A distress signal went off on the BatJet. Bruce clicked the alert. "What happened?"
"That guy in the red hood and his team," Dick Greyson belted out. "They took Tim!"
"Slow down, what exactly happened?" Bruce tried to keep his calm, but he felt his heart rate increase. He couldn't lose another team member, the Drake family didn't deserve that.
"We were patrolling like usual, went in to investigate an attack on a bank, then we were ambushed by a guy in a red hood and his team of Meta's. They took Tim, Bruce!"
"I'm on my way," Bruce said firmly as he pushed the jet to its limits to follow the location that was showing on the map.
Patten walked through the parking garage, a sense of unease washed over him. Someone was watching them. He looked around, reaching for his sidearm. There was a quick moving shadow, Pat had his pistol drawn and aiming down the sights. Steph readied herself, drawing out her escrima from her belt, Jake and Alex bracing themselves for hand to hand combat due to their weapons being in the car.
Pat opened fire as the shadow whizzed passed them. He was then slammed to the ground, pinned by a claw coming from the woman's foot. "Run," Pat ordered.
Steph and the boys nodded, running toward the car, only for the woman to lunge after them, her hood falling to reveal her pitch black hair and glowing green eyes. Stephanie spun around, catching the woman's claws with her escrima, then was pushed backwards by her power. Steph then clicked a button on her escrima as the ends crackled, the woman pulling back before Steph could shock her. "I've got this, go call Mick!" Steph barked as Jake and Alex reluctantly nodded.
Steph sidestepped the woman's kick's, narrowly avoiding the claws protruding from her toes. Then she blocked the first punch, with her escrima, the second one graced her shoulder. A wound she calculated, it gave her an opening to land her own strike. She jammed the end of the escrima into the woman's side, she screamed out in pain as she staggered backwards.
"You didn't think I'd be as easy the second time, did you?" Steph looked at the cut on her shoulder, rolling her arm and preparing for another round. The woman was then spun around, flipping Pat who had tried to charge her from behind. Steph moved quickly, slamming both escrima into her before she could do any more damage to him. The woman shrieked again kicking Steph backwards, the claw in her foot cutting into Steph's chest. Before Steph could respond, two arms grabbed her from behind, then a cloud of purple mist clouded her vision.
The mist faded, and she found herself in some kind of warehouse, then a sharp kick in the back. She turned to her right to see a boy in a mask with black hair in a red suit, green pants, and a black and yellow cape chained to a large barrel. Footsteps caught her attention, and she looked forward, and there was that smug jerk in his red mask, his long black hair draped across his face. His metallic right arm shimmered in the moonlight.
"Now they're going to tear each other apart," he gloated as a twisted smile crossed his face. Before Steph could move, she felt a sharp pain in the back of her head, and it all went black.
Bruce, Dick, and Barbara stood in the BatCave as Bruce starred at the screen. Bruce was doing several calculations of potential locations of which the Outlaws could have taken Tim. The problem he couldn't account for was the teleporter. How far could she go? Were her powers what was jamming Tim's locator? Who could've sent them after him? How did the man in the red hood know that Dick wasn't Batman? Bruce's fists tightened the more questions appeared without any answers. How could he have been so careless to leave them unprotected? What if that was what those symbols were for, to draw his focus away so that he'd make a mistake?
Mick punched the concrete, leaving his fist imprint and several cracks, and his own blood in the wake of his fury. His knuckles were throbbing, but it tempered his focus. He had to find Steph. The SHIELD investigation could wait, he couldn't let anything happen to Stephanie Fields. He vowed to protect her and her brother when he took them in, and now he's failed.
"Hey, hitting the wall isn't going to bring her back," Pat said as Mick shot a deadly glare at him.
"Don't. Steph's gone. I left you guys, this is all my fault," Mick snarled. "Get them to safety. I'm going find her."
"You can't go out there on your own in this mentality," Jenn said, full of concern as Mick walked toward the edge of the garage, so he could look out at the city. "You're going to get yourself killed, or worse, get Stephanie killed."
"Oh trust me, I won't be the one who dies tonight," Mick growled as the storm raging inside him flickered in his eyes. Without another word, he jumped up on the ledge, and flung webs out of his wrists, swinging away from them.
