Fawkes

It Takes Two to Tango

"You've got to be shitting me."

I was sitting in front of Batman three hours later after all my and Robin's wounds had been stitched up and we had both showered. The whole team had gathered around back in the training room, and the Bat himself was announcing that we'd be doing a 'bonding event'. I was the only one sitting, and I wasn't ready to tell anyone that it was because I was hurting all over.

"A scavenger hunt?" Robin asked incredulously after my comment. "You're joking."

Batman gave us all a look that would make anyone's toes curl.

"You're not joking," Wally stated, shaking his head slightly.

"You will perform the activities in pairs." I opened my mouth, but he cut me off, "pairs that I have made."

My mouth closed and I spun around in the computer chair I was in, rolling slightly across the floor in defeat.

"I will not be participating." Aqualad stood next to Batman and Black Canary, arms crossed and looking almost as disappointed in Robin and me as the other two, "Instead I have helped Black Canary and Batman hide all the clues."

"Partners are . . ." Canary pulled out a slip of paper and scanned it quickly, "Connor and M'gann, Wally and Artemis, Robin and Hershey."

I groaned and spun around in my chair again, "Look guys, I've learned my lesson or whatever. I won't do it again and whatnot. Isn't that enough? There's other ways I'd like to spend my evening than wasting it running around this place looking for pieces of paper with riddles on them. Especially if that means spending the evening with Bird Boy."

"We knew you'd say that," Batman retorted, "That's why this scavenger hunt isn't kept to the confines of Mount Justice. The boundaries are the limits of Gotham City."

I stuck my foot on the ground, stopping my spinning and allowing me to lean forward in my chair. Things were getting interesting. If I had to take part in this, then I was gonna mop the floor with these amateurs. I knew Gotham like the back of my hand. I knew every nook and cranny. Every shortcut and hideout.

"You guys are all going down."

Apparently Wally and I were thinking the same thing.

"Hold on a second." Robin held his finger up, and although we were both reluctant to work with each other, I could tell that the competitiveness that we both harboured would overrule any grudges we held. "Who's to say that Wally won't just speed around the city and look for clues that way? It's an unfair advantage."

Wally smirked at the same time Batman shrugged and said, "You each can use your abilities to your advantage."

"That's unfai—"

I shushed Robin, standing up and placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Hey. Kid Brash here may be fast, but a thief could come and steal his bed in the middle of the night and he'd be none the wiser."

Robin shoved my hand off his shoulder, crossing his arms and nodding curtly.

"Hey! I'm standing right he—"

"Besides, he doesn't know Gotham like we do." I used the pronoun 'we' because I knew he'd get mad if I spoke truthfully and said that no one knows Gotham like I do.

He smirked, and I placed my arms behind my back, taking a rather comical step forwards until I was standing directly in front of Squid Kid, Bratman, and Canary.

"What do we get if we win?"

"Is winning not enough?" Batman asked.

"Knowing you, there's a catch." I narrowed my eyes, trying to read the Bat's expression.