A/N: It's late, I know- sorries! As you can tell, I had to break this up into parts. (Only two!) I'm trying to hurry and post this, I'll be on vacation for the next week. (unplugged.) So I wanted to make sure I posted something. If I missed some edits, I'll fix them as soon as I get home. There's uh, a lot going to on here. Be warned.
Help. I'm sorry. Thank you. Three things you won't hear coming out of my father unless civility is forcing his hand - or rather, his mouth. In the years I've grown in the Dark Knight's shadow, I've only heard him thank Nightwing once. To be honest, I think it put Dick into shock. My father is too proud of a man to ever ask for help.
Holidays, birthdays, piano recitals and meets. I've felt his absence during all these things at one time or another. And yet, when I see him slipping out of the room, I can't bring myself to feel bitter. I share him with Gotham in its entirety. I know that he leaves because someone's life is on the line. Apologies? I've never heard one, nor will I ever.
Dad's never been apologetic for what he does, but he regrets everything he's missed, not that he would ever say so. He doesn't have to. I can see it in his face when he's caught staring at pictures he should've been in, or the way he makes that tight smile and say he's proud of me for an accomplishment he never saw.
I sometimes wonder what the world would think of my father if they knew. Would it scoff at the penance of wealthy man, even if he's sacrificed the very things that cannot be bought or replaced? He's given his life to this city, letting it siphon moments of his life he cannot get back.
I suppose that's why I hoard pictures the way I do, as if I'm trying to collect a moment of our lives before it disappears into the abyss. It's all a part of the trade off in this life, the sacrificing and soul sucking. Yes, soul sucking. Make no mistake, the city my father loves is a thankless kind of mistress. It shuns him when times are good, but oh, when there's nowhere else to turn, the city looks to the sky. I like to think that there's still hope for this dark place, but in the back of my mind, I'm afraid Gotham will end him before the good will finally rise.
The sound of the tolling clock chased me down the hall as it echoed through the house. In the dark it was another world entirely. For all the grandeur that my imagination created during the day, there was a fair amount of horror to be played when the shadows of the night would stretch out it's wraith like arms across the walls. I kept moving, trying to tell myself that the corridors weren't growing any darker, that the inky abyss wouldn't reach out to me.
I clutched my book tighter to my chest, trying not to deter myself when the old place groaned and creaked around me. Instead, my eyes locked on the faint light that danced just down the hall. Surely the only safe place to hide would be with the shadow master himself.
I still remember the feel of the carpet under my feet my feet when I wandered into his office. In the faint flicker of the fire I could see him slouched in solitary wingback chair, the weight of his head resting in his hand. Standing there on the blurred edges of the shadows I was so unsure, but my feet were moving, despite any reservations my head might have had. Only the painted gazes of my grandparents saw me creeping forward from the fringe of the room. They weren't about to tattle on me.
I could feel the heat of the fire warming my back as I stood there in front of him. His eyes were closed, but by the sound of the sigh that slipped from him, it was plain that sleep was still eluding him. The second my fingers graced against his hand, his long dark lashes lifted. I don't think he was expecting to see a little girl standing there in her nightgown.
"You should be in bed." He mumbled, letting his hand fall as he forced himself to sit up. The creases in his face told me the simple act was a painful one. At first the only thing I could was look up at him. But the second I bit down my hesitation, I laid my book on the arm of the chair and proceeded to climb into his lap. I'd never done that before, and by the way he sat so still, he seemed just as unsure about the idea.
"I can't sleep either…" I whispered, breathing in the soft smoky sent of the fire as the warmth waded out to us. When he didn't say anything, I reached for the book, watching his eyes flick down to it when I offered it to him. "Can you read this to me?"
He just stared at the glossy blue cover. The logs hissed in the silence, or maybe that was just the sound of his sigh. When he lifted me off the knee on which I had settled, I was certain I'd be put back on the floor. I could only watch his face pinch as he moved me to the opposite side.
"Let's stay on this side." He managed.
"You're hurt again…" I stated, watching him blow out a steady breath. "You get hurt a lot."
"Out of the mouths of babes."
"When are you going to learn?"
The words seemed to summon a soft chuckle from the depths of his chest. It was breathy, strangled kind of sound. But when your ribs are broken laughing is the last thing you want to be doing. To silence me, he cracked the book open, letting me settle into the crook of his arm.
I could hear the sound of the cover pages as they crinkled, but when he came to a page marked by the swooping lines of an ink pen, he paused. He sat there, wordlessly tilting his head. Never lose your muchness, and always believe in the impossible. The words were shaped into a heart with their elegant curves. I touched the page, feeling the grooves the ink had left in the paper until my fingers bumped into Dad's hand.
"I know what that says…" I said, turning the page as he cleared his throat.
"Alice was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister on the riverbank, and of having nothing to do…"
I knew this story; I could still hear the words coming from my mother in her lilting southern accent. So I knew just when to turn the page. But hearing it in my father's voice it seemed quite different, it was no longer me and mom's story anymore. It was ours. Pressing myself against his side, I could feel the murmur of his rasping voice. As long as I was right there, I was safe, I was content. The next thing I know, I awoke to the feel of the sun on my face.
