Okay guys here chapter 7, I know that the chapters for this story have so far been really short but don't worry, from now on I'm going to make it so that all chapters have at least 3,000 words in them. Thank you to those of you who reviewed I hope you like this chappy.
Dreamless-sleep777: Harry will be the third Robin but will be using the fifths costume, as for Tim Drake he will appear in the sequel however he will not become Robin. But that doesn't mean he won't be another vigilante ;)
Disclaimer: I once travelled to an alternate universe where I owned Harry Potter and Batman, and let me tell you it was wonderful. However I sadly returned to this one where I do not own either *cries* so don't sue
Edit: I went through and corrected some mistakes that Heather Thistle was nice enough to point out, thank you.
Chapter 7: Teamwork?
A few days later found Harry in the narrows once more, he was sat currently in the Den brooding. That's right, the boy was brooding. He was conflicted over the previous night's events, as well as Batman himself. He still idolised the man, however he was angry at him for what he said.
He was angrier with himself though for what he had said back. He had seen the flinch when he said his new identity, seen the pain that had briefly flashed across those features. He had hurt the man despite having no intentions of doing so, and as a result, he was being plagued by guilt. He had not meant to shout at the man, heck he had hoped to explain things to him in a civil way. Nevertheless, he had shouted, he couldn't change that.
Harry shifted slightly as he thought back to that face, and all his anger washed away for a moment as guilt fully consumed him as it had the night before soon after the Dark Knight had left. He couldn't believe how forward he had been when he said the name, it had seemed like he was rubbing it in Batman's face. If Robin had been the man's son, or even just his partner it must greatly hurt him when someone mentions him. Harry knew this as he felt the same way about his own parents, he knew practically nothing about them and could not remember them however, he still felt a large void whenever they were mentioned. A painful emptiness that could not be filled.
Batman was probably the same, or even worse, off since he had known Robin before he died.
He growled slightly to himself and banged his head lightly against one of his knees "stupid. Stupid. Stupid." He rocked slightly and felt a feeling of loneliness settle within his stomach, he had probably blown any chance he had of working with the man.
He sighed before uncurling himself, his body feeling tired and heavy despite having not been used much that day. He sat for a moment unmoving, his eyes unfocused as he attempted to calm his racing mind. A few moments later it had calmed enough for him to concentrate once more, his thoughts returning to the problem with his and Batman's situation.
He wasn't going to give up being Robin despite how guilty he felt for how he had announced it. He loved it, loved helping people, loved the thrill it gave him. The power. He had never been in control before, his life was usually dictated by his family, his aunt and uncle at home and Dudley in school. He just couldn't get away from them, he felt like he was a prisoner to his own home.
He snorted slightly at the thought 'some home…' his family did not care about him they never had. Back in England, he had not even had a room; they had just shoved him not a cupboard under the stairs. Luckily, the new home had not had one; however, his uncle had considered sticking him in the attic for a while. They treated him like a slave most days giving him endless chores and the like; yet they were not as bad as they could have been. He had seen kids from abused homes and understood that compared to them he had a great situation with a family that just ignored his existence.
Despite this he hadn't gone out for the last few days, unconsciously doubting himself thanks to the Dark Knights words. He had felt even emptier during this time, his life seemingly dragging on with no direction to it. The young boy had felt more lost then he ever had before. He had tried to keep occupied, using his time to finish homework and read text books but none of it mattered to him, none of it made a slight bit of difference. He had taken to returning to the Narrows every day, ignoring his chores and spending his time in the Den the empty feeling never leaving.
After days of doing nothing he had decided to look into how the gunshot victim was, he had gone to the shop as himself to find the distressed old man sat in an old wooden chair looking broken and detached. Apparently, the victim had been his wife, she had died in A&E during the early hour of that morning. The old man had been crying, his eyes looking dead to anyone who bothered to look. Harry had actually tried to comfort the man, however he was heavily unresponsive and would say nothing other than "Mary's dead."
He had repeated it like a mantra as he sat there, his body trembling as he stared at nothing. Harry had done his best, even gone up to the man's flat above the shop to get him a blanket but nothing had worked. Soon after the man had fallen asleep, unresponsive to the boy and the world around him, Harry had stayed until he was sure the man would not wake. He had then gone over to the door and turned around the open sign to closed, before leaving.
