Batman & Robin
"Noooooo!" Richard Grayson, screamed as he saw his family lying on the floor of the Hippodrome, motionless.
"No," Dick whispered as he jerked himself awake and fell back asleep. It was just a dream he thought, but he knew it wasn't.
Just a year before, his life had changed dramatically.
Dick used to be in the circus with his family, The Flying Graysons. He and his family were trapeze artists. The circus had come to Gotham City for The Children's Hospital. The night they were there, his whole world collapsed in front of him. Dick's parents and his brother are dead, because of one man...Two-Face. Two-Face had gunned his family down while Dick was saving Gotham from a bomb. Two-Face is dead now. The day after that he went to live with Bruce Wayne. Bruce Wayne owns many companies, he's also a billionaire. Bruce lives on the outskirts of Gotham City, in a mansion on a cliff. It's very private up there, he and Alfred get no guests, usually.
After living in a house the size of Metropolis for a couple of days, Dick was still finding doors that he didn't see before. One door was always locked. Alfred Pennyworth is Bruce's trusted butler. He's from England, used to work for the Queen. Dick watched Alfred and noticed that he would go into that room (the one that was locked) and would be gone for hours at a time.
Dick had heard of this man who dressed up as a bat. He called himself Batman. Gotham City has a hero.
Alfred went into the room and Dick was curious to see what was behind the door. He was standing on the third floor staircase looking down. He did all these flips to get to the door before it closed. First he grabbed onto the side banister (that was four meters down). Then he grabbed onto the chandelier let go and did two back somersaults onto the floor and hit the door pretty hard and slid to the bookcase. There were trophies all on the shelves, he hit that and rolled down a couple of stairs. Dick looked up and saw Alfred staring at him in disbelief. He heard the alarm going and a computer animated voice that said 'Intruder Alert'. He waved. Dick suddenly realised what he was looking at, a cave and another thing he realised was that Bruce Wayne is Batman...
Soon after that Dick Grayson became Robin, Batman's partner.
Dick heard his alarm go and looked up from his pillow and checked what time it was.
"Damn!" he said. The clock read 7:00 am. He had to get up and go to college.
Dick got up, stretched and yawned. He put on a robe that probably cost about $500 dollars. And slippers. He made his way downstairs and found Bruce sipping coffee, Alfred was just finishing Master Dick's breakfast.
"Good morning Master Grayson. Your breakfast is ready." Alfred said in a cherry English accent.
"Mornin' Al." Dick replied half awake and half asleep. Ever since the first day he had come to the Wayne Estate he called Alfred, Al.
"Slept well I can see," Bruce said.
"Yeah, right going to bed at 4:00 and getting up at 7:00, I really got alota sleep," Dick said sarcastically.
He and Bruce had patrolled Gotham for any signs of trouble. Robin took the Batwing and Batman took the Batmobile. What Robin did was he looked for signs of trouble up in the air, then contacted Batman and told him where it was and he went to the place and stopped the crime. Batman took out a couple of gangsters here and there got some bruises, a normal night.
Dick's breakfast was four scrabbled eggs, six pieces of bacon, three pieces of toast and two glasses of orange juice.
"Perfect as usual, Alfred." he said taking a bite. Alfred smiled with a nod.
"Come on let's get going," Bruce said.
"I don't have to be at school for another two hours, hello wake up." Dick said eating with his mouth full.
"Don't you remember last night I told you that I would show you how to work the capsule?" Dick finished in a couple of minutes and said: "Must've slipped my mind."
Dick went up to his room and changed into black jeans, black t-shirt and a black'n white stripped vest. The white strips were very small. It looked very sharp on him. He also checked his hair, which was practically shaved off.
"I'm ready," Dick said to Bruce who was waiting outside his door.
"Nice outfit," Bruce replied. He had on a $1000 dollar suit. It was made in Spain, personally. When they reached the front door he grabbed his black leather jacket.
