2 a.m. Thursday-Tim
Lately I haven't been sleeping at night. Stay up until four in the morning and trying to catch up on everything I don't do during the day. However tonight was different. Tonight I slept. The shaking isn't what woke me, what woke me was the panic in Duke's voice. The Shouting and the sound of Alfred's grunt. It all happened so fast before I could even fully wake up. I look over Duke as I begin to form actual thoughts. His eyes were wide and he was sweating. He was shaking my shoulders roughly.
"I think he's coming for all of us I don't know! Tim wake up!" He screeches, my eyebrows furrow and I look around the room. I don't see anything, Nothing looks to be out of place yet the fear coming from Duke is so real.
"Who? What?" I ask rubbing the blurriness out of my eyes.
"I don't know how he got out. He got out and he is coming for us all" He replies
"Dick?" I ask sitting up
"Yeah, I walked down to the save to talk to Alfred and he was..." He trails off I can hear the small groans of Alfred but I can't see him. I begin to get up, throwing my covers off and ignoring the stinging in my eye telling me to go back to sleep.
"Is he okay?" I ask
"I don't know, he's alive. I didn't think Dick would ever hurt Alfred" Duke says, he's right Dick wouldn't. Well the Dick we think we know I hold my hand out making him wait behind me as I try to clear the hallway. Looking left and right down the hall I don't see anything. Only Alfred propped up against the wall clutching his abdomen and sweating. I grab him from under the arms pulling him into the room and closing the door. I grab my phone off the nightstand. I call Damian first hoping he will pick up. It rings all the way through and I get his voicemail. Fuck. I call Jason. He answers after the second ring.
"Tim? Why are you calling me if you are home?" he asks
"Dick got out, Alfred's been injured and Duke thinks he is going to attack us. We need to get everyone awake and alert" I whisper harshly into the phone I hear him wake up Raven, her dazed mumbling and then her panic. She grabs the phone.
"Who is already safe?" She asks
"Alfred is bleeding out on my new sheets and Duke is here with me. I tried to call Damian but he didn't answer but he doesn't like me so I am not surprised if he just ignored me" I explain, I am glad she is awake now I just need to hope that Damian's light is off so she cam teleport in there and get him.
"Jason is going to get Bruce and then get to you guys. Get somewhere Dick won't look for you if you can. I am going to get Damian" She says I hear Jason mutter something but I can't hear what it is through the phone.
"I don't know we can try the Tower" Raven says but probably to Jason.
"What should I do about Alfred?" I ask
"Check him for wounds and act accordingly" She replies hanging up the phone. I sigh looking over to Duke who seems to be having his own panic attack. I can't help but feel how similar this is to something else that happened here but for some reason it's not clicking what. It could be how tired I am.
"Keep watch Duke" I command, he does so taking his post beside the door listening carefully with the door closed and locked.
I use the flashlight on my phone dropping down beside Alfred. I try to get him to move his hands but he holds them tight. I have to keep him alert and let him know it's me and that's exactly what I do. Finally he moves his hand and I can see what he was covering. I hold my breath as I notice the three puncture wounds, deep and wide. He was stabbed with something three times. That's brutal, Dick wouldn't do that. I don't think.
"Didn't she say to get somewhere he wouldn't look for us" Duke asks "Won't he look in your bedroom?"
"I'm working on it Duke." I retort putting pressure back on the bleeding gashes and using my new sheets to soak up the blood. My hands are sticky with it making me cringe and scowl at myself. In my line of work the thought and feel of blood should not make me feel the way it does. I am no stranger to it, normally it wouldn't phase me. However, right now...it does.
"She also said to make sure Alfred is safe, how are we going to do that if we are being ambushed in the hallway?" I ask without patience he hadn't said anything else I don't know why I am snapping.
"Dude this is my first home invasion. Stop yelling at me" He barks back.
I roll my eyes sitting Alfred up on more time, grunting as I do so. I freeze when the creaky floorboard in the hallway alerts me to someones presence, I look to Duke who looks equally as frozen holding his breath. My head feels sweaty and the ac is cooling it down but it I still feel like I am running hot. I release my breaths slowly looking under the door hoping to see the shadow of feet, something to give me further knowledge on where the fuck they are right now. The floorboard creaks again but if it is being walked on again they either took a step back or they are turning around.
