A/N: When was the last time I updated this… sorry for the wait guys! . THAAAAAANKKKKKYOUUUUUUU FOR REVIEWINGGGGG, ALERTTTTING, AND FAVING! Loves to all y'all C:
I know I'm uploading this at an extremely sluggish rate, which I do apologize for. I'm in the middle of sorting some things out with another one of my newer works, but I ask if you know what's going on, to leave it be. It'll all get sorted. Also, FANIME IS IN TWO DAYS! SEE YOU THERE IF YOU'RE GOING! (And see you at San Diego Comic Con if you're heading over there as well!)
Fight, Live, Retaliate
Chapter 14
Some Secrets Resolved
"Dick." Batman spoke uneasily, noting that Wally had learned Robin's identity. "Where's Jason?"
"Ahh…" Dick thought for a moment, looking worriedly at the ears of Batman's cowl.
"And the rest of Young Justice?"
Dick stammered, then looked away.
"I'm here Bats." A voice called out bitterly, causing them to turn around to meet the voice. Jason took off his helmet and headed towards his family with Red Arrow and the rest of the team trailing behind.
Batman was quick to speak in a low, protective, yet dissatisfied voice. "Where were you?" He asked a little less than calmly.
"I was investigating."
"I told you to stay put."
Jason shook his head and took out the USB drive. "Doesn't matter now, look, you got a computer?"
"That's out of the question." The Dark Knight growled as he snatched the flash drive as Jason waved it in his hand. "How can I trust you if you can't follow simple directions?"
Jason brought himself forward, his nose an inch from Batman's lip. "You don't have to," he snarled, "and I won't pull myself off this case."
"Alright, easy now." Roy insisted lightly, casually pulling Jason back.
Though, Jason wasn't the one to take things lightly, especially not a situation like this one. He roughly shrugged his shoulders and drew away from the archer's hands while purposely bumping into Batman as he made his way towards Dick.
"Stay away from him Jason." Batman ordered, but it was obvious Jason didn't budge nor flinch for a second. He simply ran his gloved hand through Dick's mess of hair, being as gentle as he possibly could.
"I'm guessing Batman doesn't know Jason and Dick are brothers huh?" Wally spoke up mindlessly.
Everyone looked at Batman who showed no expression, but seemed to have unenthusiastically accepted it by walking out of the room to give the boys some time. "I'm going to quickly scan through the contents of this flash drive, drop by in ten minutes." He spoke before leaving.
The team stood awkwardly as Jason brushed his forehead against Dick's out of a mutual greeting.
NAAANAANANANANANANANA BATMANNNN
From under the cowl, Bruce kept his eyes glued to the large computer screen and rapidly scanned the files in less than a minute. All the files in the USB were encrypted, but they were nothing that the Dark Knight couldn't handle. He dug through the contents for the remaining minutes he had, until he heard the door slide open and turned around to see Jason, M'gann, and Roy.
"Foster brothers?" Jason could hear Batman ask as he continued to the large computer.
"Yeah." He responded.
"Where's Kadlur? He's the team leader."
"I trust M'gann more."
Batman grit his teeth, unwilling to argue any further, and quickly tapped at the computer keys. Bio-sheets and other files and photos began to swarm onto the screen. They were immediately organized into their corresponding cases then by date.
"Open that one." Roy assisted as he pointed to the screen. It was a financial records sheet, showing a substantial growth in funds starting from year one, to year six. All jaws dropped except for Batman's. The base investment began with a mere $5,000 which grew into $4.7 million.
Sparking further interest, they began to open every folder and ever text document, they went through each gruesome picture and even a few shameful video clips.
M'gann's weak heart caused her to leave the room earlier than intended, but she kept a mental link with Roy and Jason in case she ever wanted to peak back in.
"Tom's a children's slave dealer." Roy spoke first, bringing in the bad news that neither of the other two wanted to admit.
Bruce slammed a clenched fist against the keyboard top which happened to open the file to Jason's illegal "adoption." His eyes couldn't erase what he saw, from the horrible adjectives that described him to the horrific photos provided with the analysis. He turned sharply, "you were sold for $365?," he asked, even though the answer was already cleared.