Alfred drove them to Wayne Enterprises in the Bently.
"We'll meet you downstairs." Bruce said. Alfred knew exactly what 'downstairs' meant. Bruce walked causally with Dick at his side.
"Good morning, Mr. Wayne." said an employee.
"Hello." he said in return. "Who was that?" Bruce whispered to Dick.
"Don't look at me. I don't work here remember, you do."
"Yes and having over a thousand employees under you and you expect me to remember every single name."
"Whatever," They walked to the elevator, Dick pushed the button to go up. It was at the twelfth floor. Two minutes later it opened. They walked in. Bruce pushed the fifteenth floor, the last floor. Five minutes later the door opened. During that five minutes Dick and Bruce talked.
"So who replaced Nygma?" Dick asked. He is referring to Edward Nygma who was The Riddler.
"Well a very smart young man." he replied.
Dick looked at him in a manor that said 'What else?'.
"What's his name? Background?" he asked.
"His name is Tommy Fisk. And his background is good. He graduated from Gotham U, straight A student..."
Dick interupted, "Brainer,"
Bruce continued. "and he knows everything about technology, plus he also likes puzzles, crosswords, that stuff."
"And who does that remind you of?"
Bruce hesitated before answering. "No one."
"Come on, think about it. T.F. equals Two-Face and puzzles equals Riddler." Dick said a little bit annoyed.
"Yes it does, never mind, we're here." Bruce walked out first, then Dick. Margaret was the first to greet Bruce. She was his secretary.
"Nice to see you Mr. Wayne," she said.
"Good morning, Margaret. I'm sure you've met Dick Grayson." he said. She nodded. Margaret looked at her clip board.
"Now Mr. Wayne there are some contracts to sign, the Chinese Prime Mister is holding on, one. The President called and said that you left your racket there again, it's safe. Second time this year." All three of them walked through the big double French doors. Margaret looked at Dick as if he shouldn't be there. He just glared at her.
"It's okay he's here for a reason," Bruce said. "Now where are those contracts."
She had them all in her arms and plopped them on his desk. Bruce sat down on his $2000 dollar chair, took out a pen and started signing.
"That's all for now Mr.Wayne." Margaret said as she was on her way out the door. It was a slow day, surprisingly. Usually its busy as hell.
"Oh, and another thing Maggie don't let anyone come in here for few hours, I do not wish to be disturbed," he said in a tone that she knew quite well and understood. She nodded and shut the doors behind her.
"Lock," Bruce said. An electronic lock slammed into place. Dick walked around the room and saw paintings that must've cost 'bout two million or more. But of coarse Bruce had the dough, so, what the hell right. Bruce pushed line one and spoke rapidly in Chinese as he were from China. Fifteen minutes later he hung up. Bruce was finished signing, a half'n hour later. Meanwhile Dick was bored as hell sitting there waiting. He had to break silence.
"Bruce when the hell are we going back? I have to go you know."
"I'm finished. Okay listen very carefully. You sit down here and say 'chair'." And with that Bruce was gone. Dick saw there was a hole where your feet would be on the floor, and the chair would go straight then you would slide into a capsule. Dick waited a couple of minutes when he heard a very tiny noise that came from under hole. He assumed that the capsule was back.
"Well here goes nothing." he muttered as he sat down in the chair.
"Lock is done, now I say chair." And Dick was gone. "Whoa, what the hell? Cool."
He looked around him. Which wasn't that much room. It was padded, under his back. Dick looked at what appeared to be a status report on how fast he was going, the numbers kept changing. Then he saw a screen and Bruce's face flashed on it.
"Hey, how's your speed?." he asked.
"Pretty good, I guess." Dick replied.
"Great".
Dick suddenly felt a small jerk and then the front part of the capsule opened up and he stepped out. Doors opened and he walked out and could see that Alfred and Bruce were waiting for him.
