May Prompt!

[Rennasan]

Robin John Blake had become consumed by his work. The divorce papers had been signed and he had nothing else to live for but his work, his duty. He wouldn’t let Bruce Wayne down. He would not let the Bat down. It just wasn’t in the cards. Great, now I’m sounding like the Joker...Cards... He thought bitterly. He was quite bitter recently, and everyone was beginning to notice the dark gaze from his muddied eyes. The deep bags beneath the holes of darkness he now saw from. There was nothing to look forward to for him - in his mind.
Here he sat on the top of a building, his suit - red and green - casing his body in armour that had already failed him so many times. He began to wish he had put on nothing but the mask. If he were to die in combat tonight, what would be the difference? In his mind it would hurt less. His dark brown eyes looked through from his mask, the pale scar slicing across his face - a mark he now resented.
“Take the north side.” Came the Bat’s gruff voice from beside him.
“On my way.” He responded in his disguised - but dead - tone.
In a moment he was gone, vanished into the dark as he moved on into the night. Their target was here. The group they had been hunting for weeks. They had caught a lucky break with this, and John - no - Robin would not let this opportunity up. He had nothing better to do with his life anyways. So, here he was, silently moving across the rooftops.
Their target was a major mod leader, under the alias of Scarface. So, obviously there was a scar across his face, across his right cheek. You and I are not so different... John thought silently as he moved along. But I don’t lead a mob. He growled silently as he jumped over a glass window, invisible in the night.
This man, however, was not just a mob man. He was an arms dealer, selling to men like the Joker. He was slippery, and it had taken them a year to just gather enough information to find him tonight. So, here they were - or rather, here Robin was. Robin, the valiant protector, here when his secret identity was dying inside.
He kept going across the roof, nearly to his point. His face was blank, his movements fluid and smooth - shocking considering John’s lack of sleep. When the glass began in front of his feet, he took a deep breath. Here we go. A small smile curled his lips. Not John’s smile. But the cruel smile of Robin.
“In position. Cut the power.” he growled into the com.
“Power out in 3...2...1...” the power switched off.
Without a word, John pulled out a small lazer blade, cutting a hole in the glass skylight. He had attacked something resembling a plunger with a rope to it so the glass would not fall and shatter. He slipped inside, diving down, grabbing a metal beam and swinging around it like a gymnast, catapulting himself into the darkness.
“What was that?!” Scarface himself growled.
“I don’t know boss.” one of his goons responded.
Scarface had thick black eyebrows and jet black hair with black abysses for eyes. A nasty scar curled across his right cheek. His lips were a thin white line of pure hate. Robin however did not care as he slipped through the dark, staying out of the moonlight.
“Fire into the rafters.” Scarface barked.
The goons obeyed and fired up into the darkness in which Robin hid. The light from the muzzles of the goons’ guns lit the room enough to show Robin’s silhouet. A bullet slipped in through a chink in his armor, making him groan ever so slightly as the burning bullet bit into his flesh. But he had felt worse pain than this.
He continued to glide through the dark, the bark of the gunfire following him. He kept moving however, dodging behind another beam. They obviously knew where he was. He swore and waited as the bullets pounded into the steel. His eyes searched for a way out. In one quick movement, he rolled out from behind the beam and dove into the dark.
He heard them swear as he made his escape. He knew what would have to be done. So, he did not waste time in doing it. He moved back around, towards the back side of the warehouse. He saw a point behind Scarface where no goons stood. His mind was devising a plan of attack.
Quickly he moved to the location, dropping down. He was silent, landing in a way that made no noise - besides the sickening pop that came from his left ankle. He groaned and bit into his lip to stop himself from making a noise. The searing pain in his ankle was unbearable as he moved forward slowly.
He was sneaking up behind him, ready to deliver the knockout blow. There was a crack from his ankle and Scarface turned around. A knife flashed blindingly in the sudden brightness. And it was that exact moment that the power came back on...

