Robin's POV

The still-dim hotel room came into view as my eyes blurrily opened the next morning. I was honestly surprised, because I hadn't felt like I'd slept. I hope Christie slept more last night than I did. I reluctantly turned over to look at the blinding numbers on the alarm clock that I didn't need to set. 4:30. I groaned a bit pushing myself to get up. I was more nervous than I'd realized before we left, and almost all of last night was spent worrying about how today was going to go. Most of it was very unfortunately going to be more driving. It wasn't until I fully stood up that I realized how sore I was from driving. It wasn't that I hadn't done it before, but I'd never done for almost twenty hours straight. And I hope never to again... Maybe the drive home could be spilt up better. I hoped so. I went to get ready before remembering that I was already in my Robin suit. I didn't hate sleeping in my suit, but I did hate sleeping with my mask on. It sometimes left a mark, and occasionally made my face sore, which was a rather odd and unpleasant experience. I fixed the blankets on the bed, but they weren't really messed up because I hadn't used them. I went to my door and removed the carefully balanced book I'd found left in a drawer. I'd put it there, so that if someone did open the door, I'd hear them immediately. However, now that seemed almost pointless as I'd barely slept long enough for someone to sneak in. I judged my own anxiety and replaced the book, before realizing that I probably should bring it to the front desk. I walked out into the empty, silent hall. The whole hotel seemed abandoned as I walked in perfect silence, an eerie feeling settling over me. It was almost ridiculous to feel nervous in an empty hotel just because it was still barely lit when I often went into an almost pitch-black cave filled with bats underground, but that's just how it was. I reached the elevators but opted for the stairs. When I'd gotten down, I noticed no one was at the front desk, so I scribbled a note with my room number and left it with the book toward the back of the desk, then headed back upstairs. By the time I got back up, it was somehow 5 am, and I truly wasn't sure how. I guessed I was moving slower than usual for me. Five isn't bad...I thought to myself. I could wake up Cardinal. She probably wouldn't mind. I walked to her door and checked the remaining distance. A wide smile came over me as I read it. We were only an hour away! Much closer than I'd thought. I briefly considered going back to sleep but decided against it. I knocked on her door and waited for an answer. "Hello?" came a voice from inside, tired too, I noted.

"It's Robin. Ready to continue when you are. We're almost there."

"Yeah, I am" she said, clear that she hadn't slept much better than me. I went to walk away from the door when I felt eyes on me. I turned quickly behind me, only to see a girl, maybe five, watching me with wide brown eyes. I was apparently terrifying to her tiny self. I smiled at her hoping that would be comforting, but it somehow made it worse. Her eyes widened even more, and she dashed to her door, unable to open it. Must have locked. I felt bad just watching her struggle but coming closer was bound to make it even worse. What must have been her mom opened the door to ask what was wrong before noticing me and staring in pure shock. At least she'll know who it is... I thought to myself, not sure what to do. Wrong. She looked horrified, grabbed the girl and closed the door behind them. I looked back to Cardinal's door, desperately hoping she'd be quick. I had no idea what'd I done that was so horrible, but it must have been something. I leaned my face into the wall but stopped when it pushed the metal mask in too hard. Thankfully, Cardinal was quick. Only a moment later, she opened the door, ready to go. I breathed a sigh of relief. "Ready?" she asked me, closing the door behind her.

"Yep." More than ready.

We walked down the hallway, which by then had clear lines of light from the window, but it was filtered by the blinds leaving a bar pattern on the floor where we walked. I pressed the elevator button and hoped that no one was currently occupying it. Of course. Someone's in it. As the silver doors parted further, I realized it was worse than I had thought. It wasn't just "someone". Three burly men that towered over me by at least a foot and a half and Cardinal by more, stood in the elevator, and I seriously considered acting like that's not where we were going. Not that anyone would seriously believe that. Stop being ridiculous. You're Robin. You fight guys worse than these weekly. It's fine. I barely glanced to Cardinal before forcing myself to get in alongside them. Cardinal followed me, and I immediately decided to place myself where I could easily get between her and them, should the need arise. One of them, the biggest one, nodded in that one way that wasn't comforting. Kind of gangster like... Nope. It's fine. Stop being a jerk. I smiled back at him very slightly to acknowledge and waited expectantly for the ride to be over. Unfortunately, it hadn't even started yet. One guy reached his tattoo-covered arm to a different one wearing a fully black hoodie that almost covered his face. But it showed just enough to reveal a large scar on his chin. Of everyone in the world...in this hotel! This is who we get stuck riding the elevator with?! Finally, after what felt like an hour, the doors opened, and I breathed a sigh of relief as they all got off. I looked back to Cardinal for a second with a small smirk, starting to appreciate the funnier side of the situation. We checked out of the hotel and got back on my bike. I wasn't looking forward to riding it again, which was unusual because I loved my bike. It matched my rather vibrant colors perfectly, and it was really fun to drive, unless, of course, I'd been driving it for almost an entire day and had only gotten a few hours of sleep since. Christie...Cardinal climbed on behind me, and we once again started our journey to find Spider-Man.

