Batman and Robin: Father and Son

Part#4 Terrible Decisions

A/N: I DONT OWN BATMAN OR ANY CHARACTERS, SETTINGS OR OTHER STUFF! I JUST REALLY WANT TO WRITE STUFF THAT PEOPLE WANT TO READ SO PLEASE COMMENT! IT WILL BE HIGHLY APPRECIATED! AND I'M SORRY IT TOOK SO LONG TO POST THIS CHAPTER!

Dick was stuck in a car again but this time in a much worse situation. He was on his way to what they called 'Phase 2'.His hands and feet were tied, Though his hands were very poorly tied. He slipped his hands out of the knot easily but kept them behind him as if they were so Ivy wouldn't think him suspicious.

Oh, and he was surrounded by girls. Gross. Poison Ivy, Harley, they were squeezing his cheeks and ruffling his hair like he was a baby. Cheshire was driving the car and was very eerily silent. The joker had refused to join them in the same car because Dick was 'ticking him off' and 'making him want to kill him even more' as he whispered quite loudly to Harley before he had left as Cheshire tied him up. He could've taken these villains down, easily. But he chose not to, at least not yet. One day and he hoped that day would be soon, he would train and become Batman's sidekick. Then with the right skills, the right weapons, the right training, he would have his right and ruthless revenge for all they were doing now. But that day wasn't today.

"He's just the cutest thang!" Poison ivy squealed

"I know!" Harley said as she pinched his cheeks. "Too bad he's dying tonight" she chuckled.

Dick held his breath and bit his tongue. He knew, he would be doing a lot tonight. Planning, helping, and escaping whatever place he was going to and with whatever other innocent person was there with him. But dying was NOT on the list of things today, tonight, or ever. But he didn't say anything; he didn't want to tell the villains what he was really thinking.

"How 'bout this," Harley said as if she was proposing a deal to Dick, "I promise if you kill Batman, we won't kill you."

The car, for the first time, fell quiet for a few short breaths. Though Cheshire was driving and Ivy, Harley and himself were in the backseat, no one responded quickly to Harleys' odd promise. No one seemed to approve or disapprove, so Dick decided to speak up.

"Never" he said dryly. "I'd rather die than kill Batman. And even if I did, you'd end up killing me anyways."

Harley opened her mouth to say something but dick kept speaking.

"I know your type, you're a villain and like any and every other villain you make a promise, so someone can do the dirty work for you and then you don't keep it and kill them in the end anyways. I'd rather die saving Batman than killing him." Dick was tired of their annoying talk about killing and dying. He was old enough to speak for himself and talk like a teenager, 'he is very mature for his age' Superman had always told him with a proud smile. The car went quiet again so he folded his arms and closed his eyes. He just wanted today to end. Or rather he wished it had never started.

"Okay then, what if I kill you now and we can end you once and for all. Watch your mouth around us. I have a little sister and she's just as rude, snotty, high spirited, and as stupid as you so shut up or I'll make you" demanded Cheshire. Cheshire was only 14, why was she driving? Why was she, and just as if Cheshire had read his mind she responded

"My dad is a villain. He's just as bad as I am, my mom is too. They taught me everything I know, including how to drive, kill, and make fake identities, ALL OF IT. What does your dad teach you? How to lie to the press to make yourself look good in front of the camera. You know nothing about pain, work, labor, you live like a prince and expect to be treated like one but you're not. I wish I could just kill you now."

Dick knew he had an opening to do something crazy with words right now, and even though he knew he could be murdered any second, he liked having this different type of attention, he actually smiled and said

"Wait so Ms. Ivy, you're letting a FOURTEEN YEAR OLD drive a car when you yourself could've driven? And Ms. Harley, why aren't you taking charge, after all you are the jokers girlfriend?"

"Hey Yah, why didn't I get to drive?" Ivy asked suddenly realizing how young Cheshire was.

"You weren't allowed to drive 'cuz you're no good at it" Harley said not intending it to be as rude as it had sounded.

"I'd like to see you do any better gurl!" Ivy said in Harley's face. SUCCESS. Though Dick was in between them, the car was dark; he sunk down so he was out of sight so he could let them fight. This is exactly what he wanted, unnecessary fighting and commotion.

"Obviously I'm the only one who can think straight around here!" Cheshire yelled back to something Harley had said.

"Oh ya sure..." Harley said, and then the cursing and swearing began.

