Thursday, 17 December ~* That *~

The next morning, Robin almost choked on his strawberry-, lemon- and vanilla green sencha tea, when Selina Kyle sauntered into the room during breakfast. Bruce dropped his croissant into his coffee, making it splash everywhere.

Slade just grinned and stood up to greet her.

"Good to see you," he said.

"I'm here for a good cause, aren't I?" she grinned. "Bruce, close your mouth."

"How did you get in?" the man asked, a bit rudely but it was clear he was too flabbergasted to care.

"How I got in? Me? The former master thief? The world's greatest detective, everybody," she announced, gesturing to the man.

"Former?" Slade asked, pulling out a chair for her. Robin thought he was being a bit too attentive, honestly. Besides, Catwoman damn well didn't need or want men pulling out her chair. The woman just smiled at the man, however, before taking her seat, making the teen's frown deepen. As she sat down, she put a sports bag she had had over her shoulder down on the floor. She was dressed in a dark purple sweater dress which hugged her form perfectly, and black tights. She looked good. Robin somewhat resented that too.

"Morning kid, what's with the grumpy look? You're usually glad to see me?" Selina said. Then she seemed to pick up on something and looked from Robin to Slade and back again.

"No…?" She said, in disbelief. "No-ho-ho-ho?" She then broke out into a full belly laugh, even getting tears in her eyes.

"Tea or coffee, ma'am?" Alfred politely asked as he stood up.

"A… a cup of your amazing tea, please, Alfred," she answered before breaking down again.

"What's so funny?" Bruce asked in a clipped voice.

"You, my love," the woman said. "For years you have been agonizing about us being too different, on opposite sides of the law… and now your ward is hooking up with Deathstroke." She gestured to said man, who tried, and failed, to look innocent. "He's a killer, for crying out loud! I used to steal trinkets!"

"Well, I'm not exactly thrilled-"

"I'm sure the Boy Wonder is, though," Selina said, winking at Robin. "Nice catch."

"Thank… you?" The teen answered a bit hesitantly and glanced over at Slade, who looked surprisingly smug to be described as someone's 'catch'.

Still chuckling, she reached for a piece of toast. "I'm very glad I came. This will be interesting," she purred mirthfully.

Robin had classes, and in the afternoon, he found himself wishing that he had evening classes too.

"This will work," Selina claimed, looking at the full scale model of the ventilation shaft. "It will be a tight fit, but as long as you keep your cool-"

"I think these two," Robin said, gesturing to Batman and Slade, "remember me as smaller than I am."

"You have had a growth spurt, haven't you, kid? It suits you. Just don't have another one while in there," she snickered and gestured to the metal death trap.

"Ok, so you need to go straight down, then there's a ninety-degree bend when the duct connects with the horizontal part of the ventilation. There will be a fan a way in, in front of you, but luckily the way you need to go is clear. That is, until you arrive at the right spot. Then you need to cut open the hatch and let yourself out," Batman explained.

"Cut?" Robin asked.

"The screws are on the outside. We discussed different solutions, but decided that a miniaturized metal cutting tool is best. It gets extremely hot, though, so you need to be careful. You also need to secure the hatch so it doesn't fall down."

"We've made several sections of that last part, so you can practice," Slade cut in.

"How many times do I have to do this?" Robin groaned.

"As many as it takes," the man shrugged callously.

Robin was in hell. The sides of the air vent brushed his shoulders on both sides, and it felt like he would get stuck if he took a deep breath.

"Couldn't you assholes at least welded this better?" he groaned. "The joints are fucking sharp!"

"They will most likely be in the real thing too," Slade told him unapologetically.

"Fucking hate you…" Robin muttered quietly.

"Glad to hear it," Bruce chimed in, making the teen chuckle despite himself.

"Stop whining, kitten, and use your shoulders like I told you," Selina said from the outside.

The bend was the worst. Robin was convinced that he was going to die.

"Take a minute. Center yourself," Bruce advised. Their voices were clear through Robin's ear piece.

"Slade, please center your foot up Bruce's ass," Robin growled.

"Master Richard, such language!" Alfred exclaimed.

"Oh, sorry Al, didn't know you were there," Robin groaned.

"He brought us sandwiches," Slade declared, sounding pleased.

"For the love of…" Robin groaned.

He was wearing protective gear, in a thin material which surface was designed to let him slide easier against surfaces. Not that it felt easy. At all.

It took him half an hour to get through, open the hatch and drop down on the floor.

"There. Did it," he grunted, looking around, looking for praise.

"You need to at least half that time," Slade told him.

"You're making enough noise to alert the whole building. All sounds travel through the vents," Bruce added.

"You did ok for a beginner," Selina smiled, she was wearing an outfit similar to Robin's as they had been practicing. "Let me show you how it's done."

It took her five minutes, with the exception that she didn't have to open the hatch.

"Ok, great, then you'll do it. I'm not needed here anymore," Robin said, feeling rather humiliated.

"Sorry, dear, no can do, I've left that life behind. I can't risk being caught on any surveillance. There's not a lot of people with my build in the city being able to do this, they would have no problem identifying me."

"Yes, I want Selina out of this," Bruce agreed. The two of them had apparently spent most of the day together while Robin had been busy with his schoolwork, and, judging by the looks and smiles they exchanged, they might very well spend the night together too. "But if you feel that you can't do it, Robin, we'll find another way."

Robin met all of their gazes and then sighed. "I can do it," he muttered and headed back to the scaffolding that would take him up to the start of the ventilation shaft.

"You don't want a sandwich, Master Richard?" Alfred offered.

"That might actually get me stuck and kill me," Robin said. "I think I need to be on a diet until this is over," he added. It was a joke. Mostly.

To be Continued…