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The rebar was both killing Dick and keeping him alive.
That might have been too severe. There might have been a metal stuck in his side, but the area it was in wasn’t detrimental. Dick knew the human body well enough to know that no organs were impaled, and the arteries nearby weren’t severed. If they were, the rebar wouldn’t have been enough to keep him from bleeding out.
Sure, he still was bleeding. It was one of the only things he had to worry about—that and tetanus. The rebar inside of him was stopping the blood flow well enough.
Dick tried his best to keep his breathing even and slow. He had to conserve air in the pocket that the rubble had made around him. It wasn’t too difficult to breathe like this anyway. The rebar made that part easy.
The bomb had blown before the counter got to zero. Dick thought he had more time to diffuse it, but he was wrong.
He wasn’t mad. He had been able to get Jason and Tim out of the building, so it was just him in danger right now. That was acceptable. Jason wouldn’t have done well with the tight confines of a rubble pocket, and Tim was much too young to be put in that kind of danger.
“Nightwing, come in,” The crackling voice was almost incomprehensible. “Red Hood to Nightwing. Come in.”
Dick raised his hand as much as he could. It fell a bit short, so he had to lean his head down a bit to make contact between his comm and his finger. The groan the rubble around him let out wasn’t comforting. Dick made sure to press the comm long enough that it would stay transmitting, instead of the touch-to-transmit it usually was set at.
“Night… wing—Coming in.” Dick barely managed. He told himself it was just because of the pain and not because there was a bar of metal lodged underneath his lungs.
“You’re hurt,” Red Hood stated. It wasn’t a question. Dick didn’t really mind, considering the fact that his shallow breathing messed with his voice quite heavily. “Where are you hurt?”
“Rebar,” Dick started. He had to pause before he said anything else. “Stuck in side—”
There was a flurry of noise before Dick could finish his sentence. He waited for the sound to die down, not really paying attention to it. It was mostly garbage noise because of the bad comm reception anyway.
Once it got mostly quiet again, Dick continued with, “Un—uncompromised.”
“You sure as shit don’t sound uncompromised.” Jason bit out, because that was Jason’s voice. He wasn’t deepening it like he usually did when he was the Red Hood. Dick’s heart twinged at that. He didn’t mean to make his little brother so worried that he was dropping the vigilante act.
“He might mean its not in a mortal spot,” Tim chimed in. The twinging in Dick’s heart increased tenfold. The kid’s voice sounded so small. He hoped it was just because of the comm, but he knew that wasn’t true. “Is it pressing against your lung or in your lung, Nightwing?”
“Pressing.” Dick replied. He was glad that it was a simple word to say while out of breath like he was.
“I’m calling Superman.” Batman’s voice entered the commline, sure and steady.
Dick knew from experience that this steadiness was a complete fabrication. Bruce was an emotional man, if not the best at communicating. He was, however, the best at compartmentalizing. He wouldn’t allow himself to fully feel the fear he was experiencing right now. It wouldn’t help to be afraid; that wouldn’t save Dick any faster.
The last time Dick was in danger, Bruce had done the same thing. Once he was safe, Bruce had held him and cried.
Based on the new chatter over the commline, the others were feeling similarly. Dick closed his eyes and let it wash over him. It wasn’t the same as having them here with him, but it was enough to let Dick not fully focus on his pain.
That worked well enough. That was, at least, until the rubble from the explosion started shifting.
A scream ripped itself out of Dick’s throat as the rebar within him shifted. He didn’t even have the mental capacity to wonder if it had made the injury worse. All Dick could think about was the blinding pain that rolled over him like a tidal wave.
There were more voices asking Dick more things. He wasn’t able to respond, too busy trying to get his breathing back to normal. He wouldn’t survive in the pocket for long if he kept overusing his fair share of air. He needed to conserve it until Superman was able to make a hole in the pocket that trapped Dick.
Dick kept his eyes closed like that until sunlight washed over his face. Only then did he open them to see Superman flying above him.
He gave a little wave, barely lifting his arm up. He didn’t want to risk a repeat of the pain that had encompased him earlier.
