Cypher wants revenge against Batman and his former third Robin. What better way to get revenge than to use the Wayne Family to lure everyone to their doom.
Subliminal Death
By
AJ
Part 23: All's Well?
Batman notified the police as they left the scene to return to the bat-cave. He wanted to check on Tim to see if he was all right. What he found was Tim and Dick asleep on the gurney. "Looks like they worked out their differences."
"Thank goodness," Red Hood sighed. "I didn't want to have to punch Dick so he could get his act together."
"When it comes to stubbornness, I think that's also a Grayson trait."
"Great, so he gets it from his mother and his father," Red Hood teased as he changed out of his uniform and walked into the stalls to shower.
Batman chuckled as he removed his cowl. "I resemble that remark," Bruce couldn't help yawning. "Looks like we're done for the night." Bruce changed out of his uniform and took one of the other stalls and turned on the shower.
Jason yawned as he stepped out of the shower and grabbed a towel to dry off. "Man, class in the A.M. I so don't feel like going. Oh Dad, by the way, I receive a good grade on the test I took the other day."
"What was your grade?"
"Solid 100 plus. I got the extra credit, so it was 102."
"That is fantastic," Bruce responded. "Are you liking the classes?"
"Yeah, they're okay. I made some 'friends' I guess you could call them."
"I'm impressed, Jason. You'll have to invite them over."
Jason shrugged his shoulders. "I guess."
"Well, if you don't want to . . . Though it could be an opportunity for study. You can borrow some of my father's medical books from the library as reference."
"It's not that I don't want to, it's . . . I'm sort of shy," Jason said.
"Well, you always did have trouble making friends . . . But if you do, we'll stay out of your way."
"And Sasha, I don't know how she would react to a study date."
"Trust your wife to understand," Bruce replied.
"Okay . . . Thanks Dad."
Bruce thought, 'There could be other factors at work, economical for one. He could be embarrassed about his wealth around others. Jason never did take on the Wayne name.' Bruce didn't voice those thoughts. Instead, he changed the subject. "I think I'll just leave these two right where they're at. Is there a blanket in the cabinet over there?"
Jason went over and brought out one of the blankets that Alfred left down in the cave. He walked over to the gurney covered his brothers. He placed a kiss on each of their foreheads.
"Tim may have to talk to someone about what happened," Bruce observed. "Let's hope with Dick there he won't have a nightmare."
"It's odd," Jason pointed out. "Dick is like a walking dream catcher. You can never have bad dreams with him and if you do, he's there to take them away. Are you sure he's not a meta?"
Bruce could not help but think of the message on the back of Dick's painting, Dream Child. 'I wonder if that's what my mother meant when she wrote that message on the back, that he would take care of people's dreams.' Bruce stated instead, "Dick doesn't have a meta gene, but his mother might have had such a gift. It's hard to say where it came from."
"Grandma Martha's messages are sometimes cryptic or straight to the point," Jason added. "I believe Dick takes care of dreams. I had a nightmare once and he laid with me, placed his hand on my head and all of a suddenly the bad dreams stopped and had been replaced with good ones."
Bruce recalled they seemed to have that effect on each other when Dick was a child. "Dick would crawl into bed with me when I would have an exceptionally bad one, as if He knew." Bruce didn't voice that Dick would also crawl into bed with him when Dick just needed comforting.
"You know, I was wondering. Did you ever get any psychic abilities from Grandma Martha?"
"That's hard to say," Bruce answered. "I do seem to know when someone is in trouble, sort of pre-cognitive. I never really thought about it."
"You should," Jason yawned. "Open your mind more. Maybe it'll come to you. Oh man, I should get to bed. Still need to check on the twins before heading there though."
"Jason . . . . Uhm . . . Never mind . . . You get some sleep, Son."
"Hmmm? What is it dad?"
"It can wait," Bruce said. "You're beat. You did good. Goodnight."
"'Kay," Jason rubbed at his eye and headed towards the elevator.
Bruce turned down the light in the medical bay and went upstairs.
End?
A/N: So, what do you think? Should I explore Dick's growing "dreamcatcher-like" power? Don't answer that. That will be a future story, but for now, the next generation will be our focus. So, look for the "Element of Surprise." I'm still working on it, so be patient. I'm going to take a week off from posting. So, the story will begin in two weeks time.