Alright...Oh man I hate the end of vacations.
It was about a week after Christmas – Conner finding he'd missed his chances to get people presents but somehow got them some anyway – when Robin reappeared. He was healthy and all but Conner knew the babysitting look on Canary's face when she pulled him aside. He tried to not listen in but his super hearing wasn't exactly being picky.
"Are you sure you're alright?" she whispered.
"I'm fine; angry I missed all the fun but fine," he replied with a weary smile. Canary sighed and left him alone which opened him up to come over to Conner.
"Why's the neck of your sweater so tall?" Conner asked before he thought to mention that M'Gann and the others were out on a little scouting trip of sorts – all trying to find a belated Christmas gift or two for Robin because the holiday had caught them all by surprise and Christmas day had been held on the following Wednesday morning. Then again, maybe it was a good idea to not mention it.
"It's called a turtleneck and it's to make sure your neck stays warm without having to worry about a scarf," Robin explained with a dismissive wave of his hand. "Plus, Batman got it for me for Christmas – sorry for missing out on that by the way."
"It's fine," Conner sighed. "You missed out on Red Arrow and me saving Dick Grayson from Joker and his girlfriend."
"Harley Quinn," Robin confirmed. "She used to be a shrink in Arkam until Joker turned her into a giggling fan girl."
"What's her normal name?" Conner asked his interest piqued.
"Harleen Quinzel," Robin said as he ran a hand through his hair, the sleeve of his sweater falling slightly to reveal a raw skin on his wrist. Conner's hand shot out faster than he could think of stopping himself. Robin stared at him, his eyebrows nearing his hairline. "What is it?" he asked.
"What's this?" Conner asked as he inspected the raw skin that looked like it should have been bandaged up. Conner's blue eyes roared with irritation and rage. "What is this?"
"It's raw skin," Robin mumbled. "From the ropes, from the hostage situation Batman and I had to deal with yesterday. It was…petty robbery of a bank but the guys were on top of things you know?"
"There hasn't been a bank robbery in the news and these aren't fresh enough to be from yesterday," Conner growled. "Tell me the truth."
"My identity was kidnapped okay?" Robin mumbled softly, his eyes suddenly interested in his shoes. Conner frowned and looked at the raw skin that looked old enough to have been received around Christmas.
"No," Conner muttered. "It's not alright. That's why you've been gone for so long?"
"Part of it to be sure," Robin muttered bitterly.
Conner sighed through his nose as he looked at the boy's wrists skeptically. He wasn't even sure why the hell it worried him so much that Robin's identity had been in such a dangerous situation. Who the hell was he exactly to get in such a situation?
"Come on," Conner muttered. "We've got some stuff for those injuries."
"Thanks Conner," Robin murmured before Conner yanked him down the hall to the medical bay. "You don't have to yank me you know?"
"Knowing you, I do."
"That almost hurt Conner," Robin chuckled.
"Sit down will you?" Conner asked as he gently pushed Robin to sit on a stool before lathering on an ointment over his raw skin. Once he was done, he pulled the sweater collar form Robin's neck and gave the boy a glare.
"What? I had to dress up for something and I had a tie on," Robin mumbled with a blush.
"Speaking of ties," Conner muttered gently, "Grayson had some of these same injuries."
"No kidding."
"Something weird happened that night too by the way…I haven't told the others about it though," Conner whispered.
"Why not?"
"I don't think they'd believe me."
"So…what happened?"
"I…I could have sworn I heard you in my head at one point," Conner admitted. "M'Gann has sworn up and down that she never could get a feeling on you but it didn't really seem to matter since you were supposedly on another mission that night."
"The link must be really strong," Robin murmured softly.
"Huh?"
"Nothing," Robin mumbled looking away.
Conner resisted the urge to press the injuries with a slight darkness in his blue eyes. He didn't understand what Robin was saying and it didn't make him glad to know he couldn't understand a friend. He was supposed to know what was bothering his friends wasn't he? He was like an extended family member, one that had a better chance of seeing his other family members than a normal extended family. It bothered him to know he couldn't help a person he saw as family let alone understand them.
"Do you know how Joker got out of Arkam this time?" Conner asked, deciding it was probably best to just try to focus on something that didn't involve Robin's identity since he wasn't really able to tell him anything about that sort of thing.
"Not really," Robin sighed. "It's not exactly a new thing to know but Joker always finds a way to escape his cell. When Harley joined up, it got a lot more complicated but he likes leaving her behind a lot."
"Some team," Conner muttered a bit darkly.
"Well, he's not exactly a team player if you know what I mean."
"I don't but I'll take your word for it."
"Trust me; he uses his teammates just as much as any corrupt cop uses his job to make money. Only, Joker takes it all a little further since he'd happily shoot his teammates to make a clean get away for himself."
That made Conner shiver. He'd shoot his own teammates if he felt they were useless? What kind of person did that to people who trusted and followed them? The whole problem however was that what would happen if Joker's teammates were turned by Batman by him making a good point or three? Conner wasn't really sure what was happening when people decided to trust madmen let alone didn't seem to care what those madmen did to them.
"So…why would anyone hire him out other than knowing he'd definitely get Batman's attention?" Conner asked with confusion marring his face. Robin scoffed softly.
