OMG, people, so, so sorry for the wait. Its been crazy-week this week, and next week is hell-week. Fun times. Unfortunately, I don't have much time to write, so...

Anyway, enjoy the confrontation between Batsy and Slade. Note: This is NOT the chapter where Slade finds out about Dick's past. At the moment, it's looking like there will be one more chapter before that, but don't hold me to that.

Also, I would like to take some time to vent about the new YJ episode, if that's ok. SPOILERS coming. Anyway, this episode totally took me back to one of the first stories I wrote about finding original-Roy. Honestly, who else was excited to see Arsenal appear? Although I do wish they'd shown us more about how he became Arsenal. And why he cut his hair. Seriously, we had hippie-clone-Roy and now we have buzz-cut-original-Roy. Plus, Green Beetle! I've never heard of him, but I'm excited to see where this goes. And poor Kaldur! Psimon's going to go through his head, and find out the plan, and oh my god!

Right. Rant done. Enjoy!

DISCLAIMER: I don't own this

"Hello, Batman." A voice like mercury sounded behind him. Batman turned around.

"Deathstroke." He greeted. Inside, he was strangling the man slowly, and enjoying it, but outside he was cool as a cucumber. For the most part.

"I thought it was about time we had a talk." Slade continued, walking forward slowly. "After all, it's been so long since we've fought. I've switched to Slade now, Deathstroke is dead." Literally. He'd staged Deathstroke's death once he'd taken up shop as Slade.

"I know." He also knew the death had been staged. He wasn't the world's greatest detective for nothing. Plus, when all of this had started, Batman had dug up every scrap of info he had on Deathstroke, including the staged death.

The two men, complete opposite sides of the spectrum, stood and watched each other. Neither wanted to make the first move. Batman, surprisingly, broke first.

"Where is he?" He asked (ok, so maybe it wasn't so surprising. He was a worried father, give him a break).

Slade just smirked. "He's fine."It was obvious that they were talking about Nightwing, and he was fine. When Slade left, he had been helping Wintergreen with the dishes and making bad jokes. It really was amazing, how much Nightwing had changed since those heroes made their way to Jump. This wasn't the time to think of that though. He walked forward a few steps, eying Batman curiously. "What I want to know is, why do you- and the League- care so much?"

Superman had gone straight to Batman after hearing the singing, pausing only for a few moments to confirm where he was and the direction he thought the singing had come from. Batman hadn't seemed to react, but Superman could detect the slight relaxation of his tense stance and the barest hint of a smile. Batman immediately turned and started typing on the computer next to him, pulling up a map and creating a new search range based on Superman's information. He divided it into five different sections and then glanced over at Superman and outlined his plan. They would thoroughly search each of those areas separately, then let the League come in an sweep the whole thing.

It was time for Superman and Batman to stop plotting and planning and actually go out and search.

And so, the next day, Clark Kent met Bruce at Wayne Manor and together they prepared to leave and search. A young voice stopped them.

"You're going to look for him?"

Bruce paused, looking at Tim. He nodded once. Tim took a breath and set his shoulders. "I'm coming with you." He plowed over Clark's attempts to protest. "You've kept me here the entire time, I want to help. He's my brother too, you know." He glared at Bruce. He'd been a good boy till now, stayed in the Batcave and coordinated the search. But as every day went by, he was getting more and more anxious and scared, and he wanted to be doing something, dang it. Even the Team and the Titans were looking- everyone but him.

Bruce looked at him for a long moment. "Alright." He gave in. "But you listen to everything Clark and I say. If we tell you to leave, you leave. Understood?"

Tim's face lit up. He nodded violently before running off to get his uniform.

"Are you sure, Bruce?" Clark asked with concern. Bruce nodded. "He's right. He's as worried about Dick as anyone, but I haven't let him help. At least this way, he'll be with us instead of sneaking out on his own."

Ten minutes later, they were in the first search section. They started at the warehouses, because the villain is always at the warehouses or the docks or some forgotten lab under the city. Everyone knew that.

