Missing
By
AJ
Part 11: Outpost
Dick Grayson let himself slump over on the horse's neck, allowing the animal to wander. The adrenaline rush was starting to fade. He didn't know how far he had ridden before the horse had slowed. He just wished it were in the right direction. He knew he had a long ways to go, further than when he and his parents traveled with the Haly Circus. He thought about a time when he was just 10 years old and he had been with Bruce for only three months. This had been at a very large fundraising event. He and Bruce became separated. The next thing Dick knew he was being jostled, pushed, and pulled. Then a guard grabbed him and he was being shoved into a back room. When they finally remembered he was even there, they let him out and told him to go home, having little sympathy for a lost boy who didn't even know his way around a big city like Gotham. The next thing Dick knew he was being shoved through the front door and the door locked behind him. There was no one waiting for him on the outside.
Wayne Manor was located 14 miles outside the city limits and the city was a vast place. The only thing Dick could do was to begin walking in hopes to find something that looked familiar, but nothing did. When he thought about returning to where the charity event had been held, he got himself turned around and found himself in one of the worst parts of Gotham City. He was lost and for the first time very frightened. Dick sat up against the brick wall within an alley, buried his head into his knees and let the tears fall. He wanted to go home, not to Wayne Manor at first, but to the Haly Circus. Then remembering the tragedy of that night, he grieved even more, the event still fresh in his mind. He pored out his emotions like water. Then remembering he had been taken in, Dick thought of Bruce and he cried all the more, afraid he would never see him ever again, that he would not be able to be Robin again. Then a hand was gently placed on his shoulder and he looked up into eyes that were just as red rimmed and frightened as his despite the fact that they looked out from the cowl face of Batman. He never said a word, but picked Dick up in his arms and carried him to the batmobile. Dick allowed him to place him in the co-pilot's seat then covered him with a blanket.
"Did you find him?" a familiar voice said.
"I found him near Crime Alley," Batman said.
"I wonder how he got that far? It's at least two miles from where the charity event had taken place."
"I'll take him home to Mr. Wayne," Batman said, and Dick allowed himself to relax a little until the questions came.
"Dick, what happened? You were supposed to stay by my side."
"My shoelace came untied. I bent down to tie it . . . and we got separated . . . and then I was shoved . . . and then the guard put me in a room . . . then . . . then they forgot about me . . ." tears were falling earnestly as Dick continued to explain what happened.
"I'm sorry," Bruce said, apologizing for his own neglect. "I . . . I thought I lost you."
It was the first time that Bruce showed how much Dick had started to mean toward him, how they meant toward each other. They started out as strangers and became something more than just Guardian and Ward. After that, Dick remembered that Bruce wanted him to know Gotham City and the surrounding area, from Wayne Manor to the docks of Gotham just as much as he did. So, once a week, as part of his training, Dick would be given a list of clues that directed him to find something, an address, a city monument, or just a simple street corner. He would be dropped off near police headquarters and would have to follow the clues and Bruce would be waiting for him at the other end.
As his mind returned to the present, the horse had come to a complete stop. Dick's eyes blinked open to see a man working out in a small field of some kind and the sun rising behind him. Dick was aware of the fire in his back and his temperature had risen once more. He watched as the man moved closer, as if looking at several progressive photographic shots. When the man was closer, Dick could feel himself slipping from the back of the horse.
"Help me," he said, then slipped into darkness.
B&D&B&R
Bruce Wayne sat on the living room couch, his face in his hands. His injury was throbbing, but he ignored it. Sorrow and anger filled him as he thought about the events from the past few days. He finally broke the news to Dick's Aunt Harriet that her nephew was missing.
"I already called Commissioner Gordon. He's doing everything that he can. He also enlisted Batman's help."
Alfred had taken Aunt Harriet up to her room after that.
"I don't know what to do Alfred. I feel so helpless."
"You will do what you must, Master Bruce," Alfred reminded him.
" I know, but this is different," Bruce told Alfred about the dead boy lying down in the batcave infirmary. "I do not know who the boy is," Bruce continued. "I'll see to his burial. It will have to be done very discreetly."
"I am a man of discretion as you know Master Bruce," Alfred had said. "Don't trouble yourself on this."
Alfred had been true to his word. The matter had been taken care of. The boy had been buried with a small stone marker "Name Unknown."
Bruce could not help but feel that he had failed Dick in some way. Even after returning home it seemed Ra's al Ghul's threat had stopped. He could not help feeling that he had not seen the last of the proclaimed leader of the League of Shadows. And Dick? There was no trace. It reminded him too much of that time when Dick got lost after a charity event. He made a point that his ward would never get lost again, at least in Gotham City. Dick, though, was not in Gotham. He was somewhere out in the wider world, somewhere beyond Batman's reach.
Bruce Wayne walked to the large windows that looked toward Gotham City. There was nothing he could do but wait, wait to hear any word, but he know in his heart there wouldn't be. A single tear silently tracked down his face, then another. He did not want to believe in the reality that they all had to face. Dick could very well be lost to them forever.
Continues with Part 12: Discovered Attack