Caving In | Titans

Chapter 17 - Nightwing

The women and Sam go back to the tower. Donna and Dawn explain what the man told them. They're planning something, that's more of the information they got from the guy they "spoke" to. So, the only option, at the moment is to wait and try to come up with a plan to storm CADMUS before they can execute their plan. But, they'll still need more help because Donna, Dawn, and Sam don't have nearly enough power or resources to get them in and out of CADMUS alive, so they're all back to waiting.

Sam spends a lot of the time in the training room throwing knives as she waits. Waiting has to be the worst part of this whole thing. The longer they wait, the more Gar is in danger. Donna and Dawn tried to reassure her that if CADMUS is planning something, that means Gar is at least alive. Sure, that's good, of course it is but what are they doing to him while he's alive? As someone who's been tortured twice, Sam knows that it's a hell of a lot easier wanting to be dead than tortured. GAr is strong but it's not fair. It shouldn't have been him.

After a few hours, Sam takes a break and heads to the kitchen, hoping for an update from Donna and Dawn, but as she walks in, the elevator doors open revealing Jason. A rush of relief floods Sam as a warm smile splits her face with the sight of him. She wastes no time in walking up to him just as he exits the elevator. Jason can't help the smile that comes to his face as he sees her. He can't even believe how much he's missed her. It's been a week. But, Sam wraps her arms around his neck and he feels warm again. The hollow feeling in his chest starts to fill with adoration as he wraps his arms around her waist. Jason Todd is not much of a hugger but he'd take a hug from her any day.

"Miss me?" Jason quips as Sam pulls away, his eyes landing on the bruise on her cheek. It looks a lot worse in person.

"Eh, a little." Sam shrugs one of her shoulders, looking to the ground and back to him. "Thank you for coming, Jay."

"Yeah," Jason's eyes look up and back to her. "You'd do the same for me, so would Gar."

"You came." Donna states as she comes around the hall, Dawn on her right.

"I'm here for Gar." Jason's tone switches and he's, rightfully, still a little bitter about what happened.

"Thank you for coming, Jason." Dawn offers him a kind smile and Jason just nods, looking back to Sam.

"Well, I'm gonna go fill him in." Sam gives the women a gentle smile. "Unless...there's an update?"

"No," Dawn shakes her head sadly. "You can fill him in."

Sam lets out a sigh, nodding her head and chewing the inside of her cheek. She grabs Jason's hand and tugs him along with her, passing past the women, and head to the training room. Jason catches Sam still limping slightly and he figured the fight with CADMUS was bad but she clearly got hurt. He kind of gets why she was so insistent that night with Deathstroke. It's different seeing each other injured at the hands of someone, now that they know each other.

Sam takes a seat on the floor and Jason follows her lead, just as they did that night just a few months before. Sam extends her legs in front of her while Jason extends his left leg, his right leg bent up and his foot planted on the floor. Both of their hands rest on the floor behind them.

It feels a little weird being back. The tower is feels empty, sure, but it's kind of like it's haunted. A cruel reminder of everything Jason isn't, of everything he could have been but failed at being. It's not reassuring or comforting or welcoming, but he looks at Sam, and he's glad he came, if only for a night or two.

"Spill your guts." Jason grins at her because of course, he remembers what he told her that night.

"Ha-ha, you're hilarious." Sam's eyes widen before her sad smile drops. "Well, CADMUS attacked and we did not stand a chance." Sam lets out a dry laugh. "Like, they just kept coming in. Gar transformed and uh, we were in the kitchen so I started grabbing knives, got a few of them."