down down down as the flames went higher

[bossymarmalade]

Zee drops her hand from Roy, “Alright, someone wanna make the call to get us in?”

Mari stares up at the iron-wrought gate. She looks at Dick, then nods at the security pass. “You or me?” Poppy makes a soft noise and she tucks the little lizard closer, cooing softly. “Don’t worry, I’ll take you to your favorite little girl in just a second.”

"No need." Batman appears out of the shadowy trees behind them. "What are you all doing here?"

Roy huffs when Zee drops his hand and smooches an air kiss at her too. “Hey, I thought it was pleasaa-aanaana, hey.”

Dick smiles and steps forward. “We’re here to help look for Ramsey.”

Zee narrows her eyes at Batman, before noticing the jaw doesn’t quite match up, “Weird.”

"Whoa only hours out of jail and you’re already in—" Kyle cocks his head to one side, as if listening to something. "Oh. You’re not - oh." He looks kinda grossed out. "No beard, huh." Ollie doesn’t respond for a moment, then punches Kyle square in the jaw. “He stays out here,” he says brusquely. “The rest of you can come in.”

Zee arm is almost yanked back by Ollie’s slug at Kyle, “God DAMMIT, seriously? Seriously!?”

Dick rubs his eyes and sighs. “We can’t just leave him out here.”

Mari starts rubbing her head again, because oh X’Hal. Roy looks to Ollie. “He says it’s outta him.”

Kyle sprawls on the ground. “Hey!” he starts to protest, then he considers and remains in place where he is. “Yeah, okay fine. It’s fine Zee, I’ll wait here, I’ll - I’ll keep watch.”

Ollie points at Kyle. “Cause any more trouble, and I’ll be back out here to take you down myself.” He snaps at the others, “Kyle’s been compromised enough times in recent memory to make him more of a risk than I’m willing to take with my /wife’s son/.”

Zee stretches her arms out, “You think I’m that fucking irresponsible? Oh my god, come on.”

"You guys know everything I know anyway," Kyle says helpfully to Dick and then the ache sets in on his jaw; damn that Arrow arm. His ring starts to compensate. "So g’on, I don’t need to be around the kids - the - the kid. Around Lian." He looks ashamed suddenly and then gives Zee a kiss on her forehead and abruptly steps away from the group, looking around the road as if metas are going to jump out of the bushes.

Zee frowns sharply as Kyle kisses her forehead, “I hate this fucking house.” she whispers harshly.



Ollie leads the others into the Manor grounds, using a roundabout way that brings them out in the rose garden. He waits until they’re inside the house to take off his cowl, rubbing his eyebrows. “So what d’you all know about it,” he asks, wearily.

Roy looks around, as if he expects to see Lian. He shakes his head. “I got a text from Mar’i..” Roy furrows his brow. “Who was watching him?”

"Nobody was," Ollie says tightly. There’s an audible fraying to his voice, one that’s not normal for Ollie: he’s reining it in. Instead of yelling like he normally would, giving his emotions the run of the place. It’s almost as if the suit itself is constraining him. "The kids have been here with just Alfred and Titus a lot of the time. We figured it was /safe/."

.”It should have been,” Dick says.

"PAAAPPPPPAAAAAA MARRRRMEEEEEEE,” Lian cries out. Roy whirls around when he hears her, his ears nearly perking on his head. He drops low, crouches, and holds his arms out for her. Mari winces a little because Lian’s scream is killer on her head, but she turns when Roy does, Poppy perking up a little from her spot on the woman’s neck.

"Does anyone have a track on him yet?" Zee asks Ollie.

Ollie glowers at Zatanna. “No,” he says acidly. “Our magic wands are all outta commission at the moment. Kinda like your boyfriend’s sanity.”

Zee expression sours sharply, “If you’re wanting a working wand, I’d suggest you stop pissing me off. I took care of it.”

Mari rolls her eyes at Ollie and Zatanna. “Can we not and say we didn’t? I think we’ve all done enough shit in our past to be beyond the point of rubbing noses in dirt when there’s a child missing. Let’s get whatever tracking in place we need and get on finding him.”

Lian leaps into her father’s arms, oblivious of the important gathering. She’s used to being around superheroes, after all. “I miss youuuuuuuuu.” Roy pushes his face into her hair, arms wrapping around Lian as he rises up, moving towards Mar’i so she can get a handle on the little girl, too. He looks back at Zatanna and then Mar’i, but doesn’t say anything else. He reaches out and scoops his hand against the small of his girlfriend’s back.

Zee seals her lips. Looking straight ahead at Mari’s reprimand.

Ollie draws in his breath sharply. “Mar’i,” he says, not looking at her, “if you came over to lecture me about my priorities when it’s /my own kid/ who’s missing, feel free to take your search on the road without my moral failings.”

Dick steps back for a moment to make a call and returns a few moments later. “Cyborg’s starting a search in case whoever took Ramsey got him out of Gotham.”

Roy looks over at Ollie, his skin nearly rippling with how his proverbial feathers get ruffled, eyes narrowing. “She’s trying to help.”

Ollie bares his teeth but doesn’t say anything else, instead going over to one of the bookshelves and going through the steps to open out the casing to reveal one of the Manor’s many hidden computer displays and interfaces. “The surveillance footage is obscured,” he tells them, cueing it up on the biggest screen. “But the security systems recorded an enormous eldritch energy surge at the time we figure he was taken.”

Dick blinks. “Eldritch? Are we talking black magic or demons or something?”

Ollie grunts. “It’s possible we /have/ been talking otherworld involvement for a while now, considering the natures of the creatures that have been attacking us. Although I’m not very conversant with how much truck the al Ghuls have with demons and black magic…”

Mari doesn’t bother responding because she got them back on task like she wanted. Instead, she curls against Roy’s chest, angry expression melting, effectively tucking Lian between their two bodies, like a little sphere of protection. “Hey Li-Li, sweetie,” she murmurs, kissing the girl’s forehead. “I missed you. Do you think you could watch Poppy for me?”

Lian looks around, realizing this isn’t a regular adult-bantering gathering. “Wha’s going on?” She looks over at her father again, comfortable in his arm seat. “Where’s Ramsey?” she asks suddenly, her small stout hand curling demandingly into Roy’s shirt. "Poppy!" Lian squeals, now distracted by her charge of the alien lizard. "Yes pleeeeeaaaase. Titus will love her lots and lots and lots."

Roy curls his arms around both his girls, easily, and kisses the ridge of Mar’i’s forehead, murmuring quietly. “He went wanderin’ off..” He explains. “We’re trying to find him.” Roy reaches out and scratches under her chin, the gentle swallow there, and tilts Lian’s head to look at him. “When did you last see him, bushbaby?”

Lian is now totally manhandling Poppy. “I sawwww himmmmmmuhhhh this morning! We had breakfast with Uncle Alfie and then Ramsey went outside because he likes the cold. Eiw.” She giggles. “I hope you find him, he gets scared real easily.”Zee places her hands on her hips, “I wouldn’t be surprised…”

Dick shrugs. “Never know how deep those pits go. Wouldn’t surprise me if there’s some ‘deal with the devil’ stuff going on.”

Ollie turns to look at Zatanna and Dick, his eyes narrowed down to slits. “Well I’m sure glad neither of you would be surprised! Because I sure as fuck WAS when he DISAPPEARED!” Ollie’s voice doesn’t quite reach a roar, but it’s only because it’s too hoarse and worn for that.

Dick exhales roughly through his nose, but doesn’t reply to Ollie’s comment. “Do we know the location of where he was taken?”

Bruce appears without warning, at Oliver’s side when his voice pitches, and he doesn’t reach for him, doesn’t do anything but stand by him. They are of a height, the two men, but Bruce still looks diminished next to the armor Ollie wears, smaller than he should. He shakes his head, and answers Dick. “No.” He licks his lips. “And the tracking device he was wearing is no longer registering.”

Zee digs her nails into her hip, her jaw set as she stares back to him. Then Bruce is beside him like a ghost, turning her gaze away from the both of them with a long exhale.

Ollie won’t answer Dick. He lets Bruce’s explanation fill in the silence and rolls his shoulders back, the armour adding further bulk and heaviness to his already-broad shoulders and thick arms. It’s almost like he’s merely animating the Batman suit while Bruce isn’t wearing it.

Kyle remains in plainclothes, but amps his ring to regulate his temperature; it gets so cold in Gotham, especially by the water. He tiptoes, in a failed attempt to try and see into the Manor that looms many yards away; but all he can see are glimpses of the rose garden. Kyle grimaces and turns away from the manor, looking up at the sky. The temptation to join the stars again hits him, hard; but Kyle doesn’t budge. He shoves his hands in his pockets and takes a few deep breaths and hopes that Kate’s little boy is doing okay.

Mari kisses Lian’s forehead again, this time to calm the fear shooting straight into her stomach. “Poppy’s not feeling too good, okay? So she’ll need Dr. Lian to take good care of her and make sure she gets lots of rest.” She separates a little, only a little, looking up at Bruce. That makes fear shoot into her stomach again, and she presses her spine into Roy’s fingertips.

Dick “Because the energy interfered with it or destroyed it.” He lets out a long sigh. “How far could he have gotten from the last time anyone saw him? Should we just stick with the Gotham area or look further?”

Lian squirms now that she is not only equipped with Poppy, but also has an assignment. She kisses the lizard, then Marmee, then Papa. She doesn’t like the feeling in the room; and besides, she has work to do. “Okay. Put me down, Papa, I have to go get Poppy her medicines.”

Bruce looks around the group. “Have you all eaten?” The inquiry is a strange one, /especially/ coming from him, but it’s a serious one as he looks around the group, eyes settling on Mar’i.

Roy tightens his grasp on Mar’i, setting Lian down but not budging from his spot. He kisses his little girl’s head. “Take her to your room.” Roy blinks. “Or where you’re sleeping.” He kisses her head again, for good measure, and then rises to look at Bruce, at Mar’i.

Dick glances at the others, and mutters a soft, “I’m fine.”

Zee nods, “Same.”

Mari nods her head, staring at portrait at Thomas and Martha on the wall to avoid looking at either of the men staring at her. “I’m good.”

Ollie gestures at them all. “Feed them,” he tells Bruce. “You can debrief them while they eat. I need to get back out there.”

Bruce nods, seemingly satisfied and moves towards one of the large stacks of books in the library. He disappears and moments after, a wall pushes out in front of them. Bruce nods to Dick, “Take them down and to the monitors. Alfred will be bringing down coffee, tea.” He looks around the group, stating the obvious: “It’s going to be a long night.” He looks to Ollie, briefly: there is a cue there, meant only for him: stay back.

Dick frowns slightly, a little surprised Ollie is still wearing the Batsuit now that Bruce is back. Then again, the suit does that, makes you keep it when you’re focused. Keeps you focused. He can’t say he blames him. Dick straightens when Bruce speaks, and nods. “Right. C’mon, gang.”

Ollie rubs his face vigorously with the heels of his hands, dragging them across his closed eyes and around to clasp his fingers behind his head. He turns away from the group, squeezing in on the sides of his face with his crooked arms.

Lian obviously Lian has said a polite good night to everyone in the room and scampered off with Poppy in tow. She assigns Poppy a diet of Goldfish and salted cod that she’s squirreled away in her room in the Manor.

Zee falls in line behind Dick without complaint, her arms curling protectively across her chest.

Roy kisses the edge of Mar’i’s temple and follows Dick down into cave. “Doing alright, baby?” He murmurs, as they move.

Bruce turns to Ollie, and speaks quietly, when they all have left. “Go see her. Take off the suit and go.” There is no harsh command in his voice, but a sort of dry tenderness. He doesn’t allow himself too much in the way of emotion, and it shows. Not now. Not just yet. “I gave her a sedative,” he confesses.

Mari shakes her head quietly as she follows the crowd down into the dark Cave. “But I’m better when you’re here,” she says softly. “How’re you doing?”

Roy looks at her, his eyes almost luminescent in the darkness. Fox-bright as he watches her. “Worried about you, but alright. So happy you’re back with me, baby girl.” He whispers, and kisses the corner of her mouth.

Zee at Mar’i and Roy’s chatter she pulls her arms against herself tightly, wishing Kyle was here as well. Dick takes a seat in the computer chair and starts looking up the information already pulled up, flicking up the lenses in his mask as he does.

Ollie wraps his hand — still gauntleted — around Bruce’s bicep. “I’ll go,” he says roughly, “but I’m not changing. I can’t hang around. I only have so much time, Bruce.” Ollie’s mouth turns down at one corner, sharply. “/Ramsey/ only has so much time.”

Bruce lifts his own hand, to wrap around Ollie’s jaw, and he leans forward, kissing him on the mouth. He doesn’t pull back immediately, lingering for a brief moment, before he inhales, deeply, and parts with him. He stares into the archer’s gaze, unwavering. Bruce speaks quietly. “Don’t let her have you.” The dark of his eyes flashes, and he adds, sharply. “..you’re already mine.”

Ollie licks his lips, in the wake of Bruce’s kiss, his dark entreaty. Then he pulls the cowl forward over his head and leaves.

Mari twists her lips against Roy’s, stopping on the step above him and grabbing a hold of his collar so she can turn him a bit to properly kiss him for the first time since waking up. “The two things I was trying to give you,” she begins, after she pulls away and begins descending down the stairs again, “the one is a power-dampener. The button? It’ll take down any metas in a 100-foot radius for 15 minutes. The crystal, it’ll—” she swallows, licks her dry lips, “—don’t use it unless you absolutely have to. It’ll take you—and Lian—to the Tamaranean Outpost on Rann. If you have to use it, you don’t tell anyone who you are or who I am. You just say you’re on League business and you find my uncle, and you stay—” Mar’i’s own eyes are luminescent, and now wet, too. “You stay safe if I can’t keep you safe, okay? You and Lian, both.”

Bruce watches Oliver leaves and wonders.

Bruce shakes his head, sharply, and moves down into the Cave, after the others. He sidesteps Mar’i and Roy, easily, and slips past them to where the other two are. He looks at Dick, and then, Zatanna. Zatanna.

Roy curls his hands into her shirt, like a little boy who is afraid of the dark, and then brings his hands to her face. “But you’ll be with us.” He doesn’t ask this, he states it, and pushes his face into her own, foreheads nearly touching. “Why would we have to say anything if you’re with us?” He licks his lips, and kisses her mouth, the desperation suddenly bitter and tangy on his tongue.

Zee glances out of the corner of her eye at Bruce, but not lingering. She tunes him out, looking at the computer screen as Dick calls up anything relevant to Ramsey’s case.

Bruce exhales and shakes his head, moving to where Dick is. He points up, at a screen, bringing his finger to the footage that shows Ramsey’s tracker: it is blinking, as he moves out, and into the grounds behind the manor. Until suddenly.. It is not. “We’ve been out there, with Titus, but his scent stops suddenly. As if he disappeared into—” He doesn’t finish the statement. Bruce inhales, deeply. The bruises under his eyes, against his cheekbones have not diminished entirely yet and it leaves him looking tired. Worn.

Mari leans forward so their foreheads do touch, their noses aligned. “You two don’t even have to be together for it to work. It’s DNA-coded, you two shed all over my—” The laugh on the tip of Mar’i’s tongue melts into a soft sob, and she cups his hands against her cheeks. “These type of crystals are from the first planet Tamaran. They’re really rare, and they’re one-use. I can fly in space, Roy, I don’t need—I’ll just come to you, I’ll—” She kisses him again and again, growing slightly frantic. “I didn’t even know I wasn’t with you,” she murmurs, running a hand over the curve of his skull. “I’m so sorry I wasn’t there, I could’ve kept the kids, I could’ve—”

Dick frowns. “Thin air. And none of the grounds sensors found any sign of intrusion? Nothing got in except the energy?” He shakes his head. “What the hell are we dealing with.”

Zee sighs, suggesting, “What about Hell? This seems all kinds of underworldly.”

Dick blinks, his eyes a little wide. “Can’t you only get there when you’re dead? Or are we talking less figurative Hell and an actual demonic location Hell?”

Zee purses her lips, “I’m thinking actual demonic location. Figurative hell would be a little more…no, you don’t want figurative hell.”

Roy pushes his fingers into her hair, his thumbs cradling her temples and he kisses her, his own eyes brimming and then shedding tears. “Stop, stop, baby, you’re—” He shakes his head and drops a hand to curl around her waist, pulling her close. In the darkness, the coolness of the cave presses against his skin like a salve, and he kisses her mouth, lips forming the words against her flesh. “..we’re going to figure this out and be okay, okay?”

Dick nods. “OK, so if demonic Hell is better… how do we get there? Or even look to see if it’s where we need to go?”

Bruce looks over at the two of them, as if they have suddenly grown second and third pairs of heads. Bruce points up at the screen. “Oliver’s gone to check on a lead down in the Bowery.. Batgirl might be joining him.” He turns to look at the screen. “The overdose cases that flooded Gotham General all came from a new strain, that might be the Tea that Manhunter was doused with.”

Zee unfolds her arms, moving closer to Dick’s side, “If you guys have something material, like a toy, that Ramsey’s fond of, I could try a locator spell. Even if he’s somewhere off Earth, it should still reach him. As for getting to hell…I’m not really an expert on that. At all.”

Dick nods in response to both of them. “Is this Tea related to the other drugs?” He bites his lip for a moment. “Doesn’t Ramsey have, like, a robot-dog? Could we use it?”

Bruce considers this for a moment. “When Kate wakes, we’ll have her contact her ex-husband.”

Zee brow pinches, “A robot dog?”

Bruce nods. “Thor.”

Zee nods, “Thor’ll probably do.”

Mari nods, burying herself in the crook of his neck. “I’m gonna help you find him and bring him home,” she says, ferocity lining the still-scratchiness of her throat. “And if anything comes near you or Lian or poor little Ramsey, I’m gonna punch it straight through its fucking face.” Here, in the darkness, tucked against him, it’s easy to let some of that anger seep out. Roy will understand, she hopes. “I’m so…I’m just so—an entire week, an entire fucking week. And it might’ve been even…” Mar’i turns her head, burying her face into the warm skin just below his jaw, breathing hard. “Who’d make you 미역국 on your birthday every year? And wake you up with kisses when you stayed up too late the night before playing Call of Duty and clip your toenails when you’re busy studying or making a new arrow or just being lazy?” She makes a little crackling sob against his neck when his cheek brushes where her ponytail conceals the small shaved spot.

Dick glances in the direction of where Mar’i and Roy are. “If we do find him there, how big of a team are we taking to get him back?”

Bruce ‘s expression flattens, countenance levelling out. “Whatever it takes.” Bruce looks to Zatanna. “You’re welcome to stay here, if you need to.”

Zee turns to Bruce, opening her mouth then closing it as she turns back to the screen, “Thanks.” she replies quietly. "Kyle’s waiting outside." she adds quickly.

Bruce pauses, already half-turned away, and mulls this over, for a moment. “..he can stay as well.”

Dick mutters, “We can always open the gardener’s room over the garage.” Dick is stuck between hoping it was and wasn’t heard.

Zee ignores Dick, pulling out her phone instead to text Kyle [TXT] Bruce says you’re allowed in, and welcome to stay the night. Not in those words exactly but you know what I mean.

Kyle is delighted when his ring pings - his ring! His beautiful little ring - and grins when he reads Zee’s text. Kyle tentatively enters the grounds, headed for the Manor. He avoids looking at the Rose Garden. [Ring Txt] I’ll help any way I can, but if I’m staying the night anywhere it’ll be wherever you are [Ring Txt] Any progress? I’m inside now, Mister Pennyworth let me in [Ring Txt] OH WOW YOU GUYS ARE IN THE BATCAVE, YEEEEESH

Roy mirrors the sound of her sob with his own, pained noise, and he wraps both his arms around her, shaking his head. “Stop, stop—" He inhales, and pushes his cheek against hers, the skin damp with her tears, his tears? "That’s not gonna happen, baby, okay? Okay?" He kisses all along her face, and when Bruce passes them, back up the stairs—he says something, that Roy thinks is ‘take a bedroom’, but he can’t be sure—Roy rests his forehead against hers again. "We’re going to be together until they pry our bones apart, yeah?"

Zee smirks, quickly typing out a reply [Txt] I think I’m going to use Ramsey’s robot dog to track him? Other than that not much. Ollie being a general ass among other things.

Dick reads up on this new Tea drug, scrunching his mouth at the information.

Roy leads and lets Mar’i lead, as they both walk up the stairs. “Let’s go see if we can find Lian, alright?”

Kyle trots down the stairs, looking around curiously like he always does on the extremely rare times that he comes down here. He sees Roy and Mar’i first and crab-steps away from them, leaving them their privacy with a quick salute. Instead he veers over to Zee and Dick. “Hey hey. Robot dog? Queen being an ass is nothing new.” He strokes Zee’s shoulder and smiles slightly at Dick. “It’s a start. Here’s hoping a spell will work.”

Mari nods her head against his, smearing their tears together. “Okay,” she whispers, grabbing his face to kiss him again one last time before they move back upstairs. “Okay, okay. I love you, Roy, so much.”

Dick spins the chair around to face them. “Man’s best friend, right? It’s worth a shot.”

Zee brushes back her hair with a nod, Kyle’s hand against her shoulder easing her tension ever slightly, “The dog’s going to be better than nothing. The stronger the bond the better the spell.”

Kyle brows furrow in worry, unable to keep up the perky spirits. “I just, I can’t help but think about what he’s going through right now. Ramsey, I mean. I hope at least he’s still in Gotham city.”

Dick glances at Zee with an ‘I’m not going to tell him” expression. Zee sucks at the side of her cheek, before whispering to Kyle, “Dick and I think he might be in hell, or some other worldly plane.”

Kyle blinks and looks down at Zee, then at Dick. “C’mon. What? These are cracked out druggies-turned-metas who’re coming after us for Bruce’s kid. And Talia’s behind all of it. I mean I get the Lazarus pits are all mystical and all, but. Naw. More likely it’s some douche who - who found out what Kate’s doing for Bruce and wanted a little pa—” He cuts himself off and flushes red. Talking so callously about a child - one he knew, who his friends loved and who Kate mothered - Kyle shakes his head dismissively. “He’s gonna be fine. We’ll get the tracking spell done and then Kate will - will wreak havoc with Batman, GA, Roy and Mar’i in her wake. It’ll be epic and stuff.”

Zee rubs the back of her hand against her cheek, “Yeah, but his tracker just blips out. Like he’s completely vanished in a matter of second Kyle.”

Dick shrugs. “Like I said, it’s worth a shot.”

Kyle looks down at Zee, rubbing the now-fading bruise on her skin. He steps back and nods. “Definitely worth a shot. I get what you’re saying, I’ll just. Leave the detectiving to you, I got a vivid imagination but not a whole lotta deduction skills and. Oh look - sandwiches. And the crusts are actually cut off—” Kyle diverts to the tray that Alfred left behind, helping himself to sandwiches and coffee.

