Night Wing's POV

"Clara," I said gently.

"Get away from me."

I sighed. We needed her help. Without it, we were probably never going to get out of here without contacting the League. Not like we need that kind of embarrassment.

"We need you."

"I'm right. About him." I could hear the fabric of her clothes shifting as she crossed her arms.

"I know, you are right," I sighed. "But maybe... maybe we'll be able to escape, even if he doesn't let us go."

"We'll need a plan for that," she grumbled.

"Exactly."

Artemis walked over to us and sat down.

"What are you... get the hell off of me!" Clara yelled. Artemis was shoved up by an invisible force. She rolled her eyes.

"Whatcha guys talking about?" she asked.

"A way to get out."

"The only way to get out is if Clara helps us," Artemis said pointedly.

I made a gesture to tell her she wasn't helping.

"I don't see why you won't be a part of this stupid show," she continued.

"Because countless people have either died or been injured by my powers," Clara hissed. "It's not happening."

"What if countless people die or get injured if you don't do this?"

Clara reappeared, if only so she could glare at Artemis. "Fine," she said. "I'll do it, and you can all see what happens."

Clara's POV

They could learn. They could see what happened. The only reason I felt a shred of fear was because of Dick. He was going to get hurt. Could I wrap my spirit around him? Could I even use two different manipulations of my power at the same time?

"So how do we contact your father?" asked Beast Boy. I could tell he was a rookie. I nodded at the blinking video camera in the corner of the room. "We don't have to," I said quietly.

I could smell the sedative the second my father released it into the room. I wrapped my spirit around everyone, hoping that it was enough to seal us off, though it didn't seem to work. I had been straining myself too much in these past few hours. If I kept going, it might take weeks, even months to heal. I tried not to think about the pain, the burning sensation that filled my lungs and fluttered over my skin as I tumbled into Dick's arms.

Night Wing's POV

Clara collapsed into my lap just as a hissing noise filled the room. I sniffed the air. Drugs. He was knocking us out. I tried to hold my breath as the others hacked and coughed, but it was no use. I smoothed some hair off her face as my vision became more and more blurry. The dizziness hit me like a truck, and I slumped over. Everything went dark.


Clara's POV

I was relieved to wake up wearing an inhibitor collar, but it was tightened just a little bit too tight around my neck. I almost couldn't breathe. My lungs still stung from the chemicals, and my whole body was sore. I was sure that if I was going to use my powers, I was going to collapse and not get back up again.

Dick was sat in a chair to my left, his wrists and ankles rubbed raw from the thick rope around them. As if he was sensing my gaze, he opened his eyes and gave me a grim glance before assessing his situation. Slowly, all of the other members of the Team woke, the effects of the drugs wearing off. I looked ahead to see a dark theatre, with my father and his guards seated in the back row. I was sure that there were guards behind me as well, but I was tied too tight to look.

"Well, I'm glad to see that you're all awake," he said, grinning. My fists clenched. When I exploded, I was going to make sure that he died a slow and painful death. "We will start on the right, with Zatanna. Begin." He clapped twice.

I could almost see the steam coming out of her ears. She mumbled something, but it came out as gibberish through the duct tape over her mouth.

He sighed. "Remove the tape." My eyebrows shot up. I thought he was smarter than this. What was wrong with him? The guard he had ordered looked at him skeptically. "Don't make me repeat myself." The guard obeyed, scurrying over to Zatanna, and he ripped the tape off of her mouth. The sound reverberated through the room and she hissed in pain.

She grinned evilly at my father. "You wanna see something I can do? Evomer rieht sdnob."

The ropes around my wrists and ankles fell to the floor.

Night Wing's POV

Clara's father was stupid. Too stupid. Did he really just free us after all the trouble he went through to capture us? But before we could even get out of our chairs, he clicked a button on a device and the inhibitor collars turned on, crackling with electricity.

The entire Team collapsed, shrieking and jerking as they were electrocuted. Except for Clara. She stood up, convulsing from the electricity. Somehow, she fought off the guards around Dr. Reynolds, and pinned him to the wall with some daggers. She yanked the device from his grasp just as her eyes rolled into the back of her head. She turned off our collars the moment before I was about to pass out.

After a moment to recover, we hopped back up. How did Clara do that? With our powers back, the guards stood no chance against us. She approached her father menacingly, and I joined the rest of the Team in pummelling the guards. It took more strength than it should've to peel my eyes away from Clara.

Clara's POV

It was too easy to cut through the guards that began to swarm me after the collars were turned off. They fell like stalks of wheat, and I didn't have any weapons. I pulled some off of a guard laying next to me, and slowly approached my father.

"Hello, Dr. Reynolds," I said coolly. When I was younger, he beat me into calling him 'father'. I never obliged. He grimaced.

"I see you're back to picking bad friends," he said. I snarled and chucked a dagger into his shoulder. He screamed out in pain, and I moved closer to him. How could I make his death slow enough to be painful, but quick enough to get the hell out of here? I didn't get enough time to decide. Blood spilled out of the bullet wound in my father's thigh. It would cause him pain, but it wouldn't kill him.

I looked back to see Dick, holding a gun. He was shaking. I turned back to my father and advanced on him, pressing a dagger to his throat.

"Clara... don't do this," Dick ordered. A thin line of blood appeared where my blade touched the skin of my father's neck. "You... you don't want this," Dick continued quietly. All it would take to kill my father would be one quick slice, but I knew better than that. I listened to Dick and backed away. My father sighed and went limp.

All I heard was, "Clara, look out!" I turned to see Dick, his eyes panicked. A bullet landed square in my stomach, and the ground came up to meet me.

Night Wing's POV

She crumpled to the ground. I ran toward her as blood started seeping through her clothes, thick and dark. Her face was so pale. I laid a hand on her stomach, over the wound. She was going to die. I picked her up and nodded to M'gann, and she levitated the Team and Dr. Reynolds up, through the ceiling and into the bioship, which hovered just above the warehouse.

All I could do was hope that we made it in time to save Clara.