Young Knights
Issue #7: Family Ties.
On a world not like ours
He sat upon his throne, massive rock like figures curling around the edge of it's armrests as twin Braziers on either side of him cast the room into devilish shadows. Images hung in the air in front of him through alien technology. His blood red gaze took in each image with crystal clarity. A woman warrior, he always liked those, a young Knight, and a man who ran from everything in his life. These would do, for a start at least.
Yes, he thought, things would become very interesting in the time to come.
- - - - - - - -
We've come to the end.
Tim looked up at Oni from his place at the foot of the grand stairs, his step mother on her knees, bound and gagged and the psycho behind her was grinning with glee, his knife easily spinning in his hands. "So tell me baby brother, when did you figure it out?"
"Earlier today," Tim replied, "it took a while until I figured out the Louis and Philip reference."
Need to play along, weigh my options, and get myself set to attack.
His hand slowly slipped back, pulling a throwing bird from its pouch beneath his cape. "They were characters from the Man in the Iron Mask. Louis the King of France, Philip his denounced and wrongfully imprisoned. Ask me, you've got an awful messed up view of yourself."
He didn't wait for Oni to reply, Tim's hand snaked out and he let the throwing bird fly as he started running. The projectile caught Oni in the throat just as Tim sprang from the bottom step up to the other two, his fist smashed in to his wayward sibling's nose, blood spraying everywhere. Stumbling back, Oni pulled a small remote from his pocket, "Say goodbye to Mommy, you bastard."
Tim snapped back towards Dana, seeing the bomb that had been hidden from his vantage at the bottom of the stairs. He slammed in to her, sending them tumbling just as the small bomb went off. Wood and splinters rained down as they crashed in to the marble floor and Tim tried to take the impact while shielding Dana from the debris. Feeling his head swim, Robin rolled over to see Oni pouncing for him from the top of the wrecked staircase, coming down knife first.
Like I said, no matter what, we've come to the end.
- - - - - - - - -
Jack Turner and Jim Gordon walked in to Commissioner Akins office with faces set in stone, they had heard the rumors of what had been going on downtown on their way up, and none of it was good. Upon their entrance Akins stood from his desk and nodded to the two Officers, "Jim, Lieutenant Turner. I'd like to say welcome to Gotham, but right now…"
"Don't worry about it sir, but I need to know the situation, now." As he spoke, Jack started to flip through one of his files.
With exasperation in his voice Akins began, giving a pull on his already loose necktie. "Suspect's name is Matt Hagan, otherwise known as Clayface, I'm sure you don't need his powers explained. He started terrorizing the downtown area, specifically the Kane Memorial Hospital, MCU intervened but thus far nothing we've been able to do has had any effect."
"Yeah, Jack cut in, "That's why my team's being pulled together,"
"But as of right now, you are the only officer assigned to the S.T.U that's in Gotham or not on shift as a regular cop. Besides we haven't received the shipment from STAR Labs yet." Akins pulled out a handkerchief and wiped the sweat from his brow. "We're screwed Gentlemen."
"Maybe not sir," Jack placed one of his files on Akins desk, pointing to a particular note, "Do we have one of these in Lock up?"
Akins nodded, "I think so."
"Good, I'm going to get it, and I need you to get a chopper prepped for me sir. We'll take this freak down."
- - - - - - - - -
As Oni descended on him like a rabid animal, Robin kicked out a booted foot, snapping it in his assailant's collar bone. Oni gagged and slumped off to the side, reeling. With rage in his eyes he brought his knife back up in front of him, holding the blade point down. Tim took a step back and brought his arms up in a defensive stance.
Before I came here, before Batman and I paid Gotham's newest Soprano wannabe a visit, before I even told Bruce I had a lead, I paid a visit to my parents apartment. I needed the confirmation, the proof that as much as I didn't want to believe it, I was right about this psycho. I didn't like what I found.
