A/N: Thanks for the comment mystery guest. You're not wrong in your observation. The stories I post belong to UMdancer98; she's my older sister. However, she publishes her stories in the wrong fandom but doesn't know she's wrong. ;-) So I put them in the right one - another thing she doesn't know so don't tell her! :)
Chapter 10:
One last idea drifted idly through Dick's tired mind as he continued to sink slowly to the bottom of the lake. He took his right hand off the wood and pushed the water up toward the dock as hard as he could, hoping some kind of movement would make it to the surface. There was darkness all around him so he closed his eyes and struggled to keep his mind awake.
Batman's head flipped up when he heard a small 'splash' under the dock. Under the dock! He turned south, knelt down and looked over the edge – nothing. He laid on his stomach and scanned the five supporting poles that were bathed in sunlight. There was no evidence of anything and he was disappointed. Was he so desperate to find his ward that he, Batman, had actually imagined a noise? This was a waste of time and Batman, shaking his head, began to move his body away from the water in order to stand up.
Wait, what's that? The sun was glinting off the water and, just before his eyes left the underside of the dock, Batman noticed a light sheen of something on the far pole, the only one not covered in the brightness of the sun's rays. Quickly pushing himself onto his knees, he turned around to the other side of the dock and ran his gloved hand down the splintered wood. He pulled it away and was startled to find fresh blood sliding down his fingers. Batman grabbed the edge of the dock, twisted himself around into the murky water and was shocked to see several streaks of wet blood running down the length of the pole. A small bubble popped out of the water and burst and Batman immediately knew that Dick was somewhere down there, close to dying if he wasn't already dead. He took a deep breath and dove down, following the pole with his left hand as he descended. His head suddenly hit something soft and he grabbed it, intending to pull what he could feel was a small body to the surface. It was heavy, though, and it refused to budge. Batman was running out of air but he kept going down until his hand hit a boulder at the bottom of the lake. There was a chain on the boulder and Batman followed the metal links up with his hand, dismayed when he realized that it was attached to a small ankle. A few inches above the chain there was a rope that encircled the pole, a large knot securing it around both the pole and the ankles of his dying ward.
His arms were still wrapped around the pole and Dick was laughing in his mind as he watched clouds floating around, changing colors and shapes. It was amazing to look at and he didn't want it to end but something had just hit his body, bumping him around and causing the clouds to scurry away. Now there was something tugging on his legs and he shook his head in disappointment – the clouds weren't going to come back for a while because whatever had scared them away was not leaving. He started to sigh but, for a reason that he couldn't quite figure out, felt liquid slide into his lungs instead of air. So, he shut his mouth and began to follow the last little silver cloud that was fading into the distance.
Batman grabbed the Bat-knife from his utility belt and sawed at the rope around Dick's legs. He was starting to see little black dots and knew if he didn't get air soon neither of them would survive. Frustrated because he had to leave his ward behind, Batman pushed himself to the surface, took a deep gulp of air and dove down again. This time he didn't have to search and he quickly finished slicing through the rope. Dick's legs gently fell off the pole and Batman grabbed the boy's small body under the armpits, pulling as hard as he could. His ward's arms were now stuck, though, and Batman felt around. There was no rope or chain, just a pair of strong arms doing their best to remain still. Confused but not having time to figure it out, he forced Dick's arms apart and grabbed his armpits again.
Pain. There was nothing but pain now. His lungs were beginning to hurt, his shoulders were protesting a tugging movement and now his arms were being shoved away from their near-frozen position. Something heavy was pulling on his ankle and he idly wondered if his foot was going to fall off. He remembered hoping that one of his arms would fall off and realized that both limbs were on the same side of his body. That was going to make it difficult to do things: his body was going to be unbalanced. Then he realized something else – it didn't matter. He wouldn't need to balance when all he was doing was floating. Floating in something soft, floating away from the pain, floating into darkness….
The rock was huge and heavy and Batman suddenly doubted his ability to get them up to the surface by himself. Dick, however, was dying so the hero didn't really have a choice. He pulled and jerked and kicked and finally made it to the top. Gasping for air, he grabbed the pole with his right arm while hooking his left one around Dick's chest. The boy didn't appear to be breathing so Batman quickly laid on his back, kicked away from the pole and aimed for the dark mud that was ten feet away.
