"Slade?"

"I'm here, apprentice." The villain stepped out from the shadows of the alleyway, gesturing for Dick to follow him.

While they had only met up a few times since Slade had first contacted him there, it had become the perfect meeting spot as the zeta tube entrance was in one of the worst parts of the city with numerous dark alleyways nearby to hide out in.

They walked in silence for a few long minutes, moving out of earshot from the entrance before Slade finally turned to look at him.

"I have been sifting through the League's databases, but they lack the key information which we seek. Information that I am sure is only stored in the Batcave. How is the progress on your end? Have you gotten in?"

Dick let out a frustrated sigh, shaking his head. "No, I haven't been able to. Batman is keeping me busy. He enrolled me in school. School, Slade. I've never been to school before. It's... it's frustrating, but I think it's mainly so that I can keep an eye on Artemis. He's always in the Batcave while I'm there too."

Ever since he had framed Tornado as the mole, Bruce had been acting off. If Dick did not know better, then he would have said Bruce knew. But there was no way he could know what Dick had done.

It was impossible.

He had made sure to leave no trace, and Slade had made sure to completely dispose of Red Tornado and the others, meaning that there was no possible evidence that Bruce could have against him.

Right?

Shaking his head with another frustrated sigh, Dick did his best to push the thoughts away. He could not risk second thinking himself. It would do no good to dwell on maybes.

"So, what you're saying is that you need another distraction?"

"I'm sorry, master. I really have tried to access it. But the time that it would take to get into those computers... well... someone is always there, always watching."

Slade nodded thoughtfully. "Alright then. Something will be arranged. Be ready to act."

"I'm always ready to act. You trained me, after all."

~•~

Dick frowned down at the box he was helping Aqualad carry, wondering why on earth becoming part of the Team also turned into putting away groceries. He did not even get to eat the food, seeing as how he did not live there and ate his meals at Wayne Manor.

It was ridiculous.

What made it even more ridiculous however, was the fact that the Team seemed to be gaining a new member.

Zatanna Zatara, daughter of Zatara who was a member of the Justice.

A magician.

Just what he needed.

Now Dick would have to be even more careful around the team. He had seen Zatanna in action, had seen her use spells to force the truth out of villains. There was no way that he could risk having that power used on him.

So, of course, he was forced to go the overly friendly and possibly flirty route. It made him feel stupid and uncomfortable, and he hated every second of it. Sure, Zatanna seemed like a genuinely nice person, and she did have a sense of humor, but Dick was far too on edge to actually try to get to know the girl.

"We can set it down here, Robin."

"What? Oh... right. The box. Sorry. Kinda zoned out for a sec there." Dick forced a laugh, grinning over at the Atlantian as he helped him slowly lower the box to the ground.

"Are you alright, my friend? You seem unusually out of it today." Aqualad asked, reaching over to place a hand on Dick's shoulder, the gesture which was probably meant to be comforting only coming across as patronizing to Dick's already straining mind.

He was about to shrug the hand away when a loud crash echoed through the room. Turning to look, Dick's eyes widened. Batman, Red Tornado, and Zatara were all gone. It was as if they had all just vanished into thin air.

Hiding his growing grin behind his hand, Dick fought the urge to laugh.

Slade really had gone all out this time.

Now all he needed to do was get to the Batcave and complete his part.

~•~

It had not been hard to convince the others of his need to return to Gotham for a short period of time. They trusted him when he said that he might be able to find answers for what had happened in Batman's databases.

The fools.

It did almost make Dick feel bad... almost. But he was above such simple things as remorse at this point. He was just doing what he needed to do, and if, when the time came, they did not understand that, well... Dick was not responsible for their feelings.

Or at least, that is what he told himself to lessen the growing knot of guilt rising in his stomach.

Alfred was gone, like all the other adults on the planet, leaving the manor feeling strangely cold and empty. Dick hated it.

"It's temporary... a necessary evil." He mumbled under his breath as he sat down in front of the computer and got to work.

Dick knew better than to even try repeating what he had done at the Mountain here. Batman would notice the program easily, and that would just make him go through all the other systems, inevitably leading to the other one being found.

No, this mission required less subtlety. It did not matter how he got in, just so long as he was able to properly cover his steps when getting back out.

And with that thought in mind, Dick got to work.

It was nearly two hours later by the time he was finally done, and the download was complete. Two hours of fighting firewalls and digging through layers upon layers of information. But, finally, he had all that he needed.

Dick stared down at the small flash drive in the palm of his hand, rolling it around between his fingers before he tucked it into his belt, hidden securely amongst four of its brethren

He had gotten lucky with this one. Almost too lucky. Or maybe Batman was really just that predictable. The guy really was an information hoarder. He had stuff on everyone... and that would be his downfall.

Carefully setting the chair back to how it had been before he entered, Dick returned to the cave, arriving just as the other Team members had finished communicating with the adults through Captain Marvel (Shazam).

And, just like that, Dick and the Team were heading off into battle to reconnect their world's reality.

~•~

Bruce frowned as he helped Dick up to his room, eyes narrowing in concern. "Are you sure you're feeling alright? According to the others, you took a pretty hard blast of magic."

"I'm fine... really... just feeling tired." Dick mumbled, giving him a weak smile.

He was not buying it. The boy looked dead on his feet.

"Come on then... let's get you to bed."

Bruce was practically supporting Dick's full weight by the time they made it to the younger male's room, and he could carefully ease him down onto the bed.

He watched as Dick slipped off his mask and rubbed sleepily at his eyes before reaching up and grabbing a pillow.

"How are you feeling... mentally? With everyone disappearing, I... I was worried that it might bring back unpleasant memories," he spoke softly, reaching over to gently brush down Dick's messy mop of raven black hair.

Dick only yawned, pressing his face further into the pillow. "Mmm... talk later... sleep now."

"Alright... sleep well." Bruce laughed softly, shaking his head in fond amusement as the boy quickly drifted off to sleep. He leaned over and pulled the blankets up over his son, making sure that he was comfortably situated before leaving the room and closing the door.

It must have been hard, figuring out what to do in such a dire situation, but Bruce was proud of what Dick and his friends had been able to accomplish. They had done well.

Things seemed to be going smoothly for both Dick and the Team, and Bruce could not have been happier for his adopted son. Or at least... he was until he re-entered the Batcave and noticed that the keyboard had been moved ever so slightly closer to the edge of his desk.

Someone else had used the computer.

It had probably just been Dick trying to find information, he had told Bruce that much on the way back, but something urged him to look closer, to look deeper.

Face drawing into a scowl, Bruce pulled up the footage for his backup emergency cameras, ones that ran on a completely separate system from the main computer.

After watching the footage, his scowl only deepened.

He needed to have words with his son.