AN: DUN DUN DUHHHHH! So for real, this is the final chapter. I cannot even express how much we appreciate everyone who has been supporting us and leaving feedback throughout the process. Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU! We hope you enjoy the final chapter! Be on the look out for a sequel (coming, eventually) and short stories that will be filling in the gaps of the before of this story.
Chapter Ten
Slowly, her hands shaking on the wheels of her chair, Barbara came to the closed door of Dick's room. The words Private Room were stamped across it, and she knew that that could be her excuse. She could go back to the waiting room right now and rejoin the others. And then, she could feign ignorance – it wouldn't be too much of a stretch for her to tell everyone that she didn't realize she could have knocked. But she was smarter than that. Everyone would know that she was lying – even though not a single one of them would call it like it really was. None of them would dare call her afraid. Barbara raised her hand to knock.
A nurse answered the door. Pretty, brunette, slender, and with a slightly condescending look on her face.
"I'm sorry, Miss," the nurse said. "Only family is allowed in at this time." The woman didn't sound sorry. On the contrary, she sounded pleased to have some type of power on her hands. Barbara was just about to let the brunette know when she could shove her sorry when Dr. Thompkin's voice called from the inside.
"Let her in, Jenna. Anyone who can make it past that waiting room is allowed in the room."
The woman reluctantly opened the door wider to let her in. Barbara froze however, when the young woman came around behind her and placed her hands on Barbara's chair.
"What are you doing?" Barbara demanded, applying the manual brake.
"I was just!" The nurse said, still not seeming to realize that she should let go of the chair.
"Leave her be, Jenna," Dr. Thompkins said exhaustedly. The older woman didn't even bother to look up from the chart in front of her. "That young woman can move around better than I assume you can in a pair of one inch heels." The woman backed off with a huff, but she didn't leave the room.
Barbara wheeled herself closer to the bed, her eyes scanning Dick's body. His leg was pretty well secured, and there was no sign of the blood that had stained Jason's pants. But the lack of blood didn't make the scene in front of her any less terrifying. Dick was hooked up to at least four different machines that Barbara could see – each of them beeping or pinging softly. She was dying to get the chart in Dr. Thompkin's hands. A part of her was also desperate to run her fingers over the patches of exposed skin to remind herself that this body in front of her was still her Nightwing. She bit her lip, reaching out tentatively. No, this wasn't Nightwing. This was undeniably Dick Grayson: human, fragile, breakable –
"So are you a friend of the Wayne Family?" Jenna's falsely chipper voice shattered whatever moment Barbara was about to have. She drew her hand quickly back into her lap.
"I beg your pardon?" Barbara questioned, her eyes flitting over to the nurse briefly, before turning back towards Dick.
"A friend of the family," Jenna replied. Each of her words was repeated slowly. Barbara had to admit that she had heard her the first time – she just didn't see how her relationship to Dick was any of this woman's damn business. But Nurse Jenna was talking again.
"We're just trying to be extra careful, ya' know?" Jenna supplied.
Yes, Barbara knew. In fact she knew better than Jenna ever would. Again, Barbara opened her mouth to talk, but Jenna plowed right on through.
"You see, with Richard being one of Mister Wayne's children, Dr. Thompkins is worried there might be paparazzi trying to get in. We're trying to keep this whole camping trip fiasco quite."
Richard? Oh sweet Jesus, no one, not a single person since the teachers at Gotham Academy, had called Dick Richard. Barbara glanced up to see Dr. Thompkins adamantly trying to focus on the chart and not whatever hideous ass handing Barbara was about to deliver. But the nurse had no idea. She kept talking. Every word from her mouth had Barbara wondering how much it would take it get it reduced down to "justifiable homicide" if she pushed the woman out the hospital window.
"I'm his!" Barbara interrupted, and then stopped. His what? She looked down at Dick like he was going to be able to magically give her the answer to whatever they were. It didn't matter though, Nurse Jenna didn't seem to have heard her.
"You have to understand, with someone of Richard Wayne's, shall we say standing? There are always going to be women who will want to- "
"Enough," Barbara finally said, her voice dropping to the deadly tone she usually reserved for villains, occasionally Bruce when he needed to be told off, and definitely Dick when he was getting on her nerves.