They split up when they saw how many warehouses there were. Superman went one way, and Batman and Robin went the other. They would search each warehouse for clues or anything suspicious and meet in the middle. At least, that was the plan, until Superman radioed that you should probably get over here. Like, now.

Batman and Robin quickly made their way to Superman's location- a warehouse crawling with Sladebots.

"Subtle." Robin commented. Batman narrowed his eyes. He knew this was probably a trap, that it was definitely not where Dick was, but it was worth investigating anyway.

"Robin, stay out here." He ordered. "Stay out of the way; it's probably a trap."

"But you're going anyway." It wasn't a question. Batman's only answer was shooting out a grapple and swinging into the warehouse, Superman following after. Immediately, they were swarmed by robots. After a few minutes of fighting, Batman noticed a pattern; they were trying to separate him and Superman, pushing him towards a room on the side. He allowed himself to be herded to the room, wanting to find out what was going on. As soon as he stepped in, the robots froze and left him alone, although he could hear the ones after Superman going strong.

Which brings us back to where we started.

"Well?" Slade encouraged. "Just why, exactly, is my apprentice so important to just about everyone, it seems?"

"He is not your apprentice." Batman growled. Slade raised an eyebrow. "You sound like him." He commented. "Nightwing hates it when I call him my apprentice, even now. A pet peeve of his, I suppose."

Batman held back the urge to punch him then and there. "What do you want?" He growled. "You set this up for us; you must have a goal." Slade was a veritable criminal mastermind, and this warehouse thing was glaringly obvious. It was a lure, obviously, because Slade apparently wanted to chat. Batman was losing patience fast. This man had his son, and he wanted to have a casual chat. It was infuriating, but he held himself back. Slade, apparently, still didn't know about his relationship to Nightwing, and Batman wanted to keep it that way for as long as possible.

Slade shook his head, mock-disappointed. "I've said it several times already, Batman. I want to know why the kidnapping of my apprentice has gotten such concern from the Justice League. Even the al Ghuls hinted about a connection. You can understand why my curiosity was piqued."

Batman remained silent, mind working furiously. Apparently, the al Ghuls hadn't told him anything substantial, just hints. Even Nightwing himself obviously hadn't told him much, although he was likely dropping hints. The fact that he hadn't told Slade everything gave Batman hope that his son hadn't been turned. Yet.

"I don't see why it concerns you." Batman said calmly. Distract him, stall him, but don't tell him anything big. "He's the leader of a major group of superheroes, one that we may not agree with, but we still try to help."

"Ah ah ah." Slade wagged a finger at him. "I might have believed that before, but the Titans wouldn't go to you for help with anything; they're notoriously prideful, and Nightwing appeared to hate the League."

He didn't hate the League. Batman thought. He wanted to avoid me. That fact still hurt him, even now. He knew he had hurt Dick with the fights, but he hadn't realize that it was that bad, until Dick ran away,

He brought his attention back to the present, as Slade was still speaking.

"You have a deeper connection to the Titans than that." Slade continued. "Or if not the Titans as a whole, with Nightwing. No doubt something to do with his mysterious past that he keeps hinting at. That connection seems to be strongest with you more than anyone else. I want to know what that connection is."

Batman decided to get to the point already. "Why would I tell you anything?" He asked. Honestly, the villain couldn't just expect him to divulge personal secrets. It wasn't realistic.

"Because I'll let you speak to Nightwing." Slade said easily. Batman froze.

Well. He hadn't expected that. Blackmail, threats, yes, but bribery? The scary thing was, though, that the blackmail and threats wouldn't have worked- but this bribe just might. He was about to respond when Robin dropped down next to him. The boy stared at the villain opposite. "You're Slade." He stated.

Slade raised an eyebrow. "Thank you for stating the obvious." He drawled, inspecting the boy. Robin colored and glanced at Batman. "What's going on?" He asked. Batman glared at him. "I told you to stay outside." He growled. Robin shrugged before looking around. "Hey, where'd he go?"

