Back in… Disordered I think… when Robbie was talking all heartbrokenly about being traumatized… when he said, "The thing that makes him sacrifice everything for the sake of his mission… that's not me." I thought he meant that he was upset that Batman's reason for fighting wasn't him! I didn't know he meant he couldn't sacrifice everything for a mission! Don't tell me I'm the only one that thought that! From the way he said it, he sounded jealous… Go listen to it with my reasoning and tell me it doesn't sound that like that! **Don't tell me, my esteem's bad enough already**
Disclaimer: I don't own the characters or the show, but I do have a Robin and Kid Flash shirt… and a homophobe mother… :(
"No…"
Dick's voice was barely above a whisper as he rested his forehead against the glass of the phone booth. He weakly brought his hands up, the normally soothing cold of the glass only making his pain worsen. He felt a red glove comfortingly set itself against his shoulder, but it just confirmed the fact that he was here while his mentor was off dying with the rest of the League.
"We… we're going to save them," Wally tried to promise, but he couldn't even convince himself.
Dick swallowed hard, screwing his eyes up to fight back the tears. He lifted one glove from the glass of the phone booth and rested it on Wally's. The ginger took the hint and backed off, his own eyes starting to blur.
"There has to be something we can do…" Wally tried to sound optimistic. "Maybe one of the other ZETA beams are working?"
"Mine isn't," Megan's voice came through the communicator.
"My beam is not functioning," Kaldur followed soon after.
"Same with mine," Conner said gruffly.
"Nothing here," Artemis extinguished the last flame of hope.
Wally sighed, brokenly glancing over at his friend. As expected, the little ebony was trembling with anger, his fists the palest of whites.
"I…" Dick choked out, his voice cutting out again.
Emerald eyes glanced down at the asphalt that lined the alleyway for the longest time. The silence on the communicators was like a thin knife, gently easing itself right through his chest. Just the reminder that he couldn't do anything to help his uncle made him clench his teeth until a point where he thought they should've exploded from the pressure.
"And the computers at the Hall aren't working?" he resembled more of a deflated balloon than a hero.
He weakly sank to the ground, resting his back on the brick wall and his elbows on his knees. He didn't even need to hear the answer to cry out in anger.
"It's hopeless!" he declared, throwing his hands up dramatically. "Until we find a computer that has a direct link to the League computers, there's nothing we can do!"
Dick turned so his back rested against the glass. The odd crease down the middle hurt his back, but the heartache he was going through was much worse than any kind of discomfort.
"Actually-…" he began to argue, cutting his thought out before he could even start it.
He didn't cut it soon enough. In a second, there was a face in his and impatient hands held his shoulders in a death grip.
"What? Is there a way?" Wally sounded more like he was begging rather than asking, but no one could blame him.
The others on the line knew if they were there, they would've had the youngest sidekick among them pinned until he confessed. They kept silent though so they could hear when Dick spoke up.
The little ebony kept his lips shut and he averted his eyes. He had no reason, seeing that the domino mask over his eyes hid the fear, but there are some unconscious habits you just can't knock. The fear managed to leak through the cracks in the mask, showering the thirteen year old in its unmistakable appearance. Wally noticed the fear, but he wanted to save the only 'dad' he could ever love who was a sitting duck in the Cave with the rest of the Justice League.
"Robin! For once, stop hiding from us! Our mentors are in that Cave and they don't have much time! Please…"
The ebony didn't need to see the emeralds to know how desperately they gleamed amongst the freckles.
"Megan, bring mine and Kid Flash's bags to the Wayne Tech parking lot, and hurry. The rest of you, keep trying the ZETA beams and the Hall's computers. I'll explain myself later," Dick ordered strongly, shaking off the fear the best he could.
He didn't want to evolve to Batman, but it was moments like these that he feared he was going to don the same costume and frown as his beloved mentor. The idea wasn't all that bad when referring to the costume, but just the brief idea of having to be heartless and demanding didn't exactly brighten the mood. He could feel the ice coating his stomach and attempting to taint his heart. He couldn't let it win just yet. He had superheroes to save.
