Chapter Text
“Damian,” Dick said.
“Robin.” Damian corrected.
“Bud, there’s no one out here, our identities are-“
“Robin.”
“Okay, okay, Robin, then. I need you to go out and find the river, according to our last known position it should be-”
“Two klicks to the north north west.”
“Yeah.” Dick said. “Great job, Bud.”
“Don’t patronise me.” Robin seethed. “It is hardly complicated to triangulate our position and it’s relation to the nearest water source based on the trajectory we had and the speed at which we were going against the maps that we were to study.”
“I’m not patronising you, Dami, Robin.”
Robin clicked his tongue, still glaring up at Dick.
While Dick himself had taken off his mask the moment they fully confirmed that they were alone out here in the forest, Damian had not so much as taken off his Robin cape let alone the rest of his uniform.
The cape itself was torn, Damian’s skin and suit still dirtied from the crash. Even standing tall as he was, Damian looked young, impossibly so, and Dick couldn’t help but feel the need to hold him, the need the shield him from all of this but with Dick’s arm tied up into a makeshift sling, all Dick could do was kneel before him.
Damian’s gaze tracked him but as their eyes actually met, Damian twisted away with a huff. Even for all his derision, he did not pull away as Dick traced his usable hand from Damian’s head, face, neck, shoulders, arms, torso, legs, watching for any sign at all of pain or tenderness.
“I am uninjured, Nightwing.”
“I know.” Dick said.
“The same cannot be said for you so it is honestly ridiculous that you-”
“I know, I know, I just… Needed to make sure.”
In truth, Dick had already checked Damian over three times over the last hour and while he knew that Damian could just as easily be pretending not to feel any pain, he was still reassured that at least one of his brothers were completely okay.
Well, as okay as Damian could be all things considered.
The track marks of tears still shone through the grime on his face and while Dick knew that Damian would remember to be careful with the river once he found it, Dick had no doubt that Damian would spend the time to wash the evidence away the first chance he got.
It wouldn’t be for vanity’s sake, Damian has made it very clear that as long as whatever he is wearing is functional than that was all that was necessary, but for his pride.
“Robin. Before you go, do you mind if I check over your blades? I just to make sure that they weren’t damaged in the crash.”
Damian fully met Dick’s eye then and it was like Damian was staring at Dick’s very soul.
“I am not a fool, Grayson.”
“I know you’re not.” Dick said gently. “Go find the river. Fill these containers but don’t waste all the water purifying tablets just yet, not until we know what will be used as drinking water.”
Damian’s tongue clicked, no doubt intending to argue further but then his head dropped fully.
Without another word, Damian knelt down, sliding a sharp knife loose from his shoe. He pressed it into Dick’s hand, took the containers, and disappeared into the trees.
For an eternity Dick stayed right where he was, the blade impossibly heavy in his grip.
Dick breathed in slowly, holding it for an eternity before letting out it again, the mess of metal and glass behind him creaked right alongside the breath as if it too was alive.
Hiding Damian’s specially chosen blade within the makeshift sling that was keeping his recently reduced dislocated shoulder in place, Dick twisted back towards the wreckage.
The pool of fuel had grown larger since Dick had last checked it but while the ship had been designed for fire suppressing foam to mix with the fuel if a leak is detected, the failsafe had malfunctioned due to how half of the compressed tank of foam had been ripped off alongside the back half of the ship, having landed who knows where in the dense forest.
Even the life support systems had been unusable, a failure that Dick was going to ensure could never happen again in the future. They were lucky that this crash had happened on Earth with breathable oxygen and hopefully a nearby water source. Even their medical supplies had been in the other half of the damn ship, now gone to the wind.
Their suits each had some supplies at least, but their personal kits were designed for immediate treatment on the streets of Gotham or Blüdhaven, streets where they had access to nearby safe houses or in extreme situations hospitals.
Hell, even the rations they have weren’t going to be enough for all four of them, this wasn’t meant to be anything more than a joyride over the mountain range and the emergency food supplies that were always kept in the ship just in case had disappeared alongside the med shit, all they currently had access to was what was on their persons and a couple of sleeping bags that Jason had found.
Dick was careful in coming back into the mess of metal and glass that had once been a multimillion dollar ship, his shoulder aching as he shifted wrong. Dick didn’t let so much as a grimace show on his face though, the familiar pain easy enough to ignore. In fact, if Jason wouldn’t beat his ass the moment he tried to take the sling off, Dick would have been perfectly able to use his right arm.
