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Two weeks.
That was how long Nightwing had been missing.
Two weeks of every bat searching Gotham. Two weeks of every available Titan searching Bludhaven. Two weeks of fighting off worry and paranoia when every search came up empty. There wasn’t a single trace of Dick anywhere. Oracle couldn’t track his comms, Superman couldn’t see him in any building or underground tunnel, and not even the world famous detective could figure out how to even retrace Nightwings steps past from where he disappeared from. It was like he simply vanished out from thin air.
As each day passed, everyone grew more and more antsy. This wouldn’t be the first time one of them went missing after going out on patrol. It wasn’t even a first for Dick, but it was the first where no one could even begin to figure out what the hell happened. He had been out on patrol in Gotham for the night when he reported to Oracle that he found someone hurt in the alley, bleeding from a gash on the side of their neck. That was the last time anyone had heard from him and his tracker would lose signal two minutes later. Oracle reported it immediately and Red Hood had been the first on the scene, followed by Red Robin, but despite their early response, all that greeted them was the dead body of the man Nightwing had found.
The thing was, that there was nothing to go off of. If he hadn’t told Barbara what he had found, there would've been no way to know that he had even been in that area. There weren't any security cameras outside any of the surrounding buildings, no screams or sound of fighting reported by anyone. There was just a dead body and a missing bat.
It was a gamble over who was the most stressed out about Dick’s disappearance. Bruce spent days down in the cave, hardly sleeping or eating as he remained planted in front of the computer and his whiteboard. Jason had gone on a rampage through every known criminal hangout, trying to beat any information out from anyone who had been out that night. Twice, Tim had to stop him from going too far after he lost it when no one saw or knew anything. Not that Tim was any better. He skipped out of going to school in favor of aiding Bruce in going over all crime reported that fateful night for the umpteenth time. Even Damian was concerned and didn’t bother to hide it.
Then finally– finally Bruce received a call from an unmarked number after two weeks, four days, and sixteen hours since Dick had been missing. If it had been a call on his normal phone, it would’ve gone ignored and unanswered, but no, it was coming from his secured phone reserved only for Batman purposes. It only rang twice before Bruce picked it up.
“Hello?”
“Bruce…” Dick’s voice came out from the other end. His voice was rough, hoarse more than likely, and had an edge of exhaustion to it. Yet, immediately Bruce’s chest swelled with relief.
“Dick!” He gasped, standing up so fast from his chair that it knocked over. “Dick! Where are you? Are you hurt? What’s your location?”
Silence.
“Dick, where are you? I’ll come and get you.”
He didn’t wait for an answer before he turned back to the computer, wedging the phone between his cheek and shoulder as he already started the process of tracking where the call was coming from. Tim had evidently heard Bruce, but didn’t even waste a single moment to ask any questions before fleeing to the lockerroom to change into Red Robin.
“I–” Dick croaked and from the other end, Bruce heard a small sob come out from his eldest. “I can’t– I can’t come home. Not anymore, B. I’ve… Tell everyone goodbye for me, alright?”
Bruce felt his heart drop. “Dick–”
“Tell them that I love you all–”
“Dick, no. I’ll come find y–”
“And thank you, Bruce. For everything. You and Alfred took me in and gave me this amazing life,” There was a pause as Dick audibly swallowed a lump down his throat. Bruce refused to process anything that was being said, instead focused on tracking the number. He wouldn’t lose him. Not another son. “I never really ever thanked you for that. For taking in this scared, vengeful little boy that had lost everything.”
Bruce watched as the satellite worked on narrowing down his location. Each second felt like minutes as it ticked on by. “I’ll find you.” He said firmly.
There was a sad, wet laugh. “There won’t be anything to find.”
“Dick–”
“Goodbye, Bruce.”
The call then ended the very second that the satellite pinpointed the location. Bruce took only a few seconds to read it out before turning and hightailing it to the batmobile with TIm on his heels. According to the map, Dick was only a three hour drive away, off the skirts of a remote town. There was no telling how the hell he ended up there, but all questions could come later as soon as his son was home.