“Hey there, kid.” Superman greeted. Dick hummed, but couldn’t bring himself to say anything else. He was so tired. He hoped it was from the pain, and not the puddle of warmth he could feel fathering beneath him,
The rebar must have shifted enough that it wasn’t doing as well of a job at keeping his blood in. dick didn’t really care. All he really cared about was that there was light in here now, and that meant air. It also meant that he was probably going to be freed soon,so that was another plus.
Batman appear behind Superman like the shadow he was. The soft, barely there smile on Dick’s face at seeing Superman grew in intensity.
“Dad.” Dick muttered, head lulling to the side a bit. It was getting harder to keep it completely upright.
That was enough to spur Batman forward quickly and surely. He clambered his way down into Dick’s little pocket. He was careful once he reached the bottom not to touch anywhere that could have moved the rebar, or touch Dick. He was thankful for that.
Dick hurt so much. He didn’t think he’d be able to keep consciousness if anything was moved again.
Batman said something that went right into one of Dick’s ears and right out the other. He brought out the small laser pen, likely to cut Dick free of the rebar.
Dick closed his eyes again, this time for a completely different reason, Everything was going to be okay. Dad was here, and he brought help. Dick didn’t have to be around anymore, actually. He breathed deeply and let his Dad take over.
It was probably better, anyway. Dick didn’t really want to be awake for when Batman finally moved him.
The next time Dick opened his eyes, it was to the ceiling of the medical bay in the cave. He blinked sluggishly several times at the stalactites and white lights before he registered the warmth all around him.
Tim was fully on the bed, curled into his uninjured side. Dick’s arm was around the kid’s shoulders, letting Tim rest his head on Dick’s chest. Their legs were entangled exactly like how Dick preferred them to be.
Jason was sitting in a chair on Dick’s injured side, folded over in half so that his arms and head were pillowed on Dick’s lap. He figured that little brother’s position was purely because Dick was injured on that side. He would bet anything that if not, Jason would have crawled onto the bed as well.
Bruce, lastly but not least, was sat on a chair by the end of the bed. His hand was curled protectively over Dick’s ankle. He also happened to be the only one of Dick’s heaters to be awake.
“Hi.” Dick muttered. It didn’t hurt to talk as much as he thought it would have. He immediately blamed that on the pain medication in his system.
Bruce’s head shot upwards, letting Dick see his dad’s eyes. They were red and bloodshot, just like Dick thought they would be. There were even stale tear tracks underneath him. Bruce must not have bothered to wipe the tears away completely.
Dick couldn’t blame him. He would have reacted similarly if he found one of his little brothers as Bruce had found Dick. That was the reason that once Dick saw the bomb, he made both Jason and Tim leave the building.
“Dickie,” Bruce’s voice was choked. Dick wondered when he had stopped crying. “How are you feeling?”
“Warm,” Dick responded truthfully. He nuzzled his chin against Tim’s head, earning a little groan from the kid. It wasn’t enough to wake him. Afterward, he lifted his head to look at Bruce a bit better. “Loopy, too. You give me the good stuff?”
“Only the best for my boy,” Bruce admitted with a soft smile. Dick huffed. That was such a cheesy answer. “You gave us a scare.”
“Sorry about that.” Dick looked down, which really just made him look down at his brothers. He could imagine what they had felt, if only from an older brother’s perspective. He obviously had frightened them heavily, if both of them were willing to cuddle up to him like this.
Dick couldn’t help the small yawn that tore out of him. It made his torso ache a bit in such a way that he knew would burn if it weren’t for the pain medication.
Bruce’s hand smoothed gently over Dick’s ankle. Dick let his head drop back down fully onto his pillow. The warmth from his brothers and the medication were making him sleepy.
“You can go back to sleep, chum,” Bruce muttered. Dick hummed in response, already half gone. “I’ll keep watch.”
And Dick trusted him to. Bruce had gotten Dick out of the wreck of the explosion. He would be perfectly capable of watching a safe medbay room while Dick slept.
Besides, he was cuddling his younger brothers. There was never going to be a better nap than that.