You woke up with your head pounding. You tried to move your hand to hold your hurting head but you quickly realized that your hands were tied. You were currently sitting in a chair as far as you were aware, your hands were tied behind your back, and your legs were tied to the legs of your chair. The room was pitch black wich didn't help your pounding heart and nervous shaking.
You closed your eyes and focused on breathing, reminding yourself that Batman was most likely looking for you. And if not Batman, maybe Nightwing or even Robin. The point was someone was coming for you. You were going to be alright. You repeated this to yourself over and over again in attempts to calm down. And it worked, for the most part, you got your heart to calm down a little bit and besides your terrible headache, you were thinking clearly.
'Ok, I'm not hurt besides my shoulder,' you thought to yourself, 'I'm gonna be fine, all I've gotta do is get myself out of here, I can do this,' You weren't entirely sure what to do so you felt around the gloves of your costume, you thought you might find a secret compartment containing a blade or something you could use to free yourself.
Before you were able to find anything, blinding fluorescent lights flickered on. You were forced to close your eyes at first and your headache only worsened with light. When you finally brought yourself to open your eyes again you looked around to see that you were in a small room. The walls were made of concrete and filthy, you weren't sure what was on the walls but you didn't really want to know.
In front of you stood a muscular man wearing a costume not too dissimilar from your own. The basic idea was the same, he had a big suit with padding. The only difference was the fact he had a large red symbol on his chest along with a brown leather jacket. He was wearing a mask similar to yours but there was a red helmet tucked under his arm that looked like it would cover his entire face. He had Black hair with a distinct white streak in the front. Even with the white streak he still looked relatively young, you guessed he was around the same age as Dick if not younger.
"Welcome back to the land of the living,"
"Who the fuck are you?" You asked trying to sound tough.
"Don't worry I'm not gonna do anything to you," he said walking behind you, "I just needed to get the Bat's attention,"
"That's not what I asked,"
"I know," The man said, crouching behind the chair. "But I thought I'd ease your mind, people are typically scared when they get kidnapped,"
"Wow, what an astounding observation," You said, "did you base your research off your other kidnap victims?"
"Believe it or not you're the first one," He said cutting your hands free. "It seems like I'm really good at it though,"
Once your hands were free you reached for your utility belt and found that it wasn't there. "What'd you do with my utility belt?" you asked as the man started to cut your legs free.
"You underestimate me," He said acting offended, "I know better than anyone, you don't kidnap a vigilante in this city without taking away their utility belt. I can't have the Bat finding you before it's time,"
"Why're you cutting me free then?" you asked,
"I'm letting you go because I don't wanna make a bad first impression," he said cutting the last tie, "clearly you're new in town and the kidnapping was nothing personal, it's really more about getting the Bat's attention. You're just the poor sap he happened to be traveling with tonight."
"Really great first impression," You said standing up, you wobbled a little bit but your captor helped steady you.
Once you were standing fine by yourself the man held out his hand to you, "I'm Redhood,"
"You come up with that name yourself?"
"Oh? What do you call yourself then?" He said crossing his arms, he stood in front of the door blocking the only visible exit.
"I don't have myself a name yet," you said, also crossing your arms, "didn't really intend on doing this whole vigilante thing before today,"
Redhood raised an eyebrow, "How the hell did bats allow that?"
"I beat him in a fencing match,"
"That's impressive," He said, "but not patrol worthy,"
"Well if your whole intent was to lure Batman to you, you'll just have to ask him about it when he gets here,"
"I guess I will," he said thoughtfully before stepping out of the way of the door and holding an arm out to usher you into the larger room beyond. "Until then, welcome to my humble abode,"
You hesitantly walked out of the room into a larger warehouse. There wasn't much to the warehouse beside a large computer similar to the one in the Batcave that sat to the left of the room, although you suspected that the ladder to the right of the room lead somewhere more interesting. Redhood followed you out of the room and headed towards the large computer. You casually walked over to what looked like a door and quietly tried to open it, only to be disappointed when it refused to open.
