Chapter 21: A Dance with Death

A/N: We changed The East Side to the East End...it's still the same place though. Just so you don't get confused, cause it turns out it's called the East End, not the East Side.

Jason's POV

"Damn…" I say out loud, taking a good look around.

The couches are tipped over and not in place and has bullet holes through them. The piano has scratches and burn marks all over it. The windows look like they've been broken through, the pictures and decorations are smashed to pieces, I move up the two steps of stairs and look around me. The kitchen is a mess, the TV has bullet holes and the glass door seems to be melted.

There are a few bloody dead bodies. I can hardly tell what they're wearing from all the blood loss.

I move down the hallway. The doors are scratched and have bullet holes through them.

"Autumn!" Where the hell is my little sister. No one answers back.

I look up as I call at the corner of the ceiling in this hallway. There are small cameras. That's right, she told me about the security system of this house...but I hardly listened.

I move to the tech room. The windows are broken, but the guns and computers and books are untouched.

I turn on the computers and check the security cameras.

Just a few minutes ago, Autumn entered the house through the main door. Wait...she left the house?

Autumn suddenly stops in her tracks as if listening to something. Then people wearing all black and large armour and hoods over their heads suddenly crash in. Autumn narrows her eyes. "Oh no…" She says.

She starts running towards the tech room, but more of these people come out from the tech room and block her way. She stops, she's stuck in the hallway. She moves towards the large armoured man and jumps and kicks his chest. She bounces backwards and goes over the other men blocking her way.

She pulls out two guns from her pockets and starts to shoot them as she does a backflip in the air. She lands on her two feet.

One of the men pulls out a baton and swings at her. She moves backwards and jumps on top of the table and shoots at them. She kicks the other men beside her and jumps off the table.

She starts to head for the door but more of the men block her way by pulling out large guns. Her eyes widen and she jumps to the side of the table and shoots at them as they shoot at her.

She gets behind the couch and the men shoot at her. She reloads and shoots at them. She ducks, dodging a bullet and jumps on top of the couch and towards the men. She shoots at them as she kicks other men in the face.

Then she cartwheels, hitting two more men in the head, then she jumps up and shoots their heads.

The entire damn house is surrounded.

She slides backwards and drops the guns once two of these men get lucky and hit her head.

She sits up. "Ow." She says and one of the men pulls out a knife and points it to her neck.

"So...what's up? Why are you guys back...and why are you people not metas?" She asks breathlessly as blood drips down her cheek and forehead.

The man only narrows his eyes at her. She cocks her head and smiles. She hits the man's hand and the knife flies away and she stands up and watches as the man's hand sizzles.

More of the men head towards her and she jumps up and dodges their attacks and kicks and punches, with flames now lighting around her.

Once the men around her are down she runs towards the door as more armored men head towards her.

She heads for the door, but one of the men throw a ninja star at her, and she bends backwards, the sharp part of the star cutting off small strands of her hair.

The stars stick to the door and she opens it and runs out. The men come after her.

Autumn's POV

I run down the subway and through the train station, then back up through the other side with these men still behind me.

These men look like the ones who kidnapped me and brought me to the van. I run and run, my shoes are already broken.

I stop at an alley and lean on the wall and take out my shoes. These people have gotten better since the last time I met them.

I run across the dark streets, my feet stepping on broken glass, on dirt, on puddles of dirty water. But I don't care. They're still on my trail and I can't shake them off.

I take a sharp turn and jump over a black van that passes by me. They're everywhere! In every street, all around the damn neighborhood! Oh God…

I run to a populated area, but they're still on my tail, I run to the road where there are a lot of cars and jump on the roof of a car, then on another one. One of the men tries to tackle me down and hold me to the ground, but I push him off the car's roof and keep running and jumping over the moving cars.

I jump on a long truck and run, but one of these guys tackle me down, followed by a lot more. I struggle in the man's grasp, I kick him in the stomach and push him off the moving truck, I run away from the other men. I reach the end of the truck, great.

I turn around and they're still running towards me, some of them holding guns and some holding swords and knives. Come on, Autumn, think! I look up.

There! Maybe I have a...nope...I have no grappling gun…

I look down, there we go! A dead guy with a grappling rope in his belt. I take the rope and swing it to the lighted lamp post and, I swing on the lamp post and climb up and jump towards the building, leaving the rope on the post.

This isn't right...the war is over...but they're not metas...then who are they, if they're not The Unknown?

I continue running, already breathless. These people are trained, and trained well...maybe as well as I am. Even if they were not as trained, they're too many...way too many, and they are increasing in number as I run.

