Nightwing

I spent the night with Bruce and Tim, me leaning up heavily against my old mentor and Tim cradled up close to me. I had the most ominous feeling, like that night would be the last we spent together like this.

I hated the idea of Tim going with Bruce because I was so afraid he was going to get hurt, but I knew he would watch Bruce's back for me and Bruce would take fewer risks with Tim by his side. All too soon though, it was morning, and we were do to head out.

Bruce wrapped me up tightly and warmly and started to carry me over to Bristle paw. "Wait", I said, "we need to talk."

"I have to leave soon Dick", Bruce warned.

"I'll be quick", I said. He put me down on a chair and faced me. "Bruce", I said, "you need to pay more attention to Tim."

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"For the past week I've been giving him the affection he's been wanting from you, but that has to stop. He needs you."

"He needs me as a mentor", Bruce replied stubbornly.

"He needs you as a father", I retorted.

'You can do that", Bruce said.

"I can't be his father. I can be his older brother, but he needs you to be his father. I know you're reluctant to get close to him because of what happened to Jason, but he needs you. He's a special kid and he's not like Jason, he's different."

"I see so much of Jason in him", Bruce said softly, "it scares me."

"Jason wasn't a bad kid", I said, "and he knew what he was getting into when he took the job. Tim does too and unlike Jason, he listens and he doesn't have that dark streak. What happened to Jason is not going to happen to Tim."

"It might", Bruce said desperately, "I can't get that close again, I might lose him and I can't deal with the pain of losing another son. I need him to be a partner, nothing more. Losing a partner hurts, but not like losing a son."

"What about me?" I asked, "You're that close to me."

"I tried to push you away", Bruce replied, "but it didn't work."

"Bruce", I said, "I know you're scared but he needs you, just like I needed you. You let yourself care for me and because of it, I had an amazing childhood and we have a great relationship now. I see a lot of my friends hating their old mentors and I'm so glad I'm not like that. But, it was only because you cared so much about me when I was little.

Take care of Tim like you take care of me and at least try to make him feel like he's cared about. With what you're throwing yourself into now, you may not have a lot of time left. Promise me you'll try."

"Alright", Bruce said, "I'll try, for your sake."

"For his", I replied, "do this for him." Bruce picked me up and carried me out the door. I could hear the Sasquach pawing the snow and shaking his head. I could smell him from about ten feet away so I wasn't looking forward to flying with him for several hours.

B'wana ordered the 'squach to kneel down so Bruce could put me on his back. Tim came up and hugged me tightly. "Take care of him", I whispered to him fiercely.

"I will," he replied. Then, Bruce came up and embraced me once more.

"Bruce, don't die out there alright. I still need you, a whole lot in fact. And take care of the kid; remember your promise." He nodded, gave me a final squeeze and then backed up. I coiled my fingers in the beast's fur and gripped as best as I could with my legs.

"B'wana", Bruce said, "will you stay at Wayne manor with Dick and take care of him for me?"

"Where's Alfred?" I asked.

"I sent him to England after they started hunting me", Bruce replied, "I thought it would be safer, but you still need someone to take care of you."

"I surely will", B'wana said, "good luck."

"Thanks", Bruce replied, and I could almost hear him setting his jaw, like he did when he was stressed or unhappy. B'wana climbed onto the 'squach behind me and put his arms around my waist to hold me on.

"Get up", he yelled at it, and the thing raised itself from the earth and into the wind. I could feel it rushing through my hair and clothes and felt some elation at flying, but mostly fear, fear for Bruce and Tim.

Batman

I watched the beast float through the sky as long as I could before it finally disappeared. I hated letting him out of my sight again, but it was the only way. "Come on Robin", I said, and off we went.

B'wana had given me as comprehensive maps as he could of the area so I was fairly sure I could find my way back to the complex. Robin trailed behind me. We had changed back into our hero personas, masks and all. Bruce Wayne wasn't breaking in to stop nuclear missiles, Batman was.

We hiked in the darkness of the morning for hours, craving the sun, but when it did come up, the watery light it gave did little to warm us and we were both chilled. Within the few hours of sunlight we had however, we came into view of the complex. I was surprised at how close it was, as it had taken us five hours to reach B'wana's house before and this trip had only been about three. I surmised we must have been wandering for some time in the blizzard, turned around by the heavy winds and disoriented by the white out conditions.

