CHAPTER 4: NEMESIS

Author's Note: Some original dialogue is taken from Robin: Year One by Chuck Dixon and Scott Beatty.

BATMAN'S JOURNAL

I woke up in a haze of darkness and voices. I quickly realized that there was a rope around my neck. Although I felt wobbly, I couldn't relax or let myself fall, lest I hang myself. My hands were tied behind me, tight. I began to work the ropes, confident that I would eventually free my hands.

I heard Harvey talking to someone about how he'd built the gallows specially, that there were twelve and not thirteen steps. Bragging to his henchmen, I figured. My head was pounding and I felt muzzy. There was something important I had to remember. Something had happened just before Dent knocked me out, something vital that I had picked up just before the darkness. I kept trying to remember, but it eluded me.

The voices got closer and closer, then I heard a familiar young voice. "I was the best choice," he said.

Robin! No, no, no, no! He couldn't be here. He mustn't be here...

"Well, Robin, I'm going to hang both the Judge here and your partner unless you'd care to offer a side bet," Dent said.

My boy didn't know about Dent. "Robin! Don't play his game! You can't win." Nobody could win Dent's twisted games. The only way to win is to refuse to play.

As soon as I said that, Dent backhanded me, leaving me seeing stars. I stayed quiet. Let him think I'm unconscious while I find a way to get Robin out of this.

"The odds are fifty-fifty. What are the stakes, kid?" Dent said.

There was a pause, then Robin said in a confident tone, "No bets unless I'm the one to toss the coin, Harvey."

"I'm crushed. You think I'd cheat?" Dent laughed. I worked harder at the ropes; he was planning something.

"No deal unless I'm the one tossing the coin. For all I know, you've got a fake somewhere," Robin sounded like the frightened nine year old I'd taken in, although he was hiding it behind a show of bluster.

I tried to dislocate my wrists, to force my hands through the ropes, but they were too damned tight.

I heard something strike a palm. Robin had the coin. "Stakes?" Robin let out a laugh and I could hear him moving closer. They'd untied him. Good boy!

"You let Batman and the Judge go and I'll give you your coin back!" Robin said in a mocking tone from somewhere overhead. He was in the rafters. Good! Keep moving...

"Get him!" Harvey was shouting to his scrambling henchmen. I heard movement while multiple bodies ran in my direction.

"Here's your coin, Harvey!" Robin shouted overhead. I heard a clatter from the far end of the room, and a thump as he landed near me. He was near me and clearly trying to untie the second hostage on the gallows, the judge. I heard a second body come up from behind. I tried to kick backwards and tried to trip the man, but I missed. I heard him take Robin down, the thump as he hit the platform and a louder one when my boy hit the floor.

The next thing I heard was chilling: the sound of the gallows lever being released. It wasn't me, yet. Judge Watkins began gurgling and fighting as the trap door dropped away beneath him. I heard him die, then the slow creak of the rope around his neck.

Dent had just killed, and he had Robin.

ROBIN'S JOURNAL

While I listened to the gallows creak, I knew I was sunk. I'd gotten that man killed because I hadn't listened to Batman. I'd butted in when I had been told to stay out. All I could think of was Wally and the Team. When my arms were free, I'd hit the panic button. They had to be here soon. They had to...

While the two men held my arms, Dent grabbed my hair and pulled my head up.

"I don't like players who cheat," he breathed and let go. I watched as he strode up the gallows, heading for Batman. At first, I thought he was going to hang him, too, but he didn't. Instead, Dent pulled the hood off Batman's head. I could see his eyes widen under the cowl when he saw me there.

Dent ran back down the stairs and began to pull off his jacket, helped by two of his men, the twins. When the jacket was off, he started rolling up his sleeves. I could see Batman's muscles moving; he was still trying to get out of his ropes. I tried to sweep out my legs and shift my weight, bring down the two goons holding me, but they were like twin brick walls. They just chuckled and moved farther apart.

"Nice try, Robin," Dent said. "You and your partner are even, now. You killed the judge and Bats betrayed Harvey Dent..." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a pair of brass knuckles, putting them onto both hands.

