Cat and Mouse

Chapter 4

Fox P.O.V.

The downstairs of the Gotham National Bank was mayhem.

Through the front doors I can clearly see the blue and red flashing police lights. Two men dressed in black are moving around the tightly-huddled group of hostages, each keeping their guns aimed at them. In the corner is an open vault, two more goons filling black duffel bags with the treasures inside. In the middle of it all, flipping a two-faced coin, was Two Face, the scarred side of his face set up in a permanant sneer while the other part looked plain bored.

"And here I thought it'd just be a bunch of mindless goons" I sigh wistfully, turning to Robin. I motion to the men and he nods, disappearing to the corner. Moving forward, i sneak off towards the hostages. One spots me is about to shout out but I place a gloved hand to my lips in a hushing manner, before zipping my lips. The man gets my message and nods, turning away from me.

I glance at my clock, 3 minutes before the hostages start to die. Moving closer, I fish two batarang-styled weapons out of my utility belt.  Aiming them both, I launch them at the two guards, effectively knocking the guns out of their hands. They stand in shock for a minute and I take the opportunity, jumping out of the shadows and punching the first guy square in the face. He stumbles down, hitting the ground.

By this time the second guy recovers and moves forward, abandoning his weapon on the floor. I duck under his fist, jabbing a hand out and hitting a pressure point on the side of his ribs. He clutches it with a hand and I duck down again, swinging one leg around to knock the man down. I kick him once in the ribs to assure he stays down, satisfied when I notice he's unconcious.

"Watch out!" Robin's voice rings through the bank and I duck down just as a gun shot resounds through the air. Freed from their captors, the hostages stand up and scatter with shrieks, many running to the door with a futile attempt to open the locked entrance. I turn to see Two-Face is now facing me. One eye is narrowed, the good side of his face set in a scowl. In his hand is the familiar pistol, aimed at me.

Robin is still fighting one of the goons, the first one knocked on the floor. Before Two-Face can fire another shot, I duck and roll towards him, springing up and kicking his arm to remove the pistol. Two-Face responds by extending a fist, which I skillfully dodge, backing up and avoiding my swaying tail.

I back up further before taking a running leap at Two-Face, my foot extended. He grabs my foot, twirling me around and realeasing me, sending me whirling towards Robin who just knocked out the final goon. I let out a warning shriek but by the time he notices me I'm barreling face first into him. I stumble slightly, landing on top of him. I open my eyes to see our faces are right next to each other. I quickly push off.

"Pathetic, really. I expected more of a... challenge. Where's the Batman?" Two-Face taunts from behind me. I turn around and narrow my eyes.

"Not wasting his time fighting you" i retort sharply, running forward again. Instead of attacking head on, I pull out another batarang and throw it at him. He moves his body to the side in time to miss him, laughing humorlessly.

"Pity he can't come to save the Boy Wonder and... whoever you are. I shouldn't even be wasting my time fighting children, much less one I've never even seen before" He remarks casually.

Out of the corner of my eye, I can see Robin has moved next to me, poised to attack. My lips point upwards in a smirk and I face the scarred man again, fists clenched in a fighting stance.

"Well come over here and I can prove myself to you" I growl at him.

Two-Face contemplates the idea "Hmm, nothing a good coin toss can decide" he says. He flips the coin in his hand, observing the result. If only I had x-ray vision to see the result. Stupid Superman.

Two-Face lurches forward, fist raised out as he aims for my face. I jump over his attack, spinning around and hitting him in the face with my boot. He stumbles back, but as I'm turning around, Two-Face grabs my fox tail and throws me towards the ground. The wind rushes out of my lungs and I wheeze out air, doubling over in pain.

Before Two-Face can advance on me, Robin throws a smoke grenade on the floor, shrouding the bank in a pale gray dust.I use the cover to move away and I can clearly hear the enemy shout out in pain, knowing Robin must have attacked Two-Face.

By the time the smoke clears, I have pulled myself to my feet and Robin is standing over an unconcious Two-Face, his good eye sealed shut. The other four men are still on the floor and I immefiately move to tie them up while Robin deals with Two-Face. The hostages are hiding in the corner, and by the time the Police break into the door, Two-Face is just starting to awake, his hands and feet in handcuffs courtesy of Robin.

Batman suddenly walks in, straight to Robin "Where were you?" He demands angrily as if he didn't know the Boy Wonder had snuck inside the bank.

Robin suddenly turns to me "I saw her entering the building and I followed. Turns out she was helping to stop the robbery" He says briefly and I look away from Batman's scrutinizing gaze.

"you do realize this mistake could have cost the lives of 30 innocent civilians? What were you thinking?" I can hear Batman begin to lose his cool, but his voice never raises. Though his tone is deadly enough to send goosebumps up my spine.

"I was trying to stop her in case she was trying to help the robbers!" RObin defends himself. "And in case you didn't notice, we stopped the bad guys" He argues.

"Do you even know who she is?" Batman asks, narrowing his eyes.

It was really annoying me how he talked about me as if I am not even here. Angry, i step forward and cross my arms, daringly staring into Batman and willing myself not to flinch away in fear.

"Yeah, he does." I answer boldly, surprised by my courage. Maybe it's the adrenaline from the previous fight. "I'm Fox by the way, and you're welcome from stopping the robbers since you weren't able to" I say. I can hear Robin's intake of breath as if expecting Batman to blow his top at me.

"I was to busy looking for him" Batman responds, aiming his masked head to Robin. I shrug.

"Well doesn't matter anymore, Robin's back, I saved the day and we all live happily ever after. And now I go!" I announce playfully. Ducking around Batman, I move through the crowd of police officers on the scene, unnoticed as they help the hostages. Once out the door, I disappear into the night.