TWO SOULS,
chapter ten: where to shoot!

          OLIVIA WAS DROWNING. She felt surrounded by immense darkness, a reminder that always reappeared in her nightmares, a reminder of her origins. Never forget where you come from, they said. She was overwhelmed for a couple of long minutes, listening to the noise of the clock hands from afar - constantly. Deliberately. Marking the passing of seconds as if they were grains of sand, slipping through her fingers. Olivia Wayne tried to move through the darkness, tried to find a light. But she never saw and felt anything. It was her alone, her mind and body were there, wandering in the dark darkness of limbo - but Olivia knew that she wasn't dead.

          No.

          Olivia wasn't dead, otherwise she should have seen Jason Todd next to her.

          No.

          Olivia Wayne was waking up, next to a monumental headache hammering her head.

          It was that constant and painful feeling that she made when moving her hands and feet was overwhelming for the blonde. She tried to get up with her hands, hearing a hiss buzzing in her ears. The blond-haired girl tried to take a deep breath, trying to ignore the headache that arose from the blow the Arkham Knight decided to give her in an attempt to stop the attack on Barbara Gordon.

          Oh.

          Olivia's breathing began to hit, suddenly, as she searched the room for any sign of the redhead. She saw Barbara's wheelchair lying on the ground, but she wasn't there. Olivia crawled to the only room that led to the very unknown location where the Arkham Knight was holding the redhead captive. She tried to get up on both feet and straighten to go to the elevator, but the headache intensified and the girl felt the incessant dizziness, she groaned in pain and leaned back.

          She expected to feel the solid ground crashing against her back dry.

          But that didn't happen.

          She landed on something soft, heavy, and tall. Olivia's green eyes traveled to the light eyes of Bruce Wayne, who was speaking to her and she was so disoriented that she felt something prick her neck. She groaned, until she began to feel better - her sight clearer. It was a relief, the lump in her throat was loosening and disappearing at the same time. She could breathe easier, but she wondered how and that, oh, that was a complete enigma.

          "What happened?" Olivia asked, standing up in her place.

          "Nothing like a little visit to the trunk of memories, right?" Said a very familiar voice beside her. Olivia turned her head, finding the Joker sitting on the couch across from her. "A front row seat to the show!"

          Olivia pinched her arm twice, hard, until Bruce stopped her. For a moment, she glared at her mentor accusingly, pulling away from him slightly. Bruce would never administer an unsafe drug to her, but...why the hell did she see the Joker in the couch?

          "What did you gave me, Bruce?" Olivia asked, pointing to the chair. "Because that...th-that's not normal."

          "Can you see him too?"

           "Huh...you don't?"

          Bruce looked straight ahead. "You're not cured of his blood either" Olivia raised an eyebrow, but the elevator opened in front of them. "What happened?" He grabbed the wheelchair that was lying on the floor.

          "Oh god no," A voice behind them spoke, the two vigilantes turned, meeting Commissioner Jim Gordon. He tried to walk towards them, but something crunched under his feet and he removed his foot, finding a frame containing a photo of him and Barbara. Olivia watched him reach down to pick it up.

          "It's not your fault, Jim," Batman said, breaking that tense silence.

          "Of course it is. Crane wants to get to me," The commissioner replied with anguish. "I should have been there."

          "Jim..." Olivia murmured approaching, but her mentor stopped her.

          "I have to show you something," Batman said before approaching the small sculpture to touch the red button that was hidden.

          Olivia pressed her lips together in a fine line as her mentor pushed the button, revealing the true purpose of the room. The lights in the room went out, showing the screens of the batcomputer and one of them appeared Atlas Eisley, who was surprised and confused by the whole situation.

          "Huh...welcome, Commissioner?" He asked and Olivia glared at him.

          "She's strong, Jim," Batman announced standing behind the commissioner. "Much more than you think."

          Jim Gordon turned to face the Dark Night, Olivia remained still, knowing the commissioner didn't look in such a good mood.

          "Does she work for you?" He declared in annoyance and headed for the elevator, deliberately pushing his shoulder. "It's all your fault."

          "I'll find her."

          Jim Gordon stopped in his tracks, then turned and punched Batman, Olivia and Atlas winced, but stayed away - admiring the beautiful mess that had been unleashed. Jim spread his arms angrily, staring at Bruce Wayne "It's my family! My daughter! It's all I have." He resumed his steps toward the elevator. "I should never have trusted you. Never!" Olivia walked over to Bruce, watching as the commissioner threw the device that would communicate them to the ground. "I will do this alone. Stay away from my family!"

