CHAPTER 15

Although Batman had intended to remain awake, he was exhausted and injured. Some time in the middle of the night he woke. The fire had died down to a few coals, but that wasn't what had roused him. He heard a low sobbing and felt Robin, curled up against him, trembling. He should have expected this. Robin had had nightmares the entire first year he'd lived at the manor. He still had them periodically.

"Robin...Dick...Dick...wake up, son," Batman said softly until the weeping slowed. "It's a nightmare, that's all."

Robin opened bleary eyes and slowly seemed to realize where he was. "Batman..." he said, rubbing them. "Sorry...sorry about that...I dreamed I was back in Lee's bedroom but ...you never got there..." Robin sat up. "Don't think I want to sleep, now. I can keep watch if you want to get some shut-eye. Think I'll add some wood to the fire..." He got up and was putting another board on the fire when he caught sight of Batman's leg. "Why didn't you tell me?" He said quietly.

"Tell you what?" Batman asked.

"How bad your leg was? You need medical help," Robin knelt next to Batman and had begun to unwrap the gauze when he was stopped by a hand gripping his wrist.

"Don't," Batman said. "There isn't anything we can do about it here, anyway."

Robin sat back on his haunches and gazed steadily at his mentor. "What's wrong with it?"

"There are shrapnel fragments embedded near the bone, I think. I can still walk on it, although with pain, but the fragments will need to be removed."

Robin pulled his arm away from Batman and continued unwrapping the gauze, then tore away the fabric of Batman's suit. He hissed at what he saw. The flesh was hot and puffy, clearly infected. "And just when were you planning on telling me about this? Before or after we got caught?"

"You have your own worries right now. You don't need..."

"I need to know that my partner has my back," Robin said angrily. "You're the one who told me not to hide an injury, that it can jeopardize a mission if I go down!" He went over to the fire and found the small pan of water they'd managed to heat for themselves. "I'm going to clean this out. Give me your first aid kit." Robin held the pan in one hand and stretched out the other.

Batman meekly handed it over. Robin removed his useless silk cape and tore it into strips with Batman's knife. He used a piece as a wash cloth and began to sponge at the injured area, ignoring Batman's hisses of pain. The first aid kit had a small tweezers, so he removed what he could but realized that Batman was right. There was much more embedded than he could remove. Finally, he wrapped the wound with the remaining gauze and covered that with strips from his cape.

At last, Robin sat back next to Batman and pulled the cape over them both like a blanket. "I'll do recon when the sun's up," Robin said flatly. "Maybe I can find our contact."

Batman, who'd been silent during the entire process, jerked. "You will not," he said firmly. "You'll stay hidden while I recon. They're looking for you."

"Maybe so," Robin said fiercely. "But they'll catch you! You were limping all the way here; do you think the pain is any better after a night in the cold? Now, who are we looking for?"

Batman gave a long exhale and tried to get to his feet. He wasn't going to let Robin go out there alone. As he creaked upright, his leg gave way and he was able to stop himself from falling by grabbing at the wall. Robin put himself under one of Batman's arms and eased him back down again.

"You see? So where am I going?" Robin asked.

Defeated, Batman said, "You need to find clothing somehow. What you're wearing will stick out like a sore thumb...Okay, you need to find the Street of Lotuses. There's a grocer there called Hana Kim, a woman who has been smuggling young people out of the country for the past five years. After Lee's entanglement with the Mad Hatter, I set up an underground railroad for child-victims of Lee's brothels. Leslie's been running it for me." Bruce's face looked solemn. "If I had been too late to rescue you, it was my plan to get you to one of their medics. They have experience with...injuries...of that type."

Batman's contingency plans, Dick remembered. Batman was always prepared, as a hedge against fate if nothing else. "All right. I'll find or steal some clothes before I hit populated areas," Robin said. "I might be gone awhile." He got up and went over to the fire and, pulling some ashes out, smeared them over the red and green of his costume. "This might make me a bit less bright." He looked deep into Batman's worried eyes. "I'll be back later. Anddon't worry about me." With that, he slipped out into the early morning.

Batman shook his head. "Sorry, chum. I can't help worrying," he said.

CAPITOL CITY, RHEELASIA

RED LIGHT DISTRICT

It wasn't unusual to see two Anglo men wandering the streets here at any time of day. The quarter was known worldwide for its easily accessible services, sex with anyone or anything was readily available for a price. People from the West flew in daily to sample its wares, mostly men from the United States and Europe, where this type of sex trafficking was banned.

The two men weren't customers, however. Dressed in casual attire, Hamilton and Harrison, escorted by four of the palace guard and Mr. Pak went to a certain address and knocked on the door. A heavily painted young woman opened it. "We not open till tonight. Go away," she started to say when Mr. Pak moved forward and said something in Rheelasian.

