A/N: Thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter, your comments and feedback were awesome! :)
oOo
The first thing that Jason did upon arriving at the old crackerjack factory in the East Village was to take out his cell phone and contact Commissioner Gordon. He stood on the roof of an empty warehouse situated just across from the factory, and studied it while he waited for Gordon to answer. Snow was falling heavily and the ground below was already white.
"Hello?" Gordon's voice came on the line.
"Commissioner, it's Red Hood," Jason responded. "Thought you might like to know that Justin Lee at Wayne Enterprises is involved in the kidnapping of Dick Grayson."
"What?! How did you find that out?"
"I was looking into the attempted robbery at The Gotham Regency and stumbled across this," Jason lied. He didn't want the officer prying into his reasons for investigating Dick's kidnapping. "Turns out Lee had a hand in both; his girlfriend is the blonde woman at the party that no one can account for. I've left them both at her apartment for you to collect. I'm sending you the address now."
Jason deliberately didn't mention the crackerjack factory. He wanted a shot at Dick's kidnappers before he handed them over to the cops. Jason cracked his knuckles in anticipation.
"Red Hood, are you sure about this?" the Commissioner wanted to know.
"Positive," Jason replied, and before Gordon could respond, he hung up.
Standing in the bitter cold, Jason surveyed the factory. It had obviously been shut for quite some time; from the ground, the place appeared abandoned. But from Jason's vantage point he could see a dim light in the main room of the factory. Withdrawing his grapple gun, he fired a line and swung across the street onto the roof of the factory.
Landing with a soft whump, Jason crept across the flat roof towards the raised skylight. He had a brief sense of déjà vu and his heart quickened as he compared the similarities to where they had found Robin in the clutches of the Joker back in September. Unbidden, an image of a bloodied Dick came to mind.
No! Jason shook himself. That was a different situation, involving a twisted psychopath. This was just a simple kidnapping, Dick would be fine.
Raising one hand, Jason wiped at the glass that had frosted over from the cold, and peered into the room below. It had obviously been the heart of the factory at one point; huge packing machines were still dotted about the place. Two men were playing cards at a table, a small heater at their feet. A lamp was positioned to the edge of the table, giving a feeble light in the darkening gloom of the late afternoon. There was no sign of the third kidnapper.
Glancing around the room, Jason spotted Dick lying on the floor by a pillar, his hands tied behind him. He wasn't moving and Jason couldn't tell if he was conscious or not because his back was to him.
Clenching his fists, Jason debated the merits of smashing into the room via the skylight, but immediately dismissed it when he saw the guns on the table where the men were playing cards. They might shoot Dick before he'd even reached them. He would have to take them out swiftly and silently.
Jason walked slowly around the skylight, his footsteps muffled by the snow until he came to a hinged window that opened into the factory out of the men's line of sight. Squatting on his haunches, he removed a pin and started to pick the lock. It took longer than he would have liked as the cold made his hands numb, but finally a click sounded.
Quietly, he eased the window open, before tying a rope to one of the steel air vents and rappelling silently into the room below. He was surprised to find that it was almost as cold in here as it was outside.
Reaching the bottom, Jason peered around the room. The lamp on the table was the only source of illumination; the rest of the room was bathed in shadows. He smiled grimly to himself and used the cover of darkness and the large packing machines to steal closer to the men, listening to their conversation as he did so.
"I don't like it," one of the men was saying. "It's dangerous."
"You don't have to like it," the other man replied. "The boss gave orders before he left, so suck it up."
"Yeah, and that's another thing, why'd he leave? I thought we were supposed to stay put until Wayne paid up?"
"I don't know and I'm not stupid enough to ask," the second man snapped. "Thorne's dangerous. He tells you to do something and you do it, capiche?"
"But this? A fourth might kill him– No, no way! I'm not doing it. You do it if you want, I'm not."
"Pussy!" the other man sneered.
"Just shut the fuck up and play your hand!"
Silence fell as the men focused on their game once more. Jason wasn't completely clear on what their conversation had been about, but the one thing he understood for certain was that the third man wasn't here. Jason was free to take the other two clowns out without fear of interruption.
