Bruce had his fair share of being unconscious at his enemy's mercy, he thought himself pretty good at keeping himself awake, but this time he felt zero control. He grunted and gasped, coughing up black tar. His wide eyes searched for something, anything really, but it was like his eyes couldn't focus and didn't register whatever was there.

He didn't know which way was up and barely felt the floor connect with his body, everything was numb and on fire at the same time.

He heard something, like through cotton, but then it seemed to bounce around in his head, taunting him.

"How interesting, 'Batman' just became a little more literal."

-0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0-

"Dick?" A voice whispered sharply, "Dick wake up, please wake up."

The acrobat groaned pitifully against the cold metal ground, he attempted to roll over but realized he was much too exhausted. He laid defeated on the ground, letting his numb body regain some type of consciousness.

That's when he remembered.

The gas. The shouting men in dark clothing. Wally unconscious. The truck, the bag over his head.

Bruce... in a cage.

Dick gasped as he bolted upright. "Bruce!"

He was disappointed when the voice that replied did not belong to his father. "Dick! Are you okay?"

The boy felt the adrenaline leave his frazzled body, sagging against some bars, looking down absentmindedly to find his hands were cuffed together. He looked over at the source of the familiar voice, eyes locking onto a familiar (concerned) redhead.

"Wally?" The acrobat was confused, then his face went slack. "Wally! I'm sorry, it wasn't me! I promise it wasn't me!"

"I know Dick, they wouldn't have taken you too if you had." Wally replied, sounding a bit tired himself. "I-"

"Grayson!" A man shouted suddenly, making the boy in question flinch. Wally promptly clamped his mouth shut and scooted back. Dick was confused, then realized that Wally might be preserving himself by not getting in trouble. The small acrobat struggled to get up, unable to quell the fear coursing through his body. Heavy booted feet sounded, getting closer and closer to the caged child. "You're up!"

Dick didn't have any time to contemplate what that meant when his cage door opened and he was dragged out. He yelped, the man had grabbed his arm and now had a heavy gloved hand around the nape of his neck. "Hey! Let go!" Dick tried to fight, grabbing at the hands and trying to jerk away.

"Shut it, rat." The man let go with one hand, only to fist it and send it careening towards the child's face. Dick ducked but couldn't dodge the entire blow, the man's gloved knuckles scraped across the top of his head. Dick thought it was a victory, but then a knee landed in his gut and Dick gasped and doubled over.

A bulky arm latched across the child's torso like an iron seatbelt, dragging the boy towards the door. Dick's panicked blue eyes found Wally as he fought to regain his breath, heart palpitating wildly. The speedster was kneeling in his cage, gripping the bars tightly as he looked on with heightening fear and sorrow.

Dick's eyes started to dart around, looking for anything that might help him escape. There were other cages, he realized, they had occupants, but he hadn't seen until now. But that was no good. He started to kick and lift up with his feet, trying to writhe out of his grip. But the man kept him off balance and he had no ability to maneuver with the arm across his chest. He couldn't get out of this!

The young acrobat was dragged through a doorway and the door closed behind him, cutting him off from his friend and dooming him to whatever thing happened next. It wasn't until a few hallways (and continued struggling) later when they finally got to their destination. Dick felt his heart sink when he saw a large cylindrical tube rest in the center of the room.

There was a man in a white coat there too, looking a touch crazy and sending all the warning bells ringing. He saw Dick being dragged in and his face lit up, but then it soured. "Bobby we've talked about this. The cages have wheels for a reason."

Bobby, apparently the man holding Dick, didn't seem perturbed at this umpteenth reprimand. He only shrugged, a weird sensation for Dick, and the scientist didn't seem to like this's response.

"Next time there's a disgusting job I'm giving it to you." The man wrinkled his nose at Bobby and Bobby widely gave no response.

Dick was completely unsure of what to do and honestly more than weirded out. This was a common conversation between them?

"Anyway, you didn't drag him all this way to watch us squabble." The scientist turned his attention to the boy in question, placing his hands on his hips and that creepy smile came back. "Alright baby bat, strip to your boxers and get in."

