Chapter 45: Riddle Me This...

A/N: ...can you guess what's been going on?

Jason's POV

It's dark.

I'm freezing.

I have nowhere to go.

Then I'm running. Running away from screaming crows flying after me.

Then there's a green pit hovering right in front of me, screaming and yelling coming from it, and I can't stop running to the green light.

Then I fall into the pit of souls, of tortured souls. Men and women screaming and tearing at my clothes, grasping for life. "You don't belong." Familiar faces drained out of life. "Time to go back to where you belong." Their screeching voices are like nails on a chalkboard, whispering in my ear.

"Your second chance is over Jason." A man whispers, and when I look up, I see a man dressed in a bat costume.

I try to swim to him and grab for his cape but I miss, and he looks down at me in disappointment as he backs away and fades into the darkness.

"Your wings are plucked out. You fell and you should have never come back. Son." Batman screeches in the darkest voice reserved for the scum of the city as if I'm a curse that crawled out of hell. He glares daggers I cannot dodge.

Time is up.

I open my eyes and jolt out of bed. I hear screaming from a voice so hoarse and scared. It doesn't take long before I realize it's my own voice.

"Jason! Jason! Son! It's alright, it's not real! It's okay." I feel strong arms wrap around me as I start to shake and shudder and the world turns into a mysterious haze.

.notreal.

"It's okay."

"Little Wing?" As the world paints itself, I notice people surrounding me and pairs of blue eyes filled with worry staring down at me.

My eyes dart around the room, sweat beading from my face as my panting gets weaker, but I can still hear my heart pounding in my ears.

"Calm down, Jason. Inhale, exhale."

I follow what the voice tells me, going along with his breathing. "That's right, son. It's okay."

My breathing is shallow, but it slows down and the world stops hazing and swirling around me. My eyes gain their focus and they fall on Dick's worried face.

Then I look at Tim who seems concerned, Then Damian with his eyebrows arched and his mouth slightly agape. Then Chris, who looks like she's on the tip of falling off a cliff.

I shake my head and see that the arms wrapped around me are none other than Bruce's.

He's rubbing circles on my back.

I shake my head and push him away. I scowl. "What the hell Bruce?" I growl. "What are you doing?"

His eyes fill with sympathy. "You were having a nightmare son."

I shake my head. "Whatever." I get off the bed and put on a t-shirt, blue eyes still watching me. I jog to my room, close the door, and put on my jeans and a jacket.

I run downstairs with everyone else watching me again. "Where are you going Jay-son." Tim asks.

"Out. Don't follow."

I grab my keys and shut the door behind me, stuffing my hands in my pockets.

Damian's POV

"Where do you think he's going?" Carter asks.

"What do you think has been going on with him?" Grayson walks down the stairs with Drake behind him.

I shrug. "It doesn't matter. Todd can take care of himself."

Drake looks back at me with a small smile. "But you did seem really worried just a few minutes ago."

I roll my eyes. "Don't think such nonsense, Drake." He smiles slightly. "Todd is nothing but an inferior predecessor." He shrugs and walks down the stairs, waving his hand.

"Okay." He says sarcastically.

I roll my eyes one more time before turning around, walking past Carter, and back to Father's room where he still is.

"Father." I say, pulling him out of his own thoughts. He looks at me.

"Yes son?"

I walk towards the bed. "What has been going on with Todd?"

"I don't know, son. But I'll find out." Father stands up and gives me a reassuring smile. "Now, it's time for you to get ready for school. You're the only one who isn't dressed yet. Hurry up or you'll be late."

I groan and turn to the door.

I walk to my room and get ready for school, throwing on my uniform and brushing my hair slightly. I grab my backpack and walk down the stairs to where Drake and Carter are already eating breakfast.

"Where's Grayson?"

"Went out to look for Jason."

"Oh."

Watching Todd have a nightmare, shouting for help as if he's drowning, is...scarring. Todd is supposed to be the strongest of us, the biggest, the one who takes stubbornness and introversion to a new level...and to see him yelling in pain just isn't right.

"I wish I could've come with him though…" Drake mutters whilst standing up.

"Then why didn't you?" I ask rather harshly as I too stand up.

He looks at me as if I have grown a third eye. "Because of school."

