FudoTwin17: Hey, guys! I'm seriously overwhelmed-

Robin: I'm less than whelmed.

FudoTwin17: *batglare* With your reviews! XD

Robin: You must all hate me.

Cat: They don't hate you. They love you and that somehow motivates them to hurt you.

Robin: Just my luck.

FudoTwin17: Anyways, I'm sorry to say that it'll be a bit before Slade comes in, but when he comes in, he's here and it gets freaky. Really freaky. On that note, why don't you do the disclaimer, Robin?

Robin: No.

FudoTwin17: Okay then! I don't own Young Justice or Slade. *fangirl squeal*

Chapter 5

Suddenly, the team was back in the police station, but further in. They stood between two desks, each with an officer sitting behind them. Glancing at their desks, one could see computers playing dumb games, pictures of family and loved ones, and lots of scattered papers. Both law enforcement officers seemed bored.

The blond guy yawned. "Dude, this is so boring! Is there seriously nothing to do?"

"You could, I don't know, save my best friend!" Wally yelled at the man. He didn't even blink.

Another male, though a brunette, frowned. "We would know if there were something to do. Trust me, you're not the only one that's bored."

"But Jas-"

"Hey," The brunette sat up, "we could always see what happened to that circus kid in here a few days ago."

"Yeah." The blond frowned. "Sad what happened to his family. Did he see . . . ."

"Yeah." Replied the other sadly. "He watched them all fall. Watched them die. We found him crying over their dead bodies. It was awful. No kid should have to go through that."

The blond sighed. "Horrible. That accident was awful."

Robin darkly stated. "It wasn't an accident." No one but his teammates heard him.

"I'm gonna check out where he got placed." The blond said.

"But that's Dale's responsibility. He doesn't like it when other people check out his cases." The brunette said, pointing it out. However, the team could clearly see him typing in their friend's name into his computer.

"Oh, my . . . ." Trailed off the blond. "Jason, you have to look at this-"

"I see it, Ron." He replied, turning toward the other male. "We have to go now. Dale probably isn't even checking on the kid! And this home was taken off the list two years ago when the guy killed one of the foster kids!"

Megan gasped in shock and horror. "They put you somewhere where a kid got killed before you!" Robin just looked at her dankly.

Ron hurriedly stood, looking around for someone. "Where. Is. Dale."

"It doesn't matter now!" Stated Jason as he ran around his desk. "We've got to go!"

"You're right!" The two of them ran out the door. The team didn't follow, knowing that if it were important that they would suddenly appear there. They looked at Dick, who seemed confused.

"I don't get it." He murmured to himself.

"What?" Asked Artemis.

"In our time stream, I was there for two weeks and three days. They said that it's only been a few days." Dick replied, eyebrows furrowed. "Something must be different in this time stream where they were thinking about me and not some thing or one else-"

However, before he even finished his sentence, a newspaper fell from the ceiling. Dick caught it easily and read the article that caught his eye. "Bruce Wane, famous billionaire playboy, was mugged only a block from the police station." He frowned, crumpling up the newspaper and tossed it behind him.

"Uh . . . ." Artemis began, but Wally beat her to it.

"What was that?" He asked.

"Bruce Wane in our time was mugged a block from the police station. That was supposed to happen yesterday, but, apparently, it didn't. So those cops were probably working on his case." Dick said, explaining in a clipped tone.

"Well, why would this man be mugged in our time, but not in this one?" Wondered Aqualad.

Robin looked at them a moment before sighing. "Bruce Wane and Batman are the same. In our time, he saw the event. In this time, he saw us. If he saw us, then he wouldn't be on his way to the police station to ask about what happened to me." Robin paused. "I guess he won't do a lot of things."

Wally looked at his best friend, opening his mouth to say something. However, before any noise came out, their worlds blended together into colorful nothingness.

. . .

The team were suddenly back at the house. The sun was blocked out by dark storm clouds, making the familiar house even more gloomy. The cracks and growing vegetation outside it made it seem even more claustrophobic between the two large buildings. However, what was worse was that the only sound that met their ears was the gentle howl of the wind.

"It's so . . . quiet." Megan whispered, shivering despite herself. Conner pulled her up against himself to comfort her.

"Yeah." Wally whispered.

"I quit screaming halfway through the first week." Robin stated. "No one came to help me. And by then I was too tired. It didn't matter anymore." Artemis's mouth parted in a silent gasp.

