DISCLAIMER: All recognizable characters belong to DC Comics.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN: EQUILIBRIUM
He got a name.
One he should have realized before he wasted his time beating it from those street thugs.
Paula Crock.
Artemis' mother and Sportsmaster's wife; there wasn't an 'ex' in front of that. The woman was still married to the man that had kidnapped Robin.
Batman was fuming by the time he had climbed through the small apartment's window.
She was waiting for him.
"When Artemis did not return home after school that day, I anticipated your arrival." She wheeled her chair around the furniture until she was only a few feet away from the Dark Knight. "I suppose it only natural for you to be distracted by your concern for Bruce Wayne's ward."
"His son," Batman snarled, his voice like venom.
Paula cringed and looked away for a moment before screwing up her courage and facing him again. "He was not always so heartless," she told him quietly. "There was a time he would not have harmed a child. They were off limits, but I suppose everything has its price these days. Lawrence still has many hideouts and safe houses throughout Gotham, places Artemis would not be aware of."
"Where?"
"It would depend on what he was hired to do with the boy. Ransom, there's a subbasement in Old Gotham he would use; Delivery, the train yard off Grant Park."
"And for something more nefarious?"
"Again, it would depend on his time line. If it was to be immediate, I'd suggest looking for the boy's body near the reservoir. It he had time to… play, there's a warehouse in Rogers Yacht Basin; number 128."
He wasted no time leaving the woman and leaping down to the waiting Batmobile. The vehicle was moving before the hatch closed.
Seeing the fabled black car speeding through the streets of Gotham was not a completely unusual sight, but the recklessness in which is weaved through traffic – even going as far as cutting around on sidewalks – never slowing for anything was to be talked about for weeks to come.
At least it would have been, had things not happened as they did.
Batman was flying thought the evening traffic onto the Sprang Bridge when the first tremors shook the structure. The vigilante didn't feel them inside the Batmobile, but he noticed several smaller cars swerve as the bridge shuddered. Then a few more lost control completely as the quake intensified, forcing Batman to slam on the breaks when a transit bus was side-swiped by a pickup just in front of him. He skidded, turning hard on the wheel in an effort to stop from colliding with either vehicle and desperate to keep the speeding Batmobile from rolling. The compact car that had been beside him swerved, leaping over the concrete meridian and into oncoming traffic, causing a chain reaction that crumpled several more vehicles.
In a matter of seconds, the evening traffic was filled with smoke and flames, screams and cries. Traffic wasn't moving on or off the bridge as the structure was now being tossed about by an earthquake unheard in Gotham. Brick and mortar broke off the decorative spires in large chunks, falling to the stilled vehicles below and into the churning waters of The Sprang River.
Several tonnes of concrete fell around the Batmobile, the stones bowing the metal and pinning the breathless man inside as the supports groaned their protests to their unnatural movements. Steel girders snapped like twigs and the bridge lurched as it was suddenly dropped nearly a dozen feet toward the waters below. For a heartbeat, everything was silent as the helpless commuters were momentarily suspended.
And then the Sprang Bridge crumbled into the frigid water.
Batman was jarred by the impact and spray of water that found entry through the battered chassis. He regained his senses only to become aware of his predicament, one shared by nearly a hundred souls that were on the bridge. Even as he fought for escape and he came to accept the inevitable, the anger that surged through him was not for him or the innocents dying around him.
"Robin!" He screamed as he pushed against the overhead hatch, desperate for an escape that wouldn't be found. The twisted metal nearly wrapped around him, trapping him in his seat and not allowing for much movement. He tried reaching for the controls only to have them spark and short out when the water reached the compromised wiring. He stretched for a compartment where he kept the re-breathers, but the latch to open it was still several inches from his fingertips. The water was nearing his chest.
He swallowed the thump in his throat and tried to ignore the ache in his chest which had nothing to do with any potential injury. He had been close; he knew it had only been a matter of minutes before he would have found his son. But now, he would die here and his son… "No!"
