Trust and Illegal Bank Accounts

(Warning; mild violence)

Robin could play games. He knew he could keep up with the twisted words and witty remarks of villains. He could even keep up with Batman when he was in the mood for a rant. And somehow, Scarlett's quick remarks managed to get him completely turned around and at an absolute loss for words.

After a quick run-down of the situation and the plan—which ended up being smattered with smart quips curtosy of the masked young woman—Robin watched Scarlett carefully as she kicked through the glass skylight of Gotham's First National Bank. Turns out, she was quite good at it and had the pane shattered with one swift swing of her leg.

"After you," She invited with a teasing smile.

'Cocky amateur,' Robin leapt through the hole in the glass and landed in a deep crouch. "Nobody move!"

Even as he spoke several of the clerks drew heavy and highly illegal fire-arms.

With a soft thud Scarlett joined him. "You know a simple no would've been better than giving away your positions." She launched herself across the table and kicked one of the guns out of a clerk's hands. The bulky man muttered a curse before throwing an unmeasured punch at the thin girl's jaw.

Robin let her polish off the rest of them as his keen eyes surveyed the scene, searching for the one who would try and call for help from the rest of the mob. Bingo, he grinned grimly as one of the shorter men standing near one of the office doors sidled in. Throwing one last cautious glance at Scarlett he followed him quickly and silently.

The man had snatched a corded phone off of the polished desk in the far too simple office. Speaking in a hoarse whisper he muttered, "Boss, it's the bird and the new girl. They've got the place—"

Robin yanked the phone out of his hand and slammed it back onto the base, "Time to talk."

One hard glare into the man's eyes told the masked hero all he needed to know. He was just a minnow, hired help that came a dime a dozen. He was also easily scared and easily forced to talk. Perfect. "Please, don't hurt me."

"Shut up," Robin spat. With one hard right hook he had all the proof he needed. This man would spill. "Who do you work for?"

"Moroni!" The man cowered. "He just told me to give him a call if anyone tried anything, I swear I don't know—"

Robin grabbed the man's collar. "You know more than that. How much it stored here?"

"A-a-a c-couple million I think. It's n-not much but it's enough to worry about." The man was stuttering.

Carefully Robin aimed a punch at the man's gut, knocking him out cold. Handcuffing him to the desk drawer the teen turned to exit the room.

Spending a few minutes to go through the drawers to collect the files he'd need Robin could faintly hear the gun-fire and surprised cries from the mobsters in the next room over. Scarlett had her work cut out for her, especially since it was her first major bust… but she could clearly handle it.

Finally deciding he wasn't going to find anything more incriminating than the mean Scarlett was taking down and the one he'd handcuffed to the nearby desk, Robin bailed.

The sight welcoming him wasn't exactly what he'd expected. Eight unconcious men were piled up in front of the main desk and Jim Gordon was standing next to them, scratching his head. Scarlett was nowhere in sight. A barely visible note was written in Sharpie on the wood of the desk. 'To Jim Gordon; Sorry they're a little banged up. I couldn't get them to sit still. Signed: Scarlett... P.S. The mob cash is in the safe.'

Deciding that was a witty enough ending to this bust Robin left through the back door without being spotted. The night was still young and there was plenty of time to track down Scarlett. If she wanted to play games, fine, they would play games.

But Robin got to choose what games to play. It was his city after all.

It took a lot less time to find her than he'd expected. She was sitting on a restaurant's rooftop staring up at the sky.

"You could've at least said goodbye." Robin sighed, sitting down next to her.

She looked away quickly, pulling her cape further around her. "I figured you had what you wanted so I left a note and got out of there."

Frowning he tried to catch her gaze. "What's wrong? Didn't you get enough lines in?"

She giggled for a moment, but didn't look up at him. "No, I had plenty of lines." Scarlett held her arm up a bit. It was bruised and swelling a bit (maybe even burned slightly); the bruises were arranged in the outline of several fingers. "I'm worried that this is gonna keep swelling up."

Robin gently took her arm in his hands and examined the bruises. "Ouch," He murmured. Reaching into the side of his belt he pulled out a roll of medical gauze. "Hang on."

He carefully wrapped her forearm and then tied it tightly. They sat there for a minute or two, him holding her arm tenderly between his hands. Then she retracted her hand and smiled gently at Robin. "Thanks…who knew you could train birds so they could also be field medics?"

"Ha-ha." He rolled his eyes and leaned back so he was resting on the palms of his hands. "You are hilarious."

"And you're actually kinda smart…" Scarlett paused, beaming widely, "For a stalker."

Letting himself chuckle at the last bit, Robin examined Scarlett's eyes. They were simply brown…not really defining. They were easily lost within the mask she wore…easily forgotten, easily mistaken. They reflected the lights of Gotham city clearly, and he could faintly see his own reflection on her onyx pupils.

