Chapter Text
Jason heaved in another strained, wet breath as he tried curling in on himself to protect his ribs from further damage. He heard the laughter of the Joker echoing in his head, bouncing off of the walls of the warehouse. Part of his mask had been torn by the beatings, the corner of it exposing a part of his eye. Batman was coming. Jason knew he was coming. He had to be, he wouldn't leave Jason. Batman happened to be only just recently hearing about this, and was doing his best to make it to the warehouse in time, speeding down roads on his motorbike. He wouldn't make it in time, though wouldn't admit it to himself as he continued zooming down streets on the Batbike.
Jason groaned as he was hit in the chin upwards with the cold metal bar, falling off to the right and hitting the floor practically in slow motion. Jason winced in breaths, his chest heaving in pain every time he tried breathing. Batman would come. Batman would beat the Joker, just like he does every time. Batman always wins. Jason knew that. He was foolish for thinking otherwise.
He had to.
It took until the Joker had left and the bomb began counting down before someone showed up. Nightwing burst down the door, seemingly in a panic as he took an assessment of the situation. He rushed over to the bomb. 15 seconds. Not great. He didn't trust he could diffuse it in that time, just grabbing it and booking it out to his motorcycle. Well, there goes his ride, but Bruce was on the way. Dick needed the bomb out and now. He used his Nightwing themed motorcycle jacket to strap the bomb to the seat, sending the motorcycle driving on autopilot as fast and as far away as possible in the 8 seconds that were left. Dick then ran back into the warehouse, going over to Jason.
"Robin!- Robin, you're going to be okay. Just breathe. In and out, I know it's painful."
Robin gasped, his eyes widening as he saw Nightwing, a million questions dancing around in his head as he looked at Nightwing. He tried voicing one of them, but all that came out of his mouth was a hoarse gasp for air. He was covered in blood, a lot of it dripping from his mouth. It was smeared on his suit, as well as some smeared on his face. He hadn't managed to get out of the handcuffs that the Joker had locked onto his wrists, still on the floor laying on his side. Jason groaned as he struggled to continue breathing, looking up at Dick still confused.
"I- hf..." Jason was obviously trying to talk, but it wasn't working.
"Shh, shh, it's okay. You're going to be okay. I'm going to make sure you're okay. You can talk later, once you're better." Dick said softly as he began removing all of Jason's bindings. There was a BOOM in the distance, the bomb on the motorcycle blowing up. Dick barely flinched at the sound, just brushing blood and hair away from Jason's eyes. He sighed as he tended to his brother.
Most of his first aid supplies had gone down with the motorcycle, so there wasn't much Dick could do about Jason's wounds.
Hopefully none of them were fatal.
Jason's wrists had scratches all over them, most likely from struggling against the handcuffs. Majority of it was just irritated red skin, and that was the least of their problems.
Jason flinched slightly at the sound of the bomb going off, inhaling and exhaling with a lot of effort put forth. Jason winced whenever Dick did anything to try to tend to his wounds, all of them burning and stinging and hurting like the bottom of hell. They weren't normally fatal by themselves but added up on top of one another would cause serious damage if not repaired. It was unclear what was going on with his ribs at that moment, but the x-rays were probably going to be a lot more helpful later on with figuring out what was wrong.
"B will be here soon. You'll be okay." Dick said quietly, sounding like he was trying to convince himself more than he was trying to calm down Jason. He hummed softly, a tune his mother used to sing to him as he used whatever he had on hand to perform triage and at least stop the bleeding.
Jason just nodded despite how painful that simple movement was, listening to the small tune that Dick was humming as something to keep him grounded and keep him from passing out. Jason at least knew that was the last thing you should do in these situations. He had a killer migraine, his head ringing and every sound echoing. Though the humming was manageable.
"Mmmm." Jason managed to hum in response, a few seconds delayed.
Dick sat down, making sure not to move Jason too much as he made sure the other was as comfortable as possible. He began to talk, just to try and help Jason calm down.
"I've been off with the Titans recently, y'know. You've dropped by, you remember. Roy, Donna, Garth, Wally, Star, Vic, Dawn, Hank.. They're my best friends. You've met them before. Hank thinks you're a piece of shit but the rest like you. Maybe after this I can give you a proper introduction to them all."
