After Poison Ivy's hostile reseeding of the Woods, she'd changed the landscaping of the club's original Black Forest aesthetic to her own personal style: exotic rain-forest.
Zatanna had to say even after a few years without Poison Ivy's presence the Woods looked impressive.
The outside of the building was in a state of serious decay that matched the surrounding buildings. The parts of Gotham where the more colorful members of the underworld took up residences didn't often last long. The Woods was no exception. The front of the building was still standing. From the outside Zatanna could see the roof had Caved in. Interestingly enough, there were no signs of what the inside of the building held from the outside. With what Zatanna was seeing, she couldn't believe some of it hadn't spilled out onto the streets.
After stepping from the decaying entry way into the main body of the club, she saw everything was covered in vines. Those vines were covered with exotic flowers of every variation Zatanna had ever seen before, along with several she hadn't. The types of colors were as varied as the flowers. Some of the flowers were even luminous. Stepping into the Woods felt like stepping into the Fey.
Poison Ivy had outdone herself this time.
In the gloom of the Woods, Zatanna couldn't see any of Poison Ivy's patented Venus fly traps. They were man-eaters. Zatanna could say a lot of unflattering things about the intelligence of Gotham's population; even they had enough sense not to walk into this obvious Pet Shop of Horrors. Likely, Poison Ivy's larger plants wouldn't have gotten the food needed to survive.
Zatanna was curious about what was keeping the Woods alive. The lack of a roof gave the plants access to sunlight and rain water. Normal plants needed more than that to grow. In the case of Poison Ivy's plants, all of them needed a little meat in the fertilizer.
"Why haven't you torched the place?" Zatanna asked the question causally in case the Wood had ears. Her question was answered with a shiver running from the vines surrounding her to the farthest wall of the building. Looks like she was right about them being aware.
While the Woods were exquisite, Zatanna couldn't believe they weren't a hazard ready to consume the rest of Gotham. Bruce usually didn't let hazards grow wild in his city.
"We came to an understanding." Bruce ran a gentle hand along the nearest vine as he spoke. The vines shivering stopped. Several smaller vines began to rub themselves around Bruce's ankles, like house cats.
"Do the Woods speak?" Zatanna asked now quite intrigued with the dynamic. If the Woods were capable of speech, then Bruce's resistance to her coming had some justification. He wouldn't have wanted Zatanna to spook the witness.
Bruce shook his head and withdrew his hand from the vine. The small vines followed suit, pulling away from Bruce.
"They wouldn't be able to describe Nightwing's attacker to us. If we brought the attacker here, then the Woods would react to hi or her."
"Not much of a security system-" Zatanna frowned. "Wait, how do you know he was attacked? Nothing in here looks recently damaged."
"The Woods are...distressed. The flowers are less vibrant. Several of the smaller plants are hiding," Bruce explained. He then gave Zatanna a knowing smile. "The center of the dance floor is cleared."
"Next time I have to deal with a druid, you're coming along."
Other than apparent lack of plants, Zatanna hadn't seen anything more amiss than she would expect to see in a decaying building. There didn't seem to be any obvious signs of violence. When she glanced at Bruce, who had crouched down to examine to floor, he gave her a shake of the head.
"Let's do this. Tast eht-" Zatanna's spell was cut off as the room around her erupted in a fury of red, green, and hissing. Somewhere beside her, Zatanna could hear Bruce speaking; but at the moment she had bigger issues.
First,, one of the vines had wrapped itself around the majority of her head, effectively gagging her. Twice in two days. Zatanna was always getting into this type of trouble in Gotham. Her second pressing issue was the vine or some of it's friends were wrapping around the rest of her, tightening as she tied struggling against them.
After what seemed like five minutes of futile struggling against the vines; the vines withdrew and Zatanna went crashing down to her knees.
"Are you hurt?" Bruce asked. Zatanna appreciated the concern she could hear in his Batman voice.
"No. I don't think I'm going to bruise. I guess this means Nightwing's attacker used magic." Zatanna teased, somewhat surprised to see Bruce kneeling in front of her, almost looking as concerned as he sounded.
Behind Bruce Zatanna could see the flowers on the surrounding vines shifting from a vicious red to a cooler violet and settling on a pale blue. The vines had drawn comfortably back from Bruce and Zatanna.