"His name," Barbara started coldly, "is Richard John Grayson. But the truth is, he hates being called Richard, because it was what his mother called him when she was angry. His last name has never been Wayne, because when Bruce finally did adopt him, they sat down and had a conversation about it. They both decided that it was the right thing for Dick to keep his parents' name as a lasting memory to them – even though Dick was really worried Bruce was going to be offended, which he wasn't. And as for money hungry little doxies who might be trying to use this as an opportunity to- " But Dr. Thompkins didn't let her finish.
"Jenna!" The older woman called, stepping in between the two younger women. Barbara hadn't noticed when she'd started to move away from the bed. "Jenna, why don't you take this down to pathology for me," she handed Jenna a folded piece of paper, "and see if they have any of my lab work done yet."
Jenna took the paper with a smile for Dr. Thompkins and something too closely resembling a sneer for Barbara.
"Of course, Dr. Thompkins. You know I'll help in anyway I can." And then the girl mercifully, went out the door.
"I could have taken her," Barbara announced once the doctor had turned to look at her. Dr. Thompkins raised an eyebrow in away that reminded Barbara too much of Alfred.
"I never had any doubt of that, Ms. Gordon." Dr. Thompkins' look of reproach faded into a small smile as she motioned Barbara back over towards the bed. "Bruce and Alfred have both been in to see him," she said.
"Is there anything to know?" Barbara asked, finally getting her chance to run her fingers over one of Dick's callused palms – the one not attached to an IV.
"Not really," Dr. Thompkins admitted, sounding frustrated. "Not until I can get that blood work back." Barbara just nodded. "It's none of my business," Leslie began, laying a hand on Barbara's shoulder, "But are the two of you dating again?"
"I…" Barbara started. "We're…"
"Ah, the usual then," Dr. Thompkins supplied, her fingers squeezing Barbara's shoulder slightly. The older woman turned to recollect the chart and other papers that had been left on an elevated table at the end of the bed. "I'm going to be stepping out for a bit. Got to see how many fires I can light to get the information I want."
"Can I…" Barbara started, her eyes still looking at Dick. "Can I stay?"
"Of course you can, my dear. Stay as long as you need."
Barbara turned to smile at her, and then watch the woman leave the room, her fingers never moving from the pulse point on Dick's wrist.
"Come on, Boy Wonder," she whispered, finally letting the tears start to slide down her face. "I still need you."
*x*
Dick opened his eyes. The room around him was a pale white, and the brightness of the lights that pierced his pupils made him squint in pain. Where was he? Everything around him seemed vaguely familiar, but he couldn't put his finger on where he'd seen it all before.
And what had woken him? He was alone at the moment. The last he remembered, he'd been in the jungle with Jason. Dick remembered hearing a voice, a female voice. A voice dripping with concern over his well-being, trying its best not to crack, not to cry.
Barbara.
Dick looked around, but couldn't see her. The room didn't look like a hospital ward. It looked like a well-furnished hotel. As he sat up, Dick rubbed his hands against his face, his head pounding from the exertion of the movement. This was all so confusing, so... strange. He didn't know how he'd gotten here, didn't remember anything since the jungle.
"Dick!" A voice pierced his thoughts, and he looked up to see a mop of red hair bounding through the door to his room. But it wasn't the redhead that he'd expected to see.
Wally.
"Wally?" His best friend's name escaped his lips a millisecond after it flashed through his brain. The last time Dick had seen Wally was a flash in a swirling vortex of energy, and when that vortex had finally faded, his friend was nowhere to be seen. But now here he was, in the flesh, green eyes bright and smile big.
"Uh, yeah, lover boy. Who'd you expect? The blushing bride?" Wally laughed as Dick's mouth dropped open. "You know you don't get to see her until everyone else does, Romeo." The speedster's eyes moved past Dick to the bed with messy sheets behind him.
"Dude, tell me you did not just fall asleep on your wedding day. In your tux."
"In my... what?" In a speed that could have only been beaten by Wally, Dick was over at the mirror in front of the sink. His face looked slightly older, but beyond that there was no change in his appearance. His clothes however, were a different story. A crisp black tux clung to his body, a vibrant blue tie hung from his neck, and a yellow daisy adorned his lapel.
