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“and you’re sure it’s him?” Canary asked, side eying the man sitting in the interrogation room through the two-way mirror.
“100%,” Artemis said, “he even said it himself.”
Canary blinked, “he… said it?”
Artemis nodded, sad, “he’s… angry. Very. I don’t think…” she swallowed down the lump in her throat, “I don’t think he’s in his right mind.”
“he died and was brought back to life,” Batman said, dead pan, “no one would be.”
And then he turned and walked out of the room, appearing inside the interrogation room quickly.
Dick looked up when the door opened, finding Batman on the threshold.
He was a tiny bit surprised. He was expecting Martian Manhunter or Canary, maybe Super Man. Although it wasn’t entirely unsurprised. He followed Bruce with his eyes as he walked in and sat down in front of him, the tiniest of smiles hinting at the corner of his mouth.
Batman seemed to be waiting for him to begin the conversation but Dick refused, watching Bruce quietly, well aware that he was the only person coming in to this conversation with a level head.
“do you know who I am?” Bruce asked. Dick snorted a laugh, teeth shining like fangs- or maybe Batman was imagining things, “I’ll take that as a yes.”
Dick let his confident façade slip on, a smirk taking over his mouth, “you thought my memory was wiped?”
“it was a theory.”
“more like a hope,” Dick said.
He caught the slightest hesitancy in Batman’s movements. Bruce had made a mistake coming in here. If anyone knew how to read him it was Dick. Canary he could figure out, Manhunter would be difficult, Batman? all too easy.
“you are assisting Ra’s Al Ghul,” batman said, attempting to drop into the cold mask he’d created, built around himself, “why?”
Dick shrugged with one shoulder, “why not?”
“he’s the leader of the league of assassins,” Batman said, with a tone that expressed how much he wanted to say ‘duh’.
“point?” oh, Dick was enjoying this.
Batman clenched his jaw. he took a deep breath and hit a button on his glove. Dick heard, ever so slightly, the sound of metal sliding shut. The mirror looked no different, but Dick could guess that no one could see from the other side anymore.
“why are you doing this Dick?” Bruce asked, and it was Bruce asking it, not Batman. he was beginning to crumble, there was emotion in his voice.
Dick let his face drop, eyes turning dead, a glare lighting up and aimed at Bruce.
“are they black mailing you?” Bruce asked.
“go to hell,” he said, leaning forward.
Bruce seemed genuinely shocked and hurt. He tried to steady himself, Dick swooped in before he could.
“you left me to die, Bruce,” Dick said, voice colder than the steel of his knives, sharper than the blades that had cut into his skin on that knight. What he said hit Bruce’s heart harder than the crowbar had hit Dick’s skull, “Joker had captured me, strung me up and made me bleed,” Dick hissed through clenched teeth, “and you left me to die.”
“Dick-“ Bruce choked on his words, on his guilt. He’d beat himself up, blamed himself, for years. People had told him it wasn’t his fault, that Dick would want him to move on, that he would understand, and here he was, pointing the finger of blame straight at him.
“you and the team and the league,” Dick said, a laugh starting to bubble up, “you left me, and I prayed and begged for hours for you to come, for you to save me, I hoped, I had faith in you.” his glare could have turned a rainforest to ash, “and then I died. And you didn’t learn anything!”
Bruce blinked, what? What did he-
“as soon as I was gone you had another kid by your side, ready to die, ready to be your human shield,” Dick said, “and you let him die to. Well now it’s your turn, Bruce.”
“Dick, please-“
“SHUT UP!” Dick screamed, “SHUT UP AND DIE, YOU PIECE OF SHIT!”
The lights flickered and went out. Bruce’s head snapped up to look at them, missing Dick’s movement as he clicked off the handcuffs and jumped over the table, hands going straight for Batman’s belt. He stole a batarang from his belt and stabbed it straight into the weak spot of the armour at the knee. Bruce fell to one knee, teeth clenched as he held down a yelp. Dick clocked him over the head, hard, and Batman slumped to the ground. He grabbed another batarang and strode for the door, slamming into it just as someone went to open it. he locked it and drove the weapon into the controls, which sparked and fritzed as the door locked.
He clicked the button on Batman’s glove, the metal reinforcing the mirror slid open. He grabbed Batman’s utility belt, slung it over his shoulder and then slammed into the glass. Falling and rolling on the floor. He strode out, coming up behind Canary and Artemis, delivering several hits to them quickly and knocking them out.
