Chapter 70

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

Life’s been good.

Really good, actually!

I absolutely crushed my midterms. Just like I crushed the Russian mafia that was trying to settle in Gotham! Dad was pretty quick to congratulate me about the former, and even take me out to grab a bite afterwards. Honestly, it was like he thought I was still a kid.

Which is why I couldn’t tell him about the latter.

Even if it was something I also took pride in. Actually, if anything I took more pride in stopping crime. And I did it all by myself.

…Okay, so maybe I had a teensy bit of help from Dick, but that was it. Most of the groundwork? Me. Who found them? Who traced their money laundering back to them? Who scouted out the area and ran the names to see if anything came up?

That’s right. Me!

So, he was a bit stronger than me despite being a few years younger, so what? He was trained from a real early age! I only started my training like, two years ago! It was hardly comparable.

At least he doesn’t rub it in my face like Jason. Ugh. I was somewhat glad that Batman was focusing so intently on training him just so he wouldn’t pester me into inviting him on my missions. On the other hand, I was also a bit unhappy.

I hated to admit it, but I still needed some training too. Not at the detective work or hacking, hah, honestly, I’m probably better than even big bad bat himself when it comes to that.

Okay, maybe not, but still. I was totally up there.

But when it came to actually fighting and martial arts? Well…I still had a bit to go. In some areas, at least.

Which is why it was such a good thing that Dick came back.

He was really moody for the first week, but after a few talks with Batman and Alfred, he quickly perked up. Or at least he was able to hide it really well. After that though we started to get along quite well once again.

Due to Batman being mostly busy with Jason, that left me and him to find our own missions in Gotham. Which wasn’t particularly annoying or anything. I can see why Batman would ask us to do something like that. It wasn’t as if he’d just continue to do all the hard work for us after all.

Still, it was a bit disappointing.

Would it kill him to say the occasional ‘good work!’ or ‘nice job!’?

Well, that changed today.

Because Bruce himself had given us a case.

Not that it was hard to find one. Especially in Gotham of all places.

There were bad things happening all over that could be tackled. Which was part of the problem for Batman. There was just too much for him to do all at once. So no wonder he took on so many sidekicks to help him do it all.

While Batman was on the case, the real hard crimes were going to be tackled. There was no mistaking that. But that also meant unless there was a lull in activity, the smaller crimes went unpunished.

Which is where we come in.

There was a relatively recent gang that had popped up about eight or nine months ago. They called themselves ‘The Pharmacy’.

Pretty much advertising point blank what they were selling. Even if its just drug trafficking, it was some pretty blatant stuff at that. Not that I was trying to downplay drugs or anything, it just wasn’t as high of a priority as what some of the bigger and more notorious gangs got up to.

Despite being pretty bold with their name, they had been a pretty small fish in the grand scheme of things. Slowly building themselves up into something more. So they were watched, but pretty much kept hands off for the most part.

That is, until a string of disappearances was loosely connected to them. At first it seemed like they were dipping their toes into kidnapping, or worse. But besides that one incident, they haven’t been seen doing anything similar again.

But that was more than enough to become a blip on our radar. Or perhaps I should say, the Bat-radar. Hah!

…Anyway, we, or more specifically, I, started to keep tabs on them more closely. Which was…pretty hard to do, actually.

They washed their dirty funds really well. Tracking where they got their drugs from was next to impossible. It was like it just…suddenly showed up in Gotham. Which indicated that they had their own labs, but if they did it was VERY well hidden.

Labs like those need a lot of equipment and specific materials to keep running. So it’s not too hard to check with the stores in Gotham and see who was buying what.

But that only proved to be a dead end.

Which meant if they were being sourced, it was from out of Gotham.

What was even more astonishing was that even when a member from their gang was captured, they would not open up at all. Snitching was heavily frowned on in the criminal underworld, especially in Gotham. Where the crime bosses would make sure something really bad happened to you if you snitched.

But this wasn’t a matter of fear. It was a matter of loyalty.

Which was…odd.

