Little One, Little Danger
A/N: Hey everyone! Thank you so much for your constant reviews because I really do enjoy them. I know the majority of you are starting to get confused at what's starting to happen. Also with the whole Kida deal going on. Don't worry, everything will come together in the end like I've been saying hehe. Well I won't keep you guys waiting any longer since I left you at a few cliffhangers lol. Chapter 22!
Chapter 22: Broken bonds
Robin laid in the bed of his hotel room half asleep looking up at the ceiling. His hands were underneath the back of his head while his right leg hung over the side of the bed. Kida's face flashed in his mind which made him sigh. Inside himself he felt weird whenever she was around, or better yet, whenever he thought about her. They just met and she acts as if she's known him for awhile.
"I always wanted to take you here…"
He had brushed off the statement, but he hadn't forgotten it. She changed what she said so quickly, but what she said at first seemed like she meant it. Even going to the karaoke bar where the owners said she'd go in alone by herself occasionally.
Robin thought to himself, "She seems like a outgoing girl to me, so why would she go to places like that alone? Doesn't she have friends?"
His eyes started to get heavy as he slowly closed them. He dosed off after about five seconds. Memories started to surface in his mind as he breathed normally through the night. Robin started to dream.
He stood in the middle of a field filled with small sunflowers, about three feet tall. Looking up he saw a blue sky, cloudless as the sun shined brightly; the air wasn't hot but nice and cool with a breeze. Robin lifted his head, closed his eyes and smiled as the wind blew over him. He didn't feel the mask on his face for it wasn't there.
"Daddy!"
Robin suddenly opened his eyes and looked straight ahead of him.
"Daddy!", a voice echoed in the distance.
"Raiden?", he questioned himself squinting trying to see far off.
"Daddy!", someone waved from afar.
"Raiden!", he yelled which caused the figure to jump up and down with excitement.
"I'm coming!"
He nodded as he waved back and smiled. The girl started to run through the field towards him. He felt himself getting excited and joyous; he couldn't explain why. Robin kept watching her as she ran with a smile on her face, being so small and just a few inches taller than the sunflowers that surrounded her.
"I'm coming daddy, I'm coming!", she giggled.
"I'm waiting baby girl!", he smiled.
"So am I."
All of a sudden he looked to his right and saw the left side of the face of a beautiful milk-skinned woman.
She turned to face him and smiled, "You look like you just seen a ghost Richard."
Robin shook his head, "Sorry I uh…I just…"
"Surprised to see me?"
He smiled as he looked down and shook his head, "I'm just…", he grabbed her left hand and looked up at her, "…happy."
Raven's eyes softened as she clutched his hand and smiled softly, "Me too."
They then turned to watch Raiden continue running towards them. They chuckled as she made it closer and closer.
"Come on sweetie!" Raven yelled.
"I'm…I'm coming uhf…" Raiden tripped and fell below the sunflowers in the middle of her sentence.
Robin and Raven's face dropped as they heard the girl let out a piercing wail.
"Raiden!", they both yelled as they let go of the other's hand.
The two broke out into a run to go meet the girl and see if she was alright. The sky above them started to draw in dark clouds.
"We're coming!" both Robin and Raven yelled.
Raiden's cries started to fade out as they got closer to her. When they finally get to the spot, Robin looked down at the back of the girl's head.
"Raiden?" Robin could hear the concern in his own voice.
Why were they making such a big deal out of it? Little kids are always falling, it's a part of the nature of growing up. But…something just didn't feel right. Robin kneeled down and put his right hand on the back of the girl's head, she didn't flinch.
"Raiden?", he softly said.
He looked up and turned to see Raven's reaction, but she wasn't there. The sky was filled with dark clouds now. He brought his attention back down to the girl and patted her head.
"Raiden? Come on honey." Robin grabbed her by the shoulders and flipped her over.
His eyes widened as he looked into her face. The girl's eyes started to move and she opened them slowly.
"Robin?", she spoke.
He shockingly looked into emerald green eyes, "Star…"
She smiled, "That is I."
Robin let go of her and stood up, "Where's…where's Raiden?"
Starfire stood up and cocked her head to the side, "Raiden?"
"Yes Star, my daughter. Where's my daughter?"
