Jerra kicked the person hard in the stomach-maybe a little harder than necessary.
He deserved it, of course. Setting the bag of money and stolen product down, she handcuffed the robber to a lamp. "Don't move," she grinned, climbing to the roof as the cop cars came, and ran along the tops until she was a good distance away. She sighed, a bit out of breath.
"Hello," a voice said from behind her.
"Are we limited to only meeting on rooftops?" She asked, shaking her head.
"It's a good place to meet," he defended. "Who else would be up here?"
She shrugged. "What is it now?" She asked.
"You didn't answer all my questions yesterday." Robin smiled a bit, walking towards her. She fought the urge to run to the other side of the roof. "I'm just trying to get to know you, Jerra." He smiled. She stopped fighting the urge, and darted over, putting several yards between them.
"Because they're too much crime for two people," she replied breathlessly.
"There aren't just two people," Robin remarked. "There are two people and hundreds of police, and many firemen, and all sorts of government officials."
"It's not enough, okay?" She snapped back. "Obviously, I'm of some use to these people."
"I'm not saying you aren't," Robin said carefully.
"Why are you all wasting your time trying to figure me out? Go help someone, Robin." She looked at him imploringly. She had really pretty eyes...
Robin shook his head. "Who says they sent me?"
"You just said I didn't answer all your questions from yesterday!"
He looked away. "Who says the questions are what they want?" He looked at her. "I could be doing this all for myself." Jerra blushed.
"Stop it," she snapped, unsure. "Whatever game you're playing-"
"Look who's talking about games now." Robin gave her his signature wry grin.
"Stop it!"
His grin slipped away. "Jerra, I just want to get to know you."
"Oh, yeah? Then why'd you ask about my hero life?" She glared at him, shifting her feet back.
"Jerra-"
"Stop saying my name!" She stumbled back when he took a step forward.
"Stop acting like I'm about to hit you, Jerra! I just want to get closer to you," he sighed. "God, you're so difficult." He looked at her and let his shoulders sag. "Jerra, do I really have to apologize for nothing? I hope this isn't the basis of our relationship, me always apologizing and you always running away."
"Who was the one who ran away last night, hm? And there is no relationship!" She scowled and waved her hand at the space between them. "Let me get back to work. Please."
He sighed, looking at her. "Fine. Why don't we go fight crime for a little while, okay? Maybe then you'll trust me a bit."
"Likely," she muttered, walking towards the fire escape ladder. She was almost upon it when he came up behind her and said nonchalantly, "Oh, look, trouble. Across the street. Let's get there by tomorrow, shall we?" He grabbed her by the waist and shot a grappling hook.
Jerra stifled a gasp. "Don't you dare, Grayson-"
"Hold on tight and don't scream, time warper," he whispered, jumping off the building. She did as told, cursing him to quite a few unmentionable places in her head.
Slipping on the ground, Jerra ran into the mugger from the side, hitting him in the head with a spinning sidekick.
He sprawled, dropping his weapon. Robin walked behind her and smoothly punched the other criminal in the face, sending him down.
"Why don't you go home, Ma'am," Robin said, gesturing to the entrance of the alleyway. The woman nodded and scurried out, hailing a cab and diving in.
"Well, that was fun. Do you trust me yet?" Robin asked, smiling sweetly.
"I. Am. Going. To. Strangle. You." Jerra growled, looking like she meant it.
"Why?"
"You picked me up and threw me off a freaking building."
"There was no harm done, you were always safe, I wouldn't drop you-"
"Just shut it, Dick. Please?" He remained silent.
A gun fired in the distance. They shared a look. Tempus took off running. Robin followed with a sigh.
Megan and Artemis didn't act like that, he thought. Well, usually.
A gang fight.
Perfect amount of crooks, druggies, and other assorted bad guys.
"I take right, you take left?" Robin murmured. Jerra nodded, noticing Rob pull escrima sticks off his back.