"Did you enjoy the ride Master Dick?" Alfred asked.
"It was cool." he replied.
"Well I'd better get back and you'd better get to school." Bruce said as they all walked up the stairs toward the door to home.
"Do you wish for me to drive you sir?." Alfred asked as they entered the garage.
"No that's all right." Bruce said.
Alfred nodded.
"Ready Master Grayson?" he asked.
"Yeah sure let's go. Catch'ya later Bruce." Dick said. Bruce left in the Bently, Alfred and Dick climbed in the Rolls (Rolls Royce) and drove off.
Barbra Wilson was in a hurry to get to school. She was from England. Her parents were dead. She's 19. Barbra was rummaging through her closet to find something to wear. It was winter so jeans and a sweat shirt, she thought. She grabbed her purse and keys and anything else she needed. Barbra owned a Neon GTL, and a motorcycle they were both black. Black is her favourite colour. She was taking an entry level engineering class and two others. It started at precisely 9:00 AM, she lived about twenty minutes away and it was 8:45.
She got there at five to nine, which is good time. Barbra sat down in the middle and there was an empty seat next to her. It was filled quicklty though.
Dick Grayson sat in the middle, beside the most gorgeous girl he had seen in a long time.
"All right class listen up! This is engineering 101 as you already know. And------------" the Professor said. He went on to say all this stuff about machines and metals and all this other boring stuff.
After class Dick caught up with the girl he sat beside.
"Hey! Hey!" he yelled. Barbra stopped turned around.
"Yeah you!" the guy said. He was very cute, handsome and sexy. He had a crew cut, an earring in his left ear and a great smile.
"Um, hi. I'm Barbra Wilson." she stuck out her hand. He shook it and said: "Dick Grayson." he replied.
"I sat next to you in class today."
"Right. So how long have you been here?" Barbra asked. "I've been here for a year." he answered.
"What did you do before that?"
"Well, I was with the circus. Me and my family were trapeze artists."
"Why aren't you with them?"
I knew it would come to this, he thought.
"Would you like some coffee? Or do you have a class?" Dick asked.
Barbra could tell he was trying to change the subject, but she played along.
"I would love some and I don't, till two." she said.
"Great well let's go." Dick said. They walked over to the coffee shop on campus. Dick ordered Mocca, Barbra ordered Cappichenno.
"So you never told me why you aren't with them?" she asked.
"Well, because my family is dead."
"Oh my god, I didn't know. I'm---" Barbra stopped in mid sentence and muttered: "The paper, you were --- SLAYS THREE AT CIRCUS." she remembered the headline. "You, you're mom, dad, and brother?"
"That's us, or me. Yes my mother, father, and brother are dead." Dick said.
"Oh I'm sorry." Barbra replied.
"It's alright I'm over it, sort of."
"Where are you living now?" she asked.
"I'm living with Bruce Wayne." They went on talking for a good hour or so, then they said goodbye and left.
Dick called Alfred to pick him up. He came fifteen minutes later. "So how was it Master Dick?" he asked.
"It was great. I sat beside this gorgeous girl." he said in a hype voice, and added in a boring voice: "Class was okay"
"Master Bruce is at home right know, so you can speak with him." Alfred said. Dick said nothing more, until he walked in the door.
"Hey Bruce you'll never guess what happened in class today?" Dick said excitedly.
"What happened in school Dick?"
"Well I sat beside this girl then after class I caught up with her and we went for coffee, and we talked for an hour. Her name is Barbra Wilson, she's from England and she's in my engineering class. Barbras great, she's got blonde hair, crystal blue eyes, and a great looking body." he said.
"Barbra Wilson!" Alfred exclaimed. "Oh my. She's my neice."
"You have a neice. I never knew. Why didn't you tell me?" Bruce asked.
"It never came up in conversation." he replied simply and left.
"Wow, I never would of thought." Dick said stunned.
"I know." replied Bruce.
