-Recognized Batman 02-

-Recognized Robin B07- 

"Huh... you know, I can't say I knew where you were storing them, but this place isn't half bad. Consider me thoroughly whelmed." Dick commented, eyes roaming over the clearly high-tech equipment in the otherwise fairly barren area adjoining the zeta tubes.

Batman sighed, shaking his head and walking toward the living area of the mountain. "Please at least try to be on good behavior, okay? I know it's probably going to be awkward at first but try to keep the strange behavior to a minimum."

Dick frowned, glancing up at his mentor, anxiety ridden eyes hidden behind his mask. "What if they don't like me, Br-Batman? I don't... I can't even remember the last time I hung out with kids my own age."

"It'll be fine. If you don't like them or this doesn't work, you can always leave. There is no obligation to stay." Batman reassured, placing a comforting hand on Dick's shoulder.

Dick took in a shaky breath, nodding. He was not faking the anxiety this time. He really had no idea how to interact with people his own age. The last time he had spoken to a non-adult had been at the boys' home and that was years ago.

Besides, he barely even talked to them.

His last genuine friend had been Tommy, but Tommy was long gone.

Tommy had abandoned him.

Everyone abandoned him.

Everyone but Slade.

As they stepped into the living room, Dick did his best to brace himself for conversation. It could not be that bad, right?

Boy was he wrong.

He could practically feel the stares burning into his skull.

Batman cleared his throat, hand remaining on Dick's shoulder, something that, in the moment, Dick took comfort in. "Team, this is my partner, Robin. I will be sending him with you on today's mission."

Dick did a little, awkward, wave. "Hi."

The speedster was the first to step forward, a friendly grin spreading across his lips as he offered Dick his hand. "Hi, Rob. Do you mind if I call you Rob? I'm Kid Flash."

"Rob... sure. I don't mind." Dick took his offered hand, returning the speedster's grin. The other boy was so easy to read. "You work with the Flash, right? Your speed powers are totally asterous. I wish I could do stuff like that."

Kid Flash grinned even wider. "Nah. I've seen you on the news. You've got some pretty sick moves yourself."

Naïve. Easy to manipulate.

"Come on, I'll introduce you to the rest of the team."

Dick let the redhead tug him away from Batman, nodding and greeting everyone as politely as he could. After all, it would not do to make enemies this early on.

"This is Miss Martian. She's got super cool telepathy powers and can go invisible."

The green girl smiled sweetly, waving at Dick. "Please, just call me M'gann."

Awkward. Probably even more naïve than Kid Idiot.

Next came Superboy, also known as Conner Kent. "He's like Superman, but no flight or laser eyes."

Short tempered. Not very smart.

"Kaldur, Aqualad, is our leader. He's Atlantean."

This one would be dangerous. Smart.

Kid Flash paused as he pointed to the last person, a blonde girl with a green superhero outfit. "Oh, and that's Artemis. She's a pain."

The last part was whispered to Dick, and he could not resist letting out a small laugh, nudging Kid Flash with his elbow. "Right, right. Okay. It's nice to meet you all."

His eyes narrowed under his mask as he watched the girl, Artemis, warily.

Dick knew this girl.

Artemis Crock, rogue daughter of Sportsmaster.

She had a role to play, even if she did not yet know it.

The room settled into a semi-awkward silence as the introductions came to a close, and Dick found himself unable to resist sending a pleading look back towards Batman.

As much as he hated the hero, he knew how to take a hint.

"Alright. Now that you have all been introduced, I would like to discuss our mission. If you would..." Batman gestured toward the training area before making his way over there himself. It only took a few moments for him to pull up a map and begin explaining their mission.

"The Watchtower detected an immense power surge in the Bialyan desert. Spectral analysis revealed elements non-terrestrial in origin. Find out what happened at that site; what landed there. Bialya is a rouge state ruled by Queen Bee and not a member of the League's UN charter. All communications are subject to interception. Maintain radio silence at all times. You'll land in Qurac on Bialya's border two clicks from the hotspot."

Each new piece of information came with a photo, which Dick quickly memorized. He knew of Queen Bee. While he had never run into her personally, Slade had made sure that Dick memorized the powers and attributes of villains as well as heroes.

There was no such thing as too much information.

The team broke up after the briefing, heading to their rooms to gather up whatever they needed for the mission. Meanwhile, Batman lead his partner to a secluded corner.

"Are you sure you want to go with them? There's still no harm in returning with me."

If Dick did not know better, he could have sworn that Batman was concerned for him. He rolled his eyes under his mask, shaking his head. "I want to do this. I... I'm ready for this. Don't you trust me, dad."

