Post by Oracle on May 16, 2015 16:22:27 GMT -5
The lights of the gym had dimmed from behind her long ago, her violet bag draped from her shoulder as she had climbed the fire escape to surface the roof tops of Gotham. The moon was high and full, glowing and illuminating the tops of the city before her like a pale play ground. Barbara Gordon, the daughter of the determined Police Commissioner Jim Gordon, was used to the easy set up bars and obstacles of her gym. As a gymnast, she had the training and practice and great grace of the gym, it was applying it to the city scape that she’d been practicing lately. She’d gotten close with her coach, a man whom also practiced the art of ‘free running;’ the art of racing across suburban and urban areas with moves like flips, twists, swings and anything else the body could manage. She’d become his star pupil in learning free running on the side of her gym training, and the last couple of months or so, she’d been trying to apply it more and more to the street.
Her grin brightened with excitement, pulse speeding through her as she pulled her red mane free through her cowl and started off. Gotham flew under her as she raced over the buildings, bounding off of air conditioners and scaling windows to practice her wall work. Roof tops were common, but she often liked to latch onto buildings and survey from the shadows, which was hard with speed when the foot ledges were almost nonexistant. Gaining the agility she wanted for warm up, she made her way to the tops and raced, timing herself by blocks. Breathing her count between labored breaths, Barbara crossed between buildings, boots pounding across the cement and concrete. 15...20...30 seconds to three blocks almost, decent, but she wanted faster. Barbara pushed off the roof ledge and went airbound, her small frame zipping through the air, the flash of canary yellow from the underside of her cape. But as her boots landed, the cement was now gravel on this roof, something she still wasn’t accustomed to. Feet skidded and her weight shifted back until she’d slipped and fallen on her backside, head smacking against the ledge.
Stars bloomed across her vision and she grunted, panting as she rested on the gravel. Her chest rose and fell with her labored breaths, the adrenaline covering what would be a bruise later, she was sure. In a fight situation, if she’d been chasing a target, she couldn’t just lay here and collect herself. It flustered her to know she’d slipped and fallen, to know that if she had been chasing someone, they’d be getting away. But if she let her frustration get the best of her, she’d lose the mental edge that she had. She let go of the anger and sorted it out in her mind. This was just practice, just working on what she needed to to be a force worthy of capturing criminals. She was used to the gym, this was her sixth week working on the rooftops and ledges, and so far, she’d only fallen twice. But she couldn’t afford to be so clutzy around Batman and Robin. She needed to be focused, graceful, she needed to show them she could do just the same as they did. She pushed to her feet, shook off the stars, and took off once again.
The nightly exercise would not go unnoticed. Up until then, Kate's own night had been rather uneventful: She had arrested a wanna-be-mugger, who had dropped the knife he was pointing at the unfortunate elderly couple and turned to run at her mere sight. A batarang had stopped his flight and also destroyed any fighting spirit the man might still have had. Wrapped up nicely for the cops, Batwoman had left the scene well before she could hear the sirens getting near. She did, however, stay at a roof top close by to watch the officers take the man into custody. Kate told herself, she was only doing this to make sure that the perpetrator had no chance of getting away. Although, it would have taken him supernatural strength to tear through the reinforced zip ties Kate had used to secure his hands behind his back and his legs. After noticing that the pair of cops were both male, Kate turned to walk to the opposite side of the building. Parts of her were relieved, other parts of her were slightly saddened that Montoya hadn't been with the response team. Be that as it may, it was time to cover some ground between this crime scene and the potential next on. Part of being caped vigilante also meant appearing to be able to be almost everywhere at the same time. Just sometimes, Superman's powers would come in handy. A power that would most likely come at the cost of the adrenaline rush and the fun that dishing out some unauthorized justice were. Kate was just about to climb at the parapet and shoot her grapnel towards the gargoyle of an even taller building when she noticed movement down below. She stood absolutely still and mde sure the black outside of her cape was covering her feature to reflect as little light as possible. A cowled figure dashed from roof top