~ The Rescue ~
"This is your fault," he accused, voice muffled by the face mask.
"Is not!" Daire denied, kicking him in the leg. "It's yours."
The kick was returned. "No, it's not!"
"Is too!"
"Is not!"
"Is too!"
"Is not!"
"Is-!"
"Would you two lovebirds shut up?" an annoyed Nightwing complained.
"We're not lovebirds!" the young duo shouted simultaneously, ceasing their exchange of petty kicks. They glared at each other, daring the other to say something else.
"Look, we need to find a way out of this," Nightwing reasoned. "Any ideas?"
Robin was the first to relent. He ended the staring contest to squirm his hand around his utility belt, bumping into Daire.
"Stay on your side!"
"I am!"
"No, you're not! You came on my side!"
"No, I didn't."
"Yes, you did!"
"No, I didn't."
"Did too!"
"Did not!"
"Did too!"
"Did not!"
Seeing the wooden crate shake uneasily beside him, Nightwing sighed. If he didn't know any better, he'd swear these two were siblings. Grunts, shouts, and thus could be heard, all coming from the swinging box.
And of all the times he wished Robin would act more his age, why did his childish side come out now? Now of all bloody times?
"Guys," he tried. The fighting and arguing continued. "Guys!" And they still did not stop. "GUYS!" Finally. "You can settle your lovers quarrel later. Right now-"
"We're not lovers!"
"-we need to focus on getting out of this trap before we become human smoothies." He really didn't have a better phrase for what the acid would do to them. They really needed to get out of here. . . Batman could handle himself, but he did sometimes need help. And if he wasn't here yet, he's probably still trapped and they are his only hope.
Yeah, with the two bickering children, he had a bad feeling about this. Why hadn't he paid more attention in the fight with Harley? If had noticed the goons sneaking up behind him, he wouldn't be in this mess. He thought it was just Harley, so he didn't focus on his surroundings as much as he should have.
"Yeah, that doesn't sound gusting."
"What?" Robin's muffled voice questioned.
"Gusting," the muffled, feminine voice repeated. "The opposite of disgusting. As in, good. Meaning: we wouldn't taste good, ばか (baka) (Idiot)!"
Robin scoffed, trying to play cool at the reminder of someone he missed dearly. Nightwing raised an eyebrow, remembering his days of butchering the English language. Not afraid of Robin, tried to save him, and points out flaws in English: if she were fifteen or so years older, she'd be just his type.
"Now that we've decided we wouldn't be a delicious treat," Nightwing joked, "how about some ideas on getting us out of here?"
"You fucking idiot! Don't do that!" he heard the girl shout. What was an obvious slap echoed out of the box, and Robin's distinctive growl rumbled.
"It'll get us out of here."
"It'll get us dead!"
"What's going on?" Nightwing questioned, but he was ignored.
"You're going to blow us up," the girl complained. Well, there was his answer.
"I know what I'm doing." He wasn't serious, right?
"Yeah, I know what you're doing, too: blowing us up!"
"Shut up."
"Make me."
"Tt, keep talking and I will."
"Yeah, right. I'd like to see you try."
"I wouldn't try; I would succeed."
"Says you."
The chains holding them above the acid dropped a foot lower, jerking all of them around.
Another kick.
"Ouch! That wasn't me, dipshit!" The kick was returned.
"It was an accident," Robin defended.
"Yeah, a happy one, I bet."
Nightwing could hear the smirk through the box and gas mask. "You wouldn't be wrong." He sighed at the sound of another kick. "Tt."
"Come on, guys," Nightwing complained.
"I have an idea."
"Is it a good one?" Robin asked, doubtful.
"I have an idea. And yes, I'm sure that just fills you with the utmost confidence in me." Honestly, her sarcasm was a welcome to Robin's barren humor. But it wasn't helping them get out of this mess.
Nightwing let out a little yell as they lowered closer to the acid. "Um, I'm all ears." Being upside down, it wasn't difficult to crane his head to stare dead ahead at the bubbling acid. He knew the two youngsters couldn't see (they had been dumb enough to get trapped in their little wooden box and had no way of knowing how close they were to death).
"Move over."
"Tt, where?"
Shuffling could be heard, accompanied with a few insults and more kicks.
"When did you free your hands?" Robin exclaimed.
There was a pause before the answer came. "Within ten minutes of getting trapped in this thing."
"And you didn't-?"
"I slapped you six minutes ago. Did it not occur to you then that my hands were free?"
A moment of silence.
"Tt, shut up."
Oh, Red Hood was going to love this. Nightwing couldn't help his growing smirk. For the "perfect" blood son, the kid finally made a mistake.
The chains lowered again, cutting off anymore distractions.
It didn't take long for Robin and the girl to get out of the box. Together, they had kicked a side out. The side dropped into the acid, splashing some it up towards Nightwing. He cringed, trying to get away. Luckily, none hit him.
"Guys, can we be a little more careful?"
"Tt, you're one to talk, Grayson."
And if looks could kill, Robin would be in the bubbling acid, never to be seen again.
But if the girl had caught on to the slip, she didn't comment or act upon it. But through their gas masks, it was hard to tell.
They climbed on the box reaching over for Nightwing. They unlocked his chains and used grappling hooks to get on the ground, to safety.
It had taken longer than Nightwing would have liked to get free, but they finally did.
They made their way outside, and Nightwing went over a quick plan on what to do next. Get to their transportation, go to Batman, save him, capture Joker.
Not very elaborate or original, but it would have to do.
"So, where did you park."
