Hey everyone! I wrote this for the FANTASCI Shades of Summer anthology. If you go to the FANTASCI profile you can find everyone else's short stories from the anthology as well! I hope you like it ^-^

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It was the kind of day you would almost spend wishing you were dead, not fighting against it.

Robyn wiped the sweat from her brow, internally cursing the July sun that beat down upon her. The heat was inescapable, and the fact that she was throwing punches as hard as she could wasn't helping her to cool down. The tight, all black catsuit wasn't exactly the best thing to be wearing, either.

Her heart was pumping in sync with the crowd's cheers, and she couldn't help but smirk. Robyn was used to the spotlight, goodness only knew how used to it she was, but this kind of attention made her senses dial to one hundred. This was attention for what she could --what she was-- doing. She wasn't sure what she liked more--the cheers for her to win, or the ones cheering against her, challenging her to do better.

"Getting tired, sweetheart?" Her opponent sneered, looking her up and down as if she was a rag doll.

"Please," she scoffed, running a hand over her mouth to wipe away any blood from her busted lip. "I could do this all day."

"Good." He tilted his head back, face showing his over confidence. And that was exactly what Robyn was waiting for. She gave him one roundhouse kick straight to the throat, making him cough and sputter as he fell backwards against the gate of the alleyway they stood in.

"Told you." She smiled serenely, knowing full well that she was going to win this fight, even though the man she fought was twice her size.

Her opponent wheezed as he grasped at his throat, face becoming redder with each second. Robyn wasn't sure if it was from the kick, or his anger towards her for delivering it.

"You're really going to die now," he yelled. Some from the crowds around her jumped back in fear, but Robyn had none.

"You're not getting this money." She took it out from the pocket on the inside of her shirt, pressed against her chest.

"You don't own that!" He roared. "You stole that."

"Yes, yes, I did. But, not from you." A few more punches were thrown, but Robyn tried her best to dodge the fight while talking. "And letting you take it from me would be an awful waste."

"Your orphans and your peasants can go without!"

Robyn threw her hands up in a 'what can you do?' pose. "Yeah..." She dragged out the word. "But they won't." She delivered an uppercut to the jaw --a final blow.

"Enough!" His rage was more than evident. Robyn couldn't help the smirk that creeped onto her face, but it was quickly wiped away when her opponent pulled his weapon from his holster.

"Woah, woah, woah." She took a step back, eying it carefully. "No need to use that."

The people gathered around didn't know what the man held, but Robyn knew. The gun was no doubt found on the black market, and was illegal in almost eighty countries. Including theirs. The reason for this being illegal, was that one shot in your target's direction, whether you hit them or not, would kill them. It wasn't instantaneous either. The victim would be in the greatest form of pain mankind had yet known.

"No need?" His voice shook, making him appear even more psychotic than before. "If there's no need, then hand over the money."

"You wouldn't use that. You'd kill so many people." She reached slowly behind her, hoping he wouldn't see her gradual movement. The crowd quickly moved away from Robyn, leaving her the only person in the guns range.

"I would use it." He smiled sinisterly. "But I won't. Just hand it over. You're only a little girl, you don't have to die."

"Though she be but little, she is fierce!" Robyn gripped tightly the object she had been reaching for.

"What?" The man glared in his confusion.

"It's a quote by a guy long dead. Just like you." Moving as fast as humanly possible, she pulled out her own gun --a much more humane prototype she had created for herself-- and fired. She hit her mark, and the weapon the man held was blown to bits in his hand. Using the opportunity to escape, Robyn lunged behind a cart in the alleyway and disappeared.

*****

"Robyn, honey." Her mother's delicate voice filled the large room. "Are you almost ready?"

"Uhm, almost. Not quite." The teenage girl said into the comm system while trying to cover her bruises and scrapes from the fight. "How much longer until we have to leave?"

"A half an hour at most," came the reply.

