"I think he's still alive." 

"He's not even breathing, Clarisse "

"How do you know. It could be shallow."

My eyes felt heavy, impossibly so. They strained to open to even reveal a line of sight in the pitch black room. There was a pounding in my head that drowned out the sound in my ear like every word was shouted through water. It felt, felt. What did it even feel like?

Slow, it felt to slow. Distorted and drowsy. I heard voices, but my mind couldn't catch up enough to interpret them, understand what was said. I forced my eyes open, straining against the weight of my eyelids and stared unknowingly into the the pitch black. 

I should have been scared, inky blackness, voices and distorted reality. I should have been terrified, quivering in my skin, but sleep look so inviting. My eyes closed once more, I could sleep again, I was tired. Why was I so tired? 

My eyes fluttered open, the image of the dark room blurred. Tears? Am I crying? Why was I crying?

"Dead" I heard myself say, it felt strange, hoarse. Why was my throat so dry?

"Shit, I think Jacksons up." Someone said, the voice, it sounded familiar.

"What did he say?"

"The man, he's dead." I strained to pull my head up above my chest, probably glaring at the people across from me. God it had to be them.

The fucked up chances that I would be placed in the same room as the only ones in which want to rip my throat out. Clarisse and Polythemus were tied down thoroughly in the metal chairs across from him. Their arms pinned behind their back.

I jerked in my chair pulling my head up and tugged, and yes I too was bound. But come on, did the thugs even try? I could get out of these in less than a minute. My mind felt like pudding, sloshing painfully with each jerk of my head. Muscles only slightly atrophied but sore.

"Drugged." I coughed, I was defiantly drugged if the mouth akin to a dessert had anything to say.

They just stared at me, I couldn't understand the expression on the their faces. It seemed, scared for one. Depressed maybe? I couldn't place it

"How do you know." His voice was hoarse. "That he's dead."

My eyes opened wider at that. More closely examining the body than from the initial half witted and tired review. The body, looked familiar. It look to damn familiar-

"Oh god Tyson." I whimpered under my breath. Stopping from undoing the rope that bound my hands for a moment. Something inside me felt like it was twisting me from the inside out, digging through my skin.

"How do you know." Theo's voice was strained, his eyes pleading as I looked up from the cold, bloody body laying on the ground.

"The amount of blood. Even if you bleed out slowly, you can only take losing a third of the total volume before you die." My voice felt cold to myself, constrained.

"So, so he can't come back?" Clarisse spoke this time. To vulnerable to be experienced in any type of death related incident.

He shook his head.

"By the way his muscles have relaxed and expanded, rigor mortis has already set in. That meaning he has been dead for more than two hours." I I coughed again before letting my head hang, unwilling to meet her watering eyes.

God, I knew something bad was going to happen. How many people are dead? Is-is Dick still-

No he has to be, he's Robin, his future.

I sucked in a heavy breath, you can't think about the death toll while preventing it from becoming higher.

How long had we been down here? In this room?

Tyson wounds indicated that he was stabbed several times, but before that his skin was used as a slab of carving wood. How long till that happened to us?

I pulled my hands from behind my back and loosed the knots on my feet and legs to slip them put of the binding. Momentarily ignoring the tear running down my cheek. I then put my hands behind my back oncemore, letting all of the movements go unnoticed by the other two and hopefully any cameras.

"How long have you two been awake?" I asked, just to break the silence. Doing something to ingnore the body on the floor. Ignoring they smell.

"Only a few minuets before you woke." A tear ran down her cheek as she answered. Theo looked unaturally gaunt. Pale and a withered away expression of remorse was plastered on his features.

They both seemed shellshocked, damn near unresponsive. Tyson...and Tyson was pretty much the only thing keeping Theo steady. He was the only one to really give a shit about me... Why does everyone keep freaking dieing?

Am I freaking cursed? Everyone I have really cared about give two people who just happen to be superheroes have fucking bit a bullet. Why does everyone keep fucking dieing?

My bottom lip quivered and my eyes squeezed shut at the feeling of pressure behind my eyes. Trust myself to freaking cry when things start getting hard. Get over yourself Jackson. I took a shaky breath, feeling the cold air past down my dry throat.

I opened my eyes and stared at his dismembered body oncemore. I couldn't fucking take staring at him for any longer or else I would go insane. I slowly put pressure on my legs before quietly standing up, fading back into the shadowy corner of the room. The other two didn't even notice me get up. I couldn't exactly blame them, they were to preoccupied with their thoughts of their dead brother and friend to care much about anything at the moment. I laid my head against the cold stone wall behind me and took a moment to remember how to breathe, to think about something other than the body on the floor.

I need to escape this hellhole.

I took in a deep breath, feeling the freezing, stale air fill my lungs. I held it there, for too long to count till my body convulsed with sobs that had nothing to do with the burning in my chest from holding in the air. I needed to get out.

And what leave the rest subjected to the jokers torment?

