Work Text:
“It was once upon a place
Sometimes I listen to myself
Gonna come in first place
People on their way to work
And, baby what do you expect?
Gonna burst into flames”
“Okay, what’s the situation?”
Tim Drake looked over at the familiar voice, his arms crossed over his chest in an annoyed manner. Of course it would be his firehouse that got called in.
“Last one here again? Dick’s gonna have a field day with that.”
Jason Todd shoved his brother’s shoulder, smirking at the way he lost his footing and nearly fell on his face. God, was he glad Tim was here, ready to annoy.
“And where exactly is Gotham City’s finest? Doughnut break?”
Tim shrugged his ALS bag back onto his shoulder. “Do you even listen to your dispatch calls? He’s inside. Bomb threat. GCPD is looking for it while we wait for the bomb squad. There’s no reported injuries, so I’ve been out here waiting.”
“Hmm,” Jason wasn’t looking at Tim anymore, his gaze fixated on the office building. “We got a head count?”
“Yeah, thirty-four employees. They’re all accounted for, we got them situated across the street at a cafe.”
“Then why’re we even here?” Jason joked. “Seems like the boys in blue got it covered.”
“I always wonder why you’re here,” Tim retorted.
Jason was about to use a few choice words with his little brother when the office building in front of them suddenly burst into flames, the sound of the explosion still echoing in their ears. Despite being on the sidewalk a good distance away from the building, Jason and Tim were thrown back onto the road. Jason was glad he kept his helmet on, but Tim didn’t have the protection of firefighter gear.
“Tim? Tim!”
Jason forced himself to roll over towards where his brother was laying, his eyes closed tightly.
“Jay?”
His voice was faint, but Jason couldn’t tell if it was because his ears were still ringing from the blast.
“You hurt?”
Jason pushed himself up onto his knees, hovering over Tim’s supine body. He had a shallow gash on his forehead that was bleeding a bit and his bare arms had gotten a bit scraped up from the pavement, but other than that he seemed fine.
“I’m good, just winded a bit. Head’s killing me, but I doubt it’s concussion-levels bad.”
“Can you sit up?”
Jason offered Tim his hand, helping the younger man up. He took a look at his forehead, trying to make sure it wasn’t worse than he’d thought. It was superficial, probably wouldn’t even need stitches.
“You’ll live,” Jason confirmed, breaking into Tim’s bag for some antiseptic and bandages. “Not even a cool scar to show the ladies and gents.”
“Bummer- ah!”
Tim winced as Jason applied an alcohol-soaked piece of gauze to his head.
“Don’t be a wuss.”
“Just- give me the damn gauze, Jason!”
Jason relented, allowing Tim to put pressure on his wound, his blue gloved hand slightly stained with his own blood.
“Your arms good?”
“Yeah, I’m fine-”
Tim cut himself off, his attention suddenly back on the office building. He looked terrified, and Jason couldn’t figure out why.
“Tim, we got all the employees out-”
“Jason, Dick’s still in there!”
Jason paused, his blood freezing in his veins. He shot up, forcing his legs to move towards where his captain was standing near the fire engine. Out of the corner of his eye he could see a redheaded uniformed officer sitting in the back of an ambulance, a non-rebreather mask on his face as a blond EMT checked him out. Jason recognized the cop as Wally West, Dick’s best friend and partner.
“Cap, what the hell happened?”
Captain Talia al Ghul barely even looked at Jason as she worked on putting her oxygen tank on her back.
“Bomb went off while GCPD was still looking for it. We thought we had more time. One of the cops got out, but he says his partner is still in there, a Sergeant-”
“Cap, his partner… my brother’s in there.”
Talia finally looked at Jason, a sympathetic look on her face that she quickly replaced with a more neutral expression. She knew Dick, not as well as she’d like to, but the man came by the firehouse once a while to bring Jason lunch. Their dad was an old friend of hers on top of it, so she knew the minute Jason Todd had been assigned to her firehouse that she’d get involved with the whole family one way or another. Dick was one of the only cops she trusted in Gotham, which was high praise coming from a fire captain.
“Todd, you don’t have to-”
“I’m going in, Cap. Please. Let me go in.”
Talia nodded almost immediately, moving aside so Jason could grab an oxygen tank of his own. He was moving on autopilot, forcing himself not to imagine how hurt Dick could be, or the fact that he might not have even made it. No, he couldn’t think about any of that right now. He saved people every day, he wasn’t going to let his own brother be a causality.
“Let me through, I’m fine!”
Jason felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to see Tim, a piece of gauze taped to his forehead and a teary look in his eyes. He recognized the EMT who was trying to pull him back towards the ambulances to fix up his arms. Bernard Dowd had been hanging around more and more as of late. Jason remembered Dick teasing Tim one night, asking him if he was ever going to ask his coworker on a date. Tim had blushed a deep red and shoved the older man off the couch. It seemed like a million years ago.
