Chapter Twenty-Three:
"Out Of The Hospital..."
As soon as they heard the bad news, the doctor had allowed Dick to be released even earlier than originally scheduled, and Dick and Barbara immediately drove to Wayne Manor in her car. Alfred was there when they arrived and immediately filled them in to the full extent of the situation, and for Tim, the prognoses wasn't good. He was bed ridden and paralyzed from the neck down.
Future Drake—or Arkells, as he preferred to be called now—had been rendered unconscious by a Batarang when Bruce had struck him after the Neuro-Diffuser was injected fully into the side of Tim's neck. Bruce was currently making sure that Arkells was properly secured into a cryostasis chamber in the Batcave, so he could no longer be a threat to others or to himself.
When Dick and Barbara entered Tim's bedroom, they were shocked beyond belief. He was attached to wires that monitored his heart and vital signs, with a tube in his nose, and an IV plugged into lower arm. Over the years, being butler to Bruce Wayne, Alfred had become very proficient in such matters, and had to double as nurse in times of crises. Now was another one of those times.
The strange thing was Tim had not been rushed to a hospital after the incident. However, Bruce insisted that Tim be housed in Wayne Minor for the time being. The scan with the MRI machine in the Medibay of the Batcave showed the shock to Tim's nervous system may not have been as devastating as originally thought. And Bruce also thought there would be too many questions asked if Tim was taken to a hospital, the same sort of inquisition Dick was subjected to before he had his brain surgery.
Bruce only had so much bribing power to silence doctors before someone from the media got whim of strange injuries happening within the Wayne Family. To an extent, that was prudent, but eventually, Tim would have to see an actual doctor. And may need therapy, and not just of the kind provided by Batman. Tim had damaged his spine before and walked on crutches for a time, but this injury was much more severe, and Dick questioned Bruce's decision to at least call a doctor to the Manor—like Dick's doctor at the hospital who performed his surgery, who just happened to be an expert in neuropathy, and who already knew how to keep a secret.
Dick tried to remain calm, but he was disappointed. He didn't wish to scold the teen, but said: "What on earth possessed you to such a stupid thing knowing the consequences, Tim?"
Tim looked guilty. "I, uh, thought I could take it…" He cast his eyes aside, as if looking away from his father, which, in some respects, Dick was, being the oldest of Bruce's adopted-sons, and had been a fatherly-figure to everyone at one time or another.
"We all may have been trained by Bruce, but we're not superhuman, Tim!"
Alfred said, "Master Dick, please, don't shout at the boy. While his decision was ill advised, which resulted in an unfavourable outcome, Master Tim did defuse a rather dangerous situation that may have caused—"
"His own death! This may be even worse, Alfred!" Dick frowned. "Tim had so much promise. Now he may spend the rest of his life as a quadriplegic. It was completely irresponsible and reckless. If Bruce taught us anything, it was never under any circumstances to jeopardize our own safety even at the cost of a hopeless situation. There is always another option!"
Barbara put a hand on Dick's shoulder. "Dick, take it easy. Your blood pressure, remember?"
"Master Dick: We won't know the full extent of the damage until the results are in," Alfred explained firmly. "We conducted all the usual necessary medical exams and scans in the Batcave, everything they would do in a normal hospital, and as you know, we have all the proper equipment here. Master Bruce insisted we collect our data first before taking the next step."
"It's not so bad," Tim said with a hint a smile. "From what I heard, Bruce had his spine broken by Bane once, and look at him now. But, being like this isn't the hardest part. The most difficult part was watching Alfred insert the catheter."
Dick cringed. "Yes, I can understand that. I've had that once and twice myself. Unlike you, I felt it. It wasn't pleasant. But this, what happened, was so stupid!" He raised his voice again.
"Dick, enough," Barbara said, actually grabbing his arm. "Tim knows what he did was wrong, let's just wait for the full results?"
Dick sighed deeply. "After everything is said and done, we all need to sit down and have a very long talk about personal safety. There's so much going on right now: Damian being kidnapped, Jason and Jon Kent have rushed to his rescue without back-up—and to all places Treasure Island, which is extremely dangerous—and now this, with Tim! Then we have issues with Jake Handles being alive, when I thought he was dead. At the very least, we have a working antidote for Scarecrow's Fear Germ. Slade is out hunting him down as we speak, he owes me a favour. He was one of two snipers that shot me," he explained to Alfred. "He told me."
