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When Wally got back Artemis was waiting for him.
"Hey." She greeted
She read his face, she was good at figuring out how he was feeling just by looking at him.
"Everything good?" she asked.
Wally shook his head. "No, c'mon it's been a long day. Let's go home."
Their trip home was silent. They used the Zeta Tube to get to the city and walked the rest of the way.
Artemis hadn't really changed things in their apartment. Same couch, same table, same pictures in the same place.
"You didn't change much." Wally told her.
"No, I never really wanted too." She replied.
He collapsed on the couch. "So what'd I miss?"
"You don't want to talk about…?"
"No, not really."
"Well we have a new base. It's called the Bunker. It's near the cave. We still do most of our operations and coordination out of the Watchtower, but a good portion of the team still needed a place to live. The League had some apartments set aside, and that worked for a little while, but enough of them were minors so it wasn't ideal. Dick, Kaldur, and a few of the League members established the Bunker. Does basically everything the Cave did but now actually underground with quite a few upgrades."
"Cool stuff. What else is new?"
"Nelson Mandela died, there's a new prince in London, selfies became huge, and everyone got addicted to Candy Crush ."
Wally gave her an annoyed look.
"What?" she asked, "You asked what else happened. Those are some other things that happened."
"Seriously, though."
"'Seriously though' nothing else really happened. Not to us anyway. I think there was a new Batman for a little while but the old is back like nothing happened. So what did Tim let you in on about Dick?"
Wally sighed. "Well, he's not missing. Not anymore."
"What?"
"Yeah, it's uh, it's not good. He isn't himself anymore."
"What does that mean?"
"It means the Court of Owls broke him. That's not even all of it."
Artemis urged him to keep talking. He hesitated.
There was a reason Dick being found, Jason being alive, and who the new Robin was being kept under wraps. But this was Artemis. He told her everything. He trusted her with his life, it felt weird to keep it from her but he didn't want to cause more issues.
"I really shouldn't talk about it."
She looked away. "Why?"
"If you haven't been let in on anything, than that probably means you aren't supposed to know."
"And your great at keeping things to yourself, especially huge things."
Wally rolled his eyes. "I really shouldn't."
"You will anyways."
He sighed. "You remember the second Robin right?"
She nodded. "Jason? Yeah he was killed by the Joker. What about him?"
"Yeah he's not dead anymore. I'm not sure how that's even possible. He said we could 'discuss his livingness' later."
She blinked. "They faked his death?"
"I don't think so."
"Than he faked his death."
"I don't think that's true either."
"Wally people don't just come back from the dead."
"I know. I haven't gotten any details. I just know he's not dead, not anymore at least."
"Interesting. Anything else? How about the new Robin, have you met him?"
"Yes." He told her blankly.
"What's he like?"
Wally shrugged. "It's not like we had a long conversation. Though I think he should probably be knocked down a few bars."
"Why."
"I just feel like he thinks to highly of himself. Cockyness can get you killed."
"You're not wrong. But maybe he just gives off that vibe."
"Maybe, but you haven't met him. I think he's just like that."
"So… When did they find Dick?"
"Like three days ago."
"Three days ago?!"
Wally nodded. "Before you ask do remember the state he's currently in. I think Tim wants to avoid unanswerable questions."
"Like is he going to get better?"
"Maybe."
The word left a bitter taste in his mouth. The reality was, even with how little he'd seen, he knew this was going to be a difficult uphill battle for a very long time and that's if he actually can get better. Wally knew Jason, Tim, and Damian had the same idea in the back of their minds. Their brother might just be too far gone.
Wally shuddered, "Seriously let's change the subject. How long have I been gone?"
"Almost three years."
He blinked. Had he really been gone that long? On the one hand it felt like he'd gone in the Speed Force earlier today, on the other it had been an eternity. It was still really hard to judge.
"I threw myself into the Team. As more of a distraction I suppose, helping others and doing good, it helped me move forward with life. Dick on the other hand left the Team and went under the radar, to work through it on his own I suppose, and he never really did rejoin the Team when he did pop back up. It was more like Roy, he was on his own but he wasn't unreachable. He did a lot for the Team. I think he had plans on rejoining but too many things kept happening."
"Like what?"
Artemis shrugged. "I don't know. I don't have that level clearance. Everyone else got better with time, I don't think anyone got over it. Not really anyway."
