Chapter 27: Robin to the Rescue
Sirens sounded off as the police cars surrounded the Ace chemical factory. At the moment officers were scanning and assessing the area as well as bringing Joker's goons into custody. At the same time Batman and Commissioner Gordon were standing around talking as Robin played in the distance.
"âand you're sure joker wasn't here with them?" Gordon tried to clarify.
"Yes, not a single trace of him could be detected. Not even Harley was there." Batman answered honestly.
"Not even Harley, good grief, what is that psychotic clown up too?" The commissioner said exasperated as he rubbed his brow in confusion.
"He is most likely toying with us in some way. He may be psychotic, but he never does things just half way. There's something more to all this. He wouldn't do this if he didn't find it fun or knew it would result in something more enjoyable for him." Batman deducted stoically.
As the two adults further discussed and theorized, Robin was hopping and flipping around, using the scaffolding surrounding them to do different acrobatic tricks. The little boy wonder giggled with glee as he entertained himself, unaware that the cops were watching him. They found him utterly adorable and wanted nothing more than to run up and snuggle him to death. But they knew Batman did not like strangers coming near his partner, let alone touching him, so they settled for just observing him as he played.
For almost ten minutes this went on, as did the discussion between Batman and Commissioner Gordon, and this unfortunately left them all distracted. So distracted none of them saw a gloved hand roll a canister from the shadows into the middle of the group. Within seconds a thick cloud of smoke filled the greater area leaving everyone blind and coughing.
"Where didâ.this smoke comeâ..from?" Commissioner Gordon yelled as he coughed from the smoke inhalation.
"I'm sureâ.it mustâ.be Joker! He's making his move." Batman answered as he tried to use his cape to block out the smoke.
It was then Batman's parental instincts suddenly went off as he realized he couldn't see his son anywhere.
"Robin!" Batman called out into the cloud of smoke.
Not receiving any response Batman began to walk through the mist, along with the commissioner close by, continuing to call out to his son. Robin all the while was just as lost, trying his best to remain calm despite losing sight of his father.
"Batman!" Robin called out as he frantically looked for his father.
For several minutes the three wandered about the smoke, till at last Batman caught a glimpse of his son. He saw the boy's yellow fabric from under his cape flash from a short distance.
"Robin!" Batman called out once more.
"Batman!" Robin cried out at last hearing his voice and seeing the silhouettes of his father and commissioner Gordon in the smoke.
Immediately the two started to run to each other, their bodies becoming far more visible the closer they got to each other. They were almost in reach when suddenly Batman was pulled away further into the smoke.
"Batman!" Robin cried out as he sprinted to where his father was pulled towards.
However he was almost immediately picked up by Commissioner Gorden who held him tightly to his chest.
"Let me go, I have to rescue Batman!" Robin yelled out as he struggled in the commissioners arms.
"Robin calm down! We have toâ" The commissioner started to say before a horrid cackle filled the air.
As it did so the smoke began to clear revealing Joker standing in the back of an open, very wacky looking van with an unconscious Batman at his feet.
"I believe this was what you were looking for! I apologize for my tardiness, but I'm afraid I had to get ol batsie alone. You won't mind if I borrow him right boy wonder?" Joker said in his usual unnerving cackle.
"No, give him back!" Robin screamed as he struggled more in the commissioner's arms.
"Say bye bye Batman, hope we see you soon little birdie! Hit it Harley!" Joker laughed as he waved Batman's hand for him and then slammed the van doors shut.
"You got it puddin!" Harley squealed as she floored the gas pedal.
Immediately the funky looking van sped off at an unsaid speed taking the dark knight with it.
"No daddy!" Robin screamed in horror as he helplessly watched his father be taken away from him.
Within seconds the van disappeared entirely leaving a speechless Robin in the commissioners arms. However that silence was quickly replaced by sobbing as the poor little hero cried into the chief's trench coat. Gordon immediately did his best to comfort the distraught little boy, but knew that he just needed to cry it out. After a few minutes the Gotham Police went back to the station, Robin in tow, to try and figure out their next move.