"Why would that stop you?" I ask as Pennyworth emerges from the next room dressed in his usual outfit and ready to take the three of us to Gotham Academy.

"You wouldn't understand."

"Are you telling me that your academic classes are much more important than your 'brother'?"

"No- it's just…"

"Alright you two that's enough. We must be going or the three of you will be late."

We both nod. I turn around to see Carter still standing by the table. "Carter. Let's go."

Her head snaps to me, and she nods. "Y-yeah, right, school."

I raise an eyebrow as she walks past me towards the front door. I follow right behind her, slightly suspicious. "You haven't said anything all morning, Carter."

She shrugs. "I just don't feel like talking."

****Break****

"Good morning class."

"Good morning Miss Evans."

"Alright, let's start with the attendance."

Our teacher goes around checking the attendance. "Who sits there?" She asks, referring to the empty seat right in front of me.

I shrug. "Rein." She nods without sparing anyone else a glance. She looks down at the attendance sheet as she calls in the attendance on the school phone. She turns her back to the class and tries to talk at a lower volume, but I can hear her.

"Jake Rein has been absent for more than a month now, oh, he is in New Zealand? Alright. Autumn Cross is absent again. Yes, I know, she's been absent for quite some time. I'll need to talk to the dean about that."

Odd. I do not know Rein very well, but I do know he is not the kind of boy who would simply drop everything to spend a vacation in New Zealand. But why should I be asking? That chair has been empty since a few days after Autumn died. Hopefully, Rein got into a car accident in New Zealand.

"Weird, Autumn's been absent for more than a month! Ya think she's sick?" Daly asks me. I shrug. Then he gasps. "What if she secretly has cancer?!" He gasps again. "What if she's dead!?"

I slap my hand over his mouth. "Quiet down Daly, you'll get us into trouble."

"Mmmmmf!" I finally let go of his mouth before he licks it.

"Alright class, let's start."

****Break****

Tim's POV

"Another A, Mister Drake-Wayne." Mr. Greenwood places my test paper on my table with a small impressed smile.

Riiing! The lunch bell. Everybody stands up and runs out the classroom.

"Mister Drake." He calls my name at his desk. I walk towards him.

"Yes Mr. Greenwood?"

He is a man with graying hair and round glasses hanging on his nose, his face evident with past scowls. He smile slightly at me. "You have very high and outstanding grades. I was informed that you may be recognized at the end of the year for your outstanding grades once again. You are the top student in this class. I was wondering if you would like to compete with other grade levels for the math competition, and if you win, you will be representing the sophomore class." He says.

I'll be recognized again, huh? "Mister Wayne must be proud of you." He smiles.

Bruce…? Proud...of...me?

Almost impossible.

A frown etches at his lips. "You are so very unlike his last orphan."

I take a step back. "You mean, uh, Dick Grayson?"

He shake his head. "Oh, no. Mister Grayson was a top student. I'm talking about Mister Todd." I bite my cheek.

"He was your student, sir?"

He nods. "Yes. Quite the troublemaker, that one. Always getting sent to the principal's office." He chuckles darkly. "But what do you expect from a street rat? That boy had to work for extra credit to try and bring up his grades and he was still failing."

"I'm sure that's quite an exaggeration, sir." I say patiently.

He shakes his head. "Oh no. What I'm saying is quite true. Mister Todd was a disgrace to any name he took up. The other teachers couldn't see that he was a complete failure. The little whore." He mutters, and I clench my hands but stay quiet either way. "Then one day he didn't go to school, and the newspapers announced his death. Teaching suddenly got easier. God finally realized his mistake." He growls low.

I take a step back. Don't bad mouth my brother. I feel like punching his lights out. "Uh, Mr. Greenwood." I say, trying to be patient and sound as calm as possible. "I think I have to go." I smile sheepishly as I walk towards the door. "And sir. I think you can forget about me competing." He can find someone else.

I walk out the door and run down the hallway to the cafeteria.

Chris' POV

"Tim I need some advice."

He turns to me with a look of disbelief. "You're asking me for advice?"

I roll my eyes. "Don't act too surprised."

"Okay fine what is it?"

When I open my mouth, instead hearing words I hear a tiny cough. Tim frowns. "You getting sick?"

