Another really long chapter. I'm on a roll here!

This is an example of a crossover chapter. No, not like TTxYJ, I mean that we have both Nightwing and the League in here. Italics= Nightwing and Slade's comments, everything else is Bats. Nightwing and Slade is more of a running commentary than anything.

Enjoy the chapter!

DISCLAIMER: I own nooooooooothing.

Batman strode into the Titan's Tower like he owned it (well, if you looked at it the right way, he did. Where do you think Nightwing got the money from?). He had hacked the door, too impatient to bother with common courtesy like letting the Titans know they had a visitor. Superman shook his head and didn't bother trying to stop him. He had learned a long time ago that trying to stop Batman when he was in this sort of mood was a lost cause.

The Titans looked up in surprise when the two heroes entered the room. Cyborg looked at them with wide eyes. "Dude, my systems didn't even register your arrival! How'd you do that?"

"Despite what you may think, your systems are ridiculously easy to hack." Batman growled. "I doubt that Nightwing could have come up with security like that, so I assume it's your doing. Fix it."

"What crawled up his butt and died?" Raven muttered, giving up on trying to meditate. She floated closer to the group to join the conversation. She smiled politely at Superman. "What's going on? Is Nightwing with you?"

Beast Boy grinned toothily. "Or is he busy with Zatanna?" He quickly wilted under the Batglare.

"Who's Zatanna?" Slade questioned. Nightwing grinned. "My significant other. Hush."

"That's the problem, actually." Superman said quietly, not meeting the Titans' eyes.

Batman growled, obviously frustrated with the slow pace. "I need to know everything about the villain known as Slade, and his relationship with Nightwing. Now."

Starfire looked confused. "Please, Friend Nightwing knows more than we do, why do you not ask him?"

"Because they can't, Star." Raven said slowly. "They wouldn't have come here otherwise. Slade got him again, didn't he." It wasn't so much of a question as a statement. Superman nodded. Starfire gasped and looked ready to burst into tears. "No! We must rescue him from that bad man immediately!"

"But first we need to know what happened." Beast Boy said seriously.

"Superman will explain." Batman was running out of patience. "In the meantime, will one of you give me the information I need to know so I can work on finding them?" Superman sighed. "Calm down, Bats. Sorry you guys." He shot an apologetic look towards the Titans. "It's just that he's worried. I mean, we haven't seen him for years, and then he's kidnapped only weeks after we find out that he's-" The hero was cut off by a band of black that wrapped around his mouth.

"First thing about Slade is that he has the entire Tower bugged." Raven informed him. "Watch what you say."

Slade sighed. "Oh, I was hoping they wouldn't warn him until he let something slip." He mourned. "After they found out that you're what, Nightwing?"

"Not teeeeelling." Nighwing sang under his breath. He seemed amused by this whole thing.

"Frankly, I'm surprised that the Titans haven't soiled themselves yet." Wintergreen commented. "Batman seems particularly annoyed and angry and, well, terrifying at the moment."

Nightwing shrugged. He could see through the apparent anger to the worry and despair consuming his father, and felt guilty for a moment.

"If you know about the bugs, why don't you do anything about it?" Batman ground out, glaring. Raven glared back at him. "For your information, we tried." She said acidly. "We removed every single camera or microphone in the tower, and the next day we went out to fight Mad Mod. By the time we'd gotten back, they had been replaced."

"We tried again, and then Slade actually came out and beat us up this time before replacing them." Beast Boy continued. "He likes to keep an eye on Nightwing through them. We decided it was a lost cause. He gets touchy if he can't check up on 'Wing."

Batman narrowed his eyes. Finally, something he could work with. "Why would he want to keep an eye on Nightwing?"

"Other than his stalkerish tendencies?"

"Shut up."

"What? It's true."

The Titans were silent for a moment. Then, they started doing the cliche making-faces-at-each-other-and-trying-to-make-anyone-but-themselves-have-to-deliver-the-bad-news routine, which only increased the tension in the room. Finally, Raven sighed. "Come with me." She said abruptly, and turned to leave the room. Batman and Superman followed her, curious to see where she was going. She stopped at a door near the room that Batman remembered was Nightwings. She pushed open the door and waited for them to go in before entering herself.

