I Am The Night- Part Fifteen by: Enemyoffun Steven Brown has a rough time, wanting to be a girl and hiding it from his angry abusive father. But when Steven gets a chance to express his hidden side through a fantastic opportunity, things change, including himself.

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Author's Note: Here's Ch. 14, sorry for the delay. I'd like to thank djkauf for the editing and DC Comics for the characters. I'd also liked to thank mittfh for the use of his character and Lynceus for the use of his.

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Chapter Fourteen:

I groaned as I woke up, feeling the strain from the night before. Even with the Red Robin there to help, there had been just too many guys. I sat up and groaned; every muscle in my body ached. After sitting there for a few minutes, I pulled myself out of bed and into the shower. Last night kept flashing through my head. It drove me nuts that I was completely blanking on that V10 thing. I knew I had heard the name somewhere; I just couldn’t remember where. It plagued me through the whole shower, even preempting my thoughts on today’s history test. Of all the things to worry about, Onyx said she was worried most about my studies. Apparently, crime fighting had a tendency to cut into schoolwork but I was doing OK. I was getting my homework done and was getting enough sleep---a few hours---each night so I didn’t fall asleep in class. I made sure to stay out no later than one so it gave me plenty of time to fall asleep.

When I shut off the water, I stretched. I made it as hot as I could to help work out some of the pain. I may not be able to get cut or bruised anymore but I still felt the pain. It wasn’t overwhelming or anything but it was throbbing. Kinda like a dull ache---like sleeping on your arm all night. I guess the word I’m looking for was numbing pain. Well, after the really hot water, most of the numbing pain was gone. After the shower, I went to the mirror and brushed my teeth. I always showered first. Then I went and got dressed. When I got downstairs, I was on my own for breakfast. Ever since Thrill had become a serious threat, Uncle Jim was going into the office real early. Over the last month, I could count how many times I actually saw him on one hand. But he was always kind enough to leave me a note. I don’t think Babs liked it that he was working so much---he wasn’t getting any younger, according to her---but she knew he was making a difference.

I made some toast and turned on the TV. The kitchen set was always on the news. I wasn’t surprised at all to see the warehouse as the top story. A pretty blonde reporter was on the screen talking to one of the police officers from last night. I turned the volume up.

“I’ll telling you, he ain’t human,” said the cop, white faced and sweating.

“Officer Jones are you trying to tell us that The Bat is supernatural in origin?” asked the reporter, holding the mike so close to the man’s mouth that it was practically in it.

Officer Jones looked confused. “He’s a man but he’s not.”

“Perhaps he’s a woman,” said the reporter with a laugh.

I frowned at that. Dumb bimbo.

“He ain’t no woman. Trust me when I say this, there’s no way a woman could move like that.”

I groaned at the TV. Then I snatched up the remote and shut it off. Sexist blind pig. How can these guys not tell I’m a woman? I reached up and grabbed my breasts. Hello stupids, look at these. I’m wearing skintight black leather, you morons. How hard is it to tell that I’m a girl? Some people are so stupid. I had half a mind to unzip the top half of my costume and give my next victim a show just so the world knows the truth. I wonder how fast I could subdue him after that. I’m not sure why it bugged me so much. It thrilled the hell out of me that they thought I was The Bat. Of course, it’s not like I did anything to make them think otherwise. But I had to wonder what Bruce was thinking about all of this. After all, he was The Bat---the real one---and he was pretty adamant about me not taking up his mantle. I felt a little bad about that. But it’s not like I deliberately took it from him. It was the people who thought I was him. As long as they thought so I was going to continue with the charade. As soon as Bruce got back on his feet, I’d find some new identity to go under, maybe something in purple. I smiled at the thought, that would really annoy Jen.

After my toast, I went back to my room. When I got home last night, I stored my suit in my trunk but not before getting the vial out of the pouch. I brought it into the house with me last night and stashed it in one of my dresser drawers. I opened that drawer now and frowned. After escaping the cops last night, I got another text as soon as I got to the car. It was from You-Know-Who with instructions and an address. Oracle wanted me to package up the vial and send it to the address. Apparently, her person would analyze the contents and then we could figure out the next step from there. But I had a pretty good idea what my next step was going to be. As soon as I found the bastard responsible for Thrill, I was going to put him in the ground.