It took a moment for me to get my bearings as I peeked over a blanket I didn't recognize. Peering up at the painting of my grandparents I realized I was curled up to the side of a chair that hand been reclined. Listening, I could hear the sound of Dad's snores. As it turns out I fell asleep, and instead of working himself out of the chair and carrying me to bed with his busted ribs, Dad just said to hell with it, and reclined back. The blanket was Alfred's doing.
I remember laying there, half in a daze as I used Dad's arm as a pillow when I heard Alfred whisper.
"Are you awake then?"
As my eyes flicked open, I found old Pennyworth crouched down beside me. I pressed a finger to my lips, working a smile out of the man. Even then I knew that my father didn't sleep much.
"Would you like to come down stairs? It's almost lunch time." I nodded to the mouthed words, letting him help me from the chair so I didn't wake the snoring shadow master. With my small body in one arm, Alfred picked up the book that was sitting open on the arm of the chair. Putting the book's ribbon in our spot, he set it down on the table by the chair. "For next time."
In time, we finished the book, replacing its spot on the table with others. I reread it once, just for nostalgia's sake, when I got to the blank pages in the back I found ink scrawled out in the white space. If you ever start wondering if you've gone mad, just remember the best people usually are.
It was later that Alfred put a small round frame on the mantle. The old coot had snapped a picture of us. I was curled into Dad's side, tucked under his chin. The book was laying open on his chest. It was the first picture that I'd ever been in with my father. It was also the moment that began my vast collection. I guess I collect them because you never know when they'll stop happening.
The death of Max Collins moved through the city of Gotham like a ripple. Only one child was suspected of dying from the Zesti Cola poisonings in all this time, but now? Now there were two dead little boys, separated by eleven years of speculation. The tension in the city was rising; Delilah didn't have to see it the grim faces that pressed in on her, holding out microphones and recorders. She could feel it.
What did she have to say about this atrocity? What did it mean for Page for Parents? The place was a ghost town now, lingering with the memories of a child's last moments. All Del could do was hold her ground, trying to ignore her palms as they began to sweat beneath her gloves. Did she think it was meant for her?
Del could only stand there, watching the bystanders began to build as she stood there on the sidewalk.
"That's exactly what it is, it's an atrocity. A father lost his son. A little girl lost her brother. This city just lost a chance to see a bright little boy grow into something amazing." She stopped to swallow, feeling the knot building in her throat. "Page for Parents has been shaken to its core, but we're not going to close our doors. These are the darkest days the organization has ever seen, but what would we be teaching if we shrank in the face of adversity? I know Max wouldn't have wanted that." She couldn't help but glance at the memorial that had built up under the window.
The clamor of questions and shuttering cameras ballooned into the air. Did she think this was an accident or the work of a killer? If she could say something to them, what would it be? Del felt her heart fall into her gut. Even the public was starting to smell something wrong. "I'm not sure what to make of it." She said evenly, trying to keep her voice as calm as she could. "If someone is behind this…" She pointedly stared at the camera. "I hope justice finds their cowardly ass." Before I find them first.
The words seemed to spark a reaction on the street, looking into the crowd the girl spotted a familiar face. "Excuse me." Del was moving quickly, pushing her way through the bodies as she made her way to the street. Behind her the reports were still yelling out questions, horns blared as she started jogging her way across the street. "JASON!"
He only glanced over his shoulder before turning down the alley. "Wait!" But as the girl turned the corner, there was nothing in alley but shadows.
"God Damn it!"
When her father's fist came down on the table, Del couldn't help but to peek up from her oatmeal, the sound of the rattling china in her ears. The sound immediately summoned Alfred to his side. "Is everything alright, Master Bruce?"
"NO!" He snapped, wadding up the newspaper as he shoved himself from the table. If he saw his children trading looks across the table, he didn't mention it. The second he slung the paper on the table and started to work himself out of his blazer the girl knew, he was heading for the bat-cave in 3..2..1.
The second he disappeared around the corner, Del beat Damian to the paper. Staring at the wrinkled page she could see what set him off. It was as clear as the thick black headline. Red Hood Strikes Again! Nothing could stop the bile from creeping up the back of her throat. Another man was dead. It didn't help that Jason displayed his kills like coyotes on a fence line. She knew it was his way of warding of the others. Commit a crime and this is how you're going to end up. Crime rates were actually down.
"Oh dear."
"Dad's been trying to catch him for the last couple weeks." Delilah said, sneering when Damian snatched the paper from her. But the girl only looked down at her ink stained fingers. Demon Spawn was right.
"I told you so." He gloated, paying no attention to her when she pushed her chair back. "Though I fail to see what all the fuss is. They're just criminals."
"He's taken everything Dad ever taught it and throwing it in his face." She said, rubbing her hands on her jeans. The ink wouldn't go away. "Not everything needs to end in death, maybe that's hard for you to wrap your head around. If you kill them, what's separating you from them?"
