randomplaces | Futureknight Chapter 5

Ronnie didn't duck as a panicked bat flew low over her head.

"Clark, chasing bats bears very little resemblance to your English assignment," she said without looking up from her swift typing.

"Aww!" She heard him drop into his seat.

"You can go upstairs and work with Prudence if the Cave is too full of distractions." She hit the enter key and watched classified data scroll down the screen.

"It's not!" he said quickly. "I'll work. Don't make me leave."

She nodded without turning, biting her lip at the sadness in his voice, then frowned quizzically at what she was reading. The CIA's only now figured that out? They're getting slack again.

"Telephone, Miss Veronica," said Prudence over the intercom.

"I'm busy right now." Ronnie hit another key and raised both eyebrows at the picture that showed. That's not a dangerous alien, it's a T'norg chick.

"He said that you asked him to call." Prudence sounded stern.

"What?" Ronnie blinked, then remembered. "David. Right. Forward it to my cell?"

"As you wish," said Prudence approvingly.

Ronnie pulled the earpiece out of her cardigan pocket and hooked it to her ear. "Ronnie here."

"Hi," he said uncertainly. "I can call later, if this is a bad time."

"No, no, this is good. I was just caught up in what I was doing." She winced as thuds and a bellow came from the holo-trainer. "Er..." A quick flick of a switch brought silence. "Sorry about that."

"No problem," he said, sounding even more uncertain. "Er… I was wondering if you were doing anything for lunch.

She shot a glance at the time readout in the corner of the monitor, then picked up a large rubbery caterpillar that was crawling across the desk and squeezed it gently. "Well, I don't think I've had any yet. What were you thinking of?"

"There's this Greek place around the corner from the station..."

"Cloe's." Her stomach clamored loud approval. "Do you want to meet there?"

"Sure. Er… about what time?"

She glanced at the stairs. "Ten minutes… that would be two thirty."

"Alright!" he said, sounding relieved. "I'll see you there."

"Yes." Ronnie disconnected, then looked up at Lobo's scowl. "Don't drip blood on my pants, I have to go out for a couple hours."

"Y' turned it off just as it was gettin' interestin'!" he growled.

"I had to take a call." Ronnie frowned as she realized the extent of the damage he'd taken. "Besides, I think you're still too hungover for that sim. I need you fit for tonight."

He growled at her and flopped into the other chair, tipping his head back to stare at the ceiling. "@#$& boring. Can't do the sim, can't shoot the bats, can't eat the stress worms..."

"You'd better not." She shook the one in her hand at him.

"Where ya goin'?" He lifted his head as she hit three keys and cleared the screen.

"Lunch with a friend." She went over to Clark and kissed him goodbye, but he was too caught up in the flow of words forming on his screen to pay much attention.

"Don't have too much fun without me," he said absently.

"I won't, Chum. Don't forget that this is an essay and not a poem."

"I won't." He grinned.

"What kinda friend?" Lobo's words leaked suspicion.

Ronnie laughed and rolled into the elevator, closing the door on his glare.

* * *

"I'm not sure how long I'll be." Ronnie looked at the restaurant and felt her stomach quake with an avalanche of nerves as she rolled out of the car.

"I've things to do in the city, take your time," Prudence said blandly, pressing the button that would re-inflate the limo's suspension.

Ronnie glanced up at her with a frown. "You don't think this is a good idea."

"On the contrary, Miss Veronica." Prudence quirked one eyebrow and closed the door. "It's good for you to get out of the house occasionally."

"Hmph." Ronnie turned the frown to the building, squirming slightly in her chair. "I don't think I can do this."

"Nonsense, Miss Veronica!" chided the butler. "You can and you will."

Ronnie's head snapped up with a Bat glare.

Prudence stared evenly back.

It was no good. Not even Lobo had ever come out the victor of a staring match against the guardian of Wayne Manor. Ronnie sighed and looked away, catching sight of David through the window. He didn't look any happier than she felt.

