The Santinis lived a few blocks away from Crime Alley in a pretty well to do (for Gotham at least) residential area with two storey houses lining the streets. Peter had to push Barbara’s wheelchair up and down the street until they found the house they were looking for. House number 2. Missing person posters littered the walls. In the garden were toys that were starting to succumb to the weather, littered with ferns and dust. The front porch looked like it hadn’t been cleaned in days.

They climbed up the stairs and rang the bell.

“Remember the story we practiced,” Barbara whispered.

“Yeah,” Peter said. “We’re part of the Wayne Missing Person’s program. Though how she’s going to believe a bunch of teenagers are part of something that intense I don’t know.”

“Just trust me, Peter.”

“I do,” Peter said. “But we’re jumping into this unprepared, it’s not…”

The door opened and Mrs. Santini stood in front of them. “Look if this is another prank, I will not hesitate to call the…”

Barbara held up a card that was wrapped around her neck. “Mrs. Santini, I’m Amy Beddoes and this is my boyfriend, Peter Palmer. We’re representatives working on behalf of the Wayne Missing Persons initiative.”

Mrs. Santini squinted at them. Peter started feeling his body warm up. Barbara had gone through an effort to change up her appearance. She wore a black wig over her distinguishing red hair and removed the glasses entirely. Barbara figured Peter was inconspicuous enough, so she didn’t bother coming up with a disguise and just told him to wear his glasses. Peter hoped she’d buy the disguise.

“I didn’t get any calls from this… organisation you’re talking about.”

“Well, we work closely with the Gotham Police,” Barbara said with a light smile. “And you know how disorganised they are.”

Barbara handed the card over to Mrs. Santini who took a glance at it. “Seems official enough. Aren’t you a little too young to be working in an organisation like this…”

“We…” Barbara seemed as if she had hit a stump but then Peter pitched in.

“Get that a lot,” Peter said. “The young part. Trust us when we say we’re a lot older than we look.”

Mrs. Santini handed the card back to Barbara. “As long as you can help me track down my boy, I don’t care what you guys do. Please come in.”

When she turned her back, Barbara and Peter gave each other a big smile.

“But if this turns out to be a prank,” Mrs. Santini said, turning around. “I will make sure you personally burn in hell, is that clear?”

Peter and Barbara heads bobbed up and down in agreement with nervous smiles on their faces.

…

They sat around a small coffee table. The kettle squealed in the kitchen where Mrs. Santini was making them tea. Barbara took as a sign to mean that she at least somewhat trusted them. Peter was sitting next to her, twiddling his thumbs nervously. Barbara was glad the cards she forged had worked. The Wayne Missing Persons Program did exist but like everything with the Wayne name was currently in a purgatory state due to Bruce’s absence. The living room was small and quaint but most of the furniture in it looked like it hadn’t been touched in years. A small layer of dust settled atop it and many toys and kids clothes were scattered about.

The kettle stopped. Mrs. Santini walked into the living room holding a small metal tray.

“I apologise for the mess,” Mrs. Santini said. “Things haven’t been the same ever since Jimmy…”

Barbara gave her a comforting smile. “It’s okay, ma’am. That’s why we’re here. To help.”

“I… I don’t know where to start,” Mrs. Santini said. “There’s just… a lot of things have happened since James went missing and…”

“Let’s start from the beginning,” Barbara said.

“When James was born, they were well, some complications,” Mrs. Santini said. “The doctors said as he grew up, he’d slowly start to lose his hearing until it disappeared completely. The doctors said it was treatable and that they were trying a new experimental treatment. They offered us the treatment for such a cheap price.” Mrs. Santini sniffed. “My husband and I, we were desperate and now looking back I’m sure they knew that. We accepted provided they showed us the place. And they did. It was an address down at the Narrows. Everybody there was friendly and nice and sweet. We went ahead with the deal and…”

Mrs. Santini started to sob. “They said we wouldn’t be able to visit. We should’ve known something was up then. And then the treatment took so long, we were starting to worry and when we went there…” Mrs. Santini started to cry. “I’m sorry, I…”

“It’s okay,” Barbara said with a soft voice. “Take your time.”

