The only thing that could be noted about the majority of time passing in the Batmobile was that Dick seem to notice any of Batman's wary glances towards him. He had expected questions and nattering, even an emotional breakdown but he just sat there staring out of the window. It made sense, the boy had just seen his parents die; what do you say to that? He only hoped it was not that this was a temporary behaviour.

If Dick was the calm ocean then his mind was the oncoming hurricane. At any moment he could snap and not even he let his thoughts venture much farther than the lights that passed him on the other side of the window. Buildings and cars whizzed past and he had only just started to take real notice of them beyond shapes and colours, it was like everything started to pour back into his eyes and fill his vision and anything between then and the incident was just limbo. He was still there floating in the aftermath, he would say yes to anything, maybe that would affirm it was all just some horrific dream. It had to be one of those sleeps where the dreams seem so real but in the pit of your stomach you know they aren't yet you go along with them. No, this was quite the opposite of that.

They were gone. Truly gone. Everything he had known and learnt from had been snatched from him. Who would teach him now? Who would love him? There was an emptiness that was making an unwelcome home of him and his hands were on his stomach as it felt like it was physically taking shape. He wanted to throw it up and he resisted the bile that threatened to make him spew. He held on to himself, whatever he could grasp that was left to hold on to. His memories no longer felt comforting like they had done, they felt mocking. The bliss of what had been made the reality all the more sour. He wanted to hide away in this impossible vehicle forever, funny how he had not been taken with awe at the first sight of it like he might have been once. Still he was happy to be passenger in it simply because it hid him from everything outside that he knew he would have to face. People could not expect him to carry on living after this. He could not return to the circus or to school, it was impossible and moreover it was futile. There wasn't much point to anything in Dick's eyes anymore and other people were so… needy. All those people at school who would surely hoard him and question him all the while preaching all was done in reverent care of him at which point he would have to retreat to the bathroom just to avoid them. Maybe sit in a cubicle in his own silence thinking of nothing in particular until people got suspicious. Someone would come searching for him, someone always would, and most likely it would be Jason.

Wait, what about Jason? Oh, he had left him there hadn't he? Well, could be worse, he supposed, it isn't like Jason can't take care of himself.

There was no time to think if that was too quick to assume, they were driving into less populated areas and before it registered they were driving through a tunnel. After the long linear drive to the other end Dick was finally left in genuine amazement. Kids at school would make the occasional joke of 'Batman returning to his cave' but the thought never occurred to him that it might be true and he was sure that if it had, this would be along the lines of what he imagined. He looked at the Batman who was out of the car with a wave of his cape. Energy found him soon enough for him to bound out after him.

He spun twice on the spot to get a good view of everything, it was the strangest blend of gothic-naturalism-meets-cutting-edge-technology. Everything on the floor was powered and metal but looking up it was simply a dripping empty cavern. All the same, Dick thought it was breathtaking, from the stalagmites overhead to the large monitors Batman was moving towards. Now those looked like fun. After he got a grip he returned his attention to- wait, was Batman smiling at him?

'Uh, nice place,' was all Dick managed to squeak.

'Thanks,' said Batman, perhaps Dick had imagined it.

'So, I suppose this is where you tell me all that stuff you couldn't tell me before,' he interrupted before Batman even had the chance to speak. He wasn't sure why he did it but after Batman turned his full body around and stepped towards Dick obviously ready to say something profound he started motor-mouthing. He put it down to the silence during the trip, the over-thinking had made him restless.

'Sorry, uh,' in a counter-productive attempt to avoid awkwardness Dick continued to talk, 'I just really would like to know why you've brought me here, please and thank you.'

The Batman stood there stunned and Dick quickly averted his gaze to something else, his spandex-clad feet did the trick. He felt awfully silly in the get-up and he wished at the very least he was in different clothes. He supposed if he dared he would wish a lot was different.

After what felt like far too long to be an acceptable pause, The Batman continued where he had not got to leave off, 'You're raw, I understand. I also understand you will not have the patience for sugar-coating so I'll spare you the small talk; I need you. There's a lot I can't do when I'm out on the field and your skill set would fill in most those blanks, you can bet I've been doing my homework on you, Richard Grayson, and it seems our time living separate lives has been cut short.

