Author's Note:
A little jump backwards in time (to the start of the fight) and a LOT of angst, but look, no cliffhanger!
And an almost happy, fluffy ending!
Chapter Twenty-Four: Rule #24 – Stay
Dick loses track of what's happening as soon as he gets eyes on the fight.
He feels sick, woozy… like he's the one being drugged against his will.
Like this is all some phantasmic fearscape created by his own mind under the terrible influence of a new formula of Scarecrow's fear gas.
Dick is pretty sure he'd prefer being gassed.
For one thing, it would mean that none of this would really be happening – and even if he wouldn't have been able to tell that for certain while the gas was still affecting him, he would at least be able to tell that what he was seeing wasn't the whole story. Since he'd been more or less inoculated against most of Scarecrow's formulas, and since he'd been trained to control the leaps of logic in his mind, he could usually tell when chemical fear was in play.
There was always this sense of induced panic… this feeling that even if all he saw were kittens and rainbows the tightness in his chest would not abate – that he couldn't get enough oxygen into his lungs under any circumstances, even if he was stuffed into air tank with five times the normal concentration.
Knowing that much was never enough to make the panic go away, but it was usually enough to make him hope that the situation he could see wasn't real – that eventually, he would be able to break free of the effects and dispel the illusions.
Without the promise that the fear gas would let his mind go at some point, Dick has to face the ongoing situation with the terrible certainty that it's all entirely real.
He has to watch his little brother – his fourteen year old little brother – be paraded out like a dog at a prize fight, doped up, and just pointed at an opponent like there was no capacity for higher thinking left in him.
Dick's there when Jason and Rwen first arrive.
He's there to watch as Rwen makes a long winded introduction – laying out the terms of the fight, the combatants, the stakes, the definitions of 'victory' and 'incapacitated'.
Dick doesn't really listen to the speech. He's too distracted with watching as Rwen pulls out a pneumatic injector… exchanges the green cartridge already inside it for something black and slimy… uses the injector to force the entire dose of whatever into Jason's blood stream.
The sudden influx of chemicals makes Jason sway on his feet. He shudders grotesquely in a violent seizure and collapses straight to the concrete floor. It takes several seconds for the effects to settle in enough for him to struggle his way back up to his feet – looking crazed and wild in a way that absolutely shatters Dick's heart.
Dick there, watching transfixed from the shadows where he's frozen, when the first blows are exchanged. They're tentative, testing… and yet, in a normal fight, they're the kind of vicious blows that would ensure neither combatant could continue – would mean neither would escape hospitalization or could ever breathe on their own again.
Shattered ribs, collapsed lungs, crushed tracheas…
There's something eerie and unearthly about how Jason and Shankar just laugh through the kind of injuries that would normally end a person.
Dick's whole body has locked up in horror.
He can't move, can't intercede – can't even wrap his brain around what's happening.
It's not until something comes along to shatter the scene that Dick regains any semblance of control over his own muscles.
It's not until this new cat on the block, this 'Stray' character that Selina's mentioned in passing over the last few months, shows up with enough snark and sass to shock everyone into submission. The Cat's protégé is ballsy, daring enough to glare down Rwen Tolovi.
And he's got a couple Rogues to back him up: Harley, Ivy, and his mentor.
It's not until one of Dick's own Teen Titan's shows up that Dick actually feels like he could potentially step into the fray. With Starfire at his side, more like a capable vigilante rather than a kid in a costume – and he knows that Kid Flash won't be far behind her.
They give him the strength to step up.
And then Batgirl and Wonder Woman and Super Man step in as well, giving Dick an actual shiver of confidence.
That confidence is rocked slightly as Rwen blathers on about having an agreement with Jason – as Rwen submits to Diana's lasso to prove his assertion.
The ground beneath his feet is pulverized as Batman simply accepts the conclusion.
He finds his footing soon after – as he realizes that Batman accepts that Rwen Tolovi has made an agreement, but wants to exchange himself as the victim.
The suggestion is refused outright and Dick loses track of things again.
Reality distorts violently, impossibly, and the only reason Dick stays upright is that his Teen Titan comrades are by his sides – literally propping him up.
There's a … brutality to the fight that scares him. He's not above admitting that.
Dick knows his little wing is a bit far gone on the aggressive side, but he's never imagined that Jason could ever be capable of this kind of violence, this kind of excess in vicious force.