He had wanted to help, that is why he had started doing this. But his failure that night brought the world into sharp relief to him, if he wanted to do this he was going to have to try harder. He needed to be stronger to be better, wiser in how he handled a situation. He needed to make sure that what happened the night before never happened again, not while he was there to stop it.
He wanted this, he wanted to be Robin. And he would be, with or without the approval of Batman. He stood up and made his way over to his bag, quickly pulling out his costume and changing. He grabbed his weapons, securing the marble pouch within his pocket and adjusting his grip on the metal bar before making his way to the entrance. He would prove to the Dark Knight that he could hold his own, and he would prevent another tragedy from happening.
He raced off out into the night, once again taking his usual route. Soon he was on the rooftops his small body weaving its way across as he kept a sharp ear out for trouble. At the same time he felt frustrated in his movements, finding ways to criticise every move he made from how he jumped to how he ran. He had only been going for twenty minutes when he heard the sounds of gunfire.
He stopped immediately searching out the sound with his ears, 'left!' he turned quickly jumping across the roof tops until he came to an old street that was usually occupied with homeless people. Bin fires where the only source of light here and served to cast moving shadows upon everything they touched, multiple card board boxes littering it serving as shelter to the people who livedhere. He looked down expecting to see a gang of some sort waiting for him, there was but it appeared that someone had beaten him here, as all the members lay unconscious on the ground tied together by a thick cable. He blinked surprised that someone had beat him here while carefully looking over the street, he couldn't see anyone.
He felt a slight nervous tension drop onto his stomach but chose to ignore it in favour of looking over the unconscious men; they did not look like locals. Harry had been here long enough to recognise the signs, their faces were to perfect, hands to relaxed, faces to calm. No one who lived in the Narrow's was so…healthy looking. Their clothes were also a giveaway, they had rips and tears but they were to clean. As Harry observed them he noted that there were none of the locals around, the people who usually lived here where all gone.
'Weird…' as he thought this he took one last glance over the area, before backing away from the edge. He would head to another homeless area, see if the people had headed there for the night. As he took one step back preparing to swivel his body around he found himself suddenly stopped by a hard body.
Harry froze his limbs going stiff as he unconsciously gulped, a shiver of fear racing up his spine. After a few moments in which neither moved Harry carefully glanced over his shoulder, to find the shadowed figure glaring down at him. Harry didn't know how to react, he had not seen the man since their last meeting only days prior and now he was standing right behind him.
"I told you to go home." Harry jumped slightly as the man spoke; the ominous growl was back along with the barely restrained anger. The boy flinched slightly at that but tried to hide it as he carefully turned his body to face the man, his pole clutched tightly in his right hand.
He took a deep breath before he replied, his eyes narrowing as he looked up at the tall hulking figure hidden in shadow. "And I told you I wasn't going to quit" as he said this he found himself crossing his arms, his legs somehow keeping him steady as he faced the man.
Batman was not happy with his reply as the actual growl he gave off would attest to, but he didn't move instead he continued to glare down at the boy through the white slits of his cowl. "Go home."
Harry glared right back at the man, his mouth making a firm line similar to the man before him "no." As he said this a slight breeze brushed passed the two whipping their capes in the wind, Harry's more dramatically due to the lighter fabric. He felt the breeze attack his body but he refused to allow himself to shiver, instead keeping his body firmly still.
The Dark Knight didn't seem to notice as he took a step toward the boy, the shadows sliding off him slightly to show parts of his chin and mouth. The snarl was also back and Harry found himself feeling a slight edge of fear as he looked at it, "I told you-"
Whatever the Dark Knight was about to say was sharply cut off by a large explosion to their right, both instantly whipped around Harry's arms dropping to his sides to see it was coming from an old building a few streets away. Harry stared at it a moment before finally his brain identified exactly what it was, horror joining the slight tendrils of fear in his belly. "That's the homeless shelter!"
Batman barely glanced at him, instead he fished into his belt pulling out his grapple as he looked toward the building. "Stay here!" as he said this he began to move toward the edge quickly jumping and launching the grapple as he went.
