CHAPTER 38:
"Challenge"
Jason Todd scratched himself where no modest male should in mixed company and reached deep into his pants, into his shorts.
As the others conversed amongst themselves about what to do next step against Jake Handles, Jason tried to relieve the major pain in his groin—a burning, almost stinging inch. He felt he had little choice in the matter because it hurt like hell.
He wanted to take a look at it, undress, hoping he hadn't been stung by a small jellyfish or an aquatic insect when he was bathing in the ocean earlier. But he knew he couldn't with everyone around. But if he had been stung he would've felt it immediately, especially if he had been a jellyfish.
An episode of a one of his favourite comedic series came to mind. It was about when someone had been stung by a jellyfish on the beach. The whole episode was about how one of his friends had helped him with the pain and how the rest of his friends reacted. Urine is proactive in dealing with jellyfish stings. Not only did it counteract the pain, but also the numbness it brought. So, if he had been stung by a jellyfish, however unhygienic it was—though if absolutely necessary, he would do it—he could urine in his pants.
But this was something else—an insect bite? He knew it could be next to anything. Sand was home to all sorts of indigenous insects, many of which wouldn't hesitate to attack humans if they encroached upon their domain. Fire ants, to name one. He just hoped when he laid his clothes out to dry on the sand after he washed them, he hadn't inadvertently placed it over an ant colony, or some other bug colony, and they attached themselves to his clothes—then bit him.
He thought no one was looking and continued to scratch himself with his back turned towards the others as they talked in a circle: Bruce, Dick, Barbara, and Arkells. Even after a rough start, Arkells was beginning to fit in well with the Batfamily.
At first, Arkells had suicidal tendencies and wanted Bruce to kill him, fearing the AI of his self-built Batcomputer he had fused with was going to override his own humanity. It was an honest fear, humans often feared what they didn't understand. But now, he felt at ease. His fears alleviated and denounced. The AI was a part of him and it had no intentions of harming him. And in truth—Arkells telling everyone in a moment's calm—the AI was actually helping him deal with his mental illness. So, things were good.
He only wished Tim didn't act as stupid as he did and cause is own paralysis when the Neuro-Diffuser was injected into his nervous system. Dick had told everyone that Alfred was looking after Tim until the paralysis wore off which Barbara had discovered was only temporary. But his recovery, supposedly, would take a while. Unless something dramatic happened to change things?
Just then, Damian looking over his shoulder, said, "Todd, what the hell are you doing?"
Jason started, even voiced an Eep! But continued to scratch as if his life depended on it. At the moment, he didn't care who saw him. The inch was so bad that leaving it alone would be a tantamount to a living torture. He hissed from the sting, then said: "I think, earlier, when I was in the water, I didn't know, I think I got contaminated sand in my shorts or—ouch!"
"Sand flees," Damian said. "When I awoke after you rescued me from Handles' mind control, and I saw you washing yourself in the ocean, I saw you had left your clothes on the sand. I bet one or two small sand flees crawled in. They are common on beaches."
"Crap! What the hell do I do about it then if it is sand flees?"
"Kill them and then treat the bites with cream," Damian advised.
"Um, whatcha doing?" came Jon Kent's voice, suddenly joining the pair. "Why do you have you hand down your pants, Jason?"
So much for privacy, Jason thought.
Suddenly, Jason felt something crawl on his inner right thigh. He reached over and crushed it. It was small, but it may have been the sand flee that bit him. One was enough to cause damage. He hoped it was only just the one.
He scratched further.
"Don't scratch it, you idiot," Damian's voice elevated. "You'll only make it worse. Sand flee bites are like mosquito bites, they sting the more you scratch."
"I can't help it!"
Out of the corner of his eye, Jason saw someone looking at him. Then the rest of the party joined.
Nightwing was front and centre with his hands on his hips. "We're formulating a strategy here against Jake Handles, guys, and you should be listening. Instead, I find you goofing off. This is serious. Is there a problem?"
"Ow!" Jason voiced, as he scratched.
Damian signed. "There's no other way to say this: Todd may have been bitten by sand flees." Damian then explained the how and why, as Jason scratched away not caring who saw, voicing his hurt: "Ow! Ow! Ow! Damn it!"
Arkells burst out laughing. "Good thing we have the comic relief on this mission or it would get boring," he said facetiously.
