Wounded Birds, a Batman fanfic by Raberba girl [rough draft]

Part 6 (Bruce)

I am better at controlling it, but my frustration is just as great as Damian's when we realize that the Court must have silenced Dick's tracker.

No matter. We'll simply find him the hard way.

Yet despite combing every inch of Gotham, when we do finally find a trace of Dick many days later, it's due to the tracker, which is back online. There are even more days of delay as Tim and Damian fight the team of programmers whose sole purpose is to repel anyone who might try to tap into or alter the device that holds Dick Grayson captive, but at last my sons come out ahead. We know where Dick is, and we'll reach him in three minutes. God help any Owls who stand in our way.

We hurry through the building's underground maintenance level, looking for the power center where Dick's signal has come to rest. Robin suddenly shouts and rushes ahead - my own heartbeat quickens when I glimpse the human figure slumped by a damaged portion of the cage.

"Grayson!"

Dick slowly raises his head. Robin flings himself at the cage and fiercely grasps at his brother through the links. "Dami- Robin..." Dick murmurs.

I'm horrified and outraged at the sight of my eldest son. Damian, though showing signs of previous injuries, insufficient nutrition, and probable post-traumatic stress, was still energetic and in relatively good health at the time of his rescue. Dick looks haggard and beaten, with a particularly alarming patch on the side of his neck that's covered with both old scars and dried blood.

"We're getting you out, Grays-! What is that, a bomb?!"

"Rob-" Dick suddenly tenses. "Robin, get out of here!"

"Hold on just a minute, we'll-"

"GET AWAY FROM ME! GET AWAY FROM ME, ROBIN!" Dick turns to me desperately. "GET HIM AWAY FROM ME!"

"Robin," I order.

He looks furious and anguished, but he can see as well as I can that Dick is frantic to protect him and will hinder our efforts if we don't remove the source of his panic. Robin swears explosively and retreats; only then does Dick quiet down and slump back against the cage.

He'd made a hole before his strength gave out, which takes me three seconds to enlarge enough for the rest of us to enter. Red Hood immediately starts defusing the bomb vest as Red Robin works on the implant, leaving me with nothing to do but hold Dick and simmer with fury and fear about how weak he is.

"Batman," Dick whispers as he trembles in my arms, "I d-didn't protect Robin...I let him, he did all my...my assignments, because I couldn't...it's my fault they hurt him-"

"Be quiet. You're distracting them." While that's true, the real reason I need Dick to stop talking is because I can't stand hearing him blame himself. He obeys, and after a minute, his body grows heavy as he calms down and relaxes.

There are four more minutes left on the timer when Red Robin and Red Hood say, within seconds of each other, "Got it."

"Let's get this off of you," Red Hood adds. Then, when there's no response, "Dickie, lift up your arms."

I realize suddenly that Dick's quiet stillness isn't because he's calm - it's that he's not conscious. His eyes are open, but he otherwise seems like he's asleep. "Help me," I order.

The three of us get him out of the vest and then try to revive him, but he's completely unresponsive to all our efforts. We'll have to get him out of here and tend to him at home, so once we've dragged him out of the cage, I put him over my shoulder and stand up.

Robin rushes to meet us when he hears our footsteps. "Put him down."

"Robin, we have to get out of here-"

"Put him down." Once we've set Dick on the floor and propped him up against the wall, Robin moves close and starts speaking in a gentle, almost conversational tone. "Sorry I took so long, but I'm here now. I promised I'd save you in the end, didn't I? Even brought the rest of the family, thought you'd appreciate that. We'll be home soon, and Penny One can make you some hot chocolate. How long as it been since we've had real hot chocolate, huh...?"

It's strange to see Damian acting so competently tender... It's clear that he's done this many times before. Within a few minutes, almost like the breaking of a spell, Dick blinks and focuses on the boy. "Robin." They cling to each other, but then a moment later, Dick reaches up to that scarred, bloody patch on his neck. "The tracker...and the bomb-"

"It's all right, Grayson. The tracker's dead, and so's the bomb vest."

Dick drops his head back against the wall and exhales.

"You're safe," Robin assures him. "Come on, let's go home."

"Mm...I'm too tired...to get up...been starving..."

I give him some protein blocks to eat, which seem to revive him enough that he's able to stand. Robin firmly tucks Dick's arm inside his own. They take two steps, and Dick distractedly raises his free arm to reach for his neck.

"Someone take his other hand," Robin orders, and Red Robin complies. Dick tugs a little as we move forward, but his brothers keep hold of his hands. We make it about ten more steps before Dick drifts to a stop, his eyes blank again. "Just pull," Robin instructs. "He'll follow."

Damian tried to warn us, but I didn't truly believe it until now, as I see with my own eyes how damaged Dick is. How long has he been like this? What did they do to him to hurt him so badly? How long has Damian been taking care of him, that he's now so familiar with every nuance of Dick's condition? "The Owls will pay for this."

"Yeah," Red Hood mutters. "Seeing Golden Boy like this is creepy."

Dick falls asleep during the drive home, and obeys silently when we arrive at the cave and help him out of the car. The first real sign of life he shows is when I try to lead him to the medbay and he suddenly balks. "Dick, we're not going to hurt you."

