"...Well," Dick said slowly, still staring at the trace of their tent that was visible beneath the fallen boulder, "what do you think?"

Tim snorted beside him. "I think we're shit out of luck. That's what I think."

"What do you figure we have left? Five miles?"

"Somewhere around that. Maybe a little less; once we got warmed up yesterday we were going at a pretty good clip. But I don't know how much worse the terrain's going to get between here and the falls, so..."

"So five miles might take us five days," he finished the thought.

"Right."

It was his own fault. If his leg wasn't so stiff in the mornings they would be able to move much more quickly, and minor obstacles wouldn't pose nearly so much of a problem. There wasn't much he could do about it other than limp along to the best of his ability, but that didn't feel like enough. Something more was needed, some higher level of determination. "...I think we're going to have to push it, Timmy," he proposed.

"What do you mean? You can only go so fast, Dick. It's okay, it's not your fault, but don't hurt yourself worse by trying to do too much."

Tim was looking at him with narrowed eyes, and Dick knew that what he was about to propose wasn't going to be met with rousing approval. "Look, we don't have any shelter, right?"

"Right..."

"And we're hypothetically within striking distance of whoever's doing this."

"Hypothetically, yes."

"So let's strike." He paused. "I vote that we go until we either get there or until we're so exhausted that we're forced to stop despite not having a tent."

"That's foolhardy," came back immediately.

"I know. But do you have a better idea?"

Tim turned his head away, his mouth tight. "...No. Not unless we pass another cave like the one from night before last."

"And if we do, I'll be the first to cheer and say let's stop," Dick agreed. "If we don't find a cave, though, at least the sky looks clearer than it has since we left the lake. Maybe it won't rain later and we'll get to stay dry while we walk."

"I wouldn't hold your breath for that. We're in a more-or-less closed system of relatively small proportions; if it doesn't rain this afternoon, it will be a miracle."

"I'll just keep my fingers crossed, then. It's hard to hike when you're holding your breath." He looked down. "It's also hard to hike without a crutch. Would you...?"

"Yup." Tim slipped one foot under the stick and tossed it expertly upwards. Dick snagged it out of the air, then squeezed his brother in a tight one-armed hug before releasing him.

"...We'll be okay, little brother," he promised, his voice carrying more confidence than he truly felt. "We're almost there now. We can do this. Hey, think of it this way," he tried to smile, "at least we weren't still in the tent when the rock hit it!"

The younger man gaped at him for a long second, then shook his head. "Dick..."

"Yeees?" he pressed.

"...If my superpower is communicating with prairie dogs, then yours has to be finding a silver lining to everything. Even your apocalypses aren't all doom and gloom."

"It's a gift," he shrugged, now smirking. "Now should we get going, or what?"

"...Yeah. If we're going to do this, then let's...let's do it."

The sheep, they noticed once they'd stepped out onto the main river bed, were heading downstream. Dick supposed that it was a sensible way to keep themselves from being shaken off of the mountainsides, but he couldn't help but wonder how the animals would escape their old friend the bear if they met him on flat ground. Good luck, he sent a silent adieu to the hooved wanderers as he and Tim turned in the other direction. Wish us some, too, would you?

They walked, and they walked, and they walked some more. He pushed himself as fast as his leg would allow him to, but it was clear that he was holding his brother up. They couldn't separate, though, even if Tim could probably have gotten to their destination and taken care of the villain by now without him. Without knowing what was ahead, and after everything that had happened, they had to stick together. Anything else was insupportable.

To their surprise the canyon didn't narrow any further. The water running down the middle of it, however, did begin to grow scarcer as they climbed, and that was a problem. Although the stream had been shrinking with each tributary that they passed over, they hadn't yet seen it quite as small as it was when they finally took ten minutes to refill their bottles and make a quick lunch. Dick could read the dire nature of the situation in his brother's face when the younger man returned from the water's edge. "...What's up?"

"It's so shallow I can barely get anything without picking up sand, too. Look." He held up one of the containers to show off the thin layer of silty mud that was settling at the bottom. "You can't even rinse it out. There's not enough water in the river to swish around to collect all the particles off of the sides. Trust me, I tried. And filling up completely is a joke." The second bottle proved to be only half-full when he raised it next. "I had to use this one to fill the other one all the way. I purified it all, but it's going to be gritty, and we're stuck with only seventy-five percent of our total carrying capacity."

"And this is probably our last fill up before the falls," he sighed. "Okay. We're just going to have to make it work."

"I know, but..."

Tim didn't have to go on for Dick to understand his hesitation. "Look, I didn't particularly enjoy being dehydrated either," he commiserated. "But think of it this way; now we have a reason to want it to rain later."

A harsh laugh tore from the younger man's throat. "Yes, yes we do," he concurred. "You're crazy, but you're right. Let's just hope it starts before we get too thirsty..."

But Tim's weather predictions began to look more and more off-base the longer they climbed. Although it wasn't nearly as hot at elevation as it had been on the plains down below, they were still working up a fair sweat, and that lost moisture needed replenished. The only way to preserve the liquid they'd already taken in would be to slow, but if they slowed then their meager reservoirs would have to stretch even longer. Now that Dick's leg had loosened up again they were loath to do anything that might let it cramp back up, so without speaking on the matter they simply pressed on, watching the sky for clouds and the high-up horizon for any sign of Damian's silver tower.

