Sometimes disappointment is the worst kind of pain someone can inflict on you.
~You might as well throw gasoline on an open fire with the way you lie~
"Did you reunite our heroes?" "No, but I'm married."
The first thing Wally heard was the frantic typing of a keyboard. It caused his head to throb. He opened his green eyes in annoyance and frowned. He saw Robin sitting up in a bed not far from his own, typing in a blind fury. His shirt was off and was coated in heavy, blood stained bandages. His right arm was in a huge cast, but there was still a computer bound around it and he was typing at it as if his life depended on it. Even with his shades on, he had an angry, determined look on his face. Wally's eyes hovered on his best friend's blood soaked chest.
"R-Rob… Robin… what happened to you?" Wally asked weakly.
The ebony haired boy hadn't expected to hear a voice so he nearly jumped out of his skin, wincing as his chest stretched. He rubbed one of the lower bandages on his stomach in pain as he turned to face the red head.
"Ran into a knife a dozen times and got in the way of a bullet is all," he smiled weakly.
Wally wasn't in a laughing mood for once in his lifetime.
"I'm serious… what happened? Where are we?"
Robin's eyes trailed back to his computer and he resumed typing.
"I went empty handed to a gun and knife fight at school, you tried to help and we both got our asses kicked. We're in the hospital. They found some unknown toxin in your bloodstream from a puncture wound in your chest and they're trying to figure out what it is," he explained, his eyes scanning the holographic screen.
Wally blinked in surprise, but didn't say anything for a bit. He just listened to the rhythmic typing of the keys, trying to think of the proper question to ask.
"Explain further on the gun and knife fight," Wally requested.
Robin's eyes never left the computer screen.
"I got attacked on the way to school, I called for help, and you came. End of story."
"You got attacked and called for help? Why do I find that hard to believe?" Wally teased.
Robin rolled his eyes. "If my arm wasn't in a cast, I would get up and pimp slap you."
Wally laughed gently. "I know… and you'd love it."
"That's the sad part," Robin admitted, a smile on his lips, but his eyes distant.
Wally nearly drifted off at the calm and constant rhythm of the keys, but he fought to stay awake. He found that he was surprisingly tired at the moment, as if he hadn't slept in 72 hours at least.
"Rob… what are you looking up?"
The blue eyed boy stopped typing and set his casted arm down on his knee, rubbing his sore chest.
"I… I dunno… I'm just killing time until Batman comes to check in on me or calls or something… His car got hijacked, so he's off looking for it I suppose."
"Something from Batman got stolen and you called for help. The world must be ending," he teased.
Robin's eyes narrowed.
"Like I said, pimp slap…"
Wally just smiled. "Seriously though, if you were killing time, you'd be throwing paper into the trashcan or you'd be having some kind of war with me with paperclips or something. You're working on something and I can feel it with my spidey-sense."
"You don't have a spidey-sense. You don't even have a gut," Robin shot back.
"Well, I can feel it in my bones. I can feel and hear your Robin vibes bouncing off of you and stuff."
"Robin vibes?" Robin laughed at that, lying down in the white hospital bed.
He closed his eyes tightly against the pressure and pain of his chest. He clutched at it, ignoring his computer for a moment.
"You know, the Batman face, the 'all-work-no-play' voice, and the fact that your attention is based solely on one thing… you're working on something and I know it!" Wally insisted.
Robin just nodded. His body hurt something awful; despite the pain medicine he was being given.
Need to keep typing… gah… he thought to himself.
He brought his computer close to his face and resumed typing, only slower and more well paced this time.
If I keep typing this fast, I may get a carpal tunnel he thought to himself, stopping to pop his thumb.
It always began to ache after he typed for a long while. Wally's eyes drifted closed again, the slower pace of the keys like a lullaby to him. Robin finally pulled up the Gotham prisoners' page and scanned it. Just as he suspected, Tony Zucco was on the page still and it said that he was supposed to be there for a life sentence. Robin raised an eyebrow and exhaled sharply in pain.
I definitely saw Zucco in the car and I saw him attack KF. Why does it say he's still in the prison?
He tried switching the web page to the local news with success. He scrolled through the recent news. Just as he suspected, it mentioned a recent prison break and they issued several BOLOs for several prisoners, one being Tony Zucco and two of the others listed being the Bonnie and Clyde he had faced up against. His frown deepened and he made note to tell Batman of it later. He looked deeper into the escape. It wasn't that crafty. Someone snuck in, drugged the guards and unlocked the cells. It must've taken a bit of planning, but it was all possible and accomplishable.
