End of Days
By
Angelina
Gotham: December 17, 2012
Batman zeta beamed down to the rooftop of the building in which Robin's tracer was transmitting from. Looking around quickly, Batman assessed the situation in less than a second. A smashed up jewelry store, three unconscious and secured goons, several assault rifles, damage to multiple display cases, no missing jewelry, no Catwoman, and an injured Robin.
Normally Batman would pause for an additional half second to determine priority, but he had no need in this circumstance. Robin always came first.
Quickly striding over to the boy Batman found him seated beside the trussed up goons. A quick scan over his partner's body revealed a blood leaking from a small wound to his upper left arm, but other than that, he seemed unharmed.
Robin looked up as Batman approached, "I was wondering when you'd get here."
Batman didn't bother with small talk, "what happened?"
Robin flinched slightly at the sound of the deep gravelly voice, "Alfred called in the robbery, I signaled you when he reported a confirmed sighting of Catwoman, went on standby, but when you didn't show immediately I moved in. The goons were easy enough to take down, not up to Catwoman's usual standard. I tried to stop her from reaching the vent," Robin pointed off to the vent in question, "but she got me with a knife in the smoke."
Robin held out the knife to him, "I managed to pick it up in time to dodge, but it still got me. We'll have to work on dodging things under smoke cover again."
Batman nodded.
"She managed to escape into the vent. I tracked her heat signature and figured out which exit she had the highest probability of taking. When she came out she threw her own smoke bomb, but I managed to get in and swipe the jewels and trap her in a net. I didn't realize she had a blowgun until it was too late," Robin held up the dart.
"Whatever she used wasn't very strong. I was only out for a minute tops. Likely it was just long enough to let her escape the net and get out into Gotham. When I woke up she was gone so I secured the goons and waited for you." Robin finished in a rush, like he was afraid of what would came next and wanted to get it over with.
Batman nodded in approval, however, and called in Gotham PD to pick up the goons.
The drive back to the cave was silent, Robin avoiding Bruce's gaze the entire way.
As they pulled into the Batcave, Batman tugged off his cowl and turned to his protégé, "wait for Alfred."
Robin nodded, peeling off his mask as he exited the car. This routine was normal. He would wait in the med bay for Alfred to clear him.
Bruce watched to make sure Robin was fully seated on an examination table before he walked away with the knife and dart clutched in his hands. He was going to run a few test to make sure nothing dangerous had been on either of the objects that dared to hurt his partner.
The scans took thirty minutes to complete, during which, Bruce watched Alfred examine his ward. Dick winced here and there when Alfred prodded something painful, but he was sure to bite back any noise. Bruce had trained him well.
A steady beeping brought Bruce's attention back to the scans he was running. Grabbing the report the printed out from one of his nearby consoles, he quickly scanned it.
"Is there anything of concern, Master Bruce?" asked Alfred as he approached.
Bruce finished scanning the report before he ventured to answer Alfred, "nothing too bad. The knife was clean, but the dart had been dipped in something containing Tropane alkaloids. The chemical structure looks like extract of Mandragora. It seems to be a fairly high concentration designed for subcutaneous injection."
Alfred quirked an eyebrow as Bruce's voice faded and a thoughtful expression graced his features, "something bothering you, sir?"
"Hmm, oh yes," Bruce looked back up at Alfred, "I just don't see why Catwoman would use such medieval methods. There are much stronger anesthetics out there, why use something less potent?"
Alfred shrugged, "who knows the mind of the criminal, sir."
Bruce nodded and set the report down, he could come back to it later. Right now there was really only one question on his mind, "how's Dick?"
"Master Richard suffered a superficial cut to his left arm, about three inches in length and a quarter inch in depth, I have disinfected and bandaged that. He also is showing the side effects of someone recently having been treated with a general anesthetic and he aggravated the cracked ribs from last week. I expect he will be sore, but nothing more."
Bruce sighed with relief, nothing too bad. Now that his concern for Dick's well-being had been soothed, Bruce turned back to the chemical analysis of the substance the dart had been dipped in. He was going to find out why Catwoman was using Mandrakes.
"Sir, if I may?" he hadn't expected Alfred to interrupt him.
Bruce stopped what he was doing to glance up at Alfred.
The butler took that as permission to clarify, "Master Dick is currently taking this robbery rather hard."
This statement surprised the Dark Knight, "why? He did just fine."
Alfred sighed, sometimes he hated being the emotional go between for both of his young masters, "he believes he failed you."
"I should talk with him, then?" it was almost as if Bruce was making sure his decision was correct.
Alfred nodded, "I believe that would be prudent, sir."
With a sigh, Bruce stood and regarded his butler with a questioning eye.
"You know very well that I cannot give you the appropriate words, Master Bruce. You must find them on your own," Alfred responded to the questioning look.
