Dick groaned as he awoke. Then, he stiffened. The last thing he remembered was passing out during one of the experiments. He twitched his limbs slightly. All accounted for, but there was an oxygen mask over his nose and mouth, an IV stuck in his arm, and what felt like a heart monitor stuck to his finger. Just like when they were getting ready to experiment on him...
His heart rate sped up as he struggled not to panic. He snapped open his eyes and, with adrenaline and panic coursing through him, ripped the IV out of his arm, the oxygen mask off his face, and the heart monitor thing off his finger, and pushed himself off the soft table. Why was it so soft? The table they usually put him on was hard and the floor was even harder.
Shaking the thought away, he landed on his feet and stumbled into a run. Some people were running towards him, probably in an attempt to restrain him, but he dodged easily. He gave a brief thought to the fact he felt better than he had in a while, before pushing that thought to the back of his mind as well.
His body ached and his vision was blurred, but he was determined to escape. He tripped upwards when he reached the staircase, but went into a roll, shakily stood, and started running again.
Other than the people yelling at him to stop, there was no alarm blaring, which was very different from his previous escape attempts. Another thought to push to the back of his mind.
He reached a higher landing and ran smack dab into a familiar teen not much older than him. The familiar teen stumbled back a bit, while Dick fell and hit his head on the ground.
Dick groaned, but quickly got back up and tried to run again, only to be grabbed by the familiar teen.
Dick instinctively flipped and kicked the teen in the face to try to get him to let go of him. It worked for only a split second, before the teen grabbed him again.
"Dude! Not cool!" Dick was startled by the familiar voice. He finally looked at the person who'd managed to catch him, and was shocked to see that it was his best friend, Wally. He looked almost the same as when Dick had seen him last, except he was dressed in civvies and had a red, foot-shaped mark on his face.
The thoughts that he'd pushed to the back of his mind came back and he looked around, finally realizing he was no longer in the Lords' fortress, but somewhere else entirely.
Unfortunately, the realization led to his strength and adrenaline seeping away, and he fainted in Wally's arms.
Mary had been leading Wally and Samantha down to the medical sector, when, out of nowhere, a small form crashed into Wally.
Wally immediately recognized it as Dick and grabbed him in hopes that seeing a friendly face would calm him down, seeing as he was obviously running from something.
Of course, he realized too late that Dick was currently in a fight or flight state, and received a kick to the face courtesy of the smaller boy.
"Dude! Not cool!" He cried, quickly grabbing his friend again because a) he'd been told Dick was ill, b) he didn't want Dick to run away before being calmed down, and c) Dick looked like he'd pass out any second.
Dick froze up at the sound of his voice. Then, he looked at Wally, and then his surroundings, before finally falling unconscious in Wally's arms.
A group of people made it up the stairs and stopped to catch their breath when they saw Dick was no longer running away.
"What happened, Kelly? Why'd he run?" Samantha asked.
A woman near the front of the group held up a finger as indication to let her catch her breath.
"It might've been the setup. We've had kids panic before due to not realizing they were no longer in the LDJ's fortress. Supposedly, the medical supplies were also used to monitor vitals during Bullet's experiments." The woman, Kelly, answered. "He probably wasn't fully aware of his surroundings and thought he was back there. At least we know he's recovered enough to think for himself. Thank you for catching him, young man."
Wally was hesitant to hand Dick over when one of the men came to take the boy from him. He preferred the thought of carrying Dick down there himself. The boy was far too thin and pale. His clothes barely fit his small form and Wally could see the outlines of bones against his skin. He could easily tell his friend was malnourished, weak, and ill, as Mary had warned him. The doctors allowed him to Wally to hold the boy so as long as he was careful and Wally carried Dick back to the bed he'd been in before. While the doctors reattached the medical equipment, he took a moment to look around.
The medical sector was made up of three rows of seven beds, each bed surrounded by curtains to maintain some amount of privacy. It was on the lowest level of the cavern and some trunks filled with medical equipment that was not currently in use sat at the end of the row farthest from the stairs. There were also some chairs scattered about.
He started when one of the doctors addressed him, rightfully assuming him Dick's friend.
"He used up a lot of energy in his panic, but he should wake up again in a few hours. I suggest you stay here. Mary tells me you managed to snap the boy out of it simply by speaking to him." The doctor said. "It would be good for him to have a familiar face when he wakes up next. Hopefully, it'll prevent this from happening again."
"Thank you, Miss. I appreciate it." Wally replied.
The doctor smiled gently at him and walked away with her colleagues to check on other patients.
"Well, it's quite obvious he knows you. Seems like you might've been telling the truth." Samantha commented.
Wally yelped, not having noticed her come up. "Do I have two ninjas to worry about now?!"
Samantha tilted her head. "Ninjas?"
Wally took a deep breath to calm himself down. "Don't worry about it. It's not important."
Samantha shrugged and pulled two chairs over. "Sit. It's going to be a while."
