This was hell. Seeing Dick so terrified with a knife the size of his head against his throat and blood dribbling down the side of his face. He was sweaty and tearful, his skin pale from fear. It was so horrible to see. Dick usually liked to joke around when put in this situation yet he was certainly not in the mood to laugh. He was staring at them, hoping they would save him but that was rather hard to do with a blade ready to slice through his throat faster than a hot knife through butter. So he was staring at them and they were staring right back trying to figure out how to get him out of the criminal's hold. Guns were too risky. Slade would see it before it could be fired and that was asking for an awkward conversation with the ginger squad that were no doubt subtweeting about the missing acrobat. If only they knew. Maybe they should've given the gingers a heads up. "Well, it appears your little rescue mission hasn't gone to plan," Slade announced. He looked disgustingly smug. He was proud of himself for getting the upper hand. He had four well-trained heroes frozen in place. They could make a move if they wanted to but they'd also have to want a dead body on their hands. "He's a quick learner. It's a shame he got so cocky." 

"Shut up," Red Hood snapped. 

"Or what?" They didn't rise to that. They needed a distraction. Something to get that knife away for just a moment so they could run in and scoop the poor kid up then get him home. He needed to be home. But what could they do to distract him? Their moves were being watched with an eagle eye and signs of movement wouldn't do anything to help the situation. 

The universe must've felt bad for all the things they did to the acrobat as a flash of red followed by a gush of wind went past the Bats and ploughed into Slade before he could do anything about it. The blur threw the knife across the room and snatched Dick away from the man with a playful taunt of "Yoink!" They knew that voice. They knew that blur. Wally. Well, Flash now but Wally West was right there. But if he was here, how did he know they were here?

"You four are in so much trouble!" Ah. Barbara. They turned to find a very pissed off Batgirl with an even more pissed off Starfire by her side. The pair stared daggers at the family and they couldn't blame them. At least a memo would've done the job considering Dick had been stuck as a child for quite some time and any sane person when seeing their friend was missing wouldn't come to a de-aged conclusion. They barged their way into the room and Starfire sent a Starbolt Slade's way to keep him on the floor. Yet before they could go off at the group, their attention fell on the injured boy in Flash's arms. Dick was trembling and looked like he was barely taking in what just happened. He stared at Flash who was trying to reassure him but he didn't look like he was hearing any of it. There was some recognition in his eyes as the older spoke so he must be calming down a little. "What happened?" Starfire asked.

"I'll explain once we're out. I need to check that head wound," Batman answered. He went over to Flash who handed the boy over, knowing he needed his dad right now. Dick latched onto the hero and sniffled as he hid his face in his chest. "It's alright chum. We'll get you home." He nodded but didn't say anything. There's a groan from Slade but Starfire silenced him once again. She didn't want him to even think about getting up. Red Robin and Batgirl tied him up so he didn't follow them but they doubted he'd try. Not with a meta, a super-powered alien and five bats in the room. He wasn't that stupid. "I can't believe none of you told us," Batgirl barked. "We deserve to know where he is."

"Yeah, you Bats - no offence Babs - need to work on communication," Flash grumbled.

"Dad, my head hurts," Dick whined. That seemed to stop the lecture in its tracks. It didn't take a genius to guess all the ways that could mean something sinister and standing around would only worsen things. They needed to get him seen to. 

"Flash, Red Hood and Starfire, clear the way. Batgirl, Red Robin and Robin cover our backs. I don't want to fight with him in this condition," Batman announced. The heroes nodded and they began their journey back to the jets. 

Most of the base's defences had been taken out upon the arrival of the second team, but there were still a lingering handful of guards ready to get a promotion. They were easily defeated at the hands of the heroes and made no attempt to chase after them as they ran into the woods. Dick had let out little whimpers and whines here and there thanks to being jostled from the running but didn't attempt to make conversation. They didn't blame him. He was only small and he had no memory of surviving much worse situations. This was probably one of the most intense things to happen to him at this age. They made it to the jets, the family seeing the gingers had taken one of their smaller ones but Batman wasn't about to scold them. They'd helped him save his son and in a rare moment, he was going to overlook the theft. "We'll hang back to make sure we're not followed," Batgirl told him. "Give us an update on him." 

"I'll make sure of it," Red Robin assured her. She nodded her thanks and went to her jet although her counterparts didn't look very happy with once again being separated from their acrobat. 

"Bye Dickie. I'll fetch you chocolate milk if you're good for B," Flash said. 

"Choccy milk?" Dick replied, his voice soft and crackly. He sounded adorable and they couldn't help but smile when the only thing that made his eyes light up was the mention of chocolate milk. Batman was also happy to find he wasn't slurring his words and hoped that meant there was nothing wrong in his brain.

"Mhm. You gotta be good though. If he tells you to take medicine you gotta take it." 

"Okay Flash. I will." 

"That's my favourite Robin. We'll meet you there," he added, joining Batgirl on the jet. Starfire gave the family one last glare before following him. 

"Safe to say we're in the shit," Red Hood stated. Batman nodded and carried the boy onto the jet. 

In the back of the jet, there was a small makeshift medical bay that included all the things you needed to briefly fight off death and a basic bed. It wasn't a nice bed since it was a medical cot but it would do for the time being. He put his son down much to the younger's dismay and knelt in front of him to see his eyes. They looked to be normal all be it watery and irritated from crying. Dick whimpered at the lack of hugging and reached out to get back in his arms. "Just wait chum," Batman told him. "Follow my finger with your eyes for me. Don't move your head." He took his finger and moved it left to right then right to left then up and down and vice versa. Dick followed it closely, sniffling and frowning. The older hummed and got a small flashlight from the first aid kit then quickly flashed it in the boy's eyes. Seeing as they reacted normally, he could make the educated guess there wasn't something obviously wrong inside his head. However, there was something wrong with the outside of his head as blood was still dripping down his face. "Looks like you'll need stitches. Best get you on an IV drip to-"

"No, no! I don't wanna!" Dick cried, shaking his head. Needles. He forgot he was scared of needles. 

"You've never had a problem before," Red Robin argued.

"No, he has. He got used to them when he was in his teens," the older corrected. 

"Please no needles." He sighed because he knew it was inevitable that needles would be involved. Even if an IV wasn't needed, he'd still need something in the form of painkillers and/or booster shots because they had no idea if he was getting tetanus from that bat. 

"It'll be painful to fix your head without something," he insisted. 

"I know very little about children Father but they don't tend to listen to reasoning," Robin stated. 

"Then what do you suggest?" Batman snapped. The younger rolled his eyes and walked over, hopping onto the bed and pulling Dick into his lap. He wrapped his arms around him and pet his hair which successfully calmed the boy down enough to stop crying. He nodded for Batman to continue with what he'd planned and looked to his brothers. Red Robin hummed and went to the control panel to start their journey home and Red Hood got to work distracting his youngest brother. "Hey, Dick, who's your favourite hero?" he asked. 

"Can't have just one."

"Then give me your top five." Taking the bait, the acrobat began to go through his top five heroes. As he did, Batman injected him with something to numb the area then began stitching up the cut. Dick didn't notice until it was over. "Good job Goldie."

"Try to stay awake until Alfred gives you the go to. Think you can do that for me?" Batman asked. 

"I think so. Can I sit with you for the rest of the ride?" he asked Robin of all people. None of them would admit that they felt a little jealous when out of all the people there, Dick had gravitated to the demon spawn but they weren't about to tell him no. Neither was Robin who just nodded in surprise. "I missed you 'n I'm glad you're okay."

"The feeling is mutual Grayson."

AYO GINGER SQUAD GONNA BE FERAL