With the bravest and deepest breath he could take, he reached up and muted the communicator in his ear. His eyes hardened and met with Wally's. Even behind the dark mask, the younger Flash could feel the leadership burning bright and commands entered his mind without a single word having to be uttered. It wasn't something he particularly enjoyed, but if Dick could use it, so could he.
He knelt down, facing away from his best friend. He held his arms out and bowed his head calmly. That was the right thing to do apparently as strong pale arms bound themselves around his neck and knees hugged his stomach tightly. Wally rose to his feet steadily, hooking his arms back around the ebony's thighs before he took off running down the road as fast as his boots would take him.
"Rob, why are we going to Wayne Tech?" the ginger asked after only a minute of peaceful silence.
Dick carefully rested his chin against the nearest shoulder so he wouldn't end up knocking heads with his driver.
"… When we get there, dress in your civvies. Act proper and snobby, but keep silent. Don't look anyone in the eye; don't look at anyone in general! Keep your eyes and mouth to yourself and follow me," he avoided the question.
He pressed his lips firmly together, clearly indicating that the ginger wasn't getting anything else out of him until they got there. Wally took the hint and tried to focus on running and dodging cars.
"He mentioned before, when we were going to… get the bugs… that there was something in Wayne Tech that could hack something. He never said what, but I'm assuming he meant the League computers," Conner commented to the others, apparently aware that Dick had turned off his communicator.
"You assumed wrong," Dick spoke up, fully able to hear sense his ear was right next to Wally's communicator. "The bugs would've been able to hack the only computer in the world that can hack the League computers. A for effort though."
Wally raised an eyebrow, offering a curious glance momentarily over in the ebony's direction.
"There's a computer that can hack League systems?" he asked doubtfully.
Dick normally would've smirked at having the ability to say he knew something that his older friends didn't, but he only seemed to regain the fear he had held back in the alley at the mention.
"Yeah, but you won't see it," he tried to maintain a brave smile, but it was harder and harder to hold as the knot in his stomach grew.
"Then how will we hack the League computers?" Wally's brain was starting to hurt.
When did hacking get this much more confusing? Whatever happened to just typing frantically with a determined face? Dick smirked honestly for a moment.
"I just said you won't see it. I'm the one who's doing the actual hacking."
Wally's eyes narrowed, but he couldn't glare at the little ebony. He was on a major highway now and semis were everywhere. He'd rather have a half-assed glare than a pancake for a best friend. They continued down the road in a peaceful and friendly silence until Wally pulled to a screeching halt in the heavily populated parking lot. Megan was already there, the ship flickering in and out of visibility under the weak camouflage.
When the Martian spotted her teammates, she flew out of the ship and greeted them with their bags. She seemed a mixture of worried, unsure and scared, but she offered a comforting and faithful smile. Dick and Wally both felt a little more assured at the sight of it as they both grabbed their bags and rummaged inside to find their civilian clothes before handing the gray bags back to her.
"Good luck," she waved to them, dashing back to the ship to go rejoin Conner at the Hall.
Dick and Wally both ignored the fact that they were in public, mostly because of how dark it was, and changed right there in the parking lot. Mind you, they had the decency to hide behind a red pickup trick, but public is public. In a minute, Kid Flash and Robin were nowhere to be seen. Dick Grayson and Wally West stood in the parking lot of Wayne Tech, not a drop of hero on them. Dick reached for his shades, but stopped and pocketed them instead.
"You trust me with your face?" Wally teased curiously, using his voice while he could.
Dick was walking sideways, awkwardly adjusting Wally's clothes so he didn't seem like half of the filthy slob he was. The ginger necessarily didn't like having his hair straightened with impatient fingers and his collar tugged at.
"What- why are you treating me like a Barbie doll? Why can't I just walk in there dressed like myself?" he asked, squirming under the corrective hands.
Dick was silent for a moment, his dark blue eyes focusing on Wally's shirt.
"My… 'father'… owns this place, so the workers here know me. They know me as a neat and uppity kid and if you look like yourself, they'll think that you're holding a gun to my back and forcing me to take you. Oh, and don't touch anything," the eyes teasingly glared up at Wally, easing past the anxiety.
