Author's Note: So the opening monologue to this chapter is extremely long, and was actually written about two days ago. Then I got distracted by this shiny new sidestory that just kinda developed from it. :) So yeah, Legacy of Robin just turned into a trilogy, ladies and gentlemen. The rest of this chapter was actually written over the past couple of hours. Not an uncommon occurrence, actually. It really only takes me a couple hours to write a whole chapter - once I get going, that is. So in reality I could write an entire story like this in just a couple days, had I the attention span and the time to just sit down and WRITE... Anyhow. Um, the scene with Blink, I have absolutely no idea where it came from. It just happened, and I figured I could use it later on to develop more plot. There's a rather failed attempt at romance in here, if you can find it. You may have to squint some, though. And please don't kill me for the ending... By the way, the rating on this fic just went up for that...
Chapter 9: Oracle
A week goes by real quick when you's havin' fun.
Actually, though, ta tell ya da truth, I was pretty depressed. Not dat I let it show or nuttin'. Never do. Dat just ain't da kinda person I am. I mean, I am a gambler, after all. I happen to pride myself on my poker face. Da gang scene was kinda my way'a copin' wit' everythin'. I's guessin' da whole thing wit' Jack'd hit me harder'n even I thought.
Funny t'ing is, dey all t'ought it were somethin' as simple as losin' a few too many hands'a poker. If dat were da case, it woulda been a heckuva lot easier ta get it worked out in just a week. But what I'd found myself mixed up in was a bit more complicated'n dat.
When it came ta gamblin', I practically ran New York. Dat ain't ta say I always came outon top. But I could handle myself pretty well if I didn't. Since I came ta Gotham, though, my luck seems ta be goin' sour. In a real odd way, too. See, at da moment I's pretty close ta runnin' da underworld. An' I ain't just talkin' 'bout craps an' poker, neither. Nah, I's talkin' automobile races, knife fights, dog fights, boxin' matches. An' of course da crowd favorite, an event dey call da Death Ring, where dey go down ta da docks an' lock two guys in an empty shippin' crate wit' nuttin' but a bat 'tween 'em for an hour. When dey wants ta make it more innerestin', dey stick a gun in dere instead an' only give 'em twenty minutes.
I'd place bets on da various events Rhino had runnin' on occasion, but da real gamble was takin' da bets. Dat's what Rhino had me doin' afta a while. He'd give me a cut'a da losses, an' if I rigged da odds for him, I got a bigger cut. Toughest jobs was when da rival gang from the Lower East End came ta participate. Demon pretty much hated Rhino, but he knew better'n ta try an' start somethin' big like a real gang war. So any time he suspected us of fixin' da bets, which was often, he'd have his thugs soak me. It got worse as time went on, cuz Rhino was havin' me fixin' bigger'n bigger stuff.
I managed ta stay outta trouble wit' Demon for a while afta Spot made his threat. I really was scared dat Cowboy might kick me out, but I was even more scared'a him findin' out what exactly I'd been into. An' knowin' him, he'd bust 'em for it. An' of course I'd be da snitch dat'd hafta pay for it. If dere was one t'ing dose two was right about, it was da fact dat my life was on da line here. I didn't stay away completely, but I made dead certain I didn't run into Demon for at least a few months.
Den Rhino came to me an' told me he wanted me ta get one'a da next Death Ring fighters ta take a dive. One'a Demon's men. Da amount'a money sittin' on dis fight alone was enough ta drive any guy nuts. Da fact dat I'd been itchin' fer anudder job didn't help any. An' den dere was somethin' ta do wit' Demon's sister, Angel…
"Hey, One-eye!"
Blink set his jaw and shifted his backpack higher up on his shoulder, resisting the urge to turn around. He was beginning to understand Racetrack's sentiments about these private school boys. The raucous laughter continued behind him as his footsteps slowed, one hand reaching up to touch the eyepatch he was now wearing over his left eye. A few weeks ago, during one of his follow-up visits to the hospital, Dr. Elliot had noticed that his right eye was having a little trouble focusing. And so, here he was once again wearing a patch to help correct it.
The boys at school were getting a real kick out of it.
"Hey! Cyclops!" a particularly loud kid by the name of Darren was shouting. Blink finally turned around and glared – though it was, in fact, half hidden. "That's right, freak, I'm talkin' to you."
"What's your problem, Darren?" Blink growled. "Posse losing interest, so ya gotta pick on some handicapped kid to impress them?"
The three boys standing behind Darren snickered. Darren just smirked. "What is it your little runt friend calls you? Blinky?"
"Leave Tim out of this."
Darren shrugged. "I had no intention of pulling him into this, but if you'd like we can. Just where is your little midget, anyway? Skipping school to go play with some dirty street rats?"
"Shut up and go do your little love-making thing with your lapdogs behind the gym or something." The fact that Blink hadn't been able to find Race all day was really bothering him, and Darren was only making things worse.
To his further frustration, Darren's mean grin just grew at the insult. "No thanks. Wouldn't want to steal your spot."
"My what?"
"You know." Darren seemed barely able to contain his cruel laughter. "Your special spot where you take that Dick Grayson between classes. Tell me, is it blondes he finds attractive, or is it the fact that you're half-blind?"
Blink's eyes narrowed dangerously. For about half a second, the thought flew through his head that this was probably a really bad idea. But this boy had just insulted not only him, but both of his friends. And all he could see at the moment was the red, raging fury.