Almost immediately he felt land squishing under his back. He was relieved but knew they were still in danger. Dick's upper body was on the mud but they were on a slight incline. Both the boulder and gravity were threatening to overpower Batman's tired muscles and pull the boy right back under the water. Unhooking his left arm, he pushed the limp form off and sat up. As soon as he let go, Dick began sliding back down the slope but the now-standing Batman had his hands ready and was able to grab his ward's wrists and pull them up over the boy's head. After again tugging and jerking the small body several times, he was finally able to get the large rock out of the water and both of their bodies on top of the short hill.
Exhausted, Batman dropped to his knees beside the prone figure, turned his head to the right and placed his left ear on Dick's chest, listening carefully. There was a slow but steady beating and suddenly his ward was choking in the life-saving air as dirty lake water came spewing from his mouth. Batman removed his head and put his right hand under Dick's neck. The water dribbled down the front of the boy's chest as Batman elevated the head that was still limp. He sighed wearily and smiled slightly. His ward was alive, although his skin was freezing and he was shivering violently. The grin quickly faded into shock when Batman saw the state of Dick's left cheek – it looked like it had been sanded and there was a small piece of wood threaded through his cheek like a sewing needle.
Dick felt warm air on his face and was suddenly able to breathe without liquid entering his lungs. He gasped and choked and felt a heavy object on his chest, although it left just as he realized it was there. Now there was a familiar gloved hand on his neck, holding his head up. His eyes felt like they were glued shut but he forced them open and saw the easily recognizable cowl of Batman, although it was blurry and colorless.
Batman gently lowered Dick's head as the boy opened his eyes. He took off his cape and, although it was just as wet as his ward, began wrapping it tightly around the trembling body. Dick's palms were facing up and Batman was stunned when he saw them: there were deep gashes crisscrossing the crimson-colored skin and splinters poking out of several of the fingers. He had to warm Dick up before taking care of any non-life-threatening injuries, though, so he finished tucking the cape and then wiped the teen's wet hair away from his red-rimmed eyes.
"Dick? Can you hear me?" Batman said loudly, noticing that his ward's eyes were unfocused and slightly hazy.
Dick blinked his eyes several times and Batman came into focus. He looked different, however, and Dick frowned.
"What's wrong? Can you understand what I'm saying?" Batman asked, concern in both his eyes and his voice. He sighed in relief at the slight nod he received as an answer.
"Why are you wearing a white Bat-suit?" the boy asked quietly.
Batman was surprised at the question and scrutinized Dick's face carefully. "I'm not," he replied and realized that Dick's almost-drowned brain needed time to connect everything back together. "Do you remember anything?" he asked, not expecting a positive answer yet.
"Yes, unfortunately," Dick replied with a tinge of fear in his voice. Without being asked, he explained everything he could remember, beginning with the comments on the bus and ending with, "So now here we are, laying on the muddy ground and breathing in air instead of water." There were some gaps in the story and Dick knew he had missed something of significant importance. He had been in Mike's office with False Face and the villain had been answering all of his questions. But…what were the questions that he had asked the man?
Batman's emotions were rolling around inside him: sympathy when he heard about the first day; anger at the boy who had attempted to torment Bruce Wayne's ward; concern when he learned about that boy's death; pride when he heard how Dick had discovered that John was actually False Face; a little bit of irritation when his ward confessed to twice thinking about calling Batman but not actually making the call and fury when he saw the fear in the young teenager's eyes as he explained everything that had happened after he was captured. He showed nothing on his face, however. A thought unexpectedly raced to the forefront of his mind. The phone call to Bruce Wayne at two o'clock in the morning – Dick hadn't mentioned that. Batman opened his mouth to ask about it but Dick was already talking again.
"Did you catch False Face?" the teenager asked, trepidation evident in his tone. He was suddenly worried that the man was hiding in the darkness of the forest, waiting for Batman to leave Dick lying alone in the mud. Then the villain would come out and throw the boy in the lake, finishing the job that he had started when he tied Dick under the dock.
Dick's thoughts quickly shifted another way and he wondered if Batman was interested in any part of the story he had recounted. The man was just sitting there, not reacting to anything Dick was saying. He remembered the words the villain had flung at him earlier – the ones about Batman not wanting to save a bunch of rich brats – and decided to find out if it was true.
