บท 192: Expect The Unexpected #192
I sighed at Nightshade's stunned expression. It might not have been the best idea to say that I wouldn't have helped her, but I couldn't bring myself to lie. Not now.
I fucked up pretty badly during our last meeting, so being honest and dealing with her in good faith is the least I could do. I might not be a saint, far from it, In fact. But I endeavor to be a decent human whenever my life and future weren't on the line.
Much to my surprise, Nightshade broke out of her stunned silence with a loud laugh that had me raising an eyebrow, questioning her sanity as she regarded me with an amused look.
"Well, you're at least honest about it..." The heroine said after a second, which she used to gather her bearing. "I might never forgive you for the words you said to me that day..." she added, shaking her head as she trailed at the end of her sentence.
"Or like you, for that matter..." Nightshade continued with a sigh. "But I understand you are under no obligation to help me..." She went on as she leaned her left hand on her hip.
"And I don't have to like you to work with you, especially if it means saving my brother," The heroine concluded as she put on a resolute expression and nodded at me to convey her resolve.
"That's fine by me," I replied as I stood up. "Now we just need to discuss the details..." I added as I approached the heroine and extended my right hand toward her.
She hesitated for a second before gripping it in a firm handshake.
...
As he leaned on the wall of a dark alley, The Question leisurely lit a cigarette and inhaled it deeply. "What took you so long...?" He said as he turned to the side where two shadowed figures suddenly appeared, one feminine, the other masculine.
"We took some time to patch ourselves up..." Batwoman, The feminine figure, said as she walked into the light, revealing herself to The Question, who merely nodded in response.
"This is Nightwing, Bludhaven's resident vigilante," The heroine said, gesturing to the side as she introduced the other figure, who promptly stepped out of the shadow.
"One of the bat's kicks, I presume...?" Victor Sage said, speaking as if to make a statement rather than ask a question, much to Nikghtwing's amusement and Batwoman's exasperation.
"Something along those lines..." Nightwing replied with a shrug, not taking offense at Question's words. He was already beyond the point of caring for such labels, having long stepped away from the caped crusader's shadow.
Richard still looked up to Bruce Wayne and saw him as a father figure, even if the latter made it difficult sometimes. Still, Dick was his own man and a competent superhero, comparable to Batman himself.
"What do you know? Maybe not everyone has an ego the size of the Wayne Tower like you, Question," Batwoman said from the side, sighing as she shook her head in exasperation at Victor's blatant attempt to provoke Nightwing.
"Whatever..." Victor remarked as he threw his cigarette on the ground and promptly stomped it. "Where's the clown?" He asked, getting straight to business as he turned to Batwoman.
"He's holed up in a motel nearby..." Batwoman replied. "He doesn't know we're on his tail, so we should have the element of surprise..." She went on, trailing off as she began cooking up a plan to capture The Joker.
"We don't know that..." Nightwing interjected with a sigh, shaking his head. "For all we know, we might be walking into a trap..." he added, shrugging his shoulders.
"You never know with him..." He concluded.
"Then maybe we shouldn't have let him go back then..." Batwoman said, narrowing her eyes at Nightwing, still unconvinced by the latter's earlier decision despite humoring it at the time.
"As I've said, you never know with The Joker. He might have been leading us to a trap..." Nightwing replied, holding his ground as he firmly shook his head at the heroine's rebuttal.
"The best we can do is to be prepared and in the best shape possible to react..." He went on as he explained his reasoning, which didn't seem to impress the heroine.
"And to think I came all the way here for this shit. Get a grip, for fuck's sake..." The Question interjected, causing the two heroes to turn quiet as they turned to him.
"If there's a trap or not doesn't matter much..." Sage continued, shaking his head in exasperation at the two bat-people. "We'd have to approach the motel like there's an ambush waiting for us anyway," he concluded with a shrug as he sighed.
"Now stop bickering like fucking children and start thinking of a plan..."
...
Gray's hideout
"That wasn't so bad..." I muttered to no one in particular as I plopped into my couch, recalling my meeting with Nightshade. We spent some time going back and forth, but we eventually came to an agreement that would make us both happy.
I explained to Nightshade that I couldn't deal with some ancient evil entity with Waller breathing down my neck and asked her to wait until after the trial to get it done.
She hesitated, and I couldn't blame her as I wouldn't trust her if we swapped shoes, but my dumb honesty seemed to leave a good impression as she took my word at face value and eventually agreed.
I won't lie. I was already tempted to let Nightshade testify and go back on my word, as dealing with an interdimensional demon wasn't my idea of a good time, but that would be just wrong on so many levels.
Those intrusive thoughts be hitting hard, I tell you.
Either way, I was fully intent on keeping my word and helping because even I have a conscience, as shocking as that fact might be. And I needed to keep it alive.
Still, I will do it safely. Well, as safe as traveling to another dimension and fighting a powerful evil hell creature could get, but you get the idea. As such, I'd need to get more people involved, and I had just the right person in mind.
I'd need to convince them first, but that's for the future.
'Now let's see what I missed...' I mused, shrugging my shoulders as I activated my personal computer power to browse today's news. "A couple of robberies, multiple homicides... basically an average Tuesday in the great city of Gotham..." I mused, bitterly chuckling as I read through several articles.
'Oh...? What's this...?' I wondered, frowning as I came across a rather interesting article about two wealthy civilians from upper Gotham committing suicide by throwing themselves off the sixth floor.
"Rich assholes killing themselves...? I see the GCPD is as competent as ever..." I muttered, chuckling as I clicked the article out of curiosity more than anything else.
"Those two..." I remarked, raising an eyebrow as I identified the two men, who allegedly killed themselves, as two lower-tier members of the Crime Religion I have been keeping an eye on for a while.
Realizing something was off, I quickly accessed the cameras near the hotel where the incident happened to investigate. 'And what do we have here...?' I mused as I spotted a familiar, somewhat blurred figure walking out of the hotel shortly after the two men splatted on the asphalt.
"Already hard at work, I see..." I muttered, chuckling as I zoomed in on the figure and enhanced the picture, which revealed The Question's faceless mask.
"So he's after the religion too...?" I remarked, rubbing my chin, deep in thought. "I might be able to use this..." I concluded as I considered how to take advantage of the unexpected development.
Victor Sage was no pushover. He had no superpowers, but he was Richard's student and wasn't far off from Batman when it came to Sherlock Holmes shit, not to mention he didn't mind getting down and dirty to get the job done.
In other words, he was the perfect body to throw at the Religion since I didn't have the time or experience to deal with such an organization. I didn't need to goad him into going after the Religion as well since he was already doing it.
I only needed to give him the information I had and let him do all the work, which was easier said than done because of his massive ego, as he'd probably refuse to even listen to me.
"Maybe I can subtly point him in Abbot and Whisper's direction..."
...
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