Sorry for the wait, you guys! But, A) i just started High-School, and B) i have writer's block... grrrrg... anyways!
PLEASE tell me if you think I'm murdering my series with this 'series', because I'm having trouble with it...
I own nothing, 'cept the usual.
Police cars, ambulances, and fire trucks were already surrounding the apartment complex. Fortunately, no civilians had been hurt. Civilians.
Superman landed on the ground in front of Commissioner Dent, who tipped his hat to the hero. "Superman! I expected Batman to be here, but thanks for coming."
The Kryptonian nodded with a small smirk. "Batman was unavailable, so he sent us in his absence."
Dent cocked a whitening eyebrow. "Us-"
Just then, a fancy, shiny green sports-car skidded to a stop about ten feet away from the Commissioner. Superman frowned and shook his head as Green Arrow jumped out, flashing a killer smirk, then locked his car with a Beep! "G'day, Commish!" he spoke merrily in a false accent, despite his worries for Barbara and Jason. They had to have gotten out! They were trained by the Bat!
Dent nodded. "Green Arrow, right?" At the nod, Dent continued. "No civilian casualties- actually, no injuries, either. The bomb was a small one, but the alert it sent out drew a lot of attention." Indeed, reporters and photographers were getting pictures and attempting on getting quotes from the heroes. Several cops shoved them back as Arrow began the conversation anew.
"We need to investigate where the bomb came from-"
"Already got it," came a deep voice. Arrow jumped slightly and then grinned. Superman let out a relieved sigh as Batgirl came forward, her loose red hair waving in the wind. Her suit was blackened and charred in some spots, but, other than that and the slight grime on her chin, she looked fine. Superman's fine eye caught sight of a manilla envelope in the pouch of her cape.
Commissioner Dent nodded, smirking. "Ah. Came for your partner?"
Batgirl shrugged with a smirk. "A girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do."
Suddenly, Dent's eyes hardened. "I honestly haven't seen you around much, Batgirl. Where 'ya been-"
"Is BlackHawk here?" came Green Arrow's voice. There was a tinge of worry in it, and, beneath his emerald mask, brown eyes were holding strong traces of fear. Superman, however, didn't have a mask to hide his own worry. Dent cleared his throat and said under his breath, "I think I'll leave you all to talk."
As soon as Dent was gone, Batgirl's facade broke. "He's over by the bikes. His leg is busted pretty bad- he was closet and took the brunt of the bomb."
"Why were you even here?" Arrow snapped.
Her eyes hardened impeccably. "BatClan business."
Superman shook his head, holding up a hand. "Never mind the arguing. We will talk later though, Batgirl." She shot him her Glare. "I'll stay to clean up the mess. Arrow, go help 'Hawk."
Batgirl was already gone, and Arrow had to hurry to keep her in his sights. They rounded a corner, and Green Arrow's eyes widened. Leaning up against Batgirl's bike was BlackHawk, the fabric on his leg torn and bloody, along with his muscles, skin, and ligaments.
Batgirl crouched next to the panting hero and gently ran her hand over his cowled head. "I've already contacted Apollo and told him to get Leslie. I just need to get him to the Cave."
Jason was obviously trying to hide his discomfort, and it was a shock that he was doing so terrible with his training and all. Arrow nodded firmly and helped the young man onto the bike side-saddle. "What the Hell have you two gotten yourself into?"
BlackHawk was silent, and Batgirl said nothing. Arrow sighed heavily. "Would you tell Roy?"
There was a silence.
Green Arrow growled deeply, "I'll tell him to meet you at the Cave."
…
Cheshire's mask was eerie in the dull light. The mechanical smile was dementing, giving a hollow feeling to Blaine's soul. She shivered subconsciously as the woman slithered forward, her long, delicate fingers moving slowly towards her sais.
Blaine pulled backwards, now practically leaning out of the window. Her spinning head was not feeling any better with the stress and fear that came over her. Normally, she might have a chance against the assassin- but wounded and disoriented- well, not really ideal fighting conditions...
Cheshire gave a haughty laugh and said, "Oh, don't worry. I won't kill you... Yet... As long as you tell me what I want to know." With a fluid motion, she pulled out her poisonous weapons, holding one at Blaine's throat, the other at the inside of her right forearm. Leaning in close, hot breath blew onto Blaine's face, coming through the mask, and somehow managed to chill her to the bone.
"Now... Miss Blaine... Where is it?"
