Again, italics is Romani. Alex and Damian are fairly fluent in it by this point in time.

Chapter 22

Dick winced lightly as he lifted his little brother into the air in order to carry him to class. The bluemen waited by the door in order to escort them. The constant surveillance grated on his nerves and made him reminisce for Bruce's caring paranoia. While Bruce's surveillance at least screamed "I'm making sure you're safe because I care!" these psychos' surveillance basically shouted "YOU SHALL NOT PASS" like Gandalf to the demon in the mountain.

Dick, Damian, and Alex left their room escorted by two bluemen. A couple other 'subjects' were also moving through the hallway, and sent Dick a look of pity. He still hadn't been given a new shirt. His scarred and stitched back still oozed blood occasionally even three days later. It acted as a reminder to the others of what could have happened or what could happen to them.

To the kids' surprise, instead of being led to class, they were led to a slightly larger room than usual where a TV had been set up and connected to power. The non- special order kids were already inside as the special order kids were led in a few at a time. Dick carried Damian to the back-right of the room, so as to reduce people staring at him. Alex followed.

Ten minutes later, the room was filled, and people were whispering to their neighbors, trying to figure out what was going on.

"What do you think it is, Dick?" A small kid named Derek asked, poking Dick in the arm. Most of the kids knew who he was now and that he had been one of the leading brains behind the attempted mass escape. He had gained a massive amount of respect that he was not entirely sure how to deal with currently. Kids liked to come to him for comfort and advice as well, especially since he could speak so many languages. Alex was convinced they saw Dick as their hero. Dick thought they should see Roy as their hero.

Dick shrugged at Derek's question. The bluemen had only brought them to this room once before in Dick's time here, about two months ago. That time, they had forced the kids to watch a documentary about owls. Alex had later found out, and passed around the prison, that the documentary had been a distraction so that the majority of the bluemen, all the teachers, and the doctors could have a massive meeting.

As the volume continued to rise, the door opened and Logarithm entered. Dick spotted him, and instantly tensed. Damian looked where he was looking, and, in a very- un- Damian move, gave a little squeak, and tightened his grip on his brother so that he was almost choking him. Their corner of the room heard him, looked, and fell silent. The rest of the room soon followed. All eyes turned in the direction of the demon.

"Ah, I see I have received the proper reaction. Now, brats, it is story time. 169, where are you?" Dick stiffened as the man spotted him. "Ah. There you are. Now, why don't you come join us up front? Put the little tyke down."

Damian shook his head burying himself further into his brother. "Don't go, please!"

"I have to. He'll hurt you otherwise."

"I don't care!"

"I got him. Don't worry." Alex whispered to Dick, gently reaching for Damian.

"Please. Go with Alex." Dick reluctantly detangled Damian from himself and handed him over. He turned to face the front.

"That's it. Come on now. Hurry up, brat." Shaking, Dick slowly and carefully made his way to the front of the room. There were a few audible gasps and hushed whispers as Dick passed a few people who had yet to see his back, even as he tried to hide it from them. He reached the front, and faced the tall man.

Logarithm grasped Dick's shoulders and turned him so that he was standing next to the TV with his back was in full view of the captive audience. Logarithm grinned at the looks of horror in front of him. "My dear friend 169 here and little 214 over there helped me put together a little video a few days ago. Wave, 214." Damian wilted away from the attention that now turned to him. "Come on, wave." The slight warning in his tone was enough for Dick to indicate that Damian should do what he said. He gave a quick little wave. "Good little tyke.

"Anyhow, 169 and 214 helped me to send a video to the Justice League of America, who, until now, had been fairly keen on finding 169 here. This was their response." Logarithm shoved Dick to the ground so that he could see and wasn't blocking anyone's view, and then turned the TV on. He put a tape in the VCR, and pressed play.

The video opened with Vicki Vale, a distraught- but trying to hide it- Superman, and a stoic Superboy. Hey, they were getting along. It was a miracle! Was that due to him? A video image of Dick and Logarithm was paused in the background. There was also a date: April 23rd, 2013. Had he been gone that long? Wait, that meant he was 14 now… And he hadn't even known…

"And we're back. Following the disturbing video that has spread across the Internet after hijacking media stations around the globe two days ago in the early morning, we have Superman and Superboy here to discuss the Justice League's response. But first, the network finds it necessary to replay the video." Dick swore he saw small finger- sized indents being made in Superboy's chair. The video began to play.

Watching from the sidelines, as Logarithm made his demands and Dick was whipped, it did look like a fairly convincing video to get the Justice League to stop looking. Dick noticed, to his surprise, that he had noticeable streaks of white in his hair. Weird. He did look like a skunk. Alex hadn't been lying about that.

Logarithm demanded that the Justice League stop searching for the missing kids or Dick would not be the only one to suffer. The whole room shuddered at that. Dick felt a sharp twinge on his back when watching the men whip him. Oh…. So those had been his screams, he thought shrinking in slightly. He could feel the pity being directed at him, especially from the older kids. A lot of the younger kids were crying. Dick swore he could hear Dami whimpering, but he was too scared to turn around and look as Logarithm, the one currently in the room, smiled triumphantly at him.

