Jason knew that Dick didn't want to bombard Tim with a bunch of questions, given that he had only been awake for a few hours, but - with a biochemist hiding out at one of his safe houses, and everything else that was going on - Jason wanted answers sooner rather than later. "Look, I know you almost died and all, but we kind of have a lot of shit going on. So, if you could tell us what the hell you know about Ivy's new plan, that'd be great. Also, we found that scientist from WE that you were looking for. Apparently, Ivy had her."
Tim stared at him for a long moment, seemingly trying to process all of the information that Jason just threw at him. "Ivy had Denise Emerson? Why? I mean, I knew that Ivy was up to something. While I was looking into Denise's disappearance, I came across one of Ivy's old hideouts, and I found a list of corporations - some of them were construction companies, others were logging companies, and there were a few oil corporations on the list as well. I figured Ivy planned some kind of attack on them, but I don't know what."
Jason glanced over to Dick, who was sitting on the bed beside Tim. "Well, I think we know the answer to that one." He turned his attention back to Tim, and continued, "But none of that explains why, if you knew we were walking into one of Ivy's warehouses, you didn't say anything before you got sprayed."
Tim raised an eyebrow at Jason, and looked at him as though he was crazy. "What are you talking about? I didn't know that we were walking into one of her warehouses. I was just patrolling the area when you showed up and we saw the power fluctuations. I had no idea I was going to be sprayed or that Ivy was even involved with that warehouse."
Jason was about to argue that he didn't believe Tim for a second when Dick cut in. "Okay, first things first. I assume you have a copy of Ivy's hit list on your laptop." At Tim's nod, Dick continued. "Okay, I'll go upstairs and get it. We should make sure that Ivy didn't manage to send out any of her newly improved and deadly plants to her targets. Jason, do you want to stay here and contact the various corporations while I head back to your safe house and check on Denise?"
Jason rolled his eyes. That shouldn't have even been a question. Of course he'd take fishing for information over wellness checks any day. "You can bet your ass I'm staying here."
Dick ignored Jason in favor of turning to Tim. "If you're feeling up to it, I need you to tap into the city's power grid and see if you can find any places that have had unusually large influxes of power lately. The faster we find Ivy the better, especially since she's probably noticed that Denise is missing by now and cleared out of that building."
Tim nodded once again as Dick dashed up the stairs, presumably to get Tim's laptop for him. Jason waited until he was absolutely certain that Dick was gone before turning toward Tim. "Thanks for taking the hit for me." He wasn't used to having to express gratitude to people, and it made him a little uncomfortable.
Tim merely shrugged. "Don't mention it."
Jason rolled his eyes at the typical Bat response, and resumed his place on the other side of the cave. When Dick returned with Tim's laptop, it only took the kid a few seconds to pull up the list for Jason. Dick was already heading out of the cave on his favorite motorcycle by the time that Jason had copied the file and gotten to work on contacting the various corporations. Pretending to be a member of the EPA, and warning the various corporations to avoid any deliveries with any kind of plant life in them was tiring, but Jason figured it had to be better than Dick's job.
Tim and Jason worked on their separate tasks in relative silence until Alfred came down to check on Tim. The older gentleman spent about five minutes doing his version of fretting over his patient before deeming Tim well enough to continue working, but Jason didn't miss the pointed look that Tim received, which was Alfred's version of a warning of what would happen if Tim worked himself too hard. Jason suspected it wouldn't deter the kid one bit from overworking himself, but then again, it was an Alfred threat, so there was always a chance.
Jason had just finished making the last phone call when Dick's frantic voice was suddenly in his ear. "I thought you said that this place was secure! The entire back wall is smashed and Denise is missing."
Jason winced at how loud Dick's voice was through the comm. "Shit, calm down. The place was secure. Ivy must have had a tracker on her, which makes this your fault."
"My fault? How the hell is this my fault?"
"I'm fairly certain that the guy carrying the hostage to the safe house is supposed to check for tracking devices, Dick." Jason spat the last word like an insult.
