Like This
By Carmen Wayne
"Like this?"
"No, no. Like this."
"Ooooohhhhh."
"Now, try it."
"Okay. Anything that gets broken is not my fault."
**CRASH**
"Okay. Try it again. And. Turn that way."
"I think I must be psychic."
"Will you just turn and try again?"
"Okay, okay."
...
"OUCH!"
"I told you how to catch it!"
"I KNOW! I'm sorry I'm not as PERFECT as you!"
"Come on. I'll bandage that for you."
"I'm FINE. Lemme try again."
"Are you sure?"
"Positive!"
"Well, alright.. No, you're holding it wrong again. Watch."
"That's different from the last time!"
"Ugh, do I have to do it the same each time?"
"If you want me to learn, oh father."
"Fine, fine.. NOW is THAT better?"
"No, but it'll do. Gimme.. What the-It didn't go anywhere!"
"That's because you didn't get enough sling."
"YOU show me how to throw it. We've been standing here for two hours and you haven't
thrown it once."
"Fine!"
A hand scraped up the black object where it had fallen and was brought up to the body of
Bruce Wayne. He gripped it tightly and slung it forward. The object shot out, hit a stone
wall, flew up, cut past the butler, Alfred Pennyworth, and whirled around the cave behind
them and back into his hand. And he didn't even watch it. He then turned.
"Happy now?" he asked.
"Yeah, I guess that was pretty cool," ten-year-old Dick Grayson said, crossing
his tiny arms. "Can we take a break now, Bruce? I'm tired."
As if on cue, the batcomputer turned on with an alert that someone was running around
Gotham dressed as a clown.
"They are calling their self the Joker," he said, turning to see Batman standing
there, pulling down his cowl. "He's gunning people down."
"The Joker again. All right. Where?"
"Central Gotham, Sir."
Batman nodded and went for the batmobile. Dick ran and grabbed onto his cape.
"Wait! Don't go!" he pleaded. Batman looked at him strangely. "You're sick!
And then those broken ribs. You could get killed!"
"A chance I have to take."
"Let me go with you, Bruce!"
"No, Dick. I can take the chance of getting myself killed. But you. You're another
story. Will you let go of my cape?"
"NO! I don't want you to get killed! You either take me with you or you stay here! I
die with you or we live together!"
"Dick. You're to young to be thinking about-"
"BRUCE! You heard me!!!"
Batman sighed and picked Dick up. Dick still had a death grip on his cape. Batman took him
over to a room in the shadows and set him down.
"Go get dressed."
Dick laughed and ran in quickly. Minutes later, after some crashes, he came out as Robin.
He did a modeling twirl.
"Did I put it on right this time?"
"Yeah. Except the cape goes on your back." Robin looked down to the cape then
blushed. With an uneasy laugh, he put it the right way. "Lets go," Batman said.
He ran for the batmobile, Robin tagging along behind him.
Robin squirmed happily in his seat as they went along.
"This is gonna be great! You an' me! The ol' One-Two Combination! I bring 'em up and
you knock 'em down! We'll be called something cool, I know."
"Like an idiot for bringing a kid into this business?" Batman asked, glancing at
him sideways.
"It ain't gonna work, Bruce," Robin said lowly. "I'm your sidekick and
partner. That means you're STUCK with me now. OH! Radio?" he asked, pointing to a
button.
"No. Auto-eject button." Robin laughed uneasily and sat back. "Robin.
Before we get there, you and I have to talk."
"Okay. Shoot."
Batman sighed, not sure how to word what he wanted to say.
"This man is dangerous. I want you to be careful. You're good, but not great. You
have a lot longer to go. He could kill you," he explained. Then he paused, squinting
his eyes in thought. "You know I don't like to kill people, Dick." Robin nodded.
"But if that man takes you away from me. I will do something that I never thought I'd
have to do."
Robin patted his shoulder.
"It's okay, Batman. I'll take the thugs."
Batman nodded and continued to drive. They both drew silent, sitting there. After a few
moments of re-processing the conversation, Robin looked to Batman.
"B-Man?"
"Yes, Robin?"
