A Lost Little Boy
I love watching the rain from here. Right on the roof of the manor where I can see Gotham in the distance. Rain is so beautiful. Each droplet of water trickling down from the sky. I can see my hot breathe on the cold air of the night. I turn my head so that I am looking right up into the sky and I close my eyes. The sound of the water hitting my face is a sensation that I could never describe. Then a sound interupts my ecstacy, the sound of a car. I peek off the ledge and see that it is Bruce returning from some event he was expected to attend. I went with him once. Never again. I wait until he is inside the house to lay back. He will probably be curious as to where I am. Bruce has never found me when I come up here but, even still I decide to leave the grounds for a little while. So, I shimmy down the side of the manor and hop onto the wet ground. I place my hands into my pockets and depart for the city.
I find myself in some alley where there would normlly be some scum thugs. They always seem to disappear when it gets wet outside. If only it could rain forever. I walk twords the end of this alley and easily hop over a large wooden fence to get to the other side. More alley. Not that I expected anything less. There is one thing that I did not expect. A shadowy figure coming down the fire escape. I look up, squiting my eyes in an attempt to keep the rain out. It is a young boy. I am thouroughly surprised. He slipps and starts to fall twords me. I ready myself to catch him, but he grabbs the end of the ladder. Now that he is within good eyeshot, I notice that he is hurt pretty bad. I grab the poor kid, and help him to the ground. "Let me go!" he yells. "Are you okay?" I ask, disregarding the almost threat. "Leave me alone!" he says before running off. Normally I would run after him, but I'm not playing the hero character today, so I let him run off into the thick of the rain.
Finaly, I return back at the manor. I go in the back door to avoid any confrontations. Heading up the main staircase, I run into Alfred, "Hey Al," I say and continue up the stairs. "Master Dick, " he looks at me, slighty confused, "Are you alright?" I wave my hand in the air and reply, "Yeah, just went for a walk." I continue until I get to the third door on the left, my room. Peeling the soaked clothing from my body, I get a quick shower and throw on some sweats. Exhausted, I lay down on my freshly washed sheets and close my eyes. Surprisingly, I see that boy in my head. His face won't leave me alone and I can't help but feel that he needs help. Annoyed by the distraction I head to the batcave to seek answeres. Hopefully Bruce won't be down there. I don't feel like playing twenty questions about what I am doing.
Luckily he isn't there. I sit in the chair at the computer and start to search files. Suddenly I see a picture that looks like him. I click the thunbnail to get a larger version. It is not the boy but, I can see the boy in this man's face. 'His father maybe,' I think to myself. Jack 'Shifty' Drake: deceased. He does have a kid though. No picture but, I can feel that this is the kid. It says here that the last known address was in that alley I was in earlier. Not a coincidence. There's nothing on this kid. I go upstairs to see if I can find Bruce. He keeps all the keys to the cars in his possession. Hopefully he will let me borrow one of the cars.
I find him sitting in the study. No doubt working on something that has some connection to crime. I walk over to him and see that I am right. He is reading the newspaper to get any leads he can. "What is it Dick?" he asks turning the page of his paper. "I need to borrow one of the cars to go into the city." I reply. He looks up from his paper and at me with those penetrating eyes, "Why?" "There's something I have to take care of." Bruce looks very unconvinced, "What until it's done raining." I can't wait. This kid is tearing at my subconscious. "It can't wait." He looks back at his paper, "Yes it can." I know that I will never win this argument, so I head back down into the cave. I will just have to take the batmobile. Bruce will be furious at me when I get back, but right now I don't care. I suit up and drive off.
I parked behind an old run down building and bring up the sheilds before heading up the fire escape. I look into the window of the apartment, it looks like there could be someone living here but, I don't know how. Everything is a mess, and there are bugs on the walls. The indicater is that there is a matress in the corner with fresh urine on it. The kid must have gotten scared and wet the bed. I hear some noise from upstairs, which is the roof because this the top floor. I get back onto the fire escape and head up. That kid is up there. He is getting the tar beat out of him. My instincts tell me to rush in and save the boy but, I hold back to find out why he is being attacked.