For several seconds, Spot just stared. Never, in all his life, had he seen anything like this. The redhead sitting in front of him smiled at his shocked expression. "What's the matter, Robin?" she quipped. "Bats never show you the cave computer?"
He shook his head, averting his gaze momentarily to address her properly. "No, he has," he replied, trying to sound indignant. "I just… never seen one this big before."
One corner of her mouth quirked up curiously. "Your dialect… You're not from here, are you?"
"So what if I ain't?" he shrugged, allowing his accent to slip a little just to prod her. She actually giggled slightly in response.
"What do you have for us, Oracle?" Batman asked, before the conversation could go any further.
"Right." She turned in her chair and started typing away, her fingers flying over the keys with practiced agility. "Huntress called something in from the Narrows a few minutes ago. She's been keeping tabs on this gang near Park Row, and there seems to be some activity picking up tonight, but she didn't want to do anything since it's not technically her territory. She said they were down at the docks for some gathering or group event, and it turned into a kind of riot."
"We don't handle gangs," Bruce said calmly. "Get someone else."
"No, no!" Spot said suddenly. "I'm okay. I can handle it."
Bruce turned to him, searching his eyes. "Are you sure?"
"Yeah," he replied with a nod, a note of confidence in his voice. "Yeah, I'm sure."
"Alrighty then," Oracle grinned, turning back to the screen. "Looks like they were starting to congregate back near Park Row. Now, Huntress isn't sure, but she thinks she might have recognized some kids from Gotham Heights Academy. At least one of them was wearing a uniform."
Bruce nodded and led Spot back out of the Clocktower. As they descended the seemingly endless staircase, Spot glanced back over his shoulder. "So that's what she's doing now?" he asked softly.
"The Joker completely paralyzed her legs. She still wanted to help me."
"Too tough to quit, huh?" Spot chuckled slightly, if only to mask the uneasy feeling that had settled in the pit of his stomach at the mention of Gotham Heights. He knew most of those kids. He'd made friends with most of them – with the exception of Darren Somers and the group that Blink had run into that morning. At that thought, he sighed and shook his head. He'd told Blink that temper of his would get him into trouble.
"She's too young for you, Robin," Bruce muttered. "Keep your head in the job." Spot almost protested, but Bruce's comment had sent his mind swirling in an entirely new direction.
For one thing, he'd never met a girl who could hold her own with him the way Barbara Gordon did.
As they neared Park Row – better known as Crime Alley – they could hear screams and shots ringing through the night air. What had started as a riot down at the docks was quickly turning into a rout as the home gang chased the rival group off their turf. Batman and Robin watched for a moment, silently assessing the situation. The home gang didn't seem to be too interested in causing any actual damage. Most likely they hadn't been the cause of the riot in the first place. And the rival gang was too intent on running to really be any kind of threat.
Batman signaled, and the two of them leapt down from their perch on a nearby rooftop and into the fray, splitting up to cover more territory. The main objective here was to make sure nobody got hurt, which seemed simple enough. Robin kept his eyes open for any of the Gotham Heights boys, but didn't see any.
He heard scuffling in a nearby alley and crept closer to investigate. It was too dark to see anything, but he could make out the sounds of muffled grunts and angry snarls. So as to get an advantage, he climbed a fire escape to the roof and hurried along the wall to where the noise was coming from.
A small shaft of moonlight lit up a tiny portion of the deadend alley where a large man was bending over something shrouded in the shadows, beating at it with wooden bat. A skinny twig of a kid was cowering nearby with his hands over his eyes, whimpering. Suddenly the man turned to the kid and waved his bat at him menacingly. "Shut up, Twitch. Or I swear you'll be next!"
"Stop it, Demon!" the kid begged. "You're killing him!" As if to punctuate the statement, a low, pitiful moan issued from the shadows, earning what sounded like a few well-placed swats from the bat.
Spot's breath caught in his throat, and suddenly he didn't trust himself to handle the situation. He glanced around almost frantically for Bruce, but couldn't find him anywhere. The noise from the riot was beginning to die down as the rival gang fled for their own territory. He clenched his eyes shut, all his previous confidence quickly evaporating as he ran his options through his head.
His mind was made up for him, though, as Demon gave one final swing, eliciting a choked groan from his victim, and threw the bat down on the ground. "That should teach Rhino," he growled down at the shadowy form at his feet. "You tell him, the next time he sends some punk kid to fix his wager, I'll kill him, too. If ya last that long." With that, he stalked out of the alley, adjusting his jacket slightly as he went.
As soon as Demon was out of sight, Twitch curled into a corner of the alley and went into hysterics. "Oh man. This ain't good, man, this aint good! Help! Somebody help! Oh, god, I think he's dead!"
Spot let out a sigh and turned to leave, wondering if it might've been better to risk losing his head again. He decided it hadn't been worth the risk, since Bruce wasn't there to stop him if he had. Besides, what was one gang member? The guy probably had it coming anyway.
But he stopped dead in his tracks when he heard what Twitch was screaming. And immediately changed his mind. "Muff! Scooter! Rhino! Somebody come quick! Demon just killed Race! Oh, god. I think he's dead! Somebody! He… He just killed Racetrack!"
Author's Note: I swear, I'm the meanest person on the face of the planet. I just want to apologize for one thing: If any people named "Darren" are offended, it was not intentional. The name just popped into my head, and I went with it. *dodges flying fruit* Your comments are appreciated, and I know I'm gonna get some good ones. I think this was one of my favorite chapters so far. :)