Hello! I hope you guys liked the last chapter.
Disclaimer: I do not own Young Justice. But wouldn't it be awesome if I did?
Tim POV
"Get up, brat!" Jack yelled, his fist pounding against the door.
I rubbed my eyes tiredly. I just got back from patrol 2 hours ago, and I was so pumped with adrenaline that it took me 1 hour just to go to sleep. Simply put, I was exhausted. "What do you want?" I growled as I opened the door. When I did open the door, I was expecting Jack glaring at me from his wheelchair. Instead I was met with a baseball to the head.
If I used the fighting moves I learned from Ra's, Talia, or Slade, I would be able to dodge it and hurt Jack. But I didn't because it would give me away. So I took the baseball bat to the side of my head.
I fell to the floor, landing harshly on my bottom. "I always knew I shouldn't have let you walk into this house, you worthless piece of shit!" Jack said, bringing the baseball down on me again. This time, it landed on my ribs, cracking them.
I curled up, bringing my hands to cover my eyes, ears and any vital body part on my head. Jack kept on swinging, loud crunching sounds echoing through my head whenever it came down. But never a scream or a tear. I refused to cry, refused to scream in pain because that's what Jack loved; hearing me yell and sob. I wouldn't cry or scream again, not to him anyways.
"Jack, where are you?" Dana asked from down stairs.
Jack froze, then turned his wheelchair and leaving the bat in my room. "Don't move, circus freak. I'm not finished with you yet." Jack hissed before leaving with a smile on his face.
I stood up shakily, grabbing a jacket. "But I'm finished with you, Jack. At least for tonight." I muttered, opening the window in my room and jumping down.
For anyone else, it would have been a suicidal idea since I was on the 2nd story of the building with broken bones. But I've been jumping out my window with broken bones since I was 4, I knew how to land and be mostly okay.
So, I did. And once I got up from my crouch, I started walking off Drake grounds while putting on my jacket. Thankfully, there was a zeta tube down the street, so I wouldn't have to go far to get away from this hell hole. "Wait, Tim! Where are you going?" Dana asked, running towards me where I was just getting past the gate.
"Dana, I need to leave for tonight. I'll be back sometime tomorrow, I promise." I said, pulling the hood over my head so she wouldn't see the bruises on me.
"I-... Alright, Tim. Just make sure to be home then." Dana said before I started running down the street. Well, I sort of ran. It was more of a weird limping.
But that didn't matter when I got down the street and walked into the zeta tube that was hidden inside of a shed. "Osprey, B-20. Bludhaven." I said to the computer.
I closed my eyes as the white light of the zeta beam came on, and I struggled to breathe as I was taken to Bludhaven. I guess that might have something to do with the possibly fractured rib Jack gave me. "Hopefully it's just Superboy there." I muttered as I walked into the HQ quietly.
As it turns out, it wasn't just Superboy. Because no, the universe would hate to actually give me something I want for once. No, it turned out that Kaldur, Artemis, Dick, Wally, Roy, Arsenal (seriously, I have no clue how to write who is who with these two in the same room besides like this), and Jason. Why does the universe hate me so much?
And what were they all doing here? I looked at the table they were looking at, and saw a plan for the summit. Oh, that would make sense. Now, how to just get by without anyone seeing me, that was the real problem. Especially since most of them were either trained by Batman or Ollie to listen to everything around them, and one of them had super hearing.
I slipped out from the shadow I was hidden behind, limping past them towards the bathroom where the first aid was. After all, that was the only thing I needed. I didn't want to burden them anymore than that.
I almost managed to do it too. Only, when I got to the bathroom and I shut the door, I shut the door a little too hard when I leaned on it since I couldn't stand anymore. "I knew I heard something." Kon muttered, the sound of feet making their way to the bathroom drowning my hearing along with my harsh breathing as I felt blood pool into my shirt. It had been doing that ever since I got out of the zeta beam.
I moved over to the cabinet and grabbed the first aid out of it, then got out all the stuff I knew I would need to fix what Jack did to me. "Hey who is- Osprey?!" Kon asked, his voice matching his shocked face.
"Yeah, hi." I said, waving to Kon almost casually, only, the hand I used had a dislocated wrist. I probably should have used the one that wasn't dislocated.
My teeth bit into my bit as I forced the bone back into place, blood streaming down my lip and chin now from biting it so much. "Who is it, Conner?" Artemis asked.
I grabbed the gauze in the first aid, and pressed my hand against the open gash that was bleeding like crazy. White bone was peeking out between the red of blood and the paleness of my skin. "Oh my goodness! Dick, get your ass over here!" Artemis snapped once she saw me trying to stop the bleeding.
"What happened?" Kon asked, kneeling next to me, looking at me like he wasn't sure what to do.
"I thought he wouldn't do it again." I whispered.
