A/N: Warning: by the end of this we go from murky-dark to dark.

Another long chapter, so enjoy!

And thank you for 200 + reviews! You guys are awesome!

Friday, 21st of December 2012

"Hello monkeys! Do you know what day it is?"

Robin jerked awake. He had been sleeping sitting up, leaning against the wall.

"Friday?" he answered when he got his bearings back. He was feeling warm, but it was an unnatural, radiating warmth which made his body ache.

"Nope! Well… yes. But it's the twenty-first!"

"Yes? So?" Robin wanted to know. The madman was carrying a large box which he put down just inside the gate.

"It's the end of the world!"

"What do you- oh… that Mayan calendar thing…" he realized.

"Yes, exactly… so I decided today should be the day Slade's life ends. Well. His happy one," Jamie said. "And I have figured out how, too… but we have plenty of time, it's only morning… now, how about some pre death torture?"

Robin closed his mouth which had fallen open during the man's little speech. Was it possible to miss the Joker? Could he somehow get Lex Luthor to take over? If he was going to die, did it have to be by the hands of someone like Jamie? The man moved around in the little room, going from prisoner to prisoner, round and round, like he was trying to decide on something. There was a slight limp in his step that Robin hadn't noticed until now. The sign that the bastard might still be in pain after all those surgeries, made Robin somewhat happy.

"You know what I should do? I should mail him the baby…" Jamie suddenly spoke, making Rose curl up around her stomach and snarl silently. "I'll cut it out, put it in a box, and make sure there is just not quite enough air… I mean, it's big enough to survive out here now, isn't it?"

Robin swallowed the bile rising in his throat. He couldn't let that happen. He just couldn't. Then, Jamie turned towards Joseph.

"But we have you too, of course… Slade already made you lose your voice, so maybe we should send him your ears? I'd like to send him your eyes, because they are gorgeous, but you have that nasty little trick of yours… good thing I do research, huh, so I found out about that in time? On the other hand, a knife through the tape could do it, maybe…" the man hesitated and then shrugged. "But first things first. An eye for an eye. I should do to his son what Slade did to me." He walked over to the large box, which hadn't seem too heavy as he had carried it quite easily, opened the lid a little bit and withdrew a baseball bat. "So… Joey… You can't see it, but, as I'm not as strong as your father, I need a bit of help… can you figure out what it is?" With no more warning the man took a quick step forward and swung the bat hard into the violinist's upper arm. Joseph had no way of knowing what was coming to even try to duck out of the way. As the object crashed into his arm, the sound of bone breaking echoed through the room. Joey let out a soundless scream of pain, while Robin and Rose's cries of shock and anger filled the room. Up until now the hero hadn't been sure that the other young man wasn't all just talk, especially as he hadn't harmed any of them before now, but as strike after strike landed on the defenseless blond man, the Titan began to believe that Jamie would be able to do everything he had talked about… and more.

"Stop! Stop, you're killing him!" Robin yelled. They had tried to get the man to listen for half an hour, but to no avail. Now, finally, however, he straightened up, and wiped his brow with a low laugh.

"My, my… it's quite the exercise, this… and entertaining… I can understand why Slade liked it…" He hadn't been hitting the other man nonstop, he had taken his time, making sure the strikes landed where they were supposed to, but Joseph was still left in a bleeding, broken pile, held up mostly by the chain around his throat. Robin's heart was beating so hard it felt his chest would burst. He had thrown himself against the chains, yelling, threatening, begging for the man to stop, knowing that he really could do nothing but watch it happen.

"It's time for a break, I think… but you don't want more breaks, do you Joey?" Jamie joked. "Just one more thing," he added and let his fist fly, hitting the other man on the side of his nose with a crunching sound. "Okay… now I have some things to prepare…" he added and began rummaging through the box once more. He carefully pulled a square box-shaped thing out of it and Robin's eyes widened. A bomb.

