Tim had managed to redirect Bruce's attention for a few hours, long enough for Shion to fall asleep. He knew he wouldn't be able to distract him forever, but he felt he could give Dick enough time to do what he needs to do. He had an uneasy feeling that things may get tense and he didn't want Shion to witness it. All of the family could tell that the young girl is still very wary of Bruce yet and if she saw him go into one of his tangents he had a feeling that Shion would avoid Bruce even more than she already does. It's clear that the girl has, maybe not fear, but a healthy distrust towards adults. He also doesn't know how the small girl would react to them fighting with each other if it came down to it.
Oddly enough Damian was helping him run interference. Barbara was too, but that wasn't too unexpected. Damian on the other hand actively helping him was a bit bizarre. He was going under the assumption that he was only helping because it would also help Dick. But Damian was keeping Bruce's attention away from the vehicles so he wouldn't go storming off. Barbara took Shion from him and started humming her to sleep. It worked quite brilliantly as Shion fell asleep much faster than the night before.
Shortly after Shion fell asleep Bruce very visibly reached his limit of patience, "Turn on their commlinks. Now." He growled out. It was too late to follow them, it would take too long to catch up to them at this point. He can still listen to what they're talking about. He was worried about the connection between the international mercenary and his son is. No options he could think of would be a good one. By all means, there shouldn't be a connection between the two. If there is a connection between the two, why didn't he know about it? He keeps a very close eye on his family, probably too close of an eye for some people. Jason regularly calls him a stalker, but he could care less. If keeping on top of his kid's lives kept them alive then a little bit of privacy could be compromised.
Tim frowned in discomfort, "We agreed that we'd only tune into comms whenever expressly necessary. Privacy is still an important issue here Bruce." Tuning in on each other's comm signals was unanimously agreed on for when one of them was missing or it was a life or death situation. This was neither of those scenarios.
"And Slade is a very dangerous person. I need to know his connection to Dick so I can help him. Turn. On. The. Comms."
"Who is Slade?" Damian asked with a scowl. The name sounds a bit familiar, like a nagging feeling in the back of his mind, but he couldn't grasp it. It is rather annoying.
"Explanations later, comms now," Bruce growled.
Tim, Damian, and Barbara shared a look. Tim sighed in defeat before turning to the computer. He knew he was in a losing battle. He hesitated for a moment before tuning into Dick's and Jason's comm signals. Regret pooled in his stomach immediately, he'd hate it if any of them did this to him. God, this is a total breach of privacy and him actively breaking a promise. If either of them finds out they eavesdropped on them they will be so mad at them.
They tuned in as Dick let out an aggravated sigh and they all immediately knew something was wrong. It takes a lot for Dick to show his negative emotions.
"Please just drop it." Dick pleaded quietly.
"Yeah, no. How in the hell do you know Deathstroke? I mean you apparently know him well enough to call him by his real name. What gives?"
"Deathstroke? This Slade guy is Deathstroke?" Tim blurted out in shock.
A weary sounding sigh came from Dick, "It was during the first year of the Titans forming. Slade started showing up out of nowhere. He introduced himself as Slade, it was years later that we realized he is also known as Deathstroke. To us he was always just Slade, we thought it was his moniker, not his actual name. He decided that he wanted me as his apprentice, still don't know why. I obviously said no, multipule times, something he took offense to. He forced me to train under him by implanting nanobots in the rest of the team that would have killed them if they stayed activated for too long. We eventually beat him, and he left us alone for the most part. There were separate incidents throughout the years, and he still comes to bug the Titans when he's bored. Long story short, it sucked okay. Just leave it alone."
Dark anger filled everyone listening. Sure their family members might not get along at times, but at their core, they were all very protective of their whole family. Rage on Dick's behalf flowed in them. How dare somebody force Dick to do something while threatening his friends? Regret flooded Bruce, he never knew. He should have known. How in the hell didn't he know about this? He had known that Dick was angry with him during the first few years after they split up and he had tried to give the boy his space. That had clearly been a mistake on his part. Clarity dawned on Damian why the name had sounded so familiar. He had heard many stories growing up about Deathstroke from his grandfather. Damian has never met Deathstroke, but he has heard stories of his deeds. His grandfather had been proud of that particular student of his, which meant that the man was very skilled at killing people.
"Where the hell was B during all of this?" anger was evident in Jason's voice.
To everyone's surprise, Dick responded with his own anger.
