Robin's Shadow (Batman OC)

Chapter 17: All My Fault

"Mistress Anastasia, I insist you sleep now. Master Bruce and I will continue the search, I promise." Alfred tells me firmly on the fourth day after Jason was taken. 

I haven't slept, I haven't rested. If I'm not at the computer researching, I'm out on the streets trying to find answers. I found a few of Joker's associates in hiding and managed to learn that the clown had something to do with the drugs we have been researching. I nearly killed the thug with torture to get the answer, but I didn't care. It was something to work with.

"No." I reply back with the same answer I've used each time when he asked me that. "We need to find him. I need to find him. I need him. My fault." I say robotically with desperation, whispering the last two words. 

I don't hear any response, so I continue to research. Currently, I'm tracking the core components of the drug that Bruce managed to get and I'm analyzing the origins of it. Thank God that Jason loves chemistry and I listened as he always did his work with me so I'm proficient at it.

I'm mid-way through cross checking a component when I sense something behind me. I turn to look, but I turn too late. Bruce is there, holding a small syringe he just jabbed into my neck. "I'm sorry Ana, you need sleep." He says sorrowfully to me as everything starts to get fuzzy.

"You..." I weakly get out as I collapse to the ground, falling into his outstretched arms. "I need Jason..." I whisper out before losing consciousness.

I wake up in my bed a while later. I take a quick shower and change into clean clothes. I head back to the cave to get back to work, finding Bruce and Alfred already there. I don't say anything to them as I just get changed into my uniform and head out to the streets to search. I'm not really mad, I needed sleep, but I need Jason more. 

I don't remember anything from the story on where Joker took Jason, but I know it's a warehouse. I have searched nearly every warehouse in Gotham. I'll wrap up the last of them today, then I'm moving to Metropolis next to meet with Clark. Dick is searching in Blüdhaven for him. Oliver is searching in Star City, just in case, but it's further away and less likely. Roy is currently in Junction City searching through his contacts.

No one has found anything.

Bruce and I spend the next two weeks in Europe after we searched all of Gotham and the surrounding cities, just the two of us while Alfred watches activity in Gotham at home. We're searching through the four cities we had narrowed down the drug distribution centers to. We searched as Batman and Shadow tirelessly through every pharmaceutical and drug center, and noticed there was a trend with the banks in each of the cities. They were getting robbed the same days drugs were shipped, and the habit seemed suspicious to Batman. 

I tried not to get angry when Batman kept focusing on it, because maybe his detective brain was narrowing it down. Tried to, but by the third city, I snapped and attacked him for delaying us. Every minute we wasted was a minute that Jason was in the clutches of Joker. To Bruce's benefit, he stood there and took my hits as I lashed out on him. He let me hit him until I fell unconscious from exhaustion. He knew what I needed.

We finally got a solid lead on something after almost three weeks of Jason being gone. There was a component of Joker gas that was only sold in Sarajevo, which was the last possible European city on our list. The component just turned up on the listing of a pharmaceutical company that day. The name of the city again tickled something on the back of my brain, so I felt like maybe this was it. 

We got in our rides and headed out at once to the address of the storage warehouse we found, and my fear was increasing. It all fit too perfectly, the memory of the name, a warehouse, us finally getting a lead. I sped ahead of Batman, feeling again the desperation as I approached the warehouse. Batman sped up to match me, not wanting me out of his sight at all. I think he also felt like we finally got the right place.