A brief interlude
“Did you call him?” Jason was staring out the window of Wayne manor, emotion rolling off in waves.
“Yes. Of course I did. He is coming. He didn’t know we were fighting the Matron. Apparently they’ve met before.” Dick was pacing back and forth in front of the monitor. The image of surveillance frozen at the last moment they had was projected onto it. It showed on one side of the house a blurry image of four burly men grabbing Damien and Cass, holding them and sticking them with some sort of darts as they struggled. They had been trapped by the walls and the men, surprised on their way out the side window.
The other side showed the matron standing over Tim’s fallen body, a metal pipe held over her head. She had struck him more than once. Jason had stared at that image, and imagined paying her back more times than he could count over the last twelve hours.
They had lost them twelve hours ago. In that time, they had managed to pick up pieces of communication from the big Damien had planted. They had been able to figure out a general location in Gotham, and knew they had Damien, Cass, and Tim in one place. But the communication had stopped shortly after mention of a ‘party.’
Steph was sitting with her head in her hands. She had dozed off a few times after reporting everything that the boy had told her about the woman - the matron - and his time. Apparently she didn’t just try out drugs meant for recreational use. He had overheard mention of torture, control, and some sort of discipline as well. Which meant that they had no idea what state they might find their lost siblings in.
If only Jason had gotten there quicker. If they had seen the Matron on the roof before entering the house. Split up to catch Damien and Cass before they left. Any number of options that didn’t leave them with three missing family members, at least one of whom was shot and bleeding out when they left him.
“Is the plan ready? Do we need to go over Amit again?”
“Dickie we’ve gone over it six times in the last hour. We all know what to expect. Unless you think going over it again will undo the past.”
Dick blinked and didn’t respond. Then he opened his mouth with nostrils flared ready t retort.
“Don’t bother with a comeback. I’m sorry, I’m just tired. I know you feel as guilty as I do. I just keep seeing the image of Tim screaming. His blood on my hands.” Jason stared at his hands as if he could make the image go away. That was what he remembered most. They were so… helpless.
Dick put a hand on his shoulder, “hey. We’re going to get them back. It isn’t your fault. And it isn’t - it isn’t mine either. All that matters now is that we save them.”
He felt another hand on his arm, and saw Steph giving a tired smile, “ We will win the same way we always do. Together. Cass still owes me a nail painting day. Tim could use one too. Maybe we do a sleepover when everyone is back.”
Jason couldn’t help but let out a breathy chuckle.
“Yeah. We’re going to make those bastards regret that they ever saw a member of the bats. And we’ll save them. We’ll save them all.”