Gotham's New Bird | T. Drake

Chapter 15

Chapter 15

Robyn had just gotten home from her shift at the bar, and routinely shoved her counted tips into her emergency money container and slipped out of her jacket, hanging it on the hook in her room behind the door. It'd been nearly a week since Gerimone escaped the city jail. Each passing day he was left on the run meant he could be stalking her. That, or sexually assaulting other women and girls. Neither of the options sounded very swell to her.

A soft tapping at her bedroom window snapped her out of her thoughts and she shrieked on instinct. Gerimone wouldn't knock on a window; he was the guy that would let himself in or he would bust in, depending on his mood. Logic ruled him out, her heart rate and breathing slowed to a less thrilled state.

Robyn lifted a corner of her curtain, peeking out the window. Her heart automatically jumped and her stomach fluttered. Red Robin was waiting patiently outside, snow beginning to collect on his cape and cowl. It melted as soon as the flake settled.

Robyn threw her curtains open and shoved her creaky single-paned window open. Red turned and looked at her, a smile grew across his face, showing perfect white teeth. They stared at each other for countless moments. Robyn finally pulled her head back to reality.

"Are you coming in or are you just going to let me let all the warm air out?" She asked with a slight snark.

"Right," he chuckled with a nod, "Guess you want to stay warm, huh?" He crawled through the window and into her room. He shut the window and locked it for Robyn.

"Shouldn't you be out finding the escapees?" Robyn asked and crossed her arms. He looked down at the growing puddle of melted snow on her hardwood flooring. Robyn saw it and sighed, walking into the bathroom and grabbing a towel from a cabinet.

"Patrol gets boring after a while. Sometimes you just gotta take a break and talk with friends when you're out," he said. She tossed it to him and he caught it swiftly, wiping off the droplets from his cape. He then stepped on it and unlaced his boots. Robyn nearly passed out from the sight of his socks. The Superman logo was printed on it, only the logo was red and the sock provided a black background.

"You wear... those?!" She exclaimed holding back laughter. He smiled proudly and nodded.

"Yep. You probably haven't heard of him, but Superboy is my best friend. We wear each others' merch all the time," he said with a small shrug and adorable tilt of his head.

"That's probably one of the most ridiculously adorable things I have ever heard," she commented with a smile. Was she flirting? She didn't know. She'd never consciously done it.

"Thanks," he smiled and looked at his socks while he began to unlatch his cape and cowl. No. Fucking. Way. No way. What was he doing? Unmasking himself? In front of Robyn of all people?

"Calm down. I came prepared," he said and pulled the cowl off all the way, revealing a domino mask. Robyn couldn't decide whether she was relieved or disappointed that he had a mask on under his cowl.

But he came prepared...did that mean...?

"Wait," Robyn said, "So you planned this whole thing out? To visit me?" She asked. Red opened his mouth, gaping like a goldfish for a second.

"I, um, I keep a mask on under my hood sometimes," Red avoided the question. There was a moment where Robyn and Red stared at each other. Robyn suddenly became very aware of their silence and cleared her throat.

"Well, do you want to warm up a little? I can make up some coffee," she said and began to walk out of the room and into the kitchen. She looked back at Red, who was busy taking in his surroundings. His disheveled raven hair looked too soft to be real and his pale skin looked paler with the dark contrast of his hair.

"Yeah. Coffee sounds good," he replied and picked up a nicknack on one of her shelves. Robyn turned on the coffeemaker and looked at the grinning vigilante.

"Why are you really here?" Robyn asked suddenly, her tone suspicious. His smile faltered.

"We looked up the background of each criminal. Batman wants as much intel on Gerimone as possible, seeing how you were in the circus with him," Red said. Robyn took a deep breath. Couldn't she just get a break from the Gerimone topic?

She ran her fingers through her hair, "Gerimone likes women. A lot," her throat already formed a lump, which she tried to swallow, "He doesn't care about anything, other than if you have a vagina and if he's stronger than you." Robyn rubbed her face and took a deep breath. Red sensed her distress.

"Wanna talk about it?" He asked quietly. Robyn looked at the ground and shook her head.

"No," she took another deep breath, "No. The past is in the past. I can't run from it. It'll always be there." She said and turned away from him. The smell of brewing coffee reached her nose. She looked at the pot and her vision blurred. The lump grew and next thing she knew, she was sniffling and wiping tears from her face. A gloved hand gingerly touched her shoulder. Something triggered Robyn. She didn't know what it was, but she just broke. She whipped around.

"Don't touch me!" She yelled and smacked Red's hand away. Red looked taken aback and put his hands up defensively. Tears streamed down Robyn's face.

Gerimone.

Gerimone, Gerimone, Gerimone. She couldn't get away. Oh God, she couldn't get away or move. Her breath picked up and her knees weakened. Gerimone. She stumbled backward and into the counter, where she slid down onto the floor. Gerimone. She couldn't breathe and her chest hurt and everything hurt.

Then she was back at her trailer.

Gerimone bust in, a beer bottle in one hand and his free one already unfastening his belt. He finished off the beer and walked up to Robyn.

"Ready, baby? 'Cause I'm gonna make you feel so good," he slammed the bottle on the edge of her dresser, causing the glass to shatter and fall to the ground. The neck and top half of the bottle were painfully sharp and jagged. Gerimone rested a hand gingerly on her shoulder. Robyn didn't dare move or whimper.

"Baby, this may hurt a little, but it'll be just fine afterwards," he said and his hand went up to her throat, where the other rose up and-

Everything went black, but she heard the faint yelling of someone. A young man's voice in the distance. She didn't know what he was saying. His voice was too muffled. Then there was nothingness.

Ξ

Yep. So. Summer break just started. Yay!

This summer I'm going to Puerto Rico on a mission trip. Then maybe Chicago around August. So I'll be somewhat busy, but whatever.

Sorry for earlier. All I wanted to do was change the cast list, but that's only for PC or whatever so I did that, but it went all whack on me, so I had to unpublish the work and re-publish it and just... Ugh. But I got it all fixed!

Follow, comment, vote!

Your Unikorn Kat
(・ω・)ノ