"Did you sleep well?" Slade asked Bruce, who now had changed into his Batman uniform.

"What do you think?" the man snorted. It had only been a few hours, too few for the man to have gotten any real rest, but Slade didn't comment on that. He was actually grateful that the man had taken a break at all, because what he had stated earlier was true: he did need him to stay alert. Bruce knew this city and without him, as much as Slade hated to admit it, the chance of finding their family was slim.

"Fair enough." The mercenary said. The statement was almost an apology, and the detective nodded shortly, eyes glued on the screen where the soil analysis were being shown.

"Damn it all to hell…" the Bat muttered but then turned to Slade. "Did you have any luck?"

"Some. An attendant at a convenience store claimed that she had seen him at least twice."

"Where?" Batman got up from his chair like he intended to run there right now.

"Not too far from the apartment, unfortunately, so it might not be a lead to the hide out. I also searched the basements of several buildings and I didn't see any brickwork like in the picture."

"No, those tiles are old, judging by the size and the building style and the houses around there are relatively new."

"How old would you say? I wasn't an architecture major," Slade asked.

"Are you saying that there is something the great Deathstroke don't know?" Batman smirked, unable to help himself. "A century, at least. We're talking the oldest parts of the city."

"Unless he left Gotham."

"He could have, of course, but it's a big city. That and the time frames tell me he's here."

"Me as well, but if we don't find a lead soon…" Slade muttered. "So… where are the oldest buildings then?"

"Mainly in and scattered around the city center. But whatever is left from those days are mostly public buildings like libraries and museums, guarded, of course… to bring kidnap victims there... it doesn't make any sense."

"I don't think Jamie has much sense…" Slade stated. "His behavior seems… erratic. On one hand he has planned and executed this very well, I'm almost impressed, but on the other hand he has sent Christmas cards and left that photo of himself and his victims… I don't like that. If he's irrational, maybe even insane, there's no telling what he'll do next. What about the soil samples?"

"I was just looking at the results, they were inconclusive. I've run a few different tests now and it doesn't seem to really be soil at all."

"How about a chemical test?"

"Should be done any moment," Batman nodded just as a computer beeped. "There…"

The men both looked at the screen.

"The nitrates are really high," the detective noted.

"This isn't regular soil; it's waste," Slade realized.

"Sewer material. Sewers. Sewers!" with a click Bruce had brought up the photograph again. "This brickwork, it's not from a cellar, it's from the sewers!"

"I've been in quite a few of those in my day, Gotham's included, but they haven't looked like that," the mercenary said doubtfully.

"Not the modern ones, no, but as I said, these are old walls, this was taken in one of the abandoned sewer systems!"

"And where are those?"

"They run all under the city, I'm afraid…" Batman sighed. "Some tunnels are several miles long, some have been cut off by new developments… but they are everywhere…"

"Well, it's a good thing we have an address, then," Slade smirked.

"A what?"

The mercenary tapped the screen, indicating a specific tile. "This. The number or letters on it. If this is a sewer system and not a basement, I bet it's an code helping workers to navigate. Has the computer found out what it says?"

"Yes. I wish we had realized that it might be that important before. It seems to begin with a two and a four, that's all, the rest was too dark," Batman said, his voice a mix of excitement and frustration.

"It's a start."

"Yes… we just have to find out what this numbering system means. I'll contact the city planner, and-"

"Or we'll just hack their database," Slade said. "It's faster than spending time trying to get a hold of someone, especially this time of year."

The dark knight gave him a look and then shrugged. "Fine."

The mercenary grinned. "I'm beginning to like you."

Robin stared at the bomb. It wasn't that big, but it could probably do a lot of damage, depending on what was inside it.

"What are you planning to do with that?" he asked.

