Black Star

3 - From Batsy With Love

Professor Hassan Odeh A.K.A Batsy was sitting in his office at Hellford, looking at a large piece of paper. On this paper was a list of names, and next to them was a number. It was a list of villains, and the number count was alarming.

"So far, we have... sixty-four villains in the world." Batsy sighed. "That's thirty more than I expected!"

He stared at the paper. It showed a list of every villain he knew of that had revealed themselves somewhere on the planet, with their respective numbers. Beside each name was a short description of them.

"We need to do something about this..." Batsy said, looking up to Sapphire who sat nearby.

"Yes, I agree." Sapphire nodded. "But what can we do?"

"I don't know..." Batsy muttered. "Perhaps the military could help... but I doubt they'd use anything but their guns."

"And the police?" Sapphire asked, leaning forwards.

"They wouldn't be much help either." Batsy shook his head. "Besides, we're not exactly law-abiding, so they won't care about us."

"Wait, why not? They arrested the other villains, right?"

"Well... yes. But those villains were criminals." Batsy frowned. "As far as the police are concerned, there's a system."

"What is that, exactly?" Sapphire asked, curious.

"Each villain has their own score, based on their crimes. If it goes too high, the police will start to get suspicious." Batsy explained. "Then they'll investigate further, and if they find enough evidence to prove it, then the criminal will be arrested. Of course, if they're lucky, they might just give you a warning."

"Hmm..." Sapphire thought about it.

"This system works fine for normal criminals, but villains?" Batsy shook his head. "Not a chance! They're more dangerous than normal people, so they need to stay hidden. That's why most villains try to stay in the shadows, not make a fuss and avoid being noticed. After all, if they're seen, the police might come knocking."

"So... what does that mean for us?" Sapphire asked.

"That means I and Hellford will help support you, heroes!" Batsy smirked. "Including something I believe you're missing!"

"Like what?" Sapphire asked, smiling.

"Your identity... You have a name but no suit!" Hassan chuckled. "You need to change that!"

"I... I suppose..." Sapphire admitted. "So... how do we do that?"

"With me making you one of your very own!" Batsy grinned. "Hellford has been working on some amazing things lately, including suits, and we've managed to create a brand new type of suit specifically for individual heroes!"

Sapphire looked at him curiously. She had always wondered what it would be like to have a suit like Freight-Tale, and now the maker of his is offering to create hers. How could she say no?

"Okay..." Sapphire agreed. "Let's do this!"

"Excellent!" Batsy smiled. "Now, the first thing we need to do is get a rough idea of what you want... As you're called Black Star, I assume a star logo is something you're after?"

"Yeah," Sapphire nodded. "It's very simple, nothing fancy, just a small black star."

"Perfect!" Batsy smirked. "Let's see... We'll need a few materials, so let me check what we have. Any colour requests?"

"Black... Blue... Dash of white?"

"Great choices, and I'll make sure to have the mask have the same abilities as your glasses... Strange that alien planets do glasses too!"

"It isn't only Humans that have eye problems you know..." Sapphire rolled her eyes, giggling slightly.

With that, Odeh had all the information he needed. Now it was time to make the suit! Gesturing for his friend to follow, Hassan led Sapphire into one of the suit creation rooms beside the scientist's office. Inside, the room was filled with different objects. There were metal crates, wires, screws, boards, cloth, buttons, levers... The list went on and on. Batsy didn't say a word, he just instantly got to work. First, he opened a crate which contained various tools. One by one, he took them out, and used them to cut, drill, measure, sew, and more. Using every tool at his disposal, Batsy turned the room into a giant workshop.

"Okay, let's take this step by step, shall we?" Batsy began, laughing. "First off, I'm going to need a model of your body..."

"How do you intend to do that?" Sapphire asked, amused.

"Easy!" Batsy replied. "I'll use one of my colleagues here to help me!"

"Oh..." Sapphire blushed. "Um... Okay."

"Come on, it's only John!" Batsy laughed, pointing to the man at the back of the room, who looked nervous. "Stevens, get over here."

The man happily approached Sapphire and Batsy. Before he could say anything, however, Batsy pointed to the floor where a long, thin sheet of plastic was lying. With that, the two men proceeded to cut themselves out the material they needed, leaving a perfect outline of Sapphire's figure. Meanwhile, she'd calmly watch a TV that was put on for her. Next, they started to add details. Batsy drilled holes into the torso, arms, legs, feet, hands... All the places where a suit would need to connect to her body. He added seams wherever possible, to ensure a tight fit. Once that was done, they moved on to the actual suit itself: a light blue fabric with a black lining. There were two large pockets on either hip, and one black star logo with a white outline on the chest area. Her gloves and boots were also made from the same fabric. However, her mask was made from leather. The entire ensemble looked extremely professional and well-designed, but it hadn't taken him much time at all. It was obvious that Batsy was quite talented when it came to these things.

"Here you go," Batsy said, handing Sapphire the finished product. "Try it on!"

"Wow..." Sapphire gasped, staring at the outfit.

Batsy laughed. "I know, right?!"

"Thanks..." Sapphire giggled. "It looks great! I can't wait to try it on!"

"Good, good!" Batsy smiled. "I'm glad you like it! But there's still one last thing to do before we call it a day..."

"What is that?"

"You need someone to make it look like you exist on this planet, so you can get a job or a home!" Batsy grinned. "Have you thought about that?"

"Not really..." Sapphire admitted. "But... okay."

As Batsy went to speak, the TV in the room would be heard going off playing the breaking news theme.

"Ladies and gentlemen," the voice of the announcer spoke, "a shocking report has come in from the AFK - Working With Disability headquarters in London... A local gang, known as the 'The Skull-Cheqs' have been caught carrying out a series of attacks on the citizens of London. This comes after the recent rise of heroes throughout the world. But now, they've set ablaze the Working With Disability building! According to the reports, several people are believed to have died in the fire. Firefighters are currently trying their best to extinguish the blaze... Let us hope one of these heroes can stop these delinquents before they do anything else!"

"Targetting the disabled, how sad." Batsy scoffed.

"The Skull-Cheqs? I met some of them yesterday..." Sapphire shook her head sadly. "They're terrible people... And yet, nobody does anything about them... Any reason why?"

"They're smart, able to keep away from the law..." Batsy explained. "The police can't find them, and it takes ages for the courts to pass judgement on them. So what do they do? They steal from the rich and rob the poor, hoping to stay out of trouble. Plus, they're quick to run away when the police show up. Nobody's ever found any of them, never mind arrested them."

"Well... Maybe it's time someone stepped up!" Sapphire smirked.