Jason stared down into the main street at least 5 stories below them. Dick was gone. Here was just here. Jesus!
He'd let that dick head slip through his fingers, "God dammit!" he slammed his fist down on the brick ledge.
"Rbin. Rbn cm in Robn" Damian's communicator crackled to life as Batman's voice persisted. Dick had probably smashed it when he kicked out at Damian.
"Mmmughhhhh" sounded behind him.
Jason ran a hand through his hair and breathed out through his clenched teeth. He turned back around to see Damian had propped himself up on one elbow and was massaging the back of his head with his other hand.
He blinked a few times before making eye contact with Jason. His eyes scanned the rooftop before his breath caught, "Where is he?"
Damian didn't wait for Jason to answer, stumbling to his feet and running to Jason's side. He peered over the edge down into the dimly lit, vacant street.
Damian religiously scanned the street for a solid minute before turning and running to the opposite ledge and leaning over.
Jason crossed his arms, "He's gone."
Damian ignored him, pulling his wrist screen out and checking the saved tracker at Dick's old apartment minutes away.
Jason frowned at being ignored, "Demon brat, he's go-"
"No!" Damian looked up sharply at Jason, "No. He's not." They held each other's stare for a second before Damian's expression began to crumble, "He can't be gone" Damian whispered, wetness gathering in his eyes.
Damian seemed to realize something, his expression brightening as his detective training took over. His head snapped to the left where Breezy Ways was.
"We need to go get him, Hood" Damian turned back to Jason, "Now. He is at risk and not himself"
Jason opened his mouth before his ear comm went off loudly, "RedHood, report. Is Robin with you? He is not answering his communicator or comm and his location is within your radius"
Jason sighed heavily. He waited 30 seconds to give the old man a hard time before touching his earpiece, "Yea the brat is here. He followed me out. We're unharmed."
Damian was able to pick up on what was happening by Jason's one-sided conversation and frowned at Bruce's intervention.
Damian stomped over to Jason and snatched his larger communicator off his hip, "Father, I'm here and well. Hood and I found Gray-Nightwing. Your presence is requested"
"What?" Batman demanded instantaneously.
Jason sighed, "We ran into Vegas man pretty close to Breezy Ways and, well… B, it's him. I know we talked with Wilson and all and the blood test came back positive and shit but it's really Wing. He remembered us and-"
"Report back to the cave immediately. Now"
"What?!" Jason and Damian did a double take at Bruce's order.
"B, this is fucking Wing, we've confirmed it's him in person and you want us to leave him here?"
"I just checked the apartment cameras and monitoring we set up, he has not returned to Breezy Ways. We have no idea where he is or what he plans to do. We do not know who his current allies are or what kind of influence he is under" Batman informed them.
Damian cut in, "You are being irrational Father, we are Nightwing's allies. You saw how the Court's minions attacked him. He is in need of our aid. We must go after him"
"No Robin" Batman ordered. "This is an unknown situation with an undetermined individual. Our theories are strong but not 100% confirmed until he is contained and in the cave"
"Hey Batman? Did you know the fastest way to get him back to the cave, is to actually go after him!" Jason sneered.
"I want both of you back here before 8 am, that's an order"
"Batman!" Damian gasped, shocked that he was treating this situation as if it didn't involve his oldest coming back from the dead.
Bruce seemed to pick up on their feelings nonetheless. He sighed, "Robin, you don't know what you're dealing with. He's been gone 5 years. Our theories include him being held captive by assassins and experimented on. It's too dangerous-"
"This is Nightwing! He would never hurt us!" Damian argued back.
"I will not allow you to throw yourself into a potentially dangerous situation on the basis of someone's character from 5 years ago" Batman replied back immediately.
That stopped Damian. He looked to Jason, even though he disagreed with Batman's orders, it was an unfortunate truth that they either treated Dick like a possible criminal or treated him like the same goofy 17-year-old they last knew. Both could be wrong.
