Brotherly Love
The battle was over.
Ras Al Ghul and his forces had won the fight, preparing to assume control of all of the city of Gotham.
The Bat Family had fallen.
The Dark Knight, the leader of the Gotham vigilantes, and his second in command, the "dead" ex-Robin and ex-Nightwing, Dick Grayson, double agent in Spyral had developed a failsafe plan for this final moment.
However, it would require the ultimate sacrifice.
With the members of the Bat Family lying on the still smoking earth around him along with the decimated remnant of his own army, the battle weary Ras slowly began to stand to his feet. On one knee, a few feet away, Grayson nodded to Batman. Batman passed the signal to Batgirl. She hesitated for a moment, then ordered the mobile bat computer system to begin to run a series of calculations. Beside Grayson, Damian, the current Robin slowly began to pull himself to his knees, staring up at the look in Grayson deep, blue eyes.
It was the look of a brother. A saviour. A sacrifice.
Dick looked down at Damian.
One look. It said everything.
Suddenly, a massive thunderclap echoed all around the derelict area in Gotham, as a boom tube opened directly behind Ras. A rushing burst of wind blew over everyone as the original Boy Wonder leaped through the air and crashed into Ras, taking them both into the oblivion. Despite himself, Batman hesitated. For just a moment, there appeared dampness in his eyes for his oldest friendand most trusted side-kick.
"Close it," he said shakily to Batgirl.
Batgirl hesitated once again.
"Nooo!" screamed Damian.
He couldn't bear to let this happen. He couldn't allow it.
Drawing upon reserves of strength that he didn't know existed, Robin burst into flight, rushing after Dick. At the moment that he passed through the boom tube, the very atmosphere seemed as if it were going to tear his body apart. He felt as if he was on fire from the inside as well as the outside, and the pain was nearly unbearable, but he had to endure it. He had to.
The Son of Batman couldn't see them through all of the smoke and fire, and his heart sank in terror that he might not be able to find Grayson in time. Then, a cloud of flaming smoke cleared, and there they were, so far up ahead of her that there seemed to be an endless gulf between them. Robin sprinted as fast and hard as he possibly could, but the distance between them only seemed to be increasing. Ras Al Ghul lashed out, connecting with a vicious backward head butt intended to loosen Grayson's grip. He then tried to wretch himself free, but Grayson was able to swing his powerful forearm around Ras' throat as he turned to head back to the portal, and The ex- Robin held him in a steel grip. Just then, Dick looked up and saw…
Damian…already inside the boom tube…reaching for him.
'Go, now' Grayson silently mouthed the words to him. 'Dami. Go. Please.' Hearing Dick call him by his nickname "Dami" made Damian's heart break. Dick was right, and he knew it. There was no way he could reach him. Using Dick's momentary distraction to his advantage, Ras swung a hard forearm into Grayson's neck, stunning him once again. However, Dick now had a renewed spirit from the sight of his adopted brother, and he countered quickly. Dick swung Ras around and began pounding his face with punch after punch, the sudden, renewd power of the impacts thundering in the air around them.
Robin closed his eyes, and everything strangely seemed to become still and quiet all around him.
Then, something touched his hand. He recognised the feel of it immediately. It was the dark curls of Dick's hair. He opened his eyes, and the torrential atmosphere was suddenly all around him once again, but he was victorious.
He was touching Dick.
With all his might, Robin lunged forward, wrapped both his arms around Dick's neck, and threw his body backward, pulling the older boy with him. Dick was stunned; shocked that Dami had somehow miraculously made his way to him. Still, he reacted immediately, giving Ras a hard kick to his face and pushing off of him. Dick then quickly spun around in Dami's grip and swung Robin onto his back. Grayson sprinted, racing back toward the portal which was rapidly closing. The atmosphere around them tore at their souls from both the inside and the outside, and Dami buried his face into the small of Grayson's back and gripped his shoulders harder, wondering if the excruciating strain might tear them apart before they reached the portal.
The closing edge of the tube rushed toward them…
The remains of the Bat Family and all those around them were suddenly knocked off their feet by a massive discharge of energy.
Where the boom tube had been, now sat a large, deep crater of smoking wreckage.
In its centre lay Grayson and Robin, Robi with his arms still wrapped around Grayson's torso, his face still buried in his back, still and motionless. Then, they stirred, slowly, both of them.
As the survivors rejoiced around them, the newly, reunited brothers climbed to their feet, victorious and forever united.