Chapter 12 Robbery

Gun shots went off. Screams exploded along with the gunshots. Damian pulled Lindsey down to the ground and covered her head with his shoulders. People around them fell to the ground as well.

"Calm down everyone!" a voice shouted. Another gunshot went off followed by more screams. "Shut up!"

"What's going on?" Lindsey whispered panickily.

"Events like this always have something like this happen. Whether it be from lower ranked gangs or high ranked villains, something like this always happens," Damian explained quickly.

"Who is it this time?"

"Everyone stand in a line!" the voice from before shouted.

"Penguin," Damian hissed. He helped Lindsey up and into the line people were forming. He wrapped an arm around her waist as we stood amongst everyone.

"Now we're only here for the good stuff. Everyone give me your jewels, cash, and anything else worth some good money." Most people reached into wallets or bags to pull out money. Some girls took off necklaces. Lindsey saw one girl not much older than herself take a diamond comb out of her hair.

There were men in black suits with black masks covering their faces. They had bags in their hands and went around to people.

Beside Lindsey, Damian took out his wallet and pulled out his money and credit card. Lindsey looked around for her grandparents. She saw them closer to the beginning of the line. Grandma had her necklace off and Grandpa had his wallet out.

"Lindsey you have to give them something," Damian whispered into her ear.

"I don't have anything on me, besides my phone," she whispered back.

"Lindsey if you don't give them something, they will shoot you." Damian then stopped and looked down at his hand. He split the cash he had in half and held one of the halves to Lindsey.

"Into the bag."

Lindsey jumped. One of the men appeared in front of the two of them. Damian threw the money and credit card into the bag. He held the bag in front of Lindsey.

"I don't have anything," she whispered.

"Put your things into the bag, little girl," the man said getting closer to Lindsey.

"I don't have anything of any value," Lindsey insisted.

The man stared at her from behind the mask. Damian moved in front of her in attempt to keep his eyes from Lindsey.

"Mr. Penguin, there's a situation over here," the man said, not taking his eyes off Lindsey.

"What?" it was the same voice from before. It sounded like a bird squawking obnoxiously. The Penguin walked over with his waddle. "What's going on?"

"This girl says she doesn't have anything."

Penguin then turned to Lindsey. He had a long, pointed noise and beady dark eyes. He was short, he came up to Lindsey chest. He looked Lindsey up and down, inspecting her intently.

"What do you mean you have nothing?" Penguin asked. "You have to have something of value on you."

"The most expensive thing I have on me, is my dress," Lindsey said.

"How could you not have anything expensive on you?" Penguin asked pushing the henchmen to the side and stepping in front of her. "It's a charity gala, you have to have something on you."

"My grandparents made me come. They wanted me to come. I didn't know I needed to bring anything."

"Where you from girly?" Penguin asked.

"Manhattan, New York," Lindsey said quickly. "My parents died two months ago, I had to move in with my grandparents here in Gotham."

"Your parents didn't have money?" the penguin asked.

"Not more than we needed to live," Lindsey whispered. She could feel the eyes of people around her staring. Here she was, a teenage girl, admitting she wasn't rich amongst hundreds of rich people. What made it worse was that Damian was still partially in front of her and had his hand wrapped around hers.

"Hmm," the Penguin said. "Well if you don't have anything. Shoot her."

"NO!" Damian yelled.

A loud crash sounded the same time Damian yelled. Some of the lights cut out and a black figure landed in front of Penguin.

"You made a bad choice coming here, Penguin," his voice was deep, much deeper than what should be natural. "And next time, make sure the people you work with aren't going to snitch on you."

The Penguin took a step back staring at the Batman. "Don't just stand there, idiots," he squawked at the goons. "Kill him."

Guns shots went off and that's when people started running for the exits. Batman was fighting Penguin's goons. Some of them even had guns and knives. Lindsey stood in shock. A superhero. She was watching a superhero fight. And not just any superhero, the Dark Knight.

Lindsey was brought out of her amazement by Damian pulling on her arm.

"We need to get out of here," He said hurriedly.

They ran to the door together, Lindsey had to pull up her dress to not trip over it.

Damian stopped and looked around. He looked back to Lindsey with worry written on his face.

