Possibly a little short, but it's here! Review!
"It won't be easy." Bruce stared at her quietly, watching her expression.
"Nothing ever is." Scarlet said, smiling slightly. Her face was covered in soot from the fire, all except for the area that'd been covered by her mask, making her look incredibly panda-like and adorable.
"It'll be dangerous- scary, even. People will die- you can't save everyone. You'll see things, maybe even be tortured..."
"It can't be worse than the nightmares..." she muttered quietly, and Bruce heard it but chose to ignore it for now.
"You're to young. Too small..."
"I'm not that little!" she jumped to her feet, small fists clenched and a fire in her eyes. "If you teach me, I can learn how to fight- you can't expect me to sit out on this!"
"That man that pushed you off the roof today. You know who he is? The Joker- insane- maniac- known to torture and kill. You aren't ready for that."
"I'm not afraid. What's the worst that could happen? I die? Then I'd get to see my parents..."
Bruce stared, surprised for a moment, He spent nearly ten minutes silent, brooding, before he carefully spoke.
"If I did train you, it would be months before you were ready to patrol on the street. You would be wearing kevlar body armor at all times- you'd stay close to me and obey EVERY order. If I order you to stay off the streets, if some criminal that I think is too dangerous breaks out, you'll stay here. And if I order you to leave me behind- you follow that order without question. Understood?"
"Perfectly." she met his gaze unwaveringly.
"This isn't a game, Scarlet- I'm not Bruce anymore. I'm your teacher, and I will push you to your limits. You don't have to do this..." he didn't really want her to, truth be told. But he had ti give her a chance, like he had Dick.
"You can decide to quit if you feel like it's too much. I won't think any less of you if you do quit, and even then, maybe when you're older..."
"I'm not going to quit." she said, frowning at him.
"You say that now, but just know, whatever you want to do- it's your choice. Any questions?"
She gave him a slightly weary grin. "When do I start?"
FIVE MONTHS LATER
She stared up at the night sky, feeling the wind rush past them as she clung to Bruce's kevlar covered chest. This was, by far, the best part of being hero. The flying. Batman hadn't given her her own grapple gun yet, deeming her too little. Truthfully, he was terrified her hands would slip, since she wasn't all that big yet...
That was why he was keeping one arm firmly wrapped around her as he swung through the Gotham night, making sure she held onto him. She seemed ecstatic- he could see the way her blue eyes danced beneath the mask, the way she stared up at the starts with childlike wonder...
He had to smile slightly. She'd earned this, earned the yellow shirt and brown skirt that was her costume, adapted to wearing the black leggings underneath for extra protection, earned the very cape she was now tangled up in as she excitedly clung to him.
They reached their lookout point, however, and she perched atop the gargoyle beside Robin, studying the streets below them with excitement...
"What about that guy?" she asked, for what must have been the forth time that night, eagerly, pointing down to the lone, hunched figure of a man traversing the darkened street.
"He's a homeless man, Sparrow- not hurting anybody." Robin said, and she sighed. She'd wanted action, she hadn't imagined all this waiting...
She peered into the alley to her right. She didn't know Batman had purposely taken her to the safest part of the city for her first patrol, or that she was unlikely to find anything... All she noticed was the group of people.
"What about those guys?"
"What g-" Robin stopped short when he saw what she was pointing down at. A group of eight shady figures apparently conversing in the alley below...
"Batman. Drug deal going down..." his voice held a hint of anxiety, and Batman was instantly looking down. He nodded, taking in the situation, but suddenly felt an irrational fear swell when he realized Sparrow was going to have to fight with them. What chance did she stand against these men?
"We can't let them get away." Sparrow aas focusing intently on them, waiting for Batman to grab her and shoot off his grapple gun so they could go...
"Robin. Take her down with you after me- I'll be a distraction."
Robin instantly obeyed, grabbing Sparrow and holding her tightly, waiting as Batman fired off his own grapple gun, landing in the middle of all the thugs. Then he, too, descended, landing with Sparrow at the end of the alley...
Batman was fighting three while the rest fumbled for their guns to back up their comrades, and before he could order Sparrow to do anything she was moving, striking one man in the back of the knee and brining him down, slamming his head into the brick wall of the building and knocking him unconscious...
She was silent, like the night. All her eagerness had vanished, replaced by the grim certainty of her movements and what she was doing. He realized no one had even noticed her and ran, joining the fray, hoping to end this as quickly as possible...
Batman had already knocked out two of his attackers and was taking on the third. He could see Robin nail a pressure point on one man and drop him, but he had no idea where Sparrow was...
She ducked under the arms of a man pointing a gun a Batman, kicking to the groin and leaving the man to crumple on the ground... She was handling herself.
He aided Robin in the takedown of two more thugs, working together to distract and incapacitate them. They turned, watching Sparrow work with the last guard carefully...
The man was throwing punches that never seemed to connect- his target was smaller and faster than him, and in a flash she was behind him, slamming her leg into the back of his knee, bringing him down, and hitting a pressure point of his neck, making him go limp and lose consciousness.
"Got 'im." she panted happily, looking up, eyes alight with her sense of victory...
"Nice work." was all he said, smiling, before she clung to him, an excited look on her face as he fired off his grappling gun. She was going to like this hero thing.
He stared at his communicator and email- Superman had written 1,727 emails, left 331 calls, and made numerous attempts to contact him via commlink since he'd adopted Dick and Scarlet, which was about eight months ago...
No missions off world had required him, of course, if it'd been urgent or dire in circumstance a leaguer (most likely Superman) would've come down to the city to speak with him personally. Meaning the League wanted to talk with him not about strategy, but about something else- his children.
The spike in the messages had first occurred when Robin made his debut on the Gotham streets, but messages were pouring in from nearly every leaguer, now. The newspaper had covered Sparrow's appearance with Robin during the incident with the Joker- she'd been in costume, and they'd given her the name Sparrow. Now that she'd completed the basic training with him and was on the streets again, things were blowing up...
"You cannot ignore them forever, Sir. Sooner or later they will come to contact you personally."
"I know, Alfred." Bruce said, sighing.
He typed a simple message, hitting 'reply all' and sending.
The one line of communication reached every leaguer.
I'll arrive at the watchtower at 10:00am tomorrow to debrief.
He sighed. It wasn't going to be easy, convincing them his children were ready. But he wasn't going to back down. He wasn't hiding them anymore.
BA-BAM! Next chapter- they meet the League!