“Your money or your life!”
Awesome. You’ve never been mugged before. This is new. This is interesting. This is an experience you never ever EVER want to have again.
You take a moment to think about your options. There aren’t many. Can’t run. The alley’s a dead-end. You could fight, but the guy’s got a knife. Well, golly. What would Captain America, do? you think to yourself.
You pick up a nearby trash-can lid and hold it in front of yourself like a shield. Ok, so it’s made out of rubberized plastic instead of fancy-ass vibranium, but it’s the thought that counts. Apparently, though, your mugger doesn’t feel like playing “Evil Minion gets curbstomped by Super Soldier.” He laughs and lunges at you. But you dig deep into your soul, find the reserves of courage you were squirreling away for the next time your Aunt Beatrice asked you to sample her Mystery Meat Stew, and prepare yourself mentally for the challenge to come. As he darts in, you dance back, and the point of the knife sticks into your makeshift shield. Ha-HAH! Take that, evildoer!
The punk growls and tries to yank his knife free, but you ain’t havin’ none of that, no sir. You set your feet, then heave your weight forward, throwing everything you’ve got against your shield which rams right into your attacker’s face.
*THWACK*
Ow! That’ll leave a mark!
The mugger loses his grip on the knife and staggers back, his nose bleeding from the wicked shot to the face you just dealt him, but you’re not finished yet. No way, this bozo is going DOWN. You shield-punch him again, clobbering him right in the forehead this time, but somehow he’s still standing. Well. Third time’s the charm. This time you really let him have it. Full wind-up, bringing your arm back so far your hand’s somewhere in the next county over. You belt the poor sumbitch so hard he pulls a full 180 before crashing face-first into the side of a building and collapsing to the ground with a groan.
Woo hoo! Go, you!
You’re not ashamed to say, you celebrated with a little end-zone dance.
“Nice moves,” says a clearly amused voice from behind you.
You spin around, your cat-like reflexes honed and ready to deal with this sudden and unexpected threat, but as the new arrival comes into your line of sight, your jaw drops. You’ve seen her before. You know exactly who she is. The flowing cape, the blonde hair peeking out from underneath the pointy-eared cowl, the yellow bat insignia stenciled on her chest, and all the… eggplant-colored trim sprinkled throughout the costume. Once again, comic-book nerdery comes to your rescue. The young woman standing twenty feet away from you is none other than one Stephanie Brown – a.k.a. Batgirl.
The gears in your brain come to a grinding halt. Buh?!
“The fight, I mean, not the dancing. That part was sad.”
Some part of you registers that she was just talking to you. It determines that a verbal response of some kind would be appropriate. “Uhhhhh.”
You always did consider yourself quite eloquent.
“This is usually the part where people say ‘Hello.’”
“Sorry. Um. Hi?” See? Excellent conversational skills. “I’m in Gotham,” you mutter in amazement.
It’s also been said that you have a penchant for stating the obvious.
She cocks her head at you, a wry little smirk forming at the corner of her mouth. “Did he nick you with that knife or something? It’s like your head sprang a slow leak and you’re losing IQ points by the second.”
You clear your throat, hoping that’ll clear the cobwebs gumming up your brain, too. “Just a little rattled, I guess. I’ve never had someone try to turn me into a human pincushion, before.”
Batgirl trots over to the downed mugger, pulling a plastic ziptie out of one of the ridiculous number of pouches on her utility belt. In just seconds she’s got the perp all trussed up with nowhere to go. (But jail.) “Gotcha. But you handled yourself real well, actually. I was just getting ready to take him down when you did it for me. I’m impressed.” She flashes you a quick smile.
“Well, that’s me. Saving the world, one thwarted criminal act at a time.”
Smoooooooth.
She snorts. “So modest, too.” The mugger’s just starting to stir again by this point, so Batgirl reaches down to grab him by the back of his shirt. “All right, buster. On your feet. Uh – hey!”
Before your eyes can even really register what’s happening, the criminal’s torn free from her grasp. You’re not sure how he’s managing it with his hands still cuffed behind him, but he’s darting away as fast as his legs can carry him and not doing a half-bad job of it. Even if he does have this really ridiculous-looking chicken-waddle thing going on.
“Oh, unbelievable,” the costumed vigilante growls to no one in particular. “Get your skinny ass back here!” She reaches into that magical belt of hers for another gizmo, this time producing something you’ve seen in a million comic books and always wished you had for yourself. You feel something stir deep within your soul (and in other places) as a minor nerdgasm runs through you.
It’s a Batarang, no mistake about it, and she flicks it open with practiced ease, holding the tiny weapon in between her thumb, forefinger, and middle finger. One casual snap-throw later and-
The Batarang explodes in her hands, covering her all the way to the wrists in some kind of neon-green adhesive. The force of the blast throws her off-balance, causing her wrists to stick to each other, and then to the wall to her left. Horrified, she tugs fiercely but can’t pull herself loose. “Oh, come ON!”
Huh. Oops.
 indicates the next chapter needs to be written. |
| Members who added to this interactive story also contributed to these: |
<<-- Previous · Outline  · Recent Additions © Copyright 2025 Vordertur (UN: vordertur at Writing.Com). All rights reserved.
KingsSideCastle has granted Writing.Com, its affiliates and syndicates non-exclusive rights to display this work within this interactive story. Poster accepts all responsibility, legal and otherwise, for the content uploaded, submitted to and posted on Writing.Com. |
View Portfolio
Visit Notebook
Send Gift Points
Awards
Badges
Send Email
Community Newsfeed
General Discussion
Sponsored Items
Book of Trinkets
Static Items
Books
Groups
Interactive Stories
Audio
Campfire Creatives
Community Notes
Crossword Puzzles
Documents
Folders
Images
In & Outs
Madlibs
Photo Albums
Polls
Product Reviews
Quizzes
Survey Forms
Web Pages
Word Searches
More by this author