"How are we going to get out of here safely bro" Duke whispers to me, I suck in a breath. I don't know.
"We follow the plan, We need to get out of the Manor and go somewhere Alfred could get help" I reply hoping to convince both of us as I say it. He doesn't see, to notice my unease and confusion. Alfred grumbles next to me and I look at him with a look of sympathy. He has dealt with so much working here.
"How do we know it's safe to leave the room?" He asks, it's a good question one I wish I knew the answer to. I think for a minute but I know every second is valuable right now.
"We uh...We can go through the window" I reply looking at the window that leads to the side yard. I don't know why I didn't think about it before. This whole situation and the lack of sleep has me thinking less clearly than normal. Duke walks to the window unlocking it and slowly opening both sides of the window outwards. He looks down to the ground and thanks the lord that we are on the first floor, I do the same.
"Help me with him" I demand, he nods walking to me and grabbing Alfred's ankles tightly. "Okay you are going to go out first, by his ankles you are going to help me carry him all the way out. When he is out I am going to give him all to you, you need to prop him up against the outside wall until I get out and then we are going to walk him far away from the manor"
"Then what?" He asks
"I'll tell you when we get that far." I reply
Present day-Jason
Bruce had already been alerted of the break out of Dick it seems like, he wasn't in his room and there was no sign of a struggle or anything. His hidden bookshelf was also moved recently, only a couple of us know about it. Me because I used to break in here before they knew I was alive and Damian because he doesn't know how to leave well enough alone. I open it myself closing the bookshelf behind me. I am shocked I know what book it is still.
Before me is a narrow dark hallway, It would be a tight squeeze for Bruce, or he would barely fit. However for me being a couple inches thinner than him on my chest I seem to be able to fit easily. If I move to one side or the other the roughness of the walls would scrape my arms and shoulders. As I said, tight fit. I still go trying to adjust my eyes to dark of the tunnel, the dark of the manor still had some light pouring in from the windows and doors, this has nothing. I have my .357 magnum in my hands pointed in front of me at all time.
I thank Raven mentally for telling me to put on real shoes instead of just slippers. The slippers would have been no support on my feet. The ground below me is just as rough as the walls. I can feel it on my shoes. I walk slowly hoping to feel a wall with my foot before the rest of me. Instead I feel a slope. The ceiling has gotten lower and I didn't notice the slow descend due to the dark. I hear footsteps in front of me, a couple feet ahead of me I think. They are soft and sneaky. I want to call out but don't just in case it isn't Bruce.
"How did you find this place?" Bruce's voice rings out, I wait in case he isn't speaking to me, no one else answers.
"I've known this place existed for a while I just make it habit not to spend any time here. Where does it lead? I never made it this far" I admit putting my gun down at my side knowing how Bruce feels about them, having one pointed at him might not be the best idea.
"It goes out to the garage of the Batcave, meant for when I need to appear to be coming out of my room" He replies, it's smart I won't lie.
"So were you leaving? Without checking on anyone?" I ask
"No, I was going to secure us a way out." He says, I can't tell if he was lying or not, however now is hardly the time to pick a fight. "Come with me"
I do so, falling behind him as we walk slowly making our descend to the Garage. even when we get there it might not be safe. I have to trust that Raven is safe and getting everyone out on her end. I would have felt if something was wrong with her. It doesn't stop me from worrying a little bit. As we get out of the hallway and into the garage I see the way out, my bike and the Bat Mobil waiting for us to take it. We both begin tip toeing out trying to remain as quiet as possible. I hear a grunt followed by piercing pain in my right shoulder. I let out a curse word and look to my shoulder. My gun falls to the floor but with the safety on it doesn't go off. I look to see what hit me, One of Dickhead's toys is lodged deep inside it. I cringe at the site of one of his weapons in my shoulder. We both look to the direction it was thrown at, Dickhead in his disheveled state hops down from where he was hiding getting back to our level.
"Hello Jason, Bruce, where's little bird and...smaller bird" He asks I furrow my brow
"Long gone Dick" Bruce replies first standing between the two of us, I know better than to try to get the weapon out of my shoulder, however having it is is putting me on a huge disadvantage if this turns into a fight. I almost hope it does, I want to see Dick get his ass handed to him. For everything he has done lately he may just need his ass kicked.
