Roxy felt like she was being thrown around like doll that two kids were fighting over. On the one hand there was her desire to be a hero and do good. A desire that started from the time she was found by Huntress, her mom. But at the same time there was an anger in her. An anger that was never truly satisfied. She wanted revenge on everyone. Those who had used her, and her birth parents. Anyone who didn't take her seriously. Which sometimes she felt was a lot. She was a good detective but people didn't always seem to take her serious. Sure Adam seemed to, but he was a hack at it and needed help usually. But it was all just passing the time it seemed. She was spinning her wheels, going nowhere and just going through the motions.

Finding Bethany, or Gwen now, still alive had shaken her more than she'd let on. Especially since she purposely didn't tell anyone. Partially because no one knew of her past and she wanted to keep it that way. So that meant dealing with this all herself. So instead she decided to go ahead and work on an old case. The man who'd bought Bethany, sold her off to someone else and killed her, kind of. Either way she'd found the middle man. The ass who'd bought her had finally been tracked down. He was still in Gotham, living in some penthouse. He owned stock in a variety of businesses and spent time in Monaco. He was constantly buying girls, young girls then selling them off when they bored him. The man couldn't be allowed to live.

She'd finally mapped out his routine. Tonight he'd be driven to a meeting in a private club. She didn't know what club and didn't care. All she knew was he wouldn't make it there. As the limo drove down the street she fired an explosive arrow at the right tire. The limo crashed into a parked car. The driver got out, MP5 firing in her direction. She fired a standard arrow into his shoulder and he dropped. The target meanwhile took off out of the car on a run and she quickly followed.

She began firing flaming arrows around him, toying with him and leading him to a dead end. He was dumb and was falling for her ploy. She knew more security would be coming, it was only a matter of time. She needed to hurry up and end this.

"You can't run anymore! It's time to pay for your sins!"

She fired a standard arrow into his calf and the man collapsed. She drew another arrow and slowly walked towards the man.

"Your evil can't be allowed to prosper. THis is for every young girl you used and exploited. You will die...eventually."

She fired and pinned his hand to the wall.

Tag: Owen Merlowe

Carlos Reyes. Red Hood had been hunting him all week. Carlos was a money man. He laundered money for at least two of the families that Owen was trying to turn against each other. They paid him very well for his services. His decent profits allowed him to invest in several different businesses and he was living large. This seemed to be good for him, since he could indulge his rather sick tastes and he had the money to back it up. Owen wanted him dead for that alone, but it was a two-fold reasoning. Reyes' death would starve the families of ways to make their money look legitimate. Not to mention that the ledgers and books that he kept, would allow him to move against the interests. Sure, they might go find another 'cleaner' but it gave Red Hood the time he needed.

The Hood had been watching Reyes' movements for awhile and figured that he would move against him tonight. Things were not going as planned, so far. The right tire exploded when an arrow impacted it and the limo smashed into a parked car. Red Hood watched as the driver was shot with an arrow and then flaming arrows chased his target down an alley way. His eyes found a girl in a Robin costume was the source of the arrows. Owen had heard whispers of a new Robin. He'd also heard that she was not an official, card carrying member of the Bat Family. He liked her already.

Bounding after her, Red Hood parked himself on a fire escape in the alley, sticking to the shadows and watching. He listened to her make her speech and pin the man to the wall. Interesting. This Robin wasn't afraid to cross a line. His ears perked up at the sound of an approaching set of footsteps. Apparently, there was another bodyguard. The rest of his security would be on its way. Owen decided that the best way to dispatch him would be swiftly and without fire arms. That would diminish his chances of being shot with an arrow. Loud noises and twitchy bow strings didn't mix. Besides, he needed Reyes alive long enough to get a little information.

Red Hood dropped down, tackling the man and slitting his throat with a tactical knife. The scuffle was loud enough to be heard and Owen was hoping that Roxy wouldn't put an arrow in him, but at least this helped. He stood up. "You need to watch your back a little better, Little Bird. Guy had a .45 and you don't have a cowl. I'll touch on the fact that you sound like a '30's pulp character later." He waved his hand dismissively.

"Sorry, I'm interrupting. Do continue."

Honestly Roxy was completely unaware of the guy coming up behind her. She was so focused on the guy in front of her, obsessed more accurately. She was unaware of the world around her, she just wanted revenge. As soon as she heard the movement and the man's final gurgle the spun, arrow drawn and ready.

"The man wasn't a threat and I knew he was there the whole time."

