Work Text:
It'd been over an hour, and yet they'd made no progress.
Nightwing had been hit with a drug on patrol, some concoction whipped up by the newest wannabe supervillain of the month. No one had taken the criminal seriously after he started ranting about how humans have apparently strayed too far from our roots, and how they should all give in to our natural instincts, to become one with animals in nature. All it really did was make Nightwing laugh right in his face, leading the Bats to their current predicament.
They had been lucky that Black Bat was nearby. She'd been able to grab Nightwing, who had fallen unconscious after being hit with the injection dart, and take him back to the cave quickly. They weren't sure what he'd been injected with, but Cass noticed he was running a fever, so after drawing some blood, they decided to place him in one of the emergency heat/rut cells, just to be safe. The cell had a large, one way, observation window- with shutters that could be closed at any time for privacy of course- so they could keep an eye on him without having to be in the room with him.
It had only been a few minutes since they placed Dick in the cell, Bruce typing away on the Batcomputer, Alfred cleaning up and disposing of the needle he used to draw blood, when Cass hurried back over from where she had been watching Dick through the observation window, and tugged harshly on Bruce's cape to get his attention. Her cowl was down so when Bruce turned to look at her, he could see the worry in her eyes. He wasted no time in following her back to where she had been watching Dick, barely suppressing the surprised gasp at what he saw.
Dick looked like a wild animal trapped in a cage, eyes blown wide, and darting around the cell. He had somehow managed to rip off both his scent patches, red welts around his neck evidence of his ineloquent attempts at taking them off, and part of his Nightwing suit, the top half shredded and hanging down from his waist, the bottom half the only thing protecting his modesty. The pillows and sheets on the bed had been thrown all over the floor, the small dresser in the room that contained materials for nesting had been completely emptied, its contents also spread all around the cell. The strange part was that Dick wasn't trying to nest with these materials; if anything, it seemed as though all of it had been rejected as potential pieces for his nest. It was obvious to anyone who could see Dick that whatever he had been injected with had thrown him into a fully feral state of mind.
This wasn't an incredibly uncommon event to happen to any Alpha or Omega in the 'hero business'; many things could cause this, whether it was physical trauma, mental trauma, magic, hypnosis, or some villain's newest concoction.
As difficult and inconvenient as it could be, there was a relatively simple way of helping the victim return to their senses, soothe their baser intincts and make them feel safe. The easiest way to do so was have the victim be approached by a member of their pack, let them smell them, recognize the familar scent. That usually calms them down. Though it will take at least a few hours afterwards for their regular mental state to return, it is imperative that the subject is calmed first, or else it becomes nearly imposssible to help them.
The only method more effective than using one's pack, was to use their mate instead, but Dick was an unmated, unmarked, single Omega, so this method was useless to them. All they had to do was have one of them approach Dick without their scent patches on.
Easy, right?
Wrong.
Bruce tried first; he was sure that, not only as a Beta, smelling of ink and old leather, but also as the one typically considered Dick’s parental figure, he'd have the best chance of success. This just resulted in Bruce getting claw marks across his face and what would have been a nasty bite wound on his hand if he hadn’t been wearing his Batman gauntlets.
Alfred went next, followed by Cass, as they were the only other ones in the Cave at the moment, but they were both also unsuccessful. Both Alfred’s calming slightly herbal Beta scent and Cass’ subtle earthy Beta scent did nothing but agitate Dick even further. Before calling in the rest of the pack to come to the Cave, Cass tried offering materials that held the clean laundry smell of Babs’ Beta scent. Though she wasn't directly pack, she was close with Dick, Cass used the materials knowing Babs was out of town with her father. All Dick did was give the same aggressive and agitated reaction, growling until the offensive clothing was fully removed from his cell.
When the rest of the pack arrived, Tim and Steph tried next. As two of the fellow Omegas in the pack, there was often an unspoken understanding and solidarity between them, but once again Dick wanted nothing to do with them, he just snarled and snapped his teeth until they left him alone.
Damian had been confident that he could be the one to calm the Pack Omega down, feeling sure that Dick would recognize him as his pup that he had claimed when Bruce had been lost. But he too was rejected, his recent presentation as an Omega seemingly overriding any possible recognition of Damian as Dick's pup.
No one knew what to do, Dick was crying and upset, ripping things apart, seemingly unable to build a nest he could be satisfied with. He was crying out and yowling the way a distressed Omega would to call their pack, or possibly their mate, but it made no sense, he rejected his entire pack and he had no mate to speak of!
He was clawing at the walls of the emergency heat cell, despite it being incredibly comfortable and spacious, crying, yowling, screaming for “his Alpha”. The sound of Dick’s cries cut right through everyone’s hearts, the noises of despair and longing almost too much to bear.
They were lucky that the cell let no scents leak through either side, because Dick’s Omega scent was burnt, acidic, and rotten with his overwhelming emotions. Every time one of them tried to approach him beforehand, they had to wear face masks in order to not collapse from how thick and pressuring Dick’s scent was in the moment.
They were starting to discuss the necessity of sedation when Red Hood suddenly sped into the Cave on his bike. Before anyone could question what he was doing there, he rounded the corner and his head locked onto Dick through the one way glass.
“Shit!” Jason muttered before starting to undress.
He immediately removed his helmet and leather jacket, ripped off his shirt and under-armor, along with the Bat-grade scent blockers. Everyone was too stunned to question what was happening. As soon as Jason was in nothing but his pants and socks- weapons, holsters, boots, and all, discarded- he grabbed his leather jacket once again, though not putting it on, and ran to unlock and head inside the cell with Dick.
This caused everyone to snap out of it, but they were all too slow because Jason already got in, and the door auto-bolted itself shut.
Jason stepped into the cell and rumbled loudly to interrupt yet another one of Dick’s desperate cries. Dick snapped his head in Jason’s direction, pausing for a moment, sniffing the air, before running up to Jason, practically throwing himself into the Alpha’s arms- his Alpha's arms. He started rubbing against the scent glands on Jason's neck, whimpering and whining the whole time.
Jason scented Dick in return, rumbling and crooning to soothe his distressed Omega. He showed Dick his leather jacket, Dick trilling in excitement and reaching out for it. Jason helped Dick put his arms through the sleeves, the jacket hanging off of the Omega due to being several sizes too big. It essentially smothered Dick in Jason’s scent, Dick rocking back in forth in one place, having shoved his face into the collar of the jacket, content for the moment.
While Dick was distracted, Jason grabbed all the nesting materials that had been previously discarded, and began to scent them. The Alpha started to hand the Omega the now scented materials, and Dick chirped with happiness as he was finally able to build a suitable nest, but in the corner of the room, instead of on top of the bed. Eventually Jason had scented a decent amount of materials, and Dick finished making a nest big enough for the both of them.
Dick crawled into the nest, slightly shifting things around, making sure everything was right where he needed it to be. Once he laid down, he realized that Jason had not joined him, causing Dick to whine and make grabby hands at the Alpha.
Jason, not being a monster, of course joined his Omega in the nest.
He wrapped himself protectively around Dick, running a hand through his soft hair. Dick started to purr loudly, eventually drifting off to sleep now that he felt safe and content in his Alpha’s arms.
Jason knew there were a million questions that would need answering, and that Dick would probably be incredibly embarassed and frustrated once he realized what happened, but that was a problem for future Jason. Right now, Jason just wanted to hold his mate, and maybe take a nap.