Sanity's Point of View

-------------------------------------
This was not part of the plan. It was clear, even over the sound of the assaulting rain, that I was still being chased. Looking behind me, there was an unclear view, not that I needed it... Damn Vigilantes! There was a flash of silver, metal maybe? So not part of the plan.
------------------------------------
Night. It is when the city comes alive, this city anyway, or if one wanted to be more specific, after dark. Despite this, from up here, atop the Gotham Multi Store, 15 storeys above the street, the city is different. Different in such a way that she is not different but hiding behind say... a mask. Because if you look down you would see people on the street going about their day... or night. You would see the people, you would see the busy streets, you would see the lights... But from up here, it is quiet, secluded, shadowed... it's peaceful, in a way that Gotham, this city, never is. And never should be.

It is however, secretive and Gotham has always been secretive. When I say that I mean that from here Gotham isn't what it is, but if I were to jump 10 storeys, her true personality shines through. That and a tad bit of crazy from Arkham. And that is what I mean, Gotham has layers that hide who she truly is, what she is truly capable of... Like a mask, or even several masks.

It's not just the city that is secretive, but her people too. Men who go home to their wives; when they have taken a mistress, workers who pretend to live an honest life; when they are criminals, police who insist on enforcing the law; turn a blind eye and are easily bought. This city is full of masks; some of them even wear costumes, like Batman and Robin, or Catwoman and the Riddler.

In a way, tonight, I am one of them. It is the truth even if I don't wear a cape, even if I don't pick one side over the other. At the end of the day we all fall under the same category, us figurative capes; 'super-something-or-others', and that's all there is to it, it doesn't matter what side we're on.

Taking a deep breath, I prepared myself for what I was about to do, standing up from my crouching position and closing my eyes... I jumped.

The clarity of the atmosphere changed and I felt my airways constrict. Clear air to polluted, quiet and peaceful to loud and controlled anarchy.

I flipped midair and braced myself for the landing. Tucking my head towards my chest, so it doesn't crack on the concrete roof.

As my shoulder contacted the roof I rolled and came to a finalising crouch, taking the time to catch my breath; I look up.

I can barely see the edge of the building I had just jumped from, but I know it is towering 12 floors above my current position. Immediately, I feel a brief wave of relief for the fact that I am wearing a clad of black.

My 'costume' consisted of a pair of black combat boots, a tri-weave two piece bodysuit (black trousers; that fit like a second skin, and a black corset with silver buckles and a detachable hood; to cover my white hair), my hair reaches just below my shoulder blades and is held back by a pair of black tinted goggles that enable me to see better in the dark; but also hide my eyes. There is the black seemingly fingerless gloves; with thin materials covering the tips in order to prevent fingerprints from being left behind and still provide access to touch screen surfaces without having to remove the gloves. Additionally, the outfit is tied together with a belt, in a dull silver/ grey colour, that has pockets to carry concealed weapons as well as other things I may pick up. Finally, a compact wrist crossbow and a knife strapped to my thigh are for the extra security, for circumstances in both short and long ranges.

Overall, this means that no one on the street would have paid that much attention to my free fall, and if any of them did see it they would conclude I wasn't one of the caped crusaders of this city and continued their business. Not that anyone ever looks up in this city anyway...

I move to the small window in the roof that gives me the perfect view of the inside of the building, and more importantly what I came here for...

I should say that this building is the Gotham Jewel Emporium, and that I am specifically after the Queen's Five Diamond necklace that was just moved here earlier today. The necklace isn't actually property of any Royalty, but it is fit for Royalty, not that it matters...

The rubber seal lining was loose as I had expected it to be, carefully I remove that and lift the glass slightly and unlock the window from the inside. Once that's done I put the glass back as well as the rubber seal, before opening the window and dropping to the floor.

Now I have to be careful to avoid the floor lasers and move quickly enough to not set of the pressure plates in the floor, but slow enough not to trigger the motion sensors, as I move towards the sensory control panel on the far left wall.

When I'm there I need to deactivate the pressure plates first, followed by the motion sensors, then the floor lasers. Then I'd be free to move. I had already deactivated the cameras before coming out tonight, as they ran on a private circuit controlled by a private company that had to be hacked from the main computer. The footage is looped and the backup is playing but not set to record. There, done.

Moving back to the centre of the room I use my glass cutter to get through the display case and... gotcha!

Back in the way I came out, lock the window before shutting it. Now to get back up to where I started...