Robyn turned off the comm and continued to get ready. She'd become quite skilled at hiding her little wounds, as she attained them so frequently. She smiled at her reflection when she saw that she was done, and anything she couldn't cover would be hidden by her dress anyway. After leaving her bathroom and walking barefoot over to her closet, she took the silky pale pink dress from its hanger and put it on. Robyn grinned at her choice. The dress went all the way to the floor and puffed out a bit, hiding the bottom half of her catsuit, her weapon of choice, and anything else she might need that was small enough to strap to her leg.

Robyn did feel a little guilty that her going to support her parents on their big night was mostly a cover up, but she felt that they'd understand why if they knew. If she could tell them the right way what she does, who she was. At least she hoped that they would understand if she ever decided to tell them. For now though, they knew nothing. No one she cared about knew, unless they were the people she had met while being her 'alter ego.'

"Mom?" She had walked all the way from her room to her parent's room. Peering in the doorway, she saw her mother staring into the full length mirror, smoothing down her navy blue gown. Robyn noticed her mother's hands shake ever so slightly.

"Yes, dear. I'm ready to go. Your father is already gone to meet with the Haverbrookes and have everything set up." She turned around to face Robyn. They looked strikingly similar, with the same dark hair and grey eyes. Robyn's father, on the other hand, had a much farer complexion. Light hair, green eyes.

"You're going to do great," Robyn assured her mother. "They'll love it." She knew her parents newest invention would be a huge success, just like every other invention they'd released to the public in the past.

The woman smiled and took her daughter's arm. "Let's go."

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When Robyn arrived in the huge, golden ball room through the teleporter, the first sound she heard was Vivaldi's "Winter" being played by the small orchestra that had been hired. The Haverbrookes were no strangers to luxury, that fact was obvious. Their home was bigger than some small towns, it seemed. Robyn glanced around greedily at everything. Not selfish greed, she couldn't care less if she owned anything in that place. It was a greed for others, the need to see the looks on people's faces when she told them they would have the money for another week of food and shelter. It was also a greed for the adrenaline she knew she would soon feel. The same adrenaline she felt every time someone threw a punch in her direction to start a fight.

"Robyn, darling!" Mrs. Haverbrooke gushed with a sickeningly sweet smile. "Don't you look lovely!"

"Thank you." Robyn nodded. "As do you."

"And so feminine! You seem to have changed for the better. Thank god! Have you seen my son around? No? Oh! I figured he'd be with you."

Robyn raised her eyebrows as the woman chattered on without letting her get a word in edgewise, but hid her contempt under a smile. Changed for the better, hm? We'll see.

The two said goodbye, and Robyn went off to explore while everyone was finding a place to stand. It wasn't hard to slip away; she was used to making herself go unnoticed. She contradicted herself in so many ways. Excellent in being in the centre of attention, and excellent at avoiding it at all costs. Eyes down, walk slow. The chunky heels of her black combat boots clicked across the marble floor of the empty hallway. She could still hear the symphony echoing in her ears as she walked along to where she needed to go.

As pretentious as it was, the Haverbrooke family actually had a treasure room. Filled with ancient artifacts, precious jewels, bars and coins made from gold, you name it. That at least was what Robyn had been told --she had never seen it in person. It took a while to find, but she found it. Her mouth was agape in awe as she walked through doors and into the hallway leading to the room. She stopped short of the shining staircase though, knowing that the security wouldn't be that loose. Now that she knew where to go, her job would be much easier. She spun around and headed towards the door, stopping in the blind spot of a camera to change out of her dress and into her catsuit. She planned to delete any footage showing her walking there once she got to security. To finish off her new, more efficient look, she added on a mask. She didn't always wear one --she almost never needed to-- but in this instance it seemed necessary. There were certain people that she couldn't afford to have find out about this.

Getting to security was easy. Getting in was another story. Robyn approached slowly, listening carefully to whatever sounds were coming from inside the security office. She checked the clock on the wall --the unveiling of inventions had most definitely started already. To see if anyone was currently inside the office, she knocked over a vase to get their attention and ducked behind the door so when it swung open, she was completely hidden. The confused man didn't stand a chance against her, and was knocked out and tied up only moments later.

