Savage Owls

The Maze

He'd been walking for days. He had a good internal clock, but even he had to admit this darkness was messing him up; his vision didn't extend more than an arm spans worth. He felt pathetic as he stumbled his way through the black enveloping him.

He scowled as he almost tripped over his own feet, shivering and feeling his legs spasm with the sudden chill.

He was so very tired.

He was cold and tired and hungry and alone and scared.

He tsked and fell back onto the stone cold floor. He sprang up again when he realised it felt like lying on ice.

He was shaking at this point, terribly so. He was long last the jitter stage. His whole body seemed to vibrate with the force of them.

Great. He thought, hyperthermia.

Suddenly, his legs gave out under him, and he fell to his knees. Cursing, he scrabbled to stand but found that he couldn't.

A disembodied voice rang out from all directions at once:
It seems you are ready, Gray-son. We are here to help you, do not fight it. We know you are tired.

And you know what?

He was.

He almost wept when he saw light appear at the end of the corridor.

Fina-fucking-lly.

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

"Vandal, you promised us Batman as well as his protege. So far you have yet to deliver him to us, and we refuse to wait any longer. The Court made you a simple demand. Now deliver upon it."

"My apologies, but it seems the children have put a spanner into the works. It should be remedied shortly."

"It'd better be, otherwise your neck is on the line."

Vandal scowled. The children had infiltrated the watchtower and almost half of their puppets were offline. It would be nigh impossible to retrieve the Batman now.

But he wasn't anything but a people pleaser.

He glanced over his shoulder at Klarion, nodding his head once. The witch boy grinned toothily.

"The situation is under control. Please, take a seat."

Klarion moved his index finger to the left. Three blood red, translucent chairs appeared beside each of the Owls. They took their seats gratefully.

Klarion began moving his fingers erratically. Seconds later, another boomtube appeared beside Vandal.

"See? What did I tell you. The Batman had been delivered. It's time for your side of the bargain to be fulfilled."

"Very well. One hundred million American dollars, as you requested."

Vandal took the briefcase the male Owl handed to him. They shook hands.

"Pleasure doing business. Klarion, if you may?"

Crimson cuffs secured themselves on Batman's wrists, and the Owls nodded to him. They bullied him beside his protégé, who was standing beside the female Owl with a slack look on his face.

"What of the chip inside their napes? I expect them to be removed."

Vandal gestured with his hand and Klarion pouted, but nonetheless tapped Batman's and Nughtwing's icon; the alien chip fell right out of their necks.

They slumped forwards, almost collapsing before Klarion intervened. They were now suspended a foot off the ground inside a swirling mass of red.

"The spell will release when they're out of range. Use your boomtubes and when you get through to your 'lair' or whatever, the spell'll be gone." Klarion explained reclining in mid air.

The Owls nodded. The female Owl brought out their boomtube device.

Seconds later, all five were gone.

Vandal fingered the latch on the case in his hands, before looking up at the witch boy.

"What is the status of the League?"

"Dwindling. We have only two puppets left, hardly an army. They won't last long."

"Then let's get going before they arrive. Our top priority now is to leave before the children can realise their teammate is missing, as well the Batman."

Klarion pouted again "No fair!"

"Release the last League members, witch boy. We haven't got time for this!" He snapped.

"I never get to have any fun..." He relented and released the last two members.

"Come now, Teekl." The familiar yowled and leapt onto his shoulder.

"I know, I know..." Klarion waved his hand.

A red mass appeared before the two.

"Ladies first." Vandal growled.

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

"Dammit! Where is he?!" Wally complained, tapping his foot at super speed. "We assumed he would be here just like the other mind controlled Leaguers, but we've seen everyone but him. That can't be a coincidence."

"I don't sense his mind either, he's not in the watchtower..." M'gann added.

"We must assume that both he and his mentor have been taken by the enemy for some reason-" Kaldur was cut off.

"Wait, Batman as well?" Connor interrupted "I thought we saw him earlier."

"We did, my friend. But has anyone seen him since? Or had time to administer the vaccine?"

There was silence.

"The conclusion we must draw from the enemies actions is that this was no accident. Both Nightwing and Batman have been abducted. They are not on this base and therefore could be anywhere in the world by now."

"So...Do we wait until the League wakes up?" Artemis suggested.

"That would be the wisest decision. We have no leads as of now, our knowledge of Klarion and Vandal is limited. The League will be bound to know more."

"But how long will that take? We can't just sit around on our asses for hours! They're probably getting further away as we speak-"

"We have no choice, so be quiet now, Kidflash. None of us want to do this, but we have no options left."