Avery released her grip on the knife and stepped back. She looked at the blood leaking out of Deathstroke's armor and the full realization of her actions hit her. She stumbled as the adrenaline drained out of her system and it became harder to walk on her left leg.
Batman took a hesitant step towards Deathstroke, more concerned with the condition of the guy who had a knife sticking out of his shoulder rather than Avery.
Before he could get close enough Deathstroke stood up, one hand on a gun holster and glared at Avery, "That was a nice try, girl."
Avery stayed silent and returned the glare, slowly shifting towards the exit.
Deathstroke pulled out the knife and threw it to the ground, "I have to admire your ruthlessness." The mercenary finally addressed Batman, "Now, I suppose you're her mentor in this situation, considering you came for her. It'll make this next part so much more satisfying."
Before anyone could blink Deathstroke pulled his gun out of the holster and pressed his finger down on the trigger on his gun. Batman turned after hearing the hard sound of a human body hitting hard concrete. Avery was face up on the floor; blood was slowly leeching out from her lower back. Once Batman turned back he found Deathstroke's gun pointed right at his head.
"Just a note Batman, her healing has slowed down almost to the point of an average human's. So, you can go after me while I escape, or you can save her from bleeding out and giving a splash of color to this dreary, grey concrete. Choose now," Deathstroke lowered the gun and started running in the other direction.
Nightwing ran into the room as Deathstroke's white ponytail whipped out of sight, trying to take in the situation quickly. He blinked a few times then said, "Go after him, I'll take Avery back to Agent A."
With a swift nod Batman was running after Deathstroke and into the darkness.
The first Robin dropped on his knees next to Avery, "Alright, I'm gonna have to pick you up now. So, uh, no hard feelings if this hurts, right?"
Avery groaned. "Just do it already."
Nightwing nodded and picked Avery up with one arm under her knees and the other supporting her back. Avery complied and put an arm around his neck for support as she mumbled something under her breath, barely audible. The vigilante rushed across the floor of the warehouse, up the metal stairs to the catwalk, and to the window he left open to leave from. He stopped there as he realized the problem; the window was at the height of his waist. Getting through with a bleeding girl would be a challenge.
"This might hurt a bit more than that run," he noted.
Avery mumbling grew a little louder.
"What was that?" Nightwing asked when he was halfway through the window.
"I cannot-," Avery spoke a little louder, "I cannot feel below where your hand is on my back."
Nightwing added in his thoughts on the subject, "Heavy on the dis right now. We better hurry up."
The vigilante hurried up the fire escape and into the Bat-Wing, carefully placing Avery in the passenger seat. He silently hoped Batman wouldn't be too pissed about the blood on his seat. He flicked switches as fast as he could and lifted the flyer off the building's roof. As soon as it was in the air and headed straight to Gotham he switched on the communication link to the Bat Cave.
"Robin, you still in the Cave? Over." Nightwing asked urgently.
A few seconds later a response filtered through the speaker, "Yeah, what's the situation Nightwing? Over."
"Get Agent A and tell him to prep for surgery. Over."
"Batman's hurt?" Robin asked with a sense of urgency, forgetting to add "over".
"No, or not yet at least. The surgery's for Avery. I'll explain everything later; just make sure he's ready. Over and out." Nightwing clicked off the radio and concentrated strictly on flying.
A silence took over the cockpit. Nightwing looked over to Avery. Her chest was heaving, trying to take in breath. Her lips were moving in the same pattern, as if she was repeating the same phase over and over, but she wasn't making a sound.
More uncomfortable minutes passed until Nightwing skillfully landed the Bat-Wing on its designated landing pad. He opened the glass windshield to the cockpit and carefully lifted Avery up before hopping onto the ground. The vigilante hurried to where he knew Alfred would be waiting to work his medical magic. Upon Alfred's instructions, Nightwing placed Avery down on the medical bed on her stomach. By more instructions, he left the room.
Tim, still in his Gotham Academy uniform, was waiting for him.
"You should change," Nightwing noted.
