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The first thing Roy noticed when he woke up was how sore his body was. Like he'd been repeatedly slammed into a brick wall for several hours. The next thing he noticed was that he was bound to a chair. His hands were flat against the back legs and wrapped in duct tape, a rope went around his midsection trapping his arms to his sides and his back to the back of the chair, and duct tape kept his ankles pressed against the front legs with the entire chair bolted to the floor.

Okay, think, how did I get here? Roy asked himself as he began to take mental stock of his situation.

He was in his suit, and some of his weapons were still on him (a strange decision when trying to keep someone trapped, but it wasn't like he could reach any of them anyways). Roy could see his bow and quiver across the room on a table with an assortment of other weapons.

Someone groaned behind him.

I'm not alone.

The way Roy was strapped to the chair made it so he couldn't turn to see who his company was. He was likely a captive just like Roy.

After a couple beats he could hear the sounds of chains tightening and then loosening. Whoever they were, they were doing their own mental assessment of the situation and were restrained differently.

Roy began pulling at his own restraints. There wasn't any give.

He grunted. Well crap.

He scanned the room, trying to gain a clue as to where he was being held. It was a large dark room, likely underground just by the feel the room was giving him, despite the size the room held almost nothing aside from the table with his and what he could assume were the other individual's weapons, and there weren't any guards.

Another interesting choice his captors had made. Leaving him with some weapons, his main weapons only a few yards from him, and seemingly unguarded. Either these were armatures who got lucky and were hoping their luck would continue or he was outclassed in every way imaginable.

The latter seemed far more logical as he still couldn't figure out how he'd gotten here, wherever here was.

The individual behind him had gone completely silent. Roy wasn't sure whether or not he could trust him. Sure they were in the situation together (maybe), but this guy could double cross him first chance he got, or could even be the whole reason Roy had gotten captured in the first place.

Roy, again tried turning so he could see whoever was with him. If he could just see him Roy could have a better idea as to what's going on.

He pulled and pulled against his restraints to no avail before exclaiming in defeat.

"Nice try, but we studied you long enough to figure out how to keep you in one place for a long time." A voice to Roy's left told him.

A man stepped out of the dark corridor. He wore a half smirk that told Roy all he needed to know about this guy. He was completely convinced he won. His green eyes scanned Roy and the other individual like a predator going in for the kill. He didn't look familiar. A possible third party trying to get an in with Shadows or the Light.

"I'm disappointed. I thought at least one of you would ask who I was or why I captured you or what's going on or where you are or even, hell, who the other person you're stuck with is."

"Well since you offered it." Roy said, mirroring the smirk his captor wore.

"Oh I didn't say I'd answer. I'm just surprised that this one individual isn't doing what I expected him to do." The man stepped forward, getting really close to whoever was behind Roy. "I mean you followed the beginning part of the script. Getting a silent read of the room, testing your bonds, and realizing that I was mere feet away before doing… what is this? Meditating? I'm assuming the answer is yes. Hope that's gonna get you out of here?"

Whoever he was talking to didn't humor him with an answer.

"You know the silent treatment is rude. Didn't your parents teach you to answer when someone asks you a question?"

Nothing.

The captor grunted. "We'll have to fix that later won't we?" His attention turned to Roy. "Now I know you don't remember how I got the two of you here, but I will tell you I was surprised you would risk your skin trying to save his. But I guess you hero types are the same."

What the hell is that supposed to mean? Yeah, there were a few people Roy would stick his neck out for without question, which is exactly what this guy made it sound like that was exactly what he did, but they were all for people he had well established relationships with. Relationships that most bad guys were aware of, and Roy himself should remember.

A strange hint, but it did narrow down the list of people with him down to a handful.

He patted Roy's face. "Shame. If there weren't a bounty on your heads, I could have some serious fun with the two of you."

Roy blinked. He had no idea what 'fun' consisted of and a gut feeling said he didn't want to. The bounty thing was an interesting point. They were captured for a reward, not a personal vendetta. That changed things. This guy was going to keep both of them alive.

His mind began to race. He needed to poke holes in this plan so he could get information and get out of this place.

"Why capture me?" Roy asked, "The bounty on my head can't be as big as this guy's."

Roy still had no idea who was behind him, his gut instinct was to assume he was more dangerous because of the use of metal chains in keeping him restrained.

"And why would you think that? Do you even know who he is?"

"Don't need to."

The man raised an eyebrow. "You know what's amusing. I know how much time you both have lost. I know for a fact you have no idea who's behind you."

"Rather confident of that fact, aren't you." A new voice joined the conversation.

