Teen Titans – Side Stories and After – Snippets; Foxes Upon Foxes and Magical Girls Galore
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Page Turner; Knights of Bludhaven – Part Two: Dragons and Ghouls of A different Shade; A Single Heartbeat In His Ear
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Dick did not speak to the man the entire trip to the airport. He simply took his ticket, his bags in hand, and headed to where his secret would be well protected.
Not received, yet he'd worry about that later.
Kori would be standing at the porch steps and her eyes would either be full of her unbridled disappointment, or her tears that were never without the sympathy he sometimes wished for most of all. As Robin, he'd taken those eyes for granted. Now, his two children shared her sights and it made him the happiest for it. His next addition was supposed to have his eyes, he'd learned. Bruce had allowed the Birds of Prey to pull back. He'd not tell the man until he was ready.
Well, he was. Gotham had to come first. Kori, sorry. She had to wait a bit longer to look into his frustrated blue.
/
The doorbell rang and someone calmly went to answer it. A butler, and not just any.
Alfred Pennyworth came to the door and peered through, before swinging the contraption back onto its hinges. He had eyes that looked like hers might.
Tearful, grateful that nothing had happened to the young master.
"Master…Dick! I shall tell Master Bruce of your return right away! Come inside. You look to be on your way to a battle by that stance."
In a way, he'd never been wrong. Dick was afraid to be grateful at all to the man who'd put him in so much danger already. Slade had crossed a line and he wasn't going to apologize. His actions were justifiable to him and only him.
The sofa was a good place to wait for Bruce to join in a discussion about the awol vigilante's return. As if three months had never come and gone, Slade had shortened his time with the mercenary, yet Dick's time with Spiral was now over. For now.
"Dick!" Bruce was no less than shocked than Al had been.
"I'm back, for today. Have to talk to you….about a file. Any chance?..."
"I'll have the tea ready momentarily." Alfred nodded and dashed back into the kitchen where he had been cleaning up. Their supper was bland and Bruce had returned to finishing up a case early. It was,a strange night to see their prodigal son in the flesh.
/
Down in the cave, Slade's name was brought up, more than once. He'd not hide it any longer. Bruce already knew the gist of Roku's influence hanging over his son's head. He knew of the prophecy to a degree, yet had never expected this to come so late...
"The dragon took his time. Slade just appeared out of nowhere. He was incognito during the bust with Blockbuster. Now my mission with Spiral… -
"I made sure to keep them aware of your disappearance. We'll let them know that you won't be participating in any covert missions for a while."
"Kori and I….I need to talk to her –
"Only once we sort things out in Gotham. You're staying. I'm not losing you again until Slade is –
"That's the thing….He's probably not even IN Bludhaven. He was only there to, take care of me…" Dick's eyes fell.
"Taking….Dick, he's a mercenary. I know you two also have a history, but that still –
"He said I saved him. Remember the Talon? The Court? WE were in it, together. Slade got caught up in the crossfire, and he sad that I monitored and stopped his extra blood loss with a technique –
"That I taught you." Bruce finished. "I know. That was when I'd suffered the same amount of injuries. You were left to work with Oracle and Red Hood. It wasn't a fun ride as I recall correctly."
"The Batmobile isn't a toy, I get it." Dick nodded with his arms across his chest.
Bruce rubbed his chin. "But why by your single act of charity? Why did that even matter to someone who wants you and I to burn if he's paid to make that outcome a reality?"
"I don't know, but I think it's all connected to Roku and his influence. Slade might be using that."
"Why?" Bruce was more owl than bat tonight. "Slade isn't not known to use the same tricks twice. But that dragon was dangerous."
"He almost killed Slade, he used me and my team. I have nothing to add but, the shadow I was running from….It could still be –
"Are you saying the dragon is going to manipulate you to…" Bruce didn't waste his breath. "What did you experience; during your stay, the treatment."
Dick blinked and wasn't sure how to go about explaining his….enhanced features.
"Lots of disgusting smoothies that I'll burn from my memory forever…And, a shot for the pain. He said I healed up a lot sooner so I was…let go. He said we were even, for now."
"So, he did you a favor. And in the near two months off the radar? Sounds less like an act of charity, more an underhanded investment opportunity to get to the Batman. I'll have a sweeper scan you for anything he might have wanted unfound." Bruce got to his computer and punched in a few keys.
The file of Slade Wilson and Deathstroke popped up in all its hollow's eve shades of glory.
"I'm going to try to find a connection. Slade won't do something like this unless it's to benefit him in some way. If taking you from the brink of death makes him think he'll have my blessing, then he'd better keep out of both of our cities until I can put all of the pieces together."
"Of course, boss man." Dick joked. "I'm going to get ready for bed. I ate on the way over. It was just so I wouldn't have to bug Al to whip up something at midnight for me." He shrugged and covered his yawn up with a wave.
"Well, I'll help you with the case in the –
"Sweep. First that, then you can go to bed."
