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As much as Robin was concerned that she wouldn't be able to rely on heists like the one she'd pulled against the drug lab for income... the reality of it really didn't hold out. Over the months to come, she kept getting intel coming in on drug labs and warehouses. A lot of them meant traveling around the country, but this was the UK, and the train system was actually pretty good.

She really didn't worry overly much about drawing attention to herself. She was just a young woman, after all, not even eighteen. Who would expect her, even if she did end up going to a lot of the same places as these drug busts.

No, her real challenge was how to manage the loot she was getting. At first, she kept stashes in the cities she visited. But, in time, she learned how to transport the stuff around the country without drawing attention. The attention she was drawing was far more focused on these labs... and she got to be really good at drawing that attention.

The weird thing was that she found easier ways to make her fire charges, better ways to refine the timing of them. At the end of the day, the real wonder was that none of them ever malfunctioned on her, and she never wound up getting burned. It was like they knew better. Like they wanted her to succeed. It was really weird.

Still, it was weird in her favor, at least for the time being, and that was what mattered. And, hey, she got to see a lot more of the country than she ever thought she would. For that matter, she was a little bit excited for her next job, since it was taking her down to Bath. She'd always liked the movies and shows set down in that area. It was really beautiful.

Now it was time for her to go set a fire down there.

---

The trip down to Bath was relaxing. She'd picked up a new book to read and some new music to rock out to along the way. A band someone had just shared with her called Halestorm. She liked the lead singer.

She got into Bath a little later than expected... a small delay on the line, but she was still able to book into the hotel she was staying at without a problem, and she had a nice dinner before she got to work following her leads.

Soon enough, she found the drug ring, and set to work staking them out. She didn't spend every moment of every day watching them... she got to explore the city a bit, and even got to have tea in the pump room on one of the days. On that day, she even bit the bullet and wore something other than her usual all-black, punk-rocker attire. Even to her, that didn't feel right.

But when she had a sense of the way the place ran, she did her usual thing and gathered up her resources, checking over the charges carefully before she donned her uniform and made her way into the den. She got through the outer guards just fine, and even made it to the safe without a problem. There was a lot more in there than she was used to, but she loaded up what she could.

The problems didn't start until she went into the office. She didn't notice the sensor at the door... or the keypad just inside the room. As she was going through it, looking for the documents she would need to make sure were out in the open, she heard a commotion just outside the room. She twisted around, seeing the shadows of several people at the door, fussing at one another. It was only then that she saw the alarm system that she'd missed on the way in.

She cussed at herself, her eyes darting around for somewhere to hide as a calm... almost condescending voice spoke, sounding like it was right behind her. “Well... this is a bit of a spot you've gotten yourself into. And you were doing so well."

She spun around, looking for the source of the voice, but instead, she heard laughter from it. “It's not going to do you any good to look for me. I'm not here. Not physically, at least. I don't have that. No, I'm here to help. I just need you to trust me and follow your instincts. This is already a messy situation, but it isn't past saving."

She didn't have long to think it over... or a lot of choice but to trust this voice. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, letting it out slowly before she ducked under the ornate desk in the room. As she calmed herself and focused, it felt as though her senses became sharper... almost able to track the movements of the men as they came into the room... able to hold a mental map of the room in her mind and know where each of them were by the sound of their movements.

In her mind, the fight to come played out at a relaxed pace... she had herself doing moves that she'd never done before, but they felt right. But, for the moment, she waited for them to be in just the right spot. The only question in her mind was how she would get into the position that she'd been at the start of the fight in her mind.

As the moments went on, she felt the right moment... and suddenly... she just was where she needed to be. She blinked, but hesitated for only a fraction of a second before she leapt into action. None of them were really prepared for her... not as she darted around the room, punching, kicking, and flipping around these fully-grown thugs. All the while... it was almost like they were moving in treacle compared to her.

Even those who carried guns weren't really a problem for her... none of them really that well trained of fighters, and even though a few of them managed to get a shot off, she was able to zip in and break their wrists, knocking the guns out of their grasps.