Dick felt his face drain of blood.

What.

-0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0-

"I th-thought you needed me human-" Bruce grunted, attempting to move his new large limbs but not getting very far before pain shot through him and forced him to stop. "-to upset the populace." Another grunt of pain punctuated his sentence, slightly shifting just to try to find a more comfortable position. There was none, he could only lay in agony on the platform that was meant to be a bed.

Everything was in pain and nothing at all, the sounds kept drifting in and out, he was hearing things he was sure were not anywhere near his vicinity.

It was all cold and hot, the sounds reverberated and echoed incoherently, but the man's words were loud, at the forefront of the chaos.

"Well, I would, but it's Metahumans we're catching, Metahumans are the threat. I can't just show the world one human man was responsible for all this Metahuman crap, that would give us a bad name. I don't want anyone to get any ideas either, Bruce Wayne can't disappear without probable cause can he?" The man smiled like a shark, at least, Bruce imagined he did, he could hear the grin in his voice.

In the silence there was no silence, he heard air blasting through vents and down corridors left and right. He heard beeping and churning of machinery, the loud walking of boots on tile, the scuff of body on mental floor.

Wait, what?

Bruce tried to hear more, he had no idea how he was doing this but the sounds just got louder, making him cringe and almost cry out in pain.

Then there was a voice, small, whispering, hushed and afraid in the chaos.

"Jason, I-I'm scared. W-what if I'm next?! I don't wanna be next Jason!" The voice was near tears, and if Bruce had to say it might have been male, extremely young male. He could hear his breathing, erratic and shallow, he could imagine the boy's panicked eyes, his tense grip on some unknown object.

"It'll be alright, I won't let them take you Billy. They'll have to go through me first." Another voice, just as young but stronger, more angry, but underneath through the cracks in his voice was the terror.

Bruce heard all of this, and it left as soon as it came. The sounds redoubled in loudness, making the man finally relent and grunt in pain. He squeezed his eyes shut in an attempt to block out the noise. The words 'sensory overload' came to mind, but it was a touch redundant.

"...You..." He started breathlessly, attempting another twitch of his new limbs. "You do realize... that the moment you... m-made me a Meta you are the ... the one making all this crap?" Bruce pointed out, gasping for breath at the end of his sentence because of the pain traveling down his back.

"We're living in a war torn world Batsy, I'm staying employed," The man snapped, the words shouting in his head, "and Meta's are the most lucrative tool."

The weakened vigilante shifted, moving from his side to his stomach, nearly dangling off the bed platform. Pain like lightning struck his spine, his shoulder blades and shooting down his new limbs, making them twitch and shiver. One leathery bat wing tilted over limply, colliding with the floor and eliciting a shout of pain from the man connected to it.

He could tell the man was watching him, watching him with pride and intrigue, it was humiliating. Bruce was sweating, trying to reclaim the breath driven from him with more controlled breaths. Every movement in his chest meant pain, even his wild heart beat thumped painfully, sending wave after wave of pins and needles through his new appendages.

"So you make Metas..." Bruce said through gritted teeth, "to keep your job?"

The man hummed, "Mmm not quite, but close enough. Still have that defective in you dontcha? A nice big smart noggin." He sounded displeased, but it didn't stay that way for long. "Well, I think I have a few drugs that would like to test that resilience."

"Experimentation is illegal on humans." Bruce couldn't help but argue, it was keeping him grounded as well as giving him a lot more information than he would have gotten otherwise. He could shut them down if he ever got out. When. When he got out. When he got out WITH his son and teammates, and any other poor Meta soul the man has tortured. Like those two boys, wherever they were.

"Mm, but you aren't that are you?" The white coated man let loose a dark chuckle, it echoed and twisted in Bruce's head. "You Metas may be gifted, but in the end it's going to cost you your humanity."

Bruce huffed, closing his eyes to concentrate on not passing out. "The only one... who has lost th-their humanity... is you."

