Black Black Heart
Author: tsunderes
Character/Fandom: Diva/Blood+ with a cameo of BATMAN
Prompt: 18. fish bowl;
Word Count: 3115
Summary: Late at night, a pair of policemen stumble upon the culprit of a series of serial murders.
Author Notes/Warnings: Same as before, death, blood, violence, etc.
“You heard about that serial killer, right?”
Three-thirty in the morning, and two policemen sat in their car, idly chatting. For New York City, it was quiet, but they were enjoying the peace for once. Or, they were, until John brought that up. Darren glanced over and nodded, drinking some coffee to keep him awake.
“Yeah, who hasn't? I heard the investigators are having trouble figuring it out. Different thing happens to them every time, but they just leave them in the streets. The sick fuck mutilates them,” Darren replied, and John nodded in turn.
“Yeah, that's what I heard too. How many do they think they killed, again?”
“Seven. Four men, three women, and they're all different kinds of people. I mean there was a guy that lived on the streets, and a woman that was wearing clothes that cost more than our whole year's paycheck.”
John whistled, impressed. “Equal opportunity sick fuck, then.”
“Come on, joking about that is low.”
“I'm just sayin'.”
They would have continued the conversation, but a scream made them jump. They turned on the bright lights of their car, just to see a young woman dart out of an alley, and to their horror, she was covered in blood. One of them cursed loudly, but they were both quick to hop out of the car. Darren had his gun drawn, and went to the alley, expecting someone to be chasing her, and John came closer to the girl.
“Are you alright?” John called out to her softly, “Hey, it's alright, we're here to help.”
The girl shuddered and shied away as he drew closer. John looked back to Darren briefly, but he'd already gone into the alley. John looked back, but didn't reach out to her as he stepped closer once more.
“Are you injured?” he asked more assertively, and she made a noise of surprise, shaking her head. At least she was fine, he thought, but God, that was a lot of blood. It was so thick on her that it was dripping from the hem of her white dress. He had seen lots of sick things in this line of work, but watching someone's blood drip off her still made his face go pale. He tried to shake it off to speak to her again.
“What's your name?”
She was still silent, so he took the chance to go ahead and call for an ambulance and another car. She said she wasn't injured, but obviously there was someone that was. After he had finished that, Darren came back out of the alley, looking surprised and just as pale as John.
“I'm sorry that we were joking about it now,” Darren started as he came within earshot, “since I think we found the eighth.”
The first thing John thought was that the girl must have seen him. “Did you see anyone, ma'am?”
She shook her head again, and John frowned. This time, Darren asked, “What's your name?”
Her lips quivered, but she said quietly, “Diva.”
They exchanged glances at that "name." Prostitution was really unusual for this neighborhood.
“Well, uh...'Diva', what are you doing here?”
Surprisingly, she looked absolutely terrified. “No, no, no! I didn't do anything! It was an accident, I---”
John and Darren took a step back. “Whoa, whoa, calm down, Diva,” Darren said quickly as he held up his hands, “We didn’t say you did anything.”
The loud sirens of an ambulance got closer until it pulled up right behind them. Diva raised an arm to shield her eyes from the bright light, but it also illuminated something she was holding. It had been hidden by the folds of her dress, and they hadn’t expected to see it at all. The light had caught the large knife she was holding.
Darren was quicker to raise his gun again, since he had seen the body with its neck slit open. “Drop your weapon!”
The lights of the ambulance dimmed, but they saw that her eyes did not. They appeared to glow a bright blue, and it was entirely unnatural. But she was still scared. She took a half step back, but then turned and started to run. John chased after her, but as he drew closer, she turned, swinging the knife with her. He was lucky enough to be just far enough to avoid the brunt of her blow, but it still made a small cut in the front of his uniform.
“NO! Get away! Don’t touch me! Don’t-“ she shrieked, brandishing the knife once more. But she gasped as a shot rang out. Diva dropped the knife, but collapsed to the ground with it.
“Shit,” Darren cursed as he ran closer, “I didn’t mean to shoot her in the chest.”