"This is so bad," Jake said nervously.
"Lucky it's him and not me," Alex grunted. "If I could keep up with him I'd be gone too. Those Outlaws need an arrow through the eye."
"There's more behind this than just Steph being taken," Patten said as he turned back toward the team. "Did anything else happen while you two were investigating the attack sight?"
""We did run into Batman, and a strange looking graffiti thing," Jenn said as Patten looked intrigued.
"Now his attitude makes more sense," Pat sighed. "Let's get a look at those pictures and get them sent over to HQ. I need to make a few phone calls. We might be able to head him off before things get bad."
Mick borrowed a motorcycle that had been left unattended, flying down the Bludhaven streets toward Gotham. If Bruce was here, that means he has information, and Mick needed that information to find Stephanie. Mick could feel the electricity crawling under his skin as he raced across the bridge. His grip on the handlebars tightened as he looked up at the highrises as they began to close in around him. He spun the bike parking in so that the police would find it and call the owner.
A crowd of people looked at him curiously as his reckless driving had drawn attention, adding to his costume, they were probably on edge already. Electricity crackled around his feet, as he knelt down then propelled himself upward, flinging webs toward the buildings as electricity trailed behind him. He wanted Batman to come find him, and having the people in a panic would be the best way to draw him out.
Mick flung himself up to the rooftops after being sure he caught sight of movement, and then was met by the man draped in shadows. Batman's eyes seemed to glow, the rage behind his scowl matching the storm inside Mick. "What are you trying to accomplish?" Bruce's tone was harsh.
"They took her. I know you know something, and you're going to tell me," Mick growled.
"Who took whom?" Bruce asked, his eyes narrowed as Mick lost his patience screaming in frustration. He ran at Batman, electricity flowing off his right fist, flinging himself forward. Batman sidestepped, grabbing Mick's arm, swinging him around, then slammed him on the ground, Mick rolling across the roof as electricity sparked at each collision point.
"You know who they are! I'm not begging you for anything!" Mick barked as he caught himself on the ground, he then shot back at Batman with incredible speed.
Batman jumped over Mick's attack, then threw two bolas at Mick, both wrapping around his legs, dropping him to the ground. They neutralized his powers and emitted a red glow. Batman walked over to Mick as he tore at the insulated ropes on his legs. "You're being irrational. What happened?"
Mick's emotional high began to break as Batman clearly had him beat. "They took Stephanie."
"Who did?" Bruce asked calmly as Mick looked at him, his fury broken, now full of deep concern.
"Whoever the Outlaws are," Mick was exasperated.
"When?"
"Few hours ago," Mick noticed the pause in Batman's demeanor. He was clearly calculating something. "You know something, please let me help. I have to get her back."
"I'm not sure if we're going to have a choice in the matter. Whoever is leading the Outlaws wants you and I together," Batman stated as Mick felt more deflated.
"Why?"
"Based on the designs that were left for us to find, they know of our connection, and they fully intended to exploit it," Batman explained as he disabled the bolas on Mick's legs. "Either to have us fight, or to see what would happen if we worked together."
—---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Steph woke up, her body bound to a heavy container. She half hoped this was all just a sick nightmare, and that she was really just back at home. She started to move her arms, then heard a grunt next to her.
"Oh good, they didn't kill you," a boy said, his face now uncovered, but still bruised with blood matted into his hair.
"Like those chumps could kill me," Steph scoffed, then she winced as she realized she may in fact have a broken rib or two.
"You're pretty tough," the boy said, looking over at Steph with a half open eye.
"I am both of those things," Steph said with a half grin. "You have a name, Wonderboy?"
"Uh," the boy seemed a bit uneasy about revealing his name. "Robin."
"Really? You're just going to give me your real name just like that? What if I'm a psycho or something?"
"That's not-" Robin replied.
"It's a joke, Wonderboy," Steph forced a laugh as the boy seemed to be a little more at ease. "You can call me Eclipse."
"Eclipse," Robin nodded. "Good enough for me."
"Any ideas on how to get out of this mess?" Steph asked as Robin looked down, frowning.
"They're pretty tight on our guard, but I have a feeling we'll be rescued soon enough," Robin said confidently. "My mentor is really good at this stuff."
