Chpt. XXXVII: Bluebird

Dick walked across the rooftop of the apartment building, surveying the landscape underneath him. He searched for the black muscle truck parked in the street below, confirming the location of Nolan's car that Jim sent to Dick. Bruce & Dick had gone over the plan for the State of the City Address that was taking place that night. Bruce would survey the security, checking for any signs of suspicion during the event. While that was going on, Dick would check his lead, seeing if the car would lead to Nolan Drake. If it didn't, Dick would need to report immediately back to City Hall, where the Address would take place.

Dick had asked Harper Row to be on coms with him, hoping to be able to have someone watch over him as he made his moves through the city. As he made his way across the rooftop, he glanced down & noticed a familiar Dodge Charger. It was an older model, possible '89, maybe older. But it was the right car.

Dick raised his finger up to his ear & pressed against the earpiece. "Bluebird, you see this?" he asked Harper.

"Um," Harper's voice hummed as Dick heard her clicking away at a keyboard. "Yeah, I've got visual. I see it." Harper let out a whistle. "Wow, this is a really cool feature you installed in your suit. The camera feed directly from your glasses is a really sick touch."

Dick grinned. "It's not from my glasses," he admitted. "It's a mask. It's a whole new suit, actually."

"Oh, really? Well, when you're done with this, you've gotta let me see the full suit in action."

Dick nodded. "For sure," he said. Dick stared down at the car, then surveyed the building it was parked by. It was an old apartment building in the ghetto of Gotham. Dick would have no problem getting in. The only issue would be finding out whether or not Nolan Drake was actually inside.

Dick took a few steps back from the edge of the rooftop, letting his hand drop down to a grapple hook holstered on his thigh. He removed it slowly, & shut his eyes. He breathed in & out, & after taking a few deep breaths, he opened his eyes again. He began to run towards the edge of the rooftop &, placing one foot on the edge & the other out in the air, leaped off of the rooftop. He felt the wind rush past his face, & suddenly he was flying through the air under a large circus tent. The nostalgic feeling of being a Flying Grayson overwhelmed Dick for a brief second, but he envisioned his newly revamped Flying Grayson leotard, with the body armor & cape & weaponry, & suddenly he was the Robin again. Dick quickly shot his arm out & pulled the trigger of the grapple hook, watching it latch onto the roof of the apartment building. Dick grabbed the grapple gun with both hands & swung his legs out, letting the hook pull him up through the air, shooting him over the edge of the apartment building roof. He landed softly on the building, with his legs extended & one palm pressing down on the concrete.

Dick stood up & let out a satisfied sigh. "Did you see that, Bluebird?"

Harper let out a soft laugh. "Yeah, that was dope, Robin," Harper said.

Dick walked towards the emergency exit of the rooftop & made his way down the stairwell. As he did so, Harper briefed him. "So, according to the address where you're located, there is in fact ONE room being paid for by a Mr. Oswald Cobblepot."

"That's gotta be Drake," Dick said.

"That's right," Harper agreed. "It says his payments are for room 212."

"On it." Dick began to rush down the stairwell, counting down the numbers marked on the walls of the stairs. He watched as the numbers got closer, from 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, & finally, 2. Dick stopped in front of the second floor door & opened it slowly, peering down the hall. Nobody was around. Dick walked slowly down the hall, searching for room 212. Suddenly, he came across the room. It was quiet, causing Dick to believe that perhaps it was a mistake.

Dick shook his head. Nolan Drake should be inside.

Dick reached down towards his utility belt, similar to the Batman's, & removed two Batarangs. Dick insisted that he get his own styled blades, but Bruce had suggested against it for the time being. Dick held the blades up, ready to toss them if necessary. In one swift motion, Dick kicked down the apartment door & swung his arm forward, throwing the blades across the room.

The blades hit the wall behind a bed, where a young man sat. He was shirtless, lying in a bed of what looked like a one bedroom apartment. There was no living room, no kitchen. Just the bed in the middle of the room, & a desk near the side. Large computers were placed around, with wires tangled across the lining of the room. The man in the bed looked shocked. He looked a lot older than Dick, but only by a few years. He was really good looking, but he looked horrified. It wasn't Nolan Drake.

"Where's Drake?" Dick asked in a low, raspy voice.

The man shuttered in his bed. "What…?"

"NOLAN DRAKE!" Dick growled. "WHERE IS HE?"

"I don't-"

Dick removed the long, metal pole that was holstered on his back & swung it down hard against the bed, in between the man's legs. "DON'T LIE TO ME!"