"Oh come on," Redhood said swiveling in his chair to face you, "you didn't think I'd lock the doors?"
"I had to try," you said, a little embarrassed that you'd gotten caught.
"Well I was going to ask if you were hungry but now I don't think I will," He said turning back to the computer, "I'll just have to order two burgers for myself,"
"I'll have to employ my master thieving skills then," you joked as you walked towards the ladder at the right end of the warehouse. When Redhood didn't seem to mind you messing with the ladder you climbed up it. At the top of the ladder was a small platform and a door that swung open when you tugged at it.
Through the door, you found what you assumed to be Redhood's bedroom. It was remarkably neat, the bed was made and nothing seemed out of place. Then you turned to your left. Your eyes went wide as you stared at the wall. It was covered in guns, everything from pistols to grenade launcher hung on the wall behind glass.
You walked up to the glass and tried to determine the thickness of it. After pressing your face against the glass you determined that the glass was at least an inch thick. You tried to determine whether or not you could break the glass and you searched your costume for any secret compartments that might contain helpful tools.
You did end up finding a small knife in a compartment on your wrist. You almost chuckled when you found it, this would've been much more useful earlier. But you weren't too keen on staying here longer than you had to so you crouched near the corner of the glass and tried to cut away at it. The blade scratched at the glass but nothing more, you knew that it would be almost impossible to get through the glass like this so you started to look around the room more.
There was no lock on the door as far as you could see so you pushed a dresser in front of the door to prevent Redhood from getting in sooner than you wanted him to. After tearing the room apart you found a pistol under the bed. 'Ok this is progress, I could use this to leverage my way out I don't actually have to use it," You looked into the chamber to see that the pistol didn't have any bullets, 'not ideal but hey, I can still use it,' you slid the gun down the back of your costume and prayed that the padding would cover it up.
You then proceeded to try and tidy up the room and managed to return it to its original state. More or less. There was definitely evidence that you'd been here but nothing major. You were just about to move the dresser when you hear Redhood call out "Hey! No name! Food's here you hungry?"
You could hear him coming up the ladder. You were a little hungry but at the same time you hesitated to move the dresser, you felt safer here. Even with the wall of guns, you felt better knowing nobody else could access them. But in the end, you decided it was best not to piss off your captor because he probably had weapons in multiple places in his hideout. And he could also probably break the door down anyways.
Redhood walked into the room with two paper bags, he tossed you one, and inside you found a burger and fries. "Admiring the cavalry?"
"Not much else to admire in this place," you said eating some fries,
"It's a new hideout, what can I say," He said taking a bite of his burger and sitting down on the bed, "can't be having Bats wrecking a furnished hideout,"
"You've got more than one of these places?" You said between bites, " where do you get the money," You regretted asking that question the second it left your lips. You realized you were asking this to a man who clearly had no problem kidnapping people.
"I have my ways," he said, "when you do what I do for long enough eventually you wrack up a couple favors,"
You weren't keen on knowing what he did for a living so you sat silently and ate your food. Once you were done you just kinda sat there, not really sure what to do with yourself. You thought about what to do, you thought about straight-up attacking Redhood but you didn't think that'd be a very good idea. Maybe though if you could hit him with the butt of the pistol hard enough you could knock him out. Or piss him off really bad. Again pissing him off didn't sound like a good idea, especially after the discovery of "the cavalry" as he called it.
At this point, you weren't sure if that was a risk you were willing to take or not. He was friendly enough right now but at the same time, he did kidnap you. He was waiting for Batman right? Batman was more than capable of helping you. But what if he planned on killing you before Batman could help? An arch enemy kind of situation, killing off Batman's new sidekick right in front of him. You knew this was a possibility but something deep inside you told you this wasn't his plan, so you put that idea aside and tried to think a way out of this place. Then you noticed Redhood wasn't wearing his jacket anymore and he hadn't walked in with his helmet. You thought maybe those items might be of some use.
