Batman: Raiders of the Tree of Life

Chapter 8: The Reunion

Nightwing grabbed the iron bars of the cell door. "Anna? What are you doing?"

"She's a traitor," spat Bruce disgusted.

Dick stared at Anna as the truth hit him harder than he expected it too. "Those men who tried to kill us in the catacombs were working for you, so…"

"Why did they try to kill me too?" she finished. He nodded. "Well, Dick, that's simple; we'll do anything, sacrifice anything, to prevent my great-grandfather and the bent cross form fulfilling their mission. Even if I had to die to do it. I'm sorry Dick," she said shaking her head, "it's nothing personal, I really do like you, but I can't let you help Batman and my great-grandfather find the Tree of Life."

"But I don't care about the tree. Just let us go, and we'll go back to Gotham," Dick insisted.

"I wish I could Dick, but my great-grandfather already coerced Batman into helping him once. We can't risk it."

Dick turned and glared at Bruce. Suspicion crept into his eyes. Then he turned back to Anna. "But you told me you wanted to help the Baron find the tree so he could live because he was your only family."

"I lied. I don't want him to live. He had my fiancé Joe killed and I won't allow him to live on and ruin the lives of others," vowed Anna. She turned and walked away, hating herself. She was falling for Dick Grayson. She couldn't look back at the angry look of betrayal he wore. Things were compilated. They were always complicated.

Angry, hurt, and suspicious, Dick turned to face his roommate. Batman, or Bruce rather, was glaring at him. If he had Clark's heat vision, Dick suspected that Bruce would have fried him already. He took a few steps towards his estranged father figure who had moved back into the shadowy back corner of their prison.

"What did she mean?" asked Dick darkly.

"I thought I told you not to come after me," Bruce growled in his low cold voice.

"No. You told Alfred and Tim not to come after you. You never mentioned me," Dick pointed out.

"That goes without saying. I thought I wouldn't have to tell you not to come."

"Why? Because you didn't think I would care enough to, or because you thought I was too incompetent to?" snapped Dick.

Bruce didn't dignify the accusation with a response. Instead, he leaned back against the cell wall and folded his arms over his chest. He glared at Dick from under his cowl. He didn't know why Dick had come for him. He was both touched and irritated to see his eldest son. While he was thrilled to see Dick's loyalty manifest itself, he was also aggravated by the boy's rashness and disregard of orders.

For his part, Dick was almost visibly shaking with anger. Here he was risking his life for Bruce and the man wasn't even going to be civil to him. Maybe he understood Bruce's annoyance that he had gotten himself captured. After all, he was rather annoyed with himself. But he at least wanted Bruce to…accentually, Dick didn't know what he wanted. Maybe recognition. Maybe a little kindness. He wasn't sure. But something other than another lecture.

Inside, Dick was crushed by Bruce's coldness. He reflected that he should be used to it. It had been the thing that finally drove him out of Gotham to Bludhaven. They hadn't talked in almost a year. That, he knew, was both of their faults. And getting mixed up with spies, double agents, and traitors wasn't going to help. If anything, it had made Dick more suspicious of Bruce; and made Bruce more apt to lectures.

But by coming all the way to Italy to save him, Dick had been hoping deep down that they could make a new start. That somehow he and Bruce could work things out. Even though it was hard to admit, he missed being Batman and Robin together. Flying solo was great, but Dick missed having someone there to watch his back and someone there to watch when he did something really cool. But if this was a new start, then in his opinion, it was a really poor one.

"Look, Bruce, as long as we're going to be roommates, why don't we try getting along for a change," Dick suggested.

"Humph," sniffed Bruce. "You shouldn't be my roommate. You should be safe back in Bludhaven."

"Yeah, because Bludhaven is so safe."

"You don't understand," Bruce insisted, "it's dangerous for you to be anywhere near me. Barron Brukhalter threatened you and Tim to get me to help him." Bruce let his head dip slightly with pain and fatigue. "He targeted the only things I have left to lose."

Dick didn't know what to say to that, so he just remained quiet for a minute before deciding to change the subject. "Who is Barron Burkhalter really?"

"He's the last living Nazi," said Bruce, "I figured it out before I left for Rome. He took a dip in one of the Lazarus Pits and has been determined to be immortal ever since. He wants to bring back the glory of the Third Reich."

"Then the bent cross is the swastika," said Dick, "how did I not see that before?"

"You weren't paying attention. You let your emotions cloud your judgement."

"Really? You were going to help the Barron because he threatened Tim and me?" cried Dick, "who's judgement is clouded now!"

"NO!" Bruce practically shouted at him. "I took his information and started my own mission. I accepted Dr. Turner's help for appearances, but as it turned out, she had her own mission too."

"Geez, all these people on their own missions is giving me a headache."

"And what's your mission?" asked Bruce.

"I came to bring you home. It's simple."

Bruce let his eyes roam the interior of their cell. "Yeah. Simple."

"Hey, I didn't say it was well executed!" Dick snapped.

The two fell silent. Dick walked over to the signal cot in the cell and sat down. The thing's uneven steel frame clanked under his weight on the stone floor. The old springs creaked as the thin mattress sagged. Dick rested his back against the cold stone wall and let his eyes drift closed. He could sense Bruce starring at him but he wasn't in the mood to talk any more. He suspected neither was Bruce. Instead, he focused on the cold air and the solid wall at his back. Apparently, Anna and her spies didn't have a reason to keep them comfortable or anything.

