Life And Death

Princess of Gotham

Chapter 20: Bad Days & More Plans

Nope. The rest of the day was no lighter than the morning.

After the incident with Timonthy, the following classes were dull. Olive kept talking to Arthur, while the latter kept looking at the clock at the back of the room. Anyone would say that he was watching it waiting for the time to leave, but his look was something else.

When we left the classroom, the last one to pick up his things was Arthur, for some reason. He looked quite anxious when we met James and Damian at the entrance. He even looked like he wanted to tell us something. We said our goodbyes politely, or at least tried to.

On the way home with James, we stopped at an ice cream shop, the weather wasn't that hot and after all the money we always used was grandpa's.

When we got home we decided to put a series on the TV, while Dad arrived or Jim would let us know about the patrol or the meeting we told him about the day before. Homework could wait.

"I'm surprised the principal didn't introduce Arthur to your class like he always does with new students," my brother said, then shoved a fistful of chips into his mouth.

"What surprises me is that I've never heard his last name before. Who's last name is Purple? A color," I said a few minutes later. We had been talking about anything for a while now, and we both knew we couldn't avoid the new guy in the conversation.

"For a moment I thought it was... you know who. You know who," he said quietly as if trying not to let anyone else hear him, even though it was just the two of us.

"I thought so too, but it's impossible, he's older than me, he should be in your group, not mine," I began to look for something more interesting on TV, "And believe me, if it really was that traitor, I won't hesitate to end his life.

We both fell into a deep silence. If I really wanted to expose the boy's identity, I had to ask Assana or Malowe for help.

James' cell phone rang, pulling me out of my thoughts to pay attention to the conversation, then I realized that my glasses were dirty, I started to clean them when my brother answered.

"Jim, what happened?" I heard my brother say.

"I wanted to ask your sister if we're going to have the meeting about the neutralizer," I heard on the other end of the line.

Damn, I forgot to turn on my phone, I'm sure Andrew had already sent me the formula for the gas. I put on my glasses to run back to my room.

When I got back to the living room, James was still talking.

"If you're not with her, I'll try to contact Shade," he said over the speakerphone.

"Text her, I'm sure she'll answer," was the last thing he said before hanging up. Then he turned to look at me, "I mean, I know I'm not supposed to get into your private life and not ask you who you talk to all the time, but you talked to Andrew, right? he asked me.

"I called him last night, you and I both know he's a genius and he was the one who created the weapon that helped us win against bane last time," I said, opening my messenger on my phone.

James formed a perfect "o" with his mouth, showing me that he already knew what I meant. I read the messages from that morning and smiled to myself.

Jim's message came in a few minutes later, I replied that we would have a small meeting the next day to work everything out and find someone to help us with the gas, but that the meeting that day was still on.

The hours went by and Jason didn't show up, we didn't worry, we knew he could take care of himself even if he was drunk. But we had to go out and we didn't want him to worry about us.

At 11 p.m., James and I put on our suits, left a note for our father, and went out the window of my room, as it was the one facing the street.

We walked for a while through the streets and at one point we climbed onto the rooftops to start running back to our base. We had to put the plan to destroy Deathstroke into action, I was running out of time.

We arrived at the building and the first thing I did was to contact the team, we had to clarify some points. By the way, I also called Superboy, so that he could help us with some points of the plan.

"Unlike Gotham, Metropolis doesn't have so many places where ambushes can be made," said Superboy, who even if he wasn't going to go with us, helped us a lot with his knowledge of the city.

"There are many houses and buildings in ruins, but we would have to place ourselves in strategic points so that he doesn't see us and we can attack him at the best moment," said Sam, pointing out some places on the support map we had on a table.

"The notes should sound convincing so that, if necessary, he doesn't feel that Shade is controlling him," Jared was one of those people who, even if they didn't pay much attention to the overall plan, always noticed small details.

"Hey, I don't control people," Asset, who was standing next to me, shouted.

"Really?" asked Poison sarcastically.

"We'll need to expand our arsenal. I can make more arrows but I don't know if you guys have anything up your sleeves. I could combine your skills with darts or arrows, in case they are needed," Scorpion said, looking at most of us.

