The vines tightened, their thorns pinching into the skin through the costume, drawing blood. She tried not to show pain on her face as the woman dressed in green circled her in amusement. She tightened her jaw, trying to look fearsome even as she hung by her arms by the vines.
What a mess! Robin thought, rolling her eyes.
It was hard to work out exactly how she ended with vines wrapped tightly around her arms, tethering her to the roof as Poison Ivy annoyed her with her gloating and cackling. She had been sneaking in the back and Ivy was coming out of the toilet, clearly not expecting the Dynamic Duo to already be on to her. Robin had fought her, but she had a lot of plants, all of who loved obeying her.
"My nose is itchy," Robin declared, twitching said body part. She knew she was getting under Ivy's skin, and truthfully, the young teen probably could have annoyed her more by escaping, but she knew Batman would prefer her distracted and in one place whilst he worked on destroying her fertilizing machine. So, until then, Robin was going to keep playing hostage.
When the vines swarmed like snakes they pinched Robin's arm, making her wince involuntarily. She felt something fall from her glove, wrapping around her arm as she heard a small chiming noise. There was no need for her to look up at her arm to know what it was; the noise had become a familiar comfort to her.
"You have bizarre taste," snarled Ivy.
Robin raised one thin black eyebrow. "This coming from the woman who wears way to much green which clashes with her red hair, and makes her look like she's dressed prematurely for Christmas?" She then mumbled in a voice loud enough for the villain to hear, "You are definitely getting coal in your stocking."
Ivy scowled and started stalking forward. "At least I don't have a monkey charm on my bracelet."
Riley smiled at the memory of Superboy scoffing when Wally gave her the charm. "Jealous someone cares enough to give me so many amazing charms. Friends are wonderful things, you should try to get some," Robin advised as Ivy drew closer. The two heard beeping from another room, making Ivy look over. The Girl Wonder knew what it meant: the machine was deactivated, giving her the shot she needed to escape. Grasping the vines around her arms for support, she stopped letting her weight hang limp and instead hoisted herself up, planting both of her boots into the side of Ivy's head, easily knocking out the woman. She then easily used the laser in her glove to cut the vines, gracefully landing on her feet. The vines had cut into her arms rather ferociously but if her normal temperature and clear head were any indication, there was no poison in the thorns.
Making sure the villainess was completely unconscious; Robin rubbed her arms and looked to the shadows. "Next time you're playing Damsel Distraction and I'm playing Birdie the Destroyer."
A deep chuckle resonated from the shadows before her father stepped out elegantly, his face hidden by his cowl. The small smirk of amusement left his face when he spied Robin's injuries. "The authorities are on their way, we just need to tie her up until then. I got a call about the Joker, but you can return to the Bat Cave if you want."
"No, I'm good," assured Robin, already pulling rope out from her utility belt. "Though if I get hit with laughing gas again, I am going to crack so many bat joke. I don't waste my laughter."
"Threat taken!" Batman promised, raising his hands in a highly mocking gesture.
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Riley gave an annoyed grumbled before stirring faster, hoping that would help. Something seemed wrong, and she didn't have Alfred's keen eye to work out what it was. She put the bowl down on the bench, hands on her hips, glaring at the substance as though it was unco-operation simply because it was stubborn. Her father entering the room didn't stop the staring contest between Riley and the bowl.
"Everything alright?" Bruce asked with an amused smile.
His question received a huff in reply before the young girl looked at the book sitting beside the bowl. "I must have stuffed up the recipe," she muttered, looking at the instructions and mentally ticking off the ones she had fulfilled. "No, it seems like I've done everything right... what could be wrong?"
Bruce made a noise of contemplation as his daughter lifted up the stirring spoon, a large amount of the dark substance on it. She turned it over and watched as it slowly released its sticky hold on the spoon, falling into the mass below. Next moment, a hand shot out, two fingers whipping through the substance. Riley's head snapped up in surprise, only to see her dad eating the substance off his fingers.
"If that's Alfred's double chocolate cake recipe then you need more milk, but other than that it tastes good." Bruce put his finger back in the bowl, making Riley raise her spoon in a threatening manner. The man only laughed before sucking on his finger.
