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Can You Find Me?

Chapter 4

Dick watched Raven as she paced the waiting room area. He was surprised by the amount of concern that she showed for Haley.

Her demeanor and tone of voice made him think that she didn't care for anyone other than herself and the small group of people that she allowed in her heart. Even as he watched her volunteering at the church, he felt that she was out of place.

She rarely interacted with the people there, even though they all seemed to know her and were friendly towards her. Instead of interacting with the people like most volunteers, she stayed in the shadows and helped out in areas where interaction with others was at a minimum.

By the way she acted, Dick thought that she had been forced to be there. He had been surprised when Mr. Sanchez told him that she was their longest and most consistent volunteer.

"Mr. and Mrs. Grayson?" The assistant called. Dick stood up as Raven kept pacing.

"I think she is calling us." He told Raven, who paused to look at him. "My last name is Grayson." She nodded and headed to the door with him. They followed the assistant as they walked through the hall to the surgery room where he left them.

"Hi," the doctor tore off her surgical mask as another assistant glanced at them before continuing to clean up. "I thought that you all might want to see Haley before he calls it a night.

"Is he okay?" Raven asked, moving to the gray pit bull that was lying on the steel table.

"He will be fine, although we had to remove his leg. From the bite marks on his fur, it appeared that he got into a nasty fight with a couple of bigger dogs. He's lucky that he got away."

"Will he be able to move?"

"For a couple of days, he might be sore, but most dogs get around fine with three legs." Raven nodded. "We would like to monitor him for a couple of days. Afterwards,you guys can take him home."

"He's a stray."

The vet and the assistant shared a look before the doctor spoke. "I was under the impression that he was your pet."

Dick could understand why the doctor would think that. Raven had filled out the paperwork with ease. She knew the puppy's birthday and name. The puppy and Raven even appeared to have a bond. The pup had whimpered a great deal when the assistant had taken him from Raven's arms.

"No, he's a stray," Raven repeated.

"Will you be taking care of him from now on? He will need someone to give him his antibiotic and bring him back for a follow-up."

Raven stiffened but didn't answer, causing the vet to look at him.

Dick glanced at Raven, who stared at the pup with longing eyes. He could tell that she wanted the pup, but something kept her from doing so.

Her apartment must have a no pet-policy. Dick looked at the pup and groaned. Damian must be rubbing off on me.

"I'll take him home." Raven turned her head to look at him. She opened then closed her mouth before giving her attention back to the pup.

"Good." The smile appeared back on the vet's face. "Let's give Haley some room to rest." She ushered them out of the room and walked them back to the reception area of the twenty-four hours veterinary emergency room.

A guy with a bright smile greeted them. After explaining the care that they would provide Haley with for the next couple of days, he handed them a copy of the estimated payment. "This is a rough estimate of what you would have to pay when you come and pick Haley up. The price can go up or down depending on her health."

"Do you mind if I place my card down for the payment?" Raven asked,

"Sure," the receptionist said.

Before Raven could reach for her card, Dick handed it to the guy. "Haley's my dog now. You don't have to pay. I can take care of what's mine."

She stared at him for a moment and backed away from the desk.

The receptionist glanced at the two before making sure that they had made a decision. "You can use my card."

He nodded and put Dick's information into the systems. Once he was done, he handed the card back to Dick.

"Have a good night," the receptionist said.

"You too." Dick turned around to discover that she was gone.

"No, no, no, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to."

Whack!

The man was kicked in the groin before being stabbed in the back.

"Stop complaining," Nick said, contacting his fist with the man that was hanging from the ceiling by a chain. He was stretched out like a tight rubber band as Nick hit him like a punching bag.

"Can't you just kill him already?" Raven was bored with this formed of torture, and wanted to get out of the freezer that was designed to keep the meat frozen before it was sliced and served. Fortunately, the meat that was in here wasn't meant to be sold in stores. Instead, the meat was shipped to special consumers who had a unique taste for human flesh.

