Richard
When they get back to Sunny Oaks Ms. Reeves, Ms. Kinders and Mr. West are standing outside the front gates. Someone must have called it in. They can't open the back door themselves, so they wait for the officer to get out and open it from the other side. By now Garfield has turned into a small cat. He jumps out of the car and Ms. Kinders grabs him by the scruff.
"You three are in big trouble!" She's pissed. Not surprising to Richard, just annoying. Richard wants to roll his eyes, but they're in enough trouble. He tries to keep a straight face. Even if he apologies and pretends to be sorry, it won't be enough to appease them. Especially if Batman told them why they took off.
"Thank-you officer. We can take it from here." Ms. Reeves says. She grabs Richard and Raven by the arm. He watches Raven squirm out of the woman's grip. She doesn't like being touched by most people, but if he tells Ms. Reeves that, it might just make things worse. She'll probably let go when they get inside anyway. Garfield looks uncomfortable too. Hopefully it doesn't hurt to be held like that.
When they get inside, Garfield goes upstairs to put clothes on.
"Have a seat." Ms. Reeves points the couch. He and Raven sit down, without taking their jackets off or anything. The three adults stand there and stare at them sternly. Garfield comes back down and joins them.
"What do you have to say for yourselves?" Ms. Kinders asks. 'Nothing you want to hear' Richard thinks to himself. All he can think about is how close he was... If he had just pulled the trigger a millisecond sooner, that man would be dead. Now he'll get to go to jail for a couple days, maybe a few months if Richard is lucky. He'd spent all that time tracking him down, searching the dark web, waiting... It's all for nothing now, thanks to stupid Batman.
Until today he'd really admired Batman. Batman had no superpowers, yet he protected Gotham with an iron fist. If Batman had been there that night, maybe his parents wouldn't be dead. He'd always thought that. Today though, he let a killer get away and Richard isn't sure he can forgive him for that.
They start going over their punishments, which are about what Richard expected. An endless list of daily chores and a grounding.
"There will be no tv, no computers, no video games, no..." The list of things that they're not allowed to have is long. It's probably a list of everything in the house. They even ban Raven from books that aren't related to class. Books... Who would punish a kid by not letting them read books?
"Garfield, the Daytons will be here next week to speak with you. Richard, Mr. Wayne is coming to speak with you tomorrow," Ms. Reeves says. What? Richard looks up at that, why would Mr. Wayne be coming to talk to him?
"Why?" Richard asks. That's stupid.
"You'll find out tomorrow." That doesn't sound good... Why can't they just tell him today? Besides, he doesn't want to talk to Mr. Wayne. He'd been trying really hard not to blame him, especially after what happened at the charity ball, but it was Mr. Wayne who had brought his families' circus to Gotham. He's responsible for their deaths too.
Richard looks at Garfield. The Daytons coming is weird too. Normal would be them not coming. Ghosting him, but they're coming?
"Go upstairs and change. You can get started on your chores right now," Ms. Kinders says. Now? It's late. The other kids will be going to bed soon.
Richard doesn't bother changing. He just takes off his jacket before cleaning the boy's bathroom. Garfield has to scrub the kitchen top to bottom and Raven is cleaning the girl's bathroom. He wishes he could talk to them for a minute alone. To thank them for their help... In that moment when he needed them the most, they were there. They would have helped him do something good, but also terrible. He's never had friends who would go that far for him before...
The teachers make them clean until almost midnight and then send them to bed without dinner. In the morning when they go to breakfast, their usual table is gone. Ms. Kinders is waiting for them at the door.
"You three are not to sit together." Richard looks for Raven and Garfield, but they're not there yet. He takes his food and goes to sit at a table with some boys from his room. They make jokes and give him shit about taking off, but he ignores it. They're just jealous they don't have the balls to do something like that.
He watches Garfield come in next and get told the same bullshit. Garfield goes and sits with the kids in his room. Raven comes in next. She looks at Ms. Kinders and the other tables and turns around. Ms. Kinders chases after her and grabs her arm, dragging her back into the dining room, which of course causes a scene that makes the other kids laugh. She then has to manage that, which gives Raven an opening to take off again. He puts the apple on his tray in his pocket and finishes the rest of his food in record speed. He heads the classrooms and slips the apple in her desk before going to his own classroom.
At lunch Ms. Reeves is waiting for him at the classroom door.
"Mr. Wayne is here. Let's go the office." He follows her to what used to be Mrs. Huntington's office. Everything is pretty much the same as it was before, like she might come back. Maybe her family asked them not to touch anything. Mr. Wayne is sitting in one of the chairs, but he stands when Richard gets there and gives him the same look the teachers gave them last night.
"What do you want?" Richard asks.