She said before turning and firing the drawn arrow into the shin of the prone man. Then without a word she rushed forward, her bow turning into a staff and she cracked him in the jaw. He spit some blood against the same wall his hand was pinned again. She grabbed him by the hair and repeatedly drove her knee into his head. Then she crouched down and grabbed him by the throat.

"I want you to know I could kill you at any moment, and I plan to. But someone like you needs to suffer first. You don't deserve the mercy that comes from a quick death."

She squeezed his throat partially, but she was going for pain, not choking. She wasn't prepared to strangle him, well not yet at least.

"Now while I'm curious as to what happened to make a grown man prefer little girls, I'm not interested in excuses. I am however interested in making sure that you regret each and every one."

She let go of him and stood up before driving her heel down on his knee, hyper-extending it and producing a loud snap. She then followed up with a slap.

"Stay conscious, no going into shock yet. Besides we have an audience. Not sure why he wants to watch, but I don't care. All I care about is making your last hours as terrible as possible."

Owen watched the girl beat on the prone man and tell him that she saw him the whole time. Owen had seen this type of tunnel vision before. Looking down the shaft of the arrow pointed at him, Owen smiled beneath the helmet. "He was and you didn't. But that's okay. I'm not here to stop you or lecture you. We just happen to be after the same person."

This behavior was concerning for Owen. Not because Robin was angry or wanted to kill this man. No, that, he understood. Red Hood even respected it. From what it sounded like, it was a righteous anger and he would not deny the girl. He just didn't want his mark to die before he got the information that he needed. That would set him back several weeks and Red Hood wasn't really in the mood for setbacks. This would allow him to move ahead with the grand plan.

The audience comment was directed towards him. "Oh, I don't care if you kill him. I'm not Batman. You clearly got here first and therefore, have dibs. Guy's into kids, clearly he needs to die. I was just wondering if I could ask him a question or two before you do. I'm trying to ruin the lives of a few other crime families that he's tied to. The people who pay him. You could even ask him the questions, since you have a good rapport going. I'd just like to know where he keeps his ledgers and the decryption keys to them. I have a grand plan in mind and uh, well, since you're in the process of interrogating him anyway, I could use your help."

"If you can get me that, I can get you a name or several names. I know who this scumbag works for. I can help you get whoever it is you're looking for." Usually, he was not a fan of manipulation, but since Robin had gotten here first and she clearly was running the situation, Red Hood might as well offer the information he did have as a trade. Maybe she'd even get him that little info and they wouldn't have to be enemies. He'd even make good on the helping thing.

The fact this guy wasn't even going to stop her was oddly surprising. She half expected someone, anyone, to come along and stop her. She'd purposely taken her comm out and everything. She knew deep down she wanted someone to stop her. Someone to keep her from taking another life. So far there was only two. Her old pimp and the evil Roxy. The one who'd impersonated her and now made Jor, the guy she'd once had a crush on, kind of, not even make eye contact with her. He didn't blame her. She'd been in the cell across from him and watched the beatings and psychological torture he'd endured. She would never blame him for his distance following that.

"You heard the man, he needs answers. Now here's the thing..."

She said pulling out a bird-a-rang and began to gently tap it against his cheek, a light trickle of blood appeared under the point.

"...I'll find out either way. You can either tell me willingly and die with one less blemish on your VERY marked conscience. Or, I can get the information another way. When I'm done you'll be nothing more than a mouth on a torso, begging for death with every other breath. I'll find out everything. What he wants to know, bank account, your high school locker combination, everything. How much blood is spilled first is up to you. So let's begin...."

She said before prying open his eye and slowly lowering the point of the birdarang towards his exposed eye.

"I remember when one of the girls mentioned you loved using boiling oil. Shame I don't have any. Well pain is pain I suppose. Do stop moving, I'd hate to miss and hit your tear duct."

The man tried to pull away from her grip but between the beating and him being pinned to the wall and losing blood he couldn't get away.

The girl was rather hardened. She was going for his eye. Owen didn't like the idea. It was effective, but sometimes they would just make up anything to get away from being tortured. "Uh... Not to interrupt again. But minor point of order..." Owen cleared his throat. "I'd stay away from the face. He's not going to be so incline to talk. The whole problem is that you plan to kill him. At this point, he'll just try to resist until you do kill him and set him free."

