A/N: Watsup fam! I apologize for not posting yesterday, I was really occupied and cornered by a lot of work to the point that I couldn't even upload a chapter. With an apologetic heart, here's today's chapter everyone.
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After successfully completing my new AI and gadgets, I felt a celebratory drink was in order. I hopped on my customized motorcycle and headed to Tin Roof Bar, a place I hadn't visited in a while due to being preoccupied with my project. It was reminiscent of a scientist who spends a month locked up in a lab, solely focused on completing their work.
Upon arriving at the bar, I was immediately met with the familiar smell of alcohol and cigarettes. The place was bustling as usual, and Selina, the bartender, looked as alluring as ever. Although she wasn't wearing anything revealing, her captivating aura was undeniable.
"Hey stranger." She said with a smile while leaning onto the bar before lacing her fingers together and rested her chin on them, as I approached the bar and took a seat right in front of her.
"Hey beautiful, how have you been?" I asked as I noticed she seemed to be actually happy to see me.
"Been good, I didn't see you for a whole week. I was beginning to worry about you."
"Well I've been busy with some work. You could have called, you know."
"But I don't have your number." She said in a flirty tone, her body language accommodating her approach.
"Oh, my bad. Why don't you give me yours and when I call, then you'll have my number." I said in a flirty tone as I reached for my pocket and handed her my phone. I know it sounded cheesy but in my head that sounded like a cool way to ask her for her number.
"That was really smooth Tommy." She said with a smirk on her lips. "Okay fine." Selina reached for my phone which I had extended to her and she input her digits.
With my phone in her hand, I heard another phone ring from the same section. It wasn't hard to figure out that it was Selina's, the meowing was a dead giveaway. She handed me back my phone, but not until she dialed the number.
"Really?" I asked as I gave her a plain look.
"I take whatever I want sweetie, I don't enjoy waiting." She said as she let out a small chuckle. I had a feeling like someone was staring at me, like they could have literally bore a hole in my back with their glare.
"Well if that's what you say then I guess it couldn't be helped, I came to drink so pass me a glass of scotch." I said to her as before, turning my back on the bar and observing the surroundings as casually as I could. I first saw a man who glared at me as if I had taken something precious from him. Immediately our eyes met, he jolted in shock and turned away. I guess he might have been crushing on Selina and was jealous of how close we seemed.
But something else drew my attention. I noticed a few people who frequently stole barely noticeable glances at me but made it not seem obvious and as subtle as they could. There was no way I would have noticed if not for my paranoid mind and the man who was sitting at a section that gave me a noticeable sight of them.
Turning back to the bar, I saw Selina who seemed to have noticed their subtle stare. With a glass of scotch in my hand and asked her,"Do you know who they are?" I took a sip from my glass and awaited her answer as she mused at each of them, but without drawing attention with her gaze.
"No, I haven't seen them around here before. They might be new though, but they came in here a few minutes after you came in."
"It's either they followed me, or it's all just a big coincidence. As if, coincidences are rare in this world, especially in a town like Gotham." I took a sip, dropping my bottle on the table. I continued with a tone which seemed like I was excited to know who my stalkers were. "Well I guess we just have to find out."u stood up and walked out of the bar like I hadn't noticed anything out of the ordinary.
I stopped by my bike and waited but no one showed, I called Selina and she said they didn't even move a muscle. What a let down, I was thinking I'll get to have some fun, anyway, maybe some other time when they grow some balls.
I mounted my motorcycle, its engine roaring to life beneath me. As I accelerated down the open road, the stunning sunset scenery of Gotham surrounded me, painting the sky with vibrant hues of orange and pink.
…
"Intruder alert, intruder alert, intruder alert." The words that came from a small speaker by Tom's bedside. His AI woke him up from his deep slumber with an intruder alert. Tom woke up and was willing to play with his intruder a little bit, he thought maybe it was the guys from the bar earlier. But his AI only confirmed the presence of one person.
He heard his door stealthily open, if he wasn't awake already he wouldn't have noticed. Whoever they were, they'll surely regret breaking into his place.
Tom turned to a small screen by his bed where he could monitor any part of the house through small cameras which he had placed in strategic locations, it had night vision and the sight he was greeted with was that of someone he had hoped to avoid for as long as he could. But considering his encounter with Robin he expected her to confront him soon also.
The figure was quietly going through stuff in his house and Tom would have barely noticed her presence if it weren't for his security program, that's how stealthy she was.
"What's up with ladies breaking into my place at night?" He muttered to himself as he stood up from bed.
Tom wanted to meet with the figure but he tried to erase his presence so he could make their meeting a little bit more dramatic.