Everyone frantically made calls and tracked local surveillance to try and find the captors of the Dark Knight. They needed their vigilante back as soon as possible, for without his help there was no way they could keep Gotham as safe as it was now. But that wasn't the only reason, they also desperately wanted to make little Robin smile again. The poor little boy looked so sad and depressed, breaking every single heart in the Gotham police force. So they were determined to help the boy wonder and get his daddy back home safely.
As all this went on Commissioner Gordon was kneeling in front of said little boy doing his best to calm him down. He had Robin sit down in his office chair as he held the boy's tiny hands in his.
"I know it's scary right now Robin, but don't worry we'll get your daddy back soon. Just sit here and rest while we do our job. In the meantime do you want me to call the Justice League to come get you soon?" The Commissioner asked softly as he got a tissue for Robin's tears.
Robin shook his head as he pulled his knees up to his chest.
"Ok then, I'll just call them a little later then. Why don't you lay down on my couch then. I'm sure you're tired." Commissioner Gordon said as he gingerly scooped the boy up.
With the most delicate touch possible the Commissioner carried the tiny boy to the small couch in his office and carefully laid him down. After that he got a blanket he kept for just these types of situations and laid it on top of Robin.
"Just go to sleep lad, I'm sure we'll have Batman back here by morning. If you need anything, don't be afraid to come get me." Gordon tried to say optimistically to get the little boy to sleep.
Robin just weakly nodded and closed his eyes, tired from the events. Satisfying enough with the protégés response Gordon got up and went to work, determined to rescue the Dark Knight as quickly as possible. After the Commissioner left the room it was dead silent for a while as Robin was completely still. But then without warning the small boy threw his blanket off and got up on his own two feet. Without making so much as a sound the little boy flipped up onto Gordon's desk and reached for the window.
It took him a bit due to his short height but Robin was eventually able to open the window wide open. He then pulled out his grappling hook and aimed it carefully at the highest building he could see. Without any hesitation the boy wonder shot the hook and soon enough was flying through the air.
"I'm coming daddy, please be safe!" Robin said in his head as he swung his way through Gotham to go rescue his father.
Joker's Hideout
As Batman finally started to open his eyes, he felt his head pounding with a terrible pain. Instinctively he tried to reach for the spot the pain came from, only to find himself restrained. Eventually Batman's eyes were finally able to adjust to the bright fluorescent light that shined above him, making it so he could observe his surroundings. Immediately he noticed he was strapped to a large table that was angled upright. He then saw he was surrounded by tacky furniture that was all loud colores as well as dangerous artillery all on racks around him.
"Where am I?" Batman groaned out loud.
"Why, you're at my place, Batsy!"
Batman turned his head to the direction of the sound, only to see it was none other than Joker. The maniac clown then came walking over to him, his usual creepy wide grin still on his face.
"Joker! Where am I? Where's Robin?!" Batman demanded to know, particularly the last question.
"My my aren't we feisty? Afraid I don't know where the little birdie is, but you should count yourself lucky because you're in my hideout Batman. This is where I plot my best schemes and create my weapons of laughter." The green haired criminal cackled proudly.
"Why did you bring me here?!" Batman demanded, not having any of the clown's antics.
"Awe you're no fun, here you are in my lair and you don't even seem the least bit amused. Huh Ah well, you're here batsy because I wanted to have a little fun with you. I've had my fun with your little boy wonder many times but funnily enough not you. So I thought why not today! Harley, bring me my tools!" Joker called out to his girlfriend.
"Comin Mr. J!" Harley responded as she pushed forward a whole cart of dangerous looking weapons, all clown themed in some capacity.
"Now what shall we start with Batman? Hmmm I think my electric surprise stick will do quite nicely." Joker said as he picked up a long brightly colored stick with prongs that formed a creepy smiley face.