to roof top. The silhouette was definitely female. While the costume bore the trademark features of every bat outfit, hers looked vaguely friendly. Not as harsh and threatening as Batman's uniform black or her own coal and crimson combination. This must be Batgirl, then. Immediately, Kate adjusted her eyes to see if there was something up ahead the other's path but the rooftops seemed all deserted. She looked into the average vector that Batgirl had come from. Kate expected to see Batman following her close by. As she saw nobody behind her, she focussed on Batgirl again. Perhaps her mentor was watching from the shadows? Then, with a thud that Kate more anticipated than actually heard, the girl fell flat on her back. Deep inside, Kate winced, outwardly, her expression didn't change at all. If she had been pursued, she would be dead now. A drop like this was fit to knock the wind out of your lungs long enough to give every assailant a good stab at you. Kate prepared to swing over and help the other up, when she already did so, herself. Look at that! She definitely didn't lack a fighter's spirit. How old might she be? Batman seemingly liked to take his sidekicks in young when he trained them. Too young, in Kate's eyes. When she was a kid, she remembered the stories about Batman and his kid protégé Robin. How she had wanted to be that kid back then! Now, she saw things differently. Kids shouldn't be put in the line between law and crime. And eager as this one down there might be, Kate was determined to find out if she could let her go on in good conscience and decided to shadow her.
Noting her need for practice on gravel, Batgirl took to running back and forth on the gravel, stopping and sliding to gauge how her speed affected the sliding stop. When she was more comfortable, she worked from the other rooftop and onto the gravel again until her landings were more sorted. Black boots stomped a landing onto the gravel and she stood from her crouched position and rested her hands on her hips, smirking satisfactantly. Mentally congratulating herself, the young redhead moved on to finding criminals to correct. She tapped her belt and on came the drone of the GCPD dispatch poured through her headset inside her cowl. Nancy was the dispatcher she heard for this section of Gotham this time of night, her normal day to work. Barbara liked Nancy Schrader, she had a soothing voice even when sounding urgent. So many years the young redhead had spent falling asleep listening to her father’s radio, waiting to hear his voice come through in response to the dispatchers.
Shaking off the memory, she focused on a call of shots fired and a body found in an alley just near the China Wok restaurant. Her blue eyes narrowed behind the mask and she set off Northeast with fervor. The victim, a 33 year old caucasian male, had two shots in the chest and the third shot had missed, the police tracking the riccochet in the alley’s brick walls. She crouched over the ledge above and eyed the officers, two men she knew from her father. Good cops, they’d find the third bullet and look for a fingerprint on the shell of the bullets left sprinkling the alley.She was too late to sneak in and look at the body herself, find her own clues, but she could still track the killer and put a bow on him for when the cops would find him. Barbara’s cape flashed as she turned heel and sought the direction the witnesses being interviewed below pointed out. Some nine blocks away, Batgirl found the man described, dark green jacket with copper buttons, dirty brown t-shirt, dark blue jeans with a hole in in knee. Batgirl prepared her descent to teach a well-deserved lesson and provide her father’s task force with a present.
The girl sure knew a mistake when she made one. And she was obviously eager to learn from it. Instead of cursing or just simply moving on, she tried herself on the very gravel she had slipped on. Kate was astonished when she saw improvement in rather little time. Still, she was just a foolish girl trying to play major league where she wasn't even a little leaguer. The kid's enthusiasm made it easy for Batwoman to follow her. She had her sights fixed on her target. While that was good, completely ignoring your surroundings, especially your six, wasn't. Her body language and the positions she assumed indicated that she either had an operator or that she was listening in on someone. Having an operator was costly. If that were the case, she would, no doubt, be some upper class brat. Whcih Kate had to begrudingly admit she was herself. Or, more precisely, had become after her father had remarried a rich weapons manufactuerer.
Thus far, this "Bat Girl" was playing the detective: following clues, taking evidence. By now, Kate had figured out that she was actually listening in to Police radio. The direction she was going now had made it clear. Kate had been listening in herself while shadowing the other redhead.