With a snarl on his lips, the assassin charged in on the young vigilante, his foot launched out, blocked by Tim's forearm, Robin let out three quick jabs, all turned away by Oni's palms. Moving with lightning speed, the two moved in unison, a dance of death.
I ransacked Dad's study, discovered a small collection of journals he had kept. One from a few years before I was born gave me the answers. My father and mother had gotten in to a fight, nothing physical but from what Dad wrote it was vicious anyway, as in considering divorce. They had decided they needed time apart and Dad temporarily moved to Japan to oversee some business venture or another.
The elder brother moved things to the next level as he darted in close to Tim and Grabbed a hold of the young Titan's head and yanked it down as he bucked his knee up. The colliding force sent Tim reeling back, an arc of blood spilling from his mouth.
While he was there, Dad had an affair, or a relationship, not sure what you would call it. From the looks of it he regretted it pretty quickly. But life's funny you know? He got her pregnant, and opted to stand by her, support his son. Dad may be human, but he's a good man.
Getting behind Oni, Tim wrapped his arm around the brute's neck, squeezing in to cut off his enemy's air.
I did some research, Oni's mommy was involved with the Triad, she told Dad that Oni had died, she told Oni his father didn't want him. Hell of a way to grow up.
Oni flipped Tim over his shoulder and sent a fist straight to the boy's gut, hitting him like a freight train.
"You know, there's one thing I just don't understand." Tim rolled to his feet and pulled a throwing bird from his belt. "You've got a hate on for Tim Drake, fine. But how did you know I was Robin."
Oni grinned, it was psychotic, feral, like a rabid hyena. "I met a girlfriend of yours in Bludhaven who told me your little secret. I think her name was Steph…" He stalked towards Robin, licking the blood from his own lips, "And my…how she screamed."
"You Bastard!" Tim's fist tore through Oni's face, splitting open his lip with a punch right in to the cheek bone. Toppling under the younger man's weight and momentum Oni was taken under by a barrage of punches from Robin, each one coming in so fast and so hard that it felt as if it was simply one constant force against his skin, "Kill you! Swear to god I'll kill you!" he heard Robin screaming through the flurry of punches.
Feeling the blood rise in his lungs, Oni wiggled an arm down to his pocket and pulled out a small remote control, he felt a sick delight twist and knot in his stomach and grow until his was almost giddy as he forced his next words through clenched teeth, "St..stop worrying about the dead… and think about the living." His thumb clicked the little remote, "Five seconds boy wonder,"
Mom!
Snapping around as if Oni didn't even exist, Robin fired a cable from him gauntlet, felt the tug as it embedded itself in the wall at the top of the stairs behind Dana. With a strong pull he was airborne, wrapping his arms around Dana and shifted his weight, shoving the two of them down the stairs just as the charges went off.
Tim bit back the screams as the shrapnel shredded through his cape and bit in to his body armor, and even through the pain Tim was thankful for the Kevlar he was wearing. As the rubble rained down over him, Robin pushed himself up to his knees, and felt the crushing blow of Oni's fist, straight to his face.
- - - - - - - - -
Cassandra could feel her muscles burn as she grabbed a mother and her child off the sidewalk, pulling them out of falling gargoyle that had been knocked loose in Clayface's rampage.
Wincing as her shoulder collided with the pavement, Cassandra couldn't help but swear under her cowl, swear at Clayface, at the situation and at her and the others for being this unprepared. Now they were in the middle of downtown Gotham at Rush Hour with a very angry Clayface on a rampage and no weapons to properly face him. Cassandra gave a small huff borne from both annoyance and desperation. It wasn't as if they'd had a moment to attack the maniac anyway. Not with so many civilians at risk.
She felt her heart leap as she saw Clayface, standing in the middle of the chaotic street, launch one of his arms up at the buttressed train track that ran above the streets, smashing through it and raining debris down on the crowded street, just as she heard whistle of the evening express. "TRAIN!" She screamed as her bat-line snagged a child and pulled him out of the way.
