._.

Princess of Gotham

Chapter 22: The First Encounter

3 years ago

That week couldn't have gone any worse. Nightwing on the other side of the world, without even giving us a call, Red Hood without showing any signs of life, and Red Robin in San Francisco on a mission.

I take it back, it could get worse. I was wandering around the city with my brother, robbing some convenience stores, just like in the old days. According to him, this would help me "relieve the stress" of the last few weeks. Although I thought it was because he had run out of the money Jason gave him and was too embarrassed to ask Bruce.

But just before we entered the fifth store, there were screams in the distance, patrol car sirens, and gunshots. My brother and I turned to look at each other and then saw the main avenue and, as if in silent agreement, we both ran straight into the chaos, throwing the backpack where we were carrying everything we had stolen on the ground.

As we ran, James put on the hood of his sweatshirt and a black cover-up that he carried in one of his pants pockets. As for me, I took off my glasses and put on my visor with the help of my shadow.

The place was not so far from where we were. As we arrived, the first thing I could see were three people, dressed in white, red and green, respectively, smashing the heads of anyone who crossed their path.

Batman, Batgirl, Batwoman, and, surprisingly, Poison were already there, trying to contain the three causing the mess or at least minimize the damage.

From one moment to the next, the three of them took off the masks covering their faces, looking from Batman to my brother and me. But they didn't move from their place. I signaled my brother and Jared to be on guard, but not to attack.

"We want to see the one who calls herself The Princess of Gotham", shouted the three of them at the same time.

"Over my dead body," said Blackbird, as soon as he could put a name to the faces. And as if it were a battle cry, Jared, my brother and I started the attack again.

At first, they dodged everything we threw at them, it got to a point where we had to defend ourselves and call for reinforcements. My first option, as always, was to call Pandora, but I remembered that she was with her father, on a mission. I finally decided to call Callan, Cheis, and Black Arrow.

And I won't deny it, I was afraid. Afraid that those things would be much stronger, afraid that they would kill me. And how could I not be, if I had already faced those attempts of human beings? During one stage of my life, I decided to call them "friends", even brothers. I took care of them and they took care of me. Henry, Arthur, and Samir.

The first reinforcement to arrive was Callan's huge wolf, but instead of feeling relieved, I became even more worried. This was the perfect scenario for another betrayal.

A bomb exploded a few meters away from us and as if it was a signal, I threw some small bombs that I was carrying with me, but they did not have the effect I wanted. Hakan had arrived, even without being called, exploding quite close to the enemy.

Arthur, who was dressed in greenish and black colors, approached me, so fast that I didn't even have time to attack him. A strange green smoke surrounded me, and the last thing I saw before everything went black was that hideous grin on his face.

I woke up in a cellar. Sitting in a wooden chair, without my trench coat or my tool belt, with a lamp shining on me. There was blood everywhere. Swords, plants, broken glass, and some artifacts I didn't know about.

Samir, dressed in black and white, with disheveled hair and a few scratches on his face, came in sometime later, sat down on a chair in front of me, and although I had the chance to attack him because he was unarmed and I was not tied up, I could not even raise a hand without wincing.

"Don't even try it, princess. You'll be here for a while. Unfortunately, our boss doesn't want you dead, yet," he said, still smiling.

A short time later the other two came in, bringing with them heavy energy. One of them showed me a picture of a girl in what appeared to be the garden of Wayne Manor.

"Do you know who she is," he asked. I just shook my head slowly, "Have you seen her?" I shook my head again in denial, "Are you related to her?" Of course not, how could I be related to that traitor.

Apparently, he didn't like the answers, I could barely distinguish his hand that was going straight to my abdomen, giving me a strong blow.

"You're lying," said the only one to whom, so far, I had not paid attention. From his pocket, he took out two objects that at first sight were strange to me, but after a while, I deduced what they were about: "This is a potion of truth, granted by Shade herself," he said, raising a vial with a blue liquid in it, "I don't have to tell you what this is, surely you already know it." He held up a black, delicate dagger.

In any part of the universe, having objects like that you could be considered one of the most powerful people on Earth, after Shade.

With the little strength I had I tried to reach for the dagger but Henry, who at some point had positioned himself behind me, was faster than me. He grabbed my shoulders from behind to prevent me from getting up. While Arthur grabbed my cheeks, forcing me to swallow that blue liquid.

"Tell me the name of your biological father," ordered Samir, who was still sitting in front of me, after a few minutes had passed.

"Oscar Hart," I answered without even thinking about it. That thing was worse than I thought, even if I had been trained to evade the effects, it had been a long time since I had the need to use those skills. I had to get out of there fast.

