All New Robin - Heir to the Demon #22

I race off to the hospital’s front entrance to investigate the source of the loud explosion. Whatever caused it must have been powerful if it managed to shake the whole building. It must be the League, they’re doing exactly what Bruce and Talia predicted that they would. Attempting to cripple the city in preparation for the breakout at Arkham. Unless I can stop their agents from destroying Gotham General we’re screwed. Unlike the rest of the League, none of us are pumped full of Lazarus. When we get cut, we bleed.

 

Actually that’s a stupid comment to make. When they get cut they also bleed as I saw when Bruce defeated Damian at City Hall, but the enhanced healing ability given to them by Lazarus causes their wounds to heal at a terrifying speed. It’s only by not holding back my attacks that I’ve managed to beat two of the League’s agents. Hopefully there’s not too many of them here now for Selina and I to handle.

From what I can remember of her file in the Batcomputer, she’s highly skilled at hand to hand combat but how that holds up against multiple enemies wielding katanas remains to be seen. But if I know Bruce, the equipment he had me bring here should hopefully help overcome any weaknesses. I just hope it doesn’t take her too long to put it all on. Since I don’t know what I’m racing towards it’s possible I’m about to walk into a group of say 5 members of the League and if that’s the case I’m as good as screwed without Selina’s help.

 

This hospital cramped and has few open spaces by design. Hospitals are designed that way to try and maximise as much space as possible to get in as many beds as they can. So whilst there are no areas more suited to slowly pick people off one by one, there are plenty of possibilities to hit someone hard and fast thanks to how many rooms are packed into each floor. Really that’s the smartest strategy to take.

 

If these people are as skilled as Bruce they’d no doubt be able to stop me from slowly picking them off anyways so I guess the hospital being a crammed space is actually a benefit really. Fortunately though, there is one rather large open space in the hospital, the foyer at the front entrance. It’s perfect to try and get a glimpse at the League’s agents who are attacking Gotham General. It has multiple floors and enough space for me to use my grapple to properly navigate the room and change floors if I have to.

But much to my surprise, as I get close to the front entrance I hear a familiar voice. A really unwelcome familiar voice.

 

What the hell is she doing here on tonight of all nights?

 

Harley Quinn: Talk about kicking things off with a bang!

 

Goon #1: The hole doesn’t actually look as big as you’d have thought.

 

Goon #2: That’s because we only used a grenade, you dumbass.

 

Goon #1: Yeah but it’s rocket propelled! I thought it would knock all the glass off the front at least.

 

Goon #2: We didn’t use the damn RPG, idiot! That’s for when we leave.

 

Goon #1: Oh? How come?

 

Harley Quinn: Zip it rocket-brain. We’ve got work to do. Them psycho ninjas ain’t gonna spring Mr. J if this hospital’s still standing by the end of the night!

 

Harley’s working for the League? Since when? And more importantly, why do they feel as though they need her help? Is this just another red herring? It must be. That means….crap Bruce and Talia are definitely walking into a trap.

 

Calm down, Tim. You know them and more importantly they know Ra’s. Besides, they’re no fools. They’re probably going to the cave specifically because they know it’s a trap. Let's hope so anyways

 

Harley Quinn: Hurry up and get those explosives in here already! This hospital ain’t gonna blow itself up!

 

Goon #1: On it boss!

 

The two goons who stood next to Harley turn around and race outside to their vehicle. It’s difficult to tell what it is from a distance but it can clearly carry a large amount of equipment judging from what Harley and her men are carrying. From what I can make out there’s six of them in total counting Quinn and they’re all heavily armed. Especially the one entering to her right.

 

Clearly he’s her muscle judging from the mini-gun that he’s carrying. Obviously Harley’s expecting company and decided to come prepared. Smart. Though I’m more curious about where she managed to those. It was only about a week ago where she escaped Bruce whilst trying to buy a state of the art of rifle from the Odessa mob. If she was struggling to buy even a single rifle from them a week ago, surely she can’t have got all of this equipment from them. Could the League have provided her with those weapons?

 

Maybe.

 

Firearms aren’t really their style according to Bruce, but if Harley truly is working for them it only makes sense that they’d give her the tools needed for her to do the job right. Another worrying similarity between the League’s methods and Bruce’s. In many ways Bruce has does the same with all of us. I suppose in some way that could technically make Harley their Robin. She sure does love playing sidekick to people. First the clown, now one of the most mysterious groups in human history.

