Bruce was in the oldest parts of Gotham looking for a building he wasn't sure still existed. Damian and Tim checked in over the comms stating that they had just finished the search of all the hideouts on their list. Jason was on his last one, as was Bruce. So far, they had only found a couple of squatters and a stray cat. If Dick wasn't in one of these last two buildings, Bruce didn't know what to do next. The Batmobile approached an old, obviously abandon asylum. It was the main housing of deranged criminals before the construction of Arkham Asylum. The crumbling walls and silent atmosphere discouraged the Dark Knight. It looked as if nobody had been there for a long time. Just as he was about to radio in, a flash caught his blue eyes. A shiny, brand new security camera was in the top left corner of the stone doorframe. Somebody had put those up there, and it certainly wasn't the police.
"Everyone to my location, I think I found him." As soon as the sentence was finished, Jason was on his bike speeding towards Old Gotham. It had taken them almost 48 hours to search all of the buildings including the tunnels and sewers below them. Jason was beginning to worry that Dick wouldn't be found until the Joker wanted him to be. He weaved between cars and took every shortcut possible. Jason found himself arriving at the same time as the autopilot Batmobile had —which had been sent by Batman to pick up his youngest two partners, neither of whom were old enough to drive. The group of vigilantes slipped comfortably into the shadows as they entered the courtyard surrounding the abandoned asylum. The windows and doors were boarded up, but Tim found a vent shaft they could surprisingly all fit through. Knowing the Joker's tricks, they took caution to put on a gas mask before entering. Batman clipped an extra one to his belt for Dick when they —hopefully— found him. The group exited the vent, Batman leading the way, into a renovated lobby. A large couch, a projector, and a sheet on the wall were the only things in the room. Laughter boomed and echoed from a hallway off of the lobby. The sound made pins and needles prick at the spines of the heroes.
"That sounded like two people laughing," concern constricted Damian's throat, making his statement a whisper. Batman readied a vile of Joker Gas antidote and motioned for the boys to follow. They crept down the hallway without sound, their bodies morphed into the shadows making them ghosts in the dim hall. They gathered around the door in which the horrifying laughter was emitting and steeled themselves for the nightmares that lie inside. With a nod of approval from Batman, Jason kicked in the door with his steel-toed boot. The breath stopped short in their lungs at the scene in front of them, which had not been affected by their surprise entry. Dick, clad in a Joker uniform, was carving chunks of meat off of a man's corpse. He stuffed the raw muscle into his mouth and ate it, laughing hysterically as he chewed. The two men stopped their activity and faced the intruders.
"Batsy!" The Joker greeted him like an old friend. Dick didn't react to their arrival, his usually bright blue eyes were cloudy and apathetic.
"Look, Batsy! I got myself a protege! Isn't he just a peach?" The madman continued rambling about all the fun they were having with the thug he had found.
"Bridie here has a taste for people. I gotta say, I'm a bit of a fan myself." The Joker cackled and Dick joined him, letting out a high laugh, hollow of joy. Jason thought of it as a mockery of Dick's real laugh, something that was held sacred in their family. He ground his teeth at the sound and aimed his gun at the madman's forehead.
"What did you do to him?!" Jason shouted in fury. This psychopath had messed up real bad this time. He clocked the clown across the temple with the butt of his gun, stunning the villain. Dick grabbed the carving knife he was using on the thug and pressed it against Jason's throat. The dead eyes staring at him did not belong to Jason's brother. Jason felt the tremors that racked Dick's body as the older held him against the cushioned wall.
"The mask!" Tim shouted the said object was quickly passed to him. He jumped on Dick's back and pulled the gas mask over the struggling teen's face. The vents, the strange coloration of the cushioned walls, Dick's behavior, it clicked in Tim's mind. Dick struggled against the hands that held him. Jason slipped away from Dick's blade and wrapped his arms around Dick's arms and waist in a bear hug. Dick's strength gradually diminished and he was left breathless and exhausted. The acrobat's legs gave out and he fell into his mentor's arms —his real mentor's arms. The adrenaline given to him by the Joker Venom wore out of his system. Jason took the liberty of giving a strong kick to the Joker's abdomen. Bruce wouldn't reprimand him for this, mainly because they all wanted to do the same. The ride home was silent but relieved, the weight of their missing family member was now lifted. They had found their Golden Boy and the maniac who had to cause the whole thing in the first place was currently being dragged away by the GCPD. Alfred performed a medical exam on Dick, he concluded that the teen was uninjured physically. His mental state, however, could not yet be determined. Bruce, Jason, Tim, and even Damian gathered at Dick's bedside as Dick had done for them many times. They fell into a collective, peaceful sleep in various chairs —or in Jason's case, slumped over Dick's legs. Alfred draped blankets over them and, in his usual manner, bid them a good night.
End
Well, that's the end of that. Just kidding! There are so many questions left! How does Dick recover from such a horrifying event? Will he eventually be alright? Will there be eventual Batfam fluff? Is Jason choosing to sleep on Dick rather than in a chair a hint to something? I'm very sorry, I cannot answer those questions here. In part II to this Dick whump-fest, maybe you will find out. Once the handwritten original is finished I will publish it, so be sure to keep your eyes out for Lost and Found's sequel, You Found Me.