Dick Grayson
Chapter 4- Death Calls
Hours pass and Dick sits quietly in the office of Commissioner Jim Gordon. Voices are heard, traveling up and down the halls from where Dick was being held, but none originated from people that Dick recognized. Along with the various voices, dozens of feet stomped the ground down the halls, that echoed in the cold and quit room that held a single boy. Dick sat in the corner of the office with his head down, contemplating his life and where it would lead. For the boy knew that both his mother and father were scratched from the land of the living. A pair of scissors sat on the desk, whispering to the boy, tempting him to commit such an inconceivable act. Dick sat and waited as the hours passed with the voices in his head pounding louder and louder.
"Come on, do it, do it Dick…..DO IT NOW!"
Dicks face twitched, and twitched until he finally stood up and walked to the desk.
" Yes…..it's the only way to make things right….for me at least."
Dick grasped the scissors and placed the sharpest edge near his right wrist, while his eyes widened and widened. The edge was cold and heavy as the tip of the scissors touched Dick's wrist. Just then a sniper bullet pierced the through the window and penetrated into the wall behind Dick, just barely missing his head. Dick fell to the ground as he heard the glass break. After the one bullet missed the target, dozens of other bullets came flying in. When a few rounds died out the door was kicked open with a gun appearing outside the door.
"Dick, if your alright, STAY DOWN! And whatever you do, don't stand until I give you the word that its clear to step up again."
The shots ceased as the alarm within the building rang with a constant buzz while the commissioner laid down his pistol and walked over to Dick. The commissioner bent down to Dick's height and helped him up to his feet slowly.
"Are you alright son?"
Just as the commissioner was helping Dick stand, as a cloud of memories began to whisk Dick away into his own book of memories within his fragile mind.
The day was October, only a year before the accident that took his parents away. The day was cool, with the sun shinning brighter than ever, as if it were glowing for one person, and that person was Dick. The opening of the Circus tent allowed the sun to rain its glorious rays of light as Dick soared the air with his father.
"Hang on son, don't let go just yet."
"Yeah, yeah I know, I have to wait until the bar goes up and then down in order for me to catch it. I already know all of this dad."
"Alright Richard if you say so, but I have my worries. So in order for me to be carefree about your safety, I always have to make sure you remember everything about what it is were doing here every day."
Dick laughed and looked away from the swing as it passed by the air so swiftly and weightless. Dick released his grasp from his father and leaped forth into the skies within the caged tent, reaching his hands out to the swing. He reached and reached but frowned with fear as he couldn't catch the swing that was fleeing from his grasp.
"Ahhhhh!!! HELP!!"
Dick flew down to the net and rolled to the center with the wires of the net snapping loose from the poles which they were tied to. There was a thump that echoed through the tent as Dick was now lying on the ground rubbing his head. John leaped to the stage high above and quickly began to climb down the latter once he touched the stage. A father took a sons hand and pulled the son up to his feet which was occurring once again, but only this time was different. For this time the father of the acrobatic son was nowhere to be seen or heard, but only in the mind of being that carries the memory of the father that is no more.
"I said are you alright son?"
Dick shook his head and scouted the room, gazing at the bullets that were indented within the walls as the commissioner began to escort Dick out of the office and into the crowded halls. The commissioner guided Dick downstairs to special holding cell with a few guards posting themselves in front of the entrance.
"Sorry Dick, but this is the safest place that we can place you at for now. This cell is the center of the department and has only one exit and entrance. So you should be safe in here. Excuse me Dick, but I have to leave you here and check on the crime scene."
Dick just shrugged and took a seat on the cold hard bed that was set before him. In the cleanest and darkest cell to ever be seen. Dick tilted his head down to the ground as he began to think again. The voice started to approach his mind once again.
"Join us………..Join us son, we miss you, come join us, just join us. You don't belong there without us son, JOIN US!."
Just then a staff was tapped against the bars of the cell. When the first tap of the bar was heard, Dick instantly snapped out of his unusual trans.
"Hey there Dick, guess who the commissioner let in."
Dick sat up and saw the figure of a girl. The girl was the daughter of the commissioner who he had seen just that morning.
"Barbara right?" he said with a quick sniff from his nose.
"You guessed right Dick, I even got the keys from the good old deputy from outside. Father said to also check up on you with this plate of yummy food." she held out a bag from a place called burger planet which was sitting on a large plate.
"Its alright…..I'm not hungry right now. Just tired, that's all." he said this as he slowly fell ton the bed sideways while he still sat on the bed.
