Chapter Twelve: Captured

Blue-Jay stood, sniffling, and returned to the computer, her head clear now, having gotten some of the emotional turmoil that she suffered from out of the way.

As she tapped the keys, she thought about how Ra's Al Ghul might distribute the bears. Her best bet would be to stop them from giving them out in the first place, and the only place she could do that, was the factory.

With this in mind, Blue-Jay stood and went into the part of the Roost that housed her arsenal of gadgets and tools.

As they headed back to the Batcave no one spoke. Batman was mentally berating himself. How could he have been so stupid! All she was doing was helping and he got irritable over the fact that she had cracked a case that he hadn't even known existed. And now all of Gotham was in even worse danger because he couldn't swallow his pride. And not only that, but Blue-Jay was now in serious danger too. She was good, really good, he had no choice but to admit to that, but there was no way she would be able to take on Ra's Al Ghul all on her own. But that wasn't about to stop her from trying anyway.

Guilt gnawed at him in the pit of his stomach. He had no idea where or how Ra's Al Ghul would distribute the bears and even though Gordon would have police watching all the shipments of valentines day products, he knew that a smart girl like Blue-Jay would hit the factory before they had the chance to get the bears out of the building. The problem was, he didn't know when she would go in, and he didn't know which factory it would be.

Blue-Jay looked over her arsenal, grapple guns, gasmask, smoke bombs, miniature grenades, a small blowtorch, birdarangs, bird cuffs, lock picks and more. She picked up the syringe of the anti-toxin and gave herself the shot, inoculating herself so that she would not be affected by the gas if she got hit with it.

After a moment of thought, Blue-Jay went over to a rack of gadgets and plucked what looked like a small remote from one slot. She raised her foot and tugged at part of the heel of her boot. It came away in her hand and she slipped the little device into the spot where the section of rubber use to be.

Once this was done, Blue-Jay put on her belt and slipped on her mask. Blue-Jay knew that there was a good chance that she wouldn't survive tonight, but, what are heroes for?

With that thought, she jumped on her bike, and left the Roost.

"Anything yet?" Batman asked "Not a thing." Was the reply "Well keep looking, all of you!" "Batman, if Blue-Jay doesn't want to be found, there is no way anyone will find her." "Just keep looking!" he snapped, as he scoured the city around him with his binoculars.

He had to find Blue-Jay before she got hurt, it would be his fault if she did, and he didn't think he could handle the guilt of a dead little girl on his shoulders for the rest of his life, especially knowing that it would be entirely his fault that she had gone to that factory all on her own.

Blue-Jay arrived at the factory just before midnight and dismounted from her bike. After hiding it in an alleyway near by, she approached the factory and entered it via the pipe that went under the secret room.

The grating was in the shadows and was blocked from the view of the rest of the room by a large piece of machinery.

Using her small torch, she cut the metal that separated her from her destination away and set it carefully down on the concrete ledge beside her so that she could slip up into the room.

It was rather dark, only a few of the workers were still in the room, and they were packing the bears into large wooden crates along the walls.

Sticking to the shadows, Blue-Jay snuck around the crates, towards the door where the workers were gradually filing out. As soon as the last one was out, she followed them as quietly as she could.

This wasn't the door that lead to the main part of the factory, she soon found that it was a different one, the passage behind it leading downwards, under the factory. Despite the risk of the ocean soaking the earth around it, the factory owners had built this part of the building anyway, in the end, their pride was their downfall, as the factory was quarantined because the wet soil was causing it to sink and slide slowly into the ocean.

Coming to the entrance, Blue-Jay peered into the room beyond the dark tunnel she was now standing in. Ra's Al Ghul was standing on a platform at the front of the room, beside him stood the dark-haired young woman from before. "The time has come." The man said "The time to begin the cleansing of the world, and we shall start with Gotham city! We shall return this tortured world to the utopia that it was before man destroyed it!" the other people in the room cheered.

"Tomorrow we shall send these bears all over the city, and at nightfall, I will activate the release mechanisms in each one, causing them to release their toxin all over Gotham. This city's own people shall tear each other apart like animals!" another round of cheering "Now, go, start loading the crates onto the boat." The workers turned and began to file back towards the exit, causing Blue-Jay to make fast-tracks back upstairs.

Blue-Jay had just reached the ground floor and had looked back to see if the workers were in sight of her yet, when she heard a sound behind her. She whipped around, ducking the blow from the man behind her and punching him in the stomach, causing him to double over, making him short enough for her to punch him in the face, knocking him out cold.

As the man fell to the floor, several others charged her and she was forced to dodge them. Kicking and ducking and jumping and punching, Blue-Jay was able to take out almost her entire attacking force. Unfortunately, almost wasn't good enough. Something hard collided with her head from behind and she was knocked to the floor, dazed.

As she struggled to remain conscious, she heard footsteps as the man who had hit her stood over her "Well done, Ubu, bring her here." As the man, Ubu, picked her up, Blue-Jay couldn't hold back the blackness forming at the edges of her mind and passed out.

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