Not Going Down Without A Fight

Friday 20th March 2009, 21:30.

New Jersey,

Gotham City,

East End.

Groaning with pain, Esau collapsed down on the couch with a beer in one hand, wincing in pain at the tenderness of his body. A wince that became more pronounced as he shifted uncomfortably, pressing the cold beer bottle against the large bruise forming upon his chest, it being much worse than many of the other cuts and bruises littering his body.

"Well, you've officially outdone yourself now, Esau." The blonde chuckled once more, shaking his head at the absurdity of tonight's events. "Not only did I fail to kill Black Mask and then got into a fight with Robin himself." Leaning, back into the couch he looked at his hand, taking note of the small scars littering the back and front of it. "Why does Batman want to speak to me? Don't tell me he's gonna try and convince me to join his little pose?"

The thought made Esau clench his fist tightly, almost considering the idea of joining the Bat Family for the suits they possessed and the extensive training they must undergo to become so skilled. It would definitely help him in his task of cleaning up Gotham City, but at the same time, putting the criminals in Arkham Asylum was only a half measure.

Killing them was permanent.

Once they were dead, they would put innocent people like Barbara in danger, or constantly wreak havoc upon the city. Esau wasn't entirely willing to give up on the benefits of joining the Bat Family, his answer would be a definite no. Even if it meant having to go up against Batman and his sidekicks as well as the criminals of Gotham, Esau was willing to face all comers. He would do so without hesitation because, at the end of the day, he would do anything to protect those he cared about.

Even if it meant declaring war against the entire world.

"Tch." He clicked his teeth in annoyance. "You couldn't just pick the easy life could you?" He asked himself. "But nooo, you had to go and make life difficult for yourself. Oh well, no use turning back now."

Leaning back, he rested his head on the back of the couch and stared up at the ceiling. "I wonder what you're doing now, Barbara?" An image of his childhood friend laughing with a beautiful smile came to mind and he couldn't help but smile. As he did, at the tip of his gaze he picked out the sight of a flash of red and yellow.

Turning around, he looked at the picture of his parents holding him as a baby.

It was taken a few minutes after he was born, when he had finally stopped crying and settled down, falling to sleep in his mother's arms. His dad was there, smiling happily as he held Joan's hand in one of his own as he smiled at the camera that was no doubt being held by Jim. Joan herself despite looking tired, pale and clammy, the bright having being extremely difficult, was still smiling beautifully as she held him tightly to her.

Smiling sadly at the photo, Esau turned to look out the window in thought. 'I wonder, what do you think of me now?' His smile twisted into a frown.

'Would you support me? Would you be proud of me? Or would you be disappointed at what I've become?' He would not lie, he hoped that it would never be the latter.

Esau would be the first to admit that his parents meant a lot to him and their deaths hit him hard. Yet, he had gotten over his father's death quite quickly and so, if Bill was to be disappointed in him, it would hurt for sure but he could ignore it quite easily. It was not because he didn't love his dad, it was just that thanks to Joan he managed to get over his death.

His mother on the other hand was a different story.

When Bill died, it was when he was seven, another incident of supposedly being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Joan had been there to help him, stopping Esau from understanding the truth of what had happened while dealing with her own grief. But when she died from exhaustion after working tirelessly to ensure that Esau was never left wanting despite them always struggling for money.

He had been eleven at the time and from that point on, everything changed as the bubble that had been protecting him, burst and the truth of the world proved too much for him to bear. Unlike with his father, Esau never truly got over his mother's death, not even after all this time and so, if she was disappointed in his actions, Esau didn't know if he could take it.

But as he was coming to realise, it was getting to the point where it was too late to turn back.

-X-

Friday 20th March 2009, 21:40.

New Jersey,

Gotham City,

Unknown Location.

Barbara Gordon, wearing her Batgirl costume with her mask pulled back, sat in one of the chairs of the Batcave. Her eyes trailed from Batman, who was typing something into the Batcomputer to Robin, who was pressing an ice pack to his jaw. Just the thought of Robin, the skilled fighter getting hit by a guy like Black Hood who only had slightly above-average fighting skills was very amusing and it showed on her face.

