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Dick's thoughts were taking over again.
Oh, God, they know. They must know, why else would they be here? Were they here to confront him? They must be so angry with all of the lies he'd been telling. They know, they know, they know—
"Richard? You, okay there, son?" Dick snapped out of his thoughts at Jim's voice. Looking over at the man he could see concern in his eyes. The azure eyes quickly swept over the Titans who were all staring at him intently, but not accusingly. Finally they landed on Raven, her hood was up, but he could see it in her eyes. They didn't know.
His shoulders sagged with relief. "Yes, of course Commissioner, just a little shocked. It's not every day you open your front door to find the Teen Titans on your porch." Finally he stepped aside, smiling as he allowed them inside. Always keep the act up, never slip or they'll become suspicious. He needed to play host at the moment, and if that meant the team would be seeing the real him, then so be it. At least they would never suspect him, Robin never acted this way.
As Raven silently made her way past him she made eye contact once more, her violet eyes conveying a message: We'll talk later. He gave her a serious nod, allowing the façade to drop for a slight moment, unnoticed by everyone but Jim who watched the young boy carefully, gauging his reactions. The police officer knew he'd have to explain this later, but for now he confirmed what he'd been suspicious of. The Titans didn't know who their leader was behind the mask. If that was what Richard wanted, then that was how it was going to stay.
"Whoa, this place is huge! It could rival the Tower in size, I bet!" Beast Boy's young voice echoed through the front entrance hall as he stared in awe at everything around him. Starfire and Cyborg looked around as well, perhaps a little less enthusiastically, which automatically put Richard on alert. Those two were always curious and in other's business, why were they suddenly so respectful?
Richard put on his civilian mask once more, stepping up to his team. "I'm sure our humble abode has nothing on your Tower." Jim snorted at the term 'humble'. "Now, I don't wish to be rude, but I must ask what are you all doing in Gotham? And without your leader, it seems."
At this Jim stepped forward, "That would be my doing." The Titans all watched as the raven-haired ward of Bruce Wayne raised an eyebrow at this. "I know you'd have a hard time juggling your father's estate, trying to keep his business running and leading his search. I also know that Batman is off-world at the moment on Justice League business," good cover, Tim. "So, I figured that Batgirl and Robin—the other Robin—could use some backup, I know I'm always happy for the help."
Dick's eyes flashed over to the Titan's before going back to the Commissioner's aged face. He knew there was more to this, but he would wait for a better time and place to figure it out. "Makes sense, Commissioner. Now, what are you going to—"
"Whoa!" Came the excited cry from the top of the stairs. All eyes flew to Tim who quickly slid down the railing (Alfred yelled after him about being safe) and stopped before the four super-powered teens. "The Teen Titans! That is so cool! What are you guys doing in Gotham? Are you gonna be staying here at the manor? Is it true that—"
"Tim!" The young boy cut off his questions with a blush, "I thought you were doing homework? What are you doing down here?"
Tim opened his mouth to defend himself, but was cut off by Alfred. "So sorry, Master Richard, he seems to have slipped away without my notice again. I'll bring him back to the study right away."
"Aw, come on, Dick! I never get to meet the people that come over! Please?" When Dick saw the pout forming on his brother's face aimed at him he knew this argument wouldn't last long. With a sigh the young man consented his brother's release, eliciting a smile from the brown-eyed child.
No one could stand up to a sad Tim Drake, not even Batman.
Cyborg bent down so he was eye-level with the short boy. "So, what's your name, little man?"
Tim leaned towards the dark-skinned teen, "Tim Drake, adopted son of Bruce Wayne. I'm Dick's younger brother." The little bird flashed his award-winning smile brightly, causing Cyborg to be taken aback by his sheer enthusiasm. "Let me guess," pointing to each in turn he stated, "Cyborg, Raven, Beast Boy and Starfire." His hands landed on his hips in triumph. That boy could be more full of himself than his brother sometimes.
