15. The Doctor
She had never paid attention to Gotham's vigilantes. A few times she had stumbled upon the obsessive blogs that posted blurry pictures of Batman and company. But they had never held her attention. If someone asked her: Gotham's vigilantes were doing a fine job and it wasn't her business to follow.
Only in the last few months had she paid more attention when more and more bodies arrived for her to stitch up. All of them marked by the fists of the Bat. The news had speculated on what drove the Bat towards violence. It was probably related to Robin's disappearance.
Still. It wasn't her business. She was only here to stitch up the carnage and shake her head about the Bat's anger issues. Rage grew within her every time she had to explain to a kid that some guy in a bat costume had punched their father into a coma. But what could she do?
Batman was creeping over the rooftops of Gotham while she spent her nights working away in the hospital. Their worlds were separate – only connected through nameless thugs.
Until they collided with full force. The kid – and he was a kid – arrived in the ER during a slow night.
The whole city had speculated that Nightwing was the first Robin. She had always thought that he was too old. How could a teen keep order in the hellhole that was Blüdhaven? And she was saying this as a Gothamite.
But when she saw him on the gurney, she was shocked by how young he was. And how small. He couldn't be older than sixteen. The bruises on his face and the handmarks around his throat made him look even more vulnerable.
The Flash Boy from Central City clung to his hand looking down at him with a frown. He vibrated out of fear and mumbled to his unconscious friend: "You gotta make it, Rob. What am I supposed to do without you?"
Her assistants exchanged excited glances at the nickname. Flash Boy had confirmed it. Nightwing was indeed the first Robin – as most of Gotham had suspected.
She steeled herself. It was always heartbreaking to see the reaction of loved ones in the ER. But she had to remain professional if she wanted to save the kid. And he desperately needed saving. He was covered in blood and it was hard to discern how heavy his injuries were.
She shoved Flash Boy away. He still held on to Nightwing's hand.
"Let go or I can't help him", she said.
Flash Boy dropped his friend's hand: "Please, Doc. We need him. He deserves better-"
She didn't get the rest. She was focused on making sure her patient didn't die under her hands. Her assistants wheeled him into the surgery room. The paramedics had done a good job. They had stabilized him and given him an oxygen mask to help him breathe.
"He really is Robin", one of her assistants said once the doors closed behind them, "I owe the kid. He saved my mother from some goons."
She took a deep breath: "I expect complete professionalism. He's a patient like any other. And no one touches his mask."
"Yes, boss", her assistants said.
"OK. Let's save the kid."
She sighed and mentally prepared herself for the talk that was to come. She didn't expect half of the Justice League to crash the waiting room. Batman, Black Canary, Superman, Flash and a ton of other heroes she didn't know.
The sidekicks were also here – who she recognized even less. They had gathered in a circle seemingly very familiar with each other. She saw Flash Boy. He was still shaking. A girl in green was holding his hand trying to comfort him.
The normal visitors stared at the superheroes with wide eyes. She didn't blame them.
She started to introduce herself: "I'm Dr. -"
"How is he?", Batman interrupted.
He was standing in a corner suspiciously separate from the other heroes. The rest of the League and especially the sidekicks glared at him. They probably didn't appreciate it that Batman had gone off the deep end. She had seen the video of the Dark Knight almost killing the Joker. Everyone had. And she suspected that Batman had something to do with Nightwing's condition. The large handprints around his throat would definitely fit. They probably didn't come from an every-day thug. And the video proved that Batman had already hurt Nightwing at least once.
She hoped she was wrong. Otherwise she wouldn't be able to hold herself back. As a mother, cases of child abuse always got to her. And Nightwing was a kid. No one could convince her otherwise.
"He will make a full recovery", she said, "Six of his ribs were broken and one of them punctured his lung causing internal bleeding. The bite wound in his leg is luckily not infected but we will have to keep an eye on it. And his windpipe was damaged but luckily we managed to fix it. His voice will need some time to return back to normal."
Batman subtly flinched at the mention of the windpipe – hardening her suspicions.
One of the sidekicks with the Superman-logo growled. He balled his fists. He probably didn't have heat vision because Batman's body was still intact.
The Dark Knight ignored the tight atmosphere and nodded: "I hope no one took off his mask."
It annoyed her that this man dared to question her integrity.
"I can personally vouch for myself and everyone taking care of him. Robin saved the life of my assistant's mother. We do not want him to be harmed."
"I hope you're telling the truth", Batman narrowed his eyes, "I want him moved to the base of the League right now. We will take care of him."
She had seen in the video how well Batman took care of Nightwing but she knew better than to mention it: "He is in no condition to be moved. I won't risk my patient's life after pulling him from the brink of death."
