A/N It's been three months since Damian and Richard arrived in this parallel world, and Dick just can't win.

TWB Chapter 15

8 August 2013

It took time to make the detectors. Months. But they did. It didn't help that they didn't see a need until the silence from the far side entered June and they still had no idea what the problem was. On their side or the other side. The portal was always opened from the far side, and, while they had a receiver on their side for a stable exit point, all the technology and blueprints were on the far side. Theoretically, the far side could open a portal to anywhere. Thus, the need to know where all alternate dimensional beings were on their Earth.

The man that was sent through, Sigmore Friedman according to the paperwork sent in advance and the man himself, was supposed to be a communications expert. When he escaped about two weeks after he arrived and 11 days after the portal opening gone wrong, the man released all the subjects that had come through that were still alive.

It was a nightmare. Most of the creatures were recaptured immediately or within the first 12 hours, but a few of the smaller animals were gone in the wind. They really needed to keep an eye on them, in case of diseases and all that. Invasive species. And they needed to contact the other side, get them to send blueprints, since, as mentioned, their side only had a gate, not a portal generator.

It took many scans and overtime hours to isolate an energy signature that all the animals seemed to share. Hopefully, the human being would share it too.

They applied the first iteration scan to the full map of the world, bouncing it off multiple satellites and shutting down most of the power in the base. It wouldn't give them a specific location, but it should show the area the signature had touched upon. Once they had an area, they could go there and use a later generation, more accurate scanner to narrow down the search down further.

The planet scan highlighted several areas. Their lab was at the center of one of the strongest energy signatures. A wide radius covering most of New England in the States was another. There were also a few, fainter spots in England, Germany, and Russia. Based on the pattern, those were probably the escaped birds… Yeah, those were proving impossible to catch. Any birds that left the building were essentially considered lost. It would take years to track them down, and it would be too late to stop any effects by then, or even by now.

A large team was sent to the Northeastern states. Of that group, three agents were dispatched to the center of the strongest blob, give or take 100 km. Other subteams were sent to nearby cities to try their luck there. They would spiral inward from there.

The team of three spent the day driving to the towns around the approximate center point. They checked out several small towns, before they decided to try their luck in the nearby city, Gotham City. There was a confused mess of signatures around and inside the city. Much of the city was irradiated with it, even if only traces. If anything, that indicated they were in the right place. They entered on the rough side of town, and didn't leave their car. It took several hours, but they succeeded in figuring out the energy levels of the most recent trails and followed them in the direction where the signal increased, only really significant and noticeable after at least five blocks. They had to backtrack a few times.

They managed to narrow it down to a few blocks width to start. Then, it was a matter of following a path, for the person or animal was moving. Not too fast, so most likely on foot. Within an hour, their scans were converging into one clear path. They parked the car, got out, and started to follow on foot. They were on a shopping street on the edge of town. There were people out and about, but not enough to fill the sidewalks or make them crowded. At 2:30 in the afternoon, it wasn't really the time for it either. The group had a decent space between them and the group of people in front of them.

Meandering, they were eventually able to narrow the range further, to within a few meters. At that point, Chrissy put on the glasses. The glasses were the most precise scanner they had. They showed auras, energy signatures, of all living beings to within a reasonable bubble around them, typically a few inches further than arms length up to a meter radius.

On the street in front of them, there were three overlapping energy signatures with alternate dimension energy. One built man with a dim signature, almost negligible. Most likely, he'd been exposed to a portal or to things from the other dimension. The other two were stronger, denser and smaller.

Unfortunately, they were children.

Chrissy took the glasses off to double check.

Two children. Young children. Well, the little one was at least. The little one couldn't be older than 5. He had some baby fat in his cheeks and that kiddie sparkle. His head came up to the buff man's waist, if that far.

The other child was older, but looked more like middle school age, like entering 7th or 8th grade maybe. She wouldn't quite put him in high school yet, but it was possible. Definitely pre-pubescent. The kid looked weary and he was wheelchair bound. Chrissy felt Anastasia take the glasses from her slack fingers as Chrissy stared, jaw open, at the children. Jacob gave her a cover, standing so it looked like she was staring at him and not the children. Good timing too. The boy chose that moment to look up, searching for whose eyes were on him.

Anastasia gasped too, but then fell into a thoughtful silence. "Maybe he knows something." She said. "The energy is so strong around him. It's like it's emitting from him. I haven't seen that before. The readings are off the scales." Chrissy shook her head, but not in a 'no' way. She pursed her lips, and studied Jacob outwardly, keeping the small family in her peripherals.

"Which one?" Jacob asked, crossing his arms.

"Wheelchair." Chrissy said in a breath, so it didn't carry past Jacob. Jacob didn't freeze or gasp, just shifted his weight and quirked an eyebrow.

