Chapter 1: Ending #1
Chapter Text
He knew something was wrong as soon as he woke up.
His chest was on fire.
One look down and he figured out why.
Long, thick metal tubes protruded out of his chest and connected him to a large machine beside him. His skin was red and inflamed from the unwelcomed material and he could feel dried blood caked to his skin in some places.
What had happened?
How did he get here?
He couldn’t remember.
He tried to move a bit to see if there was any possibility of escape, but stopped the second he tried when blinding pain shot through his body.
Shit.
Looks like he’s just going to have to wait and hope someone finds him or finds some other way to escape down the line.
____________________
Robin was gone.
They took him right from underneath their noses during their mission.
They were too naive and just assumed Robin had pulled one of his disappearing acts and brushed it off. That was until Miss Martian realized that she couldn’t feel his mind link anymore.
[A few hours ago]
‘Guys, I think we may have a problem.’ Miss Martian relayed over the mind link, worry laced in her tone.
‘What is it?’ Kaldur asked, glancing back at her from his crouched position behind a rock. They were currently on a recon mission in Bialya and had split up into two teams. Aqualad, Miss Martian, and Kid Flash on one team; and Superboy, Artemis, and Robin on the other.
‘I-I can’t feel Robin’s mind link. And now that I think about it—I don’t remember the last time I felt it..’
‘Superboy, Artemis. Do either of you have eyes on Robin?’
‘No. We split up about 15 minutes ago like planned. Last I remember from him was him saying that he’d made it to his post.’ Conner relayed. ‘Do you think something happened to him?’
‘I am not sure. Kid Flash, I want you to run south and go to Robin’s post. See if you can find him there.’
‘On it.’
Wally didn’t waste a single second to argue, ask questions, or goof around. Something was wrong and he knew it. Robin wouldn’t drop the mind link for no reason—especially not when it’s currently their only way to communicate.
And unfortunately, his suspicions were correct.
As soon as Wally arrived at Dick’s post, he found his utility belt lying in a heap on the ground.
Dick never dropped his utility belt.
Someone took it off of him, then took him.
[Present time]
Upon their discovery, they immediately abandoned their mission and left Bialya. When they were sure they were a safe distance away, they turned their comms. back on and contacted the League.
“Aqualad to Watchtower, do you read me?”
“Watchtower to Aqualad, what is your situation?” Batman. Truthfully, Kaldur wasn’t sure if he was scared or relieved that Batman had been the one to answer their distress call.
“We had to abandon our mission. Robin has gone missing and we have reason to assume that he has been taken. We found his utility belt abandoned on the ground where he was assigned.”
“Understood. Return back to Mount Justice and await further instructions. Batman out.”
“That’s it?!” Wally suddenly yelled from behind him, pushing him out of the way and taking over the comms. “Batman, he’s gone. We can’t just leave him!”
“I understand your distress, Kid Flash, but my orders still stand. You are all to return to the cave and leave this to me. Robin is my responsibility, not yours.”
“Your responsibility?! Robin isn’t just some- some object! He’s our friend, our teammate—my partner!” Wally seethed.
Batman didn’t respond.
“Say something goddamnit! Fucking say something!”
“Wally, that is enough.” Kaldur told him, pulling his hand away from the comm system.
“Enough? This is bullshit!” Connor yelled.
“I am not happy with his words either, but we mustn’t let them get to us. This is just how Batman operates. We must put our faith in him and hope his words are true.”
The rest of the ride back to the cave was silent. No one knew what to do or say.
Robin was gone and no one knew where, how, or when.
No one knew if they were ever going to see him again.
No one knew…
____________________
It’s kinda funny. In most stereotypical hostage/ kidnapped situations, the captive doesn’t know how much time has passed since they were taken or since they’d woken up.
But Dick knew.
After all, the seconds counted down right beside him.
The seconds on the machine connected to him counted down beside him.
Dick was on a timer.
00:38:17.
38 minutes and 17 seconds left.
How comforting.
So comforting, in fact, that he decided to voice his comfort.
“Wow. Special treatment, huh? I must be some lucky guy. Metal table, metal straps, metal tubes connected to my body, big metal machine connected to my body—did I mention the metal? Or the metal connected to my body?” He sarcastically rambled, hoping to get some sort of reaction out of his captor. If he knew who he was being held by, maybe he could find their motive or their end goal and find a way to get himself out of this or convince them to let him go.
