Diabolical | T. Drake ✔

[15] Witch Doctor

By the next morning, Jason was feeling much better so he asked Alfred to let him leave the med bay. And though the elder man agreed, he insisted with him to at least stay for breakfast.

Jason didn't refuse as no matter what, he still respected Alfred a lot so he followed him up to the manor. Ever since he had gained consciousness, Bruce had kept out of sight and only Alfred and Richard had stayed with him and kept checking on him frequently.

Breakfast was laid out already on the kitchen counter and thankfully Bruce wasn't there, instead, Richard was pouring coffee into the mugs aligned in front of him from a thermos while a girl with blonde hair and bright green eyes was sitting on the stool beside him, eating her share of waffles.

She had turned to look at Jay curiously, whereas a smile spread on Richard's face to see him.

"Jaybird! Come have a seat," he called him over, his smile widening as he pulled out a stool for his brother, "how are you feeling now?"

"Much better," Jason sat down, ignoring the girl on his far left.

"Hi," she spoke up, "I'm Stephanie."

He nodded but didn't look at her, feeling her curious gaze on him still as he filled his plate with food.

"Stephanie became part of the family a few years ago," Richard was keeping up the conversation as usual and Jay's ears perked up when he mentioned Tim, "she's not technically adopted by Bruce, but will be staying with us for as long as she likes."

"Yeah, I don't do foster families," Steph added, "I might put up with Bruce as a guardian but as a Dad...? No thanks."

A small smile flickered on Jason's face to hear that remark and he finally tilted his head to look at her, "wise decision I'll say."

He was expecting to see Tim there too but there was no sign of the boy. 

So he turned to face Richard and asked, "where's that boy I saw yesterday?"

"You saw Tim?" Richard was unaware of the whole Tim sneaking in to inject Jason with a tranquilizer.

"If that's what his name is. The boy with curly hair," Jason added, "he injected me with something last night that Alfred said was a painkiller but I'm not so sure about that."

"No, he did not," Steph tried to cover for him, "you must have been hallucinating."

He raised an eyebrow, "I might have broken his hand as an aftermath. It wasn't a hallucination."

"My hand is perfectly fine," Tim's voice came from behind, startling them as he came up to the counter, "good morning."

He took the seat next to Stephanie and Richard noticed the bandage on his hand. "Tim, what happened yesterday?"

"Nothing," he replied, taking the coffee cup that Steph filled for him. He saw Jason at the breakfast counter as well so he nodded in acknowledgment, "hi, Jay. Hope you're feeling better than earlier."

"Okay, will anyone explain what's going on? What happened to your hand and why would you even try to inject Jay with something?"

Tim and Steph exchanged a glance then the boy decided to tell their elder brother the truth, "well, long story short, I thought of helping Jason and made a tranquilizer for him. Don't worry the one I made did not paralyze him. It just worked as a relaxant, right Jason?"

Jason looked a bit taken aback, "you made that thing? How?"

"Just concocting potions in my lab," he replied with a slight smile.

"In other words, he's a witch doctor," Steph added.

"I prefer saying I am a toxicologist but fine, whatever. Witch doctor can do for now."