"Come on! You can't get us, Krispy Kreme-hole-suckers!"
Unable to resist taunting law enforcement, though they absolutely could not hear him, Shoebill howled at the top of his lungs while firing his handgun. His targets were the police cruisers chasing just behind his crew's van, but most of his shots went wide because of Bones' erratic driving.
His crew's vehicle had just passed one of the bridges connecting Gotham's bottommost landmass to the middle one. Making their way through an eastbound street, Bones had the van skirt along, weaving in and out of traffic as Robinson Park stretched to one side.
The chase dragged on for a bit longer, but just as Shoebill's crew was about to make a sharp left turn northbound, Bones had to stop their van. Several police cruisers had formed a barricade in their path, along with spike lines to cover up any gaps. There were no left or right turns in that section of the highway, and they couldn't very well make a U-turn because of the two-and-counting cruisers just behind them. Police officers lined up behind their vehicles with guns drawn, and one of them spoke up through a megaphone.
Completely ignoring the blaring voice, Shoebill lowered his head as much as he could to hide behind the dash.
"Where the fuck is Killer Moth?!" one of his crewmen shouted from the back.
"I don't know, but he's gotta be here soon!" responded another.
Remembering the device that Killer Moth had given them— the Moth-Lantern —Shoebill asked, "Is the beacon on?!"
"Yeah!" the second crewman shouted. "It's been on since we crossed the bridge! He should be here any-"
Before the crewman could finish his sentence, the loud roaring of an engine could be heard, followed by orders from the law's side to retreat and back up their own cruisers.
Coming in from their right side, the Mothmobile zoomed past the cruisers idling behind the van. Traveling past Shoebill's crew, it crashed into the cruiser and spike line blocking the path forward, taking out the obstructions and shredding the pointy traps in its nonstandard airless wheels.
While the armed robbery crew were stunned in awe, the communication device in the Moth-Lantern crackled to life, and a distorted voice began speaking.
"Follow me," said who they presumed to be Killer Moth. "I'll clear the way. Once you get to the bridge, go to the designated rendezvous."
Bones didn't even hesitate. He floored it right then and there, smoke rising from the van's rear tires as it was forced from 0 to maximum speed in seconds.
Unfortunately...
Just as Shoebill and his crew were only meters past what was once a police barricade, the sound of thunder rang out. When it did, something crashed into the side of their van. There was a brief creak as they were momentarily made airborne. The doors caved in and the windows shattered, injuring two of four crewmen in the back. The vehicle itself was made to slide along the street like a children's toy, discarded by its bored and disinterested owner. It quarter-flipped to its right side first as it slid, then quarter-flipped once more and ended up upside-down.
Ears ringing, Shoebill made to peer out the shattered window on his side of the van, the world spinning around him from what had just happened.
There was a figure standing where the van must have last been. He could barely see who it was, but a glance was enough. It was that new masked freak— 'manwhore' or something. Stupid name. Or was it an insult, and not his actual name? Doesn't matter.
What mattered was... Killer Moth couldn't help them now. If he turned back, he'd be overwhelmed by the cops and their reinforcements that had just arrived. The sirens were much louder compared to earlier, and the officers were closing in as well. Nobody was in any condition to fight.
It'd be better for the Moth to cut his losses, since he didn't do much this time anyway.
By this point, the purple-clad vigilante had disappeared as well.
'Didn't even see him move... fuck my luck. Fuck this life.'
'... fuck Gotham.'
◎ ◉ ◎
"Did you catch that?" asked Batman, his voice picked up by the Batmobile's comms.
A female voice responded— it was Oracle.
"I did," she confirmed. "He's... something else, isn't he?" There was hesitation in her tone, equal parts awe and concern.
Batman hummed in agreement.
No further communication was necessary for now; they had footage on Lucian that they could analyze, and Batman himself was hot on Killer Moth's tail. It seemed that 'Manticore' didn't plan on making any more moves, either.
