You'll Never Take Us Alive
Batman walked quickly down the hall of the Gotham City Police Department. According to Gordon two of the most wanted thieves in the city were just captured, just not in the way everyone would have liked. As he made his way to the morgue where the bodies of the criminals were being kept, he thought back to the first time he had met the two.
Flashback – Three years ago
He had been patrolling the east side of town when his com buzzed. "Yes, Alfred?" The Dark Knight answered gruffly.
"Sir, it appears there is a robbery in progress on the west side. The alert came from the museum." Came the British voice of his good friend and father figure, Alfred Pennyworth. As he listened to Alfred relay the information to him, he made his way to the Batmobile.
"Thank you, Alfred. I'm on my way." And with that he sped off to the museum. When he got to the location, he looked through the skylight, expecting to see some common thief or even Catwoman. What he was not expecting was two teenagers dancing around grabbing things from their cases and stuffing them into bags. Both of the boys were in identical black hooded trench coats that went down to mid-thigh. They also had black combat boots and masks that covered the bottom of their faces and their necks.
The older one, probably around 15 had red fiery hair and startling green eyes. He also had fingerless gloves that were a swirl of red and yellow. He had two handguns strapped to each of his thighs, and a belt of throwing knives across his chest. Poking out of his left boot was a large hunting knife.
The other, younger one looked about 13. Though he had his hood up shadowing him face and covering his hair, Batman could see bright icy blue eyes peering out behind the shadows. He had two katanas strapped to his hip and two more on his back. He also had throwing knives on his chest, and two gauntlets on his hands, one was clawed and looked incredibly sharp. The other gauntlet was similar to Batman's own hologlove.
After watching to two and assessing them he concluded that these two children were not to be underestimated. The seemed like they weren't paying attention to what they were doing, goofing off and laughing with each other and not caring that they could be caught at any moment, but The World's Greatest Detective could easily see how attentive they really were. They had spotted him a long time ago, probably the moment he had shown up.
With his cover blown he saw no point in remaining hidden, so he broke through the skylight, landing in front of the two darkly dressed boys. Although he couldn't see their faces, he somehow knew the two were smirking at him. Before he could even open his mouth to question them as to what they were doing, the red head spoke up.
"Well, would you look at that Ice, we got a guest." Hearing such a young voice use that much dark amusement was disturbing. The younger boy, Ice apparently, didn't answer just nodded his head, but his eyes darkened with the same dark amusement that was in the others voice. "It's so nice of you to drop in Batsy. We were wondering when you show up." Then he turned to Ice as if he'd said something. "Right, Thanks for reminding me Ice. Introduction are in order I suppose. I'm Fire and this is Ice, as I'm sure you've already figured out."
"Who are you?" Batman growled, he wanted to know who would allow these to kids out like this.
Fire looked at him as if he was an idiot, "Um, didn't I just say that?" He turned to Ice, "I just say that right? I didn't just dream that?" Ice just started at Fire with a look of a softer kind of amusement then how he had looked at Batman. "Yes, ok, I knew I had said that." They both stared at Batman as if he was a complete moron, "Please try to keep up, Bats."
"Who sent you?" Bruce tried again. These kids were really starting to annoy him.
"Nobody sent us. Can't a couple of kids just rob a museum for the hell of it? Sheesh, Ice I don't think he thinks we're good enough to do this ourselves." Once again Ice didn't answer, Batman was starting to get the feeling that the kid couldn't talk, he just continued to stare Fire with the same amusement. Then out of nowhere Fire started laughing like he had just heard the funniest joke ever. "Yeah, no kidding Ice, doesn't he know not underestimate someone he's never met?" The Dark Knight got the feeling that he'd asked that question just for his benefit. It was almost like they were having a whole conversation, and he was only hearing half of it. Then he realized that that was exactly what was happening.
Finally, he got tired of being insulted by two children. He took out his handcuffs and started to stalk towards them while they were distracted with their silent conversation. Just as he was about to grab Ice by the arm, the boy swung around with his leg up and kicked him in the head, sending him back a few feet. He was shocked someone as small as Ice could have that much strength, but he didn't show it. He straightened up and watched warily as the two got in battle positions.
