Disclaimer: not mine

Chapter 2

They all watched as she entered the room, Timothy obediently crawling after her. She settled on a chair and stroked his hair as he stared vacantly at the room. She nodded and her second, Derrick, approached to give his reports. The bats had been spotted out and about, they had realised Timothy was missing. Too bad they would never find him, not until it was too late. There would be no 'attack' tonight, they had what they had been looking for in acting so obviously.

Once the nights business was done, everyone focused on Timothy, knowing what was to come. She wrapped her fingers in his hair, using the grip to tip his head back, staring into glazed blue eyes, one clawed finger tracing down his blank face.

"You will make a wonderful addition to our family, Timothy. Remember, no pain, only pleasure," she purred before pushing him forward, letting go of his hair. He landed, sprawled on his stomach and remained like that. She smirked and leant back in her chair as Derrick approached the sprawled form.

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He stared at the naked human on the floor, hearing the steady beat of his heart. He glanced at Sophia, taking in her expression. It seemed she planned to keep this one very close, had she finally decided to take a mate? That would be good, though he did wonder at claiming a vigilante. And perhaps she didn't if she was giving the boy to them for the night.

He pulled Timothy to his feet and drew him over to where the others waited, tossing him up onto what had been the dining room table. He lay sprawled on his back, limbs flopping over the edges. Mary picked up a limp hand and brought it to her mouth, biting down, slowly sipping at warm blood. Marcus glanced at him and Derrick nodded, so he climbed up on the table, spreading Timothy's legs further apart even as he removed his pants.

Soon, Timothy was gasping and moaning, writhing weakly, lost in pleasure, unable to feel any pain.

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He drifted in and out of awareness. He could feel hands caressing his body, lips…could feel himself moving as someone did something he'd only let Kon do. He wanted to fight, to get away…but he couldn't move. Every time he came back to himself, he felt weaker. Different hands touching him, someone on top of him, feminine moans…he wanted to cry, felt sick…

He became aware again…cold…he was so cold… his breathing was off and…he could feel it…his heart too slow…skipping…dying…he was dying…Kon…he wanted Kon…Jay…D…dad…

Blackness was eating away his vision, his heart struggling to keep beating, and then she was there. His last sight was of her smirking down at him, lips moving but he couldn't understand as his body began shutting down.

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Sophia looked into his eyes, seeing he was aware, terrified because he knew he was dying. "Don't worry Childe, you will wake to an even better existence," she soothed, hearing his heart slowing even more. She bit into her own wrist to let the blood drip into his slack mouth, her other hand massaging his throat to ensure it went down. Soon, his heart gave one last tremulous beat and then went silent, blue eyes staring fixedly into nothingness.

She stroked lank black hair and then nodded, leaving the room.

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Tim's body was lifted carelessly from the table and tossed over a slender shoulder, limbs dangling lifelessly. They made their way into the backyard of the old, abandoned Victorian-era townhouse they had claimed.

A shallow grave had been prepared and the body was lowered into the dirt, hands folded over his stomach even as his eyes were pressed closed. It didn't take very long for the soil to cover his naked form and soon there was no sign at all that anything had been disturbed.

Tim Drake was dead.

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"Hood," Oracle overrode his comm, and Jason sighed.

"Hood here, better be good O," he grumbled, he was heading home.

"It's Red," her voice was tight, almost…shaking, and he was instantly alert.

"Where?" he demanded and then his wrist comp lit up with directions. He rushed to the bike he'd left nearby and took off. "Situation?"

"Unknown, you're the closest. I'm picking up his trackers but…there's no movement logged for almost twenty-four hours. And they're all coming back with different locations. You've got the one in his cowl, and it's the one that been in the one location longest."

Jason almost lost control at that. He hadn't seen Tim last night, hadn't even spoken to him on comms…had anyone? He felt sick at the thought of what he'd find when he arrived but he forced himself to focus, to breath. He would find Tim and the kid would be fine, he'd probably ditched his trackers, not the first time he'd done that. It wouldn't even be the first time he scattered their locations to lose someone on his tail, so he was fine. Or he'd been hurt, comms out, and had hunkered down, knowing someone would come for him. He wasn't…no, there was no way. He wanted to scream for Kon-El, he'd get their faster than Jason's bike, but the kid was off planet with Clark. No way he'd call Jon, Lois would kill him. Kara? She didn't really like him or Tim so would she even hear him?

"ETA for the others?" he asked, struggling to stay calm, vision green tinted.

