"Focus you two, in the field the villains won't hold back. Ever," Dad comments as he watches Dick and me fight. It's so nerve racking, to have Dad watch but I guess it is kinda necessary.
I flip over my brother and kick at his back, except he spins on his heel fast enough to grab my foot by my ankle. I land on my back with him still holding my foot and I groan.
Within a second of landing in my back, I use my free foot to hook onto and kick the back of his legs as I use my other foot to apply pressure to his upper body.
He only stumbles, but it is enough to have him let go of my foot and I roll to the side to avoid him grabbing me again. Quickly I stand, raising my fists in front of my face.
"Nice job," Dick comments as he straightens himself and smiles goofily.
"Was an aster move, wasn't it?" I joke as I relax, giggling.
"Totally sis, it was a total aster."
He walks over to me and punches my arm lightly, we both know the fight is over. Much to the frustration of Dad, though. He thinks we aren't taking this seriously, but it's hard to seriously fight my brother when we both are on equal terms.
"Do it again you two," Dad says exasperatedly, pinching the bridge of his nose. I swear, if he keeps pinching that part his nose will fall off eventually.
I shrug at Dick as we both take a step back away from one another, lifting our fists in front of our face. This reminds me of..no, no thoughts. Just focus on the fight Lilla.
Dick swings at me jaw quickly and I block it, grabbing the wrist of his other hand as he swings that one also and twist it. Now twist further and break it, I think out of the old habit I had. No, no I am not thinking of those lessons. Never again. Ever.
While I am momentarily distracted, which is a split of a second mind you, Dick is able to free his hand and pulls my legs out from under me. I land on my back, for the second time in ten minutes. This time Dick pins me to the floor, twisting my arms lightly as he presses down on them.
"Lilla, you know how to get out of that." Dad comments, which causes me to sigh. Right, it was one of the first things Dad taught us.
I smile sheepishly and look up at Dick, mouthing. 'Sorry.' Then I knee him, not to hard, in the groin and as he curls slightly in pain I push him off of me. My brother is whimpering as I pin him on his back, with one arm under his chest and me pressing his other arm into his back.
"Dirty move Lils," Dick grumbles, probably pouting against the floor.
"Sorry Dick." I get off of him and offer him a hand, which he takes and I help him stand.
Dad walks over, putting a hand on both mine and Dick's shoulder. Here comes the talk, the we are staying home alone so be safe talk. Or we are about to do another exercise before he goes out as Batman, since it is only eight pm.
"Nice job sparing you two, and Dick her move may have been dirty but in a fight it would have been the perfect opportunity for her to get away. Now, before I go out we are going to do one more exercise. You two are going to hide, and I am going to try and find you. The thing is, if I even hear you then you're out.
Both Dick and I tilt our head and in sync say, "Sooooo, hide and seek?"
Dad opens his mouth to speak then closes it, rubbing his hands together. "I guess that is another thing to call the exercise."
Dick and I look at one another, trying not to laugh, then back at Dad who still has an emotionless face. "Only the mansion or is the cave involved in this too?"
"Just the mansion, no cave. You guys can have a five minute head start, since you're hiding. Keep in mind, that the bad guys won't give you this type of head start. You will usually have only a minute, maybe just seconds. But for this first try, you'll get plenty of time."
We nod and Dick grabs my hand, running up the stairs to the mansion. We run to our room, where all of our self invented and modified gadgets are.
I giggle quietly as we grab our crudely made utility belts, stuffing them full of cruddy smoke pellets and flash bangs that barely flash.
Dad caught us trying to use his supplies to make these and confiscated them, so we ordered the commercial supplies to make them and he took those too. So we ended up just raiding the kitchen, much to Alfred's annoyance. Pesky little elves, is what he jokingly said when he found a lot of the kitchen empty. Im pretty sure he knew it was us though, he always does.
"Plan?" Dick asks as he buckles his belt, leaning against the wall.
I nod as I also buckle my belt. "Yeah, we can't really do the halls since Dad will hear us. So it has to be one room and a good spot, and we can't share a spot."
Dick's eyes widen and he smiles mischievously. "Remember those small speakers we put in each room and how they're connected?"
I nod slowly, starting to realize what he is going on about. "Yeah. Oh! You want to have sounds play from each of them to throw off Dad?"
