ARACHNE

1

everybody wants to rule the world
ꜰʟɪᴘᴛᴜʀɴ
01:51 ────0──── 03:43

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It had been a long time since I had gotten a good chase out of one of Batman's sidekicks.

I wasn't a top priority to them, and I thanked the stars for that.

I wish they would mind their own business, it would make my life so much easier. It wasn't like I was a villain or doing anything to stop them from doing their jobs. I helped them do their job to protect Gotham, and I never got in the way.

I think that Batsy's problem with me was that I was a loose cannon. I didn't work with him or his team; he didn't control me. I was a wild card he couldn't quite count on.

And I liked it that way.

After all, Gotham didn't belong to Batman, and it didn't belong to the bad guys. It belonged to its people.

I hated how dark Gotham was at night. Out of the gloom and shadows, the worst of humanity seemed to lurk. And that's why people like me existed. To make the world a better place.

I took a deep breath, and leaned over the roof, watching Gotham move below. The city never sleeps at night, and it was easy to remember how small my problems were compared to Gotham City's.

I quickly turned my head to the left, I could sense that someone was out there, watching me in that said darkness. And there were only a few other people in Gotham that would dare galavant across the rooftops.

I pretended to brush it off, and stretched on top of the half wall. I scoped out my options of how to escape into the night, when a batarang flew past my ear. I grinned, which was hidden by a black mask, and gave my chaser a two fingered salute.

Then, I leapt off of the building. Gravity dragged me down the air, pushing me further and further. I could hear a grapple gun shoot off me behind me, and I continued the chase.

I shot a web at a building across the busy street, almost running across the chilled wind. I didn't think this was how my night was going to end, but then again, it was fun to play with Batman. I was the only person he had been chasing for years without any success.

They say when you're being chased, you should never look back, but you know what happened to the cat.

Curiosity got the better of me, I saw that Robin was on my tail, much closer than I anticipated him to be. My head tingled, and I immediately dropped lower into the city, as he threw another batarang, this time snapping one of my webs.

I turned back around, focusing on getting rid of him. I had a test tomorrow in my English class, and even though I wasn't looking forward to it, I needed some sleep for it.

"How's it going, Robin? Long time no see!" I called over my shoulder, before weaving in between two large skyscrapers.

"Come on Arachne, I just wanna talk!" He called after me. I rolled my eyes, I had heard his words a million times, not only from him, but from Nightwing too.

I laughed, "Yeah, no thanks, I'd rather not become an experiment!" Or worse.

I didn't know what Batman's intentions were. I could go to prison, to Arkham Asylum... or he could threaten to take Arachne away from me. The scary part was not knowing.

The thought chilled me to the bone, and made me more determined. Batman couldn't make me give this up, I wouldn't make it easy on him.

I shot two more webs, and pulled myself high above the skyscrapers. For a moment, I was floating, and then I used my inertia to swing across the city.

It put space between me and the little bird. I flipped through the air, before landing on top of a building.

Robin was no where in sight.

A couple of times, he had tried to corner me, or lead me into Batman's or Nightwing's path, but it never worked. I always slipped away.

Robin always got caught in my web. It infuriated him that I could keep up with his mental games.

It wasn't like I was the Joker, the Riddler, or even some lowlife criminal.

I was Arachne, your average, everyday friendly neighborhood superhero. While Batsy and his crew were taking down the big bad guys, I started from the bottom up.

I stopped muggings, murders, out of control drivers, robberies... all the things that the average Gothamite was subject to. I'd come across henchmen of a criminal lord, a gang, or even Joker's clowns a time or two, but I just webbed them to the side of a streetlight.

I didn't send them home in body casts.

I was a nuisance if anything, but not important enough to take down.

I was an mystery.

Nobody knew me—and it would stay that way. I couldn't let anyone get in trouble or hurt because of me.

It annoyed Robin, that he didn't know my secret identity. He was smarter than the last two Robins, or that's what every major news outlet said. I know not knowing who I really was bothered Batman even more. He knew everything about the city. Knowledge was power, and it kept him in control of Gotham. Mostly.

Every rule has an exception, and here I was.

But the news attacked me as much as Batman, if we were good guys, why would we be hiding behind a mask?

Just because someone is hiding something, or has a secret, doesn't always make it a bad thing.

I can't tell you the amount of times that I've been chased down by his sidekicks, but never the Bat himself. Nightwing would give a good chase, but he would always let me down easy. Robin was more analytical, and would always try to corner or trap me. I could tell that he wasn't raised in Gotham, at least not in the inner city. He might know and memorize every street from a map, but I knew every street because I've walked it.

This was my city as much as theirs, and I wasn't going to back down.

Convinced that there wasn't someone following me, or a tracking device on my suit, I swung towards my apartment. Robin had been called away or given up, or else he wouldn't have left me alone so easily.

I sighed, feeling tired already. It wasn't that late, but I had a feeling I should go home early.

My mom always worked late into the night, so it's not like she's ever find out about my alter ego. How could I lie to her when I never saw her in the first place?

I shook my head: there were bigger problems than my own.

Gotham was quiet, eerily so.

Something big was going to happen, you could feel it in the air. It was almost tangible, like you could run a knife right through it and take a piece of it with you. But there was nothing I could do about it.

I wasn't Batman. I was just Arachne. I did what I could. One day, I'd test the limits of my power. But it wouldn't be tonight.

I landed on the emergency railing outside of my window, as softly as I could. I crawled through my window, and shut it. I changed into my pj's, and hid my suit into my school backpack.

I laid down on my bed, and stared at the ceiling. One day, I'd figure out what I was going to do with my life. Was Arachne a side thing, or was I going to be doing this for the rest of my life? I wish I knew—

"Julia! Get in here!" My mom yelled at me from the kitchen.

I cringed, and got out of bed.

My name was Julia Carpenter, and I was in big trouble.

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1351 words