Maybe.
“Helloooooooo? Anyone there?” He sighed. “I’ve gotta say, this is pretty boring. I mean, I’ve been captured my fair share of times and this one seems to take the cake for being the most underwhelming so far. I’d take whelming if offered. Hell, I’d take overwhelming.”
“You think you’re so smart, don’t you?” A voice suddenly asked.
Bingo.
“Kinda depends if I’m being honest. Why don’t you tell me who you are and then maybe I’ll be able to give you a better answer.”
“Sorry to disappoint, but that’s not going to happen. Truthfully, our time together will be quite short. After all, you only have 36 minutes left to live.”
So his suspicions were correct.
This timer was counting down to his death.
“I see. So, since I’m running out of time and all, mind telling me what your goal is?”
“My goal is simple. I simply wish to destroy you and Batman. And what better way to do that than to have you destroy each other?”
He could practically hear the manic smirk on his face.
“You see, Robin, Batman is going to kill you. And you’re going to convince him to do so.”
What…?
“And how do you plan to make that work, huh? Sorry, but I’m not too keen on agreeing to that. I’d kinda like to live y’know.”
“You’re going to convince him to do it because that’s the only way you’ll be able to save them.”
Suddenly, a screen on the wall in front of him that he’d failed to notice before flashed to life and projected a live video feed.
His blood ran cold.
It showed Batman and the rest of his team running toward a factory. A factory he could only assume was the one he was currently being held in. How did they not notice they were being tracked?! Come on, Batman! You’re better than this!
No. He’s not.
Because this is Bruce coming to save him, not Batman.
Batman is compromised and it’s because of him.
____________________
[32 minutes prior to present time]
Bruce finally caved. As annoying as they were being, the team had some good points.
“Fine. You all can come along on this mission. But heed this warning: if any of you step out of line or disregard a single order, you’re off the team. We can’t take any risks. Robin’s life is at stake.”
All of them nodded in understanding and agreed to his terms. With one final sigh, Bruce turned and they all filed onto the Bioship to begin their rescue mission.
‘I’m coming for you, Dick.’ Bruce thought to himself, steeling his resolve as he boarded the ship.
____________________
[6 minutes prior to present time]
The camouflaged Bioship quietly landed a couple miles away from their target—a large factory in the middle of an island a couple hours east of Gotham.
They all silently disembarked the ship and began their way toward the factory, following Batman’s orders via mind link.
What they didn’t know, however, was that they were all playing right into the villain’s hands.
___________________
[Present time]
Batman and the team entered the factory with minimal resistance, causing all of them to stand guard.
Something was off.
This was too easy.
Only minutes into their mission, they found the room Robin was being held in.
‘Batman, you all need to run! Get out of here!’ Robin shouted through the mind link M’gaan connected him too, straining to look at them from his position on the table.
Bruce said nothing and instead ran up to the boy’s side and took in the scene in front of him.
‘Batman, look at me!’ Robin begged, tears slipping from beneath his mask. ‘Run while you still can! It’s a trap! He’s going to block everyone’s pow-‘
The mind link was severed.
The doors and windows around them all locked.
“No, no no no nonononono!”
00:25:07.
“Superboy, use your strength to try and remove these from Robin’s body.” Batman ordered, ignoring Robin’s words. Superboy stepped up without complaint and planted his hands on one of the metal tubes.
The second he began pulling, he could tell something was off. And not because Robin was screaming in pain—no. It’s because he was met with resistance. His super strength was gone.
“I-I can’t…” he murmured, shocked.
Wally was at Dick’s side desperately trying to calm him down. He’d noticed the absence of his power’s immediately.
He knew they were all powerless now. Just like Dick had tried to warn them.
“Robin, we’re going to figure this out, ok? We’re going to get you out of here.” Wally promised, gently brushing Robin’s hair off of his forehead.
“No… you don’t understand. This was his plan. He lured you all in here to use you as hostages against Batman and I…”
“I’m not following…” Artemis commented from beside Wally.
00:22:57.
“This machine is a bomb and I’m connected to it. The only way for it to stop is for my heart to stop. Th-This was his plan. To lure you all here so Batman would have to kill me in order to save everyone.”
