Three pairs of feet barged through the study door, a particularly loud voice boomed over the conversation Bruce and Leslie where having at the bottom of the stair case.
"WHERE IS HE?" Jason walked straight up to his adoptive father shaking in anticipation. Bruce called them late last night saying to come home. Jason and his brothers immediately turned around and headed home once they heard that Dick was found. Within a few hours they were home anxious to see their oldest brother who had been missing for four months.
"Jason, please before you boys see him we need to talk about something's," Bruce exchanged a nervous glance with Leslie. Jason didn't miss a beat, knowing that Leslie was at the Manor with such a grim expression on her face was bad news. Something was terribly wrong. But Jason couldn't wait around any longer.
"We'll talk later Bruce, but first we need to see Dick." Before Bruce could respond Alfred walked across the top to the stairs with a tray full of empty dishes, which could only mean one thing.
"UPSTAIRS" Tim shouted out this realization to the others. Quickly sprinting up the stairs two at a time with Damian hot on his tail and Jason shortly behind.
Instinctively Tim ran towards Dick bedroom. The young teen yanked open the bedroom door only to find it completely empty. Tim stood in the doorway confused with his lack of findings.
Seeing Tim's lack of reaction Damian didn't stop at Dick's door but continued to run towards the next logical room. During his absence Bruce and the others tried to compensate for the loss of affection and encouragement that was normally provided by Dick. But to Damian it felt forced coming from the rest of the family, it was just unnatural coming from anyone else besides Dick. His short legs weren't fast enough, he need to see his brother right now, although Damian would never admit it out loud he desperately needed a hug from his big brother.
Tim quickly shook off the empty room and turned to follow his little brother to the upstairs living room.
Damian turned into the open doorway of the living room. Damian spotted the back of Dick's favorite comfy chair facing the lit fireplace; on its armrest was a pale and bandaged arm. Damian and Tim raced towards the person siting in the chair both excited to be smothered with affection. Jason rounded the corner of the large room and stopped to view the reunion that was about to take place in front of him.
A smile spread across Damian's face, as he was the first to reach the figure in the chair.
"DICK!" Damian reached out in front of him to grasp the resting arm.
Immediately after contact was made it was quickly ended as the arm was jerked away from the short embrace. A stream of hurt and rejection shot through Damian.
The two boys rounded the chair to face the occupant. The air was sucked out of the room as the two young boys took in the image before them, both frozen to the spot.
Jason expected a lot to happened during the reunion but this was not one of them. Jason walked forward towards his two paled faced young brothers. Worry turned in his stomach as he approached the trio, not sure what caused the sudden halt in what was suppose to be a happy moment.
Jason understood his brothers' reactions when he saw what was sitting in the chair in front of him. Sitting in the chair was a heavily battered and bandaged man, reduced down to almost skin and bones. It appeared as if the life was sucked out of him, not only physically but spiritually as well. Dead eyes stared off into the distance at something that was a million miles away. The man in front of them was not Dick Grayson; this was not their brother.
"Dick?" Tim was the first to speak up, "Dick… it's us." Tim reached out towards Dick but never made contact, afraid of rejection he saw moments ago. Yet Dick showed no sign of acknowledging their presence.
"DickieBird?" That was all Jason managed to choke out, still trying to process the scene before him.
"Boys?" Tim and Jason shot their heads up to see Bruce and Leslie standing in the doorway. Damian paid no attention to the two; he kept his eyes on the shell of his brother.
"Please come downstairs and I'll explain," silence spread across the room. "Leslie still needs to examine Dick, and I think it would be best if she did so without interruption."
Leslie walked up to the boys, "Please boys, and once I'm done you can see him again." Leslie placed a gentle hand on Tim's shoulder guiding them towards the exit.
"He doesn't think we exist?" Bruce and the boys sat around the kitchen table. Jason had yet to touch the tea Alfred had served them, knowing he would just spill it from his shaking hand. I'm going to kill Strange.
Silent tears flowed down Tim's face for the loss of brother, "We were too late." Bruce rubbed circles on the back of the fifteen year old as Alfred walked around refilling everyone's cups.
Damian had yet to touch his tea. He just continued to glare at the cup placed in front of him. Rage roared within the silent child. We weren't even the ones to find him. We failed him… I failed him.
Moments late Leslie walked into the kitchen, the weight of the situation strained the women and it showed.
"Bruce may I have a moment?" Bruce stood from his chair dreading to hear the results from the physical.
