Chapter 2
Hope kept mostly quiet as she flew towards the target building, seeing Huntress on her motorcycle and she sighed. "Okay, Lea, focus," she said to herself. "You have to set aside your dislike for now to stop the villain." She found a safe area to land and motioned to Huntress, who pulled up and they crouched down behind a wall nearby. "I think this is the building Spectre was talking about," the blue heroine said aloud.
"It is," Huntress said, without looking at the map.
Lea/Hope secretly checked and was glad she was right. She used her ring to do a scan of the outer part of the building. "Hmm, no cameras," she pointed out.
"Well, of course not," the purple-themed heroine scoffed. "It's a fabric factory. Who'd be dumb enough to steal fabric? It's technically not worth much to someone looking to make a quick buck."
"If sold to the right person, it could be profitable," Hope pointed out to her partner. "You'd be surprised at how expensive fabric can be when made by specific fibers. Whether synthetic or from animals."
"Only if made into something interesting, rookie."
The young heroine held her temper in, disliking how Huntress was being so dismissive. "Okay, let's think of a way to get in," she said. "No cameras. At least, not visible ones."
"So we can go through the front door and take Crazy Quilt by surprise," Huntress said.
"He could be waiting for us there," Hope pointed out. "But if we go the back way, we can sneak in and catch him off guard. He may be mostly blind, but he'll no doubt hear us if we're not quiet."
"Kid, I can land light on my feet and he wouldn't hear me," her partner said. "Come on. Let's just go in and give him the boot. In and out, easy as pie."
"Right...but if we go in too fast, we could get captured," the Blue Lantern pointed out. "And if he knocks us out, we can't call for backup." She gazed at the building again and saw something. "Hey, I think I see a basement door. That could be our way in."
"The basement? Really?" Huntress asked. "What if we get trapped down there? You do realize if he locks the door, we can't get out and we'll have only one exit, right into Crazy Quilt's trap."
"Not exactly. If we go in through the front, we have a higher chance of being caught," Hope argued. "We can always make an exit if we need one, should that situation arise."
Huntress sighed. "So...basement door," she said begrudgingly. "We can come up with more of the plan inside."
"I'd rather have something ready in case something goes wrong," Lea said.
The purple-clad heroine rolled her eyes. "Let's just go already," she said. "Are you going to overthink everything?"
"I'm not trying to," the Blue Lantern said, grumbling in frustration before calming down. "It's important to strategize the way Batman would."
Huntress sighed again and looked at the basement door. "If there's stacks of fabric, those can shield us," she said.
"And get us as close as we can to Crazy Quilt," Hope agreed. "We can probably use his own abilities against him to capture him."
"He's pretty slippery, so that might be an issue," her partner said, already rushing in swiftly. "Come on."
"Wait! Huntress!" The Blue Lantern called out before sighing and following. "Stubborn," she muttered under her breath.
They were soon inside and looking around. "Split up," Huntress said.
"No, we should stick together," Lea suggested. "Have each other's back."
"But then we both risk being captured," the purple-clad heroine said.
Hope kept her temper in check before replying again. "It's riskier to split up and get caught faster in an area we barely know. Especially when it's a small group of two people by themselves against who knows what. I'm staying with you."
Huntress scoffed. "Ugh, fine. But don't slow me down, rookie."
Lea's patience was starting to wear thin with Huntress, sticking near her as they looked around for Crazy Quilt.
Maybe splitting up wouldn't be such a bad idea, Hope thought in her head.
After a moment, Huntress spoke up. "Have you done a mission with Batman before?" She asked.
Surprised by the out-of-the-blue question, the young heroine looked at her. "Uh, I'm not sure if I follow your question involving Batman, Huntress," Hope answered, being a little confused. "I never worked with the Dark Knight. Just met him for brief moments after a job well done on missions."
"What was your first mission that involved Batman?"