Once he'd gotten as close to them as he could without being seen, Jason lobbed a smoke pellet at the two men. It exploded on impact, enveloping them in noxious fumes. Jason used the coverage to dive into the middle of the unsuspecting kidnappers, while they yelled in confusion. Quickly, he upended the table, knocking the guns onto the floor where he kicked them out of reach. Turning, Jason cold-cocked the man nearest to him as he stood up from his chair, sending both the man and the chair sprawling. Twisting, he then delivered a vicious roundhouse kick to the other kidnapper, who was approaching him through the smoke. The man dropped like a stone, landing on his hands and knees where Jason kicked him in the stomach until he flattened onto the ground, then smashed the butt of his gun into the man's temple. The man slumped to the floor.
Jason whirled to face the other man, who had gotten to his feet and was rushing towards him. Instead of retreating, Jason neatly side-stepped, sticking out his leg and tripping the kidnapper. The man flew forward onto the ground where Jason dropped on him and smashed his head into the floor until he lost consciousness.
The smoke began to clear and Jason dragged the unconscious kidnappers over to one of the packing machines where he cuffed their hands to the large unit, preventing any sort of escape until the cops arrived. With the kidnappers finally out of commission, Jason allowed himself to do what he'd been longing to do since he arrived: check on Dick.
Hurrying over to the boy, he dropped to his knees beside him and gently eased him to a sitting position. Dick's head flopped onto Jason's chest and rage exploded inside him when he felt how cold he was. Keeping Dick propped against his chest and one arm supporting the limp form, Jason shrugged out of his jacket and wrapped it around the frozen teenager.
Removing the blindfold, Jason was surprised to discover that Dick's eyes were open; he wasn't unconscious like Jason had thought. There was blood trickling from his nose, which Jason wiped away carefully, and a bruise on his cheek bone. "Dick?" he prompted, gently pushing the boy's hair back from his face.
The boy's eyes moved towards him in unfocused confusion before sliding away again, not really seeing him.
Jason's heart started to beat a little faster as he took in the dilated pupils and glassy eyes. Jesus Christ, he's high!
He scowled darkly, instantly regretting not using more force to subdue the kidnappers. "Dick, it's me, Jason. Can you hear me?"
Dick's eyes once more rolled back towards him and he blinked at Jason. "Jay…" he slurred.
"That's right," Jason encouraged. "C'mon on, Kiddo, talk to me."
But Dick's eyes were moving away again and his head lolled sideways.
"Whoa!" Jason put a hand on Dick's cheek, holding his head steady. Blood was trickling from his nose once more.
Jason watched helplessly while Dick stared into the distance, frowning at something. He looked over at where the drugged boy was staring, but there was nothing there, then glanced back at Dick who was now scrunching his eyes shut, and swallowed. What the hell had they given him? He had never seen someone so out of it before; Dick was completely unaware of his surroundings.
"Okay, Kiddo, let's get you to a hospital," Jason told him, propping Dick forward against his right arm so he could remove the bindings around his wrists. He gnashed his teeth in fury when he saw how tightly the cord cut into them. Maybe he should go back over to the two men and hurt them some more.
Using his knife, Jason sliced open the ropes and gently unwound them from Dick's wrists, then readjusted the leather jacket, which was too big on Dick's small frame and had slipped off his shoulders while Jason was removing the ropes.
Clasping Dick's hands between his own, Jason tried to coax some warmth back into the frozen fingers. He didn't like how cold Dick felt, and wondered if maybe he was hypothermic. His pulse was certainly a little slow, but Jason wasn't sure if that was because of the drugs or the cold.
He was just getting ready to lift Dick up when he heard a gunshot, followed immediately by something tearing into his left shoulder.
Jason reacted, pulling Dick closer to him and rolling behind the pillar just as another shot echoed, followed by the thwack of a bullet embedding itself in the concrete.
His shoulder throbbing with pain, Jason held Dick against him and pulled out his gun, before peering around the pillar. He caught sight of a shadow just behind one of the large packing machines, but quickly withdrew his head as a third bullet whizzed past and thudded into the wall opposite.
Suddenly, Dick began to struggle, and Jason hissed slightly when the movement caused shockwaves of pain to radiate outwards from his injured shoulder. He looked down, just in time to see Dick clamp his hands over his ears and scrunch his eyes shut.
