1000YoP Chapter Seven "It's always going to be this way." (Patreon)

"God. Fucking. Dammit."

"Language," Nightwing chastised playfully, standing effortlessly on a  windowsill as he grinned down from our left, twirling those sticks with  the glowing ends in his hands.

Opposite to him, similarly positioned to our right, was Robin, holding a  metal staff and frowning down at us. His feet shuffled slightly, he was  ready to jump at a second's notice.

Straight in front of us was Batgirl, who really didn't look amused. Her  blank mask was twisted by the glare she was throwing from under it, and  pardon the narcissism but I think it was at me.

And turning around, I saw...

"Batman," I said. "This really isn't how I'd hope we'd meet."

"How did you hope we'd meet?" the Dark Knight challenged,  long cape wrapped around him as he glared down. He was standing at the  top of the ruined stairs, casting a long shadow towards us.

"Oh, you know," I said, pushing my jacket back to put my hands on my hips and reveal, "Sometime  between 'never' and 'fucking never', with both of us having come to the  conclusion that we really didn't need to get in each other's ways as we  both just tried to live our best lives in the big city?"

Nightwing chuckled, but the room remained tense. My hand started inching  towards the machete, Batman's body tensed up, I heard Billy reload his  AK really quickly, the creak of Batgirl's gloves as she tightened her  fists echoed in the mostly empty room, I saw a glow start to build up  around Yua again as Robin tightened his grip on his staff and  Nightwing's sticks crackled with energy.

I looked at Billy. Flicked my eyes up and raised an eyebrow.

He frowned in thought, then looked towards Nightwing, and made a miniscule shrug.

I frowned, but turned back towards Batman.

"So..." I said, "Before we start... did anyone want to grab a snack, or-?"

The Scorched Earth Special was the result of a dark and twisted mind  (also known as Billy Priest). Now, I'm not entirely certain on the  details, but how he explained it to me was that there was a kind of  plastic sack with hollow walls he made. The walls were full of napalm,  and the sack itself was full of some ridiculous crap on a timer that he  designed after I let him work with Firefly too long (Reason #46 for why I  hate Firefly).

Before this job, I'd only seen the SES at work once, when we had to  clean up some personal business and we decided to frame Firefly for it,  on account of fuck 'im. Billy set the explosive near the back of a house  while I called the police about a suspicious figure doing something at  the place, and then we ran off and had ourselves a drink at an irish pub  a block away. When the explosion went off, the windows on the pub  rattled, a few pictures fell off the wall, and I accidentally dumped my  beer all over myself.

When the bomb we put in Penguin's safe went off, there was pandemonium.

The first thing that happened, and I didn't even get to see this, was  that the bloated, white-hot and almost spherical safe fell through the  roof right in front of Nightwing, making the vigilante jump away. As  everyone was taking that in, I shot a web through the wrappings on my  hand and stuck it right over Batman's eyes as he was distracted making  sure his first son wasn't hurt. Huntsman opened fire on Batgirl, making  her jump away, while Golden threw a couple knives at Robin.

With Batman blinded, I shot a webline at Robin and almost missed because  of my shaking, but in trying to block it with his staff he actually  caught the shot. I pulled, and he didn't let go in time to keep me from  pulling him the rest of the distance and grab him by the chest.  Muttering a quick apology, I turned around and threw him the whole way  at Batman, who was just getting done tearing out the webs from his eyes.  While they collided, I shot a few more webs, trying to web them  together, but my aim was still shot to hell.

My Spidey Sense blared, so I ducked under a thrown escrima stick, and  rushed forward to fight Nightwing. He tried to hit me with a stick, but I  crossed my arms to stop him by the wrist and interrupted his forward  momentum with a knee to his gut. He stumbled back a few steps, but  leaned back just in time to dodge a kick from me and land a punch with  his free hand on my thigh, giving me a charlie horse. I got close  leaning on my other leg, moved my head to avoid a stab from his escrima  and caught an elbow to the face from his other side, making me stumble  back.

