Disclaimer: Property of DC. Thank you MisterCorey for beta reading.
Rating: Rated T for descriptions of gore.
Gotham Holiday
Eighteen: Amparo
The elevator's glass wall granted a stunning view of Metropolis as Slade and Robin rose above the streets and other skyscrapers. With each floor they passed, Robin felt the distance grow between himself and Alfred, and with it, his concern.
"Superman is an unavoidable casualty," Slade said, breaking the heavy silence between them. "He's Luthor's prisoner, not mine."
His brooding interrupted, Robin scowled up at him. "I'm guessing you helped Luthor in exchange for getting the Limiters out of your body even though they'll eventually wear off on their own. You didn't have to risk Superman's life."
He folded his arms. "You just don't care."
Slade studied him, his blue eye betraying nothing. "As I've said before, there are only two lives I care about now—my own and yours."
"Yeah, yeah." Robin waved a dismissive hand, but his brow then furrowed at a resurfaced thought. "But why me? You can call me your apprentice all you want, Slade, but it just seems like there has to be something more to justify all this effort. You don't even really know me. I'm not even sure you like me. But it's clear you've been stalking me a long time."
The elevator slowed its ascent.
"Another time," Slade said firmly. "If you're truly ready to discuss such matters... it'll have to wait."
Robin's eyebrow arched above his mask at the cryptic words.
Seventy-two.
Seventy-three.
The doors pinged open.
On the white wall facing the elevator, LEXCORP LABS was printed in large, futuristic-scripted letters. Two security guards flanked Lex Luthor as he strode up the left side of the long, curved hallway. His dress shoes struck loud against the sterile floor.
"Mr. Wilson," he greeted. "Welcome back."
Luthor's eyebrows raised at the sight of Robin stepping from the elevator to wait alongside Slade. "I'm intrigued to see the rumor mill actually speaks truth for once. I always thought I'd meet Gotham's Boy Wonder sooner or later, but perhaps under different circumstances. You're keeping interesting company indeed, old friend."
"Robin is my apprentice. Don't worry, he's promised to be on his best behavior." Slade ignored Robin's irritated huff. "I bring good news. Your thief is dead."
A self-satisfied smirk crept onto Slade's mouth.
Luthor returned a smile of his own. "Congratulations. I know from personal experience that there's no catharsis quite like revenge."
He spread an arm in invitation, gesturing up the hallway he'd traveled to meet them. "Come. I've already sent someone to fetch your last dose of the de-limiters. I'm sure you're ready to be completely free of them at last, but first…"
Slade held up the Kryptonite. "You were right about its increased scarcity—at least on this planet. This is all I could uncover locally."
"Soon its paucity on Earth won't matter." Luthor eyed the green stone as if it were his favorite snack. "Don't be concerned about its size. For my plans, this amount is perfect. You're a good man to depend on, as always, Mr. Wilson."
Luthor's labs were a gridded network of meticulously clean, organized rooms connected by intersecting hallways. Most of the labs' automatic doors were sealed shut and the observation windows hidden by metal blinds. Posted security guards wore stun-weapons at their hips and were dressed in uniforms that resembled police garb, complete with insignia pins and patches that read: LEXFORCE.
Luthor led Slade and Robin past these labs and through a security checkpoint to another, even more guarded set of labs, one of which held Superman prisoner.
"There he is." Luthor beamed as he showed off is prisoner. He grinned at Slade. "I thought you might like to be one of the last people on Earth to ever see the almighty Superman alive."
Robin went straight to the giant observation window comprising the front wall of the cell. Superman was held to the opposite wall by manacles across his limbs and waist. Artificial red sunlight saturated the room. Superman's body trembled. His head was dipped, hiding his face.
Robin's throat constricted at the sight. His mind ran possible actions he could take, but each scenario ended with Slade either torturing Alfred with the nanoscopic probes or carrying out his threat to reveal Batman's identity.
Then, an idea struck him.
Robin rested his palms against the thick glass. Very softly, he began tapping a finger pad against it in quiet dots and dashes to spell a warning.
Death.
Robin tapped it six more times and then paused to see if Superman might react. Robin suppressed a disappointed sigh. Perhaps the red sunlight was too much. Then, as if hearing Robin's gloomy thoughts, Superman raised is head.
His exhausted blue eyes found Robin first before making a languid shift to the Kryptonite Luthor now twisted in his fingers with sinister glee.
Slade didn't miss Superman's newfound lucidity.
