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 11: Saving Nightwing's Mind
Red Hood took off down the street finding the quickest way back towards the Manor. He looked over at Nightwing who continued to struggle, his face distorted with pain. At one point, Robin had to restrain Nightwing to the front passenger seat by wrapping some of his bat line around him when Nightwing tried to grab the steering wheel.
"We need to get Nightwing's mind blocked."
"Agreed," Robin stated. "I don't like restraining him like this."
"You saw what happened," Red Hood replied. "That wasn't Dick that came out. That was also the Talon. Somehow, that part of Dick's mind is also being affected."
"Whoever this Cypher is, I hope Tim can find out where he is, and we can put an end to this. I hate to think that he's also affected, Father."
"Caleb blocked him." Red Hood reminded Robin.
"I know, but what if that didn't work and Cypher tries to take over . . . "
Robin didn't speak the name out loud, but both knew who they were talking about.
"Don't think about that. You know your father's trained his mind to prevent things like that from happening."
"LET ME GO!" Nightwing suddenly shouted. "I'll kill both of you!"
"Shut up, Golden Boy," Red Hood stated. "We're trying to save you."
"I thought removing Nightwing's watch would stop it," Robin stated.
"Maybe whatever Cypher did put a trigger into Nightwing's mind."
"You mean like a subliminal suggestion?"
"Yeah," Red Hood answered. "I don't know how it's triggered, but blocking it worked for you. What were you doing before you went into that fog?"
"I was watching TV in my room," Robin replied. "Tell me again, what did I try to do?"
"You were going to take a header off the top floor of the Manor."
"Commit suicide?" Robin was surprised at that.
"You don't remember?" Red Hood questioned.
"I was in some sort of fog. How could I know what I was doing."
"Well, Golden Boy was in that kind of fog for several hours. Who knows what kind of suggestions he absorbed during that time."
"YOU'RE NOT GOING TO REPLACE ME!"
"Yeah, I can guess what kind of suggestions he absorbed," Robin said, quietly.
Red Hood arrived back at the cave with Tim's Red Bird. He parked it back in his space. Getting Dick out of the car was going to be problematic. He kept kicking and screaming. It finally took Bruce manhandling him and restraining him in the medica bay to get him to settle down.
"Where's Samantha?" Red Hood asked.
"She took Caleb back upstairs," Bruce answered. "Blocking everyone made him exhausted."
"How are we going to block Golden Boy, here?"
Nightwing was spouting obscenities that he normally wouldn't.
'Silence!" Bruce growled at his oldest son. Bruce removed Nightwing's mask to see that his eldest son's eyes had turned partially yellow. The Talon was trying to emerge once, again. Whatever Cypher had done, it was slowly eroding Dick's tight control on the Talon. It would put all of them in danger if they didn't get Dick blocked, and soon.
"Jason, find Samantha and have her bring Caleb," Bruce said. "We can't wait for him to finish a nap."
"Sure," said Jason. He removed his helmet and mask but didn't remove the rest of his uniform. This was too urgent to wait. He raced up the steps and into the Manor. He ran into his own wife in the process. She was carrying a sleepy Jaylyn.
"Sasha," Jason said.
"Jay, what's the matter?"
"I'm looking for Samantha and Caleb."
"I think they're in the sunroom. I was going to return Jaylyn to the nursery, but she had a nightmare and didn't want me to put her down. She dreamed about Uncle Dick being mean to everyone."
'She's almost right about that,' Jason thought, and he gave his daughter a quick peck on the cheek. He needed to spend time with his family, but between going to nursing school and patrolling, it wasn't easy to make the time. Maybe he could talk someone into babysitting and he and Sasha could take night off or he could talk someone into taking his patrol for a night. He gave Sasha a kiss. "Thanks, I'll check there."
Jason headed to the sunroom and sure enough, he found not only Samantha, but he found Caleb and Caine wrapped in each other's arms, sleeping. They looked so peaceful together. He didn't want to disturb them, but this was serious. He needed them both to help Dick.
Jason went over and placed a hand on Samantha's shoulder and gently squeezed. "Hey, Mermaid Princess."
Samantha stirred from her slumber. "Jason?"
"We need Caleb."
"What?"
"We have Dick back, he's in the cave."
"I'll bring him," Samantha nodded. Samantha went over to where her twins were sleeping. She gently pried the twins apart. Caine wined. ^I'm sorry, sweetie, I need to borrow your brother, then you can have him back.^
Jason grabbed a stuffed animal and handed it to Caine. "That should hold him until you get back."
Samantha followed Jason and carried Caleb to the cave. ^Looks like it's Uncle Nightwing's turn Caleb.^ Samantha said to her son in his mind as she approached Nightwing.
6I'm tired.^
^I know sweetie. I'll take you back to your brother after we help your Uncle.^
Nightwing was struggling to get free of the restraints. Cypher's words were once again trying to take over his thoughts. It felt like his mind was on fire, and there was also a fogginess where he couldn't think straight. Talon D wasn't much help either.
Samantha laid Caleb on Nightwing's chest., so he could reach for Nightwing's face.
Caleb placed his hands on Nightwing's face and started blocking a portion of his mind where Cypher couldn't take control. As Caleb worked, the harshness left Nightwing's face, and he relaxed.
Nightwing felt the burning sensation go away and small pats to his face. He opened his eyes and saw Caleb staring up at him. The fogginess had went away as well. "I'm glad that's over with. I owe Tim an apology. There wasn't anything I could do.
"Tim's not back yet," Jason said. "Your baby brother's wanted to wait for the police then go get his motorcycle."
"He's still out there?" Samantha asked.
"Yeah, why?"
"He's not fully recovered. I gave him some energy to help find Nightwing. That energy is going to eventually wear off."
Nightwing and Jason looked at each other.
Continues with Part 12: Cypher's Frustration
