Once Robin was back in Gotham he began to review the events and what he knew. His thoughts kept straying towards the copper haired girl. This was all connected to her but how? Robin paused in the alley and tried to shove away the thoughts, but they gnawed at him from the shadows of his mind. Finally he gave up and trudged down the dark alleyway keeping himself in the shadows like he was taught. What about the voice he heard during his fight, his mind whispered. He had known the voice and yet now that he thought about it he couldn't put a name to it. He had blindly trusted a voice. Everything had turned out okay, but it could have been disastrous. Wally could have been killed, he realized with a jolt of panic. Why had he been so trusting of a voice in his head? On the other hand: he conceded, he frequently had people talking in his head, thanks to Miss M.
He continued on to Wayne Manor slipping over the fence with practiced ease. Then he stole across the sprawling grounds in utter silence. Once inside he made his way through the maze of hallways to the secret entrance to the Bat cave. Carefully he checked to make sure no one was there before he sat down at the main computer and began his search. He plugged in his flash drive with the information he gathered and picked the copper haired girls file. He put her picture in the database. Instantly it came up with a birth certificate, information about her parents, where she was currently going to high school. He scanned through her written papers and found no correlation between them and the written story. So why was he so sure of the connection? When no answer came he slammed his fist impatiently on the desk.
"If I may?"
Robin whirled around and came face to face with Alfred who was standing just behind him. The butler stood there giving Robin his famous knowing gaze that seemed to peer into souls.
"I don't believe wailing on the desk is going to get you your answer. But it may hurt your fist. Master Bruce has made an attempt to get things that are hard to break."
Robin sighed under the amused gaze of Alfred. His gaze went past Robin to the file that was up on the screen. If Robin didn't know better he would have sworn there was a brief flicker of recognition in the butler's eyes at the sight of the copper haired girl.
"Looking for someone, Master Richard?"
"Yes and no," was Robin's slow response. Turning back to the computer Robin brought up the story and copies of written work that the girl, Alexandra, had written. "I think this girl," he said pointing to Alexandra's picture. "Has a connection to the girl who wrote the first story."
Alfred stepped closer and scanned the story."A love story?" A smile touched the old butler's lips when he finished the tale.
"Yes. Someone took a character from this story and managed to turn another person into that character."
Alfred tilted his head thoughtfully and seemed to choose his next words with great care.
"You think the author of this story turned someone into an assassin to use for nefarious purposes?"
Something in Robin instantly rebelled at that the thought. He shook his head and the words were out before he had even realized he had spoken."She would never!" He would have sworn Alfred was smiling at him, even after he had just snapped at him. "I'm sorry Alfred, I don't know what came over me. Forgive me"
The butler bowed with more dignity than a king.
"Already forgotten Master Richard," Alfred turned to walk away only to pause for a moment. "If you were asking me, it is been my experience that; like Master Bruce, you are not easily swayed by those things that are falsehoods. Trust yourself and your friends even if you are unsure." Then he vanished into the darkness of the cave.
Robin turned back to the computer where he looked up at Alexandra's photograph after a long moment of staring at the photograph he asked out loud, "What do you know about this case?" Not surprisingly the picture didn't respond. Robin sighed and scrubbed his eyes. Glancing at the clock revealed it was four in the morning. Robin groaned, and then pulled everything he found back into his file. After saving everything to the flash drive he pocketed the drive. He made his way back up to the manor and to his bedroom. Flopping down on the bed; sleep swamped him before he could even pull his boots off.