A/N: I hope you all realize how rough these are! Mostly they are just extremely enjoyable for me to write right now, while I work on finding enough momentum to continue Awakening (which everyone should go check out). Also, I realize not much happens in this chapter, but somehow it ended up being so long I had to split it in two. I dunno what's up with my muse...
Anyways, hope you enjoy nonetheless and pleaseeee drop a review. Love to hear from you guys. :)
After three failed attempts, Jason was finally able to force his eyes open. He was greeted by mostly darkness, only a thin slit of light filtering in from somewhere above him. As feeling slowly returned to his body, he was aware of three things: he was uncomfortable, he was tied up, and someone was pressed closely to his side. The source of his discomfort was two-fold: a raging headache and a sore body, likely from sitting on the cold, hard ground he now found himself upon, leaning against something equally cold and hard at his back. He was also bound; handcuffs circled both of his wrists, resting in front of his body in his lap. And finally, there was a small, warm body pressed up against his right side.
Blinking a few times in attempt to clear his fuzzy head, Jason slowly took stock of his situation. He quickly deduced he was in the back of some type of commercial van, leaning against the front wall. His eyes were slowly coming accustomed to the dimness and he was able to make out the shape of another body a few feet to his left. As he slowly turned his head to his right, to the body leaning against his own, he found himself looking down on the wide-eyed face of his little brother.
"You're finally awake," Dick blinked, his voice soft in the rattling of the van as it drove.
"How long was I out?" Jason asked, attempting to peruse the younger boy for injuries.
"I'm not sure." Dick shrugged a bit and that's when Jason noticed that Dick's left wrist had a handcuff cinched tightly around it, the other loop of which was wrapped around Jason's own right wrist. "I woke up only about twenty minutes ago. They cuffed us together," the boy added, as an afterthought, lifting his arm slightly as if to show Jason.
Jason felt his own arms move slightly in response to Dick's motion. "Why didn't you wake me up?" The older boy demanded, suddenly uneasy about the idea of Dick having been alone in the van, handcuffed and scared, while his brother slept – was unconscious – beside him.
"I tried," Dick shrugged again. "You were hit in the head though, and wouldn't wake up."
"Son of a…." Jason hissed, realizing now the source his pounding headache. Slowly, the events of the mathlete competition were coming back to him. Dick's panic attack, and then the man appearing in the hallway, threatening them, drugging Dick….
"You were drugged!" Jason exclaimed, his attention fixing firmly on his little brother's face. "Are you okay?"
"I think so…." Dick screwed his face up, as if thinking. "My head's still a little fuzzy though, and I feel kinda loopy. I was never as good at recovering from chloroform as you, even after all of Bruce's training…."
Jason scowled and bit back a harsh reply about how of course Dick couldn't fight the drug as well; it hit him far harder because of his significantly reduced body weight.
"Timmy's still out," Dick continued, nodding to the body across the van. "I tried to get to him, but you're too heavy to drag."
"Was he drugged or hit?" Jason asked, peering through the darkness to try to make out more of the kid curled up on the floor.
"I'm not sure."
"Hmm. Did they take anything?" Jason made to move his hands to his pockets, only to remember that Dick was also connected to him and stopped before he started yanking the younger boy around too much.
"My phone's gone. They probably took yours too."
Nodding, Jason wiggled a bit, letting his other senses overcome his sight as he tried to locate familiar items on his person. "Took my pocket knife and my wallet. Bastards."
There was silence for a moment as the van continued to move, rocking the boys gently back and forth. Jason's gaze drifted back to where Tim lay, still and unmoving, on the floor of the van.
"I'm a little worried Timbo hasn't woken up yet…."
"He's not accustomed to chloroform yet," Dick reminded Jason. It was true, Bruce didn't start drugging his kids until they were cleared for action in the field, and Tim was still in training.
Before Jason could reply, the van lurched to a sudden halt, causing both boys to tip forward, before slamming back into the wall behind them. Jason grunted and hissed as his head slammed back, sending spikes of pain through his skull. Dick whimpered as his head, also likely suffering a headache from the drugs, bounced off the hard wall as well.