"Come on Dick, I heard you haven't eaten anything at all since probably yesterday."
"No…..I'm not hungry, just leave me be."
"I'm not leaving until I see you take one bite of this food." she pouted and shifted her head to side with her eyes closed.
Dick sighed and sat back up.
"Fine….but just one bite and you leave right?"
Barbara nodded her head up and down with a smile as she opened the cell, with the sound of keys jingling throughout the room. The cell was now open as Barbara happily dashed beside Dick and placed the food between them, pulling out two burgers and then a pair of fries that were tugged neatly into a small paper bag.
"I thought you said you were leaving after my bite?" he jerked his head to the back a little as he looked at her and the two burgers."
"Oh, did I say one bite, I meant the last bite of your burger." She smiled and laughed as she handed the burger to Dick.
Dick sighed again and took the burger as he took his first bite, which felt like needles being dropped down his stomach with each swallow that he took.
"What's the matter Dick? You look a little sick."
"Nothing….I feel fine, really." He took another bite and scouted around until he found what he was searching for. A napkin that he placed over his mouth to spit some of the food into as he ate with Barbara on his side.
"Alright if you say so." she smiled and continued to eat, without noticing what Dick was doing with the napkins.
A few minutes passed and the bag of food was now empty as Barbara stood up and walked to the cell door.
"Well I guess a promise was a promise. I'll leave you be for now." she smiled as she opened the door and walked out.
Dick sat in the cell alone and cold, with no hopes of ever having a happy life. A boy sat and waited, waited for death? Or possible a savior? The boy pondered and pondered, all day and all night, while the moon glowed brightly in the coldest, most darkest night of Gotham's nights. A beacon of light opened the darkened clouds with a symbol that echoed hope throughout the sleepless city. Minutes pass and a dark figure appears at the origin of light. The place was at the very top and edge of the police headquarters. Commissioner Jim Gordon stood, waiting for a particular person as he grasped a cup of coffee in one hand and a single smoke in the other.
"Jim" A dark figure within the shadows said as he neared the commissioner from behind."
"Damn it!, Batman, didn't I say to quit doing that. I swear the next time you do that to me, I'll end up falling to the ground with a heart attack." he patted his own chest and rubbed it as he gave off a quick laugh.
"That's what you said last time Jim. Now lets cut to the chase, I don't have all night to chit chat with you." Batman stepped out of the shadows a little more and crossed his arms over his chest.
"Alright, alright Batman. There's one case in particular that I would like for you to check out, and that is Tony Zucco." he handed batman a file.
"The mobster? I thought he was killed a while back in the crime wars in Gotham."
"We thought that too, at least until surveillance caught him at a mall, a god damn mall of all places. Right over in downtown even. I couldn't believe it myself either, but were one hundred percent that it's him alright."
"And how do you know this?"
"Well, glad you asked. You see we sent an undercover cop around the other places that we started catching Zucco on tape. After three days it turned out that he's not only alive, but he's also still running his luck with the mob. Only this time he's the head honcho. The last place that we believe he was seen at, was over at the Circus last night. We have suspicions to believe that he's behind the whole acrobat accident."
"I see, I'll look into this Jim. Speaking of which, I was wondering about something. I heard that your keeping a child in here somewhere, is that true?"
Batman raised an eye braw along with tilting his head slightly to the side.
"Why yes we are keeping a kid in here."
"A Richard Grayson? Son of the two victims last night"
"Yes, that's him right. Why do you ask such a question for Batman?"
"Nothing. I was just wondering, just wondering is all Jim."
Batman shot out a grapple from a gadget that he had gripped in his hand and flew off into the cold skies. Only the clank of the grapple was heard soaring the skies, nothing more or less from the Dark Knight of Gotham. A boy sits in a dark room, while a cold hearted murder lays in bed with a smile on his face, enriching his life with the many misdeeds that no man should ever commit. A third being now steps into play, swinging from location to location, looking for clues? Or is it justice? The justice that should be dealt to the one who lives and thrives off of those who live in fear, desperation, anxiety, and quietness. These feelings are what energize those out there in the world that commit acts of violence physically and mentally. In this world and city, only one man carries all these men to justice, one man does the one thing that millions wish they could, one man thrives over these men, and that man grows more and more vigilant with each passing day. Batman lives for excitement, lives to save, and lives to protect, but a man like Batman must really be lonely, would he not? Lonely like the boy who sits and waits for a glisten of hope in the cell that he must live in, just until he is safe, or until next week.