"White hair?" He asked. Chrissy nodded slightly. "He has food in his lap and the two with him are looking at a shop with a step. A toy store. He'll likely stay outside."

Anastasia spoke again, to combat Chrissy's reluctance. "Look at it this way. He's already in a wheelchair. We won't have to do much to hold onto him. It's not likely he can run away." They exchanged glances, then Anastasia and Jacob looked over at Chrissy.

"I don't like it," Chrissy hedged, then, "I'll get the car. Be discreet."

In the guise of shaking hands with him, Chrissy slipped Jacob a sedative patch and a tranquilizer dart. She and Anastasia walked away calmly, but with purpose. They were parked several blocks away, and, when they reached it, there was a parking ticket on the front dashboard. Great. That would be fun. Chrissy started the car while Anastasia slipped into the back and put the seat down, hand on the door.

Jacob grabbed the kid just as the light turned green. He had seen Chrissy turn onto the road two lights down. He had gotten close, physically, to the kid under the guise of concern for the poor handicapped kid, left outside the toy shop while the rest went in. He slapped the patch on the boy's arm with one hand, poking the dart in just above it. Jacob used his other hand to clamp over the kid's mouth and nose. The kid's foot caught in the spoke of his wheelchair knocking it over, but they got him into the moving vehicle before the man in charge of the boy could catch up to them.

Anastasia took point on securing the boy. The first thing she did was untangle the boy's leg from the chair, which dragged along beside them for a minute or two until they hit the next stoplight. The kid's ankle was scratched up, but they could check it for breaks after he was secure. Anastasia pulled the door most of the way closed, set the child locks on the door, and then shut it, successfully silencing the car's warning beeps. Chrissy promptly locked the car once she heard it close.

The kid was not cooperating at all. He was thrashing and yelling, kicking out at Anastasia with his left foot, the one that did not catch on the wheelchair, and pulling at Jacob's arms. His struggles were starting to die down a bit. The kid couldn't quite reach the hand over his mouth with his arms pinned, but he was bucking with his full body to try to get away. Jacob responded by digging his fingers into the boy's face and forcing the boy's head back into Jacob's chest. The lack of oxygen combined with the struggling wore the boy out even before the drugs kicked in.

Once the boy's movement stilled, Jacob waited for about 30 seconds to be sure the kid wasn't trying to trick him and then slowly removed his hand so the boy could breath. The kid did so, breathing deeply and evenly, autonomous system taking over. Anastasia grabbed the kid's wrists and folded them such that the wrists were even with the elbows. She wrapped duct tape around the overlapping length and then balled the boy's fingers into a fist and taped around that. After a moment of thought, she ran a couple layers around the boy's shins. He had been kicking a lot, so clearly wasn't paralyzed. While she did that, Jacob flipped open his phone and called the local base for instructions on where to go next.


5 minutes.

Thomas Wayne had left him alone for 5 minutes. 5 minutes! The kid had still been eating and had waved Thomas off when Thomas said he was taking Damian into the toy store.

FIVE minutes. There were signs of a struggle, but whoever took him hadn't had much trouble overwhelming Richard. The teen had been having a bad day, so he had agreed to the wheelchair, even as he sulked about how he didn't need it. Even on his bad days where he very much did need it.

Thomas had heard it! He'd heard the struggle take place, but he hadn't turned fast enough and Richard was already gone. The wheelchair was overturned and dragged to the end of the block, half on the sidewalk. The remains of Richard's lunch had clearly tumbled in the struggle. The reusable metal water bottle however. That had a dent in it and some blood on it.

It took Thomas an hour to manage to escape the area in which the crime took place. He called Barry and began looking through the clues he could deduce about who took his grandson. Barry had zipped in, taken a look, and then ran back out to check the security footage. Damian watched the proceedings with interest, but confusion. His legs hanging down from the counter tapping absently while his Batkitty thudded against his post from time to time. Thomas kept him in sight and reach the whole time he spoke with witnesses and the police.

They got footage of the incident, and Barry managed to get a look at some witness accounts, beyond those who had spoken to Thomas at the store. No one got a license plate, but the police managed to get a still of a van leaving the city at the last light before the highway. Thomas all but begged the childless couple next door to look after Damian. As soon as the child was settled in, Thomas went to work. He had a medical monitor on Richard, but it didn't have a large range. It barely connected to the main casino in Gotham from the manor.

It was partly due to the precision of the device. It could only give a general direction from far away, but once Thomas got closer, it would be able to tell him the exact location within a few meters. It was similar to the buttons they made for old people, easily hidden. It didn't give height, and the precision improved near WiFi servers, but it should be able to pinpoint Richard's location if they came within a certain radius.

Thomas checked he had enough bullets, tucked his cell into his pocket, and then Batman went on the prowl.


