"It's over Nigma! You've been beaten!" Batgirl shouted as she chased Riddler up the long flight of stairs. His usual braggadocious wasn't coming out due to his panicked breathing as he sprinted up the stairs of the abandoned factory. He found this place to hide out from the cops. At the beginning of the week, Riddler uses his hired guns to kidnap an officer, and due to one of his traps, Batgirl gets injured and has to be patched up by Batman. That led to a night of confessions and pleasure that she couldn't stop thinking about.
She ran up the stairs, skipping every few steps. She knew she could catch up with Edward at any moment. Still, she was waiting for Batman to strike when Riddler eventually reached the top of the building to try to escape through the door. A shadow came down over both of them, blocking out the pale moonlight. Batman crashed through the skylight and tackled Riddler into the concrete. He definitely broke a few of the madman's bones.
"Let me go, you dullard! You think I'll let you get away with this!" Riddler shouted while trying to dig his hand into his pockets. Batman's knees were pressed into the villain's back while his arms had him in a headlock. His green suit was tattered, dirty, and stained with sweat from his hard sprinting.
"Quiet Nigma." Batgirl said before pulling out her cuffs from the correct pocket and putting them around Riddler's wrists, forcing his arms in place.
"Damn you!" Edward tried to spit in the redhead's face, but Batman picked him up before he could. As they descended the stairs, Batman sent his location to the GCPD. Before Batman and Batgirl could exit the building, four black vans pulled up to the front entrance. The headlights blinded the heroes as a squad of men left the vehicles drawing their machine guns. Batman threw Riddler back up the stairs to lure him away from the incoming hail of gunfire.
Batman and Batgirl leaped behind a few scattered crates for cover as the unknown assailants opened fire through the windows of the building. Both heroes readied their smoke bombs and flung them over the containers, blinding the gunmen. They stopped firing briefly, giving Batman and Batgirl a window to leap over the destroyed windows and take them down in the ball of smoke.
Batgirl kicked a few of them in their knees, disarming them before turning around and snatching the gun out of the hands of a man behind her. She hit him in the nose and chest with the butt of the weapon before flinging it at another man's head, knocking both out cold. Batman wasn't as fast as Batgirl when it came to disarming and sliding out of the way, but he was strong enough to rip the guns from their hands and break their arms. Fists flew towards Batman, but he predicted their untrained moments. Open palm striking most of them before Batgirl assisted with a perfect kick to the head.
One man hiding behind the van waited before opening fire on Batman while he was distracted, hitting him in the chest on the bulletproof insignia and his lower abdomen. Before he could get one more shot in, Batgirl snatched the gun from his hand with her grapple hook before running at him and knocking him out with a well-placed flying knee. Batman got caught with a left hook from the right side before he sent the man flying across the street with a body kick.
"You alright?" Batgirl asked.
"I'm fine." Batman grunted in pain as he dug the bullet out of his stomach.
"We got a runner." Batgirl said before flinging her Batarang at the fleeing gunman's head.
"Let's go get Nigma." Batman said.
"Who do you think sent these guys?" Batgirl asked.
"Riddler, these men are most likely his backup if we or the police found him here."
"Really? His backup plans usually involve more than hired guns. They're usually more extravagant."
Just then, one of the vans sped off down the street, providing an adequate distraction for Batman and Batgirl before the factory exploded. The blast knocked the heroes into the water as the now smoldering debris flew across the sky. They swam up, trying to avoid the bits of rubble falling into the water. They climbed out of the water through the docks. Batman tried to keep his composure as the water entered his wound.
"I'm getting you out of here." Batgirl grabbed Batman by the waist and zipped up to a nearby rooftop. She put him down on the roof and placed her hands over his bullet wound.
"I'm fine, Barbara." He pushed her arms out of the way before injecting himself with a shot of his adrenaline. "Thank you."
"You're welcome. How the hell did Riddler sneak out?" Batgirl stood up, looking over the destroyed factory.
"When we were fighting," Batman said, stating the obvious.
"I know that but how did he break out of the cuffs? How is that even possible?" Batgirl turned around and leaned back down closer to Batman's face.
"Are you feeling better?" Batgirl asked although part of her was just using this as an excuse to feel his abs again. The adrenaline rush of nearly dying always seemed to turn into something sexual. At least, that's how it was with her and Dick before he became Nightwing. Plenty of close calls with the reaper always made Barbara want to jump all over Robin, but it never went farther than a make-out session and some groping from both of them.
It usually ended with the lights of a police helicopter shining over the two, followed by their mad dash to get away. The last thing Barbara needed to see in the tabloids was her and Robin making out. She wondered if Bruce ever did it with Catwoman during their escapades. She saw some slight stubble around his chin and upper lip as she looked closer. For some odd reason, this turned her on even more. Batgirl leaned forward to kiss him, but Batman pulled away and regained his strength to stand up.
"Not now Barbara." Batman said sternly.
"Sorry." Batgirl said.
"I'll investigate the rubble. You try to track down the van." Batman said before leaping off and gracefully gliding back down towards the destroyed building.
"Ok..." Batgirl trailed off, feeling dejected. She activated her detective mode, gliding over the road and following the tire tracks left by the Riddler. She remembered the last time she followed a mysterious van's tire tracks. Quite an exciting night that was. The van crashed under a streetlamp. Batgirl put up her guard, getting ready for another fight as she approached the front door.
She forced it open and found nothing except the shards of broken glass on the seats and floor. Her earpiece began to ring.
"Batgirl, did you find anything?"
"No. He's gone." She answered, sighing in frustration.
"Don't worry. We'll get him." Batman said. She hung up.
"I hope so."
*
Barbara couldn't sleep. She stared at the ceiling of her apartment in silence. She grabbed the collar of the oversized shirt that she snuck out of Wayne Manor after her brief stay earlier in the week. It was a regular dark blue shirt that was the most comfortable article of clothing she'd ever worn. A costly gray shirt. The simple shirt of a multi-billionaire. It smelled like him, and she loved it.
It was definitely harder to sleep since it was eight in the morning. Barbara cursed at herself for not buying dark curtains to block out the sun. Today was her day off from her job at the library, so she figured she'd get some rest before going out to look for The Riddler tonight for the third time this week. She finally began to doze off before she was interrupted by a knock at her door.