He ran through the halls, knowing the routes and the emergency plans. He knew exactly what path to take so no one ran into him. he got to the room where captor’s gear was stored, broke in and found his stuff. He slung his jacket on, filled with weapons, and took a few more pieces, but priority one was his communicator. He placed the earbud in and strode out.
“Nightwing to Thalia, you read?”
“clear, all to plan, I’m heading for the file, keep the distraction going.”
“all too easy,” he mumbled to himself once he’d switched off the transmission.
“think again!” cam a voice from down the hall. Dick turned, smirking at Superboy.
“just you and me?’ Dick cackled.
“no.” Kaldur turned the corner, taking the other end of the hall, “it’s a regular reunion special.”
M’Gann flew in, coming out of camo and hovering behind Kaldur, Wally sped to stand beside Conner.
“where’s Artemis?” he asked Conner.
“preoccupied,” Dick said, “what, is four on one not even enough for you?”
Wally stared, hurt. Conner ran on in for the attack.
Dick dodged the first hit and jumped away from the next. He dropped a smoke bomb and the hall filled with grey.
“courtesy of Luthor,” Dick hissed, creeping up behind Conner and stabbing a small piece of jagged kryptonite into his back. Conner cried out and collapsed to his knees, M’Gann gasped and flew in to his rescue.
Dick backed away, dodging the running slam Wally had aimed for him. he felt M’Gann attempt a mental attack and quickly slammed his defences up, imagine a wall for flames. M’Gann retreated quickly and Dick threw an explosive device at her that created a ball of fire as it detonated and she flew back into a wall, unconscious.
Wally tried to hit him again with another sped up body slam but Dick saw it coming. Kaldur tried to distract him, running in with twin blades created by his water bearers. Dick slid his sword form his sheath and fought, keeping his eyes on the blur in the corner of his vision. Dick landed several blows and Kaldur lost his footing, Dick slammed him into the wall, then turned to the blur.
Wally stopped, standing in front of him.
“whatever is making you do this, we can help,” Wally said, putting his hands up, “I don’t want to fight you.”
“that’s your mistake,” Dick said, “cause I really want to fight you.”
He stalked closer to Wally, who was beginning to take steps backwards.
“Dick please,” Wally said, “why are you doing this?”
“why?” Dick hissed, “why? You’ve got to be shitting me?!” Dick laughed, hysteria starting to creep in, “you lot left me to die, what happened to team mates? Having my back?” he glared, voice a tortured hiss, “now it’s your turn to feel betrayed.” His words came out in an angered spat hatred, “doesn’t feel good, does it?”
“Dick, please.” Wally tried once more, “I tried my best to get to you, there was nothing we could do.”
“a likely excuse,” Dick said, scoffing, “are you going to fight me or keep running?”
Wally looked near tears. But he glanced at the corner of the long hallway.
And then disappeared in a blur.
Dick scoffed, “typical.” His hand drifted to his ear piece, “Thalia, have you got it?”
“yes, heading to the rendezvous point, what’s your ETA?”
“I-“
He broke off, electricity running through him. he held in the scream but couldn’t stop himself from freezing up. Kaldur grabbed him as he stop and got him down in a hold, his head slammed into the concrete.
“this is why you check if your opponent is really unconscious,” Kaldur said, the smallest bit of humour in his voice.
Dick scowled, got his feet under him and turned the fight back to his side, holding Kaldur down.
“you’re beginning to get on my nerves,” he hissed.
Kaldur grinned and let electricity run through his fingers again. This time Dick was prepared and Kaldur didn’t immediately get him down. They struggled, rolling across the floor as they threw hits and tried to get the other into a hold.
Kaldur slammed him into the floor.
“whatever you’re trying to get, you won’t succeed,” Kaldur said.
“it’s funny that you think I haven’t succeeded already,” Dick said, smirking.
“whatever your partners are doing while you distract us doesn’t matter,” Kaldur said, “you’ll still be stuck here.”
“goody, goody,” Dick scowled, “I’ll break out again and maybe I’ll get a chance to actually kill Batman this time.”
Kaldur’s face turned sad, “you don’t mean that.”
“you don’t know anything about me, Kal.”
“I know enough,” Kal said, “and what I don’t know, M’Gann will, soon.”
Dick frowned, “what?”
And he looked away to where M’Gann had been unconscious. She was leaning against the wall now, still not at her full strength, but she narrowed her eyes on him with plenty of determination.
And he felt her attack his mind once again. But this time she wasn’t holding back.
Dick woke up to heat. Endless, painful, burning.
