DJG: Wow. I am so sorry this took forever to update. Any followers of this story have probably died of old age already. I would give you a bunch of excuses, but in reality, I just had really bad writer's block. But I got better. XD
Muse: Cool. And it only took you four months.
DJG: SHH! Don't tell them and they won't realize how long it actually took! Also, I just know I probably forgot to add some important plot point in here somewhere, so drop me a review/PM if you have a question and I'll get back to ya.
Warning: Some parts of this chapter may be a bit squicky to some readers, just for description of internal organs and other such medical things. Also, I know next to nothing about the nature of fires, so if I make a mistake, pretty please don't shank me, just let me know in a review/PM and I'll correct it. :D
EDIT: New cover is the cover for issue 16 of RHATO. I don't own!
The three brothers stared in horror at Wayne Manor as the flames screamed, snaking up the pristine walls and tearing the building apart.
"If Tim and Alfred are trapped in there-!" Dick began.
"Then we gotta get them out." Jason grumbled, wiping sleep from his eyes. He didn't know why he was tired, but he ultimately decided to ignore his exhaustion and keep going.
Dick shot him a look. "No way, Jay. Your leg is hurt, and you can't even walk without crutches. Stay here, I'm going in." he said, quickly getting out of the car.
Damian, stood, eyes wide and angry. "I'm going, too!"
This time, both Jason and Dick protested.
"No way!"
"Not gonna happen, Demon Child. If I'm stayin' behind, so are you."
Damian scowled. "Fine, Grayson. But know this. As soon as you're gone, Todd will have no way to stop me from following you."
"Hey!"
Dick looked thoughtful, but ignored Jason's outburst, instead turning to Damian. "You've got a point…" he suddenly shook his head, looking puzzled, then angry. "Wait…no… I'm not letting you go inside a burning building! Look, we don't have time for this. Stay here."
With that, the eldest began moving closer to the fire, searching for a way inside.
Once he was no longer visible, Damian turned to Jason. "This is foolish. I can help. I'm going inside, too." he stated, opening the car door. To his surprise, he heard no protests. Just the sound of a car door opening and closing again.
"Fine. Lead the way, brat. If you're going in, so am I." Jason nodded in the direction of the house, before beginning to trek down towards the house, Damian right in front of him.
They got as close as they dared, the heat too painful to just walk right up to it. "This isn't working. We need another way in." Jason remarked. Just then, his eyes fell on an open window that seemed mostly lacking in fire. He frowned, turning to Damian and judging his size.
Damian seemed to understand his thinking. "Yes, I can fit. Give me a boost." he commanded. Jason carefully looped his fingers together, crouching as much as he could on his leg. Damian backed up a bit, before running and jumping off of the impromptu foothold and doing an impressive aerial somersault into the window. He just barely fit.
"Now what, Todd?" Jason heard Damian ask over the roar of the fire.
"I'm thinking, I'm think- oh shit. Get away from the window!" Jason yelled loudly, backing up quickly as a nearby tree that used to provide shade began to creak ominously. The trunk snapped suddenly as the flaming branches gave in and collapsed forward, onto the Manor.
He heard nothing inside except the crackling of his childhood going up in smoke.
"Damian! Are you okay? Dammit, your dad is gonna kill me!" Jason cried, pacing as he searched for another way inside. He quickly rushed around the edge of the house, eyes calculating as he scanned up and down the walls for-there. Perfect.
The window of the living room stuck out from the house in a sort of Victorian-style way, almost like a balcony that rested on the ground, not that Jason was complaining. It was his way up to the open window above it. As he pulled himself on top of the jutting out window, he idly wondered why so many of the goddamn windows were open in the first place. Soooo not a good idea.
Jason stuck his good leg through the metal opening in the crutch to make sure he wouldn't lose it, before gripping the ledge. "Damn, Todd, lay off the ice cream." he grumbled as he slowly began to pull himself up. Once he was up far enough to brace himself with his elbows, he grabbed the crutch and threw it inside, before rolling into the room. He scanned it quickly-ooh. Whoops. He was in Bruce's room.
Nothing seemed to be amiss, but there was an abnormal amount of medications on the bedside table. Jason ignored this, crouching down to avoid the smoke that seemed to be pouring into the room from under the door. He inched forward, carefully pressing his hand to the door and feeling for heat. It was cool to the touch. Good. He cracked the door open slowly, knowing that if there was fire close, the back draft could cause an explosion.
He found himself in the hallway, no fire to be seen. Just smoke, and lots of it. He had to rely on his childhood memories of the Manor to find his way towards the room he had last seen Damian in.
"Hello? Dick! Damian! Where the hell are you?" he cried loudly to be heard over the fire.
He paused, hearing a faint yell that faded in and out of audibility.
"…ason? Jason, is that y…?"
