Thread: The Caged Bird (vertigis + Vandesdelca)

Carrie Kelly knelt in darkness, listening to the muffled voices and footfalls of the men below. She counted six of them in total. That was a lot. Even for Robin that was a lot. And she was Robin now. After five years of serving as Batmans loyal sidekick-in-training, she deserved that title and then some. Hed taught her a lot and she had changed too. Sometimes she was a little scared at just how much. The things he had her doing now were a far cry from ducking Mutant gangers and putting eyes out with her slingshot. She was fighting a war for him. A war against crime and corruption both. She loved him though, like a father, and didnt regret a moment of it, no matter how dangerous it got. Dangerous like now. These men wanted to kill her and not just in some general sense of the word. They specifically wanted to kill her Carrie Kelly, the Robin. It was an ambush laid by the Royal Flush Gang, a mercenary group hired by the surviving crime families to hunt down the remainder of Batmans organization. She was the prize catch, although rumors that the Bat himself still lived were growing stronger every day. Their setup was good too, they were definitely professionals, but someone had leaked their plans and shed come prepared. Even then Batman had been suspicious, not wanting her to go alone, only giving into her pleas after much cajoling. She wasnt just a kid now after all. It was at least partly her own choice to make and the thought of striking back at the men hunting her was too sweet an opportunity to pass over. Besides the men in waiting below, shed found three snipers positioned in the adjacent building. Touching the controls on her utility belt, the bombs went off simultaneously, collapsing floors and ceilings and walls onto the startled men, likely crushing bones and burying them in rubble but otherwise keeping them alive and breathing as was Batmans way. Their friends below let out a startled cry at the sound of the explosions, and Carrie adjusted the tint of her glasses, turning them an opaque black before bursting down through ceiling panels above them. They had expected smoke, one of the Bats favorite tricks, but she used different tools, and their eyes were entirely unprotected from the flash grenades that exploded around them, searing their retinas. They men flailed blindly, already losing their confidence, some firing their guns up towards the ceiling where shed already broken through, landing in a neat crouch among them. What happened next went quickly. Tripping feet, tangling legs, dislocating joints, Carrie moved swiftly among them, a small lithe yet shapely figure in bright red Kevlar tunic, green gloves and boots, and a short yellow cape above of a thick wave of bright red hair. They had mass and strength on her but were blind and scared, and she had four of them down on the ground, unconscious, before they hardly knew what was happening. One of the remaining men got a lucky blow in with the stock of his rifle between her shoulder blades and she gasped in pain, rolling with the shot, before rising back up to her feet. They traded rapid fire attacks then, blocking, jabbing, her long slim legs extending in powerful kicks that rocked the mans head backwards. Carrie whuffed as a fist connected with her stomach, but it gave her the opening to raise her knee into the mans jaw, shattering teeth and sending him to the floor. The final man wrapped her in a tight bear hug, squeezing the breath from her lungs. The muscles tensed through the dark fabric of outfit and her own slim arms, pinned to her side, were unable to break free. She could still reach her belt though, and pulling one of the R-shurikens free, she jabbed the sharpened end into his thigh. The man yelped, grip loosening, and she squirmed free, foot lancing out to kicking him hard in the knee, a satisfying crack sending him down to the ground, howling. Another swift blow with the pointed two of her boot had him unconscious, and outside a few lingering moans, the room was suddenly quiet again. Carrie smiled to herself. Six men, nine if she counted the ones across the street, and she was still standing, winded and with a few bruises for tomorrow but otherwise perfectly okay. She was getting good. She was getting real good. Even Batman must know it to have let her come alone. Pulling the shuriken from the mans leg, she gathered up her other tools before pulling out a small aerosol can. Scrawling on the front of each mans vest in bright paint she wrote a B then a A and then T until shed spelled out BATMAN on their torsos, a letter for each man. LIVES was then written on the floor, a warning and a threat to any who tried to stop them in their war. As she finished, Carrie took a deep breath and then paused, the hair on the back of her neck rising. She felt like she was being watched. Had she missed one of them? Had there actually been ten? The leaked information had said there would only be nine though. Dropping to a crouch she listened, flipping her glasses to thermal vision as she began to slowly scan the area. A nervous little ball of fear began to form in her stomach like something was wrong, but she pushed it back. Cmon, you have this dont let yourself get spooked Batmans depending on you on Robin You can handle anything.