Slipping back out of the building undetected, Batman made his way back to the cave to start going over the evidence. He remotely sent the evidence he'd collected on the murder cases from the Batcomputer, to Jim Gordon; this new case took precedent.
However, they didn't have much to go on so far. He had Oracle looking at the evidence while he made the trip back to the Batcave. All they had was some video footage of some shady meeting, some unknown mercenaries, and evidence of military grade weaponry. Oracle was right about one thing though; Jason and Roy were their most important leads right now. They were there before the bombs went off. They fought these mercenaries. If anyone had any leads on them at all, it'd be those two.
The problem was, they were in pretty rough condition. He hadn't seen Jason in such rough shape since-
"Master Bruce," came Alfred's voice over the comm link, breaking off his train of thought.
"What is it, Alfred?" he asked.
"Master Bruce, I thought you'd like to know that Master Jason is awake. He's awake and alert. No signs of brain damage. But he did ask about Master Roy," Alfred said.
"And how is Roy?"
"He's…not as well. Are you returning to the cave?"
"Yes. I'm on my way, Alfred."
Bruce arrived back at the batcave within ten minutes and removed his cowl. The cave was empty, meaning that everyone had gone up into the manor. Bruce headed for the Batcomputer first and opened a channel to Oracle and set up a program to begin running the evidence and the footage he'd collected. It was only once that was done that he made his way upstairs, changing back into civilian attired first.
The man made his way first to Jason's room. There, he found Alfred dressing Jason's wounds and Dick sitting at his bed side talking to him.
"Jason," Bruce said in a low tone, slowly making his way over.
"Hey dad," Jason muttered. Dick snorted with barely contained laughter, and even Bruce was a little taken aback by the use of the term.
"Did you just call him dad?" Dick asked. Jason glared at him and huffed in annoyance.
"It's the pain killers. It's making me feel unusually nice. Can't you people just enjoy it while it lasts?" Jason replied a little grumpily. Alfred chuckled in amusement and finished wrapping a wound on Jason's arm.
"I for one, Master Jason, enjoy it. I do wish you were like this more often, however."
"What can I say, Alf? I'm an ass by nature. Pardon my French."
"Just this once, and only because you're higher than a kite, Master Jason," Alfred replied, retreating from the room. Bruce chuckled a bit at the scene that had played out before him, then made his way over to Jason's bed side.
"Dick, go check on Roy for me, would you?" Jason asked, glancing over at him. Dick gave a curt nod and made his way out of the room as well. Bruce watched Dick go, then sat down where Dick had sat. A silence brewed between Bruce and Jason for what felt like eternity. Then, finally, Bruce broke the silence.
"Jason…I need to know what happened."
"Straight to business then, eh? It's cool, I'm fine. At least I didn't die this time."
"Jason." Bruce said evenly, pinching the bridge of his nose. Jason snorted in amusement and waved his hand dismissively.
"Calm your cowl. Just gimme a sec. These pain meds have my head swimming in a fog," Jason replied. He was silent for several long moments. He took a deep breath and reached for the memories.
"Roy and I were investigating GothCorp…."
"Are you sure we should be wasting our time investigating GothCorp? I mean, they haven't done anything. In years," Roy replied, pulling on his Arsenal gear. Jason pulled on his jacket and finished lining it with gear, then grabbed his helmet and tucked it under his arm.
"It's GothCorp, Roy. If they're making shady, backroom deals, then they're up to no good. Trust me," Jason replied. Roy gave a shrug of his shoulders and pressed his domino onto his face.
"If you say so. Ready when you are, Jaybird," Roy answered, strapping his napalm gun to his side.
"Right, let's go," Jason replied, making his way out of the bunker. He and Roy took their motorcycles to the Financial District, making sure to keep them well hidden. From there, they infiltrated the building using weak points and blind spots in security and carefully made their way to the CEO's office. They managed to break in while he was away, and, with Roy standing guard, Jason bugged the place; they needed recordings of this scum bag if they wanted to bag him. From there, it turned into a stakeout. The two of them left the building to avoid detection and camped out nearby.
A few hours passed with a whole lot of nothing, until finally, the mission truly began. They could hear the CEO, Bradly James, talking with someone else.
["The information is going to cost you extra. The Broker had to spend additional resources to infiltrate LexCorp while maintaining the cover of his current operatives."]
"This is soundin' shadier and shadier," Arsenal muttered to Red Hood. Hood didn't say a word, but instead, kept listening.
["Fine, I'll have the money wired to the agreed account. Did you take care of those four "activists" in the Bowery? They've been raising a stink about-"
"They're dealt with. In a few days, the GCPD will arrest one of our fall guys for their murders."]
"Well, I think that's all we need to know," Arsenal said, grabbing his bow. He turned to Hood and flashed a grin. "Shall we?" Hood got to his feet and shut off the device, then pocketed it and grabbed a grappling hook.
"Let's nail a scum bag," Hood replied, firing his line toward the building. The two vigilantes crashed through the window and Bradley and his 'guest' jumped in surprise.
"You've been compromised!" the mystery man snapped angrily. Bradely's eyes widened in fear and he raised his hands defensively.
"N-no!" he shouted, but the stranger executed him in cold blood.
"Woah, what the fuck?" Arsenal blurted out, taken aback. The man turned to them and frowned, then pressed a button on the front of his jacket. Hood and Arsenal moved to apprehend him, but then explosions started wracking the building. In the confusion, the man slipped past the two of them. All hell broke lose moments later as gunfire started ringing out…
"We've never encountered anything like them. Highly trained mercenaries, equipped with top-of-the-line Military Grade gear. I mean, sure, we've seen mooks like that before," Jason went on, turning toward Bruce "but these guys had the training to go with the gear. We're talking League of Assassins level talent. Roy and I tried to help, tried to take them down, but between the explosions, and the mooks themselves, we were caught completely off guard. We took some bad hits and had to get out of there." He didn't mention that he was more worried for Roy than himself. Roy had taken a helluva beating. If they'd been prepared for these guys, they probably could've taken them. But nothing could've prepared them for that.