"You're lucky you didn't squish that flower, Dick. She would have killed you." Dick opened his mouth to ask about his bride when he shook his head and grabbed his best friend by the shoulders.
"Wally, what is going on here? How are you alive? How are you..." Dick paused as something on Wally's left hand caught his attention. Grabbing it, Dick held Wally's hand up in front of his face. "How are you married?" Wally laughed and backed away from Dick slightly.
"Dude, I know it's a little freaky that bachelor extraordinaire Dick Grayson is finally settling down, but you're really starting to weird me out." Dick shook his head, rubbing his hands over his face again and again as Wally kept talking.
"Dick, you were the Best Man at my wedding. You walked Artemis down the aisle.
You're my son's godfather, for fuck's sake! Don't you remember any of that?" Wally's voice was rising now, in pitch and volume. Dick continued rubbing his face with his hands.
"This isn't real, this isn't real, this isn't real." He kept mumbling that phrase over and over and over again. "You're dead. You're not here. This can't be real." Dick felt a hand place itself on his shoulder. That hand suddenly felt very heavy. He looked up into the eyes of his best friend, but they were different now. Somehow... sadder.
Wally's clothes had also changed. He now wore the familiar yellow and red of his Kid Flash costume, his goggles pushed up his forehead, keeping his mop of red hair away from his face.
"You're right, Dick. This isn't real. I'm not alive. And neither are you."
The room darkened as Dick's clothes changed as well, reverting back to his familiar Nightwing uniform, torn and bloodied from the ordeal in the jungle. A faint, steady, high pitched beeping that sounded like it was off in the distance could be heard, but Dick couldn't pinpoint where it was coming from.
A flash of light made his eyes squint. The darkness was gone, replaced by a swirling vortex of light and noise. The beeping sound was gone, replaced by a high pitched tone that only seemed to grow in volume.
"Wally... Wally, what's going on?" A sad smile crossed his friend's face as he gestured around him.
"You're going to die, Dick Grayson, unless you pull your head out of your ass." The redhead walked over, placing both hands on Dick's shoulders and looking him dead in the eyes. "She needs you to come back, Dick. I need you to come back."
Dick didn't need to ask who she was, and through the incessant tone, he could almost swear that he could hear her voice. "You need to find me, Dick. She can help you do that. You both need to come find me."
"Find you?" Dick's voice strained over the growing noise around him, yelling despite the fact that his friend was within arm's reach. "Wally, you're dead! How can I find you?"
Another smile creased Wally's face, one that Dick remembered seeing countless times in their childhood. "You know that isn't true, Dick. Think. You know where I am. You know I'm alive."
"Wally..." A white-hot shock that seemed to be coming from Wally's hands ran through Dick's chest. He staggered in pain.
"Wally... what the..."
"It's time for you to go, Dick. It's time for you to bring me home." Another shot of pain arced across his abdomen. The raven-haired man dropped to his knees, clutching his stomach.
"Wally!"
"I'll see you soon, Dick." A final jolt sent Dick flying onto his back, his chest heaving in pain. He looked up to see his friend walking away from him, tossing a smile over his shoulder as he pulled his goggles down.
"WALLY!"
Everything went white.
*x*
Barbara didn't like being here. She hated it. The smell of disinfectant, the harsh light of the fluorescent bulbs, even the sound of the air coming in through the vents nearly drove her mad. She figured it had something to do with having spent way too much time on her own, prisoner to a hospital bed. Being a watcher in a hospital though, came with its own type of shackles. Waiting, and not being able to do a damn thing, was it's own special type of hell. She would have to remember to call her father again later. She owed him another thank-you, or five, for all the time he sat next to her hospital bed.
The steady beep of the heart monitor lulled her back into some type of pensive trance. She supposed that rhythmic repetition could be almost soothing after awhile. At least that's what Barbara Gordon decided. It was a better sound to focus on than the soft, sometimes ragged breathing of the man she once, still, loved laying in front of her.
Beep. Beep. Beep.
Dick Grayson hadn't woken up, hadn't moved, hadn't shown any acknowledgement to the steady trickle of people who came in to check on him. "Currently unresponsive." That's what Leslie had called it. Barbara held onto the fact that the brain scans still showed a lot of activity. He was still in there. He was still fighting.
