The next day, Barry brought Dick to a day school for blind kids in order to sign him up. Dick was a little uncomfortable with the thought of being away from Barry and Iris and Wally half of each day now that he couldn't take care of himself as easily, but he agreed that the blind school could teach him more than Wally could, especially in terms of how to perform everyday tasks after losing your eyesight.
Wally had brought the braille flip phone he'd bought over that morning before he went to his own school. Dick had that in his pant pocket and the emergency 'contact the Justice League' device in a hidden pocket in his jacket.
Barry was currently talking to an administrator about when Dick could start. Dick tightened his grip on his current guardian when he heard the word 'today'.
"Don't be scared, Dick," Barry told him, noticing the firmer grip, "The teachers here can help you and they won't let anything happen to you."
Dick was silent. He didn't loosen his grip.
Barry gently pried him off. "Iris, Wally, or I will come to pick you up later. Then, we'll go to that gym I mentioned last night, okay?"
Dick still didn't say anything as Barry gently guided his hand over to someone Dick assumed was a teacher.
"I've got to go now. You'll see me later, okay?" Barry then spoke to the teacher. "Take good care of him."
Dick listened to his familiar footfalls walk away. He knew he shouldn't be scared. He was Robin, for heaven's sake! But he still couldn't shake the feeling of fear that came when he didn't know anyone near him, when he couldn't see to recognize the people around him.
He'd managed to keep it at bay at the orphanage, where he knew he wasn't anywhere near safety, but once he was back with people he knew, he was too frightened to really leave them.
"Come now, Richard. There's no need to be scared. We don't bite." The teacher spoke in soft tones to him, as if comforting a frightened toddler.
Dick wasn't a toddler. He needed to act his age. He squared his shoulders back and followed the teacher's pulls, pushing his fear deep down where no one could see it.
After introduction to his class, Dick was led to a desk and given a book for learning to write Braille. Barry had explained to the administrator that Dick had been learning how to read it. Dick guessed learning to write it was important too, hence why he'd been given this book.
The morning lessons were pretty basic: reading, writing, math, science. Dick was glad to find out his transcript had been forwarded from Gotham Academy, and that these people actually believed what was written on it.
The afternoon lessons were the tough part. Dick was in a class for the newly blinded. They were learning to find their way around the school using snaps, claps, and echoes. Of course, this lesson consisted of a lot of bumping into things, especially each other.
Dick was feeling much better by the time the school day came to a close.
He recognized Iris's footfalls when he was waiting to be picked up. He had noticed the place get quiet by the time she came.
"Hi. Iris West-Allen. Sorry I'm late. My husband was supposed to pick Richard up, but something came up at work and he won't be able to leave for a while."
"It's fine, Mrs. Allen. Just don't make a habit of it, okay?"
"Dick, are you ready to go?" Iris gently placed a hand on Dick's shoulder. Recognizing the touch, Dick stood up and grabbed a bag of books lent to him by the school. "How was your day?"
"Can we go to that gym now?"
Iris laughed as she led him out of the school. "The plan is to meet Barry and Wally there in a bit. We're going to sneak some ice cream beforehand. How does that sound?"
"Alfred wouldn't approve," Dick teased. Then, realizing what he'd said, he went silent.
"We don't have to if you don't want to…" Iris offered hesitantly.
"No. It's okay. I just… I miss them…"
"I know, Dick. There's not much we can do right now. You know Bruce is doing everything in his power to get you back."
"I know. But it's not fast enough. It's been over a month!"
"I realize that, Dick. I'm sure Bruce is impatient to reunite too."
They climbed into the car and drove to the ice cream parlor in silence.
Shortly after they climbed out and went inside, one of Iris's coworkers approached them.
"Iris! Fancy seeing you here!" The coworker exclaimed. "Who are you here with? I don't see Wally for once."
Dick snorted. Of course she'd been here with Wally, knowing his unending appetite.
The coworker took notice of him. "Oh my. Is that Richard Grayson?"
Dick edged closer to where he knew Iris to be.
