Bag the Bird [Robin / Invite]

[Tony "Taskmaster" Masters]

Gotham City was perfect for this sort of thing, this sort of job, the environment was just special. Despite the presence of all these capes, the atmosphere of the city in some parts was just.. awful. You couldn't walk down some streets at night without feeling the eyes on you, wondering if they could take everything you had. Tony, however, had no such worries. He could feel it though, see it in the eyes of the people he walked past, the homeless, all of them. It was just a city filled with fear of one sort of the other; the rich feared the poor, the poor feared the cold, the criminals feared batman, and everyone feared the lunatics. Taskmaster didn't fall into that equation, he wasn't a natural part of this city, he didn't belong here. As a result of that, he didn't fear anyone, not yet anyway. Joker was clearly unstable but what sort of mercenary fears their clientele? No, he was too professional for that.

It had taken him a few days to set everything up, but if the file that Joker had on this Robin kid was accurate, it would work. The whole trap was pretty rudimentary, but that sort of thing was fine against predictable prey. The past two days Taskmaster had visited every frequent sighting location of Robins, gauging which place would be best. He had found in it, predictably enough, an alleyway. It was longer than most alleyways due to the streets configuration around it, giving him a bit more isolation if he used it. This particular one was like a maze, several twists and turns.. really it was silly. This city was built to foster bottom rung criminals, with alleys like these, it was just ridiculous. Worked in his favor if nothing else, but whoever built this place was an idiot.

At the end of one of the alleys was the backdoor to a local business, a pawn shop or something owned by a young couple. He didn't want to involve them per-say, but their door just happened to be the best one for the job. He had all of his usual gear, the sword and shield, the guns and the bow and arrow.. he brought it all. Just in case he needed it. In a nearby lot he parked a get away vehicle with some other things he would need to finish this all out, but that would come into play later. This was really low level stuff for him, but it he didn't want to spend too much time planning it out. This was an easy job that would get harder the longer he waited, and Joker wanted it done quickly.

After the shops all closed, the streets quieted and the night had fallen over the city, Taskmaster began to make his play. He had dressed up in several layers of heavier coats, disguising what he was wearing underneath. Several scarfs and other random garments covered his mask and hood, despite the cold outside he was pretty toasty under all these layers. Shuffling around like some sort of drug addict he finally decided to move into the opening. Looking around in a paranoid fashion to make sure no one saw him, he darted down the alleyway turning over his shoulder at random. Finally he arrived at the door, pulling a crowbar out from under his jacket. He hastened his breaths on purpose, exhaling visibly into the cold night air.

Tony began to clumsily pick at the door with the crowbar, fake frustration mounting he began to beat the door with his fists. This was fun, he hadn't done play acting like this in a long time. Finally he got the door open, an alarm sounding out in the night against the distant echoes of traffic. From a nearby trashcan he pulled out a large cloth bag filled with garbage, but you couldn't tell that from the outside. Walking inside with the bag dragging behind him he hid himself away from the outside. The alarm kept going for a bit, and he let it, he needed it to. After a moment he silenced it, didn't need a lot of attention, just the right attention.

He allowed about five minutes to go by before he figured it had been enough time. The caped kid should be here soon, or maybe he was already waiting outside. Tony hadn't heard any sirens yet which was good, the plan had been going along well so far. Hastening his breath he finally rushed back outside in a dead sprint, a fake bag of stolen goods over his shoulder. He would have to navigate his way back out of the alleyway, but he didn't imagine he'd make it that far. Not if the Joker was right..

[Tim "Robin" Drake]

Although admittedly, patrolling the streets of Gotham City was far from anything he had had in mind when he'd mentioned the desire for an uneventful, and dare he say it, relaxing evening, even he had to admit that there were worse tasks that he could've been appointed, and besides there was a possibility that he would be accompanied, perhaps a little later, by Batgirl; a happening that didn't happen particularly often, much to his regret. He enjoyed fighting alongside her, he really did, however it just never seemed to work out, generally speaking, for one reason or another.

