Chapter 5: How The Tables Have Turned
After a few weeks of rigorous training under Bruce's wing, Dick was still giving it his all, with no signs of slowing down. This surprised Bruce, who thought that he would be dead on his feet after a few sessions. Dick wasn't a perfect fighter, yet, but he could hold his own against Bruce, who was admittedly holding back. "You're doing good. Better than I expected. You're faster and stronger already. Smarter too.", Bruce said, after a sparring session. "Thanks. When am I allowed to go out in the field?", Dick replied, hedging his bets. Bruce smiled, "Not yet. On your own at least. If you exceed my expectations further I'll take you out some night, let you get the lay of the land. Some night when nothing much is happening." Dick quickly replied, "So not for another few years?" The snarky zingers no longer annoyed Bruce, but instead made him thankful to have a bit of humour in his conversations.
Bruce and Dick heard the elevator coming down into the cave, turning their heads to greet Alfred. Bruce picked up a case file he had meant to give to Alfred concerning the new arrival in Gotham, Jack White. He handed the file to him as the elevator doors opened, "Alfred, I've dug up everything I could about Jack White, but it's not much. Just the card number he used to buy the park and the phone number he called the broker from. Both burners." Alfred flicked through the limited number of pages in the manila folder, "No need to worry, sir. We'll find out more." Dick chimed in, "You gonna let me read those files any time soon?" Bruce exchanged a look with him, "They're not exactly off limits. You can read them if you like. Start at the top left and work down, they're organised chronologically." Dick smiled and jumped over to the large bookshelf-esque case that held all of the 200-some files Bruce and Alfred had collected over the last two years. Bruce added, "They're all digitised too, if your eyes get sore from reading all those." Dick smiled, "I'll be sure to keep that in mind."
Dick had been travelling back and forth between the Manor and the Circus a few times every week to visit his parents, with strict orders from Bruce and Alfred to never mention anything about the training and instead to maintain the charade that he was an engineering intern at Wayne Enterprises. Dick was used to fudging the truth, so when it came to lying about this, he was a dab hand at it. His parents suspected nothing, and were very happy and excited about their son's new business venture. Dick felt bad about lying to his parents, but he couldn't mess up this chance.
As night fell, Bruce donned the suit, readying himself for the night ahead. Nothing on the police scanners so far, no signs of anything kicking off. Alfred gave him a look and flicked his eyebrows towards the young apprentice, who was silently studying at a desk. Bruce sighed and walked towards Dick, "You wanna come out tonight? Seems quiet, might be a good chance for you to learn the city." Dick's face lit up, like a child at Christmas, "Really!? Great! I'll get ready!" He had only wore the barren suit a few times before, it hadn't been painted yet and there were no symbols on it. He hadn't even chosen a name yet.
As he placed the domino mask on his face, he felt a sense of power, like he was invulnerable, a feeling Bruce felt the need to squash quick. "You're still a human being under that suit. You're still flesh and blood. A bullet won't go through the suit but it'll sure as hell give you a nasty bruise and some internal bleeding to go with it." Dick lowered his head, "I know. I just feel cool." Bruce felt bad, but he couldn't risk him getting hurt because he felt invincible, "Grab your kit, don't forget the grapnel gun." Dick nodded and walked towards the equipment bench. Bruce looked towards Alfred, "If he gets hurt, you're fixing him up." Alfred nodded in acknowledgement and walked over to the Batcomputer, putting his earpiece in.
Dick swaggered out of the cave onto the bank of the Gotham River, with Batman following behind him. He turned and struck a pose, "How do I look?" Batman walked past him, giving no answer. "That's the Amusement Mile. I don't want you going there under any circumstances. Understand?" Dick nodded, "Just because of that Jack guy? Sure, I'll stay away." Batman nodded back, "You can get a grip with your grapnel gun on the bottom parts of the bridge leading into North Gotham and swing your way across. Watch me." Batman fired the gun onto the suspension lines under the bridge and did as he instructed. Dick looked towards the bridge and raised the gun. As he fired, the rope and claw shot out, moving in a spiral, and swung around the pipe, wrapping around and gripping ahold of itself. Dick took a deep breath and pressed the second button on the grip, and he flew up and away, his cape flapping in the wind. It was the feeling he got on a trapeze every day for years, multiplied by a million. It felt great.
As the line came to an end, he got a grip on the bridge and pulled himself up, then pressed the button on the grapnel gun, which unravelled the rope and brought it back into the barrel. He looked at Batman, who seemed impressed, "That was awesome!" Batman smiled slightly, then snapped himself back, "You'll get the hang of it eventually, that was just lucky." Dick looked at the grapnel gun, entranced. Batman fired at the next line and swung to grab the one after. After he landed, he looked back at Dick, who was still amazed. Dick took another deep breath and did the same. Aim, fire, swing, grab. It worked. They kept doing this until they reached the end of the bridge, and jumped off into the bank of the Miagani Channel.
