After his deal with the Street Demonz went south, Riley had started to work out. If there'd been just one more of them or they were a little more level headed he'd be a body at the bottom of the ocean right now. He wasn't expecting to become the next Batman or anything, but the added muscle would surely allow him an extra bit of safety. What was the point of his newfound freedom if he was going to get himself killed?

He'd managed to flip the motorcycles for around $8000 each, keeping one for himself. That on top of the money he'd looted and the guns he'd been able to sell gave him around $30,000 in just a little over a months worth of work. He couldn't spend those $30,000 since they weren't clean in the slightest, but it was still the most money he'd ever had at one time. He'd have to figure out a way to clean his money, but that was a problem for another time.

He was gaining popularity in the East Side, which saw his business grow day by day. He'd bought heaters for the storage unit, just so he had more heat to throw around in times of trouble. The high temperature of his base had given him the name 'Cinder' from his buyers, which was way better than his previous name of 'Stick'.

He was starting to get used to being his own boss, so the next logical step was to be someone else's boss. He'd wanted to expand further into the East Side anyways, so he'd have to start recruiting workers. His first employee was a kid names James. He was only 15, and he reminded Riley a lot like himself when he was starting out.

James' role was just as a scout. He'd look for the signs of any conflict, whether they be from fighting between gangs or one of the capes swooping down handing out justice. Then, he'd report to him so that he could salvage as much as he could. He didn't let the kid do any looting. He wasn't able to tell whenever someone was coming like he did, and he didn't want to risk the kid getting into any conflict.

His second worker was a guy named Brian. Brian was going through a tough time in his life. He'd recently gotten divorced, lost his job, and had fallen behind severely in rent. Brian was his salvage-mate. Having two heads instead of one saw him loot far more than he had before.

He'd been sorting his guns into categorized crates when James approached him. "Boss, there's a gunfight between two of the smaller gangs about three blocks west of here," James spoke. In such a short amount of time he'd already improved so much as a scout. In his earlier days he'd run away from any fighting, now he was able to stay and get as much information as possible. "There was about 15 guys between the two of them when I was there. Probably won't be as many now, though."

"Thanks, James. Can you find Brian and tell him to get ready. It's better to get there as early as possible," James nodded and started searching for his coworker. Looks like they had another drop to pick up.

/0/

Riley's motorcycle came to a halt as he took in his surroundings. The two gangs were still fighting, but that wasn't what was important at the moment. In his senses, there was heat atop one of the roofs. As soon as he tried to focus on it, it'd move to another rooftop, staking the conflict out in the same way he was.

In an instant it dropped to the alleyway the two gangs were fighting in. The sounds of gunshot increased rapidly, until it was suddenly silenced.

Out of nowhere a shadow dropped in front of him. There stood a teen clad in red, green, and yellow. Robin.

"And who are you supposed to be?" He asked. He couldn't tell the implications of his statement just from his voice. "Don't tell me they sent back up."

Riley had to think fast. He'd improved on his fighting abilities as well as his powers, but that didn't mean he'd be fighting any of the capes anytime soon. "We were just riding by when we heard gunshots. We stopped so we didn't get hit by any stray bullets," Jesus, that was such a horrible excuse. He'd have to hope the Boy Wonder fell for it.

"Hmm, yeah I'm sure. Would you mind stepping out of the vehicle, please?"

"What, are you pulling me over? You're not a cop."

"Just do as I say. If you're really what you say you are you wouldn't have a problem with it."

Riley cursed to himself. He always carried a handgun with him in case he ran into any conflict. He hadn't expected said conflict to be with a cape. He looked over his shoulder. Brian was unsure what to do. If they did as they were told he was bound to meet the same fate as those fighting in the alley. On the other hand, he wasn't exactly sure how else he'd get out of this situation. If he tried to pull off he was sure Robin would use one of his gadgets to stop him.

Oh, whatever. You can't knock it until you try it.

