As soon as Dick found out that Hailey was alive and well, he took a week off work. He cited a family emergency and since his captain had been trying to get him out of his hair, he told him to take a month off. Probably hoping that Dick wouldn't return. The BPD could use more cops like Dick Grayson but with all the trouble the boy was causing for the upper echelon, he had to find a way to get him off the force. It was for the boy's own good. He was pissing off all the wrong people. At the moment they only saw him as a nuisance but at the rate Dick was trying to clean up the city, it wouldn't be long before they saw him as a threat.

Dick was well aware he was poking the metaphorical bear. It was part of his plan. He needed the main boss to come out from the shadows. And Dick only knew one way to get that to happen. Annoying him until he was boiling with rage and wanting to deal with Dick personally. It was one of his many specialties. He knew that the reprieve from his constant meddling would only send the boss into paranoia. So when he returned, it would be that much more effective in drawing the boss out. But he didn't have time to think about that. For now, he would use his talents to find his sister.

Dick was surprised to hear everything that Tim had told him. And he was angry at himself for not having the foresight to meet with the new Superman. To think the man had known of his sister's whereabouts without letting his family know… Then again, the current Superman didn't know what Hailey meant to him since he didn't know anything about him. Bruce and Diana may have befriended the new Lois and Clark, but everyone else who knew the previous Clark, including Dick, weren't jumping at the chance. It could be childish but Dick was still grieving the loss of his friend. Meeting his doppelgänger wasn't something he was looking forward to. And yet, it would have made finding Hailey that much simpler.

Currently, Superman and a few others, including Batman, were off-world on a mission. Which gave Dick the perfect opportunity to make use of the Bat-computer to pull up Hailey's file. It was password protected but Dick knew Bruce so well that it didn't take long to open up the file. He went to Bruce's notes hoping to find anything that would help him find her. Out of curiosity, he clicked on the entry dated close to the date she had gone missing. There weren't many entries after that though. Dick wondered why. But before he turned the thought over, he began to read.

'The hunt for Hailey Thomas led by Nightwing and assisted by Robin has been a fruitless endeavor. Their emotional distress and connection to the victim had made their search sloppy. Neither realized that any record of Hailey Thomas has been erased from public records.

I decided to investigate her past. I found a registry under the birth name of her life before her adoption by Bruce Wayne. According to public records, Helena Gadd was placed in the foster system at the age of six. Soon after she was adopted by Jasper Collins. At the age of twelve when Jasper was murdered in front of her eyes, she was returned to the custody of the state. As a side note, further investigation on who was behind keeping the victim in the system under her birth name is needed.

Looking into the last day the victim was seen, my investigation led me to Harvey Bullock and Renee Montoya. Hailey Thomas was under their supervision after Bruce Wayne was taken into custody for the murder of Vesper Fairchild.

Hailey Thomas was taken to GCPD for questioning when she was discovered on the manor grounds covered in what police believed to be Vesper Fairchild's blood. From the DNA analysis on the swabs taken from Hailey Thomas the night of Vesper Fairchild's murder, the computer found a match; David Caine. His height and proportions are similar to Bruce Wayne. Without speaking to either party, there is no proof of what happened that night. Questions still linger. What was Hailey Thomas doing at the manor that night? Why did she appear when police arrived with the murder weapon and covered in Caine's blood? Did the victim attempt to murder Caine? If so, why?

The victim disappeared from the precinct that night. There were no witnesses that saw her leave. Renee Montoya and Harvey Bullock tried to cover up the fact that the victim had been in the precinct, going so far as to hide evidence they took from the victim unlawfully under a cold case file. Any surveillance videos of her presence at the precinct have been erased. According to the two detectives, there was a power outage and many files were corrupted that night. Including all surveillance of the precinct. As such, there is no clear timetable of the victim's time of departure. Whether it was on her own accord or if she had help. It is also likely that she was taken to ensure David Caine would not be tied into Vesper's murder.