"I don't think he was hired for that task," he replied. "It's far more likely he followed a rumor and ended up there. Anything for a little thrill right? What's better than finding the ward of a big shot like Bruce Wayne and ending the chance of a rescue?"
"That's sick," Conner muttered, hands falling from Robin's wrists, blue yes glaring at the bandages. Something about bandages made him sick to his stomach.
He guessed it was mainly because he kept seeing them on only one person and it was rare to see only a few bandages on him. This, he guessed, was a small amount for Robin. That is, if the stories were anything to go off of, Batman had gotten his back broken in multiple places, had broken ribs, had broken arms, had broken legs, and had sustained head injuries. He couldn't help but think that being a hero was something that should be left to those with powers. At least they had some sort of ability to avoid being hurt as much as a normal human.
"You know…you look a lot like Clark right now," Robin murmured gently. Conner's eyes narrowed at his friend who watched him impassively.
"How's that?" Conner asked with a slight growl.
Yes, it was something of an unspoken rule to never talk about Clark around Conner in certain moments. If Conner brought him up, it meant that he wasn't brooding so they may as well talk about the Man of Steel until he went and said he didn't want to talk any more. However, it was a tentative thing and they'd all secretly agreed to let Conner have the say in whether or not Superman was to be mentioned.
"One of those things you two have in common," Robin muttered with a shrug. "You two dislike seeing people hurt, especially friends."
"That doesn't tell me anything."
"One of those things about how when I was starting out, I got injured a lot because I was new and these guys don't really know the meaning of going easy on people." Robin sent him a smile then. "He had the same look on his face as you do."
Conner frowned a bit. He wasn't sure if that was a compliment or not. It was always hard to tell with Robin. He was always a little hard to read. Conner decided it was one of those things that Batman drilled into his head in training. Maybe it was just something he did since he could and because it kept people on edge.
"Nice to know," Conner mumbled. "Stop getting injured and I'll stop looking like him."
Robin pursed his lips, rolling them into his mouth a bit before looking away from his friend. Conner knew that look. It was a decision to stay silent despite having a witty comeback.
"Just spill it will you?"
"You're his clone," Robin sighed pressing a palm against his temple. "Good clones, like you, will always look like the one whose genetics they've copied. Of course, that's really only if the clone is well made."
"Cadmus made we well I guess," Conner muttered.
"It was their job," Robin stated. "They knew what they wanted to achieve and they didn't really hold back." He ran a hand through his hair then. "Of course, I still wonder where they'd gotten Superman's blood to copy it."
"Great question," Conner mumbled.
"It's a million dollar one to be sure."
"Questions can be worth money?"
"Only very good ones Conner; only the very good ones."
Something about air outside of the exercise area for the prisoners seemed…purer to Zucco as he stepped outside of the gates. He'd been given back the clothes he'd been wearing when he'd been arrested – a nice Armani suit and tie – and all he could say was that it felt good to be in normal clothes again. Then there was the fact that outside the gates his lawyer was present to greet him with a coy smile.
"Welcome back to civilization," he said kindly. "Forgive me but Joker seemed to crash the party," he added with a sly whisper. Zucco frowned a bit but then reminded himself that as long as he was out, there wasn't much that could cause him issue. However, Batman was something else to consider. He'd be a problem no doubt.
"That's fine," he stated calmly, his dual colored eyes roaming over the area behind his lawyer. He spotted the boy who had been sent to him with the news of the plan. He didn't really feel the need to even act like he noticed the young man.
However, he would not act like he didn't see Bruce Wayne and Commissioner Gordon standing nearby, speaking to each other as congenially as they could bother to manage. Gordon was obviously irritated that his system had failed again. Wayne looked sad that his 'son' would have to know the man who killed his family was out again but there was something in those blue eyes that seemed to scream with rage.
He suddenly found himself hoping he'd never see that man truly mad.
"I think it will be best to move operations out of the city for a while," Zucco whispered to his lawyer. The man smiled a bit sadly at him but nodded in agreement.
"I have a wonderful friend or two in a few promising cities," he said, slipping a couple cards into Zucco's pockets. "I've already taken the liberty of calling them. I'm sure they've managed to set something up for you."
"Wonderful," Zucco sighed as he patted the pocket. He had a nagging feeling that where he'd end up would be out of the way and shabby but he'd deal with it in due time. He wasn't very worried about that bit. He just didn't want to be in town when Batman found out he was out.
He doubted that person didn't already know.
He'd gotten to his private apartment, finding it covered in dust due to disuse. The phone still worked though, and he'd called the airport as soon as he found that little fact out. He highly doubted that there'd be any problem with getting a ticket to the farthest town he could manage. Besides, it wasn't like he couldn't find the money to pay for it. He had plenty just sitting in the banks due to his accounts being left to grow off interest rates. They hadn't really been able to freeze them after everything that happened. He'd have money to spare.
Though…once he was at the airport, he couldn't shake the feeling that there were eyes on his back. The feeling didn't leave until he got onto the plane and he still shivered at the remembrance of it. As the plane took off, he tried to silence that inane fear.
The problem was he'd managed to miss the old man whose face almost looked like someone else's watching him with scathing blue eyes, hands in tight fists. He'd missed Bruce Wayne's calculating and hateful gaze on him.
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