Bruce still hasn't spoken to me and it's been three days. I was starting to become worried about him. Think of the devil.
"Team, report to the mission room." Batman said through the cave system and we all head over to said area.
His gaze skipped straight over everyone else to land on me, "This is going to be your first advanced mission." He explained, "If you are successful you will all be in the running for the justice league."
"The justice league? For real?" Wally squeaked out and Batman diverted his eyes from me for a second to give him a glare.
"Your mission is to join the dots of the kidnapping sprees." Bruce said as he brought up articles from 3 years ago up until now, "Everything you need has been transferred over to your computer already. Find a lead, find a culprit. We shall be assisting you to get this done before the next spree occurs. You start immediately."
Wally gave me a quick glance, Are you okay to do this? and I nodded. I needed to know what happened and if this was how it was going to happen, so be it.
By the time Wally and I arrived at the main computer the others had already opened the files and were about to go into the images.
"Are you sure you want to look at those?" Wally asked just before Kaldur could click onto them, "They're a tad horrifying."
I didn't know Wally had seen them, I guess it wasn't just Bruce who knew more about those periods than me, Wally did as well.
"They can't be worse than your face." Artemis joked as she took the mouse and clicked open the first image.
Instantly M'gann was gone to throw up, Kaldur following and Conner had to look away. Artemis took a second longer to react and she fainted where she was. Wally wasn't looking in the first place but he knew what to expect. I couldn't help but stare at the mutilated body on the screen as growing horror filled me. Eyes gone, one ear was gone, nose almost sideways, once cheek gone so that we could see the rotting gums and teeth being devoured by worms and flies. One leg was gone, only the bone telling us it was ever there and the stomach was ripped open to show most of its organs were gone, only it's lungs and kidney remained in the body. Oh god, oh god. The arms were practically gone as well, you could see the bone and sinew where the muscle had been eaten, but at no point would you say someone ate this poor chap, they just look like they were tortured. But I knew what I knew. And I ran to the kitchen to throw up in the sink. By the time I got back Artemis was awake and on the sofa, Conner was with her and Wally had removed the dreaded image from the screen.
"We're hunting someone who does that?" Artemis asked as I sat with the others, "No way. I retire now."
"Where's Kaldur and M'gann?" I asked, ignoring her comment.
"Still occupied in the bathrooms." Wally said, "They may be out for a while. It's a hard image to digest."
And I was gone again, throwing up in the bin by the corner. I didn't even have anything in my stomach anymore, just bile. I could feel the others watching me until I finished and wiped my mouth clean, heading back over.
"You better now?" Wally asked and I nodded, "Alright, so we know to avoid the images now, we need to get on with the written reports and plotting everything out so we can see where they strike."
"I can get all the places where Wayne's ward turned up." I suggested, "To add to the map."
"Good idea." Wally said with a small smirk my way, "I'll go read through the reports."
"I'll come with." I stood up instantly as well, my legs almost buckling, "I might notice a trend you don't."
Wally nodded and we headed back over to the computer, pulling up the news in the bottom corner in case there are any new developments. And that turned out to be the right idea. I beamed the screen to the living room as well so that Conner and Artemis could get their take on it.
"Another body has been found, Lianne Page who went missing just over 3 days ago has been found in a similar state to previous missing people. She has been found in a back alley by Wayne enterprises offices by the south river of Gotham, forensics teams are examining now. Unlike other scenes this scene contains a handprint on the wall, we believe it to belong to the murderer as it is too small to belong to Lianne. We shall keep you updated with any developments." The reporter said and I froze with panic.
They could identify me from the print, and then I don't know what would happen. I can't even defend myself because I don't know what happens. But the team and league would love this, any lead and they'll be on it like a hawk.
"I'll head down to the police." I whispered to Wally so that Conner couldn't hear me, "If Dick Grayson asks about it they might show without a warrant."
"Head down now. If you get anything, tell us." Wally said and I nodded to show I'd heard as the Zeta announced my departure.
I quickly changed from my costume to my casual clothes, jeans, top, sunglasses and trainers. And then I headed down to the station.