It rang familiarity in Roy's head. A deep growl that sounded threatening and made Roy feel slightly on edge because, somehow, he knew that anger had been directed towards him a few times. As threatening as it felt, he also felt strangely relaxed. This guy was going to be on his side, at least for the time being.

"Oh, look who decided to find his voice. Yes I am. And I have every right to be."

"Details would be nice." Roy continued. "If you're gonna tell us these things, don't be cryptic about it. You're not Riddler."

The look he received was far from amused. "I can be cryptic if I so please." He stopped bringing his hand to his ear. "I'll be back."

He swiftly turned on his heels and disappeared back into the corridor.

There was few beats of silence before a faint click rang through the air. Roy heard chains fall to the ground, and then felt someone untying his restraints.

"You're helping me?" Roy asked him.

"Well apparently you helped me, and memory or no memory I'm not gonna leave you here for dead."

He made quick work of the restraints on his arms after which Roy pulled a knife from his boot and cut away at tape around his feet. The man read into what Roy was doing and went over to where his bow was. Once freed, he looked up to see who he'd been captured with and suddenly felt uneasy.

"I tried to save Red Hood?" Roy asked as he handed Roy his bow and quiver.

"Apparently." he replied blankly. "Now I can either leave you here to contemplate saving me, a criminal, or we can get out of here together. I'm good either way."

Roy notched an arrow. "Lead the way, because there's no way in hell I'm letting you follow me."

Hood cocked his head to the side. "I see my reputation precedes me. How comforting." He cocked his gun, flicking the safety off. "You gonna lecture me about kill shots like Batman and Nightwing love to do?"

"You know Nightwing?"

"Time and place Speedy. C'mon."

"It's Red Arrow, not Speedy." Roy grumbled.

"I know."

Hood crouched down in front of the door, fiddling with the lock before the door swung open.

He turned to Roy. "After you."

"No."

He shrugged before stepping out and immediately punched something. A guard.

"Let's hope I knocked him out before he told someone we escaped." Hood stooped down, pulling a set of keys off the guard. He then pulled the guard up and into the cell they'd been held in before shutting the door and locking it.

Roy took a couple of seconds to look Hood over. His suit was different from what Roy had seen in the news. Which could follow as he was unsure of the amount of time he'd lost between now and his most recent memory. One of which consisted of Red Robin saying something about having an idea that might get Wally out of the Speed Force.

"Do you know how much time we lost?" Roy asked him as they walked briskly through the compound looking for a way to escape.

"Not really concerned with that right now Speedy. We can figure that out when we're not here."

Take that as a no.

After about thirty seconds alarms blared through the halls with flashing lights to match.

"Guess they know we're missing." Roy commented.

Hood began to look around. "This way."

He took off down the hall before jumping to the side into a stairwell. Roy struggled to keep up with him. He fired a grapple arrow towards the ceiling and pulled himself up to catch up. During his ride, he watched as Hood completely abandoned the stairs jumping up from the railing.

Once they reached the top the door leading out had a window that looked to the outside world.

Roy scoffed. "It can't be that easy."

Hood looked over the railing and dropped a small device down into the stairwell. It exploded into smoke. "Let's just hope it is." he rammed his shoulder into the door essentially breaking it down and tumbled into the grass

There was almost immediate gunfire as he dove back into the stairwell. Guards could be heard thundering up the stairs.

Hood cursed under his breath. "Any suggestions?"

"Oh you're gonna actually take me seriously?" Roy asked.

"Seriously Harper, time and place." he aimed his gun.

Roy's stomach dropped. "H-how do you know that?" He aimed his arrow at Hood. In the middle of the Red Bat splayed across his chest.

"Seriously? You wanna hash this out now? Look as soon as we're not behind enemy lines. I'll answer your questions. We don't have time right now."

He moved his arrow slightly to the left. It exploded sending the guards tumbling back down the stairs. "Don't make me regret trusting you."

Roy looked just far enough past the door to see the snipers, he notched another arrow and fired. Encasing them in a net, trapped together.

He and Hood sprinted across the open field to fence that seemed to surround the compound.

Hood grabbed the fence launching himself up and over the barb-wire around the top. He was about to keep on going when he turned to see Roy who didn't not possess that kind of agility. He was quick on his feet and decently flexible, but his acrobatic skills weren't the best. Something he'd been meaning to ask Nightwing for some help with, if anyone actually knew where he was.

He seemed to have a slight internal argument about leaving Roy, before he pulled out a knife and began to cut at the fence.