"Dick?" He attempted to pull one of Dick's hands away from his ears, but the boy only pushed his hands tighter against them, hunching in on himself and gritting his teeth. Jason had no experience with actually taking drugs, but he knew a bad trip when he saw one.
"You goddamn fuckers!" he roared, leaning around the pillar and discharging his gun, then pulling back quickly. "What the hell did you give him?!"
A harsh laugh drifted back. "Thought the big bad Bat didn't like guns?"
"I'm not Batman you moron!" Jason snapped.
"No, but you work with him, don't you?"
"Doesn't make us the same, and I have no qualms about using this gun on you, Ass-hat! Now what the hell did you give Dick?"
The hidden man laughed in amusement. "Ketamine."
"Ketamine doesn't do this!"
"Pure Ketamine can," the man taunted. "What's the matter? Never seen a K-hole before?"
Jason stiffened. He'd heard about the elusive K-hole, where people could become completely dissociated from reality, or hallucinate that they were on another plane of existence. A low growl rumbled in his throat, and the murderous rage that had been dogging him for most of the day started to reach blinding proportions. "You cowardly son of a bitch! Drugging an innocent kid!"
"I think you and I both know that kid isn't so innocent…Jason."
Jason froze and his eyes widened behind the mask. "What?"
"You heard me. Stands to reason that if Dick Grayson is Robin, then his so called bodyguard is Red Hood; after all, Jason Todd and Red Hood both appeared in Gotham at the same time." The man sounded grimly satisfied.
A wave of dread washed over Jason. "You don't know what you're talking about!"
"Don't I?" Cold amusement coated the man's voice. "What about those scars that Dick has on his arms?"
Jason looked down at Dick; the boy's shirt sleeves had been ripped open, revealing the awful scars that Joker had left on him. "That doesn't mean anything," he answered, his heart racing. How had this asshole worked it out?
"It means everything," the man retorted. "My brother is currently holed up in a cell with Brick – who told him about some very interesting scars that he'd seen on the boy wonder, and he filled me in during our last phone call."
Motherfucking sonovabitch! Jason would rip Brick apart for this.
"See, it all fits," the man continued, the glee in his voice making Jason want to wring his neck. "A couple of months ago, some psycho claiming to be the Joker blew up Gotham General. That was big enough for even the underworld to sit up and take notice. And when word spread on the streets that he'd taken out the Bat's little bird, we all believed it – especially when there was no sign of the kid for weeks. But then the brat shows up last weekend with his new tattoos. Guess the wannabe clown got him good, huh?"
"You shut your mouth!" Jason snarled.
"Oh, I don't think so. This is valuable information, Todd, very valuable. Because if Dickie boy there is Robin and you're Red Hood, then that must mean…"
Jason closed his eyes.
"…Bruce Wayne is Batman."
Shit. "So what now?" Jason demanded, opening his eyes. He saw no point in denying it.
"What now?" the man repeated. "I haven't decided. See, I considered selling the information to the highest bidder, but then I thought it might be fun to just plaster Gotham with the news and see who takes the Bat out first. Because believe me," the amusement disappeared from his voice, leaving nothing but murderous hate, "nothing would give me greater pleasure than to see that freak go down!"
He's the only one who knows, Jason realized. He hasn't told the other two.
Jason looked down at Dick who was now crouching forward, his hands curled around his head and his heart started to pound. If it was revealed that Bruce was Batman and Dick was Robin, every hood Batman had ever encountered would come gunning for Dick first; Robin was Batman's greatest weakness.
Jason couldn't let that happen. "There's a third option."
"Oh, really?" the man sneered. "What's that?"
"I kill you," Jason told him calmly.
There was dead silence for a minute before the man responded. "Thought the Bat didn't kill."
"We covered this already, Moron, I'm not Batman." Moving slowly, Jason gently leaned Dick against the pillar, then carefully peered around it.
He ducked back when gunfire snickered towards him once more, and two bullets smacked into the concrete, spraying Jason and Dick with dust.
"You're a lousy shot, you know that?" Jason yelled, leaning around the pillar and firing at the packing machine that the man was crouched behind. He hit the loading mechanism, causing it to crash to the floor, almost hitting the man crouched beneath.
