the robin & the canary; young justice

o12: Homefront

Yes, she wrote back finally. I knew. Boy Wonder, you were the one who told me.

Oh, right, Dick's next note admitted. I forgot. So, what are you up to, pretty bird?

Even though he wasn't able to see her across the 2, 981.1 miles it was between Gotham City and Star City, Reese, though she was by now far used to the affectionate nickname, blushed.

Dinah's schooling me on the Justice Society, she answered the Boy Wonder. We're also about to eat pretzels. Kinda wish I was in Gotham though.

Why? Dick asked as Dinah sat down across from Reese again, sliding a salted pretzel in a small paper wrapping to her side of the table, along with a small cup of nacho cheese. Rhysalin, you've always said you hated interacting with civilians.

At his words, Reese scoffed out loud, because no, she had never said exactly that. Before she was able to write a note back, Dinah spoke again.

"What'd Dick do now?" she asked, tearing off a small piece of pretzel before she ate it, and Reese sighed.

"He said I hate interacting with civilians," she answered, and Dinah raised an eyebrow.

"Do you?" she asked, and Reese threw her hands out to either side.

"No!" she exclaimed. "That's just it. I don't hate interacting with civilians, it's just...I think if I were to have civilian friends, which you know, I don't, I think my work as Silverbird would eventually just dissolve the friendship as a whole,"

Reese, if she were being honest with herself, at one point, did want to attend you know, a normal school, have normal friends, but she had eventually withdrawn from it, after an incident in Star City had stopped her from ever fully trusting a civilian her age again.

That wasn't her being cynical, it was her being honest.

About a year ago, around Halloween, Green Arrow, Speedy, and Silverbird had been patrolling as usual, when an alert of a robbery-in-progress had caused Oliver, Roy, and Reese to separate from each other.

Her adoptive father and brother had gone to deal with the altercation, while Reese had continued on with the patrol. Roy hadn't been happy about that but eventually conceded when Reese promised him a movie night once they were done.

Just as she was finishing, Silverbird had caught the sound of someone screaming, and had discovered a girl about her age being cornered by an older man in an alley.

Now, Star City may not be as bad as Gotham in terms of the city's crime rate, but walking around the Glades at night was not something that was recommended for most people.

So, Reese stepped in, and shot a smokescreen arrow towards the man, causing him to cough and use his hand to wave away the cloud.

Before he had fully regained his bearings, Silverbird decked the perp with a right hook that made him fall to the ground with a grunt, out cold.

Or at least, Reese thought he had been unconscious. When she went to see if the girl the man had been cornering was okay, the "victim's" entire demeanor changed, and Silverbird suddenly found herself being yanked backward and onto the ground.

Her head snapped against the concrete, giving her a small concussion, and as her blackening gaze cleared, Reese found herself staring up at the man she had just knocked out, now obviously awake, smirking as he cracked his knuckles.

"Wow, Dad," the other girl scoffed. "You were right, the heroes in this city are gullible,"

"We're not gullible if we think we're saving someone's life," Silverbird cut in, clenching her jaw as the other girl took a baseball out from behind her, swinging it around a bit.