Before anyone got up the nerve to say or do anything to comfort the untouchable boy wonder, sirens could be heard. Just like that, a police car pulled up and the two police officers from before, Jason and Ron, jumped out. They seemed to freeze in the cool Gotham air.

"It's quiet." Murmured Jason. "Too quiet."

"Yeah." Agreed Ron as they pulled their guns and moved up to the door. "I pray the kid made it."

"Me too." The other agreed as they readied themselves.

"Gotham PD!" Shouted Jason as the earsplitting sound of the door being busted in blocked out the rest of whatever he had been saying. Robin followed and, slowly, as did the team. While the officers checked room after room, the team headed straight for Dick's room. What they saw when they reached it wasn't the prettiest of sights.

There, slumped in the corner, was eight year old Dick Grayson. The only way the team could tell he was alive was the uneven rising and falling of his chest. He was paler than a ghost and his eyes were shut easily. His cheeks were flushed, almost announcing his bad living conditions. He wore a ripped and bloody shirt showing off most of his chest and a shoulder easily seven sizes too large. He wore shorts as well. Blood knotted his hair and appeared on cuts and scrapes all over his body where they could see. Purple and blue bruises covered his body. His leg was bent in an abnormal direction and his fingers looked as if they were each individually broken with pliers. A small bead of new blood was making it's way down his chin.

"How bad . . . ." Wally began in shock.

"My fingers, knee, toes, and three ribs were broken, one of my ribs punctured my left lung, I had a concussion, and I was sick. I had more, but in this time I was saved at that point." Robin seemed sick himself just from being in the room.

Megan suddenly started crying, throwing herself into Conner's chest, refusing to look. It was bad.

Ron suddenly burst in the room, gun at the ready, before seeing Dick. "No . . . . We can't be too late . . . . Jason! Get in here!" Ron dropped the gun, running over to little Dick before touching his throat with two fingers. Dick twitched and Ron sighed in relief.

However, that relief was shattered when the boy's dark blue eyes flew open, wide with pain. He started coughing and desperately coughing, tears filling his big pools of blue. He made choking gasping noises, making the team feel as if something were constricting their chest. Robin looked away.

Jason then ran in and, seeing Dick, frowned and hurried over. "What's wrong with him?"

"I don't know!" Exclaimed Ron. "Call in an ambulance. And more people. We have at least two criminals who need to be brought in!"

Jason nodded, pulling out a small communicator and contacting more people. After a moment, he sat back down beside the gasping, crying boy. Tenderly, he began checking to see which of his ribs were broken. He barely touched Dick's left side before the boy let out an ear-piercing scream.

Artemis, unable to take it anymore, turned and buried her face in Wally's costume's chest Comfortingly, he wrapped his arms around her. Green orbs never left the little boy.

Kaldur looked at Robin sadly. He couldn't speak. This was the horrors of Gotham. This was the evil that Gotham was. This was what Robin endured every day, even knowing that the once beautiful city was beyond saving. He placed a hand on his teammate's shoulder.

He couldn't imagine living through this. He couldn't imagine what it must have been like living through this again. It must have hurt.

It must have been agony.

The team stood together amid the cries and screams of the eight year old boy in front of them until the sirens could be heard outside. It took almost six minutes. That was longer than it took to get to the circus. Soon the sirens and wails of pain mixed together with the dull colors and cracks of the gloomy place, sending the group into oblivion once again.

FudoTwin17: TT Okay, that made me sad.

Cat: Lately, you have been very sad.

FudoTwin17: I know. Which reminds me; I was watching Anderson and I found out about this thing called forced sterilization. In other words, the United States government would decide who in the population was undesirable and would, without their permission, make it so that they couldn't have children. I was so outraged that I looked it up and I found out that the state I live in did it until 1979. 1979! In other words, the government would promote freedom, anti-racism, and all these other things while they were deciding who in the population they didn't want reproducing! You know how horrible that is? So, I checked it out and there is actually an argument that it should be brought back! And you know what's worse? No government official is willing to apologize to victims or even TALK about it! I'm so mad! Grrr!

Goldfish # 4: By the way, she got new goldfishes.

Goldfish # 6: Yep. Review, request, and tell us what you think about . . . well, everything.

Goldfish # 5: Bye now!