"Hey, it's not funny!" Jason retorted. "It really hurts!"
Nightwing shook his head and smirked. Barbara had a hand over her mouth to stop herself from laughing out loud.
Batman stood serious. He then reached into a pouch of his Utility Belt and took out a small tube of hydrocortisone cream, tossing it to Jason. Jason caught it with his free hand. The cream was good for scraps and cuts to prevent infection, it also treated burns and gave temporary protection to skin rashes. It was also known to work well on insect bites.
Jason took out his hand from is pants, squirted a large glob into it, and then inserted his hand back down, spreading it throughout the hurt area. Almost immediately, he felt it, and expressed a sigh of relief as the cooling agent took effect.
Barbara couldn't help it any longer and started to laugh. Nightwing had some restraint. But anyone who saw his face could see he was fighting the want to laugh.
Jason removed his hand, it was all greasy and oiling now, but at least the inching stopped. "Ah, that feels a hellva lot better," he said. He then wiped his hand on his pants. Trying to wash off the cream with water wouldn't work. Water and oil didn't mix. "Thanks, Bruce. That Utility belt really comes in handy sometimes. Now, if you only had a gun to give me. That would be superb."
Batman looked at Jason with a common stare, catching the sarcasm. Jason knew Batman never used guns, but he never missed a chance to call him on it, especially with all the new villains coming out of the woodwork using high-tech weapons these days. And Jason—Red Hood—was never one to shy away from using high-tech gadgets himself, learning from every new threat, adapting his own tactics, and adding to his own vast arsenal to match gun-for-gun. Gun collecting was a hobby for him.
Bruce failed to protect him against the Joker, so he armed himself to the teeth. Protecting himself, and doing what Bruce could not—a vigilante by another name.
Just then, rustling was heard in the adjacent forestry near them that lead towards the centre of the island, and—
She burst through the thicket of bushes, running for her life, her cries for help heard.
She whipped straight passed Jason, and since Nightwing was the closest adult, she literally threw herself into his arms.
"Oof!" he said, as his arms literally and involuntarily wrapped around her. She thumped against his chest, her breasts pressing deep and hard. And she hugged him tightly, scared.
Jason frowned. If only he was an adult, she would be in his arms right now.
"Help me! Oh, help me!" she cried. "They're after me!"
Jason cursed internally. If he wasn't a kid at the moment, he knew she would've chosen him to come to instead of Nightwing.
He noticed her stunning body. She was next to naked, with tattered clothes that hung off her in rags. The only thing that saved her from being completely nude was a white string bikini bottom and an upper part of a ripped shirt that looked like it had been clawed at by animals.
He observed Barbara's face. She gave Dick a bewildered look and Dick returned a dumbfounded look in return. She then gave Dick a look of who is that woman? And Dick shook his head unknowingly, despite the intimate appearance of their embrace.
"Who is after you?" Nightwing then asked her.
Suddenly, the who turned into a what—and two fully grown adult lionesses jumped out of the thicket moments later. They roared and growled, and Nightwing turned, brushing the unknown woman behind him to protect her, backing away.
Jason backed off as well. He was unarmed, and against two big cats like that, he'd be no match. They maul him easily.
Batman readied a Batarang and prepared to throw it, when Damian interceded, and said, "Wait! Don't hurt them! They're real. Not PK constructs. They're Handles' pets: Panthera and Inda."
Jason snapped a look as Damian as he got out in front and as Nightwing and the others backed away.
Damian reached for his escrima sticks that were in their holders on the back of his costume and pressed the voltage buttons. The tips sizzled and came to life with electricity. "Shall we play? Round two?" he said directly to the two lionesses as if they could understand him. "This time, I have the advantage."
The dominate-acting lioness Inda whipped an open-clawed paw at Damian and it roared viciously. But then it backed off when it caught sight of his electrified weapons. Any lover of animals knew they were very acute to danger, and if they had the opportunity, they would rather back off instead of embattle in a hopeless situation if their survival depended on it. Animals were much smarter than humans gave them credit for and they didn't throw their lives away so haplessly if it could be avoided. Unless then were defending their cubs or pitted against a rival animal of the same species to protect the herd.
"Go back to your master and tell him we're coming for him," Damian said. "But I bet he can hear me with all the cameras around the island."
