The wold and the hunter, chapter 3

There will be a while before I post the next chapter, because of all this uni stuff that just keeps coming and coming -_-
In the meantime, I hope you'll enjoy this chapter and give me looots of reviews to keep my motivation alive!


The fake plumber jumped to his feet and had his hand on the weapon at his hip in no time. The muzzle of a large, mean-looking gun was pointed towards him equally fast.

''Relax,'' the other man said calmly, coming closer, ''this baby punches holes big as a fist and I need you to answer some questions before you walk the suicide road.''

Perhaps the torturer had overestimated his own rapidity at drawing his gun, or maybe he had trusted the newcomer not to shoot him as he wanted answers to his questions. The deafening sound of a firearm going off ratteled the metal sheets of the walls against their iron supports and the wild scream that followed almost pierced Gina's eardrums.

''My arm... you shot off my arm!''

Gina forced her chin up so she could see what happened a few yards in front of her. Her vision was so blurry that she hardly saw the newcomer, who still stood outside the light's reach, but she saw the man with the blue overalls just fine. Her captor had fallen to his knees, clutching the ragged remains of his right arm with his left hand. His voice wheezed in his throat when he breathed and desperately tried to keep himself from screaming in pain and horror at the sight of the lifeless, bloody lump of flesh and bone on the floor before him.

Gina blinked twice, trying to get a better look at the other man as he stepped into the light, simply walking past the plumber and towards her. His face was hidden behind a bright red helmet that shut his features away from the world. She found herself wishing his face hadn't been covered, she liked to see people's faces - it made it a lot easier to predict what they were going to do to you.

She had hoped that Dick would be the one to come for her, but this man was not her boyfriend. Still, there was something familiar about him, although she was sure never having seen him before. No, the familiarity was rather in his build and movements. He was about two inches taller than Dick, a little broader and heavier perhaps, and his movements spoke of a more brutal and dangerous character. But the underlying grace, the fluidity with which he moved was undeniably similar to Dick's.

''You bastard!'' The plumber roared in anger and shock. ''You shot off my arm!''

The one with the scarlet helmet turned to him and shrugged:

''I warned you.''

''This time, you're dead!''

The plumber dove to pick his pistol up from where it had dropped with his left hand, but the muzzle of the other's gun was on him anew before he could touch it.

''Leave it. You better not pull any more stunts, because I'm pretty sure you'll run out of limbs before I run out of bullets.''

Judging from the coldness in his remarkably steady voice, there was no doubt about him being serious.

''In fact,'' he said, holstering the gun and rejoining the other in two long strides, ''I'd like it better if you took a nap until you're needed.''

A heavy leather boot slammed hatefully into the fake plumber's face before he even thought about raising his only arm left in protection. Gina was pretty sure she'd heard her tormentor's nose and possibly a couple of teeth crack under the force of the kick, but he was currently in no shape to evaluate the damage.

The Red Hood removed the mans jacket and turned back to her. The young woman was surprised to feel as calm as she did when he came towards her again, a knife in his gloved hand. Kneeling in front of her, he cut the many layers of tape that kept her glued to the chair, but held up a hand when she tried to use her last strength to stand.

''Stay seated.'' He ordered. ''If you stand, you'll send more blood down to the gashes on your thighs, and trust me, you haven't got much blood left to lose.''

She was tired, so damn tired. Unable to speak or make the slightest sound, she fought to keep her eyes open but felt her body becoming heavier by the second. The last thing she saw before losing consciousness was her savior ripping the plumber's jacket into strips to bind her wounds.


The young man finished bandaging the poor girl's most critical wounds. He stood up, fished up a cell phone from one of the many pockets of his dark grey trousers and held it out in front of him.

No signal detected.

Wonderful.

Casting one eye at the fake plumber and judging that the guy wasn't going anywhere, he brought the phone outside, hoping to get a signal there. He was in luck.

During his quick call, he heard the crashing of glass being smashed nearby but ignored it until he was sure that an ambulance was being dispatched to pick up the girl, although he doubted that there was any hope for her. He pocketed the phone again and returned inside, using the same entrance that he'd brutalized fifteen minutes earlier.

He froze. In front of the unconscious girl stood a black and blue shape, its back to him, hands gripping the armrests of the chair hard enough to make the wood creak. As soon as the shape heard his footsteps, it turned to him. Facing the Red Hood was Nightwing, his face pale, jaw clenched in fury and eyes narrowed behind the white lenses of his black domino mask.

''About fuckin' time you got your ass here,'' the younger began, resuming his walk so pieces of glass crunched under the soles of his knee-high combat boots, ''if I hadn't been in the area, that bastard would've...''

He stopped again, eyes fixed upon the empty floor space to Nightwing's right. Said bastard had vanished, along with every proof of him ever being there, except for the pool of blood that had leaked from his severed arm and a line of red splatter leading all the way to the door on the left, through which he obviously had escaped.