Kate stirs, out of a half-remembered dream—-because of the sedative, the strangeness and terrifying parts of it didn’t seem scary, but it’s disconcerting as fuck, of a tea party and cheshire foxes. The feeling doesn’t go away as she comes back to herself, though, and she gasps, almost a choked breath, as she remembers.

Ollie starts, moving from the chair he’s been sitting in, relocating to the bed so he can hold her hand in his gauntleted one. He remembers he’s wearing the cowl and tugs it back by one ear, haphazardly. “Kate,” Ollie says, voice rasped low with weariness and stress. “Honey. It’s okay, you’re safe.” He swallows a few times. She looks so frightened, so disoriented, and it’s heartbreaking that he can’t even offer her any lasting solace now that she’s awake. Not with her baby missing.

Kate shakes her head, and frowns a little at the touch of Ollie’s hand, the cool of gauntlets rather than warm calloused skin or soft suede gloves. “Not as long as he’s not,” she says quietly, her own voice low and choked still, brutal honesty as long as the sedative still wraps her in fog, keeps her from thinking clearly.

"No." He can’t dissemble with her. "Bruce is here. Everybody’s here. We’ll get him back." Ollie leans forward, carefully, deliberately, giving her time to pull away or stop him from kissing her forehead.

Kate reaches for him instead, pulling him in closer even if he has the goddamn suit on, needing him there. “I don’t know where he is,” she says, which probably seems obvious, but it’s less a statement and more a plaintive cry—she should know where he is, know he’s even on this goddamn earth at least, she is his mother.

Ollie gathers Kate up, and she feels so thin in his arms, almost like her bones have gone hollow, like she’s all honeycomb inside instead of flesh and viscera. Maybe it’s the suit, the bulk and weight of it. Ollie tells himself that’s it, because the alternative is too upsetting and the last thing Kate needs right now is for him to be thrown by how much toll the dose of Tea had taken on her. “He’s a tough little guy,” Ollie murmurs, stroking her illness-roughened hair. For a brief second his mind juxtaposes it against the high chestnut gloss of Talia’s heavy hair, and he draws a deep breath before kissing Kate’s temple, her cheekbone. “He’ll hold out until we come get him. He’ll /know/ we’re coming to get him.”

Not if he’s dead, Kate’s mind says rawly, darkly, before she shoves it down, because the reality that implies is too much to bear, impossible, and she can tell it’s the drug, the echoes of it, lingering deep. Ramsey, she figures, is likely a ransom piece, useful for a time, as long as they get to him before then he will be all right, or in a place where they can make him all right. He is her son, and they will find out that Talia al Ghul is not the only one whose child is a fighter.14:31

Kate says, “I’m going to kill them. I’m going to kill all of them.”

The raw, dripping-blood sound of her voice sends a shudder down Ollie’s spine, his hand slowing its comforting movements up and down her back. “We’ll deal with them as they deserve,” he says, the assertion measured and level. There isn’t any support of Kate’s intentions of violence in what he says, his tone makes that much clear, but now isn’t the time for a lecture. Or an argument or a discussion, even. “Are you able to come?”

Kate gives Ollie a low dark scornful look at his first comment, because his tone and the statement is so fucking Batman, and she cannot even with that right now, as the kids say. “I am going to come,” she says. It is not a question of being able to or not. She is going to come. She has changed the blades in her gauntlets already, before Bruce found her with the sedative. “And no, I am not a goddamn liability.”

"I wasn’t going to —" He cuts himself off there, because he realizes that yes, that /was/ what he’d been saying with that question. Or at least broadly implying. Ollie sits back a little, but maintains physical contact with her, his hand cupping against the side of her thigh. "There’s some sort of supernatural element to this. We need to work on two fronts for the best chance of success: direct focus on finding where Ramsey’s been taken, and locating Talia to wring some answers out of her. We’ve got a better chance of that last one with Bruce helping." Ollie frowns. "And Rayner too, I suppose, since he’s the one who fucking misplaced her while he was possessed. Although I’m still wondering if he’s more a potential threat than an ally when it comes to this."

Kate is glad for the touch, even as she’s tense—not tense at Ollie, not really, but at the entire fucking situation, because she is sick of it. Sick of all of this, sick of all the delusion and pain that floats around Talia al Ghul like a plague and has contaminated them all since she walked into that gala. Kate wonders, really, what Talia actually sees when she looks in the mirror. Kate is calling bullshit. "Kyle’s not going to know," she says. "Either because that thing’s out of him or because it won’t give that much away if it isn’t. We need a fucking magical tracker."

"Zatanna’s downstairs," Ollie offers. "Her and Roy, Mar’i, Dick. I made Rayner stay outside. I don’t trust that jamoke any further than I can punt him."

Kate is talking about two things at once, realizes it, and frowns as she tries to sort out her brain. “We need Zee or someone to track where Ram’s been taken. We need someone to find Talia, and I would suggest that not be me because I can’t guarantee not ripping her throat out in the process. Then we need to go get Ram. In that order.”

Ollie nods. “We’ll do it however you want,” he says, because god knows Kate deserves to be the one calling the shots on this plan. “Whatever you think’ll help us find him the fastest.” He moves in to embrace her again, mindful of the bruises that still mottle her skin

Kate wraps her arms around him tightly, perhaps showing a little too well how she’s barely. holding. it. together. and ragged at the edges. “I can’t think of any better strategy. If anyone else can, they can roll with it,” she says. “I’m not going to be precious about it, not about this. We need to move.” Though she doesn’t appear to be quite able to move yet herself.

Ollie holds her a few moments longer, but he’s starting to feel the pressure of needing to move into action himself. So he stands, still holding Kate, bringing her just enough off the bed so she can put her own legs down to get her footing. Being in the Batsuit has made Ollie hypersensitive to the symbolism of his every gesture, and it seems like it would be an inauspicious start to what lies ahead for him to pick Kate up off her feet, hold her in his arms like a helpless child. She needs to begin on her own steam, her own strength. With him there at her side.15:17

Kate can sense the need to move in Ollie’s arms, the edge of tension, and she finds that deep down she can’t help but agree. So she shifts, then, brow furrowing and eyes squinting for a second, blinking, to drive away the last of the sedative haze—and then she rises, pressing against him, past him. Over to the suit, the gauntlets, the staff, without a word.

Ollie goes with the tacit shift in mood, switching over into work mode, pulling the cowl on again. “I was going to hit the Bowery on another lead for Tea,” he says. “But I’ll go down with you first so we can all debrief as a group.” He’s slid into the Bat voice without realizing it, bare chin firming with the statement.

Kate turns and looks at Ollie, shivering in the air of the room as she pulls her suit on over mere camisole and briefs. The look is difficult to read, a little dark, brow furrowing in worry. Because yes, Kate is terrified about Ramsey. But she’s not happy about what this suit has done to Ollie. Like what it already had for Bruce. “Oliver.”

He looks over at her, a flash of familiar green before he tiks the opaque lenses into place. “What is it?”

Kate says, simply, “Are you Ollie?”

For all that his demeanor changes — necessarily so — when he’s in the cape and cowl, Ollie’s face shorn of its beard balances out the added impassiveness. The movements of his mouth and chin, the way his bottom lip tightens and twists at one side at Kate’s question, it’s far more obvious than it would have been otherwise. “I’m the same person, Kate. I didn’t get this cape as a fucking calling in the middle of the night. I got it because he’s not here and Gotham needs this.”

Bruce doesn’t knock before he enters the bedroom, because he doesn’t have to. Because he’s Bruce. And he picks up the conversation without needing the obvious cues and letterheads involved, and smoothly adds: “..I’m here, now.” He looks between Kate and Ollie, his expression unreadable. Impassive.

Kate’s eyes narrow, as if she doesn’t buy it from Ollie or Bruce, but she can’t stop her heart pounding from the two of them, being there, together. Even as she puts on boots, gauntlets, mask. “Well, whomever is going to be Batman should figure it out,” she says, not entirely unkindly.

Ollie turns to look over at Bruce. “Take it off me if you want it.” In another context, the words could mean something much more salacious, but they’re stripped of any innuendo at the moment. It’s a flat statement, the words slapped down, anybody’s guess if it’s a challenge or not.

Kate says, “Sure it’s not a goddamn calling, Ollie?” This time it’s a little bit snarky. She has her mask rolled up so she can look at both of them, but rolls it down then, pulling her hair up into a bun. She clears her throat, then says, “I’m going to go find my son. Pissing contests and drug wars be damned.”

Bruce steps forward into the room, his eyes moving from Kate to Ollie, and when he stops in front of Ollie, his hands remain at his side. The dark cobalt of his eyes lift, to meet the archer’s green, and he is silent, appraising the state of his lover a few feet, just barely inches, away from him. He doesn’t look back at Kate when she speaks, his his gaze wavers, and he lifts his hand to cup Ollie’s chin, just as he had the night before, and he kisses him, just as he had. His lips are parted, tongue soft at the slip of them, and he does not shut his eyes as his other hand clenches into a loose fist. It’s alright, he breathes, warm and heavy. It’s going to be alright.

Bruce pulls back, his teeth rolling over his lower lip and he speaks, sotto voce. “Kate.”

Ollie moves back, too, and rubs his thumb over his bottom lip, grimacing when he remembers it’s the gauntlet and not his own skin. “Nobody’s in a pissing contest, for chrissake.” He goes over to the closet and reaches down his own costume, crammed in there and forgotten in the time that he’s been wearing the darker, heavier livery. Ollie leaves off talking in favour of undoing the bits and pieces, clasps and seals of the Bat costume; he’s still not accustomed to the process, it takes him a while.

Kate’s not here, Mrs. Torrance, Kate’s mind says in a crackly little boy voice, wryly, and her brow furrows to try and shut it down. “Bruce,” she says simply.

Bruce walks over to him and assists, and the process is smoother. He is already dressed, under his shirt and slacks, in the compression gear, and it is a smooth fit, changing over from Bruce to.. to..

Bruce pulls on the gauntlets, making sure the conduits are connected, and turns his gaze away from the two of them as the rest of it comes into place. The pieces flow from Oliver’s body, still warm, and Bruce wonders, for a brief moment, on how the suit—a secondskin, wasn’t it?—doesn’t seem to fit just right. Like it had before.

Bruce doesn’t pull up the cowl, not just yet, and turns to look at both of them: Manhunter, and now, Green Arrow. There is a hollowness in the man’s gaze. Kate turns, sees the look in Bruce’s eyes, and can’t help herself—she reaches out to touch his cheek, careful fingertip.

Ollie surges forward this time and kisses Bruce, hard, cupping his face in both hands. He bites and licks and then reaches over to pull Kate in closer with them, kissing her as well, tongue slicking across hers. He’s all fierceness and fire, breath coming faster as the familiarity of his own fighting togs sets in. "Come on," Ollie says. "We got work to do, the three of us."

The change in Ollie gets Kate’s blood up, eases something in her that she hadn’t realised was on edge. She lingers, though, not ready to move without bringing Bruce with them.

Bruce brings his gaze to Kate, then Ollie, and exhales, bringing the cowl up. The lenses flicker, and Bruce, hidden behind them—the gesture unseen to them both—shuts his eyes, and takes a deep, even breath. When he speaks next, it is not in the Batman’s low tones, but he is not Bruce. Not now. And won’t be, for a while. "Let’s go." Bruce moves, cape dragging, but.. he does not turn right, towards the staircase. Instead, when he moves, it is to the left, towards the master bedroom. His bedroom.

Ollie catches himself mid-charge to the staircase and backtracks, exchanging a look with Kate as they fall into step behind Bruce. Kate was too busy figuring out where they were going to really process this, other than her automatic reach out to rein in Ollie (she does this quite often regardless of hero gig or private or publc). It startles her, the realization, and she blinks, under the mask, but doesn’t falter.

Bruce pauses, hesitates for a brief moment, his hand on the doorknob, but then he pushes in, and the room expands in front of them, massive and expansive. The room itself is a feat, high ceilings and a wall of windows, stained glass that are darkened now, but no less beautiful. A connecting bathroom, walk-in closet, and the bed—the tragedy of the room, lies in the bed, and here, it is not a double-king. At best, it is a queen, the four-poster wood that surrounds it darkened with age and use. His parents, they— Off to the side, lays a divan, two of them and an ottoman in front of a high-pile rug, a massive fireplace beyond it, and too much, too much to see for how quickly Bruce moves. Into the fireplace, his gloved fingers reaching for a latch, and when he pulls it, the rock inlaid in the ground of the hearth shifts, and the fireplace grate slides to the side: a fireman’s pole slides from the darkness of the hearth, and without pausing, Bruce moves to it, and takes the shortcut, down, into the darkness.

Ollie won’t move to follow Bruce now, standing stock-still in this room that they’ve never seen before. There’s so much he wants to look at, but he finds himself staring at the bed, drawn back to it over and over, the smallness of it compared to the beds in every Bruce Wayne property Ollie’s ever been to.

Kate sees Bruce hesitate, is about to tell him it’s fine, they can wait, then—she takes it in, yes, sees what she can and the knowledge sinking in makes her heart clench hard in her chest, knowing now why they have never been here before. But she, unlike Ollie, can’t bring herself to linger. Instead, she gently catches Ollie by the wrist, pulls him towards the fireplace to follow Bruce.

Ollie lets go of the breath caught in his chest and finally, follows. Down the pole into the dark echoing depths of the Cave. But the memory of that small, cosy bed lingers with him long after his feet touch ground.

Bruce is already at the Computer, ignoring the rest of.. well, anyone that is gathered in the area, and pulls up what he can on the analysis of the drugs, reading over. Catching up.

Kate can’t bring herself to stay there without Bruce, is certain even with him it would shatter her already impossibly fragile emotions into shards. As it is, it takes her a few seconds, breathing the humid cool air of the Cave, to pull herself back together. She strides forward, then, fingers nervously trailing against her staff.

Zee hangs back nearby the refreshments Alfred had laid out, quietly sipping on a mug filled with warm green tea. Dick sits on the far edge of the console, watching both the information on the monitors and the group itself.

Ollie glances around the Cave to take a quick tally of who-all’s still there before retrieving his bow and quiver from its drawer. He leans on the bow as he stands behind Bruce at the Computer, watching the information scroll by. “There’s an element to the Tea that the analysis hasn’t figured out yet,” he notes.

Bruce points at a strand on the chemical layout, his voice dark when he asks: “This?”

"That’s the one. I had the wild idea that you’d be able to identify it when you saw it, but then I realized that anything you’ve got on Hatter’s formulations would already be in the databanks."

Bruce nods. “You’re right.” He doesn’t sound pleased with this, and looks to the screen to the left of them, then, back at the main screen. He falls silent.

Ollie pats Bruce’s shoulder, then draws himself up. “You guys,” he says, raising his voice so the others can hear him. “Manhunter’s got a plan of attack. If you’ve got anything, now’s the time to throw in.”

Dick cocks his head, swinging his legs gently like he used to when he was Robin. “Is it all Hatter’s? Could he be working with someone or someone else’s formulas?”

Kate clears her throat. “We need a track on Ramsey,” she says, though she’s eager to know if Bruce has any more insight into the drug. “We need someone to find and question Talia. And then we need a team to go after Ramsey once he’s been found. That’s my take on it.”

Mari hovers somewhere between Dick and Zee, her arms folded over the black stealth suit she’s chosen to wear instead of her usual periwinkle-and-purple. Her hair has been french-braided to one side to both hide and protect her injury. “Just tell me what to punch,” she says simply, because thinking isn’t something she feels particularly good at right now.

Zee drums her fingernails against her mug, “I can get a tracking spell out on Ramsey using Thor. And if Talia’s left any personal belongings, I can try one for her as well.”

Dick half raises his hand. “I can help interrogate Talia.”

Kate wonders if it wouldn’t be best to send a woman after Talia. ”Thor’s upstairs, Ram brought him…” she bites her lip. “I’ll have Alfred bring him down.”

"Using Thor?” Ollie interjects. “Why Thor? He’s a robot, y’know. Wouldn’t it be more effective to use a picture of Ramsey, or a piece of his clothes or something?"

Zee shrugs, “A personal connection helps. Unless he has a favorite pair of socks I figured Ramsey’s dog might be best.” she takes a sip from her tea before adding, “It shouldn’t harm him.”


Kate shoots Ollie a ‘who knows about supernatural shit here’ look, though she looks slightly alarmed at ‘shouldn’t harm him’. Kate decides, then, that while she adores Thor, she would sacrifice him for Ramsey. Hell, she’s pretty sure the dog himself would do that.

Ollie rubs the back of his head. “Okay, so Zee’s setting a magic tracker and Dick’s on Talia duty, and Mar’i’s on the retrieval team. Sounds good so far.”

Kate says, “Dick, not that I don’t trust your skills, but we need at least two on Talia. I’m sick of he…” Pausing, she mutters, “I’m sick of her everything actually.”

Kyle shows up. Was playing with the T-Rex. "What can I do?" Kate prepares to keep Ollie from losing his shit.

Ollie scowls. “Apart from fuck everything up?”

Zee frowns at Ollie, “Anything but deal with Talia.”

Dick nods, a corner of his mouth quirking up. “So am I. I’d be happy to have a back up, really. Better to have a second when facing an assassin.” He makes a face at the Kyle and Ollie Show starting up again.

Kyle shrugs. “I’m due for a good turn of doing.”

Kate actually growls at Ollie, a soft faint sound of warning, before turning back to Kyle. “Help Zee, ese. Whatever she needs.”

Kyle is for once not particularly bothered by Ollie’s snipe, mostly because it’s true. Mari throws her hands in the air and goes to check the refreshment tray for something with caffeine.

"Sure thing." Kyle flies over to where Zee is, and settles down next to her. Kate is less about protecting Kyle and more about not fucking getting distracted. Kyle isn’t particularly interested in diverting from the mission at hand either. Not in the least.

Zee nudges at the kettle filled with coffee for Mar’i, turning to Kyle when he swings in, “If you want to help, I could use some candles and chalk. And Thor, the dog.”

"Okay. I’m sure Mister Pennyworth has all of that, I’ll go speak to him." Kyle flies up, to the roof of the cave and phases through, into the Manor above.

Ollie grunts, folding his arms. “I still think it’s a mistake to include the guy who got possessed — yet again — and lost Talia,” he says. “But if you want him, Kate, it’s your call.” He looks over at Mar’i, rustling among the coffee accoutrements. “Maybe Mar’i should help with Talia duty, this time.”

Kate nods in consideration. “Mar’i, if you’re up for dealing with her. I know it was…unpleasant before.”

Mari looks up, halfway through pouring herself a cup of coffee. She doesn’t even like coffee. “I mean, I’ll go after her if that’s where you need me. But I can’t guarantee I won’t bash her face in a few times once I find her.” Mar’i’s eyes darken a bit as she searches for sugar and cream. “I’d still like to help if you find where he’s at, though. The more firepower, the better. Especially if there are any of these overpowered metas involved.”

Kyle comes down the stairs with Thor trailing behind him on a leash. He’s carrying a construct backpack and he returns to Zee, unloading thick large beeswax candles and some sidewalk chalk. “Here you go. What else do you need?”

Zee takes a white portion of sidewalk chalk in hand, rolling it over in her palm. “This should do it. As long as Ramsey can sit and stay we should be good.” she looks around, “Although should we do this in another room, I don’t know…if you guys need to plan or…”

"As long as you don’t burn her face off, I think we should be fine." He looks between them. "But if you want to stay for firepower, I could always take Roy. A long-ranger might be helpful against Talia."

Kate smirks slowly, darkly, as she looks back at Mar’i. “Couldn’t blame you if you did. But…yeah, you’re right. We’ll need meta power with this, I can fucking taste it.”

Mari gives Dick a look. “He might bash her face in, too,” she says plainly. “I mean, I can do both if you need me to. You just tell me where to go and I’ll go. No questions. Not until Ramsey is back home safe.” She glances at Kate, and the bloodlust in both of their eyes seems to glint with something softer, too. An understanding, Mar’i hopes.

Roy downs a cup of coffee, and tries not to let it show when it’s way too hot. "I’ll go wherever you guys need me," he rasps.

Kate looks back at Mar’i with a touch of hope in her eyes, nodding just a little. “Just…as long as we have people to do everything,” she says, and and she’s afraid, still, trying to stay angry enough to yank herself back from the abyss of fear.

"Dick is there a more private room in the Batcave for Zee to do her spell? Enough to fit her and a circle on the floor. And Thor." Kyle leans down and scratches the dog, who whines slightly and pads restlessly on the hard stone floor.

"The regency room," Bruce muses, lost in thought as he stares at chemical compositions.

Kyle hups slightly because he didn’t even realize Bruce was there. Because…yeah. He looks at Zee, figuring she might know what and where a regency room is.

Bruce points to the corridor that leads to the gym. “Or the gym.”

Dick opens his mouth to answer Kyle, then points to Bruce. “Both more sensible than moving the Batwing.” Bruce leans forward, and types something into the computer, suddenly.

Zee scratches behind Thor’s ear as she stands, “Ok, the gym.” she follows Bruce’s direction, calling Thor softly, “C’mon good boy, let’s go. That’s a good boy…c’mere, yeah…good good boy.” Kyle follows Zee, a few paces behind. Zee closes the door to the gym as soon as both Thor and Kyle are inside. “Alright, I’ll have to draw out one big circle, then I’ll set up the candles about it.”

Kyle nods and keeps a hold of Thor’s leash. “Should I help or is it all stuff you need to do yourself?”

Zee waves a hand, “Myself. I need to do it myself, I don’t want any hiccups.”

Mari finshes off her coffee, wrinkling her nose up in disgust at the taste, even as she moves towards Bruce, unconsciously. She doesn’t ask if he’s isolated the chemical, nor if he needs help. She’s too busy looking at the chemical herself, trying to see if it resembles any of the stuff from her future, from all the metas that— Mar’i stops and rubs her temples for a moment.

Dick leans closer to the monitor. “You find something, B?” Bruce shakes his head, his head still trained ahead, even as his eyes wander to look at Mar’i. His voice is low when he answers Dick, “Nothing yet.” Dick rolls his lips together and leans back, eyes scanning over the screens again.

Kyle lets Thor lick at the palm of his hand. He’s just downed a bunch of deli sandwiches, so Thor is enjoying himself. “No problem.”

On the smooth gym mat Zee’s able to draw out a sizable circle, portioning off several sections to show herself where she’ll need the candles to be positioned. She pockets the chalk, and from the backpack fills her arms with beeswax candles, placing them as designated on the circle. “I won’t light them till Thor’s in place.” she explains, waving over the dog.

Kyle releases the dog and watches it trot over to Zee obediently. It’s a little remarkable how well-behaved Thor is, but then Kyle remembers Ramsey mentioning to him in Cachement that the dog was a really a robot. They were drawing The Child that day. It’s the only thing Kyle really regrets about that town, that he’ll never see that drawing again.

