Night Rider

14: Holy Guacamole, You're Not Dead

AN: 200 reads! That's amazing! Thanks to all of you who have been reading and supporting this story. I never thought it would get this far. Next chapter is up- enjoy! :)

-Current Time-

Three in the morning. About that time, I was ready to call it quits for the night.
So I turned my com back on, just in case Batman was still paying attention to my hoopla, and pushed Sitdka back towards friendlier streets. He was lathered and mellowed out after our patrol, but still bright eyed and ready to go- so our gallivant back to the manor wouldn't be too difficult. All in all, it had been a long evening and we were both ready to go home.

That rage I had felt earlier had finally spent itself.
"Come on buddy, let's get out of here."

I urged him up to a trot, sauntering out of a couple questionable streets and onto more residential ones. Well, at least by Gotham standards. Everything still looked rather scuzzy to me.

I mean, there was a hotel a couple of blocks back that was nice enough- but this was Gotham. Everywhere was fair game for crime.

And it was just as we were nearing the end of the street, passing a closed convenience store, when raised voices blasted from out of nowhere.

"Just leave me alone!"

"You're walking on my turf. You gotta pay the fee sweetheart!"

"STOP!!! DON'T YOU TOUCH ME!"
A muffled noise echoed out from where things seemed to be going down, a side street off of the apartments.
Then a male scream lit up the quiet night.

"You little &!@$#! You're gonna regret-"
His angry shriek was cut off by my entrance into the scene.

The man, well dressed, had a tall woman with pixie black hair clutched in his hands. She was smashed against a wall, clawing at his hands around her throat.

"Put the woman down now and I'll make sure my horse doesn't eat you."
Intervention time baby. I was tired, yeah, but my rage meter was right back up after staring at his scuzzy face.

He paused.
"Who the !$&@ are you?"

Yeah, that had happened at every crime stop. I sighed.
"Nightrider."
And then I cued my horse to hit the creep.

Sitdka obliged, leaping forward into a run.

Two strides and we were upon the man. Sitdka shrieked a neigh, startling the guy into a loosened grip just before the gelding's head slammed into his arms. Creeper went flying and his hands slipped off of the woman's neck.

"Brakes!" We halted so as to avoid trampling him.
"So, you done being nasty or do I need to introduce you to my idiot stick?"

"Oh, my shoulders," the man moaned in a crumpled heap.

"So that's a no to the idiot stick."

The next several minutes consisted of me trussing the guy up like a FedEx package and slinging him over the secondary portion of my saddle. I'd drop him at a precinct on my way back. Thankfully he'd passed out so I didn't have to deal with being backsassed the whole ride home...

I turned to the woman, still standing up against the wall.
And I felt my brain slam to the brakes.

This wasn't just any random woman.

I was staring at my best friend. One of the people I had left behind when I faked my death; one of the people I knew and loved most in this world. What the hell was she doing in Gotham?!

...

Her name was Park Dixon, and she had known me since kindergarten.

If I talked to her in any extent, she would know it was me, and if I looked at her too long, she would probably know it was me. Yeah I was dressed as a superhero and had just beaten a man up with my horse, completely out of character for the Lyn Walker my friend knew- but this was Park.

She could hear me sneeze six rooms away and know it was me.

It was not a matter of if she found out. It was a matter of when.
"So, um, are you okay?" I tried to drop my voice a little.

"I-I guess I am now. Thank you. I'm not from around here..." She muttered awkwardly, but it wasn't an act of recognition , so I was good. Thank God.

"Do you have anywhere safe to go?" I asked.

She blinked and nodded, "Yeah, my hotel is just around the corner. I just needed some air and then this guy popped up, should have listened to my friends, but I had pepper spray and thought- well, you get the idea."

I died a little on the inside. Her friends. That meant... my friends. Other people I loved and cared about in the most hellish city in the USA. And had I not been in this part of Gotham when I was-

Oh no, don't, don't go down that road.

"Gotham will eat you alive. That I promise," I told her, "Don't walk around alone again and you should be fine."

She nodded,"Yeah. I'll keep that in mind. But I think I should be able to make it back to my hotel, it's only a block from here."

My horse and I shifted uncomfortably. Every part of me said I shouldn't let her out of my sight, but if I didn't let her go it would look... Weird.
So I made the executive decision to use the 'ever random one liner' ploy Nightwing was fond of to get out of situations.

"Well... Make good choices. I'll keep an eye out on your way back."
Oops. The familiar farewell was out of my mouth before I could stop it.
Hope she didn't notice, hope she didn't notice...
I trotted Sitdka out of the side street, praying for all I was worth my farewell hadn't entirely registered.

"Wait! I didn't get your name!" Park called after me. Still unsuspecting, phew.

"Nightrider!" I yelled back and turned the corner. Her footsteps hurried at me from behind.

Crap.

"Run Sid, we gotta get out of here before she catches on!" Whispered furiously before I squeezed him into a full gallop.

We made it to the end of the street, and then Park's voice caught my ear just as we turned the next boulevard.
"... Lyn?"

Before she could say anything else, Sitdka and I were blasting down the next street, disappearing into Gotham and on our way back to HQ.
I never should have left the manor.

But then again- if I hadn't?... If I hadn't my best friend might have been dead by tomorrow morning.