“But that doesn’t make sense! There’s no way he’s going to do that!” Conner demanded.
“I know. And that’s where I come in. I have to convince him to kill me so that you all can live…”
Bruce was silent.
“No, no there’s still time! We have 21 minutes to figure something out!” Wally reasoned, unwilling to let his partner die.
“He’s right. We’re going to figure something else out.” Batman finally spoke, staring his protege in the eyes through their masks.
And so they tried.
And every attempt failed.
And now, they were almost out of time.
00:05:11.
____________________
They were all frantic, desperately searching for some way to free Robin.
But they couldn’t.
“Enough…” Robin’s defeated voice sounded, snapping all their attention back to him.
“No! Don’t you dare give up on us, Robin!” Wally pleaded, cupping Dick’s face in his hands.
“There’s no other choice. Someone has to kill me. There’s no time.”
“No!”
“Batman, come on. I know you know it too. There’s no saving me. It’s time to cut our losses. Kill me and get out of here.”
“I can’t do that and you know that, Robin.”
“You can, and you will. You’re a hero, Batman, so act like it and do the heroic thing to do in this situation! Kill me!”
“I-I can’t…” Bruce’s voice broke in his throat.
Everyone except Dick looked at him in surprise. They’d never seen Batman show this kind of emotion. That means…
There really is no other way, is there…?
“Bruce.”
Batman’s head snapped up immediately, surprised to hear his actual name.
“You’re compromised. Right now, we need Batman. Robin needs Batman. Not Bruce Wayne.”
They were all too stunned to speak—or even breathe. This wasn’t actually happening, was it..?
Bruce took a second before finally nodding. He cleared his throat, then straightened his posture.
“You’re right.”
“What? No— no he’s not! Batman, you can’t be serious right now!” Wally shouted, tears streaming down his face.
“I am. Robin’s right. We need to stop his heart and stop this machine. It’s the only way.”
“NO!”
“Wally…” Dick sadly smiled and reached his hand up, cupping Wally’s cheek. “It’s ok… It’s going to be ok…”
00:00:56.
“No its not! Dick, I can’t live without you! You can’t do this! Please!”
“I’m so sorry, Wally.. I didn’t want things to end like this. I thought we were going to grow old together, get married, maybe even have kids together… But apparently fate had other things in mind…”
“Dick.. please…!” Wally sobbed, clutching onto Dick’s hand.
“We have 48 seconds left. It’s now or never..” Batman announced.
Dick took a shaky breath before he nodded. “Let’s do this.”
Batman solemnly nodded before he went into his utility belt and pulled out a small plastic capsule.
“W-What is that…?” Artemis asked.
“A suicide pill. Robin and I both keep one in our belts in case of dire emergency. In case of situations like this one…” Batman answered, looking down at the pill in his hand.
“Try to bring me back, would you..?” Dick asked, doing his bets to put a smile on his face.
“Dick…” Wally begged.
“Wally, in case I don’t come back from this, I want you to know that I love you. I always have and I always will.”
Wally immediately leaned down and kissed him.
“19 seconds..” Batman reminded.
They begrudgingly broke apart, taking a moment to stare at each other for one more second before finally fully pulling away.
Batman slowly reached his hand over to Dick’s face. Dick opened his mouth without a second chance to think and the pill was dropped into his mouth. He swallowed.
00:00:12.
There was no turning back now.
Batman carefully peeled Dick’s mask off his face, revealing his beautiful blue eyes.
Dick looked around at all of them and smiled.
“I love you guys… so much….”
And then, his eyes slipped closed and the timer stopped.
00:00:03.
Dick Grayson was gone.
Chapter 2: Ending #2
Notes:
This is the second (and happier) ending to 00:00:03. The story is the exact same thing besides the ending, so you can easily just skip to the end if you've already read it. Hope you enjoy!
Chapter Text
He knew something was wrong as soon as he woke up.
His chest was on fire.
One look down and he figured out why.
Long, thick metal tubes protruded out of his chest and connected him to a large machine beside him. His skin was red and inflamed from the unwelcomed material and he could feel dried blood caked to his skin in some places.
What had happened?
How did he get here?
He couldn’t remember.
He tried to move a bit to see if there was any possibility of escape, but stopped the second he tried when blinding pain shot through his body.