Bruce settles his hand, without a word, on Mar’i’s shoulder. The gloves don’t allow for a transfer of heat but the weight is enough for her to know: he’s there. Bruce drops it, and goes back to watching the screen, his eyes narrowing as he thinks.

Mari releases her head from the pinch of her fingers, and nods quietly. She stares at the screen for a while longer, not seeing anything she remembers, and returns to the refreshment tray, refilling her coffee and grabbing a warm cookie.

Roy watches as everyone moves around, as Zee and Kyle and Thor move into the gym. He watches Bruce and Mar’i and shifts over to Dick, cracking his neck as he moves. He jabs a thumb in Bruce’s direction, where the man is staring at the screen, his arms folded. “Does he blink when he gets like that?”

Dick chuckles and shakes his head. “Not unless something falls in an eye.”

Roy shakes his head, glancing at Mar’i before he exhales, and then pops the knuckles in both hands in rapid succession.

Zee scratches her hand against Thor’s ears again, bending to kiss his fur right between his eyes. “Good boy, good good boy…” she continues to whisper to him like a mantra, “You’ll help us find your little boy. That’s a good good boy.” with the dog in position she backs away, holding out a flat palm, “You stay there good boy…” and with that the candle flames flicker to light. She nods to Kyle, “All set.”

"Okay. What do you need me to do?"

"Absolutely nothing." she turns back to face Thor, smiling softly as she cast, "Etacol Yesmar."

Kyle nods and folds his arms across his chest and backs up. He eases himself back, leaning against the shut door. He watches quietly, unobtrusive but vigilant. Just in case; always just in case.

Bruce starts, suddenly, and moves away from the Computer, over to a console on a far corner, pulling down the monitor so he can touch it. The gloves are no impediment, and he slides his fingers along the smooth surface, looking back at the main screen, back at the screen, and drags an icon down, appearing to flick it off screen. He looks down at his gauntlet, and then moves, his cape flickering as he shifts across the Cave, over to a set of stairs and up, into the trophy room. Dick watches him go and frowns up at the screen.

Mari watches Bruce leave, looking at the rest of the room to see if anyone else feels completely out of the loop. She settles for pouring everyone more coffee or tea.

Ollie sits down in Bruce’s chair when the man leaves and scrubs his face with his hands. At least his fingers aren’t crumpling up against the bottom ridge of the cowl anymore. He listens to the others moving around, Thor barking and whuffling in the gym and then the sudden stop. Maybe they’ve found Ramsey. Maybe they’ve transported him back, or transported themselves wherever the little boy is. "Jesus christ, I hate supernatural shit," he mutters to himself.

The spell ripples out white light from the center of the circle all the way back to Kyle, growing brighter as it expands. With a quick tugging sensation Kyle, Zee, and Thor are all transported, each enveloped in the blindingly bright white light. With feet on solid ground, dark begins to seep into the white till it’s all but diminished. “Ramsey?” Zee calls out in the dark, blinking quickly to let her eyes adjust to the inky black. Within a few minutes a recognizable well comes into focus in front of her. They’ve been transported to the back of Wayne Manor.

Kyle isn’t expecting that. Zee didn’t prepare him for any of that situation and Thor is barking endlessly amidst fussing and crying. He flies up almost immediately and it takes a couple seconds for this ring to give him his bearings. Wayne Manor grounds? “What is this, Zee? We’re just outside. Your spell didn’t work. Did it?”

Zee frowns, snapping back, “You’re not dealing with a total hack!” her arms cross against her chest as the sharply chilled Gotham air wraps about her less than warm attire. “I wasn’t expecting us to send us to the backyard, but it has to mean something…” she reached out for Thor, hand eventually connecting to his collar to calm the dog down. Zee exhales slowly before approaching the well, shouting down into it’s depth’s, “RAMSEY?”

Bruce moves over to the tool bench where he had been constructing another case, and picks up a rubber mallet. He walks over to the enormous penny, lifts the mallet and strikes the flat surface of it, like a giant gong. It rings out, the noise loud and terrible, and Bruce presses his fingers to the vibrating metal.

Mari claps her hands over her ears and shrieks at the sound of the penny. “What the hell is he doing?!” she hisses, almost spilling hot coffee on herself. Roy winces, and shouts up at where Bruce had gone to. “A little warning would be REALLY great next time, yeah..” He looks over at Mar’i, shifting to grab a napkin and sop up what she had spilled. Mari murmurs a quick “thanks,” even as she keeps her hands tightened over her ears.

Ollie looks around for Kate, to see how she’s handling this, the preliminary stages before the attack. The gong sound from the trophy room reverberates through the whole cave, sending the bats shrieking and swooping, but Kate’s engrossed in something and doesn’t even look up. “Honey?” Ollie goes over to her to see what’s holding her attention, and feels his heart lurch when he realizes what Kate’s looking at. Photos. Soccer photos, of her sweet little son in his uniform, all the regulation poses and the action shots.

Kate holds out one of the photos for Ollie to look at, too. “He’s Justin,” she says, voice low and choked as she brushes a fingertip over Ramsey’s hair in the photo before pointing at the other boy, dark and curly-topped. “The boy Ram likes.” Her finger returns to Ramsey in the image, tracing the curve of his cheek, the drape of the jacket over his shoulder.

Ollie wraps his arm around Kate, kissing the side of her head. “I didn’t … didn’t realize Ramsey was …” he trails off, frowning slightly. Kate’s finger moves and the scrape of her short, oval fingernail moves over the big red R emblazoned on Ramsey’s jacket. Their dark-haired ten-year-old who wears a big R. Exactly the description that snake girl at the Gotham Mall had given before she attacked Stephanie.

The dull rumble of Batgirl’s bike can be heard echoing from further down the Cave and coming up quickly approaching. Coming to a half-hazard stop, Batgirl clambers off her bike and climbs up the lower level staircase up to the monitors and such where the rest are more or less convened. She makes a face at the loud gong from Bruce hitting the penny and shouts, “What’s with all the banging in here?”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t think you are! I’m just — Zee. Zee c’mon,” Kyle powers down (since - outside; he’s aware of Wayne Manor rules), but he still constructs a giant puffy jacket around Zee to keep her warm. “He’s not Timmy down the well, if Ramsey was kidnapped then he must be far away. Maybe one of his kidnappers dropped something around the well?”

Zee unfolds her arms as the coat wraps about her, “Yeah well I’m starting to feel like Lassie at this rate.” she mumbles, glaring at the well as if it was fully responsible for this. “I’ve got nothing to go on now but a well. Fantastic, super helpful!”

Bruce comes back down the stairs, cape fluttering, and moves to the computer, pulling the glove and gauntlet off, before he connects it with a cable. His gaze, behind the mask, flickers to Stephanie and he states, pointing at the rubber mallet that he left next to the console. “Batgirl, take that. Start hitting anything and everything metal you can find that can take a hit.”

Roy looks over at Mar’i, then Ollie and Kate, and then finally Bruce. He stares at the man with a strange expression on his face, and wonders if he’s lost it.

Ollie gently takes the photo from Kate and goes over to Bruce. He doesn’t show it to the other man right away, instead asking, “You thinking there’s an auditory component to solving this? From the sound vibrations?”

Mari grumbles something about detectives and theories and begins ripping up a napkin to shove in her ears. “Maybe we should just get the spiders. They could make a helluva racket.” Mar’i pauses, blinks, and tries to remember when she started using the word “helluva.”

Steph walks over to where Bruce indicated with a soft clunking sound from her walking cast and muttered, “Good vibrations it is, then.” She picked up the mallet and shot a smile to Ollie. She hadn’t seen him since the attack and inside she was screaming ‘I’m so sorry I couldn’t have helped you more!’, ‘I’m so sorry if you got hurt at all!’, ‘I’d never forgive myself if you died back there!’ and she didn’t know how to even begin to say that to his face. So instead she said, “Hey.” and walked over to the metal staircase. Recoiling her arms over her head, she let the rubber hammer come flying down with a heavy, resounding CLANG.

Kyle rubs her back, looking more at her than for any sort of evidence. He goes back to Thor and gathers the leash. “Okay, okay,” he says, tone softening considerably. “Well. Look. Why don’t we go back to the Batcave. You can let Bruce know what your spell did, and maybe he’ll have an idea since…well it’s his home. Maybe it’s a clue he can use for his genius detective thing.” Kyle steps close to her and squeezes her elbow. “And then if you want, we can go home? We can be on-call in case they need our help, kay? It doesn’t mean we care any less, but..But we’re not family. We’re just coworkers.” He kisses her temple. “And you did what you could, I’m sure it’ll help, nena.”

Bruce doesn’t answer, because he doesn’t hear him: his fingers are sliding against the screen as he takes what look like sound waves, dragging them down and towards a clear part of the console, that turns the wave into a projection, that he can manipulate in the air.

Ollie grunts and grabs Bruce’s shoulder, shaking it as he holds the photo up in front of him. That big red R seems to blaze from it, taking up half the picture. “RAMSEY!” Ollie hollers. “THEY WEREN’T TALKING ABOUT DAMIAN! THEY WERE TALKING ABOUT /RAMSEY/ THE WHOLE TIME!”


Roy waves at Stephanie, and winces when she picks up the hammer and starts whacking things. He scrunches up his nose, and turns to Mar’i, leaning forward so their shoulders bump. “When’d you start saying ‘helluva’, huh?” He bites the tip of his tongue. “Bad influence rubbin’ off on you?”

Mari looks up at Roy, her face crumpled in a half-pout, half-grimace. “WHAT?” she shouts, hands over her ears. “STOP STICKING YOUR TONGUE OUT LIKE THAT, THAT’S MY THING!” She smiles, half-knowingly.

Steph leans her hip into the metal railing and sticks her tongue out playfully at Roy. She winds up like playing softball in high school again and hits the staircase harder, the CLANGs making the bat colony in the ceiling begin to stir and flutter. “Somebody want to explain what the heck is happening right now?” Steph called, bringing the hammer down again. “Not that I’m not enjoying hammer time.”

Zee curls against Kyle, thinking somberly to herself that the only thing she’s been successful with in the latest Justice League affairs is erasing Damian Wayne from Kyle’s memory. An accomplishment she’s less than proud of still. “I just hate feeling so useless. I was supposed to be the one to track him down, and all I can give them is the well. For all I know this is where he was taken from!” she huffs, hands falling into the pockets of the coat constructed for her, “We’ll tell Bruce, see if there’s anything else we can do, and then we’ll go home.” she nods, glancing down to Thor, ears perked at some noise she can’t hear, “We’re not family.”

Kyle bends to face Thor and scrabbles-smushes the dog’s face and ears between his hands in a sudden rush of affection (because really; who can resist Thor) and then straightens and takes Zee’s hand as they head back into the Manor. “Maybe I’ll get a dog. Then we can have a family of our own.” It’s out before he even thinks about it, in his desire to try and comfort Zee and soothe her, and he clamps his jaw tightly afterwards, his ears turning red. Fortunately, it’s dark and moodily lit in the Manor. “Soooo how do we get back in the Batcave again?”

Ollie looks over at Steph, holding her big rubber mallet. “You could probably stop for a while, Stephanie,” he advises, glancing down at her injured leg. “You don’t wanna overexert yourself.” He peers at her, evaluating how tired she looks. “How’re you feeling, anyhow? You took a helluva beating from those things we fought.”

Steph lowers the mallet and smiles sheepishly at Ollie, rolling a shoulder in a noncommittal shrug. “Not dead yet.” She pulls up a seat and sits near him, pulling back her cowl and running a hand through her sweaty hair, clearing it out of her eyes. The run in with Mad Hatter earlier had been a doozy. There was a pause between Ollie and Steph, just long enough to make it awkward, at least on Steph’s part. She eyes her cast, then lets her gaze fix on Ollie’s shoes. “How’re you holding up?” she asked lightly.

Zee leans in close against Kyle, “You want a dog now too- you want a…” she stops walking, pulling him back with her, “Did you mean that or are you trying to make me feel better?”

"Mean what?" Kyle is busy randomly tugging at wall candelabras, books on the bookshelves and the heads of random busts.

"You know exactly what." she folds her arms, smiling, "You said ‘Then we can have a family’. Do you want to be my family, Kyle?" she smirks at what she assumes are his attempts to get into the cave, "I won’t tell you how to get in till you answer." it’s an empty threat, she can’t even remember the way in honestly.

"Ahhhuuuuuuhhhwellllllll​hmmmmmm, y’know…" Kyle wheels slowly over to her, his hand spinning slowly. "We both grew up singlets with one parent, it’s…not like family needs to mean anything more than two people anyway. And…well I can’t forgot Pot and Tah of course, they’re part of the Zee-package deal I always figured. So. So, y’know. We can talk about this later?" he says hopefully, just as Alfred appears and deftly opens the way to the cave for them with a polite nod and smile.

Zee holds her gaze on Kyle, still smiling, “Yeah. We can talk about it later, Kyle. I’m holding you to that.” she grins as Alfred opens up the entrance to the cave, “Thank you.” she nods, taking Kyle’s hand and pulling him down into the dark depths.

Ollie cracks his neck with a slight grimace before he answers Steph. “Badly,” he answers. “I dunno how much of this you’ve been updated with, but Ramsey’s missing. ‘S why we’re all here running around like headless chickens. Between trying to find Ramsey, trying to find Talia, and this new designer drug the Hatter’s put out, well…” he gives her a wry smile, made twistier by his lack of facial hair. “At least Bruce is back and I can hand the longears and cape back over to him. Where they belong.”

"Sounds like a real clusterfuck," she offered. "I’m sorry. About the mall."

Ollie blinks at her. “Sorry?” he repeats. “About the mall? What about it?”

Kyle smiles back at her and trots down the stairs, looking around. He heads them over to where Mar’i and Roy are, letting Thor scamper in front of them. “Hey guys. Oh - uh, we’re back. Zee did her thing.”

Mari takes her hands off her ears, patting Thor as he shuffles by, looking around the Batcave like some crevice in it might yield his boy. “Find anything?” she asks.

Zee shrugs, “It took us to the well behind the manor. I don’t know if that’s a clue or what. It wasn’t as sucessful as I was hoping it’d be.”

"It could be useful," Kyle’s looking at Zee again, squeezing her hand in his. He looks back at Mar’i and Roy. "Look, everyone’s on guard here and ready to move. Zee’s done what she could and I’m here for her moral support, so. She’s gonna tell Bruce and we’re gonna go home. Can you let us know if anything comes up and we need to beat to quarter?"

Mari raises an eyebrow. “What? Why are you going—” she doesn’t ask for them to clarify which home they mean. “Why?”

Steph fidgets in her seat, unable to get comfortable. “For not being able to back you up,” she clarified in a surer voice, the knot slowly unwinding in her stomach. “You needed me and I let my guard down. I know it wasn’t like a conscious decision on my part or anything, but anything that happened to you after I passed out, I’m taking partial responsibility for. And I’m sorry if you got hurt, Ollie. I’m really, really sorry.”

Ollie raises one eyebrow, then the other. “Stephanie,” he says very deliberately, “I didn’t pick up the bow yesterday, y’know. I was fighting baddies when you were in your cradle.” He stops, does some mental calculations, and amends, “—when you were still a star in the sky, more like. I didn’t get hurt anywhere near as much as you did — because those damn monsters were /targeting/ you — and you sure as hell don’t need to /take responsibility/ on my behalf.”

Zee sighs, “The biggest thing I wanted to do was tap down a location for Ramsey. I don’t have that. I have a well, which for all I know was the last earthly place Ramsey was before he vanished.” she turns over her shoulder before returning her gaze to Mar’i, “Kyle and I aren’t family, Kyle’s barely welcome here by Ollie as is. I want to help, but the more I try the less helpful things are starting to feel from me.” she pulses her hand against Kyle’s, “If you can think of anything else for me to try to get Ramsey back, be my guest, but for right now…I think I just need to get a clear head and try and rest up for the next task.”

Mari raises an eyebrow. “I’m not family, either,” she says, without thinking, “and Ollie bit my damn head off, too! But that doesn’t mean—” Mar’i listens to the rest of what Zee’s saying, and finally nods. “Okay, okay, that’s fair enough.” She puts her hands on her hips, tutting loudly. “I’ll make sure you guys are the first people I call,” she promises with a nod.

Kyle glances over to where Steph is, glad to see her out and about…even if ‘out’ just means in a giant cave. He waves a bit, trying to get her attention just enough to say hi. She seems embroiled in a pretty deep conversation with Queen right now.

Steph nods soberly. “I know. I know that. You can totally take care of yourself and you’re a real powerhouse,” she told him with a straight face, meaning it. “We got attacked and I fell behind. I could have helped you, but I screwed up and you still beat those two freaks and saved the day. And I know that that sounds irrational or whatever, but I’m sorry, okay? I’m just sorry you had to fight on my behalf.” She raised a hand in a little wave in Kyle’s direction, not wanting to blow him off while she talked with Ollie.

Ollie harrumphs, starting to turn slightly red. “Steph, come on now,” he says gruffly. “We’re all grown-up superheroes here. We both know what it’s like in a fight when everything’s upside-fuckin’-down and you’re scrambling to keep one step ahead of everything. You didn’t let me down, or fall behind, or screw up in any way.” He puts his hand on her shoulder, near her neck, giving the muscle there a brief squeeze. “Now quit apologizing to me before I hafta start pulling seniority on you, because you won’t like that at /all/.”

Steph relaxes at the squeeze of her neck, like Ollie’s hand had just taken that wheedling little stress voice in the back of her head by the scruff and extracted it from her. She’d said her piece and he’d listened, they knew where they stood. Steph rolled her eyes affectionately at Ollie. “As if you’d ever get away with that,” she jabbed. She gave his face a once over and was startled by the lack of blond whiskers on his face. She hadn’t seen him since the mall and it really hadn’t jumped out at her until now. Reaching out her hand, Steph touched her fingertips to Ollie’s chin and toyed thoughtfully with the bare skin there. “Holy baby’s bottom, Batman,” she cracked, grinning wickedly.

Zee offers a small smile, “You’re family, Mar’i. Way more than the two of us combined. Not that we don’t care less because of it, but. You’re priority.” she nods, “Thanks for staying in contact though, I appreciate it.”

Kyle grins and reaches out to grasp Mar’i’s forearm, stroking it vigorously, “Gracias chiquita.” He’s a little surprised that her first instinct is to call out that she’s not family either, but the surprise is short-lived. “Just a little recharge. And you and Roy make sure to get some rest too if this starts to stretch out for a long time, please. And make sure they get their rest too…” Kyle looks over at the others, his eyes falling on Kate. “Sweetheart, you let Bruce know about the well? I just wanna speak to Kate for a bit.”

Bruce had looked over at Ollie when he’d shouted about the pictures, but then gone right back to looking at soundwaves. Bats. Eh.

Zee pats Kyle’s side before leaving the group. She walks beside Bruce, her hands in her pockets. “Am I interrupting?” she asks lowly, watching the screens in front of him with a bit of apprehension as nothing appearing looks remotely distinguishable to her.

Bruce doesn’t answer her right away, but after a long, long moment, he turns away from Zatanna. The lenses on his cowl flicker, back to being clear, and he brings his gaze to the woman, saying nothing.

Roy listens to all of this but doesn’t seem impressed. Or is hungry. Or both. Kyle isn’t particularly concerned with impressing Roy anyway, but he does motion to the sandwiches. Because the crusts are cut off and you can beat that level of fancy. He goes over to Kate, crouching down in front on her, his hand on her knee as they quietly speak. Quick exhange of handmotions, and eventually he half-unfurls to squeeze her, still mumbling something against her hair.

Mari folds her arms across her chest as Zee and Kyle go in separate directions. “X’Hal,” she grumbles, then starts digging around in the refreshment tray again.

Roy watches until Kyle comes back over, his brow knit. He tenses his fingers against Mar’i’s back and walks over to the Lantern. “Are you guys going back to Zee’s place?”

Zee looks ahead at the screen when his gaze shifts to her, “My spell took us to the well behind the Manor. That’s all I got.”

Bruce ‘s brow furrows. “The well behind the—?” He looks up, at the ceiling of the Cave, as if he knows exactly where it is. Tension pinches in his shoulders, and the man’s stance shifts: he suddenly, of all things, looks anxious. Bruce attempts to keep his voice neutral, but it comes off as a terse snap: “Show me.”

Ollie scrunches his nose when Steph touches his shaved face. “It’s awful, isn’t it?” he says. “But there’d be no fooling anybody if I put the cowl on over the ol’ soup strainer.” Talking about being Batman brings the import of it all crashing back in again, though — Bruce’s arrest, Kate getting attacked and dosed with Tea, Ramsey disappearing — and Ollie looks over at Bruce, checking to see if he’s done with his soundwave analysis yet. “I’m glad you’re healing up okay, Stephanie,” he says, giving her neck another squeeze before standing up again. “And don’t give the mall thing another thought. Wasn’t anybody’s fault except maybe Talia’s.”

That’s who I’m blaming for all of this,” she agreed, wanting very much to shove the woman in front of a moderately slow bus. You know, to maim, not kill (because she had morals!). “How’s Kate, by the way? I heard about what happened.”

Ollie pauses. “Kate’s not good,” he says, a bit roughly. “The Tea drug had a lot of psychological fallout, and add on top of that Ramsey going missing, and she’s not … not doing good.” Ollie looks across the Cave at his wife, who’s grimly compiling information on Talia on one of the smaller computers. “She’s fuckin’ tough, though. There’s no way she’ll give up before she gets Ramsey back.”

Zee turns to face Bruce, “With the spell, or just take you there?”

"Whichever is fastest."

Zee grabs his wrist, casting, “Llew.” without a second thought. It sends them right where Zee’s spell had taken her, Thor, and Kyle.

Kyle looks over to where Zee and Bruce are, then back at Roy as he twists the flat of his palms against each other. “Ah - yeah probably. Better to stay in Gotham. Mar’i said she’ll keep in touch if Kate needs us, it’s all good.”

Roy nods, and grabs a sandwich, and his not-impressed face disappears as he chews. He looks down, and marvels. “There are no crusts on this.” Kyle exclaims, paying homage to the sandwich in Roy’s hand. “I know! I know. Isn’t that fancy? Although I gotta admit - when you don’t have crusts, you kinda start to miss them.”

Bruce blinks when they arrive before he moves over to the well, slowly. His cape drags against the grass, and he stops, a distance away from the place. Bruce stares at the spot, that had been closed over, but is now open. Zee follows behind, “Something up?”

Bruce ‘s voice is quiet when he speaks to the woman, not looking back at her, but keeping his eyes trained ahead. “I fell into it. When I was a boy.”

Zee frowns, “I called for Ramsey when we got here but he didn’t answer, I didn’t see anything down there…do you think your fall has something to do with anything?” Bruce shakes his head. “No. Only to do with me.”