So they're crafty… and violent… and good with weapons. Batman's going to love to hear this Robin thought to himself with a weak sigh.
He regretted it almost immediately, but he didn't care for now. His chest pain was the least of his worries.
XxXxX
"I promise you, I'm fine for now. [groan] Just, if you visit, wear shades or something. KF's here and… suspicious… [sharp inhale] I'll… I'll see you then I guess. Robin out," the recording played again in Batman's ears.
You aren't 'fine' Batman thought furiously, his eyes masked behind shades of some sort that masked his identity and didn't make him look stupid.
His hands gripped the wheel of his rented car. He still hadn't located his civilian car, but he vowed to mount the head of whoever took it in Richard's room so he could draw on it with Sharpie before he tossed it into the Red Sea. Then he saw it. The Gotham Hospital was just up ahead. His frown deepened and he sped up the best he could. He didn't want to be too late for anything.
"Robin out," the recording ended again.
Batman pocketed his phone and threw the car into park near the front of the building in an empty spot. He leapt out and proceeded to walk with his I'm-Busy-And-Don't-Give-A-Shit walk, speeding fast down the sidewalks. Robin's soft groan and his wince kept ringing in his ears, as well as Robin's first words.
I'm fine for now.
Yeah, for now Batman thought to himself, biting onto his lip as he entered the hospital. But what about later?
XxXxX
Robin clutched his stomach angrily.
"I won't take them!" he insisted at the doctor in front of him.
"Sir, you have to or we can't perform surgery!" the doctor ordered.
"You already surgerized my body when I was unconscious! I don't know what the hell you did to me, but I'm hurting! I want a lawyer!" he screamed stubbornly.
Wally grinned softly as he lay there, trying to drift off again.
"Just take the pills," the doctor commanded.
Robin pressed his good hand over his mouth.
"Nuh uh!" he cried, muffled.
"Please, Mr. Gra-," the doctor began.
"Leave him alone. If he wants to talk to a lawyer, let me talk to him for a little. I won't let my son take any pills that I haven't checked over for toxins or poisons," Bruce Wayne told the doctor.
The doctor sighed furiously.
"Mr. Wayne? Uh, your son has a bullet in his shoulder still and a knife blade imbedded deep in his stomach. If we don't operate, he could die," the doctor said, handing the pills to Bruce.
Bruce's eyes widened, but he knew he had so much to say. He turned to Robin and saw that Robin had something to say too.
"Give us a moment."
The doctor shrugged and left the room, angry. Bruce knelt beside him.
"Richard, who did this to you?" he whispered into his adoptive son's ear.
"Zucco…" Robin whispered.
Bruce leapt back in shock.
"He escaped… and he's after me…"
Bruce frowned deeply and forced his son's hand open.
"Eat the pills, get the surgery. You need to heal. I'll stop him and I'll protect you… again," Bruce promised.
Robin smiled and choked down the pills.
"If I remember right, it was me who protected you… last time," he teased as the pills began to do their work.
Bruce patted Robin's hand.
"I'll see you when you get out," he assured the boy, the only way he knew how.
It was then that Bruce saw how vulnerable his boy was pale, without a lot of his blood, weak… It broke his heart to see that. The thing that truly broke his heart though was the fact that Robin still managed to keep hold of his mask, holding that same heart warming smile on his lips.
"See you… then…" he said before his blue eyes fell shut.
Bruce took a seat in the room next to the bed, entwining his fingers and resting his elbows on his knees. He watched the doctors cart away his boy, his whole world, and all the while, the gears in his head were spinning. He was going to save his little boy if it was the last thing he did.
Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy are so rip offs of Batman and Robin. "Leaping Lizards, Mermaid Man!" Barnacle Boy says… heh, so cruel… I wondered why I liked Barnacle Boy so much… They copied 'The Raging Whirlpool' from the Flashes. And they can call sea creatures just like Aquaman…
My shadow flickers… it isn't strong enough to be a shadow. It's as if I'm not real… I'm just slowly flickering from existence into the nothingness.
And this is sort of like, my apology for the argumentative side in Never Too Late, a depressing fic if there ever was one. For some reason, I'm kind of like, in a loving mood, but not the head over heels kind. I'm in the family love mood…
-FrankandJoe3 *Half the time the world is ending; truth is I am done pretending*