He walked to his room door and eliminated the sound as he turned the knob and also erased the sound from his footsteps which the Batgirl might eventually pick up on.
Tom walked into the living room and took a seat as he observed the instant halt in the intruder's movements which told him that his presence was already made known to his intruder.
"I'm impressed, you were able to detect my presence." She said with a cautious tone, as she turned around slowly.
"Hello Batgirl." He said with an unfazed expression on his face as he stared at the caped Crusader's female sidekick who stood in the middle of his living room with a serious look beneath her cowl.
"I had hoped this night wouldn't go like this." She said as she maintained her stance.
"Like how? You breaking into my place in the middle of the night and going through my stuff? Are you here to steal something or what?"
She let out a dramatic gasp as she couldn't believe Tom would say something like that. "Why would you think I would steal from you?" She asked.
"How else would you explain you breaking into my place in the middle of the night and hoping for me not to notice you until you were gone?"
"First of all, I had no intention of stealing anything from you. I saw what you did to Robin and it was inhuman, you almost had him traumatized." This time she relaxed her shoulders a little as she looked at Tom who didn't seem like he had any intention of attacking her.
Tom mused at the thought of traumatizing the brat who didn't seem to want to leave him in peace. "Well at least now he would have learnt his lesson and left me alone." He crossed his legs and sank comfortably into his chair.
Their encounter was unlike anything Batgirl had expected. She thought maybe he had some kind of vendetta against the Bat family, considering what he did to Robin and she started investigating him and also thought he'd do something to her like he had done to Robin.
"You could relax more, you know." He said as he stood up from his chair.
She took a step back as she watched him closely. "Don't try anything funny. Now that it has come to this, you'll have to answer some questions of mine."
"Relax red." He said, making reference to her red hair. "Sure I'll answer your questions but first… Tea? Tom gestured to the kitchen as he asked her to sit with him.
"No, why would you think I'd even drink tea with you?"
"Come on." He exasperated. "Does the detective gene get passed down with the costume? You've been asking questions non-stop, when I'm the one who is supposed to have a lot of questions as regards your breaking in. You Bat's are a handful, you know that?" He turned in the direction of the kitchen to get some tea, he'd rather have a conversation over a drink. Either a glass of whiskey or coffee, but since it's midnight and he would like to get some rest later on, he decided to get tea, and he was sure she wouldn't agree on alcohol.
"Fine." She said, letting down her guard but still on high alert.
"Whiskey?" He asked.
"Absolutely not." She said to him in a serious tone.
"Damn it, I guess it's tea then." He couldn't resist the temptation to try his luck if she might agree for whiskey, but her answer was definitely expected.
"Okay, what do you want to ask first?"
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[Barbara Gordon's POV]
Robin stumbled into the Batcave, his face bruised and battered, a look of shock etched onto his features. When I asked him what had happened, he refused to speak, but I could tell he had been in a fight like last time. I quickly tended to his injuries, and he retreated to his room, exhausted and depleted.
I couldn't shake the feeling that something was off, so I decided to investigate further. Using the tracker on Robin's utility belt, I traced his movements and discovered that his last location was a property belonging to a man named Tom. I did some research on Tom and uncovered some intriguing information.
As Robin slept, I delved deeper into my findings, determined to get to the bottom of what had happened to him.
At first glance, Tom's profile appeared to be completely ordinary, with no suspicious or incriminating information. However, my suspicions were aroused when I noticed Jason standing behind me, fear etched onto his face.
When I asked Jason if he knew Tom, he was hesitant to speak at first, but eventually opened up about his encounters with him. I decided to investigate further by visiting Tom's house and seeing what I could uncover. If someone with Tom's power and influence had such a normal profile, then he was definitely hiding something.
I went over to his house a few nights after his encounter with Jason, in hopes of getting information concerning him and not the perfect version of him that was painted on his records.
When I arrived at Tom's apartment, it appeared to be a perfectly ordinary dwelling. I deftly picked the lock with a pin and entered cautiously, making my way through the living room and slowly working my way towards the bedroom.
At first I thought he would attack me so I was prepared and ready to evade whatever came my way and strike back, but the first words I heard was a friendly hello. It was completely unexpected and here I was offered tea by the potential-threat stranger.
"So, are you here to get revenge on Robin's behalf? If so then I'm sorry but you are in for a load of disappointment." He said with a calm tone as he set two cups on the counter and poured tea into each.
He extended a cup to me but I was a bit suspicious of him and was hesitant to take up his offer.
