The team managed to follow Batman's orders for once, keeping the infected people in the building until the antidote kicked in. Once everyone settled down, they began passing out left and right. Every police officer and ambulance in the city was there taking the injured guests to the hospital.
"Do you think our work here is done? I'd like to get home and wash all of this blood off of me." Artemis said through the comm.
"Yes. I believe the police can handle it from here. Is everyone alright?" Aqualad responded.
"Just fine." Superboy responded.
"A little banged up, but I'll be fine." Ms. Martian said.
"I'm good. I gotta go get a hold of Rob, make sure he's alright." Kid Flash said. With that, he took off running to the nearest zeta tube.
Wally got back to the mountain before everyone else. He zeta beamed instead of taking the ship. Wally knew that Batman was infected and he had to make sure Dick was alright. He hoped Batman didn't attack him. Even though Robin was one of the best fighters out there, he didn't stand a chance against an angry Batman.
Wally tried calling Dick's cell again, but there was still no answer. He must have lost it at the charity ball when the fighting broke out. Should he just go to Dick's house? Before Wally could make a decision, Superman zeta beamed to the mountain.
"Hey Superman, what's-"
"No time to talk, Kid Flash. I need to help Batman." Superman said as he marched past Wally.
"We already took care of the charity event. Everyone's on their way to the hospital." Wally told him.
"No, I need to help Batman with Robin. He's injured." Superman said as he continued walking. Wally ran after Superman.
"So they're here?" Wally asked.
"That's what Batman said. I don't know what's going on, only that Robin's badly hurt."
They reached the medical room and Superman entered, followed closely by Wally. They both saw Batman hooking Dick up to machines.
"Batman. What happened?" Superman asked when he saw Dick.
"I was drugged with some kind of anger drug. I did this. Now help me! He's bleeding internally." Batman replied frantically. Superman ran over and used his x-ray vision to see Dick's bones and find where the internal bleeding was. Wally just stood by the door in shock. Dick looked so broken. His shirt was off and his chest and stomach were blue and purple. Definitely some heavy internal bleeding.
"Bruce, his stomach. He needs surgery."
"I know that! He's already prepped, we need to do it now!" Bruce was freaking out at this point.
"Wally, out. Now." Superman ordered. Wally didn't move. He had never seen Dick look so…dead.
"Wally!" Bruce shouted. Wally snapped out of his trance and left the medical room.
"He'll be okay, Bruce. We'll fix him." Superman said, trying to calm Bruce.
"Save it, Clark. Just get going. He doesn't have much time." Bruce ground out.
The surgery went well. Four of Dick's ribs were broken, which caused them to puncture his lung and stomach. Superman managed to re-align his ribs so they would heal properly and patch up his stomach and lung. The surgery lasted for hours, thank god Dick managed to push through.
Bruce sat in a chair on the other side of the medical room with his cowl down, staring at the floor deep in thought. How could a simple charity event turn into something so chaotic without him catching onto it? The waiters must have been in on it, drugging everyone's drinks before handing them out to the crowd. It seemed like the plan was well thought out. The drug dealers knew what they were doing. Bruce needed to catch them before they start handing this drug out on the streets. It would take hours, maybe even a full day to come up with enough of the antidote to cure thousands of people.
But Dick. Bruce didn't want to leave Dick. He looked up at his small body lying on the bed, hooked up to a bunch of monitors and IVs, his small chest rising up and down, trying to get a full breath of air. Bruce getting drugged, coming up with the antidote and curing a bunch of rabid people was something he could sweep under the rug. But beating his faithful butler unconscious and nearly killing his child? He would never be able to forget about this. The guilt would eat him alive until Dick was back on his feet fighting crime. Even after he's all better, Bruce would have to be even more cautious to guarantee nothing like this ever happens to him again. His poor boy…
"Bruce."
Bruce looked up to see Clark standing in the doorway. Clark could see the sorrow in Bruce's face, which is something you just don't see often.
"I called in the league, they are in Gotham right now fighting this and hunting down the leaders. I know you don't like us in Gotham, but we needed to act quickly to prevent this drug from spreading to other cities." Clark explained, afraid that this would upset Bruce.
"It's fine." Bruce replied quietly. "I already have two names. I believe they are the ones in charge. Rebecca and Randall Foultey. Rebecca's the one who drugged me."
"I'll alert the league and the police and have them search for the suspects." Clark said. Bruce stared back at the floor.
"He's going to be fine, Bruce. The surgery went fine, there's no more internal bleeding. He will heal and after some physical therapy, he will be right by your side again." Clark tried to reassure him, but it wasn't working. After a moment of silence, Clark stood up and left to go give the names of the suspects to the league and the police.
A few long moments after Clark left, Bruce stood up and moved his chair to the side of Dick's bed. He sat down and gently grabbed Dick's hand, rubbing it softly with his thumb. Normally Bruce would never be this affectionate, but the guilt was eating him alive and he didn't know what else to do. He just wanted to hold his hand and thank the Gods that Dick survived his brutal attack. Bruce didn't know what he would do if Dick didn't.