[elegant badass silence]

Title- There’s No Safety in the Darkness
Characters- (in order) James Wayne, Sullivan Mortimer, Amelia Blake, Evelyn, Adrian, Henry (more to come)
Words- 600
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Every light in the world flickered.

Everyone paused, there was no storm.

At least, there was no storm that they knew of yet.

Every light in the world fell to darkness.

The cool breeze brushed across his fevered skin, his eyes closed as his body quivered like a leaf. His trembling hand braced himself against the wall, taking slow deep breaths to calm his rapidly beating heart. “Think it’s done,” he wheezed, lowering himself to the ground, leaning his back against the wall.

“Think?” scowled the second of the two, eyes narrowed. Crossing his arms over his chest, the man shifted his weight, scowling down at the younger of the two. “Think, gets us nowhere.”

“Darkness is my way of life,” the younger said, moving to his feet, shakily. His eyes slid open, glowing as red as the blood that would soon coat the streets. “They’ll wish the lights stayed off.”

---

The house plunged into darkness, diving to the deepest pits of despair. Shadows lengthened, crawling across the walls, warping before her very eyes. As a cold feeling of foreboding settled delicately across the darkness, she stood, turning round, trying to remember where she could find a flashlight.

“Power’s out!” shouted the voice of a little girl as she came down the stairs, her feet echoing through the house.

“Didn’t realize,” the blonde replied, smiling just faintly as she moved around the couch. “Know where I could find a flashlight?” She managed to find her way to the kitchen, using her hands.

Evelyn shrugged, leaning against the railing, “Nope.”

“Here,” said the girl’s brother, moving down the stairs as he clicked it on, and his sister almost felt compelled to trip him, but thought better of it. He handed it to his mother and she smiled warmly at him.

She walked across the floor, towards her bedroom. Slipping through the door way, she paused to glance down at the flashlight as it began flickering. “Adrian,” she called, “does this flashlight have batteries?”
Adrian appeared at her side, looking around her shoulder, frowning. “Yeah, it should…don’t know why it’s doin’ that…” He took the flashlight from her hand and clicked it off, giving it a shake as though that would make everything better. He clicked it back on.

There was no beam.

Adrian frowned.

“That’s odd…” commented Amelia softly, thoughtfully.

“Great,” muttered Evelyn, “now we’ve got nothing.”

A little voice sounded from the foot of the stars, “I don’t like the dark….”

Amelia moved from Adrian’s side and to Henry’s. She knelt and lifted him onto her shoulders. “It’ll be alright, my dear,” she told him gently.

“No. It won’t be,” a voice hissed through the darkness, sending chills down Amelia’s spine.

Evelyn took a step back, looking startled while Adrian shivered a bit. “Children, go upstairs,” Amelia commanded, setting Henry on the ground.

“That wouldn’t be wise,” the voice continued from the top of the staircase.

“This isn’t you!” She called, eyes flickering about, trying to pinpoint his location.

“Isn’t it?” his voice hissed next to her hear, and she jumped, pushing Henry towards his siblings. She didn’t look over at him, but she knew who it was. It was impossible not to know. He’d loved her daughter. He’d been nearly like a son to her.

“James…” she whispered, “why are you-“

“That’s not my name anymore,” he whispered, sending chills down her back. “I go by Shade Killer now.”

And it was that exact moment that the lights came back on…

And Amelia Raven Blake screamed just before everything went dark….

NOT QUITE FINISHED, MAY/MAY NOT ADD MORE FROM DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVES!

[Pirate Queen Crow]

Name: Crow
Characters: (In order of appearance) Jane Reid, Amelia Blake, Vapour, Matthew Reid
Words: 2595
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- "And it was that exact moment that the power came back on..."
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It had been months since the building had collapsed on Matthew, Amelia and James. All three of them had been found alive - albeit bruised - by the rescue teams. The other known person to have been in the building was Michael, who no one had seen hide nor hair of since the collapse. It seemed, to the majority of people in Gotham, that Michael Smith had pulled one of Batman's favourite magic tricks and done a disappearing act. That was fine for the citizens of Gotham, though, and no one really brought it up aside from the occasional 'what ever happened to Michael Smith?' that would be slipped into conversations around the city on a monthly basis. The news had nothing about him, though, and the topic had rather died out since the first week when it was being asked every single day.