Robyn quickly dragged him behind her into the office and shut the door. She knew her way around a computer system like the back of her hand, and had any footage of her immediately deleted. She then shut the whole system down and put on a temporary lock so it couldn't be turned back on for several hours.

"Goodnight, sleep tight," she whispered to the guard as she left the room.

Robyn's trip back to the treasure room was much quicker than when she first made her way there. She stepped into the room and was instantly overwhelmed once more. All that gold, all those diamonds. And they were just sitting here, not helping anyone. They were trophies, something to brag about. While they could have been used to save a life. Robyn's fists clenched at her sides and she stared at it all. She started grabbing everything small enough to take. She knew her parents would be on now, but her emotions were getting the better of her. She took things that were the most expensive, the things that would sell the highest.

"What do you think you're doing here?" The deep voice of the Haverbrooke's son startled her from what she was doing. Her back was turned, so he couldn't see her wide eyes.

"Turn around." He demanded.

"Callahan..." She said his name calmly, not moving.

He immediately ran up to her, wanted to know the identity of the mysterious thief who knew his name. As he spun her around, her heart started to beat a million times a second. How could she be so stupid to not have locked the door behind her, or at least not take so much time there? The adrenaline she felt then was not fun. There was nothing exciting about this, nothing poetic. This was pure fear and dread. Things Robyn wasn't used to feeling.

"Take off the mask. Now! You're going to prison," he said sternly.

"Don't ruin the unveiling. This is really important to some people. Just wait." She begged, changing the tone of her voice as much as she could without sounding unnatural. She couldn't let him recognise her.

"The only important 'unveiling' that's going to happen today is exposing you to everyone. You're what they're calling 'The Future's Robin Hood,' aren't you?" He shook his head, and a strand of his brown hair fell into his normally happy, smiling eyes. There was no smile in his eyes now.

"Please..." Robyn pleaded. "I'm just trying to help some people that really need it."

"Yeah, by stealing from other people!" Callahan's voice became sharper, angrier. "Who are you? Take off the mask, or I will."

"You don't want to know." She bit her lip, the pain in her eyes like a never ending pit. She had been hoping, begging, he wouldn't react this way. Her worst fear was about to come true and she had to clue how to stop it.

With an expression cold as ice, he reached up and hit the button on the side of his earpiece. "Security, please come to the treasury immediately."

Out of pure terror, Robyn grabbed the gun from her side and pointed it at him. "Let me leave, and I'll let you live." The words stung as they came out, foreign and bitter. She never would have imagined that she'd be saying anything like that to him. Anyone but him.

The boy standing across from her reacted without an ounce of fear, something that would make her proud if she hadn't been the one holding the weapon. "You've never killed anyone before."

"How do you know that?" Robyn gasped, thinking for a moment that he knew who she was.

"Because you're shaking," he replied.

The treasury doors flew open and two armed guards walked swiftly inside. They drew their guns on Robyn and barked an order for her to put down her weapon. Ever the stubborn one, she holstered it rather than throwing it on the ground. She slowly raised her arms to rest her hands behind her head, fingers interlaced. Callahan came closer, and she lowered her eyes. Robyn felt a tear slip from her eyes as he lifted the mask from her face, looking at her as if she was a disease. When he finally saw her full face though, he took a step back, looking more pained than she had ever seen him. "Oh, God, no."

"I'm sorry..." she whispered, closing her eyes as the tears continued to fall. "Callahan, I'm sorry."

The two guards came forward and each grabbed an arm, jerking her towards the door.

"Wait!" Callahan called as they were almost there. "Let her go." He wouldn't look at her, only at the wall to the left. That alone was enough to break her heart. Why wouldn't he look at her?

"We can't do that, it's our duty to your parents to take and arrest anyone who threatens them or their fortune," the guards announced stiffly.

Robyn wanted him to fight for her, to demand they release her. It was his house, after all. They worked for him. They should have worked under his rules, and he should have loved her enough to make them let her go.

Finally, after too long of a silence, he looked at her dead in the eye. "Get her out of here then."

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