There is enough evidence to support that David Caine murdered Vesper Fairchild and moved her body to the manor postmortem. Caine received two deposits to his offshore account from a subsidiary of LexCorp. It is enough to clear both Bruce Wayne and Sasha Bordeaux of the murder of Vesper Fairchild. Furthermore, there is no evidence to link Hailey Thomas to the murder. There is nothing to support that she knew David Caine personally. Tying the murder to Lex Luthor even with payments to the mercenary from a shell company under LexCorp has been ineffectual.

There are no leads to find Hailey Thomas. The GCPD has stopped any investigation on the matter. Since there is no public record of her existence and her adoptive father is in hiding, the commissioner had no choice but to close the case. However, he turned to Batman for help. Assuming that the two detectives scared the victim into hiding, there is only one place that the victim would go; Metropolis.

New evidence into Hailey Thomas' whereabouts from an unlikely source was turned in to me. The source is untrustworthy. A thorough investigation of the evidence is needed.

Video of the victim's captors taking her limp form out of GCPD and consequently out of Gotham came to light. Though the video quality was shoddy at best. Physical descriptions of the persons involved were inconclusive. The vehicle they used went no further than Metropolis where it was abandoned and burned. An aerial scan of the city by Superman had no results. No further leads to follow.

A Jane Doe was recovered near the site of the abandoned vehicle only days after the arson incident. The body was cremated before an autopsy was performed due to a clerical error on behalf of the medical examiner's intern.

Hailey Thomas was confirmed dead by Metropolis M.E.

Conclusion: there is no need for further investigation into the victim's whereabouts.'

Dick didn't know what to think. But he knew what to feel. Anger. Towards Bruce. He'd had information that he never shared. But then Dick sighed. Bruce believed they were too emotionally distressed and they probably were. Neither he nor Tim had known what happened the night Hailey ran away. With Bruce being sent to prison for murder, the last thing Dick had on his mind was that she would've been at the manor when that happened. Bruce wasn't talking. Neither was Sasha. If Dick had known to start there…

He pounded the desk in frustration. Bruce had lost hope. He truly believed Hailey was dead. And if she was, he was awaiting her return. But Dick had a gut feeling that she'd been alive. He didn't know why. And even though he went through the motions of living his life, he spared any downtime looking for anything that could direct him to her. He saw her in every victim and doubled his efforts as Nightwing to ensure that the citizens in his city were safe. Dick Grayson vowed to get rid of corrupt cops and politicians. All the while, he held onto the hope of finding his sister. Now she was within his grasp. And he had a name.

Helena Gadd.

Dick searched public records for Helena and found out that she was under the guardianship of Lex Luther. Dick clenched his fists and stood up. Lex was getting a visit from Nightwing. If he hurt her in any way, Lex Luthor might not survive the night Dick was planning for him.


Meanwhile at Titans Tower…

Tim was in his room busy on his laptop. Since his talk with Conner about Hailey, he had developed an algorithm to seek out girls between the age of thirteen and fifteen who were currently at trauma centers. He included eye and hair color in the search. He had no idea if Hailey had grown since he saw her last. She had always been of above-average height but not necessarily tall. He figured eye color would be more than sufficient since Violet eyes were not common.

Tim had already sent out phishing emails to all trauma centers in the continental US to circumvent their firewalls and have access to their patient information. He'd also geared up to be ready to move the very moment he had the information he needed. As soon as he started the search using his algorithm to pinpoint his sister's location within trauma centers he'd phished beforehand, his phone rang.

"Tim," Dick said as soon as his brother answered his cell. "I know who has her. How soon can you get out here?"

"Bart!" Tim said as he walked out of his room. He went towards the common area. "I can be there in a few minutes."

"Good. I don't think I can wait any longer than that."

"Hey, man, what's going on?" Bart said as he rushed up to Tim and then took a step back. "Why do you have your murder face?"

"I need you to take me to Gotham. Dick found out who took my sister," Tim said tersely.

"Yeah, ok—"

"What do you mean he knows who has your sister?" Conner said, interjecting into their conversation. He'd heard what Tim said and rushed over to them. "No one has her. I told you she was safe."

"Lex Luthor is her legal guardian," Dick said having heard Conner through the phone speaker.

