Broken
By
Angelina
A/N This was written for Scotty1609's Robin in Peril challenge. I kind of took the broken ribs a little overboard, hope you don't mind.
Rain, Robin hated rain. He always had and he probably always would. But for the moment he needed to set aside his discomfort and focus on the task at hand. His fingers flew over his holographic keyboard as he bypassed another firewall and dug deeper for the files he was seeking.
"Are you almost done?" Aqualad asked as he used his water bearers to chuck a guard to kingdom come.
"Almost!" Robin shouted back as he ate through another firewall.
"Hurry up!" Kid Flash yelled as he run a few inches ahead of a hail of bullets. "We can't hold them off much longer."
"Don't rush the hacker!" Robin yelled trying to concentrate on the last few firewalls.
"Hack faster!" Artemis hollered as she pulled her last arrow out of her quiver and let it loos.
"Arg." Robin grumbled to himself, these people obviously did not understand the finesse of hacking. Finally he cracked the last firewall and began downloading the files they were after. "It's downloading!"
"Great, download faster!" Kid Flash yelled.
"It's done!" Robin yelled as his USB cable withdrew into his glove. "Let's get out of here." He turned towards his team only to duck as Superboy sent a guard sailing over his head. The others were running towards him as more guards appeared at the entrance across the spacious room. Robin threw several of his bird-a-rangs and a deafening blast later the entrance no longer existed.
He quickly took aim at a massive hole in the ceiling and fired his grappling gun. A few seconds later the rest of the team had joined him on the roof. They ran as the sounds of pursuing guards became louder. "How many are there?" Artemis wondered as she reached for her quiver only to realize that she was out of arrows.
"Too many for us to take." Aqualad resigned. "Call your ship Megan; we need to get out of here."
"Hello Megan! It's on its way."
That was when everything went wrong, ok things had already gone wrong. They were out of ammunition and running low on energy with the entire complex of guards after them. This was when things got worse: an explosion rocked the complex sending the heroes flying.
Robin raised a hand to his ringing head. He could feel blood trickle down his temple from a cut somewhere on his head. He sat up and looked around for his teammates. Aqualad, Kid Flash, Superboy, and Artemis were just beginning to regain consciousness. They were cut in a few places but otherwise seemed unharmed. Megan, however, was nowhere to be seen.
Robin stood up on unsteady legs and walked to the edge of the roof scanning the ground below for any signs of Megan. He quickly spied the green skinned Martian on the ground below. He was by her side as soon as he could get his sore limbs working properly. For having fallen three stories she looked to be relatively alright. Nothing appeared to be broken but Robin doubted whether she would be regaining consciousness any time soon.
"So sweet." A dangerous voice said from the shadows.
Robin threw himself down as two deadly shuriken sliced through the air where his chest had just been.
Robin placed himself in front of his fallen comrade and faced the assassin as she stepped from the shadows.
"You took something that doesn't belong to you. Give it back or I will kill you slowly." Cheshire said, the hideous smile on her mask seeming to swallow all of Robin's attention.
"I don't think so." Robin said as he sent two bird-a-rangs flying.
Cheshire easily dodged one and blocked the other with her pronged weapon, sending the annoying toy flying over her head and into the forest behind her. Her eyes narrowed behind her mask and she charged Robin slashing at him. Robin flipped out of the way just in time but he could feel the instability that his head wound was causing. At his peak Robin would have been hard put to beat Cheshire but in his present state it was all that Robin could do to keep from getting himself killed.
Cheshire was closing in on him and Robin tried a last ditch effort. He threw two exploding bird-a-rangs watching as they landed on either side of the assassin.
"You missed, but I won't." Cheshire chuckled throwing her shuriken at a dodging Robin. The young bird managed to dodge one but was hit by the other. He could feel the jelly fish toxin flow through his body, slowing his movements. Cheshire seized the opportunity and round house kicked the boy catching him full on in the ribs. Robin could feel and hear his ribs breaking under the power of the kick and he fell back with a strangled cry. From where he lay he could hear a low ticking noise and looked over to see one of his exploding bird-a-rangs lying a few feet away.