Wally nodded. "Okay. Thank you." He sat down on the chair she offered him, which she'd pulled up close to Dick's head. He knew it would feel much longer to him than it would feel to her, speedster time and all.
He prepared himself to wait a while.
It had been a harrowing couple of days for Barry Allen. First, he'd had to tell his wife and in-laws what had happened. Then, he'd had to report to the police that his nephew was missing. Finally, he'd, alone, had to explain to both the league and the team what Wally had done and where he and Robin were, as Batman seemed too upset to join him in explaining.
Needless to say, he was exhausted by the time he finally found a moment to himself.
He was planning to take a nice long nap, maybe take a night off from superhero stuff, when Batman called him.
"What's up, Batman?" He asked, taking a sip of hot chocolate. "Did you…"
"There's no evidence." Batman interrupted.
"No evidence?" Barry was confused for a moment.
"There's nothing to convict the people who sent Robin into the other dimension." Batman growled. "There's no evidence of kidnapping or theft or malpractice. They've been released from custody."
Barry almost spit out his hot chocolate. He quickly swallowed. "You mean they won't be thrown in jail?!"
"Correct."
"That's not good, Batman! If they managed to create that device once, they can do it again! What if something bad comes through the next time they open a portal?! We need to do something to prevent them from trying again!"
"You think I don't know that?!" Batman snapped. "For goodness sake, Barry, they sent my son through as a test subject! I want nothing more than for them to go to jail! But we can't send them there without evidence!"
"Well, surely there's something we can use against them!"
Batman appeared to force a calm aura about himself. "If there was anything to be used against them, I would have found it by now. From what I can tell, the group switched locations more times than can be counted since they sent Robin through. It was overconfidence that let Wally find them. They were preparing to change location again when we found them. A day later and they would've been gone."
"So what do we do?!" Barry forced himself to calm down as well.
"We keep an eye on them as long as we can. Make sure they don't try anything else. Batman, out."
Barry couldn't say he was surprised by the abrupt end to the call - Batman was known to end calls quickly and without explanation - but he was slightly upset about it. He'd wanted to discuss what was going on with Batman longer, but it appeared the bat wouldn't have that.
He sighed and finished his now lukewarm hot chocolate before sighing and, knowing he wouldn't be getting any sleep tonight anyways, prepared for a full night of crime fighting.
This time, Dick awoke silently, noting his surroundings through touch, not moving. The soft bed was under him again. The medical equipment was attached to his body once more. Two hands were holding his left hand, clutching it tightly.
He could hear murmurs. He noted that Wally's voice was among them.
"-ck? Dick? Are you awake?" Wally's voice became clearer as the fog of sleep fled Dick's mind.
The boy slowly opened his eyes. Wally was leaning over him, having fallen silent. The other murmurers continued to talk somewhere outside Dick's line of view.
"Wally?" Dick mumbled.
"It's me, Rob." Wally reassured him.
"Where are we? How'd I get here? Am I dead? Are you dead? What is this place?..." Dick rattled off questions at an alarming rate before having to stop to cough harshly.
"Dick, you know I don't know much Romani, which is what I assume the language you were speaking in was." Wally mentioned gently.
"Romani? But… I'm trying to speak English. Why can't I speak English?!" Dick struggled into a sitting position. "What about French? Does this sound like French? Or Spanish? I'm trying to speak Spanish now!"
"Whoa! Easy!" Wally exclaimed, throwing his arms out to halt Dick as he tried to get out of bed, once again panicking. "Calm down. I'm sure it's only temporary. You'll be back to your crazily multilingual self in no time!"
Dick allowed himself to be gently rested against the pillows by Wally. "What's going on?"
"I can't understand you, but I think you can understand me, so I'll tell you what I know." Wally said. "I was following a lead on your disappearance when I discovered your captors talking about what they did to you. They'd sent you into this dimension, which is why you haven't really seen many familiar faces. Well, friendly familiar faces. A lot of the individuals with powers here are evil." Wally shrugged. "Anyways, after I heard them talking, I stole their device and jumped into this dimension to find you. I met Samantha, who is busy at the moment, and she led me here after I managed to earn her trust somehow. 'Here' is the base of operations for the Gotham faction of the Resistance. Although I've heard a lot of the other factions were caught, so this faction might be one of very few left. They rescued you for the LDJ's fortress. They said you died once on the way here and another time shortly after they got you to the medical sector, where we are now. They managed to revive you both times, fortunately. Thank goodness for that."
"I died?" Dick tried to remember that happening, but couldn't.
"Yes. You did." A new yet familiar voice replied.
"Who's that?" Dick asked.
He saw Wally shaking his head and waving his arms in a 'Don't do it!' sort of way.
"Your friend's trying to protect you but you have to know eventually. It's already been said that you're in another dimension. I'm your mother's counterpart."
"Mamica?"
"Sort of."
Dick tried to sit up again, more slowly this time, but a gentle hand pushed him back against the pillows once more.
"You must rest to recover your strength."