I closed the drawer. I’d deal with the vial later. Besides, I had to get the proper packaging to send it anyway. I finished doing some of my other morning routines and went downstairs. I usually left with plenty of time in the morning to get to school. Jen took the bus in the mornings. I thought about driving in and taking her but that would have meant me getting up earlier. It would have been OK in the past except now my nocturnal activities were getting in the way. But that was the only thing they seemed to be getting in the way of. I was afraid that they might interfere with my schoolwork but things were still going real good. What little time I had to actually do it was spent vigorously working to make sure I didn’t slip. My grades were solid. They needed to be if I wanted to go to college in the fall. I’d already started on that. I looked at applications the other day in the guidance office. I think I want to go to Northwestern like Babs. She even talked about letting me move in with her, we’d just have to get a bigger place.

I thought about the possibilities of living in the city again on my drive to school. Not that I didn’t like living with Uncle Jim---I loved it---but I needed to get my own place, too. Living in the city also had the advantage of being able to stay out a little longer too. I’ve only been able to do a little bit of stalking because I needed to leave early to drive home, cutting out some valuable time. Not that I was the only one making a difference in this city but so far I seemed to be the only one who cared about the little person. OK so that’s only half true. The Red Robin was doing his part too. But his tactics were a bit extreme. I’m not just talking about last night either. Both times, he rescued me---the first time in the alley, the second time in the “Park”---he put all those guys in the hospital. I know because I checked. Not that I was feeling remorseful but a girl has the right to know. When I beat people up, I at least tried to leave them well enough to go to jail.

When I got into school, I went straight to my locker. I wasn’t surprised at all to see Jen standing there.

“How did it go last night?” she asked, referring to my extracurricular activities.

I shrugged. “I made a friend I think.”

She raised her eyebrow. I quickly told her about my encounter with the Red Robin as I stuffed my bag in my locker and got my books. It didn’t take me very long to tell her as we walked to my first period class together.

“And you’re sure it was Oracle?” she asked, referring to the text he got.

I nodded. “It was the same message.”

“What’s this guy up to?”

I shrugged. Damned if I knew. I had similar thoughts when I went to bed last night. Clearly, Oracle was playing both of us, getting us to do his dirty work. But to what end. It was cool that he was helping me, setting me up with Onyx, pointing me in the right direction concerning Thrill. But what was this guy’s ultimate goal. What did the Red Robin have to do with any of it? Those thoughts seemed to plague me until I fell asleep last night. They plagued me all through first period and into second. Not that I was daydreaming of course. Thinking about Red Robin got me wondering about the man behind the mask. Ok so maybe man was pushing it. It was clear he wasn’t as old as I had originally thought. If I were to guess I’d say maybe eighteen at the most. I couldn’t help but look around the room, wondering if he was in the class with me.

In third period, I did the same thing. Unfortunately, it had an undesired effect. A kid in my class, David, looked in my direction. He wasn’t bad looking but he wasn’t really my type either. He was a Soccer player, a bit taller than me with sandy blonde hair. I suppose I could see myself with him but I wasn’t ready for a boyfriend yet. I had too much to do and definitely not enough free time to play around with some guy. But that didn’t stop David from trying. He caught up with me when we were leaving class after spending most of it staring at me.

“You’re Stephanie, right?” he asked, slipping beside me as I walked to fourth period.

“Well my name definitely isn’t Steven,” I said which made him laugh.

“Well, Not Steven, I was wondering if you wanted to go grab a bite to eat after school.”

I bit my lip. I was almost tempted. But after school was Onyx time. “I can’t, I have after school extracurricular things that take up my time.”

He smiled and nodded. “How about this weekend?”

No matter what I said, I was certain this guy was going to bug me. So in the end I decided to give him my cell number. I told him I couldn’t promise anything but I’d try. I think that made him happy because he had this huge smile on his face when he walked off. It made me a bit happy too. I know there was no chance of a date with him but it was nice that someone finally asked. For a while, I thought I was going to remain boyfriend-less for the rest of my high school life. Yes, I got a lot of boys staring at me but I think what I did to Francisco was still fresh in everyone’s head. Especially when the guys were concerned. I even caught one shying away from me with his hand over his crotch. I almost kicked him there for the hell of it.

