The Equivalents

29. Secrets, relationships, and a van.

After all the bad guys henchmen were arrested and the city was safe, everyone went back to the compound. They hoped that Batman, Superman, Black Widow, Iron Man, and Orphan had found something. A location, a general area. Anything. It had been almost two weeks since Queens. They hadn't heard anything since then about Peter, Jason, and Bucky. Well, as far as most of them knew at least. One person had something. A note. A message with an offer to get back one of their teammates in exchange for a price that had not yet been told.

Dick had read the paper over and over again. There was no information about a meeting place or any instructions. Not a time or a task to complete. Just the ultimatum. A favor for the return of a friend. A teammate. A brother.

When the heroes arrived back at the compound, they found a message saying the other team had a lead that they went to check out. A witness stated that they found a van similar to the one the Joker had been driving. So they went to see the van and hopefully match it to the Joker's. It was a long shot, but they were willing to give it a chance.

Roy had been pretty upset lately. His best friend was missing and no one knew where he was. Kate noticed and wanted to talk to him about it.

"Hey. You seem upset." She said. "You alright?"

"Yeah, it's just..." Roy trailed off. "Jason was my best friend. IS my best friend. And it's been awhile since he was captured and I... I guess I'm just a little nervous if he's ok."

"Right. I'm sorry, I wasn't thinking when I asked-" Kate was cut off.

"No! It's ok. You didn't do anything wrong." Roy smiled at her. "And I know Jason can handle himself. So I'll be fine."

"You don't have to pretend to be ok if you're upset. It's normal." Kate replied. "I mean, look at his brothers! Dick has literally been freaking out for the past two weeks. And if you guys were best friends, I'm sure he considered you one of his brothers."

"I don't think he'd want to. He has enough already." Roy joked. "But I get what you mean."

"I've been worried about Peter. I miss the scrabble games we used to play. How at the end of every month he would hold a tournament to see who was the best. Tony's won three." Kate laughed. "It's been different without him here. Without his laugh lighting up the room. He just brings this joy to the compound."

Roy felt a little saddened by her remark. Did she have feelings for Peter? That would definitely be a let down. Not because Peter wasn't a great guy, but because he wanted to shoot his shot right now. He thought the moment was perfect for him to tell her that he loved her. But now the subject had changed.

Before he knew what was happening though, Kate randomly leaned in and kissed him. Just a quick peck, but a kiss none the less. Roy was shocked.

"I'm sorry if I read that wrong." Kate sighed before Roy leaned back in to kiss her. This wasn't no peck though. It was a long, passionate, kiss.

"Wow." Kate gasped as they separated. "Looks like I am good at reading people after all."

Batman and his team managed to track down the van they were looking for. Whether it was the correct one or not, they would soon find out. They arrived at the location where the van was and spread out in search of the vehicle. It took a little while, but eventually Clark found it. No surprise there, the guy literally has x-ray vision.

"Batman, I found it." Superman stated.

"Everyone to Superman's position." Batman ordered.

Everyone made their way to Clark and began to examine the van. None of them had actually seen the Joker van in person. The only thing that they had to use to compare the vehicles was pictures. And that was still better then nothing at all. They pulled out the blury pictures and began to examine the van. Some of the dents and parts matched perfectly. But Bruce couldn't get pass the fact that the van wasn't green and/or purple. Why would the Joker take the time to scrape off all the paint when he got rid of it? It didn't seem like the Joker to leave the evidence behind either. Knowing the Joker, he probably would've blown it up into a big colorful explosion. But he didn't. That seemed a little bit odd.

Batman did a further examination of the van, taking back metal samples and any other evidence that was left in the backseat. He found two hairs and placed them in plastic bags. I know that sounds gross but evidence is evidence. Especially DNA evidence.

All of the heroes couldn't agree if this was the van or not. Batman was about to come to a conclusion before all the heroes found something they could agree on. They all heard it when it started. The tick.

Tick, tick, tick, tick.

Batman knew exactly what that meant.

"It's rigged to explode, get back-" But before he could answer, the bomb went off and the van exploded. But not with Joker gas or anything like that. Confirming exactly what Bruce had thought. This was the van the villains used to kidnap their teammates, but it was not Joker who got rid of it. It was Roman Sionis.

No one was hurt severely in the blast, but it did completely destroy the van and all the evidence with it. Well, the evidence Batman hadn't gotten to yet. But he still had quite a bit. It's how he figured out this was Black Mask. And he was sure it's how he would figure out where his son is.

Back at the compound, everyone had been giving their mission reports when it was finally Dick's turn. He had already told his story, or part of it at least. Purposely leaving out the note. But when Steve asked him about the blast from the explosion, he knew he wouldn't be able to just keep this a secret. If he wanted a chance to find out if the Joker would give him his brother back, he would have to flat out lie to them.

"Dick, what happened after the explosion? You were the last to catch up to the group. Did you find something?" Steve asked.

Dick thought for a minute. What if Steve tried to take the note and use it to get Bucky back? He couldn't risk that. He wanted Bucky and Peter back safe as well, but if it came down to one of them or Jason, he knew who he was going to pick. Again, he did not want it to come to that. It was the very last thing in the world he would want. Superheroes to die. He wouldn't be able to live with himself if he let that happened, but he felt it would still be easier then living with the eternal guilt that would come if anything happened to his little brother.

"No," He lied. "I didn't find anything."