Chapter 97
Ladybird's P.O.V:
The moment the two of us were back in the Batmobile, Batman pressed the button on the dash to silence our comms.
"It appears this is one of the better situations we could have hoped for." Batman said.
"You're right." I smiled over at him. "It's still odd that he correlated me with his daughter who robs banks in her free time."
"When you have kids, you tend to look at other kids in a different light. Could you imagine having a daughter that the Joker of all people has taken a liking to? I'm sure he realized how young you are and decided that that was a line he didn't like the Joker crossing."
"When you put it that way it makes a whole lot more sense." I nodded. "So, what are we going to do now? That whole meeting didn't take that long."
"Give me a second." Batman said before pressing the button on the dash again. "Nightwing, what's your status?"
"Still patrolling the southside. We stopped a robbery at the convenient store on 11th street. Still making our way towards uptown." Nightwing replied.
"Take your time and stop at the halfway point. Ladybird and I will take the northside and we will meet in the middle. Our little meeting with Riddler turned out better than expected."
"We heard." Red Robin answered. "See you in a bit."
Batman pressed the button again and looked over at me.
"I'll be taking the east side and you will take the west." He pulls up a map of the city on his dash. "Main Street runs through the center of the northside and that will be our dividing line. You hit Main Street you turn back the other way. Our meeting point with the boys will be on Wayne Tower. There is a reason why I put my building in the very center of Gotham. You think you will be good on your own?"
"I got this." I pulled out my yoyo to pull up my own map of the city to mark off my area of patrol.
"It seems you have your own gadgets." Batman nodded as he pressed a few buttons to make the map on the dash disappear. "You heard Riddler's warning so stay hidden unless you spot trouble. Don't be afraid to call for backup if you need it." He brings the car to a stop at the most northern part of the city.
"You can count on me, Batman." I get out of the car.
Batman just nods before driving off down the street again.---------I kind of missed the feeling of solo patrol. I used to do it all the time in Paris when I was Ladybug. Chat Noir and I would split up the city evenly. This was a little bit different though. I wasn't looking for akumas. I was looking for actual criminals and possibly a few of Jokers goons who planned on kidnapping me. It was still a familiar and comforting feeling none the less.
I scare off a few kids who were throwing rocks at stray cats. Selina would be proud about that one. The real action didn't occur though until I spotted a woman who appeared to be walking home alone. Two men were following her and they were the definition of shady looking men. You could tell the woman caught onto them though because she had a panicked look in her eyes as she looked back at them and swiftly crossed the street. The men obviously followed to cross the street as well.
"I have two men following a woman walking home alone at my location. I may need police here soon." I whispered over the comms.
"Just give the signal, Ladybird" Oracle answered. "and the police will be on their way."
I watched as the panicked woman picked up the pace as she started to cut through back alleys.
"Hey! Where you goin' beautiful?" One of the men called as they both started to sprint towards her.
The woman dropped her purse, probably in a last-ditch effort to evade the men, and started to run. The men didn't even bother to pick up the purse as they kept following the lone woman. Throwing the yoyo to snag the woman's purse, I had quickly caught up to where the men cornered the woman into an alley.
"Send them, Oracle." I whispered over the comms.
"C'mon beautiful." One of the men said. "Did you really think you could outrun us?"
"Please don't hurt me." The woman pleaded as she looked around for an exit. "I have a son that's waiting on me at home."
"Well maybe you shouldn't be out so late." The other man spoke up. "Sounds to me like mama made a stupid decision."
"Help!" She started to scream. "Somebody help!"
"You stupid bitch." The first man started to approach her. "You're really askin' for it now." He began to cock his arm back for a punch.
Acting quickly, I flung the woman's purse over her shoulder and threw my yoyo around the mans outstretched arm. Pulling it back just in time, I caused the man to punch himself in the face. He stumbled back a bit and both men looked up to finally lock eyes with me who was still on the rooftop. Sighing in relief, the woman dropped to the ground and backed away as far as she could as she watched this all unfold.
Not wanting to waste any more time, I jumped off of the roof I was on to land on the man who tried to punch the woman. My sudden weight knocked him off balance and on their way to the floor I punched him in the face a few times, effectively knocking him out.
"You have one chance to surrender." I said as I stood up to look at the other man.
"I'm not afraid of a little girl." The man looked down at my small stature with a laugh. "That was just a lucky shot."
"Maybe it was." I stared him down. "You want to test that theory?"
The man just scoffed before running full force at me. I easily side stepped the brute at the last second, making him hit the alley wall behind me at full speed.
"Not too smart, are you?" I asked.
The man just looked at me with anger in his eyes as he held his now bleeding forehead which had just hit the brick wall.
"Are you sure you want to continue?" I raised an eyebrow at him.
"Shut up!" Was his only response as he ran straight for me again.
I easily side stepped him again because apparently this man only had one move. Before he could hit the other alley wall though, I flung my yoyo around his neck and caught it on its way back around, pulling it towards me. It was like he ran straight into a clothesline because he quickly fell back just inches before his face would have hit the wall again. I brought my knee up so the back of the man's head would make contact with it and the man fell limp onto the floor.
"Are you okay ma'am?" I asked after making sure the men were securely tied up with my yoyo.
"Yes, thank you." The woman finally stood back up.
"It's no problem. Here." I handed over the woman's purse. "I think you dropped this."
"Oh my gosh. Thank you." The woman took the purse and dug around until she found a picture that was inside her wallet. "This is my favorite picture of my son and I almost lost it."
"Well I'm glad you got it back." I said as I heard the sirens from off in the distance. "That should be the police. You okay to take a statement?"
"Yeah, I can do that." The woman looked at the picture for a moment before looking back to me. "You are Ladybird, right? Do you think you can sign this?"
"Sign it? But why? You just said that it was your favorite picture of your son."
"Well yes but for the past few days now, Jake has been talking nonstop about you. You are currently his favorite superhero at the moment and I think he would absolutely love if you signed this for him."
"I don't even have a pen." I gave her a soft smile.
"I have one in my purse." She quickly pulled one out. "Will you sign it? Please?"
"Okay." I gently took the paper. "To Jake, right?"
"Yep." The woman nodded enthusiastically.
I looked at the picture of the boy who seemed to be about seven or eight years old playing on the floor with what looks like Batman and Robin action figures. I smiled at it for a moment before addressing it to Jake and signing it.
"I hope he likes it." I gave back the pen and picture just in time for the police cruisers to show up.
"Hey, Ladybird. Are these the scumbags?" An officer asks as he walks down the alley.
"That would be them." I nod at the officers.
"How are we even supposed to cuff them?" The officer leans down and starts tugging at the yoyo string.
"Let me get that for you." I smile before I gently tug on the end of the yoyo string, effectively causing it to easily unravel.
"I'm not even going to ask." The officer just shakes his head as he reaches down to cuff the men. "What happened to this one face?" He points to the man with bloody forehead.
"He ran face first into a brick wall." I smiled innocently. "Almost did it twice too, but I stopped it."
"Really?" The man laughs. "Are you the victim?" He looks over to the woman who was just now putting her wallet away.
"Yes." She nods.
"Go talk to officer Brady over there." He points to the officer, a woman standing by the other cruiser. "She'll take your statement and can escort you home if you like."
"Okay." The woman walks off towards the other officer.
"So, can you tell me what happened here?" The officer asked as he started to drag one of the cuffed men to his cruiser.
"Of course." I said as I said helped with the other cuffed man.