The man brought his legs up to his chest & raised his hands up in fear. "Oh my gosh, please don't kill me! I swear to God, I have no idea where Nolan is right now, I swear on my life!"

Dick stared at the man. His eyes were wide open, & his built chest was heaving hard. This man was truly afraid. Did he really not know where Nolan Drake was?

"Who...are you?" the young man asked. His voice got higher & softer with every second that Dick stared at him. After a few moments, Dick turned to the computers by the nearby desk & began to inspect them. He removed a flash drive that Harper had given to Dick earlier. He placed it within a USB port of one of the computers. It began to download every file from the computer's hard drive straight into the flash drive. Dick waited for the transferring of the data to be completed. Suddenly, the man spoke again. "Is Nolan in trouble?"

Dick turned back to the man, who was still hiding himself underneath the blankets of the bed. He shook his head. "I had no idea that he was a bad man. Well, I knew, but, I wasn't sure HOW bad of a man he was. I thought he just, like, dealt drugs. But...if he's getting caught up in this vigilante business, then...it's a lot more worse than that, isn't it…?"

Dick took a few steps closer towards the man in the bed. "Has Nolan Drake really not told you anything?" Dick asked softly in his normal voice.

The man shook his head. "No...nothing...he never talks about his work. Or his friends. Or his family. He doesn't talk about himself, much. Just how he wants a better life for him & I."

Dick stared at the man with a subtly raised eyebrow. He was confused. Nolan Drake was keeping...this guy from his plans? Was his criminal mastermind lifestyle a secret? Or...was this guy the secret?

Dick cleared his throat. "How...how do you know Nolan, again?"

The man smiled softly. "We, um…" his face began to blush a bright red. "I'm not sure what we would label ourselves as. I don't know if I'd call him my boyfriend yet, but...we're certainly getting there."

"Oh," he said softly. "Nolan & you are boning."

The man shrugged. "Yeah, pretty much."

Dick nodded. "Huh," he hummed to himself. "Didn't see that coming."

The man raised an eyebrow. "Are you, like, his ex or something?"

"Am I actually hearing this right?" Harper asked on the earpiece.

Dick shook his head. "So, are you SURE that you have NO idea where Nolan is right now? Or maybe what he's been planning?"

The man nodded to the computer. "He would spend late hours tapping away on that computer. If he had any sort of plans about anything, it might be there. I'm telling you, he doesn't tell me anything."

Dick nodded, & glanced back at the flash drive. There was a red flashing light on the drive. It was still downloading files.

"Hey, Robin," Harper started. "Switch to infrared for a second. I'm...picking something up."

Dick reached to the side of his mask & pressed hard, switching his vision to night vision. He pressed once more for infrared. He was picking up heat signatures from the warm computer. He turned towards the man, who was warm in various spots on his body. He then turned to the left, where he was picking up a heat signature...in a closet.

Dick pressed the mask to allow him to see in normal vision again. He turned to the man. "Who else is here?"

The man held his hands up. "Nobody, I swear!"

Dick drew a small blade with one hand from his utility belt & launched himself onto the bed, pressing the blade across the man's throat. "I will slit your throat right here & now if you don't tell me who else you're hiding in here."

"I'm not hiding any-"

"Is Nolan Drake here right now?" Dick roared.

"No!" the man cried. He began to sob in genuine fear.

"Robin, hop off of the guy. I don't think he knows anything."

Dick took a deep breath & slid off of the bed, placing the blade back into the belt. "I'm sorry, man," Dick said softly.

The man nodded in an erratic motion, shivering in fear. Dick felt really bad, invoking this sort of trauma & fear on an innocent bystander. He wish he had a heart rate sensor in his mask, to help him determine whether someone was lying or not. He'd have to talk to Bruce about that.

Dick made his way to the door & tugged on the doorknob. It was locked. He glanced to the man. "Has this always been locked?"

The man nodded. "Nolan never let me inside."

Dick nodded, & removed a small pin that he happened to have in his pocket. He began to pick the lock of the doorknob, trying to unlock the closet. After a few moments, Dick heard a click, & swing the closet door open. Inside the dark closet was a horrific sight.

"Oh my god," Dick gasped to himself.

Dick knelt down in the closet, staring at the young boy. He was dark haired & was wearing ripped & tattered clothes, revealing almost his entire body. He was bloody, bruised, & scarred all over his skin. The boy's chest was hardly moving. For a second, Dick thought the boy was dead. But there was a small sign of life. The boy couldn't have been more than 9 or 10 years old.

