TMB If Only 8 What if Artemis was captured too?

The first thing Dick registered when he woke up was that he was not under a blanket. The next thing he registered was that Peanut was missing. The third, and most important, thing that he noticed was that he was not alone. He froze, clamping down on a groan and trying his hardest not to move to alert the person smashed up against him. It felt like a person anyways. A fully formed, taller than him person with… A skirt? Oh god. He was with a girl. Oh god, Wally was going to kill him! He managed to get Artemis kidnapped with him. He'd never live it down!

A muffled squeak escaped from his mouth as he felt Artemis move, and he fought to keep still in order to not touch anything that could make Wally kill him more. Well, actually, Wally would probably understand. Artemis, though, Artemis was scary when angry. He really didn't want an arrow through his foot. At least she had clothes on! Although, now that he thought about it, he felt kind of cold. Oh. Dick didn't have clothes on besides his boxers, but Artemis did? No fair!

Well, it was better that she had clothes on if one of them had clothes on being a girl and all. Then again, Dick's clothes were packed with tracers and Artie's probably weren't. That was probably why he was practically naked. Actually, he didn't really feel comfortable being practically naked next to any girl, especially his best pal's girlfriend. Hell, Zatanna and he hadn't gotten past short kisses and small dates yet. She was going to kill him too. He'd get killed twice!

Yay, Artemis was awake. Oh! And they were blindfolded. Fan-freaking-tastic! If Arty got hers off and got a good look at him, she'd probably figure out his secret ID. Well, it was about time she knew, but he would never live this down. He felt a hard shove and a muffled grumble. He should probably get traught. He took a few minutes to breathe in and out and calm down. Artemis settled down next to him. SHE probably didn't panic… He could always punch back with the Reds if it came to it.

Dick decided to ignore, for now, his teammate and best friend's girlfriend who totally only knew him currently as that annoying Freshman Math Tutor. He moved to assess his other body parts. His wrists were bound firmly behind his back with little give, and currently pressed up against Artemis. He quickly switched sides, but having his face there wasn't much better, so he switched back. The rope was itchy, and hurt when he moved his wrists, so he let it be for the moment. Further investigation revealed that his ankles were tied with the same rope, albeit less firmly. He moved to lick his lips and found similar rope blocking his mouth. Communication with Artemis would be nice. He should get the gag out.

He squirmed around, accidentally kicking and hitting Artemis as he maneuvered his hands over his legs and in front of him, ignoring the muffled protests. The car hit a bump as he was pulling them under his knees and he screamed at the strain. The car passed over several more bumps and then slowed to a stop. After a few tense moments waiting for the trunk to open, it became clear they weren't coming for them right now. Dick finished pulling his hands around, wincing the whole time and reached up to untangle the gag. It was tight, but he managed it eventually after moving it around to get the knot to the front. Artemis continued to protest as he tugged the blindfold off.

"Calm down." He muttered. "I'll get yours in a minute." Artemis gave a sound that sounded suspiciously like 'Robin,' but Dick ignored it. He got his blindfold most of the way off, blinked a few times to clear his vision, and then reached over to Artemis to untie her gag and then blindfold. He forced himself to ignore the copious amount of saliva his hands were gaining as he worked, at least until the gag was off and he could wipe it on her shirt.

"Robin, what is going on?" She hissed.

"Well, to start, you're not talking to Robin," Dick replied as he started on her blindfold. "Dick Grayson, at your service." Artemis didn't reply. "I'd ask how you know Robin, but I honestly don't care at this moment and I don't think it's the best conversation to have when we've clearly been kidnapped, capische?" He got more of her blindfold off than his as it wasn't around his own head, but it was still hard to see anything in the dark trunk.

"I have a boyfriend." She said when he accidentally kneed her in the stomach after hitting his head on the trunk roof.

"Charming. He can kill me for getting his girlfriend kidnapped later. We need a plan."

"Right. A plan."

"No need to sound so discouraged." Dick said cheerfully. "I've been kidnapped like 40 times and always made it home. There's probably a bunch of stories online about it."

"So, this is normal for you."

"So normal my friend bet me I couldn't make it three months without getting kidnapped… Almost made it, too." He muttered the last bit.

"My god, and they let you leave the house?"

"Wow," he fake laughed. "That… That actually really hurts. Ouch."

Silence. He could imagine the look on her face.

"Look, just help me get the rest of the ropes off and we can find a way out of this trunk."

Unfortunately, it turned out there was no way to open the trunk from the inside. They tried. The button to open from the inside was destroyed and the actual trunk roof warped. There were blankets and padding that they hadn't noticed at first all around the trunk. It heavily muffled the impact as Artemis tried to kick their way out. All that came from that was that Dick was kneed in the face. They managed to get all the ropes off, so decided to take shifts sleeping until the trunk was opened by their kidnappers for whatever reason. Then, they would both fight back and try to escape.