I spat a curse, then rushed forward again. He was ready and threw a kick  at me, but I ducked under and swept his leg out from under him. As he  fell, I grabbed the leg he tried to kick me with and spun him around,  throwing him away. He flipped mid-air, landing on his feet, and found me  rushing forward and throwing a punch at him that he deflected with his  forearm. He went on the attack, and I let him set the tempo for a moment  as I blocked or just tanked the blows, letting him get used to making  contact as I moved back. As soon as I felt the wall on my back, I waited  until the very last second, when I could almost feel his knuckles on my  temple, and used every bit of my enhanced speed to dodge at the last  second, letting him hit a solid concrete wall with his full strength.

The wall cracked a little (holy shit he was strong) and he pulled back  his hand, howling in pain. I pressed on the advantage, kneeing him in  the guts, then taking a small step forward and doing it again. I took a  step around him, kicked the back of his knee, then when he was at height  I grabbed the back of the head and slammed my knee into his face. While  he was dazed, I webbed his legs onto the floor and his hands to his  back, then threw him to the floor and webbed him there.

Okay, less of a chance he'll get loose with no leverage. I thought, shaking my head. I might have tanked too many hits for my own good with that master plan. Now I just have to get my crew out of here.

I turned around just in time for my Spidey Sense to blare a warning, and  I barely managed to bring up my guard before Batgirl slammed a kick  into it, sending me flying to my back.

I put my weight on my hands and threw myself on my feet, taking a stance  as Batgirl took hers. Behind her, I could see that Billy was working on  getting rid of some rope around his wrists, while Golden had been  knocked out cold.

Shit.

I looked at Cass and started signing. [Doesn't have to be this way.]

[Shut up.] she signed back, [You hurt people. Hurt my dad. Hurt my brothers.]

[No one is dead,] I signed.

[You still hurt them,] She replied. [I thought you were better than that,]

I stared at her for a second, a stupid, irrational anger growing me. I rolled back my shoulders and signed, [That was your mistake to make. I'm sick of people needing me to be what I'm not.]

She froze for a moment, then signed [I can't let you get away.]

I didn't bother answering. I just put up my guard, and she put up hers.  She was a much better fighter, but she was still a baseline human. I was  a regular-ass fighter with just enough stubborness and experience in me  to beat most other thugs I fought, but my powers meant my hits counted  for more. She could read my next ten moves just by the way I stood, but  I'd always know where the next hit was coming from. Far as I could tell,  it all evened out to her having about a small advantage based on  experience. But I was very, very stubborn.

We stood there for a moment, waiting for the other to make the next move...

And then I saw Huntsman finish cutting through the ropes behind her and grab Golden, so I shouted "GO!" and turned on my invisibility.

She reacted instantly, of course, turning around and pulling out a  batarang. But in that time I managed to cut the distance, wrap my arms  around her waist and slam her in a german suplex. I rolled over and  pushed myself up, while she just did a handstand and spun around to kick  at my face. The blow connected, but I shot two webs at her hands and  caught one, sticking it to the floor.

I landed, now visible again, and rushed to the door where Huntsman was  waiting with Golden still tied up and tossed over his shoulder.

"Go ahead!" I shouted at him. "I can get their attention, just go!"

"I'm not-"

"For fuck's sake, GO!"

He obeyed, reluctantly, and ran out. From the immediate sounds of  gunfire, there were probably cops and/or Penguin goons outside. If there  was any difference between the two.

Leaving me in the main foyer of the Lounge with Batman and Robin finally  breaking through the webs tying them together and approaching,  Nightwing standing up while cradling his hand, and Batgirl cutting out  my webs with a batarang.

Hm, I might be fucked, I thought. Then I looked at a high window,  the same one Nightwing had been perched on, and at a piece of the  Gotham skyline through it. And I thought, Or maybe not.

"Alright then," I took a few steps back, then started running for the window. "Here's hoping my aim's not too messed up."

I ran at full speed, stuck two weblines on each side of the window and pulled. A batarang cut one of the lines, but I was already at full speed for the glass.