"My being here is the reason the Woods restrained you. Usually they eject vandals from the building." Bruce apologized as he helped Zatanna to her feet.
"At least, they weren't throwing apples at me," Zatanna joked. Pleased when she saw Bruce's smirk.
"The Woods won't hurt anyone who isn't Poison Ivy," Bruce reassured. Zatanna wasn't sure she was the person he was trying to reassure; but, she didn't point that out.
"She didn't get covered under the understanding." Zatanna asked rhetorically. There were several different urban myths about what happened to Poison Ivy's victims. Looks like the one about turning her victims into planets might not be as much of a myth as Zatanna had first thought. If true, Zatanna could see why the Woods would want to kill Poison Ivy.
Bruce shook his head. "The Woods are willing to allow you to try again." He said after surveying the Woods around them.
"With that interruption out of the way. Back to business. Tsap eht laever."
Zatanna could feel the magic drifting around the room, snaking itself into the aura of the area searching for hints of recent magic and conflict. Her spell would pull up the shadows of the past for Zatanna and Bruce.
Zatanna wasn't expecting more than a glimpse of the attacker or conformation the apple had been here. If they were lucky, the state of Nightwing if he'd been here. Images from the magic wouldn't last last long unless there was a significant impression left, either mystical or emotional. Baby-bird Dick's account implied his change occurred on the way to the manor. Zatanna's assumption was where the major impacts actually occurred.
Zatanna was quickly proven wrong.
As the magic began to settle it weaved itself into the Woods, causing a shift in the fabricate of the spell.
Nightwing walked into the room. Zatanna and Bruce, could see him as clearly as if they'd been standing there the evening before.
"The depiction of past events is more detailed than how your spell normally reveals them," Bruce noted. His attention focused entirely on Nightwing.
"When you cast this type of spell on a person you would be seeing an effect similar to this one," Zatanna explained with fascination. "I never imagined you could get the same type of an effect from a living...room." Why wouldn't the spell work the same if the room was sentient. Zatanna wasn't one for the research side of magic; there were a few people she knew who would be very interested in hearing about how plant monsters affected this particular spell.
"Nightwing arrived before the attacker," Bruce observed.
Zatanna agreed with Bruce. Nightwing looked almost chipper, better than anyone, outside of the Titans had seen him in awhile. He was chatting to the Woods, petting the vines here and there. The vines were, like with Bruce, rubbing around his boots.
Zatanna could also see why Bruce knew something had happened in the Woods. In this reflection of the past, the entirety of the Woods was covered with flora. Wisps of light were fluttering through the vines. Odd little plants, several of which seemed almost alien in origin, were littered on every surface, including a few of the vines. The colors were different, brighter more vibrant. Several of the flowers on the various flora petals were shifting colors on a beat that Zatanna had a suspicion was a heartbeat.
Nightwing stopped walking and leaned against the remains of one of the club's tables at the far end of the room. A few of the vines began to curl up his arms and legs. One of the smaller plants was attempting to crawl up his back.
Zatanna glanced at Bruce curious about his reaction. She wasn't as surprised as she should be to see Bruce's almost wistful smile.
The Woods went mute. The colors paled. The movement of the plants stopped as well as the pulsing of the flowers. Dick didn't tense. He did straighten and look towards the entrance.
"What an exquisite garden." Zatanna didn't recognize the tacky costumed man who walked into the ballroom. Here she'd thought she'd memorized all the players who may have crashed her Gotham shows.
"Tapestry." Bruce murmured in time with Nightwing's quip, "New color scheme, same old duds. Dan you can do better."
Zatanna had to agree with Nightwing, the weird medieval bard getup didn't work quite as well when it was entirely gold. The freaky looking gem in his forehead wasn't doing the Tapestry any favors.
"A pity. I heard your sense of humor had left you once your moved from the Bat's fiefdom." The Tapestry lamented. "Alas I'm not here to exchange a battle of wits with fair Gotham's prodigal squire. I have information for you." He pulled something out of his jerkin with a flourish, Zatanna would have been proud of in other circumstances. He held the item up for Nightwing.
Flame-Bird's Lament.
"No questions," Zatanna concluded, "This is the thing that enchanted Nightwing."