"No I'm fine." I glance at his friends and lower my voice slightly. "Anyways two things: how do you overcome shyness and how do you keep secrets?"

His frown becomes bigger. "Why?"

"Well I still have some stage fright issues and that won't help me for the musical, so I thought overcoming some of my shyness would be a good first step. And...the second one's a secret."

"Seems like you have the second one covered."

Two more coughs escape my mouth. "I've told too many people too many things and I feel like I have nothing else to hide, other than the obvious things. Now I find it much easier to spill things and speak my mind, which...isn't really a good thi-" Before I can finish my word, I cough a few more times.

"Is anyone in your classes sick?" Tim asks, becoming worried.

"No. I told you, I'm fine."

He sighs then puts his lunch in his mouth. Oh yeah it's lunch! I look over at my friends, but I should probably keep talking to Tim. I begin to take out my lunch. His friends give me curious looks, but I just avoid eye contact with them.

"Well overcoming shyness...just act like you aren't shy and pretend you're confident and that you know what you're doing. I mean you got into the musical. You must be pretty good at acting." I can hear a hint of sarcasm in that last statement, so I roll my eyes and chuckle lightly. But my chuckle is interrupted by a few more coughs, these heavier than the previous ones.

"You're not okay." Tim states, as if it's a known fact.

"How do you know? Maybe it's allergies or something!"

Tim's about to answer when Damian approaches us. "Carter it's February, not even allergy season yet. And the usual reaction to allergies is sneezing and runny noses. You are just coughing. Therefore, you are obviously sick."

I furrow my eyebrows. "I am not obviously sick. It's probably temporary." Another cough proves my statement false.

Damian raises his eyebrow in a 'Yeah, sure' kind of way. "Why are you sitting with Drake and his idiotic friends anyway?"

I see some of his friends look up from their conversations, but they know enough about Damian to just dismiss his snide comment.

I frown. Wait...why am I here again? "Umm..."

Tim and Damian frown at me. "She was asking me for advice." Tim says.

"Yeah, that." I say, but the two boys keep frowning at me. "Stop frowning at me like there's something wrong. I'm perfectly fine."

They stop frowning at me, but instead start frowning at each other, as if they're mentally talking about me. Damian is the first to stop frowning. He rolls his eyes. "Tt." And he walks away.

"I should prob-" This time, I sneeze. "Damn it." I mutter.

"I'll tell Alfred you're sick when we get home."

I'm about to protest when I cough again. This time, I succumb to the fact. My shoulders relax and I sigh. "Fine..."

"I will share the rest of my boundless wisdom with you at home." He jokes, and I smile, suppressing another light cough. "You should probably eat with your friends now."

"Okay..." I crappily put my food back in my lunchbox and get up and walk over to my friends' table, and for some reason I feel like some of my usual vitality is missing.

I'm probably just having a gloomy day.

****Break****

Dick's POV

I sigh. "Babs, will you drop this already?"

She shakes her head as she takes a sip from her Starbucks latte.

"I'm sure of it, Dick. It has a connection!"

"Babs, just drop it!" I tell her, my voice a little louder.

She shakes her head.

"Babs, why? Why won't you just drop it?"

"Because, Dick. It's a mystery. Don't you even wonder? Wally woke up a minute right after Autumn died. You and I both know that in this world, impossible is the most possible." Well, she isn't wrong about that.

"But, Babs, we don't have solid evidence. No facts or proof that can actually tell us that-"

"It's a hunch Dick. I haven't been completely honest about my theory." She sighs. "Autumn- your sister. Could have made a deal."

"A deal?" She nods.

"Yes. A deal."

"With who?"

"Death."

I move back in my chair. "Babs."

"Just hear me out, Dick."

I relax a little and nod. I gesture for her to continue her sentence.

"We all know that Thanos is real, that these myths aren't just myths. Autumn Cross could have known about all these and she could have made a deal with Thanos. Her life for Wally's."

I cock my head a little. "But why? He told me that he hardly knew her."

She shrugs. "Maybe Wally plays a huge role in this story."

I sigh. I hate it when she makes sense and doesn't make sense at the same time. That's why it's useless to argue with my girlfriend. But this just doesn't make any sense.

"This just doesn't make any sense." I voice out loud.

"Right...and coming back from the dead makes total sense." She rolls her eyes.

