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Bat Hunting	By : BadGrayson Category: DC Verse Comics > Batman Views: 7777 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I do not own Batman nor any other of the characters in this story. This is a work of FanFiction and I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 16
- 17
Chapter Seventeen:

The Last Days of Robin the Boy Wonder – Part Four
Dick had actually come to moments ago…
But this time he kept his eyes closed and his breathing steady, playing possum while pretending to remain under the sedative effects of the drugs as he reached out with his other senses in order to get a sense of his surroundings…
Like a deadly game of musical chairs, the Joker had obviously taken him somewhere new again. Even with his eyes closed, Robin could smell the faint odour of old diesel oil and mechanical grease. The clinging stenches of mildew and damp rot from the old condemned theatre were gone now, replaced by these new smells.
This place felt remote… out of town.
Feeling the cold steel against his wrists, Richard knew his hands were handcuffed behind his back and his ankles were also shackled, but that seemed to be the extent of his binding. If the Boy Wonder could only get hold of some sort of lock pick, he’d be able to free himself within seconds.
The Joker must have been getting comfortable with his teenage captive to leave him so loosely secured. Either that, or the clown believed that the Boy Wonder’s will had been finally broken.
Which meant that Dick had a chance to escape.
From the familiar feel of the familiar tight fabric against his skin, the Boy Wonder recognized he was wearing his original Robin outfit again. Gone was the mini-skirt, high heels and blouse, mercifully replaced by his own uniform. He was ready for action.
Dick seemed to be seated on a hard wooden chair in the middle of a large, open area. He heard the heavy breathing of at least two men standing approximately six feet behind him, moist likely the Joker’s goons.
Still, with the element of surprise, Dick knew he’d be able to take out two armed men - if only he could just get these damned cuffs off…
“Hey, where’s the boss?”
Dick was almost physically startled when he heard one of the guards suddenly speak, but the captured lad managed to keep his ruse of unconsciousness intact, forcing himself to remain calm as the other guard responded.
“He’s around… Mortimer caught somebody snooping around in the yard. The boss wanted to check it out before the kid wakes up again. There’s a lot of cops looking for us… Can’t be too cautious, right?”
Robin felt his heart quietly leap for joy in his chest… Could it be Batman?! Was Batman now battling the Joker and only mere moments away from finally rescuing him?...
But the guard had said “caught”… Surely Batman would have never allowed himself to be caught… And Dick remembered the muscle-bound henchman from the dressing room, the one who had easily picked him up off the floor by his throat as though he’d been nothing more than a rag doll.
No, it couldn’t be Batman…
But maybe it had been a cop who had spotted something suspicious… And maybe that cop had radioed for backup before getting surprised by the burly henchman… And maybe the Police were on their way here right now…
The faraway and insane laughter of the Joker echoing off the walls of the large room broke Dick’s optimistic train of thought and brought back his crippling fear. If the Police were on their way, it didn’t seem to bother the evil clown who was walking towards him.
So just who had they caught?!
“Wake him up, boys! There’s someone I’d like our guest to meet…”
A sudden slap across the back of his head forced the Boy Wonder to carefully open his eyes, shaking his head slowly to feign a drug-induced stupor. As Dick’s eyesight adjusted to the bright overhead lights illuminating the spacious, abandoned automotive garage, young Richard spied the evil clown gleefully walking towards him with an evil smirk.
“Good morning, Robin! Did you sleep well, darling?... Seems like one of your little friends dropped by to play with you, Boy Slumber... Mortimer, please bring her over here like a good fellow, would you?”
Did he say her?...
A female cop perhaps?...