Halfway to class, another male voice called my name. I groaned and snapped around, ready to lay into the prick. One guy was enough. I stopped in mid insult when I realized it was Henry.

He finally reached me, panting. “Boy you’re fast.”

I rolled my eyes. “Trying to avoid admirers” He nodded, confused. I smiled. “What can I do for you, Henry?”

“I found her.”

It took me a few seconds to realize the “her” he was referring to. Then I remembered the laptop and his goal to find someone to help me. I could have kissed him right there. Instead, I grabbed his arm, pushed him into a nearby classroom and told him to tell me everything.

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I sat at the table, drumming my fingers. It annoyed me that I was waiting this long. I looked at my watch again and sighed. How long does it take for a bike messenger anyway? It was all a part of the plan. After Henry told me he contacted Lena, we made arrangements. Two days from the time of her contacting him, I was supposed to go to a local coffee shop, wear a pink scarf and wait for a bike messenger to arrive. He would come, pick up the laptop and I was supposed to remain put. When the job was finished, she’d text me and I would come to the same shop to pick up the laptop. I only liked one part of that plan however. I didn’t mind her need to be secret but the part with me not knowing where the thing was going. I didn’t like that at all.

I picked up my cappuccino and took another sip. I didn’t like the way things were going in all this. First I had to get that vial and send it off to Oracle’s people---I bubble wrapped and boxed it. Now here I was waiting for another mysterious thing I wasn’t going to be a part of. Well Stephanie wasn’t going to be a part of anyway. As soon as this guy showed up and took this damn thing, I had no intention of following through with the original plan. I needed to see where this thing was going and I couldn’t very well do that as myself. If Stephanie couldn’t follow the package, I was going to make damn certain The Bat did.

I’m not sure when I started to refer to myself as two different people. I think it started the night after my joint fight with Red Robin. That was three days ago. The next night was when I started to make the separation. It was partially to keep me level headed and partially so I didn’t accidentally refer to myself while in costume. I almost did. It was the second “official” meeting between the Robin and myself. I’m not sure how he found me exactly but we stalked the night together nonetheless. We didn’t talk much but we did some fighting together. He led me to another “Park” and we busted it up. I think both of us were hoping to get lucky, maybe spot that truck again. But nothing like that showed up. We did take out a bunch more Seekers so it wasn’t a complete waste.

The two of us worked well together actually. He had a lot of raw talent. Onyx probably would have scolded him for it. His technique was a bit messy and he tended to leave himself open a bit but he wasn’t bad. Me, I was getting a lot better. I took to jujitsu like a fish to water. According to Onyx, I was unlike anything she’d ever seen. I was mastering things that should have taken me months or years to do. I couldn’t help but wonder if it might be an extension of my Meta powers. I was beginning to get a grasp on them too. I think I’ve figured them out. Besides not being able to get cut, burned or bruised, I was agile and flexible too. I couldn’t help but wonder if I somehow subconsciously brought about these gifts in myself, after all I was a former gymnast.

The bell above the door dinged, taking me from my thoughts. I looked up, wondering if this was going to be my guy. I frowned when it wasn’t. I sighed, returning to my cup. I was starting to get real annoyed with all this cloak and dagger stuff. I think Oracle was part of my problem. It annoyed me that I’d been communicating with this person for so long and had yet to actually meet them. They were giving me a lot of information---good information---but it’s hard to trust someone if you never saw their face. I suppose the same could be said for Red Robin too. Not that I trusted him but the fact that I couldn’t see his face was part of the problem. But I guess I couldn’t complain there, after all I wore a mask too.

I drained the cup. About a minute later, a waitress came by asking me if I wanted another. I nodded and she went off to get it, taking my empty cup with her. As I watched her walk away, my messenger finally showed. I knew it was him because he was carrying a bike helmet. That and because the shop had a glass front I could see him park his bike. When he came in---the bell dinging---he searched the assorted faces. I reached into my bag pulling out both the laptop and the scarf. I didn’t put the scarf on though; I draped it over the top of other chair. When he saw it, he nodded and walked slowly over.

