Who's robin?

hostage

Artemis awoke in a large damp room. It was dimly lit but she could just make out 15 or so elderly people all tied up like she was. They all looked incredibly rich, decked out in the gaudiest gems and clothing she had ever seen. Across the room from her sat Richard.

"Some bodygaurd I turned out to be hun?" she called across to him.

"Im sure if you had had time to glare at them before blacking out everything would have turned out fine," he joked back. 

How was he joking at a time like this. If she didnt know better she'd say he almost looked bored.

The other guests began to wake up and immediately started yelling or crying. Most of them were calling out numbers, saying names their kidnappers could call to get whatever sort of ransom they wanted. She was sure Bruce would give up quite a large ransom for Richard, but he was one of the few hostages to remain quiet.

"CALM DOWN all Ya'll!" called out one of the kidnappers. He looked to be in his mid fourties  with greasy hair and thick scars all along the side of his face. "I promise you'll all get your turns to call yur families and see how much theyre gonna offer up to you. But we're gonna start with the best one first." 

He turned towards robin and held out an old flip phone in his direction. Robin nonchalantly grabbed it and slowly dialed in a number. "Hurry up kid, we havent got all day!" said the man. He seemed annoyed that richard hadnt reacted with more fright to him.

The call went through and Bruces voice sounded on the other side.

"Richard is that you?" he asked.

"yup sure is," he replied. "Some guy here thinks youre going to offer up money to free me. What do you say to that?"

"I say to wait for help to come and find you guys," bruce clearly stressed. "I know you can handle yourslef just fine but we want everyone else to remember who you are. Understand?"

"Fine," replied robin. "waist of time but whatever you want." 

With that he flipped the phone shut. The man exploded at him. 

"What was that! Where's the bank number! Are you really to dumb to not know whats going on or do you just want to die!" Richard just calmly stared back and the man violently hit richards jaw with the but of his gun. 

Artemis winced. That looked like it hurt but it hadnt seemed to faze richard too much.

The man grunted. "Fine. You need some time to figure out the gravity of the situation? I have other patrons I can work on while you figure it out." He and the other men moved on to each of the bound up individuals. With 20 minutes after a few hits and waving of guns most of them had called their families to wire them ransom money.

The man turned back towards Richard but could tell he still wasnt ready to crack.

"Ok. If you dont care about youre own safety than maybe you'll care about that of your pretty friend here."

He grabbed Artemisis hair and violently pulled her head back.

"Dont touch her" yelled Richard. He know sounded genuinely scared. "Good Good. That was more of the reaction I was hoping for. This girl heres sister is the reason I got these scars. I was more interedted in killing her than getting a ransom out of her family, but I think we can make a deal dont you?"

Richard began to violently work out the ropes around his hands. They seemed to already be half undone.

Just then gunshots rang out through the building. It appeared Bruces backup had finally arrived. The man grabbed Artemis by her hair and pulled her off down one of the rooms many side alleys. Richard was nearly down with the ropes and raced after them.

The man turned Artemis towards him and held the gun out towards her face. "Ive already got all the money I could hope for with this little job, but killing the sister of cheshire is too good an opportunity to pass up."

"She began yelling, and lashing around. Curse cheshire for making her wear this stupid dress. How was she supposed to fight in it.

Just then she saw RIchard sneaking up behind the man. Her pressed a finger to his mouth, telling her to keep quiet. She waved her hands for him to go away. He was just going to get both of the killed. There was no way for him to get around to the gun without giving away his position. 

At least that was what she thought.

"He did a nearly impossible flip, jumping over the man and right in between her and the gun. Almost quicker than her eyes could see he had knocked it out of his hands and had the man in a headlock." 

She only knew one person who was that good at gymnastics.

"ROBIN!" She yelled shocked.

He grinned back at her. "Hey artemis. Took you long enough to figure it out."

"You YOure Richard Wayne!! BRUCE WAYNES son!!" 

"Thats me,"he replied. "Id love to talk about this some more but I got to get this guy to bats."

"So that means Bruce..Bruce wayne is batman??" She crumpled to the floor to shocked to speak.

"Hey ill be right back ok." said Robin. He was struggling to hold on to their captor but she had no inclination to help him. He pulled the man off into the man room and was back in a few seconds. 

Artemis had stood up and was now glaring at Robin/Richard. "I cant believe you didnt tell me all these years!" 

"I wanted to artemis. I really really wanted to. But Bats wouldnt let me. And besides youre the one who's always hating people you think have easier lives than you know. You probably never would have talked to me if Id just told you I was Richard Wayne."

She hated to admit it but he might have had a point there.

"Can we just go back to being two normal teenagers.. well normalish. Just two kids who met at a party?"

She nodded slowly.

"Good." he smiled down at her. "Well I guess we should just start where we left off than.

 He reached down to grab her waist and pulled her closer to him. She leaned into him and bent her face towards his.  He kissed her softly and then with gradual intensity. She felt perfectly safe in his arms. It was a feeling she couldnt remember ever having.

He pulled away and smiled victoriously. "You know Ive been wanting to do that for years."

She smiled back leaning her head against him. "You know I didnt quite realize it but I had too.. but for know we should probably get back to the team."

Robin nodded. "Just dont tell the team who I am quite yet ok? im still working on a way to convince batman to let me.

She nodded and headed back with him towards them main room. There Meegan kaldur superboy and wally were waiting.  She held his hand. She was sure it looked weird to the rest of them to be holding Richard Waynes hand, but she didnt care. For know she was perfectly happy.