Unfortunately, Artemis really didn't have any tracers, and neither of them had shoes, so resistance would be difficult. Dick was glad he was with someone who could fight back because he was still feeling seriously drugged and Robin definitely could not show himself right now.

"Hey, where did you get those?" Artemis asked after waking him up for her turn sleeping.

"Get what?" Dick asked sleepily.

"Those goggles. On your head."

"Huh?" Dick reached up and felt Wally's goggles on his head. "Oh. A friend gave them to me. The one I made the bet with."

"I… see."

"If you say so. Go to sleep. I'll wake you in a few…" At that point, he heard footsteps returning. "They're coming back!" The two teens tensed up. "Artemis, we should probably switch places. I imagine you're a better fighter than me?"

"Right. Right." The two quickly and awkwardly switched places. Unfortunately, the footsteps continued right past the trunk and they heard the car doors open and close. The car turned on and moved back over the speed bumps and away.

"Great." Dick muttered. "So much for that."

"Grayson, are you naked?" Artemis asked suddenly.

"No. They left my boxers. Did you seriously just figure that out?" Artemis chose not to answer. "Seriously? And you think I'm the perverted one here."

"Where'd you get that impression?"

"One of the first things you said to me after I got your gag off was that you had a boyfriend." After a few more minutes of silence, Dick spoke up. "Maybe we should get back to shifts. Neither of us will be much good exhausted."

"Fine. It's my turn."


"I thought there were more of them." Dick stated hopping from foot to foot as he looked around at the groaning group of thugs Artemis had taken her pent up aggression out on. She was in the middle of tying up the last thug.

"There were. I think they ditched a couple. I only heard three people talking anyways."

Dick nodded, and then jerked a thumb at the car. "Can you drive?"

"Yeah. Not well, but I can us to the main road and hopefully to someone who can help. Here." She picked up a coat she had torn off one of their aggressors and tossed it to Dick. "You look freezing."

"I am freezing. Hey! You! What did you do with my coat?" The thug spat at him. Dick sighed and pulled the coat Artemis had tossed him on, scowling as it went down to his knees. He searched the pockets and pulled out a set of keys. "Artemis, keys." He tossed them to the blonde. She caught them and opened up the car, searching for their shoes and Dick's clothes. She made a triumphant sound as she picked up a heavy box.

"Found your coat, Grayson!"

"Yay! Thanks, Artie!" He hurried over and started pulling out clothes and slipping them on, starting with his pants. "Aww. They got my shirt bloody. Wait, I was hurt?" He looked down to his right arm, where there was a sizeable cut. "That's probably going to get infected."

"Get in. We'll call for help from the road. No service here."

"Sounds good."

"I've got all their wallets."

"Also, good. They can pay for lunch."

"Pfft. Really?"

"Hey, they wanted our company. They can afford to feed us. Should I sit in the back? It's safer back there, you know."

"Shut up Grayson and get in the passenger seat."

"Whatever works."

They called Batman from the road. Batman, not Bruce Wayne. Dick had a hard time not laughing as they did. Batman sounded quite nervous about Artemis driving back from wherever they were, which turned out to be somewhere in Southern West Virginia hidden in the mountains. Dick was the only one who could tell, but it was still funny. It was decided they would drive to Washington,DC, which, while still not nearby, was a lot closer than Metropolis or Gotham.

To Dick's surprise, Bruce decided to end the call with "Oh, and Artemis?"

"Yes, sir?"

"Don't lose my son. He has a bad habit of getting snatched."

"Excuse me!?" Dick interjected. "Whose fault is that? I don't ask to get kidnapped!" Bruce hung up. "Jerk."

"Grayson."

"Yes, Artemis?"

"You're a little troll and I fully intend to use you as target practice next time we go to the mountain."

"You won't be able to catch me. Roy's tried."

"Want to bet?"

"Let's get home first."

A/N

Study Break

This is one possibility on what would have happened if Artemis was taken along with Dick. I have a couple other ideas of what could have happened, and may write them later.

Story Behind this chapter: This was written following a suggestion from Dratias in a PM back in October. I haven't posted it until now because I had another chapter ready before this one, and then I started posting TWB, so it got put on the back burner.

I think if Artemis had been there with Dick, they would have escaped if for the sole fact that it's much easier to take ropes off another person than yourself. And another person also even the odds more. I don't know why Bruce clued her in, but I think he was going partially for the idea that she'd be less likely to ditch Robin on the side of the road than Dick Grayson because Batman is scarier than Bruce Wayne.

Anyways, good luck on finals and such everyone.