"Thanks."
Batman was slightly drawn back internally. But it showed in his tone:
"For what?"
"For caring," Robin said with a gentle smile. "It's good to know I have
good friends like you and Alfred watching me."
Batman just smiled.
The batmobile pulled up in front of a mall where gunfire was heard within. Outside, cops
were all around. Batman and Robin jumped out and hurried to Commissioner Jim Gordon.
"What's the situation?" Batman asked.
"That clown has hostages. He's demanding ten million and your council." Gordon
stopped as he saw Robin peek around the back of Batman at him. "And who is this young
man?" he asked, a smile spreading across his face.
Batman stepped out of the way. Robin walked up and extended his hand with a big smile.
"Robin, Sir. Sidekick to Batman," he said, his voice a little lower than the
normal tone he spoke in.
Gordon took his hand and shook it, still smiling.
"Well, welcome aboard, son. I hope you are able to keep up!"
Robin looked over his shoulder to Batman.
"I will. I have a good teacher."
Suddenly, the doors to the mall cracked open and gunfire spewed out. Batman leapt and
tackled Robin and Gordon to the ground seconds before they could get hit. Batman then
stood and pulled his considerably large grappler gun. He scooped Robin up as he fired it.
He pulled them both up to the roof quickly. Robin just squinted his eyes shut and buried
his head into Batman's shoulder. When they landed on the roof, Batman set him down.
"Alright, Robin. Stay behind me at all times. And if it gets to be too much for you,
don't be afraid to leave," Batman told him as he knelt before him.
"What about you?" Robin asked in a hurt tone.
"I'll be fine. I've been doing this a long time." Robin went to say something
when Batman set his hands on his shoulders. "Are you ready?" he asked in a
gentle tone. Robin slowly nodded. "Come on, and don't be slow. Things move fast in
this business."
He took off running to the roof entrance. Robin quickly ran after. Batman went through the
door and skipped five to seven steps at a time until he reached a door. He shoved through
them and ran out into the mall. Down below, he could see bodies scattered that were dead,
and five people and a baby huddled by the water fountain. The Joker danced around happily.
Batman jumped over the railing and sailed down, tackling the Joker. The Joker's thugs
opened fire, but had the usual bad aim that most thugs have in Gotham City. Robin jumped
over the railing to the ground and pulled a bola. He whipped it around, and then wrapped
two guys up.
"Bingo!" he laughed.
He cried out as a gun butt was slammed into his upper back. His cry of pain caught
Batman's attention. Batman whirled around and threw a batarang into Robin's attacker. The
man fell back as the batarang went into his stomach. Then the Joker and two of his thugs
tackled Batman.
Robin groaned and gathered himself. He rubbed his neck and went to his knees.
"Okay, Robin. Review this," he whispered. "Batman's being beaten down.
Hostages are being held. Batman. Hostages. Batman? Hostages? Batman would want me to take
care of the hostages-WHOA!"
He jumped out of the way of a lunging man. The man hit the ground. Robin spun around on
his hands and kicked the man in the jaw. He stood and grinned. After relishing in his work
a second, he ran for the hostages. He yelped in fear as bullets seemed to chase him, but
he continued to run.
"This is no time for a mental break-down," he said to himself. He jumped in
front of the petrified hostages. "Come on! Follow me!" he said, helping a lady
with the baby by grabbing the baby. They followed him towards the central entrance where
three men stood, firing out on the cops. "Oh MAN this guy has a lot of
man-power."
He pulled three little black pellets and threw them towards the guys. Gas poured out and
surrounded the men. Robin handed the baby away and ran in, holding his breath. He took out
the guys quickly, then kicked open the door so the gas could clear.
"Come on!" he called, waving for the hostages.
They ran out to the cops. Robin took in a few deep breaths, and then turned, running to
help Batman. He yelped and drew back as a man slammed into the pole beside him. He jumped
into a store as a stray thug opened fire on him. Robin backed into a corner in the store
and stayed there.
