SO, GUESS WHO ESCAPED The League's space prison? If you guessed me, you're correct!
The heels of my boots clicked on the pavement of the rooftops. Honestly, I never thought I'd be so happy to see the streets again. The gasoline, screeching cars, and screams of the innocent may not have been the most ideal setting, but it was my home.
I finally arrived at the apartment which Selina and I owned. Red, worn out brick covered the exterior, with several pieces missing here and there. It had four stories and probably the ugliest door you've ever seen on the front. I couldn't count how many times I've wanted to kick it down and burn it.
I hopped onto the fire escape, which wasn't that far of a drop from the roof. Maybe ten feet, but I've survived worse. I tried to be as stealthy as possible and walked on my toes to prevent my heels from echoing on the metal surface. I slid open the window and stepped into the warm apartment; a sharp contrast from the chilly Gotham air.
I took a deep breath in, inhaling the usual lingering smell of coffee and old paper. "Honey!" I teased jokingly, "I'm home!"
Usually I would get a quirky response from my roommate, but this time I received nothing. I frowned as I walked deeper into the apartment.
"Hey Sel! Cat got your tongue?" I called out.
I stopped and peered down the hallway, which had no lights on. The eerie, horror-movie-ness of it all started to sink in, goosebumps slightly racing up my arms. Suddenly, the door slammed shut behind me. I whipped around towards the kitchen and saw no one.
I laughed a little nervously. "Hey, if this is some prank, I was just kidding about the whole, 'cat got your tongue' thing."
Still, nothing.
"Alright," I called out, "you've had your laugh. But this seriously isn't funny!"
I finally decided to risk it and walk down the hall. I made sure to use what Selina had taught me and always stay close to the wall, one hand near a weapon at all times. My hand hovered over my gun as I passed a small broom closet, which I swear I heard muffled yelling coming from inside.
Should I? Because in every horror movie, you always die when the girl opens the closet with the strange noise inside. Then again, if I didn't, who was going to? Because it wasn't like I was going to call the cops, or anyone of actual authority.
I shrugged. Someone had to do it. "Here goes nothing."
I threw open the door and got into a fighting stance, expecting something to lunge out at me. When nothing did, I let down my guard just a little bit to get a better look inside. I immediately dropped my defenses when I saw it was Selina.
Her hands and feet were bound, and she had a gag in her mouth. She was still in her suit; a little scratched up, but nothing we haven't had before. Her eyes widened when she saw me, and she started screaming again. I rolled my eyes and bent down to yank the cloth out of her mouth.
"Hey, what the hell? How'd this happeー"
Her eyes darted behind me, widening. "Behind you!"
I whirled around to see a fist flying towards my face. I let out a shout; barely being able to grab it and twist it behind the persons shoulder before shoving them roughly down the dark hall. I turned back to Selina with a look that said, 'what the actual hell?'
"Can you please explー"
"Duck!"
I dropped to the floor as something went whizzing over my head and nailed itself to the wall just above Selina. I groaned in exasperation, rapidly trying to untie her bonds while simultaneously as she continued to yell things.
"Sel, can you just please explainー"
"Look out!"
I threw my hands down to my sides. "For crying out loud!" I yelled, turning around and slamming the closet door shut behind me. I managed to finally release her and she stood up, before rummaging around in the closet and pulling out a gun she had apparently hidden there.
She looked at me, and I nodded. She counted to three and then kicked open the door, a flood of light invading the previously dim room. As I walked out into the hall behind her, all of the lights were on and nobody was there. I suddenly remembered the foreign object that had been fired into the closet, and looked inside to get a closer view.
Using the light from the hallway, I bent down to inspect the object. Of all the things I was expecting; a batarang, a bomb, a knifeー I was definitely not expecting an arrow.
With little effort, I tugged it free from the wall, examining it in my hands. I turned around back to Selina, my eyes still on the metal object. "What on Earth would aー Cat?"
When I looked up, just take a wild guess on what I saw. Did you think no one? Well then you'd be unfortunately right. I sighed in exasperation once again. Was this Selina pranking me, or was someone actually here?
The lights suddenly went out again, and this time I had to stop the sigh that wanted to make it's way out of my throat. I can't just have one night off, can I?
The gun still in my hand, I reached up and switched my domino mask to night mode, immediately finding a boot flying towards my face. I let out a little screech as I dove under it, before shoving them to the floor and running back in the direction of the kitchen.
"I just had to open the closet, didn't I?" I yelled rhetorically.
At this point, I was taking on, like, what? Three people at once? Or it was just one person who had super strength, could silently kidnap Catwoman, and shot arrows? I had no idea who there were or what they wanted, all they looked like through my mask were little colored blobs.
I stopped near the light switch and pressed it. As the lights flickered on, everyone else who apparently still had their night vision on yelled, most likely blinded by the sudden light. (Trust me, I know how it is. And it's painful.) They scrambled to turn their's off, which gave me a few moments to regain my bearings.
I looked around, and I finally realized who I was fighting.
"You guys again?" I asked.
It was the sidekicks.
They didn't say anything as they surrounded me.
