To sleep perchance to dream
CHAPTER ONE
The sky was rent by silver daggers of forked lightening thrusting through the mountainous blue black storm clouds, followed by a volley of thunder that shook the ground and setting off an accompaniment of alarm bells and sirens. With each flash and cacophony the rain seemed to get heavier, turning from rain to hail to icy shards in turn.
The city was in darkness, the storm having caused a power outage across the vast majority of homes and businesses.
Nothing moved except the rain and the lightening, and a group of hooded and masked men.
They had sat in a van for what had seemed an age, either waiting for some signal, or reluctant to venture out into the deluge. Now they hurried across the flooded square towards the bank.
"What a night!" Robin complained trying to shake the rain from his hair. "Can't we make a move now?"
"Not until they actually enter the bank." Batman said as he stared through the night vision goggles.
"Ugh, the rains running down my back." Robin shivered miserably.
Batman replied by holding out one side of his cape. Robin moved closer to him to take advantage of the shelter.
"I wish they'd hurry up."
Suddenly the world spun! Robin felt himself flying through the air. He fought to breath, but it felt as if the air had been sucked out of his lungs and there was none to breathe in.
Then the light blinked out.
Coughing Robin opened his eyes. At first he could not move, but gradually the feeling returned to his limbs and he managed to struggle to a sitting position. Shaking his head, he gingerly moved his limbs to ascertain if he had sustained any serious injuries. Apart from feeling rather battered and bruised and a metallic taste of blood in his mouth, he appeared unhurt.
"Batman?" He called out. "Batman!"
No answer came back. He strained to listen but all he could hear was the drip, drip of the rain and the low rumble, now distant, of thunder.
It was pitch black, wherever he was? Robin fumbled in his belt and found his torch. Casting the beam around he saw that he was perched rather precariously on the edge of what remained of a floor, beside a huge jagged hole. Carefully peering over the edge he shone the torch down.
Below was a mass of tangled steel and masonry. He panned the beam around and….
"Batman!"
Beneath a huge steel girder he saw the black cape and then the inert form.
"Oh my God! Batman." Robin got to his knees cautiously, running through the probabilities of the situation.
Looking round he noticed a girder above him. He fished out his line and swung the end around the girder, pulling hard to make sure it would hold his weight. Grasping the torch in his teeth, he swung out and slid down to where Batman lay face down.
"Batman." Robin knelt beside him and, finding an arm free, he pulled off the glove and tried to find a pulse. Thankfully, although faint, he was sure he could detect one.
Casting the torch bean about, he could see that Batman was pinned down by the huge girder.
Standing up, Robin took hold of the girder and tentatively tried to lift it, conscious of the fact he could bring more rubble down on top of them. Grunting with the effort he tried to lift the beam, but it wasn't budging.
"I'm gonna need some help here." He said to himself.
Reassessing the situation, he could see that if he tried to use a lever, which he couldn't see anything suitable; it could put undue pressure on Batman.
"So, maybe if I use my line as a hoist?" he surmised, then decided against it as he couldn't be sure the beam he had used to lower himself would take the weight.
He clicked on his com .
"Alfred, I think we need some ass…"
The world went black!
3