There was shouting behind them. The guards were getting close. Roy thought about pulling out his own knife to help the process along, but he didn't possess a knife that could cut through metal like the one Hood had.

One the hole was wide enough for a grown man to fit through, Roy climbed through as Hood twisted the fence shut behind him.

Jesus, how strong is this weirdo

"Let's get out of here." Hood told him.

The pair took off, disappearing into the woods


Jason's head felt like mush. Something that rarely happened, meaning he'd been under some serious drugs. He sat with his head hung low for a minute to assess the damage.

He didn't appear to be injured just sore, he had his helmet on (thankfully), but his suit was different. It was lighter and better quality from what he remembered wearing last.

Where am I? How did I get here?

The moment he tried to remember what happened, it was like someone was plunging a knife directly into his brain.

A groan escaped his lips as he pulled against his metal restraints. He was chained to a chair with standard metal locks.

Jason internally scoffed, amateurs.

Then he heard someone behind him. They seemed restless. Pulling against their own restraints before grunting as a sign of defeat.

He then continued to come up with his escape plan, pulling the lock pick in his glove. Something in him told him to keep quiet, that despite there not being a visible threat there was one very close.

The person behind him began moving again. It sounded like he was struggling to turn. Jason continued working on the lock that had almost literally been left in the palm of his hand. Suddenly they made a rather exasperated sound.

"Nice try, but we studied you long enough to figure out how to keep you in one place for a long time."

There was the threat Jason had felt. He glanced to his right while keeping his head perfectly still. He wasn't exactly impressive, there was a cocky smirk painted on to his face that Jason desperately wanted to punch off, like everything was going according to plan.

Jason began to question why it was so easy for him to escape if this guy had been 'studying' him for a while now. It felt suspicious. Nonetheless he continued to get out of these chains because trap or not. He'd been on a lead to find Dick and he'd been so close before he woke up here.

That's when it dawned on him. The memories coming back were slow, but he doesn't remember an ambush of any sort or any clear memory as to how he got here. There was likely a memory wipe involved. Something Jason thought he was basically immune to. Who had taken his memories? And why? For what purpose?

"I'm disappointed. I thought at least one of you would ask who I was or why I captured you or what's going on or where you are or even, hell, who the other person you're stuck with is." The man continued, shifting on his feet.

"Well since you offered it."

Roy?

He'd been captured with Red freaking Arrow? What the hell?

As if this wasn't confusing enough, Roy was his partner in crime in all of this.

"Oh I didn't say I'd answer. I'm just surprised that this one individual isn't doing what I expected him to do." The man stepped forward, leaning down so he was basically talking in Jason's ear, "I mean you followed the beginning part of the script. Getting a silent read of the room, testing your bonds, and realizing that I was mere feet away before doing… what is this? Meditating? I'm assuming the answer is yes. Hope that's gonna get you out of here?"

Jason didn't answer.

"You know the silent treatment is rude. Didn't your parents teach you to answer when someone asks you a question?" the captor grunted at Jason's continued silence and stepped back, "We'll have to fix that later won't we?" he turned his attention to Roy, "Now I know you don't remember how I got the two of you here, but I will tell you I was surprised you would risk your skin trying to save his. But I guess you hero types are the same."

To be fair, Jason wasn't sure why Roy would try to help him either. As far as Roy knew, Jason was a criminal. A criminal who need to be caught and nothing more. Maybe something had changed during the amount of time he was missing, maybe he and Roy were friends now even though that felt unlikely. Roy really didn't like him before he died and Jason doubted much changed since then.

"Shame. If there weren't a bounty on your heads, I could have some serious fun with the two of you."

Jason creased his eyebrows. He really didn't what to find out exactly what 'fun' meant. The whole bounty on his head was an interesting detail this guy let slip. There were a lot of people out there who want Jason's blood, meaning he had no idea who exactly they might be being handed over to, but with Roy here it narrowed down the possible candidates to three.

"Why capture me?" Roy asked, "The bounty on my head can't be as big as this guy's."

Jason was amused at how Roy just assumed that.

"And why would you think that? Do you even know who he is?"

"Don't need to."

"You know what's amusing. I know how much time you both have lost. I know for a fact you have no idea who's behind you."

"Rather confident of that fact, aren't you." Jason told him.

"Oh, look who decided to find his voice. Yes I am. And I have every right to be."

"Details would be nice." Roy continued. "If you're gonna tell us these things, don't be cryptic about it. You're not Riddler."

Jason bit back a snort. The look Roy was likely receiving from this guy was probably far from impressed

"I can be cryptic if I so please." He stopped bringing his hand to his ear. "I'll be back."

