Hi. Yeah... First story... Don't make that information scare you away.
*starts bashing head against the wall* why aren't I drawing right now! I'm gonna go do that! Enjoy!
Everything is quiet as you slowly make your way home in the crisp evening air. You clutch the straps of your backpack and glance around at the dark rundown buildings nervously. Sure this way was quicker but you are starting to regret coming down the dark street. The nearly silent scuff of your shoes on the pavement suddenly becomes far to noticeable. You swallow hard, feeling a unsettling sensation you can only relate with calm before the storm. Twitching fingers cause you to clench your right hand into a tight fist.
A gunshot cracks through the stillness and you jump instinctively at the sound. The suppressed paranoia quickly boils up into compleat panic. Honestly, which levelheaded person would walk down this part of Gotham at 10 PM? Another gunshot makes you swerve around just in time to see multiple shadowy figures piling out of a building roughly 20 feet from where you stand. All of them are either brandishing hand guns or sharp knives. Your breath catches in your chest. Your beginning to wonder if you're the one the men are focused on, but no, they are all facing the door expectantly. Another gunshot and yelling comes from right inside the door. There is pounding of feet and you can hear the distinctive ring of metal clashing against metal. Abruptly you decide standing frozen next to multiple armed men is surely not a good idea. You swerve around on your heal ready to run when your eyes meet a car pulling up behind you. More of the armed goons pile out, all carrying similar weapons. About 5 guns are suddenly pointed towards the door, with you standing right in the centre of the line of fire. You feel yourself raise shaking hands into the air in a gesture of peace. One or two of the men snigger at this. Your mind is going numb with panic. Slowly you edge your way towards the nearest buildings wall, hoping you can press yourself against the cold bricks and stay more or less unnoticed. Suddenly there is a terrified yell from one of the criminals at the door followed by the ruffled flap of fabric being snapped foreword in motion. Your eyes turn and for an agonizingly slow second, you see him. The bat.
The tense atmosphere bursts into chaos in the blink of an eye. Men start dropping like flys as you can see as well as hear fists connecting with flesh. Gunfire splinters the buildings and sidewalks around the groupe of men. You can't take your eyes away from the dancing shadow of the dark knight, amazed at the sheer skill shown as he twists away from bullets and glides past knives with relative ease. Something's off though. You see other men not in the bats general vicinity falling as well. There are flashes of metal and you could swear you saw a hint of a shadow gliding between men in a fraction of a second.
BAMM!
Without warning you fall to your knees, letting out an agonized screem, your arm exploding in pain. You can feel where the bullet ripped it's way through flesh. Waves of agany flood through your senses and you start to tremble. You had no idea human beings could Even comprehend this type of pain. Your shaking left hand makes it's way to your right forearm and you squeeze your watering eyes shut as your fingers close around the gaping wound, wet with blood. You clench your teeth tightly in an effort to stop yourself from moaning in pain. The last thing you need is more attention drawn to yourself right now.
Slowly you lower yourself to the ground feeling your forehead press against the cool concrete below. You stay there for a while, listening dazed to the commotion erupting around you. The pain in your arm is keeping you from focusing too intently on anything, so when a rough hand grasps your hair and jerks you painfully up to your feet, you don't Even put up a fight.
Snapping your eyes open you look around fighting the persistent waves of nausea. Batman is still in front of you participating in a deadly dance with a man you acknowledge to have noticeably more skill than the other goons you had seen fighting earlier. A man in a ski mask has an arm tightly wrapped around you making your fresh wound burst with a new wave of unimaginable pain. Cold metal is then pressed up to the side of your throat, causing your breath to come in desperate gasps. It is then that you notice the small shadowy figure standing ahead of you. It's amazing how he practically melts away in the shadows. Robin! He is maybe five feet in front of you and your capturer. The boy is holding up two metal sticks, legs spread apart ready to pounce any second. You let out a distressed cry of discomfort as the knife at your throat begins digging into your skin. Warm blood starts to trickle slowly down your exposed neck. The masked eyes of the teenager in front of you narrow dangerously.
Without a moments hesitation the boy jumps forward and you can feel the knife pressing against your neck being violently ripped away by one of the boys weapons. All you can see is a flash of red before you are released from the iron grip and stagger foreword falling to the ground once again on your hands and knees. You turn around just in time to hear a hiss of pain escape the boys lips. He is standing above the thug triumphantly, but his hand is clutching something in his side. The knife! You stare in mortified mesmerization as the boy quickly pulls the blade from his side without a sound and drops the bloody weapon to the ground. He then turns on his heel and walks quickly over to you, kneeling down to your right.
"Lay down", he instructs you, his voice cool and controlled.