"I need to find my Father," he said. "I'll meet you outside. Go Lindsey."

Lindsey went to run outside but she had caught sight of Batman fighting once again. It was so intriguing, she didn't want to stop watching him fight. She looked around for a place to hide, quickly. She ran over to the drink table that had fallen on its side. She hid behind it to watch the fight.

Batman was a blur of black. The cape was following him perfectly as he punched, kicked, and generally just beat them up. It was something else to be able to witness this. It was almost like a dance, one that Lindsey couldn't look away from.

Lindsey heard a curse word sound out against the sounds of fighting. Two of the goons started running to the back of the hall. Lindsey peeked out a little bit more to see what was happening. She smiled when she saw Robin, the Boy Wonder.

He was wearing a red shiny vest, tight black pants, a black cape with yellow underneath. His boots were green and reached up to his knees that became knee pads. A sword was strapped to his belt which held many compartments. He had a black hood covering his head and a green domino mask covering half his face.

He saw the men coming towards him and Lindsey swore he smirked. The fights weren't equally matched, it was something they all knew. Batman and Robin both had what looked like they had years of training. The goons looked like they were taught by kids at an elementary school. Not even five minutes passed, and the goons were all on the floor in pain or passed out.

Penguin made a noise that sounded like a bird getting caught in a net. She couldn't help but giggle at the noise.

"Don't try running, Penguin," Batman said in his low, graveling tone.

Penguin in return squawked and turned to the door. He started running, but it looked more like a waddle.

"I got him," Robin said. His voice was almost as deep as Batman's, but not as rough. He ran to Penguin and kicked him to the ground. Robin ended up sitting on the Penguin's back. "I don't know why you tried running, bird. You couldn't make it ten feet without being caught."

"Robin, tie him up and let's. Go." Batman said. Batman walked over to the henchmen and grabbed them by the collars of their shirts and got some robe out of his belt.

Robin turned to Batman then back to Penguin before reaching into his belt and pulling out some handcuffs. He slapped them on Penguin then pulled out some robe and tied his feet together.

Batman looked out the towering windows. That was when Lindsey noticed the police lights going off. It was about time they showed up. After everyone was tied up, the two heroes ran out the back door.

Just as the door closed behind the two heroes, the front doors were thrown open and police came in with guns aimed all around. Lindsey quickly ducked back down behind the table. She was scared they would see her and think something terribly wrong.

Lindsey could hear the officers talking to one another. Among all the commotion she could hear Penguin's squawk.

Lindsey remained hidden behind the overturned table. What if they thought the wrong thing when they found her?

She was obviously dressed very fine, they wouldn't think that she was with Penguin, right? They wouldn't. She was fine. Everything was going to be okay. She wouldn't get in trouble.

She heard footsteps coming closer to her she saw other officers walking around the hall looking behind, underneath and around things. Someone was coming to look behind her table. Her heartbeat quickened when she realized they were going to find her.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw the blue uniform. She jumped and looked up. It was a black man with a bald head and goatee. He raised his hands.

"I'm sorry, Miss, I didn't mean to scare you," he said. He knelt down next to her. "Are you injured?"

"No."

"Do you think you can stand up?" the officer asked.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure."

He offered her a hand, which she took and used to help her up. She finally got a good look of the hall, there was broken glass all over the ground. Tables and chairs were knocked over. She saw some wallets and money on the ground. It looked nothing like the ballroom a gala was held in only twenty minutes ago.

That's when something dawned on Lindsey. These people expect to be robbed when they come to events like these. How could people live like this? How could people still want to come to these events? They knew they were going to be robbed, yet they still wore fancy jewelry and dresses. They still carried around piles of money, like the one Damian had pulled out.

Damian! Lindsey never saw him, or his father leave. They had to had gotten out, unless they were hiding like Lindsey was.

"Why were you hiding, Miss" The officer asked. She had forgotten that the officer was standing next to her.

"My friend said to run outside while he looked for his father," Lindsey said, "but I was scared for him, so I stayed inside. I hid while I watched for him and his dad to get out. I didn't see them leave, so I stayed hidden until now."