"You haven't looked at yourself, have you?" Tim asked.
Nightwing looked down and noticed the blood staining the front of his uniform from when he was carrying Avery. There was a lot of it, not just from her back injury considering how she was already covered in blood before he even touched her.
"I guess we both should," Nightwing pulled off his gloves and started walking up the stairs to the manor. He always kept a change of clothes in his old room.
Tim followed behind, asking, "So care to explain why you told me to tell Alfred to prep a super-healer for surgery?"
"Her healing was slowed thanks to Deathstroke. Not to mention paralyzed." Nightwing saw Tim cringe slightly out of the corner of his eye. "She'll be okay. She's come back from death."
"That was at full strength," Tim pointed out pessimistically.
"She'll be okay, nobody else in this family is going to die," Nightwing said with a final note as he stepped into the manor's study.
"Where's Bruce then?" Tim questioned.
"He went after Deathstroke. I haven't heard from him since then," Nightwing sighed and ripped off his mask. The glue holding it in place peeled off with that same annoying noise, like ripping apart your fingers after you put superglue on them, just less pain involved.
Tim nodded as they went up the stairs to the second floor and made their way towards the bedrooms. They parted and changed, meeting back up after a few minutes. Sunglasses adorned their eyes since they were going back down to the Cave.
They sat silently, Dick in the computer chair, and Tim on the floor. They knew the procedure, sit in silence and wait for Alfred's word.
Eventually it came. Alfred stepped out of the room, "Master Nightwing, I'll be needing your assistance."
Tim shot both males curious glances, but didn't question it. Dick got up and followed Alfred into the medical room. He was immediately handed a sterile medical apron and gloves.
"What do you need me to do?" Dick asked, perfectly aware that Alfred knew the young adult knew nothing of the medical profession besides how to apply a Band-Aid. Let alone deal with all that encompassed bullet wounds and broken bones. All he knows is through observation.
"Well, her femur has already begun trying to heal itself. But something offset it in the process, now it is healing wrong. We must stop it now, reset it, and hold it to make sure it heals well, sir."
"You're asking me to re-brake her femur?" He asked slightly confused.
"I would, but I do not possess the strength, sir."
"I-fine, I'll do it." Dick set himself up at Avery's leg. The stab wound was still open and you could see just by the disposition of her outer skin that the bone wasn't straight. Everything personal of Avery's was kept out of sight by a red and white sheet.
"A clean break, sir. And please hurry; the young madam's worn through three doses of sedatives so far, sir."
Dick shook his head once, murmuring, "This is always so much easier to do to criminals." With one swift movement you could hear the bone fracture. "That's all you need me for, right?"
"Yes, please discard your scrubs and gloves at the door, sir," Alfred immediately jumped back to work, setting the bone and using pins and gauze to keep everything in place.
Tim was still waiting in the same place. He looked up and asked, "What did he need you to do?"
"I had to re-brake her femur." Dick slumped into the computer chair and rested his head against the padded back.
"Did she look like she was doing alright?"
"I don't know. There was a lot of blood. Alfie said she's woken up three times."
The zeta beam in the Cave powered up nearby and announced the Dark Knight's presence after a few more silent moments.
"More good news, I hope," Tim remarked as he went to meet his mentor.
The first thing visible was a deep set scowl, even more than normal. He didn't have to be asked what happened, "Nothing. He was gone. No blood trail, nothing. It's not possible!"
"You said it yourself, Bats. Someone wants him to succeed at this mission." Dick sat up in the chair.
"Doesn't mean I'm going to let him," Batman clenched his fists. He slowly unclenched them and asked, "How's Avery?"
Alfred walked up, seemingly out of nowhere. "Ask her for yourself. She's awake and wishes to speak to you, sir."
A/N: Sorry it's late. I was really sick last weekend and didn't feel like doing anything, much less writing. Things will be moving a lot quicker from here if I do this right. By the way, 200th reader gets a prize. Only thirteen reviews away from that. I forgot to put the announcement of that last chapter. Forgive me. Well, have a nice day.
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