So, this is a kinda-boringish chapter. No action, at least. No dialogue either- le gasp!
Finally, another League chapter. It's kinda a serious chapter, cause the League and Team and Titans and etc. aren't exactly happy at the moment. So, enjoy!
Time passed.
Time always passes, no matter what anyone does. Unless, of course, you were some time-stopping villain or something, but let's not get into that. The point is, time passed, sometimes quickly (when they had a lead) and sometimes slowly, agonizingly slowly (when those leads turned out to be dead ends and where do we look NOW?!). Time passed for the searchers, for the researches, for the one everyone was looking for. And yet, nothing happened. Dead end after dead end after no leads at all after dead end. The search went on, but it didn't accomplish anything.
Batman had to hand it to him, Slade was good. Almost as good as Dick himself when it came to disappearing.
He had sorta kinda taken over the League for this. Not that anyone minded, of course. And he'd somewhat controlled it beforehand anyway, so it wasn't a big deal. Superman was too busy stopping volcanoes and hostile takeovers that no one else had time for to really participate in the search, so he wasn't there challenging his authority. No one challenged his authority when it was one of the Robins on the line. Or Batgirl. Or the Team.
Robin III and Batgirl were taking care of Gotham for him while he searched the globe, desperately looking for his son. It had been so much time, and assurances be damned, he wasn't so sure that Dick was ok. Even if he was, it was only a matter of time until he wasn't.
Batman didn't want to admit to himself that currently, the most likely definition of 'not alright' was becoming a full-fledged villain, not actual harm. But this was Dick, he might toe the line but he would never actually cross it, right?
(Across the country, in a secret base, there is a boy, a man really, wearing a uniform of blue and silver and black with the heart of a hero, slowly being coaxed closer and closer to crossing that line. But he wouldn't cross it yet. He learns all the skills necessary, and is ready to, but didn't yet have that push to spur him to take that last step. But it was only a matter of time. Everything is, after all.)
And so he searches, and searches, and in a completely uncharacteristic move actually prays. He lets those close to him, those precious few whose numbers seem to be dwindling by the second, comfort and help him, but in the end, he looks and plots alone. He hopes, at the bottom of his heart, that he will be alone when he finds Slade as well (he doesn't want anyone else there, to hold him back to stop him to keep him from getting revenge from the man who stole his son.) He won't kill him- that's one line he won't cross, and it will only push Jason farther away, too- but he will make him suffer and regret the day he set eyes on Dick. He doesn't care if they're on good terms now, that man (that monster) hurt his son in the past, and he would pay for that. Batman is good at keeping grudges. It may be his downfall, later, but for now it's his motivation.
He will get Dick back, somehow, someday. He will never let him out of his sight again (he's fooling himself, of course. Dick won't be caged, not by him, not by anyone. Not by Slade.)
He will keep looking, even if the others are losing faith. He won't give up.
Time passed.
The Team was forced to return to Mt. Justice. They search, yes, but they've also taken over a lot of League missions. They've replaced the League, in a sense, since so many are looking for Nightwing and even if they were taken away from the search, they would just worry about him and not really concentrate. Artemis, M'gann, Superboy and Zatanna are a little confused; they understand that Batman and Superman and the other team mentors are worried, but why is everyone else so worked up? It's a kidnapping, they deal with those all the time, and they didn't think Nightwing was so close with so many of them.
In answer, Wally pulls up a video recording. It's dated about 7 years ago, give or take. It's a video of Mt. Justice. It's dark in the cave, but they can tell some people are there. They don't understand- what's going on?
Then part of the screen lights up, and the familiar voice of the Zeta-beam goes off, announcing Batman and Robin's entrance. With a shock, they realize that cute little boy in pixie boots is Robin, their Robin. The girls coo.
The chibi-video-Robin looks around the cave, obviously confused, and his mouth moves. There's no audio on the recording- it's old- so they can't tell what he says, but not a second later the lights suddenly turn on and the League- as it was at the time- pops out of hiding places and shouts something. Presumably, it's 'surprise!' since there's decorations all over the cave and a sign saying Happy Birthday Robin and they birthday boy seems completely surprised by the party. He laughs and the League swarms him and hugs him and wishes him happy birthday. Everyone is smiling, in the video and in real life. Wally turns off the video.
