Reconditioning

Exposure Therapy

-Conflict.-

Dick lay on his back, staring at the tiled ceiling. The manor was silent again, still, but the unending boredom from before had filled itself with something heavy and confusing.

Bruce's warning about Strange messing with his head flashed through his mind. It could be true, but it didn't feel true. Surely Dick would know if Strange had done something like last time, but there'd been no chemical fumes or hypnotism, and he didn't feel like he was seeing or hearing anything out of the ordinary. 

He rolled over on his side, staring at the wall. All Dr. Strange had done was talk to him and ask questions, he must be making a genuine offer. Worst of all, everything he'd said was sturdy, all the information backed itself up and it made sense.

Dick sat up, Strange's words bouncing around his skull: 'I can't do much good while I'm locked in here'. 

Dick got out of bed, pacing figure eights on the floor of his bedroom. Strange had been right about so much... was in possible he could follow through on his end of the offer? What could he do that would make Batman give him attention? Did Dick even want to know?

"Master Dick, are you planning to wear a hole in the carpeting?"

"No, sorry." Dick sighed, sitting on the bed again. "I guess I'm just tired."

Alfred let himself into the room and setting basket of clean laundry on Dick's bed, he then proceeded to begin folding this laundry. "I see you chose to stay home from patrol."

"I wasn't feeling well."

"Really? Then perhaps I should get the thermometer."

"No!" Dick assured, "no, it's fine." He lolled back in bed. "It's just..." He sighed again. "I'm not sure if I can trust someone yet."

"I suppose that depends heavily on who you're trusting-- and what you're trusting them with, of course-- not everyone who's seems trustworthy is. To quote Stephan Sondheim: 'Nice is different than good'."

Dick nodded. "And not all untrustworthy people are."

"Ah, well there's a mindset to be careful with, Master Dick, for in this world it is sadly safer to expect repeated offenses than sudden changes of heart." Alfred placed the crisply folded clothes into the chest of drawers. "Now, dare I ask who you're talking about?"

Dick hesitantly got up out of bed again. "...Thanks Alfred. I think I'll get changed and catch up with Batman."

But he didn't. As soon as he was out on his cycle, he was making tracks to Arkham.

He needed to talk.

No body seemed to be concerned by Robin barging into the institute and storming up to the residential suites in the middle of the night. Everyone was so used to Batman's odd hours and abnormal behavior that his preteen partner barging in didn't even raise an eyebrow.

Most of the staff at Arkham were just nurses and specialists who'd came to treat the unwell, not get caught up between Batman and his rogues, so Dick got away with nothing but a warning not to wake the sleeping patients.

Luckily, Strange wasn't asleep yet. 

"Four hours since our last session." He observed. "I wondered how long you'd last."

"I know what you want." Robin said. "You want me to let you out."

"That is a goal of mine, but not the ultimate one." Strange replied. "It would just make my other goals a lot easier if I was no longer residing in Arkham."

"So it's an escape plan," Dick said. 

"Hardly. I just need to move our sessions to a place that will make you feel comfortable and ready to accept information. No, leaving is not my end goal, I have more reasons to talk to you."

"How are you going to get batman to give me attention?"

"Patience, boy wonder," he said. "We'll start by gently introducing the idea: Who has the Batman's full and constant attention? His so called 'villains of the week'. You could learn a lot from their psyches; sometimes acting up is the best way to get attention, as a psychologist, I would know. Consider it bending the rules of good behavior for your own greater good. Just like the Batman would do." 

There was a slight chirp from the dashboard. Robin must have taken his bike out. Bruce's best guess was that the feeling of being left out had overcome the feelings of unwellness that had held him back in the first place. He didn't need Robin tonight, but after his talk with Alfred he was trying to make more time for them to spend together.

He waited a few minutes, still watching the hotel across the street. A few days back one of Penguin's goons had been spotted exiting, and he suspected it might be a base of operations for the gang.

After twenty minutes he was confused, Robin usually never dipped below the speed limit, being a bit of a daredevil, and traffic wasn't bad tonight, so how was the boy not there yet?

He checked the tracer on the bike so see how close he was. Fourteen miles? Not even the cave was that far away. He opened the map to see where the boy had gone.

Dick paced the cold hallway, frowning at the floor. So breaking out wasn't Strange's end goal... 

"Why do you want me to let you out?"

"Why, so I can take you back to my office." Strange replied. "So that you don't have to sit in that cold, concrete hallway while we're talking."

"Why do you want me to be comfortable?"

"Because you'll never make progress if you stay suspicious like this, if you want to improve, we have to make sure you're comfortable enough to trust me."

"I don't even trust you enough to let you out of that cell!" Robin exclaimed.

"Yet you don't distrust me enough to leave," Strange said. "Yes, I've been doing my best to leave you in a docile enough state to hear my plan, but you're still stubborn. I don't think I'll tell you how to get our mentor's attention until I'm certain you've been satisfactorily reconditioned out of your current beliefs."

Robin struggled to piece together what all those words meant. "No, no! tell me!" He fell to his knees by the meal slot. "Tell me!"

"Robin." The sharp voice snapped and echoed off the cement walls. Dick froze, blood turning to slush as he turned to face the shadow, still kneeling in front of the door. "What are you doing here?" Batman demanded, his voice filled with a accusatory tone Dick was not used to. "Didn't I warn you about strange?"

Dick's blood seemed to melt all at once as he stood, glaring up at his mentor. "Yeah, twice now." He didn't know where this sudden wave of irritation had come from, but he rode it. "Do you think maybe there's a reason I didn't tell you I was here?" Batman's eye slits dilating was his only reaction. He stepped forwards, grabbing Robin's shoulder. "Don't." Dick shoved his hand off. His blood had heated considerably, now simmering red on his cheeks. 

"Robin--"

"Don't!" He repeated, stomping his foot. "Seriously? The only time you bother about where I am or what I'm doing and it's now?" He shouted, forgetting the nurse's warning about waking the patients. His blood was boiling now. "Why? So you can yell at me? It's not my fault you never listen!"

"Robin..."

"I don't care! Ground me! You don't spend any time with me anyways!"

Batman's dark figure continued to loom above him. "Are you done?" He asked coldly.

Dick's lip twitched and his nose stung as he tried to hold in tears. He stormed past Batman for the stairs.