Ch 11

                                    

                                          
Dick's eyelids felt like weights as his eyes slid open. He groaned and stretched, sitting up and looking around. 'Where am I?' He wondered, standing up and walking around the familiar-looking room.
                          
It only took Dick a few minutes to figure out that he was in his old room in Wayne Manor. It definitely didn't look like it did when he'd left for Jump city...
                          
'Why am I here?' Dick thought. The last thing he could remember was responding to an alert with the titans... then there was that magic blast that he was hit with...
                          
'Why am I taller?' Dick thought, looking in the mirror and noticing the physical changes that had happened to his body.
                          
While he was looking in the mirror, Dick's attention was drawn to the clothes he was wearing. 'These are Bruce's clothes...'
                          
Confusing thoughts and questions swirled in Dick's head as he tried to sort out what was going on.
                          
Dick only noticed the IV line that was draining fluids into him when he walked too far away from his bed and felt a tugging on his arm. That was also when Dick noticed the various other medical equipment that was attached to him.
                          
Returning to his bed, Dick carefully removed the pulse oximeter from his finger. He then detached the IV line from his arm and took off the sticky pads that belonged to the heart monitor.
                          
Once he was free from the various medical equipment, Dick did a series of stretches and exercises, testing out each joint and muscle to see if there was anything wrong with him that would warrant being stuck in a bed with monitors all over him. He quickly concluded that it was probably just Bruce being what Wally would always refer to as 'Daddy Bats'.
                          
Dick finally stilled, looking at himself in the mirror. The question that weighed heavily on his mind was, 'Why do I look so much older than I remembered?'
                          
Deciding not to simply wait for someone to come and explain what was going on to him, Dick silently slid the door open and slipped out into the hall, heading straight for the batcave.
                          
On his way down to the cave, Dick stopped to take in the differences in the spacious rooms of the manor that he walked through.
                          
The house was dark, but Dick was still able to see what looked like a few child's toys, as well as many new photos on the walls. Some of the photos were of Jason, but many were of a child he didn't recognize. "Did Bruce take in some other orphan?" He whispered under his breath.
                          
Dick was surprised to find even more toys scattered around in the batcave when he got down there. He walked around, taking in everything around him. His heart caught in his throat when he walked past a glass case that was holding the small uniform he wore while he was with the titans. Something that definitely wouldn't fit him now, no matter how much he tried to squeeze into it.
                          
The roaring of the batmobile's engine startled Dick out of his thoughts, making him literally jump into the air. He turned towards the shiny, black car and found that a small smile had made its way onto his face.
                          
The doors to the batmobile opened, and Dick's smile fell from his face as he saw Jason emerge from the passenger's side, wearing his Robin costume.
                          
Jason's costume wasn't exactly the same as Dick's, one thing being that it was a slightly different size, with long, tight sleeves as opposed to the loose, short ones Dick had worn.
                          
Dick clenched his jaw and his hands balled up into fists.
                          
"You're awake." Bruce said, pulling down his cowl and walking over to Dick with a smile on his face. The smile dropped off of the older man's face when he noticed the scowl on Dick's face, and the defensive position he had taken up.