A/N so this is like the same universe as the 'i did not see that coming' one, except instead of breaking out after four years the league finds Dick and Raven after three years. I've made it so Raven and Dick have their little pact already.

You're not making any sense

forced mutism, blindfolded, sensory deprivation

Dick Grayson was a sarcastic person, that's just how he was. He made quips, teased, always had some snappy comments on hand. Which was great when he was with his friends, not so great when he was...

Well.

It hadn't been particularly great since he'd got captured by the light, so he supposed he just had to get used to things now.

He probably wouldn't.

Definitely wouldn't.

Regardless of how many times he got thrown in the empty room.

He didn't need to be blindfolded, the room was dark enough that he couldn't see anything. There were weird foam things along the walls and floors. sound was absorbed entirely, there were no smells, no light, the only thing he could feel was the cold steel mesh that covered over the foam to create a sturdy, flat floor.

He curled himself up in the corner, the crushing silence pressing against his head. his ears were ringing, but soon his brain would start faking things to fill in the nothing. There was no difference between his eyes being closed and open, he began to be unable to tell which they were. At some points they started stinging and watering because he'd left them open too long and he hadn't realised.

He was bruised and aching still, fresh out of training with Deathstroke. What had he even said to earn this punishment this time? He didn't remember.

He missed Raven.

That was something new. They'd shared their names not long ago, sitting in their dark cell with only each other for company. She had stopped counting days, but Dick had caught a date on Deathstroke's computer earlier that day which revealed he'd been captured for three years now.

Three years.

Three years of being tossed between members of the light like a game of pass the parcel. Three years of learning every weakness, every skill, every power. Cataloguing information in his brain that he did not want there. training with every weapon under the sun against every opponent the light could find. He had to admit, when they pulled out the stocks they really had a lot to show for.

He was a weapon now. A finely tuned and sharpened tool. He hated how much he knew, the information he could rattle off the top of his head. as a kid he'd always wondered what it felt like to be a 'gifted child', he wasn't sure if it was like this but he imagined so. His brain was crammed to bursting with information and skills and abilities.

He wanted to be mad at the league for not finding him yet, but for all intents and purposes he was dead, so he couldn't really judge. They weren't looking for him, and even if they were, the light was crafty.

He had no one to be angry at other than his captors, and he couldn't take it out on them because the empty room was probably the best their punishments got. Everything else was worse. It was this and then everything was exponentially more painful until it got to the point of them straight up just beating him to death then tossing him in the pits.

he didn't know how long he'd been in the room when he started getting antsy. The electrum they'd put in him tended to give him too much energy, if he wasn't doing anything he got jittery, as if he'd drank too much coffee. That jitteriness just made the whole experience worse.

He was going insane in this room. He paced from corner to corner, beginning to hear the same whispers that coiled around his mind whenever they pulled him from the pits. His muscles were twitching, he wanted to hit something.

The door clicked open, Deathstroke stood silhouetted by the light from outside. Dick had to use all of his self-control to not immediately attack.

"follow," Deathstroke ordered, then turned on his heel. Dick did so, forcing himself not to react to the change in sensory levels. Everything seemed so loud and bright and wrong and he wanted it to go away.

He got his wish- sorta.

The lights went black and then started flashing red. A siren wailed in the distance for a few seconds then disappeared.

"what's happening?" he asked.

"we're under attack," Deathstroke mused, "somehow the heroes found this base."

something fluttered in Dick's chest. The league was here? The heroes?

"don't get your hopes up," Deathstroke said, holding up the device connected to the inhibitor collar around Dick's neck. For a moment Dick thought he'd knock him out and they'd whisk him away to the next headquarters, but he was wrong.

He hit the button, Dick collapsed, screaming as electricity ran through him.

Deathstroke held up a syringe, the light glinted off the golden liquid inside.

"make your choice, Grayson, either activate the electrum yourself," he said, a boot landing on his throat to keep Dick down, "or I'll do it for you."

Dick scowled. Why would Slade want him to activate his-

Oh, shit.

No way.

Oh no, no, no, no, no.

"option number two?" Deathstroke drawled, leaned down and stuck the needle in his neck.

As Dick felt the chemicals enter his system and his electrum kicking in he realised exactly how this was going to go.

