Chapter Text
There are certain things that Dick does not want to hear from his partner as soon as he enters the precinct. One of those phrases, that really is on the top of his list is, "we have a big problem" which is of course the very first thing that Amy says to him when he walks in.
"I thought that Damien reaching out was a good thing?" Dick asked. "I'm pretty sure he likes me."
Amy turned to him as they continued walking in at a fast pace. "You assume everyone likes you until they're pointing a gun at your face."
"That was one time!" Dick muttered.
"Yeah, one time too many." Amy countered.
She led him to the conference room where they were planning earlier in the investigation, all of their files still out and covering the table. "What's the problem?" Dick asked as he sat down in one of the chairs, wishing he had taken one of the pain pills Jason had left for him back at the apartment.
She slid the phone on the table to Dick. Dick picked it up, automatically knowing where to go. This was the phone they had used for undercover missions. For a while, they just used their own, but Dick and Amy very quickly decided they would rather not have their numbers broadcasted to some of the biggest scum in Bludhaven.
"Check the messages." Amy said, crossing her arms and staring at him.
He did as she said, the only messages being in there from Damien. There were three messages in the phone, one being the address of Garcia's auction, and the other two being new. One of them was a message that simply said 'We need to talk' and the other was a picture. Dick saw it and cursed.
"Shit." He said simply, setting the phone down.
"Yeah, that was my reaction too."
The two partners sat in silence for a while before Dick spoke up. "Amy, I have no idea how he got that. I thought I was being careful."
"As much as I would like to blame you fully for this Grayson, this isn't entirely your fault. We should have been more careful."
"But if I hadn't of disappeared after the shooting we could have been." Dick pointed out.
Amy shrugged. "Maybe. We don't know. The question is, where do you want to go from here. This has to be your call."
Dick sighed and grabbed the phone again, zooming in on the picture. It was him, in all his glory, walking into the Bludhaven Police Department after the shooting, sling still on his arm. Dick looked at the picture closer. Based on the angle, it was probably taken from the bushes in the parking lot. Dick saw that while it was hard to get good detail out of the grainy shot, it was definitely him. He studied it for a second more before setting it down again.
"I say I go talk to him." Dick finally said.
Amy's head snapped up to meet his eyes. "Are you kidding me?"
"No, I say we do it."
"Grayson that's a horrible move."
He squinted his eyes at her. "I thought you said this was my call."
"Well I didn't expect you to be an idiot about this."
"I'm not being an idiot."
"Then explain."
"Look," Dick said standing up, "Damien Han is not a beat around the bush kind of guy, and he's also not an idiot. The fact that he still wants to talk instead of sending someone to kill me shows that he is not one hundred percent sure I betrayed him. If you look at the photo, you can't see my badge. I can spin this."
Amy looked at him, doubt across her face. "Look Dick, I don't know about this. He could just be luring you out so he can kill you somewhere on his terms. This is idiotic to meet with him."
Dick shook his head. "I've got a good feeling about this. Look, I'll be extra careful. You'll be right there, wherever we chose to meet. But I need your support on this."
Amy sat down, defeated and looked at Dick. "This is your call and as your partner I'll back it. I will however, go on the record and say this is an idiotic idea and if Damien even sneezes wrong in your direction, I'll have a trained sniper take him out. Do you understand."
Dick smiled at her. "I knew you'd come around."
Dick grabbed up the phone and typed something out to Damien, hitting send. "How long do you think it'll take him to respond?"
Dick was about to answer when his phone dinged with a response.
"Apparently not long."
Dick knew there were some moments in his career when he was, in lack of other terms, an idiot. But, Dick and even others had to admit, he was always pretty good about admitting when he messed up. He was a big believer in self improvement and the first step to that was to admit one's own weaknesses.
So Dick had pretty good self awareness and in this moment, he was ninety nine percent sure that he was, in fact, not being an idiot. He knew that Amy's worries were justified, in fact he would have felt the same way himself. He would have felt that way if he didn't know that he had two spandex wearing literal superheros backing him. That, and some evasive techniques that he hoped he wouldn't have to use tonight.
He casually looked up in the alley that he was in, knowing that even if he couldn't see Jason and Tim, they were up there somewhere. He felt comforted knowing that at any moments, his brothers could swoop down and rescue him. This put his nerves at ease, something that infuriated Amy. Dick could also tell that it comforted her just a little bit. He knew that when he was worried, she got extra worried.
Dick checked his phone one more time, making sure he got the address right. As soon as it did, it started ringing in his hand. "Hello?" He asked putting the phone to his ear.
"Mr. Garrett." The voice said.
Dick immediately responded with a, "Mr. Han. I'm at this wonderful meeting point you've chosen."
"I know." Was the simple response he got.
Dick resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "Well, where are you this fine evening in the heart of the city?"
"Somewhere far away from you."
Dick frowned. "Well, that's not the answer I was hoping to get."
"Leave your phone and watch on the top of the dumpster."
"I guarantee you I'm not wired Mr. Han. I thought this meeting would clear things up between us."
"It will, if you follow my instructions. Now put all metal objects you have on you on top of the dumpster and then go to the end of the alleyway. One of my cars will pick you up there. If you're followed in any way, I will have one of my guys shoot you in the head. Are we clear?"
"Perfectly." Dick said hanging up the phone.
He looked around the alleyway, confident that none of Damien's guys had eyes on him at the moment. He pressed his hand to his ear activating his com to Amy. "Change of plans, Damien has me stripping all metal and going with him, this'll set it off if they wand me. I've gotta ditch it."
He heard the static click on and Amy's voice in his ear. "Don't you dare. We're calling it off."
"I got this." He said confidently. "I'll call your cell when I'm done. If you don't hear from me in six hours, call in the cavalry."
