Chapter Twenty-Four: Disconnecting

Chapter Twenty Four: Disconnecting

Dick sat on the couch in the lounge. That's what he had gotten used to doing for the past three days. Staying in the lounge all day and doing something mundane with his time. This time, he had the TV muted as he tried to figure out a mind bender game.

The first two days he had mostly stayed inside of his room, trying to work when he could. Ultimately, he got hardly any work done. Despite the fact that Wilson supposedly worked during the day, the guy took an awful lot of breaks and, in Dick's opinion, he had taken the chance every time to check in on him. This made it extremely difficult to do any work at all. However, he somehow managed, via texting, to tell the Titans what was going on. They had all rather disliked the idea of Dick living with some stranger, as he had, but even more than he had, it seemed. Dick felt pretty self sufficient himself, making him less worried than they were.

So because of that one difference of opinion, Dick, after several hundred text messages, finally decided to complete this 'conversation' with a phone call as soon as he could get out of the house. That had proved to be more than a challenge. Dick quickly realized that Wilson tended to stay up late every night and that he had an annoying habit of sitting right by the stairs and front door, too. After the second night, he eventually figured that if he was going to get out, he'd have to work on that during the day before hand. So on the third day, when Wilson slipped out of the house to do whatever (Dick didn't really care what), he had taken the opportunity to climb the fire escape outside to look at the window to his room from the outside.

His first impression was that he had been right and that the wood had grown together, but he soon found the problem. The window had been sealed from the outside. He couldn't say that he was surprised. The window didn't have any bars on it and people did take precautions in cities. Using a sharp edge of a birdarang from his utility belt (that was hidden under his long T-shirt) Dick slowly managed to cut through the sealer. It made him grateful that he had waited to do this. The seal made it impossible for anyone to break in without making a sound.

As he finally rounded the edge of the window, Dick flipped the birdarang back in place and began to shove and wiggle the window's edge. The sealer had done it's job well, getting into the crevices, but that didn't mean that Dick couldn't get it. After all, with what he could bench press, this was easy. With a slam, the window finally came free and hit the top of the window's edge. Dick bit his lip and looked around. No one. Good.

Taking out a piece of sandpaper, he quickly rubbed at the sealer and removed what he could of it. He was about to get to the top and bottom of the window when he heard a car drive up down below and the car door open and close. Dick gulped and quickly slid inside the window, shutting it quickly and throwing his belt back with his other stuff that he had shoved into the corner of his closet, hidden by empty suitcases, just as Wilson entered and began walking up the stairs.

He remembered snagging his laptop and flipping it open as he heard a knock on his door. Wilson checked in with him about dinner before leaving without a word to get back to work. Piece of cake. By the third night, Dick managed to sneak out without making a sound. He had locked his door and was pretty sure that Wilson had gone to bed by then. It had been so refreshing to get out. So liberating. He had been feeling so cooped up and to just free fall a few times from a couple skyscrapers, well, it could do a person wonders. Dick glanced over at Wilson for a moment, who was in the library. He thought back to last night and his brief escape from this place. There wasn't a single word to describe it, not a single word...

Robin ran downtown, shooting grapples to cross sometimes a half block at a time. He'd release and land on the edge of building only to leap down to the next one. Sweat dripped down his neck, but the cold air froze it before it could go too far. The ice built on him, but he was still hot, his heart beating like mad, pumping blood through his veins to give the rest of his body the energy to merge with the city. The livid skyline grew shorter as he leaped across to the southern edge of midtown. And in his ear, he could hear Raven and the others protesting.

"Robin are you at least the slightest bit worried that Ms. Kane goes missing just weeks after Bruce died?" Raven asked.

"Of course I am, but I think it's probably related to her job, Raven," Robin told her, "She worked as security personnel. She could have known something."

"So you're not worried at all about this Wilson guy?" Cyborg asked.

An alarm was blaring.

"Hold that thought," Robin told them.

Four men were outside, a window shattered and a door wide open when the sign clearly read 'closed'. It was so natural, so easy. They carried out items one at a time to the truck. They didn't want to leave anything behind. After all, the cash they could get for this would be priceless. On the floor, an old woman lay unconscious. The place couldn't be seen, it wasn't by any lamp post. And better yet, The Batman hadn't shown up and word was that he wasn't going to be around for a while. Working with the Justice League or something. Whatever it was, he wasn't here. And he wouldn't be stopping them.

So when the sound of metal hitting a jaw bone was heard, no one knew what to expect. It was hard enough to see. One of them yelped loudly and suddenly another one had been smashed into the back shelves. The two remaining gulped, finally pulling guns from the holsters. But one dropped his at the sound of the laughter. Robin dropped from the ceiling, kicking out the last gun from the one guy's hand, before nailing a good punch to other's jaw. The shadows gave him power. Spinning around, he landed a kick at the other's gut, before head butting him. All four were unconscious. Robin walked over to the old woman and checked her pulse. Good, she was alive. He hadn't been too late. This time.

Robin picked her up carefully and found a few pillows that had been for displaying jewelery. Kicking them gently to the ground, he placed her on them before walking over to the phone. 911 rang and when someone answered, he anonymously tipped them off to come down here before hanging back up. He tied up the thugs and debated leaving a note for Gordon, but decided against it. Better let them think that the Batman had done this. It would put them more at the ease they should already be at.

"Sorry, Cyborg," Robin said, shooting out a grapple, "But no, I'm not really worried about Wilson."

"Why not?" Beast Boy questioned back, "And what on earth did we just hear over the T-Communicator?"

"I took out a couple thugs," Robin told them, "And the reason that I'm not worried is because if Ms. Kane knew something, the fact that I was there was probably irrelevant."

"But, Robin, could that not have been the point?" Starfire asked.

Robin took a moment to breath in and out before answering, "No one cares about Dick Grayson, guys. The only thing he represents is the Wayne fortune at this point, and if this guy's really the elite hacker that he is, I highly doubt that would be a motive. He could just transfer the records as he pleases."

"What do you mean 'no one cares about Dick Grayson'?" Starfire asked back, almost sounding insulted, thought Robin couldn't figure out why.

"Star, it's just from a motive stand point, that's all," Robin explained.

"Well, you do well to remember that," Raven scolded him.

"Yes, Mother," Robin answered sarcastically, "But guys, with the two murders at Wayne Tower, I'd bet anything Ms. Kane found something that she wasn't supposed to."

"So you're going to work on figuring that out?" Cyborg asked.

"Pretty much," Robin told them, "In the mean time, I'll just deal with Wilson."

"Deal?" Beast Boy asked, "I thought you said you weren't worried about the guy."

"I'm not," Robin replied, "He's just really annoying. He's home like all day and he hardly ever goes out, plus he makes a habit of staying up late."

"Don't we all?" Raven asked, the inside joke enough to make the other three Titans find the need to stifle a hint of laughter.

"Ha ha, very funny," Robin told them, "Look, I got to go, I'll talk to you guys when I can. I doubt that I'll be out every night."

"Alright, peace out, man," Cyborg said and the transmission ended.

At least now the Titans seemed somewhat content. Or rather, Robin decided to let himself believe that. The Titans... not so much. None of them had liked Gotham very much and they could tell that the longer Robin was there, the more distant he seemed. They didn't doubt his reasonings, his conclusions, any of that. They just doubted that they wanted to let him do this on his own. Robin continued to work through out the night. He was pleased when he was able to stop several thugs that night, but otherwise, it was pretty quiet. As he rose from one fight, he felt his communicator buzz, telling him to call it a night. The steam from pipes underneath the city continued to leak out as Robin once again parted from the lights of the street lamps.

He opted not to use the R-Cycle tonight. He didn't want to risk waking anyone in the area up either way, it would just be a waste of gas since he could be back in fifteen minutes. Actually, it took fourteen minutes, but it didn't make that much of difference. Wilson didn't come in to check on him and, after changing, Dick went straight to bed without the slightest hesitation. What he needed was a good night's sleep now. And despite the adrenaline still pumping madly through his body, he somehow managed to fall sleep.

He had slept in till about ten when he was woken to the smell of breakfast. That was another thing, Wilson didn't know the meaning of small meals. And when he had suggested having just a protein shake, Wilson almost laughed. Apparently, that was hardly good for a growing body and that nothing could replace a well rounded meal. Or whatever. Dick really wasn't paying too much attention. So, sitting on the couch in the late afternoon, he finished the game before messing it up again. He had done this about nine times thus far. And he wasn't really watching the weather channel, either. Most of the day had been quiet.

So when Wilson slammed a book shut in the opposite room loudly, Dick jumped and nearly fell off the couch. Actually he did. As he looked up from the ground, he saw Wilson coming into the room, surprised as to why Dick was now on the ground.

"Dick, you haven't gone out in three days, why don't you take a stroll?" Wilson asked.

Dick fumed, the jerk, "Because I don't want to."

"Nonsense, it's a nice day outside," Wilson told him.

Dick looked at the channel, "And it's like fifty degrees out there, I'm not going out there."

With that, Dick got up and began to walk towards the stairs. Wilson, however, wasn't finished.

"Dick, I'd like you to take a walk," Wilson said firmly.

Dick spun around, almost surprised that Wilson wasn't letting this slip, "What?"

"Do I have to repeat it a third time?" Wilson asked, "Now come on."

"I'm not taking a walk. You take a walk!" Dick told him, angrily.

But Slade wasn't going to. Instead, Wilson walked forward and Dick took a few steps backwards as Wilson continued, "Don't be ridiculous, Dick, I have to work."

For some reason, this whole walk thing was beginning to bug Dick. But as he turned to go towards the stairs, Wilson took the opportunity, to push him towards the door.

"Hey, hey! What gives! Wilson!" Dick began yelling, but before he knew it, Wilson had opened the door and he was outside, stumbling down the steps to the sidewalk.

Dick turned back to see Wilson looking back down at him, "Go on, have fun."

And with that he slammed the door shut and locked it. At that point, Dick stood there for a moment, stunned, but then the wind blew and he felt goosebumps raise over his skin. He looked down and saw his feet bare.

"Wilson!" He yelled, hugging his arms, "You jerk! I don't even have any shoes on!"

With that, Dick found his shoes, a pair of socks, and a small red jacket being tossed out the door at him. The door slammed shut and was relocked. Dick looked at the door like it was some sort of foreign object... Did Wilson just kick him out of the house? Fuming, Dick angrily grabbed the jacket and pulled on his shoes. Fine, if Wilson wanted him to take a walk, he'll take a walk. It was better than being around him any day.

As Dick sulked off down the street, Wilson watched him disappear. That had been fun, for him anyway. Oh yes, he knew that Dick had been out last night. He had checked the window frame and just as he had suspected, Dick had pried it open when he had gone out. He couldn't keep Dick from going out now, save for if he kept checking in on him, which he knew he couldn't since there was no good excuse or reason. But... if he could get the kid to spend up most of his energy during the day, it would make it much less likely that Dick would go out at all. And he was sure Dick could do that.

Dick didn't see it that way. There was nothing to do out here. Their were townhouses on his left and townhouses on his right. Oh wait, no, there were apartment buildings now. What a change in scenery. There were no stores, no arcades, no restaurants; there was little see and even less to do. No one was out either. There were no cars passing by on the street, no one walking down the sidewalks. It was basically deserted. It figured too, this was a residential area and everyone was probably out working.

Dick rounded a corner when he finally heard something. Yelling from down the street, but it sounded more like a bunch of people, like there was something going on. As he passed two apartment buildings, he came to an open lot and finally saw what all the commotion was about. A group of teenagers were playing baseball in the lot and kept cheering loudly as someone made a hit. Dick went back to looking at the sidewalk, thinking that maybe now Wilson would let him back into the house.

He had almost passed the lot when he heard someone yell, "Heads Up!"

Dick heard a ball bounce off the ground and felt it hit his shoe. He bent down and picked up the ball as he saw a guy run over to him.

"Hey man, sorry 'bout that," He said, "Ellie's got a mean arm, but when she hits a foul, it's hard to get sometimes."

Dick looked over to see a girl (Ellie presumably) with blue streaks in her hair still up at bat, waving at him, "No problem. Here you go."

The guy took the ball before taking a good look at Dick, "You live around here?"

"Uh, yeah, a couple blocks that way," Dick told him, "I just moved in a few days ago."

"Oh, cool, are you going to school around here?" The guy asked.

"Um, I don't know yet," Dick answered, "Depends on how things work out."

"Alright, well, that's cool that you're going to be living around here... I'm Omar, by the way and this is my team," He told him.

"I'm Dick, nice to meet you," Dick said.

Omar tossed the ball before asking, "Hey, we're a man short out here, do you want to play?"

"Uh... sure?" Dick answered, surprised at himself.

"Great, come on, I'll introduce you to everyone, but first, do you mind throwing the ball at that kid, Sean, over there? I just want to see how good your arm is," Omar told him.

Dick shrugged and took the ball. He pulled his arm back and threw the ball straight at Sean, who caught it - barely. And afterwards, he had to take his glove off. That had hurt. Dick tensed, but Omar laughed.

"Dude, have you played before?" He asked.

"Uh, no, I just do sports, that's all," Dick said.

"Whatever you do to get that, don't stop," Omar told him as they walked over to the small row of benches.

Omar whistled and everyone listened up, "We got a new player!"

