Chapter 22: Cloaked Figure
Luka watched Dick Grayson's cheerful smile, his left hand unconsciously rubbing the golden apple in his pocket.
The cool touch reminded him that his primary goal remained finding a magic user who could help him.
The city's neon glow fractured into mottled patches of color in the puddles, every corner of Gotham City radiating a restless energy, concealing its dark secrets.
Gotham City was indeed a place where outsiders like him couldn't easily grasp its intricate web of connections.
"Thank you for agreeing to help, Mr. Grayson," Luka said, maintaining a perfectly polite tone.
Knowing when to borrow another person's strength was an efficient way to achieve one's goals. Especially when that person happened to be one of Batman's most trusted allies, and a native Gothamite who knew the city inside and out.
Dick waved his hand, hung his motorcycle helmet on the handlebars, and leaned against the bike with a grin.
"Just call me Dick. 'Mr. Grayson' sounds too formal. Since Batman sent me to assist you, feel free to share all the details. There's hardly a dark alley or blind spot in Gotham that I don't know."
Luka nodded and slowly began recounting the brief information Batman had provided.
Dick's eyebrows raised slightly at the mention of the "cloaked figure," and as Luka added a few details, a look of understanding spread across his face.
He tapped his fingers lightly against the motorcycle seat.
"I know her. She's definitely an oddity in Gotham."
"Batman has been watching her for almost a year, but he hasn't even managed to get a clear photo of her face."
"You have to understand, even someone like Catwoman, who can slip around the Batcave entrance and get away unscathed, is easy for Batman to track down. But this cloaked figure... it's like she's completely melted into Gotham's shadows. Her movements are incredibly elusive."
After a brief pause, his tone softened. His gaze drifted toward a street corner where a homeless man was curled up beside a trash bin.
"But honestly, I don't think there's much point in watching her that closely."
"Gotham is like a pool of stinking sewage, full of murderous thugs and robbers. She just steals some bread and milk to get by, and she even shares the food with starving homeless people..."
His words were frank, lacking Batman's extreme vigilance and need for control, instead revealing a kind of roguish clarity.
Luka could hear the empathy in Dick's words.
"I'm not looking for her for any bad reason. I'm currently tangled up in some trouble, and she might be able to help me."
"Is that so? Well then, don't worry, leave it to me."
Dick patted his chest, his eyes sharpening. The earlier cheerfulness faded, replaced by the efficient competence unique to Nightwing.
"If she often helps the homeless, she definitely operates in the old city slums."
"Gotham's street people have their own networks. We can start there. But she only comes out at night, so we'll need to stake out the area."
For the next three days, Gotham's night provided the perfect cover for the pair.
Dick led Luka through the old district's dark alleys and rooftops. Using the connections he'd built up on the streets, they managed to get recent information on the cloaked figure's movements from an elderly homeless man.
She usually appeared around midnight, favoring areas near bakeries and supermarkets. After getting what she needed, she would immediately vanish into the maze of alleys.
Of course, she always left half a loaf of bread for the old beggar stationed at the street corner.
On their first night of surveillance, the duo waited on a bakery rooftop until dawn, only to encounter scurrying rats and the distant wail of police sirens.
On the second night, they changed locations, hiding behind shipping containers near a supermarket. They only spotted a suspicious-looking thief, whom Dick subdued effortlessly before dumping him at the doorstep of the Gotham City Police Department.
It wasn't until the third night, just after midnight, as Gotham's clock tower chimed, that a faint magical disturbance drifted on the wind.
Perhaps due to their recent encounters with top-tier magic users like the Goddess of Discord and Doctor Fate, Luka's body had somehow memorized the unique fluctuation of magical energy.
"It must be her," Luka said, his Viltrumite senses immediately pinpointing the source of the disturbance.
At the alley entrance nearby, a slender, gray-cloaked figure was tiptoeing out through a broken supermarket window.
Clutching several crudely packaged bags of cookies and milk, she moved with the lightness of a feather.
"Stay calm. Take it slow," Dick whispered, raising a hand to signal Luka to hold back. He then quietly circled around to the other side of the alley entrance, attempting to cut off her escape.
His movements were fluid and precise, clearly the work of a seasoned operative who had spent years navigating the shadows.
He even executed several complex gymnastic maneuvers to avoid obstacles without making a sound.
But the cloaked figure seemed to sense something was wrong. Her body stiffened abruptly, and she instinctively clutched the food tighter to her chest.
Without turning around, a faint purple magical glow instantly enveloped her body, and intricate runes began to materialize on the ground beneath her feet, clearly preparing to use magic to escape.
"Don't let her get away!" Dick barked, suddenly accelerating and lunging toward the cloaked figure.
But his speed was ultimately a step too slow. In the moment the purple glow intensified, the figure's form became transparent.
Dick fell flat on his face, spat, and pushed himself up from the ground.
"Magical teleportation! Now I understand why even Batman can't pin her down."
Luka, however, remained standing where he was, eyes narrowing as if he were listening to the air itself.
"No, that's not teleportation."
The next second, Luka suddenly turned his head, locking onto a direction in the darkness.
"It's just invisibility combined with a short-range blink. I can still sense her position."
Before Dick could even react, Luka took off. Power surged through his body as he left the bewildered Nightwing behind. His form turned into a blurred afterimage, the sonic boom echoing through the alley.
His speed far exceeded Dick's expectations. In the blink of an eye, he had caught up with the cloaked figure who had already blinked away hundreds of meters into the darkness.
Dick's jaw dropped.
He knew Viltrumites had superhuman abilities. Batman's files had made that clear.
But first, Luka hadn't displayed even a hint of it over the past three days. And second, Dick had never imagined he would be this strong.
Feeling the belated gust of wind slap his face, Dick muttered to himself, "Are Viltrumites distant cousins of Kryptonians?"
Watching Luka's figure recede into the distance, Dick helplessly gave chase for a couple of steps.
But after those two steps, he lost track of both the cloaked figure and Luka completely.
"Superpowers," he grumbled to himself. "How boring."
In the darkness, Luka, having quickly closed the distance, reached out. His fingertips accurately caught the edge of the cloaked figure's garment.
The fabric was coarse, damp with the night's dew. But the moment he made contact, a powerful magical backlash shot up his fingers. The strange, piercing sensation, something he had never experienced before, made him instinctively apply a bit more force.
The cloaked figure's leap was interrupted by the tug, and as she stumbled, the hood of her robe slipped halfway off.
The moment the fabric slid down, Luka recognized the young girl beneath.
Unlike the burly Dick, this face... was far too familiar.
Silvery-blue hair clung to her pale, almost translucent skin, which seemed to shimmer with a faint purple hue. A crimson diamond-shaped gem adorned her forehead.
Raven.
At this point, she was merely a girl struggling to survive alone in Gotham's darkness, living off stolen food while sharing what little she had with others who were just as homeless as she was.
But the moment Raven got a clear look at Luka, her calm gaze sharpened into a fierce glare, her pupils swirling with intense anger and suspicion. Her voice, still youthful and clear, rang with icy defiance.
"Trigon's lackey! How dare you pursue me into the human realm!"
Luka was taken aback, confusion written plainly across his face.
Trigon? Who was that again?