With a snow storm starting to move in, it was harder to see the road and any tracks on it.
But there was no way Batman could miss the truck, identical to the one he was driving, lying on it's side, crashed into a copse of trees just ahead where the road turned.
Breathing coming imperceptibly faster now, the crimefighter nearly ran his own vehicle into the trees as he hit the brakes. The tires skidded on the icy ground, but when they finally halted he was out in an instant, searching for signs of what had happened.
From the angle of the truck compared to the road, Batman figured the steering wheel must have been suddenly jerked to one side. It had slid for several yards before slamming into a pair of close-set pine trees, moving at considerable speed, it the nearly bowled over trunks were anything to go by. The passenger door had been thrown open into the air, and he spotted more bloodstains leading out of it and onto the snow, though further on they and any footprints had been thoroughly obscured.
Leaving him with an entire forest to search through.
-CC-
Robyn shivered, trying to hold her arms a little closer to her chest without aggravating her wounds any more.
Maybe escaping into a snow storm was a bad idea. Especially since her uniform was pretty much sliced into uselessness. Staggering into another tree, the teen growled and narrowed her eyes.
"Get ahold of yourself, Graydottir." She muttered.
"Get ahold of yourself, Grayson." The voice came out of nowhere, like a whisper on the wind, but Robyn jerked in surprise because it sounded so close. She really hoped this wasn't the onset of insanity, because the young hero had enough on her plate right now.
Trying to take another step, Dixie instead nearly collapsed face-first onto the ground. Staggering, she leaned back into the tree trunk, trying to collect some strength back.
Easier said than done. Well, as long as she wasn't trying to walk, maybe this would be a good opportunity to work on her bonds some more.
The wire coils that had been around her ankles were disposed of almost as soon as the teen had gotten out of the truck. Those had still been warm and malleable - not to mention the adrenaline burst that had her working at and snapping a loop in record time. These coils around her wrists, though, had chilled considerably, and were much stiffer than before. The blood frozen on them didn't help matters either.
Sighing, Robyn set to worrying at one loop that seemed a little weaker than the rest. As she did so, memories of the events of the last few days drifted through the teen's head.
"Junior, watch out!" Robyn's warning came seconds too late as the smoke billowed, catching and curling around Mar'gann's form. Immediately, the other guards in the area took notice and started shouting, several aiming their weapons at the invisible distrubance.
*Team, attack.* Aqualass ordered calmly, launching out from her place behind a stack of storage crates. A yellow and green blur that was Kid Flash carrying Apollo zipped around, arrows being fired at strategic targets. With a roar, Supergirl landed amidst the guards who were firing at Martian Junior, and started taking them down.
"Snug tfil otni eht ria!" Yelled Zetenni, causing the weapons of another batch of goons to jerk out of their grips, just in time for Rocket to zoom in, delivering punches and high kicks.
Robyn had gone after Joker. The madwoman had started cackling when the fight began, though she made no move to join it.
"Well, hello there, little birdie! Fancy seeing you here!" Robyn didn't bother responding; she launched her disks with pin-point accuracy, knocking Joker's pistol away and pinning her to the wall. "Oh, now isn't that rude." The teen crimefighter would have continued to make sure the clown was down for the count, but she had to dodge incoming bullets first. Then it was one goon after another, until the explosion that knocked them all out.
When Robyn awoke, she was half buried in rubble, a nearly collapsed support pillar the only thing keeping her skull from being crushed. The first thing she'd done was activate the emergency beacon on her gauntlet; then was the painstaking effort of digging herself out.
Gasping as he pulled his legs free of the rubble, he looked around blearily, trying both the comm. and mental link, but striking out on both counts. Then his eyes caught a bit of white against black, and he was scrambling across the rubble to the other teen.
"Zatanna!"
Robyn blinked. That wasn't her memory... Was it? Thinking clearly was getting harder by the second, as the teen tried to ignore the fact she could no longer feel her fingers or bare feet.
The wire was refusing to budge - she'd have to just keep on going, and hope to get rid of it later. Robyn wasn't sure when she'd ended up sitting at the base of the tree, but now getting back to a standing position seemed like a monumental task. Eventually, she was upright, and moving once again as more memories trickled in.
She'd taken almost as long to free Zetenni as it had to dig herself out, and when the gash on his leg came into sight, Robyn knew she had to address it before searching for any of the others. It was a pain, dragging him over to the shallow cave of debris she'd spotted earlier, but once there the teen was able to focus on the wound.