Jason ran forward, his crutch catching on a doorframe much to his impatience. "Hey? Talk again, where are you?"
This time, the voice was louder and clearer.
"It's me, Tim! Me and Alfred are locked in the cave! He's still unconscious, but I think he'll be okay!"
Jason rounded the corner and swore. He could see a large bookshelf had been shoved over the entrance to the cave, the grandfather clock door thrown to the side and broken on the ground. The bookshelf was just short enough for Tim to slip his arm up to the elbow through the crack, but he was too small to do anything at that angle except wave his arm around. The bookshelf was heavy enough to prevent its removal. The other problem was the fire at the end of the hall, quickly approaching.
He rushed forward. "Kid, move your arm!" he instructed. Tim obeyed, right as Jason rammed his shoulder into it as hard as he could. The thing shook a bit, but didn't move other than that. Quickly, Jason grabbed his crutch and shoved it through the crack at the top, adjusting it so that it was able to jam firmly against the top of the entrance of the cave and the bookshelf.
"Use yourself as counterweight and help me move it!" Jason instructed, glancing worriedly at the quickly approaching flames. Tim nodded and pulled down on the crutch while Jason pushed up. The result was the bookshelf shuddering, before falling forward towards Jason. He evaded it smoothly, grabbing his crutch as he saw Tim standing at the top of the stairs, eyes wide and a small trickle of blood dripping down from a cut hidden by his dark brown hair. A few feet behind him, Alfred was unconscious, leaning up against the wall.
"Smoke inhalation. They threw him in here after they started the fire." Tim said by way of explanation.
Jason's eyes narrowed. "Whoever 'they' is better watch their damn backs. They're not getting away with this. Now, c'mon, help me lift him!"
Together, they maneuvered Alfred into a standing position, before Jason paused. "Wait…the grandfather clock is built to withstand this kinda stuff, right?" When Tim nodded, Jason managed to lift the heavy clock back into place and seal the entrance to the cave, but not without some effort on his part.
He resumed his position on Alfred's left, his crutch propped under his free arm. They moved as quickly as they could down the hall away from the advancing fire, crouching as they tried in vain to avoid the smoke.
Without warning, they heard a loud slam. Tim and Jason both looked up in surprise as they mentally assessed what the noise was.
"I reeeeally hope that wasn't the sound of the Manor starting to collapse." Tim said nervously.
Jason shook his head, blinking. His eyes were growing heavy from a combination of both the previous exhaustion he had and the smoke. "Nah, it wouldn't be that far along yet…I think it came from the library. Let's check it out. Even if it wasn't anything, there's a window in there that we might be able to break."
Tim gave him a strange look. "You…seriously want us to go into a room full of highly flammable paper…in the middle of a burning building?"
Jason bit his lip. "Well, when you put it like that…"
Tim winced, coughing into his elbow as he tried to filter out the smoke. "Whatever, it's all we've got right now. Come on."
The rebel nodded, helping carry Alfred until they got to the door. He felt it carefully, but when he didn't sense any heat on the other side, opened the door wide.
And froze.
There, sitting in one of the comfortable armchairs with a TV in front of him, was a familiar red and black figure, smiling cheerfully.
"Hiya, birdboys~! It's been awhile. How've ya been? Wanna watch TV? There's a reeeally funny story on right now!" Harley giggled, crossing her leg and gesturing to the television, which was in the middle of a news report.
"-reaking news, it appears the criminally insane 'Clown Prince of Crime', the Joker, has turned in a list to the Gotham City Police Department from his cell in Arkham Asylum that appears to have the names of every henchmen that has ever been in his employment over the past fifteen years! Why he would sell out over 200 men now, so suddenly, is the real question. Meanwhile, around ¾ of these henchmen have already been placed under arrest this afternoon, mostly for previous charges. The other portion will simply have to wait, as Blackgate prison, for the first time in a long time, is now too full to accept any more prisoners. The remaining prisoners have been sent to Arkham Asylum, where they will remain until nearby prisons can accept more of these felons, which could be a few weeks, at most."
Tim did his best to fall into a defensive position with Alfred weighing him down. Jason leered at Harley, eyes narrow.
"What's the Joker planning, huh? Even he's not stupid enough to turn in all of his muscle just for fun." he stated, blinking slowly as he once again pushed aside that annoying urge to close his eyes and sleep. He didn't bother pretending he wasn't the Red Hood; obviously Joker and Harley had deduced all of their secret identities, if finding Tim and Alfred stuffed in the Batcave was any indication.
Harley laughed. "Aw, Jare-Bear, you're adorable. It's not about the fun this time. See, Mistah Jay's setting up for one of his best jokes yet! And the punch line is- well, I can't tell you that, but trust me, it'll be a scream! You should be more worried about you and little Dickie." As she said this, she draped herself out so that her legs were hanging over the edge of the armchair and she was looking at them upside-down, seemingly not bothered by the fact the building they were in was engulfed in flames.