It was eight o'clock and Barbra was flipping through the pages of the phonebook looking for Bruce Wayne's phone number. Her hair was pulled back in a ponytail and she had on a baggy sweater and stirrup pants. Finally she found the number,
762-2287, she dialled it.
Alfred was dusting near the telephone, when it rang and he answered it.
"Wayne Manor."
"Yes I'm Barbra Wilson and I was wondering if Dick Grayson is there?" she asked.
"Barbra, its me your Uncle Alfred.
"Alfred!" she cried. "I never even thought to call. Oh my gosh. You know all that money went to good use. It is so good to her your voice."
"And yours as well. Yes, Dick is here just one minute please." Alfred pushed a button and Barbra was on hold, then pushed another button that led to Dick's room. Dick was reading his favourite book.
"Yo Al what's up?"
"Miss Barbra Wilson is on the other line." Alfred said. "Great! Thanks Al." he said. Dick pushed two: "Hello?" he asked.
"Hi Dick, how are you?"
"I'm good."
"That's great. How do think class went today?"
"Pretty damn boring if you ask me, but it was okay."
She laughed.
"Yeah well, Professor Sanders isn't really the greatest in the world, but it was alright though."
"Barbra what are you doing next Saturday?" he asked.
She thought for a minute.
"I'm not doing anything next week. Why?"
"I was thinking maybe you'd like come over for dinner." Dick said.
"Okay sure I'd love to, what time?" she asked.
"We'll figure that out next week." he said.
"Right well I'll see you tomorrow then, bye."
"See ya,"
It was Wednesday, ten o'clock and Dick looked at Barbra's number, for a really long minute.
"Phone her and talk about Saturday." he said to himself. He punched her number which was 228-4475.
"Hi, this is Barbra Wilson. I'm sorry that I can't talk right now, but if you would leave a message, name, number. I'll get back to you a.s.a.p. I promise." Beep, Beep.
"Hey its Dick Grayson just phoned about Saturday, you got my number. Call." he hung up. "Damn, she's probably going out with some guy right now, I'll never hear from her again." he said. Then he turned off his light and went to sleep, or tried to. Ring, ring at first he thought it was his alarm clock so he slammed his fist on it, which almost broke the damn thing. Then he realised it was the phone, he pushed a button on his watch which was a light. It said 11:32 pm.
"You idiot, God." Dick said. He turned on the light and sat up then picked up the phone and said:
"Yeah?"
"Dick, hi its me Barbra? I hope I'm not phoning to late. I just got back from doing research in the library. And I just got your message and--------."
"Oh, no that's okay. I'm always up later than this, much later." he said.
"Good. About Saturday?" she asked.
"Oh, right. Um, what do'ya say about seven o'clock?"
"Seven's good for me. What should I wear?" Barbra asked.
"You can wear whatever you want, a dress doesn't matter to me." he said.
"I'll see you on Saturday then. Bye." Barbra said. "Right, bye."
Neither of them had a class together for the rest of the week, so they'd wait till Saturday to see each other.
It was finally Saturday and it was six o'clock and Barbra was throwing all her dresses that looked good, on her bed. "Okay let's see red or black?" she was saying to her self. "Black definitely." The dress that she picked out was black crushed velvet. She put on black nylons, then her dress, and after looked at her hair. Barbra just let it hang down over her shoulders, she put makeup on. It took 45 minutes to get ready. Then she just very quickly phoned Dick, Alfred answered: "Wayne Manor."
"Hi Alfred,is Dick there?" she said.
"Hello, my sweet just a moment, please."
"Master Grayson telephone." he yelled.
"Got it." Dick yelled back, he was in the kitchen.
"Yo?" he said.
"It's me, Barbra, is it all right if I wear a black dress tonight?" Dick sounded a bit surprised of what she was going to be wearing, he looked down at his jeans and t-shirt and said: "Yeah that's fine."
