Ladies and Gentlemen! I gift to you the next chapter of this story and hope that you all enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it out.
Before we get to the story I just want to say thanks to everyone for sticking around and going on this journey with me. Hopefully I manage to achieve your expectations and can't wait to see some of you guys' reviews after certain things happen. We got some cool things coming down the pipline story wise and writing wise actually that I hope you all enjoy when it happens.
Thanks to those who reviewed last chapter. Appreciate the love you guys give this story. I don't own anything DC so now onto the story...
BIRDS OF A BAT
FIRE & ICE
GOTHAM ACADEMY
September 28, 07:30 EDT
Barbara stood outside the school leaning against a pillar watching the students mingle and talk with each other before they had to inevitably go inside to start the school day. She watched everything that was going on around her as she talked with Beth, her new chem partner, and her group of friends that surrounded her. She was well aware that she hadn't spotted a certain student enter yet and she wasn't sure whether to be worried or angry that he wasn't present yet.
As they talked about the drama and classes they had that day she caught from the corner of her eye Nathan, who just entered the school premises, flanked by Artemis. The two walked, talked and laughed as they made their way towards the entrance to school. Not able to help herself, Barbara excused herself from her friend circle and started to make her way over to the other two teens trying to eavesdrop on what they were talking about. She followed quietly behind them as they entered the building.
LINE BREAK
Nathan laughed as Artemis told him what she had to deal with at school the other day. He tried not to laugh at her situation but he couldn't help himself. Artemis had tried to act mad at him, but it didn't last five seconds before she was laughing with him.
"I can't believe you got to meet Red Robin and the first thing you did was run away?" he asked, laughing, "Did you shoplift or something and didn't want to get beaten by the teenaged caped crusader?"
"No," Artemis chided, "He was busy catching that Langstrom doctor who decided that turning into a giant vampire bat and terrorizing the city was better than just keeping his comfy job at Wayne Industries." Nathan just raised an eyebrow at Artemis' little rant, "What?" she asked, "I watch the news with mom before coming to school."
"So that's what you do rather than study for our math test?" Nathan asked, a small smirk forming on his face.
"We have a math test?" Artemis asked, getting Nathan to slap his hand to his forehead and sigh in defeat, "Hey, I'm kidding of course I studied and with your help, Algebra II was a lot easier to study for," she said, slightly chuckling while placing a hand on his shoulder.
"Nathan!" came a voice from behind them, causing Nathan to look behind him.
"Barbara," he said, stopping to turn around to look at her.
"Can I talk to you about something?" Barbara asked in a voice that told Nathan he had no choice.
"Yeah, I guess," Nathan sighed, before turning to look at Artemis, "I'll see you in homeroom, he stated, which got him a nod before Artemis continued to walk towards homeroom.
"What's on your mind?" Nathan asked as Barbara made her way to stand in front of him, looking him in the eyes, causing both teens to instinctively calm down and relax.
Barbara pulled Nathan off to the side of the hallway and opened a door that led to the inside of a closet so they could talk alone. It took Nathan a second to gather his thoughts about what Barbara could possibly want to talk to him about since they were in this tight fitting closet, causing both teens to be in very close proximity to each other. The closet allowed for very little space, if any at all between the two. Nathan could feel Barbara brush against him every so often as the two teens adjusted to get as comfortable as they could in the cramped closet.
"Artemis," Barbara stated, causing Nathan to let out a small sigh, "Look, you've gotten pretty close with her rather quickly," Barbara spoke, trying to push an issue she's been having for a while now, wanting answers from him.
"Barbara," Nathan spoke, sighing again, "there's nothing going on between us. We're just friends."
"Really?" Barbara asked, not really believing what Nathan was telling her, "You never did explain that picture you took with her at the beginning of the year," she shot at him, getting a little frustrated that she wasn't getting answers that clarified some things for her.
Nathan opened his mouth to answer, but stopped himself before he spoke, trying to think how to say 'oh Dick and I just wanted to get our pictures with someone that's on our secret superhero team that we're apart of' without trying to reveal secret identities or the team, but the hesitation seemed to answer something for Barbara that he didn't mean to answer.
"I knew you had something going on with her." Barbara stated fiercely, jabbing her pointer finger at his chest.
"No I don't," Nathan said bluntly, "We're just friends and if you, who's been my best friend for years, can't see that's all it is, then that's not my problem it's yours." he stated. Nathan noticed Barbara seemed taken back by the statement, but her response wasn't what he was hoping for as she just glared at him and huffed, opening the closet door and storming off.
Nathan left the closet a few seconds later, shutting the door and watched as Barbara marched down the hall and turned, disappearing from view. Nathan sighed watching the point where Barbara disappeared.
