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Chapter 22: Artists and Critics
"Robin? Are you acting alone tonight? Where is your guardian?" Kid asked with a teasing grin.
"Batman has more important things to do. Dealing with you doesn't require his attention," Robin scoffed. "And for the record, Batman is not my guardian!"
With that declaration, he spun his staff and charged.
Robin's staff work was exceptionally formidable—fast, precise, and ruthless, aiming for vital points. Kid dodged with narrow margins. Seeing this, Robin's attacks grew sharper, giving the thief no room to breathe.
Interesting, Robin analyzed as he pressed the attack. Kid's dodging looks panicked on the surface, but he avoids every hit at the very last second. His reflexes are outstanding, but he lacks combat experience.
"Let's see if you can dodge this."
Robin twisted the end of his staff. Arcs of electricity crackled at both tips. He swung at Kid with speed that eclipsed his previous attacks.
Zap!
The electrified staff was centimeters from Kid's face.
Clang!
In the nick of time, Kid raised his Card Gun, blocking the strike.
"Hey! Isn't that a bit dangerous?" Kid complained, eyeing the sparks jumping from the weapon.
Robin offered a mysterious smile. "It gets worse."
Kid sensed danger and tried to leap back, but before he could move, the staff split into three sections connected by thin metal chains. The tip of the three-section staff whipped around in an impossible trajectory, striking Kid's neck.
Kid's body convulsed violently from the electric shock.
Thud.
The rookie thief of Gotham, the man who had played the GCPD for fools, crashed to the ground and lost consciousness.
Robin approached cautiously, but Kid showed no sign of waking. He checked for a pulse—strong and steady. This was a real human, not a dummy.
"What? I thought he'd be tougher than this," Robin muttered, looking down at the unconscious thief. "I stayed up all those nights preparing for him, and he goes down in two hits?"
He sighed, feeling a hollow sense of disappointment, and pulled a pair of Bat-cuffs from his belt.
"Wait. Something is wrong," Samantha suddenly spoke up.
"What?" Robin looked at her, confused.
"It feels... strange. Like something is missing."
"Missing?" Robin scanned the area. There was only himself, Samantha, and the unconscious Kid. The room was empty to begin with. "What could be missing?"
"I remember now! William! William is gone!" Samantha exclaimed.
The bodyguard, who had been lying unconscious moments ago, had vanished into thin air.
"Huh?! No!"
Robin realized something terrifying. He immediately grabbed the shoulder of the "Kid" lying face-down and flipped him over.
Staring back at him was not the monocled thief, but the unconscious face of William!
The white cape had concealed the size difference between the two men. In the darkness, the switch had been visually seamless.
"How... how is this possible?"
Robin stared in shock. The person he had briefly fought was definitely Kid. He had kept his eyes on him the entire time until the moment of the electric shock. Kid couldn't have had the time to dress William up as a decoy.
When did they switch?
It made no sense. It defied all logic.
Does... does he actually use magic? Robin thought, his scientific worldview shaken.
"When you encounter something you cannot understand, you attribute it to magic. Is that what Batman taught you?"
The voice echoed from all directions.
"It's Kid!" Robin spun around, trying to triangulate the source.
Flap, flap!
A sound from above.
"Up there!" Robin gripped his staff and looked up.
He saw a dove.
Not the superheroes Hawk and Dove, but a literal, pure white pigeon.
"No, not just one..." Robin murmured.
A second dove flew in from the left, then a third. Fourth, fifth, sixth...
Countless white doves converged from every direction, spiraling above Robin's head. As the flock thickened, they descended in unison, clustering together.
In the center of the swirling storm of white feathers, where there had been nothing but air, the silhouette of Phantom Thief Kid materialized out of the void.
The scene was so breathtaking that neither Robin nor Samantha could speak.
Kid stood with his back to Robin, turning his head slightly to reveal a confident smirk.
"Listen well, Robin. I hear you fancy yourself a detective, much like your mentor."
Kid's cape flared as he delivered his verdict.
"If the Phantom Thief is a creative artist who conjures the impossible... then detectives are nothing more than critics who follow in our footsteps, looking for faults. At best, you are merely an audience."
"What did you say?!"
Robin, stung by the disdain in Kid's voice, snapped his weapon back into a long staff and charged at the figure surrounded by doves.
He swung through the flock, passing straight through to the other side.
He hit nothing but air and feathers.
Coo-coo-coo—
The doves scattered in all directions. Phantom Thief Kid was gone.
Only a single white card drifted down, landing at Robin's feet.
I will be taking the Emerald Necklace. Until we meet again, little bird of the Bat-Family.
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