CHAPTER 16
Rufus, on his crutch, moved out of the brothel as fast as he could travel. He'd been trapped inside for so long...so very long away from the sunshine, the air. He stopped for a moment just to breathe. He didn't know what he'd do when he found Dick Grayson, but he knew he was never going back to Generalissimo Lee's control. He dug his fist into a pocket and counted the money he'd been given. Nice. He could afford breakfast and a few bribes if he had to. And he knew just who to bribe. If Dick was one of Generalissimo Lee's Robins, he'd have heard about the underground railroad, sooner or later. If he needed to get out of the country fast, that's where he'd go.
He began stumping forward to a small shop on the corner of the block. He'd heard of the place but had never been allowed out of the brothel to see it, but the shop was as described. It sold every kind of pharmaceutical known to man and many used only by those in the east. He moved inside the doorway and saw nobody there.
"Hello! Is anyone here?" he called out into the shop in Rheelasian.
A short man came from the back room and looked at Rufus up and down. "What do you want, foreigner?" the man said scornfully. "You're one of Beloved Leader Lee's trash, aren't you?"
"And what if I am?" Rufus answered, his blue eyes flashing. "I'm told that you know how trash like me can get out of this godforsaken country and away from the Beloved Leader!"
"Hmmmm," said the man, eyeing the boy's ragged clothing. "You haven't been one of Lee's boys in a while. He dump you?"
"Yeah," Rufus said and pointed to his bad leg. "He got real mad at me. I just got out of the brothel he sent me to. But enough of this...do you have information to sell or don't you? I can go somewhere else..." He turned as if to leave.
"Wait! Wait!" the man shouted. "Don't be so impatient, boy. You have money?"
"Enough," Rufus said. "How much does escape cost?"
"Twenty won," the man said. "And cheap at the price."
"Too expensive. I'll ask Dae-Ho at the market..."
"Fifteen then," the man said. "You won't get a better price anywhere!"
Rufus stared into the shopkeeper's implacable eyes, knowing that as soon as he left the man would go to the brothel and try to collect any reward available for an escaped sex-slave. "Twelve. And not a won more," Rufus declared.
The man sighed. "You'll bankrupt me...all right...twelve won. Give me the money and I'll tell you who to see."
Careful not to let the shopkeeper see just how much money he had, Rufus pulled twelve won from his pocket and handed it to the man. "Tell me," he said.
"The person you want to see is Hana Kim. She has a grocery stall on the Street of Lotuses. Look for the paper flowers she has hanging from the eaves. And good luck!" the shopkeeper said, quickly pocketing his money. "Give me five more won and I won't tell the police!"
Scowling deeply, Rufus handed him a five-won piece and left as fast as he could. He didn't want to spare the money, but a real runaway would pay the extra.
Every child slave had heard stories about the underground railroad. It was financed by some rich American and existed to ferry any child prostitute out of the country. The hard part was finding them. Needless to say, the madams and pimps kept a close watch on their child-workers so that they wouldn't escape. Still, the word, the hope got out, seemingly on the breath of the wind. The children knew that escape was out there if they could only touch it.
As he made his way to the Street of Lotuses, he couldn't decide what to do. He could just contact Kim himself and take the ride out, away and free. Unless it was just another cheat. A road to another slavery somewhere else. Those slaves that disappeared never came back to tell their story; they could just have been sold to Thailand brothels instead of Rheelasian ones. Better the devil he knew than the one he didn't. No, he'd do this job for the Generalissimo and hope for the best; it was all he had.
As for Dick Grayson...he felt for where his left leg should have been and an old jealousy arose. Dick wasn't even Wayne's blood relative but he was doted on by his adoptive father and that ancient butler. Rufus' parents barely acknowledged his existence and he'd lost his home just because Dad's new trophy wife didn't like him. Now Grayson was in trouble...And Batman, of all people, had come all the way to Rheelasia to rescue him! Rufus bit his lip and stumped harder. When he was Lee's *Robin*, he'd prayed for rescue, wished that somebody would take him out of there but nobody had cared enough to come. Yet the rich man's son was able to draw the Batman to his aid, probably because Bruce Wayne had pulled some strings to get his boy back. It wasn't fair. It just wasn't fair. Well, he'd make sure that Dick Grayson didn't miss out on anything that Rufus had gone through.