"Oh, this? Ah, you know what it is, of course… too bad, I was going to give this whole 'this is my evil plan' speech when I was done with you… but fine… You are currently in the sewers, a nice little cozy appendix, actually, not that big, and I've closed it off. Makes getting here now a little bit tricky, but hey... There's a main water pipe running through it, though, just outside that gate," he said, pointing at the opposite side of the small room from where the man usually entered and left. "I'm going to blow that up, and the water should fill this room within…. a few minutes or so? I don't know, but in the state I plan to leave you, you might not even die from drowning… gonna send Slade some directions, though, so he finds your bodies… and the baby he'll get in the mail tomorrow… A nice little extra present… But I have some work to do before we get to you, Rose, so be patient… and, you know, if you don't want to be cut open, you could try just giving birth to the kid while I'm working… I plan to get a bite to eat later too, so you have the afternoon… don't feel stressed…" With that the man smiled encouragingly and unlocked the second gate. "Just have to clear some debris here to get to the pipe and make sure I can fasten the bomb properly…" he said, more or less to himself, as he stepped through.

He had left the box, with the bloodied bat inside it, and the bomb next to it, in the middle of the floor, but even though Robin stretched until his joints almost popped, he couldn't reach any of it. He was worried about Joey, who's face had turned white from the pain. The blond man was panting painfully, but still seemed conscious. One of his hands had been all but crushed by a strike as he had tried to shield himself, and the other had at least one finger broken, so Robin knew he probably wouldn't be able to sign, so there would be no use trying to communicate with him. Rose looked pale as well, naturally, as she was cradling her stomach. She met his eyes and hers were full of tears. She had been trying to fight her panic as much as he had, but she was at the end of her rope now.

"We… we have to escape!" she whispered, almost like she was pleading with him.

Robin nodded. "Bruce knows this city better than anyone else, and Slade won't give up. Addie neither. He said he sent a photo of us, remember? That might give them some clues… and when the water pipe breaks-"

"When that breaks it will be too late for my baby!" Rose half hissed, half sobbed.

Robin closed his mouth and swallowed. He had put a lot of faith into the fact that someone would hear the explosion and the city would react quickly to the water leak, but Rose was right… it would be much too late.

"Yeah… I…sorry… we'll… figure something out," he mumbled as the woman sobbed softly. Slade… Bruce… get you fucking act together and come rescue us already! he thought desperately.

It took longer than they had thought to find any records of the numbered tiles in the sewers. Bruce had even called the city only to find that the office they needed had closed early for the holidays, so all they could do was to continue to dig through the electronic archives.

The city seemed not to have cared to digitalize any information about the numbers as they weren't of interest to them anymore, however, and the city museum only had a short mention about that the system in fact had existed. Both Slade and Batman worked furiously, and, finally, Batman found a small website made by what appeared to be a group of young males who liked to explore the tunnels, of course without having permission to do so. There were several pictures with them posing and pointing to numbered tiles, some of them beginning with the number two. There were no information about where the pictures had been taken, however, as the group probably wanted to keep their secrets.

"Let's go," Batman said and stood up.

"Where?"

"We have some kids to find."

"That site only states their first names… even though I don't think this one's mother named him 'Rat'," Slade objected. "How do you know where they are?"

"I recognize the graffiti on this wall," Batman said and pointed to a group photo taken above ground. "I know where it was taken, and see this kid with the nose? I'm willing to bet that I know who his good-for-nothing older brother is. We'll find them."

"I'll call Addie," Slade said and picked up his phone. Then he noticed that the detective was heading for the Batmobile. "I'm guessing I won't be driving this time?"

"You guessed right," Batman snorted.

Sam 'the snitch' Brown was never happy to see Batman. It took five years of his life each time, and this time was no different. It was late afternoon and already dark, when it suddenly became… darker. Sam looked up from where he was standing, counting the meager pack of bills he had gotten from his last job, and yelped when he saw the menacing shadow in front of him.

