Disclaimer: See chapter 1.

Chapter Nine

After what felt like hours of explaining to Detective Sawyer, Donna, Cassie, Conner, and about half of the Metropolis fifth precinct, she finally let us off the hook. With a warning, of course. Not that I paid any attention to it.

Anyway, now I was down in the forensics lab at M.C.P.D. Headquarters. The tube of lipstick matches the same type Jade uses and, according to the results from a recent test, it contains an extremely deadly poison. Only Jade would be able to create a poisonous lipstick. Well, her and one other.

Pamela Isley. Former botanist. Was given the name Poison Ivy when she turned to crime. Now she works as an informant for the G.C.P.D.

I should probably give her a call about this.

Just as I picked up the phone there was a knock on the door.

"What is it?" I shouted. I hate being interrupted.

"Got a package for you," Detective Sawyer replied through the door.

"From who?"

"Your missing brothers."

What?

"Come in," I told her, practically jumping out of my seat.

She opened the door and my eyes immediately went to the rectangular package in her hand. The wrapping had already been torn open.

"Bomb squad checked it out," She explained as she handed it to me. "It's a tape."

I practically ripped open the cover of the box in my haste to get to the tape. I pulled it out and pulled over the TV set and put the player. I turned on the TV to find Tim and Jason lying unconscious on the black and white screen. Suddenly Selinda moved the camera so she was on screen.

"Hey there, Dickie!" She mocked me with a malevolent grin. "If you're watching this tape it means you know that we -we being Baran, Jade, Arthur, and myself- have your brothers. Don't worry though; we've been taking very good care of them. Of course that can change extremely fast. You've got three hours to find us before Arthur bakes Soccer Boy and Jade dices Mr. Business. You should be getting this around eleven so we'll just round the time to two in the morning. Hope you have fun trying, detective."

The screen went blank, ending the message.

"Not even a clue," Detective Sawyer groaned as I pulled the tape out.

"The clues were in the message and the background," I informed her. "One was meant to be given, the other wasn't. What time is it?"

She looked down at her watch. "Eleven-thirty-eight."

"Are there any apartment buildings set up near the power plant around here?"

"Five-"

"Great! Call down to the office and have them send a list to the front desk. I'll be there in ten minutes. You need me, I'll be at Conner and Cassie's."

I took the tape out of the player, grabbed my stuff, and rushed out the door.

Ten minutes later I had made it down to the front desk. "Did Sawyer call for my stuff?" I asked the guy sitting there.

"Oh, yeah detective. Just got done pulling them from the computer," He told me, handing me a folder.

"Thanks." I pulled the folder from his hands and took off into the night.

The night.

While in Gotham the streets would be dark at night, here in Metropolis everything's still lit up at night. It's like a never-ending source of light.

Everything's lit up.

Everything but Conner and Cassie's apartment. I found it completely dark when I got in, so they must have turned in.

I opened the folder the guy at the desk had given me and set it on the coffee table. Then I took the tape and put it into the VCR. I rewound the tape before hitting play and looking up at the black and white screen. Once it showed Tim and Jason on-screen, I paused it and went back to sit on the couch.

I stared at the screen for a little while, taking in every detail until I found what I was looking for. There were cracks in the walls. Large ones. Almost unnoticeable on the black and white screen.

Now, which one of these buildings has any sign of damage?

Two buildings condemned and broken down. One is closer to the Power Plant, though. If Light wants to "bake" Jason like Selinda said he would, they'd all need to stay in a building close to the Power Plant, since light and electricity are his specialties.

I quickly walked to the kitchen and picked up the phone in there so I wouldn't disturb Conner and Cassie.

Roy was staying with Donna at her hotel, so I called the operator and had her connect me with the front desk, who, in turn, connected me to Donna's room.

"Hello?" Roy asked, his voice heavy with sleep.

"Get up. I found them," I told him before hanging up. I looked over at the clock.

12:32.

Almost an hour since I got that tape. I have to go get Roy now if we want to make it back in time.

I rushed out the door, slamming it shut behind me, before taking of.

Fifteen minutes later I was outside the door to Donna's hotel room, banging on the door. It finally opened and Roy stepped out before closing it behind him.

"What're we still standing here for?" He asked me jokingly. "C'mon, let's go save your brothers."

With that he started for the elevator.

Something's not right. I saw the way he looked before he closed the door, even if it was only for a moment.

What had gone on in that room before I showed up?

I guess it's a question I'll have to save for later. Right now we have to make it across the city before the clock strikes two.

Once we got to the lobby I pulled Roy over to the front desk and pulled out my badge.