Cardinal's POV

Robin and I arrived in Chicago before dark, although the drive felt like it took way longer than it did. Robin parked the bike in a decently hidden alley and left it there as we walked to the donut shop Spider-Man had been frequently visiting. I looked at the roof of the building where a giant donut with chocolate icing and rainbow sprinkles advertised the shop's existence. I didn't see Spider-Man though. Not too surprising. He didn't live here. As I looked back inside the shop, I started to realize how good donuts sounded. I looked over to Robin slightly, my idea still at the front of my mind, but he was apparently still busy looking for the Avenger that wasn't there.

While we're here... I don't see Spider-Man yet... "Hey, while we're here..." As I spoke, Robin turned to me, and after our eyes met, I looked to the shop's door, hopeful that he would understand and agree. He smirked, "I mean, it's a good idea, but..." He looked to our suits before continuing, "Do you want to ask?"

"NO!" I answered quickly. I couldn't ask. He could...

"Well, I'm not gonna ask!" He returned only partially playful. "Do you know how awkward that's going to be?"

"Oh, well, I guess it's up to you if you don't want donuts..." I said looking sadly at the ground before smirking up at him, hoping he would give in. We both wanted them. He looked at me, then with a twisted expression, back at the window of the donut shop. "Fine." He relented, walking towards the door, before stopping to smile back at me and add, "...But you have to ask next time."

I waited until he opened the door so he couldn't argue, "Nope!" I smiled as he obviously heard me.

After a brief conversation that couldn't have been that bad, Robin re-emerged with our donuts. As he ate one, and I took one, I was glad he had done it. It had to have been worth it. After we'd eaten our first one, we took the rest with us to the side of the building which we climbed up to reach the roof. Climbing it was hard, but Robin didn't make it look that way. And he was climbing with a box of donuts. Once at the top, Robin looked to me like he expected some sort of answer to a question he hadn't asked. I met his look with a more confused one, "What?"

"He's not up here, and there's no way we're going to happen to see him unless we stay here 24/7. We have to set something up. Not something dangerous, but something that will at least hold him in one place until we can find out what he's up to."

I shrugged, not sure what to set up, and hoping he had a better idea than I did. He looked at the giant donut as if he were thinking of something, then back to me. Apparently, he didn't have a plan, but he looked like he may be getting one.

"He obviously goes in the donut-hole a lot..." Robin began turning back to face the giant structure that left a huge, black shadow on us. "Maybe we rig a net in it? Pressure sensitive. It would drop when he goes inside, wouldn't hurt him or anything. We might even be able to get it to send a signal to us, let us know he's here."

The way he said it made it clear that he was thinking out loud, but it sounded like a good idea to me.

"That should work," I said to give him the closure he was clearly looking for.

He looked back to where we were planning to set it up, just in time for someone to drop behind us. They spoke before I could even turn around to see who it was or what they wanted.

"What are'ya doing up here?"

I had a feeling who it was before I turned around, but I was disappointed to find out I was right. We had found him. Spider-Man was asking what we were doing. Well, this is awkward... I thought a bit stressed as I glanced to Robin for his reaction. It was hard to read, but he was definitely caught off-guard. He stood there, slightly tense and at a loss for words. The breeze blew gently as we all stood there, Spider-Man waiting for an explanation and obviously completely oblivious to the answer, Robin and I with no easy way to respond. I looked back to Robin, hoping he'd answer, but as he didn't it left me with only one good option. If Robin isn't going to say anything, I have too... "Are you with the Avengers?" I asked. We knew the answer, at least we were pretty sure we knew, but it was a good place to start. During the long pause, Spider-Man had gotten more and more confused, looking for a reason we hadn't said anything and was clearly relived that I finally did, "Yeah, I'm an Avenger! Why?" He still seemed so friendly and oblivious to the fact that we were here to catch him. I waited again. Come on, Robin... You're supposed to be leading this mission!

Finally, his thoughts seemed to catch up with him, "You haven't been around. Where have you been?" It sounded a bit more like an accusation than I cared for, but so be it. Spider-Man seemed mostly unfazed and like this was every day, causal conversation, "Busy elsewhere. There's always so many things going on, I guess you'd get that, though." He smiled on the last part. You couldn't see it, but you could hear it. He definitely didn't see us as a threat, and I was starting to think he wasn't one either.

"Yeah," Robin said, finally smiling back a bit. He seemed a little more at ease as he continued, "We definitely get that."

At this point, Spider-Man completely relaxed, he looked sure we were basically chill friends now. "Guess I'll see you around?" he said like he wanted it to be true.

"Maybe," Robin responded, "We're just visiting." He paused a second, seemingly trying to phrase this a certain way, but it didn't seem as casual anymore, "What are the Avengers up to?"

"Different stuff. Helping people the best we can. The Avengers tower is over there if you want to learn more!" With that, he causally swung off calling behind him, "Nice to meet you!" That was easier than we thought...