A/N Okay...I lied. It got too long again, so I'm going to have to split it into three parts now. I don't think it will get much longer than that though...

Disclaimer Nope.

~Aiva

"It doesn't matter, kid," the thug responded. "Ol' Wayne will pay up for you either way."

Roy's glare was so intense he was honestly surprised he hadn't developed heat vision yet. "Don't you dare," he growled, voice low and threatening, a sound that would make Batman proud.

The thug sneered, an ugly expression that only made the archer's anger skyrocket. "What are you going to do about it?" he asked, voice condescending and smug. "You make one move and I run little Richard here through with a knife."

"First off, I'm not that little," Dick grumbled. He got the fact that he was short, but did everyone have to rub it in his face some way or the other?

"Shut up, kid," the thug reprimanded harshly, knife cutting a bit deeper into Dick's flesh. The boy let out a sharp hiss, muscles tensing at the sharp metal and stinging pain. "Or you lose a head."

Dick would've pointed out that, due to the size of the knife, cutting of his head would take far too long, but wisely decided against it.

"Uh…boss? What do we do with the ginger?" one thug asked hesitantly.

The leader seemed to consider it for a moment before shrugging. "Take him with us. If he's hanging out with Wayne's ward, he's got to be worth something," he answered.

Kidnapping. Not good. Those were some of the dominant thoughts running through Roy's mind. The others consisted of These creeps are going to wish they ran into Batman instead when I get my hands on them.

Of course, Roy didn't voice those thoughts out loud; somehow, he doubted they would be received well by the man holding the knife.

As he was whacked in the head with the butt of a gun, one last thought flitted through the archer's mind.

Crap.

Roy woke up slowly, a headache throbbing painfully against his skull. He resisted the urge to groan; dang, that hurt. His blue eyes slid open, blinking in momentary surprise as he struggled to figure out what happened. The memories came back in a rush, and Roy gritted his teeth. "Crap," he repeated, out loud this time.

The quiet curse was enough to make Dick stir, the small boy letting out a muffled cough as he woke up. "Roy?" he mumbled, the nasally tone of his voice even more prominent. Apparently, being hit in the head and knocked unconscious would make a cold worse. He sniffled, raising his head to meet the archer's gaze.

Roy noticed the blood caked into Dick's hair and the pale hue to his skin. His blue eyes were dull and tired, and it was painfully obvious the kid felt like crap.

Roy silently promised to send these creeps to jail in six-month body casts for ever touching his little brother.

"Hey, Dickie," Roy said softly. "You okay?"

Dick managed a wan smile in the ginger's direction, though a five-year-old could probably see through it. "'M fine," he slurred, too miserable to try and enunciate any further.

Roy's eyes narrowed. "Uh huh," he responded, disbelief practically dripping from the two syllables. He didn't press the matter further, however; they had more important things to deal with. Like the fact that he had no idea where they were or how the heck he was supposed to get out. He experimentally tugged at the thick rope binding him to the chair; it held firm, barely moving. He definitely wasn't getting out of that anytime soon. "Any idea where we are?" he asked, attempting to distract Dick.

The acrobat's blue eyes studied the room carefully for a moment before he shrugged, the motion jostling his head and making him wince. "It's an abandoned apartment, as far as I can tell. I don't think-" He was interrupted by another violent coughing fit, worsened by the dust in the air. "-they moved us far," he finished, a slight gasp following the words.

Roy winced at the cough, blue eyes hardening with a mixture of concern and determination. "I'll get us out of here, Dick," he promised. Man, Bruce is going to kill me, he thought to himself. He didn't voice that out loud; again, more important things to worry about.

"M'kay," Dick murmured, head drooping lower.

Roy attempted to shift the ropes a little, but only succeeded in chafing his skin. He would've continued trying, but past experience reminded him that would only result in bloody wrists. "C'mon, Dickie. Stay with me here," he reminded.

Dick shot a weak glare in his direction. "It's not like…like I'm going anywhere." Another cough interrupted his sentence. "I'm kinda tied up here."

Roy rolled his eyes, though that didn't stop the slight grin at Dick's attempt at humor. "Thanks, Dick," he responded sarcastically, "Never would've guessed."

"Figured it was better to be safe than sorry," Dick answered, a teasing edge to his soft voice.

"Come on, I'm not Wally." The comment elicited a small laugh out of the two of them, which turned into another series of coughs for Dick.

Roy winced in sympathy, wishing he could just gather the younger boy into his arms. "Dang, kid. You really are sick," he commented.

"I could've told you that," Dick gasped out, managing another weak glare, though it didn't have any malice behind it.

"Did you take anything for that cough?" Roy asked after another wheeze.

Dick nodded. "Yeah…didn't do much though." A memory struck him almost randomly. "Didn't even taste like bubblegum," he added.

Roy snorted, though concern was still evident in his gaze. "Do you know when Bruce is getting out of that meeting?" he asked after a quiet second.

"He wasn't sure when…said it would be late though. Maybe early tomorrow."

"Great," Roy groaned. "Well, there goes that option."

A loud bang from downstairs made Dick jump, and a quiet curse slipped out of Roy's mouth. They could hear similar words being shouted downstairs, and there were a few more bangs, along with a muffled cry of pain.

Dick met Roy's eyes, the expression of worry practically mirroring itself on their faces. It sounded like there was some sort of gunfight going on….generally not a good sign. This thought was further strengthened as the heavy sound of feet stomping up stairs cut through the air, soon followed by the door slamming open, thudding loudly against the wall.