Jason shrugged while averting his gaze. So this is how much Bats thinks I'm worth?
"How about Dick?"
From behind his domino mask, his eyes narrowed. He always felt somewhere inside that Batman never really cared for him. He just probably wanted one less soul to watch over or have to take into a jail cell. "He was legally adopted." He Jason replied sourly, a tone that Batman had always tuned out.
The Dark Knight simply nodded. "He must have invested in child slavery, keeping a low key by maintaining a normal persona. Normal job, simple house..." he trailed back to the computer screen. He quickly closed a photo after immediately registering the boy as a Jason when he was younger. He was battered and left inside a bathtub to be washed where his eyes were left glazed and lifeless.
Bruce didn't think he could endure anymore, but Batman knew he had to. "Is there anything you know that can help us catch this guy?"
Jason shrugged. "We have enough evidence to withhold this guy."
"But not a clue where he is." Roy finished. "His house doesn't seem inhabitable."
"Trust me," Jason began, "if I could live in that sty, so could he."
"But do you know where he is now?" Batman growled with only that one thing on his mind.
The two shook their heads simultaneously, with Jason suggesting, "he usually works at this time. He would head back home late at night."
"How late?"
"I don't know, 2 A.M. regularly?" Jason muttered, remembering the smaller details lazily.
"Do you know where he works?"
"Near the harbor if I recall."
The long, black cape hovered up and followed Bruce's stride as he walked around Roy and Jason and over to the exit. The two looked at one another and Roy could easily tell that Jason was not amused. He knew Jason didn't like to be left out on the details and would demand to know every aspect of anything relevant to a case.
Batman was always the complete opposite, believing that by keeping the harsher details away from your loved ones, they would be safer.
The archer followed the gunman as he kept up with Batman's side, repeatedly asking, "tell me, Bats. You can't keep things from us forever, we're going to learn eventually!"
"Unfortunately, this isn't a child's mission. I will send these files to the police and inform them of the potential danger." He spoke lowly.
"So your office workers get the story and I don't? What kind of bullshit is this Bats?"
"I don't want to put you in danger." Batman replied quickly, trying to make his way around Jason who had now put himself in front of the larger man.
Jason took a stand, pushing his index finger to the carbon plated bat symbol. "It's not danger you're worried about." He spoke in a matter of fact. "You think I'll screw up and make everything worse."
Batman kept silent and glared down at the man he made. With a gloved hand, he pushed Jason from his path and continued. Jason didn't bother to follow. Instead he turned around to look at Roy who kept an impartial expression and motioned for him to follow as they returned back to the Young Justice sitting room.
"So what happened Jay?" Dick chirped as he saw his brother enter the room again.
"Nothing kid." He sighed with a little frustration. "Just go get some sleep."
Dick knew he wasn't ready to sleep, but shut his eyes tenderly to try to give Jason some reassurance. His ears were sharp as he heard the team talk after ten minutes of utter silence. He could make out all the other voices of the Young Justice team, but Jason's and Roy's were distinctively low and quiet.
"Child slaves?" Artemis screamed, her voice cracking as she openly expressed her astonishment.
Jason could only nod.
"We busted something like this a year ago, you remember Jason?" Roy recalled as he began to pick out several of details that would provide a cruel, but clear example of the severity of the event. "Kids were cramped in crates and sold as soon as possible. It was common to see their ribcage through their skin, and each were being sold for either sadistic fun, human laziness, or sex."
Jason slid the motorcycle jacket off his torso and grabbed the ends of his shirt and pulled it off over his head. He turned around, letting the team take in the sight of his scarred back, and undoubtedly heard the sharp inhale of breaths as he did.
"It's easier to say than it is to imagine." Jason spoke with a slightly controlled, flat tone. "But once you see the damage, it's hard to forget." His face remained hard and his expression was unchanging, unfaltering, he couldn't let his defenses fall now, at such a critical time. "Child slaves are common toys for the rich." He added. "I was a product, sold for 365—"
"$365 dollars?" Wally asked loudly, wide-eyed,
"Thousand." Jason finished. "$365,000." He sighed as he put on his shirt and felt as the archer swung an arm around his shoulder. Jason's shoulders felt heavy with the additional weight, but at least it was the weight of friendship and not of burdens. "The minute you have a price tag slapped on you, is the moment you lose all your self-worth."
