A/n: Thought I'd come back to drop a super angsty Batfam fic with plenty of whump for my love, Dick Grayson :)

No one in the warehouse ever had a chance. Not when it was four Bats against only 50 men. Not when they were fighting to get their oldest son/brother back.

The poor henchmen didn't seem to know what they were signing up for when they'd taken Nightwing, too excited by the near-impossible victory to consider the consequences, to remember why few people attempted to kidnap a Bat unless they were absolutely prepared to face the whole family's wrath.

They weren't prepared.

"Batman, this is Oracle, I think I've found him on floor B3."

"Good. Red Hood, Red Robin and Robin, stay here."

"But Batman - "

"Robin, I repeat, stay here," Batman growled, meeting Robin's masked eyes through the chaos. He could see the clenched jaw even from this far, but there wasn't time to argue and Robin knew that. Knew what the cost could be if he was stubborn now. So instead, Batman watched as the black and yellow cape fluttered, Robin disappearing back into the fight.

Satisfied, he made his own way towards the stairs, turning his back on the flying bullets and birdarangs for now. "Oracle, directions, now."

The main chamber of the warehouse was utter chaos.

Red Hood was returning every shot the henchmen fired, using real bullets and trying to hit non-lethally but only barely. The only thing stopping him from shooting them all in the head and chest for whatever they'd done to his brother was the thought of Nightwing's disapproval of his murdering in his brother's name. And if Nightwing wasn't alive to give Jason that disappointed look, well then he'd just have to come back and kill them all anyway.

Red Robin and Robin were working together seamlessly for once. They only ever did when someone threatened their favourite people, and Nightwing - Dick - definitely counted.

Together, the three of them were doing pretty good at depleting the number of opponents in the room. Nightwing would have been proud to see them all fighting so unified, but it was only because he wasn't there to see it that it was working.

"Anyone have eyes on Batman or Nightwing?"

"No."

"No, but they better show up soon. I'm running out of bullets."

"I have an extra cartridge with rubber bullets."

"Give it here then, Replacement," Jason growled, throwing his now-empty cartridge into one of the goon's faces to knock him down. "I'm tired of non-lethal shots. Every extra second he's down there - "

"Nightwing will be fine. He's stronger than the two of you combined."

Red Robin and Red Hood shared a glance across the warehouse. They could both hear the fear under Robin's fake snark.

"I know he'll be fine, kid. You didn't let me finish. Every extra second he's down there is a second longer for him to recover which means I have to wait longer to beat his ass up."

Red Hood was better at hiding the fear in his voice, not letting the unsaid words slip out in his tone. They all knew that if Dick was alive, Jason wouldn't dare beat him up. Give him hell for a few weeks, sure, he went through all the trouble of giving up a lead in a case of his to be here, but he would give anything for his brother to be okay enough to tease.

As it turned out, he didn't need the extra cartridge.

"I have eyes on Batman," Red Robin informed them, and Red Hood didn't miss the way Robin immediately whipped his head towards the door where the Bat's silhouette was.

"Everyone back to the Cave," Batman ordered, and to anyone else, his voice wouldn't have given anything away. But Red Hood knew better. He could hear the slight panic and fear in Batman's voice, the gruffness overcompensating for the emotion and he could see it. He could see the limp body in Batman's arms, too much red hiding the blue but they all knew who it was anyway. Red Hood couldn't be sure that if Nightwing's suit wasn't mostly black that it wouldn't all be dyed red by now.

The Batmobile crashed through the left wall, pulling up beside Batman. Robin ran over to Batman's side as the man gently placed Nightwing in the backseat, the small boy climbing in after his brother. Red Robin climbed into the Batmobile alongside Batman, but not before throwing some small marble-like devices around the warehouse, Red Hood mirroring the action as his own ride burst through the wall beside him.

He counted to three before pressing the trigger. Another three seconds later and the Bats were halfway home, leaving the smoke-filled building behind them.

None of them know if it was better when he was unconscious and looked like a corpse or now.

"Dick, listen to me, you gotta calm down…"

"It… hurts," Dick sobbed.

"I know chum - "

"- but we can't fucking do anything if you don't stop fighting us," Jason growled, holding Dick down as Bruce did the same on Dick's other side. Neither of them liked it, but Dick couldn't stop thrashing about, moving too much to put in an IV or an oxygen mask and sedate him so they were left at an impasse with him crying and shouting in pain but unable to do anything to help.

Jason's hands were slick with blood, making it harder and harder to keep Dick pinned down. He hated the whole situation. He was too used to Dick hiding his pain from them, suffering in silence and while he hated it, he had to admit it wasn't great to see his brother hurting so fucking much.

"Um, guys," Tim's voice piped up from behind them. He'd been analysing Dick's blood in case their brother had been drugged with anything while Alfred was busy trying to do what he could to treat Dick.

"What is it?"

"I'm not sure, but it's something. A drug or a poison, I don't know but whatever it is must be amplifying the pain. I don't know if we can give him any painkillers or sedatives without making it worse."

Well, fuck.

Dick cried out in pain, and tried to get out of their hold like their touch burned him, managing to hit Bruce in the stomach but they both stayed strong, pinning him to the bed. Dick was getting weaker, and paler by the second, but even if it would eventually make it easier to hold him down, Jason worried if it might be too late to do anything by then.

"Make it stop," Dick whimpered, more tears running down his pained face.

"We're trying, chum, we're trying."

Jason could see the cracks in Bruce's composure. A small Pit-fuelled part of him wondered if those cracks would be there if it had been Jason lying there instead of Dick. If Bruce would ever be that worried, care that much about him.