"Police, we're in the middle of an emergency and we need to borrow one of your rental cars," I told the old man at the desk. He looked surprised for a few moments before crouching down to pull a set of keys for us. He came back up and quickly tossed them over to me. "Thanks."

We rushed out the side door to where the rental cars were located.

"He gave us one in the first aisle," I told Roy as we started running toward the first aisle. "Spot number eighty-three."

Damn we do a lot of running, don't we? Well, at least it helps me stay in shape.

We finally arrived at the parking spot to find a brown Beetle in the slot. I took the driver's seat while Roy jumped into the passenger side and we took off out of the lot and onto the main road.

"Sawyer's gonna be pissed," Roy said with a wide grin.

"I'm hopin," I replied as I continued to break the speed limit in my rush to get to the old building.

"So how'd you figure out where they were?" Roy asked me a little while later.

"Arthur's good with electricity. When Selinda said he'd 'bake' Jason, I knew it meant he was going to use his knowledge of light and electricity to do it. To get enough energy to do that though, you'd need a lot of power, so I automatically thought of the Power Plant. But they wouldn't be stupid enough to actually stay in the Power Plant here, so it needed to be somewhere nearby. That's when I started paying attention to the background on the tape. Since the tape didn't last that long I had to try and catch something of importance. That's when I thought I had spotted a couple of cracks in the wall behind them. Now I know for a fact there aren't any businesses by the Power Plant, but I thought of apartment buildings for the people that work there. There were five, each a few stories high. Went back to look at the ones that were condemned, then found out which was closest to the plant. That's where they have to be," I explained to Roy.

"So, did you come up with a plan during this whole thing?"

"Yeah; wing it."

He rolled up his sleeves. "My favorite type of plan."

"I figured you'd like it."

He laughed.

We finally arrived at the condemned building, stopping a few yards away.

"You got a watch on you?" I asked Roy as I stared up at the dark building.

"Nope, usually go by an internal clock," He answered. "You know, my own time. Like I have five minutes to break in, and I count that out in the back of my head, y'know?"

"Yeah, I do the same. We should have at least ten minutes left," I told him. "Alright. We'll go in two ways. You take the front, I'll take the back. That way you can distract them while I go get Jason and Tim."

"Works for me. I'll see if I can meet you up there."

We both slipped out of the car and over to the building, separating once we got to the side. Once I made it to the back I glanced through the windows.

Nothing but darkness.

I have no clue what the layout is inside, but they do, therefore they have the advantage.

Roy will most likely make a big opening, getting their attention. That means I have to break in carefully. I looked down at the knob carefully. It was pretty old, which means I could use my skeleton key to get in. I took it out of my back pocket and slipped it into the lock, before turning it and entering.

I slowly pulled the door open and pulled out my flashlight, shielding the beam on top to try and hide it. With Light and Jade here, there have to be traps set up all around here. Sensors even fishing line that sets off some poisonous darts.

Last time I went after each of them, I broke in through the window. They had the traps set on the doors. I turned the beam over to the windows. Got it. Light sensors, but nothing by the door.

I walked slowly through the empty room. Once I opened the door on the other side, I heard gunshots being fired.

Roy.

He can get trigger-happy very quickly. At least it's giving me some good cover.

The staircase may be rigged, but I can easily flip up the banister to get to the second floor and so on. Sometimes being a former circus performer has its advantages. Especially when you were a former aerialist.

It took me only moments to reach the second floor, but none of the doors were guarded.

I know my enemies. They all make it obvious which room they're hiding in by guarding it someway, and since Selinda and Baran are involved in this, Baran would most likely be guarding the room Tim and Jason are in.

Always gotta go with the human wall to guard a room.

He wasn't on the third or fourth floors, but when I got to the fifth, he ended up surprising me by grabbing me from behind.

He chuckled cruelly as he held me tight against his chest, forcing the air out of me. With that he pulled me into the room at the other end of the hall.

No wonder he was able to jump me; he was right behind me! Dammit!

"Look who I found, sis," Baran told his sister proudly.

Jason and Tim, who were sitting up with their hands and feet bound by strong ropes and mouths taped shut, were looking at me with wide eyes.

"Hmm. Showed up with minutes to spare, detective," Selinda told me as she looked down at her watch.

Dr. Light was already wearing his evil grin as he picked up a gun from the stand next to him.

"I've been waiting a long time for this," He declared as he aimed the gun at me from where he was standing.

It was a good distance away that when he finally fired his light gun at me, I was able to duck my head down, letting it hit Baran's collarbone. His grip instantly loosened and Selinda was so angry that she forgot all about me and rounded on Light, who was staring wide-eyed as the gargantuan fell to the ground. That left one out.

