Post by lawrenceliberty on Mar 27, 2020 19:53:31 GMT
I've revised the story.
1
1980
Al Draper thought nothing he saw or heard in his neighborhood could surprise him. The eleven year old boy had lived there or in similar run down, crime ridden areas for as long as he could remember. Sometimes, he and his parents had all been together but he didn’t have a lot of memories of his late father. Ben Draper had died when Al was six and had spent time in and out of prison before that. He had not been much of a father. He hadn’t been a very capable criminal either for that matter. He had dabbled in petty crime and worked for some super villains like the mysterious Red Hood and in time his association with them had led to his murder at the hands of the bizarre rogue called Two Face. Al and his mother had managed to survive but her drug habit left the boy in the role of provider and caregiver before he was old enough to understand why she was sick so often. When she died, he had continued to survive and part of that survival consisted of knowing the dangers of the mean streets around him.
He had also become a thief of sorts and he was tough and fast and managed to live off what he could find or steal. Now, as he made his way down a darkened area known to some as Crime Alley, he spotted something that broke through his own jaded, hardened, world wire demeanor. He saw a shiny black car with elaborate stylized markings and customized features. A bat emblem made the famous car even more recognizable.
“The batmobile! That’s got to be Batman’s car!” he whispered as he glanced around the area in search of the famed Caped Crusader.
“He doesn’t care about people like me. What’s he doing here? Maybe, he chased some punk like the Penguin here!” he thought.
He started to turn away and then a smiled crossed his face. He hurried forward and began to remove the tires with some tools he carried. He had often stolen tires around the neighborhood and nobody had ever scored something this big in that racket.
He gasped involuntarily as a shadow fell across him and he looked up to see Batman himself. The costume was exactly how he’d always pictured it although he’d only seen it in newspaper photos. He raised the tire iron and frowned as Batman did something shocking. The masked man laughed and then bent down to address Al.
“Put the tires back!” he said.
Al swung the tire iron and yelled, “Says you!”
Batman blocked the blow and pursued the boy as he raced into the night. Al knew his way around the area and swiftly returned to an empty tenement where he’d made his home since his mother died.
Moments later, Batman appeared in the door and said, “Do you live here alone? Where are your folks?
Al said, “Dead. Get out of here or I’ll make you leave!”
Batman caught his arm as he swung out at him and he said, “You’re a scrappy one. I’ll say that much for you! I’m afraid I can’t just leave you here, son. I’m going to have to take you somewhere where you can get proper care!”
Al said, “I can fend for myself just fine. I’m my own man, Al Draper!”
Batman said, “Okay, we’ll make a deal. No cops. No social workers. But, you have to go to school. There’s an Australian woman who runs a boarding school near here. Faye “Ma” Gunn. You can live there and you can learn.
You can get a real education!”
Al didn’t know what to do. He doubted he could escape from Batman but he figured once the masked hero left him at the old broad’s place, he could make a quick and easy escape.
He frowned as Batman led him towards an old brownstone. A sign over the door read, “Ma Gunn’s School for Boys” Before Batman could knock, the door swung open and the fading light revealed an elderly but sturdy looking woman with white hair swept back in a tight bun. She wore an old fashioned dress and studied the odd pair with suspicious but intelligent eyes.
After Batman explained the situation, Ma Gunn replied, “Of course, I can always use a bright boy like Al. He can board right here on the premise.’
Al shrugged and said, ”See ya, Batman!”
Batman almost smiled as he said, “Learn something, Al!”
As the door closed, Ma Gunn placed her hand on Al’s back and shoved him forward. He was immediately confronted by a group of six rough looking boys of different ages and sizes. All of them shared the same expression of dislike as they closed in on the new pupil.
“Batman dropped him off. He is supposed to be a new student but I’d say he’s a stoolie for the Bat! Show him what your old Ma has taught you, luvs!” she said as she pulled out a cigar and a lighter.
Al wasted no time. He ducked a punch and rammed his head into the chin of the nearest boy. Then he kicked out at a second one. He received couple of quick punches before he lashed out again with his own fists only to fall beneath the weight of the gang as they pressed him on him.