Logically, Dick knows it has to be the drug, but somehow that doesn't make seeing it in Jason feel any better for Dick. If anything, it kind of makes it worse – once this is over, Jason's going to have to deal with it… with guilt, regret, possibly even fear of his own self.
Dick refuses to consider a reality being possible in which Jason doesn't make it to the point of having to recover and work through what happened here…
Even as the second fight ends and Jason collapses in a slow, staged fall as he resists gravity, though he can't help but succumb to the exhaustion and injuries haunting him.
Dick wants to rush to Jason's side, but Stray beats him to it – along with a girl in black, Dick hadn't noticed before. Batgirl then moves to help them get Jason outside and Dick regains feeling in his limbs enough to find another way to help things get moving.
Trusting Batgirl enough to get Jason safely home, Dick sets to work coordinating with Batman and the other Leaguers to work on containing things here and overseeing the rapid clean-up and exodus of the Tolovis and their assocates.
They are leaving Gotham tonight.
And if he ever catches a single whiff of them again, he won't hesitate to unleash the full power of the Teen Titans and every one of their allies on these horrible, vile people. He doesn't even care if they're government related or anything.
Right now, Dick is willing to tear down the world to make sure these people never hurt his Family ever again.
He's there at Batman's side to flank Rwen Tolovi, with Super Man and Wonder Woman blocking off the gang lord's other side. Keeping Rwen Tolovi isolated – threateningly isolated – is a priority at the moment, a means of ensuring that the underlings behave.
The bloody floor of the fight ring is ignored – mop up left to whatever unfortunate land lord has claim to the building when their authority isn't superceded by metahuman gangsters.
The lab area is systematically packed up – all the equipment disassembled and stashed in cushioned black boxes that are both individually labeled and yet also nondescript. They all get rolled away into a back hallway that Dick knows leads to a loading bay.
What happens to them after that though…
With the subtle signals developed between close team mates, Dick asks Wally to tag every person present and every case being moved by them with a microtracker. The tiny computer chips in the microtrackers are just twice the size of the average dust particale, and they aren't the most precise GPS devices, or the most long-lived in terms of battery, but the resolution gets down to about 20 yards and can remain active for just under 72 hours…
Which means they are more than useful enough to give the Bats a reasonably clear picture of whether or not these assholes actually leave Gotham by morning.
Super Man and Wonder Woman take over questioning the Tolovi Trio about how they can be certain that they will honor the agreement – that the Blackbirds and GHOST will leave, and also whoever these Syndicate people suddenly being mentioned are… that all of them will leave and never come back…
It's an impossible deal, the way Dick sees it.
There's no way one little fight, however brutal, however official, could make so many different organizations pull out of the city forever.
There couldn't possibly be a way to track that, to ensure it.
Rwen Tolovi even owns up to that much.
There's no objective way to prove the veracity of the agreement, not even Diana's lasso can do more than tell the heroes that Tolovi truly intends to see the agreement followed.
Dick loses track of what the grown ups are discussing – talking themselves in circles rather than actually accomplishing anything – and his attention drifts outside to his little brother and his sister. He can't help anymore in here.
Even with Kori and Wally doing their best to keep him grounded, Dick is starting to lose touch with what's happening.
He needs to see his brother.
A quick word to his friends and he's heading out the door Batgirl disappeared through.
In the alley, he finds Bruce with an unconscious Jason cradled in his arms as Barbara digs through the Batmobile to make the back seat able to accommodate a person in need of medical care and someone to attend to them.
Dick volunteers for the role immediately.
Once the seat is oriented, Bruce slides Jason into place and Dick crawls in secure him and sit on the floor beside him. Babs is already slipping into the front passenger seat. Bruce says something – to quiet for Dick to hear, but he can guess that it's something to notify Clark about the Bats returning to the Cave for Robin's medical care.
The drive home is both impossibly long and impossibly quick.
They pull into the Cave and Bruce is scopping Jason into his arms before Dick even recognizes that they've already parked.
He and Barbara trail after their mentor.
Barbara has something in her hands, but she shuffles the package gingerly to the crook of one elbow and gives Dick's forearm a supportive squeeze before she veers off towards the Batcomputer. Dick's mind is too gummed up to even question what she's doing.
He simply floats unbidden towards the medical bay Alfred already has prepared.