In those months, friendships had been formed, romances had withered away and people had come back to life. Ordinary months in Gotham, really. Those who came back were met with the harsh reality that life had moved on, while those who hadn't were faced with people they'd buried suddenly wandering round and some of those people who hadn't died began to wonder whether the graves of those who had were empty or not. Well, one person had begun to wonder that. One person who wasn't at their home at the moment that a pair who'd become practically partners in crime over the months were creeping up the stairs to his apartment.

"I can't believe he'd leave the door unlocked." Amelia told her friend, shaking her head. Her friend giggled and grinned at her.

"I can. He used to do it all the time in Vegas." Replied Jane, laughing a little more at Amelia's expression of hopelessness. After a moment, the blonde shushed the red haired woman as the laughter grew in volume. Small giggles came from Jane as they walked to the front door and Jane took a deep breath jokingly. "Ready?"

"You sure he's not home?"

"Him be at home and miss a day of work?" She returned, raising her eyebrows. "You must be mad." She joked, grinning at the other woman before reaching for the door handle as though expecting to not be able to turn it. A second later, the front door of Matthew Reid's apartment was open and welcoming the pair into a rather dark hallway. Jane rolled her eyes as she waited for Amelia to walk through the door. Amelia looked at the other woman, though, and smiled.

"M'lady?"

Jane giggled femininely and walked into her brother's apartment.

"Oh thank you, kind lady!" She grinned before she laughed a little more and Amelia joined her in the hallway with a grin, closing the front door behind her. They were plunged into darkness as all of the doors in the hallway were shut and there were no windows. Jane crept through the darkness before turning back to Amelia and, waiting until she was slightly closer, clapping her hands very loudly right in front of her face. Amelia jumped and stumbled backwards while simultaneously through her arm out to attack whatever had made the noise. Jane stumbled back with her hand pressed to her face. "Shit!"

"Did I hit you?"

"Right in the face! God damnit I wish I'd known you were gonna do that. Would've moved."

There was a moment of silence between the pair as Amelia figured out that it was Jane who'd made the noise and Jane tried, in the darkness, to figure out whether or not her nose was bleeding, because she was certain that Amelia had hit it, before...

"You fucking asshole!"

Running to the living room door, Jane opened it with ease and a grin despite the fading pain in her face before shutting the door behind her. Amelia almost ran into the wooden object, though managed not to and banged her hands loudly on the door.

"Let me in! I've got the DVD!" Amelia shouted through the door. Jane glanced at her wrists and found that what Amelia was saying was true, as if Jane had the DVD then it would be on her wrists in a plastic bag.

"Promise you won't kill me." Jane called back while sprinting away from the door and moving to climb over the back of the sofa to stand on the seat.

"I promise?"

"Come on then, oh mighty warrior of Gotham!" Jane shouted before laughing at Amelia's expression as she opened the door, stepped into the living room and saw Jane. She shook her head with a grin.

"How are you related to Matthew?"

"Well, you see... When a man and a woman want children, the man puts his tool into a woman's... Vagina... And basically pounds her and sometimes it's meant to be out of love but I don't-"

"Wow, didn't need you to explain that bit to me." Amelia interrupted, holding one hand up to halt Jane's explanation. Jane snorted loudly.

"Matthew said that once... Right after he asked exactly the same thing..." She told Amelia and shrugged before bouncing off of the sofa and moving around the coffee table, the opposite side to Amelia, to end up in front of the television and DVD player. The pair looked at each other before large grins spread across their features. "He's going to hate us." Jane practically whimpered with glee. Amelia laughed aloud and shook her head.

"You, maybe, but not me. He loves me too much."

"Pfft, no such thing with Matthew."

"Hey!"

Jane gave a small shrug and pulled a face of 'sorry but it's true'.

"C'mon, how do you think we ended up so bad?"

"Because you're an argumentative woman and he's not an argumentative man?"