'Had you not just been pulled from witnessing your parents fall to their deaths (Dick looked like he wanted to say something but he was not given an opening) I would say there is no need to feel anxious. I would be lying. You have every need to be anxious and I can bet you won't be feeling a shred of anything besides grief and apathy. Because of this, you are not immediately useful but I do intend to start training you as soon as possible so please know I will need you to keep your strength up. Now this won't be the sort of training you will have experienced in the circus but your acrobatics will be necessary in a field of combat-'

'Well you can't have them!'

Batman stopped speaking immediately but his eyes and lips did not indicate a change in his stoic. There was a change in Dick, he had lunged towards Batman and yelled his protest without hearing the man who he had been in awe of but an hour ago. It was a flash of his mind unlocking itself.

'You can't just whisk me away after I saw … what happened. And how dare you say it so casually! My parents are dead! They died right before my eyes and … and you want to throw me into freaking battle? No. No!' His emotions started to balance out again and he hung his head a little, 'I…I'm sorry but you don't get to decide that.'

Their old friend silence had returned. When The Batman spoke it was as if no voices had rose as he sounded as calm as he had before.

'Dick, you aren't thinking straight, you're still in shock but you need to understand. There is a time for grief and there is a time for duty and there will be a time for duty.'

'Duty? But you're the one who brought me here.'

'You came of your own accord.' For some reason The Batman said this rather quietly.

'Yeah, I admit that was pretty stupid now.'

'It wasn't, you didn't know what else to do,' said Batman, Dick folded his arms and took a few steps away in silent protest. He could not bring himself to look at this man who was asking far too much of him at the most inappropriate time.

'I see I can't reason with you right now,' Now he could, Dick whipped around in disbelief but The Batman was turning away to head off into a lift.

'You're kidding. You can't just leave me here alone!' Dick ran after him.

'I'm not,' said Batman as the elevator doors closed on him.

Dick looked around the cave, it soon seemed as dark and grim as it actually was. Batman had taken his rose-tinted view of himself and everything he had created with him when he left Dick on his own underground and fear found him. He could he the sound of bats somewhere above him and realising how cold it was he hugged himself, his hands rubbing his ribcage.

The sound footsteps joined the echoing of the bats and Dick saw an elderly man wearing a shirt and expensive-looking cardigan had emerged from another lift.

'You must be Master Richard,' he had a cockney accent and a warm smile, though it was tinged with something else .

'Uh…' he was a bit taken back by the word 'master'. 'It's Dick, actually.'

'Let me show you to your room.'

'My room?' asked Dick.

'Yes, sir,' said the man bowing his head a little, 'unless you would prefer to stay down here?'

'No, thank you!' he could not have spoken quicker and then he flushed. This man, presumably Batman's servant, had not given him reason to be impolite and he actually seemed sweet. Dick thought he looked very out-of-place down there in the cave.

He was led through a hall out of the lift and into a secret passage which opened to a luxurious reading room. When he looked back he could see that the panel they had come through was a bookcase on the other side.

'Classic,' Dick thought aloud.

The butler looked back at him, 'I like it too.' They shared a chuckle which Dick almost felt guilty for, was it too soon to laugh?

'Uh, sir,' asked Dick, 'what should I call you?'

'My name is Pennyworth, Master Dick. Alfred Pennyworth,' the butler, endeared by such a young boy being thoughtful enough to ask him his name, bowed his head a little with that warm smile of his, 'but please just call me Alfred.'

Dick smiled back, he liked that name instantly.

'Can I call you Al?'

Alfred chuckled and nodded.

The bedroom he was brought to was probably bigger than a floor of his previous house, he wasn't too surprised after the glimpses of the rest of the manner but it still humbled him. The bed alone looked like it would take up the floor of his old bedroom and there was a lit open fire across the room from it. There was a little sadness about the room that he felt and that was he knew just what he would have done in another frame of mind. He would have slammed onto the sheets hooting and howling then maybe curled in front of the fire like a dog. Instead he went to sit gently on the edge of the bed and take in the beauty of the place, the butler looked at him with genuine concern – Dick then noticed that was what he had seen in him like earlier.

