//------------------------------// // Chapter 10 // Story: The Red Hood // by MorpheustheDream //------------------------------// ~~DG~~ I don't know how long it normally takes to get to Camp Everfree, but from the sun's position in the sky currently, I would hazard a guess and say that it's about 4 or 5 PM. And we left the city of Canterlot around 2:30 PM. Which means that we have about a few more hours before it'll be completely dark, which will make it quite difficult if we're to find anything in the lake. But in the end, we eventually made it to Camp Everfree. After giving the two owners of the camp quite a scare and calming them down, they offered to let us use a boat to go near the center of the lake. And since I didn't have any form of diving gear or anything on me, the closest thing to that would be Jason's helmet. While it'll give him more time to take a look down there without having to come back up for air, it'll more than likely take a couple dives to find anything down there. We both agreed that he would be the one to dive, while I would stay above and in the boat and be on lookout duty in case someone decides to be a little snoopy. After we got everything set up and agreed, he left his weapons and ammo for his guns on the boat with me as I waved to Jason as I watched him lean back and out of the boat, disappearing beneath the water, leaving me alone on the surface and enjoying the sounds of the forest and animals around me. Being in a city for what seems like most of my life, I forgot just how wonderful nature could be. It just seemed too peaceful to be in the same world I grew up in. Everything living in harmony, and working together. I leaned against the side of the boat, but not leaning too much to tip it over as I saw groups of fish swimming around and underneath the boat. Several feet away from the boat, there were some ducks swimming along the surface of the water as I watched the ripples their padded feet were making. Above in the sky, there were small groups of robins, bluejays, and many more groups of birds that were flying around near the edge of the lake and about the treelines. There were also dragonflies and butterflies flying around near me and the soft waves created by the boat and nearby animals. A few seconds later, the water broke and out appeared Jason with his outfit completely wet, with water dripping down his red helmet as the water and sunset cast a reflective light off of it. "Hey Dick, you got a flashlight I can use real quick? I think I found something down there, but I need something to cast a better light down there." I went down to my utility belt, and grabbed a flashlight and tossed it to him. "There you go Jay. And don't keep it down there for too long. It may be waterproof, but that doesn't mean it's immune to water." Knowing him, he probably rolled his eyes under that helmet of his. "I may be stupid at times, but I'm not that stupid. I'll be back in a few more minutes, and maybe I can get a few pictures to show you what I found when we get back to the city." He replied back, turning on the flashlight to made sure it worked before disappearing back under the water and out of sight again. ~~JT~~ What I told Dick wasn't a lie. I did find something down here, and it didn't belong here, or any body of water for that matter. With what little light I had down here before I went to get the flashlight I have now, I could barely make out what looked like a group of cloth covered items. Now that I had the light in my hand, it gave me better vision for what I was looking for. As I made my way to where I saw the things I mentioned, I brought the flashlight up beside my head as I made my way closer to the spot I found them at. When I finally swam up to them, it was safe to say I was slightly sickened and disgusted at the sight. I was right when the items were covered in cloth, all the way down to the bottom to be exact. But that was the first couple I saw. The rest after that were uncovered bodies, rotted away as the skin was torn apart at places. Looking down to their legs, I saw them tied down at the ankles with metal chains wrapping around them and their legs, attached to a concrete block. And the number of bodies I saw, they were all around me. "Holy fuck..." I muttered to myself, as I swam closer to the bodies, inspecting them as I tried to make out some of them. With what little facial features that were left on some them, I could make out faces that I recall being on the 'Missing Person's' list on the Canterlot Police Department website. Plus some of the bodies seemed brand new, with little to no decomposition like they were dumped here a few days ago at least. "Well, they're not missing anymore. And it'll turn into a murder investigation as soon as I get back to Canterlot and give these to Shining Armor." I said to myself, bringing the Flashlight up again and using the built-in camera in my helmet to snap several photos of the corpses. When I felt that I had enough to help start the investigation for the CPD, I swam back up to the surface and towards the boat. When I broke through the water's surface, I lifted myself back onto the boat and handed Dick his flashlight back, ignoring the fact that I was completely soaked from head to toe as I put my ammunition and weapons away. "I found what Thorax said to us. There are bodies down there, and a lot of them. Most, if not all of them are the missing people that have disappeared from Canterlot." Dick nodded his head slightly after turning off the light and putting it away. "Let's get back to shore and back to Canterlot then. When we get this info to the police, I'm more than certain that the families of those people will be happy to have some closure to know what happened to their loved ones." He grabbed the oars and started bringing us back to the