The Labyrinth

Chapter 9: Testing? Testing? Is This Meta On?

Dicks face soured and he contemplated not answering, he decided that would be bad, but this wasn't going to be a short response. "I-if I hadn't gotten hurt no one would think B-Bruce abused me. If no one thought Bruce abused me n-no one would have taken me away from him. If social services didn't take me away from him I never would have been fostered by your uncle. If I had never been fostered by your uncle we never would have met." Dick took a breath, glad the speedster didn't take the moment to cut in. "And I'm really glad I met you."

Wally had no idea what to say to that, what could he say to that?

"You're okay though?" Artemis said after an ample amount of silence. "The head scientist isn't exactly the best guy."

Dick jerked from sleep, having nodded off in the silence. It took him a moment to register her question and he nodded. "He isn't, he was..." fear gripped his knees and voice tighter, "he was scary."

"Did you get his name?" She asked, "I asked once and he just laughed at me... the weirdo."

Again Dick nodded, but his breathing hitched as he spoke. "He's... D-Dr. Joe Kurr, he said I could call him Joker."

"I'm pretty sure he's insane." Artemis huffed all matter of factly, "No one does any of this without having at least a few screws loose."

The ten year old nodded, deciding if he was going to stay awake he was going to at least enjoy the subject. "T-there was a-a guard though, he was nice... ish... his name is Mr. Wilson."

"Nice?" Wally asked, the alarm clear in his voice but Dick couldn't pint point as to why it was there. "What type of nice?"

"He... well he did hurt me once... but I was freaking out. He held me, he was warm." Dick said slowly, until he whispered, "I cried on his shoulder while he hugged me."

"I wouldn't count on him to be nice later." Artemis said sharply, Wally hummed in agreement. "Guards here only do things to get paid, so whatever niceness he was showing I'm sure he got a bonus check for."

Dick scrunched his shoulders, hiding further in his feathers. They were right. He really shouldn't think he's safe with that man, he was a guard, working for the insane man. Mr. Wilson has no obligations to Dick, no guarantee he'd be that nice again. But at the time he was just a frightened kid in need of help and Mr. Wilson delivered.

Artemis was right though, Mr. Wilson was probably there just to keep him calm enough to handle. That's wrong, that's very wrong.

But he just couldn't bring himself to care.

He couldn't deny that being held by that man for ten minuets (or however long it was) was the best thing to ever happen to him in the past few days. If the event were to happen again, if he was given the option of hugging Mr. Wilson, he would definitely do it all over again just to hug that man.

But first, Dick was tired and worn out by the stressful event. He fell asleep almost instantly, reminiscing a time where he cuddled with Bruce after a nightmare. His big warm arms were safe, a physical barrier against the bad and a reminder there was good left in the world.

Dick was cold.

-0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0-

Dr. Joe Kurr blasted through the hallways, calling his security detail on his communicator as the little box in his other hand flashed red. It was Tim's panic button, the one he was told never ever to push unless it was an absolute emergency.

That kid never did anything without a purpose, one of the things Dr. Kurr liked about him, so he had no doubt something had happened. But why did it have to be in the middle of something important?

That Grayson kid was getting unruly, Dr. Kurt was ready to knock him out anyway to finish the exam. But the point still stood, he needed the kid awake for his reactions, his eyes especially he needed to figure out.

He had an idea as to how they changed, but he couldn't pinpoint it physically so it would have to be discussed to be found. And yes, the little bird was right terrified of him, he honestly didn't mean to be, he needed cooperation not scared little Meta boy. The only bright side is that BatBruce was probably tearing himself up inside, but it annoyed him that he hadn't been able to get what he wanted. Kids got scared too easily, that's why he had started out using adults. But if kids yielded the best results, he would just have to deal with their annoying fear.

That's why he had Wilson, but all this niceness was temporary. Dr. Kurr didn't give a rats arse about the kids mental states, he just needed what was inside of them.

Dr. Kurr has big plans, but for those plans he needed one little genius boy. The scientist honestly didn't know what he'd do without the kid, so he better still be in his room.

He hated how it took thirty minutes to get to Tim, but for his safety Dr. Kurr had to keep him away from the other Metas. He couldn't risk his little genius, that's why the security over there was top notch. Tim had designed it himself.

Not that the kid knew...

The ride in the car was stressful, the little blinking box was staring at him, mocking him because there was a catastrophe and he didn't know how heavy the damage was.

Dr. Kurr was out of the car before it even stopped, flashing his ID before running to the elevator. Elevators were still working, that was good. His hands tapped against the rails as he was sped downwards, the doors opening with a pleasant 'ding' he decided he would get rid of afterwards.

He ran down the hall, already some of his men were in the little Metas' room. He took one second to look at the door, it wasn't busted open so there was no forceful entry, from both an assailant or his men.

"Out of my way!" Dr. Kurr shoved two men aside, stepping into the messy room bathed in red.

It was normally messy, and he decided to have a word with Tim about that. But his fists clenched when he saw the room bare of life, his eyes zeroed in on the open vent. It was a small vent, it could probably fit Tim though, he was a tiny kid.

"Sir?"

"What?" Dr. Kurr barked, twisting around to face the utterly useless guard who couldn't even keep a five year old kid in a room.

The guard only pointed, directing the scientist's attention to under the desk the boy so diligently worked at. Dr. Kurr stomped forward and tossed the rolly chair away, finding the curled up form of Timothy Drake.

He was asleep.

Dr. Kurr lifted a hand to his face, pinching the bridge of his nose and let out a calming deep breath. Tim was fine, he was still in the room and whoever broke in probably ran off when Tim hit his panic button. Tim was fine, he was still there, still in the room.

But why, in heaven's name, was he asleep.

Dr. Kurr was so done with kids right now.

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