Whumptober 2020: Day 30 - Now where did that come from?
Prompt: Ignoring an injury
Summary: Before he gets the chance to deal with some wounds, an emergency call comes in asking for Jason’s help. Deciding his injuries can wait he goes to help out, however considering his condition he doesn’t know how much help he’ll be until the pain becomes too much to ignore.
Enjoy! :D
He’s not even two steps into his apartment before he’s letting out a heavy sigh and slumping against the wall in exhaustion. Everything’s hurting and Jason wanted nothing more than to collapse on his bed and sleep for eternity.
Now he’s stopped moving he can feel his side throbbing, a pulse traveling throughout his body in repetitive painful waves that make him clench his teeth. Some asshat got a lucky strike in with a knife and now his left side has a nice size gash in it which is currently bleeding like a waterfall. That may be an exaggeration but Jason’s too tried to care.
At least he thinks that’s the worst wound he’s collected that night. He’s pretty sure there are scratches and bruises in places he didn’t know there could be. His hand is hurting too, but he doesn’t yet know the cause of that, it just twinges in pain anytime he clenches his fist. It’s also kinda hard to breathe, that’s either because of some potential cracked ribs he could have or because of the exhaustion, probably both.
Jason doesn’t know how long he spends leaning against the wall, having lost track of time, but he somehow finds the will power to push away from the hard surface and starts to trudge through his apartment towards his bedroom. Once there he’ll patch himself up and then pass out and deal with everything else later on.
As if being exhausted and injured wasn’t enough to be dealing with, when he’s no more than several steps away from the wall his phone begins to ring. Jason groans as he feels the vibrations of the device against his leg. Who the fuck was calling him at this time in the morning? And why were they calling him?
Fumbling around, Jason grabs the device from his pants and answers it. “What?”
“You’re needed,” Oracles voice tells him, “I’m sending you coordinates now, so get there as soon as you can.”
Jason’s mind takes a moment to catch up with what was being said, when it does he frowns into the emptiness of his apartment. “No. Get someone else to do it.” He’s whining, he’s aware of that, he sounds like a child but he doesn’t care. He’s too tired to be dealing with any more shit that night.
“Not an option. It’s an all hands on deck situation.”
“Well I’m busy.” Jason argues childishly.
“Batman’s orders, Red Hood.” Oracle snaps at him in that ‘no room for arguments’ tone of voice she has.
Jason sighs and silently curses everyone and everything. “Fine, whatever! You owe me.” He hangs up before she could reply.
He takes a deep breath and tries to mentally prepare himself for going back out in the field in his condition. He doesn’t know how much help he’ll be in a fight but if he shows his face then that’s something right?
Jason’s phone pings a moment later, a glance at the screen shows it’s the coordinates Oracle had been on about. He makes a note of the place and wills himself to turn around and head back out of the apartment he had only recently returned to.
His injuries will have to be looked at later on.
------
Even from a distance he could see the reason why it was a all hands on deck situation. There was a massive gang war happening right across the docks and Gotham Bay. He pulls up on his motorbike and stashes it in some alleyway out of sight and approaches the fighting from the ground.
Upon approaching, he spots Nightwing jumping in between scuffles of men. Red Robin was running around knocking men unconscious with his staff. Robin was violently tearing into thugs like there’s no tomorrow. Batman was fighting against Bane (how the hell did Bane get here?). Spoiler was grappling with Cheetah (again what the hell?) the two women slashing at each other to get the upper hand. Signal was ducking and dodging Poison Ivy’s giant weeds, trying to get his way closer so he could knock her out without being touched.
Jason watches for a moment, working out where he’s needed most. A few others in the family have other areas covered, different colour suits and gear letting him know who’s where, but he can’t work out where he should go.
How was he not aware of this battle happening, only having to hear it from Oracle minutes before? Why where there such a weird combo of villains together? Something bigger was obviously happening but what was it?
He doesn’t get the chance to try and work it out because a high pitched, accented voice was calling him out from behind. Jason turns around just in time to avoid being swept to the side by Harley’s mallet.