Wally nodded, completely forgetting about the live communicator in his ear.
"Don't call me 'Rob' either. Like I said, stay silent. If asked, stick with the story that you're a student at Gotham Academy."
Artemis, halfway across the town, froze at the words.
Robin goes to Gotham Academy?
She was reminded of the odd little ebony who had took a picture of her on her first day and she smirked to herself. He had been right. She was laughing about it.
XxXxX
Conrad looked up from his desk, spotting two boys starting through the lobby.
"Excuse me, do you have an appointment?" he squinted, wishing he had his glasses on.
The smallest of them walked over, pulling the other with him. It took Conrad a moment, but he recognized Dick in a second. The kid with him wasn't the regular ginger that was with his boss's son, but it wasn't that big of a deal.
"Hey Mr. J," Dick grinned his way, referring to the fact that the man's last name was Jefferson. "Daddy wanted me to see if he left the keys to the limo up in his office again. He's going to be at that conference all night and the regular limo is still in the shop. It's simply ridiculous how long it takes to get out a tiny dent! I swear I could fix it myself in faster time than they! Anyway, can me and my friend head up?"
Wally struggled to keep his jaw from dropping in awe. Dick sounded like the snobbiest of all rich kids! He'd never seen anything like it. Conrad smiled.
"Go on ahead. Give your father my best."
Dick offered a gracious smile and shy gratitude before he pulled Wally after him, his face a dark scarlet. He hated pulling the rich kid card, especially in front of friends. Wally had the right idea to keep silent until 'Mr. J' was out of ear shot.
"Dude…" he laughed softly in wonder. "You can so pull off rich kid! Do you really have a limo? Who's your dad?"
The questions rattled off, only worsening Dick's blush. Instead of completely snapping, he reached back and grabbed the pale wrist tightly, offering a heavy glare before he bolted down the hallway. Wally hesitated from surprise, but he caught up with his friend again in a second, keeping pace only because he had no idea where to go. Suddenly, he was rudely arm-barred and forced to a halt.
Before he could go off on the thirteen year old for unnecessarily hitting him, he saw why he had been hit and silenced himself. A big, buff and scary looking guard was walking down the hall towards them. Dick didn't seem afraid as he lowered his arms to his side and offered a warm smile in the direction of the guard.
"Hey Dick," the man casually greeted him, not noticing how wide Wally's eyes got at the mention of the name. "How's your dad?"
Dick discreetly stomped on Wally's foot to knock the look off his face, holding the warm smile tight to his face.
"He's doing just fine. How's little Tommy?"
Dick knew now wasn't the time to be casual, but he couldn't risk the guard noticing the stress of the situation and interpreting it wrong. He couldn't be stopped now. Not with hope finally returning to him. The guard beamed bashfully, oblivious to the problems.
"His leg is feeling much better. Thanks. Now, I gotta go finish patrol, but why don't you tell your dad I said hey?"
Dick nodded. "Of course."
When the guard started walking, so did he, forcing himself to keep a calm pace until he was far enough to take off running again. Wally was going to comment on the fact that he now knew his best friend's real name, but from the fear he saw on the ebony's face, he knew he needed to keep that to himself for now.
"Damn, all these guys seem to hump your dad," Wally said casually, almost unable to hide the smile that came with him finally knowing one of the many secrets to his best friend.
What kind of parents would name their son Dick? Probably the same that would name their son Sue, the kind that Johnny Cash sang about.
"He's their boss… they do what they can," Dick whispered, obviously embarrassed.
He started to regret bringing Wally, but he needed all of the help he could get without having too much. He preferred simple company to a crowd. Then he saw it: the single door that stood alone at the end of the hall.
"Wait here," the ebony commanded, bolting down until he was next to the door.
Wally obeyed, watching from a distance as his friend typed frantically against the key pad on the door. Seconds later, frustration seemed to kick in as Dick backed up.
"Wayne Tech override: RG 12," Wally heard the boy say softly.
The door clicked and Dick found that he could open it with ease now. He turned the handle and motioned Wally to run in before he closed the door behind the both of them.
