Sleeping Sickness
summary: Dick Grayson gets abducted out of costume and neither the Batman nor his team know where and how to save him. But whoever has him knows his secret alter-ego and on the brink of madness from psychological torture, Dick is having a hard time clinging to his own identity. (Contains slash between Conner and Dick & heavy on father/son dynamic between Bruce & Dick)
genre: Angst, Hurt-Comfort, Drama
rated: M (Torture, Language, Adult themes)
author note: Shameless Conner Kent/Dick Grayson slasher. Title and chapter themes inspired by the song "Sleeping Sickness" by City and Colour. Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoy.
Chapter 1
I awoke only to find my lungs empty,
and through the night so it seems I'm done breathing,
And now my dreams are nothing like they were meant to be,
And I'm breaking down,
I think I'm breaking down.
24 hours prior
"No Con. I've got calculus homework, I have to restock my belt, and I have to finish my research paper for Biology all before patrol tonight. I'm not coming to the mountain," Dick rolled his eyes as he spoke, hands in his pockets, backpack slung over one shoulder, chatting to his teammate over the comlink. He was just leaving Hudson University, walking to his motorcycle so he could head to Wayne Manor to do his homework in peace. It also just happened to be a Wednesday which meant Alfred would probably be baking something special and Dick was hoping to sway the butler into making Caraway Seed Cake. Alfred had made it on Dick's second day of living with at the Manor after Bruce and Alfred took him in and Dick had been hooked on it ever since.
"C'mon Grayson, we can do a little biology research of our own. Tonight's lesson, anatomy," Conner chuckled on the other end, unable and unwilling to resist flirting with the twenty year old hero while he thumbed absently through a magazine, stretched out on the couch in the Rec area of Mount Justice.
"I think I've been a bad influence on you these past few years," Dick laughed. "And that's not an invitation for another lewd joke. Any more of those and I might have to start calling you Wally."
"What about after patrol?" Conner all but begged. The two young men were about eight months into their relationship, a year if you counted the four months spent secretly hooking up in any nook and cranny of the Mount Justice they could find before making it official. After Conner and M'gann broke up three years into them being a team, Conner and Dick had spent years of back and forth flirting, and had become friends with benefits between failed relationships with other team members. But almost a year ago something changed between them; those four months spent hooking up had sparked something deep within them and they decided to give it a try for real. Something about it felt right and real and unlike anything Conner had ever experienced before, something he was eager to explore. He knew Dick felt the same.
"Between college and missions with Batman I haven't seen you in a week. If I get any more bored I'm going to start taking it out on the newbies and amp up sparring training."
"I'll see what I can do," Dick smirked. "And give the team a break, would ya. Except Tim. Kid jacked my tablet two weeks ago and I have yet to get it back."
"I will avenge you," Connor mocked. "So I'll see you later?"
"Con..."
"I'll see you later!"
"If you say so," Dick sighed, unable to stop the smile on his face as he disconnected the call.
Dick made a sharp right, deciding to cut through the alley between the Science building and the Library on his way to the parking lot on the other side. With an amused sigh, Dick decided he'd skip the Manor and would surprise Conner and attempt to do some homework at the mountain before patrol. His grades would probably suffer a bit from the distraction but at least he didn't have to make his boyfriend suffer. He barley took notice of four figures clad in scrubs coming from the opposite direction, a quick pace about them. Dick glanced at his watch, noting it was almost 6pm, assuming they were med students rushing to get to night classes.
Dick side stepped to move closer to the wall to let them pass through, paying them little mind as he sent a quick text to Tim telling him he was headed to the mountain and would see him tonight for patrol. Just as he hit send, he was tackled to the ground; his phone skidded from his hand and his backpack sliding off his shoulder as he fell.
"Gahh-son of a-" Dick rolled on his back but before he could jump up or reach for any hidden weapons from his jacket, the four men descended on his limbs, surgical masks obscuring their faces and gloved, grabbing him roughly, yanking him up.
One of the men wrapped an arm around his waist and grabbed a hold of his left arm while the second man used his left gloved hand to clamp over Dick's mouth and used his other to wrench Dick's right arm up behind his back. The third grabbed both of his ankles, lifting his feet off the ground and ridding Dick of any chance of gaining leverage.