"No way," said Tony. "It's rare that you allow us to cut loose. I want to enjoy every second of it." Tony stepped out from behind the bloody man with an equally drenched knife. He smiled as he walked around the body, looking for an unstabbed spot.

He looked completely different from the laid-back guy that everyone knew him as. He looked like a monster.

They all did.

"Tony's right. Allow us to have some fun," Nick said.

"No, I'm sorry," the man hanging on to dear life and pain said.

"Shut up." Nick punched him in the face, knocking him unconscious.

"Why did you do that?" Tony asked. "It's no fun if he doesn't scream." Nick shrugged, causing Tony to shake his head.

"Oh, well." Tony plunged the knife into the man's heart. He looked at a pissed Nick and shrugged.

Raven clicked her tongue and turned to Frank, who stood next to her. "Were you able to get the information that you needed?"

Frank's eyes, which now glowed yellow, turned brown at her questioning. He blinked then turned to look at her. "I got all that I needed."

"And?"

"Tomas, that man that Tony just killed, wanted to take advantage of the discord of the new management and make a name for himself and his crew. He wanted to use the new drug to take territories of the east and the south sides along the borders using the shipment docks. He also hoped to take over some of our shipping routes. He had spoken with several of our associates, but none seemed to even entertain his proposal." Raven nodded.

Nick grumbled, drawing their attention to him. "Now, I feel bad for torturing the guy. We could've just spooked him a little. You can't blame a man for having ambition."

"Don't," said Frank. "He deserved it."

"What else did he do?" asked Raven.

"It doesn't have anything to do with us. It is his personal matter."

"Frank, do I need to bring him back from the dead to torture him again?" Nick and Tony's eyes gleamed as they waited for Frank's answer.

Frank looked at her. "You would want to, but I advise—"

She snapped her finger, causing Frank to sign and a dark force to move from the tips of her fingers. It flowed into the sky and wrapped around the corpse. The knife lodged in its chest was pushed out. His heart began to pump, and his blood began to flow. The man screamed.

"Have fun," she said to Nick and Tony as she stood. She walked out of the room along with Frank, not wanting to see the true nature of the men that she called friends.

Frank stopped at the door of the special refrigerator, causing her to halt. "You might want to know that while your associates didn't entertain the idea of doing business with him for weapons, they did think hard about the drugs."

Her shoulder raised at the sharp intake of her air. This is why she hated when new management took over. It always affected her, even if it wasn't in her territory. She huffed. "Call Gar and tell him to deal with it. Tony, Nick." She turned to the grotesque scene and hid her disgust. "Leave enough meat so that Johnny can send …"

"Ten," Frank offered.

"Ten packages of meat to our associates to remind them that we don't sell drugs."

"Sure thing, boss." Tony said with a murderous grin.

She and Frank continued out of the special freezer to a bigger one that sold normal meat. They knocked on the door and waited for someone to unlock it. When the person did, they entered the kitchen of a popular five-star restaurant. She looked around to see the kitchen was empty except for the owner, who was cleaning the kitchen, and his son, who had opened the door. She gave a tight smile to the boy and a stiffed nod to the owner, who nodded back.

She walked out of the back of the building into the outside, leaving Frank to discuss their ten orders with the owner. She looked around the parking lot that was almost empty. She headed to their SUV when an annoying sound caught her attention.

A dog barked and growled at her from beside the garage dump. She pulled down her shades and allowed her eyes to glow red. The dog whimpered and ran away. She pushed her shades back up and headed to the SUV to wait while wondering if Haley was okay.

"Hello!" Kory laughed at the cute puppy that wagged his tail and licked her face. She was surprised that the small animal was so welcoming. Most animals tend to stay away from her. "He's so cute."

"I think that he is going to be a lady's man like his owner." Dick said, coming into his room with a bunch of bags that contained dog food, toys, and other items. He placed it on the floor.