"I want both of you back here before 8 am, that's an order" Batman repeated.
Batman clicked off the comm to prove a point. Damian threw up his hands in disbelief.
"Does he not believe us?!" he exclaimed. Jason picked up his grapple gun and glared at Damian, "You're his blood son you little shit, you tell me"
Damian's expression softened quickly again, "We can't abandon him Todd"
Jason could feel the guilt that old Dick would have peer pressured onto Jason for pulling this reaction from Damian. He craned his neck back and sighed loudly, "This is Batman, brat. He obviously won't order us to actually ditch Wing. He has a plan, we are working with Wilson now. Our cameras at his place still work. B probably just wants us to all group up before basically kidnapping him"
Jason tried to keep his voice casual as he reminded Damian, "We might have to drag Dick head back home in the end. He remembered us but never actually agreed to return with us. He got spooked like a fucking raccoon"
Damian frowned and looked away.
"You gotta admit it's weird Wing didn't drag his ass back to the manor the moment he was free" Jason pointed out. "I'm not defending that jackass but he's being logical by ordering us to group up before moving in. He's already had 2 out of his 4 kids die on him." Jason smirked ironically at the dark statistic, "50/50 ain't a great track record when talking about your own kids"
When Jason finally dragged Damian back to his bike he almost lost his shit when he couldn't find his helmet.
"It was right here!" he exclaimed.
"Maybe a bird flew off with it" Damian offered.
"Yeah right, what kind of steroid ass pigeon could take a motorcycle helmet?"
"Maybe it was a very large pigeon" Damian drawled.
Jason could feel his shoulders and back tensing with the urge to sock Damian in the face. He still remembered the last time he and the little shit got into it in the foyer at Wayne Manor. Dick didn't get mad very easily but when he had to break up a genuine fistfight between his brothers, his face twisted in rage. His lips naturally curled back in a snarl before he got control of himself and he wrapped his limber limbs around Damian, restraining him easier than Jason. Jason backed off once the threat was no longer active.
Dick had one thigh wrapped around Damian's neck and chest, his hands encircled Damian's wrists. His face was set in a firm frown.
"Who thought it would be smart to spar outside of the mats? Huh?"
Jason knew it didn't look great for him to be beating on a kid when he was 16 and the little shit was barely 10 or 11.
"He started it! The demon threatened me with a crowbar because I erased his stupid Disney channel thing on the TV"
Damian glared up at Todd, finally relaxing in Dick's grip, "Trust me Todd, if it was a threat, you'd know it"
Jason glared back, losing any genuine guilt he had from punching a middle schooler.
"Hey!" Dick slowly untangled himself from Damian. They both got to their feet and Damian's mood quickly became very meek in response to Dick's obvious disappointment.
Dick sighed not looking at either one of them, "We are brothers. I don't care if some of us were adopted or are blood-related; or not"
Jason winced and rubbed his arm, realizing Dick had accidentally referenced that he was the only kid that Bruce hasn't adopted.
Dick continued, "We need to be there for each other, especially in our line of work. Our day lives are dramatic and news outlets always want to turn us and our images against each other. Our night lives want us dead. We cannot afford to be divided so easily. Besides, siblings are special, no one in the world will ever have the same bond we do. Ever"
Jason walked over to Jason, "I know it's unfair but not only are you older and stronger, but he is re-learning his moral compass and needs as a child. If he crosses the line again, come get me; seriously." He hugged Jason tightly but briefly.
Dick crouched down in front of Damian, "Dami, we all love you dearly but at some point, you need to start realizing that violence is not an appropriate outlet for every situation. Verbal violence included. Jason was hurt by what you said, but you too are too similar to each other and you ended up hurting the other. I...I am not okay with that. It hurts me too Dami, when my brothers fight. If you don't trust yourself to respond pacifistically, please get me or Alfy. Ok?"