He gasped, standing, whipping his head around and looking for the escape. This wasn’t right, where was he, when did he get here, how did he get here, the last he remembered was-
As he remembered glimpses of the fight in the watchtower the fire soared higher, roaring with a renewed ferocity. It was burning him, boiling his skin, turning him into ash and smoke. He was coughing, choking, trying his best to run, looking for an exit, but ever turn he made the flame got higher and stringer and hotter and it became harder and harder to breathe. Harder and harder to run.
Why was… what had happened? Why was he…
He remembered Kaldur pinning him down, he remembered M’Gann attacking his mind…
He remembered attempting to defend himself, using the image of flames to attack M’Gann back but she-
Had turned it on him.
“calm down, Dick,” he heard her voice, bouncing around in his mind. he whipped around, looking for the source, any tears of pain that could have spilled were evaporated the fire in moments.
Memories were starting to surface, she was trying to get control of him, trying to sedate him mentally.
No, no, no, no, no, no, no.
“STOP IT!” he hissed.
“I’m sorry,” she said, and her voice sounded closer. He turned, looking, the flames still burning him, inside and out.
“you’re not sorry,” he scowled, the words coming out strangled, “none of you were.”
“Dick.”
He stumbled back, wincing away from the barest mental touch that she’d attempted to reach out.
“please, let me help.”
“GET OUT OF MY HEAD!”
It felt almost like she was trying to mentally embrace him, but he was panicking, heart rate skyrocketing, and he became overwhelmed by the fear that she was smothering him, holding him down.
He was screaming, crying, begging to be let go, but no one was listening, they were just dragging him into the room, pinning him down, bringing out their tools, just like every time before. He knew how this would go, it never changed, but still he wished that one day Batman would kick down the door and save him or the team would help him escape.
“NO!” she was digging through his mind. he struggled, trying to turn this bonfire back into the weapon he’d intended it as, but M’Gann had a strong grip on him. his mental state was not the best, she could easily manipulate things with the barest touch. But that wasn’t what she was trying to do here.
“Dick, calm down, deep breaths,” she said, voice low, soothing. Dick was panicking, every nerve trying to hit the self-destruct button, but it was almost like M’Gann was holding him down. The metal scene adapted to help his brain understand what was happening, what was purely concept became visual in his mind’s eye.
He sobbed, falling, just wanting to run out of oxygen and be taken over by the flames and their smoke. M’Gann caught him, holding him from behind.
He woke from every one of those nights angrier than the last. He’d be beaten till he stopped breathing and his heart stopped beating, hoping every time would be the last time. In the morning he’d wake to the endless green and be forced into more training and gruelling mentorship. It was all starting to blur together. He couldn’t even track how long it had been. His scars healed over, he only had a few faint ones from particularly bad injuries. His hair grew wildly, each dunk in the pits causing varying levels of growth. He was getting taller, growing muscle mass, but everything was irregular, there were no patterns other than the consistent nightly torture and morning swim, and without a way to count them he’d lost track a long time ago.
“stop,” Dick croaked, he didn’t want to remember this. He wanted to keep gripping onto the anger and the hate like he’d been forced to the past years, he wanted to turn a blind eye to every thought he had other than the constant burning lust for revenge.
“you need to remember why you’re doing this,” M’Gann said, “and why it’s not what you truly want.”
There was no snap, no moment when he went from complete good to bad. It was a process. Every day was another step closer to where he was now. Every day the pits made him angrier, madder, slowly unscrewing every structure in his mind. the words whispered, the orders, the screaming and unwavering yelling of his trainers and the low mumbles of his tormentors were culminating. Their whispers of revenge, of how this was Batman’s fault, how he had been left behind, forgotten, thrown away slowly worming their way in.
“Dick, I’m here,” M’Gann said, her mental hold on him becoming tighter and tighter as Dick lost his hold, lost his composure.
He shook his head, biting on his lip to keep everything down, “no, no just let me forget, I don’t want to-“ his words choked, “I don’t want to think about it, please.” The memories were flooding in, his days as Robin, as Batman’s son, as a team mate. Memories he’d pushed down, locked away, kept from the forefront of his mind were being tugged into his mind’s eye by M’Gann.
“you don’t want this,” M’Gann soothed, “I know you don’t, just let us help.”
Dick shook his head, a sib breaking past his clenched teeth. The flames were still around him and M’Gann in a wall, but the sound and the heat had been blocked out. They sat, his back to her chest, in a small little circle of dark ashes.
“M’Gann,” he managed to croak out, “please, stop.”
He let her head drop to rest between his shoulder blades, “you know I can’t.”
“please,” he hissed out between his teeth, air was still difficult for him to get into his lungs, “I can’t… I can’t do it, I can’t think about…” he shut his eyes, screwing them shut and trying to curl in on himself, M’gann’s embrace didn’t let up, “I can’t think about what they did to me, what I’ve done.”