They were sending him to protect the base. To fight the heroes.

He and Raven had a contingency for this, unbeknownst to the light, but it was only reliable if they were together. Raven would be locked up by now, waiting for him to join her in their shared cell.

He tried his damndest to fight it. tensing and attempting to hold it at bay. Raven knew how to get him out of this, she had a list of things to remind him of who he was, he tried to recite it to himself.

His eyes tingled, he knew they would be turning the horrific yellow of the court's talons. He stayed conscious, stayed aware, but sluggishly his thoughts slowed till there was only one:

Obedience.

Deathstroke's foot removed itself from his neck, "stand up."

Dick did so. He was quite sure there was a reason he shouldn't. deep down, buried under everything, there was a small amount of confusion. There was something wrong, he wasn't supposed to be taking orders.

"you have a mission," Deathstroke said.

Any other thoughts emptied out of Dick's mind, he stood, waiting for orders.

"kill the heroes who are attacking this headquarters," Deathstroke said, "and report back."

Dick nodded, walking further down the hall to where the storage room was. He slipped on his training suit with practised ease, arming himself with every weapon possible.

He accessed the cameras, finding the heroes in seconds.

This would be easy.

There was sheer dumb luck and then there was whatever series of events occurred that allowed the league to find out about this base.

The team was sent in to do recon. The league believed it to either be a past, no longer active headquarters of the light or an active but not important base. There didn't seem to be huge amounts of traffic and light activity gave no inclination that they would be interested in the area.

Which was why the team was sent in, not the league. If they'd known what the base was they would have approached the situation very differently.

But they didn't know. How could they know?

"above the drop zone, beta," M'Gann said. Kaldur and Lagoon boy stood. the bottom of the bioship opened up as it swooped over the waves and the two dived down into the water.

"approaching drop zone B," M'Gann said. Robin and Batgirl readied to move, Artemis standing with them.

The ship swooped over the building- a small beach hut- and the three vigilantes dropped onto the shingles of the roof quietly.

Miss Martian then doubled back, landing the ship in the cover of the hill behind the beach house.

"beta squad is inside," Kaldur said over the mind link, "approaching the controls now."

"acknowledged," Conner muttered, both in his mind and out loud. The years they'd been on mission together were beginning to make it hard to tell the difference between the link and audible speech.

Outside the ship a dull flashing light became visible under a thin layer of dirt. Kaldur and Lagoon Boy had opened the secret door. The team still with the bioship- M'Gann, Conner, Wally, Wondergirl and Red Arrow- noticed the light and pushed aside the dirt. Their side entrance became revealed in the form of a steel hatch. They opened it with ease thanks to beta squad having unlocked it from the inside, and snuck in.

"Alpha is in the control room," Artemis said over the link, "Robin and Batgirl are beginning to hack into the system now."

"Delta is en route," Conner said over the link.

"uh," Robin's voice rang over the link, Conner was still getting used to it. Jason sounded nothing like Dick, but any similarities were too many for him, "there's a prison cell here, and its occupied."

"there are captives here?" Kaldur asked. Surely not. If there were and the league knew they'd have informed the team. Obviously the league didn't know, which suggested there was more to this base than previously thought, "Batgirl, see what you can find out about them."

"the files are... really well protected, they've gotta be important."

"maybe we should check it out?" Lagoon boy suggested.

"the mission was recon only, no rescues," Robin reminded.

"any information this captive can give us would be helpful and likely not easy to find readily in the light's system," Kaldur explained.

"Aqualad, Lagoon Boy, you're main objective was to keep watch in case of emergency, surely you can detour to investigate?" Conner suggested. He could empathise with anyone captured by the light, and he definitely wouldn't want someone to be stuck in that position if he or his friends could help.

"agreed," Batgirl said, "we've got the time, besides, it's gonna take a while for Robin and I to get through these encryptions and download any information of use. You guys check out who the captive is while the rest of us continue to snoop around."

"agreed," Kaldur said.

Conner gave M'Gann a look and the two continued to creep through the halls. Their squad's job was to see what they could find in the way of concrete objects, instead of relying on information in the light's system.

They came to an intersection of halls.

"Red Arrow and I can take the right," Conner offered.

Wally nodded. He, M'Gann and Wondergirl splitting off to the left.

