A/N: Okay! So I just want to say sorry for making you guys wait so long, especially after giving me so many reviews! Anyway to make it up to you, I made this chapter really long. Also please forgive me for any mistakes in the very little medical talk this chapter will contain.
Nightwing15: Well I'm glad you're really into it. You'll find out what happened in this chapter. Enjoy!
AliLo871: You are very welcome. I love writing, so this was no trouble at all. Your reviews made my day. Enjoy!
Sairey13: I'm not sure if you're a girl or a boy, but you were really able to predict me. Another shooter btw could be Deadshot, but I don't know much about his character. I'm considering writing a chapter of what happened to Dick if you want. I won't confirm or deny your other guesses for the sake of not ruining the story for you. Thanks, for the continued support in all my stories. Enjoy!
crazyyy: I'm really happy that my story was able to make you cry. Sorry that sounded weird, I just think that if someone cries when they read a story they like it. Anyway, here's another chapter. Enjoy!
flyinglikebirds: Haha! Thank you! I try. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this next chapter, after all who am I to resist your puppy dog eyes
keep calm: Don't worry I couldn't kill Dick. Enjoy this next chapter!
whoareyoubuddy: Haha! Thanks! That review was one of the ones that made my night. I'm glad you like this. Enjoy!
anonymous: Haha! I have a new bff! Anyway here's an update, sorry for making you wait. Enjoy!
suncommingdown: Don't worry, for you guys, I always do my best. Enjoy!
just a human: Thanks! Although I wouldn't say I'm the god of writers. Anyway, I hope you like this chapter. Enjoy!
i'mawkwardprob: Thanks! I'm happy you think it's perfect. Enjoy!
hhwheuejsjne: Well, prepare to do your victory dance! Here's another chapter. Enjoy!
teddybear: Thank you! Please enjoy this next chapter!
musicismylife: Here is more for you. I'm expecting a review, haha! Enjoy!
hi: Haha! I swear I love your review! Enjoy!
fuck: Haha! I know right. Major plot twist. Enjoy!
DARKSOMEONE41: Yeah. I put in an evil bastard in here...no story is complete without one. Anyway, thanks for the compliments. Enjoy!
ItzuEvans: I'm sorry. You're very welcome. I promise not to put in too may cliffhangers, haha! I hope you enjoy this next chapter!
magykal-guest- Haha! I'm sorry you had to wait, it sucks to wait. I'm glad you like my story, here's another chapter! Enjoy!
Blue-eyes: Well, you don't need to be that curious anymore, I have a chapter here to clear things up. Enjoy!
Guest: If it's more you want, it's more you'll get. Enjoy!
IsaBean: Haha!Got you good with that cliffhanger didn't I? Haha! Sorry, didn't mean to sound so cruel. Anyway, if it helps, this chapter will probably just make you really angry. Enjoy!
I own nothing, swear, not even the picture. If I owned YJ It would have season 3 and show some daddy bats.
Being heroes, not much can shock them anymore. They've seen everything. Everything. So as it is, if you're able to shock one veteran hero, then that news is either really good, or really bad. If you're able to shock a group of veteran heroes, well…that's another thing entirely. Blüdhaven General's waiting area was crowded by the original Young Justice, the Batfamily, The Flash family, The Arrow family, and Zatanna Zatara. All prestigious heroes…all shocked.
"BULLET WOUND!?" they all screamed, both in shock and anger. Shock needs no explanation, anger, however, does. Everyone knows that Dick does not possess a gun anymore, they also know that the only time he used it, was when he briefly worked in BPD.
It was one thing for Dick to cut himself, that they could still somewhat accept, but the insinuation that he shot himself? Yeah, that's not going to fly with them. And for him to be able to do it without a single sound, inside a house with two trained heroes?
It's not that he couldn't pull the stunt off, he could, it's the fact that he wouldn't. If he were attempting suicide –and God-forbid he does, he would've done it when he was alone. Adding that to the fact that the three brothers left unexpectedly, with no baggage except emergency supplies…. Well, someone was going to have hell to pay for hurting their bird.
The doctor was thoroughly stunned at the reaction of the people in his waiting area. Never in all his time as a doctor did he see such violent reactions. He's delivered his fair share of bad news, it comes with the job, but every time he does it always just ends in hysterics. These people looked like they were about to murder someone.
