Chapter 86

Batgirl, aka ??????? ?????? PoV

Not only did that super genius on the west coast respond, but he even gave some assistance!

At first I thought Law was a bit serious and busy, as he always seemed to text back after several minutes had already passed. For a moment I had wrote him off as elusive as the other Justice League members. But as it turns out he just…

Was really bad with phones.

I hadn’t considered that possibility due to him being a bit younger than me, and just about everyone in our generation knows how to use them fluently. Everyone except him it seems, haha. Honestly, I think my dad was better at texting than he was.

But because of that, a lot of what he messaged was just that much more sincere and honest. It was my belief that you could tell a lot about someone through the way they texted. What words they used, the way the convey it, how the misspell certain things, or use abbreviations for others.

Not that dad would agree. He was a smart guy, but he just didn’t understand technology that well.

Law seemed to be a bit guarded and professional when talking to others he doesn’t know. But when I mentioned Robin he seemed to relax a bit. Not by a lot, but his words started to have less punctuation.

Then things started to shift a bit when I mentioned the pills. He wasn’t interested in getting mixed up in at all until I started to talk about them and the results we had gotten from them. Which seemed to have peaked his intellectual curiosity.

Eventually he finally folded and allowed me to send him the pills to study.

He really lived up to that genius reputation, because it took only a week and a half to get a response back. Said response was an entire pill bottle along with several notes about his examination.

The pill bottle contained a heavily modified version of Shiva. One that was meant to be even safer and made up of less foreign materials. It was still in prototype phase of development, and could only be made with Shiva pills. Even so, the effects were likely to be of ‘higher quality’.

He explicitly warned me against using them unless it was expressly an emergency, to which I took seriously. He was the super chemist here, not me.

He also thanked me, citing that examining them helped a bit in his research into developing a cure for Tetanus. Which made my entire week!

In truth, a part of me felt a bit humbled. I thought I was a pretty smart girl. Straight A’s, valedictorian, 4.0 GPA. But stuff like that…was on a whole other level. One that I couldn’t even imagine.

Still, the more people helped, the better. Who knows, maybe the Pharmacy gang will accidently save more lives than destroy them?

After that conversation with dad, nights out had been a good bit easier. Not because of any sort of luck, but because Batman had taken me off the Venom cases. He didn’t say as much, but it was pretty damn obvious through asking me to investigate areas that conveniently aren’t any where near them.

Ugh, I knew it was a mistake to talk to Dick about this…

A job was a job though. Even if it was demeaning. This was still Gotham. Even the areas that weren’t dealing with Bane’s gang were teeming with crime. I was still going to make a difference.

…At least, that’s what I’ll still tell myself…

There were probably bigger crimes going down, but if there were I definitely didn’t see them. All that I encountered were basic criminals doing menial things like breaking and entering, or stealing. Stuff that was easily dealt with in the span of a few minutes.

If even that.

Ugh…what did it take to get some real action around here?

I immediately winced and chided myself after that thought. If anything, quiet nights were better than loud ones. At least then the people of Gotham weren’t being actively cut down or actively harmed. People in this city could be…vicious.

As if to answer my thoughts, a loud ringing sound rang out. The Bat-Radar immediately informed me of a nearby break in to a jewelry store. Not that big of a heist, but it was better than nothing.

At least no one was getting hurt…besides the criminals that is!

The shrieking sound was quickly shut off, but it was already too late. The radar already locked onto their location and that meant I was there in a matter of minutes.

These guys must be completely green, because not even a single person was watching out for…the cops…

Ah, so this is the part where the monkey’s paw curls, huh?

Because none other than Killer Croc came walking out of the store. Having ripped a display fixture out of the ground and loaded that up with jewelry before leaving. He stood at a towering nine feet, and weighed over three hundred pounds. A good chunk of that being pure muscle.

And he was looking right at me.

“…Don’t suppose you’d be willing to just drop-”

He must not have been in the quipping mood, as he immediately started to turn around. This wasn’t my first rodeo, so I made sure to dodge backwards as his tail slammed into the area I had once been in.

I threw a couple of batarangs out, but they barely seemed to phase him. Fortunately he did at least put the stolen goods down, if only to chase after me with full force. Carving a path through the street and nearby parked cars with ease. I used a smoke bomb, which unfortunately meant we were both blind.

He started to rage about wildly, slamming into the nearby cars and cause as much collateral damage in order to have something hit me. And it unfortunately worked, as a tire hit my ankle just as I was stepping down, causing me to fall over.

