Ignite

Thirteen || Batman Strikes Again

Hey!

So - serious sidenote here because some stuff has been going on and come to my attention - if you guys are having a bad day or something, or things aren't going your way, you can always talk to me, or someone else. "If you don't let it out, you're gonna let it eat you away," you know? You don't have to keep everything bottled up, it's not good for the human mind. So if something's bothering you, feel free to message me, or please go to someone before things get too bad. And by too bad, I don't just mean suicidal. Any sort of mental illness or depression can be harmful, don't feel like you have to go to an extreme for people to care. Your problems matter at any level, and no one should be forced to carry everything themselves. So, I'm here, in case you need me.

Now that that's off my chest, here's your chapter! It's unedited (apologies) so you can comment any mistakes you find.

Anyway, dedication goes to Gretchen006, because they vote and comment. The holy...duet-ity? I don't know. So thank you, and thank you to all my readers, voters and commenters. You're all superbly amazing.

I hope you like the chapter!

[]||[]||[]

Jensen started yelling when he woke up to the shadow of a bat in his room.

It morphed into screaming when the shadow lurched forward and picked him up.

Then finally, as he was carried out the window and into the sky, the scream turned into a continuous stream of swears broken up by the occasional, "put me down, Batman!"

"Put me - uff!"

Jensen coughed as he got dumped onto a tree branch. His arms scrabbled to wrap around the bark as he slid off, but then a hand dragged him back up again.

"What the hell Batman?" Jensen gasped, stomach dropping as the tree swayed with their weight. "I would have come without you kidnapping me, again!"

There was a pause. This was not what Hale was expecting. "You would?"

"Yes! If you had asked!"

Jensen looked up and met Hale's gaze. The boy was crouched on the branch above Jensen with annoyance and confusion.

"You lied to me." He accused, spreading his wings so the only stars Jensen could see were Hale's eyes.

"Can you blame me?" Jensen retorted, but then curbed his surly tone. He was still irritated at the method of transport, but he didn't want Hale to leave again. "I mean, I didn't know where Izila was, so I figured instead of saying that and having you kill me, I would lead you to my friends."

"I need to get to Izila!"

"Why are you so adamant about returning to the lady who threatened to lock you up?"

Hale's face stiffened, but not in time to cover the glance at his wrist. Jensen followed the gaze and saw a metal bracelet, glinting in the moonlight. It was about half an inch wide, and clung to Hale's skin like it was built into him.

Maybe it was.

"Batman," Jensen began, voice almost inaudible. "What's that?"

Hale's response took a while. "I dunno. It's connected to a remote that Izila has. She presses buttons and it does stuff."

"What kind of stuff?"

Again, there was a long pause, filled only by the howling of the wind. "Electric shocks. But it gets tighter the longer I'm away."

Jensen felt sick, and not just from the heights. This was his fault.

"I'm sorry." He said, voice as scratchy as the bark. "I didn't know."