Castling Part 2

As Dick broke through the haze of his panic, he groaned.

Whatever happened to keeping this away from the Waynes? These were good people. They didn't need to get mixed up in the same mess he was in!

"So you are still feeling some tenderness then?"

Dick met the eyes of Dr Bruce Wayne - the guy he dove in front of a bullet to save. The doctor's eyes were questioning, almost relieved at the supposed re-establishment of 'normal' medical parameters.

Too bad Dick wasn't technically normal.

"Yeah."

Dr Wayne gave him a look . It was eerily similar to the look his mum would give him whenever he attempted to bluff his way through a cavity - it never worked, must be a healthcare professional thing.

"Describe the pain." Bruce said flatly.

And with that, Dick was - essentially - trapped. Lying to his health care provider might be an option but -

"Look, the fact you're enhanced is kind of evident now. It's not crazily, unbelievably fast like supposedly that metahuman in Central City's was - someone saw him reset a femur fracture that at the next moment was healed - but still. Fast."

- He didn't really have a choice though did he? He blurted out the fact the Owls were not, in fact, a folk tale or an urban legend. And he did it to their inadvertent opposition at that. Oh well. Time to attempt to roll with the punches.

Dick sighed, "It's dull and aching, throbbing. Not too sharp. It hurt more when you pressed harder."

Bruce nodded. "That sounds about right. Not quite what we expected for fresh out of the theatre, but the good news is that I can taper down that morphine drip we have you on. My dad would probably assess you more in depth later… after you tell us about -"

Three precise knocks came from the door. Dr Wayne raised a brow at Dick and told him, "That's probably my Dad, Mr Wayne - your attending surgeon; my mum and Alfred. You okay for them to come in?"

Dick shrugged. "I guess? I mean, best get your dad's examination of me out of the way right?"

"You're deflecting. You certainly implied that you'd like to tell us more about this Court of Owls situation."

"It's hard, okay?"

At that point Dr Wayne had already crossed the room to the door. Raising an eyebrow he opened the door, letting the other Doctor Wayne's - Dick vaguely recalled Martha having a PhD or something along those lines? - and Alfred in.

The surgeon Wayne bustled over and quietly conversed with his son. Dr Mrs Wayne gave him a weary smile and pulled over a chair to his bedside. And Alfred? (This guy had to be Alfred, Bruce didn't look like him so it had to be Alfred.) He glanced about the room and announced.

"I'll bring some tea… and I'll bring you your emotional support Rocky Road ice cream Mister Wayne." Before turning snappily on his heel out of Dick's makeshift ward.

"You're a very lucky young man, you know that right?" Thomas Wayne said.

"How so Dr Wayne?"

"Mr Wayne please. My son's the physician, I'm the surgeon."

"Alright... Mr Wayne?"

Mr Wayne nodded, and Dick continued, "How so?"

"We've had to repair your femoral artery wall and reattach the saphenous vein. And the large nerve supplying most of your leg was damaged - hence why you probably don't feel much at all below your injury. But - we acted quickly enough that I am fairly confident you will not be developing any bleeding into the muscles surrounding the injury (we call that Compartment Syndrome); and we found that your femur hasn't been fractured! It's just a bit bruised. Which means I could project your recovery to normally be about 9 weeks?"

Mr Wayne looked into his eyes. "Then again I could say I'd expect 5 weeks now given what Bruce has told me. Something about you being enhanced?"

"Well I know I'm not a meta." Dick bit at him, before settling a little, "Sorry, that was rude. It's just - this thing you're seeing? It was done to me ."

Bruce smiled sadly, "I did wonder about the needle tracks - your bloods and urine work shows no signs of recreational abuse so I thought..."

Dick looked at him incredulously, "You saw the insides of my elbows and immediately leapt to human experimentation? "

Bruce's parents joined Dick in looking at him incredulously. Bruce blushed.

"I mean - it's not outside the realm of possibility? I mean?" He shrugged helplessly. "Lois has stories?"

Dr Mrs Wayne rolled her eyes, " Of course, Lois has stories . The levels of strange are just rising day to day. We really should have clued in when your late father talked about that green magic guy that saved him back in WW2 Thomas."

"How were we supposed to know that was the prelude to a human-passing extraterrestrial stopping crime in Metropolis?"

"Um, mum? Dad? We're off topic."

Thomas and Martha grinned at each other before Bruce continued, "So yeah - not out of the realm of possibility."

Dick let out a frustrated breath, "Fine. Yes. It was them. It was all them. This is what they do. Take people and turn them into things ."

"You mean the Court of Owls." Dr Mrs Wayne said.

"I mean their Talons ."

At that moment Alfred strode back into the room and unceremoniously dumped a ginormous tub of Rocky Road onto Thomas' lap.

Thomas' relief was palpable. Martha rolled her eyes at her husband as she received her tea.

" Thank you Alfred." She said before taking a deep swig of the warm liquid.

Bruce took his mug of hot chocolate like a shot.

"I presume by how you are reacting that the news isn't exactly the best."

Martha looked at Alfred, "We just found out that a rather terrifying urban legend, is in fact, real." She took a second swig. "And that they conduct human experiments."

" I never said !" Dick interjected.

Thomas huffed and muttered, "Well, you certainly implied it."

"Needle. Tracks." Bruce cut in flatly.

"Ah. I was wondering about those."

Dick paused, "Really? The marks on my arms? That's what's convinced you that I might be telling the truth?"

"Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth." Alfred said. "And given my own background, I certainly am inclined to believe that a supposed urban legend with human experimentation tendencies are real. So Mister 'Johnson'..."

Dick's eyes widened as Alfred sat forward. Leaning his forearms on his knees, subtly showing off the lean power in his arms. The steely glint of his stare pierced Dick where he sat.

"Knowledge is power. Knowledge is safety. I suggest you tell us what is going on."


AN: Thanks once again for reading! If you'd like to contact us via tumblr, my handle is eastoniablogs!