AN:- Two for one upload!

In this issue, Dick learns that there are other more benevolent forces and secrets in Gotham - and he just might have just stumbled onto one of them. Who knew the Kitchen Crew stretched so far?

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Gambit/Bind Part 2

Doug Brenston's home was a cross between 'bachelor pad' and 'young family trying to figure things out'. Dick vaguely remembered something about a kid and a significant other that got pregnant - which was the catalyst for him to get out.

The touches of Doug's girlfriend and baby were everywhere. It was in the mish-mash of furniture - some that looked clearly handmade (Doug was finishing up a carpentry apprenticeship) and especially in the halfway done crib with a partly finished Millenium Falcon. There were boxes here and there - a vague memory of Doug celebrating in the kitchen about his down payment on one of the Outreach Housing family flats rose in Dick's mind - and Dick realised he couldn't stay.

"Yeah. Look I'll be out of your hair in a minute. It's not safe for me to hang around."

…

Doug was not having it. Jazz had contacted him last night about a kit needing a foxhole. He just didn't expect it to be Johnson.

"If you think you're going to leave without me helping you out - you've got another thing coming, Johnson."

Johnson's face grew incredulous at his words. But then again, Tobias never officially brought anyone without a place of their own (and still a minor for that matter) into the Network. Doug reached behind a false backing of one of the drawers he made and pulled out one of the supply packs.

"What's that?" Johnson asked as Doug handed it over.

"Emergency kit. Thermal blanket, protein bars, fire starter, solar batteries - the works. Everything you need to run until you can find a place to hunker down."

"What?"

"Tobias is doing a little more than making a safe place for youths to go. Now, the kit is encased by a portable tarp, fold it up tight enough and you can use it as a pack, open it up all the way, quick shelter."

"What?"

"Seriously Johnson - are you okay? You seem a little spazzed."

…

Dick was more than a little spazzed. There was an element of surety about Doug, come to think about it, about Jazz and Zee-Cue too. Like they had done this before. And apparently Tobias was in charge of this operation.

Whatever this operation was.

"Of course I'm confused! How are you so prepared? Why are you just giving me stuff? What are you even doing? I'll be putting your kid at risk if you got found out!"

"So you're telling me that Jazz's theory was right?"

"And how do you know Zee's sister anyway?"

"Krissy does pool with her on the weekends. But the theory?"

"What theory?"

"So Zee think's Jazz is a bit crazy, but Jazz is pretty sure you're a cult escapee."

Dick paused. "That's… actually not too far off."

"Really?"

"Look, I'm not going to talk about anything more - the less you know the safer you will be. You have a kid."

"And we have our ways. You're not the only one that needed to hide from um, let's call them issues."

"I might have led people straight to Jazz and Zee!"

"And we're prepared for that. It seems like you were too. Don't think I didn't notice that you're pretty much prepared to bolt. I'm just here to remind you that you're not alone - and you don't have to be."

Dick sighed as he clutched the supply packet within his hands. "Why are you doing this?"

"Because although the Waynes have done a lot to make Gotham better, they can't do it alone. That's why the Network slowly formed. Anyone that wants to have a new beginning, anyone that searches for safety and freedom? The fox kits that need to run from the hounds hunting them? We'll provide the foxholes for them so they get a chance to survive. Seriously man - I'm just passing it on. Tobias did it for me, and now we'll do it for you."

"Does this have a burner phone card in it?"

Doug raised a brow, "Yeah, why?"

"I've… found something. Something the cult that wants me back is trying to make sure happens."

"And you think you can stop it."

Dick glared at Doug - "I know I can."

…

Doug sighed inwardly. But how was he supposed to stop this fifteen-sixteen (wait, they never really got his age out of him did they) year old when he was all of nineteen himself? Gotham was getting better, but it didn't mean that kids weren't still growing up way too quickly. And the look in Johnson's eye - well.

Doug remembered his gang days. The days in when he was in too deep and saw things he was pretty sure no kid was supposed to see. He had that look in that eye once - once when he came way too close to manslaughter. Just before Krissy told him about her pregnancy and told him to get out so the cycle wouldn't continue.

But there were others that did go too far, that had that melancholy about them. Johnson had it - he hid it very well. Doug raged against the people that must have forced Johnson to do heinous acts.

"Okay." Doug said.

"Okay? You're going to let me go just like that?"

"Yeah. I believe you. But seriously. If you need help - head to Tobias'."

"But what about Toby?"

"You really think Tobias doesn't know how to make sure his little girl stays safe?"

"Good point."

Doug smiled wistfully. "Now get. The burner has a couple of contacts in there - top of the list is Tobias' number - bunch of other allies programmed in. You're not alone. I'll find a foxhole too. Make sure they can't trace either of us."

…

Dick bled off the energy of his plunge onto a buttress of the courtyard surrounding the green of Gotham City University. A temporary podium was being set up in preparation for the medical school graduation ceremony. And from here, he could discretely survey the potential nests of certain mercenaries of a strygian bent.

The burner Doug had given him was a blessing. Swapping the SIM cards had bought him some time from Giz and Mouse tracing him - not to mention it had given him some information about the building plans closest to the GCU green.

The Gotham Central Station was a large building that once could have rivalled Grand Central Station. It was a main stop for both the trains and buses that entered and left the city. Commuters poured in and out every day at nearly every hour. Dick had already dismissed the spire atop the main transportation hub as a potential nest. None of the plans had shown a passageway up to the spire - which was a bit of a silly move in Dick's personal opinion, how was maintenance supposed to regularly clean that thing?

But there was also the tower over the Train Hub. And that, Dick believed was a more likely nest. He could get up there quickly enough to incapacitate the Owl's agent - make sure Doctor and Mister Wayne's stay safe.

Dick nodded to himself - he'd do what was necessary and then disappear - just like he was taught.

…

"UGH!" Mouse growled out in frustration as one again the little owlet evaded her.

"Nothing?" Giz asked.

"Nothing - and the two women we tried interrogating knew nothing either. What a waste of time."

"We… taught the Gray Son too well."

"It was our job, and now we're going to fail this job because… Giz, I don't want to become owl food."

"Maybe… It's time we retired?"

"You sure love? We still don't have that island in the Bahamas."

"Forget it - I just want us to be alive."