"Robin," he said with thinly veiled suspicion, "come here."
If Luthor noticed, he didn't care.
"I think I'll fashion it into a ring. A memento of sorts," Luthor said as he admired the Kryptonite cradled in his fingers. "There's something poetic in using a mere trinket to bring a would-be god to his knees, don't you think?"
Robin came to stand by Slade and turned his unimpressed glower on Luthor. "You didn't bring Superman to his knees. You hired someone else to do it."
Luthor gave an amused scoff. "Well of course! I'm a man of means, son. I don't have to get my own hands dirty to get what I want. Besides, it was my technology that enabled that freak's capture in the first place, so you'll have to forgive me for considering it a notch in my own belt as well."
To Slade, Luthor added, "You know, it only goes to show you that I was right. The two of us make a formidable pair. My offer still stands, of course. I do hope you've given the opportunity honest consideration."
"Unfortunately," Slade nodded towards Robin, "my current priority is to finish my apprentice's training. He's proven he can't be left to his own devices five minutes without getting kidnapped or nearly killed. An issue that can no longer be ignored."
Robin fumed. Lately, everything wrong with life tied back to Slade's refusal to just stay out of it! But saying so would gain him nothing.
Luthor waved a dismissive hand. "There's no expiration date. But you should know, if you're concerned about a certain interloper from Gotham, I can assist you in hiding the boy."
Luthor smirked at Robin. "My resources are limitless."
Without explanation, Slade took out his handheld device and, after pressing a few commands, showed the screen to Luthor. Robin leaned and saw displayed one of the detailed maps from Two-Face. The map zoomed in on a large hanger at Luthor's military production site.
Luthor met Slade with guarded surprise.
He studied the map again. Half a minute passed as he arranged his thoughts.
Finally, he looked up at Slade. "I believe I understand. ...Am I also correct that the ANNA is the key to your signature on my offer? How long would you be gone?"
"Days. Months. Years. To be honest, I'm not sure," Slade admitted. "There are many variables at play."
Luthor considered his options, glancing between the map and Slade as he worked out different possibilities in his mind. He soon came to a decision, and, giving Slade an assured smile of proprietorship, Luthor extended his hand to make their agreementl official.
"All right, Mr. Wilson. I've never been afraid to take risks. I hope this show of good faith serves to further prove the confidence I have in you to be a man of your word, like me."
They grasped each other's forearm in agreement, but before Luthor let go, he said, "I do, however, have a one further request. As you know, my company is always wiling to pay handsomely for any innovations or inspiring technology you may come across out there amongst the stars."
Robin's stomach dropped at the mention of stars. In that instant, he understood Slade's plan and his chest tightened.
"I'll keep that in mind," Slade said, and Luthor released him.
A woman in a white coat entered the lab. She held a syringe of light blue liquid.
Slade allowed her to inject it into his arm.
Robin assumed it was the de-limiter.
"You know," Luthor said as the woman wiped away a small bit of blood from Slade's skin with a sterile cloth, "Scarecrow tried to talk me into double-crossing you. He offered to break the immortality code in your blood—in exchange for surrendering him Robin, of course."
Slade didn't appear surprised. To Robin, despite the sudden talk of betrayal, he didn't even seem concerned about the liquid Luthor had just injected him with either. The level of trust between the two men added to Robin's unease.
Luthor chuckled at Robin. "Scarecrow's pulling quite the grudge. You're not afraid of the boogeyman, are you?"
Robin replied with a bored glare.
"Sullen and quiet," Luthor observed; one hand adjusting his square-cut glasses. "Funny, I always heard that between you and Batman, you're supposed to be the cheerful one."
"I am," Robin snapped. Behind him, he heard Superman begin to struggle against his manacles. Robin frowned in concern as he turned to watch. There was no strength in Superman's attempts. If anything, expending the energy and effort only served to further exhaust him.
Hold on, Clark, Robin thought, more to assure himself than anything since he knew Superman couldn't read his mind. Batman and the Titans will find you. They'll make Luthor pay!
Luthor noticed Robin's pained expression at the pitiful sight. "Ah. I suppose it hurts to see one of your own suffering. Don't worry, my boy. He won't suffer at my hand much longer. That much I can promise." Turning back to Slade, he changed the topic. "So, about that fancy car you hijacked. From what I saw, it's a nice ride, but if you're taking my ship, I assume the driver and the car need disposal. Should I send word, old friend? I assume you're in a hurry."
