Originally it was just a short scene. I added some background for it to make more sense and I think it became a decent oneshot.
"Where are you hurt?" Red Hood demanded. He was not feeling guilty. Not a bit. Dammit!
"Head's killing me," Nightwing answered slowly. "And my left arm feels like it's on fire."
Red Hood squinted at the mentioned limb trying to asses the damage, but he could barely see anything in the darkened room. The black costume didn't help matters.
"I bet checking where you were injured was a lot easier when you weren't wearing the full body suit," Red Hood grumbled.
Nightwing laughed and promptly choked it down.
"Ow, ow, ow," he groaned. "Laughing hurts. Probably broken rib or two. Maybe more?"
Red Hood sighed. Yes, he was afraid of that.
"Keep going," he encouraged. If Dick was listing his injuries with barely even prompting it was bad. Or he was too out of it to care. Which again, bad.
"I dunno," Nightwing mused. "There's something wrong with my legs?"
"Other than the chains?" Red Hood checked.
Dick shifted a little to look down his body and slowly, almost sluggishly, moved his leg. The chain clinked.
"Oh," Nightwing said as if he only now realized that they both had their legs chained to the floor. "That may be it."
Yeah, Dick was definitely out of it, Jason decided.
"You're too hardheaded for a simple blow to the head to affect you like this," Red Hood observed. "Did you get drugged?"
"Did I?" Nightwing asked back. "You were awake first."
Oh God, Dick was so useless like this. It seemed it was up to Red Hood to get them out of there then. Great. Where did he put that lockpick again?
"I wasn't knocked out," Jason said. "When I was brought in here you were already laying around doing nothing."
Red Hood saw Nightwing on patrol as he passed a few rooftops away from his route. Dick didn't spot him and Jason had his own matters to attend to, so he continued on his way. About two hours later he was done and decided to go and bother his older brother. It was amusing how he was sometimes tiptoeing around Jason, careful no to set him off into another killing spree and Jason could do with some fun tonight. Only Dick wasn't in his apartment and nowhere the end of his patrol route. He wasn't answering his comm either. Definitely not worried, just curious, Red Hood pulled up Nightwing's tracker and found it not far from where he saw him last. He cursed and made his way there. For two hours Nightwing was in trouble. God knows what happened to him.
Red Hood arrived at Dick's location, carefully scooping up the area. It was quiet. Too quiet even. And then, before he knew it, he was surrounded by twenty men with guns, stripped out of his weapons and escorted to the warehouse a few hundred meters away and then into a room where Nightwing laid on his side unconscious on the floor, chains around his legs and bolted to the floor. He was pushed to the wall, opposite of Dick and chained too. It was different though. His chains were a lot shorter as they looped around his hands too. Why Nightwing wasn't chained in similar fashion? It didn't bode well. Once Red Hod was secured, the thugs left them alone in darkness.
Jason tried rousing Dick, but it wasn't until he grabbed some solid object and hurled it at him out of desperation, that Dick woke up with a pained gasp. Red Hood winced. He didn't throw it that hard, so Nightwing had to be injured. It would also explain why the thugs didn't bother to tie him up more securely like they did with Jason. Big mistake on their part. Jason saw Nightwing take down more guys than they were now dealing with when he was half dead. Red Hood waited a moment, to give Dick time to regain his breath and asses the situation before he started to interrogate him.
Dick pouted.
"I remember checking out some noise and then I woke up to you throwing things at me. It hurt," he complained.
"Had to wake you up somehow," Red Hood shrugged.
"It was mean," Dick complained.
"Yeah, I'm the mean one," Jason agreed.
"That's okay. I still love you."
"Shut up, Nightwing," Red Hood grumbled. "You're talking nonsense."
Whatever Dick had in response was cut off by the door being pulled open and bright light filling the room. Nightwing made a pained noise and curled closer to the floor, hiding his face.
Poor man, Jason thought sympathetically, blinking his eyes rapidly to adjust to the sudden light.
Two men entered the room. Average height, common enough looks, cheap suits. Nothing out of ordinary.
