Warning, this one is going to hurt. That being said, enjoy.

Stephanie

When the world shook, and smoke began to pour into the sky, Stephanie knew exactly what had happened and the realization made her weak in the knees.

"Um, guys!" Steph yells into her comm.

"Stephanie what is it?" Bruce asks.

Duke is beside her, his hands on his head, staring at the distant blaze.

"Stephaine do you have eyes on the explosion?" Bruce asks again.

She opens her mouth to respond but for just a moment the world is too much to process and her mouth has gone too dry to speak. She swallows hard, forcing herself to start moving, pulling Duke along behind her.

She's just about to speak again when two gunshots echo through the air.

"Oh fuck-" Steph yells, releasing her comm and forcing herself and Duke into a run.

The streets are in explosion has elicited some kind of free for all in the alleys below. Steph and Duke run, cabling from one roof top to the next, trying to justify ignoring the violence below. But when they land on the street, the insanity is harder to ignore. There's a robbery at the liquor store to their left, a mugging to their right. They hesitate, swept up in uncertainty for a moment.

At just the mere sight of them, several people stop and run, presumably back to the safety of their homes, the vigilante's presence giving the victims enough time to escape. Steph looks to Duke, her eyes pleading, guilt simmering in her stomach. Do they stay and save those caught up in the madness or do they go and save their brother?

"You go." Duke says definitively.

"Duke-" Steph starts.

"No. Jason needs you. I can stay here and deal with this. I'll tell the others what's going on. Just go." He pushes away from her. "Hurry!"

Then she's running, flying through the winding streets, grappling to a nearby rooftop to catch her breath. She eyes the burning wreckage a few blocks away and swallows hard. And then she's running again, lungs burning, eyes watering from the smoke as she drops into the alley adjacent to the burning warehouse.

From where she crouches she can see a young man, curled against the wall of the alley, dark bangs plastered to his forehead, drenched in blood. He's shaking, hands twitching listlessly at his sides. Jason. She knows it is.

"I found him!" She says into her comm quickly relaying the location. She stands to run to him when another figure steps into view. He's very large, maybe even taller than Jason is, one arm tied uselessly to his body in a makeshift sling. He's laughing and saying something to Jason that she can't make out. Then he pulls out the gun and puts it right in her brother's face.

Steph pulls out her bo staff as she watches Jason gaze up into the sky. Her breath is coming faster and faster as she breaks out into a sprint. He's right there, just across the street. She screams for him, for the man to stop but the roaring of the flames is too loud for them to hear her. But she's getting closer. He's right there, almost close enough to touch.

Then the gun fires.

Dick

Dick and Damian were only two blocks away when the shot fired, the sound struggling to be heard over the noise around them.

"Steph? Status report." Dick says as calmly as he can, but the comm stays painfully silent.

Dick breaks out into a run, Damian beside him, faces stern with concentration. Tim is yelling for Stephanie over comms but she still has yet to answer, and Bruce is yelling orders that no one is answering. When the flames billow up around them it's all Dick can do to grab Damian by the color of his cape to keep him from barreling directly into the massacre before them.

As they draw nearer they can hear it, the screams. Dick peeks his head around the corner to see Steph subduing a hulking man, punching his face again and again and again, until Dick runs up to intervene. He grabs her wrist and pulls her from the mangled man beneath her, and then she's barking orders at him that he can't hear because he's turned to see Jason bathed in blood, Damian on top of him trying to staunch the blood pouring out of him.

And the screams aren't stopping.

"Dick!" Stephanie yells, slapping his face hard enough to snap him from his daze. He meets her wild eyes and she's holding his face firmly in front of her.

"Listen to me very carefully. Jason needs help, I- I think he's dying, he needs to get back to the cave right now." There are tears running in rivers down her cheeks. Dick nods as she continues. "But the children trapped in that building, they need us."