"Just the car. I need the driver," Slade said. At Luthor's obvious curiosity, he added, "The planet we're going to has a peculiar arcane tradition of offering a live sacrifice in exchange for disembarking. It's not a place for the faint of heart, but an excellent environment for my apprentice to grow stronger in many ways."
Robin gaped at Slade in open shock, but then quickly realized it was likely a story conjured up for Luthor's sake. Glancing back, Robin sighed to see Superman's chin lowered and his only movements the slow rise and fall of his chest.
Luthor checked his watch. It was only a few hours until dawn.
"Someday," Luthor said as led them back through the labs, "I hope to hear more about this strange planet and what it has to offer. I'll have your 'sacrifice' rendezvous with you at my personal sublevel station, which, based on what you've already shown me, I suspect you already knew about. My men will escort you down. I can have the ship stocked within the hour with any supplies you might need. I'm assuming you've selected this particular ship to navigate the cosmos because you have familiarity with its systems?"
"Something like that," Slade acknowledged.
Luthor smiled to himself and wondered what other skills his newest asset possessed, and how long he would have to wait to find out and put them to use.
Below LexCorp in the substation, Robin was relieved to see Alfred already waiting for them. Alfred put on an air of deep apprehension, although Robin wasn't sure how much of the fear on his face was acting versus true anxiety.
Along with the escort, they boarded Luthor's underground shuttle, were taken to the research site, and then to the ANNA's dome-shaped hanger. There was only one ship inside. It was smaller than the Titan's spacecraft and shaped somewhat like a sleek video game controller. Far above it, Robin saw the hanger's roof had massive double retracting doors. Several of Luthor's employees were rushing to get the ship ready. Robin watched as rectangular containers, supplies he assumed, were taken up the ship's metal ramp through its oval door.
A man wearing a bright yellow, reflective vest stood on a slightly raised station with a control table. Yelling down to Slade he said, "You can go ahead and board! Mr. Luthor asks that when you return, you bring the ship back to this facility! There's a landing pad you'll be able to see from the sky! Just leave her there, and we'll handle the rest!"
The man fussed over his control table until the giant doors above the ship began to slide open, revealing a dark, overcast sky. A soft curtain of snow flurries began falling through the huge opening.
Inside the ship, a short hall led straight to the front cabin's controls and limited seating. A padded shelf, a bed, Robin assumed, was embedded in the wall on the right side of the hallway. Across from it was a crammed restroom.
Slade led Robin and Alfred to the front of the ship. There were two pilot chairs with a console full of colorfully lit button controls and levers, and a big observation window. There were two more high-backed seats on the back wall of the cabin, situated side-by-side like seats on a rollercoaster. A few large containers labeled LEXCORP were stacked and anchored to the floor with metal clamps that protruded from the containers themselves. The cabin was dimly lit by blue bars of light running along the floor.
Slade sat in one of the pilot chairs and used his handheld device to interface with the ship's controls. Metal soon groaned after he pressed in a command for the outside ramp to retract and the exit door to seal.
Robin went for the containers. Within the first he pried open, neatly arranged packets of various food awaited like bars of gold. Relieved and smiling despite everything, he grabbed three packets and took a seat by Alfred at the back of the cabin. Robin didn't hesitate to rip the first packet of granola open and dig in. He wasn't sure he'd ever eaten so fast in his life. Beside him, Alfred withheld any comments about crumbs or choking risks.
Or common courtesies like chewing with your mouth closed.
Eating, Robin asked Slade, "How did you know Luthor would let you borrow his ship? What if he'd refused?"
"Does it matter now?" Slade was distracted by his device and the console. "We both got something we wanted. ...Although I'm sure Crane will be disappointed."
Robin chewed thoughtfully. "How'd you know about this ship anyway?"
"It's mine. I lost it to Dent last year in a poker game. It ended up on the black market and then here, with Luthor. Dent kept the control disc with the ship's maps. From what I can tell, Luthor hasn't flown it yet, but he'd already figured out how to access the controls without the disc. I'm removing his programs now so they don't interfere."
Robin's brain stuttered. "You play poker? You bet a spaceship?"
"At the time, I wasn't planning on any more space adventures."
Robin caught a quiet edge of regret in Slade's tone. He offered the remaining food to Alfred before tucking the last small packet of granola and dried fruit into his utility belt.
"You said before," Robin recalled, "that you were going meet your daughter, Rose, on Christmas Eve."
