Chapter 2

Although he had pretended not to care about the death of Deathstrokes target, he had secretly planned to call his family and have them deal with Deathstroke. They were better equipped and had more experience with assassins than Peter and were therefore in way less danger. Now there was of course the problem, that Peter would not stop investigating (honestly Neal didn't expect anything less, but sometimes it would be nice to know that Peter was afe and wouldn't go headfirst into an unknown danger), so in addition to finding out who had hired Deathstroke and how to bring his target in quietly, someone had to protect Peter. That was made more difficult by the fact, that none of them wanted to be discovered by him.

But they had been in worse situations and if anyone could do it his family could. Since he knew that Tim was already in New York he decided to call him first.

Hello Dick it's been a long time since you last called. Is this a social call or do you need something? Because I was just about to go on patrol.

Dick realized that it was true, they hadn't really talked without one person needing something in a few month.

"Hi Tim. Sorry for not calling for such a long time, but sadly this isn't a social call. You remember that I'm undercover with the FBI?"

Yeah as that forger Neal Caffrey right? Do you finally want to burn that alias?

"No Tim I don't. Me and my handler Peter just stumbled over a case that is a little much to handle for an FBI agent and a nonviolent con man. And since I don't want to bow my cover I need help in keeping Peter away from Deathstrokes target."

Deathstroke is involved and you are trying not to blow your cover? Good luck with that. But sure I'll help. My last case was just over anyway. Who else are you calling in?

"Probably Jason and Damian, since I can't really do much if I don't want Peter to get suspicious. Can you come to my apartment tonight at 8? Then we can discuss everything"

Sure, see you then.

After Dick had called his other two brothers he sank onto his couch, exhausted from the emotional roller coaster the day had been. But just as he thought he would have a few minutes to himself to organize his thoughts, his door opened and Mozzie stepped in. As always his first act was to walk straight to Neals wine collection and pick out one of the most expensive bottles he had. Once he sat at the table with a glass of the wine in his hand he glances questioningly at Neal, who is still lounging on the couch in a manner that it very unlike Neal.

"Long day" is Neals only answer and Mozzie returns all of his attention to the wine as if those two word had answered all his questions.

"Did the suit do something stupid again?" he questioned after a few minutes. Neal laughed at that.

"You could say that." Neal debated how much he could tell Mozzie, but it would probably be more suspicious if Mozzie found out later and from another person so Neal decided to tell the truth. "We were investigating a case today when Deathstroke showed up and warned us to stay away from his target. Peter is of course even more determined to find out whats going on now."

"I agree with the cautious approach of course" he said while looking at Neal as though he was a very difficult puzzle "but normally you prefer to run right into danger with him. I am aware of Deathstrokes reputation but I wouldn't have thought you'd be so afraid of him that you'd have a fight with Peter. So what is so special about this?"

"I've.." Neal thought about the best way to phrase this without giving away to much of his past with Deathstroke "I've encountered him before and let's just say there were a few less survivors than I would have liked."

Mozzie looked contemplative at that. "That was before you became Neal Caffrey I assume?" he asked. And with that single question all of Neals assumptions that Mozzie didn't know anything about his live as Dick Grayson vanished. Of course he had suspected that Mozzie knew something, he was way too smart and had spent way too much time with him to be ignorant to the fact that Neal Caffrey was an act. But Neal had held onto some hope that Mozzie had never figured anything out.

Now that he thought about it, it also meant, that Mozzie had known and never asked about it. Until now that is when it directly impacted his course of action. He decided that he trusted Mozzie enough to give him some information.

"Yeah, Deathstroke tried to make me his apprentice, but I didn't want to kill, so I refused. He´s had some respect for me since then, that's why he warned us today." Mozzie looked almost impressed at that, but didn't ask any further questions about Neals past. Instead he focused on their problem.

"So what is your plan? Knowing you, you won't just let Peter get in his way without some form of back up."

Just in that moment there was a knock at the door to the balcony and as Neal looked towards he clock he discovered, that it was indeed almost 8. And Mozzie was still here. Well that would be an interesting meeting.

He ignored Mozzie for now and went to open the door for his brother before he became impatient and broke in. It was Tim who came in, fully dressed in his Red Robin uniform. Mozzie and him eyed each other for a second before accepting the fact, that the other person was there and going after their own task. For Mozzie that was pouring another glass of Neals wine and for Red Robin that was greeting Neal (He was Neal in front of Mozzie and not Dick, he had to remember that) with a big hug which was a bit out of character. Note to self, Neal thought, meet up with my little brothers more often.

As they pulled apart Mozzie finished his wine with one last long gulp and stood up.

"Well I better get going. Keep me informed of your plan. Goodbye Neal, cape" with that he exited Neals apartment, fully aware of the confused stares he was receiving from the other occupants.

Tim turned towards Dick with a questioning glance "Does he know who you are?"

"I thought he didn't, but after that I'm not so sure anymore." Dick answered. "But I trust him and if he figured it out and he hasn't reacted badly yet than that hopefully means he has just accepted that I hang out with 'capes'"

Together they waited for their brothers while talking about random things in their lives. When the other two arrived Dick summarized the situation for them and they developed a plan. Damian was suppose to shadow Peter and make sure that he didn't get in any kind of trouble. They debated whether it was more important to shadow his target or Deathstroke himself until Dick pointed out, that no matter how good they were, Deathstroke would spot them and shoot them. (At that point Damian and Jason were both very offended and there was a small fight.)

They agreed that Jason was supposed to shadow the target and Tim would hack the FBI and everything that their target had contact with. The first step to that was finding out the targets name, because they still only had a face and no name. His research would give Jason his starting point. Dick would keep his cover and work at the FBI all day.

With that the three vigilantes went out on patrol for the evening and Dick finally had those minutes to himself, that he had been longing for all day. He finished the bottle Mozzie had opened while thinking about all the things that could go wrong with their plan.

Just as he wanted to go to bed his phone rang. It was Peter who told him, that he would be there a little early tomorrow so they could talk, what happened today. So instead of going to bed Neal sat at his table for another half hour thinking of excuses, that were true, but didn't tell Peter anything about his past as Dick Grayson. He came up with nothing, where Peter wouldn't have more questions after hearing his explanation than before. Questions he couldn't answer.

With a sigh he plopped down on his bed. He would just have to lie to Peter and hope that he either didn't notice or wouldn't call him out on it.