The sun glared off the snow in such a way that it seemed to light us up like I spot light. I was particularly noticeable in my black suit. "We'll stop here until darkness falls Robin", I said. Robin nodded and obediently lowered himself to the ground, first throwing down his cape, which was water resistant. Smart kid, I thought to myself.

"I'm going to scout their defenses a bit", I said, "You stay here, maybe start digging us a hole we can wait in for a while." He gave a sigh and got up. He was tired and cold and all he really wanted to do was rest, but he knew I needed his help to dig, so he did.

I crawled on my belly towards the fort, pushing aside the snow in a makeshift tunnel so I could be lower then the horizon. Looking at the castle, it seemed they had upped their security. There were even more guards then before, each with vicious looking dogs at heel and large, deadly looking guns. This wasn't going to be easy.

It had been easy to get into the castle before, because they hadn't thought about keeping anyone out. It had been all about keeping people in. Now however, it seemed they had rethought that philosophy. I watched for about an hour, trying to get a feel for the pattern of the guards. Eventually, when I felt I could do no more, I crept back to Robin.

He had excavated a decent sized hole behind a snowdrift. That would keep the wind off us a bit as well as shield us from the preying eyes of then men in the castle. "Good boy", I said gruffly. He looked up at me, shocked I had actually given him a good word, but I was keeping Nightwing's speech in mind.

It did somewhat surprise me though, that his face registered that much disbelief at any praise of mine. It made me feel somewhat guilty. "That's deep enough", I said. Robin looked at me confused.

"It won't give us much cover though", he commented.

"I know", I replied, "but I need to be able to dig out quickly to see if darkness has fallen. If you dig into the drift a little, we'll be able to sit up." Robin nodded and dug us a small hole into the drift. Then, we settled in.

Robin shivered in the corner of the small, snowy room. This did not go unnoticed by me as I sat, quietly dozing. I was cold too, but I didn't show it quite as much. My costume was thicker after all. Though Robin was wrapped in all the blankets B'wana had given him, he was still cold. It looked as if another blizzard was coming up.

Giving it a moment's thought, I decided to see if I could help him. "Robin", I said softly. He looked up. His lips were blue. "Come here", I said. He moved over ever so slightly so that he was about a foot from me. "No", I insisted, "come here." He came foreward again and this time, I picked him up gently and put him on my lap. He was visibly shocked. "We'll keep warmer if we sit together", I said gruffly.

"Whatever you'd like boss", he replied, sitting somewhat awkwardly on my lap.

"Relax", I told him gently. He allowed some of the tension to leave his body and I wrapped my arms around him, pulling him to me. I did the best I could to wrap my blankets around both of us so we could share some body heat. "Take your gloves off", I said, "or your fingers might freeze." I had taken my own off and wrapped them in rags already. His fingers were so stiff, he could barely pull the gloves off.

"Here", I said, "let me help you." I took the rags off my hands and pulled off his gloves. Then, I breathed on his hands and rubbed them gently. He gave a grimace of pain as the feeling started to return to his frozen fingertips. "Try to warm them up as best you can", I said, "I'll do your feet." I pulled off his boots and rubbed his feet. Then, I tucked them under our blankets.

"Tha…thank you", he stuttered. I nodded to him quietly.

"Why don't you sleep for a while", I said, "I don't know when you'll get another chance to rest."

"As you wish", he said softly and closed his eyes, resting his head in the crook of my arm. Soon, he grew limp and his breathing slowed. I knew he was asleep.

I gazed down on his slumbering features. He looked so young when he wasn't trying desperately to please me. God, he was only twelve. How often I forgot that. He reminded me of Dick when he used to fall asleep on stakeouts. That hadn't happened since he was younger then Tim though.

Tim gave a little mewl in his sleep and shifted his weight, his hands clutching unconsciously at my fingers. I wondered what he was dreaming about. I felt a surge of affection for him, like I hadn't had for anyone since Jason. I did love Tim. I hadn't wanted to admit it before, but I did. What little I got to see of his personality endeared him to me and though I had tried to keep from feeling anything, it hadn't worked.

Dick was right, I needed to start paying more attention to Tim. Well, I would, not just for Dick, but for Tim. I rubbed his arm gently and I saw a glimmer of a smile in his sleep, the one I rarely got to see. I told myself silently that if we survived, I would try my best to make him smile everyday.