Iris nodded, pulling Dick to her side. His judgement on where she was had been a little off. "Dick, this is Pete, my editor. Pete, meet Dick."
"It's nice to meet you sir." Dick said, judging him to be in front of him based on Iris's orientation.
"A pleasure. I'm terribly sorry about what happened to you."
"Don't mention it. I mean it. Don't."
Dick felt a rush of wind behind him. The next thing he knew, he heard Wally ordering ice cream.
He turned his head in Wally's direction and heard the boy trail off awkwardly before picking up the ordering again with renewed, albeit fake, vigor.
"Will that be all for you, Kid Flash?" The vendor asked when he finally finished.
"Yep! Basically one of every flavor!" Wally chirped.
"I'll have the same." Barry put in.
"Alright. Two of every flavor, coming right up."
Dick heard Wally and Barry slide into a booth behind them. Once he and Iris ordered, they took a seat at a table nearby Wally and Barry.
Dick turned his head in their direction like a glance before whispering to Iris, "Now can we go to the gym?"
He heard Iris shake her head in amusement. "Let's wait for our ice cream first, okay Dick?"
He could hear Wally say something at superspeed, probably so others couldn't understand. Dick understood it to be along the lines of "Can I talk to him?"
Barry also spoke at superspeed, but Dick had been interacting with speedsters long enough to know it was an answer in the negative and something about drawing attention.
Wally and Barry were served first, having ordered first, and were probably somewhere around halfway through their ice cream by the time Dick and Iris got theirs.
By the time Dick was done with his ice cream, they were gone.
Outside, in the car, Iris assured him the two would meet them at the gym.
Dick couldn't see the gym when they got there, but, once Iris turned the car off, he could hear the sound of acrobats, the sound of hands meeting trapeze bars, flips through the air, and hands clasping each other as one acrobat caught another.
"Fancy seeing you here." Barry joked.
"You excited, Dick?" Wally asked.
Dick nodded vigorously. He was going to get to fly again. He couldn't wait.
The first few tries ended in failure. He tried to flip, but couldn't get to the second bar.
The owner didn't seem to believe he could do it and neither did any of the other acrobats using the gym. That fact just made Dick try harder.
For the next two weeks, he went to the gym every day after school with Wally. Both tried their best to learn the beginning techniques.
Dick was not happy to be stuck in the beginner class. He was not a beginner at acrobatics. He just needed some extra help to do the tricks.
Finally, exactly two weeks after starting at the gym, Dick figured it out. He tuned out the chatter below him, disbelievers who couldn't believe the blind boy would be able to do it, and focused solely on the sounds of the trapeze. He ignored jeers to "Just go already" and listened really hard.
At the exact right moment, he leaped off the platform. He let go of the first bar. His hands hit the second bar. He swung to the platform on the other end.
Exhilarated, he scrambled down the ladder, not noticing the complete silence that had fallen on his classmates, only one or two of whom had reached the second platform.
"I did it! Wally, I did it!" He shouted with glee.
"I knew you could!" Wally replied, hugging him.
"So he managed to do it once. Big deal. It's not like he could replicate it." Both boys froze at the sound of one of the more snooty of the beginners. Their other classmates murmured agreement.
"That's not nice." The teacher scolded. "If you can do it once, you can do it again."
"Yeah? He's blind! He can't do it more than once! None of us can!" The snooty girl retorted.
The teacher sighed. "Dick, would you like to prove them wrong?"
Dick gulped. "Y-yeah. Okay."
Wally grabbed his shoulder as he started forward and whispered in his ear. "You can do it. Try adding a flip this time."
Dick smiled, slightly more confident with Wally's encouragement.
He found his way to the ladder and climbed up to the platform. This time, everyone was quiet, watching him judgingly.
"Add a flip this time." Dick whispered to himself. "That'll prove them wrong."
Gulping again, he listened to the trapeze, listening for the alignment he needed. Then, he jumped off the platform, and, at the right point, let go of the first bar.