“You got the thing?” he asked.

I tapped the laptop. He smiled and slid it across the table, taking it under his arm. I waited until he left before dropping some money on the table. I didn’t wait for my second cup. Instead, I ran out into the street and followed. He took off like a bat out of hell. Fortunately, for me my running in the park was paying off nicely. I ran after him, able to keep up without a problem. It was still fairly light out but that was slowly starting to dwindle. I was glad that I was wearing my black boots. I couldn’t imagine running like this in sneakers. As I ran, I took note of where we were going. The coffee shop was not far from the Warehouse district so I had a pretty good idea where we might be going. I wasn’t wrong. The messenger zoomed into the block of warehouses. He zigzagged through the buildings, doing it effortlessly. When he finally stopped, it was in front of a warehouse that looked exactly like all the other ones, complete with a few skylights on the top a dumpster along the side. I remained hidden as he went to the door. I managed to catch a glimpse of the girl who answered: she was a really tall red head. She looked vaguely familiar but I couldn’t quite place her.

I waited until he was gone before I un-shouldered my back pack. As soon as he zoomed on by me, I slipped into one of the nearby alleys. Then I opened my bag. I undressed quickly, down to nothing. I was so glad no one was about. But it was a bitch in this cold. I tried not to think about it as I slipped into my Bat suit. Yeah yeah, I’m naming it that but what else am I supposed to call it. I guess a little bit of Jen’s wanting to name things wore off on me. After I donned the suit, I waited for the cover of darkness. It only took about twenty minutes. Then I ran across the small gap separating me from the building. I used the dumpster as a boost. I jumped off it, high enough to grab the bottom of the fire escape on the side. I pulled myself up and moved like a stealthy cat, slinking my way up to the roof. I had to jump again at the top of the fire escape to get onto the roof but that wasn’t too much of a problem for me.

On the roof, I moved from skylight to skylight. I finally found out that was open a crack. The glass was dirty and hard to see through but through the crack, I could at least make out some voices. There were only two girls talking, both discussing my laptop. One of them wanted to see if she could take a whirl at it, encryptions were her specialty. They bantered a bit then the first girl handed it over to the second. I frowned, annoyed that I couldn’t see anything. One of those girls had to be Lena but the other one was a mystery to me. I bit my lip, if I wanted to see what was going on I needed to get down there myself.

A noise caught my attention. I turned my head and saw a slight movement behind me. It was a flip and a flash of black and red. I frowned. How the hell did he keep finding me? I watched and waited as the Red Robin slowly made his way across the roof, quietly creeping up next to me. His expertise with the jumps and the flips were starting to impress me.

“You aren’t an acrobat are you?” I asked in jest.

“Maybe in another life.”

I went to the Circus once. The acrobats wore red and green jumpsuits. I tried to imagine him dressed up like that---with a mask of course---but the image was frightening. I made a mental reminder to wash out my brain with something as soon as I got home---loud music might do the trick.

“So who are we watching tonight?” he asked, lifting the skylight lid up a bit.

I cursed but the damage was done. Thankfully the girls down below didn’t hear it. But it did enable me to see them now. There were two of them. They were sitting at a bank of computers, some high-tech ones from the look of them. I’m not a computer person so I don’t know much about those things. But these two apparently did by the way they were talking.

The short brown haired girl was talking about the laptop history. At least the one I was nice enough to supply for Henry. I didn’t give him much so she didn’t tell the other girl much. I looked from one to the other as they talked. The other girl was Hispanic and cute. She knew a lot about this stuff. When she spoke, I couldn’t help but feel a flutter when I heard her accent. It surprised me a bit at first: a British person here, but it takes all kinds I suppose. But what surprised me even more were the words that came out of her mouth next:

“Back in my old life I was actually designing a security program to keep people from hacking into secure bank systems. Who would have thought I’d be the one doing the hacking now.”

Both the girls laughed.

