Broken Trust: Shattered Family

By

AJ

Prologue: Cheat!

"My plan is simple. I want Dick Grayson. I've been watching him. He has what I lost, a big house, fancy cars, money, and a family that loves him. And I can't stand that. How did I learn about Mr. Grayson? I read about the trial. See, he testified against someone I loved. I was hoping to do it sooner, but you know how Mothers are. She sent me to college with the money she saved from my father. So, I had to wait, wait for the right time. Six years of college and two years with the Bar. My specialty? I can't tell you that. It might give me away. Being that it would also be so ironic, since whom my father was, he's been gone now for four years. And that's another reason why I want Dick Grayson. And with my education, I learned it's all about the evidence. It's got to be pretty damning, because if it's not, well . . . .We shall see. Oh yeah. I want Dick Grayson, very, very badly."

"Dick Grayson," Mrs. Langdon approached the 15 year old in the school library. "You're wanted in Principal Schoolfield's office."

"What's this about?"

"I was told to send for you, nothing more."

Dick Grayson walked into Principal Schoolfield's office to see a stern-faced Bruce Wayne, his arms crossed over his chest. What was going on? What was Bruce doing here? He obviously was angry about something, but Dick could not fathom what it could be.

"Mr. Schoolfield, you wanted to see me?" Dick asked.

"Yes, Richard, we . . ."

"Why did you do it, Dick?" Bruce Wayne interrupted.

"Do it . . . Do what?" Dick asked confused.

"I thought I taught you better than that," Bruce continued, as if he had not heard the question.

"Now, Mr. Wayne let's not over reach. I want to hear what Mr. Grayson has to say for himself."

'Say for myself,' Dick thought. It sounded like he was in some kind of trouble, but he didn't know what he might have done to warrant such a reaction. "Honestly, Bruce I don't know what this is about."

"Do you deny it?" Bruce questioned, becoming perilously close to sounding like his alter ego.

"Deny what?" Dick asked, his voice still expressing the confusion that he knew nothing in regards to whatever they were assuming he had done.

"Cheating, Dick! Cheating!' Bruce yelled.

Dick was astounded. 'Cheating?' He never cheated in his life. "I . . . I . . . I never . . ."

"Never dreamed we would find out?" Bruce interjected, his voice growing harder by the minute.

"No . . . that's not what I meant," Dick argued. "Bruce, you know I would never do that."

"Then how do you explain this?" Bruce handed Dick a small stack of papers that were stapled at the corner. They were the new pre-college exam papers, not just the test questions, but the answers as well.

"I don't understand," Dick said, still confused.

Mr. Schoolfield shook his head, "After the Joker tried to get the basketball team suspended with the examination papers we could not be sure that any of the team members might have been tempted to cheat. So, I requested that new questions as well as a new answer key be given and the old one be scrapped. These are the new questions and answer key."

"I've never seen this," Dick tried to explain. "I've been studying . . ."

Mr. Schoolfield continued as if he had not heard Dick Grayson's explanation. "For now the exams have been postponed from the last incident and to give students more time to study. They will be in two weeks, but you will not be allowed to take them."

"What? Mr. Schoolfield, Bruce, I haven't . . . I don't . . . "

"Mr. Grayson," Mr. Schoolfield stated. "I checked my safe yesterday. They were there. This morning, they turned up missing. I had every locker checked before classes were to begin. These papers, the questions and answer key were found in your locker. Can you explain how they got there?"

"I don't know how," Dick said.

"There were school activities here last night," Mr. Schoolfield stated. "Were you here?"

"I was with the student council. We had a meeting on who should do the commencement speech for graduation," Dick said. It was one of those rare occasions that Batman and Robin had not been needed. "We went through several applicants. We were there for four hours."

"So, you were here and being here, you had access to my office."

"I never went . . . " Dick started to say, but Mr. Schoolfield continued to talk.

"Someone came into my office and opened my safe. I changed the combination after the last time. And to find that the papers were in your locker, and you have not explanation how they got there, this is a very serious infraction. I am sorry that I have to do this. You will not be allowed to graduate with your classmates this year."

Dick was mortified. He'd been a straight A student all year. He was graduating with honors, at least he was supposed to. Even so, it wasn't just the fact that he would have to repeat his senior year it was the fact that Bruce also didn't believe him. The look on Brcue's face told it all.

"But I didn't steal the papers," Dick said, his voice sounding small.

"No more argument," Bruce said. "You are grounded. 'No outside activities' and when you come home from school, you are to go to your room, work on your schoolwork, and take your meals in your room. There is still six weeks before the summer starts. That should be sufficient."

'Six weeks!' Dick couldn't believe what Bruce was saying. The emphasis on 'outside activities' was perfectly clear. It would seem that Robin was grounded, too.

Continues with Part 1: Home Not So Sweet Home