Lindsey couldn't believe herself. She had just lied to the officer. She didn't want them to know that she thought Batman was cool for beating up seven guys and wanted to watch him do so. It was half true though. She was worried about Damian getting out safe with his Father. She only hoped that he didn't notice her bluff.

The officer nodded and looked around. "We may need you to repeat your full story all the way up to when we came in as a witness account," he said. "Do you mind staying here for a little while longer? And your account can remain anonymous, just in case."

"I need to call my grandparents and tell them where I am," Lindsey said. "They'll be worried sick about me."

"Of course, Miss. You have your phone o-"

"Where is she?" a voice shouted through the hall. By the entrance where the police tape was Damian stood. His hair was a mess and his clothes were out of place. His eyes searched the ballroom. It looked like he was just in a fight. Or maybe pushing through the crowd that had gathered outside.

"Mr. Wayne," an officer almost as tall as Damian but nearly twice his size went up to him as he passed under the tape. He held a hand in front of him to stop him, "you have to leave, this is a crime scene. Who are you loo-"

"Lindsey. She wasn't outside. She has to be in here."

"Excuse me officer," Lindsey said to the officer next to her, "that's my friend. The one I was waiting for."

He looked at Damian, his eyes widened as they met Damian's terrifying form. He turned back to Lindsey as if to ask, Are you sure? Lindsey nodded and looked over at Damian. He was about ready to fight the officer in front of him.

"Sanchez," the officer holding Damian back looked at the one next to Lindsey, "he's good. He's friends with the witness."

Damian's eyes shot over to the officer next to Lindsey. His eyes shifted to her and she watched him visibly relax. He turned to Officer Sanchez, who let his arm down.

With the okay that Damian could continue further, he ran to Lindsey. Lindsey never expected to see someone like Damian want to run to her so desperately.

"Lindsey," he said as he reached her. He wrapped his arms around her waist and picked her up. Lindsey let out a small squeak as he did so. He put her down on her feet only to tighten his arms around her body. "I told you to run outside. Why are you still inside?"

"I was worried about you. Where did you go? I was watching for you and your dad, but I didn't see you leave."

"I found him, and we ran out the back since less people were going that way. It was difficult to find the exit through the back. We made it around the building as the police were getting here to look for you. Or at least I was looking for you. When I didn't see you, I thought maybe they kidnapped you, or killed you, or I don't even know what they would do to you."

He seemed so broken. Usually he was calm and collected but this was so different from how Lindsey knew him. Lindsey was sure this was a side that the only other person to see him like this was his father.

Lindsey wrapped her arms around his shoulders as tightly as possible, even going so far to stand on her tiptoes to be more comfortable.

The two stood there hugging for so much longer that none of the police officers working around them wanted to bother them. They all knew of the Wayne boy's reputation, they knew he was a bit of an asshole, but it didn't seem to bother the young girl in the tight embrace.

Damian didn't want to let go of Lindsey and Lindsey didn't want to let go of Damian. It wasn't until Damian whispered, "Be my beloved." That Lindsey loosened her hold on him. She placed her hands on the sides of his head and placing a kiss to the temple.

"Of course, Damian."

"Excuse me, Mr. Wayne," a new voice said from behind Damian.

Damian sighed and finally let go of Lindsey. He turned to face the man who interrupted their embrace. A smirk grew on his face when he saw the man.

"Commissioner Gordon was there something you needed?" he asked. Back was the charming demeanor and charismatic attitude. Lindsey was surprised at how fast he could change his attitude and tone of voice.

"Yes, I needed to talk with your – hm – friend and get her official statement," Gordon said. He had a pad of paper and a recorder in his pocket.

"Of course, but you wouldn't mind if I stayed with her of course?" Damian asked. "I don't want her to feel too overwhelmed."

"I don't need you to stay, Damian. I'm a big girl. I wasn't too scared," Lindsey said to him.

"Being in a room with a known villain and his workers didn't scare you?" Damian asked.

"Of course not," Lindsey said. "Batman and Robin were here. They wouldn't let an innocent person get hurt."

Damian stood in silence. Everyone around them who had heard stopped what they were doing and stared. Gordon was the only one to speak.

"Robin was here?" he asked. "He was fighting with the Batman?"