Starfire giggled, "Robin does not have a little one. All he has is Starfire."
She walked up to him and caressed his left cheek, he jerked his head away which caused Star's hand to fall.
"Stop it Star."
She grinned, "Stop what?"
Robin started to get aggravated, "There is nothing more between us!"
"Sure there is.", she walked up to him and put her hands on his wrists.
He narrowed his eyes at her, "Where's my daughter?"
"I am your daughter…shall I call you daddy?", she smirked.
"You're sick."
Starfire giggled, "Only if you wish it. Better yet…", she brought her face closer to the right side of his and spoke in his ear, "…how about I give you offspring."
Robin suddenly grabbed both of her wrists with his hands and squeezed them pulling Star some inches away from him.
"Where's Raiden?"
"I'm the one that loves you! Not her! Not Raven! Me!"
He thrusts her into the , now dead, sunflowers, "How did this all happen?"
She laid on her knees holding her wrists with tears in her eyes. Robin had turned his back to her as he rubbed the back of his neck.
"Robin…"
"What?", he didn't turn to look at her.
"I love you, you have to love me back.", she sobbed.
Robin sighed, "I do love you Star…but I'm 'in' love with Rachel."
"NO!"
He turned to face her, "I'm sorry."
"I know what you want…Robin I can give you what you want…"
She used one of her star bolts to cut through the front of her uniform top. The bolt made a perfect vertical slit in between her breasts.
"Star, what are you doing!"
Starfire gripped each end of the slit and smirked, "You can't resist me Robin."
He narrowed his eyes at her and turned around, "Watch me."
She removed the top of her uniform as she watched him walk. Starfire got to her feet and walked behind him.
"You can not walk away from it Robin."
"What do you think I'm doing now."
All of a sudden he felt Star's arms around him, "Really."
"Star let go!", he yelled struggling to free himself from her grip.
He had forgotten how much more stronger she was with her alien strength, but where was that strength a second ago when he thrust her to the ground he wondered.
"Shh…Robin just calm down.", she said in a soft voice.
Robin gave up on escaping so he stopped, "What is it that you want?"
"Just listen."
"Listen to what?"
"The beating of my heart. Close your eyes and listen."
Robin slowly closed his eyes and relaxed, "Fine."
She loosened her grip on him and rested her hands on both his upper arms. Robin could hear his heart beating, but he kept trying to find hers. Suddenly he could not only hear, but feel her heart beating in line with his.
Star's eyes were closed as well, "Can you hear it?"
"Yes.", he felt like he was in a trance.
She then moved her hands down to his and grabbed them, "Now can you feel the beat…vibrating through my breasts?"
He had almost forgot that she was behind him topless. Robin could feel her breasts upon his back, but he didn't answer her question. Starfire took his left hand and moved it up along the left side of her body.
"Can Raven give you this?"
"No."
She smiled as she kept moving his hand up, "You see now."
"Yes…I do.", he halted his hand she was moving.
"What's wrong?"
Robin smirked, "I'd rather make love with Rachel than have sex handed to me on a silver platter by you."
Starfire became shocked and furious as she pushed him to the ground, "You 'will' love me!"
He turned on his back, "How many times must we go through this?"
All of a sudden he felt her lips hit his. Unfortunately the kiss caused his eyes to close and get engulfed in it. When he felt her lips leave his he slowly opened his eyes.
"Are you ok?"
"Dang, she always get me with the kiss.", he thought aloud.
Someone giggled, "Do I?"
"Wait…you're not…" he looked into someone else's face, "…Kida?"
"Yes sir that's my name.", she smiled.
Robin shook his head, "What happened to Starfire?"
"What? Is that some kind of space fragment?"
He got to his feet, "I have to find my daughter."
"You have a daughter?"
"Uh…kind of."
"Robin, I need to ask a favor of you."
"What is that?"
"Spend the night with me?"
Robin fell over in shock, "What? Why?"
Kida got down to his level, "I can't explain in full detail so hurry up."
She grabbed his pants.
He started to crawl backwards panicking, "Why me? Why these girls?"
Kida laughed, "This will so make Bruce jealous!"
"Who the hell is Bruce?"
Suddenly Robin woke in a cold sweat. He was breathing hard and all he could see was darkness. Robin calmed down and fell back onto his pillow.
