Who's robin?

Richard meets Artemis

Robin was talking with Mr. Guanxi, a business tycoon from china, when he looked up to see a beautiful woman coming directly towards him.

That couldnt be artemis... could it?

She was nearly unrecognizable with her hair pulled down and in a dress. He'd only ever seen her in her superhero uniform. She looked.. amazing.

He broke off his conversation with Mr. Guanxi mid sentence and went towards her.

"Artemis!"he called out.

She looked at him quizzically. "How do you know my name?" she asked rather curtly.

He silently chided himself for his stupidity. He was supposed to act like he'd never met her before.

"Nice to meet you Artemis, Bruce mentioned you'd be my body gaurd for tonight. He also said you'd be around my age so I figured it was a reasonable deduction." 

"And do you always get so excited to meet your new staff  for the first time?" she drawled.

He shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly as if running across the room to meet  a supposed stranger was completely normal for him. Artemis was always sarcastic, but he never realized that to people she didnt know she could be down right rude. 

"So Ive never actually been a bodygaurd before. Am I just supposed to stand her and look like your friend and then glare at any bad guys who came up?" she asked.

"Well usually it involves a bit more fighting but I bet your glare would be enough to scare off the worst criminals gotham has to offer," he joked.

He was rewarded by a slight chuckle from artemis. He thought he'd try a step farther. "And you know you dont have to just looook like my friend. You know typically people who spend 6 hours standing next to each other actually do become friends," he said with a wink.

He could tell she was trying to remain stoic but that got another smile out of her. 

"Fine, if you want to be friends than youre going to have to answer all my questions about all this technology around here. Its incredible! Im sure you dont know the more technical stuff.. but how do those light up there work?" she asked.

He launched into an incredibly detailed explanation of all the mechanisms and  magnetic energy involved in creating the little floating orbs. He could tell Artemis was suprised that Richard Wayne had any clue about what went on in the technology around him. Maybe that was the case for most billionare sons. But he couldnt help but excitedly  ramble on about the lights. He had built them after all.

Artemis proceeded to ask him questions about the portraits, fire, gargoyles, architecture, and everything else around the manor. He probably went into way more technical detail then he should have, but it was fun to talk about that stuff with someone who was also interested. He occasionally had to leave to comment to a reporter, or say something in mandarin, or spanish to the heads of state attending, but almost the next three whole hours were spent exclusively talking to her. 

A band started to play and couples headed off towards the dance floor. He bent into an exaggerated flourished bow, and held out his hand. "Can I have this dance my lady..or bodyguard. Actually I think youre being paid as more of a glorified babysitter. "

She laughed and grabbed his hand, leading the way onto the floor. "You're ridiculous but why not? If I didnt dance it probably blow the whole cover we've got going."

"What cover?" he asked a little too quickly. Had she already found out who he was?

"You know..the one where I pretend to be your friend for all the press but am actually your secret personal gaurd?" she said.

Oh yeah. Robin had forgotten that was why she was really here. For a while there it had felt like he was actually just richard, inviting a girl to a dance rather than parading around a party as some pretend persona.

They danced through several more songs. He was surprised by how good she was at dancing. But maybe he shouldnt have been. When had Artemis ever been bad at anything?