I do not own Young Justice or fairies, which have nothing to do with this story... and probably won't.
Thanks for all the reviews! I had seven when I woke up yesterday, so I got to work on editing this one instead of waiting until next week. (I can be motivated by happiness/support) 11 reviews by now.
Enjoy.
Chapter 6
Bruce drummed his fingers impatiently on his desk, glaring at the beeper that would relay the coordinates of his son. It was early Thursday morning and eight hours after the money had been transferred, without a tracker. The money had been relatively easy to get his hands on because it was mostly from the funds that he had neglected to reintegrate after Dick's last kidnapping.
Convincing Commissioner Gordon that paying the ransom was better than nonpayment, which Gordon suggested because he still thought Dick had been kidnapped by terrorists, was the difficult part. Bruce had pointed out that none of the other kidnappings thought to be by the group had ransoms, so it was probably someone different. Once Commissioner Gordon had conceded the point, Bruce had transferred the funds as fact as humanly possible.
Superman had mentioned to Batman that it might be a good idea to bring along some League members, to ensure that there was back up just in case it did turn out to be terrorists like Gordon was pushing. Batman had considered it, and decided to put Robin's team on it, as half of them were involved already. He had begun taking Robin, Jr. out on patrol dressed as his older brother earlier in the week, to deflect suspicion in case Dick was injured. He had wanted to activate Contingency Plan Jaybird, as Robin called it, and Robin, Jr had been begging to go on patrol for a long time. Batman just wished it was under better circumstances.
Batman mentioned the idea to include a security detail around Bruce Wayne when he went to pick up Dick. Commissioner Gordon agreed, and passed it on to Alfred, as Bruce Wayne was unavailable. Batman, meanwhile, passed the mission and details on to the team and Red Arrow.
"Your mission is a young boy named Richard Grayson. He was kidnapped last Thursday evening around 5 pm, with Artemis as the only witness. The GCPD and some members of the Justice League believe he was kidnapped by child traffickers or terrorists. This theory was mostly removed when his fath-guardian Bruce Wayne removed a package in the mail yesterday containing a ransom tape." At this point, he played the ransom video, which he had digitized after Batman had received it from Commissioner Gordon. Roy watched with rapt attention, having not seen it yet, while the other three already involved averted their eyes. "The ransom has been paid, and Bruce Wayne is simply waiting for the coordinates of his s-ward to be sent."
"I'll bet." Wally muttered. Batman narrowed his eyes at him, causing the boy to raise his arms defensively. Internally, he smirked over the fact that Batman kept almost referring to his kids as sons rather than wards.
"Your mission is to act as a security force around Bruce Wayne and his wards in case the pick-up turns out to be different than it seems, and defeat the kidnappers if it comes to it."
"Wait, wards?" Zantanna asked.
"Yes, Bruce has another ward named Jason Todd. Artemis, Kid Flash, and Red Arrow will stay behind at the manor to protect Jason, as they are already involved in their civilian forms." Four pairs of eyes flashed to the offenders in surprised. "Meanwhile, Aqualad, Zantanna, Superboy, and Miss Martian will accompany Bruce Wayne to the pick-up site."
"Where is Robin? And where will you be?"
"We cannot come as our presence would be expected. Plus, Robin is busy with another task."
At this Wally thought, "Yeah. Staying alive," careful to keep his thoughts quiet so that M'gann would not hear.
"Yours would not be, as you are a covert team and the kidnappers likely do not know that Justice League is involved, giving you the advantage of surprise in a conflict. Plus, you are not the police."
Now, as Bruce waited for the coordinates to appear, Artemis, Wally, Roy, Alfred, Jason, and Aqualad filled his study. Aqualad, was keeping watch on the window, carefully out of sight, while Wally paced and Jason played with a slinky. Artemis and Roy were playing War with a pack of cards, and Alfred stood stoically, with shadows under his eyes the only indicator of his worry and fatigue.
The beeper ba-dinged. Showtime.
They took the Bioship to the coordinates, 14 hours away straight by car, two hours by Bioship, and an hour and a half by Bioship when Bruce was glaring at Miss Martian to make the ship go faster. The whole time, Bruce swallowed his nervousness. Taking the Bioship was a risk because the location was far from any airport and he had no concrete way of explaining how he got there. Bruce thought it was a risk worth taking though because he wanted to make sure his son, who'd been missing for a week, was home safely.
It was going to be alright though. As soon as they got there, his son would be in his arms, safe from harm. Bruce had brought clothes for Dick, which didn't look like his Robin civvies, and a pair of socks and shoes, although he was unsure if his boy would actually need them. Bruce was planning to pick him up and not put him down until he was safe in his bed. Next, he would clear the house of guests except for Wally, Roy, and maybe Artemis—she deserved to know by now—without leaving his son's room, where Jason would also be at the moment.