"Do your worst." Batman said stoically, internally grateful his son wasn't there to witness what was about to happen.
"Of course, only for my favorite hero." Joker said menacingly as he then jabbed Batman with the rod, electrocuting him.
Batman did his best not to make a sound as the electricity ran through his body, only letting out occasional painful grunts. Joker laughed hysterically as this all happened, enjoying the pain of his nemesis. For the next hour Joker switched between several devices, testing each of his torture instruments on the dark knight in hopes of a big reaction. However Batman gave little thought to his torture, instead thinking about his child and hoping his precious little boy was safe. Little did he know that the boy wonder was in fact coming to rescue him, a fact that would be giving him a heart attack in the future.
Gotham
In the shadows Robin kneeled on the edge of a tall skyscraper roof, studying a blinking dot on his wrist computer. The blinking dot was none other than the signal coming from Batman's utility. For Robin wasn't the only one who had a tracking device on him, Batman had one too at his son's request. Luckily, he did or Robin would never be able to find his daddy at this rate.
The boy wonder studied the location of his father carefully, trying to find the best way to the location. It looked like it was somewhere in the entertainment district of Gotham, but unfortunately not the family friendly side. It didn't surprise Robin much considering it was Joker, but he was nervous to go there. His daddy always made him stay home if a mission ever took him there, and he always told Dick it wasn't for little eyes. Did that mean it was scary? What did his daddy mean by not for little eyes.
None the less the little boy knew he had to rescue his father, or else no one would. So Dick bravely swung to the entertainment district and soon enough landed in a dark alleyway. Once there the boy cautiously began to make his way out of the alley and onto the street, all the while carefully sticking to the shadows. Robin followed the computer on his wrist to his carefully crafted route. As he walked the streets of the entertainment district the boy wonder saw many interesting things. He saw places with bright neon signs called gentleman's clubs with pictures of barely dressed women on them. He passed more scantily clad women walking the street corners as mean in loud crazy suits kept watch. He even saw people shooting up drugs and sleepy looking men who had women with heads on their laps for some weird reason.
It all made Dick feel very uncomfortable and yet intrigued at the same time, meaning he had some questions for his daddy when he got him back home. Setting those aside the little boy continued down his path till he at last came upon an old abandoned amusement park with a large bright green sign that read "Joker's Funland". Knowing this was the place Robin bravely and sneakily entered the breaking down park.
Gotham Police Station
Meanwhile the police were doing their best to find the dark knight and rescue him. Batman may have been a vigilante, but he was their best support for helping keep crime under control so they had to save him. For an hour the police force of Gotham brainstormed and researched till they at last came up with a plan. They now we're getting ready to leave, refueling cars, replenishing ammo, and getting organized to storm Joker's lair.
Commissioner Gordon oversaw all of it, making sure everything was in place to make their plan go successfully. Soon he was satisfied with their progress and knew before they left he had to check up on Robin. He'd already arranged for him to stay at his home where his wife could watch and temporarily care for him. Now he just had to get the little bird ready to go, so they could get his daddy back home safely to him.
"I'm going to check on Robin and get him ready to go. Will you make sure everything goes smoothly till I get back?" Gordon requested his deputy.
"Of course Commissioner, just go make sure that little boys' ok and that he knows the Gotham police are going to get his daddy back."
"I will, thank you." Commissioner Gordon said gratefully.
"Of course sir."
With that taken care of Gordon returned to his office and quietly opened the door.
"Robin, Robin wake up. You're going to stay at my house for a bit, my wife's very nice and she'll take good care of you till we get your daddy back. In the mean time whyâ." Gordon began to explain till he saw Robin wasn't on his couch.
He was initially confused, till he saw the window behind his desk wide open. This made the commissioner's heart drop, as he realized he had lost the dark knight's son! This was not good, if they brought Batman back and Robin wasn't there then it didn't matter how beat up he was the vigilante would go full on daddybats on him.