The back door of the van was yanked open and a burst of light assaulted Jason's eyes. Momentarily blinded, he missed the entrance of two men into the van until Dick started yelling.
"Hey! Leave him alone!"
Blinking violently to clear his spotty vision, Jason watched as a tall, lithe man grabbed Tim's arms and bodily lifted him to his feet, and then threw him carelessly over his shoulder.
"Shut up, kid," a broader, shorter man growled as he stepped into the van towards the two older boys. The man reached down and grabbed Jason's forearm and, with nearly unreal strength, yanked the boy to his feet.
Jason was so taken back by the sudden display of strength he didn't have time to fight back as he was forcefully brought to a standing position. The movement dragged Dick's arm, still cuffed to Jason's, upwards as well and the smaller boy was half-hauled to his feet as well.
"Get up, crip," their captor snarled, yanking Jason forward and causing Dick to stumble.
Jason watched helplessly as his younger brother struggled to get his feet underneath him in time to keep up with the pace his arm was being yanked around. As the second jolt sent him toppling forward, his prosthetic leg catching on a divot in the floor, Jason threw all his strength into ripping his arm out of his captor's grasp. He was successful, but unfortunately his momentum sent both him and Dick stumbling backwards again, sending the smaller boy crashing back to the floor. Dick yelped as his legs twisted awkwardly beneath him.
The broad man angrily recaptured Jason's arm and attempted to drag him forward again, but this time, Jason resisted.
"This isn't gonna work, dipshit!" He hissed, trying to keep his arms still enough to give Dick time to finally stand up.
"We'll hafta hog tie him then," the man snapped, small eyes narrowing under a scarred brow.
"What-"
Before either boy could move, another man entered the van and deftly unlocked Dick's wrist from Jason's and wrapped a large, dark arm around the boy.
"Let him go!" Jason shouted, reason forgotten as he fought against his captor's hold, attempting to drive his elbow into the man's ribcage.
"Stop moving or Leo'll drop the little kid on his head." The scarred man nodded to where the taller man, Leo, stood, holding Tim over one shoulder, the boy's head pointing downwards. "We only got orders to keep you alive. Boss never said nothin' about banging you up a bit."
This got Jason to instantly still. Dick yelped again as the man holding him, an extremely pale guy with closely shaven white-blonde hair, yanked his arm behind his back and began wrapping a piece of rope around his wrist. Once he'd circled the boy's wrist a few times, he wrapped the rope all the way around Dick's waist and arm until his hand was pinned tightly to his body, behind his back. Looking back, Jason hoped he never saw his little brother looking so scared again.
The two boys were led out of the van, Tim still hanging limp over the tall man's shoulders. Neither made any move to protest as the threat of Tim's sudden and catastrophic release hung heavy in the air. They were ushered quickly across a vacant parking lot and through a large metal door into a dark hallway. After shuffling along it for a few seconds, they found themselves in the middle of an old warehouse, dilapidated cars and car parts strewn everywhere.
"Holy…." Jason whispered, looking around with wide eyes at the cavernous space. Even after growing up on the streets, he'd never seen such a large, abandoned warehouse in Gotham so full of valuable items like the auto parts. That could only mean….
"Ah boys, welcome!"
Dick and Jason's eyes snapped up to the source of the new voice and they were greeted with the absolutely unwelcome sight of their original captor beaming at them from across the room. He started walking towards the small group, still dressed in his fine suit, grey-blonde hair immaculately sleeked back from his finely wrinkled face, dark eyes twinkling excitedly.
"Glad to see you survived the trip." A hint of a smile graced the stately face and Jason nearly shivered at the sight. Next to him he felt his younger brother shudder.
"Now I assure you," the man continued, coming closer until he stood barely a yard from the boys. "I mean very little harm. If we all cooperate, this will go smoothly and daddy Wayne will get his precious boys back in one piece. Or as much of one piece as they arrived here."