"...Timmy," Dick said, jerking to a stop an hour or so after the very last trickle in the river bed had dried up. He pointed at the glimmering pole that had appeared as they'd rounded a bend. "Look there."

"…Is that it?"

"It's got to be. It's the first metal we've seen under the force field didn't belong to something we carried in with us."

"How high do you think it goes?"

"It's pretty tall. Maybe a thousand feet? I don't know, without being able to see the base."

"Yeah...well, at least now we know Damian wasn't making shit up."

"I told you he wouldn't," he frowned. "Not about something like this."

"I know, and I believed you, it's just...Damian."

"Aw, Timmy..." Can't you trust him just a little? Please?

"Hey, his credit's gone up in my book now that I've seen this," Tim defended himself. "But..."

When he didn't go on, Dick tore his eyes away from the tower and turned to him. "What is it?"

"Is that what I think it is? Up there by the top of the pole?"

Peering into the bright sky, he picked out a familiar silhouette. The Batplane, he grinned. An instant later his joy cooled. Oh, Bruce, you haven't been sitting there this whole time waiting for us to show up and let you in, have you? I'm sorry...we went as fast as we could... "Let's hurry," he said urgently. "We can't be far now. If we're careful, maybe we can sneak in and figure out how to disable the barrier without having to fight too many people." If they could get Batman inside, they'd be golden.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Tim grabbed his elbow. "Hold up. Two things. First; 'sneak in'? It's broad daylight, and you're limping. How exactly do you propose we do that?"

"We'll just take our time," he argued back. "I mean, we'll go fast, but we'll take our time, too. Walk closer to the edge, keep your eyes on the cliffs, and be prepared to hide if need be. They can't have many people back here, and as long ago as they set up the force field those guards are probably bored stiff of staring at the dirt. We can manage it, I think, and it's way better than trying to walk outside of the river bed in the dark would be."

"Even putting that aside – I still think it's crazy, but I see what you mean about waiting until dark – who are we?"

"...Huh?" He wrinkled his nose. "What do you mean, 'who are we'?"

"Are we masked, or not? I don't have any clean water left, but we could probably manage enough mud to fake disguises if we had to. It would be gross, but we could do it."

It was a good question, but after a second Dick shook his head. "Masks would be necessary if we were carrying Batgear or were going to use any of our signature moves, but we're not. I know I'm not up for any fancy footwork, at least. Plus, if they have access to the hiker's schedule, which they'd be stupid not to, then they know that we were the only ones who were back here when the force field went up. If two guys in masks show up, they have to be us, and the question then would be why a couple of civilians would randomly choose to slob urine-mud all over their faces."

Tim pursed his lips and appeared to think hard. "...Okay. I don't like it, but okay. You're right. It will raise too many questions if we're wearing crappy masks, and if we try and do this in the dark we'll probably just get ourselves killed before we even see the bad guy. So...forward?"

"Forward we go. Nice and easy, but quick and silent, too. Keep your eyes peeled."

"Right."

They covered the last half-mile at a veritable crawl, scanning the rock faces on either side of them for any sign of opposition. None appeared, though, and as they drew slowly closer to their destination Dick began to wonder what was going on. There have to be guards, don't there? he pondered. The only excuses he could think of for the utter lack of sentries this close to the tower were that the villain in charge was extremely confident about no one being inside the force field who wasn't on their payroll or that the quake and its aftershocks had killed everyone. In such steep terrain it wasn't difficult to believe the latter option, and he'd certainly met his fair share of cocky baddies before, but it seemed too easy.

Rounding a final curve, they came into view of the broad, tree-lined pool that had once caught and calmed the pounding waters of Asperity Falls. Most of its contents had flowed out days earlier, leaving a pond no larger than a swimming pool isolated near the middle. It would be more than enough to fill their once-again empty bottles,however,and Dick licked his lips longingly.

They didn't dare cross so much open ground to get to it, though, at least not until they were absolutely sure they were alone. Signing to his brother to scan the left, he began to examine everything to the right. Tumbled rocks, flattened trees, what looked like it may have been a dead deer...and there, in the rock wall that had until so recently been hidden by a constant curtain of water, the opening of a cave. If there was truly no one else around, maybe, just maybe, they would be able to get a bit of rest before they entered onto the final stage of their quest. "Timmy," he hissed low. "Look. There's a ca-"

He broke off as the sound of a shotgun's slide echoed to their left. Taking advantage of their distraction, a single figure had stepped out from behind a pile of rubble. Now she leveled her weapon at them and spoke. "Don't move, and I won't kill you."

It was, Dick thought grimly as he saw Tim's jaw drop in disbelief, too good of an offer to refuse.

Author's Note: I'm going out of town this weekend, and as such probably will not be posting on this story until Monday (please don't hate me, LOL). I do have another 'Spot of Tea' chapter that I should be able to get up sometime during my absence, so keep an eye out for that. And don't despair! Our boys aren't done for yet!