Chapter 11: Hunting My Family's Killer Part 2

For what seemed like hours Bruce stood motionless in the batcave as the reality of his five year old son being completely alone in Gotham City to kill a dangerous mobster sunk in. How could he have pushed his precious baby to such extremes, all because he just had to break his promise to him. If his son was hurt or even worse…killed by his reckless and traitorous actions Bruce would never forgive himself.

From the day he adopted his sweet little boy he promised he would protect and care for him, to fail to do so would break Bruce beyond repair. He had to stop his baby before he did something that he could never take back. So Bruce kicked himself in the pants and got to work on getting his son back.

"Alfred!" Bruce called out frantically as he left the batcave.

"Yes Master Bruce, what is the matter?" Alfred asked, concerned by Bruce's tone.

"Dick ran away, he's going after Zucco by himself! We have to stop him before he gets himself killed!"

"Oh dear lord, we must find him immediately!" Alfred cried out equally as frantic, internally ashamed of letting his youngest charge slip beyond his watch.

As the two continued their frantic conversation Ace came running up to his master and barked at him.

"Ace not now, Dick is missing, we have to find him! Oh no what if he's already made it to the docks or is lost in the city.."

Ace barked once more followed by biting Bruce's to drag him away.

"Ace let go, where are you taking me!" Bruce complained as he tried to pull his cape from the dog's strong hold.

Eventually Bruce found himself at the back kitchen door where Ace let him go, only to walk up and point at the door knob with his nose. Taking the hint Bruce walked over to the door and opened it, only to find tiny footprints in the snow. For a moment Bruce froze paralyzed with fatherly fear as the reality of his son being all alone in the cold was all too real. As he processed this Ace sniffed at the footprints and followed them just outside the porch. He then turned and barked at Bruce, signaling he got the little boy's scent.

"Did you get the scent boy?" Bruce asked, breaking from his stupor and walking up to the dog.

Ace barked once again as if to say yes as he pointed to the direction the scent led.

"Good boy, now let's go, we have a Robin to rescue." Bruce said as he rubbed the dogs head and looked into the distance, praying Dick wouldn't get to Zucco before he got to him.

In Gotham City

It was quiet in the normally bustling city of Gotham being the wee hours of the morning, a small portion of time where people were inside asleep. That was accept for Dick Grayson Wayne, who walked in the shadows of the streets as to remain unnoticed by anyone who happens to be about. With unshakable determination Dick followed the map on his little cuff pad to Gotham Harbor. However despite his burning desire to avenge his parents and show his daddy he could do this, he started to feel cold, tired, and even hungry.

As he snuck about the shadows Dick held his small cape tightly around his little body. His costume was unfortunately thin and susceptible to the cold air that blew throughout Gotham city. Eventually knowing he couldn't keep this up all night, the little protégé found a secure little box to hide and rest in for the night. Quietly he climbed in, covered the top with a trash can lid, pulled out his blanket and pillow, and closed his little mask covered eyes.

But sleeping was rather hard due to the near freezing cold air outside and the box and blanket did little alleviate that. Not to mention the smell of Dick's blanket kept reminding him of his daddy and home and how he'd run away from that. Which only made Dick both miss his beloved father more and worry if he would love him the same after he so blatantly disobeyed him and been so unkind. This made the poor little boy shed a small tear, missing his family and wondering if he'd ever see them again.

Somewhere Else in Gotham

Batman followed Batdog closely as possible, making sure to keep aware of their surroundings since they were in hero mode. For a whole 'nothet mile the two tracked the scent of Dick until they ran into a problem as they came around an alley that led out into the street a huge city street scrubber came driving down. Wanting to stay out of sight the two quickly hid back in the nearby alley till the scrubber finally passed.

However this sent Ace into a tizzy as he frantically searched for the scent he'd gotten a hold of, unaware that the trail had been unintentionally scrubbed away. Immediately the large dog began to whimper, sad he lost his sweet pup of a boy.

"It's alright Ace, we'll find him I promise. It's probably best we turn in now anyways. The suns' coming up and I don't think it would be a good idea to be in our hero gear so conspicuously in broad daylight." Batman said, trying to comfort the poor dog.