“I don’t work for Batman! He caught me trying to steal his tires!” said Al.
Ma Gunn’s eyes widened and she smiled. Sadly, her smile did nothing to soften her hardened expression.
“That’s some gall! Maybe, you could fit in here after all! Any boy who’d try to steal from Gotham City’s Dark Knight has potential! Show him to an empty bunk!” she said.
Al frowned and he stood up as the boys released him and led him down a narrow hallway. He sat down on a battered cot and glared at the other boys.
After a moment they backed off and went to their own beds. He sighed and rested. It had been a rough night and things would probably get worse in the morning. Not that he would be there if his luck held out.
He waited until everyone was asleep and then made his way over to the nearest window in the hallway outside the bedroom.
He slipped out and ran into the night only to grunt in pain as a hulking figure loomed up in his path and struck him down. The man wore strange clothing that made Al think of some kind of Middle Eastern garments he had seen on television.
“Well done, Ahmed. Well done. I think our little friend here is exactly what we need! Remind me to reward Rico for reporting Batman’s encounter with the child so swiftly! Of all our spies, he does show the most promise!” said a suave man in a long inverness coat.
Al’s vision grew dim as he passed out.
When he opened his eyes, he groaned with pain and sat up with a jolt.
“Where am I?” he muttered. He didn’t recognize his surroundings. For a moment, the whole series of events from meeting Batman to being taken to Ma Gunn’s to trying to escape seemed like a bizarre nightmare.
Still, he couldn’t figure out where he was now. The room was large and dark but he could see a barred window and what looked like the type of medical equipment found in a hospital or lab like the ones he’d seen on TV shows.
He stood up and staggered forward as he fought to regain his balance.
“Do not fall, young sir. You’ve been under anesthesia for some time now. It was necessary to make it easier to bring you here!” said a tall man who wore a white lab coat and matching pants.
“Where am I?” Who are you? Do you work for Ma Gunn?” he asked.
The dark haired man smiled coldly. He said, “Hardly. My employer took you from that old hag’s establishment. You are far from Gotham City. You were brought here for an education of an entirely different kind!”
Al said, “I don’t want to stay here. Let me go. What kind of doctor are you?”
He laughed and said, “You have no choice but to remain here. My name is Dr. Morpheus although I also use the more colorful and fanciful name of the Sandman! It is most fitting since you will find like many of my patients that your time under my care will seem like a dream or…perhaps, a nightmare!”
He leaned forward and released a gas from a device that hung around his neck. Al gasped and then slumped forward but didn’t fall.
The Sandman turned to the doorway and gestured for his employer the man in the inverness coat to enter.
“Dr. Darrk, the boy is in good health. He should respond well to our treatment. My formula will keep him as a type of sleepwalker. Just as sleepers may learn languages while they sleep, so shall the boy master your own unique curriculum all while living through a series of vivid dreams of my creation!”
Dr. Darrk moved forward and clasped his hands together in pleasure. He had dark hair with long sideburns and a rather arrogant demeanor.
“Wonderful! He will learn from some of the finest criminal minds my money could buy. He will be taught by the Spook, the Riddler, Django, and others and even as he learns all their skills, he will experience the lessons according to the dreams you place in his dozing mind!” he said.
Sandman nodded and said, “It shall seem as though he is learning from Batman himself but I do wonder why you wish him to think his mentor is the cursed Caped Crusader?”
Dr. Darrk stared at the Sandman and said, “That is my business, physician!”
The next time Al was aware of his surroundings the odd chemical he had been dosed with made him think he was back in Ma Gunn’s school. He sat in a classroom as the hardened old woman lectured her gang of pupils about picking locks. She was clearly preparing them to be criminals. He wondered if his own father had been one of her pupils long ago?
He listened and waited and then escaped once more. This time he returned to his home in the crumbling tenement only to find Batman waiting for him.
He said, “You agreed to stay at Ma Gunn’s school. We had a deal, Al!”
Al said, “No way. You were all wrong. That old lady is running a school for crooks! They even plan to steal something called the Smile of Death from the city museum when she takes them on a field trip!”
