Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Wally didn’t know how long he was in the Speed Force. It was difficult to process everything he’d seen, it was all to fast.

He doesn’t remember much before seeing his uncle in the Speed Force, arm outstretched for Wally to grasp.

It was a strange feeling, going faster than basically reality to a dead stop. He still didn’t feel grounded. He was vaguely aware of Barry talking to him, but Wally couldn’t focus.

He looked around, he didn’t recognize the room they were in, there were other people in the room with them, but he didn’t care because he saw her.

Her blonde hair was loose, and back to the length it was when they were young, her face full of shock and disbelief, and her silver eyes full of tears.

“Artemis.” He breathed.

She slowly approached, the tears spilling down her cheeks.

Wally reached up running his fingers through her hair, using his other hand to wipe the tears from her face.

He kissed her. That's when everything settled inside him, when he felt grounded.

“If you ever do that again…” She whispered.

“I know.” He answered before she could finish.

He looked around, there weren’t a lot of other people besides Artemis and his uncle.

He saw Kaldur behind a console, M’gann and Conner behind him against the wall, to his left Roy (the clone Wally assumed as the original was super douchey) uncrossing his arms, and Bart stood in front of Roy vibrating in place from excitement.

Wally looked around, someone was missing, Artemis seemed to sense his worry and confusion squeezing his hand and giving him a sympathetic look.

He knew Dick.

Dick was his best friend, he was stubborn, and impulsive, and would’ve been front and center for something like this.

Wally looked at Artemis.

“Where’s Nightwing?” He asked.

“Wally.” Kaldur began stepping towards him. “No one has seen him in eight weeks.”

Wally raised an eyebrow. “Eight weeks?! What do you mean eight weeks?!”

Kaldur shook his head. “No one knows what happened, it could be nothing.”

“Don’t bullshit me.” Wally practically snarled. “You don’t even believe that.”

“No.” his head dropped “No I do not.”

“It’s not like we’re allowed to look into it.” Conner told him. “We’ve been prohibited by Batman.”

“Of course you have.” Wally sighed, defeated.

“You haven’t.” Artemis whispered to him.

“That’s a real small loophole.”

She gave him the ‘Worth a Shot’ look.

“You could always ask Red.” He heard Roy tell them.

All eyes were on him.

“Look none of us like being sidelined, okay?” Roy continued. “And he loves a good loophole.”

“Okay, where is he?” Wally asked.

“Oh, I’ll find him.” Bart announced before dashing off to find him.

“Who’s Red?” Wally asked.

“Robin,” M’gann told him. “He goes by Red Robin now, as he’s not Robin anymore. We haven’t me the the new one quiet yet.”

“Why isn’t he Robin anymore?”

“Uh, we don’t actually…”

Before she could finish, Bart came back with another person.

“Found him!”

The other person was Tim. He looked tired and worn and a little startled by his sudden trip.

He looked around, until his eyes landed on Wally.

He managed a weak smile and wave.

“Hey, glad your back.” Tim told Wally. “I’m guessing Bart didn’t bring me here to celebrate your return.”

“We’ll leave you alone.” Barry decided.

Everyone filed out, including Artemis after telling him they’d talk later and giving him a reassuring hand squeeze leaving just Wally and Tim.

“Where’s Dick?” Wally began once the door closed. “Kaldur told me Dick’s been missing for eight weeks.”

“Yeah, he was.” Tim sighed.

“Was? Where is he now?”

“Okay before I say anything, don’t think I don’t know about the loophole, it’s the only reason I’m being straight with you. Anyway we found him three days ago, he’s in the cave now.

“Is he okay?”

Tim shook his head. “No and he won’t be for a while.”

“Can I see him?” Wally asked timidly.

Tim contemplated his answer.

“You, uh, you might not like what you see.”

Wally could hear the sorrow in his voice, that made him second guess his desire for more insite. It went away fairly quickly.

“Please.”

Tim sighed. “Fine, but just you.”

Wally followed Tim down a hall to a Zeta Tube, inputting a code activating one to go to the Batcave.

“Since when are the Zeta Tubes in the Batcave?” Wally asked

 “Since a year ago.” Tim explained. “Dick thought they’d be a good idea. Bruce agreed, begrudgingly, after a crapton of security was put into it.”

“So I can’t just visit any given Tuesday?” Wally joked.

Yeah, no. Not unless you want to get shot, stabbed, or beaten.” Tim smiled.

Tim gestured to the tube and Wally stepped through.

He blinked. He’s been in the Batcave a total of two times. Nothing had changed.

Slowly he stepped forward. Wally saw a few projects in the works in various locations, one of them included a suit with red wings extended outward with gold plating on the ends with the actual suit being extremely similar to Tim’s Robin suit.

“What’s that?” Wally asked Tim.

“A side project at the moment. This way.”

Wally followed him around the computer down a hallway he didn’t know existed. He saw a large window with a couple of chairs in front, one of which was occupied.

It was someone older than Tim, with his feet propped up on the other chair. He looked familiar. Steele blue eyes, raven colored hair with a small white section in the front. He was staring into the room, his eyes full of concern.

He turned his head to look at them, then it dawned on Wally.

“Jason?!”

He grinned at Wally’s revelation, which quickly vanished.

“We can discuss my ‘livingness’ later. What are you doing here West?”

“He came to see Dick, Jay.” Tim told him, gesturing to the window Jason was sitting in front of.

Wally slowly approached the window, and what he saw was going to give him nightmares for along time.

Dick’s hair had grown into his eyes, he was white as a ghost, deadly thin, they had covered his forearms in white bandages and gauze, he was covered in bruises, burns, and cuts, he had purple veiny design on his left arm reaching up over his shoulder and onto his chest, he was fidgeting with a silver container in his lap, his knees were drawn to his chest, and he was trembling.

“What happened to him?” Wally asked putting his hand on the glass.

“It’d be easier to explain what didn’t happen.” Jason told him

“He was kidnapped by the Court of Owls.” Tim explained. “As for what they did and why they did it, the one person who can tell us, well, he can’t.”

“What’s he holding?”

“A flask of water.” Jason told him. “He ripped out the i.v. we had on him so this was the best second option. Especially since he’s a threat to himself and other people.”

“So far the answers he does give, vague as the are, are only given if Jason asks the questions.” Tim sounded a little bitter when he told Wally this.

“We don’t think he believes he’s home. He’ll ask me about some knife occasionally. We’re kind of out of options.”

“And it’s not like Demon Spawn is very helpful. Damian seeing Dick like this, he isn’t coping well with any of it.”

“Who’s Damian?” Wally asked, figuring he might already know the answer.

“Me.” Say a voice from behind him. “And who the hell are you?”

When Wally turned around he almost jumped out of his skin. There was a ten year old kid standing two feet from him.

He was like the other two people in that he had raven colored hair and blue eyes. In all honesty he looked like the kid version of Bruce Wayne, he even had the patent Bat stare.

“Wally. But, uh, saying ‘me’ doesn’t really answer my question.”

“Former Kid Flash,” Damian pointed to Wally than to himself. “Robin.”

“Ah, you’re Robin.” Wally noted.

“Have been for eight month.” He explained.

“Great, now I’m all caught up.” Wally retorted sarcastically. “I want to talk to him.”

“I don’t know…” Jason began to protest.

“He could if you went with him.” Tim suggested.

“You’re the boss.”

“He’s not the boss.” Damian protested.

“You’re certainly not.”

“No. He is.” Damian pointed to Dick.

“And he can’t right now. And you know as well as I do how the chain of command goes. Bruce, Grayson, then guess what Drake. Which I’ll admit, begrudgingly.” Jason finished.

“Tt”

Tim looked at Jason. They seemed to be having a silent argument. Apparently Tim won.

“Fine.” Jason yielded, rolling his eyes.

He stood gesturing to the door.

Wally followed him through into a small room between the first door and the security door leading Dick’s cell before turning towards him.

“Don’t expect much. Okay?”

Wally nodded.

Jason then opened the security door stepping through with Wally in tow, hoping for the best.

Chapter Text

“Hey Dick.” Jason began, keeping his voice calm.

Dick didn’t look up, he was far too engrossed with the lid to the cup of water Jason had given him earlier. He didn’t seem interested in opening it.

“I brought an old friend of yours with me. You know the one who got sucked into the Speed Force, well they got him out."

No response. Jason expected nothing less. Dick may only answer when Jason asks the questions, that didn’t mean he answered very often.

Wally remained silent. Jason did have to look at him to know how upset Wally was, he could practically feel Wally’s depression towards the situation.

He nugged Wally, silently suggesting he try something.

“Dick?” Wally began.

This seemed to spark some interest in Dick because he looked up, not at them, just up from the lid of the cup.

“You’ll, uh, you’ll never guess what happened today.”

Nothing.

“Well, Barry got me out of the Speed Force. I’m just as fast if not faster than him now.” He laughed weakly.

Still nothing.

“You know Barry has a family now, and if I know Artemis she won’t want to go back into retirement. So maybe I should be the Flash now.” He tired.

And nothing.

Jason put his hand on Wally’s shoulder. “Do you want anything? More water, some food, a shirt maybe?”

Jason tried Dick shook his head. A response. Not a verbal one unfortunately.

“You really should really eat something.”

“No.” His voice was quiet and raspy. “No more.”

Jason sighed. “You’re home. You know that right?”

His attention went back to the lid of the metal cup.

Jason noted it was still full. He hadn’t drank any of it.

“No more.” Dick mumbled.

“No more what?” Jason tried as he crouched to get eye level with him.

Dick looked at him. His normally bright blue eyes filled with his annoyingly playful nature, were now dull with a gold luster.

Jason didn’t know much about the Court of Owls.

What he did know, Talons had gold eyes. His weren’t quite there yet, but it was bothersome that there was any.

Talons were the Court’s enforcers. Jason remembered an old nursery rhyme Dick had told him when Jason had first gotten to the Manor to scare him.

Beware the Court of Owls

That watches all the time,

Ruling from a shadow perch,

Behind city, wood, and time

They watch you at your hearth,

The watch you in your bed,

Speak not a whispered word of them,

Or they’ll send the Talon for your head.

Jason had a hunch, and he didn’t like it.

Dick shook his head, as if unable to answer the question.

Jason didn’t push it. He looked at Wally.

“C’mon.” Jason whispered, as Dick’s attention returned once again to the lid of the cup.

Wally seemed like he wanted to protest, but smartly opted not too.

They stood between the cell and the hall where Tim and Damian were. Wally looked pissed.

“Care to talk about it?” Jason asked.

Wally looked at him, lost for words. “I hate this, you…” he stopped, “There’s gotta be something your not doing.”

Jason wasn’t proud to admit it, that set him off. He was tired, stressed and hungry. He knew Wally was angry at the situation and how helpless he’d suddenly become. But it struck a nerve. He can say he did not punch Wally, despite desperately wanting too.

“You think I’m not doing everything in my goddamn power to fix this shit?” Jason growled. “If you could do better, than by all means. You think I don’t want to fix this? He won’t eat, drink, or even sleep. For god sake he still thinks he’s with the fucking Court. I hate this, don’t think you’re the only helpless one.”

Wally stepped back. Jason felt slightly guilty for jumping down his throat.

He sighed.

“Go home. We’ll, uh, we’ll keep you posted.” Jason told him. “When he starts talking and getting back to his old self, you’ll be one of the first people we call.”

He nodded, and followed Jason out into the hall.

Tim took Wally back to the Zeta Tube to approve his transport, while Jason sat back down in his seat.

The room they’d put Dick in had security cameras. The problem was, when he got back, he attacked and caused himself a lot more physical damage. He and Tim had decided it would be best to keep Dick at arm's length. Just close enough to keep him within their grasp in case he did anything but far enough for the same reason.

“You should rest Todd. I can stay.” Damian told him.

Jason shook his head. “No, he’ll need a sedative soon, you know I’m the only one who can give it to him.”

“Then move your feet, I’m going to stay too.”

Jason obliged and Damian sat himself across from Jason. They sat in silence. Dick didn’t move or look around. It was bothersome. Dick’s normal charismatic attitude and charming nature completely washed away leaving an empty malleable shell to be conformed to whoever found it first.

Jason knew he couldn’t go after the Court, not alone and not yet. But he wanted too, this was someone he’d looked up too and owed a lot to. He wasn’t letting this go, not easily at least.

“Do you think he’ll ever be himself again?” Damian asked, his voice soft and timid.

Jason was taken back. It was easy to forget how young Damian actually was.

“I don’t know.” Jason replied his voice just as soft. “We can only hope for the best, but you know I’m not very optimistic.”

“We should call B.” Tim told the two of them as he walked back towards them.

“And tell him what?” Jason asked.

“Everything. Starting with the fact we found Dick. He might be able to fix all of this. We obviously can’t.”

“I’m not calling him.”

“Fine, I will.” Tim said and walked off probably to do just that.

“I’m gonna give Dick his sedative so he’ll sleep than take a shower.” He told Damian. “Get me if anything happens.”

Damian nodded in agreement.

Jason looked back into the room. Dick had leaned his head against the wall. He was staring straight ahead, looking defeated. Jason had no idea how they would ever get him back to his old self.

He'd hoped to see some sort of progress by now. But there was nothing. He didn't want to consider the idea he was just too far gone. That they had been too late.

But at the same time Jason knew he was the only one who could.

Chapter Text

When Wally got back Artemis was waiting for him.

“Hey.” She greeted

She read his face, she was good at figuring out how he was feeling just by looking at him.

“Everything good?” she asked.

Wally shook his head. “No, c’mon it’s been a long day. Let’s go home.”

Their trip home was silent. They used the Zeta Tube to get to the city and walked the rest of the way.

Artemis hadn’t really changed things in their apartment. Same couch, same table, same pictures in the same place.

“You didn’t change much.” Wally told her.

“No, I never really wanted too.” She replied.

He collapsed on the couch. “So what’d I miss?”

“You don’t want to talk about…?”

“No, not really.”

“Well we have a new base. It’s called the Bunker. It’s near the cave. We still do most of our operations and coordination out of the Watchtower, but a good portion of the team still needed a place to live. The League had some apartments set aside, and that worked for a little while, but enough of them were minors so it wasn’t ideal. Dick, Kaldur, and a few of the League members established the Bunker. Does basically everything the Cave did but now actually underground with quite a few upgrades.”

“Cool stuff. What else is new?”

“Nelson Mandela died, there’s a new prince in London, selfies became huge, and everyone got addicted to Candy Crush .”

Wally gave her an annoyed look.

“What?” she asked, “You asked what else happened. Those are some other things that happened.”

“Seriously, though.”

“‘Seriously though’ nothing else really happened. Not to us anyway. I think there was a new Batman for a little while but the old is back like nothing happened. So what did Tim let you in on about Dick?”

Wally sighed. “Well, he’s not missing. Not anymore.”

“What?”

“Yeah, it’s uh, it’s not good. He isn’t himself anymore.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means the Court of Owls broke him. That’s not even all of it.”

Artemis urged him to keep talking. He hesitated.

There was a reason Dick being found, Jason being alive, and who the new Robin was being kept under wraps. But this was Artemis. He told her everything. He trusted her with his life, it felt weird to keep it from her but he didn’t want to cause more issues.

“I really shouldn’t talk about it.”

She looked away. “Why?”

“If you haven’t been let in on anything, than that probably means you aren’t supposed to know.”

“And your great at keeping things to yourself, especially huge things.”

Wally rolled his eyes. “I really shouldn’t.”

“You will anyways.”

He sighed. “You remember the second Robin right?”

She nodded. “Jason? Yeah he was killed by the Joker. What about him?”

“Yeah he’s not dead anymore. I’m not sure how that’s even possible. He said we could ‘discuss his livingness’ later.”

She blinked. “They faked his death?”

“I don’t think so.”

“Than he faked his death.”

“I don’t think that’s true either.”

“Wally people don’t just come back from the dead.”

“I know. I haven’t gotten any details. I just know he’s not dead, not anymore at least.”

“Interesting. Anything else? How about the new Robin, have you met him?”

“Yes.” He told her blankly.

“What’s he like?”

Wally shrugged. “It’s not like we had a long conversation. Though I think he should probably be knocked down a few bars.”

“Why.”

“I just feel like he thinks to highly of himself. Cockyness can get you killed.”

“You’re not wrong. But maybe he just gives off that vibe.”

“Maybe, but you haven’t met him. I think he’s just like that.”

“So… When did they find Dick?”

“Like three days ago.”

“Three days ago?!”

Wally nodded. “Before you ask do remember the state he’s currently in. I think Tim wants to avoid unanswerable questions.”

“Like is he going to get better?”

“Maybe.”

The word left a bitter taste in his mouth. The reality was, even with how little he’d seen, he knew this was going to be a difficult uphill battle for a very long time and that’s if he actually can get better. Wally knew Jason, Tim, and Damian had the same idea in the back of their minds. Their brother might just be too far gone.

Wally shuddered, “Seriously let's change the subject. How long have I been gone?”

“Almost three years.”

He blinked. Had he really been gone that long? On the one hand it felt like he’d gone in the Speed Force earlier today, on the other it had been an eternity. It was still really hard to judge.

“I threw myself into the Team. As more of a distraction I suppose, helping others and doing good, it helped me move forward with life. Dick on the other hand left the Team and went under the radar, to work through it on his own I suppose, and he never really did rejoin the Team when he did pop back up. It was more like Roy, he was on his own but he wasn’t unreachable. He did a lot for the Team. I think he had plans on rejoining but too many things kept happening.”

“Like what?”

Artemis shrugged. “I don’t know. I don’t have that level clearance. Everyone else got better with time, I don’t think anyone got over it. Not really anyway.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Stop. You helped save the world. It’s the only reason we’ve made any ground on anything. None of us would be here if it wasn’t for you. So don’t feel sorry. Now that your back, we can finally work towards really big things like defeating the Light.”

“Well that’s something.”

“I’m working on being more optimistic. According to Gar, I’m really bad at that.”

“I can’t say I disagree.”

“Maybe tomorrow I can show you the Bunker.”

“No, Barry texted me earlier saying he wanted to talk to me about something.”

“Any idea about what?”

He shook his head.

“Well what should we do. The night’s still young. We could watch a movie, go out and eat something, party.”

Wally looked at her. Neither one of them had been into the party scene. Not that they had any time to do so before retiring, even after it always struck them both as a stupid idea. There was always something better to do that be at a rager.

“Nothing exciting. I think I’ve had enough excitement.”

She laughed. “To last a lifetime?”

“Nah, with our luck, like a week or too.”

“So movie than. What do you want to watch.”

“Surprise me. There’s a lot I haven’t seen, so I have a lot to catch up on.”

Artemis nodded. “I have a few options.”

 According to Damian, Jason was taking a break supervising Dick. Which was fine by him.

Saying Tim was stressed, was a very loose term. His brother, who was supposed to be in charge when Bruce was gone doing god only knows, was in a catatonic state unable to comprehend anything other than his own breathing.

He’s also trying to keep up with the patrol schedule, work on his new suit, and somehow magically work school around all of this.

Being homeschooled made it a little easier. After everything that happened Damian became Robin and Dick was Batman, he would’ve dropped out had this arrangement not been established. Things got ‘better’ when Bruce got back, well sort of. Better than they had been.

Tim had sent Bruce a message saying he needed to get home ASAP. Tim couldn’t go into too much detail because the message could be intercepted and, there was just to much to tell. Easier to explain everything when B got back.

Tim sighed leaning back in the chair in front of the Batcomputer (Dick had so lovingly named). All he could do was sit back and wait.

He could continue working on his suit with this spare time. It was almost finished, the only problem were the magnetic gauntlets which attached the wings to his wrist enabling him to fly, sort of. They’d been giving him issues. Short circuiting and burning his skin. It could be quiet hindering when your fighting Riddler or Scarecrow or any of Gotham’s insane criminals/terrorists.

He could also do some homework. He was already fairly well ahead in his curriculum. Whenever he sat down to do it, he did a lot in one sitting. Just in case something happened that would prevent him from returning to it for a little while.

He could sleep.

That seemed like a real winner. Tim couldn’t remember the last time he’d had a good night's rest. Only sleeping for a few hours here and there. Tim remembered it'd gotten so bad once, Dick had locked him in his room until he’d slept for a reasonable amount of time.

That had been a few months ago. He’d threatened to do it again on various occasions, as had Jason. Alfred would just spike his food, he was caring like that.

Part of Tim wished Alfred were here as well. He might’ve been able to get a handle on this situation, but he was in London doing something Tim couldn’t remember.

Alfred hadn’t been home when Dick had been taken, Bruce had decided (stupidly but Tim wasn’t going to argue) that Alfred would be left out of the loop. So everyone, shockingly followed that order and didn’t breath a word of the situation. It’s not like is was public information.

Tim had told the team he was doing undercover work in a classified location. After about three weeks people began to see through the lie, as Tim was not maintaining it very well. The public eye had been easier to deceive, claiming he was in a poor country helping those less fortunate. It wasn’t a stretch. Dick did stuff like that in Gotham and Bludhaven anyways, so him deciding to go further was totally believable.

Still he hated this lack of motivation to do anything. He’d been taught from a young age to always keep busy, wasted time was a waste of resources. They were plenty of things for him to do, cases to solve, things to work on, even a bed to sleep in, or a real meal to eat. He just couldn’t find a good reason to do any of them.

Tim closed his eyes, second mistake. The first one was sitting in the chair and getting comfortable.

Before he knew it, he was asleep. And sleep in his current level of stress meant extremely vivid dreams.

The three of them were looking down a crisp clean white hallway, Tim didn’t know where to begin.

Jason had found a possible lead a week and a half ago, he and Tim followed it and here they were. In the basement of one of the Court of Owls secret headquarters. Tim was shocked they’d made it this far without being caught.

They were talented, but Jason wasn’t known for his stealth, and Damian wasn’t known for his patients or compliance. But here they were, staring into one of the worst places to possibly be. The Court’s labyrinth.

When Jason had found that lead, Tim had been quick to figure out as much as he could about the Court. The Labyrinth was one of their worst weapons. If you could navigate it the rumor was you could escape.  But they never put people in here unless they were close to their breaking point. The walls, ceiling, and floor were the same blind and pristine shinny white. Tim felt like he need sunglasses just to walk in.

The idea was they would go insane before they would reach the end and boom, they had a new owl. Only Tim didn’t feel like that was the case here. You didn’t kiddnap someone of Dick’s caliber and make him a mindless zombie. You take someone like him for his instinct or skill set.

“Well we’re not going to get anywhere by just standing here.” Jason told them as he began to march into the labyrinth.

Damian didn’t hesitate to follow Jason in, Tim on the other hand was.

Like he said, the Labyrinth was one of the last things that happened to their captives. A sane person could navigate it, but not easily. This could take them days. Days that could be spent searching literally anywhere else.

“How do we even know he’s in here?” Tim asked.

Jason stopped and turned to look at him.

“It’s not like we have many options.” Jason told him. “Eight weeks is a long time Red. We have to move quickly, he might not have much time.”

“Which is why I’m saying we should have all our bases covered before devoting so much time and energy and have it all be for nothing.”

Damian groaned. “We don’t have time for this. Hood is right, Grayson is running out of time. Either follow us or don’t, I don’t care. My gut says he’s down here, that we’re close.”

Tim knew where he was coming from, because something in him said the same thing.

“Fine.” Tim yielded, following his brothers down the long white corridors.

It felt like endless walking. Miles and miles of white hallways. They weren’t getting anywhere, well it didn’t help that everything looked the same. It was hurting his eyes. He understood how someone could go insane in here now, he felt like he was, he couldn’t imagine someone at the end of their rope.

He sighed, leaning against the wall, the other weren’t too far behind him. He wanted to just collapse and take a breather. This was so mentally taxing. That was the point. They’ve picked away at your physical self now to squash the mental aspect.

That’s when Tim saw it. A jagged scratch in the wall.

He walked up to it his arm outstretched he ran his fingers along the mark, it was shallow. He looked around the corner and saw another scratch fairly similar. He turned another corner, there was another. One was happenstance, two is coincidence, three was a trail.

He turned around to get the others, when alarms blared ringing his ears. It had been completely silent, so when the alarms went off he had to pry himself from the ceiling.

Jason and Damian had also been just as startled by the loud noise. All three of them had crouched low hand over their ears, though Tim could understand how that would help anything in Jason’s case. He had that helmet on.

“This way!” Tim shouted ready to follow the recently discovered trail, when a knife impaled itself in the wall a millimeter from his face.

The three of them ran down the hall avoiding knives and owls.

Tim and Damian dove behind a corner to provide cover while Jason ran ahead around the next corner.

“C’mon, we have to keep moving!” Tim told Damian pulling him up .

They found Jason, who had found Dick lying in a pool of his own blood.

Jason was frantic, applying pressure to Dick’s wrists. Tim realized he’d slit them open. Dick had given up, if they’d gotten there any later he would’ve bled out and died.

Damian ran past him, to help Dick. He pulled a roll of gauze from his belt and began wrapping the wounds.

Tim stood frozen. He couldn’t believe it. Dick was one of the strongest people he knew, if Dick could be driven to believe he would never be found or get himself out, and that death would be the only option. Well Tim couldn’t imagine what they’d done to him. A knife cutting through his sleeve slicing the skin underneath forced Tim to remember they were in a life or death situation

Jason threw Dick’s arm over his shoulder and hauled him upward.

“We need to get him out of here. Where’s an exit?” Jason asked.

“You know this is the Labyrinth right?” Damian shot back. “It’s not designed for an easy escape!”

Tim looked around. He saw a bloody knife about seven feet away. He picked it up stowing in in his belt than considered his options for escape

Tim knew going back wasn’t a viable option, too many owls out for their heads and the process of them getting down here and been just that, a process. There was absolutely no way they could do that again with Dick in this state. But Damian was right, they didn’t know where they were, and that was really unfortunate as going forward was the only option that had any probable chance of survival for all four of them.

“Anywhere is better that here!” Jason decided as he trudged down the hall, Dick in tow.

While Jason was definitely the tallest of the four of them Dick wasn’t short. None of them could pick him up over their shoulder or in their arms,

Tim and Damian held off the Owls while Jason pulled Dick down the hall.

His mind went into the autopilot. The owls were zombies, they could take the kill shots and keep going. So Tim was doing just that looking for chinks in the armor that would cause fatal blows in a normal person and aiming his attacks with the bo staff and baterangs, Damian was following his lead with his katana. It was the only thing having any effect. He did notice it was getting easier. Which was never a good thing.

“Is anyone else noticing it’s getting easier?” Damian asked.

“Don’t jinx it!” Jason shouted, he had his gun out. Firing it left handed at the owls’ heads, he knew the kill shots were the only thing keeping them alive

“To late!” Tim told them.

It was the Talon.

Something else Tim had discovered during his crash course on the Court, there was this assassin owl called Talon. Talon’s were on another level of crazy, they were elaborate fighters. Extremely dangerous, and Tim knew he didn’t possess the skill set to properly fight one off.

He hoped between him and Damian they could hold Talon off long enough that Jason could get Dick out of here.

It pulled swords from it’s sided and charged. Damian deflected the blow, barely. Tim threw a batarang at the armor which Talon brushed off hitting Tim with the side of the sword as opposed to the blade.

He was taking it easy on them, on him. Why?

“We need to blow the tunnel.” Tim told Jason. “Please tell me you have some explosives.”

Talon slammed Damian into the wall, then tried run Damian through with the sword. Well he missed because Damian threw himself from the blade than kicked him in the chin.

“I never leave home without a good bomb.” Jason told him rapping his knuckles on the side of his head.

Tim raised an eyebrow.

“The helment’s got a hell of a radius. It’ll do the trick with the right kind of charge. We just need to get clear.”

Jason raised his gun from his side and began to fire it at the Talon.

“You need to plant it. I’ll keep moving with Dick.” Tim told him.

Jason shifted Dick’s wight onto Tim. He mentally noted how much lighter Dick was, a least a good fifty to sixty pound.

Tim began to haul Dick down the hall.

He set him down around the corner and looked around. None of them were going to be able defeat the Talon. He not only out skilled all of them, like the owls he could take the bullets to the head and other fatal actions. The only thing they’d done is piss him off. That was only going to get them so far.

Jason shoved Damian back.

“Here catch!” Jason told the Talon as it stupidly caught the helmet Jason threw in his hands and took off towards Tim. Damian seemed to get the idea diving around the corner where Tim and Dick were prepared for the blow.

Well Jason was right, it had quite the radius. It knocked the lights out and collapsed the tunnel between them and the Talon.

They sat there for a minute, gathering their barings.

Shakily all three of them stood up. Damian pulled a flashlight turning it on.

Dust hung in the air. It was silent again.

Jason pulled Dick back up.

“C’mon, lets get home.” He told them.

Tim bore the weight of the other side.

Damian walked in front lighting the way.

The Labyrinth was silent again. Huge bombs tended to do that. He thought back to when Lex Luthor had dropped the Live Bomb on Bludhaven. Everyone had been concerned that Dick was in the city when it happened. He hadn’t been, he’d been heading back when the Live bomb had been  dropped. He got caught up in it’s radiation, they still had to rescue him but it was something he could walk away from.

The tunnel’s current state forced Tim to once again recall the destruction of Bludhaven. Pitch black, dust hanging in the air, the smell of smoke that choked you if you weren’t careful, and how dirty everything became. The silence was unnerving, it made the hairs on the back of Tim’s neck stand on end, it was the type of silence that could suffocate you.

He readjusted Dick on his shoulder.

“Let’s stop.” Jason decided.

“We can’t stop for long Todd.” Damian told him. “The Owls might get through.”

“I’m aware, but he’s getting heavy.”Jason gestured to Dick. “Even with Tim helping it’s still a long walk with a good hundred pounds between the two of us.”

“Grayson doesn’t weigh so little.”

“He’s lost quite a bit of weight Dami.” Tim interjected lowering Dick to the floor.

Jason slid down the wall he’s leaned against. His eyes closed. Tim basically collapsed. He sat leaning against the wall facing Jason. He could fall asleep here. But that was dumb, they weren’t safe yet.

Tim glanced at Dick, his breathing was short and shallow. He’d lost a lot of blood, and he was still losing blood, though it had slowed. He didn’t have much time, they needed to get out of here.

That’s when Jason suddenly sat up. He turned to look at the wall he’d been sitting against, running his fingers along the cracks.

“What are you doing?” Damian asked.

“This is an outside wall.” He murmured.

“That’s not possible. We’re underground.” Tim told him.

“Not anymore, there’s air coming through these cracks.” Jason replied.

“How big was that bomb you were wearing on your head?” Damian questioned.

“That’s what you’re going to question? Instead of how we’re going to blow a hole in the wall?” Tim asked.

“I have more bombs.” Jason told him blankly.

“Of course you do.” Damian whispered to himself.

“The integrity of the wall is already shot. I won’t take much to break open the wall and…” Jason was cut off.

“And have the ceiling cave in on top of us.” Tim interjected.

“You have a better idea?” He snapped

Tim shook his head, pulling the cowl from his head and unfastening it from his neck.

“What are you doing?” Jason asked him.

“It’s December, we’re in Canada, and I don’t think the clothing Dick has is going to keep him warm. What do you think I’m doing?” He replied flatly.

Tim worked the cape around his neck fastening it. It fit Dick, he was too thin.

Damian copied, which earned him an eyebrow raise from both Tim and Jason.

“I will be fine. I’ve climbed mountains in the middle of blizzards with less. He has severe hemorrhaging and a lack of body fat, he cannot handle the temperatures outside.” He told them

“Thank god for League training.” Jason replied sarcastically. “Go over there while I blow a hole in the wall.”

Jason made an intricate design of bombs and wires along the cracks in the wall then joined Tim and Damian. He blew it up, and they climbed out.

The walk to the batwing was uneventful and cold, they trudged through snow a foot high. Tim felt like his toes and fingers had frozen. He couldn’t feel his face, his cowl would’ve been helpful, but Dick needed it more. They’d wrapped Damian’s cape around him like a scarf and Tim’s like a blanket. Silently moving forward trying to get as far from that base as they could.

The flight back to Gotham was just as uneventful. It was like the Court had decided it wasn’t worth going after them anymore. It was suspicious. Tim would worry about that later, they got Dick back. He would focus on that first.

Tim looked back from his seat at the controls at Jason and Dick. Jason was trying to fix Dick best he could without the proper equipment, but it was like trying to fix a crack in the Hoover Dam with duct tape. He wasn’t getting very far. Damian noticed this, stood up from the passenger seat and began to help.

Oddly enough, Damian was the best between the four of them with first aid. It was funny to Tim as he was also the most violent. It might have been something the League of Assassins just trained their followers to be efficient in, but Tim’s seriously doubted Ra’s cared that much. More likely than not, Talia had decided it was something Damian should learn. He wasn’t expendable and if he got cut off from the League, he would need to know how to take care of himself.

Tim climbed back to where Jason and Dick were, the plane was on autopilot, Jason practically had Dick’s head in his lap. Dick was awake and staring straight up at him, but he was clearly disconnected from the world. His blue eyes glassy and unfocused. Damian began to do some rudimentary stitches on Dick’s wrists while Jason dug in his bag for something.

Jason pulled out a silver flask and handed it to Damian.

“What’s this?” he asked while twisting the cap off. “It smells like Vodka.”

“It is. Use to sanitize the equipment and his wounds.”

“With Vodka?”

“Would you just…”

Damian glared, but compiled.

Tim fished a bottle of water out one of the emergency bags and handed it to Jason.

“You might need this.”

Jason accepted the bottle.

Tim didn’t know how he could help, opting to sitting on the floor and observing.

No word were spoken, not that there was any needed.

“Tim?”

He jolted awake, and Bruce stepped back.

Tim had to remind himself, that they'd gotten home. They'd gotten Dick the medical care to fix most of his physical wounds. The Court hadn't attacked.

It was just B. He could fix this, all of this. At least that's what he hopped. That's all Tim had now was hope.

That was probably the most insulting part, he could only rely on emotions to believe that they could crawl out of this hole.

“I got your message.” He explained. “What’s going on?”

“We found Dick.” Tim answered blankly. He didn't feel rested. Not that anyone would after a dream like that.

The look on B's face was hard to read as it always was, stoic like. Annoyingly so.

“Why didn’t you contact me sooner?” He asked his voice tight

“It was time sensitive. The moment we figured it out we new we had to be quick. We didn’t have time to wait for you get the message.”

“Where is he?”

“We have him in a cell.”

“A cell?”

