Aaah, it took me a while but there it is, Chapter 5 :D
-\day four 10AM/-
The footage was clear. Batman and Robin or Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson had spit their ways. But Dick hadn't been able to flee just as unharmed as his father. The boy had received a few good hits and the team was pretty much impressed that the boy was able to walk off that far. The camera's had recorded how the boy had made his way to the forest but it was clear the boy was about to faint. It was until the teen walked or more stumbled into a tree and fall down that they were sure the boy was out cold. They had also seen how the boy, a little while later, had returned to conscious and walked off.
But after that they hadn't found him with the camera's in the city. Those cameras were few and pointed at important buildings. Not people.
Kaldur sighed. They now knew that Batman was off with his butler in the Batmobile but Robin's location was still unsure. Not to forget that they couldn't be sure if he even reached Gotham city. He had bleed very badly and he could have easily faint on the way there and bleed to death.
The Atlantean looked up seeing Kid Flash run up the forecourt of Wayne mention and pass the police lint toward the waiting team. Kaldur rose from the cold spot on the entrance of the building. "Found him?"
The redhead shook his head. "Nothing. The blood trail he left stopped halfway to Gotham. So much could have happened in that time," the boy sounded desperate in the lack of knowledge of his best friend. He was just so extremely worried.
"Batman told us not to look for them unless there was made contact. Maybe we should trust them and go back to Mount Justice," Megan said carefully, not wanting to hurt anyone's feelings.
"You're right," Artemis said in a voice miles away from giving in. "But," a little finger of her shot up. "He hadn't said we couldn't make sure if Robin is still alive. Because if he's somewhere on a bush bleeding to death its kinda hard for him to contact us or ask for help. I think we must search until we're sure Robin is still alive. After that we can easily leave him be or maybe even take him with us."
"I guess you have good point there," Kaldur started. "But we already tried so much to find him. If we actually want to find him we need a whole new way of doing things. We should make a plan how we can search a city as Gotham and surroundings on a right way so we have at least a change of finding him."
"Sure thing, but I have no idea how to make a good search plan for such a big city," Wally said as he fall down in the wet grass and pulled out a candy bar to nibble on.
"Well, we can't be sure if Robin is inside a building or on the streets. So we could give Superboy the task to scan all building we pass with his vision. All the little allies are a lot of work to search, but with Kid Flash's super speed they'll be no problem. To search the roofs we can have Miss Martian flying over and me and Artemis can search the streets. Sounds like a plan?" the leader asked.
"Sure thing!" Megan shouted happy.
"I know Gotham better than any of you so I can make a good route through Gotham so we have all spots," Artemis spoke letting her bow rest on her back. She hadn't fight now so it could stay there for a while. Plus she needed her both hand now as they were going to make a route on the map.
-\Day five 10PM/-
"How long is this going to take?" the teen in bright yellow and red colors appeared with a flash out of one of the many allies.
"Stop whining Kid! This will take a few day to screen a city like this," the blonde archer commend as she stopped their trail.
"But we're searching for two days already!" the teen whimpered in a whiny voice and let himself drop on the floor. "Can't we have a second dinner break or something?"
"How much is Robin worth to you, lazy ass! Get up and search!" Artemis shouted getting sick of hearing the redhead complain. It was no fun task to fulfill but complaining wasn't going to make it any better.
"Kid may have a point," Kaldur came in between the two arguing teens. "We can all use some rest. And we all know that Robin is worth much to each other. So let's not attack each other for this and just work together."
The two nodded and without saying any other word the team finished the street they were searching. Ones that was done they looked up a snack bar and took a quick rest and ordered another food round for the speedster.
The search had been awful quiet except for the moments when Kid Flash and Artemis argued and the rest breaks were just as worse. The only thing heard was the order from Kid Flash and the munching from the teen. Believe me it's not that much fun as it may sounds like. Yeah it's fun to watch the redhead eat the first three times, but after seeing those breaks almost every 2 hours you're really done with it.
"So, have a plan yet for all those hotels?" Superboy spoke up, question aimed on his leader.
"Not yet," Kaldur spoke in a hum as his head leaned on his both hands which on their turn were leaning on the table on the elbows. He just couldn't think of a way to screen those buildings filled with hundreds of peoples. They had already passed five and every time they had to wait almost ten minutes before Superboy said he wouldn't get any better out of it. The change Robin was in a hotel wasn't that high but still. If he was, it would be very hard to tell in which he could be.
The creaking of a map woke the Atlantean from his thoughts. He looked up seeing the blonde girl opening the map and spread it over the table, or the room left on it. Most of the table was consumed by all the trays the speedster had emptied.
"We're not making much process but we're coming somewhere," the archer spoke as she started to mark what they had already searched. "We just need to find a solution on the hotels and other "hotspots"."