The man made a show of looking at his watch, at least that's what Bruce understood from the shuffling of clothing and clench of muscles. Wait, he could hear muscles? "Well would you look at the time, I'm pretty sure your little bird is finishing up in the tar right about now. Maybe we can have you see each other again, that is, if you recognize each other."

All logic and pain was thrown out the window as his eyes snapped open at the words echoing around his head.

"NO!" Bruce lunged upwards and promptly fell to the ground, he groaned and tried to keep yelling. The pain was too much, he grunted and gasped as he got his hands under him. He forced the wings out of his way, ignoring the tickling sensation on the crest of his head and crawling forwards. The weight was heavy, like bench pressing a car with his back, or lifting the sky. One agonizing scramble of his forearms and knees after another he was able to reach the glass. He didn't care if it wasn't near the man or the corner where Dick disappeared off into, he just saw the glass in his way.

His eyes were growing heavy, one hand hit the glass solidly, the weight behind him pushing him further. He snagged against the wall of glass, trying to move onward, to destroy the obstruction. His fist raised, the wing behind the arm mimicking the action. Bruce grit his teeth before yelling, screwing his eyes tight and slamming both fist and wing against the glass. "NO!"

He ignored the pain that flared, that made everything dizzy and out of place, and reared back again. This time the slam was nothing more than a pathetic 'thump', his head colliding with the wall as he breathed heavy gasping breaths. "No..." It was meant to be another shout, but it died in his throat and it left his lips barely above a whisper.

The man mocked him, crouching down to be level with the exhausted bat. "Aww, it's truly striking, one goes from complete dignified person to absolute animal with primal instincts of parenthood. I might have to look into this... I'm sure with how your little bird reacted from seeing you once we could do a multitude of experiments with familial bonds. And what I can make you do for your little one's safety, or vice versa." He said with a suggestive smirk, glancing in Bruce's direction and then down hallway Dick had been dragged through.

"No... you..." Bruce trailed off breathlessly, raising a heavy hand to point at the man. "Y-you stay away from him." Bruce pleaded with whatever strength remained. "D-do whatever... whatever you want to me. But don't... don't you dare touch Dick."

"Well, what's done is done." The man said cheerfully with absolutely no remorse in his statement. "I want to see first hand what your little boy grows into. Hopefully his body won't horribly reject it and die."

That horrible laughter echoed through the room, ingraining in Bruce's head, his long bat ears twitching.

-0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0-

Dick had no idea what he was feeling, it was all hot and cold and scratchy and soft. Blistering pain came from his back but his eyes were too tired to look, his chest burned and he realized he was without air. His mouth fell open but he gasped and coughed, what entered his lungs was not air.

He didn't know he was leaning against something until he fell forward, barely feeling his body crash to the ground. Ugh, this stuff coming from his mouth had the consistency of tar.

He was so weak and everything was so heavy, something large was pressing against his back and he wanted to move to get away from the uncomfortable feeling but his body wasn't listening to him.

"How amusing," a voice said from above him. Dick felt like he knew that voice, it was a bad person, he was in danger! "Like father like son, even if adopted."

There was a pause and Dick could hear the shuffling of feet and paper, then he heard the evil voice call out. "Put him back with the others, and don't forget the cage next time you idiot. I didn't design the cages to have wheels just so you could drag my test subjects around like rag dolls."

Dick felt himself be grabbed, but he couldn't fight them, he barely even felt the sensation of being dragged before he was plunged into unconsciousness.

-0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0-

"Look... I-I didn't know." Barry was saying, sitting in his cage with his back to the wall closest to the man he was trying to apologize to. His head was tilted back to rest on the wall, his eyes closed in sorrow. His legs and arms were shackled together, and around his neck was an inhibitor collar.

Bruce's left ear twitched, also sitting on the floor with his back to the wall closest to the speedster. The big leathery bat wings he finally had relative control over—even if they did sting from time to time— leaned against the wall as comfortably as he could. He made sure to exercise so he could have full use as soon as possible, the white coated man hadn't visited them since his taunt at Bruce so he would have no idea if that type of thing was allowed or not. Not that he cared, he just preferred to be in the know, he was honestly surprised his wings weren't restrained yet. One whack with these wings would send a man flying, no pun intended.

