Characters: Dick Grayson, Robin, Bruce Wayne, Wally, the team.
Warnings: Blood, angst, sobbing and screaming, throwing up…
Summary: "Leave a dream where the fallout lies…"
Of Fear Gas Part Two."Never mattered 'bout the shape I'm in. I'll keep you safe tonight."
He woke up shaking. At first, his eyelids didn't want to respond as if they were glued shut. Bringing up a trembling hand he rubbed away at the crust on his lashes. His hand hurt, that was weird. Finally opening his blue eyes, he held the shaking hand in front of him. It was wrapped and bandaged tightly, but despite the cloth, blood spotted the white gauze. Upon further investigation, he found his other hand was wrapped as well.
His shades were gone. That meant he was still Dick Grayson. Looking around the room he found he was in the medical bay back in the mountain.
The head ache hit him like a speeding train flying off its assigned tracks. Dick flopped back on the hospital bed and clutched at his skull, finding it was wrapped as well. A muffled whine left his lips and he shut his eyes to the room around him. He was shaking profusely now, his joints aching and limbs trembling. Dick rolled onto his side and curled into a tight ball clutching at his head the entire time.
Something flashed behind his eyes, an image. But it was gone quickly only to be replaced by others. A ringing started up in his ears and Dick took in a deep breath through his sore throat. What was happening?
"Dick?" Someone called out across the room. There were fast foot steps before arms enveloped him, pulling him tight to someone's chest. Another whine slipped out of his throat as he was embraced and his head was cradled. "It's ok, shh." The voice vibrated through the broad body holding him, almost soothing his trembling state.
Almost.
The images in his mind hadn't stopped flashing. One in particular grew and blocked his vision... It was dark but not pitch. The air was lit by spotlights, but they weren't focusing on the right scene in the big top. Dick was instead looking down at a group of mangled bodies-
Oh no. No, nonono-
"NU!" Dick pushed off the body and scrambled to the other side of the bed successfully falling off the other end onto the hard tiled floor. He caught himself painfully on broken hands but the bird didn't pay attention. Instead, he tried to crawl away from the arms that were trying to catch him and hold him back. Looking up he saw Bruce's face. Not Batman's, but Bruce's.
"Dickie, you're alright! Shh, no one's going to hurt you," he crooned. It was a side of the man Dick didn't see very often, a gentle one where Bruce's voice was soothing and relaxed. But this time it had an edge of pleading with it. Dick ignored the comforting hands of his mentor, instead opting to scramble away from the bat.
"Nu! Sint bine?" he begged desperately. His voice would have been hard enough to decipher being torn and raw as it was, but he was speaking in Romanian as well. "Va rog, Bruce! Am sa-l ajute!" Now the bird was crying. But Dick didn't register the tears scorching his cheeks.
Another image flashed behind his eyes, this one of red. Blood covered everything, marring his friend's faces and pooling on the ground beneath them. A scream ripped through his already tortured throat and Dick pushed harder when Bruce tried to hold him still. Dick jabbed his elbow back into his mentor's ribs connecting successfully.
"Unde sint? Unde sunt prietenii mei?" He asked desperately. Voices were in the hallway now, footsteps nearing the door. "Dati jos!" he screamed roughly. The bird gave one final push, but Bruce only pulled him back to the floor before he could get anywhere.
"Dick! Stop!" he wrestled his son to the ground trying to pin his flailing limbs. The screaming boy wouldn't listen though. He struggled against Bruce, pleading with him in his native tongue to let him find his friends.
"Wha- Hey!" someone shouted in the doorway. "Get off of him!"
"You idiots! I'm helping!" Bruce yelled at the people that were trying to drag him away.
Dick struggled beneath the pile of people, now scared that his father would be taken away as well as-
He reached out a hand to the dead face. Without realizing it, his fingers touched a spot of blood. Lurching back from the contact with the sticky warm liquid, Dick flicked his hand trying to rid himself of the nasty red-
Dick rolled over and away from Bruce and the people struggling with him. He had barely cleared the mass of bodies before he found himself on his hands and knees, retching on the tiled floor. A fresh batch of tears pooled in his eyes and fell down his pink cheeks. There must have been some crazed man hitting him in the head with a hammer because that was only explanation for his head ache. It literally felt like he had smacked his head off the floor a couple times until he had blacked out,
There was an idea.
The images wouldn't cease, wouldn't let him relax. Dick forced his body away from the spot he had just been sick on. He gripped his bandaged head and threw his skull to the floor.
"Dick!" someone shouted, a female. "Not again!" Arms were around him pulling him up so he couldn't hurt himself again.
"Nu! Va rog! Pur si simplu le face sa plece!" he screamed at the person holding him. Dick tried to push them away some more, but more arms and hands dragged him back to the bed.
"Mister Wayne, you need to leave!" someone was shouting. Someone was also shouting back, arguing.