Robin

When I woke up, I was surprised to find myself cradled gently in Batman's arms. It was the oddest thing ever and I almost dismissed it as a dream, but it was real. I was so surprised, I almost gave a yelp. Batman was rubbing my arm gently, eyes fixed towards some point on the wall in front of us. I yawned in spite of myself. "Ohh good, you're up", he said.

"Yea", I mumbled. I sat up slowly and found myself, embarrassingly, on his lap. I looked up at him and he blinked at me, as if he didn't find anything wrong with this picture. I got up, but the space we were in was so cramped, I couldn't stand. I knelt back down again, immediately wishing I was back in his warm arms.

"When do we head out?" I asked, rubbing my arms while I sat on my haunches, my breath clouding before me.

"In a few minutes", Batman said, "I want them to be lulled into a false sense of security. It doesn't do to have them jumpy and shooting at shadows. There's a blizzard out there right now though, so you'll have to do your best to stick close to me." I nodded and looked away.

I was frightened, frightened of going through that blizzard. The last time I had gone through one, I had almost died and would have if Bristle paw had not come to my aid. When I looked back up, Batman was gazing at me. "Are you scared?" he questioned.

"Of what?" I asked.

"What's to come," he replied simply, "We might die you know." I shrugged.

"We might die every night", I said. He nodded. This was true. Every night we flirted with death. I was doing my best to look at this as if it were nothing more then another patrol. It helped keep my nerves away when I started spiraling into thoughts about how we were doing our best to save America and by extension, probably the world. Batman interrupted my thoughts by standing up to break through the crust.

"Time to go", he said, "put on your boots and gloves." I nodded, and did as he said.

I tried my best to focus on Batman's black cape swirling in front of me, but it was difficult. I was so cold, I thought I might never feel warm again, but still we trekked onward. Batman suddenly stopped. Fighting the wind with my head down, I didn't notice and rammed into him. Batman turned around and yelled over the wind, "You're going to get lost, hold onto my cape." I nodded and clung to the end of the black fabric, feeling more secure now that I had something to guide me.

Finally, out of the swirling white abyss came the castle, looming large and menacing over us. We went around the outside to one of the far walls, where there were few guards. They all moved quickly over these walls because they faced the bulk of the winds and snow. I was sure the men in that castle were going to find more then one frozen guard when they woke up.

"Lets climb", Batman yelled and he threw up a grappling hook. I threw up one as well and we began to scale the fortress. The wind practically flattened us to the wall and the going was slow due to frozen fingers, but we made it nonetheless.

We stood on top of the wall for a moment and then climbed down the other side, slipping into the shadows like we were some. We paused for a moment near the wall while Batman gazed intently at some paper in his hand.

"B'wana gave me some sketches he'd made of the castle and some schematics he'd gotten from guards who stayed at his cabin. Apparently, there is a series of tunnels that goes through this whole place. We get in those and we'll be able to avoid the guards, probably indefinitely." I nodded.

"So", I asked, "where do we find an opening?"

"Should be around here", he said, feeling the wall with gloved fingers. Prying into the corners, he finally seemed to find what he had been looking for and pulled a few stones from the wall. Before us was the gaping mouth of a pitch-black tunnel. "It'll be a little warmer in there", Batman said, giving me a half smile. He was being so nice to me, it was unnerving.

Water dripped from icicles on the ceiling, which told me it was at least above thirty two degrees in here, though probably not very much more. Creeping through those dark, twisted passageways, I felt like a rat or a cockroach. I half expected an exterminator to come through with gas and end me like you would some vermin or filth. It was kind of creepy.

Then, I heard voices. Batman put a finger to his lips and pointed to the wall. There was a small grate in the wall where we could look through and also hear noises. We both pressed our ears. "Huh", I heard a chilling voice say, "after losing my prize specimen, I'm put back several steps in my program. You know, I didn't even get a chance to test all my poisons."

"That blindness serum you concocted was extremely interesting doctor, do you have any more of it."

"No, I still need to make a new batch, but I do have an antidote. I haven't figured out all the possible uses of the serum, but it does cause complete blindness, so I'm sure I'll find some use for it." Batman and I pulled off the wall and stared at each other.