"You must be a lousy kisser if that's how girls leave you after being secluded in a closet for seven minutes," whispered a voice from behind him sultry into his ear, causing him to jump and spin around.
"Please, I don't need this right now," Nathan sighed, "I thought you went off to homeroom?" he asked.
"I started to," explained Artemis, "then I doubled back and waited for you just in case you needed a wingman, and it looks like you do after what I just saw."
"Nothing happened," Nathan stated, defending himself, "She doesn't see me like that anymore," he explained to Artemis, sounding defeated as he did so.
"Hey cheer up," Artemis stated, putting her arm around Nathan as the two started to walk towards homeroom, "plenty of fish in the sea," she advised her best friend, before they stepped into their homeroom and took their seats beside each other in their homeroom since seating was alphabetical by last name.
GOTHAM CITY
September 28, 17:30 EDT
"We're experiencing what experts are calling the harshest and earliest winters Gotham's seen in 100 years. So with the roads iced over and six more inches due, turn that radiator up and the alarm clock off. Because you're not getting to work tomorrow, unless you can fly," came the newscaster over the radio that Red Robin was listening to while he worked on completing his current mission.
Red Robin stood at a radio tower that made it easy for Red Robin to view the latest heist in progress caused by Firefly. Several stories up a nearby business building was a circular hole in the side of the building, its edges glowing hot, the standard M.O. for Firefly. Red Robin had been spending time each evening updating himself on the assorted rogues that were loose or had recently escaped from Arkham. Firefly had been one such villain having just escaped 3 weeks ago.
He stood, waiting for Firefly to make his next move so that he could be ready to make his presence known to the villain. As if on cue, Firefly exited the building from the same entry point Red Robin was watching and his heart started beating a little faster, knowing his opportunity to stop the villain was coming.
He looked down, after hearing police car sirens and saw three GCPD police cars heading towards the scene, one cop used the car's loudspeaker to tell Firefly to land and give up. Firefly's response was diving down towards the cop car, firing a blast from his wrist that cut the car in two. Red Robin watched the two parts of the car slip away from each other and tracked the two cops to make sure they were ok. He really didn't want to reveal himself yet and give up the height advantage he had at the moment.
He saw the other two GCPD cars dodge the lead car that was cut in half. The other two cars veered around and spun in the ice and snow covered roads. Red Robin watched as the cops emerged from the cars, checking to make sure their buddies in the severed car were ok, before turning their attention to the fly in the sky.
"In this town, I'm the heat," Firefly addressed the cops, Flying back around so that he was in front of the cops who had now drawn their guns. Fireflies showboating had left him within range of Red Robin's grapple gun.
"You're all sizzle and no steak," came Red Robin from his spot on the tower. Standing up, revealing himself to Firefly, Red Robin sported an all white suit that looked like his normal suit, but was built for the cold.
"Burn, Red bird," Firefly announced, shooting a bolt from his wrist that cut clean through the tower Red Robin was standing on, Red Robin aimed his grapple gun and jumped off as the part of the tower he was standing in, crashed to the ground.
Red Robin fired his grapple gun towards Firefly, which wrapped around the villain's foot, pulling Firefly down several feet. Firefly gained back control quickly though and took off through the sky towing Red Robin along with him.
Red Robin quickly moved his body through the air trying to dodge the blaster bolts shot towards him by Firefly as the pair flew through the sky.
"So what was your plan on getting me down sidekick?" Firefly asked.
"You'll have to land when you run out of fuel," Red Robin shot back.
"Well, let's fill her up then," Firefly sarcastically spoke, diving towards the ground and shooting his laser towards a tanker that was full of petroleum.
As Firefly passed by the truck, Red Robin realized what was going on, "Ahhh shit," he groaned, realizing too late what was about to happen.
LINE BREAK
Barbara rode shotgun in her father's car as he responded to a break in by Firefly. The dispatch also stated that Red Robin was on the scene as well and Barbara had managed to finagle her father into letting her come along.
As they rounded the corner to where they knew the robbery took place, both Gordon's in the car saw a petrol tanker explode. Commissioner Gordon rushed the car up to where the other police cars were huddled on the street and looked towards his daughter as he unbuckled.
"I know, I know," Barbara said before he could, "stay in the car Barbara," she said, trying to sound like her father.
"Good, now this time, actually do it," he stated, before getting out of the car and rushing over to the other officers to figure out what was happening.
Barbara watched the tanker blaze as she waited and watched how her father handled the situation, then something emerged from the fiery tanker that caught her eye.
She watched as a lumbering, barely able to stand Red Robin, who's costume was ripped to shreds in several places emerged from the fire and smoke, took several steps and then collapsed unmoving in the snow.
