Summary: Takes place a few days after Wally's 17th birthday

Disclaimer: I don't own DC

The team had been sent on a mission in the sewers of Star City, chasing down a strange new threat. A criminal had been moving through Star, Gotham, Blüdhaven, and several other cities on crime sprees, and nobody had any idea who they were or how they were so clean. The mystery crook had a habit of getting in and out of places most others would deem impossible to get into, and Dick was certain it was either Catwoman, Captain Cold, or some other such professional. The team had been sent to investigate after Batman located a possible hideout for the thief.

Kaldur was leading them as they walked through the sewers when a flash of smoke enveloped the group and a shadowy figure moved through the mist with extreme speed. Zatanna started to mutter a spell to get rid of the fog, but the attacker struck her directly in the throat, silencing her before knocking her out. Dick, who was near her, quickly ran up and caught her before she fell. "Zatanna!" He gritted his teeth as the figure continued to move around. KF heard Dick's yell and started to run through the smoke, trying to clear it out and find the attacker. However, the villain knew what he was doing, and Wally ran straight into a closeline, collapsing and being knocked out by a final punch. Connor had had enough, and so he took a deep breath in, trying to inhale the smoke. Dick tensed up as he held Zatanna, but before the smoke could clear, the figure ran up behind and knocked him out with a quick strike, carrying him away.

The fog cleared and Kaldur spoke up, helping a dazed and confused Zatanna to her feet. "Where is Robin?" Everyone looked around, confused, and Zatanna started to panic upon realizing he was missing.

Dick groaned as he awoke, standing up and rubbing his head. However, once he regained his senses, he realized his mask was missing, as was his utility belt. Crap! How did he get them off?! Dick's mask and belt had specialized defenses that would release an electrical discharge to shock anyone who wasn't authorized if they tried taking them off him. It was virtually hack-proof, and the only people who were authorized to remove them from his person safely were himself, Zatanna, Bruce, and Alfred. Dick jumped up to his feet, looking around the dark room when he heard a chuckle. He spun around and threw a punch, only for it to be caught by..."YOU?!"

Deathstroke chuckled. "Nice to see you too, Grayson." He threw Dick down to the floor, but he kicked up again, ready to fight. Slade quickly pinned him to a wall, twisting his arm to make him scream. "Now, I'm not in the mood for a fight, but if you really want to, I'm more than willing to put you in your place." He slowly let go of Dick, letting him collapse to his knees and struggle to catch his breath.

"Wh-what...do you...want." Slade smirked from under his mask.

"You've messed with my plans twice now. I'm getting sick of your meddling. However, I can't deny your natural talent. You got potential, Grayson, but Batman wastes that potential on stopping muggers and beating up evil clowns. You could be so much more...profitable." Dick snorted, already knowing where he was going with this.

"Yeah, THAT'S not happening." Slade took his mask off and turned to a monitor, pressing a button. Dick's eyes widened as he saw surveillance on Zatanna, Wally, and the others.

"Then your friends die. Normally I wouldn't stoop to these levels, but you've pissed me off one too many times. And I need your skills for this latest job of mine." He growled, wanting so badly to punch that smirk off Slade's face. But he knew any attempt to do so was futile, so he gritted his teeth.

"What do I have to do?" Slade's smirk intensified.

"There's a research facility, security's too advanced for even my own skills to break into. But I've analyzed your skill set, and you're perfect for the job. I need you to get in there and steal a cutting-edge biochip that's being developed to treat paralysis. If you're a good boy, I may even let you keep some of the cash, not that you need it, billionaire. Once we've secured the biochip and my employer is satisfied, you're free to go, and I lay off your friends. Try anything smart and I off them one at a time, starting with your girlfriend." Dick snarled at the threat to Zee before slowly nodding.

"What's the biochip for?"

"My employer's motives mean nothing to me. All I care about is the money."

"Yeah, real noble." Slade scoffed before walking out of the room.

"Study the schematics I've provided you on that monitor. Try anything and the magician dies. I expect you to be ready in two hours." Dick glared at Slade as he exited the room, shutting the door behind him. Okay, so I either break into this place and steal the chip, or he offs my friends, starting with Zee. God, this is NOT an asterous situation.

Meanwhile, back at the cave, the team was in ruins, having lost their Boy Wonder to the unknown threat. Batman hadn't yelled at them, instead keeping his demeanor and glaring at them so hard that Superman's heat vision was a preferable alternative. Kaldur knew he had to try something to rally the others, especially Zatanna. She was going crazy knowing her boyfriend was MIA and possibly badly hurt. Zee had already tried using her scrying spell to find him, but unfortunately she couldn't narrow his location down. The spell required too much energy in order to see present events rather than past events, and she simply couldn't muster it. Nabu was busy dealing with Klarion and Wotan, so he couldn't assist either. Kaldur faced his team. "I know we may have lost Dick, but we cannot let that stop us. For all we know, he is alive, and we will find him once we find this criminal. If anything, his kidnapping should motivate us even further to find and stop whoever this may be." Batman walked into the room just as he was finishing up and activated the holo-computer.

"Aqualad is correct. Finding this attacker, and your teammate, is of the utmost priority. I have analyzed the combat patterns of the assailant, combined with his preferred tactics and the skills he required to break into so many high-security facilities, and you're not going to like who I've narrowed it down to." The holo-computer showed Deathstroke, and Zatanna clenched her fists, glaring at the image as the others muttered words of disbelief. If that lunatic did anything to Dick, I swear I'm going to-Batman received an alert from Superman before turning to the others. "I will work on tracking Slade down. For now, you need to get to STAR's Metropolis facility. They've reported a theft in progress of a highly-cutting-edge biochip." The team ran to the Bioship and Zee couldn't help but feel like they had more important things to do than stop a theft. I know this is important...but Dick is more important. I can't...I'll find him. No matter what.

