For Dick, his visions were rarely pleasant or helpful. If there was some kind of intelligent sentient force feeding his visions to him, Dick would have really like to give them a piece of his mind. The piece he'd like to give them would be his fist in their face.
Many of his visions, some that he neither wanted nor could prevent, revealed to Dick incredibly unpleasant images of terrible things happening to people he knew or loved. They also usually occurred mere moments before the event itself, making them nearly useless. This was exactly the case with his parents' death. This was the same case with Damian.
As Dick closed his eyes and concentrated on the distinctive signature that was Damian's essence, he saw in a flash a vision of the young Wayne heir walking in a cavern deep beneath the earth. He was holding a small lantern containing a flickering flame and was surrounded by crystal clear and tasteless water. The water was biting cold and sloshed around the boy's knees with each step he took. Welling up behind Damian in the meager light thrown by his small lantern was a black amorphous form, growing and spreading out behind Damian like a great beast getting ready to devour him whole.
Dick's whole body seized up with fear, but just like all of his visions that he had experienced in the past, he couldn't move or make a sound. The black mass twisted and thrashed until it worked itself about into the approximate form of a woman with long dark hair that writhed, moved, and merged with the darkness around them. Its fingers were long, and bent, and tipped with long sharp claws.
Damian pushed slowly through the water, his breath coming faster, and his steps moving with more purpose as the black mass gained on him from behind. Soon, the creature was close enough that Dick could see it had the appearance of a beautiful woman. By that point, Damian was running as quickly as he could manage with the water around his feet slowing him down. He ran feverishly, desperately, but never put any distance between himself and the creature behind him.
When Dick felt sure that he couldn't possibly watch the horrible scene unfold before him any further, the Damian in his vision lost his footing and went crashing into the water. As he did, there was a sharp crack under laid with a dull thud. Damian laid where he fell, face down in the water. Bright red blood bloomed into the water around his head. Somewhere in the darkness, the creature breathed out a raspy laugh.
Dick came back to himself in a flash. He opened his eyes and gasped, even as his body ached and his stomach turned with nausea.
"Guys, we have to find him," Dick gasped.
Babs reached forward and squeezed his arms in a steadying grip.
"Did you see him?" Barbara asked, something like fear shining in her eyes.
"Yeah," Dick croaked. "In my vision, I got the impression he was underground. Or, somewhere dark, anyway. He was standing in water and something was stalking him." Dick paused, panic clutching at his heart. "Barbara, in my vision, Damian gets seriously hurt. We need to find him quickly, before that happens."
Barbara's expression hardened and her lips thinned. "Okay, everyone!" Barbara snapped "Spread out and find Damian as soon as possible. All of you!" she yelled.
Panic starting to set in, everyone shot off in small groups out the kitchen door. Their footsteps echoed through the empty mansion as they spread out across the huge structure. After the others had left, Barbara nodded sharply at Dick before turning on her heel and walking swiftly out of the kitchen.
Dick stood alone in the large empty kitchen, still a little shaken by the vision he had just experienced. He forced himself to focus on the details of his vision, trying to determine the best place to start searching for Damian. Time was of the essence and he couldn't afford to look everywhere.
Other than the water and the darkness, there were no identifiable landmarks or characteristics Dick could remember to indicate Damian's location. That meant they were running blind and he hated the feeling of uncertainty knowing that left him with. Scolding himself, Dick pushed himself into action, knowing that standing around in the kitchen doing nothing wasn't going to help him find Damian any sooner.
Dick exited the kitchen and then stood outside the door debating with himself as to where to go first. Somehow, going up felt right. His intuition was pulling him toward the staircase. But, in Dick's vision, Damian was almost certainly underground. He was already on the first floor and wasn't sure how to get any lower in the mansion. Surely it had a basement, but so far the only sub level he had found was the small wine cellar in the kitchen that he had already explored fully yesterday. There hadn't been any water, let alone a cavernous space there.
Dick started to walk hesitantly toward the staircase when a sound all too familiar froze him in his tracks. Slightly muffled by the closed door behind him, Dick heard the sound of a sharp crack followed by the dull thump of something heavy and soft hitting the floor.
Heart in his throat, Dick turned on his heel and threw the kitchen door open. The door slammed loudly against its frame before bouncing back. The sound echoed through the cavernous hall and nearly empty kitchen.
