"Are we in agreement? This is the one?" Ra's al Ghul asked his compatriots, eyes never leaving the screen in front of him which showed a picture of a young boy with messy raven black hair. 

Yes, he would do quite nicely. 

Innocence practically radiated off the image, the boy's bright blue eyes naive and all too trusting. All it would take was a nudge in the right direction. Well, more like a shove, but the words were synonymous in the villain's vocabulary.

Queen Bee hummed, nodding her approval. "He will suit quite nicely." She loved the irony of this plan; having the Justice League defeated by one of the so-called innocents that they fought so hard to protect. What a brilliant why to show the world that even their protectors should be feared. "But are you sure that we want to wait on it? I still think it would be better to just take the child."

Luthor rolled his eyes as he sighed in clear irritation. "We've been over this. We cannot directly take the child without jeopardizing his trust. Children are delicate. We must build the foundations or else the plan will crumble."

"Well then, it is decided. Phase one is now in effect." Vandal Savage spoke with authority, ending the dispute before it escalated further. They had been discussing this plan for months at this point, and he was done with the talking.

One by one, the other Light members left the call and Vandal Savage leaned back in his chair, an eerie smile spreading across his lips as he continued to gaze at the face of the smiling child. 

While the boy might not know it yet, he was now property of the Light, and soon the Flying Graysons would have their wings clipped for good.

--

Dick did not understand how things had gone so incredibly wrong.

Did it start that morning when he had landed wrong in practice and been told not to perform? Was it after dinner when he had gone to check the lines for his parents? Or maybe it was when he saw the dark caped figure standing in the shadows?

He had told his parents, of course he had, but they worked for a circus. There were plenty of strangely dressed people wandering about. Far too many to be concerned about one man with a bat mask and a cape.

The images replayed over and over and over again, people's screams echoing inside his head along with the awful sound of his parents' bodies hitting the ground, bones crunching and blood splattering across the ground.

Traumatized and alone, the young boy curled into a tight ball, huddling under a blanket in a corner of the busy police department, his lips whispering the same words on repeat until it became a mantra: "It's just a dream... just a dream... just a dream."