No, no I had to save everyone. I don't care how selfish I want to be, people will die here, have died here, if I don't get them out of here. Wherever here should be. I took once glance at the two teenagers who had tormented me for months. The ones who slammed me against lockers and made my existence something that shouldn't have been worth existing, well not alone, that was a heavy topic. They were the ones who didn't see me as a person, but as a piece of meat ready to be carved into. I took one look at the heart broken kids with their eyes shut tight and decided.

I grabbed the back the back of Clarisse's hands and started to untie the rope with renewed haste. She
jerked violently and let a noise of panic escape her lips.

"What the hell?" She yelled and jerked back and forth in the chair till I grabbed the sides.

"Stop it." I commanded without tone and her movements stopped.

"Jackson? How the hell did you-."

"Is that Jackson? How did he-"

"I said be quiet," I resumed my work, twisting her hands through the course rope. "The needless questions that you have aren't important at the moment."

They both quieted, Clarisse's brown hair falling back over the chair as she relaxed her head. The knot confining her hands wasn't basic, was the farthest thing from basic, but when you have nights full of being confined to your mind alone, somethings are easier to practice that others. Untying myself blindfolded and strapped to a chair with a series of complex knots just happened to be one was to [ass the time. Though time in dreams were fluid and I could wake up anytime that I wanted with only minutes passing, I had not yet mastered that skill.

I finished her hands and moved on to her lower abdomen and legs, those were less complex. Within under two minuets I had them both untied and leaning against the wall.

"You two are still being effected by the drug they gave us. I've taken a guess that they used gamma-Hydroxybutyric acid in our schools water system based on our symptoms but I could be wrong." I affirmed, watching their faces go panicked. That was not the intended effect might I add.

"An-and what might the symptoms of this hydro-something acid be?" Clarisse hissed under her breath.

"Loss of consciousness, hallucinations, sweating, amnesia, and in some cases of over
use, coma. It also causes euphoria, increased sex drive, and tranquility, used by people of non innocent intentions." I swallowed thickly.

"And what the hell does that mean?" Theo spoke up, voice still hard but unusually quiet.

"Referred to as GHB, it is in most forms, a date rape drug used to spike drinks." Their faces paled at that, not having anything good to reply with.

I took that time to examine the room, looking for anything, doors, vents. I'd take a sewer. There was a main door behind where I was tied up but it was locked with a deadbolt and I couldn't get past that even with water powers. They only went so far against titanium. There had to be ventilation somewhere. The ceiling was to high anyway.

"Leo have you initiated protocol Heimdal?" I asked in desperation

"Unable to contract a signal sir, there is lead lining the walls for defense against radiation."

"Unable to receive location?"

"No sir." I pressed my hands into my forehead, trying to block out the pain.

The two teens were still leaning against the wall in a dazed, Clarisse slowly sinking to her knees with her eyes shut tight. Theo had his hands pressed against the wall seemingly trying to focus.

"Good news and bad news guys, good news is the drug we came in contact with is mostly out of your system within 12 hour after urination, meaning it has been less then 12 hours since we've been taken." Theo sighed and Clarisse poked one eye open.

"What's the bad news, you said there was bad news." Clarisse croaked.

"I was hoping you didn't ask that." I sighed again. "The room is lined with lead, meaning I can't send a distress for help. There are also no other visible openings."

"So were all dead? That's basically what your saying?" Theo breathed.

"Do want me to tell you no? Or do you want me to tell you the truth." I responded. Theo just put his hands over his face.

"The truth is that I will do everything in my power to allow you to live. I can't guarantee your survival, but I would die before I see any more of you bleeding on the ground." Theo blinked.

"But your, like, 8" He groaned. I glared at him.

"I'll have you know I am 9 years, 3 months, 2 days...give or take a few hours old. Not 8. You uncultured intergluteal cleft pimple." I snapped, he just stared at me with confusion.

I collapsed back into the chair, holding my head in my hands. There was no way I could keep that promise. There was a reason that the Joker was feared. His file on the bat computer had been one of my first to read, the one with so many deaths and so many mutilations. He was a parasite that Gotham couldn't escape, that latched on and multiplied till the entire body was infested. He was what people feared more than the man who made it his duty to strike fear into hearts of criminals. It wasn't the man himself that I feared, but the death that followed in his wake, the suffering brought by chaos.

He is chaos and I am a nine year old who has to many issues with being a nine year old. If age was just a number then why did it matter anyway? If I am nine then I'm nine, that's just the way it is. It doesn't matter to me, but it matters to them. It matters to those who don't believe a nine year old can take on chaos. To conquer fear and allow myself to not think about the fact I might die here. I am not immortal, not everlasting and if push comes to shove I might be the one that ends up bleeding out on the floor. I might be the one who ends up forgotten...

I don't wanna die. My knees curled into my chest. If I didn't die here then that's all well and fine we all know what will happen at the end of this. What will happen when the things in my dreams are no longer just dreams. I wasn't going to die here, I was going to get these people out and I was going to survive. Screw this, screw my dreams. I control my own future, I control what I do with it. I was not going to die here weak and on my knees, like a scared child in a dark cave afraid of the dark.

