Dick's eyes shot open as he held back a gasp. Another nightmare. It was the third one this week. He had two weeks of peace after the incident with his mother but even with the comforting familiarity of Zitka, the stuffed elephant, his dreams came back with a vengeance. The brief terror of the dream faded and he ran a hand through his hair. He took a deep, cleansing breath. He hates nightmares. They always rattled him and left him feeling more exhausted than when he went to sleep. He gazed out the window at the dark sky. It was nearly dawn.

Dick changed quickly and quietly, not wanting to disturb his roommate. He stepped out of the trailer and took a deep breath of humid Atlanta air. He took off, running a few circuits around the perimeter of the circus grounds as he did every morning. He let his thoughts wonder as he ran. This mission was becoming difficult. He had a job to do and it didn't help that he was allowing himself to get attached. Alex was going to be a talon and Dick was going here to make sure that happened. That was the end of it, but a part of him wasn't willing to put it to rest.

What about the rule of one?

Dick paused next to a chain-link fence. The rule of one, he had forgotten about that. Only one talon per family. The rule was instated years ago to avoid unnecessary complications. It kept the authorities from connecting the… disappearances to the Court and to prevent any attachments from forming between talons. Attachments jeopardize the mission. However, his mission was disregarding that rule. Why was… Dick shook his head to clear it of these thoughts. It was not his place to question the Court.

He was about to continue his run when something caught his eye. The chin-links were slack and curling away from the metal rod that secured them. He went to the fence and pulled back the links. The hole was big enough to admit someone of Johnny's size, perhaps his father's if they squeezed. He turned his eyes to the ends of the links. The fence was rusted and tarnished from the years of being exposed to the elements, but the ends were shiny, silver, and new. This hole was made recently. Dick's eyes narrowed as he pulled a piece of fabric from the fence. Black polyurethane, fake leather, probably torn from a biker jacket. The dirt around the hole was shifted inwards towards the circus. It was caused by something sliding along the ground through the hole.

Dick stood and ran back towards camp. Someone was on the grounds. If it was just some stupid kids looking for a thrill, he would take care of them. If it was something else…well, he would take care of them too. He weaved in and out of the shadows, becoming a shadow himself. His senses were attuned for anything out of the ordinary. A shout from his right drew him towards Jack Haley's trailer. He approached silently and peered through the window. Two men had Haley cornered behind his desk, one had a knife and the other had an aluminum bat. They had their backs to the door but they would hear him when entered. He would have to move fast. He took a deep breath and twisted the knob.

Time seemed to slow down as he moved. Dick saw the guy with the knife turn towards him. He quickly grabbed his wrist and twisted the knife from his hand. The man cried out in pain as Dick placed a jab to his liver. Dick heard a whistle of wind and ducked just as the bat sailed over his head and slammed into the wall. He turned sharply and delivered a devastating kick to the man's knee. There was an audible snap and the man crumpled, howling and clutching at the offending appendage. A sudden bang sounded and Dick felt a burn in his side. Damn, there was third man!

Dick grabbed the fallen bat and retaliated, smashing the gun from the third man's hand and ramming the bat into his stomach. The man doubled over with a gasp and the bat cracked against his skull. He went down. Dick heard a rustle behind him and he pointed the bat at the remaining man as if it were a sword. "I wouldn't do that if I were you." He growled. The man, who was reaching for the dropped gun, froze. He rose slowly with his hands in the air. His eyes met Dick's and he saw nothing. There was no emotion from the boy that just took down two grown men without breaking a sweat and he was afraid.

"Mr. Haley," Dick called to the stunned circus manager. "If you would be so kind as to grab the gun please."

"Y-yes, o-of course." Haley stuttered as he pulled his shaking form from the wall. He scooped up the gun and nearly ran back to his corner.

Dick turned his attention back to the man. "You so much as twitch and you will be joining your friends." He threatened. The man didn't move. "Mr. Haley, now would be the time to call the police."

"Right," Haley said. He grabbed a battered old cell phone off his desk. As he went to punch in the numbers, he hesitated and looked between the man and Dick.

Dick gave him a smile. "It's alright, Mr. Halley. I have everything under control."

Haley nodded and dilled the number. "911, what's your emergency?"

