"I got out of school early today." Wally said, looking excited as he saw his friends in the watch tower. "I had a doctor's appointment."
Roy scoffed. "That's nothing. You clearly never played hooky."
"I played hockey." Sparrow said, looking confused. "While we were in Russia, we played with all the other kids, remember, Rob?"
"Not hockey, Sparrow, hooky. You know, ditching, skipping, truancy?" Roy asked. Sparrow still looked confused, and Roy sighed.
"It's where you leave school early, skip class, without permission." Roy said. Her eyes lit up. "Oh..."
"You guys never played hooky before?" Roy asked, cocking an eyebrow.
"We never went to school before. Our Mamica always homeschooled us." Dick said calmly.
"You played hooky, Roy?" Sparrow asked, starry eyed, and Roy smiled slightly.
"Sure did. Heck, when Ollie first adopted me he thought I was in school for two weeks before he realized there was a disturbing lack of teachers calling about my disobedience and called the school to find out I hadn't even been there..."
"How'd you do it?" Dick asked. Suddenly all his siblings were looking at him like he was some hero...
"It was easy. Ollie was clueless, I just had the driver drop me off in front of the school, went in, waited until he left, and walked out. I hung out in the alleys trying to get the jump on undercover gangs- most've them trusted me, since they figured I was a drop out. Anyways, every now and then it's good to ditch... I had a ton of fun doing that... Good times..."
"Sparrow- Robin- let's go." Batman said. "Riddler escaped."
"Ugg..." Robin sighed. "The Riddler is so lame- do you really need us?"
Batman cocked an eyebrow behind his cowl. "There's no way I'm letting you work on a case if Two Face or Joker breaks out. Get your experience while you can."
Robin sighed. "Okay..."
"We go, Houston?" Scarlet asked Dick as they stepped out of the car at Gotham Academy. Alfred smiled to them as they entered the school foyer before driving off. Dick nodded. "We are go."
They both ducked into the bathrooms, changing into the normal clothes they had in their backpacks, waiting. This was the one area where the school security cameras wouldn't see them. They waited. The first bell rang, the classes had begun. They'd hacked into the school systems earlier using Bat-training, and they knew at precisely 8:14 am the security cameras went down for two minutes as per the slight modification they'd made. They slipped out the doors unnoticed and streaked down the sidewalk. Operation was a go.
"Sup, Wally? You working your magic?" Dick spoke into his communicator.
"Working on it. I just hid behind the bushes, all the kids are getting in the buses..."
"Great. Meet us at the bus depot." Dick said, ducking into the bus stop. He paid their fair, nodding confidently to the bus driver.
"Shouldn't you kids be in school?" he asked, squinting his prune-like eyes at them.
"No. We're homeschooled." Dick said, taking a seat with Scarlet. They got off at the Star City Depot and were met by Wally. "Okay- the boys academy is a few blocks away. You ready?" Dick asked. They both nodded. Operation Spying Santa was a go.
BREAK
Roy sighed. He REALLY didn't want to go on this stupid field trip. Every single year, all the middle schools in the state, with a few exceptions, flocked to some revolutionary war battle site. It'd been cool the first time. But Oliver had taken him a second time over the summer, and he found it boring. So now, the third time, t was going to be AWFUL. His only hope was he'd see Dick, Scarlet or Wally somewhere... Right now the eighth graders were boarding the busses. Soon they'd get on the PA and he'd be stuck on a bus for two hours with eighth grade kids who had no idea how to use deoderant...
Suddenly there was a tapping on the window to his left.
"Psst! Roy! Over here!"
Roy nearly fell out of his chair. Scarlet was standing in the window, looking in from outside...
"Umm... May I go to the bathroom?" Roy asked his homeroom teacher, a grumpy biology professor.
"Be quick." he growled. Roy was striding out of the room a moment later, slipping out the side door to find Scarlet, Dick and Wally in the yard.
"What are you guys doing here!?" Roy asked, shocked.
"Playing hooky. We didn't wanna go on some stupid field trip. So we decided we'd have a little... outing..." Dick said calmly.
"As us? Or as the sidekicks?" Roy asked, looking actually interested.