“Just... I’ll explain everything. But you need to see this to really understand.”

Chapter Text

Wally had to admit the Bunker was impressive. It had everything the Cave had and then some.

From what he’d gathered, the fourth level was the base of some of their operations. It housed the Zeta Tubes and labs, according to Artemis they still did the majority of their operations out of the Watchtower but it was helpful to have this set aside to be more hands on with the smaller operations.

The third level was for training. Designed to handle a bunch of metas, atlanians, and various aliens working out strengthening their skill set.

The second was for recreational use. It had the dining hall and where it was where most of the kids studied and/or actually attended school.

The uppermost level is where a portion of the Team lived. They lived nicer than he did. According to Artemis most of the Team lived here full time, but everyone had a room here. Wally wished he’d had that option when he’d been on the Team, it would’ve been nice after particularly long and stressful missions to just crash and not have to travel home.

It was hard to really focus on anything unfortunately.

He couldn’t stop thinking about what he’d seen at the Batcave almost a week ago. Jason had promised to get in touch when Dick got better. He wasn’t sure what qualified as better, he was hoping it would mean he’d get in touch soon. But something in him said to not rely on Jason, that keeping Wally up to speed was pretty low on his agenda.

He also knew Artemis wanted in on what was going on with Dick. Wally couldn’t blame her, but he couldn’t let her in on anything because he hadn’t been let in on anything either. It had been a week and nothing.

“Could you at least pretend to listen?” Artemis asked him.

“Sorry.”

“Okay, you don’t have mind powers, so devoting all of your attention to the subject is not going to make anything go faster so, what did your uncle want to talk to you about?”

The idea his uncle had was not something he’d seriously considered. It was something he’d joked about once or twice.

Barry had a family and wanted to focus on them. He’d asked Wally to consider taking his place as the Flash. He wasn’t sure where Barry had gotten the idea. Well that wasn’t true. The whole point of having protege was so you could train them to one day take your place. As Wally had gotten older, the idea of taking his mentor’s place had been pushed further to the back of his mind.

He also wondered how Bart would react to something like that. Bart was Kid Flash, and Wally didn’t plan of changing that anytime soon. It wasn’t fair, Bart loved what he was doing as Kid Flash with his grandfather. Wally was not Barry. His uncle was calmer and far more experienced. That’s when Wally began to understand why Dick was always so hesitant to take any role resembling Batman, he wasn’t Batman.

He hadn’t talked to Artemis about it yet, because he wasn’t sure it was something he wanted to do. The more he thought about it, he questioned why he hadn’t yet.

“He wants me to consider taking his place as the Flash.” He told her

“Seriously?”

Wally nodded

“And?”

“I don’t know. When I was younger that was something I dreamed of, but now… So much has changed. I don’t think I could fill those shoes.”

She nodded. “Are you wanting my thoughts or...?”

“Maybe.”

“You know I don’t want to go back into retirement. And it doesn’t look like you’re wanting to force Bart out of being Kid Flash. I think you would make an awesome Flash, it would suit you. But I don’t want you doing something your not comfortable with.”

“Okay, well that’s one for the yes column.”

“You’re looking for votes?”

“Yeah, kind of.”

She shook her head smiling. “Please, whatever you do, don’t change too much. C’mon I’ll show you the rec room. Get you reintroduced to some of the team.”

He followed her up the elevator to the second level.

It was what you would expect from a rec room. A large TV on the far wall with enough seating for the whole team to enjoy a movie. There were different games scattered across the room like table tennis and random bored games.

The room wasn’t empty.

He saw Bart having a very animated conversation with Jaime who seemed rather bored with the conversation and Gar was reading a book that was quickly abandoned when they entered the room.

“Wally! I heard Flash’s plan worked. How’s it going?” He asked.

“Pretty good. Being a speedster is helpful when you’ve lost about three years and have a lot catching up to do.”

Garfield laughed. He’d grown a good six inches.

Wally smile lessened at the sight. It was more proof of the time he’d lost.

“I assume things have been a little odd ese.” Jaime told him. “You’ve been gone for a long time. No I’m not asking him that.”

Wally raised an eyebrow. He’d forgotten that Jaime did that sometimes, he’d been told there was a reason why he did this.

“Ask me what?”

“Some extra stupid complicated question about the Speed Force.”

“Well I don’t remember much. It was a lot, the human mind can’t quiet process everything that is the Speed Force.”

“You know I think it’s crash you’ve gone in the Speed Force.” Bart tells him excitedly. “You’ve been soaking up all of that energy. You can probably keep up with me now.”

Wally gave him an annoyed look. “I bet I’m faster now.”

“Mmhmm, yeah, sure, I’ll let you think that.”

“That sounds like a challenge.”

“Do you want to make it one?

“I’d be up for it.”

“You’re not seriously gonna race each other?” Artemis asked.

“They are, and it will be awesome to watch.” Gar decided.

“They could race around the perimeter of the grounds.” Jaime suggested

“Alright.” Wally agreed

“Crash. You’re going down.” Bart told him before taking off.

Wally smiled. This was a good idea, something to get his mind off of everything going on.

They walked at a much slower pace up to the grounds.

“Oh my god, all of you are so slow.” Bart complained. “Come on hurry. How do you expect to beat me when you can’t even beat me here?”

Wally turned around to get a good look at the building. It looked inconspicuous. A low, old, one story building, made with red bricks, and a concrete roof. It reminded him of a storage unit. If one was made to live in.

“I feel like you had a slight advantage for that one.” Wally told him. “So how are we going to measure this?”

Jaime shrugged. “I don’t know. What seems reasonable?”

“First one to get around four times wins.” Gar offered.

“Sounds good. But I don’t exactly know where the perimeter is.”

“There’s a fence.” Artemis tells him. “It’s private property, so a fence was installed.”

“Cool stuff.”

“So both of you will head straight than to your left.” She explains. “After four times around, head back here.”

“Hope your hungry tonight.” Bart continues his ridiculous trash talk as he crouched down getting in the starting position.

“‘Cause you’re gonna eat my dust.”

Wally smartly stays silent. He crouched down ready to go.

“Ready. Set. Go!”

Something was fired and they were both off.

Wally knew he’d gotten faster, he just hadn’t realized how much faster he actually was. He wasn’t even trying and he was on his third lap when Bart finished his second.

Not even ten seconds had passed when he was back with the others. Bart was two seconds behind him.

“I guess Wally is faster.” Garfield tells them.

“Guess he is.” Bart took his lose with grace. Wally could see, he’d actually tried. Maybe not at first but when he realized how much further ahead Wally was. “That could be useful.”

“Yes, yes it could.” Said a new voice, one Wally recognized.

He turned to see Roy.

It wasn’t like nobody knew that Wally had been given some insight on what was going on with Dick, it was more that they weren’t being told anything and it was bothering them.

In all honesty Wally felt they should know. They were all like a second family. They’d fought, bled, and mourned together, There was nothing but complete trust. But he understood why they were being kept in the dark. There was a lot of unanswerable questions, and a lot still being left to chance. Still Roy was obviously not okay with this arrangement.

“Could we talk?”

Wally nodded. “See you guys later?”

“Oh you know it.” Bart tells him. “I’m gonna beat you next time.”

“I don’t doubt it kid.”

Wally followed Roy inside, before he stopped and turned around.

“You too.”

“Me?” Artemis asked.

“It involves you too.” Roy explains.

They go down to the lowest level into a room not to far from where Wally left the Speed Force. Roy opened the door to small group of people.

They all looked at them. Kaldur stood against the far wall arms crossed, M’gann sat at the table a smile forming on her face, Conner had opted to stand on the other side of the table.

“What’s going on?” Wally asked.

“We’re tired of sitting around waiting for Nightwing to be found.” Conner tells him bluntly.

“We know you can’t go into too much detail but… We want to help.” M’gann explains. “He’s our friend. We just want him safe.”

“Red talked to you about it. You could be useful for information.” Roy finishes.

“Batman’s orders were clear.” Kaldur protests.

“Yeah, well he’s not here. So we have a small window to work with.”

“And it’s not that different from our history.” Conner helps. “Two months is long enough for no information. He obviously need help, he’s just too stubborn to ask.”

Wally didn’t say anything. They really had no idea of what was going on about anything. But something did catch his ear.

“What’d you mean Batman’s gone. Where is he?” He asked.

“Probably looking for Nightwing.” M’gann explains. “At least that’s the assumption. Like Conner said we’ve been told nothing.”

That sounded weird, but he knew that they wouldn’t be able to answer those questions so he wasn’t going to press.

“Let us start from the beginning. What did Red Robin tell you?” Kaldur asked him.

Wally hesitated. He wasn’t sure what he could talk about. It’s not like they had said he couldn’t talk about it, but it’s not like they said he could.

It was another loophole. He wondered if he should ignore it or step through it.

“Anything could be useful.” Kaldur tried.

“They have a few people on the case. Not just Batman, Red, and Robin.”

“Who else?” Roy asked leaning against the table.

He stayed silent. One thing he was positive about. They didn’t know Jason was alive, and there was a reason. That did need to stay quiet.

“Seriously?”

Wally nodded.

“Did he tell you anything?” He asked Artemis.

“Enough.” She answers. “And it’s enough to know that we really should stay out of it.”

“Like who took him?” M’gann asked.

She looked away.

“You know who took him, don’t you?” Roy sounded like he was closing in on his prey.

Artemis looked at Wally. She wanted to say something, but wasn’t going too. If anyone was going to talk, it was going to have to be him.

He pulled a chair out and sat in it, putting his head in his hands.

“Don’t you think that maybe the reason that they’re keeping to themselves is because they can’t answer all of these questions?” He asked them. “Yeah, Red filled me in on a lot. I have a lot of questions. They have almost no answers. I get it, it’s frustrating for me too. He’s my best friend and there is nothing I can do to help him.”

They looked at each other. Lost for words. Wally realized if they read between the lines he’d given them a little bit. But he couldn’t help it. He was tired of having to constantly play catch up and keep moving like nothing has happened.

The problem was everything had happened. The team had grown up, there was a new Robin, things had happened to the world that had changed it, his best friend had been tortured and brainwashed into thinking he would never escape. The world doesn’t stop for people who get stuck, and he knew that. But he wished he could just pause everything to just figure out what he’d missed.

“What do you mean there’s nothing you can do to help him.” M’gann asked.

He looked at his knees. He knew if he made eye contact it would be over. He would tell them everything. Maybe that’s what Tim wanted. He couldn’t say anything but Wally could. Batman hadn’t told him anything.

But he also knew, what they might do. Which also needed to be avoided. The last thing Tim and Jason needed was a bunch of people banging on the door of the Batcave demanding answers for why they’d been left in the dark for so much. They had their hand full with keeping Gotham safe and keeping Dick safe.

“Just that.” He answered. “Maybe he’s just gone.”

Vague. Not lying to them but certainly not answering their question directly.

“Why would you think like that?” Kaldur asked him.

“It’s possible. That there’s too much damage. Or that he’s been hidden too well. The people who took him know what they’re doing. The goal was to make him vanish. They did just that, impossible to find.”

“What are you getting at?” Roy asked him. “That we should just give up, because it’s just too difficult, that he might be dead, that he might be worse for wear?”

Wally shook his head.

Artemis lowered herself to be eye level with him. She knew that this pill was hard to swallow, that Wally was having trouble wrapping his head around the idea that he couldn’t help the way he wanted too, or that Dick wasn’t getting better as quickly as he wanted.

“Are you seriously thinking that there’s no saving him? That were never gonna get him back.” She whispered

Wally didn’t want to admit that the answer was yes. It had been in the back of his mind since he found it all out. That there was too much, that there was too much to recover from and essentially get over.

“You didn’t see what I saw.” He said, his voice just as quiet.

“This is Dick for christ sake. If he’s still breathing, he’s still got a fighting shot.”

The others were confused. Looking amongst each other, their faces screamed ‘what are they talking about?’.

“Wait,” Roy began. “Did they find him? Or did Red show you a plan for how they’re going to get him back?”

Wally leaned back. Roy was catching on. He thought back to something Tim had told him, ‘don’t think I don’t know about the loophole, it’s the only reason I’m being straight with you’. Maybe he’d thought a little further ahead than Wally realized.

Tim was under orders to stay silent. You didn’t just disobey Batman, not without good reason. Dick liked to toe that line constantly, only a handful of times had he acted in complete defiance for the sake of a mission. Almost always had it done good, but he’d still get into major trouble for it. Tim clearly wasn’t much different. Though he seemed to look for less obvious way to toe the line between listening and disobeying.

Maybe this was his way of conveying information to others, making Wally his mouth piece. He didn’t seem to hold back on the information, and couldn’t just say, ‘hey tell the others that we found him and he’s a wreck.’ he could imply that Wally should.

Wally sighed. “The Court of Owls took him, and before you ask. I have no clue why. I didn’t ask, I think they have a few theories.”

“I do not know much of that group.” Kaldur tells him.

“From what I gathered,” Artemis interjected. “They’re like the illuminati, but real.”

Wally blinked at her.

“My dad was in the League of Shadows, as was my sister, my mother was a criminal, and I’m from Gotham. I’ve heard of the Court, and everything screams stay away. Continue.”

“Well, um. They did find him. What’s left anyway.”

“What does that mean?” Conner asks

“They broke the unbreakable. He…” Wally stopped. “Let’s just say that no one is going to be seeing Nightwing for quite a while, if ever.”

“And the man under the mask?” M’gann looked at him.

He shrugged. “I don’t know what that looks like for him.”

“Why’d they let us think he was still missing?” Roy asked, his voice filling with anger.

“Seriously, I saw him. And it’s something I wish I could unsee. He so far gone. There so much to fix. That’s only if it can be fixed.”

M’gann stared at him. He knew what she wanted, but she wanted permission.

He nodded. Instantly he felt her picking through his memories, looking for one in particular, the one of Dick in the cell. She found it, instantly retreating. Wally saw tears fill her eyes.

“What’d they do to him?” she asked her voice deadly quiet, as if afraid to ask.

“I don’t know. No one does. Only him, and he can’t talk about it.

She looked away. M’gann had always taken everything to heart, seeing one of her closest friends in such a state it was like ripping her heart out.

“Is it really that bad?” Conner asked.

She nodded.

“Can I show them?” She asked.

“Just leave me out of it, I see enough of it in my nightmares.”

He knew she did, because the already depressing looks on all of their faces intensified. This was one of those things you had to see to believe. Anyone who knew Dick, knew that it would’ve taken a lot to get him to that point.

“How long has he been there?” Kaldur asked him, clearly shaken by what he saw.

“At that point like three days. I have no idea what’s happened since then. I know he wasn’t eating anything, or drinking anything, he wouldn’t sleep, he wouldn’t talk to anyone but like one person, he still though he was with the Court and that’s probably why he was acting like that.”

“What are they going to do now?” Conner asked him.

He shrugged. “I have no idea what they’re planning on doing with the Court, and how they plan on helping Nightwing, I think they’ve decided that they’ll just have to wait and see what time does for them.”

Conner made a face, turning his head ever so slightly. He was listening for something.

“What?” Roy asked him.

“Red.” Conner answered. “He’s in the next room.”

“Are you going to interrogate him now?” Wally asked as he got up in front of the door.

“No, it just sounded odd. He doesn’t sound okay, it caught my attention. And now that we have an idea what’s going on at home for him.”

“We could relieve him of some of his stresses.” Kaldur finishes.

Wally knew that was something he probably needed. That was a lot to put on someone’s plate, especially someone as young as Tim. He knew Batman wouldn’t go for that, but Tim wasn’t Batman. And if he’d heard correctly Batman wasn’t even there, so Tim was in charge of most of the vigilante activity in Gotham. Yeah that’s a lot for a seventeen year old to handle.

“So how would you help?” Wally asked.

Kaldur shrugged. “By asking, and doing whatever was asked.”

Truth be told, Wally had wanted an update, so this could be a good opportunity to get just that. Jason hadn’t told him anything. He was done with being kept in the dark. But he didn’t want to blindside the kid, Wally could only hope the information would be given willingly.

“Isn’t overkill for all of you to ask if he needs help?”

“Yeah. You’re right it is.” Roy agreed. “So only a few will.”

“Who?” Artemis asked.

“Perhaps Conner and Wally would do just fine.” Kaldur suggests. “He has already told Wally what is going on, and he and Conner have functioned as an efficient Team multiple times.”

Conner shrugged. “The kid’s pretty cool.”

“You should come too then.” Wally tells him. “You’re the leader. It would look better.”

He nodded in agreement, walking around the table to follow them out.

Conner was right, he was in the next room, working away at some unknown object. Clearly getting more frustrated by the second.

“Hey.” Conner tried. “What’s going on?”

“Frustration.” Tim answered not even bothering to look up. “What do you need and can you ask someone else?”

“We were going to ask if you needed help with anything.”

He looked up. “You told ‘em didn’t you?”

Wally nodded, knowing full well that was directed at him.

“I guess it was only a matter of time. But nothing, I don’t need help with anything. Thanks for the offer.”

He was trying to shut the conversation down quickly.

“May I ask why?” Kaldur stepped forward.

“B came back. We have a plan now. I need to finish this.” He gestured to the black object in his hand. “There really isn’t anything any of you can do to help.”

Wally knew that wasn’t true. But Tim wasn’t about to involve a bunch of people in an unknown game. That wasn’t his style.

“So what’s going to happen then? If Batman is back.”

Asking what appeared to be innocent question to coax out information, that could easily be shut down if Tim is feeling tight lipped.

Tim shrugged. “He’s got a plan for how we’re gonna take down the Court. But he’s pretty sure the things they did to Nightwing are going to wear off with time. Part of it him just shutting down to handle everything, the other part is a cocktail of all sorts of stuff they’ve been filling him up with.”

“Like what?” Conner asks.

“The only compound I recognized were some fear toxins, the rest of I’ve never seen before. I’m kind of getting an idea of what purpose was though.”

They silently urged him to continue.

“The fear toxins played a few different roles one being to keep him compliant while they did other things, like they were heightening his senses. Getting him ready physically for something, and along with some other choice poisons to eat away at his psyche and make him a puppet”

“The goal was not to kill him.” Kaldur realized.

Tim shook his head. “No the goal was something much worse. I’m curious to know how long they’d been planning this out. It was all so well calculated and executed.”

“What do you mean?” Wally asked.

“The thing is, I’m positive this wasn’t the first plan they’d come up with. The reason I think that, actually needs some context. You know a human can live with half a brain right?”

Wally knew there were people out there who lived like this. But it couldn’t be done on just anybody.

“They can only perform that kind of surgery on children, because they’re still developing. They can adapt to the loss. Well in order for them to be successful, they need to rewire the human brain to think a very specific way. It’s much easier to do this to children, and store them away to maturity. Adults are already hardwired to think a certain way. I think a few things happened that prevented them from doing this over a decade ago.”

Wally knew instantly what Tim was talking about.

He knew after Dick’s family had been killed, he’d been stuck in the system for a little while. It would’ve been easy to take him then. Just another child slipping between the cracks. It was Gotham after all.

But he’d been too curious in Batman, sneaking onto the crime scene to help investigate. After that, Bruce Wayne had taken him in and Batman had a Robin joining him in the night. Batman had prevented the Court in getting him all those years ago. And that was probably the case for other attempts. Only it would’ve been much harder to play it off. He got pulled more into the public eye, and deeper into the vigilante nightlife, so the plans would’ve had to change. And his absence would not go unnoticed.

This must’ve been their first opportunity, they were not going to waste it. So they didn’t.

Wally began to wonder what their the ultimate goal was.

He knew Dick was the most experienced of any of them. He was the first sidekick. It showed. He was intelligent, that experience sharpened his instinct, it made him trustworthy, his head was filled with some of the League’s deepest most sensitive secrets. That made him an asset, but something told Wally there was so much more to it.

“And their final goal?” Wally asked.

Tim made a face. “It’s complicated.”

He had a theory, and wasn’t going to voice it.

Something buzzed catching Tim’s attention. A cell phone, he quickly shot a message back, and waited for the response.

Suddenly he stood from his seat and began to pack up whatever he was working on.

“I have to go.” He said quickly as he pushed past them running to the Zeta Tubes.

“What was that?” Conner asked.

“Clearly something that required his attention.” Kaldur replies.

“He’s not telling us everything.” Wally notes.

“He might be waiting for more information.”

Wally pondered the thought, he knew this went way deeper than any of them were even close to knowing.

Chapter Text

It was this kind of stoic behavior that reminded Jason that he hadn’t been fully accepted yet. Bruce had listened silently while Tim and Damian filled him in on everything. He wouldn’t look at them. His eyes were trained on Dick.

Jason had been shocked at how quickly Bruce had shown back up.

Tim had sent the message and promptly fallen asleep in the chair. Jason had thrown a blanket over him and let him be. Than around ten hours later the Batmobile arrived in the cave.

Bruce knew Jason was coming and going from the cave, he also knew that Jason’s presence was more prominent because Dick had been missing. That didn’t mean he was okay with it.

Jason knew he was being held at arm’s length, and ironically restrained by a rather short rope. He wasn’t trusted. And he understood why, when he got back to Gotham he picked up a gun and began to pick people off, justifying it as getting rid of scum that slipped through Batman’s fingers.

And while he still thought he’d done some good by doing that, he also knew he’d gone a bit over bored.

So when Bruce saw Jason in the cave, it was obvious he hadn’t expected Jason to have stuck around for so long. They didn’t say a word to each other, Jason just gestured over to where Tim was and left.

It quickly became hard to tolerate.

When Batman figured out he was Red Hood, B had been quick to extend the olive branch that Jason had promptly swatted away completely convinced that B had failed him.

And it stayed that way for a while. Jason stayed in Gotham, but well under Batman’s radar. It had worked until he ‘died’ and the criminals took notice. He knew how Dick felt about the cape and cowl, and also knew that there wasn’t time to work through your inner demons. He’d taken matters into his own hands.

After that, when Dick was Batman, he’d constantly extend the olive branch. He did this even after he’d left the Batman persona.

Dick was the reason Jason had a place in this family, not Bruce. Dick had been the one to try and keep things calm insisting that Jason was useful and wouldn’t be a hazard, Bruce had denied him.

Obviously nothing had changed. Not in their relationship. But their situation required Bruce to keep Jason around. He was the only one who could make any ground involving Dick, and Bruce knew it. That didn’t mean he was trusted. And he hated every second of it.

So that’s where they stood, with Tim taking the lead on filling Bruce on everything he’d missed, also completely aware of how things were, and made sure everything was put on the table. When Tim had finished filling him in, they waited for Bruce’s input.

He’d remained silent.

The way he stood, with his eyes locked on Dick. He was trying to convince himself of something. And Jason was pretty sure he knew what.

That really was all that was left of his son. This was someone Bruce had poured his heart and soul into, and he hadn't even been the one to find him. Jason was. Jason found the needle in the haystack, not him, Jason had tracked the Court’s secret base, not him, Jason had taken the lead in the labyrinth to get Dick out, not him. While Tim was the one technically left in charge, he and Jason had worked together in unison to locate and rescue Dick, they were planning on leaving Damian out of it. The stubborn brat insisted on coming.

He knew Bruce felt guilty, and part of Jason didn’t care. He’d left two weeks ago, on a wild goose chase. Looking back now it was obvious.

Bruce had been getting close to figuring out where Dick was and the Court knew it. He’d become so desperate for information that he’d fallen for the trap. Six weeks was a long time for someone to be trapped by such a cynical group. Fear makes you sloppy, so yeah part of Jason was glad he felt so horrible that Bruce hadn’t been able to save Dick. It was a rather large part.

The rest of him felt sympathetic. Any hope that Dick was going to be found, was going to be pounced on. He’d just wanted his son home, he didn’t care how. Jason had felt the same way. But that sympathetic part, was a very small part.

He glanced at Dick.

His head was tilted as if he were listening to their conversation, which was a real possibility.

“What now?” he heard Tim ask.

“I don’t think there is much we can do.” Bruce told him softly.

Tim’s head dropped.

“You seriously just want to wait and see what happens?” Damian growled.

Bruce didn’t answer. Jason didn’t think he had one.

This was a man of action. The mountain was not going to move because you put a lot of thought into it, it was going to move because you put forth the effort to make it happen. And here he was, knowing all they could do was wait. That was a punch in the gut for them all, even though they all knew that was the case

“Do you know why you’re the only one he trusts?” Bruce asked.

It took Jason a few seconds to register the fact Bruce was speaking to him.

Jason shook his head. “I was the first one to find him in the Labyrinth but he’d passed out from blood loss and the sheer amount of stress he’d been under.”

Bruce didn’t respond.

“Do you have a plan?” Jason asked.

That got him to look way, right at Jason. “A plan?”

“Yes a plan. We took him from the Court. They might attack, other people might figure out that he’s not doing good and try and take advantage.”

He sighed, it became obvious that he didn’t. “The Court is not priority. You took them by surprise, and they did not think you would succeed. If they were going to retaliate they would’ve done it by now. No they’re making a new plan, or waiting us out. They've had plenty of opportunities to over take you.”

“I can’t believe this!” Jason started. “You’re the one person who has a plan. Nothing left to chance. You don’t have three backup plans when the first one fails and other contingencies in place, because you don’t have a plan in the first place.”

Jason couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

“We’ll take it as it comes.” Bruce told him, but he sounded odd.

Emotion had slipped through his defences and into his words. Most people wouldn’t have been able to catch it, but Jason wasn’t most people.

He looked over at Tim, whose head had shot back up, to see if he had caught it too. Their eyes locked, unsure of how to proceed.

He’d never heard the defeat in Bruce’s voice before, it caused Jason to take a partial step back. Bruce wanted to mourn, but didn’t know how. Forcing himself to swallow his emotions.

Jason needed to knock his pride down and be a person. He didn’t need the defences. There wasn’t going to be an attack, not from Bruce at least.

“Standing here and willing him to get better isn’t going to work. I already tried, so did Tim and Damian.” Jason told him softly.

Nothing.

“We’ll go.” Jason told him.

Damian put up silent protests as Jason forced him to turn around and leave his father alone. Tim followed close behind.

They were tired.

Jason let his thoughts wander when something dawned on him.

“Has anyone told Alfred that Dick’s been found?”

“Has anyone told him, that he was missing in the first place?” Damian asked.

Tim shook his head. “ I don’t think so, I figured someone else would tell him.”

“Something tells me that’s what we were all thinking.” Jason confirms. “So who’s calling him?”

“Are you kidding? I like living.” Tim tells them.

“Well I certainly won’t.” Damian decides.

“Nose goes!” Tim shouts his finger instantly on his nose.

Jason does the same, it was instinct. Damian on the other hand was completely confused. His nose fingerless.

“Looks like Demon Spawn gets to call the butler.” Jason explains.

“What! Why?” he asks.

“You didn’t put your finger on your nose.”

“That’s not fair. I haven’t heard of anything so ludicrous.”

“That’s the rules.”

Damian wasn’t amused. But Jason wasn’t backing down, and he knew Tim wouldn’t either.

He rolled his eyes. “Fine. I’ll contact Pennyworth. But I’m not calling.”

“I don’t care if you message him via brick, as long as he gets the message.” Jason tells him.

That was a week ago.

Alfred had come back, and they were all feeling his wrath. It was slow, and passive. Which made it worse. But it was bound to happen, so Jason shrugged it off and went on with life.

A routine had been created.

In the morning, Jason would go and talk to Dick. It was a one sided conversation, and he wasn’t sure if it was actually doing any good, but he did it nonetheless. He’d give Dick water and insist he drink it, then he would leave.

He knew the others came around to check on him, make sure he was still breathing.

They’d given up forcing him to eat. Using other methods to get him the nutrition he so desperately needed.

In the evening Jason came back and told Dick about the days events, and gave him what was basically a sedative so he’d sleep. That’s when they’d attach him to fluids and got anything in his system. They had six hours to work with each time.

Than he’d wake up and start the process all over again.

Today was different. Tim had decided that a change of scenery was something he need, so he took his gauntlets and went to the Bunker.

Damian was off with Bruce doing something that Jason would’ve hated every second of, and he was positive Damian was too.

Alfred was upstairs putting the house back in order. The three of them hadn’t left it in complete shambles. They'd rotated tasks between themselves to keep things clean and give them meals to eat. It just wasn’t up to Alfred’s expectation, but Jason knew he was grateful that they’d done it at all.

Leaving Jason alone in the cave. He’d decided to clean his gear, it was long overdue, and it’s not like he had anything better to do.

It was silent. He liked it like that. It was calm and it gave Jason a few minutes to think to himself. Something he didn’t do very often. Letting his mind wander and process everything that had happened. So naturally he felt something tugging for his attention.

“Ugh, why can I not just focus on one thing?” He questioned himself. “Why do I care what he’s doing right now?”

He walked over to Dick’s cell, looking in through the one way mirror.

“And what do you know.” Jason began to walk away. “ He’s not doing anything that required me to walk over here and check on him, he’s just asleep.”

He stopped dead in his tracks and walked backward towards the cell window.

Jason stood there and stared for a while. Dick didn’t sleep, it'd been one of their biggest problems. But there he was, curled up on the bare mattress, hands drawn up to cover his face, asleep.

He stood rooted to the spot, he couldn’t believe it. Dick was actually asleep, maybe this was progress, or he’d finally given up and just fell asleep on his own as opposed to fighting tooth and nail to prevent someone from putting him down.

He got a hold of himself and ran upstairs. Into Dick’s room.

When he woke up, whenever that was, he was going to be with things that smelled like him. Smell was something that always probed at memories forcing them to resurface. Jason hoped that would happen with his blanket.

Jason pulled to comforter off the bed, almost running back down to the cave.

As quietly as he possibly could he opened the door to the cell. He threw the blanket over Dick.

Jason wasn’t sure how long he stood there. It was like he couldn’t walk away. At some point Dick figured out there was a blanket over him, he drew it close too.

He looked different from when they’d sedated him, he looked peaceful. Jason began to wonder if they were finally beginning to see the light of this very long tunnel.

Jason forced himself to leave. He didn’t want to freak Dick out when he woke up.

He pondered the idea of contacting Tim, the kid was stressed and really should take some time off and shouldn’t be bothered with things like this.

But he’d be pissed if Jason didn’t give him an update, he knew if the roles were reversed Jason would be same way.

He picked up his phone.

J: Hey, you there?

T: Yeah, what’d you need

J: He fell asleep.

There wasn’t a response back. Jason knew he didn’t need to get detailed on what he meant. Tim would know exactly what he meant.

He’ll admit, he didn’t expect Tim to come back from the Bunker immediately. He looked flustered, like he ran here.

“Are you serious?” Tim asked breathless. “He’s actually asleep?”

Jason nodded. “Completely out of it.”

“So now what?”

“We wait and see if this is the push we needed to get past all of this.”

“Yeah, okay.” Tim agreed

Bruce couldn’t stand the sight of it, but at the same time he couldn’t look away.

This was his son, his protege, his partner, his contingency if Bruce ever went rouge. Turned into a shell of himself. He hadn’t seen Dick this helpless since he was a nine year old child watching his family come crashing to the ground.

Bruce could never see Dick as anything less than a leader, if he were to ever join the Justice League for real, Bruce knew he would lead it. Dick was driven by instinct and determination. His instincts hadn’t driven him wrong yet.

What made it worse, he had been close to finding him two and a half weeks ago. But Bruce didn’t listen to his gut letting emotion cloud his judgement, and Dick suffered because of it.

It was becoming increasingly difficult to contain himself. It was too much. Death was one thing.

Death brought peace and closure, becoming mindless, that was a fate worse than death. Bruce had seen it too many times from victims he’d rescued. Now he was seeing the other side of all of that. What was brought home, and caring for it.

Bruce was thankful Jason had left him alone. It made it easier to process everything he was seeing.

He put his hand on the door handle. Part of him wanted to go in, the other wanted to stay away and create distance. So he stood frozen, hand on the door ready to open it.

Everything in him told Bruce to leave Dick alone. If he was going to get better, it wasn’t going to be because he did anything.

He had never been good with comfort or healing of any kind. He'd almost always made things worse, it was usually Alfred who could make progress. Bruce didn’t see how his presence was going to be of any help. The boys seemed to think otherwise.

He pushed open the door. They hadn’t locked Dick in.

He pushed it further stepping into the cell. Bruce’s presences wasn’t acknowledged by Dick. He just sat there, eyes unfocused.

He stood there, while Dick pulled the sleeves of his sweat shirt up to his fingers. It apparently required all of his attention.

Bruce put his hand on Dick’s shoulder, he flinched looking at his hand. Dick stared at it for a few moments removing his shoulder drawing his hands close to his chest. He turned his head away as if avoiding Bruce’s gaze.

Dick knew Bruce was there, he was acting ashamed. That was something Dick had done since he was little, whenever he’d been ashamed of himself he avoided everyone. This might’ve been a subconscious act, Bruce wasn’t sure.

“Dick, please look at me.” Bruce pleaded, his voice below a whisper.

He turned turned his head slowly before looking up.

Bruce lost his ability to speak. His eyes were empty and lifeless. He looked back down.

“I…” He stopped, feeling the emotions building in his throat. “I need you to listen. Whatever they did, they’ll pay for everything. But you need to crawl out of this hole they’ve dug. I know you can, because I’ve seen you do it before. None of us can help you get out of it. I need you to try.”

Dick looked back up at him, and Bruce saw something. A spark of recognition. Some part of him had heard Bruce, and was going to try.

That was the one and only time Bruce had spoken to Dick, when he was like that. Jason had been the only real constant presence, mostly because Dick seemed to listen and did notice when Jason left him alone.

A routine was created and followed. Nothing had been particularly different.

Jason talked to Dick and left for awhile, Tim visited around lunch time, Dick seemed to become more comfortable around Tim now. Jason still handled most thing involving any interaction with Dick, but Tim would do what Jason did, talk about his day and things going on.

Today Bruce had business to take care of, and had decided Damian was coming with him. The boy did go anywhere during the day, so Bruce had drug him along despite the kid’s protests. He wasn’t planning on staying long, there wasn’t a need to. A couple of meetings and a few other things that did need his attention.

The reason Damian was here, he had an eye for business, Bruce was curious as to how sharp it was. He did miss is son and knew he hadn’t spent a lot of time with him recently, and he knew (though Damian would never admit it) he missed him too.

And that had been his day, nothing particularly interesting had happened, which he was okay with. He had taken multiple burdens from Tim, who’d constantly find new ones to drag him down (it was beginning to be a problem, but one troubled child at a time), and was used to the lifestyle. But he’d grown tired of it. Just wanting something good to happen.