The Joker ran past. Batman was heard taking out the last two men and then he took off
after the Joker. Robin watched as Batman lunged into the air, his cape flying out
gracefully. Batman tackled the Joker and slammed his head into the ground, knocking him
into semi-consciousness. He hand cuffed the Joker and carried him out.
As the door shut behind Batman, a loud, piercing sound filled the mall. Robin yelped and
covered his ears. A few seconds later, the ground began to rumble and fall apart as the
unmistakable flames and smoke of bombs flew out from the cracks. Robin panicked and ran.
Batman whirled around as the explosions where more audible, and visual. His eyes went
wide. The Joker, who was more awake, began to laugh.
"Always have a backup plan!" he laughed. "The moment all doors were shut,
the bombs I set everywhere were to detonate!"
Batman slammed him back into the arms of Arkham officials and ran for the building.
"Weee!!! Uh, uh, uh, Batz! Reopening the doors will cause an even larger explosion
across town! Awww. Now you'll have to make a decision. Save the boy at the cost of a
hundred people. Or let the boy die and let those people go on with their ungrateful
lives."
"How much do you have planted in there Joker? And what's the detonation
periods?!" Batman demanded.
The Joker felt no harm could be done in telling him. Someone was going to die either way.
"A lot! And one minute per store."
Batman turned and observed the door quickly. He found a wire and followed it.
Robin ran, trying to get away from the explosions. Now he was out in the main area, going
for an escalator. He jumped over a large crack and onto the fifth step. Using a weaving
technique to dodge falling objects, he made his way up it. He turned right and ran to a
side walkway and went left.
The boy was petrified. He wasn't even sure how he was running his legs were so weak. He
couldn't even FEEL his legs. Turning left to go across the main hall, he yelped as the
walkway gave out. He managed to grab the edge of the base just before he fell three
stories into a water fountain. He cried out in pain from the jerk, but kept a firm grip.
Batman found the trigger box, and was now working to disarm it. Gordon walked around to
his front and knelt down, observing the tiny black box.
"Well?" he asked.
"Well what?"
"Are you going to be able to disarm it?"
"I'm going to have to. But this takes time."
"Time we don't have if you want to save your boy."
"I know. Believe me. I know."
Robin grunted as he pulled himself from the edge and rolled away. He rolled onto his knees
and rubbed his arms painfully. At this time, tears were streaming down his face from fear.
"I'm no Batman," he said softly to himself.
He cried out as the store nearby exploded into a conflagration. He sprung to his feet and
ran off to the left, trying once again to get to safety. Another part of the floor gave
out, but he leapt forward and did a somersault seconds before getting pulled down through
it. He pounded the ground once with his fist, getting frustrated with this.
"I can't do this!" he cried.
A sound of warping metal came from above. He looked up slowly to see a metal beam bending
clear out of shape. Then it snapped and went towards him. He cried out and jumped out of
the way just as it slammed down, causing the floor to start to cave. Robin crawled for
safety amongst the rubble as quickly as he could. Springing forward in one last hope, he
got to steady ground and slammed into a wall hard. He stood shakily and ran again.
Batman held three wires, each one either red, white or yellow. In his left hand he held a
pair of pliers. The pliers moved slowly between the three. People watched, not able to
speak. Gordon was obviously praying to God for Batman to choose the right one. Finally,
the pliers landed on the white one. Batman slid the blades over it and everyone closed
their eyes. They heard the click and the box charge down.
"Oh God, you did it!" Gordon said, breathing in deeply in relief.
Batman stood.
"That's what the little "Bottles of Ink" chant is good for," Batman
replied, simply to irritate, before running in.
Gordon raised an eyebrow, processed that, and then gripped the wall and his head, ready to
pass out.
Robin was now bleeding from falling down the escalator stairs that were three feet from
him. He was so stunned, he could barely move. Now the tears flooded his eyes. Not from
pain, but total fear.
'I don't want to die,' he thought to himself. 'Not now. Not this night. Not like this.'
He stood weakly, holding the gash that was in joint of his right arm. Despite the gash on
his head, he stumbled along, trying to dodge rubble. But, through the pain, the dizziness
and tears, seeing his path was virtually impossible. His tears stopped abruptly when he
heard someone crying inside a store that hadn't exploded yet. He stumbled over and peered
in to see a girl with a doll sitting there, crying.
