CHAPTER 9: BRUCE'S P.O.V

After Alfred finished patching up Tim's cut, Damian finally rode into the cave.

"Where the hell were you?" I demanded and turned around.

My expression softened as soon as I saw Damian. His mask was removed and he looked painfully sad.

"What's wrong?" I asked and knelt down to his level.

He showed me a little grey ball marked 'F-T'.

"What's-" I was about to ask what it was when I realized. "Fear Toxin. That explains it"

"I did something to Tim" Damian whispered.

I noticed how he said 'Tim' and not 'Drake'.

"What do you mean?" I asked gently, placing my hand on his shoulder.

"When you were carrying him out he said, 'No, Damian, don't'. One of his fears is me"

"Well that's what happens when you constantly threaten and try to kill someone"

"But I never thought that I scared him, he always just threatened back or blocked my attacks. He always knows when I'm around and he's always prepared to defend himself" Damian lifted his eyes to meet mine "I hated him at first, really hated, but I don't anymore. I don't want to hurt him. Is-is he alright?"

"He's still alive, but unconcious, we have no idea when he'll wake up and it's a bad cut. Head wounds are usually pretty dangerous, and the nightmare he's having probably won't be helping much" I explained grimly.

"Can I see him?" Damian asked, thought it sounded more like; 'If you don't let me see him, I will disembowl you and rip your face off, making sure you don't die for at least 10 minutes after'.

I nodded and followed him in. Tim had a pained look, that Damian mirrored perfectly.

"Do you think that I'm the one haunting him right now?"

"Can't be sure, it could be any amount of people, Digger Harkness, your grandfather-"

"Who's Digger Harkness?"

"The man that killed his father which caused his stepmother to be moved to a mental institution"

"And then you adopted him and he became the third Robin, right?"

"Actually, he was already Robin. After Jason died, I became ruthless and uncaring. Tim figured out our identities and basically forced me to let him be Robin. His father didn't die until later"

"So that would make me the first Robin to have both parents still alive?"

"Yeah. I need to go back out to look for Dick, you staying here?"

"Yes, I would like to come but I can't just leave Drake"

I smiled to myself and left again. Alfred walked in to check on Tim.

"You aren't going to try and kill Master Tim while my back is turned are you?" I heard him ask Damian.

"Of course I won't try to kill him Pennyworth! You think awfully lowly of me" Damian growled in response.

I went back to finish my search in that last warehouse and was met with a surprise.

AMY'S P.O.V

I had been looking in a whole heap of warehouses through Gotham (and I'm positive I had already been in some of them before). I brought the map back out and checked it over.

"Only three more to check" I mumbled and rubbed my eyes.

I was really tired but I couldn't sleep knowing that Dick was still in the clutches of the Joker. I sighed and went to check out the remaining three. It was 9:31 when I reached the very last warehouse. The only thing one of the last two had was a pool of fresh blood, which I figured was from hitting the metal crate, since the edge was also coated in blood.

'I wonder who that belongs to' Was all I had been thinking in there.

I shivered as I felt a prescence behind me. I turned to see Batman standing a metre away from me.

"Nice night, isn't it?" I asked trying to calm my nerves down.

"As nice a night as it could be after today" He ground out.

"Why, what happened?" My curiosity got the better of me.

"Red Robin was injured, I didn't get to search this warehouse and Nightwing is going to be out of commision for a while"

"Is Red Robin alright? How did he get injured?"

"He hit his head after getting a dose of Fear Toxin"

'So that was his blood, lovely. I could figure out his identity if I wanted' "And he's alright?"

"He's" Batman paused "Fine"

"And Nightwing?"

"He was badly injured recently"

"Right. So you ready to see what horrors are hidden behind these doors?" 'Great, now I'm starting to sound like Dick, only he would say it more enthusiastically'

Batman strode forward and I took that as a 'Yes'. I followed him into the dark, eerie building.

"Split up?" I suggested.

