fh_trips | Saturday: Nemesis Island

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bde fall 2008: nemesis island

Saturday: Nemesis Island

It's amazing how different the atmosphere changes once you cross over the causeway to Nemesis island. True, it might be the same temperature and all but just setting foot on the island can give you goosebumps.

And if you meet up with of the residents here you might attacked for no good reason.

Which, sadly, is the slogan of the local tourism board.

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Speedy's aim was a little off from being, you know, high and out of practice.

He was still damned good.

Another arrow got sent winging its way toward Robin.

Robin dove forward under the arrow, grabbed a batarang, rolled to his feet, and threw the weapon roughly in the direction the arrow came from. He didn't expect to hit anything but maybe a tree, but he was hoping it would either buy him a few seconds and/or give a better hint as to Speedy's location.

Yeah, the batarang hit a tree. But Robin might be able to follow the sound of Speedy's voice as he told him to, "Go away, Robin."

"Not yet, Speedy," Robin called back. He moved slowly towards the sound of the voice, trying not to appear to be a threat. "I just want to help."

"I don't want your help." A few seconds later, Speedy's voice came from a slightly different location. "Did you set out to be a target, or is it a happy coincidence?" Never mind that Speedy wore red, too.

Another arrow found its way toward Robin.

"Red -- OOF!" Robin was knocked down when the arrow hit him with a burst of energy. "Red works well with my complexion," he called out. He pulled out his grapple and fired it into the trees, pulling himself up. He was trading a better view for being a bigger target, but at least he was at home that high off the ground.

"Was that a joke about my hair?" Speedy called. He looked around. Crap. Where had he gone? "Oh, bird boy, where are you?" he sing-songed.

Finally Robin had a good view. And if he had a chance for a sneak attack, he wasn't about to waste it. He threw two batarangs at Speedy and braced himself to leap from his position the moment Speedy realized where they came from.

Okay, batarangs? Hurt. But as soon as Speedy got hit he whipped around in the direction the batarangs had come from, arrow at the ready, looking around for red and green.

It didn't occur to him to look up.

Robin wasn't going to let a chance like that go to waste. He leaped from the tree, fired his grapple at another branch, and swung towards Speedy with a two-footed kick.

Speedy whirled toward the sound of the grapple firing and shot the line out.

"Crap!" Robin yelled. Fortunately he knew how to fall from fairly high distances without going splat on the ground.

Unfortunately, it still hurt when he landed. But he was pretty sure nothing was broken but his grapple line.

Now Speedy knew where Robin was, and could shoot at him again.

So he did.

Robin rolled away from the arrow, which took a bit out of his cape. He rose to a crouch and threw another batarang aimed at Speedy's hands. "Thanks for not using pointy arrows. I appreciate it."

Speedy got his hands out of the way, since they were kind of critical, but the batarang glanced off his (well-armored) chest. "You're welcome," he said bitterly, rubbing the place the batarang had hit. That was going to sting when he wasn't high. "Why are you even doing this? Why do you care?"

"We're not all that different, so if you don't care, I guess I'm the next best person for the job," Robin said, ducking behind a tree. He was still shaken up from that fall. At this range, he wasn't sure he could dodge an arrow without first taking cover.

"Oh, that's nice," Speedy said. "Hide." He pulled another arrow from his quiver and started stalking, bow at the ready, toward the tree Robin had hidden behind. "What are you gonna do? Take my stash? We both know I'll just get more."

"Well, right now I'm hoping you feel ashamed of yourself for attacking somebody twice for trying to help and decide to check yourself into rehab or something," Dick said, dropping three smoke pellets on the ground. It was going to be harder for Speedy to hit what he couldn't see.

Of course, it went both ways. If Speedy couldn't see Robin, Robin couldn't see Speedy.

"I don't want your help. It's not like it matters anyway. There's always gonna be another dealer. Always gonna be another junkie. What's one more?"

"One more is everything. Look at what you're wearing, man," Robin said. "If you didn't think that, why do you even have that costume?"

Robin was trained in the dark. He could easily maneuver in a cloud of smoke. He moved around the tree, attempting to flank Speedy. Okay, the talking probably didn't make it as stealthy as he'd prefer, but he was convinced that the talking between attacks was where he might make some headway, so it was worth the risk.

Speedy shot an arrow at where he thought Robin might be.

It probably wasn't.

Robin saw a vague shade of the arrow go past his right side. Speedy was still way too close with those things despite the smoke, and that wasn't going to hold up much longer. He continued closing in, a batarang in hand. "If you weren't high, you would've beaten me at least three times by now." Robin didn't believe that at all, but it sounded good. "Why are you wasting everything? Your skills, the opportunity to help people?"

"None of it matters. Who gives a damn, anyway?" Not Ollie, that was for damn sure.

Speedy pulled another arrow out of his quiver and frowned as he nocked it to his bow. Oh, great. The boxing glove arrow. "Come out, come out, wherever you are, Boy Wonder."

"Behind you," Robin said from a couple feet behind Speedy. He noticed the smoke starting to lift, so he made a point to drop his batarang, hoping that Speedy could see it. "Shoot if you want. Just know that I wouldn't be willing to take an arrow from close range unless I gave a damn."

Speedy turned to him. "It's a boxing glove arrow, dumbass."

Saturday: Nemesis Island

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