"That could be it too, I suppose..." Jane trailed off after a moment before shrugging again. "Who knows? It's all so technical..."

"And that," Amelia began with a grin, taking the DVD that they'd brought with them out of the bag on her wrist. "is why you would make a terrible psychiatrist."

"Also because I just don't care about every single person's problems." Jane grinned. The pair laughed and Amelia gave a nod.

"I was trying to be nice, but that too." She agreed before holding up the DVD case. Both of the women looked at it before similar grins lit up their features with mischievousness. The cover of the case baring a name that they both knew would annoy Matthew the most...

Twilight


Once they'd done everything they wanted to do - and Jane had written 'get some pasta' on the table in sugar - the pair moved back into the hallway. Jane closed the door behind them gently with somewhat wide eyes as though the pair might get caught by Matthew at any second though they both knew that he wasn't going to be home for at least a little while. Half an hour, maybe more, was the time they had to get out of the building. Easy. They were plunged into darkness once more before they began moving towards the front door silently. Once they reached the door, Amelia moved to turn the handle and frowned.

"Come on, open the door. He'll be home soon and do you want to try explaining what were doing here?"

"It won't open!" Amelia said over her shoulder, half-turning towards Jane. Jane frowned in the darkness with confusion.

"What do you mean 'won't open'? It's not fucking locked." Jane snapped, obviously frustrated.

"You wanna have a go at this?" Amelia asked, her temper flaring a little. Jane nodded despite Amelia not being able to see it and moved forward.

"Fine! Move."

Amelia did so, stepping past Jane to go and turn the light on. As Jane was fiddling with the door knob, Amelia clicked the light on and off twice but no light came from the bulb.

"That's odd."

"What? Matthew's flat being broken?" Jane asked with a hint of sarcasm. Amelia smirked softly with amusement before shaking her head.

"I'm being serious! His lights work normally and the door was unlocked..." Amelia said, trailing off at the end. Jane looked in the direction that the other woman was in and nodded through the darkness.

"Try the living room door." She suggested while moving away from the front door. Trying it, Amelia shook her head.

"Not happening."

A noise of irritation came from Jane and she turned back to the front door with a sharp kick. The thud that sounded made Amelia jump.

"What did you just do?!"

"Kicked the door." Jane answered through gritted teeth, moving to massage her toes to make them stop hurting. "Fucking hurt."

"Shouldn't kick the door then, should you?"

"Thanks Matthew. I didn't realise you were here at the moment." Jane snapped, hitting the front door with her hand now. Amelia gave a sarcastic laugh and shook her head.

"Funny."

Another thud sounded from Jane's direction with a small scream.

"Please tell me that was Matthew..."

"What? I thought it was you...?"

"No!" Jane sounded panicked and moved closer to Amelia. "Where are you?"

"By the living room door..." Amelia answered as Jane reached out. When her hand touched Amelia's shoulder, the shorter of the pair screamed, making Jane scream, and the pair jumped away from each other. Jane ended up in front of Matthew's bedroom door and a cupboard door while Amelia crashed into the living room. "That... That was you, wasn't it?" Amelia asked after a moment of trying to get back to standing up straight. Jane nodded before her voice broke through the darkness.

"That was me."

Another thud sounded, this time from the living room door. Amelia moved back towards Jane, who was moving towards Amelia at the time and the pair knocked into each other with a hint of a noise coming from them before they realised who was there.

"I don't think it's Matthew..." Jane whimpered, gripping Amelia's arm rather tightly like a frightened child. Amelia nodded.

"Funnily enough, I don't think it is either..." She replied, voice shaking a little with how scared she was. Jane began moving next to her, moving closer to the wall. "What are you-"

"If we stay by a wall, we can feel our way around." Jane answered the unfinished question while feeling out for the wall. Amelia gave a nod and moved after her. At least, she tried to. Footsteps sounded next to Amelia, though not on the same side as Jane. The pair were next to each other, knowing that they were and looking around in the darkness for the owner of the footsteps - the pitch black pressing against their eyes, forcing them blindly closer together. Jane bit her bottom lip gently while Amelia debated on trying to find the light switch again. Scratching that sounded against the walls made her freeze. It wasn't loud, though was eerie enough to worry the pair. Small scratches that sounded, gently coming to them through the thick darkness as though someone were trapped inside the thin walls of the hallway.

