A/N: Thanks for the review, Bright Anarchy! :)
Chapter 11:
Batman had nearly made it to the top of the mountain when his left leg suddenly sank into the earth. He could feel rocks tugging themselves away from their resting spots and heard a deep rumble. The noise lasted for less than a minute and the Caped Crusader was relieved when it stopped. It had sounded like a rock slide but nothing had come rolling down the mountain at him. Easily pulling his left leg out of the slight hole it had made, Batman continued his climb and made it to the top ten minutes later. Well, almost to the top. He was on a short, flat shelf with a thirty-foot peak looming over him. Robin wouldn't be in the peak, though, so this was the place to begin searching for him.
Batman was tired but the sun was leaning west so the hero refused to stop and rest. His partner needed to be out of the interior of the mountain before the sun went down. Otherwise, the young hero might not come out at all. Slowly walking across the dirt in the shade of Gotamint Peak, he carefully searched for an exit. There were many cracks and fissures but no large openings. The Caped Crusader had no idea where Robin was – the tunnel could have curved, it could have stayed straight, it could have made a sharp turn. If he started digging into one of the crevices, there was the possibility of a cave-in.
A cave-in! Batman remembered his leg sinking into the earth and the muffled roar that had come from the mountain. Maybe he had inadvertently buried his young partner under ten tons of dirt! Robin was terrified of being buried alive and Batman may have just caused that fear to become a reality.
Carefully racing back to the slight hole he had accidentally created, the Caped Crusader knelt down and peered inside. His shadow fell across the opening, making it impossible to see anything, so he used his voice instead.
"ROBIN!" There was no answer, not even a faint cry for help. Growling in frustration, Batman ascended the mountain again. He began pacing from one end of the shelf to the other, attempting to form some kind of plan. There had to be some way to get his partner out; the hero just had to find it.
Another tunnel. Robin's old friend had revealed a tiny hole, too small for even him, but the teenager could tell that the opening was larger than that. He was going to have to move the machine or somehow get around it. There was no way he could push the huge pile of rusty metal out of the way with just his right arm so the Boy Wonder really hoped that it wasn't tight against the wall. As long as there was a skinny space between the machine and the hole, Robin was about to escape from his almost-tomb.
"Robin!" The teenager heard a faint cry from above him and attempted to look up with just his eyes. That didn't work so he painfully tilted his head back and rested it on the wall behind him. Light suddenly assaulted his blue eyes and he realized that something had been covering the recent opening near the top of the cave.
Batman? The noise had sounded like his partner but the call had been so quiet that Robin couldn't be sure. What if it was Leon? No, Batman had yelled at him earlier from the large cave the Boy Wonder had left behind. That meant Leon and Felix and Catwoman were all secured. A small smirk lit up the dusty features: the Caped Crusader always triumphed in the end.
Robin was suddenly attacked by a fit of coughing. His right hand grabbed the red fabric covering his chest as his lungs attempted to burst through his skin. Black spots began dancing across his vision, he couldn't breathe and giant razor blades were sawing through the muscles in his left shoulder. The teenager's brain demanded that he close his eyes and float away from the pain but he resisted the temptation. If he went to sleep, he might not wake up and that was unacceptable, especially since he had finally found a possible escape route.
The coughing eventually subsided but the sharp pain remained and began spreading itself across his entire torso. He was merely wheezing now but Robin was sure that his death was imminent. If fragments of the bullet hadn't penetrated his bloodstream before now, the Boy Wonder knew that the attack had probably allowed them easy entry. Twenty-four hours, if he was lucky. Escaping meant exercise, which meant his heart would be pumping harder and blood would be moving faster.
"Ten, maybe twelve," he grunted quietly. At least he wouldn't have to spend another night down here. Gritting his teeth, Robin pushed himself up to his knees. Neon green boulders began rolling down the walls of his mind but the Boy Wonder forced himself to shuffle around the edge of the machine. There was a large gap between it and the now-huge mouth of the tunnel. An agonized grin skimmed across his face – he was going to make it out.
Night was descending on the mountain and Batman's chest was heavy with grief. There was no way Robin could still be alive. It had been two days since the teenager had been shot and, even if shards of the bullet hadn't made it into his heart, the wound was undoubtedly severely infected and still bleeding. The Boy Wonder was strong but not indestructible. Even if Batman found a way in soon, he still had no idea of his partner's location. The man could find an entry on one end while the boy was stuck on the other end. Batman felt virtually helpless – he had no plan and almost no light. Robin needed him and the Caped Crusader was failing. A small wave of hopelessness slowly washed over him and he began to think about giving up.
Far away under the very spot where Batman had stopped to contemplate whether or not to quit trying, Robin was sitting in the opening he had discovered and telling a story. His thoughts were jumbled and it was difficult to remember what he was supposed to be doing. So, in a near-delirious state, the teenager was entertaining his bony friend with a tale that was both fictional and non-fictional.