Batman frowned and said, “Are you telling the truth?”
Al said, “Yeah! I am. Check the museum and you’ll see!”
Batman nodded and said, “Stay here. I will look into it and I’ll be back!”
Later, Al slipped into the night and made his way to the closed museum. He noticed a side door was unlocked. No doubt one of Ma Gunn’s students had concealed himself inside the museum during the afternoon visit. Later, he had slipped out and unlocked the side door.
He frowned as he saw a stunned guard laying on the cold floor near an exhibit.
He heard a crash and saw Batman bending over a pupil. He had cuffed the boy and placed him down near three other similarly bound punks from the school.
Batman confronted Ma Gunn herself as she held a gun on him.
“Class is dismissed for ten to twenty years, Ma Gunn!” he declared.
She raised the gun and said, “Or I could keep you after class for eternity!”
Al dived at her and shoved the gun aside even as Batman suddenly disarmed her with some kind of thrown projectile.
”Thank you! That was foolish of you but brave. Why did you come here?” said Batman as he wrapped a rope around Ma Gunn’s wrists.
Al shrugged and said, “I wanted to stop them. I figured you could use some help!”
Batman smiled and led Al a few feet away from the captured gang.
“I’ve alerted the police. They will pick up Ma Gunn and her schoolroom thugs. As for you, how would you like to come with me? You made a fine partner tonight. I’d say if you agree, I could use your help in the months to come after you complete some lessons of my own!”
Al smiled briefly and then resumed a look of indifference. “Sure? I’ll give it a try. You can’t be worse than that old bat. No offense!”
The entire experience from the return to Ma Gunn’s to the museum battle had not truly happened except in the waking dream fueled by the Sandman’s drug and shaped by the infernal doctor’s design.
Al was unaware of this fact. He truly believed he was living with and learning from the Caped Crusader. As Dr. Darrk fed the Sandman information about Batman’s methods and various cases, and various criminals like the assassin Django taught Al their own skills, the boy continued to believe he was learning from Batman and training to become his partner. No ordinary dream would have been as vivid. No other form of sleeping would allow the dreamer to be active on a physical and mental level and yet still be caught up in a phantasm of images and fake memories shaped by the intellect of Dr. Dark.
Al spent the next few years drugged by the sinister Sandman yet growing and becoming increasingly skilled in various athletic endeavors like boxing, acrobatics, martial arts, marksmanship, and escape artist tricks while also mastering misdirection, criminology, forensics, computer science, chemistry, and psychology! He was a smart boy and he relished the experience because he did like to learn. Because of the treatment he received from the Sandman, he was exerting himself fully yet his mind responded to the training and his interactions with the various criminals as if he was under the care of the Batman!
Dr. Darrk summed it up to his silent hulking manservant Ahmed.
“I am giving the boy the training Batman gave the first Robin. I am doing so while forging an imaginary bond
between Al Draper and the Batman of his own creation. He not only gains superb skills but he acquires a loving relationship with Batman but the conversations and growing affection between them only exist in the dreams Sandman feeds him!” he said.
“In time, I will shatter the bond he feels with Batman and the respect and admiration will turn to the bitterest of rejections and the boy shall become a living weapon empowered by the skills of a Boy Wonder and fueled by his hatred of his supposed mentor!” he continued.
As the years passed, Dr. Darrk continued to have the Sandman make Al believe that he was Batman’s partner and that they were experiencing real adventures in combat against street thugs and various super villains. The scenarios were taken from real cases Batman concluded and in some instances the villains themselves reenacted their actions while various lackeys posed as a faux Batman. Everything combined to make Al’s dream life seem like a vibrant and rewarding partnership with his hero Batman!
1988
One day as Al Draper calmly went to his room after what he had thought was a battle with Batman against the Calendar Man, he was startled when he was struck by a blast of gas from a concealed opening in the chamber.
He gasped and fell forward.
Dr. Darrk entered the room and said, “Excellent. This gas will have a different effect. He will experience a nightmare in which the Joker nearly kills him, Batman believes him to be dead, and I retrieve his body from a mausoleum on a certain estate outside Gotham City, and revive him via a Lazarus Pit. I shall become his savior and when I show him how Batman has not only forgotten him but moved on with a new Robin as his partner, he shall become my pawn in a satisfying war against Batman!”
