Chapter Six

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Goth Jedi: I reread my reviews and you made me feel guilty. I haven't updated in so long. Well here's the next chapter.

I LOVE ANAKIN SKYWALKER: thank you. Here's my update.

Tecna: you made me feel guilty too. Especially since I think it's been even longer now since I last updated. Are they going to be alright? You'll have to read and review to find out.

Sorry about not updating sooner, I had major writers' block. I had a bit of this chapter typed up but I had to go back and read it all over agin because I couldn't remember anything and I needed to know what was happening before I could add anymore. I'm sorry. Please don't hurt me because then I'll never be able to finish the story. I only got three reviews for my last chapter(thanks to you guys) and 10 alerts 17 favs 1 c2 and 12 people have me on their author alert if I don't get more people reviewing I will stop this story. Anyway: here's the chapter that you've all been waiting for.

One of the thugs was swaying under the weight of the unconscious Raven as he walked down the hall. It may have looked like he worked out, which he did, but he made a better metal man then having to lift or hold things still, even if they only weighed a little more than a hundred pounds. He staggered into a bedroom and threw her on a bed that had several restraints positioned on the headboards. He took one arm and tethered it into the bed. He repeated this action with the other arm and both legs. Now that he had that done, his thug friend (A/N: Let's call the thug that was carrying Raven Tom and the one that was holding Dick Frank) had told him to wait until he got there and not do anything else.

Tom looked at Raven and caught himself thinking that she was really beautiful. Immediately after this thought he shook his head and mentally slapped himself. If Frank or the boss ever found out he was thinking that, he was in big trouble. He snapped to attention when he heard Raven groan. He watched her slowly come back to the world of the living and once she realized she was tied to a bed he watched in amusement as she started a panicked struggle to free herself.

"Try all you want kid, those things were modified since the last time you was here. They're stronger and thicker. Anyway, we need you relaxed for this," Tom said smirking.

"What did my father promise you? Whatever he said you'd get he's not going to give it to you," Raven growled, glaring daggers at him. She looked around the room. "What have you done with Dick?" she demanded.

"I don't know. Frank's looking after him," Tom said.

"What are you going to do with him?" Raven asked, fearing what she might hear.

"I dunno, he's probably gonna be killed even if we do get the ransom," Tom muttered shrugging. "Number one rule: don't leave any witnesses."

"So what are you going to do with me?"

"I dunno . . . probably kill you when we're finished with you . . . if you're lucky," he grinned and Raven felt a sinking fear in the pit of her stomach. She did not like the looks this guy was giving her.

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Dick woke up with a hell of a headache. He instinctively reached up to rub it but couldn't. His eyes shot open and he realized that he was tied. He began to struggle and opened his mouth to call for help but all that came out was an untranslatable gurgle. His eyes widened when he realized that he was helpless and completely at these manic's mercy.

"What did ya say kid?" Frank asked mockingly, kneeling down infront Dick. "Oh ya! That's right, what you say don't matter," he said and took Dick's face in his hand, forcing Dick to look at him.

Dick growled and tried to pull his face out of Frank's grip but only succeed in hitting his head, hard, on the concrete floor. He emitted a muffled groan and had to close his eyes since he was seeing double.

"Now I bet that I can tell what's goin' through your head. You're wondering what we're going to do with you. Well, here's what we did so far: we called Wayne. We're not sure if you're important enough to him to cash in a million. Either way you're gonna end up dead. As for your little girlfriend," here Dick's eyes widened and he mentally kicked himself, hard, for only thinking about himself and forgetting Raven, "once we're done with her then she'll end up dead to. Leave no witnesses and you don't get caught," Frank said laughing. He dropped Dick's head and it hit the floor hard, the gag muffling his cry of pain, and stood up. Frank towered over Dick and before he turned to walk away, he kicked Dick in the stomach, the force knocking the air out of his lungs and caused a sharp pain throughout his abdomen.

Frank grinned in amusement as the teenage boy convulsed slightly, trying desperately to get some air back in his lungs and lessen some of the pain he was feeling. If Dick had enough air he would have screamed . . . but he didn't so he couldn't.

