Scarlet Fever

Sasha decides to take matters into her own hands when Tim gets hurt by the Joker on patrol.

Part 9: Healing and Arguments

Batman was sitting at the computer when his sons pulled into the cave. He saw Nightwing had Red Robin in front of his motorcycle. Bruce frowned from under his cowl.

"Bats . . ." Nightwing was pulling in shallow breaths. Tim lying against his chest didn't help his breathing. Batman's heart sank like a stone when he saw Tim's condition. Nightwing carried a bloody Tim as he carefully lifted him from the front of his motorcycle. After removing his helmet, Batman could see Red Hood's face was a mask of hatred about to boil over. "Get him to the medical bay," Batman ordered. "Report." Nightwing moved quickly and placed Tim in the med bay despite his own need to breathe. He was glad that Tim was unconscious and not suffering from the excruciating pain. "Should I grab Samantha?"

"Yes. We need to assess his injuries," Batman stated. He moved over to the medical bay and hitched in a breath. It looked bad. He went through the list of injuries. "Bleeding from the left ear! Could be brain hemorrhage as well as broken ear drum." Though he hoped that was all it was. A brain hemorrhage could mean a lot worse, and Tim could die without ever regaining consciousness. While Batman was assessing Tim's injuries, still in uniform Nightwing went up the stairs to get Samantha. He found her with Sasha in her room. They looked like they were planing something together.

Samantha looked up when she saw Nightwing enter. She did not expect to see Dick in uniform, but knew it was him from the expression on his face. What she didn't expect to see was the fact that his uniform was torn in several places, and there was a gash across his chest. Something in that moment, brought a change over her. She smelled the iron-rich blood. Her stomach growled suddenly. She ignored it and concentrated on Dick's condition. "Oh my god, Dick what happened to you?"

"Don't worry about me. Tim is the one in pain. Come on, we need you."

'Oh no..what happened now?' Not only did amantha's gut start to twist, the blood she was smelling from Dick was making her feel disoriented. She didn't know if she could take much more of this, of Tim getting injured. She got up and followed Dick down to the cave with Sasha right behind them. "Broken ribs on both sides," Batman continued to list Red Robin's injuries.

Alfred came in behind him and hitched in a breath.

"Breathing is raspy . . . Collapsed lung possible . . . Broken leg . . . Correction . . . Both legs. Batman turned Tim over after seeing the scorch marks on his uniform. "Plus, he's got third degree burns on his back."

Flashes of finding Jason in a warehouse beaten and burned from the Joker came into Batman's mind. He had to stay calm, but he was finding it increasingly difficult. The cowl actually kept him focus. If he were to take it off, he just might break down. He saw Dick coming down the steps with Samantha. He wanted to hide this from her, but he couldn't. She was going to have to face the reality that sometimes they would receive devastating injuries that could lay a person up for months. With Samantha's emerging healing ability, they could turn months into weeks, and maybe even days. Even so, he was concerned what this was going to do to her.

Samantha could smell the blood the moment she entered the cave. Once again it gave her that disoriented feeling. She tried to keep herself from falling into it. As she walked into the medical bay and saw Tim, she tried to keep from panicking. He was lying so still. "What happened?" Tim looked so broken, bloodied, and bruised. He wasn't responding as Batman worked around him. Batman looked toward his sons. Jason's hands were curled into fists. 'It reminds me of the argument that Jason and I had. "I don't want to kill everyone, just him." I know who he means. I can feel his accusing eyes on me.'

"That…..Bastard beat Tim down." Jason was keeping everything inside. Trying to hold it down. 'This is why I want to run the drug trade...one of the reasons. So, kids like Tim won't be hurt by it.' he thought to himself. "He beat him just like he did me...and left a fucking bomb to go off to finish the damn job."

"Master Jason, language," Alfred chastised. "That does not help matters." Alfred grabbed a few items then went back upstairs to tend to the youngest in the family. It looked to him that Master Timothy was in good hands.

"Who is Jason talking about, who did this?" Samantha asked.

"The Joker, a sadistic madman that takes pleasure in torturing this family," Batman stated. "Samantha, you can't heal Tim's wounds all at once. It will kill you and your children. We can keep him sedated, but it has to be done in stages."

Samantha breathed in and tried to control her panic. She needed to take her emotions out of the picture. She didn't realize how much this would affect her, knowing that Bruce and his four sons risked their lives night after night. Caine and Caleb were both upset that their father had been hurt as well. Samantha could sense their minds and how distressed they were. Caine was even calling out for their father. She had to maintain some kind of control for the sake of her children. Once she locked her emotions away, she could concentrate on healing Tim. "Which of his wounds are the worse?" Samantha asked dispassionately. She wanted to heal him at once, but she knew it would put her and her babies in danger.

