Lila was certain she had wet her pants, even though she didn't, as they bound over the rooftops. Her hands gripped the bunched up yellow fabric of his cape and she was certain that she was choking him. He didn't say anything though. It was terrifying. You don't just take a kid with a severe case of fear of heights and jump around willy nilly with them on your back. Who was this kid?
Lila let out another shrill squeal as he swung down to the ground. She hadn't even noticed that they had landed in front of her building. Robin rolled his eyes. She was a nuisance. He could be aiding Batman right now but instead he has to play baby sitter.
"If you're done crying please release me." He was irritated, for sure. Then again, if Lila had been put in the situation of carrying a whiny girl home on her back, she would be too.
"Sorry.." She mumbled and dropped to the ground. She rubbed the back of her head and smiled sheepishly, "Well uhm.. that was embarrassing."
"Tt" Came his response. She walked up to door when she realized something.
"Ok. You're gonna like totally hate me for this or think I'm stupid but I kind of forgot the key… Do you have any like fancy device that opens doors, oh great superhero one?" She smiled sheepishly once again.
Robin resisted the urge to face palm and leave and reminded himself that he had to do this. Helping people is what they do. He'd rather bash someone's skull in though. He approached the main door of the building put his hand on the door handle. It was unlocked.
"It's unlocked, genius," He said dryly.
"Oh.. Haha! Right. Of course it is." This Robin kid made her feel like such an idiot. Which she was, but still.
"Come on. Your apartment door is locked too. Unless you were too stupid to lock it when leaving."
"Of course its locked! I locked it. That I'm sure of," Lila responded and crossed her arms," One of the only things I did right tonight." Came the muttered after thought.
Robin rolled his eyes and they went inside the building. He looked around, it was too shabby for a building in this side of Gotham. Didn't smell like piss or have mold growing on the walls. The inside of the building wasn't that well lit though and it was musty. Lila trudged up the stairs as the kid bounded up the stairs.
"I'm in 306" She replied to his questioning glance when she reached the third floor landing.
Now Robin could have used his lock pick…. but he was too infuriated to do so. He stepped backwards a bit.
Lila watched him, "Uhm.. aren't you gonna pull out like a little bat device or something?"
He didn't respond and before Lila had a chance to stop him, his foot was planted firmly on the door and in in one swift kick the door busted open.
Lila stood there blinking and not registering what just happened. Then the panic set in.
"You..just..You..YOU JUST BROKE DOWN THE DOOR!" She shrieked. The boy wonder shrugged and entered her apartment with the stunned Lila following.
"Uh.. hello? Dude. You're going to have to fix that. Like pronto. My sister is going to freak. YOU BROKE DOWN OUR DAMN DOOR!" He walked towards the window, Lila was furious that one he wasn't even apologizing for the door and two he was blatantly ignoring her.
"Are you even listening to me?!" She went to hit him in the back but his firm gloved hand caught her fist.
This girl was getting on his last nerve, "If it weren't for Batman and I, you would be dead in that alley. So I suggest you be grateful that I even bothered even bringing you home."
Lila was stunned. Wasn't he supposed to be all smiles and yeah! Helping people, and shit? He let go of her fist and stalked over to the window, forcing it open.
"You know you can just exit through the door. The one you broke down." She hissed, crossing her arms.
"Tt." Was his response as he climbed through the window onto the fire escape and pulled out his grappling gun. Just as he was about to shoot it and disappear into the night, away from that annoying girl for, hopefully, forever, he heard her annoying voice again.
"Hey wait!"
He sighed and looked at her.
"Look I'm sorry I was a bitch… I just… I'm a bit overwhelmed, ok? So thank you. for rescuing me… And bringing me home" She muttered not looking into his masked eyes.
She heard the hiss of the grappling gun and when she looked up he was gone.
Lila shut the window and looked over at the now broken door.
"How in the world am I going to explain this to Ali?" She whispered and inspected the door. It wasn't too bad, really. Just cracked and the locks were busted. "I could say robbers tried breaking in…" She paused and stuck her head into the hallway. This building was dead. Does anyone live here? In Florida, even she were to have a party of like 3 people her neighbors would've come barging over to her house and threaten to call the cops for being to loud. Here… the building was silent.
Lila shivered and stepped back into the apartment and shut the door to the best of her ability. She moved the baseball over towards the couch to make it look like there had been an attempted robbery and sat down on the couch. The only light in the apartment was that of light above the stove.
Lila went to the bathroom and locked the door. The light in the bathroom was dim, like the rest of the apartment. Her now bare feet skimmed across the cold green tiles. She rested against the sink and looked at her reflection. She had a small scratch on her cheek, her hair was damp and knotted, and some dirt smudged across her face. "How attractive…" She muttered. She turned to the shower and as she was reaching down to the faucet, she noticed a red string with a wrench attached to it. A note was stuck on reading, "Faucet drips after use. Tighten after each use" in Ali's neat and loopy handwriting.
She looked over at the toilet and sure enough, there was another note tapped above the handle reading, "Don't yank too hard to flush, you might break me off!"
Lila laughed, classic Ali and her notes. Alison had a habit of leaving little reminders and warnings in note forms all over the house. Lila remembered collecting the notes when they both lived at Gran's. Ali would get so livid because of that.
Lila turned on the water peeled over her damp clothes and stepped into the shower, letting the hot water cascade onto her sore body.
She managed to wash her body and hair before the water turned icy. Lila shrieked and jumped out form under the cold water. She grabbed a towel and wrapped it around her body, then shut off the water. Then she noticed her reflection. Her back had scrapes and bruises. they didn't hurt much now. "fuck… How do I explain that to Ali?" she muttered, "Hey Al. Yeah these? Oh I got them before I came here wrestling with an alligator in the yard. Yeah totally. Seems legit"
She sighed and padded across the hall to her room and changed into her pajamas.
She then flopped onto the bed, now feeling the exhaustion from traveling all day, nearly getting attacked, a terrifying piggy back ride….Gotham was fucked up.
She curled up on the tiny twin mattress, and watched her phone blink as it charged on the dresser next to her bed. A wave of homesickness came over her, suddenly missing her friends in Florida. She hadn't spoken to them since that morning. Mainly, she hadn't really checked any of her messages nor did she call them like she promised. Ugh..she was horrible. Clara and Jamie must be pretty pissed. She'll call them in the morning, she thought and shut her eyes. Wanting sleep.
*Note: Yay! chapter three! Ok so we have a little bit of Robin action, a broken door. Sleep. I don't know. This is fun. Ok So the whole notes thing? My brother does that. I stayed with him in his apartment and literally there were notes everywhere. "Door handle broken!" "Make sure my door is shut tight. How else am I supposed to keep cool? -Da Fridge" Not kidding. Anyways, thank y'all for reading and I hope y'all like it! :)*