"The baby bird is caught in his own trap, how precious." Cheshire cackled as she retreated back into the shadows.
Crap was all he had time to think before the concussive wave hit him and he knew no more.
The others had been regaining consciousness when they heard a blast from below. As fast as they could they ran towards the noise. Megan was trying to get up as they made their way to her.
"What happened?" Aqualad asked.
"Robin!" Megan yelled as her eyes overflowed with tears.
Superboy and Kid Flash ran over the to the tattered bundle some feet away as Aqualad and Artemis helped up the hysterical martian to unsteady feet.
Superboy rolled Robin over gasping as he saw the condition his teammate was in. Robin had a large gash to running from above his temple halfway to his chin, blood flowed copiously from it. The young boy had managed to raise his cape just in time and had been protected from the heat of the blast. But the force of the blast had thrown him a good ways breaking even more ribs, his sternum, clavicle (collarbone), and his right arm. His costume was ripped to shreds and his broken boned were all to evident throught the tatters. Superboy gently took the young bird into his arms. Robin coughed at being moved and blood trickled from the corner of his mouth, he was internally bleeding.
"Ohgodohgodohgodohgod! He'sdyinghe'sdying'he'sdying! Whatdowedo? Ohgodohgodohgod!" Kid Flash babbled off rapid fire. He was in shock and driving Superboy crazy.
"Kid Flash! Calm yourself and call Batman, we need immediate medical assistance." Aqualad said as he kneeled down beside Superboy pushing a stray lock of hair out of Robin's covered eyes. The boy moaned and more blood flowed out of his mouth. Superboy cradled the broken body in his arms as his teammates all found some part of Robin to hold or stroke, as if their physical presence could tie Robin to life.
"Batman, Batmancomein! ThisisKidFlash,wehaveanemergency!" Kid Flash babbled into his com unit.
"Whoa slow down there KF, what happened?" The unmistakable voice of Flash come through the speaker.
"We need immediate medical assistance, Robin is dying." KF whispered with an obvious effort to speak slowly and not to sob.
A few seconds later a gush of wind announced the arrival of Flash. The superhero took stock of the situation in an instant and gently attempted to pry Robin out of Superboy's arms. But Superboy kept a death grip on the boy, seeming to think that holding on would keep the boy alive. Finally Superboy realized that Flash wanted to help the boy and relinquished his grip on Robin, allowing Flash to take the little bird into his arms.
As soon as he had Robin securely in his arms Flash took off towards Mount Justice, leaving the others to follow in the bio ship.
When they arrived they made their way to the infirmary where they found Flash waiting outside head in his hands as he spoke tiredly into his com unit.
"How is he?" Kaldur was the first to speak.
"Not good, they're trying to repair the damage and stop the internal bleeding but they aren't hopeful." Flash looked white as a sheet as he said this, he could not believe that the boy he had watched grow up was now lying on his death bed.
Megan sank into Kaldur with a groan and started sobbing hysterically. Artemis sniffled and felt Wally's arms around her as he pulled her into a comforting hug. Superboy let out a howl of rage and punched the wall leaving a massive hole in it.
"Where's Batman?" Wally asked his uncle.
"He was on a mission with the JLA, I haven't been able to reach him yet."
They collectively sat down, some on chairs and others sinking to the ground, and waited. After what seemed like days (in reality 12 hours) a doctor came out. His hands and protective clothing covered in blood, Robin's blood. "He broke his sternum, clavicle, right arm, and five ribs. One of the ribs pierced his lung causing it to collapse. He lost a lot of blood before we patched him up. We can't risk giving him anymore for fear that it will just bleed out again. We've done the best we can to patch him up, it's all up to the kid now. He is resting but you can see him if you wish."