docks where we got the boat from. I draped an arm over the edge of the boat and let my gloved hand run against the surface of the water, leaving a trail of ripples to follow as my hand glided past. I let it remain there for the next couple of minutes as until we arrived back at the dock. When we were next to it, I swiftly hoped out of the boat and dragged it next to a nearby wooden pole to tie the boat to it. Afterward, I helped Dick out of the boat and thanked Gloriosa for letting us borrow the boat. "It was of no issue. I just hope you two found whatever it was you were looking for." She replied with a chipper smile on her face. To be honest, that smile of hers creeped me out slightly, but it didn't do much besides that. "We did, and thanks again. You and your brother have a wonderful night." I replied back to her, walking away with Dick in tow towards the vehicles we used to get here that was on the outskirts of the camp. ~~3rd~~ Jason and Dick, having decided to get back to the city as quickly as they could, took a shortcut through the forest towards their vehicles. Jason was a little suspicious with how quiet things around them were. Almost like something was going on that they didn't know about, or they were about to get attacked. Either way, he kept himself on alert in case something did happen. As the two of them were about halfway to their destination, Dick saw a small white light in the distance that looked out of place several dozen meters ahead of them, as if what remained of the sunlight was reflecting off of something metal. By the time he realized what it was that the sun was reflecting off of, he barely managed to grab Jason and pull him down to the ground beside him as the sound of gunfire rang throughout the air. "Get going, now! Spread out and surround whoever's firing at us!" Dick yelled at Jason, rolling to his left until he was behind a tree. Dick got onto his feet and brought his Eskrima sticks and looked to his right, noticing Jason on his feet with two of his pistols out and in front of his chest. The two looked at one another and nodded to each other, both of them running around their respective trees as Jason draws the attention of the gunman by firing at him, keeping his attention off of Dick as he runs in an outward arc, trying to flank the gunman to ambush him. In less than five seconds, Dick had rushed up to the gunman's position, only to find the rifle having been discarded. He saw Jason run up beside him, still holding his weapons as he looks for the one responsible. "Where'd the bastard go?" Jason asked before a blinding light blinded him and Dick from underneath them. They were both a bit careless, not noticing the flashbang beneath them before it went off. The two tried to get rid of the blinding white light in their vision, and remove any form of disorientation they had because of it, only to both be knocked off their feet with a swift kick to their chests. "Either you two aren't actually part of the Bat Clan, or you both are really off your game. I'll get paid either way." Said a somewhat muffled voice above the two of them. As their vision returned, they looked up and saw a heavily armored man, with a mixture of mostly black and a bit of orange on his outfit, as his mask was black on the right half and orange on the other half with an eyehole on the left side of his mask standing above them, holding a sword to Jason's neck and a pistol aimed at Dick's chest. Both Jason and Dick remained still, gathering themselves before they even attempted to attack Wilson. "What are you doing here Deathstroke? Last either of us checked, there wasn't a price on any of our heads." Dick asked, and getting a swift response from him. "Then your information is outdated Nightwing. Whatever Red Hood is doing in Canterlot, it's got someone quite upset that they're willing to go far enough to hire me to take him out." Jason smirked underneath his mask, knowing fully well who would hire Deathstroke to go after him. "Well, I guess you're gonna be sorely disappointed then because I don't plan on dying just yet Wilson," Jason replied, knocking Deathstroke's sword away from his neck as he sweeps his leg underneath Deathstroke's, knocking him onto his back. As he falls to the ground, Jason grabs his guns and Dick grabs his Eskrima Sticks from the ground, just as Deathstroke kickflips onto his feet, quickly holstering his own gun as he grabs his other sword to defend himself in a second. Jason starts firing at Deathstroke, who dodges and deflects the bullets with one of his swords, using the other one to swing towards Jason's chest, but finds his swing stopped as Dick uses one of his weapons to stop his sword in place. Using the stopping of his weapon to his advantage, Nightwing uses the momentum to swing around in front of Deathstroke and land a kick to the side of his head, only for Deathstroke to duck underneath his kick and knock Dick down onto the ground. Deathstroke lifts one of his swords and tries to impale Dick with it, but doesn't get far as Jason rams himself into Deathstroke, knocking them both onto the ground. Jason uses his fists while on top of Deathstroke and slams them into his mask. Jason gets a few hits in before Deathstroke grabs Jason's head and headbutts him hard, causing Jason to grab his head in pain with Deathstroke pushing him off of him. As Jason shakes his head to get rid of the pain, Nightwing stands beside him along with tossing Jason his pistols. Jason catches and holsters them, pulling out a combat knife to help him out since it looks like that this would be turning into a close-quarters brawl between the three of them. Jason rushed towards Deathstroke, ducking underneath one of his swords that was aimed for his chest. He then swiped the knife in an upward motion, slicing into Deathstroke's armor