TWO SOULS,
chapter eleven: a stupid clue!

          KEEPING SOMETHING A SECRET THAT COULD MAKE THE MISSION WORSE WAS A RISK OLIVIA WAYNE WAS WILLING TO TAKE. Despite being loyal to her mentor, despite being loyal to the cause, she had her interest in the identity of the Arkham Knight and was willing to find out who the man behind that mask was. The young woman observed the location that Atlas had sent her on the position of her current mentor and how he insisted that she come. The blond-haired vigilante swayed between Gotham City's grand buildings, encountering the same scum she saw every night when Bruce was on patrol with Dick or Jason. The young woman remained thoughtful at the time, realizing that if she didn't look ahead - she would end up crashing in front of a GCPD sign.

          (The girl yelped before firing her hook higher.)

          Olivia glided freely between some buildings before reaching the bay, encountering a large - not to say intimidating - figure dressed in black with bat ears. The young woman landed effortlessly, crying out in pain as she nearly stumbled to her feet. The Wayne girl turned on her heel, fixing her gaze on not-so-soft eyes on her; a completely tense and impatient look.

          Damn.

          Oh, if a lot of people said meeting Bruce Wayne was easy, Olivia could freely tell them that they were all wrong.

          She smiled, "How was it chasing the Arkham Knight?"

          "Where the hell were you?" The Dark Knight asked flatly. "I needed your help."

          Olivia pursed her lips into a fine line. It was too clear that she would choose to lie to hide the true situation, but...how long could she hide the truth? The blonde was about to say something when another person appeared by one of the edges of the small building where they were. Olivia turned, meeting a boy who was taller than her, older, but seeing his face reminded her of the same old jerk who came to visit the mansion from time to time.

          (But Olivia really loved him like a brother, to clarify.)

          Dick Grayson walked towards them, looking at his mentor with amusement. "Are you still wandering the rooftops?"

          "You shouldn't have come," Batman replied, looking seriously at Nightwing. "Not tonight."

          Dick nodded and pointed to the blonde. "She shouldn't be here, that's for sure," the vigilante stressed with annoyance. "I thought we had a deal, Bruce."

          "Excuse me?" Olivia exclaimed, crossing her arms.

          "This is an extraordinary case, Dick," Bruce replied, maintaining his position. "Liv is more than qualified to do this," Olivia stuck her tongue out at Dick and he rolled his eyes. "In addition, she has managed to stand out very well with her fights being the first time."

          "Still, she shouldn't be here."

          "Stop treating me like a kid, dick!"

          Grayson rolled his eyes. "I'm no longer surprised that you call me that."

          "North Refrigeration," Batman interrupted, looking at Dick. "Tell me what you know."

          Dick sighed before speaking. "The Penguin uses refrigerated trucks to traffic from Blüdhaven. I think he keeps his weapons in Gotham City." He turned to look at the city. "But the question is...where?"

          Olivia clicked her tongue. "Cobblepot is the key to finding Barbara. We have to find the weapons hideout." She looked at the two vigilantes. "Any ideas?"

          Dick paused on the edge of the roof before laughing. "If only you knew someone who knows his movements..."

          Olivia and Bruce approached, finding a van stopping in front of an abandoned parking lot, where the lights of two cars came on and that was the signal to be alert. The three of them crouched, watching the scene before them, to look at Dick at the same time. The short-haired boy shrugged. "What? You are not thinking that I came without a plan, are you?"

          "We'll take care of it," Bruce stated, watching as a man got out of the truck. "They need you in Blüdhaven."

          "Come on, Bruce," Grayson complained in annoyance. "Let me help. You cannot do this alone."

          "Huh...Hello?" Olivia said raising her hands. "I'm right here, you idiot."

          "And you'll stay here, silly."

          Olivia opened her mouth to utter a rudeness at Bruce's ears - but the growl he let out was enough to silence the two vigilantes who were about to get into a fight of insults. They both remained silent, staring at each other, glaring at each other - while Bruce debated taking matters into his own hands or acting as a team.

          "It's too dangerous, Olivia and I will take care of this," The bat declared. "Blüdhaven needs you."

          "HA!"

          The warning look that Bruce sent Olivia at that moment was enough for her to regret teasing in the first place. Dick let out a sigh and stood up. "Okay, I get the hint. But if you want to watch that truck, take this." He held out a gun. "It is a prototype fresh out of R&D. Old Fox has outdone himself." He watched as he unfolded his weapon. "See you, Bruce."

          Dick's trail disappeared in seconds, without first waving by raising his middle finger at Olivia before disappearing. She rolled her eyes and watched as Bruce disabled the active weapons of the thugs who were there. He let Olivia take care of the rest, magically bringing them down - seeing his protégé's progress was something to admire and he, within himself, was proud of Olivia.

          This was the constant reminder that Olivia Wayne was no longer a child.

          And tonight, was a reminder of her role in this whole mess.

          Olivia beckoned to Bruce, who blinked a few times, snapping out of his trance and jumped off the ceiling to land next to the Wayne girl. They both headed towards the back of the truck, where Bruce fired a tracker at the back door to keep from losing the target and the blonde in it to knock on the door.

