3Apologies for rewriting again. The story beginning did NOT flow the way I needed it to. Set in 2019, not in the 1980s. One year before the episode 'Independence Day'. Thank you to all those who followed this story through its constant editing. If you preferred the previous versions, I'll find a way to make it work out...I realized at I made the story move forward too fast.
Wait! The room is on fire! It's not safe, come back. Come back!
I watch in horror as the building collapses, taking my friends with it. Then I choke as I cry, not because of their deaths, but because I don't remember who they were.
The crashing crescendos into a blaring wail as the fire rushes towards my face.
And I welcome it.
Gotham: November 4th, 2019: 6:15 AM
I wake up shivering, for the heater is broken in my apartment. Walking over to the winods in my shorts and t-shirt, I silently gaze out the window at the snow. Weather never got like this back where oceans from, but I'll adapt. Like always.
I go to the restroom and clean my facial features.
...
Humans are so different than other species.
It is so strange to be an outsider like this, but that's how it's always been. I may look human both phenotypically and in the DNA, but I was grown from oil and steel by a scientist. For what purpose, I don't know yet. The facility I was born in was raided, all the people inside killed.
Based upon the information I gathered while crawling from the abandoned nursery, I am essentially an android, a synthetic metahuman, with the potential to be the shield that defends humankind from threats or the sword that exterminates it. I do not know my full capabilities; for now, I am smarter, more agile, more durable, and slightly stronger than many human adults.
Since I wasn't programmed with my purpose, I had long since decided to travel the globe studying humanity in order to determine my purpose. For no living being should be left without a reason to keep going.
When I stumbled upon my first word, "AIM," I was terrified when I saw these strange bipedal lifeforms trailing guns on my home.
Now, my name is Ada I. Mark, to remind myself of my first word, and the destruction that happened after I first heard it. The soldiers, as I now know them to be, aimed this giant gun at the building and clicked a button. A missile flew towards my hiding place behind the wilted potted plant.
If I hadn't crawled away just in time, I would be an unrecorded failure.
...
I look in the mirror after washing my face. Glancing back at me is a nine-year-old female human with long black wavy hair and cobalt blue eyes against tanned skin. I am a bit leaner and more lithe than most humans my age, which is both an advantage and a vulnerability.
This is my first week in America. I had to move here when Queen Bee became suspicious of the CEO of Android Animatron Repair. The spies I spotted on the cameras I installed in the robot were close to discovering its true nature, so I hightailed it out of Bialya.
Anyway, back to the present. Stupid child scatterbrain.
I stretch my arms behind myself, relishing the pop in my joints.
After I get dressed, I slip on my watch and type in the passcode hidden underneath the strap. The disguise projects onto my body's outward appearance, giving me the illusion of a thirteen-year-old boy with brown eyes and blonde hair until I undo the command manually. It will work even when the device is confiscated.
Time to interact with the local population and record data.
6:47 PM
Holed up in the 'lab' nestled in the nearby scrapyard, I make some final adjustments to the shipment I was assigned. I don't think it is normal to let minors handle heat and sharp/crushing objects without supervision, but I need the money.
When I'm finished, I check the box on the slip of paper and drop it off in the inbox before stepping out into the bitter night, tightly wrapping the thin shawl about my even thinner shoulder with one hand, the other clutching the little brown umbrella tightly.
I should've chosen some warm state, like Texas, Arizona, California, anywhere else but Gotham. But nooo, I wanted to examine the socio-economic balance and the legal side of things, so of course I would choose this place.
Right as I step out from the scrapyard into an alley, the hairs on my neck stand on end, the cutting breeze brushing past like water. I look around, peering into the darkness created by the Earth's rotation away from the sun.
But then I remember a bit of advice I used in Bialya to show away onboard the Seastar: they never look up. I tilt my head towards the roofs, seeing a dark outline against the smog. I examine the said person, debating whether or not to tell them.
A light thud behind me betrays the arrival of a person in the alley. I turn around to see a boy about twelve years old in a red suit with a red-and-black cape crouching with his back to me. He turns around and pauses, the white false-eyes of the black domino mask widening in surprise.
I cock my brow at him. "Hello, stalker. What's with the outfit? Please tell me that you and creepy dude up there are the only ones here."
He looks at me, shocked for some reason. Then I realize why.
"Please tell me that you didn't think I wouldn't spot some man in a black suit off the bat. I mean, black is actually a terrible color to dress in this environment. I could see his outline against the sky. If you want some advice, I would suggest a dark brown, grey, or green."
Creepy person jumps down from the roof and lands behind me. I click my umbrella without undoing the Velcro, extending it into a full-length makeshift staff. Without turning around, I ask what their names are.
The adult behind me, whose mask I had noticed to be very tacky, simply says, "I'm Batman."
"Okay...so do you often wear a cowl that shows off the fact that you have little time to shave properly, or is this a special occasion? And what's with the capes? Unless they are durable enough for gliding, I don't see much use for them."
The boy in front of me snickers. "What am I supposed to call you, kid? I guess we're not sharing real names, so I'll say my name is Signal if you tell me your alias."
"I'm Robin. What were you doing in the illegal weapons manufacturing plant?" He grins again for some weird reason.
Since they probably would find out anyway, "That's where my job is. I design and build tools that make it easier to defend oneself. Hmm...so I guess that sort of business isn't common around here?"
'Batman' tests his hand on my shoulder, and I instinctively tense up. "I need to take you for questioning. This is not an arrest."
Hahahaha. No.
I spin around and knock his feet from under him, knocking him backwards with the sudden unbalance. He turns it into a backwards somersault, but it gives me time to run away. When I turn to get out of the alleyway, Robin stands in my way with a pair of escrima sticks, his face serious.
I bat away the weapons with my staff and knock him towards a wall. To his shock, I then run at the said wall and jump off it right beside his head, giving me momentum to jump between the walls and get onto the roof, where I make my getaway.
I lead them on a goose chase around town before losing them in the abandoned amusement park. That is some weird red paint, by the way.
10:28 PM
When I reach my apartment, I go past it and duck into a small shop. I stop by the women's restroom and turn off the disguise. Luckily no one spotted me except for this little kid who looked at my disguise strangely.
I walk back to my apartment (only a couple blocks away) and change into my faded yellow pajamas.
I say hello to the little brown kitten sitting on my pillow and put food in his bowl and change out the water. "Here you go, Scott."
Afterwards I realize that I hadn't eaten anything all day, so I eat a piece of toast with peanut butter and pepper flakes. The oil in the pepper is needed to maintain my health, and the peanut butter makes it tolerable.
Stupid scientist, making me dependent on oil. I have to eat a bit of pepper every month otherwise I get the urge to vomit. Much longer and my organs would slowly wilt.
I tuck myself in bed and say goodnight to the kitten before going to sleep.
Red splatters on the peeling walls, laughter echoing through the desolate halls...
Thank you to these people for following my story:
Blooddoll1 (and for favoriting)
Bree45 (and for favoriting)
Gugubean (and for favoriting)
Ijustdon'tcare132
amakir393 (and for favoriting)
nico2411 (and for favoriting)
purple-stained-sky
Thank you to these people for favoriting:
CharlieFreemantheJumpererch
LovelySakura777
Please review and lens me your thoughts on how this story is going and how I could improve it. Danke.