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AN – So, because I still really don't like writing fight scenes, I did my best to focus on events that take place while the fighting is happening to give you guys a break from my bad writing of fight scenes. Also, this chapter might be a bit rushed, because I was kind of in a rush when I wrote this, but I hope you all like it!
Enjoy!
Batman stood in the shadows, staring at the old mansion where his son might be. The place was quiet even though Superboy had confirmed that there were several people under the building. Superboy wasn't with him now anymore though. He was with Kid Flash and Red and Arrow on the other side of the property while Robin, Batgirl, Aqualad, Miss Martian, Beast Boy, Impulse, Blue Beetle and Wonder Girl were with him. After he assembled the Team and told them about the building, he used the drone to map the maze under it. Then, he made the plan.
He and the majority of the Team would break inside, spread out a little, then purposely trip an alarm. The members of the Court would most likely flee to avoid being arrested for being part of the group while the Talons would rush to their location to fight off the intruders. While they did that, Kid Flash, Red Arrow and Superboy would sneak in through another entrance and find Nightwing. With his speed, Kid Flash would be able to find the missing hero fairly quickly, and if he ran into any problems, he had some back up. Batman wished he could be with them, wished that he could be the one to find his son but if he had and had the others be the ones to lead the attack, the Court would definitely notice that and would find that strange. They'd easily figure out what his plan was. But if they saw him with his other protégé's and the sidekicks and former sidekicks, then they'd assume it was just them, thereby allowing the other three to get in and get Nightwing undetected.
"We're in position." Batman heard Red Arrow's voice coming through his earpiece. To keep everyone focused on the task at hand, he had Miss Martian set up a mind-link only between their team and not with the other three. Instead, Red Arrow, Superboy and Kid Flash all had communicators that connected to his earpiece so they could still stay in contact.
Looking over at the young adults and teenagers with him and seeing that they were also ready, he said, "Alright. Let's go."
It was time to rescue his son.
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On the other side of the building, Kid Flash stood with Superboy and Red Arrow. It took every bit of self control Wally had to not just rush through the secret entrance that Batman had found with his drone when he mapped out the place and find Dick. After four days of looking, worrying, barely sleeping or eating, he was ready to find his best friend and get him out of here. He had no idea what was going in there, but from the limited information they got from Batman and from what Tim found when he went snooping around from what happened with the Court years ago, he knew it couldn't be good.
Finally, they saw a red light being shone through the window of the old mansion, telling them that the others had entered and tripped the alarm. Silently, they made their way to the secret entrance and slipped inside.
Wally couldn't help rushing off ahead of Conner and Roy once they closed the door behind them. He was a speedster, running faster than the speed of light was what he was known for. But right now, all he wanted was to find Dick as fast as he possibly could and get him out of here. And the sooner he found him, the sooner he could do that. The fact that the whole place seemed to made of hallways made it easier to speed ahead too.
Every now and then he had to stop and wait for the others to catch up, or he had to go back and let them know that the coast was still clear. The last they wanted or needed was someone seeing them and stopping them from getting to Dick. He was starting to get a bit discouraged though. Hallway after hallway, room after room, he kept coming up empty. He was beginning to wonder if Dick was even here at all, but every turn he made led him down another hallway which gave him hope that he might be here.
Finally, he found a flight of stairs that took him down deeper into the ground. It was so dark that it kind of reminded Wally of a cellar. He was pretty sure that he was now getting to the Court's 'dungeon'.
After getting to the bottom of the stairs, he saw that the whole place was empty which confused him a little. While the plan was that Batman and the other members of the Team would purposely raise the alarm so that all the Talons would go after them and leave the place unguarded but he would've thought that there would still be someone guarding their prisoner. Maybe they were overconfident in their security system or something. He quickly scanned the hallway, looking for any sign of traps or alarms but to his continued confusion, he found nothing. It didn't make sense, but he decided to take advantage of that and started phasing through the steel doors and into the cells, looking for his best friend.
As he phased into one of the cells, he saw someone lying on the ground near the wall, completely passed out. Even though he wasn't wearing his uniform, Wally would recognize the person anywhere.
"Nightwing." The speedster took a step closer then remembered the other two that were with him that he left behind. He turned on the communicator that Batman gave him, Conner and Roy and said to the two heroes with him, "Guys, I found him. He's in the cell in the middle of the hall on the left side."
