Thank you eight people who reviewed! I also would like to thank all of the people who added this story to their Favorites or put this on Story Alert. Now, let's see what I've thought of.
Disclaimer: I have no ownership over Batman comics, but I do own a black t-shirt with a Batman symbol on it... So... IN YOUR FACE DC!
"You're early." Batman stated within the cave, without even turning around in his chair in order to face Tim, who was wearing his Red Robin suit.
"I happened to be in the neighborhood." Tim replied truthfully, since he had coincidently been heading back towards Wayne Manor just to visit. Tim then took a few steps closer to Batman, who in response rose from his chair and put his full attention on Tim. Batman's cowl was down and Tim knew that meant he was in full Batman mode so Tim decided to get straight to the point.
"Can you explain why you called me down here?" Tim asked calmly, his facial expression not showing a trace of his inner longing to have his questions answered. Tim knew that if this was just a regular case, which happened to involve him, Batman would have just explained what was going on over the phone and then he would have requested that Tim should come to the cave. Yet Batman hadn't told Tim anything over the phone, meaning this case didn't just happen to involve Tim, but it threatened his safety too.
He wants me at the cave/manor because of how heavily protecte it is. Tim had figured this out on his way to the manor and though he believed that he could easily take care of himself, Tim also believed that if he hadn't come to the cave then Batman would have dragged him here himself.
He knows me to well. Batman thought to himself, already understanding that Tim had already gained some knowledge about the case through his own actions and speech over the phone. Batman also accepted that he just couldn't help to be a bit over protective, when it came to the safety of any of his children.
"As you've probably already figured out, I've called you here for your own safety, Tim. Actually this case, if I am correct about what's going on, doesn't just involve your safety, but it also concerns the well-being of anybody who has ever been Robin." Batman began to explain, pausing to allow Tim some time to soak in the details.
"If that's correct, then why isn't Dick or Damian here?" Tim asked, while refraining from asking any more questions because he figured that Batman would eventually fully explain.
"As I said, this case threatens the well-being of anybody who has ever been Robin, but I have only had this knowledge for about the past two hours. Damian knows, but... I didn't get to warn Dick in time before he was taken." Batman explained, his voice sounding calm and near emotionless to anyone who didn't truly know him. Tim being one of the people who really understood Batman though, easily detected the faintest hint of worry mixed with guilt in his voice.
"He hasn't responded to his comlink?" Tim asked, not really doubting that Batman wasn't right about Dick being captured, but Tim was really just hopeful that Dick was okay and it was all just a misunderstanding. Even though Tim and Dick had hit a rough patch in their relationship many months ago, they were still brothers and time had long ago helped to sort out their problems even if they're relationship wasn't as strong as before, it would be back to the way it was one day.
"No, he hasn't responded. Not to his comlink or his home phone. Even his tracer isn't emitting a signal." Batman continued to explain, frustration evident in his tone.
"He has a tracer on him?" Tim sounded disbelieving, understanding that Dick would never have a tracer on himself unless he allowed someone to put it on him.
"Yes, he has a tracer and he does know about it also." Batman added the last part, when he noticed Tim's skeptical expression.
He willingly consented to my request of his new suit having a tracer in it just in case he needed to be found and if he was unable to contact anyone to tell them where he was." Batman explained, his heart feeling some ache as he remembered how he had managed to convince Nightwing that he should have a tracer.
Dick's overjoyed expression brought the same happiness to Bruce's heart as Dick's smile had back when Dick was just a kid. Bruce was also glad he was one of the people who brought that smile to Dick's face, the other being Alfred, since they had both took a part in helping to create Dick's new red and black suit. Bruce had never wanted Dick to take his place as Batman, while he was apparently dead, so when Dick had asked for some assistance in making a newly designed Nightwing suit, Bruce had eagerly agreed.
"This is amazing, Bruce." Dick praised Bruce, without taking his eyes of his new suite within his hands.
"I thought you would say that." Bruce stated, watching with almost a smile on his face as his eldest son continuously examined the suit with his eyes and hands. Dick sort of reminded Bruce of a child who was in awe over their new Christmas present and that thought made Bruce feel a small smile begin to form on his face.
"Hey, what's this?" Dick suddenly asked his hand feeling over a small and nearly unnoticeable bump on one of the suit's shoulders.
"That a small tracking device that I had built in the suit in case of emergencies...I had hoped you wouldn't mind." Bruce spoke bluntly, while preparing himself for how his eldest son would react. Bruce knew there had been a time in his life when Dick would have felt that having a tracking device within in his suit was Bruce's way of telling him he couldn't handle himself, and though they were over that, Bruce still couldn't completely predict Dick's reaction.
