A/N: Warning this chapter contains an extensive torture scene along with strong language.
Tim's dad made him quit being Robin a little over three months ago. And what annoys him even more is that his ex girlfriend is the new Robin. Or she was, until she was fired by Bruce for disobeying him in the field.
After what happened to Jason, Bruce doesn't put up with any disobedience. Stephanie however, wasn't going to let this stop her. She continues going out as Robin, and every time she encounters Bruce he growls the same thing, "Don't let me find you out here again!"
And she always responds the same way, "Go to hell!"
One night she decides she is going to do surveillance out of costume. She's been hearing that Black Mask is going to make a move on Penguin, so she's decided to check out one of Black Mask's casino and see if she hears anything.
She gets there around five. Black Mask just walked in. She uses a fake i.d. to get in. She stays close to Black Mask's table and tries to listen in on if his conversation. Hoping he slips up and talks about the supposed gang war.
Eventually he realizes that she's trying to listen in. He whispers to one of his guards, "See the blonde at the table across from ours?" The guard nods. "Good, I'm going to go to my private room, when she follows, grab her and knock her out. Then bring her to me." Black mask stands up and addresses the table, "Sorry men, I have some… business that needs to be attended to."
He walks away and towards his private room downstairs in the basement. She stealthily follows as he predicted. She does a good job of sneaking, that the guard doesn't even realize she left right away. Once he does though, he goes to wear Black Mask said he was going. He sees the girl standing outside the door.
She hears him walking up, but he is a lot bigger than she is. And he has a gun. He reaches for the gun and she charges at him. She jumps up and flips over him. She begins running for the stairs leading upstairs only to find that the door leading to the stairs has been locked. "Crap," she mutters to herself.
She runs back towards the guard and slides underneath, getting a punch to the balls in as she slides beneath him. The man double over in pain. Stephanie tries to find a way out, but by the time she checks all the doors and finds nothing, the guard is back on his feet. He pulls out his gun and aims at her.
He's quick, but she moves quicker. She disarms him then hits him in the head with his own gun. The man falls over, incapacitated. However, what she doesn't realize is that Black Mask is behind her. He injects her with a fluid making her feel drowsy and then fall to the ground unconscious.
When she wakes up she is handcuffed to the ceiling in some sort of torture chamber. Her feet touch the ground, but the handcuffs are tight. She hears the door creak open and sees a silhouette enter. "Well, well, well. Penguin's got quite a bitch working for him! I mean you took out my guard with ease," Black Mask says pacing back and forth. "It's safe to say that he's not going to be having children."
"Good, he would suck at being a father anyway," Stephanie declares.
Black Mask back hands her, "Did I say you could talk, bitch?" She mumbles and he puts his ear closer to her mouth. She takes the opportunity to spit blood in face. Black Mask punches her in the stomach, "What? Does the bitch not know any manners?" He asks repeatedly punching her. She coughs out blood.
"What do you want?" Stephanie asks.
"I want, for the bitch to tell me all of Penguin's plans." He says almost calm.
"I don't work for Penguin." She coughs out.
He gets up in her face and shouts angrily, "DON'T YOU FUCKING LIE TO ME BITCH!" Them he seems to be calm again, "Because if you do lie, I will hurt you."
"I don't work for Penguin," she says.
He takes out a knife and puts it in a fire she hadn't noticed before. He pulls it out of the fire, and the blade steams with heat. He takes the knife and stabs her in the thigh. "What did I say about lying?" He asks completely calm. "If you lie, YOU GET FUCKING HURT!" She cries out in agony. "You want to tell me the truth now?"
She uses one of her free legs and kicks Black Mask in the gut. She smiles a bloody smile, when he shouts in pain and anger. He walks back over to her and before she can even think of kicking him, he stabs her other leg. She winces at the pain.
"Feisty eh? Good, it'll make it more interesting." Black Mask says as he takes the knife and stabs her abdomen. Once. Twice. Her purple dress that she is wearing turns a crimson. "What do you know about Penguin's plan?"
"I swear, I don't work for Penguin," she spits out. He looks at her and smiles.
"Okay, I'll humor you, who do you work for then?" He asks.
"No one!" She shouts.
He stabs her abdomen again, "The knife doesn't believe you, and neither do I." He puts the knife away and opens up a tool box. He pulls out a screwdriver. "You wanna tell me who you work for yet?" She shakes her head no in response. In retaliation, he takes the screwdriver and plunges it into her side. In and then out.
Her side and stomach aches with pain. She knows she probably won't make it out alive.
Meanwhile in Gotham, Penguin has rallied his men and is converging on Black Mask's Casino. The GCPD stands in the middle of the two gangs trying to deter them. Penguin really doesn't care that cops are involved though. "Eh, Gordon? Go piss off, this doesn't concern you!" He shouts.
"Oswald Cobblepot, please put down your weapon and order your men to stand down!" Gordon shouts through a bullhorn.
"No can do, see Sionis is trying to make a mockery of me family. And that can't happen. I must defend me family pride. Now I'm warning you, get out of the way or you'll end up dead!"