All in all, the fight only lasted for maybe a minute, and she found that she had about eight unconscious men to handle. She reached into her bag and pulled out some of the extra zip ties that she used for her charges, and rope, binding them up carefully, making sure that none of them had any knives or anything like that to use to get free.

“Wonderful job. I knew you had it in you. You really are amazing at all of this. Now, with the guards dealt with, we have time to deal with everything in the safe. In fact... it is a rather nice safe. It would be a pity to leave it here. Go back to it."

“You know... at some point... I'm going to want to know what the fuck you are... and how the hell I just did that," she said as she went back to the safe.

“Yes, yes, of course. I do promise that we'll have a good conversation when everything is said and done. For now, just go to the safe and put your hand on it and focus on your main den back home. Trust me."

She rolled her eyes, shaking her head a little as she placed her hand on the safe and did as the voice said, focusing on the safe room where she kept most of her takings these days. The odd thing was that the sound of the room around her changed. Not drastically, but noticeably, and she opened her eyes and looked around the room... and there she was... hand on the safe... in her safe room.

“Okay... cool... but... I still need to alert the authorities to the drug den..."

“Oh, just focus on being back there, just without the safe. I've already purged footage of you from the security feeds, so don't worry about that. But now, you can just go up to the roof and leave a bonfire there... rather than having to muck about with too many charges inside. A few to lead the firefighters on, but now... you've got all the time in the world."

She sighed heavily and shook her head, groaning deeply as she zipped back to the drug den. She went back to the den, returning to the office, where she was able to more leisurely get out all of the documents she'd wanted the authorities to find before she roamed around the rest of the den, making sure that she had found everything she really needed to. “So... what other kinds of things can I do," she asked the voice that had... apparently been helping her."

“Well, for one, I've already gone in and... taken care of the security cameras. Those are something to be a bit more careful of going forward. We've been lucky so far with those. But, at this point, you could always be a bit more surgical with fire," it said with a little chuckle, “I mean... why set the whole building on fire when you could... merely trace out the paths that they will need to follow to get where you want them to go? I think that sounds quite elegant."

Robin couldn't disagree with it, as much as she was cursing herself about the security cameras. She really had been lazy about those. “Okay. You're going to have to walk me through how to do this."

“Of course, of course," the voice replied, and guided her to walk through the halls, tracing out a path along them to provide a kind of roadmap for the authorities. Nothing excessive, but a roughly three-inch wide line of scorch marks. After that, she went up to the roof and set up a fire that would just burn on top of the building, rather than spread through it. It was certainly a deviation from her MO, but she understood that it would still have the desired results... and with the men in the office, unable to get away... she really didn't want to run any chances of inadvertently killing them.

She got the fire going before she decided to hedge her bets a bit further, taking a breath as she pulled out her burner phone that she'd gotten for this job. She pulled up the voice modulation app on it and dialed 999. “I'd like to report a drug lab for you guys to come and clean up. There's less fire for you to deal with, this time, so you're welcome." She gave the address before she dropped the phone on the roof, knowing that they'd be able to track it to the building, too.

She stepped away, and looked around, taking a deep breath and smiling under her mask. She thought for a moment before she walked over to the stairs up to the roof here, before she used her fire... 'magic' to leave a signature on the roof. “You're welcome. Love, Robin Hood."

The voice laughed in the back of her mind at her little quip before she focused on the clean room that she'd prepared for herself here in Bath, vanishing from the rooftop to reappear in the bathroom of her hotel room. She went to lean against the sink for a moment, breathing deeply before she looked up at herself in the mirror.

The mask on her face... looked oddly shaped. She narrowed her eyes and scowled at her reflection before she reached up and pulled back her hood in order to take her ski mask off. She didn't get as far as the face mask before something else stopped her in her tracks. There were a pair of pointed ears on top of her head, with striking, red, black, and white fur on them.

She stared at her ears for a moment before she yanked her mask off, staring in horror at the fur-covered, pointed face that was revealed. Her eyes were wide and just a little frantic as she took her reflection in. She fought to calm herself, but when she had calmed down enough, she took a deep breath and said, “No."