His bodyguard nodded and remained silent.
Al Draper slumbered but his happy dreams of a life as Batman’s partner Robin were swiftly and diabolically changed into a nightmare!
He moaned in pain and he recoiled from the sound of mocking laughter. He looked up through a haze of red and all he could see was the hideous smile of the murderous Joker as the killer clown brought a crowbar down on his battered body.
He had gone after the Joker on his own after an argument with Batman over the Caped Crusader’s refusal to condone lethal force.
“We lock them up but they just get out and hurt more people! Think of how many lives could have been saved if you’d killed the Joker years ago? What if you’d snapped Ra’s Al Ghul’s neck after your first battle?”
Batman had replied, “We don’t kill. There is line I won’t cross. If I do, then I’m no better than the maniacs we battle. I do what I do so other families won’t suffer the loss I suffered so long ago!”
Now, Al regretted the fight and wished he had never set out to bring the Joker in on his own. He knew the Joker had once been the Red Hood and in that identity he had made Al’s father part of his own gang.
As the weird laughter faded away, Al passed out and he shuddered as his eyes opened to see Dr. Darkk’s serenely smug face.
“You are safe now. My name is Dr. Darrk. The Joker left you near a bomb. You perished. Batman found your body and mourned for you. He brought the Joker to justice. I recovered your body from your resting place and revived you. You have heard of the Lazarus Pit? An old colleague of mine makes use of it. I did so with one of my own to restore you. I wish to help you.’
Al gasped and sat up. He was sore but otherwise unhurt. He couldn’t make sense of the man’s bizarre story. Part of his confusion was due to the fact that he was no longer being dosed by Sandman and in fact Dr. Darrk had in some way disposed of the sinister Morpheus or robbed the man of his own memories of Batman’s secrets.
Al wore a Robin costume and tried to understand his circumstances.
“I remember the Joker and then darkness and then I wake up here. How long have I been here? Batman will want to find me! He thinks I’m dead! You said he thinks I died!”
Dr. Darrk said, “Indeed, he did think that. But you need not worry about him. He has found a suitable replacement for you!”
He handed Al a stack of papers that depicted Batman and various criminals in combat around Gotham City. In most of the photos Batman was not alone! A boy dressed in the Robin costume was by his side.
“Who is that kid? What does that date mean? “he stammered.
Dr. Darrk said, “Dear boy, you’ve been in a coma for months. As for the other Robin, simply put he is your replacement. Batman doesn’t need you anymore!”
Al covered his face with one hand and sat slumped forward in silence.
Several days later after daily visits from Dr. Darrk, Al stood before a mirror and examined himself. He no longer wore the Robin costume. He wore a dark costume of gray with a leather jacket and a red bat emblem on his chest. He held a red hood in his gloved hand.
‘My father was ruined by the Joker when he was the Red Hood. I was hurt…killed by the Joker. I’m not Robin. I guess Batman gave the role to this new punk and never look back. I’m going to be a new Red Hood and make up for what my father did when he was alive. It seems right.”
He had taken the garments from Dr. Darrk’s storeroom. The strange man seemed to have a vast array of gadgets and costumes. Al had no illusions about him. Dr. Darrk was a killer and was trying to manipulate him. He was not going to let that happen.
“I’m my own man!” he whispered.
He whirled around as a panel slid open behind him. He had not known the room had a secret passage connected to it.
A beautiful and exotic woman stood in the dim light Al knew her from his time studying Batman’s files.
“Talia Al Ghul?” she said.
She nodded and said, “Come with me, quickly. I can get you to safety. You can make your own decisions about your future once you are free from my old enemy Dr. Darrk.”
Al slipped the hood over his head and followed her.
“Lead on, lady!” he said.
Over the next few weeks, Al recovered physically and mentally. He didn’t trust Talia but she was able to tell him something that disturbed him.