By the time Dick arrives, Jason's hooked up to an IV drip full of fluids – mostly just hydration, because they can't be sure what chemicals will interact with the mysterious drug.
It's Alfred telling him this.
Alfred's set up a chair at Jason's bedside, has already guided Dick into it.
He helps Dick reach out for Jason's hand, helps him hold it when Dick's hands shake to much to get their fingers intertwined.
Jason has been hurt before, Dick knows, but never like this.
And to be perfectly honest, Dick hadn't really cared before… he hadn't been a real brother before. He's finally connected with Jason, finally taken on the protecter and caretaker role that he should have been overjoyed to step into the moment he became an older sibling.
This is the first time that Jason's gotten anything more than a mild scrape since Dick's been behaving like a decent big brother. And it's a bad enough injury that Dick might …
He won't lose Jason.
He won't.
Alfred won't let that happen.
Bruce won't let that happen.
The thought is enough to make Dick look up from Jason's slack expression.
Bruce isn't in the med bay.
He's with Barbara at the Batcomputer.
They're probably trying to synthesize an antidote.
Dick should help.
But every bone in his body feels like lead at the thought of getting up, like his muscles have turned to quicksand.
He can't bring himself to peal his fingers away from Jason's – can't even loosen his hold for fear of losing the reassurance that is the feeling of Jason's pulse beneath his fingertips.
All Dick can do is stay out of the way and will his little brother to fight.
Jason would snort at that.
If there's anything Jason doesn't need encouragement to do, it's fight.
Alfred's hand is on his shoulder, holding him together as a wave of emotion pummels through him – both glee at what Jason's face would look like if he knew what Dick was thinking and absolute horror at the fact that almost wants to smile while his Little Wing is hurt…
Concentrating hard to manage it, Dick breathes in and out and gives Jason's hand a gentle squeeze on each pull of fresh air into his lungs.
They can beat this, Dick knows they can – knows Jason's way too bull headed to let something so obvious be what takes him down.
The voices at the Batcomputer are hushed, but at some point the Leaguers and the Titans arrived, so the quiet murmurs are loud enough for the occasional word to make it to the med bay. Kid Flash has brought in his mentor and Barry Allen is … not as bubbly optimistic as Dick would've expected the speedster to be.
Barry volunteers to stay, while Clark and Diana give well wishes and depart.
Wally and Kori join Dick in the med bay – perfectly willing to camp out there with him if he needs them to, BatglareTM or not. Dick appareciates the offer, basks in the warmth that blooms within his chest at how they mean it, but he sends them back to California anyway.
Wally hesitates, but gets shooed off by Kori soon enough.
She stays.
Dick isn't sure how long she stays there with a warm hand on his shoulder, standing absolutely still to the side that keeps her entirely out of Alfred's way as the butler continues to fuss over the medical aspects of their flailing attempt at seeing to Jason's relative comfort.
But it's probably a while.
A long while.
Eventually, Barbara appears in the medical bay – freshly showered and dressed in her comfiest Gotham Tech sweats.
Dick can barely spare her a glance as she takes up a seat beside him, delicate fingers folding lightly over his forearm.
"We're synsethisizng an emollient," Barbara tells him in a whisper as she gives his arm a squeeze. "It's not an antidote, but it will help. It's going to take another hour to finish processing and after that Barry and Bruce want to run a few final tests on how the emollient interacts with Jason's blood before they give him a full dose..."
Numbly, Dick gives a nod.
"You should go get changed, Dick," Brabara prompts softly, "Take a shower. I can stay with Jason for a while."
"I can't leave him," Dick protests weakly.
"You won't be leaving him. I'll be right here with him in your place, and you'll only be away for fifteen minutes," Barbara soothes. "I think he'd rather wake up to see his brother beside him than to find Nightwing looming over him."
Dick struggles to find the words for even a mildly viable objection.
Babs decides the matter before he gets a chance to voice anything by looking to Kori. The girls communicate something between themselves in a few seconds of silent glances and then Babs is giving Dick one last squeeze while flashing Kori a grateful smile.
In the same instant, Dick finds himself being physically hoisted out of his seat by the Tamaranian princess. He's carried across the Cave and only set back on his feet once they reach the showers. His legs can barely support him and it's only with Kori's help that Dick can peal himself out of his costume.
