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They leave him alone in a windowless room most of the time.
Dick's lost count of how long he's been here. He would believe anything from a few hours to six months. He hates the isolation.
He screamed until his throat was raw, pried at the door until his fingers went bloody, and looked all over for some way out of this mess. Dick doesn't understand why they don't just kill him. He doesn't want them too but he does know he's a liability.
He really only sees them when they come in with some water and food.
Today it's a jar of applesauce, some beef jerky, and a couple of protein bars. He feels he should count himself lucky there's a bathroom even if the door has been removed but outside of a few random blankets that smell like cigarettes the room is barren.
He misses his family. He lies in the blankets remembering how his mother would card her fingers through his hair and sing lullabies when he was sick or had a bad dream or a bad day or even just because. He remembers lying on top of their trailer with his father who made up constellations for Dick to memorize. There were no stars in Gotham. It was too dark and cloudy all the time and even if it wasn't there was too much pollution to see the sky anyways.
He remembers places like London and Paris being like that too. He would much prefer being stuck there than here.
The loud slam of the heavy door knocks him from his memories.
He sits up, and moves to press his ear against the wooden door. Dick spent most of his time with his ear pressed against the door, listening.
They were nervous, they were worried.
"... is after us."
Dick hadn't caught the beginning of that sentence. Someone was after them? Good.
"Do you think he'll go for Maronie?"
"He hasn't touched Maronies guys. Don't you understand you nimrod? Boss knows, the Boss skipped town. No way he wants his ass dealt with by either of them psychos."
"There's no way he'll be able to escape. If he's after him, forget Maronie. Guy's like a bloodhound. I mean, hell, he waited years before going after Joker. No way Boss will actually escape."
"He might if he's fast enough."
"Well what do we do about that freakin' kid? Maronie said to keep him but I'm not getting killed over this."
"We can't just let him out."
"Well we can't keep him here indefinitely. Hood's gonna show up at some point. We'll have an easier time if we're not hauling dead weight."
"Now hang on. I'm not shooting a kid."
"Then what the fuck do we do? Sparrow's been poking his nose in things, Hood is a guarantee, and it's only a matter of time before the freakin' Bat himself comes knocking. Fuck Maronie, I'm not goin' down for this. I only signed up for one job. I ain't getting paid enough to deal with a gang war."
"Woah, now hang on." Dick flinches slightly at the sounds of a scuffle. "I'm not gonna let you just shoot him point blank either. It's too messy."
"You're right, you're right. But we've got to do something."
There's silence for a few seconds. Dick doesn't know who 'Hood' or Maronie are. Hood is likely a street name. But Sparrow was looking for him. The Sparrow. Why?
Surely he has better things to do than try and help Dick. But, if Sparrow is looking for him then maybe Dick does have a chance.
One of them snaps their fingers. "I know, toss him in the harbor with the acid. Be done with all of it before heading out to Chicago and then out of the country."
"Why Chicago?"
"I got a buddy that can get us out of the country there. He does stuff like this all of the time, for crazy cheap too."
Okay, they are going to try and drown Dick. He can swim well enough. He might be able to fake drowning and then escape.
"Alright, I still don't like having to kill a kid but, better him than me. Damn, I'll have to say goodbye to Marleen."
"Don't say a goddamn thing to anybody. Business as usual. We can't have anybody following us."
"Fine, fine, yes. Ugh, I actually liked her."
Dick hears furniture scrape around from their movement before he hears the heavy metal door slam shut again.
He doesn't think he's genuinely being left alone but he does wonder.
It's a couple of more hours, he thinks, when they come back.
One of the guys, the ugly one, opens the door with no preamble. He stares at Dick for a while, contemplating a decision.
Dick, however, takes advantage of the hesitation he'd still prefer to not be thrown in the harbor at all.
He launches himself between ugly's legs and the door frame. The other guy caught Dick's leg before he could get very far.
He pulls Dick's leg out from underneath him. He feels his head thwack against the concrete floor. It disorients him severely.
"C'mon, give me the fuckin' rope. We ain't got all night."
Dick's ashamed he didn't really struggle. Not until they hoisted him up to carry him out.
"You got the brick right?"
Ugly hefts something just out of view. "Yeah."
Brick? What brick? Dick turns his head to see a large cinder block with rope wrapped around it. It was an anchor.
They open the metal door while Dick's mind is in a rush. What on earth was he supposed to do?
They make it a couple of steps outside before Dick finally catches up with himself.