These people...I saw mixed martial arts, and acrobatics...when I was fighting them earlier. They're punches and kicks are very heavy and have all the same moves...they've been trained by the same person. Who are they?

What do they want!

I keep on running and running. Why do they want to capture me? I jump over a building and I can still here swooshes and steps right behind me.

I flip over something that's blocking my way and continue running. I wonder why they aren't shooting...they obviously need me alive.

I jump and suddenly I feel a rope tie around my leg. Great. If I burn it, I fall and die...since I'm only halfway across the gap and the building I jumped off of was really high.

"CRAP!" I yell as I fall, and my head hits the side of a building, while I hang upside down.

They all stand over me as I feel wetness drip down my head. Everything turns black.

****Break****

I open my eyes. I'm strapped, my hands and feet are locked down and I'm facing the ceiling. It smells like toxin and I can see green smoke rise up to the ceiling. I could be in a factory or a chemical plant.

The table I'm on moves upwards, making me stand as I lay on the table.

I look around...yup, I'm in a chemical plant. There are a lot of large containers for chemicals. The place is dark, but far from empty.

Although I don't see anyone, I can hear shuffling...it seems to me that there are a lot of people shuffling in the shadows.

A woman with dark black hair and dark brown eyes steps out of the shadows.

"Yeesh, you could really use some sun." I say, staring at her shiny suit that reminds me of Talia. She has really pale skin and a smirk across her face as she moves towards me.

I try to move and burn the metal cuffs off, but it isn't working. I grunt.

"Don't bother Autumn." She points to my neck. I look down and there's a collar. This is great...just great.

"Listen lady, I don't wanna hurt you. So I suggest you let me out of here." She chuckles and I narrow my eyes. "You don't know what I can do to you and your little army of ninja whatevers."

She laughs. "Oh, I know exactly what you can do to me and my army. Phoenix. Oh and by the way, they're called soldiers." My eyes widen and I start struggling even harder searching for the lock pick in my sleeve, but there's none.

I grunt as I rub my wrists against the tight cuffs. Blood already begins to drip down my hands, but I don't care.

"What do you want?" I spit and she chuckles.

"The tables have turned...haven't they?"

I continue to grunt as I try to get out. "What do you mean?"

She cocks her head. "I was suffering because of you, and now, I'm making you suffer."

"What. Do. You. Want?!" I stare into her heavy dark eyes.

"Revenge."

"I don't even know you." I say clenching my teeth.

"But you will." She pulls out a trigger and presses the button. I can feel thousands of volts get shot around my body. I don't yell, I clench my teeth.

Suddenly, the ropes open and I fall on my hands and feet. She kicks my stomach, and I grunt. "You see...you killed my father. Now, I'm just going to kill you." She kicks my chest.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"He wasn't really a great father...not the best one. But he was still my father. He was a good father, before he...evolved." I dart my head up and stare at her with wide eyes. "That's right...Unknown. After you burned him to death, I went back to this legion...my own legion. Of course, I'm still building my army, but...I couldn't wait any longer for revenge."

"Just kill me now." She kicks me again and leans down and holds my chin. "You see, before you die...I need you to suffer." She pushes my head away and she pulls out a gun. "Oh don't worry, I'll kill you, slowly, painfully, the worst way possible. I'll take away any hope of your big brother ever saving you. I'll destroy any light in your heart. I'll make sure your brother can never save you." He doesn't even know where I am.

But the light and hope in my heart have already drained out...I'm not hoping that my brother will save me.

"You're father was insane."

"But he was still something."

"I DID WHAT I HAD TO DO!" I yell. "The war needed to end!"

"NO! MY FATHER WAS A GREAT MAN!"

"No…He was crazy for power! He probably didn't care about you!"

"LIES."

"No."

"He was wise, he wanted equality!"

"No he didn't! I met your father! HE TOLD ME THAT HE WAS GOING TO TAKE OVER! HE WANTED POWER! NOT EQUALITY! HE WAS BLIND!"

"My father would have never wanted that. He wanted justice! Against all those people who treated us metas like crap!"

I grab the gun and stand up. We struggle for the gun, shooting everything else but not us.

Then the gun slides away and she knees me in the gut and I'm back on the floor.

She kicks my face and grabs my head, throwing my face against the ground. I hear a loud crack as I spit blood. Suddenly, I feel something sharp enter my shoulder. "Ah." I grunt and put my palm on the ground, trying to hold it.

She kicks my side and I roll over and take the knife out of the back of my shoulder. It's a deep cut, and it stings.

"But for now, I want revenge on the child that killed my father!" She kicks my nose with her high heeled boots. "AFTER MY FATHER DIED, I WAS ALONE! It was bad enough that I had to train all my life, and master my powers and train these other people because of him! I never got his love! BUT HE WAS SOMETHING! He was all I had! AND YOU TOOK HIM AWAY FROM ME!"

