Yes! I have a chapter! Finally. I am so so so so so so so so so so so sorry about that horrific wait. I have set a record for myself that I never want to beat. I may have been in a play, gone to prom, had a new baby sister be born, had a friend be killed, gone to two summer camps, worked, started studying for my second ACT, had my grandparents in town, been in a show choir, failed to finish my original novel by the deadline, and had my sister leave (making me the oldest child home) but that is seriously not enough excuses to stop me from updating.
Of course, it was all compounded by the demon known as writers block, but still.
Guest review:
Kim: Hi . . . . . Richard really does have big impact on the Wayne household. To quote one of my favorite fanfictions "Someone in our house has to smile" -Richard Grayson. Lot's of Catwoman and Wally in this chapter. Actually . . . only Catwoman and Wally in this chapter XD
Disclaimer: If Brightpath2 owned Young Justice, she wouldn't disappear off of the face of the fanfiction planet for eons at a time just to re emerge and post something entirely unrelated to her long time fanfictions. She also wouldn't have excuses and procrastination problems and such. Oh well.
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Chapter 19
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Blüdhaven
May 24, 10:48 EDT
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Selina sighed and stretched, narrowing her eyes in the direction of the warehouse district. She'd been waiting in the area for days. She'd seen Batman's encounter with Deathstroke and Robin, and watched very carefully to see exactly which warehouse they'd returned to. Since then she'd watched as Deathstroke and Robin left every day, roaming the city. She followed them from a distance, noting that they fought criminals only, but that Deathstroke was far more violent than Robin, and that Robin seemed to try and reign Deathstroke in, at the cost of harm to himself.
Selfless kid.
Selina had been tempted more than once to swoop in and get him away from the assassin, but each time after she'd examined the situation, she'd found that it was better to wait. She couldn't be sure that getting him out herself was the best option anyways.
Currently Selina Kyle was sitting in a cafe in downtown Blüdhaven, having an early lunch. She knew from experience that Deathstroke wouldn't take Richard out during the day, so there was no chance she'd see him now. Instead she was people watching as she nibbled on her sandwich. The people of Gotham were nowhere near as depressing as the people of Blüdhaven, and that was saying something. Right now, the clouds covered the sun, adding a dreary nature to everything.
The people outside moved quickly along the sidewalks, carefully avoiding each other. The sound of sirens was never absent, although Selina knew that the police here were far more corrupt than those in Gotham, so it wasn't like the sirens were helping anything.
Outside the street smelled like sewage, and Selina was relieved that she'd found this cafe, which was arguably the nicest spot in all of Blüdhaven. It smelled like cinnamon, there was soft music playing in the background, and very few people. The woman who ran the shop was elderly, and very sweet, and Selina found herself wishing that there was a place like this in Gotham. Of course, there was that ice cream shop that Dick liked so much, but Selina only ever went there with him, which wasn't often. Bruce wasn't fond of letting his little bird roam far from the nest.
Especially not without that pesky butler following him around everywhere.
Suddenly Selina saw a flash of red in what seemed like a sea of gray. The people of Blüdhaven all seemed muted, but moving through the crowd was a teenager with shocking red hair. He was walking quite fast, but didn't seem to notice. Selina's eyes narrowed. She'd never seen Richard's best friend out of costume, but this boy was the right height, and definitely had the right hair for it. Selina took a last bite of her sandwich, and stood, leaving a generous tip on the table, and waving to the shop owner as she walked out.
It didn't take long for Selina to decide that she was right about this boy being Kid Flash. He had the eyes of a seasoned protector, and moved like a fighter. Even though he seemed highly distracted, he still was more aware of his surroundings than everyone else who was out on the street.
Selina sped up a little. It was time to see if he knew who she was without the mask. He'd seen her without it before, but it had been a couple of years, so it was possible he'd forgotten. He sped up at the same time that she did, making Selina sure that he'd noticed her. She followed him around a corner into a small side street, where no one could be seen. Immediately he turned to face her, his green eyes blazing.
"I wouldn't attack me if I were you," he said sharply.
"Let me guess, kitten, you're in a bad mood?" Selina asked, strolling towards him casually. "Funny, I haven't been having the best time of it either. This city smells like a sewer."
Kid Flash raised an eyebrow. "Catwoman?" he asked, sounding a little bit puzzled. "What are you doing in Blüdhaven? I thought you mainly stayed in Gotham, and this city really isn't your type of hideout from what Rob tells me."