'He is going to keep me here until I say I'll help him, isn't he?'

Alfred blinked a few times at the carpeted floor then sat beside Dick, 'There are laws against that and I'm sure you know he is, well, mostly in favour of the law. He won't keep you here forever but he may not take no as an answer.'

Dick shook his head, 'Then I'll keep telling him it until he does.'

'Master Dick, I know this is all very hard and well, this is not my place to say, I don't believe you should have been asked of this all so soon. But know this, my boy, he does have your best interests in mind.'

'He sure has a funny way of showing it,' Dick scoffed.

'True, but rings true all the same. You must understand this, his world is run on that of a duty not only to the people of Gotham but to himself and that duty lies with his moral code. There are those who have the power to take action and do something in the world that could provide everyone with the justice they deserve and he firmly believes they have a moral obligation to do so, a duty if you will.'

'But what can I do? I'm just…' Dick touched his chest and thumbed at the straps of his shining leotard.

'Master Wayne thinks in the current situation you are the same as he when he first took up The Batman mantle.'

'Wayne?' Dick's featured scrunched a little trying to work out why he had said, wait, this place… the furniture, the décor. His eyes widened with realisation.

'Bruce Wayne the billionaire?' he whispered, then paused. The meaning of Alfred's words had dawned on him when he made the connection, 'Bruce Wayne the orphan billionaire.'

Of course, it all started to make sense. Bruce Wayne's parents had been shot, he remembered being told about it by one of the foster kids at school who had heard stories back at the orphanage and everyone figured that was why he was so intent to pour money into the Harvey Dent Foundation, he was after all the Gotham's D.A. There was also Batman's comment about time being 'cut short', there was a scandal concerning Wayne at court a few years ago concerning the prosecution against one man accused of killing the Waynes and for a while the press wrote Bruce off as being 'mad'.

The Batman seemed like a logical follow-up to this outburst.

Dick told Alfred he needed some time alone, that he was too exhausted to take in everything and Alfred left the boy to sleep. The rest of the night for him consisted of crying and thought-processing but by the time he did sleep it was deep and dreamless.

It was past lunch when he was woken by Alfred carrying a tray of food, a full breakfast with a glass of fresh orange juice and homemade blueberry muffin. Dick sat up and let Alfred rest the tray over his legs, the food looked like something out of an advertisement, his appetite returned on command.

After he wolfed his food down and started picking at the muffin, full but still with the intention of eating everything, Alfred excused himself. The door did not have chance to close behind him as someone came into the room as soon as he left. Bruce Wayne was adjusting the cuffs of his unbuttoned shirt and looked pleased to see the boy had cleaned his plate.

The two were together in silence again, Dick picking at his muffin refusing to make eye contact just yet. Bruce fell back on his mask of charm, 'Good, you still have an appetite.'

Dick eyed the piece of muffin between his finger and thumb, 'Did Alfred make this?'

'Yes, he did.'

Only then did Dick continue to eat.

Bruce shifted uncomfortably, 'I'm sorry I didn't tell you myself, but after we spoke in the cave-'

'It's fine.' Dick looked at him, 'We've only just met, right?'

'Right,' he nodded.

'And you want me to make a decision, right?'

Bruce pressed his lips, there was no way to be delicate about this after their conversation in the cave, 'Yeah. But you can take as much time as you need, but whilst y-'

'It's alright,' Dick took in a breath, he leaned his head back against the headboard and considered himself carefully. Bruce waited patiently for what he had to say.

He moved the tray away from him and pushed the duvet off his legs so he could swing them over the bed and got to his feel. He was in a shirt much too large from him and his boxers but he felt less ridiculous than he had in the outfit he had arrived in. Stroking the sheets absently he considered his next words, then looked up spoke clearly, his words quite surprised Bruce indeed.

'I made one. I've made my decision.'