As Haley spoke to the operator, Dick went back to the man. "It's time for you to tell me why you are here. But keep in mind, if you lie to me, I will know and this conversation will become very painful for you."

"We were just looking for some cash," the man said quickly. "Mike said that the circus was in town and that they were always swindling money from people. It was supposed to be easy money!" His voice was getting higher with every word.

"And how did that work out for you?" Dick replied with a dark smirk.

There were voices outside the trailer that were steadily getting louder and the door opened. There stood half the inhabitants of the circus, including his family. "Jack, we heard a gunshot. Is everything okay?" Phil asked his eye widened as he took in the sight of two men unconscious on the floor, one cowering by a wall with his hands in the air, and Dick standing in the middle of it all.

"These men were trying to rob me. Dick here stopped them." Haley informed them.

"Dick, honey, are you alright?" Mary asked concerned.

"I'm fine." He answered.

"Phil," John asked the strong man. "Will you watch these guys?"

"Sure thing John," Phil replied. "But I don't think they'll be going anywhere." The two guys were still out cold and the other looked ready to pee his pants.

"Dick, son, come here please." John called. Dick looked to Phil, who nodded. He could handle this. Dick followed his family outside the trailer.

"Are you alright? What happened?" John asked.

"It happened as Mr. Haley said. They were trying to rob him and I stopped them."

"You stopped them?" Johnny asked skeptically.

Dick's eyes narrowed. "Yes I did. They were untrained. It's easy when you know how."

Mary interrupted Johnny's interrogation with a gasp. "Dick, you're bleeding!"

Dick looked down at where the bullet had grazed him. It wasn't deep enough to require stiches and the bleeding had almost stopped. He had forgotten about it. "It's just a scratch." He informed them.

"I'll be the judge of that." Rick said. "Karla, go get the first aid kit." Karla nodded and headed off.

"Alright Dick, I need you to take your shirt off."

Dick suddenly stiffened. "It's just a scratch. I'll take care of it later."

"Nonsense, you don't want it to get infected." Rick replied reaching for the first aid kit that Karla returned with.

"I would rather do it myself."

"We are doing this now Dick." John stated. He didn't appreciate his son brushing off his injury.

"It's not necessary."

"Richard Grayson. Shirt off. Now." John commanded crossing his arms.

Dick glared at his father but he was unfazed. Silently, not taking his eyes of John, Dick pulled his shirt over his head and there was a collective intake of breath. John's anger gave way to shock and horror. The doctor said there were scars but he never imagined they would be like this.

There were so many. There were scars from knives and blades running all long his chest, stomach, and arms. There were circular ones from gunshot wounds and what appeared to be a bite mark on his left side. Mary could stop the tear from filling her eyes as she looked at her baby. Dear God, what happened to him?

"Is this what you wanted to see?" Dick hissed. When John didn't answer, he turned sharply, snatched up the first aid kit and his shirt, and stomped off. Unfortunately that gave his family an unobscured view of his back. They could see a web of crisscrossing white, pink, and red lines marring his back and some sort of symbol branded on his right shoulder.

Silence enveloped the group as no one knew what to say. Finally it was broken by Rick. "Jesus, what happened to him?" He asked looking to his brother.

"We don't know. He won't talk about it." John replied pulling his crying wife into a hug. Sometimes, he really wished he would.

BREAKLINE

The whole circus watched as the police placed the robbers into the squad cars and drive away. Dick had shown up briefly to give a statement but he disappeared again soon after. Haley walked over to the Grayson family. "Is Dick alright?" He asked.

"He'll be fine." John replied.

"He seemed upset."

"Yeah, we had a bit of an argument earlier. He must still be steamed about that."

"I'm sure he'll come out of it soon enough. He's a wonder." Haley said in admiration.

"What happened in there?" Johnny asked curious.

"It was incredible. He took those men out like it was nothing. I've never seen anything like it."

"How was he able to do it?" Karla inquired.

"I don't know. It was like he was trained."

"Trained? You think someone taught him to fight?"

"It's possible. Don't you remember where they found him?" Rick said.

"Yeah, in a warehouse filled with guns, drugs, and girls being used for God knows what!" John replied angrily.

"I've heard rumors," Johnny added hesitantly, "that there are fight clubs in Gotham that kidnap people and train them to fight for entertainment."

