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Stephanie had shown up to the diner thirty minutes before the agreed upon meeting time, only to find her father already seated at a booth, casually sipping a small cup of tea. He looked well enough from what she could see, and no one else seemed to take any notice of him at all.  The picture of a perfectly un-remarkable New York dock-man coming off a shift.  They'd met in person a few times since his release three weeks prior; but she'd been keeping tabs on him from afar, all as part of her own personal monitoring project.  New York's parole officer Seyers was a perfectly fine cop, but Steph doubted anyone in the NYPD could recognize the patterns of a prestiged Gotham lunatic.

Or dad, as she liked to call him.  

She did eventually have to enter the place. After pacing the block for some fifteen minutes, Steph finally worked up the courage to enter the dingy 24-hour breakfast joint.  Smells of wet boots and bacon grease hit her, nearly in tandem with a greeting from her father; standing up from his seat before the door could close behind her.

"Steph! You made it," In a few long strides he reached her at the half-way point between the entrance and his booth. Once they were within arms reach Stephanie began to stretch out her right hand, only to realize too late that he had been moving with both arms out-stretched. They both changed course at the same time to match the others, until the pair ended in an uncomfortably stiff one-arm hug.

[colour=DC143C]"'course dad',"[/colour] She said as they parted and he began leading her to the both where a waitress was already bringing out a plate of food. [colour=DC143C]"You seemed pretty pressed to talk on our call."[/colour]

"Coffee?" The woman demanded of Steph, either oblivious or uncaring to the conversation her customers were having.   Steph nodded in reply before taking a seat, and a steaming mug appeared beside the un-requested platter.

"Asked Jess to keep them warm for you. You still like waffles, right?"

She un-pursed her lips into a tight smile and nodded, but made no move for the food; instead she only fumbled idly with the cutlery while deliberating how to navigate the conversation.   [colour=DC143C]"You said it was an emergency?"[/colour]

"I'm sorry, that was... a rash over-statement.  Just had a bit of a scare, and got worried about you." As quickly as his smile had faded at her question, it returned again as he leaned forward to generously pour syrup over the food.  "But you're good and healthy. How's school been? You're going to graduate this year right?"

Steph shrunk down in the booth, face darkening with a blush at the direction of conversation.  It all felt so awkward.  As much as Arthur might still see her as his daughter, she was having a much harder time compartmentalizing the murderous Cluemaster from the aged, doting man smiling at her with such hope.  [colour=DC143C]"Same as always."[/colour] She replied, ignoring the graduation query, and took a sip of the coffee- only to promptly spit it back into the mug.

"Sorry, should've warned you," her father reached across the table again to offer a napkin.  "The coffee is dish water. But the food's worth it, I promise."  He nodded to her plate again.  The heat from the waffles had already melted the whipped cream into a puddle.  With a sigh, and another forced smile to her father, Steph cut into the treat and took a small bite.

[i]Shit.
They were good.[/i]

She managed to force herself to stop after two bites, followed by a single strained swallow. [colour=DC143C]"What was this scare about?"[/colour] 

Arthur sighed, frowning at the question.  "Guess it's better for you to know than not."  He leaned back in his seat and reached into the inner pocket of his coat.  

There was a clatter, drawing the attention of the diner's few other patrons as Stephanie's fully-loaded fork clattered onto the floor.  Her father had just produced an uncomfortably familiar red bat-a-rang. 

"It's not what you think," He hurried, clearly concerned by whatever look of horror her face had frozen in.  "I found it at work yesterday and got a bit freaked."

[colour=DC143C]"Give that to me."[/colour]

He blinked, raising his eyebrows at her in surprise.  "I was just paranoid- turned out a few of the guys had actually been making some shady deal, but I had nothing-"

[colour=DC143C]"I'm serious dad,"[/colour]  Steph retrieved her dropped utensil and pushed it and the plate of food away as she leaned in, lowering her voice as she continued.  [colour=DC143C]"I believe you, but do you realize the trouble you could get into if someone else caught you carrying that around?"[/colour]

He stared at her a few seconds longer before setting the weapon down on the table between them.  It had barely hit the linoleum surface before Steph snatched and tucked it away. "You're right," he sighed.  "I'm still paranoid to be honest.  The timing, being outside of Gotham..." His eyes glazed over as he seemed to get lost in thought, staring just over her head.  