"We... We should try a door again..." Jane said softly, inching towards one of the walls slowly. Amelia nodded despite the fact that Jane couldn't see the movement.

"Yeah... Yeah, I'm right behind you."

She could hear Jane's soft thumps against the wall as she tried to feel her way towards a door and followed the noises, though screamed loudly as she heard heavy breathing right beside her. Her arm was flung out wildly as she backed away from where she'd previously been. Upon not hitting anything with her arm, she felt out for Jane, who had collapsed against the wall after Amelia's scream had shocked her sideways. A small squeak sounded as Amelia touched Jane's shoulder.

"It's me! It's... It's me."

"I can't find the fucking door." Jane whispered, moving to hold onto Amelia's arm gently while still tapping her way across the wall. "Where the heck is the god damn door?!" She asked with annoyance.

"Closer."

The tapping stopped with the whispered word and she moved back towards Amelia.

"Wh-Who are you?" Amelia called out, holding the wrist of the hand holding her other arm.

"It was my home."

"What? Here?"

"He pushed me out."

Amelia couldn't think of what to say, unable to understand what and who was being spoken about. Jane seemed to finally find her voice again, though.

"Get away from us! Go away!"

"Jaaannneeee."

The voice was warped, demonic sounding as it twisted its way to the pair. Jane shifted next to Amelia, who wondered how this entity knew Jane's name.

"Who are you?!" She screamed. Instead of an answer, the scratching noises came back. They were further down the hallway now, nearer the door.

"This is my life."

More scratching, interrupted by broken and harsh screams that moved towards the front door.

"Don't make me go."

Jane was sobbing softly now, being so quiet that Amelia barely knew she was sobbing.

"This is impossible." She mumbled, shaking her head in the darkness. Amelia grit her teeth momentarily, trying to stir some determination in herself.

"Get out. Get out now!" She shouted, moving away from the wall and from Jane. "You're not scaring us. You can't..."

As she spoke, there was movement from the darkness in front of her. It stirred. Slowly. Slowly. Quicker and quicker. The speed grew with no noise until a figure was obvious, featureless except for a mouth and pure white, then everything stilled. There was no movement and no noises except for Jane's sobbing and Amelia's breathing. The smoky shape moved with speed towards Amelia suddenly and opened the mouth impossibly wide as they screamed loudly. Amelia ducked into a ball, covering her head with her arms as Jane screamed again, pressing against the wall. The smoke dispersed.

Jumping up as Jane wiped her cheeks shakily, Amelia looked around for any sign of the smoke or the figure before feeling along the wall for a light switch. There was a noise from the front door and it was that exact moment that the power came back on. Amelia hit the light switch with panic rising and the pair looked to the front door in time to see Matthew watching them with a frown.

"What are you two doing?"

Amelia gestured to where the noises had come from.

"There... There was a... A thing!"

"A thing?"

"Yeah! It was a thing! Jane heard it too!" She said almost desperately and looked to Jane for support. Jane nodded while staring at Matthew.

"It's true and you've got a shadow..."

Matthew looked somewhat unimpressed.

"I would. The light is on." He stated, looking at his sister. Jane pulled a face and crossed her arms over her chest. A moment passed before Matthew spoke again. "What are you two doing in my apartment?!"

Amelia and Jane looked at each other before the pair smiled, though Jane's was somewhat forced.

"Welcoming you home!" Jane said, throwing her arms out warmly before walking towards her brother with confidence and patting him on the shoulder. "And now we're leaving. Bye!"

The pair left, leaving a very confused Matthew to wonder what they were doing. An hour passed before he turned on the television and the title menu for Twilight came on the screen. Throwing the remote at the television and missing, he decided that he rather disliked them at that moment in time...