To Gotham By Midnight Part 1

LOCATION: Gotham City 

I had just finished my nightly round for the night as the sun was beginning to rise over the sleeping city. 

The streets were eerily quiet but I could see lights in nearby houses turning on letting me know that my shift was over, a mail man across the street caught my eye he waved at me as he collected the letters for his delivery, I nod back at him in acknowledgement but I try and avoid talking to anyone after all in their eyes I was a hero but I knew that I was anything but a hero. 

It had been a busy night 3 robberies, a mugging and 6 assaults sometimes I couldn't understand this city it was like the criminal capital of America, I'd been all over the world and nowhere was like this city Gotham was just a huge mixture of corruption, deceit and insanity .

Suddenly I get a message from Batman that he wanted to talk to me about something back at the Bat Cave.

I drive through the hidden entrance to the Bat Cave which was behind a waterfall,

 I see Batman already waiting for me it was unusual for him to call me to talk to me it sort of felt like being called to the bosses office not that he was my boss or anything

I'm my own damn boss now.

He paced nervously up and down the Bat Cave and even though the dark cowl covered most of his face I could tell that he looked anxious like something was really bothering him.

"Hey Natasha I need to talk to you about something really important" He tells me as I pull my bike to a halt but I perch on the saddle and I cross my arms and wait for him to continue

"I'm going off world for a week, on a mission with the Justice League and I would like you to take charge whilst I'm gone" he explains his expression gives away that he doesn't want to go but he was a good man and he knew that at the end of the day it doesn't matter what he wants it matters where he can do the most good.

 I knew Batman had been hesitant about leaving Gotham city for big missions with the Justice League so I knew this was a huge deal for him he never trusted anyone else with the safety of the city

"Wow off world huh?" I say to him that's quite a journey we were used to fighting lizard men, men who were made of clay and could change their form, men who can bring themselves back from death, homicidal clowns and women that could bend nature to their will but that up their that was something new something both exciting yet terrifying at the same time. 

"Yeah I'm leading a mission to recover a very powerful artefact on Apokolips" he tells me as he sits down next to me and although I wasn't part of the League I knew that Apokolips was a bad place 

A wave of nausea creeps over me at the thought of my best friend being in such terrible danger he didn't have powers like the rest he couldn't run as fast as light he couldn't fly, he couldn't punch through steel but I have to remind myself of one sentence 

'He's Batman'

People underestimated people like us all the time because we're not 'super' but their in lies our power, the power to completely destroy others expectations of our abilities, our intelligence our cunningness and our will power, I trusted that he would be safe as long as he trusted me to keep Gotham City Safe.  

"The city will be fine Bruce if the League needs you then you should go" I tell him as Batman was the best Tactical thinker that the League had if their off world mission would be successful they need him

"Thanks Natasha are you ok with holding down the fort?" he asks me he is obviously uncomfortable with asking me to do this but I like to think that I know this city well enough to act as it's protector for the next week

"Bruce you have nothing to worry about I got this" I tell him

I grab his face in my hands, "Promise me that you'll be ok and I'll promise that you'll get your city back in one piece" I smile at the Dark Knight but I could sense that the communicator in his utility belt was vibrating but he was purposefully ignoring it.

"Well then if that's the case I'd better promise that I'll be ok since I would like my City back" I let go of his face and he gets inside the Bat Mobile but he smiles back at me one more time before speeding off in the Bat Mobile and I'm left feeling anxious and a little irritated, I'm not used to these emotions so I take a couple of rounds with the punching bag to let off some steam.

.-------------------------------.

NEXT DAY

LOCATION: Bat Cave

I call a meeting the next evening in the Bat Cave to tell the rest of the gang what was happening Dick, Tim and Barbra all sit around the large table in the Bat Cave

"I called all of you here today to tell you that we are a man down for a week Batman is away on a very important Justice League mission off world and he's left me in charge for the week we need to prove to him that he can trust us with the safety of Gotham" I tell the youngsters they all have the same expression plastered on their face they're wondering why I'm telling them this and not Bruce

"Is it a dangerous mission? That Bruce has gone on I mean" Dick asks obviously concerned about the safety of Bruce

"They've gone to Apokolips" I tell them all and they all seem to understand that going to the literal hell planet wasn't going to be a walk in the park, but I know Batman he will be safe 

<I hope> 

"So has he left me in charge whilst he's gone?" Dick asks but Barbra looks at him in a glare "Excuse you Grayson I've lived on Gotham all my life I know every nook and cranny it should be me over you" Tim remained quiet as he looked at the bickering couple but I quickly interrupt the arguing youngsters 