"Yes, we should. But I have just no idea how we can screen those probably," The leader sighed defeated.
"Can't Supey hear him with his super hearing?" The red head said between chews.
All heads snapped to the clone. The Kryptonian looked a bit overwhelmed by all stares at him, at first. But he recovered his blunt attitude quickly. "I think I could… but it first will be really tiresome. And second; he should be talking. Otherwise I won't hear him."
"true," Kid Flash sighed in defeat and took another bite. There just had to be a way, right?
-\day ten 4PM/-
He finally succeed. After trying so hard he could finally stand. He was still week but at least he was able to keep himself up right.
Dick smiled proudly to himself and started to lift one foot up only to place it back down quickly before he lost balance. Okay, walking was not really working yet.
He felt his knees shake and his legs felt like they were about to give in. The boy let himself quickly sink down to the ground to sit back on his blanket. It was really soft to the touch. The boy hummed a sound of pleasure as he let his hand stroke over the silky fabric. Maybe a nap wasn't that bad. He had practice standing for so long already and Simon wouldn't be here soon.
So the boy moved under the blacked and placed his head on the soft pillow. He let out a sigh of relieve and together with that he let out all tension from his body. The shaking soon stopped after his muscles relaxed. If he just wasn't so week.
His eyes were closed shut and felt heavy as he was about to drift away. But a unexpected sound from the door made the boy shot up. The quick move was followed by a strong dizziness.
He heard the doorknob being turned and he quickly pulled the blanked to him to make sure nobody would notice it if they maybe had accidently opened the wrong door. A rushed sound of a person entering made the boy watch with wide eyes how a unknown man to him came into sight and watched him in silence.
The silence stare between the two seemed to take forever to the kid but it was actually broken in seconds when Simon appeared. He seemed rushed and slightly panicking.
The unknown man wore casual cloths, had small glasses leaning on the tip of his nose and his brown hair was short and looked a bit messy. He seemed like a nice guy but also looked a bit like an absent-minded professor. The brown bag which could be easily a medical bag finished that look.
The two man approached Dick who gained an uneasy feeling which drove him into sinking further into his blanked. What did that man want from him? What was wrong with Simon? Why were they here? Did that man know who he was? Wait! Did Simon told and this is one of the million people who wanted to kill him? That man could be acting all cool because he knows he was way too weak to run. What to do!
"So," was the first word leaving the man lips as he stood beside the boy who slowly moved away with his torso. "Is this the young fella you were talking about?" The man had a slight Texas accent which was barely hearable. It was more the word fella what gave it away. Though the most of the accent was pushed away by a forced, or maybe learned, polite way of speaking which he recognized from some rich kids from his school.
The man placed his bag beside me and sat down. I shot a quick glare at Simon who still seemed nervous. "W-what?" was all what left the boy as he kept on moving away almost unnoticeable.
"It's okay," Dick's eyes shot back to the black haired man. "He's the family doctor I talked about," he also sat down. "Remember? He's here to take a look at your arm."
"How did you get him in here?" the teen asked as he stopped moving away but he did not return to his old spot yet.
"With lots of trouble," Simon sighed. "Listen, we have about an hour to get him out here."
Dick nodded understanding and quickly took off his shirt and turned to the doctor showing the wound on his upper arm.
The man's eyes grew a little and a soft "Oh my," escaped his lips as he took his bag. "That should be taken out imminently," the man told as he searched his bag.
"I guessed so," the teen said as he watched the man taking out the needed tools.
The brunette held the teen's arm. "This might feel a bit unpleasant but it won't hurt much."
"I'm used to it," the teen muttered halfhearted. He didn't meant to be rude so he didn't take the effort to speak it out that much.
"You didn't do such a bad job," The man said while he was focusing on the suture. He noticed the leak of reaction from the boy as he took out the first part. "You still have feeling in your arm?"
The boy simply nodded. "I've learned to block out the feeling of pain. It won't work for mature things but this is no problem."
"That explains much," the man said as he finished removing the suture. "Look done."
"Thanks,"
The man scanned my body in a quick glance. "You're feeling okay?" the man asked sincerely.
"I'm still dizzy," Dick answered honestly.
The man placed a hand on his forehead feeling no high temperature and took out the sphygmomanometer. "Let's check your blood pressure. You know if you lost a big amount blood with your wound?" he placed the band around the raven's arm.
"Yes, I did. I could suture it before I fainted," He told as he watch the man pump air into the bad making it tight around his arm. He did the usual with the sphygmomanometer and read the pressure from the pressure gauge.
He frowned. "Looks like you haven't regain enough blood. The pressure if very low. That explains you dizziness," the man looked up to the boy with his brown eyes.
"I already thought so," Dick glanced down his arm.
"You can't go to the hospital so you must take good rest," the man told the young teen in a strict voice like an mature person would use to a young child.