And anyway, it wasn't all that bad, Robin pointed out to himself as he looked down upon the ever-restless, bustling city that seemed to be constantly illuminated by countless pinpricks of luminous incandescence that from his perspective almost seemedlike they were wrapping the whole of Gotham in a protective web of energy, and despite himself found himself wondering whether the civilians actually ever slept. If he were to look on the positive side, despite his relentless scanning of the area for any sign of disturbance, only to move swiftly on to the next, at least there appeared to be no madmen who fancied themselves "villains" on the loose, and yet he still kept a wary eye out for said menaces to society, who he had previously noted to have, now not-so recently, managed to escape the confinement of Arkham Asylum. Incidentally, Robin had no intention whatsoever of coming into contact with the most notable of escaped convicts, such as the likes of Poison Ivy or Bane, if he could help it. And not to mention the fact that various other criminals had managed also to escape, the likes of the Joker being amongst them, although it didn't appear that said madmen were currently present, at that moment, in the otherwise peacefully uneventful city. Granted, he had come across the odd inevitable street fight here and there, but nothing that had required his intervention, which considering the crime-rate of the city in general, he was thankful for. He really could do without any form of "excitement" tonight, quite frankly.

Unfortunately however, such absent thoughts were soon proven to be nothing but just that; absent-minded wishful thinking, as he veered down, just low enough to see the ground level of the streets, and almost as though on cue his thoughts were immediately shattered beyond recognition as the sudden wail of alarm resonated throughout the overly unnecessarily long alleyway, the final stop before he headed back to the Batcave, sounding easily (to those intent upon listening) above the general hubbub of the city.

Almost as though something had immediately clicked at the mere sight of a potentially dangerous disruption to the otherwise mundane environment, his pace seemed to only increase as he all but sprinted in the general direction of the location, and sending a line slicing through the night as he went, and then seemed to have thought better of it, as it was abruptly abandoned. Making his way down back alleys and darkened streets, Robin made a point of avoiding the increasing urge to take to the rooftops, if only to prevent the loss of time that he may or may not have to spare, and considering that he wasn't certain as to what the situation was exactly, he doubted that he had. It was, after all, uncertain as to what exactly the unknown criminal in question's intentions were.

Still, if he had had time to stop for a moment and fully consider the situation, Robin would perhaps have noticed that as he rounded the corner, batarang already in hand andready to strike at less than a moment's notice, a deepsense that perhaps, he was being watched.

It was only when he was forced to hesitate for a moment before a brick wall that he acknowledgedhis uncertainties, sensing a gnawing feeling in the back of the mind; almost an itch between his shoulders. In that single moment, he felt the impulseto turn around because, in the back of his mindhe knew that there was somebody else nearby, silently cursing his own impulsiveness.

Even when he did turn about, to seenothing, his eyes were drawn to one particular spot, his suspiciouus gaze lingering a moment more than needed before aiming a grapple gun and launching himself over the wall, landing moments later atopa building, with the precision of an individual who had performedthe maneuver countless times before.

Glancing back, he assured himself that there was absolutely nothing to see, however he knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that on the other side of the wall was someone. His eyes would even "track the path"of the other person as they walked a path on the other side of the wall. Rationally speaking, he had no proof that anyone was there at all, but this is almost a psychic bond; he knew that there was somebody there. Possibly even hostile forces, at that.

And when the figure of a man appeared in his line of sight, emerging from what predictably appeared to be the remnants of a door, and without hesitation shot back down the alley. Robin could imagine that sense of mild surprise surrounding the other, that he had detected him; this surely unnaturally tall being. But, how could he not know? He felt them; all the time they thought they were hidden, he knew they were there.

With something of a smirk playing across his lips, eyes darting restlessly in all possible directions until, finally, his gaze followed that of the thief. He whipped out a batarang ,sending it slicing through the air, whizzing past the quickly retreating man's ear as he closed in on him.

And if Batgirl was on her way, Robin of course had every reason to appear on the scene as well, especially as he had been sent to patrol the streets for this exact purpose; to keep order in the city. He surely had a duty to offer his assistance, after all.


OOC: Really sorry for the delay, and crappy post is crappy xD It'll be better next post ^^

[Tony "Taskmaster" Masters]

Masters hurriedly ran down the alleyway, zooming this way and that as quickly as his persona could. After all.. he was a common thief, a heavy breather and quite terrified as far as anyone watching was concerned. He had to hold himself back as he ran, his physical capabilities didn't sync up with the common thieves. However, that didn't really matter.. this charade of his wouldn't have to be played out too much longer. Seconds had gone by since he left the building and made his break for it, and already a oddly shaped shuriken flew by his face. An intentional miss, but a clear give away that he his prey was in pursuit at last.