You comply, feeling the adrenalin quickly draining away. Robin puts a hand on your good arm helping to lower you steadily to the ground.
"T-thank you," you manage to say through the white haze of pain.
Robin smiles down at you. How can he be smiling? Isn't he hurt too? God it hurt.
"Your gonna be alright," the teenagers voice cuts through your thoughts, making you stair up at his focused expression.
He gently picks up your arm examining the front and back of it with quick efficiency. You see him frown slightly before his expression snaps back to something resembling calm.
A hand shakes your good shoulder gently, forcing you to open your already half closed eyes. "Hey kid!" Robins voice is laced with urgency. "You have to stay with me alright?"
You nod.
"Good." The boy says, placing your arm on your chest before rummaging in his belt for something. "Do you know who you are?"
His voice has dropped back to a unnaturally casual tone.
"..."
The boys gaze is back. It seems you have taken to long in providing a response.
"Come on talk to me," he persists, picking up your arm once again.
You swallow hard as white hot splinters of pain race across your damidged muscles. "Yeah" you say dumbly in an attempt to answer the boys previous question.
You are becoming vary cold.
"That's better" the boy says approvingly, once again flashing you a reassuring smile; you're glad for his company right now.
"Can you move your hand and fingers on this arm for me?" He is quickly wrapping some kind of bandage tightly around your bloody forearm.
Flinching from the added pain of the applied pressure, you force yourself to try and unclench your hand out of the tight fist it seems to have been in for the past few minutes. Your fingers curl back slightly, though not as much as you would like. You can't help letting out a moan at the sharp pain the simple action brings.
"Alright," robin says quickly. "That's good, you can stop."
You become aware that he has finished bandaging your arm. You feel your good arm which is Laing limply by your side be lifted until your fingers are resting on the already wet bandages.
"Keep pressure on that alright?"
You nod before his masked eyes meet yours and you remember you're supposed to talk. "Okay" you say hoarsely.
He seems satisfied with that answer and moves on to your neck. "Can't blame you for not feeling the aster" he mumbles absentmindedly before seeming to catch himself. "Uh-that is, how are you feeling?
"Crappy" your shaky voice replies.
You look at the dark red blood contrasting the usual bright color of the boys tunic. "Are you... Okay?"
Your surprised to hear him let out a short laugh. "What, this?" He asks glancing quickly at his own wound. "Don't worry about it, I've had much worse. Right now we need to focus on getting you to a hospital alright?"
"...right" you say not quite reassured.
You don't have the energy to try and argue, but you can't help cringe internally at his words. Worse then being stabbed?
Feeling him place pressure on your stinging neck, you decide now is the best time to ask the inevitable. "I'll... Be okay right?"
You know he said you were okay earlier, but that was just comforting words before he really had a chance to look you over.
"Don't worry" he says sympathetically. "You are gonna pull through just fine. Honest. You're lucky. A gun shot wound to the arm is nothing compared to what could have happened"
You feel two fingers press up against your neck under your right eye. There is a pause as he seems to be concentrating on whatever he is doing intently. You can feel your heart beat push against his touch. Your unsteady breathing is now the only sound you hear. Fear once again builds up inside you.
"Take deep breaths," robin says soothingly. "Your safe. I won't leave you alright?"
"Thanks." You say gratefully. Your cold and dizzy and scared and in pain. The last thing you want right now is to be alone. How many times has the boy wonder done this? Helped a civilian caught in the line of fire. How many times has it been him laying on the ground in a pool of his own blood. He must know exactly how you feel. Exactly.
"How are they?"
A new voice? This one is rough and gritty. Your whole body tenses and you blink slowly, trying to clear your blurry vision.
"The wounds are gonna need to be treated at a hospital" robin says. "The beginning stages of shock have already set in from what I can tell. I think the bullet nicked an artery. There has been a lot of blood loss and the bleeding is not really stopping. But the injuries won't have any long term effects with proper treatment."
Your eyes move to look at your chest where your arm is sitting slightly elevated. Blood has already soaked through your pale blue shirt. This can't be happening.
Robins hand is on your shoulder again. "Easy. We can get you to a hospital much faster then any ambulance ever could. Just stay as still as you can okay?
Suddenly strong arms are wrapped around you as you are gently lifted into the air. You inhale sharply as the face of the dark knight is now staring down at you.
A laugh rings out beside you. "Don't worry." Robin says. "He's a good guy once you get to know him."
Looking up at the huge intimidating man towering above you, you say the only thing that comes to mind.
"Sorry."
Surprisingly the mans face softens and the eyes you are looking into seem less intimidating. "Fighting crime isn't our job kid. Saving lives is."