Magic as bleeding off the apple; that would explain why the enchantment didn't have the energy to last more than a few days. What it didn't explain was how something like that could have ended up in a museum. One of the stray spells Zatanna hadn't been able to identify in her previous examinations of the apple was slipping out of the mess of the enchantment.
"Don't you usually weave stories? Isn't selling information beneath you." Zatanna looked back at the shadow of Nightwing with concern. His voice hadn't sounded the same as it had before. Zatanna couldn't place the change. His voice hadn't wavered exactly. Something was off.
"What's the apple doing?" Bruce asked quietly beside her. They weren't the only ones who'd picked up on the change. The Woods had started hissing; not quite as loud as it had when it attacked Zatanna but enough to be noticed. Red was bleeding into the flowers.
"Countless are the ways of weaving a tale." Even while the Tapestry spoke, Dick's eyes were focused entirely on the Flame-Bird's Lament. "The sharing of information is one of the most common method of shaping a tale. Would you not agree?"
Zatanna turned her attention back to the spell that had activated by the apple's reveal. With the current spell Zatanna was using, deciphering the enchantment of Flame-Bird's Lament was even more impossible than her previous attempts. The Woods, while appearing magical, weren't as a result, the Woods' memories couldn't capture the consistency of the spell.
Still the Woods perception of magic was higher than that of an ordinary non-magical...sentient. Zatanna could make out the spell to a degree. She couldn't see the words for the spell now that it was untangled from the rest of the enchantment. She could see the structure of the spell, and that was enough to know what its purpose was.
"A lure." Zatanna nodded to confirm Bruce's speculation. "From what little I can tell, the spell's designed to draw in seekers of knowledge." How had the apple gotten to Metropolis without being eaten my one of the researchers? Was there a trigger?
"How do you even know about the Cult of Blood?" Nightwing demanded of the Tapestry while making a calming gesture to the Woods behind him. Eyes still on the apple.
"I know nothing of which you speak. I am but a messenger for my lady of stories. If you will partake of this apple, all of your queries will be resolved." The Tapestry really needed to get some better dialogue. If he didn't have a magical apple in his hands, no one would have fallen for that.
"You want me to eat that apple and then you'll tell me what your employer knows about the Cult." Even with the enchantment working on him, Dick sounded doubtful. "It looks like its covered in gold."
"The most tender of metals. One bite and all your answers will be revealed."
Nightwing started walking towards Tapestry. The vines of the Wood started tugging on Nightwing's boots in an attempt to stop him. Nightwing bent down to shush them. While the vines sulked away, at least that was the best way Zatanna could describe it, the hissing started growing louder.
"Okay. Just a bite?" Nightwing took the apple from the Tapestry's hand hesitantly. Hesitation wasn't going to help him now. The spell was wrapped around him too tightly.
Zatanna put a hand on Bruce's shoulder. When Nightwing bit into the apple, Bruce didn't shake it off.
For a moment nothing out of the ordinary happened. Despite being plated in gold, the apple bite came off like any other apple and Nightwing swallowed it without trouble.
Then the enchantment began..
Nightwing collapsed to the ground choking hard. The vines nearest to him covered him protectively while several others at the Tapestry. Under the vines, Zatanna and Bruce could see the glow of the enchantment taking hold over Nightwing.
Another bust of-fire magic came from Tapestry. Did he have another magical artifact? Zatanna couldn't see in the confusion of the Woods' memories. The imagines were turning bright red and hot.
"Batman, calm the Woods down, we need to see what happens next." Zatanna kept her voice calm, as to not further frighten the Woods. She'd forgotten the Woods were viewing the memories along with them.
Whatever Bruce did worked because the scene quickly returned to clarity. The vines were still covering a choking Nightwing. The ones that had attacked Tapestry were holding back, several of them looked burned.
"My lady has quite the story to tell you. If you would be inclined to come with me peaceably, I will spare this illustrious garden."
Nightwing struggled to his feet with the vines attempting to steady him. "Are you using gadgets?" Nightwing choked out. "That seems out of character."
