Note : To those of you reading you have my thankx. Though I'd like to inform you that due to my busy life I can not post chapters regularly. Thankx again for reading.

Chapter 5

Getting to school Monday morning I'd hoped to find Marcus before first bell, but if he was at school he was most definitely hiding from me. Thinking back his reaction to my inablility to share my past may have been a bit of an overreaction, however I knew from the start that there would be much marcus wouldn't understand.

However walking into first period I needed to put Marcus on the back burner and figure out some way of explaining my idea for the independent art project to Ms. Woods. After all it's hard to push a project that most would rather see burned.

The class, as always, was a buzz with chatter of so and so's weekend in comparison to so and so's. Guess there were a few major parties, and someone swearing they'd seen the Bat. None of this really matters, but it's hard not to overhear some things. Plus, every once in a while someone says something worth hearing.

"… and then he flew in out of no where! Kicked Scarecrow right across the dance floor-"

"No way!"

"Way!"

"What happened next?"

"Scarecrow pushed the button and the bomb went off! There was dust everywhere! And people started screaming and running around like crazed monkeys."

I couldn't help but smile. Scarecrow made it out, and gave the Bat a hard time. That's what I call a good deed.

Ms. Woods walks in about 15 minutes after the bell, "Alright everybody, settle down. Time to start the critic for the drawing contest. Everyone get set up." She looks to me, "Kida, let's talk out in the hall."

I nod, "Yes, ma'am."

It doesn't take very long for Ms. Woods to join me in the hall, with everyone still a yammering on like she hadn't even entered. She puts on her best smile,

"So have you thought about the project at all?"

Again I nod, "Yes, and I know what'd I'd like to do. However-"

"Don't be shy let's hear it."

I take a breath, "I'd like to paint an oil with the inmates of Arkham as the theme."

Ms. Woods smile fades instantly. You'd think I just dumped a bucket of cold water on top of her head.

"Kida, that's, well, it's just that-"

"I know it's a touchy subject, but I think I can pull it off. Plus you'd mentioned something about this piece entering some auction, right?"

"Yes, that's true."

"Well think about it, how many pieces would be there like this. It would be really unique, and probably sell for a lot."

She ponders my logic for a bit, "Perhaps," and then thinks some more, "Just maybe," and thinks some more…..

"Ms. Woods!?"

"Hmm…"

"Is my project a go or not?"

Her smile returns, "It is! In fact you're right. Your idea will be the talk of the show. However, till the piece is finished it stays just between the two of us. Agreed?"

"Agreed."

I smile back at her, tough not with her. I knew she'd want to keep a project like this quiet, that's one of the reasons why I wanted to do it so much. This way everything stays under wraps and I get to do more than just paint.

…

The rest of the school day was fleeting and dull. In fact besides this morning's story about Scarecrow there really wasn't much else to share. By lunch I was already beginning to miss Marcus and his talk about some crazy plan he was cooking up in his head.

Speaking about Marcus, I didn't see him anywhere at school today. I even made sure to pass by his locker at the end of the day, hoping against hope that I'd catch him. But no, he just wasn't there. I tried to come up with a good reason why he wouldn't be there; in end though I knew exactly why he wasn't there. He was still upset with me.

The more I thought about it the madder I got. From my point of view he was being petty, stubborn, and naïve. From the start I'd told him he couldn't ask too many questions, because I couldn't give him answers. Yet here he was pouting somewhere because I wouldn't explain something that really has nothing to do with him. Or maybe it did.

After all we're supposed to commit a crime tomorrow night perhaps he feels I don't trust him; which wouldn't be so far from the truth. I trust him enough to let him into my life, however the rest just seems to personal for me. Doesn't help that I'm still afraid he'll run off if I did tell him everything.

I'm half way home when I decide to change buses and head up town to his house. One way or the other he's going to have to get over whatever his problem is so we can get that job done tomorrow night.

…

Walking up to Marcus' house I realize I didn't think thru what I was going to say. Truthfully I had no idea what I was doing, and I was beginning to feel rather foolish just standing on his door step. I rang the bell and waited. It took about a minute till I heard footsteps on the other side of the door, even then I began to feel butterflies in my stomach.

The door opened, and I'd expected Marcus to answer, but there was this well dressed business woman standing in the door way.

"Yes, may I help?" Her voice was stern, and her eyes were as cold as ice.

I couldn't help but shiver, "Uh, hi. I'm Kida, Marcus' friend from school. We, uh, have this project for school, and well, you see-"

Her eyes soften a bit, "You're here cause he wasn't at school today. That's so thoughtful of you." She ushers me inside. "He just upstairs, his room is the one at the end of the hall."

I move to head upstairs when she grabs my arm, "Sweetheart, could l ask you something?"

"Uh, sure Mrs. Dartmoor." I still feel a bit off talking to Marcus' mom when he's not around. It just one of those things that awkward I guess.

Her voice goes soft and she half whipers, "How is he? He never talks to us anymore, and I worry."

Looking into her eyes I get the feeling she's telling the truth, and I can't help but feel my anger at Marcus returning.