She stays with him, gets the hot water going, helps scrub him clean.
Dries them both off afterwards using her Tamaranian powers.
Helps Dick into a snug t-shirt and the soft joggers he prefers to sweats – likes them because he feels like he can move without getting tangled in the excess of fabric.
Kori holds him close for a long moment after that – wrapping him up in a tight hug that feels like it might crush him, but manages to ground and center him instead. He hugs back with a fierce appreciation and no worries that he might hurt her.
"The little wing will be okay," she tells him. "He is a very strong soul, bright and shiny."
"He certainly is," Dick agrees, reluctantly loosening his hug.
"I return to California, now, and will tell the others not to expect you soon," Kori declares, running her long fingers through his hair. "Check in with us on every morning, or Wally and I will return."
Dick nods, grateful, and pulls Kori close for a chaste kiss and one last tight hug. Then Kori leads him back out into the Cave by his hand and deposits him back beside Barbara.
She takes both of Barbara's hands and intertwines their fingers, moving slowly and gently to wist their hands upside down in a Tamaranian gesture of sisterhood and solidarity.
Barbara flashes a smile and gives the alien princess's hands a squeeze in return.
Dick looks away as soon as Kori leaves the medical bay, turning his full attention back to the little brother he has lying comatose before him.
He's not handling this well, Dick knows.
He should be doing something, should be helping… if he can't contribute to making the antidote, he could at least be tracking the tags he had Wally plant on everyone and everything in the Raven's basement… checking up on reports of the counterfeiting and that yacht, the Havrani… trying to piece together the last few threads of the casefile…
But he can't.
The mere idea of going out of arm's reach of Jason's hand twists Dick's stomach up in cruel knots and makes all his muscles turn to jelly.
He can't move.
He can't do anything.
All he can do is sit and wait and hope.
Hold his baby brother's hand.
This is the first time since his parents… the first time since then that anyone he's considered Family has truly been in mortal peril. Even Bruce's close calls weren't quite as… prolonged as this, weren't quite as murky when it came to understanding the survivability.
Dick can't imagine anything being worse than watching his parents fall, but this… this is a different kind of hurt. It's not the same dulled confusion, the numbing shock… It's not just the fear of losing Jason for his own sake that Dick's feeling, but the fear of losing out on all that Jason could still contribute to making the world a slightly better place for everyone living in it.
As much as Dick wants to keep Jason by his side for the simple reason that he loves his brother, there is so much more at stake than that.
Jason's only fourteen.
He has so much potential… so much life he still needs to live.
It's not fair.
Dick has faith in Bruce and Barry and Barbara that they'll be able to come up with something that will save Jason's life, he does.
Won't let himself waver even slightly on the front of that belief.
But it's still not fair.
It's not fair that there's even a circumstance that could ever bring Jason's survival into question… he's too young, too sweet, too kind… he volunteered for this… Joined the Crusade because he wanted to help people in general, rather than because he needed to see justice done on a specific villain like Dick had…
The only reason Dick had gotten started in the cape and pixie boots was the drive to personally see to it that Tony Zucco paid for what he did to John and Mary Grayson. He'd stuck around and truly became Robin afterwards, but he'd started it for his own need to get justice for his parents' deaths.
Jason on the other hand… Jason had been put in the costume to give an outlet to his own natural and utterly independent need to aggressively help.
Before Jason had even come into Bruce's care, he had picked fights with bullies of all kinds – fearlessly standing up to schoolyard thugs twice his size and to even the worst of corrupt cops and politicians when he had no chance of winning the fights.
Even before Bruce let him have the pixie boots, Jason beat up on muggers, drug dealers, and assholes of all types. He'd stolen from people who could afford it, mostly those who deserved it, and given more than half the proceeds of what he nicked to kids who weren't quite as slick as he could be…
Jason is a good person.
A little crass, a little rough around the edges, but still good. So good.
Jason doesn't deserve this.
And as soon as his Little Wing wakes up, Dick is going to make sure he does better as a brother to let Jason know that he's a great kid – Dick is going to make sure Bruce does better.
Because Jason is going to wake up.
He is.
Eventually.
It's hard to track the passage of time in the Cave's infirmary.
There's no clocks around in easy view.
The light never changes, unless Alfred dims it specifically to make the suggestion that his charges attempt to get some sleep.
