Encrypted voice - Bat comm channels (anybody who might have those)

[forceforlight]

[The voice that comes through is Dick in full Nightwing mode. And it isn't Nightwing asking. It's as close to an order as he'll get with family.]

[That it's not been sent only to Rook says more about how much he's holding back than anything else.]

Rook. I need you on my location, stat.

[And then, under his breath but just enough to be caught by the microphone.]

I've got you. Just hold on.

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Voice

[mostdangerousbird]

[ The comm’s mic has good filtration, but there’s a constant nnnnnyyyyeeeeommm of an engine being cranked wide open. ]

16 minutes out if I ignore all traffic laws.

[forceforlight]

[There's air on Dick's side, a hint that he's grappling somewhere. The trackers keep track of him to the nearest rooftop.]

If there's any way you could shave a few minutes off that, that'd be great.

[He knows that there's no chance of that. Curses their luck that TJ's across town.]

[There's silence for another few moments as Dick finally checks Babs over.]

Batgirl's down, Rook. I... [His voice breaks for the first time before he clears his throat.] I can't find a pulse.

[mostdangerousbird]

[ Tim sounds amazingly calm for someone who just went on mute and swore a blue streak.

The return of engine sounds and horns is audible. ]

Start CPR and don’t stop until I get there. As long as you keep it going, she’ll be fine.

[reneger]

Rook. Pull over. Now.

( not just because he knows rook's speeding down the road with dickie on deck, but also because - jason has faster means of getting places. the trackers are active, which means all it takes for jason to get from where he is to where tim's driving like a maniac is running through a checklist of points he's marked off for quick travel and stepping straight through.

which he has full intentions of doing. partially to lessen the distance between them, and partially so someone who hadn't watched babs go down will be there when tim arrives, to keep something worse from happening. )

[mostdangerousbird]

[ Central City may only be a third the size of Gotham, but that’s still over 3 million people worth of people turning left out of the right lane and grannies being in the middle of the street when the light turns red.

Rook isn’t even at the highway yet; he doesn’t have a ton of mental bandwidth to think if he doesn’t want to go splat. ]

I am not going to be too late this time.

[ This isn’t the first time he’s been in a vehicle rushing to the screen of a feared crime. This one is going to be okay. ]

[hackingyoursensors]

[ Dick sounds distant and empty but he's caught on to what Jason is suggesting. ]

He can teleport us.

[mostdangerousbird]

[ He hits the brakes easy, at first, and gets them down to 70 mph on a street designed for 40, before a god damn pedal pub decked out as the Cupid Crawl pulls into his path.

Tim cranks the pedal and handlebar brakes so hard he locks the wheels and the bike skids into a burnout that only stops an arm’s length from a building. He doesn’t dump the bike or his passenger, having gotten his foot down in time. He feels shaky as hell. ]

Still with me, Wren? I start driving again in 60 seconds if Heron isn’t here.

[hackingyoursensors]

[ Dick hangs on, though it's definitely a rough stop.

It feels wrong to stop, even if it's the most logical thing to do.

No pulse. Dying.

He feels a little colder inside. ]

I'm here. [ He doesn't exactly sound all "here." ] He won't need that long.

[reneger]

( jason had been trying not to lean on it. it didn't get him and bruce anywhere nice, but that had been more bruce's fault than his.

rook comes to a quick stop, and an alley just beyond where his bike is idling is where jason pops his head out of, red and black against dark shadows. he nods his head down the direction he'd come from, to where a shadow with wispy edges opens to another alley - just behind the building babs and dick are up on. )

[mostdangerousbird]

[ Not waiting for further information, Tim takes the shadow portal at a run.

(Hopefully not a dead run.)

As he goes past Heron, he snaps. ]

Make sure Wren’s okay.


[ Birdie’s gotten quiet. Tim will check on Dick’s tracker once he’s clear. ]

[reneger]

( he'll check on wren. in a moment though, because as tim runs passed, jason's reaching out to grab onto him. not hard, just--wrapping fingers around his wrist long enough to delay his takeoff. )

You know what she'd hate worse than dying? You, dying in her place. Remember that.

( and then his grip's loosening, attention turning to wren for the moment. he'll follow through, keep an eye on tim, dick, and babs. but they've got a kid tagging along with them to be mindful of first. )

[hackingyoursensors]

[ 'Make sure Wren's okay'? He's fine, he's not the one dying.

A small part of him doesn't want to walk through the portal and make it real. But he knows it is, no matter what he does. The least he can do is be there. For whatever good it will do.

He starts toward the portal. ]

Let's go.

[forceforlight]

[Well, at least one of them is calm. Not that Dick isn't doing an admirable job of faking it for the moment.]

Right. Right, of course.

Listen to Heron. He can get you here faster.

[mostdangerousbird]

I. Will listen to Heron. When he reads me into how it works so I can come up with an optimized plan for moments. Like. This.

[ Through gritted teeth because he is trying to get through the next 15 minutes of their lives. ]