A/N: Let's Have Another ReCap!
So we haven't done anything with Damian yet, and probably won't for a couple chapters more. Jason went to get Dick's help to find their younger brother. Wally nearly soiled himself with meeting Jason. Barbara had, earlier in the past chapter, gotten a little freaked out and salted the exits to the entire apartment, not that it's done anything. Oh! And Tim is still trapped. Wow, we really didn't do much last chapter. Let's fix that with this one.
ENJOY!
Slade arrived at the apartment building and room number. He wasn't entirely expecting it to be right, but he still had to try. He couldn't just knock on the door like he did at the Gordon's, Grayson had already seen him. So yet again in his Death Stroke mercenary uniform. Slade picked the lock to the door quickly, and made his way inside.
He took a couple steps into the darkened apartment and looked around. No one seemed to be active at the current moment. After asking a few careful questions, Slade managed to some actual information out of the boy. There were three occupants of this house hold. The other two besides his target were James' sister 'Barbara Gordon' and the other is 'Wally'. James never cared to learn the guy last name apparently.
Either way, Slade made sure to check the living room, and then the small kitchenette before making his way down the darker hallway. It was as if the three chose this apartment strictly for it's ability to drain away light. Then again, it is a son of a demon that picked the place. When he had set that possessor on the Bat-clan, Slade made sure to take careful notes of everything he learned. Something about the 'higher Demons' preferred the dark.
He saw five doors when his eyes finally adjusted to the dark. He made sure to check them each quietly. The first one he checked was to his left, was a broom closet. The next one was to the right, in this room a laptop, on and operating, was downloading files as the room's occupant had fallen asleep on the desk in front of it. The long red hair matched the description, Slade almost had to beat out of his informant, as James' sister. A quick scan of the dimly lit room told Slade that she was alone.
After quietly closing her door, he checked the next in on the left, bathroom. The last two doors were directly across from each other. Deciding to keep with his pattern, Slade opened the door to his right. The room was dark, and mostly bare. It wasn't only empty of any living being, but other then the twin size bed with plain white sheets, bed side table, and a mostly empty shelf, it was empty. The only item in the room that had any character was the desk by the closet that seemed to be piled with note books and a closed laptop. Slade closed the room and checked the one behind him. This had to be Grayson's room.
When he cracked open the door, Slade saw a light, and could hear movement. His heart started to beat faster, this was half the fun of his job, trying to gather information while avoiding capture, well, getting caught and tipping Grayson off that he knew his current location, then again, after what he and Luthor learned from Leslie's medical files, he doubted Grayson knew it was him chasing him.
Slade slowly opened the door enough to verify the person in the room. He was remarkably irritated to see a red head moving about typing on one of his three laptops in his room, the light making his the brightest room in the apartment. Slade half wanted to just burst in, point a gun at the guy's head and demand to know where Grayson ran off to. Slade closed the door and left the ginger to his work. Grayson wasn't here, and the reason's could be various. He needed to be able to come back sometime later. He might use Ms. Gordon, if his information was correct, which after asking the elder Gordon of his daughter, was a very valuable pawn to play in this.
Slade plotted how he was to go about this as he left the apartment.
Jason and Dick made it to the bar it was about two in the morning now and Dick was starting to feel tired again. Could he call in later? Sandy still had three days left off and she'd be the one they'd call in to make up for Dick's disappearance. He already was on her bad side enough as is. He'll have to manage work somehow.
"Don't bother." Jason stopped him before Dick went inside.
"It's cold out." Dick pointed out.
"Yes, it's late December, there is snow on the ground. It's bound to be cold for another month or two." Jason rolled his eyes.
"It's warm in there." Dick pointed at the building.
"Tim was never inside, I was, he was watching from out here. Most likely from either up there," Jason pointed to the top of the building across the street. "or there." He moved his finger to the top of the building next to it.
"Ah. You guys have a thing for roof tops." Dick muttered.
