Fawkes

Tricked by Less Than the Riddler

Eight o'clock rolled around, and I zeta tubed to Gotham despite Batman's exact orders. He wouldn't know, I made sure of it; lots of hacking went into tonight's investments.

Justin, Mindy, Sandy, and Sam were coming to pick me up in Justin's dad's old truck. I still had to walk about a mile away from the zeta beams so as to not raise any suspicion. I waited outside of an apartment building, not having to stand there long until a large red Chevy pulled over, cheesy pop music blasting through its walls.

Justin sat behind the wheel, Mindy in the passenger side and Sam and Sandy in the back. I hopped in, forced to sit in the middle because I was 'the smallest'.

"I cannot believe Sandy convinced you to come to this thing." Mindy laughed from the front, glancing back at me as she took a swig from her water bottle, "Vodka?"

"I'll pass." I grinned, watching as she shrugged and drank it without a chase. I had had alcohol plenty of times before, but it wasn't my favourite thing; I'd seen what it did to criminal men. I was curious to see what it did to teenagers. An experience I'd like to have while sober.

"Just a little pregame snack, if that's how you wanna put it," Sam muttered in my ear and I chuckled, "She likes to already be wasted when we get there. She says she wouldn't be able to stand anyone if she was sober."

"That's fair," I leaned over to whisper back, "so Justin's not drinking?"

"Oh no, he definitely is." Sam grinned, "you've got no ride home, none of us have our licence except him."

I nodded, laughing.

"I failed my test three times." Mindy laughed from the front, "I shouldn't even be allowed on the road!"

"Can you even fail it three times?" I asked, "I mean at that point they should just banish you to the bus, don't you think?"

"We all think." Justin nodded from where he sat with one arm perched lazily one the steering wheel as we waited at a red light, "Unfortunately those aren't the rules. So I'm gonna have to keep bribing the test instructors to fail her every time."

"Hey!" Mindy swatted his arm and he recoiled.

"It's for the greater good of the community, Minds." He chuckled, "I'm saving lives by keeping you off the highway."

She rolled her eyes, taking another swig of the bottle of alcohol and grinning widely as she opened the window and put her arm out.

"So how long do these things usually last?" I asked.

"Past midnight." Sandy giggled, twirling her carefully curled hair around her finger.

I nodded, shrugging, "On second thought, hand over the bottle, Colt."

Mindy chuckled, and everyone cheered as she passed the bottle back, watching when I took a large swig and laughed. I knew it would be a long night, and after the incident with Alfred today, I needed to drink to forget.

Besides, even drunk I could win a fight, if that was what it came to.

The vodka burned my throat, but I held no facial reaction, provoking an impressed whistle from Sam.

"Stone cold!" He cheered as I took another drink, leaning back in my seat and chuckling. I felt myself already loosening up as we travelled to a nicer part of Midtown, where large houses, though not as large as a few of the Uptown mansions, lined the streets.

We chatted and joked as Mindy and I finished the vodka between us and the lights of houses flew by. Soon the radio was back on and we were all singing stupidly, until my phone rang and I told them to turn the volume down.