Vic and she were helping Dick move his bed set and furniture into the Tower. The mayor and city council had finally approved the reopening of the Tower, allowing the guys to use it as their main base of operation.

Although, for a while, the tower would be empty. Vic had a mission that required a lot of his time in the city and Dick wanted to spend time getting to know his new neighborhood. She, of course , was no longer a member.

"No," said Kory. "Don't curse this precious dog. He's going to find his one true love."

"Not after I neutered him. He won't look for love at all." The puppy whimpered and wiggled out of Kory's arm. He rushed under Dick's bed. They laughed.

"I don't think that he likes that idea," said Kory.

"I guess not." Dick crouched down next to the bed, "Hi, buddy. If you don't want to get neutered, then I won't do it."

The puppy rushed out from under the bed and head butt Dick in his groin. Dick fell on his side with his hands between his thighs. The puppy yipped happily around him in a circle as Kory laughed.

She walked over to Haley and picked him up. She stared down at Dick as Haley licked her face. "So, that's a no on that surgery."

Dick twisted his back and glanced up at her. "That's definitely a no. I think he will take my balls if I take his." He groaned. "You don't have to look so happy at my pain. "

She chuckled. "Do you want me to get you some ice and ibuprofen?"

"No, no. I can handle it." He got up on his knees and hands. He placed his hands on the bed to stand up.

"What's wrong with Dick?" Vic walked into the room and stared at his friend on the floor.

"We are just having a conversation about castration," Kory answered.

Vic raised an eyebrow. "Oh okay. I don't want to know. Dude, are you okay?"

"I'm good." A red-faced Dick answered as Kory giggled. "I hate you right now, Star." Haley yipped.

"Talk to me nicely, or Haley will attack you again."

"If Haley could take Dick down, then maybe we need to add him on the team." Vic petted the puppy on the head.

Kory fought to keep her smile high as the feeling of bitterness and jealousy surfaced. "We can give him a mask and a titanium leg."

"And he can go out and fight crime during the day while we are at work."

"The only place that he would be going is the pound if he does that again." Dick stood up and looked at the puppy. Haley wiggled in her arms, and Kory placed him down. He rushed to Dick's leg and rubbed against him as if he was a cat. Dick smiled as he looked down. "Don't worry; it was a joke. I like you too."

Kory smiled as Vic's phone went off. Using the screen in his arm, he ended the call and sent a text.

"Sorry," Vic said. "Need to go back to the city. Can we grab the stuff from the storage before we leave?" Vic locked eyes with Dick, who nodded with a less red face.

"Let's go." Dick said, "You too, Bitewing."

"Is that what you are going to call him?" Kory asked as they headed out of the room with Haley following along.

"You like it?"

"You can work on your naming?"

They walked the small distance down the hall to the storage room that once had been her room. She knew that the guys were only thinking about convenience when they decided to use her old room as the storage but it still hurt. Their decision reminded her of what she had lost.

They came to a halt. She glanced at the men, waiting for them to open the door.

"We want to make sure that you have access to the Tower in case we are in trouble," Vicexplained. "Can you please place your hand on the pad?"

She nodded. Not thinking about it too much, she placed her hands on the familiar pad. The door opened; her eyes widened.

Her old room wasn't a storage anymore. The boxes that they had in there had been cleared out, and replaced with furniture. The room had been completely decorated to suit her style.

"When did you guys do this? Why?" she asked, stepping into the room after Haley.

"We've been thinking and talking after our conversation with you," said Dick. "You were right. When you had your powers, you were one of the best heroes out there."

"And now that they are gone, you still are," Vic continued.

She turned to them as they stood near the open door. "What does this mean?"

Dick smirked. "It means that you are a part of the team again. The three of us are the Titans."

"But I can't fight. My strength is gone."

"Yes," said Vic. "But you can help us with forensics, the tech stuff, and the undercover and detective stuff."

"If you want," said Dick," I can teach you how to fight again without your powers." Her eyes watered and her lips trembled. "But there is a catch," said Dick.

