The Lone Knight (Under The Cowl Book #1)

CHAPTER 22

     Assigned to maintain her distance in this operation, Daria could see Stephanie begin to study Cyborg's arm cannon staring right at her. Perhaps she knew there was no need to question its range but instead its output. Am I fast enough to dodge whatever comes out? Will the shielding strength of my cape holdup against its power? What about a direct hit? Can I survive it? Questions Daria knew Stephanie was likely to ask herself before panic will start to set in.

Pressing her fingers into the palm of her hand so hard the feeling started to go numb, Daria did not like standing on the sidelines

Forced to watch from above the Gotham high rise and down at what's happening below her feet, Daria found it difficult to ignore what's so close.

Ruin, the monster that destroyed her home world of Krypton and her people along with it. She'd envisioned the day when she'd become the avenger for her people. It was part of the reason she joined the Collectors of the Fifty-Two. The fastest way to enable the chance to cross paths with the dimensional jumping Mask of Ruin one day, only to then be told no when it's finally in arm's reach.

Through her x-ray vision she couldn't take her eyes off of Bruce Wayne. Holding an entire group of college kids hostage after beating up those who believed they could take him down because they're on whatever popular sports team that allowed them to look like athletic freaks born to look superior than anyone else. 

Bruce didn't even break a sweat taking on five guys at once, ending whatever sports career those boys hoped to have.

It sort of made it a little bit easier seeing Bruce Wayne, or at least the man formally known as Bruce Wayne instead of the monster he now harbors and allows to take center stage when it suits. Not sure if she'll be able to restraint herself if the Mask of Ruin shows itself.

Shifting focus, Daria chuckled as she watched Alec stand trapped on his hands and knees. What better way to humble the arrogant than to force them to their knees. A part of her liked that it was someone without powers to put Alec in check, and better that it was a woman who was the one to do it.

Cyborg fired his beam cannon and hit Stephanie with one shot in the center of her chest. The firing of Cyborg's arm cannon caught her off guard.

Knocking Stephanie off her feet in a way gravity could not protect her,  saw for only a split second the girl fly out and through the front door and across the hall. 

Stephanie vanished behind the massive hole she went through with the debris quick to rain on top of her until covered whole.

Even with her x-ray vision it was hard to see through the cloud of dust and broken debris to check in on Stephanie and see whether or not she was still alive.

Watching Cyborg close the distance between him and Stephanie, it took a minute longer than Daria liked to see movement from the caped crusader on the other side. "We're not supposed to kill her."

Back inside the apartment, Daria noticed the couple who thought the height of their excitement tonight would come while under the covers run for the hills. It's out the back entrance in the bedroom where they ran down the hall for the elevator without looking back.

Movement had come with a subtle push of the debris the second Cyborg stepped out into the hall.

Stephanie crawled out from under the debris and brushed her herself off once she got up to her feet.

Daria quickly enhanced her hearing.

"Your suit seems as strong as reported, Miss Brown."

"By your expression I'm getting the feeling you might have thought that was a kill shot?"

"That was me going easy on you."

Stephanie scoffed. "Say whatever you want to make yourself feel better."

"Bravado will not save you."

"No?"

"I know how well of an escape artist you are. And I will admit you probably could escape me if given the chance. But how much are you willing to gamble if given that chance?" Cyborg turned his cannon in the direction of the couple who sat at the dinner table on the other side of the wall. Although, Stephanie is unaware the couple already left. "If you assume I'm like the other Cyborg from your Earth, you've assumed wrong. I am no hero. I am a Collector of the Fifty-Two. And anyone who stands in my way will know no mercy from me."

Stephanie reached for her break-away staff anchored to her thighs. She quickly assembled them into one without batting an eye, extending its length with a single snap and twirl. Stephanie stood before Cyborg without showing any sign of backing down. "Stephanie Brown may not be from this Earth, but Batgirl is."

"You'd gamble the lives of innocent people?"

Stephanie shook her head. "How much do you actually know about us? Those trained by Batman." Stephanie shifted her stance ready for combat. "Well if you're not going to answer, let me show you."

Igniting the newest feature to her break-away staff, a coated voltage extending from one end to the other, its with no regard for her own safety, especially after the blast from Cyborg's beam cannon, Stephanie charged Cyborg without a hint of hesitation to take on what no human would ever dare challenge.

A machine.

He's got the strength advantage, the speed, the weaponry far from man-made, and the genius intellect able to read Stephanie's every move before it even made. What chance did she have?

Stephanie's staff spat a current quick to split the walls and tear the ground at her feet. She swung away with elegance. The crackling zap from her staff echoed with every hit she made against what Cyborg blocked. And what unexpectedly began to stifle his movements and put him on the back foot.

Not long before she knew it, Daria watched Stephanie catch Cyborg with a pointed jab from her staff slipped through his defenses.

Daria unfolded her arms as she watched Cyborg fall back into the apartment from where he came.

It was not looking good.

With Alec still on the floor and Cyborg getting his ass handed to him, it was like Stephanie Brown knew exactly what to look for when fighting the both of them. And Daria knew the longer they're stuck fighting this one girl the sooner Ruin will slip from everyone's grasp.

Having his little fun by forcing all those kids to kneel with their hands now tied behind their back, Daria did not know how much longer Ruin will remain at bay until Bruce Wayne gets what he came for.

"I need to end this." Daria declared.

Descending in flight at a speed no one could hope to stop as she boomed across the sky, Daria watched Stephanie stand over a defeated Cyborg with her staff in hand and seconds from driving it into the center of her commander's chest.

Daria ignited her eyes into a red fury and expelled her heat vision aimed for Stephanie.

"Don't-" Cyborg held out his hand and attempted to cry out.

But too late, the heated beam pieced through Stephanie's chest only to pass through her and extinguish the hologram and expose the flying baterang hovering above Cyborg instead.

Its wings, like a bat, flapped wildly in the center of the room only to then quickened its pace and ignite from a sultry black color to a ruby red almost instantly.

A trap.

BOOM!