"Nightwing and Batgirl are fifteen out from his tunic, Batman and Robin are twenty from his boots. There're no cameras with an angle on any of the alleys his trackers are in registering as in. Surrounding cameras…movement from last night but he must have grappled in. The cameras are glitchy, corrupted, for about twenty minutes before going back to normal." The more she said, the more worried he got.

It took him almost another five minutes but he parked a block away, going in on foot. He drew a gun because if anyone had Tim, they deserved to be shot. He froze in the mouth of the alley, feeling his stomach roil.

"O…"

"Hood?" she sounded scared now.

"It's…it's a blood bath," he breathed in shock. Slowly, he forced himself to move in, looking around. "Too much for one person." So, it might not be Tim's, or at least not all of it. He knew the scenes being left and this looked like one. Had he come across the perps mid crime? Something should up on his screen, his helmets night vision letting him see…and his heart sank. "Got Red's bō…there's blood on it."

He moved closer to it and then stopped, unable to make himself understand what he was seeing but… "His cowl…it's here too, in pieces." He knelt down to get a closer look. "It's been torn, not cut, like…claws?"

He could hear Dick's breath catch, knew they'd all been patched in.

"Is there…a body?" Bruce's voice was tight, growling in rage…and fear.

Jason moved deeper in, scanning carefully. "Negative. No real signs of a fight either, nothing knocked over or disturbed. They must have gotten the jump on him." Which was surprising, Tim was very hard to sneak up on, they all were.

With only his cowl and bō, it suggested the other items of his suit could be where the trackers said, but how? It's not like Timmy would strip willingly while traversing the city. And with it being torn apart, but no blood on it…had they torn it up in frustration because Tim got away? Or did someone have Tim and was having fun sending them all across the city on a wild goose hunt. Who had died here?

"I've got his cape," Signal called over comms. "It's been badly shredded, no blood. Looks like it was ripped off him. No sign of a fight here though. On my way to you Hood."

Since so far, he was the only one with an actual crime scene, that made sense. If the cowl had been here longer than the other items, then the fight had started in this alley. He was surprised to hear Duke but he guessed Babs had called him when she realised how many places there were to search.

It was a few minutes later that he heard a grapple, Duke dropping into the alley. The bright yellow on his suit really stood out, he wore it because he was normal the daytime shift so needed to be more visible.

"Oh shit," he mumbled.

"If you're gonna hurl, do it over there," he motioned to the street.

Duke shook his head. "No…I've got it.

"Nightwing here," Dick's voice rang out over their comms, so they fell silent to listen. "Got his tunic, no gloves though. Whoever did this, might be against Red personally, they've ripped off his symbol very violently, beyond even tearing the fabric up."

"There's blood," Batgirl's voice was quiet, shaky. Not surprising, her relationship with Tim was very complicated.

"Not much," Nightwing clarified. "Looks like he might have gotten scratched up when they ripped his tunic off. The underlayers are here too so he was totally topless when they finished."

"That's just creepy," Duke grimaced, and Jason agreed with him.

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Bruce forced himself to focus on driving as he listened to his children on the comms. There was no body, not a lethal amount of blood. Tim was alive, he had to be alive. They would find him and make whoever had taken him regret it. They'd taken his cowl, which meant his identity was compromised, all of theirs likely were to some degree.

"Here Batman," Damian called, and Bruce slowed the Batmobile.

They exited and cautiously approached the alley. He knelt and drew out a familiar boot from where it was wedge halfway under a dumpster, grimacing as he took in the damage.

"Here," his son called, and he looked up to see Damian had the other boot, just as damaged, and with part of Tim's pant still in it.

"Oracle, we have his boots, also shredded, along with part of a pant leg. There's no blood or signs of a fight here. On our way to Hood's location."

"We'll all be there," Dick called out.

"Field blood typing's done, most of it doesn't match Reds. What does, isn't anywhere near fatal levels," Jason offered them that much hope.

"Understood."

They made their way back to the Batmobile in silence.

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Dick landed in the alley and then caught Steph as she heaved, supporting her as she lost her dinner, looking over as Jason and Duke. Knowing the majority of it wasn't Tim's was a relief, but that was still way too much blood.

Once she could stand, Dick walked over to where Tim's bō lay abandoned, reaching down to pick it up since his domino and Jason's helmet had already filmed where it had been located. He ran gloved fingers over it, checking for damage, smeared blood, anything. Yes, there was blood on it, but not smears as if an injured Tim had been wielding it.

It was only a few minutes more before the roar of the Batmobile could be heard, the black vehicle parking right outside the alley since they were already there. The doors opened and the two swooped towards the alley, only for Dick to grab Damian and turn him away.

