The Robin Contingencies

The call came in, and for once, all of the Wayne kids scattered in opposite directions. There was no banding together like they would as Bats - instead, they scattered into the wind, never to be found again. Or at least, until the next time that Alfred called them all home for dinner. It was sibling dynamics at their finest - banding together for actual danger, but running in the opposite direction whenever mild inconveniences happened.

But of course, this wasn't actually a Robin Contingency with codes and secrecy. There were no Rogues that might try and discover what they were saying, no worrying about the World's Greatest Detective trying to crack their codes if he ever found out about them.

Instead it was just them as kids, irritating their father to the best of their abilities. And it was time for the Crowne Gala, which happened every October without fail. It was important to keep a strong alliance with the other family - not to mention that the press had been dying for glimpses of all four of the Wayne children. Dick and Darcy had just recently come out with their respective partners, and Tim was the newest Wayne. And then there was Jason - Jason Todd-Wayne, the prodigal son recently returned from the dead.

All of the kids had no hesitation in using their skills that they had learned as Robins to avoid the press, leaving the Gotham tabloids all the more hungry for information.

So of course, none of them wanted to go.

None of the kids wanted to deal with the high society people - none of them were born into it except for Tim, and even he was gossiped about. Their rumors could be vicious, and Darcy had refused to go for years because of that alone. None of the rest of the family knew what they had said to her, and no matter how often they asked she refused to tell them. The paparazzi were just as bad, if not worse - because while they just had to unleash the DaddyBats on any socialites, but they had to send actual lawyers against the tabloids. And that always took just a bit longer.

But Bruce hated the galas as much as they did, and it always looked better when one or more of the kids came with him to present a united front. So every time that a gala was coming closer, a message would go out in the family group chat as a warning. After that, it was every man for themselves.

AVIARY + Brucie

🍔: Whiskey Golf, go go go!!

🦇👨👧👦: You act like I don't know exactly what that means.

We know that you know what it means, and that’s the point. Darcy shot back, turning off her phone the second that she saw the message had sent. Then she took out the SIM card of her phone, and threw the actual, physical phone away. That part wasn’t important, just the information on the SIM card was. And with it removed from the phone, she was untraceable. Pulling her hood just a little bit further over her face, she picked up her pace just a bit. The faster that she was out of downtown Gotham and at the Clocktower, the better.

When one was on the run from the World’s Greatest Detective, every second was essential.

Her backup phone - a burner phone that she scanned daily to make sure hadn’t been tampered with - vibrated slightly against her thigh.

🐦: SCATTER!

Darcy laughed as she read the text before sticking her burner phone back in her pocket and lowering her head in an attempt to safeguard against the cold winds coming in off of Gotham Harbor. And if that had the added benefit of hiding her face from the security cameras, then that was extra.

The Clocktower was fully secure, as usual. Sometimes she wondered why the Commish never asked about the sheer amount of security that his daughter had on her home - but at the same time, something told her that Jim Gordon knew exactly what happened in his daughter’s apartment.

As she moved past the ten different security checkpoints that Babs had, she grabbed one of the portable scanners that the other woman kept on hand for any of the bats, turning it on as she walked. She scanned herself again - her adoptive father had an unfortunate habit of slipping trackers on his kids, both as Batman and Bruce Wayne. And while she had checked herself over after the last time she left the Manor, it was better to be safe than sorry.

Finally, she made it to Oracle’s lair. “Canary, on your left.” Barbara Gordon said sharply, eyes focused on her screen as she directed the Birds of Prey. “Huntress, go up on this roof and then three to the right. You should be able to cut them off that way.”

Darcy moved past her silently, knowing that Babs would know she was there, and started packing up things that they would need. She would say hello to her girlfriend in a second - she knew better than to interrupt Oracle while she was working.

Finally, the battle was over, and Oracle signed off. “Where you going, girl wonder?” Oracle asked, turning with a smile on her face to see her girlfriend. “You aren’t even going to say - oh.” the smile fell once she caught a glimpse of Darcy - surrounded by bags. “What did you do?” There was a moment when she panicked, turning her chair back around to check over the security measures that she had on the Clocktower. But there was nothing going on, much to her surprise - even Arkham and the Narrows were quiet for once. So she turned back towards her still-panicking girlfriend.

“We have to get out of town.” Darcy said quickly.

“What?” Babara asked, confused. “What’s going on? I haven’t gotten any alerts on anything.”