He looked up at the street sign...he was here. The Street of the Lotuses. There in the middle of the street was a tiny stall with paper flowers on the eaves. He found a spot across from it and chose his beggar's pitch. He sat down, making sure that his amputated leg showed clearly as well as his crutch and held out his begging can to passersby, seeding it with a couple of low value coins. He set himself to wait for his prey to come to him.
Dick was tired and his head was spinning from hunger. He'd been down a million streets and had been wandering all day but he'd found nothing that looked like a grocery.
Finally he decided to sit down and pretend to be a beggar for a while, just for the rest. He had seen more people with blue eyes than he'd expected for such an isolated nation as Rheelasia. Then he remembered Lee's history. As far as he knew, Lee had been importing little blonde girls even before Robin had stopped the man's Gotham shipment. That would be well over five years then, maybe as long as ten? That was how long Lee had been in power...The ones that got sent to the brothels later had children of their own...Maybe blue eyes weren't that unusual here. Still, Dick kept his eyes and chin down as he held up the can for spare change. He must have looked poor; he certainly smelled like a beggar. A few citizens had dropped coins into his can so far. He wished he knew what they were worth. He needed to get food for Batman and himself. Batman...Bruce...what was he going to do? That infection hadn't looked good at all. It was up to him to find medical care for him. Somehow.
He looked around and decided to keep searching. If he found nothing by the end of the day, he'd try to steal some food and take it back to Batman.
The day plodded on and so did Dick Grayson. At last the sun began to set and he knew he'd found nothing. He went to a stand selling grilled chicken and bread. Dick pointed to his ears, shook his head to indicate that he was deaf and held out his coins. The woman at the stand had a kind face. She reached out a hand and tilted Dick's chin up, then clucked when she saw his blue eyes. She rifled around under the stand and found a broken basket, then shoved half a dozen buns into it followed by a whole grilled chicken. She closed the hand that held the coins and put a finger to her lips with a smile.
Dick smiled back and nodded, then scampered away as fast as he could. So, maybe not everyone here was an enemy and Lee's hold on his people wasn't as strong as the dictator thought it was. Moving carefully, although he was heavily laden, he made his way through the slums and into the desolate areas of the city. Dusk had turned to night before he found the hut again. Silently, he put the basket down and peered into the dark hut.
"Batman?" he hissed. He barely saw a dark lump in a corner of the hut. "Batman? Can you hear me?"
"Hmmmmm?" a gravelly voice said. "Is that you, Dick?"
"Yeah, 's'me," Dick said, and picking up the basket, went into the hovel, careful to shut the door behind him. The fire was out, but Batman had a lighter and Dick quickly restarted it. He wasn't happy at what he saw. It didn't look as though Batman had moved all day. Kneeling next to his mentor, he pulled the cowl back and saw that Bruce's face was flushed and sweating. The water he'd left for him was gone. He grabbed the pan and went out to get more.
They'd used water purification tablets and boiled the water last night, so it probably wasn't the local version of Montezuma's revenge. It had to be the infected wound added to dehydration and hunger. Well, he couldn't do anything much about the infection, but he could help the dehydration and hunger. He filled the pan and his begging can with water and brought it back inside, then started a broth in the pan with part of the chicken. He boiled the water in the can and added purification tablets to both. When they'd boiled for a while, he went over to Bruce.
"Bruce? Bruce you have to wake up..." he said to the man who'd fallen back into a stupor. "Come on, you need liquids..." Dick poked at Bruce until he finally roused.