"I don't get it." Jacob commented, pushing a wheelchair out of a private children's hospital on the outskirts of a small town four hours later. The unconscious kid had a rain poncho thrown over his face and body to hide him from prying eyes and external security cameras. The light drizzle was doing wonders to help the image pass muster. "All the tests show a normal human. The only thing off is his energy signature."

Chrissy shook her head, fiddling with the new car keys an orderly had slipped her. She was locking and unlocking the car to get the lights turned on. "They are doing more detailed tests." She said. "Blood and urine tests." They had all but drained the boy. "These were just scans. They still need to look closer at those scans to be sure they didn't miss anything."

"We'll interrogate him too." Anastasia said. "When he's coherent."

The dart had a fast acting sedative on the tip, but it had only knocked the child out for a couple hours. If it had been the original target, Friedman, it would have most likely only kept him out for a half hour or so. The patch was a paralytic, designed to act up to four hours for a healthy adult as long as it was touching skin. It cut off the boy's strength, slowing his thoughts and movement until the drugs wore off. Like the layer between reality and lucid dreaming.

As the paralytic was also meant for Friedman, it was completely debilitating for the boy. Helped keep him pliant as they took scans and bodily fluids. He probably wouldn't remember the time well. Like in a daze.

The medical id was a boon. With it, their contacts were able to identify the boy. Richard John Wayne. Grandson of Gotham billionaire Thomas Wayne. He and his little brother, Damian Thomas Wayne, had made the news, gossip magazines really, a couple months prior. The story Chrissy pulled up was buried deep in the gossip network, nearly invisible at first glance. It told them the boys had officially been rescued from kidnappers by Batman and been passed to their grandfather when their parents could not be located. Mr. Wayne asked for privacy while the boys recovered from their injuries.

The medical records told a different story.

Richard Wayne had been fully comatose for about a week following the rescue in early May. Legally, he had ranked on the Glasgow coma scale for almost a month and was on IV fluids for an additional two weeks. When being examined, both were found to have considerable track marks, Richard more than Damian, bruises, and a dark brand burned into their back. Richard's back was covered in welts as well, and he had numerous older scars. Damian had a fractured ankle that had healed by the time his brother was non-comatose. Neither boy had medical history available prior to May of this year, beyond what was evident in their various scars. Damian, and Damian only, had a paternity test record that confirmed Thomas Wayne was his grandfather. There were birth certificates, allergies, and other inferred or communicated information, but that's where it ended.

The lab scientist mixed up a more targeted sedative and gave it to Anastasia along with instructions for maximum use. One also filled a collar, as expected, also originally meant for a healthy adult named Sigmore Friedman, with a histamine for the interrogation. After a moment's thought and a short discussion, that scientist dipped a series of thin needles in the substance, carefully boxing them so that they would remain potent. That would ensure the dosage wouldn't overwhelm the kid, so long as they didn't poke him continuously in the same spot. They took the collar as well. Couldn't hurt to have it available.

The three kidnappers were then sent on their way with their charge to a house set aside by the company. Well, not quite set aside. More allowed to linger unsold. There were detailed directions in the car's glove box, and rope, zip ties, and more duct tape in the trunk inside a waterproof hiking backpack. The hiking backpack also held a sharp looking knife, a med kit, and some rations. Anastasia actually grinned looking through the bag, a sadistic grin with a scary looking glint.

The kid was lightweight but deadweight. It took a few minutes of struggling by Jacob to get him into the backseat and buckled in. Jacob made sure to flip the child's lock on before going around the car and getting in the other side.

The house was a 15 minute drive from the lab. It was on a cul de sac in a quiet neighborhood in the suburbs, and had a 'For Sale' sign in the front yard. Jacob adjusted the baseball cap he'd used to cover the kid's hair and shadow his face such that he appeared to be staring at his phone/lap from the window, especially as there were some families outside watching their kids play while sipping at cold drinks with lopsided ice cubes. Chrissy was careful pulling in to be sure no one saw. Luckily, the parents were facing the other direction. The garage was open, but it was a pull closed rather than an electronic one.

Once they were parked and the garage door was closed, Anastasia hopped out of the car and opened the door behind her where the child was seated. She unbuckled him and pulled him out and up, into a bridal carry. "I've got him." She said, moving to the door into the house.

"Put him in the basement." Chrissy ordered. "And search him! We'll get set up."

"Don't forget the restraints." Jacob said.

"Right." Anastasia said, turning back towards him. "Toss me the zip ties." Jacob pulled them out of the bag and lobbed them to her. She caught them with the kid, and leaned him such that they slid into her hand. "Thanks!"

The door was unlocked, and Anastasia slipped inside.

Chrissy and Jacob exchanged glances, a pang running through them as a small bit of pity emerged. It probably wasn't a good idea to leave Anastasia alone with the boy, but she was the only one who would give him a thorough search. They had checked all the obvious places before they left the first car, but anything they could find would be helpful. Might as well give it a shot.