Batman then turned around and Ace followed suit, though still quietly whimpering over the loss of his boy. Bruce wasn't doing much better feeling a hurricane of emotions over what had just happened. Feeling guilty over lying to his son, angry over his son disobeying him, worried over his son being all alone in Gotham City, and stressed about his son possibly becoming a killer should he succeed in taking the life of Tony Zucco.

Later that Morning

As it reached about 9:30 in the morning sunlight made its way into the box Dick was in and eventually straight to his eyes. Slightly disoriented and confused Dick slowly pried his little eyes open and took in his surroundings. Soon after he had fully opened his eyes Dick remembered what had happened that night, immediately causing painful twinges of guilt to fill his chest. Nevertheless Dick did his best to ignore his feelings and changed into some street clothes to become inconspicuous as he tracked throughout the city.

Pulling his little backpack close to him Dick dug out his disguise to ensure no one recognized him as Dick Grayson Wayne adopted son of Bruce Wayne. With great speed the five year old slipped on a little pair of dark jeans, tiny black socks and Velcro sneakers, a grey t-shirt, a warm navy hoodie, and his sunglasses his daddy made him wear when facing the pauperize. Once he completely dawned on the neutral ensemble Dick cautiously made his way out of the box and took to the streets.

Being as sneaky and casual as possible Dick maneuvered his way around the comparatively giant people around him. For fifteen minutes he continued to follow his little electronic map unhindered, many not even noticing his presence as he walked by. That was until he walked by East Gotham unaware he was being watched.

Dick was simply strolling through the park, his eyes glued to his map when he passed by an older woman around 55 years old. She had shoulder length chestnut brown hair with a few silver streaks, a pair of classic black glasses on, a light pink turtleneck, a navy down jacket, and long khaki pants. She was simply reading a book and enjoying the outside when a small shadow passed her. The older woman looked up for a moment only to see a small boy who looked about 4 or 5 pass her by completely alone.

At first she thought nothing of it and was about to go back to her book, but a nagging feeling kept telling her to watch him for a bit. So trusting her gut she watched the little boy walk assuming he was going to meet up with some sort of parent or guardian shortly and that she was just being paranoid. But as she continued to watch for about five minutes straight the farther he got away and no adult of any sorts accompanied him. Immediately her maternal instincts, being a mother and a grandmother herself, started to ring like a fire alarm.

With great haste and slight panic the woman got up and speed walked to the boy as he stopped in the middle of the park. Totally unaware of the woman coming up to him Dick was simply deciphering which direction he was supposed to go to get to Gotham harbor. However shortly after he stopped he then heard a kind voice speak out to him.

"Hello little boy are you ok?" The woman asked, trying not to seem threatening or dangerous in any way possible.

Dick turned around and saw the woman, immediately tensing up as he realized his cover was blown. But nonetheless he knew he had to speak so he could get away for this woman as quickly as possible and back to his mission.

"Hello, an yes I'm fine." Dick tried to greet sweetly, despite his stress and underlying guilt.

"Oh that's good, but what are you doing here all by your lonesome? It's not safe for little ones to be walking all by themselves." The woman asked, able to tell by the boy's face and tone that something was off.

Dick's heart started to pound, having not come up with some sort of cover story because he didn't think he'd get caught. But then by some stroke of genius an idea popped into his little head.

"I'm jus takin my daddy some lunch, he hasta work on weekends sometimes an I wanna to surprise hims!" Dick lied through his teeth in as cheery of a voice as he could muster.

"Oh well isn't that just sweet of you, I'm sure your daddy will love that. Where does he work sweetheart?" The woman asked as she crouched down, relieved at the boy's answer.

She figured he must have been in the park with his mommy and his daddy was maybe a park ranger or an officer or something in the park.

"At da harbor." Dick answered, at least being honest about where he was going.

Immediately any relief the woman initially felt was shattered, the harbor was over three miles away from the park and in a rather rough part of Gotham. She knew the boy meant well but he could get seriously hurt or worse, not to mention the stress or pain the father would feel knowing his son walked so far all by himself. So she decided she would help out this little boy and accompany him, knowing that discouraging children from doing things to help hurt their self esteem immensely.

"Wow you've going such a long way, you must really love your daddy." The woman said, trying to ease her way through the situation.

