The muscle in Garfield's shoulders tensed as the seconds ticked on and the door didn't open. Someone grunted and begged on the other side of the barrier. The door rattled when the person was shoved against it and then they were gone. The sirens were off. The silence sunk in and he was even more aware of the throb between his shoulder blades where he held the wrench up, ready to attack.
There was another ache too; the one between his thighs. It throbbed like a heartbeat. He knew exactly what the on sought of heat brought with it. His shaft was hard, rubbing against the lace boy shorts as a sick reminder that he wanted Lobo, his master, badly. But any knot would do. That was the real sick part. Any knothead on the other side of the door could ease the pain. Would he beg for it? Would he cry and submit?
He had to be strong. Lobo was his master. He had to prove to master that he wasn't like the other omegas.
The door opened and at the first glint of light, he lunged forward, throwing his entire weight into it. It'd been a long time since he battled, but it came natural. There was no time to think. Action only. It was his last attempt at saving the baby and him from a different alpha.
A hand caught his wrist on the downswing and froze his movement. He jerked back, but the hold on his wrist wouldn't allow distance. It yanked him forward and he brought his other hand up to rest on the alpha's chest, to keep his nose from slamming into the wall of hard muscle. His heart was smashing against his ribcage. Nerves made his skin hypersensitive; though going into heat was the main cause for his overt interest in the alpha in front of him.
The alpha was tall, wearing metal armor on his shoulders and down his arm. Garfield risked a glance upward at the alpha's face, only to be greeted by the reflection of light off the alpha's mask. His one exposed eye stared hard at him. Slade.
He jerked back and Slade pulled him hard against the wall. His mask left him emotionless, but he tilted his head in a way to suggest he was catching the omega scent through the scant holes in his mask. Garfield melted up against the wall, wishing it would swallow him whole.
"Stop panicking. I'm not attracted to omegas. However, you will help me change a few things with the Justice League."
Garfield swallowed around the lump in his throat, but it wasn't going anywhere. "They won't compromise; not for you. I… I won't either. Lobo is my lord and master who I shall obey. My heart will always be his."
Slade's exposed eye narrowed as he took in Garfield's face. "You really think Lobo will be back? He'll be lucky if they don't kill him. No, you were promised a long time ago to a hero and I would do anything to watch him suffer. You've been gone too long Garfield. I'm guessing Lobo had you somewhere between worlds where others couldn't follow."
"Wha…what are you talking about? I wasn't promised to anyone," Garfield asked. His heart pounded so loud against his chest, he was sure Slade heard it.
"Child, it's impossible to be around an alpha as young as you were and not imprint," he said.
Garfield thought hard about the alphas he came across. Everyone was an alpha. He never thought about it, not until he hit fourteen, that maybe something was wrong. He should've developed sooner. All alphas did. But every alpha he named, he quickly dismissed. There were no alphas he could've imprinted on. Slade hated the Teen Titans, so that limited the alpha gene pool.
"Robin?" he asked aloud, the moment the thought took shape in his head.
Slade didn't respond. Robin was the one he imprinted on? Did alphas imprint? He had thought it was only omegas after the very few tidbits he looked up online. Everything was omega-centric. He thought it only fit omega's. Did that mean Robin cared about him? Did that mean Robin felt as strongly for him as he felt for Lobo? He physically shook his head and Slade shook him hard, forcing him up against the wall.
"I don't appreciate you being pregnant. I will immediately see that this miscarriage is successful," Slade promised, then pulled him out of the janitor closest.
He scanned the area. The sirens were off. Firefighters in full gear stood in the nurse station with a handful of female nurses. The nurses were beta. He knew this by their stance and how they kept their chins slightly down. They weren't as assertive as the alphas, but they weren't domestic like omegas. There were patients shoved towards the back of the large room, as if distance would keep them from being victimized by the Slade. People were bleeding. He could smell their blood as well as the blood dripping between his thighs along with slick. His gut ached and his hole throbbed. He needed a knot.
Garfield blinked up at the lithe figure that roughly kept a tight hold on his wrist. The mask was solid metal, one side dark, the other light. Slade's attention was on something just beyond him and he glanced over, realizing immediately that he was only the pawn. Slade started this with someone else in mind.