They waved their hands for the medics to come closer, and they were quick to run to the girl. One of them placed his fingers on her neck, and felt as her heartbeat rushed, rushed, and then suddenly stopped. He cried out for help as he turned her on her back to start CPR. But it was no sooner than her back touched the ground that she jerked, and her hands grabbed his neck tightly. He gasped for air, clawing at her hands, and for a moment, John and Darren stood dumbstruck. It was as if nothing at all had happened. Who was this girl?
“Let go, Diva!” John shouted, but she only squeezed tighter, until the man couldn’t breathe at all because of the pressure. It was all the reason that John needed. He pulled another weapon from his belt and fired, but this time she let out the most horrible shriek they had ever heard before collapsing again. The medic sat coughing and rubbing his neck to catch his breath, but after watching for a moment, John moved close to her again, pulling the electrodes out of her back. He moved the back of her dress down carefully, checking to make sure that the wounds weren’t too deep.
He screamed, jumping back.
“Oh God-Oh God. They just closed up! Just like that, they disappeared.”
The other car they requested had just pulled up, but as the other officer stepped out of his car, he found everyone gathered there staring at the girl in shock.
---
The man in the suit brandished his document for the front desk to see. The secretary read over it quickly, only to turn away to her phone, calling someone up. He took his paper back, thinking he was done, and turned away to look at his watch. Six in the morning, and he had to be woken up because of an emergency. He felt his late night previously itching at his mind, but when the higher ups said emergency, you had better get your ass in gear. He still yawned, scratching his head idly.
“You’re all clear, Mr. Johnson,” the secretary announced, “Through the double doors, and a guard will lead you there. Also, past a coffee machine.”
He glanced over his shoulder to see her smiling sweetly, and he chuckling, waving his hand dismissively. He wasn’t much of a coffee drinker, but today he might make an exception. Pushing off his desk, he went through the doors, and as she said, a guard was already waiting. The guard seemed just as tired as he was, though, since there was no greeting or even conversation between them as he was lead through the hallways.
The guards only words to simply announce when they arrived at their destination. “Here you go, Mr. Johnson. If there’s any trouble, just press that button in there, and we’ll be there to help you.”
He nodded to that, and opened the door. He didn’t so much as look around until the door was closed behind him. Once the door was snapped shut, he looked up and sighed.
“You’ve really created a mess for us this time.”
The woman he was speaking to was bound from head to toe, just as they had order. When he had been told of this contraption, he was distinctly reminded of a cocoon more than anything. Every limb had been pressed tightly to her body, and she couldn’t even use her phenomenal strength to break binds so close to her. It was a good thing, since he had heard of this girl. No, weapon.
“Like I care about that, Dan,” she hissed in response, and he frowned as he took a seat at the table.
“Daniel,” he corrected.
“Sorry, Daniel. So why are you here? I messed up, so you’re going to come and collect me, isn’t that right?”
“You did violate our agreement, Diva.”
Diva scoffed. “And I already told you, I don’t care. I’m not going to work for your military.”
“We expected that response, but you have to realize, you’re in a tight spot here. You have seven civilians that know you’re not human, and with the guards you killed last night before we were able to take care of your handling, you’ve killed fifteen people, Diva. And that’s in New York City. We have reports of at least three more in England, and one in Canada. We know you’re quite an impressive person, but travelling that fast without any paper trails left behind you…” he trailed off, and her expression suddenly went blank.
“You wouldn’t even understand that.”
“But I want to. And does that mean you’re admitting to those murders as well?”
She was silent.
“And that’s why I’m here. You’re the serial killer that NYPD has been trying to catch, and while letting you go through the due process of the law is to our interests, we can’t risk any other lives by an…outburst in court, we could say. Or the fact that you’ll be put in a prison unequipped to deal with you after they realize that you can’t be put to death. That’s not what we want for you, Diva.”
Before Daniel could continue, she interrupted loudly, “What you want for me? How could you possibly know what’s best for me? What about what I want?!”
“You gave that right up when you started going around killing people. We’ve given you more freedom than any of us were comfortable giving, and you abused it. So now, you have to deal with the punishments without Mr. Goldsmith here to negotiate for you. The week after the accident, that was our agreement. I’m sure you remember. ‘We’ll let you do as you please within reasonable limits, as long as you behave according to the laws of the United States. Break one law and we’re going to take away those freedoms.’”