This time instead of dark amusement on their faces, the two boys had such dark glares aimed at him that he faltered a bit. "It's not nice to try to sneak up on someone when they're in the middle of a conversation. Don't you have any manners?" The first sentence was growled while the second was asked almost teasingly. As subtly as he could he reached into his utility belt and pulled out two bat-a-rangs. Then faster than a blink he hurled them at the boys. Once again he was shocked when his bat-a-rangs were deflected by two throwing knives.
This time the teens were clearly smirking at him, then they charged. They moved fast, almost inhumanly fast. He wasn't even sure which one him hit him when, though he did get a few good hits himself, but nothing significant. When one was aiming a punch to his face, the other would be waiting for him to dodge and knock his feet out from under him. At one point he noticed that Ice seemed to have disappeared and he was only fighting Fire, that is until he heard an eery cackle, then the lights went out. When the flashed back on a few seconds later, the two boys were gone. The only sign they had been there to begin with was all the missing artifacts and priceless artwork.
Present Time
As he entered the morgue he two bodies covered by sheets on the examination tables. He was saddened by the sight, they may have been annoying and criminals, but they were still just children. As he walked up to the table on the left, he thought about what he had found out about the two eccentric teens over the three years he had known them.
It wasn't much, mostly just basic abilities. Fire was the talker of the two, and because of that most people often mistakes him for the leader of the two-man crew. But really it was Ice that was in charge, he came up with the plans and while Fire distracted the people Ice set it all into motion. Another thing he had learned after the first few meetings with the boys was that Ice was selectively mute, but he apparently had low level psychic abilities, hence why Batman and anyone else around the two always got the feeling they were only hearing half a conversation. He could talk to Fire inside their heads, which was how he communicated. According to Fire, Ice didn't really care about other people, so he didn't bother with them, just Fire.
They were both highly trained with their weapons and hand-to-hand combat. They were inseparable, if one was in trouble the other was always there to bail them out. Both of them wear also fiercely protective of children. If there were children in the place they were robbing at that moment, them and their parents were allowed out. There were even reports that if they ever found out about a child being abused in any way it never ended well for the abuser.
Coming out of his thoughts, Batman slowly pulled the sheet back revealing the face of Ice. In all the years he had known them he had never seen Ice without his mask and hood. For the first time in three years he finally got to see what Ice really looked like. He had black hair. And a long scar running down his face, barely missing his right eye. Pulling the sheet back a little further until he could see his entire torso, he had to fight the urge to gasp. His entire chest and stomach was covered in scar tissue. Scars from a wide varity of things including whips, knives, bullets wounds and so much more.
He turned and walked over to the other table and pulled back the sheet to look at Fire. The first thing he noticed about Fire was the freckles scattered all over his cheeks. They completely cover them; they went all the way down his chest. The next was the scars. There weren't nearly as many on Fire as there were on Ice, but they were there. What had happened to these boys?
As he examined the boys, Gordon made his way over to the Dark Knight. "We managed to find their names. They are both in the system as missing persons." With that he handed Batman two files. With a curt nod he put them away to look over them later.
"What happened Gordon, we've been after these two for three years? How did you manage to corner them?" Asked Batman. He didn't understand how after all these years of chasing the partners in crime, how it ended like this. With both of them laying on examination tables. As he talked he replaced the sheets over both of the boys.
Gordon sighed, "Honestly, I have no idea how we managed to do it. We got an alert of robbery in progress at a corner store. We just expected to find some common thugs, we were however not expecting to find them. Though Ice was injured by the time we got there. It appears that the store owner managed to take him by surprise and cut him deep enough in the thigh that it slowed him, and consequently Fire, down enough for us to corner them. After that… it happened so fast. They knew there was no way out after this. One minute they were standing with their backs against the wall, and the next they were on the ground dead. Oh and there is one more thing. When we searched their bodies, we found two slips of paper. The one on Ice said 'You'll never take us alive.' And the one on Fire said, 'We swore that death will do us part.'"
