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—001 MONA LISA
𝘿𝙀𝘾𝙀𝙈𝘽𝙀𝙍𝟭𝙨𝙩, 𝟮𝟬𝟭𝟮 3:34 𝘈𝘔 𝘉𝘓Ü𝘋𝘏𝘈𝘝𝘌𝘕
𝘓𝘐𝘎𝘏𝘛𝘚 𝘐𝘓𝘓𝘜𝘔𝘐𝘕𝘈𝘛𝘌𝘋 the city as Rio's legs hung over the rooftop of her apartment building. She inhaled, her earbuds blasting music so she could immerse herself in a disillusioned reality where her life just consisted of staring at the night sky. It was easy to forget everything when the wind was surrounding you and the darkness above seemed so near. Rio became a better version of herself on nights like this. A version that didn't make her skin crawl with regret and disgust.
"Two hours till school starts, I got time," she stood on her feet, adjusting her mask. Burglary was not Rio's strong suit, but it fueled her to be able to just steal things and get away with it. And, what could she say? She did learn from the best. She played the next song on her playlist, preparing to run and jump onto the next building. It became easy after enough chases to travel through parkour. But what was not easy was when someone from an unknown location crashed into you, ruining it. A boy, only a bit younger than herself, groaned as he rubbed his temple. Rio sighed, picking herself up off the spot on the ground she had landed.
"Who are you?" Rio asked him in Spanish, making sure her mask was still on her face.
"Seriously? You don't know me?" The comment must have slipped, his face indicated that it was out of character.
He spoke in perfect Spanish, shocking Rio for a moment. She glanced over him, noticing the red and black spandex, the messy black hair, and the mask with the white eyes. She scoffed, "the sidekick of the good old Bats?"
His facial expression changed, "I'm not just some sidekick."
"You seem like it. Hell, you're probably younger than me," Rio considered this a waste of time, but the crash had made her realize how tired she was.
"That's classified," he said in a very serious tone. His mask was perched just perfectly on his nose that his mask added to the personality of his that was reflected on his face.
Rio chuckled, "okay kid. Whatever you say."
"Anyway, what are you doing out late? Doesn't look like anything good," Rio was standing still as he had started to walk towards her. She was not tall herself, only reaching 5'2, and he was a few inches taller than her. And she did look like she was up to no good.
"Doesn't seem like your business. It's probably past your bedtime," she smirked, putting her hands into her jacket.
"I don't have a bedtime," Robin crossed his arms, showcasing a strong pouty face, even if he didn't intend to.
"Sure sweetheart," she turned around and began running in the opposite direction, Robin following close behind her.
The two laughed as they chased each other from building to building, like children do. A masked assassin and a boy who played hero in the daytime, forever covering his eyes from the world. The girl looked behind her as she jumped, watching the boy follow her. They ran together, Robin catching up to her. Rio jumped down onto a stoop, expecting Robin to jump onto the next building. But instead when she spun around, she found herself face to face with him once more.
"Nice move. How many weapons do you have on you?"
The tone in conversation had mildly switched, "enough to take off most of your limbs pretty smoothly."
"So you left some at home, because there's definitely other ways you'd think of. You're not the first person to threaten to murder me," Robin was walking around the girl, as if he was some big shot interrogator.
"And I definitely will not be the last," she smiled as he stopped in front of her. Her ski-mask covered her face, leaving her eyes and lips as the only recognizable features in the city lights. Her lips were just a shade darker from her skin, and had a light gloss over them. Her eyes were dark and intriguing as well. Besides her physical features, her gold jewelry contrasted the all-black outfit she was wearing.
"If you hadn't been wearing that I wouldn't have had to ask any questions," Robin made a hand gesture to her outfit, leading Rio to put a hand to her chest, offended.
"Or you'd know my identity and track me and sell me into a sex trafficking ring. Either or," she booped his nose.
"Did you just-"
"Yes. I did."
The two smirked at each other. The air between them was something neither of them had the pleasure of experiencing before. A sense of peace. The last time Rio remembers not having to worry about anything at all was maybe years ago. And Robin, well he had Batman to worry about. Robin raised his hand, "truce?"
"Agreed. Truce. I think it is getting too late for you to stay up anyway," she turned around and perched herself onto the rail of the stoop.
"Sure. And mind you I have patrol duties too," a muffled noise came from somewhere on the boy, "oh shit."
He opened a software on his wrists, revealing a man as a hologram, "Master Dick, it's 4 in the morning. He's already in the exercise room mumbling about how you're a dead man once you get home. Oh and happy birthday, sir."
He hung up the device, nervously looking at the girl in front of him. The strong exterior had vanished in a moment's time, and all that was in front of her was a sixteen year old boy. She kept her laughter to herself, "is Master Dick a gamer tag?"
Robin glared at her momentarily, but sighed, "I'll deal with you another time."
"There won't be another time my friend," she saluted him with a cheeky smile.
"I'm planning on it."
"Good luck with that, happy birthday kid."
And they parted ways.
Robin had taken that moment to analyze everything about her as he walked away. She had long dark hair, messily braided with a ribbon. She was sporting a baggy, all-black look, showing she was not considering any serious crimes. She had several necklaces on, one being gold with a cross that shined in the moonlight, revealing the word "Penitente" on the horizontal axis, and another necklace with the name "Soliván." She was probably the coolest girl that Robin would ever meet, but she was the enemy. Meaning either way, Robin would track her down.
Rio hung from the railing, stepping down to the next stoop before landing onto the ground of the alley beside the building she had been on. She needed to be alive and alone for a few moments. She hadn't returned to her usual apartment and instead had been staying at her dad's place. She didn't want to go to her apartment. She knew she wouldn't like what she saw. So she avoided her life and instead slept on her school's roof until she heard the first bell ring. When she woke, she noticed the random appearance of Batman, gliding past from building to building in front of her.
I guess superheroes aren't so bad.
this is quite literally the shortest chapter and I hate that its so short, especially cus it does not showcase my best writing but there is literally nothing else I can do in order for it to portray what i want SO HERE IS THE FIRST CHAPTER >>:) I promise all the others will be like twice as long i hope you enjoyed , i fucking love these two so much and they mean the world to me and i think this is a good intro for them two. ANYWAY i'm editing and rewriting the rest of the book now so expect more updates soon. <3