"You're benched, dude." Wally joked.
Dick managed to direct a mild batglare at his friend, but it only caused Wally to grin even wider.
"Besides, you probably won't feel very good if you stand or sit up right now anyways." Wally added, dropping the smile.
Dick gave a slight, hesitant nod of agreement to his friend's statement. Already, he felt a little dizzy from trying to sit up.
A woman who looked almost exactly like his mother came in and out of his view, checking his vitals and making sure he was comfortable. A couple of other people, probably nurses or doctors, helped her out.
A girl about his age came up to them. She dark brown hair in two braids going down to about her waist, bright brown eyes that seemed to have seen both happy times and dark times, a petite face with freckles that made her look a bit like a mouse, and a thin, 5 foot 1 inch tall body that had slight curves.
"I see your friend's awake. Care to introduce me?" She said to Wally.
"Dick, this is Samantha. Samantha, Dick. She's the one who helped me find you." Wally told Dick.
"It's nice to meet you, Samantha. I'm sure Wallace here has told you only good things about me?" Dick smirked.
"Dude!" Wally spluttered.
Samantha giggled. "Your full name is Wallace?"
"Wallace Rudolph West." Dick answered for his embarrassed friend. "Got a ring to it, doesn't it?"
"I don't remember my middle or last name, to be honest. It's just Samantha for me." Samantha admitted sheepishly. "I probably don't have a right to make fun of his name."
"Of course you do! All individuals have the right to make fun of their friends! It's totally…" Dick trailed off.
"Dick?" Wally asked, concerned at the sudden cut-off.
A black spike came from the ground, narrowly missing impaling Samantha.
"What the-?!" Samantha yelped.
The black spike was joined by a plethora of solid black objects that all seemed to come from what had first appeared to be shadows.
Samantha and Wally dodged the majority of them, getting scratches from a few, but the number of objects to dodge seemed never-ending.
Samantha noticed Dick seemed to be in a feverish trance. She slapped him across the face as soon as she could get close enough and he almost snapped out of it. A second time, and the objects faded into shadow.
They had attracted a crowd by this point. Samantha caught Dick as he began to fall over and laid him against the pillows. She felt his forehead.
"He has a fever." She noted.
"He might've been hallucinating." Mary Grayson added.
"Do hallucinations and fever have anything to do with what just happened?!" Wally demanded.
Dick shook his head, coming into semi-awareness in time for the next statement.
"It's not unheard of for survivors of Bullet's experiments to gain unusual abilities due to the chemicals that have been pumped through their bodies. Fever and hallucinations are common during recovery in such a 's most likely that this is what happened to Richard." Kelly informed Wally.
"I… wha…" Dick murmured, trying to process what he was hearing.
"That's right!" Samantha exclaimed, as if suddenly remembering. "And he'll likely be weak after using those powers, right?!"
"Sounds like you've been studying hard, Samantha." Kelly said. "That's correct. The best thing we can do is keep an eye on him while he's learning. Passing out and/or losing focus are not going to be one-time occurrences in this situation."
Dick finally managed to process what they were talking about. His eyes widened. "I HAVE POWERS?!"
"Yes." Mary cautiously replied.
Dick started hyperventilating. He wasn't ready for this. He didn't need powers nor did he want them.
"Dick! Dick, it's all right! Just breathe! Breathe… Breathe..." Wally attempted to calm him down.
It worked only to stop the hyperventilating. Dick was still highly panicky.
"Don't worry. It'll be okay." Samantha said softly. "Wally and I will help you learn to control them. And they'll eventually be an advantage. We just need to exercise patience. There are several kids here who have gone through a similar experience due to Bullet's experiments. Do you want me to get one or two of them?"
Dick had relaxed enough by this point to shake his head. "I… I'll be fine. It's just a big shock and all. And I'm worried how Bruce will react to this when I get home…"
Wally got the jist of what Dick was saying and could understand why Dick was worried about Bruce's reaction. There was that whole 'No Metas in Gotham' rule. But Dick was basically Bruce's son. Wally was sure he would make an exception and said as much to Dick, who smiled lightly.
"Thanks, Wally. I truly appreciate your input."
"Hey. It's okay. Stay whelmed, right?" Wally replied.
Dick nudged him softly in response. He could feel his eyes getting heavy and attributed it to the fever.
Wally noticed. "Get some more sleep. Sleep will help you recover faster. And don't worry. I'll still be here when you wake up."
"Great. You'll be watching me sleep. Hooray." Was the sarcastic reply Dick gave just before fading out of consciousness once more.
(A/n) I have decided that, following this chapter, we will not be seeing much of what's happening in the Young Justice dimension in Arc 1 as not much happens there until the end of Arc 1/beginning of Arc 2. There may be a few smidgens of Batman or Flash or possibly Artemis here and there, but again, not much is changing for them until Arc 2. Much more is happening in the dimension Wally and Dick are currently in, so that's what I'll focus more on in this Arc. (A/n)