Dick currently stared at Bruce with a neutral expression, not speaking a word, while Bruce stared back at him for a few suspenseful moments. Bruce was about to speak again when suddenly Dick broke into a large grin and said, "You always think of everything don't you? Whoever said paranoia was a bad thing?"
With that said, Bruce could only smile as he watched his son hurriedly head to the locker room in order to try on his new suit. Bruce could tell at that very moment that he would always have this memory to cherish, no matter what.
"Do you know who's behind this?" Tim's voice snapped Batman out of his flashback and Batman briefly wondered if Tim had been lost in thought too since Tim hadn't brought him out of his thoughts faster.
"Not yet, though I have some suspects. The only accurate information I have is that whoever is behind Dick's capture is targeting people who have been or are Robin and that this person knows my identity along with any person who has been Robin identity." Bruce spoke determinedly, as the ache within his heat began to grown when he fought to keep the memories from his mind.
"Well if they know our identities that narrows down who it could be." Tim stated, his mind already thinking of which villains had the means to actually take down Dick.
"We will know more information after we examine Dick's apartment." Batman stated, already heading towards the Bat mobile and expecting Tim to follow.
"Were going to check out Dick's place?" Tim asked for confirmation, as he entered the passenger seat to the car, which brought back some memories.
"And Jason's place since he was also taken." Batman stated, stunning Tim for a second. Tim wondered how Batman even knew where Jason lived or how he knew Jason had been captured too, but when Tim started to ask, the question was drowned out by the engine as it burst to life. Deciding to keep his mouth shut, Tim just stared out the window as he silently hoped that his brother would be okay.
Jason knocked on the door, even if he could predict he would receive no answer, before he walked in.
"How are you feeling?" Jason asked, watching the almost completely still figure within the bed. Dick was the half conscious figure under the covers of the bed, who looked around the room in a dazed manner and he didn't even struggle against a belt pinning down his arms plus torso to the bed. He was no longer wearing his suit, but instead he had on a red t shirt and black sweat pants, along with an IV attached to one of his arms.
"I feel dizzy." Dick had an obvious slur to his voice, which Jason expected as he moved over to Dick's bed side.
"Father said that's how we all will feel at first." Jason spoke softly, faintly remembering how he had felt when he had first been 'fixed'. Jason also figured the dizziness might have been caused by the fact that the IV in Dick's arm was putting a fluid into him, which made the user go on the borderline of unconsciousness. 'Father' had told Jason that it would help to speed up the 'healing' process of Dick's mind.
"Father?" Dick asked with confusion, remembering the image of a man covered in bandages yet Dick believed that he should be remembering someone else. Dick felt like he was forgetting something, actually he felt he was forgetting many things for some reason, but the main thing he couldn't stop wondering about had something to do with a bat.
"Yes, our father. Remember the man who is trying to fix you." Jason said soothingly, while Dick attempted to sit up in the bed only to immediately stop after the first attempt.
"Why can't I get up?" Dick questioned, his vision was still making the entire room look like it was swaying. Dick closed his eyes for a few seconds to clear up the fog in his head, but when he opened his eyes, he didn't feel any different.
"Don't you remember? You weren't reacting well to Dr. Hurt's methods, which were supposed to help you, so we had to strap you down for your protection." Jason explained and Dick tried to think back to earlier. Dick recalled an event where he had been fighting against someone when pain filled him and Dick was able to assume he was knocked out after that. Another faint memory Dick also remembered was waking up after that and he could swear he had fought against Dr. Hurt who was attempting to hold him down when Jason came in. With Jason and Dr. Hurt against him, Dick assumed they managed to get him into the bed and then they strapped him down along with placing an IV in his arm.
Or at least I think that's happened. Dick wasn't sure if the two events he recalled actually occurred since all his memories were jumbled within his mind. Dick currently could only recall of those two memories, but every other event in his life he could only see fragments. Part of Dick thought that he should continue trying to regain his missing memories, yet another part of him believed that dwelling on recollections would just make him dizzier.
"Other than the dizziness, are you feeling any better?" Jason asked with true concern, bringing Dick's attention back to him.
"I feel fine, but all my memories are all jumbled up." Dick slurred out, while Jason placed a calming hand on his shoulder.
"That's a good thing, bro. It means all the false memories you had are being replaced with your real memories. You'll be lost for a couple hours, but by tomorrow you'll have all the right memories in your head." Jason told him, not knowing that what he said was the complete opposite of what was happening to Dick.
"Oh." Dick mumbled, feeling a strong sensation that told him something wasn't right. Dick ignored the sensation, believing it too be remnants of whatever was wrong with him, when Jason suddenly looked at his watch which was beeping.