"Great, well I'll see you in a few minutes then." Barbra checked herself in the mirror put on a coat and left. He put the phone down and said: "Right a couple minutes, damn!" he said. Dick ran through the kitchen, a hallway and past Alfred and went up the stairs to his room and literally ripped off the clothes he had on and searched his closet for a suit. He found one suit, put it on and walked casually downstairs to await his girl. But he remembered something so he went back up stairs.
Ten minutes later there was a knock at the door Alfred got it and Barbra was there.
"Hello Barbara."
"Hello Alfred." she replied and gave her Uncle a hug.
"Master Dick." Alfred yelled. "You look beautiful. It's so nice to see you." he said and took Barbra's coat and hung it up in the closet.
"Commin' Al." Dick skipped a couple of steps and then stopped when he came to the landing. He stood for a couple of moments and stared at her, in a good way.
"Hi Barbra,"
"Hello." she bit her lip.
"Oh aw, this way. So did you have trouble finding the house?" he asked as he was comming down the stairs.
"No it wasn't hard to find. This place is big, its like the size of Metropolis." she said as Dick led her into the living room.
"That's good. You know that was the exact same thing I thought when I arrived here." he said. Bruce was sitting in a chair, reading the paper.
"Dick. Miss Barbra Wilson I presume." he said. She nodded in return.
"I'm delighted to meet you, Mister Wayne."
"Please just call me Bruce."
"Alright...Bruce."
"Well I'll leave you two alone." he said as he gazed out the window and saw the Bat-Signal loom high above the clouds in the sky. "Oh, I wonder what's wrong." Barbra said. Dick looked at Bruce as if to say 'do you need help'. But Bruce just shook his head and was gone.
"Where'd Bruce go?" she asked.
"He...he had to go back to the office and make some calls." he answered.
"I didn't even hear him leave. Oh well." she said.
They went and sat down on the couch and Alfred came in with Coke and two glasses.
"Here you are sir." he said as he poured some Coke into each of the glasses.
"Thank you." she said. Alfred nodded and left the room. The wine bottle was left in the cooler on the trolley.
"So have you had a serious girlfriend?" Barbra asked taking a sip.
"No I didn't have time for a one. I mean I was always practising trapeze and stuff." Dick answered.
"Yeah well, I don't know. It must be great living here." she asked.
"It is. I mean I can get anything I want." he smiled as he answered.
"You seem to have something hiding, something that no one knows, but maybe a couple people. Am I right?" she asked raising her eyebrows.
"Well you might be but if I am hiding a secret I'm not telling you. Why? You ask, because I can't." Dick said. Barbra just let it go. There was a CD player near by and it was playing Ace Of Base-The Bridge, the song was Angel Eyes. It was a soft, soothing song.
"I did have one girlfriend though she was the best, beautiful, good looking, crystal blue eyes, and great soft hair, blonde. But one thing she never let me do was kiss her." he said. "Why?"
"Well because the last boyfriend she went out with was a complete dog. But after ten minutes of having her over at my house she changed her mind and she let me kiss her." Barbra smiled and the next thing Dick knew Barbra had jumped on him and they kissed, hard, and it seemed to go on forever. Dick pulled away, for some reason that he didn't know why. He was really enjoying the kiss. Barbra also liked the kiss, and wished he didn't pull away.
"I'm sorry, I never kiss on first dates." she said.
Well that rule changed, he thought.
"It's alright, I liked it a lot." he said.
Barbra smiled.
They talked until around eleven o'clock and then Barbra left. Dick kissed her before she left. When he shut the door he did a round off, two back-handsprings and a back somersault and yelled: "Yessss." and went up stairs to his room.
Deep in the depths of the sea in a cave was a man, but he had scales for skin, knives for teeth, and claws for hands. He wore jeans and nothing else. He was a very light green colour. His name is Killer Croc.
It was the next day and Barbra was in the mall just looking around.
Dick was eating a late lunch with Bruce.
