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To Break a Hero	By : Jeshuea Category: DC Verse Comics > Titans Views: 13862 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own the Batman series, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
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Everyone had left Dick alone in the room. An hour had passed since the bandages and treatments were left in place. Now all the medical staff had moved back to doing other things. After all, without a conscious patient they really had no way of knowing what else could be wrong or if he wanted a magazine. If he awoke the machines would pick up the change and alert the doctor immediately. So they didn’t have to pay continuous attention to him. This made it easy for the new boy wonder to sneak in and figure out everything that had been going on.

Unlike Batman and Superman, he had been left out of the loop. Nobody would tell him anything of Dick’s condition. Both the heroes probably were trying to protect him. If something like this could happen to the great Nightwing then it could happen to Robin. Only thing is Robin almost never worked alone, Nightwing worked alone most of the time. It would have been easier to capture the previous boy wonder then the newer edition.

Just like his mentor, Robin was silent. He eased the doctor’s clipboard from the edge of the bed and soon began going through it. Although in such a dark area reading the script proved impossible. So he pulled a small blue light out of his pocket and turned it on. The light, small as it was, caused Dick to turn away. With the other’s well being in mind, Tim decided it might be best to read this elsewhere.

He left much the same way as he entered. Once in a well lit area he began reading all the doctor gibberish. A nice chair and a table to rest the clip board on. He had his small note pad out ready to write down any clues about who might have done this to his friend. About half way through the description of Dick’s starting status Robin leaned back in his chair rather horrified. Suddenly he had an appreciation for his senses and for his fingernails that he previously hadn’t before.

To think that the entire time he had been capture Dick had been trying to escape, praying to be rescued. Even all of the Justice League couldn’t find him…

These thoughts made Tim’s stomach churn.

Nightwing had been left to wait for a rescue that never came. It took the bad guys surrendering him for anyone to finally find him. The fact that they had surrendered him alive meant something had to be up. They all probably figured Nightwing would never be in the game again after this. To top that off no one’s alter ego had been targeted. So obviously the torture hadn’t been for information.

The pen Robin had been holding broke. He couldn’t stand the thought of people hurting his friend just for the sake of hurting him. It didn’t make sense, even though he knew if he considered the men they were dealing with it would make perfect sense.

With a heavy sigh he set the broken pen down and began reading through the report again. Everything pointed towards it being more then one person. The toxin found in Dick’s system suggested the Joker, Scarecrow, and Dr. Milo. No single pure serum could be found. All of that meant it could have been anyone with access to these men’s toxin skills. For the right price any person in the world could obtain these things. No doubt Batman had already gone to find Crane and the others.

Checking on his laptop rather quickly, Tim found out that all of the men had a solid alibi for the past month and a half. The Joker had been in the insane asylum yet again, Dr. Milo had been working out of the country in a lab for less then respectable men and Crane had found a job. Crane’s rehabilitation really seemed to be working out for him for the moment. Although this didn’t mean Batman wasn’t going to stop by and have a chat with each one of these fellows.

Over and over Tim continued to read the medical report and nothing turned up. All he knew now was that his friend had been brutally tortured mentally and physically. This didn’t give him much to go on.

He wasn’t too surprised when his chair was lifted up and moved away from the table. Tim had known Conner had been standing in the room for quite some time. Too busy in his own thoughts Tim had not requested the other to leave. This proved to be the results of that.

“Conner, I need to concentrate. I don’t have time for fooling around,” Tim stated.

“I’m not going to let you get involved with this. What happens if the freaks that did this to Nightwing come after Batman’s other student?” Superboy did have a point. “Your mentor can take care of this right now.”

Tim glared at the other, “Nightwing’s a good friend Conner. Whatever I can do to help, I’m going to. I knew the dangers of the job when I signed up for it. After all, the Robin before me was killed.”

“Yeah and now the one before him has been seriously hurt. I’m surprised Batman hasn’t fired you yet to keep you safe.”