“Lookie here! Who finally decided to show up! Isn’t it my favourite Hoddie!”
Jason bounces backwards to avoid another swing of her mallet. Right of course Harley would be here, Ivy was here so course she would be.
He ducks and rolls to avoid getting hit a third time. Coming out of the roll, his side flares up in pain making him loose concentration and causing him to be unsteady for a moment, this provided Harley the perfect opportunity to actually hit him this time.
Jason grunts as the weapon collides with his side and knocks down to the ground, as his back hits the ground hard the air gets pushed out of his lungs. He's disoriented for a moment but when he comes back Harley is there above him raising her mallet to strike against his head. Thankfully his instincts kick in because he’s able to chuck her off him. The two of them quickly engage in hand to hand combat.
As time goes by Jason could feel himself starting to lag. His earlier injuries and exhaustion was catching up to him. One reaction too late, has him knocked to the floor and this time he doesn’t know if he’ll be able to get up again. His whole body feels tired and worn down, everything becoming too heavy too move.
Thankfully someone comes to his rescue. He doesn’t work out who though he does see Harley turn around shocked and as she unceremoniously collapses to the ground. That’s the last thing he remembers before sudden darkness washes over his vision.
------
When he wakes up, it’s to bright lights, a strong smell of antiseptic and a frowning Dick Grayson above him.
Jason groans and closes his eyes again, trying to shake the grogginess off from the drugs and work out what happened. After several moments he opens them again to the same sight as before.
“What happened?” He asks, his voice sounding rough and croaky.
Dick sighs and moves away from sight, only to come back again with a glass of water in hands. Before giving Jason the drink, Dick helps him to sit up against the headboard of the bed. Jason takes small sips of the refreshing water as Dick impatiently explains what had happened. The unusual impatience of his older brother tells Jason that there was something else he wanted to get off his chest, something more than just what happened at the fight.
Once he was done story telling Dick crosses his arms across his chest and glowers at Jason. “The injuries you received weren’t from the battle. They don’t match what Harley could have made, meaning you got them earlier in the night as you weren’t at the battle long enough to sustain those injuries.”
Jason rolls his eyes. “I got them earlier in the night yeah.” There was no point in denying it, it’s pretty obvious after all.
“Why didn’t you say anything! Why did you come to the battle knowing you weren’t fit to fight?” Dick shouts at him. Jason doesn’t take offence to it, he could see that the older man was worried.
“I did tell Oracle I was busy, but she didn’t listen.” Jason says factually.
“You didn’t tell her you were injured Jason. She wouldn’t have demanded you to join us of she knew that! What were you thinking, ignoring wounds like that? How can you be so stupid?”
Jason huffs, having heard all of this before just in a different time. “Exactly same reason any of us do Dickhead. There were more important things to take care of. Doesn’t matter now does it? It’s all been sorted, I’m assuming Alfred patched me up, and I’ll be back to normal in a few days.”
Dick sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose. When he looks at Jason again it’s with an expression of worry and concern. “I understand, I do. I just worry. When you fell unconscious and then we found that blood on you with no explanation if didn’t look good.” He pauses to take a deep breath. “But anyway how are you feeling? Everyone else is okay by the way, no injuries surprisingly besides your own. All the villains are locked back up and everything’s been sorted out.”
Jason shrugs, “Fine I guess. Achy, tried the usual. As I said, I’ll be back to normal in no time.”
Dick gives him an uneasy smile. “Right, of course. Sorry. I’ll go let Alfred know you’re awake and grab you some food while I’m at it, just please get some rest before you start trying to do anything else.”
“No promises.” Jason grins easily. Dick sends him a mock glare before turning around to leave the medical bay. Jason watches him go and once he's out of sight he slumps against the pillows. He was still sore and tired but better than that he previously remembers.
Recovery is going to be hell but he can handle, always has done. It’s just part of what they do. They get injured, recover, move on and the cycle starts again.