Chapter 12
One Year Later
Each of the twins has come very far in their training. Both of them were very skilled in martial arts, and thanks to Kaldur's weekly sessions, Cardinal was able to create fireballs, and even weapons from fire. Robin was trained to use a compact computer that was put into his left glove; it had GPS, and a fingerprint scanner. Tonight was a special night for the kids, their first night on patrol. Over the past year, Alfred has been working on the children's costumes.
Robin's was a red tunic with small yellow closure like strips going down the front and on the left side of the chest area, there was a black filled circle with a yellow R on it. His tights were black and part of his tunic showed on the side of the pants. His gloves were black and so was the outside of his cape. The inside of the cape was yellow, along with his utility belt. He had a black domino, and black boots.
Cardinal's was similar in design, but the colors were different. Her tunic was orange with red-orange circle buttons going down, and on the left chest area was also a black filled circle, but with a yellow C instead of an R. Her tunic went down a bit on the sides of her tights, which were yellow. Her gloves and boots were red, and her cape was a slate gray on the outside and black on the inside. Her utility belt was the same color as the buttons on her tunic, red-orange. She also had a black domino mask.
The Dark Knight figured that the twins were ready to actually help out. The three of them were on lookout on the roof of one of the older buildings. Batman knew this was one of the bad areas, but thought to himself that he would be there to help incase something happened to either of them. Just as he finished that thought, he heard a burglar alarm going off not from away.
"Alright; Robin, Cardinal, it's time to get to work." Batman said has he stood up and pulled out a grappling hook and launched it. Robin followed quickly, but Cardinal was slightly hesitant. Robin looked at her and gave a reassuring nod, and the three of them swung off toward the building.
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The building was a jewelry store, but the crooks weren't your run of the mill crooks, it was a group of six extortionists. They were working for Tony Zucco, and bullying an elderly couple for protection money.
"Come on, you know its $10,000 this week, you're short." One of the extortionists said.
"That's all we have for you this week. We didn't do much business." The male owner responded.
"It doesn't matter; we know you have to have made more than five grand." The head guy said as he started putting his hand into his jacket. He removed his hand and it was wrapped around a gun.
The gangster aimed the gun at the couple, but just before he pulled the trigger, the gun was knocked out of his hand and attached to the wall, when the group of extortionists saw what was holding the gun there, they began to panic. The gun was stuck to the wall with a bat-a-rang. The gangsters all start drawing their guns, and looking around. All of a sudden, the elderly couple fell, or for a better term pulled. When they realized what happened, they were face to face with two young children that looked like they were dressed for Halloween.
"What are you two doing, these are dangerous men." The lady asked.
"It's alright, we were trained by Batman, we may be young, but we're good." Cardinal said.
"You could get hurt." The man said.
"It's alright, my sister has special powers. She can protect herself and me if needed." Robin said.
While the two children were making sure the couple was safe; Batman was dodging bullets and fighting the gangsters. The Dark Knight had easily taken down one guy, but was having trouble with the last five, as they were coming at him. All of a sudden, one of the gangsters fired his gun, emptying the clip as fast as he could, and Batman dodged all the bullets, yet one bullet hit the fuse box, and sparks were coming out all over, catching all close pieces of wood and fabric on fire. Batman continued to fight the gangsters, but the fire was closing in on the twins and the couple.
Cardinal got on the side of them that was closest to the fire, and held her hands up. As she concentrated on the fire, she was able to move some and create a shield around her, her brother, and the couple. The fire never penetrated the shield, and Cardinal was doing her best to keep her mind on protecting the people inside her shield.
Just as Batman took out two more men, the roof was starting to collapse.
"Cardinal, Robin; get them out of here, I'll be right behind you." Batman said as he blocked another punch.
Robin was about to protest, but then he remembered one of Batman's rules, 'when I tell you to do something, don't argue, just do it'. Cardinal didn't hesitate and started to stand up, the shield rising in height as she did.
"Please stand up; I can protect us enough to get out." Cardinal stated as she slightly looked over her shoulder. The couple began to argue, but Robin quietly said it was the right thing to do. The four of them then moved as fast as they could, while staying within the shield.