Damian crossed his arms and grumbled but nodded his head.
Dick grinned and tussled Damian's hair before walking away like nothing happened.
Jason and Damian glared at each other, neither wanting to be the first to break and walk away.
"Masters, please do not let Master Dick's pacifying speech go to waste" Neither one moved and Alfred sighed.
"Master Damian, please come help me set the table for Dinner. Master Jason, please go assist in pulling master Timmothy away from the computer"
Focusing on something else helped relax Jason, calming the veridian hue that was washing over his vision. He released a breath and walked back to his bike and got on, waiting for Damian to join him. Damian must have realized Jason's restraint because he joined Jason after a minute of silence and they rode back to the cave without a further complaint.
When Jason and Damian pulled up, they spotted Slade leaning against his bike outside the entrance to the underground garage. Jason slowed down and pulled up next to Slade's hulking figure.
"What the fuck are you doing here? Did your Alzheimers kick in and make you forget the rules already?"
Slade snorted but his one eye narrowed behind his mask. "Daddy messaged me and told me something happened and we would have to meet up and strategize earlier than planned. I figured I'd skip the bs and just meet everyone here."
Damian brought a hand to his ear, "Batman, Deathstroke is here"
"I know, I was waiting for you to arrive before opening the cave" With that, the underground doors leading beneath the first of Wayne Manor grounds slide open.
Without a word to Slade, Jason waited until Damian's hands were around his waist again before continuing down into the Batcave.
Slade's bike roared to life and followed them.
When they pulled up, Batman and Tim were already standing at attention, arms crossed.
Batman stalked forward as Jason and Damian dismounted, "We are going to discuss you leaving at unapproved hours for unknown territory past your bedtime" Batman growled at Damian.
Damian spluttered at the lack of composure and childlike rules Batman threw at him in front of Deathstroke.
Batman looked at Deathstroke, "I know I was explicit when I told you to never return here. All meetings will be arranged in Gotham outside of the Wayne Manor grounds"
Slade nodded his head once, "I heard you the first time. Are you implying that because you ordered something, it'll be done?" Slade's eye narrowed, "I'm not one of your obedient avian ilk"
Tim stepped forward, once again peacefully drawing everyone's attention away from possible conflict.
"What happened out there?" he asked Damian and Jason.
Jason crossed his arms and leaned against a lone table, "I went out for some air, and made my way to Blud. Robin followed apparently and we uhhh, well…. We found Vegas man and are now 99.9% sure that Vegas man is Nightwing"
Damian looked uncomfortable but nodded in agreement. "It's him. Really, it is. He remembered us…A little"
Slade looked at them both intently, "What do you mean, 'a little'?"
Damian twisted his gloved hands together, "Well he knew who RedHood and I were but he didn't seem right"
Jason nodded, attempting to wipe any obvious emotional tells of his face now that he had officially lost his helmet, "Wing seemed sketchy and scared but something about the way he talked and acted threw me. He's stronger, I'm not sure what kind of training he put himself through but the guy should be running some calisthenics classes"
"He also knows who the court is. He kinda confirmed he was with them and was avoiding them but he ran off when Robin's communicator went off. Freaked like some rabid Raccoon."
Jason purposefully kept quiet about Dick's insistence that he didn't want to see Batman, not sure how to broach the subject, but knew that Slade's presence wouldn't help.
Slade had been sitting on his bike nonchalantly up until now. He threw one large leg over and stood, making his way over to the bat computer. Everyone tensed, preparing to jump Slade if he touched any of their electronics or sensitive data.
Slade picked up a coffee-stained notepad and flipped to a clean page, he took a pen out of a pouch on his thigh and started scribbling. The silence was filled with swift and sure pen strokes as they waited for Slade to fill them in on what he was writing.
After a few minutes, he put the pen down and walked over to Tim, giving him the whole pad of paper.
