Robins Issue 2
Legacy Boys Part 2
By RoninReviews
"The Fang That Protects The Head."
Damian Wayne hates Gotham City. He hates the smell of the rotting flesh and overflowing gutters. He hates the pollution that rises from the city every day and hangs in the sky like a horrid blanket. He hates the rats that roam the streets and he hates the gangs that roam the streets even more. He hates the fried crap being served up every day by scurvy stricken street vendors and most of all he hates the poor. They wallow in their own filth like pigs in a sty and eventually eat or murder or rape or steal from each other. The life expectancy rate in Gotham City is 30 years old; Damian wishes it were lower.
Damian glares out of the blacked out window of his father's 3rd Limo on his way home from school watching the perpetually drunk teens waddle the streets with smiles on their faces whilst wishing they were dead.
Is this better than what life was before? Living in a state of fear and trying not to show it at all times. Living in fear of his mother and trying his hardest to impress her and live up to her monumentally high expectations. Training every single day, felling nothing but pain, fear, and disappointment for 10 years. Is that better than this? No; but he still hates Gotham City. One day he will become the Batman and he will rid the City of scum by any means necessary, never mind the cost, never mind the pain, never mind the fear...
Gotham City, Midnight
Dick Grayson dressed in his Nightwing suit, cracks his Escrima stick across the face of a large well-fed hood. The beast feels the full force of the blow as tiny slivers of lightening bounce across the stick as it makes contact. The kinetic energy held in the stick is then thrown into the face of another well deserving crook, who's nose is broken as well as most of his teeth being snapped in two; it feels like gravel in his mouth. Dick's is then stomped down on the face of another crook, who makes a rather clumsy stab at the athletic ninja before being punished for his lack of basic combat training.
They have been taught well by a master but will learn nothing. In a brisk flip kick snap movement Dick uses the nylon grappling rope, inside his Escrima sticks, to wrap up each of his enemies ankles. Before they can retaliate, Dick is already at the top of a street lamp and is pulling the group up. Once at the top he ties up the Escrima sticks in a Snapdragon Knot and leaves them for the Police. He arrives at the top of a nearby building to see a kid dressed in a Halloween Robin outfit. The kid can't be older than 13 and with an acne-ridden face, curly ginger hair and his costume not even fitting properly; he holds a duffle bag over his shoulder.
"Uhh… can I help you?" Nightwing asks bewildered by the situation.
"I'm actually here to, uh, help you sir," The kid replies. "Sorry for being late, it's my first night."
"Your first night?" Nightwing asks even more bewildered this time.
"Yeah, I'm a Robin."
"You're a Robin?"
"You don't know about this?" The kid asks.
"No? Is this a joke? Is this going on the internet or something?"
"I can assure you it's not. I'm part of the Robins Organisation set up by... I guess Batman, we operate on call and are available as allies to Batman or his allies to give assistance." The kid speaks with a strange amount of confidence; he's been trained to do this.
"So it's a joke then?"
"It's really not."
"Whom do you report to?"
"To be honest, I've never actually met an actual Robin before, I got a text message saying there is a someone that may need assistance at the top of my building so... here we are."
"Who texted you?" Nightwing's tone has become more serious as he has taken a taller stance than before.
"It's a withheld number but the sender id name is RR."
"Oh for god sake!" Nightwing exclaims.
"Wha-"
"How long have you been a 'Robin'?" Dick uses the sarcastic phonetics when saying the word "Robin."
"Uh, like 3 weeks. My friend Tyler told me about it and I wanted to join."
"Urgh... you are so dead, Tim." Nightwing whispers angrily.
"So... can I give you any assistance?"
"What's in the bag?"
The kid opens the bag revealing a first aid kit, protein bars, assorted fruit, 3 bottles of water, a ham sandwich, a tetanus shot, a defibrillator and a winter coat.
"Alright, go back to bed, quit this whole thing you're doing with the Robins and stuff and gimme that bottle of water and the ham sandwich. If I ever catch you doing this again, I will..." Dick wags his finger at the kid
"Arrest me?"
"I- no..."
"What I'm doing isn't illegal."
"You're assisting a masked vigilante."
"You are a vigilante."
"You could get hurt." Nightwing is getting aggravated.
"So could you," The kid replies.
"I'm an adult with training!" Nightwing erupts.