He turned on his heel and left him and Roy alone.

What an idiot. Doesn't he realize he's got a bat in his midst? With that thought, the lock clicked open (finally) and he stood up pulling the chains from his person and then turned to free Roy and make their escape.

"You're helping me?" Roy asked him.

"Well apparently you helped me, and memory or no memory I'm not gonna leave you here for dead."

Once Jason had freed his arms Roy quickly pulled a knife (which was suspiciously still on him) out of his boot and freed his legs. Jason went over to where their weapons were. Where all of their weapons were. Something was wrong. This was all too easy.

"I tried to save Red Hood?" Roy asked as him with a wooden expression as he handed Roy his bow and quiver.

"Apparently." Jason replied blankly. "Now I can either leave you here to contemplate saving me, a criminal, or we can get out of here together. I'm good either way."

Roy notched an arrow. "Lead the way, because there's no way in hell I'm letting you follow me."

Jason smirked as he loaded his gun. "I see my reputation precedes me. How comforting." He cocked it, flicking the safety off. "You gonna lecture me about kill shots like Batman and Nightwing love to do?"

"You know Nightwing?"

"Time and place Speedy. C'mon."

"It's Red Arrow, not Speedy." Roy grumbled.

"I know."

Jason crouched down in front of the door, fiddling with the lock before the door swung open.

He turned to Roy. "After you."

"No."

Jason shrugged before stepping out directly in front of a guard. Pure instinct took over and his fist flew directly into the guards face, knocking him out cold.

"Let's hope I knocked him out before he told someone we escaped." Jason stooped down, pulling a set of keys and a knife off the guard and damaging the radio before pulling him back into their escaped cell and trapping him inside.

"Do you know how much time we lost?" Roy asked him as they walked briskly through the compound looking for a way to escape.

Jason rolled his eyes. While he understood why Roy wanted to know how much had been removed from their memories, it still felt asinine to believe Jason knew anything about it.

"Not really concerned with that right now Speedy. We can figure that out when we're not here."

After about thirty seconds of them running through the halls alarms blared through the halls with red flashing lights to match.

"Guess they know we're missing." Roy stated.

Jason looked down a hallway and spotted what he believed to be the entrance to a stairwell "This way."

He took off down the hall before jumping to the side into a stairwell as Roy struggled to keep up with him. Jason heard a grapple grab hold of the ceiling above him as he made his way up, jumping from the railing.

Once they reached the top the door leading out had a window that looked to the outside world.

Roy scoffed. "It can't be that easy."

Jason glanced over the railing as guards began to make their way up the stairs. He dropped a smoke bomb as a means to hopefully disorient them "Let's just hope it is." he rammed his shoulder into the door.

The door crumbled under his force and weight sending him into the grass. As he regained his bearings two snipers on an adjacent roof noticed his attempt at an escape and began firing at him. While Jason was unsure if his new armor could truly protect him from bullets like his helmet could, the fact still remained that he wasn't bulletproof, and that was enough for him to take shelter back in the stairwell.

"Shit" They were complete trapped. "Any suggestions?" He asked Roy

"Oh you're gonna actually take me seriously?" Roy asked.

"Seriously Harper, time and place." he aimed his gun at the first spot where the guards would be visible.

Roy went white at the sound of his name. "H-how do you know that?" He aimed his arrow at Jason directly in the middle of his chest.

Damn it Roy now isn't the time to be concerned with your identity.

"Seriously? You wanna hash this out now? Look as soon as we're not behind enemy lines. I'll answer your questions. We don't have time right now." Jason growled, holding his ground. He refused to be threatened by an archer.

He moved his arrow slightly to the left. It exploded sending the guards tumbling back down the stairs. "Don't make me regret trusting you."

Roy glance just past the door and fired another arrow at the snipers before sprinting across the open field in front of them.

Jason grabbed the fence launching himself up and over the barb-wire around the top (something Dick had taught him forever ago, an ability that annoyed Bruce as he even struggled to achieve it). He was about to keep on going when he realized, Roy couldn't do that.

For two seconds Jason considered leaving Roy here to fend for himself. But something in him just couldn't do it. Jason quickly pulled his knife out and made a hole big enough for him to crawl through

Once Roy had joined him on the other side, Jason twisted the ends of as many of the rods as he could

"Let's get out of here." Hood told him.


They finally stopped running when Roy just about collapsed. He wasn't going to keep up with Jason's stamina.

He glanced around and then decided it was safe enough to take a quick rest.