"Ah, Red Hood," one of them said. "We were wondering how to contact you, only for you to drop by. And in time for a live presentation. How fortunate."
"What?" Jason asked with dread. Whatever this guy was talking about, it didn't sound good.
"You see," Thug One puffed out with pride. "We created something. A drug that can greatly benefit you or some other crime lord. We checked all of the candidates and we choose you to have the opportunity to buy it first."
"Originally we planned to give the drug to one of our boys," Thug Two cut in. "But he," he gestured at Nightwing, "just appeared as we were setting up and we managed to catch him. As we understand he's an enemy of yours, so who's better to present you what our drug does on than him, right?"
What the hell?! Red Hood was reeling. Here he was chained to the floor with Nightwing as a test subject of the drug these novices wanted to sell him. And they were novices, without a doubt. The totally unprofessional posture and behavior. Clothes. The barely hidden eagerness and glee. The restrains used on both vigilantes. Were they even from Gotham? Unlikely. Otherwise they would know no to touch Nightwing at all and they would take much more measures to ensure they wouldn't escape. And why Jason was in chains if he was supposed to be the buyer?
"Let's begin then," Thug One clasped his hands cheerfully and stepped over Nightwing's body to the other side, crouched beside him and none to gently forced him onto his back so Jason had a clear view of him.
Dick groaned at the rough treatment. His ribs and head clearly protested at any and all movement. And shit! It was possible, that Dick was having an adverse reaction to whatever they given him too. Way to go Jason, Red Hood congratulated himself. Instead of getting them out of there he was sitting around and doing nothing. Who was useless now?
"What's you name?" Thug One growled.
"Nightwing," Dick answered very slowly like he had to fight to say every syllable.
Jason resisted the urge to face palm. That was this great drug? A truth serum? What a waste of time. He preferred the old, reliable method of beating the confession out of his victim.
"Your other name," Thug One corrected.
Dick blinked at him in confusion, then grinned, "Batman."
Red Hood coughed inconspicuously.
"Your real name," Thug One clarified impatiently.
"Oh," Nightwing sighed. He thought for a moment and then nodded decisively, "Robin."
Thug One punched him. Jason winced. Dick blinked at his attacker with hurt, wide eyes.
"I said, give me your real name," Thug One gritted out in fury.
"It's Robin," Dick insisted.
"Robin is a name," Thug Two piped in.
"Alright then," Thug One relented. "Well, Mr. Robin, what's your last name?"
Jason saw corners of Nightwing's lips lift in a suppressed smirk and just knew it was going to end badly for the drugged hero. But Dick never could stop himself from antagonizing bad guys before, so why start now?
"Hood," Nightwing replied.
"Ouch," Jason commented, expecting Dick to get a vicious beating for his insolence.
But Thug One nodded in satisfaction and looked at Red Hood.
"As you can see, our drug is very effective," he bragged. "And along with the presentation you have added bonus of knowing the true identity of Nightwing."
Jason was glad he was wearing his helmet, because his jaw dropped to the floor. What? Seriously, what?! This guys couldn't be for real.
Thug One got to his feet and headed to the door. Thug Two pulled out a business card.
"That's our number if you decide to buy the drug," he said dropping it to the floor. Next he tossed a key to the chains. "See you later. Enjoy your revenge," he leered at Nightwing and left, not even closing the door all the way shut.
Dick and Jason stared after them in stunned silence.
"Nightwing?" Red Hood prodded uncertainly, because he had his older brother to worry about for now. He could deal with those fools later.
Dick looked at him slowly.
"I don't know whether to be insulted or embarrassed that this bunch of idiots managed to catch us," he stated. Or more like slurred.
"Yeah," Jason agreed, grinning. "Baby Birds can't find out about this."
"Definitely," Dick nodded and promptly groaned.
Right. Priorities.
Red Hood got loose, dropped Nightwing into Alfred's capable hands in the Cave and went to completely destroy Thug's One and Two operations. It was very satisfying seeing them cry as the building with all of their research went up in flames. Even more so when Jason dropped them before GCPD building for police officers to find with their own drug in their system to confess all of their crimes.