Chapter 23: Falling

I never realized how much time I spent in the cave until I couldn't. So Thursday night I found myself in the manor's third study, trying to find any information on how Victoria Rogers was connected to a Valentina Ramirez. I wasn't having much luck.

The only thing I could find about Victoria's past before she took over MedCorp, was that she was mostly raised by her grandfather. Nothing about what happened to her parents or any hint as to why she would experiment on her own daughter.

It didn't help that Bruce hadn't told me whether or not he had found anything from the files I stole. I was starting to think I should just drop the issue of my mother for now. It's not like I had nothing else to deal with. I was still dreading talking to Dad about Jason. Was there really even a point? I had lived seventeen years without knowing either of my parents, and nothing would change just because I knew. It wasn't like I was going to hunt Jason down and expect him to start acting like my father. One dad was more than enough.

Plus there was the whole mess with Anni and her father. I knew I should report it, or at least tell Dad, but I couldn't bring myself to be the one to ruin Anni's happiness. She was finally herself again, and I didn't want to be responsible for taking that away.

"Ugh." I groaned, and rested my head on the study's only desk. This would be so much easier if I could use the bat computer. Maybe I was approaching this wrong. Instead of researching Victoria, maybe I should look up human microchip implants.

That search was starting to become more fruitful, until I was interrupted by my phone. Surprisingly it was Ko instead of Dad or Anni.

"Hi Ko. Are you calling to check up on me? Because I promise I'll tell Dad tonight. Bruce is making me." I greeted her.

"Thank god you answered." Ko ignored me. She sounded panicked.

"What's wrong?"

"Have you talked to Anni recently?"

"Not since Tuesday. Why?" I asked.

"No one has seen her since school on Tuesday. Her mom thought she was with me, but when she didn't show up anywhere yesterday, her mom called your Dad to investigate. Jamie, Anni's missing." She sounded on the verge of tears. I dropped my phone. This couldn't be happening. I fought back the wave of nausea that washed over me. I picked my phone back up.

"-to you about running away or her dad?" Ko was asking.

"Ko, I have to go." My throat felt dry. "I need to call my dad."

"Why? What do you know? She told you something didn't she! What's going on?"

"Kohana! Let me call Dad. I'll call you back." I hung up before she could argue and called Dad's office.

"Detective Grayson." He answered. He sounded tired.

"Dad, I think I know where Anni might be." I blurted. I was on the verge of tears. I didn't want to be right. I would give anything to be wrong about this.

"Okay. Take a deep breath sweetheart. Take a second to calm down."

"I can't calm down! Anni could be in trouble!"

"Jamie, the only way you can help Anni is to tell me what you know. Understood?"

"Yes." I said, sheepishly. I wasn't one the crazy witnesses he sometimes interviewed. I didn't need to act like one.

"Now, when was the last time you spoke to her?" He was in detective mode. I never thought he'd be questioning me.

"Tuesday night, right before I found-" Now was not the time to bring up my adoption. It seemed meaningless at the moment anyway. "-before I left the gym. Dad, she told me her dad had been calling her, but," I hesitated.

"But what, Jamie?" He trying to sound professional, but I could hear the concern in his voice.

"I think she might be meeting with him."

"Why didn't you tell me right away!?"

"She made me promise not to tell! And we both know secret keeping runs in the family!" I spat.

"This is serious Jamie. If she's been in contact with Michelson, or meeting him, like you think she is, Anni could be in deep trouble for aiding and abetting a criminal."

"Dad, what if he got back in trafficking? What if she's missing because he took her?" I started pacing the study, trying to hold back my tears. "What if she's halfway across the world by now? What if..."

"Jamie, sweetheart, I need you to calm down. You can't focus on the what ifs. I know Michelson is a criminal, but I severely doubt he would do that to his own daughter. She's been too loyal to him throughout the years. He's not that disturbed." Dad tried to reassure me.

"I'm not so sure about that." I ran a hand through my hair. "You didn't see him when I visited with Anni. It was like he was a completely different person. Darker. And then he snapped out of it like he wasn't in control of himself. It was weird. Something happened to him in there, and Anni is just too blind to see or admit it. And I was too selfish to stop it. Now she could be anywhere and it's my fault. Let me come home and help look for her. Please."

