1It was near midnight when Tiger finally arrived at a large warehouse near the river.
The criminals had stolen five more children along the way. It unnerved Tiger how easily they did so. Even spies had a moral code, but clearly their greed outweighed their consciences.
Assuming they had them to begin with.
Tiger parked in an alleyway nearby and stalked the van carrying Dick from the rooftops. The van pulled into a garage attaching to the building, completely cutting Tiger off from his partner.
"Don't die Dick Grayson." He mumbled under his breath.
But Tiger had his own objectives.
His first order of business was to contact the Justice league as well as the local authorities. The Romanians would be able to make official arrests and help the victims return to their families or find shelter elsewhere. While the league would be needed to handle whoever it was supplying the traffickers with Apocalyptan technology.
Tiger made the calls knowing that by the time they arrived he and his partner would have made it safely out…
Hopefully.
He tried to contact Dick once again, but received nothing but static.
Swearing under his breath Tiger pulled up blueprints of the facility and made his way to the drop off point where Dick was supposed to meet him.
Leaping over the roof, he creeped towards the edge of the building where two guards were stationed and took them out with speed and precision.
Setting a timer for twenty minutes he kept watch and mentally went over Dick's objectives.
By now he would have been moved to a holding cell with the other recently taken children. It would take him a few minutes to find his bearings before he would make his way to the transportation room.
Tiger huffed with impatience, he had never felt so nervous on a mission. However, he believed his feelings were valid as he had also never had a four foot partner before either.
Tiger thought back to what Dick had said about his accent. He vaguely recalled reading about his Roma heritage in his file. However, the chatterbox, for all his talking, revealed very little about his own life.
Tiger briefly wondered whether the location of the mission contributed to some of Dicks odd behaviour earlier.
How much did the boy- err- man remember from his childhood living there?
If Tiger recalled correctly he had left Romania at the age of three, traveling throughout eastern and eventually Western Europe with Haley's circus until the age of seven when they moved to America. His tour of that country became permanent with the loss of his parents at the age of eight.
He never thought to be curious of their reason for leaving Romania until now.
The majority of Dick's circus troupe were of the same ethnic background as Dick himself. He was beginning to believe that their motivation for travelling was spurred by more than just financial troubles.
But if this were true why hadn't Dick mentioned anything?
Tiger looked down in frustration, then recalled something Dick had told him in the plane.
He felt he had something to prove. At the age of ten, Robin was still trying to earn respect throughout the hero community, and surely the respect of his mentor.
But Batman wasn't here, Tiger was.
He had tried to reassure Dick that he had nothing to prove, but maybe he should have been more attentive. Dick was clearly afraid of people doubting his abilities, and had demonstrated his insecurities repeatedly since becoming a ten year old.
Tiger had never been the most compassionate person, but he was now regretting not taking the time to speak with Dick before they had left home base.
Tiger shook his head out of his thoughts.
Five minutes left.
He signalled Agent 10 and 17 to start the getaway boat that was just down the river.
Dick would be fine.
If anyone could complete a mission while de-aged, it was Agent 37.
Another tense five minutes passed and Tiger could feel his foot tapping with agitation.
He never had nervous habits before!
'Dammit Grayson' he thought to himself.
The boy would be out any minute, boom tubes collected and culprits knocked out making for an easy pickup for the authorities.
However, his hope started to falter as another five minutes went by.
No Agent 37.
Tiger had two options. Wait a few more minutes or call on backup, like Matron suggested.
Tiger didn't like any of those options.
His partner could be in trouble, and from his experience, too many agents complicated the mission immensely.
So option three it was.
Tiger was taking things into his own hands.