"Richard," Ms. Reeves warns. She takes the seat behind the desk. Mr. Wayne sits down again and so Richard takes the second chair.
"You can't stay here anymore Richard." That news doesn't surprise him, but it still guts him to think about leaving Garfield and Raven here by themselves. "You know this was your last strike."
"..." What can he say to that? They won't give him another chance even if he begs. He's seen other kids go into full blown sobbing hysteria. All it got them was a faster exit ticket.
"Mr. Wayne has graciously offered to take you under his care." What? Richard looks at Mr. Wayne and frowns.
"No thanks." He can tell neither of them was expecting him to say that, but he had to. He would rather go to the worst group home, than go stay with some random stranger. Especially another rich one who just wants a nice PR stunt... If it wasn't for rich bastards like Mr. Wayne, half his classmates might not be dead. Maybe his parents wouldn't be either.
"It's not up to you." Ms. Reeves says.
"You can't make me go anywhere." Richard says. That irritates her.
"You're out of options. Everywhere else is either full or won't take you. So, you will go with Mr. Wayne. He's already signed the paperwork. He'll be your guardian. He can get you off the terrible path you're on." Richard can't believe his. He stands up and goes to the wall, punching it and making a hole. Ms. Reeves screams.
"Richard... Count to ten and take a deep breath." Richard turns and gives Mr. Wayne the hardest glare he can muster. Count to ten? Take a breath? Like any of that is going to help settle the immense rage he feels at how unfair life is.
"What about Garfield and Raven?" Richard asks.
"What about them?" Ms. Reeves returns the question.
"What's going to happen to them? Are you kicking them out too?" Richard asks.
"That's not really your concern." Ms. Reeves says.
"If you are, why can't they come wherever I'm going?" He looks at Mr. Wayne, he crosses his arms over his chest.
"Other arrangements have been made for them." Ms. Reeves says. "They're not going with you." He clenches his fist. He wants to say he's not going anywhere without them, but it would be pointless.
"Why don't you go take some time to yourself. Go pack your things." Ms. Reeves says.
"I'll come back around six to pick you up." Mr. Wayne says. Richard leaves firsts.
He does go upstairs, but he doesn't pack anything. He's too mad to pack anything. He knows the other guys in his room would kill to go home with anyone, but especially a rich man like Mr. Wayne. It doesn't make him feel better though... He's never wanted to play that game of pretend parents and guardians. And now, he doesn't want to leave his friends.
Eventually he does start packing because he is going to have to leave. He'll play their stupid game for now. He'll give things a few days to cool off. Mr. Wayne is busy. He can't micromanage Richard. Richard will have another opportunity to escape and then he can do what Batman stopped him from doing before.
Raven and Garfield get pulled into chores. Just like breakfast it's hard to get to them, but around five-thirty when they go washup for dinner he catches them as they head upstairs and brings them to the library.
"I'm leaving." He already brought his bags to the library. They stare at them and he can tell they're just as unhappy about it as he is. "Ms. Reeves said what we pulled was my last strike. Mr. Wayne is going to be my guardian. He's coming at six o' clock to pick me up."
"...What?" Garfield shakes his head, because it doesn't make any more sense to him, than it does to Richard.
"I wanted to thank you guys for your help yesterday... I'm glad you came with me." Richard hates saying goodbye. People are not permanent. Just like his parents, just like the circus family he grew up with... it all ends someday. You always have to say goodbye.
"I'm sorry you didn't get what you wanted." Garfield says. Richard shakes his head. He will get what he wants. It'll just take more time.
"Will you stay in touch?" Raven asks. He nods. He hopes he can. If the staff don't intervene or Mr. Wayne, until he can get away again. Maybe he'll come back for them after he gets settled.
"This sucks," Garfield says.
"We'll still be the three musketeers." Richard says. Garfield pulls them into a group hug and het lets him. This will be the last time he hugs them for a long time and he soaks up every minute of it. When Garfield lets go, he goes to his bags and takes out the walkie talkies and the cell phone.
"You guys keep these in case you need them. I'll get another phone and get you the number. We can talk all the time then." That's probably not true, but it's better to pretend it is.
"Yeah..." Garfield says.
"Be safe." Raven says.
"Richard!" Ms. Reeves yells from the stairs. "Mr. Wayne is here." It's not even six o' clock yet. He sighs... Maybe they only told him that so he wouldn't be able to say goodbye. Never trust adults.
"We'll walk you downstairs." Garfield says. They walk him to the living room. He has a backpack and a black trash bag. Mr. Wayne is waiting. He takes the trash bag and gives Garfield and Raven stern looks before turning towards the kitchen. He must have parked in the back. Richard gives his friends one last look before turning to follow him.