"I know this is hard Jamie, but it's best to leave this to the professionals." I snorted at that.

"Coming from the man who used to be a vigilante."

"We can't all be perfect. I'll tell you if anything changes. By the way, Bruce said you need to tell me something?" Dammit Bruce. Couldn't trust me enough to tell him on my own.

"Yeah, well, about that," I started.

"What did you do?" He sighed.

"Nothing. It's what you did." I snapped. "I know I was adopted. And that Jason Todd is my father. But who cares at the moment when Anni is missing. Nothing else should matter except finding her!" I exclaimed. It really did feel petty to be upset about being adopted at the moment. He was silent.

"When did you find out?" He asked quietly.

"Tuesday. I found a box full of my baby stuff. My birth certificate was in there. I figured you just forgot I had one."

"I didn't know. Jason probably didn't know either. Jamie, I'm sorry you found out this way."

"Whatever. Just tell me one thing." I demanded. "Did you intend to tell me at all? Or was this another secret like Batman?"

There was a long pause. "I would have told you."

"When? Because Uncle Tim was going to tell me when I turned 18. Him, Aunt Steph, and Bruce didn't like this idea. How could you agree to it? What would be so wrong with me knowing I was adopted while growing up? How could you stand keeping secrets from me, when that was the exact reason you became Nightwing?" I think I was more upset than I wanted to admit.

"It's more complicated than that. We did it to protect you. Jason wouldn't let me adopt you otherwise."

"Protect me from what? Jason? I'm pretty sure I don't fit the criteria for the Red Hood's hit list." I snapped. Any thing he said would never be a good enough excuse.

"From your mother. But it turns out we couldn't even do that. Jason would be pissed if he knew about the microchip."

"Shouldn't be surprised. Victoria seems kind of dangerous." As in, she could do anything she wanted and get away with it because she had that kind of power.

"Victoria? Is that her real name?"

"According to the birth certificate, it is. Victoria Rogers is my mother. Now that you know, can we please get back to finding Anni. This can wait."

"Wait. Did you just say she seems dangerous? You've met her?"

"Yes, but who cares!" I shouted.

"You're right. Anni is more important. We will talk about this though. I need you to understand, we did this for your benefit."

"Not from where I standing." I muttered. He sighed.

"You will one day. For now, focus on school, and let me know if Anni calls you."

"I will."

"And Little Bird?"

"Yeah Dad?"

"I know you probably think I took you in out of pity, but I didn't. I've loved you since the first day you toddled around my apartment. And I still love you."

"I love you too, Dad. Now bring my sister home."

"I will. Night Little Bird."

"Night Dad."

Now what was I supposed to do? I didn't feel like researching Victoria anymore. All I wanted to do was go home and look for Anni, but there was no way Dad or Bruce would let me skip another day of school or let me get away with sneaking to New York, especially since I couldn't do anything more than what the police were already doing. It was so frustrating to do nothing. I felt completely useless.

I paced the study. There had to be something I knew that could help find Anni. Nothing came to mind. Exasperated I left the study and wandered around the manor. Being grounded sucked. I made my way to the old bedroom with the book collection.

When I had first found it, I had though it was Uncle Tim's old room, but then I found his actual old room. So that left it to be Jason's, since I knew where the others' rooms were. The irony in that wasn't lost on me. It did give me a weird sense of comfort knowing we shared a love of books. If I ever did meet him, we could at least talk about that. Not that I thought we would ever meet.

I grabbed a random book and started reading. I eventually dosed off and when I woke up the in morning, I was covered with a blanket, and a stack of papers titled "Project JVT prototype" was on the night stand. Looks like Bruce found something after all.

Well this is just a mess for Jamie. Poor girl can't seem to get a break. And hopefully Anni is safe.

I have an announcement! I joined the Air Force! My goal is to finish this story before I leave in January and I will have tons of free time in December to work on it so it shouldn't be a problem.

Fun Fact: Jamie doesn't have a favorite hero. If forced to choose, she would say Superman just to annoy Bruce.