Dick drifted back to consciousness. He registered nothing but pain of his whole body. He felt like he'd been hit by a bus. What had happened? Then it hit him. Slade. He sat up, his eyes shooting open.
That turned out to be a bad idea. Immediately he was consumed with pain, forcing him to close his eyes as the world spun.
"Robin, man, lie down!" Cyborg exclaimed, shoving him back down. Dick stayed there for a second, allowing the world to reorient. When the world stopped spinning, he opened his eyes.
"What happened?" Starfire asked, looking down at him, concern etched into her eyes.
"Slade," he replied.
"We know that," Cyborg retorted. "We had just got back from pizza when someone brought you in, unconscious. What did Slade do?" Someone had brought him in?
"Who?" he asked. Starfire and Cyborg looked at each other in concern.
"You do not remember who Slade is?" Starfire asked.
"Who brought me in?" Dick elaborated.
"We don't exactly know," Cyborg replied. "We were a little preoccupied with you being unconscious. She just brought you in here, and by the time we looked up to thank her, she was gone. She's not Slade's new apprentice or something, is she?"
"NO," Dick realized he may have put more force behind that than was necessary.
"Okay, calm down man," Cyborg said, looking slightly alarmed. "What did Slade do?"
"Nothing outside the usual," he lied. Starfire and Cyborg nodded, the usual was bad enough. The doors opened and in rushed Beastboy and Raven.
"Robin!" Beastboy exclaimed. "You're alive!"
"Um, yeah," Dick replied.
"How are you feeling?" Raven asked.
"Like I got hit by a bus," he answered. "But I'll be…" Raven had already raised her glowing hand and held it over his chest. Within seconds, the pain reduced to a dull ache. "Thanks Raven, but you don't have to do that every time I get hurt." Raven rolled her eyes, clearly saying "yeah, right."
"So Robin, who was that chick who brought you in here?" Beastboy asked. Raven slapped the back of his head in disapproval.
"Beastboy, he was unconscious, how would he know?" Cyborg countered.
"It's okay," Dick replied, sitting up and starting to get out of bed.
"Whoa, man, you should," Cyborg was cut off by a glare from Dick. He walked out of the medical wing, and back to his own room, followed anxiously by the other Titans. Once he entered his room, the door slid shut behind him. He walked over to his closet, and pulled out a spare uniform. Once he was once more dressed in a non torn outfit, he tossed the destroyed one into the trash, and walked back to his closet. He shoved aside the rows of exactly identical uniforms to reach the drawers at the back. He pulled out the lowest drawer on the left all the way, then lay down on the ground and reached into the opening, pulling out a simple brown shoebox. He sat up, staring down at the cardboard box. He hesitated for a second, then pulled off the lid.
Inside was a brightly colored costume much like his current one, except for the short pants and pixie boots. He pulled it out, placing it next to the box, revealing a small black cell-phone type device and several bits of paper. After a few seconds of shuffling through the paper, he found what he was looking for. He slid open his door and found himself standing nose to nose with Beastboy.
"Hey Robin," Beastboy said nervously, jumping backwards. Dick held up the photograph he'd found.
"This her?" he asked. Cyborg took the photo in his hand, confusion spreading across his face.
"Who is she?" Cyborg asked. Beastboy snatched the picture out of his hand.
"She's pretty cute," Beastboy reasoned.
"Give it back," Dick snapped, grabbing it out of Beastboy's hands.
"What, old girlfriend or something?" Cyborg teased. Dick frowned, and glanced down at the photo himself. It was really a pretty silly picture from just a few weeks before he left. In it was Barbra, dressed in her Batgirl costume, sitting on the floor of the Batcave with him. He couldn't really remember why, but Barbra was laughing hysterically at something, while his mouth was stuffed with cookies. Come to think of it, it might have had something to do with his mouth being stuffed with cookies and his puffy cheeks making him look like a chipmunk. He smiled and chuckled slightly.
"Old friend," he replied.
"Wait," Beastboy seized the photo again. "Is that you?"
"Yes," Dick snapped, taking the photo back. Beastboy burst out laughing. Raven slapped his head.
"What was she doing here?" Cyborg asked, choosing to ignore Beastboy.
"I have no idea," Dick replied. "But I plan on finding out."
