There was a huge, old, abandoned building near the edge of the town. We flew to the highest level and in through the window. Jack was the first to find an open spot and lay in it. But everyone else, including myself, followed suit soon after. I was on my side, and facing a window that I'd broken the glass out of, for a clear view of the sky. (In case of bots and all that jazz). I stretched my wings out slightly, and not long after finding a comfy position, I fell asleep.

I don't usually remember my dreams by the time I wake up, that, or I don't actually have any. But this time, I did, and it was absolutely vivid, most likely to burn it into my head. I was in the dark, looking around, but to no avail, until a spot of light appeared. In that light, a man in a gray lab coat appeared. I knew it wasn't a good thing to dream about the scientists too.

He moved forward, but even in my dream, I was ready to defend myself, so I backed away. That caused him to smile.

"Very good, Joseph."

'Joseph?' I hadn't said it, only thought it, but it echoed around the either very enclosed or very large expanse of space.

"Yes, that is your name. I see you've made it out. I'm proud. And you're only growing stronger, just as we hoped." He laughed slightly. "Just as we designed."

"Listen, can we get off the reminiscing? I'm supposed to be having an enjoyable dream, not a dull one."

"Then I guess I should get to the point." He held his hand out, and cards appeared, six of them, in various colors. They each had some type of symbol that I couldn't decipher the meaning of.

"What? Are we going to play old maid now?"

He ignored me. "Each of these cards represent something. Depending on the one you pick, you will receive something amazing in return. But you will also receive a new, challenging responsibility."

I looked to him, then took the time to look over the cards. The first one was green, and had a picture of the earth on it surrounded by little, intelligible things. The second was red, and had what might have been some type of evil cherub in the middle with a twisted face, after that was it's total opposite, blue, and with an authentic angel. The fourth had a single black wing on it, and then the horizon in the background. The fifth, another wing, the opposite to that one, with a full moon in the background, and the final had a poorly drawn boy that looked happy, despite his appearance.

"Tch, wow. They all look so great." I tried to be as sarcastic as I could, but the man didn't seem to appreciate that. After a moment of unknowingly holding my breath, I reached out and picked a card. Just like that, my dream was over.

I was on my back, Violet was shaking me like I had been completely unconscious. My face hurt, so I knew she had hit me already. The others were standing in a semi-circle around us, and moved as she stepped back and I stood.

"My head hurts...how long has everyone been awake?" I asked.

"About ten minutes." Riley answered.

I turned and looked out of the window I'd broken. It was morning, around six or seven. The birds were just beginning to show. Standing akimbo, I looked to the others, they all had similar looks, ones that said 'hungry'. I really couldn't disagree.

We flew around the city, looking for any kind of thing we could get for free, or anything we could use our 'five finger discount' on. Riley and Violet managed to get a few jackets, so we could all hide our wings. Well, all of us except Pepper, who didn't have any. She stuck close to me, because she was way too small in my opinion to be too far out of sight. I have to say, we looked really odd wearing jackets in the heat, and we earned a few stares from the people around us.

A large part of the city was still nothing but rubble from the fire, and I felt pretty bad for the people that lost their homes and jobs. But somehow, I pulled my mind away from it. After some time we were just going around in endless circles, Flicker noticed first, because we'd passed the same Mc Douggie's about five times. Finally, we just decided on taking a shortcut through an alley and back to the building we were in, more fatigued than when we started.

Just halfway through, a group of people blocked our path, all in some shade of purple. I stepped forward, and the man in front glared daggers at me.

"Well well, look at this. A little group of runts on our territory."

Violet stepped forward. "Who are you calling runts?"

Despite how deadly serious she was, they all began to laugh. "My, feisty runts, huh? Just for that, I think I'll scar up your face a bit more-"

"Hey now!" A voice called from the back, it sounded like a girl. They stepped forward, almost completely cloaked, and I realized it was the person I'd seen yesterday.

"Nell, they're obviously new to the city, why not let em' off this time?" She easily nudged him back a few steps. He sighed, then looked to me.

"Fine. But if these runts cross my territory again, off with their heads."

"Deal." She said, then looked to me. "Rihoko!"

I was thoroughly confused, until a little girl made her way through the people as well, and stuck close to the older girl. They both walked past us, and I followed, along with the others. I trotted a little to catch up with her.

"Uh...thanks."

"It was nothing. I mean, you're weak, right? Can't let the strong bully the weak."

I huffed, but kept up my mostly mature attitude. "So anyway, I'm Robin."

"Nice to meet you Robin. I gotta say, you don't really look like a girl."

"Because I'm not!" She laughed, and I heard Violet chuckle behind me.

"I know that." She said through a fit of laughter. When she regained herself, she looked back to me. "Hows about I treat you guys to breakfast? I know some people at Diamond Thursdays that owe me."

All at once, we agreed.

As it turns out, Diamond Thursdays was a buffet place that was actually quite full of people in the morning. I shifted uncomfortably as our alley cat friend persuaded the cashier to give us all free buffets. But once we all had a plate or two, we went at the food with no sense of mercy. I found us a table first, balancing two plates in my hand as I sat. The others came around with a similar look. I couldn't help but notice the plate full of ice cream and randomly placed cones Pepper had.

The girl who had gotten us here was now listening to music. She'd taken off her hood, and I could see that she had short spiky hair that sported red streaks, and amber colored eyes. I wrapped some bacon into a small omlette and shoved it into my mouth, then looked back to her.

"So, what's your name?" I had to make sure she could hear me over the music.

"It's Neko. This is Rihoko." She gestured to the smaller girl next to her with shoulder length purple hair in pigtails and eyes of a matching color."

"Hm." I took a moment to look to the entrance as a group of people rushed in, but they were just normal people. Not bots or wacko scientists. At some point, I began wrapping some of the food up and putting it into the pockets of my jacket. I could tell that Flicker was doing the same, maybe planning on that whole leaving thing she mentioned when we met. The rest of my two plates was finished quickly, and I stood, prompting the others to do so as well.

"Thanks for the meal then, Neko. But it's not exactly safe for us to be in one place for too long, and I have a person to find. "

She didn't stand up. "A person in this city? If so, you'd better stick with me and Rihoko. We know our way around."

"I doubt she'd be in this city, especially after that blaze yesterday. But thanks for the offer. You're free to come with us." I was actually hoping she'd say 'no thanks', because with Violet, there was already one too many people coming after me with sarcasm. But instead, she stood, smirking.

"Travel out of the city? That sounds really fun. I'm in."

'Great' I sighed.

"Great!" I turned on my heel and went out of the back exit, followed quickly by the others. Once I'd seen that no one else was around, I shrugged my jacket off, put it over my shoulder, and stretched out my wings. By the time I turned around, Neko had done the same. That was when I noticed she had cat ears and a matching tail. Rihoko had little wings as well. The others took their jackets off, and I waited before flying off and towards the building we had rested in.

The first thing I saw through the broken window on the very top floor was a tall, dark figure, talking to guys in lab coats.


Yup, a whole bunch of Robin dialogue in this one. Introducing, Neko and Rihoko ^_^ (And obviously Mc Douggies and Diamond Thursdays are parodies of actual restaurants)