So, I've got some issues to address. Dang it.:

1) Tim and Jason will be in this story. Duh. Babs will be coming later too. Damian may or may not be brought to Slade's compound if I have Ra's and Talia al Ghul go to hire Slade for something. Maybe. Steph and Cass, however, will not be included. That is definite. Sorry.

2) The Team will be coming. Promise. Chapter... 11? Maybe 12.

3) Some Titans villains may become involved, purely so I can bring in Gizmo and have Nightwing hack his equipment. Just for kicks *snicker*

4) Slade has no reason to suspect that Nightwing's Robin. It's, like, not even in his top 100 theories. So if it seems like he's taking a long time to connect the dots or missing some obvious clues, that's why. Plus, he met Robin for all of 2 minutes 7 or 8 years before this. He hardly even remembers the kid.

5) Tim is holed up in Gotham. He's not really grounded, per se, but Batsy has got him going through all the security footage and trying to figure out where Slade was hiding out while in Gotham. Plus, Batman's kind of hoping that Dick actually is still in Gotham, partly because it's Gotham so he can go all badass Dark Night on home turf on him and partly so he can rub it in Clark's face.

6) Slade has no interest in Tim. Slade will never have any interest in Tim. He took an interest in the first Robin, and it's pretty common knowledge that Tim is not him. Plus, can any of you guys see Tim as a merc assassin? Not really. Dick though? Totally could be.

That's about it. Sorry for any confusion in the last chapter with the Nightwing/Robin typo. If you didn't notice it, awesome. If you did, it's fixed now.

Feel free to ask me any questions you guys may have. I'm totally open to suggestions too. I'll start a whole PM conversation discussing some ideas. Don't be shy!

And I've delayed you long enough. Those of you who read this, anyway. Enjoy!

DISCLAIMER: I own nothing.

Superman, Batman, and the Titans gathered on the couch to determine their next plan of action. While the Titans sprawled comfortably on the couch, Batman and Superman sat rigidly, although Superman did seem a bit more relaxed than Batman. Both, obviously, were on edge.

"So." Cyborg started. "X is by the warehouses, probably getting more Xinthonium. We can go and try to bring him in, but he's slippery."

"By which he means we've never caught him." Raven added dryly. Cyborg shot her a dirty look but didn't contradict her. Frankly, Batman didn't have much confidence in their ability to capture him. After all, he was a Bat, even if he had gone rogue. Luckily, he had another plan.

"First, we're going to try this." Batman said, producing an X shaped communicator. "Sending out a team to capture him is Plan B, in case he's not cooperative."

"Surely, with what's going on…" Superman started, and then remembered who they were talking about. "Never mind."

"Where did you get that?" Beast Boy questioned. Batman turned towards him. "Nightwing left it behind. Hopefully, X will answer."

"Why do you have one of X's communicators? Did he drop it?"

"No, he gave it to me. Like I said, we're close. If he hadn't given it to me, I would have just continued breaking into his apartment to chat. He got tired of replacing the locks." He smiled sheepishly at Slade's look. "What? It's not like I stole anything."

"I was just wondering why you know where he lives, and why he still has the suit if you do."

"Oh, I let him keep it. He's happy here, and this way I can make sure he doesn't get into any real trouble. Bugging us doesn't count."

"So you approve?"

"I send him confiscated Xinthonium so he doesn't have to steal it. What do you think?"

Batman flipped open the communicator and pushed a button. "X." He said, in his deep, growly, I am the night voice.

The communicator stayed silent.

"X, answer me." Batman growled.

Silence.

"Yeah, he doesn't want to talk to you." Nightwing muttered. "Surprising, right?"

Batman sighed. "Jason, pick up this communicator now or I'm going to send Superman after you, and then turn you over to A and make you come to Gotham for Thanksgiving and Christmas." Across the room, Superman muttered something about not being a messenger boy, and he didn't want to get murdered by Jason, thankyouverymuch. Batman gave him a dirty look and then ignored him.

Silence. Then,

"That's blackmail." X's voice came through. "Did you steal Goldie's comm? 'Cause he's not going to be happy about that."

"Unfortunately, he's been kidnapped, so I doubt he cares." Batman bit out.

X swore. "Who? Joker? Dent?"

"Right, he still thinks I'm in Gotham." Nightwing realized. "Honestly, getting kidnapped by you is better than anyone else, I guess." He told Slade. "Especially that clown."

Slade nodded. "He knows Two-Face is Dent? Normally, only Gothamites know that."

"He IS a Gothamite."

"No. Not a Gotham villain." Batman corrected.

"The Rogues then? Or just a prank by YJ?"

"Why would the Rogues kidnap you?"

"They've done it before. Kid Flash asked them to once when I was avoiding him, and then they just kept doing it. They sort of pseudo adopted us. And I haven't seen them in years…"

"And YJ?"