Jason could almost imagine Jake Handles saying—if he was watching on his cameras at the moment: "Yes, I can hear you, loud and clear. And I'll be ready for you when you get here."
Both lionesses fled back into the thicket with one last protest from Inda.
Damian lowered his escrima sticks and shut off the voltage, then breathed out a sigh of relief.
Jason went over and cupped the boy on the shoulder. "Good work, D," he said.
Damian nodded. "Thanks. For a moment there, I thought I was going to have to zap them, and a voltage shock to an animal could be fatal. I would never be able to forgive myself if he killed one of them." He holstered the sticks back in their holsters behind his back.
"Glad you didn't. You showed restraint. I'm proud of you."
Damian smiled thin, obviously pleased by the complement.
Both of them then turned back around to face the others and to see about this mysterious woman, when Damian's mouth went agape, and Jason stood stunned.
"What the—" Jason began to express, but he was so shocked, he couldn't get the rest out.
Instead of thanking Damian, the unknown woman was thanking Dick, locking lips with him, hard pressed, her hands around her his head, so he couldn't break it off. It was a long, thoughtful kiss, like two lovers who had been separated for a extended period of time. But only one of them was glad to see the other. The other one was more shocked to move.
When she finally broke it, a stream of spittle bridged their mouths as if she had French kissed him, her tongue in his mouth.
"Even after all that's happened, the girls still flock to you amass," Jason remarked, rolling his eyes.
She said, "Oh, thank you, so much for saving me from those beasts."
"Ah…" was all Nightwing could muster.
Jason looked at Barbara. She gave him the look of a scornful, jealous woman. Jason saw it and gulped. A look of jealousy from any woman was trouble with a capital T.
He also saw Damian giving Nightwing the stink-eye, arms crossed with distain.
Jason knew it was like the ultimate sign of betrayal for someone else to take credit for another's efforts. Nightwing kissing this woman he had just met that criteria.
Nightwing cleared his throat. He took a step back, putting distance between them. "I, ah, you're welcome? Who are you?" he asked. Just then, as Nightwing looked at her face, he appeared to express a sense of familiarity. "Don't I know you from some place?"
Woah! Red flag, Dickie, Jason thought.
The fact he thought he recognized her was a bad thing to say. Did she remind him of an old fling when he and Barbara had been separated for a time? She was a stunning blonde bombshell with a buxom chest and a slender waist. If Jason was an adult, he'd hit on her in a New York minute. She looked like a super model from a man's fantasy and a personal fantasy from Jason's own dreams.
Some people accused Nightwing of "collecting" beautiful women, because he was seen as a playboy, and his tights left nothing to the imagination. They were so tight, it showed everything, even his tight butt.
But he already had a stunning bombshell, and a fiery redhead to boot, and Jason knew Barbara was his everything to Dick.
"Oh, I'm sorry," the mystery woman said blushing. The recognition comment ignored. "I was so thankful, I couldn't control myself." She looked back at Damian and thanked him, calling him Junior. Mentioning it was cute that he and Nightwing had matching outfits. "Is he your son?" Nightwing said no. "Oh…" She paused. "My name is Rose Chiclete. Forgive my attire, but I just escaped some crazy lunatic who brought me here to this island for his own pleasure. You wouldn't believe what he wanted me to do—he's a freak. When I refused, he let me loose, told me to run, and then sent his lions after me."
"Lionesses," Damian corrected. "They are the 'crazy lunatics' pets he raised from cubs, or so he told me when first I encountered them." Damian told them the story of the PK box Handles trapped him in where he was forced to undergo hours of mind-numbing rounds in a personal maze of Handles own design. "Handles can create anything his mind can concoct, but those lionesses are real in every way—including some of the birds in the tropical underground paradise that he must have brought overseas to nest."
"Tropical underground paradise?" Batman questioned.
Damian gave a gasp, it was a slip of the tongue. Jason smirked.
Jason knew Damian didn't want his father to know about it, especially with what had happened—splashing around with near naked vixens, he being naked. Damian was only thirteen years ago and still seen as a kid in such regards.
He broached a brotherly shoulder around Damian. "Yup, the tropical underground paradise, where I was taken and subjected to unspeakable horrors, and confronted by four of the wickedest PK female constructs ever designed by a sinister mind," Jason said. "They wanted my mind, body, and soul. They wanted to cleanse the filth off me and were programmed to do things of an unsavoury nature. But I didn't give up the goose. Damian rescued me from a terrible fate. Jon was there, too. Isn't that right?" He gave a wink.
