The Competition Mission Re-Write

Remains

I woke back up and instantly screwed my eyes shut to the blinding lights.
"Mr Grayson, you're awake," The doctor that I had last seen said as she came over, "I have good news for you."
"Is Alfred okay?" I asked, my voice raspy from disuse.
"Nothing has been permanently damaged and you should be back to normal in a couple of months," She continued as if I hadn't spoken, "When you can we need you to rest and for any continuous exercise you'll have to use crutches to support your leg. You may find yourself short of breath quicker than usual but that is just because of the puncture you had in your lung, but apart from a few other scratches and bruises you should be fine to leave by tomorrow morning."
"Is Alfred okay?" I asked again and the doctor just looked at me with pity, "Please, I need to know."
"He's still on life support at the moment," She said carefully, "His injuries are very severe as he had no protection on but the helmet you gave to him has stopped any traumatic head injuries."
"Is he going to make it?" I asked, praying to God's that didn't exist he would.
"We are not certain, he is currently comatose and is steady but he could go either way at the moment," She replied and I nodded to show I had heard.
It was my fault he was like that. If I had just drove faster, or been less cautious, or not stayed for that meeting or been a part of his life. The doctor seemed to take my silence for fatigue and so left me alone, which I really didn't need right now. But they were busy, more patients than doctors and I couldn't take up all their time. I dreaded to know how much this would cost though.
"Dick."
I opened my eyes again as Bruce came over and stood to the side of my bed.
"Have you seen Alfie yet?" I asked and he nodded, "How is he?"
"It's not looking good Dick," He replied as he pulled over a chair and sat down, "I should have been there. I shouldn't have taken the mission."
"How was the mission?" I asked, trying to distract him from his grief.
"It was a waste of time," He replied, "I should have been here, it's as if they knew exactly what was going to happen and who we are. They left a note saying 'Bomb's away.' I didn't know what it meant until I came back and saw the manor."
"It's not your fault Bruce," I replied, reaching out a hand and squeezing his, "You didn't know what was going to happen, and that mission seemed extremely important at the time. If anyone is at fault here it's me, I should have just got home when I was meant to and we could have been miles away when that bomb went off. Five stupid minutes."
"Don't blame yourself Dick," Bruce said, "It's never your fault. Never."
I didn't believe him but nodded anyway. A couple moments later a doctor walked in and ushered him away, claiming I needed to rest and that I was going to be released tomorrow anyway. After he was gone I just lay and watched the shadows move across the wall as the sun went through the day, it could have been worse.
I just had to remember it could have been worse.

I arrived back at the manor the following day, we were told we had to collect our things, anything we could salvage and they would keep it in a warehouse until we found a proper place to stay rather than the hotel we had been put in. As long as we paid the fees of course.
"Are you sure you're okay on that leg?" Bruce asked for the hundredth time as we approached the driveway.
"I've been through worse," I smirked back, but I could begin to feel it throbbing and the weight I was putting on my shoulder also sent the bullet wound into minor pain.
"I don't care if you've been through worse," Bruce said sounding like a proper father, "If it hurts you sit down and our team will do your bit."
"Team?" I asked.
"I'm known as the largest funder for the Justice League," Bruce said, a hint of a smile on his face, "You think they wouldn't send their proteges to help with clean-up?"
"Ugh," I groaned and as if they had been called the Young Justice landed the bioship and came down to meet us.
"Hello, we are the Young Justice team and our mentors have sent us to help you with collecting your stuff," Kaldur said as he came over and shook Bruce's hand.
"Thank you," He replied, putting on a smile, "We were told that we would be getting help. If you could just help us sort through everything and see what is salvageable, we'll put it by the front door," He indicated the end of the gravel which would have led to the front door.
The destruction wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be, yes, the manor was destroyed and there was no way we were going to live in there, but parts of the kitchen still stood and the back wall was still standing holding up a part of the roof, but it looked like it could collapse at any moment. Apart from that and a few of the foundations still standing, it was an insanely large pile of rubble, and some Cottonwood trees randomly scattered by the storm. The Olive trees, however, seemed untouched.
"Hi, you must be Richard," I looked over at M'ggan as she came over.
"And you're Miss Martian," I said as I shook her hand and we continued up the drive to the manor, "I've heard all about you and your team. It sounds ast-awesome."
"It is," She replied, "But I bet your life is way cooler. Apart from this obviously," She added on sheepishly.
"I guess," I replied and didn't have a chance to continue as Wally came over.
"Hi Richard, I'm Kid Flash but you can just call me KF for short," He said, "It's great to meet you."
"Hi," I replied, acting taken aback, "Thank you for coming down and helping out today. I'm sure that there are much cooler things you could have been doing today."
"You mean not helping out you?" KF scoffed, "Nothing is cooler than that."
I smirked a little at that and we arrived at the actual house. I couldn't tell what was what really, but you could tell where the bomb went off. It was like a fire had raged in that one spot at full blast and then spread out as it slowly died. If I hadn't gotten back...no, no I can't think like that.
"Meet back here in two hours for food," Bruce said and we all separated to search for anything that remained.

When we got back together not much had been salvaged. The first place I had looked was where my bedroom used to be, but it had been burnt away. I spent five more minutes looking for my poster, holding back tears, it could have just been blown away in the blast, but my search was fruitless. There was nothing else worth saving in there. Instead I went over to the partially still standing kitchen and looked through the cupboards for food that hadn't been cooked and didn't come up with much. I dumped the food on a blanket near the front door and sat down, stretching out my leg which had begun to cramp up. Another hour and a half everyone else came over and sat down.
"Did you find it?" Bruce asked, knowing that the poster had been everything to me.
"It's gone," I replied and he came and put his arms around my shoulder, my tears finally flowing, "It was all I had left of them. Why is it gone?"
"The world is an unfair place Dick," Bruce said, "Fortune favours the fortunate, and that does not seem to be us."
I couldn't reply to him, instead I just gripped him tighter and held on. I pulled away after a couple more minutes and wiped my eyes, I could not be seen as weak in front of the team, but I could feel their pitying gazes on me already, at least when I went with them and hid myself they wouldn't judge.
We ate the makeshift meal I had brought together and a proper meal that the team had brought for all of us making small talk and then went our separate ways, it would seem there was not much to salvage. Bruce and I headed down the driveway back to the car, him carrying my hoop which had somehow survived, and a couple of paintings. But worst was the image he had of his parents the night they were killed, it was in the living room when the bomb went off, and now it was gone. I had been selfish not to check on him, but he said he was fine now I asked and I knew not to push. From what we had we didn't bother going to the warehouse but straight to the hotel room where I was forced to rest and Bruce went down to the hospital to see Alfred.
Please, at least let him still have Alfred.