Owen had enough experience with torturing information out of people. This was an interesting case. He had to push just right, so that Roxy got what she wanted and he got what he wanted. But he needed to tread carefully. Just the wrong amount of push here and he'd lose and everyone might die. He wracked his brains for a solution and then the light bulb came on.

"My suggestion, if you'd like advice, would be to mutilate him until he talks and then let him live. Only because he knows that we can come after him at any time. And it's far more satisfying when spends the rest of his life looking over his shoulder, wondering if it's his last day on Earth. Never quite knowing when it will come. Besides, people have a tendency to make up things when being interrogated like this. If he's alive, then we can correct the data we have. And the mistake we made letting him live."

Red Hood walked over and squatted down next to him. "Do you know what they would do to you in prison, sunshine? Oooh, boy. Let me tell you. They'd probably treat you the way you treat those kids. You'd last about five minutes. You know why? Because you're pretty." Owen patted his cheek and looked up at Roxy. "There are many other ways to ruin a person. If you're interested, I can teach you how to ruin this trash's life, so he's still around to see everything he loves go up in flames." There was a pause for a second. "I know, I know. You're saying to yourself: "But Uncle Red Hood, what if he leaves the country? Well, I don't have a jurisdiction, Robin. So, then we go find him and we kill the hell out of him. I know where to find him anywhere on Earth."

She didn't like being stopped or having him correct her. But at the same time she also saw the point. He made a good argument in the grand scheme of things. If she went too hard he may just say whatever he thinks they want to hear in order to escape. Honestly this was way beyond anything she'd ever done before. Sure smacking a few people around to get them to answer was more her style. It was simple and worked on the low level thugs she usually dealt with. However he was different than the simple thug she usually tried to get information from. For starters he was likely a lot smarter. Sure he was a disgusting vile creature, but not dumb.

"For starters, of all the names I came up with for you 'Uncle Red Hood' is not one of them. But fine, do it your way. Just one thing first..."

She drove the edge of the bird-a-rang through his cheek making a hole. She placed it back on her belt and stepped back. If anyone was going to get the information they both sought it was him. Of course the concept that he'd seen right through her plan to keep the information for herself until he helped her, never crossed her mind. No, she simply assumed that he knew better than her when it came to torture which was still accurate.

"So fine. Do your thing. I wanna know who he worked with and who he sold the girls to."

She said stepping back and leaning against a wall, arms crossed. With a sigh she watched him do whatever it was he did.

"He needs to die..."

She mumbled under her breath as she waited. She knew she shouldn't be relying on Red Hood of all people to help her out but in reality she didn't have too much of an option. He could get the accurate information much easier than she could and the accuracy would simply be higher.

Red Hood shrugged. "That's reasonable. I thought it was the least offensive option you'd call me. But if you're good I'll let you go to Tosche station later and pick up your power converters." The girl shoved a bird-a-rang through their prisoner's cheek. Their was a bit of screaming and a bit of blood. Then Red Hood walked over and covered the man's mouth with his hand.

"Shhh... Shhh... We don't want to attract undue attention, do we? That's going to make me angry. You don't want to make me angry, do you?" Red Hood's thumb pressed against the new hole and the man screamed into his hand. He stopped and the man just shook his head, sobbing. "Good. Because if I get too angry, I'll just let her do horrible things to you. I'm fairly sure she can hurt you real good without killing you. And if not, well, that's okay too."

Red Hood pulled out his knife and smiled under the helmet at the man. "Let's start with the encryption for your books. I'll need the keys to them." The jibbering man reached into his jacket and tossed a flash drive at Red Hood. Now, he had the information that he'd come for, but Owen would press the man for Roxy's information. A simple tactic that would show her that he valued her, even though he'd gotten what he came for.

"Now, I'm going to need the names of your partners and who you sold the girls to."

"I can't. They'll kill me. They'll probably do it for the encryption codes as it is." The man whined.

Red Hood leaned in and cut the man's tie with his knife, making sure to show him. "Oh, my friend. There are far worse things than death. What you need to ask yourself is: What happens if I'm not useful to Uncle Red Hood anymore? The answer is that I give you back to Robin. See...If you give them to me, we'll kill them first. Then you won't have anything to worry about. Except for us. And that will be awhile. Savvy? Then everyone wins and everyone is happy."

The man looked like he was weighing his options. Then after a few moments, he rattled off the names of a few partners. He told Owen that he could find a set of books that listed where all the sales went to. The encryption codes would open those. Owen turned back to Roxy after making sure that he'd gotten all they wanted. He looked at Robin. "Yes, he does. But not today. He's given us bigger fish to go after. People far worse than him."

