New Blood

Something Is Wrong

When Richard woke up the next morning he found his bed and the floor covered in junk food wrappers. He did hide a few snacks in his room but he didn't hide that many, some of them might have come from the kitchen but he didn't remember getting them. He also didn't think he should have been able to eat that much, yet for some reason he felt like he was starving.

So either he suddenly had a bottomless bag for a stomach or he hadn't eaten this food, he wasn't sure which one worried him more. He got up and went to his bathroom and realized he looked horrible, he was pale, sweating, and had just realized that he was shaking a little, and he felt dizzy now.

He chose to just splash some water on his face and brush his teeth, though he didn't do either one very well. He cleaned up his room while trying to not make himself dizzy, once he was done he went downstairs for breakfast. When he saw that Bruce wasn't there he turned right around and went to the batcave to get him.

He took the elevator down and he found Bruce at the batcomputer, "Bruce it's morning, did you stay up all night again?"

Bruce didn't look away from the monitor, "I have a lot of work to do."

"At least eat some breakfast before you pass out or something."

"I don't have time for that."

Richard got annoyed at that, this wasn't abnormal but that made it worse, he did this a lot and it both worried him and pissed him off. Then he felt something, like something was trying to make him move, and for a split second he felt like he wanted to attack Bruce. It was way harder than it should have been to run into the elevator and hit the button to go up.

He was actually trying to catch his breath after the amount of effort it took, when he got out of the elevator he just grabbed his jacket and left the manor. Something was wrong, very wrong, and he didn't think it was safe for him to be around anyone right now. He felt his phone buzzing in his pocket but he didn't check it, he couldn't talk to anyone right now.

But he was still hungry, very hungry, so he went to a store and got some food, it took every bit of restraint he had not to eat everything he saw right then and there. He found somewhere away from people and ate, he felt like he hadn't eaten in days, and he acted like it too. It was just a blur of eating and feeling like he needed more food, when it was over he felt like he was going crazy.

Last night was weird but he was acting weird and could barely control himself, hell he felt like someone was trying to control his body. His phone started ringing and he looked at it, it was Danny, he was about to answer it but he stopped. Danny would know that something was wrong, he'd come to find him and if he hurt him he'd never forgive himself.

He declined the call and stared at the screen, all he wanted to do was call someone and tell them that something was wrong. He wanted to tell Danny, he was the least likely to either brush him off or get freaked out, he'd probably been through weirder stuff. He stared at his phone for a while before he found himself looking through his pictures, he kept staring at the ones of Danny, he felt less scared now.

Meanwhile, when Danny's call was declined he knew something was up, missing his texts was one thing, it could easily happen. But declining his call on purpose was another, he was avoiding him for some reason and he wanted to know why. His immediate thought was that it was because of the fire but he doubted that, he didn't seem to want to leave him after.

So either something had changed his mind about the situation or there was another reason he was avoiding him. Toxin wasn't too happy either, 'Are we going to find him?'

"Yes we are, and we're going to find out what the fuck is going on."

Danny left the house almost immediately, he wasn't sure where Richard might be but he wouldn't find him if he sat there trying to figure it out. He'd been looking for over an hour when he started getting texts, Artemis, Barbara, Isabella, and Lucas were all asking if Richard was with him. Lucas had made them a group chat so he didn't have to respond to each individual person at least.

Danny texted back, 'He's not with me.'

Barbara responded, 'He isn't responding to my texts.'

Artemis chimed in, 'I haven't gotten a response either.'

Danny sighed to himself as he texted, 'He didn't pick up my call.'

Isabella responded, 'HE DIDN'T PICK UP?!'

Lucas texted, 'Okay so this is definitely not great.'

'Chill, I'm looking for him, and I will find him one way or another.'

Isabella texted, 'What if he's hurt, or got kidnapped?'

Artemis texted, 'If he got kidnapped it would probably be all over the news.'

Danny growled to himself just thinking about it, 'If he was whoever took him better hope I don't find out, otherwise Toxin will get to go on a rampage.'

Lucas responded, 'Danny, chill, he probably just doesn't have signal.'

Danny glared at his phone before putting it in his pocket and continuing his search and hoping Richard was okay. While he did Richard was trying to figure out what to do, it had been a few hours and he was already hungry. He had started walking around again and his stomach was growling, he really wanted to eat something.

He walked into an alley as he got dizzy again, there was a broken mirror on the ground and he looked at himself. He looked worse than he did that morning, then he heard a voice, 'Pathetic.'

Richard's face changed in the mirror and he fell backward, his heart was racing and he ran out of the alley. He heard the voice again, 'You can't run from me.'

He completely ignored the voice and kept running, he could feel something in his chest, like he was annoyed but it wasn't his annoyance. He kept running until he was out of breath, he was tired, and hungry, and all he could do was catch his breath and wonder what the fuck to do. Then he sensed something, he looked ahead and saw Phantom land in front of him, he didn't look happy.

"What the fuck is going on Richard?"

Richard stared at him for a few seconds, he was talking but it was like white noise to him, he ran over and hugged him tightly. Phantom was surprised, he was mad but when he realized Richard was shaking he found that he couldn't be mad. He hugged him back and Richard hugged him tighter, something was clearly wrong and it worried him.

Phantom rubbed his back gently, "You're lucky I care about you enough to not be mad at you for doing something stupid like this."

Richard laughed just a little, but it wasn't his usual laugh, it sounded like he was seconds away from breaking down and crying. Richard slowly let go of him and Phantom looked serious, "What's going on?"

Richard was about to answer when the voice in his head practically hissed, 'Don't tell him anything.'

Richard wanted to tell him, he wanted to tell him everything, but the way the voice spoke worried him. Richard couldn't even look at him, "I don't know, I have no idea, I feel like I'm going insane, and I'm worried about hurting someone. I got mad at Bruce and I wanted to attack him, and it was terrifying, and I didn't want to hurt you or anyone else so I ran."

Phantom clearly knew he wasn't telling him everything, but instead of questioning him about it he pulled him closer and hugged him. "You'll have to try pretty fucking hard to hurt me."

Richard hugged him back, he felt himself relax a little and he felt like he wasn't going to completely lose it at any second. Phantom rubbed his back again and Toxin spoke, 'Something is wrong, he is not telling us something, I have a strange feeling about this.'

Phantom would definitely agree, but for now he had to help Richard feel better, then he'd figure out what the hell to do, somehow.