“…So then why are you here?”
“To offer you one last deal.”
“Ne, I’m listening,” she said coolly.
“The less people that know what you are, the better. I’m sure we can both agree on that. But you’re a criminal. We can’t just pluck you away without a reason. However, we have an unsolved murder case that’s highly classified. We don’t think you did it, but if you admit to killing him, then we can take you away for a military trial, which we’ll publicize, but you’ll be allowed to fade away. You’ll have to live on a highly secure base for quite a long time, and you will be under our service. But you won’t be imprisoned in a cell, with other criminals.”
“But that’s still being imprisoned!”
“The lesser of two evils, Diva. But this deal is on one condition. Until we get everything straight, and we’re ready to take you away, you absolutely must behave. One disturbance, and we will cut all ties with you, and you’ll be put in a maximum security hospital for the rest of your very long life.”
She looked absolutely shocked, but her face didn’t twist into one of rage as he expected. Instead, she looked very afraid and vulnerable.
“I…I’ll do that, then,” she said quietly, and Daniel was surprised by how easily she had agreed. He wondered why the decision was so quick this time, but didn’t linger over the thought long. After all, he only had to get her to agree. Everything else didn’t matter.
He stood, staring across the table at her with a hint of a smile. When he spoke, it was with a pleased tone, “Good. It should only be a week or so until we’re able to transfer you, so just behave until then. I’d also recommend just staying silent until then. It’s better to not let anything slip, considering the situation.”
Diva simply nodded absently. He opened the door to see that same guard surprised to see him come out so quickly.
“Everything is taken care of. We have the information we need, so we’ll leave Elizabeth in your capable hands,” Daniel said simply as he started to walk away. First, a nap, then he would report the success of the “negotiation.”
---
“Come on, get up,” a guard said harshly as he tapped the bars of her cell, “You’re getting transferred to another location today.”
Diva sat up instantly. It was only an illusion that she was asleep, after all. There was tiredness written in her face, but it wasn’t from sleep. It was just from this situation she had found herself in. She wished that she had Amshel, or someone, anyone by her side now.
“Where is it?” she asked simply, but the guard just scoffed. Diva sighed, running her hands through her hair to comb it as best she could. He wouldn’t tell her anything. She had killed his friend, after all. Diva was still reluctant to admit that. It wasn’t on purpose, after all. That was beyond her control, since she was just scared. And that was alright, being scared. The problem was just that she had been more frightened by things lately.
Once she was satisfied with her state, she moved to the front of the cell to allow him to cuff her before she was let out. She passed by other cells and heard other women’s voices calling to her, but she didn’t care to listen to what it was they were saying. It didn’t really matter either way. But just leaving this building, she realized, was quite the process. It took at least an hour for everything to be set straight, but Diva was silent the whole time as she took a feigned, but dull interest in the surroundings. Her eyes would always flit away from the other people that stared. Everyone here knew her, because she was that “beautiful serial killer,” as she had heard someone say. Usually, being called beautiful was such a nice thing, but it weighed more heavily on her heart with the extra parts added.
Everything was set, so she was led to where Daniel waited and he took her arm. He leaned closer, and whispered into her ear, “Now, there’s going to be a circus out there, but just look at where you’re walking, and don’t listen. We’re only going to the car, but the media likes you too much.”
It actually made her crack a smile, but as soon as the doors opened, it was wiped from her face. It was so bright. The flashing lights were everywhere, and she could hear people calling out her name, both “Elizabeth” and “Diva.” They were asking her questions as Daniel walked her down the steps, shouting for people to move, but Diva didn’t care to hear those either. Every heart’s beat was distinct to her ears, and she could hear the frenzied patter because of their anxiety to be so close to her.
“How do you think Sam Tyler feels about this?”
Her head jerked up as she heard that question. She strained to listen for that voice again as she felt her own heart quiver with anxiety.
“Who…” she started quietly, and as she spoke, the cameras crowded even closer, “Who said that?”
“Elizabeth, don’t-“ Daniel started, but Diva cut him off as she shouted.
“Who asked that question?!”
