Chapter 374: The Man with the Mysterious Shield
Silver Sable International had grown fast over the past two months -- fast enough that the outfit had outgrown its old office building and relocated into a factory. The building had previously been an Obadiah-era Aegis Security weapons facility, one of the warehouses Stark Industries had once used for arms storage. When Stark Industries gutted its weapons division entirely, the properties moved at low prices. Silver Sable had picked this one up at a bargain.
It was late. Sable sat alone, tossing a knife between her fingers with one hand and pushing the silver fringe of her bangs back behind her ear with the other.
She'd been drinking with her crew earlier -- partly to celebrate Silver Sable International finally finding its footing, partly because her mood had been poor lately.
The factory had dormitory space for her rescue teams. Sable had a private rest room of her own. Tonight she'd decided to sleep here rather than make the trip back to her place in Brooklyn.
She moved through the corridors with that familiar slightly-unfocused look she got after a few drinks, eyes drifting toward her door, upper body leaning into it as she fumbled it open and pushed toward the bed.
Then, mid-stride, something ran cold through her.
The haze in her eyes snapped into clarity. Her brows lifted. The knife reversed in her grip, blade angled across her body.
She didn't hit the bed. At the last instant she planted a foot, used her core to wrench herself sideways in midair, and landed with one foot on the bed frame and one on the floor.
Ting.
A small, sharp sound. A device had rolled loose from the bed frame. Sable caught it in one hand.
She brought it to her mouth without blinking, clamped her teeth around the pin, and spoke into the dark room.
"Who's there?"
The room was black. She couldn't see anything clearly. She tracked the darkness in front of her, shifting her weight continuously, already running contingencies. If whoever this was outclassed her, she'd drop the device, go through the window, and have her people saturate the room with fire from outside.
"Me." A low voice. And then, in the black, a pair of white-glowing lenses lit up.
Sable's brow drew together, something uncertain in her voice.
"Batman?"
She blinked hard, letting her eyes fully adjust. Above those glowing lenses, the unmistakable sharp points of the cowl's ears.
"It's me." Low and even.
Sable exhaled slowly and released the pin with care. "How did you find this place?"
Batman started to answer. She cut him off.
"Because you're Batman, I know, I know -- lucky it was you. I almost pulled the pin. I thought it was that other one again."
Batman stepped out of the dark and stood in front of her. He looked at her faintly flushed face and caught the smell of alcohol on her breath.
"Other one?"
"About a week ago. Someone else broke into this factory the same way you just did. We traded a few exchanges -- I lost." Sable said it plainly.
"Describe him."
Sable didn't reach for the light. She dropped onto the edge of the bed, leaned sideways on one hand with no particular concern for posture, and looked up at him.
"Around six-one, heavily built. Head to toe in black. His weapon was unusual -- a circular shield. Same matte black as the rest of him."
She paused.
"What did he want?" Batman asked, already constructing a rough profile in his mind.
Sable rolled her eyes. "How would I know? After he put me down he spent the whole time asking me about something from two years ago. Whether I remembered -- I don't even know what specifically. There's a lot that happened two years ago."
"Nothing else?"
"Nothing. When he didn't get an answer he left. I tried to track him after -- the man's counter-tracking instincts are excellent. I got nothing."
Batman filed it away. No immediate use, but possibly a thread worth pulling later.
"What brings you here in the middle of the night, anyway?" Sable shifted topics. "Aren't there criminals to chase?"
"I need your help with something," Batman said. "Assembling a South Pole expedition team. Under a rescue cover. I need you to lead it personally."
Sable sat straight up.
A mission that brought Batman to her door himself -- one where he specifically needed her in command. It had to be something on the scale of Tony Stark.
"Who are we rescuing?" Her voice carried real anticipation.
"No one. I need you to bring something back." Batman shook his head. "I'll give you coordinates. The job is environmental sampling on location."
Sable deflated immediately. Environmental sampling had none of the tension she'd been hoping for -- none of that particular feeling that took her back to the battlefield.
"And after?"
"I'll handle the rest."
"When do we start?"
"As soon as possible. Ideally now."
"That's not happening."
Batman looked at her.
"You haven't taken a rescue job in three days. You have the time. I'll cover all costs for the expedition."
Sable made a dismissive sound.
"Don't insult me with money. If you want me to move tonight, you're going to have to offer something worth my while."
Batman's eyes narrowed slightly as he weighed his options.
"What do you want?"
"A kiss." Sable's mouth curved upward, a faint flush in her cheeks.
Batman didn't react.
But from the corner of the dark room came a sound that couldn't quite contain itself.
"Pfft."
Sable's expression changed instantly. The flirtation was gone. The fact that a third person had been in this room the entire time -- had witnessed that particular moment -- sent a cold spike of fury through her. She stared at Batman.
"Who is that?"
Batman was quiet for two seconds. Then he turned toward the dark and beckoned.
"Robin. Come out."
Under Sable's look that could have drawn blood, a shape condensed out of the shadows -- a short, unhurried kid who strolled out and planted himself beside Batman like he owned the room.
"He's your...?" Sable transferred her anger directly to Batman.
"Son," Batman said, without inflection.
"Don't tell me you're some divorced single dad in a bat costume." Sable's expression shifted from murderous to something genuinely strange.
Batman was quiet for a moment.
"More or less."
"Don't give me that," Sable said, voice flat. "I watched that little creature go from a puddle of something to a human shape with my own eyes. Don't try to tell me that's normal fatherhood."
Venom Robin's mouth kept pulling into a grin he couldn't suppress. His eyes moved back and forth between Batman and Sable. He was very curious how this was going to end.
A forceful kiss to shut her up? Or would Batman find a way to send him out of the room first?
Venom Robin decided he had found his entertainment for the evening.
***
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