"No! We have a right to know too. What ever you tell Bruce you can tell the rest of us," Jason was not about to sit in the dark yet again not knowing what happened to his brother.
Bruce signed and rubbed the bridge of his nose, "Might as well, but no one is to interrupt Leslie until she is finished. Understood?"
Jason and Tim gave a weak nod. Damian only continued to stare at his tea.
"Alright then lets start with the easy stuff," Leslie filled open her charts "His weight is extremely low. Make sure that he eats several small meals through out the day. Start off light, like soups and breads, and work your way up from there. It shouldn't be a problem to get him to eat he responds to simple commands" Alfred gave a small nod.
"From the blood work that the hospital took it looks like they had Dick of several types of drugs intended to keep him lightly sedated and clouded, but a lot of the drugs given to him have addictive traits. I suggest you continue to give him the drugs but slowly wean him off of them."
"He has several bruises and a few fractures. I believe he was constantly beaten, which probably caused his concussion and dislocated arm. The section of his right ear that is missing appears to be a bite mark… a human bite mark."
Leslie turned the page. She refused to look up from her paper knowing if she did she couldn't take the broken looks the Wayne family was giving her.
"His wrist and ankles show signs of being restrained. It appears that he struggled against them; they will leave some nasty scars. The marks on his temples are burn marks. I believe he was subjected to… electroconvulsive therapy." A single tear ran down the doctor's face. "Which explains why he believes this is all in his head, I am assuming they would shock Dick if he said otherwise."
Damian abruptly stood from his seat. He grabbed his teacup and threw it against the wall, shattering it into a million pieces and stormed out of the room.
Bruce was not surprised to find all of his boys sitting together is Dick's room, but what was surprising was the fact that Damian and Jason quietly listening to Tim reading "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" to Dick. This brought a small smile to the man's face until he scanned over his eldest who was oblivious to the story being read to him. Give it time.
Bruce closed the door and headed to the Batcave but was stopped short in the study by his faithful butler.
"Are you sure it is wise to leave at a time like this Master Bruce?"
"I have to Alfred, I need to find out what they did to Dick."
"Master Bruce I am sure you are aware that you cannot visit Dr. Stranger. It would be too suspicious for the Batman to investigate Dick Grayson's case."
"I know that Alfred," Bruce hated that fact more than anything, he couldn't give the Doctor what was coming to him without risking their secret identity. "But Gordon did mention a file referring to "block B587". I am going to New York to find it."
Bruce walked around Alfred toward the clock, "Kept my boys safe while I'm gone Alfred."
The silence was unsettling for Dick no matter how hard he tried he couldn't hear the tape playing in his room.
The last week or so Dick found himself slipping back into his fantasy. Dick wasn't even sure if the invasion of police offices at the hospital was real or not, but once they turned him over to the Wayne family he knew this was all inside his head.
I must be in pretty deep.
He assumed when Alfred appeared it was one of the orderlies, since Alfred was doing their daily chores such as feeding him and giving him medication. It was best to do as he was told instead of getting them angry for not following orders. Dick knew if he refused to cooperate he would have to pay for it later on "bath" day.
Dick tried really hard to fight against the hallucinations but they only seemed to grow stronger. The figures of Bruce and his brothers were so life like, they we all the proper age, and they didn't appear and disappear at random moments. Dick wanted them to be real but he knew better than that. He couldn't let his damaged mind take over once again.
Dick looked around the room to find it filled with loved ones, which wasn't unusual for him. His hallucinations have been constant since a few months ago, it truly was torture to see the "people" he so badly missed every day.
Jason was sleeping in a chair next to him with his feet resting on the edge of his bed. Barbara was walking around in the open space of his bedroom doing a light workout. Tim had his head resting on Dicks legs, fast asleep with the book he was reading out loud early sitting on his chest.
Lastly there was Damian curled up against Dick's side. Dick's heart clenched was we watched the child breath in and out slowly. He wanted them to be real with all his heart. Dick reached his hand forward and hovered it above the sleeping child's head, wanting to run his hand through his soft hair. Dick pulled back, No Richard, they are not real. None of this is real!
With a heavy sigh Dick pulled his gaze way from his youngest brothers closing his eyes, hoping for clearer tomorrow.
Hey guys, sorry it took so long to update school has been really busy lately.
Anyway hope you enjoyed the new chapter and thanks for all the reviews!