"What the hell are you doing, Nightwing?" A voice enters the scene causing both Nightwing and the kid to spin around abruptly. They see 11-year-old Damian Wayne strut across the rooftop towards the two.
"Dam- Robin?! What're you doing here?" Nightwing exclaims.
"You're late to our meeting," Damian replies.
"Wait, let me get this straight," The kid interrupts. "You just recognised him as a Robin and yet he is obviously way younger than me."
"..." Nightwing's eye twitches slightly in anger.
"So I am a Robin then—urk." The kid pridefully grins at Nightwing till he is hit in the neck with a tranquilizer dart. Nightwing turns to see Damian holding a blow dart between his lips.
"... What? He was getting annoying." Damian says obviously.
"Let's just get going."Nightwing grumbles.
Elsewhere in Gotham City
Tim Drake (Red Robin), Jason Todd (Red Hood) laze around on a rooftop till Dick and Damian arrive swinging onto the rooftop silently.
"What took you guys so long?" Tim asks.
"Hey! You! We need to talk about this!" Nightwing shouts at Tim.
"Whoa, whoa, hold your horses," Tim says. "Do you have The Talking Bat-a-rang?"
"The what?!" Nightwing asks once again completely bewildered.
"The Talking Bat-a-rang." Tim holds up a Bat-a-rang. "I hold the Talking Bat-a-rang, so I get to talk."
"You've got to be kidding me!"
"That's the rules. Anyway, Jason is giving out the first mission so he gets the Bat-a-rang now." Tim passes The Talking Bat-a-rang over to Jason.
"Since returning from the grave, 3 years ago, I was under Talia Al Ghul's control as her assassin and after Batman and you guys broke me out, I have been on the run from her assassins across the globe. Wherever I go I'm followed.
I've been able to hold them off until now since the attack in Metropolis I can't take it anymore. She's becoming more ruthless, and more and more civilians are getting caught in the crossfire. We need to find her and put a stop to this. She is only going to come back to attack us again and again and Bruce is going to do nothing to stop it. I'm going to kill her for what she did to me. I can't keep running. I've been running for too goddamn long."
"You are not going to kill my mother. If anyone is going to kill my Mother it will be my Father."
"That's not going to happen." Jason snaps
"Then it shall be me."
"I'm out then," Nightwing states. "I'm not going to murder anyone or be involved in murder."
"Ditto." Tim replies.
"It'd actually be worse if we were to tear her empire away from her. Take the entire thing down around her head. That for her is a way worse punishment than death," Damian says.
"But how on Earth are we going to pull this off. We'll need an army. We don't even know where she is. We don't even know where Nandaparbat is."
"I do," Damian says. "She'll let me in and then we take it all from her! Oh this is so much fun." Damian grins from ear to ear.
"We can't just hand you over to her," Tim replies.
"Aww you worried about me, Drake?"
"No, but then what? She lets you in then what's going to happen?"
"You get captured."
2 Hours later, Belle Reve
Dressed in his old Police uniform from his time as a Cop in Bludhaven, Dick Grayson reaches the door to the huge monolith like prison after passing through each of 13 checkpoints on the way in. His story; he is there to question the prisoner known as John Corben a.k.a Metallo for his involvement with the Red Hood, an assassin Detective Grayson has had experience with.
Tim and Damian have been hacking the prisons' systems from external devices allowing Dick to easily enter the prison without any trouble.
Dick enters the interrogation room, huge and expansive with a huge rotating door on the roof facing diagonally to the room. Dick sits at a small table in the middle of the room and waits. Five minutes later he hears a loud whirring and the huge revolving door on the diagonal ceiling rotates to reveal Metallo who is attached to massive arm and leg braces, his Kryptonite core has been taken away.
"Hello, John," Dick asks calmly. "I'm here to ask some questions about your employer."
"I am Metallo," Metallo grumbles in his mechanical tones. "Call me Metallo."
"Very well, Metallo, I'd like to ask who you where ordered by to assassinate the Red Hood by?" Dick asks.
"I don' know. I found the Money in my apartment and I was told I'd get the rest after the assassination. I met with a guy outside of Metropolis in a bar who gave me the parts I needed for my... current upgrade."
"What did he look like?"
"I didn't really get to see his face; wore a hat and long coat, has white hard skin, talked like a comic book super villain. Rather extravagant. Had a Japanese accent. Didn't tell me his name other than he represented the League of Assassins. Definitely insane; gave me the parts and then drove off in one of them real old Rolls Royce."