What Kate couldn't hear was what the other was eavesdropping in on on that ledge. The cops had secured the crime scene and were investigating. Knowing it or not, Batgirl had picked the best vantage point she possibly could have found.
Of course, things never stayed in the comfy confines of that neat little box where you wanted them to stay because you could so nicely observe them: Batgirl turned on her heel and started towards the other side of the building. So much for a calm shadowing. Kate picked up her own speed and followed her. The trick wasn't so much staying close enough, it was staying close without being seen at a rather high speed.
Batgirl slowed down and positioned herself on the ledge of a roof. She had been hunting for someone. Kate tried to get a good view of the other's possible prey while also closing up on her. Sure, the girl had proved herself to be quite resourceful. But her demeanor also indicated that she was soft. She didn't have it in her guts to face someone who might as well be a killer, in a face to face fight.
If Kate were to be lucky, she would be able to put her hand on Batgirl's shoulder before she descended.
Barbara, one foot on the ledge and the other on the gravel rooftop, arms at her sides as she prepared to descent into the alley along the fire escape ladder and down to her assailant- but a hand rested on her shoulder. Shock and surprise ripped through her and she reached back to grasp at the hand's extension and spun as she was taught. The action, had she actually managed it, would have gripped the forearm and twisted it at a taut angle, giving her the time to face her opponent. If she hadn't managed to grasp the arm, she'd try to at least swat the hand away and pose for her next advance. Her eyes caught the dark form of a female wrapped in shadows. The two peaks of Bat ears perked high as the flash of bright red, a whole different shade from her own hair. Her blue eyes narrowed with caution and distrust. "Staying downwind, good. And you're quiet, I'll give you that. Something tells me you've been following me awhile. Either way. Lying now isn't in your best interest. Who are you and why are you carrying that emblem?" She nodded toward the red bat across the woman's chest, noting the slighting different look to it than Batman's, or her own for that matter.
While Batman hadn't officially taken note of her or given her the right to don the bat so to speak, she felt quite entitled to having such, as though all the work and her position near the police force and knowledge there of gave her more right than most anyone else. Yet, this woman stood with some sort of rigid stance, maybe military trained? She seemed strong and her stature held respect and discipline, and the way her eyes took in Barbara seemed perhaps...unimpressed? And yet some flicker in them did look interested in some fashion. Still, Barbara held her stance, fists raised and in their defensive position, not quite interested to make the first advance at her save for her initial would-be arm bar.
Her grin brightened with excitement, pulse speeding through her as she pulled her red mane free through her cowl and started off. Gotham flew under her as she raced over the buildings, bounding off of air conditioners and scaling windows to practice her wall work. Roof tops were common, but she often liked to latch onto buildings and survey from the shadows, which was hard with speed when the foot ledges were almost nonexistant. Gaining the agility she wanted for warm up, she made her way to the tops and raced, timing herself by blocks. Breathing her count between labored breaths, Barbara crossed between buildings, boots pounding across the cement and concrete. 15...20...30 seconds to three blocks almost, decent, but she wanted faster. Barbara pushed off the roof ledge and went airbound, her small frame zipping through the air, the flash of canary yellow from the underside of her cape. But as her boots landed, the cement was now gravel on this roof, something she still wasn’t accustomed to. Feet skidded and her weight shifted back until she’d slipped and fallen on her backside, head smacking against the ledge.
Stars bloomed across her vision and she grunted, panting as she rested on the gravel. Her chest rose and fell with her labored breaths, the adrenaline covering what would be a bruise later, she was sure. In a fight situation, if she’d been chasing a target, she couldn’t just lay here and collect herself. It flustered her to know she’d slipped and fallen, to know that if she had been chasing someone, they’d be getting away. But if she let her frustration get the best of her, she’d lose the mental edge that she had. She let go of the anger and sorted it out in her mind. This was just practice, just working on what she needed to to be a force worthy of capturing criminals. She was used to the gym, this was her sixth week working on the rooftops and ledges, and so far, she’d only fallen twice. But she couldn’t afford to be so clutzy around Batman and Robin. She needed to be focused, graceful, she needed to show them she could do just the same as they did. She pushed to her feet, shook off the stars, and took off once again.
