Chapter Text
The stench of garbage hung thick as Sam took gasping breath after gasping breath, her back pressed up against a rusted fire escape. She shivers as the cold bites; she hugs her knees to her chest and ignores how her breath crystallizes in the bitter air.
Her hoodie offers no protection. Neither does the threadbare tank top she’s wearing underneath it. Sam takes a shaky breath, grabs hold of the railing, and stands up. She doesn’t know where she is, but she’ll be damned if she just sits around.
Stumbling slightly, Sam climbs down the fire escape to the alley below. Hugging herself and making her way to the opening of the alley, she peeks out and grimaces at the sight of cracked pavement, walls covered in graffiti and dark stains on the ground that she hopes aren’t blood.
The city smelled like danger and decay, a kind of festering that didn’t mean good news.
Her throat tightened. Heart pounding in her chest as she creeps back into the alleyway. “Okay, okay, we’re gonna be okay.”
She wasn’t in Queens anymore, let alone New York. There wasn’t even one neighbourhood that looked like this.
Sam tightens her hold on her arms. “You tripped… You were about to grab hold of the roof when you fell—here?”
There were a lot of problems with that sentence, mostly the part about tripping. She didn’t trip, at least not often.
“And it was the middle of the day, too. But now… now it’s nighttime?”
A shuddering breath as she crouches down, her knees hurt from when she landed hard on the metal fire escape.
Sam’s gaze flickers up toward the sky. There aren’t any stars out, and if they are, they seem to be covered by the thick blanket of smog this city possesses. The moon, though, is half-covered but still radiant in the night; it does little to soothe her nerves.
Her fingers trace the wall behind her, catching on little parts that poke out. “You’ve got this,” she whispers, voice rough and low. “Not a trip. Something else. Something weird.”
Turning, she grips the wall and begins crawling up, ignoring the shooting pain in her left knee. Her breathing is uneven as she tumbles over the edge and lies on her back, staring at the sky on top of the rooftop.
The rooftop is colder than the alleyway, but it’s more open, giving her more room to run if something happens. She takes a calming breath and rakes her fingers through her hair. Her back protests as she just lies on the concrete roof. She sits up and continues to ignore the pain in her left knee, just as she hears a soft sound.
Thump-Thump.
Thump-Thump-Thump.
Sam freezes, covering her mouth and nose with her hand so her breath doesn’t fog. She creeps close to the edge of the roof and looks down at the alleyway she just left, staying flat against the roof as she does so.
It’s quiet when someone creeps into the alleyway, their footsteps light but trained. Sam squints in the dark, her eyes adjusting quickly to the gloom.
The figure is lithe and of average height, but their build is powerful, and their outfit is reminiscent of a superhero costume. They move with deliberate grace and caution, their costume clings tightly to their body, highlighting every muscle.
Sam’s breath catches as she catches sight of the emblem, blue and black. “Oh god…”
“Oracle, I don’t see anyone. You sure she’s here?” The vigilante scans the alley, his domino mask squinted in the dark.
A crackle of static responds through his comm setup. “She’s close. I caught a glimpse of her on a camera, looked scared. Stay sharp.”
Sam presses her hand against her mouth, stopping herself from making any noise. She watches from her spot as the vigilante walks deeper into the alley, closer to where she clambered up the wall, close to where she’s hiding.
She could go down there, explain what’s up, but the chance of being perceived as a threat is far too high.
The vigilante pauses, right underneath where she’s hidden and Sam tenses. She can hear his heartbeat to some extent; it’s quick, panicked until he takes a few calming breaths.
She wills herself to stay still even as the vigilante glances upwards, a spike in his heartbeat until it calms down again.
“If you’re up there, I’m not here to hurt you.” He says it in a low, calm voice.
Her breath catches, but she makes no move to out herself.
“Oracle, any signs?” he asks into his comm.
Sam tenses harder, her shoulders up to her ears as she presses her entire body to the roof. She waits to take a breath until the comm–Oracle?––responds.
“No movement on the cams. If she’s here, she’s smart and hides well.”
The rooftop is shadowed as the vigilante begins to climb the other building. Sam can only hold her breath and keep her body down when she hears him land on the roof opposite.
She can feel her heartbeat in her chest, hammering away as the vigilante seems to move around the other rooftop. Sam positions her hands underneath her chest, her legs preparing for action as she slowly lifts her head.
The vigilante snaps to attention, making eye contact as Sam goes into a crouched-sitting position.
He raises his hands, making them visible, showing he’s not a threat. “I’m not here to hurt you, I just want to help.”
Sam’s eyes narrow, heart pounding. There’s no way she’s buying into that. Her muscles coil, and before he can say anything more, she pushes off the rooftop back to the alleyway and makes a run for it.
Her feet slam onto the dumpster lid—metal groaning beneath her—as she launches into a sprint, momentum surging with every step to keep running from the alleyway to a side street that her spider-sense steers her toward, one that’s hopefully safe.
Soft footsteps follow after her, agile and quick as they take the corner, nearly as quick as she did. She risks a glance behind and holds back a curse at the black and blue vigilante hot on her tail.
She cuts right and scales over a rusted chain-link fence in two strides, the metal rattling under her cheap running shoes as she vaults herself over and grabs hold of someone's patio and climbs up.
Her hands ache as she keeps scaling the residential building. She can’t risk using her spider powers to scale the building, so instead she grabs hold of a part that sticks out and pulls herself onto a rooftop.
A painful throb in her left knee causes her to stumble, but she dodges and does her best to hide in the shadows of an air conditioning unit on top of the building.
Loud footsteps land on the gravel of the rooftop; his steps are exaggerated, making sure she knows he’s there and that she’s cornered.
“Why can’t you just fuck off?” Sam mumbles it under her breath, keeping hidden as the footsteps come closer.
She peeks out from her hiding spot, watching as the vigilante spins around the rooftop, searching.
“I’m here to help you,” He says to the empty air. “But I can only help if you meet me halfway.”
The rooftop remains quiet; the only sound is his feet on the gravel as he moves around. “I don’t know what you’re running from, but we can help you.”
She remains still, except for the soft scrape of Nightwing’s boots on the gravel as he shifts his weight. Sam’s muscles stay tight, every nerve screaming at her to bolt.
“Please?” He calls out again. “I’m really here to only help.”
Her eyes dart to the edge of the rooftop, her knee screaming out in protest. The silence stretches, but the vigilante remains where he is, running a hand through his thick, wavy hair.
Sam licks her chapped lips, inching slowly to the edge of the roof that’s hidden by the air conditioner and slowly climbing down.
She stops when she hears the vigilante again, this time talking to the person on his comm. “I don’t think she’s here.”
A crackle. “Agreed. Check the rooftop to your right. I saw some movement, but I can’t be sure.”
The vigilante’s footsteps fade away, a leap and a land far off.
Sam rests her head on the edge of the rooftop for a moment, relief making her take a pause. She continues climbing down the side of the building, her fingers raw and bloody from her grabbing hold of random things to hold on to instead of using her wall-crawling ability.
Her feet land on steady ground, but her knees shake from all the running without stretching beforehand.
Walking unsteadily, Sam lifts her hood over her head and makes a beeline toward a more bustling area she can blend into, letting her spider sense lead the way.