Del eased her way into the belly of the cave, paying no mind to the flutter of bats as they squeaked and squabbled. She knew he could hear her footsteps on the gravel. "Shouldn't you be practicing with Dick?" He asked, frowning at her when the girl ignored the bite in his tone and plopped herself on the stool that was sitting off to the side.
"I saw him this morning." She said calmly, trying to keep herself still when he twisted around in the glow of the monitor. "He was standing in the crowd when I got bombarded by the press." She explained. "I tried to chase after him, but he just slipped down the alley. Before he had to ask, the girl slid from her spot, and walked to the holographic maps. "This one." She amended, circling the spot on the map. "He didn't climb up, I would have seen that."
"No. He dropped down to the old subway system." Her father explained, showing her the veins of the old subway system that crept throughout the city. He was already turning back to the computer. "Something changed…I don't know what, but something's changed."
He didn't see Del looking down at her ink stained hands. Dad, I-" I did it. But the words seemed to get lodged in her throat. "Is there anything I can do?" She asked suddenly, taking a solitary step forward. She didn't expect her father to turn on her.
"I DON'T NEED YOUR HELP!" The sound of his roaring voice sent the bats into frenzy. And yet his daughter only put her hands on her hips. In this light they almost looked green.
"Yelling at me isn't going to fix it!" She cried, matching his volume.
"OUT! OUT NOW!" When the stubborn girl didn't so much as move a toe he snagged her by the elbow and began to drag her toward the stairs. Halfway up, the girl twisted from his grip. "Who's thinking with their emotions now?!"
As soon as her words hit the air, she saw her father go slack, but it didn't stop him from blocking the way back down with his arm. "I know, Dad. I know this brings up all kinds of bad shit up for you. You never got over Jason. And now here he is, throwing it in your face."
Normally he'd snap at her for her language, but he didn't even try. He just shook his head as his eyes fell to his feet. "Del, just…"
"Get out, yeah, yeah. I got that part." She said, giving him the brush off. "I'll let you brood," She said popping up the stairs, but when she peered back, he was standing there, just watching her.
"Don't make me come looking for you." She told him, watching the stark light of the house cut through the darkness on the stairs as she pushed the door open. She was just about to step through the doorway when his voice caught her.
"Del."
She stood there as he dug into his pocket. "Catch."
Leaning forward the girl caught the phone with her fingers. She immediately popped the phone open, knowing full well that her father was watching her. Just like the last one, there was a locator.
"So you knew…and you left it in?"
Del shrugged. "Hey, it's handy." She said, slipping the device into her pocket. "Remember, don't make me come looking-"
"I got that part." He said cutting her off as he waved his hand to dismiss her. Only when she slipped completely into the house did he turn and disappear into the shadows.
"I'm telling you, you don't have enough air for that kind of jump."
Del just stared at the vault. "But you do it all the time!"
Dick Grayson couldn't figure out if he wanted to smirk or scold her. "Out there! Not in the gym!"
"I can do it." The man went for an eye roll as the teen jutted her chin at him. Just like that she was running for it.
"I can't watch." He groaned. Sure, she came off horse flawlessly, she had one flip in, and was working on the reverse when she crashed hard on her knees. He could hear the door opening but he was focused on her.
"There, you stubborn ass. You happy now?"
Del's response was to smack the mat as she climbed to her feet. "No! I know I can do it."
"On floor…maybe." With that he turned to see Alfred standing there with Tim.
"Maybe? Maybe he says." The girl hadn't even noticed.
"Mr. Drake to see you, Miss." At the sound of Alfred's lyrical accent, the girl stopped, finally turning about. Tim was here to see her? For a moment she stood there and blinked. "Thank you, Alfred."
"Why are you here?" Damian had been so quiet until now, but the second the door shut behind the old man, the boy was up from his knees, circling around Tim with his hands pressed into his back.
"Down, Damian."
"I'm not your dog." He snapped.
"Tim?"
The boy's weary green eyes moved from Damian to Del before he held up a folder. "I uh, was just dropping off your homework." Somehow that relived her. "I didn't mean to interrupt your practice." He told her as she took the folder from him.
"No, it's fine. Thank you." She quickly disappeared through the door. One tense moment slid into another, building a strange awkward silence. Since when was Dick so quiet? That was alarming all on its own. Never mind the kid that was giving him the evil eye.
"Okay, I'll bite. What?"
Dick just crossed his arms. "Is there anything that I need to know about?" He asked gesturing for the door that Del had fled back to Tim. The young man simply shrugged.
"No?"
The word had Dick moving a little closer with that simpering look on his face. "Let me put it this way so you can understand. I can make any fall look like an accident, so you hurt my sister in any way-"
Tim's eyes went wide. "No! Dude! It's not like that! I swear! I mean, I like her, she's nice but-"
"Wait, so you're not-"
"No."
"Damn."
That had the pair turning their heads toward the boy in the corner. Damian just tilted his head. "I was looking forward to killing you." He said. "She's my sister."