If someone overheard our conversation here in Starbucks, they would just think that we were two nerdy geeks talking about a fantasy computer game.

I sigh. "Where do you think Jason went?" I change the subject successfully as her back straightens.

She shakes her head. "Did Bruce say anything?"

I nod, taking a sip out of my own coffee. "Yeah. Said Jason's been avoiding every camera, and his tracker was found in his room. He hasn't called or come home yet." She sighs and stands up.

"Well, break's over. Let's get back to looking for him."

I nod. "Yeah. I think I know where to look next."

Crime Alley.

Back to where his life started.

****Break****

Damian's POV

"Bye Damian! See ya tomorrow!" Daly waves goodbye as he gets in his car.

"Where's Alfred?" Drake asks Carter. She shrugs.

"Maybe it's traffic?"

"It is very unlikely for Pennyworth to be late." They both nod, agreeing to my statement.

We sit here by the stairs as we watch all the other students get picked up by their own mothers, fathers, maids, or drivers.

We sit here for minutes, staring at the open roads, waiting for Pennyworth to come pick us up.

"Do you think Jason's come back?" Carter squeaks slightly.

I raise an eyebrow at her. "You have come to care about him, haven't you?"

She shrugs, inhaling her stuffy nose. "Well, I have no one to watch Supernatural with anymore."

"Tt."

"Hey Waynes!" We turn our heads to the right in the direction of the new voice. There is a boy with dark brown hair and stormy gray eyes wearing a red jersey and jeans running towards us without shame.

His eyes flicker to me. I stand up and and find out that we are the same height. "Yes? Do I know you?" I ask, my voice clear with annoyance.

He crosses his arms over his chest. "Nah. We've never actually met before."

Drake stands up, clearing out that he is taller than this boy. "Hey I know you. You're that kid we saw in the horse stables."

"Yeah, yeah. That's me. I'm a friend of Autumn's."

My mouth forms into a thin line at the memory of my younger sister riding a horse with this inferior boy.

Drake crosses his arms and leans back slightly, immediately not liking the rebellious aura this boy carries.

"What do you want?" I ask him blatantly.

But the commoner is unfazed and puts on a smug face. "I wanna know where my friend is." He says.

My eyes drift to Drake who has dropped his arms and slightly clenches his fists. The boy scratches the back of his head and looks down, losing some of his confidence. "I haven't seen her since December and I think she's missing. You Waynes know where she is?" He looks back at us, regaining his arrogant posture.

Drake and I look at each other when Carter steps in between us and smiles slightly. "Would you believe me if I told you that she died?"

That catches both Drake and I off guard as our eyes widen slightly at Carter's smug but sad expression. We show no further emotion.

He smirks smugly. "Nah."

Drake and I immediately regain our composure.

"That's so not possible." He says with a light laugh. "The thought of Autumn dying is hilarious." He pats Chris on the shoulder lightly. "Chris, right?" She nods with a small sheepish smile. "Yeah, I've heard of you. Autumn tells me a lot about you. All of ya." He gestures to us. "But she never told me about your sense of humor."

Chris chuckles lightly.

"Wait. What did Cross tell you about us?" I narrow my eyes.

"Oh, a lot. How you have this weird craving for sushi all the time. And you-" he points to Drake, "have a corny sense of humor, your failed love life and your cheesiness when trying to be sweet." He shakes his head.

"Oh. That's what she said about me?" Drake's eyebrow twitches.

Then his gray eyes set on me. "And your obsessiveness with hair gel just like the other guy - what's his name, Rich? Oh no, Richard. Oh wait! Dick!"

He looks at Chris. "And how you constantly talk and think about Supernatural and Dean what's-his-name and some angel, and that you're like some kind of typical dorky american girl." He shakes his head and wipes a fake tear of laughter.

The sky turns into a murky light purple as the sun starts to set.

"Oh...I see…" How much did Cross know about us?

"But ya know..." He pauses as the wind blows slightly. "She did mention how much she's jealous of you guys."

As if the world stopped, our mouth falls agape. But I'm the first to close my own, and I clench my fists slightly. "About what? Our fancy lives? That we're princes and princesses?" I honestly thought that Autumn had let it go already, but it doesn't look like she had.

