THE BAT CHASE (Batwoman/Ruby Rose fanfic)

TWENTY-FOUR (Kate POV)

"Kate..." Dani hides behind me, holding my cape with a death grip, sobbing while her scared eyes watch the spiders moving closer, forming a circle around us so we can't escape. Fuck! Some of them are the size of my hand palm, where do these tarantulas with fat bellies and furry legs that are looking at us with hostility come from? There is a lower number of scorpions but they raise their tails showing us their stingers aggressively and I'm pretty sure their sting will be very painful... maybe we could survive to the poison of one or two but there're too many and all those toxins into the bloodstream... I don't think our hearts will be able to bear it without stopping. I have to take my girl out of this sewer or we'll die here.

My first impulse is to take her in my arms and run away as fast as possible, stepping on the spiders not caring about squeezing them under my boots, confident that the thick leather and suit will protect my legs but there're a lot of them, if I can't reach the tunnels before they crawl up my cape and they bite my girl in my arms... I'm not sure the escape plan will be successful, there's no way I can know how many creepy crawling bugs are in those tunnels... Dani sobs harder and she struggles to breathe, like she's running out of air, her entire body shakes of disgust and terror. If she faints, I'll have to deal with her dead weight as well as with all those horrible spiders.

"Kate..." my girl gasps and her legs go weak, I have to hold her by her waist with my arm so she doesn't fall on the ground while I focus on finding a solution to this problem... They're getting closer and the sound of their thousands legs hitting the stone floor is getting on my nerves. Wait a minute... I push Shade's ankle with my foot taking advantage of my training in martial arts and her dazed state to throw her to the ground and I fall on top of her, covering us with my cape.

"Curl up! Dani, can you hear me? Draw your knees into your chest..." My girl obeys my command even if fear has paralyzed her, maybe because I'm asking her to move to an instinctive position to protect herself, and she curls up under my body while her hands hold onto my chest and she digs her fingers in my suit. I make myself comfortable on top of her, protecting both our bodies with my cape and making sure I don't leave any crack open, and I turn the GPS of my belt that's also an emergency signal on: the Colonel must be receiving my request for help while he waits in the car and he knows he has to come now.

"Kate... Kate... What's happen...?" His voice through the earpiece sends a shiver of relief down my spine.

"Dad! Bring a flamethrower!" I hope he's heard me, actually, it's a miracle that he was able to communicate with me at this depth. "Dani, help is on the way... Hold onto me, don't move, please... remain still..." I don't know if she's understood me, she's getting more and more hysterical and her body convulses violently under my body with every sob. I take my two zippo-style lighters from my utility belt, only the fluid inside is more powerful, and I disassemble them quickly despite I'm unable to see anything under the cape and my gloves are a nuisance. "Fuck... fuck..." I growl while holding my breath feeling nauseous suddenly, I can feel some spiders wandering over mi body through the fabric even if it's very thick... I feel more and more weight on my back and legs, things that crawl and slip on my shoulders... I can't waste more time.

"Kate, no!" Dani flinches under my body, screaming terrified when I lift the cape slightly in order to stick my hand out and the flashlight she dropped before illuminates a hive of dark bodies and legs shaking, trying to reach us. I wave my hand pouring the fluid of both lighters all over my cape while trying to stop scorpions from sneaking under the fabric, praying for it to be as fireproof as my dad promised since I'm going to test it for the first time. Using a smaller lighter, the one Wayne Industries gives all its employees as a gift every year, I ignite the fluid and hide my hand back under the cape quickly, holding the hem of the of the fabric so nothings get in following my glove.