He wishes he had a fitful sleep. He wishes it was restless, the kind you can be easily roused from. Shallow sleep leaves you shaken, but awake. Distanced. That would make the screams easier to bear. Instead he sleeps deeply, dragged slowly down into a void without limit. Dreams and nightmares stretch up and steal him away into moments he'd sooner forget. Why is it all coming back now?
Just as he thinks he'll have to bear it forever, the screams begin to change. Distort in sound and pitch until the voices are no longer recognizable as human. Their shrieks blur against his ears, muffled in the blanket of sleep. He knows what they are.
Bats.
Bats!
"Batman will be with you in just a moment!"
Groaning, he fights his way back into the waking world, the bat's screeches still faintly echoing through the cave. He sits up and drags a hand down his cheeks still numb with sleep, pulling the bags under his eyes down another inch. What time is it...
His neck pops as he turns it towards the main platform hosting the supercomputer, and the Superman, as well as one, two, three— four—?!
Bruce sits up with a flash of panic, his blue eyes moments away from meeting those of the Titans. A thick purple curtain suddenly pulls across his vision, dividing the rooms not a moment too soon. Annoyance skims across Batman's mind as he remembers that he hasn't yet replaced the sensor Robin destroyed by the entrance.
"Thank you for coming on such short notice," Bruce hears Superman stall as he scrambles to his feet. The cowl is found sagging off the side of the cot's wooden frame where he'd left it. Bruce snatches it and pulls it over his face sloppily, hair sticking down into his eyes.
"Where is the Batman?" Starfire's uncertain voice peeps from the other side of the curtain.
"Well, I'm here, aren't I?" Superman teases, earning Batman's silent eye roll.
Grumbling inaudibly to himself, Batman sticks a finger into the cowl's mouth opening, flicking his bangs aside.
"Don't worry, he's expecting you... and as you can expect—"
Batman secures the cowl and pats the kinks out of his cape as he strides towards the curtain.
"He's famous for his dramatic entrances."
Casting one final glance at Alfred, still motionless on the bed, Batman pulls back part of the curtain, vowing in advance to suppress every yawn.
YOU ARE READING
The Apprentice
FanficWhat if Robin stays Slade's apprentice? What if the Titans don't find the nano-bugs? Robin is alone. No one can save him from the situation he's in. It's up to him to somehow make contact with the Titans, or better still... Batman.
