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“Nightwing!”
The voice came so clearly through the comms but Dick could barely focus.
“Nightwing come in!”
There was urgency in the voice. He knew it. He knew who was speaking to him but he couldn’t get his brain online enough to recognize who it belonged to. There was only the feeling that he should be listening. He should be doing something. He should be paying attention. He should be doing better.
His head hurt.
“Nightwing?!”
“Where was his last position?”
“East wing near the rear wall. Robin and I are there.”
“Hold position. We need to make sure the rubble is stable.”
“He could be dying, B.”
“Hold.”
The voices came too quickly for him to be able to tell who was who. He knew all of them. That thought was strong through his thoughts. He knew them and he should be listening. He should be doing what they were telling him to do but he couldn’t get his limbs to respond to him. Dick could barely feel his body as it was and he knew that he was going to have to deal with the weight of that for longer than he really wanted to.
Where was he? What had he been doing? Was he hurt?
“Wing, if you can hear us we need you to give us a sign.”
“His comm could be broken. He might not be able to hear us or might not be able to answer.”
“He could be dead.”
“You need to have hope, Baby Bat.”
The nickname repeated in his head. Baby Bat. He knew that. He knew who that belonged to. Dick struggled to fight air into his lungs. There was weight on his chest that he could slowly begin to feel but he didn’t know what it was. There was more going on than he could focus on. The weight reminded him of something. Like he was holding something. Images flashed through his head and Dick remembered light. Bright light of the sun and brilliant blue sky overhead. White fluffy clouds and a garden that was so green and cared for it could put lawn shows to shame. It was beautiful. Dick liked it there. He felt the grass around him, brushing at his face and prickling against his limbs. There were voices around him and when he turned his head he saw people sitting around a table. Some of them were play wrestling with each other. Others were laughing. There was lemonade on the table.
“It’s secure. Start digging.”
“Wing? You with us? Can you hear us?”
Dick frowned. All these voices were trying to get to someone. They were talking to someone.
“Nightwing, report.”
The order was familiar. More memories dumped through his head again and Dick struggled to put the pieces together. He could remember being told to report in the past. The same stern voice that had said it now. he could remember it. Missions that had gone wrong. It was something he was supposed to answer when he was called for. He was meant to give a report and a status update. He was supposed to tell what he was dong and where he was and where he was injured if he was.
Was he injured? Was he hurt? He couldn’t feel his body but he wasn’t moving and there was something heavy on him. Did that count?
“Nightwing,” The voice was more stressed now. He wasn’t sure how he knew that. “Report.”
That wasn’t his name. He knew the gruff voice and he knew to follow it. To listen and trust it. His brain provided him images again. Scenes that felt wholly disjointed but at the same time he knew they made sense. It was there but he couldn’t put the pieces of it together. It was there but he didn’t understand.
He saw a man in all black. Somewhere he knew his name. Dick was beside him. They were looking in a mirror. They were talking. He was laughing and he was smiling. The man was his father. No that was wrong. He wasn’t his father but he was at the same time. Like something had happened, a disjointed memory of two different men that had never truly gotten to meet but held the same role in his life.
“Hood, status.”
It wasn’t a question.
“Digging. We’re trying to find him. No luck so far.”
“Red Robin, status.”
“I’m checking for him with thermals. I don’t have a signature yet. Everything is too warm because of the explosion. I can’t find him in the collapse.”
“Keep looking.”
There was a hard edge in the voice. Something that Dick knew was fear even though it didn’t really sound like it. He wished he knew what was happening. He wished he knew where he was or what he was doing.
“B, if we don’t find him—”
“Keep looking. Robin, status.”
Dick groaned. Something gurgled in his throat and caught and before he knew it he was coughing. Heaving stutters that were shaking his entire frame and the weight on him shifted. It grew worse. So much that he thought he cried out against it but he wasn’t actually sure. He couldn’t bring in a full breath and only then did Dick try to curl his toes.
He was being called.
He had to give a status.
