Chapter 3: 6 Makes a Full Set
September 17:
Greenlantern paced around the Watchtower in front of the large window displaying the rotating Earth. Flash hadn't returned and it was looking like he was number 5 on the missing list. The dart hadn't turned up anything other then the fact that it was a perfect match to the other found. Lantern laid his head against the glass, watching his breath slowly fog it up. It was so frustrating. Why wasn't he there when Flash needed him?
"John." Superman said placing a hand on his shoulder. "We have a meeting." Back inside the conference room Lantern took a seat beside, Superman, Wonder Woman, and Batman.
"So," Wonder Woman said taking it upon herself to end the silence that hovered over them, "it seems as if one pattern has been broken."
"Flash wasn't an athlete." Superman said, "Not a professional one anyway, so it isn't about someone kidnapping future sports stars."
"Then what's the deal?" Lantern asked
"If it's not about the sports the connection is the other similarities. Flash and the others were all male, in there 20's, healthy, fit, and known in someway or another." Wonder Woman responded
"Ransom?" Superman asked
"No, there would have been contact with Jake Juds family by now." Batman answered. "We should try to think of who the next victim might be."
"The kidnapper is probably done with athletes, it's been done and the police are on the look out for it." Wonder Woman mused
"So we need a young man in his 20's who's fit and healthy, and is in the news enough to be known by this kidnapper." Batman said. Then others could have sworn they saw his face go pail. "I have to go." He said suddenly and got up.
"Batman?" Wonder Woman called after him in confusion. She got out of her chair and followed The Dark Night. "What's going on?"
"I just have to check something that's all. Keep working on it. Go over interviews from the witnesses and see if there's anymore connections, any connections no matter how unimportant they seem." With that he was gone into his plane. Wonder Woman shook her head and went back into the conference room with the orders.
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Batman's heart was beating a bit fast as he anxiously piloted his plane to get to Gotham. After landing the plane, Batman raced over to the huge computer in the Bat Cave and snatched up the phone. Pushing a speed dial button Batman waited impatiently for the other phone to ring. It did, four times, and the answering machine came on.
"Pick up damn-it, it's me!" He yelled into the machine, "This is extremely important, pick up!" he paused but there was no answer. "Fine I'm coming over there." He said and slammed down the phone and started running towards the Bat Mobile.
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Dick Grayson entered his apartment and dumped his mail and coat on the table. It had been a long day and all he wanted was to sit down for about and hour and do absolutely nothing. He didn't notice the blinking light on his answering machine as he passed it on his way to his bedroom, but he did, however, hear something coming from the living room. He paused and listened. It sounded like someone was coming in threw the window, and that was a rather suspicious thing to do. He ducked into the nearby closet and listened; the footsteps were so soft he could barely hear them, until the intruder stepped onto the hard surface of the tiled kitchen. A moving of papers was heard as the prowler looked at his mail.
'Why is he looking threw my mail?' Dick thought. He tried to move as quietly as he could to get closer to the door enable hear better, but only succeeded in stubbing his foot into the vacuum. Dick yelled at himself inwardly for making the stupid mistake, the impact had made a slight thud, and the intruder stopped what ever he was doing at the sound of it. 'Well that's great.' He thought, 'now the guy knows I'm here.' The footsteps resumed and they were coming toward the closet. A hand from out side grasped the knob, but that was all the further the intruder got, because with a yell Dick kicked the door down and over top of the man. A startled half yell came from the intruder as the door fell on him, with a grunt he pushed it off and looked at the man who was in the closet.
"Dick?" he asked with surprise
"Bruce?" The young man exclaimed, "Are you out of your mind?! What in the Hell is wrong with you?"
"I could ask you the same thing!" Batman said getting up. "What were you doing in there?"
"I live here! What were you doing coming threw the window like a crazy man?"
"I was," he sighed, "coming to see if you were okay."
"Uh-huh, that was. . .nice." Dick said giving him a look.