"I have a hard time believing that." He says "Where did she fly her little wings to?"
He isn't talking like himself, and what is his new obsession with my Fiancé? I can feel the pit bubbling up in my stomach threatening to come out and take over. It's enough for me to know I can take this thing out of my shoulder and it'll start to heal, just not as fast. Grabbing it I yank it out pressing my lips together hard to pull in the pain I want to express. I throw it behind me.
"I don't know what your fucking problem is Dick but you need to leave her out of it." I ground out.
"Now why would I do that?" He asks before throwing out another weapon, I dodge this one, I hear it make contact with the wall but not the floor. Bruce leaps forward grabbing him swiftly by the arm tucking it behind his back. Dick yells out in pain but throws back his other elbow trying to knock Bruce in the face. I join grabbing him by his elbow and tucking his arm behind. Bruce grabs it as well tucking it farther into the center of Dick's back.
"Stop Dick I don't want to hurt you" Bruce says through gritted teeth.
He struggles under the grip, he takes his own legs from under him rolling and throwing Bruce, Bruce rolls to his stop preventing injury. I can feel the bleeding stop, the blood vessels are probably healing. Dick gets to his feet turning to me and throwing a hard round kick, I drop under his foot throwing my own foot around. He falls hard on the ground and I grab my gun from the floor. I get over him pointing the gun at his face and he stares down the barrel of it. He puts his hands up at his head his eyes trained on my hands and the gun itself.
"Jason don't!" Bruce shouts at me, I ignore him glaring hard at Dick.
"Give me a reason to pull the trigger Dickhead" I dare
I don't know how but he somehow grabs the gun from me switching it into his own hands in a matter of mila-seconds. Not something I ever taught Dick or even something Bruce taught him. He has the gun pointed at my chest now and he doesn't flinch at the weight of it and he holds it with perfect form. My own hands go up at my sides. I step back from him letting him get to his feet.
"10?" He asks looking over the gun
"Yeah" I answer he nods to me
"Nice choice. I'm going to leave here, and you two are not going to follow me, you aren't going to try to attack me. I'm taking this with me and if I think you are following me I will shoot a random" He tells us, Bruce and I look between each other. We won't be winning this fight that is for sure.
"Why are you doing this?" Bruce asks, when he looks at Bruce his eyes don't falter his emotions don't show on his face, he just smiles.
"You'll find out soon enough" He replies backing out of the garage opening, he doesn't turn away or even lower his weapon until he is out of our running range and we don't move either. As soon as he is gone I put my arms down cursing for losing the gun. I loved that gun. Good thing I still have my duels. Bruce narrows his eyes at me.
"Guns don't solve everything Jason, now it looks like it made it worse. "
XxX
As soon as I am able I call Raven, I have like fifteen missed calls from her and I don't blame her either. She drops by grabbing Bruce and I and teleporting us where everyone else is, Alfred isn't out of surgery yet. Victor has been working on him since he got here I guess. Raven did what she could but with the lack of energy it wasn't much more than stopping the bleeding. No one speaks. All the new guys were just heading to bed since the timezone here is so vast. However, Kori and Victor are staying up. Kori sits on the couch with her hands covering her face. Raven looks uncomfortable near her. It being because she can feel her stress or because she is technically the reason Dick and Kori broke up is something not as clear to me yet.
"I should go check on Alfred" Raven says standing up
"You checked on him three times in the last hour" Tim says she shrugs
"A lot can happen in that time" She replies before walking off, I don't need to be an empath to know what she is feeling. We all feel it. What we do is a direct cause of what happened to Alfred. She vanishes through the halls on her way to check on him and I don't go after her. Damian looks up at me he has dark half circles under his eyes from no sleep and the stress but his eyes are still just as threatening.
"You let him get away" he grounds out
"I didn't let him get away, if we would have fought back anymore he would have killed us both" I reply
"That wouldn't have been a problem if you didn't give him a gun" Damian says, he uses the word as if it's a disease and he is scared of getting it. I don't blame him for not getting it. For now all I can think of is, why does he have the knowledge of how to handle and fight with guns let alone know the mm before even really looking at it. Something isn't right and I am going to find out what,