The thief came skidding to a halt, dropping the bag of stolen goods beside him and instantly throwing his hands into the air. Masters forced his breathing to become more labored, he was supposed to be scared of the kid in this situation, and added a slight quiver to his muscles. "P-please.." he began to plead in a voice not his own "..I had to.. money is hard to come by, I've got to get food to bring home somehow!" he begged. A slight whimper in his voice and fear in his tone as the would be thief pleaded his case. All this was just an act to get the kid to drop his guard even for a bit, but it probably wouldn't happen, on top of that Taskmaster had a hard time keeping this act up. It was funny to him.. really funny. The tremors he had put through his muscles on purpose to impersonate a man in terror had become the tell tale signs of him fighting back laughter.

True enough, he hardly had time to start acting like he was scared of the young man before he was about to lose it. Rather than just give himself away though, he at least wanted to take advantage of the moment as best he could. Masters dropped to his knees, and in a quick movement took hold of the bad of trash, that had been playing the role of stolen property, and flung it at Robin. In that same brief instant he spun to his feet and removed the layers of dirty jackets he used to disguise himself. The true appearance of Robins enemy tonight was quickly revealed, the hardened mercenary unable to pretend as if he was scared of the boy wonder. Taskmaster drew his sword from his hip, leaving his shield slung over his back for now. he would have to be careful though, the client didn't want the bird dead.

The skeletal masks jaws began to chatter with the laughter of the man behind it. Regaining his sensibility the contractor slowed his laughing and waved a hand at Robin to give him a moment. "I can't believe this worked.. that lunatic was right, you are predictable!" After his opening statement the thief turned skeletal kidnapper began to take slow steps forward, easing closer to the mark. "So.. Robin, we can do this one of two ways. Option one is ya just accept your fate and everything goes smoothly. No one tends to take that one though, can't figure why. Option two.. ya make a fool of your self, I beat ya to a pulp, and things go my way regardless."

Taskmaster knew full well they were going to fight, it was just common courtesy to give them a chance to surrender. Plus, it made him look really cool and intimidating to anyone who happened to be watching. Looks were important, it's why he had such a frightening and badass costume to wear when on the job. Masters gripped his sword tightly as he slowly walked forward, while he may have had a short study on Robin via the file he was given.. he still wasn't sure exactly how the kid fought. I mean, if the bird was able to hold his own against the villains of this world.. he was either impressive or the villains here sucked.

[Cassandra "Batgirl" Cain]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellSpacing,0,true][atrb=style, background: #999999; width:450px; height:490px; padding:0px;] [style=width:400px; height:165px; opacity: 0.8; font-family: times; background: url(http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm73/Kageangelis16/tumblr_likr873X8c1qf4ubn_zps4210a5e6-1_zpsfda91e1d.jpg)][style=width: 270px; height:100px; background: transparent; float: right; letter-spacing: 4px; font-size:12px; font-family: times; text-shadow: 2px 2px 2px #333333; line-height: 25%;] TELL ME WHAT YOU FIND WHEN YOU READ MY MIND [style=width: 200px; float: right; background: transparent; text-align; justify; letter-spacing: 2px; font-size:5px; font-family: times; text-shadow: 0px 0px 0px #111111; line-height: 80%;]the good old days, the honest man, the restless heart, the promised land, a subtle kiss that no one sees, a broken wrist and a big trapeze. oh well I don't mind, if you don't mind 'cause I don't shine if you don't shine.

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NOTES:SORRY it took so long. I promise my next post will be better

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Cassandra sighed as she was to go out and watch the city with Robin. As a team. Though In her mind she'd rather be alone. Cassandra has moved around the city on the left of Robin. Close by but yet still at a distance watching him from across the street. No one was out much yet causing chaos. That was good right?

Cassandra turned away from him as she stood on the edge of a roof top looking at the sky thinking of everything and anything that could help her get through tonight before she could go and do waht she wanted to do in the morning.

Cassandra turned as she watched Robin as she heard the alarm soun. Cassandra moved across the roof tops keeping Robin in sight. Cass then stopped as she jumped down grabbing onto a fire escape before climbing downward quickly once she was ten feet from the ground dshe jumped into the alley way and took off in a full sprint in Robin's direction.

Cassandra slid into the shadows of building moving towards Robin and the figure across from him she reached back to her back grabbing on to her kanata. Cassandra was quite glad that she had decided to hook it on with her unility belt tonight it might come into use. Even if you cannot kill your foe, you can injure them. " Rob-in"

She said gently before she moved her right hand over a few batarangs as she tosseed three at the ground in front of the ever slow moving forward robber or target as it was in her mind at the moment she saw his sword drawn and kept her left hand tightly around the hilt of her's though it was still sealthed.