"We've got a new what?" A brown haired girl asked, walking over.

"A new player, Rain. This is Dick everyone! He's on my team today!" Omar yelled.

The two went to the benches where Omar began to explain what they were doing, "Rain and I are co-captains of the team. We generally just split the team for practice and mix it up every day. But there's other teams that we play from all over uptown, that we know from school."

"Oh," Dick said, all of this very new to him and pretty shocking at the same time.

"But yeah, today we've got Spencer, Carry, Ellie, Patrick, Daniel, Mina, Nomin, and you," Omar told him.

"Spencer and Ellie are out on the field right now, and that's Mina up at bat. Carry's up next," Omar explained, "I gotta go talk to Patrick, but yeah, feel free to sit wherever and watch."

Dick nodded as Omar went over to Patrick. Looking around, Dick took a spot to the left of a guy that he thought was Daniel. Dick gripped his hands and watched. What was he doing? He barely knew anything about baseball. He didn't even know these people. But at least it was something to do. Dick sighed as he heard the crack of wood against the ball. Carry ran off to first while Spencer and Ellie ran right to home. Spencer went over to talk to Daniel while Ellie walked over to her backpack nearby him.

She grabbed her cap and put it on backwards before turning to him, "Hi, I'm Ellie. Sorry about the stray ball; it happens sometimes, so are you new here? Where'd you move from? Japan, Canada, Europe? Do you like baseball?"

Dick sat there, trying to remember all of her questions and when he finally managed, he answered, "Uh, I lived in California, but I moved back home recently. I, actually have never played baseball before."

Ellie was in mid-stretch when she stopped and looked at him, "You've never played baseball before? Where'd you get that arm then?"

"Uh... I did gymnastics," Dick told her.

"Oh cool!" She said, "Well, baseball's not hard, it's just throwing a ball around."

"I wouldn't say that!" Ellie looked up to see a younger teen come forward with a broken arm, "It's a matter of trajectory, skill, as well as speed. Those one the field are trying to get..."

"Yeah, yeah, we get it Ryan," Ellie interrupted, "He's been our water boy since he broke his arm, but he acts more like an adviser to Omar. Gosh, I want to stab that kid."

"You want to stab everyone," Spencer commented a few feet away.

"Well, what can I say, I'm handy with a knife," Ellie replied.

Ellie sat down and pulled her backpack front and center. Spencer came around to grab a water bottle from Ryan. Dick watched as she unzipped the rest of the bag. His eyes widened as he saw how much stuff she had actually managed to cram into that thing. Several baseball bats were still rammed in there along with a lot of other random stuff. Finally she got to the bottom and pulled out two gloves.

"Hey Omar!" She called, "What's he playing as?"

"Outfield for now," Omar called back

Spencer took Dick's hand and measured it, "Man, do you think he can even fit the outfielder's glove?"

"Nope," Ellie said, "Here you go."

She handed him a glove, the difference not apparent to Dick, but he took it anyway as he heard Rain whistle and saw everyone coming in. Ryan started handing out water bottles while people started talking. It was obvious to Dick that even though they split up for every game, they were all good friends. It reminded him of the Titans.

"Hey, here you go," Ryan said, handing him a water bottle.

"Oh, thanks," Dick said.

The bottle was cold, but since Dick hadn't been running around he was still freezing. A couple people came over to talk to Ellie while Spencer and Daniel moved to talk to another kid who had been playing in the outfield. That's when the other co-captain, Rain, came over to him.

"So, Dick, to what extent have you played baseball?" She asked.

And once again, he repeated, "None, really. I mean, I've watched it before and I know the basics of it, but I've never played it. "

"Oh, alright, cool. And don't worry, next time, I'll pick you to be on my team," She assured him.

Dick looked over and saw Omar coming their way, "The only reason I'm letting you have him next time is because he's new."

"Omar, we both need to know all of our teammates strengths and weaknesss," Rain argued.

"Yeah, and we've got to choose players based off of how much of a challenge they'll give the other player," Omar said back.

They began to argue with one another, but most people went on as normal. So that left Dick to assume that it was. As he watched, a shadow came up to cover him and he looked up at it's owner.

"Dick, right?" The guy said, who he recognized as the one he had thrown the ball to.

Dick stood up and held out a hand, "Yeah, just moved here."

The kid took it quickly, but continued, "I'm Sean, but don't worry, I'll take it easy on you."

"Oh, whatever, Omar! Come on, guys, break's over!" Rain yelled.

To his surprise, Dick didn't hear anyone complaining. The teams switched sides and Dick found himself being directed to the outfield to the right, near the street, by Omar. Putting on the glove, Dick saw Ellie on third base. She pounded on the base until she caught site of Dick and waved at him madly.

"Good luck, Dick!" She called.

Dick nodded, a little uneasily, and saw they were about to start. The guy tapped the bat against the plate and waited as Omar threw the pitch. At the second strike the guy struck the ball towards the center of the field and ran to first, where he landed safe.

"Nice job, Kevin!" Rain yelled.

Sean was up next. He looked confident, sort of cocky. But Dick guessed that he should be as everyone else was watching him and tensing. He had to be a good player and Sean knew it. Omar took a breath and threw the pitch again. With another crack, the ball went flying, heading right over their heads and towards Dick. Dick felt his heart race again. He ran towards the ball and leaped up to catch it when he felt the ball snugly land in his glove.

Dick opened his eyes and looked around as he landed. Sean, almost at first, looked at Dick in shock while the rest of his team started cheering. Spencer and Daniel whistled, while Ellie looked like she was having some sort of convulsion. Meanwhile, Omar clapped a few times and hollered.

"Now that's how it's done!" He yelled.

Dick slowly smiled and threw the ball back to Omar. Their first out. And that had been, well, kind of fun. They kept playing and before Dick realized it, it was dark outside and they were playing by the street light and their own flashlights. They just kept playing and playing, Ryan making several water trips back to his house to refill the multiple water bottles. At the end, they had a pretty even game, but Omar's team came out slightly in the lead. The players grabbed their things and parted ways, most heading off in small groups in opposite directions. When asked, Dick had shrugged and said he'd be glad to come the next day.

He grabbed his jacket, which he had tossed aside after two innings, and headed back to Wilson's. If it hadn't been for the fact that Dick had practically memorized a map of Gotham, he might have gotten lost for the dark and generic look of the streets. As he got to the steps, he sighed, and decided he might as well see if that was a long enough walk. He knocked on the door and after a moment, Wilson came to the door.

"Was that long enough?" Dick asked.

Wilson chuckled, "I suppose."

Dick walked inside and kicked off his shoes, which were covered in dirt. Wilson shut the door and watched as Dick slumped inside and headed for the kitchen counter. Following the teen inside, Slade leaned against the opposite counter as Dick grabbed a glass and pulled out a bottle of orange juice.

"Might I ask where you were?" He asked.

Dick poured himself a glass and looked over, "I, there was baseball team, and they were short a player."

"Ah, they play in an open lot near by?" Wilson asked.

"Yeah," Dick said, "Just a few blocks away."

"You have fun?" Wilson asked, grabbing a glass himself.

"I guess, yeah," Dick said, shrugging, "It was different, you know."

Wilson nodded. He swished the contents of his glass around, not really intent on drinking it. He wasn't thirsty. Dick, however, drank in large gulps, still slightly out of breath. Wilson was also pleased to see that Dick had worked up a sweat and he could still see significant heaves in the boy's chest as he breathed. Dick would hardly be productive tonight.

"Well, it was good that you went out," Slade said.

Dick looked over at him, slightly annoyed, "Like I had much of a choice."

"It was better than sitting in the house all day," Wilson told him.

Dick couldn't really argue with that, so he decided to shut his mouth... for now. He finished the orange juice and went straight for his room.

"Take a shower, you're filthy," Wilson called up to him.

Dick didn't care to comment, but either way, Slade didn't much care. After tossing his glass, Slade sat down in the front room. All he heard for the rest of the night, was the sound of water running once and footsteps from and to Dick's room. Around twelve, he went up to check on Dick who, as he had suspected, had practically passed out on his bed. He stayed up till about three that night, just to be sure, before going to bed himself to get one or two hours of sleep. He had to admit, he was satisfied with the outcome. While he hadn't particularly been counting on the boy finding a baseball team to play on, he couldn't complain about it. If this kept up, Slade could see a pattern of Robin's absence. Good.

That was all good.

-T-

The long cave entrance was dark and cold, colder than normal. It was also a little damp. It had rained the past few days and had left the air muggy and the sky dark. He walked down, though, like he did every time. However he did have some difficulty, considering the pathway had been destroyed since Blackfire's... intrusion. Upon entering the hollow and tall room at the bottom, Beast Boy paused, but didn't look around much. He knew he'd just get angry if he did.

He walked up to the centerpiece of the room, the statue, her. He bit his lip and looked up at the stone image. It bothered him that it never moved. Mostly, because at one time, Terra had moved. The shimmering silver figure seemed so much more like a piece of rock than a monument, a person. It made him sad that she stood there frozen without relief. She had been able to animate the earth, but now she was bound to it. The silence unnerved him, so he often just talked to her, told her what was going on.

"Hey," He said, "Um, I'm sorry I haven't visited lately."

The rock said nothing, so he continued, "I was in Gotham City, with the others... Man, a lot's been going on."

He watched her and then said, "I, uh, I brought your favorites. The yellow daylilies."

He bent down and placed the bouquet of flowers on the monument, "Robin, he, um, Batman's... gone now. Everyone's taking it pretty hard."

"I didn't know him too well, but Robin's going nuts or something. He's barely talking to us anymore," He continued, "I guess I get why. I mean, I took it hard when you... yeah. Starfire's also having a hard time, since he's not talking. No one's talking really, come to think of it."

"No one?" Beast Boy spun around to see Raven walking in, "You are."

Beast Boy looked down, "Well, what are we supposed to do? Sit around and wait for Robin to call us?"

She was quiet when Beast Boy finally continued, "What are you doing here, anyway?"

"Didn't know where you were," Raven said.

"What, are you guys my babysitters?" Beast Boy asked.

Raven frowned, but pulled her hood down, "It's a mess down here."

"So, what?" Beast Boy said.

Raven pursed her lips, but said nothing and instead held out her hand, which glowed in an aura. Beast Boy watched as Raven moved the debris into the canyon and smoothed the ground. When she was done, she walked up to the statue. They stood there for a few minutes, just staring at Terra's statue. But finally, the silence took in and Beast Boy looked away.

"It was so easy to talk to her, Rae," He muttered.

Raven gave a small nod, "I can see that... I'm sorry about the Titans. I'm... frustrated too."

"You are?" Beast Boy asked.

"We all are," Raven said, "I know how you feel."

Beast Boy eyed her, not knowing where she was going with this, "Starfire's so worried and Cyborg's overwhelmed with leading the team. And..."

He watched as Raven bent her head down, "We're all not sure as to what is going to happen either..."

"What are you saying, Raven?" Beast Boy asked.

Raven closed her eyes for a moment, as though to breathe, "I don't know what's going on with Robin or Gotham or any of this. But the Titans... we've got to be ready."

"Raven?" Beast Boy questioned, "Have you been seeing something?"

Raven thought it out for a second before answering, "I'm just... when we were in Gotham, I felt like, like the evil there... It's so overwhelming... It's not like Jump City where we can easily vanquish it. It's rooted in the ground..."

"You think Robin's going to be okay?" Beast Boy asked.

"If I did, I wouldn't still be thinking about it," Raven said, "And I don't think any of us would be either."

Beast Boy took a step back, rocking on his feet, unsure as to what to say, "Well, at least we know it's not the Joker or Two-Face, right?"

Raven glanced over at him surprised by the humorous comment, "Why the sudden change in tone?"

Beast Boy shrugged, "You're just... good at talking."

Raven rolled her eyes, "Sure I am."

They heard the loud pounding of metal against solid rock and turned to see Cyborg coming in.

"Guys!" He yelled.

"Hey Cyborg," Raven said.

"We've got a problem," Cyborg told them.

"What problem?" Beast Boy asked.

"Remember the hacker, from way back when?" Cyborg told them, motioning for them to follow.

"Yeah, so what about it?" Beast Boy asked, seeing the obvious irritation in Cyborg's face.

Cyborg marched them right up to the T-Car, "They copied my files."

"They what?" Raven asked.

"They copied my files," Cyborg repeated, "I don't know which one they wanted, but whatever they took, we've got to do a total security reboot."

"Does that include..." Raven started.

"Yeah, the Tower, I know," Cyborg answered, "That means no electricity for maybe a few days."

"WHAT?!" Beast Boy yelled.

"Yeah, I know, it bites," Cyborg said, "But unless we want another major break in, we can't risk it."

"Who would want your files?" Raven interjected.

"I'd say Brother Blood, but he's already got the basics of how my systems work. Besides, he's in Steel City. Ways a way from Gotham," Cyborg said.

"Hey, what about that guy a few months back?" Beast Boy asked, "Eastwood or something?"

Raven and Cyborg glanced at each other and Raven answered, "I'll check into Westfield, but I don't see any connection between him and Gotham."

"We can ask Robin when our systems get back online," Cyborg said, "Actually, that whole process will probably have to wait until Titans Tower gets back online."

"So... what you're saying is that we're going without any electricity, working day in and day out to get the tower up and running, and we've got to protect the Tower itself?" Beast Boy asked.

