Sell you a Bridge chapter 42

The Clock Tower July 15th 8:00 AM EDT

I  adjusted my jacket again and looked in the mirror. I'd chosen one of my  world class tailored suits. Then changed into a shirt and jeans. Then  changed back into the suit because my mask looked fucking stupid with  knock around clothes. Then I switched to standing in front of my mirror  trying to iron out all the flaws in my outfit before I had to go meet  Zee and worried that I might be dressing too fancy for whatever we were  going to do. Then I spent about fifteen minutes panicking because I had  no clue what we should do today.

Finally  I'd settled all my worries and I was ready to go. I'd decided we would  do breakfast and even scoured some forums to find the best place. I  turned away from the mirror and pulled my phone from my pocket,  confirming the email I'd found yesterday for Reid Richter's Reflex  Elixir. There was a knock at the door to my room and when I opened it I  wasn't at all surprised to find a small wooden box. I picked the thing  up and carried it inside before anyone came out and saw it. I closed my  eyes and saw a burning number ten in my vision.

I  was still figuring out the reasons behind different costs but there  seemed to be multiple factors. Not just strength but widespread impact,  versatility, and even side effects or lack thereof. The reflex elixir  was fifty five points presumably because while it was small scale in  effect, it didn't require active power use to function. From scanning  through my emails passive effects seemed to be a bit pricier, which made  perfect sense. I moved my mask aside and downed the vial, which tasted  like a weird mix of blueberry and apple, before waiting.

I  felt a shudder wrack my whole body, and in the wake of the movement I  felt...changed. My motions seemed incredibly smooth and precise and it  took me a few minutes messing around to figure out why. The lag time  between my thoughts and actions had shortened massively. In order to  improve my reflexes the elixir had somehow sped up the impulses that  traveled from my brain to my muscles. Thinking and doing weren't one and  the same but they were so close it was nearly impossible to notice.

I  still had some time before I had to leave so I did some searching on  the computer, marveling at how fast I could type now, and learned some  interesting things. Apparently the fastest possible reaction time for a  person was point one five seconds, but most people were around point two  seconds. With my perfectly sculpted body and ninja training I was  running at peak reflexes, but after drinking the elixir the gap between  my thoughts and motion was about point zero five seconds. And that was  just conscious action, unconscious reflexes were more than twice as  fast.

Combined  with my muscles I could move fast enough to keep up with people with  even minor levels of super strength or speed. I'd noticed the Talon's  seemed to move a bit faster and more gracefully than almost any normal  human I'd seen aside from the woman at Wayne Manor, but I was pretty  sure I could dodge most of their blows now, just like I'd thought. I had  the intense urge to throw some of my shuriken but I was in my own house  and I'd have to use my tracelessness skill to fix the damage which  would burn points.

I  couldn't wait to do some sparring with Artemis next time I was home.  Our lessons had gotten substantially more productive after I got my  perfect memory, and after a month I was actually getting close to  keeping up. With this new ability I would be able to finally beat her, I  was sure of it. I left the clock tower silently out the back, trusting  Jim's wards to keep me from being spotted but using my non power sapping  ninja skills to avoid detection just in case. Paranoia was a good habit  to get into in my line of work.

The  one good thing about living in Gotham was that walking around in a suit  and carved hematite theater mask was a bit odd but not a matter for  concern. People in Gotham were used to weird and crazy guys dressed in  odd costumes. As long as you weren't in the process of actively robbing  them they genuinely gave no fucks. There were exceptions of course, but I  wasn't the Joker or Killer Croc so I was mostly ignored. Just to be  safe I walked for a good twenty minutes before I slipped out my phone  and dialed Zee's number. "Hey, I'm on the corner of Cameron and Schnapp,  near the Upper West side. Where are you, I can come meet you?"

The voice on the other end responded "tropeleT"  Before I heard a soft giggle behind me. "What a coincidence, I'm right  by there." I rolled my eyes and turned around to find Zee right behind  me wearing a purple spaghetti strap top and white capris. When she saw  me she whistled. "Ok I admit I was skeptical about the mask in public,  but you wear the hell out of that suit. You look even more jacked than  the last time I saw you, and the fit is perfect." She winked and then  glanced down at herself "Though I suddenly feel underdressed. Didn't you  say you wanted to see a movie?"

I  cursed internally because I knew it would be too formal but I shook it  off and just shrugged. "I actually figured we could do breakfast first,  but don't worry I just wore this because it works with the mask. It  looks really stupid with jeans and a T-shirt." That got another giggle.  "Anyway I was looking at the perfect place to eat if you're up for a  short walk." I offered her my arm formally and she gave a silly curtsy  with an invisible dress and then looped her elbow in mine. "So what time  do I have you til' just so I know what I should be planning for the  day."