"And...you don't have...by any chance...a way to become a little more...you know...powerful, do you?" asked Jared timidly, "A bigger shadow, infect 10 people at once, a bigger wolf, Shade," he suggested.

"I can't do that even if I want to, I could kill you guys in the process, I would need a lot of time to perfect that technique," said Pandora, looking at her silver hand.

"The process to make a shadow is painful and I need a special weapon which at the moment is not in my power. Besides, I refuse to bring back the thousand nights," I said, looking at the map, locating other important points with the help of the visor.

The thousand nights appeared after a small group of new villains infected me and began to control me. I caused so much damage that only with Shade's help did most of the affected people forget those catastrophes. I felt that if I used my shadow as much as I did back then, I would lose control over myself again.

Sometimes, I wish you'd make me cry. Sometimes, I wish that we could fight. Tell me, don't you hate it? Perfect's overrated. Tell the nice guy to give me a taste of my medicine. I wish you'd make me cry —Wish you'd make me cry https://www.instagram.com/p/CbqEjsgvygG/?utm_medium=tumblr

Terrors of Gotham

Chapter 2: Pretend and Wait

The Wayne Manor was distinguished from others in Bristol for being the biggest and most luxurious of all, the enormous steel doors, the wide gardens, the garage with dozens of cars, the floral bushes, and the occasional motorcycles were characteristic marks.

Upon entering the mansion, the first to greet me as always was Alfred, although on this occasion his face denoted confusion, and looking me over from head to toe he told me to go upstairs to my room to change if I wanted to have dinner with the rest of the family.

On my way upstairs, exchanging my visor for my glasses, I couldn't help overhearing parts of the conversation in the library and resisting my curiosity, I went straight to my door.

As usual, my room was dark, curtains closed and my mess was on the floor. I turned on the lights and with the help of another switch adjusted their intensity. From the piles of clothes on the floor I grabbed a baggy, closed sweatshirt and jeans. The shadow got rid of the coat, boots, and gloves. Before I went into the bathroom to take a shower and change clothes, my phone rang from somewhere between my desk and my bed. I ignored it, I didn't have the energy to argue with someone on the phone.

I needed to organize all the thoughts in my mind, to start distributing my time among the most important tasks. Organize the three missions leaving available the team that would be dedicated to infiltrating LexCorp, look for a distraction for Angie, and see if I could escape to the forest for half an hour. On top of that, I had to talk to Roy Harper, and ask him to lend me an island.

The mere thought that in the long run, I would have to throw away years of friendship made me sick, I tried to think about it as little as possible, but my mind always betrayed me. At one point I didn't know if what was running down my face was water droplets from the shower or tears.

The idea was to simply take a lukewarm shower, no longer than 15 minutes. However, I was so stressed that the water came out almost boiling and I was under the stream of water for almost an hour, and it would have lasted longer if it wasn't for that person screaming and almost knocking on the door of my room to the floor.

"Pasley, dinner is ready," I couldn't quite identify whose voice it was, but I thanked him for silencing my mind, even for a few seconds.

I didn't answer, I didn't expect him to have been waiting for one either.

When I entered the dining room, it was already full. Grayson, Drake, the two Wayne's, to no one's surprise, Arthur Johnes, my father, and my brother, sitting in their respective chairs. Alfred had already served everything and some were even beginning to serve themselves and eat.

"You're early." And my plans to go unnoticed were ruined at that moment. Bruce looked up from his plate and turned to look at me, Jay mimicked his action.

"The meeting," I said to see if the girl sitting across from me noticed the intentions behind my tone of voice, "took less time than expected due to the, at least to me, surprising absence of everyone. And I didn't feel the need to stay on patrol," Angie and Arthur were still engrossed in their world, talking to each other almost in whispers, as if they knew everyone at that table could read lips, pretending it was just them alone in that room.

"I'm glad you're all here, how about a training session?" asked Dick, not noticing or ignoring the tense atmosphere between me, my cousin, and what I thought was my boyfriend.

"Sorry dad, we have classes tomorrow," Angie replied, taking a bite of food.

"They gave us a day," James contradicted.

"Hm, then I forgot."

The rest of the dinner was harmonized by the Wayne brothers and their harmless bickering and complaining towards Batman. As soon as everyone was satisfied they began to retire one by one to different rooms in the mansion.