"Once upon a time, there was a little Robin. He was timid and weak and scared of nearly everything. Then he met a Batman. The Bat helped the Bird become strong and brave. The Robin learned how to defeat things that attacked him. The Batman taught him how to ignore pain and push himself through whatever was thrown his way.
One day the Bird made a really stupid decision, one of many he had made in his life. But he couldn't find the Bat to apologize for his mistake. So the Robin began searching everywhere. He swam across oceans, he ran across continents and he flew to the sky. But the Batman was nowhere to be found. Suddenly, the Bird realized that he hadn't tried looking in the earth. So he began crawling around underground, calling out for the Bat and hoping that he hadn't lost him forever.
After months and months of crawling, the Bird finally heard the Bat's voice. It was far away and sounded upset. The Bird knew he had disappointed the Bat and needed to say sorry. But the Robin was dying and couldn't find the source of the sound. The Robin realized that he wouldn't be able to find the Batman before he died. However, he also realized that if he came out of the caves he might be able to leave one last message."
Robin suddenly stopped talking. It was difficult to breathe, his vision was wavering and his torso was throbbing angrily.
Crawling around, I should be crawling around. My old friend Bob said people are waiting for me. Bob. That's a funny sound.
"BOB!" Robin yelled and chuckled crazily. The laughter nearly made him fall backwards and he realized that he was supposed to be crawling through the darkness behind him. So, turning around, the teenager began to crawl. His left arm was useless and his hand was dragging across the rough ground. It was slow going, only being able to use one arm, but eventually Robin made it far enough that the light behind him was no longer visible.
"Dark, dark, it's dark in the park," the Boy Wonder whispered in a sing-song voice. "Dark, park, lark, hark, shark, nark, spark. Light, might, kite, flight, height, bite, sight. Bat, cat, sat, mat, prat, gnat, pat." The rambling sentences were mumbled as Robin made his way through the darkness, his blue eyes now bright with an infection-induced fever.
"Robin…" he paused then growled, "too long to rhyme. Stupid name."
The teenager's head unexpectedly hit a rock, causing him to stop and open the eyes that had just barely fallen shut. The tunnel was curving left and beginning to go uphill. Groaning, Robin continued on and was surprised when a sliver of sunlight suddenly peeked through a small crack in the mountain. The dot of yellow began prancing in front of him and Robin decided to try to catch it. Grinning, he pushed off his right hand and pounced on it. Carefully lifting his fingers, he was disappointed to see that it was gone. And then it wasn't gone. It was several yards in front of him and the Boy Wonder quietly struggled forward. This time he dove and cried out in agony when he landed on his stomach. The dot giggled and disappeared around the next corner.
"You're going to regret that!" he yelled, or so he thought. It was actually a pain-filled whisper that caused him to cough up some more dirt.
"You're as mean as Bob," Robin continued after the coughing subsided. Frowning, he pushed himself up again and crawled after the rude ray of sunshine. But he was disappointed again when he rounded the corner. The spot was gone and there was no light anywhere. It was completely black all around him.
Great. On top of everything else – everything else? – now I'm blind.
Without realizing it, the Boy Wonder had continued crawling up the tunnel and was surprised again when the top of his head bumped into something hard. Dirt tumbled down around him and this time he started sneezing. It was a dead end. He was stuck…again.
Batman had decided to dig a shallow hole every ten feet all the way across. If there was no entry point, he would go back to the beginning and dig deeper. He would repeat the pattern until the mountain was falling down around him because he was Batman. And Batman never gave up.
So there he was, digging his fifth hole by the light of the crescent moon. The fabric of his gloves was already wearing out and he would soon be using his bare hands. But finding Robin was more important than keeping his fingers from bleeding so he didn't really care.
Holes five, six, seven and eight revealed exactly the same thing all the others holes had: nothing. There was just enough space for one more hole before he had to start over. He stopped three feet from the edge of the steep cliff on the south side of the mountain and began to dig. The only sounds were the whisper of the chilly breeze, the whoosh of soil being thrown around and the grunts of exertion from the hero as he pulled dirt out of the ground.
Nothing again and Batman was discouraged. Each hole was only about two feet deep and he wished he had the Bat-shovel that was in the Batmobile. It would be a waste of precious time to go get it so the Caped Crusader stood up, stretched his back and turned to walk north – back to hole number one.
A quiet sound made him freeze. It could just be a wild animal climbing around but any noise deserved his attention. Kneeling down again, Batman put his right ear against the ground and listened carefully. He heard it again, a soft swish that could almost be a sneeze. But the wind was picking up and dirt was beginning to swirl around on the ground beside him. Flying dust also made a swishing noise and the hero was disappointed.
Suddenly there were several different sounds: a light thud – twice – and the rustle of a clump of earth. The last sound he easily identified. The Caped Crusader had been hearing it for the last half-hour as he dug his way across the ledge. But he couldn't tell where the noise originated. It was close, he knew that much, but it was too quiet to pinpoint its exact location.