The nightly exercise would not go unnoticed. Up until then, Kate's own night had been rather uneventful: She had arrested a wanna-be-mugger, who had dropped the knife he was pointing at the unfortunate elderly couple and turned to run at her mere sight. A batarang had stopped his flight and also destroyed any fighting spirit the man might still have had. Wrapped up nicely for the cops, Batwoman had left the scene well before she could hear the sirens getting near. She did, however, stay at a roof top close by to watch the officers take the man into custody. Kate told herself, she was only doing this to make sure that the perpetrator had no chance of getting away. Although, it would have taken him supernatural strength to tear through the reinforced zip ties Kate had used to secure his hands behind his back and his legs. After noticing that the pair of cops were both male, Kate turned to walk to the opposite side of the building. Parts of her were relieved, other parts of her were slightly saddened that Montoya hadn't been with the response team. Be that as it may, it was time to cover some ground between this crime scene and the potential next on. Part of being caped vigilante also meant appearing to be able to be almost everywhere at the same time. Just sometimes, Superman's powers would come in handy. A power that would most likely come at the cost of the adrenaline rush and the fun that dishing out some unauthorized justice were. Kate was just about to climb at the parapet and shoot her grapnel towards the gargoyle of an even taller building when she noticed movement down below. She stood absolutely still and mde sure the black outside of her cape was covering her feature to reflect as little light as possible. A cowled figure dashed from roof top to roof top. The silhouette was definitely female. While the costume bore the trademark features of every bat outfit, hers looked vaguely friendly. Not as harsh and threatening as Batman's uniform black or her own coal and crimson combination. This must be Batgirl, then. Immediately, Kate adjusted her eyes to see if there was something up ahead the other's path but the rooftops seemed all deserted. She looked into the average vector that Batgirl had come from. Kate expected to see Batman following her close by. As she saw nobody behind her, she focussed on Batgirl again. Perhaps her mentor was watching from the shadows? Then, with a thud that Kate more anticipated than actually heard, the girl fell flat on her back. Deep inside, Kate winced, outwardly, her expression didn't change at all. If she had been pursued, she would be dead now. A drop like this was fit to knock the wind out of your lungs long enough to give every assailant a good stab at you. Kate prepared to swing over and help the other up, when she already did so, herself. Look at that! She definitely didn't lack a fighter's spirit. How old might she be? Batman seemingly liked to take his sidekicks in young when he trained them. Too young, in Kate's eyes. When she was a kid, she remembered the stories about Batman and his kid protégé Robin. How she had wanted to be that kid back then! Now, she saw things differently. Kids shouldn't be put in the line between law and crime. And eager as this one down there might be, Kate was determined to find out if she could let her go on in good conscience and decided to shadow her.
Noting her need for practice on gravel, Batgirl took to running back and forth on the gravel, stopping and sliding to gauge how her speed affected the sliding stop. When she was more comfortable, she worked from the other rooftop and onto the gravel again until her landings were more sorted. Black boots stomped a landing onto the gravel and she stood from her crouched position and rested her hands on her hips, smirking satisfactantly. Mentally congratulating herself, the young redhead moved on to finding criminals to correct. She tapped her belt and on came the drone of the GCPD dispatch poured through her headset inside her cowl. Nancy was the dispatcher she heard for this section of Gotham this time of night, her normal day to work. Barbara liked Nancy Schrader, she had a soothing voice even when sounding urgent. So many years the young redhead had spent falling asleep listening to her father’s radio, waiting to hear his voice come through in response to the dispatchers.