"You do to." Jason reminded Dick. Dick was about to say that he was wrong, but he remembered how he'd sit on the roof top of his apartment building and just talk to the weird red bird up there.
"Point taken." Jason smirked at Dick's admitted defeat.
"Let's get going, shall we?" Jason asked leading the way to one of the buildings.
"Allons-y." Dick sighed.
"What?"
"Nothing. Never mind."
The guy snored like a chain saw, he was almost as bad as Jason. Almost. No one could sleep as loud as Jason. Tim rolled his eyes and went back to looking about his cage in better detail. Thankfully Baldy had fallen asleep at his desk with the lights on, allowing Tim full sight of his prison. The door handle to the room outside his cage would be as easy to open as landing on the handle, pulling it open, and then flying through before it closed again. Once air borne, his kidnapper wouldn't be able to catch him again. Getting out of the room wasn't going to be hard. It was getting out of a cage specifically tailored to hold a demonic body imprisoned.
The lock to the cage had a simple key hole, the key obviously missing, and the hole was just slightly too small for Tim to try and pick it with his talon. Then again, this was a genius that Baldy was playing against. Tim looked at the top of the cage where the the hook was held in place by a small screw. As the cage was sitting on the table, the hook was less then necessary. Tim got to work using his beak to loosen the screw. It was difficult and it kind of hurt, it felt like using your teeth to open a stubborn bottle cap.
Finally, the screw was loose enough it was easier to take out. He carefully pulled it out without jarring the hook at the top. He didn't want to risk Baldy turning out to be a light sleeper. The screw hit the bottom of the cage with a light thud, landing in the cage liner softening the fall. Tim took it in his talon and reached around the bars just barely able to fit his closed talon through the space and still hold on to his new pick. The screw, thankfully slipped easily into the key hole. Just a bit of jiggling later, and, . . .
The fact the cage door swung open so easily made Tim wonder if this really was a special cage or if Baldy got screwed over. Once out of the cage, Tim still couldn't change back into his humanoid shape. As annoyed at he was about it, he half expected it and went on with his other plan of escape. Really, why do people still underestimate him?
Wally left his bedroom to see Barbara wondering about the apartment.
"Um, what are you doing?" He asked.
"There's foot prints here." She said worriedly, pointing at the salt lines.
"So you think the salt doesn't stop demons after all?" Wally asked.
"What? No, I mean, it's in the shape of a large boot. I was sleeping, and then I thought I heard someone close my door. I remembered closing it before I sat at my desk so I figured I dreamed it. But then I heard someone walk down the hall and out the front door. So I got up to investigate and this is someone's foot print. Wally, someone was in our house!" Barbara was starting to freak out. "I'm trying to check and see what they took."
"Barbara, calm down. Okay I think you dreamed it." Wally tried to reassure her. He didn't hear anyone. Then again he was extremely focused on going through his connections to see if anyone had hear of or seen the Red Robin. His search turned up dry.
"But the boot print-"
"Dick had a surprise visitor last night. 'Jason' stopped by needing help and they went off to find 'Tim'." This managed to enrage the ginger girl more then calm her.
"What? He ran off with one of his mafia brothers?" She shrieked.
"Tim went missing and Jason asked Dick's help to find him." Wally tried to explain.
"They should have called the police! They should have called in a search party. Not go running off alone in the dark with people we don't even know! There are demons out there!" Barbara shouted. There was a thumping from underneath.
"Keep it down up there, will ya!" Was faintly heard.
"Sorry, Kelly!" Barb called .
"It's CARRY!" The neighbor corrected.
"SORRY!" Barbara took a breath and calmed herself down.
"Look, Barbara, I doubt his brothers are going to hurt him. It sounds like this 'Tim' can't be much older then his mid teens. He probably just ran off somewhere and Dick and Jason probably found him already." Wally managed to avoid showing how much BS he thought of his own theory, but it seemed to calm Barbara down some what.