Suddenly I feel myself being lifted up by a light force and smashed into the wall of the chemical plant. I keep my eyes shut as I continue to smash into the wall.

"After you blew up the base, I stayed here on earth and continued to recruit more people and train them."

"Why...are they not meta?" I question, still keeping my eyes shut.

"Because...humans are easier to manipulate. Since they have no knowledge of the war." I open my eyes.

"Manipulate?" I'm on the ground now, and I stare at the floor.

"Yes, manipulate. All I need to do is get into their minds...and change some things. Of course, I only recruit the best...the best is so hard to get nowadays."

"So...I'm guessing that the hardest to manipulate are the crazies, huh?" I ask as I stare at her.

She cocks her head and shrugs. "It takes time." She smiles. "Maybe, I can manipulate your brother into fighting along side with me!"

"No, you stay away from my brother! Kill me, but don't show your face to him!"

She smiles.

She raises her hand, and suddenly darkness. A shadow picks me up and brings me to her. "I am also able to do this." She crashes my head on a wall just by swinging her hand. "My, this is easier than I thought. I thought you were The Phoenix?"

"I am."

"Hmm...but then why are you so weak? Ever since the day that I tried to kidnap you, I planted a tracking device in your blood and watched you from then on."

"So, you're the one who tried to have me kidnapped."

I frown and raise up my hand giving her the finger. She smiles.

"Ah!" The shadows around me tighten and start to suffocate me. "Who are you?"

"I am Victoria. But you can call me Silhouette. Everyone I train does. Before I kill you...I will make you suffer, just the way you made my friend suffer." I made a lot of people suffer, who is she talking about?

The last thing I hear is her voice. "Get out of here now!" She yells. Everything darkens.

****Break****

Jason's POV

"S***. S***. S***!" Where the hell could Autumn be!?

I tried calling her, but no one's answering. I looked all over her room, the tech room, everywhere! I've checked all around Gotham and she's already been missing for four hours.

Leaving this place is dangerous, especially since the heat hasn't died down with our escape and everything. But Autumn already did most of the work and deleted any pictures of me and her online so we can at least leave the house as Jason Todd and Autumn Cross.

WIth the Bat still out there looking for me everywhere...I can easily be captured, but since when did I care about my own safety?

I doubt that even Autumn can take down all those ninja guys after her, all on her own, even with her powers.

I walk to the tech room. I was never really good with detective work or hacking or all that s***, I'm more of a hand to hand combat kind of guy. But I need to find out where my sister is.

I have to find her.

I hack into Gotham's security tapes around the city. I only have a few minutes to search through the past videos of the streets on file before Batman finds out because he's also hacked into Gotham's security network. Once he gets an alert, he'll track it down to this place. I'm sure of it.

I type rapidly, searching through the data network of the security cameras around Gotham city. I focus on the East Side and the possible places she could have went a few minutes ago.

There. I can see her running across the streets and shadows following her. Lots and lots of shadows…

She runs until she gets to a populated area and jumps over cars and then over a truck, she gets hold of a grappling rope and swings up, then she gets out of the sight of the cameras and so do the men.

I pause and look at the background. That place isn't too far from here.

Those people are really trained. It's obvious. Anyone that can capture a member of The All Caste has to be very well trained. I have to be careful.

****Break****

I find a pair of sneakers soaking in a puddle of dirty water. I pick it up, yeah that's Autumn's.

I trace her footsteps, and I climb up the building. There are drops of dry blood on the roof that I can see with the software I installed into my helmet. It doesn't take much time for the computer in my helmet to analyze it and confirm that it is Autumn's dry blood.

I jump over one building and move to the next one. There's nothing on this building, so I move to the edge of the building and see bloody shards of glass, and I can tell even without the computer telling me. She was here.

At the very edge there is a piece of evidence that my helmet just scanned for me. Marks, scratches probably coming from a hook. I look down the building and my computer scans that there is dry blood marks on the side of this building.

I climb down the building. I touch the dry blood. She could have been hung upside down, with the hook or rope that was connected to the edge of the building.

I narrow my eyes at the wall. This is evidence, but it doesn't lead me to where she is.

"Hey mister!" I turn around and take out my gun. I realize that I'm pointing it to the head of a kid.

A street kid in particular. I keep my gun. "You know, you really shouldn't carry guns around, my nana used to say that it's wrong." He says, he's probably new to this street kid thing.

"Yeah, sure whatever." I don't have time for this, I start walking out of the alley.