Shaking off the memory, she focused on a call of shots fired and a body found in an alley just near the China Wok restaurant. Her blue eyes narrowed behind the mask and she set off Northeast with fervor. The victim, a 33 year old caucasian male, had two shots in the chest and the third shot had missed, the police tracking the riccochet in the alley’s brick walls. She crouched over the ledge above and eyed the officers, two men she knew from her father. Good cops, they’d find the third bullet and look for a fingerprint on the shell of the bullets left sprinkling the alley.She was too late to sneak in and look at the body herself, find her own clues, but she could still track the killer and put a bow on him for when the cops would find him. Barbara’s cape flashed as she turned heel and sought the direction the witnesses being interviewed below pointed out. Some nine blocks away, Batgirl found the man described, dark green jacket with copper buttons, dirty brown t-shirt, dark blue jeans with a hole in in knee. Batgirl prepared her descent to teach a well-deserved lesson and provide her father’s task force with a present.
The girl sure knew a mistake when she made one. And she was obviously eager to learn from it. Instead of cursing or just simply moving on, she tried herself on the very gravel she had slipped on. Kate was astonished when she saw improvement in rather little time. Still, she was just a foolish girl trying to play major league where she wasn't even a little leaguer. The kid's enthusiasm made it easy for Batwoman to follow her. She had her sights fixed on her target. While that was good, completely ignoring your surroundings, especially your six, wasn't. Her body language and the positions she assumed indicated that she either had an operator or that she was listening in on someone. Having an operator was costly. If that were the case, she would, no doubt, be some upper class brat. Whcih Kate had to begrudingly admit she was herself. Or, more precisely, had become after her father had remarried a rich weapons manufactuerer.
Thus far, this "Bat Girl" was playing the detective: following clues, taking evidence. By now, Kate had figured out that she was actually listening in to Police radio. The direction she was going now had made it clear. Kate had been listening in herself while shadowing the other redhead.
What Kate couldn't hear was what the other was eavesdropping in on on that ledge. The cops had secured the crime scene and were investigating. Knowing it or not, Batgirl had picked the best vantage point she possibly could have found.
Of course, things never stayed in the comfy confines of that neat little box where you wanted them to stay because you could so nicely observe them: Batgirl turned on her heel and started towards the other side of the building. So much for a calm shadowing. Kate picked up her own speed and followed her. The trick wasn't so much staying close enough, it was staying close without being seen at a rather high speed.
Batgirl slowed down and positioned herself on the ledge of a roof. She had been hunting for someone. Kate tried to get a good view of the other's possible prey while also closing up on her. Sure, the girl had proved herself to be quite resourceful. But her demeanor also indicated that she was soft. She didn't have it in her guts to face someone who might as well be a killer, in a face to face fight.
If Kate were to be lucky, she would be able to put her hand on Batgirl's shoulder before she descended.
Barbara, one foot on the ledge and the other on the gravel rooftop, arms at her sides as she prepared to descent into the alley along the fire escape ladder and down to her assailant- but a hand rested on her shoulder. Shock and surprise ripped through her and she reached back to grasp at the hand's extension and spun as she was taught. The action, had she actually managed it, would have gripped the forearm and twisted it at a taut angle, giving her the time to face her opponent. If she hadn't managed to grasp the arm, she'd try to at least swat the hand away and pose for her next advance. Her eyes caught the dark form of a female wrapped in shadows. The two peaks of Bat ears perked high as the flash of bright red, a whole different shade from her own hair. Her blue eyes narrowed with caution and distrust. "Staying downwind, good. And you're quiet, I'll give you that. Something tells me you've been following me awhile. Either way. Lying now isn't in your best interest. Who are you and why are you carrying that emblem?" She nodded toward the red bat across the woman's chest, noting the slighting different look to it than Batman's, or her own for that matter.
While Batman hadn't officially taken note of her or given her the right to don the bat so to speak, she felt quite entitled to having such, as though all the work and her position near the police force and knowledge there of gave her more right than most anyone else. Yet, this woman stood with some sort of rigid stance, maybe military trained? She seemed strong and her stature held respect and discipline, and the way her eyes took in Barbara seemed perhaps...unimpressed? And yet some flicker in them did look interested in some fashion. Still, Barbara held her stance, fists raised and in their defensive position, not quite interested to make the first advance at her save for her initial would-be arm bar.