To My Hope (Edward Nashton x Vigilante!Reader)

Hopeless

"Who do you think they are under there?"

"Take it easy-"

"I wanna see..."

A torch flashes brightly in your eyes, and you squint, pushing away the hands and sit up quickly, taking in the cluster of policemen who crowd around you and a half-awake Batman.

"Let's just take it off!"

"Don't," you warn them, but just as a hand reaches out, The Batman shoots up from his spot and shoves the officers out of his face, resulting in yells from them all, James Gordon raising his hands to calm them down.

"Relax, God damn it!" He shouts, standing between you and Batman and the other police. The Batman glances at you with a look that says, 'are you okay?' to which you nod, turning your attention back to the GCPD.

"You're protecting these guys, Jim?" The chief questions coldly. "He interfered in an active hostage situation. Colson's blood is on his hands. And now it seems it's on this young woman's too."

You frown incredulously. "What?!"

"Maybe it's on yours," Batman interrupts bluntly.

"What'd you say?"

"He would rather die than talk. What was he afraid of? You?"

You sigh, drowning their voices out as your hand instinctively goes to your pocket, the curved corners of the envelope and the card still there. It makes you shift uncomfortably as you think of the man who wrote it out for you, sent it so lovingly... before murdering in cold blood.

A chorus of shots erupts again as another officer attempts to pull off Batman's mask, and you dodge out of the way, glaring at them impatiently.

"Hey!" Gordon snaps, shoving Batman against the barred wall. "What's the matter with you? This ain't the way to do this!"

"You too now?" Batman questions, and you watch as Gordon convinces the officers to leave the room for a minute... and help you get out.

"Take this key," he mutters, "through that door. Hallway to the stairs that go to the roof."

"Who's the moustache with the broken nose?" Batman breathes, glancing in his direction.

"That's Kenzie, Narcotics."

"He's one of the guys I got into it with at the Iceberg Lounge."

"What are you saying? Kenzie moonlights for the Penguin?"

"Or he moonlights as a cop," you correct him, looking in the direction of the door. "Let's go, come on."

The Batman swings his fist, knocking Gordon back as he grabs your hand and rushes to the door, pulling you up to the roof as a mob of police come after you in anger.

"I'm gonna find the Penguin," Batman calls to you, as you ready yourself to jump off the rooftop. "Coming?"

You shake your head breathlessly. "I need to... clear my head. Get a fresh perspective on things. I'll call you when I figure something out."

"So will I," The Batman acknowledges, hesitating for a moment before he jumps to turn back to you. "Stay safe, Hope."

And then he's gone, swooping down the building and advancing forwards through the lit up, night roads. You jump after him, sliding down poles and hopping down rooftops until you reach the ground, and run to your apartment, getting out of your Hope suit and changing into something comfier.

God, you don't want to be at home. You need to get out. Eat, have a drink, somewhere.

You roll your eyes at yourself as you grab your keys and purse, going back outside and wandering the streets in apprehension... until you stop outside a diner. There are only a couple of people in there - a man hunched over at the front bar, another older woman in a corner reading a newspaper.

So you go on in, smiling at the tired-looking waitress and ordering a drink as you sit at the front bar. A couple of seats away from you, the man hardly notices, his eyes trained on the notebook in front of him as he scribbles in it furiously. Your eyes widen a fraction as you realise who it is. It's Edward, the guy you, or Hope, had saved from those thugs just a few days earlier. He's recovered, for sure. That's good.

Breaking news flashes up on the TV screen in the diner, and you stop yourself from sighing in annoyance as the camera circles the damaged church and shows footage clips of the Riddler's stream and you and the Batman watching Colson. The man's attention is completely caught now, and he closes his book as he quickly looks up at the screen, an unreadable expression on his face. At one point, the camera focuses on Hope... and you frown in confusion as you hear Edward moan.

At least, that's what it sounded like.

Your eyes flicked to his soft brown hair and clear-framed glasses, making him look nerdy and small. There was something else though, maybe, but you couldn't place it.

"The GCPD are suspicious of The Batman and Hope being directly involved in these murders, as this serial killer is said to have contacted them by a growing series of cards. It seems unlikely for 'The City's Hope' to have a hand in such gruesome crimes, as she seems to stand for the opposite! But answers remain unsolved for now. Back to-"

A dopey smile tugs at Edward's lips, and you lean a little closer to him as you let yourself speak up.

"What do you think about all that?"

He jumps, startled, finally noticing you as his eyes meet yours. His brows twitch slightly in what seems to be confusion and wonder, and then he looks down again bashfully, realising he's been staring instead of giving you an answer.

"I think she's an angel," he admits quietly, looking back up to the screen with an admiring smile. "Hope... Hope."

"Hope?" You repeat, nodding slowly in interest. "But... the Riddler's targeting her."

The man scoffs in disbelief, shaking his head. "He's not 'targeting' her. He loves her. Everyone does. Without Hope, we're..." He giggles to himself as he says the last word, practically giddy. "Hopeless."

You stare at Edward in bewilderment, and that's when he snaps out of it, looking at you in awareness, before getting down from his chair.

"I'm sorry," he mumbles, not meeting your eyes. "I tend to, um, ramble."

"Don't worry about it," you respond with a slight, weary smile. "I'm glad she inspires you."

He whimpers, nodding with another large smile, before hurrying out the door and down the street, notebook clutched firmly in hand.

Hopeless...

'Yeah,' you think to yourself amusedly. 'Sounds about right.'