I SAUNTERED DOWN THE dark streets of Gotham feeling like a queen. Sure, there was screaming coming from alleys, the screeching of cars, and the barking of dogs, but this is was just another typical Tuesday night.
As I walked, a sense of confidence radiated from my steps. Mostly everyone on the street knew my name, and those who didn't would quickly learn it if they tried to mess with me. I was Blackout for crying out loud! I didn't have anything to fear on my turf, I was trained better than that.
A thick layer of fog settled atop the massive skyscrapers which almost disappeared into the dark night sky. I had just come back from my meeting with Fish, which in all honesty, I wish I hadn't gone to. It consisted of lots of kisses and "dah-lings," two things of which I hated.
She had asked me to kill some guy, (now, now, don't freak! This is Gotham, and I'm under the tutelage of Catwoman. Did you really think I was the good guy?) who didn't mean anything to me. I'm not even fully sure what he did to her, either. Fish tried to explain to me, but it wasn't like I ever listened to her run her mouth anyway. Something about stealing money? I can't remember.
So long story short, I found the guy. And it wasn't even like he put up a good fight! He was way too easy to track down and even easier to take out. He may have been a decent street fighter, but that didn't mean much compared to me. All it took was a quick knife to the neck, followed by a bullet to the head, and my job was done.
All of a sudden I heard some footsteps on the rooftop next to me. I slowed to a stop and curiously cocked my head at the sound. At first, I didn't think much of it, since people were usually out partying and whatnot on Saturday nights, but the closer it got, the more suspicious I became.
Then things started to get even weirder. To test my theory, I turned a sharp corner down 25th street, and so did the footsteps. I stopped and went back the way I had come, and coincidentally, so did the footsteps. By now, there were several more, and my excitement started to grow. More people to hurt!
"Eh, let's get this over with," I muttered, walking into an alleyway and pretending to be lost.
"I'm sure they said to meet here though.." I thought out loud, trying to throw off the attackers.
I heard them "quietly" jump down from the roof.
"Blackout," a voice ordered from behind me, bouncing off of the brick walls. "We're taking you in under orders of the Justice League."
The League? Oh, now this was definitely going to be fun.
I turned around, suppressing a grin and ready to fight, but the playful look slowly fell off my face as I saw who was there.
There weren't any Leaguers, it was the sidekicks!
Oh well. I can still have some fun anyways.
"Ah, the sidekicks! To what do I owe the pleasure?" I teased, grandly gesturing my hands towards them.
"We need to take you in for questioning about a missing person," the dark-skinned boy in the front said. I think he was Aquaman's sidekick. Squidkid, or something like that.
"Oh, I'm sorry! You should've told me in advance. I would've cleared my schedule."
"Just come with us, and no one gets hurt."
"I'm afraid I can't do that, Squidkid," I said, slowly waltzing up to the group to try and get a better look at the rest of them.
"It's Aqualad," he said as he narrowed his eyes.
I opened my mouth, another cocky remark just itching to come out when suddenly I felt a breeze pass over me. I paused. Was someone was trying to.. trick me? I wanted to chuckle. Me! Trick me! You can't trick a trickster, that's not how the game works.
"Oh my mistake, I'm so sorry. I'll come with you guys right now," I sighed, holding my arms out.
"Really?" he asked.
This time I really did chuckle, before my face fell flat and I let my arms down.
"No."
Then I reached into my belt and grabbed a flash grenade, throwing it up into the air before any of them had time to react. A cry was let out as a girl with green skin suddenly appeared and fell to the floor. At least, I think she had green skin. Sometimes these alley lights really mess with your eyes.
I switched my mask to night mode as I grabbed my gun and shot out all of the lights. I didn't exactly know who or what I was fighting, but that's rule number one you learn in Gotham. Attack first, ask questions later.
"Over here!" I teased and watched all of them go into a defensive stance.
I inwardly laughed. Amateurs.
I ran towards Squidkid and grabbed his arms, using my body weight to throw him into some blonde chick with a bow and arrow. Ah, so she's Queen's protégé. (Please, don't be surprised, I actually know the secret identities of a lot of members in the League. It's not like they all do a particularly good job at hiding it either. Glasses, Mr. Kent? That's the best you could do?)
But anyways, back to our regularly scheduled program.
Now it was time to deal with the green girl. If I was correct, she should be the Martian's kid (unless Kryptonian skin was all of a sudden secretly green, which I wasn't going to bet on) and that means fire was a huge weakness.
I took out a lighter and grabbed my small canister of perfume. (For emergency cases only, of course. How dare you all accuse me of styling my hair on the job!) I opened the lighter and sprayed the perfume right on it, making a cascading stream of blazing fire towards the poor girl.