So Gordon ran out of the office announcing a change in plans, that they would no longer be saving just Batman but the dynamic duo entirely. Immediately everyone mobilized, no one wanting to face the wrath of the infamous and terrifying daddybats.
Joker's Funland
Just as he had done on the streets Robin stuck to the shadows, doing his best to be undetectable and invisible. It luckily wasn't too hard as there wasn't much in the realm of security in Joker's lair, but he was nonetheless cautious. For what felt like hours Dick followed the tracking signal, taking him through a maze of hallways. It was a very eerie place, with creepy clown and circus themed murals on the wall. He may have grown up in the circus, but this art work was just demented. The clown he knew never looked like the ones on the wall, they were funny and silly not menacing and scary.
Eventually the little boy knew he was getting close as he saw a faint light in the distance coming from a doorway. However as he got closer the sound of agonizing grunts and yells started to grow louder.
"Come on Batsy, you can do better than that! Scream for me!"
"Not on your life Joker!" Batman yelled, his voice sounding exhausted and out of breath.
"Let me try Mr. J! Maybe a few strikes from my hammer will get some screams out of him. I could easily break a few bones!" Harley requested sadistically.
Robins stomach immediately dropped as he realized his father was being tortured by Harley and Joker. This caused the boy wonder to about sprint into the room to stop the two clowns, but luckily the voice of his father sounded in the back of his head about remembering his training. He had to keep calm and not reveal himself or he would just end up in his fathers same position. So Robin carefully creeped up to the edge of the doorway and continued to listen in for a moment.
"I suppose I shouldn't hog all the fun, go on ahead my dear!" Joker chuckled.
"Oh I'm going to have so much fun!" Harley squealed sadistically, as she readied to swing her hammer.
She about did it till suddenly she stopped mid swing.
"Wait, not this hammer, too campy!" Harley complained.
"Seriously, this is what concerns you! You dame crazy clown!" Batman managed to strain out past his pain.
"Hey even we clowns have standards, just hitting you with the hammer wouldn't be funny in the slightest. But wait, I know what would be? My bat!" Harley said as she turn and ran over to the wall of the instruments of torture nearby.
She immediately grabbed the bat of the wall, it was messily painted red, black, and white and had long sharp nails hammer through the end.
"Now this will be a real doozy, you could say a hole in one! Not only will I be hitting the bat with a bat, but I'll fill him with holes! This'll gave some really validity to that phrase your stupid little sidekick says sometimes. "Holy smokes Batman" right, now you'll really be holy now!" Harley cackled hysterically.
"Ughh Harley how many times must we talk about this? A joke is not funny if you have to explain it." Joker cringed as he rubbed his face in frustration.
"Oh sorry puddin', guess I forgot again. I may be no comedy master like you but that won't stop me from giving Batman here an out of the park swing to the face!" Harley said far too excitedly as she prepared to swing once more.
However before she could, a high pitched yell stopped her once again.
"No!" Robin yelled as he dropped from the roof all the sudden.
"Robin, but howâ!" Harley Quinn yelled before she was knocked to the ground by Robin's small but powerful kick.
Little did they know in that short time Harley was getting ready to hurt Batman, Robin took advantage of the clown's distraction and climbed up to the roof for a surprise attack.
"Oh I see the boy blunder has come to make an appearance." Joker chuckled, not caring his girlfriend was knocked to the floor.
"Robinâno!" Batman wheezed out, scared his little boy was here.
"Give my daddy back!" Robin yelled angrily.
"Oh how adorable Batsy, you little baby bird came to rescue you. But I'm afraid the only thing he'll be getting is a pair of broken wings!" Joker said excitedly as he pulled out a large crowbar.
Immediately the two began to fight, unfortunately they had similar fighting strategies, save Robins acrobatics, swinging and dodging. This went on for a few minutes till Joker managed to hit Robin hard in the head with the crowbar. This unfortunately left Robin fallen on the floor holding his lord little head trying to hold back tears.