Clark had even stopped by. It was a nice gesture, even if the Kryptonian's super-hearing hadn't been able to tell them anything beyond what they already knew. Dinah had stopped by as well, to check on her more than Dick. Barbara had told her the same thing she told everyone else: she was fine, she would get some sleep when she could, she needed more coffee, and that she wasn't going anywhere. Dick Grayson was in the fight of his life, and there was nothing more anyone on the outside could do for him. The fight was up to him now.
Beep. Beep. Beep.
The room was empty now, except for her and the ebony-haired man laying on the bed before her. The others, all of them who shared the curse of some type of Bat-symbol had been in, stayed for a little while, and then left. Everyone besides Barbara had had to leave. No one else had been able to handle more than twenty minutes at a time. No one else, in a family full of masochists, really wanted to stomach this kind of hell.
Barbara traced her hands down one of his arms, over the scars that slinked over his muscles like levies holding back a river. So many of those scars she recognized, knew the stories behind them, the flash of pain in his eyes or the crease of his lips that accompanied each of those ancient riverbeds of pain. And there were others, ones that she didn't recognize, didn't know the story behind. Her fingers danced over one of them, twisting and learning the unfamiliar pattern. Now Barbara was worried she would never learn those stories, never have the chance to soothe those wounds with soft kisses like she had with so many others.
Beep. Beep. Beep.
Barbara ran a hand through her own ragged, crimson hair. She couldn't remember the last time she'd showered. Or slept. Or ate. Or... anything, really. Ever since Damian had disappeared, her only thought had been on bringing him, and then the boys, home. The redhead knew she would have time to do all those things once Dick woke up, once he was okay.
Beep. Beep. Beep.
"Ughwalngh..." The barest sound escaping from Dick's lips brought Barbara jolting back into the present. She shifted herself even closer to his bedside, one hand resting on his chest, the other stroking his forehead.
"Dick... can you hear me?" She paused for a moment. There was no response, no change in the man's condition despite his breathing becoming slightly more ragged.
"Come on, Boy Wonder," Barbara pleaded. "You have to wake up. It's time to get up now. It's time to come home..." She willed herself not to cry. She had cried too many times in the months and then years that he had been gone. She had cried too many times when her imagination had wondered, had led her to believe that maybe he wasn't ever coming back. And then Barbara had cried too many times all over again as they had fought – trying to decide what they hell they were to each other.
Beep. Beep. Beep.
The steady pace from Dick's heart monitor had picked up in intensity. Barbara ignored it. Moving her hand from his chest to grasp one of his, she leaned her lips down to Dick's ear.
"You need to wake up, Dick. You have to come back to me." The once-soothing beeping was now even faster, feeling more like a ticking time bomb than one of the only indicators the original Robin was still among the living.
"Dick, please." Barbara was begging with him now, tears snaking down her cheeks like those scars snaked down his arms. "Please. I still love you."
Beep. Beep. Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep.
Her head shot up from its resting place next to Dick Grayson's ear to glare at the monitor. The steady up and down lines had been replaced by a single, steady, unending straight one.
"No!" Barbara screamed with enough force that Dinah would have been proud of her. Her green eyes, so similar in color to that traitorous straight line, stared it down, as if daring it to continue defying her wishes. It did.
The room was suddenly a whirlwind of noise and motion. Dr. Thompkins was first through the door, pulling her away from the side of the bed as an assistant followed with a crash cart. Barbara leaned from her chair, clawing at Dick's blankets, desperately trying to hold on to something, anything, as she hoped he clung to life.
She was able to place herself at the foot of the hospital bed, clutching the footboard with a vice grip as Thompkins rubbed the paddles together.
"Clear!" The snow-haired woman pressed the paddles against Dick's now pale skin. Barbara could hear the charge, and the discharge. She saw his muscles tighten, but the heart monitor did not stop its incessant, taunting tone. Dr. Thompkins' mouth tightened as she turned to her assistant.
"Clear!" Again, she pressed the paddles against the raven-haired man's chest.