"It was just a dream. Thank heavens, I wouldn't know how to explain that situation."
He outstretched his right arm to grab his communicator that rested on the bedside table. Robin looked up at it for the time that read 4:20am.
"I wonder what the others are up to…"
{scene jump}
"Ugh.", both girls hit the roof.
They laid on their backs for awhile before they decided to get up struggling. The shirt Raven had on was torn to shreds as well as Starfire's skirt. The two breathed heavily bent over looking at the other.
"Starfire…", Raven was short winded.
"Raven…", Star was the same.
"Stop this foolishness.", Raven stood straight up as she clenched her right fist.
"Shut up!", Star yelled straightening up herself as well.
"This has to end!"
"Oh it will…", Star charged at Raven.
She extended her right arm so as to throw a punch at Raven. At the same time of the impact Raven caught her fist with her left hand. Starfire became aggravated and tried using her left hand to punch; Raven caught it with her right hand.
"Ugh…let go!", she yelled.
"Yeah right! Do you think I'm crazy?"
Raven thrust up her right knee so that she could knee the alien girl in the stomach, but Starfire thrust up her left knee at the same time stopping the attack. Raven quickly used her left knee; Star used her right. Suddenly the power and energy coming from them started to circle around them in an aura of electric waves.
"Give it up."
"You give it up!", Star yelled.
They started to rise in the air gritting their teeth together. Both hands and knees turning red, almost bleeding from impact.
"I'm warning you Starfire, back down!"
"Coward!"
"Mama…Auntie Star…?"
All of a sudden the girls turned to the attic's entrance into the tower and saw Raiden standing holding herself. They fell out the air and hit the roof hard landing on their butts with a thud.
Raven looked at the girl's frightened expression, "Raiden…"
Raiden ran back inside causing Raven to stand up immediately, "Raiden!", she ran after her.
Starfire stood up slowly and looked at the entrance of the attic. She then turned around and looked out towards the sea, eyes watering.
"I won't let him go.", she said to herself as she flew over the edge of the tower.
"Raiden!", Raven followed the girl through the house and to the guest room she was staying in.
"Leave me alone!", she yelled.
"I'm coming in!", Raven tried going through the girl's door, but it wasn't working.
"You can't come in here! I blocked it out!"
"How did she…Raiden! Let me in!", Raven banged on the door.
"I don't want to talk to you…or anyone as a matter of fact! Leave me alone!"
Raven rested her forehead on the girl's door, "Raiden…I can explain."
"I'd rather not hear it."
"But…"
"Raven?", Cyborg called from the living room.
She looked at the girl's door one more time before she turned to leave for the living room. When she got there Cyborg was seated on the couch watching something on the news. She walked up from behind the couch.
"What is it?", she asked.
"Check this out.", he took the remote and turned up the volume on the TV.
"Yes Sally, these things have been found in almost every part of the world.", the male reporter spoke.
"Do you have any idea of what they can be Dan?", Sally replied.
The camera was showing several little abandoned areas in cities and outskirts with devices about the size of basketballs rooted into the ground. They were glowing a gold color with, which looked like veins, coming from the bottom expanding to about ten feet in diameter of the device.
"What the…?", Raven looked closely at the screen.
"Well I don't know Sally, but I have Doctor Hayes here with me to try and explain the situation.", Dan held the mic to the Doctor's mouth.
"Yes well, I can't really explain the arts going on with this device or the intellectual technology. Though what I can say is that the energy coming from it is something of the sorts that I haven't seen. I believe it to be very dangerous and I advise that action should be taken to block these things off.", Doctor Hayes spoke.
Dan held the mic to his own mouth now, "Thank you Doctor."
"I believe you have with you the individual that spotted the device?", Sally spoke.
Dan nodded, "That's right Sally. Here we have a Mr. John Cormier."
A guy about in his mid 20s walked out in front of the camera waving and smiling. Dan smiled as well as he nodded his head.
"Tell us what happened John.", Dan asked.
"Well you see, what had happened was…I was drivin' out late at night while comin' back from this awesome party. I'm talkin' 'bout AWESOME Dan."
Dan winked, "I'm sure John."
"Anyway, I was takin' a short-cut home right, from around that corner by the K-mart. Are you followin' me?"