She shrieked and fell to the ground, trying to put out the flames.
I chuckled darkly, which surprised me before I rapidly shook my head.
Mental note: dark chuckling does not fit my M.O.
I was snapped from my thoughts as I noticed a streak of yellow and red running towards me. A speedster. Of course. He tried to punch me, but I ducked just in time to make him soar over me and crash into another kid with a Superman logo on his shirt.
"Guys, keep it together!" a voice called out.
Wait... I knew that voice! It belonged toー
I was cut short when I was kicked in the stomach, making me stumble back.
Bird Boy! Of course he would be on the new team, why didn't I think of it? I could've been more prepared!
I didn't have any more time to scold myself before we started fighting. Tons of acrobatic moves were thrown every which way, and for a second I actually almost doubted the fact that I was going to win. Keyword, "almost." Eventually, as predicted, I had the upper hand. I had to do something if I wanted to win and I had to do it fast.
Think Bri, think!
After ducking another roundhouse kick, I knew what I had to do, and I hated it. I just stood there, giving him the perfect opening I knew he wouldn't pass up. He easily switched from slight defense to full offense, landing a hard kick to my stomach. I stumbled backwards and doubled over, coughing. He was about to go in for another attack when I put a hand up.
"Alright, alright!" I coughed, "I'll come with you, but I'm pretty sure you just broke one of my ribs."
I watched his determined stance falter as he slowly put away the red boomerang-thing in his hand, instead of taking out a pair of high-tech handcuffs. He cautiously walked towards me, putting a hand out to inspect my "broken" rib, and gently pushed away my hands which were covering my stomach. I groaned slightly, putting a hand on his shoulder and hoisting myself to my feet.
"Rob?" I asked.
He looked up at me, holding my other wrist as he was about to latch the handcuff on.
"Sike."
I grinned, catching him completely off guard. He pulled his head back in shock, giving me just enough time to jump up and slam it into the side of a metal container near us, knocking him unconscious. I turned around to inspect my work for a brief moment. All of them were either passed out or severely injured. Or in green girls case, severely burned.
"And that is how you fight," I said to no one in particular, a smirk plastered on my face.
I turned around and started to climb up a service ladder of the building next to me, eager to get back and inform Selina what had just happened. But unfortunately, (since I can never seem to enjoy anything ever) my happy thoughts were completely brought to a halt when a black boomerang landed right next to my face.
"And that's my cue to get the hell out of here," I rushed, flipping up the ladder and onto the roof. A heard a small noise on the ground behind me, and I turned around to find a black mass on the roof a couple of meters away from me. It began to grow taller and taller, finally turning into the shape of a person. Or to be more specific, a bat.
"Oh come on Bats!" I cried, throwing my hands up in the air in exasperation. "I just finished off your team of sidekicks, with an incredible performance on your Boy Blunder might I add, but now I have to take on you, too?"
"If you come with me, no one gets hurt, Blackout," he said in his usual stoic voice.
"Yeah, like I haven't heard that one before," I rolled my eyes beneath my domino mask.
"But I have to admit, props to you for using a phrase so unoriginal that I think you just made it cool again," I paused, one hand on my hip and the other stroking my chin in a contemplating stance. "And.. nope. Still uncool."
A low, very scary growl was heard. Soon I realized it came from him.
My eyebrows raised in surprise. "Aw, am I actually getting on your nerves, Batsy? I mean, come on. I've seen you take on Joker. And Bane. At the same time. But one sentence from Lil' ol' me and the Big Bad Bat gets ticked off? I feel honored."
At this point, I'm not entirely sure if I should be priding myself, or slapping myself. What I was playing right now was a seriously dangerous game, even for me. And I love games! Riling up any hero was a bad thing in itself, but Batman? Did I have a death wish?
Well, for the moment being, it was either die saying I fought Batman, or have to listen to another one of Riddler's ten-million-hour lectures. So I think my choice is very obvious. (I heard that hell is pretty nice this time of year.)
I got crouched into a fighting stance, a smirk plastered on my red lips which practically begged him to make the first move. No going back now. I'm in it to win it.
I narrowly dodged a swift kick from him and jumped back. My smirk fell off of my face as I frowned. "What, no comeback? We're just going to go straight into fighting?"
Two of his boomerang-thingy-ma-whats-its were thrown withー what I would never admit wasー deadly accuracy at me.
"I'll take that as a yes," I said, blowing a piece of stray hair from my face.
About two minutes later, I was incredibly proud of myself for making it this long. I was barely keeping up, but I was somewhat holding my own. The only option right now seemed to be that I had to figure out a way to trick him. (Ha, I know. Figure out how to trick the World's Greatest Detective in the midst of a fight, with said detective. I'm clearly so smart.)