"Oh yeah, the catch," said Vic.

"What is it?" She didn't want to get her hopes up.

"Well, some of the league members have been expressing concern about the growing number of young supers that are coming up. Between the crime fighting and the number of members in the sky, they don't think there is enough time to train the next generation. So…."

Dick continued, "They were hoping that we might get a couple of kids in for a three months or so during the summer to train them in Jump by showing them the ropes and getting them used to working on a team. But we are kind of busy right now, so…"

Vic took over. "We were hoping that you might oversee the program since you are an excellent teacher. And you can use the kids to work at your shop to teach them balance. What do you say?"

She bit her bottom lip and asked Dick, "Will Robin be joining the program?

"Batman rarely lets him outside of his sight or Gotham, so no."

"I'll do it!" She said with excitement, praying that things wouldn't catch up with her.

"Gar!" A robust man with a protruding stomach came from around the desk and engulfed him in a hug. Gar embraced the factory owner, Dom, wishing this was under a different circumstance. "They said that you came back from the dead."

"You can't keep a dog down for too long," said Gar.

Dom laughed. "Come sit down." They moved closer to the desk. Gar chose a chair in front of it to sit down while Dom chose his chair behind it.

"You look good."

Dom shook his head. "You're still trying to butter me up. Kid."

Gar smiled. His words took him back to the old days when Dom was his mentor and Gar was trying to learn the ropes. "No, seriously, you still have a head full of hair. I thought by now you would be bold."

"Medium management. I told you when you were young that it was the best spot to be in. The higher ups don't bother you as long as their products and shipments are good, and you make enough money to live a great lifestyle with minimum stress. But look at you; you made it to the top. How was your two-year vacation?"

Gar's shoulder dropped. He didn't need to pretend with Dom. The man wasn't ruthless like most people in the game. He was an honest man who didn't go chasing after rainbows and waterfalls.

"It was hard," Gar said. "Trying to find a job with no connection, reference, or degree made it difficult to find something and get by. I knew it would be difficult, but not like that. I had to choose if I wanted to be hungry for a couple of days so that I could have enough money for rent. It was a different experience, especially after knowing what it was like to get money fast. I worked for three months for what I could make here for a week. I felt down, defeated, depressed. I had nothing, no job, no family, no real friends. I started to miss it, so I came back as soon as I had enough money for a bus ticket."

Dom sighed. "It isn't easy being an honest man after living this life. That is why I told you not to get greedy. You are a good kid, Gar. You always have been. I wished that you would have saved enough money to get a degree instead of falling deeper into his pit hole. "

"I should have but…" A ghostly smile appeared on his face.

"If you get a chance to leave again. Take as much money as you can with you, buy some land and a house, and open up a small coffee shop. Leave this life behind."

Gar nodded, wishing he had this advice two years ago. Wishing he hadn't felt guilty and had taken the money that Raven offered him. "I will be here for a while."

"I heard about your promotion. Congratulations."

Gar nodded and leaned forward. "Now that I have this position. I was wondering—" He swallowed the rest of the words as a dark cloud formed on Dom's face.

"Are you crazy?" Dom hissed. "You just got this position, and you want to use it to look for that. Raven should have killed you the moment that you got off that bus. If you had been anyone else, if she had been anyone else, you would have been buried by now with a bullet in between your eyes.

"Gar, I care deeply about you, but if you would have done that to me you would have been dead. Don't go stirring up stuff from the Big Bang. We barely survive. And that's a good thing for you, because only a few people alive know what you did. Those that do keep their mouths shut because of Raven. So, do your job and if you want to get out then leave once you make enough money. But don't, and I mean don't, go looking for stuff that is already gone."

Gar stared at him for a moment before leaning back into his chair.

"Gar." Gar nearly jumped at the sound of Frank's voice in his head.

"What do you want?"