          As soon as Jim Gordon left the place, Olivia touched her mentor's shoulder, subtly, but upsetting him anyway. The Dark Night confronted a girl with blond hair and the young woman didn't know if his gaze was about to kill her or simply a lecture of the few that he gave to Dick, Jason and her when they lived in the manor. Olivia smirked, trying to show humor, but that made him angrier.

          "What the hell happened, Olivia?" Batman exclaimed to her. "I thought you had it under control."

          The Joker appeared in front of them. "Oh, come on, Batsy. The girl hasn't done so badly" They both looked in his direction, glaring at the mere hallucination and he raised his hands. "I think quiet I look prettier."

          Olivia looked at Bruce. "I thought so, until I received a blow from a gun butt." Bruce was about to speak, but Olivia stopped him. "I'm talking. Let me finish, damn it. I tried to avoid all of this, but the Arkham Knight took me by surprise. Now we have two missions, catch Crane and rescue Barbara."

          "That's it! The dynamite trio!" The clown in violet suit exclaimed.

          "Shut up!" The two vigilantes said at the same time.

          The two vigilantes walked towards the computer panel, Atlas tried to search for some material from the Clock Tower cameras, but found missing fragments as they were deactivated when the coordinated attack occurred. However, he managed to get the neighborhood cameras by hacking into the Gotham City Hall servers. They found the different points and concentrated on the entrance, where there were several manned trucks and a tank. Suddenly, the main doors of the Clock Tower swung open, revealing a soldier in a helmet with a girl carried on his shoulder.

          "That's Barbara with the Arkham Knight," Atlas declared by tapping a couple of buttons on his keyboard. "I will try to find another point to see in which car she went."

          Olivia pointed to the red car. "That's it, there it is. How will we track it?"

          "We can do it from the Batmobile," Bruce said before looking at Atlas. "Let Lucius know to have the license plate ready for the vehicle. And block the entrances of your hiding place, don't allow anyone to enter."

          "Yes, sir," The blond-haired boy said. "Be careful. Phantom out."

          Bruce headed for the crack and fired his hook, while Olivia decided to take a deep breath before turning around, meeting the Joker again, disturbing her patience and sanity, again.

          "How did Scarecrow know how to end your technical service?" He declared with complete humor and Olivia was soon rolling her eyes before leaving the room.

━━━━━━━━

          Finding one of the militia vehicles crashed into a small lighted passageway on Miagani Island wasn't really encouraging in Olivia Wayne's eyes. Or even explosive mines in different parts of the city. Now that was alarming. But their hopes were raised when they saw that the vehicle was empty, which was both a good and a really bad thing. She and Bruce parted ways to search for clues, Olivia noticed that the front door on the passenger seat was smashed and pulled off its hinges. A good escape route. She also found the lifeless body of one of the militiamen, indicating that he was shot out of the window for not wearing a seatbelt.

          "Huh...idiot," She murmured.

          "Batwoman!" Her mentor exclaimed.

          She quickly approached her mentor, finding the Dark Knight, showing her a small memory chip. The blonde was about to ask, but her mentor decided not to beat around the bush. "Barbara caused this accident on purpose. She left this hidden before the Arkham Knight managed to capture her again."

          Olivia quickly removed the small memory and placed it in her gauntlet, touching a couple of buttons to contact Atlas, who appeared in a hologram. "Any news?"

          "Yes, Phantom," Olivia added, looking at the hologram. "Oracle left this memory chip at the scene of the accident. We need you to decipher the data to find the Arkham Knight. We're on Miagani Island." She looked at her mentor.

          "You should get out of there as soon as possible; the militia has stronger armored tanks and drones."

          Batman approached. "Focus on the data, we need to find Barbara."

          "Okay, I'll ask Lucius for help," He said before cutting off.

         The two of them looked at each other and got into the vehicle before heading towards Wayne Tower at top speed. They came across a couple of tanks and a couple of insults from the Arkham Knight, Olivia couldn't stop laughing when she heard him, it was just amazing to see how the two vigilantes destroyed their weapons in less than several minutes. The two vigilantes quickly climbed the tower with their hooks, finding themselves at the entrance to Bruce's office. Olivia recognized that place very well, since after school, Bruce sometimes took her there. When the doors opened, they found Lucius Fox, always dressed in a suit for the occasion next to a hologram of Atlas Eisley.

          "Nice to stop by, Mr. Wayne," The black-skinned man declared and looked at Olivia. "That suit really looks great on you, Miss Wayne. I know the moment isn't worth it, but I welcome you to the vigilante family."

          "Thank you, Lucius," The blond-haired girl smiled.

          "Did you finish figuring it out?" Bruce asked, looking at the man in the suit.

          "We managed to do it, we just need a sample of our friend's voice," Atlas said through the hologram. "So we can triangulate the bastard's position."