"On it!" Nightwing and Batman both shouted back and Cassandra couldn't help but feel some sense of awe at how well the two of them worked together. Without a word they both fired they're lines up to the rooftops and sailed up into the air toward the train. They both landed on the engine car in a somersault. Batman kicked out his foot to stabilize himself, Nightwing let himself roll off the end, landing between the cars. "Go!" was all he yelled, pulling the car release and the emergency brake, sending sparks flying.
Before Nightwing had even finished talking, Batman pivoted on his foot and took off running across the top of the train. In one fluid movement he pulled out his grapple and shot it into the train's roof and launched himself off the side. Swinging in a wide arc he crashed through the window of the engine and grabbed the conductor around the waist without ever touching the floor. They smashed through the other window and plummeted down to the street below, with Batman using the same grapple line to slow the descent to safe measures.
The three then worked efficiently to push bystanders back as the train engine flew off of the track and careened into a building that was, thankfully, evacuated.
The sound of a helicopter propeller echoed in Cassandra's ear and she looked up to see a GCPD Chopper.
- - - - - - - - -
Jack clipped the chopper's repel line to his harness and tightened the straps of the backpack. Jim Gordon held on to the safety handle, looking at him like he was insane, maybe he was. Taking off on a sprint he leapt out from the copter, falling 20 feet he pulled the cord tight and felt his whole body jerk, pulling himself perpendicular. Then he leveled his ace in the whole at the rampaging freak. Mr. Freeze's Freezing gun.
- - - - - - - - -
Batman, Nightwing and Batgirl all stopped in their tracks at the familiar and chilling sound. And then couldn't help but smile as the blast washed over Clayface and left them all with a life sized mud-pop. Batman crossed his arms over his chest and gave a small nod of approval. Whoever this officer was, he got results.
Batman didn't have any more time to think on it though. His utility belt started to beep.
Robin's emergency signal was going off.
- - - - - - - - -
Oni was having the time of his life. Never once had he been this, this happy. The explosives he had set around his father's whore had worked perfectly; Robin's attempt to save her hurt the boy, and threw him off balance. An advantage Oni had taken full advantage of. He sent another hard kick to his bastard of a brother's gut, sending blood spurting from Robin's mouth.
Oni smirked as Robin tried to fight back, and threw a punch aimed at Oni's face. It was a fueled by pure desperation and it showed, telegraphed a mile away, Oni caught the fist in his hand and gave a sharp jerk down, grinning madly when he heard the sharp snap come from Tim's arm. And the killer was filled with glee when he saw his younger brother's arm twisted unnaturally. Lifting him up by the scruff of the neck, he turned towards Dana, who was watching in abject horror. "Don't be afraid Mrs. Drake, the best part of our little drama has arrived." And without another word he grasped the edge of Robin's mask and peeled it off, and Dana saw that her Husband's son, the darling boy she had come to love as much as her own child was really Robin. And just as this fact sunk in, He threw Tim straight through a window outside. Dana screamed in terror, horrified for her son. "Come on," Oni said as he grabbed her by the arm, "Let's go see how this ends."
- - - - - - - - -
Dick could feel his blood boiling underneath his costume, his adrenaline surging as he ducked and weaved between the cars, vans and trucks of Gotham's nighttime traffic, Batman and the Batgirl were close behind in the Batmobile, but Rush hour was Rush hour, and Nightwing had the best chance of getting to Robin. Still the Manors were clear across the city, and Tim was running out of time.
- - - - - - - -
Tim's vision was pulling itself back into focus. He pushed himself up with his good arm, kneeling in a puddle of mud as lightning split the sky and rain began to fall. Mud dripped from his face and into his eyes. His mask! Where was it? His mind was jumbled and felt as though it had been broken in to shards. Oni had ripped it off, Dana had… Dana knew he was Robin. Exhausted beyond all explanation, Tim's arm gave out from under him and he fell back into the mud, face first.