"Point the gun at the lip of a roof, and the hook will dig into the side. You'll be able to grab the ledge and pull yourself up." Batman demonstrated by pointing his grapnel gun and launching himself onto the roof of Stagg Enterprises. Dick watched intently, and attempted to do the same. He pointed, and he fired. But no grab. The hook just came back into its hold. Batman came over the comms, "You missed by about 6 feet up. Aim an inch down." Dick did as he instructed and aimed up an inch, and fired again. This time, when he fired, there was a grab, and he flew upwards, quickly approaching the roof of the building. When he got to the ledge, he grabbed a hold of the lip and pulled himself onto the roof. Batman nodded, "Eventually, you'll be able to use the momentum to pull yourself up automatically, instead of using your arms."
Batman walked over to the large skylight in the middle of the roof and carefully peered into it, spying a large, metal and glass case that was fogging up the room. Batman recoiled slowly, "My god, Freeze was right." Dick looked at him questioningly, "Victor Fries? Mr. Freeze? That's his wife in there?" Batman sighed and talked to Alfred over comms, "You getting that, Alfred? Stagg actually does have Freeze's wife. She's being kept on display on the top floor of the Stagg Enterprises building in Burnley." Alfred quickly replied, "Are you going to do anything about it, sir?" Batman exhaled loudly, "Not tonight. It's too much danger for Dick." Dick interjected, "I can handle it, don't worry. She's been kidnapped and needs our help." Batman looked at the cryochamber keeping Nora Fries frozen, and replied, "Fine. But anything goes wrong and you get yourself out of here and leave me to deal with it." Dick nodded, agreeingly.
Batman silently popped the lock on the maintenance hatch in the corner of the roof, and slowly opened the bulky trapdoor, being careful not to make a sound. Dick crouched down behind him, ready to follow right on his heels. Batman slid down the ladder and waved Dick down, looking around the room for threats, but there were none. No cameras or apparent security systems either. Batman stood up out of his crouching position, with Dick doing the same. They both looked at the sub-zero chamber that kept Nora in cryostasis, which Freeze put her in to halt her body degrading due to her Huntington's Chorea, so he could have more time to find her a cure, at which he has been unsuccessful.
Suddenly, a loud alarm sounded, and the skylight closed over with metal bars, and sealed the maintenance hatch they entered from. Dick quickly tried pressing the elevator buttons, but to no avail. Batman looked around for any doors, but there were none to be seen, and sighed, "So much for fire safety." The elevator dinged, and as Dick backed away to stand beside Batman, the doors opened., revealing a small group of armed guards pointing their rifles at the duo. "Freeze! Hands up!" Batman and Dick did not comply with their latter order and kept their hands by their utility belts, primed for action. As the group exited the elevator, they parted to show a short man in a grey suit, with his hands held behind his back. Batman raised his head, "Stagg."
Simon Stagg, no known aliases. Multi-billionaire entrepreneur and CEO of Stagg Enterprises. Stagg has been known to bribe corrupt guards at Blackgate and Arkham Asylum to let a few inmates 'escape', so that he can conduct experiments on them. These experiments can range from research into what extreme radiation does to the body, to poisoning them with anthrax or other horrible bacteria to test new antibiotics. These experiments get overlooked to due Stagg having a large amount of police officers on payroll.
The man nodded and smiled, "Too right, sir. And I presume you are who they call The Batman, yes? Usually it's you stopping people breaking and entering. How the tables have turned." Dick's nervous heartrate began to slow down, but adrenaline was still pumping through his veins. Stagg walked towards the pair, careful not to step into the guards' line of fire, "I assume you're here because that Freeze nutjob told you his wife was here. Good job with him, by the way." Stagg looked between Batman and Dick and stared at Nora, "The poor woman doesn't need a man like that trying to save her. So I have diverted 25% of my research funding towards a cure for her disease. Huntington's, I believe. Terrible disease."
Stagg sighed and turned on his heels, walking back towards the elevator, "Thanks for stopping by, Batman. And whoever you are. But I'm afraid our time has come to an end. Or yours has, rather." As Stagg entered the elevator, the doors started to close, and as soon as they did, the guards raised their guns to fire. Batman pushed Dick out of the line of fire and threw a small metallic ball at his feet, which erupted into a massive cloud of smoke, disorienting the guards and allowing Batman and Dick a chance to fight back. As the smoke edged closer to the guards, the duo readied themselves for action, and as soon at the first two guards were engulfed in smoke, they pounced. A split second later, two guards were laying unconscious on the floor, their heads smashed together. Followed by another two. Then another. And finally the last two guards' heads hit the floor. As the smoke cleared, literally and figuratively, Dick let out a sigh of relief, and marvelled in the aftermath of his first fight out in the field.
Batman calmly walked towards the maintenance hatch, and Dick shouted after him, "Hey! We aren't just going to leave her here, are we?" Batman turned to him, "She'll have a better chance at getting cured here than in Freeze's hands. He can work on something else at Arkham." Dick sighed, but understood what he said. Batman forced open the bars on the maintenance hatch, and climbed up back onto the roof. Dick followed him, and looked at his mentor leaning over the ledge, his black suit against the black sky. Dick walked up to him, and out his hands on his hips, "I think I figured out a name." Batman turned and looked at him, saying nothing. "Robin, like Robin Hood. But also the bird," Dick said, awkwardly. Batman nodded, "Sure. Sounds good, Robin."