"We are not going to allow you to get far, Slade," the dark haired vigilante said. The others stood behind the young man.
Slade believed his alpha was Robin, but he didn't see Robin among the vigilantes. No one wore the green and red colors of the Teen Titan's alpha leader. The thought made him shiver. The last time he'd seen Robin, the alpha had his fingers up his hole making strange and warm feelings slide through him. Those were bonding feelings. He knew this from experience.
"You want this pregnant omega back? You want a baby maker?" Slade taunted. "That's what I would expect of you Nightwing. After all, he is your omega, isn't he? He's always been."
Nightwing? Was he Robin? He stared hard at the vigilante. Just like Robin, it was hard to read the emotion of the masked man whose face remained eerily blank.
Again Garfield shook the thought. That was a long time ago. He didn't still feel that way about Robin and there was no way the alpha could feel that about him. It'd been about a sense of duty on Robin's end. There was no way Robin would want to bond with an omega. He was almost positive of that.
"Slade, you are taking this too far. Give the omega to us and we will negotiate your time in Arkham Asylum," Nightwing said.
Garfield swallowed hard again, staring at the man who was so much taller than he remembered Robin being. This man had broad shoulders and a tapered waist. He had a solid chest and no doubt, a solid stomach. His outfit hugged every inch of muscle and when Garfield felt his attention slipping lower, he immediately blushed and looked down at the ground instead. He couldn't think of the stranger as his imprinted mate. His mate was Lobo.
Slade chuckled. It was a raspy, hollow sound. "You think Arkham will hold me? Whatever time I am forced to serve is worth it in the end when you suffer. You want the little omega back? This broken piece of shit? This little baby maker who can't hold on to the baby he's been given?"
Garfield shrunk in on himself. His free hand went to touch his stomach, aware that the slick dripping from his throbbing hole carried blood. He was losing the baby. Nothing would change that now. His breath hitched when Slade gave him a shake, then turned to someone he hadn't seen behind them; another alpha. This creature was massive; built like a jungle predator.
"Take him," Slade hissed.
The alpha grunted as Garfield was traded off. The man's hold was much tighter, threatening to break the fine bones in his wrist. He could feel his pulse. His fingers went numb from the tight hold. This close, he took in the masculine scent of male testosterone from armpits that didn't have deodorant. The alpha was all natural and it made Garfield's eyes sting. Mammoth. He recognized the giant, animalistic alpha by his scent.
"Time to go," Mammoth growled as he dragged Garfield towards the sliding glass doors.
He dragged his feet, but it lasted only a second. Mammoth growled his disapproval and yanked Garfield over his shoulder. There would be bruises, but it hardly mattered. He couldn't leave without Lobo and he'd fight to find his alpha. The thought made him sink in disappear against Mammoth's hard shoulder muscles that dug into his stomach and ribs, making it difficult to breath.
There was an explosion right as the double doors shut. The wind blew hard against his exposed, wet thighs. Mammoth growled, giving his ass a hard slap. The alpha's chest vibrated in content at the sound forced from Garfield's throat. Garfield hated himself.
There was a bright yellow sports car parked in the emergency only section of the hospital, right outside the doors. The driver immediately scrambled to make room for Mammoth, who shoved Garfield in first. Garfield crawled over the middle section and into the passenger seat. His eyes shot skyward, wondering if Star Fire or Raven would be in the air waiting to shoot them down. There was nothing in the dark sky. Not even the bright stars pierced through the stormy atmosphere.
Mammoth slammed on the gas, sending Garfield against the door. He tried to right himself when Mammoth yanked him hard against the seat and growled.
"Move again and I'll fuck you right here you stupid omega bitch," Mammoth warned.
Anger stirred in Garfield. He'd been a Teen Titan once. They won many battles against H.I.V.E. F.I.V.E. How soon Mammoth forgot what he could do… what he had been able to do in the past. When he lost his ability, he lost his identity. He sunk back into the seat, unsure how to approach the battling emotions. It didn't help that the smell of his slick overpowered the smell of new leather.
"What you looking for, bitch?" Mammoth growled.
Garfield shifted in his seat, surprised that Mammoth noticed him looking skyward. There should be someone; Superman or Wonder Woman.