Batman walked towards her. She crossed her arms.
Superman flew between them: "We should listen to the Doctor's professional opinion. Still, we can't risk that Nightwing's identity could be compromised. I propose that the League stations guards outside his room to make sure that he stays safe."
She looked at Superman and frowned. She wasn't keen on strangers getting in her way but it was a compromise: "Alright. But no one can visit him right now. He needs rest. We found traces of toxins in his blood."
"A mixture of Joker venom and Scarecrow's fear toxin", Batman said.
The Leaguers exchanged alarmed glances. Apparently, they hadn't known about this. She had seen the effects of both toxins on her patients. What the hell had happened to the kid?
"I'm taking the first shift", Batman said.
This seemed to push the scowling Superman-clone over the edge. He stomped towards Batman and smashed him in the face. The Dark Knight went to his knees. The Superman-sidekick lifted his fist as if to strike again. But his mentor flew between them.
"Hurting people unprovoked is never an option", Superman said.
The sidekick ignored him and glared at Batman who was wiping blood from under his nose: "Don't you dare act like you care about him. You almost strangled him."
"I calculated the exact amount of time to get him unconscious", Batman's voice was ice-cold.
It seemed like a façade to her. As if Batman was putting on an extra-tough exterior to hide any regret.
"BULLSHIT", the girl in green said, "You weren't in control. You put more force into it than you had planned."
"Not to forget that you don't strangle your son in the first place", the boy with gills(?) said.
The Justice League seemed speechless. They really hadn't known what happened. On closer inspection, they looked a little bit roughed up as if they had been in their own fight.
So the doctor took it into her hands: "Leave my hospital."
Batman looked up in what must have been surprise.
"You heard me right. Your presence will ultimately worsen his condition."
Batman growled: "He's my son."
She crossed her arms – unyielding in her demands. Batman glared at her leading to a duel. After a few seconds, he turned around and left the waiting room.
She smiled in satisfaction. The world-ending hero-business may be above her competence level. But in her own little sphere she would always make sure that her patients were safe.
Especially if they were kids.
Nightwing woke up earlier than expected. He constantly asked to see his friends while almost all of the superhero community showed up wanting to see the kid. Especially the team of sidekicks proved to be persistent.
But she had to think about her patient. There certainly were tensions in the hero community and she could not determine which visitor might prove stressful for the kid. So, she didn't allow any for a week until she could be sure that he could handle it.
It was the right decision. In the first few days, he mostly slept only opening his eyes to eat the liquid hospital food designed to go easy on his strained throat. His voice was raspy but he made bits of conversation with her.
On day four, he became more active. But he was still pale from the blood loss and he seemed unfocused. Slinging his arms around himself when he thought no one was looking. She wondered if he even noticed that he was going into a defensive stance. Something clearly was wrong with the kid. His body would make a full recovery but she doubted that he would ever be completely the same. Hopefully, the heroes would give him the support he needed.
He clearly wouldn't be getting it as a civilian.
Gordon came on day five. He left the room tearing at his hair in frustration. He cursed the secretiveness of the Bats under his breath. She looked at him in pity.
"Nothing?", she asked.
"We have enough evidence to press charges for child abuse. But how are supposed to make a case if we don't even know any names? Hell. I don't even know how old the kid is."
"I expected him not to talk", she said.
Gordon sighed: "Nightwing – Robin – he means something to me. I still remember him from when he was half as tall as he is now, balancing on gargoyles and butchering the English language."
"We can only do our best."
"It's frustrating to have something clearly be above your paygrade so that we can't reach it."
"Who are you telling this, Commish?", she threw him a sympathetic glance.
The sidekicks came after Gordon left - again pestering her to see their friend. She sent them away. Gordon's visit must have been stressful enough. She had wondered why specifically Nightwing was so popular. He wasn't part of the Justice League. He didn't have any of the fancy powers and he was the (former?) protegee of the grumpiest superhero around.
She understood now. The kid's charisma was infectious. After a few days he was on first-name basis with every one of his caretakers in the hospital. He asked them about their kids, their hobbies and told them crazy anecdotes about the superhero-life. She understood Gordon's frustration. The kid had grown on her – just like the rest of the sidekicks.
On day seven, they had their longest conversation yet.
"Hi, Doc", he smiled widely at her.
She had no choice but to reciprocate it. She did the usual check-ups trying to avoid staring at the scars crisscrossing his body. Was that a brand on his chest? It looked like a 'J'.
"Flash Boy and the team were here yesterday", she gave him some kind of gaming console, "He wanted me to give this to you."
"Hell, yes. KF is the best", he took the console examining it closely rambling about some video game titles that were apparently super-asterous (whatever that meant).