"Do you have any way to contact him?"
"No."
After half an hour of questioning Dick Grayson leaves the room. He hands over the information he's gathered to the prison guards whom in turn hand it to the Police force. All the Robins re group in a Burger Shack, (a different one) to the description of Metallo's informant. Damian is tossing aside the jalapeños from his burger decisively. Dick is reading the local newspaper and Jason rolling a cigarette.
"Urgh, I'm getting terrible signal here." Tim sighs.
"Really? That's odd," said Dick. "You're using the newest mode of Wayne tech device next to a heavily populated city."
"Yeah it's like something is messing with my signal. Weird, huh? I do hope it's not some weird super villain threat that is somehow connected to our current mission thingy," Tim says sarcastically.
"That'd be inconvenient, huh?" Jason replies, continuing the joke.
"My, I wonder if it could be coming from somewhere in this restaurant," Dick continues.
"Could it be that gentleman in the large trench coat at that table?" Damian points at a man in a long trench coat sitting in the corner of the room.
The man cautiously looks up to see the Robins all-looking at him.
"Oh no..." the man whispers.
Outside Burger Shack
Damian throws the old man to the ground, through the back doors of the Restaurant. He collapses in a pile of dirt and looks up to see Damian cracking his knuckles surrounded by the rest of the Robins. The man is about mid 50s with a greying rescinding hairline and prominent cheekbones. His skinny frame makes for an easy throw.
"Talk while you still can," Damian orders.
"Jeeze, was that the best you had?" Jason cringes as he lights his cigarette.
"I'll talk, ok? I just needed to get your attention. You didn't have to throw me ok?" The man whimpers. "Now it's all ruined."
"Why? What's ruined?" Dick asks.
"I was trying to warn you. I had to block the signal to make sure that the wire they had on me wasn't going to pick me up trying to talk to you guys."
Jason reaches into his trench coat and shouts in a stereotypically Italian accent, "Eyh! Dis guy's wearin a wiah!"
"Shhhhh!" The man stammers glancing around in a paranoid frenzy. "They'll be onto me now and you. I was going to ask you guys that if you're going after the Assassins, try and get my daughter back.
She's been taken in and used as a hostage to keep me in line. I used to work for the MPD and I'm their primary informant in the Metropolis area." He pulls picture out of his trench coat and shows it to them. The picture is of a young girl dressed in a white dress at a wedding. "She has blonde hair with a white strike through it. If you see her get her out of their, her name is Sophie To-"
The man is suddenly cut off as his head explodes spraying brain all over the Robins. The Robins yell horrified except for Damian.
"No Japanese accent or hard white skin. It wasn't him," Damian says monotone while the Robins freak out about the brains all over their clothes. He crouches down and looks over the dead body. In the pile of grey matter he spies a tiny glint of metal. He reaches down and picks out a shard of a bullet.
"Sniper bullet. Possibly fired from an MP9 or a Military grade Rifle .943" Hit from a high altitude, possibly shot from directly ...up" Damian looks up to see a helicopter in the sky. After a second of watching he sees ropes being thrown from the side of the copter and men sliding down them.
"Incoming!" Damian yells as a barrage of gunfire starts crackling across the ground. The Robins scramble for cover when a grenade plops down next to them. They scatter again but most don't avoid the flash bag. Hazy the Robins try to keep moving whilst having their frontal lobes feeling like a volcanic eruption. Damian reaches the car park of the restaurant when he sees him.
The harbinger of death, the mercenary of the afterlife, the eternal dark, the sweetest kiss goodnight, the gracious, Lord Death Man. He strides forwards followed by an entourage of deadly assassins in his new gleaming white suit a .45 in each hand and a smirk across his skull face. His new dragon tattoos on his arms looks freaking awesome and so do his new leather gloves. God, he's such a cool guy. He's got like a pipe sticking out of his mouth, and yeah. He's just an all around badass basically. The Robins are totally screwed.
Lord Death Man closes the tomb like book and turns to you, the audience.
"That's all for this week children, return to your lives but make sure you return next week to see how Lord Death Man strikes at the heart of the Bat-Family, The prodigal sons, The Robins. There's also some stuff with the League of Assassins, but it's mainly about Lord Death Man. Bwhahahahahahahahahhaaaahahaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!"