Dick thought it was hilarious. 10 minutes of girls barking at eachother was more than enough entertainment. But that wasn't the only purpose. When Harley bent over and pulled Cheshire's hair, nearly making them crash to death (but she steered back on track) Dick saw the small but incredibly sharp kitchen knife in her back pocket. It was stained with dry blood but that was expected. She bent over to the front seat again and while Ivy was closing her eyes and rubbing her head Dick swiftly snuck the knife from her pocket and slipped it into one of the small pockets in his black pajamas. His black, button up, soft, fleece shirt and black pants to match were full of small pockets.

"Superman! He's not responding!"

Flash was so worried, for the past 10 minutes, Superman and himself were trying to contact Batman and tell him that Aquaman and The Martian Man-hunter had been down for a while now but Batman wouldn't respond.

"He must've gotten disconnected or, umm or…"

Superman was just as clueless as Flash was. The only reason Batman wouldn't respond is by choice or if he couldn't hear them.

"He's probably doing some super quiet work and can't talk…heh…"

Flash said with an unconfident chuckle trying to stay positive. He started pacing around the room which slowly turned into running and then running at Flash speed. The anxiety was killing him, Batman always responded and even if he didn't he would say that he was not going to before he did. This is bad. So so bad! I should've gone with him, it's my fault! Flash thought as he ran around the room. He was about to run into a wall when Superman came and stopped him before he busted his head.

"Barry, I understand your concern and I know what you're thinking—"

"I'm THINKING that I need to go out there and save one of my best friends!" Flash yelled in Superman's face. "And you may be the Man of Steel but even you can't stop me!"

Flash started running but Superman scooped him up into the air then placed his back down.

"Flash, I know I can't stop you. And I won't try, but I want you to think first about what you're doing. You came down here and left those kids upstairs by themselves. You've already disobeyed one order. Now you're going to go running for Batman even though he SPEFICALLY told us not to? Trust me, if he hadn't said to not go, whatever villain he is fighting would've been long dead because no one has ever stopped Batman and I. Please Barry, for once, resist the urge to do what you want and do what you're told. I'm not forcing you to do anything."

Superman flew back over to the computer and started checking stats on the other Leaguers. Flash came and stood next to him.

"It wasn't a direct order, but I'm obeying what you said. No matter how much I want to go to Gotham and kick that villains a—"

"Thank-you" Superman interrupted quickly, "but when that final bomb goes off, we'll be there, standing with Batman saying 'yes. We saved Gotham' I promise"

He gave Flash a friendly and assuring smile, and Flash knew that all would be well.

But he was wrong…

They reached the so-called 'Area X' after 10 long minutes of hair-pulling, bad-finger-pointing, and other violent things and words. They parked the car in front of a giant grey house. No it wasn't a house; it was a castle, a mansion. But it had been charred, abandoned. And it was old, just like all the other buildings around it. This was more or less the abandoned part of Gotham, the part of town no one really went to anymore. No one lived here, no one wanted to be surrounded by burnt buildings filled with cob webs and what not. There were 2-story buildings all lined together like townhouses with small alleyways in between, enough for a few people to squeeze through at a time. Everything was grey here, all the signs, the grey light of night, and the buildings including the mansion the car was parked in front of. Eerie, very eerie. The rumbling of a loud car disrupted his thoughts. He turned around to see the three girls running up to the joker's car all complaining about one another. They seemed to have totally forgotten Dick was still in the car, tied up and all. He didn't mind though, it gave him leg and arm space so he could use the knife he stole to cut the rope that tied his legs. He looked out of the window in the backseat to see the three ladies stomping up the stairs (into the house that seemed to be missing a typical giant door) one after another. Dick then realized there was a door, but on the other side of the mansion, they, the villains, had created a giant hole in the wall that LED straight up to the main staircase. He was about to open the door when he saw the joker approach his door, he quickly wrapped the rope he had untied around his hands and re-wrapped it, so it didn't seem so obvious he had found a way out.

