Robin Becomes Robin Ch. 04
Barbara followed Robin and found her on her bed, curled into a ball and sobbing quietly. She sat on the bed with her and gently rubbed her back. Barbara didn't know what to say, but hoped that just being there would be enough to help the distraught girl. Finally, Robin calmed enough to slow her crying and Barb handed her a tissue.
"You want to talk about it?" she asked softly.
"I'm a failure." Robin said softly, fighting back the tears again.
"How did you decide that?" Barb asked shocked.
"I couldn't save my family, I couldn't stop this from happening to me, now I can't even help you and Bruce anymore."
"Maybe not in the field, but there are other ways."
"How," Robin demanded through her tears.
"Intelligence gathering and analysis, undercover work. Even working at Wayne Tech to save Bruce time so that he can be Batman more often." Barbara said stroking her back. "Maybe just going back to school full time and get out of this lifestyle all together. The choice is yours."
"I don't know," Robin said, trying not to sniffle.
"You don't have to decide tonight," Barb said patting her arm. "Just relax and take it easy for a couple of days. You need to adjust and the last thing that you need to do is rush into any decision."
"Maybe you're right," Robin agreed.
"Aren't I always," Barb asked smiling. "Now get ready for bed, Bruce and I are going out."
"No, I am going to monitor the two of you from the cave." Robin said standing up and wiping her face. "If I can't go with you, I think I have another way to contribute to this mission."
"Fine, I am going to go change." Barb said, turning for the door.
"Barb," Robin said tentatively.
"Yes."
"About what Bruce said during dinner, about something physical happening between everyone in the house, you don't think he meant..."
"No," Barb said with finality. "He is not interested in that right now; he is too focused on being the Batman. Plus it will take him a while to get past the fact you were Dick last week."
"Oh, I just wondered, you know in case I get..."
"Forget about it with Bruce. If it happens, enjoy it, if not don't worry about it." Barb said firmly. "But if you need a quick fix, I suggest you try Alfred."
"Alfred," Robin gasped. "You have to be joking."
"Not at all," Barb said with a wicked grin. "I have had him and I can tell you from experience that he is packing some serious meat and knows how to treat a lady."
"Details" Robin demanded.
"No time to get into it too far, but the times that I have had him, I could barely walk the next day, from both exhaustion and his size. Of course, the first time I almost had to rape him to get him past the gentleman aspects of his personality. Now let's go."
Barb dashed out of the bedroom to change leaving Robin standing there, mouth open in shock. Alfred, a sex god, it couldn't be. She was still trying to figure out the implications as she made her way blindly down the hallway to the stairs and down to the cave.
Bruce was dressed and seated in the Batmobile as Barb flew past Robin and jumped into the passenger seat. The car rumbled to life and shot out of the cave as Robin seated herself at the computer and picked up the earpiece.
She called up the files on the criminals still at large and focused on Harley and Ivy. She wanted them locked up tight and worried that the Joker and Freeze would know what they had done.
"Just head out as normal," Robin said over the com. "I have an idea about looking for Harley and Ivy, but I need a little time. And if you need me just call me Angel."
"Angel?" Batman's harsh voice came back over the com.
"Well, I will be watching over you from above, so I thought that it was a good code name." Robin said as she logged into the traffic cam's and started searching the city for the two she wanted. The system was set on automatic and she turned to the wall of gadgets and pulled down one of their standard sensors and dropped it onto the workbench and then turned to the cave's sensors. A quick scan confirmed her supposition, no new readings.
Robin was ready for that response and she quickly typed in a change to the sensors code. Her fingers flew over the keys and the program took shape at a frightening speed. Another quick run through to ensure no coding errors and she ran the new program and the sensors went crazy. The image on the screen showed a new magnetic read out. She moved and the reading shifted. It worked.
She downloaded the program into the hand scanner and ran the program again and she showed up perfectly. She moved back to the bat-computer and routed the program to the scanner satellite that Wayne Tech had launched to study the weather patterns of Gotham, or so the public thought. She also sent it to the Batmobile. As the satellite ran the program, she called Batman.
"I have uploaded a new program to the satellite and to the Batmobile's system and the hand units on your belts. They will now read the nanites signature inside the body."
"You sure?" Batgirl asked.
"Well, it is showing me in the cave on the cave scanners and the hand scanner, and I am reading 3 other signatures in the city, but not my own. The cave walls seem to be strong enough to block the signal."
"What are you getting from the satellite?" Batman demanded.
"I have one on the tarmac at Gotham airport." Robin said. "It appears to be someone on a flight. The computer reads that it is Selene Kyle on a flight to Paris, first class I might add."