The second she slipped back through the door, Del had the distinct feeling that she had walked right into something. "Do I even want to know?" She asked handing Tim the handkerchief he had wrapped her hand with.
"I'm sorry, I would have given it back to you sooner, things have been…hectic."
Tim just nodded and thanked her, slipping the soft piece of cloth into his jacket pocket. "So what was it you were trying to do before you ate mat?"
"Something she shouldn't be trying on a vault!" Dick put in, but the girl was rolling her eyes. "If you want to break your neck, fine. But do it after regionals. You've only got two days..." He pointed at the vault. "Give me something clean."
"Okay, okay!"
"I don't know I prefer watching her eat mat. It's mildly entertaining."
"Shut it, Damian. Tim, take a seat. Maybe you'll learn something."
Tim was easing to the floor when Del started running for it. He didn't expect the girl to back flip onto the spring board and flip over the horse into a double twist. Her feet landed with a smack. With the look on Dick's face, he wasn't expecting that either.
"Clean enough for you?" She breathed, making sure she presented as if she were standing in front of judges.
"Y-yeah." It took the guy a second to clear his throat. "Let's uh, run through that a few times and we'll work on your bars."
"Delilah Bae, what the hell is this?!" Bruce burst into the gym, just in time for Del to miss her transition from the low bar to the high bar. The girl hit the mat with a crack.
"Ouch. There goes the pride."
"Oh, be quiet." The girl groaned as she flopped over. Mat burn. Opening her eyes, she didn't find the white peaks of the ceiling. Nope. Her father was staring down at her with his narrowed eyes and grim set mouth.
"Hi, Dad." Something was fisted in his hand. A magazine?
"My office. Now."
The room was immediately filled with tension. "How much trouble am I in?"
"Now, Delilah Bae." That's twice he's used the dreaded middle name. Things were not looking good. No, no. Not at all. Snagging her shoes and her track pants the girl all but huffed after him, listening to her bare feet hit the cool marble floor. The second she waded into his office, the door slammed shut behind her.
She watched him wearily as he unrolled the magazine he was gripping. "Hero: Batman. I wouldn't be here without him. I mean, how can you not respect someone who saved your life? He deserves way more credit than he's given." With that he threw the magazine into an empty chair across from his desk.
"Thanks to your public support, I've been getting calls for a statement all fucking day."
"Oh no." The girl slumped into a chair, picking up the magazine as if it were as deadly as a gun.. "I didn't think-"
"Then you shouldn't have opened your mouth."
"It was a part of the interview! And if I remember correctly, that was your idea." She cried, watching him rake his hand through his hair. "What did you want me to say?! Something generic? Oh, my daddy is my hero."
"YES!"
"I did!" she shot back, quickly averting her eyes to the floor when he spun on his heel. "They…they just don't know that."
As Bruce stood there, watching his daughter wiggle her toes into the carpet, it dawned on him that the old soul that he found himself relying on more and more was just a fifteen year old girl. She played the role of an adult instead of a wily teenager. And now here he was, angry with her for making the stupid kind choices teens are accredited for.
"Look at me."
When she didn't, he reached under her chin, lifting her pale blue eyes up from the floor.
"I'm sorry Dad. It just came out." She uttered, twisting the magazine in her hands. "Is it so bad that I support Batman?" She asked. "Bruce Wayne may not…but I do." She whispered, feeling his hand fall away.
"And that's how we're going to play it off. They're going to ask, you know that." He said wandering to the window. "The board will question you're reasoning skills." He added. Even an entire company can forget that she was only a teenager. Del was wringing her hands together when he peered over his shoulder.
"I didn't think about that…" she said softly.
"And that's why you need to think before you even open your mouth. This stupid statement of yours is going to have repercussions."
All Del could do was nod as the silence built up between them. "So, what's Timothy Drake doing here?" He asked.
"He just dropped of my homework…" She murmured, ignoring his sidelong glance. "Why? Is it a problem?"
Bruce just shook his head. "Just curious." Yeah, right. Her father was never just curious."Go finish your practice, looks like you need it." The words had her stopping dead in the doorway.
"Oh, like you never ate mat." She scoffed, watching him stuff his hands into his pockets. At least he seemed to be thinking rationally now. "Hey, you can hang out with us, you know. It's not dark out just yet."
His lips twitched. "Is that what you want? To have the old man hovering around."
"Sometimes. We kinda like your company; We're twisted like that." She flashed him a little smile, but when the phone in her pants pocket began to vibrate the girl went on a hunt to find it. Bruce watched the girl frown at the screen. "Weird. It's Mr. Collins." He followed the girl out into the hall, listening to her voice echo as she answered it. "Hello?" Silence.
"Sissy, Sissy, slow down." That had them both stopping in their tracks Sissy only whispered and that was a rare thing in itself. "Call the police, call them right-you can't-" The second she changed direction he followed.