Angie and Arthur sat for a while in the dining room, still talking about their things and pretending that neither my brother nor I were there. It was strange, they had never behaved that way before, in all those years I knew them they had never behaved so irresponsibly.

"If you'll excuse me, I have to talk to Drake," I reported before getting up from the table and leaving the dining room.

Any stranger would get lost in the hallway. If my memory served me correctly, which often failed me, I also got lost in so many rooms. Nowadays I knew every hallway like the back of my hand, which made tasks like that easier.

"Tim, can you help me with something?" I said, knocking on the door. I waited for an answer, probably a no, but what I got was the sound of something banging against the door, the floor, and some of the furniture, so that finally someone opened the door.

"Hi, I'm sorry, I was organizing some things and by accident, I knocked everything over. Come in, come in, sorry for the mess," he said quickly, letting me into his personal sanctuary.

"I'm the one who's sorry, this isn't even important it can wait," I said, starting to turn around to leave.

"What do you say we talk about it tomorrow?" he asked scratching the back of his head, his room wasn't really a mess, if we didn't count the clothes on the floor, the pile of wires on his bed, and desk.

"That's fine with me," I told him, once I left his room.

Sleeping with so much on my mind was almost impossible. That's why as soon as my cell phone started to ring, still in my clothes, I deigned to look for it, not in such a hurry because I knew that if it was urgent they would leave a message or communicate directly through Oracle's systems.

To my surprise, it was only Cheis, asking me if I had time to go for a walk in Row Park, walks that I was grateful for and that meant more than just that. Escaping from the mansion at night, when the security systems were activated, was much more difficult than entering, but the shadow was of some use.

Walking the streets of Gotham again, more aware than a few hours ago, made everything feel more real. My problems, my life, everything.

The streets on the East Side were horrendous, the floor was sticky, the air felt humid, maybe it was just my imagination. I had spent my entire childhood going back and forth from alley to alley, stealing from anything that moved and in all those years I had never complained about the environment, surely I had become weaker after living so long in the mansion, surrounded by luxuries with always clean floors and food on the table.

As I turned right at one of the corners, I could finally see the face of my companion, who by the trash on the floor I could tell had started the fun without me.

"You are late," they said, without even turning to look at me.

"Too early, too late, why nowadays people don't settle for anything?" I asked, taking the cigarette and puffing on it.

"Do you want to get philosophical with me or do you want another dose of the toxin?" asked Cheis, rummaging through his suit pockets.

"The last thing I want right now is to think."

Princess of Gotham

Chapter 18: News in the Woods

The Justice League is an "organization" of "global" heroes and is non-governmental. The government should not tell them when and how to act. These heroes claim to be the ones who bring peace to the world. The ones who end wars and the ones who are going to end crime.

It supports other young hero groups like the Teen Titans or the former Warriors Society. Sure, there are many more but the names were so irrelevant that they faded from my memory.

And at the time, that was the topic of conversation in the living room of the Todd family apartment. The news was misreporting some events that had occurred months before.

"What I don't understand is why Superman hasn't come out to clear all this up, isn't he the public face of the league," my brother said and then stole a handful of popcorn from me.

"If big blue comes out to show his face, now they will say that he is on the side of the bad guys because he is also an extraterrestrial. The one who should come out should be someone from the earth. But I don't think that would be a good thing," he said. There was a certain tension in Jason when he spoke of the Man of Steel, but who wasn't afraid of Superman?

"So, you're saying that the most normal among us would have to come out. What would it be...Batman?" I commented, tossing the bowl to my brother so he could finish his snack.

"You're right, it's weird," Jason agreed, starting to search for the remote to change the channel.

"These acclaimed heroes ruin the lives of so many and then act like saints, asking the government to pay them with our taxes. Don't you think it's suspicious that an alien spacecraft has arrived on our planet out of nowhere?" The commentator on TV was going to make me lose my appetite. Can you hate a person you only know through TV?

I enjoyed being with my father and brother, without any worries, and just talking about whatever was on TV. We rarely got to do that, as we always finished patrol late or someone was absent. Those moments were more important to me than the names of those other hero groups.

