-----

Author's Note: Sorry for the delay, I've been kinda lazy. As I post this storms are pounding around me as the Northeast of the country is under some nasty thunderstorms. I'm really proud of this chapter because I got to write some stuff I wanted to write for a long time. I'd like to djkauf for the editing and DC Comics for the characters.

-----

Chapter Sixteen:

It was snowing pretty hard as I slipped through the top floor window into the room. I had to be careful because even though I knew the place was deserted, I had the police to contend with now. I pulled my goggles down over my eyes, turning them on as I did so. Immediately the darkness was lit up in green. I took a moment to collect myself before I began to look around. My breath was visible as it left my mouth and it felt colder than last night. I pulled my cape around me, trying to not to think about the cold or my nipples poking against the leather. I guess I should have taken Babs up on the new upgrade offer. But doing so probably would have put me out of commission for a few days and right now that was something that I couldn’t do.

So I gritted my teeth and took the cold.

“What are we looking for?” I asked as I scanned the room, still crouched in front of the window.

Babs' voice came back a few second later. “Anything we might have missed last night.”

I nodded. After leaving this place last night---having not caught the doctor like we wanted---Babs and I had a talk at her place. It was clear that Dr. Fright had set us up. I should have known something was up when she kept leading me around in circles for the last few days. I’m not sure how she knew we were on to her but it was clear she wasn’t as stupid as I originally thought. During our discussion last night, Babs was surprised she didn’t lead us into a bigger trap though. It was clear the doctor wasn’t one of those mustache twirling, black hat type of villains or else the room would have exploded as soon as I walked into it. But she was smart. As soon as I was only a house or two away, I heard the sirens. When I got to Babs, it was already on the news. Apparently, the doctor called the police, tipping them off that I was going to be there. So definitely not stupid.

“We’re getting close to something” was Babs’ response and that’s why I was back here tonight. She was convinced the building was more than just a place to set me up. So after a bit of arguing---I thought it was pointless---I found myself back at this dead end. Looking around the room, it was clear the police had already gone over every inch of it with a fine toothed comb. There was yellow crime tape on the door and those little yellow markers you see on crime shows. It was clear the police had found something here, something I’d been stupid enough to leave behind. I knew from the news that the guy I beat up on the roof was now in police custody but he wasn’t talking. Not that he could. Apparently, I got the drop on him so he didn’t see a thing. The police thought he might be working for me, which was a joke.

“What do you see?” asked Babs, cutting into my thoughts.

I sighed. I did a quick preliminary scan of the room. There was nothing. I stood up and started walking about, making sure not to disturb anything the police forensic team might have set up. I pulled open the dresser drawers but found nothing. Then I checked the sofa, thoroughly going over every inch of it. I looked at the mannequin in the window, the one that fooled Babs last night. When I got to her place, I had a laugh at her expense about it. She hadn’t been amused. There were a few pictures on the walls but nothing behind them. Then I saw a desk in the corner that looked rather promising. I opened the two drawers but they were empty. As I ran my fingers gently underneath the edge of it, I heard a faint click. At first, I thought it was a little catch I discovered, maybe a hidden compartment in the desk itself. Then I realized it was actually coming from behind me.

I cursed my stupidity. I guess I should have checked the hallway first. Because I wasn’t alone in this place.

My body seized up and I slowly turned around, weighing my options in my head. I was one girl and whoever it was had a gun. When I was fully turned around, the figure took a step forward. In the dark, he probably couldn’t see me very well but I could see him. I groaned inwardly. It was that Detective from the hospital, Nick Gage, the one that was in charge of the Thrill Task Force. I cursed again. What the hell was he doing here? I looked from his face to the gun in his hand. It was then that I realized it wasn’t pointed at me. He was looking past me; I turned and followed his gaze. I had left the window open, the snow and the wind was coming in. The shabby curtain was flapping. I rolled my eyes, realizing my rookie mistake.

Gage sighed and holstered his weapon, walking across the room. He walked right past me without reacting. It was apparently dark enough not to see me, which was a good thing. I watched as he shut the window and cursed.

“You’re jumping at shadows, Nicky,” he said softly to himself.

I made a split second decision. I pulled my goggles up, took a deep breath and responded. “Not shadows, Detective,” I said, using that dark and sinister voice I created for this persona. “Something much scarier.”