He shut that part of him up real quick. Instead, he took a moment to look around the room. Alfred's jaw was set, expression carefully focused and determined but Jason could see the slight draw of the butler's eyebrows. It terrified him. If even Alfred was worried, then what hope was there?

No, there was hope. Dick's superpower is being a stubborn ass. He'll be fine and back to flipping and doing cartwheels around Jason in no time. But despite his reassurances to himself, he couldn't deny that it was pretty hard to see Dick laughing and leaping off buildings like usual when he looked at his brother before him, pale, bloody and writhing in pain, no hint of humour or that stupid twinkle in his bright blue eyes that were dull and screwed shut right now.

"Tim, can you make an antidote?" Bruce was asking, eyes not leaving his oldest son's face.

"I'm trying but I can't even tell what this is."

Tim looked as distressed as he sounded. The one time they all needed his big brains, the one time Dick needed them, he couldn't even make sense of the thing he was supposed to fix. He was trying his best though, determination taking over the worry as he furiously typed on his computer. And next to Tim…

Oh shit.

Damian hadn't moved ever since they'd brought Dick into the infirmary. Jason hadn't seen the boy come into the infirmary with them - too preoccupied with the newly-conscious Dick - but he knew that Damian had still been frozen there as he was now. Just standing there, watching with wide eyes and a carefully blank expression, his chest giving away the small shallow breaths Jason knew Damian was regulating. He'd taken off his mask at least, but Jason knew that had been done in the Batmobile for Dick's sake when he'd woken up so he wouldn't panic. It only meant that now, Jason could see every emotion in them that the poor boy was trying to hide.

It was no secret that Damian and Dick had a special relationship. Granted, Dick had a special relationship with almost anyone, but Damian genuinely cared for so few people and one of them was none other than Dick Grayson. If seeing his brother like this was torture for Jason, he couldn't imagine the magnitude of what Damian was feeling. And in a boy who was the son of the most emotionally constipated person Jason knew, as well as being raised by literal assassins to be the heir to that throne, it could not be going down well in that kid's head.

Another shout and cry of pain. He didn't think Dick had enough energy to be louder, but whatever was happening to him seemed to be getting worse and they could all hear it.

"Tim, go upstairs," Jason ordered. "You'll be able to focus better without the noise. And take the kid with you," he added, nodding towards Damian.

"What? But - "

Jason cut him off with a deathly glare. He glanced towards Damian, and Tim's eyes followed, finally getting the message as his mouth made a little 'o'. He finally moved, packing up his laptop and taking whatever else he might need before getting up and moving towards a still-frozen Damian.

Strangled gasps came from the bed and Jason turned his attention back to Dick. The thrashing didn't seem intentional anymore, and the heart monitor they'd managed to hook up to him somehow started beeping erratically. Dick wasn't screaming anymore.

Shit fucking shit.

"Tim - "

"Going!" Tim replied, and Jason turned in time to see Tim grab Damian's wrist, the boy numbly letting himself be dragged away.

Then the flat tone sounded and so many things happened at once.

Damian snapped back to life, fighting against Tim to get to Dick's bed. Dick's body had kept convulsing for a few seconds, and then gone still.

"Dick. Dick, come on chum."

Alfred had the defibrillator out too quickly. Damian had managed to get free from Tim, and Jason let go of Dick so he could stop the kid from reaching the bed. He crouched down and wrapped his arms around the boy's waist, hoisting the kid over his shoulder. He ignored Damian's kicking and punching and shouting "Todd, unhand me, put me down this instant."

"Clear."

A faint buzz. A thud. No room-filling laughs, no annoying (endearing) nicknames, just the continuous, monotonous tone.

"Todd, let me go now!"

"Keep working," Jason said as he passed a motionless Tim before continuing to walk out of the room, still carrying a protesting Damian.

"Todd, let me - please…." Damian's voice broke and Jason felt dampness on his back as the boy stopped fighting him and went limp. He adjusted his grip so Damian could bury his face into the crook of Jason's neck.

He wasn't used to this - offering comfort was more Dick's thing but well, he wasn't here right now - but he'd seen Dick do it enough and knew enough about Damian and his training to know that the kid would only let his guard down if no one could see. Jason was giving him that. It might not be enough, but it was enough for now.

He kept walking with the kid holding tightly onto him all the way up to the Manor. He wanted to stay in the infirmary to make sure that Dick would be okay - and he would, he has years left to annoy you - but he also knew he couldn't be in that room any longer, just like Damian couldn't. And Tim, well Tim could handle it because he had a part to play, something to do to help. With Dick… unconscious, there was no more need for Jason to stay there and hold him down so their presence would only crowd the place and add to the tension. It was best for everyone that he and Damian left.

He wanted to stay nearby, but he wasn't sure he'd be able to handle it if Dick woke up and started screaming again. Yes, he would give anything to hear that over the silence or the monotonous beep, but he needed fresh air. The kid in his arms didn't need to see or hear the person he loved most in pain any longer.

So they would stay in the living room and just wait. Wait for the verdict on how the rest of their lives would be.

A/n: I don't know why I did that to myself or to you guys but you're welcome and I'm sorry. This wasn't supposed to be a multi-chapter thing but it didn't feel right to keep going from here without idk, giving some time for it to sink in or smth? I won't make you wait long though, I promise. As soon as I post this and do some chores, I'll get right back to writing and the next (and last) chapter should be out in a day or so.

Anyway, hope you liked it. Stay safe, be nice and see ya soon.

- CrowofArcadiaOaks