Her old life? I narrowed my gaze. There was something about her. Though she looked to be about sixteen or so it was the way she talked that seemed to floor me. The other girl knew a lot but this girl sounded like a pro. In fact, it sounded like she’d been doing this stuff for years. It made me wonder if I might be dealing with another kindred spirit. I listened some more as the two of them went back into a bunch of computer stuff then turned away, disinterested. I looked at my silent companion. He looked a bit uncomfortable. Probably because he wasn’t off somewhere bashing some one’s skull on the ground. He was kinda cute that why. Wait, I did not just think that? OK, it was true. Even though I could only see the lower part of his face, he was still very cute.

“Give me your rope,” I said, pointing to the coil of thin black climbing rope hanging on his belt.

He frowned. “You want to go down there?”

I nodded. “That laptop has information on it that I need.”

He sighed. Then he took the rope off his belt, slowly unwinding it. He talked me through how to get down there. But all I really wanted to do was use the rope to lower myself down their low enough to jump. I didn’t need a safety lesson. But he gave one nonetheless. His concern for my safety was kinda touching though. I’d only known him officially for a few days but he was already older brothering me. It was kinda cute actually. Here he was playing the big strong man trying to protect little old me. The only problem with that it was that I didn’t need protecting in the least, not anymore and never again.

He hooked the rope to my belt and then lifted the skylight enough for me to squeeze through. I didn’t wait for him to tell me when, instead I dropped. OK, so dropped is the wrong choice of words. I kinda glided into the room below me. Don’t ask me how far of a drop it was because I really don’t know. When I landed, it was so softly that not even I heard it. The two of them had their backs to me, typing away. I unhooked the rope and stood behind them, looming like a spectral interloper.

The Hispanic girl finally spoke again. “Lena, who did you say sent this to you?”

“I didn’t,” she said, “it came from some high school kid; he’s doing a favor for someone.”

The Hispanic girl laughed. “I’m not sure who he’s doing a favor for but whoever it is they definitely know how to get into trouble.”

“You crack the encryption?”

“What do you Yanks say all the time?” she asked, then smiled. “Oh yeah, piece of cake.”

The other girl---Lena---leaned over and looked at the laptop screen. I looked too. It was the same spreadsheet as before, the one that looked like a bunch of numbers to me. But apparently, this British girl knew what was going on. I scanned the screen, looking for names again. One name popped up more often than the others: Friitawa. I vaguely remember that one from before. Something else popped up too: V10. I felt a sinking feeling in my stomach. That’s where I’d seen that before. The revelation wasn’t a good one either. A chill rang down my spine. My father was somehow involved in all of this Thrill stuff.

“What is this?” asked Lena.

“Evidence” I said, in that cold tone I created for The Bat’s voice.

Both girls jumped about ten feet in the air.

“Bloody hell” snapped the British girl, spinning quickly in her chair.

The other girl spun around too. They took one look at me and the color drained from their faces. There was no light in the room save for the one coming from their computer screens. The only thing it lit up on me was my face. I can’t imagine what thoughts were running through their heads. Neither of them said anything for a few minutes, they just continued to stare at me. Finally, the Hispanic looked at my chest and her eyes got bigger.

“You’re the…” she said.

“The Bat” I said, finishing for her.

The two of them looked me up and down. The other girl, Lena, frowned. “You’re not at all how I pictured you.”

I frowned at that. “Don’t believe everything you hear on TV.”

She nodded. “So this is your business then?”

I nodded my head slightly, trying to be cool. “It might be connected to Thrill.”

Both of them sighed heavily. “That has been a real pain in the ass for us as of late. Rena and I have been trying to track it but whoever is involved can hide their tracks really well. They leave barely any paper trail and any computer activity doesn’t exist.”

“I confiscated this laptop off a criminal called The Cluemaster” Hey why the hell not. “It looks like he may have been keeping records for whoever is in charge of this thing. A few nights ago, I busted up one of their Parks, managed to get a sample of the stuff. It’s being analyzed as we speak. If there’s a trail, I’ll find it.”

Rena and Lena, seriously. That's gotta be really confusing.

Rena smiled big. “You are just like a detective then?”

I shrugged. “I do my part.”