The basic questions continued, making me reveal secrets that I thought I would take to my grave. My hands started to react when he started asking slightly more personal questions. I didn't think much of it and lunged at him to try to grab the dagger he was playing with with his hand.

As soon as I had it in my possession I tried to pull out my shadow again to try to protect myself. When I realized that it was going to be impossible in that situation, I started to run in search of a way out. The other two were following me, almost on my heels.

One thing I had learned from being with the Bat-family was to carry a device that was not so noticeable. In my pants pocket, I always carried a location and communication device.

"Callan, I need you to look for me near my coordinates. I will try to get out of here as soon as possible," I said as soon as the device was activated. My feet were failing, I felt like I couldn't speak and there were moments when I felt faint. That cellar had to have at least one window. And that was the first thing I found.

When I got to the window I realized not only that we were on the second floor, but also that this was my only way to escape. I backed up a few steps to take flight, seeing if my ex-partners were nearby. I ran, covering my face to avoid a cut. I heard the sound of glass breaking and at that moment I knew I was already falling.

Two shots rang out quite close to me. One of the bullets grazed my shoulder. When I hit the ground I had to roll to avoid getting hurt.

When I was able to get up, I looked around and barely managed to locate myself. From some signs, I could see that the warehouse was on the outskirts of the city. A vacant lot, surrounded by a tall brick fence a few meters from where I was, was the only thing I could focus on.

A loud noise behind me made me react, I started to run without turning to see what had caused the noise. I kept the dagger in my boot, trying not to get scratched. And I started running towards the fence.

A metal lever on the ground made me stumble. This might give me a small advantage. If my father could fight with this kind of thing, I could too. I took it in my hands, brushed some dirt off it, and continued on my way.

As I reached the fence, I turned back, barely making out the silhouette of one of the boys in the dim moonlight. At the speed I was going, I would still have time to jump and get out, but my limbs had to wake up well if I wanted to make it to the busy streets before I got caught again.

Training with Jason was paying off. As soon as I made it to the other side, I ran again. The risk of the boys still being close by, the adrenaline, and the strange poison they injected me with made stopping seem impossible.

I don't know how far I ran, when I stopped I was already reaching the Wayne Enterprises building. A group of people approached me, but only one of them stood in front of me, trying to stop me and reach my face so I could completely see him, but I was terrified, leaving me with no choice of where to run. Black smoke surrounded me before I could get off that street, and the guy who was in front of me disappeared. The roar of a wolf and the series of explosions that followed calmed me down a bit. James slowly approached me, wrapped me in a hug, saying that everything would be okay.

Previous chapter

My cousins, every single day

Alfred: Master Jason... why did you draw a pentagram on the floor?

Jason: Your text told me to satanize the house before you returned

Alfred:

Alfred: I wrote sanitize, Master Jason.

HELP

I'm trying to star with all this magic stuff but I don't really know how to start and don't really believe on Google articles on my language (Spanish). I can't go to markets, stores, library's to buy crystals, candles, books, and my mom is against online shopping, so...

How can I start with simple things?

I know, is a stupid question

And sorry, as I said, I'm not a native English speaker.

El principito —Antoine de Saint Exupéry https://www.instagram.com/p/CYpUu1pL8gv/?utm_medium=tumblr

The moment you realized everything you do is worthless. That your friends already did it, so if you do it, it's just a copy, stealing an idea.

The moment you realize you really have no talent, no amazing thing about yourself that you can show everyone, while your friends all always say how amazing the other friend is.

The moment you realize you'll never achieve your goals because you need to be good at something you're not, because you lack an ability, because the more you try to learn, the more you get tired of even trying.

Princess of Gotham

Chapter 19: Coffee with friends

Three alarms went off at 7 o'clock. And five minutes later Jason began to wake up his "beloved" children, who had only slept for three hours. The morning was a little sunnier than usual, although the temperatures were starting to drop. Coffee was the first thing that was ready, neither my brother nor I had our uniforms on properly. Those mornings after patrol were the heaviest, and they were heavier when the nightmares came knocking.

"One of you two should give Tim his thermos, he lent it to me last night and I didn't give it back to him," Jason told us, as he filled the darned thermos with coffee.

"It was either that, or you were planning to steal it from him," I said, looking for a clean spoon in the drawer.

"I won't," James shouted, slamming the refrigerator door and getting an accusatory look from the adult.

"I'll do it, but I can't promise the coffee will make it all the way to the owner," I said, then grabbed a loaf of bread from the bread on the dining room table.