The voice laughed and seemed to smirk, “Oh, but it looks good on you! Besides, those sharper senses did serve you well during that fight. Still, I suppose that if you'd known that you had claws, you could have done some good damage with those... so that's my fault for not drawing your attention to them."

“Look, I don't give a fuck about that. If I go out and about looking like this, everyone is going to notice me, and that's everything that I've been trying to accomplish completely shot." She was angry, to be certain, but she was at least making a good effort to stay calm.

“Oh fine," the voice said, and to Robin's relief... and slight horror, her head returned to its original shape, and she let out a long breath.

“Okay. Thank you. Maybe during the jobs... as kind of an extra disguise... and the senses and everything... but... not outside of them," she said, pulling off her gloves and running some cold water to splash over her face. She paused for a moment, looking back up at herself in the mirror, “Wait... I didn't have a tail, did I?"

The voice laughed, and she could really feel the grin coming from it, “All part of the package deal. It did look good on you, though, and it'll throw off the goons' description of you."

She grumbled but had to admit that was a good thing. “Just... next time you make any changes to me, let me know, okay?"

“Yes, that I can certainly do."

“So... what are you?"

“You see, that's kind of hard to explain. My normal connection point to this world is weaker than it is on other worlds... but, I will say that what you've done to take big, bold moves to create a safe community is... very close to my heart. So, ever since the first warehouse, I started taking notice and watching over you. If things hadn't gone sideways today, I would have just stayed in the background, doing my thing."

She blinked in confusion, remembering back to how she had helped Jenny settle into the apartment and a job after she'd dealt with Bobby. On top of that, since she'd rescued Jenny, she'd used the money she had brought in to help several others get into the complex as a safe haven. Mostly girls from her class who needed somewhere to live, but there was Emmet, who was a pretty nice guy in his own right. Just a little awkward and nervous around most people.

Still, he was pretty quick and sharp, able to pick up new things surprisingly quickly. Heck, at the club, he proved to be quite the marksman with darts... and knives, as it turned out. For that matter, the typically meek Krystie really bloomed when she got a job at the local gym, quickly putting on some real muscles, and Kaylin really settled into her job waiting tables at the pub, finding that she really enjoyed the attention she got.

Even the landlord's daughter, Sofia started coming out of her shell, even if she was a few years younger than the rest of them. She kind of started seeing them as her big sisters, and they'd really been able to help take her grades from decent to great. Robin thought about that for a long moment, straightening up and looking at herself in the mirror. “Okay... so, yeah... I've been building a kind of misfit family... I've got you there... but... why does that matter to you?"

“In many of the other worlds that I have a connection to, such misfit families and communities are some of the richest in heart, and filled with the most wonderful stories... and stories are what I live for. The fantastic and amazing experiences of life. Trust me when I say that where I am from, literally nothing has meaning. It is why I've made windows into other worlds. And those who help to enrich the lives of others, especially in wonderfully dramatic ways like setting a drug warehouse on fire... well, can you blame me for taking an interest?"

Robin thought for a moment, mulling it over in her mind. “Well... in light of how well our little community is doing financially, and with the way you just helped me out of that pinch... I really can't complain. I... just might have been able to do with a bit more warning," she said with a smirk, sighing and shaking her head as she started changing out of her heist clothes and back into the clothes she'd been wearing around Bath. She was just glad that none of the others were here to see the clothes she'd picked out for herself here. Look, if she wanted to take a little Jane Austin vacation, that was her privilege, with how well she'd been doing, okay?

“Mmm... fair enough... it took me a while to connect with you well enough for that... but now that we are able to properly be... partners in crime, it would be unbecoming of me to not do right by you. By the way, I love the little signature you left back there. Very coy."

She laughed, “That's the trouble growing up where I did with my name... do you know how hard it is to escape all of that back there?"

“I can only imagine," Nothing said dryly, “But, at least for now, you get to have a bit of pride as you enjoy your time here for a little longer."

“Look... I didn't know how long it would take for me to raid that place... so I bought myself a bit of extra time with this hotel, okay?"

“Mmm... well, if you insist."

And she did.