A/N: woah, this is the fastest I've ever written a chapter. It's short, but it's intense.
Thanks for all the reviews and faves and such! I love 'em all.
ShadowCatAlex: Thanks for the review. Bats was off looking for Ra's, and it's explained in this chapter a bit. The translation is: Batgirl Begins. Yeah, not super creative, but I liked it and didn't wanna write it in English and give it away.
Dr. CraneSlaysDemons1234: I'm glad you think they are funny. I don't usually think I'm a funny person, so I always appreciate it when people tell me my attempts at humor in a story are successful.
READINGhearts17: thanks for the review and song!
XxNeonShadowsxX: Yesh! Batgirl is epic! Glad you like kidnappings, cause there're some coming up that will hopefully make your heart race faster! The end of this story... you will probably die of a heart attack, if you really want to know. I just have to get that out there.
mixxi: Thanks bunches!
Lakeshine: Haha, yeah, when she finds out... it'll be a ride, to be sure. And Bats reaction...
Bobby Corwen: Wait to rock the long reviews! Thanks soooo much! Wow, really? You did that? I'm a little speachless. Thanks! I'm so glad you I make you laugh! I try to add humor to my stories cause, well, I like to laugh so I thought I'd share the love. Or something... Thanks for telling me that my humor's working! And, heck, I love your ramblings! Totes inspire me to update like right away! Thanks for the songs as well!
Hana-Liatris: Glad you like it! It will reoccur!
Anonymous: Thanks for the review! And the song! Here's your update!
Kelly1432: Woah, thanks, I'm glad you think so! Thanks for reviewing and hang on! It's a crazy ride!
Here's chapter 11:
Bruce Wayne sighed to himself, pulling his hood up over his uncharacteristically messy black hair. The night was already upon the city of Gotham and the streetlamps cast their golden light over the billionaire as he made his way down the street, hands shoved in the pockets of an old sweatshirt. He was dressed in old jeans along with the worn black sweatshirt so that from first, or second or third glance, no one would identify him as Gotham's richest man. One would, of course, assume that this was intentional, as Bruce Wayne didn't usually make it a habit of wandering the streets of Gotham at night dressed a common man. Or so one would assume, but one could never be sure, seeing as no one would recognize him if he did, so perhaps he did make a habit of it. No one would ever really know.
Bruce inwardly cringed as he accidently stomped through a rather deep puddle on the side of the street and his shoe was instantly soaked. The puddle's origin was an old drainage pipe that drained out onto the street, the water then flowing down the sewer, or so the original idea was. Over time, a pot hole had developed just below where the water came out of the pipe so that when water flowed down towards the gutter, it got caught in hole, hence the puddle. Bruce was usually careful to avoid the water, but his mind was elsewhere at the moment and he'd paid for it with his sock.
Contrary to popular belief, Bruce Wayne actually did make a habit of wandering down the streets of Gotham at night. He wasn't consistent with it, seeing as the night was Batman's element, but he did occasionally venture out on a quiet night, when there was too much on his mind for simply walking through the manor to take care of. Tonight, the weight on his mind was unusually heavy, even for being unusually heavy, if that makes any sort of sense. The weight could probably be attributed to the fact that there was more than one thing pressing down on his mind, so to speak.
The matter was the safety of his ward and Robin, the danger from the Cadmus Case growing with each passing day. Now, with the evidence pointing to the involvement of Ra's al Ghul (who had been since taken care, the supposed 'assassination attempt' being nothing more than a ruse to draw out the Dynamic Duo in hopes of capturing Robin), the whole thing had become all the more dangerous, and, frankly, Bruce was contemplating how best to handle it. Batman, of course, knew what to do, but there was more than just Batman involved this time. This time, both Bruce Wayne and Batman had a problem. So, one could say, there were two things weighing down on the mind of the man who embodied both personas.
He hated making Robin stay back, making the boy angry with his guardian, but what else could he do? He knew how real the threat was and how badly he had to protect the boy from what could happen. Sure, he wasn't sure of all the details yet, but he knew this was far more than a typical ransom situation. Bruce knew that if 'Cadmus' got hold of the boy, he would never see him again. Whatever this 'Cadmus' wanted with Robin, they didn't just want Robin, but Dick Grayson too. They didn't care who they captured because it wasn't about either persona: it was about what they'd done to the person who embodied them.