Richard watched in horror as the huge goon approached from behind and then dumped the unconscious body of a shapely girl dressed in a tight version of Batman’s signature outfit unceremoniously at his bound feet. The dark fabric of her costume clung to the curves of her athletic body while long, red hair spilled from beneath its strangely familiar cowl. From the limp state of her lean body, she must have also been tranquilized…
What the Hell was this girl thinking?! Christ, she couldn’t have been much older than Dick, twenty at best. This wasn’t some damned game…
As the Boy Wonder gazed at the slumbering young woman, the pale clown suddenly planted his face directly in front of Robin’s, staring intently into Dick’s blue eyes with a malevolent glee, searching for a reaction.
“A friend of yours, Robin?”
“… No.”
It was the truth. Dick had never seen this young woman before. She must have been so inspired by the adventures of Batman that this intrepid young idiot had foolishly attempted to imitate him…
Only to stumble into the clutches of the cruel clown... Just like Dick had.
The questioning Joker turned his attention back to the prone figure of the unconscious woman - while the surrounding henchmen leered at the shapely curves of her young body with a sadistic glee and obvious intentions. Her skin-tight outfit didn’t leave much to the imagination…
“How strange… I must say that there does seem to be a certain family resemblance to a man-sized rodent… But I do believe you, Robin… Golly! You don’t suppose she’s Batman’s dirty little secret, do you?... A sweet little project on the side?... I take you out of the picture and before the week is even over, he lets someone else take your place by his side… The nerve of him!... And a girl no less!”
The Joker bent down to playfully examine his newest captive, twirling his long white fingers into her crimson locks.
“Poor, discarded Robin… She’s an attractive little thing too... Quite the peach if I do say so myself… Not my type of course, but say… You don’t suppose old Batsy has been screwing her on the side, do you?... Oh, I bet he has!... That dirty old dog!... I mean, why else hasn’t he ever bothered to fuck you, Robin?… Or even come bother to looking for you for that matter?... That has to be it... You’ve been replaced by this sweet little girl… This sweet little Bat-Girl!... But two can play at that game!... Ooo hoo-hoo-hoo!”
Dick cringed as the depraved clown suddenly doubled over in a fit of insane laughter, gripping his stomach in uncontrollable raging convulsions of irrepressible mirth. As the Joker continued to hoot and holler, rolling around on the dirty concrete floor, Dick knew the clown’s mad laughter would haunt his nightmares forever...
As the fit of hilarity finally concluded, the breathless madman slowly rose to his feet and sidled up to Robin. Like a conspirator, the Joker placed an arm around the lad’s shoulder as though they were old school friends and pecked him on the cheek.
“Y’know, Robin old buddy, old pal… Fate really does have the strangest sense of humour… I mean, here I was… About to making a beautiful movie with you today… Oh, no need to worry about your lines this time, my dear… You didn’t have any!… Just a few screams… It was going to be a snuff film actually… It’s the kind of role that only comes around once in your lifetime!... Hoo Hoo Hoo!... But I don’t have any special effects budget so you’d actually have to die in the end... Nothing personal, kid… OK, fine, it is personal… But I’m willing to give you top billing!... Look, it’s not like I hate you, sweetie… After all, we’ve had some kicks, haven’t we? Some fun times together… But you knew this whole affair was never going to last… After all, I’ve got my reputation as a homicidal maniac to uphold… And I do have to worry about my legacy.”
Dick cautiously glanced sideways at the smiling face of the Joker. He’d never heard of a snuff film before, but he was staring to get the idea.
“…Legacy?”
“Of course! A comedic genius like myself is far too advanced for the slack-jawed yokels I’m saddled with today… My own generation of nitwits will never appreciate the greatness I’ve accomplished… I mean, society’s on its way to Hell-in-a-hand-basket to be sure, but it ain’t there yet, right?… It’ll be a good forty years before people finally start to “get it”… Before they actually understand the whole punch line… And I may not be around to bask in my well-deserved glory when those morons finally do figure this whole mess out…
Sex sells, right kid?... So, I figured a film with the title of ‘Whatever Happened to the Boy Wonder?’ would cement my place in history… Y’know, I could make a few jokes, improvise some clever lines, point out the tragedy of human life and then fuck you until you die… All the while, filming the entire thing so that future generations could bear witness to my homicidal genius… And also secretly marvel at my big, white pecker… C’mon, you’re getting hard just thinking about it, ain’ cha?”
