Batman watched from the shadows as Lex Luthor entered the apartment and dismissed his security detail.

The man then sighed deeply and went for the bar, where he poured himself a generous amount of whiskey.

"What can I do for you?" Lex asked without even turning around.

Batman narrowed his eyes for a moment, but ultimately decided continuing to play a possum was a waste of precious time.

"Nightwing," he growled.

Luthor looked at him with a raised eyebrow while sipping the alcohol.

"Where is he?" Batman demanded.

Second eyebrow joined the first.

"How should I know?" Luthor shrugged.

Batman clenched his teeth and fists.

When Nightwing didn't show up for mission debrief, he wasn't surprised. He didn't even bat an eye when Luthor handed him Nightwing's report, which simply stated "What he said". (Luthor provided his own report right and above Bat standards, so Bruce allowed the pettiness. For now.) Bruce had figured Dick went to sulk off his hurt feelings, so he left the boy alone to calm down and see reason. When Dick would have been ready, he would bounce back into Bruce's life like he never left and everything would be alright between them.

But.

After a month Damian came to him expressing his concern about the lack of communication from his eldest brother. A quick check confirmed Tim, Alfred, Barbara and the rest of the Bats haven't hear from him either. Further inquiry proved that other heroes didn't have any contact with Nightwing since the mission too.

So Batman investigated.

There were no sightings of Nightwing or Dick Grayson. Dick's apartment in Blüdhaven wasn't lived in for some time. As was his flat in Gotham and his safehouses and other known locations. Tracking him proved to be futile. Nightwing disappeared and the last place anybody saw him was when he went into Luthor's building with Tarantula.

Bruce tried to find the woman, but he kept running into dead ends. Which left him with the one and obvious lead: Lex Luthor.

The man definitely knew something.

"He was last seen a month ago entering your building," Batman said gravely.

"When we met for the mission?" Luthor checked. "He left alive and well." He smirked, "Did you lost one of your birds?"

"Where. Is. He." Batman ground out through angrily clenched teeth.

Luthor full on grinned and sprawled across the sofa.

"Well, well, well, I definitely got my money's worth."

"What did you do?"

Luthor swirled the liquid in his glass, letting Batman stew in his anger and worry a little more.

"I hired Red Hood to take care of Nightwing," he finally said.

Batman was taken aback. Luthor just openly admitted to hiring Red Hood for a hit on Nightwing. And while Bruce didn't want to believe Red Hood would kill Nightwing, he couldn't ignore that possibility.

"I heard he was a professional and he always delivered what he was paid for. And I'm not disappointed to find out that's the truth. Definitely worth the money I paid him," Luthor continued, but Batman barely heard him as his thoughts raced.

Bruce's and others relationship with Jason was shaky at best. Jason was insane and angry all the time. The Pit's influence only added to his madness and lust for blood. The young anti-hero traveled around the world with his team, but when he ended up in Gotham from time to time it was always more of a chance he would rather kill Bats rather than help them.

But as Luthor pointed out, Jason was a professional and Luthor wouldn't admit to hiring him to kill Nightwing out in the open. And now that he thought about it, Red Hood was suspiciously quiet for the past month too. Was he keeping Dick somewhere, torturing him for information Luthor wanted? This seemed likely. More so than Hood killing Dick.

Bruce shuddered. Inwardly.

"Red Hood is dangerous and unstable-" Batman started.

"Oh, please," Luthor interrupted, rolling his eyes. He took this into consideration when he decided to hire Red Hood, and while he was sure he didn't need to, he ensured Hood's loyalty to Nightwing by showing him a video where angry Nightwing beat Joker to death. "One might think you're not grateful that I ensured your son's safety."

"Safety?!" Batman roared.

Luthor threw him an unimpressed look.

"I hired the man Nightwing trusts and loves to protect him. While you sent him to work with his killer. And his rapist. I still can't figure out what you were thinking with that one, by the way."

Batman froze.

"Oh well," Luthor drained the whiskey and got up, stretching. "It has been a long day and I start early tomorrow, so I'm going to sleep. See yourself out."