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Duke's thrown backwards with the force of the blast. He grunts when his head slams directly into a brick wall. His ears ring as he stands up bracing himself against the wall.
Duke brings a hand to his forehead using the wall for support as sharp pain erupts across, well, across his entire head. "That's gotta leave a goose egg," he mutters, reflectively rubbing at his head.
Steph lands beside him causing Duke to look up. "Yeesh," she says, her face twist up. "You cracked your helmet."
Duke winces too. Yeah that was a pretty nasty hit. "Did you get 'em?"
"Batgirl's in pursuit," she says moving closer. "C'mon—concussion check time." Duke follows her finger, already aware he's concussed with the double vision he has going on. Still, he answers her memory questions to rule out brain damage.
When the Batmobile pulls up, Duke pushes off the wall. He tries to take a step and immediately wabbles. Clutching at the wall he rights himself again, this time he tries to take a slow measured step and manages to move with out falling over. Steph comes back supporting Duke's weight as they do an awkward shuffle to the car.
Steph doesn't say anything but Duke sees her frowning as the door shuts. She presses the comm, no doubt trying to stop him from hiding injures as insane people who run around fighting crime are prone to do. Duke would be offended under normal circumstances except truthfully he's also a little concerned. Getting a little wobbly after a bad hit is normal, stumbling around like he's drunk isn't. Groaning Duke pops open the snack compartment and pulls out a fruit pouch. Hopeful someone will tell him he's overreacting as soon as he makes it back to the cave. They don't.
"Hey, I heard you got a concussion?" Tim greets him when he pulls up. He says it pretty quietly which is nice since Tim is one of the people that struggles with 'appropriate noise level for head injuries.'
"Uh, yeah." Duke is trying to ignore how everything seems to be bouncing as he walks over the the medical cot. The Bat Cave is pretty well light and he's having an easier time walking but everything feels unsteady.
Tim hums. "Wanna hop on the bed and I'll give you a better check?"
Well, it's not like that isn't exactly what Duke is here for. He climbs on the thin mattress letting Tim go through the check list. While he's on the bed everything stops moving around and Duke's double vision has cleared up slightly making it less frustration to look at things. Tim seems largely unconcerned over his symptoms which makes Duke feel better.
"Alright. Seems like you have a low grad concussion, pretty standard. Anything else you want to mention before heading up?"
"I guess just that my vision was, uh, jumpy I guess."
Tim freezes, turning back to look at him. "Jumpy?"
Unease crawls up his spine. "Yeah, it was kinda like things were vibrating. But only when I was walking."
"That is concerning," Tim says slowly. "I think I'm going to call Leslie, stay right there." Then he scampered off to do just that.
Apparently his jumpy vision was called oscillopsia and could be caused by swelling in the brain. Needless to say Duke was shoved back into the Batmobile and taken to the hospital for an MRI. Luckily for him he did not have any brain injuries to worry about, although he got to spend his observation window in Gotham General instead of a nice cushy manor. Which was a bummer.
Duke's vision problems don't clear up by the time he gets cleared to leave, with a doctor recommending him to see a neurologist. Duke manages to squeeze in for an appointment less than a month from now, but he doesn't feel very confidant. He's itching for a chance to get back out their and help Gotham and sitting still doesn't bode well with him.
"Whoa, you doing good, kid?" Dick asks. He's picking up Duke since Jay has work and a manor full of people with flexible schedules was decided to be better for making sure there isn't any extra surprises. Duke maintains he'd be fine alone, but he was out voted.
Duke chaffs at being called 'kid'. Dick might get away with it with his younger siblings, however Duke would prefer being left out of it. "Yes. Doc said the balance issues should clear up in the next couple of days." He's been finding it easier in the morning light and on the smooth gravel
"That's rough," he says. He holds open the door to his beat up Toyota. "You wanna stop anywhere for non-hospital food?"
"The bakery down on fourth street? I'm craving one of their fancy cinnamon buns."
"I think I can make that happen."
Cinnamon bun acquired for free from Miss Elphie—the shop owner—Duke makes his way into the kitchen to heat up his second purchase. He finds Cass there, a strange occurrence since he know she normally camps out somewhere in Gotham proper. She's got mountain of pancakes set up in front of her and is in the process of dousing them in whipped cream and berries.
