Everything hurt.

Dick took in a shuddering breath, grimacing at how even that simple action made pain shoot through his chest.

It was so bright, and he had yet to even open his eyes.

Maybe he could just go back to sleep...

No.

Slade would not approve of that, and Dick hated it when he made Slade angry.

Slowly, Dick forced his eyes open, hissing softly as the bright light stung his eyes. He lifted a hand to cover them, frowning when he realized that there was no mobility in his wrist.

He could hear someone moving around and then the lights dimmed.

With a sigh of relief, Dick dropped his hand from his eyes, brows furrowing in confusion as he noted the fact that his right hand and arm was in a splint all the way down to his elbow. He blinked; eyes still watery from the light.

Slowly, Dick registered the fact that there was a man in the room, standing by the door and what he could only presume was the light switch.

"Who... who are you?" His voice cracked, hacking coughs proceeding the question as pain flared in his throat.

Water.

He needed water.

Fortunately for Dick, the man seemed fairly aware, stepping over to a sink and filling up a small cup before moving to stand by his bedside. "Shh... just drink this. You've been out for a while. It's probably going to be hard to talk at first."

Dick took the offered water, gulping it down in a few quick swallows. If he was being honest, he was not exactly sure where he was or how he had gotten there.

Everything just felt so hazy and jumbled.

He hated it.

The man gave him a gentle smile, taking the cup and refilling it for him before he spoke again.

"So... you're probably wondering who I am and where you are, huh? My name is Bruce Wayne. I've kind of adopted you." The man... Bruce... rubbed the back of his neck in a slightly awkward manner, making it all too clear to Dick that this man did not talk to children often.

"Sorry about not discussing it with you first and everything, but it was a bit of an emergency situation. You needed surgeries that the government was not willing to fund, and the simplest option was to become your legal guardian in order to authorize it all."

Dick frowned. Something felt off about that answer, but at the moment he was far too out of it to care.

"Okay... Bruce... where am I? What... what happened?"

"You don't remember? That makes sense, I guess." Bruce frowned ever so slightly. He would have to talk to the doctors about the possibilities of the boy having memory impairments. "You were found in the hideout of a villain, Joker. Batman rescued you and brought you here, to Gotham Central Hospital. From what Batman and the police can gather, he was using you and others as test subjects for a new drug. Although what kind of drug is known."

Dick bit his lower lip as he nodded slowly, brows furrowing in concentration.

Right.

The plan.

He remembered Slade saying that he was being left with Joker, remembered Slade telling him that the set up would be perfect. From Dick understood thus far, this Bruce guy did not seem aware of the fact that he was not just a victim of crime.

He could use that.

"I don't... I don't remember," he mumbled, pouring all the pain and distress he was currently feeling into his words. Even to his own trained ears they sounded real.

Bruce nodded, giving him a reassuring smile.

The idiot bought it.

"That's okay. We can figure this out. I'll make sure that you have every support needed for your recovery."

If Dick did not know better, he would have thought that Bruce was acting almost guilty. But that was impossible. What would he have to be guilty about Dick's injuries?

"How bad is it?" He asked, struggling to sit up so that at the very least he could assess his injuries.

Bruce frowned, gently pushing him back down onto the bed. "No, don't move. I can raise the bed so you're sitting, but it's for the best if you don't try moving around too much yet. You've been here for about a month, so some things have healed but there was a lot of damage."

"Right... okay."

Dick sighed, falling silent as the man fiddled around with buttons on a small remote, the back of the bed slowly rising until Dick was sitting up.

"Wow. You weren't kidding. This is totally not asterous."

"It's not what?"

"Nevermind." Dick waved his hand absently before remembering that it was in fact in a cast. He glanced at his left hand, pleased to discover that that one seemed relatively okay.

Good time to be ambidextrous.

He flexed the fingers in his good hand, a smile tugging at the corners of his lips as he discovered that it was in fact functional.

After some toe wiggling and muscle tensing, Dick came to the conclusion that both his legs had probably been broken and were in the process of healing, although his right one felt a bit more mobile.

What felt by far the worst was his chest, each breath burning more painfully than the last.

"Do you feel ready for food?"

Bruce's voice startled Dick from his assessment and he quickly looked up, eyes widening as he realized that yes, the other male was still standing there observing him.

Cheeks flushing from embarrassment, Dick looked away again.

"I think so? I don't... I'm not sure when I ate last."

That at least was true.

He had been on a strict diet of starvation for weeks leading up to the plan's enaction. Sure, there had been some fruit thrown in here or there when his blood sugar dropped too low, but Dick really was not sure when his last meal had been.

"Alright." Bruce turned around and fiddled with his phone for a moment before turning back to look at Dick. "How would you feel about getting out of here?"

Dick blinked, eyeing his broken legs distrustfully. "Don't I have to be monitored or whatever?"

"No, they monitored you carefully as you were waking up. Besides, if something goes wrong, I can always bring you back. I just figured that you might want a more comfortable room." Bruce sounded unsure, his gaze fixed on Dick, eyeing him warily as if the boy might suddenly go rabid and bite him if he said the wrong thing.

Totally not good with kids.

"Not being in a hospital sounds nice." Dick agreed, giving Bruce his sweetest smile. This was going to be all too easy. The man clearly did not know how to handle children and Dick could easily use that to his advantage.

Bruce summoned a nurse and soon he was wheeling Dick out of the hospital and helping him into a sleek black car which was waiting at the entrance.

A friendly looking older man sat at the steering wheel.

"Richard, this is Alfred, my butler and longtime family friend. If you ever need anything, you can just ask him and he will assist you." Bruce explained, nodding toward the man.

"It's a pleasure to finally meet you, Master Richard." Alfred said, smiling at him through the rearview mirror as he pulled out from the hospital parking lot.

"Dick... you can just call me Dick."

"Alright then, Master Dick."

The rest of the drive continued on in silence, Dick's eyes unfocusing as he gazed absently out the window. He had barely done anything and already he felt exhausted.

Slade would be disappointed.

Dick barely noticed when the car came to a stop, only snapping out of his haze when Bruce came around to help him out of the car and into his wheelchair.

He blinked a few times, eyes going wide as he took in his surroundings.

"It's huge!" He gasped, tilting his head back to better take in the grandeur of the mansion in front of him. The building was truly massive, at least four stories tall with an impressive entryway and massive front door. It was practically a castle.

Bruce chuckled at his reaction, smiling down at Dick. "Ah, yes... welcome Wayne Manor, your new home."

AN:

I honestly can't believe how much writing I've been doing on this. I've written over 10,000 words on this story alone and finally being able to do it justice feels so great. Thankyou to everyone who has stuck through with this story since the beginning. Also to the new readers: I really appreciate your support. 

Also... I made a discord server! The basic idea of it is that I am trying to gather up other writers or people interested in writing and we can share and brainstorm ideas, thus improving each other's writing skills while also building a good community of support. 

Back when I first started writing this, my support group was a bunch of crazy Robin fans called the Circle of Crazy. It was wonderful, and while it's still around, I want to create a group that's more writing centered. Kind of like a sister group if you will. 

I had a rough idea for this back in the day, which then meant that people interested in learning became my apprentices. Except I was really young and didn't know what to do with them. 

I'm going to keep the Master/Apprentice thing mostly just because it's major Robin and Deathstroke vibes, but also for the nostalgia factor. That being said, I'd love it if other experienced Wattpad authors wanted to join in and also help mentor people interested in learning how to write better. 

Anyway... if this is something that any of you would be interested in joining, just let me know and I'll send you the link. 

-Sky out