"Well if you'd answer your damn phone none of this would have happened"
"I wasn't here to answer it, I just got home 5 minutes ago."
"Oh, - but that isn't important! I came here to tell you that you're in danger."
"Of what?"
"Listen, the league and I are working on a case, I'm sure you've heard of the missing athletes,"
"Yeah."
"Those were kidnappings and there connected. Flash is missing too."
"Flash? What happened?"
"Not sure yet, but who's ever doing this is targeting young men in their 20's who are healthy and have shown up in the media at some point. You fit that description."
"Why would the kidnapper target known persons that people would notice were gone right away, if not for ransom?"
"Lazyness I'd say. He needs to find victims. Instead of taking longer to look for less known people to fit his needs, he decided to just look in the paper and take his chances."
"I guess that makes sense."
"If he got Flash, he could get you too."
"Thanks for the warning, but I can take care of myself."
"This is serious."
"I know."
"How did I know you'd be difficult?"
"How did I know you'd be over protective?"
They stared at each other for a few seconds. Batman sighed, he never could use his intimidation on the kids, and Dick particularly had become immune.
"Okay just be careful."
"I will, I always am."
Batman put his hand on his oldest son's shoulder.
"I mean it."
"I do too, now get out there and stop the psycho, Go." He waved his hand toward the door. Batman opted for the window instead and disappeared. Dick just shook his head and sank down into a chair content with taking a quick nap.
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Back in the Watchtower, and after many reports, the remaining members finally had a lead. There were reports of an old man seen around 3 of the 4 athletes the day of their disappearances. The police thinking 'what could an old man do to these young men?' didn't consider it a clue. But, a description and artist drawing was made up anyhow. Lantern couldn't believe his eyes when he saw it. He had seen that very man the day of the fire! This was just too many sighting for the league; the old man was apart of this, but how?
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Batman watched as Dick, now Nightwing, left for his night patrol. He knew Nightwing would be furious at him if he found out he was watching him, but Batman would see to it that no harm came to his son.
Nightwing stopped on top of a tall building and looked down at the city. He knew, of course, that Batman was tailing him. He wasn't stupid, he just didn't feel like fighting and if it made Bruce feel better to follow him around, okay. It wasn't as if anything exciting was going on that night. He'd stopped one mugging: it was slow. He was going home soon anyway. He got up to leave when he heard a yell about a block away. 'Well, one last thing.' He thought and ran across a couple rooftops to where the yell came from. He peered down into a dark alley where and white-haired old man was being held at gunpoint by some thieves.
"Come on old man!" The taller one snarled waving the gun around carelessly, "Give up the cash and you won't get hurt."
"I think the only one getting hurt here will be you two." Nightwing said as he jumped from the roof and onto the taller one, knocking him to the ground. The thug hit the ground hard, he groaned then struggled up just in time to see his buddy fly headfirst into a trash collector. Nightwing calmly walked over to the dumpster and closed the lid trapping the creep inside. Batman watched enjoying the sight of the scum getting what was coming to them and stayed in the shadows. Nightwing was doing fine on his own.
"Rahhhhhh!" Nightwing heard the other man yell and simply stepped aside while the fool slammed his head into the dumpster.
"I would say 'That's using your head.' But I think that's just to clichéd now." He turned to the old man. "Are you okay sir?"
"Yes thank you young man, I'm fine." Then he smiled in a bizarre way, his gray eyes dark and cold, "Your not though."
"What?"
"Now!" the man yelled
Before Nightwing or Batman could react out of no-where an accomplice fired a dart into Nightwing's neck. He let out a gasp of shock and stared at the man.
"You think just because I'm old I'm weak?" The man said as Nightwing fought to stay awake, "That's all going to change."
"No, it's not." Batman said leaping down to land in front of the man. "Because you just made the biggest mistake of your life."
"Knew . . . you were there." He heard Nightwing say behind him
"Hold on, I'll get you to the Watchtower after I take care of this old man." Batman replied never taking is eyes off the man.