The redhead didn't listen to their response because at that point, he looked back at Dick and felt his heart drop to his feet. Slowed down by shock, Wally went to Dick's side, getting down on his knees beside him. He hesitantly and carefully put his hand on Dick's shoulder to turn him over to get a better look at him, though he was scared to. Dick wasn't wearing a shirt or shoes or socks, clad only in a pair of old and ripped sweatpants, making the evidence of torture obvious. He was covered in bruises, scrapes and cuts that looked deep, though they weren't bleeding. Actually, it looked like someone had wiped off the blood but there were still some traces left and some of the cuts still had blood around them like it had just happened. Dick was so still that even the small movement of his chest, telling him that he was indeed breathing, Wally felt the need to put a hand on Dick's wrist and check his pulse. It wasn't as steady as it should be, but it was there.
The sound of metal creaking and cracking told Wally that Roy and Conner had finally caught up to him and were now breaking the lock so they could open the door. He didn't look take his eyes off Dick though. Not when he heard the squeak of the hinge when the door opened, not even when he heard Roy's shocked voice say, "Oh my G*d."
"Nightwing, wake up. Come on, Dick, wake up." Wally begged, slightly shaking his friend to wake him up, but he didn't want to hurt him anymore than he already was.
"Is he okay?" Roy asked as he got to his knees beside his fellow redhead.
"He's breathing, and he's got a pulse." Wally reported to the others, still not looking at them. He could see Roy's hand quickly run through Dick's dark hair before going to his neck to make sure that he did have a pulse even though Wally already he told them and Conner would tell them if they were wrong.
"We need to get him out of here." Conner told them from his spot in front of the door.
"Is it even safe to move him?" Roy wondered. Dick was obviously injured and he didn't want to make it worse.
Wally ignored him and continued to try and wake the young adult, "Dick? Dick, come on, wake up."
Finally, the figure groaned and his eyes started fluttering open. Dick's normal bright and expressive blue eyes were dim and dull, as though he wasn't really aware of what was going on.
"Hey, there you are." Wally said with a smile. Dick however frowned, obviously confused. Before he could say anything, Roy chimed in.
"It's going to be okay. We're getting you out of here. Can you stand?" The oldest redhead asked.
Dick, still frowning, did his best to nod and tried to get up, but could hardly move. If it wasn't for Roy and Wally's help, he wouldn't have made it to his feet at all. And once he was upright, his legs buckled under his weight and he started to fall. The two redheads held him up, but both looked over at Conner, who quickly understood what was happening. He walked over to them and scooped up the younger hero into his arms. As independent as Dick was, there had been times when he was so badly injured that the Superman clone had to carry him, so it wasn't as awkward as it might be if he was carrying someone that he had never met.
"It's okay, we got you Dick. We got you." Conner assured him, holding him as securely as he could. Dick looked a little dazed, but was able to nod and somewhat grip Conner's shirt to help him stay in place.
"We got Nightwing, we are on our way to the bio-ship." Wally reported back to Batman as he started leading the others back down the hall towards the stairs.
"How is he?" Batman's emotionless voice asked as they made their way up the stairs.
"Not good." Wally told him and that was all he could get out before he saw three Talons standing at the other end of the hallway that they needed to go down in order to get out. Wally looked over his shoulder at Roy and Conner who had also reached the top of the stairs, and saw that they had also noticed the new hurdle they would have to get through.
Roy stepped in front of Conner, who was putting Dick on the ground while Wally immediately rushed towards the assassins, turning into a yellow blur as he did so. Despite all of their training, the Talons had never had to fight speedsters before and were clearly struggling to get a strike in at him, but since there were also three of them in such a small area, Wally was also struggling to not get hit. As Conner joined the fight, Roy crouched down in front Dick with an arrow in his bow, ready to fire at any of the Talons who would try to come near them. He didn't have to use it though. With Wally's speed, Conner's strength and nearly invincible skin they were able to quickly knock out the assassins, then made their way back to Roy and Dick.
"We got to go. They won't be out for long." Wally told them. Roy helped Conner pick Dick back up and they made their way down the halls until they reached the secret door that they had come through.
Once they were out of the hidden entrance, they took off running to the bio-ship. It was in camouflage mode so no one could see it. If they didn't know exactly where it was, then they wouldn't even know it was there at all. As soon as they were inside, Conner carried Dick towards the back where the little med-bay was with Wally while Roy radioed Batman to let him and the others know that they got Dick out.
Conner gently laid him down on the bed and Wally grabbed the first aid kit. If they thought Dick looked bad before, he looked even worse now. His skin had paled to the point that it looked translucent and his breathing had weakened. He seemed to be trying to stay awake, but it was clear that it wouldn't last long. He didn't even have the strength to wince as Wally started cleaning and bandaging his injuries while Conner, hearing the others coming towards the ship, still fighting the other Talons, went to go help them.