As Dick came to an abrupt stop inside the kitchen, he saw Damian stretched along the tile floor. He was lying face down and bleeding from his temple. Thick dark red blood drained from the wound and onto the tiles where it filled in the cracks and spread out. The door to the pantry was open directly behind him, the trap door to the wine cellar thrown open. There was a smudge of blood and a few black hairs stuck to the edge of the counter.
Collapsing to his knees beside Damian's prone body, Dick's hands hovered uncertainly over the unconscious boy. He faintly remembered taking a first aid class in high school, but nothing that he learned there was coming to him. His first instinct was to flip Damian over, pick him up and maybe even shake him. But, he had a head injury and might have even hurt his neck, so Dick was terrified to move him.
Fighting against the panic turning his stomach all to knots, Dick put trembling fingers in front of Damian's open mouth and nose and breathed out a grateful sigh of relief at the feel of the boy's faint breath against his skin.
Dick hesitantly started to look Damian over for any injuries other than the crack to his head when the sound of footsteps on the tile floor brought his head up.
Standing in the doorframe was Bruce Wayne, his figure huge and imposing, his chest and shoulders heaving and his eyes looking half wild as he scanned the kitchen before alighting on Damian and Dick both on the kitchen floor. He was so immediately recognizable to Dick, even though he had only seen him briefly during the orientation, his appearance was so striking.
Bruce stalked quickly over to Damian and Dick, his hands flexing into fists and his expression thunderous. Dick had to consciously tell himself not to flinch away from the imposing man.
"What happened?" Bruce snapped, crouching down by Damian's head.
"I don't know," Dick answered hesitantly, moving back to make room for Bruce to crowd closer over his unconscious son. "I was standing outside the kitchen door when I heard someone fall. When I got here, he was lying like this," Dick explained, his voice growing faint toward the end. The boy who was sulking over a bowl of cereal a few minutes ago hardly looked like he could be the same boy lying prone on the floor. His body was so still, his face looked so different while relaxed in sleep.
Bruce pressed two fingers against his son's thin neck and was relieved to feel the flutter of a pulse press against his fingertips. He pressed the palm of his hand against Damian's back, the feel of his son's body solid under his hand somewhat steadying.
Taking a deep breath, Bruce pinned Dick with a probing look. "What happened to the other participant?" Bruce asked lowly.
Dick stared at him, frozen in confusion and racking his brain for a response that wouldn't sound stupid to the man who practically owned half of the city.
"Who...?" Dick asked slowly, disappointed with himself as soon as the word left his mouth.
"The person who was locked in with Damian," Bruce responded shortly.
"I ... don't know what you're talking about," Dick said cautiously.
With a bit off sound of rage, Bruce stood up and stalked a few steps away from Damian.
"I've been with Damian since last night until this morning at breakfast," Dick added quickly, trying to explain. "So far as I know, he hasn't been locked in anywhere with anyone."
"Where's Barbara?" Bruce snapped, turning quickly on Dick.
Dick hesitated for a moment, before replying, "She's in the Manor somewhere."
"I'm right here," Barbara's voice rang out, sounding slightly breathless as she walked confidently into the kitchen. Her steps faltered as Damian's prone body came into view, but she kept her expression and voice under tight control.
Striding quickly over to Dick, she asked, "What happened?"
"I don't know," Dick said, getting ready to quickly repeat what he had already told Bruce. "I was standing outside the kitchen and heard a noise. When I came back in, I found Damian lying on the floor."
Barbara's brow furrowed at Dick's explanation. "How is that possible?" she asked, kneeling down beside Dick. Her fingertips brushed the back of Damian's sweat soaked shirt. "We were all in the kitchen and the doors were stuck. The only place he could have been was the wine cellar and I thought that disappeared?"
"I'm calling an ambulance," Bruce growled, pulling his phone from his pocket. He turned away from Dick and Barbara, tapping insistently at his phone's screen.
"Dick, is he okay?" Barbara whispered urgently, her voice low and her expression anxious.
Dick nodded slightly and whispered back, "Yeah, I think he's okay. I think he just knocked himself unconscious. But, I have no idea where he's been." Dick then cut his eyes to the bottom of Damian's pants and shoes. The bottom of the boy's jeans, socks, and shoes were all sopping wet. Small beige pieces of sand were visible around the soles of his shoes, as well.
Barbara and Dick shared a puzzled and worried look before they were shocked out of their silent communication by the sound of Bruce cursing and whipping his phone at the kitchen floor.
Standing hesitantly, Barbara stepped toward the Wayne family head. "Bruce?" she asked cautiously.
