OK, so there has been a major plot twist. Maia has been kidnapped and in this chapter we find out who did it and some other surprising things. Stay tuned!

Tim immediately shot forward gripping onto whatever was in reach. "Maia!" He screamed not fully realizing what happened. "Calm down Tim you're safe." Dick was standing over him with his arms crossed. "Master Timothy has awakened sir." Alfred said as he swiftly came into the room caring towels, bottles of water, and home-made sandwiches. He passed Tim a bottle and carried his tray of food over to Damian and Stephanie. "Where's Maia?" Tim asked in panic, searching the cave with his eyes. "We don't know." Dick said running a hand through his hair. "A worker at the motel you were staying at found you lying on the ground. When a hit on Alvin Draper appeared on the Bat computer we rushed to the hospital and found you there. The police said your girlfriend was kidnapped so we took you into custody and took over their case." Tim nodded as he swallowed in a hard breath. He wished it was just a nightmare. "Tim." The Bat computer screen was filled with the Batman's face. "I won't be handling this case due to my current location. I apologize for the inconvenience I'll be back as quickly as possible but until then I trust you and Dick with this. Find Maia and bring her home. Batman out." The screen cut off not even giving Tim a chance to respond, must of been prerecorded for Tim's awakening. "Dumbass." Damian whispered under his breath obviously holding back from attacking Tim. "How long was I out?" Tim asked pulling himself off the stretcher. "18 hours." Steph said peeling the crust off her second half of sandwich. "We've been looking high and low for Maia but honestly we don't know where to look." Steph said taking a big bite of her sandwich; she always ate when she was frustrated or scared. "We shouldn't have lost her in the first place." Damian sneered crossing his arms. "We talked about this Dam-" Damian slammed his water on the desk. "I don't care! Drake's at fault here! If it were I who was on the mission. Maia would be here with us. Not with some god-forsaken kidnappers." Damian flailed his arms to make a point. "If anything happens to her I swear I will cut your limbs off piece by piece, slowly, with a butter knife. Then let you live with the guilt-"
"Enough!" Dick yelled silencing the cave. "That isn't going to help Damian. I know you're worried, we all are. But the arguing is only going to slow down the process. Understood?" Damian let out a small -tt- and slumped back against the computer desk with his arms crossed. "Tim I need to know if you saw anyone weird or unusual in Keystone. Someone who could want to hurt Maia." Tim thought hard. Then it hit him, why hadn't he already thought of this.
"The man that Batman sent us to investigate..."
"Yeah?"
"It was Arson."
"Wait, the Arson. The one who-"
"Yes that one."
The cave was silent and painful. Dick put his mask on his face. "Suit up Red Robin. We're going to Keystone." He began to march towards the car. "I'm accompanying you." Damian said pulling his Hood over his head. "No I need you and Batgirl on call for backup. That's an order, Robin." No one questioned him or stopped him to ask questions because for a quick second they swore they heard Batman's voice.

