Tim jumped from rooftop to rooftop across the Gotham skyline. It was raining heavily, but his mask kept most of that from affecting his vision. He only needed to focus, keep his grip tight on his grappling gun and make sure his feet land firmly on each roof and ledge.
If he had looked at the forecast before he went out tonight, he might have packed proper gear for the occasion, but how was he supposed to know it was going to rain in August? It was usually the driest—not to mention hottest—time of the year. Even now, the raindrops felt warm.
A few blocks down, Tim could make out an unusual shape moving along the top of a law office, right across from First Bank of Gotham. Tim quickened his pace. Was someone casing the bank for a heist? He had to stop it before it began.
As he came closer, Tim could make out the shape, an umbrella with a person under it. The Penguin? It must be. Bruce and Tim had been keeping an eye on him ever since he supposedly went "straight".
Robin rushed onto the roof of the law office, and rolled behind and air conditioning unit. He paused but didn't hear anything to indicate Penguin had heard him. Robin pulled a baterang from his utility belt and visualized where the Penguin was standing. He had to disarm Penguin as soon as possible, and it looked as though he was alone. All Robin had to do was strike the hand holding the umbrella and prevent the Penguin from making contact with any of his goons that might be in the area. It certainly sounded easy enough.
Tim took a breath and whipped around the AC unit, lifting the baterang high. "Aaahh!" he yelled as he hurled it at the Penguin. Too late Tim realized that he was not aiming at the Penguin at all.
"Eeek!"
Spoiler ducked just in time, laying herself flat on the ground. The baterang only cut off the metal tip of her umbrella. Robin jumped over the AC unit and ran to her. Before he could he apologize, she was already picking herself up. Stephanie pulled up her mask to reveal a deadly glare.
"What the hell was that?!" she screamed.
"I'm so sorry—"
"Did you just try and kill me or was that some dumb test?!"
"No!" Robin said. "It was an accident, a total accident. I thought you were the Penguin."
She scoffed. Some of her anger dissolved, knowing it wasn't intentional, but now there was a new problem. "The Penguin? The Penguin?!" She tugged on the waist of her outfit. "Do I even look like the Penguin?!"
"You're holding an umbrella!"
"It's raining!" Steph said, pointing to the sky.
Tim looked up and shook his head. He seemed really dumb right now. He closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. These late nights were definitely getting to him.
Stephanie inspected the broken tip of her umbrella. The cut was surprising clean, considering the boy who threw it mistook a teenaged girl for the Penguin. The umbrella was still entirely functional, but it would have been nicer in one piece. Steph held the umbrella above her again, and walked over to Robin.
She put a hand on his shoulder and he looked up. Steph smiled, "C'mon under, you're all wet." Tim pushed his dripping hair out of his face and stepped under the umbrella. He felt better already.
"Why do you have an umbrella anyway?" he asked.
Stephanie shrugged, "I watched the six o'clock weather report, and they said rain after eleven-thirty. So I came prepared." Tim chuckled. She's ready for anything, maybe she should be Robin.
"Plus," she continued, "I had a new umbrella to premiere. See, I went to that new big department store on Eighth Street today and they had four umbrellas for ten dollars! That's only two-fifty per umbrella. It was a total steal!"
"How could anyone need four umbrellas?"
"At that price, how could anyone not need four umbrellas?"
Tim turned away from Stephanie to watch the rain fall down around them to the streets below, laughing softly to himself.