"What?" Dick Grayson, aka Robin asked.

Though if his narrowed eyes were anything to go by, he could take an accurate guess as to what she had been thinking and he didn't like it one bit.

"Nothing, nothing." Her smile grew wider as Dick's eyes narrowed even further. "How's the jaw?" She teased and laughed loudly when he growled in anger, only to wince at the stab of pain.

"Okay, whatever!" He threw his hands up in surrender. "He got the drop on me, so what. I guarantee he'd do the exact same to you too." He shot back and Barbara just nodded her head condescendingly.

"Of course, he would." Barbara agreed easily and Dick knew that she was lying. "Whatever you say, little bird."

Growling, Dick went to say something back when Batman, his hood pulled back revealing the handsome face of Bruce Wayne stood up. "That's enough." He didn't shout, in fact, his voice sounded like a whisper, but he was heard easily. "Dick, what did you think of Black Hood?"

"If you're asking me if I know who he is, then the answer is no. Got no clue." Dick leaned back into his chair to get more comfortable. "He's an alright fighter, not great but definitely someone to be wary of. His greatest strength right now would be his ability to improvise and come up with plans on the fly." He paused for a minute as if just remembering something. "He's also got insane stamina. Even I was getting tired as the fight continued on, yet Black Hood never seemed to slow down. Nor did he seem to be overly bothered by any of my attacks, just brushing them off and coming back for more.

Barbara looked at Dick in confusion, he hadn't mentioned that when she asked him about Black Hood. 'Almost reminds me of Esau and his insane stamina, he never seemed to get tired even if we'd spend all day running around and playing.' Thinking about her friend reminded her of the previous argument they had and she frowned. 'Perhaps I had been a little harsh, he had just gotten out of the hospital after being near death. Of course, he's gonna be afraid and probably took that out on my alter ego and the others. I shouldn't have let it get to me.'

"I see," Bruce said quietly as he rubbed his chin in thought. 'Perhaps a superpower, a minor one.' He reasoned internally, but it was too soon to say. It was not uncommon for some people to have great stamina so there was no point jumping to wild conclusions without proof. It didn't hurt to prepare for that possibility though. "How did he escape?"

"Well, I'd been dominating most of the fight." A blush started to cross across his features at having been tricked so easily. "Then he pulled out a grenade filled with confetti and threw it over the building and into a crowd of people, but I only found out that it was harmless until afterwards." He quickly added when he saw the teasing smirk appearing on Barbara's face and even the twitch of Bruce's lips.

"Interesting." Bruce nodded his head, once more delving into his mind.

"So, outsmarted by Black Hood, huh?" Barbara questioned and Dick looked away from her, he would not give her the satisfaction of seeing just how embarrassed he was by that fact. "Who'd have thought that the big, bad Robin would let a common criminal escape from him."

"You know," Dick said quietly. "He seems to think that what he's doing is genuinely good work, killing criminals I mean." He answered Barbara's unasked question. "I think that he actually is just a guy that decided enough is enough and is fighting back at the criminals of Gotham."

Barbara nodded her head in agreement with Dicks statement. "Even so, killing is not the way to do things. We become no better than them."

"The thing is, I can't help but wonder, how many other people in Gotham are sick of criminals being put in jail only to eventually escape and just want them dead?" Dick whispered quietly, but both Barbara and Bruce looked at him. "If that's the case, how many of those are actually going to go out of their way to do something about it?"