Fun fact about throwing your whole body through a window: it hurts. Now,  I'd like to say that I've only had to throw myself through windows once  or twice in my life, but when you're starting as a henchman and  catching all the jobs with the homicidal maniacs, you gotta get used to  making a few defenestration-based exits. So it was basically just  instinct at this point to wrap my arms around myself to avoid cutting  anything important with glass.

Of course, usually I did so after aiming for a window with a tree or  something soft down and to the other side. Not just picking one at  random and ending up falling towards a street.

In an adrenaline-fueled rush, I extended my arm, shot a webline at a  building with nothing but Spidey Sense for guidance, just praying  internally that I wouldn't miss the edge of a building next block... and  it struck true, pulling taut.

A relieved, manic laughed escaped me, but there was no time. I grabbed  on to the line with all the strength in my hurting hands and instead of  falling I started to make an arc. There were cop cars surrounding the  entrance to the Lounge, a lot of them with bullet holes in them, but I  couldn't focus on that, I had to shift my body so my legs would be  facing forward and pull on the web so I wouldn't hit the ground oh my  god thank god traffic was stopped I almost hit the street keep going let  your body cut through the air focus focus now I was rising wait until  the top of the arc-

And then I let go.

I'd never tried webswinging before, on the grounds that I wasn't exactly  dying to jump off a roof with only my webs and my acrobat skills  keeping me alive. But that moment, where I pushed against the fear of  what I was doing and let go of the web, sending me flying up and  ahead... for a second I was kilometers above everyone and everything,  rising above the Gotham skyline, and I felt like gravity couldn't touch  me.

For a brief, beautiful second, I was held in the air. For a second, no  pain in my hands, no bruises littering my body, no heist gone wrong and  no fight with the girl I liked could touch me.

I should have done this as soon as I knew I could shoot webs.

I shot another line, and laughed all the way I swung, pure and joyful  and just having fun. I swung around a corner, a little awkward because I  had to aim away from the edge, but I started to figure out how to move  so I could swing faster, copying vague and blurry memories of the  original webhead. Within a minute I was blocks away from the Lounge,  just by making lines from building to building and pulling on them.

Still, my good times were ruined by the reality of the situation, which  was just fuckin' typical. I had to get somewhere discreet, hide all my  Spider shit, and get to Butchie's place. Who knew if the guys had gotten  there safe?

"Okay," I muttered, my voice almost lost with the wind howling next to my ears. "Okay,  let's see... I get somewhere discrete, hide my shit, get to Butchie's,  rally up with the guys... and then I go home, patch myself up and cry  myself to sleep? Yeah, that's-"

I was interrupted by the tingling of my Spidey Sense, and had to pull  the webline below my legs to avoid a couple batarangs from Batgirl.  Naturally, because nothing can be easy.

"For fuck's sake," I hissed, trying to make a turn. She  latched her hook a meter ahead of where my web connected, and used the  angle to try and tackle me mid-air but I let go of the web early,  launching me in a different path. As she flew for a second, quickly  removing a second grappling hook from her utility belt, I stuck two webs  on her back and pulled her towards me, grabbing her in my arms and  turning us in the air so it'd be my back hitting the window of an office  building.

I let go once the floor wasn't five miles under me, and she crashed into the floor while I smashed through a cubicle.

I wasn't done getting up before she rushed over and kicked me hard  enough that I went through a second goddamn cubicle. I scrambled to my  feet just in time to jump to the side, landing on a roll and barely  pushing myself to my feet in time to catch a kick. I pulled her leg to  bring her to her knee, then threw a punch at her face that she caught  and parried to the side, before giving me a headbutt that cracked the  lower half of my mask.

She tried for a body blow with her elbow, but I stopped it then used it  to throw her back while I hooked my leg around hers, sending her falling  back. I straddled her so I could punch down, and landed two hits on her  face before she landed a punch on my kidney that made me flinch long  enough she could flip us over. She put herself on top of me, and she  landed three hits to my face and one on my shoulder before I managed to  throw her off with pure force.