Jason's head snapped up, alarm written all over his face. "What the hell did you do to us?"
Harley laughed. "It's not what I did. It's what Mistah Jay did. See, he found this really great medicine at some clinic when he was lookin' for Brucie! Some sorta super-strong sleepin' pills or something. Then, when he crashed into yer brother's cop car, he swapped your pain meds for the sleepin' pills. He wanted ya to be asleep for this next part, but what can ya do? Oh, and when Dickie was unconscious, he gave him something', too! I dunno what it is, exactly, but it makes ya really open to suggestions! That's why when you told Dickie ta give ya the pills anyway, he did! I think it's starting to wear off, though…how boring!"
Jason shook his head, irritated. Sleeping pills he could deal with. Meds that made you gullible and susceptible to orders…Dick could probably handle, especially since it was apparently close to wearing off. "Okay then, tell me this, Harley. Joker wanted me dead. That much is obvious. So why did you save me from that water tower? I would've gotten stuck in that pipe and drowned!"
Harley's grin disappeared and she twisted around to face them right-side up. "No reason, I just felt like it, Little Red. Besides, you should be thanking me, not pestering me with stupid questions! I coulda just left you in there, y'know! And do you know how hard it is to fish a liver outta the friggin' water lines? Er…I mean… Whoops." As soon as she said that, she covered her mouth with both hands, looking away with both eyes squeezed shut as she began to hum the National Anthem loudly.
Tim had been watching this exchange with calculating eyes that suddenly widened with realization. "Jason…it was Ivy! I bet Harley didn't know the Stinger in the water would kill her, so she went looking in the pipes…and found you. After you 'died', we checked the water and found a bunch of Ivy's…well, a bunch of her organs were jammed down an offline pipe. Batman had them tested to make sure they were hers and not…well…yours. Turns out the Stinger just melted her down halfway. The antidote was in her skin, remember? After that, it just became pretty much regular water, except it stopped most of Gotham from dying a painful death. But, Jason…we never found her liver."
Jason flinched, hand flying to the scar on his stomach. "Are…are you saying…that transplant I got…was from Poison Ivy?"
Harley sighed, kicking her feet. "Red always said that if she died, she wanted me to make sure that she ended up helping plants. Always the plants. And she thought you Bats were a bunch of sniveling weeds. But weeds are plants too, aren't they? Mistah Jay wanted you to die really bad, Little Red, but Ivy didn't always like Mistah Jay's way of thinkin'. We used to mess with 'im all the time. So, since she wasn't there tah do it, I figured…playin' one last prank on 'im wouldn't be the end of the world. Y'know…fer old times' sake. The curtain call, the last big shebang!" Harley laid dramatically out on the chair as she finished her explanation.
Tim coughed quietly into his fist, reminding Jason that the smoke was becoming a problem, and HEY, they were still in a burning building.
"So, now what?" Jason asked suspiciously. Just because Harley had saved him once didn't mean she necessarily wanted him to stay alive.
The female clown chuckled and pulled a small object seemingly from nowhere. "Now? Now, bird boys, we get to play a game. It's one of my favorites! It's called, 'Don't Get Blown To Pieces!' Have fun!" she crowed, pressing the button. Instantly, the library came alive, several small screens lighting up and flashing a timer ominously as they could see rows and rows of explosives that they hadn't noticed before.
0:05
0:04
0:03
Jason swore loudly, turning and slamming the library doors shut. Possibly the large wooden barrier could offer some protection. The last thing he saw inside was Harley waving mockingly after them. Tim looked to him somewhat expectantly, and Jason realized in that fleeting instant it was because he had dealt with bombs and the Joker before. Only last time, he died. He had only one plan right now, and it was more instinct than anything else. It had worked last time...hadn't it?
Jason quickly pushed Tim and Alfred to the floor, covering them with himself as he played human shield. There was a split second of total silence as even the fire seemed to have frozen, the soft 'beep' of the timer hitting zero, and then the world exploded.
Dick was coming around a corner when he saw Damian exiting a room quickly.
"Damian, what are you doing here? I told you to wait outs-" he began, but was cut off.
"Move, Grayson!" the younger boy demanded, pushing him back and away from the room. Not only did Dick trust him enough to listen when he used that tone of voice anyway, he also had the oddest compulsion to obey helping him scramble backwards even as he stumbled and fell.
Without warning, a flaming tree appeared to fall out of the room Damian had just been in, sparks flying everywhere. Dick hissed as a few hit his arm and quickly got to his feet, rushing away from it as the floor began to fall in around it.
"Todd was out there. I hope…I… He better have gotten out of the way!" Damian snapped, turning the corner. Dick gritted his teeth.
"Damian, I told you two to wait in the car! Why didn't you listen?" he asked furiously.
