Why We're Here

Finding Dick

If it was Strange, we could find some sort of clue," I knelt on the rooftop, "Like a scorch mark, or a footprint, or something. Strange likes for us to follow him."
I was directly between the Theater District and The Harbour. I had taken the most likely route that Dick would have taken, and Dinah circled around me. We had decided that, if Strange were to come back, he would most likely come after me rather than Dinah, since Dick and I have been known to work together.
"Nothing over here," Dinah said through the com system.
Barbara sighed, "Try the harbour again, there has to be some sort of clue."
We had been searching for hours, but turned up empty. With every passing second, I was getting more and more worried about Dick. He was strong, yes, but he had his weak spots, we all do. The villains we have fought thousands of times would know his weaknesses by now.
"I'll get closer to the theater district," I stated.
"Be careful."
I shot out my line and swung over the rooftops. The feeling of swinging was so familiar, it was utter bliss. Perhaps I could have enjoyed it if I weren't so worried about my brother.
I swung until the lights of the biggest theater were in sight. There, I stopped on top of an abandoned building. I landed on a air conditioning unit silently, my eyes scanning the streets below.
If Strange hadn't have left a clue, Dick would have. Had he known he was getting kidnapped, he would have dropped something. A baton, a piece of hair, even spit on the wall. He would have done something to give us a starting point to find him. All we had to do was find it.
My answer came as a car drove by. The headlights glinted into the alleyway next to the building I was on. Nothing should have caught my attention, but I saw a tiny glimmer. It was out of place, almost like a shining penny in a flower field.
In this line of work, you learn to investigate anything and everything that seems even slightly out a place. Reverting back to old habits, I leapt into the alley. My feet landed inches from the glimmer. I knelt next to the storm drain it came from. Between the ground and the drain cover was a brand-new, shining, silver dollar.
I picked it up and inspected it. On one side, an eagle seemed to want to fly straight out of it. On the other, the head of a President was scratched out. I grimaced.
"Shit," I pressed my finger into the com, "It's Two-Face, not Strange."
Barbara hesitated, "You found a coin?"
"Yeah, with the face side scratched out."
Two-Face had tried to kill Dick more times than Joker. Secretly, Dick had admitted to me that, out of all the villains we faced, he feared Two-Face the most. If Two-Face really had him, we had less time than I thought.
"It was in a storm drain," I said, gazing down at the crooked cover, "The cover looks like it was shoved in from the bottom."
"He's baiting us," Dinah muttered.
Barbara sighed, "No, he's baiting Batman."
"Well, he's getting us," I replied, shoving the coin in my utility belt.
"Don't move, I'm on my way to you," Dinah said.
I obeyed. I had guessed that Two-Face took Dick down the drain, possibly into the sewers, a favorite get away of bad guys. My theory was further confirmed when I found a thin piece of black hair weaved into the cover.
"He took Nightwing down the drain," I said, careful to use codenames in the off chance someone was listening in, "Probably to the sewers."
Dinah landed next to me, sighing, "I did not wear the right boots for this."
"There's no choice. Go down the drain and look for more clues to lead you there. If Two-Face really is baiting us, he would leave more clues," Barbara relayed.
"Now or never," I whispered, reaching down and pulling off the drain cover.
Below was nothing but darkness. Luckily, I had a headlamp built into my goggles. It was bright enough to illuminate the entire drain system. I landed in a puddle of water.
The main room of the storm drain was no bigger than my closet back home. On each wall, a doorway lead to different parts of the sewer. Dinah landed next to me and glanced around, "He could have gone anyway."
"Look for clues," I said, "A coin, a hair, anything that has to do with two."
Dinah nodded. The two of us began to search. I went to the nearest door to see it went straight down. I could hear water running beneath it, making me believe there was a sort of water fall beneath us. Two-Face definitely didn't take Dick that way.
"Cat, come check this out," Dinah said.
I came to her. The doorway she was checking branched off in two different directions. One went straight down while the other became solid ground.
"That's definitely the direction he went," I muttered.
Dinah frowned, "We won't get com reception down there."
"You'll be on your own," Barbara said, "Check back with me as soon as you get back up."
"Roger Roger."
With that, Dinah and I began to descend into the pits of the sewers. My boots became soaked in sewer water, but that didn't matter. All that mattered was finding and rescuing Dick.
"Fork up ahead," Dinah muttered.
Sure enough, the tunnel branched off. Dinah and I stood at the crossroads, staring at the doors.
"Come on, Dick," I whispered, "Give us something."
Dinah placed a hand on my shoulder, "Don't worry, we'll find him."
"You don't live the life we do without worry."
"You don't live it without miracles either," Dinah replied, "It's a miracle we've lived this long, and we'll find him using the same miracle."
I smiled. Her words were reassuring. Still, I couldn't ignore the pain in the pit of my stomach. He was in danger, possibly life or death danger, I could feel it.