"Call me when you are ready to return," said Prudence gently.

Ronnie nodded and drove inside.

"Commissioner Freeman is waiting for me," she said in reply to the bouncy, dark-haired girl who came to greet her.

"Okay. Just go on in." The girl smiled at her and went to get another glass of ice water.

-Jesus, be my shield,- Ronnie prayed as she rolled over to the table by the window. -For You have not given me a spirit of fear; but of power and love and a clear mind. Perfect love casts out fear.-

David looked up ruefully over a plate of untouched flatbread and flavored oil. "I'm not so sure I'm hungry anymore."

"Butterflies?" She squeezed the stress worm under the table.

"Feels more like bats."

She blinked, not sure how to reply.

He thanked the waitress as she set the water on the table, then turned to look out the window with an absent frown.

Ronnie followed his gaze and saw an ad for the new low-G retirement community that had been opened on the latest space station. It reminded her of the destruction of the complex where his grandmother had lived.

Not Hormah's first group kill, she thought, her forehead furrowing slightly. But definitely the biggest. I still can't see any pattern to his work. It's as though he's just striking randomly…

The stress worm gave a gentle squeak of protest as she squeezed it too hard and she blinked, realizing for the first time that she still had it with her. Oops.

"What was that?" David pushed his chair back slightly, looking around for the source of the sound.

"A squeak," said Ronnie helpfully, wondering what to do with the worm.

"Yeah, I know that. It sounded like it came from around here." He frowned, still scanning the room.

The worm gave a happy coo.

David stopped and looked at Ronnie, whose face was blooming with colour. "Is that your stomach?"

"No." She glanced down at the little creature in her hand.

"What is it?" He raised an eyebrow.

"A stress worm," she said slowly. "A harmless alien life form given me by an old business associate of my father's."

"Alien?" he repeated suspiciously.

"Yes." She glanced around the nearly empty restaurant and set the pudgy green and blue caterpillar on the table, where it started crawling toward the bread.

David caught it and turned it over, still frowning.

"Squeeze it gently." Ronnie reached over and poked it on the eye, smiling slightly as it gave a funny little trill and tucked its head down.

He did so, eyebrows raising. "It's like a live stress ball."

"Only it's nice and warm, and doesn't turn black and dirty from use." Ronnie smiled.

"Who gave it to you?" David examined it closely.

"That one hatched at my house." She reached again and ran a finger over the slightly rough skin.

"They're breeding here on Earth?" David looked alarmed.

"Each one hatches with the ability to lay two eggs," said Ronnie. "Not all of them hatch."

He looked at the contented worm. "What do they eat?"

"Cereal products, but the grains have to be broken up before they can consume them. I've often wondered about their natural habitat, but I don't even know what planet they're native to."

"Maybe they were bred like this." He set it on the table and offered it a bit of bread, grinning slightly at the resultant coo.

"Maybe." She sighed. "I wish I could find out."

He grinned. "You don't like mysteries?"

"Not ones I can't solve." She scowled slightly, then picked up the worm as it crawled toward her.

He chuckled. "Me neither. And I've got a big one at work right now."

Ronnie watched his smile fade as she typed a request for two Greek salads into the order pad. "Oh? A case?"

"Yeah. You probably heard about it on TV. This guy that gasses people and then destroys everything around them."

The stress worm squeaked again and Ronnie set it back on the table before she hurt it. "I try to avoid those reports."

He blinked, then flushed. "I forgot. I'm sorry."

She shrugged and watched as he fed the worm. "It's just that watching them would serve no purpose, except perhaps to upset Clark. He's pretty sensitive."

David lifted his head and looked at her consideringly.

"What?" She cocked her head as though she didn't know what was on his mind.

"You've got beautiful eyes."

Maybe she didn't know.

"Er, thank you." She dropped her gaze to the table, feeling her face heat again. "So do you."

The girl brought their salads then and set them on the table.

"Eek! What's that?" she nearly shrieked as she noticed the worm contentedly dozing under David's hand.