"Where is it Tim!" the thug yells in his face as he picks him clear off the ground, "Where is the stuff Shifty stole from the boss!...Nothing to say, huh? Your just as stupid as your old man!" With that he threw Tim to the ground and lifted his fist high in the air. I lept from behind the place where I was hiding to stop this abuse. I was stopped dead in my tracks when Batman grabbed the man and threw him against a wall and cuffed him. "Batman?" I yelled surprised, "How did you..." He just looked at me. I decided to talk later, right now I wanted to help Tim. He was curled into a ball when I knelt next to him, "Are you okay, Tim?" He looked up at me with tears welled up in his eyes, I could tell that he was holding them back. "I'll be fine, I always am." he said. "Does this happen often?" I asked upon hearing that unexpected response. "Yeah, but I can handle it. I've been on my own for two years now." He stood and starred at me. I was in shock. This kid on his own. I had to do something. I turned to look at Bruce, with the 'we have to do something' look. "Let's go Robin," he replied,"The boy said that he would be fine." I was in amazement. I could not believe that he did not want to help this poor child. He lept off the roof and I followed after looking at Tim one last time. His eyes told me that he was not alright.
There was not one word spoken between the two of us until we were back in the cave. "I can't believe you just took the batmobile and left without telling me!" Bruce yelled furiously as he removed the suit, "You should have told me what was going on and I would have gone with you!" I threw on sweats after removing the last peice of my suit, "I don't know why I didn't tell you but, it was something that I felt I had to do. Anyway how did you know where I was?" "You left the computer on, Dick." We were both calming down now but, I was still furious that he left Tim on that roof. Bruce looked into my iced eyes and read the cold thoughts of the boy, "What would you have done?" I just walked away because I didn't even know the answere. I went to seek sanctuary in my room.
It wasn't long before my stomache was twisting thinking about Tim. I was seeing him being beaten on that rooftop over and over. "Damn!" I cursed myself, "Why won't this just go away!" My once relaxed position on my bed had turned into a tensed hell. I knew that I had to do something. I couldn't tell Bruce my plans. He would never let me go and I have to. I crept out of the manor and off the grounds. My walk turned to a run and I headed twords the city. Not noticing the shadow in the window watching me race away.
The rain had ceased to fall but, a deep fog took its place. I knew the way to the city like the back of my hand or else, the fog would have been a slight set back. The whole way there I was in a jog, conserving energy and, giving me time to come up with a plan. 'Maybe Bruce would take him in,' was my first thought that I shot down the second it entered my mind, then, 'I will find out what is going on, then think of what is the right course to take.' Feeling confident in my decision, I speed up to a full run. The quicker I got to that apartment, he quicker I could help Tim.
When I finaly reached the fire escape, I looked up into the fog. Nothing. I wasn't wearing my costume so, it would be better if I used the real door instead of the emergency exit but, he probly wouldn't let me in. I lept into the air and grabbed the end of the ladder firmly in my hand and pulled it down with me. With one more look up into the fog, I began me ascent to the window of the Drake's apartment. I slipped only once around the eigth floor but recovered without a thought. Then I reached the window and decided to just look in first. Acess my soon to be surroundings. I spied Tim on the floor of the apartment with a dirty rag in his hands, washing the exposed wounds on his face. He was just sitting there, alone. I couldn't grasp the fact that he was alone in this dump. I opened the window and slipped inside unnoticed.
I started to come up behind him when I hit a loud floor board and he sprung to his feet, "Get away from me!" he yelled in fear and anger. I put my hands in front of me as a gesture of friendliness and spoke in a low, gentle voice, "Tim, I am only here to help you. I want to get you away from those guys that were hitting you earlier." He threw the dirty rag in my face and yelled at me, "I don't want your help!" He preceded to attempt a fight with me and I dogged all of his throws and kicks. I worked my way to the window once again and slipped out. Tim shut the wondow after me and locked it. I didn't even figure out what the problem was. I didn't help Tim at all! I reached the ground and took another look up into the fog that had gotten lighter while I was inside the apartment. I could see a shadowed figure in the window looking down at me. I knew that figure would be with me forever. Placing my hands into my pockets and pulling up the collar on my coat, I headed back twords the Manor with a lump on my throat as the images of the beating flashed through my brain. There was no way that I could just let this go. I let out a long breath into the air and looked up at the newly darkened sky. The light from the moon eluminated my treck home. All the while, my mind was on Tim. I knew that Bruce would be furious when I returned back. This was the second time tonight that I had headed into the city without so much as a 'see you later'. Right now though, that was not bothering me as much as it usually would.