"Basically, yes," Cyborg answered.

If it was possible, Beast Boy got greener, "This is so not fair."

"Well, it could be worse..." Cyborg shrugged.

"How?" Beast Boy snapped.

Cyborg thought and answered, "Well, Red X could be here."

"True," Beast Boy said, nodding.

"You've told Starfire about this?" Raven asked.

"Yep, she seemed fine with it," Cyborg said.

Raven continued, "What about Robin?"

"I left him a message; you know how he is right now," Cyborg told her.

"All too well," Raven said, still irritated about the all too annoying phone conversations.

"We're just gonna have to sit and deal with it," Cyborg said.

They got to the car and started to drive back to the tower. With all that was happening, this was just another headache for them all. And Robin was probably going to go ballistic on them when he found out - something none of them were very excited about. Within hours, the Tower had begun it's reboot. The electronics off, the lights down, the security systems offline. Titans Tower had shut down its presence from the rest of the world. Off the radar. Gone.

It made Slade smile.

Chapter Twenty-Three: Day One

Chapter Twenty-Three: Day One

The day was unusually frigid as Luthor stepped out to get to the limo. As soon as he entered, he felt the warmth overpower the cold air from outside. He was in a good mood, incredibly. He had just sealed a deal with Wayne Enterprises (to the reluctance of a Ms. Wagner and half of the board of directors). He had heard after the unfortunate deaths of both Wayne and Earle that the company had decided that rather than appoint a new head, that they would put control of the company in the hands of the board until they deemed it... safer for their employees.

That allowed for him to easily allow 'democracy', meaning a near half and half vote, to decide if they'd do business with him. And with a few extra dollars in their pockets... well, that could go a long way. Of course he had been slightly surprised that Slade had targeted Earle, but whatever Slade was doing wasn't his business. His first thought was that Slade was attempting to cover up Wayne with a mess of murders, but knowing Slade, Luthor had a feeling that there was more to it than that.

Not that it really mattered. As long as it didn't cut into his business, he didn't care. Luthor drove down the streets of Metropolis. After such an excellent deal, he felt the urge to go down to Cadmus himself to deliver him the shipping details. Glancing outside, Luthor saw a streak of red and blue pass by him. Wouldn't he be glad when there was a day that he didn't look up and see that. He felt that birds and planes were good enough.

Upon arrival, Luthor stepped out and walked immediately towards the doors. He didn't like the cold. Once inside, he took off the jacket and let an assistant take it. Walking down the hall, he eventually found Westfield's office. Unfortunately, he wasn't in his office. Resisting the urge to growl, Luthor walked down the hall, looking through the construction rooms' windows. After a minute or so, he finally found Westfield. Storming into the room, Westfield turned to see Luthor in surprise.

"Mr. Luthor, what are you doing here?" He asked.

"How's that technology piece I ordered coming?" Luthor asked back.

Westfield bit his tongue and slowly answered, "The sonic cannon is... well, mostly up and running. But the technology we have is having a hard time converting the... um, the..."

"Well, then, you should be happy with this news," Luthor told him.

Luthor motioned for him to follow him. Westfield told the workers to take five and followed Luthor back to his own office. Luthor walked up to the desk and sat behind it, trying hard to ignore the pictures on the desk of Westfield's family.

"I've just sealed the deal with Wayne Enterprises. Project Xeno-mineral is ours," Luthor told him.

"Project Xeno-Mineral, sir? Is that the final component?" Westfield asked.

Luthor sighed, "Well, yes, considering your people can only seem to duplicate other people's designs."

"We were right on the verge of..." Westfield began, but was cut off.

"Right on the verge of telling me that you're not satisfied with your pay, right?" Luthor interrupted, "Dr. Westfield, if your people could have come up with this sort of thing, then they're in serious trouble because I would probably fire them if that was the case."

Westfield remained quiet for a moment before continuing, "Well, what is the extent of Project Xeno-Mineral's files?"

Luthor chuckled, "It has the ability to break down the mineral to its base form, and reconstruct it into almost an anti-mineral form. Afterwards, it converts it into a form of energy. They were going to test other ways to convert this matter, but stopped there."

"And by mineral, you mean... Kryptonite?" Westfield asked.

Luthor smiled, but answered, "I never said that, but then again, what other Xeno-minerals are there of interest? What I'd like your people to do is to take out the portion of the machine that converts it into anti-Kryptonite. There's no reason to make Superman stronger, after all."

"And then you'd like us to use the energy with the sonic cannon's design?" Westfield ended.

"Precisely," Luthor said, "You can do that, right?"

"Should be easy enough," Westfield informed him.

Luthor got up, satisfied. At least they could do that right. Before he got to the door, though, he turned around, "How's the cannon coming, by chance?"

"Oh, uh, it's down the hallway to the left, if you want to see it. It's almost done," Westfield informed him.

"Good," Luthor said, before walking out the door to see the cannon.

Normally, Luthor would have just walked out, but even he could appreciate a weapon such as the sonic cannon. He took a moment to take in the enormous ferocity of the Sonic Cannon. And to think, in time, it would actually be done. It was perhaps at this moment that Luthor decided that he didn't care how long it had taken Slade to complete his job. He'd probably contact him again. His work was clean, efficient, and most of all effective. He left no trails that it had been him. And that's what mattered.

"Soon, Superman, soon, you'll meet your doom," Luthor said, under his breath.

Luthor headed for the exit so that he could go back to LexCorp's headquarters in downtown Metropolis. Not too far away from LexCorp, inside the Daily Planet, Clark Kent was falling asleep at his desk while Lois typed like a mad woman on her keyboard while holding a cell phone up by her shoulder. Jimmy was down in the lounge, probably getting a Snickers bar. Clark didn't feel like speculating.

"I see, uh huh, okay, and you can confirm this?" Lois asked, "Yes, yes, thank you."

As Lois dropped the phone, Clark looked over to ask, "So what did you find out this time?"

"Well, all I can tell you is that Luthor's been taking out large amounts of money from his local banks in cash," Lois announced, "The only thing he's done lately is business with a couple companies."

"Perry's not going to buy it yet, huh?" Clark asked.

"Not yet, but I will find out what he's up to... maybe if I can do research on the selective areas..." Lois trailed off.

Clark offered a sympathetic smile when Jimmy came up to see him, "Well, they were out of Snickers."

"Sorry 'bout that," Clark told him.

"S'all right," Jimmy said, "I got a BabyRuth instead. Hey, so how's your parents doing?"

"Ma and Pa? Oh, they're doing fine," Clark told him.

"Don't you have any other family, Clark?" He asked, "I mean, you don't talk about many other people."

"Oh, I've got other family members. They're just distant, you know?" Clark told him, "There actually was a bit of turmoil earlier last month, but it seems like it's going swell now..."

That's when the phone rang.

"Hello?" He answered.

"Mr. Kent?"

"Alfred?"

"Good day to you, too, sir. Now, I'm just doing a background check on Bruce's files," Alfred said, "It's a little slower since I can't actually access Bruce's own computer... but, the bottom line is, I'm sure that we were in that will. Were we not?"

Clark was caught off guard by the question, but answered, "Um, yeah, I think I signed something... But what's this about?"

"Master Dick has been moved again," Alfred informed him.

"What?" Clark nearly yelled, "Who's watching him this time?"

"Some fellow named Grant Wilson," Alfred said, "Apparently we were to follow Ms. Kane's will..."

"Wait, Ms. Kane's dead?" Clark said.

"Not officially, just missing," Alfred informed him.

"Why didn't I..." Clark began when Alfred interrupted him.

"It just happened, Mr. Kent. Besides, I have been pretty busy with all of this," Alfred answered.

"Alright, I'm sorry, but... Yes, I'm pretty sure I signed something for Bruce like that," Clark told him, "I'll run some file searches when I get the chance. But... where is Dick exactly?"

"He's living in Uptown Gotham, in the neighborhood district. Quiet frankly, I will say that Mr. Wilson seemed like a fine gentleman, but the fact that we still don't know him bothers me," Alfred explained.

"I'd like to meet this guy myself," Clark told him, disgruntled, "Maybe even check some of the local paper work while I'm at it, too. I'll..."

"Clark, where's that article!" Perry yelled.

Clark bit his lip, "It's coming, Perry! Almost done... Alright, Alfred, I can't go down right this instant, but as soon as Perry lets me off the hook..."

"Very well then, keep me posted," Alfred said, "I will do the same for you."

"Alright. Thanks, Alfred," Clark told him.

"No problem. Good bye," Alfred said.

"'Bye," Clark answered back.

Jimmy took another bite of his BabyRuth, "Family?"

Clark glared at him, but Jimmy had seen that glare too many times for it to have a real effect on him. Eventually Clark just sighed and stared at the computer screen.

"Hey, Jimmy, when do you think that Perry would let any of us off work?" He asked.

"Maybe a couple weeks?" Jimmy answered back, "Holiday's coming up. Christmas, Hanukkah, you know. He's probably going to want an article or two in advance, though. I have to send him pictures online while I'm off since I'm not going out of town - He wants pictures of the town tree getting lit."

"Well, I don't want to go out of town that late," Clark told him.

Jimmy took a final bite and swallowed, "Well, good luck with that."

As Jimmy finished, Lois called him over and the kid went running. Clark took off his glasses for a moment, rubbing them on his shirt needlessly. He stared at the article on his computer and quickly finished it, checking it over before printing it. Grabbing the sheet from the printer, Clark let out a breath of air and got up to head for Perry's office. Pulling at his collar, Clark resigned himself to his fate as he went to the door wondering how he was possibly going to get out of work.

"Kent!" Perry yelled.

It was now or never.

Clark almost wished never.

-T-

Dick woke to the smell of something cooking. Rubbing an eye, Dick stretched and opened the door of his room. The small nap had rid him of his headache, but left him groggy and slightly uncoordinated. Walking downstairs, Dick turned to the kitchen to find Wilson finishing up with cooking dinner. For some reason, this was unexpected. What he had expected consisted of the type of dinner Ms. Kane had often prepared, the rushed, not thinking about it too much type. But if his nose was correct, he was smelling meat cooking on what he thought was a grill... Steak?

"I was wondering when you'd wake up," Wilson said, "We'll eat in the dining room, to your right."

Wilson gestured over to the dining room and Dick looked over. Walking in, it was apparent that this guy had class. It was painted a brownish orange and the furniture was all carved wood. Dick looked at it closely. The wood was smooth, but almost more of a dark red than a brown. He eyed the carvings on the side. They looked hand carved...

"Hope you're not a vegetarian," Wilson said coming in and placing two plates on the table, jerking Dick from his trance.

"I, um, no, I'm not," Dick said, but he had found a new thing to look at.

How much food was on his plate.

"Uh..." He began.

"Something wrong, Dick?" Wilson asked.

Dick moved to sit down as Wilson did too, "I just... um, do you normally cook this much or is this just for tonight...?"

Wilson chuckled, "Don't tell me you have a small appetite, Dick."

"I, well..." Dick said, "I normally just have, um... yeah, not much. I mean, I can eat this, I just..."

Wilson eyed him and Dick gulped, without knowing why, "I... I just was hoping that you weren't just doing this for my sake."

Wilson picked up his fork and knife and began to cut the steak, "Well, you haven't had much to eat today, if I'm not mistaken. But really, I just believe in hearty meals. Gives you energy and muscle when you use it to your advantage."

"Uh, huh," Dick said, starting to work at his own dish.

There was a bit of silence. Dick was starting to feel awkward. The quite was unnerving.

"Um, I, uh, do have a friend that's a vegetarian," Dick said, thinking back to earlier.

"Oh?" Wilson asked.

'Probably Beast Boy,' He thought resisting the urge to roll his eyes.

"Yeah, it's sort of ridiculous sometimes," Dick said, "Especially on pizza night..."

"Pizza night?" Wilson asked, not really interested in reality.

"Yeah, I, uh, at school, and, yeah," Dick mumbled, realizing he was getting nowhere with this.

Dick hunched his shoulders. He ate what he could but by the time he got half way through, he realized that his stomach was beginning to hurt from the amount of food. He winced as he forced himself to eat more. He didn't want to be rude, but he sort of wished that Wilson would say something, anything. But he didn't, the man continued to eat on his own, not minding the silence. In fact, he seemed to enjoy it.

Dick didn't.

So he did what he could to start a conversation again, "The table, it's um, really unique."

Wilson chuckled, "I suppose. I ordered it off the Internet, thought it would work in this room."

Dick nodded, "How did you come to live here?"

"My job moves all over the place, that's all," Wilson said.

"What do you do?" Dick asked.

Slade swallowed his food and answered, "Travel agencies."

"Oh," Dick said.

"You're not full are you?" Slade asked him, watching how Dick was sort of just pushing his food across the plate.

"Uh..."

"Oh, never mind that. I haven't shown you the whole house, have I?" Wilson asked.

"Uh, no," Dick answered.

Slade got up from his seat, wondering how it was possible that the kid could only eat that much. Getting up, Dick followed Wilson into the room behind the dining room. It was filled, wall-to-wall with books and shelves of other items. Dick's eyes widened. It looked like a multi-cultural mural. Mostly from Africa probably, but he could see Asian influences, European influences, even Southern American influences in there too.

"Wow..." He said.