It looked worse than it actually was, which was a small miracle. Now I just had to keep Killer Croc busy until Batman or…

…Since when did I start thinking like that?

I must have lost my mind if I thought I’d leave the job to a bunch of guys. I wasn’t just some helpless little girl, I was my own woman! I’ve taken down countless amounts of criminals, stopped all sorts of crimes, and saved the lives of people in need.

Expecting help to just come by…no wonder Batman took me off the Bane case. What the heck was I thinking?

No.

I was going to solve this on my own.

…Which was pretty big talk considering the massive lizard wreaking havoc in the rapidly dwindling smoke cloud. As I began to stand up, I wondered how I was going to do this…

Only to hear the rustling sounds of a pill bottle in my back pocket.

That’s right, I hadn’t had any time to put it up, so I just took it with me out of habit. But…that might just be my saving grace for the moment.

Even if it was only a pick me up, it could still improve my chances!

I practically tore the lid open before pulling out a few. Several fell on the ground near a drain as I dry swallowed one. It tasted…minty?

Huh. Weird.

It’d probably take some time to kick in, so I had to get started on…on…

Oh.

Oh.

I felt…good. Like, I just won first place at the science fair good. Before I could really start to adjust, Killer Croc started to charge at me. The smoke had faded enough for him to finally see me, making me a target.

An explosive batarang was quickly thrown out, but Killer Croc dodged it. Despite his massive size, he could still move quickly. His forearm wildly swung in my direction, causing me to hold up my arms to block it. The force he swung with was like getting hit with…with…

…Kind of like a wooden bat?

Like, it still hurt but it wasn’t unmanageable. Killer Croc couldn’t take advantage of my surprised state because he was even more astonished than me! Meaning I was actually the one to attack first.

My leg swung out and hit his midsection. As expected, it was like kicking a wall. Though at the very least this wall had to wheeze a bit after the blow. Leaving him open to a few jabs.

It almost felt like Killer Croc was attempting to take a dive on purpose, as every punch landed and seemed to rock his head backwards. Causing the lizard man to make pretty hilarious looking expressions in response.

He punched back, but I could see it from a mile away. It wasn’t in slow motion or anything, but there had definitely been a clear wind up, so I dodged to the side. In doing so I went a bit faster than expected, and darted several feet to Killer Croc’s left.

In response he turned and punched again. Only for me to dart around the attack and appear on his other side. This time when he turned I socked him in the jaw.

I kept this up for a couple of minutes, until Killer Croc visibly started to flag. This time I could tell he was slowing down naturally. His chest heaving as he attempted to block my incoming blows.

Eventually he went with a tail swing, and I didn’t bother to evade it. Instead, I caught it and proceeded to heave him off his feet. Before slamming him back down on the road.

This time he didn’t get back up.

Oh man, the expression on his unconscious face was priceless! I had to save that on my phone. Maybe I could make that my new wallpaper?

I still felt pretty energetic, like I had downed a Monster mixed with a five hour energy. I was sweating a bit, but instead of being tired I felt more excited than anything else.

It was like I was an entirely different person…oh god, is this what it felt like to be Wonder Woman!?

I even felt more attractive!

…That one was probably all me, but still!

Look out Gotham, a new and improved Batgirl is on the case!

~o~

Ravager PoV

I felt like complete shit.

Which probably meant there was a good reason for it…what was it again?

Getting up was always the hardest thing to do, and today was the exact same. Lifting myself out of unfamiliar covers to a dimly lit room that looked vaguely similar to the Titan’s recovery room...

Looking to my left confirmed that suspicion, as a redhaired cunt was watching me calmly sit up on the bed. His jaw shifting like there was something in his mouth…a mint from the smell of things.

Yeah, he would be the type to watch others sleep, wouldn’t he?

But why was I-

The memories of that night flooded back into my mind. Causing my eyes to light up. The Titans. The villains. Someone died. People got away. Law.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

My eyes had started to drift away from the fucker, causing me to panic a bit as I immediately stared him down. Tensing up from any sort of move on his part.

…Aaaand he was looking down at his phone with a bored expression. Using a fist to hold up his head as he scrolled through some shit.

Good. He was distracted. What was my move now then?

…I killed someone. Killing wasn’t something foreign or unfamiliar to me. Dad made sure of that. It was just second nature to me. Muscle memory. It was an accident.

