CHAPTER SEVEN

"What Rotten Luck"

Crane was dropped off at the main gate of Arkham Asylum by Nightwing in his recently repaired Sedan.

Crane inhaled enough of his own drug to cause severe unconsciousness for several hours and Dick, Tim and Damian, managed to take him back to the Bat Cave, unnoticed — they had their ways — Dick quickly fixed his Sedan in record time, kept Crane sedated for the full duration, and then Nightwing drove him to Arkham. The warden was called midway to expect them. The Warden was accompanied by two prison guards when they arrived.

Nightwing explained what had occurred and gave the Warden the information he'd need to track down most if not all of Crane's victims he used his new hallucinogenic drug on, and how to recover a favourable amount of the money transferred to numerous off-shone bank accounts Crane had used and stolen.

Not everything could be recovered, however. Twenty-five million dollars would still be outstanding and would be lost, pre-programmed to transfer hour-quarterly if not stopped, Tim learned, erasing the transaction afterwards; all traces that money was even present in accounts, gone. Fragments of holdings had been found with some amazing hacking skills by Tim, but very little else. The teen got a running start for their continuous search for the money. He put "bots" out on the internet to signal back to the Batcomputer with even a hint of any money laundering taking place. Maybe it would yield clues to this crime, or maybe it would stumbled upon some other crime. Only time would tell.

But one question still plagued Grayson as he drove back to Wayne Manor. The operation was much too larger for Crane to work alone, he definitely had a partner. Under the suggestibility of his own drug, this was made apparent, after he was asked a series of questions about his operation. But Crane didn't know who he was or what he looked like, only that he helped fund Crane's newest drug operation.

This reminded Dick of their recent encounter with Mr. Freeze. There was something strange about that case, too. How did Rebecca, Freeze's young helper, acquire $25,000 to offer the guard at Arkham, whom she later murdered? She had the money in a special account. Later, when they attempted to trace the account, all links to it were dead.

He made a slight detour, and drove into the secret entrance to the Bat Cave instead of the main house, maneuvering through its sleuth ways of tunnels, remotely accessing secret doors and walls with a beacon. Tim had painstaking devised a security system to keep any unwanted visitors out while still maintaining a natural appearance if anyone decided to do some cave exploring. In Dick's eyes, the kid was a genius.

He pulled into the main area of the cave and parked near the Batmobile. Alfred, Tim and Damian were all present, conducting themselves in their own ways.

Getting out of the Sedan, Nightwing smiled. "Crane's safe and sound in Arkham. He won't bother us for a long time. And thanks to Tim's masterful computer skills, the Gotham P.D. may be able to find almost all the money he stole."

Tim smiled proudly, as he sat in a chair next to the Batcomputer. His usual spot. Both Damian and Tim were in civies.

"Good," Alfred said. "So, brainwashing Dr. Crane with own drug was successful? Your secret identities are safe?"

"Yup, he doesn't even remember his own caper. The demons inside his mind told him to forget it all." Dick smiled with almost fiendish glee. "And all the bad luck as of late can be contributed back to Scarecrow's unconscious control of Damian in recent days."

And Crane was the one who gave Titus food that made him sick.

Damian was relieved when Dick had told him that. If he had harmed Titus in anyway, even unconsciously, he would hate himself. In fact, Titus was also in the Bat Cave, and sat next to Damian. He was petting the dog.

But Damian was still upset that Crane had managed to control him unwillingly and so easily in the first place. Dick explained that it was such a powerful hallucinogenic drug that even Bruce would have a difficult time with it. This seemed to assuage Damian's woes, but only slightly. He knew he needed more inner strength to match his father.

"I don't remember doing any of it. My mind is a blank. I'm sorry, you guys." Damian apologized, and he meant it. "But, what about Grayson's car? I couldn't have done that. There was no time and I don't have the knowhow."

Dick frowned. "Well, that mystery has been solved, too," he said, rather displeased. "That was on Jason. Apparently he still had a beef with me when I spiked his blueberry smoothie with viagra, so he had Roy Harper, Arsenal, make a surprise — "I just happened to in the area on other business" — visit to the Manor, and mess with my car. Remember I showed him around and let him take a look at my Sedan, say about a week ago…Well, he secretly came back, and put small remote but non-lethal devices on the door frames to blow the hinges and also on my rear undercarriage near the axes that released small darts at the tires to make them blow."

Jason admitted Roy went overboard. So, when he heard what had happened — he said Tim had recently texted him about it — he immediately called Dick, and told him it was his fault. And he took fully responsibility for Roy's actions.

"I'm glad to hear that Master Jason is finally taking responsibility for his wrongs," Alfred said. "If the devices had activated at any other time other than in front of the Manor, everyone could've been serious hurt."

"Jason told Roy to do something to my car in revenge for the smoothie, but after he learned what had happened, he let Roy have it," Dick added. "He told me he cursed Harper out for an hour in The Club House. Jason said the neighbours even voiced a complaint to the landlord, then he got cursed out. So much for revenge, eh, Alfie?"

"Cause and effect, Master Dick."

"I totally agree, Alfie."

"Speaking of cause an effect…" Damian said. He held his stomach and Dick heard the sound of upset gurgling. "I think all those sweets I ate at the carnival are coming back to haunt me. Excuse me." And Damian began to walk very quickly away, towards the bathroom facilities down a corridor housed in the Bat Cave. He told Titus to stay.

Tim laughed. "Looks like the universe does work in mysterious ways," he said. "Serves him right."

"Indeed," Alfred agreed.

Tim and Alfred went to leave, Titus following, to head back up the Manor in the elevator.

Dick had to change first and then he'd follow them.

But just as he took a step, the sound of something metal bounced and clanged on the floor grating within his vicinity, echoing the suddenly quite atmosphere of the Bat Cave. Dick looked down and saw that a small bolt had popped free from the undercarriage near the right rear tire of his Sedan. He must have not fully tightened it in his rush to put the Sedan back together, to get Crane to Arkham, and the vibrations must've have loosed it free.

Reasonable, there was nothing other-worldly about that, he thought.

He bent to pick it up, and suddenly he hear the sound of a massive fabric tear. He whipped his hand to his backside. Yes, he had worn this Nightwing costume many times, washed it, repaired it, so he knew eventually something like this would happen. But right up the butt? It was one of favourite set of tights, too.

Tim and Alfred looked back at him, they had heard the loud tear. It was an unmistakeable sound.

He smiled abashed, cupping his rear. Alfred opened his mouth to say something, but Dick then countered quicker, saying: "Nobody say a word," he said, hushing them, "Not…One…Word."

What rotten luck, he thought.

END.