At the last comment, the man dropped a small smirk in Dick's direction and Jason felt hot anger rising up in his chest at the taunt thrown carelessly at his brother. Glancing at the boy's face, Jason was distressed to see a haunted look overcoming the pale features. He was saved from reacting, though, by the sudden shuffling and groaning to his right and all attention turned to where Tim was slowly reviving from his deep slumber.
"D-Dick?" The boy's voice was hoarse and slurred, green eyes cracking open. "Wh-what happened?"
"It's okay Timmy, just relax," Dick whispered, straining gently against his captor's hold in attempts to get closer to his brother.
"Wh-where am I?" The boy made as if to lift his head, only to find his current position was very unconducive to such a movement. And then the kid was panicking, twisting every which way as he tried to shake off the hold that was locking him to the tall man's shoulder.
"Now, now, little Timothy," the leader purred, moving even closer. "You should listen to your brother and just relax."
"NO!" Tim shouted, bucking his body. "Let me go!"
The pale man holding Tim kept a firm grip on the writhing body, but soon his jaw was clenched tight with the effort of keeping the boy from throwing himself to floor and out of his grasp. At a nod from his leader, the man holding Dick gave the boy a slight shove forward and he was caught easily and dragged forward into Tim's line of vision.
Dick started struggling now too and Jason found himself nearly shaking with furious energy at the panic the men were inducing in his brothers. Just as he was about to make a move to throw off his captor's hold, the leader spoke again, both hand gripping Dick's arm tightly where it was secured behind his back.
"If everyone doesn't calm down right now," he smirked, sending both Jason and Tim a smug, murderous look. "Cripple Boy here is going to find himself down another arm." At the last word, Jason saw the man's arm tense and Dick let out a short shriek as a sudden grinding pressure was applied to his wrist.
"One more move and I break his wrist."
This got Tim to still instantly and the pale man was able to detangle him from his shoulder and swiftly cuff the boy's hands behind his back. Jason froze as well as he watched Dick's face scrunch in pain and unmistakable fear as the threat of losing function in his single arm weighed heavily.
"Good." The smirk increased, but the hold on the middle brother's arm remained. "Here is how we are going to play this game. In exactly five minutes I will be making a call to Mr. Wayne, explaining the situation and announcing that he has only thirty-six hours to wire me $25 million or he can kiss his little brats goodbye. He will also be dropping all charges placed on every Wayne Tech employee in the last five years and promising to destroy all records of forgery and theft committed by an employee ever. I will send him a live feed of you boys alive and kicking, and then give him a little incentive. Your job is to simply play along. No tricks, just act as the terrified captives that you are and your brother won't be harmed. Understood?"
Tim nodded, color drained from his small face. Jason hissed a "fine", snarling under his breath.
"Put them away."
Dick was shoved back to his original holder and the three boys were frog-marched towards a back corner of the warehouse. They reached a door to a small room built into the side of the expansive cavern and Jason figured it must have been the office for the car shop the building once was. Jason's captor yanked open the door – heavy, made of metal, must have been added after the shop shut down – and Jason was shoved into the small, dark room. A light flickered on and Jason found himself in a small, bare room with an old couch shoved against the far wall.
Tim was thrown in next and, knocked off balance, rammed into Jason, nearly taking both boys down. As Jason struggled to steady himself and his brother, Dick was tossed harshly through the door. He narrowly missed running into Jason and instead hurtled to the floor. Unable to catch himself with his arm pinned to his back, the boy crashed heavily onto his side, what remained of his right shoulder and ribcage takin the brunt of the landing.
Then the door was shut again and the boys were alone.
Having managed to steady Tim, Jason dropped to Dick's side, cuffed hands going to the boy's arm.
"You okay, Dickie?"
Groaning, Dick struggled to sit up. He once again wore a tight grimace of pain on his face.
"I'm okay," he breathed, chest heaving slightly. "Hit my brace, mostly."
Jason pulled Dick into a sitting position and Tim shuffled over, his face deathly pale in the dim light of the single light bulb overhead.