Zee turns to look at Bruce, utterly confused, “What does this have to do with you?”

Steph nods, casting a tentative glance at Kate’s tired form over yonder. “Kate’s a strong lady. One of the strongest /people/ I know,” she agreed. She reached a hand up and took Ollie’s from her neck, settling it between them so she could give him a reassuring squeeze this time. “We’re all going to sort this out. Don’t worry, Olliewood.” And she sounded so sure of herself, like if you said it enough it would be so, like Beetlejuice. "Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got some dorks to terrorize," she chirped pleasantly as she stood. She leaned down and pressed a platonic kiss to Ollie’s crinkled forehead, almost as if she were trying to smooth out the unconscious worry lines. Ollie nods, taking a breath as the warmth of Steph’s lips dissipates from his skin.

Bruce exhales. “What I mean is.. There’s no reason for Ramsey to— why would your spell bring you here?” Something churns, dark in his stomach, and he looks to Zatanna. “You need something of Talia’s to locate her, don’t you?”

Zee drags a hand through her hair, “I don’t know why it brought me here. I thought maybe it was the last place he’d been before he got taken away. I don’t know." she nods, "Anything with personal attachment."

Bruce moves, away from the well, and as he does, his steps become quicker. By the time they reach the Manor, Bruce’s steps have turned out into an outright jog, and he reaches for the door handle that will take him in through the servants courtyard, and—stops. He freezes, and turns back to look past Zatanna—who has kept pace—and at the well, off in the darkness.

Bruce does something he never, ever does, outside of the Cave, and pulls down the cowl, the lenses flickering out as the circuit disconnects.

Zee pants, in an attempt to catch her breath at Bruce’s sudden stop. “What?” she exhales sharply, suddenly growing nervous at Bruce’s actions. Bruce ‘s breath comes in short, but he shakes his head, and turns back to the task at hand. He opens the door and pushes through, headed for the south tower, where Talia had been kept. Zee nods, “Yeah.” she replies, her voice breathy and light as she enters the tower. “Is this where you kept her? Talia?” Bruce nods, and begins to go through the dresser, pulling out the drawers, in silence.

Mari is halfway through another lemon bar, when a wave of queasiness hits her and she puts it back down, spitting her mouthful into a napkin. “Zee and Bruce are really looking at that well,” she mutters to no one in particular, fighting the peculiar feeling sudden in her stomach. Like she’s in Cachement all over again.

Steph skuttles over to Kyle and Roy, making a point of interrupting whatever they were talking about as she snuck up behind them. Steph grabbed them both suddenly by the napes of their necks and bopped their the sides of their heads together playfully. “How are you two gentlemen this fine evening?” she asked innocently.

Roy stops eating his sandwich, about to answer Kyle, and blinks. He looks down at the food, and when Stephanie appears, sets it down. It takes him a moment to gather his thoughts, but when he does, he sounds a little off-center. “..decent, all things considered.” He reaches out and gives her a sideways hug. Roy’s brow knits a little, and he looks over at Mar’i, over Stephanie’s head.

"Ayyyy hermanita. How are you doing? When’d you show up here? It’s good you’re here, on the manhunt. So to speak, pun intended, et cetera." It sinks in what Mar’i muttered and Kyle looks around the cave. Zee and Bruce aren’t there, but…that’s fine, maybe the well was a good clue for Bruce. He’s glad, for Zee’s sake.

Ollie tiks on his comm, moving away from the others. “B? Where are you?”

"South Tower."

Ollie takes off at a lope, then a trot, then an outright run. His heart’s beating hard in against his ribcage by the time he reaches the South Tower (Talia’s princess tower, his mind chortles), taking the stairs two at a time and skidding into her rooms to see Bruce going through the dresser drawers like a thief tumbling a room. “What is it,” he says. “What did Zee find. What’s with the soundwaves. What the /hell/ are you working towards?”

Zee’s hands hover out, wanting to help in the search, but knowing she’s completely helpless in most things Talia related. With a bit of force she pulls her hands back, tucking them into her pockets instead, “Let me know when you’ve got something.” she whispers softly.

"I’m glad," Steph said, understanding what Roy was getting at. She returned the side-hug. "Just wanted to check in on you both while the opportunity was there. Just pulled in, wanted to see what all the hubbub was," she answered Kyle. At Mar’i’s observation, she craned her neck in the direction they were all looking now, curious.

"GA filled you in though, right?" Kyle reaches up and cups the crown of Steph’s head, scritching at it. "How’re you holding up? No crutches anymore, I see. Lookat you, speedy healer. Your girlfriend got anything to do with that?"

Zee turns at Ollie’s entrance, “My spell for Ramsey took me to the well, and now we’re looking for something of Talia’s. Everything else is…” she waves towards Bruce. “I don’t know.”

Bruce reaches out, grabs one of the dresser drawers, and when it doesn’t slide out, wrenches it out with a crackle of wood and throws it behind him—nowhere near Ollie and Zee— crashing into the wall. The wood splinters, the square frame broken. Ollie stares at Bruce. “You’re looking for something of hers,” he says, clueing in. “Is that it?”

Steph smirks at Kyle’s, feeling like a cat with all the tactile affection today and more than happy with that. She inclined her head into Kyle’s palm and answered, “Ding ding, we have a winner. Bai’s got magic fingers, I swear -take that as you want. She shaved off like, ten weeks worth of healing in an afternoon! Just another week in my ogre boot and I’m free as a Bat. What about you?” She gave Kyle’s side a small squeeze when she looked him over. “You look tired, hermano.”

"Naw, I’m fine, nothing some zzz’s can’t help." Kyle pauses and smirks, because ‘Zee’s’. "I’m glad you’re being well taken care of Steph, you need as much TLC as you give on others." As he says this, he glances over at Kate, momentarily. Then smacks his knuckles lightly against Mar’i’s arm to get her attention. "All of you do - hey - what’s up? You and Roy look like you’ve seen a ghost."

Roy holds his hand up and shakes his head, indicating to Kyle and Steph that he’ll be back, moves over to Mar’i, settling a hand against her back. “Hey..” He trails off, and looks up at the monitors.

"We all do," Steph says at the same time as Kyle speaks again. She would have laughed at that, but something felt … off? She watched Roy move away and looked back at Kyle, furrowing her brows, her expression asking ‘Is everything okay? Should you two talk alone when he comes back to see if they’re alright?’

Kyle looks over at them and then shakes his head, smiling down at Steph. “Thoughtful little Steph. I’m just waiting to go home, really. You plan to stick around Casa Guano tonight?”

Zee nods to Ollie, still staring at the wall that the drawer had slammed against, “That’s it.” Bruce makes an aggravated, low sound and states. “She didn’t leave anything.” His hands are curling and uncurling into fists, and he leans forward on the dresser, staring at nothing in particular.

Ollie says haltingly, “It’s … not exactly hers, but — what about the flower? That one she was fixated on, that Alfred and her had that war over? It was a … what, a dahlia, or something? Wouldn’t that work?”

Bruce looks to Zatanna. Zee shrugs, “It’s better than nothing.”

Bruce exhales, and leads them from the room, down into the rose garden, where Talia had spent the majority of her time when not in the tower. He leads them both to where the dahlia bulbs are, but does not approach them.

Steph snorts at the nickname for the Cave. “Probably not,” she said, laughing lightly. “Seems like things are winding down and you’ve all got it under control for now, everyone conscious and healing and stuff. I figure everyone will work into the wee hours and we’ll all be playing hooky from civvies duties tomorrow.” She lifted her heavy boot and stepped down carefully onto Kyle’s foot, not hurting him, but applying pressure. “How’s Zee holding up, by the way? Still good?”

Kyle constructs another boot around her other foot, teasingly. He glances over at Roy and Mar’i again, just for a moment. “She’s fine. Just frustrated, but. Y’know if TV has taught me anything, it’s that if a kids gets taken, the waiting game is the worst part of it for the adults looking for ‘em, y’know? Everyone’s frustrated right now. Everyone wants to be of use, and…kinda sucks that we’re a group of superheroes twiddling our thumbs.” He sighs slightly. “I wish J’onn was here. He usually has good insights.”

Roy comes back over to Kyle and Stephanie, his arm wrapped around Mar’i’s waist. He picks up his sandwich, like he means to finish it, but doesn’t. He sets it back down. Kyle nods over at Roy in a welcome back kind of way. “Okay?”

Roy makes a face. “Funny feeling, a second ago..” He shrugs, and looks around the Cave. “But it’s probably just from being underground.”

Steph smacks at Kyle’s ringed hand repeatedly at the site of the construct boot, poorly suppressing a grin. Jerkbutt. She casts a glance back at Zee and feels a pang of sympathy. “Yeah, I know the feeling … But we’ll find Ramsey. He’s going to be okay. We’ll fix this.” And she really believes that.

Kyle furrows his brow. “What kinda funny feeling?” He knows it sounds silly to ask and adds on - “Look with the constant stream of weirdness going on, we might as well be thorough. Just in case…” He shrugs. Just in case something; he’s not the puzzle-solver. He smiles at Steph and agrees. “Kate will find her son. And everyone is here to help her, definitely.”

Steph nods at Roy. “The Cave messes with your senses if you’re not down here a lot,” she offered, giving Roy the out, but not believing he was wrong about the strange feeling either.

Zee reaches out a hand towards the bulbs, “Those?” Ollie answers. “Yeah, those are the ones.”

Dick lingers out in the gardens, following behind as the trio come out of the tower. The right-hand Robin, always trying to be where he might be needed.

Bruce looks back when Dick appears, but says nothing, looking back at Zatanna when she approaches the patch of earth the woman had worked in. Ollie beckons Dick over. “Maybe we should get Mar’i out here too,” he says. “If you two are the ones who’re gonna be going after Talia.” Dick nods. “I can go fet— get her. Or call her.” He looks to Bruce for an order.

Bruce exhales. “Who will it take with you, Zatanna?” The name flows off Bruce’s tongue, easily.

Zee pulls out the small portion of chalk left over from her spell on Thor, rolling it in her hand, “Anyone within a 10 foot radius.”

Dick taps his comm. “Nightstar. Come to the rose garden.”

Mari snaps out of a daze at the sound in her ear. “Nightwing’s calling. Gonna go get Talia,” she explains to the two men beside her, running a hand down her braid to make sure it’s still in place.

Roy exhales, and looks to her. “Gonna come with,” he announces. Kyle follows after Roy and Mar’i quietly.

Mari blinks and looks at Roy, although she’s halfway up the stairs before she registers what he says. “What?” Mari looks at Kyle behind them too. “I won’t hold up Zee that long, I promise.”

"What?" Kyle asks.

Mari unlocks the library exit, stepping into the room. “Isn’t she gonna magic us back? It won’t take me long to get a hold of that bitch.”

Roy scrubs at the back of his head. “Well, if won’t take that long—doesn’t that mean we can come along with?” He grins, crookedly at the woman, hoping she doesn’t whup his ass later for the inquiry.

Ollie moves out of the circumference of Zatanna’s chalk, next to Bruce. “I should get back out there,” he says, pitched low for just the other man’s ears. “There’s all these people tracking Talia, and you’ll be here for Kate when it comes to getting Ramsey back. I might as well make myself useful.” Bruce turns back to look at Ollie, and doesn’t have to speak out loud when he arches his eyebrows and silently asks what he means.

"I’m sorry, I’m missing a big part of this conversation," Kyle follows. "Last I knew Zee was just showing Bruce the well where she traced Ramsey. But - whatever- Mar’i c’mon she’s a member of the League, take as long as you need with your teammate to do what you need to get done, geez. I don’t own Zee’s time." He looks incredulously at Roy. "Come with? Where? Okay now I’m really confused."

Zee pockets the chalk and stands back from the circle, dusting off her hands. “I’m guessing I should wait for all the…passengers?” she frowns down at the bulbs.

Dick steps into the circle, glancing back toward the house and the Cave. “Probably? I think she’s coming….”

Roy yawns, suddenly, and roughly, covering his mouth with his hand. “We’re gonna go get Talia and haul her skinny ass back here.”

Mari full-stops in the hallway, staring at Kyle like he’s grown a set of antennae. She looks back at Roy, frowning a little, two messages interplaying here. Is he acting strange to you? and You don’t have to come with me. You could stay with Lian and sleep.

Roy scrunches up one eye and looks between Kyle and Mar’i. He scrubs at his face. “Yo, Kyle, everything good, man?”

"Talia? Oh…right, Talia." Kyle frowns and nudges at Mar’i to keep moving. "I’m fine. If you guys also think I’m not able to do this then fine I’ll stay back. Just go, get Talia so that Kate can get answers and find Ramsey."

Mari raises an eyebrow but moves regardless. “I don’t think you can’t do anything, Kyle.” She says simply, and doesn’t add anything to it.

Ollie glances at Bruce. “I don’t wanna let the trail of this Tea drug to get cold. I dunno if any of this all is connected, the drugs and Talia, but either way. Batman made a ton of headway into the case so I might as well keep the momentum going.” He stops and adds, “…don’t you think?” Bruce listens, and considers. It’s obvious in the way that his expression levels out, breathing becomes even, that he takes into consideration all of the bits and pieces of the puzzle they have before them. He nods, and then, turning back to look at Zatanna, states in a hard undertone: “Take Manhunter.” He inhales, slowly. “..but make sure she doesn’t do anything she’ll regret.”

Zee brushes back her hair, her costume overlapping and eventually overtaking her plain clothes as she speaks, “Of course.” she nods, tugging down on her jacket as it slides into place.

Kyle shifts, heading towards wherever the others are. “Well, you were in a coma for a week, Mar’i.” When he says it, it doesn’t come out half as blase as he intends. It just sounds sad. “So you missed out on a lotta stupid shit I pulled. Thanks for your vote, but this isn’t about me. Get Talia and stay safe.”

Mari looks at him over her shoulder and bites down at least five good retorts because she simply doesn’t have the brainpower to maintain a teeter-totter argument with him right now. “Want me to punch her in the face for you?” she asks, simply. “I’ve already got three good reasons to punch her lined up.”

Dick opens his mouth to ask if that’s really a good idea, but thinks better of it, standing back at attention. Roy pipes up: “Give her one for me, too.”

Kyle grins at Mar’i, glad she’s not going to argue; he’s tired of justifying everything about him being here. He can’t help but look at her side-braid, though; he’s not that good at pretending he’s not affected by what lays under it the large swath of hair. “Ah ha ha, uh no thanks. But Kate and me had a good long debate about punching women and so I won’t protest to whatever actions you think are necessary to take her down.”

Roy snorts at what Kyle says, and without warning, his brain turns to..her. He trips a bit, walking but catches himself, as smooth as he can. Which is.. not.

Kyle side-whaps Roy. “Stop trippin’ yourself.”

Mari glances back at Kyle as well, squinting one eye. “Like I care what anyone thinks about my actions,” she jokes, but watches Roy as he tries to cover up the stumble. “Roy…you okay?”

Kyle snickers at Mar’is retort but then eyes Roy, since he just thought Roy was playing the fool, but maybe not? Roy clears his throat. “Uhmm-huh. Fine. Where are we going?” He looks around where they are, and realizes he’s totally lost. Kyle is lost too; but he’s been following Mar’i. “Where’s everyone else?”

Ollie grips Bruce’s elbow, squeezing it before hefting his bow more securely onto his shoulder. “I’ll keep in touch,” he says, looking around at the others. “Call me back if I’m needed.”

Mari frowns and stares at Roy, because it doesn’t seem like fine. She turns around a corner, and when the men follow her, they find themselves facing one of the outer doors to the rose garden. “I know my way around,” she says, without thinking, voice sounding almost distant, as they approach the group. She’s still glancing at Roy.

"Oh! There’s -" Kyle splits from the two of them with a reassuring pat on Roy’s back and heads over to Zee. He looks down at the chalk circle and then back at her with a slight side-smile. "We’re not going home anymore, are we Dorothy."

Zee leans into Kyle shaking her head, “Not quite yet, Toto.” wrapping her arms around him she whispers just for his ears, “But, I’m not sure you should come with us…to get Talia. If I even get us there.”

Roy watches as Ollie moves, away from the group, and mumbles to Kyle and Zee: “Be right back. Don’t leave without me.” He squeezes the tips of her fingers, and trots out after Ollie, stopping him outside of the garden, back inside the darkened manor. “Hey.” Ollie pulls up, nose raising as if he’s a horse that’s been stopped suddenly. “Hey,” he says back. “What’s up, son?”

Roy doesn’t say a single thing, but reaches out and pulls Ollie into a tight, crushing hug.

Ollie is taken aback, but he’s never been one to pull out of hugs, no matter how unexpected. And when it comes to this gesture from the young man he’s been trying like hell to make some kind of reconciliation with, there’s not even a moment of hesitation. Ollie puts one arm around Roy, then the other, and crushes him back, one big hand coming up to hold the back of Roy’s head like he’s a little kid again.

Kyle nods. “It’s okay, I agree. I’m staying here,” he says passively, hugging her back as tightly as he can. When he pulls away, he speaks normally. “I’ll wait here for you though. I’m not gonna go anywhere…maybe Mister Pennyworth’ll make some of that hot cocoa that Steph’s always boasting about getting here.” He looks up and over at Dick. “Hey ‘mano. You’re going with ‘em too, yeah?”

Dick nods, cracking a slight grin. “Yep. Gotta have a Bat on every team, right?”

Zee tiptoes up to press a quick kiss against his cheek, “Save me some. Extra marshmallows, please.”

Kyle nods in approval, “Good. The more the better when it comes to taking Talia al Ghul down.” He kisses Zee back on her other cheek and steps away, out of the circle, and looks over at Mar’i. “Good luck you guys.” Mari half-waves. “We will. Keep an eye on Lian and Poppy for me?”

Roy makes a low little growl in the base of his throat, near-playful, and sets his chin on Ollie’s shoulder, exhaling. His voice is tight when he speaks, looking over his father’s shoulder, scanning the space behind him; literally, watching his back. “..helluva Thanksgiving.”

"You got that right." He rubs a corner of his mouth against the scratch of Roy’s ruddy hair, feeling it scrape his bared skin. "Next year we’ll do it better. All together, no drama. Just shit tons of food and board games and tv."

Roy doesn’t quite pull away, not just yet, and it’s obvious then, if it wasn’t before: he’d needed this. Needed him. He exhales, and then, laughs. “You burn the food, or me?” Ollie laughs, and they’re close enough that the feel of it reverberates through both their chests, the deep ribcages thrumming with the sound. “You kidding me? We’ll be lucky if we even get /near/ the stove, if your sister has her druthers. And you better believe she will.” Ollie smirks. “There’ll be a metric fuckload of turkey chili afterwards, though.”

Kyle blinks at Mar’i, forgetting to speak for a moment and then says with much vehemence, “I won’t let ‘em out of my sight. Except bathroom breaks, but then my constructs’ll be there.” Kyle grins. “I hear Poppy should be considered for League membership, considering what the girl did at the hospital.”

Mari rolls her eyes playfully. “No, please don’t. She’s already traumatized enough by having to live with you and the others.” Mar’i adjusts one of her bootstraps, looking down. “Yeah, she saved the day,” she comments, thinking about the pallor of Poppy’s skin and the way the little lizard shivered and clung to Lian the night before. Dick gives her a small smile. “She probably just needs a lot of rest.”

Roy nods, and pulls back from Ollie, slapping his hand—dry and calloused—against the other man’s face, lightly, before he pulls away. He scrunches his nose up, shaking his head. “You look weird without the beard.” Roy steps back, and scratches at the back of his head, as he turns towards the rose garden, speaking over his shoulder. “You should have Zee magic it back on.”

"I FEEL weird without the beard. Like one of those cats people shave down during the summer." He rubs his hand over his face. "But that’s the least of my worries."

Roy sets off a jog. “Don’t get blown up!” The words carry over, as he moves into the rose garden, back to Mar’i, Zee, Kyle, and.. “Uhh, where’d Bruce go?” Bruce isn’t there.

"Hey hey Lian loves our Three Men and a Baby schtick! Mostly because she gets to be the baby, heh." He shifts his stance. "I’m gonna get in contact with Oa tonight, and see if I can get more information on…on Poppy’s world when it was. Might get some insight." Unlikely, since Poppy is just a lizard, but. It’s worth a shot while Kyle’s waiting, he figures. Plus he wants to enjoy the use of his ring again.

Zee turns, “What do you mean- Bruce?”

Dick looks around, eyes wide. “He probably just went back to the Cave.”

Kyle looks aghast. “…you gotta be kidding me.” Dick curses himself for his unattentiveness, and curses Bruce and his stupid Bat-vanish.

Bruce finds Ollie in the darkness of the Manor, after the man has continued on his path. “Oliver.”

Ollie watches Roy head back to the rest of the group with a feeling of hope rising in his chest. But it sinks back down again as he scans the area, searching for Bruce, and comes up empty. He’s gone. Setting his teeth, Ollie turns and makes his way back into the Manor, on one of the routes that will take him to the exit closest to the Bowery … but Bruce has beaten him there. “B. Did you get something from the computer? Analyzing the Tea composition?” He shifts his quiver. “Better let me know before I head out there.”

Roy grimaces, and settles his hand against Mar’i’s back, exhaling. He looks to Zee. “Sorry, we good to go?” Zee scuffs a heel against the floor with a satisfyingly long squeak and long black streak against the wood. “Fuck if I know. Bruce seemed to be the one with the plan.” Kyle reaches out to Zee and takes her hand again, wiggling it slowly. “Stay safe. I’ll see you soon.”

Mari doesn’t seem too fazed by the disappearing act. She’s too busy cracking her knuckles and looking at the bulbs in Zee’s hands. “Warning. Change. Travel or betrayal,” she says under her breath. “Let’s go. The longer we stall, the longer Talia has to plan. The longer Ramsey might have to wait.”

"Good ide—" Dick blinks, shaking his head roughly at the sound that echoed in his ears. "Idea."

Bruce’s voice is low, and is barely visible in the darkness. “..when you get away from the Manor, contact Diana through the encrypted League comms.”

Ollie nods, knowing Bruce will be aware of the acknowledgement even in the dim light. Then he steps forward and puts his hand to the back of Bruce’s neck, bringing their foreheads together. His heart is pounding so hard at having Bruce here again, near and touchable, that Ollie can’t be sure that the fluting chirping sound is even real, or if it’s part of the overwhelm of his own emotions.

Kyle blinks a little unsteadily, frowning and looking up at the sky. He’s almost surprised that there isn’t a fissure slicing through the black night above. Zee exhales, her shoulders dropping a touch with Kyle’s hand against her’s, “See you-” she winces, adding a slight pause to her reply, “Soon?”

Roy looks around, strangely, expecting to find Lian…and when he sees Kyle blink, and Dick falter in his response, he frowns.