I groaned. "You're all just like your mentor'sー no fun."
Kid Flash looked hurt as he suddenly appeared next to me, a hand over his heart in feigned shock. "Some of us are!"
I sneered. "Debatable. Oh and by the way, I love the whole 'black suit' thing. Makes you look great."
As I winked at him, Arrow Girl let out a low growl. Her bow was loaded and aimed at me, her eyes locking onto mine as she addressed her 'leader.' "Aqualad, permission to seriously hurt her?"
I glanced back and forth between Kid Mouth and Arrow Girl, who by the way was really starting to get on my nerves. Did they have a thing? Because she seems pretty protective of him. Note to self, investigate that later.
"Squidkid, permission to let her try and seriously fail?" I smirked, mocking her.
He glared at me.
I shrugged. "Anyways, what did you do to Catwoman?"
"She's on her way to Arkham Asylum," Squidkid answered.
I scoffed. "She'll be out before morning. Oh, and props for somehow managing to take her down, but enough about that. Are you guys crazy? Because you all know how this ended last time."
"That's why we were prepared," a new voice said.
I looked up, just as a figure jumped down from the ceiling. Superboy? Side note, he was super hot. (Ha, get it? Super hot? Because he'sー ah, forget it.) I got ready to attack, but he simply stood there and looked at me.
I stared back at him with a look of confusion. "Aren't you going to try and, you know, fight me or something?"
He didn't move, but that's when I realized.
It was a trick.
I spun around, but quickly felt a sharp pain in my neck. I let out a cry and grabbed at it. I tried to attack the person, but found it hard. Then I started to get really sleepy and knew I was going to get knocked it. I sunk to my knees, but went and pressed my thumb on the side of my mask, and then did the same to my belt, locking them. I fell forward as everything started to get blurry.
The last thing I coherently remember was The Boy Blunder walking towards me, cape swishing around his feet. His signature smirk was plastered on his face.
"Checkmate."
I gave him a weak grin, struggling to stay awake.
"Well played, Bird Boy, well played."
And then it all went black.
Dick's POV
"You did what?!" Batman roared over the screen. I watched as the rest of the team slightly shrunk back. I just rolled my eyes, crossing my arms. Typical Bruce behavior.
"Yeah," Kid spoke up, scratching the back of his neck, "you guys said you were having, uh, trouble with herー not that you guys can't take her down! I mean, you're the Justice League! You guys can do anything andー"
"Forgive me if we overstepped our boundaries, Batman," Aqualad said, interrupting Wally's rambling as he stepped closer to the holo-screen, "but we saw an opportunity to help bring her in. We did what you trained us to do; be ready for anything. I would not have allowed any action to be taken unless I had absolute certainty in our skills."
A frustrated sigh came over the screen.
"End results aside, you disobeyed direct orders not to intervene. There will be consequences. For now, I will arrive as soon as I can to take her back into League custody at The Watchtower. Do not talk to her, touch her, or interact with her in any way, or your punishment will be worse. Batman out."
And then the screen went black.
As silence fell over the room, all eyes slowly turned to me.
"What?" I asked after a moment, "Kaldur's the leader here, not me."
"Kaldur's not the one who has as much experience with her as you do," Wally said, "and you're the one who's on Batman's good side. You're his partner! You can get us out of trouble, right?"
"Trouble?" I repeated innocently, like he didn't know what he was getting at, but I couldn't keep the grin off of my face.
"Wait, you guys aren't actually suggesting that we disobey Batman not just once, but a second time, and go talk to her?" Artemis asked in disbelief, dropping the arrow that had she had been previously playing with in her hand to her side.
Wally sped over to her and put an arm around her shoulders, to which she quickly shrugged off. "Artie, c'mon! You know The League isn't gonna tell us anything! And since they aren't here.."
"What better time to get the information we want," Superboy finished, cracking his knuckles.
"Unaltered information," I added.
Silence filled the room again, this time all eyes darting in the direction of Kaldur, who had been silent throughout the entire conversation. He sighed. "I want information as much as you all do, but I don't believe it would be wise to disobey Batman again."
"You can not be serious," Superboy said with anger, walking up and standing face to face with Kaldur, "this may be our last chance! If she's dangerous enough that The League has to deal with her, we should find out what she knows!"
"We are the ones who caught her," M'gann noted softly, holding one of her forearms close to her body.
"Who's side are you on?" Artemis asked her, staring at her with wide eyes.
"I'm on the side of what I think is right," she responded, "we're old enough to make our own decisions."
If we did go talk to her, I wouldn't get in that much trouble, right? I mean, they maybe would, but I wouldn't. But it would also mean disobeying Bruce. After pondering for another moment, I finally had my decision. I let a grin play on my lips. "I say we do it."
Wally cheered and gave me a high five. "You heard the man! If you wanna come, come. But if you want to be a buzzkill, you can stay. Besides, we're already getting in trouble from Bats anyways, right?"
"You must've be talking too fast, Kid Brainless," Artemis glared at him, "because I don't think you heard the part when Batman said worse punishment."
