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Holding Hands
When Scarecrow got out of Arkham, it usually meant bad news for the citizens of Gotham. Most people tended to stay indoors as much as possible until someone caught him; everyone knew what Fear Toxin did to you.
It made you see or relive your worst nightmares.
Ignited your most secret fears.
That was why when it came to tonight’s patrol, the whole Bat clan was out searching for any sign of Scarecrow, or what he might be up to. They had been searching for almost six days with limited success, but Commissioner Gordon had received reports of Scarecrow’s henchmen hiding around the docks. Batman, as soon as he heard this, had called everyone back to the Cave for debriefing before they went searching.
They would be in teams of two; Dick and Jason, Cass and Steph, Tim and Damian, and Bruce on his own; each team had their own set of warehouses along the docks to search through. Kate and Duke were patrolling the rest of Gotham, should Scarecrow show his face there.
Before they left to the docks, Bruce had wished (more like grunted) his good luck to them all, and Dick had nudged Jason in the shoulder.
“He’s nervous, Little Wing,” he murmured, tossing Jason’s helmet at him. “You can tell.”
Jason had risen his eyebrow, but he could see the added tension in Bruce’s shoulders; a sure sign he was waiting for something bad to happen.
“We’ll just have to be careful Blue Bird yeah? Don’t wanna miss the Gotham Knights game tomorrow,” Dick smiled his mega-watt smile that made Jason’s insides warm, before putting on his own bike helmet and hopping on his bike.
When they made it to the docks, an eerie silence fell across them, fog sweeping in from the waters. Jason used his grapple to get on top of the building, landing silently next to Nightwing; Dick pointed down through the glass of the roof to several stacks of crates in the corner of the room. Red Hood nodded his head when he realised what Dick was telling him- the crates had no dust on them at all, whereas the warehouse was coated in a thin layer of the stuff. They dropped onto the floor and Nightwing cautiously made his way towards the boxes, taking out his escrima sticks while Hood took out a gun for each hand.
These warehouses didn’t feel right.
When Nightwing finally got to the crates, he shifted the lid of the nearest one slightly, so he could see inside when he shined his torch. Hood watched him as he replaced his escrimas into their holsters before taking out several vials of what looked like chemicals in test tubes. Nightwing looked at Hood with slightly widened eyes.
“A new formula!” he hissed lowly, aware that there could be someone listening. “This means our antidotes won’t work! We have to warn the others in case something happens.”
Jason nodded and clicked his comm. “Heads up, we found a new Fear Toxin formula in our warehouse. Anyone else find anything?”
A crackling filled the comms and Hood frowned. “I don’t think anyone’s picking up my signal from here- something’s blocking it.”
Nightwing sighed and replaced the vials into the crate. “We’re gonna need help moving these; they’re heavy and incredibly dangerous. If we don’t get them moved, someone we don’t like may get their hands on it.”
Nodding, Jason grappled up to the roof again, before looking down to see Nightwing had walked back over to the crates, investigating.#
“Come on Wing, the sooner we get B, the sooner we can get the crates out of the way.”
“Yeah Hood, just hang on its… its making noise-”
Whatever he was going to say was cut off by an explosion. It momentarily blinded Jason and landed heavily on his back.
“Nightwing!” he roared, and scrambled back on his feet, jumping down into the smoky warehouse. A voice began to kick up all around him.
“Hello Bat Brats! This is going to teach you a lesson in touching things that don’t belong to you. Those crates were rigged so a small explosion would go off, activating my Fear Toxin! Have fun!” ” Scarecrow’s voice cut off the speakers and Jason’s gut churned when he realised it wasn’t smoke around him, it was Fear Toxin in a gas form.
Eternally grateful for his helmet, Jason turned on the heat sensors and saw Nightwing’s form curled on the ground, chest heaving in panic as he inhaled more and more of the toxin into his system. He ran over to Dick and tried to pull him up, but Dick hit him hard on the shoulder with a cry, making Jason stagger back in shock.
Dick pressed himself up against the wall, murmuring incomprehensible words as he followed Jason’s movements as he got closer.
“Hey, Wing, it’s me. It’s Jason, alright? I’m gonna get a bit closer to you. Dammit B, where are you?”
Dick shook his head, a whimper breaking from his throat as he gave a full-body flinch when Jason stuck his hand out. After a second, to Jason’s shock, Dick lashed out violently, knocking him to the ground. He scrambled after him but Nightwing was difficult to catch on a good day- add in fear-induced adrenaline into his body, there was no stopping him.
Jason was lucky that Batman had been expecting it. He caught Dick outside, trapping his legs before pinning his arms as gently as physically possible with him thrashing desperately in his arms, trying to escape. Due to them not knowing what was in the drug, they wouldn’t know what would be safe to knock him out with; so, they had to transport him back to the cave without Dick hurting himself in his fierce attempts to escape.
As the travelled back in the Batmobile, Dick thrashed around violently, pulling on the chains binding his arms and wrenching himself out of Jason’s grip again and again; his cries each time were heart-breaking.
“We need to strap him down” Bruce said, voice tight and full of pain as Dick let out a frightened sob, breathing stuttering as they bought him closer to the table.
“Please! Let go! Please, no! Don’t hurt me!” he screamed, chest heaving as he twisted his arms to get out of Bruce and Jason’s vice-like grips on him.
Jason bit his tongue as they pushed him onto the table, pulling the leather straps over his arms and locking them in place. Dick’s sobs echoed around the cave.
When Jason got to the computer, Tim was typing away, a vial of toxin in his hand. “It shouldn’t take more than five minutes, ten at the maximum, okay? The antidote will work immediately.”
After an excruciating seven minutes, Tim bolted towards Dick, syringe in hand and gestured for Bruce and Jason to help. Dick strained against his bonds, tears streaming down his face. Bruce held his arm down and Tim administered the antidote; Dick went limp not a second later.
The three of them sat in the chairs surrounding him, emotionally worn out from the ordeal. “Okay,” Tim whispered, “I think I’m going to work on a few cases now- it might help me sleep.”
They all knew it wouldn’t.
Bruce looked at Jason. “Cass, Steph and Damian apprehended Scarecrow. I’ll leave you with Dick.” He let a hand rest on his second eldest son’s shoulder for a second before leaving him in the med bay. Jason carefully undid the straps on Dick’s arms and legs before taking his hand in his.
“I’m right here Dickie, next to you. Always remember that.” He murmured quietly, letting his eyes rest on Dick before they closed of their own accord.
He woke up to the sound of movement; when his eyes snapped open, he focused on Dick’s red rimmed eyes.
“Hey” Jason whispered, squeezing his boyfriend’s hand.
“Hey” Dick whispered back, closing his eyes but not letting go of Jason.
Nightwing was back on the street of Gotham the next night.