A/N: Beware: This Chapter is rated T+ to M. If you are disturbed by this scroll down to the RESCUE portion where Batman CRASHES the party! Recommend that you be at least 18 to read. You read at your own risk. You have been warned. This part was not easy to write, but my muse seemed to be determined to stretch this out and make it as horrific as possible.
My Father's Eyes Are Blue
By
AJ
Part 12
Terror! Anguish! Pain! Shame! He never experienced anything like what he was experiencing at that moment, and he hoped he would never experience it again. How could this happen? At first Dick Grayson thought it was part of the hallucinations. Since they moved him and having been cruelly struck with a whip, Dick had been injected at least three more times with the fear toxin, the images becoming more intense and so realistic it was hard to distinguish reality from illusion. The last images were of lustfully leering faces and groping hands, stroking his body in places that Dick knew were a violation alone.
Then he realized that there were rough hands stroking him exactly as they were in his hallucinations. No. Malone wasn't really . . . God no! Malone was the one person in Dick's life he feared the most, ever since that horrendous moment in time when Malone got the drop on him . . . at Prudence Malone's house. He was 15 and he and Bruce were nearly torn apart from Malone's scheme. Malone hadn't done anything back then . . . but now, Dick realized that prison changed the man, changed him for the worst, turning him into . . . He'd dare not say it. And now, with Dick's mouth gagged and his eyes blindfolded, and the fear toxin running through his system, his mind was rebelling from the reality of it all. In his mind he knew exactly what it was, because he felt it, felt the cruelty and the brutality of it all.
This . . . this . . . rape had to be the worst. For that's what it was total and utter rape. He felt . . . his flesh being torn . . . and Jasper's hands probing . . . his legs being parted further . . . being split . . . Now Malone's mouth . . . His own body responding. NO! NO! It was just WRONG! He kicked and bucked, but he couldn't stop it! If the tears streaming down Dick's face with the lashing he receive were evident of his pain and terror, the tears that came down now ere harder and faster. Silent sobs racked his body as he struggled against the inevitable, but it was futile. His body started shaking, violently. One would have been bad enough, but both? It was humiliation beyond what his mind could comprehend. His mind was in utter turmoil, his spirit suddenly shattered.
Dick thought about the times when he was Robin and when Bruce left him behind on certain cases, and realized it was because of this. It was not because he didn't have the skill to fight, Bruce feared that someone like Jasper and now Malone might get a hold of him . . . Bruce had been right.
'BRUCE! DAD! FORGIVE ME FOR EVER QUESTIONING YOU! PLEASE! MAKE THEM STOP! MAKE THEM STOP!' Dick screamed in his mind, being reduced to nothing more than a quivering frightened boy in his mind, wanting to hide. How could this happen, how did this happen?
"HAHAHAHAHAH," Jasper laughed relishing in the ecstasy that he felt. "Oh he is so . . . perfect Malone. You've got to try it. And with him struggling it makes it even better!"
"Narrrrrr!" Dick tried to growl through the gag, but it sounded more like a strangled sob, raging as the tears continued to fall unbidden and he continued to struggle, fighting against the restraints without any success.
"My turn," Malone said in Dick's ear. "Now you'll really know what a true man feels like."
Dick felt Malone ram him from behind . . . the pain worse than before.
"Oh Jasper, you are so right. It's like candy!" Malone leaned in over Dick and whispered in his ear. "You're mine, now Dickie Boy. You're guardian be damned. He's not getting you back even if he does pay. I had planned on killing you after this for the death of my father, but I've changed my mind. Once I get Wayne's fortune, you'll be coming with me. We'll do this every night . . . For the rest of your miserable life."
'NOOO!'
CRASH!
"NO! You won't stop me. He's mine!" Malone tightened his grip around Dick's waist and pulled out a knife, holding it high above his head. "We haven't even come to the finale! Come closer and I'll plunge it into him!"
Dick suddenly felt Malone's weight being shoved off of him. He could hear the sound of fists on flesh and the screams of anguish and terror coming from both Malone and Jasper, then the sounds of whimpering and silence. Dick started to struggle once more at first as unfamiliar hands held him once more.
"Nooooo!" Dick cried out weakly, but the gag muffled his plaintive cry, not recognizing whom it was that grabbed him.