“You were never exposed to a Lazarus Pit. You never died. Dr. Darrk lied to you. I am aware of his evil ways. He once served my father but they had a falling out. He abducted me but Batman rescued me. I shot Darrk and we believed him to be dead. Clearly, he survived and managed to conceal his location from my Beloved if not from my father! I came to free you because I do not wish any scheme of his to succeed!” she said.
Al nodded and said, “Yeah, you weren’t the kind of woman to forgive and forget!”
She left him to exercise in a spacious gym on an estate in New York. They had made their way there via a private plane she piloted expertly after they escaped from Dr. Darrk’s Middle Eastern base.
Now, Al raised his fists and made a solemn vow. “I don’t know what is real anymore. I don’t trust Talia either. She lies too easily. Batman doesn’t lie but ever since I left Darrk’s base, I’ve had these weird memories or images. I don’t know if I’m going crazy or not but I don’t think I can rely on the memories I do have of my time as Robin. Talia showed me proof that the Joker was nowhere near Gotham when I supposedly tracked him down and he beat me up. If that memory is a lie then maybe all I think I Knew is also some kind of brainwashing.’
He clutched his head with both hands as he heard the voices of Dr. Darrk and someone else…a man in white called Sandman? They were talking about him. They were going to drug him and make him some kind of pawn!
“Batman is the only one who can tell me the truth. I don’t know how I feel about him. I remember him as a father to me. I also doubt those feelings. Did he forget me? He sure has a new Robin. Was I ever his partner?” he thought.
Two Months later 1988
Robin (Carrie Kelley) tried to remember everything Batman had taught her. She was a natural with computers and her martial arts skills were coming along nicely but she was still a bit nervous and eager to please. She didn’t want to let her mentor down or fail him in any way. Al Draper, the Red Hood, was a silent observer who knew exactly how she felt as he watched the Teen Wonder. He was very smart in his own right but he also had an advantage over other equally astute watchers had there been any. He knew how the newest Robin felt because he had felt the exact same way before when he had been Batman’s partner! Had he been his partner? He still didn’t know. He wore the same dark costume of gray with a leather jacket and a red bat emblem on his chest; however, the most striking part of his costume was the red mask he wore. It covered his entire head and was actually a hood. This was fitting since he called himself the Red Hood for several reasons.
He noticed Robin swing into action as she dropped down on a bat-line to confront a garish man in a long robe and a burnoose. He brandished a curved sword and in the glow of the gas station’s lights he looked bizarrely like some figure from an Arabian Nights fantasy. He was the kind of villain the Red Hood would have made fun of when he had been Robin; however, the man was potentially dangerous since he had nothing to lose and had a deep hatred for anyone associated with Batman.
“Knocking over gas stations? Isn’t that beneath someone who once ran an oil company?” said Robin as she leaped forward and kicked the sword out of his hand. The Sheikh reeled backward and recovered his balance. He smiled cruelly and hurled a dagger at the young woman but she dodged his attack and moved warily closer.
“You know nothing about me! You have no idea how I feel or what enables me to get up each morning. Do you wish to know? I live for revenge on your mentor! Killing you will be the beginning of my rise to power!” he said.
Robin felt sorry for him. She recalled his story from files on the computer in the bat cave. He was Fred Goforth and he did indeed once live a life of wealth and power.
She sighed heavily and said, “Sorry, you’re not bathing in black gold these days but times change and you’re at risk of becoming a hurtful stereotype!”
She spun a rope around and caught the Sheikh in its coils. He staggered as she drew him closer and connected with a stunning punch to the jaw.
At that moment two things happened at once. A second Sheikh in a matching costume jumped on her from behind and raised his own scimitar over her head and the Red Hood swung down and knocked him flat. He kicked the sword out of the Sheikh’s hand and connected with two more kicks that left the second man stunned near his fallen partner.
Robin gasped as she realized what had happened.
“If you studied his files, you should have known Goforth was only one of two Sheikhs. His partner here is Oliver Hopkins. They are losers but they can fight! Don’t worry though. I won’t tell Batman. I made plenty of mistakes in my day too.” he said.
Robin secured the two villains and turned to face the Red Hood.
“Thank you for the save but who are you?” she asked. “You’re not either of the other Robins!” she said.