"this is going way too well," Roy said, voice low.

"I know," Conner looked around suspiciously.

"do you think-"

"uh, guys?"

The two looked at each other.

"what is it Robin?"

"I think we've been caught," Batgirl said.

At that very second the lights turned off and flickered back on, red. A siren wailed for a few seconds then cut short.

"everyone get back to the ship, emergency exit strategy," M'Gann ordered.

"Kaldur, where are you?"

"Lagoon Boy and I have found the captive, she's frantic and we need to-"

His voice cut off.

"Kaldur?!"

"Aqualad what happened, can you hear us?!"

"Kaldur, where are you?!"

His voice came back once more, "team, you need to be wary, there may be someone in the facility sent to harm you, do not engage."

As he spoke Conner became otherwise distracted. He stopped paying attention, instead staring at the person walking towards them from the end of the hallway, sword in hand, dangling, scraping along the concrete floor.

Red Arrow aimed, readying to shoot and Conner got into a stance, prepared to fight.

The man continued walking, face blank, perfectly relaxed.

Red Arrow fired and the man sprung into the fight.

Conner realised, perhaps three seconds later, maybe four, that they never stood a chance.

It was very obvious that the security of this area was focused more on stopping people form getting out than worrying about people getting in.

Kaldur and Lagoon boy snuck through the halls, headed to where Robin told them the cells were. They knocked out several guards along the way and Robin unlocked plenty of doors. Eventually they came to a reinforced steel door into a room, all on its own.

"Lagoon Boy, stay out here, remain on watch," Kaldur ordered and L'Gann nodded, leaning against the wall to keep his eyes on the hallway's entrance.

Kaldur waited for Robin to be finished unlocking it all, then turned the handle and opened the door slowly, so as to not startle whoever was inside.

He looked down to find a girl, perhaps fifteen, with shoulder length black hair, pale skin and dark clothes. Her hands were restrained, cuffed to the wall. She stared at him in confusion.

"who are you?" she asked, vague hints of fear in her tone.

"I am Aqualad," he introduced, holding his arms up to show they were empty of weapons, "I mean you no harm, my team and I are going to get you out of here."

"team?" she frowned, blinking as she glanced at the open doorway, looking for other people, "wait... you're... you're Aquaman's protégé?"

"yes, my friends and I work with the justice league."

The girl stared at him, absolutely terrified, "you need to leave. Now."

Kaldur nodded, "we will do so soon, I will get you out of those cuffs first."

"no," she said, "you're in danger, you can't stay, you and your friends need to go."

Kaldur frowned, walking closer and beginning to inspect the cuffs. Robin had already unlocked anything connected to the mainframe or whatever the fancy words were, the locks remaining were normal ones, he began to work at them with his magic. "why is that?"

She stared at him pleadingly with the expression of someone who really didn't want to reveal what she knew, "please. Go." Kaldur wasn't letting up, he continued working at the locks, "there's someone here, he doesn't want to hurt you but the light will make him."

Kaldur raised an eyebrow, this sounded important. "how do you mean?"

"this base isn't a normal one, it was built to hold us," she said, eyes pleading, "they're trying to use me to get to my dad, but with him it's different. they want him to be the Achilles heel of the justice league."

Kaldur took a double take, "what?"

"he won't be able to stop himself, they can make him do it, and he'll kill you, you need to go."

"uh, guys..."

"what is it Robin?"

"I think we've been caught."

The lights turned red, a siren wailed and stopped, the girl stared at Kaldur in complete terror.

"Please, go, if they make him kill you he'll never forgive himself, you need to go."

"everyone get back to the ship, emergency exit strategy," M'Gann ordered.

"Kaldur, where are you?"

Kaldur nodded, "alright," he stood and the cuffs clicked off, he held a hand out to the girl to help her up. "Lagoon Boy and I have found the captive, she's frantic and we need to-"

She jumped at him, tackling him in a hug.

"Kaldur?!"

"Aqualad what happened, can you hear us?!"

"Kaldur, where are you?!"

Kaldur smiled and hugged the girl back, "it's all right, you'll be safe soon," he then said in the mind link "team, you need to be wary, there may be someone in the facility sent to harm you, do not engage."

"can I ask your name" Kaldur asked the girl.