"I believe so."
"So all out of the blue somethin' is flashin' in my right-side mirror and I'm like, I know that's not the cops, I ain't did nothin' wrong. So I slowed down and noticed that there weren't no five oh but this glowin' ball right. So I'm like daaaamn, what is that? Pulled over, got out my ride and walked by it. I noticed the little lines comin' from the bottom and so I stepped on one."
"And then what happened?"
"You want to know what happened? Burned the bottom of my new Nikes man! Pissed me off you know what I'm sayin'! So after that I contacted national geographic and…"
Dan looked at him dumb-founded, "We don't have a national geographic out here."
John hunched his shoulders, "Well you know, whoever those nerds are. CSI, somebody, but best believe I'm goin' get my credit Danny boy."
"It's Dan actually."
The camera went back to Sally, "Well thank you Dan and Mr. John for that wonderful highlight of the story. We will keep you people updated on the condition these devices are in and the action that will be taken to keep them secure. Next coming up, Bruce Wayne's surprise engagement."
*click*
Cyborg turned the TV off and turned around to look at Raven, "What do you think those things can be?"
"Better yet, who is behind them?", she looked at him.
Cy then looked her over and saw her appearance, "What happened to you?"
Raven turned away from him, "I'll go and clean up."
Cyborg quickly stood up, "What happened?"
All of a sudden they heard a rumbling sound coming from the Tower's underground garage. They looked at each other and then immediately ran towards the basement.
"Sounds like someone is hijacking the jet!", Cyborg yelled.
"Starfire.", Raven thought to herself.
As they got down the pressure from the jet was thrusting them to where they couldn't move any further. They strained their eyes to look up into the cockpit to see the pilot, it was Starfire.
"Star? Star! What are you doing?", Cy yelled but couldn't be heard over the noise of the running jet.
The garage door opened as she turned the front of the jet around. As soon as it was in position she hit the accelerator button and the jet took off outside. Raven and Cyborg stood there as the sound of the jet started to fade away until it was gone.
"Where in the hell is she going?", Cyborg rubbed his head.
"Hehm…", Raven turned around to go back to the door.
"Raven?"
She stopped, "I'm going to go clean up."
He narrowed his eyes at her, "What happened between you and Star?"
"What makes you think something happened?", she started to walk again.
Suddenly she felt his hand around her left wrist, "Don't lie to me."
"Nothing happened ok."
"What happened?"
"We got in a fight!"
Cyborg's eyes widen as he looked at her in disbelief, "Wha…What?"
Raven jerked her wrist out of his hand, "We got in a fight ok."
"What? Why? What's wrong?"
"Look, I'm going to go clean myself up. Then we can go check in on this whole glowing device situation in the control room."
"Raven…?"
"Just drop it.", she said as she left him in the garage alone.
"Man Robin, where the hell are you.", Cyborg rubbed his temples.
{scence jump}
Aqualad sat in the living room, heading resting in the palms of his hands. So much was going through his mind at that moment and he didn't know how to deal with the situation he was in. Never in a million years did he think he'd have to cope with such pressure and stress in his life.
"Hey Aqua, you ok?"
Aqualad looked up and saw Speedy standing on the side of him, "No…"
Speedy took a seat, "What's up man?"
"I…I told Raven about my fight with Robin."
"Whoa…how'd she take it?"
"She was surprised."
"Did you tell her what it was about?"
Aqualad nodded as he sat himself back on the sofa.
"…and?"
"I told her I loved her…"
Speedy's eyes widened, "Really?"
"Yeah.."
"How did she…"
Aqua cut him off, "I don't know…I don't know anything anymore. How she feels about it, the fight that is, how she feels about me, how she feels about him…it's just…I don't know…"
"It's going to be alright man."
"Yeah right."
"Look, we all go through some hard times. Everything's going to work out for the better in the end, you'll see."
"Coward."
"Huh?"
Aqualad smirked, "Robin…is a coward…"
Speedy nodded, "That might be true. I mean, he did run off to Tokyo."
"But why? Why would he isolate himself from everything huh…from his friends…from her…?"
"Do you believe him?"
Aqualad sat up and looked at Speedy, "What are you talking about?"