The policemen on the scene jumped into action, while Barbara got out of the car and took several steps but then stopped herself from getting closer, though all she wanted to do was go and make sure Nathan was alright. She could hear her father calling in Red Robin's collapse on the dispatch as she watched the policeman around him, but then she noticed one of them try to lift his cowl off to reveal his identity.
This she couldn't just stand and do nothing for and started to quickly make her way over to stop what was going on when suddenly the Batmobile arrived driving right between all the cop cars and skidded to a stop close to where Red Robin laid.
She inwardly thanked Batman for showing up when he did, because the sudden arrival of the Batmobile and watching as the roof of the car slid back to allow Batman to jump out, caused the policemen around Red Robin to back off, stopping them from revealing Red Robin's identity.
She watched as Batman didn't even utter one word, just quickly rushed over to his downed sidekick, carefully lifted him off the ground, placed him in the passenger seat of the Batmobile and then watched as Batman jumped back in the driver seat, closed the roof and sped off.
"Barbara?" came the voice of her father which snapped her out of her worry and she turned to face him. "I thought I told you to stay in the car?" he finished.
She shook her head and said "Sorry, I guess I was just worried about Red Robin, do you think he will be ok?"
Her Father just shrugged and said "He was moving, and if he's anything like Batman they have a knack for being able to shake off minor things like explosions."
Barbara smiled lightly and responded "You're right." as she made her way back to the car to wait while her father finished his investigation, but as soon as he was out of sight she was texting Nathan telling him to text her to let her know that he was ok.
BATCAVE
September 29, 05:00 EDT
Red Robin groaned as he came back to reality, lightly grabbing his head at the headache that painfully made its presence known to Red Robin.
"How do you feel?" Batman asked, watching Red Robin slowly sit up from the hospital bed he had been laying on for the past forty minutes.
"Like I was driven into an exploding petrol tanker… oh wait," he stated, sliding his legs off to bed so that he could stand up.
"You and Firefly threw quite the winter barbeque," Alfred stated, bringing Red Robin a glass of water, before heading over to the nearby elevator to go back to what he was doing before.
"It was a blast," Red Robin stated, giving Alfred a smirk, "What'd I miss?" he asked, turning his attention to Batman, as he drank from the glass, "Do we know what he took from the tech firm?"
"Gordon is still working on that. Once he finds what Firefly stole, it could tell us who he's working for this time."
"So what do we do in the meantime?" Red Robin asked.
"Rest, then I'll let you know," Batman stated in his signature commanding voice.
"I'm fine. I'll just go take it easy for awhile, then probably see what Alfred's up to, after I get out of this scrapped suit and take a nap."
WAYNE MANOR
September 29, 17:15 EDT
Red Robin, after getting dressed in some civies he had lying around in the Batcave, made his way over to the elevator to head up to the manor to see what Alfred and Bruce were up to.
As he emerged from the elevator he saw Bruce and Alfred huddled around a laptop.
"Nine-piece band, check. Decorations, check. Dinner napkins…" Alfred spoke, but stopped seeing Nathan emerge from the cave elevator, "How do you feel?" Alfred asked.
"Feel pretty good," Nathan answered, "What's going on up here?" he asked, taking an interest in the laptop Alfred was typing on.
"Just getting ready for the Gotham Police Gala," Alfred spoke, "It would seem that despite the cold, the Gotham Police Gala has become quite the hot ticket." Alfred explained, his joke causing Nathan to chuckle, "Also," continued Alfred, "I took the liberty of texting Barbara back to tell her that you were ok,"
"Thanks Alfred," Nathan replied, giving him a nod as he poured himself a glass of water.
"That reminds me," Bruce spoke up, but before he could speak, an alert flashed on Alfred's laptop and the phones of Bruce and Nathan about a break in at Wayne Industries.
"Guess it's time to hit the streets again," Red Robin stated, heading back to the Batcave elevator.
"I'm going with you," Bruce stated.
"Seriously?" asked Nathan, trying to hold in excitement, "a Batman, Red Robin team up?" Nathan asked. "This is awesome," he said as the both entered the elevator.
WAYNE INDUSTRIES
September 29, 17:04 EDT
Batman and Red Robin arrived at Wayne Industries in the batmobile. Parking it quickly, Batman and Red Robin jumped out of the batmobile and easily saw where Freeze made his entry and made their way in that direction, moving from shadow to shadow.
Red Robin as he made his way to Freeze's entrance, didn't realize that Batman was letting him lead, letting his decisions dictate how smooth this encounter would go.
Red Robin, closely followed by Batman, grappled to the top of the ice that Freeze used to pierce through the walls of Wayne Industries. Red Robin as they entered the inside of Wayne Industries spotted Freeze right away and quietly jumped to a nearby platform, as did Batman, but on the other side of the room, to separate so one blast of ice didn't freeze them both.