“Its not Rogue-related, Babs.” Darcy admitted, stopping what she was doing for a second - although she didn’t turn to look at her girlfriend yet. There were some things that she still didn’t want to admit, and her relationship with Barbara was still fairly new - she didn’t want to ruin things by telling her about just how much she hated dealing with the media-related aspects of her family. “It’s Brucie.”

She had trouble with it, but the redhead managed to hold back her snort as she realized what was going on. “Is this about the Gala next week?”

Darcy turned around fast enough that Babs knew she was right. “What? ...no. Of course not.” she denied awkwardly, and this time she couldn’t stop her laughter. It was frankly adorable, in the redhead’s opinion. Her girlfriend could face down the worst of Gotham’s Rogues with little more than an eye roll, but the thought of dealing with high society sent her running. “That would be ridiculous, and completely overdramatic.”

“So you weren’t planning on the pair of us running away until after the Gala so that you wouldn’t somehow get conned into attending?” Babs asked, raising an eyebrow as she moved closer to her girlfriend.

“Definitely not.” Darcy replied, shaking her head and looking like she was trying to figure out what the right answer in this situation was. “Because that would be… irresponsible of me?” she guessed.

“Exactly.”

Darcy sighed, but put down what she was doing and came over to sit on Barbara’s lap instead. “You’re probably right… we should stay here.” she muttered. And although she tried her best to hide it, she couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed.

Barbara tugged at her girlfriend’s hair teasingly, smiling when Darcy scowled at her. “Oh no, that’s not what I said.” she corrected. “Where are we going?”

A small grin took over her girlfriend’s face, and Barbara felt her heart skip a beat. “Really?” Darcy asked. “You’re not gonna tell me that we should stay here, or that I should go with Bruce, or anything like that?”

Barbara just shrugged. “You seem to have made up your mind.” she pointed out. “And what’s the point of dating a Wayne if you don’t get to abuse the privileges every once in a while, huh?”

Darcy just stared at her for a moment before muttering something under her breath. Babs didn’t recognize the words, but she did recognize the language - Romani. She had heard the phrase before, of course. Darcy would say it sometimes when she didn’t think she was paying attention.

Babs looked at her curiously for a second. “You say that so much. What does it mean?”

The ravenette’s eyes widened slightly as a blush tinged her cheeks. “It means… it means I love you.”

Time froze as Barbara processed Darcy’s words, and Darcy waited to see how Barbara would react to them. But all she felt was relief as a smile slowly spread across Babs’ face. “You’re a dork, girl wonder. I love you too. Now come here and kiss me, won’t you?”

8888

Barbara Gordon sat up from her position, taking a moment to reposition her legs so that they were still hidden underneath the shade cast by their umbrella before laying down again and picking up her book. Darcy was sitting next to her, and she felt a moment of envy for the gorgeous tan that her girlfriend was getting, while the ginger was hiding away under ten pounds of sunscreen, an umbrella, and a cover-up.

She was just contemplating on if she wanted a nap or another drink when her phone rang.

Somewhere in the dark, warm or cold, there are creatures that are hanging around I’m told

Darcy snorted, lifting up her sunglasses as she giggled at her girlfriend. “You know whenever B finds out about that ringtone he’s gonna lecture you.”

“Is that you saying I shouldn’t answer it?” she teased. During the three days that they had been here - and Babs still didn’t know exactly where they were, only that it was nothing but sun, sand and drinks in their hands - none of the rest of the Waynes had called yet.

Still, Darcy nearly fell out of her chair as she rushed to answer. “Yes.”

“Hmmm… too bad.” Babs replied, laughing at the look on her girlfriend’s face as she answered the call, putting the phone up to her ear. “Hey, Bruce. Have I seen Darcy?” she pointedly looked in the opposite direction of her girlfriend. “No, not recently, why? The Crowne Gala this weekend? Sorry, I can’t go. I’m… out of town.” she pulled the phone away from her ear, and Darcy gave her a knowing look at the frantic yelling coming through the speakers. “What was that?” she yelled back, while Darcy made static sounds in the background. The pair were getting strange looks from the other beachgoers, but neither one of them cared. “Bruce? Bruce, I - I can’t hear you. I think you’re breaking up. I - I - Bru -.” she cut herself off mid-word, hanging up the phone call and turning to look at her girlfriend.

Any words that she might have been about to say were instantly forgotten when she saw the blinding smile on the ravenette’s face. “I love you.”

She cursed, knowing that her entire face and most of her chest would have turned bright red the second that she heard those words. “I know, girl wonder.” she replied softly, ducking down her head. She was good with her emotions - better than most of the Waynes. But something about hearing those words made her want to hide and scream and laugh all at the same time. “I love you too.”