There was nothing, no movement. The steady tone continued. Barbara could feel the tears in her eyes, blurring the scene around her, but doing nothing to stop it from searing itself into her mind. This was another nightmare that would live with her forever. She brought her eyes up, locking with Dr. Thompkins', begging, pleading with the older woman not to give up. The doctor almost sighed, a resigned resolve on her face as she turned back to the crash cart one last time.
"Clear." Leslie Thompkins pressed the paddles into Dick Grayson's chest with force, the shock coursing through his body one last time. Time seemed to stop for Barbara as she watched him lay there, before he drew a haggard gasp of air through his lips. That stupid green line pushed up again, weakly, up and down it went. Barbara couldn't help the sob of relief that slip through her lips. With an exhausted smile, she let her eyes travel back up to his face – and her heart clenched. The slightest bit of blue met her gaze.
Dick's eyes cracked open slowly.
*x*
Artemis stretched her arms out over the side of her battered couch. The apartment was small, and there wasn't a lot of stuff in, but it was her home now. It had been a decent day. There had been a lot of decent days over the past couple months. She'd gotten up, gotten to stretch and take Brucely for a walk. The aforementioned pit bull now snored noisily at her feet. She leaned across to scratch his ears lovingly. Artemis mentally noted that she hadn't felt this calm in a long time. Things weren't perfect, but they were… they were okay. And okay was a really good start.
She was just about to head to the kitchen to start lunch when there was a knock at the front door. Brucely perked his head up only to yawn disinterestedly.
"Some guard dog you are," Artemis laughed, pulling her body up from the couch. The number of people it was likely to be was small, in fact she had it narrowed down to one even before she got close enough to look through the peep hole. On the other side stood a young man in a battered leather jacket. Artemis smirked and pulled the door open.
"And what do you want?" She offered in greeting. She watched as a lazy smile crossed his face, and rolled her eyes as he took the time to look her over. His eyes hungrily taking in her white tank top and jeans, made her smirk. This boy fancied himself a predator.
"What?" Jason asked, mock hurt in his voice. "Can't I just swing by to say hello?"
Before she could answer, he leaned forward, pressing his lips to hers, hard.
Artemis's mind flashed her back to the first time this had happened. Before she thought he was anything but some punk pulling a red helmet from his head in a dirty alleyway of a European country. She remembered the tastes of him then, cigarettes and the slightest hint of desperation. But this time, she hadn't chased him down on Barbara's insistence – on Barbara's dream that he might have been someone else. No, this time, like so many other times since the first, he had come to her. With a slight smile, she pulled back from him.
"You could," she answered, her voice husky. "But you don't." His laughter reached her ears.
"Please, I've been coming over to say hi pretty frequently these past few weeks."
Artemis snorted, pulling him in through the door by his jacket collar.
"If by "hi" you mean something else entirely," she laughed. It had started simple enough. There had been that time in Europe. Then when he and Dick had come back, it had happened, over and over again: both of them using the other's body to chase away the feeling of emptiness that clung to their souls like frost to the windows in winter. It had been about not feeling lost, about not feeling alone. But lately it had been…
"I may," he growled, low and in her ear. "I may have just come from the Good Doctor Thompkins." He maneuvered her body against the now closed door, arms on either side.
Artemis found herself musing about just how horrible her dog really was at guarding her, as he stayed on the couch while Jason Todd pinned her to the door. Either that, or the poor thing had just seen this scene too many times to care.
"Oh?" Artemis quipped, bring herself back to the present, to the feeling of his leg brushing against hers.
"I am officially cleared to resume normal activities," his mouth was by her ear, his breath teasing the fine hairs at the back of her neck. "It means that I no longer have to play nice."
And good Lord did he feel wonderful, all tight muscles pressing against her. But when she closed her eyes, she saw something else. She saw blood and bruises and broken bones. Artemis's eyes opened in time to see him coming in for another kiss, but she turned her head away, his lips coming up short, just ghosting over her high cheekbone. He pulled away, the cooler air of the apartment seeping in between them.
"What? What's wrong?" he asked, his eyes trying to find hers. "I thought you'd be happy to –"
Artemis expertly extricated herself from between his arms, crossing hers as she moved away from him.
"It's not that… it's just…" He didn't let her finish before his fingers wrapped themselves loosely around her bicep. She could break the hold easily if she'd wanted to. All it would take would be to move a few steps forward.