"Where are you? Tell me where you are." The girl was flying down the stairs two at a time sometimes three. "Can you see anything? Okay. Okay, can you hear anything? Water dripping. That's good, what else do you hear? Trains? No, Sissy, stay on the line with me, keep talking, Sweetheart."
Del was half way down the cave steps when the line went dead in her ear. "Fuck. Fuck fuck, fuck FUCK!"
"Keep trying to call her back!" Her father yelled squeezing by her; he went directly for the suit.
"She said she could hear trains. It's dark, damp, and she can smell fish. She said it was a couple of guys; they snatched her and her father right off the street. They took him away, he dropped the phone and the screen busted, so she had no idea who she was calling." She rattled, while the phone rang in her ear. But just like before, it went straight to voicemail.
"That could be a number of places. We'll have to find the last cell tower the call pinged off of." That's all she needed to hear to toss him the phone. "If you have a picture of Sissy, go get it. The police will need it if they drop her off anywhere."
He didn't have to tell her twice, she flew up the stairs and zipped right by Alfred, the girl could hear her feet slamming in the hallway as she ran for her room. That had Dick looking out the gym door.
"What the hell is taking you so long?"
"Kidnapping!" That had him following her, watching her rip a photo out of a picture frame. When she looked up, there were three different faces peering in.
"Who?"
"Sissy." The second the girl's name fell out of her mouth, she saw the flash of Damian's shirt as he disappeared down the hall.
"Get the picture scanned, we'll head out right now. Get me coordinates as soon as you possibly can."
The costume cases were all but picked clean when Del made it back into the cave. "Tonight, I'm Robin, whether you like it or not."
Her father didn't argue. He didn't have time to argue. "You do as I say. I need you to trust me. Is that understood?"
"Yes, Father."
Damian as Robin? The girl half expected to see the boy gloating when she peeked over her shoulder. But he only stared at her before giving a slight nod. Even he could understand how important this was. At a time like this, she'd tell him not to blow it. Or not screw it up, but all she could do was nod back.
As the computer when off the girl brought her eyes back to the screen. "Last cell tower for the phone to ping off of is on 32nd Street." She said, watching Batman fill the space beside her out of the corner of her eye.
"And she hears trains…"
The girl stepped back as her father enlarged a couple of maps of the area. "That could be the freight she's hearing…" But Del's mouth fell open as she stared at the veining lines across the screen, the same lines her father had pointed out to her earlier that day. "She's in the old subway."
"She didn't happen to mention any clothing colors, did she?"
Delilah felt her heart fall to her feet. "A red…mask." No. No, no. That couldn't be right. But his name kept whispering around in her head. "Jason…"
"The old subway section by the docks? That's a huge area to cover, she could be anywhere."
With the cave to herself, Del was free to suit up. "I know. GCPD is looking for her, Batman is out there and so is the Demon Spawn." But it wouldn't be enough. Now that Mr. Collins' phone was going straight to voice mail, it only meant that the device was off. They couldn't even reverse the GPS on it.
Del worked her way into her harness, ignoring Jax as he bumped her hands with his head. "Not now, Jax." But as the girl worked to snatch up her cape, she paused. "So…"
"Oh no."
"Like you have any better ideas!"
"Let's hear it."
"What do you say we release the hound?" The girl asked, crossing her arms as she appraised the curious Doberman. It was an old game to them. She'd hide somewhere on the property, and they'd send Jax out to look for her. A game the dog was terribly good at. And now, such childish games could be a valuable skill.
"Do you have anything of hers?"
"I don't. But I know where she's left a few things." She said, digging through the disguise material. First, Jax needed a makeover to hide those rust colored points.
"I'm going to send Tim to meet you."
He didn't want her working on her own. "No offense to Tim, but why?"
"Shit always tends to come your way." Of course she could read between the lines. Jason always found his way to her.
The colors had all but disappeared in this strange world. Everything was black and blue, smelling of rust, of mold and of the docks. Even the coat she was laying on smelled strange, like burned leather and ash, something metal. She could hear the sound of boots scuffing across the ground. He was coming back. She wrenched her eyes closed, listening to the sound his boots giving when he crouched. The second one of his gloved fingers touched her shoulder she shot backwards, smacking her back on the wall behind her.
"I'm not going to hurt you." He said. But it didn't stop the heaving sobs from billowing up from her chest. "I promise. Here, look, I brought you something, you could really use a drink right?" When the child nodded with her tear stained snot covered face, he put a bottle in her hands. "It's just water."
It was all she needed to know to put the tip of the bottle to her mouth. The cold liquid barreled down her throat like a dagger, but she couldn't stop drinking it. But what if it was poison? The sudden thought had the girl lurching forward. The bottle went over as everything started to come up.
"Whoa. Not that way." But as the girl stumbled in the darkness on her hands and knees, she tripped over something big, and before she knew it, she landed in a tacky pool of liquid. "Don't move."
The child froze. But as the man went to pick her up, she fought back, feeling a flashlight in his belt she yanked it free just as she hit the ground. The second the light broke into the darkness, a scream ripped from her throat. It was a body she had tripped over. She dropped the flashlight in the pool of blood and started to crab walk back when he yanked her off the ground. A scream threatened to rip from her lungs when his hand clamped down on her mouth.
