...I really have nothing to say up here. Um. Enjoy?
DISCLAIMER: I don't own- oh look, a squirrel!
Red-X stood on the building, whistling a tune. He had started off whistling some popular song that he liked, but had almost unconsciously switched to the tune of a Romani song Dick had taught him. When he realized that, he rolled his eyes. God, I'm such a sap.
Anyway, he had been up there for a while now, and was beginning to doubt that Slade was going to come, which sucked. He wanted to talk to Dick, to make sure he was alright. And maybe threaten Slade a little.
What? He might not act like it, but he really did care about his brother. After all, Dick was the only one who had ever really cared for him through everything. He had never given up on him, even during the whole Red Hood period. He owed it too Dick to stick by him. Plus, if he was being completely honest, Dick was his role model. He looked up to him.
"Red-X"
Jason whipped around so quickly he got whiplash. Well, at least Slade had turned up. "You're almost as bad as the Bat." He muttered. "Slade. What took you so long?" Slade raised an eyebrow. "I am not at the beck and call of children." He drawled. "What do you want?"
"I want to talk to Nightwing." Jason said firmly. Slade was obviously not amused. "In case you didn't realize," he drawled, "I believe I kidnapped him. Why on earth would I bring you to my hideout and allow you to talk with him, especially since you're working with those heroes?"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa." Jason put his hands up in a 'stop' motion. "I am not working with them. Wingnut asked me to tell than about the background and rules and whatnot, so I did. Past that, though, I'm staying as far away as possible." Slade was still doubtful, but his comm rang. He raised an eyebrow and answered it, and made it loud enough for X to hear, seeing that it was Nightwing.
"Slade, he's telling the truth. I practically had to force him to even talk to them in the first place." Nightwing's voice came through. "Seriously, he's tried to kill a bunch of them. He's not going to work with them unless he's gone insane, which is a very real possibility."
"Hey!" Jason exclaimed. "It is not! Those were extenuating circumstances!"
"Uh huh. Whatever helps you sleep at night. If it makes you feel better, technically we should all be locked up for running around a city in spandex."
"I don't wear spandex." Jason retorted.
"You did."
"That wasn't my fault- it was yours, actually."
"Details, details. Continue your conversation." He hung up. Jason gaped at the communicator. "Aaaanyway." He glanced back over at Slade. "You're going to take me to him."
"I am, am I?" Slawe was obviously not convinced. Not to mention the fact that X was acting just a little bit rude, which wasn't really helping his case. X, however, wasn't worried.
"Yes, or I go right to the heroes and actually help them. Goldie told me everything, Slade- it won't be hard to find you again. Maybe Adeline will know where some of your hideouts are?" He smirked.
Slade narrowed his eyes, mind working furiously. Addie would know of their current hideout. He could move bases, of course, but he had business in Jump, meetings had been scheduled. He couldn't move yet. Suddenly, his mind went off on a tangent; why did Red-X care so much? When he asked X, his smirk faded to a faraway look. "Not that it's any of your business," the former bat said quietly, "but Nightwing has done more for me than anyone. I want to make sure he's ok, and happy. I'm not here to pass any secret info or anything; I just want to make sure he's ok."
Slade's communicator crackled to life again.
"Aw! Jay! I didn't know you cared!"
Red-X glared at the communicator, startled. "What the hell Goldie! Are you pulling a Dad right now, spying on us? How the hell did you hear that, anyway?!"
"The cameras have audio, idiot. And yes, I am acting a bit like him, but I'm fairly sure that he wouldn't be spying on you from a top-secret super villain hangout…"
"Dad?" Slade asked. "Would that be your father, Nightwing, or Red-X's father?"
"Technically, both our fathers are dead." X pointed out. Nightwing agreed, and added, "It's more of a figure of speech at this point, but it's referring to our sort of father-y figure."
"What do you mean, father-y?" X asked, amused. "You practically worshipped him."
"Which is why I moved to Jump and cut all contact with him?"
"Touche."
Slade sighed. "Fine. Come with me." Nightwing obviously trusted him, and at the very least he could, hopefully, find out more about both X and Nightwing by watching them interact. And it would be nice for Nightwing to interact with someone more his age. And besides, Red-X was a villain, so perhaps he could help convince Nightwing to join him for real. He turned on his heel and led X to the car. He didn't notice X's huge grin, but he did hear the faintest echo of a cackle issuing from the communicator.
"Find something interesting?" Tim came up behind Bruce, who was still going through all of the files. He brought some food with him, which he was fairly sure Bruce wouldn't touch, and some coffee, which he probably would. Bruce glanced at him, seemingly on the edge of dismissing him immediately, before he hesitated and shook his head.
"Nightwing believed that Slade had a base in nearly every city." He said, pulling up a map. "Excluding Gotham and Jump, he could be practically anywhere. He'll stay in America though."
Tim sighed. "Not much to go on."
"No." Which was incredibly frustrating. Slade was trained, highly skilled, and incredibly careful. There were no tracks to follow, no leads. Superman had returned to the Watchtower to do some research there, and many heroes were keeping an eye out in their cities. Selina was keeping an ear out for villain gossip. Young Justice was still plotting with the Titans, comparing notes on Nightwing and what he would do to contact them or leave a hint. If he contacted or left a hint. Bruce wasn't sure he would.
He bit back another frustrated sigh. There was nothing for him to do.
Just then, an alert went off. There were two people outside of the door, one of whom the computer recognized, and the other was a stranger. He glanced at the screen and turned towards the Titans. "Who's Jericho?"
Beast Boy blinked at him. "He's a hero- helped us with the brotherhood. Blond hair, green eyes, mute. 'Wing was going to put him on the new Titans team. Why?"
"Because he's here." Batman turned and swept towards the door, something in the description striking a chord. "Along with someone else."
The Titans exchanged looks and followed him to the door, pausing when they saw Jericho and a strange woman stride in. Jericho smiled at the Titans, but the woman stopped in front of them and crossed her arms.
"My name is Adeline Kane." She said seriously. "I understand you're having some trouble with Slade. I can help."
I have no clue where Addie came from, she just kinda barged in here demading to have a chance to kick the crap out of Slade. Take a number, Addie.
And see how unintentionally smart Slade is being? He's in Metropolis, but Supes is too busy running around with/for Bats and coordinating everything to actually look in his own city, and Superboy's with the Team in Jump. Addie knows about that hideout, of course, but she'll probably figure there's too many memories, too many reminders of Grant for him to make that a permanent base again, especially since Slade has gone there, like, once since Grant died.
Anyway, hoped you liked!
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