"Artemis, talk to me." The way he said her name made her stomach turn. Like he didn't pity her, like he understood. But she didn't want understanding right now. She turned to him, her eyes squinting as if to read his face.
"Jason, are you even a little bit sorry for what you guys did?"
His head cocked to the side, but he didn't pull away. He didn't raise his voice.
"No," he replied, matter of fact. "We did what we had to do."
It might have been a little irrational, but Artemis could feel a twinge of anger spark in her chest.
"No, you did something stupid," she answered flatly. She couldn't shake the image of a bloody Jason half carrying, half dragging his unconscious brother across an open beach as they were fired at. "You guys went and did something completely reckless without thinking through the consequences." She wanted to fight. She could feel it building inside of her. But Jason stayed standing in front of her, remarkably calm.
"We're talking about the same thing, right? Going to rescues the little monster from his kidnappers?" It frustrated her that he didn't even raise his voice – that he just stood there, arms at his sides. Her voice, however, rose sharply.
"Yeah, same thing, Jay." She could feel herself starting to shake, but Artemis, for the life of her, couldn't put her finger on why. Why now, after weeks, she wanted to have this fight, but she did. "But I'm pretty sure what you meant to say was running headlong into a trap that almost cost –"
"Hey, everything's fine. Everything turned out okay." His voice was still so calm, so rational – way more than it had any right to be.
"Yeah, this time!" Her voice cracked, as if her body just had to point out the difference between the two of them. "Jesus, I thought Dick was done making these kinds of stupid mistakes."
"Please," Jason had the audacity to chuckle. "Dick and stupid go hand in hand sometimes, you know that."
"I do, a little too well, thanks." It came out bitter, and harsher than she'd meant, but right now, Artemis felt like she was running full speed at a brick wall, and she just couldn't stop. "It was just – I mean really? No plan? No plan at all? And then to drag the rest of you into his mess!" Jason held up his hands, as though to shield himself from her. It was only then that Artemis noticed she had begun moving closer.
"Look I'm all for shitting on Dickie bird, don't get me wrong, but to be fair, I wasn't dragged anywhere. I probably egged him on."
"Fine," Artemis said, her own recklessness boiling over. "Then why do you have to be so reckless, Jason Todd? You'd think dying once was enough for you." He pulled back from her as if she'd slapped him.
"Hey!" Finally there was a shout to his voice.
"Did you even think? Did it even cross your mind that – "
"Artemis, look at me," he interrupted, his arms going wide. "I am completely fine." He said it like a promise, meeting her eyes. But Artemis knew too well that those kids of promises were easily broken.
Jason moved towards her, concern etched into the lines of his face. "What is this even about?" he asked, inches away from pulling her towards him.
"I could have lost yo -" her hands flew up, both of them clamping over her mouth. Shaking, Artemis pulled away from him, her eyes closed, refusing to admit to what she had been about to say.
The seconds ticked by without a sound, and Artemis' mind thrummed with energy, even as she stood stock-still. She had been about to tell him that she couldn't have handled loosing him. She had been seconds from admitting that maybe, maybe, after all these years, she had fallen in love again.
Slowly, as if to give her plenty of time to pull away, his arms encircled her. Jason pulled her back into his chest, his chin resting softly a toped her head. Their breathing synched easily as they stood together, saying a whole lot without any words. He knew, Artemis knew that he understood her. She opened her mouth slowly, making the decision to tell him.
"Jason?"
"Mmm?" he responded. She could feel the rumble through her body more than she heard it. The idea made her smile, but the vibrating of his phone, followed by the special Oracle Calling melody rang out from her own, sitting on the couch. They both separated with a sigh. But Artemis smiled softly. It was okay. There'd be time later.
*x*
There was almost a smile tugging at the corner of Jason Todd's mouth as he walked into the Batcave. Despite everything that had happened over the past couple months, he was almost... happy... for the first time that he could remember.
That grin that had threatened on his lips finally blossomed when he saw Artemis staring, mouth open, at the Batcave. Jason was pretty sure this was the first time she'd been in here, but he was pretty confident it wouldn't be the last. He noted that the two of them, dressed in civilian clothes, looked to be the strangest tour group of all time here in the oddest museum in history.