“Jay-”
“I’m gonna go get Dick.”
“I know. Just… be careful, okay?”
“I always am. Let your buddy patch you up so you can do the same for Dick, okay?”
Jason pulled his face-piece on, patting Tim on the shoulder before following the fire captain into the building. The all-glass entrance had been blown out during the explosion, which gave them a good entry point. For the most part the fire had been taken care of thanks to Jason’s team.
The lobby of the office building was covered in ash, a few steel support beams dislodged from the ceiling and twisted around concrete pillars. Jason stepped over some debris, his hand on his radio.
“Damn modern interior design,” Talia muttered, pushing past some twisted rebar.
“Star, Speedy, how we looking outside?”
“We have the fire under control,” Kory’s voice rang through Jason’s radio.
“Good.”
“Hood, Sergeant West says they were on the second floor when the bomb went off. He fell through the floor and into the lobby, which is why he was able to pull himself out on a sprained ankle. He thinks Dick might still be up there, possibly pinned under rubble.”
“Copy, Speedy. Gonna find a way up.”
“ Be careful, you two. I don’t wanna cook dinner tonight,” Roy replied, the radio clicking off.
Jason looked for a staircase, not feeling too hopeful. There was a good chance the stairway may have caved in during the explosion.
“Cap, we should split up, we’ll cover more ground that way.”
“Todd-”
“I don’t know what shape he’s gonna be in. Time isn’t on our side here and I don’t want to waste what little we have.”
Talia hated this. She shouldn’t have let Jason come in, but she also knew the man wouldn’t have taken no for an answer. When it came to his brothers Jason refused to stay on the sidelines. While that trait was normally quite admirable, Talia currently couldn’t help but feel slightly annoyed with Jason’s heroics.
“You radio me the second something goes sideways. Understand?”
“Same goes for you.”
Talia sighed. “You try to find a way up over there, I’ll take point by the elevators, see if the shaft isn’t caved in. I might be able to run a line.”
“Copy, Cap.”
“Be careful, Jason. Don’t be a hero.”
Jason scoffed. “I’m never a hero.”
Talia made an unamused sound before turning away, using a Halligan bar to pry away some sharp pieces of metal and concrete. Jason tested an uneven slab of flooring with his boot before deciding it was safe to walk on. He grunted as he slid past one of the leaning pillars, taking a large stride to make his way over a busted coffee table. The door to the stairway was blocked by a couch that must’ve been blown against the door vertically when the bomb went off. Jason made quick work of it, taking an axe to the piece of furniture to break it into pieces.
The wooden frame snapped and Jason leaned the axe against a wall so he could pull the pieces of the couch away, tossing them behind him haphazardly. He tried the door, but there was something behind it and unfortunately it didn’t open out into the lobby. With a loud sigh Jason brought his leg up and sent a forceful kick against the hinges, glad the frame broke away in one go. Those leg workouts were finally paying off, it seemed.
Jason grabbed the axe and shoulder-checked the door to open it fully. He shined his flashlight into the stairwell, relieved to see the stairs were still intact. Besides some miscellaneous debris it was pretty clear. Jason would take what he could get.
“Cap, stairway is clear, I’m going up.”
“Copy, Todd. Elevator was a bust, I’ll follow you up soon.”
“Got it.”
Jason used the handle of the axe to test the first stair, not entirely convinced it was as safe as it looked. He took a hesitant step, putting all his weight onto the step. It held and he forced himself to breathe. While he wanted nothing more than to race up the stairs and find Dick, he knew it wouldn’t do anyone any good if he fell through the staircase on his way up.
The stairs were holding, though, and Jason couldn’t help but think that at least one thing was going right for him. He picked up the pace, finally making it to the second floor. The door was already open, held in place by a rather large chunk of metal.
“Dick? Can you hear me?”
Jason wanted to take his mask off so Dick could potentially hear him better, but he knew that would be stupid. There was still too much ash up on the second floor and the smoke was slightly more thick. He moved his flashlight around, looking for any sign of his brother.
“Dick?”
Glass cracked under Jason’s boots as he continued down the hall, moving around broken tables and smashed paintings. It didn’t look like the blast had originated from the second floor, since the damage wasn’t nearly as bad as it should’ve been, which gave Jason some hope. Dick would have better chances the farther away from the bomb he was.
“Dick? Where you at?”
Jason pushed a door open that was already half off its hinges, looking into an office. The window had been blown out and a slight breeze was blowing into the destroyed room.
“Dick?”
“Todd, you find him?”
Jason swore softly and grabbed his radio.
“Nothing yet, Cap.”