Though, one thing was for certain, whoever did this to Dick was going to pay.
What was meant to be a three hour drive, turned into two hours before Batman slammed on the brakes outside of a seemingly abandoned barn, half buried in a field of grass and trees. The early morning sun was out, casting a golden glow as Batman and Red Robin jumped straight out from the car.
They called out for Dick, then listened for a response.
Nothing… at first.
Inside the barn, Bruce noticed a shadow moving, which Tim seemed to have not noticed as the boy continued to call out.
“Red Robin, check the area. Make sure there isn’t a trap waiting for us in those trees.” He ordered as he pulled out a batarang. He didn’t have to look over at Tim to know that he was hesitant to leave him alone, but eventually he nodded and split off to fulfill the order.
Whatever was in that barn, whatever sight that Bruce would be greeted with, he would make sure to spare Tim from it. Dick didn’t sound too good on the phone and his last words to him echoed through his mind as he slowly approached the barn doors. “There won’t be anything left to find.” What did Dick mean by that? He almost didn’t want to even think about the answer.
The barn doors creaked open on old rusted hinges that seemed to echo throughout the abandoned barn. Batman carefully peeked his head through the door, scanning the room but found nothing. Still, he didn’t let his guard down. He knew that he had seen movement earlier and the satellite tracked Dick to this very location. Even if he moved by then, there had to be at least some evidence or clue that could tell him more of what happened.
He stepped gingerly through the doors, keeping his grip on the batarang tight. Inside the barn was dark, save for the beams of sunlight that poured in through the cracks in the walls and from the partially opened doors. “Nightwing,” He called out to him. “Dick?”
There came a quite shuffling sound from one of the back walls where it was darker. Then finally, a voice came through the dark. “I didn’t want you to find me.”
Bruce felt relief finally settle over him, but still kept his composure as he stepped closer to where Dick’s voice had come from. “You should’ve known that wouldn’t have happened.” He said gently. “I’ll always come for you boys.”
“You shouldn’t have.” Dick scoffed.
Bruce didn’t grace that with a response, instead he took out his flashlight and shined it as he scanned the back wall for his son.
Nothing… Nothing… Noth– There!
Hidden behind a stack of rotten hay bales, Dick was curled up with his knees to his chest and back against the wall. As soon as the beam of the flashlight hit him, he flinched horribly and shielded his face away. The very first thing Bruce noticed was that Dick was still in his Nightwing costume, which was torn to shreds in most places and was covered in a concerning amount of dried blood.
Immediately, Bruce was by his side and squatted down in front of him. “Chum, are you hurt?”
Dick didn’t give any answer to that.
Suddenly, the sound of the doors opening grabbed Bruce’s attention for only a second before he saw Tim poke his head in. “The area’s clear.” He reported, then looked around the room before he eventually spotted where Bruce was and came right over. Though, even he paused in his tracks when he saw the state Dick was in. “Is that blood? Dick, what happened?”
Still Dick didn’t say anything. He didn’t even move a muscle as he remained curled up to himself.
“Dick, let us bring you home.” Bruce said gently, then reached a hand out to touch his shoulder but quickly jerked back like he’d been shocked.
Even through his glove, Bruce could feel how cold Dick was. It wasn’t the natural cold, no. His son was stone cold, almost like a corpse that’d been dead for days. Where no amount of warmth could even be remotely detected.
Tim looked at him funny, but Bruce ignored it. “Son…”
“I can’t go home.” Dick finally spoke and when he raised his head, the light from the flashlight clearly illuminated his crimson red eyes and stained blood around his mouth and on his teeth.
A darkening horror washed over Bruce and Tim as they both realized the severity of the situation. They didn’t have the full puzzle solved, but they had enough pieces to at least put together a single, horrible image.