"I'm sorry."
"Stop. You helped save the world. It's the only reason we've made any ground on anything. None of us would be here if it wasn't for you. So don't feel sorry. Now that your back, we can finally work towards really big things like defeating the Light."
"Well that's something."
"I'm working on being more optimistic. According to Gar, I'm really bad at that."
"I can't say I disagree."
"Maybe tomorrow I can show you the Bunker."
"No, Barry texted me earlier saying he wanted to talk to me about something."
"Any idea about what?"
He shook his head.
"Well what should we do. The night's still young. We could watch a movie, go out and eat something, party."
Wally looked at her. Neither one of them had been into the party scene. Not that they had any time to do so before retiring, even after it always struck them both as a stupid idea. There was always something better to do that be at a rager.
"Nothing exciting. I think I've had enough excitement."
She laughed. "To last a lifetime?"
"Nah, with our luck, like a week or too."
"So movie than. What do you want to watch."
"Surprise me. There's a lot I haven't seen, so I have a lot to catch up on."
Artemis nodded. "I have a few options."
According to Damian, Jason was taking a break supervising Dick. Which was fine by him.
Saying Tim was stressed, was a very loose term. His brother, who was supposed to be in charge when Bruce was gone doing god only knows, was in a catatonic state unable to comprehend anything other than his own breathing.
He's also trying to keep up with the patrol schedule, work on his new suit, and somehow magically work school around all of this.
Being homeschooled made it a little easier. After everything that happened Damian became Robin and Dick was Batman, he would've dropped out had this arrangement not been established. Things got 'better' when Bruce got back, well sort of. Better than they had been.
Tim had sent Bruce a message saying he needed to get home ASAP. Tim couldn't go into too much detail because the message could be intercepted and, there was just to much to tell. Easier to explain everything when B got back.
Tim sighed leaning back in the chair in front of the Batcomputer (Dick had so lovingly named). All he could do was sit back and wait.
He could continue working on his suit with this spare time. It was almost finished, the only problem were the magnetic gauntlets which attached the wings to his wrist enabling him to fly, sort of. They'd been giving him issues. Short circuiting and burning his skin. It could be quiet hindering when your fighting Riddler or Scarecrow or any of Gotham's insane criminals/terrorists.
He could also do some homework. He was already fairly well ahead in his curriculum. Whenever he sat down to do it, he did a lot in one sitting. Just in case something happened that would prevent him from returning to it for a little while.
He could sleep.
That seemed like a real winner. Tim couldn't remember the last time he'd had a good night's rest. Only sleeping for a few hours here and there. Tim remembered it'd gotten so bad once, Dick had locked him in his room until he'd slept for a reasonable amount of time.
That had been a few months ago. He'd threatened to do it again on various occasions, as had Jason. Alfred would just spike his food, he was caring like that.
Part of Tim wished Alfred were here as well. He might've been able to get a handle on this situation, but he was in London doing something Tim couldn't remember.
Alfred hadn't been home when Dick had been taken, Bruce had decided (stupidly but Tim wasn't going to argue) that Alfred would be left out of the loop. So everyone, shockingly followed that order and didn't breath a word of the situation. It's not like is was public information.
Tim had told the team he was doing undercover work in a classified location. After about three weeks people began to see through the lie, as Tim was not maintaining it very well. The public eye had been easier to deceive, claiming he was in a poor country helping those less fortunate. It wasn't a stretch. Dick did stuff like that in Gotham and Bludhaven anyways, so him deciding to go further was totally believable.
Still he hated this lack of motivation to do anything. He'd been taught from a young age to always keep busy, wasted time was a waste of resources. They were plenty of things for him to do, cases to solve, things to work on, even a bed to sleep in, or a real meal to eat. He just couldn't find a good reason to do any of them.
Tim closed his eyes, second mistake. The first one was sitting in the chair and getting comfortable.
Before he knew it, he was asleep. And sleep in his current level of stress meant extremely vivid dreams.
The three of them were looking down a crisp clean white hallway, Tim didn't know where to begin.
Jason had found a possible lead a week and a half ago, he and Tim followed it and here they were. In the basement of one of the Court of Owls secret headquarters. Tim was shocked they'd made it this far without being caught.
They were talented, but Jason wasn't known for his stealth, and Damian wasn't known for his patients or compliance. But here they were, staring into one of the worst places to possibly be. The Court's labyrinth.