"Mentor?" Steph looked at Robin and wrinkled her nose. "I don't know that I'd say that about my team's leader, so we better start working on a plan ourselves. Just in case."
—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mick found himself in the batcave after a ride in the batmobile, a location he never thought he'd set foot in willingly. He watched as Batman ran several vantage points of a bank robbery, where Mick saw the teleporting girl snatch the new boy donning the Robin gear. Mick nodded silently, it made more sense as to why Batman was allowing this. They took Robin from him, which made him wonder if that's why Barbara and Dick were gone. He didn't want to speak though, just watch. Bruce wasn't the kind of person you disturbed while he was engaged in anything.
"Do all of your Outcasts wear that armband?" Bruce broke the silence.
"Yeah," Mick looked down at his wrist. Of course he thought to check the link to see if he could track Stephanie, but her signal was lost.
"Give it to me," Bruce held out his hand, Mick not daring to argue.
He unclipped the band from his arm and held the small watch-like device to Bruce, who then looked it over momentarily. He then plugged it into his computer, which prompted several strange looking screens full of scrolling words, then a map appeared showing several dots. Mick quickly realized the dots were labeled as the members of the Outcast. Much to his surprise, Patten had Jake, Alex, and Jenn in Gotham, and Mick's location had been removed as well as Stephanie's.
"Did you just hack our network?" Mick asked as Bruce stayed silent. "That's running off a side loader Fitz and Jerren put together for us based on SHIELD encryption!"
"Oh," Bruce said, unimpressed.
"What was the point of that?" Mick looked at Bruce slightly frustrated.
"Whoever the Red Hood anticipated my tracker on Tim's suit and blocked it, as well as your little device, so I'm running a backdoor to boost the signal and overpower whatever the blocking mechanism is he's using." Mick stared at Bruce as if he spoke another language. Computer science was more Pat, Fitz, and Jenn's thing. "Basically I'm going around the block," Bruce clarified for Mick.
The two watched the screen for a moment, when two flickers appeared in north Gotham, the warehouse district. A location that brought back many bad memories. Mick clenched his fist as the memories became vivid…
The SHIELD investigation that followed the death of Jason Todd, standing in the debris of the warehouse district after the Joker had set up bombs across the city, challenging Batman to find the correct bomb in order to save the young man. So many more lives were lost in that terrible nightmare, one of which was a good friend and fellow SHIELD agent, Katie Jones. The mother of Jacob Jones. Who died as a nurse who jumped in to help. He remembered being on site, seeing the place where the boy's body had been tied down. He shook his head pushing back the awful smell of charred flesh seared into his memory.
"It's the Joker," Mick growled. "He's the only sociopath who knows of our connection, and that location."
"The Joker is currently in Arkham Asylum," Bruce stated firmly.
"Then it's one of his henchmen," Mick was growing irrational as Bruce shook his head. "Who else would force us together to relive THAT moment?"
"I don't know yet," Bruce stayed calm. "But I intend on finding out. Either you calm down, or you'll find out when it's over." He handed Mick back his wristband. "Contact your team. I don't want anyone else getting abducted. Get in the car and let them know where to meet us."
"What do you mean Mick has gone off the grid?" Jemma's voice was full of concern. "It's bad enough Ms. Fields' suit tracker is being jammed but now Mick?"
"Agent Coulson is not going to be happy about that," Fitz stated. "We'll keep monitoring from here, but we're just as much in the dark as you are Pat."
"Great," Patten sighed as he swerved to avoid a slow moving car as they headed toward Gotham. "Guess it's back to square one. Thanks guys."
"Does Batman have the ability to jam signals?" Jenn asked from the passenger seat.
"Who knows exactly what he can do," Patten groaned. "His systems are just as guarded as SHIELD, but I like where your mind is at."
"Do we have a way to communicate with Batman?" Jake asked.
"There's only one sure way we know of, and that's why we're heading to Gotham PD," Patten stated.
"So Batman is a cop?" Alex asked, raising his brow.
"No," Patten replied.
"I just got a text from Mick," Jenn said, opening her phone. "It looks like coordinates and a bat emoji."
"Plug them into the GPS," Pat said urgently.