He snapped around quickly. I could barely see him move in the dark but I heard him wrestle his gun out of the holster. A second later, a small light cut through the darkness. The beam swept toward me but I side stepped it. “Who’s there?” he demanded, in a shaky but commanding voice.

I stepped softly through the room, getting close to his left ear. “I think you know who I am, Detective.”

He snapped around, raising the gun. I snapped my hand onto his wrist, quickly disarming him. He stumbled back, bumping into the dresser. He cursed. The beam went up and hit me in the face. Then ever so slower, it moved down the length of my body to the tips of my boots. “You” he finally said, surprised. He recovered quickly. “You’re interfering in official police business. This is an active crime scene, if you don’t…”

I interrupted. “I know your procedure and frankly I don’t give a damn.”

It took him a few seconds to response. “Then you know you’re interfering with an active, ongoing investigation.”

I sighed. Then I slowly walked around so I stood in front of him. “A few weeks ago your Task Force got an anonymous tip in the mail, photos of a delivery truck, showing crates and men in animal masks. Did they not?”

He nodded. “How did you know that?”

I smirked. “Because I was the one who took them.” I let that little revelation sink in for a few moments then continued. “Without me, Detective, your investigation would be going nowhere.”

He paused, thinking over his words carefully. “Why would you be helping us?”

I rolled my eyes. “Because contrary to what you believe, I am not above the law, Detective. I’m not out to make enemies out of the Chicago Police Force. We’re on the same side and we both want the same thing.”

“To get Thrill off the streets.”

“Exactly.”

He sat on the edge of the dresser, relaxing a bit, dropping his guard. “Is this the part where we decide to work together, pool our resources.”

I shrugged. “That depends on you and what information you have.”

He sighed. “Not much I’m afraid.”

I weighed my options. Babs had already tapped into the police computers and he wasn’t lying. We were both on the right track but he didn’t have nearly as much as I did. He did however have the resources and connections I did not. Babs said there wasn’t much she couldn’t do with computers but she wanted to avoid doing anything overtly illegal with them. This wasn’t like a comic book where we could hack government systems all willy nilly---her words, not mine---without getting caught. This was the real world and like the real world, there were bad consequences for doing stuff like that.

I decided to throw him a bone. “Dr. Linda Friitawa”

It took him a few seconds to realize I was sharing. As soon as he did realize it, he took out a pen and scribbled the name down. “What’s her take in all this?”

“She’s a chemist. She used to work for Alva but now she’s on her own. She’s the one behind Thrill. This whole thing is a demented experiment of hers.”

Gage sighed heavily. “And this place?”

“I’ve been tracking her activities as of late. She led me here last night but it was a dead end. She must have slipped out the back because there was only a goon here when I got here.”

He nodded. “We found a secret door leading from this place. It led to an alley.”

He started asking more questions but I only half paid attention to them. Instead, I turned away from him and pulled my goggles back down. I scanned the room. I walked to the hallway and looked down it; there were two more rooms I didn’t bother to check last night. He figured out pretty quickly that I wasn’t there so he followed. His flashlight beam cut around the darkness behind me but I paid it little attention. I pushed open the first door on the left but the room was barren. The second room was the same. The third one was the last in the hall. When I opened the door and looked inside, I saw the door in question. The forensic team had been here too because there was more yellow tape across the doorway. I stepped under it and slipped inside. Gage sighed but followed.

“There’s nothing here,” he said. “My team went over every inch of this place.”

I nodded. “But that’s when you thought you were looking for me.”

I walked through the room to the door. I looked through it, seeing a staircase leading to a narrow entryway below. Just like he said. I pulled my head back inside and looked around some more. He was right; there was nothing of interest here. “What did you get out of the roof goon?”

He shook his head. “I can’t discuss that with you.”

I turned to him; he lowered his light so as not to blind me. I searched his face and found the answer I was looking for. “He didn’t talk did he?” Gage said nothing, I smirked.

“Get me into the room with him; I’ll get him to talk.”

Gage sighed. “He wouldn’t say much of anything. But he kept talking about someone in a mask. Apparently, they all wear masks, so no faces. But the guy in charge, his mask is black, looks like a wicked skull. We thought he was messing with us.”