"Does it even matter to you?" he abruptly continued without giving Batman a chance to answer his previous question.
Batman was confused by the second question so he answered the first, "Yes, False Face is tied to a flagpole back at the camp." He paused for a moment and stared at Dick, who was staring at the sky. "Does what matter?" he finally asked.
Dick sighed and said softly, "Anything, everything, nothing, forget it."
"No," Batman demanded quietly, "tell me."
"Does anything I just told you even matter to you?!" Dick looked over at him and began shouting in frustration. "I mean, I'm telling you this long story and you're sitting there looking bored! Was capturing False Face the most important thing, so important that it was all you could focus on?" He turned his head and looked up at the sky again, not really expecting any kind of answer.
Batman was shocked and his face showed it – his jaw dropped open and his eyes widened. He shook his head and quickly shut down the reaction. Dick was right, though, and Batman's eyes were suddenly full of regret. False Face had been important, more important than making sure everyone was in the sleeping group he had found in the cafeteria. Dick could have died because Batman had been focused on capturing the villain instead of the safety of the kids and adults.
"Of course it matters," he replied and Dick heard guilt in the tone. "As Batman, though, I have to keep my emotions in check. You know that," Batman accidentally let a trace of accusation emerge with the last three words. He cringed when he realized how he had sounded and opened his mouth to apologize, something he was not used to doing. He didn't get a chance to speak, however, because his ward began mumbling sadly.
"But, for now, can you at least pretend that you care about what happened and that one of my friends died in my arms and that I'm still scared out of my mind…" Dick trailed off and closed his eyes, not wanting Batman to see the tears that were threatening to spill over his lower lids.
"Dick," Batman said softly as he saw a tiny tear escape from the corner of the boy's left eye, "I don't have to pretend to care. I do care. I'm sorry that this happened and that you had to go through all of it alone but I'm here now. You're safe, okay?"
"I almost died," Dick whispered quietly as he forced the moisture to recede, "and it's my fault! If I hadn't waited so long to call you, if I had been paying more attention when I called you...I almost died!"
Batman placed his right arm under Dick's shoulder blades and helped him sit up. He felt his ward flinch but decided that now was not the time to check that area for injuries. Instead, he wrapped his arms around the teen's trembling body. "I know, Dick," he was still speaking softly, "but you didn't and you are safe now. You did nothing wrong. This all happened because of False Face, not because of any of your actions."
"I should have called you sooner, though," Dick acknowledged.
"I agree," Batman replied. He carefully let go of Dick's still-shivering body, making sure his ward was able to stay upright on his own, and pulled his Bat-laser out of his utility belt. He moved closer to the boy's legs, aimed the Bat-laser at the chain connecting the large rock to the small ankle and thirty seconds later the metal snapped apart.
"Can I have a look at those hands?" Batman asked after Dick's body had finally stopped trembling.
Dick brought the right out from under the cape but the left refused to move. Batman saw the hesitation and pulled the cloth off the boy's body. He looked at the bulging left shoulder and wondered how his ward had held onto the pole for so long with a severely dislocated shoulder. His attention shifted and he stared at Dick's hands in dismay: blood, both wet and nearly dry, covered his palms and Batman counted twelve splinters all together.
Dick's shoulder was on fire again – the numbness had worn off – and his left arm was trembling. He saw Batman glance at the injury. "Please fix it," he whispered, agony obvious in his shaking voice. The dancing rainbows in his mind were joined by the bursting stars behind his eyes and Dick knew he was about to pass out.
Batman heard the quiet plea and held the swaying body upright while probing the joint. His ward was gasping in pain and automatically trying to pull his shoulder away from the agonizing touch. Dick's eyes were rolling back in his head and Batman decided to allow the boy to drift into unconsciousness before re-setting the joint. He was going to have to straighten it and shove it in – the arm was hanging diagonally away from the shoulder and was far removed from its socket. The pain would be intense and Dick had already been through so much. Batman gently laid the teen's body on the ground and waited for him to fall asleep.
Dick wanted to leave the pain behind and fall into darkness but he had remembered some important information. He forced himself to wake up, not realizing that Batman had just decided that it was time to fix the shoulder.