“they’ve forced you into this, but we can help,” she whispered, “please, just try, one last time, a final try.”
He didn’t even know when it had happened. He couldn’t remember. He didn’t remember when he’d stopped fighting the trainers, when he’d started walking into the rooms and going for the weapons rack or the computers or whatever they were working with without any persuasion. When he’d given up on fighting them and let them drag him to the table without a fight. when he’d become an expert at rising through the green liquid and breaking the surface. When he’d found himself opening his eyes to the green with no fear, he knew he couldn’t die as long as he was in the pit, he let his instincts kick in and breathe in the liquid, just for those extra moments of unconscious peace. He didn’t know when he’d looked at Ra’s and said, “I’ll do it. I’ll kill Batman.”
“no.” regardless of how little Dick wanted it to happen, he found himself sinking into M’gann’s hold, the embrace was comforting, warm in a good way, a quiet song lulling him to sleep, “no, I..”
He didn’t want to say it, couldn’t, refused to.
But M’Gann was in his mind, could read every thought and worry.
“they don’t hate you,” she said, “I promise. They want to help just as much as I do.”
“I’ve broken their trust,” Dick said, “they’ll lock me up in Arkham or- or Bell Reve.” He swallowed down the fear, not at all succeeding, “or maybe they’ll just put a bullet in my head and all it a day.”
“We’re the good guys Dick, remember? You’re family, we’re here for you,” M’Gann sighed, “I can’t prove it to you with words,” she said, and Dick felt a strong heaviness overcome him, “but I can show you, when you wake up.”
Dick blinked, his eyelids getting heavy. He slumped, trying to grip on to consciousness. If he was feeling sleepy mentally then M’Gann was doing more than lulling him to bed, this was a lot stronger.
“no, wait,” he slurred, “no… I…” he blinked, “M’Gann…”
“ssh.” M’Gann pressed harder and Dick started to slump further, “time to rest, you need it.”
Dick slumped in her grip, falling into the deepest sleep he’d had in his life. M’Gann looked down at him, dark hair hanging over red-rimmed eyes. M’Gann swallowed down her owns tears, feeling almost overwhelmed by the memories she was bombarded with when she made contact with his mind. the whole thing was in shambles, a mess, it was a wonder he was able to behave at all stably.
She brought herself out of his mind. he had slumped in Kaldur’s grip, knocked out completely. He wouldn’t wake up for hours, maybe days.
“what did you do?” Kaldur asked, slowly sitting up as if he were worried that Dick would spring back into the fight.
“I put him to sleep,” she said, “after a short conversation.”
She drifted close, sitting next to him and letting her hand drift into his hair, pushing his bangs out if his face, “he needs the sleep.”
Kaldur frowned, “is he okay?”
M’Gann shook her head, “not in the slightest.”
“can you help him?”
She pursed her lips, “I can try. The league of assassins…” she shook her head, utter disbelief was all she could feel, “what they did to him…” she held her head, feeling nauseous, “oh, god.”
Kaldur held a hand on her shoulder, having sat down next to her, “we’ll help him, we’ll fix things.”
“they’re here.” They heard Wally say, he ran around the corner at a normal speed, Canary hot on his heels with Superman. All three paused int their tracks, laying eyes on the scene.
“what happened?” Canary asked.
“I got in his head and knocked him out,” M’Gann said, trying to compose herself.
Superman immediately made his way to Conner’s side, checking him over. He got close to the injury in his back and winced away, “kryptonite.”
“let me,” Wally said, speeding in to grab the kryptonite and pull it out, “when I get this out, grab him and get him to the med-bay.”
Superman nodded, ready. Wally pulled out the kryptonite and Superman picked up Conner, gently but as quick as he could, then flew off.
Canary squatted down to look at Dick, “he took you all down before you could get in?”
M’Gann nodded, “Wally sped away just when Kaldur woke up and started fighting him, I woke up and took the chance to get in.”
“you’re shaken up,” Canary said, “did he fight you?”
“he didn’t have the chance, his mind’s a mess.” her shoulders shook slightly, “he needs our help.”
Canary nodded, “I know.”
“don’t be mad at him,” M’Gann said, not taking into account Canary’s sad look as she watched Dick’s chest rise and fall slowly, “he had no choice, they-“ she broke off, having to swallow down the emotions that were bubbling up.
“we’re his friends, his family,” Wally said, sitting down with them, joining their pity party, “we’re not abandoning him.”
not this time.