Mari freezes, one hand slamming into her stomach, the other over her mouth. She blinks, pupils contracting and pulsing. Roy looks at Mar’i, both hands shooting out to curl around the hand on her stomach, the other on her mouth. “Baby??” The alarm is sharp in his voice.

Zee turns at Mar’i, wide-eyed at the sudden movement, “Mar’i?”

Roy looks to Dick and Kyle. Kyle looks at Roy and then Mar’i. Both Roy and Zee are looking to Mar’i, so he says, “…I’m gonna go check on Lian.” He jogs back towards the Manor, speaking to his ring.

"Mar’i! Are you all right?" Dick looks around at the others. "You all heard that, too, didn’t you?" Mari swallows down the bitter taste of bile and blood that rushes into her mouth. “I’m okay,” she gurgles. “I’m okay.”

Roy feels every hair that runs along the nape of his neck rise when Kyle says what he does, and his hand tightens on Mar’i’s hand, and he pulls her, bodily, against him. “..fucking shit.”22:58

"Yeah I heard that." Zee nods, turning to Kyle, then back to Roy, "No, what?"

It doesn’t take long for Kyle’s ring to track Lian, and he picks her up and brings her to the window for Roy and Mar’i and the others to see. Lian is strewn across his chest, with that dull almost-napping expression on her face as her head leans heavily on his shoulder. Poppy is buried in Lian’s arms. Kyle gives them a thumbs-up from where he is.

Bruce crushes his mouth to Ollie’s, because in the darkness, he can. Because back in the suit, and Oliver back in his, he can, and more than that—he wants to. He drags his hand to grip the man around the throat, and kisses him, hard and greedy.

"I did what I could," Ollie gasps, hoarsely. His hand moves to tug at one of Bruce’s ears, to serve as an explanation for what he’s referring to. "To keep up. Keep his presence in Gotham while you were gone. I thought maybe being in the suit would make me miss you less. But it didn’t, not one fucking bit." Ollie kisses Bruce again. "I missed you like hell."

Zee points at Kyle, “See look it’s fine. It’s fine everything’s fine.” she turns to Mar’i with a sharp frown, not sure if she can say the same for her. “You don’t sound okay Mar’i.” she whispers.

Roy exhales, roughly, and looks back to Zee. He doesn’t agree outloud, but he looks down at Mar’i. “..getting Talia isn’t worth—Mar’i.” Her name is plaintive on his tongue.

Kyle jostles Lian and speaks to her, and Lian slowly waves at her papa and marmee, wholly unconcerned about the gravity of the situation. She’s heard the chirp too, and it’s sedated her. She curls her hands into Poppy’s frills and tries to imitate the chirp to herself, and to Poppy.

It feels like someone’s running their little fingers through her hair, tiny little fingers, with star-bright hair and Mar’i— Mar’i leans over, out of Roy’s grip, slapping at his hands to keep them off her. “Just a bad memory,” she mutters. “Can we please go already?” Roy attempts not to look injured at what Mar’i does, but fails, and turns his face away to look out at the roses as he steps back, looking to Zatanna. He doesn’t speak but nods, in agreement.

Dick looks between Mar’i and Roy, then turns to Zatanna. “Your call.”

Zee swallows thickly, nodding, “Okay. We’ll go. We’ll go. Just hold still.” she holds out a hand toward the bulbs, casting firmly, “Etacol Ailat." and once again the white light expands outward rippling over the floor beneath the group.

Mari is not crying. She’s possibly allergic to something, maybe there’s an eyelash in her eye, but as Zee casts the spell, her fingers clench over her stomach and Mar’i is definitely, certainly, not crying. And if she is, in the off chance she is, she rubs it off her cheeks as the whiteness begins to fade to something else.

Kyle watches them disappear in a puff of magic from the window, as Lian scrubs against her eyes vigorously, still chirping. He kisses at her soft hair and then lets her guide them to the kitchen, where Kyle hopes to find magical mugs of hot cocoa just waiting for him. Needless to say, they get lost instead and spend the better part of an hour staring at the paintings lining the walls. Lian falls asleep out of boredom and exhaustion, and Kyle stares at the paintings, mesmerized. When Poppy gives a small moue as Lian clutches her too tightly, Kyle comes back to the present and resumes his hunt for the kitchen. He contacts Oa.

Talia laughs, gaily, where she sits: surrounded by a small group—three men, and one woman—she has poured herself in a black dress, a string of pearls looped around her neck. The ballroom of the Hilton in Star City is bustling, on this particular Saturday night, and Talia barely registers the noises of surprise at the heroes’ sudden appearance.

Dick glances around before settling his gaze on Talia. “Ms. Head? Hate to break up the party, but I’m afraid we need to talk.” Talia looks up at Dick, and doesn’t seem to register who he is, smiling up at him, a bit stupidly.

Zee raises up her hands with a show of flair, “Pardon the interruption.” she adds smoothly.

Bruce scoops his arms around Oliver, and he can’t explain it. He can’t explain it, but he needs this, and he shakes his head at what Ollie says. He did fine. They all did, and he wants to tell them all.. But this will have to do for now. He pulls back, his exhalation damp and wet, and he brushes his gloved fingers against Ollie’s mouth. Finally, he speaks. “..you did it for me.”

Ollie bites at Bruce’s fingers as they pass. “What, you mean the beard? Yeah, I didn’t have much of a choice if I wanted to do it right. Even my best Ghoul of Gotham imitation would be for shit with a blond goatee.” He doesn’t intend to make this into a big deal. Bruce has enough to deal with, they all do, and Ollie tells himself that it’s time to go and get back to work. But instead he finds himself saying, “…there isn’t anything I wouldn’t do for you, Bruce. I love you.”Dick gives what looks like a warm smile, but anyone who knows him can see it’s tight. A show smile. “Nightwing, ma’am. Would you mind terribly coming with us?”

Talia blinks, prettily. “Go with you? Where?”

"Somewhere safe where we can talk. Just a little trip, won’t be very long at all." He holds out a hand, the other grasping a batarang behind his back.

Mari is already moving towards Talia, fists clenched. Zee holds out a hand to Mar’i, smiling sweetly to Talia, “A quick chat.”

Nearby where Talia is, there is are two bloodcurdling squeals, that end with gurgling. The crowd parts - no, it backs away, opening up to reveal two teenagers in Hot Topic outfits on bleeding on the ground. Their necks are snapped in the most twisted away and standing over them is a small. lithe woman, clothed from head to toe in dark green. “Thank you for leading me to her, Nightwing.” Jade steps over the bodies as if they are nothing. “Now thank me for taking care of these metas who were after you.” She points at Talia. “I’ll be taking this with me.”


Dick straightens up, eyes wide behind his mask. “Cheshire! No, she’s coming with us.”

Only then does she see Roy, and her eyes (the only part of her skin that you can see) widen slightly. She looks over at Dick, then back at Roy. “Then…I’m coming too.” Her voice changes from stringent to almost a purr, and it’s obvious that she’s smiling now, under her mask. Roy goes white as a goddamn sheet. He moves, pulling an arrow from his quiver, and that makes the crowd move back in a quick hurry. His throat works, as he swallows. “No.” He grits his teeth. “No, you’re not—”

Dick blinks. “Well, that’s… fine.” He reaches forward and grabs Talia’s arm. “C’mon, Ms. Head.”

Talia looks over at Cheshire, her expression looking outright bemused as her mouths twitches. “Why are you here.” Her voice is flat, bland, even as her group of companions disbands, leaving her seated at the large table all by herself. She exhales, and runs her fingers over the damp spot her drink has left. The whiskeys and Manhattans line the table, but Talia herself, sips at sparkling water. She drags her thumb over the condensation.

Cheshire holds her hands up in peace. “We have a common interest.” Whether she’s saying this to Roy or to Talia is unclear. Jade glances around, but all the rich fools have cleared out.

Mari looks between Talia and Cheshire, her eyes mirroring Dick’s in size, before they narrow, almost ferociously. She moves, quietly, putting herself between Talia and Cheshire. She doesn’t ask if Dick or Zee is going for Talia. She doesn’t dare take her eyes off Cheshire and Roy.

Roy exhales, and moves around, the arrow still in his hand, but not nocked yet, his bow not drawn. He shakes his head. “We have business with her,” Roy states, looking at Jade, and it’s impossible to discern his tone. Without realizing it, Roy wishes, across time and space, that Ollie had come with them.

Bruce brings his fingers back to the edge of Ollie’s mouth, and in the darkness, even without the cowl, he can see the other man. His friend. Partner. Bruce exhales. Lover. “I know,” he rasps, his voice catching on his front teeth. He pauses, and his tone is stilted, unsure if it will come out the way he wants it to, and he mumbles, barely audible. “..I need you.”

Ollie leans back slightly, absorbing this statement. The dark is making Bruce emotionally /excessive/, for him. Or maybe it’s the fallout of having been in jail. Whatever it is, Ollie’s not about to dismiss it. He pushes his way into Bruce’s arms, even though the cowl doesn’t make physical intimacy very easy. “Good,” Ollie says, and his habitual inability to hold back when it comes to people he loves is what makes him say, “Then we should consider ways to make this relationship permanent.”

Zee swallows thickly, trying to keep her cool in the ever escalating situation she’d blindly dragged everyone into. She casts a nervous glance to Dick, seeing if he has formulated a plot in all this mess.

"We have a common interest in her, lover," Jade tosses the word out casually to Roy, and looks over at Dick. She ignores the others, except Talia, moving so that she can see Talia behind Mar’i. "We had an agreement, Nightwing. Wherever you’re taking her, I’m coming with you."

Roy looks to Dick, sudden and sharp.

Mari looks between Roy and Dick, eyes narrowing in confusion. Agreement. Mar’i’s mouth twists even more. Talia leans back, lifting her glass to take a long sip of it, as she looks around at the men and women surrounding her. Squabbling over who gets her. It’s really enough to make a girl blush.

Dick grits his teeth, pointedly not looking at Roy. “That we did. And you will, unarmed." He looks to Zatanna. "Can you get us somewhere safer? Somewhere—" He switches to Italian. "—somewhere that isn’t the Manor? Not yet. Just somewhere we can hold them until we can get a better plan?" The "I" in that "we" is painfully obvious.

Talia leans forward on the table, on an elbow, watching them, before her eyes settle on Zatanna. Talia laughs, and adds in Italian, her accent perfect: “And somewhere He won’t know how badly you’ve underestimated the situation?”

"I don’t carry weapons," Cheshire says, relaxing and smiling even wider. Now that she knows she’s going with them, she loses interest in the semantics and waits patiently, here eyes trained on Talia. Talia looks over at Jade, gesturing to a seat. "Are you hungry? Thirsty?" Her smile is plush. "They make a wonderful crème brûlée.."

Mari looks ready to murder someone, and it’s no longer clear who.

Dick bristles and glares at Talia. “Where he won’t know what I’ll do to you—” He stops himself just shy of a vicious insult he’d only before heard his father’s family say, but never used himself. Instead, he takes a deep breath and looks imploringly at Zatanna.

"đi ăn cứt," Cheshire spits at Talia.

Zee pales rapidly at Talia’s addition to the conversation, asking Dick in a whispered italian, half hoping that Talia’s hearing isn’t quite as grand as her language lexicon, “Where?" her apartment and Shadowcrest, the locations on her speed dial, don’t seem to be ideal in this situation. And somewhere public doesn’t quite seem to fit the occasion either.

Roy reaches behind him, for his comm, and he blindly shoots a message to Ollie: [TXT] cheshr

Talia frowns at the insult, and responds in Vietnamese to the other woman: “Why are you so angry?” She settles her hand against her stomach, lightly, lacquered nails no longer lacquered. Cut short, they are bare of color.

Dick sucks his teeth, glancing at Cheshire and Talia. He takes a step toward Zatanna, trusting Mar’i will keep a good watch on Talia, and whispers, “Blüdhaven. There’s a base beneath my apartment I can seal off. Can you get us there through me? It’s either that or another cave.”

While the ‘heroes’ bicker, Jade takes a few slow steps towards Talia, ignoring the tall Starfire-looking woman nearby. “Santa Prisca.” Talia raises her eyebrows, as if to say Oh. Yes. That. She pats a seat next to her, with one hand, totally oblivious to the fact that the sound of police sirens are suddenly wailing in the distance.

Ollie feels the buzz of his comm, and although he wants to wait for Bruce’s response, to not abandon this conversation while Bruce is being so open, he palms the device out to check it. And curses under his breath when he sees the word, holding it up for Bruce to see. “Hail hail the fucking assassin gang’s all here.” Bruce reads the message and grunts, pulling back from Oliver. “We’re getting too old for this,” he retorts, the humour dark and sudden.

Zee nods, “That’s fine. Just…I need coordinates and hold my hand.” the words spill from her mouth, as her hand reaches for his grip without pause, “Go. We need to move, I can get everyone.”

Agreement. Mar’i’s mind repeats the word over and over again, her expression going darker and darker. And when Cheshire talks, Mar’i’s tempted to let her tear Talia to shreds. Or to help.

"I haven’t told Papa yet." Jade continues in Vietnamese, and she doesn’t sit down. She looks sidelong at Roy, wondering how much Vietnamese he really did retain. "I want you to explain what you did to his baby first."

Roy jumps in, because he’s Oliver Queen’s goddamn firstborn, and spits out, his Vietnamese broken and dull in places, but there. He doesn’t look at Mar’i. “..what you did.” His hand tightens over the fletching on the arrow.

Dick takes her hand and looks back at the group. “Hold tight, gang.” He gives Zatanna the coordinates and nods, knowing she’ll get everyone, already planning how he’s going to lock down the base on arrival. And then tell Bruce. Dammit.

Cheshire looks condescendingly pleased at Roy, a look she used to give him when he was learning Vietnamese from her, in her bed. Except back then it was also fond.

Ollie shoves the comm back in his pocket as they start moving down the dark tunnel. “Get back to me about being too old for shit once you’ve died and come back from it,” he says. Bruce walks along with him, to the nearest transport, and as he speaks, he pulls out comm. “You’re complaining? You should look at it like a vacation.” The subject matter isn’t amusing or funny at all, but there’s a sharpness to Bruce that hasn’t been there in years, as they round the corner, there in the dark.

Ollie laughs on an inhale, gulping the mirth down with the cold dark air, Bruce at his side as they rush headlong into danger. Just like the fucking old days indeed, the brave and the goddamn bold. “So who’s complaining? I liked it so much I didn’t wanna come /back/, remember?”

"Don’t cast the fucking spell," Mar’i hisses at Zee. Because Roy’s not the only one who’s picked up Vietnamese.

"We don’t have time to not,” Dick says.

Zee turns sharply to Mar’i, “Why?”

Mari looks at Dick like she’d like to feed him his own entrails. She turns to Zee, eyes narrowing. “Because I want to see her rip out Talia’s goddamn throat so I don’t have to.”

Talia leans back, and exhales, lightly, as she arches her fingers against the bottle of sparkling water. She pours herself some more, and takes a sip, answering back in the musical chiming cadence of the language. “..I kept your baby safe.” Talia looks over at Mar’i, at Zee, and then, finally, Jade. She purses her lips. “What happened to the boy they are here for—to find answers,” she continues in Vietnamese. “I kept my boy and your girl safe from.”

Dick clenches his teeth. “We can do it there where the cops aren’t about to bust in and get in the way, we are all going.”

Talia waves a hand at Jade, dismissively. “..If I let them believe it was you, it was to protect them.”

Roy clenches his hand around the arrow, his eyes narrowing, and in English he spits: “It was you??”

"Liar! I revoke your League of Assassins." It seems like it’s necessary for Jade to say that, before she takes her chance and lunges for Talia, her claws clicking out to strike Talia’s throat and face.

Zee rolls her eyes, entirely DONE with the dramatics of this all. She squeezes against Dick’s hand hard as she shouts without remorse, “Yawatag!" this time no white light comes, only a strong tugging sensation and sharp cracks echoing about the hall. No more wine and pageantry, just a cold base to welcome them now.

Talia exhales, and mid-transport, she leans back, so that when they land in the basement, she can extend her legs up, back slamming into the ground, and plant her heeled feet in the woman’s stomach, kicking her into the air. Talia shifts, too goddamn fast to be real, and tears at the side of her dress. She removes her shoes, and crouches low, backing away from them all.

Talia smiles, and it is a dark, beautiful expression on her face. Still in Vietnamese, she murmurs. “..that was a silly thing to do, Jade.” She glances around the room, measuring her odds. “Your daughter is the only friend my prince can have, why take that away from him?”

Dick immediately lets go of Zatanna’s hand when they arrive and activates his security, shutting the underground base down. It does— unfortunately, he thinks— notify the Cave, but that’s something else he can deal with later. Right now, he has two assassins and a few heroes who are about to murder each other.

Cheshire is ready; she’s seen Talia’s fighting style enough and trained alongside her even, so she hops off the wall and lands on the floor. She has only one advantage over Talia right now, and she needs to keep the upperhand. “My daughter is no prize you brainwashed pig,” she sneers. “You betrayed me.” Cheshire speaks in English, for everyone to hear and understand.

Zee holds out her hands, fingers flexed in the general direction of those in front of her, “Unless you want to be bolted to the floor, don’t you dare move.” she grits.

Talia laughs, and responds, in English as well. “How?” She rises up, out of the defensive stance, her stilettos still in hand: she clutches them by the soles. Dick throws a batarang at Talia’s hands. “Don’t. Any of you.” Talia hisses and knocks the batarang out of the air, mid swoop, with her shoe: the sole is steel and it flashes with a spray of sparks when she does this.

Cheshire nods. “I see. Of course you would conveniently ‘forget’ our agreement once it was no longer convenient to your insane plans.” Jade remains crouched but she looks around at the rest of them, particularly at Roy. “Well? Are you just going to stand there like a buffoon in front of the woman who hurt your child for the sake of her stupid mind games??”

Roy sucks his teeth, sharp and hard. “Yeah, fuck this.” He grabs two arrows, and nocks one, draws and shoots fast enough that resin puffs around the pull of the string, and nocks the other, and launches the two separate arrows at both women with with enough electricity that it’d bring down a full grown bull.

Dick exhales sharply, a “For fuck’s sakes” whispered out in the breath. Not so much at Roy, but at everything.

Bruce gruffly barks something like a laugh, and reaches the zeta bunker, slapping his hand against the panel to open it. “..Yeah, I remember.” He looks over, when an alarm begins to beep, and glances at the GPS on the screen. “Blüdhaven,” he announces.

Ollie huffs. “Wonderful! I’ve been pining for the scent of tar pitch and sewage.” He takes his place on the zeta pad. “You always take me to the nicest places, B.” Bruce punches in the coordinates, and takes his own place, besides Ollie. “Just wait for the first anniversary,” he states, with cruel timing: the zeta activates and they are launched through space to Blüdhaven.

Zee drops her arms with a huff, “Are you fucking kidding me?” she groans, “You think you could’ve at least mentioned Cheshire?”

Mari is moving now, in slow steps towards Talia. It’s a strange stride, not one that Mar’i uses very often. It’s haughty, and proud and…the one Ibn liked most, when she’d walk in front of people he’d promise she’d control. The one Komand’r taught her in the throne room when she thought Mar’i would never be able to fly. But she stops when Roy releases the arrows, fists glowing.

Cheshire screams in pain, shuddering and falling flat onto the floor. But she still slowly moves, trying to get to her knees. Saliva drips from her mouth like a rabid animal, from being so brutally electrocuted. “You…idiot…” she burbles. “My suit…protects…” She collapses again, unable to support her own weight.

Zee reaches for her comm, sending off a message to Kyle [TXT] Clusterfuck.

Kyle is finally drinking hot cocoa and it’s as awesome and Steph preached. Lian is in a construct pillowfort, snoring loudly. He looks at his ring when it pings, and texts back. [Ring Txt] You okay? Everyone okay?

Roy walks over to Dick and grabs him up by the front of his suit. “AGREEMENT?!” He bellows, his face going splotchy and red with exertion as he shouts.

"I didn’t think she’d be waiting for us when we got there. I told Roy and Oll—” He staggers as Roy grabs him, feet scrabbling to adjust to steady himself, his hands grabbing Roy’s arms for support. “I agreed to let her help with finding Talia, trade information. That’s all. She wasn’t a variable I was counting on to reappear.”

Roy spits. “Goddamn Bats! A variable? She’s not a fucking variable you’d thought—You AGREED to—” Roy sputters, unable to continue on in coherent sentences.

"I know, Roy! I fucked up. Stupid risk, but I told you she’d be involved.” Dick glances over at Zatanna. “Yes, for god’s sake, lock her up!”

Zee glances up at Cheshire’s anguish, flicking a hand in her direction, “Kcol dna yek.” chains and cuffs springing from the ground and locking her down as they attach to her ankles and wrists. Her forehead puckers and she asks the group at large, “I can do the same for Talia. Anyone?”

Cheshire “You lock me up and not her?” Jade protests, trying to roll now to her side. Her mask is slipped off to reveal her full face and it is the epitome of incredulous. Talia had shifted, dropping her metal shoes, and only taken the brush of the arrow: it slid through her arm, and she cried out, but not from pain, from shock. She staggered back against the wall, sinking, her hand curled over her stomach, and leaned back, looking at the other women.

Zee rolls her eyes, muttering the same spell for Talia, “There, all equal. Happy?”

"I am not happy. She needs to be put down like the dog that she is." Jade groans, eventually rolling onto her back.

Mari looks at Talia. “Why the fuck are you holding your stomach like that?” she hisses. It’s something she normally wouldn’t notice, but the chirp from earlier, the pain shooting through her body, the image of blackberries and stars entangled in tight curls and—

Talia shakes her head. “Stupid girl,” she spits, at Jade. She doesn’t fight the lock and key. She doesn’t fight anything, and brings her knees up, in front of her. Talia glowers up at Mar’i with a look that could wilt paper.

Zee she texts Kyle back while the others bicker about, [TXT] I fine and so is everyone. We now have Talia and Cheshire in Dick’s Blüdhaven base. Idk this is so over my head with bloodfeudes or something. I can’t.

When they materialize in the Bludhaven base, Ollie has his bow out and an arrow nocked within seconds, aiming first at Cheshire, then at Talia. He doesn’t fire, noting that they’re both manacled, but keeps his arrow trained on Talia with a nod towards Roy. He can handle Cheshire.

Zee purses her lips, as she pockets her comm, “Welcome to the party.” she calls cooly to those arriving on the Zeta pad.

Mari ‘s jaw goes slack. “Oh my fucking god,” she says, fists curling. “No. This is a fucking joke.”

Roy releases Dick, looking to Bruce, who appears a moment later behind Ollie. He spits: “He—” He jerks his head at Dick. “—didn’t COUNT on her being a VARIABLE.” He moves over to Mar’i, as she speaks. “What? What is it?” Dick stumbles back, biting his lip hard to stop his rage from boiling over.

