Chapter Ten

Commissioner James (Jim) Gordon watched from the sidelines as multiple workers worked, heaving boulders out of what was left of the sewers. Bulldozers worked around the larger mounds of earth, shoveling it out of the way. Gordon sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. Batman deeply felt, no, wanted someone who was buried there to be alive. Someone who he owed his life to. He would find this person, he decided resolutely. Someone yelled for everybody to get back. People were panicking. The sewers collapsed in on itself as workers fled the scene. Gordon watched in horror as the earth swallowed up whoever couldn't get away in time. Most of the people were killed instantly. 'No hope for potential survivors' someone nearby said. Gordon turned to glare at the man but he's one of the senior workers, someone who knows his job better than Gordon does. He's not a man who gives up easily. 'I'm sorry' he says to Gordon. "It's not me you should be apologizing to." he replied. He has no idea what to say to Batman.

Barbara looks shocked, Dick looks remorseful, Alfred has a look that offers condolences, and Tim looks lost. He looks like he doesn't believe what Batman just said, like he doesn't want to believe it. And for the first time, Batman thinks of kicked puppies. "I'm sorry." he muttered and walked away.

"You can't be serious!" Dick shouted. Barbara latched herself on his arm to hold him back. "He can't be...!"

Alfred adamantly schooled his expression to a neutral one and left to make something for the rest of the group to eat. They'll need all the energy they could manage. Tim just shook his head and stared miserably at the computer screen. He felt as horrible as he looked. He was responsible for Allen's death. He was hurt when he found out Allen was lying to him, Allen wasn't even his real name. He resented him when Allen attacked Dick and bought a gun from Penguin. He was Hell bent on seeing him behind bars. Allen was trying to save Bruce. Allen saved him and Batman. And for that, Allen died. Tim dug the heels of his hands into his eyes. It was his fault, no matter how much everybody else denied it.

Oracle sniffed and dutifully rubbed all the remaining tears from her eyes. Allen was Tim's friend and died to save him. Tim would get over it someday, right? She turned on her computers to get back to work. She may have promised to help Black Canary on a case and completely forgotten about it. She noticed her computer in a state of alarm. Someone had tried to hack her system. She typed furiously on her keyboard and was relieved to find that no serious damage had been dealt. She began hacking into her intruder's systems and was granted easy access. She frowned. There were copies of the hacked police files on the computer, was this Allen's doing? Did that mean he was alive? She gained full access to the machine and found little more than what she already knew Allen had. There was an open line on the computer. Allen must've been recording someone's conversation and kept it running the time was a little after the Batclan had returned to the cave. Her heart began pounding. She rewinded the recording to the very begining.

All she could hear was strong static. She frowned in frustration and tampered with the sound. It didn't get much better. Then she heard a voice. She never heard Allen's voice before but she was sure it was him speaking. She couldn't hear much of what he was saying but she tried to piece it together. "Or...cle, th...lln. Th... (strong noise) aut...ic h...ng...uter... der...each...Bat...nn. Fin...ompk...an... dn...tt...ll...obin...sorr..." was just about all she could make out. She sat back in her chair and pondered on the seemingly gibberish that was being forwarded to her.

First, the message began with 'Oracle', that much she was certain of. She wasn't sure what was being spoken after her name but after the more serious white noise had passed, she was sure Allen was saying 'automatic' and 'reach Batman' she also heard the words 'Robin' and 'sorry' being spoken. She decided to contact Batman. Allen was still alive.

"You're sure? Alright." Bruce hung up and faced Alfred and Dick's expectant looks. He glanced over to where Tim was still brooding. "That was Oracle on the other end. She may have found proof that Allen is still alive." Dick's face lit up and even Tim's head shot up. He looked incredulous.

"You're serious!" Dick was more than happy for his little brother. "Isn't that great, Timmy?"

Tim wrinkled his nose. "It's not 'Timmy', it's Tim!" Robin was back in full force. Bruce smiled a little.

It was an hour-and-a-half later when the Wayne Manor phone rang. Alfred stopped his cooking dinner and listened for any other sound. It seemed all the vigilantes were still in the cave. He picked the phone up. "Hello, Wayne residence." He was momentarily distracted by a whoop from the basement. They really must make the Batcave Grayson-proof, apparently sound-proofing the place wasn't good enough. "I'm sorry, Leslie, do continue." Dick and Tim bounded up into the kitchen a minute later, victoriously.

As soon as Alfred put down the phone, Dick let out another gleeful yell. "It was Allen! It was definitely him, Alfred!" Dick stepped aside a little to give Tim more space to crowd the clueless butler. "Tim? You have the honours."

Tim was near bouncing on the balls of his feet. "He sent Oracle the message! He said 'Find Thompkins!" he blurted out, grinning.

"Ah, yes! I just received a call from and she told me that she had a new patient who had asked for Bruce Wayne. Due to the extremity of his injuries, deduced that he must be somehow connected to Batman."

"Looks like we know where to find him now." Bruce said as he walked into the kitchen after his sons.

Alfred nodded at them sagely. "But do hurry, Master Bruce. has threatened greatly against you should you not come quickly. The boy's wounds are in dire need of attendance and has neither the power or resources to help him. She will be forced to bring him to a hospital, which Master Allen as forbid her to do, or he will die." he told them gravely.

Bruce nodded and near dashed out, his two wards on his heels. Alfred watched his boys' backs with great pride then. He entered the Batcave to ready the medical bay for their visitor and nodded in satisfaction when he was done. Then, he walked over to the Batcomputer where Allen's voice recording was still open. Alfred listened to it but didn't understand most of it. His eyes fell onto the desk where he found a slip of scrap paper with many words and sentences scribbled, most were crossed out. He frowned, last he had checked, the boys' literary skills were satisfactory. Then he read the message at the bottom of the page. 'Oracle, this is Allen. This is an automatic hacking of your computer in order for me to reach Batman. Find and if I don't make it, tell Robin I'm truly sorry.'

It was dark by the time they reached Leslie's clinic. They rushed inside unannounced, the doctor was waiting for them anyway. Leslie jumped up from her work desk when she saw them and marched up to them. The three vigilantes could tell the expression of the woman when she was ready to scold. "I'll save the scolding for later, Alfred tells me you have adequate equipment for the boy's wounds at the cave. You'll need to use it now... don't let him die." she said it like a threat. Bruce nodded obediently in the presence of his surrogate mother. Leslie led them to where Drake lay.

He was barely recognizable. His whole body was covered in blood and he was barely breathing, a tube had been thrust down his throat and was the only thing keeping oxygen running through his body. He was shivering violently and sweat ran down his face in small streams. He mumbled at times, incoherently, pleadingly. "I've cleaned him up as best I can, he's broken alot of bones and he can't yet breathe on his own. He's been having nightmares ever since he came in."

Dick's eyes shot near to his hairline. "'He came in' you say?"

Leslie nodded grimly. "Showed up on my doorstep like this. He was still bleeding and he wasn't breathing." she shook her head. "If he dies, Bruce..." she didn't finish her sentence but the others understood what she wanted to say.

"Is it safe to move him?" Bruce asked.

Again, Leslie shook her head. "I can't say that it is. But he needs treatment and he needs to be moved somewhere where he could get it. It's a choice between the Batcave and the hospital." Bruce nodded and between the four of them, they moved Drake to their vehicle. "Don't let him die, Bruce." Leslie told him again as they sped off back toward home.