His hands fisted the shorts that were given to him, taking in a deep sigh through his nose. "I didn't know either." He responded quietly.

"I'm sorry." The speedsters voice carried through the air nicely, it was quiet in the room but it was not lost to them that everyone else was listening to their conversation too. "I thought I was doing the right thing."

Bruce lightly shook his head, eyes shifting to the glass. "No, I don't blame you. I should thank you."

Barry seemed surprised, Bruce could hear him stumble on his next words. "I- well- no- uh... I-Iris actually... was the one with the idea-"

"You thought you could help Dick," Bruce interrupted, "I can't be angry at someone who wanted to protect Dick."

"But now he's here, and I'm sorry because I can't help but feel like it's my fault. He shouldn't have been at my house, he shouldn't be here." Barry argued, sounding both angry and sad, like his entire being was filled with regret. Something Bruce could relate to.

Bruce went silent, thinking. It had definitely occurred to him before but it wasn't a worthwhile argument because Bruce had already made up his mind as to who's fault it was. "Well you're right about one thing," Bruce sighed, "he shouldn't be here, he shouldn't have had anything to do with me or the League. If it's anyone's fault it's mine for taking him in, for indulging his childish fantasies and letting him go out with me."

"He..." Barry was confused, "He helped rescue Metas? He fought crime? How-?"

"His alias was Robin, a nickname from his mother." Bruce muttered, reminiscing to a time when things were simple and safe. Where Dick was safe in his arms, away from the eyes of the world and the daggers in their hands. "He figured out I was Batman only a month after living with me. He wanted to help. He grew up with his parents never knowing to hate metas, and when they fell he wanted justice for his parents murderer."

"So you...? You let him out against the world?!" Barry said, still trying to understand. He would have never allowed Wally to come into his Meta business, but now he supposed he would have to, not by choice though. Hopefully Wally and Iris were safe and together.

"He wasn't alone, I was always with him, and of course I trained him. I myself didn't step out into the streets in a costume until years of training."

"How many did he have?" Barry asked.

"One." Bruce's head dipped.

"Bruce! No! Why?!" Barry shouted in disdain, making the bat man's ears twitch.

"He would have gone out on his own and gotten himself killed within the first night. Alfred and I agreed that if I let him come out with me every now and then I would be able to help protect him. It was better than the alternative, what would you have had me do?" Bruce argued, he didn't particularly like arguing to defend himself. Besides, Dick had chosen to become Robin, Batman was just the buffer between Robin and the real dangers of the world. Those choices had already passed, they had much more pressing and present issues that needed their attention. Like escaping with all of their families and their lives. "It doesn't matter now anyway, he's here and there's nothing we can do about it."

Barry sighed in defeat, "fine, you're right."

It was quiet then, Bruce closed his eyes to see if he could focus enough to hear those two boys again, or better yet Dick.

"You know I always thought you were a Meta." Oliver Queen spoke up, shattering Bruce's peace. "That suit was convincing, and even if it was just a suit you're scary smart. And if not that, just plain scary."

Bruce said nothing, trying to discern what the archer was getting at.

"What I'm trying to say is that I respect you." Oliver said in the preceding silence, "I never cared much for Bruce Wayne, but I can see now how much Bruce Wayne was the real mask for you."

"There's always a mask." Bruce muttered distractedly.

"You never had one with Dick did you?" Barry cut in, "He knows you, the real you."

"He knows me." Bruce nodded, "he took the dark knight that I am and gave me a light. In him I see more hope than any of us could ever inspire. I can't... I can't lose him."

No one had anything to say to that, Bruce was stuck wallowing in his own head when his ears twitched again. He caught a wisp of a conversation, just a breath, just a whisper.

He closed his eyes and concentrated again, maybe he could hear Dick, if he heard those two boys he must be able to hear wherever Dick is to at least give him some peace of mind.