“They were all gone,” Mrs. Santini said. “That place… it was empty. It was as if nothing happened. The cops… they carried out an investigation and found nothing. And I could see it in their eyes. They thought we were crazy. They thought God forbid that we had done something to our son.”

Mrs. Santini started to cry. “And yes, it’s our fault, we were too trusting and our son had to suffer for it. Our son is God knows where but if… if you can help, please do. Please. We made some mistakes but if our son can be saved than it will be worth it.”

“Don’t worry, Mrs. Santini,” Barbara said. “We’ll do everything we can. Would it be possible for you to tell us the location of the hospital?”

Mrs. Santini wiped her eyes. “I… I can.”

“We’ll do whatever we can to make sure you get your son back,” Barbara said. “We promise.”

Mrs. Santini nodded. “Yes. Thank you.”

Mrs. Santini gave them the location and Peter and Barbara were on their way there.

“So… I head there,” Peter said. “See what I can find…”

“We head there,” Barbara said.

“Barbara, the doctors said you still need to recover…”

“And I won’t recover being coddled like a baby by both you and my father,” Barbara said. “Besides you’re forgetting that I’m a trained detective.”

“But…”

“Peter I’m Batgirl,” Barbara said. “Nothing’s too dangerous for me.”

Peter sighed. “Fine, fine. I’ll take you but if anything, and I mean anything bad happens, we’re getting out of there fast.”

“Fine,” Barbara said. “Let’s see what’s up with that hospital.”

…

Jason was slowly getting tired of the cave. His only company in the day was Bats and Alfred. Alfred was fine, if a little old but all the Bats could do was screech which didn’t make for interesting conversation.

The other person he could talk to was Bruce but that was like talking to a brick wall. In the mornings all he did was look at the security camera and complain about the media. That picture of his parents was plastered on the Batcomputer all throughout the day and night, thinking he had missed something. He reminded Jason of that old homeless man at Crime Alley who used to collect cans and sell them off for pennies. But he only ever used those pennies to buy himself cheap food and a drink, he said one day he’d buy himself a house with that money. He had his eyes set on an old house outside of Crime Alley. Jason never knew why he was so fixated on that house, the same reason he never knew why the old man killed himself when he found out somebody had already bought the place.

At night, Bruce left the cave leaving Jason alone with nothing to do but train or stare at the blank computer for hours. It was driving Jason insane. Sure, Alfred got him whatever he wanted, and Jason could never complain about Alfred’s cooking but living the same day over and over again was starting to drive him crazy. To make matters worse, Bruce didn’t let him join his adventures. He insisted Jason wasn’t ready yet. No matter how many hours he trained, Bruce was never satisfied.

He wasn’t even allowed to leave the cave. Bruce said with the media outside it would dangerous if word got out that he was there. To make matters worse, Bruce made sure there were tight security measures to ensure that nobody besides Alfred got out.

Jason hated this. He hated Bruce, he hated Alfred, he hated the damn bats. He just wanted to be free and stretch his legs and breathe air that didn’t smell like bat shit. He just wanted to see any other place besides this damn cave. More importantly, he just wanted some damn ice cream.

Jason heard the familiar hiss of the cave door opening. Alfred’s steps echoed down the cave, Jason perked up. Finally, dinner and some semblance of the outside world.

“Dinner is served,” Alfred said, setting the platter down in front of Jason.

It was roast chicken and steak, again. Jason ate the food. He remembered when he had first had this meal in the Wayne Manor, it was so delicious he almost vomited. A giant step up from the food he had scrapped by in the streets. Now, however it tasted just as bland as a sandwich he’d buy in a convenience store.

“What’s wrong Master Todd?” Alfred asked. “You seem glum.”

Jason was picking at his food. “It’s just so boring here. There’s nothing to do. I’m sick and tired of training and studying and training and studying… I want to go out.”

“Well, you know what Master Bruce…”

“I know what that asshole says!” Jason snapped. “But I need to go out. I miss fighting, I miss going out there. I just…”

Jason sighed.

Alfred put a hand on his shoulder. “Master Bruce is going through a lot right now. I know it’s too much to ask of you but please try to understand and please be patient. I’m sure you’ll be out of here in no time.”

