"You..." Bruce said. He turned around after descending the platform in his Batcave and saw Shade sitting with her legs crossed on the hood of his Batmobile. "How..."
She didn't answer. She stood, slowly sliding her hands over the dark metal of the vehicle and walked past him, looking into his eyes as she went by. Once she was at the case where his suit was enclosed, she stopped and placed both hands on her hips.
"It wasn't hard," she said. "Followed you here a few times."
He felt the breath rising in his throat several times to speak but each time it fell back down into his chest. No longer needing to disguise his voice, it was pointless, he had nothing to say.
"I'm...really..." she said, mostly to herself, as she stared into the case. "Fed up. I need to do something...drastic..."
She watched the movement of her lips in the reflection. She had trained herself to keep herself disguised so well she had perfected the movement and positioning of her lips when she spoke. As Adriana she had a lot of upper tooth show when speaking normally and naturally. However, as Shade it was her bottom teeth that revealed themselves.
"I am sorry for hitting you," she heard him saying behind her. "If you need one, I have a great cosmetic dentist..."
"No," she said and turned to him. "This isn't about the tooth."
"Okay," he said, still so taken off guard by the fact that she was here that he couldn't strategize. What if she was there to kill him? There for revenge?
"I'm not here to hurt you," she said. "Believe it or not."
He relaxed his face so that his lips were slightly parted. She briefly admired how wonderful he looked in the dark suit that he was wearing before speaking again.
"Truly," she said. "I don't want to hurt you."
"Alright," he said, and she noticed he was trying his best to avoid gazing at her body.
"I can't be around you...in public," she told him.
"Why?" he asked. "Is whoever you're working for demanding that?"
"Why does everyone assume I'm working for someone?" she asked rhetorically out of frustration. "Is it because I'm a woman? They think I can't just do what I do on my own? You all assume I have a boss."
"Who else assumes that?" he asked.
"No one," she said immediately. No way she could tell him, the Joker. "It doesn't matter. Shade works for no one."
"Okay," he sighed. "I believe you. So what are you fed up with. What do you need to do something drastic about?"
"You've seen the news...the judge.." she said. "The one who was killed."
"Yes. The laughing gas," Bruce said.
"He needs to be stopped," she said. "I have some information. I need you to do me a favor once I give it to you."
"A favor," he said cautiously.
"Yes. You owe me," she said innocently. "I mean I'm practically disfigured now."
"It's a back tooth," he said a bit defensively. "No one can see it. And I'm sure you look fine, otherwise."
"Is that so," she said seductively and walked up to him, placing one hand gently on his chest. "You think I'm..fine."
"You're a confusing woman, Shade," he said, looking at her lips. "One minute you're flirting with me and the next...your foot is on my neck."
"That's true," she said and leaned forward, tilting her head up to whisper in his ear "But you love it."
"What do you want from me, Shade?" he asked, his voice barely wavering as her hand slid down his chest to his belt. "What favor?
"I need you to kill the Joker," she said. "I know where he's keeping the laughing gas. You can use it to kill him. A dose of his own medicine, if you will."
"You know where he's keeping it," he said.
"Yes," she said. "He also has the gas in a potent liquid form which would likely work well when used in a tranq gun. You could just shoot him with it and he'd laugh himself to death."
Bruce squinted at her.
"Why don't you want to be involved?" he asked. "How do I know this isn't some kind of trick?"
"If I wanted to trick you I would have," she told him. "I would have three news teams down here with me."
"If what you are saying is true," he said. "It makes sense you'd ask me to do this. It will be a dangerous task."
"Mhmmm," she said innocently. "And we all know I'm just a defenseless little woman."
He could hear her sarcasm
"I will do this on one condition," he said, and looked down at her hand on his lower stomach and then into her eyes. "I do this...I collect this laughing gas solution, I kill him with it...If I do all of that successfully, I want something in return."
"And what's that?" she asked.
"I want to see your face," he said.
She waited for a moment before answering.
"Once you kill him I will show you who I am. Are you sure that's all you want?" she asked.
"Should I want more?" he asked her.
"I guess that depends," she said deviously. "I want the Joker gone dead so badly...I'd probably give you absolutely anything."
Their eyes met for a second before he grabbed her aggressively and pushed her back against the glass case containing his suit, pinning both of her wrists above her head.
"Careful.." he said.
"Why?" she said, smiling and then biting her lower lip. "I'm Gotham's reigning vigilante for a reason. I'm always careful."
"You're a mysterious...powerful...daring...beautiful woman," he started.
"What makes you think I'm beautiful? I could be ugly," she said.
He laughed quietly, warm breath flowing into her nose because his face was so close.
"I seriously doubt that," he said. "But you should be careful."
"Careful with giving you anything you want?" she asked.
"Yes," he said. "Because when I am done with you...you will know who's the true reigning vigilante in Gotham."
"We'll see about that," she said confidently.
"We will."
"Here," she said sliding her hand down into the top of her suit, pulling out a sheet of paper. "All the information you need. I can't wait for your success."
"And neither can I," he told her.