"Y-yes. Bullet wound." He stuttered a confirmation. "It was a clean shot through his lower abdomen. As of now, he's stable, but we still have him on morphine to keep him under. He should be awake in a couple of hours." The doctor nodded his head to them politely; he was about to leave when the red headed boy with freckles and green eyes called to him.
"Doc!" he called. "Could we, by any chance, have the bullet?" he asked hesitantly. The doctor looked at the boy curiously before nodding his head slowly, he thinks it's better not to ask questions at this point. For one thing, he lives in Blüdhaven, for another, who would believe that Bruce Wayne asked for the bullet that was extracted from his son?
Roy turns to Wally, and gently grips his shoulders, not enough to hurt him, but enough to get him to focus. "Wally, I need you to remember." He tells his younger brother. He already feels like an ass for what he's doing, but if it's going to help Dick…
Wally's eyes go wide with fear, and the other heroes look at him sympathetically. It wasn't as if it was hard to guess what Roy was trying to do. "R-roy, I-I can't!" he screams.
"I don't want to remember that! I never even want to hear about this ever again!" he's close to hysterics again, and Roy knows that if he doesn't calm down, nobody's going to get help. He would ask M'gann to just probe his mind, but Wally was still unstable right now, and he needs the info now –without any collateral damage.
"Look," he said. "I know you don't want to remember –I don't either, but we have to. Did you see his blade in the bathroom?" he asked the question slowly.
Wally seemed to accept his reasoning and took a deep breath, eyes shut tightly. Of all the things he has to dwell on, it just had to be the sight of his bleeding brother on the bathroom floor. Fragments of the unwanted memory flash through his mind.
Blood.
Dick.
Pale.
Yet…no blade. No Blade. No… It couldn't be.
"Roy," he said with wide eyes. "there was no blade." He informed him. Every hero was just watching them, whatever they were talking about, nobody but them knew about it.
Roy let out a soft curse and started pacing. "You don't think…?" Wally trailed off. This is bad. If it's him Roy was thinking about, Dick could be in more danger than he already is.
"I don't know." Roy said frustrated. He hoped he was wrong. Please let it be anyone but him! He thought to himself. He turned to look at his brother once again. "I won't know for sure until I see the bullet." He went back to pacing while nibbling on the nail of his thumb.
Wally looked angry and terrified at the same time. Each hero was starting to get nervous again. Is this for real? They just found them, and now they might lose them again?
The doctor came back holding a zip-lock, which had a tiny bullet in it…covered in blood. Zatanna felt sick to her stomach. Oh god, that was inside Dick.
"Here's the bullet." The doctor said handing Wally the bag. Wally nodded gratefully, and the good doctor took his leave once again. Inside the bag there was also a pair of tweezers. Roy took the bag from Wally, and picked up the bullet examining them closely. He narrowed his eyes, and then a few seconds later they widened, and he swore loudly. He put the bullet back in the bag, and shoved it back to Wally.
"THAT NO GOOD SON OF A BITCH!" he screamed kicking the wall. Instantly everyone was firing questions. Who was Roy talking about? What did he do? They were all silenced, however, by Wally who looked at Roy with eyes that have seen far too much.
"He's back isn't he." It was a statement. Wally looked so tried right now; like he's seen every problem the world had and was trying to correct all of it. Roy nodded, still winding down from his anger.
"Call Beast Boy." He ordered the younger speedster. "Tell him he's back." Wally nodded and swiftly took out his phone and started walking down the hall for some privacy.
"Alright. What is going on?" Barbara demanded. She has just about had it with all the secrets and surprises. The person she considered her little brother had been shot, knifed, and had to be resuscitated. She was downright pissed, and she was going to find out what the hell was going on!
Roy took a deep breath to calm himself, and pinched the bridge if his nose. "You all know who Deathstroke is, correct?" he questioned them. He was given nods of confirmation.
"What you don't know is what he did to Dick back in his Titan days." He said that sentence with so much hate, it seemed as if this Deathstroke was actually in the room. The venom in his voice had all the bats clenching fists.
"Back then, he went by Slade. He was looking for an heir; he watched Dick, practically became his personal little stalker. He figured out his secret identity." He said that last part looking at the bats. Bruce looked positively murderous, and Jason, Barbara, and Tim weren't far behind. Jason was actually contemplating on killing the bastard. "I'm sure Bruce won't mind…that much" he thought to himself.