He nods and laughs. "Yep. Which noise shall we do?"
I smile and open my laptop, turning each speaker on and opening the sound choices. "Maybe each one having a different sound? So Dad doesn't catch on, I mean."
Dick nods and helps me pick each of the sounds, some animals and some giggling children and one or two having the sound of something breaking or falling.
We high five and I cover the laptop in a sheet, then we rush out of the room and separate. Another idea crosses my mind as it nears the five minute mark. I race towards the library, knowing a place I can hide. Since I am so skinny and short, I can fit behind one of the corner bookshelves that Dad moved once but never put back fully.
In the library the noise is off books falling off the selves, which was purposely picked by Dick. I throw a few books to the ground like I was trying to climb one of the selves, turn the lights almost completely off, then I squeeze behind the slightly moved bookshelf in the back corner.
If I was stronger I would've moved the other bookshelves to make his one stand out less go Dad's well trained eye, but I am only nine and when I picked this spot I didn't even think about that factor.
"To late now.." I mumble, sighing as I lean against the wall and close my eyes. Without even trying to fight it, I let myself get lost in my thoughts.
If Dad comes in here there is no chance to escape, without even meaning to I've boxed myself into a literal corner. The bookshelf is an obvious outlier compared to the rest of the room, and it is a spot Dad probably knows I could fit into. The sounds may throw him off at first, but he'll realize eventually what Dick and I did.
The gadgets we have in our homemade utility belts won't do much good without a thought of an exit plan, besides the main door. Dad would shake his head in massive disappointment if we tried to just race to it when possibly found out. The vents are out, since the grates are to noisy to open and they're freezing cold from the air conditioning which isn't ideal for someone in shorts and a tank top.
Maybe I could climb onto the selves if he comes in, and drop a smoke pellet as he moves towards the corner Im in and then go for the main entrance. Where would I go then?
The kitchen has a dumb waiter up to the second floor and down to the basement, but it is noisy and slow. Now, I could climb the wires up to the second floor but Dad would kill me for doing something so dangerous and then ground me. Or he would be proud, but who could ever tell..
My eyes open when I hear the quiet creek of the door opening, Dad is here. To late to think of a major plan, but let's just try what I thought of. The final one, I mean. Silently I climb the self I am on and peer into the almost completely dark room once I am crouching on top of it.
In the dim light I can see a blurred figure advancing slowly towards where I was just sitting, using a flashlight. Definitely Dad.
As I crawl across the top of the selves I reach into my pocket and take out a smoke bomb, well pellet. It will give me about ten seconds of a thin smoke cover, but in this light it should work well enough to get past Dad and through the door out of this library...hopefully.
I actually manage to make it to the shelf closest to the door without Dad noticing, which is surprising. Here comes the real challenge, dropping the smoke pellet and landing safely. Let's do this..
The smoke pellet lands on the floor and the thin smoke floods the room, making Dad cough. I drop down to the floor and gasp, I fall a grasp my ankle. Tears brim my eyes as I stand, limping towards the door. I-I won't lose, I won't disappoint Dad.
Someone picks me up as my hand just grazes the cold metal of the door knob, Dad throws me over his shoulder and turns the light on. I sigh, and rest my head on my hands.
"Nice try Lilla," Dad comments as he sets me down carefully on a nearby table, lifting my ankle up carefully.
"Thanks Dad, have you found Dick yet?" I ask, tilting my head as Dad carefully wraps my ankle in some type of ace bandage.
"Yep, he is downstairs watching tv. I found him in the gym hiding behind some of the mats." Dad finishes wrapping my ankle and picks me up, carrying me out of the library.
I huff, "So the speakers didn't do anything?"
Dad shakes his head, actually chuckling. "Lilla, you and Dick managed to hide for about twenty minutes. Compared to normal criminals, who can only last a minute or two." Dad sounds proud, even with the tone being hidden.
I smile slightly, giggling when I see Dick stuffing his mouth full of cookies as he watches cartoons.
"Dickie, save some of the cookies for me!" I squeal, trying to get out of Dad's arms and to the cookies Dick has.
Dad chuckles quietly and sets me down on the couch next to Dick, who immediately hands me a small stack of cookies.