Batman leapt over a hole in the floor as he ran along quickly.
"ROBIN!" he yelled.
He continued to run. The heat was rising to near-unbearable temperatures, but he knew he
couldn't stop. If he did the boy could die.
"Hey there," Robin said gently, limping to the little girl. She continued to
sob. "Do you have a name?"
"Ma-Maria," she stuttered as she sobbed.
"Where's your mommy, Maria?" he asked.
"Mommy told me to stay here until she came back."
"Okay, well you're going to have to come with me now, Maria, okay?"
"But-"
"You can trust me," he said, taking her hand and pulling her to her feet. He
knew that he'd have to act like he wasn't afraid on the outside for this girl that looked
about six years old. "My boss should be coming for us, but we have to keep
moving."
Holding her hand tightly, he hurried out and continued on his way. But they both screamed
as a large pile of flaming rubble landed in front of them, then behind them.
"What do we do?!" Maria cried.
"I'm thinking!" Robin replied, looking around.
Hearing the screams, Batman was now running as quickly as he could the way they came. He
saw the two walls of fire and two dark figures within. He pulled the grappling hook and
rope he had. Spinning it around once, it flew into the air and latched onto steady ground
above the two kids. Batman swung over the ponds and fires to them and scooped them up.
"It's okay," he said to them. "It's over now."
Cops carried off Maria down below the building Batman stood on. When the last of the
firemen left, he turned to see Robin. Robin was huddled in a corner, shaking and letting
out all the fear he hadn't before there.
"You did well, Robin," Batman said, walking over and kneeling by him.
"I-I did?" Robin choked through his tears in shock.
"Yes. You put others before yourself in a time of need. True heroes only can do
that." Robin tried to smile. "Lets go home and get you bandaged, shall we,
chum?" he asked, standing straight.
"Y-Yeah. Okay," Robin said, trying to stand.
Batman gently picked him up and walked to the edge of the building. Down below, in the
alley, was the batmobile. Batman jumped off and landed softly on the driver's seat. He set
Robin down in the passenger seat and helped him get his seatbelt on. He sat and hurriedly
put the car into motion.
After a few minutes, Batman glanced towards Robin to see he was asleep. Batman turned down
the speed of the batmobile and smiled slightly at the boy, proud.
"They call them the Dynamic Duo. Batman and Robin. Yesterday evening, Batman showed
up to Gotham Central Mall with his new sidekick, Robin," explained a reporter on the
batcomputer. "Commissioner James Gordon is calling them the Caped Crusader and the
Boy Wonder."
Alfred shut off the computer, and then he turned.
"I can't throw it like that!"
"Yes you can. No one else has a problem with throwing it that way."
"I learned to throw it THIS way!!"
**CRASH**
"You see why I don't want you throwing it that way anymore?"
"Well. Heh. Was that expensive?"
"Yes. Five grand."
"Great, there goes my allowance for the next five years. Hey! We were watching that,
Alfred!"
Alfred bowed.
"I am sorry, Master Timothy. But Master Bruce doesn't like to be regaled by tales of
past events."
13-year old Tim Drake, who was dressed as Robin, walked away from Batman, holding a
batarang.
"Yeah, well Master Bruce can get a grip on reality!"
He got tired of walking all thirty feet, so he chucked the batarang into the console of
the batcomputer, flipping it on again and rolling the tape. This was of a news report done
many years after.
"Hello, Summer Gleeson here for the Gotham Insider. Today, the Riddler took Gotham by
storm as all have felt the effects of computer downs and black outs. But the Dynamic Duo,
the Dark Knight and the Boy Wonder, saved the day when they entered a virtual reality
world to do combat with the Riddler himself."
Robin turned to Batman, who had his cowl down.
"What happened?! You were the Caped Crusader, now you're the Dark Knight! And why
can't you and Nightwing get along like that anymore?"
Bruce turned away, sadness flooding his face.
"Things change."
With that, he pulled his cowl on and walked away.
The End.
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