"Oh good, you recognized me," Selina said, brushing aside his earlier comments. "I suppose you're here looking for a mutual friend of ours. One whose wings have been clipped in a manner of speaking."
Kid Flash blinked. "Actually, I was just out for a run, but yeah, I suppose I was kind of looking for Robin. Did Batman tell you what happened?"
"I dropped by the manor a few weeks ago, and Bruce told me everything. I knew Al Ghul would turn out to be bad news," Selina said, sighing and shaking her head. "She dropped by once and tried to get me to join the League of Shadows. Best decision I ever made when I said no."
Kid Flash looked around. "Do you want to find a place to wait around until nightfall?" he asked. "Then we could go Robin watching."
"What, with your bright yellow costume?" Selina snorted. "Somehow I don't think that'll work out very well. Deathstroke, not to mention Richard, would spot us from miles away."
"Stealth mode," Kid Flash said, shrugging. "Our team sometimes does recon during the night, and let me tell you that it really wouldn't work well if I was fairly glowing. Aqualad has a similar setup in his costume."
"Will Batman's gadgets ever fail," Selina murmured, raising her eyebrows in amusement.
"I think the answer to that question is no," Kid Flash muttered distractedly, "and in any case, have you seen Rob at all? I know Bruce saw him last night, but I've heard very little from him."
"I know, I saw," Selina said, shaking her head. They didn't quite make it to a fight, but I'm sure it was close. Richard ended up attacking the assassin and telling Bruce to leave, which he did, although not without quite a bit of hesitation."
Kid Flash frowned, anger in his eyes. "Why didn't he just rescue Robin there and then?" he demanded. "The very least he could have done was tried!"
Selina hissed, and Kid Flash fell silent. "Look, kitten, Bruce knows what he was doing, and Richard did not want to be rescued. Now either come with me and we might be able to speak with your friend tonight, or run right home to Flash."
Kid Flash sighed. "Fine. Where are we going to go while we wait for night to fall?"
Selina thought for a moment. "Well, before I saw you, I was sitting in a charming little cafe. It closes at 8:30 tonight, so we could sit there for a while."
The look of relief on the kid's face made Selina snort. He'd probably expected her to drag him off to some dung heap. Just because she didn't have as clean a track record as pretty much everyone else Kid Flash associated with, didn't mean she was absolutely evil. In fact, Selina could easily say that she was probably the cleanest villain in Gotham. And that Included Talia. Batman had told Selina that if she killed anyone, he would go after her with a vengeance, so she simply chose not to kill so as to keep the peace. Batman was no fun when he was angry with her.
Neither of them spoke as the kid followed Selina back to the cafe, where the owner merely raised one eyebrow at her return and shrugged, probably figuring it couldn't hurt to have more business from the same person.
Kid Flash found a menu, and immediately set about ordering an unwieldy amount of food for one person. Selina couldn't decide whether she was disgusted, or impressed with his appetite. When the food arrived, she watched along with the few workers in the cafe as the boy devoured the food. It was fascinating how enough food to feed a family was needed to sustain one boy.
Selina decided she felt bad for the boy's parents. If he ate this much every meal, then their food costs must be through the roof.
When he'd finally finished eating, Kid Flash sat back in his chair with a sigh. "Alright, so what's our plan?" he asked, looking Selina in the eye. "Normally I'm not one for plans, but this is the League of Shadows, and that Deathstroke guy did not look very friendly either."
Selina wrinkled her nose. "Oh he's not," she agreed immediately. She'd only run into the assassin once or twice while out stealing from someone he was killing. Their encounters hadn't exactly ended peacefully, and Selina still had to suppress a cold shiver of fear every time she thought of the gleam in the assassin's eye as he stalked towards her. Selina considered herself to be a fairly creepy person, but of all of the people she'd ever met, she had to say that Deathstroke blew everyone else out of the water, and it clearly wasn't because of a conscious effort on his part. He just was creepy.
"You want a plan?" Selina said slowly, a thought niggling at the back of her mind.
Kid Flash nodded. "There's no way we're going to get Rob out without one," he said.
Selina grinned as the idea sprang into her head. Oh boy, this was going to be a lot of fun, even if she was risking her life for it. "What do you say you and I play cops and robbers?" she said, leaning forward across the table.
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Oh thank goodness. I even have half of an idea on what I'm going to do in the next chapter.
Please Review! even if it's to yell at me and tell me to update on time. ;)