"What the– son of a bitch!" the man yelped, scrambling away from the machine to avoid being squashed to a pulp.
Immediately Jason fired and was rewarded with a howl of pain. "You shot me!" the man screeched, rolling out of Jason's line of sight. "You fucking shot me!"
"Whoops, my bad," Jason drawled, then rolled his injured shoulder which was starting to go numb. "Didn't mean to hurt you…I was aiming to kill."
"You don't have the stones to kill me!"
"I wouldn't be so sure of that," Jason replied coldly. "You're trying to destroy people I care about – I will put you down before I let that happen!"
"Just one problem, tough guy," the man spoke through gritted teeth and Jason could hear the pain in his voice. "You gotta catch me first."
Suddenly, metal clanged loudly and Jason looked just in time to see a door swing open and the man dash through it.
"Dammit!" He turned back to Dick. The boy was watching him, his gaze sliding in and out of focus.
"Listen to me, Kid," Jason said urgently. "I have to go after him. You stay here and I'll be back as quick as I can, okay?"
Dick mumbled something, his head dropping onto his chest.
Jason hated to leave him, but he had to catch this guy and Dick clearly wasn't going anywhere. Wrapping the leather jacket more tightly around the boy, Jason gave him one final look before snapping to his feet and dashing after the kidnapper.
Reaching the door, Jason kept his gun at the ready and slowly peered around the door…and into an empty stairwell.
He's heading for the roof, Jason realized. Why? He can't– Oh, crap! The rope!
The rope that Jason had lowered himself into the factory with could also be pulled back onto the roof and used to lower another person onto the street below.
Swearing to himself, Jason took the steps two at a time. Emerging from the stairwell onto the roof, drops of blood in the snow indicated the direction in which the kidnapper had gone. Jason tracked him to the other side of the roof where the man was pulling up the rope from the room below.
Jason fired at him, but the blizzard now howling around them was making visibility hazy and he missed, the bullet clanging into the air vent just behind the man.
The man ducked behind one of the massive steel pipes extending out from the ventilation system, and discharged his gun three times in rapid succession, forcing Jason to dive behind an ancient chimney that probably hadn't been in use since before this was a crackerjack factory.
Jason debated his options. Their current standoff had them on an even playing field; both with guns and both staying out of each other's line of fire. But Jason had a second gun, and if he could get the other man to use up his bullets, he could take him out.
Jason quickly calculated; the man had fired eight shots. If he was using the same gun as the two clowns in the room below, that meant he had nine left in the magazine. Whipping out a bat-a-rang, Jason flung it across the roof, almost laughing out loud when the man fired two panicked shots after it. For all his tough talk, this guy clearly wasn't used to fighting whilst injured and it was making him sloppy. Jason on the other hand, had been trained by Batman, and had mastered the art of pushing through the pain to get the job done.
Throwing a smoke bomb, Jason dived out from behind the chimney and ran towards the kidnapper. The man discharged another shot and Jason dropped, flattening against the ground and rolling behind an air vent. That's it, Moron, keep firing!
Jason counted to thirty in his head before leaning around to check on the kidnapper, only to discover that the smoke coupled with the blizzard completely blocked his view. Swearing under his breath, Jason kept his gun aimed and, maintaining a low crouch, moved silently towards the pipe where the other man was hiding. Approaching from behind, Jason leaned over the pipe only to discover the kidnapper was gone. Drops of red in the snow suggested the man had crossed to the other side of the roof.
Cold horror washed over Jason as he studied the direction of the blood. Shit! He's doubling back to the stairs! Immediately, he raced after him; Dick was defenseless in the room below.
Rounding the edge of the massive raised skylight, Jason could just make out the man limping for the stairs through the heavily falling snow. He took out his second gun and fired multiple times at the man, almost yelling with frustration when the poor visibility caused him to miss and the kidnapper dived behind another air vent.
"Looks like I'm not the only one who's a lousy shot!" the man called, returning fire and forcing Jason to flatten himself against a steel pipe.
Remaining silent, Jason assessed the man's location and pondered his next move.
"What's the matter, Red? Bat got your tongue?"
"Bite me!" Jason snapped. That dig had been a little too close to something Joker might say.