Jade was probably fighting Roy right now.

I used the distraction to slip by the two that were left standing and went to untie Jason and Tim. By the time they had pulled the tape from their mouths, Selinda and Light were practically wrestling on the floor while Baran had begun to groan.

Damn he's a tough guy.

"Selinda?" He asked not even noticing he was bleeding from his wound. At least that would weaken him.

Selinda immediately looked up at her brother and Light took advantage of the moment in time to punch her in the face.

Baran roared with anger and ran at Light.

"You don't hurt my sister!" He yelled, grabbing Light by his skinny little neck and smashing his face across the wall, splattering blood everywhere.

My eyes widened as I saw the way the blood came out as Baran began smashing Light's head against the wall.

Ryan.

His head was smashed in and the pattern the blood was spilling was similar to the way it had looked when Roy and I had arrived in the hall all those years ago.

My blood began to boil and my fists tightened.

"Looks like they're doing your job for you, Dick," Jason commented with a grin, but I could barely hear him. All I could hear was the sound bones cracking and feel my rage intensify.

It made me think of Ryan and how he looked when he was finally found. His face was completely battered; his limbs twisted and limp.

I saw Ryan in Light's place. His bones cracking under the giants' hands and the life literally being crushed out of him.

I stopped hearing Jason and Tim trying to call out to me.

I stopped seeing them.

Stopped seeing Selinda standing on the side with an evil, twisted grin.

All I saw was red.

Then, I attacked.

I jumped on Baran's back and put him into a strong chokehold, breaking his grip on Light and bringing his focus to me. Then I pushed myself up so my legs were squeezing his head between my legs. I put my right fist into the palm of my left hand and raised my hands high above my head before quickly bringing it down onto Baran's head. I could feel my hands break as they smashed into his rock-like head, but his knees buckled and his head was probably spinning from the loss of blood through his wound. Not to mention whatever rage he had had most likely disappeared after I surprised him.

I flipped over so I was facing him, grabbed his head between my hand and slammed my knee directly into his face, breaking his nose. Then I repeated it, aiming right between his eyes. I kept hitting him right between his eyes until he finally fell onto his back, and was out cold.

I pulled my gun from its holster and aimed it right at his head. Suddenly I felt someone wrap their arm around my neck and start to grab at my hand to pull the gun away. I reached back and grabbed whoever it was by the collar of their shirt, threw them on top of Baran's body, and aimed my gun at him.

The red finally vanished from my vision as I stared at who was at the other end of my gun. My eyes widened.

Tim.

My hand shook and I finally dropped the gun and looked away, only to find Jason dealing a few final blows to Selinda, taking her down for the count.

When he was done he looked at me too.

I ran my hands through my hair for a moment until pain suddenly shot through me. I had felt my hands break, but I had ignored the pain. Now it was coming back at me full force.

I don't shoot to kill, unless I can't help it. But what I was about to do…

"Let's go," I said, trying, and failing miserably, to keep my voice from shaking. I started for the door.

"What was with you?" Jason demanded, causing me to stop in my tracks.

"He killed Ryan Anders," I said, my voice barely above a whisper. "He killed Kory's brother. When I realized it, I just…I lost it. Now, let's go."

"They've got traps laid out all over the stairs," Tim told me as we left the room.

"Yeah, we heard 'em talking about some of them earlier," Jason agreed.

"Then we'll take the banister," I told them.

Back at Wayne Manor, while we were growing up, we used to slide down the banisters for fun. Either to push Bruce's buttons or to just get down the stairs faster. Point is that it wouldn't be a problem for us to get down to the first floor.

"Who was the guy that other chick went after?" Jason suddenly asked as we started for the back door.

Shit. Roy.

I suddenly started for the other room main hall behind another door. There were a bunch of bullet holes through the door but I couldn't hear anything on the other side.

I kicked it down and my eyes widened at the sight in front of me.

Lying on the floor were two bodies, each on the opposite side of the room and…

Both were dead.

Roy.

A/N: So for safety reasons I raised the rating on the story from T to M. Mostly because of the mention of bones breaking in this chapter (which I tried to not put much detail into) and for a brief mention of...well...cannibalism in the next chapter. I guess this makes this my first M rated story. Now I know I hinted to some readers that I'd be killing off a character soon. Well, now you know who it is.

Yup, Roy's gone. I know it wasn't who anyone was expecting, which is why I did it. Now, next week, since I won't be uploading Year 4 until the week after, I'll be uploading two chapters of Little Miracles! I know Green Gallant's probably happy about that.

Okay, that's really all I have to say for this chapter other than, please review!