AN: Thanks for checking out my work. Since this is a new piece I'm pretty excited about I wanted to upload the first chapter. However, I will be releasing future chapters at the same time as other continuing fics to be fair to those readers.

This fic is a Batman fic but honestly it's not in a particular time or focusing on particular characters. To be honest I started reading comic books during the New 52 and rebirth years but I adore the versions of Alfred, Gordon, and especially Bruce from the Christopher Nolan movies.

In short, whichever version fits best in your mind, feel free to use that one as this is loosely constructed outside of recognized lore. Thank you.

Dick in A Box

Chapter One

1.1

It was almost like standing in the sun or being hit directly by an atom bomb.

Yes, Barabara Gordon had felt many many things that a regular young woman wouldn't and she knew she had chosen that life for herself. She had chosen a life where she could fight crime and stop bad guys, she had chosen a life where she had become the "super computer" Oracle, and she had chosen the last six months to accept Dick Grayson's invitations out to dinner. It had started with him wanting to reconnect and quickly led onto them admitting their love for one another.

That was what had brought her into this situation. Something had been going on. Somehow Nightwing had been called, summoned to fight and she had followed him. It was a bit disheartening when she had found out that Tim, Jason, and heck even Damien had been summoned as well but she had been tossed aside.

She still wanted to do her best though and be of help to Bruce, a valuable asset to their team. He had his boys and he should have learned that she could hang with them and be as useful as them but now, this blinding white light around her, she felt it was suffocating her.

She saw Dick reach out his hand for her and she took it but it was as if her mind was on drugs, his skin was shifting under his suit, his veins were pulsing and his blood was running high, he was definitely in agony. She could barely see him through the piercing light but it was as if small balls had come up inside of him like a bubble milk tea and he was trying his best to fight against the pain.

"Dick," she whispered as he let go of her hand and she heard a loud high pitched scream in her head. The scream was getting louder as if starting to hurt her like a torch, like it was actually manifesting into its own monster. She felt the heat starting to spread over her like a glove and then she felt something, someone pulling her back and pulling her away from the boys.

Barbara felt a pain through the back of her head as someone pinned her to the ground and she opened her eyes, trying to resist. The bright light wasn't there any longer but the pain was. The heat wasn't leaving her body. She gasped for air and found someone to be holding her down.

"Don't move," he said in his regular tone and Barbara nodded. She knew that if she was with Bruce then she was safe but what did that mean for the others. She cared about all of them but she also felt that pain at being reunited with Dick to have it all end like this. No. There was a way of getting him back. There had to be a way of getting him back.

Barbara could hear something near her, dogs and men. Where were they? She looked around and felt the cold rush on her suit and tried to stand. She looked around them and saw Bruce trying to steady her. "Where are the others? Why did y-"

"I don't want to think the worst. Every opponent we have ever faced has had some secrets and those secrets might be that we haven't lost them. Bruce turned to Barbara. "We won't give up on them. I'm not giving up on my sons," he said and Barbara smiled softly as she looked at him but her right side felt incredibly itchy and raw. As she moved under a streetlight and turned back to the dark knight, her eyes widened as she saw that he was bleeding but worse than that half of his mask had ripped off and he was exposed. How could he not sense that?

"Do you have another mask?" she asked him in a whisper before finding someone else to enter the portion of the alley they were in. She found herself to be in a lot of pain but she turned to Bruce, "Run. You know they'll arrest you if they find out who you are. Run." She said but it was too late and a man had seen him. She looked up and took a deep breath in as she saw her father there and his eyes widened in shock.

"Uh…I…You need to stand down," he said before grabbing the radio and saying that the area was clear and then directing them to a part of the city in the opposite direction to them. Barbara took another step in front of Bruce. "I uh…don't really know…what to say…" he said as Bruce took a deep breath in.

"You can arrest me if you want, commissioner," he said as he looked to Gordon with half his mask still on and half of his face exposed. "You caught me."

"Don't talk like that," Barbara said before stepping between the men. "Commissioner, is there a place where we can speak in private," she said and Gordon slowly nodded, he continued to just stare at the exposed Bruce.

"Have you got your car around here?" Gordon asked with a shrug and Bruce nodded.

"I've got an extra mask in there too," he said in his deep 'Batman' voice although he knew that this time, Gordon would not be able to question that he was anyone else than the playboy billionaire.

1.2

"I feel like I should have trusted you with the information a long time ago," Bruce said as they arrived at the Batcave and Gordon stared around impressed with the setup. He got out of the car, not wanting to think about what could have happened to the four younger men. He watched as Barbara climbed out too and she looked down.

"Commissioner, I should have told you a long time ago about my identity," she said and Gordon took another breath in.

"I have my suspicions about it," he said and Barbara took a step backwards in shock. How would he know something like that? "Do you think I'm that bad of a police officer to not put the pieces together and not know who my own daughter is."

"Y-you knew?" Barbara asked and Gordon nodded.

