Chapter Fourteen: Justice, revenge, and obligation
"You found her!" Batgirl whispered excitedly, "Yes, what have you found out?" "Ra's Al Ghul not on the boat anymore." Nightwing said, "And neither is Talia, from what we heard, they're waiting at the docks in the city to supervise the unloading." "There won't be any unloading." Batman growled, "Blue-Jay rigged all the crates with charges, we have to get everyone off the boat and then blow the whole thing out of the water." "Wow, talk about ahead of the game, she is good at this!" Robin said.
At that moment, Blue-Jay groaned and her eyes came into focus a little. "What-where?" "Quiet, you're going to be alright." Batman said softly and she quieted.
"Come on, we have to get everyone off the boat." "I do not think so." They turned sharply to see Ra's Al Ghul and Talia standing on the deck above them, looking down.
"I thought you said they weren't on the boat anymore?" Batman asked Nightwing as men armed with guns surrounded them. "And according to the men we overheard, they were!" the young man hissed at his mentor.
Batman's eyes narrowed as Ra's listened to Talia, who was whispering in his ear. After a moment of thought, the man nodded and said, softly, "Perhaps you are right, daughter."
Ra's turned back to the group of vigilantes and spoke to Batman. "Originally, my plan was to destroy Gotham and leave, taking only Blue-Jay and one other with me as a captive, and a future weapon." Batman tightened his grip around the little girl, still limp in his arms. "But Talia has just pointed out to me that the young Robin would be a good prize as well. While not as powerful as Blue-Jay, she would allow herself to be used if we had some better leverage." Batman pushed Robin behind him as Ra's nodded to his men and they closed in around them.
Batman pressed the small girl into Robins' arms as the boy crouched behind the three older vigilantes. The three then faced the men, ready to fight.
The men were not trained, or only a few of them were, but there were too many of them, and they had guns. Normally that wouldn't prove to be much of a problem, but under these circumstances, they were at a severe disadvantage: they couldn't move freely without risking someone taking advantage of the gap between them.
They were unable to charge their opponents, having to wait for them to make the first move.
Finally, one huge, bulky man hit Batgirl across the head with the butt of his gun, knocking her down. Another man took advantage of Nightwing's moment of distraction to take him out with a punch to the stomach then to the head.
Without back-up, Batman was overwhelmed, and was forced to watch as Blue-Jay and Robin were picked up. Robin was thrashing and fighting as hard as he could, but the men were too strong, and he went limp when one of them injected him with a sedative, causing him to go as motionless as his blue-breasted counterpart.
"They both have great spirit for one's so young and small." Ra's commented as the men carrying them brought the two children up to him and Talia. "You have raised them well." Batman grunted as he was tied up, not saying anything.
His mind was racing. Ra's didn't know that Blue-Jay wasn't his sidekick, and probably didn't know her identity either, as Batman himself did not know who she was under the mask. But why would he want her? And what for?
Batman watched them as Talia took Blue-Jay from the man holding her and cradled the small child in her arms, like he had been doing not long ago. After a moment, Talia turned and walked out of sight, taking Blue-Jay and Robin with her. Batman strained against his bonds as they vanished from sight, but the ropes wouldn't give.
Batman continued to struggle as several men hauled him to his feet and force marched him towards Ra's, who was smirking. Nightwing and Batgirl were dragged along behind Batman as they were forced up the steps and onto the platform with Ra's.
One of the men handed Ra's Batman's belt, along with the belts of the now stirring Batgirl and Nightwing. Batman twisted as hard as he could as they approached Ra's, but the men kept their holds. "Stop struggling, you freak!" one spat, hitting him over the head with a large fist. The blows would have continued, but Ra's held up a hand. "You cannot blame him for struggling." The man said, smirking wickedly "After all, not only does he have to watch his city being destroyed, he will never see his youngest children again either."
Batman stopped struggling for the moment "What do you want with them, Ra's?" he demanded. The man smiled, "Why, they are my key to world domination, of course. Or rather, Blue-Jay is, Robin is merely motivation for the blue bird."
Batman didn't know what Ra's ment, but his gole was too keep him talking and focused on him, not Nightwing, who had managed to get a small blade out of his glove and was scratching at Batman's bonds, as they were pressed up back-to-back.
"How will a little girl help you take over the planet?" Batgirl asked. Ra's smiled again "Because not only is she a genius in her own right, she can also force the young Falcon girl to work for me too. With those two under my command, nothing will stop me!" Batman ground his teeth, anger and disgust flowing through him. "Kidnapping and imprisoning two innocent girls, that's a new low, Ra's." he spat. "You are forgetting," the other man shot back "I am taking both red birds, not just one." Suddenly, one of the thugs laughed "Ha, maybe you can make em' breed!"