Damian had taken a chair into the middle of the office. There were few times he saw his son act his age, this was one of those times. Sitting in the office chair, spinning round and round, clearly bored out of his mind.

“Almost done.” He told Damian. “Ten more minutes and we’ll be out of here.”

“I still don’t understand why you brought me.” Damian replied, as he began to spin himself the other way.

“Company.”

Damian stopped and looked at him. “Seriously?”

“Yes, seriously.”

He huffed and sat back. He looked down at his lap, a phone in his hand.

He furrowed his eyebrows, as he sat up and walked over to Bruce.

“What?” He asked.

“Grayson fell asleep.”

Bruce blinked. “And?”

“On his own. Grayson doesn’t sleep. Apparently Todd found him asleep.”

Why was that a big deal, he probably passed out from exhaustion, then it dawned on him. He’s they put him to sleep every night because he won’t himself. He was clawing his way out of the hole, and there was finally some proof of that.

“We’ll go home in a little bit. If Dick’s asleep, than there’s no need to rush.” Bruce tells him. But he does work at a much faster pace.

The ride home was silent.

When they got in the cave, Jason sat in a chair his feet propped up on the table which Tim sat on the other side of, both with cards in their hands.

“What are you doing?” Bruce asked.

“Winning.” Jason claimed confidently.

“More like cheating.” Tim retorted.

“Untrue, I haven’t cheated this round.”

Tim snorted “Yeah sure.”

“I can deal you in if your interested.” Jason offers.

“Sure why not.” Bruce agrees pulling a chair up.

Jason pulled his feet from the table shuffling the cards.

“You too demon spawn.” Tim tells him.

Damian rolls his eyes but joins them.

“How long has he been asleep?” Bruce asked Jason.

“Oh, four hours or so.”

“He fell asleep right after I left?”

“Sounds about right. I knew you were busy so I decided I’d tell you when you got back. It’s not like anything monumental happened.”

“You told Damian.”

“Tim told Damian, after I said it was very unlikely you knew.”

“Alright. What are we playing?”

Jason smiled and Bruce already knew the answer. “Texas Hold’em”

Chapter Text

Dick felt like his head was stuffed with cotton, he couldn’t remember the last time he’d felt so weak.

He pulled the blanket around him tighter. It smelled safe and familiar.

He laid there for awhile in the silence. His mind clearing at a painfully slow pace, it was hard to think or focus.

What happened?

Slowly blinking his eyes open, he saw his own sleeping figure in a mirror across the room. It was a small room, one he didn’t immediately recognize. He sat up and looked around, he was on a bed low to the ground, the walls floor and ceiling all the same shade of grey that reminded him of the stone in the Batcave. His bed covered in white sheets and a blanket draped over him, the one from the Manor.

He was confused. Where was he?

Shakily he stood on his feet. He could feel just how weak he actually was.

God when was the last time he stood?

He approached the mirror. It took up most of the wall. He was in one of his old black sweatshirts and grey pants. They hung on his dangerously thin frame.

He didn’t look like himself, but Dick knew it was him nonetheless.

He put his hand on the mirror, he noticed the reflection had no gap, this was a one way mirror. He stepped back, seriously where was he? He could feel bandages on his skin. Someone was caring for him.

He sat down on the bed gripped the edge. Was this another one of the Court illusions? Another mind game to drive him closer to insanity. This felt different from that, this felt grounded and tangible, and calm.

He pulled the hoodie to his nose. It smelled like him, like home. They’d been able to replicate a lot of things, smells hadn’t been one of them. Well maybe they had, it had been pretty overwhelming.

He could feel how ragged his breathing was. No he knew now he wasn’t where the Court had been keeping him. Either the Court had moved him or someone else had taken him.

But then how would they have gotten thing like his blanket or the hoodie he was wearing, which he remembers leaving at the Manor forever ago. You can’t break into the Manor. It was damn near impossible to sneak past Bruce, let alone Alfred who was home all the time.

It was still hard to think. He looked down at the floor, there was a silver cup.

He hadn’t realized how dry his throat actually was, and this was full of water. He took the lid off and smelled it. It smelled clean, and untampered with. Cautiously he took a sip.

It tasted clean. He forced himself to drink it slowly, allowing the thirst to be quenched. Nothing. No hallucinations, no gut wrenching pain, burning sensation in his throat, or overwhelming desire to vomit. It was just water.

His breathing slowed, wherever he was, he was safe for now. He allowed himself to fully examine the room.

It felt familiar. The one way mirror, just like the ones installed in the cells back at the cave, and the color of the room was the same as the caves.

He was in the Cave.

Okay new question, why did Bruce lock him in a cell.

He had no idea what time it was, his internal clock had given up on him on what he assumed was after a couple days in captivity.

He didn’t know how long he’d been in here, or why he was in here in the first place.

He couldn’t remember anything, before being unceremoniously knocked upside the head and dragged to the labyrinth. Maybe he’d found his way out, but that felt seriously unlikely.

He pulled himself further up on the bed, seated cross legged.

He wasn’t feeling homicidal so why keep him locked up like this? He stared out the mirror. He could see some of the detailing of the wall on the other side of the glass. He also saw two chairs.

He could see through the mirror, kind of. Dick began to study the details of his face. He needed to shave and had clearly seen better days, but that was obviously going to have to wait. He focused harder on his eyes.

No gold, the same bright blue color they’ve always been. He relaxed a little, they hadn’t been successful. He wasn’t their Talon, their Gray Son.

Dick remained silent. He was not going to give in to false trust, not until he saw some proof that he was safe. So he sat there turning parallel to the mirror. He sat there a short period, tuning out the world.

Though he still couldn’t think clearly worth anything, he began to mull over everything they’d done to him, and why.

He knew the end goal, to become their next Talon. But first his natural scenes need to be heightened. So his sight and hearing had improved dramatically, making him feel like he had mild hangover. That had been accomplished. Dick was positive

Then he needed to be completely rewired. But that took a long time, and a lot of effort. They had to ebb away at everything that Dick, Dick. He didn’t feel like a shell of himself. Maybe they’d been successful, but it was just wearing off. That seemed unlikely, but he didn’t care.

Then it needed to be replaced, with the Court’s way of thinking. He needed to become their puppet. That was going to be the most complicated step, but they hadn’t gotten that far. Obviously. The thoughts in his head were clearly his own. They didn’t feel scrambled or foreign. So how had he gotten away?

Dick had been so lost in thought, he hadn’t realized someone was opening the door.

He turned his head to the sound, it hadn’t been locked. That was unlike Bruce.

Dick turned a little further to see who had opened it. It was Jason.

His eyes were wide, and he was clearly acting in extreme caution. Jason stepped in closing the door, his eyes not leaving Dick.

“Hey.” Jason began “How you feelin’?”

A basic question, one that is usually asked after going through a traumatic experience. How was he feeling? Did Jason mean psychologically because Dick hasn’t quite been able to process how he got here in the first place, or possibly physically which is better than he has in a while.

“I don’t know.” His voice horse, his word slow, as if testing how they felt in his mouth.

Jason had clearly not been expecting an answer.

“You know who I am right?”

Dick looked up at him. “Why are you asking me stupid questions? Where am I?”

“In the cave.”

Okay, he was right about being in the cave.

“Why am I in a cell?

Jason blinked. “You, uh, you attacked us. Got yourself hurt even more, if you can believe. This was the best option.”

Dick was now afraid to ask. “How long have I been here?”

“Like a week and a half. Do you not remember anything?”

Dick shook his head. “No, I don’t remember much after being tossed into the Labyrinth.”

“Not even us finding you, or why you couldn’t figure out that you were home, or some knife…”

Dick’s ears perked.

The knife. It was one of the things they’d left with him in Solitary.

At first he didn’t quite understand why, you didn’t leave weapons with your prisoners. After a little while he understood. It was to end things. The illusion of an end game. He hadn’t wanted to give them satisfaction so he ignored it. Unfortunately the Court had decided otherwise, everywhere he went, the knife came with him. It came with him to the Labyrinth, he began to remember what he’d done.

He figured he was so deep in the Labyrinth they wouldn’t have been able to find him and pull him from the brink just to push him back towards it. He’d been tired and wanted peace. He was tired of hearing loved ones tell him he was a failure, tired of the odd purple design growing of his left arm, tired of the constant growl of his stomach, and the dryness of his throat, tired of the beatings he’s endure because he wouldn’t hand over any information, he just wanted it to be over. Death had seemed inviting, willing to let him rest.

He shook his head at Jason’s question asking a different one.

“How long was I there?”

Jason looked away. “Eight weeks.”

His jaw dropped. “Eight weeks?!”

His mind was spinning. It’d felt so much longer than that. How weak was he. Eight weeks and he decided it was done, that no one was going to find him, that he would have to submit to the Court’s wishes.

“We found you half dead in the Labyrinth.” Jason explains. “You’ve been in here, but it wasn’t you. It was like we’d found your body, but you’d still lost your mind. No one’s been handling this very well.”

“What happened?”

“Dick, come on. You’ve just come out the otherside of all of this weird shit, maybe you should take some time to adjust.”

“Don’t treat me like I’m made of glass. It’s not going to help anything.”

Jason wanted to argue, it was written all over his face. He also seemed to know this would be a losing battle. A compromise was in order.

“Fine, but… You’re going to eat something. I’m sick of force feeding you, and now you’re up so you’re going to feed yourself that way we all know you’re actually getting something. I also strongly suggest you take some time to take a shower and kind of put yourself back together. Than I’ll make sure all of the cards are on the table for you.”

Dick sighed, rolling his eyes. “Fine. But I’m getting everything.”

Jason held his hands up in surrender. “That was the plan. Now can you actually make it up the stairs?”

“We’re about to find out.”

Dick slid himself to the edge of the bed and stood back up, just as shakily as the first time, while Jason stood aside ready to catch him if he fell.

He’s proud to say he didn’t, though he was almost positive that he couldn’t even make it half way up.

Jason opened the door and followed Dick out into the hall. Dick rested his hand against the wall, trying to get his bearings. He was have a horrible sensation of vertigo. Jason walked past him and continuously looked back at much slower Dick to see if he was okay.

They entered the main part of the Cave, and Dick almost laughed. It was like he never left. Tim passed out at the computer, the Batmobile gone to some unknown location (Dick figured it would be back pretty soon when Bruce was informed that he was up), and Damian sitting on a table with his feet in chair cleaning one of his many knives.

Damian looked up at Jason and then his eyes found Dick.

Suddenly he found Damian around his middle in a very tight hug as he stumble back from the sudden imbalance. Dick couldn’t really stoup down to hug him back from the way Damian had his arms wrapped around him, opting for the head rub.

Jason laughed at the sight, alerting Damian to what he was doing and waking Tim from his impromptu nap.

Damian stepped back, composing himself.

“Glad to see you up Grayson. I’m sure you’re curious to the past events…”

Dick smiled. “Later.”

He looked up at Tim, who seemed unsure of what to do. He seemed like he wanted to jump up and give Dick a similar hug, but at the same time wanted to create distance and let Dick have a moment get all the much needed details. He opted for an awkward smile in the seat.

“Hi Tim.” Dick told him.

“Hey.”

“I’m assuming we’ll talk later?”

He relaxed. “Yeah, there’s a lot.”

“Can’t wait to hear it.”

“Tell B that he’s up.” Jason told him.

Tim nodded turning back to the computer.

“Are you sure you can make it up the stairs?” Jason asked him.

“Probably not.” Dick admitted.

Jason helped him up to the Manor. Dick stood in the halway taking in his surroundings. He was barefoot, so he could feel the rug that stretched down the hall. One that had been there since he’d first gotten to the Manor all those years ago.

He made his way down the hall, into his room.

“I’ll have Alfred make you some soup or something and I’ll put your blanket back.”

“Jay, I can handle a shower.”

He made a face, nodded and left.

Dick stood under the hot water, it felt nice. He didn’t know how long he stood there but figured no one was going to bother him right now. They were treading lightly, unsure how to treat the situation. And he understood why. He’d been kidnapped and temporarily brainwashed. How do you treat someone who’s gone through that. Dick certainly didn’t know. It didn’t make it any less annoying.

He found a razor and a pair of scissors and got to work. Something told him if the others had thought about these objects being with him in the bathroom they wouldn’t have left them in there. He was glad they hadn’t. Allowing him to cut his hair and shave. After he finished he looked a lot more like himself.

He sat down on his bed with a roll of gauze as he pulled the tape from his wrists. The sight was nauseating, not because cuts looked gross and infected, but the idea that he’d actually done it. Had actually tried to kill himself, and was almost successful.

Suicide had always seemed like a weak and selfish thing to do. That you couldn’t possibly see a better outcome than death. Whether it was because you didn’t believe you had any self worth or not, he’d always felt it was something cowards did. That didn’t make it any less sad when it happened, nor did it change his reaction towards people who’d attempted. He’d also never admit to them. They were obviously broken and needed help, being told that they were being weak was the last thing they needed. It also didn’t stop him from trying to help them and keep them from it. And here he was, someone who's attempted.

Dick understood his circumstances were a little different. But he felt awful. If he’d just held out a little longer, but he hadn’t, which made it worse. That he couldn’t see anything beyond his situation and that death would’ve fixed it. He was ashamed of himself.

He wrapped his wounds up and pulled his sleeves down.

He wasn’t going to draw attention, just move forward. That’s all he could do. It happened, dwelling on it was going to change the fact it did. Better to accept it.

He smelled something, he turned slightly to see a bowl of broth sitting on his desk. His stomach growled at the delicious sent, he hadn’t realized how hungry he was. He stood up off the bed and onto the chair pulling the broth close to him. He smiled, slowly enjoying every morsel while he watched the snow fall outside his window.

According to the digital clock, it was december, just after christmas. He felt bad for missing it, but didn’t want to make up for lost time. He was okay starting back up now, not trying to turn back to time. It wouldn’t change the fact it was almost the new year. The clock also said it was three in the morning.

What Alfred was doing up right now, Dick wasn’t sure.

Part of him wanted to sleep some more, another part hadn’t felt this awake in a long time. So he stayed awake, it’s not like he had a normal sleeping schedule to begin with.

He heard people walking by his door, pacing. It was Bruce, talking to Tim. It was difficult to make out, only picking out words here and there.

Dick knew they were talking about him, the context beyond that he wasn’t sure. He began to wonder if they would come in and talk to him, as opposed to around him. But he also figured they thought he didn’t know they were out there.

He returned his attention to the broth, it was filling. As it should be when he was this malnourished, he new if he ate fast or too much he’d be throwing it up later. That wasn’t desired, but it didn’t stop him from wanting more.

He put the bowl back on the desk. He really just wanted to leave the subject alone. Everything that happened, that he saw, he just wanted to put the experience in a box and leave it there.

There were also a few things confusing him. Why had the Court done nothing in retaliation for his escape, maybe they had and Dick had just missed out on all that fun but he doubted that. They had essentially let him go. It was bothersome, he wondered if the others had noticed this.

The conversation stopped outside his door, Bruce was still standing there.

Why doesn’t he just come in Dick thought to himself.

There was a lot to discuss, Dick knew he couldn’t just ignore the last couple of months. He also needed to be filled in on what the plan was. The Court wasn’t going to take this lying down. It was just a matter of when.

He began to feel tired.

Alfred spiked the soup. How thoughtful.

He rose from the chair only to practically collapse on the bed. He laid there staring at the ceiling. The whole situation felt familiar. He couldn’t help but think back to his first night in the Manor. He’d been too overwhelmed to sleep, and was also suspicious of his foster father’s nightly activities, trying to listen for him.

He’d felt just as exhausted physically that night, but his mind was very much awake.

His eyes grew heavy, unable to keep them open, but his mind was racing.

As his breathing slowed he realized just how much he could actually hear when he tried. He knew Tim had finally retired to his bed and was asleep, he could hear the grandfather clock ticking at the end of the hall, Titus across the hall clearly unhappy Damian was not in there with him. But that was about it. Bruce had walked off, he listened to the silent footsteps.

With his mind this active he went over details of his captivity. The questions they asked him, the faces they forced him to see, the torture they dished out. It was all meticulously thought out. Even the way they’d captured him had a lot of details it.

Just after his patrol, before he got home. When he’d take one last breath and see if anything else was needed. Something he’d done for a long time, never in the same place. They’d tailed him and at least knew his routine. Waiting until he was exhausted and least expecting it.

He hadn’t really stood a chance to begin with, they’d done their homework and it showed. They’d had a plan for if he fought back, that’s why they picked when they did.

Dick was getting back into the swing of things after a particularly stressful mission in Russia. He’d gotten back a week prior after learning of a new drug cartel moving in, he’d been staking out their base. The perfect chance to catch Nightwing off guard, and not leave a trail.

He was pretty sure they hadn’t either, making even harder to find him.

So how had they done it. Had the Court just let him go, making him a Trojan horse? No that was unlikely and a huge waste of time. If they wanted Batman destroyed it would’ve been smarter to just wait until Dick was the Talon and do it himself.

Had the Court gotten sloppy? Maybe, they were an international organization. Very wide spread, it would be hard to keep all of its followers under an iron fist and keep one from getting cocky. Getting a former Robin is a big deal in the bad guy underground, and the Court of Owls had done just that, someone might have bragged and the other’s got wind of it.

All theories. His mind was still ridiculously cloudy. It had cleared a little. Enough for him to process what was going on, and what happened. The annoying purple design was still on his arm from the various poisons and toxins they’d injected in him. It hadn’t faded, not even a little.

Definitely an eyebrow raiser and something he should look into.

Dick was most definitely going to be benched for a while. Plenty of time to comb through everything. The chemicals, this stupid tattoo, get back to a healthy weight, rebuild muscle mass, and get caught back up with everything he’d missed.

Probably not much, it was only two months.

Chapter Text

It had only been a month, and Wally was bored.

He’d even sat down and taken some time to fully catch up on just about everything. That took him about two hours.

He really didn’t have a place on the team, too much time had passed.

He’d pushed his uncle’s proposition to the back of his mind. He didn’t want to make a decision until he talked to one person in particular. Wally had a feeling that Dick could give him the insight that he so desperately needed. Barry hadn’t really bugged him about it since proposing it. Like it never happened.

So he spent hours at home. Completely anxious for anything to happen. Artemis came to and from the house. She had things to keep her busy, Wally didn’t. It was time to start thinking about reintegrating into society.

But how?

What exactly was he going to do? What could he contribute? Sure he was smart, and it’s not like he couldn’t learn new skills. He just felt like he’d be wasting his talents, himself.

But this useless feeling wasn’t much better.

Because he was at home doing basically nothing, the knock at his front door startled him.

He opened it.

“Hey.” Tim began, “Um, can we talk?”

“Sure.” Wally stepped aside letting Tim in.

Tim didn’t go to deep in, simply turning around after he was a respectable distance in the house.

“So, Dick’s doing a lot better. He’s talking and we’re getting insight, finding reasons.”

Wally remained silent. When had that happened?

“I was wondering if you wanted to see him. Jason promised we’d keep you posted.” he continued.

“Right now?”

“Tha, that’s why I’m here, yes.”

“Oh, okay, so we should go.”

Tim smirked, nodding.

He stood clearly amused, as Wally rushed around gathering things like shoes and keys to lock the house. He didn’t know why he felt so flustered at the idea of seeing his friend again. Maybe because so much had happened that the sense of normalcy was desired. Maybe is was just the idea that Dick had gone from comatose to commutative of the flip of a dime. Or he was just bored and was excited he was being given something to do.

They walked to the Zeta Tube, neither said anything. It was slightly awkward, Wally didn’t know much about Tim. Or any of them for that matter. He only knew Dick. That wasn’t really a bad thing, but it did make it hard to strike up conversation.

There were a lot of obvious similarities between Tim and Dick, but the differences were far more abundant. That might’ve been what made it harder to get to know them.

The transition between Jason and Dick had been rather abrupt. It had also taken Dick a minute to return to the Team, they’d been given some time to get to know Jason as Robin without Dick being nearby.

No one had been a fan. Jason had been highly aggressive and impulsive, Artemis had tried to give him a place. It was never to his face, but he was constantly compared to what he lacked in comparison to Dick. Maybe if his appearance had been given more grace, he would’ve been accepted a lot easier.

After a few weeks Dick rejoined the team, things got better. The relationship between him and Jason was easy and light (though it had been obvious that Jason held some resentment and jealousy towards his predecessor), so it settled down and he began to find his place. Then the rug had been ripped out from underneath all of them. He’d died, he was the first.

It had given them a lot to think about, made them realize what kind of fight they were truly in. It was a wake up call, what had really forced Wally to think about his future outside of being a superhero.

Tim had joined right before Wally and Artemis retired. Just long enough for them to meet. Not much else. Tim had literally been on the team for about a week when they had officially retired.

Tim reminded Wally of Dick when he’d first been Robin, small and full of potential. But Dick had been loud and full of energy, Tim was quiet and reserved opting for more observant approaches.

Wally had been so lost in thought that they’d already arrived at the Zeta Tube.

Tim punched in a security code, allowing Wally access.

He blinked as entered the cave. It was empty. Tim came around an unmoved Wally.

“Dude, unfreeze. C’mon he’s upstairs.” He told him.

They walked across the large open space, to his left he saw the Batmobile parked and ready to leave at a moments notice. Bruce really was back.

Tim pulled open a steel door revealing the staircase to the main house. Following Tim up, he noted how narrow it was, and rather claustrophobic. Tim might’ve been used to it, but it was bothersome for Wally. Like he was being encased in a hallway. They reached the top and Tim pushed against the door slowly, peeking through the crack.

“Alright.” Tim said. “I just wanted to make sure you didn’t get bombarded.”

“By who?” He asked.

“Anyone. I’m not exactly supposed to use the Zeta Tubes in the cave to transport anything other than myself. But I don’t think B is here right now, and I have no idea where Damian is.”

“And Jason?”

“Left last night. Blow off some steam I supposed. He’ll come back later.”

Tim seemed confident in that answer.

Wally followed him down the hallway past Dick’s room, the first place he figured Dick would be. He guessed Dick was up and about. They went down another staircase and across the main entrance into the Den.

The lighting was dim, but Wally knew it was him on the couch nonetheless.

His back was to them, as he read something on the screen of a laptop, as he sat cross legged on the couch

They hadn’t even made a sound, but it was obvious Dick knew they were there.

“Hey kid. I thought you were going to hang out at the Bunker for a while.” Dick told Tim not looking up from the screen.

“I was, but I thought you might like some company. Besides Damian and myself.”

“Oh, okay. Who’d you enlist?” Dick asked as he turned to face them.

He froze. Apparently no one had told him Wally had come back. His blue eyes were wide, registering shock. Slowly a smile formed.

“No freaking way.” He said. “I was right wasn’t I?”

His eyes shifted to Tim.

He nodded. “On the right track at least. Allen was the one who really figured it out. You just put the idea in his head.”

“I’ll take it.” Dick looked back at Wally. “How’ve you been?”

“Better than you probably.”

Dick laughed. “Yeah, cause that’s hard.”

“I’ll go to the bunker now.” Tim announced before leaving the room.

Wally stood awkwardly, unsure of his next move.

“You could sit down? I mean I like standing in a doorway as much as the next guy, but it makes it really hard to have a conversation.”

Wally walked around sitting in front of Dick.

It was obvious Dick was hiding just how bad off he actually was. He looked tired and thin, he wore baggy clothes to hide just how thin he’d gotten and probably to hide all of his injuries, and they were sitting in a dark room so it would be harder to make out details on his face.

“How long have you been back?” Dick asked him

“About a month. How long have you been commutative?”

“Like two weeks.”

Wally sighed. “I know you’re probably sick of hearing this but, how are you? I mean seriously? And if you say fine I will punch you.”

Dick’s smile lessened. “I’m getting there.”

Wally raised an eyebrow.

“I don’t want to get into it, okay? I don’t want to talk about how malnourished I am, how I’m healing, how I’m not sleeping okay, how I actually weigh less than Damian. I just don’t want to talk about it. What you’ve been going through is far more interesting.”

“I don’t think so. I haven’t done much. Artemis is with the Team, and I’m stuck at home. I’ve been trying to catch up, but the data files and the internet only tell me so much, and my clearance levels only take me so far.”

“Yeah, we got a major upgrade in security within the last year. After we got hacked by a crime lord here in Gotham. B decided it wouldn’t happen a second time. I’m surprised you have any clearance.”

“Okay, Artemis’ clearance will only get me so far.”

“That sound more accurate. Well I might be able to fill in a few gaps. I may or may not have a rather high clearance level on bat and league systems.”

“Who was the crime boss?”

“Jason.” Dick replied flatly.

That was an odd response. While Jason was rather intimidating, he didn’t strike Wally as a crime boss or drug lord. More like an ultra violent vigilante with a gun fetish.

“Ah, yeah if you could fill in some of those gaps, it would be appreciated.”

There conversation went on like that. Dick answered most of Wally questions directly, only skirting and giving half truths for a few of them. But he was still getting more than he expected, and Dick was providing quite a bit more details than the reports provided. It was refreshing. Of course it was also refreshing to be talking to Dick in the first place. He explained (to the best of his ability as Jason knew all the details) how Jason was alive in the first place, and where the current Robin came from. It was blatantly obvious he was leaving some crucial details as to why Damian was Robin in the first place.

After a while the conversation shifted to more domestic things like, life outside of the mask. But with Dick, most of what he did envolved one.

“So you joined the police force to sniff out rouge cops in Bludhaven, as opposed to just being a police officer for the sake of helping people in more legal manor?” Wally asked.

Dick shrugged. “It was a little bit of both. I’m technically still on the force.”

“Where do they think you are?”

“I have no idea. I haven’t left the manor yet.”

“Seriously?”

“This is as far as I’ve gotten. I’m being held on a short leash. Physically I can’t do much to begin with, but B and Tim and Jay and Alfred even Damian have been keeping a close eye on me. Wanting to make sure I’m okay and not going to pass out in some random hallway or room.”

“Has it happened?”

“Twice. I overexerted myself. You know walking at a normal pace down a hallway. But that was right after my mind decided to turn back on. I haven’t passed out in a while. I can walk at a normal pace now, can’t eat solids though. I’m on a very strict diet. I’m also not allowed to even look at a gym or gym equipment, just in case I get any ideas.”

“Well, you might.”

Dick grinned, shifting in his seat.

“What about you. I know you said nothing is really going on and you’ve been home playing catch-up all this time but…”

“There actually is something I wanted your opinion on.”

“Shoot.”

“Barry asked me to consider taking over for him.”

Dick blinked. “Seriously. Wow. Are you gonna do it?”

“I don’t know. Those are big shoes to fill. I’m not the Flash, I don’t have his experience. I don’t have his instinct or his intellect. I’m not him. I’m afraid if I become the Flash, I’ll ruin the Flash. Then there’s Bart. He’s Kid Flash, he’s Barry’s protege not mine. And…”

“Can I let you in on a secret.” Dick cut him off.

Wally nodded.

“Damian is technically my protege. Not B’s.”

Wally furrowed his eyebrows.

“You can’t talk about this, got it. This is sensitive stuff I’m getting into here. Only Superman, Wonder Woman, Martian Manhunter, and Flash knew.”

“Knew what?”

“That I held the mantel for a while.”

“But I thought…”

“It was necessary. He’s back and I stepped down. But I thought every single one of those things, and I wish I’d been given the chance to say no. Or, if I had said yes, to still be able to talk to him and get advice. I think you’d make a great Flash, and I know Barry thinks that or he wouldn’t have asked you. I also know where he’s coming from, he’s got a lot on his plate and it’s showing. Your situation is also completely different from mine, my mentor was presumed dead and every single criminal was taking notice that Batman was missing. You’re mentor and city are none of those things. What does Artemis think?”

“The exact same thing. It’s just to be him.”

Dick held his hands up. “I know. But you do have the brains and the experience to be the Flash effectively. And I don’t think you’d get too much protesting from Bart at the change. I know for a fact he thinks his uncle is too cautious.”

“You think I should go for it too.”

“Kind of, yeah. But it’s up to you.”

“Yeah that’s what she said too. Now I’m going to address something that’s been bothering me since I got here.”

“Please do.”

“Why is so dark in here?”

“Something the Court did. I’m really sensitive to light and sound now. It’s kind of like having a mild hangover all the time.”

“That must be annoying.”

“Uh huh, It makes it difficult to work.” He gestured to laptop he’d closed and put on the coffee table next to them.

“Work on what?”

“Working through everything that happened and why.”

Wally looked at him.

“Look I may not be able to participate in all the fun, but I still have a lot to contribute from right here. My brain is one of them. I also have a lot of time to go and comb through all of these details and really work the evidence.”

Wally chuckled rolling his eyes. “I guess there was no real way to keep you from it.”

“See now your getting it.”

“Do you know how you snapped out of it?”

“Out of what?”

“That catatonic state you were in.”

Dick hesitated, like he was unsure of that himself.

He shook his head. “I just remember waking up in the cell. Anything between then and and being with the Court is blank. I have no idea what did it.”

There was more to it. He could see it gave Dick an uneasy feeling, like someone had an on/off switch somewhere. A way to control him. But he wasn’t voicing his concerns.

“Maybe M’gann could help with those blank spots.”

He looked up.

“I haven’t actually seen them in a while. After I took up the mantel and was dealing with the pain in my ass that is Damian, I didn’t have time to keep up that relationship. And so much has happened that I can’t let her in on. Even if she focuses on specified details, I can’t risk that information getting leaked.”

“Information, like you being Batman information or…”

“Yeah there’s that large nugget of information along with a few other sensitive facts that the team isn’t allowed to be in on. But there’s also the fact that I don’t need her knowing everything that happened. I don’t need that pity, or to relive it, any of it.”

“She wouldn’t pity you.”

He made a face “Not to my face no, but I would instantly be treated different once I get back on my feet. Like I’m made of glass, and something will set me off. I’m already having that issue here.”

Wally knew how much Dick hated that. He pushed through things, not wanting his feelings spared. That’s not what won the war. Even when he’d get severely injured while they were on the Team together, he’d still participate in sparring and recon missions. He didn’t just stop. And he didn’t want the training wheels, or people walking around him on eggshells. It only ever made things worse.

M’gann was designed to feel things, she was very empathic like that, a possible side effect from her strong telekinetic powers. She’s already gotten a taste of the aftermath of Dick horrors, one can only imagine how she would handle the full load, or how Dick would react to the resurfacing of those memories. Gentle or not. He’d made it clear he didn’t want to talk about it, opting for the wonderful ‘move on’ approach, that Wally hated with everything in him.

That approach never gave you time to really wrap your mind around the events, and how it really affected you mentally. But it had never caused any major, life endangering, issues, it just left a lot of people out of the loop. Though Wally could suspect, that Dick lost an hour of sleep every time he did that.

“So you haven’t seen the team in…?” Wally asked

“Almost a year.” His answer was empty. “After I stepped down, I just went back to Bludhaven and continued on with my life. I was planning on getting back in touch, it just got… interrupted.”

And Wally knew by what. He didn’t need to voice it.

“Let’s talk about something else. Or do something else. This is just getting depressing.” Wally decided.

“What’d you have in mind?”

“Let’s watch a movie or something. Eat some food, be slightly more positive than we are right now.”

They settled on a movie that Wally only half watched and Dick fell asleep halfway through. Well Wally wasn’t actually sure when he fell asleep. Dick had become rather quiet. No commentary or anything throughout the movie, he just sat there with a rather blank expression.

Things weren’t going to be alright for a long time, it just kept getting more obvious. Wally began to wonder how much he’d left out. How bad things had really gotten, and how much he was actually concerned about.

Wally wanted to help, he just didn’t know how he could.

He also thought about what Dick had said about taking your mentor’s place. The details as to why he’d done it were still unknown, and it was clear he left it the first chance he got. He hadn’t wanted to be Batman.

Yet he thought Wally would be great at being the Flash. Maybe it was just easier to see him as the Flash. To be fair Wally couldn’t imagine Dick with a cape and cowl, running around the city scaring the shit out of people with brutality. It had never been something that fit his personality. Wally could see himself as the Flash, the one liners and the stigma of always being late. They fought fairly similar, similar in height, if you didn’t think too hard about it he could pull off being the Flash without too many people noticing the change.

And the more he thought about it, the more he liked the idea. Barry still had plenty to do. He still had his family, and was still going to be a forensic scientist. And was also still going to be there to help Wally if it was needed. An advantage that Dick obviously hadn’t had at his disposal. Being the Flash could help him get back into the field, help people, do something.

Not have him waste away being unsure of what next step he should take.

Wally turned to face Dick and voice his thoughts when he remembered…

Oh yeah, he’s asleep.

Wally couldn’t see his face, Dick had this weird habit of covering his face while he slept. Apparently nothing had changed with age. It was clear he was asleep though.

The even breaths, and a completely relaxed form. Wally knew when he was faking it, he’d seen Dick do that enough.

Part of him thought he should leave and let Dick sleep, then he remembered. He was in Gotham, in Wayne Manor.

Gotham was not close to Palo Alto, not by a long shot.

Wally sighed. He knew he couldn’t just use the Zeta Tubes in the Cave. He didn’t have clearance, he also didn’t know how to get down there in the first place. But he didn’t know where anyone was, and didn’t feel comfortable wandering around trying to find them. At the same time he didn’t want to sit here, it felt weird.

Wally heard footsteps in the hall, he stood up and glanced awkwardly out.

It was Damian.

“Why are you lurking in a doorway?” He asked Wally.

Wally didn’t respond. A little startled as the kid had stopped dead in his tracks and whipped around to ask Wally this question.

Damian raised an eyebrow and inched closer.

“He, uh, he fell asleep.” Wally gestured behind him.

Damian peered around him.

“Yeah, he’s been doing a lot of that lately. That still doesn’t explain why you’re standing in the doorway though.”

“I heard you walking by, I was curious to see who it was.”

Damian seemed okay with that answer than his head shot back up at Wally.

“How’d you get here?”

“Tim. He and I took a Zeta Tube.”

Damian mumbled something Wally hadn’t understood.

Was that arabic? It wasn’t english, he was sure about that.

“Well, hopefully he’ll sleep for a while. I can allow you to return home, if you’re interested.”

Wally huffed. “Yeah, I don’t want to bother him.”

Damian gestured down the hall with his head. A silent suggestion to follow him.