One. Two. Three flips. His hands grasped the second bar and he swung to the far platform. He didn't want to try for the quadruple right now. He felt he wasn't ready to try that blind yet.
He could feel his classmates' stares of disbelief as he climbed down from the platform.
"I said one flip, but I guess three works too." Wally teased. Dick smiled in his direction.
"Impossible!" The snooty girl hissed.
"That was amazing." Two or three other classmates admitted in awe.
"H-how did you do that?" The teacher stammered. "Even I can't do three flips and catch the other bar."
Dick grinned. "I've been on the trapeze since I was three. For me, it was a matter of learning how to do it blindly, not how to do it in general. Once I figured out how to hear the swing of the trapeze, it was easy for me."
"Come on, bro. Let's go home. I think that's enough for today." Wally exclaimed.
Dick nodded eagerly and they walked to Barry and Iris's house, Wally leading the way.
They were about to go through the front door when Dick heard voices inside. Dick pulled Wally to a stop and put a hand over the speedster's mouth.
"It's not that we don't want to care for him, it's that we care about him. We want him to be happy."
"And you think he'd be happy with Wayne? He's safer here."
"I disagree. If Mr. Wayne really is Batman, he'd do everything in his power to keep Dick safe. Even if he's not, he cares a lot about the kid. You've seen how much effort he's put into getting him back."
"Didn't stop the kid from getting blinded."
"You blame Wayne for the Joker's actions? Simply because he wasn't fast enough?"
"If it wasn't for Wayne, Richard wouldn't have been out there to begin with. I'm sure his living situation won't be an issue because the Supreme Court will probably agree with me."
"The case has really gone that high up in the court system?"
"Supposedly, the Supreme Court is agreeing to take the case because it could affect other superheroes in the future. I heard about it at work. The hearing is in a couple of weeks."
Dick turned to Wally and whispered, "Make it look like we just got here."
Wally nodded and practically burst through the front door. "Hey Uncle Barry! Aunt Iris! Guess what happened today at the gym!"
"Wally, I can't find the door." Dick mentioned. He very well could, but he didn't want his social worker to know that.
"Oops! Sorry." Wally reached his arm out and grabbed Dick's hand, leading him in through the door. "Hey. Who's she?"
"Wally, this is Dick's social worker, Ms. Abbotts. Ms. Abbotts, this is my nephew, Wally. He's been a very good friend to Dick since he came here." Barry introduced.
"What's Ms. Abbotts doing here?" Dick asked. "She was just here two weeks ago to check up on how I was adjusting."
"I just needed to discuss something with your foster parents, Richard. Nothing for you to worry yourself over."
"Is it about Bruce? Did he manage to regain custody rights?" Dick pressed with believable eagerness.
"No. And I doubt he will." Ms. Abbotts responded firmly. Dick's facial expression morphed into disappointment and sadness. "Now, I think I've managed to accomplish what I came for. Mr. Allen, Mrs. Allen, Richard, have a nice day. It was nice to meet you, Wally."
Ms. Abbotts left.
"Someone's got a stick up their ass." Wally mumbled to Dick.
"Wally!" Iris admonished. "That is rude."
Dick felt Wally lift his shoulders in a shrug next to him.
"What were you so excited about when you came in?" Barry purposefully changed the subject.
"Dick figured out the trapeze! He really showed those stuck-up seeing acrobats! He did three flips and caught the bar! Three of them!"
"That's fantastic, Dick!" Iris exclaimed. "Hey, aren't you excited?" She had noticed his crestfallen face.
"Do you really think Bruce will never get the rights back?" Dick murmured. He was genuinely curious what they would say, but didn't show it.
"There's no knowing. But the Supreme Court is taking the case. We'll have a final answer in a couple of weeks." Barry replied. "I'm sure they know that whatever they choose will affect heroes everywhere. If they choose wrong, the crime rate could skyrocket due to heroes choosing to hang up their capes."
"Similar to how it has in Gotham," Wally noted.
"So while we're hoping for a thumbs up to send you back to Gotham, there's no saying what will happen until the verdict comes in."