I wasn't going to let the future control me, the premonitions hanging over my head be damned. I'm not going to feed into the wrong future. I control my fate.

"Lead." I whispered.

"What?" Clarisse asked half awake. I bolted up from my chair.

"Lead." I repeated, eyes wide.

"Lead?" She sounded confused. I grabbed her shoulders and grinned.

"Lead." I ran to the opposite side of the room and ran my hand over the cold stone wall. My hand came back wet.

"There's water." I turned around, grinning. "WATER!"

"Ok there's water..." Clarisse trailed off confused.

"Think. The Joker had just escaped Arkham. He had no way to communicate with the rest of his following, meaning this place isn't specially built for us to be imprisoned here." I walked closer. "Now why would a last minuet hiding place have specially lead lined walls."

"They use lead to keep out radiation....Gotham's Doomsday bunkers?" She asked, now more awake then ever.

"Exactly. That's why it feels so cold down here. We are underground." I answered.

"How does that help us, and you said something about water. Why is there water?"

"As people took refuge in them, they discovered a design flaw. That's why they were abandoned. Each room had a bathroom which was directly connected to the sewer system. They removed them and plastered over it with concrete before we got here, but I'm willing to bet the area where the concrete is placed is still weak. The entire structure is weak and so much that water is leaking through the walls."

"So the sewers, yeah?" Theo asked breathily. "Awesome."

"Don't worry, there's more shit than rats down there." Clarisse nudged his side.

"Amazing." His voice was flat as he pressed his lips together in a grimace.

I practically ran to the corner of the room, kneeling to graze my fingers over the fresh concreate. It was ruff and done by an amateur, done by one of Jokers goons no doubt. I moved my fingers to the normal stone and banged my knuckles against it, making a brisk sound, normal. Then did the same with the freshly done stone. Hollow.

"Theo." I commanded. "Get a chair."

He moved over and handed the chair over without any comment. It was heavy, iron heavy duty. I lifted it up and banded it against the stone. It only fell to the side. I stared at it, biting my lip.

"Theo," I turned to face him with the chair in hand. "Perhaps this is your strength."

He took a moment to stare at me woefully before gripping the chair in hand.

"You can be the brains, I'll just be here, hitting things with a chair." He swung the thing above his head, bringing it down with a grunt and a yell. The chair crashed straight through the ground, the rest of it falling apart and crumbling into a large circular hole. A deep hole.

"Leo, light." The ring lit up to reveal a very long drop, and a very disgusting stream of crap.

"Are you guys ready to contract some diseases?" I asked breathing through my mouth to block out the smell.

"I hate you."

You see, there is a reason people don't like fecal matter. In it is where bacteria can flourish and the different bacteria from different people poses a danger you health. Things like typhoid fever that comes from fecal matter contaminating a water supply. We are naturally programmed to stay away from thing that don't smell like they should, putrid thing such as the thing we are ankle deep in. It the bodies natural response against disease, against death. I think I should probably listen to the body next time around.

"Why is it always the sewers. In the movies, TV shows, books. They always male the sewers look so peaceful, so inviting. This is bullshit." I grumbled, trying not to gag.

"This was your idea." Clarisse raised her eyebrows.

"I never said my idea's we good. Just enough stupid to keep us alive." Each step made a sucking noise, taking effort to pull my foot out of the crap.

We continued till we saw another hole in the ceiling. I stopped, swallowing thickly.

"This is another room." I spoke softly, turning to them.

"So what." Theo asked.

"There's more people I," I looked to the ground and back up at him. "I cant leave them. I won't be able to live knowing I did nothing to stop the people in there from suffering the same fate as the rest of the people in my life."

He stared at me for a moment, jaw clenched. Clarisse answered that first.

"I'm down." She breathed.

"I-I can't ask you to do that. You need to take this to the surface." I pointed at my ring. "It will send an automatic distress signal alerting the police and others of my location. To get help."

"I'm not going to sit around and be a petty damsel." She growled. "Besides, I have a friend I would rather not see dead."

"I-I ok." I stuttered. I didn't know if I could protect her, but I sure as hell couldn't say no.

"I'm in." Theo spoke up. "Those sons a bitches took the only person I had away from me. I'm not gonna let them get of with that. Not now, not ever."

"But-" He cut me off.

"The thing is Jackson, your not going to stop me. Tyson deserved better than an end like that, or an end at all. You ain't gonna change the fact that I'm pissed and I really wanna kick a clowns ass." I had no reply as he passed me other than a slightly opened mouth.

"I control my own fate.." I whispered into the darkness.

Hello. So, it's been a while. Well, on this book.

I got to say it takes a really long time to write these chapters, partly because of no pre-thought and partly cause I don't start writing till like 10pm to about 1am.

But her UPDATE! I did it. #sorrynotsorry on the angst and sorta of a cliff hanger. I was going to write a really long chapter of like 7000 words and resolve the whole thing in a big marvel. But I decided to make it three parts instead. Part three is coming soon! Probably, maybe.

Bye People!