This kid was nothing like the other three. Well okay, he was short like Dick had been when he first started as Robin. He also struck Wally as aggressive much like when Jason had first started, only Damian’s aggression seem more calculated than impulsive. And there was a lot of unspoken talent that Tim always seemed to radiate, like the physical appearance was all an illusion and that they were something to be feared.

But that was where the similarities ended, Damian seemed far to cocky and proud of himself. Wally couldn’t quiet figure out why.

Damian opened the clock face on the grandfather clock at the end of the hall, moving the hands to a specific time. Wally heard something unlock behind it, and watched as Damian pulled the clock from the wall.

They descended down the staircase, and over to the Zeta platform.

Damian turned around, his entire demeanor had changed. It was timid and cautious, it took Wally by surprise. He had never seen this side of the kid before.

“Did he tell you anything?” He asked Wally.

“Like what.”

“About the Court, and what they did to him. Not like his senses or anything like that. The tortures they dished out. The things he was asked, or saw.”

Wally shook his head. “No, he said he didn’t want to talk about it.”

Damian looked away, he sighed. He’d been hoping for a different answer.

“That’s what he keeps telling everyone.” Damian told him.

In all honesty Wally wasn’t shocked, that was a very Dick Grayson thing to do.

“Now that Grayson is more active, I assume the two of you can communicate and leave Drake alone.”

“I haven’t seen him since this morning when he brought me here.”

“Well I’m tired of him complaining on the constant questions he keeps getting on Grayson’s condition. So get the Team off his back then.”

Damian input the code and the Zeta Tube sprung to life sending Wally home.

Chapter Text

When Dick had gone missing, Barbara hadn’t panicked. Figuring that he got in a little over his head and would be back for her to tease within a few days.

She had been wrong.

Her first clue was Jason being more cooperative. She knew since he’d gotten back, he was forging his own rather destructive path and didn’t want anything to do with Batman. And while Dick had been instrumental in getting Jason sort of reacquainted with all of them, he still prefered being on his own.

The next was Tim pulling away from the Team to devote more time to locating his missing brother, he would shut down anyone who tried to pull him from his efforts. While Barbara had also pulled back from engaging with the Team, her efforts had been completely different.

She was paralyzed, she much older than many of its members, and had some other things to deal with.

Artemis had been the one to alert her to Red Robin’s sudden seclusion and forced her to start digging for answers.

She went to the Manor and pressed until she got what she came for.

Bruce had been a wreck. None of them had any clue who’d taken him, when he’d been taken, or why he’d been taken.

He explained the few theories he did have, all of which were long shots. Barbara didn’t think any of them would pan out, she’d been right.

Jason took her to the last place Dick had been seen, they asked his neighbors about him, criminals about him, and nothing. He wasn’t checking in on any of his usual frequencies, he wasn’t going to any of his hideouts, it was like God himself had taken Dick Grayson off the face of the Earth.

She ended up working alongside Tim, looking for any and every irregularity that would point them towards Dick.

Ironically, it had been Jason to come up with anything.

He told them how one of the gangs in Gotham had completely retreated off and gone silent. Batman looked into and discovered it to be a front for the Court of Owls.

They had gotten wind of Batman going through there facilities looking for his son, but they were good and knew he had no tangible proof they’d been the ones to do it. Only a gut feeling.

So they taunted him by confirming they were the ones by leaving Dick’s Nightwing suits, in shreds, in an abandoned building. Which they promptly blew sky high when Batman found the suit.

It was like the Court saying that they were close, but they were never going to catch him. It caused all of them to get sloppy, and let horribly obvious evidence slip through their fingers.

Her father had caught on to her distress and forced the truth out of her. Well a version of the truth. She explained how Dick had gotten severely injured and she was worried he wouldn’t pull through. He saw through her lie, and begged for details or better yet the truth.

She never did give it to him. She wasn’t going to.

She was there the day they brought Dick back.

Barbara had gone to the Manor like she had been doing since she started helping Tim, only to discover the Batwing was gone as was Jason, Tim, and Damian. Along with a substantial amount of equipment, medical supplies, and their suits.

Their comms had been shut off, and she had no idea where they had gone.

She had spent that time locating the Batwing’s tracker, it popped back up when they were within Gotham’s city limit.

When it arrived all three of them looked exhausted, dirty, and completely frantic. She couldn’t figure out why until she saw Jason pull Dick’s lifeless body out of the plane.

He looked dead, she was almost convinced he was until Robin began attaching monitors and fluids to him.

Too many emotions, not enough ways to express them and remain calm.

When he woke up, he reacted rather violently. He got all three them, Tim actually needed stitches from how hard Dick had hit him in the face.

They sedated him and put him in a cell.

When he woke up again, he was calm. But he wasn’t there. It wasn’t him.

It broke her heart to see him like that, she couldn’t stay. Tim remained fairly adamant in keeping her up to date with his condition. Jason had actually broken into her apartment to make sure she was okay, he ended up holding her while she wept into his chest.

She and Dick had always had a complicated relationship, but there was no doubt in her mind that she loved him. They’d always danced around each other, both deciding it was best not to pursue anything beyond what they had. She hated it, but had been the one who came up with it.

Jason had assured her, that he would make sure Dick would get better. He claimed that it was because ‘Dick can handle B better than anyone’, she saw through it. She knew he wanted his older brother better, because Dick was his brother. She also knew he would never admit it.

But nonetheless, she stayed away from the cave. Knowing full well, there were plenty of people to take care of him. It was selfish, and she knew that. But she couldn’t handle how broken he was. It was too much.

She was getting started on her senior thesis. Her final project for school. She wanted to out with a bang, and had all semester to work on it. But she didn’t know what to make her thesis about. There was a lot she could use, and at the same time nothing at all.

She sighed closing her laptop. This was the third time she’d opened the word document and decided that she was going to at least get her thesis started. It was getting frustrating.

She leaned back in the chair and looked at the time, three in the afternoon. Normally she would’ve been heading to the Manor right about now.

Tuesday at three o’clock, every single week. But since Dick’s kidnapping and then rescue she hadn’t been following that part of her schedule.

Her phone dinged from across the room, a text.

She ignored it. She sat there in her silent apartment. She hadn’t seen anyone from the Manor in quite some time.

Around two weeks.

She rolled herself to her phone, realizing it might be Tim or Bruce needing her help, or giving her an update.

It wasn’t either of them, it was Dick.

It took her a minute to process what she was seeing.

Dick couldn’t be texting her, he was comatose. Maybe Jason was just being an ass and using his phone, but that felt oddly out of character. Jason could be a jerk, but he wouldn’t do something like that.

D: I haven’t seen you in a while. Are you not coming?

She blinked. Should she respond? Why wouldn’t she.

For Dick this would be out of the ordinary, he wouldn’t have known that she hasn’t been stopping by for a while now.

B: Should I come?

D: I’d like the company.

B: You’re alone?

D: No. just bored. Can’t do much right now.

B: I’m just running late, I’ll be there soon.

She began to pack up her computer. She figured she’d be there for a while, and while she did intend on getting filled in on everything Dick had gone through, she also knew there were other things that she really should be getting done in the cave.

 ***

“It’s wonderful to see you again, Miss. Gordon.” Alfred greeted her.

“I know, it’s been a while. How’ve you been?” She asked him.

“A little peeved as of late.”

A giggle escaped her lips at his word choice. “I can imagine. But you’re back now, and from what I’ve gathered things are getting better.”

“Yes, Master Dick especially has made remarkable improvement.”

“Where is he?”

Alfred gestured for her to follow him, they walked in the dining room. She saw Dick sitting at the table. He had a bowl full of something warm. Which he was completely neglecting, opting to focus all of his attention on the papers he had scattered across the table top.

“It would be preferable if you ate something Master Dick.” Alfred chieded.

“I know, just give me a second.” Dick responded.

“What’cha working on?” Barbara asked, pulling up next to him.

“Just trying to get a handle on something.” He replied.

She picked up one of the papers, studying it.

It was talking about when Bruce first encountered the Court of Owls. She remembers he’d been put in the labyrinth to be killed and had barely managed to escape with his life.

“Get a handle on what?”

“Why they’d done what they did, as opposed to anything else” He gestured to that many other paper he had out.

“And this might help?”

He shrugged. “Yeah maybe.”

She studied him. He looked a lot better.

There was some color back in his face, and it was obvious he was eating again.

He didn’t look like death, which was always a plus. But she could tell that, despite his thick baggy clothing, he was still severely underweight. He was trying to hide it.

“How are you?” She asked.

She heard him sigh, his whole posture slumped down. As if the question defeated him.

He looked at her. “I guess I’m okay.”

“You guess.”

He looked away.

“Do you want to talk about it? I am a fantastic listener, just ask me.”

That got a small smile out of him.

“I’ve been better.” He admitted. “It’s kind of frustrating because… I want thing to just get back to normal. Get back out on the field, get back to working with the Team more, be able to sleep at night. I can’t do any of those things right now.”

“You’re not sleeping? Why not?” Her voice was filled with concern.

“I see too much. It’s like I’m back there, but…” He stopped.

“But what?”

“Nevermind, it’s not important.”

“It feels kind of important.”

“Really, Babs, don’t worry about it. I just need to get over it in all honesty.”

“Dick, you can’t just get over things like this. It takes time, and it helps when you talk to people so your not shouldering unnecessary burdens, they only weigh you down.”

She could see just how defeated he felt, how tired he was, how broken he’d become.

Barbara felt like crying again, but she wasn’t going to. She was going to help her friend, crying wasn’t going to help him.

“You know what, you don’t have to talk about it.” She yielded.

He turned his head with an eyebrow raised, he’d been expecting more of a fight.

“You heard me. Instead, you can let me help you with this. A fresh set of eyes and ears might just be what you need.”

Dick looked like he wanted to argue. Looking between her and the sheer amount of paper he had in front of him. But Barbara knew he wasn’t going to.

“Yeah, maybe you’re right. And I’m pretty sure if I don’t eat this soon, Alfred’s going to dump it down my throat.”

“So what are you looking for?”

He pulled the bowl in front of him as he pushed a file towards her.

“I’m not sure. I’m more going off of when the Court made their first real big attack on us a while back. It was something a Talon had told me. That I was bred for being a Talon, and I was betraying my own blood. It was pretty similar to some of the stuff they told me while I was there. That I was made for a greater purpose.”

“You’re looking for why they picked you? I’m pretty sure you answered your own question.”

“No, I know why they picked me. More like why it took so long for them to do anything about it. They've had plenty of times and opportunities, there was something about that night. Maybe I passed a test, maybe they got impatient. Why then?”

Barbara thought about it. She supposed he was right, they really did have quite a few opportunities. Hell, he’d been in the system for two and a half months, that was more than enough time to get a nine year old orphan in Gotham. She knew that all too well.

But they didn’t. They waited until now, when he can fight back and inflict some major damage. Until he actually stood a chance on getting away. It didn’t add up.

“And why they just let me go.” He added. “I read the case file, I went through the data that was brought back when they found me. The Court let me go.”

He was confident that was the case.

“Where’s that file?” she asked him.

“On the computer.”

They began to comb through every single thing Dick had pulled from the cave’s database, She began to see a pattern to what he chose, and what the Court attacked.

The problem was, said pattern was horribly abstract. It didn’t seem to have any rhyme or reason, no real motive as to why the Court did what they did. The pattern was how they did it.

After a few hours she concluded that a break was in order. They weren’t finding anything as to why they took him when they did, they hadn’t really found anything at all.

“C’mon, let’s go on a walk or something.” She suggested.

“In the snow?”

“It’s quiet, and calm.”

He looked outside and made a face. “I don’t know.”

“You haven’t left the house since you got back, a walk’ll be nice.”

“I’m not saying it won’t be, it’s just it’s cold and…”

That struck her like an odd argument. He’d almost never had a problem with the cold, he kind of enjoyed it.

Talons can’t get cold.

The Court was trying to turn him into a Talon. Maybe the thick clothing wasn’t just to hide his physical appearance.

She looked out the window, the sun was out. Cold and bright.

Okay, maybe not.

“Right, uh daylight, snow, freezing temperatures. Not the best conditions for you right now.”

He shook his head. “The cold isn’t as big of an issue, but, it’s become a lot harder to regulate my core temperature. I get cold rather easily.”

He sounded annoyed, of all the things he had to worry about, being cold shouldn’t be one of them.

She smirked at his tone. It was still him, he was still going to drive her crazy. It was reassuring.

“Okay, well then I’m going to make some coffee, and we’ll just enjoy each other’s company.” She told him. “And take a break from all of this.”

He shook his head, a small smile playing on his lips.

She knew him all too well. If she hadn’t said anything, he would’ve kept on working.

They sat in silence, just soaking up the presence of the other.

Barbara wanted to press, wanted him to open up and tell her what was going on. He obviously wasn’t going to do that willingly.

“When you said you weren’t sleeping,” she began “and that you were seeing things from the court, what’d you mean.”

She saw his whole posture stiffen in the corner of her eye.

“Just that.” He swallowed thickly. “It’s like I never left. Like I’m still there.”

“There was more to it. You stopped yourself from telling me. What did you mean.”

He stared intently at the cup, as if it would provide the answers he needed. Dick wouldn’t meet her eyes.

“You know it’s not a burden to tell me what’s going on. Or anyone for that matter, we want to make the load lighter, easier for you to carry. We can’t do that if you’re going to cling to it like this.” She was pleading now.

He glanced at her quickly.

“C’mon Dick. How is this helping anyone? How is this going to get you back on your feet? Not talking isn’t going to make things better. You want things to get back to normal, I get it. But if you want us off your back, talk. Make it clear that your not dragging yourself further down.”

He put his face in his hands, exhaling loudly. Portraying how frustrated he was getting.

“Please.” She tried.

He leaned back in the chair.

“I’m afraid I won’t wake up.” He told her, his voice barely above a whisper.

“Why?”

“Somewhere, somehow, they have a way to turn me on and off.” He looked at her. “When I do sleep, I’m there. I never actually saw their leader, only his proxies. But he’s there with all the other owls, and I’m kneeling at his feet. I’m waiting for a command. He’s always talking, but never to me, so I don’t know what he’s saying.”

“That doesn’t explain why you’re saying they can control you.”

“Because I can’t wake up until they say I can.”

She blinked. When did he figure that out?

“One morning Jason went to wake me up, and he couldn’t. They spent two hours, I could hear the whole thing, I could feel everything they tried. The court said I needed to listen to what I was being told, so I had to stay.”

“Do they know that?”

Dick shook his head.

“Why?”

“Because I haven’t told them.”

“Of course you haven’t.” she mumbled to herself. “Why would you.”

He didn’t respond.

Barbara was sure he’d been interrogated by his brothers already. They just hadn’t been successful.

“What were they telling you?” She asked him.

“I don’t know. Like I said, I only understand them when they speak to me directly. They’ve only done it once, and that was to tell me to wake up. I know they’re talking, but I instantly forget the words.”

She made a face, and began contemplating this discovery.

“You’re hearing they’re plans.”

“Possibly.”

“Why keep this to yourself?”

He sighed. “The Court thrives off secrecy. You don’t talk about them, they leave you alone. If I keep my head down, they might forget about me.”

“That’s a stupid plan.”

“I know, it’s the only one I got.”

Clearly, he’d burned out any other option. She didn’t know enough about the Talons to make a better plan. His situation was unique, that made it difficult.

“We’re going to come up with a less asinine plan.” She told him.

He rolled his eyes but didn’t argue. “Just us?”

“Yes. Just us.”

The blinking cursor mocked him.

Tim need to give his report on the events that led to Dick’s rescue. He’d turned in a vague summary, but he knew it need more detail, and Jason certainly wasn’t going to provide that.

He couldn’t figure out why he was having so much trouble with this report. It was report, explaining the events of a mission he’d been on. He had written hundreds, in varying degrees. Some for his personal database, some for the Batcave, and some for the Bunker.

Why was this different? It was a mission to go rescue Dick from the clutches of the Court. The hows and whys.

He’d found a secluded storage closet at the Bunker.

He supposed he could’ve gone home to the cave to work on this, or multiple other places. He was continuously bombarded by various members of the Team asking if and how they could help, wanting updates. He felt like he was being smothered.

Tim remembers when his father had figured out he was Robin. It hadn’t ended well. When Tim had finally convinced him that being Robin was a good thing he’d gotten similar treatment. His father had been concerned that Tim had put too much in his load and was trying to force some of it off.

Tim had always hated smothering. His mother had smothered him ridiculously. He doesn’t know how she would’ve handled the knowledge that he’d been Robin. She’d been alive when he’d taken up the mantel. She probably would’ve locked him in a basement and never let him out.

The fact his mother had been like this was the main reason he hated smothering so much.

He remembers learning how to ride a bike. He’d fallen off, as most children do when they’re learning, and scraped his knee. She’d decided he just wasn’t ready, his father had taken him out in secret to help him learn.

She was upset that he’d done that. Tim was her only son, she was going to make sure nothing happened to him. Ever.

Reminiscing like this made his heart ache. He was an orphan, like Dick and Jason. Like a lot of the members of the League and the Team.

You didn’t get involved in superhero stuff without a lot of tragedy happening along the way. No one was that lucky.

He returned his focus to the report.

Just state the facts, he told himself, that’s all B needs. That’s all anybody needs.

But this report was staying away from League and Team systems. He was still fairly certain that almost none of the League knew what was going on. It wasn’t any of their business anyways.

He forced the words out and the memories forward. The report was needed, the sooner it’s done the sooner he could move on.

And it didn’t take long for him to get said report done. B had asked for the details weeks ago, and he knew Dick was spending almost all of his free time deciphering everything they had on the court and everything he’d learned. He would appreciate the details the report provided. As he had tried to get those details the day after he’d done a one-eighty back to normality.

Tim didn’t know why, but he left it alone. He knew Dick was bored and frustrated. More likely than not, this obsession was just to keep him busy. Tim didn’t think Dick was planning some sort of revenge or anything. That would be out of character. If anything, Dick was refusing to blindsided twice by the same people. He was trying to figure some things out.

He sent the report to the Cave’s database and saved another to his hard drive. Best to be safe and have a copy somewhere safe.

He leaned against the wall, rubbing his eyes. It was only a matter of time before someone found him. That was always the case.

He didn’t think people were always looking for him, but when they did stumble across him. A million question instantly popped in their heads. And those questions always did demand answers.

In all honesty it wasn’t even the whole team that was the problem. Just the core members, everyone else figured they’d be let in after everything got sorted out. They didn’t know what happened, because no one told them. They wouldn’t have a need to be concerned. Why should they? They think Nightwing is doing some covert mission in a classified location.

He packed up the laptop, storing it away in a compartment on his back under his cape, and pulled his cowl up. Enough of the Team had shown up today that he really needed to be in the suit as opposed to civilian clothing.

He cracked open the door, no one was there.

Sliding out into the hall he quickly made his way to the Zeta Tubes, hoping he could leave without running into anyone.

He failed.

“Hey, Red.” A voice called out to him.

His shoulders dropped as he turned around.

It was Conner.

“Hi Conner, I really don’t have time to…”

“I’m not gonna bother you about Nightwing. I figured when he gets better, he’ll talk to us himself.”

That’s asking for a lot. Tim thought to himself.

Dick wasn’t known for being open with people. While he struck everyone as an open book, he was the exact opposite. He purposefully made people think that so they wouldn’t pick up on the amount of half truths that ended up escaping his lips. Usually about himself.

“I was thinking, you might want to just hang out or something.”

Tim blinked. This was Conner right? Half clone of Superman.

“Uhh…” Was all Tim could manage.

“We could grab lunch.”

Tim didn’t answer. Why was he trying to be Tim’s friend?

Slowly, he nodded. “Where?”

Conner shrugged. “I’m not partial to anything.”

They decided on some random corner cafe. Tim had changed into some civies he had stored at the Bunker.

The whole thing felt awkward.

Tim didn’t know Conner, and Conner didn’t know him. Not that Tim had given him a chance.

They’d done a lot of field missions together, but that was different. They made an effective team.

They’d never really talked outside of those times. It always had something to do with the mission or about something the Team had done recently. Never anything recreational.

Conner seemed to have the same thought. This was awkward.

Just sitting there not even making eye contact or having a conversation.

Neither of them had even used the infamous ‘wonderful weather we’re having’.

He coughed. “Wow, extra chatty today.”

A small laugh out of Conner.

Why was this weird. Tim was by no means a people person, but he could hold a conversation with just about anyone. Yet he was completely stumped.

“Why’d you offer this?” Tim asked.

“I figured with everything you’ve got going on you could use a friend.” Conner told him. “You know someone to just hang out with and talk to. Not necessarily about things at home, just about anything.”

“Was this something multiple people came up with?”

He shook his head. “No, just me. Look I don’t know Dick that well, and I didn't take the time to get to know Jason and he died. Recent events have forced me to think about my relationship with the people on the Team. I just figured I’d start with you.”

Tim raised an eyebrow. “Why me?”

Conner shrugged. “You’re pretty mellow. If I’m gonna force myself to get to know someone, I really want to avoid anyone like Bart.”

Tim cracked a smile to that comment. Bart was very talkative, and it did get on his nerves. Bart was like his polar opposite.

Tim was calm and collected keeping his thoughts to himself and observe the situation, he didn’t rush into things he looked for the best advantage. Bart was loud, he expressed what he was feeling and didn’t seem to possess a filter, he rushed into almost everything (it caused a lot of issues and he got reprimanded by multiple people every single time) and put himself in situations he didn’t need to be in.

“I guess that’s fair. I figured it’s because you wanted to be the first to unlock my dark and hidden past.” Tim joked.

“That’d be cool to figure out.”

It’d be cool to talk about, but Tim wasn’t going to.

The only reason Conner even knew his name, was because he knew Dick’s.

Conner didn’t know anything else about them. Like he admitted, he and Dick weren’t close. Friendly sure, but not really friends. Close acquaintances was better description.

“Maybe some other time.” Tim told him.

Tim was serious about that. 

Chapter Text

Jason did not want to wake up. Not yet anyway.

The last couple of nights he’d spent on the streets in Bludhaven, covering for Dick while he recovered.

It wasn’t exactly difficult, but the lack of sleep was catching up to him. Running on three hours of sleep for the week wasn’t exactly healthy. He also knew that this wasn’t uncommon in the Batfamily, the nineteen year old was used to the lifestyle.

He nestled his face deeper in the pillow, trying to get a few extra minutes. He was fighting a losing battle. His mind began to wake up, his body was far from ready.

But the mind was in charge, reminding Jason of the multiple things he really needed to get done.

He planned on continuing to keep watch over Bludhaven until Dick was cleared to go back into the field, which would hopefully be soon. But he didn’t plan on sticking around the Manor for that duration of time.

Dick was pretty much back on his feet, functioning as he should all things considered. He had given them a rather significant scare when they couldn’t wake him up a few days ago.

They’d tried literally everything. They gave him epinephrine, they’d even tried suffocating him enough (they had become desperate) that he should’ve woken up so he could breath. He wasn’t exactly sure what did it. Maybe the epinephrine had just taken a second to react with him. But none of them thought that was the case.

He’d woken up choking and gasping for air. Afterwards he acted like it’d just been a horrific nightmare and refused to talk about it.

It hadn’t happened since, but people checked on him every single morning. They didn’t need him dead. That would do a lot more harm than good.

But there were plenty of people to take care of him if anything happened. Jason also knew someone would call if he was needed.

Jason just kept coming up short for reasons to stay put. He wasn’t trusted by Batman, Tim and Damian certainly didn’t need his help with anything, he was pretty sure Tim was preparing for a rather long mission in the near future, and Dick was making rather large strides to recovery, It was only his weight that was really an issue anymore.

So yeah, he would just hang out in Bludhaven until Dick got back and then it was back to Gotham’s underground, maybe. He might go somewhere else and start doing some other things.

Jason wasn’t sure. Of course he didn’t need to be. He was on his own, he could do what he wanted without a whole lot of consequences. If he wanted to follow a drug cartel to the middle east, no one was going to stop him.

He sat up in bed, rubbing his eyes.

There was snow caked along the outside of his window. January was always snowy in Gotham, it was the coldest month and it always brought a lot of ice and snow.

He stood up, figuring he should go and make sure the former boy wonder wasn’t dead, he was pretty sure it was his turn anyways.

He cracked open his brother’s bedroom door peering inside.

The bed was unmade and empty. He must’ve gotten up recently.

He went to the kitchen, grabbing a mug and filled it with coffee.

The whole house was oddly quiet. Was Jason alone? In the manor?

That wasn’t something that ever happened.

Jason nursed the mug and tried to think where everyone might be, he still felt usually groggy.

He knew no one was in the cave, it was too early in the morning and no one had pulled an all nighter. While Tim was famous for those, he’d been the first to retire after patrol last night. Bruce hadn’t even gone out last night, just asking for quick verbal reports from the night’s events and then following Tim upstairs.

Damian had also stayed home, despite numerous protests. The boy had been out two weeks with no break. He had mandatory rest last night. Bruce had stayed put to make sure Damian did.

And Dick, obviously, had been home as well.

So where the hell was everyone?

It was almost noon, usually Alfred preparing afternoon tea right about now, but Jason was alone.

He set the mug down, and ventured back up the stairs. He went up to Tim’s room. He was still asleep.

“Hey replacment, wake up.” He began to jostle the kid.

He didn’t move.

“Tim.” Jason tried more forcefully.

That’s when he saw a tranq dart lying next to him on the bed.

Jason picked it up, studying it. It look familiar.

He went to everyone else’s respective rooms, they were in the same state. Tranqed, all by the same kind of dart.

It was small and subtle. Why had no one tranqed him?

He went back to his room and began to pick through the bedding. He found one of the darts.

Why was he not unconscious like everyone else?

The All Caste, them along with his resurrection had made it rather difficult to sedate him and/or poison him. Nothing really stuck anymore.

Had the Court done this? Had they kidnapped Dick Grayson again?

A gut feeling told Jason that wasn’t the case. This was something else.

Maybe Deathstroke, but he wasn’t this clean.

Jason ran down into the cave. Nothing was missing down there. Only Dick was missing.

He knew he needed help. He had no idea where Dick was. But he needed to be found, as soon as possible. But who could he ask?

He didn’t trust anyone of his allies in Gotham to help, the only people that could were sedated upstairs and he has no idea when they’re going to wake up.

Barbara.

Jason grabbed his gear and loaded up on to his bike.

She could help. And could possibly get in contact with people who could help them too.

He drove as fast as he could. He wasn’t usually out like this in the middle of the day. But drastic circumstances require drastic measures to be taken.

Jason almost got into three accidents, but did make it to the building in one piece.

He snuck past an older woman leaving Barbara’s apartment building, running up the stairs.

“Barbara.” He knocked on the door. “I need your help.”

She must’ve been right behind the door, because it almost immediately opened.

She wasn’t dressed for company, today must’ve been a day she dedicated to studying or it was her lazy day. He wasn’t sure.

“Get it.” She tells him. “What’s going on?”

He waits until the door is closed before going into any explanation.

“Someone broke into the manor, knocked everyone unconscious and possibly kiddnapped Dick.” He tells her, almost breathless.

She has an odd look on her face. “Wait Dick got taken, again?”

Her voice was oddly calm considering the circumstances.

“I think so, yeah.”

She looks away, pondering a thought.

“And everyone else in unconsious?”

He nodded. “I’m gonna need help to find him.”

She raises an eyebrow. “Well that’s a weird thing to hear you say. All of you Robins almost always insist on either working alone, with each other, or with Batman. Any help you need rarely escapes that circle.”

“Now is not the time Babs.”

She smiles. “There’s always time. But I can’t really help you. Did he take his suit?”

“No, he doesn’t have anything with a tracker in it.”

She sighs. “I’m going to have to break some rules and call reinforcement.”

“We could contact West.” he tells her. “He knows I’m alive.”

“Yeah him definitely, along with a few other people.”

Wally has always likes Saturdays.

It was always the day he and Artemis slept in, had a huge breakfast, and did basically nothing all day.

He’d contacted his uncle, telling him that he was willing to take up the mantel for a while, so Barry could have a chance to reorganize his life and spend more time with his family.

They still needed to work a couple of things out, but they were minor. He was basically the Flash now.

And even though all of this had occurred, their Saturday routine hadn’t changed. It had been the same since they moved in together and it would be the same until they died.

Together they ate breakfast making small talk, and planned out their week. Just domestic non-superhero stuff, like needing to get groceries and things like that.

Everything was fine until Artemis got a call.

She glanced at the phone, deciding if the person was important enough to answer it. Apparently they were.

“Hey Barbara what’s happening?” She greeted friendly.

Her face slowly switched from pleasant to serious. It bothered Wally, it meant that they were not going to be doing normal Saturday stuff. They would most likely be doing superhero stuff. Hooray.

“Do you want us there or somewhere else?” She asked.

Wally watched, this was clearly something important.

“Okay, I’ll gather everyone and we’ll be there as soon as we can.”

She hung up and looked Wally dead in the eye.

“We need to go, Now! I’m going to get in touch with the Team.”

“What’s going on?” He asked her.

“Dick’s missing again.”

Wally felt everything in him drop.

Again? The Court took him back? When had this happened? Obviously recently, why were they asking for help now?

“Wally I need you to stay with me. We’ll find him. But we need to get to Gotham right now.”

He nodded.

She quickly began contact members of the Team, requesting immediate assistance in Gotham. All of them had been quick to respond.

She then gathered her gear and Wally ran them to the Zeta Tube, taking them to Gotham.

He blinked as he stepped into the alleyway.

Conner and M’gann were already there talking quietly, possibly wonder what was going on. They stepped out, and almost immediately afterwards Kaldur appeared in the abandoned phone booth.

“What has occured?” He asked Artemis.

“I’m not entirely sure. I just know we need to meet Barbara, she needs our help”

They make their way through the city. It was always different in the day time.

Less intimidating, the streets were crowded with people enjoying their weekend in the snow.

They passed a park, Wally saw a small group of kids throwing snowballs at one another.

It make him think of when it snowed when the Team first formed.

He’d thrown one at Artemis, then had blamed Dick for it. She hadn’t believed him and nailed him in the face with one, when he recovered from that beginning to get back up one hit him in the side of the head. Dick had thrown that one.

It quickly turned into an all out brawl between the three of them. The rest of the team joined in after a little while. It had been the most fun he’d had in a long time. Since he’d become Kid Flash kind of fun.

Their walking turned into jogging, as Artemis led the way to where they were meeting Barbara.

He figured they were getting close if she was jogging.

They turned another corner before ducking behind some apartment buildings. She jumped up, pulling down the ladder to the fire escape.

“On the roof?” Conner asked her.

“That’s what she said.” She stated blankly as she began to climb the ladder.

They pulled themselves up and saw Barbara and another individual with their back to them on the roof.

She was in a wheelchair now. Wally wasn’t sure when that happened. No one else seemed phased by this.

“Hey, what’d you need?” Artemis asked her.

Barbara shifted in her wheelchair, and the other person turned his head slightly at Artemis’ voice. It was Jason.

“More like what does he need.” Barbara told them nudging Jason to turn around.

Slowly he turned to face them. He wore dark shade and had the hood pulled over his head, he wore his leather jacket over the red sweatshirt.

Artemis stepped back.

“Barbara that’s Red Hood.” He heard Conner tell her.

“I know. He helped find Nightwing…”

“And I need your help finding him again.” Jason interrupts.

“How do we know you aren’t looking for him so you can hurt him.” M’gann asks.

Jason rolls his eyes. “What good would that do me? Hmmm? Look he’s gone and I can’t search the city on my own.”

“Why not ask Batman for help.” Wally asks.

“He’s, um, incapacitated at the moment. They all are. I’m very low on options.”

“What makes you think we can trust you?” Artemis asks, anger rising in her voice. “You’re a criminal who has killed a lot of people and tried to turn Gotham in his personal playground.”

He sighed. “You’re really gonna make me tell you. Aren’t you?”

She blinked. Then Wally saw her connect the dots.

“You… you’re…”

“Yeah I figured fleet feet over there told you, he was always bad at keeping secrets.”

Wally made a face. Everyone else looked confused.

“Tell us what?” Kaldur stepped forward. He looked Jason in the eye.

Jason didn’t say anything, he held his ground. Something Jason had done as Robin when someone was trying to intimidate him. Jason began to lean forward, towards Kaldur.

“I wouldn’t pick a fight with me right now.” Jason growled. “I’m not in the mood, and you wouldn’t survive. Grayson is missing again. I don’t have time to gain your trust. And don’t even try Martian. I can combat anything entering my mind. You don’t have my permission, so stop.”

Wally saw M’gann drop to the ground and stare at him.

“Are we done?” Jason asked them.

He watched Kaldur step back, his shoulders relaxed, and his position changed.

“Good. The city is too big for me to comb through on my own and that’s just assuming he’s still here, which I’m fairly certain is the case.”

“So what’d you need from us?” Artemis asked.

“We split the city into sections, each of us takes one. Kid and Miss Martian survey the whole terrain so we can at least eliminate a few places, while Babs is the central control here, and tries to get in contact with Red and Batman.”

“Not Robin?” Barbara asked, a small grin forming.

Jason groaned. “I supposed, but try and get him to come with somebody, otherwise I might throw him off a building, or shoot him.”

They were assigned positions by Barbara.

Wally ran through as much of the city as he could get into a good six or seven times, M’gann flew overhead scanning the minds of as many people as she could, searching.

No one was finding anything.

Where had he gone?

Why was this happening again?

After a few hours it began to get dark, over the comms they were told that Batman had joined in their search efforts. As had Red Robin and Robin himself.

Wally could see each of them bounding across the rooftops.

All of them were coming up empty handed.

They were told to report in every half hour. Each time after Batman instructed that they comb through their section again.

The frustration was building in each of them.

Had this been what Batman had felt the first time, because Wally felt like this was a fruitless search that was getting them nowhere.

But he had no idea where else to look.

Wally could feel the temperature dropping, making it harder to keep up his current speed.

He stopped near a cathedral, taking a minute to recompose himself and gather his thoughts. He really wanted to punch something, take out his anger so he could focus.

He was just about to take off again when he hears a grapple on the roof. He looks up to see someone swing across. They lacked Dick’s grace, so Wally ruled out him as a possible suspect.

Wally ran up to the roof to find a man with a red helmet that covered his entire head and face, with his gun out and pointing it straight at his chest. Wally realized it was Jason, as they were wearing the same clothes, right down to the tears in his cargo pants.

He quickly dropped the stance when he realized it was Wally.

“Were you going to shoot me?” he asked, his voice raising an octavie.