Quite a step up.

But if they’re unloading explosives then I’m going to need the schematics of Gotham General so I can navigate the building quickly. If they’re on a tight schedule then they’ll split up to cover more ground so I need to be able to intercept them all quickly. Harley is clearly expecting company otherwise she wouldn’t have come so heavily armed so I don’t really have much of an element of surprise. If I fail to take her and her men out quickly it’s likely that she’ll take hostages the minute she thinks something’s wrong. So before I try to move against her, I need the Gotham General schematics.

 

Red Robin: Red Bird to bunker.

 

Alfred: Bunker here, go ahead Red Bird.

 

Red Robin: Al, the hospital’s under attack but not from the League. Harley and a bunch of heavily armed goons are here.

 

Alfred: Ms. Quinn? What in the world is she doing there?

 

Red Robin: By the sounds of it the League have promised to free Joker from Arkham so long as she destroys Gotham General. Have you heard from the Outlaws at all?

 

Alfred: I’ve managed to get hold of them since we last spoke and they should be at Arkham by now. I’ll have them put Joker under extra surveillance. Do you need anything from me?

 

Red Robin: Harley said something about explosives. What’s the best place to plant explosives if you want to bring down a hospital?

 

Alfred: I’ll have a look at the schematics but speaking from personal experience, when someone’s looking to try and bring down a building they tend to look for either the main support pillar or the generator in the case large buildings. Given the size of Gotham General, there’s no single main support pillar so my best guess would be the generator. I’m uploading the schematics of Gotham General to your suit now.

 

A quick glance at the small screen built into my suit’s gauntlets shows it flash up with an alert to show that I’m receiving files from the batcomputer. Good, those schematics will come in handy soon enough. Whilst waiting for the schematics to upload to my suit though, I notice a Waynetech security terminal on the wall leading into the staff changing room.

Interesting.

 

If I can get the access codes I might be able to control some of the equipment here and maybe even trigger the lockdown protocol. That should keep Harley and her men trapped inside the hospital assuming that it’s got a quarantine lockdown protocol. If it does then it should give me some leeway if they do manage to plant any explosives. No-one’s crazy enough to bring a building crashing down whilst they’re still inside it.

 

Well….

 

Most people aren’t.

 

This is Gotham after all.

 

Red Robin: Al, can you get me the specs for the Gotham General Waynetech security system?

 

Alfred: The system does appear to be rather outdated compared to some of the functions of the newer models, according to the records it’s been in place for just shy of a decade.

 

Red Robin: Does it have a quarantine lockdown protocol?

 

Please say yes.

 

Please say yes.

 

Alfred: From what I’m seeing it appears to. You’re not planning on trapping yourself in there with Ms. Quinn and her goons are you?

 

Red Robin: Call it insurance.

 

Alfred: Master Timothy, locking yourself in a hospital with a psychopath and several of her heavily armed goons is suicidal. You can’t be serious?

 

Red Robin: Can you trigger the lockdown remotely?

 

Alfred: It’ll take me a moment to bypass the hospital firewall but yes, I should be able to.

 

Red Robin: Do it.

 

Alfred: Are you sure, Master Timothy? Once I trigger the lockdown it’ll lock me out of the system and you’ll have to lift it manually from your end to get out.

 

Red Robin: I’m sure.

 

There’s a brief pause as I hear the faint sound of Alfred typing the commands into the batcomputer before coming to a stop

.

Alfred: Before I do this I need to be sure, are you certain this is what you want to do? You’re about to lock yourself in there with a group of heavily armed criminals and when that happens we won’t be able to help you.

 

Red Robin: Don’t worry, Al. You’re not locking me in with them. You’re locking them in with me.

 

Steph would roll her eyes at that line and I can’t say that I’d blame her. It’s a horrible cliché, but to Alfred it’s something more than that. It’s something Bruce would say, and that’s why I chose it. He’s incredibly protective of all of us but he trusts us to know what’s best for us. Oddly, whilst he’s no fan of the path Bruce chose seeing us all act more and more like Bruce tends to put him at ease. That’s what Dick says anyways.

 

Sure enough, it looks as though there may be a bit of truth to it.

 

Alfred: I’m triggering the lockdown protocol now. It should start in just a few moments. Good luck, Master Timothy.

 

Red Robin: Thanks Al. I’ll see you on the other side. Red bird out.

 

Done