"A pet," he said, tucking it into his jacket pocket. "I know we shouldn't have brought it in."

The girl frowned uncertainly, as though wondering if she were brave enough to tell the police commissioner off for breaking the health codes. "Well, I guess as long as it's in your pocket it's alright."

"Thank you." He smiled slightly.

"No problem." She grinned back and walked away.

David turned an intense scrutiny onto his lunch. "Peppers."

"Trade my onions?" Ronnie offered one on her fork.

"You don't like those?" His eyebrows rose incredulously.

"Not this many."

He nodded and pushed his bowl near hers, carefully transferring pepper slices as she chased onions and added them to his salad.

Ronnie became suddenly aware of how close their faces were and gasped in surprise.

"What?" He looked up and froze as their gazes met.

Goosebumps, she thought absently. Jesus, please keep my nerves from overloading…

Then she lifted a shaking hand to her face. "I can't do this. Excuse me." She turned and headed for the door, reaching into her pocket to press the page button on her phone.

"You're leaving?" David followed.

"Yes. I'll pay my half of the tab." She stopped on the sidewalk, not looking at him.

"I'm sorry," he said, the sadness plain in his voice. "I don't know what I did, but I'm sorry."

"David, stop apologizing. I'm not offended." She hesitated, but then continued. "You're a good man; a very handsome man. And I think that it would be very easy to fall in love with you. But I can't. I have other obligations that require all my time and concentration."

She looked up at the hurt in those beautiful green eyes as the limo glided to a stop in front of her and felt her heart thud painfully. "I'm sorry."

"Yeah..." he said softly, then forced a smile. "Well, thanks… thanks for letting me know. I… guess I'd better get back to work."

"Goodbye." She rolled into the car and stared out the opposite window as Prudence fastened the restraints and closed the door.

"I take it that lunch did not go well, Miss Veronica?" The red-haired woman pulled into traffic.

"Mm," said Ronnie absently.

What I did was the right thing. The only wise thing I could do, she thought half-heartedly, then sighed. So why do I feel like such an idiot?

* * *

"You sure you don't want the other one?" Gordon waved a double cheeseburger under David's nose.

He pushed it away with a growl, his eyes focused on a group of Jokerz who were loitering around the entrance of a convenience store.

"Okay." His friend unwrapped the scorned sandwich and bit into it contentedly. "So, what did you do last night after I went to dance with Di?"

David scowled at the Jokerz as they wandered off. "Danced."

"Really? You actually got out on the floor where everybody could see you?" Gordon sounded skeptical.

David didn't reply, only frowned as what sounded like an old-fashioned Harley motorcycle roared overhead.

"They've been getting a lot of complaints about that thing." Gordon ducked his head to try and see it through the windshield.

"Uh huh," said David, thinking about how Veronica's eyes sparkled as she talked about her orphan society. Then he growled again as Gordon jabbed him in the shoulder. "What?"

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah." He noticed a patch of glowing graffiti about twenty floors up on the side of a building and wondered how the vandal had gotten up there.

Gordon fell silent for a few minutes, then sighed. "Di's great."

"Don't talk about women."

"Hey, you're not mad at me for ending up on the gossip vids, are you?"

"No." He felt Gordon staring at the back of his head.

"Okay, Dave, what's up? You usually go out on patrol when you wanna think, but all you've done all night is frown 'n make grumpy noises. What's eating you?"

"Nothing!" David scowled.

"Bull!" countered Gordon, scowling back and slapping a sticker off the burger wrapper onto his friend's forehead.

David just rubbed it off and turned back to the window.

The silence inside the car got very thick.

David nearly gave thanks when the scream of terror came out of the darkness of an alley. He was out of the car and running toward it even before the cry had ended.

"Wait up!" He heard Gordon slide over the hood and catch up.

The girl was young, her almond eyes wide behind her domino mask as she stared up at the Painchild who held her pinned to a wall by the throat.

David skidded to a stop, his gun lifted and cocked. "Drop her!"