Riley's foot slammed onto the gas. Robin was expecting this, and already had a bola ready. Riley was able to swerve the motorcycle to dodge the bola, but was unable to see the grappling hook latch itself on to the motorcycle. Robin pulled out three batarangs and hurled them towards the vehicle while Brian tried desperately to remove the grappling hook. The batarangs hit motorcycle, luckily missing the tires and bouncing off of the metal exterior.

Robin began pulling the hook, offsetting Riley's balance and causing the motorcycle to rock. Riley pulled out his handgun that was tucked underneath his shirt and let off a few shots. Robin let go of the grappling hook, rolling to the side to dodge the bullets.

A sigh of relief left Riley's mouth. He was surprised that it was that easy to get away from one of the capes. Maybe his overestimated them, his fear of them clouding his judgement.

His train of though was cut off as he felt the familiar heat upon the rooftops. He was barely able to react before Robin swung down, kicking the motorcycle to the ground. The two criminals rolled across the hard street, coming to a stop after colliding with a trashcan. Riley quickly rose to his feet, letting off more shots at the Boy Wonder. Robin ducked and dodged his way away from Riley's aim, inching his way closer to them.

Riley channeled as much heat as he could in a short, causing the engine of the car Robin was hiding behind to combust. The Boy Wonder rolled away from the car, barely escaping the explosion. Brian rank towards the motorcycle laying in the street, Riley covering as he did so. Robin dropped a smoke pellet, masking his presence from his opponents.

Well, he would have if he were facing anyone else. Riley felt Robin's heat rushing towards him. With little options, Riley threw his handgun towards Robin, heating it up and causing it to explode. The sound of an engine revving caused Riley to look back, which was a harsh mistake.

Robin was on him in seconds. He could barely tell what he was getting hit with until he'd felt it. Two quick strikes to his side caused to lean a little. A sharp kick to his leg caused his knee to buckle. Robin quickly made his way to his backside, locking in a chokehold. Riley tried to claw the young hero's arms from around his neck, but couldn't. He could feel himself losing conscious quickly, and had to do something. He sucked in as much heat as he could into himself, his skin glowing a tinge of orange.

Robin quickly let go of the submission, the immense heat burning him even through his armor. Riley didn't take the moment of confusion for granted, running as fast as he could towards his motorcycle where Brian was waiting. Riley could barely get his balance before Brian took off. He could feel Robin chasing after them, but he wasn't making any gains on them. Brian drove the motorcycle through as many different roads and alleys as he could, desperate to remove anyone who'd been trailing them. Finally, after what felt like forever, Riley could no longer feel the heat from the Boy Wonder.

The two rode back to the storage unit in silence. They'd managed to escape their perpetrator for now, but they'd have to be careful in the future.

/0/

Riley's run in with the Boy Wonder opened his eyes. He'd known he wasn't invincible, but his few encounters with any uncooperative customers had given him the impression that he was more skilled than he truly was. Now that Robin (and by extension Batman and and all of his running mates) know of his abilities he wouldn't be able to do the same tricks twice. It was safe to say that this was a wake-up call.

And so, Riley signed up for a boxing club. He wasn't delusional enough to think it'd raise him to the level of the top tiers of Gotham, but it'd at least make it so he wasn't as helpless if he'd ever had to fight them. He didn't think he'll ever be skilled enough to beat Batman or his accomplices, but hopefully his efforts would allow him to run away easier.

Along with the boxing club, Riley had taken it upon himself to truly push the limits of his abilities. His practice with his powers was slowing as his illegal activities grew. Now he knew he couldn't slack off in the slightest. He spent any free time he had practicing and trying out new moves. His newest venture being with ice.

He was able to freeze water by sucking away all of the heat from it. It was no where near the efficiency of simply heating it up, but with time it could become a viable part of his repertoire.

