The Midnight Case

Chapter 5 : A Conversation

I woke up the next morning, to feel his hand touching my naval. I pondered why would he do that as he slept peacefully beside me. The shirt I wore was too loose and he felt the scars when he wraps his hand around my waist, feeling my skin with his fingers. He never questioned about how I got them but I too saw his scars. He woke up the moment when I traced them with my finger. "Hey." He merely said.

"Hey yourself." I said, moving away from him and getting off the bed. "Shall we just start the investigation?"

"You conveniently left your laptop on last night. It says that you have an agenda."

"Oh no, I forgot. The Secretary of State has an official visit to Gotham City today. A meeting with the mayor and nothing more."

"And the official vehicle isn't departing soon?"

"I have to consult with my father. He didn't just threw me here alone, and we're going to arrive in a motorcade."

"Threw?" He mused. "That's an offensive word."

"We trade sarcasms sometimes."

"I almost thought that he was your blood father."

"I wish." I said. "I didn't believe this would happen." I said, looking at the engagement ring.

"I promised and asked, didn't I?" He asked with a laugh as I placed a hand against his chest. The pounding heart was felt from the ring finger when I touched him.

"I have to go." I said.

Washington D.C. (Hours later)

Father was waiting at the door when I arrived and stepped out of the limo escorting me. Chris' gaze fell upon the diamond ring on my finger but dad looked at his watch, clearly telling me a message : You're late. "Let's go." He said tensely. Climbing into the Beast which the POTUS or the acronym for the President of the United States' limo we found ourselves sitting in an armored car rather than an average limo. The interior was decked out with leather seats, bottles of chilled water and a mysterious compartment. "I assume that you're not late because of the mission I tasked you on." He said as all of us were tucked into the presidential limo. The motorcade took off, sirens wailing by the side. Dad glanced out from the bulletproof glass, observing the motorcade's journey to Gotham.

"What's with the ring Isa?" Chris asked. "Oh wait... did he?" Dad's head turned immediately.

"Yes, he did. He asked for my hand in matrimony last night." I explained, smiling shyly.

"What?" Dad questioned, surprisingly in Korean. "You didn't tell me?"

"He didn't know." I replied, gesturing to Christian. "You rarely speak in our mother tongue do you?" I snapped back in English.

"Care to explain?" Christian growled.

"Dad's a Korean-American. Enough for you?" I asked.

"Wow, mixed heritage too?" He mused.

"Why would you have that compartment?" I asked, ignoring Chris' compliment. Dad moved to the far left where the compartment is, scanned his palm against the leather cover and drew a gun when the cover slid sideways. "Oh. You've been learning."

"Learning?"

"Dad was a soldier before. He asked me to train him in handling a gun so that he can at least defend himself when something's seriously wrong."

"You have your weapons and they can be stored here."

"We won't tell if we even have our weapons at hand now. Bad tactic to let our enemies know that we're unarmed."

"Your senses never faltered. How did you keep it up?"

"Trained to the point where I know automatically that dropping your guard is a stupid act." I replied. "Ask my grandfather, he shot me with arrows to train my senses to not drop my guard."

"He shot you? Oh my God, grandmother wasn't like this when she trained me."

"Forgive me for saying this but grandfather's training is way more brutal than his siblings."

"But Isa, Bruce mentioned about a long scar at your abdomen and at the middle of your back. What happened?" Dad then asked me in this manner.

"... It's better for you and Bruce to not know. I don't want to talk about it."

"Don't deny, the scars pointed to a degree of injury caused by scratch marks. Tell me now." Then my sigh was heard in the limo previously surrounded by a dead silence environment.

"Do you want to?" I said, my voice turning to ice.

"I am not going to repeat my question young lady. As your adoptive father I still have the same rights as a father to care for his daughter."

"... After S.H.I.E.L.D. fell I went underground for a brief moment, years actually. Taking up responsibility to watch over New York City and help those who are in need."

"... Go on."

"One day, a fifty carat diamond was put on display in the New York jewelry museum. I went there... covertly to protect the diamond... and I met her."

"Who?" Dad grew more impatient and I saw his knuckles whitening.

"Kyle." I muttered the answer. The scowl on his face became more intense and growing heavy while Chris listened, I too see his urge to control himself. "I stayed on the rooftops after the gala ended and she appeared soon after. She wanted the diamond, to sell on the black market. The diamond worthed more than a billion dollar."

"Explain your injury."

"I was watching her from afar in the shadows. When she cuts a small circle in the glass panel I moved out of my hiding place, facing her."

"Did she know who you are?"

"She mocked me with this : Who doesn't know about Raven, the protector of New York City."

"And you two fought."

"We did. That time I didn't receive my vibranium suit yet and she scratched me, at my abdomen and the middle of my back when I managed to disarm her and secure the diamond. She used her whip to trip me and scratched me at the abdomen when I missed her hidden claws attack. Although I've managed to secure the diamond she did a backhand flip and landed on my shoulder, using the claws... to scratch me again at the back before I was thrown towards a glass display case. My suit was heavily damaged and I nearly bled out when Chan and Min both tended to my wounds. I did not met Doctor Cho until a few years later." Hearing this dad's knuckles became more white as he held on to the leather seat, anger burning on his face and boiled in his blood.

"How dare she?!" He roared. "That senseless..."

"Dad, it's fine. I know her connection to Bruce and I didn't tell him the truth because of that."

"It's not the both of your faults. I'm just glad that she's behind bars." Chris broke the tension. Then the motorcade stopped abruptly in front of the Gotham City hall, prompting the three of us to account the time we have lost during the entire conversation that diverted our attention from seeing Gotham's cityscapes.