That was too much. Batman exploded forwards, the frayed ropes snapping as he twisted them as hard and fast as he could. He caught Ra's Al Ghul with an uppercut that sent him over the decks' rail. He crashed to the deck below and the two brutes lunged at Batman, but Nightwing and Batgirl were already free and took them out from behind.
They grabbed their belts as Batman said "Come on, he have to find Robin and Blue-Jay!" "What about RJ Falcon?" Batgirl asked as they ran in the direction that Talia had gone. "If they have her they are most likely to put the three together, if we find Robin and Blue-Jay, we find the Falcon girl."
They followed the hall that Talia had disappeared into until they reached the door at the far end. It was closed and locked, but the lock proved to be no barrier against the small torch Batman pulled from his belt. The door swung open and they slipped inside.
They didn't see her immediately, but walked along the catwalk for a few seconds before Talia came into sight. She was holding Blue-Jay in her arms and had Robin propped up against her side. She did not seem surprised when they dropped down in front of her. But their attempt at approaching her was thwarted by the group of ninjas that came out of one of the side halls.
As the three vigilantes fought the ninjas, Talia watched at first, holding the two children to her, but as the three Gothamites started to get the upper hand, she sighed and stood. Lying Blue-Jay down gently, she picked up Robin, pulled out a Glock and pressed it against the boys' temple. Everything froze.
The Ninjas held their swords on the three while Talia held the gun to the boys head. None of them noticed that Blue-Jay was stirring.
She woke in a bit of a haze, but Blue-Jay's head cleared in record time when she heard "Don't move, Beloved, or I shall take the little red bird's life." She opened her eyes and saw the woman, Talia, standing in front of her holding Robin in her arms, but that wasn't what made the girl wonder's blood boil: the woman was holding a gun to the temple of the first friend Blue-Jay had ever had. This would prove to be a very big mistake.
Talia was standing in a position that blocked Blue-Jay almost completely from the view of the others, giving her the advantage of surprise. Moving slowly, Blue-Jay got to her feet and stood up behind Talia. Then, without warning, she moved.
Sizing Talia's wrist, Blue-Jay wrenched her arm upwards, pointing the barrel of the gun away from Robin, and twisting it, hard, forcing the woman to drop the weapon. Blue-Jay caught it, kicked Talia behind the knees, dropping her down and falling to her own knees, using her hostage as a shield from the front, and the couch as a shield from the back. Blue-Jay wrapped her arm around Talia's neck and pointed the gun at her temple.
"If your father loves nature half as much as he says he does," she said, her breathing slightly ragged from the drug that was still making her a little cloudy, "Than you of all people should know," she pressed the barrel of the gun harder against the woman's temple "That Blue-Jays are bullies, especially when you trespass on their territory!"
No one moved for a moment, then Batman sized the ninja that was holding the sword to his neck and threw him across the room, before doing the same to the ones on Nightwing and Batgirl.
Talia had dropped Robin, allowing Batgirl to pick him up and back away from the woman. Blue-Jay squeezed the pressure point on Talia's neck and let her slump to the floor, unconscious.
For a moment, she stared at the gun in her hand, almost in a trance, before Batman gently removed it from her grip and set it aside. She looked up at him, her eyes still glazed and her face flushed. He frowned and pulled off his glove, putting a hand on her brow. His guess was confirmed and he picked her up once more.
He pulled out her belt and handed it to her. "I believe this is yours." He said and she nodded in thanks. She ran her fingers over it until she found a small button and pushed it. Nothing appeared to happen. "What was that for?" Nightwing asked as they walked back up to the catwalk. "It told an associate of mine that we didn't have to fall back on plan 'B'." the small girl said tiredly.
When they came out onto the deck, they found that the ship was surrounded by police boats and officers were loading the crew onto them. None of them needed to ask weather or not Ra's was there, they all knew that he would have gotten away.
As several officers went past the group, into the rest of the ship, Commissioner Gordon came up to them. "How is she?" he asked quietly, looking at the now sleeping girl in the Dark Knights arms. "A little beat-up, they hit her with a sedative so she's tired, and she's running a bit of a fever, but she should be okay by morning." The older man looked relived and said "She's a tough one. I wonder what her motivation is. It must be pretty strong for her to put herself through something like this." "Justice." Said a sleepy voice and they turned back to the little girl. She was looking at them, her whole being sleepy, "Justice, revenge, and obligation." Then she was asleep again.
(Review, please.)