Shit.
Looks like he’s just going to have to wait and hope someone finds him or finds some other way to escape down the line.
____________________
Robin was gone.
They took him right from underneath their noses during their mission.
They were too naive and just assumed Robin had pulled one of his disappearing acts and brushed it off. That was until Miss Martian realized that she couldn’t feel his mind link anymore.
[A few hours ago]
‘Guys, I think we may have a problem.’ Miss Martian relayed over the mind link, worry laced in her tone.
‘What is it?’ Kaldur asked, glancing back at her from his crouched position behind a rock. They were currently on a recon mission in Bialya and had split up into two teams. Aqualad, Miss Martian, and Kid Flash on one team; and Superboy, Artemis, and Robin on the other.
‘I-I can’t feel Robin’s mind link. And now that I think about it—I don’t remember the last time I felt it..’
‘Superboy, Artemis. Do either of you have eyes on Robin?’
‘No. We split up about 15 minutes ago like planned. Last I remember from him was him saying that he’d made it to his post.’ Conner relayed. ‘Do you think something happened to him?’
‘I am not sure. Kid Flash, I want you to run south and go to Robin’s post. See if you can find him there.’
‘On it.’
Wally didn’t waste a single second to argue, ask questions, or goof around. Something was wrong and he knew it. Robin wouldn’t drop the mind link for no reason—especially not when it’s currently their only way to communicate.
And unfortunately, his suspicions were correct.
As soon as Wally arrived at Dick’s post, he found his utility belt lying in a heap on the ground.
Dick never dropped his utility belt.
Someone took it off of him, then took him.
[Present time]
Upon their discovery, they immediately abandoned their mission and left Bialya. When they were sure they were a safe distance away, they turned their comms. back on and contacted the League.
“Aqualad to Watchtower, do you read me?”
“Watchtower to Aqualad, what is your situation?” Batman. Truthfully, Kaldur wasn’t sure if he was scared or relieved that Batman had been the one to answer their distress call.
“We had to abandon our mission. Robin has gone missing and we have reason to assume that he has been taken. We found his utility belt abandoned on the ground where he was assigned.”
“Understood. Return back to Mount Justice and await further instructions. Batman out.”
“That’s it?!” Wally suddenly yelled from behind him, pushing him out of the way and taking over the comms. “Batman, he’s gone. We can’t just leave him!”
“I understand your distress, Kid Flash, but my orders still stand. You are all to return to the cave and leave this to me. Robin is my responsibility, not yours.”
“Your responsibility?! Robin isn’t just some- some object! He’s our friend, our teammate—my partner!” Wally seethed.
Batman didn’t respond.
“Say something goddamnit! Fucking say something!”
“Wally, that is enough.” Kaldur told him, pulling his hand away from the comm system.
“Enough? This is bullshit!” Connor yelled.
“I am not happy with his words either, but we mustn’t let them get to us. This is just how Batman operates. We must put our faith in him and hope his words are true.”
The rest of the ride back to the cave was silent. No one knew what to do or say.
Robin was gone and no one knew where, how, or when.
No one knew if they were ever going to see him again.
No one knew…
____________________
It’s kinda funny. In most stereotypical hostage/ kidnapped situations, the captive doesn’t know how much time has passed since they were taken or since they’d woken up.
But Dick knew.
After all, the seconds counted down right beside him.
The seconds on the machine connected to him counted down beside him.
Dick was on a timer.
00:38:17.
38 minutes and 17 seconds left.
How comforting.
So comforting, in fact, that he decided to voice his comfort.
“Wow. Special treatment, huh? I must be some lucky guy. Metal table, metal straps, metal tubes connected to my body, big metal machine connected to my body—did I mention the metal? Or the metal connected to my body?” He sarcastically rambled, hoping to get some sort of reaction out of his captor. If he knew who he was being held by, maybe he could find their motive or their end goal and find a way to get himself out of this or convince them to let him go.
Maybe.
“Helloooooooo? Anyone there?” He sighed. “I’ve gotta say, this is pretty boring. I mean, I’ve been captured my fair share of times and this one seems to take the cake for being the most underwhelming so far. I’d take whelming if offered. Hell, I’d take overwhelming.”
“You think you’re so smart, don’t you?” A voice suddenly asked.
Bingo.