He simply nodded and gave the doctor a smile.
"Any other things I could check for you?"
"No thanks," the boy shook his head carefully, preventing is from become dizzy again. "That's all. Thank you so much for coming."
The man smile. "No problem. I like to help people out," the man chukled. "A good reason to be doctor, nay?"
"I should bring you out of here," Simon commend nervous as he knew the family doctor had no longer a use. "Before the commotion has been calmed down too much."
The ebony man nodded and rose. "I wish you well. I hope you can find Bruce back."
"Thank you,"
With that the two males disappeared from the room to make their way through the made chaos in the hotel.
The boy who was left behind sunk away in thought about the words the man had spoken. Bruce…
He hadn't thought about him today… was he forgetting his own father? Or was he just loosing hope. Hope that Bruce would ever find him or even the existence of a Bruce who was alive. He could be killed…
The boy shook his head despite the fact it would turn for a few minutes after doing so. He just couldn't think about Bruce as a dead man. But he should stop thinking about him. The training Batman had given him told him that once they spilt they would not meet again. Well at least not on purpose. They could not look each other up and should not try to contact one another.
Why had this to happen? Why so soon? He was not ready to live on his own. That would mean he should look up a family to live with. But how the hell would he ever get into a family. He could not just go to an orphanage and tell them he wanted to be adopted. First of all; he had no papers to do so. Dick was still the son of Bruce Wayne and coming with a fake ID would not work.
Orphanage is just impossible. Plus he wouldn't want to endanger people who wants to help him. There was just no way he would get into a family without being noticed…
The door opened and Simon came back in sight. "I've got him out. Just in time," the man said as he sighed in relieve. That was one worry less. The only thing left was the second and last task for today.
"How did you get him in and out?" the boy asked curious how the man though up an plan.
"I hired two people, for money, to make a distraction," the man explained quickly. "But I wanted to ask you something."
"Sure," the boy said smiling. He was long happy the man found a way to get his doctor in here to help him with his arm.
"I wanted to know if you would like it if I err," the man started to sound nervous again. "If I could adopt you as my son and take you home to live with me," Dick was silence. He hadn't seen that coming. He had made thousands of father jokes with him and Simon had joked back but this… "I have a wife who could be an excellent mom for you."
That could work out. He could tell friends around him he had found a boy who had lost his parents to murder and wanted to take him in. The time it takes to get out here would enough to avoid suspicions and would seem more normal en believable.
The Boy Wonder moved to the man and hugged him. "I would love to," the boy said as he dug his head into the man's chest. "That would be great."
Simon smiled at the teen snuggling up to him. He hugged the boy back and was sure he was the happiest man alive at the moment. He was just so happy Dick was willing to be his son.
"Can I call you dad now?" the man simply adored the way the teen looked up looking even younger with his big blue eyes set on highest cute rate. Was the boy aware of his cuteness?
"S-sure. If I can call you my son," the man smiled.
"Sure," the boy answered without any hesitation as he hugged the man again. He had finally a dad again! He was just so happy! Someone to snuggle up with. Someone he could trust and would care for him. Someone who would think about him and stay with him whenever he was sick. Someone to hold him like a father only could. Someone like his past two dads.
"I'll bring a picture from my wife to show you tomorrow. She's a lovely women who would love to have you as her son. And I bet you will like her too," the man told his new gained son.
"It would be great to be part of a complete family," the boy hummed as he snuggled dreamily into his father's chest.
"I think it will."
-\Day eighteen 1 AM/-
The door slowly opened leading to a dark room. The man closed the door carefully behind him and turned on the light. A soft moan of protest sounded on the room. The man walked further into the room eye the boy who opened one eye.
"Dad?" the black-haired kid asked.
"Sorry for waking you," the man said as he sat down next to the boy pulling him up to his lap. "But I was tired and I wanted to snuggle up with you a little," the boy looked up to the man with bright blue eyes. "You don't mind, do you?"
"No," Dick answered as he pulled the blanked over him and Simon. "I don't get this change so often, snuggling up to you to fall asleep."
The man smiled at how much he got attached to this kid in so less time. The boy so easily called him dad and he was no less a son to him.
He caressed the boy's hair as he saw the boy close his eyes. "Shouldn't you be working now?"
The man let a small laugh escape his lips as a couch. "Yes, but I have a break right now. So I thought I could come and spent my break with you."
"Why are you tired?" the teen asked jumping further to the next topic. He had his answer and he wanted the next before he fall asleep on the lap of his father.
"I don't know. I guess I just want to take you home and take those few days off. Just to settle with you and my wife so we can start our lives. I guess I'm tired because I don't want to hide you anymore and I don't want to hear my wife ask everyday how you are doing. I just want to have you home so we can both take care of you and we both can hug you. Like a family."