The last word was whispered, but it was the perfect added effect.

Batman's shoulders slumped ever so slightly as he reached forward, tugging Dick into a hug. "I do trust you. I know that you'll do great. It's just hard knowing that if something happens, I won't be there to protect you. Promise me you'll be careful."

Dick nodded, stepping back from the hug. "I promise. And if it isn't totally asterous, then I can always just make it a one-time thing. After all, how hard can one mission be?"

~•~

Six months.

That was what was missing.

Why six months? Dick was honestly not sure.

Hell, he was not even sure where he was.

Some kind of desert?

But why would he be in a desert?

Batman had barely started letting him go out to fight. There was no possible way that the hero had let him go to a desert of all places.

Nope.

Not possible.

Batman was more smothering than his mother had been, and that was when he was a kid and incapable of taking care of himself.

The only possible explanation for this was that it was a test.

And these kinds of tests only came from one person.

Slade.

But why would Slade interrupt the plan for a test?

Dick sighed, shaking his head and standing slowly, eyes scanning the vast expanse of sand stretching out in every direction. "Well, at least I can check off sightseeing as a possibility," he mumbled to himself.

There.

A piece of black fabric lay a few meters away. Maybe it had a clue?

No.

Just a Superman symbol. Why would a Superman symbol be out in a desert?

"Nope. Totally not feeling the aster on this one." Dick sighed, fingers tapping at his holo-glove, turning it on and pulling up his coordinates.

Weird.

He had a GPS marker down not far from his current location. Strange, yes, but a clue nonetheless.

If this was Slade, Dick would make sure not to disappoint his master. If it was someone else playing tricks with him, Dick would make them pay.

Unfortunately, rather than bring some clarity, the marked location only caused more confusion.

Why did he mark the location of a weird looking box?

The empty space in his memory was giving Dick a headache. He had been trained to resist mind tricks. It was shameful to have fallen for one now, even if Slade had been the cause of it.

Especially if Slade caused it.

Dick eyed the metal box for a few long moments before coming to a decision. There was no harm in at least trying to figure out what the thing was or if it did anything useful.

He had only taken a few steps toward the box when the soldiers attacked. A slow smile spread across his lips.

Finally, something interesting.

But no, even the rush of fighting had to be ruined by kiddy heroes showing up. Even worse, Dick only recognized one of them, and of the ones that he did not recognize, one was clearly a Martian.

His eyes narrowed, stance shifting ever so slightly. If the Martian was behind this memory gap, then that would mean that she had been in his mind.

She would know.

"Robin! You're okay!" Miss Martian exclaimed, drifting down to the sand and stepping toward Dick.

Dick frowned, raising a hand. "Stay back." While the Martian certainly was not acting like she knew his secret, Dick was still extremely on edge. Better to play it safe. "No offense, but I don't know if I can trust any of you. I haven't even metany of you. So until you can prove that you're not enemies, I don't want you stepping any closer."

"Oh, come on... we totally just helped save you from those soldiers. There's no way you would have gotten them all by yourself. Besides, I'm guessing you're missing six months too, right?"

Dick turned ever so slightly, narrowing his eyes at Kid Flash. "How do you know about the memory gap?"

"It's happened to all of us." The third girl spoke, staying close to Kid Flash.

Miss Martian nodded. "I can help. We're on a mission, your first mission with the team, actually, Robin, but... something went wrong. I'm not sure what. I can't remember. But if you let me help, I can piece together our memories.

"So you want me to grant you access to my mind? No way. Not happening." Dick protested, suspicion practically radiating from his body.

"I promise I won't do anything besides restoring what was lost. Don't you want to know how you got here? How we got here?"

Dick frowned. It was a reasonable argument. Besides, this was just the kind of thing that Slade would do to test his mind blocking abilities. Was that the purpose? To throw him into a situation where the only way out was to open up his mind to the Martian?

It was certainly a devious enough plan to be from Slade.

"Fine. But only the past six months," he reluctantly agreed, doing his best to build up his mental defenses before the Martian went in.

~•~

"So, how was your first mission with the team?" Bruce asked later the morning as they sat around the breakfast table.

Dick hid his grin behind his mug of coffee. "It was... interesting. But I think I want to continue doing missions, if that's alright with you."

Interesting was certainly the best way to describe what had happened in that desert. Sure, things had gone far off course, but it had been fun.

Dick could almost imagine himself becoming friends with the members of the Team... his teammates now.

But no.

The plan came first.

The plan always came first.