"Oh, most wondrous, small friend, it is so very nice to make your acquaintance!" Starfire's naïve personality was back in full swing at the sight of the young boy who seemed to remind her of a younger, more cheerful Robin. It made her miss her leader that much less.
Truth be told each of the Titans had a different reason for being here. Beast Boy had been talking nonstop on the T-ship of seeing Batman's city and meeting Batgirl. He was the biggest fan girl ever and it added to the innocence that made the lanky teen so likeable. Raven had come along because she knew arguing with the team about trespassing in Robin's territory was useless (and personal reasons she had kept from the team, but that's for another time.) Cyborg had been the one to accept the mission, although Starfire wondered if he did so because he felt the need to help a random man from a city quiet far away from there own, or if he had another reason behind this venture. Starfire, well, she was another story.
It was a well-known fact that Starfire had feelings for Robin, but over time they had died out to a sisterly love. The truth was that she did not know enough about Robin to ever truly give her heart to him. She had never pried, but it hurt her (and she was positive the others on the team) that she did not even know his true name, or even the color of his eyes. She did not know why he had left the Batman behind, why he was so hesitant to speak of his past or why he had even become a vigilante in the first place. With no powers to speak of it was obvious that something had pushed him in to this life. She knew it was wrong to pry in her teammate's life, but they had been a family for almost four years now, she felt that all of them deserved the truth.
Little did she know she was literally standing in front of the very boy she pondered on at that moment.
"I watch you guys on the news all the time! When you kick those bad guys' butts and barely even break a sweat!" Tim mimicked fighting movements as he spoke enthusiastically, "So cool." He turned eagerly towards Beast Boy, "Is that your natural skin color, or—"
Richard cut the question off right there, "Tim." Again the boy blushed, realizing he'd let his mouth get away from him once again. "Don't go pestering our guests, that's rude. What would Bruce say?"
The brown-eyed boy looked down at his shoes sheepishly. "He would say, 'Timothy Wayne, that is not how a prestigious Gothamite such as yourself handles his guests. Always offer a drink and a seat, then start interrogating.'" Beast Boy, having recovered from the half-question thrown his way, sniggered at the deep voice the eleven-year-old had adopted while imitating his mentor while in the corner even Raven cracked a small smile.
"He's a funny little dude." Tim beamed at the compliment.
Cyborg stepped forward, standing before Dick stoically. Richard straightened himself, leader to second-in-command, meeting face-to-face for the first time. The dark skinned boy's new demeanor cut off the happy mood immediately. Everyone knew what this meant; it was time to be serious. "Speaking of Bruce, we didn't come here for a vacation."
Keeping his eye contact, arms crossed, the shorter snorted. "Figured as much. Unless you like psychopathic clowns and umbrella-wielding penguin fanatics, there isn't much here for you." For a second Cyborg's human eye seemed to narrow in thought, trying to read in to the statement. Shit, he had slipped in to leader mode for a moment there. Never, ever slip up. The second you do they'll be suspicious. First role of being a vigilante. Never slip up.
"Yah, well," Cyborg broke the eye contact, shaking off whatever feeling plagued him in that moment. "The Commissioner told us a bit, but we'd like to hear what you've got as well. We need as much information as possible if we're going to help you in finding your father."
Dick looked over to Tim who stared up at him with pleading eyes. This time it wasn't for himself though, he wanted his brother to accept the help being offered to him. He didn't want his predecessor to slip in to the infamous brooding bat-mode. A sigh escaped the eighteen-year-old's lips, "Fine. That sounds fair, I suppose you all can stay here as long as you're in town. I figure you don't have a place to stay yet." A hesitation, "That's what I thought. Why don't we talk over some food, sound good? We've been a little too busy to eat today."
Alfred stepped in again at that statement, "There is some dinner prepared in the dining hall, Master Richard, if our guests would like to make their way over, the table will be set shortly."
"Thanks, Alfred. You are too good to us." Dick smiled at the man who gave a quick bow before leaving quickly. The blue-eyed bird turned to his team, "Shall we?"
….
Once everyone had settled in Cyborg brought the topic up again. "So, what do you know so far?"
