Window Sills

Chapter Seven

It was dark. Probably about two in the morning. Tim was on his stomach, trying to sleep. It wasn't working very well, because it had been weeks and no sign of his brother, and his father had barely done anything to help. His ego was bigger than his anxiety. Just then a buzzing came from under is pillow. His eyes popped open. Throwing the pillow over, he saw a message from Dick. Opening his phone, he saw a text bubble and the words "LOCATION." Blinking, the message came into focus, and he tapped the  link. "An old apartment building? What's so important about that?" He whispered. Suddenly, a wave of panic hit him. Please be okay. Please just want to meet me at this random place in the middle of the night, he thought, but he seriously doubted it. Throwing the covers off of him, he grabbed his coat from the chair across the room. He  would have to go out from a window and then out the back. It was freezing, probably less than ten degrees. He couldn't help but think that this was what Dick was living in right now. He decided that if Dick really was in trouble, he'd need some help. Pulling his phone out his pocket, he hit Barbra's contact and called her. One ring, two rings, three, four....this was taking too long! "C'mon Babs..." Suddenly a voice spoke.

"Tim? Are you okay? It's two in the morning." Barbra said sleepily.

"Babs, where are you right now?"

"Zatanna's, I slept over after our mission today...shouldn't you be sleeping? What's wrong Tim? You're scaring me."

"It's Dick-"

"What about him?" Barbra said frantically.

"It's a long story. Basically, him and Bruce got into a fight after Dick got back  from a mission, which we've yet to deal with, but during the mission Dick got shot and didn't take the bullet out, Bruce snapped, and then Dick ran off, and hasn't been back in three weeks. He just sent me a location, but it's somewhere random and I'm worried. I could use your help." Tim's voice turned into a whisper when he realized how loud he had been.

"Where are you now?"

"Outside my window, why-"

"Zatanna, go."

"What?"

"Hey Tim." A voice said behind him.

"Guess you picked the right friend to hang-out with, huh?"

"Let's go." She said,  also in her coat and pajamas.  They took some bikes from the garage and tried to sneak  out through the back pathway. Even though it was so early in the morning, there was still many people along the streets. "Is this the place?"

"Yeah I think so." There was a dark alley between the building and the next. As they walked through the alley, Tim noticed a figure on the ground, walking towards it, he saw  crowbar was on the ground and the man had been knocked out cold.

"You think Dick did that?" Barbra said behind him.

"Probably." Digging into the mans pocket, he pulled out a playing card out of his second sweatshirt. "It's a Joker." Tim said grimly.

"What do you mean? This is one of Joker's thugs?"

"Yeah, uh, the mission Dick went on was about a break-in at Ace Chemicals. Turns out Joker is planning on poisoning the drinks in town." Tim picked up the crowbar. "Bit cliché if you ask me. I think that's what my father has been doing instead of looking for Dick." Motioning his head towards the door. The door was locked, so Tim yelled, "Hey! It's me!" No answer. So Barbara kicked the door down. As they walked in, they saw Dick lying on the floor, sweating bullets, unconscious and bleeding. The two of them rushed to the ground.
"Quick, get him on that couch there." Barbra said. Picking up the older boy, they carefully set him down and put the wounded leg on the arm rest.
"Hey Dickie Bird!" Tim said slapping him.
"Okay lets not slap him." Babs said, her voice call but quivering with anxiety. Tim got up and started pacing.
"Okay, well he'll hate us if we bring him back home, but we can't leave him here and we don't have supplies either. Check his leg." Babs slowly unwrapping Dick's leg.
"Its bleeding a lot, and it's pretty swollen. We can't get the bullet out if its this swollen." She said.
Tim stared at his brother, then at Babs.
"So, what do we do now?"