"Richard Grayson, what are you doing back here?" Officer Curtis said as I entered the station.
"I was watching the news and saw that you might have a lead on the murder and kidnapper." I said as I walked over to the desk, "I was wondering if I could see if the team have anything."
"Sure, wait here and I'll get what I can for you." Curtis said and headed away from the desk as I waited for him to return.
He took five minutes before he returned, a file in his hand, "If you give this to Wayne after your done with it, he can hand it to the league. We need all the help we can get before they strike again."
"Thanks." I took the file and left the station, reading through it as I walked.
There were files on each victim, passport photos of each and little folders which hid pictures of the ones that had been found. Then there was the file on me. Just the handprint. The blood had been identified as Lianne's but the hand had no solid prints, just a shape that they had analysed as best they could. Hopefully, they wouldn't get any further than that. I closed it back up and quickly got back to the cave to see the rest of the team and Canary waiting.
"One file about the victims and the kidnapper." I said as I held it in the air, "Who wants?"
"I take it you've already read through." Kaldur said and I nodded, "Anything?"
"A lot about the victims, but probably nothing new. The handprint blood was Lianne's but the handprint had no fingerprints, so they just have the measurements and a theory on the height." Which was alarmingly accurate, "Apart from that, nothing."
"It's better than what we had before." Canary said as she took it, "I'll show it to the league and then send a copy to you guys." And she left.
"Do they really not trust us with it?" Wally asked as I walked past them and into the living room.
"Of course they don't." Artemis sighed, "To them were still kids, we'll always be kids."
"That is not the case." Kaldur said, "They are probably analysing it to see what we should pick up as a test."
No one contradicted him, but no one agreed with him either. And he left it as everyone sat down around me.
"What should we do now?" M'gann asked.
"Maybe we should visit the crime scenes. See if the police missed anything." Conner suggested.
"That is a good idea." Kaldur said, "I say that we split into two teams, Artemis, Nightwing and Wally in one and Conner, M'gann and myself in the other. You guys go to Marcus' location and we shall take Cady's."
We nodded to show we'd heard, I kitted up, and we headed out to start our investigations.

"I've got the file." Canary said as she came back into the watchtower where I was waiting.
"Good, I just need to know about the killer." I said as I took the file and flicked to the last page to see the hand dimensions.
And silently cursed, my suspicion had been right. I gave the file back to Canary and headed back to the Batcave, ignoring her questions. I headed straight over to the computer and searched the dimensions in, looking for any other match than the one I knew it would be. Only a few came up, other kids the same age as him that didn't seem like the type. But just because my hunch was right didn't mean Dick was really the killer, he would never do something like that. Maybe he had just dipped his hand in some of her blood by accident and then leant against the wall. But the chances of that, slim. I just have to keep an eye on him for now, see if he does anything suspicious about this case. That was half the reason I gave them the case, to see Dicks reaction. And so far he'd been bringing up positives to my predictions, which was not good.
God, I so hoped I was wrong.

The scene had been cleaned up quite well, and the fact that no one really came down here after what I did helped to keep it clean.
"It looks clean." Artemis said as she did a quick sweep.
"Then look closer." I said as I knelt down to examine the cracks in the concrete, "They always miss something."
I could hear Artemis roll her eyes as she moved over to the wall and started looking whilst Wally took a wider perimeter to see if there was anything further off. But he came back a full minute later with nothing to report. He started to help with the opposite wall. I was about to call it a day when I saw a spot of dead flesh in a crack. I pulled my tweezers out and dislodged it, putting it in a safe seal bag. Hopefully, it would be useful.
"I've got something over here." Artemis called and I went over, "A small scratch, looks like it was made by nails." And it did. Gloved nails by the distance and depth. I quickly snapped a photo on my phone and went back to searching the floor. But there was nothing else of interest.
"We've surveyed the area, we got some dead skin and scratches on the wall, same height up at the handprint was." I said through our comm link, "Anything on your side?"
"Dried blood on the balcony above. We're bringing it back for analysis." Kaldur replied, "We shall be a few more minutes to check over the rest of the scene and meet you back at the cave."
"Alright. See you soon." I said and cut the line, "Alright, let's get analysing these then."
"Aren't you taking the plaster?" Wally asked, indicating where I'd put some shape holding plaster over.
"I'll be back for it later. It's not dried yet." I said as I continued back to the cave.
It didn't take long to get to the cave and Artemis and Wally headed into the main room to check if the scans of the files had been sent through, which it had. I quickly placed the dead skin in the containment and started the scan, it would only take a couple of minutes.
Kaldur, M'gann and Conner arrived back at the same time that the bioscan had finished on the dead skin.
"Perfect timing guys." Wally grinned, "The scan has just finished, Nightwing, if you would like to show us the results."
"It would be my pleasure." I said as I opened up the file and we looked at the match, "Marcus Nichols. Really?"
"I mean, at least we know it's correct." Artemis said, "Kaldur, do you want to scan in the dried blood?"
"Already on it." He said as he closed the containment and the scan began, "It should only take a couple minutes."
"Could you wait for me to get back, I'm going to go get the plaster." I said and they nodded as I left.

The bioscan pinged and I zetaered to the cave.
"Batman, why are you here?" Kaldur asked as I entered the lab.
"I need to see that scan, before Nightwing does." I explained.
"Of course, but may I ask, why?" He stood away from the screen as I moved over to it.
"No." I replied shortly as the screen came up with a match, Richard Grayson.
"Richard Grayson." Kaldur said from behind me, "But why is his blood there?"
"That's what I intend to find out." I growled as the cave announced said man's entrance, "Nightwing, in here with me now. Everyone else out."