"I asked you a question. What are you looking at?" he asked.
Garfield leaned back in his seat and closed his eyes, hoping to deflect the alarming rush of pissed-off alpha testosterone that filled the car. The backhanded slap caught him at the side of his eye and over his nose. It knocked the air out of him and left him startled. It could've been seconds before the white explosion dulled from his eyes, but considering the same song was still on the radio, it was merely seconds. He pulled a shaky breath into his lungs, and then held his breath, waiting and hoping Mammoth would understand that he couldn't answer him. He could only answer his alpha. That's how the rules worked with Lobo.
"Shit," Mammoth growled, almost sounding pleased.
Garfield didn't dare look at him. He didn't dare move, but from the lights that sparked red and blue in the reflective side mirror, they had company. He pressed his back into the seat, wishing he could disappear.
Sickness rolled through his stomach at every sharp turn they took. It was dangerous on the street, with too many pedestrians unaware of the rushing sports car nearing eighty miles an hour. He wished the alpha thought to attach seatbelt. He knew better than to make such a brazen decision and clip his own seatbelt. Instead, he tried to brace himself and keep from sliding back into the alpha's massive bicep when they took another corner too fast.
oOo
Nightwing laid on top of something metal and hard, digging into his back. It took seconds to regain his breath and another few seconds to test the damage to his body by rolling off the examination table crushed under his body weight after the explosion. Nothing sharp pierced his suit or his body.
Plaster particles danced in the air. The hole in the wall was much larger than his body, though it helped that his weight managed to put the space there. He stretched his sides, testing for broken ribs. Again, he was lucky. The explosion stung. He could feel the heat of the exposure against his cheeks and neck. He looked down at the burnt pieces of his suit. Nothing vital was exposed. He touched his mask, relieved that it was still in place.
Wonder Woman stepped through the space in the wall. Behind her, the firefighters and nurses were rushing to the aid of anyone within the blast zone. Ash covered Wonder Woman's cheek, but she stood tall, proud and unharmed.
"Where is Slade?" he growled.
"He got away. There was nothing we could do," she said.
"That's a lie. He was outnumbered. We could easily have caught him," he said. Anger built in his gut. It made his skin crawl. He was aching for a fight and right now, he'd have it with anyone.
"You're going into a rut. It was a bad idea letting you do this," Wonder Woman said. She stepped back onto her side of the hole and he knew, before the dart hit him, that Garfield's very presence would stir his rut again and again.
He pulled the dart from his arm and prepared for a fight he was easily outnumbered by. "I can't sleep. I won't stop until I find him."
A second dart hit his chest. The sharp end made contact with his skin through the layers of his suit. He yanked it out too, determined to stay standing, but the world was spinning. It was pulling him down. He couldn't stop. Didn't they understand? He had to find Garfield. That was the only way to make everything better, for all of them, but mostly for himself and Garfield, his team mate.
oOo
"A little help, Gizmo," Mammoth said out loud.
"Help? You're actually asking for someone to help you? Thought you said you could get in and out without a problem. That's what you told Slade," a voice sassed from a voice box in the dashboard.
Garfield's attention drifted over the dashboard, but there didn't appear to be a camera. He'd have to inspect closer, but that was something he'd never dare.
"Gizmo," Mammoth warned. They took another corner fast enough to made the car spin, nearly missing a row of parked cars.
"Fine. You'll have your distraction in thirty seconds. Turn your car right at the next block."
Mammoth slowed a fraction of a second before turning the car down the road. The sirens were closing in. He slammed his foot back on the gas, but there was very little room between them and the police. Garfield sunk in his chair, wondering why they hadn't fired on the car yet, or brought out the road spikes. They should've done something, shouldn't they?
An explosion rocked the car forward. He could feel the earth shake despite being in a moving car. Mammoth let out a bellowing whoop of excitement. Hope died in Garfield's chest.
The giant alpha pulled in behind a building and got out. Despite the blackness of night without a streetlamp reflection, he watched Mammoth speak a few words to a stranger and point towards the car. Garfield drew his feet up under him. The soft booties on his feet would've been warmer if they weren't soaked and gritty from the street.
Mammoth came to his side of the car and yanked the door open. "Get out, bitch. I want to get back to the command before morning."