The Tapestry puffed himself at the insult. "The story is a creation of impromptu. I her most faithful servant keep her way-"
The Tapestry's speech was interrupted by a pair of Wing Dings flung at him from Nightwing. Before Tapestry could react, Nightwing was off the ground and pinning Tapestry down with the assistance of the vines.
"I don't like sticking to the script either." Nightwing seemed to have gotten his breathing under control for the moment. "Now if you'll tell me who you're working for, I'll be willing to let you go. If not, I don't think Batman's fed the Woods recently. With all this excitement, I have a feeling they're getting hungry."
"I hope you enjoy the enlightenment my lady has in story for you." The Tapestry was gone in a flash of magic.
"A teleportation spell." If her spell to see the past hadn't interwoven with the room, Zatanna could have followed whatever spell Tapestry used. As it was she was going to have to rely on Batman to find him.
Nightwing gasped. Without the vines blocking her view Zatanna could see the enchantment weaving itself through Nightwing's body. Nightwing curled into himself and began choking harder than before.
The hissing shifted into a comforting purr and the reds went from aggressive to a warmer tone as the vines started to cover Nightwing up again.
With the ending of the excitement, the images were beginning to fade.
"I'm fine." Dick started trying to stand up. "I'm just going to get checked out by the big guy." With those last words the memories were gone, leaving Zatanna and Bruce in the Woods of the present.
"He went to the right place" Zatanna tried to comfort Bruce.
"Can you trace the spell he used?" Bruce demanded while still looking where Nightwing had been in the memories.
"Not with the interference from the Woods." Zatanna explained scanning the dance floor for a trace of the apple. They hadn't seen Tapestry pick the apple up. It was possible he had when the Woods had gotten upset. If he hadn't, they could just follow Dick's trail back to the manor. Hopefully, if Nightwing had ended up with the apple, someone hadn't stumbled upon it since then.
"I know where Tapestry lives." Bruce growled.
"I thought you might." Zatanna turned from Bruce to address the Woods around them. "Thank you for the help."
Behind her she could hear Bruce say softly. "We'll get him back."
"We have three options on dealing with the professor." Jason tugged at the clasp of the Robin costume. Standing on a rooftop, preparing for a stakeout felt unreal compared to the last few months.
"We can do what Batman said. Just stay put and watch." Jason counted off the options on his fingers as he listed them. "If we're picking that one we need to pick a better spot, because it's going to start raining soon."
Kara considered the option with a playful twist of her head. "Rain's never a problem for me."
"Yeah, one of the less mentioned perks of invulnerability. Option two is where we create a distraction and break into her apartment and see if there are any clues. There wasn't anything on her work computers, maybe, we'll get lucky on her home computer." More than likely the information they were looking for would be on the home computer or written down in a journal or something. From what Jason had found on Grimm he didn't see how she could possibly have another place were the information could be stored.
"Option three, we question her."
"Is that the throw her off Lex Corp to see if she talks option," Kara stated with skepticism. Jason flushed wishing he hadn't suggested doing that the last time they'd done a case in Metropolis together. "Are you sure those are all the options. Aren't we going to include interrogating the Metropolis PD or stealing Grimm's phone."
Jason wasn't sure how to take Kara being irritated by her failure with Detective Sawyer. Police Officers being belligerent with superheros was pretty normal in Gotham, other than with Commissioner Gordon. From what Jason had heard from other heroes, it was pretty normal across the country.
"If the Detective isn't going to tell her local hero about a robbery, she's not going to tell me," Jason responded. He wasn't sure if it was true, but did not want to find out either way. Kara did have a bit of a tempter. "I should have clarified the options. They're ones we can do together. I don't need to be there if you want to steal Grimm's phone."
Jason didn't need to be there for any of them. Kara didn't need him to handle anything. She could even deal with the boredom of a stakeout without him. Kara wanted him there. That's what Jason was going to focus on.
"I'll need you to help crack the password.," Kara said with a sweet smile. Jason couldn't tell if she was teasing him or not.
"Come on, which one do you want to do." Jason hoped his voice didn't sound desperate.
Kara sat up straighter, her lips thinned as she turned over the options in her mind. Jason gripped the edge of the roof as he waited ages for her to make her decision.
"I don't know, Robin. Any of them are fine with me. I'm not the one who's trying to show my mentor I can handle myself."