Daniel tried to tug her with him, but now her feet were firmly planted on the ground as she searched for the voice amongst the cacophony of them.
“How do you think Sam Tyler feels about this?” the voice asked again, and Diva turned sharply, hearing it behind her now.
“Where are you hiding?! You can’t ask that question! You can’t know him!”
“Diva-“ Daniel said more forcefully, but he was interrupted once again, this time by the sound of the metal snapping as she tore her hands apart and broke the chain. The crowd that was immediately closest to her let out noises of surprise, clamoring back to escape that feat of strength.
“Come out! Stop hiding!!” she shouted, but this time Daniel grabbed her shoulders tightly. She turned and Daniel recoiled as the chain cut his cheek. She heard the question once more, and this time she turned in its direction, grabbing the nearest person’s chest. Under her dainty hand, their chest simply collapsed as she broke bones and saw them sticking out of flesh.
“You’re in my way.”
She was fast to run through the crowd, and everyone that happened to be in her path met a similar fate. Diva was too fast to follow, and it was as simple as grabbing and crushing a neck, or pushing them so hard that they literally flew in the air. She ran, but someone still asked that question, just out of her reach.
“Stop! He doesn’t-Sam left me! He doesn’t care, and it doesn’t matter!” she screamed as she ran after that voice, and she didn’t notice the city changing. It was suddenly night, but Diva just ran faster, chasing after a heartbeat and a voice that was just a little bit faster than she was. She stopped as she skidded out of an alley, in an abandoned street. She couldn’t hear the heartbeat anymore. She spun around, shouting.
“Where are you!? You can’t hide from me!”
“No one’s hiding.”
It was a different voice, but Diva’s head still jerked to look. There was a man perched on top of the nearby building, and though she had never seen him, she knew from the silhouette that he was the person that Crane and Eddie had described. Batman. But the heartbeat, it was so familiar that she paused and stood there in awe.
“Wait, but you are…”
She stopped as light suddenly caught her attention, and the blaring of a horn. Diva only had time to gasp.
It was an awful noise of metal hitting flesh so hard that the front of the bus was deeply indented by her body.
Character/Fandom: Diva/Blood+ with a cameo of BATMAN
Prompt: 18. fish bowl;
Word Count: 3115
Summary: Late at night, a pair of policemen stumble upon the culprit of a series of serial murders.
Author Notes/Warnings: Same as before, death, blood, violence, etc.
“You heard about that serial killer, right?”
Three-thirty in the morning, and two policemen sat in their car, idly chatting. For New York City, it was quiet, but they were enjoying the peace for once. Or, they were, until John brought that up. Darren glanced over and nodded, drinking some coffee to keep him awake.
“Yeah, who hasn't? I heard the investigators are having trouble figuring it out. Different thing happens to them every time, but they just leave them in the streets. The sick fuck mutilates them,” Darren replied, and John nodded in turn.
“Yeah, that's what I heard too. How many do they think they killed, again?”
“Seven. Four men, three women, and they're all different kinds of people. I mean there was a guy that lived on the streets, and a woman that was wearing clothes that cost more than our whole year's paycheck.”
John whistled, impressed. “Equal opportunity sick fuck, then.”
“Come on, joking about that is low.”
“I'm just sayin'.”
They would have continued the conversation, but a scream made them jump. They turned on the bright lights of their car, just to see a young woman dart out of an alley, and to their horror, she was covered in blood. One of them cursed loudly, but they were both quick to hop out of the car. Darren had his gun drawn, and went to the alley, expecting someone to be chasing her, and John came closer to the girl.
“Are you alright?” John called out to her softly, “Hey, it's alright, we're here to help.”
The girl shuddered and shied away as he drew closer. John looked back to Darren briefly, but he'd already gone into the alley. John looked back, but didn't reach out to her as he stepped closer once more.
“Are you injured?” he asked more assertively, and she made a noise of surprise, shaking her head. At least she was fine, he thought, but God, that was a lot of blood. It was so thick on her that it was dripping from the hem of her white dress. He had seen lots of sick things in this line of work, but watching someone's blood drip off her still made his face go pale. He tried to shake it off to speak to her again.
“What's your name?”
