Blue Jay's Flight

Cat Woman's Call

I was about to spit an insult at him, but instead, a weird piece of fabric-like material went over my mouth. It clung to either side of my mouth and sealed my lips shut. I couldn't even twitch the muscles next to my mouth. What the hell was this stuff?

I wasn't all that buff and I was very light. The guys with The Joker lifted me up and over one of their shoulders. Oh HELL NAW!!! I twisted in a fashion that allowed me to knees the guy in the face and his grip fell from me. I felt the sickening crack from under my knees and I shot upward. I forgot about the chains attached to the latches and I was yanked back down forcefully.

I hit the sewer floor with a hard thud that knocked the wind out of me. One of them kicked me hard in the face and I heard Nightwing shout, "Blue Jay! Leave her alone!"

I heard a grunt of pain come from him and I felt blood drip down the sides of my face. I felt a kick to my side and a flash of white hot pain coursed through my body. He had cracked two ribs. Another guy lifted me up by the hair and punched me hard in the face. I spat up blood just as another punch landed in my gut. I cried out with pain and the sound was muffled by the fabric over my mouth.

"Jay," I heard Nightwing's voice and I slowly turned my head to look at him. His left eye was swelling up and his lower lip was puffy.

I swallowed hard and whispered, "I'm sorry," right before I blacked out. Before I did, a horrible pain slammed into the back of my head...

I scream with pain as I tried to sit up when I woke up. Once again, it was muffled. My right side was on fire and it hurt to move my face. Not only was it sticky with dried blood, but my cheekbone was throbbing. I slowly craned my head over to look down at my self and saw that I was chained to the wall. I felt sore all over and I could barely move my arms.

"Jay," a voice hissed to me, "Jay!"

"Uhhhhh," I moaned back.

Nightwing sighed with relief in the cell next to me. "Good, you're conscious, but you've sustained a nice beating. Even after you blacked out, they continued to keep hitting you.

"They did WHAT?!" an outraged familiar voice said from the other side of the bars.

My eyes adjusted to the dim light and I saw Cat Woman storm in. "Jasmine!" she shouted in horror when she saw me. She opened the cell and rushed over to me. She cupped my face in her hands and tilted me from side to side. "That fucking son of a bitch! He promised me you wouldn't get hurt!"

I could barely make a sound, and I saw her rage flare through her eyes. "Hang in there, honey. I'll go get help. Wait..."

She trailed off and looked over at Nightwing who wasn't even close to as injured as I was. She stood up and then walked over to him. She thrust her head into his face and hissed, "Listen, Boy Wonder, I'm going to let you two go, and you are going to get her the hell out of here, do you understand? You take her, and you run like a fire is chasing you. My car is waiting right outside the exit." She gave him directions and I forced myself to not fade away. "Do you have it? Good."

Selena then got back over to me and unlocked my chains. She once more grabbed my face and made me look at her. "Jasmine, listen to me! You go with him, and you stay with the Justice League at all costs, do you understand? You get there and you stay away from this damn hell hole. I don't care what choiced you've made lately, nor do I care. I have always loved you like my own daughter. You stay strong, Jasmine. Always strong."

I must've started to fade back into unconsciousness because I didn't remember her leaving. The next thing I knew, Nightwing had picked me up and slung me over his shoulder. My head pounded hard with each stride that he made and I forced myself to stay awake. All I wanted to do then was lye down and take a nice long nap.

Nightwing must've been a shadow because we were out of there in no time at all. He shoved me into the back seat of Selena's Grand Cherokee. He started the engine and I passed out again.

I woke up very very slowly and I realized that I was back in Mt.Justice. I looked over and saw that Nightwing's hand was on mine. A small smile creeped onto my lips and I croaked, "Hey, bird-boy, I'm alive."

He suddenly jerked awake and he sighed with relief, again. "At first we thought you slipped into a comma..."

I laughed and I took an intake of air from the pain on my ribs. "Owwww."

"Blue Jay!" another familiar voice said. I looked towards the door and saw Superboy's relieved and smiling face. "Nightwing told us what happened. Are you okay?"

I nodded. "I'll live. I've been through a lot worse, trust me. It's gonna take more then that to kill me."

He sighed and then glared at Nightwing. "What were you thinking?!" he yelled at him. "She could've been killed! Not to mention that you did this all without letting anyone know what you were up to! Batman almost lost his marbles!"

"Hey!" I protested and grunted with pain. "He saw an opening to get the Joker, and we took it. Believe me, I would've been perfectly happy if he had left well enough alone, but that didn't happen. Don't blame him, okay?"

I saw his shoulders relax and he sighed. "You're right, sorry, Nightwing. I was just really worried."

He shrugged. "I would've been pissed too. And I'm sorry that I made you come along, Jay."

I closed my eyes and sighed. "Too sleepy..."