Cheshire twists to smile up at Talia, taking pleasure in seeing her tied up. “You were stupid for using me.” Bruce moves over to Cheshire first, in front of Ollie’s bow, and hauls her up to place her against the nearest wall, upright. He doesn’t approach Talia, not just yet.

Cheshire snorts as Batman hauls her. “You are all fools. She’s been playing you all for weeks now and the minute I show up I am treated like the prisoner and bad one. Look at her! She is the one who’s treating you like puppets! And you are the ones strengthening your own strings!”

Mari lets out a bitter laugh, shaking her head in disbelief. She doesn’t even hear Roy through the din of pain in her head and the sharp, aching irony of all this. It’s a war-drum, the sound in her head right now, and Mar’i clutches her temples.

Talia doesn’t answer Jade. She doesn’t look at Bruce. All she does is watch Mar’i.

"Nightstar!" Ollie barks. "She’s just trying to fuck with your head. It’s what she /does/. Don’t give ‘er the satisfaction, posy!" Roy ignores Jade too, because—-..yeah.​ He loops his arm around Mar’i’s waist, and pulls her towards him, against his body. His voice is low, and in Korean, of all things. “..hurt?”

Kyle [Ring Txt] Cheshire? Like, Lian’s mom? [Ring Txt] Just don’t get hurt.

Zee [TXT] Yes. I’m Trying. [TXT] This is so fucked up.

Kyle glances over at the child, who’s sleeping peacefully. Kyle presses his lips together and regards Poppy, who is in a little fleece binkie of her own. “Well, Poppy. Looks like we’re gonna have a long night, you and me.” [Ring Txt] Fucked up as in you’re getting loco answers? Or fucked up as in everything’s spiralling outta control?

Bruce moves over to Talia, and secures the manacles around her wrist, pulling her away from Jade by the forearms, so they are not connected. He speaks back to Zatanna. “Can you create a cell for each of them?”

Dick pulls out an eskrima stick, heading for Talia. “Ignore what she’s trying. We need to get answers.”

Mari hears Ollie, all right. Hears the way he so casually dismisses Talia’s mindgames, the way he had tried to defend her at the hospital weeks ago, and— Mar’i’s mouth twists even harder. “Did you FUCK her, Ollie?”

Dick stops, both because of Bruce’s actions and because of… well, that.

Talia closes her eyes, lashes settling against her cheeks, and can feel Bruce’s shadow over her as she does. Cheshire laughs derisively, and eyes the Starfire girl and the way Roy rushes to her. Ah.

Zee begins to nod at Bruce’s request, but her eyes widen at Mari’s shout, rapidly remembering Ollie’s confession to her that now felt as if it had occured years ago, “Oh my fucking god.”

Ollie ‘s jaw clenches, a muscle jumping at the corner. “Yeah,” he says, not looking at Mar’i. “So I know what the fuck I’m talking about.” Bruce looks at Mar’i, but says nothing, his hands still looped around Talia’s wrists. His grip tightens with Ollie’s confession.

Zee grits her teeth, waving a hand at Cheshire first, “Llec.” walls bursts upward separating cheshire from the entire group.”Unless you want to be in there with her…” she nods to Talia, trying to get Bruce out of the way.

Roy looks up and over at Ollie, his arm still looped around Mar’i’s waist. He isn’t holding her up, in fact, it seems like he needs the contact more than she does. Roy rubs his thumb over Mar’i’s side, in idle circles. “Baby.. Come on, we can go get some water..”

Mari actually laughs, her face contorting more and more in rage. “This is great. This is so wonderful. I am so glad I came out of my goddamn coma for this, really. We get the fucking QUEEN OF ASSASSINS UP IN HERE HURTING CHILDREN AND SENDING META MOTHERFUCKERS AT US AND SOMEONE DECIDES TO KNOCK HER UP.”

Cheshire rolls her eyes. She didn’t come here for the soap operas. When the cell springs up over her and not Talia, she makes another exasperated noise. “I am not the enemy. Purple-hair is the only one making sense. Kill her, girl,” she suggests, from her cell.

Ollie flicks his gaze over at Bruce, faintly accusing. Since they’re talking about who’s fucked Talia and Bruce is remaining mum. But he doesn’t say anything, maintaining the pull on his bow, perfectly still even with the enormous weight of the drawn bowstring.

Bruce is moving away from Talia, one hand already disconnected from her slender wrist, and he freezes, goes stock-still when Mar’i says what she does. With his back turned to the group, it’s not that obvious, and he misses Ollie’s accusing glance. Talia opens her eyes and looks up at Bruce, from where she is on the ground. Under him.

Dick exhales roughly, muttering to himself, “We don’t have time for a goddamn episode of Maury right now.”

Ollie laughs at that one. “Glad to see the holier-than-thou comments run in the family! You Graysons sure never pass up a chance to be sanctimonious, do you? Or is that just a Bat thing?” Dick growls at Ollie, even if most of his temper is from the entire clusterfuck of a situation, this is not helping.

Bruce settles his gaze on Talia, the conversation behind him flitting by, unheard. Talia swallows, and doesn’t move under his gaze, her breath coming in sharper and sharper doses.

Zee swallows, her expression growing pale at the increasing accusations.”Oh for fucks sakes.” she mutters. Zee pulls out her comm, hands shaking, [Txt] Control. Totally gone.

Kyle [Ring Txt] Anything you can do to regain? Talia still captured?

Zee [Txt] …put everyone in bubbles? Cells? Knock them out? Talia’s under control…mostly.

Roy snaps at Ollie, pushing forward. “It’s a people-with-goddamn-sens​e-in-their-head thing, Ollie!” He grits his teeth. “Or people who can keep it the fuck in their pants.” His eyes narrow and he spits out. “But you’ve got a problem with that, dontcha?”

"You did too once, Roy, if I recall," Jade chimes in because why not. With all this squabbling it doesn’t seem like anyone’s resolving this soon. Roy snarls at her. “Shut the fuck up!”

"You need to move if you want her in a cell." Zee looks to Bruce sharply, as she pockets her comm. She turns to Dick, mouthing ‘HELP’.

Mari points her finger at Cheshire, head snapping, and amazingly her tone stays level when she speaks. “I’m not talking to you right now, so you can just—” But Ollie’s words—you Graysons—”I AM NOT A GRAYSON!" she screeches, something strange and dark crawling into her eyes. A thick drop of blood slips from her nose, but Mar’i doesn’t even notice.

"Look, for your fucking information,” Ollie growls, “I may have slept with her, but I can’t be the one who knocked her up. I got that shit all fixed years ago." After Shado, in fact, once it was clear Dinah couldn’t have children. He’d gotten it done and not thought about it since. Ollie opened his mouth to add something else, but then stopped, the colour draining from his face: that was before Hal had resurrected and re-built him from genetic scratch.

Cheshire smiles and her gaze slides over at Dick, motioning with a nod of her head to come closer. “Looks like Purple-hair is losing it. Is she related to you, or…?” Mari snaps her head at Cheshire so fast it looks like it might fly off her shoulders.

Dick stalks over to Cheshire, careful to keep out of arm’s reach. “I’m about as done with you as I am with anyone else, so if you would just keep quiet for two seconds.” Cheshire shrugs and acquiesces, observing the madness around her instead.

Bruce releases Talia and steps out, and raises his voice, loud enough to scrape over the din. “Enough." He points at Roy and Mar’i, speaking to Roy. "Take her upstairs and get her out of this." Zee’s eyes widen at Bruce, “Are you fucking kidding me?” she screeches.

Kyle [Ring Txt] Talia ‘under control…mostly’ does not sound reassuring, Zee.

Bruce looks to Dick and Zatanna. “Secure this room and make sure there is nothing left in it, for the night. Nightwing,” he snaps, his voice hard. “You take the first shift.” Dick snaps his head toward Bruce, glaring, but it subsides. It’s not at him it’s at everything. “Yes, sir.”

Zee throws her hand out at Talia, “As for threat number 2?”

Ollie looses his arrow; it flies true and punches through Talia’s right shoulder, right below the collarbone.

Bruce growls, in a low, hard voice. “Double the bars and—” He words are caught in his throat. Dick jumps at the arrow, too stunned to do or say anything except stare. Zee drops her hand, turning to Ollie with an expression that’s a violent combination of satisfied and near terrified.

Bruce moves, to grab the top of Oliver’s bow, and he wrenches it down, his fist tight and he pushes the man away with a roar.

Cheshire sighs, clearly wounded that she’s considered threat #1 while the real threat’s been downgraded to #2…except then the arrow flies from Green Arrow’s bow and Cheshire smiles once more. “You missed her belly, Green Arrow,” she can’t help but comment.

Mari is about to start yelling at Bruce for treating her like a child when the arrow whizzes and Mar’i watches it tear through Talia’s shoulderblade. “This is a nightmare,” she says under her breath, voice hazy, “this is a fucking nightmare and I’m still in my coma.”

Talia cries out, rocking back against the wall with the force of the arrow, her hair a curtain of dark strands, but doesn’t scream. The daughter of Ra’s al Ghul does not scream. She grits her teeth and snarls at him in Arabic, Damian’s high voice caught in her words: “You’ll regret that, archer.”

Ollie twists his bow, bringing it back up to jab under Bruce’s chin. “Now she won’t cause any trouble,” he says, voice curdled with seething anger. “/You/ remember how much an arrow through the shoulder hurts, right, B? After all, I put /two/ into you that time, back in the day.”

"And now the big boys are fighting over their pretty princess." Cheshire glares at Talia, but there is a small sliver of admiration in her stare. That the woman can make Batman fight for her….

Zee [Txt] It’s a nightmare. There’s no control.

Kyle [Ring Txt] Hold fast, corazon.

Mari looks like she’s going to be sick again. “Someone just fucking ask her about Ramsey,” she mutters, already moving towards the stairwell. "Who’s Ramsey?" Jade asks Talia. "Do you have something to do with someone named Ramsey?" Roy loops his arms around Mar’i, and without saying anything, lifts her up and into them. He moves towards the stairs, and carries her up, the rest of the way, kissing the edge of her temple.

Bruce ‘s voice booms in the space, violent and loud; his eyes do not leave Oliver and he doesn’t mask the betrayal that sinks in his gaze, behind the rage. “Nightwing.”

Dick moves to towards Bruce and Ollie. “What.”

"I need to treat her wound,” Bruce says. Dick nods roughly toward a box across the room. "Medkit’s stocked." He doesn’t make a move for it, waiting for the older men to get some space between them.

Mari makes an enraged noise at Cheshire’s voice just as Roy closes the stairwell door. She doesn’t sling her arms around his neck like she normally does, nor does she giggle or smile. Mar’i stares down at the fold of her body in his arms, and clamps her fingers against her nostrils. She’s angry, seething with it, heat running off her like a warm car engine.

Cheshire from the corner of her eye she watches Roy carry Purple-hair away, her eyes hooding for a moment. She asks suddenly. “Who is watching Lian? Who is watching Lian.”

Zee pockets her comm, rubbing her fingers against her eye sockets till large blotches of color dance against her sight. A pulsing headache is strongly developing and she wants to blame it on everything but herself, and for once maybe she can. “A Green Lantern.” she croaks to Cheshire.

Ollie whirls on Cheshire when she asks that question. “Don’t you fucking say her name, Cheshire! Not unless you want a matching arrow through your goddamn shoulder.” Cheshire ignores Green Arrow, eyes trained on the magic-user. “The one that lives with Roy? That one is not to be trusted! You fools left him with my baby??” She starts to squirm, her joints popping as she twists her hands out of the cuffs that hold her. “She needs to be protected from him!” Zee glares at Cheshire, gritting out, “I fucking handled it. He’s FINE!”Cheshire stares at the magic-user for a long time. “Are you sure about that?”

Dick grabs at Ollie’s quiver, hoping to at least pull him back. “Don’t waste your arrows. For god’s sake.” Dick is ready to walk out on all of them and go throw himself off a building, dear lord.

For a moment, it seems like Ollie’s about to strike Dick, but then some of the rage burning in his eyes dampens and he settles for knocking Dick’s hand aside, striding across the room to grab the medkit and take it over to Bruce.

Roy nods, and continues to kiss her, even as he walks up the stairs, stopping when he hears Cheshire’s question. He continues to walk up the stairs. “..that’s alright,” he says, to no one, and doesn’t stop until he reaches the topmost floor, where there is a small couch.

Mari is still staring straight ahead. “You need to go be with Lian,” she says quietly. Roy shakes his head, as he settles on the couch, with Mar’i in his arms. He reaches for his shirt’s sleeve, and rips it off, using it to clean her nose of blood. “She’s fine.”

Cheshire pops her joints back in and grasps the bars of her cell, calling out. “ROY! ROY! You need to be with Lian! GO! Go be with Lian, this instant!”

Bruce is about to push Oliver’s bow arm down when he moves and brings him the medkit. Friend. Partner.. He bares his teeth and moves away from Oliver, speaking to Zatanna. His voice is strangely soft. “Open it, and close it once I am inside.”

Dick inhales harshly through his teeth, running a hand through his hair. He’s slightly shaking in rage.

Mari turns her head, away from his hand. She can hear Cheshire downstairs screaming, and she’s sure Talia’s sitting there being pampered and pregnant and— “Kyle’s probably fed her something that’s made her stomach upset and she needs you to rub her tummy ‘til she’s asleep. She’s right. Better safe than sorry.”1:05

Roy looks down at at Mar’i, and cracks, of all things, a smile. “You’re comin’ with, right, Marmee?” Mari looks at Roy for a moment, then puts her face in her hands.

Zee storms to Cheshire’s cell, slamming a hand against the wall she built, “I’m entirely sure!” she screams, before wheeling back to Bruce, whispering harshly, “What?" Bruce holds the Medkit up, wordlessly.

Cheshire pulls back at the slam of the magic-users hand, but then returns to yelling towards the stairs. “She needs you, Roy! Lian needs you! Don’t leave her with him! He’ll hurt her, Roy! Roy!” Zee closes her eyes, trying to take a deep breath as she waves a hand nearby the door, letting it unlock with a sharp click. Bruce steps inside, and immediately goes to work on Talia: the arrow has gone through, and Bruce doesn’t bother to explain what needs to be done.

Zee turns her head to Cheshire’s cell, “Shut your goddamn mouth. Or I will personally seal it.” Talia’s cell door closes as soon as Bruce is inside, another click locking him in for now.

Cheshire hears the click and looks over sharply, watching Batman taking in a goddamn medical kit to the woman. She shakes her head in disbelief, staring at them all gathered like a fucking creche scene in front of Talia’s cell.

Talia looks up at Bruce and closes her eyes, nodding. She leans forward, and inhales, deeply, before exhaling. “Yes,” she whispers, quietly, and it’s all the signal he needs.

Ollie watches Bruce go in to tend to Talia and paces, back and forth and around, bow still in his hand.

Bruce flicks open a tool that looks like a set of wire cutters. He cuts the arrow at the head, and it takes considerable force, considering the material isn’t wood. He pulls the pieces, quickly, and sets about cleaning the wound, packing it tight as he wraps her shoulder in gauze.Bruce looks over his shoulder, at Dick, and nods once, a signal for him to come closer to the cell, where he is. Dick pauses in hauling out things that don’t need to be in the room. Anything is a weapon, so everything must go. He sets down a box and goes to Bruce, his lips pressed tightly together.

Roy kisses the tops of her hands, and then, the top of her head. “C’mon, say yes.. We’ll go pass out in the Batmobile.” He exhales, and looks around the stark room. “And it’ll shut her up, downstairs.”

Mari ‘s voice sounds miles away when she finally speaks. “Did you know?”

Roy frowns. “Know what?”

"That she was back."

Roy licks his lips. “Dick told me while you were.. in the hospital.” Mari exhales slowly. “Oh.”

Roy adds, “Not that she was.. back, but that he ‘ran into her’.”

Mari nods her head silently.Roy looks down at Mar’i, his frown growing. “Why?” Mari finally lifts her face from her hands, dragging them down the dark peach skin as she goes. “Because,” she begins, still not looking at him, “because if I had known she was around, I would’ve gotten her to take you and Lian away from all this bullshit.” Roy ‘s expression flattens out, falls into a terrifying level of.. indifference. The bright of his eyes dims a little and he looks towards the stairs, where Jade is no longer shouting.

Cheshire settles back in her cell, once she realizes it has no lock that she’d be able to pick. She keeps her eyes trained at the door on top of the stairs, ignoring Talia for now.

Zee rakes a hand through her hair, trying to catch Ollie’s eye with her wide ice blues. Ollie ‘s gaze flicks over Zee’s a few times, too preoccupied to catch, but finally on his thirty-sixth pace he holds eye contact with her. “You think I was wrong to do that?” he demands. Zee shakes her head, “No. No not at all.” she holds up a hand, cupping against the side of her head, “But the rest. The rest of it, Ollie.” she looks away, mouth open in almost terror, “I don’t even know who I’m trying to save now.”

Ollie ranges his path of pacing closer to Zatanna, enough to touch her rumpled dark hair before he moves away again. “Yourself, probably,” he says, but it’s not in a cruel way. He says it like it’s the only thing that makes sense. Zee looks close to vomiting at Ollie’s words, “Knowing my track record, I’d rather not.”

Bruce ‘s voice is low, and he speaks in Romani; Talia will not speak this language. She wouldn’t debase herself to understanding it. “Do you have any machines?” And with the current subject floating around, Bruce hopes that Dick understands what he means by machines. Dick frowns in confusion for a moment, then straightens as understanding dawns on him. “Yes,” he replies in the same, an unusual ferocity surrounding his consonants, anger soothed by his own language. “In storage, but I can bring them down.”

Bruce nods, and straightens, padding away from Talia—fully bandaged—his breath deepening into low, dangerous levels, as he moves towards the edge of the cell. He looks at Zatanna, at Oliver, darkly. Zee waves her hand, sounding another click from Talia’s door. Bruce shakes his head, and doesn’t move from where he is.

Kyle feeling not entirely too comfortable in the Manor, but he coaxes Lian to take himself, Poppy, Titus (who’s joined them) and Thor up to her room. Kyle settles in a chair and keeps an eye on her, letting her sleep with all the animals. He hums endless tu-rah-lu-rah-lu-rahs for them, and to keep himself awake as he keeps vigil.

Cheshire sleeps, or at least pretends to sleep.

Zee purses her lips and closes her hand, “Fine.” another click sounds and the door is locked once more. Ollie moves to the corresponding edge of the cell, looking at Bruce. Dick glances at Bruce and goes to fetch the equipment. “One minute.”

Mari glances at Roy, her own face falling when his takes that tone. She pulls her legs up on the couch, turning her entire body away from him, away from that expression she’s put on his face. “I’d do anything to keep you two safe. Even if it meant that I wouldn’t get to see you again. Pretty pathetic, huh.” She doesn’t even ask the third part as a question, because she feels like it’s already floating there, between them. Pathetic. Roy doesn’t move for a while, and when he does, it’s not to get Mar’i off of him, but to arrange them on Dick’s tiny loveseat. He curls behind her, wrapping a leg and arm around her body, and pulls her back against him. “..not pathetic.”

Mari doesn’t breathe as Roy rearranges them. Doesn’t dare to. “Don’t lie. It’s really pathetic, I know. You’re supposed to say that thing about the bones again. And then I’m supposed to remember that I love you so much it hurts to even blink and miss a second of you.” Mar’i wipes her nose on the back of her hand.


Roy chuckles, quietly, and presses his hand to her chest, pushing the material of his sleeve into her hand. He lowers his voice, to a whisper. “..or how about I tell you I’m gonna stitch myself to you, girl.” He kisses the side of her neck, lingering, and his voice is soft as rising dusk, lost amongst sand dunes. “..so you don’t try to get away from me again.”

Mari takes the cloth, pressing the edges it into her nostrils. It looks rather silly, but she doesn’t care. She pulls his arms around her, connecting them across her chest and kisses the junction of his wrists where a patch of his freckles bloom like little stars. “Like a quilt,” she murmurs, head still swimming. “Like one of your quilts.”

Mari falls asleep before she even realizes it.

Bruce ‘s eyes swim with some unnamed emotion, and he speaks, voice quiet but not soft. “Thank you.” He turns, and moves away from Zatanna, unable to watch her expression, and descends down the stairs again.

Ollie hrrms at Kate’s comment. “Probably true. So, we’ll find out in a minute for sure, Talia, but just in case — and I realize this isn’t your style at all, but bear with me — just in case you favour the method of less bodily intrusion, you wanna tell us if you’re preggo or not?” He licks his teeth at her, staring.

KSpenz is going to give Ollie’s patriarchal bullshit a good onceover someday but today is not that day.

Bruce moves with Zatanna, and watches as the woman prepares to transport them upstairs. He looks at Kate, at Oliver, watching them. :

Cheshire “I do love the ideas of having more babies in the family,” Cheshire smiles, interested in this conversation very much. :

Talia’s eyes darken and she bares her teeth at the mention of her father. She doesn’t speak, until Oliver asks the question, and then answers him, cleanly. “Yes.” :

"Yes, you wanna tell us, or yes you’re knocked up?"

Kate says, to no one in particular, “Can someone get back to me with why everyone seems to want to know this? Am I missing how it’s relevant? Or is it just relevant in being yet another way in which Ms. al Ghul here has more issues than National fucking Geographic?”

Ollie tilts his head until his neck cracks. “I guess it’s relevant to what exactly we do to her to get her to talk.”

Mar’i makes an ‘amen’ sister gesture, even though she’s outside the room and totally not distressed over the fall of Chatzy.

Talia’s doesn’t answer Oliver a second time and outright ignores Kate, her expression unaffected by what she says. She sits up straight when Bruce arrives, and as he approaches the cell, she murmurs to him: “Beloved.”

Bruce’s upper lip curls—and the vehemence in the expression makes Talia visibly blink—and he looks back at Zatanna, nodding his head, for her to cast the spell to take them upstairs.

Kate is now definitely going to have that fucking conversation with Ollie.

"Yes, hello, beloved!" Ollie echoes Talia, voice bouncing loud and brassy as he turns towards Bruce. "Did you get your little doohickey up and ticking for our guest here?"

Slapping him may be involved. Actually, she may slap him now, or put a gag on him for being a douchewaffle.

Dick trots downstairs to bring up the ultrasound, glancing in on them as he does. “It’s all clear.”

Mar’i does not make eye contact with Dick as he hauls the ultrasound down the hall and up stairs.

Bruce says nothing to Ollie, and noting Zatanna’s hesitation for a brief moment, speaks out loud. “Now, Zatanna.” In a flash, the cell is opened, and Bruce walks inside, wrapping both his hands around Talia’s wrists, and hauling her up and onto her feet. He takes her up the stairs, and to the empty apartment, with no incident.

Kate levels a long, dark glare at Ollie before getting up off the chair and pacing the far end of the room, away from the cells.

