Dick Grayson one shots

Puppet without strings

Bruce pushed Tim and Damian behind him, stepping forward to face his eldest alone.

Dick looked at Bruce, his terror evident even through his mask. "B..." his voice cracked. "S-stop me... please," he pled through his tears.

Bruce leapt forward, trying for a blow to the solar plexus, something to knock Dick out quickly.

Dick however, moved faster, bracing Damian's Katana as Bruce surged forward, and stabbing it into his mentor's side.

"No!!!" Dick screamed, stumbling back, suddenly noticing that there was blood speckling his shaking hands.

His captor seemed to enjoy Dick's mental anguish as she let him stare at his hands for a moment too long.

A bullet was what ended the nightmare, fired by Jason, hitting the woman in the side.

Dick felt a final desperate command forced into his mind before the connection was severed and the woman disappeared. He fell to his knees, shaking. He was free.

The members of the bat family swarmed Bruce, Damian calling back to the cave, Jason applying a pressure wrap to Bruce's side, stabilizing the blade still sticking out of him. Tim typed in the command on his holo glove to summon the bat jet.

Dick himself stared at his bloodied hands, his breathing short and shallow as what he'd just done sunk in.

Once Bruce had been sent back to the cave with Damian, Jason and Tim turned to Dick, trying to comfort him.

Dick shied away from his brothers as they encircled him, fearing some sort of residual control.

Jason and Tim seemed to be fine, not scared of him at least, one small relief that persuaded Dick not to flinch away from the strong arms he was wrapped in as they tried their best to calm him down.

They hugged him like they'd never let him go.

Tears flowed freely down Dick's cheeks, sobs shaking his body as he felt the one final command take control of his mind and body. He slipped one of Jason's guns from its holster, pressing it to his own ribs, subconsciously aligning it with a weak spot in his kevlar.

And then he pulled the trigger.

His brothers scattered when the heard the shot go off.

Dick fell to the ground, finally free of the last command, his blood spilling out onto the roof. He was barely aware of his siblings frantically moving above him, calling out things he couldn't quite decipher. He felt as if he should be trying harder to understand, but he couldn't quite bring himself to try and listen, or open his eyes for that matter. It all eventually faded to darkness anyway.

—

The first thing Dick was aware of was the beep of a heart monitor. He shifted slightly, testing the limits of whatever injury he'd incurred that had led him to waking up in the cave's med bay... and then he remembered. The horrific scenes from the last night's patrol flashing through his mind.

He slowly opened his eyes, squinting at the bright lights. There was something on both of his wrists, something that a quick glance confirmed to be shackles.

Panic instantly shot through him, and he pulled uselessly at the restraints. He didn't have anything to pick them with, and he suddenly felt the very real need to be freed. "B-Bruce?" He called weakly, surely the man hadn't left him in the Batcave by himself. That was like Alfred's number one rule... okay, maybe like number five rule... but still.

Dick called out for Bruce once again before the memory of the night before hit him and he quieted. He'd stabbed Bruce... had he killed the man?

Suddenly being shackled to the bed made a lot more sense. His family didn't trust him to not try and murder them again... or so it seemed.