"Dick…" Harper's voice spoke softly through the earpiece. Dick almost forgot she could see what he saw. "That's…" Harper's voice trailed off.

Dick reached over to the boy to try to wake him. Before he made physical contact with the boy, the boy awoke & pulled himself away from Dick. "Please don't hurt me!" the boy cried.

Dick brought his hand back to himself. He removed his mask from his face, revealing himself to the boy. "I'm not going to hurt you," Dick said. "I'm here to help you."

The boy shook his head. "I don't want anymore help."

Dick felt his heart shatter. What in God's name did Nolan Drake do to this kid?

"Dick...ask him his name for me," Harper said. "I've got to be sure."

Dick cleared his throat. "My name is Robin," Dick said with a soft smile.

For a moment, the boy didn't acknowledge him. But after a second, the boy looked up at Dick with calmer eyes. "Robin...like the bird?"

Dick nodded. "Exactly like the bird."

The boy looked down at his hands. His eyes trailed back to Dick's body armor. The bright colors got the boy's attention. "Can you fly?" he asked.

Dick smiled. He leaned closer & nodded. "Yes, I can."

The boy's mouth stretched to a genuine smile. He looked down at his feet again, with less sadness in his eye.

Dick bit his lip, then looked the boy in his eyes. "What's your name?"

The boy looked up at Dick. "Cullen."

"Oh my god, Dick," Harper cried through the static. "That's my brother, Dick! That's my baby brother!"

Dick shut his eyes tight. He felt a tear drop down from his cheek. Cullen sat forward & wiped Dick's cheek. "Why are you crying, Robin?"

Dick let out a soft laugh & took Cullen's tiny hand in his own gloved hand. "It's nothing," Dick said. "I'm okay."

Cullen nodded & readjusted himself, sitting with his legs crossed. He sat up straight, as if he was ready to hear Dick tell a story.

Dick suddenly had an idea.

He sat down & crossed his legs like Cullen was. He leaned closed. "Wanna hear something awesome?" Dick asked. Cullen nodded. Dick continued. "I've got a friend here on the line," he said, pointing to his ear. "Her name is Bluebird. I think she would want to talk to you. Is that okay with you?"

Cullen nodded. "Hi, Bluebird!" he said with such enthusiasm.

Dick pressed his earpiece. "Did you hear that, Bluebird?"

There was silence on the coms. Dick waited to hear some indication that Harper was still there. Suddenly, he heard a sniffling sound, & Harper let out a sob. Dick felt his chest grow heavy.

"What did she say?" Cullen asked.

Dick opened his mouth to speak, when suddenly Harper's voice echoed not in his ear, but through some hidden speaker on his own armor. "Hi, Cullen!"

Dick looked down at his armor, then up at Cullen, who was smiling still. "You sound like my sister," Cullen said.

Harper let out a weak laugh. "Well, that's because I know your sister, silly!"

Cullen gasped, with his eyes excited. "You know Harper?"

"Yes, Cullen, I do. She's my best friend."

Cullen scooted closer to Dick, although he was really trying to get closer to Bluebird. "Can you tell her I miss her?"

Harper sniffled again. "She knows you do, baby," she said as her voice cracked in tears. "Harper misses you so much."

Cullen nodded. A small tear dropped from his face. He looked back up at Dick. "Are you & Robin going to take me back to see my sister?"

"Yes, Cullen. Robin is going to take you home back to your sister."

Dick smiled. He reached down & placed his mask back over his eyes. He reached for a nearby towel in the closet & draped it around Cullen. "Let's go home, Cullen."

Dick stood up & held his hand out to help Cullen up. Cullen's skinny arm extended out from under the towel, but as he grabbed onto Dick's hand & tried to stand up, he fell back down. His legs were too weak to hold himself back up.

Dick sighed & reached down, picking Cullen's entire body up. He carried him out of the small closet as Cullen wrapped his thin legs around Dick's waist & his fragile arms around Dick's neck. Dick glanced at the man in the bed, who stared back in a solemn stare. He had no idea what Nolan was doing. He looked devastated. He was heartbroken.

Dick walked over to the computers, where the flash drive blinked green. The files had been completely downloaded.

Dick walked out of the apartment, making his way down the hall. Dick pressed onto his earpiece. "Bluebird, call Detective Jim Gordon. Have him pick Cullen up from here. I've got to get Nolan Drake."