Hey guys, sorry for the wait. I've been busy with schools and things. Thanks to those who review and please do so again. As you know, bold italics is electronic communication and italics is personal thought. Please excuse any mistakes I may have made. I do not own DC Comics despite how much I would like to. Thanks for reading and enjoy!
Last Time:
"I have intel that Nightwing's over near the West Wall." He said.
"Heading over." Red Hood immediately said.
The others said similar things. Batman checked all the cells he could see as he searched the West Wall. He heard someone coughing and the sound of flesh hitting flesh. Torture for answers. He peeked in and saw Richard. The detective looked to be in bad shape. His hand were chained above him, his face bruised, shirt ripped, torso bruised and bloody, but his smirk was still on his face. He doesn't mind the pain. His face showed his resistance to the interrogation.
"What do you know about the Light?" An assassin asked.
When Richard opened his mouth to respond, the second assassin brought out a gun and aimed it at his head.
"Answer correctly." He growled.
Richard noticed Batman through the small barred window in the door. He cocked the gun. Making eye contact with Nightwing, Batman nodded. In one fluid motion, Richard brought his legs up and kicked the gun out of the assassins hands, but not before the assassin squeezed a shot off. The boom of the gun in the small room disorientated all in the room. Batman burst in and quickly took down the assassins. Red Hood and Robin entered the room shortly after. Together, the three got Richard down and, being lead by the Martians and Batgirl, got him out of the Shadows headquarters just as the alarms went off.
Richard was well aware of the sirens shrieking around him. So much for a quiet getaway. He expected some assassins to come confront them in their attempt to escape. However, they never came as the sirens stopped. Weird. He had a sneaking suspicion it was someone on the inside, and he had a good idea of who it was. While he only met her twice, Talia al Ghul seemed like the type of girl to turn on her father for her 'beloved'. Richard was thankful that Bruce had a way with ladies. Wonder how Catwoman and Wonder Woman feel about this...assuming they know. He realized that they might not know. Anyway, he followed Batman into the Batwing with the other three. The two Martians would fly on their own and were already in the air. With a nod to Martian Manhunter, Batman took off towards Mount Justice. In the back of the Batwing, Red Hood checked Dick over.
"They got some good hits in, huh?" He said as he eyed a fairly purple bruise.
"Well, I was tied up." Richard replied.
"And provocative." Robin said from the side.
"That too." Richard smirked.
"Not the smartest thing to do." Red Hood said.
Richard hissed as a little bit of alcohol cleaned a scrape on his jaw.
"You think that hurts?" Red Hood scoffed.
"No, I just wasn't ready." Richard said.
"Mmmhm." Red Hood hummed.
"So what did they want from you?" Batgirl asked from the front.
"Information on the Light." Richard responded.
"Not the League?" Batman questioned.
"Nope. Just the Light, I guess the love is lacking in that partnership." Richard answered.
"Did they exactly ask what information?" Batman interrogated.
"No, they just kept asking 'what do you know about the Light?'. General info." Richard responded.
"Interesting." Batman muttered.
"Why didn't you tell them?" Batgirl asked.
"What do you mean?" Richard asked in return.
"Well, the Light is an enemy. The enemy of my enemy is my friend. Maybe the Assassins were wanting to take the Light down." Batgirl reasoned.
Richard scoffed.
"Highly unlikely. Besides, the moment I tell them anything is the moment I'm dead." Richard replied.
"Talia wouldn't let you die. You're one of Bruce's kids now." Robin commented.
"Well, how was I supposed to know that?!" Richard said.
"Talia did warn you." Red Hood said. "She obviously considers you a Bruceling." Red Hood said.
"A what?" Richard asked.
"Bruceling." Red Hood repeated.
"Fear of dying isn't why you didn't say anything. Why didn't you tell them anything?" Batgirl pressed.
"I don't know about you, but I value my life." Richard returned.
"That can't be the only reason!" Batgirl said, frustrated.
"What other reason could there be?!" Richard asked.
"You're loyal to the Light!" She shouted.
Silence fell upon the cabin.
"You always have mixed intentions. You may be an officer, but you could be just doing that to be in law enforcement, where you can manipulate evidence. You somehow wormed yourself into the hero business to get information on us and report to the Light. After all, you did work for them first." Batgirl growled.
"Back off Barbara. Just because Golden Boy fits in so well, doesn't mean something's wrong with him." Red Hood snapped.
"Okay, calm down." Batman intruded. "Let's look at the facts and consider this carefully."
