Nightingale (Final book in the Revenge on the Boy Wonder Trilogy)

Bad news- Chapter 6

-Dick's POV-

A little over a week after The Great Escape

"Well?" I asked as the doctor finished his inspection of Lexi. Artemis, Batman, M'gann, Connor, and Martian Manhunter were in the room with me, and Lexi's parents and family were about to board a flight to see their daughter.

"Do you want the good news or the bad?"

"The good." I sighed.

"Alright, well... the good news is that she's alive, and it seems like she's going to stay that way. For now anyways." I nodded at this.

"And the bad news?"

"She's not showing any signs of waking up. Brain activity is almost undetectable, even with our strongest monitors and her heartbeat hasn't accelerated." 

I gulped. Batman put his hands on both my shoulders. "So there's nothing that you can do?" he asked.

"I assure you that we're doing everything in our power to rouse her, but nothing we have tried is working. It's quite baffling, because usually the patient will show signs of waking once the brain has completed its healing process. Her brain damage was extremely minimal, as it seems as though she is healed. We don't know why she isn't waking up." he sighed. "It's almost as though her subconscious mind is trapped."

"Maybe I can help." M'gann piped.

"How so?" the doctor asked.

"Well... you said that her mind is trapped. Maybe I could... bring her out. You know, give her a gentle push in the right direction."

"It could work. There really aren't any other options." The doctor shrugged.

"Will it hurt her?" I asked.

"It shouldn't. She knows me, so her mind shouldn't consider me a threat. I think that this could work."

"Well, I guess it couldn't hurt." I said, turning and kneeling down next to Lexi's bed. Her eyes were clamped shut, just like they had been since she had first arrived here. "Do it." A few minutes later, M'gann was sat next to Lexi's bed. "Be careful, okay?"

"Don't worry Dick. I'm going to try and bring her back."

-M'gann's POV-

I sat down and put placed my hands on Lexi's head. "No loud noises, please. I need to concentrate." Everyone nodded and I got to work, feeling my eyes glow green.

Trying to take myself into her mind, I focused on her. Her heartbeat, her every breath. Suddenly, I was in a completely white room, with a wooden hatch on the floor. The temperature was quite cold, but being a Martian, it didn't bother me much. I knew that I was inside her mind. Walking over to the hatch, I bent down and tried with all my might to open it. The door didn't budge. Deciding that I would just phase through it, I began to lower myself down but found that I couldn't. So, using my telekinesis, I began to force the hatch open. That's when things started to go wrong.

The room went from completely white to totally black, and a creature appeared in front of me. At first, I didn't recognize it for what it was, but it eventually became apparent that it was a bear. The bear walked towards me, seemingly calm despite the fact that it's coat was on fire. No, no; the bears fur was not on fire, it was fire. I felt my body go weak as I inspected the way the flames blazed on top of a large skeleton. The animal was nothing but fire and bone.

It walked slowly towards me and growled, answering my question on whether it was hostile or not. It's a well known fact that Martians and fire really don't mix, so when the animal charged me, I screamed. The bear jumped at me and I flew up as high as the room allowed, trying to get away from it. Then something hideous and dark flew out of the ground and attacked me. It touched my skin and began shoving me against the wall, almost trying to force me out. I didn't argue, throwing myself out of Lexi's mind as quickly as I could, falling out of the chair that I was in at the impact. 

"M'gann, are you alright?" Connor asked, rushing towards me.

"What the hell went on while you were in there?! Her heartbeat spiked so high that we thought she was having a heart attack!" Dick demanded.

"I don't know." I panted. "It was... It was like nothing I've never experienced before. I couldn't even sense her presence in there."

"M'gann, tell me what happened." Martian Manhunter told her.

"She... well I don't think it was Lexi... but something attacked me. It was terrifying, almost like a nightmare."

"Perhaps I should go." Manhunter suggested.

"No, don't!! I got away in time, but I think that whatever that was, actually wanted to hurt me."

"Show us what you have seen."  I nodded, linking us all mentally and giving them a play by play of everything that had gone down.

"What on Earth was that?" Connor said afterwards.

"No idea. But it wasn't a fun experience, trust me."

"So I guess the question is... what do we do now?" Batman said, turning to the doctor.

"I don't know what went on inside her mind, but from my observations, at this rate she'll die before she wakes up. We don't know what she's been eating and taking in to sustain herself, but we don't want to put her into shock by force feeding her anything. She'll starve or dehydrate before she even shows signs of waking up." The doctor told us, not sugar coating anything. "I'm sorry."

"Right, thank you doctor." Batman said. Dick went back to Lexi's bed, intertwining their fingers.

-Dick's POV-

M'gann, Martian Manhunter, and Connor filed out of the room, leaving Bruce and I alone.

"How you holding up, Dick?" He asked, putting a hand on my shoulder.

"I'm doing okay." I said, knowing that he could see straight through my lie.

He notched an eyebrow. "Listen, I know this is hard... I'm sorry. I can only imagine what you're going through."

"This shouldn't  have happened. It's all my fault you know. She wanted to stay with me that night. But convinced her to go visit her parents. If she hadn't left my house, she wouldn't have gone outside, and then she wouldn't have been captured."

"Dick, this isn't your fault. This is Vandal Savages fault. Do you understand?  It's not your fault that he commits crimes, and it isn't you fault that he decided to take it out on Lexi." I just shrugged, pressing Lexi's hand to my lips.

"Don't leave me." I whispered.

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okay... so... I think this chapter is meh. COMMENT AND VOTE!