{I think this Black Hood guy is doing us all a favour. They're criminals, how many people have they killed, robbed, raped?}

{How the hell is not right? You're always the one who says that excuses aren't a reason for what someone does so don't give me shit like that. Every day they live is another day someone else isn't. Those heroes like Batman, they're too soft. Last I checked, crimes still going and pretty sure they've made criminals smarter and more dangerous.}

{How many criminals do you think were put away yesterday? But how many more escaped or were set free to do as they like today? And how many of those who were set free do you really believe have actually changed their ways? All being put in prison does is give them time to plan and train for the next time they get out. Fucking hell, prisons are basically the best type of training camps for them, filled with the best teachers and connections around.}

{How?! By fucking doing something about the criminals in this shithole of a city!}

{You wanna know the difference between a guy like Black Hood and the criminals that kill? It's that he kills to make sure that the criminals understand that there is no getting off with a slap on the wrist. It's a message that tells them if they kill then they better be prepared to be killed in turn.}

{Damn right it does! If the law is worthless why keep it, and what do you mean by live by it? People are dying under it now, it's as simple as this, they are bad so they get put down like the rabid dog they are.}

{I think that underneath all their strength and skill, they're actually cowards.}

{I remember what the old man, Wilfred once told me, 'If not me then who, sometimes the world doesn't need another hero. Sometimes what it needs is a monster.' A monster to keep the rest in line, to show them that their actions have consequences and Black Hood is exactly that.}

'Esau.' She thought sadly, recalling the argument they had not so long ago. 'Please, don't do anything stupid like that. I-I can't bare the thought of you being hurt like that again.' Through her mind, images of Esau laying on the hospital bed fighting to survive, fighting to hold onto life was terrifying.

She couldn't go through that again.

"Barbara?" Snapping out of her thoughts, the young woman in question looked up at her mentor. "Are you okay?"

"I-I, I'm fine, Bruce." She said and smiled up at him, though she knew he could see right through her attempt at appearing perfectly okay. "Just lost in thought for a minute. What do you need? Did I miss anything?"

"No." Bruce shook his head. "You can go home, I'll get in touch if something happens."

Nodding her head, Barbara got up and made her way home. 'Tomorrow, I'll go see him and apologise. I shouldn't have been so harsh on him, he was obviously terrified from his close encounter with death and just lashed out at me and the others. It's normal.' She told herself, knowing Esau would be in bed asleep right now or trying to get to sleep.

-X-

Friday 20th March 2009, 22:00.

New Jersey,

Gotham City,

Unknown Location.

"Fucking, Batman." Ms Li, assistant of Black Mask was a beautiful woman of dark skin and of Asian descent.

She was usually calm and collected in the face of the criminal underworld she associated with, but now she looked at her boss in worry and fear. Rarely had she seen him so angry and yet here he was, breathing heavily, a gun in one hand and the dead body of one of the few he had left at his feet, blood pooling out onto the floor.

"Sir." She said, trying to maintain her level-headedness, even with her boss in a state of anger that she had never witnessed before. "Perhaps it would be best if we do not kill what few remaining men we have left."

Black Mask stared at her, his eyes narrowed and for a moment, Ms Li thought she was going to be killed then and there. "Tch." Instead, much to her relief, Black Mask moved to sit down behind his desk once more, his gun placed on the mahogany table and tapping the desk rapidly. "What a fucking mess."

Ms Li said nothing, she had already done enough by quelling as much of Black Mask's anger as she could. No doubt, should she try and offer advice once more, he would kill her. Part of her actually hoped that Black Hood had killed her boss, it would save her from possibly being the next victim of Black Masks' anger. However, she quite liked living and even though Black Mask couldn't read minds, she was still going to abandon that suicidal line of thought.

So, silence permeated the room as Black Mask stared at the wall in thought with narrowed eyes.

That all changed when all of a sudden he broke out into laughter, Ms Li looking at him in confusion and a little bit of worry.

Had the stress finally caught up with him and turned him insane?

Or was there something else at play?

Either way, Ms Li slowly inched away from her manically laughing boss so as to not catch his attention.

"Hahahaha!" Black Mask continued, before reaching towards his phone and dialling a number. "This is Black Mask, I have a job for you." Ms Li couldn't make out who was on the other line or what was being said. "7 million?" Black Mask frowned at the absurd amount but knew that he had no choice with how much of a corner he had been backed into. "Very well, I want you to kill the vigilante called Black Hood.

Once more there was silence and then Black Mask smiled viscously.

"Be here as soon as you can be, Deadshot."