She watched him as he went to work on getting the information. It wasn't quite as intense as she would have done it. But then again she's also rather new to this whole torture thing. Usually she didn't do too much to try and get information. She simply arrested people after beating them up and left that alone. But now she was in an alley torturing a man for some names. Well technically Red Hood was doing the torturing but she was very much encouraging what was happening. She wanted the information and didn't care what had to happen to get it. Seeing Gwen still alive, sort of, had broken her.

Once he'd given the information she would have been content killing him right there but it wasn't her call. Red Hood had clearly taken over the situation. She was pretty much just sitting there and happened to be nothing more than a sidekick. She hated it. Sure her name was Robin, but still she didn't like being a sidekick. If she were thinking clearer she'd realize that it was the same way she'd been treating Adam. But that whole thing was lost on her right now. With a sigh she grabbed an arrow and fired, it hit the ground right between his legs, not even an inch from his crotch.

"Seems my emotions caused me to miss. Lucky you."

She said before turning her attention back to Owen. She almost wanted to try and take the USB drive to get some sort of control over the situation. But she had a feeling that might not play out in her favor.

"So what's the plan Hood?"

After gathering up all the information that Red Hood required, he turned to watch Roxy. She had fired an arrow towards the beaten man, making him scream again, followed by a sigh of relief when nothing was damaged. This was working out to his advantage. He'd just hoped to get the information from this thug. Owen didn't think he'd find someone who shared a similar worldview to him on the same mission. He decided not to chalk this up to random happenstance. There was a smile in Red Hood's voice.

"I didn't miss by the way." Then Owen stepped into a kick to the monster's privates. There was a loud popping sound and the man screamed again. The Red Hood turned towards Robin and the smile was still evident in his voice. "I said we'd let him go. I never said he'd be allowed to hurt innocents without a price. Remember that."

Red Hood knew that Roxy might have felt like she'd been relegated to a sidekick or something again. Even though Owen didn't really need her, it seemed as though they walked the same path for now. He could harness her and get the help he needed on this case. If she proved useful, maybe Owen would see if she wanted to stick around. The fact that she wanted to know the plan amused him.

"I think you're confusing me for one of those bat types again. I'm not your boss. Our paths seem to cross for this job. I couldn't have done this without you. So, quit acting like a sidekick. As far as I'm concerned, we're partners on this. So... Call the play, Robin. What do you think we should do next? Because I'm going to help you with this now."

Yes she was used to being in charge, when working with Adam. In Gotham however she was used to being relegated to sidekick role. Hell she'd already told off Batman and was used to going solo. With a sight and light smile she grabbed her communicator which had been beeping for some time and threw it on the ground. She drove her heel down on it and crushed it. Where she was going she didn't need Question anymore.

"Actually Batman probably hates me. He tried to recruit me and gave me too many rules and guidelines. I told him to go f*ck himself and that he doesn't actually care about street level crime. I think I said he should go save a moon before storming off."

She said almost ashamed and looking down. She wasn't proud in the grand scheme but she refused to listen to him and do whatever he wanted under Batman's orders. Roxy had never done well with orders, something the Titans had grown used to, she assumed.

"But the way I see it we need each other."

She didn't want to admit she NEEDED him, even though she did.

"The way I see it you helped me get information as well. So how about a tit for tat? Face it, if they're afraid of Red Hood they're going to be expecting a male of your apparent age, sex and build. A young teenage girl however...well that might go unnoticed. Besides if they affiliate with that waste of skin they likely fall into who I'm looking for. We could use each other."

She said crossing her arms. She only wishes she sounded as confident as she wanted to. She knew her confidence was in question, rightfully so.

"So you've got the drive Red, where to first?"

Red Hood laughed. "See? I know Batman hates me. He tried to stop me and lectured me. I didn't tell him where to shove it though. I think he was expecting that. I shot him in the head instead. The armor in that cowl is a lot thicker than I thought. That means we're already birds of a feather. Sorry. Robin puns are too easy sometimes."

The hooded criminal listened to Robin make her pitch. Owen had to give it to her. She had guts. This girl presumed to tell him that he needed her and then explained her plan. It was interesting though. She needed him too. Most people who needed others, didn't really have the courage to come out and say things like that. That was another impressive check. She knew her limitations. Sometimes, even he didn't know his own.

