JADE (young justice/robin)

2. jadeite

Gotham City
2 Years Ago

jade.

My heart was palpitating as we waited for our signal. Countless Gotham criminals were bounding together for a coordinated strike on multiple spots in the city. Most were banks, others smaller scale places where they could get cash, some were simply intending to riot. The point of all us misfits banding together, was to spread the police force so thin that the majority were guaranteed to not get caught. That is, as long as the Justice League doesn't intervene, but I doubt the Bat would allow that. Other than the sporadic public appearance in DC, or massive scale global crisis, I didn't really see the Bat with the League all that much. I took this as a sign that he's not one to call for help very often. Understood. I respect it.

We arrived in Gotham just about a month ago, and after doing everything in my power possible, I was running out of options on how to keep us safe permanently. After a lot of deliberation and untimely deaths of those I caught trailing us, I decided my sister and I would need to completely start over. New identities and the disposal of anything relating to our past lives. We, in every way, needed to become ghosts. A very complicated task, that requires a lot of underground help and a fuck ton of money. Money that neither of us had. On top of that we had nowhere to go.

I caught news of this little heist through the same man who was going to eradicate all our information. It was the perfect opportunity to get my hands on what I needed.

If the pinheads in Gotham were any smarter, they'd be where I am. Outside a jeweler's department store on the upper east side of the city. I have it on good authority — that authority being my own eyes and sticky fingers — that inside that store was at least a quarter carat of jadeite. Yes, you heard me right. Jadeite. The most sought after stone in the world, that sells for nearly 3 million a carat. Inside that crappy little store was a rock that could get me at least $750,000. More than enough to finance our ghost plan and feed and house us for at least a year or two.

As I waited in the shadows, my eyes peeled towards the shop and the empty street that was beginning to dampen from the drizzling. Then, sirens began to blare. Not the police kind, the eerie, end-of-the-world kind, that made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.

Me picking the lock to the shop was nothing compared to the chaos ensuing around me. The sound of glass shattering, guns firing, and women screaming was coming from all over.

The lock clicked open and I waked into the dark shop, already heading towards the safe in the back where the jadeite was. Working meticulously on the safe, a new sound began to reach my ears from the streets: grunts and thuds from the sounds of fighting. I peered over my shoulder, squinting to see clearly through the shop windows and the now pouring rain. I gasped internally as I spotted none other than the Blue Boy Scout and several other members of the League hovering in the air, before plummeting down to begin sorting the chaos. Scratch that. The Bats would call in for help if his city was on fucking fire.

I turned back, working more urgently than ever, not keen on encountering a superhuman. The safe finally clicked and hissed open. I grabbed the jadeite immediately, wasting no time to get clear of this mess of a plan.

My mission being an uninterrupted success was too good to be true, though, when a small, circular blade landed in the wall inches away from my head. I turned around to find it's owner. He was masked, decorated in red, black, and yellow, though it was soaked and dripping from the rain. It was the Bat's Bird, Robin.

I raised my hands in fake surrender, studying him carefully.

"I need you to put that back," he instructed.