before having to sidestep another slash attempt from his opponent. Dick smashed the end of his Eskrima sticks into Deathstroke's hand, electrocuting him until he dropped the sword onto the ground. As it fell to the ground, Deathstroke spun around, switching the remaining sword into his other hand as he kicked Jason in the chest, and sliced the edge of the sword into Dick's left arm causing him to grunt in pain as blood seeped out of the fresh wound and onto his suit. Jason regained his balance and rushed at Deathstroke again, picking up the dropped sword from the ground and shoulder charged into Deathstroke, slamming his back against a nearby tree. Using the sword he picked up from the ground, he used it to hold his opponents away from them, locking it in place as he tried to shove the combat knife into Deathstroke's chest, only to be stopped by his free hand as the edge of the blade was centimetres from breaching through his armor. The two stayed in the locked state, glaring at each other before Deathstroke headbutted Jason, knocking him back from the impact and cracking both of their helmets slightly. And with the now open space between the two, Dick jumped over Jason and resumed combat with Deathstroke. Electricity flowed through Dick's weapons as small sparks flowed across Deathstroke's sword each time they came into contact with one another. And there was no sign of slowing down from Deathstroke as he blocked and avoided each attack with ease. When Dick tried to hit him with an overhead attack, Deathstroke caught his wrist and kneed him in the chest, knocking the wind out of Dick as he dropped to a knee to catch his breath. But just as Deathstroke was about to put Dick out of commision, Jason shot at Deathstroke, hitting him in his chest as the bullet left a dent in his armor. Deathstroke charged at Jason and slashing at his chest once again, but Jason was quick to respond as he held up the stolen sword and parried his attack, and thrusted the blade at him. Deathstroke side stepped, and yanked Jason's combat knife from it's holster, and flipped it around in his hand to where he was holding it reverse style. Jason widened his eyes as he saw Dick run up behind him, but was too slow to stop Deathstroke as he buried the knife into Dick's stomach. "No!" Jason cried out in anger, fighting Deathstroke with renewed anger as Dick dropped to the ground, struggling to pull the knife out of his stomach. It didn't help that his body was going into shock as well as his own blood dripping down onto the knife, making a puddle beneath him. When it was 2 on 1, they had a chance against him. But now that Dick was out of commission, it began to turn one sided, favoring Deathstroke. Jason immediately began losing ground as he was put on the defensive. Knowing he likely wouldn't win at this rate, he tried to make as much distance as possible to try and begin transferring the images and data he got a while ago onto his personal, smaller version of the batcomputer in the basement of his house, that way he could get all of it to Captain Armor later on while he dealt with his current situation, and what ever would come afterwards. It took about a minute for him to finish transferring everything and deleting everything involving the lake from his helmets databases, before noticing he made it to one of the nearby roads that lead in and out of Camp Everfree alongside sirens out in the distance, likely heading here after the two people who ran the camp probably called the police after hearing the gunfire from the woods. "There's no point in running Hood. I'll catch you eventually, and your only source of help has been taken out of commision. And no matter what you try to do, you can never beat me." Deathstroke told Jason as he stepped out of the forest and onto the road alongside him, still holding his sword as it was pointed towards Jason. "That may be so, but you do realize you'll be put back on Batman's radar having injured Nightwing and capturing me," Jason retorted back to him, bringing the taken sword up into a defensive stance in front of him as the two of them walked around in a circle, staring each other down behind their masks. "I'll deal with the Bat later on when the time comes. But for now, I'm only focused on capturing you." Deathstroke replied, rushing towards Jason as the two began combat once again. Jason was immediately put on the defensive, blocking and parrying most of Deathstroke's attacks. But several strikes and attacks did make it through Jason's defense, including a slash across his chest that cut through the armor, and having his mask crack even more. The damage being done to it was resulting in several visual glitches for Jason, making parts of his vision go completely dark, impairing him and lessening his chances of victory against Deathstroke. At this rate, Jason was fighting on pure adrenaline, fighting through the pain as he waited for the police to arrive, or for Dick to come in and give him some kind of assistance. And speaking of the police, he began to see the faint red and blue lights through the thick foliage of leaves, trees and fallen branches. Jason would've smirked, but the slight distraction was enough for Deathstroke to kick the back of Jason's legs, knocking him off balance. As Jason moved to rebalance himself, Deathstroke elbowed Jason in the gut, took the sword from Jason's hands and shoulder tackled him into the ground. The sudden impact dazed Jason, but then groaned in pain when he felt Deathstroke grab the front of his helmet, and begin smashing it down onto the pavement below him. The last thing Jason heard as he failed to stop Deathstroke from continuing the beating as he slipped into unconciousness was the sound of Dick calling out his name from the headset inside of his helmet before darkness overtook him.