It was long - not too deep, but was still bleeding a fair amount. He reached into a compartment on his utility belt, pulling out swabs to clean the gash with, antiseptic and bandages. Working steadily for a few minutes, and letting out the occasional curse, he almost didn't notice the approaching footsteps until they were practically on top of their shelter.
Then someone stopped directly behind him. Risking a pause and glance over his shoulder, the teen didn't have time to worry over the sight of a very familiar symbol on a very UNfamiliar figure.
"So... I'm gonna take a wild guess and say you aren't Batman."
"No. I'm Batwoman."
Robyn shook her head vigorously, or at least, tried to. That definitely wasn't what had happened, but everything, from the thoughts in her head to the scenery around her was getting so fuzzy, hard to make out. "What's happening to me?" She couldn't help but whisper fearfully.
"What's happening to me?" The other voice whispered back. Robyn was glad, just a little, that she wasn't the only one dealing with this problem.
-CC-
Wrapping his cape around himself to keep it from being blown about by the wind, Batman kept his eyes constantly scanning for any sign of the missing teen. He'd told the other heroes to patrol along the road with small swoops over the forest, but to stay within a range where he could call them easily for pick-up. If Robyn was as truly alike to Dick as he'd seen, the man didn't think she'd go too far.
Unless running from something. Which was a distinct possibility.
Forced to turn his head aside in a particularly cold slap of wind, when Batman returned to his scanning, his eyes spotted a humanoid shape amidst the trees ahead. He opened his mouth to call out, hoping against hope she would be alright, only to duck as something came whistling at his head.
A razor-edged playing card.
"Sooo, you must be the Big Bad Bat I've heard about, right? What's the matter - lost a little birdie? I'm afraid the one that's somewhere around her is taken. A little past her sell-by date, though, so you shouldn't feel like you're missing out." Stepping forward, Batman could make out a pale-faced woman with green hair and wearing the same purple suit as his old enemy. Her lips curled hungrily, and there was a predatory glint to the woman's eyes. "My, my. You certainly are a lot easier on the eyes that the other Bat-nut I go up against." She flicked out a knife into one hand, holding two more playing cards in the other. "Howsabout a dance, handsome?"
Batman growled, launching himself at the clown. He dodged the first thrown card, was clipped by the second, and closed the distance too quickly for his opponent to pluck forth another one. Instead, she started whipping the knife around in a series of chaotic slashes, moving almost too quickly and randomly for him to dodge. As one attack landed a long scratch through the arm of his suit, Batman was in the process of driving the other arm forward into Joker's gut.
She let out a long wheeze, doubling over - but then surprised him by dropping further, aiming to stab one of his legs. Batman lifted the limb, turning his evasion into a kick that drove the clown into an especially thick tree.
"Ha! I knew there was a reason I liked fighting in cities!" She grinned widely, despite the complaining. "Old Ivy woulda loved this, though. Too bad he couldn't show up with some of those nifty vines." Batman put an end to the rambling by driving his fist into the woman's jaw. It broke with an audible crack, and he didn't bother to catch the clown as her eyes fluttered closed and she sagged to the ground.
"Batman to Bioship, I need you to come pick up a prisoner..."
-CC-
"My name's Cedric, and I understand you've been having a hard time lately...?" And he looked and sounded so much like Bruce that it hurt.
Then the figure in Robyn's mind blurred, and suddenly she wasn't looking at Cedric, there was a similar but different form before her, and it was moving closer. Startled, she did the first thing to spring to her mind: Robyn lashed out with both fists, connecting to something solid and hearing an oomph. She couldn't tell if it was more from pain or surprise, but now her feet joined in, aiming a kick at what she thought was a knee. Except, her aim was off, way off, and she ended up stumbling forward, right into a tight grip. When the hands closed around her strained shoulders, the teen gasped in pain, and tried to twist, to get away.
Then a familiar weight was wrapping itself around her, and she suddenly felt safe. Unable to tell when the strong arms gently scooped her up, the girl drifted off into darkness with one thought one her mind. Breanna...
Then a familiar weight was wrapping itself around him, and he suddenly felt safe. Unable to tell when strong arms gently scooped him up, the boy drifted off into darkness with one thought on his mind. Bruce...