"So," Dinah crossed her arms, "Right or left?"
I rubbed my chin, "Two-Face is one for dramatics. If he really is luring us, he'll pick the path that best corresponds with two."
"That could be either one, depending on how you look at it."
I thought for a moment. If he were luring us, he would chose the second from the left, a simple thing, but he wasn't luring us. He was luring Batman. This would be much more complicated.
"We have to remember, he's luring Batman," I said, "We have to look at it through Bat's eyes."
Dinah sighed, "That could be anything. They don't call him The World's Greatest Detective for nothing."
"Exactly."
There had to be something. Whether it be a small clue left by Two-Face or Dick, there had to be something. I knelt next to the first entrance. We had to look at it from all angles. Every idea was a good idea when it came to criminal masterminds.
With Two-Face, everything had to do with the number two. Two faces, two sides of a coin, two directions, and two choices.
"Look, I found a piece of hair," Dinah said.
I glanced over her shoulder. She held a long strand of jet black hair. It was Dick's, there was no mistaking it, nobody else would have that long of hair and think it fashionable.
Before I could say we should go that way, my eyes fell upon a piece of cloth. On the opposite doorway, a piece of Dick's costume hung on the wall.
"A clue leading through each door," I muttered.
Dinah frowned, "This can't be right, one of them had to have been moved."
"No, it's a trick, look for another," I grinned, "Two-Faces, two doors, and two clues. Whichever door has two clues is the door we got through."
Dinah seemed confused, but did it anyways. We each searched the doors, looking for anything. Finally, the answer came in an oddly placed splotch of blood.
"Shit," I muttered, "Blood."
Dinah grimaced, "We're running out of time."
"This way."
We made our way down the left door. This sewer corridor seemed to stretch on forever. It went straight forward for miles until finally it went straight down. Unfortunately, neither of us saw it. I fell first.
"Cataclysm !" Dinah shouted, careful to use my code name.
I screamed, plummeting straight down. Eventually, the straight shot down curved up and became a slid. I could see nothing through all the sludge spilling around me.
When I popped out, I fell onto the ground with a hard thud. Pain radiated from my knees, but I ignored it. I coughed up all the sludge, doing my best to forget what could be in it.
"When I find him, I'm gonna kill him," I muttered.
"Looks like that'll be sooner than you thought."
I knew that voice. Slowly, I looked up. Two-Face was grinning at me. He still had the same half face as Harvey Dent, but the other side was like some burnt goblin. He seemed to be straight out of Dungeons and Dragons.
"Blitz, I thought you were dead," Two-Face grinned.
I spat out sludge, "No, just retired. It didn't agree with me. Oh, and it's Cataclysm now."
"What is it with you heroes and name changes?"
"What is it with you and face changes."
He sneered, "I was hoping for The Bat, you're much too annoying."
"Batman is currently indisposed," I stood, "You'll have to deal with me. Where's Nightwing?"
Two-Face smiled, "The boy? Oh, he's dead. Well, almost, that is. He will be by the time you find him."
"I swear to God, if you've hurt him, I'll kill you!"
Two-Face grinned cheekily, "But the Big Bat Batman wouldn't like that, now would he?"
"He's not here right now."
I was about to attack him when several of his goons jumped out of the shadows. Two-Face ran down a corridor, leaving me with about twenty bad guys. They all attacked me at once, leaving me to flip out of the way.
"Come out of retirement, they said," I drop kicked one of the goons, "It'll be fun, they said."
I split kicked two more. My boots had charge, but I didn't want to waste it on them. I had to wait and use it on the big baddy himself.
"Now would be a good time to swoop in, Canary," I muttered.
She must have tried to find another way. I don't blame her, my knees were killing me. That didn't stop me from kicking these bad guy asses.
Finally, I was left with the biggest goon of them all. He was so muscular, I would have sworn he was hopped up on Bane Juice. He lunged at me, but I dodged. He landed on his knees and spun around just in time for me to begin a flying sidekick towards him.
"Like my boot? I wear a size fuck you," I kicked him in the nose.
All twenty goons were unconscious, and Dinah still hadn't found me. Worst of all, I still had no idea where Dick was. The best option I had was to follow Two-Face and hope he lead me to Dick.
I did just that, sprinting down the hallway. That hall was straight, leading to a door. It was half open, assuring me that Two-Face was in there. I ran into the door to realize it lead to a cavern. While the rest of the area had been paved sewer tunnels, these were natural caverns.
"Cataclysm , can you hear me?" Barbara's voice was static over the com.
I pressed my finger to it, "Roger, Oracle."
"Black Canary saw Two-Face running down the Northern sections of the abandoned mineshafts," Barbara relayed, "We believe he is heading Northeast, you can intersect him underneath the Zoo."
"On it."