          Batman walked over to the computer, placing a portion of the Arkham Knight's recorded voice. The location soon triangulated, marking a new point of interest: the Miagani Island tunnels. Bruce was soon heading for the exit, Olivia following smoothly and saying goodbye to his teammates before jumping off the balcony. The rain hadn't stopped and Olivia silently appreciated the suit was waterproof, staying dry and warm next to the chill that Gotham City emanated. Batman sped up quickly before attracting unwanted attention, heading away from Wayne Tower to head to the assigned location on Miagani.

          Olivia touched her hands and stared straight ahead. Those were times where she could breathe clearly, or at least take that break - but she felt something was wrong and the night had just begun. Olivia was nervous, not just for the simple fact of not knowing Barbara's whereabouts, but the whole thing about the Joker's appearances and the alleged enmity with the Arkham Knight, that really upset her.

          She didn't understand why.

          How the hell did Bruce keep his shit together?

          "Olivia," He called and the blonde-haired girl turned her face to him. "You know we should lock you up, right?"

          "I'm not the only one who should lock herself in here," The Wayne girl stressed, looking seriously at her mentor. "We both have to."

          "You could be keeping Tim company."

          "What about you, huh?" The vigilante declared, looking a bit annoyed. "Will you continue this without me? Will you face an enemy who knows how you think? Will you force me to watch you get killed from a camera and sitting in a room? Hell no."

          "This has already escalated from bad to worse."

          Bruce stopped at the tunnel doors, leaving the Batmobile in attack mode. He ordered Atlas to open the floodgates and silence was reigning between them. Olivia returned her gaze to the front while Bruce was still staring at her. The blond-haired girl licked her lips.

          "You asked me if I wanted to go through with this and I said yes," Olivia said in a tone that was too soft. "I already lost Jason, Bruce. I'm not going to lose you." Her mentor was about to say something else. "Don't give me those fucking bullshit about sentimentality!"

          The tunnel doors opened in front of them and the two vigilantes entered with the vehicle, finding another door. Apparently, Atlas wasn't as successful in keeping him hack into the security system, forcing them both to continue through the vents. During the process, Tim contacted them - clearly asking for Barbara, which Olivia tried to answer without sounding suspicious. The last thing the two of them needed was to upset Robin. Bruce dissuaded Tim from continuing his investigation of the antidote and the two continued until they reached a large pavilion filled with tanks, turrets, and militia soldiers.

          Damn, Olivia thought.

          "I think this would be at least a portion of her entire arsenal," the blonde girl murmured.

          "We have to get the Batmobile in."

          Olivia glared at Bruce before muttering under her breath, "Are you crazy?" She pointed silently down. "They are a thousand soldiers together with armored tanks and armed with missiles, you want them to kill us."

          "Any other idea?"

          Olivia pointed to a crack that led to a row of ducts below, and Bruce quickly rolled his eyes, then headed that way. They both entered the duct, which stretched below the surface, holding the militia soldiers above their heads. They were both silent with their steps, listening to every stupid thing the militiamen were saying to each other. Olivia firmly questioned whether she should take those jerks seriously or not, because if not, she would be very angry. Sure, the enemy stereotype wasn't for everyone - but she wanted them to make an effort.

          The two exited through the crack, in a place further from the tanks and where no militiaman could see them. Being in a flat place and without the smell of dirt, Olivia closed the crack through which they came out, but as if it were something sudden, a couple of shots echoed off Batman's suit and when they turned, they found the figure of the Arkham Knight leaping towards them. He aimed her first blow at the Dark Knight, knocking him down instantly and Olivia took the opportunity to launch a kick that was stopped by the Knight's arm.

          "Shit," Olivia muttered.

          The Arkham Knight simply gave a little laugh before throwing her against the wall parallel to him. The blonde felt every muscle ache, but she was still conscious, listening to the steps the Arkham Knight took toward his mentor.

          "No, no, no, no," He said in his robotic voice, pressing a foot against Batman's chest to keep him from getting on his feet. "You're not going anywhere, old man." He leaned toward him. "Triple mesh, titanium coating armor. Nice..." He removed his foot only to crouch down a bit, placing his weapon on a weak spot in the suit. "Unless you know exactly where to shoot..."

          Olivia yelped when the Arkham Knight pulled the trigger and he looked up, finding the blond-haired girl trying to get to her feet. The enemy laughed when they heard Batman growl.

          "You are good, Dark Knight! Even better than I remembered!" He exclaimed, walking towards the exit. "But then it will be even more satisfying when I kill you. Oh, and don't worry about Barbara. I'll take better care of her than you ever did. Our intruders are in the control room! Let them see what happens when they mess with my city."