Okay. So.. I knew he probably memorized my utility belt, just like I memorized his. Well, at least I'd hoped I had. What pouch were the boomerangs kept in? His left? No, right. Yeah. Definitely right.. right? Well, I'm pretty much only running on desperation and lack of oxygen, and that's the best plan I've got right now. So let's use that to my advantage and hope for the best.
I pretended to grab my gun and saw him dart for some boomerangs. Then, in the split second he looked down, I grabbed another flash grenade. I chucked it into the air just as he looked up, and it made him stumble back a small step. I launched up for his face, but he recovered, only enough to stop me from attacking him. He flipped me over his head, and the buckle of my boot caught latched onto something, both of the objects flying over the edge of the roof.
Pardon my French, but damnit! I squeezed my eyes shut, waiting for him to knock me out and take me in.
But it never came.
Why wasn't he taking the win?
I looked up at him slowly, but something was really off. He was turned away from me, not moving a muscle. I looked down to my boot-less foot, and finally realized what it got caught on.
His cowl.
It apparently soared over the edge along with my boot. How? I have no idea. I figured it would be attached to his suit or something. Maybe there was enough force to rip it off? Or he just never had it attached, to make everyone think it was attached, so he could fake them out?
I was about to keep guessing more theories until it hit me. I, Brielle, Blackout (whatever you want to call me) had a mask-less Batman standing in front of me in broad daylight, er, nightlight? Night time? That's not important right now. What is, however, is the fact that no one has probably seen this in the history of, well, ever! And if some people had, I'm sure none were criminals.
I had to act fast, because I knew he would be gone in a split second. I took an empty grenade shell out and a flashlight. I pushed the button and threw the unloaded grenade off to the side. The beeping got faster, making him realize what it was, and he dove for cover from an explosion that never came.
He rolled over towards the side of the roof I was tossed to, and nearly fell off. In his haste, he forgot he had no mask on, and unfortunately for me, when he dove, his cape flew over half of his face.
Let's do a quick recap, just so you all understand the intensity of this situation right now, okay? Okay. Picture this. Me, once again, a criminal, lay face to face with a half-un-masked Batman, on a random rooftop at three in the morning.
Pretty wild if you ask me.
I switched on the flashlight, to get a better look at half his face. He looked at me like a deer caught in the headlights.
Or should I say, a bat caught in the headlights? Ha! Er.. too much? Yeah. Too much.
I don't really know what I was expecting. A really handsome god? Or an ugly alien-thing? The possibilities were endless. But alas, he was just a little-more-handsome-than-average looking guy. His black hair was wild from having his mask torn off, and the one eye I could see seemed to be blue. His skin was fair, and from what I could tell, he had a defined jawline, pink lips, and a glare that was still lethal even without the cowl on. I kind of wanted to chuckle at that. Noted.
I couldn't even bring myself to speak. This was the protector of Gotham? One of the most feared men in the world? The leader of the Justice League? He just looked.. so.. so normal.
We just stared at each other, neither of us trying to hide the shock on our faces. Not knowing what else to do, I raised my hand ever so slightly and gave him a small, slow wave.
"Uhh.. hi?"
Then his reflexes kicked back in, and he grabbed a smoke bomb. Tossing it at me, he rolled off of the roof and into the night. I coughed and waved a hand in front of my face, waiting for the smoke to clear. I sat there for a couple of minutes, unsure of what to do. Then I slowly got up, deciding to go back for my boot, and evidently his mask.
I climbed down the ladder and eventually found my boot. Putting it back on, I saw his mask was gone. The only piece left was the little tear of fabric where the buckle tore it off.
I paused for a second to let the prior events sink in. Then I giddily smiled and spun on my heel, bursting out of the alley. I sprinted faster than I ever had before towards my original destination of the apartment. Once I reached the building, I climbed the fire escape, throwing open the window and barreling into Selina's room.
I jumped on her bed, scaring at least three of her cats (screw them anyways, little annoyances) before proceeding to throw her off of it. She jolted up and looked around wildly, brown hair completely out-of-sorts and red lipstick smudged at the corners of her mouth, a small line of drool trailing down the left side of her face.
"Bri, what the hell?! Do you have any idea what time it is?"
I broke into a grin for the second time that night.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. But never mind that! You'll never believe what just happened."
* * *
THIS IS MY FAVORITE CHAPTER ONSCNNXJSJDB I LOVE WRITING ABOUT BRIELLE SO MUCH😝😝 I hope your all enjoying this book, and thank you so much for all the wonderful support so far!!
xo Alexa