Being locked in a moving van with four armed guys watching your every move wasn't fun. It wasn't the worst situation I'd ever been in, but unpleasant none the less.
Every now and then I glanced over at Jason. He was terrified. There were dried tears on his cheeks, and his eyes were red.
I didn't know how long it had been until I couldn't stand the silence anymore.
"Are we there yet?"
One of the men shot me a glare, but nothing more. Shame.
"You know, this conversation is dryer than the Sahara desert. Communication only works if it goes both ways"
Another glare.
"Jesus Christ you guys are boring!" I sighed.
I finally got their attention. Unfortunately, that attention happened to be a stun baton to my arm. Ugh.
"Vă voi distruge linia de sânge, nenorocită!"
The Romanian insult rolled off my tongue before I could stop it. Instinct, I suppose.
"What the hell did you just say to me?" the dude who stunned me demanded.
"Wouldn't you like to know" I hissed.
Then he knocked me the fuck out.
~~~
I awoke with a throbbing pain in my head. Hopefully not a concussion.
Then I noticed the lack of engine noises. We weren't in the van anymore!
My eyes shot open and searched frantically for Jason. I quickly relaxed once I saw him next to me, tied to a chair. I looked down and found myself in the same situation.
I carefully looked around. We seemed to be in some sort of warehouse (cliché, I know). Two of the sunglasses dudes were sitting by the door, playing cards. They were not doing a very good job of watching their prisoners.
"Jason?" I whispered.
"Robin! Thank God you're awake! You were out for a while and I was getting really worried" Jason whispered back.
"Never mind me, are you hurt?" I needed to know.
Jason shook his head.
"Just a couple bruises. Nothing to worry about"
We fell silent, not really having anything to talk about.
I tried to think of a plan to get us out. The easiest would be for me to just slam my chair into the ground and break it Natasha Romanov style, and then just kill the guys guarding us, but that would definitely blow my cover.
I could just try annoying them until they let us go.
To be honest, playing along seemed like the best option at the moment, and if things got out of hand, I could always revert back to plan A. Murder.
~~~
Jason and I had, having nothing else to do, resorted to playing rock paper scissors, though with slight difficulty as our hands were tied behind us when there was a banging on the door.
The guards immediately pushed their card game aside and hid it under a newspaper, before grabbing their guns and opening the door.
Maybe I could finally get some answers to why they wanted Jason.
Of all the people I suspected, Two-face (or Harvey Dent) was definitely not one of them.
I'd never really met the guy properly, and he didn't even know who I was, as he'd only seen me with my mask on.
Dad and Harvey weren't really on good terms, as it technically was dad's fault Harvey became Two-face in the first place but they managed to stay civil with each other, mostly to avoid attention from Batman, I'd guess.
Harvey strode into the room, followed by four heavily armed men, most likely acting as bodyguards.
He stopped a few feet away, his eyes falling on me.
"Who is the other brat?" he asked.
One of the men shrugged
"No idea. They were together when we got there. Figured it would be better to take him with us than leave a witness"
Harvey scoffed.
"Then why is he alive?"
The men looked uneasy. Child murder probably wasn't high on the list of things they wanted to have on their conscious.
"He might know something" one of them finally said.
"You haven't questioned him?" Harvey hissed.
"No, boss. We wanted to wait for your orders, boss" the same man replied.
Harvey sighed but accepted the excuse.
Harvey stepped closer to me, completely ignoring Jason.
"Now who do we have here?" he questioned, speaking to me.
"Joe," I said.
Harvey squinted his eyes, "Joe, who?"
"Joe mama!" I grinned.
I couldn't believe he fell for that.
Then a fist connected with my face. Oof.
I could from the corner of my eye see Jason staring at me in absolute shock.
Harvey composed himself.
"Who are you?" he demanded, obviously not in the mood for my jokes.
It was probably a good idea to play along. I didn't feel like receiving a beating today.
"Robin Quinzel" I replied.
One of the guys scurried off, probably to look up the name.
"Well then, Robin. We'll have to decide what to do with you, " Harvey fished out his signature coin from his pocket, "Heads, you live, tails, you die"
Oh no. This wasn't good at all.
He flicked the coin into the air.
I followed the coin with my eyes, as it reached its peak, and started singling downward. My heart sunk as I watched the coin fall into Harvey's open hand, certain I'd just witnessed my doom.
I swear I almost laughed when Harvey flipped the coin onto his wrist, and I saw the shiny face of my saviour. Heads. I wasn't going to die.
Next to me, Jason let out a shaky sigh of what I guessed was relief.
Harvey frowned but trusted his coin.
"Seems you're one lucky bastard" he commented, before pocketing his coin.
He then moved over to Jason, who did everything he could to avoid looking at Harvey.
"Do you know who I am, Jason?" Harvey asked.
Jason nodded, still avoiding the man.
"Good boy" Harvey smirked.
Jason and I both cringed.
"Do you know why you're here then?" Harvey then asked.
Jason shook his head.
"Oh? You don't? Daddy dearest didn't tell you?" Harvey faked surprise.
Jason looked up, obviously confused.
By now I worked it out though. Jason's dad had messed with Harvey, and Jason was paying the price.
"Well that won't do. I say we let your dad explain himself"
Two men walked up with a laptop and set it up in front of us. A webcam popped up, showing Jason in the centre of the frame, and me in the corner since I obviously wasn't the important one here.
A call started, and after a few seconds, it was answered.
A bloodied face popped up on the screen, and Jason gasped harshly. Was that his dad?
"Son!" the man cried, confirming my suspicion.
Harvey crouched next to Jason, coming into view of Jason's dad, who's face went from worry and shock, to complete horror.
They began talking, but I was only half listening. Most of my attention was focused on my miniature hologlove. The one I conveniently brought to test for the first time. Remember?
As everyone's attention was on Jason and Harvey, I was safe to try to call for help. Having an open laptop right there made it so much easier.
Despite my handicap of barely being able to see what I was typing, I managed to get past the laptop's security and get the exact coordinates of the laptop, therefore giving me our location.
Suddenly a subtle buzz from the hologlove told me that there was someone listening to the call. A quick prod at the newcomer's firewalls made me 90% sure it was Batman.
A very risky plan formed in my head.
I took another glance at our coordinates. 281, 105.
I took a deep breath and prepared to be dramatic again.
"Hey, fuckers! I'm bored!"
Everyone's attention turned to me.
"Shut the fuck up, kid!" one of the men growled, annoyed.
"Go fuck yourself!" I'll admit, I was probably being more dramatic than I needed to be.
But it got the job done, as the man hit me with his gun. Right in my stomach.
Now for my plan.
"You fucking căţea! Suntem la două opt unu și la zero cinci!"
I had just told Batman our coordinates and hopefully disguised it as random insults. Now my plan depended on Batman knowing Romanian or at least realizing to translate it.
"What the hell did he just say?" Harvey questioned.
"Called him a bitch" I snapped.
Technically I wasn't lying. I did start by calling the man a bitch.
Harvey smirked.
"A feisty one, I see"
Then he ignored me, which was more than I could've ever hoped for. I'd already prepared to at least get a beating, but it seemed Harvey was even slightly amused by my outburst.
Then the weight of what I'd just done dawned on me. I'd asked Batman, the dark knight, the one who wanted me imprisoned, to save us.
Oh boy, I was fucked.