"You know how much I hate you?" The joker said as he picked the boy up and threw him outside of the car. The boy felt a huge surge of confidence so he shakily got up, without using his hands, smiled at him and said "likewise" the joker hadn't noticed the boys feet weren't tied as dick walked towards the whole to the stairs. Dick knew he was going to be taken to a terrible place now but he was no longer scared. He was eager and determined to help other hostages like himself escape. Dick stood in front of the joker waiting. "Lead the way." Dick said but instead the joker dug into the pocket in dicks shirt SHOOT dick thought. "now what is," the joker stroked his fingers across the bloody blade "this fine weapon?" He smiled at dick with that creepy smile that dick had just learned to copy. He had to make the joker think he was as insane as he was. "This," he said slowly and creepily like the joker "this is what I'm going to use to kill... BATMAN" dick said crazily as he shook out of the ropes on his hands and grabbed the knife back. "And no one is going to stop me! Hahahahahahaha" "Atta boy!" The joker patted his head "and how do you plan on doing so? How can I trust you?"

Dick cackled, "See? That's what people doing get about us," he said as he threw his hand over the jokers shoulder and whispered in his ear "were not insane, sure we used to be normal people but all it took was that push in the right direction" dick swayed the knife back and forth "were not insane, were MAD! HAHAHAHAHAHAH" they laughed in unison. "Good boy, very good!" The joker said patting him on the back. "Thank you for that push" dick as he stared madly at the blade. "And I know when the time is right, and Batman is at his weakest, ill strike! Ill slowly let the blade Pierce through his neck so he can feel every drop of blood drip slowly as his last dying breaths begin to fade, mmhahahahaha!" "I had never expected such a great student out of Bruce Wayne's picture-perfect son " "oh just don't tell the other Villains" dick said. "You wouldn't want to spoil the surprise of me killing him would you!?" "No but here's the thing, there's a bomb going off in this mansion in just about an hour, so make sure u don't kill him fully, make him feel the burn of fire eating him alive." "Ohhhhh nice!" Dick said with a determined look in his eyes "I promise to do that! But remember, keep going with the plan you and the rest of the villains had, throw me in whatever room, don't make it seem obvious that I'm on your side." Dick whispered. "Ok" the joker said nonchalantly. He took the boy up the stairs and to the second floor. Dick felt slightly light-headed, never before had he been so devious and crazy. For a moment he had forgotten whose side he was on, that was not a good thing. As he walked down the hallway of rooms, he heard screaming of children, he also saw a door with a rusted and hard to read name plate on it. The joker picked him up by the neck and threw him into room 7, which basically seemed to contain a bunch of 7 and 8 year olds. And the Joker and Dick didn't speak another word. As soon as The joker closed the door dick looked around the dark room and observed. There was no light source, only the small window above the door where the moonlight barley shined though. The ceilings were high, like 40ft high. Though the room was fairly small, barely 10x10 ft. And it was loud, crying and screaming was all he heard from the other 7-8 year olds. And they weren't the only ones, as he entered the room he could hear the crying of infants to teenage girls. But in this room all the kids had bruises on their faces and blood on their fingertips. Dick needed a way to escape he had to help these kids*the doors locked what do I do?* he looked up at the window above the door. It was small, but just big enough for Dick to squeeze through. He thought for a while, as he used his knife to carve letters into the concrete wall. Now he had a plan, he just needed attention. "Hey!" He attempted to shush everyone "HEY!" no use. So he did what he did best, he acted like the Grayson he was. He was elbow to elbow with all the kids but he jumped up and grabbed one of the wires that probably used to conduct electricity. He swung off the wire and jumped off the wall, back flipped and landed on his feet right back in front of the door. Now all eyes and ease were on him in front of the door. "Ok guys I need your help, I need someone to give me a boost long enough so I can break that glass up there" he pointed to the window "trust me, I'll come back, I swear I will I just need to get out so I can-"

"Why should we trust you?" A boy wearing a Batman shirt asked. He wasn't very skinny but definitely not fat, his bulky arms weren't chubby, they were muscular. He was very well built for an 8 year old.

"Because I'm Batman's sidekick" Dick said with no hesitation "and this is my first mission, Batman and the rest of Gotham are counting on me but I need you all to trust me." Dick had always dreamed of saying that and today he dream came true.

"Ok," the kid with the bat shirt said as the others nodded "I'll give you a boost." Dick got on the kids shoulders and used his knife to break the glass. He stabbed small cracks which eventually became holes big holes. Yes, his first step to his plan had begun.

Shut up! The Batman will die tonight" Poison Ivy exclaimed on the third floor with the other villains as she pointed to Batman hanging unconscious from the ceiling.

"And if he doesn't? Will we waste our time money blood and sweat on a giant plan like this again?!" Shouted scarecrow, "honestly joker, your plans NEVER WORK! It's the truth, it's a wakeup call. Just like every other time we've all battled the Batman, he DOESN'T DIE!"