"Don't tell Babs," she says when he slips beside her on the bar.
"As long as you don't tell anyone I got treats," he says. "How'd last night go?"
"Fine. Batgirl joined after you left. Tricked Burnett and handed him off to the police." Then she shoves a bit of pancake into her mouth.
Duke pops the pastry into the microwave, letting the frosting getting just barely melty before he pops it out. There's something nostalgic about eating not quite fresh cinnamon rolls, a sense of longing for his parents Duke doesn't even understand because it's not like it was a frequent occasion that they'd do anything like this. Still his heart feels heavy eating to dough.
Unsurprisingly he finished before her. Duke takes his plate to the sink, scumming it down. He jolts when Cass brushes up beside him while he's drying the plate. "Jesus, some warning would be nice," he mumbles.
"I stepped on the creaky floorboard," Cass says.
Duke frowns. The board in the kitchen is pretty loud so it's weird that he didn't hear it. "Must have been zoned out then." Cass moves back a few steps.
"Maybe." Snap, snap, snap. "How many snaps?"
"Three," he answers. They were all at vary distances, one of them was a little fainter but he heard them no problem.
Cass shakes her head. "There was four."
Duke groans. He's about to have more doctor appointments in his future.
Thankfully otologists are easier to get an appointment with than neurologists. Unfortunately Duke is still band from patrol for until his balance, hearing and vision problems all clear up. He's run through five different audiobooks and completed four of puzzle books that were pointedly given to him while his screen band was in place. And another twelve hours of video games after he was unleashed on the great wide web.
All Seeing👁: you're cleared for creens right
Diurnal🦇: *screens
Diurnal🦇: and yes
All Seeing👁: 🖕
All Seeing👁: any ways, i have more data then physically possible to sort through if your bored
All Seeing👁: u said the jumpy part only happens when moving, right
Diurnal🦇: omw
"I've already sorted through what most of the files look like," Barbara says once he enters the tower. "That tablet has all of the financial records downloaded. If you can flag any irregularities let me know. Or if you find anything odd."
"Right."
Duke takes the tablet, making himself comfortable in a spare chair. The task is sort of mind numbing, but Duke is enjoying himself. It's mostly just pattern recognition, and he spends time highlighting anything at breaks the pattern so he can cross check it later.
"You know, I can relate if you want to talk about it," Barbara says. Her focus is kept on the screen as she clicks through documents rapidly, not paying attention to him at all.
"It might not be permanent," he says, immediately regretting it.
"I'm going to let that slide since I'm pretty sure you're trying to convince yourself," she says still flicking through the screen. "And temporary disabilities can still be scary. When I was twelve I broke my arm and kept getting these random burning pains for six months after the cast came off. It was pretty scary even after it went away."
"I'm not twelve."
"It was scary at in my twenties."
Duke looks down at the tablet, drumming his finger on his leg. "I don't know … it's just, like, I know my life isn't over, but everything feels so stupid. I know things aren't moving but it looks like it and I get tripped up. And the dizziness happens pretty sporadically, and even when I don't feel dizzy I can tell I'm off balance. And it just hard."
Barbara hums. She turns around to face Duke properly and it feels like he's being studied under a microscope. "It is hard. It's always going to be hard, but it will get easier."
"Yeah, I guess."
She rolls her eye. "I can give you the name of the consulting group I joined—they might provide better advice if you don't like mine."
"That be great," he says not really meaning it.
"Have you noticed a pattern to the dizziness? Most things aren't aren't as random as they seem. And for the being off balance you could try something like a cane or maybe crutches. Just something to give you a little extra support."
"I'll consider it," he says much more genuine this time.
"Good. Now have you found anything in your files?"
"Oh yeah. This guys sending a bunch of money to one guy," Duke tells her. "All the transactions are listed as 'Gift' but they keep happening about every three weeks, for at least five grand each time."
"That sounds promising."
"Duke?" a young white man in scrubs calls. Duke stands up. "Doctor Dominguez will see you now."
Duke follows him into a room with a medium sized room and directed to sit on the chair. Bruce who came with him—out of a duel pronged attack to make him heal is busted ribs and give him something to focus on—sits in the corner chair. Duke kicks his feet as he waits.