"So how was your date with Barbra?"
"It was really awesome. She's wonderful. I mean you can sit down and talk with her for hours on one subject. I like her alot." Dick said with a smile.
"Well that's great that you like her." Bruce said.
"So what was the call?"
"Oh right, well Commissioner Gordon told me about some suspects that they have in the bomb case. So I just went and trailed them for about three hours and then brought them in. It was pretty slow last night." he answered.
Dick nodded.
Bruce glanced at his watch. "Oh, I gotta go I'm late for work."
"See ya later Bruce." Dick said as he was leaving the restaurant. "Okay what to do now."
Barbra was rummaging through her purse for keys to her house (it was a townhouse).
"Where is that." she said. "Finally." She opened the door and just dropped everything she had in her hands. And jumped on the sofa. She had to make some changes in her answering machine. So she got up and sat at the counter on a stool. There was a pad of paper that said: 'Sunday fix answering machine'.
"Hi this is Barbra, I'm sorry that I can't talk to you right now. But if you would leave your name and number I'll get back to you, I ------." There was a knock at her door (the machine was still on and it was recording everything) she stood up and walked toward the door.
"Yes?" Barbra asked. The man was wearing a long trench coat and it was wet, but it wasn't raining, the sun was out.
"I'm looking for a Barbra Wilson."
"That's me."
The man just walked in and started knocking stuff over.
"Hey stop it, don't touch that. I'll call the police." She went for the phone, but he was in her way.
"Please leave now." He didn't. The man grabbed her by the arm and said: "Your coming with me."
"I don't think so." she said and used her right elbow and hit him in stomach and then hit him again with a side kick. He fell back on her sofa. His coat fell off and revealed him as he stood up. He was a very light green and had scales like an alligator.
"What the hell are you?" she asked.
"Well I'm half alligator and part human." he turned around. "You see. Oh ya my name's Killer Croc." Barbra started to run, but Croc jumped on her. He kind of got up, and he was on all fours. Barbra rolled on her back and brought her knees to her chest, Croc's chest was right on the bottom of her feet. So she used all her strength and pushed Croc up in the air and then very quickly rolled out of the way. Croc landed on his face. And when he looked up he wasn't to happy. This was supposed to be easy, he thought. Barbra ran to the door and opened it and yelled. Unaware that Croc was behind her, he grabbed her around the waist and covered her mouth so she couldn't yell. Barbra managed to get one of her arms free and she clawed at Croc's face, which helped...a bit. A piece of scale fell to the ground. He hit Barbra over her head pretty hard and that knocked her out, cold. Her body fell to the floor, Croc picked her up and left with the door open a crack.
"It's been two days and she still hasn't called." Dick was saying.
"Perhaps, young sir, that she has been busy." Alfred suggested.
"Yeah you're right." Alfred nodded and left Dick's room.
It was seven o'clock Tuesday night. And Barbra hadn't phoned in two days, which was odd. I'll phone her, Dick thought. He punched in her number and waited and waited. Just as he was going to hang up her machine came on (it rewinds itself if not used in twelve hours) "Hi this is Barbra, I'm sorry that I can't talk right now. But if you would leave your name and number I'll get back to you I -------." Barbra cut off her message, but why, he thought. Dick listened to the message and didn't like what he was hearing. On the tape there was a knock, Barbra answered it, she didn't know the person, he walked in, started to break things, he grabbed Summer and there were a couple of muffled groans, and the last thing he heard was the cry of a girl who'd been hit. As Dick was hearing this his anger was flaring, but there was a good thing that came out of the message he knew who had kidnapped her: Killer Croc. Dick contacted Alfred on his watch and told him to meet him 'downstairs'. Alfred took the stairs and Dick took the capsule. It was in a sarcophagus that was a piece of art that Bruce had converted to a capsule.
"Something wrong sir?" Alfred asked worriedly.