I’ve met a lot of criminals. Perks of being the daughter of the police commissioner, I guess. And a criminal with loyalty was a very rare thing. And it seemed like the entire gang had it in spades.

Considering all of that, they just didn’t seem to be worth the time to crack down. Not that they should go free or anything, they were still criminals and bad people. Obviously, they should be brought to justice.

The problem was that it would take a considerable long time to crack them. Time that could be spent cracking seven other higher profile gangs that were much more of a problem.

At least, that was how it was…until recently.

Shiva.

A rather big deity in Hinduism, and is widely known to be a god of destruction and time. Among a lot of other things.

It was also the name of the new drug they were peddling.

Upon taking it, people would become stronger. Gain muscle. Becoming more physically fit. It was kind of like Venom, actually. But weaker, and in a pill form.

Most people in Gotham were pretty suspicious of any new drugs that suddenly pop up. Considering they usually lead to immediate death or some other really horrific end.

But they had a pretty solid reputation, and eventually people began to take the pill. Becoming stronger…for a temporary period of time.

Which sounds great. Until it’s revealed it’s actually addictive. Combined with the fact that it makes you physically stronger, that meant its allure was practically impossible to refuse.

It quickly started to become a problem when every fifth criminal we beat up started to show signs of being on the drug. And by that, I mean they became a good bit harder to take down.

…Okay, well maybe not for Batman and Dick, but it made it notably harder for me. Not too hard though. Like…changing a game from easy to normal. So it was still not too bad and I was always going to win, but still enough for me to get a few more scrapes and bruises than usual.

Which is why I started to work on cracking down on them.

Something made a lot easier due to the GCPD also getting pretty invested into it. Of course, they would. If I was having trouble, I couldn’t imagine how someone without learning crazy bat kung fu would be handling things.

Unfortunately, the GCPD was a double-edged sword.

They helped with the investigation, but they also tipped off the gang that they were being investigated. Pretty heavily at that.

Normally that wasn’t too much of a problem, but The Pharmacy seemed to be pretty smart, because they immediately started to go to ground. Hiding whatever they could and erasing their current presence.

Just long enough for the GCPD and me to lose interest, I bet.

Which meant the moment I found even a speck of a clue, I had to leap at it. Eventually culminating in knowing the location of one of their bases. Or at least a place they were currently operating out of.

Dick came with as support. Not that I needed it or anything, but two heads were better than one.

And I also couldn’t let this chance slip through my fingers.

We immediately set off in the dark of night. Heading towards the downtown area, near the west. Close to one of the entrances of the city. This area was pretty much known to be their ground.

Which made it sound impressive, but in truth it wasn’t very big. The only reason the other big gangs haven’t swallowed it up is because they just don’t have the time or power to constantly exert their pressure over each and every street.

If Batman couldn’t do it, who could?

The building itself had nothing much going on with it. It was plain and boring looking, but not decrepit. It was dirty, but not overly so.

Pretty much fitting in with the rest of the street as a result.

“I take the front, you take the back.”

I said to Dick, who raised an eyebrow at me.

“…Are you sure you don’t want to take the bac-“

“Yes!”

I hissed at. Causing him to smirk and laugh a bit as I got angry with him. His laughter almost immediately defusing my anger. It was hard to stay angry at him.

He started to make his way to the back, which meant it was time to start making my entrance. There were several well hidden guards near the entrance. They were positioned in such a way that made it impossible to get through them stealthily. So I had to improvise.

And by that I mean I just knocked them out before heading through.

I noted that it took a good bit of damage to take one of them out. Something I made sure to replicate on the second one immediately. Either they were some pretty good guards, or they were juicing up with their own supply.

Which made a bit of sense, I guess.

The building itself was pretty normal, at least until I found the tunnel under the stairs. Heading down it revealed…a very uh…decorated wall. Several people seemed to have taken to spray painting it repeatedly and in several places as well.

Recently too, as there were still spray cans littering the ground.

At the very least it wasn’t just a bunch of gang signs, but it was still pretty tacky art. I definitely wouldn’t be caught hanging any of this in my own home, that’s for sure.