Near the end of the video, the camera was focused in on Logarithm, cutting Dick from the camera. There was a gunshot, and the video ended with the line "Oh well, there's more where he came from. Stop the search, Justice League, or else."

Vicki Vale returned to the scene. Well, that solved the mystery of if there were finger- sized indents. Superboy had ripped large chunks off of his chair arms. He looked furious! Did Connor, and the rest of the team, know by now that Dick was Robin? Artemis had said so in his dream a few days ago, but that was a dream, so not real. It would doubly explain the reaction. Superman gently laid an arm on his shoulder to calm him down. Vicki looked taken aback by his fury.

"Sorry. Superboy obviously doesn't like to see people get hurt. Neither of us do. That's why we're heroes."

"What's the Justice League's response to this video?" There was dead silence in the room, as the kids in question waited for the response.

"Unfortunately, not good. The League is furious, but we have no trace from where the video came. We held a vote late last night, and the majority argued that it would be better if the Justice League acquiesced with the demands and handed the public search over to the police departments and United Nations. This is an international incident and will not be ignored. However, as the people have been apt to remind us the past couple days, the Justice League cannot openly search without potentially causing harm to the missing. It is with great regret that I must announce that the Justice League will not be continuing the search for the time being." They were giving up on him? Where was League loyalty when you needed it?

Superboy was glaring at the ground, but there was something else in his expression. He looked up at Vicki, and Dick recognized the expression instantly. Determination. OH! He thought back over Superman's exact wording. The Justice League would not be searching, but that didn't mean Young Justice or individual heroes wouldn't, and he could guess who would be one hundred percent behind them offering all their support.

"That's…unfortunate." Vicki said. The station went to commercial. Logarithm stopped the video. A good portion of the room was crying.

"So, as you can see, the magnificent Justice League of America has given up on the missing kids; that'd be you."

"No, they haven't." Dick interrupted, before he realized what he was doing. Logarithm paused, and regarded Dick with a mix between annoyance and anger.

"Oh. And what makes you figure that?"

Dick swallowed. He was playing with fire here, but he couldn't let these kids give up hope. It's all they had left. He stood to face the crowd. "The Justice League does not just give up on people," especially if it was one of their own, but Dick wasn't about to admit that. "You saw Superboy. He was ripping chunks out of his chair because of what was happening in that video. Did he look like he was giving up? They might have said they were giving up, but that doesn't mean that they are. Logarithm," Dick gestured to the man in question. Logarithm bristled, realizing Dick meant him. "Told them that we would get hurt if they didn't stop, so of course the Justice League said they were stopping. But that doesn't mean anything. It's a blank statement that fulfills its purpose. Even if they were giving up though, they just said that the police were taking over and the United Nations is looking too. That's still plenty of people looking for us, so don't lose hope."

"Finished?" Logarithm asked. Dick turned back to him, and gave a firm, determined nod. In a flash, Logarithm ripped the goggles off his head, tossed them aside, and smacked Dick as hard as he could. Dick toppled over, hand flying to his cheek, and accidentally landed half on another kid, who quickly pushed him off and moved away. "Particulate little brat. Time I teach you another lesson. Take him to Detention Room 4." Logarithm motioned to two bluemen in the back. They marched forward and pulled Dick up. Once he was back on his feet, the bluemen twisted his arms behind his back and forced him out of the room. "Wait just a moment." He stopped them in the doorway. He indicated to another blueman. "Grab the little one, too."

"No!" Dick and Alex both said. The blueman ripped Damian out of Alex's arms and caught up to the two bluemen who were holding Dick. The one on Dick's right handed Dick over fully to the one on his left and took Damian. They forced the boys out of the room and down the hallway.

"Despite what he says, no one will be finding you here. We have remained hidden from the United Nations for years; they will not come to your rescue. As for the Justice League, they have ceased all search efforts. There will be no escape." He swept out of the room, trench coat swirling dramatically like a cape. He had a brat to discipline.

A/N We had this planned out, but I started writing and we realized the punishment for this was way worse than we thought it would be. The angst got away from us. On another note, this is the first part of a really long chapter. I was originally hoping to post it as one, but when the chapter surpassed 5000 words and wasn't finished yet...

It's been a year since I started posting this. I actually forget until No One Important reminded me. I started writing November 4th. Happy Anniversary The Medium Between!

In case anyone was curious, we're on the upward climb to the climax now. I can't give an estimate of chapters left because I haven't written it yet, but we're down to about half a month in story time.

Please review. Anything you guys want to see or know before the end of this story? I will probably wait until the sequel for Dick to figure out certain things, but everything else is fair game for reveals. They're fun to write.

Also, taking suggestions for Logarithm's real name. He kind of needs one...