I realize that I start off every update with an apology for being behind on said update, but I'd like to change it up because I'm not really sorry right now. For the first time in a while... I'm happy. I've made friends who I can talk to about things I had to suffer through alone before. I've found people who share my hobbies. I've patched things over with a friend I thought I'd never get out more than a sentence to. Sure, my dad and my step mom broke up, my step sister and I are still friends and she just got accepted into the six year medical program. I have a 4.0 and the world is going my way for once in my life. So, you know what? It does get better.
Dick's POV:
After losing three consecutive times in a row, I decided that I didn't want to play Battleship anymore and made my way over to the others with Tim's help. They all shared their 'stories', or whatever it was that Psimon had tucked into their memory banks, talking over each other so the cameras wouldn't be able to distinguish that what they were saying was anything different than what regular mental patients might say.
Bart had been to Solitary once and with the speedster metabolism, nothing had set in like it should've. He had been able to properly observe the place, making me feel more useless than I'd ever felt in my life. Zatanna and her uncle were supposedly suspended in glass tanks similar to the kind they had kept Superboy in until we had freed him from CADMUS, tubes leading from the insides of their elbows to the room's wall of computers. That stuff I had expected, short of Zatara. It was good to hear that he was okay, too, though.
Then the brunet mentioned something I had failed to jot into the notes I had left for myself.
"Yeah, and ah, the brain dude- Psimon, whatever, yeah, him, he's ah, he's chained to the chair by the computers. The chain's all glowy, so I'mma say he doesn't have much more say in this than we do."
He zipped through his words like Wally went through pizza, probably how he got past the cameras, but I managed to catch his arm before he went on.
"Psimon's chained up?" I asked, regretting the lunge forward as soon as my stomach caught up with me.
I pulled back, pressing my jaw to keep from protesting the burn verbally. Bart gave a little jolt, seemingly amazed that I had managed to keep up. He had to backtrack a moment, halted like a DVD before it kicks into reverse, only to give a little nod.
"What's the big deal with that?" he asked, scratching at the back of his head before his hands returned to lightly tapping at his thighs.
I could see why they had chosen to diagnose him with ADHD. Give him a drum and you'd think he was managing to draw out a single note with the speed he was tapping.
On point though. Why would they chain Psimon up though? I assumed that all of the baddies were working in tandem. Chains wouldn't be necessary if that were true. If it were just the Joker leading this train wreck, the Psimon I remember would've served at his side easily, knowing he could reclaim power with a little look. If it were to the point that one of our biggest baddies didn't want to go against us, I couldn't help but worry.
I shook my head, taking a little breath to steady myself.
"Hopefully nothing," I gave a little smile, urging him to continue.
Apparently, while he was attempting to rewrite Bart's memories, he had mentioned me leaving note to myself. The tools were lined up next to what looked like a disposal table- autopsy table I decided after having Bart describe it some more. It had worn restraints and the blood that had been on it looked new. The computers seemed to be positioned on everything except for an exit, which none of us had been able to make up the location of.
When he ran out of things that I hadn't heard, Barbara wheeled up and took her turn at the microphone, red hair seeming as bright as her eyes. She told me that she was positive that the wheelchair wasn't really necessary. During one of her regular 'check-ups' with Harley, she said she had noticed the woman inject something into her calf.
"They're keeping me benched, Dick," she wheeled herself a little closer and caught my hand with an exhausted sigh. "You guys can just spit the pills back up. I can't un-inject myself."
I squeezed her hand, not sure what I could tell her besides one of the apologies that I must've had a surplus of with how many I'd been dishing out.
"We're going to fix this," I promised her, gently releasing her fingers before I hurt them. "The second Megan gets back to me, I'm going to pass on the message that BB Ward wants in."
Her smile was too sore to be assuring.
"I promise. Come on, Babs. We're heroes. We've gotten through worse than this."
She stared at me incredulously, but I noted the smile creeping through. It was all I needed.
"Alright, maybe not, but we can do this. Bear with me."
I was going to find Jaime and see how the scarab was handling this, or maybe how they had managed to hide it, but any thought I might've had was blasted clean from a mic check on Megan's end. It had me forgetting the concepts of breathing for a moment.
"Christ, Megan," I thought to her, assuring the others that I was fine with a little one-handed surrender. "Thanks for the warning. We really need a better way of communicating."
I could hear the apology in the breath that carried through the link. "I'll work on that. I was just... checking in. How's BB ward?"
I bite my lip to keep from smiling. "Ah, s'not so bad. Bart and Jaime helped everyone get back their memories a while ago. They want in on our escape plan when we get it down."
"That's amazing! Conner and Kaldur aren't having that much luck. If anyone remembers, they aren't giving any signs of it. I'll have to find a way to get down there..."
There was a silence over the link a moment as I gathered side thoughts to find the right one to share.
"Is there anyway you can talk Wally into heading to the bathroom? I can pass off the breather."
I could feel the nod.
"I found some Advil for your ah... well, the thing. Looked it over and I'm guessing that it's normal."
"I'll take what I can."
When I felt the line cut out, I nodded a little goodbye to the others and wheeled my way to the orderly awkwardly standing post of the homeroom. I stared at him intently until he gave me attention.