He halted: "Was Batman here?"
She couldn't decipher the emotions on his face. It seemed to be a mixture of hope, fear and anger.
"No", she said.
His face fell: "Oh. I guess he's busy."
"He hurt you, didn't he?", it fell out of her mouth before she could stop herself.
It was a stupid question. They all knew that Batman had mistreated his protegee.
"He did", Nightwing said.
It surprised her: "Then why didn't you tell Gordon?"
Nightwing hesitated. He looked down at the sheets and said with still a raspy voice: "I don't want him to end up in prison or whatever. He may be a bastard now but I'll always owe him. I would be nothing if he hadn't done what he did."
"Sounds unhealthy to me, kid."
Nightwing shrugged: "It's just the truth. He gave me a chance when no one else would. And I probably told you too much."
She frowned. From what he had said, it didn't seem like Batman was his father like widely speculated.
"Your secret is safe with me. I don't care about the hero stuff. Just about my patients."
He bit his lip – as if he was thinking about something.
She was walking towards the door when he said: "Could I ask you for advice, Doc? You seem smart in that kind of thing."
She turned around. When he stayed silent, she sat on the chair next to his bed. As an ER doctor, she normally didn't get close to patients but people above her paygrade had chosen for her to be his personal physician during his stay.
Nightwing evaded her gaze: "I don't think I can see him right now."
"You shouldn't", she said, "He is harming you."
"I hate him right now. But he isn't this monster that people call him. He's always been different. And I've always done what he said without question. It was the condition for him allowing me to – you know – help people. It worked most of the time", Nightwing clenched his fists around the blanket, "But I can't do it anymore. He has a lot of issues and he needs help. And usually I am trying to keep it together for him. But I can't anymore. It's too much."
He lowered his gaze: "I must sound really pathetic."
"You don't. You can't take on everyone else's problems. It will consume you if you do. Sometimes you need to think of yourself first."
"I don't think I'm good at that."
She took his hand trying to offer a sliver of comfort: "How old are you, kid?"
"I can't tell you that."
"You are a teenager. You shouldn't have to worry about taking on your dad's responsibilities."
"What do you mean?"
"Spend some time with those nice friends of yours. And take some distance from Batman until you each have sorted out your problems. If he cares for you, he'll understand. And he'll work on his problems."
"I'm not sure if he does."
"Then he doesn't deserve you. You don't owe people loyalty who only hurt you in return."
He bit his lips. She waited for him to take it all in.
"Thank you, Doc", he fiddled with the gaming console, "You really know your stuff."
"I hope so for the sake of my patients."
He grinned.
"Tomorrow I will allow your friends to see you. Only them. The rest of the League has to wait."
"If Batman comes, can you tell him that I need some time?", he said.
She nodded: "I promise. He won't set a foot into this room."
The Doctor went outside. She greeted Aquaman with a nod who was guarding the door. While she checked her clipboard something appeared in the corner of her eye. A breeze of wind turned the pages.
She looked up. Flash Boy was standing in front of her with unmatched eagerness.
The rest of the sidekicks walked towards her.
"Quit running in the hallway, Baywatch", the archer girl said.
"I must apologize for my teammate", the Atlantean said, "He misses his friend."
She suppressed a grin and sternly looked down at Flash Boy. He shrunk back and talked so quickly that she didn't understand him. The sidekicks certainly were a lively bunch.
"OK. You can visit him today."
"We can see, Rob?"
"He's recovered a lot in the last few days. But please tone it down a bit."
"Of course", the kid nodded in superspeed.
He forced himself to slowly walk through the door.
"KF? You are here?", she could hear the smile in Nightwing's voice.
"We wouldn't let you go through this alone, would we?"
"Asterous."
The door closed behind them and all that she got were snippets of impossible slang.
She shared a look with Aquaman was guarding the door. He shrugged. Teenagers were weird - especially if they were superheroes.
AN: I tried an Outsider POV for this one. The emergency surgery-trope is very prevalent in fanfiction - rightfully so because you can do a lot of great things with it. Many authors manage to build a lot of suspense over whether our beloved characters survive. Often writing out of the POV of a loved one who fears for them.
I felt like this wouldn't work for this story because my main focus lays on Dick's and Bruce's relationship making it necessary that Dick survives. (And things will get interesting between them next chapter…) So I tried to keep things fresh with Outsider POV which can be very compelling. I like the idea of ordinary people doing the best they can and helping people in a less flashy way.
Just my thought process behind choosing this POV if anyone is interested. You can tell me if I succeeded in the comments. ;)
Another huge thank you to everyone who has been commenting, faving, following, reading… You guys are awesome and I hope you have a great day!