A/N: Here is another chapter. I hope you picked up some of my few obvious clues I left behind from my last chapter. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: Last time I checked I didn't own Alfred, Batman, or Robin. I don't think I own them still.
Chapter 6 Bowling Alley Blues
"What is with all this water?" Lilly asked Robin while glaring up at him. The team was lugging in a ton of milk cartons of water to their warehouse, and it was obvious that they were heavy.
"You'll see," Robin said with a sly smile.
"Why do you have to keep everything secret till the last moment?" Lilly asked him.
"When I keep you guessing, I keep you on your toes," Robin answered with a nod. "If I'm boring as my monotone History teacher then you would be snoring like freight trains. And we are not a team when everyone is sleeping. Does that answer your question?"
"Yeah," Lilly muttered. "But I still don't like it."
"I didn't say you had to," Robin said with another smile. He turned his head around and yelled to the rest of the team, "Pick up the pace back there!"
The five finally made it to the warehouse, and the kids collapsed on the ground after setting down their gallons on the floor. Robin smiled down at them while thinking a few things to himself. To be a good fighter you had to be strong both physically and mentally. After a few days of molding these kids into what he wanted them to be, he could see them grow more.
"Okay, team, break time is done. Everyone on their feet," he said while opening the lids of the water filled milk cartons. He heard some groans from the group, but they obeyed anyway. Robin stepped back and looked at each kid for a few seconds as if sizing them all up.
"This practice session is for me to see all your powers," Robin said. "Spread out and warm up. I want to see your very best today. After I know what you can do, we can then make some moves or see where you need to get better. Got it?"
All the kids nodded. Amelia walked up to him, and Robin already knew what she was going to ask. He simply pointed to the milk cartons silently. She gave a sigh and slowly walked over to them as he smiled again.
"Alex!" Robin said while walking over to him. Alex looked up to him silently and narrowed his eyes a little. "You're first!" Robin said. He stood beside the kid and nodded for him to go ahead.
"Fine," Alex muttered. "Might want to step back a little." Robin did what he said and watched him closely. Alex gave a few slow and deep breaths with his eyes closed. He then opened them and snapped his fingers. A big explosion of fire sparked up right in front of his hand. It then looked like he grabbed the ball of fire and held it in his hand and rolled it into a perfect ball with his two hands.
"It's strange to see you not get burned," Robin observed. "I'm guessing you're fireproof."
"Yeah," Alex said. "My whole body can be set on fire if I wanted it to," he added while punching the air. A long stream of fire flew out of it, and the heat made Robin take one more step back. "But that can only happen when I'm really mad. Anger is the emotion that triggers most of my moves." Robin noticed the hint of deep pain in the kid's eyes.
"Remind me not to get on your bad side then," Robin said with a chuckle. "You have a lot of power. You're done." He then moved onto Josh, and it was easy for the kid to turn invisible all the time. Robin then moved onto Lilly. Fear was the main emotion there.
"Aren't you going to do anything?" Robin asked the girl. She was only standing in the middle of the room looking bored.
"I have light powers," Lilly muttered while rolling her eyes. "All I can do is amplify any kind of light and made some stupid shield."
Robin raised an eyebrow in interest and asked, "Could you show me the shield?"
"Have it your way, pretty boy," Lilly said. She then put her hands together like she was praying and mouthed the words to some chant that she had memorized with her eyes closed. When she opened them, they were a very light blue color as her body slowly started to glow this same color.
"Tell me if you feel this," Robin said. He brought his foot up and gave a small battle cry while kicking her stomach as hard as he could. It felt like he hit rock and he stumbled back in pain. "OUCH!" he yelled loudly while hopping around holding his poor foot.
"I don't feel a thing," Lilly said evilly to him. "I might say that its stupid, but that doesn't mean that it's not powerful." She then laughed at him till he finally calmed down and could talk without wincing every few seconds.
"Nice," he muttered to her with a pretend glare. "Where did you figure out to do that one?"
Lilly shrugged and said, "A dream." He gave her a strange look and she said, "I said I got it from a dream. Stop looking at me like I'm some freak!"
"You're a freak even if I look at you like you're one or not," Robin said. "I'm through with you. I'm on to cheerleader girl."
"You go have fun with that!" Lilly yelled back to him. Robin smiled a little from his small win. When you talked in Lilly's language her insults were nothing and more funny than anything else. And she seemed to like him more when he trudged over to her country. It was fun to interact with her that way.
"What can you do?" Robin asked the girl while walking up next to her. "Show me your stuff."
"I have to have complete concentration," Amelia said quietly. One of Robin's eyebrows rose as he watched her work her magic. She made the water in the gallons rise into the air and hover a few feet above the ground. She then danced around the place with the water following her hand movements. She ended it quickly and smiled up to Robin.