"We call this the Slade room." She said quietly. "Technically, it's the evidence room, but so much piled up about Slade that we gave him a separate room. Nightwing used to come in here all the time; he had an unhealthy obsession with stopping Slade. Thankfully, he's stopped coming in here for the most part."

"Are there bugs in here too?" Superman asked. Raven nodded. "Everywhere but the bedrooms and bathrooms, and those usually have microphones, but not cameras."

"I didn't think he would care so much about your privacy."

"I don't."

"Seriously though, you have to admit that cameras in the bathrooms are just overboard and the ones in the bedroom were just plain creepy."

"Apparently, since you went to so much trouble to make sure they wouldn't function in those rooms."

"He doesn't. Nightwing did something." Raven answered.

Batman began moving around the room, inspecting the newspaper articles tacked to the wall, the files in the cabinet, the black and orange mask displayed on the wall. He moved aside a sheet blocking off a corner of the room and found an orange and black uniform. Ice ran through his veins.

"What is this?"

"It's a uniform." Superman came up next to him. "But it looks to small to be Slade's. It's not the right design, either."

"No." Raven took a breath. "It was Nightwing's."

Batman's gaze snapped towards her. "What?!"

"The fight between Nightwing and Slade… it's personal. The Titans aren't so important, other than as pawns. Nightwing was obsessed with stopping Slade because it was so personal. They were archenemies. Everything that Slade does or has done centers around Nightwing."

"Raven." She met Batman's gaze and saw the desperation in it. "What does Slade want with him?"

Raven's gaze dropped. "He wants an apprentice and heir." She said quietly, hearing Superman's gasp of dismay. "Someone to inherit his legacy, his empire. And he wants Nightwing to be that heir."

"No." Superman whispered.

Batman stood frozen. He had always been afraid of this, ever since the time that Deathstroke had displayed an interest in Robin. He knew that his son had so much potential- and that he would be just as great as a villain than a hero. He had realized that if he had not taken the boy in, it was very likely that he would have become a gang lord, maybe even a super villain. The lines blurred where Dick was concerned.

"We need to find them, and soon." He said. Superman looked at him. "Batman… do you think Slade could actually convince him to join him?" "Yes." Batman said honestly. "He's always had the potential to be great, on either side of the law. He lives in the gray, even more so than me, even if it doesn't seem like it. He was born into it. And their relationship seems odd."

"What does that mean?" Slade narrowed his eyes. He looked over at Nightwing, who had a stunned look on his face. "He really thinks that?" He whispered. Then he shook his head and looked at Slade. "What did you say?"

"That whole thing about the gray."

Nightwing was quiet, looking down with a frown. "Lets just say I wasn't originally intended to become a vigilante." He said. "I escaped that fate by chance, before I even knew about it. I didn't think Batman knew about it either, I found out about it after I moved to Jump."

He looked back at the screen, ending the conversation.

Batman was silent for a moment, thought racing, trying to plan. "Raven. Do you have a way of tracking your villains?"

"Yes, but it won't help with Slade."

"I'm not thinking of Slade. Can you find Red-X?"

Raven's face betrayed her shock. "What?"

"Red-X. Find him." With that, Batman began sifting through the information in front of him, determined to learn all he could from what he had in front of him before pursuing other avenues.

"Oh, and Raven? When I'm done here, I'll need the password to those files Nightwing set up on the computer."

She paused at the doorway. "The password's the species of his first pet. That's all he told me."

"That's not such a great password, Nightwing. I could probably guess it within 5 tries."

"Try."

"Dog, cat, bird, hamster, fish."

"Nope. Too bad. You're never going to get it."

"Lizard?"

"No. My first pet was a bit... unconventional."

"A bat?"

"Hee hee. No. Just give up. "

"Turtle? Moving on... what files?"

"No. Did you really think that I wouldn't plan for this? I left info and instructions to help them."

"That's cheating."

"No it's not. Did we ever say that I couldn't so that?"

"...Fine. What does Red-X have to do with anything?"

"He's really important actually. You'll see."

And fin. Whew!

Yes, I did just reference the Court of Owls. Unfortunately, that's about all you'll be hearing about them, I think.

Wha'd'ya think about the commentary? Was it too confusing?

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