I smile, "As far as I know Mrs. Dartmoor your son seems to be doing pretty well, besides the whole being sick thing."

"Right." She sighs, lets me go and heads off towards the kitchen.

I head straight to Marcus' bedroom. If I thought for a moment he was pissing me off before, he has definitely pissed me off now.

I reach his door and burst through it!

"Marcus! You son of a bitch!"

Upon entering I didn't think of what stat Marcus might be in I was just pissed, and truthfully what I saw I didn't help my mood in any way. There was Marcus laying on his bed with at least five different laptops, head phones on, and one of those game control things in his hands.

"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING!"

His surprise is coated in his voice, "Uh, playing a video game."

"Oh really! So missing school, avoiding me, and upsetting your mom is more important than turning off some stupid game! I get that you are some computer nerd, but at least you could do is come to school and tell me straight to my face that you're pissed off with me, instead making me fret over it only to find you playing some game! Oh, and let's not forget your mom! Who by the way seems to care a hell of a lot more than you think!"

He gets up from his bed, "Woah, woah, woah! Where the hell is this all coming from?"

"WHERE DO YOU THINK IT'S COMING FROM!" I'm just about out of breath, and I am starting to feel a need to punch this stupid, naïve kid.

He takes a few steps back from me, and I move forward to close the gap.

"You really need to learn to think beyond yourself! I've been worried sick that you'd left for good and all we had done so far was for nothing! Then…you….UHG!" My anger is all but bubbling at this point.

With his hands up Marcus moves towards me, "Listen, I'm sorry. Really. I am. But, I was just upset cause I feel like we can't work together when we know so little about each other. Shouldn't partners-"

"Trust! Marcus! Trust! That's easy for you to say, when you've got nothing to hide!"

Marcus takes hold of me and pulls me into a hug; it's not till this moment that I realize I've started crying. I hold on to him like my life depended on it; he just holds me and lets me cry till I've calmed down.

Marcus sighs, "Feeling better now?"

"Yah."

"Right, then. About tomorrow?"

I laugh and look up at him, "So, we're still on."

He smiles, "Yah, we're still on."

…

Spending the whole Tuesday planning the roles Marcus and I were going to take that night, who would be where and when, this made the time pass by in a haze. The plan itself was fairly simple; Marcus would take care of security and help me be a ghost inside the building. Then I would put a thumb drive into one of the main office computers for Marcus to start his hacking thing, while I collect the hard copies from nearby files. Simple right?

I only wish.

Turns out we weren't the only ones breaking into the Gothcorp that night. Upon our arrival we nearly ran into a bunch of guys with far more than just a thief's equipment. They were packing MK16's to a RPG! Whatever it was that they had planned was going to make a lot of noise. Which was the last thing we needed right now.

"What the hell do we do now?" Marcus was looking at me with desperation.

Smiling I simply tell him the truth, "We stick to the plan. If these guys make too much noise they should distract everyone from what we're doing."

Marcus scoffs, "And what if they're here for the same thing?"

"Uh."

"Kida?"

I laugh, "Guess I'll just have to kill them first."

"That's not funny!"

I roll my eyes, "Let's just get moving."

We headed to our chosen entrance by the east side loading bay, Marcus fired up his laptop as I headed into the air duct and started the long crawl to the main offices on the third floor.

"Marcus, you in yet?" I spoke into my headphone.

"Hold your horses. I only got to see the basics earlier."

I kept moving till I got to the laser beams, "Marcus. Now would be a great time."

"I'm almost in."

Sitting in the duct I went over all Marcus and I had talked about earlier that day.

We had just finished what we thought was the best plan for our first attempt at a heist, and Marcus brought up some 'normal person' points.

"Kida, what if we do get caught?"

I sighed, "Marcus, for the one hundredth time, if we get caught I'll call a person who can get you out of trouble. Now,-"

He grabs my arm, "And then you take the fall. I just don't feel right about that."

"Alright, then we'll sit in a cell together and hope they don't put a B and E on record ruining any chance you have at a good school." I say pointedly at him.

This thought passes slowly through his mind. Finally he says, "I still don't like it."

"May I also remind you that I won't go to jail if I'm the only one caught."

"Yah, but."

"Enough. We need to worry more about how I'm going to climb up three floors of air ducts without killing myself." I point his attention back to the screen with Gothcorp's layout on it.

Marcus scratches his head, "Rope, maybe."

"Right and how am I supposed to get the rope up the shaft?"

"I don't know."

I sigh and get up from the couch. We had been at this for hours and we still knew way too little between the two of us for me to have any faith this would even work. I knew I could do most of the maneuvering but I had no real knowledge about climbing a flat surface. Everything I'd done till now was on roof tops.

"Kida."

"Yes."

"What about suction cups?"

I burst out laughing. The idea looked hilarious in my mind, almost like one of those comic book characters I'd seen someone reading at the library once. After bit though I had to admit it was the best idea so far.

I looked back to Marcus, "You think it'd work?"