"We will need all of this if we are to successfully corral your brother back home by tomorrow"
Tim took it and with one last suspicious look, he started scanning the page. His eyebrows flew up in surprise, "How do you know about this stuff" he demanded.
Batman walked over to his middle child's side and started reading as well. Batman's expression darkened before looking to Slade, "You have yet to follow through on sending us your contacts and additional information. How do you know that Dr. Freeze's cryo solution will work on Nightwing?"
Slade held his gaze as he answered calmly, "I will deliver those contacts and some names so you know my information is legitimate but let's not play coy here Bruce, we all know that Richard is some sort of Talon experiment, and that electrum solution in their veins does not respond well to immense cold. I'm entitled to my own experiences that have led me to this knowledge; same as you. You're lucky I'm sharing a majority of my contacts and information at all"
Slade cracked his knuckles casually as he expanded on his statement, "I believe that the electrum has some sort of heat or acid conductor that inflates a person's strength and pain tolerance biologically. Throwing in the exact opposite, like liquid nitrogen, counters that by combatting the acidity in their blood with alkaline base levels. While I'm no scientist, I do believe that this stunts their reflexes and durability by freezing out the reactivity and heat in their bodies, calming their internal PH levels. It would kill most people; but not Talons"
Bruce's glare had deepened at all the personal names Slade continued to use but nodded in agreement at Slade's theory.
"Before we confirm any plans and head for Bludhaven, you are to send me everything you have. Tonight"
Batman looked at Tim, "Send everything we get over to Green Arrow, Cyborg, and the Flash. Their labs will be able to confirm and analyze much quicker than Leslie's"
RedRobin nodded.
Slade pulled a phone from his pocket and got to work typing out instructions and requesting data on the other end.
As Slade worked to fulfill his side of the partnership, Bruce led his sons to the other side of the cave.
"You met him? Spoke with him. Truly?"
Jason and Damian realized this was Bruce asking, not Batman. Bruce was asking if his oldest was back and was trusting his sons to light his hope or crush him.
"It's him Father" Damian whispered excitedly. "He knows us"
Tim was staring at them with wide eyes behind his mask. He couldn't fathom having Dick back, even after all this speculation.
"We need to get to him B" Jason said seriously. "Wing is a little fucked up, he's our Wing but something's wrong with him. He's scared to come home." Jason looked away pretending he was checking on Wilson far behind them, "Kinda like me after the Pit and Talia" Jason finished in a mumble.
Bruce was slowly fading back into Batman and merely nodded, categorizing everything.
"With other talons closing in on Dick, we need to get to him before they do. For some reason, they have not kidnapped him but I think it's safe to say they want him back in some capacity"
All his sons nodded. Bruce looked at each one, "I need to know that you're capable of controlling yourselves when we interact with him. This is a find-and-contain mission. Nothing more until we all get back to the cave. Something is wrong, it's clear if Nightwing knew who we were from the first interaction at Star Labs"
"We will not split up, but spend tomorrow evening covering Bludhaven. Let's hope when we move in that he is at his old apartment to make tracking him down easier. Flash and Green Arrow sent over the field-ready cryo guns and syringes, they've been debriefed on information that is relevant to them right now"
'So they know nothing', Jason thought sardonically.
"Our main priority is to contain and bring him back here, but if forceful intervention is required, hence the sedatives and the cryo guns, I want to make it clear that RedHood, Deathstroke, and I will take priority in the fight. RedRobin and Robin will fall back. That is not debatable. Oracle will be on standby, she is coming over in a few hours and will stay at the manor. Oracle has been briefed"
"You mean she figured out enough from watching our patrols the last 2 weeks" Jason sassed. Barbara and Tim had mostly relied on each other to get over Dick's death when they were all teenagers. It made sense as they were the most normal out of the Bats. They tended to deal with trauma in a somewhat normal way. Leslie always used Tim and Baraba as the standard when she admonished Bruce over his children's mental health. Tim had most likely pushed Bruce to acknowledge that Barbara was going to find out and be involved at some point.