"Okay," Robin said to his team. "I want you guys to think about how to perfect these powers of yours. Dwell deeply on it and focus most of your attention on your moves. You will need a strong body and mind to be a good superhero. I'll put you through hard mental problems that also will include physical stuff. Got it?"
The kids nodded with smiles on their faces. Robin nodded back to them and was delighted than they were taking him serious now and were happy as to where they were at. He would push them harder each day, though, till they were perfect. Then they could take on the greatest challenge of them all. Defeating the Batman.
The sweat pored down Robin's forehead as he fumbled for his grappling hook quickly. He kept running at a fast pace over the roof top with Batman straight ahead of him. The teen bared his teeth with determination as he aimed his gadget at a higher roof top and swung up to it. He landed there in a crouch and barely gave himself some time to gather his senses before he took off after their target that they had been chasing for around an hour now.
She was fast! She also knew the city well, because they frequently lost her in dark alley ways and other places as she led them all around Gotham City. They had spotted her stealing some jewelry at a store and, she had sped off before they could get their hands on her.
"Pick up the pace!" Batman snapped back to Robin harshly before jumping off the roof and down onto another.
Robin frowned while following right behind him. He would prove himself tonight that he was just as fit even if he was sick or not. He had missed patrol last night, and he didn't want to do that again. He ran faster even though his legs almost felt like rubber from all his jumping, flipping, and nonstop chasing.
The teen whipped out a bird-a-rang as he came up to Batman's side. He gave a small battle yell while throwing the thing into the air while taking quick aim. His aim was dead on, and the victim made a small noise when the gadget sliced through her arm.
"Next time aim for her legs," Batman said to Robin while passing him. Robin only shook his head in frustration while he stuck his hand into the air and caught the bird-a-rang. He glared at the Dark Knight as he kept up his pace.
The girl knew she was hurt, so now she had to get away somehow. She kicked an air vent on a roof off of a bowling alley building and jumped into it. Batman and Robin were right behind her. Batman jumped in first. Robin stopped at the vent and gulped in some air to catch his breath because his lungs felt like they were on fire. So Alfred was right about patrol when sick, but he wasn't going to give up now.
Robin jumped into the vent and slid around before he fell into the dark room of the bowling alley. He landed on a bright, orange chair that was lit up because all the black lights were on for some reason that night even though the building was closed. Robin looked down and gasped when he saw Batman knocked out on the floor next to the chair.
"Old Bats didn't see the bowling ball that hit him," a voice came out into the dark. Suddenly a glowing, pink ball was flying towards him. Robin gave a sharp yell while jumping off the seat and landing with a tuck roll before getting to his feet.
"You're fast kid," the thief said as she came into view. She stood on a computer that would keep your bowling scores in it, and in her hands was a lime green glowing ball. Anything with bright colors stood out a lot in this huge room. Robin cringed as he realized that he was a flashing billboard in this room because of his bold colored uniform. She would be able to see him clearly in here.
"Hand over the jewels," Robin said while trying to keep his voice steady. He knew that this girl had to be good to sneak up on Batman and knock him out. She was skilled beyond his years, maybe. It was up to him to take her down.
"How old are you, Robin?" the girl asked him while looking at the boy with interest in her deep, green eyes. She wore tight, black pants with a small dark purple skirt. Her black top was just as tight, and it was long sleeved. It looked like she was wearing a jumpsuit with her gloves and boots the same color. A red mask covered the upper half of her face and had small holes in it for her eyes to stare out of. Her black hair was put up in a tight ponytail that swished around when she moved her head.
"This is no time to be getting to know each other," Robin spat out while taking up a fighting position. "All I want are those jewels returned to their owner and you in jail."
"Oh, serious one, aren't you, Robin?" the thief said with a wicked smile crossing her lips. "Then how 'bout we go to it. I'll let you have this bag of jewels, kid, only if you can get to them," she said while throwing the bag to one of the seats. "Bats will be out for a few more minutes, so we will have some time together."
Robin was bit confused. Usually these things were not in his power to decide over. Batman did that sort of thing. The teen then smiled when he saw his big opening. If he did this he would really prove his skill as a leader to Batman. He gave the girl a cocky smile and nodded.
The teen made the first move for the bag. He skidded to a stop when the thief landed in front of him. He rolled through her legs, but the girl grabbed him from behind and flipped the poor boy over her head. Robin landed on his feet and ducked as a hard roundhouse kick was aimed for his face. He dropped to the floor and tried to trip her, but she easily jumped in time.
Robin stood up after his leg sweep and was suddenly seized from behind. His arms were pinned to his sides and his chest was slowing being crushed by the girl's amazing unknown strength.
"So how do you like yesterday's headlines?" she randomly asked Robin while keeping a steady pressure on his chest. The teen winced in pain as he kicked his feet in the air. "My beautiful work is being known all over this city now. I'm glad everyone likes it so far. They just gulp all those gruesome stories up."