Tim was glaring at Conner because he surmised that his friend was already aware of this. What he didn't understand was why he would protect Lex Luthor of all people. He'd changed his opinion over the man a little too quickly. Brainwashing perhaps, Tim thought but inwardly shook away the thought.

"I don't know how that happened or why, all I know is he orchestrated—"

"Stop!" Conner said in frustration.

Tim and Bart both froze in their spots. Conner looked desperate. It wasn't like him.

"He's helping her! I know that Lex is—just trust me. He's the good guy this time around."

Dear God, he really is brainwashed,Tim thought.

"Okay, what the fuck? Why is Conner suddenly Team Lex?" Bart said holding his head in complete bafflement.

"That's is a very important question, Bart. Another would be, who the hell are you and what did you do with the real Conner?" Cassie said wrapping the Lasso of Lightning around Conner's midsection.

"It's really me, guys!" Conner said feeling frustrated with his teammates. "I get it, it's Lex. I was angry too. But Hailey told me her side and Clark was aware of it. Hell, Kara has been at her side every step of the way. Hailey is safe. And she's getting the help she needs."

Tim put his hand up slightly. He could hear the honesty behind those words. Conner truly believed what he was saying. He was cognizant of the position he was in and wasn't trying to fight his way out of it. "Cassie, stand down. This is Conner. We need to trust him."

"Your funeral," Cassie said releasing Conner but not truly believing he was in his right mind.

"Thanks, Tim," Conner said and let out a sigh of relief.

Bart moved to stand beside Cassie. At least he knew she was as skeptical of Conner as he was. And if they had to take their friend down, he wanted to make sure she knew where he stood. They weren't going to have time to hash out a plan.

Tim raised his brow at Bart who shrugged in response. But Tim chose to ignore him and put a hand on Conner's shoulder. "I think you have to start from the beginning, Conner."

Conner shot Tim a pleasing look. He'd already broken part of his promise to Hailey. He didn't want to completely shatter any trust she had in him.

"Tim, bring your team here. I have some information to share with them. Especially with Conner," Dick said in a low controlled voice.

Tim knew his brother was angry at the fact that there were so many people who knew of their sister's whereabouts without clueing them in. And yet, he was extremely patient. Tim had a feeling that Dick was holding on to that anger in order to unleash it on Lex when they confronted him, which they would confront him and soon, and Conner needed to be on board. Tim would make certain of that.

"He needs to hear the very circumstances that led to Hailey's disappearance."

Or Dick would make certain of that.

Tim saw the slight frown in Conner's demeanor and the tightening of his fists. He knew right then and there that Conner was ready to listen to what Dick had to say. Conner hated being played. Especially by Lex. And for him to think that his family had fallen for Lex's Good Samaritan act, it must really irk him right about now. Not only him but Tim as well. Because his sister had also fallen for it. And Tim knew there was no way in hell that the information Dick was about to share would paint Lex Luthor as a fucking saint.

"Suit up, everyone, we're heading to Gotham."


Hailey's therapist called her into his office. She assumed that it had something to do with her leaving for college in the upcoming weeks. He was going to set her up with a therapist in Metropolis so that she could continue her therapy to help her transition to living on her own. Grant it, she'd be in a dorm with a roommate, but she'd be out of the trauma center. She was nervous about that. Knowing who her new therapist would be and would set up a meeting before her move, made her feel a little at ease.

But she never would have guessed what he was about to tell her.

Lex Luthor was having her move to his place so that she could become accustomed to the real world before her admission at Met U. And he'd sent a driver to retrieve her. A driver who was already there. She would be leaving right at that moment. There wasn't even a need to pack, Lex had taken care of that too. He sent movers to pack all of her stuff. The therapist seemed very pleased. He'd given Hailey a card that held her new therapist's information and told her Lex had set up their first appointment later that day.

Hailey was stunned as she followed the driver out of the trauma center and was ushered into a limo. She'd been so completely out of it that she didn't even notice the woman inside until she spoke.

"Hello, dear."

