If You Could Turn Back Time

Ch 22

"This is it," Fate said, hovering his hand above Dick's chest. "This is the end. I estimate that he has 1-2 days left if we're lucky."

Bruce took a shaky breath, a feeling starting to gather deep within his chest that he couldn't quite describe. "We have to save him," he said, clenching his fists in determination. He wasn't about to loose Dick right as he got Jason back.

"Bruce," Clark said, trying to calm the man's Daddybats side. "The only way we can save him is to find Salt... and nobody has any idea where he is."

Bruce glared at Clark before turning to Barry. "Star labs could retask their satellites to search for energy that matches what Dick is giving off right?" He asked.

Barry scuffed his toe against the floor. "Theoretically... but when we tried that before the energy was too weak..." he said.

"I think it's plenty strong now," Bruce replied, looking back down at his son who was still glowing.

Dick's face looked so peaceful lying there on the med bay's white bed, but his silence seemed so wrong...

"I'll have to take him in..." Barry said, trailing off when he saw Bruce's tiny nod. "Be back in a flash."

There was a gust of wind, and then both Barry and Dick were gone.

A few minutes later another gust announced the return of Barry and Dick.

"They're looking," Barry said. "If the satellites pick anything up they'll let me know."

Bruce let out a tense breath and nearly fell into the seat next to Dick's bed.

"We have a good lead... we'll find him," Barry said, trying to reassure his colleague.

Bruce took a deep breath, glad that no one could see the tears gathering in his eyes from under his mask. "I'm scared," he finally mumbled.

Barry's eyes widened... he had to have misheard... Batman doesn't get scared.

"I'm scared that I'll loose him again," Bruce finished, watching the gentle rise and fall of Dick's chest. "And if I do it'll be all my fault... I was the one who pushed him away, and I was the one who he used his magic to save."

Barry didn't quite know how to reply, so he was glad when he was interrupted by Tim and Jason entering the room.

"How is he?" Jason asked quietly.

"Stable for now... but... but if we don't get Salt to reverse this then he's not going to wake up," Bruce said, his voice hitching.

"But we just got him back," Tim said, his voice thick with tears.

"I know..." Bruce said, resting his head in his hands.

"Isn't there anything else we can do?" Jason asked, looking over at Barry.

Barry shook his head sadly. Unfortunately there wasn't anything that any of them could do.

—

The call came at 2:47AM. The star labs satalite had gotten a hit on Salt's location.

Bruce immediately called in the rest of the league. Of course he'd prefer to simply work alone, but he wasn't going to take a chance on not capturing Salt.

Tim was tasked to watch over Dick while the rest of the leaguers climbed aboard various ships and set off to find Salt.

It had only been about a half hour when Dick's vitals began to drop. His breathing became uneven and ragged, and his blood pressure started to slowly drop.