"Mm hm..." His eyes are fixed on the surgical table, and I wish that I'd thought to remove the restraints from it first. They were a necessary precaution with Damian, but I didn't plan to use them on Dick.

"It's just an exam. And the implant - it's disabled, but we need to remove it. You'll be asleep the whole time, you won't feel a thing."

"..."

My heart sinks as I wonder if I'll have to traumatize him further by using force. I try to be as unobtrusive as possible as I pull out a tranquilizer and prepare to administer it, but Dick's been too well trained to be caught by surprise.

"No!" He jerks away and stares at me in a panic, straining against the hold I've still got on his arm. The tranquilizer gun in my other hand is now clearly visible.

"Dick, I'm not trying to hurt you. It's just to put you to sleep for a little while, so it won't hurt when we do the surgery."

"I know...I k-know, I know...!"

Knowledge is not the same as instinct, and right now, he can't control the latter. He starts to sob as I force him close to the table, and stiffens when Tim steps up behind him and sets a mask over his mouth and nose, holding it firmly in place. I hope that breathing in the anesthesia will be easier to bear than being injected, but his eyes locked on mine are still panicked and desperate.

When he's weak enough for us to pull him onto the table, Damian leans over his head and whispers to him in the same soothing tone he did before. Whether it's in response to the comfort or the medication or both, Dick slowly relaxes, his eyes close, and at last he's asleep.

Ordinarily, I would join Tim to analyze the implant after its removal, but I'm too concerned about Dick to leave him yet. I have records of every medical evaluation that's ever performed on my people, and I feel a pressing need to compare Dick's current physical condition with his previous file.

I knew...I knew they'd hurt him, but it still makes me sick with fury to see the evidence of what they did to my son, not to mention how badly they broke his mind...

"You need to put a better bandage on his neck," Damian speaks up.

"What?"

"This one's too flimsy, he'll tear it up the second he starts scratching. It needs to be bigger and sturdier, so we'll have time to catch him before he reaches skin."

"Does he...self-harm often...?"

"He's obsessed with the tracker - you saw what he did even after Drake shut it down. He tries to leave it alone when he's in his right mind, but he blanks out a lot; that's usually when he tries to tear it out of his neck. You need a better bandage."

When there's nothing left to physically do for Dick, I pause to set a hand on his hair. I want so badly to fix him, to make him well again in both body and soul, but there's nothing more I can do. Keeping vigil by his bedside makes me feel helpless and angry, so I leave him in Alfred's care and join the others at the computer, where Tim is still working on the implant and Damian is monitoring various city feeds and Jason is exchanging messages with Orphan and Arsenal.

An hour later, after Jason has left and I'm preparing to go out on patrol myself, Dick awakens with a horrible cry. Damian dashes to his side, and by the time I catch up, Dick is slumped between Alfred and Damian, starting to probe at the bandage on his neck before Damian takes hold of his fingers and pulls them away. "It's gone, Grayson. You're free. We don't belong to the Owls anymore."

"It's...in my neck..."

"No. It's gone, Grayson, we took it out. It's gone."

Alfred snatches up a bowl and holds it just in time for Dick to vomit into it. Damian rubs his brother's back and hands him a cloth to wipe his mouth with afterward. "I'm sorry," Dick mumbles.

"It's fine."

"Quite all right, Master Dick."

Dick lifts his head and meets my eyes. "Bruce..."

"It's all right, Dick."

He struggles to get to his feet, hugs Alfred for a long moment, then shakily steps toward me. "Bruce, I told you...I don't remember if I told you...I killed a man. In cold blood, he couldn't fight back, I-"

"It's all right." I try to push him to sit back down.

"No...no, Bruce, listen..."

"Just rest. You're home now. Rest, I'll see you in the morning."

He won't let go of my shoulders. "I was strong at first. I tried- Even when they hurt Damian...I'm so messed up, I swear I would have died before I let them break me, but they took Damian and I didn't...I couldn't...!"

I don't want to hear this. "Dick." I shake him a little, trying to make him listen. "It's over. You did well. You need to rest now. Be quiet and rest."

He's fighting tears, and the only reason I'm able to walk away is because he's trying so hard to keep from crying that he can't keep clinging to me. "Alfred, Damian, look after him."

"I want to go with you," Damian protests.

"No. You need to rest, too."

"I'm fine! I went with you to get Grayson-!"

"I allowed you to come on the rescue mission because I knew how important it was to you, but you are not ready to return to duty yet. Stay put."

Damian opens his mouth to continue arguing, but stops when Dick reaches out to grasp his sleeve. "Damian...don't leave me..."

"You don't need me anymore, you've got a whole army of Bats to protect you now," Damian grumbles, but settles back against Dick's side.

I storm out of the cave with a vengeance. I have some Owls to hunt.

To be continued...

A/N: That "team of programmers" is the same that was making Damian's life miserable when he was being held captive; if not for them, he would have gotten free of the implant much, much sooner.

The next chapter might be the last, depending on how long it is! (Though I think I'll probably have to split it in half by the time I'm done.) I also have to OCD over it before I can post it, which is never good news...