You guys are the sweetest! Love all of your splendtastic comments! I can't wait for Thanksgiving break. I have my stretchy pants ready.
Should I do a disclaimer on every chapter? Oh, well.
Chapter 4!
Robin crouched in the shadows on the catwalk of the old, abandoned warehouse with Batman by his side. Neither spoke, but they didn't need to. They knew what to do. That was the great thing about their relationship; they knew what each other was thinking, so they didn't need to express themselves. Although, Robin thought with an alien sense of sadness and longing, expressing yourself might not be all bad.
He was shaken out of his thoughts by the soft beat of footsteps on the floor of the warehouse. The drug dealer that he and Batman had been waiting for trudged up to the nervous looking high school senior. Robin frowned. All drug dealers were bad, but the kind that sold to teens was the worst. Commissioner Gordon had mentioned this to Batman and Robin a few nights ago, about the deal going down now, how they were going to catch this gut by setting him up with the teen, who they bugged. It had been a slow night, so the Dynamic Duo had decided to monitor it, and lend an invisible hand if needed- or so Batman had said. Robin knew that the real reason they were there was to show Robin what could-would-happen if he went down the wrong road. But Robin had seen what could happen, and worse, more than any teen should. Robin had seen it all, he didn't need these lessons. But Batman had insisted…
Robin could hear the two figures below them mumble something. Then, the elder of the two reached into his pocket and produced a bag. That was when the police took action. They stormed into the warehouse, guns drawn, aimed at the drug dealer. The Commissioner stepped up front. "On your knees! Hands where I can see them!" Although he wore a hood that covered his face, Robin could practically see the smile on his face. He knew in that instant that something wasn't right. Batman tensed up. He felt it too.
That was when dozens of men, all armed with large shot guns and rifles (AN: I don't know the names of any specific guns, sorry) came storming into the ware house on all sides, aiming at the policemen. The teen, who had been scared enough, went into a fatale position on the cold, hard cement floor. The policemen (and women) turned their guns onto the newly arrived armed thugs. They barked orders to drop their weapons and get on the ground, but the thugs did no such thing. Shots rang out, and the police took cover behind various crates and other things lying around randomly, sending out their own shots. Batman and Robin jumped down from their hiding spaces and got to work, avoiding bullets and silently knocking each thug out with one or two blows each. Four or five guys surrounded Batman, but as Robin was about to intervene, he noticed the drug dealer escaping through a side door. Deciding that Batman could handle himself, Robin chased after the drug dealer, determined to do what they came here for.
Robin followed him out into an alley. He looked around, but found, much to his shock, that the drug dealer had disappeared. Robin crept into the shadows, looking around slowly, getting into a fighting stance. A dark, steely chuckle echoed down the alleyway.
"Looks like the bird wandered from the bat. Are you lost, little bird?" Robin glanced around for the source of the voice, but found none. He saw a shadow in front of him move. He looked up to see a shadowy figure on the fire escape of the building next door. He reached for his utility belt.
"Ah, ah, ah, there will be no violence between us tonight, Robin. But I promise you, when the time comes, we will have our big soiree. Until then, I'll give you a little something to remember me by." The mysterious figure's words confused Robin at first. Then, his neck started to sting. He felt as if he got stung by a wasp. Then, the nominal pain subsided and Robin looked up to see the figure had gone. Cursing himself for letting himself be distracted, he started back inside the ware house; now quiet, to tell Batman of the strange figure. But, as he neared the entrance, he found he could not remember what had happened only moments before. It seemed like a dream, a thought that faded into the back of his mind, lost forever.
Confused, the young acrobat entered the ware house to find all of the thugs either wounded on the ground or being dragged off by police officers. Robin headed to the front entrance and stepped outside to see all of the police cars and vans taking the thugs (I really have no other name for them) to prison. He turned his head to see Batman standing in the shadows talking with an exhausted looking Commissioner Gordon. Robin headed over to them as the Commissioner went to consult with the other officers. Batman looked down at him.
"Where were you?"
"I, uh, went outside."
"In the middle of an ambush? When we could have used your help? What made you suddenly decide it was okay to leave?"
Robin honestly couldn't remember what had happened when he had left the ware house. He knew something happened, but what? He racked his brain as fast as he could, for he knew Batman was not happy with him right now and would take his hesitation as a sign that he didn't know what to say. So Robin decided to wing it.
"I, uh…saw one escape, and uh…followed him?" Batman squinted at him in deep suspicion.
"Well?"
"Well what?"
"Where is he?"
"Oh, uh… he got away. Sorry." He mumbled the last word. He was in big trouble. Not only had he lied to Batman, the man he admired most in the world, but the lie had been a pathetic spur of the moment excuse. Batman glared at him intensely. Robin knew that he had really messed up tonight, and lying wouldn't help his cause. Batman knew how he thought, he knew when Robin lied.