He heard a female voice, saying a name, the word shouted so loud he couldn't even make out what the voice said until it toned down and reverberated. "Wally-!"

Bruce resisted the urge to stop in surprise, tightening his eyes and slowing his other movements.

"Wally he can't hear you, you'll have to wait."

"But what if he's in pain?!" A second voice, male, most likely 'Wally' who could be Barry's nephew. "He's probably going to freak out! I'm freaking out! He's got- he's got those now!"

"Well we still can't do anything about it," The female said, sounding both sad and annoyed. He could imagine her gazing down at some (hopefully) human form, Wally's green eyes alert and worried.

"Artemis, he's my friend. Sure I've only known him for a few days but he's never had to deal with something like this before! I know he was never against Metas, but now he IS one and it's all because he was in my room!"

Bruce's heart thumped, that sounded familiar. They were talking about Dick!

"What are you even talking about?" Artemis exclaimed tiredly, probably wishing for the other kid to shut up more than actually explain.

"He was staying over at my house, he found out I was a Meta and he was really cool with it right? But then this lady came by and she was there to talk with him cuz his adopted dad was being charged with abuse and then he went missing and he blew up in her face and stormed off cuz she said some really mean things. But then that night we were talking in my room and we were about to go to sleep when we were attacked!" Wally's voice was definitely speeding up like The Flash's did when he was nervous or excited, which burrowed into the steadily growing bottomless pit in Bruce's stomach. Barry's nephew was a Meta, possibly with the same type of powers. He sounded distressed, which wasn't a surprise, but Bruce wanted to know what happened to Dick!

"Okay? So? Everyone's got a sob story, my dad gave me to M.A.Z.E.. Pity isn't going to get you anywhere." The Artemis girl spoke, again sounding more tired than anything.

"He's got it rough, the roughest life of any non-meta I've ever met, but now he IS one and it's all my fault!" Bruce's heart ached, Wally had a point about the rough life, and apparently everyone was trying to blame themselves for Dick's predicament. But what was wrong with Dick!? What was he turned into? Was he still even humanoid? Did he remember anything? Was he in pain?

"Yeah, you've said that." Her voice was dry.

"What do we do?!" Wally was getting scared, he could hear his heartbeat speeding up rapidly. He could hear the scuffle of skin and clothing on metal, it started to echo and increase in volume.

"Nothing, we can't do anything Wally, so shut up and just wait for him to wake up." Her voice was getting quieter though, like he was hearing through cotton or fog. Then out of the blue came a startlingly clear sound, as if it was right in front of him.

Bruce heard a moan, a groan specific to Dick, the weak groan he made when he was in pain. But then it went away and all the other sounds collaborated and whirled around Bruce's head, getting louder and louder.

He put his hands over his ears, gritting his teeth and slowly cradling his head.

The sounds eventually died away, leaving Bruce breathless. He sat in silence, breathing heavily and trying to sort through what he heard.

"Barry." He grunted.

"Yeah?" Came the bored and tired speedster's voice.

"Your nephew," he paused for a second, "did he have a nickname?"

The speedster was quiet for a moment. "Yeah, he likes to go by Wally."

"I... I heard him." Bruce said, unsure if it was wise to alert everyone to the fact he could hear things from far away. He knew Superman could do something like that, he wasn't sure if that power of his was inhibited or not. It most likely was by the collar, and Bruce didn't want to get his taken away because he finally had a way to at least listen to Dick.

"You heard him? Is he alright? Bruce?" The speedster asked rapid fire, the rattling of chains sounding like he stood up.

"He... he's a Meta, like you, I think he's fast." Bruce had no idea how Barry took this information because his cell went deadly quiet. "He was with a girl named Artemis, I don't know if she has any connections to you but they're most likely in cages, real metal cages. I'm sorry."

Barry took a deep breath, rubbing his face. "I'm sorry too. Did he sound okay?"

"Yes," Bruce dipped his head, "he was worried about Dick."

"We need to get out of here." Barry muttered.

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