When the Manor was in sight, I paused my movements. I thought of the nice warm bed and the great people I was going home to. Tim had none of this. Tim didn't have anything. I made myself a promise that would take care of myself tonight and start back on the 'case' tomorrow. I again began to shorten the distance between me and the Manor. Growing ever more tired with every step, ever more frustrated with my incapability to do anything for Tim. I couldn't help him in this condition though. I knew Bruce was waiting for me. Thats why it was no surprise to me that when I came up to the door, Alfred opened and said, in his wrinkly old voice, "Master Bruce requests your presence in the study young Sir." I knew what that meant. I was 'in trouble'. Alfred leaned in close to me as I walked by and added, "Is the young lad alright?" I could see the concern in the butler's face. I figured lying to keep his spirits up would be okay, "Yea Al, I saw him. The kid's okay." Those words burned me and only made my guilty conscience grow. I knew he wasn't okay, yet, I let myself come home. I left Tim there. I tried deperately to remove the thoughts as I continued twords the study. Even before I entered, I could feel Bruce's dissatisfaction.
He was sitting in his father's large chair at the desk in the room that was walled with large shelves containing a wide variety of books. He did not look up from his paper as I entered, he just spoke, "Jack 'Shifty' Drake is one of Two-Face's thugs. His son, Timothy Drake, is thirteen. Hasn't attended a day of school in a year and a half. Has been in juvenille detention four times..." I could not believe what i was hearing from Bruce. Was this the same guy? The same guy that left Tim on the roof just a few short hours ago? Now all of a sudden he cares? Whats going on? "Bruce..." I started but, couldn't put into words what I wanted to say. He looked up at me and his face told me that this was true compasion. Who would have thought? "I've been keeping an eye on the kid for a few years. I can't be there everytime Jack gets drunk though," he explained as I continued my dumbfounded look, "I never knew that it bothered you, Dick. Why didn't you just tell me and let me help you?" That was a good question. I had no idea why did not ask for Bruce's help. I know he would have been more than ready to do anything but, why was I so closed about this? "I don't know..." I trailed off.
Bruce stood from his chair and walked from behind the big desk. I slumped into one of the chairs and put my hand to my face as if to hide everything I was feeling from Bruce. He knelt next to me and put his hand on my shoulder, "Dick, I know you are confused and I know how bad this hurts you and that you want to help and we are going to find a way to fix this okay? I promise that we are going to find a way to make this right for Tim." I felt his grip tighten before it was gone. I listened as his footsteps trailed off and disappeared, and waited until I could no longer hear the steps before getting up. So many thoughts were swirling around inside of me. Maybe I should go back right now but, what would I be able to do? This kid shut down and I know neither Bruce or I will be able to just get to him that easy. He must be so scared. The anger started to build up inside me again and I headed for the cave, determined to find something that could have an impact. Something that would gain his trust.
When I had reached the bottom of the staircase into the cave, I noticed that Bruce was seated at the main computer. He heard me and spoke, "I knew that you would be here eventually." I replied with a sigh of acknowledgement that he had spoken, then walked over to see what he had pulled up on the screen. There was everything that Tim's father had ever been involved with, and anything he could dig up on Tim. I was scanning everything trying to log it all away for further reference. There were so many things to consider when trying to think of a way to help him. He doesn't want to trust which is understandable but, we need him to trust us if we are going to really be able to help him at all. I started to think aloud, "We have to get him to trust us." I looked at Bruce and waited for his response.
He looked at me, right in the eyes. It was one of the first times that I had felt that Bruce was looking at me not through me in a long time. He was silent for a moment before he spoke, "Dick, you know what he is gong through, you share simliar pain. You are closer to his age. Get through to him. I know you can do it." At that moment I realized how much I meant to Bruce, how much my happiness meant to Bruce. My response was slightly delayed as thoughts cluttered my mind, "He won't trust someone he who doesn't see him as an equal. Someone who sees him as a person and not only a pawn in the game of life. He won't trust anyone who doesn't earn it and return it." I spoke from memory as the words came from my head. These were the feelings I had had so many years ago. Was it so long ago?