The Son of Bat - 2. A Knocked-Out Robin

"If you know what's really good for you, then you better release me." I growled even if I wasn't able to see. There was a blindfold over my eyes. But it was no big deal. As soon as I find a chance, I would still be able to take them down. "You know you can't stop me even if I have a blindfold over my face. So just give it up already!"

Out of nowhere, something connected to my cheek. It felt like a slap and it stung like a bee. The sound it made echoed through the room. My ears twitched as I tried to discern where I was. Based from the echo, we were in some sort of warehouse. And that meant a lot of hiding places.

The next thing I heard were light footsteps. As I slowed down my breathing, I felt two distinct heartbeats. One was faster than the other. I could only guess that this was the kid who managed to knock me out. If the other guy wasn't a magic user than he will be taken out easily. The only problem was this kid who has more than a few sly tricks up his sleeve.

"For a person who's tied up, you are very noisy." The man stated. He sounded like he was in his mid-thirties and I was already sizing him up. His voice came just right in front of me and the other heartbeat was far enough as if the boy was just trying to observe what was going to happen next. "Surely, the boss might want to take an interest in you."

It was another clue. These two were in the middle management and I could try and dig deeper given the right circumstances. From there, I could check what they were doing with the Reiss Reactor. That thing was a very dangerous choice for being a point of interest.

“Of course, he’ll take interest in me.” I replied. Then I tried to move my hands that were tied up behind me. Based on the chair I was sitting on, it was your typical wooden chair. A very stupid choice because I could easily break it apart. “That person should take note of the very person who is going to take him down. If I were him, he should just give up before Robin would place him in Arkham. And that’s not a fun place to be.”

There was another hit again. I tasted my own blood and he had a good hit. That would only mean that his attention was focused on me. Slowly, I slipped out a small knife that can emit highly concentrated laser on its edges. The small thing could easily cut off the ropes I was being tied with. With the use of my fingers, I slowly pulled a couple of spines from my armguards. Then I slowly cut through the rope and caught it with my fingers before it fell on the floor. While doing this, I displayed an impish smile on my face to provoke the guy.

“One more and I’ll use a crowbar on you.” The guy threatened be. But little did he knew that I was already free from the ropes behind me. “And I believe me, I wouldn’t want to hit a puny, little brat with one.”

“Then I guess I’ll be one using it on you!” I suddenly stood up, much to his surprise and threw one of the spines at him. Since he kept talking to me, I knew where he was and that gave me the slight advantage. And it was an advantage I was not about to waste. The small thing should have hit one of his shoulders. As I expected, he made a grunting sound as I threw the other spine at the boy right behind him.

Again, as I expected, he used a spell to create a pulse and I used the other guy as my meat shield. He stumbled over me and I allowed him to fall over my small body. I did a back-roll and used my momentum to kick with both my tied-up feet upwards. It took me a bit more of my energy to throw him a few feet behind me. Even if he was a lot heavier than me, his momentum from the force erupting out of his very own ally was more than enough to use it to my advantage.

I quickly grabbed the other spine and cleanly cut through the rope on my feet and my other hand to take off my blindfold. As calculated, we were in some sort of an abandoned warehouse. There were a bunch boxes around us and it was still night time. The other boy just looked at me as he summoned a chain made out of his own shadows.

When I scanned the area, my gadgets were just laid at one of the corners. The two were really sloppy for kidnapping me. This was just too easy! As the boy tried to throw the shadow chains onto me, I used the last hidden smoke bomb I pulled out of my gloves. It was able to effectively remove his vision of me as I tried to dive for the weapons. The first thing I grabbed was my grappling hook and I immediately shot at the boy. However, he hovered over to one of the boxes so I had to reel in my rope back to its launcher.

“Get out of here before I change my mind.” I declared. We looked at each other and I felt the mutual understanding that he was being used against his wishes. I allowed him to get away for the mean time and hunt him down some other time. The boy had potential but he didn’t know how to use it properly. He didn’t move and had cast a spell which caused flame to erupt out of his hands. “Very well. Enjoy your stupid decision.”

I put my utility belt back and he gave me window time to get all my gadgets back. He just scanned me curiously as he started throwing fireballs at me. Those small things made medium sized explosions that quickly started a huge fire within the warehouse since there were a lot of wooden boxes.

“Stop that!” I roared at him. “You’re gonna kill both of us here!”

But he didn’t listen and sprayed a gush of flames from his palms. Based on my own observation, he was able to emit and absorb light. Plus the flame thing was new. It meant that he had some control over the elements. The only thing I needed now was to find a way how to stop him from casting spells. Or else, I’d be toast.