The man laughed. "No thanks, you're not my type. Besides, I think we might be coming to the end of this little game of cat and mouse – someone's coming."
Cops? Jason cocked his ears to listen. He knew the sound of gunfire would bring the police running sooner or later…he just thought it would have been later in this neighborhood.
But all Jason could hear was the usual sounds of the city; horns honking and echoing traffic. The wail of sirens from somewhere in the distance weren't yet heading in their direction. He returned his attention to where the man was hiding and felt the very marrow of his bones freeze.
Dick was staggering to the top of the stairwell, leaning heavily against the wall for support.
"Dick, no," Jason whispered. How had he gotten up here? No scratch that, he was so drugged out, how the hell had he even moved?!
Both men ran for the boy. To Jason, it felt like he was moving in slow motion, and the other man was so much closer.
No! No! No! Jason's mind roared frantically at him. He didn't dare fire his gun at the kidnapper in this blizzard, not when Dick stood just a few feet away from the man.
The man smiled triumphantly when he reached the boy first, seizing his wrists and yanking him towards him where he immediately put a gun to his temple. Whirling, he faced Jason and ordered, "Stop right there!"
Jason complied, his heart thumping wildly. The kidnapper was holding Dick to him with his left arm across the boy's chest, Dick's wrists pinned tightly in his left hand. The other hand held the gun steady against Dick's head while the boy shivered with cold, his teeth chattering. Jason could see that his nose was still bleeding, blood dripping onto his white shirt, while Dick's eyes continuously squinted as though trying to focus.
"So much for your drug," Jason ground out, keeping his guns at the ready. He would blow this guy's head off the first chance he got.
The kidnapper shrugged. "I did tell my men to keep dosing him while I was gone – didn't want our little Robin making a break for it – but I'm guessing you interrupted before they could give him the next dose. Looks like the K-hole is starting to bottom out now."
Jason gritted his teeth, understanding now what the other two kidnappers had been talking about when he arrived. "Gee, y'think?"
The man scowled. "Unload your guns and toss them over the side."
Jason didn't move. "I do that and what's to stop you shooting me and taking Dick? Or shooting Dick?"
"Nothing," the man replied. "But I have nothing to gain by killing you or the kid, and if you don't do as I say, I will shoot him." He cocked the trigger and shoved the gun harder against Dick's head. "And I'm not going to miss at this range."
Reluctantly, Jason obeyed, clenching his fists as his guns clattered to the street below.
The man smirked. "Looks like Lori was right, you would do anything for this kid."
Jason stiffened. "What does she have to do with this?"
"Original plan was to bring you in on the kidnapping," the man told him. "But Lori told us you'd never go for it; you cared about the kid too much. She suggested we snatch him from Inside Scoop instead–"
"And all Justin had to do was tip you off," Jason finished. That Bitch!
"She'll make a great gangster's moll someday…but she needs to learn to keep her mouth shut. I'm assuming she tipped you off?"
"Does it matter?!" Jason barked in response, his nerves straining. "What the hell do you want?"
"So we're going to do it like that, are we? Fine. Get back to the rope and bring it up. I'll be right behind you with the kid so don't try anything heroic."
The rage nearly blinding him, Jason returned to the rope he had dropped into the factory. Hauling it up, he turned to face the kidnapper once more. "Now what?"
"You're going to use the rope to lower me and Dick to the ground," the man replied. "Once we reach the bottom, you–"
"The hell I will!" Jason exploded. "I'm not letting you leave here with Dick!"
"Oh, the kid won't be coming with me. I just want to put enough distance between us to ensure that I get out of here; it would be too easy for you to follow me if I took the stairs. This way, you'll be too busy making sure we reach the ground safely to do anything about me."
Dick was starting to squirm and the man had to tighten his grip. Jason could see Dick blinking and frowning as though he were trying to focus; the drugs were definitely starting to wear off. Dick was becoming less pliable; what if he started to struggle halfway to the ground? The man might drop him. Not to mention that the gunshot to Jason's shoulder would make it harder to support them both. He shook his head. "I'm not doing it."
The man laughed. "It's hilarious that you think you have a choice in this. Todd, either you lower us down or I kill the kid!"
"And what's to stop you dropping Dick halfway down?" Jason demanded.