"Maybe, but it'd still be dangerous."

"Marcus, this whole situation is dangerous."

"Right." He looks out the window, "You think we can do this?"

I lie, "Yah, of course."

Back in the air duct the lasers in front of me finally go out and I move forward till I reach the fifth intersection. Taking the large suction cups we got at Wal-Mart out I stick the first to the side of the upward air duct.

"Alright, Marcus, I'm heading up. What's it look like on the cameras and sensors?" I ask.

Marcus voice answers, "Well you were right about those other guys making noise. Seems they didn't think being quiet would be a good idea. They've set off at least 10 silent alarms and blacked out three cameras missing the other five watching them. How are the suction cups working?"

I've reached the second floor by the time he's finished, "Well I'm still alive. And see, with those idiots making all that noise no one's going to know we were even here." I'm panting and Marcus notices.

"You okay?"

"Yah," I pant, "Just making sure to work out all my muscles."

He laughs, "Cute, how far are you?"

I look down the shaft then respond, "Got half a floor left to go."

"Right, I'll start turning off the office cameras now."

"Thanks. Can you keep me, ugh." My hand slips and I almost lose my grip on the wall.

"KIDA!" Marcus shouts in my ear.

I take a minute to catch my breath, than answer, "I'm good, really. Just need a moment. Where are the morons and what are they doing?"

Marcus lets the breath he was holding out, "Don't do that to me!"

"Sorry."

"As for the morons, seems they're here to steal some stuff from the science department. Whatever it is, it looks really large."

I laugh, "Do me another favor would you."

"Sure."

"Tell me if Batman shows up."

Marcus' voice has bit of excitement to it when he responds, "You really think he'd show up?"

I let my displeasure seep into my voice, "Let's hope not."

Reaching the third floor I can say for certain I'd never been happier that I was still alive. Falling down an air duct to my death was defiantly not going to be on my bucket list. The office just beyond the grate in front of me was empty of course, but I was not about to climb out of the air duct only to have myself caught on camera.

"Marcus, are the cameras all down."

"Should be."

I half shout back at him, "What do you mean 'should be'?"

"Well, as far as I can tell I got them all. No one should see you. I even found some other alarms and turned them off as well. Also, Kida about the morons."

Climbing out into office I head for the nearest computer, sticking the thumb drive in I answer Marcus, "The thumb drive is in place. Now, what about the morons?"

Marcus doesn't respond right away so I head to the hard flies and start flipping through them, "They've got the machine, but they seem to have reacted to something. They're all walking around in circles. It's really weird."

I stop what I'm doing, "Marcus, check all the cameras again!"

"What? Why?"

"Marcus! Just do it!"

"Alright, alright."

I speed through the flies, find what we came for and rush over to the computer, "Marcus!"

"I can't see anything! Kida, there's nothing there!"

I can feel my heart start to race, "Marcus, hurry and finish your hack! Now!"

"Just give me three minutes!"

I shout back, "We don't have that! Now, move it!"

I wait. The whole time all I can hear is my heart beat getting faster with each moment that passes. If the Batman's here he'll finish off those guys quickly, and worst he might search the rest of the building for others and find me instead.

"Marcus!" I hiss into the headphone.

"One more minute!"

Just then I hear footfalls outside the office doors.

I duck under the desk, "Marcus!"

"Done! Get out of there! Robin's just on the other side of the doors!"

I grab the thumb drive and crawl as quickly as possible to the air duct. Just as I'm closing the grate I see Robin enter the office. Till now all I'd ever known about Robin is what I'd heard all the other girls at school talking about. They would always gush about how 'hot' he was, and for the first time I had to agree with them. Robin presence was enough to make me want to climb back out just to have him cuff me. He walked with a purpose through the office, his stance showing no signs of weakness. His face was calm and collected and the domino mask only helped give him an overpowering sense of mystery. His uniform was helping my mind along in all the right ways, the way it curved and moved with him. Hanging there in the air duct I knew I'd just hit puberty.

"Kida! What the hell are you doing!?" Marcus shouts into my ear.

His voice brings me back down to earth, "I'm heading down now!" I whisper back. "I'll be out soon."

I take one final look at Robin and start back down the duct. In twenty minutes I'm back outside. Marcus has already packed up and is ready to go.

"Come on, I get the feeling we shouldn't be here when the cops show up." He says as he moves towards me.

"Right."

We head toward the nearest fence and climb over and out. We run for a couple of blocks till we're certain no one's following. Looking at one another we can't help but burst out laughing. We'd done it. We had actually committed a crime and got away.

Marcus breaks the laughter first, "Think they'll pin those guys for the stolen documents?"

I smile, "I certainly hope so. I'd hate to hear tomorrow that they're still looking for a couple of thieves."

"No kidding. But still, we really did it!"

My smile falters, "Yah, we did. But now we got to get it to Job Man."

Marcus stops dead in his tracks, "Oh, just great."

I wrap my arm around him, "Don't worry I won't let him touch you." I smile for good measure.

"I'm still bringing my parents Taser."

I laugh.