"I'm running out of time!" Jamie complained as he returned from his work in the other room. He had already disappeared a while to eat, although he hadn't bothered giving his prisoners anything, the only thing Robin and Rose had gotten was a bathroom break. He had not bothered with Joseph, however, and a faint smell in the air told the teen that it was too late for a toilet in his case anyway. Robin didn't know what time it was, but he guessed early afternoon. It had obviously taken the man much longer to clear his way to the pipe than he had thought, and the former pirate was covered in sweat and dust. It seemed he now had hit another snag.

"There is a lot more space around the pipe where it runs through the wall… I don't want any water to leak out, after all… I'm going to have to go get some mortar or something…" he said, obviously unsure of what he needed. "A shower would be nice too… Good thing we have until midnight, isn't it?" he grinned. "Be back as soon as I can!" he told them and was off again.

Robin sighed. He was happy for any respite, and of course he wouldn't tell the man that nothing would dry quickly enough to keep water out. Let him try and fail. He sat trying to twist the chains, hoping there would be a weak link in them, somewhere, but it was mostly because he had to do something.

"I- I didn't' do it!" Sam 'the snitch' squealed before Batman even got a chance to ask any questions.

"Oh, I'm sure you did, but I'm not here for you. I want to talk to your little brother."

"Who? I… I don't have a kid brother!" the young man squeaked.

"Then who is this? Don't tell me two families has that nose in the same area," the man said and pushed the photo of the exploring teens in the man's face. Sam was vaguely aware of two more shadows, standing a bit behind the Bat, but then focused on the picture.

"That's… that's Cam, my nephew."

"Good. Where is he now? Where does he live?"

"Down… down on Brooke… number… four. What… what did he do?"

"Nothing, He's going to help," the Dark Knight said began to turn around. "If you call him, or anyone else, to warn them, you will be very sorry, is that understood?"

"Y-yes Sir…" Sam stuttered, and, within a heartbeat, the three shadows were gone. Sam exhaled and opened his clenched fists. The roll of money he was still holding was drenched in sweat.

Slade let Batman do the talking. He was the authority here, after all, he was who these people feared. Besides, the man wasn't entirely sure he would be able to refrain from snapping someone's neck if he didn't get the answers he wanted right away. He glanced over at Addie and saw the same expression in her eyes. After a moment of hesitation, as they left to find this 'Cam'-kid, Slade put a hand on her shoulder. The woman stiffened a bit but didn't pull away.

"We're on our way now. We will find them." Slade told her firmly.

"How can you be so sure of that?"

"There is no alternative," the man stated.

The woman snorted. "Not everything in life always goes your way, Slade."

"I think I know that better than most. But our son will be okay, and so will my daughter. And my- and Robin."

The woman glanced up at him. "I have a question, and I want you to answer honestly. Can you do that for me?"

"I think I owe you as much," Slade nodded, making sure Batman was out of hearing range.

The woman asked her question, and the man answered. He had no idea why she needed to know, but the small smile on her lips told him that he had given the right answer.

"Cameron! There's… There's someone at the door for you!" the woman's voice was a bit shrill.

"What, mum, I'm busy!" the grumpy teen groaned as he dragged himself into the hallway, where he stopped dead. "Holy shit."

"No, he's Batman," someone behind the Dark Knight said. "But good guess."

"Don't worry, I just want a word with your son. He's not in any trouble," Bruce told the mother, and gestured for the shaken teen to join him on the porch.

"Um… so… what do you want?" Cam stammered as the door closed behind him. He rather wanted his mommy right now.

"I know you and your friends explore the old sewer tunnels. We need to find where the ones with the marks beginning with two-four, are," the man said. Another man, a white-haired guy with an eye patch who must have been the one that spoke earlier, handed the teen the picture from his own website along with a phone showing a map of the city.

"These ones which start with the number two, where were they taken?" he demanded to know.

"Um… like… it's pretty big area… this one was here," Cam said and marked a place on the map, "and this one here… I think there's a two-four here, but these tunnels are a bit choppy."

"Choppy?"