“Kinda depends if I’m being honest. Why don’t you tell me who you are and then maybe I’ll be able to give you a better answer.”
“Sorry to disappoint, but that’s not going to happen. Truthfully, our time together will be quite short. After all, you only have 36 minutes left to live.”
So his suspicions were correct.
This timer was counting down to his death.
“I see. So, since I’m running out of time and all, mind telling me what your goal is?”
“My goal is simple. I simply wish to destroy you and Batman. And what better way to do that than to have you destroy each other?”
He could practically hear the manic smirk on his face.
“You see, Robin, Batman is going to kill you. And you’re going to convince him to do so.”
What…?
“And how do you plan to make that work, huh? Sorry, but I’m not too keen on agreeing to that. I’d kinda like to live y’know.”
“You’re going to convince him to do it because that’s the only way you’ll be able to save them.”
Suddenly, a screen on the wall in front of him that he’d failed to notice before flashed to life and projected a live video feed.
His blood ran cold.
It showed Batman and the rest of his team running toward a factory. A factory he could only assume was the one he was currently being held in. How did they not notice they were being tracked?! Come on, Batman! You’re better than this!
No. He’s not.
Because this is Bruce coming to save him, not Batman.
Batman is compromised and it’s because of him.
____________________
[32 minutes prior to present time]
Bruce finally caved. As annoying as they were being, the team had some good points.
“Fine. You all can come along on this mission. But heed this warning: if any of you step out of line or disregard a single order, you’re off the team. We can’t take any risks. Robin’s life is at stake.”
All of them nodded in understanding and agreed to his terms. With one final sigh, Bruce turned and they all filed onto the Bioship to begin their rescue mission.
‘I’m coming for you, Dick.’ Bruce thought to himself, steeling his resolve as he boarded the ship.
____________________
[6 minutes prior to present time]
The camouflaged Bioship quietly landed a couple miles away from their target—a large factory in the middle of an island a couple hours east of Gotham.
They all silently disembarked the ship and began their way toward the factory, following Batman’s orders via mind link.
What they didn’t know, however, was that they were all playing right into the villain’s hands.
___________________
[Present time]
Batman and the team entered the factory with minimal resistance, causing all of them to stand guard.
Something was off.
This was too easy.
Only minutes into their mission, they found the room Robin was being held in.
‘Batman, you all need to run! Get out of here!’ Robin shouted through the mind link M’gaan connected him too, straining to look at them from his position on the table.
Bruce said nothing and instead ran up to the boy’s side and took in the scene in front of him.
‘Batman, look at me!’ Robin begged, tears slipping from beneath his mask. ‘Run while you still can! It’s a trap! He’s going to block everyone’s pow-‘
The mind link was severed.
The doors and windows around them all locked.
“No, no no no nonononono!”
00:25:07.
“Superboy, use your strength to try and remove these from Robin’s body.” Batman ordered, ignoring Robin’s words. Superboy stepped up without complaint and planted his hands on one of the metal tubes.
The second he began pulling, he could tell something was off. And not because Robin was screaming in pain—no. It’s because he was met with resistance. His super strength was gone.
“I-I can’t…” he murmured, shocked.
Wally was at Dick’s side desperately trying to calm him down. He’d noticed the absence of his power’s immediately.
He knew they were all powerless now. Just like Dick had tried to warn them.
“Robin, we’re going to figure this out, ok? We’re going to get you out of here.” Wally promised, gently brushing Robin’s hair off of his forehead.
“No… you don’t understand. This was his plan. He lured you all in here to use you as hostages against Batman and I…”
“I’m not following…” Artemis commented from beside Wally.
00:22:57.
“This machine is a bomb and I’m connected to it. The only way for it to stop is for my heart to stop. Th-This was his plan. To lure you all here so Batman would have to kill me in order to save everyone.”
“But that doesn’t make sense! There’s no way he’s going to do that!” Conner demanded.
“I know. And that’s where I come in. I have to convince him to kill me so that you all can live…”
Bruce was silent.
“No, no there’s still time! We have 21 minutes to figure something out!” Wally reasoned, unwilling to let his partner die.
“He’s right. We’re going to figure something else out.” Batman finally spoke, staring his protege in the eyes through their masks.
And so they tried.
And every attempt failed.
