Reverse Scale

On their way back across the river, they stopped at the hospital roof and left the envelope with money in it in a conveniently placed mail slot that Gar was told led directly to the accountant's office.

Robin started his way back across the North Finger Bridge and Gar changed back to an Owl and just enjoyed his flight circling around Robin.

As Gar was floating along, his eyes caught the sight of a man pulling a young teenage girl into an alley just about a mile away and he had a cold feeling when Gar saw the man's face and his predatory smile.

With no thought whatsoever, Gar tightened his wings and flew as fast as he could, completely forgetting to say anything to Robin.

Once he got to the alley entrance, Gar changed back to his human form and ran into the alley. Halfway down it, Gar saw a young teen girl crying lying on her back, and a man lying on top of her with no pants on. A knife in one hand pressed against her throat and his other hand trying to force her legs open. He had already torn her dress open and pulled her panties to her ankles, but they were holding her feet together and that was probably the only thing that stopped him from succeeding in his attempt to rape her.

Gar quickly ran up and grabbed the hand that held the knife, he pulled it away from the girl's neck. Doing this pulled the would-be rapist up enough that Gar was able to land a solid kick to his ribs and force him off the teen. The rapist rolled a couple of times and came up to his feet in a decent crouch with his knife out, pointed in Gar's direction.

His reaction spoke of some training, it was possible he was more than just a common street thug.

The teen girl had quickly pulled her underwear up and cried loudly in fright as she tried to use her torn dress to protect her modesty or maybe she just thought of it as a barrier between herself and what had almost happened to her.

"You stupid fuck, I wasn't going to kill her. You could have had her after I was done. I have followed her for weeks and I'm pretty sure she is a virgin. But now I have to kill you and then after I'm done with her I'll have to kill her too, so I don't go down for murder." The man said.

"You will have to settle for going down for attempted rape and attempted murder then. Unless the police add your DNA to their record and get hits on unsolved cases, which I'm sure there will be a few with the way you're acting." Gar replied as he started walking toward him. His gait took on a predatory look.

"What can a little boy like you know, you have probably never gotten your little wick wet. Too bad you're so set on being a hero, now you will die." He lunged for Gar with his knife leading the way.

Gar backed out of reach of his wild swing and replied, "Well for someone who can only get their rocks off on virgins who are dry from fear I would say you are the one with a little wick issue mister. You know I may have been wrong; they may not get you for other rapes. Maybe after you are done the girls go to the ER thinking they were raped only to hear the nurses tell them their hymen is still intact. Maybe all they will be able to get you on is misdemeanor charges of assault. Can't be a felony unless a weapon is used, and you only threaten with the knife. Can't think of a 2-inch pecker as anything close to a weapon."

Hearing Gar's taunts, the rapist rushed him in a rage. Gar grabbed the wrist that held the knife and pulled the arm over his shoulder but instead of throwing the guy, Gar turned his arm to lock his elbow then he stood straight and pulled his wrist downward, snapping his arm in the process. The knife fell to the ground as the man screamed in pain. Gar then spun his waist, shoving his elbow into the man's ribs hoping he broke more than a few. The rapist fell to his side, crying and holding his broken arm.

"Cowards like you are my reverse scale, mister. Seeing someone strong terrorize the week for his own enjoyment. That makes me very mad!" Approaching him, Gar changed his right foot into the cloven hoof of a goat and stomped down on the rapist's balls, and crushed them both, a little twist of his foot made sure his pecker will never work as intended again.

Something crashed into Gar's side, and he was forced away from the would-be rapist, Gar crouched down, ready to battle "That's enough, we don't torture people. We stop them!" Robin shouted.

Gar regained his balance and stood up straight, "No Robin, that wasn't torture. What he was doing to that poor girl was torture, what I did was punishment fitting the crime. His life is in no danger and he will heal from the broken appendages faster than the guys whose joints you tore earlier today. Well, I'm thinking one appendage may have to be cut off, but with a colostomy bag it's not fatal now is it."

"That's not the way it's done in Gotham," Robin said angrily.

"Tell her I was too rough on her attacker Boy Wonder!" Gar shouted as he pointed to the shivering mess of tears huddled against the grungy wall and garbage dumpster of the alley.

"Call it in, I will be on the roof until she is in an ambulance. Then we are done for the night." Just as Gar was about to make the change and fly to the roof, he heard a small "Thank You!" come from the girl. Gar nodded towards her with a soft smile, then he changed to the Owl shape he was using and flew to the rooftop to wait.

"He was way out of line Matt, totally overboard. He had the guy down and helpless, there was no reason to go further." Dick (Robin) ranted to Matt(Devilbat) who was typing on the Bat computer. The screen wasn't for his benefit, the speakers sent out clicks that were barely noticeable to normal hearing. Matt Wayne's self-created sound visual only he could make out.

"It was so out of the blue as well. We were having a fun night Matt; he was just like an older version of Beast Boy. Lighthearted and easygoing, then this happened and he went totally rogue on me. Not even telling me anything, just flying off. He could have used telepathy to tell me what he saw, but I think he knew I wouldn't approve of so much violence." He swung his mask around his finger as he spoke to Devilbat.

"If you read the information I sent you then you know he is a middle-aged man in that body. While I don't doubt that the body's hormones may affect him, he is no teenager. Furthermore, he is a clone of your Teen Titans Beast Boy with additional J'onn J'onzz DNA thrown into the mix, who hasn't had his powers for 2 weeks yet. You have to treat him as an elder despite the body of a teen. He has experiences and traumas we know nothing about, from a world we know nothing about." Devilbat said unemotionally.

"His comment about a reverse scale, do you understand it?" Matt asked

"It was a vulnerability to Dragons, wasn't it?" Dick replied.

"Yes, but more than that. If you touched it, that meant you put the Dragon's life in jeopardy so he would go ballistic and destroy everything to get to the one that touched it. Even to the point of destroying its own hoard." Matt continued.

"Taking a breath, he probed with a tough question. "If a Circus was in town, say your old one and you went to visit and you saw someone tampering with the ropes for the trapeze act do you think you would act rationally? Even with all your training over the last 6 years are you sure you could see it as just a man cutting a rope?" Matt asked with intensity.

Instantly all the playfulness left Dick's face and all his muscles tensed. He wanted to say yes but his jaw was clenched so hard it wouldn't open.

"That is what it feels like to have a reverse scale Dick. The first time I saw a man pull his gun on a family in an alleyway I almost killed him. Honestly, it was the closest I have come to crossing that line. The only thing that stopped me was the fear on the little boy's face as he watched me pummel the mugger to the ground. The echo from my fist impacting the mugger showed me his tears and I couldn't take a life in front of him. I hadn't even been Devilbat for a month and I was that close to breaking the one rule I swore on my parent's grave to never break." stopping there, Matt returned to his typing.

After about 15 minutes of quiet, they both were lost in their own thoughts.

"He did come up with a good idea for retrieving my birdwing's using magnets tuned to their specific composition though," Robin said

"That's actually a very good idea. I will have to get someone at Wayne Tech to look into the feasibility of this." Matt said, not turning away from the computer.

"You seem distracted Matt, is something wrong?" Robin asked.

"It has been unusually busy lately and there are several cases going at once. But you have been busy with your other teams, so I am working on them all."

"Sorry about that, things just kind of snowballed. I will make an effort to be here more for you Matt." Dick said.

"It's not for me, but for Gotham and the mission Robin." Matt said with some bite to his tone.