Chapter 3 is long and totally not-short like Chapter 2! Yay! Oh, and spring break just started. It remains to be seen whether that means I won't be writing more, or I will be writing more...
The figure stood up from the device they had rigged. They smiled and slid a mask over their face before slipping outside, and off into the night.
At the now empty building, an artificial red display flickered on, displaying a simple message. It read, "Armed".
Robin rolled out of bed and looked at this alarm clock. He wasn't due to wake up for another half-hour, but he was already up and hadn't slept fitfully the night before anyway. He might as well use the extra half hour of the day, rather than waste it lying still.
He rolled onto his stomach and clenched then unclenched his fists a few times, to warm up his fingers. He pushed himself off of the ground, and muttered a "one", beginning his morning calisthenics.
Will rose from his bed and yawned. He hated his job - screaming little punks running around and throwing up on floors, and he always had to clean it up. Worse yet, what did he get? Just above minimum wage, and no sort of health care or dental actually worthwhile. He grumbled, threw on his jumpsuit, and walked the half mile to work.
When he got there, he fumbled in his pocket for the most useful tool in his line of work, and his source of power - his almighty ring of keys. He jammed the master key into the lock and kicked the door open, crossing the room to go turn off the stupid alarm. Will wondered why they even had an alarm in the first place - teachers loved to leave their classrooms unlocked when they went home at night; meaning more work for him, and also letting anyone waltz in and grab whatever they wanted. Will punched in the four digit code, and the red "Armed" light disappeared.
Robin stepped out of the shower and dried off. He grabbed the uniform he brought into the bathroom with him and carefully put it on, piece by piece. As much as he acted "by the seat of his pants", Robin knew that consistent success is only possible with a steady base - and wearing his uniform the same way, every day, and having it exactly perfect, was that base he needed.
Robin walked out of the bathroom and down the hall, into the main room, for breakfast. He was somewhat surprised to see the rest of his team sitting around the room glumly. Raven was watching a kettle of water boil, presumably for tea. Beast Boy was leaning against the counter next to her, half-heartedly trying to persuade her that the water wouldn't boil if she kept watching it. Cyborg was standing in front of the fridge with a pad of paper, apparently making a grocery list, and Starfire was attempting to teach Silkie to roll over on command, and though the alien princess was almost never frustrated, her patience seemed to be dwindling.
Mrs. Jones stepped out of her modest hybrid. She was the school secretary - not a job she loved, but not one she hated, and she was content with that. She fished in her purse for her keys as she walked up to the door of the main office - that lousy janitor never unlocked anything; all he was good for was shutting off the alarm! As she walked over to her desk, the heavy door swing shut on its own weight, leaving no one to see Mrs. Jones fall over a tripwire, or the resulting hiss of a gas canister releasing its contents.
Will locked the door to his janitor's closet behind him, and strode towards the main office -the teacher's break room was just beyond, and the fastest way to the coffeepot was through the main office. Will stuck his key in the keyhole, but what he saw through the door's window pane scared him - a woman's legs were sticking out from behind a desk. Will threw the door open, but before he could make it inside, he smelled something strange in the air. He leaned outside, took a deep breath, and ran in to get the woman -the secretary, he thought- out of there.
Suddenly, the main room started flashing with ambient red light. All of the Titans looked up, towards the TV screen - there was no siren, so there wasn't an alarm - just an urgent incoming message.
Robin strode over to the computer and accepted the incoming video call. The Mayor's face popped onto the screen, the man seemingly breathless. "Ah, Titans, we wanted to inform you...earlier today, a man found an unconscious woman at the school where he worked - and when he found her, he said the air smelled like gas. We sent paramedics to check over the woman, and anyone else, along with some of our gas squad. Well, they reported that the woman had tripped a booby-trap, and so, following standard procedure, our gas officers worked with the bomb squad to clear the campus.
"Ordinarily, we wouldn't bother you with this - Jump has always had its crime, but because the perpetrator used concussion grenades and knock-out gas in booby traps, in a school, no less, we ran a psychological profile on him, and it came up with an extremely twisted psychopath. Right now, and this is only guesswork, remember, but we think it may be..."
"...Slade." Robin finished for him.