"I have to pee," I said bluntly, continuing to stare.
He seemed a bit startled, eyes widening, but he gave a little nod and gestured down the hallway.
"Take a right at the end of the hall. It's the only door."
I gave him a little smile and started down the hall, actually thankful for the wheelchair at this moment. He didn't want to be associated in case I fell or got hurt worse. The higher ups would fry him. I had single-handedly found the greatest weapon in this whole building. Well, that, and I'm sure beating someone with the chair wouldn't feel very nice either.
When I got to the bathroom, I had to stiffly work the chair's thick frame through the door's space, all but bearing with the pain and walking myself in. I stayed strong though and got past the door, resting my head against the wall off to the side as I fished my belt from my pocket. It wasn't hard to open it and slip a breather from its pocket; it was almost a second nature. I pocketed the belt again, the thin tube held delicately between my fingers as I waited.
I would have plenty of time- just had to say I struggled getting things done with my stomach hurting like it did- but Wally wouldn't have that advantage. I'd have to talk fast. I mean, I didn't actually need to tell him anything. Once I handed off the breather, he could head back and we'd have to wait until... God knows when... to see each other again.
The door gave a creak as it was opened and I turned, forgetting all of that when I saw Wally's grin consume his face. He waited until the door shut behind him before coming over in a blur and kneeling beside my chair, hugging both its back and my front with a soft laugh.
"I can't wait to tie some streamers onto the back of this," he muttered and I couldn't help but laugh with him, bringing up my hands to hug the arm around me.
When he pulled back, he got up from the floor and used the arms of the wheelchair as supports, bending just enough that it wouldn't strain him.
"So, BB Ward. Must suck something awful without me, right?" he teased, lifting a brow.
I looked down to his hand with a quiet laugh, shaking my head.
"Yeah, man. That's why it sucks," I rolled my eyes, looking back up with a fading smile.
I offered him the breather and he pocketed it without question, interest in it nonexistent, leaning back and sitting at my feet as he turned over a few thoughts in his head.
"Megan mentioned that they uh... that they remember everything? How'd that work out?"
I gave a little smile, leaning forward just enough to rest my forearms on my knees. It only hurt for a moment.
"I uh, well, the scarab and Bart's metabolism managed to keep their memories pretty intact. They collaborated with the others pretty well after they reminded Karen about the whole shrink-size thing. Went from there," I gave a little shrug, hiding back a wince with a forced smile.
The redhead's smile grew exhausted in a moment and he fished in his pocket again, handing me a plastic bag of red pills. I pocketed them without question. I'd take what I could get.
"Thanks."
His smile strengthened. "Any time."
"What about SB and Kaldur? We have progress downstairs?"
He shook his head.
"Got a roster at least?"
"Ah, yeah. Got your brother down there, wrapped up like a Halloween mummy... Garth, Kaldur's fish buddy... his ah, his girlfriend too..."
"Tula?"
"Megan gets the full report. I catch snippets."
"Right."
"And uh... Roy's double? One-armed Arsenal? Then... ah... ah, Christ, who... Billy! Yeah, Billy's here! I'm guessing they stuffed him downstairs so he wouldn't be shazam-ing his way out of here. No one down there has a clue, besides our boys."
My heart ran a roller coaster in my chest. At least they were okay. Unless we could get Billy to shift though, I didn't see a lot of luck in getting them to remember. Jason, maybe. I wasn't sure of the extent of Kaldur's Atlantean magic, but I wasn't going to rule it out. Three Atlanteans together had to have some kind of effect.
"So we need to smuggle Megan down there."
"Basically."
I held his eyes for a moment and found myself smiling in spite of it all, right until I remembered.
"Wait, dude, you're never going to believe this! Bart! He ah, he got past the gas in Solitary because of the metabolism thingy-."
"Thingy?"
"Shut up. He ah, it didn't effect him and he managed to get a better look than I did. Zatara and Zatanna are both in tubes, hooked up to the wall! It's going to be pretty potent, whatever they've got over us. And ah, Psimon- he's chained to the chair. We don't think he has free will over his job here. The chain was enchanted," it was hard not to grin.
Wally's face seemed to drop to the floor where it stayed, the only indication that it had been there before represented by two wide eyes and a mouth that had dropped open. The sight had the slightest grin break through.
"So we have no idea who we're dealing with?" he asked quietly.
My grin dropped down beside his face.
"Not in the slightest."
"Bring it on."
Wally met my eyes and we both collected what we had dropped, smiling at each other. He extended a fist and I lightly hit it with my own.
"I should probably be heading back though. I don't want to get my pooping privileges revoked," he joked, avoiding my eyes as he slowly got to his feet.
I bit back a grin when I realized what it meant, sitting up at the pace that he stood.
"Yeah," I nodded, fingers curling a little tighter around the arm of my chair than I wanted them to.
He held my eyes again.
"Don't worry. We're going to fix this. I promise," he took a slow step back for the door.
It was the same tone I had used with Babs.
"Watch your six, buddy," I sighed, raising my fist from the arm and waving gently.
He swallowed hard, smile just as pained.
"Yeah, you too."
-F.J. III