Dick shook his head and then shuddered impulsively. He was getting sick to his stomach even contemplating it. Obviously, the Joker had always meant to kill him. Why should it surprise him that he’d want to videotape it as well?
Where the Hell was Batman?!
“Come, come now… There’s no need to play coy anymore with me, darling… You’re a born performer… I know you better than you know yourself… You only truly come alive in front of an audience... So why not die in front of them as well?”
And then Robin remembered something, something about his last performance in front of an audience, something that was now missing…
“Where’s Daniel?”
The Joker paused and smiled a little wider.
“Oh my dear boy!... In this little game of bat-and-mouse, I do have to leave the occasional crumb behind for additional motivation… But I always leave ‘em smiling, kid!”
Oh no… Oh God no… Dick repressed the urge to scream in anguish as he implicitly understood that Daniel Redcliffe had been murdered by the Joker and then dumped at the theatre, another innocent victim left in the insane clown’s wake for a tormented Batman to discover.
The Joker placed both his index fingers on the corners of Dick’s mouth and then pushed them upwards, attempting to force a smile onto the numbed face of a shocked Robin.
“Oh c’mon, Boy Plundered… You’re crying over spilled milk here…. That kid was terrible!... Have you even seen his movies?!... Trust me, I did the whole world a favour by killing him... That kid had no talent whatsoever… But you, my dear… You were absolutely brilliant last night… Why the poor lovesick Riddler’s going to be pining over your demise for years to come… Almost made me feel bad about killing you…
Almost.
But as I was saying, Fate really does have the strangest sense of humour… I mean, here I was, about to end your pitiable little life with the greatest art film of our generation… Which would have probably been doing you a favour actually… I mean, have you seen yourself lately?... Talk about teenage angst!... You just sit around and mope about some old guy in a bat-suit or sleep… And then, like a gift from Heaven, look what gets dumped on our laps!... The answer to all our prayers, Robin!”
Robin peered quizzically at the unconscious young lady laid out below him, unsure of how she might be the answer to ‘his’ prayers. Perhaps if she had arrived with Batman or the Gotham City Police Department, she might have been…
But now this poor woman was as surely doomed as he was… another captive of the crazed clown who suddenly gripped Robin’s shoulders excitedly.
“My naïve, sweet little Robin… Can’t you see it?... I’ll spell it out for you… Batman doesn’t like boys… Well, not the way I like boys anyways… The only reason he kept you around is because he feels sorry for you… And even now you’ve been replaced… Ah, life is so unfair, isn’t it my young buck?… And yet, I know you’re still hopelessly devoted to that cad, aren’t you?... Even when I had my big cock buried deep into your tight little ass and you were moaning like a little bitch, I still knew that you were secretly pining for him…
I guess there’s no cure for first love… only remedies.
But Fate has given us a second chance, Robin… You can get a second lease on life and still become Batman’s true love… And me… I’ll get to play my greatest gag!... The greatest joke of all time!... The one I’ll be remembered for!... The one that will finally push old Bat-brain over the edge until he becomes just as fucked up as I am!… Hell, we might even be cell-mates!”
Dick still couldn’t understand what the Joker was on about, attempting to understand the rationale of a madman. Was the clown talking about letting him go and keeping this Bat-Girl instead?
The clown seemed a little frustrated with Robin’s inability to comprehend his mad master plan.
“That’s what’s different about you and me, kid… Ingenuity!... To see what can be!... There’s more to life than jumping around like some monkey in a leotard, young man… We live in an age of medical miracles!... It’s simply amazing what surgeons can do these days… A little nip and tuck… A few hormones… And Presto! A boy becomes a girl!... And look, a willing donor has been dumped at our door!”
