Chapter Thirteen: Robins in the Roost

(Batman is not mine)

Blue-Jay walked into the Roost, pulling off her cape as she headed for the showers. Stripping off her costume and stepping under the hot spray, Blue-Jay sighed as she took a bottle of shampoo from the shelf carved into the wall. Dumping a pile of the raspberry gel into the palm of her hand and massaging it into her hair.

The suds ran down her back and chest as she rinsed them out of her pale hair. As she rubbed raspberry scented conditioner into her long locks, Blue-Jay thought about that night. She knew that she had overreacted at the factory, but he didn't have the right to judge her like that. She wondered if he would take her words in the cave as seriously as she hoped he would.

As she scrubbed the sweat and dirt from her body, she glanced at the faint scars on her shoulder and arm from the bites that the hyenas had given her, they weren't the only ones she had.

There were smaller ones from encounters with knives and the occasional bullet, though none actually got through the material of her costume, they still left marks, and the bruising that she constantly had also marred her pale skin. While she did not have anywhere near the amount of scarring that Batman had, she had long since realized that the marks were not something to be ashamed of, in a weird sort of way, they were more like a badge of honor or station, something that was earned. It marked you for who and what you were.

After stepping out of the shower, Blue-Jay toweled off and pulled on some PJs before going up to her room.

There was something she found kind of strange about coming and going from the Roost, while down there, she was Blue-Jay, whether or not she was wearing her costume, she only became RJ when she left the cave without the mask on. Maybe it was something to do with being a hero, or maybe it was something in the air in the cave, she didn't know.

Flopping down on her bed, RJ thought over what she had said to Batman, she knew that she must have sounded cold, but what she had said was true, she did show professional courtesy towards him more often than not, but sometimes he just made it hard.

Shaking her head, she pushed the excess thoughts from her mind and meditated until she fell asleep.

The next morning, RJ woke bright and early, as always, and went out to her birds. The raven was finished with training, as was the robin, and the flock of blue-jays were getting close.

She had been out there for a few hours, when she looked towards the house and saw Tim coming towards her. She smiled as he neared her, saying "Hi." And giving him a small kiss, which he returned.

"So," Tim said "Are you going to tell me how you did the impossible? How you fooled The Batman?" RJ smirked slyly as she put the raven away. "If you insist. Come on, I'll show you." And she led him back up to the house.

"Cool room!" Tim said, looking around at all the gaming systems that she had collected over the years. She smirked, saying "Wait until you see my other one."

Walking into her closet, she pushed the secret panel and Tim gasped as the back of the closet slid up, revealing the old elevator. He looked at her, wide-eyed "Does this go where I think it goes?" He asked. Her smile widened and she got in, pulling him along with her.

After closing the cage door, she sent them down to the Roost.

Tim was so shocked by the Roost that all he could do was stand, stock still, in the elevator, his eyes huge and his mouth wide open. But who could blame him? The place was more incredible than he had ever imagined.

He could see a large supercomputer, one even more up-to-date than the Batcomputer, a top-of-the-line chemistry lab, a gym and training area, a small med bay, and racks upon racks of gadgets, gizmos and tools the like of which he had never seen before. Also, rising plumes of steam coming from a part of the cave a little farther away indicated that she had been lucky enough to score a cave that had access to a hot spring.

Tim was finally broken out of his daze by RJ bursting into a fit of the giggles. Turning to look at her, he discovered that she had retrieved one of her gloves and had curled it into a fist. After a moment, he saw the tiny lens in the side of the knuckle and realized that it was a camera, with which she had just snapped a photo of him. She was grinning like the Cheshire cat. Still shocked he struggled to speak "How-How?" "How did I get all of this?" He nodded and she smiled "Easy, I built it." His eyes bugged out a little and she giggled.

Tim shook his head, throwing off his daze to the best of his ability. "So, how did you fool Batman?" She smirked again and motioned for him to follow her.

She led him over to a rack that held a multitude of unfamiliar instruments, and ran her hand over them for a few moments before stopping and plucking a small object from its slot.

It was black, flat and about an inch wide and three inches long with a luster like that of metal. But it wasn't metal, Tim could tell that it wasn't the moment RJ handed it to him. It was smooth and cold, but warmed quickly in his hand. "What is it?" He asked and RJ took a small remote from the slot on the rack that was right next to the one that has held the object.

The remote was also flat, but slightly curved, fitting the palm of her hand snugly in such a way that she could bend her middle finger and press the button in the center of it, the button that was angled in the material so that only that finger could push it correctly.

Turning it in her hand, RJ pushed the button. Immediately, the object in Tim's hand began to shine slightly, and an image of RJ, dressed as she had been on the night of the concert, appeared in front of them.

Tim saw that the hologram was not a perfect look-alike, but it was close enough to fool anyone who did not have time to look carefully. Either way, it was amazing.

The hologram faded when RJ pushed the button a second time, and she put both gadgets back into their foam slots. "You made that, too?" "Yep, I built and invented almost everything here." "Amazing!" She smiled at him again and was about to say something, when Pierre came into the Roost and said "Master RJ, Master Timothy, I do believe there is something on the news that you might find of interest." The teens exchanged a glance and then Tim followed RJ over to the computer.

RJ brought up one of the Gotham news networks and both she and Tim saw what Pierre meant in full. "What the heck is that!" Tim exclaimed, staring at the screen with wide eyes. RJ studied the screen for a moment before speaking. "I could be mistaken, but it appears to be a plant of some sort, covered in pods." And that was what it looked like. RJ turned to Tim and said "Shall we?" he smirked and they both darted over to the costume area.

(Review, please)

(AN: I am SO SORRY I took so long to update, but I just got a new job and have been adjusting to the lack of freedom that I'm accustomed to. I'll try to update more often.)