Of Ashes and Embers

Boy Wonder

My body aches all over. Drug injections have been nearly constant. Punishments are much more frequent and more severe, even for the smallest of mistakes. My back is torn to shreds. I can't see it but I know it must be bad if I can still feel it despite the drugs coursing through my veins. All I know is that Sportsmaster was the Lights enforcer, apparently. I wasn't told anything until the mission was over. Failed. Thankfully, I had nothing to do with its failure. The Light tried to take over the Justice League. I'll admit that their plan was brilliant, and I was unknowingly a part of it in a couple of my missions. Their failure was brought about because they didn't follow rule eight: never underestimate your opponent. They did. They underestimated the sidekicks who defeated the Justice League members that were The Lights control and chased out Klarion and Savage from the watchtower. It's still been hell. I rise with the footsteps on the stairs, pulling a shirt on just in time for the door to open. Sportsmaster stands in the doorway, blocking my way out. He still stands stiffer than he normally does, obviously his mood has not improved despite the many weeks, I think, since the failure of The Lights mission.

"You have a mission," he states. "You'll be going to Gotham," I hear the sharp intake of breath before I realize it's coming from me, I swallow thickly and nod. I haven't been back there since... well since I nearly died.

"Yes sir," I respond.

"you are going to kidnap Robin," he says, as if its nothing. Like it's the easiest task in the world.

"Yes sir. But, uh, how am I supposed to do that exactly?"

"Are you suggesting that you can't figure out how to kidnap a child dressed in spandex?"

"Sir I am a child dressed in spandex," slips out before I think about it. Fuck. I close my eyes and breathe deep. The slap does come, hard, I hit the floor, and several kicks follow. When its over I simply stand up again, prepared to hear the rest of the briefing. My ribs are screaming, I don't want the drugs to wear off any time soon. "Sorry Sir."

"You will be going to Gotham, you will get the sidekick, and you will bring him back to the designated spot of my choice. And this will be done within two weeks. Understood?"

"Understood."

"Good, now go to the lab, the docs have a new mix to try and then you need to start planning."

"Yes, sir," I reply before heading to the lab to try yet another mix of random drugs.

(time skip)

Sportsmaster is flying me. I am currently not allowed to pilot for fear that sleep deprivation and the newest cocktail of drugs would cause me to crash and burn long before we near Gotham. A new test, from higher up apparently, I doubt it but whatever, I am not allowed to sleep, at all, for somewhere around 96 hours. 4 days, no sleep. I'm only around 54 hours in. I can't relax my body, even when I try. When I try I almost sleep, I don't want the punishment from that. I don't think my body can handle another. The plan is relatively simple, and hopefully quick. I put it together in the first 12 hours of this new test. I was more lucid, more logical. I am going to break into Wayne Enterprises, something I know will gets Bats and Birds attention. They seem to be very protective of Wayne's crap. Maybe they're related or screwing, I don't know, don't particularly care. About a minute and a half to two minutes after I trip the alarm, Joker and Harley are going to cause absolute chaos across Gotham. They owed me a favor. Batman will have no choice but to respond and go after them, but patterns show that there's no way he would just ignore a break in at Wayne's. He'll probably send the bird and I'll be waiting to ambush him and knock him out as soon as possible. I'm not even going to hack the cameras. If they see it's me, he'll be even more likely to send Robin in instead of leaving it to Wayne's security team.

The helicopter lands a little away from Wayne's building on roof of a rather tall building. I slip out and jump to the next building. I land a little rougher and feel myself wobble as I come back up to my feet. I find myself looking over my shoulder a lot. Watching the shadows on the rooftops. I don't want to be ambushed by him again. I might not be so lucky to make it out alive again. I hardly did last time. I shake my head in an attempt to clear it and carefully make the rest of the trip to Wayne Enterprises and slip in through the vents. I follow blueprints that I downloaded on the holo to a lab not too far from Wayne's office. I drop down and walk to a door across the room that has a sign reading "Authorized Personal Only". This will do. I just turn the handle to see if the alarm goes off. Nada. Alrighty then.

"I'm about to get everyone's attention," I tell my handler through my com, "Joker and Harley need to be ready."

"Copy that," is the reply. I unholster my pistol and shoot the lock, like they always do in the movies and crap. The door to the lab bursts open and a guard who must have been making rounds rushes in from the hall.

"Intruder in Lab 123," I let him say through the radio he carries. The alarms start blaring. Perfect. "Drop your weapon!" A grin slips onto my face and I step out of the shadows so he, and the cameras can clearly see me. His eyes widen. I chuckle. I slowly put my gun back in its holster, his stance relaxes. Fool. I pull a knife and send it straight through the man's right shoulder. He drops his gun and screams in pain.

"You should never drop a loaded weapon," I chide him, rushing forward and sweeping his legs out from under him, "it could go off," I finish as I use the butt of another knife to knock him out. I begin making my way to Wayne's office, having to take a few guards out on the way. I'm only a few feet from the office when I am greeted with a pair of them. Before they can do anything, I rush at one, flipping off of his shoulders to kick the one behind him in the head, which then smacks into the wall. He's out. I stumble as I land, hand meeting the wall before I can meet the floor. The other guard grabs me from behind in a sort of bear hug hold. I bring my foot up where it meets his groin and I am promptly dropped, this time I do greet the ground, hands, not face though. I come back up and knock him out as well before entering Wayne's office. I glance around and up. I blink. Why does Wayne have beams in his office? Literally nowhere else were there beams in the building. I shrug before making my way onto one close to the door, where I settle in to wait. It doesn't take long. Robin enters with Bat-a-rangs at the ready. I wait until he's just past me. I drop down onto him, making sure to hit his head as he gets shoved into the floor by my sudden force. He's down but not out. He's struggling. I wrap my arms around his neck and squeeze. It's difficult to hold him but the lack of oxygen and the blunt force to his head have him out rather quickly. I sigh and release him.

"Sorry bird boy," I say before leaning down and quickly removing the com from his ear. I also remove his utility belt, boots, gloves, cape, most likely to either have a tracker or help him attempt to escape. I heave him onto my back and partially onto my shoulders before making my way back up to the roof where the helicopter should now be waiting. I nearly collapse a few times before making it up there, but I only encounter one guard. I dropped Robin to take care of the guard, but I don't think the bird is actually hurt. I sigh as I finally put him down in the helicopter. The chopper takes off. I pull a syringe from a box in the helicopter and gently insert it into the sidekick's arm. It's just going to ensure that he stays out long enough for us to get, well, wherever, we're taking him. I make my way to the front and sit in the co-piolets seat.

"Sir," I begin. His glance tells me I can continue, "where exactly are we delivering him to?" I suppose it will be a secure facility somewhere out of the country. The whole point of taking Robin is to break the team and Batman down until they can no longer function. The light and Sportsmaster think it will work. I think they're underestimating them and they're going to be so determined to get him back that they will raise hell with Sportsmaster, and any know member of the Shadows so much so that this whole operation won't be worth keeping him.

"He's coming back with us, we're going to hold him at our facility, with you," he replies. I blink but bite my tongue.

"Yes sir," I respond. Idiots. The lot of them. Yeah, bring Robin back with Demon, the Shadows favorite weapon in training. They'll totally never find our base with how pissed they're about to be or how often we fly helicopters or anything. Nah. I sigh. I give them a week, maybe 11 days. Tops. Before they're knocking down our door. Not only will they get Robin back, but they'll also probably end up with me. Or I glance at Sportsmaster, if he or the guards think they'll take me and I'll be compromised, I'll be shot dead before they can.