Hailey started and turned to face the woman wide-eyed.

Wait, is this my new therapist?

Hailey took in the woman of middle-eastern descent. She was smiling slightly. She was very pretty. And regal. She didn't give off the aura of a therapist though. And something deep inside of Hailey set off warning bells. This woman was dangerous.

"Hailey, get the fuck out of this car!"Jason shouted at her from the other side of the window. He tried to open the door to no avail. He gave up and started to pound on the window."Now!"

Hailey went for the latch but she heard the automatic locks click on.

Hailey turned to face the woman who sighed.

"Oh child, after all the trouble I went to to get you in here, do you think I would let you out so easily?"

"Hailey!" Jason was pounding on the door. But he was left behind as the car sped away.

"Who are you?!" Hailey said in a panic.

"Did my beloved not warn you about me?" she said and tsked. "Well, I don't blame him. I made certain to make him believe he could trust me. It is part of the art of seduction."

"None of that answers my question," Hailey said nervously. "It only jumps you up the scale from crazy to psychotic."

The woman smiled at that.

"It is a fine line, isn't it?" she said, humoring herself. Because none of this situation was especially humoristic to Hailey.

No. No. No. Not again. Not again. Not again.

I can't be taken again!


Dick explained everything he found from Bruce's notes to the group. They were all shocked to find out how Lex had pulled everything off. From the quake in Gotham, No-Man's-Land, to framing Bruce for the murder of Vesper. That led to Sasha's death and consequently, Hailey's abduction.

Though the part about Hailey seemed out of place. Like a piece of the puzzle was missing. Why abduct her and then get her the help she needed when she escaped captivity? Everything Lex had done was out of greed and when Bruce got in his way, for revenge. Hailey didn't fit in that picture. If he wanted to hurt Bruce through his kids, wouldn't he have gone after Dick as well? There were too many questions. But there was no point in figuring that out right then. Tim and Dick had to get their sister and make certain she was as far away from Lex Luthor's grasp as possible.

Tim, Cassie, and Conner headed to the trauma center. Bart went with Dick to Metropolis to confront Lex. But they were too late.

Hailey was missing.

Lex was nowhere to be found.

Bart and Cassie wished there was something they could do. They had so much power and yet they felt powerless.

Conner felt guilty about not having told Dick and Tim Hailey's whereabouts sooner. And angry that he had bought into the lie that she'd been safe. Why had Lois and Clark trusted Lex?

Conner figured that Tim wouldn't want to have him around so after apologizing profusely to the two brothers, he rushed off to Smallville. How could he be a Teen Titan if he couldn't differentiate between a safe situation and a dangerous one? He had a lot to reflect on. And he hoped Clark would return soon. He had to talk to him to find out why he hadn't told Tim or his family about Hailey.

Tim didn't have time to play the blame game. And he didn't want to waste any time feeling anything at all. He had a mystery to solve. And he hoped that once he had solved it, he'd have his sister back at his side.

Dick wasn't going to take the loss lying down either. He contacted the league to issue a manhunt on Lex Luthor and Mercy Graves. But first, there was someone he needed to confront. Oracle.

Her fingerprints were all over the scrubbing of Hailey's public records. There had to be more she was keeping to herself. Especially since she had her father's ear. And she never let Dick know that Hailey had been taken into custody by the GCPD. Looking back he remembered how many dead ends he'd led him into. She was sabotaging his investigation. He could understand, to a certain extent, why Bruce had kept the information to himself. But Barbara had no excuse. And he was going to find out why she'd kept pertinent information about his sister to herself.


Notes:

This is the end of part one. I envisioned three parts for this story. Hopefully I'll be able write them all.

So sorry for the delay in posting. I no longer have a laptop and I'm working extra hours. I've been writing this on my phone and it makes it hard to stay motivated when I don't have a keyboard and a bigger screen. Editing is also ridiculous.

I know this chapter leaves a lot of questions. Answers will be coming in later later chapters. But I don't mind spoilers if you don't. I'll answer any questions anyone poses.

Thank you for reading and for those who leave comments. They're extremely appreciated.