          A couple of militiamen were on their way and Olivia couldn't afford the mistake of letting the Arkham Knight escape, so she ducked into the crack again and followed him until she found a middle point to drop a smoke bomb, alerting a couple of soldiers. She scuttled until she found him on vigilante and ran to produce a hook, throwing him away.

          Olivia: 1 - Arkham Knight: 0.

          (Actually, they were even, since the bastard knocked her unconscious. The score sounded better in Olivia's head.)

          This one got up heavily. "Don't you get tired of failing?"

          "One of my strengths is being stubborn," Olivia said with a bit of humor and simply shrugged before putting herself up. "You should get used to it, bitch."

          "He knows how to train his soldiers," The Arkham Knight declared, slowly approaching her. "And I know how to defeat them."

          He landed the first blow, which Olivia dodged with great agility, launching a second with a kick. Both battled like a dance, receiving and dodging blows, Olivia had to admit that the Arkham Knight knew how to make his movements, until surprisingly the blonde ducked and twisted her leg, destabilizing the Knight, to pounce on him once more. A trivial fight broke out between them, one trying to choke the other, they both spun and suddenly, the Arkham Knight was on top of her.

          "Oh, I think I'm liking this."

          Olivia struggled. "What kind of enemy are you?"

          "A very attractive one indeed," He replied and Olivia nodded her hoof, then let out a grunt of pain, the Knight pulled away from her quickly, releasing a smoke bomb and Olivia coughed uncontrollably. The girl watched him get into a vehicle, so she released her hook and came quickly to stand on its roof, rushing out as several tanks fired at Batman.

          Feeling the cool air was completely heartwarming, but as she tried to stand in the vehicle, several shots fired toward the roof of the vehicle and Olivia squealed, dodging each one. The door above opened, exposing the Arkham Knight, Olivia soon took the weapon away from her to throw it away, but a kick wasn't expected. The Knight came out through the roof, holding onto the door and looked down.

          "Let Batman follow the decoy," He said and looked up at Olivia. "I'll take care of her."

          He fired his hook and bolted to another building, Olivia wasted no time in following him, losing the transport on another avenue. The Knight was the first to land, receiving a batarang that ripped his arm, letting out blood. Olivia returned to holding her gun when it came back to her hand and landed on the floor from a metal scaffold.

          "Batman has trained you well, princess," The enemy admitted, straightening up in front of the blonde. "I thought you were more delicate."

         "I don't think that's the correct conclusion."

          "I realized."

          "Why are you doing this?" Olivia snapped, trying to soften her tone. "Why do you want to kill Batman?"

          "Of all the people who appreciate him, you should know."

          "He does what he thinks is right."

          "Oh yeah?" The Arkham Knight said. "Stop defending him, princess, or you'll end up dead."

          "It's worth a try."

          Olivia threw a punch, then launched a kick. The Arkham Knight blocked the kick and pulled out a knife that ripped through his leg - Olivia cried in pain and hooked her legs over his head to make a lock and throw him to the ground. She pulled out her batarang and used it as a sharp weapon to counter the knife the Arkham Knight possessed. They both rolled over and the blonde-haired girl ended up on top of him - trying to drive the knife into his throat.

          She pressed down, but the enemy's grip was like iron.

          "He has changed you, princess," The Arkham Knight said bitterly, while the blonde continued to exert pressure. "He has made you a soldier, another puppet for his work. You're not like that, Olivia."

          Olivia.

          Olivia.

          The girl's strength softened, while the girl froze on top of him and had no chance to dodge the blow with his elbow to her face. Olivia fell to the ground, while the Arkham Knight stood in front of her - the blonde knew he was armed, but didn't draw his gun to kill her.

          "Who are you?" The Wayne girl asked, overwhelmed.

          "Not yet, princess."

          The Knight ran off to jump off the roof where they fought and the Wayne girl threw a small disk that attached to the ankle of his boot, emitting a small, discreet red light - artifact courtesy of Lucius - to watch it disappear into a red cloud. She stood up heavily and felt her gauntlet make a small sound. At the touch of the last button, Atlas's hologram opened in front of her.

          "Woah, you look terrible."

          Olivia rolled her eyes. "I'm not in the mood."

          "Bruce doesn't either," Atlas replied with a shrug. "He will meet Dick in the bay, apparently there is a small company that distributes weapons around the city."

          "Okay, I'm on my way," The girl said, stopping suddenly. "Could you do me a favor? A few minutes ago, I ran into our dear enemy and implanted a little tracker in him. I need you to find it and hack any recording of the place or communications."

          "Should I report this to Bruce?"

          Oh, no. Definitely not.

          Olivia shook her head. "Just report it to me."

━━━━━━━━

not edited