"Richard," he began to argue.

"No Damian, you don't need to see this," Dick murmured, keeping his head firmly turned from the sight. He'd probably seen worse in the League but no kid should have to see such a sight, no adult either really.

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Jason watched as Batman stalked into the alley, looking around, seeing the bō Dick still had clutched in one hand and then the shredded mess that had been Reds cowl. Bruce knelt among it, checking it over, and then picked something up, Tim's earpiece. He had to have been unconscious for them to remove his cowl and then take it out.

"Oracle?" Batman growled.

"I can't find anything on the cameras. It's like he went in there and just vanished," she admitted. "I'm searching city wide now and no hits. If someone has him, they're keeping him off the streets and away from anything I can access."

Jason nodded. "I'd say he was lured here or he interrupted another attack in the case he's been working," Jason offered, he was glad for the filters in his helmet, even with them he could smell the blood.

"Case?" Steph asked shakily.

"Yeah, I've been helping a little since some of the attacks have been in the Alley. Last he said, you lot brushed him off, said there was nothing there." Okay, so maybe he was angry they hadn't been backing Tim up on it. Hadn't they learnt yet? Tim's mind worked in scary ways and he was very, very rarely wrong.

Jason watched Bruce study the blood patterns, especially the ones he'd marked as being Tim's type. Of course, just because it was Tim's type didn't mean it was his, they'd need to check it back at the Cave for a positive id. Their cameras now had plenty of footage of the scene, they took samples of anything out of place or suspicious, and Damian found Tim's crushed grapple gun behind a dumpster after pushing his way into the search. So, Tim likely hadn't made it back to the roof, he carried a backup, and it was always double checked before patrol ever since his line had been cut…but Dick found that as well, just as broken though it looked like it was from being thrown at the wall rather than crushed. Someone had definitely wanted to grab him then which meant he was probably alive. If they'd just wanted him dead then surely, they would have found…more in the alley. It also pointed to the other locations being deliberately used to spread his trackers out as a distraction. The attack had happened here, they'd taken Tim from this alley to another location. But where?

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Alfred watched them enter the cave in silence, a tray of mugs and cookies waiting which Bruce knew they'd all appreciate. He was angry and terrified and he just…felt sick. He'd already lost one son, they couldn't lose Tim, no matter how far he'd drifted. He'd kept the Wayne name, still came when asked for help, still worked for the company, which meant he still saw them as some kind of family.

Tim hadn't been killed on site which meant they had time to find him, to save him. It was likely he'd been taken for interrogation and he knew how to resist that, even with truth serum or other drugs. He just had to hold on until they could find him. Oracle was already triple checking which Rogues may have managed to escape Arkham.

Dick was pulling up Tim's case files for any old enemies who might be looking for payback and Damian was helping, searching for signs of the League being in Gotham. He'd never learnt what had happened between Tim and Ra's but for the man to have literally kicked Tim out of a window…he'd definitely gotten under the older man's skin. Ra's was unlikely to let that go forever and if he was behind this then they had to find out fast, it would be a long flight to any base where Tim would be held. And…if they put Tim in a Pit…yes, most fully recovered from the Madness, but as Jason proved, not all did. Some didn't even come out with their minds intact; would Ra's see that as suitable payback for whatever Tim had done? But the shredded uniform didn't feel like his work, though the destruction of the Red Robin symbol did.

No, he was getting ahead of himself, they had no evidence the League had Tim. If he did appear to be outside of Gotham…they may need to call in help. He knew Kon-El spent a lot of time in the city, Bart and Cassie less but they were still visitors, they were also young and not always totally reliable. But Kon was obviously Tim's best friend and half Kryptonian which meant he would likely be their best way to fid Tim, sadly he was off world, as was Clark. If they hadn't found Tim by the time they returned, he would contact Clark for help. So long as he wasn't being held somewhere soundproofed and lead-lined then they would be able to find him.

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Stephanie sat on the bed, staring blindly out at the grounds of Wayne Manor. None of them had gone home since they'd discovered Tim was taken. Every time she thought of that alley, she had to fight the urge to vomit, especially since they had confirmation the blood was Tim's. it wasn't enough to kill him but it would have left him weakened, making fighting back that much harder. And if his wounds weren't tended…then he was probably dead and they all knew it, even if he had received medical aid for the wounds, without his spleen…

Nope, she was not thinking that, they would find Tim alive. If he could survive whatever had gone down with the League then he could survive this. And when they found him, she was going to work harder to try and get her friend back. She'd made so many mistakes, they both had, and dating had been one of them. He'd been so cold and distant after it all and nowadays he was simply professional, like they were co-workers and not friends.