"Sorry," the man said, "you're a bit to old for my collection." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a gun: it was out of his hand in 2 seconds.
"I didn't think you could make me any madder then I was but somehow..."
Batman hissed into his face. "I don't care that you're old. If you try anything like that again you'll have a couple broken fingers."
"You think an old man wouldn't come protected? Arsu come!" he yelled. Batman slammed him up against the wall.
"Didn't I just tell you not to try anything?"
"Batman look-out!" he heard Nightwing call. Batman twisted around to see what was coming but it was to late, what ever it was hit him and hit him hard sending him halfway across the alley. Nightwing tried to get to his feet but he collapsed unconscious after only lifting his chest off the ground.
"What are you waiting for you dolt!?" The old man yelled at the goon who wasn't in the dumpster. "Get the subject!" he cried pointing at Nightwing.
"He's not a subject damn-it." Batman said pulling himself up only to come face to face with some sort of robot. The old man chuckled
"This is Arsu, I built him to protect me. His name stands for Automatic Robotic Security Unit. Clever no?"
"I've defeated robots before..."
"I'm sure but this robot is as strong as 2 Supermans. Have fun."
The old man's thug picked up Nightwing and threw him over his shoulder.
"NO!" Batman yelled and rushed forward. Arsu pushed him back. "Get out of my way!" Batman yelled and swung a metal pole he found laying on the ground at the robots head. It hit with a clang, the pole vibrating all the way up Batman's arms. Batman didn't care; he hit the robot three more times until Arsu grabbed the pole away and chucked it threw a wall. It started to advance, but the Dark Night already had what he needed. A small hole was made separating neck and head by the pipe. Quickly taking out some explosive spheres from his belt he threw them inside the robot. He then turned and ran like hell. A huge explosion followed, Batman managed to duck into a nearby doorway before bits of Arsu started to fly threw the air. After the shower of metal settled down, Batman ran from his shelter and out of the alley. He looked around franticly, but only found a pair on tire marks in the street. Nightwing was gone; he'd lost him.
September 17:
Greenlantern paced around the Watchtower in front of the large window displaying the rotating Earth. Flash hadn't returned and it was looking like he was number 5 on the missing list. The dart hadn't turned up anything other then the fact that it was a perfect match to the other found. Lantern laid his head against the glass, watching his breath slowly fog it up. It was so frustrating. Why wasn't he there when Flash needed him?
"John." Superman said placing a hand on his shoulder. "We have a meeting." Back inside the conference room Lantern took a seat beside, Superman, Wonder Woman, and Batman.
"So," Wonder Woman said taking it upon herself to end the silence that hovered over them, "it seems as if one pattern has been broken."
"Flash wasn't an athlete." Superman said, "Not a professional one anyway, so it isn't about someone kidnapping future sports stars."
"Then what's the deal?" Lantern asked
"If it's not about the sports the connection is the other similarities. Flash and the others were all male, in there 20's, healthy, fit, and known in someway or another." Wonder Woman responded
"Ransom?" Superman asked
"No, there would have been contact with Jake Juds family by now." Batman answered. "We should try to think of who the next victim might be."
"The kidnapper is probably done with athletes, it's been done and the police are on the look out for it." Wonder Woman mused
"So we need a young man in his 20's who's fit and healthy, and is in the news enough to be known by this kidnapper." Batman said. Then others could have sworn they saw his face go pail. "I have to go." He said suddenly and got up.
"Batman?" Wonder Woman called after him in confusion. She got out of her chair and followed The Dark Night. "What's going on?"
"I just have to check something that's all. Keep working on it. Go over interviews from the witnesses and see if there's anymore connections, any connections no matter how unimportant they seem." With that he was gone into his plane. Wonder Woman shook her head and went back into the conference room with the orders.
()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()
Batman's heart was beating a bit fast as he anxiously piloted his plane to get to Gotham. After landing the plane, Batman raced over to the huge computer in the Bat Cave and snatched up the phone. Pushing a speed dial button Batman waited impatiently for the other phone to ring. It did, four times, and the answering machine came on.
