It had been a few weeks since Dick had been brought to the manor, and most everyone had adopted the practice of not approaching him unless he approached them first.

He guessed it had been caused by his jumpiness. Lack of sleep will do that to you after all... not that you could tell he wasn't sleeping. One of the perks of being a talon.

That, however, was how Dick knew something was wrong the moment Alfred approached him in the library.

Dick had decided to settle down with a good book in one of the more peaceful areas of the manor while everyone else was doing their pre patrol routine. He found it got overwhelming quickly with his enhanced senses.

He was just now realizing how long he must have been in there, a quick check of the clock showing that it was long past midnight... everyone else was probably still on patrol.

Alfred was tense as he approached, a crease in his brow. "Master Dick, I know it's rather soon..." he began, "and I know you'd like more time to get on your feet before you take your hero mantle up again... but I can't reach anyone else... and our family is in danger."

Dick was frozen for a moment, contemplating the irony of being asked to try and save someone after all the lives he'd taken... "I... I can try," he eventually replied, his heart squeezing in his chest.

Alfred's relief was instant, and Dick realized with a start how much trust the man had put in him.

"Thank you sir," the butler said, his voice thick with what Dick refused to believe were tears.

Dick gave him a shaky smile and followed him down to the cave.

—

The court would often capture petty thieves, releasing them again for their talons to hunt down and capture like some sick game of fetch.

This is what Dick was thinking of as he tracked down his family.

He knew he didn't have an actual time limit, nor were there men in masks waiting to shove him into a cryogenic coffin if he took even just a second too long.

The knowledge alone, however, didn't stop his heart from racing, his eyes trying to pick apart every detail around him as fast as possible.

Even Talons had limits, and this one man rescue was already pushing him dangerously close to his... but he couldn't let his family down... couldn't let Bruce down... not again...

—

It had been more time consuming than hard to unearth the first in a long string of unintentional clues.

When followed, they led to an old meat processing factory.

The factory sagged in its lot, glass long since smashed out of any windows, and color washed away with years and years of rain.

Dick crouched on the building closest, his grip like iron on the stones of the building's roof.

His mind warred with itself as he tried to push away the memory of the last assignment that had brought him to this place. He sucked in deep breaths, using some of the calming techniques he'd been taught by Bruce all those years ago.

It seemed to work too... until he found himself inside the building.

"Master Dick, your heart rate has grown rather erratic, are you alright?" Alfred asked over his communication device.

"I see them," Dick replied, successfully sidestepping the question. "Injuries seem to be minimal. B is unconscious and bleeding from a gash on his head, and everyone else is securely tied. There are two armed men and a weird looking machine."

"I trust you'll be able to handle things?" Alfred asked.

"I've faced worse odds before," Dick replied.

"Do be careful sir," the butler added before going silent.

Dick took another look at the scene below him. It seemed too easy. Two men wouldn't be able to capture Batman and co on their own... there must be something to do with the machine... that or there were a bunch of other people hiding around there somewhere.

Dick shut his comms off with a sigh... he didn't want Alfred to have to listen in if something went wrong.

Anxious energy pulsed through his body as he crouched, rolling his shoulders and taking a breath before he jumped.

Dick landed on the first man, effectively taking him out, the second falling a moment later from a kick to the back of the head.

Too easy...

A walkie talkie buzzed on the first man's belt.

"93 report," crackled through.

Dick's breath caught. That wasn't good.

The other man's radio buzzed now, the same voice calling for a report.

Dick mumbled curses under his breath, doubling his pace as he picked the locks on Damian's wrists.

"Agent A would wash your mouth out with soap if he heard you talking like that," Damian tutted, the tension in his shoulders and the crease of his brow revealing how scared he really was.

Dick huffed a laugh, if only for the sake of the younger. "Go free B," he instructed, starting to work on the chains holding Tim.

Shuffling on the other side of the door drew Dick's attention... so that's where everyone else was.