I forced myself to my feet, and I found her doing the same from the  other side of the room. The broken window was behind her, and her figure  was silhouetted by a jumbotron on the side of the building behind her,  advertising some downtown bar. For a moment, I forgot all about the cute  Cass Cain and saw the scariest fucking Bat, glaring at me like nothing  would make her happier than to kick the everloving fuck out of me.

But I couldn't let go of my foggy past knowledge. And I knew that  Cassandra Cain was an honourable sort, so as long as I was honest with  my intentions, she'd be agreeable.

So I signed at her, [From zero?]

She looked at me for a while, then slowly nodded.

I took off my backpack, my jacket and removed the bottom half of my mask  as I walked to the middle of the room. She took off her cape, leaving  her only with her mask, and removed her gloves with the sharp spikes at  the ends.

I adjusted my pants a little as I took position, right leg forward, left  leg and foot pointed back, right arm forward and left arm horizontal in  front of the body. She mirrored me, and she shuffled forward until our  right arms made an 'x' and our forward feet came to be side-by-side.

We stood there for a moment, staring each other down.  I swallowed some blood that'd built up in my mouth, took a breath, and  let it out slowly. She tilted her head to the side slightly...

Lightning-fast, she pulled her forward arm back and made a strike at the  side of my head, which I barely blocked in time, then she made a feint  for my other side, and when I moved my guard there she pushed me a step  back with both hands. She pressed her advantage, throwing up a knee that  I barely caught and pushed down, before I retaliated with a sweeping  low kick that she raised her leg over. She kicked at my head with that  same leg, but I ducked under the blow and she turned the momentum into a  spin, then she kicked the other way when she stopped, making me lean  back.

I caught another kick, threw her leg away and then made to kick at her  head, but she ducked under, grabbed my leg and pulled back. throwing me  to the floor. She made to stomp down on my crotch, but I did a full roll  back onto my feet, then stood up just in time to put my hands up and  catch a knee before it could hit my stomach. I batted away two punches  aimed at my chest, then threw a punch at her face that she dodged by  leaning to the side.

She tried her own punch at my face with her right fist, but I caught her  wrist with my own right hand then spun into a stike with my elbow to  the side of her ribcage. She wheezed a little, but forced me to turn  back by pulling with her right arm and she landed her own elbow into my  jaw. She wrapped her right arm around my left, raised her left arm and  tried to slam her elbow down into my right shoulder, but I threw my body  at my left and threw a punch at the spot right under her ribcage while  her guard was down.

She let go and took a few steps back, gasping to recover the breath I  beat out of her lungs. I just stood there, panting and staring in total  amazement. She wasn't just good, she was perfect. Every dodge,  every block, every attack, all perfect. No wasted movement, no wasted  energy. No hesitation. If I hadn't been scared shitless of the damage  that just one of those hits really connecting could do to me, I'd have  been too busy staring in awe to do anything about it.

[Stop that,] she signed, body tense and unseen eyes glaring. [Stop swooning.]

My ears got hot, and I hurried to sign, [I'm not swooning.]

I could see her eyebrow raising behind her mask, and she tilted her head to the side.

I made a face, and sheepishly signed, [I was only swooning a little.]

She shook her head and huffed like a bull before she rushed forward. She  stopped right in front of me and threw two punches at my face that I  batted to the sides, the last parry becoming a hit to the side of her  face that finally connected, making her stumble back a little. I  took advantage of the distance to take a fast step forward and land a  kick to her chest, making her stumble back.

I went forward to press my advantage, throwing a right hook that she  ducked under. I tried to turn it into an elbow strike at her ear, but  she blocked with her forearm, then jumped back to dodge a hook at her  stomach and blocked a strike at her head. When I tried kicking at her,  she grabbed onto my leg. I tried to pull back my leg, but she wrapped  her arm around it and brought it highed and closer to her body, enabling  her to land two strikes to my body until I punched her shoulder, making  her let go, then lifted her up with my superior strength and slammed  her through a desk.

She turned and propped herself up on arms and knees, and when I went to  kick her she punched the inside of my thigh, giving me a charley horse  just as I was putting weight onto it. I managed to turn the fall into a  kick at her face, but she ducked under it and threw another punch, which  landed on my balls.