It had been almost two months since Dick had finally woken up from the nightmares that Scarecrow and his toxin had plunged him into. When Bruce and the rest of the Justice League descended on Santa Prisca, everything was gone. The factory where they'd been held was just an empty shell. Jason was pretty sure that Bruce had wanted to blow up the factory just out of spite, but Wonder Woman had stopped him. In all honesty, he had never felt so close to his adopted father.
A ding drew his attention away from the blonde beside him and towards the elevator Bruce had installed after Barbara had been shot. The doors opened, and two, not one, wheelchair-bound members of the Bat-family emerged. Dick was already in physical therapy for his mangled right leg, but was still spending most of his time in a wheelchair. Being a wheelchair jockey had turned him into something of a mini-Oracle, which frankly was something Jason didn't need in his life. One was more than enough.
Alfred and Bruce emerged from the elevator as well, the older man setting down a tray of small sandwiches and drinks. The tray was nearly attacked by Stephanie, who, after grabbing one for herself, did turn to offer to where Tim and Cass remained sitting. Both waved her off.
"Thanks for coming, everyone," Barbara said, spinning around as Dick wheeled himself over to the Bat-computer and began typing away.
"Like we had a choice." Jason knew his comment, delivered under his breath, would have gone unnoticed by Barbara if Steph hadn't giggled. What followed was a song and dance Jason had seen far too many times before; he already knew all the steps.
Babs glared at the blonde. Steph stopped laughing, but flicked her eyes over in his direction. Barbara shifted her disapproving gaze to Jason, and he shrugged his shoulders dramatically, bringing an end to the little sibling production.
A swift elbow from Artemis to a newly healed rib provided an encore of giggles from Stephanie and broke up the usual back and forth.
"Ow..." Mock pain entered Jason's voice as he rubbed the spot where her elbow had landed.
"Oh shut it, that didn't hurt." Still, Artemis' lips pulled into a tight smile. The time Jason had been able to take off from crime fighting duties while he had recuperated had been, well, he called it relaxing. Others might call it something else, but he considered himself exceptionally lucky to have been able to spend most of it with her.
"Quiet." All extraneous noise in the Batcave petered out. Jason wondered if Bruce had trained the stalactites to cease their dripping when he wanted them to. Even in civilian clothes, the man's "Batman voice" still commanded complete attention.
Barbara nodded to their den... something... before continuing. "Right. Since the little Santa Prisca vacation you boys took," Jason was glad they were already joking about this, "we've obviously had some downtime. Dick and I have been working to crack the encryption on the files he pulled off Bane's mainframe, and once we did, it took a while to sort through everything."
"Question." It was Timmy. Of course it was Timmy. And of course he was raising his hand like they were back at fucking Gotham Academy. Jason smirked as even Damian tutted at the gesture.
"Drake, stop waving your arms like an imbecile. Ask your question." Jason watched Timmy shoot the youngest Bat-child a glare. At least some things hadn't changed.
"When did you pull the files off the mainframe?" He never would have admitted it, but Jason was wondering the same thing. Dick turned from the computer, that cocky grin back on his face. It was the first time Jason had seen it in a while.
"While you guys were grabbing D. I figured they might be useful." Both Dick and Barbara turned back toward the computer in perfect unison. Jason shook his head.
"Please never, ever do that again." The Oracles ignored him. Steph snickered and he was sure he even heard a snort of amusement from Artemis.
As Dick's fingers flew over the keyboard, a number of files started popping up on the screen, each of them with different labels. "There was more here than we thought. For one, the Light is still scheming. They left the formula for the new Nightmare toxin laying around. Manhunter and the Atom are already synthesizing an antidote in case we need it in the future." His older brother punched a few more keys and other files popped up.
"We also found out that the voice you guys heard during my..." Dick paused for a moment, swallowed, and then forced the word out, "interrogation was Ra's al Ghul. Seems like the whole thing was his idea."
Jason's eyes flashed over to the littlest Robin. Damian's face seemed to be made of stone, betraying no emotion. Pretty cold, Jason thought, for just learning his dear grandfather had made him human bait. Still, he noticed the boy's eyes shift over to Bruce, who responded with a nearly imperceptible nod of his head. They'd be going after the Head of the Demon soon.