"I figured that you were in safer hands were I not to know," he said and Barbara stared at him. "I didn't know who the batman was but I figured you would be safer working with him than working alone." Barbara froze as she looked down and turned her face. She had been going solo for a while. Yes, she was part of the bat family but she didn't want her father to know how much she contributed to her danger. She looked towards her father who was staring at her wide eyed and appearing horrified.

"Barbara," he said slowly. "Your mask…your…remove your mask for me," he requested and Barbara turned to Bruce who nodded. As she did so, she saw both men flinch and looked towards her father who walked towards her and gave her a huge hug.

"It's okay. It'll be okay." He said and Barbara turned to Bruce wishing for an explanation. Bruce looked down and took a deep breath.

"You have terrible burn over the side of your face," he said bluntly although maybe it wasn't close enough. Maybe it wasn't quite so bad but her face looked similar to Two Face's. He just hated to see this young woman in such pain.

Barbara took a slow breath and nodded before looking at her father. She stood there with incredible strength and determination as she looked at her father. "It's going to be okay. I'm going to be okay," she said with another deep breath. She turned to face Bruce. "Did you manage to save Di—any of the rest of us?" she asked and Bruce cringed and bowed his head having the shame and pain on it.

"I was only able to save you. I…I don't know what happened to Ti-Red Robin, before I could touch him he seemed to have his body turn into…into data." He looked down trying hard to remember how that had seemed but it was as if his physical form had turned into an invisible scarf with green coding printed onto it. Did that mean he was out there somewhere?

"So, what is it you plan to do now?" Gordon asked as he held his daughter in his arms again. He trusted Barbara when she said that Bruce hadn't wanted for this to happen. He was still grappling with the idea that Batman was Bruce Wayne as well.

Bruce looked to him, "I'm calling in some other reinforcements whilst I search for my sons," he said as he tried to think about what might have happened to the four of them. "I'll make sure that we can take care of the burns," he said to both of the Gordon's. "Can you take care of her for me?"

"I'll be taking care of her for all of us," Gordon said. Barbara closed her eyes and attempted not to cry. If that was what had happened to Tim then what had happened to Dick. She never felt so alone before. Her heart was calling out to him.

1.3

Barbara sat very still on the sofa in front of the turned off TV. She had seen how she now looked, the way that people would say she was now hideous or they would make fun of her. Bruce knew the best way to treat the condition and she was relying on that but she wasn't afraid. She would have been more afraid to lose her body, to lose her mind. Her attractiveness could take a backseat especially since….

"Is there anything I can get for you?" James asked as he reached out for his daughter's hand and Barbara shook her head. "Is it some-"

"It's Richard," she said as she put a hand to her heart. "It must make sense to you now that he's the original Robin and then he became Nightwing," Gordon took a deep breath in before nodding. "I'm so scared I'll never see him again that he isn't anywhere. Even if I had to remain like this forever, Dick, he wouldn't care about that. He would care about me, my happiness. I…most guys aren't like that."

"There might be proof he's alive," Gordon tried to soothe her and Barabra took another deep inhale and nodded. She closed her eyes before hearing a voice in her head.

Babs. I'm sorry. I really screwed up and now - now I don't know how to -

"Dick," Barbara whispered to the air and looked around, she couldn't see him. She took a nervous breath as the words of what had happened to Tim echoed. Maybe Dick was just data now. If he was, maybe she could get him to speak to her on a computer but then again, she could hear his voice.

Babs! She heard again in her head. You can hear me!? You can…communicate with me?

Barbara took another deep breath in and nodded. She looked around wanting to find him but she had no idea where he could be. She saw in her father's face that he didn't hear his voice, that he wasn't aware of what she could hear or what was happening.

"Where are you?" she asked.

Arkham Asylum. Barbara took a deep breath in wondering how that could have happened. I'm not. I'm not me. I'm not in my body. I…I can…

Barbara was trying to listen to him before she felt a pinch in her head and as she blinked it was as if she was looking at a padded cell in Arkham Asylum, she felt her gaze turn down to a straight jacket and she moved but it was as if this was a video game scene, she could see it but she couldn't control it. Was this what Dick was looking at right now?

She saw him look up and froze as she saw the face of Scarecrow opposite him. So, he was trapped in Arkham. Her vision started to dull and as she blinked she returned to her living room. She had to tell Bruce about this.

Dick. You have to make contact with Bruce, okay, can you hear me, she thought, not speaking any of the words aloud.

I hear you, Dick replied. I'll try with Bats. Maybe it's best if he sees me first. I have no idea who this body belongs to but I know I don't recognize it. I'm starting to feel weak so I have to stop communicating. I love you though, I'm so happy you're safe.

I love you too, Barbara said as she felt a few tears slip from her eyes. She looked up at her father. "He's alive," she said as Gordon returned the smile. "Dick's alive."

End of Chapter One

Thank you for reading