"It's going to be okay Dick. You're going to be okay." Wally tried to assure him as he did his best to clean his injuries. The raven-haired man however said nothing and closed his eyes.
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With several of well thrown grenades and flash bombs, Batman and the others were able to break free from the fight and escape the building. There were a few of the younger vigilantes who were injured but they didn't seem at all that serious which was a minor miracle. Batman supposed that their powers and different fighting styles helped in that regard, along with the fact that he equipped them with several weapons designed to incapacitate the Talons and keep them at a distance. He knew how deadly the Talons were and didn't want the teenagers to end up seriously injured or worse.
Right now though, all of his thoughts were on his son. Wally had told him that they found him and that they were heading to the bio-ship. Then Roy told them they were out and Conner arrived to join the fight as they were trying to make their escape from the building which told him that they had made it to safety, but Wally had also said that Dick was not in good shape. Though it probably wasn't noticeable, Bruce was inwardly panicking. He had already lost one son, he could not lose another.
Entering the bio-ship with the others, he demanded, "Where is he!"
"Over here!" He heard Wally shout from near the back. The rest of the Team stayed near the front of the ship and got in their seats while Batman rushed over to the med-nay.
Wally was standing beside a small bed and on the bed was Dick. Batman quickly made his way to the bedside and looked over the young man, covered in bruises and blood and cuts. His skin was paler than it naturally was and he looked seconds away from passing out. Actually, he looked seconds away from death. Just to make sure, he reached forward and placed a hand under Dick's head while he grabbed Dick's wrist with the other, checking his pulse. The action caused Dick to open his eyes and look up at him.
"I'm sorry, sorry B." Dick mumbled with a guilty voice.
"Don't speak. Stay awake." Batman ordered and Wally, still standing by the bed, found his blood starting to boil at the man's tone. His son had been kidnapped, tortured, could possibly dying and Batman could be just as cold as he normally was? He couldn't even bring himself to show any kind of emotion? For a brief second, Wally wondered if Bruce even cared about Dick. He quickly squashed the thought though. He had been around Batman and Nightwing, and Bruce and Dick long enough to know that they were father and son in every way but blood. Of course Bruce cared.
Dick stared up at Batman, trying to see his father's eyes through his cowl even though it was specifically made to keep people from seeing it. He wanted to stay awake, wanted to do what Batman was telling him, but it was as though his entire body was turning against him. He could no longer feel his limbs, couldn't even really feel Batman's hands around his wrist or under his head. Finally, he let his eyes shut and fell into darkness.
"Nightwing? Nightwing!" Batman shouted when he realized that his son had lost consciousness. The young man didn't respond though, his head lying limply in the Dark Knight's hand.
"Tell Miss Martian to get this ship to the Watchtower as possible!" Batman ordered Wally, giving him his infamous Bat Glare for good measure.
"Got it." Kid Flash said as he stood up and sped out of the med-bay. Once he was gone, Batman turned his eyes back to Dick.
His son's face was covered in scrapes and bruises. It was clear that someone had tried to clean up the blood at some point, but Bruce could still see the red stains on the young man's skin. Kid Flash must've already cleaned them. Cradling his oldest child close, he whispered, "Hang on chum. You're going to be okay. Just hang on."
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Lincoln March stared up at the night sky, ignoring the Talons and other members of the Court escaping their now exposed base under the old mansion that belonged to the Court since it was built. He didn't care about that right now. What he cared about, was that Batman was able to find them, and arrived with more than just Batgirl and Robin. Gotham's Dark Knight hardly ever worked with anyone other then the children he forced into his crusade. The only time he ever seemed to be working with anyone else was when he was the Justice League, but he hardly ever let them in Gotham or let them help fight his battles. He knew that there was a very slight possibility that Batman would have them help, but he didn't. He brought in more children that they hardly knew anything about to help him steal their Gray Son back.
It was an unexpected, unthought of move. Which is why it worked. As angry as he was that their Gray Son had been stolen from them again by Batman, he had to admit, Batman knew what he was doing. He continued staring at the sky, wondering how exactly they had escaped when he saw Cobb coming over towards him from the corner of his eye.
"You didn't stop them from getting him, did you?" Lincoln asked Cobb, though he already knew the answer. And knowing that he knew the answer, Cobb didn't say anything.
"Have everyone head to the old base. We have work to do." Lincoln then ordered. Cobb nodded and walked away, not hearing Lincoln muttering under his breath, "Starting with putting Batman down for good and getting our Gray Son back."