The Greatest Sacrifice

Part 6 - Pain than Justice

The team had for the most part recovered from the shock of encountering the Joker. They hadn't received any missions, and they spent as much time as they could with their baby brother.

Dick was recovering, slowly but surely. His stab wounds were now mostly painless and the burn on his thigh was healing too. The bullet wound in his stomach was recuperating very well, especially when the fact that he was shot at such close range was taken into account.

His knee ached at times, but given how badly it had been broken, that was to be expected. The infected cuts on his chest stung especially hard at random moments, but Leslie had said that they would be fine in a few more days. The broken ribs, though, made moving without gasping almost impossible. Dick was used to it by now.

His main problem was the fact that he wasn't allowed to get out of bed. The team had learned how hard it was to keep a fidgety acrobat in bed.
Superboy had caught the boy trying to sneak out of the infirmary about four times, each time scooping the boy into his arms, careful of the leg, and plopping him back on the bed.

Many members of the Justice League had dropped by to see Robin. Wonder Woman had turned up with Aquaman and the Green Lanterns in tow. Superman and Green Arrow had came by the next day. The team had seen for the first time Robin's relationships with his 'aunts and uncles'.

Dick was also plagued by new nightmares. Since the infirmary doors were soundproof, it had taken them a while to discover this fact. But after two days, the team had noticed the dark circles under the boy's blue eyes and that same night, Superboy's super hearing had caught the extremely faint sound of screaming. He had alerted the others (Wally, Kaldur, and Artemis had started spending nights at the cave too) and they had all rushed to the infirmary to see Dick writhing on his bed, shrieking.

The nightmares had decreased somewhat but the team still held Robin many a night until the Boy Wonder stopped shaking and crying and fell back asleep. Seeing their strong hacker break down and cry in front of them for hours into the night reopened the fresh scars on each of the teen's hearts.

Batman checked in as often as he could on his baby bird. Actually, Bruce Wayne checked in as often as he could: now that the whole team knew his secret identity, he tended to come to the cave in suits and dress pants.

He was keeping close tabs on the Joker, promising to tell the team when he pinpointed the clown's location. Every part of him was aching to go after the clown himself, but he restrained himself.

Now, Batman, not Bruce, was in the infirmary, his heart aching as he woke Dick from yet another nightmare.

"Dick," he whispered, shaking the sleeping boy's shoulder. "Dick, son, wake up, it's not real-"

'Endless maniacal laughter, the sound of metal hitting flesh, screams, blood, and pain, so much pain-'

Dick gave a gasp as he opened his eyes.

It took him a minute to realise that it he was in the mountain's infirmary and that Bruce's gloved hand was pressing against his heaving chest.

"You good?" Bruce asked gently, pulling his cowl down.

Dick managed a nod, wiping his tears away with the back of his hand. He leaned back into his pillows, swallowing his sobs.

"W-when did you g-get here?" he greeted, giving a watery smile.

Bruce pursed his lips, still obviously concerned, but he saw Dick's pointed look and sighed.

"About twenty minutes ago," he said. "I came to check in."

"You found him." It was a statement, not a question.

Bruce inwardly chuckled at his ward's ability to read him so easily but quickly sobered due to the topic of their upcoming conversation.