Robin's plan made perfect sense. They would probably be looking for someone like him. Though the helmet kept his head hidden, it was safe to say that most people would probably be suspect. But she could probably get through. Especially given some of their... proclivities since they dealt with the scum in the alley here. She would catch most of them off guard, he imagined. Owen smiled under his helmet yet again.

"I like your plan. It's good. It will need a few refinements, but the rough plan is solid. I will help you." Without hesitation, he added. "I do need help and you're quite qualified after everything that I've seen. So I need you too. You're the best woman for the job. You can go where I can't."

"No guns, which is good. If I had one I likely would've shot him. I also knew that swinging at him, while nice, would also result in, if I was lucky, my flipping onto my back. Personally I would've snapped my wrist to teach me a lesson, but that's me."

She said with a shrug. She believed in harsh training. The kind of training that resulted in people getting hurt to teach them a lesson. She heard a similar story about an X-Man who did the same thing. Apparently Gabby's sister trained under her. Roxy wanted to learn from her but also figured Red here would be far more useful. Without a word she put her hood up on her cloak, plunging her face into total darkness. She grabbed the 'R' shuriken off her costume. It was placed on there as an emergency ever since Jason Todd got killed. She quickly threw it at the man crawling away and it buried itself into his calf.

"Damn, was aiming for his Achilles. But let's discuss these refinements while we leave the alley. The last thing I want is his fight to over power his natural flight and try and stop us. I mean it won't work, but an unnecessary fight none the less."

She said before crossing her arms and looking up at him. She knew she looked odd, but this costume was temporary. She was no longer Robin, she was Roxy, temporary partner of Red Hood. She would emphasize temporary. They had a similar enemy and they could help each other. He could teach her and she could get in where he couldn't unnoticed.

"I get a feeling I'm not going to like any plan....BUT, it's for the greater good."

She knew she might have to pose as 'entertainment', but she would do what she had to to get answers and make people pay.

"Broken bones are only warranted if he wanted you to stop. Fractures and breaks take to long to heal with people you're training. They can set the training back. That's not how the bats work. I know, I was trained by one for a bit."

Red Hood watched the shuriken fly and lodge itself in the man's calf. He shook his head. "I don't really think that he has any fight left in him. We've certainly taken away his weapons for awhile anyway." He walked down the alley, placing himself slightly before Roxy, so that she could keep him in her sights without needing to turn her back on him at all. Now, he had a Robin. Inwardly, he sighed. Another addition to Red Hood's home for wayward orphans. Still, there was something symbolic about that. Owen paused and turned to look at Roxy.

"Have you thought about changing the costume? Not that I'm trying to offend, but the bright colors sort of make you a target. That was the original intent of the costume. To try and draw attention to the Robin wearing it. You might try something... darker. It might help you get shot at less. And may be more valuable on this mission."

Red Hood walked over to a car and opened the door. The car was a black Ford Mustang that Owen borrowed with the intent of leaving somewhere else. "Do you want to ride with me or follow along, Robin? I don't know what you came in and I don't want to put you out of your comfort zone. I certainly wouldn't ride with me after just meeting me. I'm an odd fellow and a bad influence, they say."

Truth be told she had often thought about a different costume. If anything it had become more and more likely ever since her falling out with Batman. She wanted to be her own hero and realized 'Robin' would always be seen as a side kick. The colors didn't bother her. She enjoyed the bright colors that made her stand out. She wanted people to know that they were getting ambushed and beat up by someone wearing bright colors. It kinda helped take out their ego as well, something she always ran into.

"Well I have been fooling around with a few ideas for new costumes and maybe a new name or two. I mean it's hard to be Robin and also refuse to work with Batman. They do kind of go hand in hand."

She said with a shrug before turning her attention back to Owen. She had been lost in her own head, sort of letting her mind wander. She did that a lot, more so now. She'd become disillusioned in certain aspects of heroics. She wanted to start again maybe, make a new name for herself instead.

"I can throw something together in a day or so."

Being the adopted-daughter of Question, she was good at disguise and improvising. She could whip up a semi-decent costume in a short time if need be. Plus he was right, she needed to change her costume. As they got to the car she looked over at her R-cycle.

"I'll go with you. My R-cycle has 3 different trackers on it, all spidered into other parts. I remove it and it never starts. I can fix it, but it'll take time. So unless you wanna wait a week or so we should probably go. Besides, I can take care of myself."

She didn't think this was some weird After School show or whatever where she would learn a lesson. Besides she'd dealt with a lot worse in her life than someone like Red Hood trying to betray her.