CHAPTER 7: "Should Be A Piece Of Cake"

Robin took a moment to catch his breath.

Penguin's men outside the refueling station had been easy to incapacitate one after the other stealthily. Save for the last one which put up a better fight than the others.

Mind you, that mobster still ended up getting thrown through a window. Robin had reasoned it would be an effective way to distract the mobsters inside, long enough for him to take them out.

It seemed to of have worked as when he swung in he managed to catch what looked to be the ringleader, a short stubby man with a thin mustache completely by surprise with a kick to the throat.

There were 5 other mobsters who had been dragging a pair of Blackwater prisoners when Robin swung in. They proved to be just as effective as the men outside and he was able to incapacitate them in short order. Not noticing the sound of glass breaking and the lights diminishing in a different part of the station.

'The old man would be pissed I didn't scout the inside before going in,' he thought as he looked at the 6 unconscious Penguin mobsters.

It had been a risk to jump into the refueling station having no idea how many guys were in there. But listening to the screams and hearing silence had convinced him to throw caution to the wind and try to save the Blackwater prisoners.

Taking a scan of the room, he saw and felt no other presence and some relief entered him that the fight was over.

The main floor was fairly illuminated with only the small upper overlook being engulfed in darkness. Besides the ambient noise of the bay and the water gently splashing against the floating dock of the station, it was quiet.

Relaxing his stance he took a cursory glance at the prisoners. One while roughed up looked to be in decent shape. It was the other one that concerned Robin.

A pale face so swollen and bloodied he almost didn't recognize Tommy Hil, lieutenant of the Blackwater gang. It looked like he had taken a few hits from the baseball bat Robin had dodged earlier. He also had an upper thigh wound that had a simple clothed wrapped around it failing to keep the blood soaking the man's leg. With each passing moment, he looked to be getting paler and worse from his injuries.

Robin analyzed the situation, 'I need to handle the mobsters first, then get him medical attention immediately, he is going to be unconscious for a while just from the blood loss alone.'

Deciding to tie up the mobsters first and then perform first aid for the prisoners here, he reached into his cloak for some binding straps.

A voice startled him from his plan, "Umm sorry but...Who are you?"

Swinging himself around in the direction of the voice, Robin quickly switched to grabbing a birdarang and cocked it back ready to throw.

The voice had come from the small upper overlook, and standing there in the darkness he could barely make out a silhouette of a man, his face still obscured in the darkness.

'How did he sneak up on me?!?' Robin felt a bit of nervousness. 'No, he must have just been there the whole time and been silent,' he reasoned.

Still, it was a surprise, even with the darkness and silence helping the silhouette, he should have detected him. The old man had grilled a skill of awareness into him since he first took him on, it took someone with real skill to keep themselves hidden from him. And while he was not as proficient as his mentor, he knew enough to feel unease at this hidden figure. Anyone who could hide that well should be handled carefully.

It was hard to see, but it looked like the man had tilted his head to the side as if curious, "Seriously, who are you? I mean, no offense but I feel as if you are way past curfew... though I suppose I of all people shouldn't judge. The way you took out the men was impressive, proof you know what you are doing. But there is no way your parents are letting you out for this type of extracurricular activity... then again I heard of a merc called Sportmaster who would... I wonder what he is up to these days... wait no, let's get back to you and why you are here and who you are. I mean obviously, you are a vigilante judging from your costume, though I guess you could be one of those other weird criminals... there I go judging again..."

The longwinded dump from the mysterious figure threw Robin for a loop. 'Does he just like to hear himself talk or is he a little crazy,' he thought.

Robin decided to interrupt the tirade, "You talk way too much."

That caused the figure to pause, and lean back as if offended. A moment of silence followed before he responded, "I guess that is fair, it is a bad habit of mine. But also a little rude of you, I mean we just met, shouldn't you be more polite when introducing yourself?"

Robin's eyes narrowed at that, "A crook asking for politeness? That's a new one I haven't heard before."

"Well, let's just say I was raised with the expectations to treat others as I would want to be treated... though I suppose that does not make much sense in the occupation we both have taken on does it?" The figure said mockingly.

Pointing at the mobsters unconscious around Robin he said, "Since we are not discussing names, I don't suppose you would be willing to let them and me go would you?"

Robin just stared back at the figure unblinkingly which brought a long sigh from him.

"I figured not, but it can't hurt a guy to ask," he said in a friendly if still mocking voice.

