A/N: Thanks for the review, Elliot Ray! I'm glad you like it. :)

Chapter 11:

There was a phone in the kitchen and Mike had used it to notify the bus driver, who lived an hour away from the camp, and was now calling each child's parents. Without going into detail, he let them know that the teens were coming home early and asked them to have a ride waiting for them. The bus arrived and four of the counselors went through each cabin, packing everything and then loading the luggage into the storage bins at the bottom of the large vehicle. All the kids were lined up in the cafeteria, waiting for Batman to return and allow them to board. Bronte was at the head of the long line and glimpsed a small movement in the trees to the north. He turned his head to stare out the closest window, apprehension clearly evident in his eyes. Serina was in line behind Bronte and saw him look toward the forest. They both squinted and finally realized that there were two people walking out of the trees. One was tall and dark and had a commanding presence while the other was small and seemed to be limping slightly. Bronte's eyes widened when he recognized Batman; the smaller figure had to be Dick, then, right?

Bronte sprinted away from the line and out of the cafeteria before Mike could stop him, Serina hot on his heels. They both shouted Dick's name as they got closer and the boy's jaw dropped open in surprise. Batman stopped walking and allowed his ward to continue on his own. Suddenly Dick was on the ground, his still-tired legs not able to support both his weight and that of Bronte, who had grabbed the boy in a bear hug without thinking of the consequences. Batman began striding to where his ward had been thrown to the ground, ready to toss the tall boy away from Dick, but stopped again when the blonde began speaking.

"Oh, man, Dick, I'm so sorry," Bronte said as he stood up and stretched his hand out, ready to help his friend get to his feet. Dick hid his muddy, and still slightly bloody, hands behind his back and stayed sitting down while trying to catch his breath.

"No apology needed, Bronte, I'm just a little tired." He was telling the truth but that wasn't the real reason why he was still on the ground. Dick hadn't seen Serina circle around but he heard the loud gasp behind him and immediately squeezed his hands into painful fists again.

"Dick, what happened?!" Serina practically shouted as she dropped to her knees beside him.

Bronte looked confused and watched as Serina pulled Dick's right hand out and gently forced him to open it. Two pairs of eyes widened in shock and one pair closed in pain and embarrassment. This is exactly what Dick had not wanted to happen. He felt the other hand being inspected and growled in his head. Why couldn't Batman just wait until everyone left before coming back here?

"Dick?" Bronte whispered as he dropped to his knees on Dick's left side. Dick opened his eyes and shook his head so Bronte let it go. Serina, however, was determined to get the boy to talk to them.

"Dick Grayson, tell us what happened," she demanded and both boys looked at her in surprise.

Dick mentally growled again when he noticed that everyone else had now gathered around and his hands were the focus of seventeen pairs of teenage eyes. Did Batman want to see him humiliated in front of his peers?!

Everyone was talking at once, asking him what had happened with John and what had happened to his hands and why was there mud all over him and where had he been for the entire day. So many questions were being hurled at him that he couldn't even find a spot of silence to try to answer one, not that he wanted to. Dick didn't want to talk about any of it and everyone was moving closer and he was feeling crowded and overwhelmed and wanted to yell at them to shut up. But that wasn't in his nature so he kept his mouth shut and glared at the shoes of the closest person.

"Dick!" Serina wasn't as loud this time but she was still demanding an answer.


Batman smiled slightly as he watched the kids gather around Dick and begin asking questions. He frowned, though, when the circle began to grow smaller. There were too many people, too many questions and they were going to overwhelm Dick's tired mind and body. Batman strode toward the circle, ready to hurl the kids away from his ward, when he heard the demanding voice of the girl who had been the first to discover the state of Dick's hands. He crouched down and, through the mass of teenage legs, saw Dick. The boy's entire body was tense and he was glaring at the dirt in front of him.


"Stop!" Bronte suddenly shouted angrily at the circle of kids. He was holding a bloody hand on his lap and using his own water bottle to make more mud for the raw palm. Immediately the group became quiet and Batman was impressed. The blonde boy had, with one word, done what Batman hadn't been able to do earlier – silenced the easily excited young teenagers.

Mike, upon seeing the two walking toward the camp, had gone to get the first-aid kit. He walked up to Batman and held it out, assuming that the hero would want to be the one to use it. But Batman, who was now standing again, shook his head then nodded to the group.

"Batman," Mike whispered, "I doubt that any of them know how to use a first-aid kit and, from what I can see, those hands need knowledgeable medical attention. Just because they are friends doesn't mean they can take care of everything he needs."

