Girl Of Two Worlds

56

Robin's POV
My discomforting talk with my dad did no justice at all, the only way I found to distract myself was to keep looking through the boxes, but after an hour or so I left my dad alone in hopes of calming myself. I headed down to the cave where I watched the boys sparring. They were all working hard, a fierce determination in their eyes. Robins were broken warriors that had faced death time and time again, raised under the same roof, under the same mask and manor, brothers by loyalty alone. There was our ups and downs, but in the end this family was all we had and we'd fight to the death to protect it. Jason himself proved that.

Sweating and exhausted, the boys called it quits and I waited for Dick to come over to me. The other three quickly went upstairs to rest and refresh themselves, Dick joined me and took my hand as we walked upstairs together. "Little Wing,  whatever comes at us tonight we'll be ready for it. Nothing is going to stop us this time" Dick reassured me. I hugged him despite his smell, grateful for his comfort. As he headed towards the shower in his bathroom I spread myself out on his bed. He gave me a quick wink along with the flirty smile and disappeared into the bathroom, our conversation now being through the wall. "How are you feeling Rob? You all rested up for tonight?" Dick asked in an echo. "Yep, I'm definitely ready" I replied, forcing myself to believe the words I'd just spoke. "You sure?" He asked again. I nodded and silently laughed at myself as I realised he wouldn't see it. "I'm sure Dick" I replied.

As I listened to the shower pattering down in the room beside me it soothed me into a thoughtful silence. I didn't even realise when the shower had stopped and Dick had joined me on the bed, sporting a pair of tracksuit bottoms and his worried face. I turned over to face him and let his arms envelop me in a warm hug that settled my breathing. "Dick can I ask you to promise me something?" I whispered. "Anything Rob. I'll do anything you want me to" He softly replied. Dick began to stroke my hair, playing with it in his hands. "Promise me Dick, if I'm going to die tonight, please don't try to save me. I want you to live, to have a happy life, have a family" I whispered even quieter. "Rob, why would you say that?" Dick spoke, his voice as quiet as my own. "I could never-"

I kissed him gently on the lips, my hand reaching up to his cheek, his glimmering eyes watching me intensely. "Promise me Dick, it's the only thing that will make me happy in death, knowing that you will be too" I whispered, my words slightly breaking at the wavering of my voice. "But you're my family Rob, I want to grow up with you, train with you, move out with you, marry you. I only want you" Dick replied desperately, his voice still quiet. "Please Dickiebird, do this for me, my dying wish" I pleaded quietly. With eyes full of sorrow he kissed me slow and sweet, our mouths moving in sync. We broke away, our eyes firmly fixed on one another's as our hearts raced and our breath unsteady. "I promise Rob, for you."

By the time the evening came around everyone in the manor was restless. We were all geared up and pacing, brooding, frustratedly overthinking and over checking everything. Tim sat at the computer, his fingers like lightening across the keyboard, Damian sat by my side his head against me as he sat over thinking like myself, Dick and Wally were checking everything over again and Jason was talking to Charlie over the phone. As much as I wanted to hear my best friend's reassuring voice it would only make going out tonight harder. We were all waiting on the signal from Dad who was already out as Batman, scouting the location and possible vantage points while doing surveillance. From the screen we could see that the Joker had seriously upped his security. He had recruited a few villains lying around from the streets of Gotham. Penguin and Poison Ivy, Mr Freeze and Bane, The Riddler and Firefly. The whole place was heavily guarded by each villain and their own equally annoying pack of goons armed with guns and grenades. The Joker himself appeared to be with Harley in a small complex in the centre of the crowd with a strange emission of energy and radiation coming from its upper floors. While we knew not of what he had designed, it seemed to stick out of the screen and constantly stab me in the head every time I remembered the disheartened look on Charlie's face after she admitted she had read the comic.