A loud gasp of air caused Batman to turn south again and take two long strides to the end of the shelf. Looking over the edge, he was shocked to see a small arm sticking out of the side of the mountain about ten feet below him. The limb was frantically moving around, the hand clasping and un-clasping, but there was nothing to grab except air.
Batman immediately dropped to his stomach, planted his left hand firmly on the edge and extended his right arm over the cliff. The small hand was just out of reach and he growled in frustration.
"ROBIN!" he thundered, "I'M UP HERE! TURN AROUND AND REACH UP!"
Now he could see a clump of dirty hair and the arm twisted toward the sound of Batman's voice. The hand began wiggling its fingers, attempting to find the source of the noise as it began reaching toward the hand of the Caped Crusader.
"Come on, you can do it, reach," Batman murmured. They were so close and the hero tried to stretch his arm farther. He couldn't move his body; he wouldn't be able to support the weight of both of them if he was hanging too far off the edge. The only thing he could do was hope that his partner could get his entire arm out of the hole.
Their fingertips were touching now and Batman tried to grasp them. He couldn't go any farther, though, and Robin had stopped extending his arm.
"Come on, Robin!" the Caped Crusader yelled. "Keep reaching, you're almost there!" Instead of stretching up, the arm began falling down and suddenly went limp. There was a quiet 'snap' and Batman knew that a muscle had just been torn apart.
"Robin, wake up! Don't you dare stop trying! OPEN YOUR EYES AND GET YOUR ARM UP HERE!" The last sentence was roared and echoed down the mountain but the small limb didn't even flinch.
Robin didn't feel like turning around and going back. This tunnel had been his only hope anyway so there was really no point. It was time to accept that he was going to die. At least the fire burning throughout his body would be gone soon. He wouldn't have to worry about bullet fragments or broken collarbones or infected injuries or anything else. The hostages were safe, the bad guys had been taken care of and everything was fine. So the Boy Wonder situated himself into a more comfortable position and closed his eyes.
"See Richard you Batman sorry tell if please…" the jumbled sentence trailed off into a sigh as Robin officially gave up on escaping from the cave. He had tried but it hadn't been good enough. Batman could survive without him; everything would still be fine.
The teenager was lying on his back, his legs slightly curved around the last bend in the tunnel. His right arm was exhausted from having to pull his body up the mountain so he stretched it over his head in an attempt to loosen the tight muscle. It was an automatic action; he didn't consciously care about his fatigued muscles.
But suddenly he did care and his eyes popped open. As his arm began to straighten, his hand slid through soft dirt that easily crumbled around his wrist. He pushed harder and his hand hit cold air. All of the caves – the entire mountain – had been hot. Cold air meant outside air and a spark of hope lit up the blue eyes. Bob really had shown him the way out!
The Boy Wonder began shoving his hand through the make-shift hole, attempting to dig the earth out of his way. Dust was attacking his face so he closed his eyes and tried to hold back a fit of coughing. He began sneezing instead, allowing dirt to enter his lungs – although not as much as when he was coughing.
His entire right arm was cold now and he could see pale light shimmering on the puffs of dust gliding on the gentle breeze. Robin began searching for something to grab so he could pull himself out. But no matter where he moved his arm, he was only able to grasp air. There had to be a tree or a rock or some shrubbery that he could use to escape! His movements became more frantic as he began to panic. The dirt was threatening to swallow him, covering his entire head and attempting to shove itself into his nose and mouth. But he was so close and the Boy Wonder wasn't going to allow the mountain to win.
"ROBIN!" a voice thundered at him, "I'M UP HERE! TURN AROUND AND REACH UP!"
He had no idea which way was up so Robin guessed. Twisting his arm around, he stretched it as far as he could. A grunt of pain was forced out of his mouth as his collarbone began screaming at him to stop. Something solid began dancing along his fingertips and the teenager tried to reach higher. Without realizing it, Robin allowed his lips to part slightly as he focused entirely on attempting to grab whatever he was touching. A clump of earth dropped from the upper half of his tunnel, straight into his mouth, and the Boy Wonder began choking.
Roll! His brain yelled the instruction and Robin attempted to obey. But there wasn't much room and his struggles were feeble. He was breathing dirt instead of air and swirls of darkness, blacker than the night itself, began devouring his mind. His right arm dropped and he felt a 'snap' in his bicep. The earth was winning the battle and Robin began fading away.
"…OPEN YOUR EYES AND GET YOUR ARM UP HERE!" The teen felt like those sounds were supposed to be loud but the water rushing in his ears was muffling the noise. He knew they were words but his oxygen-deprived brain couldn't figure out their meaning. A picture flashed through his mind: a tall, muscular man with dark wings, standing on a mountain with a little bird perched on his right shoulder. A ghost of a smile tiptoed across Robin's mouth – the Bat and the Bird.
Never give up.