She was still silent, so he took the chance to go ahead and call for an ambulance and another car. She said she wasn't injured, but obviously there was someone that was. After he had finished that, Darren came back out of the alley, looking surprised and just as pale as John.
“I'm sorry that we were joking about it now,” Darren started as he came within earshot, “since I think we found the eighth.”
The first thing John thought was that the girl must have seen him. “Did you see anyone, ma'am?”
She shook her head again, and John frowned. This time, Darren asked, “What's your name?”
Her lips quivered, but she said quietly, “Diva.”
They exchanged glances at that "name." Prostitution was really unusual for this neighborhood.
“Well, uh...'Diva', what are you doing here?”
Surprisingly, she looked absolutely terrified. “No, no, no! I didn't do anything! It was an accident, I---”
John and Darren took a step back. “Whoa, whoa, calm down, Diva,” Darren said quickly as he held up his hands, “We didn’t say you did anything.”
The loud sirens of an ambulance got closer until it pulled up right behind them. Diva raised an arm to shield her eyes from the bright light, but it also illuminated something she was holding. It had been hidden by the folds of her dress, and they hadn’t expected to see it at all. The light had caught the large knife she was holding.
Darren was quicker to raise his gun again, since he had seen the body with its neck slit open. “Drop your weapon!”
The lights of the ambulance dimmed, but they saw that her eyes did not. They appeared to glow a bright blue, and it was entirely unnatural. But she was still scared. She took a half step back, but then turned and started to run. John chased after her, but as he drew closer, she turned, swinging the knife with her. He was lucky enough to be just far enough to avoid the brunt of her blow, but it still made a small cut in the front of his uniform.
“NO! Get away! Don’t touch me! Don’t-“ she shrieked, brandishing the knife once more. But she gasped as a shot rang out. Diva dropped the knife, but collapsed to the ground with it.
“Shit,” Darren cursed as he ran closer, “I didn’t mean to shoot her in the chest.”
They waved their hands for the medics to come closer, and they were quick to run to the girl. One of them placed his fingers on her neck, and felt as her heartbeat rushed, rushed, and then suddenly stopped. He cried out for help as he turned her on her back to start CPR. But it was no sooner than her back touched the ground that she jerked, and her hands grabbed his neck tightly. He gasped for air, clawing at her hands, and for a moment, John and Darren stood dumbstruck. It was as if nothing at all had happened. Who was this girl?
“Let go, Diva!” John shouted, but she only squeezed tighter, until the man couldn’t breathe at all because of the pressure. It was all the reason that John needed. He pulled another weapon from his belt and fired, but this time she let out the most horrible shriek they had ever heard before collapsing again. The medic sat coughing and rubbing his neck to catch his breath, but after watching for a moment, John moved close to her again, pulling the electrodes out of her back. He moved the back of her dress down carefully, checking to make sure that the wounds weren’t too deep.
He screamed, jumping back.
“Oh God-Oh God. They just closed up! Just like that, they disappeared.”
The other car they requested had just pulled up, but as the other officer stepped out of his car, he found everyone gathered there staring at the girl in shock.
---
The man in the suit brandished his document for the front desk to see. The secretary read over it quickly, only to turn away to her phone, calling someone up. He took his paper back, thinking he was done, and turned away to look at his watch. Six in the morning, and he had to be woken up because of an emergency. He felt his late night previously itching at his mind, but when the higher ups said emergency, you had better get your ass in gear. He still yawned, scratching his head idly.
“You’re all clear, Mr. Johnson,” the secretary announced, “Through the double doors, and a guard will lead you there. Also, past a coffee machine.”
He glanced over his shoulder to see her smiling sweetly, and he chuckling, waving his hand dismissively. He wasn’t much of a coffee drinker, but today he might make an exception. Pushing off his desk, he went through the doors, and as she said, a guard was already waiting. The guard seemed just as tired as he was, though, since there was no greeting or even conversation between them as he was lead through the hallways.
The guards only words to simply announce when they arrived at their destination. “Here you go, Mr. Johnson. If there’s any trouble, just press that button in there, and we’ll be there to help you.”