"Dick, it's me," Batman said, placing gloved hands on Dick's wet cheeks. "Open your eyes."
'BRUCE!' Dick screamed in his mind, but refused to look his rescuer in his eyes. He now knew whom it was that held him. Relief flooded his system as he went slack, giving up the fight.
"I'll get you down."
Dick felt his arms and legs being released. He clung onto Batman's forearm as he was lowered to an old lumpy mattress and he curled into a ball. The blindfold and the gag were removed, but Dick kept his eyes shut tight, not wanting to look at what Batman had done to the two men who . . . He couldn't even say the word. He realized he was shaking uncontrollably. He felt something being wrapped around him, and he realized it was Batman's cape. Not since he was Robin did Bruce do that, and only when Robin had fallen asleep in the batmobile from a long night of patrolling. Dick wished at that moment he were that naive teenage boy again. Just starting out.
"I'll alert the cops. They won't harm anyone for a very long time, if ever. I'll take you home."
Dick felt Batman lift him into his arms. "They . . . they . . . r-r-r-raped . . . me," the 24 year old cried and buried his face into his father's chest, circling his arms and clinging so tight that he could break a rib. They . . . they . . . r-r-raped . . . me." Dick repeated, this time breaking into sobs that would not stop.
Batman cursed to himself for not being fast enough to prevent the unthinkable from happening to his son. He may have saved his son from death, but not from the brutality that he had suffered. Now all they could do was deal with the aftermath. Batman carried Dick outside, lifted him up with ease and placed him in the passenger seat, but Dick didn't want to be apart from Bruce. As soon as Batman got into the batmobile, Dick leaned in, trying to get the comfort he craved, trying to feel safe once more. Batman allowed Dick to lay his head in his lap.
"I need to fasten your seat belt," Batman said.
"I . . . I . . . I need . . . " Dick couldn't get out the words as he reached for his father's waist, trying to grasp him. He hadn't cried like this since he believed that Bruce had been killed. Luckily, back then he had been wrong.
Batman could see that Dick was in a very bad way. "All right. Come here. I guess you're never too big or too old for a lap."
Dick kept the cape wrapped around him and moved so he could sit in Bruce's lap and lay his head on his shoulder, his bare legs resting on the passenger seat.
"T-t-take . . . me . . . h-h-home," Dick said through the violent trembling that racked his body.
"Batcave," Batman said, activating the batmobile by voice command. The batmobile went on autopilot driving through Gotham City and out to the highway that would lead them home. "Red Robin, Robin," Batman called on the com-link. "I have Dick. I'm taking him home."
"We took Carson into police headquarters," Red Robin stated. "Malone planted a bomb in the storage unit. We disabled it before any harm was done. I had "Damian" make a statement. Gordon is going to want to talk to Dick."
Dick shook his head hard.
"Not right now," Batman replied. "Maybe in a day or two?"
Dick visibly swallowed, "Maybe."
"Take care of Malone and his cohort. They're waiting at the house. I'll see you both back at the cave. Batman out." Once the com-link was disconnected, there was another necessary duty that had to be performed. Bruce grabbed the car phone and called the cave.
"Alfred here, Sir."
"I need you to meet me in the medical bay," Bruce said.
Hearing that, Dick shuddered. He knew what was coming, having talked with other rape victims as a police officer. On several occasions he had to be there for the victim, holding their hand while the doctor completed their examination. He never thought that he would be the victim.
"You know what's coming?" Bruce asked Dick
"Yeah," Dick said, his voice a bit muffled, but he didn't know if he could face it. "I feel like a baby."
"Dick, you're no different from any other rape victim. We need to collect DNA evidence to make the case even stronger against Malone and . . . what was the other man's name?"
"Jasper."
"Jasper as in Jasper Cage?"
Dick nodded.
"He's not only on Gotham's most wanted list, he's wanted in several states. Rape, murder, both of men and women, and even children. I'm surprised he was released and returned to the streets. He certainly could not have served his sentence."
It wasn't long when they arrived back at the cave and Alfred was waiting. Bruce observed Alfred's eyes opening wide when he exited the batmobile carrying Dick in his arms and wrapped in Batman's cape.
"Why is Master Richard wrapped in your cape?"