"Liquid nitrogen. Do not touch." Freeze read the warning label on the metal canister in front of him. Red Robin watched as Freeze ripped off the lid and nonchalantly stuck his hand into the liquid nitrogen inside the container. Red Robin watched as Freeze then lifted a device that was holding six glass containers that contained some sort of glowing blue liquid. Red Robin wasn't sure what was in it, but anything that was stored in Liquid Nitrogen that Mr. Freeze wanted, was something that he needed to get. He watched the birdarang disc that he just let loose travel towards Freeze's direction which he thought was a good start to achieving what he needed to.
"Ah," Freeze sighed looking at the glowing blue liquid in the containers. Then suddenly something hit his hand that held the device, causing him to drop it back into the liquid nitrogen and stagger back holding his hand, "Agh," he grunted.
"Wasn't expecting a snowman," came Red Robin from his perch above Freeze, as the villain looked in his direction with anger, "was looking for someone with a little more flair."
"Such a chilly reception," Freeze retorted, aiming his hand towards the teen hero, but this time a batarang flew and hit Freeze's hand, causing him to shank his attack on Red Robin, completely missing.
"Batman," Freeze grunted, as The Caped Crusader made his appearance known as well. Freeze then re-aimed and shot a blast of ice from his hand towards Red Robin. This time nothing obstructed his attack and Red Robin was forced to move and outrun the continuous blast of ice that kept coming up from the ground just behind him.
Red Robin jumped from the railing and turned to face Freeze throwing pellets that struck Freeze's face, acting like mini flashbangs causing Freeze to stop his attack and cover his face, "My eyes!" shouted the villain, as then shot blindly behind him, where he last knew Red Robin to be.
"I see you got some upgrades," came Batman's voice, noticing Freeze could now shoot blasts of ice from his hands and the new suit Freeze wore, but neither Freeze nor Red Robin could locate or see Batman, though both were preoccupied with more urgent matters.
Red Robin as he landed quickly shot his grapple gun back towards another raised railing so that he could stay in front of Freeze's blast, however as he swung the blast was able to hit his line and cause it to snap, causing Red Robin to fall to the ground, coming to a controlled, rolling stop.
However the unstable ice structure Freeze made by shooting the teen, began to fall and would have landed on Red Robin if not for Batman swooping in to grab his partner, landing off to the left of where the structure of ice just fell, smashing as it hit the ground, covering both heroes in ice.
Freeze then approached the two, "How shall I ice the both of you?" Freeze asked as he pulled out what looked like a high tech ice pick, with the tip of the pick glowing a bright red and hummed as Freeze stepped closer, "Allow me to pick your frozen brains."
"Liquid nitrogen," Batman mumbled grabbing a nearby birdarang that laid on the ground and threw it towards Freeze, who easily dodged out of the way but turned to watch the birdarang disc slam into the big container of liquid nitrogen and begin to beep, causing the villain's eyes to widen.
The container of liquid nitrogen exploded sending out the liquid which covered Freeze before losing its momentum and freezing just before it reached the two crime fighters.
Freeze however, easily broke free of his icy prison, but this gave Red Robin the time he needed and leapt into action. As Freeze broke free, Red Robin rushed over and grabbed the ice pick and then grappled away from the villain, who sent a blast of ice towards Red Robin but missed. Red Robin as he swung through the air, tossed the pick to Batman, who caught the device and stabbed it into the ground, causing the ice to crack and divide, heading in Freeze's direction as it did so. Ice and debris enveloped Freeze and the surrounding area and Red Robin watched as the surrounding area fell through several floors of Wayne Industries before coming to a halt.
Red Robin and Batman made their way over to the edge of the area that sank and peered down. Both launched their grapple guns above them then lowered themselves down. As the two touched down, Batman and Red Robin split up to investigate the debris and to see if Freeze was still around. Batman noticed a hole in the wall and peered out seeing the icy evidence of Freeze's getaway, while Red Robin investigated the surrounding area and what he found didn't make their situation any better.
"It's gone." he stated to the Dark Knight, "We stopped him earlier, so he just took the whole canister rather than that glowing blue liquid that was inside it.
WAYNE MANOR
September 30, 18:45 EDT
"How did it go?" Alfred asked as Bruce and Nathan came back up from the cave via the elevator.
"Freeze got away with what he wanted from Wayne Industries, so it's going not good." Nathan spoke, pouring himself and Bruce a glass of orange juice. Bruce and Nathan sat at a table, near where Alfred was cleaning.
"Ah," Alfred acknowledged Nathan's answer, "In other news, Master Bruce, have you prepared your speech for the Policemen's Gala?" he asked.