"Yeah," Lindsey said. "Why is that so shocking? When I lived in New York it was well-known that Batman had a side-kick. Is there something wrong?"

"Robin hasn't been seen for months," Gordon said. "And he hasn't helped Batman with someone like Penguin for over a year. He's mostly been helping with lower-rate crimes. It's just surprising that he would now start helping Batman again."

"I guess the new girl in town doesn't really need to know as much as she thought she did," Lindsey shrugged.

Damian remained silent at Lindsey's side. People had noticed that Robin was absent from stopping the big crimes in Gotham. And Lindsey knew about the Boy Wonder. He wasn't sure if he should feel pride or worry.

"Robin isn't a sidekick," Gordon said. "At least not this one, he's more of an equal to Batman."

"There's been more than one Robin?" Lindsey asked.

"The Robin Gotham has today is technically the fifth," Gordon said. "Or maybe since he's been gone so long, Batman got a new one."

Lindsey couldn't help but let out a gasp. She had no idea that so many people were involved in being Robin. No wonder the pictures of Robin always showed different him being different sizes throughout the time he's been photographed.

"You wouldn't mind if I got your story now, wouldn't you?" Gordon asked. "It's getting pretty late and you're both probably tired from this excitement."

"Tell him what happened, Lindsey and I'll go see if your grandparents are outside looking for you," Damian said.

~*~*~*~

Lindsey was done with talking to the police commissioner she was waiting in the entrance for Damian or her grandparents to come in.

Damian came in looking solemn. "I asked around and they got in their car not long after they got outside."

"That's okay, I'll call Samuel to come pick me up," Lindsey said as she pulled out her phone.

"We can take you to Wayne Manor and you can tell your driver to pick you up there," Damian said. "You shouldn't wait here by yourself this late at night, especially dressed like that."

"Okay, I'll call them when we get in your car," Lindsey said as she shivered.

Damian saw and took of his jacket and draped it over her shoulders. He kept an arm around her shoulders and guided her to the street. He walked up to a car with a man in a three-piece suit with a mustache and a balding head.

"Master Damian, I see you made a friend," the man said with a British accent.

"Pennyworth, this is Lindsey," Damian said. "She's a friend from school."

"Well, Lindsey, I'm delighted to meet you," Pennyworth said. "My name is Alfred Pennyworth."

"Hello, Mr. Pennyworth," Lindsey said.

"Now, ladies first," Mr. Pennyworth said as he opened the door.

Lindsey stepped into the car holding Damian's jacket with one hand and the skirt of her dress with the other. She moved to the opposite side so Damian could sit next to her. Damian got into the car and moved next to Lindsey. Pennyworth closed the door and walked around to the driver side.

The drive was quiet. Damian had wrapped his arm around Lindsey's shoulders at the beginning of the drive and Lindsey leaned into him. She closed her eyes enjoying the warmth Damian gave off.

When they arrived at the manor, Mr. Pennyworth opened Lindsey's door first and helped her out of the car. She walked around with the butler to Damian's door. Once he was out of the car, he wrapped his arm around Lindsey again and lead her inside.

Mr. Pennyworth went to take the car to the garage leaving Damian and Lindsey alone. As they made their way past the living room, Damian looked down at Lindsey.

"Would you like some coffee, hot tea, hot chocolate?" Damian asked.

"I think I could use some hot chocolate," Lindsey replied.

"You can wait in the dining room while I get it for you," Damian said as he walked me to the dining room.

"You're going to make it?" I asked.

"It's hot chocolate, it can't be too hard-" Damian ended his sentence quickly when we entered the dining room.

Sitting at the end of the table was a boy with spiky black hair. He had a mug in front of him and a bunch of papers. This must be one of Damian's adopted brothers.

"I don't know demon, you've never done anything like that before, it might turn out disgusting," he said in a calm, intelligent voice. "You wouldn't want to scare off the pretty lady."

"Drake, what are you doing here?" Damian said through clenched teeth. This was Tim Drake. Lindsey remembered Damian saying he and Tim Drake never really got along. It was obvious to her now.

He turned to the two of us and smiled. "Would you believe me if I said I missed home?" he asked.