Barb sat on the couch and pulled her knees to her chest. "I'm sorry Wally. I must sound like I'm going crazy. I know Dick probably thinks I am. He went along with everything last night, but I could almost see it in his eyes how silly he thought I was being." She sighed. "I'm losing my mind."
Wally sat next to Barbara and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "You're not." He pulled her closer and rested his head on her shoulder. This was comforting jester for humans, he found, it's wasn't bad either. He was starting to understand the attraction of gentle physical contact. Then again, living with Dick, you were bound to sooner or later.
"Yeah? How are you so sure?" Barbara asked. Her voice was slightly muffled behind her knees. Wally smiled.
"Because you haven't said anything I don't believe yet." Wally tried.
"You had a book on Demons. I have a book on Vampires, and a series of books on Wizards, and books on Zomibes! and a whole series of books on Vampire Wizard Zombies. It doesn't mean I believe in them. You've probably been humoring me from the start because I forced you to." Barbara nuzzled behind her protection. "I'm just being silly."
"When you think you're being silly, what does it feel like?" Wally asked. He was genuinely curious, he's yet to meet a demon that felt it was being silly for anything it felt serious about.
"Like I made a fool out of myself. All this salt and scaring myself with old rumors and ugly pictures. I guess it's like being given a hint that Santa Claus might be real after all and since you spend so much time believing in him as a kid, you want to think that maybe, just maybe, that magical part of your life can exists again." Barbara explained. She sighed, and then chuckled. "There are no such things as demons, are there."
Wally knew this is were he should say "Of course not." or "I suppose not.". But he couldn't bring himself to lie to one of his humans so blatantly. Not after all her inner turmoil. "Would you like to stop believing in them?" He asked instead.
Barbara sighed and looked up at him. He could see she was gauging how seriously he was taking her. After a couple of seconds she seemed to have made up her mind and shook her head. "I want to find the truth. I'll believe in that." She stated firmly.
Wally bit his lip and looked at her calculatingly.
She really was the smartest human he's ever met.
"So he had to be up here, right? Since the other roof was completely bare of any clues. Wow, Jason, look at all these clues! It's a wonder that we missed it." Dick commented sarcastically through chattering teeth. Jason figured it was getting colder, and he could see the sun coming up on the horizon. He knew that Dick had work in three hours. But he also knew that Dick had a practically unlimited bank account, and if the guy got fired it was his own damn fault for getting a job in the first place. Jason felt no sympathy.
"You know, you didn't use to be such a smartass." Jason grumbled as he checked over the roof top. He was certain there was something he could use.
"Oh? Then please, Jay, tell me what I use to be like." Dick was getting crabby. Jason knew he shouldn't blame the guy, humans needed their sleep. But still, he was running low on rest too. Demons might not sleep every night like humans do, but they did need to rest every now and then.
"You use to be the happiest one of us all." Jason growled. He needed to shut Dick up. At this point he wasn't sure what he'd let out.
"Yeah, that explains why I had to have my brain bleached!" Dick was starting to raise his voice. Now that was oh so typical of the guy. Yelling at Jason like he had a right to be disappointed in him. Well, usually, Dick did, but that was beside the point!
"You were. You were the one that was always trying to get us to get along when the only thing we wanted to do was kill each other! You're the one that managed to talk Damian out of his old habits and helped him try and learn a new way of life! You are the one that helped Stephanie get over what happened between her and Tim! Your smile was always the first one to show and fuck if it wasn't contagious! Why the fuck do you think it hurt us all so much to see you so depressed you wanted to KILL yourself?" Jason was screaming. He had ranted it all right there and he couldn't get himself to stop. Not even the look on Dick's face as Jason stared him down could slow him. The guy looked like a deer caught in headlights. "It was killing us more then you would ever know. You couldn't bring yourself to look us in the eyes. You were constantly avoiding us. Every time we managed to get you to talk, you would start coming back to your old self before you remembered and your eyes got a shade darker each time."