One by one the kids filed into the room looks of horror on their faces as they saw their youngest member. He was lying on a stark white hospital bed, his complexion almost matching the sheets. Bandages covered his chest and a sling held his right arm to his chest. A heart monitor beeped steadily next to his bed and a clear tube was sticking out of his chest, keeping his lung working. Robin had never before looked so frail and human. They all sat down beside his bed and looked on at him in silence, each wrapped up in his or her own thoughts.
Outside the doctor leaned in towards Flash being sure to keep his voice low. "If the kid has any family I would suggest getting them here as quick as you can, I don't know how long he'll last."
Flash gulped audibly but nodded his head and turning back towards his communicator he began sending out messages again.
Finally after an hour Superman's voice came back across the communicator startling Flash. "What's going on Flash we specifically said to maintain radio silence at all time. You could have jep-"
"Is Bats there?" Flash interupted in no mood for a lecture.
"Yes, what is this all ab-?" Superman asked suspiciously.
"PUT BATS ON NOW!" Flash hollered all semblance of patience gone.
"What?" Batman's emtionless voice asked.
"Batsy, get your tail end back to Mount Justice right now, it's Robin."
Flash got no response except for Superman yelling at Batman to get himself back there and give them an explanation. Ten minutes later Mount Justice announced the arrival of Batman.
Batman walked up to Flash, grabbed the speedster by the collar and pulled him forward so that the speedster was standing on tiptoes with his face on inch from Batman's enraged scowl. If there is anything worse that angry Batman it is angry DaddyBats and this was the angriest that Flash had ever seen him. "What is going on?" Batman asked in a dangerously level voice.
Flash just pointed a shaking finger at Robin's room and babbled incoherently having lost the ability to talk as well as wetting himself. Batman tossed Flash unceremoniously to the side and stomped to the room.
"Everybody out, NOW!"
The team looked at Batman with fear evident in all their faces and then beat a hasty retreat. Batman pulled a chair up to Robin's bedside and took his son's small hand in his own large one, marveling at how small his son could look when he was broken. "What happened?" He asked the doctor that was attempting to hide in the shadows towards the back of the room.
The doctor explained everything rapidly and then got out of there, fearing the wrath of the great Batman. But right now anger was taking a back seat in Batman's mind as worry quickly came to the forefront. He started stroking Robin's hair crooning an old lullaby. After several times through the lullaby Batman's voice cracked and he let a few tears escape from his overfilled eyes. That opened the floodgates and in a minute Batman was sobbing brokenly as he brought his son's hand up to his face. "You hear me right now Richard John Grayson, you are not leaving me." He sobbed until he had nothing left.
Batman sat up with his son all night, knowing that if Robin could live through the night that his chances of survival would be greatly increased. And Robin did last the night. The next morning the doctors were finally able to give him the blood he so desperately needed.
Three days later Bruce was by his son's side his cowl discarded and Robin's mask off. He had hardly slept in those three days and large purple bags were evident beneath his bloodshot eyes. The rest of the team didn't look any better and Flash and Red Tornado had their hands full trying to keep all of them from seeking revenge against Cheshire.
In Robin's room the machines beaped at the same steady pace that they had been for the last three days, the rhythm threatening to lull Bruce to sleep. Just as his tired eyes were closing and his head rested near his sons the rhythm changed. Bruce's head shot up, all weariness gone from his eyes. "Dick? Come on now, time to wake up."
As if in response Dick's eyes fluttered open only to quickly snap shut again, he groaned as light hit them. Bruce shielded his son's eyes and squeezed his hand. "Dick?"
"Tati?"
"It's ok Dick, I'm here."
Dick's startling blue eyes opened and found Bruce's dark ones. "I love you, Tati."
"I love you to son. Now don't ever scare me like that again." Despite himself Bruce sighed in relief.
Dick laughed and then winced as pain lanced through his chest. Bruce stroked his hair, attempting to calm him.
"No promises, dad."
A/N Ok so it was a sappy ending, but I read too many fairy tales so you get stuck with happy endings. I hoped you liked it Reviews are, as always, greatly appreciated and treasured.