"No wait!" Harry ran to the edge himself, his hand stretched out as if to stop the man, he reached it too late, as the man was already gone, "I can help…"
Harry stood there for a moment before he glanced at the fire, it was getting larger and quickly. As he watched one thought raced through his mind 'Jack…' his old homeless friend often stayed at the shelter when there was a bed free, he could be trapped right now. Harry looked away slightly, Batman had told him to stay here but what if Jack was in trouble he couldn't just abandon the man. He took another deep breathe to steady himself before looking up once more a determined look on his face. He quickly found a route and jumped across the roof tops, keeping his body low to increase his speed. He made it there in record time, his breathing slightly harsh as he stood on a roof opposite to the building.
The streets where in chaos, the police and the fire brigade trying to calm the panicking crowd. The building luckily was not enclosed; it had been set off slightly from its neighbours with two alleyways on either side. However there wasn't that much distance, as such the buildings on either side both of which were apartments had been evacuated. Harry looked over the crowd and could spot some of the people from the shelter however; he did not see Jack or Batman. Looking up he spotted movement in one of the alleys as a door to the shelter opened, two figures were moving however, they were moving in the opposite direction of where the ambulances had been set up.
Harry quietly debated to himself as he watched them get further away, Jack could still be trapped in the building heck Batman could be trapped for all he knew. But those figures, his gut was screaming that something was wrong with them. He shook his head slightly before making a decision, he would leave the fire department to deal with the shelter, he needed to find out what those two were up to. He dropped down from the roof using a ladder set in the side before carefully making his way around the crowd he made it to the back of the shelter to see the two figures walking casually down the road. He growled to himself as he followed them, carefully concealing himself as he followed. As he followed he got a good look at the two and had a brief flash back to earlier when he had seen the men on the homeless street, they dressed in the same manner.
They came to a stop after a few turns, a plain white van parked at the entrance of an alleyway. They opened the back and he caught a glance of an old petrol can as it was tossed into the back, the two quietly chatting to one another as they closed the van door. 'Petrol…that can be used to start fires…' he remembered back to his science class where the teacher had referred to it as an excellent. No, that wasn't it. Maybe an accelerator…no that wasn't it either, he growled to himself as he shoved the thought away. It did not matter, what mattered was that they may have been the two to start the fire.
They were just about to climb in the van when he moved, carefully fishing into his marble bag he pulled out one before throwing it from his hiding spot. It flew perfectly and smacked into the back of one mans head, said man let out a small yelp as his hands went to the spot his companion stopping to see what was wrong.
"You ok?"
"No, something bloody hit me" as he said this he looked around, his eyes finding the marble after a few moments "what the-"
His question was cut off as Harry jumped from his hiding spot, his pole already mid swing as he aimed at the mans surprised face. The hit took the man by surprise and he fell back as blood gushed from his nose, his friend had been momentarily surprised but had brushed it off quickly enough to reach for a gun hidden in his jacket.
He opened fire quickly Harry was forced to roll out of the way and take shelter behind the van, he held his pole tightly to him as he glanced beneath trying to find the man's position. He saw his feet moving to where he was hidden and looked up at the van as a plan formed in his mind.
The man had just reached the end of the van, clutching his gun tightly in his own hands as he took a deep breath before he turned pointing his gun at the spot Harry had vacated only moments before. The man's eyes widened in surprise, before Harry suddenly dropped down from the vans roof using his pole to knock the gun away. The man let out a shout in replay before aiming a punch at him, Harry barley back stepped it in time, careful of his footing as he jumped away. The man let out a shout and went to follow, only to lose his own footing as he slipped on the marbles Harry had left there. He landed hard and let out a pained grunt as some of the little glass ball dug into his back, Harry quickly ran to the man and delivered a blow to the face rendering him unconscious.
Harry let out a sigh of relief his guard dropping slightly, before hearing a distinct metallic click from behind, he turned to find the other man holding a gun at him. The man was now sporting a broken nose which was oozing blood, a grimace firmly in place upon his face. "Stupid brat" as he said this he pulled on the trigger, the gun perfectly aimed at the boy.
As this happened Harry felt himself panic, his eyes shutting as though to block out the fact that he was about to die. He didn't want to die, he never had wanted to he just wanted to make a difference. As he thought this a wave of something rolled through his body and into his stiffening limbs, with his eyes closed he didn't see the bullet deflect off an invisible shield nor the wave of energy that slammed into the man and caused him to fall back slightly. He didn't open them until something within him whispered 'now.'
