Happy 2016!
Romani :)
Chapter 24
This day really sucked. Damian wished his brother hadn't opened his big mouth. He loved that Dick was a hero and all, but there were times to be a hero and times to not be a hero. It would have been better for Dick not to have been a hero this time. Maybe then, Damian's back wouldn't sting and they might be back in their room or with the other kids right now. Idiot brother.
Granted, besides the large amount of pain radiating through Damian's body, the burn was not the worst thing that could have happened. Yes, it hurt a lot and Logarithm had probably not been looking for a morale boost with his choice of hot metal thing, but it wasn't so bad. Damian thought that it would be the one injury that might not cause Tati to try to break every bone in their tormentor's body. It was shaped like a bat after all. And Tati liked Bats, right? Why else would he be Batman. Especially since Dick swore he wasn't a vampire. Not drinking blood didn't necessarily mean not a vampire. He could be a vegan vampire...
Damian grumbled as the blueman carrying him set him down in a chair in a room he didn't recognize. It was one of the ankle chain chairs that Damian didn't really fit in. He always had to sit on the edge of the chair and stretch his ankle out. There was a special chair in his classroom that had a binding around Damian's waist height. It still wasn't comfortable, but he could at least sit normally with it. They obviously hadn't thought to bring it down here.
"Should we really be doing this now?" One of the bluemen nearby spoke up to another. Damian tensed. "He'll be distracted by the pain in his back. It could mess up Phase 3."
The second one snorted. "Once we get the shock level up for the portal, he won't be focused on his back anymore. It's no different than the other times he has stressed out before we started. The stress is just in a different way. Besides, we already waited a few days. We're behind schedule."
The first blueman shook his head. "Only two other subjects have made it this far before and neither made it much farther. That should be enough reason to take it slowly and carefully."
"Yeah. It's the only reason Logarithm hasn't killed the kid yet. Don't push his luck. Our chances of getting another kid with the same specifications are near impossible."
Damian looked up to regard his older brother. They had locked the young teen into some metal contraption. The tracker anklet was off and he was spread out like a string pulled taut, probably pulling the wounds on his back uncomfortably. He looked suitably freaked out as well, although he seemed to be fighting to keep himself calm. The two boys locked eyes. To Damian's surprise, Dick's eyes were filled with no small amounts of agony and utter terror. Dick spent so much time comforting Damian lately that Damian had forgotten that his older brother was hurt and scared as well, way more hurt that Damian. Dick was good at hiding it. Seeing his brother scared sent shivers down Damian's spine. He wiped away the sudden wetness in his eyes.
"Meow." Damian tore his gaze away from his brother to search for the source of the sound.
"Kitty!" He shouted gleefully, spotting a small black and white kitten by a big, upright circle. A blueman was keeping it there. He lurched forward, but his trapped ankle caused him to topple pulling the chair down with him. He heard Dick snort. From his tangle, Damian glared up at the teen, who had a small smile on his face. That was better.
"Mew."
"Coordinates set. Subjects in place."
"Meow?"
There was a whirling sound and Damian briefly registered his brother's pain before his attention was to the upright circle where a colorful swirl of light was spinning into life by the kitten. The sound in the room reached a fever pitch and Damian clamped his hands over his ears. After about 30 seconds, he thought heard a "Go!" within the cacophony. The blueman picked up the hissing kitten, which was covering his ears with his paws as well, and threw him into the swirling light. The kitten disappeared instantly, and didn't come out the back.
The light persisted for about a minute, and then the bluemen shut it down. It swirled down to nothing. The hum died down, and Damian suddenly remembered his brother. Two bluemen were slowly disconnected the teen from the contraption and lowering him down. Damian noticed he was pale as a ghost. More of his hair seemed to have switched to white and was sticking up in all directions. Dick was breathing heavily and didn't seem aware of his surroundings. When the bluemen placed an arm under his injured back to lift him up, the teen didn't even wince, although he was twitching so Damian might have missed it. They set Dick down on a bed in the corner and strapped him down. As if that wasn't enough, they next strapped an oxygen mask around his mouth and nose, and put a heart monitor on his right pointer finger.
