"Dick, I'm starting to get worried. If you don't answer me, I'm gonna send out a search party."

This had been the fifth voicemail Barbara had left the acrobat when he failed to come home after going for a morning run a few hours ago. She knew he could get distracted on his runs and sometimes ran for longer when he was working on a case or simply needed to clear his mind but this was ridiculous. He would've called her by now if he knew he was going to be late. He'd been getting better at that when she pointed out he was living with another person now who didn't know whatever schedule his brain made up. Something had happened, she knew it, but she hadn't got a call for ransom yet or heard about a call for one. She didn't want to get others involved, mostly because she didn't want to make a big deal out of something little in case it was Dick being forgetful. Barbara glanced at the clock and then glanced at the time on her phone as though that would be different. 

When Barbara explained her anxiety surrounding him disappearing, he'd given her permission to track his phone if she couldn't get a hold of him. She'd been hesitant to check since it felt like a breach of both trust and privacy but she couldn't stand the radio silence anymore. She wheeled over to her computer and quickly booted up the tracking programme, tapping her finger nervously against the desk as she waited for it. When it was done loading, she typed in Dick's phone number and waited for it to do its magic. The entire time, her eyes were glued to the phone beside her just waiting for the call that would render this activity pointless. He couldn't just disappear. Sure he'd "disappeared" before when he was a teenager but then he popped up again shortly after as either working with the Teen Titans or as Nightwing. Barbara knew the signs though and he'd been fine. He wouldn't run away, especially without any of his clothes including his suit. A beep brought her attention away from the phone and to the computer screen. 

A red dot sat in the middle of nowhere. 

It was miles away, on the border of Bludhaven, and although there'd been enough time for Dick to get there whilst suited there was no way he was getting there as a civilian. It also wasn't anywhere near his usual run. On the rare occasion, she simply got too anxious after one call going to voicemail, she'd tracked his phone and watched him run his route. She admitted to tracking him after and he tried to reassure her that he always took the same route so he wouldn't stray far. This location was on the opposite side of the city. It wasn't moving either. If he was still on his run then it would be slowly moving around the map. Everything about this screamed that something was very wrong. She chewed her bottom lip as she contemplated who to call. Who would freak out the least?

"This better be something good," Jason answered. He didn't sound like he was in the middle of anything physical so she got the idea that he was just being his usual coarse self rather than actually doing something. Good, she wouldn't feel too bad pulling him away and he didn't have an excuse to deny helping her.

"Dick is missing and I've tracked his phone. I think he might've been kidnapped but they've not called for ransom yet," she replied. 

"Why don't you get demon brat to go? The kid goes nutso whenever bird brain gets in trouble."

"Because I think he would appreciate some-" She was cut off by another call coming through. Taking the phone away from her ear, she was addressed with an unknown number. She quickly accepted the call since it didn't take a genius to figure out it was likely the kidnappers trying to get a hold of her. Although, she found it interesting that they hadn't called Bruce. "Hello?"

"Hi, is this the commissioner's daughter?" They could've at least learned her name.

"It is. Who's this?"

"That's not important but we do have something of yours I'm sure you'd like back. What we're going to do is give him back if you're able to get three people your father wrongfully imprisoned set free."

"And if I don't?"

"Boys, do you wanna give her a taste of what'll happen to her boyfriend?" There's a pause and some rustling before a broken scream rings out. Her blood ran cold as she recognised it immediately to be Dick's. He didn't scream that easily so she could only assume they'd broken something. She swallowed the bile that climbed up her throat and composed herself. "Now I'll give you three names. Do you wanna get a pen?"

"I've got one already," she bit out. She didn't because she had no intention of getting her father involved when she had a whole family of people who use punching criminals as a coping mechanism. 

"Penny Night. Valorie Lynx. David Smith. Got all that?" 

"Every word."

"Good. And just a reminder if they aren't let out in two hours." There was a pause and another bloodcurdling scream. "We'll have him packed up and ready to go in waiting." The line went dead.

As soon as it did, she called Jason back. It was telling that he picked up immediately but she didn't make a comment about it. 

"Update, I've been given the ransom. They want some people released but they've already started hurting him. I'll send you the location but don't proceed without my say-so. I want you suited up with the others in ten minutes, can you do that?" She didn't really leave him with much room to argue but she highly doubted he'd say no once he heard Dick was already hurt. 

"Didn't think I have plans?" Jason asked although she could tell by the shuffling that he was already getting ready to leave. "You calling the terror twosome or am I?"

"I'll do it." She hung up abruptly and started a group call with Tim and Damian. As soon as they answered, she started talking so they didn't have time to start bickering. "Dick has been kidnapped, the current status is injured but I don't know to what extent. I'm going to send you both a location and I want you ready in ten minutes. You'll meet Jason and investigate when I say. Not a word to Bruce."