Make a scene.
"HELP!" Dick shouts as loud as his lungs let him as he writhes in their grasp making this as difficult as possible.
Dick hears the gunshots as he falls to the ground. He scrapes his cheek on the sidewalk but doesn't even care. His arms are bound in front of him, he tries to grab the rope with the cinderblock attached to haul it up with him before ugly's friend tackles him.
It's a struggle between the gunfight around them and Dick not giving them a break. He screams and cries, he kicks as much as the restraints allow, he fights and he fights hard.
Dick can hear the water.
"NO!" Dick yelps as he watches ugly hurl the cinderblock over the railing before ugly's friend lets him fall into the freezing water below.
Damian doesn't see the splash but he hears it. He dives in without a second thought.
The water is murky, and in the middle of the night, makes it impossible to see anything. But Damian won't surface, not without him. Not without Grayson. He reaches out blindly as he swims towards the bottom.
Grayson was tied to a cinder block, he'll be at the bottom.
His fingers scan the area around him. Searching desperately until he feels him. It's just fingertips at first. They graze against each other. But Grayson desperately reaches back out, latching on to Damian's arm with an almost iron grip.
He pulls at his bonds as Damian reaches for his knife and feels for the rope around Grayson's legs.
Damian cuts the child free and helps him back up to the surface.
Grayson is wrapped around him like a koala as Damian grips the seawall for support. He can feel Grayson tremble and sob.
"I've got you." Damian whispers against wet hair, holding him just as tightly. "I've found you. It's over. You're okay."
"You got him?" Todd called out over the railing.
Damian looks up to see Todd staring back down at them. He's taken off his helmet. "I got him. I take it the fighting is over. Are they alive?"
"Most of 'em" Todd answers grimly
Damian will have to take it for now. "Help me get him out of here."
Todd reaches down and grabs hold of Grayson's outstretched arms. He shivers as he's deposited back on solid ground.
"Jesus you must be freezing." Damian can hear Todd note as he climbs back over the seawall. He watches as Todd sheds his leather jacket. Likely filled with nothing but dangerous things and draped it over Grayson's small shoulders.
Grayson doesn't respond. He's still shivering but he stares off into nothing.
Damian kneels down. "Are you okay?"
This close he can see that the goons roughed him up a little bit. He's got a large bruise on his forehead that his hair barely covers, his cheek is scraped up like he tripped and fell on concrete, and his lip is split open.
Grayson blinks before looking at Damian the same faraway look in his eyes. "They tried to kill me."
His accent, while thick, isn't something Damian can immediately distinguish. It sounds European but that's really it. Likely from all of the traveling he'd been doing beforehand.
"They did." Damian confirms. He tries to keep his voice calm and gentle.
"Are you gonna take me back?" There were tears in his eyes.
Damian wasn't even going to consider it. "Of course not. I'm going to keep you safe."
"I don't have to go back there?"
He can feel his heart break. After everything this child has gone through he cannot fathom why he was sent to St. Agnes.
Grayson jumps at the sound of Todd hauling some of the goons to the railing on the seawall. Damian is half concerned he'll drop them into the water below before he sees Todd zip tie them to the railing instead.
"We need to get you out of here." Damian notes.
Todd watches both of them. Damian can see that Todd is feeling the same way as Damian.
Grayson slips out of the jacket to hand it back.
Todd raises his hands almost as if to protest before Damian cuts him off.
"He should not have whatever you have stored in that jacket." Damian fishes in his belt for the emergency blanket wrapping it around the small boy to replace the jacket.
"Fair." Todd takes it from Grayson before leaning down to get eye level with him. "I'm gonna leave you with Sparrow here. But if you get in trouble again, if you need anything, tell them you know the Red Hood. I'll come."
Grayson stares up at him before nodding lightly.
"Are you gonna make trouble for me?" Todd asks.
Damian straightens. "No, I have what I need." He hesitates before asking. "You didn't ever actually see Zucco? Did you?"
Todd shook his head. "He never showed. These guys don't know shit. Either Maronie got him or he skipped town. I'll be on the lookout but you know how these things go."
Damian made an unhappy noise in his throat. "I do. The important thing is he's safe. Thank you, Jason. For your help."
Todd makes a weird face. "No problem, Damian. Always happy to help in this respect."
He watches Todd secure his helmet before vanishing into the shadows.
Sooo... I took a short break for the holiday madness. Now that it's over I'm back to business as usual.