“I’m coming up now.”
“Copy.”
Jason kicked a piece of an office chair out of his way, not even trying to hide his rage. They were running out of time. The busted windows weren’t enough to ventilate the place and Dick didn’t have an oxygen tank like Jason did. If he hadn’t already lost consciousness, he was about to any minute.
“Dick, I swear to God-”
Jason was cut off by the faint sound of someone coughing.
“Dick?!”
Jason was moving fast now, hardly paying attention to what he was pushing past. He could still hear the coughing; it was getting louder.
“Dick?”
“Jay?”
Jason turned sharply, trying to stay quiet so he could hear Dick. The coughing started again and it sounded like they were coming from one of the nearby offices.
“Dick, keep talking!”
“Jay… here…”
Dick’s voice was getting louder now, and Jason was almost positive he knew which office. He took his axe to one of the doors, breaking a big enough hole so he could make his way inside. The desk from the office was pinned against the door but still intact. Jason slid across, grunting as he landed roughly on the ground.
“Dick? You in here?”
“Jay, over here!”
There was more coughing and Jason followed the sound, pushing a large piece of piping out of his way. As he made his way deeper into the office, he was able to make out a navy blue uniform among the smoky air and broken office furniture.
“Dick?”
Jason was finally able to get a better look at Dick’s situation. The man was still conscious, thank God, but he was having a hard time keeping his eyes open. When Jason’s flashlight shined over his face he winced, one of his pupils bigger than the other. His face was covered in ash, his black hair sticking to his forehead via a mix of sweat and blood. There were a few cuts on his exposed skin, but the biggest issue Jason was seeing was the fact his legs were pinned down by a huge concrete slab that must’ve fallen from the ceiling.
“Hey, Dick, how we doing?”
Dick coughed in response, turning his head to look at Jason, a forced lopsided smile on his face.
“Never better. Where’s Wally?”
“He got out. Just a sprained ankle. I’m more worried about you.”
Jason removed his mask and put it over Dick’s face, his hand brushing the older man’s hair back. There was a large gash on his forehead and it looked a lot worse than the one Tim had gotten.
“I think you have a concussion, Dick, so try to stay awake. I’m gonna get your legs out and Tim will fix you up.”
Dick nodded slowly, his hand rising to the mask to remove it. Jason lightly slapped his hand away.
“Keep it on, Dick, you need oxygen.”
“So do you,” Dick’s voice was faint from behind the mask, but Jason still heard him.
“I’m good, keep breathing.”
Jason extended the line on his oxygen tank so Dick could keep the mask while he worked. He made his way down to Dick’s feet and tried to get some leverage on the concrete slab to lift it, but it was way too heavy.
“Cap, what’s your location?”
“I’m on the second floor now.”
“I found Dick, his legs are pinned down and I can’t get them out.”
“Copy, Todd, I’m on my way. I can hear you.”
“Then just keep following the sound of my voice.”
Jason looked around for something he could use to pry under the slab. There were some strips of rebar laying around that had potential. He grabbed one and was starting to work it under the concrete when Talia came in.
“Status, Todd?”
“He’s conscious, possible concussion. I don’t know how bad his legs are.”
“Alright, let’s go.”
Talia, armed with the Halligan bar and Jason, with his rebar, began to push down on their respective tools, lifting the heavy slab inch by inch.
“You got enough in you to flip it?”
“Let’s do it.”
Talia and Jason pushed the slab up enough that they were finally able to get it vertical. With one final push (and a lot of screaming from everyone involved) Jason and Talia were able to push the slab over, freeing Dick’s legs.
“Shit.”
“What, Jay?”
Jason ignored Dick’s question as he gave Talia a look of concern.
“Jason, tell me.”
“Dick, you have a piece of rebar going straight through your left calf.”
Jason hadn’t known what to expect, but Dick laughing so hard he began coughing again wasn’t it.
“I can’t… I can’t even feel it.”
Jason took a deep breath. “Okay, Dick, I’m gonna pick you up and we’re gonna get you out of here, okay?”
“Okay.”
Jason got into a crouching position and brought his arms under Dick’s body. He tried to be as gentle as possible, but he still jostled Dick around enough for the older man to wince.
“Sorry.”
Dick’s eyes were beginning to droop again and Jason swore. He had to move quickly.
“Cap, radio down for me, tell them we’re on our way.”
Talia nodded, her hand reaching for her radio to call Roy and Kory. Jason walked ahead of her, his grip on Dick tightening as he exited the office, only struggling slightly to make it over the desk with Dick in his arms.
“Stay with me, Dick, keep your eyes open.”
“Trying to.”
Jason moved faster than he probably should have, but in his defense he’d checked on his way up and he hadn’t felt any signs of an after-shock. Dick’s leg was bleeding pretty bad and he needed a hospital. He was on borrowed time and Jason knew it.