There was no way Bruce would ever let them take Dick and Batman would never let them take Robin, but by protecting him, he knew he was only making the boy angry. He remembered what Alfred said, about making it up to Robin for keeping so many secrets from him: he would regret it if he didn't. And of course Robin knew that Batman was keeping secrets from him, and Batman was fine with that, but Bruce wasn't. Bruce didn't want keep his ward in the dark, but Batman knew it was the only way to keep him safe. And since Batman knew what he was doing, Bruce wasn't doing anything.
"Bruce Wayne." The voice was feminine, laced with barely disguised seduction. Of course she would know it was him. "Fancy meeting you out here, at this time of night. I thought you gave up your nightly wanderings after that little trip to wherever it was you left to."
"Selina," he greeted, his voice unreadable. "I could say the same for you. It's not common for such a lady as yourself to be out at this time of night. Gotham isn't safe after sunset."
"Gotham is never safe, Mr. Wayne."
Bruce smiled in agreement, his well-practiced, playboy act coming almost naturally.
"Which means you can hardly claim it safe for yourself to be out here, all alone." Selina continued, a small smile creeping onto her features. "Someone as esteemed as yourself would be a tempting target, unguarded as you are."
"Don't worry about me, Miss Kyle, I think can handle myself just fine." Bruce assured.
"So formal, Mr. Wayne. One might think we're only old acquaintances."
"As compared to friends, you mean."
Selina smiled seductively, placing her long fingers in her coat pocket. Which she was wearing, despite the temperature being warm enough that even a sweatshirt was uncomfortably hot. Bruce would know.
"You seemed worried, Mr. Wayne." She observed, a hint of a frown gracing her face. "What's troubling you?"
Bruce sighed, reaching up and running a hand over his face. She knew him too well.
"It's hardly important to you." He told her, only half hoping she would believe him.
"No need to be so rude."
"I'm only returning the favor."
"I was only asking after your health, so to speak. It's not good for a man to worry too much. Causes anxiety."
"Hmm."
"You don't believe me, do you?"
"Hardly."
Selina stared at him for a moment, a finger going to rest on her chin.
"You're not enjoying my company, are you Mr. Wayne?" She finally asked, the small frown returning once more.
Bruce closed his eyes. "I'm afraid I'm not in the mood to enjoy any company tonight."
oOo
"Left hook needs to be higher, my chins on my face, not my chest."
"Mrgh!"
"Better. But now your stance is falling apart. If I were to shove at you, you'd be toast. Punch higher, but with your arm, not your body."
"Yah!"
"Eh, kinda….. No, not really. See, look, I could knock you over with a push. Imagine what a guy twice my size could do….. Um, no, now you just look stupid."
"Ugh! Why. Can't. I. HIT YOU!"
"I just told you why! Okay now your knees are locked: you've got no suspension, so to speak. If I were to go at you, your body would take all the force, not to mention you'd be locked rigid, with no flexibility or maneuverability….. Yeah, better, but don't move so much forward, you'll lose your balance and – woah, hey, what're you doing? We're working on – woah – not – mmf – moving!"
Barbara hit the ground, hard. She groaned, rubbing her backside as she struggled into a sitting position, her face burning red as she glared up at the smirking boy in front of her. This was the twelfth, no, thirteenth time he'd grounded her in the past twenty minutes, and there were countless times more over the previous hour they'd been 'training' on the rooftop of the abandoned hotel. She'd insisted on starting hand-to-hand combat on the first day, despite Robin's suggestion that they start with core training. Well, it was more than a suggestion, but she'd refused to do anything else, so he'd agreed to start her with hand-to-hand. Yeah, it might've been a bit immature to refuse to listen to him, but, hey, she was a gymnast! She had more core than all the football players in her school put together.
But that was beside the point. The point was that the smirking boy in front of her was beginning to get on her nerves. Sure she'd agreed to listen to him, to do everything he said, to never reveal her secret identity, to never fight crime alone, to always clean her gear, yada yada yada, but she'd never bargained for him to an overbearing, perfectionistic little jerk. Well, maybe that was taking it too far, but one had to get the point across, right?
Barbara glared up at the gloved hand that had just entered her vision before grabbing it and letting it pull her to her feet. She readjusted her utility belt that had been recently given to her, along with the promise of a new costume, which she somewhat doubted she was getting, and got back into her ready stance. Robin stared at her for a moment before finally sighing and putting his hands on his hips, something Barbara found he did whenever he was preparing to order her around.
"You really still wanna keep this up?"
"Yes!" She nearly shrieked at him, long hours of being beaten by a boy inches shorter than her beginning to take its toll.
