"I found her," Duela announced as she re-entered the consult room. I was grateful for the change, not sure I could face the Laboratory again. Everyone seemed relieved that I'd returned, there were several gratifying sighs that made me feel a little guilty. The Beta's raised their eyebrows at the now de-masked Card Queen but said nothing as she sat down, motioning me with her eyes to sit next to her, like we'd always been best buds.
"Well," Steel spoke, probably not knowing where to pick from. "It – uh – appears that we now have the exact co-ordinates of the lab. Nightwing?"
"Yes," the young leader didn't seem to be phased at all by the recent occurrences and was pure business as he brought up a map of the small country in my memories. "From the sign post we all saw earlier I have figured that the Laboratory both Emily and Sadira were kept ten years ago lies beneath a lake on Ireland's largest River, Shannon."
"Under the lake?" Kid-Flash asked, looking a little panicked. I guess a speedster doesn't do too well in confinement.
"So we find the building Emily uh… escaped from in her memories and enter the Lab?" Cassie said frowning. "Seems too easy to me…"
"I did a scout check," as Nightwing spoke the image changed to an aerial view of the area. "That building no longer exists, it appears that our Scientist friends abolished the exists on the main land, including those exits."
"So how the hell are we going to get in?" Conner asked impatiently.
"Remember the guards with Emily saw on what we thought was the other side of the lake?" We nodded. "It was too dark at the time, but as you can see on the map here that's a small island called Inis Clearán" He pronounced it like clare-awn." It's tiny, deserted apart from a few ruined churches no one but an old farmers livestock."
"You're saying that you think the Brains never bothered destroying that entrance to the lab?" I asked, a small smile playing on the corner of my lips. The guy really was a genius.
"The place looks untouched, they wouldn't have been able to destroy it properly without marking the landscape above."
"Great," I stood up from the table. "Let's go."
"Hang on," Batman growled from is otherwise silent seat. "We have no idea what we're up against here, we need everyone with clear heads for this mission."
"But this is what we've been waiting for!" I nearly yelled, I'd be damned if I was to hang around any longer, especially if we knew exactly where to go. "Why wait any longer?"
"You've have just gone through hard, gruelling mental exertion. You need rest. You will take the jet first thing in the morning."
I opened my mouth to protest once more but I was given a stare. No, not just a regular 'no more arguments' stare, a Batman 'no arguments' stare. In other words, I shut up pretty quickly.
"Meeting adjourned," his gravelly tone muttered and we all stood up. Unable to quite help myself I stormed out of the room, gritting my teeth audibly. I kept walking until I shoved open the doors of the Cinadome. There were punching bags left out – probably for my session this morning that never happened after the Martian showing up. I marched over to them, grabbing the bandages during my beeline. Without having to think about it I wrapped and tied the white fabric tightly around my knuckles. Within moments I was throwing the hardest punch I could at the red bags. I let out a grunt each hit.
At first the bag swung slightly with every contact my fist made with it's warn leather. My wrists ached at the pressure but I ignored them. I realised too late that my anger about what had happened today was only given a loose lid by my new ally Duela Dent. My temper just simmering below the surface. The way Batman just pushed me to the side, forcing me to wait a pitiful twelve hours of being hunted threw that lid off. Not quite understanding why I was so short fused all of a sudden I just allowed it to be channelled into every thrust. I just about heard the double doors opening over the sound of my own grunts. I wanted to groan at who I saw in the corner of my eye, walking towards me.
"Piss off," I called maliciously. Trying to ignore him as he came around to hold the punching bag. It immediately stopped swaying, at the same time as being harder to hit. "I've had enough of you people today, I guessed training was cancelled due to my 'mental exertion'."
"If you don't want to train," Nightwing spoke casually, as if my outburst was nothing. "Then why are you here?"
"I'm blowing off steam," I grunted, feeling sweat forming on my brow. I was already tiring after my sprint a while back.
"I can see that, but I think you've physically exerted yourself enough for today."
"I don't care what you think." I muttered.
"Fine," he sighed. "I'll just wait it out then."
I punched the bag for thirty seconds longer, just to make him see I wasn't stopping because he said so. Stubbornness is not a trait that can be beaten out of you. By then I could do nothing else but slide to the floor, my hands and knees trembling from exhaustion.
"You look like you're going to throw up," he commented, pulling the rail where the bag hung out of the way. He returned and sat cross-legged in front of me.
"I'm ok…" the nausea had passed thank god. I began trying to rip the bandages from my hands but it appeared in my haste and rage I'd tied the knots too tight to loosen with shaky hands.
"You need to give your body and mind a break," he said gazing into my face. I wouldn't meet his eyes, I tried even harder to undo my bounds but they actually appeared to become tighter.
"Yeah well, how else am I supposed to channel my temper? My only other solution is sex and I can't just wait around for guys to kiss me in elevators."
In that moment I wished the ground would just swallow me up. I couldn't believe the words had actually left my brain, let alone come out my mouth. I blushed hugely and tried to use the embarrassment to plough into the bandages once more. When nothing budged I simply groaned and let my face fall into my covered palms.
"Here, let me – " he chuckled, felt his fingers touch mine and I pulled away. He sighed and let them drop. After a brief second I realised how petty I was acting and cautiously held them out to him. He gently began pulling at the frayed material. I only noticed as he undid each knot how delicate and precise his touch could be, then I instantly drove that thought out of my mind. I really needed to get a grip. "I know it's tough… obeying orders. You're not used to having, well, Batman in your life."
"Does it get any easier?" I asked hopefully, my tone made him laugh outright. It was a strange sound, something I doubted was heard that often. Strange but nice.
"No. I still can't stand being told what to do."
"How do you handle it?"
"I just keep saying the same sentence over and over in my head: he's Batman."
I snorted and shook my head, knowing that I'll have to use that one from now on. "Well, aren't you supposed to replace him one day?"
His hands stilled from their work. I could hear his breath catch, he was obviously not asked that question often.
"Sorry," I backpedalled. "You don't have to – "
"It's alright, yeah I was supposed to."
"Not anymore?"
"There was an incident, a long time ago. It made me realise that I'm not built with the same stuff as Batman."
"Don't be stupid, I was told you're the best fighter – "
"It's nothing to do with the fighting," he cut me off. "It was a training incident. I had to take control, not realising that the session was designed to fail. Watching my friends being cut down one by one… I realised I couldn't handle it. I didn't possess that thing Batman has inside him to keep fighting, even when he has nothing left."
I stared at him, a little awestruck. It was a strange feeling, like the man of ice and steel was showing a bit of himself that wasn't cold, hard and worked like a machine. He finished untying my hands in silence, his fingertips brushing mine for that moment too long before I pulled them back. I rubbed them together to get the blood flow moving.
He stood, dusting the sand off his costume and held out a hand. I took it and he pulled me up too.
"You have a text," he blurted, making me blink.
"What?"
"You should take your phone off the public networks," he almost sounded sheepish. "Any simpleton hacker could read them. Anyway, just be sure to be back in time to take off tomorrow and here – " he handed me a tiny black plastic box with a blue button. "If you get into too much heat, we'll come and help."
With that speech that I could make neither head nor tail of he turned and left me standing in the middle of the Cinadome, more than likely wearing a comical expression of astonishment and confusion.
I walked slowly up to my room, trying to figure out what all of that meant. If we actually, maybe connected back there when I reached under my pillow for my phone. I did indeed have a message, a message that had my stomach drop.
Meetings set for tonight,
Where'll I pick you up?
J.