"Pick up damn-it, it's me!" He yelled into the machine, "This is extremely important, pick up!" he paused but there was no answer. "Fine I'm coming over there." He said and slammed down the phone and started running towards the Bat Mobile.
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Dick Grayson entered his apartment and dumped his mail and coat on the table. It had been a long day and all he wanted was to sit down for about and hour and do absolutely nothing. He didn't notice the blinking light on his answering machine as he passed it on his way to his bedroom, but he did, however, hear something coming from the living room. He paused and listened. It sounded like someone was coming in threw the window, and that was a rather suspicious thing to do. He ducked into the nearby closet and listened; the footsteps were so soft he could barely hear them, until the intruder stepped onto the hard surface of the tiled kitchen. A moving of papers was heard as the prowler looked at his mail.
'Why is he looking threw my mail?' Dick thought. He tried to move as quietly as he could to get closer to the door enable hear better, but only succeeded in stubbing his foot into the vacuum. Dick yelled at himself inwardly for making the stupid mistake, the impact had made a slight thud, and the intruder stopped what ever he was doing at the sound of it. 'Well that's great.' He thought, 'now the guy knows I'm here.' The footsteps resumed and they were coming toward the closet. A hand from out side grasped the knob, but that was all the further the intruder got, because with a yell Dick kicked the door down and over top of the man. A startled half yell came from the intruder as the door fell on him, with a grunt he pushed it off and looked at the man who was in the closet.
"Dick?" he asked with surprise
"Bruce?" The young man exclaimed, "Are you out of your mind?! What in the Hell is wrong with you?"
"I could ask you the same thing!" Batman said getting up. "What were you doing in there?"
"I live here! What were you doing coming threw the window like a crazy man?"
"I was," he sighed, "coming to see if you were okay."
"Uh-huh, that was. . .nice." Dick said giving him a look.
"Well if you'd answer your damn phone none of this would have happened"
"I wasn't here to answer it, I just got home 5 minutes ago."
"Oh, - but that isn't important! I came here to tell you that you're in danger."
"Of what?"
"Listen, the league and I are working on a case, I'm sure you've heard of the missing athletes,"
"Yeah."
"Those were kidnappings and there connected. Flash is missing too."
"Flash? What happened?"
"Not sure yet, but who's ever doing this is targeting young men in their 20's who are healthy and have shown up in the media at some point. You fit that description."
"Why would the kidnapper target known persons that people would notice were gone right away, if not for ransom?"
"Lazyness I'd say. He needs to find victims. Instead of taking longer to look for less known people to fit his needs, he decided to just look in the paper and take his chances."
"I guess that makes sense."
"If he got Flash, he could get you too."
"Thanks for the warning, but I can take care of myself."
"This is serious."
"I know."
"How did I know you'd be difficult?"
"How did I know you'd be over protective?"
They stared at each other for a few seconds. Batman sighed, he never could use his intimidation on the kids, and Dick particularly had become immune.
"Okay just be careful."
"I will, I always am."
Batman put his hand on his oldest son's shoulder.
"I mean it."
"I do too, now get out there and stop the psycho, Go." He waved his hand toward the door. Batman opted for the window instead and disappeared. Dick just shook his head and sank down into a chair content with taking a quick nap.
()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()
Back in the Watchtower, and after many reports, the remaining members finally had a lead. There were reports of an old man seen around 3 of the 4 athletes the day of their disappearances. The police thinking 'what could an old man do to these young men?' didn't consider it a clue. But, a description and artist drawing was made up anyhow. Lantern couldn't believe his eyes when he saw it. He had seen that very man the day of the fire! This was just too many sighting for the league; the old man was apart of this, but how?
()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()
Batman watched as Dick, now Nightwing, left for his night patrol. He knew Nightwing would be furious at him if he found out he was watching him, but Batman would see to it that no harm came to his son.
