Sick Bird.

31. Of Dogs and Archers.

Why Uganda?

That was always the haunting question, why somewhere so remote and improbable?

How did his son get a disease that originated from continents away?

Batman couldn't even bring himself to think about the how's, he knew he'd end up blaming himself and that would only waste time, time that Dick didn't have. The Dark Knight therefore preferred to focus on the 'why'. Why does Dick have the disease? Why didn't he notice? Why now?

It seemed to lead to the same conclusion as the how's though, because for all the state of the art equipment and statistics he had, all Bruce could see was that he was a terrible father and that was killing his son. He was nowhere near the cure, and Dick was getting worse.

"Somehow, I knew you'd be here."

It wasn't that Batman always had a scowl on his face, no, it was that people always caught him at bad times and apparently, every moment was a bad time. "What do you want Roy?" The Dark Knight didn't bother turning from his computer to face the intruding archer.

"How long are we going to lie to Dick?"

"As long as it takes." The billionaire vigilante answered coldly, glaring at the screen in front of him.

"And how long is that?" The footsteps that sounded closer with each step only proved to Batman that this particular archer was not planning on leaving anytime soon.

"I'm working." The bat did not answer the question.

"He's going to figure it out eventually."

Bruce let out a breath, finally turning to look at the flustered hero. "He already did."

Roy blinked once and silence settled over the batcave.

"Then shouldn't we-"

Batman turned around again. "He forgot."

"What do you mean he forgot!" The red clad archer threw his hands in the air, overly frustrated from the half baked answers he got every time Batman talked to him.

"I'm adding memory loss to his list of symptoms." The Caped Crusader stated with a blank face.

It took Roy ten seconds to cool down and process the sentence. "What!"

"Stop shouting," Batman brushed past the nearly convulsing archer to the batmobile. "You'll wake Ace up."

Roy shuddered thinking about the last time he had upset the batfamily's dog. "Hey, where are you going?" He asked as the terrifying dog owner jumped into the batmobile.

"To find some answers."

Roy didn't even bother rolling his eyes at the vague answer. "I'm going with you then."

"No you're not."

"I care about Dick as much as you do!"

"Fine," Batman said quickly, not in the mood to deal with a yelling teenager. "Just...Don't touch the car."

Roy sighed helplessly. "It was only one time!"

It wasn't that Batman didn't care about what Red Arrow had to say, it was just that he didn't really care about what anyone had to say at the moment. So it wasn't surprising that Roy was left coughing as the batmobile disappeared in a puff of exhaust smoke.

"You did that on purpose!" Roy almost cursed the older hero before he heard a low growl from behind him. "And I've woken up the dog." he sighed, looking like he was about to cry.

Slowly, Green Arrow's former apprentice turned around, raising his hands up as Ace prowled towards him. "Who's a good dog?" He gulped just as the batdog pounced. "Help..."

-

R. I. P  Roy. Well, this was a fun chapter to write, mischievous Red Arrow *cough cough* Speedy *cough* followed Batman, so naughty. And he knows Dick's identity? I felt he did in the previous chapters so there, I put it. The brother thing is so 😍. Batman has gone to find answers, but from where? Would Roy catch up to the Caped Crusader? Find out tomorrow on Sick Bird *cough* Bat Watch *cough*😋 {{sorry, I have a cold😉}}