Blushing a bit when she realized he was gazing directly into her eyes Scarlett stood up and put her hands on her hips. "So, is THE boy wonder up for round two?"

Robin was a little startled. "You mean you want to go out and polish off a few more bad guys?"

"The night is young Robin, and so are we. All of Gotham is at our fingertips, so why turn in this early?"

She had a point. Robin figured, shrugging and standing up next to her. "In that case, wanna head east and see what kinda trouble we can get ourselves into?"

"I thought you'd never ask."

By the end of the night the two had polished off fourteen different crimes of varying outcomes and numbers of criminals. It was an excellent haul and they moved even faster when together than alone. A fight that would've usually taken a long amount of strength and clean-up was dwindled down to a few hard punches and swift kicks and a fast call to the Commissioner's office.

They made a great team, even when they were teasing each other and constantly taking jabs at one another's pride. Scarlett's remarks were always wittier and sharper than Robin's, but that was mostly because he was too impressed by her to really have anything to tease her about. At first he thought it was just his imagination, but then it occurred to him that she had literally NO protection. Her costume was simple and cheap and she didn't have a single weapon to her name. Unarmed and unprotected…and yet she was moving just as quickly and easily as he was.

They made it through the night with most of their pride left and only a few scratches and bruises.

"Well, this was a fun night." They were on that rooftop again. The one where he'd let her know he had been following her.

"You have a horribly corrupt view of the word 'fun'." He teased.

She rolled her eyes, too tired to argue. She'd give him that one, but only because she'd won the rest of them. "I guess I'll see you around?"

"I suppose." He shrugged. "I guess we'll be on the news tonight. The public will want an encore."

"They always do." She sighed. "Well, good morning Robin. Try and get some shut eye. I know your young mind has seen things tonight that will haunt you forever."

He was in the process of thinking of a come back when she added, "And thank you. I kinda had fun…kinda…"

And then she took off running across the rooftops.

Smiling to himself he thought triumphantly, 'I win…at least this time…'

*RRRRRIIIIINNNNNGGGGG*

"Ugh…" Saturn lifted her head off of her pillow slowly. "Whose stupid idea was it to make alarm clocks so annoying?" She grumbled, smacking her spazzing alarm clock's timer down. It shut up immediately.

Stumbling into the bathroom Saturn splashed water onto her face and looked out her window. It was a pretty quiet morning for six o'clock in southern Gotham. The crime was winding down as all the still honest people were getting ready to get to work. It was a Tuesday morning after all.

Since she'd stayed home from work to go to The Playground the previous day Saturn had no option other than staggering around her room in preparation to leave. Then she'd have to trek down the road all the way to the editing office where she worked and sit around all day researching and writing for the newspaper. It was a taxing job but worth it considering the pay-check she got every Friday. Not to mention the possibility of finding a REAL job in the process.

That day ended up being no different than any other…at least until five o' clock that afternoon.

That was when Rexxi showed up for an unannounced visit. Poking his black&green head into her small office he said, "Hey Saturn, ya gotta minute or two?"

To be completely honest, she had at least 10 thousand more words to type. But, it was shaping up to be a pretty good day for dishonesty. "Yeah, I have a few hours. Come on take a seat."

He plopped down in the leather chair in front of her mahogany desk. Propping his feet up on top of some of her papers he grinned at her. "You will never guess what I brought for you."

"Enlighten me." She returned the smile and mimicked his position, putting her own high-heeled feet up on her desk. Her work clothes were very different that her everyday outfits. Dress shorts, a nice buttoned up top, simple high-heels, and maybe a necklace. Her hair would be thrown up in a messy bun and her mangs carefully pinned back.

Rexxi tossed her a folded up newspaper, "BAM! Genius idea alert on front page."

Saturn's heart nearly stopped when she read the headlines; 'Scarlett Shadow: A New Menace in Gotham?' She feigned a teasing air and looked up at him. "I don't follow."

"Don't you see?" He seemed surprised, "It's a new article, just for you!"

"Still lost," She sighed, forcing the beating in her chest to slow to a healthy level.

"Just read it, it'll come to you."

Rolling her eyes, Saturn began to read.

She came out of nowhere. It was just two nights ago when she'd made her first appearance. It all started with a phone call to the police. The operator recording the conversation had written the call down for police study. A female voice spoke, "I just found a few guys ready to rob a young woman. I took care of em but you need to come pick them up. They're in an alleyway on Route 14 in East Gotham. I won't be there." The police decided to investigate and found three men chained together in the described alleyway. They were all heavily injured and plead guilty to attempted robbery. All begged to be put in protective custody.