They both smiled. They got over their shock at my arrival quickly after that. Then they both tried to explain what my father, aka The Cluemaster, had done to cover his tracks. I only half paid attention. All I really cared about was what his overall involvement in all of this might be. Dad was a lot of things but a drug dealer, I couldn’t buy that. There had to be more to it than that. I suppose I could pay him a visit but I’m not sure that would solve anything. For one he’d never talk to me---I was the one who put him in there. Going as The Bat was out of the question too, unless I could phase through walls. Asking the police to let me in was out of the question too. Stephanie had pull but The Bat had none. Besides which I was public enemy number one with the Mayor. Apparently, he didn’t like the fact that I was cleaning up the city and doing a better job than he was. The only one who didn’t seem to have a problem with what I was doing was Uncle Jim. He seemed to think The Bat was making a real difference, cleaning up this city like so many had failed to do before.

“Do you want us to put this on a disk for you?” asked Lena, interrupting my thoughts.

I nodded. “I want any information that might lead me to whoever is behind all this.”

They got busy, downloading any info that might help. It didn’t take them very long. When they handed me the disc I put it in one of my pouches. Then they started talking amongst themselves. I thought about taking the laptop but I figured anything I needed was already on the disc. While they talked amongst themselves, I chose that time to make a hasty exit. I grabbed the rope and climbed it quickly, moving so fast that they never heard me disappear. When I got to the stop, I paused and looked down on them.

“Bloody hell” said Rena when she turned around.

I smiled and grabbed the lip of the skylight, pulling myself up the rest of the way. Red Robin was standing there. He held out his hand, I grabbed his wrist and he pulled me up the rest of the way. My cape snagged the corner of the skylight though when I was almost fully through. I slipped and fell forward, ending up on top of him. My face and his were inches apart, our lips almost touching. His arms were draped over my back. A part of me wanted to push away from him immediately. But another part of me wanted to stay there forever. My heart skipped a bit. We stared at one another for the longest time, neither moving or saying a thing.

He spoke first. “Did you get what you needed?”

“I think so,” I said in a voice barely above a whisper.

I started to push up a bit but he grabbed my wrist gently. “You smell really nice.”

I blushed. I was tempted to say something sweet and flirtatious back to him. I opened my mouth to do so when he leaned forward and kissed me. It was a quick kiss. I’m not sure how I felt about it. On one hand, it felt amazing but on the other, he was a stranger. I barely knew him and he was already making a move on me. But I didn’t push away. I wanted too but a small part of me loved that he was so forceful, so bold. I could have kissed him all night. Instead, it lasted only moments and when he pulled away, I felt all fluffy inside. I smiled big. He smiled too.

I leaned in but he stopped me, putting a hand in front of his mouth. I frowned. “We should try this without the masks sometime.”

I smirked. “You first, Bird Boy.”

He opened his mouth for a snappy come back but whatever he was about to say was drowned out by the vibrating of my phone. I cursed and pushed myself off him. I sat up and pulled it from my pouch. I had a pretty good idea I knew who it was from. When I flipped it open and saw the message, I sighed. ANALYSIS COMPLETE, ORACLE. I quickly texted back a reply, removing my glove to do so. I wanted to tell him all about what I had, finally able to contribute to this investigation of ours. It was the first time I’d been able to do so. It was also the first time that I ever texted him. I waited and it didn’t take very long to get a message back:

WE SHOULD SWAP NOTES. I THINK IT’S TIME TO TAKE THIS PARTNERSHIP TO THE NEXT LEVEL. ARE YOU READY TO SEE BEHIND THE CURTAIN, DOROTHY, ORACLE.

I smiled. Another text appeared seconds later with an address. Red Robin tried to look at the message over my shoulder but I snapped the phone shut. I’m not sure why but I wanted this to be my achievement. My heart was pounding in my chest. I was finally going to meet Oracle.

“What is it?” he asked.

“I’m off to see the Wizard.”

Author’s note: As I’m sure all of you know, comments are life blood to an author. I’m not begging or demanding, but I certainly would appreciate anything you have to say (or ask). It doesn’t have to be long and involved, just give me your reaction to the story. Thanks in advance...EOF