Sick of the silent glaring, Robin sighed, looked up and said, "Cleaning the Batmobile for the next two weeks?" The Dark Knight shook his head. "Four weeks?" Another shake. "Six weeks?" He nodded. "The Batcave too." Robin moaned. "You know, some might call that child abuse." Batman raised an eyebrow beneath his cowl. "I call it a warning." Robin shut up after that. They headed back to the Batmobile, unaware of the dark figure watching them from a nearby rooftop. The figure, both dark in appearance and personality, smiled wickedly.
"Soon, Robin, soon. Your eyes will be open to a whole new world, one where you will belong, where your talents will be recognized. Soon, you will see The-"
Robin woke up to the sound of screaming.
In The Batcave
Batman played the security video over and over again. It was painful to watch, and watching it more didn't make him feel any better, but he felt that he just needed to. He didn't feel as if he missed something, because he would have caught it already. Instead, he felt as if he wasn't missing anything, that everything he needed to know was right in front of him. And that feeling was worse.
Did he want to believe that Robin committed these crimes? No, of course not. Did he want him arrested and tried for murder? He was thirteen, for crying out loud! But the evidence was stone cold- DNA from the crime scene, witnesses, it was on tape goddammit. An alibi was out of the question, since it had taken place after school, when Bruce was at a meeting and Alfred was shopping for groceries. Dick would have been home alone, and could sneak out all while avoiding the cameras and getting back home in time. There were no cameras in his room, since Bruce respected his privacy, so they couldn't tell what he had been doing if he had been home. Which Bruce hoped with all his heart he was.
But the evidence said otherwise.
Batman paused the tape and gave and exasperated sigh, rubbing his eyes. He hated this. He couldn't keep hunting Robin like some criminal. He hated how the League was treating him- they referred to him like he had always been a criminal. How they could turn so easily against their protégés…did they believe that this was Robin acting of his own accord? Or did they think something was up and didn't want to show it? After all, here anything was possible. Batman had seen it all. Or so he thought.
"Master Bruce?" Batman looked up at the sound of Alfred's voice. Alfred had taken this situation very hard. He didn't believe that it was Robin in that video for one second. They knew Robin better than anyone, there was no way this was possible… but it was. And look at the mess it had made. "Miss Gordon called. She wants an update on the case." Batgirl had taken this as hard as Bruce and Alfred, but her verbal reaction was quite different. She had started yelling, demanding that this be looked into, that this would never happen, that, and I quote, The League was "a bunch of untrustworthy, slimy, pea brained morsels with no souls or compassion what so ever." Of course she had thrown some very inappropriate language in there as well, but Batman had blacked that out of his memory.
"Tell her nothing yet, Alfred. She needs to be patient. We are doing everything we can to help with Robin's case."
"You mean you are." The butler corrected. "The League doesn't believe his innocence. But we do. And last I checked, you were the, excuse me, smart one."
Bruce sighed again. Alfred had been saying lots of things like this lately. He would back Bruce and Dick up in every situation, no matter what.
"I don't know what The League thinks, Alfred, and I don't care. I need to focus on finding the team and sorting this out. Tell Barbara she's not to get involved. Red Arrow and Zatanna have been informed of the situation as well, and they are not to get involved either." He knew it would not be easy keeping the team's allies from helping them. That's what they were for, anyway. He would have to keep tabs on them.
"So you do believe of Master Dick's innocence." It wasn't a question. Everyone thought Bruce had given up on Dick, that he would catch him and bring him in like any other criminal. He remembered Robin's face, drained of hope, back at the cave. Was he faking it? Or…?
"I don't know what to believe anymore, Alfred." Bruce said quietly. He stood up. "But right now, my full focus is on helping The League find Robin, whatever it takes."
"Yes, but not for the same reasons as them."
"What do you mean?"
"Your intensions are not the same. You want to find Robin for another purpose. I know how you feel about the boy, Master Bruce; you would never do anything to intentionally harm him. You wish to get the truth from Robin's side, yet you are blinded by your duties as a hero."
Bruce was stunned for a second. It takes a lot to stun Batman, but the butler had pulled it off quiet well. Finally, The Batman spoke.
"I'm working with The League on this, Alfred, one hundred and ten percent. Like I said, whatever it takes to get him back."
The butler turned and headed back up toward the mansion, saying "Then why haven't you told them about the tracking device you planted on Kid Flash?"
AN: Procrastination, and author's best friend and worst enemy. Does anyone know why other authors have Artemis call Wally Baywatch? I like it, but I don't know where it came from. Anyway, this chapter might be a bit boring, but it's very necessary to the story. And just to clarify, the beginning that was in italics was a dream.
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