The Batmobile settled into the debris on the riverbed and he started punching at the bullet-proof glass of the windows and windshield wherever he could reach. The water was nearing his shoulders and it would only be second before he was completely submerged. He felt the knuckles on his hand give beneath his assault on the window, blood seeping into the inside of his gauntlets.
He was forced to stop when the water was up to his chin, making it impossible for him to breathe unless he stretched his neck and tilted his head in the miniscule air pocket that was rapidly disappearing. "I'm sorry…" he spat the foul tasting river water from his mouth.
"RICHARD!" He screamed one last time before the water surged completely over his head.
Bruce Wayne fought against death, pushing and pulling and desperate for any means out of the watery death awaiting him. The cry for his son had cost him what precious oxygen he had and his struggles weakened. His lungs burned and he closed his eyes, waiting for that involuntary gasp for air that would spell his end.
Metal screeched around him and the pressure encasing his body was gone so suddenly he almost didn't recognize it. Then impossibly strong arms were grabbing him and he was launching out of the water. As he drew in a ragged breath, Batman listened to his surroundings. Screams, sirens, and the roar of the earth tearing itself apart assaulted his hearing. A moment later he was being carefully deposited on the river banks.
"Batman," a familiar yellow and red insignia filled his vision and he glanced up at the Man of Steel, "are you all right?"
Never before had Bruce been so glad to see the boy-scout. "I know where Robin is."
Superman spared a glance for the River and the screams for help, but with no hesitation in his voice he turned back to the Dark Knight. "Let's go save your son."
.
.
.
.
.
The grunt of pain as the blade slid into flesh was not unexpected, but Robin was surprised to find it didn't come from him.
He had been anticipating the feel of the deadly blade for an eternity, but it had never come. Everything had stilled around him, no movement, no sound, and in that void of time he saw his life – past, present, future, every possible outcome of every decision he had ever made or would make – and it was driving him insane. No matter how brilliant a mind he possessed, no one was meant to see what he saw. He was welcoming death, when it was unexpectedly turned away.
A lithe arm snapped across his line of vision and intercepted the flying blade. Its tip tore into a familiar black-gloved forearm and it plunged through the arm, between the bones and out the other side. It stopped a breath away from Robin's barely moving chest.
"Goddamn," a young voice hissed in pain and Robin followed the now impaled arm was drawn back against a familiar red tunic. "Guess I misjudged that one… whoa! Close the eyes kid!"
Gloved fingertips quickly covered the white lenses of Dick's domino mask. Robin wanted to fight, but his body was no longer responding. Still, his distress was noted when his breathing hitched.
"Hey, hey relax there, Dickie-bird," the voice was obviously gritted in pain but still tried to sooth the captive hero. "Sorry, but ya got the creepy all-seeing-cosmic-eyes thing goin' on. I could see them glowin' around your mask. Kinda freakin' me out here… prolly no better for you huh? Can't imagine what yer seein'- can never know when playin' 'round with time. Thought Bruce would have taught ya that by now. Keep 'em closed, will ya? Better for ya and I won't have to look at it. They closed?"
With no real choice, Robin let his lids close and nodded. The hand was taken away from his face but he kept his lids tightly shut. Whoever this was, he was right. With his eyes closed he didn't see everything, and he could hear his would-be rescuer muttering under his breath.
"-s'all stopped outside… Shit, this is weird. What did ya expect when ya jump through a portal without - ah damn, Dick, what they hell have they done to ya?"
Slitting his eyes open, Robin tried to focus on what was real.
… he held the pairs arms, each with one twisted viciously behind their back, keeping them next to him as the inferno raged around them. 'Do you have any idea what it feels like to burn to death? Residents on floors one through three probably died instantly when your bomb went off. But four and five… the floors fell through on them.'
The grey masked woman whimpered, "No, no…!"