"Harvey, you're sick. You need treatment. I know that my friend is still in there. You're not entirely a monster," Batman said desperately. "I'm the one at fault; I was trying to help you! I testified at your commitment hearing. I'm the one you want to punish! He's just a boy!"

"Oh, no, Batman," Harvey said, stretching his arms in a warm-up gesture. "He's not just a boy. He's your new partner. That means he's old enough to know better. When I heard about the 'Dynamic Duo', I was very surprised. As a pair, you two certainly piqued my professional interest. You'll get your own punishment for what you did to Harvey Dent later. But Robin," Dent fixed his black eye on me. "has been judged for killing Judge Watkins." He stopped stretching and his eyes glittered with malice. "The sentence is death and will be carried out." He flashed a sunny smile at Batman. "And the bat will watch."

The first blow took me by surprise. He spun on his heel, his fist shooting out and hitting my face. I could feel the blood dripping from my nose as I looked back up at him defiantly. Then he backhanded me. The twins dropped me to the floor and backed away, leaving Harvey to his fun.

"The kid can take a hit," Dent said in mock-admiration. "That's good. There's more comin'!"

With that, he started kicking me, first in the gut and then in the head. I curled inward, trying to protect my chest but it didn't do any good. I was dizzy, breathless and all I could hear was a roaring in my ears but I think he kept talking, talking, talking...Something about real justice means not doing things that are legal...I heard a roaring that I think was Batman, yelling at Dent to stop.

Two-Face, pulled me up by the hair and all I could see was the monster, the horrible, acid-etched half face. He leered at me and said Batman hid behind Lady Justice's skirts because he was too chicken to do what really needed to be done. I wanted to yell back that he was wrong! Batman is the best man I know! But I couldn't breathe, it hurt to breathe, it was all I could do to fill my lungs with air. I couldn't get any words out, couldn't think or plan. It hurt. It hurts, Batman...Batman couldn't help me... I started to cough and tasted blood. I tried to go inside, like Batman taught me, go into a trance to wall off the pain and the fear. 'The daring young man on the flying trapeze', I repeated the trigger phrase over and over in my mind. When there's nothing else you can do, you just take it and hope for rescue. I think Two-Face thought I was praying, because I saw him smile. He wasn't far off.

He reached behind him, didn't even look, and one of the twins handed him a bat. Dent took it, hefted it, and said to me, "I wanted you to understand that. Before it's all over, I wanted you to know. It wasn't me that killed you, it was the Bat."

Still holding me up by the hair, he swung with his right hand and hit me. He dropped me to the floor and hit me. And hit me. I was down on the floor, trying to crawl away. He kicked me back in place and hit me. I lost count and I think I was crying but it didn't make any difference. My nose was bleeding and my face was all wet. There was a red haze over the world. Through the blood, behind the monster, I saw Batman struggling frantically to get free, but I knew he'd be too late to save me even if he succeeded. Sorry, Bruce. I'm so sorry. This is my fault. I'm so sorry.

BATMAN'S JOURNAL

...I could feel the skin on my wrists tearing and bleeding with the force I was applying but still the ropes wouldn't break...Robin...my boy...my son...That monster was killing my boy and there wasn't anything I could do. Every blow, every kick, every punch is still engraved on my mind and I'll never forget a moment of it until the day I die. My eyes were swimming and I know that I was roaring with a rage I've never known, determined to. get. FREE!

Too late, I remembered the vial of acid I'd put into my utility belt. Damn me for a fool! I fumbled with the pocket at the back of my belt, my fingers slippery with blood, and clawed the vial out. Next I pulled the stopper out and splashed it generously over the strands of rope. I felt it hissing through my fingers and wrists as much as the rope but I didn't care. My boy was out there, bleeding to death. There was so much blood, covering the floor, covering him... I pulled the ropes taut and applied more acid, until the vial was empty.