"Have a nurse look him over." The guy who seemed to be in charge said. "We'll find out from our allies tomorrow if the cat made it. I'd rather the subject didn't kick out on us just yet." Damian tried to get to his brother, but was hindered by the metal chair. It made a loud sound as it shifted. The weight pressed on his back, which was still not bandaged to allow the burn to cool down. He let out an involuntary yelp.
A blueman decided to be merciful. He lifted the chair and boy up, and carried them over to the corner. They left the boys allowed, figuring they couldn't go anywhere. The guy in charge started babbling to the rest of the blueman about how much of a success it probably was and there was a chance the portal would soon be stable enough for what they wanted to do. They would need to figure out why it worked, and they would need to make sure the subject got its medicine. Damian tuned them out.
Alex paced his room nervously as he waited for his two roommates to return. After they had left, the bluemen had corralled the kids and taken them to class a few at a time, making sure no one left the room when it was not their turn. The day had proceeded as normal, although it was easy to tell everyone was on edge. No one spoke at lunch, and no one answered questions unless forced to in class. Alex had been pulled aside for his experiment for about an hour following classes, and he had returned half an hour ago. The two boys still weren't back yet, although he hoped they would be back soon.
As the current oldest of the group, Alex felt responsible for the two younger boys in his room. Dick may have been Robin, and he certainly put on a brave face, but he was still only 13. Well, probably 14 by now but who knew for sure? It was hard to tell time in here. That 13 year old kid had been through the wringer in ways Robin had never been. At least Robin returned to Batman at the end of the day. Dick did not have that luxury currently. The isolation after Roy's death had destroyed what was left of Dick's fragile façade and he rarely smiled anymore, and when he did, it was mostly to Damian and rarely real. What's more? Logarithm refused to leave the boy alone, insisting on continue to torture him for his heroics.
Dick wasn't the only hero that day, but the kids hailed him up as the main one. Alex had made sure to slip truth into the rumor mill and confirm some of the rumors. Yes, Dick had knocked out five bluemen on his own. Yes, he had taken out the security and kept the doors open for as long as he could. No, he had not killed one of the guards. No, he had not sucked their blood. Alex was 95% sure Damian had started that one. Damian loved his vampire theories.
Alex personally felt that Logarithm had crossed the line when he had started attacking Damian to get to Dick, but there was nothing he could really do about it. He flopped down in the chair by his desk and sighed. He fiddled with Batkitty for a moment, and then put Dick's goggles on the toy and set them aside. He reached into the drawers and pulled out his journal of victims. He kept track of all the kids he could with it, but he knew it wasn't as thorough or complete as he would have liked. Still, he flipped through it, checking that it was up to date, and then hid it in the dresser once more.
Dick had downloaded some stuff onto a flash drive during the botched escape attempt and slipped it to Damian who'd given it to Alex. After much contemplation, he decided the best thing to do was hide the flash drive inside Batkitty. The bluemen wouldn't think to look for it there. He glanced at the door to check if Dick and Damian were coming back any time soon. Deciding it was unlikely; he grabbed the cat, slipped into the camera's blind spot and got to work.
Half an hour later, when Dick and Damian returned, Batkitty looked exactly the same except that the stitches were a bit newer and straighter. Alex quickly hid the needle when they entered, and rushed to meet them.
The first sign he had that something was seriously wrong was the fact that Dick was not carrying Damian. The second sign was that the bluemen were supporting both Dick and Damian. They lifted the two boys onto the bed and then left. Dick instantly passed out, a third sign of worry. Alex checked on him. He was still breathing, although the breath was labored.
"Alex?" Damian croaked.
"Damian? Are you alright?" Alex asked.