While I wheezed, she pulled me closer by the leg and straddled me again,  but I punched right under her belly button hard enough that she skidded  back enough that I could pull up my knee and kick her in the chest,  sending her backwards. I forced my feet under me, then charged at her  while she was panting from the punch right on her uterus and punched her  in the face. That snapped her out of it, and she let me get close  enough that she could grab the back of my vest and slam an elbow into my  collarbone hard enough that I felt it through the kevlar, and as she  pulled me forward by the neck of my vest she tore out the straps at the  side, pulling until the vest was off and I only had a black tanktop for  protection. Then she kneed me right under the ribs.

I gasped for air, and she pressed the advantage by punching me in the  face twice, then throwing me at the ground by the arm. I turned with it,  turning the motion into slamming both legs into her. She caught them,  and kicked me right in the armpit, sending my upper body forward and  making me bellyflop into the ground. I felt her grab me by the back of  the tanktop and pull me up with a grunt, and I turned to elbow her in  the face. She ducked under and made to land a hook on my head, but I  ducked under and landed a right cross with my whole body behind it in  her stomach, making her stumble back.

I tried to punch her in the face, but she ducked under and moved to the  side of me, forcing me to turn so I could block the kick she threw at my  chest. I aimed my own kick at her face, but she also blocked it and  turned with the momentum to better kick at me. I leaned back to avoid  it, but was too late to dodge when she landed a hook on my cheek so hard  that my whole body turned, leaving me dazed enough for her to kick me  in the stomach, then in the leg, and when I was bent over from the pain,  in the face.

Then she jumped into the air, spun, and--I swear to God, Moses, Buddha  and Rao that I'm telling the truth--landed a roundhouse kick on my face  so hard that I went over a fucking cubicle and landed on the  other side. I had just enough time rolling to a stop for my brain to get  back into place so I could remember my name, what I was doing and just  where the hell I was.

(The point I'm trying to make is that she kicked me so hard I'm not sure  I'm the same person I was before she started beating the shit out of  me.)

Just as my braincells were realigning enough for me to remember where I  left my keys (in my backpack), I saw her climbing over the desk with a  nearly feral growl. I hurried to my feet, grabbed a CPU from under a  desk and threw it at her before she could finish climbing down. She  barely caught it and managed not to buckle under the weight, throwing it  to the side and taking the final jump off of the cubicle desk to land  in front of me, throwing a punch that I leaned to the side to dodge.

She threw a one-two that I batted down, then a side kick that I tanked,  getting close enough to elbow strike her across the face. While she was  dazed, I grabbed her by the shoulder and spun her around. I slammed my  knee into her gut, and while she was winded I put my full weight into  slamming her face into the desk she'd climbed over, breaking a keyboard  in half. I tried to hold her down by the neck and punch her in the face,  but she slipped out of my grip just in time and grabbed my legs,  pulling them up and throwing me onto my back.

She made to kick me in the dick, but I kicked her leg out from under her  just in time to make her fall to her knees. I tried to kick her from my  place, but she barely managed to crawl back as she leaned her body out  of the way of my blows. I used my adhesive powers to stick my feet to  the floor and pull my body closer, so she kicked at my head. I barely  slowed down the hit with a hand, instead focusing on trying to punch  her.

She spun before I could, and kicked my stomach, sending me on my back  again. I turned the fall into another backwards roll, and stood up just  in time to get charged by her again. I managed to deflect two punches at  my body, and nailed her with an elbow to the face. She kneed me on the  side, I grabbed her by the leg and pulled her forward into a headbutt,  making her stumble back long enough that I could kick at her chest,  sending her rolling back.

She stood up, panting slightly, and got in a more defensive position, waiting for my move. Since I was not about to walk into that factory of pain, I used the moment of relative peace to take stock.

First of all, holy shit. That was more-or-less the first coherent thought to run through my head since the fight got real. Second, this is getting us nowhere. At my best, maybe I'd have a shot,  but between Grundy trying to crush me before and me fucking up my  hands...