“Firing Nightwing didn’t keep him safe, what makes you think that if he fired me I’d be so different?”

“Because you… you…”

“Yeah?”

Conner set the chair back down. He wouldn’t win this. Batman on the other hand, would win this fight when he got back. Conner had over heard Batman and Superman talking about taking Tim out of the cape for a while. Neither of them wanted the boy to get hurt and it seemed obvious to everyone that these men were going to target those closest to Batman. It wouldn’t be that bad seeing as the new boy wonder had already quit once.

“Just don’t go anywhere without someone with-” Conner started.

“With powers?” Tim finished. His displeased look told the other superhero that he was in deep trouble for suggesting such a thing. “The powers don’t make the hero.”

“They sure help out when you’re in trouble or at least having a friend with some does.”

“Didn’t seem to help Nightwing out of the trouble he fell into.”

That was a deep blow. Even Conner knew that most the Justice League had been trying to locate the man. Oracle couldn’t even locate him. For a moment the super powered teen just stayed quiet.

“Conner… Sometimes people just have to learn from their mistakes and the mistakes of others, learn to use what they have. Right now I need to figure out how they kept him restrained, and hopefully how they kept us from tracking them down,” Tim slipped his notebook back into his pocket. He planned on returning the medical chart back to Dick’s room before going and checking things out on the box the man had been rapped in. “I could use a little super eye sight though.”

The invitation might not have been so inviting, but it had been an attempt. Conner followed Tim, and planned on helping out his friend as much as possible.

Arsenal had managed to work his way into Nightwing’s room. He had read the warnings on the other’s chart and was very careful about making no noise. He sat down in a chair by the bed. He was afraid of making too much noise by scooting it closer so he stayed where the doctors had initially placed it.

For a long time he starred at NIghtwing. He starred at the man who he had looked up to since they had met. The ‘Boy Wonder’ himself lay in front of him. He could go on with thoughts of the past, but that would not change the present. In the present the only person who didn’t fear Batman even a little, not counting the fear of disappointing the man, had been grievously injured. Worse then the time he had been shot in the arm, worse than the radiation burns, and even worse then when he had been shot in the leg and was forced to walk on crutches for months.

He had wanted to bring Lian as well to see Dick, yet she would have made too much noise. Luckily for Roy Sister Elizebeth didn’t mind staying on an extra few hours. His daughter had that effect on people.

His thoughts ceased when he heard a groaned from the hospital bed. Watching intently he noticed Dick’s eyelids move. Then slowly open.

Arsenal was afraid to speak.

Nightwing looked around the room and then his gaze fell onto Roy. For a long while he thought this would be yet another nightmare. Even though he could feel everything that had happened, it still seemed too good to be true, so it had to be another nightmare. In no other nightmare had he felt all the pain from his daily tortures though. It all broke his thoughts down and he began to cry.

Could he take this for granted and just try to enjoy his dream while it lasted, or detach himself so he wouldn’t be so disappointed when he awoke to agonizing pain?

In disbelief and shock he placed his hands over his eyes. None of this could be real. He still had the blindfold on and Roy couldn’t be more then just his imagination. After all, no one could rescue him. Most likely no one even cared anymore.

“It’s alright, Dick,” Roy whispered as he moved closer to the bed. He gently placed his hands on Dick’s and pulled the other’s hands off of his eyes. Then he leaned over the bed and wrapped his arms around the injured man. “You’re safe now, Dick. It’s all going to be alright.”

‘It’s really… real…’ Dick thought. He couldn’t find it in himself to speak.

Hands roamed over Dick’s hair soothingly. A low hum from Roy began to comfort him and ease his crying. Rather soon he fell back into a sleep. The sleep seemed deeper, more relaxed. Like that of a child who has just had their parents say it’s alright for them to sleep in their bed after a horrible dream. This was his home and his friends wouldn’t let anything else happen.