"You looking for a kid?" I stop and turn to him. "Yeah, I saw a kid, a girl. She was up there, swinging upside down, then she hit her head. I was gonna go help her, but some guys came and took her off of the rope and brought her to a black van." He says pointing to the dead end of the alley. "They were parked right there."

The computer in my helmet states that he's telling the truth. "I watched them take her to the van and they drove away."

"Ya, know where they went?"

"Yeah, that way." He points. "I think they were heading to that old chemical plant since they took a left turn, and all that's there is a chemical plant." He says.

"You better be right, kid." He nods.

"Don't worry, I am."

I start walking to where I parked my car.

Daiman's POV

"Father, we found them." I say over the alert that the computer has suddenly sent. Once the alert was made, Carter and I immediately moved to the computer. Someone hacked into the Gotham security system. After upgrading our own system, we are able to find out if anyone hacked into our system or any of the systems we hacked into, all because of Todd and his sister.

"Their hideout is on the East End, near the old abandoned pier." Carter says looking away from the computer and turning to Batman.

Father is looking at the case again, just staring. "Father." I say and he nods, not looking at me and walking towards the vehicle without uttering a single word.

Drake and Grayson are out scouting the city for Todd, and patrolling at the same time. So it's just Carter and I left in the cave.

She and I follow.

We drive through the East End, the most crime infested area in Gotham. We cross The Bowery and the border of Crime Alley to a dark and empty road. This road it is simply deserted, no children walking around searching for food, or criminals stealing the purses of women. Just an empty, deserted street.

I could already imagine a tumbleweed passing by as I look out the window. I have never heard of this street before, here in the East End. This street is obviously hidden, or maybe cloaked for a reason.

All the houses we pass by are tiny, but dark and empty. Usually, I hear the screams of women or beer bottles breaking, but all I hear are crickets chirping.

Batman follows the map on the screen. We are the green dot, and the hideout is the red dot. I question why Todd would suddenly get so careless after all these months of hiding, how could he possibly get careless?

Finally, we stop. I look outside. I was expecting it to be a disgusting deserted factory, or maybe a place in the sewage system or somewhere underground. But instead, I get a house. A clean and pleasant looking house.

It is not a large house, not close to the size of the manor, but it is the biggest house in the area. We walk to the door and Batman simply picks the lock.

"Are you sure this is it?" Nightingale whispers.

"Affirmative." Batman says blantly. The door simply swings open and we walk inside the dark house.

Nightingale moves to the side and touches the switch and the lights turn on. It's a mess, bullet holes through the couches, scratches on the piano, large holes through each window, the large TV cracked. We walk in quietly and down the hallway. If only it wasn't a mess, this place would look nice. Batman starts searching the mess as Carter and I walk curiously down the hallway.

I open every door. I see a few untouched guest rooms and three bathrooms. I open the door to another room and find a neat bed room. There is a guitar, and a few posters of rock bands and artists and a table with a laptop. I don't enter the room. Where are they?

I continue to walk down the hallway with Carter by my side. I only notice now that there are drops of blood on the walls, and a few bullet holes here and there. A knife is stuck to the wall with dry blood painted on it.

We both walk into another room. At first it is very dark that I cannot see anything, then the lights turn on, on its own. There are dozens of large computers, shelves of books, and tables that are filled with experiments. We walk into the room.

I look around, but I don't touch anything hoping not to wipe away any evidence. "OH MY GOD." I hear loud thuds and I turn around. There are corpses all over the floor, coming out of a large closet. Todd must have just stuffed them in there.

"That's...unpleasant." I stare at the many corpses all over the carpet.

"Robin, Nightingale." I hear Batman's voice down the hall. The two of us walk towards his voice. "They are not here. We need to keep looking for them."

Then my com turns on. "I've just got a huge lead." Grayson says over the coms.

Batman nods. "Then let's go. Now." He orders.

"Batman, there are dead bodies in the other room." Carter says as we walk towards the door.

"I know." He says.

****Break****

Jason's POV

My jacket is gone...it burned down. So is one of my helmets. I had to blow it up to create the explosion. All I've got now is a knife and a gun that's almost out of bullets and my motorcycle.

I drive on my motorcycle with the heavy wind blowing at my hair. The chemical plant is gone, and so are the people in it. All I needed to do was ask and blow up the damn place. What kind of moron would leave their little army of assassins inside a chemical plant where they can be easily blown to bits?

How stupid is this lady?

The good news is, I found out who they were working for. Silhouette. I have no idea who that is, but she has my little sister and they're heading towards the cemetery for some reason.

The bad news is, I have no idea what to expect from this woman. She is obviously a metahuman, but I don't know how predictable or unpredictable she is.