I grimaced as I realized how I was getting out of this one, but I curled up my fists anyway and got ready.

Batgirl probably sensed my determination, because she stopped defending  and rushed forward to throw a one-two that I batted down, then jumped a  little and landed an elbow on the spot between my neck and my shoulder,  an attack that lead to her then chopping the same spot with her right  arm while her left hand grabbed my shoulder, and then she raised herself  up a little to kick my right side.

While I was recovering from that combo, she grabbed the side of my head  and slammed it into the desk, then pulled me to a standing position,  turned us around and punched me in the face. As I stumbled back, she  punched me in the face again, then pushed my chest back with both hands  so she'd have enough space to kick me in the chest. She approached  again, trying to throw a punch at my chest, but I caught her arm and  flipped us around, then I pushed as hard as I could, throwing her  against a wall.

I rushed forward and tried to plant a kick on her chest with my right  leg, but she dodged to the right and kicked out my left leg. I turned  the momentum into a spin and landed a kick on her face, sending her  stumbling back, buying me enough time to get on my feet. She recovered  and tried to rush me, but as she threw a cross at my face, I ducked  under and punched her in the stomach with my right hand.

And when I did, I put as much of a Venom Sting into it as my body could while totally high on adrenaline.

The resulting blast was so strong that three things happened at the same time:

First, full-on blue lightning burst out of my hand, arcing against every  nearby surface and making the fluorescent bulbs on the roof light up  where they touched them.

Second, the skin on my hand burst open in several spots, making blood  fly free and stain everything around it. I felt small pops around my  knuckles, most likely my fingers becoming dislocated, and screamed out  in pain, which didn't keep me from noticing...

Third, Batgirl went flying back. Aimed right at the spot where window we landed through had previously been.

"SHIT!" I yelled, both because of my hand and because of her. I ran  after her, but she was already over the side and falling down.

So, in a move that proves how adrenaline isn't really your friend in high-tension moments, I jumped after her.

"Shitshitshitshitshit-" I shot a webline after her, missed, shot two  more and one stuck to her arm. I pulled the line until my arm was around  her, and before we could hit the ground I put my broken hand against  the side of the skyscraper and stuck it. "-shitFAAAAAAACK!"

I screamed wordlessly, friction tearing out bits around the wound from  my hand, but we bled speed until we were still, held a few dozen meters  above the ground by nothing but a broken hand, a stubborn attitude and  some black market superpowers.

I panted a little, as tears from the pain started coming to my eyes, but  I refused to let go. More than that, I refused to look down, focused on  nothing but holding Cass and keeping my eyes on my hand. We slid a  little down every time the pain cut through my concentration, path  slicked by blood, but we weren't going to die just yet.

"Okay," I said, desperately trying to keep my cool. "Okay, okay, this looks bad. Stay calm. Stay calm. Stay. Fucking. Calm. Don't unstick. Don't even think about unsticking. Just stay focused, and stay calm."

Batgirl groaned a little next to me, and I felt her shuffle around for a  moment before she suddenly went very still. For a moment I thought she  was still going to fight me, but I saw her look at my hand and the blood  smeared above it and dripping under it, and then I felt one of her arms  wrap around my body. Then I heard something unlatch, and I saw her free  arm come up, aiming a grappling hook back the way we fell.

A manic laugh escaped me, "C-Batgirl, I could kiss you."

She ignored that, or maybe didn't understand it, instead opting to shoot  her tool. Once it was secure, she tightened her grip around me and gave  me a nod, so I tightened my grip around her and unstuck my hand.

I swear, it must have been less than five seconds of flying upwards, but  it felt like a decade. I flinched slightly every time the wind moved  us, and I was convinced we were going to fall the entire time, but  eventually we made it back into the office we'd just been fighting in  with no new-er wounds.

We landed just inside, took a few steps away from the window and  collapsed face-down, side-by-side, panting in exhaustion and groaning in  pain.

I turned around and just laid there for a minute, taking off the top  half of my mask since she knew who I was anyway and then just closing my  eyes and trying to gain some mental distance from the pain all over my  everything.