Bruce's frowned deepened as he listened to Jason's explanation.
"I…god I fucked up. I know you trained me to prepare for anything, but-"
"Jason…" Bruce interrupted, patting the man's shoulder. "I'm just glad you're alive." Jason chuckled a bit, then gestured toward his jacket across the room.
"Some of the intel we managed to gather is on a flash drive in my jacket pocket," Jason explained. Bruce made his way over to the jacket and fished through the pocket for the flash drive. And something else. "Also ripped that patch off of one of the merc's gear. Not sure what it means."
Bruce frowned as he looked at the symbol on the patch; it had an open hand with an eye in the palm.
"Hmmm. Thank you Jason. You rest now," Bruce said evenly, leaving Jason to his thoughts.
Jason, however, wasn't content to just lay around and 'heal'. He'd pretty much made a career out of not doing what he was told. With some effort and a grunt of pain, Jason pulled himself out of bed, hand clutching at his side, bandages wrapped all around his mid section. He grabbed his jeans and pulled them on, then padded out of the room and down the hall to where Roy was.
"Roy okay?" Jason asked as he pushed the door open. His heart caught in his throat for a second. Dick was sitting beside him and Leslie was tending to his wounds, but Roy looked like hell. He lay there, still unconscious, looking pale and almost drained of life. His wounds were a bit more serious, but he didn't think Roy had been that bad off. "Is he okay?" Jason repeated more firmly, limping over toward him. Dick got up and stopped Jason, wrapping an arm around his waist. Jason grunted, wrapping his own arm around Dick's shoulders as the man helped him over toward Roy.
"He's stable. We won't know anything else until he wakes up, but he is in no immediate danger," Leslie reassured him. Jason frowned but nodded nonetheless, sitting in the chair beside his bed. He stared at Roy's face, eyes raking over his body, pausing at each of the wounds that he could see. He reached out and grabbed Roy's hand, holding it in his.
"Fuck…how did this go so wrong?" Jason muttered to himself. Dick hesitated for a moment, then patted Jason's shoulder gently.
"It's not your fault, Jaybird. Roy's tough, he'll pull through. You'll see," Dick replied. Jason glanced up at the man and sure enough, he was wearing one of those dumb smiles. Truth was, he always felt a bit reassured when Dick smiled. The guy just had a natural ability to make people feel better, or at least less shitty, with just a word and a smile.
There was a silence in the room, with Jason watching over Roy, holding his hand and sending silent prayers to whoever was listening, and Dick watching over the both of them.
"So…" Dick began, rubbing the back of his neck nervously. Jason flinched a bit at the sudden break in the silence, canting his head upward slightly in Dick's direction. "You and Roy, huh?" Jason slowly turned his head toward Dick to see that bastard wearing a rather smug smile. Jason frowned at him and Dick raised his hands defensively. "I don't mean anything by it. Just asking!"
"Yeah. Me and Roy. Go figure," Jason replied as a smirk tugged at the corner of his lips. "Was it that obvious?" he asked. Dick shrugged.
"Just a hunch. You guys seemed really good together. It only makes sense that you'd end up as…well…more than friends, y'know?"
Jason snorted in response and turned his attention back to Roy.
"Yeah. Roy saved my life. In more ways than just one. I was going down a dark path..well…darker, then I saved this moron and then he ends up saving my ass. Go fuckin' figure," Jason replied, earning a chuckle of amusement from Dick. "We were just friends, and then after a while…it just….kind of happened, y'know?" Jason looked up at Dick again, and this time he was wearing a genuine smile. He patted Jason's shoulder soothingly, and Jason sighed deeply.
"Why am I even telling you this shit? God, this touchy-feel shit is so unlike me."
"Maybe because you're high as a kite right now?" Dick teased. Jason pulled a face and shrugged his shoulders.
"Could be, Dickie-bird. Could be. I feel pretty up there right now. Good."
"Well, I'm happy for you. Both of you. You guys have been through some heavy shit. You deserve a little happiness."
"Thanks Goldie."
"Bite me."
"That's my line."
Bruce sat at his computer for a couple of hours, going over the evidence he and Oracle gathered together, but so far, turning up no leads. It was frustrating, because it almost seemed as if this mercenary group didn't even exist. Bruce even ran the symbol on the patch, and that turned up absolutely nothing. Not in mythology, politics, religion, nothing. The only thing that came close, was the 'Eye of Horus' and "The All Seeing Eye".
"Bruce, I've got something on the local news feeds I think you should see. Bringing it up now," came Oracle's voice. A news report popped up on the Batcomputer moments later.
["...authorities have made several arrests in the bombing of GothCorp Headquarters. Evidence suggests that Serial Arsonist Garfield Lynns, a.k.a "Firefly", as well as several of his associates, have been arrested in connection with the bombing."
As the anchorwoman spoke, the footage showed Garfield Lynns being arrested and escorted out in handcuffs.
"I didn't do it! I'm innocent! Innocent god dammit!"]
"He didn't do it," Bruce said after it ended.
"I know. But whoever is really behind it, has done a hell of a job framing him. All of the evidence is engineered specifically to make him look guilty."
Bruce frowned deeply and stared down at the patch he took from Jason's jacket. With no solid evidence pointing in any meaningful direction, all they had to go on was this symbol.
"I think I know someone who can help."