"The things he was saying. His feelings that he was expressing after the fight."
"I couldn't tell if he was just playing the part or not.", he gritted his teeth.
"Well, I…believed him…"
"You would."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Well you two are buddy buddy."
"Look, just hear me out Aqualad. While he was saying all that I was looking at his actions and into his eyes."
"The guy has a freaking mask on!"
"Whatever. Anyway, the way he said it, the way he acted and looked…I've seen that before…within myself. I could tell that…he was telling the truth."
Aqualad stood up, "You know what screw you and Robin. I know for a fact that he cares for no one but himself."
"You know what…I'm tired of trying to comfort you. If you think you're so smart and not different from him then why are you trying so hard to convince Raven and everyone else that he's a bad guy?"
He narrowed his eyes at him, "This conversation is over."
"Heh, and you calm him a coward. Can't even finish a conversation that you started."
Aqualad down the hall and into his bedroom. He went to his bathroom and looked at himself within the mirror. Hair hanging over each side of his face, eyes hanging low because of stress. Body pale and fatigue from lack of energy.
"He's not going to get the best of me.", he spoke to himself.
He ran the shower and quickly jumped in. Aqualad washed himself along with his hair; it took him about 10 minutes before he stepped out. He dried himself off, as well as his hair. Quickly moving throughout his dark room naked trying to find some clothes. He grabbed a custom made team suit, all black, that he threw on.
Aqualad picked up his communicator and hit a connection, "Hello?"
"Hey Surge."
"Aqualad? It's kind of late isn't it."
"I need my subet ready in thirty minutes, can you handle that?"
"Yeah sure. What's the problem?"
"Nothing, just have it ready for me. I'm making my way over right now."
"Yes Sir, destination?"
"Tokyo, Japan."
{scene jump}
"Ok we're here, and the closet one to us is about two hundred and eighty five smiles east." Cyborg pointed at a sensor world map.
Raven nodded, "Can you tell if there's any specific pattern in which these are going?"
"Um…well if we expand the map,", he hit a blue button, ", it shows a total of about seven of these devices."
"It's strange how they glow like that."
"Not really, we've seen worse."
Raven rolled her eyes, "Can you pull up the energy dispensing from them?"
"Are you talking about those freaky looking veins?"
"Yeah those."
Cyborg typed in a few things on the keyboard and hit a green button. Up came the faint lights coming from each device. Both Cyborg and Raven looked at the map closely.
"Is it…supposed…"
"It can't be.", Raven's eyes widened.
"Can't be what?", Cyborg asked.
"That…the lines, they're connecting together."
"That they are."
"If you really look at it, look what they make up."
Cyborg took a closer look, "It looks like some type of 's' or something."
"Think back.", she looked at him stupidly.
"Seems like the same one your dad and Slade…", all of a sudden he stopped what he was saying.
"Now, you now what I'm getting at."
"But…how? I mean, this could be just a mix up or something. Maybe it's not that symbol."
Raven stood there with her heart beating fast. She then started to paced back and forth gritting her teeth, running her hands through her hair. Cyborg was still running his mouth about the different possibilities of the connected devices.
"He…he can't be here…it's not possible.", went her thoughts.
Cy stopped and turned to look at her, "Raven? You ok?"
She suddenly snapped out of it, "Huh? Yeah…I'm fine."
"Before jumping to any conclusions, we have to do a further investigation. So don't get to stressed just yet."
"Yeah, you're right."
"Ok cool, what we should do is visit the closest device and try to gather any information we can about it."
Raven squinted at the map, "Can you enhance the sensor more?"
"Huh? Why?"
"Just do it."
"It might not work, I mean it's just about pass it's limit."
"Do it."
"Fine.", he enhanced it.
"See…look there.", she pointed.
Cy squinted his eyes, "Is that some of the same energy, coming from a residence?"
"Seems like it."
"Over there too!", Cy pointed.
Raven looked, "But they're so far apart."
"Team?"
"Could be."
"So, what should we do?"
"Well the first residence is closer to the first device, so let's check them both out."
"Alright cool."
Raven nodded as she turned around.
"Raven?"
"Yes?"
Cyborg stood up and walked over to her, "You know what?"
She turned to face him, "What?"
All of a sudden she felt his arms around her as he gave her a hug, "It's going to be ok."