"There is an organization that is in charge of overseeing travel to other planets in this universe, isn't there?" asked my father, who was sitting in one of the individual armchairs. My brother and I just looked at each other, trying to read each other's minds or talk telepathically (which we wanted to, but couldn't do), and then just shook our heads.

"It's supposed to be a job that belonged to the previous Shade, don't ask me, I don't get involved in those matters anymore," I answered, lying down on the couch.

"You could ask a Lantern, those guys spend more time in space than on a fixed planet. Ask anyone but the Reds, we should never have trusted those guys," James said, then popped another handful of popcorn into his mouth.

"You'd better go to sleep, Bruce is going to scold me if you don't go to school." Jason and Bruce's relationship was never the best, at least not since my father came back to life. They tried to get along, but with the messes that James and I were bringing it wasn't very easy to make that relationship more bearable.

Olive, Jared, and basically the vast majority of my fellow Warriors Society heroes were in the same school year, but at different schools. And let's just say that being surrounded by rich kids from the cradle was not my thing. Although according to some "friends" of mine, they didn't understand why.

My brother and I got up, took the plates and glasses we used to leave in the kitchen. We each went to our rooms.

I still hadn't forgotten that I had to talk to someone important. The gas idea was very similar to something that had been used in the past. Although honestly the last thing I wanted to do was talk to the person who had helped us back then, but when the Joker's venom problem came up, he was the first person I thought of.

I picked up my phone, wandering through the contacts I didn't even know I had. I clicked on my target's name and the call icon.

"For the last time. I won't help you with your crush Jerni... Oh excuse me, your highness, I didn't read the name right and I thought it was...- The boy on the other side of the line started to say.

"Don't call me your highness, I left the title a long time ago," I interrupted before he said something inappropriate.

"Yes, I remember."

"He spoke to you to ask you a favor, not to discuss politics," I interrupted again, "We will talk about all this on another occasion and with fewer worries," as I knew he would soon ask, I decided to answer him first. I began to walk around my room, picking up the things I had left lying around in the afternoon.

"You know I'm always available. Work is work. Although if you need my help, it must be something important" That guy never shut up?

"The Joker and the Scarecrow, I need something to neutralize the gases they use," I informed him quickly before he brought up another topic of conversation.

"If it is for your team, let me tell you that you already had something like that. I'll send you the formula in the morning, ask someone to read it and do it," he replied.

"Okay, I need it as soon as possible." I was hoping at least one of the guys knew chemistry."

"Of course, boss." He said, laughing at the end, "I don't know what time it is in your city, but good evening.

"It's nighttime, but it's the intentions that count," I laughed too. I liked those moments when I could laugh with the people I considered friends.

"Andrew out," was the last thing I heard.

I got up from my bed where I had sat after throwing my clothes from the floor into the laundry can. I opened my closet to put my suit in.

I stood for a while admiring my suit, holding the fabric between my hands. Lightweight, sturdy, with small details in some areas simulating scales. A three-piece suit, with optional long gloves, when I didn't wear the trench coat and a pair of high-heeled boots, because, according to the person who helped me design it, I needed to look taller.

The blouse was a dark gray, reaching to black, sleeveless, and with a high collar. The pants were the same color, they were tight. The trench coat was black on the outside and wine red on the inside, with lots of little pockets. The fingerless gloves went past my elbows.

The visor was the best part. Although at first glance it was a simple piece of plastic that helped my blindness (myopia) it was actually more than that. It was connected to one of the most advanced computers in the entire universe.

When I finished admiring my suit, I folded it up and put it in one of the locked drawers where I kept other things important to me, and went back to bed. The next day would be a heavy day, and I knew it.

Princess of Gotham

Chapter 3: Family

If I had ever been told I would have a huge room in one of the most luxurious mansions in the country, I would have thought it was silly.

But there I was, waking up at 8 a.m., cursing at the sounds of a dog trying to get into the room. But at the same time, I thanked him, I didn't want to continue with that nightmare. Sleepy, I got out of bed, dressed only in a sweatshirt and sleeping pants.

I looked in the mirror, noticing the drool stain on my face, my hair in knots, and the purple circles under my eyes. I was a mess.