"It no longer matters." Slade moved a lever sticking up from the ship's control panel and the engines hummed to life. "There's only the future."
"Speaking of," Alfred cast an uncertain look about the cabin, "I don't suppose you plan on sharing our destination?"
To their surprise, Slade tapped a command into his device, and the ship's large observation window became a screen displaying a simplified space chart labeled SECTOR 2814. White dots were scatters across a black expanse. One of the dots was labeled EARTH. Beyond the solar system, there were other labeled significant stars and planets. Robin recognized a few names from the Titan's own journeys through space.
A dotted line appeared on screen, plotting an arching path from Earth before abruptly disappearing before it had even left the solar system. The map then changed to a different sector number. The dotted line reappeared before stopping near a planet: AMPARO.
"How is that possible?" Alfred asked.
Slade brought up the previous sector's map and zoomed it in on the area where the dotted line had vanished. A marker with the words SOL HYPERSPACE EXIT 1032 appeared. A picture popped up by the marker, displaying the exit as a vast sphere that, to Robin, resembled a massive dark bubble fixed in space.
"A wormhole," he realized, sharing a frown with Alfred. Through the pictured wormhole, they could see distorted galaxies spread across a distant starfield.
"Not every ship can withstand it," Slade said as the maps disappeared and the ship begin to lift, its support poles retracting, "but don't worry, the ANNA has never shown signs of falling apart—as of yet."
Alfred and Robin activated the restraints on their seats; neither keen on being tossed around as the ship prepared to take off.
"Why that planet?" Robin asked above the growing noise.
"It's an old haunt of mine," Slade replied loudly. "I have an underground facility already in place there. It's been some time since I've used it, but it'll suffice. You'll grow stronger until there's no doubt you can defend yourself against any threat."
Robin imagined a lair like Slade's previous one, but this time hidden miles beneath the ground of an unfamiliar world unimaginably far from home. Training in a place like that with Slade, possibly for years, made his chest and stomach squeeze.
"It sounds like you plan on burying me alive," Robin said more to himself, but Slade heard.
Exasperation leaked into Slade's tone. "I have many plans for you, and all of them are for your own good." After taking a breath, he added, "Even with the wormhole and this ship's hyperspace capabilities, it will take some time to reach Amparo. You should rest while you can."
"It's not too late to end this," Alfred implored. "Think about what you're doing. Your plan is untenable and faulty at its core. No matter how much preparation or isolation you engage in, there will always be doubt and risk. This course of action will not prevent the next Hijack from coming along. What your half-brother did wasn't your fault."
Slowly, Slade turned in his seat enough to study Alfred with a cold, blue eye.
Alfred didn't waver. "Fiends like Hijack will always be there waiting on the fringes for their chance to tear away the world's foundations. He isn't the first and he won't be the last agent of chaos. Consider this, if you could reverse time and undo their murders, what actions then might you take? Obviously, knowing he's alive and a threat, you'd terminate Hijack before he had the chance to harm them—but what if you then looked to the horizon and began envisioning the monsters that lurked yet unknown? Would you imprison your wife and children until you, their arbitrary defender and jailor, deigned them fit for existing again on their own terms outside of your castle? Would that truly be for their own good? Or even yours?"
Slade, despite the hardness in his face, seemed to weigh Alfred's words. He turned back to the controls.
"You remind me of someone," Slade said. "He never knew when to shut up either."
The ANNA rose far above Luthor's construction site and periphery labs before shooting away from the Earth.
Elsewhere, Raven walked through pressing darkness.
When she'd first become aware, she had panicked at the black expanse surrounding her. Only after calming herself had she noticed the faint star ahead. Unable to access her powers, Raven walked towards the glimmering source of light. Hours crawled, or so it seemed, until she grew close enough to realize the light was not a star, but a pair of very tall, very white doors.
Reaching them, she hesitated to touch the elegant handles, which appeared to made of clear crystal. The surface of each door shimmered as if magic teemed across their smooth, painted wood.
A strange chill brushed over Raven's skin.
Her instincts told her the sensation didn't come from the doors, but from whatever lay beyond.
A shiver ran across her shoulders and prickled down her arms.
She took an uneasy step back.
As if in response, the door began to shine brighter. Its light intensified to the point Raven was forced to shield her face with both arms, but it was too late. Her skin began to burn and crack.
Raven woke with a deep gasp inside the Batcave's infirmary. Panting, she searched about with wide eyes before remembering that she'd brought herself, Batman, and Cyborg there to confront Hijack and rescue Alfred. Her last waking memories were of the alley in Park Row.