"No! He's my son you incompetent clone!" he yelled.
The person Bruce was fighting with seemed to growl. Dick heard them say, "We have this under control-"
"Obviously not!" Bruce was pushed out the door anyways only to push right back through.
"Bruce!" Dick screamed from where he was now being pinned to the bed. "Va rog nu ma lasa singur!" The bird pushed the people around him away. He leapt off the bed and past the large figure in the doorway. He tackled Bruce to the ground and clutched to his mentor's shirt, sobbing all the while. His wailing only gained volume when the hands returned to take him away.
"Dick! Dick please stop!" someone was pleading with him. He was set back on the bed-
Wally lay smashed on the concrete, still and bleeding. His eyes were focused on something far away as if he were counting clouds in the sky. "Wally!" Dick screamed, kneeling beside his best friend. "Wally! Please!" he gripped the broken shoulders. "Wake up! Stop kidding around!" The bird shook the shoulders so violently that the red head's skull rolled back on its broken neck. A wail ripped-
from his throat. He grabbed hold of the speedster in front of him. "Wally! It's not funny anymore! Stop lying!" Dick clutched at the speedsters shoulders and shook him like a rag doll. "Wake up!" he screamed.
"Dick!" Wally gasped out; trying to pry his friend's broken hands off of him. "Y-your hu-urting me!" he shouted between violent shakes.
Dick pushed his friend away roughly, sending the speedster to the floor where he landed on his butt. The bird didn't even try to hug himself, hide himself from the cruel world he was forced into. He sat there, head thrown back while he wailed at the ceiling. His body shook and his spine arched painfully while he twisted back and forth as is fighting off invisible daemons.
No one dared approach after that. Dick's team mates were now thoroughly frightened, not to mention confused. How could the little boy in front of them fight with so much power? And even more, how did he know Wally? Said speedster was helped to his feet. The door had long been closed on Bruce Wayne, banishing the billionaire from his son. The man could still be heard shouting on the hallway, banging on the door with powerful fists. Superboy leaned against the shaking wall, keeping the man out.
"W-what do we do!" Artemis screamed. Everyone looked desperately at Wally who seemed to be the only one who knew what was happening. The read head rubbed at his sore bottom before snapping out of his trance.
Wally was silent for a moment, watching his friend writhe on the hospital bed with a broken hearted face. He snapped around to look at Conner who was holding the door shut. "What the hell are you doing!" he yelled at the clone. "Let him in!" The clone looked ready to protest, obviously against the idea of letting in the brash playboy. "Conner, he's Bruce freaking Wayne," Wally growled. "If anyone can help Dick, it's his dad! Now let the guy in!"
The clone stepped away from the door, shock lining his face at the idea of Wally yelling at him. Screaming at him.
Bruce smashed through the door. The team watched in shock as he came barreling into the room, an angry rage directed at the clone that had refused his entrance.
[0]
When the frightmares were over and done with, it was like awaking from hibernation. Dick's limbs protested his movement for a while, they were tired and abused. His throat was completely botched from the screaming, crying and throwing up he'd done in the last 24 hours. He'd woken up around midnight the next day with Bruce asleep in the chair next to him, large hand hold his broken one. Wally seemed to have passed out on the other side, a bit of drool slipping down his chin. There were a couple scratches on his neck and chin as well, probably from where Dick had clutched onto his friend... The team came and went occasionally, none really speaking to him except to ask how he was feeling. They seemed a bit frightened of him.
The next day, he returned to the team as Robin, bandages hiding behind his gloves and scratchy voice excused as a cold. The team welcomed him back excitedly, spilling the news of their 'adventure' quickly. Robin couldn't help but flinch at the descriptions.
Wally was silent. He fallowed his friend around the mountain wherever he went. Robin didn't protest. The speedster seemed worried, shaken. He hugged his friend gently instead of wrestling for the remote when they sat to watch TV. He got Rob a snack when his tummy rumbled and he fetched ice for his hands when the rest of their team mates were absent.
Sometimes (all the time), it was nice to have a friend on the inside of the team, someone to watch your back.
Hopefully Wally won't have to watch my back again, Dick couldn't help but think. Robin agreed with him.
A/N: I got several requests to finish this. I wasn't sure where to go with the story, but I hope I did well. I threw Wally in there for you guys. Anywho. There's a young boy on the farm here who agreed to be Robin for Halloween (I had already bought the freaking costume for my little sister) and I could not love the kid any more right now. He's got red hair, but whatever. I hope all those who have power outages on the east coast (due to snow) are doing well!
I TAKE REQUESTS.
You lot are amazing! I count forty reviews for this story, HUZA! I might start working on Electric again, so I might not update every single day now that my concussion from a week or two ago has cleared up. I must warn you, if the grammar and spelling sucks on these stories, it's because I've been turning one out every day and don't have much time to spell check and edit.
I love you lot from the bottom of my farm boy heart,
Moe.