The doors of Drake Manor swung open and in a hazy distortion Tim saw Oni walking down the front steps with Dana, one hand had her by the hair, the other twisted an arm behind her back. He was hurting her. The thought forced a growl from Tim's throat. This woman had taken care of him, helped raise him. And this sycophantic freak was hurting just to get to him. Was hurting the unborn sibling and child that she carried, well that wasn't going to fly.
With a surge of Adrenaline Tim pushed himself straight to his feet and grabbed at his "R" insignia on his chest. A little known fact was that the letter doubled as a shuriken, one most people never expected.
Oni fell into that category.
Tim's arm lashed out like a coiled snake, and the throwing R snapped out in a blur, just past Dana's ear and sliced cleanly into Oni's eye.
The assassin let out a howl of shear pain and cluthed at the shuriken, blood seeping from his skull between his fingers.
Tim wasted no time or remorse and came on full force, making sure not to embed the weapon any further into his brother's skull for fear of brain damage. But that was the only precaution he took. His fist smashed straight into his opponent's throat, followed by a sharp side kick in to the ribs. Oni Doubled over in pain and Tim snapped his foot up at the embedded R, making it roll further up Oni's face with another shriek of pain.
The assassin reached up and pulled the shuriken from his face and tried to blink through the blood. His vision cleared and he saw Robin's fist coming straight for his face. Then he saw stars.
He regained consciousness shortly afterward. His one good eye blinking from the glare of headlights. Robin stood over his smirking, Nightwing and Batman flanked him on either side. Batgirl crouched on the hood of the Batmobile a few feet back. "Good ahead," Robin sneered down at him, "Just try and make a move."
- - - - - - - - -
Shortly afterward, Batman had taken Oni to deliver him to Blackgate penitentiary and Tim and Dana had been taken to the Manor so that Alfred could care for them. On the drive Tim and Dana had been the only two to talk. Tim explaining as best he could, his double life and the fallout it had caused with his father. Dana took it all in stride, Tim could see it made sense to her, answering all the little question that had come up about her stepson over the years. When Alfred had finished with them they took Dana to the hospital where she was admitted and reunited with her husband. And Tim was to, and for the first time that Tim could think of in almost a year, he had his family back.
A week had passed since then, and Tim stood in the Robin's nest with a bowl of fruit loops in his hand, looking over images that were displaying themselves on the computer screen. A young blonde girl that was close to his age. A new missing person's case, his new priority. "I promise," Tim whispered, "I promise I'll find you."
A signal on the computer flashed, telling him someone was at the door. Taking a breath Tim made his way back upstairs, it was time. He set the bowl down on a table and quickly made his way through the first floor's gym. Even halfway across the gym he could see his parents through the glass doors, giving him a reassuring smile and Tim felt his heart grow a little lighter. Following the reconciliation between the two of them, Tim and his Dad had discussed Tim's living arrangements. For now, Tim felt they should take it a step at a time, and that he would stay in the Loft. Jack respected the decision, but had said he'd be damned if he didn't see where his son was living, so Tim invited him and Dana over for the grand tour.
He opened the door with a smile, and for the millionth time since his battle with Oni, Tim felt his heart give a quick two step of elated happiness, "Hey guys, come on in."
- - - - - - -
On the way
Trying to get where I'd like to say
I'm always feeling steered away
By someone trying to tell me
What to say and do
I don't want it
I gotta go find my own way
I gotta go make my own mistakes
Sorry man for feeling
Feeling the way I do
On yeah, Oh yeah
Open wide and they'll shove in
Their meaning of life
Oh yeah, Oh yeah
But not for me I'll do it on my own…
"Oh yeah, oh yeah," Dick quietly sang along with the song blaring out from his Ipod's docking station, the one piece of electronics that he hadn't had shipped ahead. He folded another shirt and placed it neatly in his suitcase and absentmindedly reached up and scratched his newly clean shaven chin. Hoisting the last box in one hand and his suitcase in the other, Dick precariously made his way out the door and down the stairs, out to where he had parked the van he borrowed from Bruce. To his shock, standing out by the van was an elderly looking Englishman, and a beautiful redhead. "Good day, sir," Alfred greeted with that smile that Dick could only describe as Alfred-y.
