A/N: Thanks for the reviews and for checking up on me Psyche Castle, Blas, JokerFan2011, Owan and Batman Dude! Thanks for the compliments and encouragement mystrey helper! Maybe someday I will be able to write Riddler well enough to give him an entire story. :)

JokerFan2011 - I'm shaking my head at your pun. ;-) "Don't leave us hanging" - that was awesome.

Sorry for the delay - again. Life happens and sometimes priorities have to be re-evaluated. There are only two more chapters, after this one, until the end of this story and then I'm taking a break from publishing. I have two other half-finished stories so I won't be gone forever but, like I said, life happens.

Chapter 11:

Robin heard voices; one that seemed familiar and two that were unrecognizable. The voice he knew sounded so sad and Robin wanted to help him but first he had to find a way out of the cold thing covering his leg that, for some reason, was pulsing painfully. He tried to move his arms and couldn't understand why they weren't co-operating. A shiver ran down his body and the two unfamiliar voices stopped talking to each other.

"Kid, are ya waking up?" Jack asked quietly. "Can ya hear me? Your partner needs ya," he hoped that saying the word "partner" would have the same effect on Robin as the word "sidekick" had on Batman.

"Bat…man?" Robin whispered.

"Yep," Jason replied loudly and Robin tried to back away from the noise that made his head start pounding. He hit a wall, though, which increased the pain and he slightly growled.

"Not so loud, Jason!" the muscular man's older brother muttered.

Jason rolled his eyes and whispered, "Batman needs ya help. He's not doing so well and we have ta get ya both outta here."

Robin was confused but did understand that Batman needed his help. He searched his brain for any sort of memory to help him figure out what to do. He remembered an IV tube and a pile of ashes on the ground. He shook his head slightly and opened his heavy eyelids. There was Batman, right in front of him and being supported by two men who were exact opposites of each other.

"Let him go!" Robin thought he had shouted at them when really it was a dry mumble.

"If we let him go, he'll fall flat on his face, kid," Jack sighed. This was going to be more difficult than he had originally thought. Batman was the strong hero; he was supposed to be getting them out of here! Instead, he was unconscious and his weak sidekick – who was still bolted and cemented to the wooden wall – was the one awake; the boy was entirely useless!

"Mini Bat-blaster!" Robin suddenly croaked loudly, proud that he had remembered something that he knew was important.

Jack sighed again, "We already used that, kid. That's why Batman is here instead of stuck on that other wall over there."

Robin frowned, "Did you kill him? If he is dead I will…" he paused to catch his breath, "…I will do something bad to you." It was the only thing Robin's tired brain could come up with and he hoped it sounded intimidating.

Jason couldn't control his laughter. "Ya gonna do 'something bad' to us? Can ya be more specific?"

"Jason, now is not the time to be making fun of the kid!" Jack yelled at his brother and Robin flinched. "Sorry, sidekick," Jack said as he lowered his voice.

"Well, I'll get his left leg outta that bolt – since it's not cemented – and you try ta wake up Batman so he can figure this out," Jason said and his brother nodded.

They carefully laid Batman on the ground then rolled him onto his back. Jason walked out the door and around to the other side of the wall. He began loosening the nuts that were holding the sidekick's left leg in the u-bolt and grimaced when he heard a sharp cry of pain as the bolt slipped through the holes and onto the floor in the other room.

Robin was staring at Batman, trying to find some sign of life. He saw his partner breathing and sighed in relief which turned into a short cry of pain when the cold thing around his leg was released, dropping his leg which he could tell was fractured. His cramped calf began to tingle and it traveled down his numb leg, causing his entire limb to start trembling.

Jack, meanwhile, was trying to get Batman to wake up without hurting him unnecessarily. He patted, then slapped, the man's cheeks; he grabbed and shook Batman's shoulders; he yelled at him to wake up and help his sidekick and he even punched him in the stomach – although the hit was so light that it probably didn't affect the hero at all.

Batman felt slapping and heard yelling. Robin, he remembered, something was wrong with Robin and he needed to get to him. He finally opened his eyes and recognized the man with the red hair – for some reason he slightly trusted this man.

"Batman, can ya hear me?" Jack yelled in his face and was startled when Batman growled at him. He pulled the hero up to sitting as his younger brother walked in the door and came over to kneel in front of them.

Batman's brain was spinning around but he understood the important parts of the words the men were saying to him: Robin, hurt, stuck, help.

Kirik heard yelling and opened his eyes again. He was staring straight up at Rob…no, the boy who used to be Robin, and who was now glaring down at him. His head was pounding and his throat was raw. He looked to his left and saw his henchman helping Batman who had somehow escaped from his bonds! Since they were busy with the hero, Kirik decided to take care of the not-a-sidekick-anymore kid. He carefully sat up and put his right hand on his throbbing head as he heard a light growl behind him. Rolling his eyes, he got up on his knees and turned to face the boy as he stood up.

There are two of them? I thought Batman only had one sidekick. I broke two sidekicks at once?! Kirik began to chuckle as he realized his victory. I only have one thing left to do….

Robin watched the man stand up and stare at him. The villain's eyes were unfocused and he began to chuckle. Robin was too tired to try to figure out why the man was laughing. Instead, he focused on how to knock the guy out. He saw the villain lift his left arm and knew that meant something bad was about to happen. He heard a noise to his left and was distracted; Batman was awake and looking around. A hand grabbed the mask across his eyes and weakly pulled at it, trying to tear it away from his face. Robin's athletic instincts took over and he brought both legs up and kicked the man in the chest as hard as he could which, at this point, was not very hard at all. The villain stumbled back slightly but Robin was quick and he wrapped his feet under the man's arms then twisted his hips, throwing the man to the ground and knocking him out for a third time. He paid for that maneuver, however, because now he was facing the wall with his arms stretched painfully away from his shoulders and crossed in front of him. He hit the wall and bounced off, twisting back around to face Batman and the henchmen who were now all standing up, although Batman was swaying slightly.