Just as they got out, and clear of the main area, the building collapsed. Cardinal pulled her hands down, and the fire shield disappeared. Cardinal and Robin ran toward the building, but they were stopped by a tug on their capes.
"We can't allow you to go back in there." The man said as he pulled back on both capes.
"Batman's still in there, and I can move the fire, you saw me." Cardinal said as she turned to grab her cape, and robin followed her action. The man released both of their capes and the two protégés took off toward the collapsed building.
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Batman's Part of the Fight
The six gangsters started gathering around the Dark Knight. Batman quickly glanced over to where the elderly couple was, and saw them go down. He knew that the twins had pulled them down out of harms way. One gangster started to punch at the vigilante, only to be stopped as Batman moved the punch aside and threw a punch himself, right into the guy's gut, knocking him out.
Another sole gangster pulled a gun and started firing it as fast as he could. Batman was dodging all the bullets, but one hit the fuse box, and sparks flew out from the box, catching wood and fabric on fire. The Dark Knight was not worried, as he had full confidence that Cardinal's powers could protect herself, her brother, and the couple that owned the shop.
As he figured, Cardinal quickly put up a fire shield once she saw the fire getting closer. Batman turned his attention back to the gangsters and once their guns were empty, they tossed them aside and started street fighting. The vigilante was blocking the punches and kicks, and then started to hear the roof start to give way.
"Cardinal, Robin; get them out of here. I'm right behind you." He shouted toward the two young heroes and he saw them starting to leave.
The gangsters were still fighting, and Batman was able to knock out two more out. What the Dark Knight didn't know was that there was one more person that he had to deal with, the leader of the group himself, Tony Zucco. Zucco came out from a hiding spot and slowly crept up behind Batman. Just as the Dark Knight took out one more gangster, Zucco started to lift a small but heavy statue over his head, and just as Batman turned around, he lowered the item right into the vigilante's face.
Batman took the hit at full force, being caught off guard by the appearance of the mob boss. The blow from the statue knocked Batman to the ground. Just before he lost consciousness, he saw Zucco bend down and give a grin.
"Time to finish what I thought I did last year." Zucco stated, and with that, Batman fell unconscious. "You two, get him and let's head to a special place to finish this."
"What about our guys, boss." One of the two remaining henchmen stated.
"They'll get what's coming for being taken down." Zucco answered.
The two gangsters obeyed their boss's earlier order and carried Batman out of the building, just before it collapsed.
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After the Building Collapsed
Cardinal and Robin reached the edge of the building, but the fire was still going strong. The young fire controller looked at the fire, and placed her hand out in front of her, palms facing out, and moved her arms. The fire obeyed her power and parted, giving them a way through.
They got to the area where Batman was fighting, but they were surprised to only find four of the gangsters. Robin looked around and saw the small statue, and when he inspected it closer, he saw a trace of blood. He didn't pick the statue up, but pressed a part of his left glove and his holographic computer popped up. The boy then did some typing and a beam shot from his glove, it scanned the entire surface of the statue, and found fingerprints.
Once the prints were on the computer screen, Robin typed and the computer started running them through the bat computer's database.
"Found something, huh." Cardinal said as she stopped her part of the search when she heard her brother's computer working.
"Yea, fingerprints, I'm running them through the Bat Computer." Robin said, and just as he finished, the computer screen started to glow green. "The computer found a match… Oh my gosh; it can't be."
"What… oh man, we have to find Batman." Cardinal said as she looked at her brother's computer, only to have the same reaction as Robin.
"I can lock in on Batman's tracker signal." Robin stated as he closed down the fingerprint screen and started typing to find Batman.
As Robin was working, Cardinal started working to get the fire under control. Just as she got it to a manageable level, they heard the fire trucks coming.
"Got it… oh man, this night just gets worse and worse." Robin stated as the horror in his voice was now very noticeable.
"Oh man, we have to go help him, and now." Cardinal said as she noticed the location, but then she was brought out of her dread by the sirens of the fire trucks. The twins then faded into the shadows and escaped the building, after tying up the gangsters that had been left behind and leaving them in a clear area.