Actually, Dick was getting no air whatsoever. His vision was starting to blacken around the edges and he could feel some blood coming up. His attempts to get air lessened and just before he blacked out completely, he saw Frank look down on him with as close to concern as anyone had ever seen on the man's face. Bending down he pried the gag out of Dick's mouth. Dick took several deep breaths before his vision failed him and he blacked out.

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Frank was watching the boy convulse with great amusement when he saw the movements lessen. A frown collected on his brow and his eyes turned dark. The kid wasn't getting enough air. Frank sure as hell didn't want the kid to die right there. Roth would have his hide for that. The eyes were half closed now and Frank hurriedly bent down and tore the gag from Dick's mouth. After a few grateful gasps of air his eyes closed completely. Letting out a sigh of relief at the sight of the boy's now even breathing, he gagged the boy once again, not taking any chances. He double-checked Dick's restraints and went to help Tom with the girl. Man she was a handful.

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Tom was staring at Raven and she was becoming increasingly uneasy. Suddenly he jumped forward and his lips went slamming into hers. She cried out as Tom pushed even harder and started to cause bruises. He slipped his tongue in her mouth and she shut her eyes and frantically tried to move away from the man. Suddenly, the door slammed open and she heard an angry shout before the pressure on her lips disappeared and she felt Tom being pulled off her.

"What are you doing?" Frank hissed and grabbed a handful of Tom's hair and pulled it back making Tom cry out. "If I had it my way, I'd kill you right now. But I'm not the boss so I'll leave the decision on what happens to you up to him."

Tom's eyes widened in fear and he started stuttering out excuses for what he'd done and pleads to Frank, asking him not to tell Deathstroke. "P–please d–don't tell him Frank," Tom sobbed.

"Tell me what," a hissing came from the doorway. Both men and Raven(as best as she could) looked and saw Craig standing there. He walked over to the two men and glared at them critically. Tom visibly flinched under the madman's gaze. Craig looked over at his daughter and took two quick strides over to her and grabbed her face and looked at her lips for a moment.

Raven glared up at her father but could do nothing about his grip on her face. She was relieved when he slowly let go of her face and turned to face the cowering Tom.

"What happened to her?" he growled. "In order for her to complete the ritual she must be untainted. You," he pointed to the trembling Tom, "have put the entire project behind. She is tainted and will never be any use to us. We must find a new gem," he said.

"So what will we do with her?" Frank asked.

"She's no use to us anymore and she knows too much. The only thing we can do is kill her," Craig said simply and pulled out a gun. "But," he said and looked at Tom, "the one that has tainted the gem must also die."

Tom made a strangled yelp and bolted up, trying to reach the door but Frank closed it and stood in the way.

"Goodbye," Craig droned and shot him in the head. Raven screamed but it was quickly covered up by the sound of the door crashing and an entire police squad ran in holding up their guns.

"Put the gun down," the cop at the head of the squad yelled. Craig backed towards the bed that Raven was tied to. He looked like he was going to put the gun down put he spun around and aimed the gun at Raven's head.

One of the police officers ran up and tackled Craig before he could shoot the gun. The gun went off when he hit Roth and the bullet went off course. Raven screamed as the bullet penetrated her ribcage. She felt blood creep up her throat and darkness enclosed her.(I was going to stop here but it's been so long I wanted to give you guys a longer chapter)

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"Is he waking up?"

"Dick?" someone asked, their voice sounded muffled.

"Bruce?" Dick asked groggily, his voice slurred. He opened his eyes but grimaced when all he could see was a bright light.

"Dick, can you hear me?" a head moved to block the light and Dick could focus on Bruce's concerned face. He saw Alfred standing over in a corner. As soon as Dick met his eyes he left the room leaving Bruce alone with Dick.

"Ya," Dick nodded but stopped, wincing, as the room spun. "What happened?"

"The police traced your cell and busted the place. You've been here for three days," Bruce said.

"Where's Raven?"

Bruce sighed, this was not good. "She got shot. They're not sure if she'd going to make it. That's all that I know," he said and looked away, not meeting Dick's eyes.