That was Jason's problem with all this. Bruce had told Jason multiple times not to engage with Grimm in any shape or form. If she had targeted Nightwing, there was a possibility she would be targeting Robin. Along with the warning, Grimm could have other magic available to her. Jason didn't like the implication. Could he make sure Kara was safe from a professor who hadn't ever done anything before cursing Nightwing with a magic apple?
Jason had a plan for breaking Bruce's rules. Kara didn't answer to Bruce. So if she were willing to lie about how she got the information, then everything would be fine. Jason didn't know if she'd be willing to do that. Kara was weird about what she would and wouldn't lie about.
At this point Jason had already broken the rule. They'd checked out both Grimm's offices, at the university and the museum, which Bruce hadn't explicitly stated as off limits. Jason was sure if Bruce had been thinking clearly, he would have.
Jason wasn't thinking clearly either. At the beginning of all this he'd planned to be Kara's backup. Nothing that had happened so far was reason enough to change the original plan. If the professor did attempt to use magic against Kara, Jason would be close enough to help.
"You're right. I think-" Jason was cut off by Kara's head jerking towards Grimm's apartment. "Grimm is making a call."
Jason tensed. Stakeouts with Kara required a level of trust Jason knew Bruce wouldn't be comfortable with Jason having. Jason still wasn't comfortable with that level of trust. He would prefer having a Bat patented devise to listen in rather than hearing a conversation being relayed by Kara.
"Don't get too excited. She could be calling anyone," Jason warned as he watched Kara get to her feet.
"Anyone who happens to be using a voice modulator." This time Jason was pretty sure Kara was relaying information rather than teasing him. It was in the realm of possibilities that whoever was calling could be unrelated to their case. Jason's experience with Batman said that was unlikely.
"So far Grimm has been berating them for targeting the wrong person." Kara frowned. "I can't understand the person on the other end of the line. It isn't the modulator, there's a weird static."
Lightning crashed behind them. Jason jerked. "Could it be the storm?"
Kara responded with a shrug. She was more focused on the conversation than him. "Grimm is demanding they bring her the victim regardless if they were the intended target. She has to know if the enchantment was a success."
Jason had a terrible feeling... if Bruce ended up with that bit of information, his conclusion would be that Robin was the original target rather than Nightwing. Wasn't that a crazy conclusion to jump to. Almost as crazy as a random professor from Metropolis targeting Nightwing. That's why Jason knew Bruce's paranoia would turn in that direction. He was never going to be Robin again.
"Now she is telling them they should have done the job themselves."
A private contractor? Jason had considered there had been one earlier in the investigation. Not like this. He hadn't guessed so many people were involved in whatever Dick Grayson had gotten himself into.
There was another strike of thunder closer to them.
"Wait, the other line is getting clear. They are telling Grimm they are handling all the loose ends."
There went the contractor. Jason frowned if the mysterious caller was tying up loose ends, then Grimm was endanger. Before he could voice his suspicions to Kara, she said them. "They're going to kill her." Kara was gone before Jason could blink, before he could remind her they could be magic users.
Jason pulled his grapple gun out of his belt in time to see the entire apartment complex go up in a bust of flame.
There weren't any pictures of older Dick in the manor.
After talking to Roy, Dick calmed down enough to realize, maybe, he was overreacting to the future. Bruce was always telling him to slowdown and consider why he was making the decisions he was making. When everyone else had left for the investigation, Dick had lots of time to slowdown as he helped Alfred bake cookies for Miss Kara.
There could be a reason why Bruce had lied about older Dick not having his own room anymore. Lots of Bruce's friends didn't live with their parents since becoming adults. Given how old Roy was, older Dick had to be an adult now. Dick Grayson could have his own apartment in Gotham away from the Manor.
Jason may not like older Dick because he didn't think of himself as Bruce's kid, yet. The pictures of Jason, Bruce, and Alfred were all of a Jason who was older than Dick had been when Bruce had become his guardian. If Jason didn't think he was Bruce's kid, then he wouldn't think older Dick was his brother.
Dick's original idea for why Jason hadn't liked him was true. Jason was mad Dick had broken up his date with Kara. \
Beast Boy was probably all wrong about older Dick. The quiet lady, Raven, seemed to think highly of older Dick. Roy didn't say anything about Dick being different. Older Dick and Beast Boy probably didn't click because Beast Boy didn't like puns or something.