Anna. What kind of traitor was she? She betrayed him and Bruce. She tried to have them both killed while posing as their only ally in this strange affair. Yet her motives weren't wrong. She was trying to protect the world from Barron Burkhalter and the Bent Cross. They should be on the same side. But they weren't because she didn't trust them, and they didn't trust her. Whatever happened to the old adage, "the enemy of my enemy is my friend."

Thinking about all of this just really hurt. Dick felt emotionally and physically drained at the moment. Bruce's silent watchfulness really wasn't helping anything. Which brought his mind to another question; how could the Barron get Bruce to do anything? As far as Dick knew, Alfred was the only person who had that particular super power. Dick suspected that there was more going on in Bruce's head than he was letting on. Of course, Bruce wouldn't tell him anything. How infuriating.

"You alright?" Bruce's voice broke into his thoughts.

"Yeah, fine," Dick answered. He must not have sounded convincing because Bruce went right on staring.

To this, Bruce's only response was a soft grunt. The man folded his arms over his chest again and continued to scrutinize his son from under a lowered brow. To his eyes, Dick was a little thinner than he had been last time they met. Otherwise on the outside, he looked ok; healthy, strong, still feisty unfortunately. He had cut his hair which was a blessing in Bruce's opinion.

But there was still something off about Dick. He wasn't as lighthearted or boisterous as he usually was. If it had been someone else, Bruce might have though that he had finally out grown it, but not Dick. Being light was who he was. The only word Bruce could thing to describe Dick at the moment was, worn.

Bruce was worn out too. Being locked away in and underground dungeon does that to people. He felt the stubble growing on his chin and upper lip. Batman plus beard equaled a terrifying sight. Until Dick showed up, he had been seriously considering making friends with the local rodent population for company. Though not the world's most social person, even Batman got lonely sometimes. It was probably a small reason why he let Robin and Alfred join him in his crusade all those years ago. It was why, even though he'd never say so, he secretly wanted Dick to come back to Wayne Manor.

"Have you ever tried to escape?" asked Dick shifting on the cot.

"Of course," answered Bruce shortly.

"What did you find out?"

"If it's not impossible, it's really hard."

"What about that drain great on the floor?"

"Impossible. Not only is it too heavy, it's electrified."

"Stand back," ordered Dick rising. He bent down and examined the great. Then, working with some wires and devises still concealed in his costume, Dick proceeded to short circuit the electric current in the floor. The few artificial lights in the dungeon went black.

"Great," said Bruce sarcastically, "you shorted the building. There will be guards down here in seconds."

"We'll be long gone by the time they get here," said Dick. "Help me with the great."

"It's too heavy."

"For you maybe, but not for us." Together, they pulled the lid off the great and lifted it out of place.

"You shouldn't have just short circuited the thing like that," Bruce scolded. He grunted with the effort of moving the huge iron drain cover. "You should have discussed it with me first and made a plan. Spontaneous escape plans rarely work."

"Next time, I'll consult you," grunted Dick. He peered into the black opening in the floor. "This should be fun. Going down?"

Bruce scowled and moved past him. "I'll go first and find out how deep it is." He relinquished some of his hold on the great and began sliding into the little opening. Dick let out a soft curse of pain as he took on more of the great's weight. Bruce paused his decent and looked up at him.

"Did they hurt you?" asked Bruce. Concern crept into his voice and it softened just a bit.

"Just my pride," answered Dick.

"Good." Bruce shoved the heavy grate at him.

Dick grunted. "And my ribs."

Bruce glared up at him as he slid into the small opening in the floor. His look said, next time tell the truth. But Dick just rolled his eyes. Like Batman would ever take his own advice on that score. Alfred liked to complain about Bruce running himself into the ground. Apparently, Dick was stubbornly determined to follow those footsteps. Like father, like son.

Dick lowered the great to the ground as quietly as he could. The artificial lights blinked back on and he heard the guards' footsteps coming down the passage. Without waiting for Bruce's report on the condition down below, Dick eased himself into the opening and heaved the great back into place. He fell into the blackness just as the guards were rounding the corner. A strong hand pulled him to his feet and they began running through the drain system. All they could do was hope there was another opening they could break though.

"When we get out of here, you're going straight home," said Bruce.

"I came here to bring you home and I'm not leaving without you," declared Dick stubbornly.

"No arguments."

"I'm not nine-years-old anymore."

"You came here without knowing who you were dealing with or what the real agendas were. You didn't know anything about Barron Burkhalter or his organization. You blindly jumped in spurred on by your emotions. That's what got Jason killed and I won't make the same mistake with you." Bruce glared at Dick. The battle of wills had begun again.

"It's not your mistake to make. It was mine. My choice. I am an autonomous being, in case you haven't noticed."

"Believe me, I've noticed," said Bruce in that tone of voice an exasperated parent would use when talking to a disobedient, trouble-prone child.

"Hey, who was sitting in a cell when I got here?" asked Dick rhetorically. He folded his arms over his chest.

"Not a good point ever to bring up again," growled Bruce darkly.

Dick's face broke out into a mischievous smile. "I should have taken a picture of you and sent it back to Tim."

"If you had, I would have left you in that cell."

"You'd have tried."

"Quiet. There are people above us."

Bruce smiled in spite of himself. He was glad the drain tunnel was so dark. He didn't want Dick to see it. He tried not to think about what was in the rancid water sloshing around his feet. Right now, Batman missed the sun. Not something he ever thought he'd say but it was true. Luckily, there was light streaming in from overhead, a little way down the tunnel. He'd be out in the open soon.

Author's Note: Hope you're enjoying the story. Thanks for reading.