Sometimes the Englishman downright vexed Bruce. But, nonetheless, he nodded. Alfred was right; he had to learn to communicate with Dick.
Silently, he approached his protégé and stood before him with an expression on his face that clearly asked, what's wrong?
After a few seconds of staring at his mentor's face, Robin sighed, "I'm sorry I failed."
"Why are you sorry?" Bruce asked pointedly.
"Because I let Catwoman get away and I got injured, twice."
Bruce couldn't help but chuckle at the look of childish disappointment on Dick's face. The boy shot him a glare. Bruce sighed, "you didn't do anything wrong. You followed the ground rules. You called me in, waited the proper amount of time, and then engaged the enemy when I didn't show. You took down three armed goons twice your size in less than three seconds, and managed to rescue the jewels from Catwoman."
"I still let her get away," Dick mumbled, suddenly very fascinated with his feet.
"Even on my best day, she still manages to get away sometimes."
"And then I got myself injured," Bruce didn't know why the boy continued.
"You minimized an injury that could have been fatal, and you pinpointed exactly where you went wrong when you failed to dodge it completely. Plus, you discovered that Catwoman is using a new weapon."
Robin smiled ruefully and rubbed the spot on his neck where the dart had penetrated.
"You did well," Bruce finally said.
Dick beamed at that, all trace of sadness and disappointment suddenly vanishing from his features. "That's all I needed to hear."
Bruce refrained from rolling his eyes at his partner's rapid change in attitude. Instead, he changed the subject as he helped Dick down from the examination table, "can you make it upstairs on your own?"
It was Dick's turn to roll his eyes, "I'll be fine, Bruce. I'm not eight anymore."
"I won't find you asleep on the stairs because you couldn't make it, right?"
"Yeesh, that only happened one time," countered Dick.
"Six," Bruce corrected.
"Six times. I'll be fine."
And with that, Bruce watched his protégé plod up the stairs, stealing a pastry from Alfred's hands as he passed the butler.
"I trust your talk went well then?" Alfred asked after he had finished descending the stairs.
Bruce nodded; maybe he was getting better at this communication thing.
Two hours later, Bruce was ready to call it a night. He had spent the time trying to figure out why Catwoman would use Mandragora, and now had several hypotheses that could very well prove to be true.
With his Batman costume tucked away in its case and everything in the Batcave in its proper place, Bruce left, turning out the lights on his way to the elevator.
Emerging from the elevator, he took a slight detour to the kitchen where he swiped a cream cheese Danish that Alfred had expertly constructed for the morrow's breakfast. If Alfred asked where one of his pastries disappeared to, he was blaming Dick.
Stuffing the pastry into his mouth, Bruce meandered down the dark hallway and up the curving grand staircase. Had it not been for his training as Batman, he likely would have tripped over the lump on the landing.
With a sigh, Bruce squatted down, eyeing the lump, which upon closer inspection proved to be Dick, "seven times."
Carefully he gathered the boy into him arms. Dick mumbled something before curling into Bruce, a small hand latching onto the billionaire's shirt.
Bruce walked slowly to Dick's room, his footfalls barely audible, even with the added weight of his ward. Reaching the boy's bedroom, he nudged the door open with his foot and slipped silently into the room.
As Dick was gently deposited into his cocoon of blankets, pillows, and silk sheets he started from his sleep enough to realize what was occurring. He let go of Bruce's shirt and wiped at bleary eyes, "how much do I owe you for the ride?"
Bruce chuckled at his ward's question, "your share of Alfred's pastries."
"Nuh-uh," slurred Dick, curling up again as Bruce tucked him in, "eat your own."
"Goodnight, Dick," The billionaire smiled as the boy fell asleep.
Watchtower: December 18, 2012
Green Arrow and Black Canary arrived at the Watchtower to relieve Batman from monitor duty.
But they only found an empty room.
Black Canary sighed, "gone again?"
Green Arrow shook his head, "I'm beginning to think he's trying to tell us something about shoving monitor duty off on him."
Black Canary refrained from chuckling as she glanced at one of the monitors emitting a low, beeping tone. Her mood immediately changed, "you might want to call Batman back here."
"Why, so I can receive another bat-lecture. No than-"
Green Arrow never finished his sentence for Black Canary had grabbed his collar and shoved his face into the monitor she had been watching. Ollie observed the monitor for a few seconds before realization sunk in, "Right, calling Batman."
Angelina: Hmm, foreshadowing anyone?
Arthur: Really obvious foreshadowing, you're deplorable at keeping an air of mystery.
Angelina: Well shucks Arthur, you say the nicest things.
Arthur: I bloody well try.
Angelina *sigh* Next chapter should reveal what's going on at the Watchtower and Robin torture should follow the chapter after that.
Arthur: Stick around to read more if you like this kind of stuff. If not, you can join me.
Angelina: Why do I keep you around again?
Arthur: Because I'm stuck in you mind forever. I don't care for it either...