"Noooo…" He moaned.
"What happened?"
"Well…"
-Flashback-
Two bluemen shoved Damian and Dick down the hallway from the TV room with a third acting as support in case one or both of them acted out. Dick was wincing as his arms were pressed harshly into the wounds on his back. The blueman was too strong for him to fight against. He could not more than twitch his wrists to try to get out of the hold, not for lack of trying. When they reached the end of the hallway where the elevator was, they stopped and the third blueman blindfolded the two boys before calling the elevator. They were led through several more corridors before the blindfold was removed and they were both tossed into a bright white room.
Too bright, it had been too bright, and as soon as the bluemen closed the door behind them, a loud buzzing filled the air, drowning out all other noise. Damian had stumbled his way over to his brother and curled himself into a tight embrace, closing his eyes and burrowing his head. They stayed that way for ages.
-Current time-
"Were you there all time? Why is there a bandage behind your chest?"
"I'm getting to that!"
-Return to Flashback-
After a really long time (No, Alex, I cannot be more…. more… right? I think that's the word. Or 'exact' maybe? You know what I mean."), the bluemen came and dragged the boys out of the too bright, too white room and into another room nearby. Instead of tying them up to anything, the blueman had just held them firmly until Logarithm arrived.
The man had walked in considerably calmer than earlier, but Damian was suspicious about why. The scary man was a little too happy. He addressed the two captives.
"I finally picked a punishment for you two."
"You mean that room wasn't the punishment?" Dick muttered under his breath.
"What was that?"
"Nothing. Sorry, nothing, sir. I didn't say anything." Logarithm eyed Dick suspiciously for a moment as the teen cowered away.
"That's what I thought, brat." He sneered. "Now, I want an answer here, who's your favorite superhero?" Two incredulous stares answered him. "NOW!"
"Umm… Probably Ba-batman." Dick stammered. "Sir." He added.
"Hmm. Makes sense given that you're from Gotham. This should please you then. On your knees!" He snapped. Dick hesitated, but obeyed. Damian went to copy him as well, but a blueman held him up, and then spun him around so he was facing the blueman's chest. "Take his shirt off." The blueman's grip shifted to Damian's wrists as another pulled the boy's shirt off.
"What are you doing?" Dick asked.
"Why, giving him the punishment of course."
"What? No! Don't hurt him! Hasn't he been punished enough? Punish me instead! Ow!"
Logarithm snorted. "I told you we would hurt the kid if you didn't behave, but you didn't listen. However, since you asked so politely, I'll be sure to punish you as well." After the shirt was off, the grip was shifted to Damian's upper arms holding him in place. There was a searing pain on his back causing him to cry out, and then he blacked out from the pain.
A few minutes later, he jerked back into consciousness when he heard Dick scream as well, but try to cut it off. Damian whimpered as his back spasmed. He could sense his brother's eyes immediately focus their energy on him. Everything was really blurry.
-End Flashback-
"And that's what happened."
"So, your back hurt but you don't know what did they."
"Yes."
"Huh. But, if they hurt your back, why is Dick sleepy? The pain cannot be bad, right?"
"Well, it wasn't, but they took us to place afterwards and put him through ow. He has not wake up."
"Your grammar sucks." Both boys turned to look at Dick, who has shifted so that his eyes were blocked from the light.
"We're getting well though, yes?" Alex begged.
"Dami, yes. You, not really. I'm tired. Long day. Leave me alone please." Damian sent Alex a proud smirk, clearly pleased he was better at something.
"Yeah. Yeah. Do you want me to teach you some art basics as a prize?"
"YEAH!"
Posted at exactly midnight. :) Happy New Year!
Remember 2016, not 2015 nor 2012.
Phase 1: Basically prep.
Phase 2: Inanimate.
Phase 3: Animate.
Also, will be writing a lot more before posting ahead. No need to ask. I have three people IRL bugging me about it almost daily. :)