The Emperor's Talon
Chapter 14: Follow My Lead
Alfred stood at the bottom of the staircase leading into the Batcave with a tray of freshly baked cookies in his hands. The old man eagerly awaited the return of his charges; for although his status as Bruce Wayne's butler meant that he reverted to calling them by honorary titles such as 'master', to Alfred they would always be his charges. Gotham City was the Batman's to guard, but Batman and now Robin were Alfred's to protect.
The faithful butler smiled when he heard the Batmobile's engines echo off the walls of the cave. A few moments later, the vehicle was within sight and settling on the landing pad. The canopy popped open and out leapt Batman. Alfred frowned a little before descending the corrugated metal staircase to the lowest level of the cave. He could see Batman frowning a little himself; of course, that was nothing out of the ordinary. Richard was nowhere to be see, which was.
"If you don't mind my asking sir, where has Master Richard gone off too?" inquired Alfred.
Batman pulled off the cowl. "He said he had something to do and took off on me. Told me to meet him back at the cave." He growled.
"Some pressing matter no doubt." Alfred chuckled at the idea of little Richard telling the Batman what to do. That boy never ceased to amaze him.
"He promised to obey orders."
"I see. He follows directions almost as well as you did at that age, sir." Alfred's lip twitched.
"Times were different then."
"That fact has been duly established," said Alfred dryly. "Times may have been different, but boys are boys. It doesn't really matter what the times are like."
"It matters a great deal! He could get himself captured or killed."
"Yet you let him run off," the old man pointed out, "you must have some faith in his skills."
"I have great confidence in his combative capabilities. The kid's shown more promise than any Padawan I grew up with, including Ahsoka Tano. But…" Bruce cut himself off before he said something revealing. "…He should listen to orders better."
Alfred put a hand on Bruce's shoulder. "Your master, Force rest his soul, and I used to discus this same problem about you. Orders were there to keep you safe and to give your master some control in dangerous situations. But he also let you test yourself. Prove yourself. For years, all Master Dick has done is follow orders- ones he didn't agree with- but now he's free. He needs to spread his wings, Bruce; Robin's are meant to fly."
Batman turned away. "Robins are meant to do what bats tell them to do."
Alfred shook his head. "Keep that attitude up, and you'll lose him."
Bruce ignored the old man and folded his arms over his chest. Robin was going to have a lot of explaining to do when he got home.
Streets of Gotham:
Robin flew over the streets faster than he ever had before. Adrenaline pumped through his veins. He couldn't feel the rooftops under his feet as he ran along the cement rooftop; all he could feel was the rush of the wind, the pounding of his heart, and speed he was picking up. A smile spread across his face. He couldn't stop it. He let the hood of his cape fly off as he kept running towards the end of the roof.
Like spreading wings of tried and tested faith, Robin threw his arms out to the side and Force leapt off the tallest sky scraper in Gotham. He would never know if he was falling or flying because, while one is in the air, they are one and the same. At the last possible second, he fired a grappling-line at a nearby building and saved himself from fatal contact with the pavement. The line retracted, and he was flying back into the air once again.
Robin let out a cry of ecstasy, "YAHOO!"
He narrowly missed a collision with a redheaded girl and her father. Robin was dimly aware of the girl demanding, "daddy, what was that?" But the man's answer was lost in the roaring wind which selfishly demanded his whole attention. As he began to ascend again, the stars seemed to grow bigger. And then he was somersaulting at the peak of his line before swinging through the city once again.
Long before he wanted to, Robin found himself crouched on the rooftop of Wayne Manor. He sighed. Batman would be waiting for him. So would Alfred. They might be worried. But he just wanted to sit there on the roof; on the rooftops or in the air, he felt like he was a part of the heavens. As soon as he came down, he would have to face the fact that he was human. That he could break.
Knowing that he had to come down eventually, Robin backflipped off the roof and slipped into the cave. "Where were you?" Batman's gruff voice echoed off the walls before Robin even came fully into view.
"Flying," answered Robin.
"You were supposed to come back with me." Bruce was scowling with narrowed eyes.
Robin removed his mask and became Richard Grayson-Wayne again. "You didn't stop me."
"I shouldn't have had to. You were supposed to follow my lead."