I didn't even have the energy to react to my Spidey Sense's warning  before Batgirl straddled me again and wrapped her hands around the  straps of my tank top. I think I just kinda groaned miserably and  resigned myself to further, like a hungover murder victim.

"Why?!" she shouted at me, shaking me by the shirt.

"Why fucking what?" I groaned, barely keeping my eyes open.

"Why saved me again?!" she shouted. "You hurt people! You hurt Robin, Nightwing, Batman! You hurt me! Why save me?!"

I blinked slowly at her, "W-Why... wouldn't I?"

"No!" she spat, pressing down on me. "You hurt people! Why save me?!"

My usual tactic would have been something dickheaded and smartass, like 'because there's a shortage of perfect booties in the world and it would have been a shame to lose yours', but I was frankly too fucking tired. So I was just honest.

"Because you don't," I said. "You help people. Try to be good. Shouldn't die for that."

She glared down at me, panting, before she  rolled off of me, sitting  with her back against a cubicle. She stared at me for a minute, put her  face in her hands, took a deep breath, growled with frustration and  slammed her fist on the floor.

I looked at her from my spot on the floor, just breathing slowly. I was  in no condition to fight her, so the way this night was gonna end was  totally in her hands.

She stared at me for a moment, then raised her hands and signed, [Go.]

I nodded at her, took a few deep breaths, and stumbled to my feet. I  grabbed and put on my mask, grabbed my bag, managed to put it on, and  crawled away. Turning on my invisibility on the way, and leaving Cass to  sit alone in the dark.

I had to get to my people.

{[X]}​

"I'm guessing it's too much to hope for that y'all had an easier time than me?"  I asked, turning off my invisibility as I finished entering Butchie's  apartment by the window, leaning my back against the wall so I wouldn't  collapse in front of them and worry Billy and Butcher.

Said two worrywarts were in the arguing in hushed tones in the kitchen,  while Farah sat cradling a cup of hot cocoa on the couch.

"Sam!" she cried, rushing forward. "Man, what happened? Are you okay?"

"I'll- hold on." I took off my mask and tossed it aside, "I'll be fine. Where's Yua? She at the bathroom or somethin'?"

Farah winced, but Billy took over explaining. "Penguin's people took her."

"... what the fuck?"

"I tried to stop them," he explained, a little apologetic, as he walked  forward. I noted his black eye, split lip and splinted nose as he  talked, "They were disguised as cops, I only realized they was faking  'cause one of 'em had a Blackgate tattoo. They managed to grab me while I  was running thru some alleys. Ain't easy to reload when you've got  someone over your shoulder. They stuck us in different cars and I  managed to pick the lock on my handcuffs, jump out of the car and run  away thru some alleys. No clue where Yua's at now, tho."

"Me cago en las tetas de la Santísima Virgen," I groaned. "Did anything go right?"

"I was holding both the bags when they separated us, and I grabbed them  when I left. And since you got your bag, I'd say we got all the loot we  expected," Billy shrugged, "Way I see it, today was a win."

I sighed, "No, it isn't. Because...?"

"... because it's not a success if we don't all make it back," he sighed. "Fine, so we failed. Now what?"

I sighed. It felt like I was moving through molases as exhaustion and  pain pulled at my body, my head felt like it was full of cotton, and  everyone's stares weren't helping. Still, I just had to take a moment,  and think this through...

"I don't... Penguin wouldn't just kill her, not while we're still free.  He likes making examples too much, too big a sadist..." I mused. I  looked at Butcher as he approached from the kitchen and handed me a  glass of scotch, "If someone sent out the word trying to reach us, would  you hear it? Even if no one knows we're connected?"

"Most def," Butcher said. "Everyone knows Butcher's connected."

"Right, then..." I thought it over, drained the glass in one go, and said, "So here's the plan: we go the fuck to sleep."

"Oh, so fuck Yua?" Farah asked. "What the hell?"

