Chapter Text
Dick paced the hangar as he waited for the Batplane to arrive.
According to the report he got from Spoiler, his brothers were in bad shape. Jason was being ventilated and had been fucking cardioverted in the field, while Tim had to have an IO line placed due to the fact he was in hypovolemic shock.
All because of their supernatural identities.
There was a reason cryptids chose to remain myths in the modern world of metahumans and aliens. For centuries, people had hunted them down and called them monsters due to the actions of a few bad apples. Even if most of them were perfectly harmless to humans. People like Orania didn’t care what they did, only what they were.
Being Romani, Dick was used to unfounded prejudices and injustice. But that didn’t make dealing with them any easier, especially when his brothers were involved.
Finally, the Batplane landed. Dick took a deep breath and steeled himself for what was to come. He could do this. His brothers were counting on him. He could do this.
Two stretchers were wheeled out. Cass pushed Tim’s while Bruce pushed Jason’s. Stephanie was straddling the werewolf so she could continue ventilating him as they rolled. Neither of his brothers were moving.
“We’ve got the medbay ready,” Dick informed them. He led the way and opened the doors for the two stretchers. Damian, Alfred, and Barbara were already there waiting.
“Get Tim into the tub,” he instructed. “It’s oxygenated, so he shouldn’t need the non-rebreather. Make sure he's completely submerged. I’ve got a waterproof bandage to cover his line with already over there. Jason can go over there where the ventilator is. Stephanie, drop an NG tube. I have an antidote prepared to give him.”
Everyone scrambled to follow his orders. Damian helped Cass lower Tim into the deep, medicated bath that Damian had prepared while Alfred hooked up Jason’s i-gel to the ventilator. Stephanie, after hopping down from the stretcher, inserted the nasogastric tube down the werewolf’s throat.
“What’s the antidote made of?” Bruce asked.
Dick took the large syringe of thick, yellow liquid and connected it to Jason’s NG tube after they’d verified it was in his stomach. “Evening primrose, mugwort, and white willow bark, among other things. The Romani developed treatments for all kinds of magical ailments. My great-grandmother was a renowned healer in the supernatural community. Her book of remedies was passed down through my mother’s side.”
Other than his parents’ wedding rings, it had been the one possession that Dick had been adamant about tracking down. Even at nine-year’s-old, he’d recognized its importance. Dick was thankful for it now more than ever.
“What about Tim’s treatment?”
Damian cleared his throat. “I prepared it, Father. The water is treated with marshmallow root, calendula, and St. John’s wort, along with some added in electrolytes and oxygenation. I remembered some of my relatives who were water dragons used the remedy whenever they became too dehydrated.”
Bruce smiled reassuringly at his youngest. “Good work, Damian.”
Now that his brothers were out of immediate danger, Dick and Alfred got Jason into a gown. As they dressed him, Dick winced at the angry red patches on the werewolf's bare chest from where Stephanie had caridoverted him. Jason had been subjected to wolfsbane poisoning in the past, but never to this extent. After his brother was no longer naked, Dick peeled the field dressing off of the werewolf's forearm to examine the wound.
It looked gross.
Yellow pus covered most of the wound bed, and the skin around it was blacked from the torch. Dick grabbed a basin and a liter of sterile saline and irrigated the wound with Alfred's help. Then, since his antidote would be covering the supernatural side of things, he covered the wound with antibiotic ointment before redressing it. Jason remained still despite the fact that irrigating the wound should have hurt like a bitch. His brother was the palest Dick had ever seen him.
"I believe it prudent to start IV antibiotics on Master Jason while we wait for the antidote to take effect," Alfred suggested.
Dick nodded. "It definitely couldn't hurt. What about Tim? Does he have any other injuries that need attention?"
Now that he was in merform, Dick could see the extent of his little brother's dehydration. Even at his driest, Tim's scales had never looked like that. Their texture looked more like crocodile skin than a merman tail.
