Birdcage

Chapter twelve

"So how long has it been since she disappeared," Jinx could barely hear her voice over the wind.

"It happened earlier tonight," he shouted back. Turning the next corner sharply, he sped up causing her to hold onto his waist even tighter.

"Egh, I swear I'm gonna be sick." She closed her eyes and buried her face into his back. This contact should have made him uncomfortable but for some reason it didn't. Raven hadn't had this much contact with him so he didn't understand why it had bothered him before. Shaking this thought from his mind he looked up to see the Tower in the distance and increased his speed again despite the groan he got from his passenger.

When they entered the Tower it felt quieter than he expected. Without hesitation he hurried over to the living room with Jinx on his heels. She smelled the same smokey scent he had before and made a face.

"A portal definitely opened here." She covered her nose and mouth.

"Do you think we can get it open again?" Jinx brought a hand out trying to focus more.

"I'm not sure yet, need to figure out where it went first," she replied slowly. Deciding to take a minute, he left the room to go change and gear up. If she was able to get the portal open than he wanted to be ready. As much as he wanted to convince himself that this had been her choice he couldn't help but feel guilty. If he had just been stronger and not so stuck on his own issues than maybe he would have been able to stop 'Dracula' and she wouldn't have felt the need to run away.

Pushing his feelings down as always he let out a deep breath as he headed back to the main room. Before he was able to ask how it was going Jinx glanced back at him with a somber expression. He could feel his heart sink in his chest as he walked over.

"Are you able to get us through?"

"So this is one way only. Meaning I don't know how we're gonna get back unless we find her." Robin frowned at this. It just confirmed that she had no desire to be followed. Normally he was okay giving her space and leaving her be but he just had a gut feeling that he had to go after her. Jinx's statement brought a faint grin to his face.

"You said 'we'. Does that mean you're coming with me?" She blinked at the realization of what she said only to shrug back.

"Like I said I really don't have much else going on right now. Might as well tag along." Either she had way more confidence in the two of them finding her or she didn't care if they came back or not. Whatever the reason he was just glad to have the help.

"Okay, as long as you know what you're getting into." Without another word said she bent down to touch the ground and brought her hand up above her head, drawing an electric pink line in the air. She motioned with her hands and the space opened wide enough for the two of them to walk through.

The other side was more or less just what he had expected. The sky was dark and the path felt bare with few black trees daring to grow in the desolated environment. There really was no sign of life here.

"Kind of grim, right," Jinx piped up as she placed her hands on her hips taking in the scenery. "So what's the plan?" This was one of the few times he drew a complete blank on what the next step was. It seemed to be pretty easy to get lost here if they weren't careful. It wasn't like they could go back to the Tower from this specific point anyway but going around in circles wasn't going to help find Raven either. Getting a better feel for his surroundings, Robin noticed the jagged path seemed to be broader in one direction. Maybe this was a clue to go that way. He really didn't have much else to go on.

"Let's see what's this way," he suggested and she shrugged in response. As they moved in that direction the ground behind them started to crumble into a black void below. This caused the two of them to move faster along the path.

"Well this just got really complicated," Jinx complained loudly. By this point they were both running to stay ahead of falling road.

"Can't tell if she's trying to stop us or pushing us this way," Robin managed to yell back. Ahead of them he noticed a fairly large tree and he pulled out his grappling gun, aimed and fired. It successfully got snagged in the limbs and he grabbed hold of Jinx as they were both pulled forward. As they got close to it, the tree twisted towards them and thrashed it's branches in their direction. Disconnecting the line, he dropped and rolled in order to keep either of them from getting hurt.

They didn't waste any time getting to their feet and took off running again. They were now coming to a bridge made out of stone and could only hope it would be a place they could stop. As they made it to the bridge the stones started to shift and Jinx waved her hand and the movement stopped. Robin leaned forward on his knees breathing hard and Jinx sank to the ground next to him. She let out a grumble as she tilted he head to the side.

"I thought you guys had GPS or something. Always knew where each other was all the time." He laughed back quickly between deep breaths.

"Sounds kind of creepy when you say it like that." He went to work resetting the hook on his gun.

"Creepy or not it would be helpful right about now." He didn't disagree as he straightened up, stretching his arms over his head. An unknown feeling came over him that he wasn't familiar with. It felt heavy as it pressed down on him. It had to be Raven, that was the only explanation. He felt a sudden push to keep going the way they were heading which really was the only way to go. Before he could suggest they continued the bridge shook under their feet. Black claws appeared from underneath, grabbing onto the sides as if to crush it.

"Gotta move," he warned Jinx as they bolted towards the path again. Thankfully this time it didn't crumble from below so they didn't have to keep running. He took the lead as they headed down the winding road. At some point they entered an area full of black trees. The further in they went the darker it seemed to get. Robin felt Jinx moved in closer behind him and wondered if this place was actually bothering her. He figured it wasn't worth bringing up as they kept moving. There was the sound of movement and she practically jumped. Reaching into his belt he retrieved his flashlight to help see the path better.

"Did you hear that," she asked looking around nervously.

"I'm sure it's nothing to worry about," he just wanted to get through the woods as quickly as possible. He felt something suddenly tug at his cape and he pulled back at it, "Come on, knock that off," he said lightly.

"That's not me," Jinx replied. As he turned back he was suddenly yanked up by his foot. Jinx let out a yell as branches closed in around her as well. Trying to grab at the vine holding his foot he dropped the flashlight. Another vine wrapped around his waist and started to tighten. He looked around for Jinx but couldn't see her. Trying to inhale became difficult and if he didn't do something soon he was going to pass out.