Jason was just being an asshole about it, like he always was whenever he learned that Dick had re-injured the same joint for the seven thousandth time.
That very same Jason was still crouching by Tim’s side, talking to him quietly. The moment Jason saw Dick though, he stood up and came over. Even when Jason stood in front of him, Dick couldn’t lift his gaze from where Tim was sitting.
Careful to not let Tim see, Dick pressed Damian’s knife into Jason’s waiting palm.
“Make a fire.” Dick murmured. “As far away from the fuel as possible.”
Dick waited for an argument, waited even to be called a fucking idiot asshole who had no idea what the fuck he was doing, but Jason just took the knife and went outside.
Jason would simply be following a direct order and that was okay with Dick. It would be Dick’s call, Dick’s decision, Dick’s choice, Dick’s fault. And he would make it, as impossible as it was, just as he had made so many other choices on behalf of his teammates before.
It was also Dick’s choice to replace Jason at Tim’s side but instead of just crouching like Jason had been, Dick fully sat down close to his brother.
“How’re we doing Timmy?”
“Oh, you know,” Tim said. “I’m hanging in there.”
Dick couldn’t bring himself to so much as chuckle at Tim’s attempt at humour, nor did he point out that Tim wasn’t really hanging from anything at all. He was able to sit, albeit a little awkwardly, his right hand still fidgeting with a batarang in his lap.
While Dick yearned to reach up towards Tim’s left hand, he didn’t.
There was still blood dripping down Tim’s fingertips, though most of the red was soaking through the mangled metal that kept Tim pinned to what had once been the side of the ship.
“I can still move it.” Tim said
But as soon as he tried to do just that, his breath caught, eyes widening.
“Don’t.”
“It’s really not that bad,” Tim said, his voice now faint.
Dick watched another drop of blood add to the growing pool.
And another.
And another.
Just by Tim so much as trying to form a fist, he’d made it worse still and Dick’s chest ached.
“And besides.” Tim said. “It’s not like it’s anything I can’t handle. I’ve been in worse scrapes before, maybe I just wanted to make you guys do all the work.”
The metal began just a few inches down from Tim’s shoulder, most of his arm disappearing into it until his wrist and hand hung loose from the malformed ship.
It was almost like Tim was lounging on a couch, Dick thought distantly, elbow resting up on the side of it with his hand comfortably resting downwards.
But then Tim tried shifting again and he couldn’t hold back a sharp gasp, one that tore straight through Dick.
“It’s fine.” Tim said quickly.
There was a tremble in Tim’s body that he clearly could not stop. He had been trapped for almost an hour now, the adrenaline long since passed while the shock was still trying to set in.
“I know Bud. Hey, what was that movie that’s coming out again?”
Tim rolled his eyes as dramatically as he could.
“I don’t need distraction, Dick, I’m handling it.”
And yet even as Tim said it he flicked the batarang around and around, faster now that he was feeling like he was under scrutiny.
“Damian.” Tim said suddenly.
“Just collecting water.” Dick said.
“He’s really not hurt? Like, at all?”
“I checked again.”
“He could be lying.” Tim said. “He could be saying that it doesn’t hurt when it really does because he feels like he has to say it doesn’t hurt. Don’t give me that look, I’m not talking about myself right now.”
“Oh really,” Dick mused. “And if I asked you how would you rate your pain from one to ten, your answer would be?”
“A kick to your shin.” Tim said simply.
Dick reached forward at last, ruffling Tim’s hair but pulling back just as quickly as his breath hitched again.
“I’m sorry.”
“It’s fine.” Tim whispered. “So, uh, that,”
Tim swallowed roughly, a bead of sweat rolling down his face.
“That movie.” He said. “It’s, uh, it’s Tron.”
“I thought there already was a Tron.”
“Obviously,” Tim huffed. “This is the third one, it’s called-”
“Wait, there was a second one?”
“Oh please, Dick, stop being a dick, we watched it together. Anyway, so in Legacy they established that programs can’t leave the system, right, but then Quorra was able to get out though she’s not a full program she’s an Iso but in this new trailer there was this scene with the massive ships in the real world and that means it’s not only Iso’s who can get out to the real world, but other things can too.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah, so,”
It wasn’t long before Jason was back, the blade no where to be seen, but there was no denying the sharp sting of smoke on him as he settled in on Tim's other side.