"Who? Who did you think wouldn't do it again?" Kon asked, confused.
"I was stupid to think he wouldn't though. Even in his damn wheelchair he still doesn't stop." I said, laughing ruefully. Only, I had to stop when it hurt too much.
"Wait, your legal guardians?" Kon asked, just as everyone else had gotten inside the bathroom to see what happened.
"No, just Jack. It's always Jack." I whispered as everyone stared at me.
"Damn, you weren't kidding when you said your legal guardians beat you." Arsenal muttered, putting one of my arms over his shoulders. Kon did the same, and they picked me up.
"You know, you guys are freaking out over nothing. I can fix myself up with a first aid. I've fixed worse broken bones and cuts with less." I said, careful to not let my bad ankle touch the ground.
Dick was making a bed, a blood bag hung on a poll for me. "Doesn't mean you should have to." Dick said, helping me lay down on the bed without hurting myself.
"Shit, what did they do to you?" Dick asked as he kept pressure on the bleeding wound and gestured with his other hand for Artemis.
"You can set bones, right?" He asked. She nodded, a grim frown on her face.
She held my bad ankle, the one that looked like it was at an odd angle, and snapped it back in place. I refused to make a sound. "Kid, what did they do? Take a baseball bat to you?" Artemis asked, making me chuckle weakly.
"Yeah, got it the first time." I said, wincing when her grip tightened on my leg where she stopping some minor bleeding on my leg.
"And you just took it?" Artemis asked, her teeth gritting.
I stared up at the ceiling as Dick sighed when the bleeding stopped, and he started stitching up the wound. "It's not that simple, babe." Wally said, walking in with everyone else who looked grim as well.
"You sound like you speak from experience." I said, looking at him through the corner of my eye.
"You could say that. Who's the guy who did this to you anyways?" Wally asked, gesturing to my body.
I closed my eyes, taking a breath before saying his name. "Jack Drake."
The air seemed to freeze, mostly because everyone knew him. "The rich guy in a wheelchair whose company is falling?" Roy asked, trying to figure out why I would take the abuse.
"Yeah. Only, when I was 4 and this shit started, he had a full bank and he could stand. I guess he still..." I trailed off, coughing into my hand.
"He still scares the shit out of you." Wally finished.
"Yeah. Kind of like a monster in the closet, you know? Only, I had to live with him." I said, closing my eyes, ignoring the looks of anger and sympathy as I fell asleep.
Dick POV
I stared at Tim lay on the bed, certain parts of it red from the blood. "Are you okay, Dick? You look like your about to rip someone apart." Wally commented.
"Trust me, I just might." I muttered angrily as I walked off into the working out room to punch the punching bag after I taped a picture of Jack on it.
How could I let this happen again? Timmy got hurt again, so bad that I had to be careful to not touch his bone. How could I let this happen again? "Dick, stop it." Wally said, running into the training area.
"Stop what?" I asked as I punched Jack's face into the punching bag.
"Your blaming yourself, it's not that hard to see, dude." Wally said, crossing his arms.
"How can I not blame myself?! He said it, he admitted it to the whole damn team that he was abused! I thought Jack wouldn't touch him while he was stuck in that wheelchair, and I was wrong. I should have reported it, or done something!" I said, my punches becoming more powerful.
I round house kicked the bag hard, hard enough to knock it off the hook holding it up. "Dick, trust me, I know what the kid's going through. He probably didn't think Jack would do it either. But men like that don't change, even after being in a coma. Trust me, no one could do anything because no one would think he would do it." Wally said, placing a hand on my shoulder.
"Wally, what happened with you and your dad is different from Tim." I said, hanging my head.
"I know, but it's mostly the same. Dick, as much as he pretends he isn't, Tim's scared of that man. He probably will for the rest of his life. It's like the kid said, Jack's the monster who hides in the closet for him. But that doesn't mean it's your fault. You couldn't control what happened at the orphanage, you couldn't help Tim at the Drake's before because they kept you away, but now you can help. Hell, you just did." Wally said, smiling at me.
"How? How did I help? All I did was patch up what the bastard did to him." I asked, sitting on the ground.
"Dick, what did he have before the Team? Nothing, he admitted it himself. But when he came here and Kon found him, everyone jumped in to help him. Even Arsenal, and that kid doesn't trust anyone for shit. Trust me from experience when I saw, having someone see who you are, finally being heard and understood is the best thing any kid in a problem like his can ask for. So in reality Dick, your doing everything for that kid." Wally said, sitting next to me.
"Thanks Wally, your a good friend." I said, throwing an arm around his shoulder.
Jason POV
I looked down at the kid, finding it hard to hate him. I thought he was going to replace me as Dick's brother, but... as it turns out, it was probably the other way around. And now here he was, on a medical bed because his shitty guardians beat the shit out of him with a baseball bat.