Superman and Superboy were due back tonight and they were all hoping the two would be able to find Tim. Tim and Conner had a lot of history, they were best friends and had been for years, surely, he could track Tim's heartbeat or whatever anywhere on the planet. She knew Dick had been considering calling in the other two core members of the old Young Justice, Bart could search the whole city very quickly after all, but Bruce was sticking to the no meta rule until the supers returned, which was dumb. Duke was a meta after all, but he couldn't single handily search Gotham.

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Kon was happy to be heading back, able to see the Earth in the distance. The mission had gone well and he was looking forward to getting back to Tim, to talking more about the move and where they might be going. Maybe, he could consider going back to school? He hadn't after coming back to life, Conner Kent hadn't been listed as dead thankfully, he would have been a week later but paranoia and secret identities meant that they hadn't wanted him dying too close to Superboy. So, he could get his GED like Tim had, look at going to college maybe, though he had no idea what he'd study. But it'd give him something to do while Tim was working.

It had been good, working with Clark, and they'd even talked about Kon moving on from the Superboy name. Damian was Robin and not that much older than Jon who was obviously really wanting to get out there more. He wasn't sure what name he'd take but nothing with boy or man in it this time.

They reached the upper atmosphere and he automatically tuned in to Tim…but there was nothing. He paused, stretching his senses to the limit, searching for any sign. He could just be in a secure building…right?

"Kon?" Clark had stopped as well, looking at him in concern.

Kon closed his eyes, focusing on Gotham.

"Hey Kon-El, you back yet? It's Hood, we need to talk, Reds in trouble," whatever else he might have said Kon didn't hear as he took off at top speed, not caring if Clark followed or not.

He landed hard on the concrete of an alley, finding Jason in full gear standing in it. He could smell…days old blood and lots of it.

Seconds later Clark landed as well. "What's happened?"

"Red's missing. We traced his cowl tracker here, the source of the attack and some of the blood you can smell is his but not enough to be fatal. The rest of his gear was scattered about the city, torn to shreds but no real blood. You know about the case driving him nuts?" Hood looked at him, and Kon nodded.

"I know you're the only other bat who believed there was a case," he snapped, fighting to keep his temper under control. Tim was fine, he had to be fine. "Murders with lots of blood, even organs occasionally, but no bodies left behind. No evidence of the killer or killers either."

"Same deal here. It was…bad." Hood reached up and removed his helmet, revealing Jason was wearing a domino under it. "Looks like whoever's behind it realised Red was on to them, I think they set a trap here, the others are saying it could be that or Red interrupted them. The other blood sample belongs to a missing college student, the level of blood she left is fatal."

Kon grimaced, hoping Tim hadn't seen that. That kind of brutality… "I can't hear him anywhere," he admitted.

Clark's hand landed on his shoulder, comfort or to keep him from rushing off? "Batman?"

"Was going to call you tonight. I've been calling Kon on and off for the last two hours since no one was sure of your exact ETA. Nothing to hear doesn't mean dead," Jason met Kon's eyes. "There's ways to block your hearing, even your vision."

"We'll sweep the city anyway. They may be somewhere that naturally blocks sound but not vision," Clark offered, and Hood nodded.

He tossed Kon a comm. "That's our line, keep us in the loop. We've been scouring the city night and day in shifts but we can't find anything. There's been two more murders since he vanished but still no evidence."

Kon nodded, slipping the comm into his hear, Oracle greeting him as it turned on. He didn't answer, taking to the sky above Gotham to search for Tim.

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Clark glanced over at Kon, taking in his expression, and finally, he had the last piece of the puzzle. "It's Tim, isn't he?" he asked, seeing Kon tense. "How long have you been together?"

Kon looked over at him, hesitating, before looking back at the city, scanning. "Before I died," he admitted.

That…explained a lot about Tim during that time, he wished he'd known, that they could have supported him, could have let him mourn with them, or at least Ma and Pa since Tim had been angry at him. He knew the anger was over how Clark had treated Kon for so long and he was glad that Kon had such good friends on his side, except one friend had been more than that.

They flew a pattern above the city, out of sight of any watchers, but still able to see even into the sub-basements of buildings. Annoyingly, more than the normal number of buildings used lead paint…the city really needed to update the building codes. He mentally marked every building he couldn't see through to be searched in person. He could tell Kon was doing the same, both holding back from intervening in the crimes they spotted, Kon reporting them to Oracle though.

They could both hear the police, puzzled and concerned at how active the bats were being. Even the criminals were wary since they were being spotted during the day too.