"Raven," she answered.

Kaldur nodded, "follow me, Raven."

Artemis ducked under another hit, spinning and kicking and frantically trying to avoid every attack. She was getting tired, her opponent, however, seemed completely fine.

"Artemis!" Batgirl called, supporting Robin who was bleeding from a wound in the side, "we have to go!"

Artemis took a hit and stumbled back, instead of trying to further attack or defend she dropped a smoke bomb and bolted. She helped Batgirl carry Robin and the two ran as fast as they could down the halls.

"M'Gann, are you alright?" Artemis asked over the link.

"I'm good. Kid Flash, Wondergirl and have made it out one of the exits through the house that's acting as a front for the underground facility," she explained, "where are you?"

"on our way out, we got attacked by some crazy dude with a sword. Where's Superboy and Red Arrow?"

"not sure, I'm trying to reach them but I can't."

"do you think they're..."

"focus on getting yourselves out first," Kaldur ordered.

Raven stuck close to Aqualad's side, her thoughts running miles per minute.

"are your teammates okay?" she asked.

Aqualad gave her a reassuring look, "don't worry about us."

Someone must have been captured or hurt, she could tell. Dick had to be walking through the facility, hunting them down. The thought made her heart ache.

But.

If they could find him she could take him down with one word the league could grab him, she'd be able to bring him back to control and they'd both be safe. Free.

The idea was... impossible.

"Aqualad," she said, getting his attention, "my friend, I can stop him. we have to find him and get him out of here as well."

"we'll see what we can do," Kaldur said. Raven tried not to think about the implications of the lack of promise in his voice.

She was running with the two Atlantean heroes one second, the next she stumbled back as the two clutched their heads and winced.

"what's wrong?"

"M'Gann..." the strange green one mumbled.

Aqualad levelled a worried look on her, "come on," he said, and set off running once more.

They made it to one of the exits, it went through the beach house above the facility. They stumbled out, Aqualad pushing her back behind a couch as they saw the scene before them.

The Martian as unconscious, as well as a blonde girl with a W on her chest and two people Raven figured had to be Batgirl and Robin 2.0. Dick, in his training suit and armed to the teeth, was fighting between Artemis and a yellow blur- Kid Flash.

She stumbled back, Aqualad having pushed her out of the way to join the fray. For a moment she stared, stock still on the ground, as she watched her friend and fellow captive fight like a demon, eyes yellow, face devoid of any emotion except the faintest furrowed brow, complete focus.

Dick managed to dodge another speed-slam from the Kid Flash and in doing so stabbed a blade deep into the speedster's thigh. He cried out and stumbled, collapsing not too ar from Raven. She crawled over, staring at the wound.

"oh, hi," the ginger greeted, "uh..."

She raised her hands, muttering a few words, and started to heal the wound.

"keep pressure on it, leave the blade in," she told the speedster, then stood, staring at Dick.

He was in the middle of some kind of flashy twist, having vaulted off of Aqualad's back. a blade was stabbed into the Atlantean's strange water-carrying backpack. The other Atlantean was already down. Artemis was leaning against another piece of furniture trying to hype herself enough to get back into the fight, but she was holding her side and hunched.

Dick sprung forwards to attack Aqualad again and Raven threw up a protective shield around the Atlantean. Dick's eyes levelled on her. She smiled.

"falling Grayson."

Dick collapsed.

"I've taken a blood sample, I'll run it through to check for-"

"don't," Raven cut off.

She was sitting in a chair, cross legged, next to the hospital gurney they'd laid Dick on. Thanks to his electrum and the fact that he was winning he only had a few scrapes and bruises, but the league decided to check him anyway.

It felt strange. Being inside the league headquarters. Mount Justice they called it. this seemed like a dream.

"why not?" the woman asked her. Canary, that's what she said her name was.

"he's got electrum, he'll be fine," Raven said, "the only thing you'll find in a blood test is secrets you'll wish you heard from him."

Canary frowned. There was another leaguer with her and Aqualad. They looked between themselves.

"What kind of secrets?"

Raven didn't look at them. She stayed quiet, staring at his face. This was the person she'd been locked up with for three years, he was the closest friend she'd ever have, they'd been through so much together. Even still, she'd barely recognised him when he'd been fighting the team.

