A Sore End (Hard Time Sequel)

6

It didn't take long to reach land. Okay, that was a lie. It took freaking freezing forever. Cold icy water had splashed on me multiple times and with the cold air it just seemed to get worse. When did it get so cold? This bitter winter had a personal grudge against me when it started to flurry on us. I had no doubt that the assassins were on our tails but with my dying adrenaline it left me only with teeth gritting pain. 

Damian, the lucky duck, slept through it but I could see he was starting to vibrate in a cold shiver. We didn't have a lot on us and I would have given him a blanket if it were available but all we had was useless weapons. 

By the time we reached land, I was so stiff and cold that I almost just wanted to stay in the boat rather than jump out and have painfully cold water slosh and splash around my knees and thighs. I bit the inside of my cheek, hoping to just bring some kind of warmth  but even the blood that trickled over my teeth was cold. 

I drug the boat deeper onto the sand and the engine sputtered out, making thge boat even heavier. When it was close enough I reached into the boat and shook Damian but he was still unconscious. 

"Come on man, I don't want to carry you." I groan. When he showed no sign of waking up I had half a mind to dunk him in the cold water. However, I didn't want to give him hypothermia on top of our cruddy situation. 

"You have got to be kidding me." I whine before kicking the boat, just to have the cold water splash up at me. I make a muffled shrieking sound before giving up and just grabbing Damian and somehow getting him on my back while I hold his knees piggyback style. 

I looked around the beach we had landed on but I don't really recognize it. For all I knew we were in some harbor in Central city. I guess we'd be too lucky to be at Gotham Harbor. 

I saw a long bridge thing ahead of me though and started to jog towards it. Damian wasn't as heavy now that my arms had some time to rejuvenate but his body heat hardly added to mine. His cheek pressed against my face and it was so cold I wanted to push him away. 

I jogged up the stairs that led to a barren and dark street that was aflutter with thick snowflakes. Damian started to shiver again as I hurried down the street, looking for a pay phone desperately.  When I didn't find one and my own shaking matched Damian's, I knew we couldn't keep this up. We were too cold and our body temperatures had dropped so low that everything felt slower. 

Suddenly I felt hot, sweat started to form and it was overwhelming. Damian felt like a blanket on a hot furnace. I wanted to rip the assassin uniform off and embrace the cold wind but that's when I remembered a classmate who had once gotten hypothermia in my boarding school. They had described becoming extremely hot before they took off their layers and almost froze to death. Was my body tricking me? Most likely. 

Damian groaned and his breath fogged in front of me. I grit my teeth. We needed to get inside of a building. We needed to change out of our wet clothes and get near a fire or heavy duty heater. I could feel Damian's heart beat against my back and call me crazy but it felt slower than before. 

"Come on buddy, let's get inside." I mutter as I hurry down the street, trying doors as I went but everyone had locked up and closed for the day. I see a convenience store and try to push it open but it's locked up and dark. 

"Frick." I exhale as sweat drips off of my chin. "It's too much to ask for a hero top swing by huh?" I grumble as I heave Damian up a little as he starts to slip down a little.

I look around and see an alleyway. "Okay." I mutter to myself as I head down it. I kick snow away from the ground as I search with my eyes for a sewer lid. "Come on, come on." I grumble as sweat makes my hand slippery. 

Finally, my boot nicks metal and I gasp. crouching down and swiping away the rest of the snow to reveal a manhole lid. "Thank the lord!" I exclaim before pushing it away. The stench was almost overwhelming but the air coming from it was warm. I shrug Damian off my back and gently lower him down next to the hole. I slip into the hole and drop down, landing on slimy stone. I glance around, double checking that Killer Croc wasn't bathing or something before I reach up and pull Damian down, catching him before he hits the ground. 

Damian groaned and for a moment his eyes open barely, probably from the horrible smell but just as quickly they closed again. 

I reach up and close the lid above us, keeping the icy snow out. I shake off the snow from my hair and shoulders and move to help Damian from his snow covered clothes. Damian's clothes were soaked through and most likely were the main reason for his violent shaking. I debated for a long time if it would be better to leave him with clothes that were wet or no clothes at all but dry. Finally I decided they weren't doing him any good. I struggle to remove the assassin suit and after a long minute I finally pull the pants off as well and leave them hanging on the sewer ladder. He was left in his underwear and was still shivering obviously. 

He was going to hate this if he woke up suddenly but tough times call for tough decisions. I wrap my arms around him and basically bear hug him, trying to get as much of my body heat onto him. He was basically a shield for me while on my back and now I'm gonna try to be his shield against the cold. 

I have no idea what I'm gonna do next but right now all I have is one priority: Keep Damian alive because otherwise I'm gonna hear it when I get back home. If I get back home. 

I exhale and squeeze Damian tighter when he vibrates more. I folded him up in a ball so he could preserve as much warmth as he could but at the least he was gonna have chills for the next month. After a while, I feel the bump on his head, sticky with blood that was half drying. Yeah, I probably had something to do with that but for now I'm gonna blame his mom. 

What can you do though? This whole family had crap moms, except for Bruce's I suppose. Mine tried to kill me. Four times .The first time was when she was pregnant. She tried stabbing herself to kill me. The second time I was two. She tried leaving me out in the cold. The third time she had been poisoning my food with rat killer and after I woke up in the ER she told the police I probably did it to myself. The last time was the last time I saw her. She had chased me out of the house holding a knife. The police were parked outside when I came running out with a gash down my arm. They gave me foster care after that. I would be surprised if I could still see the scar after what Joker did to me. I let out a shaky breath and close my eyes. Its funny to think that after Bruce adopted me I thought he would try to kill me. He never did but I guess having a kid follow you around Gotham frighting villains would be considered child abuse. I don't know, I always liked it. 

I dozed off a few times but whenever something dripped on the distance I awoke again. At some point Damian had stopped shivering so violently but we were both exhausted and so we slept. He got more than I did though.