"Well, it didn't involve him directly, but while Flash and I were on watch duty, Scarecrow tried to infiltrate the Watchtower," Hope explained. "We took care of him with some help and Batman came to pick up Scarecrow and deliver him to Arkham. That was the first time I ever met him."
"Kind of surprised he hasn't had you team up with him for a mission," Huntress remarked. "He's known to show rookies the ropes on how to be a hero."
"Guess it's because I'm Green Lantern's student," Lea said, before spotting something. "Shh, I think I see our target."
Both fell quiet as they heard Crazy Quilt give some orders. "Get those machines ready!" He said. "They must be ready to produce the clothes!"
"Um, sir, why clothes?" Someone asked.
"Do I pay you to question me?"
At that question, no one dared to utter a peep as they continued to work. A few moments later, one of them went up to Crazy Quilt. "All setup, boss," he said.
"Good," the villain said with an evil grin. "You all are dismissed."
"Uh, you sure you don't need our help with this, boss?" Another of his lackeys asked. "Not saying you're not capable, but that is a lot of material."
"Mere child's play," Crazy Quilt said, motioning them to all leave.
Huntress grew curious. "What is this guy's big idea?" She asked.
"Don't know, but I've got a bad feeling about this," Lea replied.
They ducked down as Crazy Quilt headed their away and the two began moving slowly forward, seeing some clothed mannequins up ahead. Suddenly getting a sneaky suspicion about the clothed mannequins, Midnight Hope quickly tackled Huntress to a stack of boxes while shielding each other's eyes.
"HEY! What are you-?!" Huntress exclaimed, about to get back up until the Blue Lantern stopped her again.
"Don't look!" Hope yelled-whispered, trying to breathe steadily. "I think Crazy Quilt set up some mind-control traps up ahead. Probably motion sensed if we walk past those mannequins."
They glanced at the mannequins and soon saw one of Crazy Quilt's goons walk by and suddenly he froze, having a spaced-out look on his face before another goon quickly put sunglasses over his face and shook him lightly. "Hey, wake up!" The goon said to his buddy. "Remember what the boss said! Don't look at the clothing! It's meant to catch intruders, not us."
The hypnotized goon snapped out of it and they both walked away.
Huntress looked at the Blue Lantern in surprise after seeing she was right about a trap around. "Not bad, kid. How did you know?" She asked.
"Call it a Blue Lantern's intuition," Hope replied, still not looking while keeping calm. "Come on. We got to figure out Crazy Quilt's next diabolical plan and stop him before he makes a move on the city."
"Well, it obviously has to do with those mannequins," Huntress pointed out.
"Yeah," Hope said, trying to keep from rolling her eyes at the purple-clad heroine's condescending attitude. "Come on. Let's keep moving."
There were a few more traps and while Hope tried to find a way around them, feeling fear rise up in her, Huntress dashed forward, using her flexibility to avoid the traps. "Huntress, be careful!" The Blue Lantern whisper-hissed in concern.
"Relax. I'm a professional, rookie," Huntress said.
Hope immediately knew something bad was going to happen and she quickly tried to catch up, but moments later, she heard something like machinery turn on and something was coming towards her and her partner fast. "Huntress, look out!" She cried out in warning.
But the purple-clad heroine had no time to heed the young Blue Lantern's warning as fabric shot out and tied around her tightly. "AAH!" She cried out, trying to get loose, but the fabric was snug, giving her little room.
Hope tried to get over to her partner, but some fabric shot out and snagged her too, trapping her on the opposite side of the room just as Crazy Quilt came out. "Well, well...Batman is slipping if he sent two weaklings to stop me," he said with a smirk.
Huntress growled. "You let me out of this and I'll show you weak!" She yelled.
He laughed. "Get cozy, you two. You'll be just in time to see my master plan come together," he said.
Oh, dear. How will our heroes get out of this trap? And what is Crazy Quilt's master plan? Stay tuned.
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