Batman manipulated the arm around and shoved it up, hard, until he heard the distinct 'pop'. He had been looking at the shoulder and was startled when a scream of anguish was torn from the throat of his young ward. He looked at the boy's face and saw wide blue eyes staring at him in shock. Dick's breathing was short and uneven so Batman rubbed his chest, attempting to calm him down.
"Sorry, Dick," Batman apologized for the second time in less than ten minutes. "Breathe with me, okay? In and out, come on." Batman began breathing steadily, staring into his ward's eyes, and was relieved when Dick's breathing evened out to match his own.
Dick couldn't remember what information he had remembered before but the pain in his shoulder had decreased slightly and he was beginning to calm down. He pushed himself up to sitting with his right hand then placed both hands on his lap with his palms up.
"Good thing I still have some of my trapeze calluses, right?" Dick was trying to lighten the mood so he added what he thought was a grin.
Batman saw the corners of his ward's mouth twist up into a pain-filled grimace. Quickly catching on to what Dick was attempting to do, he pulled out his Bat-tweezers. Examining the splinters carefully, he decided to start with the right hand. It would give Dick's left shoulder a chance to rest. He felt his ward wince when he took hold of the right hand and held it up in the sunlight.
Determined not to cry out anymore, Dick bit his tongue, then the insides of each cheek, then chewed his bottom lip, then clenched and his jaw and, finally, was able to relax as Batman put his right hand down. The same thing happened with his left hand and Dick wanted to grab the Bat-tweezers and throw them into the lake by the time they were done.
"There's one more, Dick," Batman stated stoically. Dick moved his head around, searching his entire body, then stared up at Batman with a questioning look.
Batman allowed himself a small grimace when he said, "It's in your cheek and it's the biggest one. Sorry about this." Before Dick could react to that comment, Batman had grabbed the end of the splinter that was threaded through Dick's cheek and pulled it out.
Tears of pain burst out of Dick's eyes without him even realizing they were there and he clenched his hands into fists. That only made it worse, however, as the palms of his shredded hands started pulsing painfully and droplets of blood began to fall onto the ground.
Batman pried Dick's hands open and slapped a handful of cool mud into each one, hoping to ease the burning sensation that he knew Dick was experiencing. It wasn't sanitary but it would have to do for now. He reached into his utility belt for some Bat-gauze and was disappointed in himself – there was only one piece left. Sighing, he grabbed it and pressed it firmly against Dick's left cheek, trying to be gentle at the same time. The medical Bat-tape was in the same pocket and Batman used it to carefully secure the top and bottom of the Bat-gauze to the small cheek.
Dick looked at Batman with pain-filled eyes and, with a touch of humorous anger, said, "Next time you pull a giant stick of wood out of my face, please give me some time to prepare myself for the small amount of discomfort."
Batman grinned slightly and stood up. "I don't have any Bat-ointment with me so we have to go back to the camp now. Your hands need something better than mud and Mike has a first-aid kit. Can you walk?"
"It's my hands that are torn, Batman, not my legs," Dick rolled his eyes as he started to stand up and was surprised when he immediately found himself back on the ground.
"I think your legs might be a little tired and numb," Batman smirked at Dick, who glared up at him. He grabbed the small torso and lifted it up so that the teenager was standing beside him.
"Thanks," Dick grumbled, already embarrassed that he was going to be limping or something equally un-cool in front of all the other kids.
Batman wrapped his left arm around Dick's waist and saw the emotion that was settling into his ward's blue eyes. "Don't worry," he stated, "your legs will be fine before we even get close to the campsite. We have to walk about three and a half miles to get there and that's plenty of time for them to warm up and regain some strength."
Dick shook his head; Batman was like a mind-reader!
"You really do need to work on containing your emotions," Batman commented as they started strolling toward the forest. "A half-blind, two hundred-year-old grandma could have seen that you were beginning to feel humiliated just thinking about walking into the camp like this."
"I don't have to contain them as Dick," the boy growled under his breath but Batman, of course, heard him.
"That's true, but you can always find something to work on while wandering through a forest on the way back to a camp filled with 'snobby rich kids' who are going to look at you like a hero, no matter how you arrive there."
Dick snorted, "A hero? Right, Batman, because that's what all rich teenagers think of when they see a small, wimpy-looking kid limping into camp and being supported by a hero."
Batman grinned and stopped talking. Dick would just have to wait and see, then.