None of his brothers would be able to hold their own in a fight, Dick could tell as much from the way they were holding themselves, not to mention the fact that Bruce himself was currently slung over Tim and Jason's shoulders.

Anxiety clawed at Dick's chest. He didn't want his brothers to see him fight like this... they were smart. They'd realize something wasn't lining up in his story.

"Get B to the Batmobile, I'll hold these guys off," He called, silencing his brother's protests with a look. "GO!"

Dick turned, hoping his brothers would listen. He tensed when the door opened, standing his ground as person after person rushed into the room, all of them holding weapons of some sort... all of them aiming at him.

He closed his eyes for a moment, taking a deep breath. And then he jumped into action.

—

Dick ducked another punch, launching off of someone's shoulders and flipping in the air, using a swipe of his leg to take out the man in front of him.

He'd taken down at least 30 by now, but more of them kept pouring into the building, one for each he took down and then some.

He had to wrap this up.

Dick scanned the room, making sure none of his siblings had stuck around before his fighting style shifted, becoming something much deadlier than before.

Foes fell like flies, Dick's eyes glowing slightly beneath his mask as he rained nonlethal blows down on them.

A streak of movement in the corner of Dick's eye caught his attention.

Damian.

'Great,' Dick thought to himself as he took down the last few men. 'Now I have to babysit the bloodthirsty one.'

Dick did one last flip, taking down the final guard and landing softly in a crouch.

The quiet clicking of keys caught Dick's attention, his enhanced hearing enabling him to pick the noise out from the groans of the thugs scattered around the room.

Damian was typing numbers into a small keypad.

"We need to go," Dick called out to the younger.

"I need to figure out what this is first," Damian retorted.

"Come on Demon," Jason called from the door he and Tim had taken Bruce out through.

A hiss of steam escaped from the strange machine Damian had been messing with, spindly metal cords shooting out, and snaking their way toward the unsuspecting Robin.

Dick was moving almost before he could think, placing himself in front of his brother as a human shield, metal cords wrapping around his limbs and dragging him back to the metal shell they'd came from, their sharp edges slicing into his skin.

Damian was frozen in fear as he watched his brother be dragged away, the white lenses of his domino mask blown wide.

Dick struggled in the cords' grasp, breath hitching when he felt a needle pressed into his back, a cry leaving his lips as a thick liquid was forced into his veins.

A gunshot echoed, and just like that, the cords went limp, the empty syringe attached to the end of one shattering as it fell to the ground.

Dick stumbled, falling to his knees... and then Damian was there, holding him as if his life depended on it, his shoulders trembling, heart beating out a staccato rhythm against the acrobat's chest.

Dick rested his chin on the boy's head, his breaths unsteady as his nerves lit up randomly with flares of pain.

"Let's go home," Jason said after collecting some pieces of the shattered syringe, his concern hidden by his helmet when he saw the way Dick's face tighten in pain.

Dick nodded, standing with Damian in his arms, not seeming to mind how the other was clinging to him.

After Dick and Damian were settled next to Bruce in the back seat of the Batmobile, Jason hopped into the driver's seat and sped off toward the cave, Dick fighting off waves of lightheadedness and pain to start taking care of Bruce's injuries.

—

Alfred was waiting when the Batmobile screeched to a halt, a gurney already prepared for Bruce, who, at this point, had had nearly all of his injuries addressed by first Tim and then Dick.

Dick followed behind his brothers, Damian by his side. He stumbled when a strange feeling overcame him, panic and dread filling his body. He tried to open his mouth, tried to get someone to help him, but his tongue didn't seem to want to cooperate.

He fell to his hands and knees, his body shaking and spasming uncontrollably as he collapsed the rest of the way to the floor.

Shouts filled the cave, blasting his enhanced hearing with their noise.

"He's having a seizure," someone called, their voice spiked with panic.

Dick had just enough time to wonder what he'd been injected with before everything went dark.