'Was that the extent of his power?' Batman wondered. 'He seemed pretty badly hurt after that tackle. At least he knows his limits.'
Batman cut off his own thoughts. He had to capture the villain first. Going over this new 'Manticore' information with Oracle should come later.
◎ ◉ ◎
Lucian hurriedly dashed back to where he left Maxie. He had to rush and change into his Manticore loadout when he heard the gunfire, but he couldn't do that with her around. It would have taken too long to convince her to hide as well, so he did the next best thing.
He hated himself quite a bit for it, but he resorted to putting Maxie to sleep with Penny's help. He used [Non-Lethal Strike] along with some direction from Penny, who borrowed some knowledge from the Headmaster. Since it was a bit of an unforeseen emergency, one instance of this was allowed.
"Man, fuck my life," Lucian grumbled, sneaking into the gap between two small buildings where he'd hidden his unconscious crush. He dismissed his Manticore loadout and ended up back in his civilian clothing. Then, he knelt by Maxie and gently shook her awake.
"H-huh...? Wha...?"
Maxie struggled against the rousing at first, but likely due to feeling the hard ground beneath her, she quickly recalled what had happened.
"Lucian?!" she blurted, trying to jolt upright, only to be held back by Lucian's gentle hand.
"Hey, slow down," he told her. "You fainted for a bit, but I managed to catch you— brought you here. How're you feeling?"
"I..."
'Why did I pass out...?' Maxie had to take a moment. She finally managed to get up somewhat when Lucian stopped blocking her. Inspecting her own body, she found nothing amiss.
"I think I'm good..."
"Great," Lucian sighed, clearly relieved. "Here's the situation," he started, pausing to make sure that he had Maxie's attention. He was certain that she had a lot of questions on her mind, so he decided to address those right away.
"The cops managed to detain some armed robbers just now. That's what the gunshots were about. Someone helped them, too. I'm not sure who it was, but probably one of the bats or something. We're safe now, since we're far away from where it happened. Can you stand?"
Confused but unwilling to dawdle, Maxie nodded and accepted Lucian's extended hand. She ended up stumbling when she tried to get on her feet, but Lucian caught her.
"Okay, let's slow down. Want me to carry you?"
Knowing well how dangerous it was to stay near a Gotham crime scene, Maxie nodded and let him carry her away in his arms.
It didn't take long for her to recover and be able to walk on her own. She still needed assistance, but at least she could use her own two feet now; she just had to lean on Lucian for support.
While she was being carried, Tammy ended up calling. She'd just seen the news, and since Maxie updated her about going to Robinson Park with Lucian earlier, she got worried.
With Maxie assuring her friend that she was fine, they agreed that Tammy would come pick her up and hail a cab home.
"You gonna be okay?" Lucian asked while he, Maxie, and Tammy waited by the sidewalk— on the opposite side of the park from where he had just crashed a whole van.
"I'll be fine," Maxie answered. She was obviously tired— she even very nearly nodded off earlier, so Lucian didn't press it.
Tammy held Maxie in Lucian's stead until they could finally get a ride. With one last exchange of farewells, the two girls disappeared into the distance while Lucian watched on.
[ I think that went really well. ]
"As well as it could've, yeah," Lucian agreed, speaking out loud.
[ Where to next, host? ]
"For now... hm. Do you remember the direction that weird car went in?"
[ Ah, the one that broke through the barricade. It was headed north. Want to try going after it? ]
"Obviously." Lucian smirked. "Before that though, we should go back to the restaurant. Wouldn't wanna keep my boss worrying."
...
"Luce, you alright?"
A concerned Inigo Suarez was what greeted Lucian when he returned. He'd been teaching Tammy a new dish when the news reached them through the radio— the kid had been taking to the cooking lesson really well —and she left Inigo to rush over as soon as she heard.