The Red Hood laughed harshly. “Not the ones you know about anyway! I could never live up to Nightwing’s standards and as for the last Robin, I never met the kid. He had a complicated backstory from what I’ve heard!”
Robin frowned and moved back a step or two. “Just who are you? What gives you the right to wear that emblem?”
He hesitated a moment and then replied, “I gave my life for this emblem!”
He disappeared in the night and Robin was left with more than one puzzling question of her own.
“Just how many Robins have there been?” she thought.
Later, beneath stately Wayne Manor within the bat cave, Batman (Bruce Wayne) listened intently to Robin’s story.
“You know as much as I do. Nightwing was the first Robin. You know where he is. The second Robin was Jason Todd or at least we all thought he was Jason. He was an alien shapeshifter who was conditioned to think and act exactly like the real Jason would have done so. He died…as you know and the real Jason is alive and well and in a private school.”
Robin nodded and said, “I mean I know you once took in another orphan. Ralph but he was never truly Robin and he died not long after you met him!”
Batman nodded and said, “Right. He didn’t sound like he was trying to be a threat to you though. I definitely want to look into this riddle. You did well tonight though. Why don’t you call it a night and get back to your studies? We’ll figure out the riddle of the Red Hood soon enough!”
Robin nodded and walked off. “I’ll just say hello to Alfred first. He was making some of his chocolate chip cookies earlier today!”
Batman smiled briefly. He had come to care for Carrie in the short time they had known one another and she was proving to be a fine partner. He needed her since he was still mourning the loss of Jason Todd who had certainly seemed like a son to him in every way that mattered.
He frowned as he looked at a computer monitor. The screen showed an image of man in a red hood and a dark suit. He scowled as he turned away from the picture.
“That grinning devil is capable of anything but even though he was first known as the thief called the Red Hood, I don’t think the Joker has anything to do with this newcomer to the title! It doesn’t exactly seem like his insane way of thinking. His ego would prevent him from assuming another identity and I sometimes don’t think he remembers that he had a life before the accident that turned him into the Joker! For that matter even my life before that night in Crime Alley seems like an impossible dream at times.” he said softly.
“Bruce, I know you too well. You’ll never forget your folks and how they died. Their deaths made you the man you are. You’ve honored the very idea of family with your every act as Batman… except for how things ended with me.”
Batman shoved his chair aside and stood up.
“Enough word games. Who are you?” he said.
The Red Hood said, “I came in by tricking the voice activated locks with a decent impression of your voice. As for who I am, I’m the man you made me into! You shaped me with your training and your abandonment of me!”
Batman said, “Enough of this bantering. What do you want? Why do you want to pretend that I know you? I never trained you. How do you know so much about me?”
The Red Hood started to remove his hood when several newcomers rushed into the cavern.
The six ninjas wore black garments while their leader wore an elegantly styled suit with a heavy cloak. He had longish brown hair and heavy sideburns. He was handsome and smiled in a mocking manner. He moved with an aristocratic grace and posed dramatically as he said, “First, we entered in his wake. It was easy enough to follow him and let him bypass your security system!”
“Dr. Ebenezer Darrk! I though you died years ago but then again your kind always manage to come back!” said Batman.
Dr. Darrk bowed in a mocking manner and said, “Always the detective! That is what my old partner likes to call you. The Detective! He was dismissive of me and yet it was his data on you that enabled me to craft this little scenario!”
Red Hood said, “I didn’t bring them in! I swear! I’ll show them out easily enough though! I’ll kill you too, you twisted maniac!”
He moved toward the dark clad figures but Batman had moved faster and stopped him with one hand on his arm.
“I don’t know just who you are but he is deadly. He used to head the League of Assassins before Ra’s al Ghul fired him!” he said softly.
Dr. Darrk scowled and his handsome features turned cold with anger.
“Ra’s al Ghul and I parted on bad terms. That is why I kidnaped his daughter Talia on the occasion of our final encounter! I would not say he fired me. I was ever his equal. In fact, I’ve proven myself to be his superior by doing something he never could do. He wanted you to become his heir. I’ve done something even more daring. I’ve created my own pawn who was trained by you in a manner of speaking!” he said.