Damian frowned. "He has two different burns on his neck, right over his gills. One looks like agrimony exposure, but the other... it looks a bit like a chemical burn. I believe it's similar to the burn Todd has on his right hand."
Dick's eyes flitted to Jason's hand. The skin was an angry red, and it was covered in pus-filled blisters. It definitely didn't look like wolfsbane poisoning. And if Tim had the same kind of burn, what possibly could have caused it?
He had a feeling he wasn't going to like the answer.
After the boys were settled into the medbay and fully stabilized, everyone except for Alfred gathered in the conference room to debrief. As hesitant as Dick was to leave them, he recognized that what his brothers needed most right now was rest. He had done all he could for them for now. Alfred could take it from there.
“I called Kate,” Barbara announced. “She’s going to head to Orania lab now and clean up. Once we remove all traces of Jason and Tim having been there and obtain copies of all of his research, Constantine has agreed to take care of Orania’s memories. He won’t remember the boys at all, and he’ll find his knowledge on hunting the supernatural greatly diminished.”
“Tell me you’re gonna take care of his Tumblr, too,” Stephanie groaned.
Barbara smiled. “Already done.”
“Thank you, Barbara,” Bruce nodded. He then turned to the rest of the table. “You’ve all done great work. Cass, you, as always, kept me calm and acted as my anchor. Stephanie, your medical skills are the only reason my two sons are alive. I can never repay you for what you’ve done tonight. And Dick and Damian, I’m so thankful for your knowledge of the supernatural. We would have been totally lost without it. Because of all of you, Tim and Jason are still with us. You should all be very proud of yourselves. I know I’m proud of each one of you.”
“Awe, Bruce,” Steph gushed, “near-death experiences always turn you into such a softie.”
Dick smiled. It really was true. He still wished Bruce would show emotion like this without one of their lives hanging in the balance, but it was a work in progress.
For now, he was happy to take the win.
When Tim woke up, he was underwater.
He guessed that meant he was still alive. So yay for that. His scales, he noticed, had started to regain some of their color. A waterproof bandaged covered where the IO line had been placed in his right shoulder. They must have removed it while he was still unconscious. He vaguely remembered it getting placed. The fluids being pushed through had hurt like a fucking bitch.
There was movement above the surface. Tim pushed himself to sit up so his head was above water, groaning as the movement made his muscles twinge. He was sore.
“Relax, Master Jason, I am simply removing your airway,” Alfred’s voice explained. He was standing beside a stretcher a few feet away from Tim’s tub. He was pulling an i-gel out of the mouth of his very-agitated-yet-very-alive big brother.
Tim teared up in pure relief. Jason was alive. Miraculously, they’d both survived the ordeal. He’d been so sure they were goners.
“J-Jay?” Tim’s voice was raspy from all the screaming he’d done. He grabbed the water bottle sitting next to his tub and drank it in a few sips. His mouth felt a million times better afterward.
Jason let out a gagging cough as the butler finished removing the i-gel. He frantically looked around until his gaze caught Tim’s. He, too, seemed to have the weight of the world lifted off of him upon seeing his brother breathing.
“T-Tim,” he croaked. His voice, like Tim’s, was extremely hoarse. Alfred offered him a sip of water,.
“How do you feel?”
Jason sank back onto his pillow. He still looked pale, with dark circles underneath his eyes. “Like shit, honestly. You?”
“Like shit,” Tim smiled. For once, Alfred didn’t chastise their language. “But hey, we’re alive, right?”
His brother grinned weakly. “Damn straight.”
Alfred cleared his throat. “While it is wonderful to see you both awake, I must remind you that you are still recovering. Neither of you are to leave this room until I clear you. I want you resting as much as possible. Understood?”
“Yes, Alfred,” the boys said in unison.
The butler nodded, satisfied. “Very good. I shall alert Master Bruce that you both have regained consciousness. He’s been rather worried.”
Tim had pretty much checked out by the time Bruce had arrived, but he could only imagine what their father must have felt when he’d walked into that horrific scene.