"Pretty much nothing," said the man. "But if it makes you feel better, I'll tie the other end of the rope around us both."
Jason didn't see that he had much choice. Besides, like this clown had already pointed out, he had nothing to gain by killing Dick. "Fine!"
"Smart move," the man sneered. He backed towards the parapet, dragging Dick with him. "Stay put," he added, as Jason took a step forwards. "You can lower us from there. Don't worry; I won't hurt your precious little Robin so long as you do what you're told."
Jason shot him a murderous look. "When I find you, you're a dead man."
"Better find me fast before I tell all of Gotham who you really are," the man taunted. "Because this little game of neighborhood watch will be over for good once I do! Now toss the other end of the rope over here."
Jason did so, watching as the man released Dick's wrists to catch the rope. The kidnapper had just started to loop it around them both when suddenly, Dick's hands shot up and seized the barrel of the gun, pointing it into the air and away from his head. The man's eyes widened in shock, and he immediately began to struggle with Dick for mastery of the weapon.
The kidnapper now distracted, Jason raced towards them, but was forced to flatten himself against the ground when the gun went off and two bullets whistled past, shattering the glass behind him. He lifted his head just in time to see the gun clatter over the edge of the parapet and Dick shove the large man away from him.
The man hit the three foot wall behind him and his feet slipped in the snow. His arms wind-milled as he tried to regain his footing and he grabbed at the nearest thing to keep himself from going over.
Unfortunately, the nearest thing happened to be Dick, and his small frame gave no anchor to the falling kidnapper. The man toppled over the edge of the parapet, dragging Dick with him.
"NO!" Jason screamed, darting forward and removing his grapple gun. He leaned over the edge and fired a line after the boy, watching in agonized horror as the rope wrapped around his legs. Jason anchored one foot against the wall and braced himself for the inevitable snap once the rope went taut.
"Ngggggh!" he grunted through gritted teeth when Dick's freefall was halted ten feet above the ground. His hands held tight to the line and agony seared through his shoulder as gravity made the rope swing back through the air, slamming Dick into the factory wall.
"DICK!" Jason yelled frantically, the pain throbbing through his shoulder making his hand tremble. Quickly and carefully, he lowered Dick to the ground before rappelling down the side of the building with the rope the kidnapper had intended to use.
As he neared the bottom, Jason let go and jumped the last few feet, hurrying over to Dick who was trying to roll onto his hands and knees.
"Dick! Are you alright?" Jason demanded anxiously, dropping to his knees beside him.
"Jay…" he whispered. "Urgh….S'not funny….s-stop l-laughing…"
"I'm not laughing, Kiddo, believe me," Jason replied, quickly removing the rope from Dick's legs and helping him to sit up.
"S-someb-body's laughing," Dick insisted, pressing the heel of his hand to his forehead and burying his fingers in his hair. "Te-te-tell them to stop!"
"Nobody's laughing, Dick, I promise," said Jason gently, putting his good arm around the boy's shoulders. Dick was shivering violently, his teeth chattering.
"But…I c-can hear t-them. They wo-won't s-stop…I c-ca-can't m-make them s-stop."
Jason scowled. Dick might be out of the damn K-hole but he was obviously still hallucinating. "Dick, it's the drugs those Ass-hats gave you that are making you hear things."
"D-don't l-like it," Dick muttered, his fingers tightening in his hair.
Jason's heart ached with pity. "Don't blame you. C'mon, Kiddo, you're frozen, let's get you someplace warm."
He helped Dick to his feet, where the boy immediately wrapped his arms around himself, his whole frame shaking hard. Jason frowned. "Let's go back inside first and grab my jacket. You need to put something warmer on."
Teeth chattering loudly, Dick nodded.
Jason once more put his arm around the boy's shoulders and they turned to enter the factory, stopping dead at the sight that greeted them.
The kidnapper lay on the ground, one leg twisted at an unnatural angle under him. Blood was pooling in the snow around him, turning the crisp white into a dark, angry red. In the frightening minutes after Dick had plunged over the side of the roof, Jason had completely forgotten about the man.
"Oh, God," Dick whispered, sounding sick. "Is he d-d-dead?"