Nightwing stopped on top of a tall building and looked down at the city. He knew, of course, that Batman was tailing him. He wasn't stupid, he just didn't feel like fighting and if it made Bruce feel better to follow him around, okay. It wasn't as if anything exciting was going on that night. He'd stopped one mugging: it was slow. He was going home soon anyway. He got up to leave when he heard a yell about a block away. 'Well, one last thing.' He thought and ran across a couple rooftops to where the yell came from. He peered down into a dark alley where and white-haired old man was being held at gunpoint by some thieves.
"Come on old man!" The taller one snarled waving the gun around carelessly, "Give up the cash and you won't get hurt."
"I think the only one getting hurt here will be you two." Nightwing said as he jumped from the roof and onto the taller one, knocking him to the ground. The thug hit the ground hard, he groaned then struggled up just in time to see his buddy fly headfirst into a trash collector. Nightwing calmly walked over to the dumpster and closed the lid trapping the creep inside. Batman watched enjoying the sight of the scum getting what was coming to them and stayed in the shadows. Nightwing was doing fine on his own.
"Rahhhhhh!" Nightwing heard the other man yell and simply stepped aside while the fool slammed his head into the dumpster.
"I would say 'That's using your head.' But I think that's just to clichéd now." He turned to the old man. "Are you okay sir?"
"Yes thank you young man, I'm fine." Then he smiled in a bizarre way, his gray eyes dark and cold, "Your not though."
"What?"
"Now!" the man yelled
Before Nightwing or Batman could react out of no-where an accomplice fired a dart into Nightwing's neck. He let out a gasp of shock and stared at the man.
"You think just because I'm old I'm weak?" The man said as Nightwing fought to stay awake, "That's all going to change."
"No, it's not." Batman said leaping down to land in front of the man. "Because you just made the biggest mistake of your life."
"Knew . . . you were there." He heard Nightwing say behind him
"Hold on, I'll get you to the Watchtower after I take care of this old man." Batman replied never taking is eyes off the man.
"Sorry," the man said, "you're a bit to old for my collection." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a gun: it was out of his hand in 2 seconds.
"I didn't think you could make me any madder then I was but somehow..."
Batman hissed into his face. "I don't care that you're old. If you try anything like that again you'll have a couple broken fingers."
"You think an old man wouldn't come protected? Arsu come!" he yelled. Batman slammed him up against the wall.
"Didn't I just tell you not to try anything?"
"Batman look-out!" he heard Nightwing call. Batman twisted around to see what was coming but it was to late, what ever it was hit him and hit him hard sending him halfway across the alley. Nightwing tried to get to his feet but he collapsed unconscious after only lifting his chest off the ground.
"What are you waiting for you dolt!?" The old man yelled at the goon who wasn't in the dumpster. "Get the subject!" he cried pointing at Nightwing.
"He's not a subject damn-it." Batman said pulling himself up only to come face to face with some sort of robot. The old man chuckled
"This is Arsu, I built him to protect me. His name stands for Automatic Robotic Security Unit. Clever no?"
"I've defeated robots before..."
"I'm sure but this robot is as strong as 2 Supermans. Have fun."
The old man's thug picked up Nightwing and threw him over his shoulder.
"NO!" Batman yelled and rushed forward. Arsu pushed him back. "Get out of my way!" Batman yelled and swung a metal pole he found laying on the ground at the robots head. It hit with a clang, the pole vibrating all the way up Batman's arms. Batman didn't care; he hit the robot three more times until Arsu grabbed the pole away and chucked it threw a wall. It started to advance, but the Dark Night already had what he needed. A small hole was made separating neck and head by the pipe. Quickly taking out some explosive spheres from his belt he threw them inside the robot. He then turned and ran like hell. A huge explosion followed, Batman managed to duck into a nearby doorway before bits of Arsu started to fly threw the air. After the shower of metal settled down, Batman ran from his shelter and out of the alley. He looked around franticly, but only found a pair on tire marks in the street. Nightwing was gone; he'd lost him.