Dick had almost decided he had just gotten overwhelmed, like Bruce always said, and was jumping to the wrong conclusions. Going to get information from a murderous, alternate universe version of yourself was a pretty silly idea. Dick almost believed that until he settled down at Bruce's desk to wait for everyone to return.
Two pictures were on the desk: one with Bruce with older Dick and one with Bruce and Jason. There wasn't one with all three of them. Dick could believe Jason didn't think Bruce was his dad. Dick didn't. Bruce would never believe something like that. Bruce would have made them have a family picture even if Jason hadn't liked older Dick.
One missing picture didn't mean anything. Bruce always said don't make decisions from one point of data. With that in mind, Dick tore the Manor apart looking for pictures of all three of them. Only to find that not only weren't there pictures of them together as a family, there weren't any pictures of older Dick in the Manor.
Dick had found lots and lots of pictures of Dick Grayson at varies ages in the photo albums Alfred kept for Bruce in the library. No one thought Dick would go looking through those. They would have been right if Dick hadn't come to his awful conclusion that older Dick wasn't around.
Some of the pictures in the album Dick recognized. Alfred was amazing with the camera. Dick hadn't even known Alfred had taken any pictures. Most of the pictures were of older Dick, before he was older Dick. Dick thought he looked happy in them. So did Bruce. The last picture, just like the picture on Bruce's desk, was from sometime before older Dick had become Nightwing.
Probably a while before, because Dick found several newspaper clips of Nightwing in Bruce's desk. He used them as a comparison between the other pictures to gauge his age. Older Dick's hair had grown out a lot from his last picture with Bruce and the last news article about Nightwing.
Dick had found a few pictures of older Dick and the sidekicks, in their civilian clothing. He hadn't found any of the non-sidekick Titans.
Worst of all, there were no pictures of older Dick after Jason's pictures started showing up in the album.
Jason didn't like Dick Grayson because of a date, or because Jason didn't think they were brothers.
Jason hadn't like, Dick because he didn't even know older Dick.
Dick had reminded himself to slowdown and find all of the available information before…making any mistakes.
Dick ran into every room in the Manor looking for any sort of photo or painting of older Dick. The walls were just like the album, full of pictures before Nightwing, none afterwards.
Dick even asked Alfred when was the last time older Dick had visited the Manor. Alfred had lied. Dick couldn't remember what Alfred had said, other than recently. That was a lie.
After that Dick had to know everything about what older Dick had been doing.
Getting on the internet ended up being a lot easier than Dick would have imagined. Like the album, he wouldn't have ever considered sneaking into Alfred's room to use his computer.
There was nothing, absolutely nothing about Dick's future on the internet.
Nightwing's future was all over the internet. Dick couldn't even read any of the articles because they were full of him giving terrible interviews about Uncle Clark and all the other heroes.
There could be reasons for older Dick saying all those terrible things about everyone, the Mad Hatter was all about mind control. The Cult of Blood could, maybe, do that sort of thing. Even Bruce could get hit by stuff like that.
Dick Grayson wasn't any better. He was living in an apartment with a model named Kori Anders, who Dick guessed was Kori from the Titans. Other than that there was no job, he'd quite college before he'd left living with Bruce, and that was all Dick could find about himself.
Dick hadn't wanted to be anything more than a superhero since he'd started being Robin. Older Dick might have just done that. You didn't need to go to college to be a hero, right.
What Dick couldn't explain away, no matter how hard he tried to slowdown, was that older Dick hadn't been in Gotham for awhile. Nightwing hadn't been officially spotted in Gotham. There were a few rumors of a meetup between Nightwing and Robin, about a year ago. Those were just rumors.
Dick knew, he knew, he'd never leave Bruce all alone like that. They were partners.
Even if Bruce sometimes treated him like a child. Dick treated Bruce like a kid to some of the time. That's how partners worked.
What about Jason? With work and the Justice League, Bruce wasn't home a lot of the time. Dick knew from looking through Jason's room that he didn't have many friends. Why would older Dick have left Jason all alone like that? New York wasn't that far away.