"Can I go see her?" with this, Bruce's eyes flashed angrily and he leaned in close to Dick. For a second, he reminded Dick of Frank.

"No, you can't. You went to 'see her'," Bruce quoted 'see her' with his fingers, "and you landed yourself in the hospital. And you weren't even conscious when they brought you in. As it turned out, they told me that they found you tied to a pipe, gagged and the guy that called me told the police that you almost died from lack of air! That girl has been nothing but trouble since you met her!" when he finished he was yelling and waving his arms around. He glared at Dick who glared back.

"Stop blaming it all on Raven! It was my fault too. I chose to go out there. Anyway, you can't stop me from doing what I want. I really like her and I wasn't about to just let her get hurt or leave her alone in the hands of a madman," he yelled back, ignoring the pain it caused in his chest and abdomen.

"Fine. But if she gets you hurt anymore," Bruce didn't finish his sentence but Dick shivered all the same, he didn't even bother to correct Bruce when he hinted it was all her fault, he wouldn't listen anyway.

"Can I go see her now?"

"We'll have to ask your doctor," Bruce said.

"Ask me nothing. You're going to be just fine. You can leave anytime you want," the doctor said as he walked in, sifting through a pile of x–rays. "But you're going to have to take it easy for a while. Your stomach has a bad bruise, some of your ribs are bruised and other than that you only have some minor cuts and bruises," the doctor smiled. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go check on my other patient. If you leave, you can sign out at the front desk."

"How's Raven?" Dick blurted out.

"She's . . . maybe you should see for yourself," the doctor said and motioned for Dick to follow him.

Bruce helped Dick out of the bed and Dick limped after the doctor.

When they got to Raven's room Dick stared wide eyed at the machines. He eased himself into a chair, hissing as pain laced through his abdomen, and gripped her hand.

The doctor left with Bruce and they stood talking outside the closed door. Their voices were muffled and low but Dick made no effort to listen.

"Hey Boy Blunder, can I have my hand back now?" a quiet voice asked playfully. He looked around. "Down here," it came again. Dick looked down at Raven who had a small smile on her face. She opened her eyes and started to sit up, flinching as pain flared through her chest.

Dick helped her up and she stayed up only by leaning heavily on Dick's hand which was supporting her back.

"How are you feeling?" he asked and she glared.

"About the same as I look."

"Then you must be feeling really good," Dick blurted out then he blushed madly when he realized what he'd said. Raven looked up, startled. No one had ever said anything like that to her.

"Do you really mean that?" she asked quietly, uncertainly making her cautious.

He'd already screwed up and let that slip. He couldn't turn back now and the look on her face wasn't helping him back down much. Might as well take the plunge. These were the types of thoughts going through his mind as he took a deep breath.

"Yes Rae. You're beautiful," he said as she stared at him. He looked in her eyes and saw fear, uncertainty and another emotion that he couldn't place.

"No one's ever said anything like that to me," she whispered and searched his eyes for any hint that he was lying or telling the truth. "Everyone's always telling me I'm creepy."

"I don't think you're creepy," Dick said and leaned in to capture her bruised lips in a tender kiss.

He pulled back and looked at her bruised face. Her eyes were closed but when she opened them all traces of uncertainty were gone. She grabbed his face and pulled him back in.

The doctor walked in followed by Bruce and the two teens reluctantly pulled apart. The doctor cleared his throat and stepped forward.

"Since the police have not been able to find all of the men from Roth's group Raven needs a safe place to stay. Mr. Wayne has offered his home since she was supposed to be helping Richard(A/N: how do you spell Richard? Is it with an 'a' or an 'e'?) study anyway it will be easier this way. The house has the latest security equipment so we're sure that she will be safe there," he said and Dick looked at Raven grinning. Dick turned to ask the doctor when Raven could leave but he held up his hand. "She'll probably be able to go next week. If she's ready before then . . . well we'll see."

A/N: how was it. I'm so sorry about not updating sooner. If you want you can all yell at me in your reviews. I deserve it. I hope this chapter was worth the wait. Don't worry it's not the end. I'm going to keep going with it and if I get enough reviews I may even do a sequel for when their in collage/university or out of school for good. Remember R&R.

Nikki