"Awe looks like I knocked the poor Birdie out of the sky. But don't worry I'll make sure to put a smile on that face before I break you up." Joker said as he grabbed the poor boy's hair and dragged him to the wall.
Robin tried to fight it but the pain of the hair pulling was too much and Joker was walking too fast for him to get loose. Eventually the boy wonder was pinned to the wall, luckily by his tunic, Joker holding tightly with his creepy smile plastered to his face.
"Alright little birdie make sure to scream real loud for this, wouldn't want to waste this opportunity." Joker said sadistically as he brandished his knife.
"Let me go!" Robin yelled as he tried to struggle out of Joker's grasp.
"Hold still wouldn't want my knife to slip." Joker cackled as he held tighter, almost choking Robin as he twisted the fabric of his collar.
As Joker's knife got closer and closer to Dick's face the little boy felt more and more scared to the point where he closed his eyes and looked away.
"There we go that's a good boy, now let's turn that frown upside down." Joker cackled as his knife was inches away from Robin's face.
However before he could get any closer Joker suddenly felt himself grabbed by his own collar and yanked away from Robin. In response Robin fell to the ground and opened his eyes once more, only to see his father standing tall with his fist clenched around Joker's shirt. The dark knight proceeded to beat the clown black and blue, making sure he paid for hurting his baby. Eventually he came to a stop and held the clown in front of him:
"Don't you ever touch my child again, or else I'll rip that smile clean off your face, so you're nothing but teeth." Batman threatened in his scariest daddybats voice to date.
Not making any response the joker collapsed and was dropped on the floor. For a moment everything was quiet and Batman just stood there perfectly still. But then moments later Batman finally turned to face his son only to collapse to his knees.
"Daddy!" Dick squealed out of fear as he got up and ran to his father.
Within an instant Bruce perked up and wrapped his arms around his son as soon as he was within reach.
"Daddy you're safe!" Dick sighed in pure relief for the first time in the last few hours.
"I am, baby, and all thanks to you." Bruce said, exhausted but grateful for his brave and capable little boy.
For just a moment the two held each other in their arms, happy to be returned even after only a short separation.
"Daddy are you ok?" Dick asked concerned as he put his tiny hands on Bruce's face
"I'm ok baby, just a little bruised and tired, but I'll survive." Batman assured his child.
It was then without warning the Gotham Police came storming into the room.
"Gotham police hands up!" Commissioner Gorden yelled, his squad armed and behind him, as he held his gun up ready to shoot.
However much to his disappointment Batman and Robin had taken care of Harley and Joker, leaving him with nothing but the clean up.
"Huh not even kidnapped will you leave me any of the fun." Gordon said as he put his gun away.
From there the Gotham police got to work cuffing and getting the deranged clown couple shipped off to Arkham Asylum. All the while Commissioner Gordon talked with Batman and Robin.
"Are you sure you two are going to be alright, you look pretty roughed up."
"We'll be fine, just keep us updated if anything should happen to the joker." Batman said, trying to remain stoic despite the pain racking his body.
"Alright, just get home safely. Especially you little one, I better not hear about you escaping through windows again." The Commissioner said as he playfully ruffled Robin's hair.
"I won't Commissioner!" Robin said with a mischievous grin.
"Huh, Geesh you're gonna be the death of me. Alright you two head back home, we'll be good to take care of all this." Gordon said.
"Thank you commissioner, and thank you in advance for helping take care of my son."
"Anytime Batman."
With that the dark knight turned around, his son tucked in his arms, and walked off into the shadows. Commissioner Gordon watched them with a coy smile, they sure were an odd pair but boy did they love each other. They would do anything for the other to make sure they were safe wether that be endure torture or jump out a several story high window. The Batman and boy wonder were the dynamic duo alright, for neither was complete or as powerful without the other.