Black mask huh? I shook my head. “That’s your man. Too many masks to be a coincidence.”

He nodded. “It doesn’t matter; my boss thinks it’s a load of bull.”

“Go over his head. Take what you know to the Commissioner.”

“He’ll never listen to me.”

“Yes he will” I said, “Gordon is a good man. He wants to catch these guys as much as you do. I assure you he will listen.”

Gage nodded. “What about you?”

“I’m going to find the doctor.”

He nodded. “How can I find you so we can swap notes?”

I stepped backwards, allowing the shadow to consume me. “I’ll find you.”

__________________________________

“You’re sure we’re not cutting into valuable scum bag seeking time?” asked Jen as I down the driver’s side window.

I frowned and shook my head. “I think the city can wait a few hours while me and my BFF go shopping.”

She ran around to the other side and got in. I waited until her seat belt was on before I drove us to our destination. Today was Girl’s Day Out. I tried to talk Babs into joining us but she had some schoolwork she had to catch up on. She had other work too, but she didn’t say what that might be. I think the two of us had been working too hard but I wasn’t able to convince her of that. It took Jen about a week and a half to convince me of it, actually. That’s how long it’s been since Dr. Fright gave me the slip. The day after I spoke to Detective Gage, Babs and I put all our resources into picking up the doctor’s trail again but with no luck. She knew I had been following her before and led me to a dead end then she went underground. Babs exhausted every resource she had but no one had heard a thing. I did the same, not that I had any resources. Since that day, I stalked every single place I thought she might turn up. My only ally besides “Oracle” was Red Robin.

But he was in the same boat as me. For the last few nights though, the two of us had pretty much succeeded in putting an end to most of the Parks. Our exploits were plastered across every headline and all over the news now. If the druggies weren’t in jail, they were running scared. Last night was so dead that the two of us actually had an impromptu make out session. I’m not sure how that one started but it almost ended with me pulling off my cowl and showing him who I really was. It never got that far though; he pulled away when he realized what I’d been trying to do. He said that the mystery was half the fun but it was driving me nuts. It was bad enough that I had to live a dual life, lying to my uncle. Keeping my mouth shut when other girls started talking about the cool Bat. But to have to hide my face and lie to him as well, it was starting to get to me.

The lies were starting to get to me.

The only one who didn’t seem to care either way was Detective Gage. After our first meeting, I sent him another peace offering: a copy of what I got off the laptop. He put it to good use almost immediately. The police were able to put people on the shipping routes. They had already seized several of those big white trucks and busted up two warehouses where the drug was being stored. For once, I was happy that this was ending. We were hurting Thrill and it felt good. It was starting to show, too. The other night, Red Robin and I busted up a Park where they actually had some masked goons as guards. Which meant we were scaring someone. The guards were armed with machine guns but it didn’t take us long to make short work of them. It felt good to make this “Black Mask” character suffer. There was going to be a whole lot more suffering for him as soon as I got my hands on him, too. Gage was only too happy to help. Since our first meeting, the two of us had met three more times, each at different locations, all of Babs’ choosing. She still didn’t trust him. I think she thought he was going to lead me into an ambush and have his men arrest me but I knew better. I’m not sure how I knew but there wasn’t something about the detective that told me he was a good guy.

“Earth to Steph” said Jen, waving her hand in front of my face.

It was a good thing we were no longer driving or my daydreaming could have been dangerous.

“Sorry” I said, unbuckling my seatbelt. “I was just thinking.”

“You’ve been spacing out a lot lately; work isn’t getting to you, is it?”

I shook my head. “Just have a lot on my mind?”

She nodded. “How are things with Onyx?”

Onyx and I were doing good. Aside from all my nocturnal activities, training with Onyx was definitely keeping me busy. You’d think with everything on my plate---training, Bat activities, schoolwork---I’d be burned out. But I was able to find a balance between it all that worked nicely. I had a few hours after training where I was able to do schoolwork; then I hit the nights for a few hours before coming home and going to bed. But I could definitely use a vacation. It was nearing the end of November now. The Talent Show was a week away then there were two more weeks before mid-terms and Winter Break. I’m not usually one to celebrate things like that, but I could definitely use that Break. Most of my friends already had plans---Jen was going skiing in Aspen, Arnold was going to visit his grandparents, even Henry was going somewhere.