Batman nodded his head and we went seperate ways. Soon enough I found a trapdoor that led down into a basement like place.

"Batman" I called out.

"Yes" A voice suddenly spoke causing my heart to jump out of my chest.

"Do you ever show up without giving anyone a heart attack!?" I cried.

"Besides my partners, not really"

I huffed and gave him an angry stare. I think I saw him almost smile.

"Down there" I pointed to the stairs protruding from the trapdoor.

Batman walked down the stairs, his cape following elegantly. It took a lot of will-power not to laugh at how regal it made him seem. With my hand resting on my gun, I quietly walked down. A set of heavy metal doors concealed the room that held Dick, we could tell this by the grunts coming from the other side.

Batman kicked the doors open and charged at Joker. I ran over to Dick, who was unconscious. Avoiding the fact that I was kneeling in his blood, I did a quick check over, making sure he was still alive and under the coats of blood, I finally noticed the bone sticking out of his lower leg and fought the urge to vomit.

"Oh God Dick, I'm so sorry"

Batman looked like he was shaking from rage as he handcuffed the two villainous clowns that were out cold.

"Joker is trying my patience" He muttered.

"Why don't you just kill him? Nobody would care"

"Why didn't you kill him? You had the chance, you're the one carrying a gun!"

"I was too worried about Dick and I didn't even consider it"

"I can't kill him, because if I did, I would never be able to bring myself back out of that darkness"

"Right, sorry" 'And I always thought that Batman was a soul-less creature of darkness'

"Can you get him to Gotham Private?" Batman's voice wavered slightly.

"Yes, if you carry him to the car, I can't lift him, mostly due to all the... blood"

"Actually, you call the police and wait for them. I'll take him to the hospital, the batmobile's faster"

I knew there was no arguing with Batman, only his partners had that ability (as I had witnessed once when Batman came to Bludhaven and Nightwing started arguing with him about a Kathy that was in trouble or something, I really can't remember).

"Sure, Batman" I agreed dejectedly.

Batman picked Dick up with more care than I thought he could manage and took him out of the building. 'Guess he really is human beneath that mask'

I dragged the two clowns out of the room, up the stairs and outside of the warehouse. While I was lugging them up the stairs, Joker began to gain conciousness. 'Batman must have really done a number on Harley to keep her from waking up when she is getting attacked by stairs'

After the police took the two to Arkham, I remembered that Dick had a family and called Bruce. He answered incredibly fast.

"Yes?" He asked.

"It's Amy, I found Dick"

"You did? How is he? Is he still alive?" Bruce asked the last question dejectedly.

"He's still alive, but not in a very good state as far as I can see"

"What hospital?"

"Gotham Private"

"Thank you, Amy"

"Anytime"

Bruce hung up and I made my way over to Gotham Private.

BRUCE'S P.O.V

I'd been waiting outside of Dick's room for roughly four hours, along with Jason, Damian and Amy. Tim was still unconscious so Alfred had stayed back with him. A female nurse exited the room and walked over.

"How is he?" Jason asked.

The nurse took in a deep breath "Not too good"

"What injuries?" I asked.

"He had a bullet in his thigh and the wound became infected, stab wound in the shoulder, a very deep cut down his leg right next to the infected bullet wound, a bird carved into his side with a sharp piece of glass embedded in one of the lines, a J carved in his back, another stab wound to the chest directly opposite the heart, multiple bruises, deep cuts everywhere, a couple shattered bones, a concussion, a broken arm, broken ankle and five broken ribs, a few electric burns, wrists are rubbed raw, internal bleeding and a compound fracture in his lower leg" She rattled off.

"Holy shit" Jason sat back down on the chair.

I followed Jason's example and Amy practically froze.

"Will he be alright?" Damian asked in a childish voice I didn't know he was capable of.

"He's stable, but his injuries are pretty severe, honestly I don't think he will last much longer"

Damian sunk back on his chair, not bothering to hide his tears.