"He was too worried about training the new kid he brought in after trying to fire me from the same damn thing! B never knew about it and you're not going to tell him either. He clearly didn't care back then, so he doesn't need to know about it now. The only time he bothered to check up on me during the first few years of the Titans was during the Brotherhood of Evil's big scheme. And he didn't even do anything to help! It's a time of my life that he clearly doesn't care about so just fucking drop it."
"Turn it off," Barbara demanded quietly, her voice strained.
Tim immediately complied, not wanting to have turned it on in the first place, face pale. He had joined the Titans for a while and he could always tell that they had been hiding something from him. Something that all of the rest of them knew but kept from him, and Damian now who is an honorary Titan. He never thought that the secret was something like this. He understood why they had kept it from him now though, they didn't want it to accidentally get back to Bruce. The Titans were simply protecting their first leader with a sense of strong loyalty.
Everyone slowly turned to face Bruce whose face was purposely blank. He got up from his seat and started heading towards the changing rooms. Batman wasn't going out tonight, he wasn't entirely sure he'd be able to hold back enough right now. He stopped long enough to say, "We never heard that conversation." Before disappearing.
"Why did he never tell us? I mean I kind of understand not telling Bruce after all of that. But why not me? Why not us?" Barbara asked, bitterness in her voice.
Tim sent her a look, Barbara's need to know everything attitude was acting up. She always thinks she's entitled to everything, a major flaw of hers, "He never had to tell us anything, and based on the tone of his voice he didn't want anyone to know. Do not bring this up to him Barb." Barbara let out a huff and Tim narrowed his eyes, "I'm serious Barbara, you heard Bruce. We never heard that conversation. If he tells us, that is his prerogative. Otherwise, let it go."
Barbara scowled at him, "We can help him."
Tim scowled right back, "He doesn't need our help, this happened to him years ago. If he does want our help with this subject he'll tell us about it. He's not alone in this, never has been. He has the entire force of the Titans behind him. He may not run the Titans anymore, but they all have deep respect for him. Plus, Jason knows now so Dick knows he has at least one person in this family on his side. And he'll have us in the background. But under no circumstances are you to confront him about this. I'm serious Barbara."
"I agree with Drake on this. Grayson is entitled to what he chooses to tell others. Like we all don't have our own secrets we don't want the others to know." Damian paused for a moment before continuing a bit more solemnly, "My Grandfather has spoken of Deathstroke before, he is apparently very skilled at his job. He was trained by Grandfather personally. Deathstroke is a master at what he does. It does bring me uneasiness thinking about Grayson being trained by him." He paused again as his gaze found the sleeping Shion, "And the implication that Shion was trained by him as well at her age is equally uneasy." Damian frowned when he thought of a younger Grayson and Shion being forcefully trained under Deathstroke. He has heard stories about how cruel the man could be.
Barbara still clearly disagreed with them but stayed silent. They all made themselves busy waiting for the two to come back. None of them noticed Shion's slightly opened eyes and slight frown. Jason's voice through the computer had woken her up, thinking he was back. She very quickly realized that he wasn't in the room though and had faked still being asleep to listen in. She was very confused. Jason is angry, Dick is sad/angry, Mr. Bruce ran away, Tim, Damian, and Barbara are arguing with each other, and they were all talking like Mr. Slade is a bad man. Sure he was strict and somewhat harsh during training but he isn't a bad man. She knows a lot of bad people, Mr. Slade isn't one of them. He clearly made Dick sad though, and that isn't very nice. He was always nice to her and Yasha though. Maybe he didn't use to be the nicest, but he changed? She hopes that is true and Mr. Slade hadn't been tricking her. She had given up an opportunity for both Yasha and herself to escape to help him get out. If he isn't a good man, and she gave that opportunity to him… that would be devastating. Yasha had been killed before they could figure out another way to run.
She pretended to be asleep as the first person came back. It was Dick, not Jason. Shi thought it over in her head what she wanted to do. Did she want to stay 'asleep' and wait for Jason or did she want to try and make Dick less sad? She peeked one eye open and saw the fake smile on Dick's face as he talked to Damian. Her mind was immediately made up. They were leaving tomorrow and she'd have plenty of time with Jason. Dick needs hugs. The fake smile looked terrible on Dick who usually smiles so brightly and genuinely. His hugs make her feel better, she wants to return the favor. He mentioned needed to take a shower before walking away.
Her ear twitched slightly as she heard Dick heading back into the room and she pretended to wake up. She sat up slowly, rubbing an eye.
Barbara looked down at her, "Hey Shion, did we wake you up?"
Shion shook her head and turned to look at Dick who walked back into the room. He saw her awake and sent her that fake smile. He was clearly trying to give her a real smile, but he is still too sad. Her empathy acted up and without meaning it a pout appeared on her face.