He now understood why the team reacted the way they did towards him. Wally had the sneaking suspicion that even though he could out run a bullet, he wouldn't outrun that one. He gave off the 'duck and cover vibe'. Not something he wanted to be one the receiving end of.

Jason shrugged. “Might’ve, but you’re not the enemy tonight. Some other time maybe.”

He began to walk across the concrete ledge of the roof.

“What are you doing?” Wally asked him.

“Checking something, keep searching West. We need to find him before someone else does.”

Wally nodded before zipping away. He was going to make sure Dick came home tonight. He wasn’t going to be gone for two months again.

 Jason had given Bruce an interesting thought.

Check places where Dick surveyed the city while on patrol.

Those areas happened to be on the south side of the city, near some of the most criminally active area with some of the highest buildings Gotham had to offer. Just his son’s speed.

The best ‘perch’ spots that Dick had mentioned to him happened to be near the cathedral.

Jason had said he would check some of the lower spots and suggested that Bruce check out the higher ones.

When Bruce arrived near the cathedral he watch his wayward son pull a gun on the new Flash before quickly aborting the thought.

They’d had a quick conversation before Flash took off again.

Jason then stood on the edge and seemed to stare out at an unknown horizon before stepping back and continuing across the roof and up onto the next building.

When he woke up at almost four-thirty in the afternoon, he was a little bothered by how late he’d slept in. He went down to the cave to find a note written by Jason, telling him to contact Barbara. He did just that, in the middle of all of this Damian practically runs down there slamming a small object down onto the desktop.

“Someone tranqed us. And Todd and Grayson are not here.” Damian tells him.

Bruce scrutinized the small needle. It was a rudimentary design, but well made nonetheless. He didn’t recognize the design. Making him wonder who had done all of this.

He heard someone almost trip down the stairs, and watched as Tim stumbles into the cave.

“What day is it.” He asks, he looks very concerned and still completely groggy.

The effect of the sedative hadn’t completely worn off on him yet. He looked like a complete mess and swayed from side to side, as if he were trying and failing to find a sense of balance.

Bruce fills the two of them in on the situation. Both of them immediately suited up. While he immediately suggests that Tim waits a little while, before joining them. Tim shoots back that he’s fine, boardes his bike and leaves before anyone can stop him

Bruce knows that Tim will at least be smart enough to take it slow until the sedatives wear off.

He shoots another line bringing him to the top of a neighboring building. Batman stood taking in the view, he could understand now why Dick would chose these places to patrol. He would have complete control and gravity at his mercy in this area.

He looks around, this was a little too open, Dick would’ve at least been smart enough to ‘perch’ somewhere less obvious. He glanced looking for ledges any place where the shadows could hide you.

He saw some concrete that stuck out against the side of the building.

Bingo. He thought to himself.

He approached them, crouching down on the end.

Bruce surveys the new advantage. He felt like he was close, Dick was somewhere around here, he had to be.

He glanced down towards the ground. A lethal drop, one wrong move and there would new stain on the concrete below.

He sighed as his eyes ran the side of the building.

He catches a glimpse of something sitting. It’s barely visible, the shadows completely encasing it.

Bruce drops down to another ledge below him, there was just enough room for a foothold.

It was a person sitting in a window of what was obviously an abandoned apartment.

Bruce opens his mouth to say something but is cut off.

“Before you ask, No I have no idea how I got here.”

It was Dick.

“Why not contact someone?” Bruce asks him.

Dick shrugs. “I wanted a chance to think. Best places to think are up high.”

Bruce looks back at the city, the nightlife starting to come out. Meaning patrol really needed to start soon. But they were far enough away, that it was fairly quiet and you could just observe the lights on the skyscrapers.

“People have been looking for you for hours Dick.” He tell him

“I’ve only been here for a little while. The last thing I remember is being on the ground a few blocks back in some alleyway.”

He gestured towards the docks. He sounded tired.

“C’mon, let’s go home.” Bruce tries. “Out of the cold.”

“I’m afraid I might’ve done something B.” Dick turns his head to look at him.

Bruce saw something, there was fear in his eyes. He was afraid of himself.

“Done what?” Bruce asks him, slowly inching closer.

Dick shook his head. “I don’t know. That’s the problem.”

Now he was confused. “Dick what are you talking about?”

Dick, rather hesitantly, explained his theory. That he was a trojan horse. That the Court of Owls could control him to some extent.

“When did you figure this out?” Bruce asked him.

“A few days ago.”

He held back a sigh, it wasn’t unexpected that Dick had kept the information to himself, just annoying.

“Do you know the parameters to their hold on you?”

“Kind of, I don’t think they have any control when I’m awake, and I’m pretty sure their control is limited when I’m asleep.”

“So how’d they get you all the way out here?”

“Pretty sure I walked. If my shoes are anything to go by.”

Dick gestured at his feet. They were muddy and wet. So his theory was probably correct.

“You know it’d be helpful, if you let me in on everything going on son.”

“The problem is everyone wants to know. I don’t want to explain it once, let alone twenty times.”

“Then explain it once, to one person or all of them. I don’t care, but Dick, it doesn’t feel like you’re actually moving on. Maybe you should…”

“No.” Dick cut him off.

He knew exactly what Bruce was going to suggest, and he understood Dick’s animosity towards it. He never did well with therapy. His social worker had forced him to when he was much younger and it had left a bad taste in his mouth.

Truth be told, Bruce had never understood why they had thought Dick had needed therapy in the first place. He’d been handling the situation fairly well considering the circumstances, so trying to get him to consider it when it might actually do some good this time was going to be a war he wasn’t sure was worth fighting.

Bruce put his hands up in surrender. “Fine, but I still think that you should talk about it with someone, anyone. You’ve got plenty of people to choose from. Especially tonight. Hood and Oracle pulled quite a few people together to find you.”

“What’re we going to do? Have them all sit at my feet while I tell them about my eight weeks of torcher, like some sick bedtime story?”

“Maybe not quite like that, and you don’t have to tell everyone here.”

Dick leaned his head against the window seal he was sitting in.

Bruce wasn’t too overly concerned that Dick might jump, that didn’t seem to be a thought in his son’s head. But he could see that Dick was freezing. He was shivering, and was obviously trying to hide it. Being this high up wasn’t helping anything.

“Seriously, let’s get back down on the ground, and get you warmed back up.”

“You know that I don’t feel too cold right now. But I don’t think it’s frostbite or anything like that. I think too many of my nerve endings are dead.”

That was a rather strange and slightly morbid thought, when considering who he was talking to.

“How did you get up here?” Bruce asked him.

Dick gestured back into the apartment. “I climbed the stairs. I’m forbidden from doing anything resembling parkour for the time being remember.”

Bruce grinned, an uncommon thing to see from Batman. “Yes, Alfred was very vocal about that.”

“As if I might disobey, can you believe that?” Dick asked, a grin widening on his face as well.

“No, you’ve never done anything like that. Going to hard on yourself before you’ve completely healed.”

“Yeah, that’s your thing B.”

He sighed, shaking his head. “Seriously let's get down from here, and back to the cave.”

Chapter Text

Giving details about his torcher was not something Dick seemed like he was going to do voluntarily. Tim sympathized. He thought that was more than reasonable, give him some time and he knew Dick would eventually talk about it.

Tim was patient, nobody else was on the other hand. While they never directly asked for the details, they did give backhanded questions that hinted at the topic. Rather obviously, he might add.

Tim was going to respect his older brother’s wishes, and let Dick come to him whenever he deemed himself ready to approach the topic.

So the sudden change of heart took him by surprise. Not only was Dick going to explain what happened to him to them, the Team was included in the conversation. Tim was positive it had been a good six months since the last time they saw him. A lot had changed.

He gone from a sterdy well built person, to a clearly starved shivery mess. He’d finally reached a point where he now looked like he just had a bad case of the flu, which was a rather significant improvement. But one would only know that if they saw what he looked like at the beginning.

He watched as Dick seemed uncertain as to where to begin. The words all sitting in his throat trying to figure out which one went first.

Does he give the pg version of the story, to make everything easier to swallow. Or give the gruesome details to avoid questions. A hard call, one Tim wasn’t sure on the direction of.

Dick seemed to be chewing on his lower lip.

“The first week wasn’t bad I guess.” He began. “Just solitary, left me to count the bricks in the wall a hundred times. Then drugs were brought in.”

He sucked in a breath, gathering his thoughts.

“At first it didn’t seem like they were doing anything, I’d wake up to a new mark on my skin, after a little while I’d hallucinate. Weird things too, like lucid dreaming, only painful. Those hallucinations turned into people, they would tell me things that I would have to remind myself weren’t true. It got harder, I couldn’t sleep I was starving. All of those things combined with the lack of any kind of human interaction, it made it harder to get handle on what was real and what wasn’t.

“The worst part wasn’t even that…”

Tim felt it couldn’t get worse, but knew exactly how it could. He knew the best ways to get a person to talk, all the ways to bring them to their knees and beg him for mercy.

“There wasn’t any sort of routine, which I expected.”

Tim knew that tactic, humanity thrived off routine. Every single person had one, a subconscious routine set. Once it’s removed, it messes with your head, that combined with solitary confinement was going to push you closer to the edge a whole lot faster. The unknown was far more frightening than most other phobias.

“It’s a good way to get information, keeping captives on their toes. I don’t know exactly when they’d interrogate me for anything, I don’t know what they asked. After I’d come out of it…”

He didn’t elaborate, but it was pretty clear what happened. A whole lot of pain, he obviously wasn’t very compliant even when they made him higher than a kite.

“Probably towards the, like the last week or something, they got more… aggressive and forceful. It was the first time I actually saw any of them. They’d interrogate, get pissed, and my scenery changed. I got locked in a small dark room for a while, completely restrained at another point, they got creative rather quickly.”

He wasn’t getting detailed, and Tim was rather thankful.

He was picking up on details Dick was leaving out. Like how Dick didn’t really know how long things were lasting, his inner clock gave up. Tim also figured that the Court hadn’t asked the obvious questions like ‘who’s Batman?’, and ‘where’s the Batcave?’. Things he got asked constantly when he got captured.

Tim knew that the Court already had those answers, they had been asking more obscure things. Things that would be extremely difficult to find answers for, that Dick would also know. Those two thing overlapped strongly in this case. Aside from Batman, Dick probably knew the most about the League and all of their rather sensitive facts.

The reason had been, to keep up the illusion that nothing had changed. That Bruce wasn’t ‘dead’, and Damian wasn’t Robin. While people learning about the change in the Robin monikar wouldn’t have been a bad thing, it wouldn’t have been too much of a stretch to see the correlation.

So Dick would have the same clearance levels as Batman, and people would come to him with things the Batman was supposed to handle. Because the main founders trusted Nightwing, they dodged many metaphorical bullets and avoided even more hoops.

Tim glanced over towards everyone else.

B and Damian (Both still in masks and uniform) had identical blank expressions, digesting the information being handed to them. Tim couldn’t tell what Jason was thinking, he’d kept his Red Hood helmet on, not enough people knew he was the second Robin returned from the grave. Meeting the new Robin and Dick providing this information was enough for one night.

The rest of the team all had rather similar expressions.  A mixture of stone faced and sorrow.

How was one supposed to react to information like this? Give him a hug? Tell him they understood? There wasn’t exactly a book out there on how to deal with older brother returning to society after horrific torture and trauma.

“Then I was thrown in the Labyrinth and the rest is history.” Dick finishes.

That probably was the end of the story for the most part. Tim notices that Dick had left out a rather gruesome detail, that he’d attempted.

It wasn’t something they needed to know, the family knew, which would be enough. Especially since Dick didn’t really seem to be suicidal or have suicidal thoughts.

No need to cause more worry than necessary, Dick could keep that information to himself. No one would be the wiser.

Everyone seemed silent, unsure how to proceed.

Dick had leaned against the table staring down. He was avoiding their gaze.

“You don’t know how you got out?” Kaldur asked him.

Dick shook his head. “That would be their story to tell.” He gestured to Tim and Robin.

“Later.” Tim told them.

No one seemed to argue. Instead opting to awkwardly stand around.

“So what now?” Artemis asked them.

Tim thought about it. There really wasn’t a plan. Bruce’s plan consisted of waiting and gathering more information. With everything going on with Dick, it would be hard to properly retaliate without a lot of backlash.

The Team’s plan should really be to stay out of all this. Just move forward, not tell the younger members. Bad plan? Yeah it was, but only the core members knew. The Justice League didn’t even know what was going on. They knew Batman had to take a leave of absence to take care of a few things that required his full attention.

He didn’t specify and they didn’t ask. He’d done it before, but he’d also gone dark whenever he did. Batman didn’t vanish this time. Tim figured they were curious, or had an idea that someone was missing. But that was probably it, and it was probably only members that had been with B from the beginning.

Tim could feel a headache coming on, he was ready to retire for the night and it was barely eight thirty. Just collapse on his bed and be done with today. He’d only been up for four hours (which wasn’t his fault), but he didn’t care. Today had been stressful and it needed to end for the sake of his sanity.

“Now we wait to see what the Court’s next move might be.” Batman told them. “We can’t risk an ambush or faulty and misleading information slip through again. And all of you will stay out of it.”

“What?! You have got to be kidding.” He heard Wally exclaim. “The last time you left them out of it, he almost died. We can help.”

“No. End of discussion.”

None of them seemed to thrilled with the order, not that they had been when it had been given the first time.

Artemis turned towards Batman, to state her case.

“I wouldn’t.” He heard Jason advise from behind them. “It won’t get you anywhere.”

“You’re just gonna go along with all this?” Conner asked Dick.

Dick replied with a shrug. “We need minimal casualties, best way to do that is to cut liabilities.”

“Why are you rhyming?” Jason asked.

“The less people involved the better. It makes it harder for the Court to get any wind on what we’re doing. And we don’t have the time to bring you to speed on how to defeat the owls, let alone how to properly fight one…”

“Which we still suck at.” Damian added.

“Yeah that’s not helpful.” Tim shot back.

“Anyway,” Dick continued. “It’s just better if this stays with us.”

There were many argument popping up in everyone’s head.

Tim pulled the cowl off his face.

“Look I get the situation isn’t ideal. But when you think about it, you know what they’re capable of. Can you imagine what it’s like to fight one. Hell, Ra’s Al Ghul avoids conflicts because they fight the way they do. He doesn't want to have anything to do with that. Can you just trust that maybe we are just wanting what’s best?” He asked them.

The looks on all of their faces said no. If he was looking in on this he probably would’ve laughed. Right now he just felt uncomfortable under their stare.

“It is not ideal to be kept in the dark again.” Kaldur admits.

“Well lucky for you…” Jason begins to step past walking in front of everyone. “It’s not Team or League business, so there’s no need to feel left out of the loop. This is official Batman and associates business. And by associates, I mean us.”

He gestured to Dick, Tim, and himself.

Tim wasn’t sure if he meant to leave Damian out, or if it was implied that Damian was involved because he was Robin.

“Why are you involved in this?” M’gann asked.

“I found the Golden boy.” He told her.

“You found a lead, that led to his location. Which I followed.” Tim muttered, more to himself than anyone else.

Dick heard him and snickered under his breath.

“There are some things I wish to discuss with you.” Kaldur told Dick.

“And they can be discussed anytime, even right now if you’re interested.” He replied.

Kaldur nodded.

So Tim figured a the Team was going to get discussed. It was going to be a conversation that would not involve him, and he was completely okay with that.

“Nightwing can send Aqualad home when they finish with all of that. The rest of you on the other hand, don’t need to be here. Go home, rest up.” Batman instructed.

“And thank you.” Barbara added from the chair in front of the Batcomputer. “Because I don’t think he was going to tell you.”

Tim had actually forgotten that Barbara was down there with them. She’d been sitting silently off to the side the entire time.

She turned back towards the computer and continued what looked like playing catch-up on everything she missed.

Kaldur joined Dick at the table he’d been leaning against, an almost instantaneous conversation in low voices commenced.

“Well that looks like my que, see ya later kid.” Jason told Tim, patting him on the shoulder.

“What? Where are you going?” Tim questioned.

“Got a few loose ends to tie up. Don’t wait up replacement, I can take care of myself.”

“You’re going to listen right? You’re going to stay away from the court and not try and take the whole thing down solo? Because you and I both know how that’ll turn out.”

Jason turned back towards Tim.

“Don’t worry, I’m not going to do anything too stupid. Just blow up a few building and make a couple of lives a living hell.”

And with that he mounted his bike, revved the engine and sped off out of the cave.

Tim didn’t stay to watch the others get sent back home, and watch Batman and Robin leave for their usual patrol. Barbara said she would run comms if needed.

He retreated up to the Manor, deciding he was going to sleep some more. No sense wasting the opportunity again. He was still behind from the last four all nighter in a row he pulled. Of course no one knew about the first three.

He’d gotten far better at hiding the fact he’d been doing them more often as of late.

And he knew that it would come to bite him in the butt at some point, as it always did.

But until then, he was going to sleep the night away, and then he was going to take the information he learned, and figure out just what they did to his brother.

Batman had told him not to engage, and Tim was going to listen. He was not going to go looking for the court and its many owls. Instead he was going to spend as much time as he could analyzing the Court, like Dick had been doing for the past few weeks.

“Look out Dick,” Tim said to himself. “You just got a new study buddy.”

Chapter Text

Jason sped through Gotham’s downtown.

He was leaving. Heading towards Bludhaven to continue following a new string of drugs popping up in the area. Compared to all of the shit being dealt his way, this seemed like a case he would’ve done when he was first let out on solo patrol when he was fifteen.

It was a slightly long drive, but he enjoyed it.

He knew Dick wasn’t going to get detailed with that story, he knew that he’d only gotten a chance to hear it because his brother wanted people off his back.

The stuff he’d been told hadn’t exactly been shocking. The court was brutal, they wanted something in particular. Dick hadn’t been cooperative and they reacted naturally.

He gripped the handle bars.

Don’t think about it , he told himself don’t do anything stupid, stay out of it. Worry about the drugs on the street, keep them away from children. You promised Tim you’d stay out of it.

A promise to Tim, or any of his brothers, was one he was going to keep. He wasn’t one to break promises. He was a man of his word, always had been, always would be.

He was more willing to locate loop holes depending on who and what had been promised. But this was Tim. The kid had been trying his best to trust that Jason wasn’t going to shoot anyone and/or kill him. The kid had plenty of reasons to attack Jason every chance he got. The least he could do is meet him halfway, and not go digging around in something he wasn’t supposed to.

He rushed past the the city limit along the interstate, it went across open land. It was a strange thought, that such an open area existed so close to such an industrialized city. A city full of corruption and pollution.

Bludhaven wasn’t much better. And while both cities were incredibly similar in almost every aspect. Jason could come up with the argument that Bludhaven was just a tad bit… worse.

If there was a poor version of Gotham, it was Bludhaven. The crime in both cities was fairly similar. But most of Bludhaven’s was petty or gang related, so it felt more prominent. Gotham just had a lot of super psycho villains that wanted to destroy the city for varying reasons. All of which were petty in of themselves if Jason was being honest.

Joker never even seemed to have a reason. Everyone else just seemed to exist simply to challenge the big bad bat.

Yep, that was the perfect reason to injure hundreds of innocent people. Because some unstable rich guy puts on a Bat suit and beats up thugs. That’s why Jason became a crime lord. To join in on that fun.

He thought back to what he told Tim, that he was just going to blow up a few buildings and make a few other people regret recent decisions. Something he did all the time. That was what he was going to do tonight.

No detective work. He’d promised Tim.

As he approached Bludhaven, he went along the city as opposed to through it, going towards the docks. Looking for the new gang.

He noticed that the criminals had noticed their vigilante had vanished.

While, no, they didn’t react the way Gotham did when Batman had vanished. The criminals and other scum bags were taking advantage.

Jason probably would’ve too, had he been in their position. But he wasn’t. No, he was the vigilante who was making sure that the crime life activity levels stayed low.

No signs to suggest that they were moving any sort of shipment to or from the city. There were plenty of ways to move drugs from one location to the next. The docks were, by far, the most convenient way to do it. Sometimes you had to risk the possibility of being caught in order to stay on schedule.

He dismounted and began to investigate.

He walked past the warehouses he’d recently seen them in.

They’d been in there. It was obvious they hadn’t left to long ago. Their shipment pilled in the middle of the room.

That’s suspicious.

Cautiously he stepped inside.

Jason scanned the room. He was alone. Why would someone leave their entire cargo out it the open like this. This was a trap, it had to be.

He stayed against the wall, inching his way along it to reach the other side of the building, all while making sure the shadows still encased him.

Ducking under the windows as he went by, the room seemed to remain silent and empty. It gave Jason an uneasy feeling. Something had to be going on here.

When he approached the door, he pried it open as quietly as humanly possible. He didn’t want to attract any unwanted attention. If hadn’t already.

Stepping out of the warehouse, he began to hear people. He followed the sound.

It was some of the gang members. Unconscious and tied up. Well not all of them were unconscious, he could hear their grunts and they strained against their bindings.

What the hell?

Who’d done this. It certainly wasn’t him. The way they were bound wasn’t Nightwing’s style either (Not that he should’ve been here if it had been).

“You’re not the kid.” A voice called from behind him.

Jason whipped around, his gun drawn.

That voice was familiar. And if it was who he thought it was. This was not going to end well.

“I will admit I’m a little surprised,” The voice continued, he was circling Jason. Like a predator closing in on its prey. “This type of drug doesn’t seem like your style Hood. But neither does Bludhaven so, maybe you’re just looking for a little variety.”

Jason heard the man continue his track around. His boots crunching the gravel underneath. All of his senses screaming ‘Danger’, but Jason couldn’t move, he couldn’t give himself away like that.

It appeared like this guy didn’t know that Hood and Nightwing were on the same team. Or that the golden boy was incapacitated for the moment. Jason was afraid it might’ve been a façade, but at the same time, it could’ve been an opportunity he could use to his advantage.

“You don’t sound so sure.” Jason shot back.

The man stopped. “Maybe I’m just trying to figure out your angle.”

They were playing the same game. Neither one of them knew the other’s true intentions. This was a dangerous game, one Jason did not want to play.

He stepped out of the shadows. If this is how it’s gonna be, Jason was deciding how thing were progressing. First way to do that. Get this guy to face him to confirm is identity.

“We could approach this like adults.” He tried. “Was this a trap?”

“Not for you. But I don’t want you thinking I’m not pleased with what this has brought me.”

“You think I’m that easy?”

“Nightwing’s not easy. There are few people I actually consider ‘challenging’. So perhaps I do.”

Jason internally groaned. Yeah, he knew exactly who this guy was.

“C’mon Slade, we both know you don’t think that guy is any sort of challenge.”

“Aren’t you a smart one.” Slade stepped into view, causing Jason to take an instinctive step back. “So why are you here as opposed to him?”

Jason shrugged. “Noticed he’s been MIA recently. Wondering if I could figure out why, or even better where he ended up.”

Slade seemed to believe him. Jason maintained their current distance, kept his gun in hand and his finger on the trigger. This was freaking Deathstroke the Terminator, gotta keep this on his terms. He did mentally note that Slade Wilson, a extremely dangerous mercenary who wouldn’t hesitate to fill Hood up (and, Jason will admit, without to much trouble) with led, thought Nightwing was dangerous.

He was sure there was a story there, one he might be able to pry out of Dick later. Maybe. That is if Dick even knew the reason.

“Is that why you’re here?” Jason asked him.

“Why would I tell you that?”

“I was thinking we might be able to exchange notes. Two minds are better than one.”

Slade raised an eyebrow. “It sounds like you’ve got nothin’ kid.”

“You don’t know that. For all you know, I know exactly what happened.”

“That contradicts what you told me five seconds ago.”

“It was hypothetical. But I’m fairly certain that you don’t even know what happened. So… you’re right. Why bother, I’m just offering some rather valuable information. Information you want, that I might just have.”

Jason was trying really hard here. Slade didn’t know who he was, or what game he was playing. He needs to get out of this alive, best way to do that. A stupid taunt that sounds fake and should get him shot, but won’t, because of the slim chance it might be true.

Slade huffed. “You’re gonna make me beg for it? That ain’t happening. I can get creative, that is if you’re telling the truth.”

“No, as fun as it would be to see you beg me for anything, I’m not that stupid. I know you won’t. But I’m not just gonna give you what you want. It’s gotta go both directions here. You give me some equally valuable information, and I’ll tell you what I know.”

“Sounds like a bluff.”

Jason shrugged. “I got nothing to lose here. Only you do.”

“You lose any chance of me helping you.”

Jason snorted. “Caused lord knows you’re gonna actually help me. Ha! I’m close enough. I really don’t need your help. If this guy’s in any sort of trouble, it’s not like I’m going to be saving his ass. Just closing some doors. Maybe dangle the information in front of batsy. Whatever floats my boat.”

Slade growled, but Jason held his ground. There was some pleasure in frustrating Slade.

Jason refused to make this easy.

“I gotta have some reassurance that you actually have something.” Slade told him

“I know who took him.”

“Really? Who.”

“No, no, no, no. I need something in equal or greater value. If you cooperate, I might even tell you my theory as to why these particular people wanted the former boy wonder.”

“That’s not how this is played Hood.”

“My game, my rules. Pay up, and I’ll be less tight lipped.”

“What do you want then?”

Finally. What does he want? Maybe the identity of whoever was asking Slade to look into this, maybe some more ground. Slade doesn’t know that a. Jason is the second Robin come to life again, and b. That Jason is working (sort of) alongside Batman. Well he’s not really fighting Bruce anymore. They both had the same ultimate goals.

Some more ground for Red Hood would mean; more ports at his disposal, more gangs under his thumb, and more pay out from the drugs that made it past all of the Leaguers. Good stuff to have when you’re a Crime Lord, and secretly kind of a double agent.

But knowing who’s paying Slade to figure this out would also be good. Slade wouldn’t be looking into this on his own. He doesn’t care who he runs into during his missions, he presses on and takes care of them by any means necessary. Nightwing being taken off the map should be applauded by a lot of people, not just him.

It would mean, knowing whoever was feeling threatened at the idea that someone could take down Nightwing, equally just as valuable.

“I want to know who hired you to look into it. And the why’s if you have ‘em. Anyone calling you in to figure this out, must be feeling threatened at the idea the Nightwing’s been wiped off the board.”

“You don’t want to know identities of Leaguers? Or more ground for your own drug operations. I know that wasn’t you.” Slade gestured to the thugs still tied up behind him. “I know your rules and your style. Both of which didn’t follow you.”

“I don’t need to know who Superman is, I don’t care. He has never been an issue. I already know who Batman is. As for the ground, I can get that myself. Your employers would be helpful, that way I know who I need to look out for in the future.”

“Who took him.”

“You first.”

“Just who. Then I’ll tell you who hired me and why, then you tell me why they took him.”

Jason considered it. Just telling him that it was the Court still wasn’t enough to go by as a means of finding Nightwing, of course neither was knowing why.

“It was the Court of Owls.” Jason told him.

“Hilarious, now give me a serious answer, my patience with you is wearing very thin.”

“I’m being serious, the Court kidnapped him. Now, who hired you.”

“The Light, we’ve worked closely for a long time.”

“Vandal Savage is bothered at the idea that Nightwing was taken. Fat chance.”

“I don’t know if that’s the case kid, maybe he’s looking for more allies. Someone who takes out someone with a profile like his, is definitely worth considering.”

“The court plays dirty. Ra’s al Ghul, knows that, I’m positive so does Savage. He won’t work with them.”

“Maybe he’ll treat them like the Reach.”

“The Court doesn’t work like that. They won’t gain anything by working alongside the Light.”

Slade shrugged. “I don’t know that the end game could be with that one kid. Now, what’s your theory as to why?”

“That they’re turning him into a soldier of some sort.”

“I’ve tried that, it didn’t go well.”

“You don’t have the resources that the Court has. They could be successful.”

Slade believed him. That’s all Jason needed.

“Now,” Jason began. “I’m gonna walk out of here and you are gonna let me.”

“Nothing to gain from killing you. Yet.” Slade told him as he began to turn around. “Maybe some other time perhaps.”

And with that Slade stepped back into the shadows and vanished.

Jason glanced back at the thugs tied up on the ground.

“Well, since you’re all tied up, there’s nobody to stop me from doing this.”

Jason walked back into the warehouse and over to the shipment of drugs.

“Time to blow some shit up, just like I promised.”

He pulled out some small bombs and placed them all over the mound. He then found a can full of lighter fluid and drenched the ground around it. He pulled out a lighter and sent the place up in flames.

He walked back towards his bike as the place blew up.

Theoretically it should attract the attention of the authorities. Good enough for one night. These guys would have to scramble to get things back in order, more than enough time to snuff them out again.

He mounted the bike and went to his safe house in Bludhaven.

His conversation with Slade gave him a lot to think about.

Chapter Text

It had been three days since he last slept. It was beginning to get to him. But he was afraid of what might happen if he did.

The last time Dick slept, he ended up way on the other side of Gotham, with nothing but the clothes on his back.

He sat on the floor, against the wall. The house was silent, which made it harder to stay awake. He couldn’t focus on any sort of reading, or any sort of cognitive activity. His entire being begging him to rest.

But he couldn’t.

He felt his head drop to one side, his eyes trying to close.

Dick jolted back awake.

He was fighting a losing battle.

He let his head droop down again, why was he having so much trouble staying awake? He’d gone longer on no sleep.

Of course he had other things going on at the time. Like he wasn’t a recovering torture victim, he had adrenaline in his system, he was terrified of himself.

He felt his eyes get heavy again.

What was wrong with him? Maybe nothing would happen he was making himself exhausted for nothing. Why was he doing this to himself?

He rubbed his face, trying to wake himself a little more. It wasn’t working.

He rested his head against the wall, his arms resting on his knees.

Dick lost his battle. It was almost instantaneous, everything relaxed, his breathing evened out, and he was asleep.

He was kneeling, like always.

Both hands rested on his knee, looking down at the floor, awaiting instructions. Ones that never seemed to come.

People were shouting all around him. He could feel the anticipation, the excitement, but Dick had no control.

There were people behind him, bound and in cages. They were being presented to the Court.

To his left stood the leader, he was addressing the crowd. Feeding off their energy, it made Dick feel sick. This guy was horribly proud of something. Dick felt like it was pride for him. But he couldn’t figure out why.

He stood, unable to resist. His gaze remaining fixed in the same spot. Why was he standing? What was going on.

He was wearing the armour of a Talon. He hated it. He wanted to pry it away from his skin. He was not a Talon. His brother’s had found him before they had been successful.

The man continued talking, gesturing to the figures behind them.

Dick tried to listen, but found himself unable. Like listening to someone underwater.

He felt himself pull swords from underneath his armour. What on Earth was he doing.

They put someone behind him, on their knees.

The leader walked up to Dick, pressing his lips to Dick’s ear.

He whisper something unintelligible.

Dick felt his head raise, he whipped around sending his sword straight through the person behind him.

Nausea was settling in. Was this real? Had he just killed somebody?

The sword still sat in his chest, he had a bag on his head.

Dick knew his face remained emotionless as he pulled the sword out and the man toppled over. Talon obviously didn’t care what had just happened. But Dick, who was stuck in Talon’s head, was desperate to get out. To wake up. He didn’t want to see this, be a part of it.

The owls picked up the body and removed the sack on his head.

It was Bruce.

Dick was screaming, the Talon remained silent. Watching as they dragged the corpse away.

This couldn’t be real, he wouldn’t let it. But it was so convincing.

Dick felt like he ran into a wall.

Someone must be trying to wake him up, he wanted that to be the case.

The Owls cheered behind him, the Leader was shouting now.

Nothing about this was good.

There was a stabbing pain in his forehead.

The leader forced him to turn around. Taking Dick’s face in his hands.

“Wake up, Gray Son. We still have use of you.”

Dick felt himself collapse onto the floor.

He was coughing and sputtering. He forced himself to sit up.

Dick must’ve been trying to get out of the room. He remembered he’d asked Tim to make sure his door was locked from the outside. Just in case.

He stood up and stumbled into the bathroom.

Nausea was still sitting in his throat as he turned the sink on. He saw himself in the mirror.

There was gold.

Dick doubled over, emptying the contents of his stomach into the sink.

He then rested his head against the countertop trying to calm down and cool off.

Dick swallowed than forced himself to look back up.

He was a sweaty, shivery mess, but his eyes weren’t gold. Not anymore at least. He stepped back leaning against the wall, trying to slow his heart.

It was getting worse.

The purple veiny design on his arm was suddenly more prominent. Larger and darker in color.

He felt the bile rise again but forced it down. This wasn’t good. It couldn’t be good.

He stepped forward, reaching for a cup to rinse his mouth out.

Afterward, he stepped back, now sitting on the bathroom floor. Against the cold tiles. His breathing began to steady, and his heart wasn’t thumping in his ears anymore.

It hadn’t happened. You didn’t kill B, you didn’t kill anyone. You’re not the Talon. It was just an illusion. He told himself.

It was getting harder to believe.

He wrung his hands. There was plenty of adrenaline now to keep him awake.

Dick heard someone walking down the hall. More likely than not to check on him.

He heard the door open.

“Are you alright, Richard?” Alfred asked him.

“I’m fine.” Dick told him, not looking up.

“Are you sure. It sounded like you fell.”

“Yeah, out of bed. I’m fine now.”

Alfred glanced back at the made bed before looking back at Dick. “Is that why you’re sitting on the floor in the bathroom, in a sweat soaked shirt, shivering?”

Dick rolled his eyes, not answering the question.

In his peripheral, he watched Alfred sit on the floor leaning against the door frame.

He wasn’t going anywhere. Wonderful.

“It was just a nightmare Alf, seriously, I’m just trying to calm down.” Dick tried again.

“You seem to have a lot of those, don’t you.”

They both sat there for a while, not saying anything. Something Alfred was used to, he was waiting Dick out. He knew the older gentleman wasn’t letting this go easily.

“Up you get.” Alfred told him, as he stood up.

“Why?”

“Don’t argue, just come with me.”

His tone left little room to argue. Dick sighed and stood up, following Alfred down into the kitchen.

“What are you doing?” Dick asked him.

He pulled the kettle out.

“Making some tea. It’ll settle your nerves. Go sit down, I’ll bring it to you.”

He gestured to the dining table.

Dick pulled out a chair sitting down, he was still too tired to put up a proper fight, not that he stood a chance against Alfred.

Shortly, Alfred joined him.

“You know you are a lot like Master Bruce.” Alfred began.