"The speech, I almost forgot Alfred," Bruce answered, as the fact that he was hosting the Policemen's Gala at one of Gotham's banquet halls. Bruce then looked towards Nathan, "The Gala could be a good target for Freeze, I could use Red Robin there to help with surveillance. We just need to get you into the party." Bruce explained. "Getting you a ticket at the last minute might be difficult, but i'm sure if I throw some money in the right direction."
"Well actually…" Nathan started, not sure if he should bring what he was about to say up to the other two in the room, "I already have a ticket. I… was supposed to be Barbara's date for the event." he explained.
"Then issue resolved" said Bruce finishing his juice and moving towards the door.
"Don't you think it's a bit of a downgrade replacing Miss Gordon for Mr. Wayne?" Quipped Alfred from the other side of the room. Bruce stopped walking and turned to Alfred and raised his eyebrow, while Nathan sat trying not to choke on his orange juice. "Yes, Yes I'm fired I know" replied Alfred stoically to Bruce and his eyebrow.
Bruce nodded his head and turned to Nathan waiting for the choking fit to end. "Be back here at six in your suit. Black vest and bowtie, you'll be going as my assistant. Alfred, make sure he has the itinerary and details." and with that Bruce exited the room.
Nathan sighed and looked at Alfred. "Looks like I'm replacing Barbara for a clipboard, definitely a downgrade. I'll see you later tonight" Nathan then finished his orange juice and made his way to the batcave so he could get home and get ready.
GOTHAM POLICEMEN'S GALA
September 30, 21:30 EDT
Nathan, his 'date' in hand, as he glanced back up from his clipboard, he saw Bruce talking to Commissioner Gordon. Seeing the Commissioner, Nathan adjusted his tie and glanced around the room looking for a specific person. Not seeing them he sighed relief and started to casually make his way over to Bruce and Jim.
As Nathan got closer he started to overhear the conversation that was occurring. "Sorry to hear about Wayne Industries being trashed by Freeze, Wayne," Commissioner Gordon stated, before taking a swig of his cider.
"We already have a crew working on repairs and they shouldn't take too long," Bruce explained to the Commissioner, brushing off his worry.
"We are still investigating the stolen tech and hunting down some leads," Jim informed the billionaire businessman.
Nathan had made his way close enough to hear the conversation but not to intrude when a female voice came from behind him "Fancy seeing you here," Nathan spun around and saw the most beautiful glare he's ever gotten from someone.
Barbara stood before him dressed in a red dress that was tight fitting and came to an end just above her knees. "Well, I am the assistant to Bruce Wayne for the party." Nathan stated matter-of-factly.
"You used my ticket though to get in still didn't you?" she asked, still glaring quizzically at him.
"Why would I have to use the ticket you got me?" he asked, trying to dodge the question
"Because my Dad had to improve the invite list as well as Bruce and I know no new tickets were added. I got that ticket for you when we were together and you still used it? Now that we're not..." she argued with him.
"I'm working the event for Bruce, I asked to be his assistant since Dick can't make it, and because I'm on a mission for Batman" he whispered the last part, so that no one but Barbara could hear.
"Speaking of," Barbara chimed, "can we talk somewhere privately?"
Nathan looked down at his clipboard momentarily before looking back up to Barbara, "Sure, I can spare a few minutes," he stated as he began to follow Barbara who turned to walk towards stairs that led to one of the balconies above them that currently had no guests there.
"So," Barbara stated, sporting a playful smirk this time, "on a mission huh?" she asked, the smirk growing after she finished speaking.
"Yeah," Nathan stated, going towards the edge of the balcony to lean on, looking down on the crowd.
"Care to give me some deets?" she asked, leaning on the railing next to him.
"Not really," Nathan responded, just looking out over the crowd, casually spotting Bruce, to keep an eye on where he was because he needed to remind him when it was time to give his speech for the Gala.
"Please?" Barbara asked, poking the bear, "Does it have to do with Freeze attacking Wayne Industries? Or are you working off the books to get revenge on Firefly?" she asked, lightly putting her hand on one of the injuries she saw on Red Robin, that was currently covered by the tux that Nathan wore, causing him to slightly flinch, but only in reaction and not pain.
When Nathan didn't respond right away to her, she continued to poke at him, "Come on," she pleaded, "we made a great team after I got rescued," she continued, "thanks for that by the way," she quickly added, getting a nod in return.
"That's not how I saw things," Nathan stated nonchalantly.
"What gives here?" Barbara asked, as her irritation came out in her voice, "I feel like you're giving mixed signals. Do you accept me in the role of Batgirl or not?" she asked sternly.