He blindly tried to move his arm in the direction of his comm but he fumbled. His hand struck against the side of his head and pain burst through his skull. His fingers felt wet. His stomach rolled but Dick knew he was laying down and that was bad. He wasn’t sure he could turn over with how heavy the weight above him was. He wasn’t sure he could move his chest at all. Sound blurred to nothing but a ringing noise sounding through his head but the more he focused on his breathing the more it came back to him.
There was a mission. Something had gone wrong.
Batman was calling for him.
He had to answer.
“Robin, check status of his suit.”
He fumbled until his hand was at his ear. His comm was there. It was always there. He hit the button to turn it on.
“Who’s?…”
His mouth was dry and he could barely hear himself but Dick knew that if Batman was giving him an order that he needed to listen and if the information he gave was wrong then that could mean death for someone. It had been drilled into him since before he was ever allowed out as Robin to be aware of everything. He needed to protect the team he was working with. He didn’t know the names of the others that Batman called out for but if they were responding to status orders then they were trained and they sounded fine. They were all worried, one of them wasn’t answering.
He didn’t hear them answering.
“Are you hurt?”
Dick curled his toes in his boots. He thought they moved with the sparks of pain that shot up his legs. His legs that he couldn’t bend. Something hard was surrounding him on what felt like all sides. When he tried to open his eyes all he saw around him was shadow and smears of gray. He couldn’t make anything out. His right eye burned as something dripped into it and he squeezed both eyes shut again.
“…who’s suit?…B?…”
There was silence again. A quiet that made him begin wondering if his comm was damaged in whatever happened.
“Said…check suit….I need’t’check…dunno who…”
“Wing you with us?”
“Obviously he’s not. Dig.”
“Quiet.” Batman’s order was hard. Dick swallowed. It tasted like blood. “Can you hear me, Chum?”
“Yeah…”
“I need your status. Tell me a full report. Your name included.”
He swallowed again and this time the blood nearly choked him. He hadn’t expected for it to be there in his throat or to be blocking his airway. Coughs scratched out of his lungs deep and painful and everything around him shifted again. It hurt. He blinked tears from his eyes as he tried to follow his orders. There were voices again in the comms but he couldn’t make them out anymore. They were calling out that they found something. That they were close. There was a sign of something but he didn’t understand.
“Rob…Robin.. Status…’m hurt…B, think ‘m hurt…”
A loaded silence greeted him when he tried to focus. He hadn’t reported enough. He needed to give more.
“Can’t remember…mission?..I can’t…”
“That’s alright, we’re coming for you.”
He made it out but he sounded muffled again. Dick couldn’t stop the wounded sound that pulled out of him when he pulled his arm back down to his chest to try to help with the weight pressing down on him. More and more things were shifting now around him. It hurt and he couldn’t really breathe right. His hand slid in something wet.
“B?…”
“I’m here, Robin.”
“Bleeding…”
He recognized the feel of it. The thick liquid pooling under a body. The heat of it. Dick had unfortunately laid in his own blood enough to know what it felt like even if he was in shock and couldn’t really feel the rest of his body. he didn’t know where he was hurt exactly but he was hurt. if the blood wasn’t his then maybe it was whoever it was they were calling for before. the other missing hero.
“Nightwing?…”
He had to try to find him. If they were stuck wherever they were together then maybe he could help him. Maybe he could let the others know he was there.
“That’s your name.”
“What?…”
“B, we’re nearly to him. The rubble looks more unsteady here. We can get to him but it’ll be slow.”
“I need you to tell me where you’re bleeding from, Chum.”
“Dunno…” He swallowed they needed to know. “Nightwing…could be here…I can’t see…can’t tell…”
There must be damage to his comm. It was too quiet for too long.
“Nightwing is with us. He’s safe. We’re only needing to get you out now, Robin.”
“Oh…”
“Red Hood and Red Robin are nearly to you. Nightwing and I are working to keep the rubble stable. When they reach you, trust them.”