Dick remained silent, fiddling with the cup. He didn’t feel like drinking it.

“Both of you have this ridiculous need to not be a burden. You should know, telling me ‘I’m fine’ doesn’t help. Especially when it’s obvious that you are not.”

“It wasn’t anything different.”

“I didn’t put anything in the tea Richard. I promise.”

Dick sipped in cautiously.

“What happened wasn’t your fault. So stop blaming yourself.”

“The other day was my fault. I’m the one who knocked everyone out.”

“Under the influence of the Court. That wasn’t you.”

Dick looked up at him. “You know, that’s what everyone keeps telling me. Myself included. I know it wasn’t me. But it was. I lack the strength to stop myself.”

“Really?”

Dick was half tempted to say ‘yes, really.’ He couldn’t stop the Court from controlling him. He wasn’t sure what he was trying to do earlier, probably nothing good. And he couldn’t stop himself from trying to accomplish that task.

“What happened?” Alfred asked him.

“The same thing that always happens.” Dick told him.

“And what would that be?”

“The Court trying to get me to do something. I don’t know what.”

Dick found it hard to read what Alfred was thinking. Which also wasn’t uncommon. Alfred had the best poker face of them all.

“They had me kill him.” Dick mumbled.

“Who?”

“Bruce.”

Alfred seemed to contemplate that answer. “Have you talked about these nightmares with Master Bruce?”

“Little bit. It gets harder to remember things that they show me. So when he does ask, I don’t always have a lot to offer. I think they want me to kill him.”

“That’s quite the theory.”

“It seems pretty accurate anymore. They can control me. I have no idea what I might’ve done the other night, or how I ended up across town. I don’t know what they were trying to have me do earlier.”

“Which gives you every reason to have precautions ready, but this has been happening for a long time hasn’t it? The Court talking to you like this. I’m surprised, with the amount of time you and Miss Gordon and Master Timothy have spent researching and figuring out everything you can about the Court, that you haven’t found a way to prevent these things from happening.”

“What am I supposed to do? No one has ever escaped like I have. No one has ever escaped period. There’s nothing out there to figure out how and why this is happening, Alfred. I want it to stop. They did something to me. I can’t figure out what.”

“You could stop beating yourself up over what you cannot control. Another thing you and Master Bruce have in common. Stop trying to keep yourself up for ungodly amounts of time, stop trying to prevent yourself from getting better, from moving on. You can accept things as they are and adapt to the new situation.”

Dick kept his gaze on the teacup. That was something he knew he wasn’t very good at. He can’t prevent everything from happening, he can move on, adapt like Alfred suggested.

“At least try, Master Richard. You can start by trying to get some more rest.” Alfred suggested.

“Yeah, maybe you’re right.”

Alfred smiled. “Head up to bed. I’ll lock your door.”

“Thanks Alf.”

Dick stood up and went back up the stairs.

He collapsed on the bed, staring up at the ceiling. He heard the metal click of a lock.

What they’d shown him this time felt very different from the last few.

First off, he’d never moved before. He always remained kneeling while Owls talked around him. Second, he’d always had trouble focusing on one thing, there was always so much going on around him.

This last one felt grounded, and focused, and… real.

That’s what scared him more than anything. It was getting more difficult to discern what was real and what wasn’t. He couldn’t decide if it was a chink in their armour, or a trap.

Dick no longer knew what to expect, he didn’t like that.

He began to wonder where Jason was. It wasn’t like Jason lived there, or needed to check in or anything. But he’d vanished without a word three days ago.

He’d spoken to Tim before he left, claiming he had a few things to take care of. Dick wasn’t sure what that comprised of. It could be a lot of things if Jason was involved.

Little Wing always did struggle with staying out of trouble.

Dick smirked at the thought. When Jason had been Robin, he’d been rather excited to do anything. For a short while, he was content with just being included. As time went on, it was less so.

He began to prefer doing things with specific people. Particularly Barbara and strangely enough Dick.

Maybe it was because they didn’t compare him to Dick all the time. Dick didn’t think Bruce did it on purpose. But he did go from a highly trained protege to having to train a very angsty teenager from scratch. Comparisons would come out here and there, it was inevitable, but the amount of times Dick noticed them was ridiculous.

What made it worse was because almost everyone was doing it, except for Barbara and Dick.

One would think all of this would cause Jason to resent Dick more, simply because of collateral damage, not because Dick had done anything particularly wrong. But it had the opposite effect. Especially when he told Jason to cut it out, and quit comparing himself to Dick. He wasn’t Dick, it was stupid to think you could become something you weren’t.

Jason wasn’t as fast or as flexible as Dick, his body simply couldn’t do what Dick’s could. Not to mention, Dick had almost a decade’s worth of experience, Jason had three months by the time he was allowed to join the team.

Dick thought about contacting Jason, just to figure out what he was doing (Dick was curious, it wasn’t like he had anything better to do). But he knew that would end on a sour note. He would find out when Jason got back.

For now, he would try to sleep as soundly as possible. Dick wasn’t sure how well that would work but… Alfred told him to. And one does not simply disobey Alfred.

Chapter Text

Wally couldn’t figure out how he had ended up in this situation.

The situation? Just hiding from psychotic zombie owls that seemed to be attempting to brutally murder all of them.

This wasn’t fun. Wally was rather grateful that most of the Team had been off doing other things that day. The only people there had been Tim, Conner, Artemis, M’gann, Roy, and himself.

No one had been doing anything in particular, working on various things. Roy was helping with a case, Wally was visiting his now fiance.

Wally listened as an owl approached him. Knives clanking against it’s armor. What was he supposed to do? Sure he was faster now, but these things had keen sences and superhuman speed and strength. They’d gotten quite a few hits in on all of them.

They needed to think of something, fast.

Two Hours Earlier...

“Hey gorgeous.” Wally greeted. “What’s happening?”

Artemis turned from the holo screen. “Nothin’ much. What’re you doing here?”

“Oh just taking care of some League stuff for the Flash. Thought I’d stop by.”

“Well, I’m not doing anything particularly interesting so…”

“You haven’t told anyone right?”

She smiled. “No. We’ll wait, until this weekend. Gather everyone up, announce it at once, and get all of the congratulations out of the way. Why? Did you already spill the beans?”

“Wow, I am offended by your lack of faith in me. I was just making sure we we’re on the same page.”

“You told someone.”

Wally gave her a dirty look, she responded with a giggle.

They didn’t want to make a big deal out of the engagement. They had practically been engaged forever now. The only difference was a ring was present.

He hadn’t been over the top with the proposal either. He knew it wasn’t something she would’ve wanted.

“Do you want any help?” Wally asked her.

“Nah, I’m almost finished anyways. I was kind of stalling, I’m supposed to help ‘tutor’ some of the new team members in some combat skills. But I don’t think that’s gonna happen today.”

“Why?”

“Most of the Team is either at school, or on a training mission with Kaldur and Black Canary.”

“Sounds fun.”

She shrugged. “Wouldn’t know, wasn’t invited.”

“So who here?”

“Um, I’m not sure. I know M’gann is here, and maybe Conner.”

“Well finish up here. That way we can plan an engagement party that no one knows we’re having.”

“Best kind of party is the surprise kind.”

“You hate surprises.”

“That could be why I used my sarcastic voice.”

Wally rolled his eyes.

They chattered while she worked. Meaningless stuff that would be forgotten within thirty seconds, just noise to fill the air.

It caused Artemis to take twice as long, but neither of them we’re bothered by it.

“And done.” She announced, swiping away at the holo screen.

“Finally.”

“Only because you distracted me.”

“I’m mean, duh. What else am I good for.”

“C’mon Baywatch. We got things to do.”

“And places to be, and people to meet.”

That earned him an eye roll.

As they made their way to the Zeta Tubes they ran into M’gann.

She was concentrating, to a point she wasn’t aware of her surrounding, almost plowing through Artemis and Wally.

“Watch out Miss. M, hate to see you get a bloody nose.” Wally joked, snapping her out of her almost trance.

“Oh, sorry. Just lost in thought.” She replied.

“About?” Artemis asked.

M’gann shrugged. “Nothing in particular just…”

“Anything and everything? Yeah, everyone has their moments.”

A half hearted chuckle.

“Is everything okay?”

M’gann nodded. “Oh yeah, totally cool. Really. Sometimes I just get really deep into my thoughts. It happens.”

Wally hummed his agreement.

“What are you guys up to?” She asked them.

“Oh you know.” Wally began “Same old, same old.”

“Just have a few things to take care of this afternoon.” Artemis explained.

“Sounds exciting.” M’gann smile softened. “Hey Wally, I’ve been meaning to ask. How’s Dick? It’s just, you know I haven’t seen him since two weeks ago.”

“Oh, yeah he’s fine. Slowly but surely working his way to getting back on the streets. He’s getting tired of being cooped up.”

“I’ll bet.”

Wally wasn’t lying to her. While he hadn’t physically seen Dick either, the two had been talking. Texting mostly, like the last three years had never happened. Just shooting the breeze about almost any random topic that popped in either one of their heads.

Wally just hadn’t had the time to go out and see him. He’d been a little preoccupied with Flash stuff. Something Dick understood, and wasn’t upset about it.

Somethings came first. And since his friend wasn’t in any immediate distress. Another meeting could wait. It’s not like they saw each other outside of the team very often before. Someone was always busy.

It was usually him, and something told Wally it would return to that dynamic once Dick was allowed to put the Nightwing uniform back on and go out on regular patrols. He was honestly surprised that they kept him benched for this long.

“Yeah, he was saying something about getting back out into the field soon.” Wally shrugged. “But I don’t know. We’ll have to wait and see.”

“I’m surprised he’s been out of the game for this long.” Artemis voiced Wally’s thoughts. “He’s never been one to handle a break like this very well.”

“He’s coping.” Another voice had joined the conversation.

“Hey Red. What are you doing here?” Artemis asked him.

“It’s easier to focus here. But yeah, he’s gonna be back out there kicking butt and taking names within the next week or so.”

“I’m sure he’s excited.”

Tim shrugged. “Probably more excited for some new, nonvoluntary sparring partners. I think he’s getting bored with just us.”

Wally could believe that. Especially if the texts were anything to go by. He was getting bored with just three options. One who he said would pin him to the floor with their sheer body weight, he claimed he knows how to get this guy off of him, he’s just lacking the strength right now. He joked that once he throws that guy off, he’ll be ready.

“Wow, it’s like a party out here.” Roy commented, Conner in his wake.

“Well, it’s a pretty lame party.” Wally added. “There are no snacks anywhere. What kind of party has no snacks.”

“So everyone’s just congregating in the hallway?” Conner asked.

“New tradition.” Tim told him.

“Right.”

Conner suddenly turned his head. Spiking concern with the rest of them.

“Conner?” M’gann asked, her voice serious.

“Thought I heard something.” He replied his voice soft.

None of them relaxed.

“What’d you hear?” Roy asked, notching his bow.

“Not sure, something sounded off about it.”

They stood there tense, waiting.

Wally saw Artemis pull out her crossbow from his peripheral. All of them knew something was up.

He was trying to keep his heart steady, but it was thumping in his ears. Adrenaline coursing through, waiting for an attack that didn’t seem like it was coming.

“We need to get to the Zeta Tubes and lock down the Bunker.” Tim whispered urgently.

He was holding a silver rod, his collapsible bo staff.

“Now!” his voice just as quiet, his tone now more demanding. Like he had an idea of what might be going on.

Slowly they began to inch their way down the hall to the Zeta platforms.

Wally was the first to reach the door, grabbing the handle.

Had he not been a speedster, he might’ve lost his arm.

“LOOK OUT!” Roy shouted, letting his arrow fly at an unseen target.

A knife launched itself from the depths of the hallway, slicing across Conner’s chest and impaling itself hilt deep in the metal door. Right where his forearm had been before Roy shouted.

All six of them scattered, as the lights in the hall flickered. A dozen or so Owls jumped from the shadows, swords, knives and other weapons in hand, ready to kill every single one of them.

Tim’s Bo staff sprung to life, deflecting one of the swords coming at him. Quickly getting caught up in a sword fight that Tim was clearly outmatched for. He was just barely fast enough to deflect each swing, not fast enough to deliver a few of his own.

Artemis and Roy ended up back to back, cornered by their enemy. He watched her pull a sword from her back, instantly attacking. Slicing through the armor, and the skin underneath, which the owls seemed unfazed by. That was concerning.

Conner seemed to have attracted the most attention, engaged in hand to hand combat with at least three, and he seemed to be losing. Wally also noticed, the knife had sliced through the kryptonian’s skin. Yeah, that was definitely concerning. He was bleeding. Wally didn’t think that was possible.

M’gann didn’t seem to be having much luck, an owl slammed her against the wall, prepared to run her though. She went intangible, maneuvering out of the way. Only when she’d gone solid to get slammed down on to the ground.

Wally felt something grab onto his arm, weightlessness, than he was pinned down by another owl, it’s knife pressed against his throat. He was on the verge of beginning to panic. He began to try and get himself free, to no avail.

Something hit the Owl in the head, throwing it off balance. Enough that Wally could push it off. Tim stepped back, re-engaging in his fight.

Wally attempted to stand to help, only to have his foot pulled from underneath him. Landing face first against the concrete floor.

He groaned, as he was flipped over only to get some new face details. He wasn’t interested. He phased out of the owl’s grip (Something he’d been working on since getting out of the Speed Force). He aimed a kick at the Owl’s head, knocking it over.

Wally threw open the door, diving behind the wall.

He needed a plan, otherwise they we’re going to die.

He listened as another Owl approached, knives clanking against it’s armor.

Wally had an idea, but he would need a slight head start.

He stood up, racing around the room, waiting for the owl to approach, building up energy.

It stepped into the doorway.

Just as his fist made contact with the Owl’s face, the owl had been ready for him. The sword sliced through the Flash’s armor, creating a deep gash by his ribs.

Wally groaned, as he was pushed back onto the floor.

He felt dizzy, the blade might’ve been poisoned. He wasn’t sure.

The Owl was sent flying back, colliding with the owl Tim had been fighting.

Take the kill shots! He heard Tim shout through the mental link. They’re dead anyways. It’s the only way we stand a chance!

Wally tried sitting up. There was quite a bit of blood spilling from the wound.

Crap .

As he stood up another Owl tried entering the room, an arrow lodged itself in the back of the owl’s head.

Roy stood behind, firing arrows every which way. He didn’t miss a single one. Each arrow landing with precision. The owls didn’t seem to be effect to much.

The owl braced itself against the door frame, pulling the arrow through its face.

That’s disgusting. Wally thought to himself.

Just as the owl was prepared to make its move at Flash, Tim came out of seemingly nowhere. Latched onto it’s back, he pulled out a flashlight, shining it into the owl’s face.

The owl screeched in agony as it stumbled back. Tim gave it little time to recover. Wally watched as Tim knocked the sword from its hands, stooping down to pick it up himself, and run the owl through.

Tim stepped back. He was breathing heavily, his face remained void of any visible panic. He ran over to the Zeta platform, activating it.

Wally remembered something Dick had told him. He was sensitive to light and sound. These things would be too. Why hadn’t he realized that sooner.

Roy was making his way towards the platform, firing at the owls around M’gann. She had become overwhelmed by the sheer numbers. Artemis rolled into the room, she had a cut across her face but otherwise seemed unharmed. Her crossbow out, much like Roy, she took aim firing at every owl visible.

Wally had no idea what had happened to Conner, he couldn’t see much of what was going on in the hall from his angle.

Almost as if Conner had heard his thought, he stumbled into the room, behind the archers. He looked exhausted.

Tim began working the controls.

What’re you doing? Roy asked. Just activate a freaking tube and get us out of here!

I have to get the Bunker locked down first, otherwise when Team members get back, they’ll get attacked . Tim shot back, his hands flying against the controls.

M’gann get in here! Artemis instructed, Once you’re in we can close the doors and barricade ourselves. Give us some time.

Almost got it. Tim informed them

M’gann shifted through the wall, Roy and M’gann closed the doors as Conner braced himself against it.

That isn’t gonna hold for very long. Wally observed

It just needs to hold long enough. Tim replied

Wally glanced back.

Alright who’s first? Tim asked them.

You are dumbass. Roy told them

No! I’m the only one who can lock the system. I can’t do that until all of you are safe. Who’s going first?!

Tim’s tone left little room for arguing

Another three knived were hilt deep in the door. The blades sticking through.

She is. Wally grabbed Artemis sending her through

M’gann go! Conner told her

But…

I’ll be right behind you just go!

She stepped through.

“Roy…”

The door burst open, throwing Conner back.

He landed just in front of the Zeta Tube.

Roy notched another arrow. He stood in front of the three of them, he let the arrow fly.

Wally helped Conner up, forcing him through the Zeta Tube.

He turned to see Roy stepping back.

Tim threw what looked like a batarang at the approaching owl. He stepped up onto the control panel, Bo Staff in hand, launching himself off. He swung wide, knocking the owl across the room.

He stayed low, ready for the next attack. Wally didn’t feel as concerned for the kid anymore. He seemed more than capable in this fight.

As Wally stepped back, ready to step through the Zeta Tube. Tim jumped at another owl, as he was pushed to the side it threw itself as Roy.

The momentum pushed Roy into Wally, which sent all three of them through.

Wally didn’t know where the Zeta Tube was going.

All he knew was he hit his head on the metal floor once they were through, knocking him unconscious.

Today had been suspiciously calm.

It was stupid to consider that today was just going to be a boring day.

No, those days couldn’t exist in the life of a vigilante. That’s crazy talk.

The Zeta Tubes just had to mysteriously turn on and make all of them wait forever before someone was obviously thrown through it.

It had put the four of them on edge.

Not good for any of their health.

Bruce had been pretty quick to try and figure out what was going on.

Jason had just stood in the middle of the training floor confused, because sometimes he had idiotic thoughts.

It had taken four minutes (Jason counted) for Artemis to tumble from the tube.

She stood stumbling away. Her Tigress uniform had been torn in several places, and had swelling cut on her face.

M’gann walked through, she seemed unharmed. But clearly something had happened.

Once she was a couple feet away she whipped around to face the Zeta Tube, waiting.

“What’s going on?” Bruce asked from behind them.

“Owl’s” Artemis told him. “They’re attacking the Bunker.”

That was all Jason needed to hear. He grabbed his gun standing on the edge of the entrance.

Off to the side enough that he wouldn’t be trampled by anyone coming through, but close enough that they wouldn’t get out of his way easily.

He the flicked the safety off, and aimed.

“What’re you doing?!” Artemis asked him, her voice was filled with panic.

“I’m going to shoot any owl that happens to get through.” He replied, his voice deadly calm.

At that moment, Conner stumbled through. Rather similarly to how Artemis had, a minute prior.

M’gann pulled him towards her.

As the Zeta Tube deposited three more people.

Wally who landed with a very loud thud, Roy landed on top of Wally before rolling off, and finally an Owl. An owl which Jason shot on sight as it scrambled to return to its feet.

As it stood back up, ready to attack Jason for shooting him, Damian nailed it with a throwing star. Impaling it neatly into the base of the neck, right above the collarbone.

The owl stumbled back as Jason stepped over Roy and Wally to punch it down onto the ground.

He pressed his boot against it’s throat, his heel digging the star deeper into its neck.

It began to struggle against the weight of his foot.

“Yeah, please do try. I’m begging you.” Jason taunted.

Tim at that point dove through the Zeta Tube, throwing an explosive at the control panel, blowing it up.

“What the hell Drake?” Damian asked, his sword in hand.

He passed Jason a device, a prototype cold gun they’d stolen from Mr. Freeze. He fired it on the Owl.

“Can’t risk any of them following me through. I blew up the one at the Bunker too.” Tim told them.

“Stop arguing, they need help.” Dick told them as he approached Wally and Roy.

Jason heard Roy groan, as he sat up.

“What just happened?” Roy asked.

He looked around.

Dick began to help Wally up with Artemis and bring him over to the med bay.

“You were apparently attacked by some Owls.” Jason told him. “Congratulations, you survived.”

“And you are?”

“Unimportant.”

Jason extended his hand to help Roy up.

“It feels kind of important.” Roy told him.

“It really isn’t. You should let Alfred look you over. You look like you might have a few broken ribs.”

Roy gave him a dirty look. “I’m fine. Who’s that?”

He gestured to Damian, who was now proding the frozen dead owl with his sword.

“It’s dead Demon Spawn.” Jason reassured. “It’s not gonna do anything now.”

“Don’t take any chances.” Bruce told him.

Roy stepped back at the suddenness of Bruce’s appearance.

“Go to the med bay.” Bruce instructed. “Make sure nothing is broken.”

Jason knew he was all to use to young heroes tell him they were fine, when they clearly were not.

Even Roy Harper, clone or not, wasn’t stupid enough to argue with Batman. He joined everyone else.

Tim approached him.

“Are you okay?” Bruce asks him. The tone is different. Far more concerned than demanding.

Tim nods. “It could’ve been a whole lot worse. But they didn’t get any particularly harmful hits in on me. The new armor works like a charm.”

“Glad to hear it.”

“New armor?” Jason asked.

Tim nodded. He pulled up the hem of his sweatshirt. He was wearing the armor for the new suit underneath.

Jason hadn’t realized Tim had been wearing it.

“Oh, hadn’t realized you’d finished it.” Jason told him.

“What happened?” Bruce asked.

Tim began explaining, in great detail mind you, everything that happened in the Bunker.

“I’m not sure how they got in. But I’ve locked the bunker down. So no one’s getting in.”

Bruce hummed in agreement. “Good. We’ll initiate a full league response. In the meantime…”

Bruce walked over to the Team members. Wally was now being stitched up by Alfred. There was a nasty gash across the left side of his ribs. Shallow enough that it was life threatening as long as he got some help.

Everyone really just seemed shaken by the ordeal. Artemis held a cloth to the cut on her face; and while he was sporting a rather long cut across his chest, Conner’s wound was very thin and shallow. It was like a really big paper cut.

Nothing to even be concerned about.

“The five of you will stay put for the time being.” Bruce finished. “Until we can be sure none of you will be attacked anywhere else.”

No one argued. They all looked ready to drop.

“Get some rest.” Bruce told them before walking away.

Dick stepped in front of him.

“What does this mean?” Dick asked him. “What was attacking them going to accomplish?”

“I’m not sure yet. It can’t be anything good.”

Chapter Text

Roy didn’t trust the guy.

He didn’t understand why Batman trusted him.

This was Red Hood. A known criminal. A known criminal who has dressed up as a demented version of Batman, fought Nightwing on a train, and has fatally wounded Red Robin in the past.

And here he was sitting with Nightwing, Red Robin, and (someone who he assumed to be) Robin. As if none of those things had occured.

They sat on the floor on the other side of the Batcave, talking in hushed tones. Hood was wearing a red domino mask, as if his identity needed to remain a mystery. It was frustrating.

All Roy could do was send constant side glances towards the group.

They all seemed comfortable with each other. Well Robin didn’t. He didn’t seem comfortable with any of the situation.

Who were they? Dick obviously didn’t feel like it was important to explain who they were, or where they came from. Roy wasn’t good with blind trust.

Neither were they. So the fact Batman didn’t seem to have any issues with the well known and feared crime lord sitting in his secret underground hideout should be enough for Roy. But it wasn’t.

“Hey Roy, you’re gonna burn a hole in his skull if you stare any harder.” Wally told him.

The Team had congregated in the med bay between three beds. Well he and Wally weren’t really part of the Team now.

“Why are none of you concerned about this?” Roy asked. “He’s dangerous.”

“It’s complicated.” Wally explains. “There’s a lot of… history. He’s trustworthy Roy, don’t worry.”

“I don’t trust him either. But he helped find Nightwing, so a neutral truce is more how things are going” Conner adds.

Roy can more easily go along with that. It’s not trust, but it prevents unnecessary conflict.

“Can’t you read his mind? Find out who he is?” Roy asks M’gann.

She shook her head. “He has defences. And they don’t seem to have any issues. I don’t think he’s a threat, not to us any way.”

“You’re just gonna have to accept he’s involved in this.” Artemis tells him. “The Court’s looking for him too.”

He sighed.

Roy figured she had an idea of who he was.

This guy felt familiar, his vocabulary and body language. Like the answer was obvious, but extremely far fetched. And Hood knew it.

Hood seemed to treat it like a joke. It bothered Roy to no end. This situation wasn’t a joke. There needed to be some level of trust in this line of work. He didn’t trust Hood as far as he could throw him, if that.

Roy glanced at Dick. He didn’t look like he’d spent eight weeks enduring unimaginable torchers. But it had also been quite a while since he’d been rescued. Given plenty of time to recover.

But Roy still felt he shouldn’t look this good that soon. That Dick shouldn’t look as healthy as he does. Roy made a mental note to keep an eye on that.

He felt his mind shift back to Hood, why does Dick trust the mercenary? Roy always trusted Dick’s gut instinct, it had yet to steer them wrong. But this particular decision felt like it needed a second look.

God, what is wrong with me? Roy thought to himself. Who cares if the Bat trusts Hood, why am I obsessing over this. If the guy was going to do something, he would’ve done it by now.

“You know your thoughts are particularly loud” M’gann tells him.

Roy turns his head to look at her, his eyebrow raised.

“How about you figure out what his intentions are as opposed to obsessing over stuff you don’t need to.” She suggests

“You know he can hear us right?” Wally adds.

“He can?” Roy questions.

“Yes, we can.” Hood shouts. “It’s a cave, with not a lot of sound absorption and none of you are whispering. We can all hear you.”

Roy bit back a groan. That sounded like something Jason would tell them. Well he would at least use the same tone.

But Jason was dead, this guy was not Jason.

That’s not how things work. Death is the end, once your dead you don’t come back.

Wally was in the Speed Force, he didn’t die (not in the physical sense). Roy wasn’t entirely sure what happened to Batman, the rumor had been he’d died too. The guy walking around the Watchtower had been a replacement of some sort.

While it had gone unmentioned, it was horribly obvious that whoever it was it wasn’t Bruce Wayne. This guy was a good four inches shorter and almost fifty pounds lighter. Not to mention, even though Bruce wasn’t seen around the Watchtower all the time, the replacement was seen even less.

But obviously Bruce Wayne didn’t die, he was sitting at the Batcomputer doing his usual detective stuff.

So whoever Hood was, Jason Todd was not going to be suspect.

Roy did suspect that Robin might’ve been the former boy wonder reincarnated. It didn’t feel like that large of a stretch.

Batman approached the four of them.

They each gave each other pointed glances as Batman explained some sort of plan. A plan that Roy wasn’t part of.

Robin gained a dirty look across his face while Hood’s turned smug.

The kid obviously didn’t like the plan.

Hood stood up. Just as he was about to walk away, Batman puts a hand on his shoulder telling him something unintelligible.

Hood raised an eyebrow, saying something equally as quiet.

Wherever this guy was going, Roy was joining him. There was going to be no chance of betrayal, he was going to make sure of that.

Hood didn’t seem like he was defying any sort of order, or that he was angry with anything he was being told. He was acting more like a soldier, he was being given orders and was going to carry them out the best of his ability.

He nodded before briskly walking towards his bike. There was a sense of urgency.

This was Roy’s only opportunity.

He stood up quickly making his way towards Hood.

“I’m going with you.” Roy told him bluntly.

He stood there, his red helmet in his hands.

His eyebrows shot up at the comment, as his facial expressions became even more smug. “Oh really?”

Roy held his ground. “Yes really. With the Court out for blood, no one should be doing any sort of recon without backup.”

“Alright.”

Roy stepped back. “What?”

“I said alright, now get on the bike before I leave you here.”

Roy had been expecting more of a fight. It was possible Hood was playing along, letting Roy think Hood was letting him in on something and was just going to ditch him first chance he got.

But Roy wasn’t going to let that happen. He was just as skilled as this guy, and had more experience. If anything Hood should be afraid of Roy.

Hood mounted his bike, and sped off. Roy stayed close behind, but it was obvious he didn’t care if he lost Roy. He didn’t double back or slow down.

He made a beeline for Gotham’s more slummy areas by the docks. Hood knew exactly where he was going.

He came to a sudden stop, so sudden Roy almost went right past him.

They dismounted.

“Why are we here?” Roy asked.

“This is the area where I found the lead on Nightwing’s location. It’s a long shot but worth a look to try and figure out what’s going on. This way.”

Hood took off in a slow jog towards some of the buildings further down the street. He slipped between them. Roy watched as he parkoured his way up between the narrow space.

“C’mon, I’m not gonna go slow for you Speedy .” Hood shouted as he grabbed the ledge of the roof.

Roy grimaced. He hadn’t been Speedy in forever.

He pulled out his grapple. “It’s not Speedy.”

He shot a line pulling himself up onto the roof.

“It was.” Hood taunted

He stood on the other side of the roof. Arms crossed and his head slightly cocked to one side.

“Now what?” Roy asked, allowing his annoyance to spill into his voice.

“What’re you doing here?” Hood asks.

“What?”

“C’mon you don’t really care what happens to me. I saw you glaring back at the Cave. So what’s the angle. Trying to protect your friends? Get me killed? Get yourself killed trying to take on the owls by yourself?”

“I don’t trust you.” Roy tells him suddenly.

“Well guess what Red, I don’t need your trust, I don’t want your trust. The people that need to trust me do, that’s all that matters.”

Roy began stepping towards him. “How am I supposed to know you won’t sell all of us to the highest bidder? Or simply hand Nightwing back over to the Court to save your own damn skin?”

They met each other in the middle. Roy kept his carefully guarded stance in case things got physical. And, despite Hood keeping his arms crossed and seemingly staying rather relaxed, Roy realized he was severely out matched.

Hood had two inches and at least thirty pounds on him.

Roy may be a good fighter, but he wasn’t good with close range combat. This guy could pummel him without breaking a sweat. Size and skill, advantages Roy didn’t have.

“What would that get me?” Hood growled. “The Court’s after me for a lot of other reasons besides me saving the golden boy. Even if that was my play, they would still capture me and do unspeakable things before killing me. Maybe I really am trying to help you.”

“That’s all I need to hear.” Another voice joined their conversation.

The sound of a gunshot, and then Hood falling back from the impact.

“Have to say kid, you did have me a little confused.”

Roy notched an arrow, listen to the voice to find his target. Hood groaned as he flipped over rising up on his knees. Blood was seeping through his uniform from the gunshot wound on his shoulder.

Not fatal, maybe.

“I mean after we talked in Bludhaven. I just couldn’t quite figure out which side you were on.” Someone landed on the roof behind Roy. “Of course now I know which way you swing.”

Roy whipped around.

Deathstroke stood in all his glory. A sword twirling in his hand.

Shit . Roy thought. We are in way over our heads here.

“And which direction would that be?” Hood asked as he stood up.

Roy glanced back at him, Hood stood defensively a knife in his hand.

“Thought you hated the Bat kid. I mean after what happened. After he left that clown alive and wouldn’t let you or anyone finish the job.”

What?

“Maybe things have changed, maybe you’ve gotten soft kid.” Deathstroke made no moves towards them, but every nerve in Roy’s body screamed danger. “Maybe Nightwing finally got to you, maybe the pit finally wore off. Either way, you’re a dead man.”

“Why?” Hood’s voice was low.

Hopefully he had an escape route, because Roy didn’t.

“I’ve been talking with Ra’s al Ghul. He told me some interesting things. I feel a little stupid not realizing in myself.”

“Someone call the presses, Slade Wilson is calling himself an idiot. Mind saying it again, so I can record it because no one is going to believe me if I don’t”

Roy couldn’t see either man’s face, but he could imagine. A look of anger on Deathstroke, and cockiness on Hood’s.

“Let’s see if you’re still wanting to play this game at the bottom.” Deathstroke taunted.

“What is…” Roy asked as a bomb went off and the roof caved in.

Both he and Hood fell at least three stories before hitting the concrete floor.

Sharp pains shot up Roy’s left arm and shoulder. A blinding pain that made his was stomach turn and bile rise.

This is not good .

Roy could barely register what was going on. He forced himself to sit up.

A ghost of a movement with his left arm and he couldn’t keep quiet. Sounds of breathless pain escaping his lips.

Hood groaned as he sat up again.

“Um, you might be having some issues.” Hood told him.

Roy glanced at his arm. His elbow was broken. His arm was already turning purple and swelling up. He couldn’t even twitch his fingers without gasping.

“Get up.” Hood demanded. “We need to move.”

Roy hadn’t even made a motion to get up before something large smacked itself into him sending him tumbling across the rubble.

“I think it’s too late.”

That wasn’t Deathstroke.

Hood cursed under his breath.

Roy pushed himself up with his non injured arm as he spat out dirt.

This guy wasn’t like the Owls they’d fought in the Bunker.

Whoever, whatever, he was, Roy knew neither of them stood a chance injured the way they had been.

He pulled Hood up by his jacket.

“I find your effort impressive Mr. Todd, I will admit I didn’t expect any of you to succeed as you did.”

Hood struggled against the iron grip. What had that guy just called him?

“You won’t find him.” Hood struggled. “Any of them. He’s gone Talon. You lost.”

Talon growled before slamming Hood into the ground. He pressed his knee against his throat.

Talon shook his head. “You don’t get it, you don’t understand. None of you do.”

He turned to Deathstroke.

“Get the other one. I’m through with games.”

Deathstroke walked briskly towards Roy, hoisting him up by the straps of his quiver. He held Roy’s right arm tightly against his back and simply the wrist of his left one.

Roy struggled against the superhuman strength. He was a dead man.

Talon pulled out one of the many knives in his armor. He stuck it under the helmet, prying it off.

“I have a question for you. Does the archer know who you are?”

Hood had a look of rage in his eyes. He grunted as he tried to wiggle free of his captor’s hold on him.

“I suppose that answers my question.” Talon said as the knife went back towards Hood’s face, peeling off the domino mask.

Roy didn’t recognize him.

“Well I guess you do look a little different from the last time he saw you.” Talon observes. “Older, meaner, not quite as dead as everyone thinks.”

Hood didn’t say anything.

The more Roy studied his face, the more he began to put the puzzle together.

Talon had called him Mr. Todd, Deathstroke mentioned talking to Ra’s al Ghul, a fall out with Batman leaving someone alive, Nightwing trying to talk him down.

Maybe the pit finally wore off.

Somehow this guy was Jason Todd.

Alive and being pinned down by some guy with an owl fetish.

“Shame too.” Talon said running his blade against Jason’s face. “You’re a rather talented bird. You’re the one with the biggest hit list, a lot big people want you dead. I do wonder what they’ll do when they get a look at you when the Court is through.”