Jen frowned. “You work too hard.”

I sighed then smiled. “But not today I’m not, today I’m all yours.”

Gotta love Saturdays, right?

We were a whirlwind after that. Jen had finally gotten into the shopping spirit. Before, it was hard to get her to go into any of the stores I wanted but now she was the one dragging me to them. I think she liked that I was now a real girl. Not that I wasn’t before but I had been a little self conscious about some of the places. Like Victoria’s Secret for instance, I never would have gone in there. Now I didn’t even bat an eyelash when we went inside. It was the same with the other stores that I was uncomfortable going in to. Before I felt like an interloper but now, I felt like I belonged there.

The two of us spent two good hours shopping---mainly window shopping but it was still fun. We went from one store to the next, browsing the wares. We were having so much fun that I was bound to not pay attention to what I was doing. I had dragged Jen into a motorcycle supply store. I’d been thinking about it a lot lately. I was convinced that my Focus was hardly a vehicle to be driving around as The Bat. It was actually Babs who suggested I think about maybe a motorcycle. I suppose it made sense---it was fast, could get into places that cars could not and seemed to be a favorite of other crime fighters. Apparently, a certain green clad archer drove one, so if it was good enough for her then it was good enough for me too.

I was browsing through the aisle of motorcycle jackets when I bumped into someone. He groaned and winced. I looked up to apologize when I found myself face to face with Tim.

“Watch where you’re….” he started but stopped when he saw me. “Oh, Stephanie”

“Tim” I said with about as much enthusiasm as he had just shown me.

“What are doing in here?”

I glared at him. “Shopping.”

He looked really confused. He opened his mouth to say something else but winced. At first, I thought I hurt him when I ran into him. But there was no way walking into him would have done that. I looked him up and down. He was clutching his side, trying to hide it but not doing a very good job. When he saw me looking, he dropped his hand but the damage had already been done.

“Did you do something to your side?” I asked with genuine concern.

He shook his head. “It’s nothing. I took a spill on the bike the other day.”

I looked closer. I could tell it wasn’t nothing. There was strain in his voice. “It’s not nothing.”

Jen decided to come up behind me just about then. “Wow, you don’t look so good” she said, noticing him wincing and how pale he looked. “You should go see a doctor.”

“I’m fine,” he said, trying to push past the two of us.

We stood our ground.

“You’re not fine,” I said as I grabbed his arm and dragged him out of the store.

Jen followed closely on our heels. I dragged him the few blocks back to my Focus. I forced him into the backseat against his protests. He was more worried about his stupid motorcycle then his own safety. He refused to go anywhere until Jen agreed to stay behind to look after it. With that settled, I got behind the wheel and drove him to Leslie’s. When I pulled up in front of the clinic a few minutes later, I felt kinda bad. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d been here. It wasn’t that I was avoiding the place but I’d been so busy with everything that I just didn’t have the time to come anymore. Not that she needed me anymore anyway. I ran into Holly a few weeks ago and she told me how well Leslie was getting on with the new help she had. Between Holly and the new girl, Leslie was doing well. That still made me feel bad, though.

When I pushed open the door and dragged Tim inside, the place was deserted. Well when I say deserted, I mean there were no other patients. Leslie was sitting at her desk; I’m not sure where Holly and the new girl were. She looked up when she saw me and a huge smile spread across her face. I’d talked to Leslie a lot on the phone---she didn’t know about my nocturnal activities---but she knew I’d been keeping myself busy with training and things like that. Though she thought the training was self defense---I felt bad lying to her but she would have strangled me if she knew what I was really doing.

“Stephanie” she said, standing up and coming around the desk. “What a surprise? Is everything all right dear?”

“I’m fine,” I said as I pushed Tim over to one of the exam tables, forcing him to sit down. “It’s him.”

Leslie frowned. “Timothy what have you been up to now?”

It surprised me that she knew him. I looked at him. “Been in here before?”

He didn’t answer but Leslie did for him. “Tim comes in here just about every week now. He’s always doing something stupid and reckless. What is it today, Mr. Drake?”

He frowned. “It’s nothing. I just got a little banged up that’s all.”

Leslie nodded then looked from me to him. “Stephanie be a dear and help him with his shirt.”