Barbra stood outside the Batcave's holding cell. Inside lay Slade, having been dumped unceremoniously on the floor, utility-beltless. He slowly got to his feet, rubbing his head. He turned away from Barbra and sat down in the chair facing her.
"So," he drawled. "Where are we?" Barbra just crossed her arms and stared back at him. "I see; I'm getting the silent treatment. You know, if you're not going to say anything, you might as well leave." Barbra snorted. "Well, if you aren't going to leave, and you aren't going to talk, this is going to get awfully boring." Barbra once more didn't respond. "You know, two can play at that game."
About an hour later, Slade threw his hands up in the air.
"What's the matter with you?" he snapped.
"Nothing," Barbra replied. Slade leapt up in victory.
"Aha!" he exclaimed. "I got you!" Barbra rolled her eyes and uncrossed her arms, leaning towards the cell.
"Last I checked, you're the one getting all excited," she purred. Concern flashed across his face, and he composed himself again, sitting back down. Barbra smiled ever so slightly and leaned back.
"So what is it I did to provoke your wrath," he asked casually.
"Girl's tend to dislike it when you try to play armature barber on their hair," Barbra retorted, crossing her arms once more.
"Oh, I'm sorry," Slade replied. Barbra didn't reply. "You see this is how a good working relationship works. You tell me what's wrong, and I apologize for it. We could work together well."
"You talk too much."
"Kill-joy," Slade replied. "Are you sure you worked with Robin?"
"I don't know, did I?"Barbra uncrossed her arms and leaned on the table behind her.
"Last I heard," Slade retorted. "But he left, didn't he?"
"Did he?" Barbra asked.
"You're no fun."
"So I've been told."
"If you don't want to talk to me, what am I doing in here?" Barbra got up, smiling ever so slightly.
"You wanted to meet Batman, right?" she asked, walking over to the bars of the cage. Slade nodded uncomfortably. "Well, he's decided he wants to meet you." She smiled, walked back over and sat down.
"Really? Well this is exciting."
"You sure about that?" Barbra asked. "If I were you, I'm pretty sure I'd be a little worried about meeting him."
"And why is that?" Slade scoffed.
"I don't take kindly to people who mess with my family," Bruce snarled. Slade jumped, whirling around to face him. He quickly composed himself.
"Why I've been waiting to talk to you," he replied.
"You're from Jump, correct?" Bruce continued, ignoring Slade's coment.
"Yes, and I was wondering about your old…"
"You're the reason Robin was stealing from Wayne Enterprises?"
"Well, I—" Bruce moved in closer to the cage, glaring furiously.
"Were you…"
"Yes," Slade admitted. Bruce glowered. "Now now Batman, I was only trying to mentor him. After all, he's all alone in Jump since you threw him out." Bruce just continued to glare.
"Last I checked, he had some team mates in Jump," Barbra pointed out, staying around the edge of the room.
"Who you were threatening to kill," snarled Bruce.
"How did…"
"Stay away from Robin," Bruce snarled.
"And why—"
"Because you don't want to mess with us," Barbra agreed. Slade glanced back and forth between the two crowled faces. Then Barbra felt something vibrate in her pocket.
"Excuse me," she said, ducking out of the room. She walked into the hallway to find Alfred. "What's up Alfred?"
"Master Richard wishes to talk to you."
"What?"
"Master Richard wishes to speak with you," Alfred repeated.
"Uh, we're sort of buisy right now Alfred," she replied. Honestly, she had no idea wither she wanted to talk to him or not. She was leaning much more towards the "not" side. "I can't really talk right now."
"Perhaps you should tell him yourself?" Alfred suggested, waving her past him towards the door to the main room. Barbra sighed and walked forward. I guess I can just hang up on him or something. But it turned out Dick hadn't called, because he was standing in the middle of the room.
She stopped cold. About a hundred thoughts raced through her mind, the formost being "what the hell is he doing here?" He looked up at her, and walked over. He seemed to be fighting over what to say. Finally, he said,
"Why were you in Jump?" Barbra raised her eyebrows. That was it? We haven't seen each other for a year, and all he has to say is "Why were you in Jump? Dick started to open his mouth to say something else, but never got the chance, because Barbra clocked him with a right hook, spinning his head to the side and knocking him to the ground.
