Teen Titans Presents – Robin; Torn Legacy of a Prodigal Son –
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Chapter 18: Maps that Lead to a Better Somewhere
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"The bus stop's map is saying, to go east…" Dick frowned and sat on a bench at Steel's main bus depot and took in all of the info from what he had in his hands currently to handle.
One map.
Two granola bars.
A water he'd been granted out of the kindness of that elderly driver's heart.
A mod style black coat he'd stolen.
Stolen, being the key word here.
Tips that were now stuck at forty dollars left of his life, and pocketed from a con he'd committed to get here.
Here; being where, exactly?
Steel was big city, just within Detroit yet, he missed his home terribly.
That was a bit of a problem. Dick had to go to where the note had said.
Home, as in his real stomping ground in Gotham.
If Slade had lost him, cold…he could pursue the sender. Get out of this blackmail and have a chance –
Dick raised his head to the sight of something stranger…
A, stranger.
He dove behind the bench, hearing a strong ticking sound.
Gears?
His eyes popped and he ran to the main building's archway. A bus. He needed to go.
Now!
The strange figures wore civilian clothing as if they were here to look into a ride as Richard was.
Was, and now…?
The ticking was a bother. He dove for the first bus he saw and had his answer.
He'd try to hide. Get them to leave as soon as they'd given up.
He'd get out of this area before they came back.
He'd felt this way as a youngster in those pixie boots, but never over robots in human skin.
Still, Richard had a new found respect for Slade's use of the bots. Rose had to be as twisted as her dad. Her sweet cooing words were acrid as Dick curled into himself underneath the seat of one bus spot in the farther back row. The further away he was –
He'd gotten rid of all the tracers, right?
Dick checked his suit over.
He gaped at an answer, so ridiculous that it could not be true.
But it was.
The boot. He didn't check long enough.
He nudged it loose, wiggling free as the small thing was crushed. A sparking bit of tech the size of a postal stamp.
Gear – heads one and two turned their heads, the scent lost as Dick bit his lip not to sigh.
He'd been tagged like a dog.
They –
A rattle; as the door opened.
No, no no!
He bit harder and curled up even smaller under the dusty seat of the big bus's passenger row.
They couldn't be this….determined! They didn't even have his location…he begged that they'd go. Just, let him be as his hands…
Dick saw them and bit even harder onto his wrist this time.
Shaking, he wanted to whimper.
Have.
To .
Wait.
Go. Away…
The robots shrugged and nodded as if human lackeys, then turning to exit the one doorway.
Dick was not getting up. His body refused –
The clatter of a boot.
Dick had this very, very bad feeling in his gut as the cold pain grew worse in his wrist. The bite was already bruising as he eased up a bit on his grip over it.
~ Go away…not him…not real…please, leave me alone….no…~
"Kid?"
The boy was as focused on having this mess over with, until he saw the face of the elderly driver. His puffy eyes this close to bloodshot.
"You are on my bus without a ticket, again?" He frowned and the driver was careful when bending on his one bad knee. "This is the second time, kid. What's going on?"
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"He's a runaway."
Dick sat in the main office with two men; a manager and the older man, Louis. He was on Dick's side to get him home, while the boss found it to implicate a lawsuit for allowing Richard to even stay at the depot at all.
"We can't report him if he's being –
"And what if the "abuser" he claims, scared him witless? Or decides to take us to court for holding him here, Louis?"
The older man didn't know how to go about facing the fact. He and his wife had never had kids. He'd been at this job for years with a pension and a house a few towns away. He traveled, saw great feats and terrible news every day. Steel was bound to become as cold and heartless as its name one day, yet he didn't have to take this fate as his own. Not as is if someone needed help right now, anyway.
The kid was what, fifteen? He looked like he needed food, a bath and a good doctor to see what was up. He was running away he said from an abusive uncle, going to Gotham of all places right to his dad's. He did have a face that looked familiar…. but that could be for any known reason. Kids had those kinds of timeless features, though Louis couldn't place why this one pinned him down so much.
"I'll call child services –
"If he has nowhere to go, Ellen and I can give him a place to bunk for the night until he's called up his folks." Insisted the elder, Louis, who was starting to sound like the voice of reason more and more. Even if Dick refused to give his name to anyone. In case…
In case…
"Louis…" The weary sigh of the driver's main manager was a sentence as Dick mentally prepared to ditch these two quickly and quietly. Louis wasn't at fault here. No one was. Only Slade had to answer to the law, Dick thought as he kept his head down and listened.
"I can't do anything until we know."
"I just want him to be safe, Charlie." The elder seemed remorseful. Had he had kids himself? Was he just that passionate about his clients as one could hope?
"We'll talk to them and see, tonight. If it's all ok, then he'll stay with you until the legal bit is sorted."
"Then you'd better let him get a hot soup while we wait." Louis said to his boss.
"It's on us, kid. Don't spill. We'll call ya' back in once there is a clearer way around this."
So, Charlie was a good guy, but had to be a regular citizen. To do the right thing. Dick had been raised this way as well, yet it had never dawned on him that…this, could be ok.
That Bruce's number was in his memory.
That he had a chance left to fight back.