"Yes very. Barbra's been kidnapped." he answered.
"Oh good lord, do you know by whom."
"Someone named Killer Croc." Dick contacted Bruce through the Bat-Computer.
"What's up Dick?" Bruce asked.
"Barbra's been kidnapped. The guy's name is Killer Croc. Ever heard of him?" he said.
"When did you find out?"
"Just now."
"I don't know any Croc."
"I'm going to her house to see if I can find any clues."
"Keep me posted, and Dick good luck."
Dick stood up and walked toward the vault with all the suits. He walked in as Dick Grayson, but came out as Robin. His voice was a bit low, that was to disguise their voices so that no one knew who they were. His suit was made of hard rubber as was Batman's.
"I'll be back soon." Robin got on the Redbird. It was his old motorcycle. He and Bruce had been working on it for the past couple of months to change it. Robin zoomed out of the Batcave and toward Gotham City.
About fifteen minutes later he was at Barbra's townhouse. It was number 27. Robin found it and parked the Redbird out front. He walked to the front door and saw that it was open a little. Robin pulled out a small flash light and shone it around the room. He could see the sofa knocked over two vases smashed, some chairs, telephone on the ground. Telephone, he thought. Robin walked over to the counter and pick up the stool that was lying on the floor. He sat down and looked at the answering machine. Then he saw a pad of paper that read: Sunday fix answering machine. He walked all through the house. It was nice, he had to admit. The rest of the house was fine, just the downstairs. He also took the tape with the message. As Robin was at the door he noticed something on the floor, it looked like a small glove, he put it in his Utility Belt. He road off to the Batcave.
When he got there Alfred was waiting patiently.
"Did you find anything Master Grayson?" he asked.
"Oh yeah. I found the tape with the message and a small glove or something." Robin replied. He walked in as Robin, but came out as Dick Grayson. Dick took the 'glove' and looked at it from under a microscope.
"It appears to have tiny little slits in it. And it also has round etches too." he said. He looked at the 'glove' for a good hour or so and was fiddling with the tape.
"I'm gonna to call Bruce." Dick punched some keys that sent a signal to Bruce's watch.
Bruce was working late at the office. It was eleven o'clock. Beep, beep.
"Now what." he said. Bruce pushed a button on the side of his watch and a frowning face of Dick replaced the holographic watch.
"Find anything," Bruce asked.
"I just checked out Barbra's place. Its really nice, but the downstairs was a total mess. The struggle took place there. Upstairs was clean, neat."
Bruce sighed.
"And I found a glove or a scale or somethin', I don't know what the hell it is." Dick said.
"I'm on my way."
Bruce walked over to his chair and said:
"Lock," sat down and said "Chair,". He was in the transport capsule headed to the Batcave. A couple minutes later Bruce was there in the Bat-cave.
"Where is it?" Bruce said as soon as he stepped inside the Batcave.
"It's on the table over there." Dick said.
"Good." Bruce went over and took a look at the 'glove'.
"Yep, it's definitely a crocodile scale." he added.
"Let's listen to the tape again."
"Yeah sure." Dick said. They listened to the tape again and at the beginning of it as Killer Croc walked in the house they heard 'squish squish' as if boots that were soaking wet had walked on something soft. Carpet. They heard Barbra talking and telling Croc to get out. Which he wouldn't do. Then he began to knock stuff over (vases, chairs, things like that). While they were listening, Dick's anger began to flair up again.
"Dick calm down we'll get her." Bruce said.
"We have to get her now," he paused. "Before its to late."
"We will," Bruce replied. They continued to listen to the tape. There were groans from both of them and a couple punches thrown. Finally as it was almost over, Croc had hit Barbara very hard so she was out. But one thing that got the guys attention was what he said right before he left, which was:
"Now i'll take you back to my cave under wa----." Croc never finished his sentence because the tape had been used up. Click, it was off.
"Damnit we don't know where he's got her." Dick said with his anger still there.
