Befriending The Enemy

What It Takes

Dick slowly came too, his head pounding and his side feeling much better than it did when he passed out. He opened his eyes, expecting to see some form of familiarity, but was stumped when he noticed the ceiling didnt look like his bedroom at Deathstrokes. He quickly shot up, ignoring the pain shoot in his side. Looking around it finally dawned on him where he was.

His old room in the Wayne Manor.

His whole body froze, unable to process why he was here. He threw the blankets off noticing he was still in the outfit he passed out in. Lifting his shirt, he saw Deathstrokes handy work in the bandaging. Were they kidnapped? Or did Deathstroke... give him up?

Just as he was about to get out of bed, the door opened, revealing Bruce and Alfred standing at the door. Dick was nearly choked when he saw Alfred. Out of everyone, he thought Alfred was the only one who deserved to know he was alive.

"You must have a lot of questions." Says Bruce in his sort of soft type parent voice.

"Just one: where is Deathstroke?" Dick asked, scooting closer to the edge of the bed.

"Hes... being detained at the mountain." He says.

Dick gulped, getting to his feet. "Take me to him. Now." He demanded.

"I won't." Argued Bruce.

Dick scoffed. "Why not? He's my mentor!"

"I won't take you to see him. You will remain here until whatever he did to you washes away." Explains Bruce.

"Whatever he did to me? Like what? Be a mentor? Praise me even when I failed? Be more of a father figure to me than you ever were? He didnt brainwash me or give me drugs. I dont have Stockholm! I stayed because I wanted to! I made the choice and it was the best choice ever. Now take me to him!" Dick huffed, nearly going red in the face with the amount of yelling he just did.

Bruce narrowed his eyes at Dick, obviously not taking that lightly. "You are not going to see him. You will remain here." Bruce spoke lowly, but to Dick it came out more of a menacing warning. Yeah that will be one way to get people back. Hint at the sarcasm in that sentence.

"You were the one who said when I come back, I am a villain. So why am I not locked up with him?" Dick asked.

Bruce went to say something bitter, but stopped. "Get some rest." He spoke, his voice low and intense. He closed the door and to Dicks surprise, locked his door from the outside.

Dick let out a frustrated scream, turning away from the door to his windows. He sighed. Looking down at his outfit he wasnt at all surprised to see his weapons missing. But he needed to get out of here and to the mountain. The only thing is he can't use the Zeta tubes because they will announce his name to the whole mountain. He needed to get their by driving. But first he needed to get out of here without being caught.

Looking around the room for anything to use, he spotted some of his old clothes. When he saw the red hoodie he used to wear, he got major flashbacks to his time here. But he didnt want to stay on that topic, afraid of what will happen if he did. Using his clothes, thankfull he had a lot of them, he tied the sleeves and pant legs together, hoping it would be long enough to hit the floor. He tied one end to his metal heater in the corner before throwing it outside his window.

It was a couple feet away from the ground but it was worth it. Looking around, he spotted his baseball cap next to the dresser and same with his shoes. Grabbing them, he threw them on before finally preparing himself. He sepped up on the windowsill, ignoring his sides cries for help as he closely lowered himself onto the clothes. Once he was in position, he crawled down slowly, making sure to not pass any windows. Once he made it to the end, he kicked off, doing a back flip before landing sloppily on the ground.