"I don't know what you…"
He cut her off, "You don't always have to be strong. I know that you're going through a lot of things right now. Robin, Raiden, Aqualad, Starfire…it's all going to be ok."
Raven's eyes started to water as her heart started to feel heavy, "I…I'm ok I'm just…it's just…"
"Don't worry ok, everything will work out for the better in the end you'll see."
She nodded as she closed her eyes causing the tears to fall. Raven hugged him back as she buried her face into his metal chest.
{scene jump}
Raiden sat on her bed holding her knees up to her chest. She couldn't understand what she saw happening between Starfire and Raven.
"What could have happened?"
*knock knock*
"Raiden?", Raven called from the outside of her room.
"…", she didn't answer.
"Raiden, if you're not asleep and can hear me…I just want to let you know that I'm sorry you had to see what was going on between Starfire and I."
Raiden squeezed herself.
"Also…Cyborg and I are going out of town for a little while. We should be back in the morning ok. Beastboy should be back in a few hours from some party so you won't be alone…Raiden?"
"…"
"I love you.", Raven said as she looked at the girl's door and then turned around.
As she started to walk she felt little arms around her waist with a head in her lower back. She looked down behind her and saw the girl hugging her, face buried in her back; she was crying.
"I love you too.", she cried.
{scene jump}
"Master Bruce.", Alfred walked into the bat cave.
"Have you seen this Alfred?", he pulled up some news articles upon his security screens.
"Yes, as a matter of fact that's why I came down here."
Bruce cupped his hands together and rested them on his desk, "Strange devices huh."
"It seems so."
"Did you look into it already?"
"Not yet Sir, but I can get right on it if you like."
Bruce turned around and smiled, "Well I would, but maybe I'll leave this one up to the Titans."
"Do you think they're ready."
"Well the devices are located closer to them. I'm sure they're on it as we speak right now."
"Shall we call them Sir."
"Only fair. Grab me the phone Alfred."
Alfred went to the far right end of the cave and came back with the cordless black phone, "There you go Master Bruce."
"Thank you Alfred."
Bruce dialed Robin's extension. The line beeped and beeped for the longest, about 2 minutes, until he decided to hang up the phone.
"That's weird."
"What is it?"
"Robin's not picking up his communicator."
"That is rather odd Sir."
"I'll try Cyborg.", Bruce dialed Cyborg's extension.
After about 2 beeps he picked up, "Yeah?"
"Cyborg?", he answered.
"Bruce? What's up?"
"I was just checking up on you guys."
"That's cool thanks."
"How did the vacation go?"
"…"
Bruce held the phone out and then back to his ear, "Hello?"
"Uh…I'm here."
"So?"
"It was great…"
"Well that's good."
"…besides the fight.", Cy whispered.
"What was that?"
"Uh nothing. Hehe."
"Ok, well. Have you guys watched the news lately?"
"If you're referring to those strange devices around the globe, then yes."
"See Alfred, I told you they were on the case already.", he grinned at his butler.
"Yes Sir."
"Well I've decided to stay out of it and let you guys handle this on your own."
"Isn't that generous of you.", Cy smirked on the other end.
"What can I say, I'm a generous man. Just tell Robin to keep me updated on what you guys find out, incase you do want the bat's help."
"Uh…about Robin."
"Huh?"
"He's not with us…it's actually just Raven and I."
Bruce's right eyebrow raised as he became curious, "Why?"
"Well BB's at a party and Star just flew off with the team's jet."
"Where'd she go?"
"We don't know."
"Where's the girl?"
"Girl?"
Bruce was snapping his fingers, "You know, uh…help me out Alfred."
"Little Raiden Sir."
"That's it Raiden."
"We left her home."
"By herself?"
"Believe it or not Bruce, but the kid's twelve. Hard to believe yes, but BB's going to be home in thirty minutes. We just talked to him."
"Twelve?"
"It's complicated."
"Ok ok, where's Robin?"
"…in Tokyo…"
"Tokyo? What for?"
"Well Bruce, to be completely honest with you…it had to do with a fight he had with Aqualad at the cabin."
"What?", Bruce quickly stood up.
"Calm down Bruce."
"How did that happen?"
"Long story."