“Okay…”
He could see things moving now. Shifting rocks and bits of light that hadn’t been there before. It wasn’t until then that he realized the world really wasn’t in focus. He couldn’t see anything with the clarity he normally could. Everything looked like it was spinning in the edges of his vision and the longer he tried to see the more sick he felt. He laid there with his eyes closed to wait. They were getting close, B said. They were able to be trusted. They must be good heroes. He wondered why he’d never heard of them before. Maybe he did know them and he’d just forgotten.
He imagined a team of them together. It looked like the Gotham skyline behind them. He saw a red helmet beside him and a leather jacket and red emblem on the man’s chest that looked like a version of the bat Batman wore. In seconds the image changed to a safehouse he didn’t recognize and him and a man he didn’t know with a white streak in his hair taking selfies and laughing about putting them in coffins one day. Pranks for reminders of what they could have been if they were normal.
His head hurt.
He imagined looking down and seeing himself in the Batman suit. Looking in the mirror and he was grown. He was an adult. There was someone else, a boy he didn’t know, he was dressed in his colors. A domino mask and short dark hair and he carried a sword. Robin didn’t carry a sword but no other name felt right for him. He watched himself in the mirror as he lifted an arm for the boy and he came to his side. As they stood together and started to speak.
His head hurt.
He imagined sitting at the batcomputer with snacks lined around them. Late nights working on cases that didn’t make sense and there was a teenager he didn’t recognize. Dark hair and light eyes and a red hoodie covering his frame. The teenager was lecturing him on something and Dick followed with his own returns of the files. They were bantering about it even though he couldn’t really hear it. They were working and they were treating it like it was normal.
His head really hurt.
He imagined a fight. Staring down Batman and yelling. He couldn’t hear himself but he could feel it. He watched Batman yell in return. it felt too sharp, too final. It didn’t make sense. He felt too tall. It was wrong.
Light poured in around him and Dick felt a hand reach his shoulder.
“We’ve got him.”
“Status?”
“Breathing.”
Dick squinted up to see them. The same red helmet he’d seen before looked down at him. The teenager he’d imagined was right at his side and leaning down to look over him.
“He’s impaled. I don’t think it hit his spine. We need to cut the rod and get him out of here and back to the cave.”
It was weird hearing his voice above him and static filled in his ear.
“I’ll tell Alfred to call Leslie.”
“He’s lost a lot of blood.”
“Head trauma?”
“Bleeding but I can’t tell much more right now. He might be awake.”
The tone of Batman’s voice changed.
“Robin?”
Dick tried to respond only to find himself exhausted.
“We need you to hold on. We are going to get you out of this.”
He’d messed something up but he didn’t know what it was. He didn’t know how to fix it. He didn’t know if he could fix it.
“Dick,” another hand touched him and Dick looked up to see the white streak of hair he’d imagined. “You’re the only one hurt, okay?”
He tried to nod. It hurt.
“Don’t move your neck, golden boy. Stay still. Red and I are getting you out. It’s going to hurt. I need you to stay with me. Do you know who I am?”
He could guess.
“Hood.”
“Good. You call me Jason or Little Wing even though I hate it.”
He didn’t understand.
“Bruce is making sure we don’t get squished but you’re running out of time and we need to go fast. It’s going to hurt. It’s important for you to stay awake.”
“Trying…”
“You’re going to do more than try. You’re going to do it. You’re a Robin. You set the standard.”
He didn’t understand.
“Red, go.”
“I’m sorry.”
Heat flared through his body. Blinding pain that filled every nerve. He thought he screamed. He thought he started choking.
There were shouts over his head. Something moved. Something gave way. Hands were on his face and fingers pressed into his neck. Arms were under him. He was being moved.
He couldn’t feel anything. He couldn’t see. He couldn’t think.
It just hurt.
But he knew when he landed against Batman. He knew the feeling and the weight of the cape. He knew being tucked into the batmobile.
He knew when he was safe.
So he let himself sleep.