I stop my motorcycle and see a woman in a suit walking towards a silver car, smiling.

I get off of my motorcycle and immediately point my gun at her head. "Where is she?" I ask.

She turns to me and smiles. But that's all she does. "I'll ask again. Where is she."

"You must be her brother."

"Hurry up and answer the damn question before I lose my patience and shoot your head out." I threaten.

She smirks. "The answer to your question is simple." I narrow my eyes still pointing my gun at her. "I buried her alive." My eyes widen.

"You did what!"

"Of course, you can easily get to her and dig her out. But, you'll have to kill me just in time before she runs out of air."

Autumn's POV

"I win! I win!" He says, throwing his hands in the air.

"What! No way! You cheated!"

He smirks and crosses his arms over his chest. "Nah, I won fair n' square!"

I smile. "Whatever. Let's just play again."

Then suddenly someone crashes through the door and I turn around. A man with blonde hair and gray eyes holds my mom by the arm and throws her on the couch. She whimpers, holding her head.

I turn to Nico who's packing up the board game and standing up. "That's mommy's boyfriend. His name is Lawrence. I don't like him...he hurts my mommy everytime he comes over."

He starts walking towards the room. I look back towards the couch.

He holds his hand up in a slapping motion."You gonna talk back again!?" He yells and grabs her light brown hair. His rough voice echoes.

He leans down, still holding her hair. Mom closes her eyes and holds her head. "Answer me when I'm talking to you!" Mom continues to whimper.

He lets go and her head bounces back on the couch. The man called Lawrence moves backwards and wipes his hair with his palm. "I didn't want to hurt you, but you made me do this Tess, when you didn't love me. When you chose the father of your son over me! Now, you suddenly some crawling back to me for money! I decided to help you, in exchange for your love. But this is how you repay me! By answering back at me and flirting with other men!" He yells and mom just whimpers.

"If only you loved me." He glares at her and she only wimpers. "Answer me!" He is about to slap her, but I run to them and stand right in between Lawrence and my mom.

He faces me and leans down. "Who the hell are you!" I ask, well more like demand.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING IN MY APARTMENT!" His hands ball into a fists. "GET OUT! OUT OF THE WAY AND OUT OF MY HOUSE!"

I stay standing and keeping a hard face.

"I said get out before I beat the hell outta you!" He yells, spitting in my face. I don't move.

He starts to swing his open hand towards my face, when mom suddenly grabs his arm.

"Stop, no! Please! She's mine!" He looks at her, and roughly pulls his arm away from her.

"Another one, Tess?"

"She won't be much trouble, I promise!" My mom begs.

He looks down at me and glares into my eyes with his own hard, tough eyes. "Fine." He says gruffly. Then he suddenly grabs her hair. I tense as she winces.

"Ow, stop." She pleads.

"I don't want her in my way, ever again. Do you understand?" Mom nods a bit and he violently lets go.

He clenches his teeth and stares at me, then he walks to a different room.

Mom crouches down and holds my arms, looking for any injuries. "Are you alright? Did he hurt you?" I shake my head as I look at her.

"Why do you let him hurt you, mom? Why not leave this place if this is his house?"

She sighs. "I'm sorry baby, we need food, and shelter, and he is the only one I know that can give us that. All I need to do, to get that from him, is stay here, even if he is hardly at home." She looks down and rubs my arms with her soft palms.

"How long will we have to stay here, then?" I ask.

"I don't know. Until we can find a way to buy our own house, and until I can find a better job and be able to support you and your brother."

I nod and I stare into her teary eyes. "But…" I say, but she cuts me off with a whisper.

"Listen to me, Autumn." She whispers, holding my arms. "Whatever he does, whatever you find out about him, if he hurts you...please...please don't fight back, no matter what."

"Why?" I ask.

"Just because. Just do it for me, okay? No matter what happens, never fight him. Understand?"

"No, mom. I can't understand why we shouldn't fight back, when he treats you like this!" I almost yell and she covers my mouth with her hand.

"He supports us. He is the one who lets us sleep in this house, he gives me money from time to time, if you get him angry, not only will he hurt us, he'll stop helping us." I nod and she hugs me tightly and sighs. "Can I trust you on that? Protect your little brother, but don't fight Lawrence."

I nod and hug her back. "Yes mom."

She lets go and stands up once we hear heavy footsteps coming out of the room. The blonde man walks out of the bedroom with a cigarette in between his lips.

"Come here, little girl." He gestures for me to come to him. "Now that you're living under my roof, there are some things that you need to know. I will accept you into this house, but you have to do everything I tell you too. Never talk back at me, and never piss me off, ever. If you break any of those very simple rules, I will kill you, understand,baby girl!?"