"But the most important thing we found was this..." Dick cleared all other files off the screen except for one labeled "Metagene". Jason felt Artemis stiffen next to him, and watched as both Stephanie and Timmy physically recoiled. He had heard stories about the Reach invasion and their research into Metagenes, but was still fuzzy on the details. All Jason knew was that Steph had been captured at one point, and that the Reach invasion culminated in the events that led to Wally West's death.
Barbara turned away from the computer while Dick remained staring at the screen, his hand hovering above the "Enter" key. The redhead seemed to be staring right at him. No, not at him. At the woman next to him. At Artemis. There was a sadness in her eyes, like she knew what was coming next was going to hurt...
"Look." Dick's eyes still hadn't moved from the screen. "Wally is alive."
If Artemis had stiffened earlier, she completely froze now. Her breath quickened in pace, like an animal about to bolt. Jason was aware of audible gasps around the cave, and all eyes now on the two of them. Even Dick had turned away from the computer.
"Dick, please." Artemis' words were pained, almost hollow. Her chest still heaved, and Jason could tell she was struggling to keep emotions barely held in check from boiling over.
"Matter can't be created or destroyed." Dick's voice quivered with... emotion? Anticipation? Jason couldn't tell which. "It can only be changed from one form to another. Wally couldn't have just vanished. So unless the Law of Conservation of Mass has been repealed, he's still alive." Dick turned back to the computer and Jason wasn't sure if Artemis was going to collapse into a ball of tears or explode in an unholy rage on the Boy Wonder.
"Look, during one of my nightmares, I saw Wally and he told me -"
"Wally? Wally told you?" Artemis had gone with unholy rage. Her voice trembled, rising in pitch as she took a few steps towards him. "Dick, come on. Don't do this to me. I dream about him too - all the fucking time, and he talks to me too, but you can't honestly believe that."
"No, Artemis. Wait." Barbara wheeled herself towards her friend, her arms reaching out to her. Artemis shook her head, her hands out in front of her like she was trying to ward off some evil spirit. Maybe she was.
"I can't. I can't do this." The blonde staggered backward, stumbling for a moment before regaining her footing and almost running towards the exit.
"Jason, grab her!" Like Bruce and his Batman voice, Barbara had her Oracle voice. Jason reacted almost instinctively, his hand flying out and grabbing Artemis' arm, holding tight. He noted that he'd have to work on not following Barbara's commands like a drone in the future, especially when it came to Artemis.
Her body tightened and she turned on him. Jason raised a hand, almost out of habit, in defense. Artemis looked as if she was going to slug him for a moment, and then everything went out of her. "Jay." The blonde's voice was low, a whisper, but her grey eyes were filled with tears waiting like water behind a dam to be released. "Jay, let me go."
Barbara spoke before he could. "Artemis, we have something you need to see."
"Artemis, we found him! It's him, it's real. Wally West is still alive." Jason watched as each of Dick's words stabbed into Artemis like a knife. He put his arm around her shoulder, holding her tight to him as Dick opened the folder and clicked on a file.
On screen, a video sprang to life, showing a Reach containment pod. Pincers on the outside delivered electric shocks to the pod's occupant. Another keystroke and the video froze, zooming in on the man's face inside the pod. Jason recognized it immediately. The red hair, the green eyes bulging in pain, the yellow uniform with scarlet lightning bolt surrounded by a white circle on his chest.
There was no mistaking it. The Light had Wally West. And they were torturing him.
Jason watched two solitary tears snake down Artemis' face as she stared at the image frozen before her. He could almost feel the pain and fear rolling off of her. Artemis drew a haggard breath, and then pulled back from him, long strides carrying her closer to the image.
"So." Her voice was cold, hard. She made no move to dry what Jason knew were tear-stained cheeks. "What do we do now?"
Dick turned away from the computer, sharing a glance with Bruce and Barbara before looking back at Artemis. That cocky grin started to appear on his face again. "I've called in some old friends. We're forming a plan." Jason groaned internally. There were going to be a lot of long nights ahead. And not in the fun way.
"Artemis, we're going to get him back."