Robin had stopped struggling, but Harvey kept on striking him with a bat, all but hopping up and down with glee. Dent had stopped, grinning back at his cronies, shaking the blood off his hands, "Whoo! That's thirsty work." He hefted the bat again. "But one good shot to the skull should finish it." He raised the bat overhead and took a bead on my boy, crumpled at his feet. "Then the Bat, for a double play..." He raised the bat and brought it down on Robin's head with a cracking sound.

Desperately, I gave another massive pull and felt the rope finally give. I was loose. I was almost mindless, snarling now as I leapt forward to throttle the man who was killing my son.

I dove past the henchmen and went for Harvey. I grabbed the bat from his bloody fingers and laid out the two henchmen, the twins, who had held my boy down. Then I went to work on Harvey with it. While I was fighting with Harvey, I heard a loud crash and suddenly the room was full of spandex-clad bodies. I was ready to take one of them out, when I realized it was Young Justice. The Team had arrived and were fighting the remaining henchmen, leaving Harvey for me.

"One of you, get Robin! Get him to a hospital!" I bellowed at the top of my lungs. If Robin died, none of this would be worthwhile. I saw Kid Flash looking around and suddenly fixating on Robin, still lying on the floor, entirely too still. Wallace knelt next to Robin and seemed stunned. "Get him to the Watchtower!" I yelled, wrestling with Harvey for the bat. "GO!"

REPORT OF: Wally West

CODE NAME: KID FLASH

Page: 2

...So I felt for a pulse and it took me a minute to find it. The dude was barely breathing and there were so many wounds and so much blood. He was moaning and shaking. I've never even seen Robin cry. He's just like the Bat, he doesn't react to injury. I...I just didn't know what to do. Anyplace I touched him, I'd hurt him. I couldn't pick him up. If his neck was broken, I'd cripple him for sure. I didn't know what to do...

Good thing M'gann did. The rest of the team was busy with the henchmen, but she must have read my mind. I guess I was putting off distress or something, but she was suddenly there at my elbow, her eyes glowing.

"I'll take him to the bio-ship," she said into my mind. "You follow."

She floated Robin all the way out of that old warehouse and into the bio-ship. While she put Robin on the medical bed in our tiny sickbay, I got on the radio and called the Watchtower. Superman was on duty

"This is Kid Flash in the bio-ship, calling the Watchtower," I blurted into the mike. "Pick up! Hawkman or Green Arrow or whoever's there, pick up!"

"This is the Watchtower," a crisp baritone answered. "What is your emergency?"

What was my emergency? My best friend was dying back there! I took a deep breath to keep from babbling at high speed. "Watchtower, we have Robin here in desperate need of medical care. First aid won't cut it. Can you get Doc Midnite? We're on our way in and need a trauma team ready."

I heard rustling, sounds of movement on the other end and suddenly Black Canary was on the line. "What happened, Kid Flash? I'd understood that Robin was confined to Mount Justice..."

"He was with Batman in Gotham City. We picked up Rob's emergency beacon and tracked him there. The rest of the team is still fighting off baddies, but Rob is badly injured and needs a doctor right now!" I could feel myself starting to babble when I heard a thump on the outside of the bioship. The exterior airlock opened and Superman climbed in.

"Where is he?" Supes said briefly, then turned to one side when he saw Rob in the med-bay. He ran an eye briefly over Rob's body and took in the various braces M'gann had put in place.

"Did I do it right?" she asked nervously. We don't have much contact with Big Blue at Mount Justice.

"You did just right," Superman reassured her. "Wrap him in a blanket. I'll take him to Dr. Midnite. He's at the Hall of Justice, getting things ready."

Five minutes later, Robin was on a backboard with his neck in a collar and wrapped in a couple layers of blanket. Superman just picked him up like a bundle of feathers and eased him out the door and took off.

When the door closed behind him, the silence put both M'gann and I on edge. We just looked at each other.

"What now?" I asked, feeling like the air had been knocked out of me.

"We go back for Batman," M'gann said and took the pilot's seat.

Author's Note: Now, do I get some reviews or do I have to beat the cr*p out of the kid again?