He nodded to that, and opened the door. He didn’t so much as look around until the door was closed behind him. Once the door was snapped shut, he looked up and sighed.
“You’ve really created a mess for us this time.”
The woman he was speaking to was bound from head to toe, just as they had order. When he had been told of this contraption, he was distinctly reminded of a cocoon more than anything. Every limb had been pressed tightly to her body, and she couldn’t even use her phenomenal strength to break binds so close to her. It was a good thing, since he had heard of this girl. No, weapon.
“Like I care about that, Dan,” she hissed in response, and he frowned as he took a seat at the table.
“Daniel,” he corrected.
“Sorry, Daniel. So why are you here? I messed up, so you’re going to come and collect me, isn’t that right?”
“You did violate our agreement, Diva.”
Diva scoffed. “And I already told you, I don’t care. I’m not going to work for your military.”
“We expected that response, but you have to realize, you’re in a tight spot here. You have seven civilians that know you’re not human, and with the guards you killed last night before we were able to take care of your handling, you’ve killed fifteen people, Diva. And that’s in New York City. We have reports of at least three more in England, and one in Canada. We know you’re quite an impressive person, but travelling that fast without any paper trails left behind you…” he trailed off, and her expression suddenly went blank.
“You wouldn’t even understand that.”
“But I want to. And does that mean you’re admitting to those murders as well?”
She was silent.
“And that’s why I’m here. You’re the serial killer that NYPD has been trying to catch, and while letting you go through the due process of the law is to our interests, we can’t risk any other lives by an…outburst in court, we could say. Or the fact that you’ll be put in a prison unequipped to deal with you after they realize that you can’t be put to death. That’s not what we want for you, Diva.”
Before Daniel could continue, she interrupted loudly, “What you want for me? How could you possibly know what’s best for me? What about what I want?!”
“You gave that right up when you started going around killing people. We’ve given you more freedom than any of us were comfortable giving, and you abused it. So now, you have to deal with the punishments without Mr. Goldsmith here to negotiate for you. The week after the accident, that was our agreement. I’m sure you remember. ‘We’ll let you do as you please within reasonable limits, as long as you behave according to the laws of the United States. Break one law and we’re going to take away those freedoms.’”
“…So then why are you here?”
“To offer you one last deal.”
“Ne, I’m listening,” she said coolly.
“The less people that know what you are, the better. I’m sure we can both agree on that. But you’re a criminal. We can’t just pluck you away without a reason. However, we have an unsolved murder case that’s highly classified. We don’t think you did it, but if you admit to killing him, then we can take you away for a military trial, which we’ll publicize, but you’ll be allowed to fade away. You’ll have to live on a highly secure base for quite a long time, and you will be under our service. But you won’t be imprisoned in a cell, with other criminals.”
“But that’s still being imprisoned!”
“The lesser of two evils, Diva. But this deal is on one condition. Until we get everything straight, and we’re ready to take you away, you absolutely must behave. One disturbance, and we will cut all ties with you, and you’ll be put in a maximum security hospital for the rest of your very long life.”
She looked absolutely shocked, but her face didn’t twist into one of rage as he expected. Instead, she looked very afraid and vulnerable.
“I…I’ll do that, then,” she said quietly, and Daniel was surprised by how easily she had agreed. He wondered why the decision was so quick this time, but didn’t linger over the thought long. After all, he only had to get her to agree. Everything else didn’t matter.
He stood, staring across the table at her with a hint of a smile. When he spoke, it was with a pleased tone, “Good. It should only be a week or so until we’re able to transfer you, so just behave until then. I’d also recommend just staying silent until then. It’s better to not let anything slip, considering the situation.”
Diva simply nodded absently. He opened the door to see that same guard surprised to see him come out so quickly.
“Everything is taken care of. We have the information we need, so we’ll leave Elizabeth in your capable hands,” Daniel said simply as he started to walk away. First, a nap, then he would report the success of the “negotiation.”
---
“Come on, get up,” a guard said harshly as he tapped the bars of her cell, “You’re getting transferred to another location today.”
Diva sat up instantly. It was only an illusion that she was asleep, after all. There was tiredness written in her face, but it wasn’t from sleep. It was just from this situation she had found herself in. She wished that she had Amshel, or someone, anyone by her side now.
