𝐂𝐀𝐑𝐍𝐀𝐋 𝐃𝐄𝐒𝐑𝐄 , nightwing

026 the masked man.

𝐃𝐄𝐀𝐓𝐇 was such a pretty sight. It consumed you. The absence of everything: even the absence of nothing and something. Space and void, light and darkness. It was the perfect middle where nothing existed, completely. It operated like a long deep sleep, not aware during it but able to recall once woken again. It was only then I realised I was alive.

Somehow, breath flowed into my lungs. I had lungs. I had a body, again, however broken and battered. My ribs ached and shivered as I dared to breathe, the cold sudden air rattling my bones and hollowing me out. My eyes were adjusting from the previous darkness. I tentatively raised my head, the throbbing weighing down on my neck as if it were to snap any second.

My hearing was muffled along with my eyes
sight at first, only seeing blurred blobs of colour and static with indistinguishable voices speaking. It slowly faded back to normal as my body kickstarted like an old unused car. "...What have you done?"

Clay was chained and strung up with a pipe above him. I lay on the floor beside him. I was very cautious about drawing attention to myself as I was presumed dead. That's when I clocked Robin standing near me, but refusing to face my body with an abject fear, hatred and horror. He spoke upwards in a rage towards the masked man on a higher platform.

"You..." He snarled, his fists so tight he was lucky he was wearing gloves or else I could see blood falling from how harsh he clenched them. I couldn't see his face but from his demeanour and voice alone I could already tell what he was saying: I'm going to kill you.

The masked man raised one hand. "Ah, don't forget I could add another to the pile of bodies before you manage to reach me." He motioned to Clay. The masked man... from what I overheard Dick talk of with Jason and what I saw in the case crime scene photos, they were all mutilated somehow, some melted even. I wondered if it was related to his own face, whatever he hid under the mask.

This was a crime of passion, an extent only someone seeking vengeance would go to, though I couldn't imagine Dick melting someone's face. Well... his rage would be unmatched at times, however I couldn't ever see him going as far to use any acid, at least not without prompt. The longer I thought on it, the more likely it was he had it in him.

I remained on the floor as cover, playing dead until my moment would arise, however my body grew more and more painfully alive every second. The longer that the kidnapping took place the worse my head was getting. The main part I swallowed down despite the agony was a newfound pain I'd attained during death.

Dick seemed to stare at Clay for a moment, calming slightly for his sake, however still boiling over so much that it was clear he'd kill the man the moment Clay wasn't a hostage. "I'm the one you're looking for. You already... killed Nate, let Clay go."

A moment passed, Clay and Dick staring at each other with a certain understanding that would surely make or break them. Clay has a look of shock, his mind finally puzzling the pieces together with the recognition of Robin's voice and Dick with the sorrowful knowledge that he had gotten Clay into such a dangerous situation and held his fate as well as their relationship in his hands.

"Dick?" The bodyguard, former circus member, dangled still strung up by chains, an inquisitive sight seeing a man so large and muscular so easily suspended up in the air.

"You're gonna' be okay, Clay." Dick spoke slowly and softly, knowing he was treading in thick water already.

"No, he isn't." The melting man spoke in his grating monotone voice, as if speaking of certainty despite all the options of possible fates laid out so clearly before him. "He's going to die." He was certain of which options he would take, at least. Him and Dick locked eyes. "So are you."