Dick struggled and bucked in the clutch the men had on him, shouting underneath the hand silencing him. The fourth man came to stand in front of him, pulling a needle out of his jacket pocket. Dick had no control as the man wound a gloved hand in his hair and pulled, yanking is head to the side, leaving his neck stretched and exposed as he plunged a hypodermic needle into Dick's neck. The attacker noticed the otherwise well hidden com in Dick's ear. He yanked it out, throwing it aside as well as the now empty needle.
Dick groaned beneath the hand over his mouth as he felt the contents of the needle enter his bloodstream. Almost instantly the edges of his vision started to blur, his body started to tingle as his aggressors forced him face down on the ground. He tried to shout out as the hand was removed from his mouth but no sound came out.
Dick was motionless, unable to twitch even a finger or move his lips. Whatever had been in that needle must have caused his paralysis. He was quickly stripped of all his clothes, the four men manhandling him, pushing and pulling at him as they tore and tugged off all his clothes, shoes and watch, leaving him only in his boxer briefs. They were smart, Dick would give them that. Any concealed weapons would be left in the alley as clothes were thrown aside; also left behind was the locator tracker in his watch, the one sewn into his jacket, his backpack, wallet and the one in his comm.
One of the sets of hands forced his arms behind his back while another grabbed at his legs. His wrists were crossed at the small of his back, lashed together with rope before being tightly cinched. More rope was wound around his elbows, them having been painfully pulled together until they were mere inches apart before the rope was also cinched off. He couldn't even struggle as his ankles and knees were bound in the same fashion. The third thug grabbed his head and pulled it back by the hair. Dick could only moan in pain as the man forced a wad of cloth into his slack mouth. It was followed by a length of black cloth stretched between his teeth and pulled behind his head. It was wrapped around his head and between his teeth three times before being tied in a tight double knot behind his head
The moment they had finished binding and gagging him, three of his attackers slid their arms beneath his motionless body and hoisted him off the ground, carrying him like a batting ram closer to the end of the alley where suddenly an unmarked van screeched to a halt, blocking the exit. The fourth opened the sliding door and Dick was roughly deposited into the back of the van.
He was left lying on his back, arms trapped beneath him, unable to move, unable to cry for help as he was forced to stare up at the ceiling of the van. Dick was unsure how long they had been driving, the inability to feel anything, to look around, took away his perception of time. He prayed that the drug would wear off soon or his friends would find him before the thugs acted on his vulnerability.
'What a mess, Dick. Bruce is going to freak on you for getting snatched...if you don't get yourself killed first.'
Conner awoke suddenly to a loud thud beside his head, rising from where he had fallen asleep very late last night on the couch in the Rec room. "What the-"
"Where is he?" Tim glared at him, having just dropped a stack of textbooks on the coffee table, dressed in his civvies, shades resting on his forehead, waiting to be lowered at a moment when someone walked in who didn't know his secret identity.
"Where's who?" Conner growled angrily, a quick glance at his watch telling him it was 8am, noting he had only been asleep 3 hours after he finally crashed.
"I don't have time for this Conner, I have to get to school. I'm looking for the former boy wonder that never showed up for patrol last night. Batman was pissed," Tim's hands rested firmly on his hips, staring down at the twenty-three year old boy. "I covered for him, saying he got caught up in a team exercise here but you and I both know that's probably not what he got caught up in."
"What are you talking about? Dick never showed. I must have passed out here last night, but I would have heard him Zeta in if he did," Conner couldn't suppress the yawn, rubbing at the back of his neck where it ached from the uncomfortable sleeping position.
"I got his text yesterday. He said he was headed here," Tim whipped out his phone and handed it to Conner. Looking at the time stamp, Conner noticed it was right after their conversation yesterday evening.
"Have you heard from him since?" Conner couldn't help the worry creep into his voice. He also couldn't help but notice Tim's body language shift, hands dropping from hips to clench into fists down at his side. Conner didn't wait for an answer from Tim before activating his com.
"Dick, do you copy?" He paused, waiting for a response. "Nightwing, do you copy?"
"Batman," Tim activated his own com, "we have a situation. Dick is missing."
"Now Mr. Grayson, you need to calm down," the doctor said as he came to stand by Dick's head, "You're only going to make this harder than it needs to be."
"Nu-mmm-mmppphhhh!" Dick snarled, glaring up at his captor as he came over to stand by Dick's head, twisting and pulling as much as he could restrained to the chair.