Roy held onto Dick for another ten minutes to make sure the man had really fallen asleep. Gently he laid his friend back down to the bed. Sadly he looked at the clock. He needed to get back to Lian. If she promised to stay quiet maybe he could bring her in to see Dick. No doubt the man would be happy to wake up to some friendly faces. So Roy gave Dick one last hair combing with his fingers before leaving the room.

On the way to his home, Roy thought about everything that had happened while Dick was away. Everything from where it had started…

…

“He’s what?!” Roy shouted over the intercom drawing the attention of most the other members of the Justice League.

Even with the other’s outburst Batman seemed rather calm on the other side as he continued to speak. “Nightwing is missing. If it’s possible I would like the assistance of the Justice League to try and find him and rescue him from whatever’s happened. So far we have no idea what’s been going on and all my leads are coming up blank.”

“No, what you said is he’s been missing a couple of weeks! Why didn’t you call when he first went missing?” when it came to Dick, Roy wasn’t scared of anything or anyone which explained why he was still shouting angrily at the screen.

Roy hung up on Bruce before looking up everyone who was still on duty but wasn’t occupied with anything. Immediately he gave them the assignment to work on searching for Dick. Then he called in someone to take his place of watching the watchtower intercom before heading down to help search as well.

The very first stop would be Dick’s loft. Although he knew Batman had already checked it he still needed to search it. After a few hours of going through absolutely everything Dick had in his possession, Roy sighed. There wasn’t a single clue. Although he did find pictures that made him rather upset. On the wall the only pictures Dick had were of him and his past girlfriends. Then again he and Roy had never really been in a nice picture together.

If they found Dick, Roy would correct that…

“Stop thinking like that Roy… You’re going to find him,” Roy muttered to himself as he decided to leave the loft. There wasn’t anything left to find.

So instead he went around Bludhaven. Although Batman already questioned most of the gangs he might have missed one. It might not have been much, but compared to nothing the thought made sure to hold on tightly. Although after putting eight people in the hospital and almost getting killed made Roy give up on that sliver of hope. There wasn’t anything in Bludhaven except the notice that the Joker had been there a couple of weeks ago stirring up trouble.

Then it hit him. The Joker had to know something. This information the Batman probably already knew. Considering he didn’t go with it must mean that it ended in a dead end. Yet he would need to go and check the information again. All in all he would need to go to Bruce and look through the information he had, if the billionaire would let him. That would never happen though.

Bruce might have asked for help, but the only person he might share information with would probably be Superman. Roy never had any luck with the Batman in the first place. He would probably call the cops on Roy if he set foot on the property or never let him live down the request for assistance.

So instead he went his own way. He tracked every lead. Each one only led him a few miles from the last. There wasn’t any hope. Finally he had to give up, go back to his daughter and the watch tower. Soon he heard about how everyone wanted to just pronounce him legally dead. He voiced his objections yet they were ignored.

Now Roy held his daughter in his arms as he made his way to the Watchtower’s medical bay. The nurse told him he wasn’t allowed to bring his daughter in, but he ignored her and continued into Dick’s room anyways.

He whispered to Lian, “Remember to stay quiet dear, uncle Dickie is very sensitive to sounds right now.”

The little girl nodded and moved quickly to the bed. She held onto Dick’s hand and smiled. She stayed quiet as her father set up a small black light for her to use so she could color on her paper with her neon crayons. This way she would be entertained and the light wouldn’t hurt Dick’s eyes. Then Roy thought for a bit. He also brought out neon paints for the girl to use. No doubt Dick would like the colors on the wall if he awoke again considering that he had been in complete darkness for months.

“Just don’t get the paints on the medical equipment sweety,” Roy said softly. Once again Lian nodded and hurried off to grab some of the supplies to use.