Batman's eyes widened and his gaze whipped back to where Slade was, but wasn't anymore. He sensed something and quickly turned back towards Robin, just in time to see Slade trap him in a headlock. Robin's eyes widened and he started to struggle; obviously, he hadn't sensed Slade behind him. Slade let out a breathy snicker. "Pathetic." He said, shoving the boy away from him. Robin quickly moved back to Batman's side, eyeing the villain warily. Slade let out another chuckle. "It's so hard to find someone with potential these days, isn't it, Batman?" He asked casually, like he hadn't just attacked his side-partner. "Your first bird actually had some, but they've just got worse and worse." Batman could hardly breath- did he know after all?

Slade shook his head. "You know, as soon as I saw the first Robin, I saw the potential in him. It's what made me set up shop in Gotham originally. Even then, I was searching for someone worthy to teach. You kept him away from me, though, except for that one time. After that, you took pains to get me out of the way as soon as you could." He took a step towards Batman, deadly focused. "Why was that? Were you scared, perhaps, that I would take him away just as I've taken Nightwing?" He sighed. "But you did keep me away from him, and eventually I left Gotham, and he became just one of those possibilities of the past. I admit, after he disappeared, I toyed with the idea of looking for him, but then Nightwing caught my attention, and well…"

Robin gaped at him. He hadn't known about Slade's history with Robin I. It seemed like Slade and Dick were drawn to each other. Plus, he couldn't believe that Dick caught Slade's eye twice, in completely different contexts. He really did seem like the 'perfect apprentice' for Slade.

He was also mildly insulted by Slade's comments. Not that he wanted to be kidnapped b a psycho, but he did have some potential, thankyouverymuch.

Slawe sighed suddenly. "But I digress. We were discussing a deal, were we not? You tell me about Nightwing's connection to you and the League, and I let you speak to him. It can be done in a moment. What do you say?"

Batman was silent, Robin looking at him wide-eyed. This was a no-win situation. If he refused, Slade would know that this connection was very, very important and secret. If he accepted, well, that was obvious. But he'd be able to talk to Dick. Robin, seeing his dilemma, tried to buy him time.

"How do we know that you really will let us talk to him, even if we do tell you?" He challenged. Slade glanced at him, amused. "I don't believe it's your decision, but I give you my word. Tell me what I want to know, and I'll let you speak to him."

Just as Batman was about to answer, yet again, he was interrupted by Superman's entrance. "Batman, did you find- oh." He stopped, staring at Slade. "Guess you did find something."

"Indeed." Slade drawled. "Can we expect anyone else to join us?" He didn't wait for an answer. "Enough stalling, Batman. You have 30 seconds before I leave."

"What-" Superman started. Batman cut him off. "Fine." He said. "Nightwing has been associated with the League in the past. He's met most of us, but not very often. We lost track of him years ago."

Slade looked at him through narrowed eye. "I'd like some specifics, Batman." He said, losing patience. "Nightwing and Ra's al Ghul have essentially told me that already. I'd like to learn something new."

"That's all I can tell you." Batman said quietly, knowing that that would likely nullify the deal- after all, he hadn't actually told Slade anything.

Slade considered him for a moment, then lifted his hand towards a comm in his ear. "Nightwing." He said quietly. Batman's eyes widened- he was talking to Dick.

"I'm coming back now." Slade continued. "Unfortunately, you won't be speaking to the search team today. Unfortunate, I know." He lowered his hand and nodded towards Batman. "Let the game continue." He said, then turned and vanished into the shadows.

As hard as they tried, Batman and Superman were too slow to stop him. They didn't find him again.

OK, so back to Slade and Renegade next chapter. Oh and for the record, Slade's calling Renegade Nightwing because he doesn't want Batsy to know about Renegade yet, though he'll find out.

So, probably one more chapter leading up to the big reveal. I've got to do some research first, though, because I'm kinda taking a comics arc and twisting it around to fit my needs. You'll see.

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