Dick could feel tears well up in his closed eyes as he tried not to let the tears slip. His face was still turned towards the Young Justice team and crying would just blow his cover.
But his quivering body wasn't enough to fool his experienced brother who approached him the instant he saw water drops gather at his bristle lashes and sat on the ground to wipe away the tears with his ungloved finger.
"You're not an item." Dick whimpered with eyes still gently shut. "You're my brother."
Jason didn't say anything as he watched the little bird eventually drift back off to sleep. He must have been exhausted, the broken bones surely didn't help make him feel any better. He adjusted the blanket so that he was snuggled close into Dick's neck and laid back, waiting for some kind of cue, telling him to get up and leave.
But nothing sounded, nothing stirred. They all stood idly and quietly for another minute or so, just watching the soft movements of Dick's breathing. They were all stunned and wanted to reach out to hug the two boys.
Jason continued to think, before finally standing up to take charge. "Speed-boy, Fish-boy, Superboy, we're going to the harbor. M'gann, Roy, backup. Artemis, stay."
"What! Why do I have to stay?"
"'Cause we already got an archer." Roy winked as he ran off with the group.
"So what are we doing?" Wally asked as he kept an extremely light jog to keep up with his team mates.
"While Bats is fluttering his cape around, trying to find useless evidence at Tom's house, we're going to try and find Tom." Jason smirked as he put his mask back on.
NANANANNAAAAANANNANANA BATMAN!
The team arrived to the warehouse shipment docks and carefully pressed their backs against the iron crates while M'gann flew in a camouflage in the sky. Ships came and left, only to dock momentarily and bring in the new imports while shipping out the exports.
Jason kept a close eye on each worker that maneuvered through the crates… what the $!* ? Through the crates? He peeled his eye away for a second to face the group. "Be careful, they're some kind of ali—."
Suddenly, a long, gray, deformed vine-like arm sprung through the crate with ease and pulled Jason against the iron, pinning him as it did.
"What the hell is that?" Wally shouted as Superboy moved quickly into action to fend off the strange morphing limbs. To Superboy, they were easy to break, but the annoying part was that the loose pieces were able to wriggle back together and form a new, large limb.
The limb morphed into a harbor worker that was agile and quick. He swooped a jab at Superboy with its knife hands, cutting just the edge of his shirt with the most ease.
"What do we do Jason?" Wally shouted who didn't bother back a reply. He was too busy trying to analyze what these things were. He heard the fog horn of the ship begin to set and turned to see the ship trying to leave. "Arrow!"
"On it." The archer replied instantly, drawing out a tracker arrow and easily hitting his target.
"M'gann!" Jason shouted mentally.
"Yes?"
"Follow that ship for a while, show me what you see."
Miss Martian flew off still camouflaged and hovered just above the ship. She placed a mental image of the ship into Jason's mind and got slightly closer, and closer. The ship workers flashed her an intense glare and she knew she was caught.
Mentally, she threw the men against one of the ship walls and flew down gently. She openly landed and took cautious steps on the ship's surface.
"M'gann! Hold back!" Jason commanded, grunting as he was hit in the chin with a disfigured limb. 'Kadlur, go after her! M'gann, what are you doing?"
"I got a plan!" Roy shouted through his mind as loud as he could over the noise of fighting and confusion. "Round these things up."
As Kadlur dove into the chilly waters, Superboy, Red Hood, and Kid Flash began their battle plan. Connor tackled and threw the creatures on top of one another, as one recovered from his throw, another creature would soon pile on. Jason purposely missed, and shot at the base of the creature, backing it up as Wally wrapped the mesh of fishnets amongst the group.
With three trick arrows drawn, Roy released the bowstring and the three arrows zipped through the air. They all landed perfectly against the creatures, and the trick arrows engulfed the creatures in a crystalline structure of ice.
"Kadlur, M'gann?" Jason called.
"Jason, we are turning the ship around." Kadlur responded.
"You won't believe what we just found." M'gann added with a hint of despair.