Batman nodded thoughtfully then looked at Mike, "You're right but the mud can soothe his hands for now and the kids can take care of this particular need. Bruce Wayne told me that Dick was worried about being shunned and not having any friends. It shouldn't take being kidnapped to make friends with someone…"

"You think this happened today, right now?!" Mike interrupted incredulously while still whispering. "They've been friends since the first day, when Dick told everyone the story of how he became Bruce Wayne's ward!"

Batman raised his eyebrows in surprise, "He did?" He wondered why Dick had left out that small detail when he was telling Batman the long story back at the lake.

Dick, meanwhile, was fighting to keep the pain and humiliation from showing on his face. He saw Serina's arm reaching across his body so he quickly turned his head away. There was no way he was going to let anyone see what was underneath the bloody gauze that covered his cheek. Both of his hands were occupied, however – mud was spilling through his fingers as Bronte and another kid, whose name Dick couldn't remember, did their best to keep his palms cool. So, Dick didn't really have a choice when Serina gently pulled the gauze away. One of the girls screamed in terror and fainted while most of the other kids backed away. Dick looked at the ground and thought about what he was going to do to Batman when this was all over. He probably looked like a monster with all the missing skin that he had scraped off his own face.

Serina was horrified. That man had treated one of her best friends like…she couldn't even find a word to describe it! She put a hand on Dick's chin then gently lifted and turned his head so he was looking at her.

"I will be right back," she said and Dick was surprised at the anger in her voice. "Don't do anything except sit here and relax." Dick was just staring at her so she demanded, "Okay?" and was satisfied when he nodded. She carefully replaced the gauze on his cheek then stood and marched over to where False Face was still tied to the flagpole.


Batman was upset with himself now; Dick really was being humiliated. One of the girls had screamed like she had seen a monster and everyone else was backing away like they were scared of getting a deadly disease. He saw the reason when the circle widened and began to dissipate: someone had uncovered Dick's raw, bloody cheek. Batman had not anticipated that and yelled at himself in his head when he saw his ward looking at the ground, embarrassment visibly manifested in the way his body had slumped in toward itself. A minute later the group consisted of Dick, the girl who was now standing up and the two boys who were absently squishing mud into his hands while trying not to stare at the cheek.


Serina stopped in front of False Face. Everyone was staring at her and the villain was rolling his eyes at her look of anger. She began speaking quietly to the man but nobody could hear what she was saying. Dick saw her hands tightly clenched into fists and thought he knew what she was going to do.

"Serina, stop!" he shouted and she glanced toward him then went back to glaring at False Face. Dick started to get up but Bronte put his hand on Dick's chest and forced him to sit down again.

Batman watched as the girl replaced the Bat-gauze on his ward's face and stomped over to the villain. She looked furious and he watched her carefully, wondering what she was doing. Glancing at Dick when he heard the yell, he grinned slightly when the bigger blonde boy prevented his ward from standing up and going over there. Batman's eyes widened and his smile disappeared, however, when the girl dropped to her knees and pulled back a fist that he hadn't even seen. He sprinted to the flagpole and stopped the girl's hand before it reached the face of the villain then picked her up and turned her back toward Dick. She started struggling and screaming at him to let her go, that this man deserved to be punched in the face for what he had done to Dick. That lasted for about ten seconds before she went limp in his arms and dissolved into tears.

The three boys on the ground watched in shock as Serina prepared to hit the villain. Bronte stood and pulled Dick up with him, the latter grunting in pain as the older teen tugged on his injured left arm. Apologizing softly when he heard the noise, Bronte wrapped an arm around Dick's waist to support him and they ran toward their friend who was now sobbing in Batman's strong arms.

False Face went from startled – because the girl was about to hit him – to furious when he saw annoying, knows-too-much Dick Grayson running toward Serina with Bronte by his side. The villain grinned slightly, although his eyes were still full of anger, when he saw Dick's left cheek and muddy hands. At least the kid had been punished but now he was going to tell Batman everything. Using the kids of millionaires as lab rats had backfired because of one meddlesome thirteen-year-old boy.

Dick and Bronte finally made it to Batman. Bronte glanced at Dick with a question in his eyes and Dick nodded – he could stand by himself. Releasing Dick's waist, Bronte reached forward to pull Serina into his arms as Batman lowered her to the ground.

The tiny needles were back, pricking every one of the nerves in his body, and all of the pain was starting to fully register in Dick's mind. His shoulder – although still in its socket – was throbbing again, blood was trickling from his hands and face and he started to feel dizzy. He fought the urge to pass out, he didn't want to seem like a wimp, but now his body was trembling and swaying slightly. Dick's vision blurred and he whispered for help, reaching his bloody hands toward both Batman and Bronte. Neither one heard the quiet sound or noticed the slight movement and Dick dropped to the ground, unconscious before he hit the dirt.