The office had a simple approach, but everything looked important and expensive. The Plexiglas windows, the huge computer on the shiny desk, the leather chair, the fine red carpet, the pictures of an older and younger ebony and their grandpa, the cream colored walls; even the fancy name plaque that simply stated 'Bruce Wayne' seemed more expensive than anything Wally could find at his own house.
While Wally's jaw rested carefully on the red carpet, his eyes wide with wonder, Dick darted in, seemingly bored with the whole matter. He threw himself into the leather chair, jumping in surprise as it spun him around.
"Wally, stay here and keep watch for me. This way, when Batman finds out, he'll only violently murder me. I won't… I won't let the medical examiner write my name under the cause of death."
Wally smiled softly at the reassuring words before he watched his friend throw back a small statue on the desk, slam his fist down and suddenly disappear. The last he saw of Dick was the terrified scream that sounded and the little wisp of hair he saw disappear into the ground. The ginger quickly forgot what Dick had said in a pure panic.
"Robin!" he screamed, bolting through the air and staring helplessly down at the leather chair that had swallowed his best friend.
He ran through his head the things Dick had done until he had disappeared, doing his best to copy. He sat in the chair and spun it around once, tipping back the statue that had magically uprighted itself. He hit the button it hid, waiting. Suddenly, the ground was pulled out from under him and was falling through air. He was unable to hold off a cry of surprise, followed by a groan of pain as he was thrown onto a concrete floor. He shook it off like a hero does and looked around.
He was in a dark cave of a sort. Shadows covered every corner, the only light available flooding through the room from what had to be one of the largest computer screens known to man. Besides that, tubes decorated every inch of wall, strange contraptions and Batman or Robin suits carefully concealed inside. Weapons of all sorts hung from the walls and chemistry sets decorated the back corners, the liquids glowing and blinking as it spiraled through the curled straw-like tubes that connected beakers of different sizes.
Although it took a fair amount of time, Wally finally managed to spot Dick at the big computer, frantically typing across this huge keyboard. It was probably at least 20 times larger than a regular keyboard, but the keys were the same size. What could possibly be put in the extra spaces? Whatever was there was getting abused by Dick's rapid flying fingers that blurred through the darkness.
When Dick had time, he glanced over to see who had cried out. When he recognized Wally getting to his feet, his heart stopped and he let out a terrified squeak, never stopping his typing. He couldn't afford to stop. This was major hacking. One wrong key and he'd have to start over again, twice as hard.
"K-KF! Get out!" Dick's voice shivered nearly as hard as he did.
His fear bounced off the dark walls, echoing defiantly. Wally did the exact opposite. He slowly walked up behind Dick, looking from the screen to the keyboard. When he was confirmed that it was real, he looked over at Dick. The little ebony's eyes occasionally glanced his way, worried sick, but they mostly kept to the screen because he knew Wally wasn't going anywhere soon.
He had his little pink tongue poked between his lips in concentration, his dark brown eyebrows that always failed to match his hair color furrowed heavily. The little clicking sound and the soft breathing was all that could be heard for the longest time. Not wanting to break the concentration, Wally just continued to watch Dick, clearly amused with how his best friend worked.
Slowly, his eyes drifted up so he could watch Dick's eyes. The dark blue was finally exposed and it couldn't have been anymore beautiful than what the ginger had imagined they'd be. The large irises and pupil managed to capture the whole computer screen in their reflection so Wally could stare at the two things he wanted to at the same time. He wanted ever so bad to tell Dick how beautiful his eyes were and to encourage him to take the shades off more, but he couldn't find the nerve.
"Wally, Batman has cameras in here. When he sees that you were here, he's going to murder you!" Dick muttered fearfully, somehow managing to balance worry and work equally in his mind.
Wally couldn't have cared less. He curiously looked around until he thought he spotted a camera, showing it his middle finger. Bored with that, he just started making faces at it, giggling in amusement. Dick wasn't giggling with him, or even smiling for that matter.
"I'm serious! Even I shouldn't be down here! Knock it!" the ebony demanded, hesitating a moment on the keyboard as his focus drifted towards the ginger.