Soon enough there were pink and blue stars on the walls as well as kitty-cats and puppy-dogs. Even a picture of a blue bird right in front of Nightwing’s bed had been painted. Arsenal grinned and moved to sit next to the bed yet again. He reached his hand up and slowly moved Dick’s hair out of his face again. The man seemed so peaceful, unlike earlier when he had awakened.

A change in his heart beat alerted Roy that Dick was awaking again.

The man stood and sat on the edge of the bed. Surely enough Dick’s eyes began to slowly open. This time he looked around a little more in control. Then again half of the control was probably just from being too drugged up to really panic. He noticed the bright yellow happy face on the wall just to the side of the bed and he smiled. The smiled grew just a little more when he spotted Lian with her paint covered hands.

Noticing the drastic change since the last time, Roy looks over the different medications they had begun pumping into Dick. Unlike before an extremely high relaxant and anti-anxiety medication had been added to the mix. The guys probably didn’t even realize that now the world would seem even more like a dream to Nightwing. All of this would seem even less like reality because of the drugs. For a moment Roy considered if that would be a good thing or a bad thing…

“Hey there, Dick, how are you feeling?” Roy asked. He wasn’t too surprised when Dick just stared at him for a long time. The boy opened his mouth then closed it a couple of times. “You can nod once if you understand me, twice if you don’t.”

This brought a small smile to Dick’s face as he gave one nod.

“Can you talk?”

Dick shrugged.

“It’s okay. I’ll help you thought this. Lian wants to help too,” the little girl came running over and handed a picture to Dick. It was a person in a full cast with another guy dressed all in red sitting next to him. “Lian, why don’t you draw a picture of Dick when he’ll be all better?”

She smiled and went back to her paper to draw. The hunk-wonder held onto the picture and traced his bandaged fingers over the child’s representation of him. Then he looked at the rest of his body and realized how he seemed to hurt yet not in pain. His eyes traveled to the I.V. and he grinned stupidly. It didn’t seem like anything until the grin turned into a frown as Dick began to cry. He reached a hand over to attempt to remove the I.V. Roy had to quickly stop him.

“Hey, you need that right now, boy-wonder,” Roy stated as he held the other’s hands in place.

Then something happened he wasn’t expected. Dick began screaming and twisting his body attempting to get away.

“Lian, get the doctor!” Roy shouted as he pinned Dick down to the hospital bed.

A knee to his back was unexpected though. There would be a rather big bruise there later. Finally Roy had to climb all the way onto the bed to attempt to calm Dick and prevent the man from hurting himself… or Roy even more. It didn’t seem like the man would stop any time soon so he bend down and locked lips with Dick. Something he had wanted to do since their times in the Titans together.

After a moment in the kiss, Dick calmed down. Noticing the other had calmed down Roy slowly released the man’s wrists. His hands moved to Dick’s face to wipe away the tears.

“Doctors will be here in a little bit to help you, Dick. You’re very stressed out and the best thing you could do is just to stay calm. You’re safe and there isn’t anything to worry about now. I’m here… I won’t let anyone hurt you anymore,” Roy wiped his hand over Dick’s forehead then ran his fingers through his hair.

Then the worst thing that could have happened did; Batman barged into the room. The man looked as if he would kill the person who had caused Dick to become so upset and his sights were set on Roy. With gloved hands he gripped Roy and yanked him off of the medical bed. Although both of them were surprised when Dick managed to get a good grip on Roy’s arm and held him close to the hospital bed.

“I was just holding him down to try and stop him from hurting himself,” Roy stated.

Dick began nodding quickly trying to make Bruce understand that Roy was telling the truth. Soon the Bat finally let go of Roy. Yet he still pushed past the other to be somewhat in between them. Obviously Bruce did not like the idea of Roy being close to Nightwing. Although Dick obviously liked the company Bruce told Roy multiple times to leave and that he had things under control. For days that persisted until finally even Batman gave up trying to convince the man and his daughter to leave the room. To be honest they were spending more time with Dick then he was, even if he did act as though Roy’s time was worthless.

TBC

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To Break a Hero