The mineshafts were nearly impossible to navigate. There were no maps and no lights as it had been abandoned for over a century. Only crazy people went down there.
Luckily, I was just the right brand of insane.
I sprinted into the tunnels. Northeast would be a piece of cake, I was already in the Eastern sector. Hopefully with Dinah following him and me intersecting him, we could corner him and find Dick.
I spun a tight corner and began to run down more tunnels. They were pitch black, and my flashlight had died quite some time ago. I had to rely on what little night vision I had left. Unfortunately, I didn't have much.
My foot suddenly connected with something hard and warm. I tumbled head over toes. As I did, a loud groan echoed. When I landed, I spun to face where I thought the body was.
"As if I wasn't already beat up enough," the voice was quiet and pained.
"Dick? Thank God," I whispered, moving closer.
"Lu? I thought you were retired."
"Didn't agree with me, now shut up so I can save your ass, again."
He laughed. I set to untying him. As I did, I felt warm sticky substance leak onto my hands. He was bleeding, and heavily.
"Oracle? Come in, Oracle. Can you hear me?"
"Loud and clear, Cataclysm ."
"I found Nightwing," I relayed, "We're in Two-Face's path. He's hurt pretty badly. Send Canary, we have to get him out of here."
"She's on the way."
Dick chuckled, "You sound like Alfred, all worried."
"Shut up, you're making it worse."
"Or am I making it better?" Dick asked, "Always take it with a sense of humour, that's my motto."
I didn't reply. Echoing footsteps came from down the tunnel. I glanced up, preparing for the worst. Dick, being fully untied, held onto my arm.
"Well, if it isn't the birds, together again," Two-Face chuckled, "I'd take a picture if I could. Batsy is going to get a kick out of this."
I sneered, "Let's skip the chit-chat and get to the part where we fight."
The only problem, my shockers weren't charged fully. I had very little juice left in them. The best I could do was knock him unconscious, if I got him on the first hit.
Nevertheless, I lunged at him. It was difficult to see in the dark, but I managed. My shoulders connected with his stomach. We went tumbling over rocks.
"You annoying little brat," he punched me in the nose, "You're ruining everything!"
"That's what I do, Dick-Face."
He went to punch me again, but I dodged. Instead, I placed a solid shock on the middle of his faces. He shrieked, and quickly went limp. I pulled my glove away, grinning.
"And that's what you get, bitch."
"Cat?"
Dinah came down the opposite tunnel, a flashlight shining in her hand. I threw my head up to look at her, "Nightwing's injured pretty badly. We don't have much time."
"Alright, let's go."
The two of us moved to where Dick was lying. Only in the light did I see exactly how hurt he was. Blood covered his body, especially around his head and waist. His costume was so torn, it was a miracle his mask was still in place. His eyes looked half dead as we lifted him, and his head lolled back.
"Stay with me, Dick," I whispered, "Come on, stay with me."
Dick chuckled, "Look at her, Canary, she's all worried about me."
"You're my brother, of course I'm worried."
"I'll be fine," he said before coughing up blood.
Dinah didn't say a single word. We hurried to get him up through the caverns and back into the sewer system. From there, we were able to carry him up a ladder. It was difficult work.
"Geez, you need to lay off the cookies," I grunted as I heaved Dick onto land.
He grinned weakly, "I'm a growing boy."
"Yeah, yeah, sure."
"We're six blocks from Wayne Manor," Dinah said, "Think we can get him there in time?"
I frowned, "Maybe, if we do it the old fashioned way."
"Walk?"
"Walk."
Dinah groaned. We haved Dick up, with one of his arms across each of our shoulders. His feet dragged as we lugged him through the streets.
"Hey, hey, Lu," Dick coughed, "Remember-remember that time we went to Metropolis."
"Which time?"
"The first time after you got here."
I smiled, "Yeah, you and I spent the day at the zoo."
"Good times."
Dick smiled. He was getting loopy, almost like he were on drugs. If we didn't get him to Alfred soon, I was scared to even think of what would happen.
I couldn't lose him. I'd already lost my parents and Clara, I couldn't lose my brother too. We had to get him to Alfred, we just had to.
By the time The Manor was in sight, Dick was unconscious. Dinah and I dragged him up to the doorstep where I rang the doorbell. Alfred answered quickly, jumping when he saw us.
"Alfred-" I began, but he cut me off.
"Bedroom, now, I'll get my tools."
Dinah and I nodded. We began to carry Dick upstairs as Alfred hurried down to the cave for his medical tools. We managed to get him onto the bed just as Alfred rushed in.
He began to work on Dick as Dinah and I stood back. We watched him dart about, working tirelessly to save Dick's life. All the while, Dick's head lolled as if he were already gone.
Dinah placed a reassuring hand on my shoulder. We had done our job. Now, came the most agonizing part.
Waiting.