Chapter Text
PART I: RAGE
Dick Grayson
Blood in his mouth, leaking through his nose. Damian, pulled into the masses. Jason, gone after him and still hasn’t reappeared. Comms are dead. If you are not in sight of another Bat… you are. You are presumed …
You have great
He nearly pops the head off of one of the dead. Matter falls onto his fingers. He’s not sure what it is. These aren’t Black Lanterns, nor one of a dark magician’s machinations. They just are a science, down to a fault. Noninfectious was confirmed three hours ago. It’s not a help to the poor souls ripped apart hours ago.
Tim soars in from a roof, displacing a man from grabbing at his short hair. His foot goes through his chest. Tim doesn’t flinch. “Dick,” he says, worried, and suddenly Dick’s aware of the blood covering the bottom half of his face, “Are you alright?”
“Damian.” Dick says, “Where’s Damian ?”
Tim pales, glancing at the last place he’s seen the child fighting. He’s not there. Neither of them can hear either Jason or Damian fighting. “Did you see which way they went?” He demands. Dick nods, and Tim goes after them and Dick’s right behind him.
“Barbara,” Dick manages to get out, “The girls, are they?”
“Fine.” Tim says. “They’ve cleared out the Clocktower, they’re waiting on us to get there. Nobody’s heard from Bruce or Kate. The Fox family is in the Clocktower.” A flash of metal. Tim’s staff goes through a head. The body drops with a dull thud.“Anything from your end?”
“Civilians are holed up. In Police HQ, mostly.” He ducks under an arm, yanks the creature over one shoulder. The arm comes off as it’s flung. He drops it in disgust. There’s a small space where they can rest, in an alcove of a shop. The dead don’t notice them. “Riddler let some civilians down in his mazes. Gave up control, theoretically, of them.” He turned and carefully checked. Clear. He gestures and they climb up to the roof. “Nothing from other rogues.” He remembers. “Duke’s with the one’s that are in the maze. He promised to go to the Clocktower once he was sure the Riddler wasn’t going to try to kill them.”
There’s a scream. They sprint towards it, leaping between the gaps in the roofs. Tim’s the one to drop onto the zombie. Dick stays on the roof, keeping watch. Quick spaces between seconds, the zombie is downed and he’s helping the teenager up. “Are you alright?” Tim asks.
“I’m fine.” The kid stammers out, “She- it was trying to eat me!”
A quick mental calculation. Fire station is closest. Has it succumbed? Unlikely, shutters were down. People were using the roof to get out. Dick decides. “Red Robin- the one on the next block.” Tim nods. He helps the kid onto the roof. It’s safer. If necessary, they can leave the kid on here for short periods.
The escort is quick. They use their grapples more- have to, the building are taller and despite the twhip that catches attention the dead can only swarm and not climb. They drop the kid off on the roof and the Firefighter Captain requests of them to get water, if possible. Someone has cut off the supply. They don't promise, but they will remember.
Off again. This time, they are more spread out. Still in sight of another, but one is on the streets when possible and one on the roof to keep watch. Damian and Jason are missing. Nobody has heard from Bruce and Kate since the beginning of the unholy night. Any sight of any of them would be welcome.
“ Hood! Hood where did you go! ” Dick grapples back to the roof, and without a word, they run. Breathe isn’t wasted. They skitter to a halt.
Jason has given Damian one of his guns at some point, and Robin is cornered. Jason is nowhere in sight, and with Damian’s shouting, it wasn’t planned. He’s firing methodically into the crowd of the dead despite this, conserving ammo. There is still a massive crowd slowly closing in, bottled neck in the alley.
“Todd!” Damian finally screeches. Frightened.
Dick holds up a fist. Wait . Finally most of the dead are in the alley. They drop. He spares a half second to flash Tim a smile, and his eskrima sticks are out and electrocuted. Damian has stopped calling out, and is frantically reloading. Tim kicks out a back of a knee. Staff shoved in the head. Staff yanked out to take out another. Dick’s shoving his way in the thick of it. Armour is protecting most of his body, his face the only thing left vulnerable. They don’t get close enough to touch it.
Damian spots them. He has climbed onto a dumpster now, to avoid the grasp of the waiting dead. He starts to ignore the ones closer to him, in favor of getting the ones sneaking behind Dick or Tim. Dick’s there, suddenly, ignoring the gun and grabbing Damian. Tim sees, and grapples to the roof. Dick’s seconds behind him. Minutes later, they are six blocks away.
Dick Grayson you have great
“Unhand me!” Damian demands, smacking Dick’s hands. He drops him. Damian lands with a huff, brushing off imaginary dirt. “Thank you,” he says, and clearly he does not enjoy it, “for assisting me.”
“It’s fine.” Dick says before Tim can say anything. “Where did Jason go? Have you seen him?”
Damian’s a child, and has a child’s guilt. “He,” he says with a small amount of hesitance, “He just vanished. He was there and he was not there and I didn’t,” he pauses, corrects himself quickly, “ did not see which way he went. I had only a gun that he gave me.” He wipes at his face irritably, and it leaves a streak of what everyone hopes is dirt.
“Right.” Dick says. “Great.”
“Jason wouldn’t get eaten.” Tim says with some authority. “I mean. He survived my Titans in scaly panties. Zombies would be a treat for him.” Tim flicks his staff in and holsters it.
There’s a flash of light in the sky. All three of them track it until it vanishes.
“Looked like a ring.” Tim says again. “You think?”