"Are you saying you believe the Batman is immortal?" The Joker chuckled.

"N-no... I'm just saying, he always finds a way out of the toughest situations. What do we do if he finds a-"

"He won't." The joker said confidentiality. Two face, Harley, Cheshire, and ivy just stood there quietly watching then quarrel back and forth.

"Goddamnit! Just, God do you ever SHUT UP!? I've had enough" Crane got out his fear toxin and immediately everyone backed away except for the joker. The joker stood there smiling at him "RAUGHH!" He sprayed the toxin on him and listened for the sound of fear take over the jokers mind. Everyone's eyes were on the joker, waiting for his expression with the same question on everyone's mind 'what was the joker afraid of?' The toxins effect was usually seen immediately but the joker hadn't moved a muscle for 30 seconds. Scarecrow saw this, *maybe it didn't work? Impossible* he got out another dose and was about to spray it when the joker laughed and lowered scarecrows hand.

"Ha-ha, you know for a doctor, you're pretty dumb." He went across the room and ripped a white cloth of a wooden chair and brought it back in front of scarecrow "you can't scare a man," he picked up the chair and smacked scarecrow with a surprise attack and he fell to the ground, "who has NO FEARS! NEVER, GO, AGAINST, MY, ORDERS,! "He said as each on word he smacked him harder and harder with the chair. "NEVER!" he threw it on him one last time and it broke. Scarecrow closed his eyes and lay there for a bit. He knew either he would have to listen to the joker and be one his side or die trying to oppose him. He got up, took his mask off, hung his head low and gave a quiet 'I'm sorry '

-break to Bruce's thoughts- all time then seemed to have stopped, he looked at Scarecrow frozen with his head low and the Joker pointing his finger at his head; frozen as well. He looked at the clock, it read 4:00 o'clock am. He closed his eyes and thought back to 24 hours ago. When he was safe, Gotham was safe, when Dick was safe... "Flashback of yesterday"

3:45 am the bright screen in the Cave read.

Alfred: "Sir, you are always leaving the boy at home alone!"

Alfred was furious at how Bruce thought he could leave and come as he pleased with no concern for little Richards mental state of having a Bat for a father.

Bruce: "That's what I have you for right? The League needs me, NOW."

The only reason Alfred was helping Bruce at this hour was because it was his job to or Bruce would've been lectured for hours on parenting.

Alfred: "Just because you ask Wally and young M'ggan to come over and play later in the afternoon, doesn't hide the fact that you're the boys FATHER and you have to make time out of your day to spend time with him!"

Bruce knew what Alfred said was true but he didn't want to hear it, not now.

Bruce: "look I'll pick up his favorite ice cream on the way home ok?"

Bruce was irritated as he shoved his cowl onto his head

"But right now there's a big—"

Clark: "Clark to Bruce, come in."

Bruce: "yes Clark?"

Clark: "unless you're here in the next five minutes we're all toast. We have to leave for the mission NOW!"

Bruce: "ok ok, I'm on my way. Alfred, if im not back when he wakes up, give him that frosted cereal he likes, 2 hours of cartoons, then lunch and he can play with Wally and that girl or take a nap but I don't want him to feel afraid of where I'm going so don't let him know , tell him I'll be back soon."

Bruce scrambled into his Batmobile knowing todays fight wasn't going to end well, he raced out of the waterfall and drove off.

Bruce: "Batman to Superman, what's the problem today?"

Clark: There's been a breakout from Arkham Asylum about an hour ago and just 10 minutes ago there was a report of a huge bank robbery at the 6-story 'Gotham City Bank' any coincidence? Im sending the coordinates to the Batmobile now.

Clark was right, Bruce thought as he looked at the screen, this robbery was huge. But who was there and what did they want? 4 o'clock AM. His digital clock in the Batmobile read. Superman said that they had to be at Gotham City Bank now, but what was a villain doing in the bank at 4AM? Who knows, But I'm about to find out Bruce thought. One night, just one night of peace is all he asked for. But that was like asking a baby to make its own dinner. Some things will just never happen. After all, it was a villain. They didn't need a reason to cause pain and havoc, and they're always after something more than money.