Bruce roughly ran his hand over his face and muttered, "There's no signal."
Gently, Babs placed a hand on Bruce's elbow. "It looks like Damian will be okay," she said gently. "He hit his head on the counter, but he's breathing evenly and the cut on his head has already clotted. He'll most likely wake up at any moment and we can ask him what happened."
"No, Barbara, I want to ask you what happened," Bruce said, pulling his arm away from her and turning to face her squarely. "What happened this morning? What was that voice mail about?"
"My voice mail?" Barbara responded, "It was in regards to some strange events last night. One of our participants felt threatened physically by one of the apparitions they encountered and it's spooked the rest of my team. We were seriously considering stopping the investigation, but I wanted to consult with you first."
Bruce made an impatient sound and waved the information away. "No, what did you mean about Damian? You said he had locked himself into a room with another participant. What happened?"
Barbara frowned and shook her head slowly. "Bruce, I didn't say anything like that in my message."
"Yes, you did!" Bruce's strong voice boomed through the kitchen, easily carrying around the rest of the manor. Visibly pulling himself back under control, Bruce modulated his voice, "You did. You left a message on my desk phone saying exactly that and asking me to come here right away."
"I don't disbelieve you," Barbara said quickly. "Bruce, this place is beyond active. It's gotten to the point that I'm no longer concerned about proving that this place is haunted, but protecting the people here from it."
"Are you proposing that the house called me?" Bruce rejoined, skepticism thick in his voice.
"I know it sounds crazy, but there have been numerous studies showing that spirit energy is able to manipulate electromagnetic fields and tamper with and even leave their voices on recording devices," Barbara explained before being interrupted by the sound of a pair of feet pounding down the stairway above the kitchen entrance and then into the kitchen itself.
"What's going- Oh," Jason stopped, noticing the imposing figure of Bruce Wayne standing in the middle of the kitchen and Damian lying on the floor. Steph peeked nervously around Jason and gasped at the sight of their youngest participant. She elbowed Jason out of the way to run over and join Dick on the floor beside Damian.
"What happened?" Jason asked, stepping closer to Damian.
"I really wish everyone would stop asking that," Dick muttered.
"Damian fell and hit his head, but none of us know how or where he came from," Barbara said shortly.
"How the hell did he get in here?" Jason asked, impertinently pointing an impatient finger at Bruce.
"Through the door," Bruce growled, cutting Babs off before she could try to answer Jason.
Everyone in the room froze at Bruce's explanation with the exception of Bruce himself, who looked around at all of their astonished faces like they had just lost their minds.
"Oh, my god. The door is open," Jason breathed, before sprinting through the kitchen door, through the Solarium and out into the backyard. The sun was climbing higher in the sky and a faint breeze was ruffling the high grass.
Jason only allowed himself to enjoy the feeling of the sun and wind against his skin for a brief moment before turning around and running back to the kitchen.
"Guys," he said breathlessly. "The door is open. We can leave." When everyone stared at him without moving, he added loudly, "Come on! Let's go!"
"I'm not going anywhere until I know what the hell is going on here," Bruce shot back, his face contorting into an ugly scowl.
"We can't leave without the others, anyway!" Barbara added quickly. "They're probably still spread out all over the Manor looking for Damian."
"And, we can't move Damian, yet! He has a head wound, for Christ's sake," Dick added frantically. "But, I do think that someone should go get help. "There was a gas station further down the road, I think. Whoever goes can call for help from there."
"Who's going to go?" Steph asked hesitantly.
All four of them turned to look at Jason, whose hands were still braced on the door frame.
"Fuck that!" he snapped at them. "Where's Tim?"
"How are we supposed to know?" Dick snapped back. "Why wasn't he with you? Besides, what does it matter where he is?"
A guttural growl started in Jason's chest at the accusing questions, but it was silenced by the sound of Damian muttering faintly. For the second time in as many minutes, everyone in the room froze. They all turned to look at Damian, who was beginning to stir.
As soon as they took notice of Damian, the house gave a strange moan, a deep bass sound that ran under their feet. After the groaning and vibrating, the sound of great crashes could be heard all around the Manor. Behind Jason, the kitchen door swung shut with enough force to rattle all the windows in the room. Jason was able to pull his hand away only at the last moment to avoid losing all of his fingers.
Once the crashing and humming stopped, the house grew quiet again. They all looked at each other and knew that they were trapped again.