Chapter Two
"How long do you think we would have to wait from now Johnathan?" I asked, my tone indifferent, far from the internal emotions I was feeling.
"It depends on how hard they have decided to look, my Queen. If they are not looking very thoroughly they with have left by now. If they are extremely thorough, and I fear they will be, they will not be gone until midnight or later." He said seriously. "We should find out where they are."
I nodded. "We should. If we can track them we can tell if they are getting close to us."
"If they are on this block we can get a visual on them with the street cams." Before he could continue I turned. I felt a shiver go up my spine. It was the feeling I got when I was being watched. "My Queen?"
"They are watching. You and I must leave. This hideout is compromised. Pull the failsafe for the files downstairs and grab the things from the table. I do not care if the members are warned or not. I will grab what I need from my room. Then we will disappear. We should go to the safe house." I turned to the small room hidden in the corner.
"Yes, your majesty." He answered. He left down the stairs. The failsafe for the files downstairs was basically burning everything. It was a simple plan, but it was better than the wrong people finding out about us. Johnathan would gather all the plans and schematics on the table and dowse them in alcohol, then light them. We should burn the whole building to the ground but that would have to be done very carefully. Opening the door to my room I looked around. It wasn't much. A twin-size bed, a dresser not even half-full of clothes, and a desk. I didn't keep much here and now I was thanking the stars that I didn't. Of the clothes in the dresser there were two other pairs of black skinny jeans, a pair of knee-high socks, a sport bra, a t-shirt, a hoodie and a white polo. Quickly I put the things into my backpack, and went to the desk. I grabbed the notebooks strewn across the desk and stacked them. Then I grabbed the pens and tossed them in the bag. Settling the notebooks in the bag I grabbed my key chains. Taking a glance at the bed and the rumpled sheets, I slipped the flask from the breast pocket of my blazer. Pouring the alcohol and lighting the sheets the bed went up in flames easily, the fire licking and cracking, eating the bed.
I slipped out of the room. The partiers below me had finally noticed something wrong. Some were leaving, others were so drunk they didn't care or had already passed out. I did not feel sorry for any of them. I began down the steps to the first level and when I got to the bottom I headed towards the back hallway. The back hallway leads to the kitchens and about six bedrooms some of them stayed in every now and then. I headed straight for the kitchens.
They reeked of mold, spoiled food and just plain dirtiness. I never ate anything out of here. I honestly don't how any person could eat out of here and not get food poisoning. In the kitchen was one man, tall, greasy and surprised at my coming through. I didn't even acknowledge him. Towards the back of the room was a sewer cap. That was how I normally got in and out of the court. Glancing behind me I saw that the man had gone. Good. I slipped the cap off and climbed further beneath the earth.
There were only six or so hand-holds before the floor. Stepping down I began to run down the tunnel to my left. The sewage was slow moving and low at this point in the system. I ran down the tunnel. A few hundred yards down the tunnel was a fork and without a seconds hesitation I took the right fork away from the city. I was intending to meet Johnathan at the safe house, an apartment that we could easily hold out in for months, with extra cash and clothes hidden there. But first I needed to see the carnage of what had happened.
When the glowing window disappeared, Robin turned to the others. "Time to go in."
"Did you see the number of people in there?" Zatanna asked incredulously "Is it worth it?"
"There were a lot of people but trust me, numbers like that don't always mean power. None of the looked well trained and most of them were drunk."
"Less than that. Look." Kid Flash pointed to a small stream of people flowing away from the parking garage. There were only a few at the moment but it didn't seem to be slowing down any.
"What could be going on?" Zatanna asked. The three then noticed a small amount of smoke drifting from the building.
"I don't know but we need to get down there." With a nod all agreed and went towards the not yet burning building.
When they finally found the room they had seen in Zatanna's spell the room was filled with smoke and there were very few occupants. Fire was spreading from the loft where they had seen the two people. Alcohol was spilt everywhere and the second it caught fire this place was going to be an extremely unpleasant place to be.
"There isn't anything left here. We need to get out and call Batman. Tell him what we found out." Zatanna said covering her mouth and nose with her sleeve. When Robin nodded she and Kid Flash turned back to the exit and climbed the stairs back up the surface. Reaching the top they realized Robin wasn't with them.