When Jason had found that lead, Tim had been quick to figure out as much as he could about the Court. The Labyrinth was one of their worst weapons. If you could navigate it the rumor was you could escape. But they never put people in here unless they were close to their breaking point. The walls, ceiling, and floor were the same blind and pristine shinny white. Tim felt like he need sunglasses just to walk in.
The idea was they would go insane before they would reach the end and boom, they had a new owl. Only Tim didn't feel like that was the case here. You didn't kiddnap someone of Dick's caliber and make him a mindless zombie. You take someone like him for his instinct or skill set.
"Well we're not going to get anywhere by just standing here." Jason told them as he began to march into the labyrinth.
Damian didn't hesitate to follow Jason in, Tim on the other hand was.
Like he said, the Labyrinth was one of the last things that happened to their captives. A sane person could navigate it, but not easily. This could take them days. Days that could be spent searching literally anywhere else.
"How do we even know he's in here?" Tim asked.
Jason stopped and turned to look at him.
"It's not like we have many options." Jason told him. "Eight weeks is a long time Red. We have to move quickly, he might not have much time."
"Which is why I'm saying we should have all our bases covered before devoting so much time and energy and have it all be for nothing."
Damian groaned. "We don't have time for this. Hood is right, Grayson is running out of time. Either follow us or don't, I don't care. My gut says he's down here, that we're close."
Tim knew where he was coming from, because something in him said the same thing.
"Fine." Tim yielded, following his brothers down the long white corridors.
It felt like endless walking. Miles and miles of white hallways. They weren't getting anywhere, well it didn't help that everything looked the same. It was hurting his eyes. He understood how someone could go insane in here now, he felt like he was, he couldn't imagine someone at the end of their rope.
He sighed, leaning against the wall, the other weren't too far behind him. He wanted to just collapse and take a breather. This was so mentally taxing. That was the point. They've picked away at your physical self now to squash the mental aspect.
That's when Tim saw it. A jagged scratch in the wall.
He walked up to it his arm outstretched he ran his fingers along the mark, it was shallow. He looked around the corner and saw another scratch fairly similar. He turned another corner, there was another. One was happenstance, two is coincidence, three was a trail.
He turned around to get the others, when alarms blared ringing his ears. It had been completely silent, so when the alarms went off he had to pry himself from the ceiling.
Jason and Damian had also been just as startled by the loud noise. All three of them had crouched low hand over their ears, though Tim could understand how that would help anything in Jason's case. He had that helmet on.
"This way!" Tim shouted ready to follow the recently discovered trail, when a knife impaled itself in the wall a millimeter from his face.
The three of them ran down the hall avoiding knives and owls.
Tim and Damian dove behind a corner to provide cover while Jason ran ahead around the next corner.
"C'mon, we have to keep moving!" Tim told Damian pulling him up .
They found Jason, who had found Dick lying in a pool of his own blood.
Jason was frantic, applying pressure to Dick's wrists. Tim realized he'd slit them open. Dick had given up, if they'd gotten there any later he would've bled out and died.
Damian ran past him, to help Dick. He pulled a roll of gauze from his belt and began wrapping the wounds.
Tim stood frozen. He couldn't believe it. Dick was one of the strongest people he knew, if Dick could be driven to believe he would never be found or get himself out, and that death would be the only option. Well Tim couldn't imagine what they'd done to him.
A knife cutting through his sleeve slicing the skin underneath forced Tim to remember they were in a life or death situation
Jason threw Dick's arm over his shoulder and hauled him upward.
"We need to get him out of here. Where's an exit?" Jason asked.
"You know this is the Labyrinth right?" Damian shot back. "It's not designed for an easy escape!"
Tim looked around. He saw a bloody knife about seven feet away. He picked it up stowing in in his belt than considered his options for escape
Tim knew going back wasn't a viable option, too many owls out for their heads and the process of them getting down here and been just that, a process. There was absolutely no way they could do that again with Dick in this state. But Damian was right, they didn't know where they were, and that was really unfortunate as going forward was the only option that had any probable chance of survival for all four of them.
"Anywhere is better that here!" Jason decided as he trudged down the hall, Dick in tow.
While Jason was definitely the tallest of the four of them Dick wasn't short. None of them could pick him up over their shoulder or in their arms,
Tim and Damian held off the Owls while Jason pulled Dick down the hall.