"You really don't think that listening to me would be a better idea?"
"That's all I've been doing for the past five hundred hours!" Barbara cried, her anger bubbling to the surface.
"Well, I am your teacher." He reminded her with oh-so annoying superiority in his voice.
"Well, I am more experienced than you give me credit for!"
At this, Robin laughed, his typical cackle-like laugh that Barbara had become oh-so familiarized with in the past few hours. The laugh that continued to tick her off.
"What's so funny?" She demanded, her ready stance dissolving as she crossed her arms in a protective way and glared at his domino mask. Stupid mask; he hadn't taken it off the whole time and had even refused to tell her who he really was. Something about secret identity and junk.
Robin stopped laughing but continued to smile at her.
"First rule, er, second rule (first rule's the belt thing): never overestimate yourself. It's better to underestimate yourself and overestimate your opponent. That way you'll fight safe until you really know for sure who's better. Actually," a pensive look came over his face. "It's better just to estimate your opponents, I think…. That way-"
Barbara interrupted him, knowing full well he'd go on one of his long spiels about words and their prefixes. "Well then stop underestimating me!"
"I'm not. You're overestimating yourself."
"Am not!"
Robin just laughed again.
"Stop laughing at me!"
"Why do you keep getting so angry at me?" He asked, suddenly kicking himself up into a handstand so he was looking at her upside down, something else Barbara noticed he did when he was talking to her for any length of time. It was actually rather distracting.
"Because you're provoking me!" She replied, still glaring at his now-upside-down face.
"I'm not provoking you; you're just provoking yourself."
She snorted, letting her hands fall to her sides. That boy: thought he knew everything.
"Listen, Batgirl," That was another thing: he insisted on calling her Batgirl whenever she was 'in costume' (which meant when she was wearing a tacky old ski mask he'd given her and a workout suit consisting of black spandex). "I'm not trying to make you mad; I'm only trying to get you to see that you need more training than you think."
Barbara sighed, collapsing into a sitting position on the hard concrete of the roof. Of course he was right. No matter how much she'd trained on her own, she really had little to no idea what she was doing. She'd taken martial arts for years now, along with gymnastics, and was a black belt, but fighting insane super-villains: that was a whole new league.
"I know." She whispered to the ground. "It's just I want to get out there as soon as possible. Avenge my mother's death as soon as possible. And protect my father."
Robin, who was now sitting down across from her, nodded.
"Yeah, but you won't be able to do any of that if you're dead." He pointed out.
"Yeah."
"Hey, it's cool though. Just listen to me and I'll have you in fighting order soon enough."
Barbara let out a small smile as she got to her feet.
"Alright, what do you want me to do."
"Well, first I want you to go home and work on memorizing blue prints of the city." Robin told her, springing to his feet as well and pulling out his grappling hook.
"What?"
"You heard me. Meet me here, same time, Monday."
"Wait, but I-"
But the Boy Wonder was already gone. Barbara groaned, walking over to the edge where he disappeared to. Of course he was nowhere to be seen, but Barbara still stared off over the edge, his words running around through her mind. It would seem she had a lot of studying to do.
oOo
He'd been at it for a few days now and Robin still wasn't sure how he felt about training Barbara, or why he was doing it in the first place. Sure, he could tell himself he was doing it to protect her, so she wouldn't run off alone, but why not just tell Batman then and let him take care of it? He hadn't told Batman anything of what had happened regarding the capture by Ubu except that he'd managed to escape from the strong man's clutches. Barbara hadn't been brought up once, and he wasn't sure why. He rarely, if ever, kept secrets from his guardian, especially ones this big. But, he reminded himself, Batman rarely kept secrets from him either, unlike he undoubtedly was now. Maybe he was just sick of Batman's overprotectiveness and restraint and he wanted to do something by himself for a change.
But that was a stupid reason. Maybe he should just tell Batman and be done with it. Maybe –
"Hey, Wonder Boy." What was she doing waltzing around Gotham in her costume? Of course she'd gotten the call about Clayface, but she could have been a bit more discreet about getting to the mountain.
"Hey, Artemis! Fancy meeting you here, in Gotham." Better teach her now.
Artemis looked at him rather annoyed. "You know I live here, Sherlock."
"I do, but the rest of the world doesn't. A little suspicious, considering you're usually in Star." Robin told her, falling in step beside the archer.
"Whatever."
"You should be more careful." She just glared at him. "But anyways, you get the summons from Batman?"
