Raven

My arms were well and truly gashed. I changed the bandages that the Joker had so carefully and meticulously applied whilst I slept in a spell of vicious curses and spats of blood. They took near two weeks to heal, until my smooth pale skin was what it once was again. I was left with small pale pink scars from the deeper abrasions...soon they would fade into silver marks that would stand out against my creamy skin in the moonlight.

I was being haunted, haunted by him. And it was bothering me. I had come to Gotham for a reason, and that reason was Batman. The reason was money, power, and glory...what we all want in some form or another. I want to kill the Dark Knight. I want to unmask him to the world that adores him, I want to know who he is...I want to see the life leave his eyes as someone...finally, bests him. But The Joker, something about him was niggling at me. It was like a tic, burrowed under my skin and slowly sucking away at my life. My mind was maddening every moment of every day I was staying here in Gotham, and I was becoming more and more aware of it. But I couldn’t leave now, could I? Not when the games had just begun.

I sat alone on my cold kitchen counter top, flicking the second Joker card between my fingers. I closed my eyes at the slight breeze it emitted as it flew in and out of my fingers and then I opened my eyes, looking straight into the obscene smiling face of the drawing. I ripped it in half, the card halves peeling away from each other and they floated slowly to the floor, each side of The Joker’s face smiling at me, laughing.

I jumped from the counter, landing on the cards, crushing them beneath my feet. I laughed, my eyes rolling wildly, and my hand twitched for something, a gun, a knife, anything to make me feel in control. I needed to kill, to injure...I needed to fly as Raven.

I was always Raven, pretending to be Sparrow. And right now, Sparrow and her silly love problems with Bruce Wayne who wouldn’t stop calling her was of little importance to me. Mr. Bruce Wayne, the billionaire of Gotham would have his uses soon but not right now, for now, I needed to keep him eager and Sparrow was certainly leaving him with a wanting taste for more. He wanted me as Sparrow desperately, oh if he knew the real Sparrow, with her jet black wings and her coal dark eyes...I don’t think he’d feel good...I think he’d be very scared indeed.

I shook my head, ridding the thoughts of torturing Bruce Wayne. It wouldn’t be good to lose myself now. I needed to keep fighting this fight, the constant battle on reminding myself who it was to be Sparrow, and who it was to be the real me, Raven. And of course, that bloody shadow that stalked me, how to get rid of The Joker.

I was no fool, I thought to myself as I pulled on my black clothing. I needed The Joker to start my attempt at controlling Gotham. He would be a useful ally but eventually, one of us would need to step down and out or be killed. Superheroes tend to work in teams when they can, they can capture easily like that because apparently they’re ‘valiant’ and ‘true’...villains, we are not like that at all. Eventually one of us gets a little greedier, we get jealous, and we are petty. There can only be one alive at the end of the story.

I pulled on my gloves, and then my contacts. I stared at myself in the mirror, watching the transformation as I placed my piece of cloth over my eyes, masking Sparrow and unleashing Raven. Diamonds were my objects tonight. Diamonds, and rubies and sapphires. A girl needs a little sparkle in her life...especially one’s worth 3.5 million.

I silently made my way onto my rooftop, flying from building to building, eventually reaching the small but exquisite jewellery store that was my target. As was my style, I stared into the camera lens for a moment, deciding once again to let Gotham know I was still alive, I was here and I was fighting. And what Raven wants, Raven gets.

I fogged the camera over then, and shot the lock from the door. There was one security guard in the back office, the security office and his hand was reaching out for the phone, obviously having seen my face appear on the screen and deciding to call for back up. He was dead before his finger touched the receiver, a bullet through the head causing his body to slump to the floor, and blood to secrete from the wound.

I made a face, stepping over the dead body casually, my boots hitting the wooden floor with a dull thud. I looked at the computer system for the security cameras and with a slight roll of my eyes, ran my hands over the computer, hacking into the database and disabling the cameras from there. Easy as pie. These simple robberies were becoming boring.

I waltzed into the main store area, spinning lightly on my toes and I held my hands out as if I were dancing with an imaginary stranger. I did not expect a strong pair of hands to enclose themselves in mine, and with a startled yell I opened my eyes stumbling back to draw my gun. But his hands were strong and they held me in place.

“Hello Birdie, flown from the nest I see.”

I narrowed my eyes at The Joker, and as he let me go, knowing I wasn’t going to hit him or kill him, I subconsciously rubbed my sleeve where my arms had been cut. “What are you doing here CB?”I growled, shoving past him and knocking my shoulder against his viciously.

“Oh, I see someone still has their panties in a twist.” He cackled and licked his lips. He rubbed his hands together and watched me with an eerie stillness in his eyes as I picked the lock off the glass casing in the store.

I snorted, my breath fogging the glass for a moment before it disappeared. “Don’t think that you’ve had any effect on my panties CB,” I sighed with boredom, “but these on the other hand, just might.”

With a careful precision, I picked up the diamond encrusted necklace in between my gloved fingers and displayed it to The Joker before I placed it in a black bag tied to my waist. He came closer to me, as I filled the bag with more jewellery, and he tutted, “not even laser beams, or sensors on the velvet, shocking for a jewellers.”

“And that’s why they deserve to be robbed,” I cackled to myself and then I stopped when I felt the cold mouth of a gun press into the side of my head. I closed my eyes.

“What are you doing CB? You know you don’t want to kill me,” I whispered, there was something not akin to fear shooting in my stomach. It was adrenaline. I’d been waiting for this moment, the do or die moment.

“I may not want to kill you yet, but I want those diamonds,” he spoke low, his gun trained on my head as I slowly stood up. I was surprised he didn’t shoot me then and there but I kept the surprise from showing.

I smirked at him, in the way that was always successful, and I ran my finger up his arm. He stiffened, and I smiled wider, “You’re like every man darling, forever wanting something not in his reach.”

And with that, I acted swiftly, shoving The Joker back so his head hit the wall, and kicking the gun from his hand. I ran to the door from where I had come, but he had another gun and the bullet missed my head by inches.

“Asshole!” I screamed,

“Bitch!” was the answering yell.
I laughed, flying from the building. I decided to find a motor to steal and ran to the large car park lot on the opposite side of the street. I was like a fleeting shadow across the road, nobody saw me, and I looked around, watching The Joker as he attempted to find out where I had gone. I smiled to myself, and ran into the lot, searching for a decent car.

I never even saw him or felt his presence. I only knew there was someone else there when I felt the strong hard kick to my stomach, sending me back flying. I hit my head and I coughed violently as the air left my lungs in a whoosh.

“What the fuck?” I raised my head, searching for the mystery opponent, and my eyes widened. He was the one I’d been looking for, the one I’d been tempting to come and search for me. He was here, in all his black armoured body.

The Dark Knight.

Batman.