OK, looooong chapter. Like, upwards of 2000 words without the notes. And I don't even really like this chapter. It's kinda boring. Oh well.

Umm... right, corrections. It has been brought to my attention that Xinthonium is apparently not correct. Oops. Buuuut I'm too lazy to go correct it, so you'll all just have to ignore it. Sorry :P

And I'm actually expending the effort to make titles now! Except they won't fit in the title box :(

Disclaimer: ...

Titans Tower 4: Death of the Peanut Gallery (aka Slade and Nightwing)

Batman had gone down and retrieved the entire case full of letters. He quickly opened the case, not even hesitating to think about what the passcode might be. Superman smirked slightly; they really did know everything about each other. He was sure that Dick would be able to open any case of Batman's as well without thinking. It was just more proof of how close they were.

Once the case was open, Batman reached in and pulled out a pile tied with blue ribbon first. Superman recognized it as the pile that Nightwing had said was his. He looked at Batman questioningly as he pulled out the piles tied with black ribbon and closed the case. "Why are you giving me my letters?" Batman gave him a you are an idiot glare. "He knows that out of everyone in the League, I would have brought you." He said simply. "Chances are he left something for you as well." Superman nodded; it made sense. He and Batman did seem to end up on the same missions, after all. And Dick knew that Clark would insist on coming if it had to do with his 'nephew's' safety.

He untied the ribbon and flipped through the letters. There were labels on the outside, telling which event they described; formation of Titans, apprentice thing (later, Dick had gone back and added 'first' before the word apprentice), Terra, Trigon, just because, Speedy, stop being such a douche towards Superboy already, etc. Finally, he saw an envelope that looked promising- When Slade kidnaps me again. He glanced over at Batman, who had a lot more letters to go through, and then gently opened the envelope. He scanned it quickly.

Dear Clark,

So, it's been about three days since you guys came to the Tower. I figured I should probably write this, to give you some instructions for when Slade kidnaps me again. Yes, I'm saying 'when' instead of 'if'; he will get me again, sometime, somehow. I can't avoid it forever, so I might as well plan accordingly. I'm assuming that Batman brought you, so I'm not going to put the real instructions in here. Read the letter I left for him to find out about that. This letter is to give you some other directions, ones that don't apply to Batman… or are for Batman. And don't worry about me, I'll be fine.

First of all, please look after him. Losing me again will probably hurt him a lot. He's going to need you more than ever. You are his only true friend, you know; it's why he asked you to come with him for this. He trusts you more than anyone, except maybe me or Alfred. Keep him sane.

Second, make sure he lets the others help. The Titans have fought Slade before, and while they don't understand him anything like I do, they do know some of his tricks. They can help him look, take a bit of the load off of his shoulders. Let Babs and Tim help too, if you have to, but keep them away from Slade. He takes more of an interest in non-metas than metas. Keep Artemis away from him too.

Which brings me to third- don't let him keep YJ out of the loop. You guys haven't even told them yet, have you? Don't make them find out through the grapevine. Tell them, and let them help. It'll make them feel better.

Fifth, if Slade's threatening someone to get me to go with him, help them first. Don't even try to find me until they're safe. He probably won't involve anyone else, but there's no harm in making sure.

The first one is by far the most important. Bats will drive himself to the ground looking for me, you know he will. Don't let him get too crazy. Make sure he eats and sleep. Don't let him ignore Timmy. And for god's sake, keep him from killing Jay when he says that he won't really help, other than for info.

Thanks Clark. I know I can count on you.

Superman looked up, surreptitiously wiping a tear from his eye. Batman looked at him. "Did you find something?" Supes nodded. "He left me a letter for when he was kidnapped. There isn't anything about Slade or how to get him back, just some other instructions."

"Saying what?"

Superman coughed and avoided his eyes. "Well, to take care of you, for one. He said that I'm your only true friend and you're going to need me more than ever now." He didn't even have to look up to feel the Batglare increasing a thousand fold. What did surprise him was that the Batglare soon softened. "He's right." Batman said, so quietly that Clark could hardly hear him.

"Did he just admit it?" Nightwing asked, wide-eyed. "Oh my god, he did. It's worse than I thought. For the love of all that's holy, Supes, do NOT mess up."

Slade was looking at him through narrowed eyes. "How would you know about their relationship?" He asked suspiciously. "It seems like you know them both very well… better than you should. After all, you do have a reputation of hating them."

"I don't hate them!" Nightwing shouted, exasperated. "I was just avoiding one of them! No one said anything about hating!" He caught Slade's look and sighed. "Fine. I may or may not have been very close to much of the Justice League before I left and became Nightwing. That's why they all glomped me that day, remember?"

Superman decided to change the subject very quickly. "Did you find anything?" Batman nodded and looked down at his own letter.

Dear Batsy,

So, if you're reading this, I've either been kidnapped by Slade or you couldn't resist and snuck into the Tower to read your letters. I'm going to say it's about 50/50, which one it is. Anyway, if you're reading this because you're supposed to- because Slade kidnapped me- then there's something that I'd like to say before you continue reading the instructions.

Get traught or get dead.

Yes, I was kidnapped. Deal with it. Don't go on a rampage. Slade's very, very smart and you'll need to be thinking clearly to fight him. So calm down. He won't hurt me, he won't mistreat me in any way, unless you count being forced to learn how to use a gun. But seriously, chill. Don't go around biting off people's heads for trying to help or for caring about you. Don't push Tim away. Get it? Good.