Robin was the baby of the League, he explains. The first sidekick, the first person under 20 to be associated with the League. Add that to the fact that he was so dang cute when he was little, and within 5 minutes of meeting any Leaguer, new or old, had burrowed his way into their heart. And he had the best puppy-dog eyes, even through the mask. Flash used to joke it was their secret weapon. Even villains would stop because of it.
Point is, everyone loved Robin. He called all of the 'Aunt' or 'Uncle', except for Batman. Back then, he would slip sometimes and call him 'Dad'. Whenever he was hurt, or scared, or lonely, the entire League would drop everything to help him. That had lessened a bit as he grew up and made it clear that he needed his independence, his space, but there was never any doubt that anyone and everyone would drop everything to help him if he needed it. He helped everyone, sometimes just by listening or being there, and everyone wanted to return the favor.
Artemis, M'gann, Superboy and Zatanna are left with a new impression of their Boy Wonder. He may be their 'little brother', but he's more important than any of them. And they don't resent that; it feels right.
Or course, this doesn't stop them from worrying, or sneaking out to search on their own, or wishing they were there with him to help. Now, they know that that feeling is shared by, well, everyone.
Nightwing is theirs. Their brother, their confidant, their troll, their unofficial leader.
So they keep looking.
Time passed. And Roy was pissed.
He wasn't part of the Team, he wasn't part of the Titans, he wasn't part of the League- and he wasn't part of the search effort. He didn't fit in anywhere. Bats had the League going everywhere already, the Team teamed up with the Titans to go over everything the League did with a fine-toothed comb, and he had nothing to do.
Go take care of Star, they said. We need people in the cities, they said. Who knows, they might go to Star, and if you're not there, who going to catch them?
That was bullshit.
But he did what they said, because he didn't have much of a choice, and he knew that arguing and making a stink about it would only hurt. So he patrolled, and reported back, and fumed, and took care of his adorable little baby Lian. It was while he was rocking Lian to sleep one night that an idea struck him. Carefully, he put her down and pulled out his phone.
Ten minutes later, he was frantically calling Batman on his comm to tell him about Slade's visit to Ra's al Ghul, information courtesy of Cheshire. Who said having a slightly evil ninja sorta-wife was a bad thing?
Time passed.
The Titans couldn't believe they were doing this again. Nightwing really had to get out of the habit of being kidnapped by evil megalomaniacs. Seriously, it was not ok anymore.
They stayed in Jump at first, dealing with the typical Titans villains, like usual. For some reason, the absence of Slade and Nightwing seemed to encourage the numbskull small-time villains to make mayhem. It was exhausting, frankly, and frustrating. They wanted to be looking, not fighting idiots.
Then, YJ came with an offer. They would team up, help each other cover their respective duties and then search for Nightwing. They would follow behind the League, be the second pair of eyes to catch what they missed. After all, they knew Nightwing better- shouldn't they be able to pick up on clue the League didn't?
And so the two teams bonded through Nightwing, and just for this crisis, became one team instead of two.
Time passed.
Finally, a breakthrough. And it was quite possibly the stupidest, most coincidental breakthrough ever. There was no detecting or investigating involved. It was pure, simple, dumb luck.
Since Batman had relocated to the Batcave from the TTower, Superman was flying over to talk to him after briefing the Titans over recent developments (*cough nothing cough cough*) when he heard it. He picked it up unconsciously, without even realizing it. Once he realized what he was hearing, though, he froze.
It was singing.
Full out, who-cares-who's-listening singing. Like Dick sometimes did when he was working on his acrobatics. Superman had heard him singing it so many times, he had practically memorized the song despite it being in Romani, which was probably why he had picked it up. But at that moment, he didn't really care how, he just cared that he had. The singing cut off before he could pinpoint its location, but at least it shrunk the search range. It was a start.
Batman would be jumping up and down with joy- that is, if he wasn't the Goddamn Batman, as previously stated.
And done! I'll probably do a confrontation chapter between Batsy and Slade next, and then onto the next big arc! Which, admittedly, will probably be only about 2 or 3 chapters, but still, it'll be big.
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