Quickly calming herself, she slipped off the bed and walked to the edge of the infirmary's stone platform. The cave bore obvious signs of a damage, but no one else was around. Raven closed her eyes and sought out Batman and Cyborg. She felt them high above her—somewhere outside the mansion.
Her eyes flew open in surprise.
Her powers had responded to her call.
Testing them, she created a small ball of darkness in her upturned palm. As it swirled, a deep sense of relief spread through her. A terrible ache had begun to grow in the place of her powers, and with them possibly restored, she felt whole again. She dismissed the orb and formed a portal to join the others. She couldn't help but smile as the darkness obeyed her call once again. Stepping through to the other side, her shoes crunched against the snow-covered mansion lawn.
An acrid smell hit her nose immediately.
Raven gagged. Bile rose in her throat. Unable to help herself, she promptly threw up. Cyborg was beside her in seconds, holding her hair back until she'd recovered. She couldn't wait to snip it back to its usual short length.
"Don't feel bad," Cyborg said. "Same thing happened to me when we first came across him. I think even Batman nearly lost his lunch."
Raven cleared her throat and straightened. Swallowing to fight back another bought of nausea, she asked, "What is that?"
"Hijack." Cyborg gestured to where Batman studied something large and partially obscured by fallen snow. "What's left of him anyway. Unless Alfred can transform into the monster from Wicked Scary, I think it's safe to assume Slade got his revenge."
Raven used her winter cloak to protect her nose from the horrible smell permeating the air. She moved to investigate its source, but Cyborg caught her gently by the arm.
"Don't," he warned. "It's not something you want to see. Trust me. I almost had a panic attack on Batman."
Cyborg shook his head. "I ain't never seen nothing so awful."
Raven appreciated his concern. "Thanks, but I think my powers are back, and it's possible I might be able to learn something useful if I'm closer to the body. Death is powerful. Perhaps Hijack's death can tell us something about what happened here."
"Alright, but don't say I didn't warn you."
Together they joined Batman alongside a lump of blood-soaked snow, clothes, and gore.
Raven's stomach flipflopped at the sight.
Batman looked up from his gauntlet's screen. "Raven, I'm glad you're awake. You passed out right after we appeared in the cave."
"She thinks her powers are back." Cyborg smiled for his friend.
Batman directed their attention to Hijack's remains. "Based on evidence inside the cave and outside the mansion, we think Slade took Alfred with him after murdering his half-brother. Raven, are you able to sense anything?"
Raven closed her eyes and cast her powers out in all directions. She opened her eyes moments later and shook her head. "I'm sorry. I don't feel either of them nearby. It's possible Slade's charmed Alfred to hide him from me just he hides himself and Robin."
Or Alfred was dead.
Raven's gaze fell back to Hijack. His corpse was buried beneath its own entrails ripped from their cavities with little care for precision. Much of his face was obscured by blood and offal, but she could tell his mouth was wide open as if he screamed even in death. His only visible eye, the left one, remained fixed open. Raven looked away—sure the grisly carnage would haunt her dreams.
"It's hard to believe Slade did something like this," Cyborg said; forcing himself to look at the viscera and maintain his composure the way Batman did. "I mean, I can accept that he kills people, but this is like something out of a horror movie."
"It's not his typical M.O.," Batman agreed, "but considering what Hijack did to his family, this level of rage isn't really a surprise."
Taking a deep breath, Raven closed her eyes again and did her best to ignore the disgusting smell. She focused on the lightly falling snow, on the crisp, chilled air, and on the sound of the ocean rushing against the giant black rocks at the foot of the sea cliffs.
In her mind, a vision flashed.
She saw white snow become drenched red. Then Slade bent over Hijack, giving him a hasty but agonizing death. Hijack's screams sounded more animal than human in their desperation as he writhed, unable to escape. The horror of it almost sent Raven reeling as she opened her eyes and stumbled away from the corpse.
Cyborg touched her arm in support.
She flinched.
"What did you see," he asked, concerned.
"Slade definitely did this," she told them; her voice thick with emotion. Raven faced Cyborg and Batman again. "I couldn't discern anything about where he went or what his plans are."
"It's alright," Batman assured. "We know his next step was to hunt down the Joker and enact his plan to retrieve Robin. Dr. Thompkins removed the bullet from Starfire's stomach. We need to regroup and find Joker first."