"Raven has an assignment for you." He listened to the information that Frank passed on to him as Dom glared at him.

"Okay. I'll get on it." Gar told Frank.

"Report back when you are done."

"Gotcha." Gar adjusted himself in his seat and pulled out his phone and sent a quick text to Jess. Once he was done he placed it back in his pocket and looked at Dom.

"Do you know anything about a person who wants to sell drugs in this territory?" Gar's eyes connected with Dom.

Dom signed. "I take it, she knows. I was going to contact her about him after our next meeting and I had gathered more information."

Gar nodded, knowing how Dom worked. "He's not going to make that meeting." Dom nodded as Gar stood up. "A package is going to be sent to you. I suggest that you don't eat it."

Dom chuckled. "She's vicious, as always."

"She will never change."

"I don't think that is true. She changed for you once." They stared at each other for a moment. "Gar, I'm saying all of this because I care for you and I don't want you to go down that path again."

"I do know, and I won't."

Dom studied him. "Only time will tell. "

Vic walked into the warehouse. He froze as he took in the scene before him. Anger erupted in him. "What's going on here?!" His voice bombed, causing everyone to stop and look at him. His gaze landed on Jess, who walked toward him. Confusion written on her face.

"What's the matter?" Jess asked in a soft voice.

"What is that?"

She turned to see him pointing at the heads placed on the table. Their bodies were nowhere to be found. "There are gifts."

"Gifts? Gifts for who?!"

She turned to face him. "I thought you would be happy with how I handled their death. Bodiless heads as the Die Hard MO, your MO."

Vic rubbed a hand down his face. He needed to regroup. So, he pushed down the feeling of guilt and anger. "I don't care about that. No one is allowed to kill anyone in this organization."

She chuckled. "You're joking, right? This is our way of life."

"That wasn't a joke. I don't want anyone to be put to death."

Her lips fell into a frown. "What do you want us to do? Babysit them? Hand them over to the cops? We don't babysit and we don't allow our enemies to get one up on us."

"Jess." He took a step closer to her and whispered so that the others didn't hear him. "Don't forget that I am the boss here. And remember, the reason why I only brought Angie's head was because that was all that was left. "

He backed up to see her murderous eyes. "The reason why I don't want them to be killed is because the dead can't make money." Her brows gather in confusion at his words. "I have a factory in Honduras that has a high turnover rate due to harsh work conditions. It is bad business to use the locals because they can escape, return home, and report me to the authorities. But for those who are not familiar with the place, they have nowhere to go. Those men that you just kill were money down the drain. Understand?"

""Understood."

"No more killing without permission. Got it?"

"Got it. But with all due respect, I doubt that you would be able to take them out of the city, let alone out of the country."

Vic raised an eyebrow. "Why is that?"

"They were selling drugs in the east territory. The Mist has a strict no drug policy. To be honest, I did them a favor."

"I take it they were our men that you just killed." She nodded. "You killed them for another boss. I didn't take you to be a pushover. You should have run it by me."

"No offense, but you are new here. You don't understand the rules. The Mist doesn't play. If she has a policy about something, she expects it to be followed."

He smirked. "You're scared of her over me."

"Yes." Her answer shocked Vic. "You are nothing to fear compared to her."

"You make it seem like she is the overlord of all of Jump."

This time, Jess stepped close and whispered, "She is. We just all pretend that she isn't. If you want to stay here long enough to grow your empire, don't cross her. As long as we play in our sandbox and not hers, we are fine. But if we, you or our men, crossover into hers and don't clean it up, what you did or didn't do to Angie will never compare to what she will do to us."

"Am I interrupting something?"

They turned to see Gar came through the warehouse door.

"No, Vic said, glaring at Jess one more time. "You are here to pick up The Mist's gift." Gar's eyebrow rose and Vic stepped aside so that Gar could see the table with the gifts.

Gar smiled. "Good, I'm happy that this was an easy conversation. The Fiends and the Die Hard might get along after all.