Chapter 5: First Dates and Muggings

Cory finished her shower at around seven-forty-ish. She began to think she may have gone a little over board with scrubbing herself; by the way her skin stung a bit in a funny kind of way but thought that she'd rather be sore than covered in dirt, ash, and her own fear-induced sweat. The blood she didn't mind, however, just as long as it wasn't hers. She blow dried her hair and straightened it, before molding it up into a high neat bun with silver hair clips. She dressed in a mid-thigh black dress, sleeve and back less with a low V-cut halter top. On her neck, was a silver chain with three big black stones, the middle one just barely a half an inch from the neck of the dress. She wore matching earrings, a silver tiffany charm bracelet, and a pair of black tango-heeled ankle boots.

She slipped on a metallic silver rib-length jacket and swung a black tote-bag over her shoulder, as she leaned to her mirror to do her make up. Just a swab of cherry-tasting lip gloss, shimmer powder, a coat of mascara and smoky silver and black eye shadow, Cory was ready by eight-fifteen. She sprited on some Midnight Fantasy by Britney Spears and descended down the stairs. Rev whistled sarcastically and Estell clapped her hands when they saw her.

Cory gave a dramatic little twirl, stopping in a patented super model pose. "How do I look." She asked in her best sexy voice that would knock a man flat if it were really intended for that purpose.

"Like someone who's getting laid." Estell answered crudely and Rev snickered. Cory scowled at her and crossed her arms.

"You know I don't do that on the first date…"

"What about that time with Joey Fields from Varsity?" Estell was giving her a smirk with raised blond eyebrows and Cory's face grew stiff with a blush as she cleared her throat.

"It's not my fault he couldn't hold his liquor and was begging to be taken advantage of." She protested in a quiet voice. "Doesn't count," Estell laughed as Rev faintly remembered Joey telling him that he woke up next to Cory one night after foot ball practice and a few drinks at a party…

There was a knock at the door and Cory let out a sudden squeak as she went to answer it. Dick, dressed in a nice gray tweed blazer over a checkered button up shirt, black and gray diagonal striped tie and black pair of slacks, stood in the doorway with his charming grin. He gave her a bouquet of roses varying in color. She smiled and sniffed the flowery fumes, before setting them in a vase and water. "Thank you."

Dick grinned, his eyes running up her body from head to toe. "You look h-" he paused to rephrase. "Very nice...very," Cory giggled, her eyes doing the same to him.

"You too, cool tie." His eyes widened as if he just realized he was wearing one and looked it over briefly.

"Thanks…so you ready to go?"

"Yes...oh wait!" she exclaimed, snapping. "I forgot something, I'll be back in a jiff." She ran up the stairs to her room. Estell shook her head and awkwardly asked Dick inside to wait a while. He sat on the couch, drumming his thumbs against his folded fingers as Estell and Rev inspected him. Cory, staying true to her word, came down stairs after a couple minutes. "Okay, now we can go."

"You two have fun, but not too much fun, capeesh?" Estell murmured. Cory gave her a look from the door way.

"Okay mom," she muttered in a voice that seemed both annoyed and humored. She entered Dick's car, a sleek dark blue Lexus (which she secretly gushed at because of its beautiful make) and he drove them to the restaurant/ bar that was on the lower level of a grand hotel complex. They drove around the facility about four times looking for a parking space. Eventually, Dick drove back maybe two to three blocks down and they parked, walking up a little hill to Rockway Bridge.

They heard the rattle of change against a tin can and spotted a man, somewhere in his mid forties, clad in ripped baggy clothes with a half open Campbell's Chicken Noodle Soup can in his hand, up ahead. Awww! Cory thought as they came closer. It's a cute little hobo man… she stopped, facing him and Dick raised an eyebrow behind her. She looked into her bag, searching for her wallet when she heard the click. Her gaze slowly drifted up to see that the cute little hobo man had a small caliber pointed at her neck.

"Take out your wallet and hand it over." He barked in a throaty voice, slurred with what Cory guessed to be liquor. She frowned with a frustrated sigh as Dick prepared to attack the man and toss the gun. Before he could act, however, Cory brought a BSA Polaris Air Rifle from her bag and twisted the caliber from the man's hand swiftly without fear. She stuck her medium sized gun between the man's teeth and gave him a fierce look that took Dick back a little.