"I ain't no fucking good to anyone right now, and Yua's got at least  another day of livin' ahead of her. That's all I need to recover." I  said, hoping I was right. The pamphlet hadn't said anything, but I  seemed to recall Spidey having a mild healing factor. Hopefully that and  some painkillers would get me back in something resembling fighting  shape. If I had it. "We meet tomorrow, by then Butcher should have heard  something, right?"

"Knowin' Penguin? I think you right," Butcher said. "Want me to patch you up?"

"I... fuck it, I'll do it myself when I get home," I sighed. "I just wanna fuckin' sleep."

Billy made to say something, but Butchie stopped him with a hand on his  shoulder. "You look like it'd do you good. We'll talk tomorrow, you just  get some rest, son."

"Thanks, man," I patted his shoulder with my relatively healthy hand,  nodded at the other two and shuffled miserably out of the apartment. I  could hear the discussion restarting behind me, but I really couldn't be  bothered.

I can barely remember the walk back to my own apartment. I just remember  staring at my feet the whole time, head hung by exhaustion, putting  foot in front of foot again and again and just trying to get home. I  rode the elevator with Mr. Ferdinand from 302 (who was nice enough to  offer me a smoke in my times of tribulation and even lit it for me when I  ruined my lighter with my still-bleeding hand) and shuffled miserably  into my apartment.

I walked in, turned on the light, and found Batgirl sitting next to the  fire escape window on one of my chairs, another set in front of her and  my first aid kit on her lap.

I gave her a look, rolled my eyes, came in and went for the kitchen.

She shook her head when I gestured with a bottle of whiskey, but nodded  when I offered yogurt after I poured myself a shot. I took a glass to  her, downed my shot, and sat in front of her.

She was wearing everything but her cape, but her mask was cut around her  eye and hanging a little. I could see a single brown eye, surrounded by  blood from the cut on her brow, staring unblinkingly at me.

When I sat down, she immediately opened the kit and started wrapping up  my hand after setting the dislocated fingers back in place and  disinfecting the cuts. She helped me take off my top, took a little wad  of cotton wet with rubbing alcohol and cleaned the cuts on my back that  I'd apparently gotten from being crushed by Grundy, before wrapping some  bandages around my chest. Then she took another wad of cotton, used it  to clean the cuts from her beating the crap out of me before putting  band-aids on those. Finally, she took some ice and wrapped it in a towel  to better apply to my bruises.

She gestured for me to go to bed, but instead I gestured for her to sit back down.

She did, and I reached for her face. She flinched back, so I stopped,  and instead gently took her wrist and pulled off her gloves. Her  knuckles were cut and bruised, so I disinfected them and put some  band-aids on them.

[Any other wounds?] I signed.

She hesitated for a second, then her hands went to her neck and she  unzipped her body armour. She took it off, revealing a sports bra made  of some breathable material under the suit, as well as a metric fuckton  of bruises and scars, the newest of the latter being the branch-lookin'  ones around her stomach. I winced at the sight, but took some Vaseline  and, with a nod of approval, rubbed it on the wounds. I took some more  ice and wrapped it in a towel for her, and she held it to her side,  where the biggest cluster of bruises was.

I looked at her face, which was still bleeding for a moment, before signing, [Want to use my bathroom to treat that?]

She looked at me, for a long time, before she nodded and left. I saw  there, wishing I'd thought to fill a tray with every shot glass I had  and fill them all up, until she came back and sat in front of me again.  The lower half of her mask was gone, and while I could see the edge of  some bruises and her cut lips, she seemed alright as she drank some  yogurt.

We just kinda sat there for a minute, before she signed, [Sorry I wanted you to be someone else.]

[It's fine,] I signed back, [Sorry about unloading that on you. And punching you.]

[Barely felt it.]

[Rude.]

We shared a small chuckle, but the amusement quickly left the room and we sobered up quickly.

After a while, I signed, [It's always going to be this way. You know  that, right? Me being me, you being you, it's always going to end up  like this.]

She didn't answer, just staring at me for a moment before putting down  the glass, standing up and putting on her shirt again. She walked up to  the window, looked at me long enough to nod, and left.

I watched her go, then I went to the kitchen and did my best to drink myself to sleep.