Riley looked at her father in contemplation. She knew that many women liked her father, some going so far as to try and get close to her to get to him, but she had never really understood it. Her father was her father, Bruce and Batman, but she had never stopped to think about who he was around others. He was Master Bruce Wayne, billionaire, business man, inventor, highly intelligent and handsome. Add the fact that he adopted a circus child he barely knew; had lost his own parents at a young age and was involved in numerous charities and he would seem like a great catch to many. Riley, however, still saw the man who would always be there when she had a nightmare, who taught her to defend herself physically and emotionally, who always made her smile, made time for her, and loved her when she believed she had no one. And for all that, she smacked his hand when he went to take more dough for the third time. "No! There'd be no cake left if you keep it up."
Bruce laughed again, showing her the smile he received for his daughter. It wasn't the sophisticated smile he showed at board meetings, or the charming smile he showed at parties, it was a loving father's smile. It was only hers. "What gave you the desire to bake?"
"Still kind of jittery from the missions," confessed Riley, pouring milk into the bowl and starting to mix it. She gave a satisfied noise when it looked more like Alfred's when he baked the same cake. "And it's odd not smelling something baking. At the mountain something is always baking thanks to M'gann."
Busying himself with rolling up the top of the flour to close it, Bruce cleared his throat. "Do you want to be back there?"
Riley looked up in surprise, her blue eyes wide only to find that her father wasn't looking at her. "No!" she snapped, making her father raise his head. "I love hanging with them, especially since it gives me more time to kick Wally's butt, but I can hang with my friends whenever. The Dynamic Duo comes first!" Her father may have tried to disguise his shock and doubt but Riley saw it. "Working with my daddy every," Riley smiled widely, making a small smile appear on her father's face, "it's the coolest job ever." She turned back to the dough, stirring in the still melted, but not hot, chocolate chips. "Besides, how would you have foiled the red-haired Christmas elf if it wasn't for me, or the Joker for that matter? Daddy, you really need to work on adding more dis to your creet! The Joker saw you coming a mile off."
There was a moment of stillness before a cloud of white flew at Riley's face. She coughed, causing a puff of the white powder appear in the air. She looked up, blinking, making flour cascade down from her eyelashes. She spied her father standing in front of her, with an evil smirk on his face and an open bag of flour in his hand. Without a second thought, Riley dug her spoon into the chocolate cake dough and lobbed it's contents at her retreating father, her trademark cackle ringing.
It was a squire hit to the back of Bruce's head, but unfortunately, he still had his powdery weapon. He turned sharply and took aim, only for Riley to get a shot in, right at his face. Her victory was short-lived. She quickly had to take cover behind the bench, wisely taking the bowl and Alfred's recipe book. She hid it safely in the draw, knowing Alfred would make them both pay if anything happened to his cook books. They had been in his family for years.
Riley knew Bruce was giving her enough time to store the book safely before attacking, so once the draw was closed she quickly made her way around the island, keeping her ears sharp for any noise of her father's whereabouts. She peaked around the corner, only to jump back, barely missing the flour flying towards her. She darted out, spoon ready. The both flung their ammo at the same time, some of the flour sticking to the dough as it soared towards Bruce's chest. As Bruce's powder blue shirt was smeared with chocolate brown, Riley's forest green shirt was turned into a depiction of snow covered tree.
The two of them stared at each other for a moment before laughing and firing at one another. They dodged, ducked, tucked and rolled around the kitchen, getting more food on them then they would have if they took a straight hit. Bruce, at one point, got the bowl away from Riley and dumped the remains of the dough onto her head, smearing it into her hair and onto her face. In retaliation, the young girl grabbed the sugar.
By the time they had ran out of food to throw they were sitting on the floor together, breathing heavily and laughing. Alfred walked in to find Riley wiping dough off of her forehead and licking it off her finger whilst Bruce shook his head like a dog, flour and sugar falling out. The butler did not look happy at mess covering every surface of the kitchen. He frowned at one particular stain.
"How in the world did you get it on the roof?" he asked in astonishment.
The two Waynes looked at the stain before looking at each other. They looked like they honestly tried to restrain themselves but failed. Full belly laughs rang free, making Bruce fall sideways into a lying position whilst Riley gasped for air.
Alfred would have scolded them if he hadn't seen the sad look on Bruce's face every time Riley asked about her and her friends receiving missions, or spent hours on the phone with Wally instead of talking to Bruce and lately, staying at the mountain. Bruce had been missing his daughter, feeling as though she preferred spending time with the young heroes instead of with the Dark Knight. This fact made him simply give them a disapproving looks and sent them to go get themselves cleaned up.
