Dick took a bite of one of Alfred's cookies, washing it down with some milk. He twirled in his chair and released a drawn out sigh. "I hope you know that sitting here in the cave is excruciatingly boring," Dick said into the computer's comm device.

"But it keeps you safe," Bruce gruffly replied.

"Going out as a vigilante isn't safe in the first place," Dick countered with an eye roll.

Bruce didn't respond, causing Dick to sigh dramatically. "Have you found anything interesting on your oh so lovely nightly patrol?" He asked.

"No," Bruce replied.

"I kinda get the feeling you don't want to talk to me," Dick said with a smirk, flipping to lay upside down on the chair.

"Wow, you're too perceptive."

Dick let out a gasp of mock horror. "Is that sarcasm? Coming from the dark knight himself? Alfie! I think Batman's broken!" He shouted.

Bruce let out a quiet chuckle, causing Dick to smile widely. "We'll be back in around 30 minutes," he said. "If you're so bored maybe you can get started on tonight's reports. I know you've been watching my cowl footage the entire night."

"You know there's literally no way that I'll ever be that bored right?" Dick replied, starting on the reports despite his claims that he'd never be bored enough to do them.

—

Bruce returned with Tim about 30 minutes later, in which time Dick had managed to finish all of the nightly reports. This left him playing games on the cave's large computer.

"You seriously took the time to get in your Nightwing suit only so you could sit around the cave and watch us?" Tim asked, seeing that Dick had indeed done just that.

"I... I put it on just in case you guys needed help," Dick mumbled, slightly embarrassed.

"No offense, but I think Bruce is being too protective of you to call in your help on a mission. If he needed something he'd probably call Alfred," Tim joked.

Dick laughed hollowly, feeling the sting of Tim's words even though they were meant as a simple joke.

"He might even call Superman before he called you," Tim said with a laugh, trying to continue the joke.

Dick bit his lip, feeling tears gather in his eyes. Bruce nearly despised Superman... he'd rather have help from someone he hated than Dick? "Um I guess I'll just go to bed then," he said, wrapping his arms around himself for some semblance of comfort.

Once Dick had changed and gone up to his room he sat on the edge of his bed, letting his thoughts run wild. Before he knew it hot tears were streaming down his face.

Tim had to have been joking... so why did his words hurt so badly?

Dick tried to quiet his sobs when he heard the stairs creak, signaling that someone was coming.

"Hey Dickie?" Bruce called quietly, opening the door to his eldest's room after a quiet knock.

Dick sniffled and rubbed at his eyes. "What?" He replied, trying to keep his voice steady and light.

"Can I come in?"

Dick gave no reply, so Bruce took that as a yes, and entered the room, taking a seat on the edge of Dick's bed.

"Is everything alright?" Bruce asked.

Dick wanted to reply with a quick yes, but he found that the word caught in his throat. His emotions were all over the place, and things definitely didn't seem alright to him. "No," he finally mumbled, more tears pooling in his eyes.

Bruce seemed to pause for a moment. "What's wrong," he finally asked.

"I... I'm useless," Dick said with a broken sob.

"Why would you say that?" Bruce asked, laying a hand on Dick's leg.

"I-I can't help you on p-patrol... y-you have a b-better partner now... a-all I am is a burden," Dick said, staring into his lap.

"That's not true Dickie," Bruce soothed. "I'm just trying to keep you safe."

"There's no point!" Dick cried. "I'm dying, and there's nothing anyone can do. I'd rather die doing some good than sitting here in the manor day in and day out."

Bruce was stunned into silence. "Dick..." he said, his voice heavy with emotion. "We're trying everything we can to get you back to normal."

"But it's not enough," Dick said, lapsing into a long silence. "But at least you already have a replacement ready... Tim's getting pretty good... I'm sure he'll love it when you make him Nightwing."

"What?" Bruce asked, his voice full of surprise. "You are Nightwing. I'm not going to let Tim or anyone else take up your name unless you choose for them to."

"You did with Robin." Dick swiped some of the tears from his cheeks, still refusing to look at Bruce.

Bruce was silent for a long moment. "I know I hurt you when I passed on the Robin mantle without your permission," he said with a sigh. "And I'm so sorry about that, but what else could I have done?"

Dick bit his lip. Bruce couldn't have dressed barely one year old him up in tights and a cape and sent him out to fight crime... Short from getting rid of Robin all together there really was nothing else Bruce could've done. "I... I guess there wasn't really anything else for you to do..." he finally admitted.

Bruce breathed a sigh of relief. "If I'd have known how to get you back to normal I wouldn't have let Jason become Robin," Bruce said, hoping Dick could hear his sincerity.

Dick flopped back onto his bed. "Thanks for that," he mumbled, feeling slightly better.

Bruce nodded and stood. "You better get some sleep," he said, turning off the room's light on his way out of the room.

—

After another long and tedious day of being stuck in the manor Dick once again found himself perched on a chair in the Batcave manning the comms.

