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“How many days have we been here for?” Duke forced his eyes open. His right eye opened fine; his left eye was blurry, and he could only open it a crack. Definitely swollen.
Steph groaned, somewhere off to his left and behind him. “ Fuck if I know. We were taken on a Monday . Nothing good happens on Monday’s .”
“Being publicly kidnapped got you out of your Spanish test?” Dick tried, somewhere to their right. Stephanie just groaned louder and more dramatically.
“I have Kurecka . Bitch is gunna make me retake the test the second we get back.”
“You speak Spanish fluently why the fuck are you worried about it?” Tim snapped as he was thrown into their cell.
“Can you fucking rich fuckers be goddamn normal for once in your lives?” One of their kidnappers was looking into their cell in exasperation.
“Why the fuck would we listen to our kidnappers?” Duke turned his head to look at them. He was really judging them; why would they ever willingly listen to their kidnappers?
Like, really?
“Yeah, really. Like?” Stephanie joined him. “You mcfuckers forced us to drive off a fucking cliff two weeks ago and yet you expect us to listen to you now?”
“It was three days ago.” One of them answered flatly.
“We were forced off of a cliff and taken to a remote location where we have been isolated from any ability to tell the passage of time; how were we to know how many days it has been; you thick-skulled, half-witted, plebeian cur?!”
Duke was relieved to know that Damian was still alive and angry. He had been quiet for a while, and Duke had been becoming concerned for his youngest sibling. If the little demon was alive and picking fights he would be just fine.
“You little fucking freak!” The cage door opened.
… Maybe not physically fine, but then again - none of them were.
Dick seemed to have the physical threat to Damian in hand, though. He was one of the worst injured, but he still wrapped his legs around the waist of the man and dragged him down, snarling something in one of the thousand different languages that he spoke.
Duke thought it might have been Greek.
Another guard entered the front of the cell, and then another as Tim and Cass joined the fray. Duke watched as the two were pushed away, but Dick was dragged out by his hair. He was still snarling, though Duke thought he had switched languages again.
He was guessing that it was Italian this time.
They were all tense, and Duke was able to shift his head enough to see that Tim had ripped off part of Damian’s shirt to wrap around one of Cass’s wounds. She was the worst injured; having pulled Dick to the side so the branch that should’ve decapitated him went through the driver's seat and into her seat. The move that saved both of their lives had come at a high cost - she had been thrown from the car, and had broken at least four of her bones.
And now she had done more damage, trying to protect Damian.
Duke could understand it, at least. He would’ve done the same thing.
“Next time, leave the, fighting to us, who don’t have, bones on the, outside.” Tim was wheezing lightly.
None of them had survived the car crash without injuries. Not only that, but Tim had been hauled away the most often. They had apparently been after him to go after W.E.
Tim shoved Damian back out of Duke’s line of sight, and he heard the kid grumble quietly before going quiet again. Hopefully those that had working eyes and could turn their heads without immense pain would keep an eye on him.
“Better me, than you.” Cass hummed quietly. Her voice was usually soft, even while being staccato-y; but now it was rough and harsh.
This had taken a toll on all of them, clearly.
“You need to sleep, Tim.” Stephanie interrupted them. “You’ve been in the same crash as the rest of us, but you’ve not been left alone by them since we were thrown in here for more than an hour. Even your insomniac ass has got to be sleep deprived.”
“I -”
“Dick will be back when Dick is let back. The boneless wonder probably is pissing them off on purpose so that they’ll forget all about the lil demon back here under my fat ass.” Duke could hear the eyeroll in Steph’s voice.
“… I did not intend for them to take Richard out to harm him.” Damian said quietly - from where he was being sat on, apparently.
“We know.” Duke, Tim, Cass, and Stephanie croaked as one.
They had rehearsed saying things at the same time; but only ever to fuck with Bruce. Never for situations like this.
It didn’t stop Duke from snorting from amusement - and immediately regretted the action when it made his everything throb. He groaned, letting his eyes close once more.