Jason tightened his grip on Dick's shoulder. "Small loss."
oOo
"Arrrgh!" Jason yelled, biting down on his fist as Leslie Tompkins dug the bullet out of his shoulder. "Motherfu–"
"Finish that sentence and I will wash your mouth out with soap, young man!" Leslie warned, pausing in her task.
"Friggin' butcher," Jason grumbled under his breath.
Across the room, Dick watched sympathetically from the bed he was lying in. He was attached to a saline drip that was feeding him warm fluids to raise his core temperature, while heat pads had been placed on his neck and chest. He was wearing a too-big pair of scrubs because his clothes were damp from the snow, and Leslie had insisted he strip as soon as they arrived at the clinic. A heavy blanket was wrapped around his small frame, but Dick was still shivering.
Jason clenched his fist in anger. After retrieving his jacket from the factory and once more wrapping it tightly around Dick, Jason had decided to bring the boy to Leslie's. Aside from being closer than the hospital, in light of what had happened with the kidnapper, he was afraid Dick's scars might give him away to the medical staff.
But it had been an uncomfortable trip. They had been forced to take Jason's motorcycle because the gunshot wound to his shoulder meant that he couldn't use his grapple gun and support Dick at the same time, and the boy was too weak and too frozen to support himself. He had also been too weak to ride pillion, forcing Jason to sit him sideways in front of him and secure him by tying him to his chest. It was a weird nod to their fist bike ride together, when Red Hood had kidnapped Dick.
Once they'd arrived at the clinic – with Jason announcing their arrival by bellowing Leslie's name as he half-carried Dick up the steps – Leslie had diagnosed Dick as hypothermic and treated him accordingly.
But the boy still looked cold and pale to Jason. "How you doing over there, Kiddo?" he asked, frowning in concern at the shaking shoulders. "You okay?"
"D-dude, I'm not the one with a b-bullet in my s-shoulder," Dick replied.
"Kid, I've had a lot– Owww! Shit!" Jason yelled, as Leslie finally removed the bullet.
"Language!" she scolded, slapping his good shoulder.
Jason responded by muttering something she couldn't hear under his breath.
Giving him an exasperated look, Leslie proceeded to clean and bandage the wound. "You're lucky the bullet lodged just below the skin," she said. "You might have needed surgery if it travelled any further. But you're still going to have to rest it for a week or two, so no jumping off rooftops, am I clear?"
"Crystal," Jason grumbled. God, he hated being a patient.
"Good. Now stay in that chair and rest, Jason," she ordered, before crossing the room to Dick and taking his temperature.
"How is he?" Jason called anxiously, forcing himself to remain seated when Leslie shot him one of her you-stay-put looks.
"Still cold, but warmer than when you brought him in. Dick, honey, how are you feeling?"
"B-better." Dick tried to smile but his chattering teeth made it look like more of a pained grimace.
"Any more hallucinations?" she asked, peering into his eyes with a small light.
Dick shook his head.
"That's something I suppose." Leslie rested a hand on his head. "Sweetie, you really have got to stop getting yourself into these situations."
"I d-don't do it on p-p-purpose!"
"I know, Dick, I know." She sighed in sympathy.
"Dick!" A shout echoed suddenly, followed immediately by the door smacking off the wall as Bruce hurried into the room. "Are you alright?" he demanded anxiously, crossing to Dick at once.
"He's going to be fine," Leslie replied, putting one hand up to stop Bruce from jumping on the boy and knocking off his blanket. "Moderate hypothermia, but I'm raising his temperature slowly. So don't knock those heat pads off him, understand?"
Bruce nodded, then carefully sat onto the bed beside Dick and looped an arm across his shoulders, pulling him close. He buried his nose in the boy's hair and Jason could see him saying something in a low voice to Dick, who nodded and leaned in against him. It caused Jason a slight pang which he immediately shrugged off.
After a few minutes, Bruce turned to Jason. "Are you alright?"
"Fine."
"You don't look fine. What happened to your shoulder?"
"Gunshot wound. No big deal."
Bruce scowled. "I would say that's a very big deal. Jason, what the hell happened? You just tore out of my office without any explanation, and less than three hours later you call me and tell me to cancel the ransom and get my butt down to Leslie's because you found Dick!"