Dick explained that Slade was one of two sharpshooters who was hired by Jake Handles for a secret plot against him.
Alfred looked surprised. "But what would be the reason for targeting you, Master Dick? As Miss Gordon explained to me earlier, I can understand Dr. Jonathan Crane's reasons for targeting you, because you had a possible albeit working theory cure, for his new germ. But Jake Handles' reason eludes me. Unless, it has something to do with Operation Coral Castle that you told me about?"
"That's what we were all thinking," Barbara said. "Which makes Jason and Jon's trip to Treasure Island…"
"A suicide mission," Dick finished. "Where's Bruce? It's about time he gets off the sidelines and back in the action. I't's also time to give him a piece of my mind. He's been acting like a child lately. I know Selina Kyle hurt him when she dumped him at the altar, but to shruke his responsibilities to Gotham and to the rest of us, is beyond irreprehensible. Tim's condition is a prime example."
"And hence the son becomes the father, and I thought I had the non de grande as Mother Hen? Master Bruce is currently down in the Batcave, sir, taking care of Arkells, making sure he's no longer a threat to anyone, including himself," Alfred reminded him.
Dick acknowledged.
Tim was covered with a bed sheet. As Dick started to leave the room, he saw Alfred lift up a bottom portion of the bed sheet and use a finger to swipe along the bottom of Tim's right foot to test for sensitivity. The teen didn't react.
Infuriated by the situation, Dick stormed out the Tim's bedroom, and then made his way to the secret elevator. He travelled down to the Batcave. The moment the elevator doors opened, he called out, his elevated voice echoing the large main area: "Bruce! What the hell have you been doing in my absence?" He saw Bruce sitting at he Batcomputer at the Tier One level. "Damian's been kidnapped by an old enemy of mine, Jason and Jon Kent have gone off to rescue him alone, Tim is bedridden with acute paralysis, and you're down here in the Batcave…doing what exactly? Licking your own wounds?"
Bruce was unmasked, but he was in his Batman costume. At first, he ignored Dick. Then said, continuing to access the computer, typing furiously: "I don't like that tone of voice, Dick. Maybe you were released from the hospital too early?"
Dick blinked several times quickly. It was an instinctive reaction to sudden frustration and a way to calm himself. He didn't normally get this angry, but people needed Bruce, and he was in the one place he shouldn't be at the moment. If Dick was still Batman, he'd be in the Batwing and on his way to Treasure Island after everything he'd learned.
"Do I have to babysit everyone? Everything was fine until I was targeted, then all hell broke loose without me!"
"Then perhaps you shouldn't be the target of anyone's aggressiveness anymore," Bruce replied coldly.
The sheer shock of what Bruce said angered Dick further. When he reached Bruce, he slammed a hand on Bruce's shoulder and then turned him in the chair. "And what the hell does that mean?"
Bruce grabbed Dick's arm and then twisted it ever so slightly to not only remove it, but to also cause Dick pain. He had Dick's arm in a vice like grip, standing on his feet. "This isn't like you, Dick. You don't normally get this flustered. I think you need to take some time, get away from crime fighting, and recover. You've been through a lot."
He released Dick's arm, literally pushing it away, and Dick clutched it, cringing. Bruce had actually hurt him. In the last couple of weeks, he knew he had been lax in exercising because of his amnesia and his muscles weren't as strong as they should be, so Bruce's grip hurt him a great deal. He took a couple of steps back. "Damn it, Bruce! That really hurt!"
"You need to toughen up again, Dick! I can see you've also got a little heftier in the stomach, too. Too many beers and burgers are bad for a crimefighter's overall health and stamina."
"That's not fair!" Dick said. "You know my situation. I had amnesia. I didn't know who I was. And I hung out at that bar in Bludhaven all the time. Thanks to Damian, I've regained what Jake Handles tried to take away from me. The doctor removed the implants from my brain Handles put there to reinforce my memory loss. I was told, when I tried to recall my other life—this life—the implants would cause me pain. When I relented to my amnesiac life, I would feel better, a lot better in fact, almost euphoric in nature. The doctor figured my fight to come back was what was causing the sudden bouts of vertigo, as well. It was an acute reaction to the pain."
"And you're okay with heights now? If I recall, you had acrophobia with your vertigo."
