Nightwing arrived at the Cave soon after Conner called him. Since the clone didn't give him any details, the urgency was only escalated. As soon as he stepped out of the zeta tubes Superboy directed him towards the briefing room in the Cave. The first Robin wasn't surprised to see Batman typing furiously when he walked in.
"What's with the 9-1-1?" Nightwing asked.
"Avery's been kidnapped," Batman kept on typing.
"Do you know by whom?"
"Take a guess," Batman prompted.
Nightwing's eyes narrowed and he resisted the urge to grit his teeth, "Deathstroke."
"Correct; I'm trying to narrow down her location now."
"You put a tracker on her?" Nightwing asked, not so much in disbelief. Batman did it to all his protégés.
"On her backpack," The Dark Knight justified.
"I'm sure you would've put it under her skin if it would take," Nightwing resisted the urge to rub his hip, where his own tracker was.
Batman narrowed his eyes at the comment, but didn't reply. He continued typing as the location was getting more and more specific. "Got it," He announced as the screen pinged an address.
"Downtown Metropolis? How'd he get there so fast?" Nightwing was staring at the screen, trying to make sense of the location.
"He's had somewhere between twenty to thirty minutes since we figured out Avery was missing. Conner arrived fifteen minutes after school let out. Whoever's hired Deathstroke has made sure he's got the best at his disposal." Batman was already setting out towards the zeta tube to go to the Bat Cave. After all, the quickest way to travel without a speedster was flight.
.:Back to Life:.
Avery groaned as teeth sprouted from the spots they had been knocked out off. All she wanted to do was stand up and shake out her limbs for at least a few seconds. Well that, and maybe take one of Deathstroke's limbs off. Fair game, considering how many injuries he'd dealt out in the short time.
Her thoughts were cut short as Deathstroke brandished his sword. He stuck it straight into Avery's thigh, going straight down to the bone.
"You can feel your leg healing, can't you? Must be excruciating, trying to piece yourself together like that." Deathstroke pressed down on his sword a little harder.
Avery tried to keep the wince from slipping out as she felt the bone start to crack under the pressure. "The femur is the hardest bone to break in the entire human body. You are going to have to do a little better," She taunted.
"Watch me try," Deathstroke pressed down and his sword slid neatly in between the now fractured bone segments.
.:Back to Life:.
Tim bounded down the stairs of the Bat Cave after his long day at school. He wanted to check to see if the city turned to chaos in the last seven hours. What he saw was Batman and Nightwing climbing into the Bat-Wing.
"What are you guys doing?" He questioned as he jogged up to the vehicle.
Batman sent a glare towards his older son when he opened his mouth. "We'll tell you when we get back." The Dark Knight promptly settled into his seat and turning the flyer on.
Tim tried to hide his surprise at not being told. It wasn't like he was that little kid trying to convince Batman to take on another Robin anymore. He could be trusted; he'd proved that many a time. "Bye, I guess," Tim muttered as he watched the Bat-Wing leave.
Nightwing gave a small wave back to his little brother through the window. The vigilante then turned to his mentor and said, "Why didn't you just tell him?"
Batman tried to keep the growl out of his voice, "Slade's already taken an interest in one protégé, and I'm not letting him go for two."
"Then we'd better hurry up instead of worrying about leaving Timmy behind," Nightwing started flicking the appropriate switches to go faster.
.:Back to Life:.
"You could at least let me put up a fight," Avery muttered as she reeled from the latest blow, her thigh still bleeding.
It peaked the interest of her tormentor to say the least. He turned away from his table of dangerous goodies and looked the teen straight in the eye. "You want to fight me?" He enunciated each syllable carefully, even though he thought the idea to be hilarious.
"Well I do not have a chance with being chained to a chair. I thought you liked fighting on a more even plane." Avery blew a stray piece of hair out of her face, trying to be nonchalant.
"Even plane if I can win," Deathstroke justified. He was curious after all. The girl had been off his monitors for about a week, a lot of that could've been spent training. "I'll still win in this case no matter what, though."
"Let us see you try," Avery smirked as she saw the mercenary come forward, a shiny piece of silver in his hand.
Deathstroke undid several locks kept at various places on the chains. "Remember, you brought this on yourself," he said as the last chain fell.
"So did you," Avery growled. She promptly tightened her grip on the seat of the chair and stiffened her legs. With a fast swing of her arms she brought it out from under her and over her head.
Straight onto Deathstroke's.
The mercenary stumbled from the hit, not unconscious, just fazed. Avery took no hesitation and lunged for the nearby table she knew the torture tools were being kept on. Deathstroke was going to pay.
.:Back to Life:.
Batman landed the Bat-Wing on the roof of the warehouse Avery was supposed to be in. If the coordinates were right then the teen should be right under his feet. The seasoned hero couldn't hear anything from inside, and he wasn't sure if that was a good or bad sign.
Nightwing took the initiative and crept onto a fire escape on the side of the building. From there he opened the door to a catwalk along the upper area of the warehouse. Batman soon followed behind.
They exchanged glances rather than words as signals. Batman went to the left and Nightwing went to the right. It was a big warehouse to search; they were going from top to bottom as quickly and quietly as possible.
Batman signaled for Nightwing to continue searching the rest of the west end of the catwalk and began descending a nearby staircase. The steps threatened to creak under his feet. The hero moved slower to compensate and started searching. Most of the house floor was empty with a few crates left in assortments along the ground. Each one was avoided expertly, even with the dim light filtering in through the dirty windows stretching along the catwalk.
There were only a few more places to search, so Batman made for the back offices. Small noises of scuffles were becoming more audible as the Bat closed in. A sound of wood breaking was thrown to his ears.
Batman rushed to the door he heard the noises coming from, what was once a faculty lounge for workers in the building. He was surprised at the sight that awaited him.
Avery was there, bloodied and showing signs of fatigue. But what was the real kicker was that she was holding a rather large knife and approaching a dazed Deathstroke with commendable speed.
"Avery! Stop!" Batman called out.
Avery's head snapped up just a little too late as the blade slid in between plates of Deathstroke's armor.
A/N: Cliffhangers for everyone! This should've been posted yesterday morning, sorry, but I was at a convention the whole weekend. Lots of fun. Took lots of pictures. Even started a YouTube channel recently, it's fun so far. Another thing to push all fanfiction writing back though. Oh well, just can't wait for summer. So much more free time. Anyways, have a nice day.
Read. Enjoy. Review.