"Yeah, 'cept Green Arrow apparently has a 'special' mission for me." At this, a rather murderous look came over Artemis' face. "He probably just wants me out of the way so I don't get in the way."
Probably not true….
"I doubt that. You've proved yourself to be a valuable asset to the Team - he knows that."
"I wish." She grumbled, kicking a stone with her foot.
They walked in silence for a moment before Artemis looked over at Robin.
"You missed a big mission with Doctor Fate." She finally said.
"Yeah, Wally told me all about it at Nelson's funeral."
"Where were you anyway? During the mission I mean."
"Batman business."
Artemis nodded, a suspicious look coming over her face. "This 'Batman business wouldn't have anything to do with Cadmus, would it?"
Crap, how'd she find out?
"I know what you're thinking."
Crap, how'd she know? Crap, why was he making a fool of himself in his head?
"I asked Wally about it."
Robin blinked. "And he actually told you?"
"Not exactly, but he told me about your first 'mission' and I deduced the rest."
Robin nodded, his mind whirling but his face nonchalant.
"I don't know much." Artemis continued. "But I do know that Cadmus is involved in this whole 'let's capture Robin thing' they've got going. I was hoping you could tell me the rest."
"Nope!" Why not antagonize her?
"No?!"
"Nope, sorry, strictly classified."
"Why you-!"
Robin just cackled, bounding off ahead of the archer. He knew she'd find out eventually, if she really cared that much, but he would rather not help her with her search. Maybe he would tell, but not until he knew her a little better. Besides, it was far more amusing making her mad.
oOo
"Just Aqualad."
The rings jingled as the weight was momentarily taken off them and then they were taut again.
What was he playing at? First it was being left out of Gotham missions, now this? What, did he not trust his own partner anymore? Cadmus shmadmus. He could handle himself! He was Robin, the Boy Wonder! He'd taken more than a couple kidnapping attempts! Why didn't Batman trust him? He wasn't even telling him everything that was going on!
Dick lowered himself into a hold, his mind spinning. Fine, if he wasn't going to talk to him, then Robin wasn't going to talk to Batman. Batgirl was his secret now. See how Bruce liked being left in the dark.
Dick flipped around the rings, his mind spinning like his body was. It was new to him, Bruce not telling him what was going on. He was old enough to know! Especially seeing as it was about him!
With a growl, Dick released the rings and flipped through the air, his eyes already sighting for his landing and the post below him. He overshot it and lost his balance, his feet touching the ground only to leave it once more as he toppled over the side. He caught himself on his hands before throwing his feet back to standing, only to stumble backwards into a wall. A wall. His fist rose and he whirled around, slamming his knuckles into the wall, a sizable dent appearing when he took his hand away. He forced himself not to flinch, no matter how much it hurt.
Dick sighed, walking over and collapsing on a bench, reaching for a bottle of water, his mind still spinning, despite the still position of his body.
Dick heard a clearing of throat and looked up to see Alfred standing in the doorway.
"Master Bruce wishes to see you."
Dick stood, inwardly growling. So, Bruce wanted to make it up to him. Well, he better have something good in mind.
oOo
The men were speaking in Arabic, but Robin knew enough of the language to understand what they were saying:
"Queen Bee wants him alive."
Great, someone else after him.
As soon Miss Martian restored their memories, Robin couldn't help remembering what the soldiers had said. So Queen Bee was in on it too. He wondered vaguely if Batman knew. Probably not, or he never would've been allowed on the mission.
Why doesn't he have faith in my abilities?
"Stay here, Robin."
"Why? I can help you!"
"Not this time."
I can take care of myself! Why doesn't he see that?
"He was captured because I wasn't there to watch your back!"
"You could have been captured instead."
"What happened to civilians are always first?"
"Go home, Robin."
Now he thinks keeping me out of action is a more important mission than saving a civilian from kidnapping?
Batgirl. He kept training her, every night he could sneak out. It was becoming easier and easier the more Batman patrolled on his own. Batgirl was still his secret. Something he wouldn't tell Batman about.
Because why should I? He'd just tell her to go home. She deserves as much a chance as I do. Or did.
"I thought I told you to stay back at the cave."
"I'm just doing what you would've done!"
He looked disappointed. Angry, even.
What does he want of me? He made me Robin and now he's trying to keep me from it.
"Be careful, Robin. Kobra is not to be taken lightly."
"I know that."
Finally, a mission.
But what he doesn't know-
"Robin, I told you to stay back."
"And let you have all the fun? No way."
