Nightmares: The Bat Brothers

Night 4: Night of the Fight

It was almost midnight in Berlin, 6 hours ahead of Gotham. No one slept on the way there. Repeatedly, Jason counted bullets, Tim flexed his hands, and Dick tried to teach Damian breathing exercises. Damian did not comply.

When they touched down, they landed behind an old munitions factory. Although they had every reason to be afraid, they were not. Each boy had been trained before. They had been in worse situations, right? That's what they told themselves.

A quick search through shows that the building was wired. They had about an hour.

"I'll disassemble it." Tim said, putting a hand on Jason's shoulder. He was not about to die in an explosion... again.

Dick was following Damian. He watched as his youngest brother stalked in behind the flashlight beam. Jason was pressed up against a wall, checking his bullet clips on his belt.

The oldest and younger brothers were working as a team, scouting out the area. Damian rubbed his foot on the floorboards and felt the toe of his boot catch. He held up his hand and Dick stopped and looked down. It was a trapdoor.

He looked up at Damian and pressed the side of his ear to activate his communication link.

"Red Robin."

"Yeah?" Tim asked.

"We found an opening."

"Open it already!" Damian hissed, kneeling down to grab the handle.

"Stop." Tim's voice warned. "It's probably wired. I'm almost done."

There was silence and then little clicking sounds before one loud tone set off.

"What was that?" Dick asked, calmly.

"Bomb defused." Tim reported.

A struggle echoed from across the factory. Someone knew that the bomb was just stopped. Several gunshots went off. Damian nodded at Dick, who took off sprinting before jumping up and swinging from pipes in the rafters, taking a good vantage point.

It had become evident over Damian's communication link that there was definitely trouble. He could practically hear his brothers' pulses as they fought- but it wasn't exhaustion or physical exertion- it was fear.

Damian broke the lock and threw open the heavy, decaying door. He found something- someone.

"Father?" He breathed. Bruce was in a catatonic state, sweating with his cowl off and a sharp slice across his cheek. He wasn't dead. He was dreaming.

The sounds came louder now. Tim and Dick were fighting off masked figures, but that wasn't the problem. The problem was that laugh. That loud, loud laugh and then Jason was gone- he took off, like, was gone gone. 

Damian knew not to touch his father in his nightmare state. A needle mark in his neck made fear toxin obvious but that laugh made the Joker's apparent.

"Batman!" Damian shouted. "Batman, wake up!"

Nothing.

"Father!"

Nothing. Damian was exasperated. He punched the rotting floor and bit his lower lip. He took a deep breath.

"Dad."

Damian jumped to his feet and kicked the metal drum of a full water heater, making a thud. He turned around when he heard another, similar sound, but he hadn't kicked anything. Up the concrete steps was his father, alert but disoriented.

"Damian." He said, quietly. His cover was blown and it wasn't safe for the boys, either.

Damian rushed to his father's side. "What do you need?"

"Did you go to bed on time?" He laughed, lightly, air escaping from a collapsed lung. He coughed.

"Never." Damian smiled, helping his father up. Shit. He was worse for wear.

"Where are your brothers?"

"Doesn't matter. They're fine. Let's get back to the drone. I'll help you."

Damian and his father made their way, slowly, across the factory floor. They neared the entrance and Bruce sat down, back against the wall of the factory doors to catch his breath and wipe up the gelling blood below his eye. 

Outside, Dick and Jason were searching for Jason.

"Red Hood!" Tim shouted over the comm link in his ear. "Report, please."

"Report NOW!" Dick shouted. He looked at Tim who whipped around to see Damian standing in the threshold.

"I found Batman."

"Well find Red Hood." Dick said, trying to scroll through a screen in a contact lens behind his mask. He looked around the room and then checked the mapping feature, turning a green coordinate system on until he found Jason's body tucked behind a silo. Dick took off running. Jay was on the second level and luckily, acrobatics were his thing. 

Back on the main floor, Tim and Damian were attempting to drag their father to the drone and run a full body scan. Tim left Damian to finish the job but only after putting a firm hand on Damian's shoulder.

"Don't. Let. Dad. Die." He ruffled Damian's hair and sprinted off.

The youngest Wayne practically dropped his father on the aisle of the drone and jumped over to grab a first aide kit. They needed to allow for air to come out of the chest and let the lung reinflate. Damian rummaged through the kit, which wasn't easy because it was the size of a suitcase, but finally he found the needle.

He bit off the top and spit the hard plastic cover, exposing the needle. Right under the Bat symbol there should be an opening that covers the center of the chest and heart. It was removable in case CPR was needed but Damian didn't know how to release it.

"STUPID CHESTPLATE!" He shouted, angrily, prying at it with a knife until it popped off. He looked at his father's chest and drew the needle above his head and right into the center of his father's chest with all of his barely-pubescent strength.

"Oxygen." Dick said, dragging in Jason, whose Hood was removed and had a massive gash and needle mark on his neck. "Dad needs oxygen but so does Red Hood."

"Who gets it?" Damian asked, panicked. "Who gets the oxygen, Nightwing?!"

Damian was forced to choose between his father and his older brother. Jason had a lipstick smear across his lips. Joker. A needle mark on his neck. Scarecrow.

"Where's my least favorite?!" Damian demanded.

Dick got down on one knee to lay Jason down. He spoke calmly.

"Robin, listen. You give compressions to Jay. Dad gets the oxygen tank. I'm getting Tim."

"No." Damian said, getting up and shaking his head. "I'm getting him."

"Robin! That was an order!" Dick shouted at his youngest brother's back.

"Yeah? Well that's my fucking brother."

"Mine too!" Dick shouted, trying to get a mask on Bruce. "I told you I'M going. I can't have you die."

"Well fuck you, Nightwing. If anyone gets to slap Red Robin first it's ME." He pointed to himself with his thumb and took off. He muttered to himself. "I fucking can't STAND Tim."

Damian found Tim. He also found the Justice League. Clark, Superman, was leading Tim out.

"Get out of here. We've got this."

Damian felt relief to see Tim. "You narc! You called the Justice League!"

"Nope." Clark said, handing Tim over. "Pennyworth did. Go home, kids. Your Dad'll be okay."

"Can you pilot?" Damian asked.

Tim nodded.

"Get us out of here."

And midnight struck in Berlin.