Smiling, she watched as the blue uniformed man walked down the dim dark side road, walking to his car in the otherwise empty parking lot.
His badge flashed in the moonlight as he leaned over, jamming his car key into the lock on his door handle and twisting sharply.
Aria jumped down from her perch in the shadows, her cloak fluttering behind her silently as she landed on the ground with a muted thud.
The man turned around, eyes squinting as he heard the noise, later waving it off as a sound of the wind.
She sleekly melted into the darkness, approaching the man until she was just a breath's width away from him and she planted the gun into his back.
Pure fear broke out over his face, and he gasped in surprise, face draining of blood.
"Please. Don't-"
Aria ignored his panic as her finger tightened around the trigger.
The bullet tore through his lungs and straight through his trachea, sending blood bubbling up his throat and the man crumpling to his knees.
He gasped, fighting for breath, and Aria tilted his chin up with the end of the gun.
"Nothing against you, personally. I just need to hit a little close to home." She whispered, locking her eyes with his.
The man went limp as he became soaked in his own blood, and Aria chuckled, tossing the gun into a dumpster. She had already framed the CEO of Bludhaven Waste Management for this cop's murder, having planted the other guns at his penthouse, so it was all easy sailing for her.
Then again, it always was. That was just how she was trained.
She looked down at her cloak and scrunched her nose.
"Idiot. You've got your filthy blood on me." She mused, ripping off her cloak and walking with it down a few blocks, to where the docks were. Tossing it into the cold ocean waters, Aria bared her teeth up at the sky, excitement and adrenaline rushing through her veins.
She knew that when they find the cop, they would canvas the crime scene at least a few blocks in all directions. She knew that now, they would be fully alert.
Now they would be the easier to mess with.
Smiling as she tasted the faint coppery smell in the air, she plucked a single hair from her head and let it float to the ground.
****************************************************************************
Dick's face paled as he looked at the victim's face on the Batcomputer.
"That's my boot. My rookie. I was his training officer."
Tim worked away on his laptop, analyzing the tidbits of evidence that he managed to snag before the cops could. He had been the first to the scene, surprisingly, only because he was passing by through Bludhaven.
Dick stumbled to a seat, unable to believe it.
Damian frowned, heading over to his big brother. "We have got to stop this serial killer. You could be next."
Dick muttered something unintelligible, rubbing at his face a few times before strengthening his resolve and jumping out of his seat.
"Where's B?"
Damian scoffed, amused. "On a date. With Kyle."
"I'll tell him what happened." Dick muttered, pulling out his phone and dialing his number.
Damian turned to face Timothy, wondering if the fool had managed to get a hit on anything. Instead, he found himself staring intently at the screen, pale and shaking.
"What is it? Drake?" Damian furrowed his eyebrows, and Tim gulped audibly. He ran it again and again, the computer confirming the same hit again and again.
"Drake! Tell us!"
"T-There's no denying it." He whispered, and Dick glanced over at his brothers, both to check if they got anything and whether or not they were at each other's throats.
Tim brought up his findings on the Batcomputer screen. Damian turned to see, his eyes widening as he saw the name and face that haunted him every day.
Aria Al Ghul Wayne.
The hair strand Tim had collected was hers. The same 12 year old picture of her kept popping up, and Tim found himself confused beyond belief.
She was dead, wasn't she? Then why was her hair at the crime scene? Why was it so long, when the Aria that they knew had a relatively short haircut back then? Was the same serial killer the person who took Aria away 5 years ago?
No way. No way. No way. No freaking way.
Dick's phone hit the ground, shattering the silence as he saw the screen. His throat closed up, tears welling up in his eyes.
"A-Aria?"
Damian whispered, voicing aloud what everyone thought.
"She's alive. She's here. This killer has her captive."
*******************************************************************
"We will slay them all. Every last bat and bird. And then Gotham, will be ours."
Aria turned to her mother, who was proudly listening on to her words.
"Perfection, my darling." Talia smiled sharply, watching intensity and ferocity echo through the blue-green clash of her daughter's eyes.
She was a scary reflection of what Talia was at her age, and she was ever so proud.
Morality had fallen away, but strength had been built up in her place.
Blood dripped from their hands, but their fingers were laced together.
That was all that mattered.
This path, Aria would have to take. This fight was hers to bring to the protectors of Gotham, and Talia was certain that Aria's plan was something not even she could come up with. She was certain that her daughter would succeed in tearing them apart, and she was certain she would do right by her name.
She may have been an incompetent child, but now she was a graceful 17 year old, one that Talia could finally be proud of.
She was a weapon. No longer the weak twin.
One that was the perfect heir to the League throne.
After we win Gotham, she will officially become my successor.
She will be my greatest Aria.
******************************************************************
Red Hood sucked in a ragged breath, racing through the factory and shooting at the black shadowy men that darted in and out of the darkness.
He gets a few headshots, and allows himself a soft smirk, ignoring the ache in his legs. He'd regained his footing again.
Hood hummed to himself, murdering three thugs left and right as he pranced past them.
Just keep swimming, just keep swimming.
He turned the corner, about to finish up the job, when he found himself facing a dead end.
Hood muttered an unholy curse word and turned around, only to have something clatter at his feet.
It was all so fast.
He blinked, hearing the deafening sound of the explosion, feeling a strange whooshing sensation paired with a bubbling of adrenaline. His eyes registered the flash of green, and all of a sudden he was outside, boots crunching the frosty grass.
"K-Kyle?" The words caught in Jason's throat as he looked over his shoulder and saw a green clad speedster, slightly glowing a neon lime aura.
"Not Kyle." Her voice came soft, breaking the silence as if it was a sin to do so. Hood almost felt sorry for making her break her quiet. Her masked eyes were subtly skimming over Red Hood's form to check for injuries. He was fine, rather bright eyed and bushy tailed, save for all the blood of those he shot sprayed sporadically over his suit.
She flashes away again, and then returns back to where she was before, stretching her arms just a bit to prepare for her leave.
Red Hood stares and stares, and just when she is about to go, he shouts, causing her to jump.
"What's your hero name?
More silence. Red Hood wondered whether or not she truly was a hero or was something like him.
Maybe she was a monk. Maybe she was selectively mute, because Jay had never met a speedster that was quieter than more than three seconds.
Everything about her screamed mystery, intrigue, and power.
Raw, utter power.
Red Hood shivered just a bit as her eyes locked with his through their masks, a pair of endless pits of glowing green staring into his simple turquoise ones.
" I am Lightspeed."
Her voice was a whisper, almost stolen away by the breeze. Jay had to strain his ears to catch the last part, and with that, she was gone in the blink of an eye.
She was like some sort of ghost.
Her arrival was unknown.
Her presence was haunting.
Her absence was chilly, foreboding.
Jason shivered and stared on where she once stood, her glow burned into his eyes, her emblem of a Penrose lightning bolt forever engraved in his memory.
*************************************************
oi. another crappyyyy chappppp
im sorry ive been so inactive and have done nothing but reply to the comment notifs i get. its like im some grandma peeping over a fence over and over
just as some sort of explanation to everyone, I had 5 projects due in a span of three days. So basically, I am dead.
I have a final project due next week and several responsibilities such as Graphic Design Head on the activism magazine I volunteer at, writing as a journalist for my school newspaper, being a youth leader at this other place and being admin for a book club and- on god the list goes on.
So I will be updating irregularly and im sorry but i got soo much on my plate
also im sorry for the writing quality, its going DOWN by SO MUCH im CRYING
i hate me.
Stay Tuned I guess if you've got nothin better to do :D
-Jumpy