Hey guys, I am so sorry this update is really late. I just haven't had time to write. Please excuse any mistakes I may have made. Italics is personal thought and bold italics is electronic communication. I do not own DC Comics of any of their characters. Thanks to those who reviewed last chapter, please do so again. Thank you for reading and enjoy! I apologize for the wait once again.
Richard was on patrol with Gordon. In his ear was the communicator Jason and Roy gave him, the detective had debated on whether or not to tell the commissioner. After a few minutes of debating with himself, he decided not to. Besides, Richard doubted if the older detective would believe him if he said Red Hood and Red Arrow gave him a communicator that was practically a direct line to the heroes running around various cities.
"Something on your mind, Grayson?" Gordon said, pulling Richard from his thoughts.
The Commissioner was looking at him as he drove through Gotham.
"Aren't you a little too old to be looking away from the road? Your reflexes are not as good as they used to be." Richard smirked.
"I'll take that as a no." Gordon sighed.
We have a hostage situation at a Lexcorp office building located in downtown Gotham.
Gordon picked up the radio and replied to dispatch.
"Gordon and Grayson are about five minutes away."
"Four other units will meet you there." Dispatch replied.
"Okay." Gordon responded.
Gordon placed the radio back and looked at Richard.
"You ready for some action, Grayson? I know that your injury isn't fully healed." Gordon said.
"I should be fine. I just probably won't put much of a show on." Richard replied.
They drove in silence for a few minutes before coming onto the scene. The building had around a dozen police units outside. Richard immediately took note of the bomb squad vehicles. He also took note that they were empty.
"That is not four units." Richard muttered as he got out of the car.
"Something must be wrong." Gordon responded.
"Well, it's a hostage situation that requires the bomb squad." Richard snarked as the two detectives walked towards the building.
"What's the status?" Gordon asked an on-scene officer.
"Sir, we have twenty-four hostages, all work for Lexcorp, each of them has on a vest with four sticks of dynamite. The dynamite is prepared to go off in three hours. Thing is, if one is set off they're all set off. It's a linked system." The officer informed.
"So if we try to deactivate the bombs and fail, we won't just lose one of the hostages but all of them?" Gordon asked.
The officer nodded.
"What can we do?" Gordon asked.
"I'm not sure Sir, you'd have to ask the bomb squad commander." The officer replied.
Gordon sighed.
"I'll go." Richard said.
Richard went over towards the bomb squad and went up to the woman barking orders.
"Excuse me, I'm Detective Grayson. I was called onto the scene." He said to get the woman's attention.
"What can I do for you, Detective?" She asked.
"I was made aware that the bombed vests are linked together. So knowing that, is there anything we can do to get everyone out of there safely?" He asked.
The woman, Axen, as it said on her vest, looked at the ground.
"I'm going to be honest with you here. I'm not sure we'll be able to save a single one of them." Axen replied.
"What?" Richard said in disbelief.
"The wiring on those vests is too complex, unlike anything we've dealt with." Axen said. "It's a lost cause."
"Have you tried?!" Richard asked.
"If we try, they die!" Axen replied.
"If you don't try, they die!" Richard responded.
"I can't risk my men like that. Pack it up!" Axen yelled at her squad.
"You're just going to leave?!" Richard yelled.
"I can not risk my men." Axen growled.
"They have specialized suits!" Richard argued.
"This is not your decision to make, Detective." Axen growled.
Reminding me of my rank?! Really?! Richard stared at her before shaking his head and heading towards the building.
"Wh-Hey! Where are you going?" Axen yelled.
"To do your job." Richard growled over his shoulder.
Coming to the doors, he barged in. On the floor of the lobby sat the twenty-four hostages.
"Hello. My name is Richard Grayson. I am a Detective with Gotham police. Now, I've been made aware of the current situation. If someone would please allow me to inspect their vest, that'd be great." He said awkwardly.
A hand went up. It was a gentleman with greying hair and glasses. Richard walked towards the man.
"Your name, sir?" Richard asked.
"Henry Barkins." The man answered.
Richard knelt down and began looking at the vest. Axen was right. The wires were in a complex system and to make it worse, they were all black. There was a small timer on the upper right shoulder. Two hours eleven minutes.
"Can you tell me how this happened?" Richard asked.
"Some men came in and shot off some rounds into the ceiling. They came in carrying the vests and made us all put one on. There was a woman with them, but I don't think she was with them. They had her at gunpoint while she activated the vests. She kept saying sorry. Before they left, she activated this cylinder thing that released some grey fog." Henry said.
"Grey fog?" Richard asked.
"Yeah, but the men said they'd have all of the Light's information." Henry added.
"How's that possible?" Richard questioned.
Two hours left.
"I think I can answer that." A female voice answered from behind him.
Richard turned to see a pregnant woman. Richard's heart ached.
"I'm Nancy Hale. I specialize in technology, micro-technology to be exact." She said with a smile.
"Okay." Richard said.
"Oh right, um, the fog. It is possible for the fog to have actually been microbots that stole information from servers here in Lexcorp. As to what information they wanted, I'm not sure. All we store here is market statistics and things along those lines. We've never had anything major come through here." Nancy informed.
"Okay, and what of the woman who activated the fog?" Richard asked.
"Oh that was Doctor Serling Roquette! She's a well-known genius in our field." Nancy said.
An hour and thirty-seven minutes left.
"Excuse me for a second guys. I'm going to step outside for a second." Richard said before leaving.
