Milk And Cardamom | S. Brown ✔

[43]

Stephanie was pacing in her room restlessly, her thoughts flickering again and again towards both Tim and Luke. She cared for a lot for both of them and wouldn't want either to get hurt, but due to the current circumstances both were in danger.

While she was frustrated because Bruce had asked her to stay out of that case and even though she had wanted to argue with him, she had been too exhausted to do so. Hence, she hadn't put up much of an argument when Richard took her to the room and left her there while the rest of them were working on tracking Deathstroke out.

She thought of calling Dora just to distract herself from the painful thoughts raging in her head but she wasn't sure about that either. She felt her voice would betray her and Dora would figure out something was wrong which was honestly the last thing she wanted at the moment.

She knew that if she called Dora, she would have to tell her why she worried but that was something that could expose their identities as Bat vigilantes and she didn't want herself or Dora to get in trouble for that.

So she sat down on her bed at last when her legs refused to cooperate in unnecessary pacing, but her mind had still not come to a rest, churning out the worst possibilities that Luke and Tim could face.

Her phone lit up at last with a text from Barbara because she had asked her to keep her informed if they found something. The words flashing on the screen made her stand up immediately: Slade's heideout has been tracked, Bats dispatched.

Steph quickly rushed down to the cave, knowing Batman wouldn't be there to argue against it as he had left with the others for the hideout too. Barbara was sitting in front of the Batcomputer as usual, the screen displaying a destructed rubble instead of the building.

It seemed as if an intense fire had broken out that had destroyed the hideout.

"Any sign of Deathstroke or the others?" Barbara asked and Richard's voice sounded from the Batcomputer's speaker.

"None. They are possibly under the debris."

She rotated the view of the camera to a 360, revealing Red Hood and Robin clearing up the debris while Batman seemed to have gone to search in the vicinity for Deathstroke. 

Barbara turned to look at Stephanie who was gripping the back of her chair so hard that her knuckles had turned white. She knew that the girl was intensely worried yet there was nothing she could say to console her except hoping that Tim and Luke would be found safely.

"We found Rose," Nightwing alerted them and Barbara rotated the view again, stopping on the point that showed Red Hood helping out a girl with silvery hair, who seemed frantic and was searching through the debris. 

"Any sign of Deathstroke or Red Robin?" 

"None. Though we have found Lucas as well and we will be coming to the cave with both of them. Batman is going to search for Deathstroke, chances are that we'll find Red Robin wherever he is."

Steph was conflicted on whether to feel slightly relieved or not because even though Luke had been found and would be returning safely to the Batcave, there was no sign of Tim and Deathstroke which could only mean that the mercenary had taken Tim with him.

And she knew exactly how ruthless Slade could be to his hostages and given the fact that Tim had directly challenged him by retrieving his son from him, it could only result far worse that she could think of at the moment.

She was hoping it wouldn't be true but that hope was not strong enough.

"Steph, they are coming back," Barbara spoke, her hand resting gently on her shoulder, "you can't stay in the cave because Rose and Lucas are going to be with them too. You must go to your room now." 

Reluctantly, she nodded, "I know. Thanks for keeping me informed."

"You're welcome. And don't worry, I will still keep you updated on everything."

She returned to her room but the restlessness hadn't decreased because there was still no sign of Tim nor Deathstroke. All she could do was hope and pray that Tim was okay because they had almost lost him twice before, she couldn't bear if they actually lost him that once.

He always used to say that she was his eternal support system and even though Steph had never admitted it to him, for her he was the eternal support system; the one person she could always count on to stay beside her and be her support.

Losing him forever felt like an utter nightmare and she didn't want to go through it ever.

Her phone lit up with a text from Barbara again: Bruce hasn't returned and will be searching the hideout again. The others are on their way. If you want to see Luke, you can come down but make sure you're in your suit. We can't risk them knowing our identities.

Her eyes flickered towards the clock and she quickly went back to the cave, in order to get her suit and change into it before the rest of them arrived. Barbara knew how worried she had been and had once again helped in lessening some of her worries, taking the chance that Bruce wouldn't know about it.

So Steph quickly changed into the Spoiler suit and not long afterwards, the entrance to the cave opened, revealing the vigilantes except Batman, along with Rose and Luke. 

Her heart sank upon seeing that Luke was still unconscious and was rushed to the medical wing immediately. But at least he was there and hopefully he would recover. Barbara dipped her head in a nod to let her know that she could go to the medical wing where Luke was supposed to be kept until he recovered.

Nightwing gently patted her shoulder as he left the cave, in order to inform George Wilson about the current circumstances and to assure him that his son would be fine. Red Hood and Robin left too as Batman had called them up to search the hideout again.

That left only Barbara, Steph and Rose in the cave. Barbara was resuming her duties as Oracle, aiding Batman and the other two vigilantes while Steph finally stepped into the medical wing. She spotted Rose who was sitting on a chair, clearly anxious for her brother while Luke was inside the glass room, an IV connected to his arm and faint lines showing up on the heartrate monitor. 

It hurt to see him like that but she knew she had to keep her emotions aside because she couldn't afford to let Rose suspect anything. So even though she wanted to go to room and check up on Luke, she stopped herself and took a seat beside Rose instead.

***