He snapped his eyes open and found the man still off balance, taking his chance he ran forward and jumped up delivering another blow to the man's already damaged face. The man fell back unconscious with a small cut on his forehead. Harry looked around himself, checking there were no more before falling to his knee's as his breathing was heavily laboured his whole body feeling sore and tired as the energy fled. "what…was…that…?"
He was just regaining his bearings when there was another explosion this one from behind him, he stood up swaying slightly as he looked in the directions. From where he was standing he couldn't tell where it was, but he knew it was close. He could also hear shouting and the sounds of running. His instincts once more screamed at him, and he listened as he climbed to the top of the van, lying down upon it to allow his cape to disguise him in the shadows.
"Hurry!" one of the voices yelled, two more figures appearing from an alleyway in front of him as they ran toward the van.
"Where's Carl and Marky?" the other shouted as they got closer, his voice sounding panicked and laboured due to his breathing.
"Who cares? Just get in the van?" they had just come within five feet when they pulled up short, their eyes finding the men Harry had taken out. "No…no no no no, he must already be here!" As he said this he turned along with his friend to run back in the direction they had come from only to stop mid motion as they found Batman standing there. Harry had watched as the man glided down from the rooftops and land silently, his eyes wide with amazement. Batman stood there silently however his head had turned to look at the top of the van his eyes narrowing slightly directly at Harry. The boy did not try to fool himself into believing that there was a chance the man had not seen him.
Batman moved quickly punching one of the men before they had a chance to move themselves, the other backed out of the way and went to run off. Harry seeing this threw the remaining marbles from his bag at the man's feet, he didn't even have time to investigate the clicking noise before he fell on his front. Harry jumped down immediately after and went to knock the man out as Batman finished the other man off, he had just reached the man when he heard a "Watch out!" from Batman.
He turned to investigate and found another man, barrelling into him. He let out a grunt as he fell to the floor his body protesting harshly as he heard a slight cracking noise his chest exploding in pain. He felt tears prick to the corners of his eyes as he forced himself to roll out of the way of the man, the man with the broken nose had recovered once more. Harry growled slightly as the man sneered down at him, when the man suddenly let off a weak moan before falling forward unconscious once more. Harry looked up to see Batman standing there, his face neutral as he looked down at the boy.
"Thanks…" Harry muttered it quietly as he clutched at his chest, the pain aching dully. He looked down feeling slightly embarrassed and annoyed with himself, he was supposed to be showing Batman that he could look after himself. The man had to rescue him from a someone he had already knocked out.
Batman said nothing for a moment looking over the boy, "are you injured?" the question held no sympathy and was hard and direct. Harry really wanted to say no he really did, but the pain from his chest had forced him to let out a few tears and he had no other choice then to nod to the question. Batman seemed to think something over before he moved passed Harry to the only other figure still conscious, the man was breathing heavily, panic setting in as the Dark Knight got closer to him.
Batman grabbed the man by his front and pulled him from where he had lain on the ground to hold him almost a foot off it, "who sent you?" The tone was cold and harsh, holding promises of pain should the man refuse to answer. The man said nothing at first looking like he was about to pee himself as he stared at the Dark Knight. "Who?"
The man's eyes had gone wide and he looked terrified as he muttered something in reply, Harry strained his ears but the pain in his chest was proving to be distracting. Whatever he said appeared to satisfy Batman who dropped him to the ground before pulling out a pair of oddly shaped handcuffs. He dragged the guy as well as the other three over to the van, handcuffing their hands to the bumper before reaching to touch the side of his mask.
He quietly spoke for a moment before he brought his hand back down and head to where Harry sat watching him with open curiosity. Batman sighed before pulling a remote of some kind from his belt, moments later the screech of tires was heard before a dark ominous vehicle came to a stop on the road next to where they stood.
Harry stood up as he looked the vehicle up and down in amazement, Batman said nothing as the top suddenly slid open to reveal two seats. Harry watched as the man jumped into the driver's seat, as he settled he looked over to the boy "get in." Harry was stunned by the order but did as he was told, quickly scooping up his pole from where it had fallen on the way. He struggled slightly as his chest protested, but was seated next to the man. The roof then slid back into place, shutting with a small click as the vehicles insides lit up revealing various buttons. Harry was curious about it but said nothing, worried that by talking the Dark Knight might decide to eject him or something. Batman barely gave him a glance as he pointedly did up his seat belt, Harry soon copying the motion before the car took off.