The door creaks open and a middle aged Hispanic woman walks through. "Hi, Duke," she says. "I'm Doctor Isabella Dominguez. I hear we've been experiencing some hearing loss?"He nods. "And can you tell me when that started?"
"Last Thursday," he says. "I got a concussion and the next morning I didn't hear when a friend made a noise."
"Okay. Have you been having other troubles related to your concussion?" Dominguez ask, putting on some gloves.
"I got oscillopsia and my balance has been off."
She nods. "Both of those can be caused by an ear injury, especially a lack of balance. I'm going to look into your ears now, is that okay?"
"Yep."
Dominguez sticks the ear tube into his ear, looking around for a few moments before switching sides. They move on to a hearing test, making Duke answer if he can hear things or not before Dominguez puts her things down.
"There's two more things I'd like to see, but their both a little weird," she tells him.
"Weird how?"
"Well, first of all, would you mind taking a few laps around the room? Just trying to walk as naturally as possible."
"I guess," Duke says.
He pushes himself off the chair, walking around the room. Duke tries not to pay attention to how Dominguez's eyes follow him around, twisting in her office chair to better follow his movements, He completes two laps before she tells him he can sit down. Then she leaves the room citing that she need to get something.
"Do you know what the walking was about?" he asks Bruce.
"Damage to the structures inside your ear can cause issues with balance. Doctor Dominguez was perhaps trying to assess if you were showing any signs through walking," he says.
"Was I?"
"Your gait was off. I can't tell you if that's related or not."
Doctor Dominguez comes back holding something in her hand. "Okay. I have some cold water and what I'm going to do with it is put it inside your ear. This should let me assess eye response and see about some possible damage to your inner ear."
Duke lets her put the water in his ear. It's cold. Really cold. And uncomfortable. He tries not to make a face letting her look for whatever she wanted to see in his eyes.
"So about the oscillopsia and your balance troubles, I'm leaning towards it being Bilateral Vestibulopathy, meaning you have damage to your inner ears on both sides. We don't have enough for a proper diagnosis right now; I'd recommend seeing a neurologist and to do a BALANCE test."
"Okay."
"Do you have any questions about that?"
Duke curls his fingers into the end of the bed. "Is this something that goes away?"
"It can, but it's not guaranteed," she says. "Is there anything else you want to know?"
"No."
Dominguez nods. "For your hearing there is about a fifteen percent decrease. I'm prescribing hearing aids, although you won't see much quality of life decrease if you choose to for go them."
"That makes sense."
"Let's get you all checked out."
Doctor Dominguez leads him and Bruce to the check out desk where Duke has to sign a bunch of papers. Bruce is quiet while they leave, not saying anything until they get to the car.
"I have something to show you in the cave if you don't mind a detour."
"I don't mind."
Bruce grunts, pulling them into the direction of Wayne Manor. Duke tries to think about what he'd want to show him there. Especially since Duke is still a flightless bird. Bruce drives through one of the road entrances, pulling into the Bat Cave garage pretty quickly.
He stalks off to the storage area for all of their gadgets, leaving Duke to waddle after him. Bruce comes back holding a collection of long narrow objects.
"Here," he says handing them to Duke.
Duke looks at them to see two sets of crutches and a cane. He puts them to the floor slowly grabbing the forearm crutches to look at. Them seem to match his height, perfect for his own use.
"They have some hidden tools," Bruce says. He pulls a piece of metal from his pocket. Running it along the side making a screwdriver pop out. "This one demagnetize the latch. I was thinking you could keep it in a bracelet maybe."
It was just like Bruce to show affection through gadgets. "I'm assuming that isn't everything."
"No," Bruce laughs. "There's about eight hidden in each. These are just prototypes, however. If you have anything you want in there or colour preferences, I'll see what I can do."
"Thanks, B," he says giving him a side hug.
"Why don't you see if they help first."
Duke looked over the pile and picked up the cane, handing the crutch he was holding to Bruce. He did a short loop with, finding that it did improve his balance. The Duke traded it for the under arm crutches. Those had a much bigger improvement, but Duke had a feeling they'd be uncomfortable in the long run. The forearm crutches were the best fit.
On the ride home Duke managed to find a lock pick, a pocket knife, another screwdriver, a pair of scissors, and a mini distress signal.