The last ability he'd been working on improving was his heat sense. Currently, he was only able to sense big bodies of heat kin to living people. Objects like knives or guns could hide from his senses because of their relatively smaller size. In due or die situations, that would be a very fatal weakness.

For 2 weeks he'd fallen into a cycle. He'd sleep away the early hours of the day, usually waking up around noon. From there, he'd go to his boxing club which lasted 2 hours. Any time after that was spent practicing his powers and setting up his shop for the later hours, where he'd tend to his usual business. During those two weeks he hired a few extra heads, and set up shop in the northern area of the East Side.

The newly dubbed 'Cindercorp' had grown exponentially in the East Side. Many of the big weapon dealers set up base in the west where ships frequented more. The rise of a reliable weapon dealer in the east, especially one so close to Crime Alley, was big for the underground of Gotham.

Now, Riley was seeing more money than he'd ever thought he'd see. He could make over $10,000 a week, and that wasn't counting any money stashes his scouts could find. He still hadn't found a way to properly launder said money, but he would continue to kick that stone down the street until he couldn't anymore.

/0/

Stephanie Brown was the daughter of a criminal. She knew how they worked, how to manipulate them, and what really made them tick. Her recent fallout with Bruce was just a battle of egos. Things either went his way or no way. She was prone to deter from his usual plans on missions, but that was only because she knew what she was doing. Bruce still seemed to look at her like a kid, though. He looked at all of them like that.

And so, after another night of arguing in the Batcave, she'd added just the right amount of timber to the fire for it to blossom into something uncontrollable. Bruce stripped her of her title as Robin and banned her from ever returning to the Batcave. She'd thought it was a joke at the time. Maybe Tim was in on it as well, an elaborate prank to get the Robin mantle all to himself.

Oh, she was very wrong. If there was anything Bruce - no, Batman didn't do it was joke. Just like that, her crime fighting days were over. At least for now. She'd been able to steal the blueprints to a plan Batman was planning to use to unite all of the Gotham underworld under one man.

She didn't know who this 'Matches Malone' was, but Batman's plan seemed to hinge deeply on him. Batman was supposed to orchestrate a meeting involving anyone important in the underworld, and unite them all under Matches.

With her history and knowledge of criminals, this seemed like the perfect plan to prove to both herself and Batman that she was capable of taking care of herself. She had no plans on going full solo like Dick did. She still had a lot to learn underneath Bruce and enjoyed her time spent with Tim and Barbara. No, this would open his eyes. This will show him that she didn't need any hand-holding. This would show him that she had what it took to be a superhero.

It'd been a while since Stephanie had been Spoiler. It was Spoiler who'd manage to catch the attention of Batman the first time, eventually landing her role as Robin. The costume had been collecting dust in her closet ever since.

Not anymore.

Her purple cape blew with the wind as she made her way across rooftops. Her first destination was Burnley, where she'd deliver an invite to the Burnley Town Missive. Afterwards, she was off to Chinatown. There, she'd deliver an invite to the Yakuza, Ghost Dragons, and Lucky Hand Triade. Next, she was off to Coventry, where the Escabedo Cartel and the Latino United Front would receive their invites. Lastly was the East Side, where the Five Families and Cindercorp would get invited.

Cindercorp wasn't in Batman's original plan, but they were growing larger in influence by the day. The fact that Tim seemed to have run into their alleged leader without throwing him behind bars was more than enough of a reason for an invite.

Spoiler smirked. It took her less than 2 hours to deliver all of the invites, all while going undetected as well. This meeting was set to happen a week from now in Grant Park. The easy part of her job was complete, now she just had to find Matches Malone. Batman's blueprint never stated any way of contacting Matches, and she'd never heard of the name before.

That was fine with her though. Detective work was almost as common as crime-fighting was in Gotham. She'd have to prove she could do that as well.

Being stubborn must be a required trait to join the Batfam. Hopefully Steph isn't in over her head.

Double upload to get the ball rolling. Hope you enjoyed the read.

Sincerely, Six.