A/N: Tim is slowly recovering from being in Devlin's clutches a second time. With Samantha now part of the family, and Tim determined to marry her, Jason and Dick have taken it upon themselves to teach Tim how to please a woman without Bruce knowing about it. Something powerful happens and two brothers are in hot water with their father. Dick and Jason decide they had better keep out of Bruce's way for a while by taking a case that leads them out of Gotham. The case however has to be interrupted when word reaches them that Tim has a life threatening illness or is it? And has that case actually come to Gotham?

New Life, Death, and Soul Easters

by

AJRedRobin and JasonToddLover

Part 5: Examining the Facts

Jason licked his chops. "Now that's breakfast." He looked over at Dick's partially eaten plate. "Hey, you haven't finished yours. You look a little distracted. We need to work on the case, figure out why kids are disappearing."

Dick was looking out the window of the small neighborhood diner. "It's weird, seeing that there aren't any children around here at all. You noticed that, right?"

"Yeah, there's a playground. You'd see at least a few. It's not Monday yet, otherwise kids would be in school. That is odd."

"I guess the parents are worried for their safety."

"Maybe we should talk to a few," Jason suggested.

Dick nodded in agreement. "Good place to start our investigation."

Jason reached for the folder that was sitting between them on the table. He opened it and handed Dick a sheet of paper. "Bruce included a list of names of the victims. They don't know us here in Chicago. Do you have your badge?"

Dick tapped his pocket. "My police badge?"

"It could be an in," Jason stated. "I know it's not your jurisdiction, but why would Bruce have a folder of kids who disappeared in Chicago on his desk in the cave?"

"Beat's me. I learn not to question him sometimes. Are any of the children linked to each other some how?

Jason looked through the papers in the folder. "A few are siblings, some as old as 17 and as young a 5. Hold on, one was originally from Gotham, an Eric Wise. he actually went to Damian's school. I remember Damian mentioned the kid moved, but he didn't say where."

"Anything else?" Dick questioned.

"All the victims are male."

"So, what can we possibly be looking at here?" Dick prayed it wasn't another succubus, one that preyed on children. That would be horrid.

"They all came down with some kind of illness, then after a few days they just disappeared. They described the symptoms, sudden loss of weight, fever, nosebleeds, but that's about it."

"Could something else be causing it? Like something feeding on them?"

Dr. Leslie Tompkins was talking to the lab tech about the results of a patient's test. "Are you sure?"

"I ran the tests three times. It's accurate. It indicates that it's early."

"How long without treatment?"

"The reading indicates 6 months to a year."

Dr. Leslie looked at the lab results. How could the lab tech think this was in the early stage. And yet, the results did indicate that it was. There were some conflicting information. One said the patient would die within weeks while the other indicated the patient had a year. There must be something wrong with the equipment. Even so, this was not going to be easy to tell the family.

"I thought you said this was in the early stages. And the only cure for this type is bone marrow."

"It is, I don't understand. I guess it came on fast. God, that's rough. My cousin went through it. He was lucky I was a match."

"Problem, is this patient may not have a match," Leslie said.

"Feeding on them?" Dick absorbed what Jason just said, "Could we be dealing with something inhuman?"

"Well, all the reports say the same thing and within 72 hours, the kid just disappeared, like he faded from existence." Jason said. "Only one way to find out. Says here that Eric has an older brother, names Peter, about 13. Eric was the latest victim. I think we need to talk to them."

"What's the address? We should talk to him right away."

Jason read off the address. "349 West Chestnut Avenue."

Dick grabbed the car keys and tossed some bills on the table. "Let's go."

Continues with Part 6