Bruce said nothing but looked at his wrist as some of Slade's contacts, titles, and data on the court and Dick came in. "RedRobin-" Bruce started but Tim was a step ahead. He parted from the group without a word and sat down at the computer. He started intaking and categorizing everything Slade sent them.
While Jason didn't spend too much time watching, he did take notice of the kinds of evidence. There were pictures of people and uniforms, there were medical records and papers. There were police reports and scanned written articles and notes.
Bruce left Tim to his work and turned back to Jason and Damian, he didn't get a chance to continue speaking as Slade approached, "I've started the file transfer. Knowing your system's FPS and speed rate, it should only take about 5 hours at the most." He paused for a minute, "There is a large amount of photographic evidence"
Bruce's brow furrowed at the small inkling that even Slade might be bothered by some of the Court's work and evidence he had accumulated.
Bruce quickly summarized the start of their plan to catch Slade up. He informed Slade that he was to return to the cave entrance at sunset tomorrow evening. They would suit up and head out. Oracle would be staying behind with Agent A for comms and further behind-the-scenes support. Bruce led them all over to a back cabinet where he typed in a code and the draw hissed out steam and icy smog that reminded Jason of liquid nitrogen. Bruce removed a small clear capsule that was filled with blue liquid.
"This is the cryo liquid that will stun and possibly subdue talons" Batman explained. It was twice as long as a regular bullet.
"If for some reason, the syringes and tranq gun are not an option in the moment, the glass is made to shatter with enough fore, allowing you to force some into their systems through their skin and pores"
Slade nodded as if he agreed with all the backup plans this one capsule came with.
"Our main target is the thief from Star Labs, which may also be Nightwing. The goal is to incapacitate and contain. Nothing More"
While Bruce kept talking he pulled out a tranquilizer gun and demonstrated to everyone around how to insert and shoot the gun using the capsules.
"Unfortunately, every time we have run into Nightwing in the field, he is a target of the Court of Owls as well. Lethal force is permitted if other participants are confirmed to be talons or assassins of the court. No one is to split up and engage with a talon on their own except for Deathstroke or myself. Everyone must keep their comms on at all times. Am I clear?"
Damian nodded, showing Batman had his undivided attention while Slade and Jason stared at Bruce in irritation.
Tim re-approached everyone, "The files are downloading, it should be a bit," he said.
Bruce nodded back, "I'll look over them tonight." He looked at Deathstroke, "You can leave now" he growled. "You know when to return"
Slade stared back and didn't move to leave. After a minute or so, he straightened and made his way over to his matte black motorcycle in the corner. "I'll be seeing you….B"
Without looking back, he sped off, leaving tire tracks within the main cave area.
Bruce pulled off his cowl and snapped his head to his sons, "No one is to review the data or information Slade sent over until I okay it" he didn't wait to hear their responses before stalking off to the monitors.
Tim watched him go, trouble creasing his brow.
Jason can only guess some of the information or pictures Tim had already seen in the first batch of information that was downloaded.
"How bad is it replacement?"
Without looking at Jason, Tim replied, "They usually take them when they are kids and can train them more efficiently….Training includes dying multiple times so the electrum outweighs their own authentic blood levels"
Jason swallowed, realizing they might not be dealing with Gotham's League of Shadows, but some new brutality altogether. The League of Shadows didn't deal with children, mostly to ensure they only had quality adults and people who could withstand torture on missions but it still meant that they drew a line in the sand when recruiting. That was part of the reason Talia was interested in leaving Damian in Gotham. It got him closer to his father but it also got him further away from the Demon Head.
"Don't worry" he said to the brothers in general. "We'll get Dickie back tomorrow, shake some sense into him and he'll be good as new"
He hoped they couldn't hear the uncertainty in his voice. Alongside the other voice that asked why Wilson was so invested in someone he could never have.