Alfred gave him a reassuring smile. Jason smiled back and gave him a hug.

“Thanks Alfred.”

After that, they talked about the media. How long Alfred expected they’d be there. They shared some jokes about and soon, Alfred left the cave leaving Jason alone in the dark, again.

Once he was sure Alfred was out of an earshot, he shuffled through his pockets and picked up Alfred’s security card.

Jason felt a pang of guilt in his heart. “I’m sorry Alfred.”

…

The ‘hospital’ the Santinis had sent their son had been wiped clean of anything to trace back to the original owners. Barbara checked online and found out that the building was bought by some non-existent shell company. When Peter and Barbara went in to investigate, there was nothing, not even dust bunnies. There was no trace anybody had been there at all. No equipment, nothing.

The building in itself was inconspicuous. It was big enough to run a small hospital. Aside from the view of the sea, there was nothing else to set it apart from the rest of the houses and warehouses it was surrounded by.

“There’s nothing here,” Peter said. “It’s clean. Almost too clean that must mean…”

Barbara nodded. “Yep. Someone’s trying to hide something.”

And they were very good at hiding it. They couldn’t find anything in the building. By the time they finished search ever nook and cranny of the building it was sunset. Peter and Barbara were about to call it a day. They decided to search the roof just in case they missed anything and that was when Barbara found it.

She rolled her wheelchair towards the edge of the hospital building.

“You found something?” Peter asked, following after her.

“Yep,” Barbara said. “There I see blood. Dried but it’s there.”

Barbara saw a scar of dried red blood spread across the pavement. It almost looked like paint. “And if I look there…”

She turned her wheelchair around and saw more stains littering the pavement. “Bingo,” she said.

“Somebody was running up the building, wounded,” Barbara said. “Their trailed stopped…”

Barbara saw that the blood trail stopped at the edge of the roof. “Here, where they…”

“Peter go check down there,” Barbara said, pointing at the small backlot of the building.

“But what about you?” Peter asked. “You sure…”

“I’ll be fine Peter,” Barbara said, rolling her eyes. “I’m not a baby.”

Peter looked like he was about to say something but decided against it. He leapt off the building, landing gracefully in the backlot.

“What am I looking for?” he called out.

“Anything that looks like a bloodstain.”

It would’ve been hard to clean a body so Barbara was sure Peter would find something. She just hoped the blood samples she found weren’t James’s.

With Peter looking for blood samples down there, she wondered how she would find and analyse the blood samples on the roof. She had bought some vials from Bruce’s lab she had lying around at home in her bag. She shuffled out her bag and pulled out the vials. Then she pulled herself out of her wheelchair and onto the floor running her fingers through the blood sample and fucking crawling to collect the samples she needed.

In the corner of her eye, she swore she saw something move. It was starting to get dark, so she figured it was just the night setting in.

At that exact moment, Peter felt a familiar tingle down his spine. He had his suit tucked under his clothes and his mask stuffed in his jeans pocket.

“Barbara,” Peter said. “Barbara are you okay?”

It happened so fast. The sound of leather wings lunging, a loud screech and Barbara’s scream echoing in the night sky.

…

It had been a while since Jason saw the manor of the manor that it almost felt alien walking through the hallways.

It felt like a ghost town at night. The only sound was the crickets chirping and Jason’s footsteps. Alfred was probably fast asleep if not cleaning somewhere else and Bruce hadn’t set foot in the manor ever since the press incident. It was just Jason. He walked through the familiar unfamiliar hallways, the only source of light being the lights from all the trucks and cars parked outside the manor which Jason avoided.

All Jason wanted to do was grab some ice cream, walk around the manor a bit and then return to the cave. Bruce and Alfred didn’t need to know he was here and besides they would never know he was here. Sneaking around was his forte from both his time in Crime Alley and working as Robin.

Or so he thought.

Jason was unaware that a reporter had snuck past the security systems and saw Jason walking around the manor through the large windows.

So, while Jason was in the kitchen, eating some ice cream and having the time of his life the reporter took a photo of him. Jason felt he was being watched but when he turned around to look, the reporter was gone.

To be continued…