The muscular young doper, her bare scalp decorated with rows of metal studs, only sniggered and banged her victim's head against the wall. "You want the widdow Bat $#&, pig?"

"I want you to drop her and put your hands in the air," said David evenly.

"I got a better idea, pigs," boomed a deep voice from the mouth of the alley. "How 'bout you drop your guns and we show you the meaning of pain?"

"Oh $&#!" said Gordon.

David turned his eyes to the side, watching as both ends of the alley were blocked by solid walls of Painchildren. I just walked into a trap.

He met the eyes of the girl in the little Batgirl cheerleader outfit, his own full of apology. Whether he dropped his gun or not, she wouldn't live to see the light of day.

"I got a better freakin' idea, J-rockers!" roared a young female voice from overhead. "How 'bout I drop you!!"

"Try it, Batfreak!" bellowed the booming voice. "We'll wipe our &$#@ with you!"

"In yer freakin' dreams, Bullfrog!" There was the flash of something small flying overhead and a grunt from the mass of leather-clad metalheads in the North end of the alley.

"Dave?" said Gordon softly.

"Yeah, Gord?"

"What's a Batfreak?"

David ducked as something larger flew over, then lunged toward the girl and wrenched her away from her distracted captor. The Painchild cursed and swung a sledge hammer fist, knocking him into the side of a dumpster with stunning force.

He groaned and struggled to focus. "My gun..."

Small, trembling hands pushed it into his.

He blinked at the wannabe Batgirl for a startled instant and she looked back with wide, hopeful eyes.

Then WWIII seemed to break out in the alley.

David jammed the gun into the holster and struggled to his feet, grabbing the girl by the collar of her dress and dragging her up with him. "In the dumpster!"

She obeyed without question and he let the lid down, thanking God for whoever the weirdo was that had decided that Gotham city needed bullet proof dumpsters with air holes. Sure, it was a pain when gun-happy gangers decided to hole up in them, but at least now a little girl had a fighting chance to become an old woman.

He turned, head still reeling, just in time to see a slender, dark figure somersault over two laughing Painchildren. Hands lashed out and touched pressure points and the dopers crumpled like squishy dolls.

"You'll never take us all down, Batfreak!" screamed a guy with loops of wire decorating his bald head. "We'll ice you first!"

"Bite me, bishie!" The mysterious female yelled back, kicking him in the face and then using him as a launchpad for another leap.

-Capoeira,- thought David hazily. Judo... and Kung Fu. He winced as the young fighter let loose a torrent of scalding derision. And an attitude bigger than the World Trade Center. Jesus, protect her...

A board swung his way, glinting with nails, and he dropped automatically and swept his attacker's feet out from under him.

"First blood!" someone screamed.

"&$#& you, loser!" responded Batfreak from somewhere in the thick of it.

The Painchild with the board leaped to his feet with a roar and aimed a vicious kick that David barely managed to dodge.

"You're dead," chanted the scarred teen. "You're dead, you're dead. Gonna make your &$@& mama cry."

David dodged again, then yelped as a hand grabbed his arm and wrenched him upright. Before he could do anything the Painchild flew backward, nose flattened as though by an invisible fist. There was a pop and the hiss of escaping gas, then a sudden silence as every Painchild in the alley keeled over.

"What?" David blinked stupidly.

"Are you injured?" asked the deep voice of Batman from behind him.

"My head." He felt himself set down, then fingers gripped his chin gently and turned his head.

"Minor concussion. Robin?"

"Detective Montoya's kind of beat up, but there's nothing bad." The Boy Wonder appeared, hovering in mid-air.

The Dark Knight went to stand beside him, glowing optics sweeping over the heaps of insensate thugs.

"What the heck was that?" demanded Batfreak, putting her hands on her narrow hips.

Robin turned toward her with his usual innocent grin. "It interacts with the Pain serum in their systems 'n knocks 'em out till they get the antidote. Here's some for you."