"That's the attitude," Jason said with a huge smile on his face, "Now eat.

Minutes later we were walking towards Gotham Academy. Even though my brother and I already knew the way, Jason insisted on walking with us because he said he had other things to do on the way.

As we reached the school gates, I could see my cousin in the distance, talking to another boy who for some reason looked familiar.

"I want you to go straight to the house when you leave this prison. Keep an eye out, the Joker's helpers are still on the loose and Harley is probably helping him too," Jason whispered. My brother and I entered the luxurious facilities of the school. My brother went straight to his friends while I approached my cousin.

"Jane, you made it. I honestly thought you'd be absent, again," Olive said to me, then gave me one of her warm hugs, "Oh, how rude. Jane, this is Arthur," she introduced, pointing to the boy she was talking to moments before, "He's going to be our new partner. Isn't that exciting?

Arthur. I know an Arthur. But even though some of their physical features were very similar, it was impossible for them to be the same person, and at the same time not so much, there was a reason for shape-shifters and glamour magic. But life had taken care of separating us, leaving more than one person in a deep sadness because of his departure. And me wishing we could meet again to cut his head off.

"A pleasure to meet you, Jane. I hope we can get along well," Arthur greeted. Holding out his hand for me to take. His wrist was surrounded by a bunch of braided threads and pebbles of different shades of green.

"The pleasure is mine." I tried to smile at him, but all I could manage was a weird grimace. I took her hand to give it a light squeeze.

"We should go in soon. Let's take a place near us for Arthur," said an excited Olive, taking us both by the arm and starting to walk.

The three of us entered the school and tried to show Arthur more or less the ways of the school, showing him the shortcuts to more secluded classrooms, until we reached the Math classroom. What a great way to start the week.

I spent the next two hours telling the teacher that what I had in my thermos was water and not coffee. Oh yeah, I was also trying to explain to her why the result was 5 and not -7.89, as she said.

By the time recess came, I had had enough of school and was begging to go home. The thermos was almost empty and at any moment I could run into the owner of the cup.

"Let me understand, you are the granddaughters of the richest man in Gotham," Arthur asked for the fifth time, and in those five times, the answer was the same.

"Not by blood, his adopted children adopted us," Olive answered with a smile, happy to explain the complicated and mysterious family tree of the Wayne family.

When we arrived at the cafeteria the first to approach us was my brother.

"Who is he?" he asked after greeting us, pointing to the new boy. He examined him from head to toe, and I knew from the look on his face that he was thinking the same thing I was thinking when I first saw him: he was a familiar face.

"Arthur. I just arrived today and I'm in the same class as these lovely girls," he replied, extending his left hand, just as he had done to me.

"Nice to meet you." The look on my brother's face was something even Bruce dreaded, for you didn't know for sure if he didn't trust you or was planning how to kill you in three steps.

James didn't take his hand but kept staring at the woven bracelets on his wrist.

The next to join us was Mike Vos, followed by Jared, who simply threw a hello to all of us, no formalities with the new guy.

We sat down together to eat the simple cafeteria food, without making as much fuss as the rest of the rich kids. A few minutes later, Tim came up to us, trying to get away from his overly envious classmates, who mostly had it in for him because he was smart and rich.

"Jane, didn't my brother give you my thermos?" he asked when he was a few steps away from us.

"That's the first time I've heard you tell him, brother," James said before I tossed him the empty glass.

"There's your stupid little cup," I said curtly, hoping he would leave as soon as possible, I still didn't want to talk to him.

"Can we talk?" The question that could break my little peace of mind.

"No." I quickly got up from my place without saying goodbye to anyone, to leave my tray of food in its place and leave the cafeteria. Tim was following me, almost on my heels.

"Please Jane," he kept saying. It got to the point where I got sick of having him behind me and went into the girls' restrooms.

I stayed until almost five minutes after the bell rang to go in. I knew he couldn't risk coming in late, especially if the next class for his group was chemistry.

Today would be a heavy day, and I think I knew why. I was hoping patrol would be a little more, light.

Princess of Gotham

Chapter 18: News in the Woods

The Justice League is an "organization" of "global" heroes and is non-governmental. The government should not tell them when and how to act. These heroes claim to be the ones who bring peace to the world. The ones who end wars and the ones who are going to end crime.

It supports other young hero groups like the Teen Titans or the former Warriors Society. Sure, there are many more but the names were so irrelevant that they faded from my memory.

And at the time, that was the topic of conversation in the living room of the Todd family apartment. The news was misreporting some events that had occurred months before.

