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synergetic2015-03-05 09:10 pm
decentdad) wrote in synergetic2015-03-05 09:10 pm
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"Do you see now what happened?"
Dick, very determined not to let on just how badly he felt, nodded briefly. "Still don't think I was wrong," he said, but Bruce caught his desire to save face and let him keep it. He was tempted to remind him that being right isn't always a defensible position, but it could wait. It was a conversation they'd had many times before.
"Go report in to the League," he said, neutrally. "Canary's on monitor duty for a little longer, she should be debriefing Wonder Woman now." Canary was much better at neutrality. Bruce's neutral was "trying not to be upset," while Canary's was more genuinely neutral. Dick would have an easier time talking to her (or Diana, for that matter) than anyone else.
"Right," he said, a little bit flat. "This is, um, still salvageable, right?"
Bruce hesitated-- and Dick knew him well enough to catch it instantly, so any thoughts Bruce had of sugarcoating the facts were quickly discarded.
"Salvageable," he agreed, after a moment's thought. "But that's not a guarantee, you understand. Nothing's certain."
"'Course not," Dick said, still more muted than usual. "You said Dinah and Diana were on the Watchtower, right?"
He didn't wait for an answer; he just spun and went for the exit.
For his part, Bruce didn't give him a second look. The Batman pushed opened the door to Omi's room and stepped inside.
Dick, very determined not to let on just how badly he felt, nodded briefly. "Still don't think I was wrong," he said, but Bruce caught his desire to save face and let him keep it. He was tempted to remind him that being right isn't always a defensible position, but it could wait. It was a conversation they'd had many times before.
"Go report in to the League," he said, neutrally. "Canary's on monitor duty for a little longer, she should be debriefing Wonder Woman now." Canary was much better at neutrality. Bruce's neutral was "trying not to be upset," while Canary's was more genuinely neutral. Dick would have an easier time talking to her (or Diana, for that matter) than anyone else.
"Right," he said, a little bit flat. "This is, um, still salvageable, right?"
Bruce hesitated-- and Dick knew him well enough to catch it instantly, so any thoughts Bruce had of sugarcoating the facts were quickly discarded.
"Salvageable," he agreed, after a moment's thought. "But that's not a guarantee, you understand. Nothing's certain."
"'Course not," Dick said, still more muted than usual. "You said Dinah and Diana were on the Watchtower, right?"
He didn't wait for an answer; he just spun and went for the exit.
For his part, Bruce didn't give him a second look. The Batman pushed opened the door to Omi's room and stepped inside.
1/2 (meanwhile)
Normally, he'd make Batman find him -- it was a
gametestgame they'd played since Dick was a child -- but he needed facial expressions to get his point across right now and vacated the shadow behind a door across the hall."You wanted to know if I could salvage it," he said matter-of-factly. "This is the only thing I could think of. Either he stays with us now, and we'll go from there, or he goes now, has some time to think."
"Not used to your plans being this open-ended," Dick said, skeptically.
Batman very nearly said something about how Dick had led them to this point, but, luckily, rephrased at the last moment.
"Either you trust me or you don't," he said loftily, and started to steer him out.