"The left side of his head, a broken ear drum with possible concussion and maybe brain hemorrhage," Batman explained. "He'll start vomiting if he wakes up. That will leave him dehydrated. The second is a collapsed lung with broken ribs on both sides. He has two broken legs. We can set the bones to help, but you will need to rest in between healing each wound."

Samantha moved over and placed a hand to hover over Tim's head. She did her own assessment and found there was no bleeding into the brain, which was a relief, but there was a severe concussion, and a broken ear drum as Batman had said. Focusing on his head injury, Samantha started to heal Tim. She could feel Caleb helping her. She sensed how quiet and focused he was. His aura helped to stop the bleeding and wash away any bad blood clots. Samantha focused on Tim's skull, making sure there were no breaks where there shouldn't be.

"His back is burned as well. And Dick and Jason have injuries that need tending to. I'm sorry Samantha, it's a lot to ask of you. Please don't overtax yourself."

"I'll do my best not to," Samantha replied as she continued to focus on the worse of Tim's injuries.

"I'm fine," Jason replied with a sharpness to his voice. His helmet, jacket, and kevlar shirt and pants actually protected him from the blast. Though he was going to have to replace his helmet. It had a large crack in it. He sat down on the floor. He needed to focus on something other than wanting to snap that clowns neck.

"I can patch myself up," Dick replied. "It's not as bad as it looks. Just worry about Tim." Dick grabbed some supplies and headed into the locker room to tend to his chest and any small cuts that were caused by the needles that clown had set up for him.

Tim became aware of a warmth spreading through his head, but his stomach at that moment decided to rebel. He turned over on his side and shooting pain hit him on all fronts. His back, his ribs and legs! Tim leaned over the side of the gurney as best he could and vomited into a trash can

"Jason, grab a sedative and something for nausea," Batman instructed. "Make yourself useful."

Samantha watched dispassionately as Tim emptied his stomach into the trash can. He laid back down. "One more, I can do one more healing."

Jason got up and grabbed the supplies. He handed them to Batman. He couldn't look at Tim right now. 'This was partially my fault,' he thought

"No Samantha, you've done enough," Batman replied and took the bottles and the syringe. He gave Tim the nausea medication first then the sedative. It was going to be a long night. "Jason, I still need your help in setting the bones in Tim's legs."

Samantha didn't listen to Batman's protest and worked on Tim's ribs. Resetting them was easy. She moved them back in place and let them fuse together. It was his lung that was the hard part. Her aura couldn't reach and she couldn't turn Tim over because of his legs. There was a light flutter in her aura and Samantha could tell Caleb was helping her with the lung. He was able to heal it fully. That came as a surprise to her. How could her son heal? Instead of questioning it she took over so he would not wear himself out. After all, he was still growing inside her. ^Okay little one no more. Mommy has it for now.^ Samantha turned her focus outward. "Once you guys set his legs I'll heal them tomorrow." Samantha had to admit, she was getting tired and needed to rest.

"What do you need me to do?" Jason asked.

"I need you to turn and pull on his right thigh so the bones are lined up. I can get the femur." Jason went to the right side of Tim and placed his hand on his thigh. He grasped his right thigh and turned it. Tim let out a pained groan, but he stayed sleeping. Batman started to set the femur when he noticed something else was wrong. "Damn, it's broken in two places. His back needs tending to as well. Dick, could you put some wet towels with antibiotic ointment. Jason, start putting a cast around that thigh."

Dick had just come out of the locker room when Bruce asked him for something. He went over a grabbed the antibiotic ointment and a couple of towels. The burns weren't bad, but enough to cause pain. He needed to prop Tim up so he could get to his back. He was quick to tend to them. Making sure they were cleaned before he placed any bandages on over the worst of the burns. He looked to see Jason concentrating on fixing the cast so it fit well.

"If you're wondering why Alfred left and isn't here, Damian started throwing up and complaining about itching. I think he's getting chicken pox. Alfred's tending to him."

"Damn, the little guy is going through it," Jason commented. "I hope he's feeling okay. So much for that so called genetic make-up of his."

"He's not going to like all the itching."

"Dick, I'm going to need your help with this double fracture on Tim's femur."