"Looks like she took your advice." Barb commented.
"The other two are in a small hotel room on Fourteenth Ave. It looks like the Cosmo Hotel."
"Classy neighborhood," Barb said, her voice dripping with sarcasm.
"Well it's better than the warehouse they used for me." Robin noted.
"We can be on site in four minutes." Batman growled.
"I have accessed the traffic cams in the area." Robin said zooming in on the screens. "It looks like they are on the fourth floor, rear wall, right by the fire escape according to the scanners. If you can give me five minutes, I will have a drone on site."
"No, I don't want to wait." Batman said sharply.
"I don't want you two going in blind if we can help it." Robin said, shivering at the thought. "I am launching one now from the roof hanger at Wayne Tech on Oceanview. It will be on station in five point four minutes."
"It will take us that long to get to the roof of the Cosmo anyway." Barb said, trying to slow Bruce down. She hit the mute button in the car. "She is trying to do something to feel productive, let her help. A little on-site information couldn't hurt."
"All right Angel." Batman said, turning the mike back on. "You have ten minutes to get on station and gather your data, after that we are going in."
"Understood Batman." Robin responded.
She had the image from the drone on the screen and she fly it at top speed to the signal location. She swung around the building at altitude and then flew down the alley, scanning the rooms. The fourth floor over the fire escape showed the signature of the nanites. She climbed the drone up to the roof and then scanned the ledge and then shifted across to the roof behind.
"Just the two of them," Robin noted. "I don't see any weapons or traps, but be careful. The nanites may have increased their strength and reaction time. I would recommend"
"I know how to handle situations like this," Batman snarled over the comm link.
"I understand, but I just wanted to warn you because..." Robin heard the small cough of the compressed air for the grappling hook and knew that Batman was on the move. She shifted the drone to hover over the other side of the alley out of the way but watching the room in question. She painted it on her screen and locked the drone on station.
Batman swung in through the window and Batgirl was a second behind him. Robin drove the drone in after them and caught the quick fight that followed. Ivy was head first in the fridge and Batgirl slammed the door on her knocking her cold. Harley was just coming out of the bathroom, naked with a towel around her head. She saw Batman charging at her and tried to leap back but slipped on the water dripping from her own body and landed on her backside with a thump. Batman was on her before she could do more than grunt in pain and he had her cuffed and face down on the floor in the hallway.
Robin sat and watched the two caped heroes clean up the scene and wait for Ivy to regain consciousness. It seemed rather anti-climatic to have Batman and Batgirl take the two criminals down so easily. She calmly informed Commissioner Gordon to come and pick up the two of them, but no need to rush, Batman was on scene.
Batman broke a small vial under Ivy's nose and held it there until she began to cough. She tried to sit up, but she was too was cuffed and secured. She shook her head to clear it and looked around taking in Batman looming over her and Batgirl standing behind Harley, forcing her down in the only other chair in the room.
"Welcome back." Batgirl said sharply.
"What do you want?" Ivy snapped. "You don't have anything on us to warrant this kind of treatment."
"How about kidnapping, attempted murder, sexual assault, unlicensed medical experiments on humans, shall I go on." Batman menaced.
"We didn't do anything like that," Harley squeaked. "It was all Catwoman's idea to do that to Robin, not ours."
"Who mentioned Robin?" Batgirl asked leaning over Harley's shoulder. Harley squeaked again.
"Thank you for the confession," Batman said, his usual growl just as deep as always, though the smile was disconcerting.
"You twit," Ivy grunted at Harley.
"We were going to send you back to Arkham anyway." Batman said, leaning down to look at Ivy. "We just wanted to have a little talk before we drop you off. You see, I have checked what you did to Robin, and have corrected it and he is back to normal. And I have found a way to override the commands stored in the nanites at any time I want. So, we can take control over your bodies any time we want."
"And," Batgirl broke in, "if you even think about saying anything about what you did to Robin to anyone, we will find out as we are listening in through the nanites and we will be only too happy to inform Joker that you set him up to take the fall."
Harley tried to shrink down into the chair at that.
"I am sure that he would not be pleased," Batman said a dark grin on his face. "He would take his time in dealing with you. But if I were you, I would be more concerned what Freeze would do to you if he found out that you not only used all of the nanites he created to cure his wife, but destroyed his computer too. I think that he would definitely take his time in his vengeance on you." Even Ivy paled at that thought.
"Good," Batman snarled. "I am glad that we understand each other. As long as you don't say anything, we won't say anything. Joker will think that we got lucky and Freeze will think the nanites were lost with lab."
