Cypher wants revenge against Batman and his former third Robin. What better way to get revenge than to use the Wayne Family to lure everyone to their doom.
Subliminal Death
By
AJ
Part 7: Cypher's Cyber Attack
Red Robin sped back to Gotham as quickly as possible. He needed to get to his Robin's nest and check in with Intel and see what he might know. With Intel being hooked into the system 24-7, he had "eyes" and "ears" on everything.
'I just hope I can find Nightwing and bring him back to his senses,' Red Robin stated.
After healing Jason's broken arm, Samantha went upstairs to collect Caleb.
"Come on, Caleb," Samantha said to her second son. "Your Uncle Jason needs you."
'Uncle Jason alright?'
"His arm was broken sweetie, but he's going to be alright."
Samantha carried Caleb down to the cave and placed Caleb on Jason's chest. She watched as Caleb reached up to Jason's face and blocked Jason's mind from Cypher's attack. Samantha looked over to Bruce. He hadn't moved a single inch or said a single word while they were down here. It was strange that he didn't even notice that Jason had been hurt. Samantha went over to check on Bruce.
"Bruce, are you alright?"
Bruce didn't answer. He was on the computer, typing away but he hasn't moved. Samantha turned back to Jason. "What's wrong with Bats?"
Jason frowned. He held onto Caleb as he got off the gurney. "I don't know. He was on that thing since last night." Thinking about Dick's strange behavior. He suddenly thought about his other brother. "Damian . . . Where's Damian?"
Samantha reached down and touched the ground. "SHIT! Jason! He's on the roof! He's going to jump!"
"WHICH SIDE?" Jason handed over Caleb and raced to the steps leading up to the Manor.
"Front of the manor!" Samantha exclaimed. 'My child is trying to kill himself'
Damian's mind felt foggy. He was swaying on my feet. 'I'm going to jump. That will make father so proud of me. If I jump. He'll be happy and love me forever.'
'Shit!' Jason raced to the front slamming open the door. He ran out into the drive . He looked up and spotted Damian near the west corner. Jason kept his eyes on him as he dashed as fast as he could. Then Damian jumped, and Jason dove. He timed it perfectly, getting under him. Jason caught Damian in his arms, slamming into the earth cushioning Damian's fall.
"Oooohhh," Jason moaned. "That's going to leave a mark."
'Mmmm," Damian sounded like he was coming out of a dream. His head was clearing, the fog leaving slowly. "What . . . Why am I outside? And why are you holding me?"
"I don't think you want to know. I've got to help Red Robin find the Cypher."
Damian had a weird urge to thank Jason. He snuggled into Jason for a second then pulled away. "The Cypher?"
Yeah . . . I don't know who that is, either.
"I want to help. Where the hell is Father? I remember trying to look for him then this weird fog came over me."
"He's been down in the cave," Jason answered.
Did he get rest? " Damian helped Jason to his feet.
"I don't think so."
Jason and Damian started into the manor. Damian was about to ask Jason another question, but his head started to hurt again, like someone was trying to get in it. "Urgh . . . ouch."
"We have to get you blocked."
Samantha was holding Caleb when Jason came back in the cave with Damian when she saw that Damian was clutching his head.
"Sit here," Samantha encouraged Damian to sit on the gurney so Caleb could reach him.
Caleb reached for Damian's head, placing his small hand on his temple. He blocked the portion of his Uncle's mind. Caleb starting to get irritated by whomever was doing this to his family.
'I know baby,' his mother soothed him. 'It's frustrating.'
"Urgh," Damian moaned. "I don't want that pain again. Jay, you might have to move Father away from that computer in order to get to it. You said you needed it to get info right?"
"Yeah, Red Robin wants me to locate this, Cypher."
"Well, go on. I'm no help. I have to learn about this Cypher as well."
"Sammie, I might need help moving Dad," Jason stated.
Samantha handed Caleb to Damian. She was also getting a weird vibe from Bruce. "Alright. Damian, put Caleb in your father's lap."