Blaine's eyebrows furrowed. "W-Where is w-w-what?" She had to keep up the 'I'm-the-ward-of-a-player-billionaire' facade.
The metal of the sai dug down into Blaine's arm. She gasped as a sudden burning sensation rippled through her arm. And that would be the poison...
"Your father's account. His main personal account. The one that has all of his pass-codes in it."
Oh, thank God...
"After all, that would help us get to the Kryptonite, Sparrow."
Aw crap...
Cheshire felt Blaine's body seize up, and she smiled behind her mask. "Ah... So you do know where the Kryptonite is... Saves me some time." She took in a deep breath and bent down even further towards the blonde. "Where is it?"
Blaine, now dropping her facade, snorted. "Like Hell I'd tell you," she snarled, even barring at the end.
Cheshire's grip on her sai tightened. "Oh... You will talk... Willingly, or not..."
…
Batman arrived at the Cave at record speeds. Apollo had finally gotten a hold of him and had started on what he found. Then, Coraline started talking about how a distress signal had gone out- and he was on his way.
People are always talking about how they're so protective of their children- of their youngest children and such. There are several memories in Bruce's mind that stick out every time he hears one of his children may be injured.
"Batman! This is KF- Robin has been shot by Luthor. We- NO! Robin!"
"Bruce! Bruce! Oh my gosh, oh my gosh- Dick! Keep putting pressure on it. Bruce, Terry's been shot, and he can't feel his legs-"
"Batman, this is Superman. We have Batgirl at the Watchtower- she's been injected with some sort of poison... Bruce, you need to get here... It- it doesn't look good..."
"Daddy! Jay's hurt! Bad!" That was the first time Blaine had called him 'Daddy'.
And, now, his daughter- his princess- was gone. Kidnapped. So was his little bird- his micuta pasarea.
And, also now, his oldest son- his first-ever partner, his oldest child- may be hurt. Along with his little partner-in-crime... Oh, he and Barbara had done so much to annoy Alfred when she was little...
As Batman ripped off his cowl, darting over to where Jason was lying on a medical bed, he felt his heart beating faster and faster inside of his chest, threatening to pound out of it, beating and bloody and all.
He reached Jason and saw the young man- grimacing- but smiling at the same time. His leg was in a brace, wrapped tightly with gauze. Alfred stood at the head of the makeshift-couch, smiling gently at Bruce. Coraline was holding her fiance's hand in a death-grip, tears silently rolling down her cheeks.
"Jason?"
The brunette looked up at his father. "I'm fine, Dad. Terry and Babs found some stuff- go with them. I'm fine."
Bruce nodded, already moving over to where his daughter and 'son' congregated. Terrence began talking just as the man reached his side, bending over the back of his wheelchair. "Babs brought back some evidence that shows at least twenty-five, thirty bases only on the mainland for the shadows. I'm guessing there's even more in Cuba, Alaska, and Hawaii- but it's not shown on any of these notes-"
"Terry. Blaine and Dick?"
His cheeks turned a deep scarlet as he nodded. "R-Right..." It wasn't that Terry-Bear didn't care about his siblings, but, well- he wasn't called 'Apollo' for nothing. Blue and red blips appeared on the screen, and Terrence began his rant. "The two closet bases are one in New York City and on just outside of Happy Harbor, in a small town dubbed 'Truman'. But, that one's just a start-up, so they probably won't be holding them there. But, the more high-tech base is NYC. Give me three more minutes, and I can you you a lat and long."
Bruce nodded, pulling back up his cowl. Barbara had already done so, and was now on her communicator. The Dark Knight cocked a suspicious eyebrow at her. "Batgirl, what are you doing?"
She frowned at him pointedly as she struggled to get a perfect signal without the Cave's main link system. "I, unalike someone, am not afraid to ask for help when it's needed."
After a long stare-down, Batman grunted, "As long as it's not Harper."
….
"Hey, Speedy!"
"It's Red Arrow," he half corrected, half flirted. Batgirl rolled her eyes behind her cowl, a smirk playing on her lips. "Didn't want to bring your daddy?"
He scowled at her and shifted position on the Wayne Tech building's roof. "Didn't want to bring yours?"
She made a sultry snarl. "See, my Daddy is always around. Or at least he seems to be."
Rolling his eyes, the red-head jerked his chin up, towards the rest of Gotham. "Why'd you call?"
Her face- what you could see of it- suddenly hardened and sobered. "You don't know, yet? Artemis didn't tell you? Or Ollie?"
