Part 13
"This freakin sucks." Arsenal said, as they yet again came up empty handed, they had checked out all four locations Batman had allocated for them to look into, and turned up nothing..not one lead. And Roy was getting more edgy by the minute.
"It'll happen Roy...we'll find them, I know it's hard but we need to keep our heads here. Right now we need to head back to the cave and see if Batman has turned anything up..then we can formulate the next step in the plan." Nightwing said as he prepared to leave.
"We can't just give up! She's still out there somewhere and that bastard has her...I'm not going home or to the cave or anywhere until we find her." Roy snapped angry emotion clearly discernable in his voice.
Nightwing took a breath, there was no point in arguing with his friend when the archer was as stressed as he was at the moment. "Ok..then where do you suggest we look next?" he asked casually.
"How the hell should I know..your the freakin detective..."Roy stopped for a moment realizing that there really was nothing else they could do for now. "All right you win smart ass...But were running out of time here...this sicko...he could kill her...He may have already ki..." Arsenal broke off, hanging his head and running a hand through his hair before adding softly, "And I was worried about Cheshire...Jesus Dick I don't know what I'm gonna do if..." he broke off and turned away from the other hero.
Nightwing approached and reached out to place a comforting hand on his friends shoulder. "Roy..."
"Just leave me alone a minute will ya...just leave me be!" Roy snapped, his voice breaking with emotion as he pulled his shoulder away from Dicks touch.
Nightwing took a couple of steps away from his friend to allow him time to gain control of his emotions, feeling helpless at not being able to say or do anything to ease the burden the archer was carrying. Suddenly his communicator vibrated, and stepping further away Nightwing spoke into it."Nightwing"
"Batman here...we have something happening at the suspects last known residence."
"What's the situation?"
"Where's Arsenal?"
"Nearby...he can't hear us."
"There are a number of police cars surrounding the house...they've called in a police negotiator, swat teams..."
"Shit...Hostage situation?"
"Apparently...No guarantees that this is our man, but it's highly likely."
"More than highly likely...we're on our way!"
"Nightwing."
"Yeah."
"Make sure his heads in the right place...or keep him away."
"Got it."
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Nightwing and Arsenal arrived at the scene, a small house in one of the outer suburbs, the street outside was a hive of activity, police cars blocked off the area, snipers were placed in strategic areas and a mobile communications center had been established.
They approached Batman who was standing to one side observing what was happening around him. Batman noted instantly that Arsenal hung back, looking tense. He subtlety nodded in the archers direction.
"He's ok...he knows he's got to keep it together...What's the situation?" Nightwing asked.
"Barricaded in a room at the side of the house..." Batman indicated a small window on the left side of the house. "Only one window...not sure of the layout of the house. He's rigged booby traps on the doors and windows, no ones been able to enter without alerting him yet. They've managed to secure the phone lines and talked to him...his demands are of course unacceptable...he wants his son."
"So this is definitely our guy then."
Batman nodded. "Identified himself..the womans still alive...he's got her in the room with him...he occasionally drags her to the window to make sure no one forgets whose in control...there's apparently two other's in the house, a twenty seven year old woman and a five year old girl...no word on their status yet"
"We have any options here?"
"None at the moment, I've been around to the back of the house and the Police and Swat teams have it thoroughly covered, their moving cautiously with this at the moment. It's early day's yet, they'll try and talk him out if they can...All we can do is wait for the moment, when we know exactly what the situation is inside we can go from there...For the moment it's going to have to stay a police operation."
Looking towards Arsenal, Nightwing observed that the archer was engrossed in a conversation with a police officer, from the hand gestures it appeared they were discussing the placement of snipers around the area. After watching for a moment Nightwing approached the pair, from the conversation he was hearing he quickly surmised that Arsenal knew the man. The officer walked off as Nightwing arrived to stand beside Arsenal.
"Friend of yours?" Nightwing asked.
"No..not really we worked in Checkmate together way back." Arsenal said.
A disturbance at the window of the house caught their attention, the curtains over the window of the room Batman indicated were pulled aside.
Roy watched with horror as Rachael's face appeared in the window, a man standing behind her, his arm wrapped around her holding her upright. He held a gun in one hand and yelled something that couldn't be heard from outside the house, and it was obvious that whilst she was still alive, she was in bad shape, one side of her face was covered in blood and she fought to hold her head up.
Roy glanced toward the snipers on the roof across the street. "What the fuck are they waiting for?...Shoot the bastard." he spat angrily.
"They can't...he's too close to her." Dick replied.
Roy looked back to the window, his face flushed and he tried to control the emotions racing through him as the curtains closed again "I could make that shot." he whispered.
Dick spun to face the archer "Don't even think about it...Let the police handle it." he said firmly.
"Let the police handle it?...How many times have we seen or heard about this sort of situation going down badly?...The police can't handle it, their not dealing with a sane person here, he can't be negotiated or reasoned with, no one can predict what he's gonna do next, but whatever it is it won't be good...I can stop this...You know it and I know it."
"Roy..You can't..it's too close, it'd have to be a kill shot there wouldn't be room for anything else..You can't even think about it on those terms." Dick said.
"Can't I?"
"No...I won't let you."
"Bud, I'd like to see ya try and stop me."
"He won't have to, I will." Batman's deep voice came from behind.
Roy turned to face him, fear, anger and desperation playing in his eye's. "You don't have a say in this...That's my wife that sick bastards got in there. Are telling me I should sit back and wait until he kills her because you don't want me to take that piece of shit down with a shot I know I can make easily?...Are you saying I should choose his life over her's..cause man that ain't gonna happen, the next time he steps up to that window it can be over...we all know it can."
"Roy..." Batman spoke in a softer voice that Roy recognized instantly as being Bruce Wayne..there was no 'Bat' in it, "We all know you're capable of making that shot, there's no question about that...But think for a moment...what if it's possible to get out her out of there alive without you having to take that step?...What if waiting another hour would mean you wouldn't have to have that man's death on your hands..The police have only just begun working on this, it's too early to use lethal force, a bit more time..just give it a bit more time."
"She mightn't have more time...as for having that animals death on my hands, I could live with that but I couldn't live with doing nothing and losing her!"
"One hour Roy...that's all I'll ask from you. I do understand, don't think for a moment that I don't..Just on hour then it's your call."
Roy looked at his feet and ran a hand through his hair. "One hour." he whispered in agreeance before turning and walking off a short distance to lean against a tree.
"You're not really going to allow this?" Nightwing asked shocked.
Batman looked over at the young archer "We'll do what we have to do." he said.
end 13