So you slipped out of the room while Redhood wasn't paying attention and climbed down the ladder as silently as you could. You paused at the bottom to see if Redhood was following you. After determining that he wasn't you crept over to the computer. Sure enough, you found both the jacket and the helmet on the chair. You didn't find anything in the jacket so you put the helmet on. Unfortunately, the helmet didn't do anything more than your own mask so you set it back down on the chair and turned to the computer.
This computer was smaller than the one in the Batcave but it was still really big. It seemed like it was unlocked so you grabbed the mouse and clicked on a folder labeled security, hoping it might unlock the door somehow. Instead of files popping up when you clicked on the folder it asked for a password. You decided to try a couple. At this point, you didn't really care if you got it correct or not. The fact that there was a minuscule chance of getting away fueled your random guesses. You tried almost anything, including smashing the keyboard a couple of times. Nothing was working.
You were so focused on this you didn't hear the footsteps behind you. Arms wrapped around your waist and you started to kick and scream. "Sorry no name but the Bats is almost here and I've gotta hide you," Redhood's explanation did not detur you.
"Let go of me!!" You yelled desperately fighting against your captor. Then you remembered something. You slipped the knife out of its compartment and stabbed Redhood's hand. You didn't stab as hard as you could in fear of stabbing your own stomach but it was enough. Redhood yelped with a mix of pain and surprise.
"Where'd you get a fucking knife?" He yelled letting go of you.
You didn't respond but stood across from him with your knife in hand. You didn't really want to fight but at this point, you didn't have much of a choice so you stood your ground. Redhood held his hand and looked at you, letting out a sigh.
"Look I really don't want to fight you. If Bats finds a single bruise on you he'll beat me to pulp any time I show my face in Gotham and I really don't need that right now,"
"You shouldn't have kidnapped me then,"
Redhood sighed again, he sounded tired. "Ok, you wanna fight? Let's fight," Redhood lunged towards you, grabbing the arm you held the knife in. You tried to wrestle him off but to no avail. He got a firm grasp of your wrist with one hand and pinned your arm to your side with the other. He twisted your wrist until pain forced you to drop the knife. "There, now we're even," His head was next to your shoulder and he was almost whispering into your ear. His voice was smug and you knew there was a self-satisfied grin on his face despite not being able to see it.
You violently swung at him with your limited mobility. Managing to free the hand that previously held the knife and hitting Redhood in the head. This didn't seem to bother him much, he just let out a small grunt before pinning both of your arms to your side in what you could best describe as a hug. You tried kicking him but you only managed to kick his shins a couple times.
You then resorted to trying to grab one of Redhood's arms and flip him over your shoulder. None of your attempts were successful due too the fact Redhood was currently dragging you towards the room you'd woken up in earlier. "Oh fuck no," you mumbled, getting more and more desperate to escape, "I am not waiting in there until Batman arrives,"
"Well seeing as though I'm still standing I think you are," Redhood sounded very pleased with himself so you tried a new strategy. You went completely limp, imitating a sack of potatoes as best as you could.
For just a second Redhood lost his grip and you made your escape. Making a mad dash for the ladder with Redhood hot on your heels. When you managed to get to the ladder Redhood grabbed your ankles and tried to pull you off but you kept a tight grip on the ladder, eventually managing to kick him off.
You got to the top fo the ladder and made sure to kick at Redhood to slow him down before going through the door. Once you were inside you heald the door closed with all your weight knowing full well you didn't have time to move the dresser. Sure enough, mere seconds after you'd gotten into the room Redhood was banging on the door.
"Ok, you're a lucky fighter!" He yelled through the door, "You beat me! Good job! Now open the door!"
"Like hell!" You yelled back, "you're just gonna throw me back in that room!"
"I won't I promise!" Redhood stopped banging on the door,
"You're a shitty liar! I'm not letting you in!"
"I really didn't want to break this door but you give me no choice!" You prepared for the blow to the door but instead of a loud thud, you hear a soft "tak" noise outside you heard Redghood say a distinct "well shit," before glass shattering.