“Where is it?” she asked simply, but the guard just scoffed. Diva sighed, running her hands through her hair to comb it as best she could. He wouldn’t tell her anything. She had killed his friend, after all. Diva was still reluctant to admit that. It wasn’t on purpose, after all. That was beyond her control, since she was just scared. And that was alright, being scared. The problem was just that she had been more frightened by things lately.
Once she was satisfied with her state, she moved to the front of the cell to allow him to cuff her before she was let out. She passed by other cells and heard other women’s voices calling to her, but she didn’t care to listen to what it was they were saying. It didn’t really matter either way. But just leaving this building, she realized, was quite the process. It took at least an hour for everything to be set straight, but Diva was silent the whole time as she took a feigned, but dull interest in the surroundings. Her eyes would always flit away from the other people that stared. Everyone here knew her, because she was that “beautiful serial killer,” as she had heard someone say. Usually, being called beautiful was such a nice thing, but it weighed more heavily on her heart with the extra parts added.
Everything was set, so she was led to where Daniel waited and he took her arm. He leaned closer, and whispered into her ear, “Now, there’s going to be a circus out there, but just look at where you’re walking, and don’t listen. We’re only going to the car, but the media likes you too much.”
It actually made her crack a smile, but as soon as the doors opened, it was wiped from her face. It was so bright. The flashing lights were everywhere, and she could hear people calling out her name, both “Elizabeth” and “Diva.” They were asking her questions as Daniel walked her down the steps, shouting for people to move, but Diva didn’t care to hear those either. Every heart’s beat was distinct to her ears, and she could hear the frenzied patter because of their anxiety to be so close to her.
“How do you think Sam Tyler feels about this?”
Her head jerked up as she heard that question. She strained to listen for that voice again as she felt her own heart quiver with anxiety.
“Who…” she started quietly, and as she spoke, the cameras crowded even closer, “Who said that?”
“Elizabeth, don’t-“ Daniel started, but Diva cut him off as she shouted.
“Who asked that question?!”
Daniel tried to tug her with him, but now her feet were firmly planted on the ground as she searched for the voice amongst the cacophony of them.
“How do you think Sam Tyler feels about this?” the voice asked again, and Diva turned sharply, hearing it behind her now.
“Where are you hiding?! You can’t ask that question! You can’t know him!”
“Diva-“ Daniel said more forcefully, but he was interrupted once again, this time by the sound of the metal snapping as she tore her hands apart and broke the chain. The crowd that was immediately closest to her let out noises of surprise, clamoring back to escape that feat of strength.
“Come out! Stop hiding!!” she shouted, but this time Daniel grabbed her shoulders tightly. She turned and Daniel recoiled as the chain cut his cheek. She heard the question once more, and this time she turned in its direction, grabbing the nearest person’s chest. Under her dainty hand, their chest simply collapsed as she broke bones and saw them sticking out of flesh.
“You’re in my way.”
She was fast to run through the crowd, and everyone that happened to be in her path met a similar fate. Diva was too fast to follow, and it was as simple as grabbing and crushing a neck, or pushing them so hard that they literally flew in the air. She ran, but someone still asked that question, just out of her reach.
“Stop! He doesn’t-Sam left me! He doesn’t care, and it doesn’t matter!” she screamed as she ran after that voice, and she didn’t notice the city changing. It was suddenly night, but Diva just ran faster, chasing after a heartbeat and a voice that was just a little bit faster than she was. She stopped as she skidded out of an alley, in an abandoned street. She couldn’t hear the heartbeat anymore. She spun around, shouting.
“Where are you!? You can’t hide from me!”
“No one’s hiding.”
It was a different voice, but Diva’s head still jerked to look. There was a man perched on top of the nearby building, and though she had never seen him, she knew from the silhouette that he was the person that Crane and Eddie had described. Batman. But the heartbeat, it was so familiar that she paused and stood there in awe.
“Wait, but you are…”
She stopped as light suddenly caught her attention, and the blaring of a horn. Diva only had time to gasp.
It was an awful noise of metal hitting flesh so hard that the front of the bus was deeply indented by her body.