And now, they were almost out of time.
00:05:11.
____________________
They were all frantic, desperately searching for some way to free Robin.
But they couldn’t.
“Enough…” Robin’s defeated voice sounded, snapping all their attention back to him.
“No! Don’t you dare give up on us, Robin!” Wally pleaded, cupping Dick’s face in his hands.
“There’s no other choice. Someone has to kill me. There’s no time.”
“No!”
“Batman, come on. I know you know it too. There’s no saving me. It’s time to cut our losses. Kill me and get out of here.”
“I can’t do that and you know that, Robin.”
“You can, and you will. You’re a hero, Batman, so act like it and do the heroic thing to do in this situation! Kill me!”
“I-I can’t…” Bruce’s voice broke in his throat.
Everyone except Dick looked at him in surprise. They’d never seen Batman show this kind of emotion. That means…
There really is no other way, is there…?
“Bruce.”
Batman’s head snapped up immediately, surprised to hear his actual name.
“You’re compromised. Right now, we need Batman. Robin needs Batman. Not Bruce Wayne.”
They were all too stunned to speak—or even breathe. This wasn’t actually happening, was it..?
Bruce took a second before finally nodding. He cleared his throat, then straightened his posture.
“You’re right.”
“What? No— no he’s not! Batman, you can’t be serious right now!” Wally shouted, tears streaming down his face.
“I am. Robin’s right. We need to stop his heart and stop this machine. It’s the only way.”
“NO!”
“Wally…” Dick sadly smiled and reached his hand up, cupping Wally’s cheek. “It’s ok… It’s going to be ok…”
00:00:56.
“No its not! Dick, I can’t live without you! You can’t do this! Please!”
“I’m so sorry, Wally.. I didn’t want things to end like this. I thought we were going to grow old together, get married, maybe even have kids together… But apparently fate had other things in mind…”
“Dick.. please…!” Wally sobbed, clutching onto Dick’s hand.
“We have 48 seconds left. It’s now or never..” Batman announced.
Dick took a shaky breath before he nodded. “Let’s do this.”
Batman solemnly nodded before he went into his utility belt and pulled out a small plastic capsule.
“W-What is that…?” Artemis asked.
“A suicide pill. Robin and I both keep one in our belts in case of dire emergency. In case of situations like this one…” Batman answered, looking down at the pill in his hand.
“Try to bring me back, would you..?” Dick asked, doing his bets to put a smile on his face.
“Dick…” Wally begged.
“Wally, in case I don’t come back from this, I want you to know that I love you. I always have and I always will.”
Wally immediately leaned down and kissed him.
“19 seconds..” Batman reminded.
They begrudgingly broke apart, taking a moment to stare at each other for one more second before finally fully pulling away.
Batman slowly reached his hand over to Dick’s face. Dick opened his mouth without a second chance to think and the pill was dropped into his mouth. He swallowed.
00:00:12.
There was no turning back now.
Batman carefully peeled Dick’s mask off his face, revealing his beautiful blue eyes.
Dick looked around at all of them and smiled.
“I love you guys… so much….”
And then, his eyes slipped closed and the timer stopped.
00:00:03.
Dick Grayson was gone.
As soon as the timer stopped, the windows and doors unlocked and the metas/ aliens could feel their powers return to them immediately.
“Superboy, the tubes!” Batman shouted, springing into action.
Conner quickly grabbed the metal tubes and ripped them from the boy’s lifeless body. They had to worry about damage later.
After the tubes were out of him, he ripped the metal restraints off.
Batman dragged his body onto the ground and began performing CPR.
After about a minute of working on him, Dick’s heart started beating again.
“Dick!” Wally sobbed, collapsing beside him.
Batman paid the redhead no mind and instead continued to focus on Dick. Without warning, he stuck his fingers in Dick’s mouth and triggered his gag reflex.
Dick immediately lurched up and turned his head to the side when bile clawed its way up his throat. After a good minute of vomiting, the boy finally relaxed again and everyone collectively sobbed in relief once Batman gave them a nod, signaling that the pill should be out of his system now.
Wally lunged forward and wrapped his arms around hi boyfriend and sobbed into his neck. Dick weakly hugged him back and tried to console him.
“Don’t ever do anything like that again, you hear me..?”
“I do… I hear you, Wally….”