"Y-yes," Nathan sighed, struggling to get the word out, "I do, but that's not why…" Nathan started, but faltered in speaking, running his hand across his face.
"Nathan?" Barbara asked, resting a hand on his shoulder causing him to flinch slightly from his injury from the tanker, causing Barbara to worry.
"I don't trust myself," he sighed into his hands, as he covered his face, "I do what I can to protect you, but it's best for both of us if we don't work together. I can't be the reason you get hurt."
"You wouldn't," Barbara smoothly argued, not raising her voice to upset Nathan, "I can protect myself you know. You gave me the tools to do so."
"That's not it," Nathan sighed again, cocking his head to look at Barbara, "I was the weakest member of a team that Batman and the League tried to put together, I froze up when Lily got shot, I froze up on a mission and almost cost a doctor her life, which is why I started this whole solo thing, but I'm not going to put you in a situation where I could freeze and you pay the price."
"That's not… why would you…?" Barbara tried to find the words to convey what she wanted to say, "You're the one who's been-" but her words were interrupted as she tried to tell him how he's already been teaching her.
"I have to go," Nathan spoke, interrupting Barbara. Barbara easily picked up on the depressed, defeated sound in his voice, "I need to tell Bruce it's time for his speech," he informed her, slightly waving his clipboard in the air.
"I'll see you later then," Barbara said, turning immediately to walk away, slightly hurt. Nathan watched as she walked away, before turning to head back downstairs, heading down the opposite flight of stairs so that he didn't have to follow Barbara down.
He made his way to where he knew Bruce was and when he got there, he was faced with seeing Barbara again, as Bruce was back to talking to Commissioner Gordon.
"Bruce," Nathan spoke to get his attention, ignoring the look Barbara was giving. "It's time for you to give your speech," he said, pointing to his speech time on his clipboard.
Barbara watched as Bruce Wayne and Nathan walked away and disappeared into the crowd of policemen enjoying the Gala. Barbara skimmed the crowd to see if she recognized anyone before seeing Bruce and Nathan both step on stage, Bruce standing at the podium and Nathan standing behind him off to the right and she couldn't help but smile at how mature he looked.
Nathan stood on the stage, scanning the crowd, the balcony, and the surrounding area for anything that could be identified as a threat, after all this is why Bruce wanted him here. Bruce wanted him to keep an eye out for Mr. Freeze and/or Firefly as the Gala would be a perfect target for the unlikely villain duo team.
"And we sleep warmer in our beds knowing that you are there," Bruce spoke as Nathan focused back to his immediate surroundings, as the crowd began to clap for Bruce's speech, Nathan scanned them again, "That is why I am pleased to donate…" but Bruce cut off, and Nathan noticed too, he could see his own breath and the room temperature was dropping fast. He looked out into the crowd to see mostly everyone shivering, while some of the policemen looked around to see what was causing the sudden frigid room temps inside.
"Freeze," murmured Nathan as the ground started to rumble and ice shot from the floor, coating the upper balcony in solid ice. Nathan watched then as the ice began to rapidly grow in the room, freezing anything it came across, including the guests and policemen inside the banquet hall.
He and Bruce took off towards the exit doors, leading and pointing as many people towards the doors as they could, while they also made their way towards them, but staying back and moving at a slower pace to make sure they could get everyone out, but people were getting frozen left and right and it wasn't long before suddenly Nathan, who was just running seconds ago, was stuck in place.
Ice began to form around his ankles and began to creep up his body. Bruce rushed quickly to his side and pulled out his batwave computer that was no bigger than a cellphone. He hit a button on the device and grabbed a hold of Nathan, as Bruce too was frozen to his spot and Nathan could do nothing but watch as he and Bruce became fully encased in ice.
LINE BREAK
Nathan came too, gasping for air, and as his eyes adjusted to the room around him, he noticed that he was holding onto Bruce's batwave, but that it was super hot and making his hand uncomfortable and immediately dropped the device, only for it to be caught by Bruce, who stood in front of Nathan, making sure his teen partner was alright.
"Freeze," Nathan sputtered, as he tried to gain body heat back.
Bruce nodded.
"Barbara?" Nathan asked.
"Frozen with the rest of the guests of the Gala," Bruce explained.
"We need to stop whatever he's doing," Nathan muttered as he and Bruce walked out of the banquet hall. Nathan stopped and turned one of the GCPD spotlights that was outside the banquet hall and turned it around and aimed it so it hit the frozen guests inside, to start unthawing them as he and Bruce went to permanently stop whatever Freeze and Firefly were doing.
As they descended down the steps of the Gala, the Batmobile pulled up alongside the curb and the roof opened revealing two suits ready for use for the two heroes.