"Not very long, just like bits and pieces… so we're not there much. Um… you're not going to tell the police, are you?"

"No, but be careful," Batman told him.

"How do you access these tunnels?" a third person, an middle aged woman, Cam saw to his surprise, asked.

"Well, mostly through manholes, but for the older tunnels, those are square, not round."

"Wouldn't they had been sealed off?" Batman asked.

"Um, yeah, but some were just sealed with crappy concrete and they are mostly loose… But some have been paved over completely, or built over… still, you know, it's easy to figure out where they are…"

The white haired man had a look on his face that told the teen that he was getting impatient.

"Tell us how. Now," he growled, and Cam was only too happy to obey. Only a few minutes later the trio seemed content and were about to leave.

"You might have saved a few lives tonight," Batman told him. "Stay out of trouble."

"And don't disrespect your mother!" the woman snapped at him, making the one eyed man chuckle dryly. Cam stared into the dark street quite a while after they had disappeared.

"We have a big area to cover, I suggest we split up," Batman said.

"Should we call in the police?" Addie wanted to know.

"No, I don't want some rookie stumbling into a situation at the wrong time," Slade said. "The area is big, but not beyond three people. And now we know about the grid system the manholes are laid out after, so if we find one, we can find others."

"Agreed. Take these," Batman said and handed them each a small disk from his belt. "They are simple silent alarms. If you see anything, press it and the rest of us will know where you are and come as soon as we can."

"We'll need flashlights," the woman pointed out. "Do you have that in your belt as well?"

"Only the one," Batman answered.

Slade has spotted a hardware store, however, and smirked.

"Leave the flashlights to me."

"The store is closed," the detective pointed out.

"Then you might want to look away for a bit."

Jamie had returned and by the sound of it he was working on closing the holes around the pipe. There had been some muttered swearing and complaints, which Robin took some pleasure from hearing, but now the man seemed to be finished. He came out of the gate, smirked at his prisoners and went over the to the box where he pulled out something that looked like a giant lunch box of some sort, as well as a knife.

"Alright, let's play operation!" he grinned, making Rose shriek in anger and fear.

"If you touch me you son of a bitch, I'll kill you! I don't care if we're never found, I'll kill you!"

Robin was bound to agree, but even though he hoped the others would find them he knew, although he had tried to get Rose's hopes up, that it was a big city and they might not have a clue to follow after all. Still, there was no way he could let this happen so he decided on a tactic he hoped would at least buy Rose more time.

"Come on, why are you even bothering with them?" he spat.

"Excuse me?"

"A son he hasn't seen since he was a teen and a daughter he didn't even know existed until a few years back? Slade doesn't care about them! The only reason we're here is because of me, because Rose married Bruce, or else he wouldn't have come to see her at all! Why would he? Does he seem like someone who loves kids?"

"You can't fool me, Richie-boy… Rose has spoken very warmly of her dear daddy," Jamie smirked.

"Sure she has, she loves him," Robin snorted. "She looks up to him like a little puppy, he's her hero, but that doesn't mean he really cares about her. He didn't want to come here, but he did it because of me… I'm the one he loves."

"Aw, that's sweet," the man grinned, but he still seemed too focused on Rose. Robin was getting desperate. He had to drag the man's attention away from the woman.

"Well, he says I'm the only one that matters to him," the teen continued. "I'm only his."

"Does he know I had you first?" the man smirked and Robin knew that he finally had him hooked.

"Yeah… I think that's why he smashed in your face as well," he snickered. "And he knows I'll never be with another man."

"Won't you, now? Maybe I should play with you first, after all… might not feel like it after seeing all that blood and guts…"

Robin's stomach churned. This was what he had suspected Jamie had planned. After all, he was Slade's lover and the man obviously wanted to violate them all in the ways that would affect Slade the most. Even so, even though the psychopath was falling for his trap, it was important that he wouldn't suspect anything, and it didn't make what he would have to go through any easier.