But the boy shakes his head. "Nah, she never mentioned anythin' like that." My breath hitches invisibly. "Apparently to her. She idolizes you guys. She says she wants to be like one of you Waynes. And uh, don't tell her I told you guys but she told me that she shouldn't even be in the same house as you guys…"

"Last time I saw her, she was alone. She told me she'd go back to you guys, but after the last time we met, I never saw her again. But maybe she came back to you guys, and...I wanted to ask if she's okay."

Their friendship must be of great limits if he was willing to talk to people not of his class just to ask if she's okay.

"I just wanted to know if she's okay."

Drake sighs as Carter and I stand here, staring at the olive skinned boy. Drake puts a hand on his shoulder. "You know...you should stop looking for her. You won't find her anywhere."

He looks confused. "A piece of advice, you must simply forget that she even existed in your life." I tell him coldly.

"Why?" He barks.

"Beep Beep!" We all look to the left to see the car waiting for us at the side of the road.

"Just forget about her, okay?" Carter tells him before the three of us run towards Alfred who is in the driver's seat.

****Break****

Bruce's POV

"What do you mean there hasn't been any sign of him?!" Tim says, losing all evidence of his calmness.

I shake my head and place my hands on his shoulders to stop him from pacing. "Tim, calm down. Jason will turn up eventually."

"But he's been gone all day!"

"Timmy, it's not like he has never done this before."

"But-"

"We could get a better chance from the skies, while we're out on patrol. The Riddler is still somewhere out there and he needs to be stopped." They all nod in agreement, slapping on their masks. "Nightwing, Red Robin, I need you to scout for Hood."

"Robin, Nightingale, you're with me. We're going to find Nigma."

They all nod and we run for our vehicles.

****Break****

Dick's POV

We stand on an abandoned building's rooftop, and I look down the narrow alley. "Why are we here Nightwing? Shouldn't we be looking for him?" Tim questions.

"We are. Hood has many warehouses in Gotham, but if the situation was something personal, I would be heading back to the past."

"What do you mean?"

I gesture to the abandoned building. "He used to live here, with his mom." I can't believe I hadn't thought about this awhile ago, but I still had to figure out where he used to live-give me a break!

"I already scanned the building, and no one's home. Yet."

"What makes you thinks he's coming here?"

"There was a new bottle of water on the coffee table. He should be coming back."

He nods, and we stand here as a comfortable silence arises.

Tim breaks the silence with a sigh, "What happened with the investigation last night?"

Now it's my turn to sigh. "We found some files."

"What was in there?"

"Looks like Luthor is connected to the disappearance of the kids. They were the files and documents of the kids that went missing over the span of two months. And it turns out that the victim of the car crash, Katie, was poisoned, but the poison didn't do it's job properly. It affected her nervous system, causing her to unwillingly attack her dad. Lex Luthor is no victim to anything. He's a suspect. We just need more evidence to attach to that."

"...This is The Light's doing."

I nod. "But what do you think they would-"

He cuts me off by pointing at the street. "Hey look!"

Jason's POV

The world's just one big haze, ain't it?

I don't even know where I'm going. Just going where my legs are taking me. But it's funny cause I can hardly even feel my legs.

My eyes are drooping, my mouth is slightly open, and I'm tired. So f*cking tired.

Home

My mind tells me, but where the hell is home? Do I even have a home? If I do, then where is home?

I look up at the building, scrapped with old memories that I can't even remember at this point. But somehow, I know that there are memories right here, because if there weren't, then why would my tattered rubber shoes bring me here?

But then...why am I here?

'MONSTER!' Is all I hear from a little girl's voice whose name I can't recall. But I know that she's someone who constantly haunts my dreams like a ghost.

Dammit.

Maybe that's why I'm here...cause I'm a monster.

"Jay!"

I turn around slowly, balancing myself.

I stare at the two separate blurs of black and blue and black and red. Wow, my mind must be real messed up if I am gonna hallucinate this.

"Jay! Jay, where the hell…" My mind blocks out the rest of what they're saying. I watch as their mouths move but nothing goes in my ears.

The one in blue places his hands on my shoulders and shakes me. I cringe and take a step back, avoiding the blow that my mind tells me he's going to make. But he doesn't. He stands there and watches me with those white, pupilless eyes.