Suddenly, he blasted the door and flew towards outside. The smoke was already starting to suffocate us as the fire inside grew larger. But I had other things in mind as I threw one of my last Birdarangs at him. The small thing flew quickly and almost hit his shoulders. For some reason, the projectile slowly deflected to a different direction as if some invisible force guided it. It was then I noticed that two of his fingers were glowing. Another spell was cast at the very last second.

My knowledge of his abilities was very limited and I needed to look for a way to counter him or else he would be able to get away. Plus, there was an unconscious man who was going to die if I didn’t finish the battle quickly. As of now, the man was the better lead. The boy was just some sort of weapon and his knowledge of their operation would most likely be limited.

Again, he started flying towards the exit and I immediately went towards the other guy. He was still unconscious just as how I left him. I checked his pulse and based on it, he wasn’t going to wake up anytime soon. Then I looked around and there was a forklift truck that was still unharmed. I went for it and hot-wired the thing as I shot my grappling hook at the man’s foot and dragged him with the small truck. It took a minute before I was able to get out of the warehouse with the other guy in tow.

I looked around if the kid stayed and there was no sign of him. For the meantime, an opposition was not welcome. I grabbed my communicator and put it on my ear to call someone who could handle this guy. It took a few rings before he could answer.

[Nightwing. Where are you?] I asked. He was probably smiling on the other line because I called him. And course, that would’ve meant that I asked for help. There was no other choice. [If you’re not yet back in Gotham then I might just have to make a good reason for you to come back here immediately.]

[Little Robin got into a tight situation?] Dick snickered. And that alone was enough to make me want to give him a good smacking. [Relax, I just arrived in the Batcave. I assume no one knows where you are right now.]

[I’m not in the mood to get a lecture. Just go here and interrogate this person that I caught. Another one got away and I need to hunt that one down before he could get away.] I started explaining. Nightwing seemed to be listening on the other line. I was sure it would perk up his interest with what I was about to say. [These guys are involved with the Reiss Reactor and that would only mean that there is a bigger scheme brewing.]

[I see.] Dick replied in his comms. His voice felt sexy for some reason. For sure he was screwing Kori again. There was no way he would let a night off pass. Thinking about it made my own boyhood get stirred up. That husky voice was probably a result of being overloaded with hormones. [This is fun. I don’t get to see you pressured that much.]

[I’ll send you my current coordinates. You better come here quick before the fire department comes. We don’t want any other people getting involved.] I instructed him further. Then I pressed a series of buttons on my communicator to send him my exact whereabouts. It made its usual annoying sound before it confirmed that Dick got it. [I put myself on my tracker as well just in case something went wrong. Don’t you dare tell Red Robin about this.]

[Don’t worry, squirt. I won’t.] He replied casually. Drake was something I needed to watch out for. As of now, he still couldn’t be trusted. Father trained him because he was smart. But sometimes, he was being too smart. [Stop trying to take off his throat from his neck, okay? I don’t want a big mess when Batman gets back.]

[I can’t promise you that, Nightwing. That person is nothing but a liability to the Bat family.] I scoffed in my communicator. Grayson seemed to shrug it off but I meant my words. [Anyway, I have a caped magician to hunt down. Robin out.]

I put off the communicator and shot my grappling hook to one of the rooftops. It was a nice view from above to see some movements. My ear picked up the sound of sirens on its way because the fire inside the warehouse was growing. That would have meant that Nightwing would be on his way to pick up our information holder.

When I scanned the area, I felt something off. It was my assassin-like intuition that led me to check warehouse number three. The first thing I took out of my belt was my last piece of smoke bomb. As soon as I opened the door, I felt a fast-moving dart that jolted towards me. It missed me by a couple of inches and that led me to throw the smoke screen over us.

Based on my observation of the kid, it was easy to throw him to confusion. I ran towards him as I threw one my last few Birdarangs connected to my grappling hook to throw him off-guard. The boy used another one of his spell as I threw an explosive disc at him. He barely managed to guard himself as it emitted a small explosion that jolted him out of his place.

The boy immediately had cast another spell which created some kind of a huge ceremonial circle under him. He then started sinking into the ground like it was some kind of portal. With the last of my efforts, I threw a flash bomb in conjunction with my last Birdarang. As expected, he absorbed the light into a small ball of energy but he failed to see the incoming projectile. He barely dodged it and had sliced off a bit of his shirt, wounding him. My weapon was caught at the crate right behind him.

Finally, he threw the ball of energy at me and fired a beam of light. But I was ready at that time. He wasn’t going to fool me again. I launched my grapple hook towards the ceiling and I was quickly pulled upwards. He managed to drain the small amount of light that was gathering as his own energy and managed to slip off into the ground.

He got away again. But not without something he left behind.

My effort wasn’t put to waste. There was more than a drop of blood at one of the blades I threw at him. This meant I would have a lead to this person’s identity. It was only a matter of time before I got to the bottom of this.

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