Richard Grayson felt the bile rise in his throat… Sex-change surgery… The clown was planning on using this captured Bat-Girl’s body to perform gender reassignment surgery on Dick to change him into a girl!
“Can’t you just see it now, Robin?... God, you’re going to be so cute!... Heck, I’d even perform the operation myself, but you know… Once I start cutting with something sharp, I just can’t stop!… That’s why I flunked Medical School, you know… No, I’ve got a surgeon friend who’d be perfect for this job!... And then, after a few months of intense hormone therapy… We’ll hypnotize you and make you this super-sexy mystery girl… You’d even be ready for Christmas!... And what a glorious present you’ll make for a heartbroken Batman!... Missing his poor little stolen Robin and missing Bat-Girl…
And then you’ll show up all gift-wrapped for him… A big purple bow with green wrapping… The perfect Christmas present!
Oh, but what a laugh it’ll be for me when I show up on April Fool’s Day and finally deliver the punch line on this whole gender-bender gag… I’ll have film of the whole sordid operation… I’ll show him what you went through to obtain his forbidden love… Batman will have finally fucked his little Robin…
Don’t fret, my sweet… Just think what a cute couple you’ll make… That’ll be three blissful months of Bat-happiness before I finally pull the rug out from underneath his black boots... Hoo-hoo-hoo!... Oh, don’t look so sad my little chickadee, you’re about to become the girl he’s always wanted!”
The girl he’s always wanted…
Those words echoed loudly in Dick’s fractured mind… Could it be true?... Did Bruce secretly wish that Richard Grayson had been born a girl?... Would he love him if he were a girl?... Could he finally make Bruce truly happy that way?
No.
He wouldn’t allow himself to believe that. He wouldn’t allow himself to be used as a pawn in the clown’s twisted game of revenge against Batman. If Bruce couldn’t love him for who and what he was, Dick would have no choice but to accept it and just move on.
Without Bruce’s love, there was no reason for him to remain at the Manor. Dick would move out and make his own way in the world. He understood that he was finished as Robin, he had no misconceptions about that now…
The Joker and the Riddler had snuffed out Robin’s identity in front of a theatre full of corrupt and desperate men.
But Richard Grayson didn’t die there.
Dick was still alive and he was still in love with Bruce Wayne. And if Bruce Wayne was unable to love him as a man, then Dick would no longer accept Bruce’s pity or his charity. The Boy Wonder may have been finished, but Richard vowed that a new man would arise from those defiled ashes and live.
A man who would be true to himself.
The crash of shattered glass from the skylight above drew everyone’s attention upwards to a shadowy figure descending upon them like a dark angel of vengeance. Two gun shots rang out before Batman’s boot slammed across Mortimer’s concrete jaw, stunning the big man as Gotham’s protector launched sharp Batarangs at the other offending gunmen.
Using his bound feet to strike out against the distracted Joker, an agile Dick kicked the evil clown squarely between the legs as hard as he could. As the clown doubled over in agony, Robin used the momentum of a two-footed kick against the criminal’s face to bowl himself over backwards and then roll out of the chair, springing onto his feet while slipping his cuffed hands to the front of him in midair.
The Boy Wonder was back.
The Clown Prince of Crime was only momentarily crippled by Robin’s surprise attack, but it allowed Dick enough time to launch himself into the Joker like a human torpedo, knocking the taller man to the ground.
As the clown reached into his pants for his trusty switchblade, Dick wrapped the handcuff’s small chain around the Joker’s windpipe, leveraging his knees against the lunatic’s shoulder blades and then pulling with every ounce of strength he had…
Until it all went red.
Dick’s mind had slipped into a world of rage. He only remembered Batman violently pulling him off the unmoving clown, shouting at him that it was enough.
That it was all over...
But it would never be over.
Dick remembered staring back into Batman’s worried eyes with a look of perfect lucidity, calmly asking if the Joker were still alive…
“Yes... He’s still breathing… barely.”