"This is the library," Wilson explained, "When you work with travel, you get a lot of... well, rewards, to put it lightly, but on to the next room…"

Dick followed Wilson into the room in the back behind the kitchen, "This is the lounge. Up front is a welcoming room. I'm not sure exactly what to call it."

Dick resisted the urge to laugh at that as Wilson led him back upstairs, "Downstairs is just storage. Up here, you already saw half of it. The two guest rooms, now one is yours. There's a bathroom on the left. My room's at the end of the hallway. Laundry room's to the right. Then up ahead to the right is the staircase to the third floor, which just has my office."

Dick nodded as Wilson added, "I have to keep it locked because of the files I take care of, so I hope you don't hold a grudge against me if you can't get in there."

"Oh, no," Dick said, "What do you have, passports, or something?"

"Yes, birth certificates, death certificates, and other proprietary information," Wilson said plainly, but a small smile crept onto his face.

Dick raised a brow. Death certificates? What about that was funny? Dick followed Wilson down the hallway when Wilson turned around and Dick had to stop point blank in his tracks to make sure he didn't end up bumping into him.

"Listen, Dick, I know there's not much to entertain you with, so I hope you'll forgive me," Wilson said, "I'm stuck working most of the day, but they have things around the neighborhood that you might find fun."

Dick replied, faking miserably, "It's fine, I mean, yeah, who says I'm bored?"

Wilson smiled, "I'm sure you're not, Dick."

With that Wilson walked down the hall to his own room, leaving a thoroughly confused Dick Grayson alone. Well, that was weird. He wasn't quite sure what had just really occurred right there or what to make of Wilson. Maybe it was just odd because he still knew nearly nothing about the guy. Yeah, that was it. Wasn't it that way with Bruce? Actually…. It wasn't, Bruce just wasn't around enough for him to even get to know him. But that's not the point. The point was that he still knew nothing. Then again, it was just day one. Dick groaned and went into his room again.

Collapsing on his bed, Dick instantly felt sick. How much had he eaten? Turning onto his back, Dick nearly fell off his bed again when he heard his T-Communicator ring out. Kicking the door closed, Dick rummaged through his bag and quickly grabbed the communicator and silenced it.

"What?" He asked in a whisper.

"What's up with you?" Raven asked, noting his tone.

"I, got-," Dick started, "What are you trying to do, it's still early."

"Where are you?" Raven asked, looking around him.

"I…."

"Dick?" Dick turned to hear the door outside.

"I, um, be right there!" He called, closing the communicator and shoving half of his stuff under the bed and out of sight, leaving Raven on the other side of the continent thoroughly confused.

Dick ran to the door and opened it to see Wilson in front of him with a very confused expression, "What was that phone call all about?"

"The… the phone call?" Dick asked, trying to be oblivious (after all, being innocent worked out pretty well most of the time).

"You weren't talking to yourself then, were you?" Slade asked, not about to let the subject go.

"Uh… I um," Dick began, but slowly the question wedged it's way into his thought process about why he even needed to hide a phone call or even why this guy should care, "I… was talking to some friends."

"How?" Wilson asked, it was hard not to smirk, "I don't have a phone line in there."

"I… I have a cell phone…" Dick replied, stiffly, hoping that they could somehow get off topic.

"Who provides for it?" Wilson asked this time.

This was starting to get annoying. He didn't know why, but it was. Probably because Wilson could legitimately have reasons to ask these questions and because Dick should be able to honestly answer them. Either way, Dick felt an overpowering sheer annoyance. Most people would be satisfied with 'what phone call?'. Not Wilson apparently. Then again, he had been in the army, right? That's what the will had said and that meant the guy was smarter than your average kid. Dick almost felt like pouting.

"Wayne Enterprises does," Dick said, indignantly.

Despite this tone, Wilson went on as though he hadn't caught it, "I see. That's good to know. Well, I'll be downstairs in the front room."

"Okay," Dick said, before shutting the door and separating himself from Wilson.

Slade heard Dick shut the door and had to suppress the urge to march down the steps loudly. Insolent, disrespectful, little... Slade stopped at the bottom and took the moment to breath out a hint of anger. Dick hadn't acted this way when Adeline had taken him in. Then again, the kid was probably still in shock at that point. Walking into the front room, Slade sat down and picked up a package, unwrapping it to reveal a copy of The Art Of War by Sun Tzu. He smirked. He'd read it a dozen times, but with every new analysis of it, he'd buy a copy to see what else he could learn from it. Often nothing, but every now and then...

Unfortunately, he didn't think any of them would help him with changing a teenager's disposition towards him. Slade stared at a page in the book without reading it. He had had a feeling that there would be... consequences and trade offs to this prolonged plan. After all, this time, Dick had been able to recover from the shock and had very quickly slipped back into his attitude. Slade studied it out in his mind. The goal now was to get Dick to end up liking it here. And that meant having Dick shut himself up was the last thing that he wanted to do.

Not to mention that it reminded him too much of how Dick's late mentor had worked. He would have chuckled at the thought, if it hadn't been for his other worry. In what he had seen as of lately, Dick's behavior as Robin hadn't been pleasing, either. He had barked orders at his teammates, kept a distance from them (that actually had it's good points, but was still... worrisome), and on his own had become increasingly violent and, to some extent, reckless.

He was mixed on the issue. It was... promising, in some ways, to see that Robin possessed such abilities, as to scare mere men and fight them with ease, as though the ability ran through his veins. He was a natural. But this... power... it had to be redirected. After all, he couldn't train an unruly apprentice and Dick didn't benefit at all from venting in that manner. If he could do that, temper that energy for the moment, it would be much easier to train him and get him to like living there.

Slade put down his book and took out a pack of cards, setting them up for solitaire, a small smile on his face. When he thought about his next step, it seemed quite simple, really. Keep Dick from getting the chance to be Robin for at least the first week or so. Get him to do something else fun and productive. And lastly, become a confidant; get Dick to trust him. Easy enough, in fact, he had a feeling he'd even have a little fun with it.

He drew his first set of cards. All aces. He took it as reflecting a promising start, for him. Upstairs, Dick was slowly unpacking his stuff. What bothered him the most was that there didn't seem to be any place for him to hide his gear. Eventually, he decided to hide it underneath the mattress. His belt and communicators remained in the front drawer of the bedside table. If he couldn't waste time, he wasn't going out without anything handy. As he was about to close the drawer, he remembered that he should probably send a message back to the Titans about that... rather rude hang up.

Deciding a text was better, Dick told them that he'd call them as soon as he got out of the house and give them the 411. After wards, he pulled out his iPod and plugged in, playing songs randomly. At the moment, he wasn't sure exactly what he was supposed to feel. He couldn't help but feel angry, to say the least, at Gordon and the rest of the Police Department. Sure, he was a one man SWAT team, but it couldn't hurt if they brought in their people once in a while to do their job... Alright, so it wasn't their fault. He still was pretty irritated by it all.

And then there was Wilson. Who on earth was Wilson? Did Ms. Kane ever mention Wilson to him? He didn't think so. They were in the army together and Ms. Kane hardly ever talked about that. He wasn't bothered by that as much as he was by Wilson himself. He couldn't explain why, but through out the entire dinner, he had felt nervous. He thought back to when he first met Bruce. Yeah, he had been nervous at first and he tended to feel awkward not knowing much about him. But this was a different sort of nervousness. He saw no reason to be nervous, but he was tense, tense like he had to be.

He thought over Wilson. He worked with a travel business or something like that. He seemed to collect unique stuff from different countries, but that didn't really surprise him. The only thing that surprised him was how much he could possibly eat. That, and the guy could cook like only Alfred could. Then again, (even though Wilson had said he hadn't) he might have just made a big meal considering it was his first night here and... now that he thought about it, Dick really hadn't eaten much all day. The guy was right. But then, why on earth was he nervous about him?! It was infuriating. Maybe it would wear off... Yeah, that would wear off - he hoped.

He grabbed his laptop and began to work on what he could, looking through files. He did this for about fifteen minutes before he began to fidget and grow bored and restless. Pulling out his headphones, Dick decided to see how safe it was. He didn't hear anything from the hallway or from downstairs. Wilson must have gone to bed by now. Dick went over to the window and unlocked it. The problem was: it wouldn't open. Dick tried again to budge it open, but the wood frame was sealed shut. Annoyed, Dick pushed his weight against the window again, heaving as hard as he could to force it open without breaking it because wouldn't that be a fun thing to explain to Wilson later.

After about two minutes of this, Dick stepped back and stared at the window. Alright, well, if the bottom wouldn't open, maybe the top would. Two minutes later, Dick decided to bet on the fact that he was going to have to get out some other way. The clock read 9:45. Opening the door quietly, Dick snuck down the hallway and down the staircase. It was completely dark. Completely dark, until he reached the staircase where he saw a faint light coming from downstairs. Not too worried because many people left a light or two on at night, Dick crept down the steps, but when he looked to his right at the front room, he saw Wilson sitting, reading a book with what looked like a pack of cards out on the table.

Dick's mouth dropped, slightly before Wilson looked over to see him, "Dick, you're still up? You've been pretty quiet up there?"

"Uh... yeah, I..." Dick stuttered, "I was just... getting a glass of water... yeah."

Dick made his way down the rest of the steps and somehow found the cabinet with the cups in it. He quickly downed a glass of water and turned to head up the stairs. Wilson hadn't moved. He eyed him for a moment before Wilson noticed (or rather, as Slade saw it, acknowledged him).

"Get a good night's sleep," Slade told him.

Dick forced a smile before trudging back up the stairs and then turning to sit on the top step. The guy couldn't stay up that much longer, could he? He waited about half an hour, picking at the bottoms of his jeans, when he finally decided to see if Wilson had just fallen asleep in the front room. Creeping down, he was disappointed to see Wilson was still awake, a new game of what looked like FreeCell in front of him. He scowled, at least until Wilson looked over.

"Dick, you're still up?" He asked, feigning surprise, though Dick didn't notice... much.

"I... I tend to stay up late... and I just wanted to get another glass of water," He barely managed to excuse himself.

"By all means," Wilson told him.

As Dick drank his second glass, Slade forced himself to keep from smiling as wide as he wanted to. He hadn't heard the tell tale signs that Dick had actually gone back to his room and there was no doubt in his mind that Dick had found the window to his room was sealed shut. It's amazing what some adhesives can do these days. Dick forced a natural look on his face as he passed Wilson again.

"Uh, 'night then," Dick said, before storming back upstairs to wait again.

This time, he waited maybe ten minutes before realizing that it was almost eleven. He had to get out, he couldn't wait anymore. Quietly walking to the other rooms of hallway, he found that two were locked, one was a closet without windows, and the rest of the rooms (his, the guest bedroom, and the laundry room) to all had their windows sealed shut. At this point his was considering breaking down or picking the locks to other two doors. Or, he could cut through the glass... but that would be really hard to explain to Wilson. All of these circumstances resulted in Dick sitting back at the bottom of the steps, another half hour wasted. He waited maybe twenty minutes before he decided that Wilson couldn't possibly still be up.

He crept down the stairs for the third time, careful to keep out of sight from Wilson. He bent his head down low and as soon as he could see the front room, Dick felt his jaw drop. There was Wilson, still playing cards and reading. Dick saw Wilson's head begin to turn and back flipped quietly to retreat. He would NOT drink another glass of water. No way. Slade let a silent chuckle escape him while Dick stormed back (as quietly as he could restrain himself to be) to his room, where he spent began to fume.

It was past eleven! Didn't the guy work or something in the morning? Didn't the guy move? Hadn't he already been sitting there for two hours or something? And what, was the guy paranoid that someone would break into his house or was the guy's house so old the wood had started growing together again? It was at this point, Dick realized that all nervousness had passed and Wilson had instead become officially annoying and irritating. Dick growled slightly as he dropped onto his bed. It wouldn't be like this every night, right? Right? Dick groaned at the thought.

Grabbing his communicator, he sent another text telling the Titans that he couldn't talk tonight, but would call them in the morning. Resigned to the fact that he wasn't going out tonight, Dick laid on his bed trying to think of ways to occupy his time since he was pretty sure that he wouldn't fall asleep till maybe three or four. Grabbing his laptop again, Dick started playing games until he began beating his high scores with every new game. He began to write an email to Alfred, but he couldn't send it as he wasn't hooked up to the internet. That's when he actually noticed that he was falling asleep earlier than normal. Yawning, Dick placed the laptop under his bed and let himself try to catch up on his sleep.

Around three in the morning, Slade finally came upstairs, having finished with some designs to upgrade a few models of his robots back in Jump City. Yes, he had kept himself busy and hadn't been playing cards all night long. He brought up the book with the designs inside, but stopped at Dick's room. Hearing nothing, Slade smiled and walked down the hall, ready to get a couple hours of sleep himself. Re-locking the door to his own room, Slade went to his computer and entered on his calendar.

Day one: Success.

Chapter Twenty-Two: Adeline's Will

Chapter Twenty-Two: Adeline's Will

For the next hour, Dick sat in the kitchen while police officers came in and out of Ms. Kane's house. He kept his ears open, his eyes wide for any detail. He doubted that he'd get the chance to look over the house till much later. But what bothered him the most was the circumstances. This wasn't right. The idea that Ms. Kane, that she could have been taken without a fight, it seemed almost absurd to even consider. She had been in the Army. She must have known how to defend herself. And how could he have not have heard anything, anyway?