I turned about six different shades of pink. “Me?”

Leslie smiled. “You still know how to treat someone don’t you?”

I nodded. Then I quickly instructed him to hold up his arms. He did so with a bit of pain and I pulled his shirt quickly over his head. The first thing I noticed was how ripped it was. Tim definitely worked out. My heart skipped a beat until I noticed the second thing. His body was covered in scars and old bruises. I’d never seen so many. It was like he deliberately went out and put himself in bad situations. I found myself absently reaching forward, tracing my finger along a rather large scar on his chest. He didn’t seem to notice but Leslie did.

“Mr. Drake here thinks he’s a hot rod. He does a lot of street racing. He’s in here all the time with cuts and scrapes. It’s a wonder he’s even standing with all the marks on his body.”

Tim blushed. Then looked at me, realizing I what I was doing. “I got that one the day my Dad died.”

I pulled my hand back quickly. “I’m sorry.”

He grabbed my hand. “Its OK, it was a long time ago.”

My heart skipped another beat. I looked up into his eyes and saw a different side of him. This wasn’t the same jerk who used to pester me all the time. There was a sadness in those eyes today. The face that looked down on me was the face of someone that I wanted to hug and comfort. I inwardly groaned at that thought. Did I just think that? Did I just admit I wanted to comfort Tim Drake? Yuck.

I recovered quickly. “What does Ariana think of all these scars?”

He sighed. “She hasn’t seen them” Then he quickly added. “And she won’t ever get a chance to…we’re done.”

My heart skipped a beat again. Oh crap, stop it.

“I’m sorry to hear that” I said softly.

“I’m not.”

Leslie interrupted up us then. She gave me the materials I needed to tend to Tim’s latest “battle” scar. It wasn’t really a scar, most like a wicked looking bruise. I went to work without saying a thing. I didn’t really do much to it besides putting some ice on it, packing it tightly. Then I wrapped it as tight as I could, causing him to wince. When I tied him off, I put it in a little bow. I put all my bandages that way, it was like my signature. After that, he put his shirt back on. Then he sat and listened as Leslie and I talked a bit. I half expected him to leave but he waited until I was done. We left together and I took him back to his bike. Jen grumbled a bit when we finally showed.

“Took you long enough,” she said, standing with her hands on her hips.

“Leslie wanted to catch up a bit.”

Tim climbed out of the back. “Thanks for the help” he turned to Jen, who handed him his helmet. ‘Thanks for looking after the bike.”

She nodded. “Anytime Mr. Gloomy.”

He didn’t respond to that. Instead, he walked over to it and climbed on board. Before he started the engine, he turned back to me. “You and Bruce need to get over whatever it is that’s been eating away at the two of you; it’s kinda lonely in the mansion.”

I opened my mouth but he didn’t wait around long enough to hear my reply. He gunned the engine and took off. I hated that about him. I’m fumed, furious at him for being so sweet before and a jerk now. That man pissed me off. If I ever saw him again, I was going to kick his ass for sure.

“We done for today?” asked Jen.

I shook my head. “Nope” Then more cheerfully I said. “This is a girl’s day out; we still have a few hours to kill before I have to go.”

She smiled. “Good because I saw the cutest dress that you need to try on.”

I laughed and allowed her to drag me down the street.

__________________________________

“I hate the snow, you know that,” I grumbled, wrapping the cape around me.

Babs laughed. “Hey you know my stand on your freezing.”

“I’m seriously thinking about taking you up on that offer.”

We had actually talked a little bit more about it. There was someone she had in mind, someone willing to design a new suit for me. I didn’t really know any specifics, other than that it was one of Babs’ contacts. Or rather one of Oracle’s. It was all hush hush but it was kinda cool. I’d been thinking about it a lot lately. In the last few fights I’d been in, I’d been stabbed at least three times and shot at more times than I can count. It might be nice to have something bulletproof protecting me; hell, even stab proof if there is such a thing. I even talked it over with Jen the other day, telling her about “Oracle’s” offer. I wanted to make sure that it wouldn’t upset her if I decided to wear something new. She was cool with it; in fact, she said she always thought this costume was going to be short-lived to begin with.