"Jay-" Dick started, but his words seemed lost. Jason looked at him, really looked. This was Dick he was familiar with. That worried, concerned face he'd get when he saw one of his younger sibling's were hurt. Jason missed it. He hated it when Nightwing would give him that look, but lord did he miss it now.
"When you first met that ginger chick. When she made you smile for the first time in over a year. It was the only thing that even gave us a shred of hope." Jason sighed. "Father still locks himself away. Baby bird still won't go, well, outside. Steph and Cas avoid everyone else if they can. Tim now barely asks anyone for anything. Dick, you think you're the only one who's had it rough with all of this?" Jason asked. His voice had softened and he felt the need to sit down. He had maxed out his emotions for the night and he was feeling terribly drained. He wasn't human enough to cope with all of this.
Dick walked over to him and slowly wrapped his arms around Jason. The younger brother couldn't do anything but feel grateful that Dick's embrace still felt the same. Fuck, he missed this.
"I'm sorry, Jason. I didn't realize." The older of the two took a step back and smiled at Jay. It was that 'I don't know how I'm going to fix this, but I'm going to try' smiles.
"Let's just find Tim." Jason sighed. Man was he glade he wasn't the crying type, cause he probably would have been bawling during his little rant. It was at this time he actually thought about what had came out of his mouth that he realized he was even more screwed. "Eh! Dickie-bird!" He called over to Dick.
"Yeah?"
"Don't breathe a word about what I told you. Okay? You aren't even suppose to know half those names and I don't feel like getting executed because you told your pet gingers what you learned." He crossed his arms.
"Alright. I promise." Dick nodded his agreement. Jason nodded back. "By the way. I found a feather. I think that's all the clue this roof has. Let's go back and-"
"Wait, you found a what?" Jason asked jumping forward to see the dark red feather Dick found. It had a slight golden tint to bottom of the vanes, and a the tip and downy bits were a even darker shade of red, almost black. "Red Robin." Jason gasped. Well, it wasn't a girly gasp. But yeah, he had a bit of disbelieve when he said it.
"What?" Dick asked.
"Erm, nothing." Jason waved his older brother off. He needed to think for a second. The feather meant that Timmy took to his therianthropic form. So he would have flown off the roof. The question was now, did he get to safety, and was he hurt.
"You know. I know this bird that likes to stick around the roof of my building, he has the same colored feathers." Dick said. His voice seemed a bit far off like it was just a passing thought in his head when he said it.
"What?" Jason asked, wondering if he heard right. There were no other birds with this type of feather. None that Jason's ever heard of. Then again, he didn't thing there was ever such a thing as a 'Black Flying Fox' until Cas managed to attract a swarm of those things out when spring hit, that one year they were in Australia.
"Yeah. It's just a bird that flies about the apartment. He took a shine to me and I'd sit and talk to him a bit. But I guess that's not important to our-"
"Not important? Dick, you clueless, master of the obvious! come on! Show me where you see him the most!" Jason shouted dragging Dick along with him.
Tim had been flying for a while. The sun was rising and he was starting to get tired. When was the last time he rested? Or ate? Or did anything that remotely resembled a normal body function? Damn, this is why he gets sick all the time. Even demons can't do everything. He already tried to get home, but he couldn't seem to duck under the ground with that thing on his ankle. He almost hurt himself the first time he tried. He figured that if no one was looking for him, then he could at least get to Dick.
It seemed like instinct. Have troubles? Don't think anyone cares? Go to Dick! He'll prove you wrong! That's how it worked. Jason had seemed to step up and try and be there for him a bit more since Dick, well, wasn't around anymore, but it wasn't the same. Jason didn't even try to hide the fact that he had other things he'd rather do then sit with Tim and talk. It's why he was so amendment about breaking the no direct contact rule. He needed Dick to keep him sane.
He got to the roof of the apartment just as the door opened with a slam. Tim saw Dick walking toward him and a flood of relief filled him. It dried up and shriveled away when Jason came marching up from behind him. Yeah. He was screwed.