She paled and opened the door wide to let them in. The inhabitants of the brothel, gathered for breakfast at the end of their working day, looked up at the intruders without interest and went back to their meal. The woman led the men down a long hall to a locked door. She quietly unlocked and opened it, allowing Hamilton and Harrison to enter. Pak and the guardsmen remained in the hallway.

Inside the dim room a teenage boy lay on a rumpled bed. He was slender and pale with dark hair, big blue eyes and a wary expression. "What do you want?" he asked, reaching for a cigarette from a side table. "I'm off duty."

"Garrett, it's good to see you looking so well for a dead kid," Harrison said.

Rufus Garrett sat upright, eyes wide with shock. "What are you doing here?"

"Maybe," Hamilton interrupted, entering the room and pulling Harrison and Pak with them. He closed the door. "The Generalissimo has an offer for you."

CAPITOL CITY, RHEELASIA

THE SLUMS

In the dawn light, Robin made his way carefully back to the inhabited parts of the city. Despite his bravado with Batman, he was still afraid of Lee's patrols and moved with all the stealth he'd been trained in. Near one burned out hovel, he saw a pile of rags and sorted through them. Clothing. It was ruined but it would work. He pulled off his Robin suit, taking pleasure in burying Lee's silks in a pile of garbage nearby. Then he put on an oversized, smelly shirt and pair of pants. He had to construct a makeshift belt to keep the pants up, but he had seen beggar children on the streets that were dressed like this. He thought he'd pass. The boots were last, although they didn't provide much protection for his feet, they were part of Lee's suit and had to go. His feet curled up against the cold mud, but he knew they'd toughen up.

The last remnants of Lee's "Robin" safely hidden, Dick moved swiftly toward the city. He found a battered conical hat in a trash can on one corner and put that onto his head; maybe it would serve to hide his eyes. He also found an empty tin can, to be held out for offerings to passersby as he'd seen other beggar children do. Now to find the Street of Lotuses.

He learned quickly that what signs he saw were lettered in Rheelasian script. He'd begun to study Mandarin and Cantonese but hadn't gotten to Rheelasian yet. But wait, he looked at one street sign more closely and broke out into a smile. Rheelasia wasn't universally literate either. On one sign for, he guessed, the Street of Lilies, there was a small picture of a lily. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad. He was tempted to hold his nose on the Street of Lilies; it was crowded with perfume stalls. They seemed to be competing to draw customers in by having the most powerful perfumes wafting out into the street.

Unnoticed, Dick picked his way through the stalls. He wasn't the only child-beggar here, he saw. He'd rubbed dirt into his legs and arms to disguise his pale skin and he seemed to be passing so far.

CAPITOL CITY, RHEELASIA

RED LIGHT DISTRICT

"And what would that be?" Rufus asked angrily. "After everything...where can I go? Home? After I tried to kill that child-raper, I woke up here like this!" He pulled the blanket off his lap, showing one leg, cut off at the knee. "He said that killing was too good for me, but that was what he was gonna tell people to save face! I almost got him, too!" He pulled himself upright on the bed. "And now he sends me his 'special' clients...Does he think I'd trust his word?"

Hamilton took in the boy's thin, anorexic-looking body with a shuttered look. "I have his assurance that if you do this task for him, he'll wash his hands of you forever. We will fly you back to the United States. You can stay at the school if you want to, or we'll drop you off in the city of your choice and you can make your own way. In any case, you'll be out of here," Hamilton's gesture took in the stained walls and floor of the room as well as the noisome smell of the place.

Rufus lit another cigarette and didn't meet their eyes. "What does he want me to do?"

"Your friend, Dick Grayson, was a pupil at our school. He was our most recent shipment to Lee and unfortunately, he's been rescued by your Gotham City's Batman. They're both still in the country but lying low. We want you to find Grayson and be our eyes and ears." Hamilton said.

"Dick Grayson? What's he doing at your school? Did his fat-cat guardian throw him out or something?" Rufus asked. "Wish Batman had come and broken me out of here..."

"Will you do it? You'll be a street beggar as your cover," Hamilton said and reached into his pockets, pulling out a handful of Rheelasian won. "Here... this will get you started. You know some Rheelasian by now."

The boy stared at Hamilton, then grabbed for the money. "What happens to Dick?" he asked, reaching for a crutch in the corner by his bed.

"He's Lee's favorite boy right now and the Generalissimo wants him back, bad," Harrison shrugged. "Nothin' you can do for him in any case. If the patrols get him first, you don't get nuthin', so you want to be on your toes."

The boy looked ashamed for a moment, then stuffed the money in his pocket. "How do I contact you?" he asked.

Harrison handed him a miniature transmitter. "Just call us when you know something and we'll be there."

Something hardened in Rufus' face as he nodded. "Okay. I'll call you when I find him."