Death Is Not Forever

Chapter 10

The good thing, Jason barely missed Ras' men, the bad thing, they took Skye and left Dick gagged and tied up in a broom closet. Once Jason had cut him free and gave him a punch in the face for good measure he calmed down enough to actually ask what had happened.

"If you were here how did Ras' men manage to take Skye?" Jason hissed as he paced, earning nervous looks from others around them who hadn't noticed the kidnapping.

"I couldn't go all Nightwing on his men in front of everyone." Dick whispered furiously. "I tried to stop them as much as I could but there was only so much I could do without giving away my other identity."

"You should have tried harder!"

Dick glared at him. "We will get Skye back. Do not doubt that. Now are we going to stand here arguing like idiots while Skye is taken who knows where to be killed or are we actually going to leave and catch up to them before she dies?"

"Let's go." Jason turned abruptly and walked out of the hospital with Dick at his heels. "Which way did they go?"

"Straight." Dick got onto his motorcycle while Jason got on his. "Do you really think it's a good idea to go into this without our weapons or backup?"

"No." Jason smirked. "It's a great idea."

"Bruce and Damian could help." He gave up as Jason took off down the street, completely ignoring him.

Jason weaved in and out of the traffic with Dick hot on his trail calling out directions, most were just guesses whenever they lost track of the truck Dick claimed to be the one that Ras' men had driven off in. Finally however they reached a two-way intersection and came to a stop, the truck wasn't anywhere in sight.

"Split up." Jason ordered. "I'll go right, you take the left."

"How will we know if the other finds them?" Dick questioned. "We don't have communicators."

"Speak for yourself." Jason took his Red Hood helmet out of a bag strapped behind him. "But if you don't find her come find me, same if I don't find her."

Dick rolled his eyes as Jason put on his helmet and drove off. "Wonderful."

Jason didn't need to search for long before finding the dark navy blue van, once he did he hide his motorcycle out of sight and crept forward, keeping an eye out for any guards that could get in his way. Seeing none he walked inside where it went from dark to light and back again as the light bulbs flickered overhead, why was it criminals chose places like these? They weren't special, usually easy to find, and now with all the technology cops and vigilantes could fight in the dark if they were trained well enough. Skye's scream broke him from his thoughts and he ran towards the sound until he found her curled up on the floor clutching her head.

"Skye, what happened? What did they do?" His voice seemed strange, even to himself, and he was certain it wasn't because of his helmet.

Skye didn't answer him and screamed again as she tensed up in pain, after a few more seconds Jason saw why, thin cords were attached to the sides of her head and disappeared to the other side of the room that he couldn't see, as he cautiously walked closer he could see the walls were lined with copper strips and patches of rubber.

"Skye, are you okay? Hang on, I'll get you out." Jason was close enough to pull off the cords but she jerked away as another shock went through her.

"H-he's here." Skye stuttered as she sent a dazed look at the darker side of the room.

"Ras?" Jason winced as the wire shocked him slightly. "Yeah, I kind of guessed that."

"Damian." Her eyes flicked to the corner as she saw faint movement. "G-give me a weapon."

Jason followed her gaze and reached for his gun but only felt air, he'd forgotten it back at the apartment, how could he be so stupid? He did however still have two knives on him and handed one to Skye, though she looked weak from being electrocuted and still having wounds that weren't fully healed.

"Well, this was an obvious move by you Red Hood." Damian spoke up as he came into view with a remote in one hand and a handgun in the other. "Of course, this does save me the trouble of hunting you down and killing you later."

"What are you doing?" Red Hood snarled as he raised the knife up. "Ras will kill you too, why do this?"

"All will be forgiven if I kill both of you." Damian replied. "I'm perfectly safe."

Another shadow dropped down and kicked Damian to the ground. "What would Bruce think if he knew about this?"

"Dick." Damian greeted and got back to his feet. "Looks like all the kids are here."

"You can still stop this." Dick answered. "We don't have to fight."

"Oh but I love to take out my frustration with combat." Damian laughed before shooting the gun up into the air. "Next one goes through someone's head."

"I say if he wants a fight, we give it to him." Red Hood spoke up before lunging towards Damian and knocking the remote from his hand.

Dick took advantage of Damian's distractedness and put him in a headlock while Skye got up and threw the knife, managing to embed it in her half brother's stomach. He let out a gasp and looked down at the blade before sinking out of Dick's grip and falling to the ground. Dick looked up at Skye in shock while Red Hood gave her a nod, he knew she'd found it necessary to kill him, though he wasn't quite dead yet.

"Let's go home." Skye spoke first as she limped over to them. "I'm not feeling too well."

"Do you need to go back to the hospital?" Jason asked as he took to knife out of Damian's stomach.

"Nah, just some rest... I'll be fine."

"We need to help, we can't leave him to bleed out." Dick called out to them.

"Sure we can." Jason responded, not looking back. "He was going to kill us."

"Damian... we'll get you to a hospital, don't worry." Dick stood up and stalked towards Jason, ready to fight him if he wouldn't hand over his phone willingly. "Jason, unlike you I have a conscious, give me your phone."

Jason turned to give a sharp retort but was cut off as two gunshots rang out and two bullets ripped through his body. Damian gave another laugh, which sounded full of pain, before allowing the gun in his hand to clatter to the ground.

"I might... n-need a h-hospital... but y-you're going t-to... need a m-morgue." Damian panted as he put more pressure on his wound.

"Jason!" Skye grunted as she supported her partner's body after it finally got over the shock and went limp. "Dick, help me carry him."

Dick glanced from Damian, who was still laughing quietly, and then at Jason as he stared at the bullet wounds in his torso like he wasn't quite sure it was his body that had been shot. "Come on, I'll take him on my motorcycle, you can drive his."