“Alright, it’s time for everyone who isn’t a mother to go to sleep. I’ll keep watch.” Steph decreed.
“Last I heard, little spoilsport, you hadn’t kidnapped them back yet.” Jason’s voice came from in front of them.
Wait.
Jason’s voice?!
“Jason?!” This time, all five of them spoke as one.
“B ain’t here, kiddos. No need to be of one mind.” Duke forced his right eye open, slowly moving so he could faintly see the figure through the bars. His left eye wasn’t opening again.
Joy.
“We’re here just to piss you off for speaking about my kid.” Steph called.
Her words did nothing to mask the relief in her voice.
“You brought them up, spoils.” They pointed out.
“Why did Father not accompany you, Todd?” Damian demanded.
Duke was actually wondering the same thing.
“He’ll be here in less than an hour. Someone just sent an anonymous tip that the stolen Wayne’s are being held at this location, surrounded by dead guards.” Jason… hadn’t unlocked the cell yet, Duke realized.
“Our guards aren’t dead.” Duke said without thinking. Jason grinned, all teeth.
“They’re about to be.” They turned to stalk away when Tim stopped them.
“Dick’s out there with them - he distracted them from Damian so he wouldn’t be hurt.” he called. “We don’t know what they’re doing to him, but their methods… are not, nice.”
“I’ll take care of it.” Jason said grimly. They had a shotgun in hand, though Duke couldn’t see what type. He closed his eyes and moved his head back into a better position as the boom of the shogun sounded out and the screaming started.
Sometimes, that was one of the most soothing noises in the world.
“It’s a good thing that Dami is small and Dick is an octopus.” Jason said, leaning back in one of the chairs in the medical portion of the Batcave. “Otherwise, we would need to invest in more beds.”
“Don’t you even think about taking away my cuddly baby.” Dick pouted. He and Damian were sharing a bed, Damian currently being smothered by Dick in a drug-fueled cuddle session. Tim was in the bed beside them, sleeping currently.
The doctors had left him to sleep for nearly one day, before they advised him to sleep when he could over the next week. Alfred had taken the task himself to make certain their resident insomniac rested as much as he could, even if he couldn’t sleep.
Cass was hooked up in a bed on Duke’s right, she and Dick had been tied for who would take the longest to recover - until Dick had been dragged away by their kidnappers. Stephanie was in a chair between her and Tim, having been released from a bed the fastest. Most of her wounds had been superficial; once her hip had been popped back into place and the crack in her neck tended to - so long as she took it easy, she would be fine.
She was salty about not being allowed to patrol until two full weeks had passed after her neck had healed completely.
Duke was on bedrest still; he had the most head trauma out of them all. The doctors had kept him in the hospital until the night before, and they had been rescued days before that. Now he was back in a bed, but at least the cave was more interesting than the hospital ever would be.
“Your “cuddly baby” has three knives on him right now.” Jason pointed out.
“He’s my prickly lil hedgehog.” Dick cooed, before he dissolved into cooing over Damian in yet another language.
Duke was guessing Gaelic.
“Hey; Doc Alfie - I think you drugged Dick up a little bit too much.” Jason snorted as they tossed a piece of warmed lemon in the air before catching it in their mouth to eat.
Duke was judging them.
“No, Mx. Jason, he has the correct dosage.” Alfred answered, the butler ever-patient. “Master Dick simply has a different reaction to the medication. Unlike you, who tries to escape, Master Dick wants affection.”
“You do know your grandkids well, Alfie.” Jason praised them.
“My dear child, after this many years - what I know would still surprise you.”
“Please tell me the secret to the universe.” Jason followed them out, trailing after the butler. “Or what colour Bruce hates the most. Or Dick. Or…”
Duke didn’t think that Alfred would be left alone for a while, which was good. He was pretty sure they had been really worried about them all.
After all, where else would Jason have gotten that shotgun from?