"Wha...huh?" Bruce said as Dick held the can to his mouth.
Dick tipped some water into Bruce's mouth. Bruce sputtered but sat upright. "You trying to drown me?" Bruce said dully.
"You need liquids," Dick said forcefully. "Drink! All of it."
For a wonder, Bruce just gave him a look but obeyed. After he finished the water in the cup, Dick poured broth into it and handed it to him. "This too. Sip at it."
Bruce, watching Dick with amusement, began to sip from the can. "Not bad. Where did you get the food?" he asked as bit into the roll Dick gave him.
Sighing with relief, Dick sat back and ate his own chicken and bread. "I'm a successful beggar boy. I made...uh..." He pulled the coins out of his pocket and counted them. "Five won today. And the woman who gave me the food wouldn't even take payment. She just gave it to me and held her finger to her lips not to tell."
Bruce handed the can to Dick, who refilled it and added meat, then gave it back. "So, Lee's stranglehold over his people..."
"Not as complete as everybody thinks," Dick said. "I didn't find the Street of the Lotuses, but I'm still covering the city. I'll go look some more tomorrow." He waited for Batman's objection; but it didn't come.
Finally, Bruce shifted his weight. "I've been feverish all day. I think it's my leg. It's begun to swell and the skin discoloration is spreading. If you find Hana Kim tomorrow, I want you to stay there with her and get out of this country."
Dick's eyes widened. "And leave you here? No way!" he said in outrage. "You need somebody to take care of you!"
Bruce rubbed his eyes wearily. "Kim can send someone to get me. Don't forget you're the target here, not me so much. Every moment you spend out in public is another chance they could catch sight of you. Dick...they can't catch you! You have to get out of Rheelasia, as fast as you can! When you get out, send Superman after me. If he won't do it, try Oliver Queen. Ollie won't let a stupid United Nations charter stop him. Damn...the League needs a covert ops team...some outsiders that nobody would suspect of doing the League's dirty work. If I get out of here, I'll start one..."
Bruce's mind was starting to wander. Dick banked the fire and put the remaining food away for the next day. His dirty rags were smelly-awful, so he stripped them off and folded them on the floor. He cuddled in next to Bruce, pulling the batcape around them both for warmth and hoped for a better day tomorrow.
The next morning found Rufus back at his spot. He'd bought a hearty breakfast and had even made some money. He pushed his bad leg out to disrupt traffic as much as possible and made sure that his crutch was visible. Not a bad way to make a living, he mused. He was mildly troubled about Dick Grayson but reminded himself that Dick had gotten himself into this. If he'd learned anything in Rheelasia, it was that you took care of yourself. Nobody was going to look out for you. And you never trusted anyone to have your best interests at heart. He sank into a meditative doze and watched the foot traffic go by. Sooner or later, Dick Grayson would come here. It was just a matter of time.
Late in the day, Dick was still scouting the streets when he turned a corner and saw a street sign with a familiar flower, a lotus. At last! He'd found the Street of Lotuses! Now he just had to find a grocer...He stopped and counted how many groceries lay on the half mile long street and wailed silently. On both sides of the street were stands, buildings, sheds and each sold groceries.
He didn't speak the language and had managed so far by pretending to be deaf. But here? How was he going to find Hana Kim? He almost gave way to panic, then remembered that he was Robin. The real one. He wasn't going to give way to despair, not when Batman needed him. Okay, weed out the stores run by men. Hana was a woman. That would at least cut the number down some, but unless found a short-cut, the search was going to take days!
Resolutely, he squared his shoulders and walked up the street. As usual, other street beggars were settled in corners and tucked next to trash cans. His beggar boy disguise would help him blend in, if the boys already present didn't resent the Dick's adding to the competition. He looked around, man...man...man...old man...didn't women run stores here? man...young man... He stepped around a beggar boy with an amputated leg but almost fell over when a skinny hand grabbed him by the ankle.