And all at once the screaming comes into focus, several tiny, frantic voices calling out for help. Calling for someone to save them. No, not just someone. Hood. Calling for Mister Hood to save them.

Chills race down Dick's spine, coming to rest nauseously in his stomach. He nods at Steph, and brings his hands up to cup her face, he pulls her forehead to meet his own for just a second before they pull away. Steph runs over to Jason and frantically places a kiss on his forehead before running towards the flaming building, pulling Damian along with her. When Dick turns he sees that Tim and Cass have just arrived, both saying tearful words to the broken boy on the pavement, sparing a moment for a caress of his cheek, a squeeze of his hand, before running after Steph. Dick catches Tim's eye as he passes, and the pleading is undeniable.

So, it falls to Dick, and he runs to Jason's side, taking in the damage. Kneeling beside him, the kneepads of his suit soaking in the blood that pours from the fresh gunshot wound at Jason's right shoulder. But there's too much to catalog, too much damage, blood seemingly emptying out of Jason's body from everywhere. Dick presses his hands hard into the bullet wound, fingers slipping over gore coated skin, lips trembling as tears loosen the edges of his mask.

"Jay?" Dick asks, voice unsteady.

He can see that Jason is awake, eyes wide and unfocused, breath coming too fast. He stares unblinking at the warehouse, body racked with tremors. His body is in shock, Dick knows this, knows that this is Jason's body's last ditch effort to come to terms with what has happened to him tonight.

"Jay?" Dick tries again, moving one of his blood soaked hands up to Jason's face, "Jay can you hear me?"

But Jason isn't listening to him, he can hear nothing but the screams.

And then Jason is moving, as if in slow motion, and Dick is trying to hold him down in a way that won't hurt him more but he's persistent. He's dragging himself towards the flames, limbs folding beneath his weight, blood trailing behind him, eyes wild with panic. His mouth moves mindlessly as if he were trying to answer the voices who still call out for him. Dick twists in front of Jason, blocking his path, gathering him in his arms. And when the wild boy finally finds his voice it's deafening.

Jason lets loose such a sound, such a lost, irretrievable sound, that Dick momentarily loses the ability to breathe. The sobs, if they can even be called that, come in such violent waves, Dick doesn't know how Jason's body is even withstanding it. Dick is begging him to stop, trying to fold him into his arms tightly enough to hold him together. But Jason keeps fighting weakly against him, seemingly unaware of anything but the sounds coming from the crumbling rubble.

Then the noises stop, cut off deep inside Jason's throat as a violent shaking overcomes his body. At first Dick thinks it's a seizure, but as he pulls Jason fully onto his lap he can see it's not. His body has simply caught up to the pain.

And for just a moment, Jason's eyes regain their focus, his body tenses with pain and his hand comes up to his shoulder. He finds Dick's hand there and holds fast, eyes locking with his brother's in a moment of desperation. And right then, he's 15 again, scared and cold and hurt and he clings to Dick, lips trembling with grief.

"Dick," He whispers, voice tight with tears and pain. His free hand pulls weakly at Dick's other hand and Dick quickly pulls his glove off with his teeth so Jason can truly feel him there. Flesh on flesh.

"Please Dick- make it stop." Jason wimpers.

"I know- I know it hurts." Dick manages, voice breaking. "But it's ok, it's ok, I've got you baby brother." He pulls Jason even closer, resting his chin on the top of Jason's head. "I've got you."

All at once the strength saps out of Jason and Dick is holding him up, holding him even tighter, whispering soothing words to him, eyes squeezed shut so as to shield himself from the grief. Dick can feel his pulse, thready and weak, one hand clamped firmly onto Jason's side, the other cradling Jason's head beneath his own. Because they just have to hold on until Bruce gets here, until they can load him into the batmobile and take him home where Dr. Leslie will be waiting. They just have to hold on until then.

And when Jason goes still beneath him, Dick holds tighter still.

"I've got you baby brother. I've got you."