𝐑𝐄𝐃𝐄𝐌𝐏𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍, DICK GRAYSON

─ 𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐅𝐈𝐕𝐄

Failure results in death. Death is the result of your failure.

Those words echoed inside my head as we finally arrived at the gas station off the 495 highway where Rachel was last seen leaving with an African-American woman who's wanted by Traverse City PD.

"I'll be right back," Dick said to me, climbing out of the car. He showed his credentials to a state police officer who let him through into the crime scene where a body was left behind.

Releasing out a yawn, I leaned my head against the glass window as glimpses of last night's event made an appearance in my tired mind.

I kicked the boy in the stomach, sending him a couple of feet back as my left arm was wrapped by an unknown material. Turning around to find the red-headed girl and her leather whip, I clenched my jaw together while gripping on the weapon to pull her towards me.

My right fist connected to her face, but she didn't go down. "What the hell," I whispered, watching her smirk out of amusement. She then headbutted me, thrusting her leg at me. I stumbled backward, failing to see the boy and his bat.

He forcibly swung the wood at my head, causing me to wince in pain. Everything was becoming blurry but it wasn't until the second hit, I began to slowly lose consciousness. Thus, allowing the old man to join in the fun.

I was lifted off the ground by the neck, gasping for breath. The old man sadistically smiled, tossing me out of the rooftop. I landed on top of a dumpster container, rolling off to the pavement then eventually blacking out.

By the time I regained consciousness, Dick was already downstairs with Dawn whose injuries were more severe than mines. "Dawn!" he exclaimed, doing chest compressions while Hank was nowhere to be found.

The paramedics soon came and took Dawn to the nearest hospital. Dick and I weren't able to see the blonde until a few hours later. Hank, however, stayed by his lover's side the moment they took her out of surgery.

"Hank, I'm sorry. If I hadn't—"

"Who were they?" he asked us, sharply. "What the hell do they want with Rachel?"

"We don't know," Dick said, looking back at Dawn who's currently hooked up on a ventilator and barely clinging to life. "You take care of her. We will find them."

I was pulled out of the daze by the sound of Dick climbing back inside. He reached over to the glove compartment, pulling out a small tablet. I watched him insert a weird-looking flash drive to a port on the side. "You stole the video footage, didn't you?" I inquired as he gave a cheekily smile. "Of course, you did."

Dick opened up the video surveillance, fast-forwarding it until Rachel appeared. She was walking away with the magenta-haired woman to a blue muscle car. Zooming in on the footage, which is something I didn't know you could do on a CCTV, we got a closer look at the woman and the car's license plate.

"Running the plate won't do us much good," I muttered, sighing as the detective paused for a second before pressing a button.

A red light was activated while it did a retina scan of his face, granting access to a secure network. Within seconds, we got the exact location of the car—St. Paul's Convent in Covington, Ohio.