Raven's portal took them back to Park Row and the same alley as Leslie Thompkin's clinic. Batman hid his relief that her questionably restored powers hadn't short-circuited and left them to materialize in a wall or some other dimension.
Raven set her determined eyes on the clinic's door. "I can heal Starfire."
But the sound of nearby gunfire and angry shouts drew their attention.
"This way," Batman ran from the alley. His cape billowed behind him as he rushed with Cyborg at his heels. Raven flew overhead. They crossed the empty street, passed between two brick buildings, and found an old man with a bleeding face knocked to the ground. His clothes were disheveled and torn. Next to him was an overturned grocery cart. Its contents, mostly canned foods and clothes, were dumped on the snowy pavement.
"What happened?" Batman asked him as Cyborg helped the elderly man to his feet and Raven dropped down to hear.
The man's voice shook. His already frightened eyes widened at the sight of all of them. "B-Batman?"
"Hey man, relax," Cyborg said kindly. "We're here to help. I'm Cyborg and this is Raven. What's your name?"
The old man swept them with another fearful gaze. "Charlie."
His fingers drifted to the big welt on his face. "Some thug hit me with his gun and tried to steal my stuff, but a boy beat him off me. The crook got the upper hand though, and chased him that way." Charlie pointed at footprints in the snow leading around to the other side of the three-story building.
"Stay here," Batman told him. Along with Cyborg, he quickly followed the trail with Raven above.
They rounded the building until it formed a dead end with the other adjacent structures. There they found Charlie's attacker and savior engaged in a very one-sided standoff. A redhaired boy that Batman instantly recognized was trapped between the dead end and the thug, who was angrily swearing to shoot the kid. He had a gun trained on Jason.
Jason's presence meant that the Joker might be around as well.
Batman did a quick sweep of the alley's fire escapes and rooftops, finding no signs of an impending ambush.
The thug cornering Jason realized they were no longer alone. He turned his gun on Batman and Cyborg. His face was painted a chalky white and there were bright green smears of color under his startled eyes. "Whoa! Where did you come from? Stay back, freaks!"
Jason's back was pressed against the brick wall behind him. His green eyes lit up at the heroes. "Batman! I saw Robin again! The Joker's got him! This guy totally works for him!"
"You saw him? You've seen Robin?" Cyborg repeated with both shock and hope.
The thug switched his aim back and forth between Cyborg and Batman. He settled on Cyborg, but then shrieked in terror as Raven's power enveloped him. She lifted the henchman from the ground. His gun turned black, dissolving into a thousand tiny fragments. Still shrieking, the man looked up at her like she was an angel of death.
"Okay! Okay! I give up! Don't kill me!" he begged. "Help me, Batman!"
Raven kept him wrapped in her power as her feet touched the ground. She brought him down to their level. Her eyes shined red. "You work for the Joker."
The man nodded quickly. "Uh huh! Yeah! I mean, sometimes. We're not friends or anything. It's just a job, I swear!"
Raven's teeth sharpened like needles as she spoke; her voice dipping inhumanly low. "Where is Robin?"
"I don't know!" The thug panicked and thrashed. "This is not happening! Help! Somebody help me!"
"We were at some funeral home on Loft Street," Jason offered as he approached the group. "Joker's girlfriend helped us escape, but then this guy and some goons caught up. Robin fought them so I could get away, and this dumb loser's been trying to kill me all night ever since."
Jason picked up a crushed can from the street and threw it hard, striking the henchman in the face. "Not so tough now, are you, jerk!"
"Enough," Batman said to the boy. He reached past Raven's tendrils of magic and grabbed the henchman by the collar, pulling him close. "If Joker sent you after Robin, he must have also given you a location to take him to. Tell me, or I'll leave you with her."
The henchman looked at Raven.
Her mouth split into an impossibly wide, evil grin as black tentacles of power rose up around her.
"No, you can't!" the man screamed "Look, we were taking him to Midtown—to The Tribute Theatre. That's where they are, I swear! Please, please let me go!"
Batman nodded, and Raven used her power to smack the thug hard against an alley wall, letting him drop unconscious on a pile of trash.
With Jason and Charlie, the group headed back to Leslie Thompkin's clinic. She hurried them in; her eyes quickly appraising everyone for injuries.
"Batman, it's good to see you after everything that's been in the news," Leslie said as she shut out the cold.
Beast Boy sat beside Starfire, who lay on the one of the five beds Leslie had in her home-based clinic.