Jason struggled some more, to no avail.

“One down, three to go.” Talon whispered.

There was a sharp prick against his skin, a dizzy feeling, and then darkness.

Chapter Text

The new perspective wasn’t getting him anywhere.

Tim had done this in the past. He’d taken all of his evidence for whatever case he’d been working at the time and put it all on the ceiling, lay underneath, and just stare up at it until something stood out.

It was kind of a last resort, but time was of the essence.

Jason had gone out to do some recon, it wasn’t supposed to take longer than maybe four hours.

Now they were hitting the forty-eight hour mark and nothing.

Two days and no sign of Red Hood or Red Arrow, who’d insisted on going with.

Tim began to wonder if he should try and convince Bruce to let him near the where they’d last been seen.

Everyone had been confined to the manor and the cave. After the Owls attacked the Bunker Bruce didn’t want to take any chances. He had been investigating what happened.

Some wearhouse had blown up. The assumption was that was the last place the two had been.

Bruce had even found some of Jason’s blood at the scene.

Tim sighed, twirling a knife in between his hands. The one he’d found when they’d rescued Dick. It had been covered in his blood and been the weapon he’d used to attempt.

Tim was keeping it around as motivation. Dick wasn’t really bothered by the sight of it. He’d even taken some time to figure out what it was all made of with Tim.

Nothing very special, standard metals one would find in a knife like this.

All of the evidence, every piece of paper they had on the court, was plastered to the ceiling in his room and he wasn’t getting anything.

This wasn’t quite like when Dick vanished. They had a starting point with this one, and an idea of what time they’d been taken.

It had been days before anyone realized Dick was actually missing and not just lying low.

So this felt deliberate. Something else was going to happen, and it was going to happen soon. It was just a matter of what and when.

Back to trying to see if he could convince Bruce to let him go to the warehouse and look for himself. Maybe Tim could find something Bruce had missed.

But that felt like an argument that Tim was going to lose in a spectacular sort of manor.

He sat up, his forearms resting on his knees.

He began going over various arguments in his head, each one worse than the other.

Yeah, if I’m going anywhere, I’m going to be sneaking out. He told himself.

Tim stood up, beginning his silent journey to the Cave.

The rest of the Team hadn’t left the confines of the Cave, either from intimidation or that they weren’t sure they were allowed to leave. It was obvious that they were getting restless, tired of being cooped up for so long.

When he stepped inside, everyone was strewn about.

Wally was passed out on one of the medical beds, Artemis (also on the bed) sat reading some book Barbara had brought her, Conner and M’gann sat off to the side not really talking just soaking up the presence of the other, Dick was over by the Zeta consel repairing it, while Damian sat close by.

The two were having a conversation of some sort, more likely than not, about what happened to Jason.

Damian noticed Tim’s approach.

“Anything?” He asked.

Tim shook his head. “No, not yet. I think they might still be nearby but… I, I’m not sure. What about you? Fallen asleep recently?”

Dick wasn’t amused. “No” He said pointedly. “I haven’t slept in the last two days, so I can’t operate as a window into the possible actions of the Court. Especially considering I never can tell if it’s real or not.”

“Do you think B would let me out to investigate?”

Dick stopped and looked up at him, his eyebrow raised. “You’re kidding right? No, he’s not gonna risk you ending up with them. Not like that anyway.”

“Would you stop me if I left anyways?”

Damian snorted. “Father would be furious, and he wouldn’t let you get far assuming you were successful.”

“Depends on what you’d be doing.” Dick smartly disregards Damian’s comment.

Tim shrugged. “Just the same thing he’s been doing. I’ve caught on to things he’s missed before. Maybe I could find something he missed.”

Dick considered it. “I wouldn’t suggest going alone.”

“Well I’m not going with a snitch.” Tim gestured to Damian.

“What makes you think I’d rat you out, or that I’d even have to.”

“I wouldn’t take him anyways. He likes to hender .” Dick adds.

Damian shot him a dirty look.

“Well it’s not like I can take you.” Tim answers. “He’d notice your absence. And it’s not like having someone with me will help much, Roy was with Jason and they both got captured.”

Dick sighed. “I know. But the odds are still higher on you coming back if you take someone with you.”

Tim’s shoulders slumped. “Who?”

Dick shrugged. “I’ll leave that to your judgement. I can help make sure he doesn’t notice that you’re gone.”

Tim glances towards Damian.

“Don’t worry, he’ll keep his mouth shut.” Dick tells him, grinning as he does so.

Tim looked back towards the other people in the Cave. He really didn’t think any of them would be much help. He would prefer Dick going with him, but Dick is still benched and on a very short leash, Bruce would notice if Dick left the Cave.

Damian could work too, but the kid challenges him to much. Loves to argue almost every decision he makes in the field. It would make this outing longer and far more complicated than it needed to be.

Another sigh.

Dick’s right, he really shouldn’t go alone. It doesn’t matter if Jason didn’t, his odds on getting back with any sort of evidence are greatly in his favor if he has back-up.

“What would you do if I left alone?” Tim asked him.

Dick had gone back to repairing the console, not bothering to look back up at Tim. “All bets are off.”

Another glance around the room.

If he left now, no one would notice till he got back. Assuming of course everything went to plan (which rarely ever happens).

He makes his way towards his gear. If he takes the suit, he’ll get caught. But he needs the gear.

The new suit might work. He’d finally finalized the circuitry in the gauntlets. He hadn’t shown off the new suit completely yet. He’d only been using it’s armor, to see how discretely he could wear it.

The only thing not near the suit is his computer. He needed to sync his files amongst other things, to get the gauntlets full operational. That laptop isn’t in the cave, it’s upstairs on his bed.

The wings folded up into the pack strapped to his back, it would house his computer as well. He grabbed it from the table next to the actual suit. Quickly he began to roll it up, and silently went back up the stairs to boot everything up.

Getting out of here was his only big issue.

Sneaking out of the manor was never easy, not when one is under the watchful eye of Batman and Alfred.

While Batman wasn’t here (he was out looking for Jason), Alfred was. Just as bad, if not worse. Tim was gonna have to get real creative real quick.

Exiting through the cave was the best strategy. Make his way towards Gotham’s downtown on foot would be the only viable option he really had. It was far, but in theory he could do it.

Tim suited up, pulling civilian clothes over the costume. Best not to raise any suspicion. And snuck out of the cave in such a manner that would have made Batman proud, he made his way to the docks, to the last place Jason had been seen.

As he made his way, he had a feeling he was being followed. Tim looped back several times to try and lose his pursuer.

The entire block had been squared off by police tape. It was an active crime scene. Jason’s capture had resulted in the take down of several large heads of Gotham’s underground. Tim hadn’t figured out if it was connected or not.

He ducked under the police tape and began to work his way through the rubble. Best a starting point as any.

Footsteps, the way they worked their way around him sounded like someone was trying to sneak up on him. Trying and failing.

He pulled his bo staff from his belt as he crept out of sight.

Tim began to look for his pursuer once again when something caught his attention.

One of the owl’s knives embedded in the wall behind him. That was confusing. No way B missed that. It was like a candle in a dark room. Someone had put it there.

Tim had been so deep in thought that he didn’t hear the person come up right behind him. They were different.

Bo staff out, Tim launched into full attack. No mercy would be shown against this guy. He had no idea who he’d tried to get.

Only Tim realized this wasn’t an enemy, nor was it the person who’d been following him. They had ended up with their punishment unfortunately.

Tim had hit Conner with precision and force that had sent him across the room, something Tim had learned from Ra’s al Ghul.

“What’re you doing?” He hissed towards Conner.

“Saw you leaving. So did Nightwing by the way. He suggested I follow. Jesus christ how hard did you hit me?” Conner asked him.

He rubbed the spot where Tim had slammed the staff into his jaw.

The lenses in Tim’s mask narrowed. “I didn’t need anyone following me. I already have a stalker thank you.”

“What?”

“Someone’s been following me all night.”
“Yeah me.”

“No, trust me they’re much better at it than you are.”

Conner looked like he was coming up with a retort when he spotted the knife behind Tim.

“What’s that?”
“Some sort of message. I don’t like it.” Tim adds quickly. “It gives me a bad feeling.”

Tim walked over to the knife grabbing the handle and pulling it from the wall. It took a little force for Tim to yank it free from the wall.

He studied the knife in his hands. It was a Talon’s knife. Very similar to the one Dick had.

There was the sound of footsteps heading away from them.

“You heard that right?” Tim breathed, not looking from the direction of the noise.

“You wouldn’t have needed super hearing to hear it.” Conner breathes back.

Slowly Tim approaches the source, caution filling each of his actions. His breathing went silent and deep, his heart began to thump harder and faster from anticipation, and his movements were smooth and steady.

It was coming from a hole in the ground.

Tim crouched next to it, peering down like he was looking down the barrel of a gun. The feeling made him sick to his stomach.

“Yeah, that’s not suspicious.” Conner blurts.

“C’mon.” Tim tells him as he jumps down into the hole.

It looked like someone had made a new manhole. Their surroundings were the outsides of the sewers, near some of the main control panels.

“This is a trap.” Tim decides.

“Then what are we doing down here?” Conner asks him.

Tim looks around, looking for clues. He looks back down at the knife in his hand. This trap was too obvious. Whatever was going on, someone wanted it found.

Why?

That sick feeling was only getting worse.

There was only one direction to go. Forward.

Tim looks back at Conner. “You can back if you want.”

“What, and let you get yourself killed playing detective.”

Tim shrugged. “Suit yourself.”

They walked in the dim lighting, everything in Tim calling him an idiot for going into the very obvious trap willingly.

The only reason Tim was even down there was to see if he could find Jason and Roy. That might’ve been their trap, but it was a risk that needed to be taken. Considering what the Court wanted to do to Dick, he couldn’t even imagine what they’d want to do to Jason. Roy was probably collateral.

There was some comfort in knowing he wasn’t alone, someone had his back. Someone who had a lot of power behind their punches.

They looked around for a possible attacker. No such luck.

It was getting unnerving. Nothing had happened yet. They had been down here for an hour and nothing. They were waiting for Tim to find something, or someone.

Jason was down here, and the Court wanted Tim to find him.

That was going to be a problem. He doubted he could just come back later with more back-up or a better plan or better yet Batman. No, the only direction he could go is forward. This was a classic lose lose situation. His favorite.

He stopped and looked back at Conner. “This is a trap.”

“We established that a while ago.”

“I know, we’re gonna have to fight our way out. And we’re likely going to lose.”

Conner made a face. “Yeah, that’s a horrible boost of confidence. We’ll be fine.”

Tim shook his head. “No we won’t. We are going to get captured.”

“That’s the exact opposite thing you tell someone who willing came behind enemy lines with you. Why are you so certain we’re going to get captured.”

“Why would they let us get so close with little to no interference? I can guarantee they won’t let us leave. Red Hood and Red Arrow are close. They wanted them found.”

Conner looks at him. So not the thing anyone in this type of situation would want to hear. Tim was telling him the facts. Those fact spelled out certain capture unless they suddenly became God. Since that was not going to happen.

“So where are they?” Conner asks him.

“They have to be around here somewhere.”

They began to look for rooms, doors, any sort of place you could store a prisoner. After going deeper they found something.

A large steel door, that looked like it came off a destroyer in the navy. Huge and thick.

The pair looked at one another before Conner twisted the door handle open, breaking the lock.

It was dark, not pitch black, but dark enough you couldn’t see past your nose.

Tim turned the light on his gauntlet on.

There were multiple support posts throughout the room. Tim counted eight. The first person he saw was a skeleton.

The sight caused him to jump slightly. The second person he saw was Roy.

He was on his knees against one of the posts, his right arm bandaged and strapped to his chest, his left one cuffed to his ankles. There was just enough slack so he wasn’t hog tied and could sit up right, his head hung limply with his chin resting against his chest.

The way his arm was, it looked like it’s been put in a splint of some sort and put in a sling snugly against him, like someone was trying to help him.

As Tim approached Roy, he caught sight of Jason out of the corner of his eye.

He was tied to the post in a similar fashion, only both his hands were behind him not just one.

Tim swiftly made his way to Jason crouching down in front of him. His breathing was shallow and labored. The shirt he wore over his kevlar was soaked in blood and his leather jacket and said shirt had a bullet hole in them. He’d been shot.

That explained the blood at the scene. His wound had also been appropriately badaged. Whoever had done this didn’t want either of them dead.

Maybe if they worked quickly, he and Conner could at least get Jason and Roy unbound and awake. That way they had a few more fighters. That felt unlikely.

The more Tim studied Jason, the worse shape he seemed to become. Sweat was dripping down his face, everything seemed clinched up from some sort of pain. He wasn’t knocked out like Roy, but he was equally incapacitated.

“We need a plan Red.” Conner told him.

“Umm.” Was all Tim could manage.

Yeah, they needed a plan, but Tim wasn’t sure what to do.

“Get Arrow unbound I’ll get Hood.”

They worked on the bidings. Specifically made for them, Tim would’ve had quite a bit of difficulty getting out of them himself. They were Bat proof.

Jason slouched against him and Tim helped him up. He was struggling against Jason’s massive size, he was significantly smaller than the almost adult.

Jason began mumbling incoherent things under his breath, Tim could tell they were about him but that was about it.

Just as Tim was about to step forward Jason began falling forward taking Tim to the ground with him. He tried cushioning his fall as best he could but Tim was at an awkward angle.

Conner looked back him.

“I think we may have to switch.” Tim tells him.

Conner didn’t reply, but his expression told him duh.

Gently, he pulled Jason up as he shifted Roy to Tim. Not much better, but Roy wasn’t almost two hundred and fifty pounds.

They slowly worked their way back, every step filled with anticipation. Waiting for something or someone to jump out and stop them. But for some reason, no one seemed to be coming. It didn’t help his nerves.

They were getting closer to exit. Roy began to groan against Tim, probably from his broken limb. He also noticed Jason was beginning to try and support himself, he was just doing a really bad job.

For such an obvious trap, they were getting away fairly easy.

Then it dawned on him. Someone had been following him. It hadn’t been Conner.

When they got back to their exit it had been sealed up.

“That’s a problem.” Conner observed.

He leaned Jason against the wall as he began to investigate where their exit had been. Tim watched as Jason slid down the wall. His eyes kept fluttering open only to immediately close, he wasn’t coherent. If anything happened, Jason was useless.

Tim adjusted Roy as he lowered him back onto the ground. He began to look around for another exit. Every hair on the back of his neck stood, this was not good.

Something wrapped itself around Tim’s ankle, pulling his foot out from underneath him, forcing him to faceplant against the concrete floor.

Great, now I have a broken nose . Tim thought as he felt blood begin to seep out.

He felt something force him up onto his knees. The knife that was still, miraculously, in his hand pressed against his back, in between the breaks in his armour, his wrist along with it. Another knife pressed against his throat. His other arm was tangled up with the person pressing their blade against him. He couldn’t move.

Conner barely made half a step to help when someone else approached. A faint green light emanating from them as they passed Tim and his captor.

Conner went pale, as he began to sway. The man only kept stepping closer.

Tim began to try and get his legs out from underneath him. It was getting harder to breath with the knife pressed against his larynx.

He almost got one leg free before he was noticed. He yanks Tim back, he then brings his foot down with such force onto his leg that he break’s Tim tibula.

Tim cries out from the force. He can’t think, every single thought going to the fact his leg in now broken. His breathing begins to shorten as Tim struggles to keep from panicking.

A rag is pressed against his nose and mouth.

The effects are instantaneous, the rag is coated in coloraform.

Tim slumps against his captor. He’s vaguely aware of Conner beginning to fight back before severely losing.

All Tim could think before accepting the darkness was. Why do I always have to get caught up in all of this?

He sees Conner fall to the ground. Before his head hits, Tim goes limp.

Chapter Text

This was just perfect .

Tim sneaks out and gets captured, Conner follows him and ends up in the same place.

As if things couldn’t get worse, they couldn’t get in touch with Bruce. They were all pretty sure he was with the others. Dick had suddenly been given the role as person in charge. He wasn’t sure how to feel about it.

The people left in his care were more than capable of taking care of themselves, and it wasn’t like he couldn’t handle the position. It was more the last time he’d had this position it had been dropped in his lap with little to no instruction. Dick wasn’t exactly sure how to proceed, and he didn’t like that feeling.

Nonetheless, he needed to get things in order. First thing was no one left the Cave until they had some sort of game plan as to where everyone else was. Barbara had joined them, taking over what Tim had been doing. He’d been looking for their main base in Gotham. It’d gotten moved when it had been infiltrated by Batman a few years back.

Dick had a feeling he might know where it was but, he wanted to be absolutely certain before they did anything. He later realized he didn’t have this luxury. His dreams had gone silent, naturally. The one time he was actually wanting them to talk to him, they’ve decided they weren’t in need of him.

Barbara was also looking for comms, on the very slim chance their signals would pop up. Not that anyone thought they actually would.

Now she was running comms from the cave with Alfred, while the rest of them were out heading towards the possible base. It was the first time Dick had been out like this in a few months. It felt kind of odd. It had been so long since he’d worn kevlar or his Nightwing suit.

He was perched outside of a possible entrance to the base. Making sure the way was clear. He didn’t know if their arrival was anticipated or not. It should be but… the court had a history of underestimating them.

Damian crouched behind him, waiting for the signal.

He’d joked with the kid about going out in his batsuit, Damian had seriously considered it. Telling him it would throw the enemy off it they thought they had Batman only to have him crash in. Then he remembered who they were doing this with. No, the fact he’d been Batman needed to remain a secret for now.

Clear . Dick sent out over them mental signal.

He jumped from his spot onto the ground.

Slowly people approached from their hiding places as Dick picked the lock opening the door.

It was an immediate staircase leading down into what looked like a cellar. It gave Dick an uneasy feeling of deja vu. Like he’d been there before. Not exactly a comforting feeling.

They walked down into the building. It was pitch black.

Look I know we can’t see but I don’t exactly want to pull out a flashlight. Wally sends out over the mind link.

Not like it would matter if we did. Damian tells him.

Yeah that’s not helpful. Turn on your night vision, Wally’s right if they don’t already know I don’t want to make it easier for them. Dick finished. Stay whelmed. They shouldn’t know that we’re here.

He tries the reassurance but it doesn’t lighten the mood. The odds against them kept getting stacked higher and higher.

Night vision flicks on in the lenses of his mask. There’s no visible difference from the outside of the masks, a great update. He’s going to have to thank Tim for getting bored and going to town with their suits. He’s installed quite a bit of helpful gadgets and updates.

It was a long narrow hallway, completely dark. Artemis and M’gann were the only ones at a disadvantage, as they didn’t carry this tech. M’gann didn’t even wear a mask. They were following based on pure physical contact.

Dick wasn’t seeing anything that would be helpful. It felt like they were getting deeper. The exact opposite thing he wanted happening.

There was a door.

Ummm, there’s a door. Wally comments.

That’s great. Artemis shoots back annoyance dripping from the sound . It means we’re stuck.

It’s off to the side. M’gann can you find out what's on the other side? Dick asks.

Yeah, hang on.

He feels her brush up against him to locate the door.

After a few minutes it opens. The light inside the room is dim, but it’s almost like staring into the sun after the darkness they’d been in so far.

There’s a bunch of weapons in here, She informs them, it’s a holding cell of some sort.

They walk in. The room is small. A floor to ceiling bookshelf situation that housed an impressive array of weapons from their prisoners, including his escrima sticks. The one’s he’s had when he’d gotten captured.

Dick pick them up. They didn’t look any different. He charged them up, functioned like normal. As he looked around he saw Tim’s, Jason’s, and even Bruce’s belts. After skimming through them he discovers nothing is missing from them either. A set of guns, (Dick wasn’t sure how or why he knew this) Jason’s favorite knife, and his helmet. Tim’s collapsible bo staff and his wings tucked up into their casing.

Nothing had been tampered with.

It’s all here. Damian observes.

Like you just left it here? Artemis asks them.

Yeah. Dick answers. All of it.

He checks to make sure the safety is on before tucking the gun into his own belt.

What are you doing? Damian asks him

If and when we find them, they’re going to need a way to defend themselves aren’t they? He hands Damian Tim’s wings. Well we’re going to have to carry it for them.

Out of the corner of his eye he sees the light begin to flick on in the halway.

Yeah that can’t be good. Wally sends out over the mind link

Pain.

That’s the only thought going through his head. He was in pain. A lot of pain. Most of it in his shoulder. Every muscle in his body was stiff from being held in the same uncomfortable position for so long.

Jason couldn’t feel his legs. He knew his hands and feet were bound behind him and to each other. He tried shifting his weight but the chains only gave him so much slack.

A groan escaped his lips. The bullet Slade had shot him with had been poisoned. Somehow this guy knew how to mess with All Caste training. Whatever he’d used, it’s effects weren’t wearing off very fast. That was going to make escaping rather challenging.

He lifted his head from his chest resting against the pole he was bound to. Everything was dark and blurry. It was all messing with his head. He pulled at the cuffs again. The action was futile but Jason was limited on options.

The pain in his shoulder was making it hard to think straight. He knew he’d been bandaged, but not treated for any sort of toxin.

Jason tried looking around some more. Things began to clear. There was someone in there with him.

Slowly the ginger came into focus.

It was Harper.

Great, Red Arrow had gotten captured with him. Jason had kind of hoped that either Roy had gotten away or that Slade had just killed him.

No such luck.

As his sight became clearer, he noticed they’d splinted his broken elbow strapping said splint to his chest. Not the most comfortable position, but it kept that arm restrained. Otherwise he was bound in a similar fashion to Jason.

Okay. I’m stuck , Jason began to tell himself. There doesn’t seem to be a visible way out of these restraints or even out of this room. And unfortunately I’ll have to take Speedy with me.

He began mentally noting as many details as he could about the room they were in.

Jason tired everything he could think of to get out of the cuffs. Dislocating his thumbs, shaking them violently out of frustration, pulling against them until his wrists were bruised. Nothing worked. There wasn’t a lock, at least not one he could reach.

The Court had done their homework. They knew exactly how to restrain him.

He began to continue his futile attempt at magically pulling his limbs free, when he heard a low groan.

Roy.

Jason glanced up at him. Roy was taking in his surroundings, panic building in his features. If they had been in any other situation Jason would’ve laughed. Roy Harper didn’t just lose his cool and panic. He’d snap and lash out in anger, but panic? No that wasn’t something he did very often.

“Where are we?” Roy asked.

This guy was on the verge of a full panic attack. That wasn’t going to go over very well.

“First off calm down. Things could be worse.” Jason was tapping into an ability he wasn’t very good at. Comforting.

“How exactly?!”

“We’re not alone, the chances of us getting out are good, you haven’t been beaten to the point of immobility, and no one betrayed you landing you in this situation in the first place. Need I continue?” Jason growled. “Now, can you get out of your restraints.”

Roy didn’t relax completely, but he did seem more focused. There was a goal in mind, something he could focus on. Jason listened as Roy tested his restrains, pulling against them and shaking them.

“Not with my arm like this.” Roy admits.

Jason sighed. They would have to wait for a rescue party. If they were hidden like Dick had been, this was going to be a long wait. One he wasn’t very comfortable with.

“What are we gonna do?” Roy asks him.

Jason blinks at him. Did he just ask me that?

He opens his mouth to answer when he hears a loud thud against the door. “I think we’re gonna die.” He tells Roy suddenly.

Thankfully Roy doesn’t respond, though Jason did receive a dirty look.

There was another loud thud. Jason feels his heart rate increase, they were sitting ducks. If anyone was coming in to kill them there was nothing either of them could do to stop it, and if it were possible rescuers they couldn’t help.

He then heard something that sounded like vibrations. It was odd and he had nothing to compare it to. He turned his head trying to get a good look at the door.

Someone was in there with them. He was wearing what looked like a copycat Flash suit.

“Wally?” Roy suddenly asks.

Wally whips around, his face instantly brighten when he sees Roy. “Just a second, we need to get the door open.”

He turns back, placing his palm against the lock.

Jason can’t see the action, but he knows what Wally is doing. Breaking the lock.

“Damn.” Wally mutters under his breath.

He steps back examining the door.

“Hey Fleet Feet,” Jason calls, “how’d you get in here?”

“I phased through the door.” He replies simply.

“And you can’t phase the lock because… ?”

“I don’t know, I can’t hear the other’s either.”

Jason looks back at Roy.

“Meta dampener?” Roy asks him

“Possibly. Once your in any power you have is taken away.” Jason speculates. “You can get in, but it doesn’t mean you can get out.”

“Great.” Wally steps from the door and walks towards them. “You both look terrible by the way.”

“Aww thanks, and here I thought you hated me.” Jason’s voice is thick with sarcasm.

“Can you get us out of these?” Roy asks shaking the cuffs.

Wally shakes his head. “Probably not. Not really a locksmith, and since I can’t use my powers I have no idea where to even begin with those.”

“Of course.” Roy mumbles.

Another thud.

“What is that?” Jason asks.

“The others trying to get through.” Wally supplies. “Nightwing said there were some owls coming and we needed to act quickly.”

“Yay.”

“Are you always this sarcastic or are you trying something new.” Roy asks him.

Jason was about to send back another retort when a blast caused the door to fly open. The room was filled with the light from the hall.

“That worked?” Artemis asked, the annoyance clear in her voice.

“I don’t even want to know where you got that.” Dick tells someone as he steps deeper into the cell.

“From Hood.” Damian supplies.

Dick roll his eyes at Robin before looking between Jason and Roy.

“Hey man what’s up.” Jason greets.

Dick grins. “Just admiring the fact that Red Hood has been restrained and he can’t seem to get out of it.”

“Yeah get me out.” Jason pulls against the restraints. As Dick kneels behind him to free him, Jason notices a few missing party members.

“Where’s Red and Batman.” Jason asks. “And the boy of steel?”

“We think they’re somewhere in here.” Damian supplies. He begins to walk behind Roy examining his restraints.

He steps back before he slashes his sword against the chains, slicing them open.

“Holy shit.” Jason breaths.

Everyone else freezes, looking at Robin.

“What?” He asks.

“You could’ve chopped his hand off.” Dick tells him.

“I wasn’t going to. I am well skilled with this sword.”

“What kind of blade is that?” Jason asks him.

“I stole it from grandfather before mother sent me away.”

“Ah. Uh, could you get me out of these.”

“Nightwing has it.” Robin tells him as he stoops down to de-thread the chains.

Dick goes back to working the lock. Just as he was about to finish they heard the owls coming down the hall.

“Great.” Wally mumbles. “Now what, we’re trapped.”

Artemis pulls the sword from her side, ready to fight when they get here.

“Get the door.” Dick tells them. “Hold them off, there’s got to be another door in here somewhere.”

“You’re awfully confident of that.” Roy notes.

“Just trust me.”

“I thought they were meta dampeners.”

“They’ve probably been disconnected due to the door being blown open.” Jason answers before anyone else can add anything.

Just as M’gann uses her mind powers to shut the door and seal it shut, an owl launches itself from the depths of the hall through the opening.

It doesn’t even get a chance to make a move before it gets shot in the head.

It takes Jason a few second to even register what happened. The owl falls to the ground as Robin throws a vial of mystery liquid at it. The body disintegrates at the very touch of the liquid, an acid of some sort. And next to him is Dick Grayson lowering the gun he’d shot the owl with.

Jason looks at him, slightly slack jawed. Dick’s face is hard and focused. The way he held the gun made Jason realize that a gun felt familiar in Dick’s hands, he held like a cop does.

“What?” Dick asks. “It was part of basic training that I learn how to handle firearms like this.”

Everyone is staring at him.

Dick deposits the gun in Jason’s lap as the lock clicks. He rubs his now free wrists, still staring at his older brother. He forgot Dick was a cop, that it was standard to learn how to handle and carry a handgun. But it still didn’t quite compute that he was that skilled with the weapon.

Roy is beginning to try and pull himself up onto his feet. Both of them had been in the same position far to long. They would need to wait to get some circulation back into them.

“What did Robin throw onto that owl?” Jason asks Dick as he gets his feet out from under them, slowly stretching out the muscles.

“It doesn’t have a name yet, but it’s somewhere between Sulfuric Acid and Fluoroantimonic acid.” Dick explains. “Fire works pretty well to, anything that destroys the body. Robin didn’t even throw a lot. It’s highly concentrated in its liquid state. We’ve made a few gas bombs that can do the trick, but we only want to use those in extreme circumstances.”

Jason nodded. As feeling came back into his feet his nerves were lighting up like crazy, igniting like red hot needles against his skin. Not pleasant.

“How are you keeping that kind of gas in a container?” Roy asks.

“Teflon.” Damian answers. “We coated the inside of the device with it to keep the acid from eating through it.

Jason braced himself against the post trying to stand up. “C’mon, we need to find Red.”

“Are you sure you can walk?” M’gann asked him.

“We don’t have a choice. All three of them are in trouble.”

“So are we.” Dick reminded him. “We need to play this smart. Don’t put ourselves into a corner we can’t get out of.”

“We don’t have that luxury…” Jason tries.

“ We don’t have that choice.”

Jason didn’t appreciate his word being thrown right back at him, especially when the person doing it was right. They needed to play this safe, rushing into a situation like this ill prepared was going to end badly.

“Alright, then let's come up with some sort of plan. Do we have any idea where they might be?” Jason asks him.

“Actually… I might.”

Chapter Text

Bruce could safely say, he hadn’t been captured like this in a long time. People were struggling to kidnapping Batman, as they should be.

He might actually be impressed if the circumstances would allow him.

He sat in a cell chained to some sort of post. His arms were crossed across his chest and chained together. He discovered his feet were also chained but he was able to stand up. A helpful advantage, but not one he was sure how he could turn to his favor.

What made his situation worse was Tim.

They’d brought him into the cell a while ago, lied him on the concrete floor and left. His leg was clearly broken, and he’d been beaten within an inch of his life. There was nothing Bruce could do. Tim hadn’t moved an inch since being brought in, the only sign that he was actually alive was the slow rise and fall of his chest as he breathed.

Tim wasn’t chained to anything, but Bruce doubted he even had the strength to lift his head.

He wondered how Tim had gotten here in the first place. If he’d received those beating on his way here or if they’d tried to get information. Of course he really didn’t know how he’d even gotten here either. It was all a blur of assassin and darkness.

Bruce adjusted his stance. “Tim.” he breathed.

He’d already tried stirring his son this way, but it was the only way he could. Tim was just too out of it.

He sighed resting his head against the metal post.

Bruce had tried figuring out what sort of plan the Court had concocted, and he was coming up short.

Kiddnapping Dick only to let him go, bombarding him with borderline mind control, attacking the bunker, then coming back and taking Jason and Roy, then himself, and now Tim. Where were they going this. There didn’t appear to be a logical answer, which annoyed him to no end.

He tried pulling and twisting against his chains. The Court had been through with keeping him in place. Even if he couldn’t get out of the cell, getting out of the chains would make things better. He could find out just how bad Tim had been hurt.

And just like the other times he’d tried that, it had given him similar results. He growled in frustration.

He needed to get out, he needed to get Tim out.

The door behind him opened, and Talon stepped in front of him.

He smirked through the cell bars.

“Mr. Wayne.” He said, his voice smooth and even.

“Carver.” Bruce kept his tone even, but his voice was several octaves lower than normal. He needed to remain as if there wasn’t anything wrong, like this was going in accordance to his plan.

His smile only grew at the sound of his name. “You should be proud of the boy. He refused to accommodate. He wouldn’t answer any of our questions, and took the punishments. An excellent fighter, clearly groomed by yourself. So much potential.”

Bruce remained silent towards the twisted praise.

“I understand, you’re going to be as helpful as him.” Carver gestured to Tim’s lifeless body. “I just wanted you to know why we didn’t kill him. Why we didn’t kill any of them.”

“Who…”

“Everyone you’re missing. The two you’ve trained most definitely have the most potential. They will make incredible owls. The skill sets you’ve magnified. Their stubborness and the heightened instincts that you have trained into each of them. If I’m being truly honest, I’m a little jealous, the training period will be much shorter for them than it was me. They are already fantastic at ignoring their physical pain to getting the job done.”

“Why keep me alive?”

“Let’s call it motivation. The other two, of course are going to come to your rescue. You know loyalty and brotherhood, integrated into their bones. It’s a part of them.”

“And why let Nightwing escape?”

Carver shrugged “It was a hiccup in our plans. We’ve adjusted accordingly. When the other two arrive, we’ll brainwash all four of them. Nightwing will become our Gray Son, Red Robin’s natural intellect and strategic thought process will be used to its fullest potential, Red Hood will help pave a way for our take over of Gotham, and Robin will get sent back to the League. They will do with him whatever they please and we will be compensated handsomely.”

“You’re just creating soldiers?”

“Essentially.”

“And why tell me that?”

“Because there is nothing to lose or gain by keeping you in the dark. It is too late, you have lost. All of the pieces in this game of chess are in place, the Court now just needs to make the final move and it’s over.”

“People will stand against you.”

“Let them, they will fall like everything else. Enjoy these last few moments you have with your son Mr. Wayne. Soon he will be like just like the owls. Expendable, and gone. And they can’t be saved.”

“You’ve underestimated them again. Like you said. I trained them, heightened each of their natural strengths. Together, they are a force to be reckoned with.”

“And separate, they are nothing. Already, they wilt.”

Talon then turned on his heel and left. His confidence wasn’t missed. Carver was convinced that there was nothing Bruce could do to stop this, any of it

He glanced down at Tim.

Already, they wilt.

Carver was right. Bruce knew, that the boys were an unstoppable force together, exactly what they were trained to be. But separate, their weaknesses could be exploited. Tim was not going to be able to get himself out of this. He couldn’t even imagine what had happened to Jason. If he was in any position like Tim, he was going to need help too.

Bruce needed to get himself free, now.

He began to try and move the chains around, looking for a break. The task was difficult, but eventually he found the lock. He ran his thumb against the opening.

He almost laughed, it was a standard padlock. The Court had gone through all this trouble to restrain him, only to keep the chains connected with a padlock.

Bruce comes down to his knees, looking for the lock pick he kept in his boots. He didn’t think that it had been discovered. He was right.

He opened the lock and freed himself from the chains.

He kneels down beside Tim.

Gently, he tries jostling him. “Tim, I need you to wake up.”

Bruce watches as Tim’s facial expressions change. He waits hoping that he’ll wake up a little more.

