Dick woke up the next morning expecting to be freezing, but found that he was not. He had two extra blankets on his bed, but he didn't remember putting any on his bed last night. 'Maybe Bruce put them on when I was asleep and then turned up the heat.'

He looked over at his clock and it read six forty-five. He closed his eyes again as he tried to convinse himself to get up so he wasn't late for school again, but he opened them again when he heard a knock on the door. "Dick?" It was Bruce.

Dick got out of bed and walked over and opened the door enough to peek out. Bruce was standing there with a small smile on his face. Dick smiled back then opened the door all the way and walked over to his dresser to get dressed. Bruce walked in and sat on Dick's bed and watched him change his shirt and put on pants. "How are you feeling this morning?"

"A lot better. I know you were worried about the Portal Gun doing something to me, but I think it was just a dud. I haven't turned into some portal or sent anyone away yet," Dick replied with a teasing smile as he grabbed his shoes from inside his closet then went and sat on his bed next to Bruce to put them on.

Bruce chuckled. "Well, that's good. Listen, I came up to tell you that I'm gonna be late getting home tonight."

"You're not going out without me tonight, are you?" Dick asked tying his last shoe.

"No. I'll be home in time to swing by here and pick you up," Bruce replied smiling.

"Good," Dick said. He grabbed his book bag and coat and headed for the door. Bruce stood up and followed Dick out.

"I also have a meeting this morning, so I won't be able to take you to school today."

"That's ok, Alfred can take me again," Dick said as he sat down at the table. Alfred sat a bowl of oatmeal down in front of him.

"Ok, I got to go. See you tonight," Bruce said as he turned to leave.

"See ya, Bruce."

Once Bruce was gone, Dick dug into his oatmeal. He ate in silence for about fifteen minutes then turned to Alfred. "Come on, Alfred, I don't want to be late again."

Alfred picked up Dick's now empty bowl and looked down at him confused. "Late?"

"Yeah, remember? I was a little late for school yesterday."

"Oh, ok, then let me go grab my coat," Alfred replied and left the room.

Dick smiled and grabbed his coat and book bag and went to the car. Alfred showed up a few minutes later then they headed off to school.

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Bruce walked in the door and saw Dick sitting on the couch watching TV. "You ready to head out, Dick?" he asked walking up behind him.

Dick turned off the TV then stood up and looked at Bruce. "You bet!" he answered a bit louder than he intended.

Bruce chuckled then they both headed to the study where the elevator to the Batcave was.

When they got down to the cave, Dick ran out of the elevator and did a few flips toward the suits. Once they both got their suits on, they got in the Batmobile and headed out to patrol the city.

After about an hour, Robin was really bored. There hadn't been any criminal activity since they got into the city. He went over to where Bruce was standing and sat down. "Anything yet?"

"No," Batman said simply.

Robin sighed. "I hate nights like these."

Batman turned his head toward him and smiled. Before Batman could respond, an explosion caught both of their attentions.

Batman shot a line over toward the explosion site and jumped off. Robin did the same. "It's about time," he said before he jumped.

They found the explosion came from the Gotham First National Bank. Three crooks were stuffing money in to duffle bags and not paying attention, so Batman and Robin easily snuck up on them.

They caught the first guy off guard and he went down without a fight. He was out cold. The other tow was not so easy. They both pulled out guns and started firing at Batman. They ignored Robin, which was a big mistake. While they were distracted, Robin got up behind one of them and round house kicked him in the back.

The guy feel on the ground, and after a few more punches from Robin, was out cold too. That left one more.

The last guy kept firing at Batman while Robin took out his pal, but as Robin stood over the other guy, the third guy came up behind Robin.

"Robin, look out!" Batman yelled as he started running toward the two, but he was too late.

The guy hit Robin in the back of the head with the butt end of the gun and Robin went down. Batman came up to the guy, spun him around, and punched him so hard in the face, that he could've sworn he felt the guys nose break.

With all three crooks taken care of and tied up, Batman knelt down next to Robin helping him sit up. "Robin, are you alright?"

Robin looked up at Batman grabbing the back of his head. His vision was blurry and he could see three Batmans. "B-batman?" He tried to focus, but he lost the battle. He fell forward into Batman's arms unconscious.

BBBBBBBBBBBBBBB

Dick once again woke up in his room, but it was dark this time and cold again. 'What is it with Bruce and turning down the heat?'

He looked over at the clock and saw it was two-thirty in the morning. His head still hurt like crazy, but he stood up anyway. When he stood up, he felt a wave of dizziness hit him and he swayed a little. He closed his eyes and tried to steady himself.

After a few more minutes, his head finally stopped spinning and he opened his eyes. He then continued to the door. He opened it and stepped out into the hall. He then went down the stairs and toward the study.

He didn't feel so well, and he needed to hear from Bruce that he was going to be ok.

'First I get shot by that Portal Gun, now I go and get a concussion. I'm sure Bruce just loves me by now.'

He stepped off the elevator and walked over to Bruce, who was typing on the computer. "Bruce, my head's killing me."

Bruce didn't turn around, didn't even stop typing. Dick came up beside him and placed a hand on Bruce's shoulder. Bruce stopped typing and looked over to Dick angry, which made Dick jerk his hand back and take a few steps back.

Bruce stood up and started walking toward Dick. "I thought I told you never to come down here again! I thought I taught you a lesson about bothering me with your wants and your needs this morning!" Bruce yelled at him now very angry.

Dick's eyes went wide as he backed up away from Bruce and into a wall. "I..."

"You're what? Sorry? You didn't mean to? You thought that just because your head hurts you could bother me?" he yelled stopping right in front of him making an escape impossible.