"You think he was part of a fight club?" Mary whispered horrified.

"It would explain his scars and how he was able to take down three guys two times his size."

The group was silent as they pondered this information and they prayed that it wasn't true.

BREAKLINE

Dick sat on a small platform just underneath the high wire. It was a good stake out area, high and hard to spot. He ran a finger over a scar on the back of his hand. He received it after trying to stop a knife heading for his face. The blade had gone straight through as if his hand was made of butter.

A shuffle of fabric alerted him to new presence entering the tent. It was his mother. She looked up, spotting him immediately and began to climb the ladder. When she reached the platform, he moved over to give her some room. "I thought you might be here." She said as she settled down beside him.

"How did you find me?" he asked.

"When you were little, you used to hide here when you were upset. The first time you did it, your father and I searched the camp for nearly two hours before we found you. You had fallen asleep and he had to carry you down." She reminisced.

"I guess old habits die hard."

She hummed in agreement. They were silent for a moment when Mary took Dick's hand. "Richard, I need you to tell me what happened while you were kidnapped."

"I said I didn't want to talk about it."

"I know honey," Mary said squeezing his hand. "I know it's hard and that it's painful to think about, but I need to know. It's killing me not knowing what happened. What they did to you. I need to know, sweetheart. Please." She whispered the last word, begging him to understand what she couldn't put into words.

Dick looked at her, trying to determine why she needed to know so badly. It wasn't her that went through it. There was no reason for her to feel that pain. He stared at her for a while, searching, when it finally clicked. She was his mother. She nurtured and loved him. When he was little, she would chase away his fear with her voice. She kissed away his cuts and scrapes and held him when he was sick. She helped take away his pain and she wanted to do that now. His eyes softened and he spoke.

"When I was with them, every day was hell. The first few years were the worst. They would hurt me and do things to me to break me down. You're easier to control when you can't fight back. Then they began to teach me to defend myself, to fight back. If I did something wrong or something that they didn't like, they would hurt me some more. I learned what I could and couldn't do quickly. I learned to survive."

Mary was quiet, taking everything in. She reached over and wrapped her arms around her baby and held him close. She needed to know he was here and that he was safe. Dick stiffened when he felt her hug him but after a moment, he allowed himself to relax into her embrace. He hasn't had anyone hold him like this in a long time and he felt warm. He felt safe.

BREAKLINE

Nightmares plagued his mind again that night and he tossed and turned. His hands fisted the sheets and his brow furrowed. Soon he was covered in a thin film of sweat. He felt small hands touch his shoulder and his eyes snapped open. He dug his hands into the mattress to keep from lashing out. He looked to the side to see Alex standing over him. "You were having a nightmare." He stated. "Was it scary?"

Dick sighed and laid back against the pillow. "Yes," he panted. "Very scary."

"Is Zitka not helping?" Alex asked gesturing to the stuffed animal. Dick gazed at the toy, who had been shoved against the wall in his thrashing.

Dick shook his head. "No, not this time."

"Yeah, she's a nice elephant but she doesn't always get rid of all the bad dreams." Alex said and he climbed up on the bed.

Dick froze. "Alex what are you doing?"

"Whenever I have nightmares and Zitka doesn't help, I snuggle with Mommy and Daddy. They always keep the bad dreams away. Maybe if we snuggle, we can't stop any bad dreams from coming to get us." Alex explained as he, indeed, snuggled up against Dick side.

"Did you have a bad dream?" Dick asked. He felt Alex nod his head.

"A bad man came and hurt Mommy and Daddy and you and took me away."

"Is this because of what happened today?" Again Alex nodded.

"Wouldn't you want to sleep with mother and father instead?"

Alex shook his head. "You're safe."

Dick paused. "And how do you know that?"

"You stopped those bad guys form hurting Mr. Haley. You can stop bad guys from hurting me too." Alex yawned and snuggled closer and soon drifted back to sleep.

Dick just laid there, stunned. He was the one who was going to help the bad man take Alex away and yet this little boy trusted him enough to protect him from bad dreams. His heart hurt. He couldn't do this mission. He couldn't. He wrapped his arms tightly around his little brother. He would protect him. He won't let anything happened to him. With this new conviction, Dick too slipped into a deep, dreamless sleep.