"I need you to be really, really quiet." He whispered.
"I want to go home!" She whimpered the second his fingers fell away from her mouth. But he didn't let her go.
"There's only one bad man left. I have to find him first. Then I'll take you home. If I take you home before then, he might come back. You don't want that do you?" Sissy Collins had no choice but to shake her head.
"He's gone isn't he?" Damian asked, watching Batman's fingers slip from where Mr. Collin's pulse should have been. Checking for a pulse seemed to be a waste of time when there was so much blood on the floor.
The boy crouched, watching him examine the body. There were no wounds of any kind, which only meant one thing with such a loss of blood. He was poisoned. Lifting the man's eye lid, Batman seemed to grimace. "His eyes are gone."
"What?" The boy reached to look, but was stopped. He let his hand fall. "If they were after organs, they could have taken more valuable things." Damian stated plainly. But Batman had pulled himself from his heels.
"The girl can't be far." None of this was making sense.
With Sissy's scarf tucked into a pocket, Del was letting Jax take the lead, sniffing through the mud and the muck that had washed over the rails through the years. She didn't have to look behind her to know she had a shadow, but the trick after all was not giving Tim away.
The girl moved soundlessly, listening to the wind roar through the tunnels. It did nothing to stop Jax. Suddenly his black ears went up. If she wasn't right there on top of him, she could have lost him in the darkness. When a growl sprang from him, she knew something was there.
"You."
Jason.
"Where is she, Red?!" She snapped, watching him wade into a spot of light. "Safe. She's safe. You want to call off your dog?" He asked, racking his gun. He was too far away for her to make a grab for the fire arm. She held her hand down, signaling Tim to hold his position. She wanted Jason closer. "Down." At the command the dog stilled by her side, but it didn't stop him from growling. She took a step closer aware that he hadn't lowered his gun. And then another. "Where is she?"
"What? You think I won't shoot you?"
"You would have done it already." She sneered inching another step closer. "Why did you do this?" She tried not to flinch when she heard the safety click off. No. He's not going to shoot me. He still owes me.
"I didn't do this."
The second she felt barrel of the gun poke into her chest, Del was sure she was going to stop breathing right then and there, until a piercing scream ripped through the darkness. They both looked in the direction of the sound, it was all Del needed to clock him. She pulled his arm down and ripped his gun away as his head snapped back.
"SEEK!"
At the order, the dog was off like a shot. The chaos gave Tim enough time to work his way behind the man. Del jumped out of the way just as launched Jason forward with a kick. It wasn't going to keep him down. "Go find her. I've got this."
She didn't hesitate. Leaving Jason and Tim alone together was not a good idea. But what other choices did she have? All she could do was run into the dark, listening to the sound of their contact as they wailed on each other.
"You hit like a girl."
"So would you if you would hit harder."
"Dick. Tim's got Jason. I'm trying to find Sissy; I don't know how long he can hold him off."
"I'm on my way. Bats is on the other side."
The man smelled. He reeked of booze and blood. Bad man. The red mask had that right. This was the same man who had ripped her from her father's arms. "If you don't stop that, I'm going to put this gun in your mouth and shut your trap for you. Is that what you want?!" Her screaming stopped.
She didn't know where he was taking her. He had hopped through tunnels and over different tracks. He had just threw her on an old platform, when a dog came tearing from the shadows. The child stomped on his hand, forcing him to let go of his gun while the dog sank its teeth into the man's shoulder.
He swung around; trying to scramble for the piece but the child nabbed it first. What child or canine didn't foresee was the flash of a knife. The second the dog's cries slipped into the air, the girl panicked. If something happened to the dog, she wouldn't stand a chance. She squeezed the trigger. The bullets were going everywhere. Into the wall, into the man's arm, everywhere except for the dog or any place important for that matter. Soon all the hammer did was click. The gun would fire anymore. She moved to scramble away, just as someone in yellow flipped over her.
Del managed to handspring herself down to the tracks, narrowly dodging the knife in St. James' hand when she heard it rip through her cape. Grabbing his outstretched arm, she pulled, connecting her foot square into his ribcage. In some twisted way, his shuddering gasp satisfying. Oh, you have no idea how long I've waited to do this to you.
Revenge only begets more revenge. It's a cure for nothing. It only scrapes and gnaws at the void. Del knew this, she's saw its effects first hand. And yet, knowing the truth did little to distinguish the fire that was building in her. I want you to hurt. I want you to suffer for what you've done.
When he sank to his knees, Del could hear him wheezing, trying to hold his chest and the knife all at the same time. When her boot crunched down on his hand, he howled like an animal, a noise she was unaware that humans could even make. She ground his fingers into the rails as she yanked the knife from his hand. "You won't need that." She said, tossing it onto the platform with a clatter.
