"I'm guessing you already have a plan for that?" Naruto asked with a tired tone, seriously wishing he had never come here in the first place.
Night Boy nodded his head. "She's going to catch you in the act with Catwoman." He said, and that alone completely stunned the blond.
How was he even supposed to pull something like that off? The question must have been written all over his face because the man gave him a smug grin. "That's where your so called 'skills' come in. Figure out a way to make it happen and make sure she ends up at the hotel downtown." He said, jerking his head toward a tall building far off in the distance. "Handle things with her there, and Barbara will get an anonymous tip pointing her straight to you."
"You do realize that's going to make me look terrible up at the Watchtower." Naruto said, folding his arms across his chest.
"I do. And I also know you slept with Canary while she was still dating Arrow. Everybody knows that story, so don't bother pretending you're some clean hero."
Damn.
"Fine, but even for you I'm not doing this for nothing. This is a ton of work. You want me to mess with a paraplegic woman's feelings, make her believe I actually care about her, then break her heart, and on top of that sleep with Catwoman. Why her anyway?"
Night Boy snorted. "Because Catwoman is pretty much the only woman Batman truly cares about. He's not walking away from this clean either."
"So now I'm landing myself on the Dark Knight's bad side too. This isn't going to come cheap, and you know it. I do plenty of dirty jobs for money, but this one is seriously twisted. If you don't hand over two million dollars, forget the whole thing." Naruto fired back.
To his surprise, the black haired hero laughed and pulled out his phone. "That's it? I honestly thought you'd ask for more, but that works for me. I'll send half right now, and the rest once everything's finished."
Naruto felt his phone buzz in his pocket. When he checked the screen, it showed a pending deposit of one million dollars. He looked up just in time to see the man stand and stretch like this was nothing.
"Get in touch with her as soon as you can, and tell me when I need to reserve the hotel." He said as he turned to leave.
Naruto kept staring at the notification on his phone. In just a few minutes, he had made enough money to live comfortably even in the most expensive cities in America. And once he was done completely wrecking two people's lives, that number would double.
"Night Boy." Naruto called out. "You're seriously messed up, man. You should go see a therapist."
The man slowly shook his head. "So you're saying you won't do it?" He asked, pulling his phone out again like he was already ready for the answer.
Naruto shook his head in return. "No, I'm saying I am going to do it. I'm just pointing out how insanely twisted this is. What you're asking for is straight up villain stuff. I don't even think someone like Lex Luthor would pull something this low."
"You're still agreeing to do it for money," the man replied calmly. "So tell me, which one of us is really worse here? You've got my number. Keep me updated." With that, he turned around and walked away, leaving Naruto alone with his thoughts.
He never imagined he'd witness someone unravel like that right in front of him. Still, as much as he hated it, Night Boy wasn't wrong.
Night Boy was sick for even asking, but Naruto wasn't any better for saying yes just because the price was right. He let out a slow sigh and stood up. Feelings aside, the money had already been deposited, and Night Boy was officially his client now. That meant he was going to finish the job no matter what.
Part of him knew this was morally wrong in every sense of the word, but if Night Boy's story was actually true, he couldn't exactly say they didn't deserve what was coming. 'Whatever. I'll start tomorrow,' he thought to himself as he vanished from the top of the sign.
The next morning, he woke up and immediately went online to check if Barbara was active on her social media account. He wasn't big on posting himself, but he did follow most of the Justice League members, and the women especially seemed pretty active during their downtime.
He found Barbara's profile and sent her a simple good morning message before moving on with his day. As the hours passed, he kept her engaged in casual conversation, steering clear of work talk and slipping in small, harmless compliments here and there. By the end of the night, he even had her playing that back and forth game where one person likes a picture, then the other does the same, and she happily returned the favor.
Over the next couple of weeks, the pattern continued. Eventually they moved on from the app and started texting, after she gave him her personal number so she wouldn't have to keep logging in all the time. They talked for hours about just about everything. Her time as Batgirl, her interests, and all the ways she still tried to help people even while being stuck in a wheelchair.
He honestly found it impressive that even after being stuck in a chair, she still used her tech skills to find ways to help people. It took about a month before the two of them finally met in person, choosing a small local coffee shop to grab a drink before he had to head out on patrol.
When he got there, he spotted her near the back of the shop with a book open in her hands and a drink already sitting on the counter. Beside it was another cup, steam slowly rising from the top. She clearly hadn't been there long and had gone ahead and ordered for both of them.
She turned when she heard the soft chime of the door and smiled as soon as she saw him. He noticed she was wearing black jeans with flats and a red button up shirt. No matter what he'd heard about her before, he couldn't help but think she looked really good.