Chapter 27

Tim tilted back his cup of coffee and gave Damian a small smile over the lid. "You're up early."

Damian grunted and rummaged in the fridge for an apple. "I don't suppose you got any sleep last night."

Tim took another gulp of coffee. "I'll get some tonight."

"Of course you will."

"I mean it. I'm going to need to be rested for… this." Tim's fingers twitched in an aborted sweep of the hand to encompass the entire situation.

Damian grunted and settled down at the table across from Tim.

"So we are allowing Todd to be alone with a sleeping Richard."

"Damian, if you trust him for no other reason, do it because he needs me. He can't get himself home and there's no guarantee Bruce can do it either. I'm our best chance at getting back to our universe. He won't do anything to jeopardize himself."

"Assuming he's rational."

"He's got some amount of control over the pit, Damian. And as long as we stay within range of him, he'll be able to give a yell if anything starts happening. I trust him to back out if he starts losing control. We'll just make sure he and Dick aren't ever so alone we can't get to them."

Damian nodded, and fixed his gaze on his hands resting on the table. He remained silent a few telling beats too long.

Tim glanced at him from the rim of his mug and gave him a prodding hum.

Damian looked up, and his eyes were pleading.

"Father could not do this to Grayson."

"We've seen Earth 3…"

"We saw Father's brother. And even he worked with Grayson, even he loved him… you remember that he tried to convert Grayson and even protect him from the Crime Syndicate."

"I don't know if I'd call that love, Damian."

"He tried to protect him! He sought him out to try to work with him again!"

"He liked him. There were… feelings involved. He thought he loved him, I'll give him that. But he wasn't acting in Dick's best interests. He took advantage of him, and he did things that really messed up his mind. I talked with Super Woman when she was in custody. When his Dick made friends with Barbara, Wally; he had them murdered. And lied to Dick about it. He never really loved him, Damian, he used him. Like an object, or a pet."

Damian turned his face away and hunched his shoulders. The apple lay in his fingers, barely touched and forgotten. "But that was not Father. It was his brother."

"The person who did this wasn't your father either, Damian. They're different people."

"No version of my father would do this."

"It's alright, Damian. The mistakes of your parents have nothing to do with you."

Damian's voice lowered, but Tim could still hear it clearly. "They have everything to do with me."

Footsteps bounced off the walls and ricocheted off the tile floor and Dick followed shortly after.

"Hi, Tim! Hi, Damian! Jason said you were gonna be up already and he was right!"

Dick glanced over his shoulder and Jason lumbered through the doorway, hair and personality doing an impeccable impersonation of a porcupine.

Looking more like a zombie than anything else, he staggered to the coffee maker and fumbled a coffee cup into position.

Damian snickered, and smirked at his undead brother. "You look ridiculous."

Jason scowled, and returned his attention to his coffee, not even bothering to turn around to grill Tim on his progress. "Timothy. What do we have."

"Well, it's not what we'd hoped."

Damian slid out of his chair and started lumbering heavy footed around the kitchen as silently as possible, clomping his feet and drooping his shoulders.

Tim held in a snicker, and Dick clasped both hands over his mouth, eyes drawn up in a telling squint.

"No alien contact. So Superman doesn't exist here at all. Some people, like Green Arrow, exist but I can't find any evidence of vigilante activity. On the other hand, no supervillains either. So this place seems a lot more peaceful than back home."

Damian half lidded his eyes and further exaggerated his waddle around the room. Tim grinned and Dick's snickers began to be audible through his clasped fingers.

Jason slowly turned around, and Damian hopped into a disinterested slouch before Jason could look behind him. Jason gave Damian a stink eye, and raised an eyebrow for Tim to continue.

"Technology isn't anywhere near something we could use to get home. For that matter, by myself, it's not even good enough for me to build something to get us out of here anytime soon. Now, with time, I might be able to cobble together an interdimensional distress beacon, but it won't be easy and it really won't be fast."

"Lovely. Damian, you better have some better results."

"Hm?"

"With your magical elixir thing."

"It is not magic, Todd. It is ancient alchemy."

"Whatever. You given it to Dickie yet?"

"No, obviously. He just got here, Todd."

"Well, hurry it up then. Dick. Ask question."

"Jason, are you okay?" Dick tilted his head quizzically, while bashfully squirming in his seat. Tim pursed his lips as Dick tensed nervously. Even after Jason had given him permission to ask...

"Mm. Fine. Just not a morning person."

Dick gave a small smile and straightened up a bit.

Damian walked from one of the cabinets with a wooden bowl and spoon. "Here. Eat this, Richard."

Dick tilted his head and gave it a confused glance, but dutifully took it from Damian's hands and set it in front of him, dipping the oversized spoon into the mixture.

"Why wood?" Tim asked, brow furrowed in confusion, but with an amused smile playing over his face.

"It is natural, as opposed to plastics, refined ceramics or metal. It does not disturb the potency."

"Ri~ight."

Dick set down the spoon, having emptied the bowl, and looked up at Damian. "I'm done, Damian. How come it needs to be 'potent'?"

"It is meant to help you with… certain things."

Dick's head tilted as he started subconsciously kicking his legs against the chair. "Like what?"

Jason moved over, linking his arms behind his head and cracking his back. "Dickie… do you know how Daddy punishes you for thinking bad things?"

"Whattya mean, Chicken?"

"Chicken?"

Jason glared at Damian irkfully. "Later, Demon Brat. Dick. You know how when you think things sometimes you get… in a lot of pain?"

Dick nodded slowly. "I guess. I can't remember much, though. I'm sorry."

"That's okay. It's okay. Now, because of the lovely… food Damian gave you, you should be able to not be in pain when you think that kinda stuff. But you'll probably have to focus really hard, okay? Can you try that?"

"I can try, Chicken, but won't Daddy be mad at me?"

"No. This is a new situation, remember? We have new rules now."

Dick nodded his head slowly, hunching his shoulders in on himself. "Yeah… b-" He cut off and glanced upward worriedly.

"You can talk, Dick. It's okay. But what?"

"Isn't this a big change? I think even though this is all new… maybe Daddy still wouldn't want me to change this rule."

"Well, Daddy's not making the rules right now. Can you do this for us, Dick? Whenever you have one of these pain attacks you gotta fight it. Just fight it off. We want you to think about whatever you want. Alright?"

"I… yes Jason."

Dick grabbed his head and choked.

"No!"

"Jason, this is good! We're all here to supervise!"

Dick's body convulsed, nearly falling out of his seat. Jason grabbed Dick and pulled his body against Jason's own, a hand wrapping over the back of Dick's neck. "Fight it, Dick! You can do it!"

Dick cried out, lashing hard, before tucking into Jason's neck, tears seeping into the blood red collar of his shirt. Thin fingers bunched into scratchy fabric, arms not big enough to wrap around Jason's body shook with pain and effort. "I… I… Jason!"

"It's okay. It's okay, little buddy. You just keep fighting, I'm here." Jason's murmurs were almost completely drowned out by Dick's panting, and Dick's eyes squeezed closed, body rigid and trembling-

"I… I can… think!" Dick's eyes snapped open as he shoved back against Jason's arm, rigidly straight and eyes burning with blue flame. It was an expression everyone in the room but Dick had seen before.