"You're not really thinking Dick could be loyal to the Light!" Robin exclaimed.
Batman stayed silent. Richard would be lying if he said that didn't hurt a little. The things words can do.
"Richard did work for the Light, but he's not anymore. The only thing that has caused some doubt in my mind is the Cadmus visits. You remember going in and coming out, but nothing else. Try to remember what happened during those visits." Batman said.
"Wha-We already know! I have Cadmus programming. Why are we going through this?" Richard asked.
"Red Arrow recalled them asking questions. About the League. You weren't associated with the League then. You were with the Light, so what did they ask? What did they want you to do?" Batman spurred.
Richard struggled to remember.
"I-I can't remember." He said.
"Try harder!" Batman ordered.
Richard tried to search his mind. He only found the black gaps between arriving and leaving.
"There's nothing there!" He responded.
"Try. Harder!" Batman commanded.
Richard tried harder to remember. Nothing! Red Hood placed his hand on the back of his neck. It sparked a memory. Richard quickly grasped the fleeting memory and yanked it forwards to the front of his mind. It was Deathstroke and Dr. Desmond, the old Dr. Desmond. They were saying something, but it was fuzzy, like he was submerged in water. It was then realized he was. An oxygen mask over his mouth and nose, he felt something on the nape of his neck. It was hard and cold. Metal? He felt something in his mind, changing things, linking things that weren't supposed to be linked. He couldn't move, but, in the glass of the tank, he could see three gnomes above him. They had a collar around their necks. It looked similar to the metahuman inhibitor collars. Why…? The two were talking again, but Deathstroke was close to the glass, inspecting his apprentice.
"So he'll get into the League? Close?" He asked.
Desmond nodded.
"How will we monitor him?" Deathstroke questioned. "As you know, I don't really get a say in what happens to the boy and the plans for him are ever changing."
Dr. Desmond explained, but Richard couldn't catch anything but a few words.
"Gnome...other...inside...work…" The doctor said.
Deathstroke laughed.
"Of course." He said. "Time to let him out."
The oxygen mask was taken off and water rushed his lungs. He let out a few bubbles as he struggled for air before vaguely feeling himself being pulled from the water. He passed out.
"Dick!" Red Hood yelled.
Snapping back to reality, Richard's eyes were wide and he was gasping, still feeling the water in his lungs. He placed a hand over his face.
"Dude, you okay?" Red Hood asked.
"Yeah, you zoned out and started hyperventilating for a second." Robin commented.
Richard didn't answer, still trying to get his breathing under control. He could feel Batgirl's and Batman's intense gaze as they flew through the air. Finally, getting his breathing normal, he removed his hand and met Batman's eyes.
"I remembered something." He confirmed.
He told them what he felt, saw, heard, and deduced about everything.
"I have no idea about the gnomes." He admitted.
"Well, the gnomes you described are telepathic beings. Maybe they implanted the programming. As for the cold metal on your neck, I'm clueless." Robin replied.
Red Hood pushed Richard forwards and pulled at the clothing around the nape of his neck. He poked and prodded.
"I don't see any sign of anything being here." Red Hood sighed.
"Scars can be covered." Batman commented.
"It might not have scared." Richard threw in.
"Maybe the metal connected to your spinal cord and nervous system. It's not easy access and it'd have to have been carefully inserted, but it's possible." Red Hood said.
That earned surprised looked from everyone, except Batman.
"What? Timmy's not the only one who knows things." Red Hood replied annoyed.
"When we get to the mountain, we'll do a deep tissue scan. That'll tell us something." Batman responded.
The Batwing flew a bit quicker but ever smoothly.
Richard didn't realize a deep tissue scan involved getting down to wearing only boxers and a mask and being stared at intensely by Batman. Said hero was currently walking in a circle around him, slowly. His eyes scanning up and down Richard's body. On the screen off to the right, Richard could see his bones, muscles, and skin separated. Each part of his body formed as Batman's cowl processed him. Weird watching my body being formed limb by limb. The bone and muscle looked quite worrisome. The team and most of the League were in the room. Richard didn't fail to notice some of the girls drooling at his body. He did notice the sympathetic looks on some faces as they saw all his scars. Most of which he's not sure how he got. Once Batman was done, he told Richard to get dressed. Following Batman, he looked at the scans.
"What the fuck is that?!" He exclaimed.
On the muscle and skin scan, everything was normal. However, a long, blue line followed his spine up to his brain stem on the bone scan. There was a very small box connected to the line resting on his brain stem.