Chapter 4 - Felt Like I Was Walking On A Tightrope

                                    

                                          
***PETER***
                          
I know I'm not the only one struggling to regain the use of their land legs after the ferry finally docks on the Gotham side of the bay. Aquaman has the most trouble, I think. Which makes sense given his powers. But what about the rest of us? We've only been on this boat for an hour or so. That shouldn't be long enough to screw with our equilibrium that badly. (Or maybe we're just eating too much sugar lately. Yeah, that's probably it, and I'm totally not just making this theory up off the top of my head.)
                          
"As much as I don't wanna visit another water treatment plant," I say as we walk down the ramp and onto the dock, "I get the nasty feeling that's exactly what we're gonna do."
                          
Aquaman shakes his head. "No, Penguin doesn't own any of those, as far as I know. Those are still the property of some other major Gotham crime boss, one who's a little more old-fashioned and a little less nihilistic."
                          
"So where do we go from here?" asks Gwen. She undoes a couple of buttons on her jacket as the sun climbs a little higher in the sky.
                          
"Maybe up to Wayne Tower?" suggests Grayson. Speaking of which, when he points to that tallest building in the city, I follow his gaze and catch sight of a flying figure in bright primary colors - blue suit, red cape.
                          
"Superman?" Olivia asks, seeing the same thing.
                          
Grayson frowns at the sight. "No, this one looks a little smaller. Supergirl, maybe? But I thought she was out west."
                          
"If she's out here," Gwen says, "maybe we should meet up with her and ask her to work with us."
                          
"That would be cool," Aquaman says. "I've wanted to meet Supergirl for a long time. Honestly, I think she's cooler than her cousin. But..."
                          
"But we have responsibilities elsewhere," I say. "Right?"
                          
"And that responsibility," says Aquaman, "is about a mile that way." He jerks his thumb down the row of ferry terminals and piers, pointing towards the north. "There's a factory that Penguin does own - you might be able to see it from here if you look really hard - and that, as far as I've determined, is the source of most of the toxins going into the bay."
                          
"How exactly do you determine these things?" asks Gwen. "What, do you talk to the fish or something?"
                          
Aquaman just stares back at her without a word.
                          
Together, Grayson and I exclaim, "NO!"
                          
"You talk to fish?" Olivia asks. "For real?"
                          
"You sound so surprised," Aquaman laughs. We step off the docks and onto the sidewalk, following a long road that runs up and down the waterfront as far as the eye can see. Like in any other major city, tourists mill around here, along with street vendors, bicyclists, joggers, a homeless person sleeping at the base of a lamppost, and, most strangely of all, a squadron of street performers doing some kind of Highland dance, based on the kilts they wear.
                          
"They better not be doing the 'no true Scotsman' thing," Grayson says, elbowing me after we pass these guys by.
                          
"One of these days," Gwen mutters, "I'll have to look it up and see whether or not the cast of Outlander do that."
                          
"They'd have plenty of wardrobe malfunctions," I laugh.
                          
As we move on, I turn to Grayson again and say, "You know, for all the bad rap this city gets, it doesn't look like such a lawless place after all."
                          
Grayson winks. "You're not seeing Gotham at night, buddy." He spreads his arms as he gazes upon the skyline. "Look around, Peter. Here's a city with, like you said, a bad rap. Yeah. But you'll be happy to know most of our criminals keep vampire's hours, as they say."