"Cheater," she grinned. "Go." The Boy Wonder took out three before anyone noticed his presence. She took out half of them before a second had gone by. She looked back to see Richard whap someone in slowmo with his right enscrima stick. She unpaused time when he only had one person left.
"Nice going, sidekick," she smiled slightly.
"Yeah, I'm the sidekick here." Robin gave her a quick grin. "C'mon, Temp. Let's go kick butt."
They ran off.
Two hours and what seemed like a million criminals later, Robin and Tempus were-yet again - on a rooftop.
Robin, out of sheer stupidity, boldness, need to prove himself, or need to make Tempus scowl, had walked into a 24 hour Starbucks (full uniform, grinning, nearly giving the employees and customers a heart attack), and ordered two hot chocolates.
Jerralin tried to keep a straight face, but when he handed her the grande cup, she broke out laughing. She plopped onto the edge or the five story building and let her feet dangle, undoing her mask and sighing, "I really hate this thing."
He grinned triumphantly and sat down next to her on the brick row in the center of the roof. Robin grinned, taking off his own mask. "Yeah. But it gets the job done."
She looked at him, twisting the piece of sticky kevlar in his hands.
"So, why isn't Batman with you?" She asked. "Aren't you a team?"
"He's on a mission in Star City," Robin replied. He looked up at her. "Besides, I told him I was going to hang out with my newfound vigilante."
Jerra blushed. "I'm not a vigilante-well. Okay." Robin laughed and reached out for her. She subconsciously moved away.
His smile faded. "I'm not here to hurt you, Jerra."
She looked away. "It's a habit."
Dick pulled off his gloves, dropping them next to his mask. He reached out and stroked Jerra's cheek with the back of his hand. Jerra turned to him, a bit wide eyed. "Jerra, nothing's going to hurt you, okay?" Richard said, quiet in tone.
She nodded.
He leaned in slowly, and pressed a soft kiss to her lips. He pulled away after a moment, but Robin still had his hand on her cheek.
Jerra opened her eyes and panicked.
She closed her eyes again. She vanished from Robin's sight.
"Jerra?" He called softly, sitting on the cold brick all by himself. He sighed, picking up his gloves. They were getting tight, he'd have to get Alfred to order him some new ones. "Come back, stopwatch."
He stood, putting his mask on. He paused for a moment when he noticed her drink sitting next to him. "Jerra, I hope one of your powers is invisibility, because I'm going to talk to the air for a while." He sighed. "Well, I just wanted to say, that you were a great fighter, actually, even when you didn't use your powers." He turned in a full circle, cape billowing in the wind. "I hope to fight you some day," he grinned. "Only for practicing purposes. And I really hope to see you tomorrow. Okay?" He looked around, then scoffed, hitting himself in the head. "I'm being an idiot," He muttered. "She's gone."
Jerra appeared behind him. She tapped his shoulder. He whirled, a bit surprised. "I'll see you tomorrow at school, actually. If you're taking AP biology."
"Thank Batman I didn't drop that class," he murmured, kissing her again. She didn't run away. In fact, Jerra threw her arms around his neck and kissed him back, with great force and passion behind it. Robin released her, putting his mask back on. He realized something. "You tried to get away without your mask again. God, we're going to have to glue it to you."
Jerra laughed, which made him grin, holding her waist loosely and resting their foreheads together. "I have to go," Jerra admitted. "It's past my crime-fighting curfew."
Dick cackled. "Please tell me you're joking about curfew."
"I'm not."
"Alright then, stopwatch. Better get going."
She smiled, picking up her hot chocolate.
"See you tomorrow?" He asked.
"See you tomorrow," she nodded, taking a sip of her cup and walking away.
"Can I escort you home?" Robin asked, not wanting her to leave.
"You wish," she said, not turning around. He grinned, and knew she was grinning, too. She twirled her mask. "Goodnight."
Jerra disappeared.