Batman: "okay everyone in. I'll take the top floor," because if they wanted a 6-story bank to be free of that villain, the other 5 'original seven' members had to take their own floor, though Green lantern was on the night off "Superman, you take the first, Aquaman you take the second, Wonder Woman you take third, J'ohn you take fourth, and Flash you take fifth. I'll call everyone back in give you the all clear so we can meet on the roof when we've taken out everyone on our floors okay everyone?"

Flash: "Gotcha!"

And the others grunted in agreement, not annoyed, just tired at 4 am. Batman soon reached within half a mile of the bank to see the GCPD cars and dogs everywhere. He parked his car deep in an alley not to far away so the police couldn't catch him. The other Leaguers were heroes, he was a vigilante. He blended with the shadows and climbed to the sixth floor where he heard a horribly, familiar, clowny, laugh. The laugh seemed to be moving, it traveled around the sixth floor and ran up to the stair to the roof. When he got up to the roof, where the cold, eerie darkness wasn't so comforting, in front of him was none other than The Joker.

Joker: "Well isn't it nice to see you again! Yes we've only met once, last time you put me in jail…"

Batman walked up to him. Yes, him, and many others, were fairly new super-villains. He had started by defeating people like Carmine Falcone and The Mob but then newer and harsher villains had showed up a few months ago, and this Joker guy was one of them.

Batman: "WHAT DO YOU WANT!"

Joker; "Oh me? This bank heist was just a little scramble to get your attention!

Batman: "WHAT DO YOU WANT?" Bruce repeated quite ticked off.

Joker: "you know how you have your league of buddy-buddy heroes and all? Well I've made up my own league and we all have one thing in common. We all—

A man with a half disordered face comes out of the shadows and said "HATE"

Then a man with a straw sack for a face mask comes out from the shadows on other side of the Joker said "YOU"

Joker: " If you haven't already met, I'd like you to meet my allies Harvey Two-Face and Scarecrow. So we, and a few others thought it would be fun to make you SUFFER SLOW AND TERRIBLE PAIN just like we did. So we decided to pick at you and your city," he said with a big smile "but we just thought it'd be nice to make a deal with you first… Haha"

Bruce picked him up by his collar and held him over the side of the building, a good 60ft above the ground. If he fell, he'd splat. Bruce fixed on his harsh Batman voice to let the Joker know he was serious.

Batman: "WHAT DO YOU WANT?" he practically screamed.

Joker: "listen, heh, just listen…" he said feeling slightly awkward and a little nervous that he could plumit to his death, "we didn't come here to fight anyways and unlike your little LEAGUE down there, you don't have POWERS. You're just a man in a mask—"

Batman was literally about to drop him when TwoFace stabbed him in the shoulder. He could feel the deep hole in his back as the blood trickled down his suit.

Twoface: *quite angerly* "LISTEN TO WHAT HE HAS TO SAY OR WE WILL KILL YOU NOW!"

Batman, knowing he was already wounded, resiliently threw him back on the roof.

Joker: "Now THAT'S called a team," he said jokingly to TwoFace half thanking him half making fun of Batman, "anyways, we have a proposition for you. See this detonator?" he points to the metallic box in his hand, "we're going to let you choose between your city or your NEXT GENERATION. We will give you 24 hours…"

Joker signals TwoFace and Scarecrow, they pick Batman up and hold him over the building but Batman doesn't resist. His arm hurt too much for him to care, he wanted to hear of what else the Joker had to say.

"… in 24 hours, we will slowly, painfully, blow up all of Gotham; piece by piece. Unless—

Superman: "Superman to Batman! Where's your signal? Were all done down here an—" Batman smash his earpiece and turned it off, he didn't want interuptions.

Joker: "oh were your little friends calling? It's ok, they'll suffer too, I will blow up all of Gotham City unless you simply give me what is most precious to you, your mask. Oh but that's not where I end, turn the T.V. on later today, I have some big news for you that will be broadcasted! HAHA! So what do you say, hmm? Will you hand it over?"

The Joker smiled at him and stuck his hand out waiting for the mask.

Batman: "NEVER." Batman said in a deep cold voice.

Joker: "as you wish"

He smirked, and suddenly he was falling. Not flying, but just dropping from the roof as the windows of the six-story building blurred past him. He didn't even try to grapple back up, he was in too much shock and pain. A flagpole on the side of the building hit him in the face and then the stomach. His body bounced off the pole and hit the brick wall sending his stabbed shoulder into more pain than ever. Then something caught him, rather someone caught him.

Superman: What was going on up there?