The beeps and whirring coming from the medical bay's monitors and machinery is constant, too. Just a regular rhythm with no genuine sense of interval duration and no real way to track the number of iterations it's cycled through.
The only real sense of time moving onwards comes from watching Alfred change Jason's hydration IV – an event that takes place around every six hours.
After Kori left and Babs joined him at Jason's bedside, Bruce and Barry came in to administer the serum they'd developed. They'd reappeared every hour after that to draw blood and test Jason's ongoing reaction to the biochemical changes.
The rate had dropped to every two hours by Jason's second IV drip.
By Jason's fourth, Barry had returned to Central and it was just Bruce checking in – once every four hours, according to Barbara.
Dick thinks they're about a third of the way through Jason's sixth IV when he feels his brother's hand twitch strongly in his hold.
Instantly on alert, Dick holds his breath – one hand poised above the call button as he waits to see for certain that it wasn't just his own desperation for Jason to wake up that made him think Jason's hand had moved.
Seconds pass in agonizing stillness.
The twitch comes again – stronger this time, radiating up Jason's entire arm and triggering a slow shudder of stiff muscles declaring an urge to be properly stretched out.
Dick slams on the call button – startling Barbara out of her doze in the chair beside him.
Bruce and Alfred arrive in less than a minute.
It's still several long minutes after that when Jason groans and gives a tentative, but mostly conscious stretch – gives Dick's hand an mostly unintentional squeeze that releases the tension behind Dick's lungs in a single, life-giving whoosh that makes him sway on his feet.
Within the next ten minutes, Jason wakes up fully.
His vitals are checked and rechecked, blood is drawn again, and his cognitive functionality is assessed.
He doesn't remember much after the first dose of Tolovi's serum.
Making the deal is something he does recall, but while he knows what the deal entailed, he can't quite nail down the details of how it was negotiated or when.
He can't remember anything after the second dose.
The blank spots in his memory are clearly frustrating and Dick steps in to stop Bruce from continuing his interrogation before it can get Jason overly riled. For two seconds, Bruce looks like he's going to barrel on anyway… but a lingering glance at Jason – who's glowering at his knees below the hospital blanket like if he just glares hard enough he can develop his own version of Clark's laser vision – and Bruce softens.
It doesn't even take Babs and Alfred stepping in to make Bruce back down.
They remain nearby and on alert, however, just in case Bruce decides that Batman needs immediate answers more than Bruce needs his sons not to hate him.
Bruce doesn't do anything stupid.
He lifts a hand to Jason's shoulder and gives a nod – a gesture that would've been much less awkward if it didn't look like both Bruce and Jason were desperate to give each other a hug and were simultaneously both too proud and ill at ease to manage it.
Dick does it for them.
Scoops up his brother by a gentle arm around his shoulders, and yanks his adoptive father down by a much less gentle arm thrown around the man's neck – squeezing them both tight with relief and love and the pure joy of having his little brother be alright.
It takes a minute, but Bruce eventually figures out how to participate.
Jason remains obstinately awkward, but he does lean his head into the hug – subtly pressing his forehead up against both Dick and Bruce's temples with a heavy, silent sigh.
Dick doesn't let them go for a long time – a lot longer than either would've allowed under any other kind of circumstances. When he does let them go, he focuses primarily on helping Jason fall gently back to his pillows as he releases an exhausted sigh.
Alfred doesn't chastise him for the exhuberance of affection, but he does comment firmly that Jason needs his rest – as do the butler's other charges. He shoos Bruce, Dick, and Barbara out of the med bay, chasing them all the up to the main Manor before instructing them all to get some sleep while he himself returns to tend to Master Jason's comfort.
Bed sounds like the most amazing thing in the world to Dick.
He stumbles up the stairs to his room and collapses onto his mattress – is out for the count before he even makes contact with the soft blankets.
He doesn't quite manage to wake up when Bruce comes in a few hours later to lay a blanket over him and softly ruffle his hair, but he does manage to nuzzle into the contact and coo with happy incoherency for a moment.
He stays semi-conscious long enough to hear Bruce chuckle and falls back into oblivion to warm echoes of Bruce's low voice saying, "Rest up, sport. It's been a long day."
It's late afternoon when Dick wakes again to the wider world.