Maia's eyes flickered opened, but there were still darkness. She struggled to get up, to move her hands but they were bond and so were her feet. "Looks like she's waking up boss." She heard that voice before; she'd never forget that voice, Arson. "Remove the bag. It's time we had a talk." That voice was thick, tough, deep, and unfamiliar. The bag was pulled from Maia's head and she squinted when the light touched her face. As her vision cleared she struggled to free herself of her binds to attack Arson. "You son a bi-" The other man interrupted her and came into her eyesight. "Language child. Get yourself under control before I do." She looked the man in the eye and scurried back a bit. She read about him in the Bat files and hoped she would never have to encounter him. This man who beaten the big man in red and blue and even out smarted the Batman himself. She stared at his half colored mask in disbelief, Deathstroke. "You're the mercenary." Maia muttered under her breath. "Smarter then you look." he said walking in front of her. "Oh how rude of me let me introduce myself. The name's Slade Wilson, this here..." He gestured towards Arson, who was standing there with a smug look on his face. "This is my first in command, Arson." Maia swallowed hard. "There's no need for introductions from you. We all know your work we're quite impressed actually. Maia Mason a.k.a Blue Jay. Sidekick of Nightwing, trainee of Batman, member of Batman Inc., last of the Masons." Maia winced then sucks in a huge breath of air. "Slade Wilson." She said recalling his profile. "Slade Wilson a.k.a Deathstroke. Father to Grant Wilson, Joseph Wilson, and Rose Wilson. Mercenary, Expert martial artist, Master tactician and strategist. Transformed in military program to create super soldiers, Deathstroke has a powerful healing ability and possible immortality. He-" Deathstroke started applauding her. "Looks like I'm not the only one who did my research. You just left out a few minor details, nothing big." He knelt in front of her and looked into her eyes. "Arson." He said turning to look at him. "You might want to be back in your cell to greet the brat bats. Make sure to give them the correct instructions." Arson nodded and began to leave. "Send in two more of my followers." He called after him before he turned back to Maia. She could almost see the smile under his mask. He grabbed Maia by the chin with one hand and turned her head almost as if he was examining her. "You look just like your mother." He said turning her head the other way. "You don't know her, you don't know my parents."
"I know John Mason was a coward and a traitor."
"My father was-"
"Oh come on Maia." He said standing to his feet as his followers entered. "You can't still believe John Mason is your father."

Red Robin and Nightwing entered Keystone Holding Facilities. "Hey Dick." The Flash whispered as he leaned against the wall. "I'm sorry man. I should've just handled it myself. I'm here to help." Dick shook his head and put a hand on his friend's shoulder. "Wally it's not your fault." He turned towards Tim. "It's not anyone's fault. I'll do my job you do yours." A cop ran in out of breath. "Mr. Flash sir?" He asked catching his breath. "Just call me Flash, Mr. Flash is my father." Wally said getting back in his superhero stance. "Bank on Elmerson. It's getting robbed by Mirror Master." He said gasping out air. "Got it, back in a Flash." He said before disappearing in a flash of red and yellow and a gust of air. "Oh my gosh, I'm going to die!" The rather unfit cop said leaning forward and placing his hands on his knees. "Uh, are you okay?" Dick asked placing a hand on his back. "I'm fine, I'm fine." He threw his head back and took in one last breathe. "Unlike the Flash everyone can't run two miles per hour. Am I right? Oh don't give me that look you know what I'm talking about, human hero." Dick shook his head. "Arson, Officer Buckner what's your report?" He shook his hands. "Call me Officer Dave, Buckner is so old. Follow me." The officer nodded and led them down a hallway. "He's just been lying there the whole time. We handcuffed him to his bed like you asked Robin." Tim took a heavy sigh. "Red Robin. I'm not just Robin." He unlocked the door to his cell and opened it up. "Hey Fire bunny you've got some very important visitors." Arson let out a thick laugh and sat up in the bed. "This guy's an asshole." Arson said to Dick as he turned his body so his legs were hanging off the side. "If you'll excuse us Officer." Dick said closing him out of the cell. He nodded and headed back to where he came from. "Arson." Dick said looking over him. "I'm not impressed." He said crossing his arms. Arson smiled and leaned as far as his handcuffs would let him to look behind Dick and at Tim. "What's wrong champ?" Arson said imitating his face. "You look a little down." Tim clenched his fist and went to attack but Dick stopped him. "Don't let him get to you." Dick said lowering the arm he used to restrain him. "Where's Maia?" He asked returning to hostile mode. "I killed her. Drowned her in the Keystone Lake." Arson said leaning forward. "Listen to me and listen to me close because I won't be repeating myself. You got two seconds to tell me where she is or I'll-"
"You'll what? Kill me? You Bats don't kill."
"No I'm not going to kill you. Death would be too easy. I'm going to tie you up by your feet and hang you upside down where I'll take a knife and make hundreds of small cuts. Nothing lethal, I'll make sure not to cut anything important. Then you're going to take a bath in a pool of rubbing alcohol."
