Chapter Text
Comparatively, this isn’t the worst situation he’s ever been in. Still, running on a fractured ankle from human traffickers with a hole in his shoulder was definitely not ideal. Dick wasn’t sure when exactly he had lost both of his escrima sticks and resorted to running, but at this point, it didn’t really matter. He was heaving out heavy breaths and weaving in and out of alley ways as he tried to push through the burning of his body.
“Nightwing!” Jason’s gruff voice throbbed in his ear. “Where are you headed? I’ll come to you.”
The thugs behind him popped off two more shots that dinged against the dumpster next to him. Dick’s breath hitched and he threw himself over a chain link fence, groaning as he landed on his injured ankle,
“I—” He looked around frantically. “I don’t know!”
Three more bullets hit the red brick near his head and Dick threw himself down the next alleyway. He could hear the sound of Jason’s bike in the background,
“Just keep moving, I’ve got your location I’m coming to you.” His brother’s voice sounded pinched, but Dick wasn’t about to call him out on his worry.
“Did you get the girls?”
Jason grunted, “Yes. You bought us enough time, now buy yourself some. I’m coming.”
Dick turned the next corner and his blood turned cold, “Fuck.”
“What?”
The older man’s hand reached for a grapple that he knew wasn’t there and he cussed again, “Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!”
Bruce’s voice was in his ear this time, “Nightwing report.”
“Dead end.” He breathed out. He could hear his attackers rounding the last corner, they were in his view within seconds. Four handguns pointed at his chest and he raised his hands above his head.
“Fancy seeing you guys here!” He forced on a confident smile, but his mouth was dry and his thoughts were spinning. There were flustered voices demanding a status report chattering in his ear, but on the off chance they didn’t know he had it, he wasn’t about to give it up.
“We gottcha, Birdie!” The tallest man flashed him a crooked, yellow smile, slowly approaching him. “We have your fancy nunchucks, so don’t even try anything.”
Dick’s eyes flickered to the three other men with their guns still raised. He just needed to kill enough time for Jason to get to him. The only issue was that he had no idea how far he’d run from the warehouse or how long behind him Jason was. The priority had been to lure away the important guys so that Jason, Tim, and Bruce could take out the rest of them and rescue the hostages. Dick wasn’t positive, but it felt like a good chunk of time had passed since then.
“If you give us the flash drive, we may not kill you.” The tall man offered.
“Reassuring.” The man was now on him. Dick didn’t resist when a fist was thrown into his gut, followed by an elbow to his upper back. Instead, he went down hard and the man pressed a dirty combat boot into the wound on his shoulder. He bit back a cry of pain, breathing harshly though his nose.
“Nightwing!” He wished Oracle would turn down the volume on his comm. He was getting a headache. The man hovered above him pressing harder into his wound as he leaned down to press the barrel of his gun into Dick’s temple,
“Give it to me or I’m going to shoot you.”
Dick grunted and lifted his uninjured arm, “Okay!” He opened his palm to reveal a one-inch thumb drive. “Take it!”
The foot on his bullet wound rescinded and Dick finally felt like he could move again. The man smiled again, his stained teeth made Dick feel ill,
“See, finally! A reasonable vigilante!” He waved the three other men toward him. Two of them flanked him, hauling him up onto unsteady feet, facing him to the man. He grabbed Dick by the jaw roughly, gripping his bone hard enough to leave finger shaped bruises. In the corner of his eye, Dick could see a van approaching their corner of the alley. “You’re a pretty bird… You know, where pretty birds belong?” He paused for effect. “In cages.”
The man waved a hand and the two men on his sides dragged him toward the black panel van. Dick struggled to get his fractured ankle to hold his weight as he was manhandled,
“Wait!” The side door to the van slid open and on the far wall there was a small metal cage behind the driver’s seat. It looked far too small for a person, especially a grown man. “You don’t have to put me in there!”
“Ten minutes, Nightwing.” Jason’s voice cut through his panic, and he huffed out a breath. The door to the cage was thrown open and Dick’s struggles amped up. He kicked out with his injured foot only for it to get caught and thrown against the side of what seemed like a dog crate. Dick cried out, in his panic he forgot about his comm,
“I don’t have ten minutes, Hood!” He shouted. As soon as the words left his mouth, Dick slammed his lips shut but it was too late.
“Shit, Dickhead.”
“Ten minutes?” The tall man stalked toward him fast, coming up in front of him and sticking a finger right into the hole in his shoulder with one hand and reaching to pull his comm from his ear. Dick let out a choked scream and his body went lax. This allowed the men to get enough leverage to shove him into the small space. His knees were touching his shoulder and neck was bent painfully, despite his flexibility, the position was extremely uncomfortable; with his injuries, it was downright painful. The man held his ear piece in his hand for beat before bringing it to his mouth, “He’s right. He doesn’t have ten minutes.”
He dropped the comm onto the pavement, crushing it under the sole of his boot before turning to the van and slamming the door shut. “Let’s go! I don’t want to see anymore Bats tonight!”