Worry sprouted in Dick as he saw tears forming in the corners of her eyes. Is she okay? Did she have a nightmare? Shion lifted her arms up asking to be picked up. Dick didn't hesitate for a second. He strode forward and scooped Shion up off of Barbara's lap. The worry built up more within him as her arms quickly and strongly wrapped around his neck and she buried her head into his shoulder. Before long her legs also looped around his waist. She was clinging to him tightly. With one arm supporting her he started rubbing her back with his other.
"Shion, honey, what's wrong?" Dick murmured worriedly. His only answer was her clinging to him tighter. A frown pulled at his lips and annoyance flashed through his eyes before he schooled his emotions and turned to look at Barbara who'd had Shion before him, "What happened?" Honestly, after everything that happened tonight, somebody also upset Shi?
Barbara scowled at him, not liking what sounded like an accusation. She opened her mouth and was about to bark at him when Tim interrupted her.
"Nothing happened Dick, really. She was sleeping up until just now. Maybe she had a bad dream? I wouldn't doubt she gets them with all she's been through." Tim told him. He didn't like the look Barbara had and he didn't trust her keeping quiet right now with the whole Slade business. He had also seen Dick's mask break momentarily and he didn't want to push his brother anymore tonight.
"Maybe…" Dick said unsurely.
Seeing an opportunity, and remembering the message Jason had sent in while Dick was in the shower, Tim spout out quickly, "Why don't you take Shion up with you. Jason checked in a little bit ago and said he's going to be later than usual. How about you have Shion sleep in your room tonight? I mean it's already late and I'm sure she's tired. Making her wait even longer for Jason to get back seems unnecessary."
"I shall inform Todd of Shion's whereabouts when he comes back," Damian told him, noticing his hesitation.
Dick was about to protest, who's to say that Shion would even want to sleep with him? She's been pretty picky about who she lets her guard down with so far. Then he felt Shi nod into his shoulder and his protests died in his mouth. He hesitated a moment more before nodding himself, "Alright then. Let's go get some sleep shall we Shion?" she nodded again and Dick couldn't help the smile that tugged at his lips. He had to admit that Shion imitating a koala on him was making him feel better.
The three of them watched Dick make his way upstairs with Shion. When the elevator disappeared from sight Tim shot a nasty look at Barbara, "Seriously? Not even five minutes and you almost blabbed at him. Don't even try to deny it Barb, I saw that look in your eyes."
Barbara rolled her eyes, "Whatever." She bit out angrily. It was like Dick had been blaming her for the reason behind Shion's tears.
"I think it would be for the best for you to call it a night Miss Barbara. Perhaps working from home would be preferable until this new news settles down a bit." Alfred voiced his opinion, appearing from seemingly nowhere. He had listened in on everything that had been said throughout the night and is in a rather foul mood. He had followed after Bruce when he left to make sure that he wasn't planning on doing anything stupid, but the man had simply disappeared into his room. He had then come back down to make sure the others were doing well only to find them bickering. He cares about all of his charges equally, however, he will admit that there will always be a bit of a special spot for Richard. He had been the first and had brought light and laughter back into the cold mansion. The fact that somebody messed with him, and none of them knew it, made him rather cross. And in his mood, he was not going to put up with others' temper tantrums.
Barbara looked up at Alfred with wide eyes. It wasn't very often that Alfred really told any of them off. Sure there were always the little things like picking up after themselves and keeping themselves clean, but hardly even something like this. A small frown pulled at her lips and a breathy sigh escaped her, "Fine. I'll see you guys later. I'll look up what I can and keep you updated. Tell Shion I said goodbye." Barbara said before wheeling herself out of the cave.
Tim let out a tired sigh and rubbed at his temples, trying to rub the incoming headache away. Why couldn't things just go smoothly for once? Clearly, their family has been cursed to always be at odds with each other. With the very odd occurrence of Damian being on the same page as himself, Barbara decides that she's going to go demon on Dick. He turned to look at Damian, "You're going to let Jason know about what happened?"
Damian nodded, "As I told Grayson, I will alert Todd about Shion's whereabouts. Should we let Todd know that we overheard the conversation? I understand not letting Grayson that we overheard, but should we alert Todd that he is not alone in knowing about Grayson's dark spot in his past."
A groan escaped Tim, "No, not yet at least. Let's see if now that it's out in the open somewhat Dick will come to us by himself. Let's pretend we're a normal family for once." He got up and stretched, "I'm going to head up and get some rest. For once." He muttered the last bit to himself.