Dick set his fork down carefully, steepling his fingers together as he thought carefully of what he did know without giving himself away. "Well," he leaned back, staring at the tablecloth in thought. "I know that Bruce went missing almost six days ago now and there has still been no word from whoever took him. The police force is working hard on the case, but everything has turned in to a dead end." Jim shifted in his seat, feeling guilty that he had not been able to find even a scrap of hope.
"Robin and Batgirl have even taken on this case, but I know it's hard for them with all of the other things they have to take care of around here." Dick knew Tim was looking at him, he could feel the eyes on his temple, but did not make eye contact. They'll be suspicious.
Raven spoke for the first time since their arrival at the manor. "You keep saying Robin, but you obviously don't mean our leader, seeing as he is definitely not in Gotham right now." Richard allowed a small smile in to the cup he was currently drinking from, he really could always count on Raven. "Who is this other Robin, then?"
Tim beat Dick to answering that question. "After the first Robin left to Jump, Batman went solo again, with some help from Batgirl every once and a while. Rumor is that big old Bats started getting grumpy without the traffic light around and eventually took on another partner. Therefore, two Robins." Dick frowned at the 'traffic light' comment, but let it slide for the moment.
He continued, "Yes, Tim's right, that is the word on the street. Obviously you'd have more luck getting an answer from the big guy himself as to why he took on another bird brain," payback, "but I'm not exactly on speaking terms with the guy. Besides, from what I've been told, Gotham's Dark Knight is on Justice League business right now. We will be getting no help from him in this, that is for sure. Although," Richard tapped his chin in thought, "Batgirl is much easier to find. And where she is Robin normally follows. If you can track her down on the streets I'm sure you can get some superhero inside information." He saw Tim's eyes flick towards him out of the corner of his eyes for a brief moment, showing that he understood the message.
"Other then that we have absolutely nothing on this case. It's driving me crazy, and I can't put everything I have in this, there's an entire company to take care of and my brother to watch over. Thankfully I have Alfred to help out around the manor, but everything else has just sort of been shoved on me, I haven't been taught how to run a company quiet yet."
The table fell silent as the team looked on their leader in pity. Richard hated pity. He'd hated it when his parent's died, hated it every time he'd been too injured to fight and he hated it now. It reminded him that he was so very human, breakable and fragile in the eyes of his team. The mask, it made him feel more than human, stronger and better, but sitting here before them, vulnerable made him feel so very small.
Cyborg spoke up once more, "Don't worry, man. That's what we're here for, to help you out. We'll back up Robin and Batgirl, take some of the burden off of them and help lead the search so you can focus on organizing everything." Dick made eye contact once more, searching Cyborg's eye, "You don't have to take on everything alone."
That was the same thing he had told Robin so long ago, but the situation had been so much different then. It made him wonder why his friend had taken on this mission…
"Richard," the attention was drawn over to Jim, breaking the little detective's train of thought. "I actually wanted to remind you that we need to go over the new security system. I would wait until later to bring this up, but perhaps one of the Titans can help us out. We need to ensure there won't be more incidents."
Starfire spoke up, "Please, what incident has occurred that you must do the upgrading of security?"
The vigilante hesitated bringing up this topic, it brought up too many bad memories, but he couldn't not answer her question. "A few months ago there was a break-in at Wayne Industries, a prototype was stolen and we've been upgrading to make sure it doesn't happen again."
Silence filled the room as ice filled the Titan's hearts. Raven's eyes were boring holes in to Richard's head, willing him to finally forgive himself for that dark week of lies and betrayal.
"Which branch was this exactly?"
But Cyborg already knew the answer.
"Jump City."
Wheeeeeeee, I'm done. Wow, I've got this story on a role right now. Should really update my other stuff. Some secrets will be revealed in the next chapter, so stay tuned!
Also, I have the outline of a Young Justice/Teen Titans fic worked out, so look out for that. It will be Beast Boy related, inspired by the episode on Garfield Logan.
Stay whelmed!
