Milk And Cardamom | S. Brown ✔

[46]

Batman, Red Hood and Robin returned to the cave without a single clue on where Deathstroke and Tim had vanished too. They had searched the area carefully, done everything possible to track the two out and in the end had to return because all their attempts were proving to be futile.

Bruce was even more silent than usual, worry evident in his pale blue eyes. He gave no reply to Nightwing or Oracle's questions, leaving Jason and Damian to deal with that instead.

He just left.

Though it was clear that even though he wasn't showing it, he felt frustrated at not being able to find Tim.

He felt angry that Tim had once again disobeyed him and put his life in mortal danger again.

But more so, he felt the anxiety of losing his son forever deepen its claws within him.

They had almost lost Tim twice before and neither of them wanted to go through that again.

After answering Richard and Barbara's questions the best he could, Jason asked about Rose and Luke.

"Lucas is in the med bay," Richard spoke up, "he was very unstable when he gained consciousness and we eventually had to bring Steph in to calm him down. He's okay by now, Steph's still with him. And Rose..." 

His voice had trailed of as he looked at Barbara but was met by the same blank look he had on his face.

"Babs, where's Rose?"

Jason's eyes flickered slightly,  "what? You don't know where Rose is?"

"She didn't leave the cave or else I would have known," Barbara replied immediately, not wanting Jay to start a fight since all of them were exhausted and not in the state to put up with it, "she must be somewhere around here."

Jason was about to fire a sharp retort at the two but prevented himself, realizing that they were all on edge due to Tim's disappearance, "fine. I'll look for her myself."

He took off his helmet and threw it aside, making Richard's blue eyes widen in alarm. "Would you stop being so careless with it or do I have to remind you too that it can fucking explode?"

"It won't, it's remote controlled," his voice came drifting back, "right now, you have a higher chance of exploding as compared to my helmet."

He knew he was pushing the limits and he could hear Barbara trying to calm Richard down but at the moment he was too tired to care. The one thing he did care about was seeing whether Rose was okay or not.

He scanned the entire cave but there was no sight of her though when he came to the shower rooms, one of it was locked and the sound of water still running could be heard. He assumed since that was the only place he couldn't check, Rose would be in there.

His assumption wasn't wrong when a few minutes later, the door opened and Rose stepped out, wet silvery hair concealing the left eye instead of the eye patch which she held in her hands. 

She wasn't expecting him to be there so she got startled at first but noticing that no one else was around, she relaxed slightly.

"Did you guys find him?" She asked though he didn't reply and judging by the dejection on his face, she could guess the answer very well.

Her slender fingers combed through her hair as she pushed the strands back, tying the eye patch before letting them fall onto the side again. The silence between them was thick because Jason was wondering what to ask from her and Rose was thinking about Red X.

That boy surely was suicidal, she thought. 

She had warned him not to risk his own life for her and Luke, she had tried to get him out before the building exploded but he had sacrificed himself just so she and Luke wouldn't be taken by Deathstroke again.

She didn't know whether he had survived the blast or not and neither did the vigilantes which was all the more guilting to her.

"You told Red X where to find me?" She asked at last, realizing that there could be no other way the boy could have gotten to her.

"Had to, he was completely unhinged when he came to my safehouse," he replied, "he's... He's insane... That fucking idiot..."

She could sense the hurt in his tone, the frustration at not being able to find him and the futile attempt of masking his concern with anger.

Jason had always masked a lot of his feelings with anger, it was not a new thing for him.

But she understood exactly how he felt so she reached out to him, her hands gently sliding up to his shoulder blades as she hugged him. He needed that silent reassurance and so did she.

A soft sigh escaped him as he held her close, eyes falling shut out of exhaustion. His voice was very low just so she could hear as he spoke, "we have no idea where he is right now and even though he is insanely stupid, he's still my brother... I don't want to find out that... That we lost him again."

"He's alive," she mumbled, not knowing how she could be so certain of it herself since she had had no vision to prove it but somehow she just knew, "and he's with Father."

"That was our first guess too. But... You know that for certain? You saw something?"

She shook her head, "I don't have visions anymore, if that was possible none of us would be here right now."

He pulled apart slightly, bluish green eyes looking down at her, "then how?"

"I can just feel it... There's no way Father would have let him go that easily. He broke into his hideout, killed his ally shadow Walker and retrieved Lucas... Father won't go easy on him either."

"So you mean to say that he's probably held hostage by Deathstroke and being tortured?"

"Yes."

She felt him tense, the frown lines crease his forehead and his jaw clench slightly to suppress the frustration coursing through him. He wanted to track out Deathstroke himself but Bruce had warned all of them that if they put a single step out of line, they would suffer worst consequences.

Normally Jason wouldn't have cared much about his word but right then Bruce had made it clear that he would not tolerate any of them messing around. It was seldom they got to see that shade to him but Jason knew it wasn't the time to piss him off further.

"Do you at least have any idea where they could be?"

"No," her voice was muted, "I don't know. But if there is any way I can help you guys in tracking him out, I will."

***