Chapter 19

When Villains Collide (5 out of 10)

My life hangs by a thread as darkness consumes my sights.

BEEP...

BEEP...

My body is numb but my mind wanders. It searches for a place to call home. I have no idea where I am or how long I have been sleeping. All I do know is that I'm safe.

"Come on boy. Get up and show your old man something new."

FATHER! That's impossible. Is he not dead? My body tenses but my ears open with joy in hearing such a voice. Suddenly a white light shines directly into my pupils and Batman's face is the next thing I see.

"Robin. Time to get up and get to work. I don't have time to apologize, but I will get around to it. For now, take miss Gordon to the Batmobile outside to the East exit and wait for me there."

All I could do is nod my head as the feelings in my legs slowly returned. However, the pain on my face is a whole other story. I know Batman means well, but I cant help but feel angry with him. Then again, I might just be angry at the fact that I have to sit this fight out.

Batman hands over an unconscious girl. I pull her over my shoulder and quickly start dragging each other in the direction Batman is pointing for us to leave.

"Ugh...after this, I better get some kind of allowance"

I let out a sigh and continue on my way. As I turn a corner, a pipe breaks off the ceiling and a burst of gas blows into my face. I begin coughing and gasping for air. All the while, struggling to hold Barbara in my arms. My legs give way and we both land on the ground. In my head I begin counting to ten…then twenty and finally 30 and I am able to gather my senses again.

"Blah, disgusting. I could almost taste sewage from that…hopefully it wasn't anything hazardous. Dang it girl….I wish you could get up already. "

With that said, I stand up and begin dragging Barbara behind me. I do hope she forgives me for carrying her like this…but what choice do I have? I may be a circus boy, but I wasn't the sun of the strongman.

"How disappointing boy. I thought we taught you better than this."

Fathers voice snaps my neck upwards as I look around, frantically searching for his presence.

"What's wrong? I thought you loved playing games. Come on and catch your old man."

A shadow dashes from the side of my eyes and the sound of a bar falling pounds my heart in my chest. I turn around and look at Barbara.

"sorry….I….I don't know what to do."

I look back in the shadows direction and shake my head. Only one choice now. My chest begins to burn and I can feel my adrenaline kicking. I grab Barbara and lift her over my shoulder. Her arms slam against my back and her legs are gripped tightly in my arms.

"Time to find my father."

I begin racing down the hallway. All I can think of is my father, however something doesn't feel right. I mean….isn't he…

"DEAD!?"

I slam straight into the shadowed figure and that wakes up Barbara who begins to yell as I drop her on her side.

"Well well boy. It's about time you made it."

Says the shadow as it slowly turns around. I see my father now standing before me with blood trailing across his face. One of his eyes are missing and teeth falling out one after another as he spoke.

"Who am I to you? Perhaps a rabid dog, a death grimm or even shrimp? Hah, or am I a Scarecrow!"

He lifted his arms and swarms of flying popcorn hit me. I quickly raise my arms to block and as I do so, I can see another face hiding behind my fathers. Whoever it was, had glowing red eyes and a black smoke surrounding his mouth under what looked to be some kind of hoodie. I can smell popcorn as I fall on my knees from the barrage of snacks hitting me still. Once the man lowered his arms, the popcorn stopped and he grabs me by the neck. Before doing so, I can smell that nasty sewage from that pipe earlier.

"what is the matter little boy? Car got your tongue?"

Just then, he lets out a loud scream as I see Barbara holding a batarang blade in his thigh. He drops me and punches Barbara to the ground.

"stupid children! I wont waste my time with you. I have too much work put into this."

He quickly pulls out the batarang and throws it to the ground as he limps away. I stare at the ceiling as my heart continues to pound. The breath in my lungs begin to fade away and it becomes harder to breath with each moment.

"hey…hey get up man….get up."

I feel hands slap my face and I see Barbara trying to see whats wrong with me. My eyes begin to close as I feel her soft hands reach for my mask and yank it off. Soon, I drift into darkness again.

"wow kiddo. Something out there really wants to die. It's as if the writer of your story wants you to go bye bye."

I only hear the voice, but I see nothing. I cant even hear my own voice.

"Death does that to you kid. Just think of what your saying because your ears don't work anymore. I can totally understand you by the way."

I think of everything I went through, but at the end, I feel at peace.

"so that's your story aye? Gosh kid. I like it. Sounds to me like you need to be out there fighting the good fight! But how are you going to do so without a body huh? Well…..hmmm. You seem to be in luck. Love will bring you back as they say. But hey, before anything, remember the dead kid. We will be waiting for you."

Just then, I feel an intense pain, followed by a tender presence. Then pain again and I see light as well as feeling in my chest again. There it was again though…a tender presence on what I can feel as my lips. My eyes widen as I see Barbaras closed eyes straight in front of mine.

"Ahhhhhhh"

I screamed as I begin to cough. Barbara leans back and wipes her forehead.

"for a second there I thought you were a goner. But come on Dick. Let's get out of this crazy place."

I sat up and just stared at her for a while. My cheeks swell up and blood dropped off my cuts and bruises from earlier.

"what? Is there something wrong?"

She said as I quickly nod and touched my lips for a brief moment. She gives me a slap and I land on my back.

"Oh boy you. Don't think anything of it. I gave you cpr and that's the end of it."

She crosses her arms and lets out a pout. All I could do is shake my head and sit back up. I feel my heart beating at a normal pace as I look around to see if I was seeing things anymore.

"how long was I out for anyway?"

I said as I picked my mask up and placed it over my eyes.

"not long. Maybe a minute or so. "

Barbara stands up and brushes dust off her black jeans. As I stand up, I continue to search the area. I continually see black dots every time I blink.

"So where do we go now?"

I nod my head and look at an exit.

"Well batman said to go to the East exit."

Barbara nods once and begins to walk to the exit.

" I sure hope this is east."

I let out a light chuckle and rush past Barbara. I make it to the doors first and place my hands over the knob.

"Alright freedom. Ready or not, here we are."

I push the doors open and we both suddenly stop and stare at each other. At the same time we say:

"Nooo way…."

-Fade to black-

To be continued…

Authors note:

Thanks readers! I know its been a while for some of you. I have been extremely busy since college and etc… however, I do have spare time again and I will try to use it to get back into writing for you guys. My writing has changed, but I will try to copy my writing style as best as I can. Sorry for the short chapter. I wanted to submit this soon so you knew I was getting back into this. As well as remember where I was heading with this! But ill see if I can do another chapter soon.

Thanks again.

J.S.