Ch 19: A Plan?
The players gather around the fire and eat peacefully until Mac breaks the silence.
"This reminds me of home."
"How?" asked Zals.
"Back on Varv, me and my brothers would go outside and eat our dinner under the stars."
"That sounds awesome," said Kale.
"Did one of your brothers come to visit you?" asked Kindle.
"Yeah, it was great. We talk about our family and friends on Varv. I really miss them." Mac sniffles but he quickly wipes his eyes.
"I know how you feel," said Scar. "On Kovu, I left my best friend. We would go hunting and swimming, than instead of going home we would go to our second home."
"You're second home?" asked Jen.
"My parents would abuse me and I would leave to sleep in an old abandon building."
"My parents abandon me," said Jen in a sad voice. "I live with my uncle, but he's sick and may die."
Scar knew she would cry and pulls her in a tight embrace. Everybody is surprise at this side of Jen and Scar, and couldn't believe their eyes.
"So Scar, you're friend came to see you?" asked Kale.
"Yes."
"What about you Jen?"
"My uncle, even in his weak state, came," she said wiping away the tears and giving a smile. "Kindle, who came to see you?"
"My little sister."
"Isn't she blind?" asked Nightwing.
"Yes, I miss her so much."
Kindle begins to tear up, Shadow rubs her back and looks to Zals. "How about you Zals? Who came to visit you?"
"My grandmother, she's the woman who taught me everything I know about plants. She taught me the beauty that nature has for us."
"Your grandmother sounds like my girl back home," said Kale.
"You have a girlfriend," said Kindle who stops crying and gives an amused grin.
"Yes, back then I was a bad boy. Then she came into my life and showed me how to live better."
"She sounds great," said Zals.
"She is, I wish she was here. I love her."
Nightwing and Shadow share a look and exchange smiles.
"Who came to see you, Nightwing?" asked Scar.
"My second father, Batman."
"You have two dads?" asked Jen.
"My birth father passed away, Batman adopted me." Nightwing feels Shadow's hand touch his. "I miss him, my brothers, and my friends."
Nightwing's voice is full of sadness and that made everybody feel sad about the people they left behind.
"How about you Shadow?" asked Jen.
"Yeah, who came to visit you?" asked Mac.
A frown forms on Shadow's face, "Nobody."
"What?" they all said.
"Nobody came, it was just me in the room. Because on my planet, I'm just a demon with no parents."
Everybody felt so bad for Shadow, she had nobody to come and see her. Nightwing pulls her in a hug but she didn't cry. He knew that Shadow didn't want to show how weak she is, when in truth she's not. Than Shadow gets out of Nightwing's arms.
"Wait, did they come in person?" she asked.
"Yeah," said Nightwing.
"How did they get here?"
"What do you mean?" asked Kale.
"Think about it. Our planets are spread about by who knows how many miles. How did they manage to get to here in little time?"
"Yeah, it's impossible," said Mac.
"No it's not. Ki must be hiding a zeta beam," said Nightwing.
"What's a zeta beam?" asked Zals.
"It's a form of transportation by using teleportation to go from one place to another under a few seconds."
"Maybe we can use these zeta beams as an advantage," said Shadow.
"How?" asked Kindle.
"To go home, after we beat the Death Games."
"Shadow, are you sure we can?" asked Scar.
"Yes, by using my father's plan."
"Tell us your plan," said Nightwing with a smile.
Batcave
Jason and Tim are sparing to help get their mind off the situation. But it's not working. Tim fell to the ground and didn't even bother to get up.
"Tim, what's wrong?" Jason asked with so much concern in his voice, which he only used when he's with his brothers.
"It's just…" Tim couldn't even finish his sentence.
"I know, I miss him too."
"Jason, it should have been me. Why did Dick take my place? It should be me out there not him!" Tears fell down his face, Jason pulls him in a hug.
"Timmy, you know that Dick loves and cares about you so much that he couldn't watch you suffer out there. I would do the same for you."
Tim breaks the hug and wipes away the tears, "Thanks Jason."
Jason smirks, "No problem little bro."
They hear a roar of an engine which means Batman is home. The Batmobile parks and Batman hops out. He pulls off his cowl to become Bruce Wayne; he walks up to his boys.
"Why are you two not in bed?"
"Couldn't sleep," said Tim and Jason nods in agreement.
Normally Bruce would get mad, but he didn't blame them. Ever since they took his eldest son away, he couldn't sleep either. Tim begins to sleep with Bruce and so did Jason even though he won't admit it. Bruce nods at them and walks to the batcomputer with his boys following.
"Had a long night of patrol?" asked Jason.
"Yes, I patrol Bludhaven and Gotham."
"How was it?" asked Tim.
"Not bad, it was a quiet night."
"Have you got any news from the Death Games?"
"No, as far as I know; Shadow is still missing and Nightwing is searching for her."
"Do you think they'll fall in love?" asked Jason raising his eyebrow.
"I don't know."
"Sweet that would mean we get a new sister," said Tim with a cheery smile.
"If they can find a way to stay alive together," said Jason in a sad voice.
Bruce gets up from the Batcomputer and wraps his arms around his boys. "They'll find a way and we'll be prepared when they do."
Death Games
Nightwing wakes up with Shadow in his arms; he smiles and gives her a kiss on her forehead. He carefully gets up, not waking Shadow and the others. He goes outside and it's a beautiful sunny day; Nightwing smiles as he feels the warmth. In the shade of a tree, he sees something. His smile grew bigger as he knew it's the bird.
"Hey little guy," Nightwing said in a gentle voice as the bird rested on his hand.
"Nightwing?" He turns his head to see Shadow coming out from behind the water. "What are you doing out here?"
"Just enjoying the fresh air."
"You do know we're still in the ship right? So this isn't real fresh air."
"I know Shadow, but it feels nice."
"Who's your little friend?"
"Pazitor."
"What?"
"His name is Pazitor, it means guardian in Romanian. This bird has been a guardian to me, he led me to you."
"That's a great name," Shadow said with a small smile. "Is Romanian you're first language?"
"Yes."
They sat down to get more comfortable, than Pazitor moved to Shadow's hand. She gently strokes the bird and Nightwing stares at her with a smile that reaches to his ears. Just staring at Shadow made him forget everything about the Death Games. Pazitor flies off of Shadow's hand to a nearby branch than Nightwing wraps his arms around her.
"I wish we weren't in the Death Games," he whispers in her ear.
"Nightwing, without the Death Games we would have never met."
"True, but I don't want to lose you or the others."
"Me neither, but what can we do?"
Nightwing was about to say something than Ki appears in the sky. They quickly stand up; Shadow went to get the others and they quickly came out of the cave. They all stood together, Nightwing stands in front of Shadow.
"Greetings players. I hope you're all having fun in the games. It seems that we have a group and two missing players and it's getting boring. So players, I decided to make it more interesting. Instead of the items your sponsors send you going towards your location. I've decided to put all the items in one location, but there are complications. The first three players who arrive first at the location stay alive, the rest will face the complications than we'll see who survives. This challenge will last two hours and if you don't make it out in time, you'll never wake up. Also players, you may need to watch were you step."
Ki disappears, everybody is shocked in fear. Nightwing clenched his fists in anger than he sees Shadow face full of fear. He pulls her in a tight hug and whispers 'Everything will be ok.'
"What do we do now?" asked Zals in a panic voice.
"Yeah, won't this interfere with the plan?" asked Mac.
"No, it'll give us more time," said Nightwing.
"How?" asked Kindle.
"Ki, wants excitement and that's what he'll get."
Cliffhanger! I'm terribly. Please, please, please review!