She knew she would move between them, She could handle a bullet shooting her from playing two for flinching as a child, her nerves were dulled unlike Robins. She would try to protect him when it came down to it. Even if Cassandra had to try and actually kill someone one last time. This man seemed more than the average robber like her was after something and Cassandra wanted to know what. Cassandra kept her eyes on him reading into his moves predicting what the man would do next.


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[Tim "Robin" Drake]

The man skidded to a halt, the Teen Wonder following suit instantly, regarding the offender with little caution as he approached, though this time at something of calmed pace as her softly spoken tone revealed Batgirl's whereabouts as she too came into his line of sight.

Robin glanced over at her, reassured that the thief would not pose as any form of threat in his current state.

"Batgirl, he acknowledged with a nod, before returning his attention to the task at hand.

The man was doubled over, breathing erratic and all but slumped over before him, for God's sake; he wasn't going anywhere.

And perhaps, if he had been any other person, regarding a petty criminal such as he in any other city with a considerably lower crime rate than Gotham, Robin would've softened his tone and perhaps attempt even to make him see reason. Perhaps he'd even have done the int unthinkable and allowed him a "second chance."

But this was Gotham, in all its notoriety, and he quite frankly was sick and tired of apprehending thieves in the same alley, night after night. And he could by this point even predict his reaction; he'd be on his hands and knees any moment now, blubbering about how he needed the money to keep his family alive, to pay off that loan shark who had threatened to murder his kids... The usual. He had to admit that by this point Robin was not at all interested in listening to the man's excuses, and so he merely nodded, closing the distance between them as much as he felt comfortable with.

"Yeah. Look, we've all got places to be tonight, so could we cut the--" he gestured briefly to the quivering heap that he appeared to have reduced the man to, much to his initial surprise (as most, the majority of the time, and understandably so, didn't find a shorter guy in crimson spandex all that terrifying), "--well, this, and get it over with?" He allowed himself a brief smirk, crossing his arms over his chest as the other dropped to his knees, tossing the bag at him in one motion. Robin kicked it lightly with his foot now, and as it fell to its side, contents spilling over the tarmac he frowned, taking a moment to acknowledge fully the sight before him.

And in that instant that he looked away, his eyes raking the tangled mess for anything of value the aged man moved unnaturally: he saw it out of the corner of his eye: shock induced panic made his head shoot up with realization burning deep in his now accusatory glare, at the masked bulk of a man before him, unable to quite wrench his gaze from that terrible mask as teeth chattered relentlessly behind it in... Laughter? He was laughing at him. The Dark Knight's protege, Batman's partner was a joke to him.

He even went as far as to wave his hand at him; not only dismissing him openly but also appearing to be under the impression that he dictated the direction that their encounter would take, and he alone. Robin's hand tightened on his bo-staff, jaw set as suddenly the man towered over him at his full height.

And that humiliation only doubled, then. And then he remembered Batgirl's presence, the sudden spurt of speech as the near hysterical laughter died down enough for anything the man said to be coherent catching him completely off-guard despite himself, and despite years of training to not do precisely that.

"Lunatic?"

He echoed the word carefully, and through gritted teeth, clearly riled up to a considerable extent already. He really was an idiot, however his internal self-criticisms were cut short even before they'd entered his mind as the thief-turned-skeletal...whatever he happened to be, began to stalk forwards, seemingly making a point of approaching Robin with at least an ounce of caution, his words causing him to bristle visibly.

So some madman had employed a hired gun to take Robin down? He frowned, mentally sifting through the list of criminals who could possibly gain anything at all from having him, of all the vigilantes in and around Gotham, out of the picture. Logically speaking, it made little to no sense. If anyone, wouldn't they gain more from pursuing the Bat himself? If, after all, they were striving to first be rid of the Dark Knight's allies and in doing so iscolate him completely, why hadn't anybody made a move to intercept the likes of Nightwing, or Batgirl? And so he reasoned that the person pulling the strings on the sidelines either hadn't bothered to think it through particularly well, or they were simply incapable of doing so. And then Robin abruptly ended that train of thought, for even a split second of hesitation could be used against him in such a situation as his current, he glanced over to Batgirl, his partner (if only temporarily), almost as though to call her off. He couldn't have her injured in a brawl that was, ultimately, his own fault.

He shook his head, as though to dislodge the unwanted thoughts as his mind reeled back into the present and he was knocked directly out of his reverie, a growing irritation settling in his mind, alongside everything else, at the mere fact that he'd allowed himself to be distracted quite so easily.