I looked down from my tangle of hair to my eyes. My father's eyes. Green, with those golden sparkles. I looked away, grabbing a lock of my hair, thinking about cutting it again.

Although my hair wasn't as pretty, it reminded me of my mother, when she braided and brushed it. She always told me I had her hair. Straight, black and, back then, long, now it only reached my shoulders.

The noises of the dog made me remember why I had gotten out of bed. I quickly brushed my hair and slipped on some shoes. Jumping over the things I had left lying on the floor, I headed for the door.

"What do you want Titus?" I asked, looking down to get a better look at the black dog sitting right outside his door. "I'm not Damian or Tim. If you want to bother someone, bother your owner or his brother." I squatted down so I could pet the beautiful canine.

"Good morning Jane." Said Tim, with a nervous smile on his face, coming a little closer to my door. "Alfred sent me, breakfast is ready." he extended his hand to help me up, but I didn't take it.

"Hello, Jackson." I greeted, without looking at him. That wasn't the right time or place to talk about our problems, so I just said hello to my father's brother. And apparently, the dog noticed the tension of the moment because he turned to look at me and then tilted his head sideways. "I wanted to go out to the garden before breakfast," I said, starting to walk towards the huge stairs of the mansion.

"Come on, don't deny Alfred the special breakfast he made for you." Said Tim, looking at me as he walked beside me, trying to get me to look him in the face.

"I'm only going because I'm hungry and I didn't eat well last night." was all I answered, ending the conversation.

When we got to the dining room, Titus sat near the door to the kitchen, waiting for a bite to eat. Almost everyone was already seated along with the table. Richard, Olive, Rai, Jason, and Bruce. With half-eaten food on their plates.

I walked into the kitchen so I could wash my hands, there I met my favorite person.

"Good morning," Assana said, coming to my side with a plate of chopped fruit. "Did you fall asleep?" she asked, picking up a piece of strawberry with her fork and bringing it to my mouth.

"I had not slept well for a long time, I needed to rest." I lied and then turned to face her, taking the piece of fruit between my teeth.

I dried my hands and together we headed back to the dining room.

"Good morning Master Tim, Miss Jane, Miss Assana." Alfred greeted kindly as he poured more coffee for Bruce. "Shall I serve you breakfast?"

"If you don't mind." As Tim sat down between Olive and Damian, I jumped up to greet my favorite uncle.

"Finally, the family is back together again," Dick commented, releasing me from that big hug. "I want the four of you to join me on patrol one day," he said, pointing to his daughter, Tim, and me, oh and the little devil.

"You didn't say hello last night," Bruce said, turning to Jason and me, and then taking another sip of his coffee.

"I'm sorry, we were late and didn't want to bother you," I commented, then sat down between Assana and my father.

"Did you get up late too?" Olive asked, laughing a little when she saw Damian's sleepy face, who was helping Alfred with breakfast.

"I want to sleep," he said, "I hate Mondays.

"It's Saturday," said Jason taking the coffee from his older brother.

"I hate you," said Damian and Dick in unison.

A small argument between brothers broke out that morning, being quickly settled after Alfred served them all their respective breakfasts. As we ate, my cousin and I were assailed by several questions posed by the four Wayne brothers.

Next Part

Previous Part

U-U

Jane/Eclipse: I gave Bruce a get better soon card

Oswald/Scorpion: that´s so nice of you...

Jane: no he wasn't sick, I just thought he should do better

Chelsea Blecha on Instagram

Princess of Gotham

Chapter 13: Photographs & Warnings

"Hey Asset, I need to talk to you. Do you think you have time? We could talk during the patrol. Well, I'll leave you to it, you must be very busy," I sent the voicemail. Assana never turned off her phone and I found it odd that she didn't answer.

I was sitting on the stairs of the building, near our apartment while Jason was busy trying to open the door with one hand. We arrived at the apartment with a lot of complications, as the Batcow came into the living room and we couldn't get her out. After that, we had to listen to Bruce's warnings not to go near the Joker, Scarecrow, or the fast-food joints without him.

"Jane," Jason called to me, standing in front of me, grabbing my shoulders and squatting down once we entered the apartment and threw our stuff on the floor, "Promise me you won't go looking for the clown."