Stephanie patiently took the time to recompose herself from the sudden panic while polishing off her ice water.  Eventually, she reached out to clasp his hand, drawing him out of the trance.  [colour=DC143C]"I believe you, dad."[/colour] Her words and smile seemed to reassure him somewhat.  [colour=DC143C]"Coincidences happen, don't let it distract you from what's important."[/colour]

"You're right." Arthur agreed, "Going to finish that?" He nodded towards her barely touched plate, and she shook her head in response.

[colour=DC143C]"No, sorry, but I really wasn't planning on all this."[/colour] She vaguely gestured to the table and shrugged.  [colour=DC143C]"You did say it was an emergency."[/colour] She added quickly, suddenly aware of how dismissive that sounded.  [colour=DC143C]"Sorry I just mean-"[/colour]

"No I get it," Arthur interrupted, holding a hand up to stop her from explaining.  "It's the 4th, you probably have a million better things to do than listen to my paranoid ramblings"

She had forgotten the holiday completely.  [colour=DC143C]"Right, thanks for understanding. We still good for next Thursday?"[/colour]

He only nodded, making no motion to follow as she stood- neither of the pair eager to repeat the uncomfortable greeting-dance from earlier. Only when she'd reached the diner's door did he call out a final time:

"Steph! Promise you'll be careful, right?" 

She swallowed the urge to return the sentiment, and instead just gave a wave and a final forced smile before leaving. 

Her bike was parked three blocks away, tucked neatly away behind a dumpster and under a black canvas tarp.  The covering was put away, and the back compartment opened to reveal the red-and-green self-made costume. Stephanie fumbled with the bat-a-rang in her hands, pressing the inner button to no effect.  Water damaged. She cursed quietly and slammed the box shut with the weapon inside, before kicking the bike into gear.  At least she hadn't been [i]totally[/i] careless.  The damned thing had fallen under the port and washed ashore.  She was just unlucky.  

She couldn't afford to be unlucky though, not if it meant sending her dad into a spiral all over again. After all, she'd been patrolling the docks for his benefit in the first place. She'd just have to do better.   Even if it meant diving into the Hudson.


The reminder of the holiday brought Steph further into Manhattan.  There was sure to be trouble about, and her plan had been to start a patrol route anyways.  Bright fireworks peeked out between buildings as she wove her way between the midtown traffic, eventually pulling up to the park.  Friends and family crowded into the out of place green space to picnic under the lightshow.  It was a nice sight, nice enough for Steph to take a moment peace- were it not for a sudden beeping in her right ear.  She managed to pull over just in time to catch a beam of bright yellow light- too large to be a firework- streak across the sky, followed by a crash and ground-shaking impact. 

As usual it seemed trouble had found Steph rather than the other way around.  She dove behind her bike, quickly undressing the outer-layer of her clothes while attaching the accessories of her robin-suit.  Her helmet cycled through differing vision modes as she did.  An incredibly high temperature figure seemed to be the source of the initial energy burst- and the proceeding smaller green blast that came after.  The things that followed them were decidedly inhuman, wielding weapons completely unfamiliar to her.

Already other vigilantes in the city were making themselves known. Superboy himself was the first to arrive on the scene, uncannily human looking as he directed in monotone.  Steph popped her grapple to raise herself atop the building across the street from the original crash sight.  The lone fighter was holding her own, but certainly causing some damage.  The super-android was soon joined by two more; a speedster and a flying teen Steph didn't recognize.  Three heroes standing around while aliens continued to wreak havoc. 

[colour=DC143C]"Whitty quips and questions later maybe?"[/colour] She said, dropping to the ground just behind the group and looking up to examine the underside of the airborne kid's supporting trash-lid.  

[colour=DC143C]"Too many exposed people here, either they gotta go or the aliens do."[/colour]  

Her bo-staff extended with a snap of the wrist while she spoke; she immediately used it to push off the ground and flip herself into the fray. A single bat-a-rang flew from her hip and lodged itself into the closest enemy's weapon the moment she landed.