Damian walked over slowly with Caleb in his arms. Samantha was right behind him. He faced Caleb toward his father and sat him down in his lap. Caleb stood on his grandfather's legs, even though his own legs were shaky. He reached for his grandfather's face.
Caleb searched grandpa's mind. He started to wipe away the fog. There was a lot. 'He must've been like this for hours.' Caleb started to build up the block. By the time he was done, Caleb was yawning. He had blocked three people.
Bruce's eyes blinked. 'What was I doing? I was looking up Flamingo. I was staring at the screen. That's not Flamingo. It's about my accounts. Shit!' Bruce immediately shut down the transfer. He could see almost 30 million and been removed from his account. That amount wasn't large compared to the rest of his account.
'Grandpa?' Being connected to Bruce, he felt his grandfather's heart rate pick up.
"Caleb?" Bruce looked down to see Caleb in his lap and clinging to his shirt.
'Yes, you okay now?'
"Yes, buddy," Bruce answered. "I'm okay."
Damian had noticed what was going on. "Father, you were transferring money into a different account?"
"Apparently, not by my choice." Bruce got to work to secure the bat computer from possible hacking. It was odd that it even happened. He found evidence that someone had managed to insert a subliminal message. The message had been piggybacked onto the police file about Flamingo that Bruce had downloaded. He had to run a clean program to remove it so no one else got caught reading the file.
"Father, do you know any one by the name of Cypher?" Damian asked.
"Cypher," Bruce thought for a moment. "Yes, Tim and I dealt with him when he was Robin. That was during his first year." Bruce remembered one of Cypher's techniques. "I need to talk with Alfred. If there was any repair person that came here over the past week while we were distracted."
"Repair person," Damian commented. "For what reason?" Then his eyes went wide. "Devices?"
"Subliminal devices," Bruce answered. "That's part of his M.O. He might have planted those devices without our knowledge. His main M.O. is to steal what he can from people's bank accounts, only you're the one doing the stealing. He also steals secrets and will turn your fears and wishes against you to where you will do something to get yourself killed."
"So, Dick could possibly get himself killed?" Samantha commented.
"What's happened to Dick?" Bruce asked.
Jason told Bruce, not skipping on any of the details. It was best coming from him since he witnessed Dick's behavior first hand after going after him. "Alfred saw it on the news. Everyone did."
Bruce nodded. "Where's Tim?"
"He went out to find Dick," Samantha said.
"Tim won't be able to handle, Dick. He's good with that bow staff, but Dick's better at hand to hand combat using his acrobatic skills to his advantage.
"Where does that leave us?" Damian asked. "We just can't stand here and watch as Dick does who knows what. He could join with one of several villains."
Bruce pressed the key that connected ro Red Robin's com link. "Red Robin come in . . . "
"Red Robin here."
"Have you spotted, Dick?"
"I did, he's dressed as Nightwing. He's heading to Black Mask's old territory.
"Under no circumstances approach Nightwing."
"I can do this," Red Robin argued. "I have to. If I can knock him out, I can bring him home."
"You do not understand," Bruce said in his Batman voice. "He's not himself. He could kill you."
"I don't believe he will. He didn't kill Jay. He will not kill me. Red Robin out."
"That's not a good idea," Damian said. 'Red Robin must be ignoring the link. I can feel the hate and anger in Nightwing.' Damian continued. "Why would someone mess with Dick, persuade him to do bad things? He's nothing but light."
'Maybe this Cypher can bring out some hidden resentment?' Jason said through the link, remembering when him and Dick first met when he was ten. He wanted to keep his thoughts between them. 'Dick wasn't exactly welcoming during that time.' Had Golden Boy held back some resentment toward me for replacing him as Robin? 'This is the first I've heard of him even being resentful, even being jealous of me.'
"Just for that very reason," Bruce replied to Damian's question. "If he can be persuaded. He was Batman at one time. They could turn him into a terrible force. Red Robin could be walking into danger as we speak, and we won't be able to get there in time.'
Just hearing that made Damian sick to his stomach. "We need to hurry and find Cypher and put an end to this."
Continues with Part 8: A Bird In the Hand . . .