I look down and nod.

"Look at me when I am talking to you." He says and I look up at him. "From now on, you will call me, papa." My eyes widen in anger and I clench my fists and grind my teeth.

"Wherever Tess, got you from, because I doubt that you are her daughter since you're older than her real son. If you had a dad, before. Forget about him, forget about him, I don't care if you don't want me to be your new dad. I don't want to be your dad either. But you will call me papa from now on. I will replace your old man whether you like it or not."

You're nothing like my dad. I wanna say that so bad.

"Do you understand?" His voice is loud and gruff.

"Yes, papa." I say through clenched teeth.

The world starts to blur around me and the scene changes. Time passes by. I'm still in the same apartment, but the place looks a bit older and looks darker.

"YOU BASTARD!" He pushes me to the ground and punches my face. I topple over the old lamp as my head hits the side of the table. My eye is swollen, and I can hardly see through my other one. I can feel another bruise forming at the back of my head.

I can hear mom pleading to papa...but I hear another thud and the pleading stops.

"You stupid, worthless little b****!" He yells.

"You'll get yourself killed, working for Cobblepot, papa." I say.

"I TOLD YOU TO STAY OUT OF MY WAY!" He yells and grabs my arms and swings me across the room.

I'm not going to fight, I won't fight...I won't.

I can take another beating.

I can hear a swish and I know what's going to come next. I can hear his heavy footsteps get louder and louder heading towards me.

He starts whipping me with his long belt and I wince but I don't cry. He continues whipping and whipping and I only lay there, wincing.

"You stupid bastard! It's hard enough to have to work for one kid, then you had to come into the family! What use are you!" He continues whipping. I am useful. I've stolen cash for him without mom knowing. I've helped him out with a lot of heists. I am useful. He must be drunk again.

The whipping stops and I can feel blood dripping down my cheek. I start to slowly stand up, my knees are shaking.

I'm so sick of pretending to be weak...but I have to do this for my brother and for my mom.

He pushes me back down and slaps me and hits me. Then he grabs my hair. "You stupid good for nothing girl. I warned you once, don't piss me off. I told you I will beat you, I wasn't bluffing. But the next time you're in my way, I will kill you." He lets go of my hair and I fall to the ground.

Mom doesn't come near me. She doesn't hug me, she can't, she's also beaten up. Maybe, she just doesn't want to, she probably doesn't want to hug me because of the bruises on my face.

"I'll take you down with me." I whisper as I glare at the floor with my one eye.

The scene changes again. The apartment is much darker, much more silent...it's been a few days since my little brother's death. Mom is out, doing who knows what...she's been missing the past few days.

I don't know what she's doing when she leaves...but everytime I see her, she always looks like a ghost...always so quiet.

I sit on the floor applying ice to my eye, I got a bruise from those thugs that I stole from.

Suddenly I hear the door slam and I look at the door. I don't see my mom, I see papa grinning at me like a maniac.

"Hello, child. " He locks the door. "Did you know, you're momma doesn't want you anymore? So I can hurt you now!" He starts walking towards me as I stand up and drop the ice pack. "Did I ever tell you, how much I hate you?" He says as he walks towards me in the dark. "Now that your momma ain't here, I can do whatever I want with you. I can choke you, I can slap you, I can kill you."

I move backwards and hit the wall. "Why...why do you hate me?" I try to stall. How can I protect myself without breaking mom's promise?

"You're the reason why I suffer at work." he says, swaying a bit as he walks towards me.

I press myself against the wall, and I hear him curse. I start to run, but he slaps and hits me and continues to yell at me. I run for the door but it's locked. He throws a wooden chair at my head and he grabs me and I start to bawl. He throws me against the wall, with a loud crack and a thud as I fall to the floor, my head bleeding.

"I HATE YOU!" He yells at me.

"I'm sorry papa!" Mom said to not fight back. Mom said, mom said, mom said. I have to be good to him, but I must have done something bad, I must be stupid.

"I...I don't understand...why not just go back to them?" I start regretting saying it once those words leaves my mouth.

His face twists into unimaginable hatred. He kicks me and punches me and slaps me. I hate him too...I wanna fight back and beat him until he breathes his last...but mom said.

"NEVER TALK ABOUT THEM. Just because you found out about them, doesn't mean that you can just blurt things out about them! You can only do, and say things when I tell you to!"

He starts to walk towards the door and the door slams, leaving me alone in the dark as the moon illuminates. I lay motionless on the floor, blood dripping down my nearly broken bones.

I told my mom that I wouldn't fight back, and I didn't.