Jason wasn't able to express it the best verbally, though he looked grateful as he was in a much more comfortable position then earlier. He raised a lazy eyebrow at the mention of the Titans, knowing full well that Hank didn't like him. Reasoning was valid, too, he supposed. He only put forth the effort to attempt a small hum in response, seeming to like to idea of possibly getting a proper introduction with the Titans.
If he even made it out of this. Nobody would want him thinking like that, but it was a valid point.
".... Maybe not the best time for a heart to heart, but I want this off my chest. Besides, silence would be worse, wouldn't it?" Dick tried to joke, chuckling softly before sighing.
"I haven't treated you the best, and none of it was because you did anything. I....... I was angry at B. Still kinda am. But I took it out on you, and none of that was fair at all. You..... You're my little brother. I should've put that above my petty little fight with B."
Jason chuckled as well despite his better judgement, only managing to sputter a few drops of blood back down onto his suit with a sound that was more of a wheeze than a laugh. He was silent while Dick was talking.
Jason smiled at Dick after he was finished talking, seeming to like what he had heard. He seemed happy, despite the situation that had brought this together anyways. "D'nt..wanme.. t'die with you,,, mad t'me." Jason managed to murmur out, a small grin on his face.
Dick smiled softly as he heard Jason laugh, smile persisting as the other spoke as well. Of course, his worry only rose as he noticed the blood and Jason's struggle to speak, but he managed not to show just how panicked he was feeling. Or at least he hoped it wasn't showing. "Well, I'd rather you not die period, but if we had a choice then yeah I'd rather you didn't die with anger directed towards you."
Jason didn't seem to notice the worry coming from Dick, though could've guessed that he was probably worried. Most of the Bats were worriers anyways, fussing over little things like eating or drinking enough water or getting enough sleep.
Jason smiled and nodded, the nod barely noticeable since he didn't want to move his head very much. "Yh.. d't...wannadie,, nywys."
"Good. Dying isn't fun..." Dick said, before sighing. "I'm just glad I got here in time. B....... B wouldn't have made it." Dick looked and sounded like he was about to start crying. "You're safe now." He whispered, sounding mostly like that was a comfort for himself.
"Dyin... mm..." Jason murmured, though couldn't seem to find enough air to finish his sentence, instead just focusing on trying to breathe.
Jason seemed ever so slightly concerned as Dick said that, his eyes widening slightly and then sinking. He was quiet now, frowning at the notion that he was 'safe'. He didn't really believe it entirely. His ribs hurt like hell, and he was sure he had heard a crack earlier. Sure, he was out of the reach of the Joker, but for how long? And who said that the damage wasn't going to last for however long it might?
".... Sorry, I should be trying to keep your spirits up. B's close by, he's on his way. He's gonna pick you up and take you home and you'll be alright." Dick said, putting a smile right back on his face. Jason could tell it was strained.
Jason just shook his head gently to show he was indifferent about the topic of conversation. "Yr,,nt... cmin with?" Jason asked, tilting his head and raising an eyebrow. He was confused about the wording. Maybe Dick just meant that Bruce was going to show up. He found himself worried that his older brother was going to leave him again. Almost dreading it.
"Well, I have some business here. And B and I still aren't on the best of terms.. Besides, he still doesn't have a back seat in his Batmobile. No way am I squeezing in there with both of you." Dick said, trying to joke again at the end there.
Jason huffed with another laugh, grinning in spite of the situation. Dick did his best not to grimace at the amount of blood he noticed staining Jason's teeth, or whatever remained of them anyways.
"Mmmnmm'k..." Jason managed to get out, though obviously didn't seem to want to split from his older brother this soon after getting on better terms."I'll meet you back at the Batcave soon, promise." Dick said, smiling at Jason.
His little brother was gonna be okay.
Jason smiled back weakly, huffing again to start regaining his breath. He nodded again. His chest heaved up and down with effort as he continued trying to get enough air into his lungs in order to breathe. Every time he inhaled, it never felt like enough. When he exhaled, he could feel all that sweet air escaping, as well as some piece of his humanity. He hated to admit it but he could feel it shrinking down somewhere inside of him.