Author's Note: I love it when a plan comes together, don't you? The next chapter, for your consideration. I think there will only be another two or so, but who knows? I might decide to play a little longer in this story. Let me know what you think!
Bruce Wayne was incredibly hard to read. Some people were. Robin, for example, was hard to get a read from. She actually had to concentrate to get an idea of what he was feeling, and even then, it was just the basics. Happy, angry, that kind of thing. Wayne was something else, and she suspected that this was where Robin had learned more than just stealth and fighting. The Batcave was impressive. Large HD monitors, gadgets and tools on the walls, a spare suit on a dummy in a glass case, and a 3d holographic map of the city on a table. Nearby there were all manner of air, sea, and road vehicles stashed neatly in their hangars on different levels of the cave.. Beast Boy and Cyborg were beside themselves, but she had bigger issues.
Namely the blank wall facing her. Batman had one hand braced on the table, leaning over so he could point out the brick building with a clocktower on top. Nothing. She could sense no emotion from him whatsoever. Whether it was because he was entirely unfeeling or because he had it so locked down even she couldn't find it, she didn't know. "This is the station. If even one of those trains makes it, a lot of people are going to die. Stopping them is first priority."
Starfire was floating above the map, and this made her look up sharply. "Should not saving Robin be our first task?"
Bruce looked at her, and Raven headed him off. "Civilians take priority, Star. We save them first, then Robin." She knew that Bruce had been preparing to say the same thing, but it would be better coming from her. Starfire was full of anger and distrust. She didn't want to mediate the resulting fight, and Robin wouldn't want them to get too used to following Batman's orders. He was tight-lipped about his time with Batman, but something had brought him to Jump, and he always came back from trips to Gotham moody and distressed about something.
Batman nodded. "There's that, and there's a good chance that Joker will be prepared for me to show up before the trains get here. I don't intend to make that mistake."
"You would have let him die if we had not arrived," Starfire said. Not a question.
There! A flicker of… something. Pain, maybe, or regret. His face betrayed nothing."I would have done everything in my power to save him, but if it came down to Robin or thousands of innocents, then yes. I would have let him die. If he's half the man I think he is, he would choose the same thing." Batman looked back to the map. "I have the antidote to the joker venom, rigged into small explosives set on 60-second timers. If we hit the trains in transit, anything that doesn't get neutralized with disperse in the air and no one will get hurt. That gives you one minute to plant the bombs and get out of there. I've narrowed it down to six options. Three are carrying cargo from Laffco Toy Company, three have Wayne-tech shipments."
Beast Boy looked up from where he was studying a black motorcycle. "He knows who you are?"
Batman shrugged. "I can never be sure. I think he does, but it depends on the day you ask him. The Joker isn't interested in Bruce Wayne. He's interested in Batman. Who wears the mask isn't important to him." He moved to the computer, pressing a few keys, and the map shrank to show the region. Red lights popped up. "These are the trains. I wouldn't put it past Joker to have dummies, or even to have a fifth train rigged, so you have to check them all."
"'We?' Cyborg wandered over and picked up one of the explosives, checking the readout on the display panel on his forearm. "What are you going to do while we do the hard work?"
"The hard work is finding Robin. Joker went and got smart on me. He voiced over the recording, probably somewhere soundproof. There's no source of light in the windows to indicate time of day, no shapes of buildings I can match up to. Not the slightest indication of where he is. I'm not even sure he's in Gotham."
Starfire looked to Raven, her eyes lighting up, hope flooding through her. "Would Robin also be able to deduce where he is?"
"Of course," Batman said.
Raven's smile was grim and determined. "If he knows where he is, so do we. Azarath Metrion Zinthos." And she was gone. Darkness surrounded her, but she followed the pull of his mind. Robin. We need to know where you are.
Joker, grinning while he set a bomb on the floor of the cage beneath Robin's feet. Harley, carrying a mallet that she aimed at his ribcage, Curling his legs up and twisting his body to avoid the blow and pain as a surge of electricity ran through him. The blow landed when he went limp and he screamed. God, what had they done to him? Raven?
Even in his mind, he sounded weak, but that barrier was still there. Robin, let me in. Now.
No. You have to leave. He'll find you too.
He can't find me. I'm with Batman, but we need to know where you are. I need you to tell me.
She sought a weak point, some way to get into his mind, to look through his eyes, hear with his ears. My mind isn't a great place to be right now. His weak attempt at humor fell flat.
I'll show you mine if you show me yours.
Get the trains, Raven. Not me. She hated the resignation she felt in him. He didn't plan to live through this.
She wouldn't accept that. We're going to get the trains and you. We're your team, Dick. You have to trust us.
How did you…?
She gave him everything, the connections she'd made, Alfred in the study, Bruce in the corner, Starfire gone silent, then toe to toe with Batman, Cyborg's ill-tempered concern, Beast Boy's quiet determination, the demon inside her that would bring him back to life if he gave up, if only so she could kill him again.
Just like that, she was in, staring down at a bomb through half-lidded eyes. Is that going to go off?
No. It's pressure-sensitive. It will go off the moment someone steps inside. He lifted his head, moving slowly. Sorry if I zap you. As long as she occupied his mind, she would feel what he did. It allowed her to take stock of his injuries. Broken ribs, dislocated shoulder, countless scrapes and bruises, and plain exhaustion. His mouth was dry, his arms were bloodless and numb but his mind was still sharp. He looked to the boarded windows, studying the light that snuck through. What time is it?
Around ten in the morning.
Can you hear that? She concentrated on his hearing. The calls of birds, a metallic clanging, barely audible, and a quiet, steady rush that reminded her of static or wind. Look at the way the light's coming in. The warehouse is east-facing, by the docks. That's water, and rigging. You can smell the brine in the air.
Now that he pointed it out to her, she could pick out the scent, among the metal and gunpowder that pervaded the warehouse. How big is the harbor?
Big, but we have to be on the north end. Barges come through the south, and I haven't heard any foghorns. Look in the north. Tell Bruce… two windows, one loading bay, brick building. His head fell and she could feel him losing consciousness, drained by just the effort of holding it up. Time to go.
Hold on. We're coming for you. She returned to herself. "He's in an east-facing warehouse on the north end of the docks. He said to tell you two windows and a loading bay in a brick building.
Bruce was at his map in a moment, looking through the buildings. "Here."
Beast Boy came to her side. "Robin?"
"Hurt, but alive. Joker's rigged the bottom of the cage with a bomb, pressure sensitive."
Bruce looked at the display of tools and gadgets on the wall, then nodded. "Not a problem." He grabbed earpieces and started passing them out. "Here's what we're going to do…"