Jenn quickly went to work, though it was challenging typing the numbers into the system with all the weaving through traffic. A small dot appeared on the northern end of Gotham, about thirty minutes from where they were now.
"Uh oh," Patten looked at the screen when they stopped at a red light. "I hope that means he's with Batman and not going to fight him. Especially not there."
"Someone has to explain what happened with Mick and Batman, this is killing me," Jenn said with exasperation.
"Mick needs to be the one to explain it, but the need to know, they go way back, and Mick both resents Batman for everything wrong that's happened to him, and yearns to prove he can be better than he ever was," Patten stated.
"So almost like a girl with daddy issues?" Alex asked.
"I wouldn't say it that way, but if that's how you understand it," Patten shook his head.
Recluse and Batman perched on the building overlooking the warehouse. Mick watched as Bruce tapped his cowl, wondering exactly what kind of tech the man had in his visor. "I've got seven heat signatures in motion."
"Seven?"
"It would appear the captives are a little more resilient than their captors anticipated," Bruce said as Mick smiled and nodded.
"Eclipse can be quite the handful when she wants to be," Mick said proudly.
"That's what concerns me. Tim is well disciplined, I know what to expect from him," Bruce stood, readying himself to glide across to the warehouse. "Now, stick to the plan."
"Whatever you say Bats," Recluse adjusted his goggles, popped his shoulders, then ran forward, jumping off the building into a freefall, firing two webs to catch himself, swinging toward the warehouse.
Stephanie ran forward, sliding under an arrow fired by the one called Arsenal, as Robin swung down on a chain slamming him in the chest. His arrows clattered to the ground, his bow flung from his hand. Steph grabbed an arrow for each hand, even though they weren't her escrima sticks, at least she could fight with them. Robin then grabbed the bow, twirling it around as if it were a staff.
X-23 sprung at them, her claws extended. Robin jumped in, deflecting several attacks with the bow, and before Stephanie could jump in, the teleporter appeared. Stephanie swung the arrows, the girl barely leaning back to avoid the surprise attack. The girl started to teleport, only for Stephanie to grab her, teleporting along with her.
Mick slid into the window, his mind racing back to the brutal images of the scene from the last time he was here. The scorch marks, the vividly painted picture of the young Jason Todd's suffering before the bomb exploded, they all haunted him as he stood on the catwalk. He wondered if Bruce was haunted as much as he was being here.
"I really didn't expect you to fall into his trap," a girl in a white and black body suit with pink trim, a white mask, hood, and her blood hair falling along her face scoffed at him. "Guess you are just as predictable as he said."
"We don't have to do this," Recluse warned, taking a fighting stance.
"Oh trust me, this is a lesson you vigilantes need to learn," the girl shot webs at Recluse.
"Oh that's rich," Recluse taunted as he used his electricity to enhance his speed, dodging the webs, rushing at the girl. He jumped over her, shooting webs at her feet, only for her to nimbly dodge them, using the ceiling to swing away, then slam into him. He hit the grating of the catwalk, pushing himself through a backflip, then drawing his holosaber from his belt.
The blade ignited as he slashed through several webs the girl fired at him, firing his own back at her. She jumped into the air, he followed, throwing his blade, it cut her web. Recluse then shot a web at her, catching her mid fall, pulling her back onto the catwalk.
"Stand down, I don't want to hurt you," Recluse growled as he landed beside the girl who was struggling to get out of the webbing.
"Why are your webs so strong?" she hissed, as she jerked violently.
"They're natural," Recluse sneered, webbing her body to the catwalk. "I'll let you free once I get my partner back."
"What do you mean by natural?" The girl groaned as Recluse looked back at her over his shoulder. "They don't dissolve?"
"I think they degrade over time, but dissolve, not to my knowledge. That would be counterintuitive, don't you think?" Recluse peaked down as he heard a loud commotion. "We can talk once I put handcuffs on you and sort this whole thing out."
"Good luck with that," the girl grunted as Recluse jumped over the railing, using his webs to glide down.
Batman glided across the roof, looking for an opening. He peered down, scanning everything. Recluse had just entered the building, there were five figures fighting, but something was off. He'd lost track of two.