The clinic struck Raven as warm and cozy despite all of the packed-in medical equipment. She went to Starfire and placed both hands over her bandaged torso. A white light soon engulfed Raven's palms.
Starfire winced at the sudden splash of icy energy spilling across and through her skin.
"Alright!" Beast Boy grinned. "I toldja your mojo would come back soon!"
Raven removed her hands.
Starfire sat up. Her fingers pulled aside the bandages, revealing smooth, orange skin. She beamed at Raven. "The pain is gone, and your powers truly have returned! This is wonderful. Thank you for what you have done.."
Raven nodded. "I'm glad you're okay."
"Can I help you save Robin?" Jason asked Batman on the other side of the room. "I'm a pretty good fighter."
"No." Batman gestured at the clinic's extra beds, kitchen, and other comforts. "You'll stay here until your parents are located."
The smile dropped. Jason put on a stony face. "Good luck, Sherlock. My old man's been gone, and those stupid clowns killed Mom when they dragged everybody up from Homeless Hall."
Batman placed an empathetic hand on the child's shoulder. "I'm sorry."
Jason shrugged. "She was too high to care what they did, and she stopped caring about me a long time ago anyway, so I guess I shouldn't care either. I'm better off without her."
Somewhat taken aback by the sheer bitterness in the boy's voice, Batman met Leslie's eyes.
Understanding, she took Charlie's arm. "I'll watch over this gentleman and the boy until something can be worked out," she promised; upbeat and professional.
She gave Jason a pointed look. "You're staying here. If you leave, I'll have to hunt you down, and you'll probably get me in trouble. You wouldn't want to be responsible for that, would you? Good. Then let me get you some hot chocolate before your ears finish turning blue."
The Tribute Theatre was one of many half-rotted, condemned buildings crowding the backstreets of southwest Midtown. Over the next year, the whole area was scheduled to be demolished and taken over by the neighboring industrial district as part of the mayor's gentrification efforts.
Batman shivered as the effects of Raven's magic subsided. Together with the Titans, he stood on top of am abandoned bank that sat across the street from the theatre. Its flat roof was higher than the theatre's and provided a good vantage point to scope out the situation. Oddly, no guards prowled the Tribute's cement steps or its cracked, concrete patio. The double doored entrance was shut. The theatre's lights cast a pale, yellow glow on the snowy street outside in the shape of its high, ice-blurred windows.
"I sense nothing inside," Raven said.
"She's right." Cyborg read the screen built into his arm. "My bio-scanners are reading plenty of organic material though, including people, but I don't think any of them are alive. And, uh... Are you sure this a theatre? It reads more like a forest."
Batman moved towards the building's edge. "I'll check it out. You four stay here."
"No way." Beast Boy stepped before him. "You said so yourself that we need to stick together."
Starfire moved to hover by Beast Boy. "He is right. We will not be left behind again. Besides, what if a trap awaits? It is unwise for you to go alone."
Batman didn't want to waste time arguing with a pack of teenagers who could easily overpower him. "All right, but we're not charging through the front doors without knowing more about what's in there. Raven, can you scout ahead without triggering anything or being seen?"
In answering, she transformed into her shadow self and flew like a dark ghost across the street and through the theatre's façade. Less than five minutes later, she returned to her body.
Visibly shaken, Raven tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. "There's no sign of Robin, or Alfred and Slade. Just the Joker and his men. They're all dead. They're..." She met the gaze of Batman and her friends. "You'll have to see it to believe it. Or maybe you shouldn't."
Beast Boy placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry. We've seen a lot of bad stuff lately. If Joker and his guys are in there, Slade's probably beaten us here, but we still might find a clue. Right, Batman?"
Inside, Batman and the Titans cautiously entered a surreal world.
Large plant roots had burst through some parts of the theatre's floor, breaking through the seats and parts of the stage to entrap not only broken wood, but the bodies of Joker and his men. They were skewered two or three feet high as if by wooden stalagmites. The Joker was pierced through his back and left above the stage. Beside him was a life-size statue of Batman carved from dark stone. It was one of the few objects not damaged by the roots or other invading plant life. Moss had covered much of the floor. Thick, heavy vines coated the balconies and rafters above and snaked all over the ground, making walking down the aisle towards the stage difficult.
"Whoa, what the heck happened here?" Beast Boy gawked; his voice raised several pitches. "W-Was this Poison Ivy? Maybe we shouldn't be here after all."