"We are going to start with simple classical conditioning. You're a smart lad, I'm sure you've heard of it but just in case I'll explain it simply to you. Classical conditioning is a learning process that occurs when two stimuli are repeatedly paired. The result being a response that is at originally elicited by the second stimulus and is eventually elicited by the first stimulus alone. Understand?" his captor spoke calmly as he dipped his hands into a small tub on a tray next to the chair. With gel on his fingertips, he applied it to Dick's temples as he spoke. "In this case, the second stimulus is Electroconvulsive Shock Therapy."
As he spoke, the Doctor applied an electrode to each of Dick's temples.
"Typically we would insert a rubber block in your mouth to prevent biting of the tongue but your current gag should suffice and we don't want to give you any opportunity to call out to your friends in high places who possess super hearing."
Dick tried to jerk his head to shake the electrodes off but the strap at his neck prohibited him from getting enough movement or momentum to do so. The Doctor moved over to a nearby rolling cart where the ECT machine awaited.
"Now boy wonder, there really is no point in resisting. We are going to introduce the second stimulus first just so you can get a taste. This will hurt, but it will be over soon." The second the Doctor hit the switch, a jolt of pain struck Dick as the electricity attacked him. His whole body instantly tensed, his back arching as he lifted himself reflexively off the chair on his heels and arms as much as the restraints would allow.
"MMMMMMM!" His head was thrown back in pain, his neck stretching beneath the strap. His eyes squeezed tightly as his fists clenched. Dick's body convulsed helplessly as the electric currents flowed through his body. His captors stood around and watched his body writhe as he struggled against the bonds.
Beads of sweat had formed on the exposed flesh of his arms, torso, legs and on the lines of his face and he was shaking in pain. His body convulsed violently as the electricity coursed through his body. The gag muffled Dick's pain-filled screams. He panted heavily through his nose. Silent tears rolled down his face. When the switch was turned off and the shock finally stopped, Dick's straining muscles ceased and his body collapsed into the chair like a limp rag doll.
"How did that feel?" the Doctor asked. Dick just sat there shivering in pain. All of his muscles twitched as one as he panted raggedly, whimpering as he recovered from the horrific shock.
"You see that was hearty sample of what you can come to expect for the next few days." Dick managed to throw a glare at his captor's direction as the Doctor positioned the screen attached above him to directly in front his face. "Your going to watch a little video now for the next few hours, the first stimulus in our classical conditioning experiment. Every so often you'll feel a jolt like the one you just experienced. If you'll notice that they correspond to certain images on the screen, I do believe you'll begin to see what my point of this particular session is. Think of it as a sort of intense aversion therapy treatment. Enjoy."
With that, the Doctor left the room, just as the screen sprung to life. News clips flashed across the screen, various news reels, interviews and pictures of public personas, random pictures of cities. After a few minutes, Dick was beginning to grow confused until a news reel featuring Superman came onto the screen.
"MMMMNNNPPH!" Immediately the electric current kicked on and flowed through his body, causing him to scream and writhe in his restraints. It flowed for the entire length of the Superman clip and when the video switched to an interview with Lex Luthor, the flow abruptly stopped. Dick's chest heaved, his body in agony as it tried to recover. A few minutes after more meaningless video footage, a picture of Green Arrow came up and a quick electrical pulse simultaneously with it. And then the image left and the current stopped.
It didn't take long for Dick to understand what he meant by classical conditioning. Pain and fear associated with the Justice League. Clever. Simple. Effective.
As short clip of an interview with Bruce Wayne flashed on the screen, Dick couldn't help but be relieved that no electricity flowed. He clung to that small moment of hope, knowing that they weren't aware of Bruce's alter ego. But in an instant any feelings of relief were jolted away as an image of Martian Manhunter flashed on screen and the current returned.
The screen went black and the electricity stopped momentarily. And then security footage of Batman appeared and Dick was sure it was his imagination but the electrical current felt stronger this time. It coursed through his body, causing Dick to shake violently and thrash in his restraints, screaming in agony, biting down hard on the foam in his mouth as his eyes rolled back in to his head. And then just like that, it ended and he sunk into the chair, panting and sobbing.
Dick lost track and focus of what he was watching, only being made aware when a member of the Justice League was on screen and the excruciating pain that went with it, covered in a cold sweat, his body residually twitching every so often until he fell happily into unconsciousness.