I tried to focus more on the situation at hand though. Daydreaming got me in trouble; I lost Dr. Fright the last time because of it. I wasn’t going to make that same mistake twice. Not that this had anything to do with that. Tonight we were on a different “case”.

Someone was breaking into electronics stores, smashing up the places and looting them. It was probably a bunch of kids but it was worth looking into. Babs was able to discern a pattern in the robberies and traced it back to a small apartment on the East Side of the Narrows.

I shifted, adjusting my body. I was on the apartment building across the street, hiding among the TV antenna and chimney stack that was there. It was only lightly snowing tonight but it had to be thirty degrees. When I took a breath, I could see it in front of me. I wish I’d been smart enough to at least design something to cover my mouth. The lower part of my face was the only flesh of mine exposed to the elements and it was so cold I could barely feel it. But that was the least of my problems. I could see clearly into the apartment across the way. The robbers were inside; there were at least six of them. Not much of a problem usually but there was something about them that felt off. For one thing, they were just too organized. I’d read some of the police reports. They were smash and grab jobs but they went out of their ways to bust up everything, like they were trying to make a statement. And even now, looking at them there just seemed to be something that didn’t feel right.

“Nice night for a stroll in the snow” said a voice as someone slipped into view beside me.

I turned to Red Robin and frowned. “Took you long enough.”

He sighed. “I ran into a mugging.”

I looked at his left hand as he flexed his fingers. He wore black gloves like me but unlike mine, his were both splattered in blood. I frowned.”Is that what I think it is?” I asked, coldly.

“It got complicated.”

“Everything always is with you.”

Don’t get me wrong, I loved all the help he could provide but his tactics were starting to get to me. I didn’t like that he resorted to such brutal means. It wasn’t just taking out Thrill Seekers either---that I understood. It was how he handled everyone. The other night I had to pull him off a purse snatcher. He tried to beat the guy’s head into the ground. Two nights before that, he actually started to strangle a car thief. There was a fine line and unfortunately more often than not, Red Robin danced around it quite a bit. No amount of talking to him about it seemed to help. Babs even texted him on occasion, telling him to take it down a notch but he completely ignored her now. He was a loose cannon and it scared me to see what he might be capable of.

I narrowed my eyes at him. He sighed. “I’m sorry, OK, it got out of hand. He had a gun, tried to shoot me in the face.”

“There are other ways.”

“Save me your Zen bull, at least for tonight.”

I sighed. I didn’t want to argue. We had a job to do. I decided to concentrate on that. “We have six perps, lightly armed. I’ve been tracking them all night; they’re responsible for a string of electronics store robberies.”

Red Robin sighed. “Let the cops have them.”

I grit my teeth. “What, afraid to go up against someone who might fight back for a change?”

It was a low blow, even for me. Anger flashed before his eyes and even before I knew it, he reared back and jumped off the roof. He glided across the small gap between buildings. But he didn’t go for the roof like I would have done. Instead, he went right for the window. It happened so fast. I cursed as he smashed through the glass. There was a muffled thump and a lot of shouting. I cursed again then jumped myself. I was a lot more nimble than he was. It felt like I floated across. I went through the same window, landing in a roll. When I came up, Red Robin was in the midst of a fight. His opponent was the biggest in the room, like he had something to prove. The guy was huge but didn’t stand much of a chance. I moved to offer assistance but had my own problems.

Three of the others came at me at once. They tried to come from different sides, boxing me in. I jumped in air, scissor kicking my legs. I caught one in the face, the other in the chin. When I came back down the third brandished a knife. He swung wildly, the blade sinking into the fabric of my cape. I moved slightly, rolling my body. I pulled the knife from his hand and then rolled some more, moving close so I could drive the back of my hand into the bridge of his nose. He fell back, I slammed my heel into the top of his foot and down he went. The other two in the room went for Red Robin. My partner had his back to them so he never saw them coming. I launched myself across the room, going in high. I reached out and grabbed their heads, slamming them together before I fell on top of both of them, driving them to the ground with me. Red Robin turned back slightly with a smirk. That’s when his opponent took the advantage. I’m not sure what happened exactly. The big guy saw an opening and slammed his fist into Red Robin’s left side. The color drained from Robin’s face, he gasped and crumpled. The big guy started pounding on him as soon as he went to the ground.

I threw myself at the big guy. It was a mistake.