"Well, excuse me for being too preoccupied with trying not to get caught in the explosion you set off."
Jason rolled his eyes, even though he knew Dick couldn't see it. "It wasn't even that big of an explosion, Whinewing."
"That's enough, both of you!" Jason could hear Tim's voice in stereo, and turned to see that Tim had grabbed his own comm from somewhere. "Jason, meet up with Dick and see if you can find anything at the safe house. I'll stay here and continuing searching for power fluctuations around the city."
Jason grumbled, but didn't argue as he made his way over to his own motorcycle. He left his comm on, hoping that Tim would find something before he got to the safe house and had to deal with Dick in person. However, it didn't seem as though luck was ever on Jason's side. He walked into the safe house to find Dick sifting through the debris from the broken wall. "Find anything?"
Dick shook his head. "There's some plant residue, but nothing that would lead us to where Ivy has taken Denise."
Jason huffed out an annoyed breath. "Great, so now it's a waiting game to see if Tim can find anything."
Dick shrugged. "Maybe not, I didn't find any remnants of the comm that I gave her."
Jason scoffed. "Yeah, but what's the likelihood that she managed to have it on her, and Ivy didn't find and destroy it?"
Dick heaved a sigh. "I don't know, but it's worth a try." He reached up and hit his comm again. "Hey, Tim, I gave Denise a comm. Can you pull up the tracking data on it?"
"Sure, it'll just take a second." Tim sounded distracted as he answered, which meant he was probably still sorting through the electricity data for the entire city.
Jason folded his arms over his chest and stared at Dick for a moment. "Since when do the comms double as a tracking device?"
Dick merely smiled as he waited for Tim to get them the information. "They're great, right? Tim designed them for…" Suddenly Dick trailed off.
Jason narrowed his eyes, knowingly. "What did he design them for, Dickie-bird."
Tim sighed over the comm once more. "You…I designed them for you, Jason. We wanted to be able to contact you and track your movements, in case you needed help."
Jason glared at Dick, but only because he couldn't glare at Tim. "You know, the more I learn about this stupid misadventure, the more I feel like it was less of a spontaneous event and more like it was a set up. How long were you tracking me before you 'randomly' ran into me on patrol, pretender?"
Tim heaved another long sigh before answering. "I wasn't tracking you. I only check the data on your comm when no one's seen or heard from you for a while. However, none of that is relevant right now. I have the tracking data from Denise's comm, and unless you were hiding her at the botanical gardens, I think it's safe to say that you'll have your hands full, so try not to kill each other along the way."
"Maybe Poison Ivy should change her name to Cliché Ivy."
Jason shook his head at Dick, but didn't say anything. He was still fuming, but Jason figured he would save his anger for the inevitable army of plants that they were undoubtedly going to have to face. "I assume you'll want to enter from the ceiling again, golden boy."
Dick merely smirked as he leapt out of the broken wall. Jason growled as he watched Dick land on the fire escape on the adjacent building and glanced up at him with far too much mirth. "A performer never makes the same entrance twice in the same night. You can go in from above this time."
Jason rolled his eyes as he made his way to the fire escape and then up to the next roof. "Whatever, get a move on. We've got plants to kill."
Dick smiled mischievously as he followed Jason up to the roof. "Don't you mean we've got weeds to whack?"
Without even thinking Jason reached out and slapped Dick upside the head before he could leap to the next building. "No…hell no. If you're going to spend the entire time making bad gardening jokes, then I'm out of here."
"It could have been worse." Tim's voice broke into their bickering. "He could have said…"
"No, don't you dare encourage him!" Jason growled out as he made his way across the rooftops.
Dick practically cackled as he flipped to the next one. "You can't stop both of us, Jay."
Jason groaned as the two of them started teasing back and forth with worse and worse plant puns. "I don't deserve this kind of torture."
Dick laughed. "Lighten up. We're almost there."
Jason grinned at the thought of Dick finally having to fall silent. "That's just what I've been waiting for."
The End (for now)