Richard sucked up his pride and pressed the button on the communicator.
"Nightwing to Batman."
"Batman responding with Superman and Green Lantern."
In the background, he heard a male voice ask who Nightwing was.
"I've got a problem in Gotham."
"A problem?" Batman asked.
"Twenty-four hostages with bombed vests. There's no way I can defuse them."
"All active heroes are busy."
"Busy?" Richard asked.
"I'm sorry."
"Sorry?! Twenty-four people are going to die!" Richard yelled.
"I'm not even in the solar system, Detec-Nightwing, and as I said before, all other heroes are occupied. I'm sorry."
"The Justice League is supposed to help people! Get someone here. This is your city!" Richard growled in command.
Not waiting for an answer Richard cut the line. Composing himself, he went back inside. He lifted his head and looked at the hostages. He must have not been able to hide the dread he felt because everyone's face changed. Some started crying, some looked shocked. Few looked accepting, and others looked blank. Nancy looked at the detective with tearful eyes.
"I'm so sorry." Richard said softly.
With a watery smile, Nancy looked at him.
"It's okay Detective. You tried." She said, tears streaming freely. "That's more than what most Gotham police would do."
"I'd like to get all your names." Richard said softly.
Many of the hostages bowed their heads and looked to the ground in defeat. Richard steeled himself as he went around asking the people their names, addresses, and who needed to be contacted. He finally got to Nancy.
"What's..." He took a deep breath, "What's the baby's name?"
"Richard Morgan Hale." She said, "After you."
Richard teared up.
"I'm honored." He choked out.
Nancy smiled, stood, and hugged him. Richard hugged back.
"I'm so sorry." He whispered, tears threatening to fall.
"You tried, Detective. That's more than what other people would do, and you care enough to stay with us. It's okay." She said.
Her tears fell onto Richard's shoulder. This isn't fair.
"It's okay." She said shakily. "Now, go get the remaining names."
By the time he got them all, there were six minutes left on the clock. He stayed with them until it got down to one minute.
"Go Detective." Henry said with a small smile.
As Richard turned, he heard many voices thank him. Thank you for what? I didn't save you. When he exited the building, his eyes had watered again, but he kept walking. It had started raining while Richard was inside. He walked to the other officers. Just as he got there, the bombs went off. The heat crashed against his back, but all he did was let his tears fall and look up to the sky. He mentally cursed whatever higher power was looking down at the scene. A hand rested on his shoulder. Gordon.
"Are you okay, son?" The older detective asked.
Richard kept his face out of sight and shook his head. The older detective knew Richard was crying. Despite the darkness, he could see the glint of the light coming from the flames reflecting off of the tears streaming down Richard's face.
"You can't save everyone." Gordon said softly.
"I know that." Richard growled.
"Then why are you crying?" Gordon asked.
Richard clenched his fists and gritted his teeth, but didn't respond. He heard the other officers leave the scene to return to their patrol routes or go to the precinct. It rained harder, soaking both detectives. Richard made no move to leave and let the flames heat his back. Gordon realized Richard wasn't going to move and sighed.
"Call me when you're ready." He said and left.
Richard heard the fire department working on the fire. All Richard could think about was the victims. They just accepted it, knowing no one was working to save them. He clenched his fist harder and bared his teeth, squeezing his eyes shut. He felt like yelling, screaming about how unfair and unjust the world was, but he knew it would change nothing. Richard heard footsteps against the wet pavement. He turned to see Batman, Superman, and a group of teens. It was clear to them that Richard was beyond pissed and was crying.
"They're all dead." He growled.
No one responded.
"You're not going to say anything?!" He yelled.
"What could we say?" Batman asked.
"That you're sorry! That you should've been here! Something!" Richard yelled.
"Would that change anything?" Batman asked.
Richard gritted his teeth again and glared at the Dark Knight.
"They died knowing no one was trying to save them. No one! They smiled at me! Thanked me! A woman named her unborn child after me!" Richard yelled, crying again, "What am I going to tell their families?! I'm sorry we didn't try?! I'm sorry it ended this way?! I'm sorry your wife, child, or husband died knowing no one was trying to help them?! Knowing that there was no way out? Feeling the dreadful suspension of that clock running down?!"
"You tell them you spent as much time with them as possible. You comforted them." Batman said.
"You think that will matter?! This is Gotham, no one care about how heroic some detective acts!" Richard growled.
"They care about where you were, about how you cared enough to try." Superman said.
"Where I was? Where were you?! You people are supposed to be heroes, but two dozen people died!" Richard argued.
They didn't answer.
"Well?!" Richard asked.
Still no response.
"Tch, I bet you were off playing playboy billionaire." Richard growled before turning and walking away.
"We were protecting the population and investigating a criminal organization known as the Light. We had reason to believe they were trying to bring an alien race known as the Reach to come here and take over. We've only gotten whispers of their existence, much like the Court of Owls. They may be involved in this, but it also might be the League of Shadows. We had to put the loss of thousands before the loss of a few. That doesn't mean we don't care, that means we're willing to make sacrifices for the greater good." Batman stopped him.
"If any of the organizations I mentioned carried out the Reach plan, millions will die or wars will break out."
"Did you find anything?" Richard said over his shoulder.
Batman didn't respond.
"Then it wasn't worth it." Richard growled and walked away.
As he walked, he reached into his ear and pulled out the communicator. He looked at it before crushing it and throwing it away.