          The door opened, revealing one of the Penguin's thugs. "What did you forget?"

          Olivia smiled. "What's up, bro?"

          His shocked reaction was too much not to miss, as he bolted toward the front seats, yelling at his partner that Batman and Batgirl - getting Olivia to snarl - were there about to bring them to justice. The truck sped up, leaving the two vigilantes in the same spot. Olivia nodded before pressing her lips together tightly and looked at her mentor.

          "That was easy, wasn't it?"

          Batman pulled out his grappling hook before shooting it towards a building, away from Olivia - leaving her no choice but to follow.

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          Getting to the hideout was not easy, at least for the number of turns the truck took to lose track of the vigilantes - Olivia and Bruce headed for a door in the ground that led them to a hideout with windows. Several voices were heard from within, laughter, comments a bit vulgar, but there was only one voice that had caught the attention of the two vigilantes.

          "What do we do with the bat?" One of the thugs asked.

          "Batman?" Cobblepot asked, walking from his vault to a pile of money. "Don't worry about him. He's in danger of extinction."

          "Yes! We lost him! It's over!"

          "See? I told you," The Penguin said. "He couldn't even beat you two in the truck. He thinks he's smart! Anyway, listen to me! I have something to tell you."

          The Dark Knight and the blonde slipped through the vents, encountering the hideous figure of the Joker trying to disrupt their mission. Olivia decided to ignore him before continuing on her way. They both stopped at the metal cracks near the location where the Penguin was. Bruce glanced at Olivia, while she just kept her gaze fixed on the enemy. They both came to light, surprising all the thugs there. The Dark Knight grabbed Cobblepot by the collar of his shirt to put him against the pile of banknotes won from robberies and other things Olivia didn't want to guess.

          "The Arkham Knight and Barbara Gordon!" The furious bat exclaimed. "TELL ME WHERE THEY ARE!"

          Cobblepot gave a bitter laugh, "What do we have here? Is it the commissioner's daughter?"

          One of the thugs was about to approach the bat, but Olivia kicked him away, knocking him out with a stick to throw him away. She stood firm and on guard, waiting for the next attack - behind her, Bruce wielded more power over the enemy.

          "I'm going to break all your bones, Cobblepot," He warned.

          Olivia looked at the Penguin. "You better do what he says."

          "And who do you think you are?" The Penguin shouted as he silently ordered another thug to approach the blonde. "The new Batgirl?"

          Olivia dodged the first blow from another of them, to return it in the form of a key, hooking her legs over her head to perform a backward somersault, finished by hitting her head hard with her fist. She looked at the rest. "The next one who decides to call me Batgirl again, I'll break your teeth."

          "Answer me!" Batman growled.

          "They were going to see an old man named Simon Stagg," The villain exclaimed, touching Batman's arm, before looking to the side and Olivia directed her fist towards another bully's Adam's apple, before launching a kick to make him fall. "He runs a pharmaceutical company or something like that!"

          The Knight of the Night, already annoyed, took Cobblepot by the collar of his shirt - lifting him off the ground. "Don't lie to me!"

          The little man shifted in Batman's tight grip. "I don't, I swear! He said he was going to leave Gotham City. The airships west of the river are his!"

          "You have to be kidding me," Olivia growled before hearing two guns loaded behind her, the young woman turned, meeting two armed thugs and raised her hands to drop a smoke bomb.

          Batman took that opportunity to throw the Penguin's body at them, knocking all three down with his brute force - but it didn't take long before two others grabbed him from behind. Olivia hit a couple more thugs and a hiss passed behind her, quickly. While her mentor was being held, the little man stood up heavily, grunting and fixing her gaze on the bat.

          "That won't do you any good!" Cobblepot exclaimed before opening the great gate. "Scarecrow will tear you to pieces! You will fall, Batman!"

          Olivia threw a hook at another bully to lure her in and hook her legs to swing back, knocking her to her feet. Turning his head, he quickly found the image of one of the thugs holding a baseball bat, before someone whistled - only to receive a sharp blow from a small baton. The figure of Dick Grayson appeared in front of Batman, taking his lost baton.

          "And I thought you could do it alone," He scoffed.

          Olivia showed him the middle finger. "And I thought you wouldn't interfere."

          "Easy, silly, thank me later!"

          Olivia rolled her eyes before running over to the thugs holding her mentor, clambered in front of one and leapt forward, dragging her body to throw him to the ground - followed by a kick towards the second thug. A pitched fight broke out in that pavilion, where Dick, Bruce and Olivia fought hand to hand against all the enemies, the three vigilantes swinging from one side to the other - helping each other as a team, breaking as many bones as necessary. One by one, all the enemies fell together and Olivia was the last to bring down a big man thanks to the force of the impulse that Dick gave her.

          The place fell silent.

          Damn, Olivia always hated silence.

          "Okay," She started looking at her two partners. "Now what?"

          "We can't let any of those weapons hit the streets," Batman stated looking at the blonde. "We have to destroy this hideout."