Dick didn't need to know what type of person he was in the future. He needed to know how to stop himself from being that person.
Here Dick was again on top of the containment cell looking down on Talon. This time Dick didn't feel any hesitation. Everything he'd found out about older Dick becoming a zombie serial killer wasn't true. So there wasn't any thing scary about Talon.
"Hey, Murder Me," Dick announced standing over the cell.
Talon had been doing one of the meditations Dick had learned from Bruce. Dick's voice pulled Talon out and he looked up at Dick. "Hey, Mini Me come to hear your fortune?"
Dick took a breath. A voice that sounded a lot like Bruce was telling him this was a bad idea. Batman and Robin talked to bad guys all the time to get information on other bad guys. Talking to Talon wasn't any different than shaking down the Penguin.
"Why doesn't Jason like us?" Dick hadn't meant to ask that question at all. It just slipped out of his mouth. He should have asked, why he wasn't living in the Manor; that was the important question. If Dick wasn't scared anymore he should have asked that one.
Talon stood up and took a few moments to stretch before leaning against the wall. Talon's posture was relaxed, those eyes were watching Dick with intensity. "That is the question you're asking?" Talon smiled in amusement. This smile looked more real than the one Talon had given Dick earlier. "It's been a long time since I cared about anything like that."
"You and Jason don't get along either." Dick didn't know why he was shocked. If Nightwing didn't get along with his family, why would Talon.
Talon chuckled. "I don't think we ever really got along."
"You aren't answering my question?" Dick almost shouted. Talon wasn't treating any of this seriously. He wasn't treating their family seriously.
"You know, Jason liking you or not isn't important. What is important-" Dick interrupted Talon, because Dick didn't want to know what was important to someone who murdered seven people in less than a night. "Of course, it's important. Family is the most important." Dick shouldn't be yelling. Bruce didn't show any emotions when he was doing interrogations. Why couldn't Dick do that now?
"Family like Haly's." Dick didn't understand why Talon was saying Haley's like an accusation.
"The Circus wasn't allowed to keep me. The government didn't let them." They had wanted to keep Dick on after his parents had died. Dick could still remember them saying how much they wanted him before child services took him away.
"You don't know about Haly." Talon's face went entirely blank, not like how Bruce's would.
"What do you mean?" Dick knew everything about Haly's Circus. He still followed the Circus as best he could. He wrote to some of the other performers.
"You don't need to know." Talon shook his head. His expression returned to easygoing causal with those too intense eyes. "Before you interrupted me, I was going to tell you what is actually important to to us. Do you want to hear that or do you want to get caught by Bruce before you get a chance to fix things."
Dick nodded hesitantly. Bruce and everyone else should be getting back soon. Alfred may realize Dick wasn't in bed. They should be hurrying this along.
"Keeping them safe is what matters. Bruce, Jason…" Talon trailed off for a breath with a look of melancholy. "You haven't met the rest of them. You don't matter, they do. So what if Jason doesn't want to spend time with you. Wouldn't you rather he be alive than with you."
Dick nodded again. His chest was starting to ache like the last time watching Talon.
"If you want them to be safe, then you need to let me out of here to finish what I've started." Talon sounded serious. He wasn't even pretending to be easygoing anymore.
"Killing rich socialites like Bruce?" Dick countered. Because no matter how much he did want to protect his family, he couldn't do it that way. Bruce's way was the right way to do things.
Talon's face went back to the eerily blank expression. "No more killing rich socialites or Bruce," Talon murmured to himself. To Dick.,"There is just one more thing I have to do then this is all over. No one else has to die. Everyone will be safe. Bruce. Jason. Isn't that what you want?"
Dick wanted to know how to fix things. He didn't want what Talon was offering.
"I know you would have done anything to save your parents. Don't you feel the same about Bruce? Wouldn't you do anything to save him?"
Dick bit his lip before he could say he would. He would do anything to save Bruce. This wasn't the right way of doing it. If Talon would tell Dick what happened Dick, could fix things himself.
"If you aren't going to answer my questions, I'm not going to talk to you." Dick said trying to sound like Bruce would with someone like Talon.
Talon smirked at him.
The Cave alarm went off. Dick froze. Anyone coming in from the entrance would be able to see Dick. He wasn't going to be able to fix anything.