Same goes for the other one.

My eyes fall to the ground and my mouth slacks open slightly as my brain fills with more heavy cotton balls and static. My hands unclench and my shoulder falls, unguarded, as I stare at the littered floor.

I can feel my heart rate go dangerously slow and my breathing shallow.

"Jay?" The younger voice is so familiar, and somehow, I know it's coming from the thing in red. I have this strong urge to chuckle and call him 'Baby Bird' but my mouth doesn't move and my brain doesn't make the words.

I just stand here. Something is screaming at me to run and fight, but my mind and my body aren't working.

"Little Wing?"

I'm absolutely confused. And tired. I don't even know why. But even though I want to throw back some snarky comment, I can't.

The floor hazes, turning into a blur as the world around me spins and spins. I take another step back as gravity tries to pull me down.

As darkness surrounds me and gravity wins, the same question runs through my head over and over again as my stomach churns at the question.

WHAT THE HELL IS A LITTLE WING!?

Damian's POV

"Dad, we've been searching for hours. We can't find him!"

Father and I both turn to Carter. "Carter, it has only been two hours."

Batman looks back down at the city and glares as he touches his com link, then without warning he pulls out his grappling gun and flies across the road. Carter and I follow.

We soon reach The Narrows on our own vehicles and are greeted by blaring police sirens surrounding the little unlit corner of an alley...and a pissed off Commissioner Gordon.

I notice a stuttering old man by one of the police cars talking to an officer.

"Batman." Gordon greets. "You need to take a look at this." He says, and then looks at me and Carter with a sympathetic look. "And maybe they shouldn't come along."

"We are not cowards, Gordon." I glare at him and he nods, knowing me all too well.

"Alright fine."

He leads us to the unlit corner.

Carter stops. I narrow my eyes and Batman glares daggers.

Nygma is hanging upside down on a flickering lamp post with his foot hanging to the head of the light. His body is quite limp, but his eyes under the green mask are wide with fear and horror. His face is pale and blood is dripping down his head, mouth, and nose. He has knives impaled right through his shoulders and legs, a few bullet wounds thrown here and there, bruises and wounds on his face, and some bones dislocated and popping out of his skin.

The Riddler's clothes are tattered and torn. A big gash is right across the question mark on his chest.

We watch as two policemen try to get him down from there as quick as they can.

"He's alive, but hardly." Gordon informs us.

I notice the little puffs of air coming out of his mouth. Whoever did this kept him alive for some reason.

As the policemen cut his legs down from the pole, paramedics begin to wheel him away. That's when he wakes up, screaming and thrashing as hard as he can. "GET AWAY! GET AWAY!" The paramedics hold him down, but careful not to break anymore bones. I walk up to him as drugs gets injected into his arm.

"Who did this to you?" I growl.

He looks at me in silence for a while as his body begin to relax. "Red…" is all he manages.

I move away as they bring him into the ambulance. They shut the doors and drive away.

I turn back to Batman who I know saw and heard the entire thing.

"He was tortured right in that building." Commissioner Gordon points to the empty building with the sign that says Danny's Repair Shop.

He couldn't have been there last time because Batman went here and said Nygma wasn't here that night. It's impossible for Batman to miss any clues.

We enter the repair shop and find fresh traces of blood on the floor starting from the door. The drops of blood lead us further into the repair shop and to the workshop.

We are lead to a green truck with question marks as patterns. There was obviously a fight, but not a big one. But we know because of the blood and the new cracks in the walls made by fists, knives, bullets, and shurikens.

On the car's windshield is nothing, not even a few scratches. Batman takes out his UV flashlight and points it at the car.

Project #32

Trial 2 repeated 1

Success

is what's written in blood on the windshield.

"What the hell..." Carter mutters.

Batman turns around back to the doorway as I head towards one of the shurikens on the wall.

"There were three people in here." I turn around to see Batman pointing his UV light at two large shoe prints and comparing it to the other smaller shoe prints and another one that seems to be Nygma's. But the two large shoe prints aren't anywhere else in the room, as if whoever made those shoe prints was just watching as the fight begun.

I turn back to the all too familiar shuriken.

I narrow my eyes and mutter, "Grandfather."

A/N: Ah, mysteries. Mysteries.