Bruce gently laid Dick on the examination table then placed a hand on Alfred's arm. "I'd hope never to have to use it for this. I need the DNA kit. You're going to have to swab him while I hold him."
"No, Bruce, please," Dick pleaded, sounding like 10 years old when he didn't want to do what was necessary. He never liked it when Doctor Leslie had to give him shots or took his temperature via another place. That happened when Dick was too sick to hold a thermometer in his mouth.
"Dick, look at me," Bruce took off his cowl so Dick could see his face better. At the same time he loosened the cape from around Dick's body, carefully maneuvering it so Alfred could expose his backside. "You trust Alfred don't you?"
There were more unshed tears in Dick's eyes. "Y-y-yes."
"It's got to be done. Alfred will take care of the welts as well."
"Please . . . don't . . . leave . . . me," Dick said, grabbing onto Bruce's arm.
"I'm not leaving," Bruce said, stroking Dick's hair.
"What has happened to Master Richard?" Alfred asked. "And why must he be swabbed?"
Bruce swallowed, feeling the bile raise in his throat at what had been done. "They raped him," he whispered. "You have to swab . . ."
"Ah, I understand, Master Bruce," Alfred said, but he had to keep himself from shaking with rage. To think someone had forcibly . . . It was unthinkable and appalling.
"Make it quick. Then work on his back. Those are the worst of the welts."
Alfred did as Bruce requested being as gentle and as quick as possible in grabbing the DNA sample. Dick continued to flinch and to shudder, despite it all. It would be a very long time before Dick would allow anyone to touch him again.
"I can work on your back now, Master Richard." Alfred recovered the lower half of Dick's body and grabbed the antibiotic ointment and carefully applied it to the worst of the welts after cleansing Dick's back of the blood.
"Bruce," Red Robin approached after returning his motorcycle to its parking spot. Damian quickly jumped off and followed. "We took care of everything else. The police have bagged the evidence. They'll need DNA . . ."
"Already taken care of," Bruce said, as he continued to stroke Dick's hair. He could see that Dick was relaxing under his and Alfred's ministration.
"I'll make a report," Tim said as he sat at the computer. "How is he?"
"Grayson!" Damian approached and Dick turned his head toward his little brother. "Oh god, what did they do to you? I . . . I'm sorry for what I said . . . I didn't mean for this . . ."
"Damian, it's all right," Dick consoled. "None of this is your fault."
"Father explained to me . . . I . . . I don't want you . . ."
"Shhhhhh," Dick tried to console his little brother. "I should be the one to thank you. You got away. You got help."
"But your back . . ."
" . . . Will heal," Dick said.
"Did they . . . you know . . ."
Dick's eyes grew wide. "How did you . . . " Dick watched as Damian's face paled. "Oh Dami . . . I . . . You shouldn't have to . . ."
"No, it's all right, Dick," Damian said, using Dick's first name and placing his smaller hand over Dick's larger one. "You are my brother . . . my true brother. We will get through this together."
"All right, enough. Master Richard needs to rest."
Dick closed his eyes, letting exhaustion take him, comforted in knowing that he was home. His body was still shaking, but that would stop in time. He still clung onto Bruce's hand, not wanting to let go. Bruce continued to stroke Dick's hair until the young man had relaxed enough to sleep so he could slip his hand out of Dick's grasp.
Red Robin continues to work on the report but also tried to keep watch in the background until Bruce had freed himself. "Bruce, what did happen to Dick? I didn't hear much of that conversation."
"He was raped," Bruce said.
"WHAT!?" Red Robin moved over to the medical bay and looked into Dick's face. For a moment, Red Robin saw, not the man he knew, but the boy . . . the boy that Bruce had nurtured and loved since he was ten years old. Even in sleep, Red Robin could see that the nightmare wasn't quite over for Dick. "He looks so fragile. What did they do to him, besides . . ."
Bruce turned one of Dick's arms and showed the needle marks. "Fear toxin, a lot of it. He was put through it when he was 15, but he wasn't . . . Malone added that other dimension to his torture. Back then he bounced back, within a couple of months, but this . . ."
"How is this going to effect him as Nightwing?"
"I don't know. We'll just have to take it one day at a time."
Continues with Part 13