Jon got the hint. "Sure, yup," he lied. "And then I got kidnapped."
Jason gave a wink at Damian. His secret was safe.
Barbara came over, took off her cape, and gave it to Rose to cover herself. She took it graciously. "Where did you come from?" Barbara asked. "Is there a secret entrance where we can enter into the mountain? We need to stop Jake Handles' plans."
"I'm not sure, I didn't look back when I was released. I just ran as fast as I could."
Arkells suddenly entered the fray and looked her up and down. He seemed to stare at her like some sort of alien life form curious about humans. It fact, it appeared his AI was doing the eying. "Why are you lying to us?" Jason snapped look at him, shocked by the sudden accusation. As did the others. "Those bats we fought earlier were PK constructs and the AI inside me was able to get a good analysis of them. I detect the same bio-signature in you. If you did run far, you're not sweating, and your skin seems too picturesque—like some woman out of a sexy movie."
Rose Chiclete looked at everyone in turn, seemingly stunned. She then whipped off Batgirl's cape, her deception caught.
She used it like a whip, similar to a towel someone would use for fun when they got out of a shower. Where it struck, it strung, and she seemed to know exactly what to do. She hit Nightwing in the face, who was the closest. He grabbed his face.
Then she backed off herself to a safe distance.
Nightwing held his face for a moment, then revealed that the cape had slashed his cheek on the right side. He bled. Barbara went to his side, not out of worry but in protection, extending a retractable bo-staff. Nightwing said he was okay.
Batman brought up, and went to throw the Batarang he still had in hand from earlier, but the PK construct threw Batgirl's cape in his field of view, and then ran back into the thicket, escaping them, and disappeared.
"Should we go after her?" Jason voiced.
"No," Batman said. "If she is a PK construct like Arkells says, she'll no doubt disappear as soon as she gets out of eye sight."
It was then that Nightwing revealed who the PK construct reminded him of—a woman named Julie Andrews. But not a woman he ever dated, she was associated with Jake Handles.
"It was a ludicrous cliche, the old damsel in distress ploy. And it worked for a time. Handles pegged us for suckers for a pretty face." Damian groaned under his breath. "I should have clued in earlier: Rose Chiclete—Pink gum. And French for chewing gum. I believe its a swipe at that old line from one of Nightwing's favourite B movies."
"Impressive, I'm glad you're keeping up with your French lessons, Robin," Batman said, with a hint of a proud fatherly smile.
"Next thing we know, when he's finally all grown up, he'll be impressing the ladies with his French tongue—using his 'sensationnel syntax'," Jason said, winking. "And yes, the innuendo is implied. Ooo La La!"
Damian snorted. "I'm seriously going to hit you, Jason."
Jason smiled playfully.
"There's insulting me, and then there's mocking an awesome classic movie like 'They Live'," Nightwing then said half-seriously.
"Yeah, I've seen that movie," Jason said. "It's not a bad movie."
Nightwing looked up, then shouted: "Hey Jake! Get your butt out here, you son-of-a-bitch! Stop hiding from me! If you want to finish things between us, then let's do this!"
Arkells looked up at the mountain in the centre of the island. "You tried that already, remember? And Handles released the bats. But I don't think Handles will be so enticed to attack us this time. He has bigger fish to fry."
"What do you mean?" Batman asked.
Arkells paused, and took a moment as if sensing something.
Jason suddenly got a weird feeling, he didn't like Arkells expression.
"What's wrong?" Batman asked.
"Not sure," Arkells said, shaking his head. "I feel something ominous, like the air just thickened. He's getting ready to activate the sub-harmonic device. The AI in me can feel its energy, that's the best way I can describe it. But I don't know the target. Maybe we're the target this time? Or it could just be another test? But I think he'd done with the tests."
Nightwing breathed out. He took a moment, then said: "I think it's time to press pause on his plans and give him something else to focus on." But before anyone could ask him what Nightwing meant, he stepped forward, looked up at the top of mountain, as if staring directly at his old Spyral colleague, put his hands to his mouth, and shouted, "Hey, Romeo—I know where Juliet is! If you want to know where she ended up…you're going to have to face me mono-eh-mono!"
To be continued...
