Chapter 17: Inima Mea

Hearing his new friends' voices behind him, Nightwing continues to run as he focuses on the scream.

'I know it's her,' he thought and the scream grew louder and it sounded like the girl's pain. 'I think I'm getting closer.'

Nightwing runs faster, the wind hitting his face like knives, but he doesn't care. All he wants is Shadow to be safe in his arms. He doesn't know how long he's been running, but the screams stop. He looks at his surroundings; there are trees and more trees.

'No, I need to find her!' Then something red caught his eye and it chirped. 'The bird.'

Nightwing walks to the bird and offers his hand. The bird stops flying and sits on his hand, he gently strokes it.

"Can you lead me to Shadow?"

The bird chirped and flew off; Nightwing follows until he hears the scream return. It sounds like he's getting closer. His heart beats rapidly as he follows the bird. The bird and scream both stop, and Nightwing's eyes widen at the sight before him; Shadow is hanging from her wrists and Buzz is walking around her with a knife in his hand. Nightwing stays hidden and waits to attack.

"Come on Shadow, the pain won't stop until you agree," said Buzz as stares at her body.

"Never," she hissed.

"Shadow, you need to forget about Nightwing and give me a chance."

"NO! I love Nightwing and only him!"

Nightwing sees her shaking in fear; he wants to help, but waits for Buzz to let his guard down.

"I guess you leave me no choice."

Buzz takes the knife and cuts her shirt off; revealing her bra. Nightwing sees scars all over her torso. Buzz lifts the knife and cuts her on one of the scars. Shadow tries not to make a sound.

"Come on Shadow give me a scream."

Nightwing couldn't stop thinking that Buzz sounds just like the Joker. He couldn't take it anymore; he reaches in his belt and grabs some smoke bombs. Then he threw them to the ground. Buzz cursed, and Shadow is confused as she felt someone touching her. She wanted to scream, but a hand covers her mouth.

"Shadow it's me," Nightwing whispers gently as he removes his hand.

"Nightwing," said Shadow with happiness in her voice.

"I'll have you out in a sec."

Shadow nods and Nightwing quickly cuts her loose. Once he finally cut her bonds off, Nightwing grabs her hand and makes a run for it. The smoke cleared away, Buzz sees that Shadow is not there. He growls and runs to find her. Nightwing knows they can't stop running or Buzz will catch them; then he sees the others.

"Kindle! Mac! Zals! Jen! Scar! Kale!" yelled Nightwing which got their attention. "Run!"

They stare at him in confusion, and then they saw Shadow… and Buzz is chasing them. They all begin to run, but it won't be long till their legs give out. Nightwing glances back and everybody is still following him; he's glad but needs to think of a plan to shake off Buzz.

"Nightwing!" yelled Shadow.

"What?!" he asked.

"Duck!"

Nightwing gives a confuse look as Shadow tackles him to the ground. He looks up and sees some purple things falling from the sky. They try to attack, but they couldn't reach the group under the canopy. Nightwing notices that they're insects. Buzz stops and drops to the ground. Once they were in the clear, Nightwing yells.

"Let's move!"

"Nightwing! We need to find a place to take cover!" yelled Mac.

"Why?!"

"Those things are called Purals; they cause paralysis!" yelled Zals.

"It's hard to take cover when Buzz is chasing us!" yells Kindle.

"You won't be able to run at all if those things touch you!"

A knife came flying at them but missed, barely.

"He's throwing knives at us!" yelled Jen.

"Everybody zigzag so he can't hit you!" yelled Shadow.

They did so, but all the guys did something as if to ensure of their safety. Scar grabs Jen's hand; Mac grabs Zals' hand; Kale grabs Kindle's; and Nightwing tightens his grip on Shadow's hand.

Buzz throws another knife and everything went slow mode. The knife spins in small circles then it collides with the side of a leg.

"Ah!" A short gasping scream.

Nightwing turns and sees Shadow collapse to the ground.

"Shadow!"

"It hit my leg." The others stop and watch, but yelled that they need to go. "Nightwing go without me."

"No Shadow. I lost you once, and I'm not going to lose you again." With that said he picks her up bridal style and runs. 'How can we get away from Buzz?'

"Nightwing look!" yells Shadow as she points off into the distance.

Nightwing sees a gorge, "Shadow, you're a genus."