Once they had both donned their uniforms, Batman and Red Robin took a look at the surrounding area of Gotham City and saw ice everywhere, covering the streets, sides of buildings. Red Robin could look nowhere around his general area and not see ice.
A batarang and birdarang wedged themselves into a nearby thick clump of ice. Both instruments beeped loudly several times before exploding, destroying the clump of ice but also giving Batman and Red Robin and entry point to underground Gotham, where they had theorized Freeze and Firefly had set up base.
"Where there's frost," Batman spoke, kneeling down to peer through the opening they just caused.
"There's fire," Red Robin finished, standing over the shoulder of Batman also peering down into the hole, before he and his mentor both descended into the depths of Gotham.
LINE BREAK
Red Robin quietly followed behind Batman as the two stealthed their way through the underground heating vents of Gotham. Red Robin was grateful Batman allowed him to lead when they fought Freeze at Wayne Industries, but was glad Batman was taking the lead for this part of the mission cause Red Robin would have no idea where to go, except for Freeze and Firefly talking loudly in the distance, which made their job of sneaking on them a bit easier to accomplish.
Red Robin, following Batman, entered the open area underneath Gotham City as Firefly loaded in the next cylinder for Freeze to use for his massive machine he was manning, "Second stop on the freezer-burn tour: City Hall.
Red Robin got the signal he knew very well from Batman and pulled out his grapple gun and fired it towards Firefly, he watched as the line wrapped itself around the arm Firefly meant to use to start up the machine for Freeze. Red Robin yanked back causing Firefly to get dragged back to the ledge of the platform that Freeze's machine rested on.
"The Batman… oh… it's just you," Freeze sighed, turning around to see what the commotion was about.
"Such a chilly reception," Red Robin retorted, "No 'I missed you'? It's been so long since I got to annoy you, I'm hurt."
"Don't sweat it, chief. I got him," Firefly spoke, as he fired his laser beam that hit the ground in front of Red Robin and with the help of Firefly directing it, the laser started to make its way towards the teen hero.
Before the laser could reach its target, a batarang came from nowhere and hit Firefly's wrist sending the laser off to the left of Red Robin.
"Batman," Freeze sighed, "I knew you couldn't resist trying to stop me."
Batman then landed next to Red Robin, but the two couldn't stay still for long as the laser came directed at them again. Both Batman and Red Robin took off running towards the edge of the room and using the wall to launch themselves away from the laser, but the laser cut through some of the ice that lined the walls and caused chunks of it to fall towards the heroes, who had to dodge out of the way, only for more chunks to fall around them as Firefly continued to direct his laser towards them. However, all the ice hitting the ground caused its own makeshift smoke screen shielding the heroes from Firefly, who now took to hovering in the air to try and spot them.
Red Robin had taken cover behind some larger chunks of ice, as did Batman several feet away from him. Red Robin scanned the area, remembering his training Batman had taught him. Firefly was careless when he fired his laser and they could use that to their advantage. Red Robin looked over at Batman who slightly tilted his head towards Freeze's cryo machine, so Red Robin looked over and saw where Batman was trying to direct his eyes.
There, covered in ice was a lever that if they could get access to would reset the boiler and turn it back on. They just needed time to be able to get to it through the ice that encased it. Red Robin looked back over to Batman who gave him the 'stay put' signal and Red Robin begrudgingly nodded as Batman took off towards Freeze's cryo machine, running through the makeshift smoke screen as he did so immediately gaining the attention of Firefly, who spun and fired his laser in Batman's direction.
Red Robin watched as the laser from Firefly stopped short of where Batman wanted to, but Batman stayed up against Freeze's cryo machine ready to move when Firefly inevitably fired again. Red Robin assumed Firefly stopped due to his laser kicking up more steam as the ice melted from the heat, which obscured his view of Batman again.
However, when there was a gap in the fog Batman casually made himself visible to Firefly who immediately upon seeing Batman fired the laser again. Red Robin watched as the laser hit the ground in front of Batman then moved towards its target. Batman waited till the last possible second and dove aside and before Firefly could stop his laser it hit Freeze's cryo machine and damaged, causing sparks to emit from the slice the laser caused.
Red Robin then watched as seconds later an explosion erupted from where Firefly's laser caused damage to the cryo machine, causing the machine to list and sending a shockwave through the room.
"Idiot!" Freeze shouted to his partner in crime, as he regained his footing, "You've damaged the cryo-accelerator!"
"We'll fix it!" Firefly shot back, "Chill," Firefly then set his sights back on Batman.
"You chill." Mr. Freeze yelled, raising his hand towards Firefly. Red Robin watched as snow particles formed in the air in front of Freeze's hand before a blast of ice hit and shot Firefly across the room, freezing him to a railing.