Roy gave another sigh. Just remembering the incident made his blood boil. "Anyway, he decided that Dick would be the perfect apprentice. So, he made a false lead for the Titans to follow. Blockbuster was there, and Dick took it upon himself to hold him off. The others went to go after their main objective. The lackeys were getting on a boat when they all arrived. There was a machine onboard, they didn't know what it did, but it blasted all of them to unconsciousness. When they came to, Blockbuster and Dick were gone. They went searching but they couldn't find him anywhere. The next time they saw him, he was stealing some sort of ray gun from the WE branch in Jump. We think it was a jab at you." Here he pointed to Bruce, trying to get him to remember the damage of the battle.
Bruce searched through his memories and vaguely remembered contacting Dick to ask about what happened to his sign. "I remember calling Dick about that," he said to Roy. "He told me that it was just because of some fight they had with a rogue, I had my hands full with Joker that day, so I never investigated." He said the last part with shame. If he had just taken time to confirm Dick's explanation, maybe he would've kept a better eye on Deathstroke. Seeing that his friend was starting to blame himself again, Barry put a comforting hand on Bruce's shoulder. Bruce gave Barry a grateful glance.
"The machine that was on the boat was able to infect the Titans with nanobots. Dick had to do whatever Slade wanted, or else his friends would pay the price. He got a firsthand demonstration of that when he refused to blast Starfire. He finally beat him when he infected himself with nanobots; Slade had no choice but to admit defeat. If his only heir was killed, all his work would go to waste after all." He finished. All around him, there were furious faces. He could sympathize; he wanted to put an arrow through Slade's other eye when he found out.
"You're telling me that Deathstroke blackmailed my brother into becoming his apprentice?" Tim asked with barely controlled rage. He was trembling with anger. "When I get my hands on him…" he was already contemplating the many, many ways to torture Deathstroke.
When Roy nodded his head in confirmation, Jason gave an outraged roar. "I AM GOING TO KILL THAT BASTARD!" he screamed. They all thanked their lucky stars no one was around at the moment. They were going to have a hard time explaining a death threat at this point.
Barbara walked over to Jason hiding her anger much better than Jason and Tim were. She was just as angry as they were, she was just saving all her anger for the inevitable moment that they would face the monster known as Deathstroke.
"Jason come on. You need air." It wasn't a question or a statement, it was a command. Jason followed begrudgingly. Everyone watched them leave until they were out of sight.
Oliver turned to his son. "How'd you know it Deathstroke who did this to Dick?" he questioned.
"All his bullets have an engraved 'S' in them. When he takes down a target, he wants everyone to know it's him. It's not glaringly obvious, you wouldn't find it unless you're looking for it." Roy finally had his breathing under control. Now he can talk to them without worrying about losing control of his anger.
At that moment Wally returned, an angry expression already settling itself in his face. "I called Gar, he's on his way. Sounded pretty damn angry too." He said with a dry laugh. Wally was always known for comic relief, now he was the picture of vengeance.
"Why would you need Gar here?" M'gann asked. She wasn't all that comfortable with the idea of Gar being here at this moment. He doesn't need to see this.
"Gar was part of the Titans back then." Wally explained. They decided to keep the members of the Titans a secret, they had too many enemies as Young Justice as it is, they didn't need to add Titan enemies. The only reason people knew that Dick was a Titan is because it was big news that the Bird had left the Bat.
M'gann was thoroughly shocked at the revelation. No wonder Beast Boy got along with Nightwing so well; all this time she just thought it was because he was part of the team that rescued him and his mother.
Artemis moved toward Wally, his arm finding its way to her shoulders. They were subtly comforting each other, something they developed with how long they've been together. Everyone was over being worried and scared, now the only emotions in the room were anger and regret.
The Arrow and Flash families looked ready to defend their friends. Conner looked like he was going to pound anyone who came within ten feet of Dick. Kaldur was usually calm, even in dire situations; it was rare to see his angry face. Right now not only was he angry, he was downright furious –as if Dick didn't have enough problems. Zatanna was ready to fire very, very painful spells, with a smile on her face. Selina was in her MommyBats mode, if Deathstroke showed his face, she wasn't sure she could stick to Bruce's moral code. Bruce was the scariest by far though. He looked vicious, he already had a protective streak, not to mention the state of the criminals when Robin was injured –whichever Robin it was– much like his wife, he wasn't sure he could stick to his moral code.