I closed my eyes, my breath stuttering slightly as the images of me being beaten with a crowbar filled my mind and demonic laughter filled my ears.
When it the flashback stopped, Roy went with the others to talk to Dick, probably to try to stop him from killing someone. Artemis was probably going to beat up a punching bag, though.
"Dick is Tim's older brother isn't he?" Arsenal asked, looking at me. Huh, guess he decided to stick around.
"Yeah, it's pretty obvious, isn't it?" I asked with a chuckle.
"Yeah, it kind of is." Arsenal said, sitting in a chair and propping his feet up on Tim's bed.
"Your going to stay here?" I asked.
"Yeah. Guy saved me in War World, least I can do is stay here. Besides, I really don't feel like going back to Ollie's." Arsenal said, closing his eyes.
I nodded, and left. The kid would be fine, I knew that much.
Tim POV
I opened my eyes, the light from the lamp above me blurring my vision. "Nice to know you awake." A familiar voice said.
"Why am I at the HQ, again?" I asked confused.
"Don't you remember? You came here after Jack hurt you." Arsenal said, helping me sit up.
All of a sudden, the memories flooded back, making me groan. "Oh, I remember now. Did I seriously admit that Jack scares the shit out of me in front of all those people?" I asked.
"Yeah, but no one blames you. I'm going to tell the others your awake. The whole Team's worried about you since Dic- uh, Nightwing told them about you arriving last night." Arsenal said, walking out of the room.
"Wait." I said, swinging my legs over the side.
He looked over his shoulder, looking at me shocked. "Why are you getting up?" Arsenal asked, walking back to me.
"Because, I need to stretch my legs. Besides, if the Team is worried, I'll talk to them out there." I said, wobbling onto my legs.
"Fine, at least let me help you if your going to be stubborn about it." Arsenal said, putting one of my arms around his shoulder.
"Fair enough." I said, smirking as I walked out to see the Team along with everyone from last night in the living room.
"You know, you guys didn't have to stay here for me." I said, smirking when I saw their surprised faces.
They all looked at me shocked before all of them shook their heads with a smile. "You know, you shouldn't be out of bed." Kon said, helping Arsenal set me down.
"So? That has never stopped me before." I said, grimacing when my hand rubbed over my ribs.
"Yeah, but it probably should have." Dick said, walking with a smile and giving me a glass of water.
"Guess I'm the exception. Besides, once you've been dealing with this for awhile, it gets easier to walk things off." I said, gulping down the water.
None of them looked comforted by that, but they chose not to say anything. "So, you have blue eyes, huh? Thought you would have brown for some reason." Wonder Girl commented.
My eyes widened for a second before remembering I forgot to take from home to cover my eyes. "Yeah, no one really expects blue eyes on an assassin." I said, laughing a little bit.
"So, does this sort of thing happen often?" Lagoon Boy asked, gesturing to my rib where bandages were peaking out beneath my shirt.
I sighed, running a hand through my hair. "It's difficult. Jack wasn't around much before he got put into his wheelchair, but when he was around, it was a daily thing. After he got put in the wheelchair... it's hard to explain." I said, staring at the empty cup in my hands.
"What? Did he try to change?" Karen asked hopefully.
What I did next... well, it was rude. But, I just couldn't hold it back. I laughed. In fact, I laughed so hard that I almost fell onto the floor. "I'm sorry, but I couldn't help it. It's the most hilarious thing I've ever heard. Jack changing, as if. That man would sooner kill himself than stop trying to abuse me." I said, resitting myself on the couch.
Everyone frowned at that, but I continued to chuckle. "Then what is it?" Barbara asked with a frown.
"Jack is in a wheelchair. I just thought it would take him longer than this to start trying to hurt me again." I said, shaking my head.
"Are you going to go back?" Bart asked, surprisingly serious for once.
Everyone looked at me, each of them wondering the same thing. I looked up at them, each of them staring back at me. Finally, I stopped at Dick.
He looked mad, and protective. Two things I never thought I'd see him as. " The government forced me to be with the Drake's. The only way I can go any where else legally is if one of them sign a paper saying they'll let me go somewhere else. So, yeah, I have to go back. Don't worry though, Dana is making me go shopping with her. Jack doesn't hurt me around Dana. I'll be fine." I said, smirking so they wouldn't worry as much.
"Are you sure? I mean, it looks like you got pretty beat up when you came here." Mal said, frowning from worry.
"Trust me, I'll be fine. Besides, I don't plan on going back until their both asleep." I said, making them finally stop scowling.
"Well, that's a relief. Even if it's a small one." Dick said with a small grin.
"Sheesh, you guys make it sound like I'm in hell." I muttered with a smirk.
"Kid, you live in Gotham. Of course it's hell." Jason said with a grin.
I rolled my eyes, making everyone chuckle. A grin stretched it's self across my face, too. At least they weren't moping anymore.
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