"Is that all? Sounds like child's play."
"No. That's just the beginning and believe it or not that will actually be the least painful activities of your day. I promise you, it'll get so bad that you'll pray to god that Nightwing breaks his moral code." Arson's grin slowly shrunk from his face as Dick leaned closer. "So I'm going to ask you one more time. Where the hell is Maia?" Arson glared at Dick then rolled his eyes. "Fine." He said hinting for Dick to back away. "There's this abandoned museum on Duskery Road, it's hard to miss. It's the only thing there and it looks like a small palace. That's where she's waiting for you." Dick cocked an eyebrow. "Who's got her?" The smirk returned to Arson's face. "The mercenary. You'll finally get to meet him." He said laughing, throwing his feet back on the bed and lying down. "See you soon boys." He said as they exited and relocked his cell. "Dick, you know this is a trap right? There's no way Arson would give up that much info unless he was told to." Dick nodded as they walked back towards the exit. "I know. But that's not stopping us." Tim closed his eyes as they walked towards the door then reopened them with a deep sigh. "Of course...Maia we're coming."
"Oh come on Maia, you must have had some idea." She sat there silently biting on to her bottom lip. "John was always more of a sensei than a father, wasn't he? Trained you hard and had your mother read you bed time stories." She looked around the area for an exit. Don't let him get to you. "He didn't love you; he never did you were a tool to him. Nothing more than a vessel-"
"That's enough you one eyed son of a bitch. When I get out of here, I'm going to break your fucking arms!"
"Looks like I've found someone's tipping point. Don't talk about mommy and daddy, huh."
"One more word and I swear to god-"
"You'll what? Break my arms? It won't work as you probably know. Only way to beat me is too kill me, to disconnect my head from my body and we both know you won't. Those Bats made you stupid." She bit onto her bottom lip and searched the area. There was nothing helpful, just two of his followers and some really high up vents. "You want to know more about your 'father'?" He said pacing in front of her. "You don't know squat about my father." She said feeding in to his little game. "I should, I mean he was once my employee." Her body fell limp then stiffened up like she had rigor mortis. He's lying Maia, he has to be. "That's right." He said kneeling back in front of her. "Daddy worked for me and so did your mother." Maia shuffled back a little so she wasn't so close. "Think Maia, I mean how convenient is it that your parents was a world class gymnast and martial artist." He leaned a little bit closer. "That's because they weren't. They were assassins, working for me. And you? You were something we created; you were supposed to be the world's greatest assassin." He placed his hands on her shoulders and she scurried away from his touch. "Would you believe you're father was one of my best men? He was also a good friend. Until he betrayed me, do you want to know why? Because he fell in love with your Mother and ran off with her before you were even born." She shook her head, none of it made sense. "Why me? What's so special about me?" She said still in disbelief. "What's inside of you makes you special. You were implanted with a metagene, similar to mines." Her head shot up in shock and fear. "What the hell is inside me?" She asked with a quiver in her voice.
"A metagene, don't worry it's not harmful it's actually very beneficial. This metagene heightens all your senses and increases the mind capacity and velocity."
"What does that mean?"
"It means that your sense of sight, smell, and hearing are beyond that of a human's. You can learn more in a day than an average Einstein can learn in a month. You also learn faster than any speedster can run. I'm guessing you have photographic memory. You could probably recite each word from a book that your mother read to you when you were three. Stop me when I'm wrong."
"What else does this metagene do?"
"It gives you the healing factor, sort of similar to mines."
"I don't have a healing factor."
"Not yet you don't, the gene isn't completely activated. But I bet there's not a scar on you. Which is quite unusual for someone in your line of work?"
"Ok, let's say you're telling the truth and this metagene crap is really bond to my DNA. What does it have to do with John not being my father?"
