Scarlet Justice: Identity - Young Justice Fanfiction

Hysteria Part 2

Dick's Pov

The street address was on the other side of town, closer to the GCPD. How's that for irony?

Apparently, it was a small apartment building that had been burned down years ago. Town Hall just never got around to tearing it down. So when I reached the section of train tracks that was in front of it, the first impression I got was creepy.

I mean, it was probably a place we would never think to look. Especially when we still believed it was a smaller organization that had killed those people. From the tracks, I couldn't make out any camera's or police cars, but I still went in through the roof. There was no way I was going to risk Bruce's wrath because I got caught by a camera.

With my escrima sticks charged, lighting a path ahead of me, I began to sweep the building from the top down. Scorch marks shaded the walls and there were hints of areas where furniture had once stood.

The fourth floor was the only floor still fully intact and it took me a while to search every room, even if they were just empty spaces. The second and third floor were connected by the stairwell with a giant whole disconnected one side of the hall from the other.

The boards from the floor above were definitely not strong enough to hold my weight with the grappling gun. I kneeled to the floor and stared across the gap. I backed up to the end of the hall. Once I reached the wall, I bounced, preparing myself to jump.

Inhaling and exhaling, I sprinted down the length of the hall, jumping across the gap and rolling to stop on the other side. Easy.

The rest of the second floor was the same thing. Debris and ash covered every surface. The scanner on my wrist watch wasn't picking up anything either. I was starting to think this was a dead end.

Once I had reached the other staircase, this one with a bit more steps than the other one, I made my way to the ground floor. Hopefully, this was where our culprit would be stupid enough to open up a boom tube.

Beep. I swear I almost yelped at the sound of my watch. But the sound was just the sensor picking up the traces of boom tube activity. The closer I got to the back room, the faster the alarms filled the building. Gripping an escrima stick in one hand, I leaned back to kick open the door.

What was left of the frame splintered into tiny pieces as I rushed into the space. My watch was sending out a steady ring and I reached to turn it off.

I wasn't sure what I was expecting. The room was like every other room in the apartment. The windows were busted out and there was nothing but remnants of the fire itself. No bodies, no people, no weapons.

But there was a strange piece of metal lying in the center of the room. I pulled up my wrist computer, kneeling down to examine the metal. The computer scanned the material. There were no buttons or sources of power, but probably because it was part of a whole. I was staring at the lines running along its side when my computer recognized the material

I didn't need the computer though. I was holding the remains of a crushed boom tube.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

We could actually see the stars in Gotham city tonight. Maybe it was a sign that we were making progress, actual progress.

We were sitting on the ledge of the building overlooking the GCPD headquarters. Steph was beginning to pace as she blabbered on and on about how it wasn't fair that Bruce was the one investigating other Gotham boom tube sights and not us.

"Would you calm down?" I called over my shoulder. Bruce had wanted us to take the night off, not the other way around naturally. Even if he was the one that needed a vacation.