"My brain finally woke up in your office," Jason replied, and explained what had happened after he left Bruce's office until the kidnapper took a swan dive off of the factory roof.
When he was finished, Bruce looked grim. "So he worked out Dick was Robin. Are you certain he didn't tell the other two men, Jason?"
"Pretty certain judging by the way he was talking. It was a power thing – him being the only one who knew – he wanted to hold it over us."
"I don't t-think he told the other two," Dick interjected. The chattering of his teeth was finally starting to subside. "After he w-worked out I was Robin, he wouldn't tell the other guys the real reason he w-wanted to drug me."
"So the information died with him," Jason mused, feeling relief. Dick was safe.
"Except he's not dead," Bruce put in, causing Jason to jerk in shock. "He's in critical condition at Gotham General."
"How is he not dead?!" Jason demanded in disbelief. "And how do you know this?"
"Commissioner Gordon called me on my way here," Bruce replied.
Jason ran a hand through his hair in frustration. Immediately after calling Bruce, he had contacted the Police Chief to let him know that he had found Dick. After letting the officer know where to find the kidnappers, Jason had informed him that he would be in touch to account for the dead kidnapper once he had gotten Dick to a doctor, and hung up before Gordon could respond.
"Did Gordon say what his chances of survival were?" asked Jason, thinking hard. With any luck, his injuries would be too severe for the man to survive.
"He's unlikely to last the night," Bruce responded, frowning at Jason's tone. "Severe head trauma and internal injuries, plus a gunshot wound to the leg." He raised an eyebrow in Jason's direction at the last part.
"He shot me first," Jason retorted shortly.
"And the fall off the roof?"
Jason could hear the unasked question in Bruce's voice; did you even try to save him?
He crossed his arms in anger and self-defense. "It was him or Dick!"
Bruce's expression was grim as he and Jason stared at one another. "So if he dies, then our problem is solved."
"And just what the hell is that supposed to mean?!" Jason exploded, jumping to his feet. "Are you saying I let him fall on purpose?"
Bruce narrowed his eyes. "Did you?"
The question hurt Jason. "No." He reached for his mask and jacket.
"Where are you going?" demanded Bruce, removing his arm from Dick's shoulders and getting to his feet.
"To see Gordon!" Jason snapped. "I told him I'd report and explain everything once I took Dick to a doctor. Why? You think I'm going to do something?"
Bruce scowled. "Drop the attitude, Jason! It's not helping this situation."
"What situation? You're the one who's making it out to be something it's not!" Jason shot back, yanking on his jacket and making his injured shoulder throb. "To hell with this, I'm out of here!"
"Jason! Wait!" Dick's voice cried, as he stormed towards the door.
Jason stopped and turned. Dick was watching him, his face confused and upset. "Why are you fighting? What's wrong?"
"Nothing's wrong," Jason replied, softening his tone. "I'm just going to see Gordon; someone has to account for tonight."
"But shouldn't it be me?" asked Dick, his voice shaky as his eyes went back and forth between Jason and Bruce. "I'm the one who p-pushed him off the roof."
"You didn't push him off the roof!" said Jason at once. "You only pushed him away from you; he was the one who slipped on the snow and fell over the edge. This was completely not your fault and you did NOTHING wrong, okay?"
Looking very uncertain, Dick didn't respond to that reassurance. Instead, he kept his eyes on Jason. "Are you coming back?"
"Nah, I'll probably head home for the night," said Jason, faking a cheerfulness that he didn't feel. A deep, cavernous ache was starting to gnaw on his soul. "Besides, you need to go home and get some rest, Kiddo."
Dick's brows furrowed. "Will you call tomorrow?"
Jason could see that the fight between him and Bruce had rattled Dick. Dick had never been privy to the full, sordid details of Jason's past; he didn't understand why Bruce had questioned Jason so harshly…or why Jason had gotten so defensive.
Jason swallowed. "I'll call tomorrow, Kiddo, I promise. Now stop worrying and relax." He looked at Leslie, who was watching them with a concerned frown. "Leslie, thanks for patching me up."
She nodded. "I meant what I said, Jason, no jumping off rooftops!"
"I won't." With one last, cold glance at Bruce's dark frown, Jason turned and left the room.