Damian scoffed. "Tt. Because if we hadn't disobeyed, you would've just been crushed by a tree. And then Todd would've had to be Nightwing again, and if you remember, it didn't work out well the last time." (1)
Dick shuddered at the memory. "Point. Still, Bruce is going to kill me."
"His mansion is on fire. He's going to kill lots of people."
Right as Damian was about to cross in front of an open door, Dick grabbed him by the shoulders and roughly tugged him back, right as fire burst from the room and out into the hall right where he was standing seconds ago.
"Be more careful! C'mon, let's see if Tim and Alfred are hiding out in the cave!" Dick said, before the floor beneath his right leg abruptly gave way and he began to fall into the room below the one they were currently in.
Damian lunged forward and caught his arm, swearing loudly in Arabic as his arms were burned by the flames under them. Dick managed to brace himself on the picture frame of his parents hanging on the wall (2) below him and push against it just enough to help haul himself onto solid ground.
The youngest Batchild huffed indignantly, glancing away to hide the concern in his eyes. "Why don't you take your own advice, Grayson?"
Dick, however, seemed to understand what he was really trying to say, and gave a sad smile as he rubbed at his injured arms subtly. "I'm fine, Damian, just a few burns. Now, let's go find Tim and Alfred. We'll both be careful from now on, all right? You watch my back, and I'll watch yours."
Damian scoffed, but his tough-guy act was cut off by a coughing fit that he tried in vain to hide. "Tt. Like you *cough* had to *cough* ask."
Dick smiled, and together, they made their way quickly down the hall until they reached the staircase. Both of the metal railings were untouched, but the mahogany wood of the last few steps were aflame.
The older boy assessed the situation, before turning to Damian. "Always wanted to teach you how to do this, I just never though it'd be this way. Follow me!" Dick instructed, before perching on the railing just like he had when he was only nine. He slid down just as quickly as usual, only instead of waiting until he reached the bottom, the first Robin did a flip off the railing and over the fire, landing untouched on the other side of the room.
Damian blew hair out of his face. "What is it with you and Todd trying to teach me things?" he asked in a mock-annoyed fashion, before following Dick's lead and sliding down the railing. He executed the move perfectly, even throwing in an extra flip just to show off. Dick clapped twice, smirking.
"Impressive, Little D. Now, come on…the cave's gotta be close…it's just hard to tell where exactly with all this smoke."
They ended up stumbling across it by total accident…literally. Damian ended up tripping over a bookshelf that had been left knocked over in front of the grandfather clock.
"How did this get here?" he demanded as he got to his feet with as much dignity as possible. "The fire couldn't have moved this! It was probably Drake!"
Dick snickered, but broke off as a rafter collapsed too close to them for comfort, flames leaping from it. He flipped up the marble bust's head to push the button to open the cave doors, but nothing happened. With the fire approaching quickly and no other options, Dick simply walked forward and physically moved the grandfather clock, a feat which would've been impossible if it hadn't been broken already.
Damian rushed past him, inside, just as Dick lost his grip on the heavy clock and it fell back into place. But, they had made it. They were both inside the cave.
Unfortunately, they were the only ones. The cave was completely barren of anyone else.
"Damn! I would've thought they'd be down here!" Dick swore, before quickly moving down the steps and over to the Batcomputer. He hit a few buttons until the screen lit up red, before turning away. "There. Bruce, the police, the fire department, and the hospital have all been informed. Now, let's go see if we can move the clock and go find Timmy and Alfre-"
Dick was cut off by a distant 'boom', followed by the floor of the cave shaking violently. The bats above them shrieked and began flying around wildly, except instead of leaving the cave like they normally did when startled, they circled back and flew around the two boys wildly. They both stumbled, looking around as the shaking stopped and the Manor was silent once again, except for the crackling of flames and screaming bats above them.
Damian looked up to Dick, a frown on his face. "I don't suppose you know what that was, do you, Grayson?"
Dick could only stare. He had no response. All he could do was shrug somewhat hesitantly and pray his other two little brothers and grandfather figure were okay.
(1) My God, that comic was terrible. You all know what I'm talking about, right? If you don't, consider yourself lucky. And never look it up. Ever. Please. Don't torture yourself like that. Because you will get pregnant. And die. Just…don't do it, promise?
(2) Pretty sure I saw this in a Batman cartoon one time. If not, just pretend there's a giant ornate painting of Dick's parents hanging up someplace.
Fun Fact: Originally, I had planned for Jason to go in by himself, and Damian would take advantage of Dick's condition to follow him inside, leaving poor Dickie-bird outside all alone. But, see, my inner Dick gave me the finger and went inside anyway, sprinting past my inner Jason and Damian while yelling 'Na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na BATMAN!' Whelp, that's just dandy. Oh well. It worked here. XP