He was incredibly good looking. His face was clear from blemishes and ivory colored. His eyes were a greyish blue with dark bags underneath them. He was fit, not like Damian, with rippling muscles, but more lean but you could tell he had muscles underneath the tank top and sweatpants.

"Are any of the others here?" Damian asked.

"Nope just me," Tim said.

"Father made it home, right?" Damian asked.

"Yeah, he's around," Tim shrugged. "He's probably on the computer working on that project."

Damian nodded. He turned to Lindsey, "You can sit down, I'll get you that hot chocolate. And don't listen to anything he says. He's an ass."

Lindsey went and sat opposite of Tim. She wrapped Damian's jacket closer around herself.

"So, you're the demon's girlfriend?" Tim asked.

"Yeah, I guess I am," Lindsey shrugged.

"I wonder how he got someone like you?" he said. He pushed out his bottom lip and tilted his head to the side.

"He chose me," Lindsey said. She watched as his eyebrows knit together. "He has a reputation about pushing people away. So, when we were paired together in art the first week of school, I wanted to get the project done with, so I could distance myself from him. He was the one who kept coming to me after the project was done."

"He's never been able to be anything but straightforward. That's probably why the demon and I don't get along very well," he laughed.

"Why do you call him a demon?" Lindsey asked.

"I have since he came to live here. I was about sixteen. He was a brat, always thinking he was better than Dick and me because he was Bruce's blood son. The first time he met Dick, he beat him up pretty bad, needed a couple stitches. Dick was the first to call him a demon, but then the two of them had some 'bonding moments' or whatever. Dick became Damian's favorite and I continued calling him demon and he hated me for that and some other stuff, so I've just continued calling him that because it's just how he acts to me."

"Maybe if you stop calling him a demon, he'll be nicer to you?" Lindsey offered.

"Don't think so sweetie-pie," Tim said. "There's more than just that. It's family stuff, not even my girlfriend understands."

"She goes to Gotham Academy, right?"

"Yup, we started dating two years ago," Tim smiled. "Don't tell her parents that, they think it was after she turned 18 three months ago."

Lindsey laughed at his comment. Damian came back into the dining room with two mugs. He placed one in front of Lindsey and sat down and took a sip from the other. Lindsey picked up the mug and took a tentative sip.

"This is really good, Damian," Lindsey smiled at him.

"Tt." He was glaring at Tim who was across from Lindsey. He had gotten back to working on the papers in front of him.

"Damian said that you don't come home often, and they can't really get in contact with you," Lindsey said. "Where do you stay?"

"Around," Tim said. "I always end up coming back here, for Jane. Sometimes to bug this demon." He pointed at Damian with his pen without looking up. "But if Bruce or Dick ask nicely, I come back. Alfred has called me a couple times to ask me to come back. I always end up staying at my parents' old home."

"What happened to your parents?" Lindsey asked.

The pen in Tim's hand broke. He looked up at Lindsey with hooded eyes. "It's private. Not all of us like talking about what happened to our parents."

"I didn't know I'm sorry," Lindsey whispered.

Tim gathered up his papers and stood up. "I'll be in my room. Do you mind telling Alfred to put a fresh pot of coffee on?"

"Sleep is a thing, Drake," Damian said.

"Sleep is a thing that can be delayed. That's why coffee is a thing," Tim said. "It was nice meeting you Lindsey."

He exited the dining room and made his way upstairs.

"I didn't mean to bring back bad memories," Lindsey said.

"He did everything he could to not realize he was an orphan," Damian said. "His family was important to Gotham before everything happened. He was seventeen before he finally was adopted by Father. It was inevitable, but he tried so hard not to realize his family wasn't going to be the same."

"You were brought here by your mom when he was sixteen," Lindsey noted.

"He was about to turn sixteen," Damian nodded. "Father already saw him as a son. So naturally, I hated him."

"Miss Vindai," Alfred said from the doorway, "Your family's driver is here. It's pretty late."

"Right," Lindsey finished the last of her hot chocolate and stood up. She took the suit jacket from her shoulders and handed it to Damian who stood up the same time she did. "I'll text you when I get home."

"Okay," Damian said. "I'll see you at school on Monday."

Lindsey nodded and raised herself on her tiptoes to kiss his cheek. "Bye Damian."

"Goodbye, Lindsey."