"Yo Supey, wait up!" Wally suddenly called, speeding off behind me. I turned around and saw Superboy already halfway out of the room in direction of where Blackout was currently locked up. I jogged a couple feet to catch up to them, M'gann by my side. Artemis and Aqualad trailed behind us, arms crossed.
I totally did the right thing.. didn't I?
Brielle's POV
I groaned, letting my fall head back onto the metal chair. I can't believe I let myself get captured. I should've known! Bats and the rest of The League will be here before I can even think of an escape plan! I couldn't let my emotions show, though. I did what Selina had taught me. Stay calm, cool, and collected, especially in bad situations. And I think this counts as a bad situation, right?
I was snapped out of my thoughts as the metal door in front of me hissed open. Low and behold, the sidekicks walked in, attempting to look all high and mighty. I inwardly scoffed. What losers. The boy blunder took a seat in front of me, and the rest of them stood behind him. When nobody said anything, I took it upon myself to break the silence, because honestly? If I had any superpower, it would probably be that.
I grinned, leaning back in the chair and crossing my arms. "And here we are."
Several of them rolled their eyes. I smirked before looking to Robin. "Robbie! Long time no see! How ya been?"
He glared at me. "That's none of your concern."
My mouth dropped in feign shock and I put a hand over my heart. "Of course it's my concern! Making sure the sidekick of my mortal enemy is well enough to fight is one of my top priorities!"
Behind him, Kid Flash stifled a laugh. "She called you a sidekick."
Robin ignored him. "I have a question for you."
I raised an eyebrow, but didn't say anything.
"Up on the rooftop, the night of Lex Luthor's party, you said there was something Batman didn't tell me. What was it?" he asked.
The smirk reappeared on my lips. I clasped my hands together and leaned forward over the table.
"I saw Batman unmasked."
Everyone visibly tensed, eyes widening.
"W-what?" Robin whispered.
I laughed and began to tell him the story. He was going to find out eventually, right? And even if Batsy didn't want to tell himー oh well. The more annoyed he is the better. When I was done, he was pale and stared at me in shock. "Do you know who he is?"
I sighed dramatically, rolling my eyes under my mask. "I wish. From what I could tell, he looked like a thousand other guys in Gotham. But I can remember thinking he was actually kind of hot, though."
Everyone stared at me like I'd grown two heads.
"What?" I said throwing my hands up in defense, "all of that Batman-ing must make him look really good!"
Apparently done with the conversation, Superboy took charge and shoved Robin out of the chair. The younger boy, not expecting it, let out a shout as he fell to the ground. I snickered. I like himー very demanding. He would make a good criminal.
"Hey!" Robin cried as he got up and dusted himself off, his cheeks slightly pink.
"You had your turn, and you used it to ask stupid questions. Now let me ask what we've all really been wondering," he said as he turned to me, "who are you?"
I paused for a moment before bursting into a chorus of chuckles. "Wow, you really are the stupid one. You think I would just tell you because you asked?"
He stood up and leaned across the table, cracking his knuckles. "Yeah, I do."
I raised my eyebrows and smirked. "You're exactly like your dad, you know. You both think that just your sheer strength can solve all problems in under a half an hour."
"He's not my dad! I'm just his clone.." he mumbled, his voice laced in sadness and anger.
I scoffed, rolling my eyes again and propping my feet up on the table. "You guys are so boring! You're asking all the wrong questions too."
"What questions should we be asking?" Squidkid asked.
I shrugged. "For example, where did Archery Girl go?"
I watched realization dawn on everyone's faces as they frantically turned around and tried to find her. Suddenly, Kid Flash was in my face, anger written all over his features.
"What did you do to her?!" he demanded.
Okay, it was totally official. Him and Archery Chick definitely had something going on.
I grinned. "I didn't do anything! Now, did I ask someone else to do something? Maybe."
Kid Flash's eyes widened before disappeared out the door, his team following in pursuit. I chuckled. Actually, I didn't even do anything to the blonde. She just happened to be out of the room, so I used it to my advantage. I let out a laugh as I walked towards the door which they had stupidly forgot to lock. "Amateurs."
I strolled out, my hands clasped behind my back. "If I was a door to get out of this hell hole, where would I be?" I muttered under my breath as I walked down the hall.
"Superman 0-1, Batman 0-2." a computerized voice echoed as it came over the speakers.
I suddenly face-palmed. The Zeta Tubes! How did I not think of that? Wait, doesn't that mean Batsy and Boy Scout are here now too? Damnit!
"Just when I thought my escape couldn't get any harder," I groaned before momentarily pausing, realizing what I was doing.
"Note to self, stop thinking out loud."
Then I continued down the hall.
* * *
UGH SORRY FOR SUCH A CRAPTASTIC ENDING AND SORRY FOR NOT UPDATING IN FOREVER😭😭 SCHOOL IS SO HARDDD BUT I WANT TO THANK EVERYONE FOR READING SO FAR! Today I'm making it my mission to get all of my books updated. It's gonna mean a lot of work (probably a couple hours at the very least) but it's worth it!
xo Alexa