"Oh, what happened to your ankle Lils?" Dick asks as he glances down at my wrapped ankle, eating another cookie.
"I just fell wrong when trying to avoid Dad, I'll be fine. It's just a sprain, right?" I ask Dad as I go to look at him.
"He's gone, isn't he?" Dick asks without even looking.
I cross my arms and huff, "Yep, he's gone. Out on patrol, I wonder when he will let us go with him."
Dick shrugs as he pokes my nose and watches the cartoon that's playing on the tv. "Maybe soon, I don't know sis."
I sigh and lay my feet out across Dick as I rest against the couch, closing my eyes. "Next time, we should have the speakers play different sounds at different times so it doesn't tip of it the plan so easily.." I mumbling quietly as I yawn.
I assume Dick nods, but Im already mostly out of it. Im really tired from training today, it was an all day marathon of exercise.
BANG!
I sit up suddenly from the couch, the TV is quiet with cartoons still playing and it is giving the room a faint eerie blue glow. What was that noise and where is Dick?
CRASH!
It sounds like someone is breaking in through the window down the hallway, oh no oh no! I need to find Dick, and Alfred now! Wait, Alfred is out of town. So it is just Dick and myself at home. This is bad, so very very bad!
I reach over to the phone near the couch and pick up while dialing 911.
"Yes this is the police?" I hear the operator answer.
"Please, send officers to Wayne manor. S-someone is breaking in!" I whisper shakily.
"I'll send them right away, please just hide dear."
I hang up and stand off of the couch, glancing around to make sure no one is nearby. I limp down the hall quietly as I try and keep as much weight off of my right ankle as possible, so I don't make any noise at all.
The men breaking in on the other hand, are pretty loud for thieves. They must think the house is empty I guess.
"Come on you idiots, we need to get in and get out before the security system turns back on." The voice is further away now, and heading towards Dad's office.
Crimeny! This really isn't good, I need to find Dick and we need to call the police. I just need to find my brother to make sure he's safe, since I've already called the cops. I creep along the walls, staying in the shadows just like Dad is teaching us to do.
"Hey! Let me go!" I hear someone shout from down the hall. Dick!
I start sprinting as fast as I can with a limp towards Dick's room, I need to help him!
"Shut up you little brat! Now sit tight until we find the other charity case, then your daddy ward will pay us a lot of money to get you two back." One of the men says.
I can almost hear Dick smirk as he chuckles, and he probably rolled his eyes. Okay, how am I going to do this. If I open the door they may shoot him or me, they probably would just hurt him but I can't risk that.
The vents, maybe. I don't hear it going so it possibly turned off, I can crawl through and drop a smoke pellet then grab Dick and hide until the police come. Except there is no way for me to open the vents, Im not strong enough yet...
"Well look what we have here!" A voice calls from behind me, crud.
I spin quickly and dodge the disgusting looking hands of the man who tried to grab me. Using my good foot I kick the guy in the knee and then I jump onto his shoulder and barely manage to pull him down to the ground. And well, guess I can't be stealthy anymore.
I open the door and find Dick barely managing to fight a guy twice his size. My brother makes eye contact with me while nodding then shouts, "Move number two!"
I smile and run (with a lot of pain) at the large man and jump onto his back as Dick grabs the man's arm and tries to pull him down towards the floor. The man topples to the floor with a very loud thud.
Quickly I jump off of the shoulders and Dick grabs my hand, he drags me out of the room and towards the front door where police sirens are wailing.
Cops rush in to the house and some go further into the house to apprehend the people who broke in and one jogs over to us. He looks down at us, frowning faintly.
"Are you two okay?" He asks softly as he guides us out of the house.
My brother and I nod, still staying close together. "Yep, we are okay."
They interview us for what feels like hours, and Dad came home from his "meeting" and stayed with us as Dick described his side of the ordeal. From what he says, Dick hid in his room as the men searched through it. He was forced out when the final man remaining in his room found him in his closet.
Once the police leave Dad starts to look around the house for any clues the police skipped and he makes Dick and me sleep in the Batcave.
We lay on cots in the corner near the Batwing, and Dick is already asleep. It takes me awhile to fall asleep because a few thoughts keep crossing my mind.
Why did someone try to rob Dad, and was it more than a simple robbery? I guess we will find out eventually, hopefully.