Obviously Bruce had been keeping an eye on him or he wouldn't have known that. "I'm fine now. And I can't wait until I can get back to action after some more recovery." Dick put down his arm, the pain had lessened. "But I still have to watch my blood pressure" —he pointed to his bandaged head— "or it could cause an aneurism."
"That's typical of people who've had brain surgery. You must let the muscle around the veins heal before doing anything strenuous, much like after a hernia operation," Bruce explained. Dick agreed. Dick then asked Bruce what he was doing on the Batcomputer. Bruce returned to his seat and continued to type away, gathering information. "I've been gathering information on your friend Handles sub-harmonic technology. The device you appropriated from your time with Spyral is active, creating 'sonic attacks' all around the world. Just recently such attacks have targeted certain North American diplomats. You said you deactivated it, damaged it beyond use, but Jake Handles has managed to fix it, and it's been in operation for quite some time."
Dick gave Bruce a suspicious glance. "Wait, have you been listening to my and Barbara's conversions in the hospital room? I only told her that bit of information and just recently. No one else knew I sabotaged the device after taking it on Treasure Island."
Bruce's fingers suddenly stopped over the console. He swore, which was unlike him. "Sometimes, knowing too much is detrimental to keeping up one's appearances," he said. He suddenly jumped from the chair and grabbed Dick by the throat, squeezing. Bruce's face morphed to someone else Dick suddenly recognized. It was Future Drake. "For me, all this has already happened. So, I know the outcome. I wasn't sure about the details, as I was busy with other things at the time, like recovering from complete paralysis. Your buddy Jake Handles has a tremendous weapon, I'm curious about." Future Drake/Arkells then produced a thin smirk. "Too bad for Damian, however…"
Dick tried to free himself, Future Drake was too strong and powerful. It was remarkable how little time it took for muscles to atrophy when they were not properly conditioned regularly. He tried to pull Future Drake's hand away from his throat, but without success.
"What…about…Damian?" he managed to hark out.
"He's going to die. A very horrible and gruesome death! I saw it happen!"
Dick felt his blood pressure rise. Thinking quickly, he thought about using the skills he had honed for years, often an enemy's own advantage could be used against him if properly executed, but instead he opted for the quick and cheap shot option and kicked Future Drake in the groin hard enough to penetrate even the protection of the pelvis region of the Batman suit Future Drake wore. Future Drake gasped, his grip suddenly weakened. This gave purchase to a tilt in his balance and Dick used the opportunity to pull Future Drake forward, then clutched Drake's arm, and flipped Future Drake over his shoulder, throwing him to the ground. Future Drake landed with a heavy thud.
Dick rubbed his throat and coughed, then: "I may not be at my peak right now, but stronger doesn't always mean smarter, Drake. You can easily outwit your opponent with experience. I've always taught you that. Or, should I call you Arkells now?"
Arkells got to his feet. Suddenly, his entire attire changed to a black armour body suit, chameleon-like. "I've learned a few new tricks since last we entangled, Dick. When I fused with the Batcomputer I built in the future, I acquired new abilities. I'm now stronger and faster. I've thought a few things out, and the AI and I have come to a mutual understanding. Why waste this power with suicide? Why not use it to its full potential and do something useful?"
"Like helping Humankind?"
Arkells laughed.
Dick got into a defensive stance. "Alfred told me what happened. You paralyzed your past self, but before that, you wanted to kill Tim. You were in a moral conflict with the AI, but now you've befriended it? It's completely taken over, Drake. You're not thinking straight. What did you do with Bruce?"
"You're wrong, Dick. I've never thought more clearly than I do now. As for Bruce, he'd in cryostasis—where he tried to put me. But I woke up before he could put me into the chamber. So, I locked him in there instead. Only, I didn't switch the machine on."
"He'll die without air!"
"Yes, and then I'll step into Bruce's shoes as Batman like I should've done before you took it away from me. You never wanted it. You've always hated Bruce, you two never stop fighting over your own moral-conflicts. And then there was a little shit Damian! Taking my place at Bruce's side as Robin. It wasn't fair! I spent years as Bruce's partner and then he waltz's right in and takes over, telling me to get out of the way. Then I'm left to fend for myself as second string."
"I never knew you felt this way, Tim. Why didn't you tell anyone how you really felt? Letting negative emotions fester doesn't help."
Arkells swiped a hand across the air in anger. "It doesn't matter anymore. This is who I am now. And you're the only one who knows…so you're going to have to die! Time to finish what Jake Handles started!"
To be continued...