Dick breathed deeply and evenly, listening to Tim ramble, not letting his own hands so much as tremble.
“There’s a pulse.” Tim said.
“Dick, move back, I need to see what we’re working with.”
“There’s a pulse.” Tim said.
“I’ve got it, Jason. Are you sure there’s no more supplies?”
“There’s a pulse.” Tim said firmly.
“You think I didn’t fucking check, Dickface? No, there’s nothing else, we’ve got shit all but we have shit all time too. If we’re doing this, we gotta do it now.”
“Okay,” Dick said.
“You’re not listening to me.” Tim said louder, heart rabbiting in his chest. “There’s a pulse, you don’t need to do anything, it’s fine.”
“Timmy,” Dick said gently as if Tim was a child to be placated.
“No.” Tim said. “I am awake, I am aware, and I am telling you no.”
But Jason and Dick were already talking to each other again and then Jason was rocking back on his heel, disappearing from Tim’s view.
Tim tried to follow him but the moment he so much as tensed his muscles there was pain ripping through him, his entire world pulsing white. He didn’t pass out, not quite, but it was such a close thing that he had barely registered Dick’s hand on his right arm, rubbing up and down it as if to give Tim something to focus on.
He had dropped the batarang, he realised distantly, his free hand no longer holding onto anything.
“Dick.” Tim croaked. “No.”
“I’m sorry, Bud, we don’t have a choice.”
“You have every choice.” Tim countered. “Batman’s still coming, he’ll, he’ll know what to do.”
“Sweetheart…”
“Don’t sweetheart me you asshole, listen to me. I am telling you no, Dick. Don’t do this, please, don’t do this.”
Batman was coming.
Batman was coming and he would be able to work out another way, he always had another way.
They didn’t have to do… This. They didn’t, there was still time, there was always time.
Sure, the ship had been badly damaged in the crash and sure there was a slight risk of the whole thing exploding into a fiery inferno but everything was going to be just fine because Batman was coming.
Batman was coming, Dick and Jason should just be sitting by Tim’s side until then talking to him and keeping him conscious and maybe keeping him laughing too, Dick’s not meant to be looking that pale and Jason’s not meant to be stoking a small fire out of Tim’s eyeshot as if Tim hadn’t recognised the scent of smoke the moment Jason returned.
There was a distant crackling and popping, confirming exactly what Jason was doing and every single crack and every single pop sent shivers down Tim’s spine because he didn’t want this, they couldn’t do this, there was a pulse, there was a pulse and that meant that his trapped arm was still viable and they couldn’t do this, please don’t do this.
“Tim.”
“No.” Tim’s eyes burned. “Walk away Dick. Walk away right now and leave me the fuck alone.”
“It’s going to hurt.” Dick said, his voice empty. “You’re going to want to pass out but I need you to fight against it, okay Sweetheart? I need you to stay with us for as long as you can.”
“No.”
Jason’s boots sounded against the mix of rubble and rocks and Tim was trying to pull himself up and onto his feet but his arm was still stuck in the twisted metal and the pain was almost enough to make him pass out then and there.
“Tim.” Dick said.
“No. No, don’t do this.”
Jason was coming closer now, carefully holding red metal. No, it wasn’t simply metal, it was a knife. It was a knife that had been heated, not so much so that it was white but enough that it would do it’s job.
There was a pulse, his arm was viable, Batman was coming, Batman always fixes everything, Tim had told them no and they always listened to him except now Jason was coming closer still and Dick was adjusting so that he was half leaning on Tim as if to keep him in one place.
Tim thrashed against him but the moment he so much as tugged against his trapped arm there was bile rising up in his throat and they couldn’t do this, they wouldn’t do this.
Hell, Damian’s blades may be sharp but there was no way in fuck it was going to do what Jason wanted it to do anyway and these idiots were just going to get Tim killed when what they should be doing is just waiting for Batman to get there, Batman needed to get there, Dad needed to get there.
“Just breathe for me Timmy,”
“No, no, please, please, Dick, don’t do this, please, Jason, please, don’t-”
It might have been the pain that consumed him first, or maybe it had been the darkness, either way neither the pain or the nothingness compared to the agony of knowing that it was his brother’s that were hurting him.