The Aster {Book 1 & 2} (Batman/Joker/Robin/Batgirl story)

1.5. Batgirl

She starts to come round just before I finish tying her up.

A quiet moan comes from her lips and her eyes start to flicker. I yank the final ropes around her wrists so tight her eyes fly open and she gasps sharply.

I take a step back. She lifts her head like she's got weights for earrings. Strapped to that chair she doesn't look so tough. Our eyes meet. If she doesn't physically look durable anymore her expression more than makes up for it.

"You can scream all you want, no one will hear you."

Her lip curls.

"I wasn't going to."

Her voice is deeper than mine, more mature. The attitude in her tone pisses me off. I could hurt her right now, I could really hurt her. Nobody would hear, nobody would ever know. Nobody comes near this abandoned terrace of houses, due to be demolished sometime next year. And thanks to Dad's company's excellent security measures, nobody will interrupt.

I can see her studying me, carefully looking for any trace of my identity. I look at her too. From under that mask we could almost be the same person. Her hair is a little shorter of mine, a slightly darker shade of red.

"Who are you working for?" She snarls through gritted teeth.

I smile coldly. "Nobody."

I reach out and grab her black bat mask by the ears and roughly pull it off. The face that looks back at suddenly doesn't seem so confident. Now she doesn't really look like me. I'm surprised to see she doesn't actually look that much older than my age, maybe nineteen or twenty. Sally's age.

"Who are you? What do you want?" Her words this time are quiet, almost a little nervous.

I take a step back and pull my hair out of its long ponytail and hold her mask up to my face.

"I'm The Aster..." I wave the mask. "You catching my drift?"

Her eyebrows furrow, and for the first time ever I think a sweat is breaking out on her forehead.

"Why are you doing this?"

I bend down so our faces are at the same level.

"Because I'm gonna kill Batman. And I need your suit to do it."

Her eyes open wide.

"Whaaa - why? Who are you?!"

"Because Batman murdered somebody I knew. And now he's gonna pay for it."

She starts fighting the ropes, but I don't care. She's never gonna escape from that chair as long as I want her to be in it.

"You're wrong!"

I lunge forward and grab her by the neck, or faces are so close we're nearly touching.

"I'm not." I shake my head and smile. I'm really not.

With that I head over to the door.

"So long Batgirl. I'll be back when I need you."