"Think you can get your hands in front of you, Timmy?" Jason asked, noting that, unlike Jason, Tim's hands were cuffed behind his back.
"M-maybe," he whispered, arms twitching as he began maneuvering his hands under his butt.
"Your arm okay?" Jason asked Dick, perusing the boy's wrist and trying to find any signs of damage.
"Fine. Probably bruised, but nothing serious. I hate being tied like this though…." The last part was muttered so low, the older boy wasn't sure if he'd heard it at first.
"I'll work on trying to untie you," Jason assured, glancing around the bare room in hopes of finding something to help cut the rope encircling his little brother's chest and waist. "But what I'd like to know," he continued, accepting his search as fruitless. "Is why Mr. Evil-dad started monologuing like that at the end? What does it matter whether we know what he wants or not?"
Dick's eyebrows drew together in thought. "He said he's going to show Bruce proof we're okay," the boy started, eyes wandering slowly around the room. "Maybe he wants us to know how serious he is and how important his demands are to him, so we're scared – or so we act scared for the camera. Erasing employee history from Wayne Enterprises is a big deal…."
"Do you think he worked for Bruce?" Tim asked, face slightly shocked. "And got fired?" The boy had managed the wiggle his way into a more comfortable position, hands now locked in front of his body, and moved to sit down next to Dick.
"Sounds like a skeezy old man to me," Jason huffed, joining his younger brothers and crouching down at Dick's side.
"Bruce will find a way around his demands," Dick said confidently. "Or Batman will come save us."
"Really?"
Jason was surprised by how pale Tim looked and, upon closer inspection, realized the small boy was shaking.
"Don't worry, Timmy," Dick continued, moving as if he wanted to physically comfort the boy, but found himself unable to move much of his body. Instead, he leaned over and gently nuzzled his dark hair again the younger boy's shoulder. "We'll be fine."
"B-but he threatened to hurt you!" Tim's panic seemed to be building again. "He c-called you cripple and said he'd break your arm!"
"It was all talk, Timmy," Dick whispered.
"He's an asshole," Jason added. The man's words had likely hurt Dick, but he hid it well, for his little brother's sake.
"Bruce can't get that much money in that little time!" The youngest continued talking, voice rising higher. "His money is spread over too many accounts, and a lot of it is invested, and then he has a big amount tied up in shares in Wayne Enterprises and-"
"Jeez, shut up kid! You're too smart for an eleven-year-old. Lay off the books. 'Sides," Jason continued, watching his brother's face for signs of hyperventilation. "Like Dick already said, Bruce isn't gonna give into the demands. He'll find a way out of it."
"H-h-h-how?!"
"You've never been kidnapped before, have you?" Jason suddenly realized.
Tim shook his head, though at this point so much of his body was shaking, it was hard to distinguish.
"We'll be fine, Timmy," Dick repeated. He scooted closer until his right side was pressed against Tim's arm. Knowing Dick didn't like it when people touched his shoulder stump or unprotected side, Jason knew he was doing everything he could to comfort his little brother. "We always are."
"He's right," the eldest affirmed, hands beginning to work at the knot in the rope wrapped around Dick. "We've both been through this before. Many times. Bruce has only ever paid once, maybe twice, and he's never failed to get us back in one piece."
Dick nodded, neck twisting to watch Jason's efforts. "Yeah, one time, Flash came and rescued me! It was so cool, I got to ride on his back all the way the police station. And another time, Batman showed up to the exchange and totally kicked the bad guy's ass."
"Superman rescued me once." Jason fought to dig his nails into the rope. "And one time I got out all on my own."
"We've almost never been hurt," Dick continued.
"Guys like bastard-dad here are all bark, no bite." Jason fought to keep the memories out of his mind, rising unbidden at the 'almost' in Dick's sentence. The reminder that once, his little brother hadn't been so lucky. That the boy, captured as a civilian, probably wouldn't ever have a story like Jason's where he escaped from capture, but instead bore the marks of a time when he'd been beaten and left for dead after a ransom demand wasn't met and Batman couldn't get a location fast enough.