"Hey! What are you doing!" Dick yelled before he realized he'd just given himself away. The beggar just looked up at him and said, "Dick, long time no see," Rufus grinned.
Dick stood in shock for a moment before dropping to sit down next to Rufus. "Rufe!" he said in an elated whisper. "Rufe, they told me you were dead!"
"Not yet, I'm not," Rufus said. "So what are you doing here, Dickie?" Rufus saw a man passing by and reached out his cup for a coin. As it plinked into the can, Rufus turned back to his schoolmate.
"I got sent to Hamilton," Dick said, conscious that he couldn't blow his identity as Robin. "I wanted to make some pocket money that Bruce didn't know about and got caught with some meth on me. The Court sent me to Hamilton. I found out about Cabin four..."
Rufus ran a hand over his face. "Aw geez, Dick, that was a really dumb thing to do, letting them send you to that school! You got shipped to Generalissimo Lee, didn't you? What happened?" A strange mix of curiosity and sympathy tinged his voice.
"I got lucky," Dick said, keeping one eye on the crowd. "Batman rescued me before Lee could do anything to me. That guy is seriously twisted, Rufe. He's got a thing about Robin... So what happened to you? How did you get away? Why do they say you're dead?" Dick pointedly looked at Rufus' leg.
Rufus scowled and ran a hand over his useless knee. "I was Lee's 'Robin' for four months; it took that long for me to get desperate enough to try and kill him. I hit him with one of the big lamps beside his bed. Didn't knock him out, just made him woozy. He hit a panic button before I could hit him again and finish him off. Four guys came running in. The Generalissimo wouldn't let them kill me; he said he had a better revenge. Took down a sword from a display over the fireplace and did this..." He gestured at his leg. "The bastard said that I was dead to him because I'd lifted my hand against him. It saves face for him, letting it be known around that I was executed. Anyway, after I lost my leg...I passed out and woke up in a brothel. I was held there for a long time, until I finally saw my chance and escaped. Looks like they didn't bother to come after me, or Lee doesn't care anymore," Rufus concluded. "I've been earning a living as a street beggar ever since."
Rufus gave his friend a long look. "So, how come Batman came after a circus orphan like you?" Rufus asked casually and emptied the coins from the can into his pocket. "You're not really Robin, are you?" he said and snickered.
Dick started when Rufus said that, but realized with relief that he'd only been joking. "Naw, nothing like that," he said with a sarcastic grin. "Bruce must've contacted Batman after I *disappeared* from Hamilton and sent him after me." Dick shrugged. "You know Bruce, he has contacts everywhere."
"Yeah," Rufus agreed. "I know Bruce." Bruce, the caring father. Rufus grit his teeth, his mind made up. He put a hand on Dick's arm. "So, why are you out here and not flying home with the Bat? He leave you behind?"
"They wrecked his plane and Batman's hurt," Dick said glumly. "I'm looking for someone who can get us out of this country. It's a lady called Hana Kim; she owns a grocery somewhere on this street." He studied the endless stretching line of stands and shacks, then shook his head.
"So, you're on the run, huh? Maybe I could help you find her," Rufus said. "But it looks like it's getting dark. Everyone is shuttering their stores. We can try tomorrow." Rufus gave his friend a close look. "Do you have a place to sleep? C'mon with me. You can spend the night at my spot; you'll be safe there." He fingered the transmitter in his pocket.
Dick watched the opportunities shutting up shop around him and sighed. "No, it's okay Rufe. I've got to get back to Batman and check on him." He brightened. "You want to come too? We've found a really good sheltered spot. It's a burned out house but it's weather-tight."
Rufus nodded. Oh, this was just too good to be true. Catch Batman and Dick Grayson! Surely Lee would keep his word with such a prize. "Okay, it sounds better than the alley I was planning to sleep in. We can find that lady tomorrow."
"Okay," Dick checked the street. No patrols. "Come on. I'll show you where it is."
Rufus followed obediently, hand in his pocket.