He heads straight down to the Cave as soon as he's conscious enough to make a vague attempt to stand. He's not graceful as he flings himself around on limbs that still haven't adjusted to the idea of being useful, but he doesn't particularly care when neither stealth nor style will help him reach his destination quicker – stomping around wildly is fine if it gets him downstairs before his heart bursts from anxious pounding.
When he makes it to the Cave, he spots Jason sleeping inside the low lit glass box of his medical cubical. For the time it takes to get over to him, Dick is half conviced Jason's fallen back into the coma – though he restrains himself enough to keep from disturbing Jason's rest as he slips inside… checks the EEG for an assurance of continued brain activity… settles into the still-warm seat at Jason's bedside as Alfred appears with a perfectly sweetened cup of coffee.
Alfred looks just as perfectly pressed and rested as usual – quite a feat, considering that Dick doesn't think he could have possibly left the Cave for more than fifteen minutes at a stretch in the last few days.
Dick flashes him a grateful smile as he accepts the coffee, feels Alfred return the sentiment more than he sees it in the small curve of a smile Alfred sends back. With a nod, Alfred steps back out of the med bay, busies himself with some task or other that Dick can't find the attention to watch. Instead of tracking the butler, Dick's gaze draws back to Jason.
He watches Jason sleep – watches him sleep easy – and every smooth cycle of rise and fall in Jason's chest eases a bit of the ache in Dick's own lungs.
Twilight and trashy romance novels have made watching someone sleep into a universal joke of utter creepiness – made it seem shamefully obsessive and ridiculous.
It's really not as bad as the psycho love stories make it seem.
It's comforting, calming, and in certain scenarios it does make rational, reasonable sense… Watching Jason sleep is the only way Dick is able to keep himself convinced that his little brother is alive. And that is too important to let the shaming tendencies of people influenced purely by pop-culture dissuade him.
At some point, Alfred brings Dick a bagel – perfectly toasted and covered in a precariously goopy mountain of peach marmalade – and another perfect cup of coffee.
Shortly after that, Babs appears – dressed in civies like she'd actually gone outside or something already.
She settles into the seat beside him and steals a long sip of his coffee as she loops one of her arms through his with easy familiarity and iron-clad solidarity.
Leaning comfortably against Dick in silence, Barbara basks in the quiet – just as grateful as Dick is that Jason is alive and recovering.
She lets herself enjoy the moment before she breaks the silence with a low whisper, "He woke up again a few hours after Alfred sent you to bed. Went over the story again with me and Bruce. He really doesn't remember much of anything about what happened."
"That's probably a good thing," Dick supposes.
He feels Barbara nod against his shoulder.
"But it leaves us in an interesting spot," she comments after a moment.
Dick frowns, confused.
Barbara waits for a full cycle of Jason's heart monitor to read out before she elaborates with a seemingly unrelated remark, "I talked to Tim today."
Guilt and worry barrel through Dick at an alarming rate – so forcefully that he might've found himself toppled from the chair if not for Barbara's grounding weight against him. Dick had totally forgotten about Tim – had just let himself be so distracted by the fact that Jason had been in such immediate medical danger that he forgot Jason wasn't the only one who'd been through a traumatic ordeal that night.
Tim might not have been subjected to the Tolovi's drug, or even directly harmed by any of the goons, but it still would've been a traumatic event.
And he hadn't even come back to the Cave to be checked out by Alfred before being sent home… he'd tricked Spoiler, Stephanie Brown, into knocking herself out in trying to hack the Batmobil before he'd successfully hacked the vehicle, directed it to the Diamond District, and then bailed out before allowing it to carry Stephanie to the Cave.
Stephanie had been check out by Alfred, been okayed to be returned home, and then had eventually been deposited back in her bedroom by one of the visiting heroes – Dick's not sure which one, but it was probably Clark.
Tim, meanwhile, had gone to recruit Catwoman and two vaguely ninja-like unknows she claimed were her apprentices, not to mention Harley and Ivy… After that… Dick didn't know what happened to Tim… how he'd gotten home – or even if he'd gotten home…
And he hadn't the foggiest idea of how Tim was coping with what had happened.
Sensing his panic easily, Barbara soothes his worries by saying, "He's physically fine, and he seems to be doing okay with everything – a little spooked, a bit worked up, but over all he seems like he's doing okay."
"But he's alone," Dick protests.