The cold wind made his skin prickle. He slowly drew himself from the car and Mammoth grabbed his arm, yanking him the rest of the way out. He tripped over his feet, landing hard in the dirt road. He winced at the scrap of rough turf against his skin.
Mammoth tilted his head and sniffed the air before jerking him upright. "You smell like a perfume factory. Alphas are going to smell you for miles."
He dragged his feet for a second to long before he was lifted up and onto Mammoth's shoulder. An open palm came down hard on his butt. The walk was short and he was thrown into the back of a taxi cab. Hope was short lived when he took a deep breath of air and realized the car smelled of another alpha, though a stranger this time. Two alphas in one car with an omega in heat?
"Took you long enough," the second alpha growled.
"We had a few complications, but it's been taken care of," Mammoth said.
The taxi cab pulled out of the lot and onto the road. Garfield curled in on himself, fighting for warmth as slick slid between his hips. Despite the heat in his belly, the rest of him was freezing.
oOo
It was the second dart that left Nightwing on all fours, determined to stay awake. He half expected another dart, not the three alphas standing around him. He snarled at Wonder Woman and Flash. His anger didn't quite reach boiling point with Batman. The alpha inside him had faith Batman wasn't a threat. That same alpha that wanted to rip Wonder Woman and Flash's head off was almost willing to share with Batman.
"Slade put the nanobots in Garfield. If we take Garfield with us in his current state, Slade will find any safe house we take him. We can't risk going after him until we figure out how to dispel the bots communication sensors with Slade," Batman said.
Nightwing snarled. The fierce vibration left his throat raw. "Cowards. I'll fight them until he's safe. I will not leave him with Slade."
It was the last thought that followed the heavy drug induced darkness.
oOo
Garfield bravely glanced over the faces in the room before dropping his attention to the floor. Logic from his heroic years didn't escape him. This wasn't headquarters to any alpha present. Slade wouldn't risk an ex-hero knowing important information; least that ex-hero got captured by someone who could force it out of them. Except no one understood his strong disposition on silence. It was the last strength he owned.
Slade separated himself from the small group of computer screens he'd been looking at over a much shorter alpha's shoulders. Gizmo still wore thick goggle glasses and was bald. His clothes were heavily padded.
"Good, you finally got here," Slade said, coming out from around the computers, but he didn't approach them. "I heard you had challenges."
"Nothing that couldn't be fixed," Mammoth said. He pulled Garfield in front of him and backed up.
Garfield glanced up long enough to see Slade's fist tighten. He didn't risk looking up at a masked face that would tell him nothing about how the alpha felt. Slade's scent was equally neutral.
"Present yourself, Garfield." It was a rough order.
Garfield swallowed hard as he sank to his knees. At the edge of his vision he saw Jinx and Mammoth. On the other end, Gizmo stared over his computer screens to watch. Heat rushed his cheeks. It filled every part of him, leaving his skin hot, except his frozen fingers and toes. The room was a mix of alpha scents, though Mammoth's scent dominated the room. He was only mildly interested. He'd always smelt alphas, but their dynamics never interested him. They'd never been part of his pizza eating, video gaming world.
He lifted his hips at Slade and let his head fall down between his arms. His shoulders ached from the amount of pressure it took to keep his hands pressed into the ground. His mind was swollen with worry, much like his shaft was swollen with blood. He'd never thought about shafts until he'd sat on Robin's lap, had felt the swelling largeness under his legs, but the thought of seeing it had been brief. Then Lust and Lobo's shaft and knots were always ready for him and he'd been forced to know more than he wanted about them. He was desensitized to them.
Now, after so many continuous nights with only two alphas, he was afraid again, at what the new alpha would be shoving into him.
"He's been trained and he's actually good at following orders. That's more than one could hopeful from a rogue omega," Gizmo said. The computer genus tapped away on the computer key board. It was the only steady sound in the room, soft and constant like rain tapping against the glass.
"This won't do," Slade said. "I don't want a trained omega. A trained omega is hardly fun."
"You were going to train him." Gizmo's voice turned catty again. "And Jesus, he's in heat. It's filling the room."
"Put a rubber knot in him and leave it. No one in attendance at this moment will knot him," Slade said.