Just at that moment, the sound of sirens became discernible, GCPD police cars.

At that, the figure stared off in the direction of the noise which gave Robin a chance to fling his birdarang right at the figure. It was a blunted edge one designed to incapacitate perps with a blow to the head, tricky to use but effective when on target. The blade swooshed into the air before stopping dead a few inches from the figure's head, floating in the air.

The figure looked back at Robin and his birdarang, reached out, and plucked it from the air.

"Now that is not very nice is it..." the figure examined the birdarang, "Kind of looks like those batarangs you see on the news..." And as if a lightbulb clicked in his head, the figure sharply looked back at Robin.

"Shit... you're the Robin aren't you?" The figure said.

Robin meanwhile had not moved from his spot. He could already feel his mentor berating him for not following through with his attack after throwing his projectile. But after beating up so many of the other mobsters he thought this one would go down just as easily. He never imagined the guy was a meta!

The figure now seemed to be edging to the back of the overlook for a quick escape.

"Well this has been fun but seeing how you are here the other 'guy' is probs not too far behind." The figure kept inching back from the railing toward's the exit, "How about we end the night here and continue the conversation another time."

At this point, the GCPD sirens were very close, their loud shrill sounds woke Robin from his stupor, "You are not going anywhere, put your hands behind your head..." he began before the figure interrupted him.

"Sorry, no can do. Got to maintain my good track record after all and it really is getting late." The figure stopped for a second, "But tell you what, I don't want to keep you here doing nothing so here is a fun activity for you to do."

The figure then threw a punch in the direction of the staircase leading up to the overlook. A concussive blast erupted from his fist which rippled through the air and collided against the staircase smashing it to pieces.

He then swung around and threw another punch this time into the corner of the main floating dock floor with the same concussive blast slamming into it. A massive chunk of the corner of the floating dock was blasted away causing the whole main floor to groan and crack. The damage done began to flood the floor with water as it began to make the floating dock sink with the buoyancy being disrupted.

Robin meanwhile had jumped into action and was preparing to use his grabble hook to get up to the next level but hesitated seeing the water sink the dock with the mobsters and prisoners on it.

The figure in black gave a quick wave, "Sorry to leave you with a mess, but if you are really the 'boy wonder' I am sure this should be a piece of cake. See ya!" And proceeded to run from the now-collapsing building.

The stress of the dock was now tearing the old refuel station apart, water flooding the inside and timbers cracking and snapping with every passing moment.

Robin looked at where the figure had run and back to the mobsters and prisoners, water was already starting to soak their clothes.

'Damn it,' he thought before he started grabbing the unconscious men.

---------------------------------------

"Yes, boy?"

"Don't come to the docks, we just got hit by Robin and GCPD is already swarming it," James voice shouted from Penguin's private phone, he sound somewhat out of breath.

Penguin meanwhile was in the back of his limo, only a few minutes away from reaching the destination. He immediately ordered his driver to turn around and take him back to the Lounge.

"Eddie as well as at least 12 others are going to be busted tonight," James continued from the phone.

Penguin gripped his umbrella tightly. The others were not such a big loss, but losing Eddie would be a pain to deal with, especially since Eddie knew way too much. He would have to either get him out on parole quickly or deal with him in a more permanent way...

Penguin angrily said, "Was the Batman there as well?"

Silence for a moment, "No, but with Robin being there I knew it would only be a matter of time," James hesitated for a moment, "I never have seen one of the vigilantes before, Robin has to be barely 13, what the hell are these people thinking!?!"

Penguin snorted at that, "Don't underestimate the kid, he just took out 13 of my men and sent you running. He is much more dangerous than his age would suggest, just like someone else I know."

"Fair point, I can't judge too much can I?" James said.

Taking a deep breath to calm himself from this setback Penguin continued, "You made the right call of getting out of there before GCPD and the Batman showed up. We will overcome this loss and figure out damage control later, for now, get back to the Lounge."

Preparing to hang up, Penguin stopped when James said, "Well it wasn't a complete loss actually..."

Penguin blinked at that, "Explain?"

He could practically feel the smug grin from the boy, "We have the location of the Blackwater Chief."

Penguin's eyes widen, "Where?!?"

James hesitated for a moment, "That is where it gets a little tricky, he is hiding out at the old Sionis Cosmetic factories in the Narrows."

"But that would mean..." Penguin began.

"Yep," James confirmed, "He has sought asylum with Black Mask."