Chapter 17

Groaning, Dick woke up in his room in the manor, the sun shining through his drawn curtains. He was alone in his room, something that felt almost foreign ever since he was shot and had the team come over to watch over him.

"What?" he croaked, confused. Sitting up, he groaned as his body protest at the sudden movement. "What happened?"

He looked around his room before finding his phone laying on his bedside table. Picking it up he noticed two days have passed since he last remembered. Quickly getting the remote of his television he turned it on and quickly changed the channel to the news.

"-We have yet to hear any news about Richard Grayson and the whereabouts of the mysterious murderer, the Gotham Police have yet to release any statement regarding the captured henchmen."

Dick closed the television and sat there trying to remember what happened. The manor was attacked, and a man kidnapped him, beating him in front of all of Gotham. Kid Flash came, but he knew the rest of the team and Batman came as well. What happened to Tim? Was he okay? The news said that they didn't know the whereabouts of the ringmaster, how did he escape? How about the captured henchmen? Did they reveal any information about the ringmaster?

The ringmaster revealed that he was the mysterious murderer that has been killing people in Gotham, all of those people had traces of Romani blood, something Dick found out before this whole fiasco but what he didn't find out was that the ringmaster only targeted specific ones. Said he traced it from ancestry, some of those people murdered not even knowing they even had Romani blood. That means this cursed blood the ringmaster kept spouting about flows through him, it was in his bloodline, part of his ancestry. But who could he ask? His whole family has been murdered beside him and Uncle Rick. Why didn't the ringmaster go after Uncle Rick? He was grateful the murderer didn't but why? Was it because Uncle Rick was basically comatose and poses no threat?

Who can Dick go to? He needed to know what the ringmaster was talking about. Cursed bloodlines, why was it a curse that he needed to kill anyone who had it? Does it have something to do with his powers? But who can he ask and how did the ringmaster know?

His head ached at the onslaught of thoughts, groaning he rubbed his head and slumped on his bed. He needs to know more about this ringmaster. Too many questions with too little information.

Before he can continue his chain of thought, the door opened. Wally and Bruce walked in before realizing that Dick was awake. In a blink of an eye, the speedster was beside him, his face scrunched in worry and started asking him if he was fine but instead of paying attention to his boyfriend, he stared at Bruce who stood there beside his bed.

"What happened?" Dick asked, cutting his boyfriend's worried questions. "How did you find me?"

The room became silent as Wally and Bruce gave glanced at one another, having a silent conversation that made Dick clutch his blanket.

Sighing Bruce answered. "I recognized the warehouse you were being held at and left the team and called them as Batman, saying that I found your location and that I was on my way. The team left before I came as well as Batman," Bruce informed him sitting at the foot of his bed. "Selina took care of Tim while we were out. He's safe now at his home."

"And what happened after I passed out?" Dick asked, grabbing at his boyfriend's hand.

"The ringmaster escaped but we managed to capture his subordinates," Bruce said, slightly growling.

"I heard," Dick said. "It was mentioned on the news but why hasn't the police said anything? Not that I think they would but what happened to them?"

Wally answered his questions before Bruce could, his face scrunched up in confusion. "They were easy to capture after the ringmaster escaped but it was weird. They just stopped attacking and started looking around confused."

"What?" Dick asked, confused.

"Yeah, they just stopped," Wally said, nodding in confusion. "When we started questioning them about the ringmaster, they said they have no memory of him and what they were doing. We had Miss M look through their memories and said that they were all telling the truth."

"It was like they were being controlled and when the ringmaster left, they had their memories wiped," Wally added.

Dick squeezed his hand, Wally squeezing back trying to confront his distressed boyfriend. None of the information given by his guardian and boyfriend was helpful, just made him more confused about the ringmaster and that left him unsatisfied, wanting to know more about his captor.

Noticing his unsatisfied expression, Bruce stood up. "Glad to see your awake, chump," Bruce said, placing a confronting hand on his shoulder. "You need some pain relievers?"

Dick shook his head. "Nah, just sore but it's nothing new."

Bruce nodded before patting his shoulder and leaving the room, leaving him and Wally alone. The two of them kept quiet before Dick moved, letting go of Wally's hand and patting the space beside him. Without saying anything, Wally knew what he meant and sat on his bed beside him.

"I'm sorry," Wally blurted, his hand finding Dick's once more. "We should have found you earlier, if I wasn't too caught up in grief, I could have found you."

Dick just kept quiet, knowing that Wally wasn't done.

"I thought they already killed you and I just gave up," Wally amended. "I shouldn't have and I'm sorry for not finding you sooner. I should have been looking for you, scouring through all of Gotham looking, but I didn't, what kind of boyfriend am I?"

Dick squeezed the redhead's hand, his heart plummeting. He knew what he had to do, to get the answers he desperately wanted.

"Wally," Dick began, trying to keep his voice from shaking, keeping it emotionless as Bruce taught him. "We should break up."