Behind the Mask (A Batman and Robin Fanfic)

Epilogue

Annie's POV

 The wind whipped against my face as I ran as fast as my legs could carry me. The alleyways held a collection of ladders, dumpsters, stairs and other such obstacles that required me to flip over them to keep a fast pace. I was in the middle of a hot pursuit. 

 The person fleeing me was head of a simple gang in town. His name was Billy Mills and he was disgusting. Him and his crew, the Mill gang, targeted the families of the police officers. They would wait until an officer was on his shift and then part of the crew would cause a diversion somewhere in town, drawing attention there, then the other part of the crew would rob the home of the officer and usually beat the family. It was a unique pattern but I had picked up on it and I was determined to stop it. 

 After an adrenaline pumping chase, I finally caught up to the criminal. We were atop some random apartment complex and, seeing that he had no where left to run, he turned to fight me.

  "Is that any way to greet someone you've never met before?" I taunted as I dodged his punches, severely irritating him. I flipped around him, doing an aerial maneuver, and started my assault.

  "Who the hell are you?" He screamed at me as he cowered behind his forearms, trying to dodge my punches. My boxing skills were far better than his.

  "I'm your worst nightmare" I laughed insanely, cliche was certainly my style as of late. I continued pummeling the creep until he was finally knocked unconscious. 

 I reached into my backpack and pulled out a pair of handcuffs, slapping them on the 'bad guy's' wrists. They used to belong to my brother. His whole tool belt and everything he used when he was a cop was in my bag, I always took it with me when I did this sort of thing. He was my reason for doing this, if the streets were clear of crazies—Joker included—he would still be alive. But rather than being sour and depressed and bitter and giving up on life completely—like I wanted to do so badly—I decided to put my talents to use, to make the bad ones pay.

  I handcuffed the criminal to the pipes on the roof, then I started to make my way toward the exit. There was a payphone across the street that I would use to make an anonymous call to the police telling them the scumbag. 

 Before I could leave though, the rest of the Mill gang ambushed me. They had somehow followed me up to the roof and I was surrounded.

  "You gotta be kidding me, another Batfreak in town?" one of them said.

  "Ugh, no! Not with them!" I replied annoyed.

  Things with me and 'Robin' had gotten complicated. After I told Dick that I knew he was Robin, he seemed okay, pretty relieved but also a little freaked out. Bruce was very unhappy though, he thought Dick made it too obvious. This caused Dick to steer clear of me for awhile. It didn't bother me though, I was more preoccupied with other things—like protecting people from ending up like my brother.

  I had run into Batman and Robin one night while I was 'fighting crime'. Robin recognized me under my costume—which really wasn't hard. My crime fighting outfit consisted of a pair of black converse, black spandex shorts-I would switch to leggings when summer ended, a ratty old black t-shirt that had several holes from bleach, a black beanie, some eye black and a pair of dark sunglasses—yeah, I didn't even have a mask. Realizing I looked more like a criminal myself, I clipped my brother's old badge onto my shirt, covering his name up first of course. 

 "She's tiny...she's just a kid, how'd she beat the crap outta Billy?" another one of the gang members asked out loud to the others.

 "Hey! Don't underestimate me! I mean at least not while I'm standing right here" I said allowed before initiating the fighting.