However, while he didn't outwardly express it, the woman's words only made Dick feel more guilty. Immediately the memories of the previous night came flooding back as he remembered how he yelled at his daddy before running away.

"Yeah he's da bestest!" Dick faked despite his aching heart.

"We'll how about I walk with you, that's not a very safe place for little boys to be alone at. Would that be ok with you sweetheart?" The woman asked as casually as possible.

Dick didn't know what to say, he didn't want his true purposes to be revealed to the woman, but at this point he had no choice in order to keep up his cover.

"Ok." Dick answered sweetly, though internally was thinking of how he could evade this woman.

But before he could put any thoughts into action the woman took his hand and started to walk with him. Officially starting once more the journey to the Gotham Harbor and man hunt for Tony Zucco.

"I forgot to ask what your name is, little boy?" The woman asked as the two walked.

"Dick. What about yous?"

"My name is Sarah." Sarah greeted happily as they continued on their journey

30 minutes later

After about 30 minutes had passed the two hadn't really spoken as they walked. Sarah found this rather odd as Dock had seemed very friendly earlier, but maybe he was feeling a bit shy. In truth Dick didn't know what to say and was swimming in his thoughts. All he could think about was getting revenge on Tony Zucco and how guilty he felt about how he treated his daddy. But it also lingered in his thoughts how his daddy lied to him despite all they had done together, which made him only question why jumbling his thoughts even more.

As he struggled through the mental turmoil, Dick then remembered something his psychologist told him. That it was way harder to keep your bad feelings inside and not talk about them, then it was to talk about them. He'd found this to be true as it helped him grieve and find solace in his parents death, as well as made his nightmares come less often. But Dick wasn't sure if he could trust Sarah with any of his problems or if she could even help him.

However as he stewed over his problems he realized maybe Sarah could help him with what to do with his daddy situation. She did seem a little older than daddy and maybe she was someone's mommy, so she'd know what to do. Gathering up his courage Dick pulled on Sarah's pants signaling for her attention.

"Yes Dick?" Sarah asked relieved Dick was talking finally.

"Sarah's yous a mommy right?" Dick asked timidly.

"I am Dick, I have three boys and a girl. But they're all much older than you, a few of them even have families of their own. But I do have a granddaughter who's a few years younger than you, she'll be two this August. Why do you ask?"

"Well I wanna tells yous I lied a bit about whys I'm goin to my daddy's work. The truth is my daddy an I's were fightin an I said things that weren't very nice, but he lied to me about somthin importance. I wanna bring him lunch so wes can talk but I don know what ta says." Dick said rather dejectedly.

Immediately Sarah's heart broke over Dick's story knowing a thing or two about lying and fighting with your child. It was unfortunately a part of parenting, but the good thing was with work and care it could be resolved.

"Well you see Dick sometimes mommies and daddies feel like they have to lie to protect their children's feelings." Sarah explained, not asking any further questions as to not pry into anything private.

"But daddy says lyins wrong an naughty, so why did he do it?" Dick said, starting to tear up.

Sarah immediately stopped walking and crouched down to Dick's size.

"I know this is a little hard to understand, but sometimes lying is something we do to protect those we love. Mommies and daddies do it to keep their little ones from danger, pain, and lots of unpleasant feelings. You're daddy loves you Dick, I'm sure of it, so do you think you can forgive your daddy?"

Dick thought for a moment, a memory popping into his mind of him lying to his father about his bullies last year. He did that because he loved his daddy and didn't want to worry him or have him get hurt. So it must have been the same for his daddy about Zucco and going after him solo.

"I think I can miss Sarah, my daddy was jus tryin ta keeps me safe." Dick resolved out loud.

"Exactly, lying is bad Dick but sometimes we have to do it so we can keep our families and loved ones safe. So when you see your daddy again, tell him you forgive him for lying and are sorry you acted so rude. I'm sure your daddy will more than willingly forgive you, with how much he clearly loves you." Sarah put into perspective.

"Thank yous Miss Sarah, yous a good mama an friend." Dick thanked quite gratefully.

"Well you're a very good listener and friend too Dick." Sarah thanked right back.

However before the two could speak any further they noticed they'd finally arrived at the harbor.

"Well here we are Dick, now which port does your daddy work at?" Sarah asked as she looked around the large sea port.