"But..." I started to say, but my father interrupted me.

"But nothing." Jason interrupted me, shaking me by the shoulders a little bit." Of course, he does. "And if I knew you couldn't defend yourself against that clown, I'd even forbid you to go on patrol."

"But you won't, will you?" I asked, afraid of what he might answer. If he banned me from going out with my buddies, our plan to stop Slade would go down the drain.

"Not at the moment," he replied. I breathed a little more relieved, "But if the situation gets worse, rest assured that even your brother won't go out after 7 p.m.," he said, releasing me and standing up to go to his room and leave his small suitcase there.

I stood in the doorway analyzing my options. The Joker was known for acting fast. And it was more than obvious that the situation would escalate quickly. I had little time to come up with a good plan with my team and attack Deathstroke.

Jason came out of his room a few minutes later, wearing different clothes and with unkempt hair.

"I know you have to go out, go drop your stuff off in your room, I'll fix you something to eat, and then you can go," said my father, entering the small kitchen of the apartment.

"I'll give James his keys," I said, walking past him, so he could search for them while I was getting ready.

I headed to my room, expecting to find the curtains closed and my things tidy, just as I left them the last time I was there. I opened the door and the sunlight hit me right in the face, someone had been in my room.

And that was just the first sign. On my desk, most of my notebooks were unpacked. My clothes were out of the closet and many of my books were on the floor. As if they had been looking for something.

I set my backpack on the side of the bed and started to pick things up off the floor, so it didn't look so messy. I left the curtains open but decided to close the window.

My room was much smaller than the one I had at Wayne Manor. There was only a single bed, a night table, a closet, my desk, and a chair where I threw my "not clean nor dirty" clothes, the ones I only used once and I was too lazy to put them away. On one of the walls, there were several shelves where I put framed photos, many of which were taken by Tim, and one or another book that Asset lent me.

In one of those pictures were my brother and me, when I was 10 years old. Another one was a family portrait of the Wayne family: Bruce, Dick, Jason, Tim, Damian, Olive, Alfred, my brother, and me. It was a nice picture that I liked to keep, but that I had thought about throwing away on more than one occasion.

As I was going through the photos I realized that one was missing. It was a photo that I had taken myself, with some of the friends I had made during the orphanage: Jared, Henry, Arthur, Samir, Andrea. Basically everyone I considered moderately close to me. Many of them, my biggest mistakes.

With that on my mind, I left my room and headed to the small kitchen, where Jason was preparing some sandwiches. He wasn't too bad in the kitchen.

"Eat something, then I'll let you go freely," he said, extending a plate to me. I didn't want to tell him that someone entered the house, it would worry him more, and that was the last thing I wanted.

I ate as much as I could, worry sometimes did strange things to me. I was so deep in my thoughts that I didn't notice the moment when someone knocked on the door and my father got up to open it.

"... We've just arrived, Mrs. Anne," I heard. I got up to go back to my room and put on my vigilante suit.

I opened the window and jumped out, but not before leaving a note for my legal guardian, which he never did. The apartment was in a not-so-tall building, it had only 5 floors, and our home was on the second to last floor.

The streets of Gotham were a maze if you didn't know them. Fortunately, GPS was a tool Batman had in abundance in his little cave. And my target wasn't that far from home either.

When I got to the building, I rode the elevator to the top floor, watching as Jim and Mike Vos conversed quietly in the corner near the computer.

"... I'm pretty sure they're going to change Slade's mission to the Joker's," Mike said before Jim signaled for me to turn around and look at him.

"Hey, Jane. We were just talking about our plans...for the team...yeah," stammered the jet-haired boy. While the other was trying to get away from his partner by walking sideways.

"Aha, I'll go check some things on the computer before the others arrive," I told them. Later I would talk to Mike about how to be a little more discreet.

Princess of Gotham

Chapter 10: Red Robin

I went out into the street, making sure there was no one on the street. I sat down on the sidewalk, leaning my back against a lamppost. Assana and Olive had already left, and it felt rude to ask them to come back for me.

Being the good sister that I am, I had to wait for James and Jim to finish talking, but apparently, they had a lot to tell each other, as it took them a long time to leave. When I noticed that I was falling asleep I decided to call my father to pick me up and take me home. But when a motorcycle parked in front of me, I noticed it wasn't Jason.

