For Babs

[badtotheclone]

I've been keeping an eye on the place for a while now. I recognize some of the people that come in and out, people I've busted before. I try to give some of these people a chance. Not long ago, I was worse than they were. Way worse. I still probably am, but I'm trying. I got another chance so I've been trying to be a better person with it. Or, at least, not nearly as bad a monster. That means having a little faith in humanity and giving others a second chance.

Apparently, some of them don't take it, as evidenced from who is walking in and out of the drug house. Color me fucking not surprised. These people are the scum of the Earth, peddling drugs to whoever has the cash, all of that. I know that not all of them are the worst of the scum. Some of them are just kids stuck in a bad situation who feel like they have no other recourse.

I'm not the guy to give them a pep talk, to talk about making the right choices. I'm the guy to put the fear of God, or maybe Hell, in them. If being scared on to the straight and narrow is a thing, I can probably do that.

Which is why I'm discerning on who I hit the hardest once I go in. Besides the ones packing the heavy hardware, I make sure to concentrate on the ones I recognize as having warned off. I make sure they know it too, maybe it'll make their buddies rethink their life of crime. Salvation through broken bones. I should get a bumper sticker that says that. And a car with a bumper.

I make a fast, clean job of it. The bones I break are mostly fingers, making sure they won't hold guns or make fists any time soon. Only one escapes, but I saw him go and let him. A kid, probably a runner there at the wrong time. I go after him though, first to make sure he's not reporting to someone higher up and then to make sure I give him the second chance speech to scare him straight.

I catch up to him in an alley and just making it out of the mouth and into the street when I web him and pull him back. He's scared shitless, blubbering and praying. That's good. Not because I think God will help him, but scared is good.

"You get one chance, kid," I say, my voice barely more than a growl. "You get away from that shit and you stay away. You see what I did in there to your buddy Gene?"

The kid just shakes his head. Gene was the biggest guy there, a guy I had warned off before.

"His jaw is busted so bad he's going to drink through a straw for a long time. It's gonna take even longer for him to scratch his own ass his hands are crushed so bad. You wanna end up like Gene?"

The kid shakes his head again.

"Then you get the fuck home, tell your mom or whoever the hell is probably worried sick about you that you're done with that life, and finish fucking school, whatever part you're in or dropped out of."

I let the kid go and he takes off. He's fast, I'll give him that.

"And try out for track or something!" I call out after him.

Comments

[exitthewallflower]

Some things never change. Like scumbag drug dealers using kids to distribute. Kids who don't know better. Kids who could still have a future if they could find something better to do with their time, or had a life that didn't require them to hustle because it's the only way they're going to eat at the end of the day. I can't fix those things. I don't have Bruce Wayne's bank accounts or foundations. But I can find the scumbags and get them off the street before the kids end up with records that will end them before they've had a chance to begin.

Only someone's beaten me to it. I can hear the fighting inside from the roof.

Don't get me wrong, I don't care who puts these guys out of business, but I'm really in a mood for a fight these days. I see a kid make a run for it, but more importantly I see who pulls the kid back. The skinny kid's terrified and I pull a batarang from my belt to intervene 'cause it almost looks like he's not making the distinction between scumbags and kids on the wrong track. That doesn't fly with me.

But he lets the kid go. I make a quick call to emergency services to call in "suspicious sounds" in a warehouse and take another look. The costume's pretty distinctive and I'm pretty certain the other Batgirl told me about him. He's like us. Wonder how much.

I tie a line, swinging down so that I land softly behind him. "Scarlet Spider I presume?"

[badtotheclone]

If it weren't for the fact that Cass likes to surprise me whenever she can, I would have freaked out a lot worse when other Batgirl drops down behind me. I still freak out, but most of my reaction is internal. Spinning around and glaring at her is the only outward sign I give.

"Who wants to know?" I ask. I know who she is of course, but I want to see who she claims to be. We've already got one Batgirl in this city.

[exitthewallflower]

"Batgirl." I don't care if she was here in this city first, it's my name, I'm not giving it up. And if she knows this guy well enough to mention him in the brief time we talked, he probably already knows about me. That's one thing about superheroes, word travels fast.

"You should probably get going, cops are coming, they're about four minutes out." A favor, because I'm pretty sure he doesn't want surprises.

