but that didn't matter now. I went to the next bed and cut the little boy's chains and grabbed him. I ran as fast as I could to the other end of the warehouse, smashing the door open with a hard kick, and ran down the block and set them down. Then I went back to the warehouse.
Batman was no where to be found and I was pissed. There was eight more kids in here and I didn't know how much time that bomb had. I grabbed two more and ran out, setting them by the other kids. Then another repeat. That's when Batman finally showed up.
"Murphy is no where to be found," he said.
"Who the fuck cares about him right now! We need to get these kids out of here!" I screamed at him.
"Raven, you don't know how much time is on that bomb. The police are on their way. Let them deal with it." I couldn't believe Batman was telling me to abandon these kids. I'm starting to think that maybe he wasn't the path to success. I was basically doing this job alone now. I didn't need him. He was standing directly in my way to the rest of the four kids.
"Get out of my way," I snarled.
"Raven, you said you'd listen to me. I'm telling you to leave because there is no hope," he said.
I flicked my wrist and my hidden blade came out. "If you don't get out of my way..."
"What are you going to do? Kill me?" he growled.
"I don't play mind games," I snarled. "Now get the fuck out of my way, you're only wasting my time to save these kids."
He shook his head, and then he went through the roof window, leaving me here. What the fuck?! I thought he was a hero. I was so pissed, but it didn't even matter. I quickly grabbed two kids, hearing that ticking get faster, and ran out of the building. I could hear sirens in the distance but I knew those cops would never be brave enough to actually step into the building. That's my problem with just leaving these kids. I'm leaving them to die. I went back and I heard that ticking. It was so fast. I knew it was going to blow at any moment.
The last two kids we're crying. I knew they were scared. They knew there was a bomb in here. But these kids did not deserve this life. If I was going to die saving them, then I will. These kids have been abused relentlessly in every way possible and I am not going to let their life end by a fucking bomb. They deserve more! They deserve to be happy after all of this! My saw was having a hard time cutting through the chains so I just pushed it further. I knew my saw was going to break soon.
Tick tick tick tick tick.
That's all I could fucking hear over the sound of my own breathing. I was about to hyperventilate. I feel like I've been betrayed. I finally cut through the first kids chains and hoisted him over my shoulder. Then I moved on to the last kid. A little girl. Her face was dirty with blood and dirt. Her blonde hair was barely blonde since it was stained with blood. But when she looked at me, her blue eyes shone with hope. A deep, sickening feeling sunk into my heart. The moment my saw touched her chain, it broke.
I quickly ran outside and set the other kid down so I could focus on this little girl. I ran back inside as fast as I could, and I could hear the sound of police officers screaming at me. But it didn't matter. I had to save this little girl. My hidden blade was just going to have to cut through this metal. I didn't even know if this was going to work. I grabbed her chain and started cutting, and it was working slowly.
"Please save me," she whispered. Her voice was so small, so innocent.
"I'm going to save you if it's the last thing I do," I said, but my voice was shaking and completely shattered as I felt myself break down. Tears rolled down my cheeks and I was pissed off at myself. I can't be crying. This was just too overwhelming. My blade was halfway in her chain and I couldn't believe how the ticking got faster. I frantically cut away at her chain, literally flipping out.
"It's going to be okay," she whispered again.
"No it's not!" I exclaimed, using all my might to cut her chain. "I should be reassuring you, not you to me!"
"You should save yourself," the little girl said.
I shook my head. "If you're going to die, I'm going too." My blade was so close to cutting the chain and my heart was pumping like mad.
"My name is Alexis Young, what's yours?" she asked.
"Raina Knight," I responded and that's when my blade broke through her chain. That bomb was going to explode any second. I grabbed Alexis and started running as fast as I fucking could. My legs were burning and my heart was beating like crazy. That door seemed so far away and I knew even then it wasn't safe to make it to there. I opened my cape and tried to soar to the door, but that's when the bomb exploded.
I held Alexis close to my chest and tried to cover her as the bomb's energy propelled us forward. I felt a searing heat on my back and I screamed. Everything went in slow motion as we flew forward. We were just flying. The cool night air hit my face but my back hurt so fucking bad, I couldn't even think straight. I knew my cape had been burned off and that we were just free falling to the ground. I turned my body so that when we hit the ground, we would land on my back and Alexis would have some sort of cushion to land on.
I felt my body just slam onto the concrete. Surprisingly, I didn't feel any bones break but I knew there was a shit ton of damage. My head smacked against the ground and I felt blood run down my face. I could hear the sirens whirring around me, and everything was a blur. The pain. It hurt so much. I was in literal agony. This pain was making me wish I had died.
"A-a-a-lexis," I stuttered. The little girl lifted her head up and looked at me, and I felt relief that she was okay. Suddenly, she was grabbed from me and I could see it was a paramedic. They were going to grab me too, and I couldn't go. I would be arrested and I wouldn't be able to redeem myself that way. Through the searing pain, I stood up. I almost fell back down but this was something I needed to be strong for.
I looked around as everything went slow. The warehouse was on fire. There were police everywhere, and firetrucks, and ambulances. All of the kids had been tended to and I could see the police officers looking at me. I couldn't feel my cape hitting my legs anymore, and my back literally felt like I had just scraped it on some molten nails. I was covered in blood, and it sucked to know it was my own.
A police officer pointed at me and yelled something, but I started running again. My lungs felt like they were on fire, but I pushed through the pain. I quickly climbed on top of a building, seeing that helicopter spotlight following me, so I dropped down on the ground again, and ran down the alley. I was out of the spotlight now, and just sat by a dumpster until I could hear the helicopter go away.
It seemed like hours, but it finally went away, and I stood back up. I climbed a ladder that was on the side of an apartment complex, and just stood on top of the building to figure out what to do.
"Raven, why didn't you leave when I told you to?" I heard a growly voice from behind me. I turned around, and in that second, I forgot about the pain as I feriously grabbed Batman's arm, twisted it backwards, and shoved him to his knees. I thought about taking his mask off but in this moment, I didn't want to. It was not important. I bent his head backwards so he could see my hidden blade was going to go straight in his throat.
"GIVE ME ONE FUCKING REASON WHY I SHOULDN'T KILL YOU!" I screamed at the top of my lungs.
"Raven! Listen to me! I did not betray you back there!" he exclaimed. "Please, just let me explain myself!"
"I don't think you deserve it," I snarled. "You left me back there with those innocent kids. If I wouldn't have stayed, they would have died."
"Close your eyes," he said.
"No."
"Close them, please. Just trust me. Close your eyes and concentrate," he pleaded and I don't know why but I gave way to him. I sighed and let go of him and closed my eyes. The pain came back and it felt like a tsunami hit me, and I tried to not concentrate on the pain.
"What do you see?" he asked.
"Nothing," I growled.
"Try to see," he said.
I forced myself to get past the pain, to somehow block it and ignore it and concentrate on seeing with my eyes closed. He's a dumbass, clearly. I can't fucking see with my eyes closed. But then something happened. I felt a wave go out of my body and I could see. I saw the outline of the buildings and I could see people outlined in red, blue, or white. I gasped so loudly that I took a step back, and felt myself almost fall off the building. Batman grabbed my arm and pulled me back.
I had my Eagle Vision back.