Hey, fanfictioners. Know when you just want to do something short but then it turns out longer than you intended? This is a fine example of that. But, do enjoy.
Standard Disclaimer: I do not own Young Justice. But you already knew that.
I looked out onto the streets, watching, waiting for something to happen. And when it did, I'd get off this roof and go straight into it. Why? Well, really, I just couldn't tell you.
I didn't really have the motivations other people would have had to go into this business. And, yes, I call it a business because it occupies your time and you work at it with all you've got. My parents weren't killed by criminals. My siblings had not been hurt by some maniac. No one had tried to violate me. I had a good childhood, a good family, no relatives who'd picked up the trade. My family was still alive, I went to school like any normal fifteen year old.
What I had, according to my mother, was an unusually strong sense of wrong and right. 'A craving for justice', she called it. This is what made me put myself in the middle of fights at school, chase after guys who dared to steal from little old ladies and helped any kids that seemed to get separated from their parents. Sure, it got me a few black eyes, busted lips, bruised fists and sprained ankles, but I believed that any person who has been spared the pain because I took it for them was another person better off. Another person who wouldn't have a vendetta against someone else that could turn violent and nasty.
I noticed a gang of guys gesturing at two girls approaching the mouth of the alley where they were convened. It didn't take me a second more to know that they were trouble.
I started quietly down the fire escape. The idiots had no idea that they had just chosen the worse alley to stand in. They couldn't have any idea that they had chosen to stand right in front of the person who was going to kick their butts. I tried to stifle my chuckle.
I was already wearing the closest thing to stealthy clothing I owned—thick, dark blue denim leggings, black lycra shirt, dark blue leather jacket and mid-calf length beige boots with rubber soles—it wouldn't serve my purpose to laugh and dismiss my element of surprise.
I was just a few steps away from the back of the gang when the two girls came into sight at the mouth of the alley.
"Hey, there. You girls look like you need someone to walk ya home. Whadya say?" the skinny one closest to them said, grabbing the brunette near to him by the wrist with just about the ugliest grin I'd ever seen on the ugliest face. She tried to pull away but he had her pretty tightly. The fat guy next to him went for the blonde. That's when I picked up the can at my feet and threw it at fat guy's head. Everyone's head snapped to me. Skinny guy looked at me at first with a worried expression then his face smoothed out.
"Oh, it's just a little girl. I thought it was some sort of Batgirl or something," he sneered. I smiled.
"Batgirl? And what's with that relaxed expression? Don't think I could your butts?" I retorted.
"Get lost, girlie and mind your business. If you run away right now, we won't hunt you down and hurt ya," another one said. Skinny smacked the back of him head.
"She could call the police or someone. We'll have to beat her up anyway," he contradicted. I shook my head.
The one who had stayed quiet for the whole thing couldn't have seen the foot coming towards his face when it did. Nor could the one who was offering me a little mercy anticipate the fist to his neck. Skinny and fat guy decided then to take me a little more seriously since their friends were already on the ground.
Skinny released the brunette's wrist and pulled a butterfly knife as he came at me. I felt the fear kick me like ice in my stomach for a brief second before I dismissed it forcefully and reminded myself I wasn't a defenceless rookie. And it wouldn't be the first time I'd feel what a knife felt like in my flesh.
I dodged his first rather careless lunge and forced myself to do a backhand spring to put some further distance between me and his shiny blade. It served that purpose but fat guy was closer now and his fist hit my stomach, forcing me to stumble back. I was hit. I could feel myself getting afraid again. In truth, I felt so invincible until I got hit. Then that reminded me of the possibility that I could lose and I got scared.
The other two had managed to get off the ground and were behind skinny and fat guy. Perhaps this time I had bitten off more than I could chew. The brunette and blonde weren't any help. They were just standing there looking all shocked and scared.
I glanced around really quickly, searching for something to use to fight them off with. Not a piece of wood, or rod or old broom in sight.
Then he swooped in between the gang of guys and me.
I was thanking God with every fibre of my being.
"C'mon, guys. Don't tell me your idea of fun is beating up on some chick," my hero said, mockery clearly in his voice. And what a nice voice it was. He was wearing a dark jacket and a dark green hoodie with dark jeans. I didn't know who the hell he was but I was happy that he was between me and those guys. It took me less that a second to instantaneously punish myself mentally for chickening out. I could have handled it. I had just let the fear get to me. And once I let the fear spread, it never stopped and never left.