"You're the serial killer!" Robin gasped while panic started to rise in his chest. "She targets young male teens." Those words flashed into the teen's head. He suddenly felt terribly alone as he was stuck in a hold by the most dangerous criminal in Gotham City at the time being.
"Bingo," she said with a small giggle. "But I can't play with you too long tonight, kid. Bats could wake anytime by now."
Robin slammed his head backwards and knocked right into the killer's nose. She gave a sharp cry while letting him go. Robin ran up to Batman and shook him a few times to get him awake. He was stuck in a room with a crazy serial killer that was targeting him right now, and it was kind of scary.
"Don't you want to talk, Robin?" the thief asked him. Robin turned around and ducked from a kick. He rolled out of the way of another quick attack. He got to his feet and suddenly sneezed loudly. "Aw, has the baby bird caught a cold?" she asked him with some pretend sympathy in her voice.
"How many times have a heard that one?" Robin muttered to her. He told his mind to calm down as he forced himself to get serious. His panic was gone as he came at her with a punch. She dodged this move but wasn't able to avoid his swift, sharp kick he executed right after his first attack that was aimed for her mid section.
She backed up with a loud gasp for air. She glared at Robin as he smiled slyly at her. "No more miss nice girl," the thief muttered while suddenly throwing herself at the teen. Robin had no time to react, and he was suddenly flying into the air. He landed in a bowling lane on his side with a small wince and after sliding for a few seconds finally stopping.
Robin got to his feet quickly and slipped on the wax kind of stuff on the alley. He looked around the room in search for the killer, but she was no where to be seen. The whole place was lit up with glowing colors. Robin thought that the thief had taken off to escape.
The teen saw how wrong he was when a foot slammed into the side of his head and knocked him into the next lane with a loud thud. He landed on his back and looked up just in time to see the girl land beside him. He tried to get up, but she suddenly sat on his chest and pinned his arms and legs down to the slippery floor.
"I want to give you a taste of what I can do to you, Robin," she said with a wicked smile coming to her face. Her eyes lit up evilly as she took out a sharp knife from somewhere in the dark. She laughed out loud in delight when she saw Robin's eyes go wide in surprise and panic. "Now, what should I do with you?" she asked him with her voice sounding like a demon in Robin's ears.
"No! Stop!" Robin yelled while struggling with all his might to get free. Come on Bruce! He pleaded in his head to the knocked out hero laying a few feet away from him. I know that you're an over protective parent at times and I hate you for it, but right now would be a good time to wake up and help me!
The killer giggled gleefully when Robin winced when she rested the tip of her cool blade on his neck. Robin glared at her with anger burning in his eyes for how close she was getting to him. The girl was clearly mental and desperately needed to be sent to the insane asylum. If Batman was not going to get him out of this mess, he would have to take things into his own hands.
Robin took out a bird-a-rang from his belt and flipped the blades out silently. The thief was too occupied with her own sick happiness of seeing the pretend panic and pain on the teen's face to even notice that he was now holding his own weapon.
"You need to get a life," Robin hissed up to her while slicing her ankle and drawing blood.
The girl did nothing but stare at her new open wound with puzzlement on her face. She looked back down to Robin and smiled. "It has been fun, bird boy," she said. "But I need to leave. But beware, kid, because I'm not through with you just yet. My next victim might just be you. I can't wait for that time."
"I'll stop you before you touch another victim," Robin spat back at her.
"We'll see, kid," she said with a smile. She then took out two silver balls and threw them down on the ground. They exploded and a big cloud of dust flew up around the hero and thief. Robin coughed a few times and realized that the serial killer was gone once the dust cleared, and so was the bag of jewels.
"No," Robin muttered while still on his back in the middle of the bowling alley. He banged his head onto the wooden surface in frustration. He was just glad that whole freak show was done for the time being. He suddenly saw Batman looking down at him with a frown planted on his face like always.
"What happened?" he asked his sidekick. He offered a hand out to the teen, and Robin took it gratefully. "You're hurt," he stated while pointing to Robin's neck.
"Yeah," Robin muttered bitterly. No thanks to you. He wiped away the small bit of blood the thief's knife had drawn. He sneezed again and didn't notice Batman's watchful eyes staring at him with question. "She got away," he said to Batman. "She knows a lot of moves and I couldn't stop her."
"Anything else?" Batman asked him. "You look really shaken up. Do you need to go home?"
"It's probably the lighting," Robin answered. For some reason he didn't want to include the part in which she was the serial killer. If he said that, then he knew Bruce would freak out and keep him inside all day and night. His training as leader would be put to an end, and patrol would get band for months. He couldn't tell Batman what was going on.
A/N: Freaky, no? I think this girl is one of my scariest creations. Now Robin has to avoid a killer while juggling everything else. It just keeps getting better! Please note the sarcasm. Please give a review! Thanks!