"You and I need to have a little chat." She said, yanking him up to his sluggish feet. He was almost too heavy to be doing such things. But he seemed to be grabbing onto the wall, trying to hold himself up. That worked just fine for her.
"Why are you targeting the Collins?!" She snapped, one hand fisting in his hair, the other gripping his jacket.
"Bitch, it ain't your business." He hissed, spitting blood in her face.
"Have it your way." She said, smacking his head into the wall.
His head hit the wall again. "How about now?"
"Fuck you!" he spat through busted teeth. Blood was running down his chin.
"Nope." Again. "I'm starting to think you like this." She tilted her head at his wide eyed gaze. "Oh, I know all about you. You just love the pain don't you?" She paused.
"Oh wait, no, you like inflicting pain on other people. Different when the shoe is on the other foot, isn't it? I'm going to ask you nicely. What are you doing with the Collins? What's your end game?"
"If it's the brat you want, take her." He wheezed. "He got what he wanted." When the man's bloody lips upturned, showing his broken toothed smile, Del wanted to make it disappear. She smashed his face back into the wall.
"'Who?! Who you son of a bitch?! "
"Stop! Stop!" Even though she could hear Tim in her ear as he tried to pull her away, she let go of St. James' coat, and shoved at him.
"Let her beat him. He definitely deserves it."
Blood had begun smear across grungy wall. There were teeth at her feet. St. James wasn't uttering a sound. Had it not been for Sissy's wailing cry, the girl may not have stopped. "STOP IT! No more! Please, please no more! "
Del let him go, watching him sink into a heap right there on the tracks. When she turned, she found a bloody, dirty, weeping child standing there horror stricken on the platform. She had beaten a man within an inch of his life…right in front of her. Oh, Jesus.
Somewhere behind her, she could hear Jason's slow clap echoing through the tunnels. "Couldn't have done it better myself. Oh wait, yes I can." The second Del heard him slide his gun from its holster, she snagged the gun from Sissy's hand.
"Just what are you going to do with an empty gun?"
"This!" She cried, hitting him upside the head with the piece. The second he staggered back, she grabbed his arm, and wrenched his gun away.
"This one's not empty." Oh, she knew it wasn't.
"You don't know how to use a gun."
The second Del clicked off the safety and racked a round in the chamber, he held up his empty hands. "You want to bet me on that? I told you once; I'm not that little girl you knew. I'm not going to tell you again."
She could feel the pressure of Tim's gloves on her arm. "You don't want to do this." He whispered. But all Del could do, was watch Jason slip further and further into the shadows. When she lowered the gun, she couldn't see him anymore. The girl quickly ejected the magazine, letting the rounds rain down on her feet. Dismantling the gun she threw it as hard as she could into the into the pitch black tunnels.
She immediately turned her attention to Sissy. But when she took a step toward the platform, the child took a step back. She's afraid of me. Del paused, watching Tim crouch down beside Jax from the corner of her eye.
"Are you hurt?"
Sissy's dingy blonde hair swayed as she shook her head. "You're name is Annabel, right?" The child paused, her big blue eyes wide. She didn't nod, she just stood there. "Where's your Daddy, Annabel?"
The child's mouth opened and trembled. "I-I don't know!" She howled. "They took him away!"
Del lowered herself to the ground beside Jax. The poor dog was shaking. "They who, Honey?" Del was working her arms under Jax's body when the child pointed at St. James. "Him and the other man the Red mask killed."
"Killed?" Del tried not to pause as she and Tim lifted the dog on the platform. She could only watch Sissy nod while big fat tears cut trails through the grime on her cheeks. "Did he do that in front of you?"
She shook her head. "I-I tripped over h-him." The tiny thing stammered.
Del held out her hand. "Okay…okay. It's going to be okay." She offered the words as gently as she could when she hoisted herself up on the platform. In this light she could get a good look at Tim. His face was bloody, his red and black suit was tattered, but he seemed to be all in one piece.
"The second the shots were fired…he turned and ran. I can't believe I let him get away."
"If you didn't come when you did, I might've done something I'd regret." She whispered, watching Sissy wander closer and closer before finally crouching down beside Jax. The dog was whining miserably and yet his nub of a tail still managed to wag when the little girl stroked his coat.
"How did you find me?" Del felt herself smiling when she pulled the girl's wooly scarf from her pocket. "We let him sniff on something of yours and told him to find you. He led us right to you." Del whispered her, wrapping the scarf around the girl's neck. Taking the edges of the garment, she dabbed the girl's wet cheeks.
"Nightwing, we've got the girl. St. James is down, and so is the hound. Red is still on the loose."
"Thank God. I wouldn't worry much about Red. Bats found his ass I'll meet you with a couple unis."
Del felt as though she could melt when she met the night air. The sky was alive with the swirl of lights, flickering from red to blue. Sissy's little fingers where wrapped into her harness as she carried Jax in her arms. Tim had St. James by the scruff of his clothing, forcing him to stumble forward with his hands cuffed behind his back.
The heads in the crowd were beginning to turn when a woman came flying forward. "Sissy?! Sissy!"