"What are you doing here?" I asked the boy standing next to his bike. I got up from my uncomfortable seat, shaking off my clothes and shaking off sleep.

"Your father sent me. Apparently, something happened in Arkham while we were patrolling." Timonthy replied, approaching me and inviting me to get on his bike.

"I prefer to go alone, thank you very much." I said, trying to be polite and that my nerves of being next to him would not be noticed. I started walking down the street, towards the main avenues, without noticing that he was following me.

"My brother trusts me to get you home safely," he said, grabbing my wrist with his hand, not only making me stop, but also making me turn around and stand too close to him. "You're still angry about what happened the last time we talked."

"We weren't talking, you were yelling at me in front of my team. You embarrassed the hell out of me," I said, as I tried to break free from his grip, unsuccessfully, as he squeezed my wrist so hard I was afraid it would leave a mark.

A few months ago, he and I had had a loud argument in the Wayne Manor library, when my partners joined us for a study session. We had started out arguing about my responsibilities as team leader, it came to a point where he threw my father's identity in my face, telling me that I had the thief gene in my blood. That time I couldn't resist and hit him in the face with my shadow. He was about to hit me back, but we were interrupted by the arrival of Tim's then-girlfriend, Stephanie Brown.

The two of them also started arguing, one of the many reasons they broke off their relationship. And that was the first of many fights we would have, and in the future, would cause situations like this.

"I already apologized, but you didn't want to listen to me," he said, almost shouting, while he kept squeezing my hand.

"Let me go, you're hurting me," I shouted, trying to get out of his grip, but to no avail. "I said let me go!" I panicked when I noticed that his grip was getting stronger. I didn't have to think much about my next move. My shadow grabbed him by the shoulders and threw him to the ground. Finally getting him to let go of my hand.

When the shadow completely returned to my hand, I started to run back towards the building I had come from. But as I was almost at the door, someone from behind put his hand on my shoulder stopping me. Like an instinct, my body tensed and the shadow went to that hand.

"You have a right to be angry, but at least let me take you home," Tim said in a peaceful voice, trying to calm his breathing.

"I'll sleep in the apartment, thank you," I said, letting go of his hand, starting to walk, this time, in the direction of Jason's house.

After adopting me, Jason asked Bruce for some money to buy an apartment in a central area, at first he refused, but after a few months, he accepted. Sometimes we used it, but usually, we stayed at Wayne Manor or, in Jason's case, at a hotel.

"No. You're not sleeping there," he protested, stepping in front of me and carrying me like a sack, "Guys, I'm taking my niece. I'll see you another day, good night," he shouted, trying to make sure those still inside could hear him.

We could still see the reflections of the lights in the windows, so we could tell that someone was still there.

"Put me down. I can walk by myself," I started kicking and hitting him on the back in an attempt to get him to put me down.

"After not sleeping all night and running on sugary drinks, I don't think you can even tell the difference between a horse and a donkey," he said, sitting me down on his bike.

"Because of some people I couldn't even drink that. And I'm not that sleepy, I haven't slept for almost a week, this is nothing. I am capable enough to stand in front of my team and give them orders." I replied, rather angrily, when he sat down in front of me and started.

"Hold still," he said, as he put on his helmet and started to move forward. And even though I didn't want to, I had to hold on to him to avoid falling out of that vehicle.

The trip lasted a little more than half an hour, and during that time neither of us said a word. When we arrived at the Batcave, I didn't even wait for him to stop and I got off as fast as I could.

I quickly greeted my father. I stood next to him, looking at one of the computer screens. As I looked closely at one of them, I noticed that the Scarecrow and Joker files were open.

"Why do both files say they are free," Timonthy asked, standing behind me.

"They escaped in the wee hours of the morning, a changing of the guard that took a few seconds too long," Batman explained, tapping the keyboard.

"Why didn't we find out sooner?" asked Assana, approaching me, and then placing her hand on my shoulder, apparently trying to reassure me.

"I didn't want you to worry too much," answered Bruce.

"My life is a mess," I muttered.

The view from my window

A nice sketch I made