Garfield shivered. He felt dirty, like an animal. His stomach ached and he dug his nails into the ground to keep from begging or thrusting his hips up. He glanced down between his legs. The lacy boy shorts kept his penis tucked up against his stomach. It was hard and his balls were drawn and tight. He'd come undone if anyone touched him now, but his mind focused on the blood mixed in the slick dripping down his sides. This was it for Lobo's baby. It could've been Lusts. He wasn't so sure with timing anymore. It all blurred.
His stomach clutched again and this time he whined, drawing his hips higher. His fingers ached as he dug them so deep into the ground that a sharp pain slid under his nails in warning. His nails would snap if he continued this.
"Get him fixed," Slade growled. "And give him a bath. I can't stand smelling Lobo on him. The alien reeks."
Garfield chocked on his growl. He wanted to preserve Lobo's scent. A hard smack on his ass jarred the direction of his thoughts. His new alpha wasn't going to have it.
Slade chuckled. "Maybe I am mistaken, Garfield. Maybe your animal spirit hasn't gone far."
With that, Slade walked out of the room. Garfield licked his dry lips and squeezed his eyelids shut. His eyes burned. A hard piece of rubber wasn't going to work on his heat. He was almost certain.
Gah! What was he going to do to get out of this?
oOo
"Are you any closer to disabling the bots?" Wonder Woman's voice came over the line.
Bruce watched the screen closely. The only way to understand the different functions with nanobots, was to watch them in action. The petri dish held over a few dozen bots, and each one reacted well with the different stimulation. Making them inactive was the real issue.
"We can take Garfield out of his situation as soon as we find Slade, but the bots are going to take time," Bruce said.
Nanorobotics lingered in a primitive research phase across the board with scientists who specialized in them. To have a working handle of nanorobotics at such an elite level capable of stunting ones bio-morphed cells, well, that was someone he'd want on his payroll. However; he was well aware of Mikron O'Jeneus's work and he couldn't afford to have someone like Gizmo anywhere near his labs.
Noise jingled through his computer speakers. Wonder Woman's voice followed the polite ping: "Incoming video from Slade. All alphas concerned in Garfield's safety have been notified."
Bruce reached across his keyboard and flipped a switch that allowed video feed from an outside source to come through. The split decision wasn't made on the side of caution. There was no time to go upstairs and get the computer he was willing to use. The protective ware on his computer system made it difficult to get video feed from unknown locations, but a few quick key strokes overwrote the security.
Slade sat in front of a camera with a carefully unadorned wall behind him. "Welcome heroes. I know you are looking for Garfield. I'll make it simple for you. He's in heat and I will be offering him to the highest bidder, or I might drop him naked in the middle of a highly populated park after notifying some of your closer adversaries. My only request is that Nightwing willingly hands himself over for the omega's safety or you can wait and see how Garfield's life unfolds from here. I will get a hold of you in three hours."
The video cut off and Bruce reached for his keyboard to try and trace the message via satellite. The bar code that came back was unreadable. The symbols held no distinguishable order. There were heavy gaps in the readout.
"I'll do it," Nightwing said from the cell he paced in. The high concentration of alpha testosterone tried to overpower the cave with little success. The cave was too vast to hold such condense scents.
"Contribute your thoughts when you have something rational to offer," Bruce growled. His protégé's scent was starting to make his head ache. He couldn't call Alfred to bring him pills. He wouldn't risk an omega, not even one as worldly as Alfred to deal with this.
"Slade will make him suffer." Nightwing gripped the bars and hissed.
"He will make you both suffer if he gets the chance," Bruce said. He flipped the switch again, allowing the large computer screen to house numerous smaller communication boxes. Each box held a familiar face from the Justice League. There were more present than the alphas who spoke for Garfield.
"How is Nightwing?" Wonder Woman asked over the radio silence.
The way the camera was set up, he was sure the others could see behind him where Nightwing went back to pacing. "In a rut and incapable of making decisions."
No one openly responded, but they understood what was on the line.
"We have three hours to put out our best laid plans before Slade gets a hold of us. This isn't the best idea, but we should consider using Nightwing as bait."
"I'll do it," Nightwing growled from his cell. "Put me in front of Slade. I will destroy him."