The little girl let go immediately and raced into the open arms of her aunt, letting the woman shower her grimy face with kisses. The second her wet eyes glanced up, the woman wobbled. "Thank you…thank you, thank you." The tears were streaming down her face anyway.
All Del could do was nod, as they ushered through the crowd. Tim let the police take St. James. "Damn…He'll be sucking food through a straw for months." The officer commented. "Your work?" But all Tim could do was shake his head. Del was already moving toward Nightwing, she didn't see the officer's face.
"Collins?"
Dick said nothing as he lifted a bloodied Jax from her arms. "Easy, boy, easy now." All he had to do was shake his head and Del knew. "Batman found his body…" He said quietly.
"Where's Batman now?"
"North. Chasing Red down."
That's all Del needed, she turned around and was cutting through the crowd. "Seriously?! You're just leaving me with the dog?!" But the girl was already up and running across the roof of the train station. He turned, ready to dump Jax in Tim's arms, but the boy was already running after her. "Well, that's just great."
Del knew Tim was following, her, but she wasn't about to slow down for him, the second her feet touched down on a roof she was racing and leaping out into the air. Scanning across the tops of the buildings, she could see a flutter of color. Damian. At least she knew she was going in the right direction. But she wasn't going to get there fast enough. In the midst of a leap, Del heard the fan kick off. It was out of air.
Her body hit the ledge of the next building, but in her scramble to get ahold, the ledge crumbled under her fingers. The building was falling away from her, any second she was sure she was going to hit the pavement, when something snaked around her ankle. Her body smacked into the building like wrecking ball creating a cloud of dust on impact.
"I've got you; I've got you, hold on." Tim. The second he lowered her to a fire escape, he jumped down next to her. She was already on her feet.
"Fuck. They're empty." She barely uttered a thank you before leaping off the fire escape to the alley below.
"Geez, does she ever slow down?"
"Welcome to my world."
Del was racing down the sidewalks, leaping over benches, cutting through the crowds, and sliding across the hoods of cars, all the while searching the tops of the buildings for any sign of Batman, Robin, or Red. Spying the crown of a red mask on a building a few blocks away, the girl cut through the alleyway, trying to make the shortest distance she could between her and them.
The closer she approached, the more she could see. She could even make out Batman's shape in the dull glow of the city. He was dangerously close to the edge. Jason swung, he ducked, he put a foot right into Jason's chest, but the problem with fighting a former protégé, is that they know you. Jason must have known her father well enough, because he did the same.
Her father was falling. Del's heart lurched into her throat as she made a break for it. She half expected him to shoot use his grappling gun, he'd done it millions of times before, but when his falling body smacked into a gargoyle that perched on the ledge, the girl felt the scream ripping out of her lungs.
When she could finally see him, he was being crowded around by the residents of the closest back street. "It's the Bat."
"GET DOWN HERE NOW! BATMAN IS DOWN! HE'S DOWN!"
He could feel everything and nothing. And as try as he might, he could hardly move a single limb of his body. The faces that peered in on him were all a blur, marking on his memory by the smell of dirt, sweat and blood. Maybe that was his own blood he was smelling. He could feel them pulling on him, causing the pain to shoot up his body. The cowl was slipping… No. He couldn't even summon the word. Only when the loud crack of the whip broke their chatter did they even look up. He could see the yellow fabric. He tried honing in on a voice but he heard nothing. The first man to run at her met the Tazer. The second he dropped they went for her, and there was not a damn thing he could do.
He could only lay there, trying to get his mouth to move, as she kicked, leapt and spun in the air, flattening bodies in her wake. He never realized just how much she had been paying to him and Dick. But there were just too many. The moment he was sure she'd be over run, someone in red and black came flying in. Back to back they seemed to work in tandem, laying waste to the alley. The second the last man crashed to the dirt, she was there.
"Hold on, just hold on." She chanted her breath ragged and warm. She reached into his belt, pulling out the fob to the bat-mobile. "I'm going to get you out of here."
"Jesus Christ." Dick. "Is he okay?!"
"NO! Go find Robin! He's still up there!" The headlights of the car cut through the darkness as it screeched to a halt beside them. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Dick Zipping up the building.
"Tim, help me get him in the car." Tim? The thought was obliterated into a groan when the pair hoisted him up. "I'm sorry, I know it hurts." She told him as the slid him into the flattened passenger seat.
"Do you even know how to drive this thing?" But she never answered him; she simply hopped into the car.
"Go help Nightwing, Make sure Robin doesn't cut him to ribbons." She didn't even wait for a response, she just closed the hatch.
"Don't worry; I'm not driving your precious car." She said to him setting it on autopilot. The windshield guards came up, and her mask cowl and mask came off. Del… At first, he didn't want it to be her. But now it no longer mattered. She pulled a black piece from the inside of her mask, and set it to his mouth. Oxygen. He remembered trying to take a deep breath as she routed around the backseat, flinging things out of the first aid kit. Closing his eyes he could feel her fingers squeezing his through his glove and then…there was nothing.