"What I don't understand is why Superman hasn't come out to clear all this up, isn't he the public face of the league," my brother said and then stole a handful of popcorn from me.

"If big blue comes out to show his face, now they will say that he is on the side of the bad guys because he is also an extraterrestrial. The one who should come out should be someone from the earth. But I don't think that would be a good thing," he said. There was a certain tension in Jason when he spoke of the Man of Steel, but who wasn't afraid of Superman?

"So, you're saying that the most normal among us would have to come out. What would it be...Batman?" I commented, tossing the bowl to my brother so he could finish his snack.

"You're right, it's weird," Jason agreed, starting to search for the remote to change the channel.

"These acclaimed heroes ruin the lives of so many and then act like saints, asking the government to pay them with our taxes. Don't you think it's suspicious that an alien spacecraft has arrived on our planet out of nowhere?" The commentator on TV was going to make me lose my appetite. Can you hate a person you only know through TV?

I enjoyed being with my father and brother, without any worries, and just talking about whatever was on TV. We rarely got to do that, as we always finished patrol late or someone was absent. Those moments were more important to me than the names of those other hero groups.

"There is an organization that is in charge of overseeing travel to other planets in this universe, isn't there?" asked my father, who was sitting in one of the individual armchairs. My brother and I just looked at each other, trying to read each other's minds or talk telepathically (which we wanted to, but couldn't do), and then just shook our heads.

"It's supposed to be a job that belonged to the previous Shade, don't ask me, I don't get involved in those matters anymore," I answered, lying down on the couch.

"You could ask a Lantern, those guys spend more time in space than on a fixed planet. Ask anyone but the Reds, we should never have trusted those guys," James said, then popped another handful of popcorn into his mouth.

"You'd better go to sleep, Bruce is going to scold me if you don't go to school." Jason and Bruce's relationship was never the best, at least not since my father came back to life. They tried to get along, but with the messes that James and I were bringing it wasn't very easy to make that relationship more bearable.

Olive, Jared, and basically the vast majority of my fellow Warriors Society heroes were in the same school year, but at different schools. And let's just say that being surrounded by rich kids from the cradle was not my thing. Although according to some "friends" of mine, they didn't understand why.

My brother and I got up, took the plates and glasses we used to leave in the kitchen. We each went to our rooms.

I still hadn't forgotten that I had to talk to someone important. The gas idea was very similar to something that had been used in the past. Although honestly the last thing I wanted to do was talk to the person who had helped us back then, but when the Joker's venom problem came up, he was the first person I thought of.

I picked up my phone, wandering through the contacts I didn't even know I had. I clicked on my target's name and the call icon.

"For the last time. I won't help you with your crush Jerni... Oh excuse me, your highness, I didn't read the name right and I thought it was...- The boy on the other side of the line started to say.

"Don't call me your highness, I left the title a long time ago," I interrupted before he said something inappropriate.

"Yes, I remember."

"He spoke to you to ask you a favor, not to discuss politics," I interrupted again, "We will talk about all this on another occasion and with fewer worries," as I knew he would soon ask, I decided to answer him first. I began to walk around my room, picking up the things I had left lying around in the afternoon.

"You know I'm always available. Work is work. Although if you need my help, it must be something important" That guy never shut up?

"The Joker and the Scarecrow, I need something to neutralize the gases they use," I informed him quickly before he brought up another topic of conversation.

"If it is for your team, let me tell you that you already had something like that. I'll send you the formula in the morning, ask someone to read it and do it," he replied.

"Okay, I need it as soon as possible." I was hoping at least one of the guys knew chemistry."

"Of course, boss." He said, laughing at the end, "I don't know what time it is in your city, but good evening.

"It's nighttime, but it's the intentions that count," I laughed too. I liked those moments when I could laugh with the people I considered friends.

"Andrew out," was the last thing I heard.

I got up from my bed where I had sat after throwing my clothes from the floor into the laundry can. I opened my closet to put my suit in.

I stood for a while admiring my suit, holding the fabric between my hands. Lightweight, sturdy, with small details in some areas simulating scales. A three-piece suit, with optional long gloves, when I didn't wear the trench coat and a pair of high-heeled boots, because, according to the person who helped me design it, I needed to look taller.

The blouse was a dark gray, reaching to black, sleeveless, and with a high collar. The pants were the same color, they were tight. The trench coat was black on the outside and wine red on the inside, with lots of little pockets. The fingerless gloves went past my elbows.