Dick tossed the towels into a hamper Alfred placed down in the medical bay area. Alfred washed them separately since they needed to be sanitized. "All right, instruct me."

"Once I have the first two pieces in place, I need you to hold the leg steady while I get the third. Jason, you need to come in with the cast."

Jason grabbed a second cast mold and got it ready.

Dick nodded to Batman, giving him the okay to start. Batman pulled on the first portion.

"Aaaaaagghh," Tim cried out in pain

"Damn, one of the bones must be tearing into the muscle."

"Do you want me to help push the bone into place?" Samantha asked

"We need to X-Ray it first to see where the bones are," Batman stated. "One could go through his leg. We don't want that."

Batman and Jason guided the gurney to the digital X-Ray machine being mindful of his other injuries. The image came up on the medical computer.

"See how that lower one is splintered. It's going to go right through his flesh if we're not careful."

"What are you going to do?"

"He may need surgery to reset it. I'm going to call Leslie. She can be over here in 30 minutes." Batman dialed Dr. Leslie Tompkins' number.

"Park Row Clinic, Dr. Tompkins speaking."

"Dr. Leslie, we could use your assistance," Batman growled out.

'Bruce, you don't need to use that voice with me,' Leslie stated to herself, but answered instead since there was a nurse listening. "Who is it you need help with?"

"Tim."

"I thought you were going to bring Tim in to treat the leukemia," Leslie said, her voice somewhat perturbed. She listened to Bruce's explanation. "What do you mean it's gone!? Leukemia doesn't just disappear. All right, you'll have to tell me over one of Alfred's Italian dinners. So what are we dealing with. Compound fracture. I'll be out in thirty. Let me grab my bag. How did it happen?" Batman explained, but was also aware that someone else must be with the doctor.

"Motorcycle accident," Dr. Leslie wrote down. "All right, I'll be there in 30 minutes."

"Doctor, why don't they send for an ambulance and have him brought in."

"I may just recommend it once I know what I'm dealing with. I'll be back." Dr. Leslie went to go grab her bag.

Batman hung up the phone. "She's on her way. We need to keep Tim immobilized. We'll use some anesthetic once Leslie gets here." Samantha started to get weak, but she shook it off. She could hear her babies telling her to sit. ^I can't, not now.^

"Samantha, go lie down on the other medical bed. You won't do Tim any good if you collapse."

Jason went over to Samantha to lead her to the other bed. "Just lie down. Don't be stubborn."

Sasha came down looking for Jason. She held back when she saw everyone was working on a very bloody and wounded Tim. She could guess who was responsible. She went over to Jason to talk to him after he got Samantha to lie down. "What are you going to do about the Joker?" she whispered.

Jason stared down at Sasha. What was he going to do. 'I could kill him. I could erase him from this world for hurting my brother.' Sasha was waiting for his answer, but he just stared at her. He was still on probation with Bruce. If he killed even one person, Bruce would go after him. He had to think about Sasha. Sasha's belly was growing. It was sticking out now. Her pregnancy was becoming more apparent. The thought of losing that put him in a tough position to make a decision. "I don't know. I'm thinking I should let Bats handle this. He blew up the sixth street warehouse with me in it."

"Humph," Sasha was disgusted. "That clown should have been dead a long time ago. You know what Batman won't do and then we're back to square one when he escapes again. I don't want him anywhere near this family. If he threatens us one more time, I'll kill him myself."

"You won't do anything but keep our children safe," Jason argued. "I don't want you going anywhere near that fucking clown." Jason didn't like the way this argument was going. "Trust me I would if I could, but Tim wouldn't want that, and neither would Bruce. They don't like me killing.

"Well, you've changed your tune. You used to kill if it was justified. That clown nearly murdered your brother. And you're not going to do a thing? Excuse me, I think I have the wrong Jason Todd." Sasha walked back up to the Manor seething. 'If he isn't going to do anything, I will.

"Are you kidding me!" Jason lashed out and knocked something over.

Batman and Dick looked toward the noise and saw a fuming Jason.

"Bruce, what just happened?" Dick whispered to his adoptive father.

"Looks like Jason and Sasha had an argument, a heated one. Let them cool off and we'll find out later. Dr. Leslie should be coming any minute."

Dick looked back over at Jason. He was fuming. It was like he wanted to hit something. He'll have to find out later what was bothering his brother. "Okay."

Sasha walked into her and Jason's room and opened her trunk. Inside rested her Scarlet costume. She knew it was going to be a bit snug, but she had to do this. That clown had to pay.

Continues with Part 10