The first few hours had been filled with boring chatter. Discussing the patrol routes, splitting up, and giving hourly updates.

Dick was thoroughly bored, so he decided to do a few training exercises and run through the cave's obstacle course. That, of course, was something Bruce had expressly forbidden him to do while they were still trying to figure out the whole being consumed by an evil sorcerer's magic thing, but Bruce wasn't there, and Dick could always erase the cave's security tapes if need be.

After training for a solid 2 hours or so Dick sat down by the computer for a water break. He guzzled most of a water bottle before something caught his eye.

A red light labeled 'Batman' was blinking. Dick stared at it for a moment before realizing that it must be the distress signal. A few seconds later another light started to blink, this one labeled 'Robin'.

Dick shot out of his seat, grabbing his domino mask and hopping onto one of the motorcycles before speeding out of the cave.

—

Dick slowed as he pulled up to the dilapidated building that marked the coordinates from both Bruce and Tim's emergency tracking devices.

Using the shadows as cover, Dick hid the bike and snuck into the building.

The entire building was strangely empty, and something about it just didn't sit right with Dick.

A small crash from behind him immediately drew Dick's attention, and before he could even register who was behind him he'd drawn his escrima sticks and swung them around in a sweeping arch.

"Hey," Jason yelped, jumping back from the swing.

"Hood?" Dick hissed. "What're you doing here?" He asked.

"About that," Jason said with an awkward chuckle. "I may or may not have hacked into the Batcave's emergency frequency... for no particular reason."

Dick rolled his eyes and continued through the building with Jason on his heels.

When the got to what seemed to be the center of the old building they found Bruce and Tim knocked out and tied securely in the middle of the room.

Jason and Dick immediately got to work untying the two vigilantes.

"Do you hear that," Jason said after a moment, looking around the room.

Dick was still for a moment, listening for whatever Jason was supposedly hearing. "Bomb," he said upon finally hearing the ticking noise.

Jason and Dick shared a panicked look before they were both rushing out of the building, dragging Bruce and Tim with them.

The exit was in sight when the bomb went off, sending a shockwave and a blast of scalding air through the hallway that sent the four vigilantes flying to the floor.

The building shook, beams and rubble raining down. "No!" Dick yelled as a beam fell towards Bruce. He raised his hand, blue light shooting forward and holding the rubble in the air.

Jason stepped back in shock. "Dick?" He muttered, staring at the blue light that encompassed his brother.

Dick bit back his pained shout. "Get Bruce!" He yelled instead, his eyesight starting to blur.

Jason rushed forward and grabbed Bruce, pulling him out of harm's way.

Dick immediately let the beam fall, turning and stumbling towards where Tim was lying on the ground. He scooped the younger up and shambled toward the exit, fighting with each passing second to stay awake.

Jason was holding the exit door open, shouting and beckoning for Dick to hurry, but his legs felt like they were moving through putty.

Dick panted heavily, stumbling and nearly dropping Tim when some rubble struck him on his back. He could feel his grip on the younger slipping.

Just as Tim was about to slip from Dick's arms Jason was there. He tossed Tim over one shoulder and wrapped an arm around Dick's waist, helping him toward the exit.

Dick's vision darkened steadily, eventually giving way to pure black as his body went limp.

—

Bruce awoke to the sound of someone calling his name. He shifted slightly, feeling that he was most definitely still in his Batman suit... so who would know his name? His eyes flickered open, his body not responding nearly as well as he'd like it to.

"Please... Bruce," Jason called, his voice close to pleading.

Bruce sat up slowly, seeing Red Hood kneeling next to him. "Wha... Who? Who are you?" He mumbled.

Jason stared at Bruce for a moment before pulling off his helmet.

Bruce sat in stunned silence. "Jay?" He finally choked out.

Jason nodded.

Bruce's thoughts swirled. His son was alive... he was also a murderer that he'd been trying to track down for months... but alive nonetheless.

"Bruce," Jason said desperately. "He won't wake up."

That's when Bruce noticed Dick laying completely still on the ground, his chest barely moving with each shallow breath.

Bruce sat up quickly and knelt at his son's side.

Glowing blue veins had spread over Dick's cheeks, and his whole body seemed to have a slight glow to it.

Bruce glanced at Jason. "He used the magic didn't he," he said, a note of panic in his voice.

Jason gulped. "If by magic you mean the blue glowing light he used to stop a beam from falling on you... then yes," he said.

Bruce cursed under his breath. "This is what we were trying to avoid in the first place," he mumbled, checking for a pulse and shaking Dick's shoulder just to see if he would respond. "I need to get him to the watchtower. Jason, would you please bring Tim back to the cave and make sure he gets taken care of?"

Jason froze for a moment. Bruce actually said please? "Y-ya," he said quietly, hoisting Tim up onto his shoulder and making his way towards his motorcycle.

Bruce looked back down at his eldest with a grimace before scooping him up in his arms and making his way towards the nearest zeta tube.