Al staggered backward. Seeing the mocking man and hearing his voice seemed to shatter something in his mind.
He felt flashes of memories cross his mind. He saw images and heard voices and almost felt physical sensations as he suddenly recalled his own past with this weird figure.
“No! Seeing him again, broke something in my mind. I know the truth now!”
“It seemed so real. It felt so right. Batman didn’t train me! I know it now. Somehow seeing Darrk and Batman together broke my brainwashing. I was never Robin!” he thought.
He moved toward Dr. Darrk and shouted, “You kidnapped me from outside Ma Gunn’s place after Batman dropped me there the night I tried to steal his tires. You brainwashed me with that creepy Sandman’s drugs. You made me think I was living here and Batman was my partner… my father! Then, you also thought you could turn me against him so I’d become your living weapon. You were wrong. I know the truth now and you’re going to pay!”
Dr. Darrk laughed and raced toward a stairwell. “You are welcome to try to stop me, my boy, but you really should thank me for giving you such an interesting life!”
Red Hood charged forward and caught one ninja with a throwing start shaped like a red bat. He kicked a second one in the throat and slammed his head into his knee.
Batman heard their exchange and instantly his keen mind enabled him to know just who the Red Hood was beneath his mask. There was only one child he had ever taken to Ma Gunn’s crooked school.
Batman darted forward and connected with a right hook that drove a ninja into the one behind him. He disarmed both of them by chopping out with deftly delivered blows and as their swords clattered to the floor, he hurled a batarang that slowed the remaining three down.
Red Hood elbowed one in the stomach and ducked a swinging blade as he rose up and flipped forward to drop down on the nearest ninja. He punched him twice and grunted as he dodged the next one.
Batman caught the agile warrior and knocked him cold with a nerve punch.
As the last ninja drew backward Batman declared, “It’s over!”
Red Hood nodded as the silent warrior dropped his sword. Before the ninja could make another movement, Red Hood shot him in the chest with a hastily drawn gun.
Batman whirled around and said, “Don’t dare fire a gun in this place! Don’t fire one while wearing my emblem!”
He grabbed the gun from the Red Hood and examined it. “Some kind of narcotic mercy bullets!”
Red Hood said, “I don’t kill but I’ll make an exception for Dr. Darkk!” he raced toward the stairs
and was halted by a stunning sight.
Dr. Darrk staggered back into view and collapsed at the bottom of the stairs.
“He is dead!” said a sultry voice from the head of the stairs. Talia emerged from above and said, “Your manservant is well and your newest Robin departed before we arrived.”
Batman inhaled sharply and said, “Talia. I suppose it was your hatred for Darrk that brought you here.”
“And my love for you!” she said as she drew closer to Batman.
Red Hood bent over Darrk’s body and cursed.
“He’s dead. I suppose Talia followed me here after I ran away from her own estate in New York. Was everybody using me for their own gains?” he thought.
Batman said, “Dr. Darrk was never a master of combat. He relied on his wits. He relied on poisons and bombs!”
“Indeed! He wired an explosive device into the clock upstairs so that when the hands reached a certain time the bomb would explode. Clearly, he had the whole thing planned. He knew about the décor and how to make use of it I disarmed it after subduing his bodyguard who lurked above.” Talia said.
Red Hood said, “The ninjas were just a distraction. Still, I hate those guys! Who doesn’t hate ninjas?”
He shook his head. “They swallowed some kind of poison or perhaps it was a delayed activated drug in their hoods. I smell almonds. Dr. Darrk didn’t want to leave them alive. He’s cold!”
Batman nodded and said, “He is ruthless. Al. He apparently hates me as much as he hates al Ghul!”
Red Hood said, “You know me? I guess you recall me from the one night we met and you took me to ma Gunn’s place.”
“Dr. Darrk took me away and held me captive. He and a mad scientist called Sandman drugged me and fed me fake memories. They made me believe we were partners and I was Robin! It was all a big joke. I’m not cut out to be anyone’s sidekick!”
Batman said, “You’ve been hurt by him. He was trying to use you against me. This is my fault!”
