The living room at Richard's house was quite crowded and he was surprised to see all of them there when he unlocked the door and stepped in. It was late night so at most he had expected only Jason to be there but right then, almost all of his close friends were huddled inside.

Helena, Barbara, Jason, Carrie and even Laurie; it seemed as if they were all waiting for him to show up.

His eyes flickered towards the clock and he took in a deep breath, shutting the door behind him and turned in the lock. Judging from all their expressions, he knew he was in for a serious discussion.

After revealing his identity to almost all of Gotham, Richard had disappeared. None of them knew where he went, it was almost as if he had vanished into thin air.

But in reality, he had intentionally dropped off the radar. He had several reasons for doing that; the foremost being that he needed to collect his cluttered self and for that he needed complete solace. Another reason was to avoid the heat of the situation temporarily.

Even though most of the people were on his side, he knew the authority figures would have a problem with him. Then there was the entire threat from the Court of Owls as well. And as he had to reveal his identity and they all knew who Batman really was, they could easily target him.

That night, it had been more than twenty four hours since he had been out of touch and right then as he had returned, he realized he should have expected all of them to be there, anticipating his arrival.

"Where were you?" Helena's sharp voice broke the silence.

He walked in, judging the mixture of expressions displayed in front of him. "Just away for a while... Had some unfinished business to tend to."

"Without telling any of us..." She was about to ask further but paused, "what unfinished business?"

"Nothing that important," he shrugged off the question, "have you all been waiting here for me since last night?"

"Almost," Jason remarked, "who gave you the idea to disappear right after pulling such a stunt? We thought you had been attacked or worse!"

"We thought we would never see you again," Carrie added, looking away right after and Richard knew her eyes had welled up.

Though his gaze focused on Barbara who hadn't said anything to him yet but it was evident that she had been very anxious for him.

At that moment, he felt bad that he had disappeared without warning and gotten all of them worried. He knew he shouldn't have done that.

But back then he had felt as if he would suffocate if he stayed in Gotham any longer. Even though he had kept his composure in front of the crowds when he had unmasked himself, deep down he had been nowhere near calm.

And if he returned in that state, he could himself be a risk to all those who were close to him.

Not that they would be in an ideally safe condition even after him staying away. But it was either he left himself or be taken away so he chose the option that caused less harm.

"I... I'm sorry..." He stated in a broken tone and though he was standing, Helena was the first to notice that he was going to collapse any moment.

She approached him immediately, holding his arms as he sank down to the ground. In a flash, the rest of them were crowded around him, evidently worried to see that.

"Back off," Helena spoke up, urgency clear from her tone, "he needs air. Step back."

Out of them all, Helena was the one who had known him the longest since she had almost spent her entire childhood with him at the juvenile hall. Right then, she could see that he was going through a panic attack or something even worse.

It had happened a few times before as well whenever he got too angered that it resulted in him losing control.

"Richard, breathe," she supported him and gestured Barbara to come closer.

Barbara had been shocked to see Richard in such a state because she had never before seen him go through such a severe panic attack. She sat down close to him, holding his hand in her own.

His hands were cold but the grip tightened on her palm and icy blue looked sideways in her forest green irises.

"Oh shit, he's bleeding," Jason remarked, eyes widening as he saw the trail of red.

Those four words were enough to send all of them in panic. Carrie and Laurie rushed to find things to patch him up while Jason followed Helena's orders, bringing a towel to staunch the blood flow.

Apparently he had been cut up in several places and Barbara was once again reminded of the night he had showed up in a dreadfully injured state at her doorstep.

Carrie and Laurie had brought the medical kit and bandages while Helena who knew she had to take control of the situation spoke up, "all of you go out. Only me and Barbara will stay here and look after him."

"But Helena..."

Her eyes flickered towards Jay warningly, "Jason, he's going to be fine. Now get out!"

With the three of them out of the house and probably going off to Laurie's place next door, Helena began to remove the armor that was strapped onto Richard's body.

She started to instruct Barbara as well and the two of them removed the layers of his protective suit so that they could see where exactly he was bleeding and then treat him.

"Those fucking Talons..." Helena hissed, seeing the sharp marks of daggers dented into his skin. To her, it was obvious that he had encountered the Talons again.

Or perhaps the Talons had ambushed him and reduced him to such a state.

Blood was dripping from some of his wounds while clotted on the rest. Very carefully, the two of them cleaned up his wounds while Richard himself had lapsed into an unconscious state.

Helena looked up at Barbara and paused, seeing tears streak down her cheeks as she was bandaging him. Her sharp grey eyes softened at the sight apnd she reached out, placing her hand reassuringly on top of hers.

Green irises met hers briefly but then Barbara retrieved her hand from hers, focusing on the task of patching him up.

Helena had known Barbara for more than five years and in that time she had come to the conclusion that the woman was indifferent to almost everything. No matter what the situation, it could never ensue an emotional reaction out of her.

But right then seeing her silently tearing up while bandaging Richard was a very unexpected sight for her.

Barbara Gordon always gave the impression that nothing could faze her, as if she could bear anything and everything without even blinking an eye. And it was quite expected of her since she was Jim Gordon's daughter, the best police commissioner Gotham had had so far.

However, Helena could see that despite how tough Barbara might seem on the outside, deep down she was a human too. A woman who had gone through a lot but never let it hold her down.

A woman who was just as involved in protecting the city as Richard and Helena were. A woman who was seeing the man she loved get fatally hurt several times such that there was no knowing whether he would come back alive or not.

It wasn't easy seeing people one holds dear get hurt for a cause. But then there was the entire city on stake. And Barbara, being Jim Gordon's daughter, would always put the betterment of the city before her own.

"Barbara," her tone was softer as she spoke, "we won't let him get hurt like this anymore. I promise."

"He went after the Court, didn't he?"

"Seems so," grey eyes flashed in indignation, "there's definitely a deeper reason why the Talons keep targeting him. And if we have to make sure he doesn't end up being killed by them, we'll have to get to the bottom of this matter ourselves."

She nodded, eyes flickering towards the clock, "I think we should call Jay now and move Richard to his room."

Helena stood up to go out so that the three friends could be let inside. Shortly after, Jay and the others came back in and they all helped in taking Richard to his room, being very cautious so that he wouldn't get hurt any further.

Helena was still pondering on the entire situation and she knew that sooner or later she would have to meet Lavina Vikander.

That woman was the only one who knew exactly what was going on and probably the only one who could have the answer to all the questions raging in her mind.

Though she knew approaching Lavina came with a price. But right then she had Richard's life at priority and wanted him safe, no matter what price she would have to pay for it.

***