The two ran from the room before he could change his mind on the severity of their punishment but he could still hear them laughing and joking about who own. With a sigh he started to clean up. If they hadn't thought to put his recipe book away first them he wouldn't have gone easy on them at all.
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It was hard to concentrate when reading a dry, boring textbook. It was harder trying to concentrate when someone was staring at the side of you head. For five minutes, Riley had tried to ignore it, but after reading the same line four times and still not being positive if she remembered any of it, she decided to get rid of one of her problems. With questioning eyes, she turned her eyes upon her best friend. "What? You've made me read the same line four times."
Barbara tilted her head to the side. "What's in your hair?" When Riley frowned, the red head picked up the lock with the unknown element in it.
Riley recognised it instantly, causing her to laugh. "Chocolate cake dough! Daddy and I got into a food fight."
"You and the Bruce Wayne got into a food fight?" Disbelief covered the girl's face as she stared at the heiress.
"Not the Bruce Wayne," Riley mimicked with a roll of her eyes. "Daddy." She started picking the dried dough from her hair, wondering how she missed it when she curled her hair that morning. Once it was completely out, she turned back to her textbook. "Five times," she declared when she started reading the line from before yet again.
Barbara simply laughed before a voice called out to one of them.
"Riley."
The two girls looked up, only for them to spy a boy the year older than them. Riley closed her textbook and waited for the boy to talk as she took in his appearance, assessing for any threats. It was something she had picked up from Batman. The boy was taller than her, though not nearly as tall as Wally or Kaldur, he was also lean, though not very muscular. He had tousled, medium brown hair and bright green eyes. He was dressed in the Gotham Academy's uniform, with his hands clasped behind his back in a nervous manner. She decided there was nothing threatening about him from what she could see. Truthfully, he seemed rather nice.
"I'm... um..."
"Ashton," Riley spoke kindly when the boy started licking his dry lips. "Right? From Algebra and Calculus?"
"Yeah," he said gratefully. "You're a year younger than us and still kicking our butts. You really are a mathematic genius."
"Well I like math," Riley explained bashfully. "It's fun." The dark haired girl had to fight the urge to glare at Barbara when she chuckled.
"That's good," Ashton assured before looking down at his feet. "I, ar, was wondering if you would, um, want to have a, uh, study date."
"Sure," Riley agreed before casting her eyes down at her textbook, figuring the conversation was over.
"At Darcy's Cafe?" Ashton continued hopefully.
Riley looked up with a small smile. "I don't like studying in loud places. We should study in the library, it has everything we need."
Ashton thought for a moment before blushing and proposing an alternative. "We could go to the cafe first then study, or do it another day."
"But we haven't even organised the day yet, so how can we change the day?" the ex-acrobat asked in confusion.
"I meant we could study another day."
This did not help Riley at all, and instead made her frown. "What's the point of having a study date without the study?"
At this, Barbara started laughing. "Sorry, Ashton, she's excellent at math, not so good at people." Barbara turn sideways on the bench she and Riley sat on, giving the other girl the queue to do the same. She then placed her hands on her friend's shoulders and spoke plainly. "Riley, sweetie, he's asking you out on a date."
"I know," assured the dark haired girl. "A study date."
Barbara gave her a look of pity. "No, on a regular date. He was using the study as an excuse."
"Oh," Riley breathed before looking over at Ashton who looked crest fallen. "I would love to but I have to check with my dad first. He's highly protective."
"I'm great with people," Ashton exclaimed helpfully. "All my friends' parents love me."
"My dad's not like most parents." Riley ignored Barbara's snort of laughter. "What time? So I can give him specifics."
"One?" he asked hopefully. "On Saturday?"
"Alright, I'll let you know by Thursday at the latest."
It was when he was out of earshot that Barbara asked the critical question. "I may not believe Bruce is the type to get into food fights, but I know he doesn't want you dating. How are you going to convince him to let you go?"
Riley gave a tight smile, attempting to look positive. "Leave out the details. Tell him I want to hang with a friend from school, and if he wants a name, say Ash instead of Ashton and hope he thinks it stands for Ashley."
"Good luck," Barbara half-heartedly wished.
"Uh-huh."
Sorry for the long wait, and I hope you like all the Bruce/ Riley bonding. Before you all wonder, I am not doing a cliché: Wally acknowledges his feeling cause Robin is taken sort of thing. Trust me, this is not like that. Hope you R and R.