"I have his number. My dad's." Dick told the two men, while Louis looked too pleased to make the call to the manor with Charlie as his supervisor.
"You got it, kiddo. Here's a five." Louis took out his wallet and didn't look unpleasant in the least. "Get some supper in ya. You look too tired from travelin' all over." Grinned the elder to the boy wonder, who took the money and sat on a bench inside to slip into its steaming comfort.
It was a tomato soup, not lie the sweet red pepper stew his Tata used to make. Lecso was…. definitely not on the machine's menu as he sat and felt safe for the very f –
A clatter again, and more feet scuffling. Dick dropped his plastic spoon.
The scuttling was right behind…
Rats.
He scarfed it down, brow now sweating profusely, as the men simply did their calls in the office with Dick avoiding a bit of a trouble of his own.
Slade Bots. Seven in all. And he was still tired.
Too tired to win in a fight, as they pounced.
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A caller id showed an unknown number from Steel city on the Wayne residence's line. Alfred picked up the cordless and held it up to show Bruce who was at his desk.
"Put it on speaker."
~ Hello? Sorry to call so late. We found a kid; says he was running from his uncle to come to Gotham. He gave us this num –
"Hello? Yes, this is Mr. Wayne speaking."
The line went quiet for a minute before Charlie took the plunge and spoke up.
~ You…what an honor…. but, sorry sir, who is he? Anyway, he came to the bus depot in Steel and we needed to figure out how to help. ~
"And I thank you for calling right away and taking action. Now please, listen to what I am about to tell you. It is very, very important that you don't take your eyes off of him. He's my ward –
~ Wait…that kid –
"Is this really what you should be saying to these gentlemen, Master Bruce?" Alfred interrupted, yet Bruce was very serious.
"He's being chased by his kidnapper. We are looking for a man or his associates and so far, the search came up dry. Weeks ago, he was taken so I know I you two want to help, do not –
~ Anng !!!~
"Hello?? What's going on?? Hello!?"
The line. Bruce couldn't stall. He got the coordinates quickly and ordered Al to get his jet ready for a midnight run.
"You'll never make it in time if he is –
"We can always find clues, find out who'd after Dick. He ran away, Alfred." Bruce sighed. "He got out, and he wants me to save what I can."
"He may just wish to escape that awful man forever. I do also, agree that his spunk has won him that right…yet Deathstroke may also be guiding Richard –
"I don't think this is Slade's plot to bring me out again." The Bat's cowl was back on as he readied to get into his plane seat. "I think Dick found a way, and that Slade is using someone else to do his dirty work."
"How so, Master Bruce?"
"Ravager, Alfred." Bruce replied. Wilson was spotted incognito in Metropolis leaving Lex Corp's walls at one pm this afternoon."
"My word, then he did forget to lock the back gate." The butler gasped a little. "Richard must be terrified if that man has not given up on his contract."
"He never does, Alfred." Bruce put on his systems and got the motor going as it purred rather nicely.
"He keeps his contracts until they've been finalized. He's not broken once at all, his mercenary's strict code, unless Dick is the first to make Deathstroke forget."
"Perhaps that will be his light down a rather darkened tunnel, sir." Alfred also wondered. "That maybe our Richard is the conscience that mastermind refuses to listen to on his own. I would like to think that Robin could change a beast into a beauty, with some spirit as we've known of him to carry from a young age."
"Just like he did for me, huh."
Bruce was sure of one thing though; a man like Deathstroke was too much of a strategist to care for his kids like a real father should. That, was what Dick wanted to prove, he believed.
"Wish me luck. Alfred." Bruce nodded to the male as his fired-up engine did not wait to send him sky – high.
"The very best to you both, Master Bruce." Smiled back the elderly father figure.
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"Let….me…. gah!"
Dick kicked the bot back as it pinned not only him, yet the door to the men's office. They blocked it with a bench so that there was no help to arrive as Dick fought valiantly against the many clawed hands that seemed to be winning.
"I'm not going back! Hyah!!" Another judo flip out of danger, yet the bots had their orders. Some held up rope, others…. lasers as Dick just put up his fists.
"Try me…. freaks…!"
And mathematically, they won. His hog tied and gagged body was tossed into the back of what looked to be a shady looking, moving truck.
Which….no… no!
He kicked the door with all of his might, as the truck had started to move, they were taking him…where were they taking him??
" Mhhm…mm!!" Dick tried to bite at the gag in-between his teeth. No one was awake this late to hear. The roadway was too load, the path…
It had to have been a few minutes, forty? He couldn't tell with the creaking floor and walls. His scuffed-up appearance was easy to mis - read if he was found…
His head fell forwards in despair, as his legs moved to sit up. He could just fall down and do nothing.
Could pretend that Slade wouldn't hurt the Titans.
He'd tried, God…he'd tried….
They were all as good as –
The truck…had it…?
Dick heard a rioting mess outside, jutting fully awake.
Something had stopped the drivers?
He put his ear up to the door, but it simply fell, free.
Dick didn't know what to think. He didn't know how to give in so he used his shoulder to shove forward as he'd landed on ground…. some, grass….
Lights from…
His vision was pinned to where, and what had just happened.
Not a riot.
A ride, by a plane.
A, Batman.
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