Several more appearances occurred throughout the night. All who were involved claimed that a masked girl appeared out of thin air. She'd deliver some smart remarks and then take them down, tie them up, and tell the ring-leader he had to spill. Those interviewed by the police claimed she'd referred to herself as a 'Shadow' and tell them her name was 'Scarlett'. Now all of Gotham wants to know, 'Who is this girl and what entitles her to be out on the streets?'

Saturn finished the last few paragraphs—those outlined this Scarlett Shadow's adventures with the Boy Wonder the previous night—and then looked at Rexxi. "Okay, so how is this helping me?"

Rexxi dropped his feet off of the desk and leaned forward so he was face-to-face with his friend. "Do a column on Scarlett."

"I cover real news. Not some girl gallivanting around in long-underwear and playing masked hero like a little kid. I'll write about her right after I go hunting for Batman."

Rexxi sighed. "Okay fine, I was just thinking I could make your job more exciting."

Saturn smiled understandingly at him. "Thank you…I really appreciate it, it's just that I'm kinda swamped right now, even without work."

"Is this about the cut on your shoulder?" He asked.

Saturn had gon to pick up a folder full of files that she'd just finished, but the whole thing slipped through her fingers and scattered across the floor. Her face whipped up to look at him. "What?"

"The cut on your shoulder," Rexxi repeated, stooping down to collect some of the paperwork. "Ghost told me about it."

"Did he tell Slim too?" Saturn joined him, scooping up several of the papers and stacking them neatly.

"Nah, just me… I think Hush knew though. We're all worried about you Saturn. You know we are."

"I'm fine. I promise."

Rexxi examined her face carefully. Saturn looked away, praying he wouldn't see right through her like he always had. Of course he did, "I miss you Saturn." He sighed, sitting cross-legged on the floor. "I miss having you around to go visit the kids and harassing Paul and playing in the band…but, I could care less about those things if I didn't have to worry about you all the time."

"Kai," Saturn sighed, hurt more by his words than she'd show. "I'm trying. I'm trying so hard to keep things the way they were but…but I can't hold time back forever. Things change…but we can all still hang on…can't we?"

Rexxi opened his mouth to speak…but had the grace to close it. Of course she understood what she was saying. He gathered the rest of the papers and handed them to her. "You're right. Sorry I went all emo on ya there!" He laughed, giving her hair a playful tug. "I gotta go before my parents notice I'm gone…they'll probably call the cops if they know I'm out."

With one last goofy smile Rexxi left. He walked alone all the way back to his house in northern Gotham. In the matter of moments he went from blending in well to standing out in every crowd that walked by. One woman even had the nerve to tell her son—loudly enough for everyone near her to hear—that he was the kind of person that he should never talk to and never be friends with. Rexxi had to smile at that. He wasn't trying to play role model.

Reaching his front door, Rexxi took one last deep breath before pulling the door open. Almost right away his ears were attacked with the sound of his arguing parents. His mom was yelling something about his dad being at work constantly and his dad was hollering about that being ludicrous.

He limped into the kitchen (exaggerating to get his parents to shut up) and pulled the chocolate milk out of the fridge. "Hi Ma, Hey dad," he greeted vaguely, grabbing a glass from the flawlessly varnished cabinets.

Immediately the shouting stopped and both of his parents anger vanished into sweetly smiling faces.

"Hi honey, how was your day today?" His mother asked conversationally.

After taking a long gulp of the chocolaty goodness Rexxi answered, "Pretty nice actually. I just went out for a walk." For a bit more theatrics he limped over to the counter (maybe exagerating a bit) and leaned unsteadily against it.

"Kai, buddy, are you sure that's such a good idea?" His Father asked, frowning slightly. "It's only been a month since you hurt yourself and I worry that you'll strain your injuries."

Rexxi laughed-a falsely cheerful laugh-and dragged his sleeve across his upper lip, wiping away the excess chocolate milk. "I'm fine. In fact, I wanna go visit the kids today."

His mom beamed at the mention of The Playground's children while his father cringed.

Man…even for cheery ol' Rexxi it was going to be a hard day pretending to be Kai.

TADA! There's finally some hidden messages in my work. :D Just look for 'em. Any whozzits, I need reviews…this is becoming horribly uninspired and is gonna turn into cliché filled sludge unless you people critique me. Nothing fancy, just a nudge every so often.

I own no batman, though I own Skye/Saturn, Kai/Rexxi, Asher/Slim, Atticus/Hush, Jude/Ghost, and Scarlett. I also went a bit OOC on Robin here and there. I also own the storyline…If you steal any I will sick my imaginary friend on you… 0.o

OKAY!

Lots of Lazers,

RITS7