In the dark of the night Who:Barbara Gordon Batwoman NPCs: Random Thug Where: The Narrows When: November 15, 2012 [backdated like whoa] What: Babs debuts as Gotham's newest vigilante. Rating: PG-13, violence Status: Complete
Alan “Toothless” Graves wasn’t someone that any person in their right mind would want to mess with. He was well connected and a known member of one of the many mobs that ran though Gotham. He earned the nickname “Toothless” not because of his lack of teeth but for the lack of teeth his victims were left. None whatsoever. And on this night in the Narrows, people did the usual thing of avoiding him and trying to make sure they stayed out of his way as much as they could. Nobody wanted to deal with Toothless if they could help it. He walked with the usual strut you’d imagine from someone that knew how much power and influence they had. He could cause someone a lot of pain and had no qualms of doing is if presented with the opportunity. He’d been in and out of jail numerous times for crimes that never seemed to stick and just the sort of person that Barbara knew might have an idea of who was responsible for what happened to Dick.
It was her first night out in the costume that she’d put together herself over the past few weeks. In the end it was the attack on Dick that motivated her enough to finally go through with her crazy idea. The same crazy idea that involved her putting together a costume that was an imitation of what her father described and some lucky newspaper columnists could get a hold of. The pictures were always a bit blurry and Barbara had to do a lot of guesswork to put the whole ensemble together.
She wore black from head to toe, the costume made from pieces of Kevlar used in bulletproof vests. It wasn’t the greatest costume in the world and in normal light it was actually rather crudely pieced together but Barbara hadn’t intended on debuting it quite so soon. She was growing increasingly restless and so this would have to do for a time until she could put a better suit together. The bat symbol on the front was done in a bright red color and the mask she wore more or less covered her face but not her entire head. She left her red hair loose only because she couldn’t get a mask to work that covered her whole head that wouldn’t mess with her vision. In the dark she cut a rather intimidating figure and the lack of light disguised the lack of neat stitch work.
Barbara had been stalking Toothless for a few blocks now and he still hadn’t picked up on the fact that he was being followed. Perhaps his head was a few sizes too big with foolish pride in thinking that anyone would want to attack him. When he decided to make a shortcut through an alley, Barbara knew that this was her only chance to do what she needed to do.
As soon as there were shadows enough for her to use to her advantage, she leaped down. The strike against Toothless was swift and smacked him hard into the concrete. Training under the Dragon for so many years had paid off more in that moment than they had in her career thus far as a police officer for Gotham PD. Toothless wasn’t looking to fight a cop, he was trying to fight something in the shadow and he wasn’t some untrained thug who got lucky punches. He knew how to fight and it showed. But even with his knowledge of combat, it was clear that he was the lesser in skill. A solid chop against the side of his head made his eyes cross and his mind reeled from the blow. It was just what Barbara needed to finally slam him hard against the wall, his face pushing against the rough brick and his arm twisted behind his back.
“Who did it?” she growled, purposely dropping her voice a couple of octaves to disguise it, “Who attacked Grayson?”
“What the hell?” he shouted “Is that what this is about? You think I did it?”
“If you’d done it, you’d be dead,” she warned and he struggled against her grip. Richard would be proud. Or maybe not, Barbara knew that he didn’t have intentions of her using the skills he’d taught her for this purpose. She applied more pressure on his arm and he shouted, “Okay okay, I get it!”
“Who did it?” she questioned again and Toothless snarled, “Look, I don’t know who attacked that prissy little rich brat. I can tell you that it wasn’t the people that I work for, otherwise they would have sent me and he would’ve gotten more than some bump on the head.” It was the wrong thing to say, but he had no idea that the person who attacked him was a friend of Dick Grayson. Barbara jabbed an elbow into his back and then pushed his head harder into the wall.
“Tell me everything you know,” she said, “And I might let you go without a broken arm.”
“I don’t know nothing!” he protested, “Look, I’m a muscle, they don’t tell me shit. I just go and knock out some teeth when a point needs being made. I can’t tell you nothing if I don’t know nothing!” He was a little scared, which surprised Barbara a bit. Only because she imagined someone like him being able to handle themselves better when they were the ones receiving the beating. Apparently he was like a lot of bullies out there. Ready to dish it out, but when it was handed back to them, they were nothing but scared little boys who were just filled with hot air. Yet he had a point. There was little that Toothless would know and all that stalking she’d done tonight had been possibly for nothing.
Well, it wasn’t completely gone to waste. She knew that whoever he worked for wasn’t involved, because he was right, if they were, they’d have sent him. Toothless was used to make a point, and what happened to Dick wasn’t his MO.
“Who the hell are you lady?” he asked finally, “And what does Grayson have to do with you?”
“I ask the questions,” she warned and flipped him around quickly to hold him by the neck against the wall. She wasn’t strong enough to lift him, but the pressure she applied to his windpipe was enough to keep him still, “I’ve got a message for your bosses.”
Toothless stared at the darkened figure. Yes, it was a woman, but it was something else as well. The mask she wore covered what the shadows cast on her face might not have toughed. He noted the red bat symbol over her the breast of her costume faintly in the dark.
“Anything,” he choked, “I’ll tell them whatever you want!”
“Tell them that they better crawl back into the holes they’ve been hiding in. This city isn’t their playground and will never be,” she squeezed only a little tighter to make her point. Toothless nodded furiously as if to confirm that he was indeed going to pass this message again. A knee to the stomach came just as she released his throat and he doubled over, coughing hard as he tried to breathe in the air that had been denied for that brief moment. By the time he started to gather his senses, the figure was gone and he was left alone in the alley with only a beaten ego and wonderment as to who that person was.
The bat on her chest might have been obvious enough. Batman. Batwoman. Same difference in his book, and the only thing that might stop him from sharing that message might be his male ego and not liking to admit that someone of his caliber got his ass handed to him by some woman. But if she was associated with Batman, well, that might get him off the hook. Batman was a ghost and that woman had both arrived and left in a similar manner to the legend.
Whoever she was, she’d made her point alright and Toothless was going to relay her message. Anything to stop her from coming after him for the message failing to be delivered.