He swung a hand out quicker than I could react. It hit me in the side of the head, sending me spiraling. I hit the floor hard. He drove his foot into my back, knocking the wind out of me. Hey, I’m a good fighter but even the best get knocked down every once in a while. I tried to get up but he slammed his foot on me again. He brought it down for a third time but I rolled. His foot hit the floor with a thud, breaking the floorboards. That’s when Robin slammed into him, there was a snap and the two of them crashed into the far wall together. There was a flurry of blows, all coming from Robin’s direction. The man was clearly down but Robin was an animal.

I scrambled to my feet and managed to barely pull him off the guy.

“He’s down” I said, pushing him away.

I put myself between the two of them.

Red Robin was clutching his side, panting heavily. “What the hell was that?”

“You could have killed him,” I said, pointing to the groaning man on the floor.

“Better him than me.”

There was a groan from the other side of the room. Red Robin moved to intercept the man but I was quicker. I grabbed him by his coat, lifting him off the ground. As I did so, a Chipmunk mask dropped to the floor. I groaned, another damn set up. The man looked at the mask and then at me. For a second his eyes were unfocused until he saw the Bat on my chest. Then the color drained from his face. He tried to struggle out of my grasp but I wasn’t letting go.

“Where is he?” I asked, in my cold tone.

He shook his head. “I’m not telling you anything.”

Red Robin came up behind me. “Tell us or I’ll turn you into a bloody pulp.”

My perp eyed the guy on the floor and gulped. “We never met him. The False Faces never meet the boss. He sends someone, usually a woman. She was the one who told us to knock over those stores, said it would get your attention.”

“Another trap” Red Robin spit. “I’m starting to get tired of this shit.”

“Where do you meet the doctor?” I asked, ignoring my partner’s comment.

The man shook his head. “Usually here.”

Damn it. I pulled him close, my face inches from his. “Tell your boss if you see him that I’m coming for him.”

I let him go, tossing him slightly. He landed awkwardly and then took off, running through a doorway and out into the hall. I listened to his scurrying feet before turning to Red Robin. I was so pissed off at him. I was ready to chew him out until I saw how bad he was. He was no longer standing next to me; instead, he was on the ground. I dropped down next to him. He wasn’t clutching his side anymore but the fabric there was torn. There was some blood but nothing too bad. I looked through the gash in his uniform to see a bandage underneath. He barely paid attention as I poked my fingers through, feeling along his side. He did wince when I touched him. I parted the cloth to take a better look. What I saw sent ice water along my veins.

The bandage was fresh, probably done earlier today but I knew that. I knew that because I put it there. I looked up into his face, really looking this time. He had the same piercing blue eyes, the same chin and mouth. I’m not sure why I hadn’t seen it before but it was so clear to me now that I nearly toppled backwards in shock.

“Tim?” I asked, not believing the name that came out of my mouth.

His eyes opened wide. He was just as surprised but he recovered quickly. He jumped to his feet, wincing as he did so. He ran for the window and would have gotten there if I hadn’t been faster. I reached out and grabbed his arm. He snapped around, smacking me in the face with the back of his hand. He paused after the blow, just as shocked and as afraid as I was.

I snapped back to face him, sighing. “You are Tim, Tim Drake aren’t you?”

“How do you know that name?”

Well all gloves are off I guess. I took a deep breath and grabbed the top of my cowl, giving it a good tug. I usually held my hair in place with a few bobby pins. When I pulled the mask off, they went with it, bringing my blonde locks cascading down around my face. I threw my head back, my hair with it. I stood before him, unmasked, ready to face him with my true face. I took a deep breath and waited.

“Stephanie?”

“Hi” I said, smiling.

The look on his face said it all. For a moment, he was shocked maybe surprised. He smiled for only a second then that quickly vanished. What he did next I’ll never forget. He turned and jumped out the window. As soon as the momentary shock wore off, I ran to catch him. I got to the window a second too late because he was gone. It didn’t stop me from staring though, as my heart pounded in my chest.

Tim Drake was the Red Robin.

Author’s note: As I’m sure all of you know, comments are life blood to an author. I’m not begging or demanding, but I certainly would appreciate anything you have to say (or ask). It doesn’t have to be long and involved, just give me your reaction to the story. Thanks in advance...EOF