“Almost out, Dick.”
Dick coughed but it was less violent of an attack than he’d been having. Jason would take what he could get right now. Talia was still following close behind and Jason was glad not for the first time that day that she had come with him. Even if he hadn't needed her help getting Dick’s legs free, just knowing she had his back helped him keep his cool. It was so much easier when he didn’t know who he was saving.
They finally made it out of the building and Tim was already waiting with a stretcher, a concerned look on his face as Jason laid Dick down. Jason removed the mask and helped Tim push Dick towards the ambulance.
“Hey, Dick, this is why we don’t let you be first on the scene.”
Dick chuckled lightly at Tim’s joke, grabbing his little brother’s hand in his.
“Hey, Timmy.”
“Hey yourself, let’s get you to Gotham General.”
Jason paused, watching as Tim and Bernard folded the legs on the stretcher and slid Dick into the back of the ambulance.
“Todd,” Talia said from behind him, her hand on his shoulder. “Go with your brother.”
“But Cap-”
“No,” she insisted as she began to pull his oxygen tank off his back. “Go. We got this.”
Jason looked back towards Kory and Roy, who were checking in on the office employees still huddled across the street. He knew there wasn’t much more he could do here, considering back up had arrived a few minutes ago. Talia was right; Dick needed him more right now.
“Thank you, Cap.”
“Your dad would kill me if anything happened to that boy,” she smiled, grabbing Jason’s oxygen tank before making her way back towards the trucks. Jason wasted no time and climbed in the back of the ambulance with Tim, Bernard already in the driver’s seat. He took his heavy jacket off, leaving him just in his GCFD undershirt. His helmet and gloves came next and he set them all on the ambulance seat.
“Wally’s at the hospital, he’s waiting on you,” Tim was telling Dick as he wiped away the blood from his head. Jason assumed Dick had been asking about his partner again.
“Oh,” Dick said, his face slightly confused as Tim grabbed his wrist to check his pulse.
“How’s he doing?” Jason asked, taking a seat on the opposite side of Dick next to his equipment.
“Not too bad, all things considered. Looks like the rebar missed the important stuff.”
“Hey, Jay,” Dick turned his head to look at Jason. “When’d you get here?”
Jason furrowed his eyebrows. “Dick, I’ve been here, I’m the one that found you, remember?”
Dick looked even more confused now. “Oh, yeah.”
Tim didn’t look impressed. He pulled a pen light out of the front pocket of his uniform and shined it in his eyes, noticing the way Dick winced at the sudden brightness. “Dick, can you tell me what day it is?”
“Tuesday?”
“What month, though? What number day?”
Dick looked deep in thought for a moment before he answered. “April?”
“Okay,” Tim and Jason shared a look. It wasn’t April and they were both thinking it. “You know where you are?”
Dick opened his mouth to answer but it wasn’t words that came out. Luckily Tim was fast and knew the signs; he had Dick on his side and a puke bag under his mouth before things got too messy.
“Definitely a concussion,” Tim confirmed.
“Can I sleep now? My head hurts.”
“No sleeping, Dickie, you gotta stay awake.”
“Why?” Dick whined as Tim replaced the bloody gauze on Dick’s head with a fresh piece.
“You have a concussion, Dick,” Jason said. “Remember?”
“Oh, yeah. My leg hurts.”
Jason couldn’t help but chuckle. “Yeah, I bet.”
Tim looked at Jason once more, a small smirk on his face as he made his way down to Dick’s leg to take a closer look.
“Not much I can do, but Bernard’s got a lead foot on him. We’ll be at Gotham General in less than five minutes.”
“You hear that, Dick?” Jason pressed more gauze to the man’s head wound. “Almost there.”
“Good. You two talk too much, it’s impossible for a guy to get any sleep.”
His younger brothers chuckled.
“Yeah,” Tim sighed. “He’ll be fine. Probably get a nice, paid vacation.”
“I bet he’ll get a cool scar,” Jason teased.
“What is with you and scars, weirdo?”
Jason shrugged and turned his attention back to Dick. He couldn’t help but relax slightly, now that he knew Dick would make it. He would never admit it, but he’d been scared. Scared Dick wouldn’t make it, scared Dick would’ve been gone by the time he found him. Even with the hunk of metal in his leg and a pretty nasty concussion, Dick was looking good. It could’ve been a lot worse. Jason had seen it be worse before.
“I’m glad you’re okay, Dick,” he said softly, though he knew Tim had heard him.
“Thanks for digging me out.”
“Hey, I always got you.”
Dick took Jason’s hand, squeezing as tightly as he could manage, which wasn’t much but was still comforting.
“I know you do. You both do.”