"I'll take my chances, thanks," he'd almost spat at the other. Robin had realized his mistake just in time: he lunged with a trained accuracy (and yet in a sudden, almost wild, uncontrolled manner) following it up with a swift uppercut to the face, his mind set squarely on defeating this imfuriatingly self-assured mercenary, and making a point of doing so, his spending-time-with-Cass-induced mood, and acknowledgement of her being there generally, utterly drained from his being. For in that moment, all his kind would process was the flurry of batarangs and continued assaults upon the man before him.

[Tony "Taskmaster" Masters]

Taskmasters plan had worked, the bird boys feathers were visibly ruffled, small physical tics gave him away. A twitch here, a tightening of the jaw here.. and the shaking of his head to regain his composure. Yea, this whole plan was going pretty well. The menacing mercenary continued forward, determined to squash the kid before he had a chance to get his head on straight. After all, even if he was a good fighter, no one fights as good as they can when they're too flustered to think.

Of course, his single mindedness also cost him the opening advantage he had put so much effort into gaining. From his right side several objects flew from out of his sight, Taskmasters reactions were quick enough to back step to dodge the blindside. He didn't even need to do that though, the strange looking shurikens landing at least a foot in front of where he would have been otherwise. His attention shifted for a brief instant to the source, another vigilante, that was all he had time to make out.. some figure in the darkness. That's when he realized his mistake, that's when his attention was quickly called back to his front.

Robin had begun his assault almost the instant Masters attention had been compromised. Whether or not it was timed, he couldn't tell, and didn't have time to wonder either - he had to try and minimize the damage he was sure was coming his way. A forward lunge came straight at Masters.. a quick backslide more than enough to dodge that. It didn't stop there, no no, whether this flurry was strategic or wild was disturbing hard to discern. An uppercut caught the taller man squarely in the chin, sending him reeling several steps back. From there the assault forward ever stronger. Strange shaped shurikens and staff attacks rained down on the hired hand. He managed to dodge any serious blows.. but couldn't dodge them all. This 'Robins' range of attack was impressive, the variety and angles were superb.. his style was most impressive.. an observation Taskmaster took excellent note of.

While in his mind he was still aware of the presence of the hidden observer, he had no time to consider their actions directly. It took his full concentration to prevent himself from losing here. Provoking an enemy only worked if you got the jump on them, not the other way around.. and he screwed that up pretty bad. He just had to keep dodging, stay on his toes, and wait for the younger opponent to make a misstep. Just one, that was all he needed, a brief instant for him to try and counter - or at least push back enough to distance himself and reset the playing field. It took more cuts than he liked, more bruises than he wanted.. but eventually enough was enough. The kid was obviously a pro at pacing himself, this wasn't just raw anger, he was tempered. The waiting game wasn't going to play to Tony's advantage here. He had to find a way to break the kids stride on his own, and he knew exactly how to go about doing that.

The shield on his back.

With this Robin didn't have to mess up, Taskmaster would provide himself the opening he was looking for. And sure enough, he got what he was after. The next high attack that came in for Taskmasters face was met with a very novice level duck and dodge. Generally a poor decision against someone who was even half as good as they claimed. However, while in the process of ducking beneath the blow, Taskmaster spun on his heels to expose what would have been his back to the opponent. In it's place however was a solid shield, and the brief instant of defense it provided was all he needed.

Regardless of how the boy reacted, even striking or going around the shield was fine, Masters would continue. All he needed to do was prevent a direct attack from hitting, a glancing blow or a 'settle' strike wouldn't stop him. At times like this it paid off to be bigger than your enemy, powering through whatever the boy had he continued to spin around. Supporting himself with his right hand on the ground behind him (opposite of the bird) in the event of a kick or push, the mercenary lunged backward with his sword fully extended in his left arm. The swing was a wide arc swung low at the boys feet.. all he needed.

Either the boy would jump to dodge it, leaving himself vulnerable while suspended in the air.. or leap back, allowing Taskmaster to engage how he pleased next. Or so he thought anyway, this was rather unfamiliar territory. He could only base his theories on experience for now. That wouldn't be the case soon though.. he just needed to pay attention a little bit longer.. and the fight would be his. Poor kid had no idea what he was setting himself up for, it was almost cruel.

If nothing else, even a brief pause would give Tony the time he needed to try and account for the unknown third party in the wings. It wasn't pleasant to be caught up in a fight with one, knowing there was a second just waiting. Still.. confidence was one of Taskmasters many 'virtues', and in times like this it paid off in dividends throughout the years in times just like these.