A Joke Gone Wrong

Escape? Escape.

Kate's POV

We slowly stumbled our way out of the room and into a dimly lit corridor. There was silence for only a few seconds before the pounding of footsteps started coming closer.

"Time to go." Robin said before leading me as fast as he could in the opposite direction of the noise. I slowly lugged myself along, trying to keep up with his long strides. I struggled along as we twisted and turned through a series of maze-like corridors. With every step I took. I felt as though some invisible force was dragging both my eyelids and my strength down, and I knew that Robin could sense that.

"C'mon," he wheezed, getting short of breath himself. "Just a wee bit further. Then we can rest, ok." I nodded silently and remained focused on forcing air in and out of my lungs. We twisted and turned past more and more doors. It seemed like the corridor went on forever.

At last, a glimmer of daylight streaked it's way through the dark walls that enclosed us. We both breathed out a sigh of relief and shoved open the heavy sliding door that barred us from freedom. The light was painfully blinding and both of us had to snap closed the blinds over our eyes against the harsh light of the sun. By the time my eyes had adjusted to the light and had begun to drink in our surroundings, a sense if foreboding overwhelmed me. I didn't recognize any of the buildings around us at all. We were hopelessly lost.

"Where are we?" I turned to Robin who was mimicking my actions, his eyebrows drawn down in confusion. He turned slowly in circles, trying to figure it out.

"I think we're in the old Arkham lot. It hasn't been used for years. It figured that he's make his hidey-hole here." He finished with a snarl. A wave of nausea hit me and I felt my body begin to sway. It was in this building ten years ago that -

"Kate?" I shook my head to dislodge the gathering thoughts from my mind. I couldn't afford to be distracted yet. Robin squeezed my shoulder.

"You ok?"

"Fine. How do we get out of here?" Robin smiled.

"Easy peasy." He gripped my hand and together we moved through the rubble of the old Arkham lot. After a few minutes of silent tiptoeing, we reached the fence that kept the city folk out. Within a minute, Robin and I were jumping down off the top. We ran quietly for a bit before we both collapsed onto the concrete, completely out of energy. We sat there, huddled together, knowing that sooner or later someone would find us. Whether said person would be our friend or not was yet to be seen.

Both our eyes were closing when a shadow enveloped us and hid us from the suns light. I opened an eye to stare up at the unfamiliar man who stood towering over us. Robin's arm tightened around my waist. He had grit his teeth but we both knew that neither of us were in any shape to fight. I prayed that this man was our friend.

"Hey! You're those kids aye. Those ones that nut job had right?" Robin and I nodded our heads. "Wow he sure did a doozy on ya didn't he?" The clucked his tongue, drinking in our dishevelled appearances. "'Specially you girlie. He has a particular infatuation with you, don't he?" Robin let out a little snarl, showing his discontent at the mans remarks. He opened his mouth to fire back a sarcastic response when I cut him off.

" He sure did. Sir, do you have a mobile we can borrow please?" The man nodded and pulled out a sleek mobile, pressing it into my hands. My fingers shook as I slowly dialed Bruce's number. He picked up in the second ring.

"Who is this?" He voice held a tone of malice that I had never heard before.

"Bruce? It's Kate." I heard him audibly release a sigh of relief.

"Kate. Thank god. Where are you? Is Robin with you?"

"Yeah he's here. We're not far from the old Arkham lot. Could you -"

"I'll be right there. Hold tight." He hung up the phone and I gave it back to the man.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome kid. D'ya want me to stick around or will you both be alright?" He looked us up and down again and slid his tongue over the surface of his lips.

"We'll be fine. Thank you for the use of your phone." The man and I were both taken aback by the sheer bluntness of Robin's voice. It was harsh and emotionally drained. The man nodded his head and walked off. I tilted my head to rest on Robin's shoulder. He wrapped both arms around me. We sat in silence for about ten minutes before Bruce and Alfred pulled up. I felt a smile tugging up the corners of lips.

I heard Bruce's sigh of relief and watched both men run towards us. Alfred offered a hand to Robin whilst Bruce put his arms around my waist and pulled me straight up into his air-stealing, bone-crushing embrace. My tear flowed freely now as the feeling of safety washed over my tired out body.

A/N: uhmm ....
So ... its been awhile hasn't it ...
I AM SO SORRY ABOUT THE LONG WAIT *hides behind a barricade*. I was on the verge of either putting this story on hold or deleting it ... I just really lost the feel for it and was suffering from a terrible condition known as writers block. I am, truthfully, very very sorry. However I want to thank everyone who has stuck with this story so far. I never expected one hundred reads, let alone over three hundred! I love you all so so much and thank you again for sticking by this story!

-- Bek xx

(P.S - feel free to check out my other story "Staring into the distance". I'll put the description down below ☺️)

(PPS - new cover that a friend made for me 😊 I really like it!)

Staring into the distance
By Island_Roses

I was hoping he couldn't see me
Praying really

He was scanning the horizon
The windows in all the buildings
Glaring at the wood on the doors

Deciphering the swirls of the house numbers

Staring into the distance