Artemis and Wally were watching the exchange.
"Robin, this is serious. If Kobra had been in on it-"
"But he wasn't!"
"But he could've been."
"I can't just sit back and do nothing!"
-is that Robin is who I am. Because-
"Superboy and Miss Martian: this mission is for you."
Robin watched Batman send out the Kryptonian and Martian, fire burning in his eyes behind his mask.
-if I'm not Robin, who am I?
oOo
"Yo, Rob, you still awake?"
"Huh?"
"Someone's suffering from late nights on patrol."
Robin glanced up to where Wally stood, his hand only slightly removed from being waved in front of the thirteen-year-old's face. Artemis sat to his left, her arms draped over the back of the couch and her legs crossed in front of her. The three were sitting in the, well, sitting room in Mount Justice, the giant television on, playing the newest episode of Celebrity Hockey. They were all dressed in their civilian clothes, a large bowl of popcorn in front of them as they waited for the resident aliens to return from their latest mission.
Batman, along with Superman, Martian Manhunter, Red Tornado, and Aqualad were also busy handling the mission, which left the three teens the run of the mountain. Robin had been, unsurprisingly, upset about being left out of the mission, but wasn't too bothered by it, seeing as Artemis and Kid Flash were left behind too.
"I'm not asleep." Robin groaned, flicking away Wally's hand.
"Sorry, couldn't tell behind your glasses."
Robin rolled his eyes. Stupid glasses.
"'Sides, I didn't want you to miss Selena Gonzalez! She's up next."
"What, does Robby have a crush on her or something?" Artemis asked, smirking.
"No, I do not." Robin replied, before Wally could lie. "She was just someone we rescued on a mission one time. Before you joined the Team." He clarified, noticing her confused look.
"Yeah, back before the Team was poisoned by your presence."
Yeah, those two were still going at it.
Artemis raised an eyebrow. "Really, that's the best you got?"
Wally spluttered for a moment before his attention was diverted back to the screen.
"Here she is!" He screeched, reaching for the remote and turning up the volume way too loud.
"I think someone else has a crush." Artemis whispered to Robin.
"Hey, I heard that!"
"Just sit down, Kid Flirt." Artemis groaned, snatching the remote from Wally and pointing him to his seat on the other side of Robin.
"Seriously, though, Robin." Artemis said, once Wally had again become engrossed in the hockey. "You've been a little out of it recently. What's up?"
"Nothing." Robin sighed, shoving his glasses up his face and crossing his arms, pretending to be interested in the show. It was actually rather stupid - celebrities attempting to play hockey – but Wally apparently found it amusing.
"Yeah, sure, like I believe that face." Artemis mumbled.
"Oh, and Selena takes a hard hit to the stomach. That's gotta hurt."
"Why is this lady even considered a celebrity anyway?" Artemis asked over the announcer's next comment. "I mean, she's the CEO of a company, big deal."
"But she's beautiful!" Wally exclaimed, in between mouthfuls of popcorn.
"Being beautiful doesn't make someone famous!" Artemis argued, flicking a piece of popcorn at the speedster's eye. Her aim was dead on.
"Hey! And anyways, she was captured by Black Spider and Hook. That's gotta count for something."
Artemis only rolled her eyes.
Robin closed his eyes, his head dropping until his face was pointing down into his lap. His head was spinning, still spinning, and all he really wanted to do was get away from it all. The kidnapping attempts, Bruce, everything.
"I'll be right back. Gonna get some air." He announced, standing up and brushing stray popcorn crumbs from his jeans.
Once out of the room, he headed for the hanger doors, his head still bowed as he tried to collect himself. It wasn't that big of a deal, really. He'd dealt with worse before. Sure Bruce was being a jerk about it, but he could handle that, right? He was old enough to take care of himself. That's what Bruce wanted after all. He didn't think Robin could take care of himself, so he made him stay back. All he had to do was prove to Bruce he could handle it. He could do this. He just had to pull himself together. He was Robin, the Boy Wonder, right? He wore the mask for a reason.
"Hey, Rob, you okay?"
Robin spun around to see Wally standing behind him, a concerned expression on his face.
"Yeah, I'm good." Of course he was. No big deal.
"You sure, man?"
"Yeah, positive." He could take care of himself. He'd show Bruce he could.
A/N: So, this is kinda the end of a stage of the story. The next stage is pretty neat and then the last stage is crazy intense, emotional, action-y rollercoaster of... something. You can decide what.
Thanks for reading and please review!
Alex out.