Red Hood replied, “He thought at first I’d kill you or attack you and he could plant his bomb while you were busy with me. I will prove to you that I deserve to wear this bat and that I can be the hero I want to be. I can’t be a Robin. This whole mess showed me I need to make my own path as a man. Still, like the real Robins, I’ll be in your shadow no matter what I do!”
He removed his hood to reveal dark hair, dark eyes and a youthful if hardened features.
Al Draper said, “Look, I’ve had this conversation in my head more than once. I don’t know where to start. Sandman’s weird science made me think crazy things. When I think of you…a man I met one time only… I still get the feeling that you were my mentor…my father! I’ll get over it though!”
Batman said, “We met in Crime Alley. You were living on the streets and you tried to steal the tires off the batmobile!”
Al nodded and smiled, “You laughed! You actually laughed.”
Batman said, “I remember! This was a few years ago. The first Robin was at college. I missed him. I was feeling more emotional than usual anyway since it was the anniversary of the night my parents died. I thought you were a scrappy kid.”
Al shrugged, “Well, I did hit you with a tire iron!”
Batman nodded and said, “You told me off. You said you could fend for yourself and that you were your own man!”
Al grinned. “I still am! I do things my way. That’s what Darrk couldn’t understand. He thought he could use me like some kind of pawn!”
Batman said, “I researched your background after I dropped you off at Ma Gunn’s place. I came back but you were gone! I stopped Ma Gunn’s gang by myself! I never found you. I did look but you’d vanished!”
Al said, “I wish I’d stayed there. Maybe if you had found me things might have been different.”
Batman said, “Darrk is a fiend. I can only assume he learned who I was from access to Ra’s al Ghul’s network. He watched me and his agents followed me. Don’t blame yourself for your feelings or your conflicted memories. Darrk used all he knew about my methods and my cases and somehow made you think that you were Robin and that we shared those memories together!”
Al covered his face with one hand and then slammed his fist against the table.
“You are right! We were in the Middle East. He had your foes teach me their skills. The Spook taught me things like stealth and how to escape from traps and pick locks and misdirect enemies. I learned marksmanship from Merlyn and Deadshot. Professor Milo taught me about chemistry. The Riddler showed me how to think of the angles and solve puzzles. I sparred with the Assassins like Django and Amba Kadiri. False Face taught me disguise techniques.”
Batman reached out his arm and placed a hand on Al’s shoulder.
“I’m sorry. Darrk’s paid for his actions. I suppose Talia will turn up again!” he said.
She had slipped away during their conversation.
Al said, ”Yeah. I get it. I’m a joke. I’m a kid who lived a madman’s fantasy for years. I have nothing to show for it either!”
Batman said, “I saw how well you fight. I can imagine how much someone like the Spook could have taught you about his own skills. You have plenty to offer.”
Al put his mask back on. “Dr. Darrk thought after he trained me and made me believe you’d been my mentor that he could made me turn on you when he showed me how you’d supposedly forgot about me and that I owed my fake rebirth to him! He didn’t know me that well. I was always my own man!”
Batman said, “Why the Red Hood name and mask?”
“My father wasn’t much of a dad. He wasn’t much of a man. The Joker was the one who turned him into a real criminal back when he was the Red Hood. I’d like to use the hood name and this mask to make up for some of what both of them did back then. I mean I sure don’t feel like being some kind of would be Robin anymore. Too much has happened. I still wore the bat. I owe so much of what I am to you or I thought I did!” he said slowly.
Batman said, “I can’t make up for what happened. I do have an offer for you. Let me get to know you. Let me see the real you. If you agree, I’d like to offer you a job. I can’t be everywhere. I think you could do a lot of good. I think you could do much more than make up for what you think you dad did when he worked for the Joker. I think you can do more than what you thought you did as a Robin. I believe you can be a hero in your own right!”
The Red Hood said, “I’ll think it over. Like I said, I do things my own way now!”
He walked toward the exit and then stopped. He turned around and said, “I talk too much. I don’t always say the right thing. Maybe, I can just do the right thing from now on!”
Batman nodded and remained quiet.
The End