As Dick pondered the possibilities, he watched Yin direct the officers around the house. Gordon, on the other hand, remained at her side, also thinking. He looked over at Dick and then back at his own shoes. Yin had told him her suspicions. She guessed that Ms. Kane might have been another target in the recent murders, due to her connection to the security network at Wayne Tower. And he had to admit, that was probably the most likely. However, the fact that Dick was now close to, if not present to these... murders and disappearances, bothered him.

This was why he was eager to get Dick out of the house and back to the police department, "Yin, I'm taking Dick with me to the station. You don't mind, do you?"

"Of course not, Commissioner," She said, slightly distracted by the other officers.

Commissioner Gordon walked over to Dick and tried to offer a small smile of comfort, "Dick, do you want to get your stuff?"

Dick looked up at him and nodded. Getting up, Dick went to his room and quickly shut the door. He'd only have a few minutes. Unlocking the toy box, Dick got his Robin stuff out and began to pack everything else afterwards. It took him only a few minutes, but as he looked under his bed for the last case for his laptop, Dick noticed something by the leg of the bed. Reaching for the small object, Dick pulled out a thin tube. It definitely wasn't there before and it certainly wasn't children's toy. A small opening was at either side at the top.

Raising an eyebrow, Dick took a shirt of his and wrapped the object inside of it. With that, he zipped the last suitcase and locked up his computer. Coming down the steps, he met Gordon who again tried to offer up a faint smile. He helped Dick with a suitcase and put them in the back of the car. Dick got in the passenger's seat as Gordon got in and started the car for Gotham's center. They rode in silence for a while, neither knowing exactly how to start a conversation or if they even wanted to. Was it just going to be pointless, anyway? Gordon looked over at Dick, whose face was void of any expression.

"Dick..." Gordon started, "I know that this has got to be hard, but I'm going to tell you what we think is going on."

Dick looked over passively and then nodded as Gordon continued, "Yin believes that Kane must have known something about the murders, which is viable because of her position at the Enterprises..."

"She did know," Dick said.

Gordon looked over at Dick who finally spoke, "She suspected that it wasn't just Ravager. You didn't listen to her."

Gordon gripped the steering wheel hard as his mouth went dry, "Dick, I didn't know about any of that. Do you know who she thought could be involved?"

Dick shook his head, "She didn't know who. But she said that they were smarter than Ravager, and cleaner."

"Oh my... Dick..." Gordon shook his head, "I..."

There was more than one person involved. And even then, that made sense. Joker's scheme and Ethan's death happening at the same time, even then, that should have been a clear sign. These were more than just vigilante villains. They knew how to run a crime scheme as complicated as murder and keep their identity a mystery.

"Dick, I'm... Right now, we have only a slight clue as to what exactly we're dealing with and I'm not going to treat you like a child and pretend we do," Gordon told him, "The fact that you've been close to both Ms. Kane's and Bruce's... incidences, worries me. There is also a possibility in my mind that the Wayne family fortune might be the target."

Dick nodded as Gordon concluded, "What I'm most concerned about, though, is your safety, so I need you to trust me right now."

"Okay," Dick said as they pulled up to the station and Gordon parked.

"Come on," He said, pulling out two of Dick's suitcases and walking towards the entrance.

Dick grabbed the last bag and followed him inside. Outside, one news reporter was already on the scene. He wondered if anyone else would consider this news. Once inside, Gordon brought him into his office. Sitting inside, Dick held his laptop case and kept his suitcase with his Robin supplies close by. He heard Gordon yelling at Sawyer and Bullock, but his mind was wrapped up in other things.

He kept considering the two theories. Somehow, he leaned more towards Yin's idea. It's easy to steal a fortune. If they had wanted a fortune, well, whoever they were, they could have stolen it with ease, considering how well they've handled all of these murders. But... what had Ms. Kane found? She had never mentioned anything. And if his own suspicions were correct, he had been knocked out by whatever had been inside of that thin tube.

Outside, Gordon and the others worked through a massive pile of paperwork. Sawyer looked outside at the press woman. She normally wouldn't have minded, but at six in the morning? Didn't these people have anything better to do with their lives? She couldn't believe that anyone was ever even naturally up at this unkind hour of the morning. However, downtown, one person was working tirelessly in the public clinic.

Leslie Thompkins, a long time friend of the Waynes, wiped sweat from her forehead. She'd been up all night helping a child who seemed to be suffering from an unruly and upset stomach. At the moment, the child had taken some medicine to stop him from vomiting again, giving Leslie the chance to take a breather.

"Oh, Ms. Thompkins, thank you so much, thank you," The woman, Ms. Reeves, told her, "I don't know what I would have done..."

Leslie nodded. She was used to this sort of thing, "It's no problem, but, I don't think I can handle this here. You need to take him to a hospital."

"I don't know how I'd pay for that though!" Ms. Reeves explained, distraught, "After the boy's father left..."

"Apply for help at Wayne Enterprises," Leslie told her, "They have a program started up by Thomas Wayne when he was a doctor that was aimed at helping those who couldn't afford expensive surgeries and treatments."

"They do that?" Ms. Reeves asked.

"I believe so," Leslie said, "Bruce Wayne kept it up and running, so I don't see why it wouldn't be."

"That Bruce Wayne was always such a kind heart," Ms. Reeves said, "I know that he was a playboy, but with all of the charity functions that he did - not everybody does that and there certainly are not that many playboys even thinking of that sort of thing."

Leslie's movements slowed, "Yeah, he was a great man... He paid for and sponsored this clinic."

"He did?" Ms. Reeves asked, "Well, I can't say that I'm surprised. It's quite sad about what happened to him, though."

"Yeah," Leslie said, "He didn't deserve that."

"Oh, he didn't deserve any of it!" Ms. Reeves exclaimed, "That grizzly murder or what happened to his parents. It's almost like he was cursed."

"I couldn't deny that," Leslie said as they entered the waiting room.

The TV had the news on low, but it was the images that caught Leslie's eyes, "We have reason to believe that there was another murder, one Ms. Adeline Kane, went missing this evening. Ms. Kane was working with Wayne Enterprises in the security department. The police have yet to confirm or deny any of the rumors that have been circulating."

Leslie bit her lip, "Um, excuse me, Ms. Reeves. I, uh, need to call someone..."

Racing out of the waiting room, Leslie went to her office and grabbed her cell phone, muttering, "Come on, Alfred, come on, pick up!"

Finally she heard an answer, "Hello? Leslie?"

"Alfred, have you seen the morning news?" She asked him.

"I... I'm afraid not. I've still been sleeping, why?" Alfred answered.

"It's that Ms. Kane that Dick was staying with. She's gone missing," Leslie told him.

Alfred got up from his bed as he quickly replied, "Did they say where Dick is now?"

"No, I don't think the press even knows," Leslie told him, "Listen, I can't leave now, I've got patients here, but I'd say that you'd better get down there and find out what's going on."

Alfred nodded, "All right, I will be down there as soon as possible."

Racing to get dressed and to the car, Alfred didn't bother with looking formal. Igniting the engine, he raced down to the station, not much bothering to drive very safely, but then again there weren't that many people on the road. When he got there, he was relieved to find that there were not many people there. Just the cops and that one reporter. Parking the car and running inside, Alfred came up to the front desk.

"I'm sorry to be a bother, but I need to speak with Commissioner James Gordon," Alfred told the receptionist.

She said, "I'm sorry, but he's very busy at the moment, working with a few..."

"This is about Mr. Dick Grayson, Bruce Wayne's former ward!" Alfred exclaimed, "It's urgent, I must speak with him!"

"I..." The woman looked at Alfred's pleading face and then nodded, "I'll see what I can do."

Alfred breathed a sigh of relief and answered, "Thank you ma'am. My name is Alfred Pennyworth, he should know me."

Inside the Police Department, Gordon came back into his office with Bullock. Dick looked up as Gordon went to his desk and threw a phone up at Bullock.

"You'll call him?" He asked.

"That or I'll get Maggie to," Bullock answered.

"Fine, just, do it," Gordon said, his exhaustion apparent.

Dick sat up and looked over at him, "Call who, Commissioner?"

Gordon looked over at Dick and was about to answer when the phone rang. Picking it up, Gordon answered, "Yes?"

"Commissioner, there's a Mr. Alfred Pennyworth here to see you," The receptionist said.

Gordon bit his lip and sighed, "All right, send him up to my office."

As he hung up Dick stood up, "Alfred's here?"

"Dick..." Gordon started, "Listen, this is going to much easier for all of us if you and Alfred cooperate."

"Huh?" Dick asked, but he didn't get an answer as at that moment, Alfred came up to the office, as though he had just sprinted.

"Master Dick!" He exclaimed.

"Hi, Alfred," Dick answered.

"Mr. Pennyworth," Gordon said, "As I just finished telling Dick, I would greatly appreciate it if both of you cooperated with us today."

"Well, certainly," Alfred answered.

Gordon raised a brow, but decided to forget about it for the moment as he wasn't sure if he was ready for the argument that would break out.

Almost on cue, Bullock ran back in, followed shortly by Sawyer, "He's on his way, Commissioner."

"Thank you Sawyer," Gordon said, "Would you both stay for a few minutes?"

The two officers nodded and closed the door, making Dick nervous. Who were they talking about anyway?

"Dick, in light of what has happened to both Ms. Kane and Mr. Wayne, we have a responsibility to place you in the proper care of an appointed guardian," Gordon explained.

Dick understood and let Gordon continue, "As it was, Ms. Kane had been officially appointed as your guardian when Bruce died. That being said, her will is what we are to follow, as stated in Bruce's will..."

"What?" Dick asked, "But he..."

The three police officers looked away. They knew what this was. Sawyer was silently fuming that Gordon had kept them in here while Bullock was just sick of the whole thing in general. He could only imagine what was running through Dick's head at this point.

"You mean..." Dick started, but he couldn't finish that, "I... I don't know anyone that was related to Ms. Kane! I only know about her sons and I haven't even seen a picture of them. That's not fair!"

"I'm afraid that I must agree," Alfred said, indignantly, "All of this, actually, seems competely wrong to me. I was nearly certain that I was within the will of Master Wayne as were others – Mr. Kent, even you, Commissioner."

Gordon sighed, "I know. You don't think I like this, do you?"

Dick cast his gaze down and away. Of course, he knew that Gordon didn't want to do this. He knew that. But at this point, he sort of wished that none of them had to deal with that.

"According to Ms. Kane's will, those under her care and responsibility were to go into the custody of a Mr. Grant Wilson, a close associate that used to serve with her in the US Army. That means, inclusively, you, Dick," Gordon said, "Alfred, Dick, please understand that this is not a decision I've made lightly, nor would any court."

"But why can't I live with Alfred?" Dick asked, "I'm sixteen! Can't I choose?"

"Not really, kid," Sawyer stepped in, "After the recent events, the judge would be more concerned for your safety than your preference."

"And Mr. Wilson's profile with the law is outstanding," Bullock added, "You'd really have a tough time convincing the judge that you'd be safe in Wayne Manor, no offense, Mr. Pennyworth."

"I take none," Alfred said, "But, still, this will nonsense is preposterous. I'd like to read the will myself, at this point."

"Mr. Pennyworth, I'm sorry, truly. If there was anything I could do, I would have done it," Gordon explained.

He looked over at Dick who had sat down and was refusing to look at him. With a sigh, he added, "Dick, I don't like any of this, but I promise you, nothing else is going to happen."

None of them thought that Dick really heard him. But he did. And the idea that nothing else was going to happen seemed more like a lie. Yeah, sure, nothing else was going to happen. Bruce was dead. Ms. Kane was missing, probably dead too. All that didn't mean anything. Yeah, sure. Ms. Kane was a professional fighter, a soldier. And Bruce... he was Batman! And Batman, the Dark Knight... He was gone. That meant everything was going to happen. Gotham was going to get worse and nothing would ever get better. He couldn't save Ms. Kane. And right now, he couldn't do anything about this either.

Sawyer and Bullock slowly left the room. It was a bit of a relief for both of them, to get out of such a tense situation. However, they didn't get very far down the hall when Sawyer stopped, causing Harvey to bump into her.

"What?" He asked.

That's when he saw who she was looking at. A man in a business suit and trench coat came walking down the hall, looking from door to door. While certainly not very young, the man wasn't old either. His hair was blonde, slightly gray, and it covered part of his right eye. He looked tired and despite the slouch, he was still quite tall and well built. At the site of Maggie's gaze, the man smiled and walked over to her.

"Um, I'm sorry to bother you, but, my name's Grant Wilson, and I got a call about a friend, Adeline?" He asked.

Maggie blushed slightly, "Uh, um, yes, Commissioner Gordon would like to speak with you."

"Yeah," Bullock said, "He's down two doors on the left."

Wilson smiled and nodded, "Thank you."

As Wilson walked past them, Bullock looked between Wilson and Sawyer and asked, "What's the goo-goo eyes for?"

That snapped her out of it in a second's notice, "Huh? What? I, I didn't say anything."

"Yeah, yeah, your eyes spoke volumes, Maggie," Bullock told her as they continued to walk down the hall.

Gordon and Alfred looked up at the knock on the door. Gordon got up and answered it, letting the newcomer in.

"Mr. Wilson, I'm assuming?" Gordon asked.