But they would never go for that as an excuse. They were…good people. They probably only brought me to heal and then personally hand me over to the cops. Or worse, the Justice League.

I couldn’t let that happen.

I still haven’t got my revenge.

My eyes darted to Law once again before looking around the room. Something to use against him in order to escape. A syringe would be nice, or even a scalpel, but he rarely used that shit. Usually that super goop was more than enough for just about anything.

…It was pretty damn reliable…unlike Law.

Afterwards I’d have to head to my room to get some stuff. Everything I’ve gathered since I’ve been a part of this team. I thought something like this might happen, so I’ve been prepared for…for months.

Has…it really been that long? Huh. Time just…flew on by.

And now it seems I’ve run out of it.

…Stop it Rose. Get it together. I needed to be strong. I need to take the first step, and the only one in my way currently is…Law. Whatever he was paying attention to his phone seemed to have his full attention. He might be a complete fucking prick, but he was at least one that took his work seriously. So it was probably mission related.

Good. If it was big enough then he might be forced to actually confront it himself. On the flip side though, it could be Justice League related.

And if it was, that complicated things dras-

“Haaaahiina!”

The pillow that had been behind me was immediately thrown at Law’s face with full force. Unfortunately, due to its property of being a pillow, it didn’t do much.

“WHO THE FUCK STILL PLAYS ANGRY BIRDS!?”

I yelled at him, to which he looked over at me with a rather annoyed look. Rolling his eyes before putting away his phone. 

For a brief moment there was silence. He looked over at me, and I looked over at him. Eventually I was fed up enough that I sighed and broke it.

“…So what happens now?”

I asked, causing him to hum a bit. He rose an eyebrow before answering.

“Well, after you recover enough, you go back to your room.”

“And then?”

“Aaaaand then you go to sleep, or get yourself off to killing Deathstroke or something. I don’t know what you’re into.”

My hands shook in anger as he was just so callous about everything. When it was incredibly obvious what I was talking about. Even so, he was just ignoring it.

Like it meant nothing.

“Well, if that’s all…”

He commented before turning and taking a single step towards the door. One that immediately paused as I called out.

“Stop screwing with me.”

“…”

He said nothing. Instead continuing to stand there without saying another word. Forcing me to be the one to speak up.

“I know you know. About where I was, about what I did. Just…be straight with me. For once just tell me the truth.”

Law slowly started to turn around. Watching me with a neutral look. At the very least, he was revealing how he truly felt with his resting bitch face.

It was a start, I guess…

“…Alright. The truth it is then. Mistakes happen.”

…What?

Mistakes…happen? I waited for him to say more, but that was apparently it. Causing me to blink in surprise. That’s it? That’s all that it was wrote up as? A mistake?

Killing someone was just…a mistake?

“To be quite honest with you, I really don’t care what you do in your spare time. Be it spying on me, or murdering criminals. I am forced to care however, when you’re sloppy about it.”

That, I could understand. If I had been better equipped…no, if I had taken one of the remaining shots, that would have went completely different. But I didn’t.

No, wait. I was getting off track. Probably intentionally, that’s how this fuck likes to operate.

“So, what happened to the others?”

“One is dead, and the other seems to have found herself captured in a well-guarded location. It would seem the police have found evidence that points to her killing her two associates, and wounding you.”

I scoffed.

“So that’s it then? You covered my shit up? Wow, real heroic of you. What, did you think I’d be willing to sleep with you if you helped out?”

Law shrugged, waving his hand.

“I’d have done it for any of the other Titans.”

My mouth opened to respond, but I couldn’t find the voice to say something. I was a Titan. Obviously. It was so fucking obvious that I felt damn near brain dead for not having really internalized that.

I…I was a Titan.

I was one of them.

“Rose.”

I was too absorbed in my own head to have noticed Law getting closer. Not until he placed a hand on my shoulder. Looking up at him I was still at a loss for words. I wasn’t even able to form the sentences in my head, let alone in my mouth.

“…Good work.”

My teeth grit together as I struggled to keep my emotions in check. Shame and embarrassment stung with every tear that fell off my cheek. My hands balled into fists as if to punch someone, but there wasn’t any strength in them.

Because what was stronger than all of that was the joy I felt upon finally hearing those words.

I had been working for so long just to hear them…

Eventually, I finally was able to speak up again. To convey my thoughts to Law. About him, about the Titans, about everything they’ve done.

What this new life meant for me.

“…F-fuck you…”

“Yeah, fuck you too.”

…Close enough.