"Batman, so good of you to finally come to my little party," the man wore a leather long coat with a hood, on his face a red metallic cover over his mouth and nose. His shirt was black, like his pants, they appeared to be more armor material, he also wore blood red combat boots. On his chest was a symbol that looked like a wide V with two glaring eyes.
"Where's Robin?" Batman asked.
"Oh I'm sure Tim Drake and Stephanie Fields are working on escaping as we speak," the man said, catching Batman by surprise. A feat that didn't happen very often. "Feisty little duo, you and Mick should be proud."
"How do you know those names?" Batman asked as the man in the red hood started laughing.
"Oh that's not all I know, Bruce," the man taunted, Bruce clenching his fist tightly and gritting his teeth. "Do you know where we stand?"
"I know enough," Batman said, trying to draw his opponent into giving him a little more information.
"I was a little surprised they rebuilt it," the man looked around as Batman watched him carefully. "Guess when you can simply threaten, or pay off the officials, they do what you want. Is that why he's still in Arkham?"
"He who?" Batman asked, feeling as if he were getting more from his opponent than was intended.
"Jack Napier," the red hood stated plainly. "Jack White, Joker, whatever name you want to call that scumbag."
"So that's what this is about? You were hurt by the Joker, and so you're getting your revenge by stalking me and abducting children?" Batman asked.
"Hurt? That's one way to say it," the red hooded man growled.
The red hooded man lashed out, rushing at Batman, swinging at him. He seemed to know every move Batman would make, every way he would dodge. This man was highly trained. Bruce went to stun his right arm, only to hear a clang as his hand recoiled. The red hooded man then tackled Batman, both falling through a skylight.
Stephanie slashed the red headed girl in the arm with the arrow, she screamed out in frustration. She started to teleport, only for Stephanie to stay on the offense, grabbing her by the hair, pulling her back mid warp, throwing her to the ground.
"Okay, now I've had enough," the girl growled, swinging at Stephanie.
Stephanie backstepped several punches until she hit the wall, then was hit hard in the side. "Stupid girl, did you really think you would win?" the red head gloated.
"Actually," Steph huffed as she stood back up, the girl taking another swing. This time, Steph anticipated it, grabbing her arm, and spinning her around with it pinning the girl against the wall. "I did. Now teleport us back to my new friend."
"Bite me," the girl hissed.
"Fine," Stephanie shrugged, leaning forward clamping down on the girls' shoulder.
Recluse ran in, firing webs at the feral woman with claws attacking Robin. "Thanks," Robin said as the woman tore at the webs on her feet.
"Run kid," Recluse ignited his blade as the woman lunged at him. She fought like a raging animal, relentless slashing, claws on her feet at hands, bow tearing into Mick despite his best efforts to block. She then caught him,her claws cutting into his sides as she slammed him into a wall. He grabbed her shoulders, letting out a burst of electric energy, the girl screaming out as the two toppled to the ground.
Recluse pushed the woman off, as Stephanie appeared with the red headed girl in an arm lock. "Hey look, my team leader," Steph motioned toward Recluse.
"We have these three here, where's Ghost and Red Hood?" Robin asked.
"Who's Ghost and Red Hood?" Recluse asked, looking between Robin and Eclipse.
"Ghost is a girl with wicked agility and can shoot webs like you," Eclipse explained.
"Red Hood is the guy in charge," Robin followed up.
"And the others?" Recluse looked skeptically.
"Claws goes by Laura and X-23, Red here goes by Nightshade," Eclipse pulled up the girls' arm as she growled furiously.
"And that guy?" Recluse motioned to the unconscious fellow in red and black.
"Not sure," Robin shrugged.
"Red Arrow?" Eclipse suggested. "He was using these," she held up the arrow and motioned to the bow in Robin's hand.
"Good enough," Recluse nodded. All attention was diverted upward when the glass shattered, down came Batman and the Red Hood.
Robin jumped, grabbing Stephanie, and the two quickly rolled away from the cascading glass. Nightshade grabbed X-23, teleported, then grabbed Red Arrow, then teleported again. Recluse moved to catch the falling pair. Batman kicked away from Red Hood, firing his grappling to catch himself. Red Hood held out his right arm and a grapple fired from his wrist, revealing his metallic hand, swinging and kicking Recluse out of his way.