Batman nodded silently, then he turned and made his way back out of the building toward the Batmobile. When he got back to the cave he sat down in his chair and pulled out they files. For several minutes he just started at the folders, thinking about all the times he met the boys. Finally, he flipped open the first one. It was Fires.
Name: Wallace 'Wally' West
Gender: Male
Birth date: September 18, 1998
Height: 4'5
Weight: 80 lbs
Eyes: Green
Hair: Red
Place of Birth: Blue Valley, Nebraska
History: When Wallace was 11 he disappeared from his home in Keystone City, Kansas. He wasn't reported missing until six weeks after he disappeared after his Uncle, Barry Allen, and Aunt, Iris West, went to visit his home and realized he was not there. When asked why his parents had not reported him missing it was discovered that he had been abused and neglected, leading investigators to believe he had run away to get away from his parents. Three years later Wallace was declared legally deceased. His aunt and uncle continue to search for him.
After Bruce read the file he pulled up Fires file on the Batcomputer.
Name: Unknown
Alias: Fire
Gender: Male
Birth date: Unknown
Height: Unknown
Weight: Unknown
Eyes: Green
Hair: Red
Place of birth: Unknown
History: Unknown
Abilities: Flexibility, speed, strength, manipulation, weapons combat, hand-to-hand combat
With a sigh he closed out of Fire's file. He was upset when he saw the boy's relation with Barry. He really didn't want to have to tell the enthusiastic man that his nephew was dead, and that he had been one of the most wanted thieves in Gotham. After another minute he decided to read Ice's file. When he saw the name on the top of the page he outwardly gasped.
Name: Richard John 'Dick' Grayson
Gender: Male
Birthdate: March 21, 2000
Height: 4'2
Weight: 56 lbs
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Black
Place of Birth: Unknown
History: Richard grow up with his family in a traveling circus called Haley Circus. When he was 8 years old an accident with his parent's trapeze act sent them falling to their deaths in front of him. After the trauma he witnessed Richard stopped talking. As all the orphanages in Gotham were full he was sent to the juvenile detention center. Four months into his stay at the GJDC an explosion occurred outside of his cell. By the time authorities arrived the boy was gone and all that remained inside the cell was an owl feather. Richard Grayson has been missing ever since.
Status: Deceased
He remembered this boy. He had been sitting in the audience when his family had fallen. He had seen the heartbroken and devastated look on Richard's face when he realized what had happened. He had even planned on taking the child in, but he had disappeared before the process was finished. Even then he didn't give looking for him. Heaving a depressed sigh he clicked Ice's file open.
Name: Unknown
Alias: Ice
Gender: Male
Birthdate: Unknown
Height: Unknown
Weight: Unknown
Hair: Unknown
Eyes: Blue
Place of Birth: Unknown
History: Unknown
Abilities: Low level psychic abilities, Flexibility, Acrobatics, Swordsmanship, Expert Marksmanship, Expert Computer Skills, Enhanced Strength
After he finished reading the file he closed out of it. He leaned forward and put his head in his hands. He exhaled sharply, then he slammed his hands down and swung them out knocking all the papers and devices off the desktop. They were just kids trying to find their way through the world. What happened to them should have never been. Maybe in another world it might have been different, they could have been heroes and be happy. Not dead and untrusting of anyone other than each other.
Time Skip
Bruce sat down in his chair in the main room, running his hand through his hair. He just got back from Central City to tell Barry the fate of his beloved nephew. To say that the man had broken down was an understatement, not that Bruce blamed him.
Tomorrow they would be burying the boys. It wouldn't be a very big ceremony; most people didn't even care that two children were dead because of the crimes they committed. Barry and Iris were coming though, and Bruce Wayne was going to be making an appearance. But one thing those who actually cared were adamant about was the fact that the two boys were buried right next to each other.
Those two had had hard lives; harder than any child's should be. But they made up for it by living like spoiled royalty. They were partners in crime and they wouldn't go down without a fight. They never would leave each other, even when it meant the end of both. They swore only death do them part, but even in death they would be together forever. It's said that if you walk down the alley behind the corner store on Gray Ave and West St, you can still hear an eery cackle and two voices whispering, 'You'll never take us alive.'