"I was going to give you some money you impatient turd-ass." She pulled out her wallet with her other hand and took out a fifty, rolling it into the man's hard callous infected hand. "Here, now next time you pull a gun out at me I won't be so kind and you won't be able to walk straight because your leg would be full of bullets. Honestly, mugging generous girls less than half your height, didn't your mother teach you any damn manners?" the man nodded and Cory removed the gun from his mouth, returning the Polaris to her purse. The hobo ran, without skipping a beat. "Why do they always try to do this to me, do I look like a daffodil?" she seemed to be talking to herself, shaking her head slightly.

After five seconds she turned wide eyed to see her date staring at her with a shocked expression. "Oh…sorry about that." She gazed down and Dick swallowed, shrugging.

"It's okay…I just didn't expect you to react like that…do you always carry rifles with you?" he asked in a slow pace and she shifted her head from left to right indicating that she did sometimes.

"Well, I am a small girl and I sort of am always in bad places, so...carrying weapons is kind of a must…plus people always try to mug, rape, kill me and what not…" she looked at his surprised face and blushed timidly. "A-anyway we should get to the restaurant." Dick nodded, sticking close to her. All the while he thought over what had just happened still baffled. In a weird way it seemed…funny? Yes, to see this little woman, roughly 5ft3 (5ft5 with heels) whip out a rifle on a man with a caliber was amusing in an insane way.

It was also interesting, very interesting. The girl obviously hadn't kidding when she said she loved artillery. What other surprises was she keeping under that tiny, vulnerable frame? They came to the noisy restaurant and entered into the packed dance floor filled with body bumping party-goers. They stayed close to each other, bodies pressed together in a way that made both their hearts jump and ache with desire. After slipping past the group, they sat at a table as a waiter with blond spiked hair and dark green irises approached them.

He handed them menus and waited for their orders. Dick, who had obviously been there before, ordered them both a basil and onion stuffed chicken sautéed with black pepper with a side of charred asparagus and glasses of champaign. They chatted over hobbies and their pasts. "Where'd you grow up at?" Dick asked. Cory fidgeted in her chair, which Dick noted silently.

"Well…my parents died when I was two and didn't have family, at least none in the country and I was put in an orphanage, met Estell, whose uncle had been jailed and gave her up. Even though she was two years older we became best friends. A few years later Mr. and Mrs. Mox came by looking to adopt and they decided on us, partly because the orphanage owner, Ms. Magnolia, said we were a one way package." She giggled sadly under her breath and looked up at him a second before continuing. "Funny, how a couple years later it was burned down and she died along with other people we knew…"

For a minute, Dick thought she would cry but Cory sucked in a deep breath with a masking smile. "Didn't think I'd shed a tear, did you?" she paused. "So enough about my stupid shrewd up problems, how bout you," she asked with a nervous laugh.

"They're not stupid or shrewd." Dick answered sharply, his eyes peering at her intensely and Cory blinked as if it were the first time somebody had said that, making him sigh. "Parents died too, when I was eight. Mr. Wayne sort of adopted me also. Ironic how our stories sort of match up." They shared a smile and Cory's hand gripped his gently.

"Yeah," Screams within the building startled them as they looked upon four people frozen into blocks of ice. Who ordered the human ice- sickles? Cory muttered in her mind as Mr. Freeze came into view, laughing maniacally as people ran away from him in his huge metal cryogenic suit. Cory rolled her eyes at how utturedly random this was and looked at Dick who was also looking at her.

"Uh…I have to…" They both said before stopping. "I'm going to hide in the bathroom." Cory tried to sound terrified as she ran to the nearest ladies' room. Dick didn't comment on her disappearance as he took refuge away from the crowd and began to stripe down to his Nightwing suit while Cory, took a plastic bag with her own Blood costume withheld inside. They both stumbled before Freeze, ready in their alter identities, before pausing as they saw each other. "Nightwing," Cory asked with a raised eyebrow. "You're pretty fast."

"I should say the same for you, Blood. What are you here for; there aren't any labs to shoot up with explosives."

"Ha-ha-ha, very funny, Nighty, but for your infomation, I'm trying to save a few innocent lives." Now Nightwing raised an eyebrow, just as Freeze caught sight of them and shot his freeze ray in their direction. They both dodged effortlessly, landing a few feet away from a now iced floor. Cory sighed and gave Nightwing a tired, compromising look. "Okay, let's just save this little arguement for after Freeze is in handcuffs and shipped to Arkham,"

"No, complaints here,"

"Okay, partner, let's bag us a good one." She smirked, using a half cheesy southern accent that drew a little chuckle from the blue superhero at her side.

"Let's get to it." he answered as they faced Freeze together.