You pressed your ear close to the door in an attempt to figure out what was happening. "Where are they?" you breathed a sigh of relief when you heard Bruce's modulated voice.
Even though you were pretty sure you were safe you sill took this opportunity to barricade the door with the dresser, discarding the pistol you'd hidden in your costume in the process. After your barricade was in place you tied your best to listen to what was happening outside. Batman didn't say much at all but Redhood was more talkative, mainly just egging Batman on but he did say something that piqued your interest.
"Didn't think you'd use a newbie as bait Bats, I mean I knew you were cold to your apprentices but damn. Kidnapped on the first day, that's rough,"
"Robin would've fought you off too quickly," You heard Bruce's distinct voice say, "I had to," your heart sank. You'd been used as bait, did he really think so little of you? Was all of that before just to butter you up? Did he even actually care?
"And what if it hadn't been me? What if it had been Joker? Then what?" Redhood's voice wasn't mocking Bruce anymore he was rubbing salt in the wound. Clearly, that last line stuck and now Redhood was taking advantage of it.
"I would've taken care of it,"
"Oh? Like you took care of it with me?" Redhood sounded like he was getting beat up pretty bad, desperately trying to distract Bruce enough to get a good hit in. "Like when you 'took care of it' by bringing my body home in a casket?"
"It wouldn't have ended like that,"
"Oh really? Then you were planning on it that time?" Right after Redhood said this you heard him take a punch, he was not winning this fight.
"I'm done with this Jason, where are they?" Bruce sounded serious to the point it was almost scary, "Last chance,"
"You can't treat me like a kid anymore Bruce!" Redhood didn't have his usual mocking tone anymore. His voice sounded desperate and he was clearly just trying to see what stuck. but he was unsuccessful, because right after he yelled that at Bruce you heard a loud thud that you assumed to be Redhood's body hitting the wall.
You moved the dresser out of the way and slowly opened the door. Stepping onto the platform you saw Bruce standing over an unconscious Redhood, he picked him up and slung him over his shoulder. He then walked over to the computer, setting Redhood down on the chair before doing something with the computer. You sat on the platform, swinging your legs back and forth over the edge.
"Forgetting something?" You asked, a little upset at the fact he didn't start looking for you after the big show he made of things.
"Are you hurt?" Bruce didn't turn around, he kept at whatever he was doing at the computer.
"I'm glad you care so much,"
"I do care (Y/N) I just have more pressing issues at the moment,"
"More pressing? I'm not one to be overdramatic at times like these but, pray tell, what's more pressing than comforting the lover that you used as bait for a kidnapping?"
"It was a necessary move,"
"And you couldn't have told me? Don't you think that's something I would've liked to know?" You asked getting more annoyed with every word that came out of Bruce's mouth, "you even went so far as to tell me that nothing bad would happen when you knew exactly what was going to go down!"
"I couldn't know if Redhood was listening or not, I didn't want to take the chance,"
"Oh, so you couldn't risk Redhood hearing your plans but you could betray my trust," You said, "good to know,"
"That's wasn't my intention,"
"Well, you accomplished it none the less," you started climbing down the ladder, "What's so important that the only option was me getting kidnapped anyway?"
"Drug trade,"
You walked over to the computer with your arms crossed, "glad I could help,"
Bruce took a thumb drive from the computer and put it into his utility belt. "And you did help a lot, thank you."
"Maybe next time you could employ your detective skills instead of using me as bait," You were a bit calmer now that you were face to face with Bruce, "That was really fucking scary,"
There was a long bought of silence as you and Bruce stood together. "I'm sorry," Bruce said, but not with that stupid voice modulator on, it was actually Bruce. "This was a lot and I should've told you,"
"Damn right," You said pulling Bruce into a tight hug. You were having a real shit time lately and all those emotions we starting to well up, so you cried on Bruce's shoulder as you hugged. It actually felt pretty good to cry, you would've preferred somewhere other than a warehouse, but hey, who were you to judge.
"Are you ready to go home?" Bruce asked after a minute.
"Yeah, that'd be nice," You said wiping your eyes.