"He is," Barbara admits with a sd lilt to her voice, "But it's partly by choice. Having us smother him, even with good intentions, will just suffocate him. We can show support, but we can't force it on him or he's gonna bolt. And it's not like when Jason runs. Jason will just disappear into Gotham somewhere, but Tim… I spent five minutes with him and had to fight hard to keep him off the ledge of nabbing plane tickets. If Tim disappears on us, he's gonna get a lot further away than the Bowery… and he'll vanish with a lot less warning or hesitation."
It takes another iteration or two for Dick to fully accept the sentiment, and even then the acceptance is very reluctant – he mostly manages to accept it because his brain has moved on to yet another pressing worry.
"What are we gonna tell Bruce?"
"Selina says that she met Tim a few months ago when he was out looking to take pictures of us. She warned him off but didn't get too invested, just gave him an address he could go to if something went really wrong – she is fond of collecting strays, after all," Barbara explains with a clinical evaluation in her tone. "And since the GPS data from Tim's com shows that he went to that address after hacking the Batmobile, all the evidence supports that story. After letting Selina know that Jason was in trouble, Tim walked across town, collected his bike from the donut shop, and went home. He's been going to school and the library since then, spent an afternoon at a museum… nothing to indicate that he's more involved than he seems. And it seems like he's been spooked enough to back off a bit from investigating on his own."
Dick nods, understanding her perfectly.
It would be counterproductive to tell Bruce about how close Tim is to everything now.
Bruce would just put his boot down and try to force the issue – which would probably just make Tim dig in his own heels and push back, albeit likely in a super sneaky way that would mean the Bats couldn't swoop in to save him in the horrible, but not entirely implausible, scenario that Tim winds up in a similar kidnapping situation in the future.
Leaving things alone is probably best.
He and Barbara will have to proactively nudge Tim into being safer – make him step back by helping him understand that if he doesn't, Bruce will try to make him stop altogether.
It's going to be tricky to keep him feeling included enough not to be so discouraged that he keeps investigating without telling them, while still making enough of an impression to actually get him to listen, but they can probably manage it.
Honestly, they have to manage it – no matter how tricky doing so might be.
Tim's safety and sanity depends on it.
Which means so does theirs.
Dick and Barbara sit together dozing at Jason's bedside until he wakes up again around dusk. They chat briefly for a while and Jason rallies his strength enough to convince Bruce and Alfred that he's well enough to head upstairs and sleep in his own bed.
A light dinner is eaten at his bedside.
Bruce is even there to dine with them, and the meal is more pleasant than any they've all shared in a long while. Everyone is still either too weak or too relieved to pick a fight.
Barbara stays behind with Alfred while Dick and Bruce go on patrol.
It's a quiet night.
The whole city seems to be in the same state as the Bats with the exit of the Tolovis and their ilk – too pleased to have their city back to themselves to bother mucking up the niceness of having it be entirely theirs again.
And it seems like it really is theirs.
The trackers Dick had Wally plant that night all register that everything involved with that terrible night – the people, the boxes, even the cars and the boat – have moved all the way across the country. They're all gathered about a hundred miles south of the current location of Titan's Tower.
So Dick should probably concern himself with them again in the future, but he knows that unless something significant changes, he won't be able to shut down their criminal enterprise altogether. With that in mind, Dick puts it all out of his thoughts for a while.
Works with Babs to follow up on one last lead regarding the counterfeiting case that is definitely related, but still seems too detatched to matter.
With Bruce's help, they manage to definitively prove that the counterfeiting wasn't actually any kind of crime ring in and of itself. It was a surge of false goods and cash being used to attract the immediate attention of a very specific group of people – since one of GHOST's officially registered concerns, one that they are allowed to investigate on US soil, is organized counterfeiting. The whole thing was just a stunt to draw Tavian Ross and co to Gotham.
It's a tremendous relief to have that loose thread tied up neatly.
All the answerable questions have their answers.
Any of the ones that remain, like the exact hows and whys of what remains are questions too big for vigilantes to answer. The questions of what the drug is or why the government is developing it or why such a dangerous program seems to be in the midst of being so dramatically restructured with such utterly neglectful abandon… those are questions for people in higher, darker places … people like spies.
Dick can't let the idea of leaving this case unfinished drive him mad.
For all intents and current purposes, it's over.