“Don’t be stupid,” Damian says. “Rings cannot fly.” There’s a beat of silence. Damian colors. “You cannot blame me for forgetting about them! They are all imbeciles! ”
“This is almost like last time.” Dick muses. “But I didn’t see the color. Did you two- no. We’ll presume it wasn’t a Black Lantern ring then.” They all look at the apparent landing spot. All of them itch to check it out. Jason comes first.
“Todd would have found a place to wait.” Damian says. There’s hope in his voice. He still feels guilty about losing Jason in the crowd. Despite this, all of them know Jason wouldn’t stay in one spot unless he was severely injured.
Unconsciously, they are all listening for gunshots. None of them ring out.
They spread out. Damian stays on the roof. One of them is on the opposing side of whatever building he’s on, where he can see them but they cannot see each other. Trust is paramount. Tim whistles, and then gestures. Damian nods, stops and Dick quickly joins him on the roof.
Jason is wheezing in the alleyway. Blood trickles from his nose and his eye is blackened. Half of his unprotected face is bruised- when did he lose the helmet? Like Dick, who has not yet bothered to wipe away the blood covering his face, Jason is covered in filth of a different kind. Ground up dirt. Suspicious substance that is almost gelatinous.
“Dick?” Jason says. He sounds lost. “I didn’t...I tried to get to him.”
“Here, lean on me.” Dick says urgently and Jason obligingly goes. The way his chest is rising, Dick thinks more than a few ribs were snapped. “Jason do you think you can make it to the Tower?”
“I dunno.” Jason says. “I dunno where the squirt is either, and I tried but they were fucking everywhere, filled up the street and I couldn’t get back Dickie.” Dick shushes him, aims his grapple, and they are on the roof. The Clocktower is two miles north. He prays Jason can make it.
“Holy shit.” Tim says, “Jason, you need a rebreather?” It’d be a shit stand-in for an oxygen tank, but when Jason nods slowly, Tim gives it to him. Jason bats away his hand and fixes it in his mouth himself. His shoulders slump a little and he can support his weight a little better.
“Todd!” Damian circles back, “I see you’ve gone and gotten yourself beat up.” He sniffs haughtily, but he’s close to Jason, enough for the older man to ruffle his hair. Damian permits it grudgingly.
The four of them set off. They all stay on the roofs, reunited. Damian scouts ahead, memorizing spots where zombies swarm. Tim flits, helping Damian and them alternatively. The streets are eerily silent. Everyone on them without means of defending themselves has died brutally. They’ve saved who they could.
The Clock Tower looms within reach when they all hear the distinctive, nasally yell. “Bud! Get back here!” Plants rip through the streets. Damian looks back. A question. Dick pauses, gestures towards Tim and Red Robin and Robin drop onto the streets.
“Ladies.” Tim says, “What brings you on the streets tonight?”
“Lou got loose,” Harley says mournfully. Bud sulks back up, pouting with an arm in his mouth. He tears at it. “We’re looking for him.”
“And Selina.” Ivy says disdainfully.
“I was getting to that Red!” Harley snaps, before a low muttered “ sorry .” Ivy rubs her back. “Kitty went missing too.” She looks up at them, hopeful. “Will ya help us look?”
“We cannot Quinn.” Damian replies. He sounds regretful, at least. “We have a higher priority than finding a lost woman that can take care of herself.”
“Like what .” Harley demands. “Kitty’s missing and neither of you care?”
Before anyone could reply, there was a breathy gasp. They looked over. A zombie. Ivy waved a careless hand. Green bursted through the earth, impacting it’s skull. It fell soundless. They turned back. A robin tweeted.
“We have our own missing.” Tim said. “And our own injured. Selina can take care of herself.” He paused. “If you come to the Clocktower and promise you won’t do anything to us we can help you look.”
The two women exchange glances. Ivy whispers in Harley’s ear.
“We’ll come by if we can’t find her.” Ivy replies. “We won’t start anything.” Unspoken. They’ll return any threat gladly.
“Fine.” Damian grits out, and he’s clambering like a monkey to get to the rooftop. Tim nods, and follows. The women fade back into the shadows, the hyena trailing after.
Jason’s looking better. He has some color in him at least, with the break and the rebreather working to restore a minority of issues. Dick’s still supporting him. “Went alright?” Dick questions. When they nod, he tugs Jason gently and they start again.
“They’re coming by the Tower if they don’t find Selina.” Tim says. Dick grunts in acknowledgment. He’s lagging. He’s been carrying over two hundred pounds of muscle for over thirty minutes.
Finally the Tower looms. Dick gathers Jason close and grapple onto the roof, before kicking at the tiles to activate the roof opening. Damian and Tim land silently. They’re shoving at each other, relaxing with the promise of imminent safety.
That’s when the ring slams straight onto Dick’s finger.
DICK GRAYSON YOU HAVE GREAT RAGE IN YOUR HEART
Dick screams. The tile opens. Jason drops with a heavy thud.
Damian swoops to help Jason down the chute. Tim stays to watch warily.
WELCOME TO THE RED LANTERN CORPS
There’s a chant of no. Dick’s spitting out red, angry blood. The roof around him is soon slick with it, and when Dick glances at Tim, his eyes are red-veined and angry . Red light closes around him, and Dick is enclosed in red.
The light fades. Dick snarls at him, mouth red and wet, before running off the roof and vanishing into the night in a red bloody streak.
“Oh no .” Tim finally breathes, and goes down to tell the others.