He drew back, and made his voice worried, hoping to entice the sadistic streak in their enemy further.

"What… what are you talking about?"

"Ah, Rick… Richard… Robin… I can't decide what to call you, really… When I'm done with you, you will have forgotten about Slade all together…"

Robin quickly got to his feet as the man ambled closer. Jamie wasn't big, only slightly taller than him as well as skinnier, and the hero could take him easily if he had been free. Even so, he would fight back, but he couldn't go overboard. If he fought too hard Jamie's attention might turn back to Rose, or he'd knock Robin out and finish with him quickly. The hero needed for it to take time, as much time as possible… as much time as his body could handle.

The man got closer and had an evil smirk on his face.

"So, little pretty blue-eyes… how would you like to do this?"

"Not at all?"

"Not an option."

"Didn't think so…" Robin muttered. His fever had gotten worse, but it was nothing he couldn't deal with, at least for now… it wasn't like he could take a sick day, after all. He had just ran out of chain, even the one around his neck was straining.

"Nowhere to go?" Jamie sang. "Why don't you get on your knees? Show some good will?"

"Not Christmas yet," Robin growled.

"You know what?" Jamie said and suddenly he was holding a cattle prod in his hands, having pulled it out of the box. "I think I can get you on your back in two second flat."

"If you can get that thing close enough," Robin snorted.

"I won't have to get any closer than this," Jamie leered. Robin understood why just a moment before the man put the end of the prod to one of the straining chains. The one around his neck. The shock made his body go numb, and he collapsed on the dirty tiles with a pained grunt, accompanied by Rose cursing his attacker violently.

Robin tried to get up, but his arms and legs were just twitching uselessly. Still, the shock hadn't been strong enough to knock him out, not that he thought that was the intention.

"See? Let's… snuggle…" the man above him gloated.

"What? With Rose right there? No privacy?" Robin had meant it as a joke, sort of, but Jamie actually hesitated.

"Well… fine… it will be more romantic if it's just the two of us, won't it?" he said and left the room. For a brief moment Robin hoped that he would be taken out of there, because if the man unlocked him, that would be the last thing he did for a long time. Unfortunately, Jamie returned with the screen. Robin had almost managed to push himself up in an sitting position by then, but got a vicious kick in his side as a reward.

"Stay down, sweetie… soon you won't have to pine for me any longer… but to make sure that you'll behave…"

Robin gasped as another kick landed on his body. Kick after kick by heavy boots, aimed at his back, his sides, his stomach and his chest soon had him fighting for breath, his head swimming. Whenever he tried to block one, the chains stopped him, and when he tried to roll away, all he managed was to get tangled in them. The more the chains twisted around, the shorter they got and then he couldn't move one of his legs at all, and barely breathe because how tight the restraint around his neck was.

"I think that's enough foreplay," he heard the other man snicker. Robin was on his stomach, one arm trapped under him and the other stretched backwards at an painful angle, and there was nothing he could do as his underwear were pulled down. "You don't mind if I top this time, do you?" he heard Jamie ask.

"No, I mean you weren't much of a fuck," Robin spat, before a yank on the neck-chain made his teeth clap together, making him bite his tongue. Robin spat out some blood and, since nothing was happening yet, he added, "What is it? Gone impotent?" The chain tighten with another yank, making his neck creak and his airways all but close off. That, and the fact that something was pushing against his opening, made the teen decide to be quiet.

He clenched , trying to keep the intruding member out, and for a while it worked as it seemed that Jamie had been determined to fuck him dry, to cause as much pain as possible. In the end Robin heard him spit in his hand, however, and when the cock returned to his opening it was at least somewhat slicker than before.

Okay, any time now, Slade… just burst in here and shoot his head into little pieces, I won't even care… Slade… please… Robin silently begged.

TBC…

A/N: Yes, Slade, stop messing around in that hardware store and go help your princess! ;)