Rising Robin

Chapter XXVI: Lost

A few days had passed since Dick rescued Harper Row from Ed Nygma's hands. Dick was sitting in his bed, working away on his laptop. He was researching all that he could about the Cadmus building. Harper had managed to email him the blueprint files for the building. Dick was studying the fence that surrounded the entire base, which was a few hundred yards away from the actual building. The fence didn't seem to be much of a problem; Dick figured he'd either go over, under, or through the fence. He was prepared for whichever. Once passed the fence, Dick had to be on the lookout for sentries up in watchtowers across the base. As long as Dick got passed those, he wouldn't be sniped. He would then have to make his way to the entrance, where he planned to pose as an employee attending work late at night. Of course, Dick would need a fake employee's I.D., but he was sure Harper would be of good assistance on that. Once Dick was able to make his way inside of the campus, he would proceed to search the building for the laboratories that were responsible for creating the weapons for Nolan Drake, & work from there.

Dick felt comfortable with his plan of action. All he needed was someone to cover his six searching Cadmus. Only one person came to Dick's mind.

Dick stepped onto his motorcycle and began to rev its engine. Before he pulled out of the driveway, he removed his phone from his pocket and scrolled through his contact list. It was a short list. Dick pressed on the number he was searching for & called the number. The phone rang a few times before finally being answered.

"Yeah?" Roy said as he answered the phone call.

"Roy," Dick said. "Hey man, what's up? Where are you right now?"

"Um," Roy said, followed with a long pause. "I'm doing something right now."

Dick rolled his eyes. "Okay, well, I need to speak to you. It's really important. I need your help."

"Can this wait, like, at least a day, Dick?" Before Dick could respond, Dick heard a female's voice in the background shout his name. "Hi Dick! It's Zatanna, Roy is here at the shop!"

Dick shook his head softly. "Alright Roy, I'm heading over now."

Dick drove through Gotham City until he passed through familiar streets. He was having difficulty remembering where Zatanna's shop was, but eventually Dick pulled down onto the old deserted street where the shop was located. The atmosphere brought about the same eerie feeling down Dick's spine as the first time he arrived.

Dick parked his motorcycle & stepped off from over the bike. He walked across the street to the shop, which had a closed sign hanging. Dick shook his head and stepped up to the door. He pushed the door open a little stronger than necessary. As he stepped inside, he realized what he had done wrong.

The dim lit room was suddenly pitch black as the candles surrounding the shop's interior went out. Dick heard humming continue in the dark towards the left. Dick pulled out his phone & switched on the flashlight application. He turned the light to the front, where Roy & Zatanna sat across from one another holding hands. Zatanna's head was bent low as she chanted softly. Roy's head was also bent low, but he wore a red baseball cap which made it hard to recognize him even more.

Dick slowly shut the front door behind him. He was worried they would be pissed about the candles going out by the swift opening of the door, but they were still in a trance. Dick decided that maybe he should wait before talking to Roy.

Would Roy really want to accompany Dick out to Metropolis in order to stop Nolan? It wasn't Roy's agenda; would Roy really go all out in order to help Dick? He managed to be a great help after all that happened with Olympus. Sure, everything Roy did was questionable, with the tech he was using & the bow & arrows. But did that make him untrustworthy? Roy might have his own secrets, but...Dick had his as well.