His mind went into the autopilot. The owls were zombies, they could take the kill shots and keep going. So Tim was doing just that looking for chinks in the armor that would cause fatal blows in a normal person and aiming his attacks with the bo staff and baterangs, Damian was following his lead with his katana. It was the only thing having any effect. He did notice it was getting easier. Which was never a good thing.
"Is anyone else noticing it's getting easier?" Damian asked.
"Don't jinx it!" Jason shouted, he had his gun out. Firing it left handed at the owls' heads, he knew the kill shots were the only thing keeping them alive
"To late!" Tim told them.
It was the Talon.
Something else Tim had discovered during his crash course on the Court, there was this assassin owl called Talon. Talon's were on another level of crazy, they were elaborate fighters. Extremely dangerous, and Tim knew he didn't possess the skill set to properly fight one off.
He hoped between him and Damian they could hold Talon off long enough that Jason could get Dick out of here.
It pulled swords from it's sided and charged. Damian deflected the blow, barely. Tim threw a batarang at the armor which Talon brushed off hitting Tim with the side of the sword as opposed to the blade.
He was taking it easy on them, on him. Why?
"We need to blow the tunnel." Tim told Jason. "Please tell me you have some explosives."
Talon slammed Damian into the wall, then tried run Damian through with the sword. Well he missed because Damian threw himself from the blade then kicked him in the chin.
"I never leave home without a good bomb." Jason told him rapping his knuckles on the side of his head.
Tim raised an eyebrow.
"The helment's got a hell of a radius. It'll do the trick with the right kind of charge. We just need to get clear."
Jason raised his gun from his side and began to fire it at the Talon.
"You need to plant it. I'll keep moving with Dick." Tim told him.
Jason shifted Dick's wight onto Tim. He mentally noted how much lighter Dick was, a least a good fifty to sixty pound.
Tim began to haul Dick down the hall.
He set him down around the corner and looked around. None of them were going to be able defeat the Talon. He not only out skilled all of them, like the owls he could take the bullets to the head and other fatal actions. The only thing they'd done is piss him off. That was only going to get them so far.
Jason shoved Damian back.
"Here catch!" Jason told the Talon as it stupidly caught the helmet Jason threw in his hands and took off towards Tim. Damian seemed to get the idea diving around the corner where Tim and Dick were prepared for the blow.
Well Jason was right, it had quite the radius. It knocked the lights out and collapsed the tunnel between them and the Talon.
They sat there for a minute, gathering their barings.
Shakily all three of them stood up. Damian pulled out a flashlight turning it on.
Dust hung in the air. It was silent again.
Jason pulled Dick back up.
"C'mon, lets get home." He told them.
Tim bore the weight of the other side.
Damian walked in front lighting the way.
The Labyrinth was silent again. Huge bombs tended to do that. He thought back to when Lex Luthor had dropped the Live Bomb on Bludhaven. Everyone had been concerned that Dick was in the city when it happened. He hadn't been, he'd been heading back when the Live bomb had been dropped. He got caught up in it's radiation, they still had to rescue him but it was something he could walk away from.
The tunnel's current state forced Tim to once again recall the destruction of Bludhaven. Pitch black, dust hanging in the air, the smell of smoke that choked you if you weren't careful, and how dirty everything became. The silence was unnerving, it made the hairs on the back of Tim's neck stand on end, it was the type of silence that could suffocate you.
He readjusted Dick on his shoulder.
"Let's stop." Jason decided.
"We can't stop for long Todd." Damian told him. "The Owls might get through."
"I'm aware, but he's getting heavy."Jason gestured to Dick. "Even with Tim helping it's still a long walk with a good hundred pounds between the two of us."
"Grayson doesn't weigh so little."
"He's lost quite a bit of weight Dami." Tim interjected lowering Dick to the floor.
Jason slid down the wall he's leaned against. His eyes closed. Tim basically collapsed. He sat leaning against the wall facing Jason. He could fall asleep here. But that was dumb, they weren't safe yet.
Tim glanced at Dick, his breathing was short and shallow. He'd lost a lot of blood, and he was still losing blood, though it had slowed. He didn't have much time, they needed to get out of here.
That's when Jason suddenly sat up. He turned to look at the wall he'd been sitting against, running his fingers along the cracks.
"What are you doing?" Damian asked.
"This is an outside wall." He murmured.