Crap.

He knew he should've kicked the guy twice as hard.

''What bastard?'' Nightwing asked, his voice colder and more threatening than the Red Hood had ever heard it before. ''There's no one here other than her, you and me, Jason.''

Nightwing's body was tense, as if ready to attack, his hands balled into tight fists at his sides. Indignant over the underlying accusation, the Red Hood walked up to him, pointing a finger at Gina:

''What? You're implying that I did this to your girlfriend? Listen well, jerkoff, I...''

He didn't finish. Blinded by rage, Nightwing had unleashed a brutal puch to the side of his head. Any normal man delivering such a blow against the helmet of the Red Hood would have broken every bone in his hand and wrist, but Nightwing was no normal man. The reinforced knuckles of his black and blue kevlar gloves allowed him to ram his hand into almost anything without taking any damage himself.

The padding in the Red Hood's head gear was not thick enough to protect its owner from the helmet's inside crashing against his temple so violently, although it usually protected him from most blows and punches. Nightwing's fist hitting this particular area of his head knocked him down on the floor, where he remained, motionless. The older vigilante had put a lot more force behind the punch than he normally did, but then again, Dick couldn't care less.

When he had arrived through the roof window of the warehouse, he had not known what to expect. All he knew was that Gina had been taken from her apartment, and that some stupid goons picking fights had prevented him from coming sooner. What he had seen when landing on the concrete floor had filled him with dread and seemed so impossible that he still hardly believed it. His girlfriend had been bled almost empty, her life seeping out through deep gashes everywhere on her body along with her blood. Her largest wounds had been bound with coarse first aid, preventing her from bleeding out completely and keeping her alive so she could be toyed with even further.

Then he had heard steps behind him and had turned around to find himself face to face with the Red Hood. In that moment, every piece of the puzzle had fallen into place. His last encounter with the younger vigilante had been far from pleasant, he remembered it as if it was yesterday. He had been awfully close to losing his life trying to keep the madman from taking over the cowl of the Bat and destroying everything Batman stood for. There had been no need for Batman to follow Bruce into his grave, but with Jason taking the mantle, he would have. A new vigilante would have risen in his place, one that looked like Batman on the outside but cast aside every rule and principle that made Batman unique, one that was scarcely better than the ones he hunted.

Luckily, Bruce was back and Dick had been free to become Nightwing once again, gladly shrugging the heavy mantle off his shoulders. But he'd always known that Jason was a problem that would have to be dealt with sooner or later.

Shaking with rage, he looked down at the younger man's body with disgust. Dick had known that his 'brother' was far gone, that his limits were almost non-existent, that his methods were unacceptable and that Jason would want payback after their last fight. But he had never imagined that Jason would go as far as kidnapping his girlfriend and torture her to get back at him.

''Babs...'' he said into the communicator fastened to the collar of his suit,'' I need an ambulance, and fast.''

''I don't have to call you one,'' Oracle's voice answered immediately, ''looks like there already is one on its way to you.''

Without asking himself who had called that ambulance, Nightwing grabbed the Red Hood's arm and dragged him over the floor to one of the concrete columns supporting the roof.

''But I called the cops.'' Barbara said.

''Thanks. Over and out.''

He didn't wait for Oracle's reply before turning off the communicator. Taking a plastic strip, Nightwing propped Jason back up against the column and tied his hands behind it, not even caring if it was too tight and bit into the skin of the man's wrists.

The wailing of a siren could be heard in the distance. Dick rushed to Gina's immobile body and picked her up in his arms. Carrying her outside as fast as possible, he could not avoid noticing that her body felt alarmingly cold. She seemed to be regaining consciousness though, and as they reached the empty doorway the ambulance parked in front of the warehouse, tires screeching as it skidded and stopped.

Gina's shaking hands tugged at the front of Nightwing's kevlar suit. Her lips moved without a sound and her eyes opened just enough to look into the white lenses of his domino mask as she struggled to push words forward.

''Th...''

''Shhh, don't talk.'' He whispered, finding his heart heavy in his chest.

The medics were rushing out of the ambulance, but she wasn't giving up. Clinging harder to him, she managed to stutter:

''Thank th-the... thank the helmet g-guy...''

A medic was by Nightwing's side just as she drew her final breath.

''...for... s-saving me...''


The siren of the ambulance faded rapidly. Nightwing was back on the inside of the warehouse, feeling like the weight of the world suddenly had been dropped on his shoulders. He took a last look at the place before the cops arrived to take the Red Hood with them, and everything was at it was supposed to be.

Except for Jason not being there anymore. At the foot of the concrete column lay the plastic strip, cut open by a sharp blade. Irritated by having been too lost in his own rage to even think about checking Jason's gloves for tools, he picked it up.

On the other side of the thin iron walls, the engine of a motorcycle roared to life.