"I’m confused," Cheshire says, looking over at Manhunter, then Green Arrow. "All of this is just for a talk show paternity test? And here I thought you Leaguers were more concerned with…oh I don’t know…saving innocent people’s lives."

The moment Talia’s taken away Ollie seems to completely lose interest in her or what’s happening to her, and paces out to where Mar’i is with one glare spared in Cheshire’s direction. “Tell me,” he says to Mar’i, “do you know anything about interrogation techniques?”

"Welcome to the club," Kate hisses in response to Cheshire, between her teeth, wrenching her hair out of its ponytail and pulling it back up again.

"Oh," Chesh says quietly, flexing her claws. "So there /is/ an innocent life at stake, then? Is it the baby’s? Or someone…less important than Talia’s new child?"

Dick arrives with the ultra sound a moment after Bruce brings Talia up. He looks at them, but doesn’t say anything as he goes about plugging it in and setting it up.

Mar’i looks up at Ollie, half-glowering. “Are you asking if I’m good at conversation, manipulation, or torture?” She leans her chin on her knees. “Because in the Vega System, it’s all pretty much the same.”

"Well then, that’s exactly what I’m asking." He hunkers down to be more on a level with her. "And I’m also asking if you wouldn’t mind employing your Vega System techniques here, once Bruce gets done with Talia."

"That depends on your definition of important," says Kate. "I’m sure to someone like our dear friend Talia, there’s little import involved."

Mar’i twists her lips. “Yeah,” she murmurs, “if it’ll get your son back.”

Ollie nods, standing. “Atta girl,” he says, easily.

Bruce brings Talia to the bed, stripping it of the sheets in one deft swoop, and as Dick plugs the machine in, he lays the woman down. His actions are hard, rough, and it is enough to make Talia pause, pull back, when he reaches into belt and pulls a batarang, and sets it down against the nightstand. His hands pull at the seams of her dress, bunches the material up and around her chest, and he leaves no modicum of modesty for the woman: he doesn’t bother with a sheet, as he removes a capsule from his belt and pries it open with his teeth. He soothes it over her skin, and reaches for the wand of the ultrasound.

Talia watches all of this, silently, and wisely, remains so, even as Bruce begins, completes, ends his examination. He has turned the screen away from her eyes, but she knows from how his breathing changes, what he sees.

Or Ramsey wouldn’t have been used for…hell, Kate’s not even sure why they have him. Ransom, perhaps, but if ransom, they would have heard something by now.

Not for the first time, Kate wonders about the message she’s supposed to get from this all. If to Talia, Ramsey is just like Kate herself, a rather inferior stand-in, /replacement/, for the original.

Mar’i sighs and stands, stretching out her arms and legs. She glances into the room, towards Kate, Zee, and Cheshire, releasing a slow breath.

Dick stands back, silently watching Bruce perform the examination. It’s only once he’s sure Bruce is done that he speaks. “Do you want to question her up here, or are we taking her back down for that?”

"Downstairs."

Bruce rises up, takes the bunched sheet and cleans Talia’s stomach, tossing it onto the bed when he’s done. He’d deal with the clean up later. His grip is harder than it had been, before, when he hauls her up, and when he begins to drag her, bodily forward, something slippery oozes into her voice. Talia’s bare feet catch on the carpet, and she comes, softly: “..you aren’t—you won’t leave me to what they want to do, will you, Bruce?”

And it’s all it takes, to make Bruce whirl, the cape fluttering, and /roar/ at her: “/..you’ve brought whatever happens next down on your OWN HEAD!/” His hands crush the bones in her wrist, brings them together in a grinding roughness that makes the woman gasp in genuine pain. She grits her teeth, baring them, as Bruce hauls her, clean off her feet. “—and all I can guarantee you now, is that I will /get/ that boy back if it’s the last thing I do, Talia.” He is close enough now, perhaps, to kiss her.

Instead, he throws her back, against the door and speaks to Dick in a tight voice. “Take her.”

And if that’s true, perhaps, Kate thinks as she looks up from where she’s rested her head against the wall, that is an exploitable flaw in Talia’s perception. Because Ramsey, and Kate, have strengths, abilities, thoughts, of their own. They are not mere tabulae rasae to be used as such, or pawns—and there is a thud from upstairs that makes her start, out of her reverie.

"Looks like showtime, Mar’i." Ollie leans against the wall under the stairway, arms folded, waiting for Talia to be brought down.

Dick nods, wrapping an arm around her to hold her wrists together, leaving his other arm free. Without a word to Bruce, he escorts her back down stairs.

When he’s sure they’re out of earshot of Bruce, Dick whispers to her, “You know you’ve lost him. You had to have known it already.”

Talia says nothing to Dick, as she moves with him, but there is a visible strain on her features, now.

Mar’i rubs a hand over her face briefly, nodding. When she removes it, like a painter’s brush across her bright skin, the features are sharper, impassive.

Bruce stalks, down the hallway, down the stairs, back to where the cells are, and as if he knew—as if he knows—he looks to Oliver. “Monitor her vitals while you question her. If they drop, stop. Wait until they rise again.”

He moves over to a small table, and opens his gauntlet, connecting to the computer mainframe. He moves away from all of them, and spans his fingers over the keypad, his mood sharp and dark.

Kate isn’t sure she has the stomach for this, partially because of what it is, but partially because she’s fairly certain it will accomplish little besides… “She’ll lie,” she says, quietly.

Ollie pushes off from the wall, following Dick as he takes Talia back to her cell. “That’s the thing, Kate,” he says, almost absently. “That’s the starting position. Everybody lies.”

Talia looks up at them, smoothing down the strand of visible tension that paints her features, and looks at Cheshire, speaking to her, in Vietnamese, when they are close enough. “I never meant for your girl to be hurt. I have no reason for it.”

Reaching forward, Ollie slaps the side of Talia’s head. The sound is loud and echoes, the way his voice imitating her “beloved” had echoed earlier. “Eyes front, princess.”

Cheshire is learning against the bars of the cell arms folded as she watches with growing interest. She smile is pleased, but she’s somewhat uninterested in all of the drama. “Don’t suck up to me now,” she speaks in English. “Just tell them what they need to know.” She eyes Mar’i for a moment, then continues. “You can take a nice swin in your father’s Lazarus Pit afterwards.”

Bruce inhales, sends a message, to Diana. [ENCRYPTED TEXT] Did you ever find the creature that attacked the Watchtower?

Mar’i tilts her head at the slap, eyes flickering down when Cheshire glances up at her. She uses the toe of her boot to drag a chair into place, sitting down in it quietly.

Diana doesn’t hesitate to message him back. [ENCRYPTED TEXT] It disappeared in the Arctic. And I haven’t picked up anything related since.

Kate is fighting warring feelings—part of her wonders if this won’t damn them all, this process. Part of her knows she needs to stay if she’s to have any credibility with herself—not to use others to get what she needs, because that is not her way—and to get back her son. The trail, she knows, has gone cold.

Talia takes the slap, her head snapping to the side, and looks back up at Oliver, eyes dark.

Bruce sends another message. [ENCRYPTED TEXT] And the other ones.. These attacks have all happened while you were present?

Diana replies, [ENCRYPTED TEXT] To my knowledge. Yes.

Ollie meets Talia’s look impassively. “It’s not me you have to worry about,” he says. “I’m just exploiting any opportunity I get to make things uncomfortable for you. Nightstar here, she’s the one who wants to ask you some questions.” He parks Talia in front of Mar’i, handling the woman firmly although not particularly roughly.

Dick moves to the back of the room, putting himself back together. Only once his full suit and mask are firmly in place again does he turn back, watching silently.

Nightstar watches Ollie shove Talia down into the chair, the corner of her mouth curling in slight disgust. «Men can be such pigs» she comments in Arabic.

Bruce stops, his fingers over the keyboard, his expression unreadable. A mask. Perfected and oiled to function without creaking. He types, [ENCRYPTED TEXT] Diana. I don’t know— Bruce stops, when Mar’i speaks in Arabic, says what she does. He doesn’t send his message.

Nightstar tilts her head slightly at Talia. «Wouldn’t you agree?»

Zee folds her arms, as she stands nearby Bruce, watching everything unfold with a knot in her stomach.

Talia looks up at Nightstar, and says nothing.

Kate notices Bruce stop typing. Her brow furrows a little under the mask and not for the first time she wants a Lantern ring.

Ollie puts one hand against the side of Talia’s head, where he’d slapped her. “Cooperate,” he says. “I think you already twigged to the fact that your Beloved doesn’t give a hot tinker’s piss about you. So you’re left in our tender mercies now.” His fingertips press against her soft skin.

Talia remains silent.

Kate, now that she thinks about it, is less bothered by the idea of doing this to Talia, and more bothered by the idea of Ollie playing bullshit king of bullshit. She’s not sure who the fuck he thinks it helps, besides a temporary balm on his fury. Also, she wonders what the fuck a hot tinker’s piss is, and if anyone has said that since .

«Always so busy thinking women are scared of their disgusting threats. That it’s the common thread to bring us down. Pigs.» Nightstar follows Ollie’s fingers with her eyes, watches how they squeeze to bruise. “I don’t need a bad cop right now, Green Arrow.”

Kate shifts, flashes a glare at Ollie to add counterpoint to Nightstar’s comment. /He asked her to do the work, let her fucking work,/ it says.

Ollie eases up, steps back. “Suit yourself,” he shrugs, and pats Talia’s head before walking to the other side of the room, away from the rest of them.

Bruce moves to a table, and removes his gauntlet, removing a set of screwdrivers from his utility belt. He opens it the case, and then, effectively, his gauntlet, rearranging a few of the wires, before he snaps it closed. He uplinks to the computer, again, and pulls up the sound waves he had been working on, before they left.

Nightstar turns her gaze back to Talia, chin still lifted. «My mother spent a decade of her life being abused by pigs. And when it was all said and done, the only thing they broke was her /control/.»

Talia watches how Ollie defers to Nightstar, listens to the woman, and only after a long moment of her own silence does she speak. «Your mother.»

Bruce looks up, at Dick. “Nightwing.” His voice is low, and his tone even: it sounds nearly mechanical. “You were present for both attacks: the one on the Watchtower, as well as the one in Queen Tower.”

Kate settles, and though she’s watching Nightstar and Talia, she glances at Bruce and Dick, wondering what has Bruce’s attention.

«And that’s what it is. Why he—» Nightstar motions her head towards Green Arrow. «That’s why he thinks he’s going to be the one to break you. Why he thinks he understands you better than any of the rest of us.»

Dick straightens immediately, his body language betraying how glad he is to look away from what’s happening with Talia and Mar’i. “Correct.”

"Describe what happened to me, in both instances, in brief. A summary," he clarifies, for the younger man, his brow knit.

Ollie arranges himself so from where Talia and Mar’i are, it looks like he’s leaning against the wall again, biding his time. Which isn’t all untrue. It’s just he’s also got his eyes closed, mouth set in a straight, thin line from tension and worry, the side of his head pressed against the wall like it’s the only thing holding him upright.

«Your mother,» Talia repeats, and her voice curls, in pitch. «..your mother, who taught you this language?»

Nightstar smiles.

«No,» Talia finishes for her, the corners of her mouth turning up. «No, girl. Because you speak this language unlike you should..» She leans forward, and murmurs, softly. «You speak this language like an /al Ghul./» Her eyes sharpen.

Nightstar just keeps smiling. «That’s because I /am/ an al Ghul. Do you know who I am?»

To be honest, Kate is partially somewhere else, and has been since she wasn’t able to pull up Ramsey’s planetary RFID tracker on the Manor computers, despite trying to drag herself fully back into reality. The fact that she knows and recognizes the feeling, having been there before, does nothing to ease it. The fact that she feels as alone as she did the last time does nothing for it either.

Bruce looks, to Mar’i and Talia, at their conversation. His eyes flicker to Kate, linger on the woman’s face, and then back to the two women, before he looks back to Dick.

Dick blinks, but nods, licking his lips as he thinks back to the attacks. “The Watchtower was attacked my some sort of fiery salamander creature. It called for Androktones and when Wonder Woman appeared, it asked for the cup bearer. We blasted it out and it was lost somewhere in the Antarctic, I think.

"The spider creatures came from that mold that got you. When they attacked, they kept making shrill sounds until someone spoke Tamaranean. They yelled for ‘the Maenad to sing for them’. We froze them solid and left them in cryo."

Bruce looks over at Nightwing, and rises to his full height, his chest rising and falling evenly as he breathes. “Did the salamander /aim/ for the Antarctic?”

Talia leans forward, her eyes brightening and she settles her hands against her belly, as she asks. «Who are you, girl?» She leans back against the chair she is seated in.

"I don’t know. I was drifting off in space at the time, but Kyle was following it. He’d know better."

Bruce sends a message, immediately to Kyle. [ENCRYPTED TEXT] When you were in pursuit of the salamander, was it aimless or did it know where it was going?

With no further reply from Bruce, Diana texts, [ENCRYPTED TEXT] I’m assuming you have some sort of a theory about all this.

Nightstar leans back, casually, draping her wrists on the armrests. «Oh come now, Talia.» She smiles. «You’re not even going to tell me a lie first about where he is?»

By this point Ollie has fallen into a half-doze, propped up against the wall.

Zee glances over to Ollie, watching his shoulders slump into a slight relax as he dozes off. She shakes her head, but doesn’t move to wake him. It’s probably better to have him quiet for a little while longer, she thinks.

Kyle is a Constable traveling in a magic phone booth with Inspector LianSpaceTime. He pauses his eggregious British accent to reply [Ring Txt] I put it in Antarctica to cool it down. [Ring Txt] Any news on where Ramsey is?

Kate is still watching, like a hawk, attention shifting between reading faces—Talia and Nightstar, Bruce and Dick.

He doesn’t expect a response, but he asks anyway.

The Child slips under Dream’s robes, and kisses each of Ollie’s eyelids, in turn. At the press of each eyelid, an image of Ramsey, the pomegranate tree, the sliver of light, appears in Oliver’s mind.

Bruce replies to Kyle, first. [ENCRYPTED TEXT] Where is it now?

[Ring Txt] It originated from inside the earth. Pure magma.

The images flare into Ollie’s brain, not … /bright/ exactly, but so vivid and sharp-clear that he feels a lurch of nausea and retches, suddenly, bumping heavily against the wall and slapping his hand against it to steady himself. For a moment he can’t see anything else but Ramsey’s mournful brown eyes, so much like Kate’s, and the crimson blots strung on the branches of the pomegranate tree.

Bruce straightens, at reading the text message, and sends off a quick reply to Diana. [ENCRYPTED TEXT] I’m sending you coordinates to where we are. Blüdhaven. Meet me now.

He looks over at Oliver when the man retches, starts on the wall. He doesn’t call his name, but watches him.

Zee catches Ollie’s jerk awake, brow raised and eyes wide. Watching.

Talia looks up, at Mar’i, and explains, simply. «He has been claimed.» She shrugs a shoulder, and leans back, looking away from them all, and at Oliver, at Bruce. Then, finally at Kate. «..perhaps you understand then, girl, why I have done what I have done.»

Huffing, Ollie feels his way along the wall to the corner and sits down heavily, eyes wide open, waiting for the blazing clarity of the image to end and his regular sight to come back. He coughs, throat burning from the bile spurting up into his mouth.

Bruce speaks, his voice stripped of emotion. “Green Arrow.”

"A tree," Ollie rasps, voice pitted with acid. "There’s a tree and a crack to let the light through. Silver and ruby and eating the seeds, blood red seeds." He coughs again. "It’s a pomegranate tree. Where Ramsey is."

Diana is suited up and off within minutes of Bruce’s call. She sends off [ENCRYPTED TEXT] Here. Upon her arrival , landing not far outside the location given.

Ollie leans to the side and spits a mouthful of acrid saliva onto the floor.

Nightstar curls a single nail against the wooden armrest, letting it scrape against the chipping lacquer. Her gaze doesn’t leave Talia, not even when Ollie stumbles in the back. «I understand. So you’ve made a deal. You’ve been making quite a few of those lately.» She nods her head towards Cheshire, still watching the room quietly. «Care to share who he’s been claimed by, or should I go ahead and make my offer?»

Bruce’s eyes sharpen, at what Oliver says, and when his comm buzzes, with the message from Diana, he looks to Zatanna. His breathing is even, but there is a tightness in his voice. “You and Nightwing both came to the same conclusion, you both—” He stops, and shakes his head looking at Oliver, and he repeats. “A pomegranate tree, Green Arrow, you’re sure?”

Talia looks up at Mar’i, and her mouth splits in a grin. “Make your offer,” she says in English.

Zee’s throat tightens at Bruce’s words, casting a nervous glance to Dick. It was a conclusion they’d jumped to, yes, but not one she’d particularly wanted to be true. “Pomegranate…” she mouths, shaking her head.

Dick starts suddenly. “Wasn’t that the fruit Persephone ate?”

Nodding, Ollie gets back to his feet, although he keeps his fingertips against the wall. “I’m sure,” he answers in Bruce’s general direction, sounding steadier. “It’s a pomegranate tree.”

Nightstar smiles as well, sharp little canine teeth glinting in the light. Her fingers splay lightly on the armrest, nails digging in. She switches to English as well. “You tell us what the deal was, and I won’t tell your father about all those lovely little places you’ve been keeping a secret from him. All those pits, all those houses of riches and masters willing to bend the knee for you. The one’s you’re going to use to keep Damian in power when he comes of age. You tell me about the deal and I—” Nightstar places one hand delicately on her chest, “—I won’t tear every last shred of your power apart. Because unlike the pigs, I know /exactly/ where you’re coming from. And I know that if Ra’s gets wind of it now, before you’re ready…” Nightstar makes a soft sucking sound with her lips, like a cringing ‘ooh’.

It is something to behold, and Talia doesn’t even notice Kate’s eyes on her—how the other woman turns to take in the way emotion plays across her face—because she is too enraptured in what Mar’i says. The color drips from her face, leaves her pale and she jerks forward in the chair, her voice a hiss of fury and anger. “..stupid whore, you don’t understand what you threaten me with.”

Bruce sends the message, to Wonder Woman, ([ENCRYPTED TEXT] We’re in the basement. ) and moves, towards Mar’i, towards Talia, looking down at her. His voice is low, dark but disbelieving. “What did you do, Talia?”

Nightstar arches her back in the chair, that smile still playing on her lips. “And you don’t know who’s family you’ve chosen to endanger repeatedly.” She leans forward, dark hair spilling forward in a perfect mirror of Talia’s. “Because I am /you/, Talia al Ghul. When you grow old and feeble, your son will lock you away from the world, from your precious Lazarus Pits. Because Damian, because /Ibn/ is a pig just like the rest of them. So you tell me who you made the deal with, Talia al Ghul, and I will make sure your father, and your son, do not leave you powerless and aged.”

Ollie cranes forward to hear what’s going on more clearly, still loathe to leave the wall while his vision starts to slowly, slowly fizzle back in.

Talia does not look up at Bruce, the dark of her eyes, the gray that matches her son’s—pitch and hue and tone—stormy and dark, and she leans forward, towards Mar’i. «Who /are/ you, girl?»

Diana lets herself in, jogging down the basement stairs, “Here.”

Bruce moves, swiftly, from Talia’s side, from Mar’i, and moves back towards the room where Diana appears. “The drugs that have been appearing, in particular the Tea that Green Arrow and Manhunter secured.. There was an element in the chemical component that the Computer couldn’t decipher.” He looks back at Ollie, for confirmation.

He doesn’t get an answer, since Ollie’s frowning at the ground and blinking over and over.

"Green Arrow," Bruce says sharply.

«I am your salvation, Talia.» Nightstar gently drills her fingernail into the armrest, all the while smiling. The lacquer curdles and twists, leaving an acidic smell in its wake as she pushes her finger straight through the wood, burning a hole clean through it. «I am the only person in this room who will follow through on any threat they make. And I am the only person who is perfectly content to let you walk out of our lives under the right conditions.»

"Whu—" Ollie lifts his head, then backtracks a little. "Oh. Right, yeah, there was a part of the Tea that never resolved in the analysis, even cross-referenced against every bit of info that was in there."

"Which isn’t—I won’t say impossible—" But it’s obvious that Bruce /wants/ to say it’s impossible. He looks at Nightwing, Zatanna, Manhunter, Wonder Woman. "—but when I separated the molecules in the Computer’s simulator, an converted them into a wave equation using the ethylene bonds as Lamé parameters, they became—"

Manhunter’s voice, cuts across the explosition, sharply, demanding that he get to the point and he does, settling his hands on the table in front of him, removing his gauntlet.

”..they became sound waves.” He pulls the information up, and taps the modified gauntlet. The noise that pushes out of the small computer fills the room. The supersonic screaming, much like Black Canary’s, and perfectly identical to the spiders that had attacked in Queen Towers.

Dick winces, shaking his head against the sound. “And?”

Diana shakes her head at the sound, teeth gritted firmly, “Sound waves?”

"Sound waves with an effect on cognitive function?" Ollie croaks from his corner.

"Like, mind control?"

Bruce shuts off the sound, and taps the computer again, his bare arm twisting as he punches in a series of commands. He looks over at Ollie—his gaze lingers, for a moment—and then Dick. “Yes.”

Bruce looks at Diana, then, Zatanna. “The drugs are /literally/ infused with the sound wave made material, ingestible..” He remembers Mar’i’s statement, and then settles his gaze on Diana.

This gets Ollie galvanized enough to move away from the wall a few steps. “How strong is the effect? Does a person have to be dosed multiple times, or does it kick in from the first time?”

He knows there’s a strong possibility Bruce won’t have any ready answers — the fact that he’s been able to tease out this bizzare element to Tea is impressive enough — but Ollie has to ask. All he can think of is how Kate had looked, how panicked, when she was under the influence of the drug.
"First time." Bruce shakes his head. "There’s no need for a second dosage, what with how it’s composed." He looks down at his gauntlet, and speaks. "There are very few beings we’ve ever encountered, able infuse /will/ into an ingestible substance."

Bruce looks up, at Diana.

Diana folds her arms across her chest, “Circe.”

Bruce nods, and exhales, bringing a hand to curl around his chest. His gaze softens, goes unfocused. “Talia orchestrated Santa Prisca. Took Lian and—” Bruce exhales. “—Damian there. Why.” He looks around at the group.

Dick looks between them. “And that’s why they keep asking about Greek things? Because of Circe?”

"Maybe whatever deal she was trying to make, whatever trade, she tried to use them first." Ollie digs the heels of his hands into his eyes. "Maybe Ramsey was the backup. I mean, how would she have even /known/ him?"