"Just don't look at the bodies," Cyborg advised as they picked their way over the vines crossing the floor and past the bloodstained roots and the corpses suspended overhead.
"No problem." Beast Boy transformed into a monkey and hitched a ride on Cyborg's shoulder, covering his eyes.
"Who is this Poisonous Ivy?" Starfire hovered close to the group, ready to defend them should something attack. "And why would they destroy the Joker?"
"And what's with this statue?" Cyborg asked as everyone came to stop before it on the stage. The replica of Batman, defaced with red spray paint, filled him with deep unease as he stared into its crossed out, blank eyes and considered its outstretched arms. "It almost looks like an alter."
Batman, ignoring the statue, seemed transfixed instead by the Joker. He drew the Titans' attention by pointing an arm up at the body. "Ivy didn't kill him. Look. There's a bullet wound in his forehead."
Cyborg scoped out the other corpses. "Same thing with the others. Some got more holes than a piece of cheese. Poison Ivy's the plant lady, right? If she can do things like this," he gestured at the root impaling Joker's body, "I don't think she'd bother shooting him first."
Worried, Starfire asked, "Do you believe she has taken Robin?"
"It's doubtful, but we there's always a chance," Batman told her. "All of you, spread out and look for clues as to what happened here."
The heroes spread out, including Beast Boy, who transformed back into his human form.
Raven found a large smear of blood near the back of the stage. "Over here!" she called. ""The body that was lying here isn't suspended by roots like the others. Either it's been taken, or the person recovered and left on their own before Poison Ivy arrived to make pin cushions out of everyone else."
"Found something!" Beast Boy cried from the right side of the stage in the area where actors could stand without audiences seeing them. He leaned over to look closer at a camera standing on its tripod. "Dude, I think it's still recording. You think Joker was making another one of his stupid torture flicks?"
Batman and the others joined Beast Boy by the camera he'd found. Cyborg popped a tape out of the camera and inserted it into a slot in his chest. The tape made a rewinding noise before his cybernetic eye flickered and switched into a projector. He pointed it towards the blankest portion of wall he could find.
Far above Gotham's skies and beyond the Earth, Slade decelerated the ANNA's progress as the ship finally neared SOL HYPERSPACE EXITS 1031 and 1032.
The latter led to Amparo, the planet he'd told Robin and Alfred about. The civilization there was much more advanced and amicable than Earth's. In fact, they were in part responsible for the ever-branching transport system between and within sectors.
Exit 1031 led somewhere else entirely.
The giant stabilizers ringing this exit were lit to flash a slow, ominous red in warning. Travel was highly discouraged due to an invading force that had for over a year been conquering planets in that sector.
Yet the road remained opened.
Slade reflected on the two paths that lay ahead.
There were monsters much worse than Trigon lurking in the universe's dark woods.
He watched ships, probably belonging to merchants, go to and from Amparo's wormhole.
Nothing ventured closed to Exit 1031.
The choice should have been obvious.
Ever since following Robin to Pinnacle City, Slade had been forced to deal with ever-changing variables. Now nothing intervened. He'd beaten the Dark Knight and everyone else to the finish line. And with Alfred as his prisoner, he no longer had to inflict torture on Robin as a means of control. And... if Batman and the Titans somehow did find their way to Amparo, and find his underground lair, there were still options left to win the game.
Slade turned in his chair enough to look back at Robin, who was dead asleep and slumped against Alfred's shoulder. As for the butler, Slade couldn't tell if he truly slept or was just acting.
Watching Robin sleep, his mind flashed images of Rose, Joseph, and Grant—their young, cold faces in the state that he'd found them.
In Gotham, Batman and the Titans watched as the recorded video reached the moment where Harley dropped a small, green rock into Robin's waiting palms.
In Metropolis, Lex Luthor strode towards Superman's cell. There was less than an hour left until dawn. As he walked with eager steps, he admired his new ring fashioned from Kryptonite and smiled with anticipation.
In space, Slade faced the stars again. He changed the ship's course, and the ANNA picked up speed as it approached SOL HYPERSPACE EXIT 1031. The massive warning lights surrounding the wormhole's dark sphere cast a red glow across the comparatively tiny advancing ship.
Cast in the flashing red light, Slade sat back in his chair with a sigh.
"No turning back now..." he muttered to himself.
1) Guest: "If I Had a Heart" by Fever Ray reminds me of characters like Hijack and Luthor because it's darkly hypnotic and greedy like them.
2) One chapter and an epilogue left to go.