The boys' faces hardened immediately, an expression that came from years of dealing with lunatics and facing death. The man was unfazed, cocking his gun warningly. His eyes were bloodshot, and it was clear from his slight stumble he was drunk. "Listen," he growled, voice slightly slurred, "I'm not in the mood to take a lot of crap. So I suggest you don't try anything."

Roy's gaze was torn between Dick, the gun, and the man holding it. He ended up just shooting the man a death glare that could rival an angry DaddyBats. "And I suggest you don't even think about shooting the kid. Because, I swear if you do-"

The thug gave a bitter laugh before his gaze turned icy. "Wayne can pay for your bodies; I don't really care," he commented, dead serious. "But I think he'll need a little…incentive." With that, he lashed out. Though his actions were slightly sluggish from the alcohol, he still landed a solid blow to Dick's head with the butt of his gun.

Dick let out a small hiss, a fresh trickle of blood seeping into his dark hair. Roy growled, the sound low and threatening. Not caring about the stinging pain in his wrists, he struggled desperately to get out of the ropes, to beat up the creep who had just hit his little brother.

"Stop!" Roy shouted, as the thug raised his gun again. His blue eyes were narrowed and his breath came in sharp pants, but his voice was steady as he spoke. "Don't hurt him. I'm Oliver Queen's ward; I'm a family friend of Bruce. They'll both pay whatever you ask for if you use me."

"No," Dick managed to get out, though the slur in his voice was more obvious. He definitely had a concussion now. "Ollie knows me too. They'll pay more for me."

"Are you kidding? I'm worth way more than you," Roy argued, refusing to let his little brother win this argument.

"Please," Dick snorted. "I-"

"Shut up!" The thug barked, shooting his gun at the ceiling to place emphasis on the words. A light sprinkle of plaster fell down on them, but no one paid attention to it.

"Idiot," Roy muttered. The gun turned to face him, and the archer stiffened, though a brief sensation of triumph flitted through his mind; at least the creep wasn't paying attention to Dick anymore.

"I just decided who'll be the incentive," the thug said coldly.

"Wow, a whole three syllables. I didn't think you knew words with more than two," Roy said dryly.

There was a bang, and a horrible fiery pain engulfed Roy's leg. He let out a cry of pain before gritting his teeth, refusing to make another sound despite the fact that it hurt so bad. Reflex tears burned his eyes, but he blinked them back, a snarl clear on his face. Through the haze of pain, he heard Dick calling his name. That was enough to make him focus. Get it together, Harper. You've been shot plenty of times before, he reminded himself.

"I'm fine," he said between gritted teeth, glancing up at Dick. Judging by the concern on the younger boy's face, Roy didn't exactly sound very convincing.

"Better hope Queen and Wayne pay up, kid, or you won't be fine for long," the thug said, the statement remarkably coherent for being drunk.

Roy scowled, fighting through the agony in his leg; he couldn't give in because Dick needed him. That, and he was far too stubborn. "You're gonna regret this as soon as they come," he growled, panting slightly.

"Shut up!" the thug barked, slamming the metal gun into the teenager's shoulder.

A new wave of pain coursed through him; honestly, Roy was lucky it hadn't broken. He had been through enough injuries to tell it was a slight fracture at most; still, it hurt like crap. It felt like his entire body was wracked with pain at this point, sending throbbing waves through him.

"Don't touch him again!" Dick shouted, ignoring his scratchy throat and how hard it was to breath. He was not letting Roy take another hit if he could help it.

"Kid, I've had just about enough outta the both of you," the thug growled, turning the gun on the smaller boy. He shot, but was unable to aim properly, the bullet just grazing the acrobat's arm. It was enough to elicit a sharp hiss out of Dick, and his dull blue eyes sparked with the fresh pain.

It was enough to get both of them to be quiet though, only the heavy sounds of their breaths filling the dusty air.

"Good," the thug sneered, teeth a nasty shade of yellow. Roy was tempted to make a comment about dental work, but considering the copious amount of blood soaking his jeans, he decided against it. "I'm going to go call Wayne; try anything, an' only one of you will be breathing when he pays." He stomped out of the room, Roy waiting for the sound of his uneven footsteps to fade before speaking.

"Alright, Dickie. We're going to get out of here, okay?" His voice was quiet but firm; he didn't care what it took, but he was not letting Dick stay here. The kid looked absolutely miserable, his face pale and some of his dark hair matted with blood. A thin trickle of blood dripped from his arm; the bullet didn't seem to have grazed too deeply though.

Roy couldn't say the same thing about his bullet wound. It hadn't hit any major arteries or nerves, but it definitely scooped a decent trail of flesh out of his calf. He would recover, but the bleeding definitely needed to be staunched. His arm was aching too, throbbing to the beat of his racing heart. He could deal with that though; he had ignored pain before. Dick was his main priority.

Time to bust out of here.

A/N On the bright side, I've already started some of part three, so the wait shouldn't be too long. Hopefully, my schedule will remain fairly open too. ^^

And yeah, they didn't recognize Roy. Why? In my mind, the press made a bigger deal of Dick's adoption than they did of Roy's (and yes, Ollie is still rich in this.) Plus, this is Gotham, home of Bruce Wayne. Dick is going to be recognized more easily than Roy would be.

Anyway, I think I will start responding to reviews here; I'll try it out the next chapter and see how it goes. If I don't like it, I'll switch back to what I've been doing.

Reviews are greatly appreciated!