The room was bland, aside from a couple of ugly green chairs and a plant or two. An uncomfortable silence clinging to the air. Green eyes flitted around the room, as she fiddled with her fingers nervously picking at the corners of her nails.
She wasn't really in the mood for any of this, but Batman wanted to talk about her last mission with Robin while the events were still fresh in her mind.
A dark figure moved across her vision taking the seat across from her, snapping her out of her daze. She mentally kicked herself as she hadn't even noticed him come in.
The sat in there letting the silence hang in the air between them, before the dark night spoke," I understand this is hard but it's something we need to talk about, Maggie." He told her.
She flinched a little, not used to hearing her civilian name pass his lips," I know." Maggie said feeling her stomach roll with nausea," Let do this."
"Right, so tell me when you noticed that the mission had started going wrong?" He questioned the younger girl
She snorted, he always seemed to want to get right into things, but she supposed it was as good a place to start as any." I knew something was wrong the moment we got inside." Maggie told him, watch the other man's eyebrow raise but when he didn't say anything she just continued.
"The whole thing was going a little too smooth." She answered," Robin and I are smart, but we should have at least had a little trouble, but it felt like we just waltz in…"
It was an easy mission, just in and out something that the two young vigilantes should have been able to handle. Nothing that required a whole team just a couple of expert hackers and their brains.
Robin hacked the system in record time getting them inside, while Nightingale watched his back.
She could feel the muscles in her stomach tighten, but she decided to ignore it for now. It was too early in the mission to decide whether they needed to pull out.
"The area seems clear I'm not getting any bio readings on this level." She told Robin as they entered the building.
"Remember you still need to proceed with caution." A gruff voice told them over there intercom system.
"Yeah we know this isn't our first Rodeo, B." Robin light hearted voice came over the air ways, calming the nerves in her stomach a little.
Everything would go fine, they could handle this.
" I'll cover the lower area you, cover this one and we'll meet back up with what we find." Robin told her, flashing him her signature grin.
"So, the two of you decided to split up?"
She blinked coming out of her thoughts, when he asked this question.
"Yeah we decided to split up." She told him running her fingers through her thick red hair," It was stupid, my gut was already telling me something was wrong, but Robin was still in my range of vison and…I thought things would be okay…"
Maggie put her face in her hands," But things weren't okay, and he got hurt and…it's all my fault." She said, her voice shaking.
"It couldn't be avoided and wasn't the one that was hurt." Batman told her resting a calloused hand on her shoulder," We don't have to continue if you're not ready."
Her fingers subconsciously ghosted over the bruises on her neck," I'm fine, let's continue." Maggie gave a clipped answer," So we split up figuring we could cover more ground that way."
"Are you sure something supposed to be going down here Batman because so far me and Robin got nothing." Bruce listened starting to feel suspicious himself.
"We'll give it another few minutes and then you and Robin will pull out." He told the two of them, not wanting to put them into any unnecessary danger.
"Alright Bat's but so far everything seems dead quiet…" The girl trailed of as her ears caught a faint noise.
"Nightingale is something wrong." Batman asked, aware that something caught her attention.
"Nothing I just thought I heard…" The line went silent again before shouting," Robin look out!" Before he heard a loud thump and a little gasp.
The line went dead, not even the crackle of static coming through.
"Nightingale…" He waited for a reply but there was nothing but dead silence.
"Do you remember what happened after you woke up?" Batman asked, his hands folded, elbows neatly resting on his knees as he listened.
She hesitated,"…It's still a bit hazy but I think I can manage."
She woke in total darkness, with an intense throbbing pain behind her eyes. Rubbing the back of her head she could already feel a lump forming.
Crawling she found her way to the nearest wall she pushed herself up onto shaky legs, following the smooth, cold wall looking for any sign of a light switch, or a door of some sort.
It wasn't necessary as moments later the lights flickered on, making her squint against the harsh florescent lights. The room was square with bare white walls and no sign of a door.
The only thing that stuck out was the large monitor that looked built into the wall.
The situation was looking bad and she tried contacting the others, "Batman do you read me?" Receiving nothing but dead air," Robin?"
Dread settled heavily in her stomach when neither replied.
The large monitor in front of her flickered to life, the Joker's brightly colored clown face plastered across the on the screen," Ahh so on of the little birdie's is awake." He sniggered, clearly amused with the situation," Good I was just about to send someone in there to wake you."
"Where's Robin?" She questioned, worried about her friend not wanting to imagine what the Joker had done to him.