His stance stiffening, Red Arrow grunted to his girlfriend, "We don't talk much."
"Still?"
"What is it?" he snapped.
"Sparrow and Robin were kidnapped on their way home from school a few hours ago. Artemis was hurt in the incident and sent to the hospital. Kid is with her there. Bats refuses to let any of the si- partners in, so I'm stuck with an ex-partner."
The news was blunt and heart-shattering. His last conversation with Dick had been an argument... And now, what if he-
No. No, Roy would not think of that...
And he hadn't talked to his 'baby-sister' for ages, either- not since Thanksgiving. And Christmas was in less than two weeks... What if they couldn't find them? What if they were already de-
"We know where the bases are, we just need to investigate. Apollo thinks one of them isn't worth the effort, but you know Bruce. Mr.-Always-Needs-Every-Outcome-Examined-With-A-Microscope. He wants to go alone to the complex in NYC..." Her voice faded out a bit as she slowly nibbled on her lower lip. "But I've always worked best with a partner-"
"You want me to make-up with Dick, right?"
There was a long silence, then: "I'm in."
….
A normal drive from Gotham to New York City might be four hours. If you're a worried father, three. If you're Batman, two. If you're Batman, in his Daddy!Bats mode, it takes about one.
That black, tank/car-thingie (as Dick so eloquently put it when he was eight) was speeding almost three times as fast as it was supposed to be able to- peaking at 150mph, the Bat-Mobile was doing almost 400mph. Almost. Almost.
If Bruce had it his way, he would be doing 4000.
But, in due time, the Batman made his way towards the hide-out. It stuck out like a sore thumb, even in New York City. Forty-two floors high, fifteen rooms wide, painted a sickly yellow, cream-ish color on the outside, the entrance had wide double-doors made of stainless steel and glass. In bright, bold letters on the outside read: LexCorp.
….
"AUUUUGGH!"
The high-pitched scream shook him awake. Dick sat up, slowly, the bullet in his side no longer drawing blood, but still stinging like crazy. Stars were already circling his head, and black was already licking yet again at his eyes.
"AUUUUGGH!"
That same scream rippled through the once-bathroom like ripples in water. Blue eyes grew wide, and a small gasp came to his lips as Dick recognized that scream.
"BLAINE!"
In an instant, with the rush of adrenaline, Dick was standing up and pushing with all of his might against the door. Pain shot up through his abdomen, but he ignored it flatly. "BLAINE!"
The screams intensified, rippling through the bathroom walls icily. "BLAINE!"
Then, as quickly as they started, they stopped. Blue eyes widened for a fraction of a second, and then-
He wept.
Dick fell down the side of the wall, tears streaming down his face as his whole body shook. He buried his face in his hands and bent over his knees, the dried blood on his shirt again becoming wet with his crying. "N-No... Blaine... N-N-No..."
All at once, the door snapped open, sending Dick towards the other wall. He landed hard on the concrete flooring, jarring his ribs and the bullet. Blood again began to flow through his once-oh-so-fancy dress-shirt.
"Well, well... What do we have here?"
The ebony took in a deep, slow breath as he recognized the voice.
"Cheshire..."
She approached him slowly, smiling behind her mask. Her kimono was stained with fresh blood, slowly dripping onto her white stockings. Her mask, too, had the red liquid splattered over it. Dick's face suddenly grew hard, and he growled at the woman, "Y-You... I swear, Cheshire, if you-"
"If I what?" she taunted, slowly sauntering towards him, her bloody sai in hand. "I've already killed your sister... I shot the other one."
Eyes grew wide in the teen's skull, and his breath came a bit too quick. "Y-You shot B-Barbara?"
She sneered, "Oh... So you've finally figured it out... The great Robin, Boy Wonder, finally figured it out."
His eyes grew even wider, and Cheshire chortled, her voice sending goosebumps up his spine. "Oh, yes, I know. I know everything, Robin... I remember..."
oooooh...
Now, you won't understand the next chapter unless you've read "Meet the Family", so, if you HAVEN'T read that, I suggest you go and read at LEAST the last four chapters. XD
Anyways... (i saw 'anyways' a lot, don't I? hrmmmmm...) ANYWAYS, I'm also gonna update 'Secrets' today, if you like that story.
NOBODY has gotten my RIDDLE yet!
What's black and white, and red all over?
REMEMBER: This is the JUSTICE LEAGUE version of this riddle. Not the 'DOTB' or the YOUNG JUSTICE version, but the JUSTICE LEAGUE version!
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