"I did." Dick smirked. "Isn't disappearing on people one of your many traits? Can't I follow that example?"
Bruce looked dumbfounded for a moment but recovered quickly. "You know what I mean. You do as you're told."
"I didn't realize that extended past the confines of the mission," Dick retorted.
"The mission never ends." The two were perilously close to glaring at each other.
"Master Bruce indicated that you had something important to accomplish," Alfred put in.
Dick turned to the elderly butler as if attempting to decipher who's side the old man had taken. He decided it didn't matter. "I went back to talk to the boy in the hall," he confessed.
"Why?" demanded Bruce.
"Because he was left alone to deal with his loss and without any answers about his father's death," answered Dick. "It's a tough spot."
Bruce looked like he was caught in his own emotional web. It reminded Dick of how little they actually knew about each other. "That was an unnecessary risk to your safety and his."
"How?" demanded Dick.
"Whoever or whatever the empire has looking for us right now will be analyzing our every move. If they saw you and what you did for that boy, they will know how to get to you. If our theory is correct, they weren't above casually killing Willis Todd. And they won't be above using Jason as a bargaining chip against us. Sometimes the best thing we can do for people is to leave them alone," Bruce explained.
Dick looked torn inside. It felt like his heart was at war with his brain. He shook his head and gripped his hair. "I can't just leave people to hurt. I can't leave them groping around for breakable threads of hope; not when I can do something."
"Sometimes you have to." Bruce grabbed Dick's wrists and forced him to listen. "Don't wear your heart on your sleeve. You'll regret it."
"Master Bruce, I don't think…" Alfred began.
Bruce cut him off. "I'm not being hard on him. I just explained my reasons."
"It's alright, Alfred," whispered Dick, "he has a point."
Alfred looked like he wanted to protest, but in his wisdom, decided that this was neither the time nor the place. "Indeed sirs. The topic of insubordination aside, I assume your evening was productive?"
"Fairly," answered Bruce. He released Dick's wrists and strode over to the batcomputer. "Willis Todd was killed at close range by an M-113 Micro-pulse Enforcer blaster pistol. It's the preferred close-range projectile weapon of A-list bounty hunters and mercenaries." He began typing madly.
Behind him, Dick folded his arms over his chest. "So, you're going to look up a list of class A Bounty Hunters who are known to carry M-113's? And said bounty hunter may or may not have any known affiliation with the empire? Not to be pessimistic or anything, but this seems a…dead end."
"It's our only lead," Batman pointed out. "The computer will cross-reference all bounty hunters with Micro-pulse Enforcers and imperial standing."
"How long will program take?" inquired Alfred.
"Several hours. There's a lot of data to sift through."
Dick came out of a temporary introspective trance. "Bruce?"
A grunt. "What?"
"What if there was more than one person involved with Todd's murder?" His confidence increased when he was he had Bruce's full attention. "I agree that bounty hunters should be our primary suspects- Darth Vader isn't above hiring them- but I think there was more than one."
"What makes you think so?" asked Bruce, "Bounty hunters usually prefer to work alone. They don't have the best track record where cooperation is concerned."
"I sensed two…demons…in the Force back at the apartment. I think they came back to the scene of the crime to see if we would show up."
"Then we must be extra careful," Bruce decided after a moment's thought. "It'll take the computer time to give us a list of names." He stood.
"Good. Then in the meantime, seeing as the sun has risen, you two can: shower, eat, rest, and get ready for Mrs. Grandfield's annual Gothamite Social Ball this evening," said Alfred. He turned and began walking over to the changing area and showers.
While the old man's back was turned, Dick and Bruce made faces of horror and disgust. They looked at each other and realized that they were both thinking the same thing. This was going to be one intolerable evening. Dick leaned towards Bruce and whispered conspiratorially, "what if we dress up protocol droids and send them in our place?"
"Alfred will see right through it," Bruce whispered back, "what if you fake an illness and I have to stay home to take care of you?"
"I can here you conspiring against me?" Alfred's voice echoed back at them from elsewhere in the cave. "Rest assured that should you attempt to pull one of your schemes, there will be no cookies or either of you for a month."
Dick's eyes were wide. Bruce looked defeated.
"How does he do that?"
"I've had years to figure it out. The answer still alludes me."