The scene shifts and changes.

I look out the window and listen to the loud siren. I watch as the police take papa away. Mom is yelling at the police man for some reason.

He looks up at me and glares darkly. This is the last time I will ever see him. He'll die in jail, I hope he does.

I turn around and see a girl by the couch, with her hands tied to the table as her own mom whips her back with a bloody belt. Her mom screams and yells as the girl cries.

The girl cries, not because the whips are painful...but because with every whip comes a whole lot of hatred, coming from the person that she loves the most...her own mother. That's why she's crying, I know this because that girl is me.

Then the world turns dark. There's just an empty space of nothingness.

Then I shoot my eyes wide open.

Jason's POV

I spit out blood and wipe my mouth with the back of my bloody glove. I'm bleeding all over the road. My own favorite knife is injected in my side, and there's a bullet hole on my arm and on my leg.

I get back up and face her. She just smirks. All I was able to do to her was slightly cut her cheek, it's not even a deep cut. I'm losing this fight and I can't even get in the cemetery. We've been fighting here in the middle of this empty road lighted by two street lights for hours.

All she needs to do, to nearly kill me is wave her hand and let the shadows do the work.

She smirks. "You're fun. You never give up. Hm...but I'm getting tired of this game." She looks at me and I feel a piercing cold pain shoot up the back of my head.

"AAAAAH!" I fall to the ground and hold my head and breathe heavily as the pain gets heavier.

"Hmmm...interesting."

"AAAH!" I yell, holding my head and kneeling on the floor. She starts to walk towards me. I can feel something crumbling on the inside of my mind. I clench my teeth and spit out blood, I force myself to stand as gravity heavily forces me to kneel down.

But I kneel to nobody and to nothing. I stand up, holding my arm and I run towards her.

I punch but I miss as she dodges. "Looks like Autumn isn't the only one who's mad in her family." She taunts.

She waves her hand and a shadow quickly picks me up and holds me. I struggle.

"Hm...too bad, I'll have to kill you since you aren't of any use to me." I struggle and grab the knife and take it out of my side without even flinching, and I throw it at her.

The knife hits her shoulder and she's pinned to her own car. The shadow shatters as she yells, holding her arm.

I run towards her, taking the large pieces of glass that broke from the silver car earlier and throw it through her left shoulder. She yells and the shadow that was about to take the knife out of her shoulder shatters.

"What's the matter? Can't take a little pain?!" I run to her and dodge the long spikes of shadows heading towards me. I finally reach her and start punching her stomach. I can hear the sounds of shattering noises behind me.

I take a shard of glass and push it right through her thigh and another shard through her other thigh to pin her to the front of the silver car. "Where is she!"

"Six feet under." She says through clenched teeth. "I'll kill you!" A shadow grabs my back and lifts me up. I struggle as I watch her figure move further away from me.

If only I had another weapon…

I shuffle through my pockets. A lighter. I open it and light the shadow. The shadow burns and I fall to the floor and so does the lighter. Fire starts to light up my clothes as I walk towards her.

I bend down and take the fire. "You know, Autumn isn't the only one that can burn people."

"It...it doesn't matter. She'll die before you get to her, all because of your stupid revenge." I take a shard from the ground and put it right through her chest. She flinches.

"Sometimes...revenge is all that matters." She smiles as her breathing gets shallow.

"Touche." She says and I start to light the oil leaking from the car.

"Yeah." I move towards the cemetery holding my side as I listen to her screams and as the car explodes,

Autumn's POV

"AAAAAAH!" I scream, spitting out blood. It's dark, it's so dark.

Flashes of a memory come back, the escape pod...the bright fire.

I can't move...it's too tight. No….no, no it can't be...oh no. 'AAAAAAH!" I scream. GET ME OUT OF HERE!

.

I bawl, but my elbows and knees only hit concrete. I can't move. I bang on the top of the box. I concentrate on trying to burn it. But it doesn't work. I hold my neck. I still have the collar on. I CAN'T GET IT OFF!

I NEED TO GET OUT!

I punch the darkness, listening to the loud thuds. "AAAAAAH!" I scream as I start scratching the top of the box. I can hear the wood scraping off, I can feel the splinters of wood come down to my face and almost into my mouth. But as blood starts to drip down to my cheeks from my fingertips, there's no progress.

"GET ME OUT!" I know, I have to calm down, screaming is no use...and I'm already gasping for air. My lungs are begging for it. I HAVE TO GET OUT!

I keep on scratching at the wood.

Fire, and burning, crying, and the smell of steel burning…

Tears start to drip down the side of my eyes mixing with the blood and wood on my face. I can feel something crawling up on my skin and I start screaming even harder and bawling even more. My knees and elbows hitting wood every time I make one move.