"How am I sure it isn't poisoned?" I asked him and he just burst into a nonchalant chuckle. If I didn't know any better, I'd say he might be psychologically unstable.
"You literally saw me make the tea and poured it right in front of you, I even took a sip before handing you yours." He said, trying to stop himself from his series of laughter.
I winced at his reaction to a serious question I had asked him. "Sure you made the tea right in front of my eyes, but I can't be sure you didn't lace my cup with poison. What else would you invite an intruder for some tea?"
"Damn, the thought of you thinking I'm that maniacal keeps cracking me up. But you've got a point there, okay forget the tea and let's just talk while I enjoy my tea all by myself." He said as he brought the cup towards his mouth, while giving a gentle blow of air to the surface of his tea before taking another sip.
"First, I'd like to know why you roughed up Robin like that?" I asked him as I made sure to remain in the shadows, with minimum light reaching me.
"You have to be a little more specific about that. Are you asking about the first time, or the second?" He asked as he crooked his eyes a little, he seemed to enjoy talking about that topic and I was going to use that to my advantage so I could get him talking and get answers for the shuffling in my head.
"I would like to know about the first and second time you encountered Robin. You don't seem violent, so I don't understand why you would do that to a kid you are not too older than." I gave a more elaborated insight to my question.
"Well you see, the first time I was driving off in my motorcycle, minding my own business when Robin attacked me and it almost resulted in an accident."
"That's a lie, Robin won't just attack a civilian without a valid reason or warrant on their head. If not, that'll be assault or misuse of power." He let out a sigh, then shrugged off my interruption before continuing.
"Believe it or not, he actually did. That's what I thought at that time, and yet the brat had it in him to give me a fucked up reason that just doesn't make any kind of sense."
"What did he say was his reason?" I asked him with curiosity clearly noticeable in my voice.
"Well a few minutes before then, I witnessed a man who got his ass handed to him and would have probably ended up dead if someone didn't interfere." He paused then looked at his tea for a second, realizing his cup was empty already.
"And you helped him right? So where does Robin fall in?" I asked cutting him short of what he was saying.
"Nope, I looked him in the eye and realized it was none of my concern and saving him wouldn't benefit me in any way. If I saved him, then I would have to save all the unfortunate people in Gotham who found themselves in similar circumstances. So I drove off and Robin somehow witnessed me abandon that dude and was pissed off by it." He reached for the tea he had poured for me and took a satisfying sip from it. I should have at least taken the tea, it might have had me calm enough to listen to this.
"That sounds like Robin but he wouldn't attack you for it." I said to him, I knew Jason really well and he might always be in his head and want to prove himself, but he wouldn't do such a thing.
"Well as you can see, I had no other choice but to give the lad a befitting beating." He had a satisfying look on his face as a smirk slowly found its way to the side of his cheek as he lips spread onto it.
"Okay, how about the second time?"
"Well he somehow tracked me down to my place, sadly he did not learn anything from his first beating. So he came for another lesson and I wasn't in the mood for that, but who was I to reject the chance to educate the lad." He made emphasis on certain words, which made him seem more scary than he looked earlier.
"You are one twisted bastard, you know that?" I asked him as he seemed to revisit the event in his thoughts and relish in it once again, the creepy smile that appeared on his lips was a dead giveaway.
"I know, but this world is fucked up and it slowly twits the soul of everyone in it. You either adapt to its fucked up ways, or you die." He put down the cup as he seemed to be done with that one too.
As we sipped our tea, Tom seemed to relax a bit and take a deep breath before speaking. "Tea is truly a calming elixir," he said. "But now, can we wrap up this questioning and you can leave? I need to get some rest and pick up where I left off. The tea has definitely hit the spot, and I feel like I could fall asleep right now and have a satisfying slumber."
"Sure I guess I'd narrow them down to just one."
"And what is that?" He asked as he cocked up an eyebrow.
"Robin mentioned you have some kind of weird powers. Can you tell me about your ability? It was a long shot but I had to take my shot at it.
"Sorry sweetheart, no can do. Well, that's that and I would like you to take your leave now." He stood up and gestured to the door, signifying for me to head out. As I headed out, I decided to give it one more try and with a little push.
"Well I won't push it, I'm guessing you are self conscious about your powers. There wasn't any record of you being a meta human, so I was curious as to what kind of powers you have. Also when and how you got them." He didn't seem to give my statement any thought before closing the door behind me and locking its locks.
"Well, that's that." I muttered to myself. Despite his casual demeanor, I couldn't help but feel like there was something off about Tom. As I made my way out of his apartment, I couldn't shake the feeling that I had barely scratched the surface of what was really going on with him.
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