Taste the Rain

Chapter 11

"I'll be with you right up to the end"

The wind rushed through my hair. I took draughts of it, getting high on its cold, clear slightly smoky tang. Even atop the tallest buildings in Gotham, you could still taste the smog. I looked up at Batman, grinning.

"What are you so peppy about?" he rasped in his "Dark Knight" voice. I wasn't fazed though, I'd gotten used to it.

"It's so great being up here with you", I said, "I'm ready to fight some crime." He gave me a small smile, which was usually about all I got on patrol when he was Batman.

"Well, by the looks of that, Gordon's found some for us." I looked to where his black-gloved finger pointed and saw the great bat light hovering in the sky. I turned back to where he had already shot his line and was waiting, arm outstretched towards me.

"Come on partner, Gordon's waiting." I didn't think I'd ever get used to him calling me partner; it was just so great. I bounded over and took his hand. He tugged me up and grasped me around the middle with one arm, swinging with the other. I closed my eyes and clung tightly to him as we soared through the air, the wind tugging violently at me as if to rip me from his grasp.

"We still need to work on your swinging, huh kid", he murmured to me, shooting another line. I shook my head.

"I'm just fine with being a passenger."

"What's gonna happen when you get to be as big as me, hmm? It won't exactly be practical for me to haul your ass around, now will it? You're lucky you're small right now." I grinned up at him and he landed, giving my back a pat when he put me down.

"Batman", Gordon said, striding up. "Robin." He gave me a nod and I grinned at him. He ruffled my hair. The nice thing about being Robin was that I was generally the center of attention for all the police people and they loved to listen to me tell all my cool stories.

At first, Gordon had been all pissed about Batman getting a new Robin, but after Batman kinda let on in not so many words that he'd taken me off the streets and was doing some sort of pre crime intervention thingy, he started to warm up to me, which was just fine because he was pretty cool once you got to know him, him and the whole force.

Before, I had done my best to avoid police. Now however, I didn't mind them at all. They gave me candy when Batman wasn't looking (now that I was at my target weight, all these strict food rules showed up I hadn't really known about before) and treated me like I was one of them, part of this exclusive crime fighter's club.

"So, still not swinging yet?" Gordon enquired teasingly. I shrugged.

"I just like riding."

Batman rolled his eyes and said, "What have you got for us Gordon?" I hopped off because it didn't particularly matter to me what was said at this point. I was just examining a crack in the rooftop when Gordon spoke up.

"You might wanna leave the kid out of this one", the Commissioner murmured, obviously doing his best to keep me from hearing.

"Hey", I said indignantly.

"Who is it?" Batman asked, ignoring me, which I thought was rather rude.

"Victor Zsasz", Gordon replied. Batman gave a sigh and turned to me.

"Is there anything at all I could do to convince you to sit this one out?" I shook my head.

"This is not a good guy Robin", Gordon said, "he's truly insane, a cold blooded killer." I shook my head even more vigorously.

"I gotta watch Batman's back", I replied, "that's my job." Batman gave another sigh and gave Gordon this look. Gordon returned it. I had no idea what it meant and I really hated being left out of anything.

"Zsasz is bound to have henchmen for whatever he's working on. Robin can take care of those."

"I bet if you gave me a crack at Zsasz…"

"You'd get yourself killed" Batman said, cutting me off. "Come on, lets go." He grabbed me around the middle and swung off. I waved to Gordon as we soared away. After a few tense moments of flight, we landed atop a rooftop.

"Alright", Batman said, putting me down so he could drop to one knee in front of me, placing his large hands on my shoulders. "Promise me you'll stay away from Zsasz. Promise me." I gave him a dark look.

"I promise", I muttered.

"I'm going to hold you to that", he said seriously. "Stay away from that man, understand. I don't want you getting hurt." He cupped my face in his hands and forced me to look into his eyes. I reluctantly did so. He was really pleading with me this time.

"Ok, ok", I muttered, pushing him away, "lets go fight." He smiled at me.

"Alright, see how many henchmen you can take down in a minute. Your record is still three. I wanna see you do five this time, got it?" I nodded excitedly and quivered with anticipation. "Steady", he cautioned, putting a hand on my shoulder as we crept up to the window. Zsasz was directing his men to move around some hostages, several frightened people.

"Alright, Zsasz and his men will try to use the hostages as human shields to keep us from fighting. Getting those people out is priority, got it." I nodded. "I'm counting on you", he said, "don't let me down."

"I won't", I replied, "I promise." He smiled.

"I know you won't. Lets go." He counted down and at the count of three, we leapt through the glass, down upon our victims. Batman was striking at Zsasz before his boots even touched the ground. At first, I didn't think the guy looked all that scary until he tossed back his trench coat.

Zsasz was covered in these awful scars, like tally marks, all across his body. It was horribly frightening and sent an involuntary shiver through my spine. "Get it together Todd", I muttered to myself, and lashed at the first henchmen. I had six down in under a minute, but didn't have a lot of time to celebrate, since more were coming at me every second.

Batman was engaged in ferocious battle with Zsasz. Both of them looked strained, but there was this creepy, happy glint in Zsasz eyes, as if he were anticipating killing Batman with the kind of trepidation on gets before a really great high. I know what that feels like, the high I mean.

Just as I was taking down my eighth henchman, Batman laid a fantastic blow to Zsasz's upper cranium. The manic crumpled, falling unconscious to the dirty floor. Quick as a flash, Batman had him cuffed to one of the nearby boxes and was over beside me. Together we subdued the remaining henchmen.

"Did you see me?" I said excitedly, bounding around him, "I took down six of 'em in a minute."

