Part 7

Roy stumbled through the forest, unable to see where he was going in the darkness, but driven on by the desperate need to go as far and as fast as he could in the little time he had. He tried to ignore the growing pain and discomfort his body felt, fixing a picture of his daughter firmly in his mind..there was nothing else in this world that could give him the strength he needed to get through this..nothing else mattered to him except seeing her again.

He ran on, tripping and falling numerous times, pausing until he could gain enough control of his tormented body to find the strength to get up and go on..Maybe someone would come looking for him..Ollie..maybe Ollie would find him, he knew his mentor would come to his aide if the older Archer even realised he was missing, but he also knew that there were times when he and Ollie didn't see or speak to each other for weeks on end, so it was a great possibility that his absence may not even have been noticed yet by the other man.

Suddenly the ground beneath him disappeared, and he fell..slamming into the ground over and over again, tumbling seemingly endlessly, his body screaming in pain as he rolled, before he was plunged into the freezing inky blackness of the ice cold river that had remained unseen in the darkness..The shock of the freezing water cause him to gasp, sucking in some of the liquid, before struggling to the surface, coughing and choking furiously as he tried to draw in a ragged breath..his chest felt constricted.. as if a strong hand had closed over it, squeezing it tightly so he couldn't take the breath he needed.

By pure instinct he found his way to the darkened bank of the river, scrambling over the slippery rocks before collapsing, gasping..still struggling to draw more than the smallest, most shallow of breaths into his lungs..he gagged, and reached, vomiting up some of the water he had sucked in. In his mind the image of his little girl appeared again, the sight of her sparkling eyes and tea stained skin..and the smile on her face bringing him warmth as darkness slowly replaced the image in his mind.

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"How many d'ya think?...Can't be too many, there's no barracks for guards or anything...just a house." Green Arrow whispered.

Batman continued to scrutinize the area below carefully...remaining silent as he contemplated the situation..His attention was suddenly drawn to movement on the edge of the forest on the other side of the house they were observing. He nodded towards the area.

"I see 'em..Three..no wait..four." Green Arrow replied, as men began to come out of the trees towards the house. "Now what d'ya think they were doing ratting around in the forest?"

"I'd say looking for something..or someone..But I believe they've found what they were searching for." Batman replied as he pointed to a van that sped towards the house. The vehicle pulled up on the other side of the house obscuring most of what the men were doing from the two heroes.

"Two in the van." Green arrow said.

"That's at least six..possibly a few more in the house.."

"Them's odds I can live with.' the Archer replied..a confident smirk appearing on his face.

"I'll take the back." Batman replied, already moving off in his chosen direction.

"Well I guess that means I'm going in the front." Green Arrow said as he to began to move.

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"Get out of here!" Baily yelled to the men who had just returned from their fruitful search, watching angrily as they filed out of the cell and disappeared.

"He's in a bad way David..might need to bring the doctor in on this one."

"Were getting out of here soon, by the time the Doctor gets here we'll be gone..No.. we're going to have to move fast and have the Doctor look at him when we get there." Baily replied, as he knelt down beside the other man to inspect the unconscious Archer.."He's cold..freeing, better go get a couple of blankets. He said, as he turned his attention to a wound on Roy's head.

"Don't like the sound of that breathing..he musta sucked in some water when he went into the river...Just as well they found him when they did or we'd be in real deep shit.' the other man said.

"I would say in all probability that it's highly likely the you are anyway."

Both men spun around at the sound of the deep voice behind them..Springing to their feet simultaneously, eyes widening in surprise as they stared at the dark clad figure that stood in the doorway of the cell.

"Shit..Oh shit..You didn't say he was one of the heroes Dixon was talking about."

"He didn't say who they were." Baily replied nervously."We aren't alone you know..There's only one of you and ..." Baily stopped talking as a small explosion echoed from the front of the house.

"Actually My companion appears to be ensuring that you are alone.' Batman replied, taking a step forward.

Baily lunged forward, intent on slamming his head into the Dark Knights abdomen..only to fall to the floor in an unconscious heap.

The other man stepped back, raising his hands and shaking his head in terror..This hero wasn't human..he couldn't be. He hadn't even appeared to move much before Baily had fallen to the floor..This was Baily's cause...Baily had only paid him to do a job, and he was damned if he was going to risk his life for a cause he didn't personally care about. "I'm not gonna give ya no trouble." he said shakily, quickly obeying Batman's silent hand signal to move towards the cell door, where he was quickly cuffed to the bars.

Batman moved to the side of the ominously still red head and knelt beside him..checking for a pulse and feeling relief at finding one, even if it was weak and thready...The young man was barely recognisable as the same confident, cocky hero he had worked with on occasion...the pale face and dark ringed sunken eyes attested to the hardship he had faced over the recent weeks, he'd lost a great deal of weight and his red hair was mattered with dirt and dried blood..But that wasn't what worried the Caped Crusader the most..it was the iciness of the young mans skin, the rattle that came with each shallow breath and the blue tinge that appeared around his lips that was most concerning. Reaching upwards, Batman unfastened his cape from his cowl and moved to wrap the young man in it, attempting to try and retain whatever warmth he could.

"B..Batman?"

The whispered word caught Batmans attention, the young man's eyes were partly opened. "You're going to be okay Roy..We've come to take you home."

"We?"

Batman waited until a series of raspy coughs subsided from the red head. "Green Arrow's here."

"I knew he'd come..."

The words faded away and Batman felt the young man relax completely..a small smile touching the corners of the young Archers lips.

"I took them all...Shit!..is he.."

Batman didn't turn to look at Green Arrow, lifting the young man easily and turning towards the door. "He's alive..we need to get him out of here now..I suggest we secure his captors in here and leave them for the authorities to deal with them.".

Green arrow stood frozen to the spot for a moment, staring at his ex partner, his eyes resonating the fears the Archer felt.

Batman paused. "Here get him out of here, I'll deal with this and I'll meet you back at the jet shortly." he said, handing the young man over to theBow manand steering him towards the door.

end 7