Batfam Bonanza

Chapter 6: Duke

Okay, Hal did know that Bruce wasn't necessarily the biggest fan of him being in the cave, he liked having a place to himself, where rogue Lanterns couldn't wander around poking things and messing up his work, but in Hal's defense, this time it was incredibly important that he got to speak to Bruce. He needed to talk to the vigilante about an issue that had just popped up in Coast City, but Bruce had both his phone and his communicator switched off.

Of course, getting into the cave was a chore from the outside, it would be much easier to go to the front door and let Alfred seat him in the parlor with a tea set, he could probably even get cream and jam scones out of the deal. But Hal never did things the easy way. He found himself clambering up into Bruce's cave through the exit passageway, every so often dodging traps that made him wonder if Batman was out on patrol. He handily leaped over an electrified net that shot out of the wall and stumbled into an empty cave. "Bruce?" He called out, still half hoping that the man would poke his head out of the shadows and growl at him. His only response was silence.

The Lantern allowed himself to fall back into Bruce's swivel chair, groaning at how comfortable it felt because of course, the rich boy would spend $2000 on a chair. He spun it around until he could rest his feet on the table, which Bruce would definitely wrinkle his nose at had he been present. It was evident that Batman was out on patrol, but Hal could just wait for him here, and maybe catch a few Zs while he waited, since it had to be at least 48 hours since he had gotten any sleep.

Or at least that had been the plan, but unfortunately for Hal, he had only just managed to close his eyes and drift off to sleep when a loud crash came from behind him.

His eyes snapped open, and he gazed wildly into the darkness, trying to see who or what could have made the noise. He couldn't make anything out, and not bothering to wait for his eyes to adjust, he rose his hand, preparing to send out a pulse of green light but, a moment later, the light in the area of the cave that Hal knew to have been set aside for first aid purposes came on.

"Bruce?" The Lantern called out again, heading in the direction of the light, but as he rounded the corner, he saw that it wasn't Bruce. Instead, it was a teenaged boy dressed almost entirely in yellow.

The boy apparently hadn't heard him, as instead of turning around he shakily opened a drawer containing a first aid kit and tugged up the top half of his costume, revealing a painful looking gash that ran across his side.

"Kid!" Hal spoke again, much louder this time, as he ran towards the boy. "Do you need to go to a hospital?"

Duke's head shot up, and he shook it so rapidly that Hal thought it might fall off. "No!" He shouted. "No, no, Bruce says it's not a good idea for us to go to the hospital."

Hal looked incredulous though. "I can't imagine how many stabbings happen a day in Gotham, but there's probably enough for you to get medical attention without anyone getting suspicious."

Duke gave a quiet wheeze. "Look, can you just get Al-" He trailed off. "No, Bruce said he was on a date tonight."

"Alfred's on a date?" Hal had a lot of questions (most of which were about how Alfred could find the time to meet someone when his employer was out there getting himself almost killed every night), but none of them seemed all that important when Duke gripped the bed frame in a desperate attempt to avoid falling over.

It must have been years since the last time Hal had done first aid on anyone. In fact, he was reasonably sure that the last time had been when he had been sent on a secret mission by the US Air Force, which had been less secret than he'd been led to believe, and all the pilots had been shot down and tortured for weeks. He'd had to drag his oldest friend through the snow, dodging squads of guards while trying to keep him from bleeding out, all the while knowing that it was only happening because he took his ring off before getting in the plane.

Hal shook his head, trying to bring himself back to the present, he needed to be in the present if he was going to be able to help Duke.

He pulled the first aid kit toward himself, tugging on a pair of gloves in an effort to keep any germs from getting into the wound, and began to work, being as careful as possible as he rubbed disinfectant into the wound, and cleaned it of all dust and particles.

"I think," he said, after examining the wound for a while. He was trying to ignore the shadowy presence that appeared behind him part way into cleaning the scratch (although Duke had stiffened, and Hal, who hadn't been expecting the sudden movement, had ended up pressing too hard with a cotton ball), "that it looked worse than it was, but 'coz it needs to be closed, we should staple it."

Bruce grunted from behind him, probably offering a second opinion, and pushed him away from the patient. "You need to rest though, and get back to Coast City," he said, already taking over with the stitches, "why didn't you call and tell me Scarecrow was operating in your city?" He asked.

There it was, the urge to fight Bruce. Hal hadn't felt it in years. He fell onto the other bed with a groan.

At least that had sounded like an offer to help him.