Holidays frighten my muses, so they flee with great speed. Luckily, I caught one by the hair and dragged her home.
Stupid muses think they can run. I say HA!!!
Chapter Four: Columbo
Gotham City looked like the kind of city that would spawn obsessive-compulsive, analytical teen wonders. It was dark, eerie, and obviously criminal spawn. Robin looked at home there. Even the oddly bright colors of his uniform fit in with the dark and gritty underbelly of the city that the four teens now found themselves wandering about in.
Kid Flash felt dirty just being there.
Aqualad felt nothing, given that he was working very hard not to notice the puddles of what appeared to be urine (he was wishing it was just dirty water) that crowded them. (It smelled like urine, though.)
Speedy felt out of sorts, having hailed from Gotham's near neighbor, Star City. Star City shined where Gotham didn't, but on several cases with Green Arrow, he'd had chance to come to this haven of filth. Given that, he also recognized why Robin was struggling to stay down low, out of sight, where "Daddy" wouldn't see him.
Eventually, the skulking boys found themselves at their destination, a townhouse in a better neighborhood. There was a police car in the drive, and Robin (despite being in costume) didn't hesitate to go to the door (though he did eye any and all shadowy corners and rooftops before he did).
The three other boys hung back though.
Speedy grabbed Kid's arm before he could speed ahead, and nodded that Aqualad stay his route as well. "What are we doing here?"
"Visiting someone named Babs?" Kid supplied, his feet tapping at the speed of light out of impatience. He was anxious to get any and all information he could, more than ready to reunite with his apparently pseudo-girlfriend.
"Okay, granted, but who is she?"
Aqualad answered that one. "She's an option he wasn't entirely happy to use."
"And what does that mean?"
Kid and Aqualad stared at Speedy, shrugging in unison. The trio turned to watch as Robin ascended the stairs, and hurried across the deserted street to join him. Together, they stood in the shadows of a patio-porch (complete with swinging bench and potted plants) watching as inside the foyer a light flicked on and a large figure of a man (clearly) came to the door.
Commissioner Gordon, steadfast as always, opened the door and smiled down on the teen heroes with apparent fondness. "Robin, it's been a while."
"Yeah, Commish, I've been away."
"He informed me as to the circumstances so I'm slightly puzzled to find you on my doorstep..." Gordon hesitated, "...with friends in tow. Are you in trouble, Robin?"
Suddenly wary of the night, Robin gestured that he wished to enter, and without reason to deny, Gordon stepped aside. Once out of sight, Robin turned back to the gray-haired gentleman and smiled. "I'm here to see Barbara."
Gordon smiled knowingly. "Missed her, Robin?"
Robin grinned mischievously. "No one insults me quite like she does."
Laying a gentle hand on Robin's shoulder, Gordon pulled him through the foyer to the stairs, and the other heroes followed. "She's the third door on the left at the top of the stairs." The four boys started to climb the stairs when the Commish's voice echoed up to them. "I don't want any hanky panky, Robin. Leave the door open."
Kid snickered and roped an arm around Speedy's shoulder. "What kind of girl entertains four men in her room when her pop's downstairs?"
Gordon, who happened to have great hearing, replied before Speedy could. "I do believe she's entertaining four boys in her room, and she's the kind of girl who can take care of herself, Kid Flash."
Gaping just a bit, Kid sped past the others, eager to get away from that knowing look in the police officer's eyes. This most certainly had not been the first time the man had met a "Hero". Robin could only grin as his friend breezed past, knowing just how extensive Gordon's relations with Heroes went.
Sure enough, third door on the left, with a small black bat taped to the top right corner of the door, was Barbara Gordon's room. Knocking softly, Robin pushed the door open, and stopped just inside, preventing any of the others from entering either. It was never too wise to just walk willy-nilly into Batgirl's room. Yep, I said it, Batgirl. This was Robin's mentor's new protégé. No jealousy on Robin's part. None. Nope. Not at all.
Even if she did get to have the word "Bat" in her title.
She had her long red hair pulled up into a ponytail and was typing fiercely on the computer at a speed Kid Flash thought admirable for a not-flashy-person. She'd never out-type him, but still, nice effort.
Finally, Robin gave and stepped inside the door, allowing the other three to spread out across the room, while he remained stationary just inside the door. The tension, though she'd not even acknowledged him yet, was palpable. Briefly, very briefly, before he'd left Gotham for Jump City, Robin and Batgirl had dated. Let him reiterate...briefly. Very briefly.
Barbara, finishing the report she'd been compiling on the Five Families of Gotham for Mr. Wayne, turned to the group she'd been expecting and smiled brilliantly. Instantly, Speedy fell in love (again, he's such a whore). "Hello, boys."
"Barbara," Robin replied, finally moving to take a seat near the window that overlooked the street. Was it just him or had he caught a flash of a shadow moving on the rooftop across the street? No, surely his imagination.
Babs, as she preferred to be called in her own irreverent expression of youth, watched as Kid Flash sped around her room taking in every little thing (including her underwear drawer, lest he think she had not seen that one-second stop of his). "I'm guessing you're here about the Titan Girls?"
"Why do you assume that?" Aqualad asked, his gaze guarded as he stood sentinel near the door; always on duty, that boy.
Speedy grinned and swept across the room to grasp Bab's hand and kiss it sweetly. "Perhaps we're here to indulge in your sweet presence."
From down the hallway, completely out of sight, Commissioner Gordon's voice echoed. "Hands off, Arrow-boy!"
Immediately, pale with the sounds of DOOM in Gordon's voice, Speedy stepped away, and placed his hands behind his back.
With a small laugh, Babs turned back to her computer. "We'll call it an educated guess," she began to pull up files on the screen, "and that little note of Robin's tipped me off." She looked over her shoulder to throw a condescending look at Robin, "I always did love your notes. I'm coming by with friends. Have info ready for me. Robin." She pantomimed a deep intimidating voice perpetuated by small squeaks of puberty, which caused Aqualad and Speedy to burst out in overly-deep laughter (making up for their own squeaks, she thinks). "Geez, subtle much?"
Robin ground his teeth and fought a snappy reply. "Do you have what I want?"
Another flirtatious look. "I think I do."
"Stop that."
"Stop what?"
"Flirting with me."
"I'm not. I'm merely ascertaining my own worth, considering you left me for an alien."
"I did not leave you for an alien."
"Then what did you do?"
"We dated two weeks. The Old Man threw a fit and we fought, and I left. I'm in Jump City now, which makes seeing you inconvenient."
Speedy took that moment to lean over and whisper to Kid Flash, who had stopped running and managed to find Bab's secret stash of candy bars, "I don't think Star would like knowing that she's convenient."
"Me neither."
"You two shut up," Robin snapped, standing and brandishing his hands on his hips in defiance. "It wasn't like that, but it doesn't matter. I just want to find Starfire."
"And Jinx."
"Kid Flash?"
"Yep?"
"Stay out of this."
"Yessir."
Babs laughed out loud, tossing her hair to and fro behind her. Reaching down, she removed a disc from her hard-drive, adding it to another disc in a case. She stood and handed it to Robin. "These will contain everything you need to know."
Glancing at the memory capacity on the two discs, he whistled. "That's a lot of information. How long you been collecting?"
Babs smiled mysteriously, before passing by him to gesture for them to leave. "A girl likes to know her competition."
Aqualad took the invitation and quickly stepped from the room, followed by Speedy and Kid. Robin paused at the door before smiling at her. "There is no competition."
Watching as the four Heroes walked away and down the hall, why did Babs suddenly get the feeling that that wasn't a compliment?