"Bruce is going to meet us in Bludhaven," Babs added, looking a little uncomfortable, and given their last meeting Dick couldn't blame her. But her smile was sincere, and Dick appreciated it, "Alfred and I thought you'd like some company for the drive.
Dick grinned, there was nothing better than family, "I'd love some."
- - - - - - - - - -
It was something out of a clichéd prison movie. Oni occupied his cell in Blackgate penitentiary, and had little in the way of accommodations. A toilet in one corner and a bed bolted on the other side with a solitary chair bolted in the middle. The cell was blocked in by a sheet of bulletproof glass. Two guards approached the cell as the glass slid open, both dressed in full riot gear, one of the guards trained his rifle on Oni while the other motioned for him to sit in the chair.
Oni did as he was told, eyeing the laser dot that trailed on his center mass. The guard locked him to the chair with handcuffs and ankle cuffs. The two guards than turned and left the cell, once they were out of site Robin slipped in and the glass closed behind him.
"Brother," Oni sneered, "To what do I owe the pleasure."
Robin kept his cape tight around him and it seemed to pull the shadows of the room around him, and the one halogen light embedded in the ceiling gave the boy's visible features an ethereal glow, "Stephanie Brown," He let out in a soft growl, "You used her to get to me, I want to know where she is now."
Oni sneered, "Dead."
Robin was moving in a flash and was at Oni's throat with a throwing bird by the time he had blinked, "Listen and listen well," He hissed, "Nothing is stopping me from taking your other eye. All of the guards are on break or mysteriously pre-occupied. So you need to ask yourself, is Stephanie worth your life?"
Oni tried to meet his little brother's eyes through the opaque lenses of his mask, "You don't kill."
"Really? The dead don't speak."
Robin could see the gears turning in Oni's head, How well did he really know Tim…
"Fine!" Oni looked disgusted with himself, but ultimately decided his loyalties didn't run so very deep, "I gave her to Tommy Chang, from there I don't know, he may have sold her."
Robin lashed out with a solid left hook to Oni's face, "Thanks." He turned to leave when Oni piped up, "You think some sort of honor is going to keep me from telling someone who you are?"
Robin stopped and turned back to him with a knowing smile. "No, but you want to be the one to kill me. And if you let slip who I am, then you'll never have that chance." And with that he left, Leaving Oni furious that Tim Drake understood him just as well as he did him.
- - - - - - - - -
That night Robin stood on a ledge of Wayne towers. Part of him wondered if he should turn in early, Bruce wanted to talk to him about a job at Wayne Enterprises, and with Drake Technologies being reopened as Wayne Enterprises new R&D department, Tim was a little curious as to what Bruce had in mind. But crime didn't sleep and Stephanie was still out there in the belly of the beast. She was a part of the family, and Tim wouldn't rest till he found her.
His arm snaked out from under his cape, firing a grapple line into the night sky. Robin launched himself off of the skyscraper and felt the wind howling past his ears.
Time to get to work.
The End
- - - - - - - - -
Next Issue: There is none! Young Knights is complete, But the Family Ties Universe is far from over…
Coming Soon: The Search for Spoiler: Tim's quest to find his lost friend brings him to Bludhaven, where Rookie Detective Dick Grayson is just settling back in. But if Dick and Tim thought Bludhaven was bad before, they are in for the shock of their lives this time around!
A/N: Keep an eye on Young Knights! I will be adding an after word to this within a couple of days. This will encompass some behind the scenes things, my thoughts and reflections and a look and the many future projects of the Family Ties verse.
Thanks to everyone!