They're gone from Gotham, and even Bruce is convinced they won't be back.
Bruce is less convinced that Tim is still ignorant.
Meeting up with Selina midway through patrol is actually an extremely fortunate turn of events. She submits to Batman's curt interrogations with just enough patience to get significant answers – to give enough consistent detail to convince Bruce that Tim still doesn't know or care about any of their secret identities – and just enough annoyance to avoid being suspicious.
When pressed on a new angle, Selina admits that, since that night, she hasn't actually spoken to her little apprentice kittens – apparently it is plural, there are two: the girl who snagged the antidote and the boy who professed such a dramatic interest in Jason. One she sent off to New York for a while, and the other could be halfway around the world right now – since she was ready to stake out a few sunny spots in a city of her very own.
The one who demonstrated an attraction to Bruce's little bird, the one who kissed him, might be back eventually, but right now he's off licking wounds and learning a valuable lesson about getting overly involved because of mere attraction to someone on the other side of the law.
Dick makes the comment that every Cat has to have their caped catnip, and finds himself facing down hellish glares from both grown ups.
He bears them easily, shit-eating grin only growing wider as he picks up on more and more hallmarks of embarrassment in their expressions. It's kind of adorable.
Dick has always loved playing matchmaker with his mentor and Selina, because they are just so perfect for each other he can't help but want them together – and if he doesn't help them see it, they're never going to let themselves get close enough to genuinely be happy together.
It's important, what he does – a public service, really.
Selina keeps Bruce just a little bit brighter in a way the Robins can't manage, a way that's important to Bruce's ability to bear the darkness of Batman's cowl. And Bruce keeps Selina on her best behavior – stealing only from people who can totally afford it, mostly those who stole their art and jewels to start with. Their connection also keeps a route for information open, one that keeps the good guys just that little bit more ahead of the game.
The night wraps up with Dick in high spirits, and Bruce less lost to the gloom than he easily could have been otherwise.
They both check in briefly on Jason before heading to bed themselves.
The next morning, Dick and Jason have breakfast together. Play a few rounds of Super Smash Bros before Alfred sends Jason back upstairs to either rest or tend to his homework.
Barbara's already gone back home to her condo in Old Gotham, plans to spend the day catching up on her own pile of neglected homework.
Which leaves Dick free to check on Tim.
Or at least to try to check on him.
The GPS in Tim's bike says he's home.
So do the lights and sounds inside Tim's house.
But Tim doesn't answer the door when Dick rings the bell.
Dick waits for ten minutes before trying again, debating whether or not to pick the lock on the door and just let himself inside.
He decides that it would probably be inappropriate, considering that he and Barbara had discussed and agreed upon the need to resist smothering Tim with an overabundance of concern and affection. Since Tim has been more or less deprived of such attention for most of his life, subjecting him to it while he's under stress is… ill-advised.
Which is irksome, because this is one of the few situations in life where hugs actually are the primary solution – and Dick feels like he's being cheated out of an important dose of cuddles.
But Dick does understand the importance of taking things slow with Tim.
Instead of forcing the issue, Dick fishes a bit of scrap paper and a pen out of his pockets and jots down a note about having come to check up and being available if Tim wants to talk – about anything at all. Adds that he's available even if Tim doesn't want to talk – that he's game for it if Tim just wants to go out for ice cream or something.
Dick stick his note into the doorjamb and then reluctantly leaves Tim's front stoop.
Vows to stick close by and keep his phone on him at all times – uses Barbara's resources to get Tim's number into his phone and program it with the same override he has on all his fellow Capes' numbers to make sure that even if he silences it, when they call he can pick up.
The pattern repeats, more or less, at least, over the next few days.
Dick stays close to Bruce, making sure he's taking care of himself and not being too hard on Jason and not going surveilence crazy on Tim… The Bat does sneak off once or twice to spy on Tim, gets at least one mild interrogation in, but over all he accepts that Jason doesn't remember anything but is recovering well and that Tim is ignorant and spooked.
Things are a bit tense, but Dick feels rather confident that everything is going to be okay.
Or at least as okay as could possibly be hoped for in their line of work.
And for the first time in a long time, Dick is happy.
Author's Note:
This chapter marks the first transition to the wrap-up, but don't worry, we still have a ways to go!
NEXT TIME: Jason wakes up, confused and hurting, but not at all alone.