If glares could kill, they would both be ashes by now. Ra's was fuming. Three pits were already destroyed. One, they blew in front of him to demonstrate, two, when he tried to call their bluff.
The teams also moved to join each other and lend each other a hand through the use of zeta tubes. It would only become easier and easier to destroy the rest of the pits.
They were now in a stand-off. "So what is your next move? If I give you the information, there is nothing to stop you from proceeding, and if I don't, you will go ahead with your threat." Ra's said in an icy cold voice. This is how they expected things to go.
"It's pretty simple. You go back to Nanda Parbat. If we hear anything about you leaving or any more scientists going missing, You can kiss the pits goodbye. As you said, if we destroy the pits, we have nothing to hold over you."
"You can use your time to lick your wounds and find a counterattack for the pits, and we can use it to find whatever the fuck you were doing to Gotham. Now you have 30 minutes to fuck off, or the deal is off." Jason said threateningly.
Ra's was fuming. He was ready to argue but held himself back. With a hand sign, the assassins followed him as they all left the room. Jason and Damian waited to be sure he was gone before leaving the room and joining the others.
They found Drake and Grayson quickly enough. Their comms were working, and they just had to ask for a few details.
"How did it go?" Grayson asked when they finally reached them.
"He backed off as expected. Only took 3 pits. You?" Jason said as he looked around the room. Grayson moved to check Jade over. Jade let him.
"There was only one guy. Doctor James Marcus. He didn't have much information, but he told us that he saw Ra's killing a few of the scientists, so we don't think there are more survivors."
"Tim is talking to him. The jet should be here in 15 minutes, so we should head up," Grayson said, finally satisfied that she was alright. They grabbed a few things they needed to investigate later and headed to the roof.
Tim was waiting next to the guy. He also seemed relatively uninjured. Jade let herself smile.
They were back in Gotham. They had confirmation of what they already discovered, but there was more. Ra's didn't just want to create meta humans. He was working on combining the enhanced physical abilities with the help of Lazurus pit.
This would cause the victims to get pit rage. However, the effects were not permanent. So, he decided to combine these effects with the fear toxin. What he expected to do was to use the fear to send victims into a frenzy of pit rage.
People would attack each other, and those around them, and chaos would ensue. Jade couldn't shake the nagging feeling that there was something more. Doctor Marcus told them all he knew, and she didn't suspect him of hiding something.
There was the possibility that he didn't know. He told them that Ra's would pick scientists, and as soon as they were done, he would kill them, so his knowledge was limited.
Jade could feel it. A piece of the puzzle was still missing. She was so close that she could feel it, yet wasn't sure of what it was. She was becoming frustrated. She just wanted to live in peace. Was it really too much to ask?
She headed upstairs. Instead of going to her room, she headed for Father's. She opened the door of the empty room. It was clean and looked as it always did. Everything screamed practicality.
The arrangement of furniture and how it looked made Jade wonder what type of person Father was. Her chest ached painfully. While she was certainly closer to her family, she still had never had the chance to get to know Father.
Others seemed to notice it, too. They used to share fun memories of Father whenever they were together, but they must have noticed her feelings and stopped doing so. They avoided talking about the man to a degree that was painfully obvious.
They were also clearly trying—trying to fill that space for her and make memories with her. They were spoiling her. While she didn't like such treatment, she couldn't help but relish the love and comfort she was receiving.
For the first time in her life, she was safe and loved. She was happy. But still, the empty space in her heart ached. She wondered around the room, looking at her Father's belongings one by one, trying to connect to him through the items, trying to get to know him.