"How are we going to get my neice back?" Alfred asked a bit distressed.
"We do know where Barbra is. Think Dick," he paused and let Dick try and think it through.
"He's got her under water, in the Gotham Harbour." he said.
"Exactly," Bruce said and added. "Let's get going."
They walked in the vault as Bruce and Dick but minutes later came out as Robin and Batman.
"Good luck, and bring her home safely."
"We'll take the Batboat." Batman said. Robin nodded. All three of them walked down a couple of stairs to a river of water which held the Batboat. Batman had a remote control in his hand and pushed a button which made lights come on. All three of them had to work to get the Batboat, the Batmobile, the Cave, and the Batwing rebuilt, because they were all blown up by The Riddler. They hopped in and the cockpit door slide into place. Batman pushed a couple of buttons and they were off. The fall from the top of the cave to the water was brutal, six metres. As soon as they were on the water Batman pushed another button and flipped some switches, then they were under the water and cruising. They had been looking around the water for an hour or more.
"Let's go that way." Robin said, but paused. "No wait! Batman do you see that over there." he added.
"Indeed I do." He turned the Batboat around and headed for a cave. They didn't go straight in the hole, both of them had masks (the same ones that were used when in the water last time).
"Ready?" Batman asked.
"Yes," Robin replied. Batman had pulled a knob that opened some holes and let water come in. Then he opened the cockpit door and swam out toward the cave. They had to swim at least 15 metres when there was room to breathe. Robin broke surface first then Batman. They climbed up onto the land.
"Hey look, I see a light. That's probably where he's got Barbra." Robin said.
"Be careful, Croc could also be there." Batman warned.
"I don't care. I'm going after her." And he dove back into the water toward the light. Batman looked around with his flashlight, still keeping his eye on Robin. He found no walkway to get to the other cave, but just swim. Batman jumped in the water and swam after him.
Meanwhile Robin was near the cave and he saw no evidence that Croc was there. If he was there, well, never tangle with a bird. He finally got to the cave and didn't find Croc but he did find Barbra. Robin's anger was back as he looked at his girlfriend, tied up, bruised, bleeding a little, she hadn't eaten anything in days. She looks awful, he thought. Robin knows that is a bad thing to think, but it was true. He jumped up out of the water and ran toward her. He got out his specially equipped knife and began to saw through the ropes.
"It's alright. You're safe. You're going to be okay." he was saying to try and make her feel safe. Robin looked at her with fear and anger in his eyes. The ropes were free and he put the knife back in his belt. He held Barbra in his arms for a couple of minutes and was rubbing the side of her face to try to wake her up.
Batman, meanwhile, was swimming past Robin and farther down the river. He stopped because he heard someone working furiously at something. Batman moved closer ever so quietly, but fast, he found out who was working, Croc.
Robin was still with Barbra unaware of what was happening ahead of him. She finally woke up. When she opened her eyes she was scared and disoriented, not knowing who this person was. Barbra moved away from Robin toward the back of the cave.
"It's alright. I'm not going to hurt you." he said.
I couldn't, he thought.
"I'm Robin."
She had a very brief smile on her face and moved toward him again. Barbra tried to stand up, but couldn't. She started to fall and Robin caught her. She motioned for him to come closer. "I know who you are and thank you, Robin." Barbra whispered in a horse voice. She reached up to hug him and he excepted it greatly.
"You're safe now." he said. "Stay here. I'll be back for you soon. And sleep." he said and reached up and touched the side of her face. Then he jumped in the water, quietly.
Croc had heard some noise but didn't think much of it. Batman had crawled up out of the water and was behind Croc waiting for the right moment.
"I thought I smelled a bat." he growled looking up from his work.
"Yes you did." Batman said and punched him.
"Ohh, was that supposed to hurt. Here try this." he said. He slapped Batman with the back of his hand,and he flew and hit the back of the cave, hard.