"Yes, I'm Grant Wilson, it's good to meet you," Wilson said with a small smile, "And you're Commissioner Gordon?"

"Yes, I am," Gordon answered, "I'm sorry for this abruptness, Mr. Wilson, but with everything going on..."

"It's fine, I was nearby, anyway," Mr. Wilson told them, "So what is this all about. The person I spoke to said something about Adeline Kane?"

"Yes, well, Ms. Kane has recently gone missing... likely dead, considering everything..." Gordon told him.

"Dead?" Wilson asked, "Are you serious?"

"Very, Mr. Wilson," Gordon answered.

Wilson took a step back, "That... What?"

Gordon shook his head, "I'm sorry that you have to hear about it this way, but the reason we called you is because of Ms. Kane's will and the urgency of the matter."

"Her will?" Wilson asked.

"Yes, you are aware that you were listed in her will as the caretaker of her sons, are you not?" Gordon asked.

"Well, yes, but, to my knowledge, her boys have left the house, so why..." Wilson began, but Gordon nodded over to the side where Dick sat.

For a moment, the facade was dropped from Slade's face and a small ironic smile came to his face. But no one noticed. Dick finally looked up at the man. At the site of him, Dick locked on with the visible eye that wasn't hidden by the man's, Wilson's, hair. Almost instantaneously, Dick felt himself tense and he gulped down a bit of... fear? Wilson broke the gaze when he turned back to Gordon for an explanation.

"Ms. Kane recently was given recent custody of Dick Grayson, former ward of Bruce Wayne," Gordon explained, "Our two options now are we can give custody either to the state or to you."

"Me?" Wilson asked.

"Yes, Mr. Wilson, you see, our ideal position would be to place Dick in the care of someone with a respectable record and not to someone randomly picked out of a filing cabinet," Gordon continued.

"Well, Commissioner, I'd hardly go as far as calling my record respectable – I just served in the Army," Wilson told him, "But I can understand the situation..."

Slade looked over at Alfred, who was still not entirely happy with the situation, "Am I missing something?"

Alfred finally spoke up, "I'm sorry, Mr. Wilson, I'm sure you've got a good record and are a good person and all of that, but, let me explain. I used to work for Mr. Wayne as his butler and all of this bother with Dick's welfare has been quite troublesome as it's been a messy situation ever since Master Wayne's death. Originally, I and others believed that someone... closer to Master Wayne than Ms. Kane would end up taking care of Dick. That has yet to happen."

"Oh, I see," Wilson stated, sympathetically, "Well, eh..."

"Alfred Pennyworth," Alfred filled in.

"Mr. Pennyworth," Wilson included, "I'm deeply sorry about all of this."

"We're sorry that we have to bring you into all of this, actually," Gordon added to Wilson, "But here's our real question, would you be willing to take care of Dick for the time being?"

Slade looked over at Dick, finally noticing that the boy hadn't taken his eyes off of him. His answer was obvious.

"I wouldn't mind at all," Wilson stated, "I've got a couple guest bedrooms available."

Looking over at Alfred, he insisted, "I promise, Mr. Pennyworth, I'll take the best of care of Dick. You can visit whenever you'd like, as long as I'm not on a business trip, of course. That would be quite difficult."

Alfred eyed Wilson, but nodded. What else could he really ask for? Slade smiled and then looked back at Dick. The boy's eyes were still on him. They weren't... angry or suspicious, though. The boy looked more so confused and maybe even a little hurt. He could understand why. There wasn't much thought given to any of this, now, was there? Well, actually, there was quite a lot of time and money and energy planned into this on his end, but not on everyone else's part.

"Well, then," Gordon said, pulling at the collar of his shirt, "On behalf of the city officials, thank you."

"No problem," Wilson again told them, "Do you want me to take him now or later or...?"

Gordon looked over at Dick in question. Dick gulped and glanced over at Alfred, whose face was grim in defeat. After a moment of consideration, Dick got to his feet, a bag in his hand and shrugged. Gordon took his glasses off and rubbed his eyes.

"I suppose now, if that's possible. We've already got all Grayson's belongs," Gordon responded.

Wilson nodded and walked over to Dick, "Can I help you with your stuff, Dick?"

Dick glanced up at Wilson for a moment. His voice was firm, but calm, almost gently nudging him to get his things. Dick handed him a suitcase, before turning to Alfred. Alfred gave him a small look of regret, but welcomed the hug that Dick gave him quickly.

"Do not worry, Master Dick, I'm sure you're in good hands – I will see you soon," Alfred told him comfortingly.

Dick nodded and walked over to the door where Wilson was, following the man out the door and down the halls of the police department. There was an awkward silence between them. It wasn't like being with Ms. Kane, where they'd just start with some small talk and work their way up to a normal conversation. This was more like they just didn't talk. Getting to the car, Wilson brought Dick's stuff around to the trunk and unlocked the car. Dick got in the passenger's seat and Wilson got in the driver's seat seconds after. Taking his phone out of his pocket, Wilson dialed a number.

"Hello? Hi, Sherry, it's Grant," Slade said, faking the phone call, "Could you do me a favor and tell them I'm going to be a bit late today? I've had to deal with a family emergency… You can? Thank you. I'll see you in a couple hours then, all right? All right, bye."

Dick didn't look up at Wilson. Slade tried to keep his attention focused on the road, but it was becoming very difficult to do so. Finally, after all of this time, here he was, sitting in the car, driving a compliant Dick Grayson, the boy under the mask, to his house under the legal confines of the system. How he loved democracy. The boy's face was sullen and he remained quiet, his attention on his shoes. He'd have to work on that. He couldn't have the boy unhappy. Or at least, remain unhappy for the time being and under these circumstances.

In general, Adeline seemed to have done a good job in keeping the boy healthy. Despite the baggy pants and the loose shirt, Slade could tell that Dick was still very fit, perhaps a bit skinny, but overall, he was in good shape. The one thing that Slade had to keep in mind often times was that Dick was naturally thin thanks to his heritage, which he had now confirmed as a fact. Still though, some of that couldn't be natural – the boy wasn't eating that much, was he? Adeline couldn't watch him all the time, with her job that is, so he couldn't blame her for it. Dick had a… tendency, both as Robin and as Dick, to not eat as much as he should. He'd work on that with the boy.

In terms of countenance, Dick's face was still pretty hard to read at this point. Slade knew that the boy was still in a bit of shock after what had happened with Adeline, but he could still pull out some things that were more from the effects of time than what had just happened. The boy's eyes sagged, he was tired, like he hadn't slept well in ages, and he was quiet, not saying a word or even bothering to notice everything. It was like he was just going with it. That… was something Slade couldn't quite tell as to whether or not he liked that yet.

But still, out of all the things that Slade took note of was the boy's true face. For the past two years, he had known the masked face of Robin the Boy Wonder to be his enemy. Now, seeing who was under that mask, it was almost surprising – he couldn't look away without forcibly reminding himself that he had to. The boy's blue eyes were stunning with emotion, it was evidently obvious, and yet they were all closed off.

Slade gripped the wheel of the car. He had to say something at this point, so it wasn't so awkward, "Dick… I'm sorry about all this."

Dick shrugged slightly, "I… No, I'm sorry. It's not your fault that you've been dragged into this."

Wilson smiled slightly before continuing, "It's not really a problem for me…. Dick, the one thing I'm really confused about… what's the story behind all of this?"

Dick's eyes were glued to his shoes, "When Wayne died, something happened with his will or I guess it was a mistake made a long time ago, but somehow, I was supposed to go into the care of his cousin, Ms. Kane. So now that she's…. gone, I don't know. I guess they follow her will now…"

Wilson shook his head, "The law's odd like that."

"Yeah, I guess…" Dick commented.

Dick eyed Wilson. He hadn't taken much time to really look at him before. He was older – probably around Bruce's age. He had a goatee that was roughly trimmed and a few of his bangs fell in his face. The man looked like he had been the army, especially with the way he held himself. His jaw line was very defined and he also had broad shoulders. Somehow, that didn't come as a surprise either. For some reason, Dick felt a slight eerie sensation. He felt almost out of place, like he shouldn't be there. Then again, he didn't really want to be there, anyway…

They headed into uptown Gotham where Slade got off the main roads and started heading down the rows of townhouses, eventually pulling up to a light brown one a few stories tall. Parking the car, Wilson got out and opened the trunk to get out Dick's things. Dick got out and looked up at the townhouse. It wasn't very different from the ones surrounding it, but it looked well kept from what he could tell. Wilson handed him a suitcase and walked up the small flight of steps.

"Do you share this house?" Dick asked.

"Nope, it's all one place," Wilson told him, taking out a key and opening the front door.

Upon walking inside, Dick had to stop and marvel and the inside. It was much wider than it had appeared to be outside. The place held a modern grandeur, but at the same time, a very classic appeal to it. The kitchen was mostly silver plated while the front room held a fireplace, apparently an entertainment room or something – it was built for leisure. Farther back was another room that he could see, but he'd have to check that out later, as Wilson was carrying his things up the stairs. Hurrying up after him, Dick found a long hallway with six doors.

Wilson walked up to one door and opened it, "You've got your choice, this one or…"

He opened another door, "This one."

Dick looked inside both of them. One was a single bed with a deep red paint and the other had another single bed, but it held a bit more of a old fashioned feel to it. Dick nudged his was over to the red room again and Wilson took that as a sign of decision. He had a feeling he would like this room more. After all, he had designed it to fit Dick's preferences. Dick put his things down and walked to the window.

"I'm sorry it's a little dusty," Wilson admitted, "I don't get too many visitors anymore."

"No, it's fine, thanks," Dick said, turning to him.

"All right then, well, you look like you could use a rest," Wilson told him, "I need to go to the office."

"You're leaving?" Dick asked, surprised, "But, we just got here."

Wilson nodded and with a small chuckle answered, "Unfortunately I do, I have to explain to my boss as to why the one time I need to go into work I come in late. Don't worry. I'll be back as soon as I can."

Slade walked down the hallway and to the steps. Dick watched as Wilson's figure walked out of site as the steps hid him. He heard the door open and close shut. Dick raised a brow. What was that? Come on! What, the guy was just going to drop him off and go to work? Did people just think that he was some problem? Some annoying sheet of paper to be tossed around from owner to owner? Probably. He was supposedly the heir to Bruce's fortune, but really. That was just… Dick growled despite himself. Slamming the door to his new 'new' room shut, Dick walked over to the window, gripping the sides of it tightly.

Was he really this pathetic? Bruce had trusted him. Taught him everything. And he couldn't keep some murderer or some psychotic maniac from getting rid of his own guardian? Twice for that matter! Twice! Dick felt anger at himself begin to burn in his chest. And now he couldn't even figure out why he was now living with some stranger that even Alfred didn't know. No one knew him in fact. They just met the guy and just because he was in the army at one point they trusted him. Dick turned away from the window. To be fair, Wilson seemed like a nice enough guy. But he hardly knew him. All he really knew was that his name was Grant Wilson. Yeah, that helped out a ton. And just because the guy took him in, it didn't give him a good enough reason to like him.

He wanted to go out – the feeling of thrill sounding quite comforting at the moment. But he couldn't do that. Not with Wilson out. He didn't know when the man would come back. Alfred had told him that often times, before Dick came along, he thought that Bruce would go out, not to fight, but to get rid of pain. And to do that, he'd numb himself nearly to the core, become a monster to criminals. Dick could see now why Bruce would do that. As much as it sounded self-destructive, Dick found himself wanting to be something else. Robin. Robin could do so much more than Dick could. Dick was confined, but Robin could be free.

Dick held his head. Now he was separating himself into two people. He couldn't do that. He mustn't do that. He knew how wrong it was. He knew what it would put his associates through. His friends and his family… What family? Dick nearly choked as he caught himself thinking that and wrapped his arms around his chest. He wouldn't think about it. And no matter what, he still couldn't split himself up. He shouldn't do that. It was too unhealthy to do and he needed his health right now. Somehow, he knew deep down, he knew he wasn't convinced.

Dick collapsed on his bed. Bruce was gone. Ms. Kane was gone. He knew there had to be a connection. He'd start searching for it the chance he got out and maybe, just maybe, the connection would lead him to something much greater. Like the person who was responsible for their deaths and or disappearance.

A strong sense of compulsive lust for vengeance suddenly overcame Dick's mind. He thought of Bruce. Of everything. Of being a kid kneeling in the small pools of blood from his parents' dead bodies and seeing Bruce watching him from a distance. Of taking the oath, becoming Robin. Of running through the city, stopping criminals. To a great extent, he had fun doing it, especially on those rare occasions when he could get Batman to let a smile slip. And finally, finally to the day he left, unable to satisfy Batman's standards and qualifications. In the long run, he had failed him. He couldn't do that again. He wouldn't do that again.

Perhaps it was the headache that came from thinking over everything, but Dick found his eyes dropping till they closed shut. A cool wind swept past his window. Outside, about a mile away, Slade sat in the car rubbing his fake eye, careful to keep the make up in place. It was at least a ten minute job to redo it. The one thing that was probably the creepiest thing though, throughout it all, was that he was smiling. Like, actually smiling without stopping after the first two seconds.