“Then it’s not enough and it’s not over.”
As Batman quickly threw Dick over his broad shoulder, Richard realized for the first time that he bleeding from his forearms. The Joker must have slashed him… repeatedly… Funny, he barely even felt it…
As he was carried away from the carnage, Dick heard the approach of Police sirens while the world slowly came back into focus around him. Richard saw five goons laid out unconscious behind them, including the formidable Mortimer. The girl dressed as Batman was also still laying on the ground, oblivious as to what had just happened.
“Batman, what about the girl?”
“The Police will help her… We’ve got to go, Robin… They’ll be here any second.”
“But why aren’t we sticking around to help them?”
As Batman located the exit, he carefully plunked Robin down outside, immersed in the shadows behind some rusted oil drums while Bruce used the lock pick in his utility belt to free Dick from his steel restraints. The Dark Knight carefully whispered his reply while he popped the locks.
“Robin… I’ve done some things I’m not proud of… I haven’t slept since you disappeared… In fact, I almost lost my mind… There’s some bad men I hurt… very badly… The Joker planted false leads all over the underworld… I’ve been tearing Gotham’s criminals apart trying to find you… Always one step behind him and getting more desperate with each false trail… That desperation made me go too far… The Police are looking for me too.”
So that was it! The devious clown had spread false information about his whereabouts to throw Bruce off his trail. Dick knew they had moved around a few times, never staying in one place for very long. Batman had been squeezing information out of Gotham’s thugs only to be fed carefully contrived red herrings.
“How long have I been gone?”
“Seventy-eight hours.”
“Batman… Daniel Recliffe?... Is he?…”
“I’m afraid so… I found him dead this morning… Joker venom… I almost went insane myself… He was dressed like a girl… I thought it was you at first.”
“Bruce… I’m so sorry…”
“We’ll talk about it later, chum… For now, let’s just get out of here.”
After carefully bandaging his bloody forearms behind a hillside, Bruce led him to the hiding spot of the Batcopter. On the ride home above cloud cover, Dick found out that it had been an anonymous phone call which had alerted both Batman and the Police to the Joker’s final hideout…
An anonymous phone call presented as an easily-solved riddle.
Dick couldn’t bring himself to say anything more about his three days of Hell. It obviously hadn’t been easy for Bruce either. The powerful man was now a mere shell of his former self, having scoured the streets of Gotham for Dick’s whereabouts during the past three days, always one stride behind the slippery Joker who mocked him with every false step.
As the exhausted pair landed in the cave and walked back into the Manor, a weary Bruce turned to Dick, gripping him by both shoulders and staring passionately into the teenager’s wet eyes.
“Dick… He’ll never get out again… I swear it!... I’m going to personally invest in Arkham’s security and insure that he’ll never leave… I promise you that, Richard… The clown will never hurt you… or anyone… ever again.”
“Bruce… I can’t do it anymore…”
Dick was surprised when the bigger man suddenly pulled him close, embracing him in a tight hug as the teenager’s tears could no longer be denied, flowing from his eyes like twin streams as he buried his head into Bruce’s powerful chest and sobbed.
“Let’s get some rest, we’ll talk about it all tomorrow. Alright?”
“… Alright.”
Dick was even more surprised when Bruce had invited him into his own bed, comforting the lad in his muscular arms just like he had when he’d been a boy… On those long and terrifying nights after Dick had lost his parents and Bruce had allowed the frightened boy to snuggle into him…
As Richard Grayson had begun his life as Robin the Boy Wonder - happily snuggled into Bruce’s arms - he was ready to leave that identity and begin his life as a man in the exact same manner.
As the adult Officer Grayson fondly recalled the memories of falling asleep as a teenager in Bruce’s arms, he fell asleep all alone in his small bed… Dreaming of the day when he might fall asleep those wonderful arms each and every night…
He would make Bruce his own. They were destined to be together.
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