It was the worst blizzard Gotham had seen in years. The heavy snow had swallowed up the city like some white monster, and more was falling from the skies as if the heavens had frozen over. Perched on top of a grim looking gargoyle, way up high, was Robin. His cape danced wildly against the wind, and he grit his teeth to steel himself as another cold gale blew over him. From up here, it felt like he could watch over the whole city.
“Master Drake,” Alfred’s voice rang through the transmitter in Robin’s ear. “It seems even the criminals had the sense to stay at home tonight. I’m sure Gotham could survive one night without its protectors.”
“We don’t know that.” Tim said, barely keeping himself from chattering the words through his teeth. “Someone needs to watch over the city tonight. Especially since his hands are full.”
Ever since Superman’s death, the Batman had focused on one thing alone: finding out who was behind Doomsday. In the current state of events, the best thing to be done for him was to let him work on that. If Robin made sure the city was safe tonight, it was one less thing weighting down on Batman’s shoulders. And, so far, things had been going pretty smoothly. Tim had the weather to thank for that. In a blizzard like this, Alfred was right, even the crooks didn’t bother showing up on the streets. Aside from stopping a mugging scene earlier on, most of Robin’s night had been quiet, save for the howling wind.
“How’s he doing?” Tim asked, but he already knew the answer. Alfred seemed to sigh and take on a more somber tone.
“Master Bruce has been stuck to that screen of his since yesterday. He’s been watching that same footage.” Alfred spoke. “I’m worried for him.”
“Me too.” Robin replied, although Alfred’s tone made him worried for the old butler, too. There was a moment of silence between them. It broke when a message played through Robin’s ear piece.
“Citizens report of a breaking and entering at Avanna pier.” A female voice announced through Gotham City Police Department’s radio frequency. She was speaking to the other police units, but Batman and Robin often listened in on these radio calls to be alerted of any crime taking place. “I need the nearest unit to investigate.” The voice finished.
“Copy that, heading over right now.” The male voice of a police officer said over the frequency. “I’ll be there in 15 minutes.”
I’ll be there in five. Robin thought.
---
There were a set of warehouses near the pier, and most of the cargo was either stored inside them, or next to them, waiting to be sent out. When Robin arrived on the scene, a transport truck was already speeding towards the exit. It had a shipping container on its back, and was going way over the limit. Robin had one chance to get on the truck, and he took it. He threw himself off from a nearby rooftop and onto the truck’s back. With nimble steps, he skipped over to the top of the truck and hopped down to the hood.
When he saw who was driving, a moment of shock and terror colder than the air around him gripped Robin. The truck’s driver was not quite a machine, and not quite a corpse, but something twisted that morphed the characteristics of both. It was an abomination in between. The mechanical parts of him were made from a sleek, reflective dark metal, and the biological parts of him showed a dark grey, leathery skin. It was as if a mummified corpse was merged with a robot.
As soon as Robin had landed on the roof, the driver had slammed the brakes. The truck came to such an immediate stop that Tim was thrown off of it, and landed into a roll across the snowy pavement. Under normal circumstances, he would have been able to maintain his balance on the truck, but seeing that creature inside had shaken him up. He pulled himself to his feet, just in time to see the thing get out of the driver’s seat. It stepped down onto the street, and began to take confident strides towards Robin.
“It’s hard to believe someone came.” The creature said. Its voice was partially robotic, but what surprised Robin even more was the tone of sophistication it carried. This wasn’t some crazed monster. From the way he stood to the way he spoke, it almost seemed like he was a proud warrior, or some highborn noble. “But I planned for this,” The half mechanical voice continued. “There is a set of explosives planted in Gotham City Radio Station’s headquarters. In ten minutes, they will bring the whole building down.”
The Gotham City Radio (GCR) had shows scheduled for the rest of the night. There were still people in there.
“You have come to stop me.” The creature continued. “And you also want to save the people of Gotham. You cannot do both.”
Robin’s hand immediately went to his belt, and with a flash, he threw out a bird-shaped shuriken at the truck’s front left tire. The shuriken bounced off ineffectively. Upon a more careful look, Robin saw the letters “GCPD” on the tires.
“Reinforced tires. Stolen from the GCPD’s armored vehicles.” Robin said under his breath. He fished a disk shaped grenade from his belt, and threw this one straight at the truck’s engine. As the disk flew onwards, the creature jumped in its way. It raised its metallic arm to shield itself, and was engulfed in an explosion as the disk made contact. When the smoke cleared, the creature stood as he was, without so much as a scratch on him.
“You have nine minutes.” The thing said. And it was right. The GCR was so far away, that even Robin needed at least 5 minutes to get there. On top of that, he would need to locate and disarm the bombs. There was absolutely no time to waste.
“I’ll be back for you.” Robin said with anger in his voice. The frustration of having to choose between saving people and letting a criminal escape was made visible in his tone. He could have asked for Batman, but there was no way he'd show up in time, even with the batwing. The closest person to handle the job was Robin.
He fired a grapple gun up at one of the buildings, and was launched up to the air as soon as the line was connected. With a little bit of sleight of hand, he threw a tracking-device (a tiny magnetized coin shaped device) at the container loaded onto the truck. He did it while he was still being pulled up into the air. It would be impossible for anyone to notice that.
As soon as he landed on the buildings, Robin broke out into a run. He jumped from rooftop to rooftop, and his left hand went up to his ear.
“Alfred, I need the bike sent to my location.”
There was a moment of silence accompanied only by Robin’s boots slamming against the rooftops.
“Done.” Alfred’s voice came in. He was a fast worker.
“And look up the blueprints to the Gotham City Radio headquarters.” Robin spoke as he ran. “Find any structural weak points where someone might place a bomb.” He considered asking Alfred to leave an anonymous tip with the police to get the building evacuated, but there was no way that everyone would be out within the next eight and a half minutes. All it would cause was commotion, and it would make it harder to find the explosives.
“A bomb threat? I’ll alert Bruce immediately.”
“He won't be here in time. And I can handle it.”
“There’s no need to take any risks, Master Tim. I will-”
“He doesn’t need this, Alfred. Not tonight.”
Robin spotted the red bike cruising through the streets beneath him. It was unmanned, guided by its own automated system. “I see the bike.” He said to Alfred. “I’ll take care of this before he can show up.”
There was an air of silence in between them again. Robin leapt off of the buildings and glided down with the help of his cape. In a graceful motion, he landed on the seat of his bike and took manual control. The engine roared and the bike shot through the streets at break-neck speed.
“Keep this between us?” Robin asked.
Alfred, it seemed, had finally gave up.
“I trust you know what you’re doing, Master Drake.”