The Butler's Apprentice – Part 6
The Flash and Kid Flash joined them at the Gotham Zeta Tube.
Mary had made sure that she and Robin would arrive early, assuming that people with super speed were not too fond of waiting.
The broad-shouldered man in the red costume grinned merrily, as he stepped out of the derelict blue phone booth. "You must be Mary! A pleasure to meet you. Hey there, Robin, how's it going?"
A split second after his mentor, the younger speedster appeared at Mary's side in a yellow blur of motion, which ended with him leaning against the wall in what he apparently hoped to be a flattering pose.
"I surely wouldn't have minded waiting for you, babe", Kid Flash addressed her. "The name's Wally, very pleased to meet you."
Robin slapped the back of his friend's head with his gloved hand. "Dude, that's no way to maintain a secret identity!"
"What? Batman said she was fine, right?" He turned back to Mary, beaming a her with a broad smile. "More than fine, I'd say!"
Robin groaned.
He had warned Mary that his friend would probably behave 'like a total teenager' around her, making her laugh at his disdainful expression. Now she understood what he had meant.
Better put an end to this quickly.
Mary locked eyes with the boy in the yellow costume.
"Just how old are you, Kid Flash?"
"I'm turning sixteen this year!"
"How sweet." She leaned in closely, still fixating him. "I was born in 1924."
His face slipped for a moment, but he recovered surprisingly fast. "Oh, well, you're still..."
"...not interested", she finished his sentence.
He shrugged, then grinned again. "Worth a try, right?"
"You're done embarrassing yourself?", his mentor asked drily. "All right, then let's go. Zeta Tube override..."
When Mary stepped out of the teleportation gate, the first thing she noticed was the smell of spruces. They had arrived in front of a little wood shack overlooking a wide open clearing, bordered by lush green forest.
"Where are we?", she asked Robin.
"Our favourite training ground. We call it Area 42", he answered with a cheeky smile.
"Why?"
"Because everyone knows Area 51 is in the desert", Wally replied instantly.
She raised an eyebrow.
Robin shot her his trademark smile. "You see, we're in the middle of nowhere. Central Alaska, two hours drive from the nearest human settlement. Nobody knows why there is a Zeta Tube up here – or at least those who do know won't tell us anything. So we assume something big must be going on, like at that mysterious Area 51 site – which really exists, by the way, although it's not what the rumours would have you believe it is..."
"And why 42?"
"Because that's the answer!", Robin chuckled.
Wally spread his arms widely. "The answer to the question of life, the universe, and everything!"
"It means they are true nerds", the Flash explained with a very proud smile. "By the way, I still want those books back, Kiddo."
"No way, I've just started re-reading them!"
The Flash tussled the younger speedster's messy red hair. "Now, are you ready to spend the afternoon out here? I have an errant to run..."
Judging from Wally's and Robin's pained expressions, they had heard that pun before.
"I'm meeting a contact about two hundred miles north of here – he's a rather solitary figure. Mary, you'll keep an eye on the boys, all right? Call me if you need me."
She nodded. Robin had taught her how to use her new in-ear communicator.
"All right, have fun!"
A trail of swirling dust and needles marked the red speedster's departure.
Mary turned to face the two boys. Robin was already busy unpacking his backpack. She watched him hand a duffel bag full of red ribbons to Wally.
"Here, you mark the perimeter."
The other boy disappeared into the forest.
"What exactly are you going to do?"
"Training. We started last summer to occasionally meet up like this, to test our skills against each other. Mainly playing hide and catch, when it's KF and me. Speedy resents these 'play dates' without a real mission, he hasn't joined one in months. But it's actually a lot of fun." He pulled something out of yet another pocket of his backpack. "If you bring the right toys..."
The thing in his hands looked suspiciously like an over-sized, paint-splattered hand gun.
"Mary, have you ever heard of paintball?"
"Let me get this straight. I am your hostage, and Robin is trying to save me?"
"Exactly", Wally replied. He was watching the forest edge carefully – although of course Robin wouldn't be so careless as to let himself be seen.
"And whoever gets a blotch of red paint on the other one's torso wins?"
"You got it. We both loose if the hostage gets painted, though, so don't you worry about that."
He shot her a smile. Mary had already donned the white plastic poncho Robin had given her to protect her jacket and skirt, just in case. That Boy Wonder sure thought of everything.
"But you have super speed!"
"Sure do, sweetheart."
"How does he have a chance?"
He turned to stare at her incredulously. "You've never seen Robin in action, have you? He's had a full five minute head start! Which is over now, by the way, so we better..."
A paint ball hit the nearest spruce and splattered, spraying its red content across the forest floor just two feet away from them. Robin's creepy cackle resounded across the clearing.