The skinny teen in the baggy Bat-symbol T-shirt snatched the package with a snort and turned her cowled face toward Batman. "You stink!"

"Huh?" said Robin indignantly. "He just saved your butt!"

"He crashed MY freakin' party!"

"You're weird!"

"And you're a chibi dumb****!"

Batman stood and watched the verbal battle for a few impassive minutes as sirens howled in the distance, then suddenly engaged his rockets and flew away.

"Hey! Wait for me!" Robin zipped in pursuit.

"Losers!" yelled Batfreak, then turned to glare at David.

He looked back hazily, noting that she wore a black bodysuit under the T-shirt, cargo pants, and black canvas high-tops. This was obviously an actual member of the Bat Clan and not a fangirl.

Definitely not a fangirl. He winced as she muttered something highly insulting about Gotham's protector.

"What're you lookin' at?" she growled.

"Thank you," he said softly.

She snorted and shot a grapple toward a fire escape. "Whatever. Freakin' loser."

* * *

"The lass has nary a drop 'o respect in 'er," said Watchman somberly.

"She doesn't need to respect me," said Batman emotionlessly, kicking a chainsaw-wielding Joker in the chest.

"Might make 'er a more amiable sidekick."

"She's not my sidekick" Batman elbowed another clown in the face.

"She wears yer suit 'n yer symbol."

The symbol was taken up in mockery. The suit was given to protect a valuable life, thought Batman, but remained silent.

"How many Jokerz does it take to fix a light strip?" chirped Robin from somewhere to her left.

"Uh, I don't know," said the clown he was fighting. "How many?"

"None."

"None?"

"They're the ones that broke it in the first place."

"I don't get it."

"Sorry." The Boy Wonder gave him a kick that knocked him senseless.

"Ye all finished there, lad?" asked Watchman.

"What do you have?" Batman straightened from restraining the battered clowns and glanced toward where Robin spoke soothingly to the woman they'd been mugging.

"Somebody playin' about where he's no business being." Watchman sent the coordinates of the fourteenth floor of a nearby office building.

"I'm on it." Batman launched into the air, her mind going back to David. What was he thinking of, going into that alley without adequate backup?

"I'm a baby bumble bee!" caroled Robin from beside her.

Ronnie quirked an eyebrow inside the suit, but withheld comment.

The office building seemed empty as she landed on an outer ledge, but then her sensors picked up a movement somewhere in an inner room.

"Whatcha got, kid?" growled Lobo from behind her.

"Possible cat burglar." Batman eyed the windows, then shot roofward before he could offer to drive through one.

The motorcycle landed next to her and her honorary uncle got off, chain in one hand and bottle in the other.

"Are you drunk?" She paused disapprovingly.

"Nope." He drained the bottle, then gave a thunderous belch and threw it aside. "Just disorderly."

Batman turned back to the roof entrance, her remote scrambler opening the locks before her hand touched the knob.

The floor seemed deserted as she stepped cautiously out of the stairwell with her stealth systems running.

"I just found some Jokerz," said Robin over the suit's com.

"Alright," she sub vocalized, the sensitive instruments picking up the sound and transmitting it in the familiar Batman growl.

"Lobo?" She glanced at his puzzled expression.

"I don't sense nobody," he murmured.

Batman cocked her head as a sound reached the suit's audio sensors. A quick scan showed a life form in a room at the far end of the hall. "He's here."

Lobo's expression grew more puzzled and uneasy. "I still ain't gettin' anythin'."

Frowning behind the faceplate of her helmet, Batman crept toward her quarry, studying the data on the display. Alien humanoid. Mature male… doesn't know we're here yet… what is he? What's he doing? Then she paused as the display flashed a "subject recognized" and followed it with the word 'Czarnian'.

Impossible. There are no more Czarnians.

"What's up, kid?" Lobo gripped the hook on the end of his chain, red eyes flicking toward her.

"Czarnian," she said slowly, then threw up an arm as the building suddenly dissolved into white light around them.