They stop; Nightwing puts Shadow down and takes out his grappling hook. He shoots it, and since there are no trees nearby, it hooks on a ledge. He puts the gun in the ground securely.

"Ok, we're going to crawl our way across," said Nightwing. The others nodded. "Shadow, do you think you can do it?"

"Yes."

"Ok here's the plan. Shadow, Kindle, Jen, and Zals, you'll go first. The rest of us will keep Buzz occupied."

They nodded; Scar took out a kusarigama and begins to swing it. Kale takes out a spear and twirls it expertly. Mac makes his orange goo. Jen goes first, follow by Kindle. But Shadow, she is still as she stares at Nightwing.

"Nightwing, please be careful," said Shadow in a worried voice.

"I will," he said as he took out his eskrima sticks. "I'll meet you on the other side." Than Nightwing gives a small kiss to Shadow on her lips.

Shadow blushes and watches him join the others. Zals takes Shadow and made their way across the gorge. Nightwing watches them safely cross than he pays attention to the matter at hands. Buzz approached them.

"So boys, ready to die?" he asks in a cold voice.

"No one is dying today," hissed Kale.

Mac gives a battle cry and jumps in the air and shoots four orange goo balls. The balls trap both of Buzz's feet from moving. Scar swings the kusarigama at Buzz's hand, getting rid of the knives. Kale twirls the spear and smacks Buzz at his side. Nightwing smacks him back and forth with his eskrima sticks to his head. Than Mac, Scar, Kale, and Nightwing drop all their weapons and punch Buzz square in the face at the same time. Buzz fell forward, he didn't make a move; lay still like he's dead. Nightwing being the only brave one; crouched down, removed his glove and felt for a pulse.

"Well?" asked Scar.

"He still has a pulse, but he's unconscious." Nightwing stands back up and put his glove back on. "Let's go join the girls before he wakes up."

They nodded and went to the rope; the girls wait patiently for them. Zals is putting the same medicine she used on Mac, on Shadow. Jen and Kindle wave at the guys.

"Come on boys, my lady is waiting," said Scar as he starts to rope crawl.

"I just want this to end," whines Mac as he went next.

"Nightwing want to go next?" asked Kale.

"No you go. I need to make sure no one else can use this," said Nightwing.

Kale nodded and begins to rope crawl. Nightwing checks the rope and he slowly removes the gun from the ground; he made sure it'll stay till he gets across. Shadow stares at him than she sees Buzz sneaking up on him.

"Nightwing!" yelled Shadow. Nightwing stares at her and sees fear in her eyes. "Behind you!"

Nightwing turns around and Buzz is standing above him, than Buzz grabs him by the throat. Nightwing claws his hand trying to break free, but Buzz's grip tightens. Shadow stares at what is happening then without thinking; she takes out her bow and an arrow and takes aim. She takes a deep breath and releases the arrow.

The arrow sores across the gorge and hit Buzz in his shoulder. Buzz screams in pain; he lets go of Nightwing and tries to take the arrow out. Nightwing took a quick breath and begin to rope crawl to the other side. Shadow has another arrow ready, Buzz finally got the arrow out and was about to get Nightwing.

"Buzz! Don't even think about it!" yells Shadow.

"Alright, you guys win this time, but next time you won't be so lucky."

Than Buzz disappears, Shadow drops her bow and arrow and went to Nightwing. Scar got the grappling hook and Jen puts up the bow and arrow.

"Nightwing are you ok?" Shadow asked while she cupped his face in her hands.

"I'm ok Shadow," said Nightwing as he tries to breathe normally. She stares at him and he grabs her hands. "We need to get out of here."

"Where will we go?" asked Kindle.

"I know where we can go," said Shadow. "There's a cave not too far from here. Nobody will find us there."

"How can you know for sure?" asked Mac.

"It's where I've been hiding."

"Let's go before Buzz or Ki finds us," said Nightwing. They all nodded as Nightwing and Shadow stand up.

"Once we get there, I need to talk to you alone," Shadow whispers.

Nightwing nods. "Lead the way."

Shadow leads them to the cave. While they were walking, Nightwing removed his glove and grabbed for Shadow's hand. Shadow does the same action. Nightwing can feel her touch again. Ever since they first held hands, Nightwing's hand has felt cold and lonely till Shadow grabs it. A small smile forms on his face; he couldn't wait to be alone with her.

*Inima Mea means my heart in Romanian.*