He couldn't have that. There were heroes that needed his help. Wally took the hint, turning to face the screen again. He was surprised to see two little grinning Robin faces on it.
"But you aren't using your hacking cord thing," Wally wasn't quite sure how to explain his confusion. "Why is your face still popping up?"
Last time he had seen the little cartoon face, Dick had been using the computer hooked into his glove.
"Facial recognition," the ebony explained softly, typing faster.
He turned his eyes down to the keys to make sure his hands were positioned correctly before he typed faster. A grin spread over his lips as he and Wally were suddenly looking at security camera views. It took Wally a moment to recognize his mentor. His attention had been stolen by the bomb that was slowly ticking down in the middle of the room. He pulled up the main camera that gave him a view of Batman and Flash, the only two people that the occupants of the Bat Cave were necessarily worried about.
Batman was trying his best to diffuse the bomb, worried out of his mind and being careful. Flash was darting from the bomb to the broken portal to offer assistance, just as worried as everyone else. Although the situation was grave, both Dick and Wally grinned to see their mentors alive. The little ebony's hand darted up across the keyboard and he pulled a little bendable wire out towards them. It looked like a mini microphone.
"We have to open the portal!" Wally stated the obvious, a hand rising up and tugging anxiously at his hair.
Dick rolled his eyes.
"I tried that first. It didn't work. Now let me do this," Dick pulled the microphone close to his lips, "Batman, how much time is left on the bomb?"
There was no sound on the footage apparently, but it was obvious that the heroes all heard him as they jumped in surprise, their eyes flying to the ceiling. Dick swore for a second that he saw Batman smile up at the camera, but it must've just been the light. He said something, but no sound came through. It looked like he was screaming 'Robin' or maybe it was a time. Neither teen could be sure.
"I can't hear you!"
Batman sighed, holding up a one and a two.
"12 hours?" Dick asked hopefully.
Batman shook his head, motioning that it was lower.
"Minutes?" dread lined his voice now.
Batman nodded, turning his eyes back to the bomb worriedly. Dick let out a cry of fear, staggering away from the microphone for a moment. He trembled, setting his face in his hands helplessly. He couldn't hack a bomb and the portals weren't working. He couldn't do anything to save his mentor! That feeling of helplessness was one of the worst feelings to ever suffer through in his opinion. Wally felt bad, wrapping his arms around his friend and leaning forward to the microphone.
"Don't worry! We're going to save you! Just…" Wally stumbled over the words when he saw Batman angrily glare up at the camera. "J-just hold on a little longer!"
Dick wanted to sit there in the hug forever, feeling safe for once, but he had to shrug out of it and try again with the portals. Sure, it was hopeless, but he had to do something! He pulled up the ZETA beam power commands, typing frantically. When Wally saw which one he was trying, he raised an eyebrow.
"The heroes are already trying this one. Why not try the one upstairs?" Wally argued, gesturing at the briefest glimpse of the other camera angle on the side of the screen.
"Because everyone's in this room. The elevator's probably down, seeing that the lights are. Besides, only one pair of hands here. There's only so much I can do!" the stress passed off onto the worried voice as the desperate typing increased.
Wally sighed weakly, rubbing his neck. He wished he could help, but he was clueless when it came to hacking. Instead, he turned his eyes to the screen. To his surprise, he saw Batman staring up at him. Feeling it necessary, Wally nudged Dick beside him so his eyes would also avert to the screen. Batman must've had telepathic powers because only after Dick's eyes hit him did he speak.
"Dick… I love you," he mouthed to his ward, setting a hand over the bat symbol on his chest. "Take care of Alfred."
Dick forgot how close he was to the microphone and his heartbroken shaky gasp echoed around to the rest of the heroes. He typed faster, ignoring his blurry vision.
"I'm sorry," he unconsciously whispered as his mentor went back to diffusing the bomb.
A painful silence settled across both Caves as time slowly started to run out on both ends.
This was actually going to be an ending for one of my chaptered fics, but it didn't get popular so I just explained a bit more here and decided to post it. As for why the League members were all in the Cave… I don't remember why, so think of a reason yourself. Maybe they were having a huge orgy? I don't care (: Review?
-F.J.