The visor was the best part. Although at first glance it was a simple piece of plastic that helped my blindness (myopia) it was actually more than that. It was connected to one of the most advanced computers in the entire universe.

When I finished admiring my suit, I folded it up and put it in one of the locked drawers where I kept other things important to me, and went back to bed. The next day would be a heavy day, and I knew it.

Clarifying

I need to clarify a few things about my last four pots and the future of this blog.

In reality, I only posted two different things, translating them into English. These posts do not form part of any of my stories.

Currently, I only have two stories published here, being the ones tied to my oc's from DC comic's

There's another one that I've intended to translate and post, but my time has not been right, and I haven't posted it. But the title is already on my list of "Stories on this blog" or something like that. I don't remember the title of that post.

The things I published today, along with a few stories of mine with the length of one or two chapters, will be labeled as "Independent mini-stories", including some of my ideas and stories I write for school.

I say this because last weekend I wrote a story for my philosophy class and my teacher liked it.

As you may have noticed "Princess of Gotham" will be on an indefinite hiatus because my main focus at the moment is "Terrors of Gotham", a prequel to my first story.

The last thing I want to ask, to anyone who reads my works on this platform, is to have patience. I'm about to start my college admission tests. I also have other million things to do.

R.Cabrera

+-+

Tim/Red Robin: how do you spell "orange"?

James/Blackbird: the fruit or the color?

Tim:

James:

Tim: I'm out

Princess of Gotham

Chapter 5: Blackbird

Night fell and with it came the criminals, the insane, and the sociopaths. That was the hour where we put on a mask, not just to hide our identities, and went out into the streets to do the job that the police couldn't do or weren't able to control. The first to go out were Batman and Robin along with Hakan, followed by Nightwing, Red Robin, and Pandora. Lastly, Red Hood, Shade, and me.

Pandora, Shade, Haken, and I were known to be part of a group of young heroes, then still unnamed. A small group of teenagers still in training that did not meet the qualifications to belong to the Teen Titans.

"Do you want to go on foot or on my motorcycle?" I asked Assana, while I passed my hand over my face to put on the visor that was part of my suit with the help of my shadow.

"With how bad you drive when there's traffic on the main avenues, I'd rather steal one of Batman's and drive myself," she answered as she fixed the short cape of the suit I had designed for her when she joined the second version of my team.

"See, I'm not the only one who drives badly," said Jason, arriving next to me with his trademark helmet in hand. "And unfortunately there are only two bikes here, one of the two will have to ride with me if you don't ride together."

"Okay, I'll go with you." As I answered, a huge mass of black smoke that I did not control appeared in front of us.

In a few seconds that smoke dissipated and, instead, a boy a little taller than me, with white skin and black hair appeared. He was wearing a very similar outfit to Jason's, only completely in black and with some silver details.

"I was unconsciously begging for you to show up," said my father, getting off the bike and turning it off for a moment. "I've been waiting for you since morning, what happened?" he came closer to where the three of us were.

His name was James Rhodes. My best friend during my time at the orphanage, my petty shoplifting buddy, and my soon-to-be brother. Jason was trying to adopt him, for reasons I still didn't understand. Whenever I asked him he would tell me it was because we were both very close, and other times he would tell me it was to protect him. Don't get me wrong, I really wanted Jason to adopt him, but there was something very strange.

He also had powers, very similar to mine, because he could transform into a black mass and move from one place to another, sometimes he could even transform into a raven or even a flock of those birds. His hero's name was due precisely to this ability. Blackbird.

And as the family that we were, he was also part of the team, specifically, he was one of the co-founders of that team.

"I wanted to come since last night because I knew Jane would be here, but I had to move up some homework I have to hand in on Monday," he replied as he hugged Jason. Of course, one of the few people with whom my father showed a little more affection was James.

"I forgot for a moment that you're a nerd," I said, trying to annoy him as I placed my dagger in my belt. I headed towards the bike I was supposed to drive, but arms around me stopped me.

"My pretty little sister." He said, lifting me up and pressing me tighter against his chest. "I missed you so much," he spoke again, still not letting go of me.

"We met on Thursday," I said, trying to pull away from the embrace, "Can you let me go," I asked and I knew what the answer was going to be.

"No."

"But we have to go."

"But your girlfriend can wait."

"She's not my girlfriend!" I said, with intense heat settling on my cheeks.

He finally released me, turning to Assana to greet her with much less physical contact.

"Chief, reporting for duty," James said, bowing.

"Yes, yes. Give me $10 and we're good." Assana said, holding out her hand.

"Hurry up or we'll leave you!" Jason shouted, almost starting the bike.

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