[badtotheclone]

"Nope, we already have a Batgirl, try again."

I realize she has as much right to the name as Cass, maybe more, but I don't care. She upset Cass and I'll hold that grudge for a very long time.

I can't get into that very much though, because she mentioned the cops.


"How the fuck did they hear about it so fast?"

[exitthewallflower]

"Sorry, but I'm Batgirl. I know it's confusing, but try to keep up." I got no patience for this particular argument. Doesn't matter what dimension you're from, I'm the original Batgirl and I'm not letting some spider-themed guy take that away from me.

Bats eat spiders for lunch.

"They're coming because I called it on. They may be criminal creeps in there, but based on the crying and wailing, they need medical attention. If they die before trial, the cops get twitchy." Beat 'em and leave 'em tied up, but leave 'em a corpse and you're no better than they are.

[badtotheclone]

"Are you fucking kidding me?" I ask, my temper instantly flaring. Not that my temper is all that hard to get up at the best of times, but now I'm seriously annoyed.

"You ever think I wasn't done with that place? That maybe I know what the fuck I'm doing when it comes to making sure people don't die? I didn't even get a chance to interrogate anyone because I wanted to make sure Usain Bolt there had a clear picture how bad it was to continue his current career path. Maybe I also know how those punks like to lay booby traps for cops that come in and search the place but I can disarm."

Not only that, but there was probably a shit load of money in there I could have made good use of. Normally I don't care what someone with a cape thinks of me, but I know taking the money in front of this woman would reflect badly on Cass. Also, the booby trap thing was total bullshit. But it could have been real. Maybe.

"Another Batgirl I could handle. You're a fuck up."

[exitthewallflower]

"Then maybe calling in the traps to the cops is a good idea, too, I'll tell them you said hi. But I kind of doubt that. There's nothing about this crew that makes me think they're smart enough and even if they had, the mess you made in there would have set them off. Booby traps are for off-hours, they tend to get disarmed when business is open." Funny how fleeing crooks always seem to run into their own clever traps, kind of like this guy is running his mouth.

"Speaking of fucking up, this hub, while amateur, moves a lot of product. Bosses notice. Bosses send lieutenants to figure out who screwed up where and those are the guys you want to interrogate. They have better intel then the mid-level flunkies whose jaws you just broke. When the cops come, you watch the crowd from somewhere safe, see who's eyeing the action. This isn't my first rodeo arachno-boy, but if you want to go up the chain the hard way, feel free. I'm a fan of working smarter, not harder."

[badtotheclone]

"You have your way of working, I have mine."

I don't like that she called me out on the booby-trap thing, but that should teach me not to make shit up to get my point across. That one is on me. The rest of her high and mighty attitude? That's on her.

She's pretty much a bitch.

"Don't need your help, don't want it. You butt in on what I'm doing again, I'm not going to ask you to stay out of my way."

[exitthewallflower]

"Fine, I'm out. I'll wave at you after I bust the kingpin." I aim my grappling gun at the nearby roof and fire. He wants me gone, I'll be gone. But I'll also be watching. The guy's a hothead and that's dangerous.

All I did was call the cops, which is what you're supposed to do. Especially since I'mm pretty sure this guy's questioning might have ended up with a perp or two in a coma. I'm all for beating a few answers out of a scumbag, but I had no guarantee that he's the type to leave them breathing afterwards.

[badtotheclone]

I watch her go, glad she's leaving, and I can't help but wonder what Cass is so broken up about. As far as I'm concerned, this new woman can forget all about me.

I don't think that's the last I'll see of her. She seems like the type who wants to have her finger in every pie. She all but claimed this was some sort of competition. I couldn't care less who busts the kingpin. Unless it's the actual Kingpin, I might like to go a few rounds with him.

[exitthewallflower]

Worse than Jason. Had to be. The guy was dangerous and I don't know what that means for me. He's a part of Cass' life, or she wouldn't have mentioned him. And what did that say about her? I know that once the mask goes on, real personality goes out the window and the acting begins. We all have things we do in the mask we'd never do in real life, that's why we have the masks, but he's obviously judged me and found me lacking.

That's okay, I don't meed him. I don't need anyone.

When I get to the roof, I take my position. Both to watch for the cops I can hear approaching, the onlookers that are bound to come, and the jerk who tried to pull rank.