"Sorry." he gasped, bracing against a tree "But I- I can't keep- can't keep going like that."

"No I know." Jason told him. "Sometimes I forget that not everyone can keep up with me and even fewer can do it for a long time."

Roy gave him a weird look.

"What?"

He shook his head. "Nothing." He forced himself to stand. "C'mon we need to put more distance between us and them."

Jason raised an eyebrow but didn't argue. Roy was right but he needed more than those ten seconds. The last thing Jason wanted to do was carry his ass to safety.

After about five minutes Jason needed to stop the self-inflicted torture happening right in front of him. "Okay seriously. Take a minute. We can't afford you passing out right now. Because if you do, I am just gonna leave you."

Roy turned to look at him. "What would Nightwing say?"

Dick? Nothing, as no one's been able to find him for going on seven weeks. Something Roy obviously didn't know. Jason figured he should probably say something, but not here, they needed to get to safety first.

"How did you know who I was?" Roy asked him.

Jason felt like that was a stupid question, but then again, Red Arrow wasn't a well-known superhero. Yeah Roy was in the Justice League, but that meant he would be overshadowed by the founders and likely his former mentor Green Arrow. Most of the League wasn't aware of Jason's status to Batman (which is likely to have changed), so naturally Roy would be included in that.

Jason shrugged before gesturing to his chest. "Call it an occupational habit. I know who pretty much everyone who's involved with the League is. I make it my business to know."

"Sounds like something Batman has said." Roy mumbled under his breath.

Jason's fist tightened. It was something he'd said. It's also something Dick and Tim have said as well. If you worked with the Bat, especially as close as Robins tend to. You do make it your business to know who's who in the superhero community. The comparison still bothered him though.

There was a beat of silence.

"I'm assuming you have some sort of plan." Roy tells him

'Why would I have the plan?"

Roy pointed to his chest. "Like you said, that speaks volumes as to the kind of people you associate yourself with."

"Fair point. We need to figure out where we are. Then we can figure how much time has passed and who to contact and all that jazz."

Roy nodded.

Jason allotted for another couple of seconds. "You good?"

"Good enough."

They continued walking for what seemed like an eternity with almost no words being expressed between the two of them.

"Hey look." Roy pointed off into the dark sky. "Lights. And where there are lights, there's bound to be a city."

"God I hope so." Jason muttered.

Luckily for them Roy had been right.

"We need to change. We stick out." Jason told him

"We'd stick out less if you took that thing off your head."

"Yeah helmet or not. This is obviously armor and that is obviously a suped up bow."

"It's collapsible."

"And the quiver and your own armor?"

Roy rolled his eyes.

Jason glanced around. He could zip up the jacket and hide everything going on with his chest, most of his weapons could be discreetly hidden within the jacket, and it was dark enough the armor plating on his legs shouldn't draw too much attention if they stay away from crowds.

Roy on the other hand needed a place to store his quiver and a jacket to cover up the kevlar on his torso.

"Who uses a clothing line like that anymore?" Roy suddenly commented.

It caught Jason off guard. "What?"

Roy gestured up where someone had hung their clothes out to dry in the apartments a few floors above them. Miraculously, it was everything the needed.

"You know sometimes I think 'No way is there a god, because he wouldn't let so much crap happen to some really good people'," Jason begins, "and then shit like this happens that and it makes me question things."

Jason climbed up and got what they needed (but not before making sure they were compensated for the theft. He may be an anti-hero of sorts, but he doesn't just steal from innocent civilians).

He undid his gloves and thigh holsters sticking them within the secret compartments in his jacket. His hand went up to remove his helmet when a thought occurred to him. Roy obviously doesn't know who he is. It's possible he won't remember Jason enough from when he was younger to figure out this was him grown up, but sometimes Roy surprised people. Unfortunately he didn't have any other option, shedding the helmet and the mask.

Roy blinked at him.

"What?" Jason snapped.

"Nothing, just… you're younger than I thought."

"Well it's not like you have a lot of years behind you."

"Yeah well there's being in your late twenties and then there's being in your late teens."

Jason rolled his eyes before sticking his helmet in the bag he'd also stolen. "Stick your arrows in the bag and let's go."


Sooooooo... I wrote part of a sequel for Time to Live - Time to Die a while back, and I didn't like it. I didn't like how little time I could spend on it, there were a lot of things I wasn't liking about it so I scrapped it and just started from square one again. This is very different from my original idea (obviously) but the overall goals are going to be the same. I'll update when I can, and I will try to be regular but no promises. So I'll see you when I see you I guess.