Attach the extra grips to my gloves; this should allow me to scale the building. Run. Jump... and climb.

Although the silent alarms shouldn't have activated I still want to get out of the area as fast as possible, two storeys to go...

My feet connect with the concrete and I start running, putting the grips into my belt pocket as I go.

At some point it started raining, I couldn't pinpoint when, but I'm wearing my hood and I was preoccupied.

As I jump onto the third building I hear the tell tale zip of a grappling hook over the rain and I pick up the pace. I'm not taking any chances, I have a plan and I do not need any self proclaimed 'hero' screwing it up for me.

After a few minutes, whoever was following me must have caught onto the fact that I knew they were there because they shouted out "It will be easier if you just stop"

Voice, male and young, younger than me. Not Batman, not Robin either... I should probably answer him...

Just to be safe I put on my voice distorter, "Maybe I'm not after easy," I shouted back and as an after thought I added, "Can't a girl play hard to get?"

But...

This was not part of the plan. It was clear, even over the sound of the assaulting rain, that I was still being chased. Looking behind me, there was an unclear view, not that I needed it... Damn Vigilantes! There was a flash of silver, metal maybe? So not part of the plan.

I jump over the first Batarang that was aimed for my legs and duck under the next that was aimed for my head when I jump onto the roof of a slightly lower building.

I can hear slight panting over the easing rain now, and I know it won't be long until I need to stop and catch my breath too.

As I jump onto yet another building's roof I could hear the zip of the grappling gun again.

Anticipating his next move I grab the knife strapped to my thigh and spin mid jump and cut the line.

This time I caught a flash of blue across the chest of the 'hero'. Nightwing.

I pull out my own grapple while he is still partially thrown by my cutting of the line and use the acceleration boost to get a lead. He wasn't expecting it. It catches on a gargoyle on a nearby building and I swing around the corner and land on the opposite side of the building, and roll into a run.

I can't see him now, and take the time to apply the special chemical 'weapon' I had a friend make for me.

As I jump onto the roof of the next building I feel the hair on the back of my neck rise followed by the sound of feet reconnecting with concrete. He is closer now but I can make that work.

When I get to the middle of the next building I hear a swoosh sound and I feel the air change.

As I duck below the Batarang I spin around and I kick my leg out knocking him to the floor. As he tries to get up I pounce on him. With the majority of my weight pinning down his midsection, combined with my hands pinning down his wrists and my ankles wrapping around his legs to keep them pinned as well, made for an effective pin.

When I levelled my head with his he had an expression on his face like he had no idea what happened.

Smirking I said "I figure you already called it in and that you have friends heading this way," his expression blanked "so lets hurry this up shall we?"

"Who are you?" He answered.

I sighed, "You know you're not exactly in a position to interrogate me..." his blank expression turned into what was suppose to be a glare. "Fine. Fine. Okay. I'll answer some of your questions, not all of them, and not that one." And after a moments thought, "If only because you look like an angry kitten when you glare... It's cute, really"

His expression turned in to one that conveyed I have no idea what you're talking about. It was such a shame he wanted to arrest me, he really needed to know what I meant, no one should be that hot and just not know it.

"Why did you steal the necklace?" He asked.

"A girl's gotta eat" oh, great, the blank look was back. "I wasn't all that up for selling myself into prostitution."

"Where are you from?" Well that question was different...

"Gotham" He frowned, "Y'unno, you look like a kicked puppy when you do that, maybe it's the mask? Why?"

"You don't have a local accent," he seemed to be thinking about something,

"Well I've been gone for a while" he looked at me...

"Why do you do, this?" Ah, the hard questions, well lets give some hard answers.

"The same reason you do what you do."

Confusion flashed over his face, "To help people?" I laughed.

"No," I better get moving... "The parents" I could see the hurt and pain, perhaps it was a bit unfair, "I'd love to stay and chat, but you're not part of the plan." I dropped my head next to his ear and whispered "Grayson."

"H-how?" He questioned through the shock, and I pressed a kiss to his lips, before backflipping a few feet away. Just in time to see Red Robin land on the corner of the roof. Nightwing got up fast, too fast.

I let out a bitter laugh and mocked a salute. Red Robin made a move towards me as I shook my head. "Ah, ah. You might want to help your brother out," grinning and gesturing to a stumbling Nightwing, "He doesn't look so good." With that I blow a kiss and jump off the side of the building to the bike I had stashed here earlier and drove off to the other side of town.