He took out his earpiece before he could hear her response and threw it in the dumpster, making sure that if any of Damien's guys check the place afterwards, they won't see it lying there. He knew the chief would be pissed for possibly ruining a good radio, but some things have to be done for the greater good.
He next moved onto his watch. "Detective Dick to the bat patrol." He said into his wrist.
"Bat Patrol go." He heard from Tim at the same time Jason said "I told you not to call us that."
"Ditching all metals, going in car at the south end of alley. You guys got it?"
"We'll be right behind you." Tim said.
"Don't let anyone see you, I don't want to get this shirt ruined."
"Copy that. Stay safe." Jason signed off.
Dick took his watch off with a smile, happy that Jason showed he cared, even if it was with a simple remark. Next went his phone, which he carefully placed on top of the dumpster instead of tossing it completely. If possible, he would like to get that back.
He walked to the back of the alley, leaning up against the wall and waiting. Not even two minutes later, he saw a black SUV come careening down the alley, screeching to a stop in front of him. Dick pushed off the wall as the door opened. "Nice of you guys to show up." He said.
Immediately the men bagged his head and wretched his hands behind his back, causing his shoulder to flare up in protest. "Easy fellas." He said under the bag, "You'll tear the stitches." He was ignored as the men then roughly shoved him into the van and he felt it speed off in another direction.
Great. He loved being kidnapped.
When they finally took the bag off of Dick's head, they were not where he thought they'd be. Dick was in a nice apartment high up in the city, a far cry from the warehouse he thought that he would end up in. His wrists were duct taped to the arms of the chair he was sitting in with his ankles similarly restrained at the legs. He was immediately grateful they didn't tie his arms behind his back, that would have absolutely killed his shoulder.
He blinked for a second to get his barings and when he finally got a comprehensive look around, he saw Damien standing in front of him. "Well," Dick began, "I sure hope this isn't how you treat all your partners."
"It's not," Damien admitted, "normally the ones that betray us are shot and dumped in the nearest body of water."
"Why do I get the special treatment?" Dick asked out of curiosity more than anything.
"Mr. Garcia was greatly appreciative of the product we received from you. He wanted to make sure that you were a back stabber before I had one of my men kill you in your sleep."
"How thoughtful of him."
Damien nodded. "Now, I believe you have some explaining to do."
"Right," Dick said, scooting up as much as he could in the chair, "as you know, I was remarkably grateful to receive an invite to Mr. Garcia's auction. When I got there however, it was a little more... gun ho than I was used to. Unfortunately in the chaos, I was shot in my shoulder here, and had to be taken to the hospital because patching a bullet hole is regrettably not in my skill set." Dick lied.
Damien nodded at him, motioning for him to continue. "As I'm sure you know, all gunshot wounds must be reported to the proper authorities so as soon as I woke up from my blissful drug induced sleep, I had a couple of Bludhaven's finest asking me all sorts of... damaging questions."
"Which I'm sure you were very careful in how you answered." Damien said, inching closed to Dick and pulling up a chair of his own.
"On the contrary, I faked sleep as soon as I saw them."
Damien laughed. "And that worked?"
Dick shrugged as much as he could with his hands tied. "Somewhat. Unfortunately for me, I was given an escort to BPD as soon as I was discharged which is, I believe, how you got that rather unflattering photo of me."
"So what did you tell the police?"
"I told them I was cleaning my gun and accidentally shot myself in the shoulder."
"And they believed you?"
"Not for a minute, but since the police aren't busting down the door right now, you can assume I gave them a little incentive not to care too much about the whole thing."
Damien stood up from his chair and started laughing. "You'll forgive me, Mr. Garrett, my employer is very paranoid."
Dick felt the weight lift off his chest as Damien's men began cutting the tape from his arms. "I understand," Dick said rubbing his arms. "It's all part of the business."
"That it is." Damien said. Dick stood up, stretching as best as he could without aggravating his shoulder.
"Does this mean that we're good?"
Damien's smile grew bigger. "More than good compadre." He said, leading Dick to the couch by placing his hand on his good shoulder. "You were caught by the boys in blue and still kept Mr. Garcia's name out of things. Loyalty is something that is greatly appreciated in this business."
Dick sat on the couch across from Damien. "I do have to admit that part of it was me not wanting to be associated with one of the biggest drug kingpins in Bludhaven."
Damien laughed again. "An honest man as well! Nicholas, may I call you Nicholas?" Dick nodded and Damien continued, "Nicholas you are quite the conundrum."
"So I've been told." Dick laughed, looking over and accepting the drink he is handed by another one of Damien's men.
Damien accepted the other glass across from him and held it out. "A toast? To our renewed trust and a hopefully lucrative partnership."
Dick reached his glass out to touch Damien's but didn't take a sip. Damien looked at him quizzingly. "I don't trust a man who doesn't drink at a toast."
Dick shook his head. "Neither do I, unfortunately I am on some pretty intense pain medication at the moment and I would rather not be mixing the two. I may be a criminal but I do have some class."
Dick turned his head towards the sound of the bedroom door opening. Out stepped a man dressed in, what Dick recognized, as one of the most expensive suits on the market. His hair was slicked back much like Dick's had been the other night, except that it was tied back in a pony tail going to his shoulders. Across from him, Damien instantly stood up.
"Mr. Garcia." He said to the man, and Dick stood as well.
Garcia smiled at Damien. "Sit, friend, sit." He said calmly. He turned to Dick. "I hope that you'll make an exception and drink with me."
Garcia held out his hand and soon it was filled with a glass of the same alcohol Dick had been handed. Dick gave him a coy smile. "I guess in this one case." He said as he tipped the glass back and drank it fully, his eyes not leaving Garcia's as he did so.