I had had enough of just standing there. My own fear and their annoying faces were just ticking me off.
"Outta the way small fry—" Fat guy was too busy talking to see me use the boy in front of me to propel me forward and my foot into his face. He stumbled back and crashed into the guy behind him and became unbalanced and fell to the floor. I looked back at the boy. He was wearing shades over his eyes but I saw him lift a brow at me. Apparently, he had missed my action moves earlier and thought I was just a damsel in distress. Which, when it really boiled down, I was.
Skinny tried to play slasher with the knife in his hand and I dodged it a few times until it ended up just barely through my arm. I used the opportunity to kick him in the solar plexus hard enough to floor him. My hero took the last guy and gave fat guy and the quiet one a reason to stay on the ground. I pulled the knife out of my arm and dropped it and it lodged itself in the ground between skinny's legs, about half an inch away from his groin. He whimpered like a wimp and proceeded to scurry away without his buddies. In a few seconds, however, his friends were off the floor and following him. I cracked a smile but then felt the shoot of pain in my bloodied arm.
My hero turned around to me and gave a smile until he realised that the hand I had around my bicep was stained with blood.
"You're bleeding," he declared. I chucked.
"Yeah, no kidding."
"Let me help you out there," he offered.
"Hope you have a med degree or Red Cross training because I can't go to a hospital. My poor mom doesn't need to know about this." His responding frown at my statement spoke volumes about his predisposed disapproval at my seemingly unpermitted vigilante work but he just nodded and reached behind his belt to pull out a wide bandage and a small canister of a spray that resembled breath spray. I figured it must have been antiseptic. Then I removed my jacket carefully.
He sprayed it on my wounds, the entry and exit points of the knife and it burnt enough to make me have to exert a certain effort not to curse. After a few more seconds of tingling and tugging, it started to numb the spot and he plastered on the bandage with care.
"There. Nice and safe." He gave me a smile.
"What's a thirteen year old like you doing running around this late?" I asked, more than vaguely aware of how hypocritical I sounded. He laughed.
"I'm fourteen. What's a fifteen year old like you doing taking on four guys at one with no weapons?"
"Good eye. I'm just trying to help out."
"You know there are people who do that, right? Like the Justice League." I remained silent. "What happened there? You were fighting pretty good and then bam, you just froze. What's with that?"
"I got scared when I saw the knife," I blurted out before I even realised it. He studied me for a second and only then I realised what I had said. "Er...I mean..."
"It's okay to be scared. But you can't freeze in a situation like that," he said, consolingly. He offered me a smile. "I'm Robin. And you are?"
"Hyacinth."
"Like the flower?"
"Yeah. It's my mom's favourite flower."
"Cool. I take it she doesn't know you're out here?"
"I told her I was going out. She knows I go out every night. She just probably doesn't know what I go out for."
"Won't she worry?"
"I'm back by ten. I beg her not to ask about my injuries. I try to hide the really serious ones so she doesn't worry about them."
"It's almost eleven." His focus wondered to the bandage.
"Shit." His focus snapped back up to me. "Sorry. Bad habit. Uh, anyway, thanks for saving me back there. I'll try to be more careful."
"Maybe you should consider just letting the League handle things like these."
"No, I can't! There are so many people that the League can't get to, so many crimes they don't know about. They can handle all the big crime and major situations, I just want to stay here and help the people on the ground."
"Green Arrow used to think like that, too, now look where he is."
"Exactly. He's with the other big shot heroes fighting in the bigger picture."
"He's doing a good thing." I began to put my jacket back on.
"I didn't say otherwise. I'm just saying there needs to be someone to help out all the people they miss."
"I understand but not if you're going to get hurt like that doing so."
"How many times has Batman come home bleeding, bruised and battered, I wonder."
"That's different."
"Because he wears a mask and a cape? Or because he's older?"
"Because...Oh, you've got a point there." I checked my watch. Ten fifty.
"Um, thanks again. It's been cool but I've got to get home. I'll repay you the favour someday." I began to walk past him and he turned.
"I doubt that very much but okay. Should I walk you home?" I snickered.
"No."
I broke into a sprint and ran as fast as I could back home. I found mom asleep on the chair facing the door. I smiled and went to kiss her forehead and send her to bed.