"I'm fine, boss," Lucian said to reassure him. "You should've seen the other guys. The getaway van got flipped over."
"Flipped over?? You didn't get close to the scene, did you?" Inigo's expression became severe. It was the first time Lucian saw that outside of customers disrespecting the restaurant staff.
Of course, Lucian lied expertly. "No, no. I saw it on the news on the way home," he explained. It was the truth, too; journalists were quick to arrive at the scene, and he had indeed seen the flipped-over van on the many TVs playing live broadcasts of the aftermath.
"Maxie and I got as far away as we could when we started hearing gunshots..."
It took Lucian a bit more time to assure Inigo of his and Maxie's safety. Once that was done, though, Inigo left to return home, leaving his employee to himself in the establishment.
Lucian had other plans, though.
◎ ◉ ◎
"Fucking damnit...!"
Drury Walker cursed his luck. First, that new guy— Manticore —just had to show up and ruin the return gift that he had planned for Batman. He just never thought to account for the newcomer.
None of the bats were supposed to be in Gotham today except for Batman. Manticore himself was new on the scene; Killer Moth had heard of him, but most of the trouble he'd resolved were on the smaller scale. On top of that, Manticore tended to operate on the western side of central Gotham, so him being here really came out of left field.
Walker almost doubted his own judgment and expertise for a moment, but reminded himself: "He's just new. He has no idea what he's doing, most likely. The inexperienced are about as unpredictable as you can get."
He really never expected Manticore to interfere with his little greeting event for Batman's return.
"Maybe he just happened to have business in the area and stepped in because he could...?"
Killer Moth chided himself for a bit, but eventually calmed down. He figured that this would've been the end of it. His plan had already been utterly derailed, and nobody else should come after him now.
Unfortunately for Killer Moth, Batman decided to chase after him anyway. He normally would've engaged the Bat— in fact, that was part of his original plan. He would help the armed robbers escape to the best of his ability, while Batman would do everything in his power to stop them.
It was a great premise for a contest of skill and willpower; Moth vs Bat.
Now though, Killer Moth was all alone in a high-speed chase. The Batmobile hummed, following uncomfortably close behind while he did his best to weave through Gotham's traffic.
It was a chase between a singular virus unit and a roided-up white blood cell...
Cursing his luck one last time, Walker set the Mothmobile on autopilot to return to one of his false hideouts. The moment it passed beneath an overpass, he ejected himself from the vehicle and grappled up to it.
He had no illusions about escaping Batman with such a rudimentary diversion, but did believe that he had a better chance of escaping on foot rather than on wheels.
Much to his dismay, Batman didn't continue chasing after the Mothmobile. This was to be expected, but him taking the diversion would've been nice...
'Well... I guess this could be considered another form of competition between us,' Drury figured. It was just consolation for himself, if anything, but... yeah. You just had to roll with the punches sometimes.
◎ ◉ ◎
Lucian rushed out of his area in Gotham at record speeds. Dealing with the escape van netted him a total of well over 1,000 EXP, which honestly gave him a bit of a high.
[ Destroyed a criminal escape vehicle: 100 EXP ]
[ Assisted law enforcement: 100 EXP ]
[ Prevented another firefight from breaking out: 200 EXP ]
[ Incapacitated a group of armed criminals (6 individuals) : 600 EXP ]
[ No-Deaths Bonus: 120 EXP ]
[ Maintain secret identity bonus, despite having a companion: 100 EXP ]
[ Total EXP earned: 1,220 ]
[ EXP to next level: 216 ]
'I never got rewarded any EXP for people wielding small arms, so they were probably loaded with heavier weapons. The no-death bonus is great, too... I'm surprised they all survived, actually, but I guess I didn't hit the van that hard.'
'Lucian returned to reality when [Justice Sense] started blaring at him.
"There you are," he mumbled, eyes narrowing behind his purple cowl. Batman had just followed Killer Moth into some decrepit warehouse.