Cereta's Web: Interlude II: Breaking and Entering Part II

Breaking and Entering Part II
by Lucy Gillam

The crick in his neck was really getting to be a distraction.

Dick adjusted his goggles for a better view of Markel's Jewelry Store. It didn't help matters that he'd been averaging about three hours of sleep a night since coming back to Gotham two weeks ago. Not that he'd been getting much sleep before that, but the sleeplessness of the last couple of weeks had been the sleeplessness of activity, of extra nights at the shelter and helping out his landlord who'd lost a daughter to the clench and fitting in a few quick jobs after the rather harsh reminder of how important a fallback fund could be. But it wasn't the sleeplessness of worry and helplessness and being stuck outside the quarantine while people he knew and cared about were in danger.

He probably should have waited a few nights for this job, but the timing was good, and Selina had always said that timing was the best skill they…

A batarang imbedded itself in the ledge three feet from where he was perched.

Dick looked around. He couldn't see Batman, of course; he was undoubtedly in the shadows of a nearby building. Dick made a great show of sighing and pointing up, then started towards the roof. Looked like Markel's was a wash, but at least there'd be a pleasant distraction tonight.

It was a few moments before Batman joined him on the roof, looking his usual grim and stern self.

"What," Dick asked, "you thought we hadn't had enough rooftop meetings this year? Okay, granted, it's been a while, and that one wasn't really on a rooftop, but…"

The fist that slammed into his jaw took him totally by surprise, and he fell sprawling onto the rooftop.

"What the hell?" Batman had hit him. Dick raised a hand to his jaw, which only ached a little. It hadn't been a particularly hard punch, but…

Batman had hit him.

"This ends now," Batman said. His voice was utterly devoid of what little emotion it had ever had. "Whatever special exception you think you had in this city is over. From now on, you steal, you go to jail, just like everyone else."

Dick stood slowly. For the first time since they had met nearly nine years ago, he had no idea what to say. For reasons that he could not explain, the impulse he'd had two years ago to remove his goggles returned, and this time, he gave into it.

He's never entirely understood the blind eye Batman turned to his and Selina's activities, but he'd grown accustomed to it, and over the last few years had even gotten used to thinking of Batman as…well, not a friend, of course, but…something. And if he hadn't ever entirely figured out what the boundaries were, the lines he couldn't cross, he'd managed instinctively to stay on the right side of them.

Until now, apparently.

He looked towards Markel's. Maybe it was that store? "If they're," he started carefully, "If they're friends of yours…"

"They're citizens of Gotham," Batman interrupted. "That's all that's needed. And they've been through enough."

Dick's stomach clenched as he remembered the horrifying days stuck in Bludhaven, waiting for any news of the disease-ravaged city. "I know. I have friends here, too," he said tightly.

"Oh? And what were you doing for them? What were you doing while they were in danger or even dying?" It was spoken flatly, almost worse than an accusation, almost as if he took for granted that Dick had sat idly by while people suffered, almost as if he thought Dick had no sense of decency, as if he were…

As if he were just a common criminal.

Dick flushed. "I wasn't in Gotham when it hit. I would've come back if I could have."

"Would you?" The question was worse than the punch, and Dick found himself with nothing to say.

"What I said stands," Batman continued. "You try to steal in this city again, and I'll stop you."

Dick stood for a long moment, staring at the familiar figure that was suddenly completely alien.

He had always known Batman was needed in Gotham. Hell, he knew it better than many of Gotham's law-abiding citizens. He knew the kind of dangers that preyed on this city, not just the loud and flashy freaks, but the predators who lurked on the streets in normal clothes.

He just had never thought Batman would see him as one of them.

He nodded and replaced his goggles. "If you say so," he replied without the slightest hint of humor. He bent to gather his equipment and climbed carefully over the side of the roof, taking the simplest way home he could find.

He knew what the obvious answer was: he needed to leave Gotham again. Maybe for good this time, instead of just on a week-long "shopping" trip. He had friends here, true, and he liked working at the shelter, but he could make friends somewhere else, and there was never a city that didn't have homeless kids or need people to help out with them. He should go somewhere else, somewhere that didn't have a costumed protector -- that didn't have a Batman.

Except he didn't want to. God help him, he didn't want to go somewhere that didn't have Batman.

Selina would have his head.

Whatever he was going to do, he didn't have to decide tonight. He had his fallback fund, and he could always make some quick trips later in the week.

He didn't have to decide right now.