Superman and Martian Man-Hunter had caught him a few feet before falling to his death. Batman's' eyes started to close as everything went blurry, and the last thing he saw was the faint glimmer of the stars in the sky.

*…*

Everything was blurry, it took a few seconds for Bruce to realize where he was. He widened his sleepy eyes 'how long was I out?' he thought. He could hear a steady beat of a heart monitor, he could see the tubes connected to his arms and legs, and he could feel the oxygen mask that covered his face. He must have been really injured as he fell because honestly, he couldn't remember anything except the words that were echoing in his head before he passed out; '…choose between your city or your NEXT GENERATION…" What did the Joker mean by 'next generation'? he wouldn't find out by laying here in the middle of the monitor womb. Bruce was about to rip the wires off of his chest when Black Canary/ Diana walked in with a tall injection.

Diana: "Wow you're awake! Finally!" she ran over to him and mumbled, "heart rate normal…vital stats…mmhm…"

Bruce thought he had only been out for half an hour or so.

Bruce: "what do you mean finally?" he cocked his head to the side with one eyebrow up.

Diana looked up at the ceiling wondering how she could tell this to Bruce nicely. She ran her hand through her hair and took a deep breath in then exhaled.

Diana: "I don't know how to say this Bruce but…" she sighed and looked down at her clipboard, "you've been out for13 hours."

Bruce was shocked, he had lost so much time.

"THIRTEEN HOURS! ARE YOU INSANE? WHY DIDN'T YOU WAKE ME UP I—"

Bruce yelled at Diana though he could tell by her expression that she saw it coming. *CLICK* He could hear that the door that was roughly 10 feet away had just opened. Superman, Flash, and the Martian Man-Hunter had just entered in. Flash ran to Bruce at Flash speed while Superman and Martian Man-Hunter quickly followed behind him.

Flash; "Bruce! Oh my, dear God you're awake!"

Flash looked as if it was a Christmas miracle that Bruce had woken up.

Superman: "How are you feeling?"

Bruce: "Fine…" Bruce replied half blankly and half still quite disturbed at the way Flash responded.

"How are his vital statastics?" Martian Man-Hunter asked Diana.

"Fine he's all good." Diana said hesitantly.

Bruce looked down at his chest to see the square white cloth and the L shaped red stain on it. Just as if Diana had read his mind, she said

"You had a terrible knife stuck in from the back of your shoulder blade to… well basically it went in from the back and came out from the front." Diana said with sad eyes, though this much Bruce remembered, "And several bloody cuts and wounds, terrible bruises—

"No offence bro," Flash interrupted, "but we thought you were a goner"

Bruce: "You thought, I wasn't going to live?!"

Superman: "N-no, *sigh* yes…"

Bruce was shocked once again, how dare his team think he was going to die!?

J'onn: "in our defense Bruce, as soon as we came to , we put you on this table and you had almost stopped breathing for a full four minutes—

Bruce: "so what exactly happened?" Bruce asked trying to get to the point and avoid wasting more time and everyone else could feel his tension too. They all stared at eachother waiting for someone to break the ice.

Superman: "Well, as soon as you passed out, J'onn and I flew you home while Wonder Woman drove your car back here, sorry about that," he quickly added knowing how much Batman hated other people driving his car, " then we hooked you up to all these things around 4:30 and well, your heart-rate went to an all time low. All of us, even Green Lantern showed up when he got the call, the original seven and Diana sat here for five hours, waiting, hoping. At 10o'clock we… we all gave up. I'm so sorry Bruce, but then at 11 in the morning you just kept screaming. You were shouting and yelling 'DICK! DICK GET UP, WAKE UP! DICK NO DON'T DIE!' and you repeated it over and over for half an hour and your heart rate went up full speed. You were trying to jump out of the table and grab something in your dream when we came in and then it stopped. You, your heart, it all stopped. It was sad and terrifying for all of us, we contacted all the Leaguers with their best scientists but they all confirmed your death."

Diana: "Then I came in, I had left my clipboard with your statistics in the room and you woke up."

Flash: "we were all so out-raged, we were praying and praying—

Bruce: "So where is Dick?" Bruce interrupted showing no concern to their heart-felt words. They all looked at one another with startled, confused, faces.

Flash; "uhh… H-he" he startled, "he's over with Wally and M'ggan right now I think?"