Bruce rubbed his forehead and sighed, "Ok ok, when you guys find anything out about these devices, contact me immediately."
"Will do Bruce."
"And in the mean time, I'll be trying to get in touch with Dick."
"Ok."
Bruce hung the phone up and plopped down in his chair. Alfred picked up the phone and held it by his side.
"Everything ok?"
Bruce looked at the papers on his desk, "It seems that Robin has runoff."
"To where Sir?"
"Tokyo apparently."
Alfred nodded, "Reason?"
"Fight with Aqualad."
"That water fellow? I thought they were friends."
"So did I. But I'm sure there's much more to the story."
"Well I'll go run your bath water and call you when it's done."
"Ok Alfred."
"Oh, and congratulations on the engagement."
Bruce smirked, "Get out of here Alfred."
Alfred left the cave and Bruce was sitting by himself. The only light that shone was the one right over the desk he was sitting at. He was messing around with a few files and tax papers he was supposed to take care of last week. Stopping what he was doing, he leaned back in his chair.
"Robin fighting…with Aqualad?", he spoke aloud.
His foot then hit a button on the bottom inside right of the desk causing a drawer compartment to open.
Bruce slowly sat up, "Wow, I forgot that that was there."
He started to rummage through it, pulling out old letters, notes, and candy wrappers.
"Robin must've stuck those in there.", he chuckled.
As he went further through it he spotted a picture and pulled it out. It was of him and Robin leaning on the bat car after their first mission together. Bruce smiled as he held the picture up, but suddenly something fell from it.
"What the…?"
He looked down at what fell back into the drawer and picked it up. To his surprise it was another picture, but not of him and Robin. Bruce held the picture directly under the light and looked at it eyes wide. It was of him in his early 20s with a young girl about 17 years old. She was in a green and black striped bikini; he was in some black swim trunks. They were right outside a water-park named Atlantis. His eyes softened as he softly smiled at the picture.
"Kida."
5 years ago
"Kida!", Bruce called from the mansion's living room.
The 20 year old woman walked slowly down the stairs and into the living room, "What is it?"
"Why so harsh?"
She folded her arms over her chest, "What is it Bruce?"
He walked up to her, "Look, I'm sorry for being a jackass ok."
"And?"
"And…I want to make it up to you."
"Here we go again."
Bruce suddenly took her hands into his, "I'm serious Kida, you deserve it."
She narrowed her eyes at him, "Fine. What is it."
He smiled and quickly pulled something out from his left pants' pocket, "Look what I have."
Kida's eyes widened, "Is that?"
"Yep."
"And we're going?"
"Just the two of us. Back to Atlantis we go."
Kida suddenly jumped and gave him a hug, "We haven't been there in so long! Thank you so much Bruce!"
"We leave in the morning. So go pack.", he smiled.
"Eeek!", she screamed as she ran up the stairs.
"See, told you she'd like it Alfred."
Next morning
Kida sat in the living room humming and waiting for Bruce to come down.
"Ready to go beautiful."
She turned around and saw Bruce's smiling face, she blushed, "You called me beautiful?"
"Well don't you think so.", he chuckled.
"I…I suppose."
"Oh you know, so stop trying to be modest."
Kida laughed, "Fine…handsome."
"I know that.", he struck a pose.
"You are crazy.", she laughed.
She got up about to grab her bag but he ended up picking it up, "I got it."
"Ok batman."
They walked out the door and loaded up the backseat of his car. Alfred walked with them outside as they got settled.
"Take all phone calls Alfred, let them know that Bruce Wayne is on vacation."
"Will do Master Bruce."
Kida was in the passenger seat and let the window down, "Bye Alfred, see you when we get back."
"Have fun Miss Kida."
Bruce got into the driver's seat and started up the car; then drove off. They went out the drive way and headed towards the interstate. Kida was so happy as she looked out the window. Bruce couldn't help but smile himself. She turned to look at him and caught his eye which caused her to quickly turned her attention back to the window blushing.
"What's wrong with me?", she thought to herself.
"Are you happy Kida?"
She looked at him, "Yes…very."
"Well that's good. I'm happy that you're happy."
She started to blush again and he laughed, "What? What is it?"
"Your face…are you blushing?"