Dick was speechless and frozen in fear. He couldn't believe what he was witnessing. He'd never seen him this mad before, except whenever someone tried to hurt him, or threaten him, but that wasn't the thing that surprised him the most. After Bruce finished yelling, he slapped Dick so hard across the face, it made him fall to the ground.

Dick stayed on the ground, but looked up at Bruce, very surprised, holding his stinging cheek. He couldn't believe that Bruce just hit him. He still couldn't say anything. He didn't know what to say.

"I guess I'm gonna have to give you another lesson," Bruce said as he picked Dick up off the floor.

Dick started struggling against Bruce's grip, now very afraid. He knew that if he could get out of Bruce's grip, he could run back up to the house where he would run to his room and lock his door.

Bruce didn't have him up in the air, but he did have a vice like grip on one of Dick's arms. The next thing Dick knew, Bruce was punching him, and not playfully either. He was punching him in the gut several times, but because he had a strong grip on Dick's arm, Dick stayed standing.

After that Bruce finally let Dick drop to the ground, but it didn't end there. Bruce started kicking him in the gut, the legs, the face, the head, and the back. Dick tried not to scream, but every blow hurt worse than the last and he couldn't keep it in. He was screaming and crying and trying to stay conscious, but was losing.

The entire time, Bruce was screaming and yelling things like at him, "You're nothing! I don't care if you're hurt! You don't come down here and interrupt me for something as stupid as you being in pain! You deserve to be in pain! If you ever come down here again, I promise you'll get a lot worse than a beating!" along with other things.

After about ten more minutes of beating and yelling, Bruce finally stopped and walked back over to the computer. Dick just laid there crying. He couldn't move. The darkness creeped into his field of vision then finally engulfed him.

Dick opened his eyes, his head screaming at him. He didn't know how long he had been out, but looked around the best he could and saw that Bruce was nowhere in sight. He knew that he needed to get back to his own room so he slowly sat up and leaned against the wall. He hurt everywhere. His head was pounding so hard that he expected it to explode at any time. He couldn't see straight and he fell out of the elevator and up the stairs several times before he finally made it back to his room.

He finally made it to his bed and literally fell onto the bed. It felt amazing not moving with his face in the blankets, but he knew that he had to lay flat or he would be even sorer in the morning. He let out a few hisses and a couple screams as he moved, but finally made it under the covers. He was just about to close his eyes and be consumed by the darkness that was begging to take him over again, when he looked over to the open door he forgot to close and saw a silhouette of someone standing there.

Dick started to panic, thinking Bruce had come back and was going to beat him again. The person got closer then turned the lamp on that was on the night stand next to Dick's bed. "Master Dick?"

Dick let out a breathe he didn't realize he had been holding then immediately regretted it as pain shot across his chest. He looked up to the man next to him. "Al..." He tried to speak, but his voice cracked and his throat was sore. He then remembered that Bruce had, at some point in the beating, choked him as he yelled and hit him. That and all the screaming and yelling really took a toll on his voice.

Alfred's eyes went wide. "My word! What happened?" he asked when he pulled back the blankets. He then began examining the boy. There was blood everywhere; soaked into his PJ's, all over the bed, on his blankets, in his hair, and all over his face.

"Bru... Bru..." He just couldn't get anything to come out, it hurt so much.

Alfred stopped his examination and looked at the boy's face sadly. "Master Bruce did this to you?" he asked, but it sounded more like a statement than a question. Dick just nodded and hissed again. Alfred sighed and continued checking the boy out. "Why did he do it this time?"

Dick was a little surprised and confused by this question. 'This time? Bruce has never hit me like this before. Why would he think...?' Then it hit him. Bruce hitting and yelling at him, Alfred's calm but sad reaction to the beating. 'The Portal Gun...' He had been sent to another dimension after all. 'But then why was he so nice to me this morning?'

"Master Dick?"

Dick had been staring past Alfred this whole time. "So... ry... ca... ca... ve," he tried to get out.

Alfred sighed again. "I thought you learned not to go down there after the last time," he said as he pulled a light pen out of his pocket and checked Dick's pupils. Dick flinched, closed his eyes, and turned his head which made him his in pain again at the sudden movement. "Sorry, but I need to check your pupillary reaction," he said as he turned Dick's head carefully back so he could see his face.

Dick still flinched, but let Alfred check his eyes. His head was screaming at him, and the light wasn't helping, but he knew it needed to be done. Once he got the light out of Dick's eyes, Alfred turned and left the room only to return a few minutes later with a wet rag and some bandages. He then used the rag to clean off the blood and the cuts the best he could then took the bandages and wrapped the more serious cuts.

Dick was losing the battle of staying awake. Alfred sighed again when he looked over and saw Dick fast asleep. Dick had a few broken ribs, a fractured right leg, his left arm was broke in two places, had a nasty cut on his forehead, and a concussion. He was surprised Dick made it back up the stairs and was even awake when he got here.

Once he finished wrapping the boy's arm, leg, and head, he covered Dick up and started heading toward the door. He knew he would have to come in and wake the boy up to make sure there was no brain damage. He turned back around before he left and shook his head and sighed in disappointment. He wasn't happy that Bruce had become this way. He wasn't always like this, but after that run in with Two Face a few years ago, his personality became darker and more violent. Alfred was surprised when Bruce took Dick in, but then he found out why he really took the boy in.

Again Alfred sighed then walked out and closed the door behind him to let Dick sleep, until he had to come in and wake him at least. He knew this wouldn't be the last time Bruce did this to him, but hopefully he would wait until the boy was healed enough to take another beating.

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