Looking back Kid Flash saw the bird running up the stairs, turning off his wrist computer. He was to slow. And KF never cursed being a speedster more than he did at that moment. The sound of the emergency sirens and the fire slowed. Behind Robin, through the still-open door at the bottom of the stair he saw the spilt beer lite. Catching fire it grew and consumed the entire floor. Slipping out the doorway it embraced the propane tanks at the bottom of the stairwell. In slow motion for the speedster the tank caught the element and combusted. Before his best friend could even register what was happening his cape and back were engulfed in flames. Several shards of the exploding tanks and sliced through skin. The explosion came forward to him and burnt his face, his arm catching a piece of shrapnel as well. He heard Zee behind he scream, and then the light and heat from the blast was gone and the world sped up again. Seven steps down Robin was lying face down, burnt and unmoving. Down the steps faster than he knew he could Kid was at his friend's side. He was afraid to touch him for all his wounds.
Zatanna's eyes widened as she saw the blast envelope the stairs and the front of Wally. Before it registered in her mind that the flames were gone, so was Kid Flash. Behind her a firefighter put his hand of her shoulder, shaking her from her shock
"What happened here?" She asked her. When she realized who she was talking to the woman took a shocked expression herself. "Zatanna? What? And who else is..?" Her head turned to the doorway to the stairwell.
Shaking her head, Zee could feel the tears welling in her eyes. "Robin." Her voice cracked and she shook her head once more as the tears tried their hardest to find their way down her face she took a step towards the door. Before she could get there Kid Flash was up the steps cradling an unconscious Robin in his arms. She started to fall when she felt the firefighter wrap an arm around her waist to catch her. Two paramedics came rushing forward to Batman's protégé. One placed an oxygen mask over his face. The other put his hand on Kid's chest, gently pushing him from Robin. Several firefighters rushed by and down the stairwell going down the stairs, block her view of her friends for a moment.
The firefighter holding her up helped her over to her friends where the second paramedic was now using both hands to keep the bright yellow sidekick away.
"Stop Kid. Let them help." Zee broken voice called out. Wally looked up from his glaring at the man. His faced soften seeing her. "Call the league. They need to know about this." Nodding the enraged speedster turned on his heel and walked a few steps away and reached his hand to his head to activate his communicator.
Dropping to her knees she looked to the paramedics. They both ignored her, working hard to stabilize her friend. A third paramedic came up with a stretcher. They moved him onto it and began to push it quickly back to the ambulance. The one that had held back Kid Flash came over to her.
"We aren't out of the woods yet, but he should live. He is covered in third degree burns, but his pulse and breathing are remaining stable." He looked over his shoulder to the speedster; he seemed to make a decision. "We are only supposed to allow family, but if you'd like we could give you a lift to the hospital in the back of the ambulance with him while he waits for the other superheroes" he had turned back to her. She nodded.
"Yeah, I just need to talk to him first." Without really waiting for his answer she slowly stepped over to Wally. "Kid," she whispered "I'm going to go with Robin to the hospital, you should wait here for the leaguers-"
"No. I'm going to the hospital with Rob." He whispered loudly back to her, emotion bright in his eyes.
She set here hand on his arm. "Wally, you need to stay here. I'll go to the hospital" but he interrupted her before she could continue
"NO!" He whisper-shouted. "I'M HIS BEST FRIEND. I'N NOT LETING HIM GO TO THE HOSPITAL ALONE, EVEN IF HE IS WITH YOU. I LOVE HIM AND I'M NOT LEAVING HIS SIDE." The silence after his words made him think over what he had said. His eyes widened at the realization of his last statement. "Not one word Zatanna. Not one." With that the speedster strode over to the open ambulance and climbed in. The vehicle was moving before the door was even closed. I hope Robin is going to be ok. I'm going to have to talk to Wally about all this. After a few seconds a second thought occurred to her.
Batman is going to kill us.
Ha! You thought I died didn't you. Nope. This was just a really long chapter that didn't want to write itself until this morning. My inner shipper in coming out. I'll probably have birdflash mostly. Maybe some snaibsel. Because I can and I like that ship. We just have to wait and see what will come into play here.