It didn't leave and Slade chuckled at how easy this all was. He'd really have to drop Luthor a thank you note or a gift basket for all of this. Glancing at the clock, Slade decided to go get what he'd need for dinner. He drove off down the road, along with other cars. He was hidden in the mass of cars and trucks, a traffic jam, no doubt, but really, he liked Gotham. Once this was all over, he'd have to visit a lot more often. A lot more.

Chapter Twenty-One: Done With Waiting

Chapter Twenty-One: Done With Waiting

Slade looked outside at the dreary weather. It was cold and the skies were overcast, a sure sign that November was coming to a close. After this, he guessed that the sun wouldn't come out much without some clouds. No one was outside - they preferred their warm homes and the comfort that the streets didn't offer. He smiled. He liked these kind of days.

The phone rang and Slade went over to answer it, "Hello."

"Yo, where's my money?" Ravager yelled over the phone line.

"Your money?" Slade asked as if it was a question.

"Yeah, my money!"

"Half of it will be delivered to My Alibi tonight," Slade told him.

"Half?!" Ravager raged.

"Exactly," Slade told him, "That was a pathetic display."

"But he's dead!" Ravager argued.

Slade sighed - he was dealing with such a moron, "Yes, Wayne is dead, but I think I specifically told you to leave the boy alone in your instructions."

"What?" Ravager asked, "What's so important about that brat?"

"His limited access to his new fortune. You should know that it's all about the money," Slade lied easily and smoothly, "You're lucky that Superman and that Cat exist at the moment."

"That's cheap," Ravager told him.

"I was willing to pay for a job followed under my terms," Slade told him, "I will pay for half and if you fight for the other half, you will loose."

With that, Slade hung up the phone. Ravager was dealt with and Luthor would get what he wanted too. In all honesty, Luthor was too easy to read. Lex was lucky that Slade had waited for Earle to demote Fox at this point, though. His patience for even dealing with this man was wearing thin. Luckily, after this, he didn't have to worry about pleasing Mr. Luthor. Slade looked outside again. He heard a clash of thunder sound in the distance.

A small smile pulled at the corners of his mouth. Tonight would be perfect. Walking out of his office, Slade went down the hall to his arsenal. Within moments, he was out of his civilian clothes and into his armed suit, a mask placed firmly on his head. What an interesting night this would be. Picking out certain pieces of equipment, Slade loaded his belt and prepared for the evening ahead.

It almost amazed him, the fact that he was even at this stage. Everything had been so easy. Managing Jump from Gotham had been easier than he had thought possible while dealing with the locals was simple when he gave them... motivation to cooperate. But the best of it had to be that he had killed, or rather could take the credit for killing, Batman, without even lifting a finger. The biggest plus? Robin had sent his team away. He hadn't planned on that, but it certainly made his job easier.

Slade went to the roof of the building. He needed to get out, do something until the evening came. If there had to be one downside to all of this, it was that he had hardly done anything. He wanted a good fight. And tonight he would get one.

He was sure of it.

-T-

The smoke in the room was really heavy. It made him grateful that his mask had a filter. He sat in a shady section of the bar, watching men play pool and listening to hushed conversations. The best part of this job was that nearly every bit of this was on Robin and the Boy Wonder hadn't bothered him since, save to give him cash for food for the week discretely.

The door creaked open and Red X darted his eyes over to the newcomer. A man, hunched over in a trench coat made his way to the bar. He wouldn't have been any interest to X, save for the light red color that he could barely see past the coat. Red X smiled under the mask. Well, this could be something worth while. As the man waited for his drink, X came over to the bar as well.

"Haven't seen you around here," He commented to the man.

"I don't come here often," The man told him.

Red X raised a brow and kept a mental list of details. Brown hair, brown eyes, muscular - looked like he was trying to grow some sort of goatee.

"Why tonight then?" Red X asked, leaning back as though it was nothing.

The man glanced at Red X wondering how old this guy was. If it wasn't for the mask, he doubted that the guy would have even gotten in here.

"Business," The man finally said.

"What, you a hit man?" Red X laughed, "Getting your money."

The man grunted, as though irritated, while X continued, "Well, a man's gotta eat, I suppose. Me? I'm more prone to the thief end of the spectrum, but I guess it's preference. So who was your latest target?"

The man looked from side to side before looking at X, "If I wasn't already gypped, I might care. Got that playboy, Wayne."

Red X's eyes widened as he tried to keep his cool while the man, who he now knew was The Ravager, continued, "Got hired by some higher up who was trying to outdo someone else."

"Wait, wait, wait," Red X said, loving this type of story, "You mean to tell me you were getting paid off to do that and that two people wanted that guy dead?"

"From the sounds of what I heard," Ravager told him, "My guess is that it had to do with the company or possibly Wayne's money."

Red X chuckled, "Man, that's rich."

Someone set up a pool table in the room while Ravager nodded. The conversation went cold for a moment, something Red X didn't want, but couldn't exactly help. He had to say something - it just wouldn't be good if he got up and left. Ravager would follow him.

"So had any trouble with the Bat or the Titans?" Red X asked him, "With something like that, you must be good to cover your tracks."

"Haven't had a run in with either of them," Ravager stated, "I think it's been more of a luck factor than anything else."

"But you killed that other guy recently, right, the guy at the Enterprises?" Red X prodded, "And others probably, don't tell me that was all luck. I'd have to steal whatever luck you have if it was."

"I didn't kill nobody but Wayne," Ravager said.

"You mean, those others, they were someone else?" Red X asked, surprised.

"It'd have to be," Ravager explained, but he was becoming all the more irritated by Red X by the moment, "Who are you, anyways?"

"I blew into town from the west," Red X said, "Figured it would be easier to make a living here."

"Mr. Defarge?" the bartender asked the man, "Your delivery has arrived."

"Thanks," Ravager held out a hand for the package while the bartender slipped a hundred into his pocket.

"You might be right 'bout theft, kid," Ravager started, but when he turned, X was gone.

On the roof, Red X looked around when he saw a figure running off in the opposite direction. Setting off after it, Red X found it increasingly hard to keep up with it. It was quick and fast, but then again, so was he. He decided to use the cloaking technology and continue tailing them. But the person kept running and after a good half hour, Red X finally stopped after loosing it. His legs hurt and his heart was beating fast in his rib cage to the point where it hurt. Who was this guy? Turning around, X arrived back at My Alibi an hour later, taking his time and regaining his stance. As the bartender went out with the trash, he found himself pinned against the wall by the skull masked vigilante.

"Who gave you that package?" Red X questioned.

"I... I don't rat out anybody," The bartender said.

Red X's eyes narrowed, but he laughed, "Do I look like a good guy, man?"

"The Bat's one," the bartender choked, "Anyone could be one."

"I want work," X said, "Who were they?"

The bartender eyed Red X questioningly, but he finally answered, "Don't know. They kept to the shadows."

"Was it a man or a woman?" Red X asked.

"Man," the bartender answered.

Red X watched the bartender wriggle to get free, but it wasn't until Red X turned and let him go did the bartender race back into My Alibi to lock the door. If he had thought that the man would have been any more useful, then maybe he would have kept him out there longer, but he didn't. X felt the breeze blow his tattered cape past his sides while slowly, a smile came to his face. The Boy Wonder would certainly be interested in this. That was for sure. Red X looked around the deserted street. That's when the one problem hit him.

There was no way for him to contact Robin to tell him. X shrugged as he climbed a fire escape. With a price, he'd tell the Boy Wonder the next time he saw him. The price because without this element of direct communication, Red X would have to remember all of this. And he hated doing chores, unless they were fun of course. What really baffled him was the mysterious delivery man and the fact that there were two killers. He had never been up for killing people. Theft, sure, it didn't hurt anyone unless they got in the way. But killing people... Red X shook his head, smirking, because it kept him from shuddering.

It suddenly made sense how Robin had once passed of being the Red X. He saw it all now, didn't he? Red X ran forward towards midtown. No one trusted or relied too heavily on anyone else here. That's the way Gotham was. X had to admit, he liked that, to a certain degree. It was how he lived. It was the rogues in that category that bothered him. The ones, like these killers, who also set out to upset the natural order of things. He liked order. Order was easy to follow. It was easy to understand.

It was anything but Gotham.

-T-

The screen flashed 'Game Over'. Neither Cyborg nor Beast Boy got up for a victory dance or a round of sobbing. Both just sat in front of the controllers and the TV screen, looking dully at the screen. After getting home a couple days ago, thanks to the Boy Wonder's orders, the four remaining Titans had had the time of their lives, cleaning up the Tower as Red X had hardly bothered to clean up after himself. He did, however, find the ability to eat them out of house and home. No one knew how he could eat so much but still be so scrawny.

So, with two days worth of cleaning, eventually the Tower began to resemble home. But it's occupants were far from their normal selves. It was as though Gotham's stench still ran through their clothes and armor. They were all somewhat glad to be home, but their reactions were mingled with the bittersweet taste of failureat Gotham. Raven, though happy to be out of Gotham, wouldn't leave her room save for meals and for emergencies while Starfire just didn't talk to anyone in general. She walked like everyone around her were ghosts and when she fought, she was unnaturally quiet.

As for the boys, well, they were boys. They didn't say anything and just acted like utter downers. Even Beast Boy had quit the jokes while Cyborg abandoned his upgrading process for the T-Ship. At the moment, they had actually gotten up the strength to play a video game. Not very well though... They continued to stare at the screen's glow, until Beast Boy broke the silence.

"Well, that was pointless," He said.

Cyborg rolled his eye, "What was your first clue?"

"No, I mean, this is all pointless," Beast Boy said.

"Hm?"

Beast Boy stood up and walked over to the windows, "I mean, come on, why are we back here?"

Cyborg shrugged, "'Cause Robin told us to leave Gotham."

"But we're not doing ANYTHING here!" Beast Boy exclaimed, "Nothing's really happening. Brother Blood's in jail. The HIVE are joining him. Slade hasn't shown his face in, what, a year? Come on!"

"Naw, I get it, B, I get it," Cyborg said, "But what were we going to do? Tell the guy 'no'?"

"Well, I would have if he wasn't such a wreck," Beast Boy stated firmly, "What?"

Cyborg's brow was raised in question, "Nothing, you just said what we're all thinking, that's all... But, why didn't you anyway?"

Beast Boy shrugged, "I don't know. Guess I knew he couldn't take that... But, after seeing Raven go nearly nuts in Arkham, it just worries you, you know?"

Cyborg was about to fall over at Beast Boy's serious tone, yet somehow he managed to nod as Beast Boy walked over to the kitchen. The younger Titan looked into the empty fridge with a small frown on his face, like he was actually thinking logically and seriously.

"Look, B," Cyborg said, "As long as Robin's with Ms. Kane, I'm sure he will be okay. You know?"

Beast Boy raised a brow, but nodded, "I just don't see how that's going to keep Robin on his feet, Cy."

"Well, he won't be able to go out much and get into too much trouble," Cyborg joked offhandedly. He hated it when he had to be the one joking about these sorts of matters.

Beast Boy shrugged and opened a soda, "I guess... I just, I feel rotten about it."

"We all do," Raven walked into the room, her hood off and her eyes cast low, "As a team, we followed orders. As friends, we failed to be there for him."

The two looked at the empath for a moment as she walked towards the front.

"So what are we supposed to do about that?" Cyborg asked her.

Raven thought for a moment before answering, "What we can... I don't know. With Gotham, we're not much help. Our best option is to keep up with communication."

The other two nodded when Beast Boy noticed, "Hey, where's Starfire?"

"She's in her room," Raven answered.

"Oh..." Beast Boy responded, "Raven... are you okay?"

Raven turned to look him in the eye, "I... I just have a feeling that all of this... all of this, with Batman's... demise: we need to be ready."

"For what?" Cyborg asked again.

"I don't know!" She yelled back at them both, "We just do, okay?"

The others watched her for a moment before the mistress of magic sighed and looked out at the horizon. There wasn't much to say. They just didn't know what was happening. They didn't know what was going to happen. No one knew and that's why, underneath it all, they were uneasy about the entire situation. And as the sky darkened over Jump City, Gotham's became all the more shrouded in clouds. Most needed to sleep, no, wanted to sleep. That's what most of Gotham's cops had decided to do.

Gordon got up from his desk despite the many papers scattered across it. He needed to take a walk. And he would have, except that the lighted office at the end of the hallway caught his eye. Drifting down to the door, he knocked on it, only for it to open on its own. What was more surprising, though, was the box on Detective Yin's desk.

"What's this for?" He asked.

"Oh," Yin said, turning around, "I, sorry, Commissioner, I was just, I thought I'd bring some stuff home with me. It's getting kind of cramped and all."

Commissioner Gordon walked over to the box and looked inside. He pulled out a picture and smiled at it.

"Are you just taking Ethan's stuff out of here, Yin?" He asked.

Yin's eyes cast themselves downwards at the question, but finally she answered, "Maybe. I just can't stand having that stuff in here. I mean, when he was Clayface, sure, I could handle it. He was alive. Or, we thought he was alive. But now he's not."

Gordon nodded, "Believe me Yin, I know what it's like to lose someone on the work force. I've known a lot of people here who lose in that department... You just have to remember that they want you to keep fighting."

"What are we fighting, Commissioner?" She asked, almost out of the blue.

"What do you mean?" He asked.