"Always straight to the point, are we?" He cackled, "Now where's the fun in that." He waved her off casually," What do you say you and I play a little game?" Joker asked.
Weighing her options, she didn't see any other choice other than to co-operate, the Joker was holding all the cards.
"That's a good girl, co-operating." Joker grinned widely," Let's play a game of Hide and Seek, you and your little boyfriend, will hide and I'll come find you, simple enough."
"If you batman finds you first you win." He told them, casually brushing a bit of dust off of his shoulder," If I find you…well you know what'll happen" Joker sneered.
Narrowing her eyes at him, Joker crowed," Now don't look at me like that I'll even give you head start." He grinned," But you might want to hurry your little Bird friend isn't looking too good now."
The screen went black. Her heart sank into her stomach, she had to find Robin.
A door in the wall slid open and Nightingale made her way into a large hallway, leading into a maze.
Her brain was starting panic, she had no idea how she was going to find Robin in this mess of hallways
"Alright deep breaths Gale, focus…" She tried to collect her thoughts," This is Joker you've dealt with Joker before…what do you know about him?"
Thinking about it she was able to calm her mind some," He want's Batman to suffer…so he wouldn't let Robin die yet…that's too easy for Joker…" The weight on her heart lightened," So maybe he's somewhere nearby."
She couldn't waste anymore time, who knows how long of a head start the Joker was actually giving them.
Turning a corner, she sighed exasperated," You've got to be kidding me." She said, finding an opening with a large Joker smiled painted over the entryway," The Joker sure has a flare for the draumatics…"
Running inside she found Robin laying there slack and lifeless.
Her heart froze in her chest,' Oh god I'm too late...' She thought, going to his side, tears springing to her eyes.
But soon she noticed his chest rising and falling taking in shaky breaths of air," Oh thank god." She breathed out.
Taking a moment to collect herself, Nightingale scanned Robin's body for injuries.
There was a small shallow gash just above his lefts brow, crusted over with dried blood. His lip was split, which made her smile a little knowing he'd fought back.
Shifting his arms, she examined his torso, grimacing when she noticed blood soaking through the side of his thin suit. Not sure if she was anywhere near ready to tackle that situation just yet.
"Alright get out of immediate danger first then deal with possibly life-threatening injuries." Grabbing his arm, she tried to drag him out of the room, but it proved to be more difficult then she first thought.
They didn't get very far before she heard a low groan," Robin!" She exclaimed, to the boy's side. Watching his hazy blue eyes flicker open.
"Nightingale…what happened?" He slurred, wincing in pain his whole-body aching.
"It was a trap the Joker captured us…I'll explain more later we have to get somewhere safe." She told him, helping up now that he was conscious.
She stumbled a bit letting him lean heavily on her, as they slowly made their way.
They didn't get far before they heard voice," I think they came this way."
Looks like their head start had ended," You should go on without me, I'm just slowing you down." Robin croaked.
"I'm not leaving you behind we just…have to find somewhere…." She leaned on the wall with him, his weight on her starting to take its toll.
A panel on the wall came loose making her stumble a little. Cocking her head a little she rest Robin against the wall tugging on the panel pulling it loose.
She found a small room, no bigger than a storage closet, she wasn't sure if it would fit both of them but the voices were getting closer so it would have to do.
Dragging Robin inside she carefully replaced the panel, sitting silently.
Holding her breath, she listened quietly, "I could have sworn they came this way." One of the voices said," No matter, if we don't find them the joker will." Another answered.
She still waited a few minutes listen to their footsteps dim until she could no longer hear them before she releases her breath," They're gone." She whispered, scanning the room with the tech in her suit for bugs or listening devices.
"The rooms clean, it looks like we can stay here for a while." She looked over at him wrinkling her nose," Let's get you patched up." She said
It look like a lot of the things were removed from her utility belt but she was relieve to see that the first aid kit was still intact.
Peeling back the skin-tight elastic of his suit, she cringed finally seeing the wound on his side. It was deeper than the one on his brow and still slowly oozing blood but it didn't look life threatening.
Robin hissed as she began to stitch the wound up," Sorry I'm no Batman when it comes to these things."
She finished stitching up the wound wrapping a bandage around his waist to cover the stitches," It's not perfect but it'll have to do for now, Hopefully Batman will find us soon."
She moved so that she was sitting against the wall, cradling his head in her lap, carding her fingers through his dark hair.
Not liking the heat already coming off him,' Please hurry." She thought.