“I can’t go back. Not like this.” Dick continued as a few tears slid down his cheek. “I barely escaped from them. Then I… I hid here. I was planning on waiting for the sun.” He began to openly cry at that point and reburied his head into his knees as his shoulders shook. “I shouldn’t have called. I just wanted to hear your voice. To tell you goodbye, but I–”
“Enough.” Bruce stood up and unclasped his cloak, before wrapping it around his eldest until it covered him completely. “We’re bringing you home right now. We can figure out what to do once we’re back in the cave.” He then scooped him up in his arms and Dick went willingly, laying his head on his shoulders as he was carried out.
Tim followed closely behind and opened the back door for them once they reached the batmobile. Bruce was careful as he placed Dick inside, ensuring that the cloak kept him covered from the sunlight before closing the door. The windows were heavily tinted, but Bruce wasn’t going to risk the safety of his child. Even if Dick was changed, he was still his child.
The ride was silent the entire way. Occasionally Tim or Bruce would look at the backseat to check on Dick and make sure that he was still brea– that he was still there and covered up. Halfway through the ride, Bruce called it in that he found Dick and would be bringing him back to the cave, but have everyone clear out until he gave the okay. There was little to no back and forth, mainly because it was still technically early in the morning and mostly everyone, save a few, were still asleep.
Once they got back to the cave Bruce dismissed Tim, who did try and put up a fight about it at first, but when Dick had spoken up for the first time in hours to agree with Bruce, he agreed to leave.
There was such a haunted look in Dick’s eyes that left a horrible taste in Bruce’s mouth as he brought him further into the cave for testing. As much as he wanted to give his son the time to settle down and recover, time was of the essence. He needed to know all the details, collect all the samples, and hopefully figure out a cure. He couldn’t leave Dick like this. He wouldn’t.
“It’ll be safer if you place me in one of the cells.” Dick muttered from where he sat on the table.
“That won’t be necessary.” Bruce simply stated as he worked on setting out all his equipment that he needed.
“Why not? I’m a monster, Bruce.” He argued. It broke his heart to hear those words come out from Dick’s mouth, yet he continued on with what he was doing. “There’s no telling what I could be capable of. What if I lose control? What if I try to hurt you, or Tim, or even Damian and the others? I mean, take a look at me.”
Bruce couldn’t bring himself to listen to him or even respond.
“I said look at me, dammit!” Dick snapped, reaching out to grab Bruce by his arm.
Instantly, he could feel the sharp coldness of his son’s hand even through the layer of his suit. He slowly turned around and allowed himself to properly get a look at him. His once bright, bronze skin had lost its lively color. His eyes were still the color of spilt blood and were sunken in with dark circles underneath. There was blood all over his mouth, in his newly fanged teeth, even on his hands and clothes. He then noted that the places where his Nightwing suit was slashed, there were no scratches or wounds to be seen. His skin was flawless with not a single mark to be seen. Not even in the places where Bruce knew used to be scars.
When Bruce finally met Dick’s eyes, he let out a deep breath and reached over to touch his shoulder. “I see you.” He acknowledged. “You are not a monster. You’re in control, you haven’t shown any signs of posing a threat to me or anyone else, and you’re coherent. If I felt like you weren’t, it would be different. I wouldn’t risk the safety of anyone in this family if I thought you were a threat in any way.”
Dick didn’t say anything, but did visibly relax ever so slightly which showed that he took his words to heart at least. Once Dick had settled down, Bruce then began to pick up his stethoscope to confirm what he already knew. Dick didn’t have a heartbeat.
“Chum, I need to know what happened. I need to know who did this to you.” He said as he started to continue with his round of testing.
Dick took in a deep breath, which made Bruce realize he hadn’t actually seen him breathe until that very moment. “It was sort of a blur, really. I remember a man calling out for help and when I came over, he was bleeding from the side of his neck. I barely managed to report it to Barbara before something hit me on the back of my head and knocked me out. Turned out, it had all been a trap for me, because when I woke up, I was surrounded by all these vampires. I tried fighting a few of them, but then She came out…”
He trailed off after that as if getting lost in the memory. Bruce reached out to place his hand back to his shoulder in an attempt to ground him. “Who is she?” He asked.