"I hope, for all our sakes, that the ruling is a positive one," Wally mentioned. "If it's not, everyone on the team would be toast. We'd all spend our day to day lives worrying we could be put into the system for helping people."
Dick winced. "I hadn't really thought about how the verdict could affect the team."
"Let's not worry about it right now," Iris jumped in. "For now, let's focus on the smaller things, like Dick's success on the trapeze. That's worth a celebration if you ask me."
The day had come for the Supreme Court to rule on Bruce and Dick's case. Barry and Iris kept Dick home from the blind kids school that day to "watch" the hearing on television. The Wests were not as generous, so Wally was stuck in his high school while the hearing went on.
Dick ran his fingers over the letters in his textbook as he waited for the hearing to start. The television was turned on to the right channel while Iris made snacks and Barry sat next to Dick on the couch.
Barry touched Dick's arm lightly as the broadcast began. The hearing itself wasn't televised, but there were plenty of reporters standing outside the capitol building speaking about what was going on, what the content of the case was, what the implications of the decision were, and what little snippets were being released.
Iris has just joined them when Dick stiffened.
"I heard something." He whispered.
"What did you hear? It could've just been the television," Barry asked.
"Barry, turn off the TV," Iris hissed.
"What?" Barry didn't get the chance to obey before several of the windows shattered.
Iris dove to the ground, pulling Dick with her. Barry knelt protectively over both of them. The reporter on the television droned on in the background.
"Well, well, well, isn't this precious?" It was Poison Ivy, along with Harley Quinn, Two-face, and Bane.
A vine impaled the TV, effectively cutting off the reception of the broadcast.
"Aww. They're trying to protect the little birdie." Harley Quinn swung her hammer, sending Barry flying into the wall. He struggled back to his feet, but another hit from the hammer knocked him out cold.
"Barry!" Iris cried in horror.
Bane grabbed her by the throat while Two-face flipped a coin.
"Heads. Looks like all three of you are coming with us." Two-face sneered.
Bane choked Iris to the point of unconsciousness before dropping her and approaching Dick, who tried to make himself small against the couch.
"L-leave us alone." Dick stammered.
"No can do, niño. You're coming with us." Bane smirked.
"Leave them." Dick schooled his expression, trying to seem confident, but he was far from confident on his ability to effectively fight blind and it was painstakingly clear to the villains.
"Let's go." Poison Ivy said. "This is the Flash's neighborhood. He could be here fast."
"Harley, pat him down. He could be hiding tech we don't know about."
Dick flipped backwards over the couch and made a run for it. He stuffed his hand into his pocket, located the distress device Bruce had given him, and pressed his finger down on a random symbol, feeling relieved when it wasn't Flash's he pressed.
He didn't get far before slamming his side into a table and falling backwards straight into Bane's arms.
Bane held him tightly, possibly cracking a rib or two, while Harley patted him down and emptied his pockets of anything useful.
Dick futilely tried to keep a hold of the distress beacon, but his grip slipped when Bane tightened his grip.
Dizziness overcame the blind boy as he tried to no avail to struggle out of Bane's grip. The venom-obsessed villain carried the boy out of the house, dropping him after climbing into a van.
The doors were closed just as sirens sounded down the street.
Dick could hear cursing as the van jolted into action, picking up speed quickly. He tried to sit up, but was quickly shoved back down. It was a mere few seconds before a vine wrapped around his ankle and squeezed it till the bone snapped.
Dick screamed. A large hand quickly wrapped around his mouth, muffling the sound.
"How long till the highway?" Poison Ivy demanded.
"Approximately two minutes." Two-face called over his shoulder.
"We'll dump the woman there. The police will have to stop to help her." Poison Ivy decided.
"Ooh! I like that idea!" Harley chimed in.
Dick tried to protest, but the hand, probably Bane's, squeezed his nostrils closed as soon as he tried. He attempted to dislodge the hand by moving his head, but Bane held fast and Dick could feel himself fading from consciousness. He made a small sound before falling limp.