The butler had barely been gone a minute before Bruce and Dick came rushing in.
“Welcome back to the land of the living,” his big brother greeted as he took a seat beside Tim’s tub.
Bruce sat down next to Jason’s stretcher. “How are you both feeling?”
“I believe our consensus was ‘like shit’,” Jason huffed.
Dick grabbed Tim’s hand. “Well you certainly look better.”
“I concur,” Bruce agreed.
“I don’t remember much about the rescue,” Jason admitted. He looked at his heavily bandaged left arm. “I assume you purged the wound with fire?”
Their father nodded. “Stephanie did pretty much everything. We purged the wound so you could revert to your human form, allowing us to be able to treat you more properly. You weren’t breathing, so Steph inserted the i-gel so we could ventilate you. Then, since you were in ventricular tachycardia, she cardioverted you. You really gave us a scare, Jaylad.
“And so did you, Tim. You were so dehydrated, you’d gone into hypovolemic shock. Stephanie had to place an IO line in your shoulder to give you fluids. We just unhooked you from it about twenty minutes ago. You both are very lucky to be alive right now.”
Damn. That was… a lot.
“So what I’m hearing is, I need to take Blondie out for waffles or something,” Jason deduced.
Dick chuckled. “I’m sure she wouldn’t mind that. Once you got here, I gave you the wolfsbane antidote from my great grandmother’s book. Your healing seemed to kick in pretty quickly after that. Alfred gave you a dose of IV antibiotics as well.”
Tim used his hydrokinesis to pour some water over his injured neck. It felt heavenly. “What’s in here?"
“A blend of herbs Damian knew about from the water dragons in his family.”
“Well, it feels amazing. I’m gonna have to have him give me the recipe.”
His brother smiled. “He'll love to hear that. Now, one thing I did want to ask about was the burns you both have. They don’t look like they came from your banes.”
Tim grimaced. “It’s a poison Orania developed. He called it pernicies tenebris. It was designed to be harmful to any supernatural creature it comes into contact with. That was how he knew what we were.”
Bruce growled in anger.
“That must have been what was in the vials we took from his underground lab,” Dick guessed. “Kate and Constantine pretty much gutted the place – which reminds me, I have your ring, Tim. Kate found it and gave it to me. It’s in my room. Anyway, then John removed Orania’s memories of you both. He’s in police custody now.”
“But if he ever gets out, he’ll still be a threat,” Jason pointed out. “He knows all of our weaknesses.”
Their brother smiled. “Actually, I wouldn’t worry too much about that. Constantine left him with his knowledge of the supernatural, except he altered it to be completely wrong. For example, he now believes that the most dangerous thing for werewolves is chocolate.”
Tim snorted. Served the guy right. At least he wouldn’t be coming after them anymore.
“I’ll start analyzing the compound to see if I can figure out what it’s made of,” Dick decided. “Maybe once you’re feeling better, we can put our heads together and figure out an antidote. Just in case he gave it to anyone else.”
Tim gingerly touched the burned skin on his neck. Despite the medicated bath, it hadn’t healed at all. He couldn’t imagine what would happen if it was ingested or injected into their bloodstreams.
“Sounds like a plan,” he agreed. He then set his gaze back on Jason. “I guess the moral of this story is, next time you see a dick on someone’s wall, don’t touch it.”
The werewolf cracked a smile. “Nah, where’s the fun in that?”
Tim ignored him and continued. “And wear fucking normal gloves! The fingerless shit does you no good!”
“Whatever. You’re not my dad.”
Bruce chimed in. “But I am, and I have to agree with him, Jaylad. They’re just not practical.”
Jason threw his hands up. “I hate this fucking family.”
Dick pouted. “Awe, Jay, you don’t mean that.”
“Stop pouting like that. You’re a grown-ass man, Richard.”
“Don’t call me by my government name, you bastard.”
“Children, please.”
Tim laughed. He was so thankful they were all alive and relatively well. Orania’s torture wouldn’t keep them down for long.
After all, resilience ran in the family.