No Nuance November

Bleeding Out

 Something Bruce had instilled in him from an early age is when things become overwhelming you focus on the facts. The details will come back in time but the main facts of the given situation need to stay with you, always.

You have a problem that needs to be solved?

Step one: What were the events that led you to your current situation? Just the facts.

Well Dick would say the first event that led to the predicament at hand was he was in Gotham. The next thing would be daring to enter a convenience store near the Narrows, not even in the Narrows but a few blocks away. Also on him. He should know better than to go into convenience stores in Gotham near the Narrows.

Step two: What is the most immediate thing that needs solving? Problems are often complex and require multiple solutions in order to achieve a resolution, try to prioritize them from most urgent to least urgent.

He would say the most urgent issue is the barrel of the gun he is looking down. It's not the first time, unfortunately. The almost equally urgent matter is that Damian is right behind him and is most definitely in the line of fire if he gets shot.

Step three: Solve the most immediate problem and go down your list. Keep your priorities straight. Plan according and take your time to avoid dumb mistakes.

That last bit may cause a few problems.

It sucks. The morning had started off so great. He was gonna have lunch with Damian and then they were supposed to meet up with the others (an assortment of sorts, it was put in the group chat but he wasn't sure who all would come) for what was supposed to be a night off and maybe a game of rooftop tag.

The weather had been awesome, the temperature was comfortable enough that you could wear a sweater if you wanted to or not, the sun was out, it wasn't raining or cloudy or windy. He naively thought that today would be great.

Ironically the only thought he could conjure while looking at the death machine was that if he was shot there was no way he could hang out with everyone this evening. It's odd what comes to mind when you're staring death in the face. He'd thought that he would have a more noble thought, or maybe he'd be trying to figure out how to get Damian at least out of the situation.

It was just the two of them and he knew Damian could take care of himself but... Damian was his brother. His little brother.

Dick tried to take stock of the situation as best as he could.

Step one: They entered the convenience store and neither of them had time to not be out in the open. Three guys entered wearing cheap Halloween masks and fired three consecutive rounds in the ceiling before telling everyone to get on their knees. Damian was directly behind him and Dick suspected had a knife in hand but couldn't do anything yet.

Step two: The eighteen year old in front of him. His hands are shaking, he's never shot anyone before and doesn't want to be here. Dick needs to not be so close, let alone in his direct line of fire. He is very aware that his body is soft where a bullet is not.

Step three: The kid doesn't want to do this. Maintain eye contact. He'll have a harder time doing anything if he's being watched. Also figure out how to push Damian behind any one of the shelves, put some distance between him and the gun. Somehow also protect the twenty or so other bystanders stuck in this store.

Dick tries to keep eye contact, this kid has green eyes, the fear is the brightest thing about them.

His eyes keep flickering between Dick and Damian. He jumps at every sound his buddies make as they have the clerk open the register for the money. Flinching with a gun is dangerous. He doesn't want this kid to accidentally kill someone, and he certainly doesn't want to be the one this kid accidentally kills.