The flames licked at their feet, the heat singeing the trio even through their costumes, and he wasn't done yet. They had to pay… "They were crushed, trapped, they died of internal injuries and smoke inhalation.
The other man was terrified. "It was suppose to be empty! He told us it would be empty!"
Dick ignored him. "And floor six… They BURNED."(1)
- no, no that wasn't him! That couldn't possibly be-
..."Better put that down. My partner hates guns."
"Think again, kid." the ski masked goon lying on the pavement at his feet started to lift the pistol.
The adrenaline surging through him was something he normally felt flying, and did he love it! "Your mistake." He leapt just before the first shot was fired, the slug gouging the asphalt at his feet.
He flipped head over feet, touching the ground for only a fraction of a second before he was moving again. "Stand still!" The shots continued to thunder around him, some so close he could feel the displaced air over his exposed legs.
And suddenly the crack of the gun stopped, leaving only a pathetic clicking and the bewildered grunt of the good, followed almost instantly by his breath violently expelling from his lungs as Rick's heel buried itself in the man's gut.
He was tying the cable around the thug's wrists when the voice sounded behind him.
"You counted shots?"
Satisfaction tugged at his lips. "This model holds eight in the magazine."
"And...?"
"One in the chamber. That's nine."
He turned his head just in time to catch the hint of a smile on his partner's face. "So you were listening."(2)
- already happened. Almost four years-
…Batman didn't hesitate to slam the mercenary's head into the concrete rubble beneath them. The man stilled and Batman crouched unfazed beside him. "It's over, Deathstroke."
They stood there, amongst the bodies and devastation, realizing that the fight was out of their hands now. At least, it should have been.
"So you realize what you've done?" They spun around to see the armored Luthor youth hovering above and behind them. His gauntlet's glowed with deadly violet energy. "You've damned this earth. You've ruined everything!"
Nightwing was moving the instant before those hands were raised toward his mentor. "Batman! Look out- ARRGHH!"
The blast tore into him and sent him flying across the battlefield. He heard Bruce cry out his name as he landed, Luthor's shout for more power. Coppery fluid rapidly filled his mouth and he was choking on it even as it flowed down his cheek and around his head. Robin's horrified and panicked blue eyes filled his fading vision...(3)
-the outfit was different, but there was no denying the stylized eye on the other boys breast. Dick watched as Batman's green-eyed protégé hissed between clenched teach as he withdrew the thick blade from his arm. There was a hint of amusement mingled with the pain as green met blue.
"Ya still with me, Dickie-bird?"
Despite his desire for the contrary, he nodded.
"Good, cuz ya check out of me and this was a wasted trip." The other Robin took a step toward the contraption imprisoning his counterpart. "I can either close the portal, or I can get ya out of that. I can't do both. So, I'm thinkin' I save the world – cuz I tell ya, it's Armageddon out there - and leave ya to Batman. I promise ya, he's comin'; they all are. Ya just need to hold on a little longer. Can ya do that?"
Weakly, he nodded again.
"Of course ya can; yer Robin." The worlds held a touch of resentment, but the other Robin smirked none-the-less and clutched the bloody blade tightly in his fist. "Close yer eyes again, Dickie-bird. Things are about to get real messy."
Roaring like an animal, the other spun around and threw the blade toward the consol. When it struck, it was like a bubble bursting. The purple light that had enveloped Dick vanished in an instant, the wind rushing past him as the portal was suddenly closed behind him. The images of other times and worlds stopped, the sounds of the outside world returned, the frozen bodies of Guardian and Sportsmaster started moving again.
The stunned pair stared in wonder at the sudden appearance of a second Robin standing protectively in front of their captive. Blood dripped from the Other's arm, staining the floor at his feet as he shifted into a fighting stance. A venomous snarl curled the Other's lips. "Let's see how you like playing with this Robin."
QUOTED FROM:
1 - Nightwing #90
2 – Robin Year One #1
3 – Infinite Crisis #7