"des eh look the same?" she asked, quiet, "obviously not, you don't recognise him."

They stared at her in confusion. Glancing between themselves as if silently wondering if maybe she'd gone insane.

"he doesn't blame you," she said, "I know he doesn't."

"Raven..." Aqualad began, wary.

"you're gonna have to restrain him," Rave said, "to a chair would be nice. I can use magic to keep him down but a pair of cuffs would be a good addition. He'll wake up still out of it, I'll have to bring him back."

"I'm sorry," Canary said, stepping closer with a kind face, "you'll have to explain what you're talking about."

Raven didn't take her eyes from him.

"what you'd find in a blood test is his name," Raven said, "Dick Grayson."

The occupants of the room looked almost like they were about to feint.

Aqualad was the first to speak, "how do you know that name?"

"he told me it," Rave said, nodding at him.

Canary gaped, then turned on her heel, "I'm running the blood test."

Outside the room the heroes sat, Raven could hear some of them talking. The door was open and there was a huge window that allowed anyone to look in on the med bay. Raven could feel their stares on her. The blood test results had come through ad Canary had told a few people the results. They were the ones staring at her now.

Dick was restrained to a chair, head down against his chest. Raven sat in her own chair across from him.

She watched him slowly stir, eventually lifting his head to look at her, eyes yellow and empty.

"morning sunshine," she mumbled, holding up five fingers. He barely even blinked. She sighed.

"last time we did this you cam to at six, wanna beat the record?"

He stared, seemingly trying to figure out what was going on. He had no orders, he likely would sit in that chair until someone attempted to attack him.

"number ten," Raven began, "I don't care how much you hate it when I say it, ABBA is the music of your soul, hurry up and give in already," she held back a snicker, "you're not a Coldplay person, at least stick to imagine dragons."

He appeared as if he didn't hear a word she'd said.

"number nine," she continued, hearing in the back of her head, Dick's voice when he'd said, 'number nine, burger king foot lettuce', when the two had figured out what went on the list he'd been in a rare, good mood, "December first, 1996, that's you birthday. December first, 2005 is the last birthday you spend with your parents."

There is the slightest twitch, somewhere. It has come and gone too quickly, but Raven knew it was there.

"number eight," she forges on, "Haley's Circus doesn't keep elephants on international tours," she said this in a tone that mimicked the exact one Dick had said it in.

She thought that maybe she caught the briefest of twitches in the corners of his mouth.

"number seven, no record today, huh? Shocking," she shook her head as if disappointed, "Alfred's cookies are great but nothing beats Mrs. Kent's apple pie. And, seriously, dude, the way you talked that up, you're getting me some now, okay?"

He blinked, frowning, the yellow of his eyes seemed to be fading. His hand moved and he stared at the restraints for a moment.

"number six, Barbara Gordon."

The leaguers were definitely listening in. at the utterance of that name there were shocked intakes of breath and gaping looks of surprise. A ginger girl stared at Dick as if she wanted to cry.

"you went to high school with her, traded notes. Had a bit of a friend group with her and Artemis, which, really dude? That's just mean," she shook her head, "but hey, you'll laugh about it someday."

Dick's head snapped to her. Still dazed but attention zeroing in.

"conversely, number five, Wallace Rudolph West," she grinned, knowing that outside the room the ginger speedster was probably turning as red as his hair, "I don't know, apparently you wanted to ask him out or something. I don't see the appeal. His mentor is the Flash. you met him on O'Malley Enterprise."

Dick stared at her in confusion and muttered, "Wayne Tower."

"I'm sorry, what was that?" Raven asked.

Dick's eyes finally faded back to blue, his shoulders sagged.

"it was Wayne Tower," he said.

"you bet your ass it was," Raven said, holding up five fingers, Dick held up one. She shot forwards and hugged him.

"aww, touchy, how unlike you," Dick snickered.

"shut up, don't get used to it," she said. With a wave of her hand the restraints clicked off and Dick enveloped her in a hug of his own.

When they separated Dick caught the leaguers looking at him from outside the room.

"this is gonna be fun," he said, dead pan.

Raven held one of his hands, offering him a smile, "it'll be fine."

Dick took a deep breath, striding towards the door.

Three years.

It seemed impossible.