Wally had to fight the impulse to simply dart in the direction of the paint ball's origin. Instead, he spun around, and still he almost missed it – a dull-edged throwing disk covered in red paint. One second later and it would have hit his left shoulder.
As it was, he had a full second to start running before the disk impacted with one of the trees behind him. It had come from the southern edge of the forest – the opposite direction from the paint ball. Robin was surely prepared for a direct attack, but if he went through the forest, approaching from the west instead…
Something wet exploded beneath his feet.
"Oh come on, you built paint mines?"
He skidded to a halt, examining his costume.
"Only got my legs though. Still not..."
A paint ball hit him square between his shoulder blades. Robin was standing right behind him.
"All right, first round to you. But the spray range of that mine was far too low, you might want to recalibrate that..."
"You did not even step on it though! Look, it was triggered by the wind current when you had already passed it!"
"Where did you get such a sensitive trigger? Would be totally pointless on a windy day though."
"Not if you're setting this up inside. Guarding the secret tunnel to your lair..."
"Set up a row of these all along a hallway, fill them with joker venom..." Wally shuddered, imagining him or his uncle rushing past the obvious trap, failing to notice how it ejected a dose of lethal gas right behind them... "That could cause serious trouble. Anyone using that technology yet?"
"Nope, that's my own invention, we're still testing them. You are right about the spray range though, that does need adjustment."
"Filling those with luminescent paint would be one hell of an advantage for a night fight."
"No, we tried that once, huge disadvantage once you need to engage. Can't avoid getting neon paint onto your own stealth costumes. Infrared googles are far more useful in practice."
"Boys, am I still to be rescued?", Mary called out, interrupting their chatter.
"Right, let's start the second round", Wally conceded. "Do you need another head start?"
Of course, Robin had already disappeared before he finished the sentence.
Two hours later, Robin was leading with seven points against six. This was the last round, and he was almost out of ammo. For next time, he'd have to find a way to make reusable paint cartridges...
He was currently cowering on the slanted roof of the wood shack, staking out his opponent. It was KF's turn to guard the hostage again, and he had sat Mary down right at the centre of the clearing.
No cover anywhere near them.
Robin pondered his options. His paintball gun was empty, and Wally had gotten far too good at dodging his remaining throwing disks. There were still four loaded paint mines hidden at the eastern end of the clearing. He could not move them without triggering the explosion, but if he could lure Wally in that direction…
But so far, Wally had not left the open space, waiting for Robin to make his move instead.
Robin did have more patience, so he could just stay hidden until Wally got hungry enough to chase him into the forest after all. Not an elegant solution, but likely the most promising one.
"Don't you think it's time for a snack break?" Mary suddenly asked.
He could see Wally wince. Well done, Mary.
"I could do with a sandwich", she continued, lazily tracing circles through the paint-spotted grass with her fingers.
"If a certain Boy Wonder would finally show up, we could all have as many sandwiches as we want", Wally replied with a whine in his voice.
"I wish he would."
"Hear that, Robin? What are you waiting for?"
The minutes passed.
Robin had a lot of practice with stake-outs.
Surprisingly, Mary lost her patience before Wally did.
She stood up with an exasperated sigh. "While we're waiting, do you want a snack bar?"
Robin shook his head in desperation. She was supposed to be on his side this round!
"Sure thing!" He rushed towards her, then stopped. "But don't think you can distract me", he warned her, spinning around to observe the forest edge once more.
Mary wordlessly slapped her paint-covered hand into his back.
"Does it count if the hostage saves herself?"
Robin could not suppress his laughter, letting it echo across the clearing once more.
"No!", Wally screamed in frustration. Then he turned towards Mary, still frowning. "It shouldn't count! Although…" His face lit up. "Did you really bring snack bars and sandwiches?"
"I packed a full picnic."
His grin broadened. "Well, in that case..."
Mary was glad Alfred had advised her to pack about three times as many provisions as she would have deemed necessary otherwise. There was even some food left after Kid Flash was finally sated.
Only until the Flash arrived to pick them up, of course.
Author's note:
If anyone asks, the Flash was visiting bigfoot. If you want to know more, check out Yale Stewart's adorable webcomic "JL8" (I only slightly relocated the (in)famous camping trip's destination to Alaska). That comic is one of the reasons I love the Justice League so much - especially young J'onn and his chocolate cookies...
(By the way: The books the Flash mentions obviously refer to Douglas Adam's famous series "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy". And yes, being a nerd is something you declare with pride! Wally and Robin totally agree.)
Before you read on, please take a moment to drop me a quick review, even if it's just a line: What was your favourite scene in all the chapters so far, and why?
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