“Her name was Pandora. All she had to do was look at me and suddenly, I was frozen.” His hands balled up into fists and that lost look in his eyes hardened. “She kept trying to tell me about this grand plan of hers to overthrow the queen. How only I could help her achieve it. She then started to come closer to me and that’s when I realized what she was about to do. I somehow managed to break out of whatever spell she had over me and I just kept fighting. There were so many of them– too many of them, but I didn’t want to die or to become one of them, so I continued to fight.”
He then motioned to his torn up costume. “That’s how this happened. My blood sent them all in a frenzy, though, and soon enough they got me. They held me down and I thought that they were going to feast on me, but instead they were just holding me so that she could turn me. I felt her teeth sink into my neck and she started to drink almost all of my blood until I was nearly empty. She then cut her own wrist and tried bringing it to my lips, but with what strength I had, I resisted. The others, though, they… forced my mouth open, and I’m pretty sure they even broke my jaw in the process, all so that she could force me to consume her blood.”
Bruce barely managed to contain himself while he listened. Each sentence that came out from Dick’s mouth painted a horrible image in his head that honestly made him feel sick to his stomach. How could he have allowed something like this to happen to one of his sons? He moved through the motions, carrying on with every possible test he could think of that might help them get closer to understanding and figuring out a way to cure him. He didn’t even allow himself to think of a possibility of not being able to find one.
Bruce cleared his throat as he attempted to remain steady and cool-headed. “And how long ago did this happen?”
Dick just shook his head. “I don’t really know. After that, they were quick to drag me away and I ended up passing out– or, now that I think about it, it’s possible I actually died. I woke up later in a cell that they tried to make look like a bedroom. I don’t actually know how long I was out for or how many days passed before I was able to get out.”
It visibly pained him to hear Dick so casually throw in the fact that it was possible he had died. Thinking back to all the lore and myths he knew about vampirism it, unfortunately, made sense for the subject to actually die before they’re “reborn” as something entirely unhuman.
He kicked himself for that last line. Dick wasn’t unhuman. He was his son. His son who needed his help.
“You’ve been gone for two weeks and four days.” Bruce informed, hoping to help him at least fill in the blanks for how much time had passed. His voice then finally started to shake, betraying how worried, how horrified he truly felt for his child. “Dick… Son, I– I’m sorry I wasn’t there. For you, but I promise that I will find a way to fix this.”
Dick let out a half hearted chuckle, then shook his head. “I don’t think there is a way to fix this.”
It pained him to see the hopeful light that had always been in his son’s eyes be completely gone. Dick had always been the hopeful one, the true glue that held the family together, that always encouraged them to see the brighter side of life. He had once saved Bruce from his own darkness the moment he had come into his life. He didn’t just make Batman’s life better, he made Bruce’s life better as well. He had saved his life in so many different ways and never once ever given up hope on him even when Bruce didn’t have hope in himself.
Now, it was his turn to return the favor. Perhaps he couldn’t change what happened to him, but he could try and fix it. If Dick didn’t have any hope in a cure, then Bruce could have enough hope for the both of them.
“Come on, chum. You should go get some rest. I think I have everything I need right now to begin my research.”
Dick didn’t have it in himself to put up a fight and after a bit of back and forth between whether it was safe for him to even sleep upstairs, they came to a compromise where Dick would sleep in one of the holding cells in the cave for the time being. It didn't have any windows so there wouldn't be a risk of sunlight reaching him, and it provided a controlled environment where Bruce could keep an eye on him while giving Dick the sense of security he felt he needed to ensure he wouldn't do anything to cause harm to his family.
The time would come where they would need to figure out what to feed him, but that would have to wait until he woke up. For the time being, Bruce started on his investigation on how to save his son.