"You fucking son of a bitch. How long? Hu?" Jason started to shout. Dick looked at the middle brother like he lost his flipping mind.
"Are you seriously yelling at a bird?" Dick asked.
"Shut up Dick. You," Jason pointed right at Tim. Tim really had no idea what to do in this position, he couldn't turn back, Dick was right there, and Jason was doing that thing where he stops thinking and just gets mad. It was a trait Tim really hated about his older brother. "You better change right now and explain what the fuck you think you're doing. And how about disappearing like that, hu? Were you up here the whole time?"
Tim started to tweet at Jason. The guy needed to calm down. Really, before they said something that Dick would catch onto. What was Jason even doing with Dick? Where they both trying to find him? Was it just them?
"Don't tweet at me you little shit. You know how worried I was? Father's going to kill me!" Jason growled.
"Jason, you've officially lost your mind. Is there some type of medication you should be on?" Dick just seemed really confused.
Tim flew up to Jason and tried to show his leg. Maybe it'd make sense to the older guy.
"Damn it Red Robin, stop flapping in my face!" Jason reached up and snatched him from the air. It didn't really hurt, kinda got him by surprise, but he knew he wasn't in real danger.
"The hell? Jason, let the bird go!" Dick cried out.
Jason shifted his hold on Tim, which the youngest was grateful for, and looked down at him again. Tim extended his leg again and this time he could see the dawn of understanding fall on the other demon's face.
"Who did that? Is that why you aren't-" Tim interrupted Jason by tweeting at him. He had given up on actual words and was just simply trying to convey a tone to the man. Jason could usually understand that.
"Were you hurt? Did you get away?" Jason asked. His grip on Tim softened and Tim moved to sit comfortably in the calloused hands. "We need to get you home 'Lil bird." Jason sighed.
"Wait, so, he a family bird or something?" Dick asked. Tim figured when this was all over, he and Jason could at least get a laugh at how confused Dick was at theis current moment.
"Yeah, Dickie, this is Red Robin, the family pet." Jason smirked as he looked over to Dick. Tim could see the sudden rush of thought that passed through Jay's face as he turned to him again. "Was it him? The guy that we've been looking for? What it him that did this?" Jason asked. Tim tried to make a confirming sound.
"He seems incredibly trained. Think he can help us find Tim?" Dick asked.
Jason sighed, "Red Robin, do you know where Tim is?" Tim let himself laugh a bit. The sound probably made Dick think he said 'yes' or another confirmation.
"Is he safe." Tim tweeted again.
"There you go. Now shut up. I've got to go get Ti- Red Robin here home." Jason muttered. He cradled Tim in his hand and started for the roof exit.
"Thanks, by the way. I'm going to have the best day at work today because of you dragging me around town til four in the morning." Dick grumbled from behind Jason. It was so unlike Dick that it made Tim a bit worried. Jason just shrugged him off.
"Oh well, you get fired, you get fired, it's not like you need the job anyway." And with that they disappeared behind the door. Tim didn't know for certain if Dick tried to follow them, if he did, he would have found no one there. Because they weren't in the Upper anymore.
But they weren't making it to the Dark World either. It was like Jason was trying to pull a pole sideways through a door and it wouldn't go through. Or at least that 's what if felt like for Tim. Jason was trying to keep a hold of him and still get through, but something was pinning Tim to the Upper. The only thing Tim could think of was the anklet on his talon. Maybe it really wasn't a tracer, and more then just something to keep him as a bird.
When they finally gave up on trying to get to the dark world, Jason took Tim back to the Upper, where they appeared on the roof top next to Dick's building.
This was thousands of shades of 'not good'.
A/N: So, now Tim is back and Dick is screwed, and Barbara thinks she's going crazy. Wally is about to do something stupid, Jason's already done something stupid, and Slade is plotting again. Can someone let me know if they think the story is moving too fast? Or slow? I need a bit of feed back here.
Later!
~K R&R