          Olivia nodded, ready to pull out her explosive gel pistol, but someone grabbed her legs to carry her over the shoulder - like a bag of potatoes. The girl groaned and began to struggle, but seeing that it was neither more nor less than the acrobat she grew up with, the young woman soon gave him a spanking on the rear. She wondered a thousand and one times why he had such a perfect ass.

          Even that was an enigma.

          However, on spanking him, Dick complained.

          "Let go of me!" The blond-haired girl exclaimed, and the only response she received was a spanking from Dick.

          "Who was going to say my little sister would kick butt like that?" Grayson said with amusement before turning around, getting the blonde to laugh. "I'm proud of you, baby bird."

          "Oh, do you appreciate my combat skills now?" Olivia declared, trying to sound offended. "We..."

          "We had it under control," Batman growled at the entrance to the vault, staring at the two vigilantes. "I already told you, I want you to go back to Blüdhaven. And put your sister down right now!"

          The two of them fell silent before Dick put Olivia down. The Wayne girl understood her mentor's mere concern for Dick, enough with Barbara Gordon missing - he wasn't prepared to lose yet another member of his family. Olivia understood that fear, understood the despair in Bruce's gaze - who, despite wearing a mask to hide that agony, his protégé knew him too well. Grayson stepped forward, facing, as many times before, his mentor.

          "The weapons, Scarecrow, this affects Blüdhaven too," He said and took the blonde's hand. "This is where I should be."

          A very tense silence formed between the two of them.

          For Olivia it was unbearable.

          "He's right, Bruce," The blonde declared.

          Dick clicked his tongue. "Look, considering how much the Penguin has gotten into Gotham City, there must be more."

          "He must have other hiding places around the city," added the great bat. "Look for evidence here. They will help us find other Penguin refrigeration trucks."

          They both nodded and headed off to find a couple of evidence at the site. It didn't take long for them to hear a contained explosion next to them, making them look up for a second. Returning to her homework, Dick made his way to the truck, opening it wide - looking for the odd clue. Olivia stopped checking a sector to join Bruce and Dick.

          "I'm going to get Barbara," He said and Olivia opened her mouth to speak. "You will stay with Nightwing."

          "HA!" Dick exclaimed this time, earning a protest from the blonde.

          "I refuse," She declared.

          "I won't be long."

          "But..." She insisted again, but Bruce's intense gaze was enough to cease her uneasiness. "Okay, I'll stay with him."

          Batman nodded, before silently leaving the room. Olivia went back to her task, searching every place in that giant pavilion. Somehow, she was confident that Bruce could take care of himself - considering that he came home after every night on patrol with Dick, or with Jason or even Tim. The girl continued searching, rummaging through money, weapons, and the terrible musty smell that the place had. Dick was whistling, checking the entire truck and having someone nearby was a great relief for the blonde, but hearing a small beep from her gauntlet - that could be good of course. Olivia glanced at Dick, who continued to whistle to keep his concentration and the blonde took that opportunity to slip through the cracks in the floor and out through a metal conduit, retracing her previous steps to get out of that warehouse.

          The rain had stopped a bit, but the Wayne girl still felt small drops hit her skin - she looked at her gauntlet and pressed the button, finding the hologram of Atlas, who looked quite annoyed.

          "I hate when you don't pick up on time."

          Olivia smiled. "It's one of my gifts."

          "Very funny," He snapped back. "Bruce is having complications at Stagg's airships and the Arkham Knight is heading there."

          "Tell my father I'm on my way."

          The girl pulled out her hook gun and Atlas stopped her looking at the screen beside her, Olivia raised an eyebrow. "Wait, something's wrong."

          "What's going on?"

          "The Arkham Knight's position changed."

          "Where did he go?!"

          On the other side, Atlas moved his fingers across the keyboard as fast as he could, but finding the villain's true position, it was too late. She felt a chill run down her spine slowly - but he wasn't truly afraid for his life, if not that of his partner. There was something funny about that, it even seemed stupid in his mind (besides being a fucking cliché, of course). Olivia's image was still on the screen, showing confusion, showing fear and anger at the same time. But, as said before, it was too late. The Arkham Knight wasn't in Simon Stagg's airships.

          The Arkham Knight was in the same position as Olivia Wayne.

          "WHERE IS HIM?!" She exclaimed.

          "JUST RUN!"

          Olivia ran to the edge of the building before jumping up, realizing something grabbed her foot and she felt a sharp pull toward solid ground. As she landed on the rooftop floor, the young woman grunted and spun around, finding the enemy standing. She took out a batarang to cut the rope that held her, but when the edge of the knife passed, it did not break.

          Damn it, she mentally growled.

          The young woman launched a kick that was stopped by the Arkham Knight's hand.

          "I'm surprised to see you're still fighting, princess."

          Olivia was about to curse at his face, but the swift, nimble movement the enemy made was enough to leave her weak for at least a few minutes. She remembered inhaling a bit of gas, feeling lighter in weight, before falling into the enemy's arms.

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