Back to the instructions. In no particular order, other than the order they popped into my head:

First of all, find whoever Slade's threatening, if he is threatening anyone. I don't think he will at this point, but it's possible. So if he is, don't you dare think about rescuing me until you find them.

Second, talk to Jason. He's become my confidant in Jump, and he knows everything. He'll explain things and point you in the right direction, but he may or may not actually help search. It's up to him; don't pressure him into anything.

Third, read those files I left you on the Batcomp. There's summaries of everything, and a profile, and lots of little things that might be important. Nothing on Slade's background though. You know where to look for that, Alfie's probably told you by now.

Fourth, don't bother looking in Jump. We won't be there.

Fifth, in the files I left you, there's more instructions. Isn't that great? Those are for setting up the disrupting program for the spy cameras. You've just got to type in a few codes, no biggie. The trouble was making it, but I did that for you already. Lucky you.

Sixth, don't worry about me. I'm serious. I'll be fine. Don't act like I've been taken by the Joker or something. Go slow and careful.

Seventh, try to get along with my team. I know you don't really approve of all of them, per se, but they can help. At the very least, they can be a distraction. But don't discount them, they've actually fought Slade before so they can be helpful.

Eight, please talk to YJ. Keep KF and Zee from killing themselves looking for me. And Spe-Red Arrow.

Some of the other letters in these piles were written during or after major Slade-related events, so they might provide some insight as well. Keep in mind that these were written in the moment, possibly before I knew everything about an event, so there might be some confusion or misleading info. Use the files for definite facts. Any letter labeled with 'Apprentice', or 'Slade', or the later 'Terra's- namely the ones about her betrayal and 'death'-, or some of the 'Trigon' ones will have some stuff.

So, I guess that's it. Good luck Tati.

-Nightwing

Batman looked up and took a deep breath. He stared into space for a moment, thinking, before shaking his head and getting up suddenly. He stalked towards the computer. Superman looked after him in concern. "Bats?" He asked uncertainly. "You ok? Want to tell us what's in the letter?" "It doesn't matter." Batman said brusquely. "It was intended for me, not you. He didn't say much about Slade." Superman nodded, still looking concerned. "But are you ok?"

Batman paused. "I'm fine." He said. "Lets see what's in these files."

"What did you write in there, to make him react like that?" Slade asked curiously. Nightwing looked mystified. "I'm not sure." He responded. "I tried to keep it lighthearted and didn't really say anything that bad… he's probably just tired and stressed."

"Should we call the others?" Superman asked. Batman growled, obviously not appreciating the interruptions. "After, I want to get this disrupting program working first. I don't like that he could be watching us."

"Nightwing could be watching too." Superman pointed out. Batman just glared at him and then kept working. "Regardless." He ground out. "I am going to stop him as soon as possible."

"Why on earth would it bother him so much?" Slade said innocently. Nightwing rolled his eyes. "You know, most normal people don't appreciate being spied on. The Titans are used to it by now, but he isn't. Plus he's paranoid to the, like, thousandth degree."

"I know. I was kidding."

Nightwing's jaw dropped and looked terrified. "Oh my god, Batman admitted he needed Supes, and Slade made a joke! The world is ending!"

"Shut up."

Batman pulled up the files. The empty password bar stared them in the face.

"Riiiight." Cyborg realized. "We don't have the password."

"Species of Nightwing's first pet." Raven deadpanned. Cyborg blinked. "Wing had a pet?"

"Has." Superman corrected. "She's still alive. And she isn't really his pet… not in the conventional sense of the word. They sort of adopted each other. She doesn't live with him, anyway. It would be kind of hard."

"I've always wondered what kind of pet Wing would have." Beast Boy said excitedly. "A dog, or a cat, or a bird or something."

"His second pet was a dog that he rescued, Catwoman would probably kidnap any cat he got as a pet unless she herself gave it to him, and he was forbidden from getting a bird. Something about a bad pun." Batman rattled off. Beast Boy gaped at him. "Uh… right."

They watched as he typed in the words 'African elephant'. They could hardly believe it when it worked. "Is that a joke?" Raven muttered. Beast Boy thought for a moment. "Well, it makes sense that he'd have an unusual pet?" He said uncertainly. Batman ignored the dumbstruck expressions and muttering and started going through the files, pulling up the one to run the interference program.

Superman grinned sheepishly and shrugged at all the looks. "He had an interesting childhood?"

"I'll say." Nightwing muttered, rolling his eyes. Slade just looked at him. "An elephant?"

"Like he said, interesting childhood. I don't think I've ever actually been 'normal'. It'd be too boring."

They watched as the picture on the screen in front of them degenerated into static.

"Well, that's that then." Slade sighed. "Time to go back to training, Nightwing."

Nightwing groaned good naturedly. The two walked out of the room, chatting quietly.

"So, what happens if there was some vital information in there that you missed?" Nightwing asked jokingly. Slade smirked back at him. "I'll find it when I got through the recordings later."

Nightwing stared at him for a moment and laughed.

Yeah... I don't like this chapter. Oh well. It was necessary. Next chapter will be shorter, swear. Much shorter. It will also feature the team- mostly Wally- and a cameo from Tim. See you then!

YJ references are awesome :) Especially the ones that actually occurred on the show.

Review! Please *puppy dog eyes that totally fail next to Dick's*