"Why can't we tell Bruce?" Tim asked.

"You guys will freak out the least. Any other questions?" She was met with silence. "Good. Talk when you're there."

Everything went as normal as any kidnapping rescue could go. They took the criminals by surprise, had Oracle in their ears the whole time, and got it all done in less than half an hour. The only problem was they had no idea where Dick was. Whilst the tracker was accurate enough to tell them what building he was in, it wasn't accurate enough to tell them what room he was in. So they spent a few minutes running around and sticking their heads in random rooms yet there was no luck. 

"You sure he's here?" Red Hood asked after finding another empty room.

"I'm sure. His tracker hasn't moved since the ransom call," she replied. "He's got to be somewhere. Try calling for him, he might be gagged but you should hear something."

"Grayson! Where are you?" Robin bellowed down the hall. They fell into silence. Nothing. 

They walked further down the hall and tried again. 

Nothing.

By chance, Red Robin popped his head into a room and found something odd enough to catch his eye. In the middle of the room was a singular suitcase and nothing more. He was about to move on when he heard a soft groan come from it. It sounded wheezy as though it took a lot of effort to make such a small noise. His blood ran cold and the colour drained from his face. 

"Dick?" he called out, his voice cracking. Another groan but had he not been in the room, he wouldn't have heard it but he was in the room. "Guys, I think I found him." 

"Oh? Where is he?" Red Hood asked. When he felt two people standing behind him, Red Robin reached out and pointed to the suitcase. "No."

"Is it possible?" Robin muttered. A whimper confirmed it. 

"What? What is it?" Oracle asked. 

"Babs, they've put him in a suitcase."

It was almost like the opening scene from a snuff movie when saw the suitcase knowing there was a person inside of it. Surely it was far too small for their big brother to fit into. There was no possible way the faded screaming had been coming from something so tiny and unassuming. The way the sides bulged and how its contents breathed heavily. There couldn't be much air inside there. 

Dick always used his flexibility to prank them. He'd cram himself into impossible places then jump out at them to gain a good scream. They'd found him in deep drawers, cabinets, and even a few air vents in their time. He was a performer by nature and liked to show off his flexibility. It was something none of the others could do partially because they didn't have the condition he had that made his joints extra malleable and they hadn't been born into a circus that trained them to hone those skills since they were old enough to walk. 

Seeing his flexibility be pushed to its absolute limit and far past that if the small but growing pool of red seeped out from beneath the suitcase was anything to go by was something out of their nightmares. Something he'd been so proud of now leading him to be so mangled felt darkly comedic. Maybe the people who grabbed him had a sense of humour. 

Jason was the one to finally reach out and tip the suitcase over, gaining a grunt from the hero inside it. The suitcase had been facing down, making it so that the metal bars that made up the structure and handle were weighing on him. He pulled on the zipper quickly and pulled back the fabric to find a sight that made his stomach churn. In fact, he heard Tim gag behind him.

Dick was well and truly stuffed in the suitcase. There was no way he would've been put in there whilst conscious because he wouldn't have let his body be smushed in this position. His knees were up against his collarbones and his arms looked like they'd been taken out of their sockets so that they could wrap around his calves without bulking out the suitcase too much. The blood, they realised, was coming from his snapped fingers and broken ankles that had been pushed back too far so his toes touched his shins. His head was tucked in the small space above his knees and faced towards the zip perhaps in a desperate attempt to suck in as much fresh air as possible. His lips were tinged slightly blue from his lungs being unable to function in such a cramped area with such little oxygen. They wondered how many tries it took for him to make the small noises that caught their attention.

When the shock of seeing him wore off, Jason turned around to his brothers in a silent plea for help knowing he couldn't do this on his own without making it hurt more. They nodded and rushed over to carefully pull the acrobat out of the cramped suitcase. They did their best not to gag at feeling the joints crack and creak underneath their grip, the muscles spasm beneath the skin and how similar it all looked to unfurling a spider after it had death curled. Dick whimpered and groaned as they pulled him out to lie on the floor but clearly he was too out of it to react much more. How long was he in there? Was it possible that the moment the phone was hung up that they stuffed him inside? 

"We need an ambulance," Red Hood said, finally breaking the quiet that was previously only filled with rattles from the acrobat still curled up on the floor. He couldn't stretch his body out by the looks of things and they didn't know if that was for the better.

"How bad is it?" Oracle asked. "Is he conscious?"

"Barely. He's in bad shape- I don't think I've seen anything like this and I worked with drug lords for like a year."

"I've never seen someone alive like this," Robin commented. 

"When you said suitcase, how big of a suitcase was it?"

"Not big enough for him," Red Robin replied. "They've broken his ankles, he can't move properly and I don't think he's been getting much oxygen. He really needs a doctor."

"Needs a fucking psychiatrist too."