"Red Hood!" Recluse growled, flipping over and catching himself, preparing to launch himself at his foe.
"So good to have the family all together again, isn't it Bruce?" Red hood taunted as he landed, looking over at the two children then back at Recluse and Batman.
"Stop talking!" Recluse yelled, rushing at the Red Hood with electricity trailing off him. He swung, his punch met Red Hood's metal fist. The impact shattered the windows of the warehouse, launching Recluse backwards and to the ground.
"Poor Mick, if only he had more time to train under you, huh Bruce?" Red Hood scoffed as Stephanie and Robin rushed to Mick's side.
"Who is this guy?" Robin asked as he looked at Batman.
"Who cares! He talks too much!" Steph grabbed Mick's blade from his side, rushing at Red Hood.
Red Hood pulled a collapsible baton from his belt, deflecting the attack. Then spinning around, swinging at Batman who moved to take advantage of Red Hood's distraction. Robin rushed in, Red Hood fending off the trio of heroes. It was only when Red Hood dodged a web shot from Mick, that Batman jumped back with a horrible realization.
"Everyone attack all at once!" Batman called out, Robin, Steph and even Recluse nodding.
The three moved at Red Hood, Robin swinging the bow, Red Hood deflecting and kicking Robin, Steph stabbing Red Hood with the arrow, only to be punched aside, then Mick grabbed him. He prepared to let out a powerful jolt of electricity when a batarang pierced the metallic mask of the Red Hood. That combined with Mick's blast sent the Red Hood reeling. He tore the mask from his face, snarling like a ravenous wolf.
"No way," Robin gasped.
"That can't be," Mick stood upright as he got a good look at the man's scarred face, the long black hair, and the grey-blue eyes.
"Jason?" Bruce asked, just as stunned as everyone else.
"Guess the cat is out of the bag then," Jason sneered, pulling his hood down. "The only question left is, are you going to actually stop me or just try to have me committed just like you did with him?"
"Let us help you, Jason," Bruce said calmly.
"Help me? You're four years too late!" Jason bellowed, charging at Bruce. "You could've helped me by killing that psycho clown! Instead you just keep giving him chance after chance to hurt more people!"
Mick then shot webs catching the metallic arm, which infuriated Jason. He then reached for his pistol, pointing it at Stephanie. Robin jumped in front of her, hoping to protect her, but Batman was quicker than Jason's trigger finger. The gun and batarang clanged to the ground.
"It's over Jason," Bruce stated firmly as Jason laughed in derangement.
"You're right," he snarled, motioning with his metallic arm. "Congradulations, you saved your new Robin. But just like Mick, I'll forever be the scarred image you can't fix. Your second broken student thanks to a deranged madman that you continue to let run free."
"I wasn't ever a-" Mick started.
"Oh? He never told you?" Jason smiled as he held up his metal hand. "Before your little accident, you were going to be part of this little 'Batfamily'."
After he spoke, several explosions went off, Mick covering Stephanie, and Bruce covering Tim. The roof began to fall around them, Batman handing off Robin and sending Recluse toword the exit while he stayed back looking for Jason. Once outside they were met by Patten and the rest of Mick's team.
"What happened in there?" Patten looked between Mick and the kids as he checked over the vitals of the two children.
"Long story," Mick coughed. "I need to get back in there with Bats."
"The building is going to come down!" Jenn shrieked, as another explosion went off.
"But he's still-" Mick started to argue as a loud crash pierced the night. They all spun around to see the warehouse collapsing. "No!"
"Mick don't!" Patten yelled as Mick rushed toward the rubble.
"Look!" Robin pointed up at a caped silhouette atop a building.
"What about that Jason guy?" Stephanie asked, as Jake and Jenn stood beside her.
"I don't know," Mick said softly.
Mick brought Tim back to Wayne Manor, after a brief exchange of pleasantries with Alfred, they were led down to the cave where Bruce was waiting with Nightwing and Batgirl. It was clear Bruce had just finished debriefing Barbara and Dick on the situation with Jason as Mick entered with Tim.
"Jemma checked him out, outside the minor bruising, he's fine," Mick said as Bruce seemed uneasy about it. "Don't worry. We're not keeping records on Tim. As far as SHIELD is concerned, he was just a random rescued hostage taken by the Outlaws."