The SWAT team that Gordon leads, readies their riot shields. "If that's the way you want it. FIRE!" Penguin shouts.
A bullet flies towards Gordon, when out of nowhere a teenage girl in black with dark hair swings in, and knocks him out of the way. "Thank you," Gordon says to her. She nods her head in response and grapples back onto a building. She runs toward Penguin and his men. She jumps down and begins taking out his men.
She is an extremely efficient fighter. She punches one in the throat, then takes him and throws him at two others. One of the thug's aims at her and she grabs the gun and aims it towards the sky. The thug tries firing but only manages to scare the other thugs. She kicks the thug in the back of the leg making him fall over. She grapples out again and thee police converge on the Penguin and his men.
"Good job Cassandra," Bruce says to the teenage girl.
She smiles and says, "Th… thank… you." Bruce smiles in return and refocuses on the battle. The police have the advantage, and force Penguin to retreat.
Back in the torture chamber, Stephanie is bruised, bloody, and beaten, but she will not give in. Black Mask takes his knife and slits her skin along her upper arm. A tear falls from her eye as she feels the pain. Black Mask notices that she is unable to fight back, and uncuffs one of her hand restraints.
Her arm falls limp and he takes her hand and puts the knife through it. She screams a blood curling scream, trying to fight back the tears. Black Mask hears the door fly open and he looks toward it annoyed. "What did I say about interrupting me!"
"Yeah, I know boss, but I just got word from the boys, Penguin attacked the club!" The thug tells him.
"GOD FUCKING DAMMIT! Does no one understand that it's impolite to attack the kingdom when the king is away!? C'mon you're with me." Black Mask shouts at the guard.
"But boss, what about the girl."
"Does the bitch look like she's going anywhere?" Black Mask retorts. They both leave the room, and Stephanie hears a car outside start and drive away.
After a few minutes she is able to pull her now bloodied wrist from the restraint. She hobbles crookedly towards the door, having to clutch onto something for support every so often. She opens the door and it begins to sink in that she's no longer at the club/casino. She walks wearily out the door and into the street. She recognizes the street, she's only about a few blocks away from Gotham City General.
She begins walking and along the way she falls. A cop pulls up next to her. She recognizes the cop too. "Detective… Bull… Bullock. Please… need help." She mutters.
Bullock looks at her and his eyes widen. "God, you need immediate medical attention, hold on." He picks her up and puts her in the back of the car. "Don't worry we'll be at the hospital quickly. Don't worry you'll be okay." He tells her sounding as if he's trying to convince himself not her.
They pull up at the hospital and Bullock rushes in, "Detective Bullock, I found a severely wounded young woman. Needs immediate attention!"
"Where is she?" One of the doctors asks.
"Back of my car," Bullock says leading them to her. They lift her onto a gurney and begin wheeling her away with Bullock following.
She pulls Bullock close and whispers in his ear, "Tell them to get Dr. Leslie Thompkins."
"She's requesting a Dr. Leslie Thompkins," He says as a doctor exits a room.
"I'm Leslie Thompkins… oh my god. She needs attention quick. She's going to need a blood transfusion!"
When the transfusion is complete Stephanie calls Leslie near. "Call Bruce, he needs to know where I am."
"You work for…" Leslie begins.
"Yes. I'm Stephanie Brown."
"You're Tim's girlfriend correct?" Leslie asks.
"Yeah," Stephanie coughs out. Leslie leaves the room and goes to get the emergency communicator and calls Bruce.
"Bruce, get down here now! Someone is in the hospital that you'll want to see. Bring Tim too."
Bruce and Tim arrive out of costume and wait in the reception area. Leslie walks up to them. "Come with me now," she commands in a stern voice. They do as instructed. Leslie leads them into a room and locks the door behind them.
"I THOUGHT YOU WOULD HAVE LEARNED BRUCE!" Leslie shouts at him pointing towards Stephanie. Tim runs over to Stephanie's hospital bed. He sits at her side. His heart breaks staring at her bruised and bloodied face.
A tear slips from his eye, "Stephanie," he mutters.
"I barely got her stabilized Bruce. This is what happens to your protégées." She says once again pointing at Stephanie. Bruce can't look at Stephanie it's too hard.
"Thank you Leslie," he says.
"Don't, this is the last time I'm helping you. I can't be around this." She says, "They follow you blindly towards the abyss and are willing to die for you! I'm not going to perform on another half dead child!" Bruce nods and Leslie walks out of the room.
"Tim," Bruce says putting his hand on Tim's shoulder.
Tim shakes him off, "Don't." Tim sits by Stephanie in silence. And then the heart monitor starts beating erratically. Leslie rushes in and tries to stop the erraticness, and then Stephanie's pulse stops altogether. A couple of more doctors come in with a defibrillator and use it. She remains still. They try again. Nothing.
"Ok, call it, time of death is 11:02 pm." Tim stands there in shock as the tears fall. When he comes out of his shock, he walks out of the room and doesn't look back. Bruce follows behind him, but Tim doesn't listen as Bruce shouts.