Behind the Mask

Chapter 5

On this particular evening, Robin was doing just that: stretching his wings. But this time, he was alone. Bruce Wayne was throwing some sort of ball, party, thing for the Gotham City Police and the mansion was a flurry of activity as it was getting decorated for the big night. Dick, sick of the stuffy decorators and obnoxious, random news reporters showing up at the door every twenty minutes, had donned his Robin costume and taken to the skies. He was surprised at how relieved he’d been to get outdoors. Once he’d hit the streets, all his stress, which he didn’t know he had in the first place, had melted away, and he’d laughed almost maniacally as he swung through the streets of Gotham.

He’d been a lot more uptight than he’d thought, he soon found, as he made his way across the rooftops. At first he wondered why, then the explanation came crashing down like a meteor. Cadmus. In the weeks since the Cadmus incident, multiple kidnapping attempts had been made on Robin, and Batman soon traced them all back to everyone’s favorite illegal underground lab. For whatever reason, Cadmus wanted Robin back, and he was willing to bet everything that it had something to do with what had happened in the cloning tubes. Batman agreed, but because lack of evidence and the fact that all his scans on Robin’s genetic make-up, looking for changes, came back negative, he continued to research all possibilities and repeatedly scan Robin for any changes.

So, the constant scanning, coupled with Batman’s continuous peppering of questions on what exactly happened in Cadmus, and his relentless search for answers, had caused a certain Boy Wonder to get uptight. Not that anyone would blame him.

Robin let out a whoop as he flew around a corner, enjoying the feeling of the wind whipping through his hair. His eyes were wide behind his mask and his mouth was stretched in a grin as the cares of the previous weeks melted away. This was where he belonged. Soaring through the air like a bird (not that he was a bird), the wind in his ears and the unforgiving ground hundreds of feet below him. He was born to fly. From the moment he’d first set foot on the trapeze platform and grabbed the bar, he knew that was where he belonged. He’d been so afraid that he’d lose that along with his parents, and for a couple of months he had, but then he’d become Robin and got it all back. That had been one of the greatest days since before his parent’s deaths: when he’d donned his new Robin suit for the first time and had grappled along rooftops with the Batman. He’d never forget that day.

If only everything was as easy as it had been when he was younger, he thought, coming to rest on a rooftop for a moment. He glanced up at the sky for a moment, wondering the hour, only to remember it was cloudy out and the sun wasn’t visible, so he instead pulled his watch out of his utility belt. The party was in two hours; he still had about forty-five minutes until Bruce would begin to wonder where he was. He walked over to the edge of the roof and sat down, his feet dangling over the edge. He swung them back and forth as he watched inner-city Gotham go about its business. He wasn’t really sure what he was looking for; sure, if there was a robbery or a mugging he’d be all over it, but mostly he was just watching life as usual. It was actually relaxing. Until he saw her again.

There was Assassin Girl, beating up a couple of muggers. Woah, woah, woah, rewind. So Assassin Girl was now taking down criminals, instead of heroes? Interesting…. Robin decided this deserved an investigation, because, after all, one didn’t just go from being a butt-kicking, underhanded, criminal chick to hero in a few weeks. Unless she was never one to begin with….

Robin grappled down into the street below, a more back-alley-type street, and watched from the shadows as Assassin Girl took out the two muggers and tied them to a lamppost, handing a rather rich looking woman her purse back. The lady thanked her, and then whipped out her cell phone, probably calling her limousine to come pick her up. Or if she possessed a few more brain cells than the average fat cat, perhaps the police. Assassin Girl glanced around quickly before taking off down the shadowy side street, leaving the muggers for the police. Robin followed her, sticking to the shadows. It was time to find out what this girl was playing at.