"Oh I can finds it on my own now." Dick declared, faking he was perfectly content.

"Oh are you sure sweetheart, I don't think this place is really for little boys."

"Don worry my daddy has lotsa friend who knows me an can makes sures I'm safe!" Dick said, doing all he could to ensure Sarah left.

"Oh alright, if you're sure. Well it was very nice meeting you Dick, I hope you and your daddy can patch up your little fight." Sarah said as she slowly started to walk off, feeling uneasy about leaving such a small child all alone.

"It was nice meetin yous too Sarah, thank yous for ya helps."

"Of course little one, now goodbye and take care." Sarah said as she turned to go find a taxi.

But before she officially left Sarah got one more glance at Dick and realized that he looked somewhat familiar. Something about his beautiful blue eyes and dark hair stirred a sort of memory in her mind. But not wanting to linger or be a bother she ignored her thoughts and went off.

"Bye bye Sarah!" Dick waved sweetly one last time before turning back towards the harbor.

Immediately he pulled out his electronic map and was refocused on his mission, to get revenge on Tony Zucco. He knew there were many many harbors to check, but with the research his father had gathered and a fresh view of it Dick had narrowed down a few places to search. So with bold determination Dick soldiered on ready to take on one of the most dangerous, unpredictable, and frightening mobsters in all of Gotham.

Hours Later Near the Harbor

It was about four in the afternoon and Bruce Wayne, in disguise, along with Ace by his side were searching for Dick. All day they had been doing this asking everyone they could if they'd seen a little boy with Dick's look description. Bruce made sure not to mention his name or reveal himself as to not cause a commotion or alert other nor dangerous people to Dick being missing and alone.

"Excuse me, have you seen my son, he's five years old, about this tall, baby blue eyes, short coal black hair, and he'd be wearing a blue Batman themed backpack?" Bruce asked a man and his wife strolling by.

"I'm sorry we haven't sir, but we will be sure to keep an eye out for him. What is his name and who should we call if we find him?" The woman asked, being a mother herself and how stressful it was to lose a child.

"His name is Dick, and if you could please call this number that would be wonderful." Bruce said, grateful as he passed a slip of paper with his mobile number, being rich enough to own a mobile phone.

With that the three separated and Bruce and Ace went back to searching for Dick. But as they did Ace whined up at Bruce as he had nearly their entire search.

"I know bud I'm worried too, but we'll find him I'm sure of it." Bruce said almost trying to encourage his own spirits as well, feeling himself come unglued as he worried over his baby boy.

For another hour they searched unsuccessfully, but as they did Sarah came around where they were. She remembered she had wanted to buy some fresh fish at the market near the harbor so she came back before it was too dark. As she walked she heard Bruce talking to an older man if he'd seen his son. At first she ignored this until she vaguely heard the description that made her stop in her tracks. It sounded exactly like Dick, but he had a completely different story then this man was telling. Nonetheless she still felt she should check, always finding something suspicious about Dick's story and it's lack of details.

"…it's ok thank you for your help, please call the number if you see or hear anything!" Bruce explored urgently.

"Excuse me." Sarah interjected.

Immediately Bruce turned around and saw the middle aged woman standing behind him.

"I heard you talking to that man over there and you said you were looking for your son."

"Yes! Have you seen him?!" Bruce asked frantically.

"You said he's five years old, has baby blue eyes, short coal black hair, and he'd be wearing a blue Batman themed backpack correct?" Sarah said her stomach dropping as she realized she may have helped a little boy possibly run away.

"Yes, where did you see him!?"

"I walked with him to the east end of the harbor just this afternoon, he told me he was bringing you lunch. But I knew this was not a very safe area so I accompanied him to make sure he got here safely." Sarah responded now feeling very guilty.

However much to her surprise Bruce hugged her and then looked gratefully into her eyes.

"Thank you so much for keeping my son safe, I will repay you I promise! Now where did you last leave him?"

"Uh it was on 54th and broadchester." Sarah barely said as she processed what just happened.

"Thank you, now come on Ace!" Bruce said as he started running off, Ace following close behind.

Sarah watched as the two ran off, once again getting the feeling she had seen that man before just as she had with Dick. What a strange day it was turning out to be when all she planned to do was go to the park and read.