"That's not possible. We're underground." Tim told him.
"Not anymore, there's air coming through these cracks." Jason replied.
"How big was that bomb you were wearing on your head?" Damian questioned.
"That's what you're going to question? Instead of how we're going to blow a hole in the wall?" Tim asked.
"I have more bombs." Jason told him blankly.
"Of course you do." Damian whispered to himself.
"The integrity of the wall is already shot. I won't take much to break open the wall and…" Jason was cut off.
"And have the ceiling cave in on top of us." Tim interjected.
"You have a better idea?" He snapped
Tim shook his head, pulling the cowl from his head and unfastening it from his neck.
"What are you doing?" Jason asked him.
"It's December, we're in Canada, and I don't think the clothing Dick has is going to keep him warm. What do you think I'm doing?" He replied flatly.
Tim worked the cape around his neck fastening it. It fit Dick, he was too thin.
Damian copied, which earned him an eyebrow raise from both Tim and Jason.
"I will be fine. I've climbed mountains in the middle of blizzards with less. He has severe hemorrhaging and a lack of body fat, he cannot handle the temperatures outside." He told them
"Thank god for League training." Jason replied sarcastically. "Go over there while I blow a hole in the wall."
Jason made an intricate design of bombs and wires along the cracks in the wall then joined Tim and Damian. He blew it up, and they climbed out.
The walk to the batwing was uneventful and cold, they trudged through snow a foot high. Tim felt like his toes and fingers had frozen. He couldn't feel his face, his cowl would've been helpful, but Dick needed it more. They'd wrapped Damian's cape around him like a scarf and Tim's like a blanket. Silently moving forward trying to get as far from that base as they could.
The flight back to Gotham was just as uneventful. It was like the Court had decided it wasn't worth going after them anymore. It was suspicious. Tim would worry about that later, they got Dick back. He would focus on that first.
Tim looked back from his seat at the controls at Jason and Dick. Jason was trying to fix Dick best he could without the proper equipment, but it was like trying to fix a crack in the Hoover Dam with duct tape. He wasn't getting very far. Damian noticed this, stood up from the passenger seat and began to help.
Oddly enough, Damian was the best between the four of them with first aid. It was funny to Tim as he was also the most violent. It might have been something the League of Assassins just trained their followers to be efficient in, but Tim's seriously doubted Ra's cared that much. More likely than not, Talia had decided it was something Damian should learn. He wasn't expendable and if he got cut off from the League, he would need to know how to take care of himself.
Tim climbed back to where Jason and Dick were, the plane was on autopilot, Jason practically had Dick's head in his lap. Dick was awake and staring straight up at him, but he was clearly disconnected from the world. His blue eyes glassy and unfocused. Damian began to do some rudimentary stitches on Dick's wrists while Jason dug in his bag for something.
Jason pulled out a silver flask and handed it to Damian.
"What's this?" he asked while twisting the cap off. "It smells like Vodka."
"It is. Use to sanitize the equipment and his wounds."
"With Vodka?"
"Would you just…"
Damian glared, but compiled.
Tim fished a bottle of water out one of the emergency bags and handed it to Jason.
"You might need this."
Jason accepted the bottle.
Tim didn't know how he could help, opting to sitting on the floor and observing.
No word were spoken, not that there was any needed.
"Tim?"
He jolted awake, and Bruce stepped back.
Tim had to remind himself, that they'd gotten home. They'd gotten Dick the medical care to fix most of his physical wounds. The Court hadn't attacked.
It was just B. He could fix this, all of this. At least that's what he hopped. That's all Tim had now was hope.
That was probably the most insulting part, he could only rely on emotions to believe that they could crawl out of this hole.
"I got your message." He explained. "What's going on?"
"We found Dick." Tim answered blankly. He didn't feel rested. Not that anyone would after a dream like that.
The look on B's face was hard to read as it always was, stoic like. Annoyingly so.
"Why didn't you contact me sooner?" He asked his voice tight
"It was time sensitive. The moment we figured it out we new we had to be quick. We didn't have time to wait for you get the message."
"Where is he?"
"We have him in a cell."
"A cell?"
"Just... I'll explain everything. But you need to see this to really understand."
Like I promised a much longer chapter, filled with exposition. Gotta set have a firm base to have a really solid and good story.
Love the feedback, please do keep it coming. I'll see y'all next week.