The boy smiled. "Don't worry daddy, we'll do that soon. Only four days left before I can go home," the boy said as he started to drift off with the sweet smile of a good future ahead drawn on his face.
"Four days are so long," the man sight as he set an alarm on his phone. He knew he would fall asleep if he stayed like this with his beloved son. And he was right. After a minute he felt his head was getting lighter and he slowly drifted away into the same dream as his son. Homecoming.
-\Day twenty-two Time unknown/-
It was finally time! He was so happy! He could go home. His new home where his new mom waited for him.
He had his sport bag on his shoulder filled with everything he had stolen from the department store. He still felt bad for it. But he needed it, so they have to forgive him for that.
All what was left was to wait for Simon. The door opened and the friendly face of his new dad showed an sweet smile. "Come," he held out his hand, open for the boy to take.
The boy took it with a wide smile. "'Kay!" the teen almost shout out in happiness.
The two left the room and walked through the empty hotel. The boy noticed the leak of people roaming the hallways and looked up to the man who was silence as he lead the boy same way they had walked in with.
"Where is everybody?"
"Occupied," the man looked back at the raven-haired boy. "We can easily leave."
The teen simply nodded and fallowed. They left the building and fresh winter air hit Dick's nose. How he had missed that. Three weeks in the same room was not as fun as it might sounds. But that, no, everything would be better from now on. He had a new life ahead of him and he had the feeling it would be a great one.
The boy fallowed the man over the ice cold streets pulling the hat he wore a bit lower, hoping nobody would recognizing him. Would people think he was still alive? Three weeks isn't nothing. It most likely depends on how the news keeps up this topic. But he didn't know how the news kept an eye on him and Bruce since the only news he had heard was the time Simon let him hear the news on the radio about his exposure.
After a few streets the man suddenly stopped before a house. He turned to the door and took out his keys. He opened the door and told Dick to enter. He did as he was told and walked down the corridor. The corridor was white and was decorated with a few black and white pictures from the woman he had seen on another photo Simon showed him and the man himself.
He walked further into the house seeing a glass door. He saw a living room through the glass and opened the door to show the rest of it.
As Dick screened the new surrounding seeing the lady he had dreamed about often sitting on the couch. Well she sat, she was currently rising with surprise written over her face.
"Dick?" she asked as she walked toward the boy. "Is that you?"
The teen nodded as he heard Simon enter the room behind him. "Look honey. Your new son,"
The woman smiled a wide smile as she suddenly hugged the boy. The boy's face matched the woman's face in no time with an just as wide smile. Simon quickly joined the group hug.
Dick's face flushed in delight as he felt the warm feeling of a hug which was so much similar to the ones his first dad and mom used to give him before every show they would give. So warm and so sweet.
The boy closed his eyes leaning into the two pair arms wrapped around him. He was so extremely happy! He felt like he was flying from rope to rope. He felt like the day Bruce adopted him and hugged him telling him he would be there for him, always. He felt like the first moment he knew he had become real good friends with Wally. He felt like when the team was formed and he had gained a new group of friends. He felt like the first time he met Zatanna and fell in love. He felt like he could explode of the happiness and the warmth he got from the two adults loving him, loving him like their own son.
"I love you," the boy hummed dreaming in the arms of his new parents.
"I love you too," the two adults spoke at the same time.
Suddenly the fumes of warmth and comfort was disturbed by the sound of a gunshot. The boy's eyes snapped open and once a again a gun was fired.
The arms around his body got a bit lose and he looked at the woman before him seeing her shocked face.
"Mom?"
The blond lady didn't react so the boy glanced back seeing the same reaction on the man's face. Suddenly it made all sense.
It was all the same! Their eyes, the shock, the pain written over their faces. Just like his first parents. They were killed!
He watched how the two bodies slowly started to sunk to the ground as he saw the two holes in the chest from his father and mother.
The boy fell to his knees and grabbed both the man as the woman to pull them up to himself. "Mom, Dad!" as he hugged the dead bodies. Tears started to stream down his face.
How could this have happened. His new dad and mom, dead? Is he cursed!
The boy held the two cold faces against his own crying for his los. His heart skipped a beat as he opened his eyes and faced The Joker before him wide smiling with a gun in his hand.
His eyes widen as he saw the clown pulling the trigger in slow-motion. In shock watched he how the gun was fired.
BANG!
So that was chapter 5 guys… liked it?
As you noticed I didn't succeed in keeping up the weekly updates lately . I've started an internship for school a while ago, which takes more time than I had thought. So instead of having three days (and much hours after school time) to go nuts on my stories, I have less than two days because of the many things I have to do besides making hours in the shop… (be glad I have no job ;P) After a full day of internship I have around a hour or two in which I'm actually always tired so please be patient with me. I have 3 week to go and then I'm back to lazy school time.
Please tell me if you liked it :D Gives me juice to work harder!