"The team of heroes you lured to Jump. Young Justice."

"If you would be quiet for a moment, Jason, I could tell you." Batman growled. "It was Slade."

"Oh." Batman was surprised by Jason's tone; all the worry had gone out of it, and he sounded slightly bored. "That's all?"

"What do you mean, that's all?" Superman demanded. "Nightwing's been kidnapped by his archenemy, and you don't care at all?"

"Terrific." X grumbled. "The Blundering Boyscout actually is there. Look, Boyscout, they might have been archenemies but it's evolved into some twisted mentor/student thing. Never use the word apprentice. Slade won't hurt him, so chill. That being said, if you don't want Goldie pulling a... well, pulling a me, you should probably find him."

"We need to talk." Batman intervened quickly before Superman could reply. "Come to the Tower, now. That's an order."

"I don't answer to you anymore, Batsy. Your 'orders' don't mean anything." Despite his words, he appeared in the Tower a moment later. "But, Goldie made me promise to answer your questions if this happened. So, ask."

"Wait, you can just teleport into the Tower anytime?" Cyborg blurted. Red-X blinked at him. "Of course. I do it all the time."

"What do you know about Slade?" Batman interrupted, irritated.

X then blinked at him. "Did you even read the files? Or the letter?"

"Not yet." Batman admitted. "Seriously?" X sighed. "Look, those will tell you everything you need to know. Goldie wrote them just in case this ever happened; the rules of the game will be in there."

"This isn't a game." Batman glared.

"Yes, it is. We came up with rules and everything."

"Shhhh!"

"Yes, actually, it is." X smirked. "You really don't know anything, do you?" He looked around the room, seeing confusion on every face. He snorted. "Idiots. Birdie made deals with Slade; they agreed on the 'rules', which are listed in those files, but I'll tell you now too. You can't win unless you play by those rules. You've got to play the game."

"What do you mean by 'game'?" Raven asked. X thought for a moment.

"Think of it like manhunt, sort of." He said finally. "Slade and Dickhead are hiding. You guys are seeking. There's rules: you can't go out of the boundaries; you have to tag the others, not just find them; they can move bases a certain number of times, whatever. Slade's playing keep-away- he doesn't care if you get close, because then he'll just move to a different spot. You've got to corner him. And you need to find them before he convinces Goldie to side with him and help him hide. He knows all your strategies, so if he does cave, it's essentially game over; you'll never find them. But one of the rules is that Goldie has to stay with Slade until you do tag him, and can't have any contact with the seekers. He follows Slade, but doesn't really help either side. He's the prize, almost, but he's also a major player. The player, the one who can tip the scales. Get it?"

Batman nodded slowly. "But why would he agree to go along with Slade?"

"To keep Slade from hurting the seekers, of course. There's plenty of rocks he can throw and pits he can dig and ways to trip them up, plus he's playing dirty and brought some weapons and is tracking the seekers. So long as Goldie's with him, he won't use them. He'll leave the seekers alone to seek."

"That's a pretty good analogy, actually." Slade commented.

"Thanks." Nightwing grinned. "It took me an hour to come up with. He's totally paraphrasing my speech."

"Hmm." Slade mused. "Does X ever call you by your name? He seems to have a lot of nicknames for you, Goldie being the most popular."

"It's rare that we use our actual names." Nightwing informed him. "We've come up with too many nicknames for that. Although Goldie is meant to be slightly insulting, but he's gotten over that. Mostly."

"What does Slade get in return?" Superman wondered.

"Wingnut stays with him until the Titans- or you guys, now- find them." X said quietly. "And not just like, he's here, but storming the base and making it impossible for them to escape, or beating Slade to a pulp or something. He doesn't try to escape at all. He goes along with whatever 'lessons' Slade teaches him. He acts, for all intents and purposes, as his protege. Maybe tells him some info or something. In return, Slade leaves the Titans out of it. No probes or anything- seriously, you don't know about the probe thing? Do your research, Bats, you need to know all the history- and he doesn't do anything permanent while fighting them. Broken bones are the absolute worst he'll do. He won't deliberately impede the search. And he won't force Goldie to actually kill someone. He'll learn the theory, yes, and how to do everything, but Slade won't actually make him put it into practice unless Goldie himself does it of his own free will. Slade's an assassin, you know- soon, Goldie will be too."

"He already is." Batman said quietly.

Nightwing winced. "Ouch." He whispered. "That stings a bit. And it's not strictly true. I never went through most of the actual training..."

"Alright." Batman continued. "Lets go retrieve those letters and then go through the files. We'll play by the rules; but we'll use them to our own advantage and get Nightwing back.

Ok, seems like I wasn't done with the Court of Owls references. But then again, no one seemed to mind the first time, so what the hey?

Anyway, hope you enjoyed. And get ready for some looooong chapters. I love it :)

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