Red Robin started sneaking his way closer to the reset switch, while Batman used the opportunity to make a move for the reset switch as well, but Batman was stopped halfway by Freeze cutting him off. Freeze let loose a blast pushing Batman back and encasing him in ice, but Batman was able to hit a button on his belt which weakened the ice enough for Batman to break out, but fell to his knees from the extreme cold.
"Your demise, Batman, may warm even my heart," Freeze gloated as Batman rested on his hands and knees, trying to regain any kind of body warmth.
Freeze was about to finish off Batman when a laughter echoed through the room, originating behind Freeze, which cause him to spin around.
"That's cold," Red Robin smirked from his spot next to the lever.
Freeze went to freeze the teenage disturbance, but with the boiler heating back up, a back draft blew out from the giant pipe next to Freeze obscuring Red Robin's vision of Freeze completely as the back draft enveloped the icy villain.
When it died down, Freeze now rested on his hands and knees, with Batman standing over him. Red Robin then landed by his elder after grappling over, "Chill out," Red Robin spoke as he brought his fist down to meet Freeze's exposed face, knocking the villain out.
GOTHAM POLICEMEN GALA
September 30, 23:22 EDT
Nathan and Bruce had arrived back at the gala building. They had secured Freeze and Firefly and left them outside for the police to find. They quickly changed back into their suits and sent the batmobile on its way. before making their way back inside. They had arrived just in time to see people to start unfreezing. They returned to their spots and pretended to have also just unfroze and started helping to get everyone else warmed back up. Once the police were able to completely take over the scene Bruce disappeared to do host things, while Nathan casually made his way over to Barbara who sat at the back of an ambulance, drinking coffee.
"That seat taken?" Nathan asked, pointing to the open space on the bumper of the ambulance next to Barbara.
"No," Barbara said calmly, shaking her head slightly before taking a drink of her coffee.
"Those helping any?" Nathan asked as he sat, gesturing towards the coffee in Barbara's hands as he took the blanket that was wrapped around him off and used it to cover Barbara and help her get warm.
"Thanks," Barbara mumbled, "pretty impressive that you got Freeze and Firefly," she stated, giving him an impressed look.
"I had some help from Batman," he mumbled back in response, checking his surroundings before speaking.
"Sure that was exciting," she answered. Nathan could see that she was actually excited but also some underlying resentment towards him possibly for keeping her frozen and not bringing her along.
Barbara watched as Nathan looked at his lap and the only noise out of him for a couple minutes was a long sigh, "I'm sorry," he spoke and she had to refocus herself to listen to him.
"I'm sorry for leaving you frozen and I'm sorry about Artemis," he spoke as he turned to slowly look her in the eyes, and Barbara could see and hear that he was hesitant to bring up the last bit of that apology.
"She was the only one without a partner in chem when I got there and yes we hit it off, but nothing beyond being friends has happened or has even been talked about," Nahtan explained, never averting his gaze from her eyes, "Look, I won't lie," Nathan sighed, "I think something could spark between us, but that's only cause you broke up with me. I'm not trying to replace you at all, it's just not only did I lose my girlfriend but I also lost my best friend. Dick doesn't even really talk to me anymore, so it was nice to have someone again I could talk to about normal things again."
Barbara kept her eyes on him as he explained where he was coming from and rather than try and interrupt or turn things against him like she usually found herself doing, then regretting it afterwards when she calmed down. She let him speak and just listened. With Nathan emotionally compromised, she found it easier to read him. She also found herself drawn to him and their eyes locked on each other didn't help with trying to keep her emotions in check.
"You ok there kiddo?" came the Commissioner's voice, which broke the intent staring contest between the two teens, causing them to look towards the Commissioner and Bruce Wayne, who stood beside James Gordon.
"Yeah," Barbara said, giving herself some extra time to compose herself, "I'm fine dad."
"Good," Gordon nodded relieved, "Detective Bullock and Bradley are heading up the rest of the cleanup so I can take the two of you home," Gordon explained, nodding towards Nathan.
"I can take Nathan home Commissioner," Bruce interrupted. "It's on the way back to Wayne Manor and it's my fault he's in this mess to begin with," Bruce explained.
"Alright Wayne," James nodded in agreement with the billionaire. Barbara gave Nathan one last smile before standing up and turning to leave with her father, while Nathan got up and walked with Bruce to where Alfred waited with the car.
Thanks guys and gals for reading this and hopefully enjoyed this chapter. I really had fun writing it out. Doing the first Red Robin and Batman team up and having Nathan and Barbara sort through their relationship some more and we'll see where that goes.
Please review and let me know how you guys liked it and let me know what you guys think is going to happen in the future regarding Nathan and Barbara.
Pease out till next time...