Mask of Glass

Ch 28

Dick's hospital bed was quickly wheeled through star labs to the special room that had been set up for his specialized dialysis treatment.

Once inside, the monitors and other medical equipment were hastily reattached and plugged in. The team at Star Labs wasted no time hooking Dick up to the large and complex machine that represented his last chance for life.

Soon enough the blood began to flow through the machine, taking its time as it flowed through the different filters.

Dick remained in a death-like sleep for the entire 24 hours that they ran the machine.

When the filtration was done, Barry tested some of Dick's blood for any electrum before unhooking him from the large machine. Alfred quickly bandaged Dick's forearm that was bruised and bleeding from having needles frequently being inserted into it.

The bat family never left Dick's side during the whole ordeal, even Babs and Ace stayed by the large hospital bed that cushioned Dick's frail body.

Early the next morning, Dick's eyes fluttered open. Dick's beautiful blue eyes blinked tiredy, trying to adjust to the brightness while taking in the fact that he was no longer at the watchtower, and he didn't have the burning pain that the poison had caused as it flowed through his veins.

Breathing felt a little weird to Dick, and he realized why when he reached up and felt the tube coming out of his mouth. The ventilator continued to pump air in and out of Dick's lungs, but he was too tired to really care about how weird not breathing on his own felt.

Dick's gaze strayed around the room, stopping on each person in the room in turn. Everyone was asleep. Bruce was leaned up against the wall with Damian's head resting on his shoulder and Tim's head laid on his lap. Babs was sitting on a chair with her head resting on the bed he was laying on. Jason was sitting on the opposite side of the room, and Ace was laying on Jason's lap.

A small smile found its way onto Dick's face. He lifted one hand and gently ran it through Babs' soft hair, causing her to stir and lift her head.

"You're awake!" Babs whispered excitedly. She stared at Dick for a moment, taking in his appearance before she noticed his bright blue eyes. "Your eyes! They're blue." She said.

Dick's smile widened, but he couldn't talk with the intubation tube down his throat.

"Oh." Babs said, realizing Dick must be uncomfortable. "I'll go get someone to take that out." Babs rushed out of the room, looking around for Alfred. She couldn't find him anywhere at Star Labs, so she used the zeta tubes to travel back to the manor, where she found him dusting around the batcave.

"Alfred." Babs called, gaining the butler's attention. "Dick woke up a few minutes ago, and I think he would probably like to be off of the intubator."

"My goodness! I was supposed to take that out while he was still unconscious." Alfred said, rushing to the zeta tube.

When Babs and Alfred came back into the room where Dick was laying he looked over at them tiredly and tried to wave. It looked more like he was just flopping his hand around, but Babs and Alfred appreciated the gesture.

Alfred administered a bit of anesthesia to Dick through the catheter that was still sticking out of his arm. Dick's eyes began to droop even more and his entire body relaxed. Alfred disconnected the intubation tube from the ventilator, making sure Dick was breathing well without it before removing the tape holding it in place, deflating the bubble at the end of the tube, and gently sliding it out of Dick's throat.

Dick shivered involuntarily, despite being unconscious.

Alfred took the ventilator and walked out of the room with it. He came back a few moments later with a syringe filled with a reversal for the anesthesia he had given to Dick. He administered the reversal and Dick's eyes began to flutter open after a few minutes.

Dick groaned and looked around. "Bruce?" He rasped, his voice scratchy from having been intubated for so long.

Bruce woke up when he heard his name being called. Damian's head slipped off of Bruce's shoulder and he ended up knocking foreheads with Tim. Tim shouted in surprise, waking Ace and Jason. And just like that the entire Bat-family was awake.

Dick's shoulders shook with silent laughter, and he covered his mouth, trying to hold in his chuckles.

"You sound like a smoker Dickie." Jason said with a smile.

"You would know Todd..." Damian retorted back, rubbing the red spot on his forehead where it had hit into Tim's.

"So how are you feeling Dick?" Tim asked, trying to steer the conversation away from an argument.

"Much better." Dick whispered, cringing when his voice cracked.

Jason snorted at the voice crack, but quieted when Bruce sent him a look.

Dick tentatively spoke again, "Am I back to normal now?"

Bruce smiled and nodded his head. "100% normal. No more crazy talon electrum." He said.

Dick smiled widely, tears of joy and relief coming to his eyes. He was finally back to normal, and he would no longer have to fear being rejected or hurting someone. Physically, he was far from being 100%, but for the first time in a long time Dick felt like everything was going to be ok.

The End