"Commissioner... we don't know what we're fighting! All we know is there's some guy named Ravager involved and we haven't gotten much farther than that," Yin explained, "It's nerve wracking! We can't find someone this way! What has the Bat found? Anything? Nothing? I mean, half the time, I just want to leave. I can't stand it here after Ethan and Jason..."

At the mention of Batman, Gordon looked downward, "Yin, I don't know what he's found. I haven't seen him."

She raised a brow as Gordon explained, "Robin said he was somewhere in Asia tracking a possible lead."

"You've seen the kid?" She asked.

"Yeah, I've seen him around from time to time," Gordon told her. "He's working on his own leads."

Yin smiled, "Ethan used to really like that kid. He told me that there was something bright that he liked, something that he felt was good being by Batman's side."

Gordon nodded, "Yeah, the kid's always been that way..."

Yin detected the note of doubt in her superior's voice almost instantly, "But what?"

"Kid's been alarmingly... I don't know, really down to the point lately. I don't know, it just worries me, Yin," Gordon said, "We've just got to stand by them, that's the one thing I've learned over the years working with him."

Yin nodded slowly when she felt a hand on her shoulder, "I'm sure Ethan would be cheering you on, Yin."

Yin smiled softly as the Commissioner left the room. Getting to the roof, Gordon turned off the hot Bat-signal. No one tonight. Again. It was worth a shot. It always was in his mind. That's when he noticed a note on the switch reading: 'Can't stay and talk, but should have more information soon.' The wind blew loudly across the rooftops, sending the Commissioner's coat up in a flare. He sighed. It was becoming too quiet up here for his likes. Gordon shook his head and headed in below, hoping that the weather would get better by the time he reached his car. It didn't.

Gotham's weather had a way of doing that. All over the busy streets, people and buildings began to feel the air turn chilly and moist. Robin was running to get home. He hadn't found any leads and tonight, he didn't want to risk the chance that Adeline might find him out of bed after being woken up by thunder. If there was a big emergency... well, he'd get to that if he had to cross that bridge.

He slid off the R-Cycle only a block away this time and all out ran over every fence through three backyards to Ms. Kane's house before jumping up to the roof with a bo-staff. He opened the door just as a small trickle of rain landed on the roof. Quickly, he sat down and began to pull off his suit and replace it with a shirt and shorts. After shoving his stuff into the Toy Box, Dick jumped into bed and tried to calm down. His two communicators were on vibrate and were under his pillow should he need to wake up.

The rain began to pour outside as Dick tried to get to sleep. Eventually, the pattering sound of the rain made his eyes droopy and Dick managed to get to sleep. Perfect, that was all he needed. Slade watched from the tree in the backyard and smiled. He looked over to Adeline's window. Thunder sounded and soon, he saw her waking up. Inside, Adeline yawned with exhaustion, but stretched and rubbed her eyes. Getting up, she walked into the hallway and peeked into Dick's room to find him sound asleep. A small smile crossed her lips as she closed the door behind her and went downstairs.

Slade took his chance. Landing quietly on the roof that lead to Dick's window, Slade carefully lifted the glass window and eased his way into the room. Taking out a thin can, Slade placed it underneath the other bed in the room, in the back corner so it was hidden by the toys that were never picked up and out from under there all those years ago. Pulling a thin wire out, Slade watched as the visible gas began to leak out and into the room. For the first time, Slade turned to see Dick within feet of him for months. The boy slept soundly and in many ways, calmly. He had grown and he hadn't had a hair cut in a while. Slade was tempted to stay longer to see how his... former apprentice, had changed over the course of time, but he knew there would be time for that later.

Leaving the room as he came, Slade closed the window gently and let the knock out gas do it's thing. Well, he couldn't risk Dick coming downstairs and getting in the middle of things. Adeline looked upstairs for a moment. She held a cup of steaming hot chocolate in her hands to warm her up a bit, but she neglected it as she focused upstairs. Landing down below, Slade took the chance to climb into the bathroom window this time - it was closest to Adeline's office. Adeline placed her mug on the counter and went for the stairs. She was probably just hearing things, but she thought she had heard something from Dick's...

Adeline turned to look down the hallway. There was a creak. She had heard it, in the wood floor underneath the carpet. Adeline slowly made her way towards the corner, her office. Upon reaching it, she quickly turned the corner, but... no one. Adeline shook her head. Was she hearing things? She was being paranoid. Overly paranoid. That's what this was, that's what this...

SLAM!

Adeline turned. She was definitely not being paranoid. That was something. Adeline held her breath. Someone was in the house besides her and Dick. She knew it. She knew it. If she could lure them into her office, maybe... Adeline gripped the wall and slowly, came out from around the corner again. What she saw took her breath away. In the kitchen, above the two stairs that lead to the living room where she stood, a man, shrouded in shadow leaned against the counter. But she didn't need to see his face to know who it was. Her mouth dropped as she shook her head. The man looked to the side and back at her.

"Is it really that much of a surprise, Addie?" He asked.

At the sound of her old nickname, Adeline regained her ability to talk. "Don't you call me that."

Slade shook his head, "I'm sorry, I didn't see how that was an insult."

Adeline's eyes narrowed at him, "Get out."

"I'm sorry for this too, but I can't leave yet, Adeline," Slade told her.

"Of course you can, get out," She whispered, "Before..."

"Before what?" Slade asked her, stepping down the two steps of stairs.

"Slade..." She started.

"Yes, Adeline?"

Adeline stared at him in the eye for a moment, before he turned and walked into her living room.

"It's a nice place you've got here," He commented.

"What are you doing here, Slade?" She asked again. "What do you want?"

"Why are you always so quick to want me to leave?" He asked back.

She kept her lips together as her hands swelled into fists that she restrained at her sides. Slade noticed this and resisted the urge to chuckle at her old habits.

"Is it really not obvious, Adeline?" He asked, "I've been here for a long time."

Adeline shook her head. She didn't understand, but then, her previous suspicions came back to her mind and her eyes widened.

"No... what... You've been..." She started, taking a step back.

"Since around September," Slade told her.

"Then... why haven't you come here before?" Adeline asked, she was starting to not like this at all, "You've... you've been behind the killings, haven't you? Austin, Ethan, Bard, Beagle... What are you doing, Slade?"

Slade chuckled a bit, "If anyone would look at these people, they'd get it."

"Well they haven't, so what on earth were you trying to do, Slade?" Adeline said, walking up to him.

"Adeline, you're smarter than that," Slade said.

"Don't make me take that other eye out," Adeline hissed.

She knew he was smiling underneath his mask as he walked past her, "How's the kid doing?"

"I wouldn't know how the kids are doing," Adeline said, "I haven't seen them for years because of you, you lowlife."

"I said, kid, Adeline, kid," Slade repeated.

Adeline looked upstairs towards Dick's room and then at Slade, "You... you killed Bruce too?"

"Not exactly, though I can take some credit for that," Slade told her, "Even Lex Luthor can. I have to admit, for everything that man's done, I'll have to thank him for this one."

"So if you killed Bruce, why are you still here?" She asked, angrily, passing him and heading towards her office while he followed.

"I've just been waiting, that's all. For all of the..." He paused as he looked at the frame of the two boys, "Legal investigations and paper work to get done."

Adeline found the drawer she was looking for and slowly opened it up, "Maybe you stayed too long, Slade."

Grabbing the gun in the drawer, Adeline turned around and faced Slade with it, "Dick! Dick! Get Up!"

When she didn't hear anything, she looked at Slade, who not only wasn't worried about the gun, but also wasn't phased by her yelling.

"Adeline, you're the only one whispering here," Slade said to her.

"Oh my... what did you do to him, Slade?" She demanded.

"Harmless knock out gas. He'll be up in the morning," Slade told her.

But she'd had enough, pulling the trigger, Adeline braced herself for the loud gun shot, but it never came. She looked at her gun and then at Slade, who slowly, from his back pocket pulled out two silver bullets that were once in her gun.

"You never change your hiding place for them, Addie," He said.

"Do Not Call Me That!" She screamed at him.

Dropping the gun, she aimed a fist at him, but he caught her arm easily. She struggled to get free as Slade watched her attempts fail.

"What are you doing here? What do you want?" Adeline asked again, becoming furious at him.

She attempted to hit him again, but it only ended with both of her wrists in his hand, "Why..."

Then her eyes widened in a new question, "Why are you telling me all of this?"

Slade finally looked at her with a bit of regret in his eye, "I'm sorry, Adeline, but you're not going to be telling anyone this."

Adeline's eyes opened wide. She didn't hesitate for a moment. Hitting his head with her own, Adeline freed herself and ran towards the stairs.

"Dick! Dick!"

She didn't get very far before she felt Slade grabbing her arms and covering her mouth.

"Don't do this, Adeline," Slade said.

Adeline shoved him backwards, causing him and her to fall onto the floor. Elbowing him, she got herself free and landed a good punch to Slade's face. But her victory didn't last long as Slade found one of her arms again. But Adeline wasn't about to go down that easily. Twisting around, she managed to throw a kick at him, which he dodged, but it allowed her to run towards the staircase.

Slade smirked. She got to the handrail when he shoved her into the kitchen at the end of the island. Adeline steeled herself, looking for an opening. She had to get Dick out of there; she couldn't just leave him alone. At the very least, she had to call the police. She looked up to see the multiple pots and pans hanging from the ceiling. Grabbing a few, she let a few sail towards Slade, but he dodged them easily and when she finally stopped, Adeline had lost sight of him.

She grabbed a pair of knifes from their wooden holders, and carefully took a few steps towards the steps again. Adeline broke out into a run when she saw a leg stretch out and nearly trip her. Jumping up, Adeline landed and threw a knife with precision at Slade, who grabbed the blade before jumping up after her. Grabbing her free arm, Slade yanked Adeline away from the door and stairway, but Adeline didn't care if she got blood on the tiled floor.

The second knife lunged at Slade's chest. However, opening up his retractable bo-staff, Slade managed to knock that one out of Adeline's hand as well. Kicking him in the gut, Adeline raced out of his reach and ran to her cell phone on the table nearby the doorway. Picking up, she began to dial 911. Before it could ring though, Slade got a hold on her again, this time from behind, and forced her to drop it. Adeline wriggled it Slade's grip as he attempted to keep a firm grip on her arms.

Finally someone picked up, "Hello?"

Adeline would have yelled, but at this point, Slade had gotten both of her wrists into his one hand.

"Hello?" That's all Adeline heard before Slade landed his bo-staff on the phone and shattered it.

She was on her own. Still standing, Adeline leaned backwards into Slade's grasp, causing them both to back up and fall into the kitchen once again. She thought that that would have been enough to get Slade to let go, if only for a moment. But she was wrong. He held onto her hands with an iron grip as she struggled to get away from him.

"I'm not here to hurt you, Addie," He told her, trying to calm her down.

"Don't Call Me That!" She yelled again.

Slade sighed and pulled out a pair of cuffs. Within seconds, Slade had hand cuffed the still struggling Adeline, who attempted to hit him, hurt him in any way with every chance she got.

"Adeline," He said.

He hoped that she could understand this had nothing to do with her. But whether she did or not didn't seem to matter as she glared at him with a deep sense of hatred in her eyes.

"I'm sorry, I'll explain later," Slade said.

Pulling out a cloth laced with chloroform, he firmly placed it over Adeline's mouth and nose. As Adeline struggled to free herself, she slowly felt the drowsy effects overwhelming her body. Her eyes drifted to the ceiling and then to Slade. Eventually, all she could see was his eye. His lone eye watching her before she passed out. Slade removed the cloth with a sigh. It was extremely unfortunate that it had to be this way, but it didn't much matter. Quickly cleaning up the area to look as it had before the fight, Slade turned on the fan to air out Dick's room of the knock out gas.

Finally, he walked back over to Adeline who still lay unconscious on the floor. Slade looked at her for, his... memories taking over for a moment. What a complicated past they had. He looked back up at where Dick's room - the boys' room was - and then back at Adeline. It was a shame she had to be involved in some ways. In others, he wasn't too bothered by it. The cops would be here soon; he couldn't wait any longer. Kneeling down, Slade carefully gathered up Adeline's limp body up in his arms and carried her out of the Kane household, leaving only one person to wake up when the sirens came.

Dick rolled around in his bed when his eyes eventually opened into thin slits. The rain had stopped. The Boy Wonder was still sore and tired from the night before and he would have slept in, except for the flashing red and blue lights that were coming through his window. That's when he heard the knocking coming from the door downstairs. Slowly getting up, Dick opened his front door and walked downstairs. He held a hand up in front of his eyes as he went to the front door. Opening it up, he found Detective Yin standing in front of him in the damp cold.

"Dick?" She asked.

She didn't wait for him to finish nodding before continuing, her voice serious and to the point, "We received a phone call this evening from Ms. Kane's cell phone. Could we speak with her?"

Dick nodded again, confused, sure, but nodded, "Ms. Kane!"

He waited a moment before calling again, "Ms. Kane!"

At that, Dick's heart began to race as he heard Yin ask him, "May we come in, Dick?"

He nodded and stepped aside as a few cops followed her. Dick sank against a wall. Where... Where was she? He looked outside. Her car was still here. Dick felt himself clench his fists. What, what was going on? Where was Ms. Kane? She... This wasn't normal. Outside, Commissioner Gordon pulled up and stepped out of his car. He didn't need to step inside to know that this was going to be a mess. It was all going to be a big mess.