"Good for you kiddo!" Batman said elatedly, sharing in my joy, "Excellent job tonight. Maybe we'll stop for some ice cream."

"Alright", I whooped as I leapt up, spinning in a circle.

"See", Batman said, "good things happen when you do as I say." I giggled and started helping him get the goons out. The police were just arriving as we dragged out the henchmen. Then, we went back in for the hostages, who tearfully thanked us and clung to us, trembling violently.

Batman helped them out, acting way more gently than he usually did. The only other time I had ever seen him act that way was when he was handling me. "Robin", he said, calling me over just as he was scooping up a woman too hysterical to even walk on her own, "Can you do one final sweep of the warehouse, just to make sure there aren't any more surprises. I would go with you but…" He indicated the woman in his arms.

I grinned and nodded. "Batman's got a girlfriend", I cooed in a singsong voice. He aimed a halfhearted kick at me, which I dodged, bounding back into the warehouse. The first things I noticed that were amiss were the lights. They should have been left on, as Batman and I hadn't turned them off.

Cautiously, and taking each step as quietly as I could, I entered the warehouse. Something definitely was not right with this place and I wasn't liking it at all. A shiver went down my spine and I was about to start back out when I felt a skinny arm wind around me, stifling my scream of terror. A rackety breath whistled in my ear. "Well, I can't have those others, but at least I get the bat brat. Tell me, how would you like to be freed from your meaningless existence?"

I kicked him as hard as I could and darted away. "So the hunt begins", Zsasz called, "I shall enjoy it." My breath coming in short gasps, I rushed as fast as I could deeper into the warehouse. Though I desperately wanted to be going the other way and out, he was herding me foreward against my will.

The knife came down an inch from my position, whistling through the air. I dodged to one side and it was there, biting into my hip. I gave a cry of pain and toppled. However, I had enough good sense to roll away from the slashing steel.

"Come on little boy, don't you want to be free?" I spun into a small space beneath some boxes and lay panting and trembling, my hip burning. Zsasz tossed aside the boxes and dove at me, knife coming down. I gave a scream of terror and felt at that moment, I was sure to die.

Then, there was this almighty roar and Zsasz was gone, tossed back by this great black shape. He crouched over me, snarling like a feral beast. "Don't you dare touch him", Batman hissed. Zsasz laughed darkly, his voice cracking and low.

"So, protective are we?" he cooed silkily, "Don't want me to eat 'em up?" With that, Zsasz leapt foreward. Batman was at his throat in a minute. I had never seen such ferocity in anyone ever. Batman was like a wolf, swift and savage, yet Zsasz was practically equally so.

Batman grabbed Zsasz's wrists, shoving him with his body. They toppled backwards over each other, rolling behind a few boxes. I heard the terrible sounds of a scuffle and Zsasz's spindly arm lifted the knife high. It glinted in the moonlight, for a moment hovering in place before diving sinisterly down. I heard the squelch of metal embedding itself in flesh and a grunt. Then silence.

"Batman", I called tentatively. No answer. "Batman", I whimpered. There was movement in the shadows, something rising out of the darkness. I started quivering. "Batman?"

"Robin?" Giving a cry of relief, I rushed up and darted into his arms, trembling and sobbing. He put an arm around me, breathing hard and heavy with his hand pressed to his side. "It's alright kiddo", he said gently, sitting down on the ground so he could scoop me up onto his lap, "It's ok. It's over."

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I hissed as Alfred finished up my stitches. It didn't hurt half as much as it would have had I not been dosed up with painkillers, but it still was not particularly comfortable. "It's ok", Bruce said, doing his best to soothe me, "You're ok."

"I'm all done", Alfred said gently, patting my side. He wrapped a bandage around my hip and put me down on the ground. "Your turn Master Bruce", Alfred said. Bruce grinned, hopping up onto the table. He was obviously not all that shook up about the incident. He was already bantering with Alfred as the man stitched him up. I sat cross-legged on the floor in front of them.

Alfred finished up and Bruce hopped off, spry as always. "I'm gonna go read for a while Jay, but I think you better go to bed." I nodded. He gazed at me for a moment and then knelt down in front of me. "Kinda shook up?" he asked, putting a hand on my shoulder.

"I'm fine", I mumbled with a shrug. He gazed at me for a few moments more and then scooped me up. "Come on kid", he said, carrying me up the stairs. Then, he sat me down in a chair in the kitchen and pulled one up for himself, straddling it backwards with his chin resting on his hands, which were draped over the back. "Alright kiddo, what's up?"

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"You know what I mean. What happened tonight, you're all shook up over it, huh?" I shrugged. He reached out and cupped my face in one of his large hands. "I don't want you to lose your nerve. Lets talk about it blue jay." Bruce gave me all sorts of nicknames. He seemed full of them. They always made me feel so warm and fuzzy on the inside and tonight was no exception.

"I was scared", I murmured, "I thought I was gonna die."

"Ohh Jason, you know that some day, in this job, you might die, that's a reality." I looked up at him. "Hey", he said, getting up so he could kneel down in front of me and take my small hands in his big ones, "I promise you, if there's anyway I can do, I'll always protect you."

I slid off the chair and wound my arms around his neck. He smiled and held me tightly. "And if I can't", he murmured, "I'll be with you right up to the end. And, I will always remember you so in that way, you'll live on as long as I do."

But, I barely heeded his last words. His first were far more comforting. I knew that no matter what, he would always be able to help me. After all, he was Batman, he could do anything. My main concern had been whither or not he would fight for me. I nuzzled further into his arms, rubbing my head against his chest like a small cat. "Good boy Jason, you're such a good boy."