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Dick honestly wasn't surprised that Jason had beaten Bruce to the punch when it came to contacting Kon. Within hours the two were at the cave, marking off the map with the buildings they were able to check. They'd gone beyond the city limits, checking woods, caves, the sea, even just looking underground in general. They found a lot of unmarked graves, not surprising since it was Gotham, but no Tim. At least they could narrow the search to the areas that blocked Kryptonian vision.

And Kon had already alerted Bart and Cassie who were beginning their own searches of the continent, Kon would be joining them once sure Tim wasn't being held in Gotham. And Bruce had given in and alerted the League, not looking pleased by some of the comments about Tim. Dick felt guilty, they were his fault, he never should have said what he had to them about Tim, he should have been more supportive. He had never meant for Tim to be cut off the way he had been back then, he'd never thought they would take his words and think Tim had lost it, was one fight away from becoming a villain or utterly insane. And Tim never talked about it.

Dick…he didn't know what they'd do if they didn't find Tim or found him too late. He should have done more to get Tim involved again, but his brother would barely be in the Cave with him. And now…no, he wouldn't think it. They'd thought Bruce was dead and Tim had proven them wrong, giving up on Tim so quickly with so little evidence would be wrong.

Still, the search was wearing on all of them.

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Kon could feel Jason watching him as he input the various codes Tim had made him memorise, hating that he had to use them. But if Tim had found anything after he left, a breakthrough that had led him to that alley, he would have left a failsafe message behind to be safe. He knew Jason had spotted the signs of how much time he spent in the Nest but he didn't care.

Jason and Cass were the only two bats he could really tolerate anymore and they were the ones Tim loved the most. Cass had been on her way back to the states but was now remaining overseas to search for signs of who had taken Tim and why since it was looking more likely they had left Gotham. The killings had stopped, or become less sensational to remain hidden, but that would mean they'd been a trap the whole time.

He brought up all of Tim's recent files, there was no message left so it was looking more and more likely he'd stumbled across the attack on patrol. Were the murders connected to his disappearance or were his kidnappers just using them to hide taking Tim? It hurt, seeing the research Tim'd been doing outside the case, looking at the various cities to try and find one that suited them both.

Jason moved in to copy all the data for the others, and then clasped his shoulder. "We'll find him," he promised before leaving.

Kon brought up Tim's search programs and left them running to see if anything new would pop up and then headed up to the apartment. There were signs that Tim had already begun packing but mostly objects he didn't use often. Kon showered and then dug out one of his old t-shirts that Tim tended to sleep in, it smelt like Tim still. He crawled into bed, hugging Tim's pillow, staring at a photo of the two of them together.

Why hadn't Tim yelled for help? Kara was keeping an ear out for any calls of his or Clark's Kryptonian name while they were gone, just like they did hers when she was off planet. Because the only people who knew and would yell those names were in the business and therefore in deadly trouble to call for them. But she hadn't heard anything.

He couldn't imagine living without Tim for the rest of his life. He'd never been angry at Tim for trying to clone him but now he was starting to understand the desperation that had driven him to it. Tim would be so much easier to clone…but it would never be him, no matter the genetics. In the end, Tim had realised that too and stopped.

They had to find him.

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She stared at where the grave lay, knowing that by now the body within would be decaying, appearing to have been dead far longer than it had been. A week-old corpse should be barely changed from life after all, he would look at least months if not a year buried by now. They had heard the whispers of sightings of other heroes, Superman and Superboy, but the boy would not look how they expected so even if they could see him, they'd have no reason to suspect it was him. Buried bodies were very common in Gotham after all. And there were still months left before he would wake to his new life. There was no exact time for a new vampire to awaken but it could take up to a year, the quickest she knew of had been three months.

His memories…his mind was incredible, the way he could put information together. He would be very useful. Honestly, she didn't understand how he could have remained so loyal to the Batman's' cause after everything he'd been through. Ra's al Ghul's interest in him was interesting, and the way young Timothy had out manoeuvred him was incredible. She truly had been lucky that he had been the one her trap caught.

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Four feet beneath the surface, the body had lost all of its fluids, becoming a dried-out husk. Rigor mortis had long since come and gone, the body utterly limp. Eyes had sunken into the skull; skin bloodlessly pale. Black hair had lengthened, falling to the shoulders, nails lengthening and sharpening. Parted lips revealed sharpening fangs. Internal organs were partially decayed, the heart the most intact.

It was no wonder that Kon hadn't recognised him when he had spotted the body, eyes passing over it in seconds. It was too long dead to be Tim.

TBC…