Bruce shakes his head. “This has nothing to do with Ramsey,” he states, bluntly. “He’s nothing but a—” He stops himself, noticing the tightness in Manhunter’s jaw. He makes a low, hungry noise and states out loud. “There’s something that we’re missing. Something that I—” He grits his teeth, unable to bring himself to say it. He moves away from the table, hands opening and closing, flexing. It was too warm, suddenly, and Bruce longed for the depth and solitude of the Cave, all to aware of the presence that was missing from the group; Diana was there, her gaze tempering Bruce’s own spirit, but..

Start at the beginning, Bruce.

Take a breath, and start at the beginning.

"The drugs."

"Tea," Bruce begins, looking around at the group: they were fractured, less in numbers and rank than they had been in years prior, but looking around at their faces, it was impossible to stop himself from /believing/ in them. In trusting them.

"Tea and Freeze and Double Smile," Ollie elaborates. "Or are you saying that this latest one isn’t part of the series?"

"The case in Central City—the overdoses," Bruce adds. "Abra Kadabra."

Dick crosses his arms, leaning into one hip as he listens. “All Gotham-esque names, right.”

"How were they being transported?"

"Some of ‘em were being made locally," Ollie says. "In Coast and Star. Some of ‘em moved by boat, like in Gotham." He scratches his bare chin. "Especially in the early days with Double Smile, there were a few formulations of the drug they worked through."

Bruce lowers his gaze, looking nowhere as he thinks. “But a large portion of them presented with meta-like powers in the users, but also in overdose cases. Travelled in by boat. Flooded the hospitals, left them—” Bruce stops, his head turning to the side, with an audible snap, and he brings up the gauntlet, fingers flying across keys. He brings up each of the drugs, the tiny image projector on the computer shooting the sugar-cube-toothpick image of the chemical composition into the air before them. It moves too slow for Bruce and he grits his teeth. “Tea. Freeze. Double Smile,” Bruce says, and looks at them, as they appear. “Abra Kadabra and—” He looks up, and over at Nightwing. “Water.”

Bruce looks at Green Arrow. “The attack in Seattle, Undine Research—the city in Kasnia where the spill happened—what had Queen Industries been working on?”

Dick blinks. “Water? The water prevents the overdose, slowing it down? That would make sense for the metas.” He remembers, suddenly, the snake-creature from the mall as it hit the fountain, as it slowly disappeared from his sight. He never saw what Bruce did, only its shrinking and disappearance. “Water… reverses it?”

"It’s soluble through water, all of the drugs—" His gaze narrows, and sharpens, and Bruce’s breath levels out.

Ollie opens his eyes wide at Bruce, pleased to find that it seems to clear his vision more rapidly. “Sustainable potable water,” he says. “And Star and Coast and San Fran were all major bases for the drugs either being made or dealt.”

"You don’t think it’s a drugs-in-the-municipal-water supply type of scheme, do you? Or something more far-flung than that?"

"Drugs in the bottled water supply? Sold at your nearest -?"

Bruce doesn’t discount any of these theories, but falls silent again, a step missing. A connection lost.

Diana frowns, taking all the information in slowly, processing it quietly as the other discuss their theories out loud.

"Waitaminute." Ollie points at Bruce. "There’s a common thread even beyond Talia or the kids here. There was that fuckface Samuel — he was working for me at Undine, and he was at Santa Prisca helping hold the kids, and he bit it at the Ambassador Hotel gala." He considers for a moment and adds, "Well, I guess I’m the common thread there too."

Dick frowns. “But how does Talia tie in with him except for Santa Prisca and the gala? Was she funding the group at Undine?”

Bruce’s gaze narrows even further. “In Santa Prisca, two metas were released, and one of them assisted in the breakout at Arkham, letting the Mad Hatter free.” He looks at Dick. “And she—” He turns, and looks at Talia, his jaw clenching tight.

"I thought they were a run of the mill ecoterrorist cell, I’ve had problems with those kinds of kooks before …" Ollie halts as he realizes something. "The al Ghuls have ecoterrorism in the blood, don’t they."

Bruce looks at Oliver, sidelong, and remembers Talia’s terror at Mar’i’s mention of Ra’s becoming aware. He looks at the woman, and states. “..you subverted one of his groups.”

Talia, still lashed to the chair, remains motionless. Bruce steps forward. “You had the People’s Front orchestrate the poisoning in the village to draw attention away from what was being done by Queen Industries..” He takes another step.

Talia turns her face up, to look at Bruce, and says nothing. She doesn’t even breathe.

"To what?" His eyes narrow, and his teeth bare, and he leans in close, watching her. "/Why?/"

Dick shakes his head, scoffing. “We’re just in the middle of a family blood feud.”

"It can’t /all/ have been in aid of you luring back your Beloved." Ollie moves closer, behind Bruce. "Or even trying to bear him another child."

Talia’s eyes flicker when Dick says ‘blood feud’ and Bruce /roars/, both hands slamming down on her arms, and he picks her up from the chair, kicking it across the floor and sends it crashing into the wall.

"TELL ME." His voice booms, and every droplet of rage he had been tampering comes bubbling up, the violence in his actions visible in the stretch and pulse of sinew, counterpoints of muscle along his back, rippling under the armor. He shakes her, his hands tightening over her skin again.

Dick jumps, but doesn’t move any closer, not about to get in the way of an angry Bat.

Ollie doesn’t move to intervene either, but he touches the back of Bruce’s elbow, once.

"It’s not that—not all this—you wouldn’t RISK—you’re not STUPID enough to drag all of us into this just to get back at him, Talia—" Bruce’s voice /seethes/ and he pushes his thumbs into pressure points at the hinges of her shoulders—and the one that the arrow had lanced, makes Talia cry out.

"Hey, ease up," Ollie says then. "Maybe she /is/ that stupid, B."

And Talia’s eyes flash down at Ollie, her mouth pulled into a grimace, and she exhales, in a hiss: “—not /my/ blood feud.”

Bruce releases her, and she drops, unaided, to the floor, with a heavy gasp.

Dick breathes out a small sigh of relief he hadn’t realized he was holding, and, like a good Robin, asks the obvious. “Then whose?”

Bruce moves away from, Talia, away from Dick, away from all of them. There is violence brimming in him, thrumming in his veins and he pushes it away, and down, his mind turning to Ramsey, what’s at stake. Manhunter has left the room, unable to stand by and Bruce feels her absence upon him like a mantle, heavy and darker than the one he wears now. The boy. Why take the boy, Ramsey, what could she stand to gain from— The realization hits him hard, and heavy, and he exhales. “Diana,” Bruce mumbles, his skin going pallid.

Diana swallows, a hand resting loosely on her hip, “Yes?” she responds, her voice feeling tight in her throat.

Looking over at Diana, Ollie makes a whirling motion in the air with his hand, twirling an invisible rope.

For all his training, the strain overwhelms him, and the moment before them, it quickly becomes a rare one: Bruce’s expression falters, his gaze no longer narrows. “Do you know if the use of your lasso will affect..” And Bruce inhales, just the tiniest bit. “..her child?”

That word makes Ollie freeze. He closes his eyes and turns away from the group, going over to the stairway to collect himself.

Her fingers trail against the lasso held at her hip, the golden strands catching in the light with a flash. She snaps to attention at the mention of /child/ but her expression remains stoney and set, “I don’t believe so. No.” she unfurls the lasso, the coil running against her fingers as it stretches out. She moves to Talia’s cell, her grip tightening.

Nightstar stands, giving Diana room to move into the cell as she moves out of it, away from Talia. She moves towards Ollie, quietly placing a hand on the curve of his archer’s shoulders.

Talia looks up, from where she has crumpled, and she shakes her head. “You can’t know what it will or will not do.”

Ollie turns and grabs Mar’i up in a hug, burying his face against the side of her neck, that thick braid of vibrant purple hair. He squeezes her hard and it’s a relief, how tall she is, how strong, because he can pour all of his frustration and sorrow and hurt into the hug and not hold back. One of his hands curls into Mar’i’s shoulderblade, digging slightly below that wing of bone as Ollie bites down on the anguished gasp that tries to work its way out of his throat. It stays trapped in there instead, mangled and crushed.

Dick cocks his head. “Can’t see how truth can hurt anyone.”

Diana crouches close to Talia, replying roughly, “I know enough.”

Talia speaks, voice even. “Increases in hormone levels, spiking with the use of—” She digs her heels in, backs away. Her voice pitches then, and there is /truth/ in her emotion, how she pushes back from Diana. “—arousal of the autonomic nervous system, you /can’t/.”

Diana tilts her chin up, her fingers relaxing and tensing like a rhythm against her lasso, “Then /cooperate/.”

Dick moves away, to the back of the room, and mutters to Zee, “Maybe it’s the demon in her.”

Mar’i wraps her arms up and over the wide splay of bone and muscle that makes Ollie good at what he does. She’s no longer straight-faced, and this is a thing she’s figured out how to do well—how to help archers take their fingers off that permanent bowstring they’re constantly pulling taut. She presses one hand into the space between Ollie’s moppy blonde hair and the heavy first bone of his spine, gently rubbing as he shivers. The other she wraps all the way around, fingertips resting at the junction of the back of his neck where it meets his torso. Mar’i rests there for a moment, before she hums the chorus from that old Bob Marley song Roy’s always singing when any of their small family is hurt or sad.

Zee chews at the side of her cheek, trying to hold back a smirk, “Probably.”

It’s indicative of how overwrought Ollie is at the moment — in mind, in body and spirit — that the quiet, sweet notes of music soothe him before he consciously realizes what Mar’i’s doing. He starts to lift his head from her shoulder to look at her, but aborts the movement halfway and just stays where they are, arms wrapped around each other. She smells familiar, already, the way that Lian and Roy smell; this is why Ollie’s already started including Mar’i in his mental reckonings when he thinks about ‘the kids’, this smell and sense of home. “Gonna be all right,” Ollie murmurs, eventually, the words running diagonally to their corresponding phrase of music.

But Bruce, watching all of this unfold, feeling the weight of Clark, gone, Kate, gone, Ramsey, /gone/, feels horror growing in his chest at what Talia says. At what she /knows/, and suddenly, he thinks back to that place, back to the summer, and holding the creature that had brought such small comfort into their lives, as the blood drained out of it, and into the fresh snow. Bruce remembers how he’d stayed, how Ollie had gone after the fleeing Damian, and it all makes sense, what Talia had known, long before Bruce himself had. He looks at Mar’i, at Ollie, Zatanna, Cheshire and Diana, and after all of them, his gaze settles on Dick.

Firstborn.

"You sought to get pregnant, because you knew I wouldn’t let them harm you," Bruce states, and it is bare, private thought he speaks outloud.

Bruce takes a step forward, then another, until he is by Diana, standing next to her, and looking down at the woman. Talia. “..I wouldn’t let them harm your child,” he clarifies.

Dick locks eyes with Bruce when his gaze settles on him, and when it turns back to Talia, so does Dick’s. Not for the first time, but the most strong in recent memory, Dick is very glad that they got Damian away from her, that she can’t find him. That thought mixed with everything else starts a cold rage pooling in his stomach, not loud and explosive like the night before; it’s like ice. He tears his gaze away from Talia and glares at the wall just past Bruce’s shoulder.

Diana turns her gaze to Bruce, looking up at him with her lasso still held tight. She looks for direction, as he seemingly unravels Talia’s plot for protection.

"And when you knew me last, Talia.." He reaches out, and brushes back a strand of hair from her face, unable to stop himself. He looks at the color it, so unlike Kate’s, and yet, he can’t help but feel the ghost memories of his hand tangling in Kate’s hair. Of that same color, mirrored in Ramsey’s own dark, tousled head.

He thinks on Ramsey, on Damian, on their moments of peace, and of Kate, and Oliver, of bread in each of their hands. He thinks on Cachement, on the brutality of the winter that’s upon them. Bruce pulls his hand back. “When you knew me last, Talia, you would have been correct.” He sees the widening of her eyes, meets them with the narrowing of his own and he looks back at Dick, at Mar’i. At Oliver. Bruce settles his gaze on Diana, and as he rises, nods, locks eyes with his closest friend, compatriot. And settles his fingers against her shoulder.

"We’ll make this quick."

Mar’i nods her head, tucking her cheek against the side of Ollie’s hair like he’s some small child looking to her for comfort. “Everything,” she confirms, placing a soft kiss against the flaxen locks. “Learned that from a man who learned it from his /father/.” She doesn’t clarify if she means the song, or the hope, the release she’s trying to break across the choppy water of everything’s that happened. Mar’i glances up, sees Bruce and Diana coming towards Talia, that glitter of veritus gold, and tucks Ollie a little more against her shoulder.

Diana nods, flicking out the lasso, catching on Talia’s wrists. She tightens the loop with a guild motion, winding the remaining coil about her knuckles. “You’re compelled to tell the truth.” she reminds Talia, her voice stern, almost like a school teacher “Now. Have you had any involvement with the disappearance of Ramsey Robinson?”

Talia blinks. “Yes.”

In a moment, Ollie knows he needs to suck it up and deal with what’s happening. In a moment he needs to get back to the task at hand, find his child, be at Kate’s side when she brings wrath down on those who took him. In a moment, in a moment. Not just yet, though. In this moment he lets himself be held and comforted, kept separate from the stark reality of Talia and the second life within her. What that means for them all. Ollie hangs on to Mar’i one tiny slip of time longer, and the generosity of her gesture doesn’t escape him; the girl who’s displaced in time and space, letting him into her space, giving him her time.

Taking a breath, Ollie straightens up, smooths Mar’i’s hair back into place and kisses her cheek. “I could stand to learn a few things from /you/,” he says, quietly but impassioned. Then he goes back over to where Diana has deployed her lariat, and stands next to Bruce. Ollie lets his knuckles brush against the side of Bruce’s gauntlet as he watches.

Bruce allows his pinky—just his pinky—to curl against the top of Ollie’s ring-finger knuckle.

Diana grits her teeth, “Do you know Ramsey Robinson’s current location?”

Talia blinks. “Yes.”

Bruce leans forward, suddenly, his stance shifting, defensively.

Diana’s hand tightens against the lasso, “Tell me Ramsey Robinson’s current location.”

"Hell."

Dick’s eyes widen and he looks at Zee.

Mar’i smiles lightly, letting Ollie go back forward, towards his own personal Bob Marley song. But almost instantly it falls at Talia’s words, and she looks to Bruce, to Dick, to Ollie and Zee, as if one of them is going to magically produce what’s needed to get Ramsey back.

Ollie draws in a breath so sudden and hard that it almost starts him coughing again. Instead he clenches his fists, moving in closer, rage twisting his mouth. “You miserable fucking /bitch/!”

Zee shakes her head, they weren’t supposed to be right. It was a shot in the dark. A complete and total guess on a whim. Trying to get Bruce to see that there were other locations for Ramsey to be outside of the Earth. He wasn’t supposed to be there. Should NEVER have been brought there. She drags a hand through her hair trying to remember anything and everything she could use to bring the boy back.

Bruce reaches out and takes Ollie’s wrist, hauling him back, an arm moving in a bar across his chest. “Green Arrow!” He hisses, into his ear. “We don’t have the /time!/”

Diana holds out her free arm, a momentary block for Ollie, “Is Ramsey Robinson alive?”

Talia blinks.

Diana pulls sharply on the lasso, “Is Ramsey Robinson currently alive?” she shouts.

Talia blinks. “I don’t know.”

Bruce feels his heart plummet, and he tightens his arm around Ollie, and looks around, his gaze hard, for Kate. Not here. Upstairs. Not here. Not listening to—He looks at Dick, eyes plaintive as he struggles to hold onto Ollie.

Straining against Bruce’s arm, Ollie makes a wild yowling noise of utter fury, lunging against the restraint as if he’s not even aware he’s being held back.

Diana remains resilient, deep breaths filling her as she continues questioning, “Who took Ramsey Robinson to Hell?”

Talia blinks. “He stole the pomegranate from Hades’ tree, and used the power he had left to bring it to the boy. The boy ate the seeds.”

"Was it that motherwhelping bastard toady of yours? That Samuel?" Ollie’s roaring, his voice shredding on every word. "Is he still doing your fucking bidding while he’s burning in HELL?"

Talia does not answer him. She looks at Diana.

Diana asks lowly, “What is your involvement with Hades? Did you make a deal with him?”

Talia exhales. “I did not make the deal with Hades.”

Mar’i immediately looks at Zee, remembering something. “Zach once said magic is easier on non-animate objects. He was bitching about his powers or something, I don’t remember exactly. But if we can’t get to Hell, could we bring the pomegranate here?”

Zee frowns, “Non-animate objects are the only thing his magic applies to. But he’s right. They’re easier, more malleable.” she taps her fingers against her lips, “If I can’t get us into Hell, the pomegranate is probably the best bet to get in.”

Diana pulls against the lasso again, agitated with Talia’s answers, “Then how do you know Ramsey Robinson’s fate?”

Talia blinks. “I made the deal with Dionysus.”

Diana frowns, “What is the deal you made with Dionysus?”

Dick takes a step away from Mar’i and Zee, listening closely to Talia and Diana. “What the hell would Dionysus want with anyone?” he mutters to himself.

"WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU!" Ollie screams. It’s not helpful in the least, but it’s his primary thought at the moment.

Talia hesitates, and pain rips across her features. “To deliver the heart of Ariadne to him, so he may resurrect her.”

Bruce keeps his arms against Ollie, and pulls him back, and in a maddening moment, presses his mouth to the archer’s ear. “..let them finish, Ollie.” His arm, that had been a bar across the blond’s chest, shifts, and he presses his hand over his sternum. He looks to Diana, and shakes his head, sharply. “Ask her to explain what she means.” It doesn’t make sense.

Diana nods, “Why did you make this deal with Dionysus?”

Despite Bruce’s shift in physicality doing what the detective had intended, getting Ollie down somewhat from the peak of his anger and high-running nerves, Ollie can’t stop moving and pushing forward, like a big dog straining against his leash. He doesn’t interrupt the interrogation any further, though, the blood pounding in his head still but a small amount of rational control starting to thread through it.

Talia hesitates, and pain rips across her features. “The hero Fury ripped her.. Dionysus’ lover Adriadne—ripped her heart from her body during a battle on Themyscira. When I awoke the avatar of the god in Kasnia, I lied and told him that she kept it, and gave it to her lover, the man known to you all as Iron Munro.” Talia exhales. “I told him that the power of his lover’s heart flowed through his family’s veins, and I would help bring her back to him, at a cost.”

Bruce stares at Talia, and his arm goes slack on Oliver’s body.

Talia continues: “..We infused the drug with his rage, his power, and used the water purification technology to manufacture each one, to harness and capture human energy. Fueling his power. Making him stronger.”

Mar’i glances at Cheshire out of the corner of her eye, silently glad it isn’t her behind all this.

"Kate’s grandfather?" Ollie stops struggling as Bruce’s arm lets up its tension. "Jesus christ. You’re…" his face contorts in disgust as Talia explains how she’s used Ollie himself, the clean water initiative he’s taken so much pride in, to help forward her plan to sacrifice Ramsey.

Bruce looks at Diana. “Do you know of this battle, Wonder Woman?”

Diana nods, “Yes.”

Bruce looks to Talia, and now, /he/ is the one that moves forward, towards Talia, his hand moving down to tight in the front of her dress. “How do we save him?”

Talia blinks, looks up at Bruce.

Diana echoes Bruce’s question, adding specificity, “How can we rescue Ramsey Robinson?”

Talia resists, and cries out, suddenly.

Bruce looks at Diana, releasing Talia, once again.

Diana loosens her lasso against Talia’s wrists, “That’s likely all I can gather from her for now.”

"No." Ollie pushes next to Bruce, almost shoving him aside. "Try again. She can take it and we don’t have the time to be delicate with her." He looks at Diana, eyes urgent. "Please, Di. He’s just a /baby/."

Diana tightens lasso against Talia again, “How do we enter Hell?” she asks, her voice tight.

Talia recites. “‘Diap eb ot tbed a si ereht, tsaef ni, hself ni, knird.. mih fnif lliw uoy, thgin eht ni ereht.’” On her tongue, in her mouth, it does nothing.

Zee perks up, the words clicking in her brain, /backwards/, “‘There, in the night, you will find him. In drink, in flesh, in feast. There is a debt to be paid.’ That’s what she said.” she nods, “That’s all she said.”

Bruce’s hands tighten into fists. “Is it a—is it a spell, Zee?” Her name is soft in his mouth.

Zee shakes her head, “I don’t think so, I mean, I haven’t heard it beforet. It’s more like a proverb.”

"It sounds like instructions to me." Ollie runs through the passage in his head. "Telling you where to find Dionysus."

"You know," Mar’i murmurs under her breath, "this is why I worship X’Hal and not these crazy fucking gods. Stealing children, bargaining over hearts, eating flesh and shit, fucking insane."

Zee presses her lips together, her brow puckered in thought as she thinks over Talia’s altered Backwards Speak. She focuses on Ramsey, his location- /Hell/. They need to find him , rescue him, save him from the Greek Gods and Goddesses that all seemed to float well above her understanding. “Ereht ni eht thgin, uoy lliw fnif mih.. knird, ni hself, ni tsaef, ereth si a tbed ot eb diap.” she casts quietly, as if speaking to herself the adjustment of Talia’s uttered spell. Only Ramsey remaining on her thoughts as she speaks the words out loud.

It appears, in front of them all, in front of the magician, like a sliver of shimmering light; much like heat bouncing off asphalt, or desert dunes, off in the distance. Shiny, slick, and iridescent.

The boy’s broken voice speaks once, and only once, the word plaintive and soft and the word shivers from the void, up their spines: “../mama./”

The fissure dances, flickering, and as the seconds slip by, it begins to fade.

"That’s it!" Ollie hollers. "That’s the light I saw!" He leaps forward towards the fissure without a second thought.

Bruce had been holding his breath, and when Zatanna finishes the last line, as the portal appears, the rush of it almost knocks him off his feet. But, he barely has time to register it, before he realizes that it’s fading. Closing. Ollie jumps, and Bruce curses. He turns, grabbing what he can off the table, his tools, and shouts at the others. “It’s closing!”

Bruce throws his gaze around the room, his eyes settling on Dick. His eyes remain on his son, until he crouches, and he, too, jumps through, disappears from sight.

"Ollie, NO!" Mar’i yelps, reaching for the archer, fingers just missing the slick fabric of his tunic. "GodDAMMIT!" She runs into the portal, too, after the two men.

Zee’s eyes grow wide at the fissure, her fingers flexing in shock at what she’d conjured up, with Ollie and then Bruce swallowed whole by the light, then Mar’i as well. /Hold it open/ she thinks to herself, standing still as the fissure flickers in front of her.

Dick nods once to Bruce right before the older man jumps through. Dick takes a deep breath and follows him without hesitation.

Diana coils her lasso, following in behind the others without a word.

Zee scans the room, finding only Talia and Cheshire remaining. Taking a deep breath she dives into the portal as well, her eyes squeezing shut as she moves from the base to what lay ahead.