"Actually I'm in charge" I exclaim which causes everyone in the room to go silent "To right" Tim says breaking the awkward silence that hung in the room

"Ok" Barbra abruptly says 

"Is this going to be a problem" I say to everyone at the table, we never fought so this felt really strange

"Nat You've only been in Gotham for a couple of years and you're an ex KGB assassin the GCPD don't trust you as much as any of us" I raise my hand to stop Grayson from talking 

"I've been fighting for more years than all of you combined have been alive and as for the CGPD they don't need to trust me they just need to know that I'll get the job done" and again everyone in the room falls silent  

"Look guys We need to prove that we can keep this City in one piece so I looked through the Bat Computer we have some very important jobs that need taking care of" I tell them as I pass Tim and Dick a report that I had typed up earlier they both read it intently I had been through with my report   

"The word on the street is that the gangs in the west side have set up an illegal gambling ring this mostly includes animal fights I want this to stop immediately" I tell Tim and Dick the nod at the order and read through the brief of the job, I turn to Bat Girl who had seemingly gotten over her previous argument with Nightwing

"Clay face has been sighted in the sewers near the Gotham mall I want you to find out if this is authentic and if it is get him back to his cosy cell in Arkham" I pass the brief to Barbra who nods at me, I knew she had fought Clay Face before and I believed that she could handle it 

Batman didn't usually let any of them do much head on fighting without him there but if I was going to keep this city safe I was going to have to shift the rookies to the front line

"What are you going to do Black Widow?" Dick asks me I had looked through the files on the Bat Computer to find the most challenging dangerous job and I found it 

I hold up a much thicker folder to the group 

"I have intel that in the next week a massive gun shipment is coming to Gotham it's probably the largest shipment of guns that Gotham has ever seen I'm going to find out who is behind the smuggling and make sure those weapons never see the light of day". 

"So you get to have all of the fun?" Dick asks jokingly but I see the table shake as I'm guessing Barbra kicks him in the shin 

"This isn't meant to be fun Nightwing this is serious" but even Tim had begun to look at me like I was crazy 

"Natasha even Batman wouldn't take on this one by himself it's big and the jobs that you've given us seem small in comparison let us help" Tim insists but I had already made up my mind this was going to be dangerous which is why I didn't want any of them involved 

"No Tim, this one is mine"

.----------------------------------------.

LOCATION: Gotham GCPD 

The Bat signal floats high in the dark Gotham sky it was how the Commissioner could get in touch with the Batman well tonight they will have to do with the next best thing.

As I approach I see Jim Gordon and Harvey Bullock waiting on the roof. I sneak up behind the two and land without making a noise

"Gentlemen" I greet them,

They both jump at my soundless approach "Jesus!" Bullock exclaims although I thought they would be used to it by now

"Where's Batman?" Gordon asks me I understood that he was much more used to dealing with the Batman as some of the police officers were a bit uncomfortable to be dealing with an ex Russian spy and assassin

"He is on urgent business with the Justice League I'm holding the fort for the week" I tell the commissioner this obviously made Bullock very unhappy he disliked Batman at the best of times and as for his opinion on me well the less said the better

"You've got to be kidding me we're supposed to trust a commie spy" Bullock shouts and to be honest I had been called every name under the sun before so whatever he could come up with it wouldn't bother me

"You called?" I ask the commissioner he hands me a file

"I don't know if you've heard there is a huge gun shipment making its way to Gotham this week, we don't know where, when or how but we may have a lead on somebody that might know how" I turn the folder to a familiar picture Boxy Bennett was a Bookie Ring Leader and also had a business in falsifying official documents

"I have it on good word that Bennett has been mouthing around that he falsified the documents for the cargo" the commissioner tells me it was worth a shot at me interrogating him and even better I know where he is tonight

"We must confiscate thousands of fire arms every year we can't let those guns reach the street Black Widow" he turns around but I had already disappeared

"Ugh her too" Gordon sighs in frustration.

Sorry I haven't updated in a while I've been writing another book alongside this one it's called "Black Widow & Wonder Woman" I would recommend checking it out if you like this one. Thank you for reading Chapter please leave a like and a comment :)

p.s. sorry for the chessy chapter titles 

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#Songs for Chapter 23#

-"Ho Hey" by The Lumineers

-"Rather Be" by Clean Bandit and Jess Glynne

-"Next to me" by Emeli Sande

-"Black and Yellow" by Wiz Khalifa

-"Superheroes" by The Script 

Click on the external link below for the playlist available on Spotify