“But....but Emily! You’ve just got to! How am I supposed to be bonafied if it doesn’t go by you to Bruce?”

“That’s the point. You’re not,” she said, turning again, making her brown hair flip.

“Terry?” she said with a bit more hope. He scowled at her.

“What on earth were you thinking? You could’ve been killed! Going out, without any training!”

She grinned. “But I do have training. What do you think I’ve been doing for the last three weeks?”

Had it really been three weeks? Yes, June had given up hope on the pair of vigilantes, and July had come.

“It’s not training if it’s not from Bruce,” Emily said stubbornly. Max rolled her eyes. Bruce was amazing, but he wasn’t superhuman. She looked at Terry, thinking he’d agree, but he was siding with Emily with a nod of his head. What did they see in him that Max was missing? More importantly, how would she see it if Bruce didn’t train her?

“I AM NOT GOING TO HAVE ANOTHER ROBIN PATROLLING THE STREETS! NOT NOW, NOT EVER!”

Emily and Terry winced as he yelled. Emily nearly said “three times the charm,” but decided now was not the time. She didn’t think she could ever remember seeing Bruce this mad.

But Terry, who had known Bruce longer, had just enough courage to stand and speak.

“She didn’t do so horribly Bruce.”

Bruce fixed his cold blue eyes of Terry, but he did not shrink back from that icy gaze as Emily, and most assuredly Max, would have done. He’d dealt with that stare for over three years. It didn’t burn anymore.

Emily looked up at her cousin with love and admiration.

“She’s not going out there,” Bruce reiterated, and in this instance, his word was law. “Now, if you don’t mind, it’s time to do the other things I pay you for. Who’s going to drive me to my meeting?”

Terry had sat down, and they both grimaced slightly. It would not be pleasant with Bruce in a dark mood.

“Flip you for it,” Emily whispered in her cousin’s ear.

Emily Mackenzie

Interstate Five

As fate would have it, I lost.

“What did you think about Max’s job?”

That was random.

“I....I don’t know,” I said with a sigh.

“She’s too rough,” he said with a definite air about him.

“She trained herself. She’s probably not doing all the fine tuning you do.”

“And it pays off. You do more, get hurt less, and learn more.”

Oh boy.....Good job Mackenzie. You’ve triggered the “Don’t you dare complain” voice.

“I agree,” I said. Okay, so it was a lie. I’m semi-Christian, not an angel.

“And you want her on the team.”

“I didn’t say that.”

“But you thought it.”

“No.” That was true enough.

“So do you, or not?”

“I....I don’t know. I don’t think so. She’s too over zealous. She would need weeks, maybe months of training, and she wouldn’t want to wait that long. She could get seriously hurt, and that’s the last thing I want.”

“And how about her good qualities?” he asked.

“She’s smart, she’s quick, and she’s obviously been working at it. We’re here,” I finished, pulling into the lot, by the door.

I got out, opening the door for him while he stepped out.

“Oh, Bruce! One more thing!” I called, and he turned.

“Robin is a girl’s name anyway.”