Zatanna  put on an exaggerated contemplative expression. "I'm not sure I should  say. What if you're boring? Then I can just conveniently say my time is  up and bow out gracefully. If I commit to a time then I'm stuck with you  until I actually have to leave." Her voice was playful and i didn't  take any offense. She pretended to deliberate for a minute before  huffing out a put upon sigh "Fine. Daddy will be home at eight tonight  so I'm free all day. But you better not make me regret admitting it.  I'll have you know I'm very high maintenance, so you're gonna have to  work pretty hard to keep me entertained."

We  strolled lightly across a crosswalk and I slapped the hand of a man in a  patchy overcoat as he tried to pick my pocket, my ninja perception and  my new reflexes making it an almost instinctive thing. He didn't trouble  us and I didn't say anything, both of us just continuing on our way. "I  can buy that. You strike me as a bit of a princess. Pretty little rich  girl and all that." She gasped dramatically and put a hand to her chest  in offense and I just laughed it off " Oh come on, it's not an insult. I  think the whole upper class thing cute. It's like I'm hanging out with  actual nobility."

She  smacked me on the shoulder with an eye roll "Says the apprentice master  thief wearing a suit that probably cost more than most of the cars  we're passing." She put on a fake air of nobility "But noble ladies such  as myself have no need to argue with the common riffraff. Now peasant,  direct me to the feast you've prepared in my honor. Don't you know  delicate creatures like me are easily famished. If I don't eat soon I  might get the vapors." She fanned herself dramatically like a southern  belle.

I  found myself laughing again for the fifth time or something and I had to  admit, it felt good. I'd been so down since Annabel died, but it was  impossible not to be happy around Zee. She was like walking sunshine on  prozac, just so larger than life and fun. I'd needed this. She reached  over and poked me in the ribs when I didn't speak. "Hey, earth to  Random, you in there? I was kidding about the peasant stuff, I didn't  mean to offend you or anything." She chewed her bottom lip in worry and  her brow furrowed in genuine concern. My aura sight actually backed up  that read, she was genuinely worried she'd hurt my feelings.

I  waved it off as we arrived at the small diner on the river. "I'm fine,  sorry. I just kind of spaced out, I've been doing that a lot lately."  Her aura pulsed with sadness and she quieted down as we were seated at  one of the red vinyl booths. The waitress came over and we both ordered.  I was going to have to eat through the mouth hole where my mask's  comedy grin was, and I just prayed my perfect balance and reflexes would  somehow prevent me from looking like a massive idiot shoving french  toast through a hole in a stone mask. Zee sat uncomfortably for a minute  "You sure you don't want to talk about it?"

My  chuckle at that was less bitter than any of the times I'd laughed at  that question in the last few days, which I took as progress. "Yeah, I'm  more than sure. It's sweet of you to ask, but I just want to get my  mind off it. Don't worry I'm not deflecting or repressing or any of  those therapy words that mean ignoring my issues, I've been talking to  some friends about it and honestly I'm just sick of being sad. I want  today to be a happy day. So what's on the agenda princess? We still  doing the movie or am I buying you a champion racehorse or something?  Who knows what you rich girls do to get your kicks."

Despite  the obvious subject change she just went with it, melting into another  of those silvery laughs "Well I've never actually been horseback riding,  though I guess I'm wearing the pants for it. I think those jockey pants  have padding in the butt though." I resisted the urge to point out the  ample padding her butt was naturally equipped with and was pretty proud  of myself for my self control. "Regardless I don't think I could find a  place to stash a thoroughbred without daddy finding out and he won't  even let me get a cat. Something about conforming to gender specific  magical stereotypes."

The  food came and we spent the next half hour or so eating and laughing.  Zee was hilarious and passionate and just a genuinely fun person, and my  sides actual hurt from laughing so hard by the time breakfast was over.  I paid for everything with cash, since using my card would somewhat  defeat the purpose of coming in my secret identity, and then we headed  out for a walk. We decided to do a later movie and go down to carousel  in the park nearby. We talked as we walked, mostly her, I think she  could tell I needed to fill the silence. She talked about her dad and  his rules and how much it hurt to see other people out with friends when  she barely knew anyone, and how I was the only friend she'd ever really  had.

She talked about wanting to  go to school and go to the prom and go to the mall with girlfriends but  not being able to do any of it because she had to look over her shoulder  all the time. We got to the carousel and just sat on the horses and she  poured her heart out to me until she was tearing up a little bit. And  as I listened to her talk and got to know her even better than I already  did, I decided she was the most beautiful girl I'd ever seen, and I  couldn't wait to spend the rest of the day with her. And the nice thing  was, I barely even felt guilty about it. Or that was what I tried to  tell myself.