"Thanks," Bruce said reluctantly, as Tim fist bumped Barbara and Dick.
"Any sightings of Jason?" Mick asked.
"No, guy's a total ghost again," Dick said with a sigh.
"What about his team?" Mick huffed in disappointment.
"We're still looking into them," Barbara said. "Nightshade and her teleporting ability makes it difficult to track them though."
"Yeah," Mick frowned. "I'm going to be looking into it on my end too. That girl with webs, she said she makes hers. I know a guy who does that, so maybe we'll figure something out from that angle? Don't worry though, I'll keep my distance, Bruce."
"That won't be necessary," Bruce said stoically. "Whatever game Jason is playing, it's probably going to include you."
"I've been wondering for a while, what did he mean by the second broken student?" Tim asked, looking at Bruce.
Bruce took in a deep breath, then looked at Mick. "Before Mick's accident, he and Dick were really close. His family was broken, and he needed a way to channel that anger. Barbara was already excelling in her training, I made the decision to start training Mick and Dick. They both were proceeding wonderfully, and then Mick's accident happened. His powers were so unstable, I looked into the best way to have them harnessed. I spoke with his parents, they then sent him to Xaviers School for Gifted Children. To my surprise, they abandoned him there, held a funeral for him. To their family, Mick had died. It was something I never had accounted for."
Mick watched Bruce curiously as he told his side of the story. "I wanted to find a cure for him. I hated that he was left alone. I had already begun training him, he had a suit and a name I picked out for him. Mick rounded out the trio as NightGale. Losing Mick demoralized Dick and Barbara."
"I never-" Mick started as Bruce nodded.
"I'm sorry for what you went through, but I do believe you're a good man because of it," Bruce said to Mick's surprise.
"Thanks Bruce," Mick said with a half smile, then looked down at his shirt covering his Relcuse gear. "NightGale came from you all along. I never knew you cared."
"Don't push it," Bruce warned as Dick laughed.
"You didn't know the Old Man is secretly a big softy?" Dick teased as Bruce shook his head, cracking a smile discreetly.
Mick couldn't help but laugh, finally feeling a semblance of peace in his life.
Gwen sat in her room, for the first time in days. She felt so confused, aimless to a degree. Jason promised that they would be fighting the good fight, taking down criminals so they could no longer harm innocent civilians. That's why she wanted to join his fight. Criminals like the Joker, Silvermane, Tombstone, they all needed to not be simply removed from the streets, but removed all together. Murderers shouldn't be allowed to continue their rampage just because they sat in time out for a brief stint and are called reformed by some corrupt psychologist.
She was glad that Emma and Laura teleported back before the warehouse went up in flames. Though Jason was missing, this gave her time to think. Sure, the riots in New York made sense. Mutants are treated poorly, and they were there for them. But this, fighting Batman and that Recluse guy, it didn't. Recluse didn't even want to fight her, he was clearly pulling his punches. She'd seen several of his fights online now, and going over it all in her head, frustrated her. Why kidnap those kids?
"Are you still looking up videos of that spider-guy?" Emma asked, bouncing on Gwen's bed.
"What if we were wrong, Em?" Gwen asked as Emma rolled her eyes.
"Was it a little sketchy?" Emma asked, her voice slightly mocking and nasally. "Yeah, but I'm sure Jason had his reasons. Besides, now that we fought Batman and got away, all those other chumps will know we mean business."
"But what about that Recluse guy? How come we can't find anything other than a few Youtube videos on him? And that eagle emblem on his shoulder, what does that mean?" Gwen's concerns were clearly much worse than Emma's.
"You're way overthinking all of it," Emma threw herself back onto Gwen's pillows. "Everything worked out fine, and now we have street cred."
"But kidnapping and fighting heroes isn't what I signed up for. I want revenge," Gwen said bitterly, when Laura walked in.
"We all do," she said firmly. "Sometimes to get what we want, we have to get our hands dirty first."
"If we're going to get close to the bad guys, we have to do bad things," Emma said as Gwen nodded in agreement.
Gwen took in a deep breath, steadying her resolve. She nodded. They were right, to get close to the monster who took everything from her, she was going to have to become a monster herself. Even if it ripped her apart.