"Alfred," Jason shouted. He sounded desperate. "Alfred. Kara's hurt. Alfred."
Dick leaped off the cell. He looked up after he landed. Jason was struggling to lift a...really hurt Supergirl. She looked bad.
"I'm here. I can help." Dick shouted. He could. Dick could help everyone.
Riding in the Bat-mobile was always an experience. One Zatanna couldn't avoid this evening. Her magical reserves weren't entirely running on empty; yet, they were getting close with all the heavy spell work she'd been doing. Right now wasting energy on teleporting to the Tapestry was an unnecessary risk.
"Daniel Herring was a washed up television actor turned screen writer." Besides if Zatanna had teleported them there, she would have missed Bruce's exposition on their criminal.
"He wrote a script for a modernized retelling of Atalanta and Melanion. The script was stolen by Mallory Hills of Warner Brothers Studios. Hills turned Mallory's script into a summer blockbuster that brought in billions. Herring never saw a penny. In retaliation, he became Tapestry. Stealing what was stolen from him."
"Sounds a little tame for one of your regulars," Zatanna commented. She vaguely remembered hearing about the affair from Mikey a few years ago. Was it from Mikey? Regardless, someone from the crew had been complaining about how their favorite soap star had their big break stolen from them. Herring must have been doing poorly for a writing job to be considered a big break.
"Herring robbed from the cast, crew, and producers by recreating scenes from their biggest movies."
"Now that sounds more like one of your guys."
"Herring spent three years in Arkham before being released with a promising evaluation." Bruce paused as the Bat-mobile pulled up in front of Daniel Herring's home.
Zatanna would say Herring's home wasn't the strangest criminal lair she had seen before. It didn't even rank in the top twenty. Still the ordinary appearance of the house did surprise her. The house was a picture perfect suburban house with a well kept garden. There were a few gnomes under the bushes. On this street even that didn't stand out.
"As far as anyone was aware, Herring had cleaned up his act. He was picked up by a publishing company on his release. All of his books had been successful. There were no records of him threatening any of his former victims. For the last three years there hadn't been any crimes in Gotham matching his MO."
"Until his lady arrived," Zatanna stated rather than questioned. Super-criminals re-imagined themselves nearly as much as the superheroes they faced. It was entirely possible Herring changed his entire MO and added a bit of magic to his act. Herring being influenced by his lady seemed like more of a possibly.
Bruce gave her a clipped nod. "Herring performed his original crimes with theater equipment and hired thugs. Stage magic was the only magic he used."
"Do you have a plan for this?" Zatanna questioned. "Or are we busting in my way."
There was a car in the driveway as nondescript as the rest of the lot. The lights were off in the house, but at this time of night that wouldn't be unusual. There were no solid indications if Herring was home or not.
"Do you sense any magic?" Bruce spoke after him examined the house. Bruce without a plan. Wasn't that a frightening situation to be in?
"I don't sense the apple," Zatanna answered with a frown. "For anything else I'll need to be out of the car for a reading."
Bruce opened her door as his response.
Zatanna stepped into the night-morning air. Reaching out with her sense and finding nothing out of the ordinary.
"Tceted cigam." The spell was simple, sweet and would likely not set off any wards. With the luck Zatanna had been having, she wasn't going to put much faith in the last part.
"Nothing. All that means is he didn't bring any of his magical toys home with him. That and he isn't a natural caster," Zatanna reported. Relieved she'd been wrong about her luck on this one. "Why not see if Herring is home this fine morning?" Even if he wasn't at home, they would be able to check his house for clues to were he was, and more importantly where the apple was.
"My way. You need to reserve your magic in case the lady arrives."
"As you wish." Zatanna gave Bruce a bow. "Lead the way."
Bruce's way usually wasn't through the front door. With everything happening Zatanna should have been grateful he didn't kick down the door, or should she. Zatanna wouldn't have minded the excitement. If they had done things her way, it wouldn't have been anymore stealthy than smashing the door down.
Their arrival was greeted by stench. Death. Zatanna recognized the smell immediately, and it wasn't from a recent death. Bruce had a light pulled out and shining in the center of Herring's living room. Herring was there with his chest cavity wide open. Zatanna hadn't been more wrong about her luck.