Comments: Greatly appreciated. Thank you.
Powerstar: I think that the Justice League has disbanded and Wonder Woman has returned to Themiscyra. Not sure if Superman can live that long, though, so I guess he might be out of the picture too. At least, that's the feel I get from this piece.
Full Circle
Chapter Six:
John had broken almost every single traffic rule there were just to rush Shea to Gotham General Hospital. What was worse was that he didn't quite know his way, and had gotten lost a few times despite screaming for directions towards passersby, who gave him the same wary looks and even warier answers.
The rush hour traffic didn't help the state of his mind, and when he finally saw the big, fat letters that announced with grand panache GOTHAM GENERAL HOSPITAL, he nearly got into an accident himself from so much trembling.
After much tussle with some orderlies who thought his panic was a state of insanity, he finally got the idea through that there was someone in his car who needed help, so go help her!
They did, and John was left alone awkwardly after having given her particulars to a nurse, without anything to do or anywhere to go but wait in the hospital. He hoped that nothing worse would happen: he didn't want Shea dead, nor did he want to explain to her parents what happened.
He glanced at his watch and saw that only half an hour had passed. Damned! He needed something to do! Not just sit here and be useless!
His vid-cell chimed, startling him from his self-imposed vigilance outside the ward. The display seemed foreign to him, but he forced himself to focus, to speak. "Alvy?"
She saw his frightened expression. "What happened?"
"Shea, she got…electrocuted or stuff." He lowered his voice without knowing why. "Happened in that cave. When she touched the costume or something."
"Costume?"
That made John realize that Alvia still hadn't seen those costumes. He debated his options. "Look, you want to come join me at Gotham General Hospital? I need to stay here until I'm sure she's okay."
"I'll need to take a cab there. Maybe around an hour or so."
"Okay. I'll wait."
Alvia reached the hospital at around 5:10pm, and then called John again, and he directed her as best as he could, waiting for her at one of the junctions, keeping out of the way of the orderlies and nurses.
"She okay?"
"Dunno. They're still looking or something." John's voice was hoarse, and he swallowed painfully before turning and pointing. "She's over in that one. Hope she's—"
"Shea!"
"Don't call me Shea, you dreg! And let me go!"
John and Alvia glanced at each other, then hurried to the door, not noticing a couple who followed just as hurriedly behind them. They were undecided on whether to enter into the room or not, and were startled when they heard panicked "Excuse me's" and a man and woman pushed past them into the room.
"Shea!" "Mom…dad…"
"Are you okay?"
John and Alvia backed away and took seats nearby, not wanting to intrude upon the family. They heard Shea protesting loudly against staying for more observations, and then her folks' demanding what had happened.
"Shh…keep your voice down mom!"
"I think we better go first," Alvia whispered, glancing at the closed door that hid the going-ons in the room. "She doesn't seem to get on with her parents that well, does she?"
"They're her foster folks." John surveyed the closed door. "Yeah, think we better go. I'll call her later or something."
"You can show me the suits or something. Let's go."
With one more glance back at the door, John followed Alvia out, feeling as if he'd betrayed a trust.
Alfred strode up to the dark figure that had just exited the weapons vault, his wrinkled face hard and disapproving for once in a very long time. "Shouldn't you be at Master Dick's side, sir? After all, the young master is hurt."
Batman grunted, pulling on his gauntlets. "Leslie's with him," he replied darkly, not sparing even a glance at his old friend. "He's in good hands."
"Definitely much better hands than yours, sir." Alfred knew fully well the barb in those words, but for once, couldn't control them. He knew the hurt Bruce was going through, now, when he could do nothing to have prevented the Joker from shooting Robin.
Batman's sharp glance at him was pained, but unrelenting.
"I thought I brought you up better than this, Master Bruce. You do not leave your family's side when they need you the most."
That just made the Batman growl and turn away, striding to the Batmobile. "I'm not leaving his side. I'm making him leave mine, for his own safety."
"How should that prove you're a good father to a son, then, sir?" Alfred demanded, his tone curt.
"Have my father ever proved the same thing?" Batman gritted out and left.
"How in the world did you get near any tasers?" Shea's father demanded. "We specifically said you couldn't buy any!"
Playing something like good cop/bad cop without even realizing it, her mother patted his hand. "Calm down first, Mike. Let her explain."
"But Sarah—"
"Be quiet, hon. Now Shea, what happened?"
Shea shrugged, wincing slightly at the ache in her body still. She had a major headache and being interrogated by good-cop-mom and bad-cop-dad didn't help her mood any. "An accident."
"You don't get into accidents with tasers!"
"I just did."
"Shea—"
"Why don't you dregs just leave me alone to rest?" She glared at them, breathing heavily, trying to keep her temper in check. "My parents wouldn't have done this!"
An awkward silence fell, with the two adults glancing at each other, half-shocked, half-hurt. No one knew what to do, and Shea just stood up and strode to her room, slamming her door close.
The cave, which had been quiet a few minutes ago except for the faint hum of the large CRAY and the fluttering of bats' wings, now echoed with the shrill protests of Dick Grayson. "You can't fire me, Bruce! Not just for this!"
"You don't make this kind of mistakes, Dick. Robin cannot."
"But I'm okay! The wound will heal quickly. I'll work out more and catch up! No more mistakes, Bruce."
"Once ends everything. You can't get shot in the head and say you don't want to die."
"Bruce—" Dick clenched his teeth, stopped and glared at his mentor, knowing that whatever he said wasn't going to convince Bruce. No one could convince Bruce when he made up his mind, even when he was wrong. That was how unfair he could be, and Dick was sick of it!
"Fine! Just hide away here and do whatever you need!" Dick turned to run up the flight of steps to the Manor.
"Dick."
The smallest hint of hope came. Was Bruce going to ask him to stay? Did he manage to convince his mentor?
"Leave the gloves."
Seconds later, the Batman was left with only a pair of green gloves laying in a crumpled mess near his boots.