A nudge from Dick brought the older boy out of his memories and back to the task at hand. Untying his brother.
"You don't have any bobby pins or lock picks on you, by any chance?" Jason grunted, trying to shove his large fingers into the tight knots in the rope. "Would be a lot easier to untie you if I wasn't also locked up."
"Want to check my jacket pocket, Timmy?" Dick indicated the pocket with his chin.
"O-okay…." The youngest boy hesitantly lifted his bound hands and stuck them in the pocket of his brother's blazer, pulling out the empty sleeve tucked inside first before digging around. "I can't feel anything…."
"Damn," Jason hissed. "Maybe you can get these knots undone then. My hands are too big."
Tim took to the distraction quickly and set to work on the rope. Jason and Dick made eye contact over the youngest boy's head and Jason could see his own concern for the situation mirrored in Dick's face. They had both heard the promise of "incentive" and, while neither were strangers to torture and coercion at the hands of bad men, Tim wasn't. Jason could only imagine how the young boy would act were he to witness either of his brothers getting hurt. Or worse, how he would react to being hurt himself.
"Got it!" Tim announced triumphantly, holding up the end of the rope he'd been picking at.
"Thank god," Dick murmured, already wiggling his arm free.
And then, in the same moment that Dick successfully shook the rope off his arm, the heavy door creaked open. Jason barely saw the sudden desperate, reckless look in his younger brother's eyes before the boy sprang to his feet and charged the door, ramming full force into the tall, pale man who stood, pushing it open. The man was so taken by surprise that for a moment, Jason thought Dick had a chance as the boy hurtled past the man and into the main room.
…. Right into the arms of their captor.
The stately man hardly seemed fazed as he easily caught the boy before he could get any further, wrapping one muscled arm around the small chest, pinning Dick to himself.
"Tt tt, why am I not surprised?" The man murmured, barely exerting himself to hold a thrashing Dick. "Though I would have guessed it would be Todd, not you, Grayson. Shame, he probably would have gotten further. I have to hand it to you though." He whipped Dick around now so that the boy's back was pressed against the man's broad chest and Dick's wide-eyed face was pointing at his brothers. A calloused hand was pressed firmly against his mouth. "You did surprise me. Must be that gypsy circus blood."
"Oh yes," he continued, smirking at Jason and Tim, who were still crouched in the small room, afraid to make a move that could land their brother in even deeper trouble. "I know everything about you three. I wasn't about to make a move on Bruce Wayne's darling children without an arsenal of knowledge." The arm around Dick's chest tightened and the boy whimpered ever so slightly. "I, too, have a child who attends Gotham Academy. He's a year ahead of you, Grayson, though not nearly as intelligent, I dare say. You're really quite a special boy."
"Let him go," Jason growled, slowly rising to his feet, while motioning for Tim to stay down.
The man laughed now, nodding slightly to the pale man, who had risen and moved closer to Jason. "I think it's time we finish sending Daddy Wayne our message."
It was then that Jason noticed the short, broad man was standing behind the leader holding a large filming camera on his shoulder. The leader turned slightly towards the camera. In one movement, he released his hold on the Dick's mouth, while moving his grip to the boy's left shoulder and the area where his right would be, before raising a foot, only to bring it crashing down on the knee joint of Dick's prosthetic leg.
Dick gasped and Jason heard a loud snap as the leg gave out and his brother tumbled to the floor. There was another gasp, this one sounding pained, as Dick hit the floor, his prosthetic leg twisted unnaturally underneath him.
"Consider that your warning, Wayne," the leader hissed, stepping away from where Dick lay, struggling to get up. "Next time it will be his real leg."
The pale man moved forward now as the leader and the cameraman started drifting away. He grabbed Dick's arm and bodily dragged him across the floor and back into the small cell-like room, and then tossed him carelessly to floor at Jason's feet.
"Don't bother tying him up," the leader called as he walked away. "He won't be much trouble anymore."
The door was slammed shut and the boys were alone again.