Then, he would allow the two—or three—remaining to visit Dick. Dick and Wally would argue over who won the bet, then look to Bruce for an answer, and he would oh, so reluctantly say that it was so close it must be a tie and he would have to sacrifice the money for a new Xbox and a new pair of goggles—the goggles were already in the mail anyways. Then, Alfred would walk in with a plate of cookies, and the boys would grin and the plate would disappear in a few minutes, tops.
"Approaching coordinates now." Miss Martian said. They had agreed that the Bioship would drop Bruce a mile from the coordinates, with a GPS tracker on hand. He, with Miss Martian invisible, would walk the rest of the way to the coordinates. The rest of the team would follow. He'd still be insanely early, but at least he wouldn't be accused of arriving weirdly.
Miss Martian put up the mental link. They dropped down to the forest ground, and started marching through the undergrowth of a deciduous forest. They were deep into the Appalachian Mountains, not close to main roads. A car driving this way would be hidden from the time it left the main road to when it returned, even this late in the year.
Before long, the two came along a rusty shack, with walls matching the background of the ransom video. There were car tracks, but they looked to be old and were partially faded by a recent rain. Foot prints and boot prints led to the woods, also old, but only boot prints came back, although one set was deeper, suggesting added weight. There were also prints near where a car may have been parked. No car was in sight. A sick feeling was beginning to rise in Bruce's stomach, but he forced himself to stay calm.
Miss Martian relayed these facts to the rest of the team as Bruce moved forward towards the shack, which had a lock on it. He looked at Miss Martian, asking if he could call out for his son.
"Go ahead." She thought. "Superboy, can you come break the lock?"
"Dick?" Bruce called out, knocking on the door. "Dick, are you in there?" There was no response. "Dick, answer me. Please. It's Bruce." Bruce moved aside to allow Superboy to break the lock.
"He might be unconscious. I can't sense his mind." Miss Martian relayed over the link. The world seemed to darken as a sun went behind a cloud.
"Dick!" He called. Superboy tore the lock off the door, and Bruce wasted no time shoving him aside, ripping the door open, and entering.
The room, when they entered was dark, with no telltale signs of life. Bruce pulled out and flicked on a flashlight. The background matched the video exactly. Serrated edged walls, a chair bolted to the floor with ropes hanging loosely around it seemed to fill the room. There were some gardening tools in the corner and a video camera that probably filmed the ransom video was still set up in the middle of the small room, but no Dick. No Richard Grayson nor any body anywhere. A light coating of leaves and twigs brought in by the recent rain through a crack in the window indicated that the room had not been touched in almost a week. Bruce turned in a large circle, searching with a flashlight for his son.
"No." He thought to himself, and then, to the group at large, "He's not here."
"Superboy, Miss Martian, Zantanna, search the area. I'll help Mr. Wayne search for evidence." Kaldur took charge over the mental link.
"Mr. Wayne, I'll be inside in a second." Bruce moved towards the video camera and picked it up, as Kaldur entered the room behind him. Unbeknownst to them, the removal of the camera triggered a signal that was picked up miles away. Touching the camera, he noticed there was a tape inside the camera. He pressed play.
The camera showed the room as it had been when the ransom video had been made, except Dick was dirtier and obviously out of it. The black-shrouded man from the first video stood behind the boy, one hand on his shoulder. The ropes had been loosened, but not removed.
"Hello Mr. Wayne. As I'm sure you've noticed, having found this video, the room around you is void of life. I told you would send his current location, didn't I? As of when I made these videos, so now, this is his current location. However, by the time you receive the ransom video, pay the ransom, and get the coordinates for this location, we'll be long gone. Don't feel bad. We were never planning to give him back anyways. We thank you for your generous donation to our cause." Bruce's mouth went slack. They weren't giving his boy back? But he had paid the ransom! It was supposed to be an exchange! What did they mean 'generous donation'? What had he done? Kaldur gently laid a hand on Bruce's back to calm the man, and Bruce didn't have the heart to shake it off. They kept watching.
"You should probably begin to think of yourself now. I don't know if you've noticed, but there's a bomb by the gardening tools. I believe I managed to make it almost silent." He looked pleased with himself. "The timer was activated when you removed the camera from the stand. Have a pleasant day."
In the end, Kaldur had to drag Bruce out of there so that they would not both be blown to bits. When they returned to the Bioship, the feelings of shock were beginning to fade, replaced by pure hate and anger. Bruce should have known. The signs were there. He would find his son. Then, he would find the man who stole his son from him, and that monster would face the full wrath of the Batman.
Psych!
Sorry, guys. Story's not over yet. Please Review!
Ransom Guy=Dingbat 3. Updates will probably slow down again because school starts back tomorrow.
Replies to Guest Reviews:
Guest: Thanks! Yeah, he's a little distracted by his stomach. Glad you liked it. :)
Amy: They're basically thick metal cuffs, a bit like Robin's in Teen Titans when he got captured by the Brotherhood, plus bicep and ankle cuffs. The Dingbats went a little overboard.
Shussun: I'm not entirely sure what you said in the first line. Can you clarify please? Thanks for reviewing.