As I turned the corner, I was immediately greeted by a member of the gang. A girl with a long pony tail and dyed purplish hair. She wore a hat, a mask over her face that looked like it had dragon teeth on it, a really gaudy purple jacket with a tank top underneath it.

…and one side of her pants leg was just missing. Sheesh, someone needed to teach this girl how to dress...

As I froze for a second, she seemed to just…watch me with a calm gaze. Her jaw going up in down through the mask as if she was chewing on something. Gum maybe?

There was also a can of spray paint in her hands.

Immediately I recovered and got into a stance.

“I’m guessing you’re a part of this operation?”

She calmly nodded. Well…that was certainly easy. She was still pretty relaxed…high maybe?

Then I should probably take it down a notch.

“Then you’re going to go down too.”

She quirked her eyebrow up. As if to question me. Then she stared at the nearby wall.

Yeah, she was absolutely high.

Ugh…druggies.

“If you get down on the ground and surrender, I won’t beat you up.”

Ugh. That came out a little too weak. It seems I still have a way to go before commanding criminals to backdown like Batman can.

Instead of responding, the girl starting to shake the spray can in her hand. Looking closely at the nearby wall. Nodding to herself all the while.

I rolled my eyes before kicking the can out of her hands.

“Last chance, stand-”

“…”

She immediately grabbed my leg before swinging me and slamming me into the wall. I was able to force her to leg go by snapping my other leg up and hitting her jaw, before quickly using both legs to stop my fall.

She stumbled for a second, before going forward. I just put up my guard as she slammed her fist into it. She was fast and strong. Unnaturally so.

She had muscles, but not enough for that to be explainable. Which meant…

She was likely on the pill as well.

…Uh, that sounded a little weird.

Anyway! She was also pretty strong as well. However, it felt a good bit different from the other goons. They didn’t hit half as hard, or were nearly as quick.

Which meant…they already had some sort of…enhanced version of the pill?

That…was pretty dangerous, actually.

Who knows what would happen if the criminals of Gotham got their hands on a bunch of pills that turned them into super soldiers!? I could just imagine, several Bane’s in every gang…

I don’t think even Batman could handle that!

I took a step back just as she suddenly shot forward. Her jab fully extended, but missing me by just a hair. Even still, I felt a bit of pressure from the punch. Not enough to hurt me or anything, but enough to know if it connected, it would have really sucked.

It seemed that her speed surprised even herself. As her eyes widened. Making her flounder a bit as she tried to recover. Giving me ample opportunity to grab her by the shoulders and knee her in the stomach.

She groaned in response, before looking at me with narrowed eyes.

“…Bitch.”

She could speak! Good, I’d have felt bad if I was beating up someone who was disabled.

Not only that, there was a bit of an…accent in her tone. Judging from it and her features…she was Chinese maybe? Hmm, seemed a bit wrong. She was definitely Asian though.

She swung her fist into my side, but I cushioned the blow by leaning into it before it could gain a lot of traction. Then used my elbow to slam into her face. Causing blood to pour from her nose, under the mask.

Even as it started to drip through it, she didn’t seem keen on taking it off.

I was taken off guard by her suddenly grabbing me in turn, and leveraging her legs to go between my own. Slamming her legs against the back of my own, causing me to fall back.

I was quick to recover, which was good. Considering she had stomped so hard where I had been previously, that she put a small crater into the cement floor.

Alright, so she did know some martial arts. Good to know.

This time I lashed out first. Attempting to hit her in the jaw only for her to quickly dart out and snatch my hand. Bending and folding it into a form of hold. One that was rather painful.

Things weren’t looking so good, so I used a batarang in order to gain some distance. Not the sharp ones, obviously. But she didn’t know that. So, she quickly backed off and let go with some surprise.

Which was really good, because had I been a few seconds slower…she’d probably have crushed my hand or broken my wrist.

Sheesh…I really can’t play around.