Bruce: "Okay, for as long as he's occupied, we need to have a meeting with the League right now," all four people looked at Bruce like he was insane, "I missed the meeting at 3o'clock today didn't I?"

Diana: "We never had the meeting, and you don't have to attend—"

Bruce: "It's not a matter of question," he threw the little wires off his chest, arms, and legs and sat up with a towel covering him. "we're having the meeting. Just because I have an injury doesn't mean I can sleep in. Go Superman, tell them I'm alive or whatever and issue the meeting in 10 minutes."

Bruce jumped off the table and quickly tied the towel to his hips, though Diana still looked astonished.

Diana: "You're not going anywhere! You're in no condition to—"

Bruce: "you are not my mother nor are you a doctor so stop trying to pretend you are both." Bruce said cold and dryly.

Superman: "I told you, you didn't miss anything!"

Superman was so irritated that Batman, who could hardly go 10 feet without tripping or falling to the floor had insisted on coming to the pointless meeting. He hadn't missed anything so important that he had to go to a meeting without giving himself even 24-hours to heal. But Batman's ego was almost as big as Gotham, no; it was bigger.

Batman: "I couldn't let a minor incident slow me down."

They were walking to Bruce's room because before he left he had told Superman he needed to go home and visit Dick.

Superman: "MINOR INCIDENT? Bruce I understand you don't like to show pain but this has gone far enough!"

Bruce inhaled, even though it hurt to breath, and exhaled slowly. He pulled Superman over to the side of the long hallway of rooms and found his room, opened the door, pulled him in, and locked the door behind him.

Batman; "I'm on a terrible time crunch and I need you to understand. You see when I was on the 6th floor…" Bruce explained to him all that had happened and what the Joker had said, "so I'm going home to Dick, now make sure all the Superheroes bring in all their sidekicks, nieces and nephews, sons and daughters, right when I leave. All the kids will sleep in the lounge room, take all the emergency blow up mattresses and set them out with a blanket on top, Flash will be in charge of keeping an eye on all the kids; okay?"

Superman understood Batman's situation and nodded, he would do whatever Batman would say, that's how close they were. They could take orders from eachother and never say a word to oppose.

Superman: "Of course Bruce, I totally understand and here," he handed him an earpiece, "put this in your ear. I'll keep in contact with you at all times in case something happens in Gotham; that way we can immediately contact eachother"

Bruce: "Thanks."

He opened the door for Superman, waved goodbye as he left, and put the ear piece in his duffle bag. Bruce got out of his big, black, suit and put on his only pair of jeans and a green t-shirt though as he stuck his arm in the air his back burned and he flopped on his bed. The only reason he was wearing jeans is because he wanted to look casual so when he met Dick he wouldn't suspect anything odd. He got back up, put his shoes on and without saying another word to anyone, he left.

Bruce zeta-beamed to an alley of Star City for a quick stop. Once, Oliver had to take care of Dick and Roy because Bruce had to be in Tokyo for a press confrenece and they went out for ice cream at Dynamic Scoops. Dick had the Chocolate Infestation and immediately fell in love. He promised Alfred he would bring it back for Dick, so he bought him a gallon, went back to the alley, and zeta-beamed to his Cave.

He threw his duffle bag on the floor and slowly climbed up the stairs to his mansion. A while later he was upstairs talking to Dick, who he had just woken up from a sleep, and Dick had crawled up on his back. Oh how the pain of the boys small hands on his bloody wound stung him all the way to his spine! But Bruce didn't care, he wanted to make sure the boy knew he was indestructible; even if he wasn't.

Then all of a sudden, it wasn't a flashback. All the happiness of Dicks face began to blur away and it all turned into a dark abyss. Bruce opened his eyes to see the Joker pointing at Scarecrow and all time seemed to have started again.

The Joker slapped him "go, just go scan the second floor" he spat. Scarecrow walked to the door that led to the dark stairs, opened it and as he left he put his mask back on, in case there was a kid who wanted a scare.

A/N: THANK YOU TO ALL WHO HAVE REVIEWED, FAVORED ME, AND FOLLOWED ME! IT REALLY MEANS A LOT! I KNOW, I APPOLIGISE AGAIN FOR THE DELAY OF THE STORY. PLEASE TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK OF MY STORY BECAUSE I REALLY ENJOY READING WHAT YOU HAVE TO SAY, THANKS! oh and BTW my stories will now be posted under the ROBIN catagorey not BATMAN because too many people have told me my story is more about Robin than Batman.