Bruce was serious as Dick made sure to do as he'd been ordered. "Of course. Rest isn't the least bit medicinal to heal my broken ribs. Thanks….Good to be back!" He chuckled before trudging over to the wires and tools in the lab room's space. "Here' goes…"
/
Something to lose.
His mortality.
His dignity.
His composure.
Something to gain…
Power.
And, from what? Internal corruption of his –
"Are you finished yet?" Dick looked up at Bruce, who was looking over his son with a frown coming from beneath the dark cowl.
"This should have been able to detect something on first scan."
"Nothing." Sighed the younger vigilante. "It found zilch, nada."
"Impossible. "Batman grunted, as Dick wondered if Bruce was seriously thinking that…maybe he'd been a dead give away?? Was the detective like fine wine; better with age? Or, more paranoia. Yah, better idea on that.
"Sorry, but unless you see a bulging tumor in my brain or a stolen micro – chip, then I'll be up in my old room. Dozing off." Dick finally waved off the Bat and took his leave of the awkward little den below Wayne Manor's foundation. What could he tell the guy?
"I'm not what you think I am, anymore? He'd never buy –
"Oh, Al! Are you still up?" Straying from dish duty tonight, Alfred decided to see if he was needed by the two bonding "masters" in the Batcave. He'd just missed one of then, not even by a hair.
"I might think to be asking YOU the exact same question, Master Dick." The elder man paused, then let a labored sigh escape his lips. "Your quarters are how you last left them. Even the dust has been left, untouched by my presence."
"My actions did this. I'm sorry, Al. I had to follow that path."
"And that path tore you away from a loving family, and a rather over – protective crime fighting father. He doesn't want you to go on any more dangerous missions for a while until this Wilson character is found guilty, I presume."
"He's not going to get caught. Slade knows this ins and out of the legal system pretty well." Dick rubbed his arm as Al positioned himself before the man's old room. He'd still felt the prick from a needle. Great. The door still had a name placed onto the wood in silver metal. " Richard." That reminder only added to his guilt.
"I'm only staying the weekend. I'll tell them it was Spiral and our falling out, that nothing else…"
"A lie for another? You believe Bruce to be blinded by this farce, yet I know you, Master Richard. Your character is of no contradiction. You'll do whatever you believe to be "just," yet justice is sometimes blind. Good night, Master Dick. If you need anything at all, simply come find me in my quarters." The man let out a small yawn and covered it rather sloppily. "Apologies, yet Master Bruce has not stopped searching for you for weeks on end… Now, he has at least something else to fill his plate." The butler rolled his eyes at that comment, then left Richard to drink in his life lessons as the boy always did. For now, rest would be his greatest lesson. The flight was not what had left him a nervous wreck. It was WHO had put him on that plane to come here in the first place.
/
He'd relaxed a bit more, yet by five am, the alarms in his mind had become restless. He rose and headed to the only place that he could think to find a key to at this hour.
The gym. He was electric and it felt too good to be his own energy coursing through the man's veins. He did his usual sessions, then mixed it up a bit. He took to the gymnastics room and made sure to not rough up the beams too much. He also looked for a training…. Ahah!
He took to the mat and practiced his stance. Jiu Jutsu was a killing art, but he knew how to work it –
"Dick?" He turned around to see that the clack up on the wall was showing a different time.
How…. Eight?? He'd started at five fifteen!
Panting, Dick tried not to give anything away. Bruce usually slept in, but did he…
"I didn't know if you'd want to stay in today, but if you are feeling –
"My back? Yeah…. It….Was doing ok .I started only a few minutes –
"I digress, Master Dick. Your feet made it down the hall room steps at approximately –
"Seven! I was, here a little closer to…. Seven." He looked at Al, who tried to go out to do his chores for the morning. Dick wasn't taking his sage advice. If Bruce caught on to the little lie, things in the Manor would not be as before for them all.
"Well, you should be resting up. Eating before you collapse, or pass out on the mat. I taught you to listen to your body better than that."
"Sorry. For old time's sake, got caught up in –
A sharp twinge leapt across Dick's spine as he kneeled over onto his stomach. "Shit…. Need, to fix..."
"Dick!"
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He could hear a heart monitor, a heart beating…. His.
Just a touch, huh? Slade's serum was a dud. So much for….
He clutched his shoulder and sat up. Why? Right now, the pain should have been –
He clenched his jaw shut and braced himself as a wave came on like a shock. A pool of fire and sharp shards of glass crippling his insides from the….
"Check his vitals."
Bruce was there, working around the clock. Al was nearby with a tray and sedative. Shit. He'd done it now…
"Steadily rising, sir. And I don't think –
"It won't hurt to try, Alfred…. Don't worry." Setting the syringe up, he let the pain in his ward's shoulder slowly melt away, replacing a newer sensation in his head. A…. fuzzier one….
"Rest, Dick. I've got you. Al; hold –
It all went dark. So, dark…. Like the night he'd returned to the manor; with Al carrying a face filled with so many questions.
So many, that he'd be contacting Slade about once he was half decent.
/