I continue to bang around the darkness, as my lungs start to beg for air. I would scream for help, but would help even come?

Jason's POV

Where the hell is she?

I stumble through the cemetery, There are dead trees, and black crows everywhere. The wind howls, as I remember.

I remember crawling out of my own grave. How much I hated that coffin. I screamed and bawled and scratched, and I dug up six feet of dirt. I still remember the first name I screamed when I opened my eyes.

I was able to gain claustrophobia, but no matter how much I hated tight spaces after that, I still kept going on. But now, my sister is stuck in a coffin, the same way I was...buried alive, left to be fed on by earthworms. I hold my side which is bleeding.

The back of my head is also bleeding because I wasn't able to get that far from the explosion of the car because of this damn bullet in my leg.

I've got burns from the explosion in the chemical plant, and I've got a huge migraine as the world starts to spin. But I keep walking, she's my little sister, I have to save her. I can't let her suffer the way I did.

"Autumn!" I yell fighting through the dizziness.

Autumn's POV

Burning to hell...the world was shaking…it was worse than a nightmare...I felt my skin peeling…

But now...it's much worse…

I'm surrounded with simple, but breathe taking blackness. Every move I make, I always end up hitting one side of the enclosed space and giving myself a bruise. Blood is dripping down my dirty palms, hot tears are falling from my eyes, I'm covered in blood, sweat, wood, dirt and worms.

But I don't care. I keep scratching.

My lungs are going to wither with the lack of oxygen. My heart is going to explode with its quick beating. I'll die...either from lack of oxygen or from panicking.

I know it's pointless to panic, but even if I tried thinking smart and stop panicking and take slower breaths...it wouldn't change much. I would only be delaying the inevitable; my little dance with Death.

Jason's POV

I dart my head to the left once I hear a loud scream coming from under. I limp towards the grave. It looks new, and there's a wooden cross stuck to it. "AAAAAH!" The screaming gets louder once I get closer.

I run towards the grave. Even as the world starts to spin, and even as pain starts to shoot up my whole body with every damn step that I make, even as I hear a lot of footsteps come towards me from behind me, probably going to attack me. I just keep running towards the grave.

I kneel on the ground and start digging with my bare hands. I have to save Autumn. She isn't just a little sister, she's also my friend, and, no, I don't have many friends.

I just dig, and I can feel the ground get softer. I keep digging even as my gloves start to rip off of my fingers. I just keep digging.

Dick's POV

"Nightwing, take him away from there." Batman says, running towards the grave. I take Jason by his arms and drag him away from the grave. He struggles and tries to run towards the grave. He may be taller and has a bigger build, but I have my brother and sister to help me out.

Everything starts to become a blur, and all I can really hear is screaming and the sound of Batman digging and taking Jason's place on top of the grave.

Now, Batman's the one who's digging. Then Damian moves towards the grave and starts digging beside him.

Little Wing is lying limply in my hands. Suddenly, I can feel heavier weight on my hands and I look down, my not-so Little Wing is in my arms.

Damian's POV

It is my job to stand by Batman's side, or in this case, kneel.

I dig and dig, although I know that there is hardly a point. I know that Autumn was my friend...but she's changed now. I don't think that she can come back to the way she was before.

I don't think Autumn is even alive. Once this coffin opens, I know I'll find a dead body of a pretty girl. But that is all we will find.

My fingers hit concrete. We continue digging until we can see the lid of the coffin.

There's a padlock on it. Batman puts a small device on the lock and it burns the padlock on touch. He thinks that there could still be time for her to be alive, but no time for a lockpick.

Batman opens the door, and my eyes widen at the sight of the girl.

She's shaking violently. Her eyes are wide, her breathing is obviously heavy, her hands are bloody and dirty, and so is her face. There's a collar on her neck that has drops of blood on it.

I can see her eyes, wet and red. I have never seen her like this. Looking so small, so weak.

Father easily and gently picks her up. As he does this, he says, "Take him home." I turn around and see Todd hanging limply in Grayson's arms.

"But-" Drake starts to interject.

"Now. All of you, go home." He commands harshly.

They start walking to the vehicle. I look back down at Father who is trying to calm Autumn down. "But Father."

"You too Damian." He says and I nod.

I start walking behind Nightwing. I know I am only hallucinating by the events of this night, but I hear Father say "I'm sorry."

Nightwing puts Todd down on the back seat next to Drake, and NIghtwing gets in the driver's seat with Carter in shotgun.

I sit beside Drake, watching Todd's shallow breaths. We speed up, but we drive in silence.