She turned around embarrassed, "No! I don't blush!"
"It's ok, a lot of people blush."
"Well I'm not one of them."
"You know…blushing tells a lot about one's true feelings."
Kida became shocked, "It does?"
Bruce nodded, "Yep, embarrassment, rise in body temperature…"
Kida felt her neck to see if she was hot, "Hm."
"…love."
She started to blush even more, "I…I don't have none of that."
"Ok, glad to hear." , he turned to her and smiled as he watched the girl look out the window.
2 hours later
Kida woke up and noticed that the car wasn't moving. She lifted up her head and noticed that they were parked at a gas station. Looking out the window she saw Bruce pumping gas into the car's tank. He was also examining his smart phone. She looked him over from his hands to his arms, up to the back of his head. Kida felt warm inside and pushed her hair back. She sat back in her seat and pulled out her pocket mirror.
"What am I doing? It's just Bruce…right.", she thought.
Bruce's face flashed in her mind. His smile, the way he carried himself, his feelings for the safety of others, his chest. She shook her head and then heard the driver's door open. She quickly put away her mirror and pushed her hair back again. Bruce sat down and leaned on the steering wheel.
"Don't tell me you're tired already.", she teased poking him in his side.
Bruce lifted himself up and looked at her with a concerned look on his face, "Kida…"
Her face suddenly dropped, "What? What's wrong?"
"I…the signal…"
Kida started shaking her head, "No…you can't…"
"The Joker is…"
"Bruce…no!"
Bruce turned away from her, "I'm sorry…"
"How can you do this to me? Let the police handle Gotham for a change!", she yelled trying to keep herself from crying.
"They can't…"
Kida then got out the car and started to walk away. Bruce quickly got out himself and ran after her.
"Kida! Kida come back!"
"You don't care about me!" she stopped and turned to him.
He stopped some feet away from her, "Yes I do…but…"
"Your city comes first."
"…", he was silent.
She quickly walked up to him and slapped him, "I hate you."
"You don't mean that."
"Yes I do!", she yelled in his face.
"Kida…"
She started to hit him in his chest as she cried, "I hate you I hate you I hate you!"
He then wrapped his arms around her causing her to stop and cry harder, "I hate myself for this…"
He convinced her to get back in the car. They headed back to Gotham and she continued to cry looking out the window.
Present day
Bruce shook his head as he placed the picture down on his desk.
"When I got back home from dealing with the Joker…she was gone."
"She was lovely young lady though."
Bruce turned around to see Alfred, "Alfred?"
"Your bath is ready Sir."
"Thanks. And yes, she was lovely.", he put the picture along with the other things he took out back into the drawer and closed it.
"Poor Miss Kida, I wish she would've stayed."
"You know Alfred, when you told me she ran away…I blamed myself."
"It seems her heart couldn't take it anymore."
"The price of being a hero."
Alfred rubbed his chin, "I believe she might have loved you Master Bruce."
Bruce smirked, "Well that's in the past and who knows where she is."
Alfred turned around and walked, "Yes yes, the past."
Bruce smiled faded as he remembered what he told Kida in the car that day.
"You know…blushing tells a lot about one's true feelings…embarrassment, rise in body temperature…love."
He could see her face as she smiled looking out the window.
"She might've thought that I caught her looking at me, when in actuality she caught me looking at her.", he thought to himself following Alfred out the bat cave.
A/N: Yay! Another chapter goes by and yet again I am terribly sorry for making you guys wait for it. PLEASE FORGIVE ME! Ahem, anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. Though there was a lot going on and a lot of information to take in. The story is only going to get more complicated between the characters as it goes on. So if you're hear with me until the end…AWESOME! Thanks for reading and being a fan of this story, I really enjoy writing it. Please leave a review and chapter 23 will be up soon. : ) Oh and Aqualad's "subet" is just a combination of a submarine and a jet. Also you might have noticed the new "{scene jump}" that I've been using to indicate, like it says, the opening of a new scene. I"m deciding to do this because my first method didn't seem to work with fanfic not accepting special characters by themselves. I think this will make the story alot easier to read and follow. I'm also starting on some new work, if you're a Tekken fan, you'll love it. Kind of like a continuation of my one shot "His Bodyguard". So check that out as well; ok I"m done : )