Jack and Jason were staring at Robin in amazement and Batman was frowning. Most of the memories had returned to his brain and he glared down at the villain in fury. He was so busy thinking of things that he was going to do to the guy that he was startled when he heard Robin softly rasp:

"So, uh, can we leave? I'm a little tired and sore and smelly and…did I mention tired?"

Jack sighed, "Well, you're cemented to the wall on the other side and we don't have any way to get ya down – short of breaking your wrists and sliding them through the bolts, which doesn't sound very pleasant fer ya."

"Bat-laser," Batman said from behind him. "It can burn through the metal but my hands are not steady enough right now to do it without burning Robin. We'll have to go through the cement; it will take longer but he won't get hurt. One of you has to stay here to catch him," he pointed to the shorter, more muscular man, "although I will probably need you to help tear away the cement."

"I may be skinny but I'm strong enough to catch a kid," Jack grumbled, annoyed at the unintended implied insult.

"Sorry," Batman snapped as he moved in front of the two men and turned to face them with his arms folded across his chest, "but I don't have the time or the patience to think about whether or not I'm offending you."

"Holy firing squad, Batman," it was Robin's turn to sigh, "he's trying to help!" That earned him a quick over-the-shoulder glance with a glare so he closed his mouth and rolled his tired eyes as Batman turned back to the men.

Two pairs of eyes widened and Batman spun around: somehow the villain had managed to get up, again, and was behind Robin with his arms wrapped around the small torso. He smiled darkly, rage glowing in his eyes, as he gripped Robin's body tightly.

"If you try to do anything to help him, I will crush his ribs and push them up into his heart and lungs," Kirik growled.

Robin was gasping and his eyes were squeezed shut against the pain. He tried to move his legs but they wouldn't budge and he was quickly running out of oxygen.

"Now, I am going to finish what I started. There will no longer be a Robin," Kirik snarled as he took his right hand off of Robin's chest and moved it toward the boy's face.

Robin, his eyes now slightly open, twisted his head as far away to the left as he could, forcing the man to look away from Batman in order to stretch his arm across Robin's face to reach the mask. Robin felt the movement and smirked in his head.

Batman snatched a Bat-a-rang from his utility belt as soon as he saw the man's attention turn away from him. He threw it at the villain, hitting him in the left arm and causing the man to loosen his grip and cry out in pain.

Robin's eyes flew open as he gulped in the air and leaned to his left, hoping that he had chosen the correct way to go. They were the Dynamic Duo and they knew each other well: Batman had lunged to Robin's right. He tackled the villain then flipped him onto his stomach and secured him with a pair of Bat-cuffs.

Batman grabbed his Bat-laser from his utility belt and tossed it to Jason. "The red button on the side; go and release him as quickly as you can. I'm going to keep an eye on this guy…" he trailed off ominously as the brothers ran out of the room and around the corner. Batman stood up and straightened Robin's mask then ruffled his hair around.

"Now it's a 'cool' messy," he grinned at his small partner. Robin looked at Batman strangely, confused by that comment, then closed his eyes.

Ten minutes later Robin dropped limply into Batman's arms and the two brothers came running around the corner again. Jack gave the Bat-laser back to Batman and he nodded his thanks as he situated Robin's body in his arms.

"You're still going to Arkham, you know that, right?" Batman said to the henchmen, who were no longer henchman. They both nodded and dropped their heads in despair.

"However, I'll put in a good word for you. You were extremely helpful today and that should be taken into consideration. I don't think we would have made it out of here without your assistance," Batman stated and the brothers looked at each other in amazement.

"I meant," Batman decided to revise his statement since he was still the hero, "that it would have taken us longer. We still would have made it out, though."

Jason chuckled and Jack shot him a quick glare. You don't laugh at Batman, especially when he's going to give you some credit with the police.

"I broke him, didn't I? Your sidekick is gone and I am the one that did it," Kirik was talking again and everybody shook their heads.

Robin opened his eyes and grinned, "Holy naïve, you didn't know that I'm unbreakable? You failed this time. I am the exception that you so arrogantly said I wouldn't be and, by the way, how are you feeling? Sad, scared, stupid? I'm pretty sure it's the last one."

"Robin, that's enough," Batman sighed although he, too, was grinning slightly.

Robin arched his back, his head falling over Batman's arm so that he was looking upside down at the two brothers. "Could you put in a good word for me at Arkham?"

Jack and Jason stared at him, confused by the question.

"You know, tell them that Batman's sidekick is unbreakable because I think that will really intimidate some of the lesser villains and give the big villains a reason to not try to kidnap me. I'm kind of tired of being kidnapped…" he trailed off and relaxed his back.

"No, tell them that Batman's partner is unbreakable and please give them an excellent description of everything that happened here so there are no doubts," Batman added.

The brothers nodded and thought about how they probably wouldn't even have the courage to talk to the smaller villains, much less the more prominent ones. Jason – without being asked – went over to Kirik, picked him up and threw him over his broad shoulder, much like he had done with Batman four days ago. Batman led the way as they left the cabin, climbed into the white van and Jack began driving them back toward Gotham City and the police station.