The days seem to crawl by. Katey is not the same. She hardly speaks. I basically have to force her to eat. Slade trains us harder and longer each day. It's been a couple of weeks. I don't think Katey is going to make it much longer. Dylan was the only good thing in life that Katey knew. I want the chance to show her all of the good things in life but that's not possible with Slade. In here I can't even get her to smile. Which is fair. The only thing keeping me sane is Katey and hope. For Katey, hope died with her brother. Katey and I spend most of our time together. When we're not training we usually just sit with each other in one of our rooms. We don't speak much, and it's usually me talking if we do. Katey has made progress when it comes to touch though. She used to seem afraid of physical contact but now she tends to lean against me a lot.

I have made a plan. Slade occasionally leaves us alone while he has a private mission or meeting that he doesn't want us going on. He has an office with computers and radios and such. If I can get in there while he's gone I can send a message or distress beacon to my family which would give them our location. I don't want to have to ask Katey for her help but seeing as we never know how long he's going to be gone I might need her help to hack through his systems and get the beacon sent before he gets back. It would be difficult for her. I don't know how she feels but I know she must be conflicted. Slade is her father. One of the only people she has a connection with. And she is terrified of him. I'm afraid that her fear will keep her from acting on what would be good for her, which is getting out of here. I decide that I won't tell her unless I absolutely have to, or at least not until I have the chance to act on this plan.

That chance comes three days later. Slade's out for some sort of mission. Katey said that he probably is getting paid to assassinate, someone. For all, he told us he could be gone for weeks. It is a chance to breathe, a chance to act on my plan. Katey however, is still tense as ever, just anticipating her father's return. I do need her help. For information at the least. I don't know what kind of security Slade has on his computers. If I do something wrong it could alert him of my activity immediately, which would bring him back almost as quickly. I need her to at least tell me how to get around it or what protections he has on his systems. The only issue is that I don't know how to approach her with this. I don't have time to debate this though, it's now or never. I find her in the training room, doing drills with a punching bag.

"Katey," I say quietly, afraid that Slade may somehow hear me. She stops, turning to me with a curious look.

"Yeah?"

"I've got an idea, but I need your help." She looks confused and a bit nervous. "My family can get us out of here but I need to give them some sort of signal to let us know where we are. If you can help me get on to Slade's computers I can send a signal to them and they will be able to find us", I explain. I can tell that she's processing, afraid to answer. She begins slowly shaking her head.

"That's too dangerous. He'd catch us somehow. He would know and he would be so mad. We can't Robin, he would kill us".

"I know it's dangerous but it's the only way either one of us is getting out of here. I promise you, if we do this my family will come, they will get us out, and they, WE, will protect you from Slade. I can't do this alone you know his systems better than I do and you can help me figure out how to send a signal faster. Please, this is our only chance". She swallows thickly, eyes pinched closed while she bits her lip, hands balled into fists at her side.

"Ok," she replies so quietly I almost didn't hear her. "I'll help. I can get you into his system but then the problem will be the bots," she tells me as she begins walking in the direction of Slade's office.

"Bots," I question.

"Robots. He has an army of them. Weaponized and well-programmed they are not easy to take down, especially in large numbers. One of your brothers has fought them. They will activate when your family gets here, like a security system. I've never been allowed to, mess with them, except for fighting purposes so I don't know if I can deactivate them all in time" she explains quickly.

We reach Slade's often and slip inside. She immediately begins typing on the computer, hacking. Impressively fast. She's fully concentrated on the screen and her fingers are moving across the keyboard so fast I can barely keep up with them.

"Here," she says while moving out from in front of the computer, "send a signal to them, we've only got a couple of minutes". I nod and do as I'm told. I've never needed to go this fast before, never been this afraid of what will happen if I fail. Our lives quite literally, could depend on how fast I can get this sent. Finally, after what feels like an eternity, it's done.

"Alright, I've done it, now it's just a matter of waiting for them to see the damn thing," I tell her. She nods before going back to the keyboard. "What are doing," I ask.

"Making it seem like we were never in here. He'll have to search around for a while before he will be able to figure out what we've done." She grabs my hand and begins pulling me in another direction. "Now, if we want your family to stand a chance we need to disarm or destroy some of the robots." She leads me quickly, not hesitating at any twist or turn until we come to a large room filled with nothing except the robots.

"Holy shit," I breathe in disbelief. There are hundreds of them.

"We've got to figure out how to break them enough that they can't fight", she begins, "then we can split up and take down as many as we can before anyone gets here."

"Right," I agree before we get to work. We try a lot of things, and we have to be careful lest we activate the damn thing. It seems like we've tried everything possible before we find some wires in the neck, just enough of them are exposed to cut them. There's also a panel in the chest that has wires and switched and such, it looks like it can be remotely activated. We destroy that area too. Katey takes a breath before trying the manual switch to activate it. We hold our breath but release it when nothing happens. We look at each other and nod before each going to our own bot and repeating the process. Robot after robot. It's never-ending I must have gone through at least three dozen by the time I notice my fingers are beginning to hurt. I

"And what do you two think you are doing," Slade's voice rings out from the doorway. My heart drops and my blood goes cold as I look up to see him staring us down, a katana drawn at his side.

MEANWHILE

A man dressed in black and blue sits at a massive computer. Head in hand, long ago having nodded off while desperately watching the screen for any signs of hope. The screen begins to beep, a map appearing with a red dot blinking rapidly at its center. Another boy, this one younger with orange, red, yellow, and black coloring his suit, ends his walk down the stairs by sprinting to the screen and shaking the other awake.

"Damian, Damian" the younger yells while shaking him. Damian starts, angry before he sees the screen.

"Tim go get Bruce and Jason right now, he orders. Tim nods and sprints back up the stairs.

"Don't worry little bird, we're coming for you", he breathes.