"When we planted your egg in your mother and the metagene we discovered your father's genotype wasn't compatible. So we looked else where for a donor then six months into Elaine's pregnancy John fell for her and they both disappeared. We looked for quite some time, close to 13 years, just to find them hiding in plain sight. So I sent Arson to get rid of them."
"You sent Arson to kill my family?"
"Yes, you see I couldn't have all that source material hanging around especially not with all that information that had hidden in their minds. So I had them disposed of. "
"Surprised I crawled out of the pit?"
"No, not at all. You wouldn't have died from the blast; the adrenaline would have just fully activated the gene. Which would have saved you."
"Why do you need me, why did you make me?"
"There's a storm coming Maia and I need you to lead my men against it."
"Why me? I can't be the only person in the world you could have given this gene to."
"No you're not, but I wanted it to be in my bloodline."
Then that meant... He couldn't expect her to believe that he was her father. He can't be, it's impossible. But everything else he said was pretty much spot on, and it scared the heck out of her that he knew so much about her. But could it really be true? Could her father really be Deathstroke?
"It's time Maia, time for you to claim your throne."
"If I refuse?"
"I'm not giving you the ability to make a choice."

"Tim, you haven't talked since we got to Keystone." Dick was driving towards the museum Arson had told them about and decided to address Tim's silence. "It's not your fault, Tim. No one expected this." Tim shifted in his seat still silent. "Okay fine, don't talk. But I need you to get your head out of the gutter and start acting like you again." Tim finally turned to Dick's direction and spoke. "I'm not the only one out of character." Dick's foot pressed a little harder on the gas causing the car to jolt a little faster. "Nightwing do you copy?" Bruce's voice echoed throughout the car. "Yeah Bruce, I'm here." He said leaning back in his chair. "I'm two hours away from Keystone." He said almost as if he were in charge of the mission. "We don't have time, me and Red Robin coming up on the road. Be on call for backup." Dick said taking the control back. "Fine, just be careful. I'll be close." Dick slowed down and came to a stop. "Okay we need a plan." Dick said as Tim exited the car. "They're expecting us." Tim said examining the building that was half a mile away. They parked far so that they wouldn't see them coming. "So the front door isn't an option." Dick said standing next to his brother. "We could stage an attack from behind. But they got this place locked down, back and front." Dick said motioning from the back of the building. "Then the only logical strategy is starting from the top. I see a couple of windows, and a...air duct." Tim looked towards Dick and nodded. Through the air duct it is.

The place seemed empty and dusty. Most of the unimportant artifacts were covered in old sheets. It was dark and the only source of light came from the windows reflection of the setting sun. "There she is." Tim whispered to Dick who was laid on his stomach next to Tim in the vent. Maia was in a chair tied up by her hands. "This is too easy." Dick whispered back looking around for some type of trap. "Of course it is. This is a trap but we still have to get Maia out. She might need medical attention." She wasn't moving just staring straight forward and struggling in her binds. "We'll both go down. You'll watch my back as I untie her got it?" Tim nodded and followed Dick as he lightly landed on the ground and ran to Maia's rescue. She was blindfolded and her breath was heavy. As Dick went behind her to untie her she struggled more. "Don't touch me you son of a bitch." She said moving away from his touch. "Shhh Maia it's us. We're getting you out of here." She nodded as Tim reached behind her head and undid the blindfold. She kept her eyes closed tight. "Haven't seen the light in a while." She said as Dick finished cutting through her bindings. She quickly got up and leaped into Tim's arms. "It's okay Maia, you're safe now. We're get-" he stopped speaking and suddenly Maia kicked him off of her and sent Tim unconsciously falling to the ground with a stab wound in his leg. "Maia-" that's when Dick saw it. Her eyes were a different. They weren't they're usual brown. They were yellow and looked twisted. This wasn't his Maia. "Who the hell-" She pulled a gun from her hip and shot it. It sent two wires too Dick's chest. The electrical shocks were higher than usual and Dick blacked out.