"I have to go, Dick. Father wants to talk to me." Jason explained, ruffling up Dick's hair before walking out of the room. Dick observed Jason leave, while the word "father" gave him a strange emotion which he couldn't name. A man in bandages flashed in Dick's head, but some sort of man that reminded him of a bat also came to mind. Dick couldn't remember the names of either of the two people whom he just saw in his head. Yet there was one name he remembered and though he didn't recall how this person looked like, the name always came to him when he heard the word 'father'. Dick could just feel the remembrance of the name escaping him and he couldn't resist saying the name once before it would leave him, even if it was a false memory.
Closing his eyes in frustration at the lack of memories he had, Dick managed to slur out, "...Bruce..."
Batman took one glance around the room and it was quite obvious to him that someone had fought within it. Maybe to any normal police officer or detective it wouldn't have been so noticeable that there had been a struggle in the room, but Batman was not just another police officer or detective.
The struggle didn't last long. Batman observed, while scanning the room with his eyes and noting that whoever had captured Nightwing, hadn't tried to cover it up. If someone really was aiming to capture Robins, Batman knew that they would easily figure out that he would be tracking them down and if they were intelligent enough to capture Nightwing, they would have done a much better job at covering up their footprints if they had wanted to.
Are they attempting to lead me to themselves...or are they just that confident I won't be able to find him. Batman was hoping it was the first possibility and if it was the second, for Nightwing's sake, he liked to believe they were being overly sure. Pondering about Nightwing's safety, Batman couldn't help to allow his thoughts to drift towards Tim, whom he had left at Jason's place to find clues of his own.
He was pinned down. Batman was silent, as he crouched down in order to examine a few dents on the still new looking, wooden floor. Batman mentally imagined what had happened to Nightwing, figuring that the pins had been an attached to a net since he had found a small piece of thick wire. Also finding a syringe, which to Batman's joy was only filled with a sedative, Batman could imagine why the fight hadn't lasted all that long.
Dick had struggled against someone for a short while before he was pinned to the ground. Then he was knocked out and while he couldn't fight back, he was taken. Batman could imagine every scene that occurred in the room, even with the little evidence he had found. The piece of wire coming off the net when Nightwing had attempted to cut through it; while he was pinned down, the syringe was left by Nightwing's captor after he used it, and Batman figured out the net had to have been shot out from something to make such markings in a wooden floor.
Yet none of this tells me who did this. Batman let out a low growl of anger, knowing that the search had been nearly completely pointless. Batman was already storming out the room, ready to meet Tim at the meeting point, when an object caught his eye. Batman stood motionless for a few seconds until he turned sharply towards the book shelf and walked towards it. Batman was unusually gentle as he lifted the object off of the book shelf and he stared at in an almost trance like state.
Batman's mind was numb as he stared at the framed photograph, showing a picture of himself, as Bruce and Dick, when he was a kid. Bruce felt pain in his heart, while he realized how he could faintly remember how Dick had managed to get him to smile for the camera. The raw emotion Batman was filled with intensified as he recalled to himself that Dick had told him that morning, years ago, that he was going to get a picture of Bruce with a true, genuine smile. Bruce had refused at first, but when Dick began to follow him everywhere while talking nonstop, Bruce had eventually agreed to smile for the camera just so Dick would leave him alone. In the end though, Bruce actually did have a real smile on his face when he saw how happy Dick had been, when he agreed to smile for the picture.
I can't think of this now... not until I've brought him home. Bruce broke free of the past, as he placed the frame back down and headed back to the window.
"Did you find anything?" Batman questioned Tim, as he moved gracefully out of the shadows. It had taken about thirty minutes for Batman to drive all the way to Jason's apartment which was in particularly shady part of Gotham, not surprising.
"I found signs of a struggle and I found something else too." Tim became rather quiet at the end of the sentence and Batman heard the slightest of hesitation in his voice. Batman quickly examined Tim's stance and he also found that Tim was tense, though he hid it very well.
"This is worse than I first believed." Tim stated, pulling out something from his belt and handing it to Batman. Batman's frown immediately deepened and his anger boiled at the sight of the evidence, which had been placed into his gloved hand. Neither of them had to speak or even think for them to both know where the evidence had come from. The mummy like bandage, being held in place by Batman's fist, while shuddering in the breeze was all the proof they needed.
That took much longer to write than I expected. Sorry guys, I've been busy with life things and etc. I also had a short case of writers block, but I'm starting to understand where I am heading in this story. So please review, reviews motivate me to write! :)
Somewhat spoiler: Damian is going to make an appearance next time and things may start to get suspenceful in future chapters.