The team landed near the facility just in time to see a thief who was dressed in all black, wearing a hood and scarf to hide his face, and about the same height as Zatanna exit the building with a duffel bag.

-Ten bucks says the chip's in the bag-

-Alright, get 'im!- Rocket and KF raced towards the thief, who's eyes went wide as he saw the team. Oh crap! Sorry about this guys! He flipped around to disorient Rocket, and KF chased after him. The thief swept Wally's legs with a kick, and KF went flying at superspeed towards a wall. Rocket took the opportunity to trap him in a force bubble, but the thief pulled out a strange device, pressing a button to counteract the forcefield's frequency with a sonic blast. He then started to make a run for it and the others went after him while Connor checked on Wally, who had knocked himself out from his collision. Rocket tried launching force bubbles at him, and one actually connected, but the thief landed on his hands and sprung back onto his feet, not stopping for a second.

-Who is this guy?!- Artemis was getting frustrated, so she started firing bola arrows after him, but the thief dodged every single one with his acrobatic skills. It reminded Zatanna of Robin's flips, which only made her more depressed. Not the time. Zee started to mutter a spell, but the thief tossed a tear gas grenade at her feet, silencing her and sending her into a coughing fit. God, I hate that stuff. He felt a pang of guilt at having to hurt her, but he pushed it to the side. Either this or she dies. I'm so sorry, Zee. M'gann finally managed to use her telekinesis to lift him up and hold him in place, and Artemis landed a bola hit on him. Miss M lowered him back down now that he was tied up, and the team closed in on him, slowly. Connor ripped his hood and scarf off, and everyone's eyes went wide. Zatanna almost started to cry as she saw that her boyfriend was the thief they were fighting against. Wh-what? D-Dick?! Artemis was the first to speak.

"Dick? Wh-why are you-"

"I don't have a choice! I'm...I'm sorry." He couldn't stand to look at Zatanna, so he was staring directly at Megan, almost as if he were trying to get her to read his mind. Megan caught on, and she tried to enter, only to be forced out by the inhibitor Slade had forced him to wear. Dick's eyes widened as a voice spoke in his comm.

"Say one more word and I shoot the girl right through her heart. Get the hell out of there. NOW." He gritted his teeth before using the blade he had hidden in his glove to cut the restraints.

"I'm sorry, guys. Really." Pain was very evident in his voice, but he knew that meant nothing. He cut the restraints and leapt off the side of the building, landing on Slade's helicopter as they flew away. The team could have chased them, but they were all too stunned by the revelation. Artemis did her best to comfort a crying Zatanna as Wally finally awoke and was confused as to what was going on.

Dick and Slade arrived back at the temporary hideout Slade was using, and he smirked. "Good work. But we need to work on your ruthlessness." Dick gritted his teeth before throwing a swing at him. Slade caught the punch and flung him back to the floor.

"Why did you make me do that?!"

"They were standing in your way. Not my problem. If you had managed to escape sooner, they wouldn't have figured out your identity."

"She used telekinesis on me!"

"Again, not my problem. Now, there's one more thing on our to-do list." Slade pulled up a file on a computer chip, and Dick growled.

"You said I'd be freed after-"

"AFTER my employer is satisfied. Which he isn't, not yet. This is the last item we need to get, and then you're free to go." Dick clenched his fists, and Slade smirked. "Need I remind you that I could assassinate your beloved Zatanna within a day if you reject my commands? Didn't think so. Now, get some rest. We train at 6 sharp in the morning." He left the room, and Dick collapsed to his knees, giving in to his feelings of guilt and regret. God, what did I do? Even if I get out of here...how will I...how could I even look at them again after what I've done?

I am getting kinda eager to move through the timeline more quickly since I wanna write stories with Dick and Zee as young adults rather than just teenagers, so I might include less of these fluff chapters and more plot-based chapters, but rest assured I will still sprinkle some fluff in there, just like I did when we went through YJ season 1, and I will not neglect any chapter ideas you wanna see, so keep the suggestions coming cuz those will always be my top priority. We can always come back to this time point after we've gotten further in, so don't worry about that. There's still quite a long way till we reach Nightwing, but I think I'm gonna pick up the pace as we move through the next few years to reach that point unless you all have ideas you'd like to see at any point, which of course I'll make my top priority. I won't go too fast cuz there's still stories I could fit in here and there during these time points and I don't wanna rush it too much, but I am getting anxious to make my way through the timeline and so I may speed things up just a bit. However I will always take ideas from you guys, regardless of the timeline. Just specify what time period you'd like the idea to be in so I know what to include (Pre-Auld Acquaintance, young Dick, the current time, etc.). Remember, the chapters don't have to be in chronological order, so no need to worry about that. You can request whatever you want anytime and I'll add it to the list (but if you request something we haven't gotten to yet, I'll put that idea on hold until we reach that point, ie. if you wanna see Tim and Dick bonding, I'll wait until after I introduce Tim Drake and then I'll write your idea). On an unrelated note, thank you all for the support, it really means the world to me. Feel free to leave comments or suggestions for chapters you wanna see. Next chapter up soon.