"The alley beside you."
"Which direction?" Nightwing asked, mostly to himself as his brain searched for the answer.
"North," they said in unison but pointed in slightly different directions. Both were wrong. Not completely, but still wrong. "That way is north. No, this way!" They continued bickering, raising their voices to be heard over the other.
"Yelling doesn't make either of you right," Nightwing pointed out.
"It makes me not have to hear him be wrong," the girl immediately retorted, and Nightwing could stop the snicker. These two. . . Under different circumstances, he would be enjoying this, but now was not the time and this was not the place and they were in a rush and couldn't they get along to two freaking seconds?
"I'm not wrong. You're wrong."
"You're both wrong," Nightwing cut in before another fight could start. Robin had pointed northwest while the girl pointed northeast. Nightwing walked in between the two, showing them their mistake.
"Mine was closer," Robin muttered under his breath, just loud enough for Nightwing and Thorne to hear.
Nightwing sighed. This was going to be a long hour. Well, it was going feel like an incredibly long hour.
"No, mine was."
"No, it wasn't."
"Yes, it was."
"No, it-"
"You were both wrong; I was right. Suck it up; shut up!" Nightwing finally bellowed. His usual go-lucky manner was a complete contrast to this, and the two bickering brats quickly obeyed.
He lead the way to where they knew Batman and Thorne's mentor was at. He heard the occasional shuffle, whispered insult, and pointed cough, but the two were otherwise quiet. He couldn't be more thankful. At least for these few minutes, he could get some quiet. Not peace or silence, but quiet.
He found his cycle and hopped on. Robin and Thorne took off to the next alley, saying they were parked there. And Nightwing groaned when he say which vehicle they drove.
"Batman's going to kill me."
oOoOoOoOoOoOo
Despite his protests, Nightwing drove his cycle to Batman's coordinates, leaving Robin and Daire in the Batmobile.
Daire was smiling smugly from the driver's seat. When it came out that she was older and had been driving longer than Robin, Nightwing ordered Robin to stand down and let her take the wheel.
"I could've drove," he complained.
"After that stunt you pulled earlier? You're lucky you're even in this car."
Robin rolled his eyes but didn't ask for clarification. "You're overreacting."
Daire glanced at the passenger side mirror. Or- more appropriately- where it should be. In his rush to get to Nightwing, Robin had driven them down an alley, through a fence, through a randomly placed stack of cardboard boxes, and up a ramp, over a pickup truck, and over the street. The alley on the other side of the street was large enough to fit the car, but Robin had been off a bit. The passenger side of the car had scraped against the wall. "Oops," was all he had said.
"I'm pretty sure I'm not."
The drive didn't take long.
"It would've been quicker if I drove," Robin pointed out when they jumped out.
"A quicker trip to heaven, yeah."
In a hushed but clearly audible voice, Nightwing shushed them. "Stop fighting. We have to save Batman. And your mentor."
"Vidar," Robin supplied.
"Okay, Vidar. We have to work together and be quiet." For emphasis, he put his finger to his lips. He received silent nods. "Good. Now take of the gas masks and follow me."
Robin and Thorne blinked, pulling off their masks as if they had forgotten they were there. Thorne handed hers to Robin, who tucked them into his utility belt. They refused to even glance at each other. But they were silent.
They made their way inside, sneaking around Joker and his men.
Robin had wanted to dive right in but was stopped. Nightwing insisted on finding Batman and Vidar before revealing themselves. He preferred to slip in, free them, and slip out without being noticed.
But when do things go according to plan? Especially with the Batclan?
It wasn't long before they were discovered and fighting.
"Robin, free Batman and Vidar! We've got this!" Nightwing ordered at the start of the fight.
Robin was not pleased at missing a fight but went along. A few guys tried to stop them, but they were weak and untrained. They were easy to take down. Sometimes Robin wished for a more challenging fight. He missed sparing with someone equal or close to his skill set.
He eventually reached the control panel that controlled Batman's and Vidar's trap. He pushed a few buttons, getting a feel for the machine. When he found out a code was needed to unlock them, he settled for smashing it. He opened the side panel, slipped in a small bomb, and back off.
The control panel blew up, but the chains didn't unlock.
Well, that didn't work.
"Robin!" Batman shouted.
It was enough time to alert him. He dodged the coward attacking from behind, quickly darting forward to gift him a series of powerful punches. With every battle cry he let out, his opponent let out grunts and gasps of pain as he stumbled back.
"Tt, too easy," he said to himself. He made his way to the actual trap, pulling out the lock picking tools Batman made him carry. It was a skill his mother had taught him when he was three, so it didn't take long.
"Good job," Batman complimented, something he was still getting used to. "Free Vidar." Batman ran off to join the fight, leaving Robin.
He huffed in annoyance but complied. The last thing he wanted was to get grounded again. Within thirty seconds, Vidar was also free. Finally, Robin could join the fight.
oOoOoOoOoOoOo
The fight hadn't lasted long. With the police on their way and Joker and his crew tied up, they made their way to a roof across the street.
The remained silent until the flashing light appeared.
"Hey, thanks for the help," Nightwing beamed. He was just a bag of sunshine. Honestly, it reminded Daire of herself before he mother found her. She saw the bright side of everything and refused to let anything get her down.
Until her baby brother was slain.
At the thought, she turned to glare at Batman, nodded once, and spun on her heels, walking off without a word.
"Next time, Batman, she will kill you," Clone promised, following her at a slower pace.
It was then Nightwing noticed, he hadn't heard the girl speak since she took off her mask.