As if Tim could hear Bruce’s thought he begins to stir. His eyes crack open as he releases breathy groan.

His breathing changes, its more labored now that he’s awake.

“B?”

“I’m here Tim.” Bruce begins to try and help Tim sit up.

He leaned him against the bars of the cell.

“I’m sorry.” He rasps out.

Bruce raises an eyebrow. “What?”

“I, I knew it was a trap. And I just walked in and… got captured.” he struggles to get the words out. Like he’s going to run out of time. “I didn’t tell ‘em anything B. I’d never.”

He pulls Tim against his chest. “I know. You don’t need to be sorry, you didn’t do anything wrong son.”

Tim practically melts into him. He feels safe.

“Now we need to get out of here. Can you stand?” Bruce asks him.

Tim leans back, seemingly going over some sort of mental breakdown of his current physical state. “No” He tells him.

Bruce was pretty sure he’d knew that’d be the answer anyways.

“Not on my own.” Tim tells him, he looks around. “We need a way out of the cell.”

Bruce locates the cell door. He can open it easily.

They make their way into the hall.

“Hmm, this could make things difficult.” Tim comments at the two directions they could go. He shifts against Bruce trying to keep his weight off his broken leg as he looks in either direction.

“Pros and cons are the same for both directions.” Bruce agrees. “I’m not sure which is the smarter decision.”

“Then let’s just go that way.” He gestures to the right. “It feels like the best choice.”

Bruce couldn’t think of any reason why they should try going left, opting to follow Tim’s lead as it was a good as any.

They couldn’t move as fast as he wanted. Bruce wanted to get Tim out of there as soon as possible. His unease only seem to grow with each step they took. It felt like they were getting deeper. Not something he wanted.

He feels Tim stiffen.

“Did you hear that?” Tim whispers.

“Hear what?”

That’s when he heard the faint sound of footsteps, barreling towards them. Bruce looks around. No good place for them to hide. They can’t run. Well Tim can’t run.

“What do we do?”

Bruce wasn’t sure. The options they had weren’t going to help them much.

He glances at Tim. “We fight.”

Bruce stood ready, Tim braced his hand against the wall. They were going to go down fighting.

Conner felt kind of stupid following Tim in the first place.

Nightwing hadn’t asked him, but had commented that he saw him leave and hoped he wouldn’t get himself killed and/or captured.

Well… that’s exactly what happened.

Not only did Tim get himself captured but got Conner captured along with him.

Okay, Nightwing suggested it might be a good idea if someone followed, and Tim had given him the option of turning back.

He just hadn’t turned back. The trap was obvious, so it felt deliberate. Something else was going on. He knew Tim would need help.

Now he was in what looked suspiciously like a Cadmus pod, with what he believed to be a Talon staring at him through the glass.

The individual hadn’t said anything, hadn’t even moved. He didn’t appear to be breathing. The unbroken stare was making Conner uncomfortable. Conner had tried talking to him when he came to, but he only stood, watching.

It had been going on for eight minutes. Conner had counted. Gold eyes staring into his blue ones, like Talon was trying to suck out his soul.

“Don’t you have anything better to do?” Conner asked him.

The Talon gave him a head tilt.

“I can’t go anywhere, I can’t do anything. I’ve been trying.”

“Meta Dampeners prevent you from using your abilities.”

Conner blinked. Talon had finally spoke. His voice sounded scratchy and raw, like he’d been screaming for hours on end before talking to him.

“So you have nothing to worry about. I can’t get out of this. No strength.”

“No, but you are clever nonetheless. You have spent time with people who could get out of these restraints without powers. It is asinine to assume you could not learn how to get out.”

“Why are you babysitting me then? Surely they have someone less important to watch and make sure I don’t escape. I mean you’re the Talon. You…”

“I am not The Talon.”

Conner creased his eyebrows.

“I am just a Talon.”

“What’s the difference?”

“Alton Carver is The Talon. I will be. I am his successor.”

“So who are you?”

Talon hesitated. “I do not know. When I become The Talon, they say they will tell me my name, as reward for being obedient.”

“So you went through the whole process of becoming Talon?”

“Yes, but I do not remember my life before. I am free of who I was. All that is left is Talon.”

That was not a good though process.

The Court had been trying to turn Nightwing into this. This mindless soldier. They wanted to revoke his past, and govern his future. Somehow Conner felt he needed to save this guy from being turned into The Talon.

“You don’t have to be the weapon they created you to be. I was made to be a weapon. I was liberated by the same guy your trying to take down.”

Talon remained expressionless. “I am aware of your creation. You are the half clone of Superman and Lex Luthor. A strange combination. Strange and flawed. You lack the strength, the power, to take down Superman. You cannot complete the task you were designed for.”

Conner wasn’t sure if he should be insulted by that, or if he should be concerned that this guy even knew that. Something he would worry about later.

“That doesn’t change the fact I’m not doing what I was designed to do. I’m not trying to take down Superman. I work alongside him. You don’t have to work for the Court. I can help you get your life back. Help you get your name back, and not because you’ve been a good slave.” Conner tells him

“I can only do what the Court wishes.”

“You don’t have any free will?”

Talon didn’t respond. Almost like that thought bothered him.

“Surely you can still think for yourself? Make some of your own decisions. You don’t have to do what they say, what anyone says. You can be whatever you want.”

“My duty is to serve the Court. It is what I wish to do.”

“What you wish to do? Or is that what they tell you? I don’t think that’s what you want to do. I think you want something bigger. I don’t think you’re okay with this, hurting innocent people for what? You’re not getting anything out of this. You’re a tool that they pull out when they need you and then forget about. I mean, where’ve you been all this time? Not out with the other owls.”

Talon tilted his head to the other side. “And what would you have me do? Join alongside the heroes? I am what they’ve created and nothing less. I was bred for this, as was your friend. This is my destiny, what I was born to do. It is his destiny, one he refutes. It is disrespectful.”

“That he won’t slaughter people willingly? Simply because some psycho cultist told him too? He got away, you can to. You don’t have to become The Talon. You can get your life back, get your name back.”

“I cannot simply leave. The Court will not allow that. My old life is gone, extinguished from my past. It something I can never retrieve, even if I wanted to. I am Talon now.”

“Then you really are lost.”

Talon turned his back towards Conner.

“Oh now you’re offended?!” Conner asked him.

He didn’t respond, instead he walked to the other side of the room and left.

Conner sighed. He began to pull at the restraints on his wrists. He had absolutely no idea how he was going to get out of this and find help.

Suddenly the restraints released and the glass front of the pod opened. Sending Conner tumbling out onto the ground.

As he pulled himself up he found a sword near his throat.

“Do not assume I am on your side.” Talon told him.

Conner stood up cautiously as the sword followed the journey upward.

“But perhaps you are right. That I am meant for more that what the Court of Owls had designed.”

“So?”

“So, I am going to help you get out of here.”

Chapter Text

There was something amusing about how things were working out.

It didn’t take them long to find Jason and Roy, both of which could hold their own despite having limited range of motion in one arm.

The gunshot wound didn’t seem to bother Jason as much as it probably should’ve, and Roy’s broken elbow had been splinted and taken care of. Both of them were completely mobile and coherent. This kind of luck was rather unusual for Wally.

They even had a plan. A completely feasible and doable plan that had little room for the possibility of failure. He kept waiting for something to go wrong, it just wasn’t.

The door to Roy and Jason’s cell held long enough for them to get all of their ducks in a row and haul ass away from it.

When they got to where Dick believed Tim had been held, the cell was empty. It was assumed Tim had gotten himself out at some point and was hiding out somewhere either waiting for help or an opening to make his escape.

The only issue that they really had was knowing what had happened to Superboy.

He couldn’t be held in the run of the mill cell. Wherever he was had to have some sort of meta dampeners to keep him in place.

No one was quite sure where another cell like that might be.

Okay, Artemis asked, he’s not here. So now what?

Dick looked back around another room that they’d run across. Not sure, we need to figure out how they’re placing things. It would help narrow down some possible locations to where they might be holding Superboy.

It feels pretty random to me. M’gann adds .

No, they would not be that idiotic. There is a purpose for why each of the cells is where they are. Robin counters.

Okay, fine. We still don’t know the reason. I mean they could’ve…

Umm lets not go there. Wally cuts off that thought.

They wouldn’t have anyways. Superboy is very powerful, getting rid of him is a major waste of resources. Dick tells her. If anything, they’re planning on turning him into an owl or something.

Isn’t that what they were trying to do to you?

Dick shook his head. Owls are literally reanimated zombies. Talons are a little different. Owls are just bodies, disposable and aren’t really good for a whole lot other than very few choice things. Talons have multiple tasks and can think for themselves, communicate, make decisions. All very limited, but abilities they possess.

Owls are soldiers and Talons are incharge of them. Artemis varifies.

Yep.

How does this help us find Superboy? Roy asks.

It doesn’t. Robin answers

Wally inwardly sighed. They needed to find the others. His rare luck was running out, Dick seemed to know it too.

You know, splitting up might not be a bad idea anymore. M’gann offers.

No, it’s still a bad idea. Jason tells her . We don’t know where we are, Speedy and I are injured, and the Owls are sort of invincible. I know we’re reaching the bottom of the idea bucket but that idea needs to just get thrown out.

Idea bucket? Dick pokes, with an eyebrow raised.

Shut up.

He’s right. We’re more likely to survive with a larger number.

We also are more likely to get discovered. Robin adds .

Can you just, not? For like five minutes. Jason asks him.

Wally wasn’t sure what the response was. But the look Dick shot towards Robin shut down any sort of reaction that wasn’t silent. Thoughts or otherwise.

Roy glanced back out into the hall.  Maybe we should think about getting out of here, regroup and then come back. Hood and I are useless anyways, we’ll just slow you down.

Speak for yourself.

Wally sees Artemis roll her eyes in his peripheral at Jason’s comment. He was right. At least it seemed like it. Wally figured he would still be kept on his toes if he spared Jason in this condition.

Maybe we take another back hallway. They have to have some sort of control center somewhere. Robin offers.

Maybe. Dick considers. There isn’t one in here…

But there was one back there . Roy gestures down where they’d come from. In the last cell we’d been in.

Go.

They walk back. Wally realizes Robin may have a point. There was seven of them. The bigger the group the more easily it was to get caught. When a group is on the larger side, it tends to get split up.

But he saw where Dick was coming from. The enemy lines they were behind happened to be rather dangerous. It would be like facing each of the league's worst enemies all at once solo. The owls weren’t exactly proficient fighters. They made up for it with basically invulnerability and numbers. It would quickly become overwhelming.

Roy’s idea made the most sense. It gave them a chance to get out and come back in a smaller group. Not that it seemed anyone was considering it.

Dick picked the lock and pried the door that led to the back hallway open.

I don’t remember it looking like that. Artemis noted

The hall was covered in dirt and grime, blood spattered at random points, large cracks running along the walls and across the floor, it also seemed narrower than before. You would have to walk in a line and wouldn’t be able to pass each other very easily.

I don’t like this. Roy tells them. Maybe we need to consider…

No, Jason cut him off, we’re in too deep. Turning back would be suicide.

So is going forward.

Then you can go back.

We’re not doing that. M’gann stepped between them.

She’s right. We stay together. Now quit arguing, let’s go. Dick shuts down the argument. He then takes the lead down into the passage.

Wally notice Robin sticking close to Dick, staying within arms reach. It was an unspoken action, there was a familiarity between them. Like this is how it was when they’re out in the field together, they stick close to one another.

Watch out, there’s a step. Dick warns as he drops down.

More like ‘Watch out,’ there’s a ledge. Jason comments.

It’s only like two feet, but step was definitely an understatement.

The hall maneuvers them left and feels like it’s getting deeper.

Is it just me, or are we getting deeper? Wally voice his thoughts.

We are . Robin confirms, bluntly.

Great.

After a few more yards the enter what looks like some sort of cavern.

Hmmmm. Yeah this is weird. Roy tells them.

They all take in their surroundings. There are multiple doors all leading what appear to be different directions.

Okay, now what? Robin asks.

There was a sudden bang against one of the doors. They all flinch turning to the sound.

The hell was that? Roy asks them

The door begins shaking as someone on the other side continues to try and get through.

Another bang against a different door.

Seriously? Artemis comments.

Dick looks between the two doors, his escrima sticks in either hand. He was ready for whatever attack was coming their way. Robin reached behind him, pulling the sword from his back. Artemis had her sword in hand as well. Wally heard the faint click of a gun, and watched Jason pick a door and aim.

One of the doors flies open as a Talon steps through. They all freeze. Unsure of what he was going to do. If he was going to attack he would’ve done it by now

Wally’s heart was pounding in his ears.

The Talon also seemed taken back be their presence. He obviously wasn’t expecting company.

Wally saw someone behind the Talon, but couldn’t quite make out who it was.

Conner? M’gann asked.

Conner stepped out from behind the Talon. He seemed uninjured.

Seeing Conner didn’t break the tension. Talon and Nightwing regarded each other.

“I am not your enemy.” Talon told them.

“Weird, we don’t believe you.” Jason said, his gun pointed square in Talon’s face.

“No he’s not. He’s helping me, us, escape.” Conner gestured to everyone in the room.

“Believe what you wish Hood. But do know I am your only chance for survival.”

“Where’s Red?” Dick asked him. “What have you done with him?”

“I do not know what has happened to him.”

The banging on the other door becomes more aggressive.

Something kicks that door open as he sees someone tumble in and someone else brace themselves against the other side.

“Red?!” Jason notes.

Tim pulls himself up, all of his weight braced on one foot, the other clearly broken. He looks like he’d been hit by a train. His nose is also very clearly broken, he’s sporting a growing bruise on his face, the way he’s standing suggests he might have a broken rib or two, and some other internal damage.

He glances over at them, he spits some blood from his mouth, before a look of pure exhaustion washed over his face.

Wally looks past him to see Batman pressing himself against the door.

Is that everyone? Artemis asks.

Dick quickly counts off everyone. Yeah.

Since when are we ever this lucky? Wally questions

“Then let’s get out of here.” Roy offers. “Before whatever sort of demon gets through that door.

“Owls.” Tim explains. “Dozens of them. I thought we were gonners. But I saw the door.”

Dick turned to the Talon. “How do we get out?”

Talon gestures back down the hall they’d come from. “There is an exit at the other end of the tunnel.”

Wally raised an eyebrow. “Can’t be that easy.”

“No, eventually they will get through the doors. The earthquake a few years ago has caused damage to the integrity of the wall. The kind of damage you can’t just run through. Some of you are too damaged to make this an easy trip.”

“So what are you going to do?” Batman asked, as he began stepping away from the door.

“Hold them off. Give you a chance.”

“We can’t just let you…” M’gann tried to protest.

“There is nothing left for me if I escape. They will come after me, they will come in droves. I cannot let that happen. I am willing to die, if it means helping bring them to an end and prevent them from taking people from their lives and families. Now go.”

Slowly they each turned to back into the tunnel.

I can’t believe we just left him to fend for himself. M’gann started.

He’s giving us a chance M’gann. Conner reassures.

He is right. He’s a full blown Talon. There isn’t anything for him to go back to. And it’s not like he can really reintegrate himself into society. He’ll always be on the run. He can help us get a head start. Dick tells her.

They move at a slow pace. Wally knows why, he just doesn’t like it. Unfortunately, Tim is severely injured and can’t move faster than he already is. Jason is also starting to fall back as color drains from his already pale features.

Neither one is doing very well.

They can hear Talon fend off owls. It’s a faint sound, but it doesn’t make it any less hard to hear. Wally wonders who he was once upon a time. What his life had been like, who his loved ones were, if they were even still alive.

Exhaustion is seeping into his bones. He wants to go home and spend the next few days staring at his eyelids.

It seemed like everyone had a similar desire. The sense of urgency had been depleted significantly. That wasn’t a good thing, but everyone was running on fumes. It made is harder to maintain that sense.

One of the walls looked like it was being repaired. It was covered in rotting pieces of wood. He couldn’t see through the few places the wall had rotted through completely, the other side was pitch black.

Dick stopped and turned his head towards the wooden wall.

What? Batman asked.

I just thought… Nevermind.

After a little while the wood even disappeared, leaving them walking what was basically a ledge to the abyss of nowhere.

Each of their steps became precise. They couldn’t afford missteps. Not when they were so close to finally getting out.

Almost there. Dick informed.

He took another two steps, before something shot out of the abyss below. It grabbed Dick and pulled him from the ledge.

“DICK!” Jason shouted.

He’d reached out of instinct to stop his brother from falling. Jason grabbed onto Dick’s wrist and was pulled down with him.

Chapter Text

Oh, my god. Artemis sent out over the mind link. Oh, my god. Where are they?!

“DICK! JASON!” Tim shouted

Silence.

“Oh my god.” Wally breathed.

The air was filled with the sounds of shaky breathing.

Keep moving. Bruce informs, he needs to keep a cool head. Despite desperately wanting to in jump after them

They get back into the tunnel. Bruce stands at the entrance, staring down into the depths. He looks for them as if they might’ve caught a ledge. Only darkness.

You need to keep moving. I’ll find them. Bruce decides.

What?! Tim begins his fruitless protest. You can’t be serious? You can’t go down there alone.

You need to get out of here. All of you. His eyes land on Damian.

His son is pale, and it was obvious he wanted to help find Dick. Bruce wasn’t going to risk his life like that.

I’m going with you. Wally told him.

Bruce needed to pick his battles. Wally, being the Flash, might actually be a decent asset.

Fine. The rest of you get back to the cave. We’ll meet you there when we find the others.

Damian couldn’t seem to use his voice. But his protest were clear.

“We will find him.” Bruce whispers.

Damian nods before turning to lead the way out of the tunnel.

They wait a little while, watching the others create more distance, before looking back down.

“Okay. What are we gonna do?” Wally asks him.

Bruce glances around. The rocks seemed too unstable above them for his grapple. Free climbing didn’t feel like the safest option either, as he couldn’t see the bottom.

He picks up a pebble tossing it out and waiting to hear it hit the ground. It takes a few seconds.

“That’s gotta be at least ten stories.” Bruce notes.

“Great.”

He turns on the flashlight on his gauntlet.

“C’mon, we’re climbing down.”

Slowly they shimmy their way down the front of the ledge.

“Careful Flash. The rocks are unstable.”

“Yeah, ‘cause this wasn’t stressful enough.” He grunts, as he adjusts his grip

The climb itself wasn’t that difficult. Not for him at least, Flash may have had a different opinion. He couldn’t just speed down there without knowing what he’s getting himself into, or possibly destabilizing the wall they were climbing down.

Slowly, they made their way down.

Bruce scanned the room, looking for where the boys might’ve landed. It seems like they’d since gotten up and moved. There was no obvious spot for where either of them might’ve landed.

He inwardly sighed.

Flash stood off to the side, waiting for Bruce to give him some sort of command or direction. He took in the room as well. It looked like one of the levels to their facility had fallen through.

“Dick?” Flash called out. “Jason?”

Not the smartest move, but it wasn’t like Bruce was coming up with a better one.

They began to slowly step forward. It was the only direction they could go. No one could get very far in either side. They seemed to also drop off into deeper levels. Worth a look after this area was investigated. He took in as much detail as he could.

Bruce took in the silence, only it wasn’t. At first he thought that the sounds he kept hearing were from Wally. But they were coming from below them. He glanced over at Wally.

He was completely oblivious to the sounds.

Bruce needed to play cautious. It could be the boys, or an owl trying to figure out how to take them down.

God did he hope it was the boys.

The first thought Jason had when he hit the bottom, was that he’d broken every bone in his body.

In reality he hadn’t broken anything. He was fine. All the injuries he had, had been given to him before he fell into the nothing.

Slowly he sat up. It was dark, wherever he was.

He remembered the Court hadn’t taken his gauntlets, for some unknown reason. He wasn’t going to be upset over it. He turned the flashlight on.

It was broken, it flickered and had issues staying on, and the light it did provide was dim. It was enough for him to at least see the ground.

He stood up. Looking up at the ledge he’d fallen from. There was no way he could climb back up. He couldn’t even see it anymore.

“Dick?” He called out, hoping for a response. No such luck.

Jason convinced himself it was because Dick had just gotten knocked out from the fall and he wasn’t dead. That would be a horrible and ironic way for him to die.

He began to try and find him.

Jason had trouble maintaining his sense of balance. The toxins still in his system, and now what was possibly a mild concussion, were screwing with him and his sense of direction. This caused him to not be as careful with where he stepped as he should’ve been.

He stepped far too close to the crumbly ledge to his left as it gave under his weight, causing him to fall another few feet.

Jason landed with a thud on his injured shoulder.

Gasping at the sharpness of the pain. He sat up, cradling his injured arm. The same one with his light source.

He swallows thickly as he tries to slow his breathing.

“Dick.” He tried again as he stands back up.

Jason shines the light around the new area. He looks back at where he fell. Seven feet at the most. It looked almost like the floor had split in half.

He turns back towards the ledge where he’d fallen down here in the first place, Figuring maybe Dick fell down into this thing.

He scans the area again. He spots a dark figure lying on the ground. It’s Dick.

“Dick!” Jason shouts as he makes his way over to him.

Dick sit up, his hand against the back of his head, and looks over in Jason’s direction. A look of relief washes over his face.

“Thank god.” Dick tells him as he stands up.

“You good?”

Dick looks at his hand. “Eh, just a flesh wound. I’ll be fine.”

“A flesh wound on your head?”

“They bleed a lot.”

Jason rolls his eyes. “C’mon let’s get out of here.”

Dick looks back up the wall. “Yeah, we can’t climb that.”

“I know that. I think there might be something that way.” He gestures behind him. “Turn you gauntlet on. Yours probably works better than mine.”

His was much brighter. It also didn’t flicker.

They take a couple steps before hearing someone calling their names.

There’s an exchange of glances.

“Was that Wally?” Dick asked him.

Jason shrugged. “Let’s just keep going.”

Dick didn’t argue, but clearly he wanted to investigate the sound further.

“Dude, it’s probably just the owls messing with out heads.” Jason tried.

“They can’t do that. They can’t mimic voices like that. And you know they wouldn’t have just let us fall down here without sending someone in after us.”

“Damnit, I hate it when you’re right.”

Dick smirked.

He then turned towards the drop off, grabbed the edge and pulled himself up just enough that he could see what was going on.

A couple seconds of silent observation.

“B!” Dick exclaims and pulls himself fully up.

Jason, slightly annoyed at the abandonment, pulls himself up after Dick.

“Good, you both are okay.” Bruce notices.

“That’s what you think. I am completely traumatized.” Jason comments.

“You and me both.” Wally adds.

Dick rolls his eyes. “Jay thinks he found another possible exit. I say we check it out before the Owls figure out we’re down here.”

“Agreed.”

“Figure out? Didn’t they pull you down here?” Jason asks.

“One did.” Dick gestures off to the wall. “He’s dead now.”

The nonchalant manner Dick told him that, caused red flags to raise in Jason’s head. Dick Grayson didn’t just kill things, and when things died on his watch he wasn’t okay with it. Bruce seemed to notice it too, but priorities. Get out from behind enemy lines.

They go back down to where Dick had landed, Jason didn’t fall in this time, and walk back in the direction where he believed he saw the possibility of daylight. God did he hope it was so this nightmare could be over.

He saw a possible exit. A crack in the wall. Hopefully big enough for four grown men to fit through (he did have a sneaking suspicion Dick could fit through almost any exit they might happen to come across.). It was, just barely.

It emptied out into a ravine, just a few miles outside of Gotham.

“Well that was easy.” Wally comments.

“Dude you’re gonna jinx it.” Jason tells him.

And jinx it he did.

Jason wasn’t sure how Dick knew there was a knife coming at him. All he registered was Dick flipping back, kicking him square in the chest. Jason flew back tumbling off the bolder, he caught himself from a hard fall.

He saw a knife embedded in the stone.

Crap.

All in all, the trip to the end of the tunnel had been silent. Nothing notable had happened. Other than Tim having to force himself through tight spaces (that he had no trouble fitting in) with his broken leg and what he was guessing was at least three broken ribs.

It was a little horrific watching his brothers fall into darkness like that. He was pretty sure Dick had heard or felt something, but had dismissed his thoughts.

Obviously that wasn’t a smart move.

Damian had taken the lead to getting out of the tunnel, at this point Tim really didn’t care. He just wanted to get back to the manor.

Watch out, He warned from the front, There’s a bit of an incline.

Everyone took turns helping each other up. They were all exhausted. The mission report on this adventure was going to be a nightmare.

I see daylight. Roy commented.

That lifted their spirits. They were almost out. There was sudden speed in their movement. One last push, and then they could go home.

The outside wasn’t as bright as he anticipated. If Tim had to guess, he had been in there for maybe a day or two. The sun suggested it was probably early dawn. The sun just beginning to come over the horizon.

A breathy sigh escaped his lips. The morning air felt fresh against his face.

“We need to cover the opening.” Tim told the others.

“How will the others get out?” Roy asked.

“They will find a different exit, they’ll have to” Damian supplies. “I have the fullest confidence they will make it out alive.”

Artemis shot a few cross bolts filled with some polyurethane foam. “There.”

“Okay one problem solved. Now how are gonna get back to the cave?” Roy looked around at their surroundings. “We don’t even know where we are.”

Tim looked around. “We’re only like three miles outside of Gotham. It won’t take us long.”

They began to make the hike out of the ravine and back to Gotham. Unfortunately Tim couldn’t climb anything (Neither could Roy, but he could at least walk). This caused them to take twice as long and make the trip twice as difficult. Catch Tim at almost any other time, and he could make the trip no sweat.

Now every bump and jostle caused pains to shoot up his leg.

Not pleasant.

Robin reached the top first. He stood proud for half a second before turning back towards them and helping Artemis up. M’gann pulled Tim up the last few feet with telepathy. He stood waiting for the others to reach the top.

His boot felt tight, as his foot swelled. This was going to be fun getting off.

Roy was the last to rejoin the group.

“I say let’s take a minute.” He decided, panting slightly.

No one objected. Taking a minute to catch their breath.

Robin took the time to contact the cave. Filling them in on the situation. Apparently Barbara was still having trouble pinpointing their position. It would be easier now that they were above ground. It was suggested they wait right where they were, and someone would come and get them.

“Why is she still having trouble finding us.” Conner asked.

“The Court had been jamming our frequencies since we first got into their facility, and we are still rather close to them.” Robin supplies. “We really need to get further away.”

Tim sat in the grass. They just needed to wait for Barbara to find them.

That’s when he heard it. The sound of armor scraping against stone.

“What was that?” He asked just quiet enough for Damian to hear.

He made a face before standing and investigating.

“Where’s he going?” M’gann asked.

Tim glanced over at Robin, who was now jumping back into the ravine.

“Robin what are you doing?” Tim asked him.

Damian’s eyes lock onto something. He freezes. “They got out.”

His voice sounded off. Quiet and low.

Everyone felt uneasy at whatever he saw.

“Robin…”

“There’s a Talon.” His voice became deathly quiet.

God, we can’t get away from these shits. Roy sends over the mind link.

Robin. Get back over here. Tim tells him. Let’s come up with a game plan.

He sees me.

Tim makes his way over to where Damian is. Army crawling, trying to stay out of sight.

He saw what Damian meant. Talon didn’t actually see him, but if he moved from this spot in any direction, he would.

Tim sees the others, they’d jumped away from Talon. Crouching behind boulders. Talon seemed to be telling them something, Tim couldn’t hear it from this distance. He did know they needed to do something, they needed to end this.

“You have anything to take him out?” Tim asks keeping his voice barely audible.

“Yeah. It’s a type of acid. It’ll take him out.” Damian responds his voice just as quiet.

“How do we get it down there?”

Damian thought for a minute. He might have the acid in a makeshift bomb, but he knew what Tim meant. It needs to cover the area, and take out Talon with the blast. Otherwise he could get away. And Tim was tired of this guy coming after them.

Damian’s head shot up, he had an idea. “Todd’s helmet.”

“Not following.”

“It explodes. You can rewire to explode remotely with these.”

He pulled what looked like smoke pellets from his belt.

“Okay, great plan. Do we actually have his helmet?”

Damian nodded before pulling the helmet from a bag Tim hadn’t realized he was carrying.

“Where did you get this?”

“It was in a room with all the weapons that had been taken from all of you.”

Tim rolled his eyes and set his plan in motion.

M’gann. I need you to get a message down to them.

He had M’gann relay his plan to the rest of their team.

This is a stupid plan. Jason comments.

Just do it. Tim tells him.

Tim could imagine the sigh Jason just let out before cocking his gun and firing at Talon.

It worked. Talon was taken completely off guard by Jason shooting it mid sentence. Wally then began to run around him, spriatically, trying to keep his attention split. Tim began rewiring the helmet, attaching the acid to it.

He synced it up to a trigger.

SuperBoy, when I say when, throw this as hard as you can at Talon. We can’t let him get away. Miss Martian tell the other’s to get clear, now.

They got the message. Wally was suddenly at the top of the ravine with them looking back down at Talon. Tim wasn’t exactly sure where Bruce, Dick, and Jason had gotten off to. He figured they would be up there in a minute. He didn’t have time to wait.

Superboy, now!

The blast was far more impressive outside than in a tunnel Tim had been sure would crush him.

Conner had done exactly as he instructed. It slammed into Talon’s abdomen, knocking the wind out of him. He didn’t even have time to register what was thrown at him before it exploded.

In the middle of debris falling everywhere; Bruce, Dick, Jason joined up with everyone else.

They all watched the aftermath. There was something mesmerizing about it.

“I swear to god if he walks that off, I am going to kill myself.” Jason comments.

It got a small laugh from all of them, and they all probably felt the same way. But Tim was almost positive Alton Carver wasn’t going to be able to ‘walk that off’.

Chapter Text

It felt calm.

The kind of calm Dick hadn’t felt since forever ago. Just waiting for Babs to find them so he could go home and sleep for a very long time. Indefinitely if he could. A little unrealistic? Yeah, he was just that tired.

They all sat on the grass (even Batman) watching the sun rise.

It finally felt like it was over. Nothing was going to jump out at them. Nothing was going to try and continue what the Talons’ were doing. It felt like he could finally move forward. Which is what he wanted to do from the beginning.

“I still feel bad for leaving him.” Conner admits.

“Conner there really wasn’t anything left for him.” Bruce tells him.

“You don’t know that.”

Dick sighed. “Conner, they finished the process with him. He’d been drugged, killed, poded, and frozen. You don’t come back from that.”

“You did.”

“I wasn’t killed. The drugs they used, they’re already pretty much out of my system.”

“How do you know that?” Artemis asked him.

“It was turning my veins black. It was like a tattoo. It’s fading. Has been for a little while now. No more super healing or heightened sences. Just back to how I was before.”

“Like it never happened?” M’gann asked him.

“Essentially. Calvin Rose, it was too late for him. The Court got to him years ago. They must’ve let him out when I escaped. I don’t think he was- ‘matured’ yet.”

“How’d you know his name?” Conner asks.

“He spent three weeks playing detective.” Jason tells him. “I don’t think there’s really anything he doesn’t know about the Court.”

“Well since we’re feeling talkative. How are you even alive?” Roy shoots.

“Yeah I’ve been wondering that too.” Artemis adds.

Wally grins, shifting on his spot on the ground. “You did promise you would discuss your ‘livingness’ at another time.”

Dick smile looking over at Jason. “Yeah, Jay. How are you alive?”

“Shut up.” He mumbles.

Tim raised an eyebrow. Despite the kid looking ready to pass out at the drop of a dime, he seemed uncharacteristically engaged in the conversation.

Jason groans. “I don’t know.”

Damian snorts. “Yeah, that’s a bold face lie.”

“I know it was a Lazarus Pit. I know I went pit mad for a little while. But the only thing I remember is dying, and then Talia finding me in the snow up in some mountains.”

“Al Ghul?” Artemis asks.

Jason nods. “The one and only.”

Damian shifts uncomfortable at the mention of his mother’s name. The team still didn’t know who he was or where he came from. One of the things Kaldur had discussed with him a while back was if and when Damian was joining the Team.

Dick still didn’t have a good answer. He didn’t think the kid would have to many issues with being a part of it. Especially if Dick talked him into it (which he could.). He knew they other members might have a hard time trusting him.

New members joined a lot. But he knew how Damian got in new situations. It would cause a negative response. Dick knew who the leadership positions belonged to. Damian would have a hard time respecting a few of those people. And Dick was pretty sure he’d kill Bart, simply because Bart was annoying.

Maybe he should start talking about it with Damian. Prepare him for that dynamic, make him better at teamwork.

Another thing he’d been asked was when he was rejoining the team.

At the time he wasn’t sure. Now he’s leaning towards the probably won’t. Just because so much has happened and he’s spent so much time away doing so many things. Rejoining might not be the best thing for him.

Not that he wouldn’t stay at the Team’s disposal. If they needed him, he’d be there in a heartbeat. But his time with the Team feels like a chapter in his life that has come to a close. That is was time to start something new.

He saw the Batwing, coming to pick them up.

He had never been happier to see it.

“You failed.”

“I am aware that he got away. But-”

“Not only did he get away. You lost two of your biggest resources to them.”

“The Light does not permit failure. Already they have caused a significant fracture in our infrastructure. We cannot afford an organization like yours to be let into our ranks and be faulty. We do not make mistakes like that twice.”

“We tried helping you regain what you lost. How do you think that looks to us?”

“If you could give me more time. Trust me this is only a minor set back. The Court has so many more resources. The loss of two of our Talons is nothing.”

“It wasn’t just two Talons. Half of your compound in Gotham was blow up, your labyrinth was destroyed. All because you do not have a strong enough hold on your followers. It’s pathetic.” Ra’s listed, despite the look of anger growing on the man’s face

“You allow Ra’s Al Ghul to remain within your ranks despite not only allowing his blood to work alongside the bat, but resurrecting one his birds and sending him back to Gotham as well.”

“His reasons were just. Your point is invalid.” Queen Bee told him.

Deathstroke stood against the door, watching this unfold. The Court’s leader had failed.

“We do not need your services.” Luthor told him

“You don’t think we can’t take you down. My organization is far more vast than yours. If I were you I would rethink that decision.” The leader challenged

“And if I were you,” Deathstroke stepped behind the man, snapping his neck, “I wouldn’t make empty threats.”

The leader fell to the ground in a heap. Slade than looked up at the white screens, waiting for his orders.

“I suppose we will have to instigate plan B.” Savage told him through the monitor. “You know what to do.”