"As us. In a place we won't be recognized. There's this little town Scarlet and I know about, our... WE visited it awhile ago..." Robin said. But in truth, he and his parents had stopped there, on their way to Gotham city, to their last performance...
"Try and catch me, Tati!" Scarlet yelled, flipping from one monkey bar to the next. She'd been a lot smaller back then, a lot more carefree.
"I'll get you, my little Sparrow!" John Grayson said, racing across the wood chips towards her. Sparrow giggled before swinging onto the playground, jumping onto the railing, her father laughing as he hurried after her.
"Look at the balance beam, Dickey- just like the high wires." Mary said, pointing to the balance beam.
"I'd rather swing- it's more like flying." Dick said, and Mary nodded, smiling. She led the boy to the swing set, pushing him as he flipped off the swing once he reached full height and clapping when he landed perfectly...
More than once, Scarlet tore past them, giggling up a storm as John chased her. He finally caught her, tickling her until she fell onto the grass, laughter floating up like the sound of silver bells...
"Tati- tati, stop! I can't breathe!" she said through laughter.
"Say uncle!" John ordered, eyes dancing with happiness.
"Uncle! Aunt! Grandpa! Family! Just stop!" she giggled, and John let up, helping e girl to her feet.
"John, don't tickle her too hard- she may have an accident." Mary scolded, but her eyes were smiling as she brought over a picnic basket.
"We have spare clothes, Mary. Besides, she hasn't had an accident in weeks." John said, stroking his daughter's raven hair and looking proud. Sparrow grinned proudly as well. They were on one of their brief breaks of travel, since they weren't supposed to arrive in Gotham until next week...
"Who wants cookies?" John asked, holding up a small bag of them.
"John, for dessert." Mary said, though she smiled as Sparrow got to her feet, trying to reach them from where John held them.
"It won't hurt them, Mary... Besides, a treat now and then is good." he said, handing each child a cookie before giving Mary a quick peck on the lips. "See?"
That was all he remembered. He could tell Scarlet was remembering it too...
"Wait a minute. We're going to get in so much trouble for ditching- what makes you think I'll go with you?" Roy demanded.
"You don't wanna go on some boring trip." Scarlet said.
"Not to mention you ARE the master hooky player. And we're going with or without you, so you might as well come." Dick said firmly.
Wally nodded. "What he said."
Roy sighed. "Fine. Give me five minutes to ditch my uniform." he ducked into the bushes to change into his gym clothes, which were in his backpack, before watching the freshmen trickle out the doors and onto the bus, before they pulled out. They waited for five minutes, before sprinting off school grounds and heading to the bus depot.
They bought the tickets electronically a a kiosk before boarding the bus to the place.
Roy checked the map, surprised. "This place is REALLY out of the way..."
"Exactly. We're less likely to be recognized there." Dick said, looking out the window. Slowly, the scene transformed from the harsh cityscape to the green, fenced in pastures and fields of upstate New York.
"Where's the next stop?" Wally asked, looking excited.
"Some little town just outside Buffalo." Roy said, shooting Dick and Scarlet a look. He was wondering what was going through their heads. They looked quiet- sad, almost. It seemed like it was some old memory that seemed to be on their minds... Roy knew it was better not to ask about these things. But he also knew he was one of the trusted few who COULD ask about it without earning himself a bloody nose.
"Memories?" he asked quietly. Dick nodded somberly, and they sat with silence until they got off at the bus stop.
It was across from the park, and Dick walked over, Scarlet beside him. Se'd only been four, about to turn five in a month, it'd been years... But he could tell from the look on her face she remembered it.
He touched the chain on the swing- it had been years ago, shiny steel, but now it was rusted... Still, he smiled. He'd sat on this very swing almost two years ago- he'd been a happy kid back then, carefree, careless... Things had changed.
Scarlet stood on the grass where they'd spread the picnic blanket. Her father had sat here with her all those years ago... Now, even though it was early november, the area where their blanket had been spread was dotted with wildflowers. She smiled sadly- somethings never changed.
Suddenly there was a police officer striding towards them. They all stiffened slightly.
"I'm afraid we're going to have to ask you kids to get back to the Elementary school." he said, pointing to a large building that was just across the street. "There's been a murder."