She lashed out with a kick, and I was forced to block and take it instead of evading. It was the only way for me to close the distance. The power behind the kick made me regret it for a few seconds, but at least I got some ground. My fist hit her temple before round house kicking her own side.

With a pretty good amount of force used on my side. Causing her to grunt as she was hit, but she didn’t falter. She also used the momentum in order to close the gap and punch.

But she was off by a few hairs. Allowing me to score another on her face before she winded back her fist and slammed right into my collarbone.

I staggered back in pain causing her to quickly step towards me before suddenly stopping. Looking another way before humming.

No, I could just faintly hear a voice coming out of her ear. Someone was communicating with her. Eventually she huffed derisively towards me before…starting to walk away.

“Oh no you don’t!”

I charged forward only for her to barely lift up her hand towards me. She didn’t even so much as look as she did so. Her hand posture was also really weak. Like she was about to gently touch somethin-

“Gh!”

I slammed my face into a wall.

“Fuck!”

A curse escaped my lips in pain and anger before I got back up. This time on rather shaky legs before surveying my surroundings. I had to blink several times in order to confirm what exactly I was seeing.

There was indeed now a wall in the middle of the hallway. As if to indicate that this was a dead end. Touching it only proved it was real.

“…How in the world…”

I stated before looking around my surroundings. This had indeed been the exact place I had been fighting seconds earlier. But now there was just…a wall there. Now that I got a closer look, The wall wasn’t even made of the same material as the stuff around it.

But no matter how hard I hit it, it proved beyond a doubt that it was in fact a solid ass wall.

…I really hope Dick was doing better than I was.

*~o~*

Dick was not doing better than I was.

In fact, he seemed to have been doing worse! Considering his arm was now broken. Though he seemed to at least take a small amount of pride in breaking the arm of his attacker.

A crazy sounding girl who had pretty powerful legs. Such powerful legs in fact, that Robin couldn’t stop talking about them. Causing me to roll my eyes.

Men.

It sounded like his opponent was similar but different to mine. Whereas mine was calm and quiet, his was manic and talkative. Dick also confirmed that she seemed Korean. So maybe they were…sisters?

Or…this was some sort of criminal group from Korea…interesting.

What was really startling about Dick’s account though was that he seemed to believe that his opponent hadn’t been on Shiva. Or had been enhanced in any way.

Which sounded pretty hard to believe.

But his ‘observations’ only got worse. As he believed that she had quickly adopted every move he used, and use it perfectly in the next second.

Dick wasn’t that egotistical, but I mean…come on! Who was going to believe something like that?

It was bullshit. It had to be.

The only ones capable of something like that was like…a member of the League of Shadows, or something. If it was just that easy to copy BATMAN’S moves, I’d have done it already.

She was likely on some sort of Shiva like drug as well.

After she left, he was also sealed off too. But instead of a wall suddenly springing into being, a nearby laser system did. One that he swears he could have gotten through…if it wasn’t for his broken arm.

It took awhile for us to disable that. And afterwards we were just greeted by completely empty rooms, and an exit into the sewers that seemed to be sealed up with…mud. A lot of mud.

Whatever had been in this room was gone. Stripped clean. Completely.

Which means all of this had been for nothing. Ugh…I was totally going to get my revenge later…after I’ve slept all of this off. For probably two hours, before I had to get up for class.

And I was going to give a presentation today…great…

Couldn’t criminals fight fair or something? Using super drugs was just…fucking…bullshit! How the hell were normal people suppose to combat that?

The only other way I could think of would be to fight fire with fire, but that was a dumb idea.

…Maybe if it wasn’t stupidly addictive, but it was!

Thinking of this wasn’t going to help. Nor was tracing the empty room that had been cleared out awhile ago. Damn it, they didn’t even leave a single clue to work with!

And now they were going to keep quiet for a bit.

But if they thought for a second that I wasn’t going to keep an eye out for them…then they were dead wrong. It didn’t matter if it was a few weeks, months, or years.

When they popped back up, I would be ready.

…After a good night’s rest. My body ached all over…