Disclaimer—I checked and apparently, I do not own Young Justice. *shrugs* Who knew?

Sorry for the delay. College and all that. Also, this chapter really focuses on Bruce/Batman. Enjoy~

CHAPTER THREE

Despite the instinctive urge to call the police, Bruce controlled himself. He was not certain that Dick had been kidnapped as he had before. Just because Dick was not present in the manor did not mean that Dick had not left freely. Perhaps he had departed the house early to see Haly before school.

Without leaving a note.

Without permission.

Without a heads-up.

Bruce clenched his teeth. This situation did not feel right to him, but he couldn't help holding onto the slim possibility that Dick visited Haly before school. Dick had mentioned that the circus was in town and that he wanted to visit Haly before the man left town. Haly was family to Dick so of course Bruce understood the need to see the man.

However, it wasn't like Dick to leave the house without notifying anyone. He had been kidnapped too many times to make the simple mistake not telling anyone where he was going and when he would be back.

Utterly convinced that something had to be wrong, Bruce exited Dick's bedroom and descended down the stairs at quick pace. Every second that he took to get to Alfred, he thought of a new scenario and explanation for Dick's absence. There was a familiar panic that was building in his chest and clogging his throat. It happened every time that Dick was kidnapped, but the feeling never lessened or became bearable.

I hope I'm wrong.

Bruce had the urge to pace like a restless tiger in a cage as he waited for Haly to pull himself away from his fellow circus members. He had told one of the weight men that he wished to speak with Haly and that person had scampered off to get Haly. That had been three minutes ago. What was taking Haly so long? Bruce could see Haly gesturing just fifteen feet away from him. Couldn't Haly temporarily stop talking and return to that discussion once he and Haly were done speaking?

Bruce knew he was being unreasonable, but he simply could not help himself. His nerves were ablaze with a frantic need to turn Gotham City upside down and shake it until Dick appeared. He had already asked Alfred and had learned that Dick had not gone to school early like Bruce had hoped. So forgive him for being in a bit of a hurry. For all Bruce knew, Dick could have once again been kidnapped and could be tied to a chair somewhere, crying out—

"What can I do for you, Mr. Wayne?" Haly asked with a smile on his face as his eyes searched for something. "Did Richard come with you? He said he'd come back before school."

Even though it was not physically possible, Bruce felt his heart stop and skip a beat as it skidded to catch up.

"Dick . . . isn't here?"

Bruce's mind raced as he turned away from Haly and instead of continuing the conversation, he moved to head back to his limo. His gut was giving him such a bad feeling that he felt the need to call Barry and have him search Gotham City with a speed that Bruce wasn't physically capable of. Barry could search the city quickly and that would be welcome. Then Bruce would know for sure if Dick was in Gotham—

"Mr. Wayne, wait! What's wrong?" Haly jogged to catch up with Bruce.

Bruce clenched his teeth. "Dick wasn't in his room this morning and he's not at school. I had thought he came here, but—"

Haly interrupted. "Did he come home last night?"

"What?" Bruce questioned, his mind whirling to summon memories from last night.

"Did he come home last night?" Haly repeated himself, his words edged with a panic that echoed Bruce's own.

"Are you implying he went out last night?"

Bruce was sure that Dick had gone straight to bed. He had even checked on Dick minutes later to see if Dick had actually gone to sleep and Dick had. However, Bruce wouldn't put it past Dick to stay up playing a video game like a normal teenager would. But that didn't explain why Haly would ask if Dick had returned to the manor last night unless—

"He came here," Bruce deduced.

"Yes, but only for a few minutes. He wanted some advice on something," Haly said, crossing his arms as his mind tried to recall every last detail those few moments. "He left after that, said he wanted to get some sleep. Are you sure he isn't at school?"

"I'm quite certain," Bruce answered with little thought, his mind instead latching onto what Haly said before. "What did you two talk about?"

If Dick did not come to Alfred or Bruce himself for advice, then that meant that whatever Dick talked about with Haly was something that he did not feel comfortable with Bruce or Alfred. But what could that be? Bruce liked to think that he and Dick could communicate with one another without discomfort, but he knew that there were just some topics that Dick tended to avoid. His childhood, for one. However, whatever Dick talked about Haly must have been more important than his parents if he felt the need to visit the man in the middle of the night. It may also be connected to Dick's disappearance. Bruce couldn't leave any stone unturned and therefore, could not respect Dick's privacy in this matter.

Haly appeared not to have heard Bruce's question, however.

"That means they found him," Haly breathed. "What do I do? I can't help and neither can you. We need the Justice League at this point, but I don't know—"

"Haly, what are you talking about?"

The man's eyes lit up with understanding before they dimmed. "You . . . You still don't know about Dick, do you? He still hasn't told you."

"Told me what?"

Bruce couldn't explain how his heart seemed to cave in on itself a bit. What had Dick thought wouldn't be safe to tell Bruce? Dick was his son in all but blood and he could never turn Dick away for whatever reason. Didn't Dick know that?

But that wasn't the problem at hand, Bruce reminded himself. The real problem was finding out where Dick was and why.

Haly laughed a bitter laugh. "I forgot. Dick was going to come clean to you last night, but I guess he never got the chance after he left. Daniel must have figured it out and kidnapped him."

"Daniel?" Bruce asked with a sinking sensation in his stomach.

"The man from Terra," Haly replied. "Dick told me last night that Daniel was searching for him."

The pieces were there, laying about in front of Bruce, but it was the picture that he doubted. The conclusion that Bruce came to couldn't be true, could it? Dick would have surely come to him and confessed the truth to Bruce yesterday. Dick wouldn't have possibility thought . . .

"So Dick is . . ."

"Yes, he's an alien. He didn't know how to tell you before, Bruce, but he was going to tell you last night. He must have been kidnapped before he got the chance to tell you."

Bruce stared at Haly, unable to comprehend what he had just learned.

Haly didn't give him a chance to either.

Haly continued. "I know that the Justice League thinks that Dick, or Alastair as they know him, is a criminal, but he isn't. He's a victim in all of this. Please, Bruce. You have to tell them. You have to get them to get Dick back before . . ."

"Before what?"

"Before they kill him."

Bruce's hands clenched before he calmed down. "Tell me everything."

As Bruce climbed back into his limo after talking with Haly, he called Clark. Clark picked up his phone just a second after it started to ring.

"Clark Kent."

"Clark, tell the others to stop looking for Alastair," Bruce ordered with a steady voice.

"You found him? Wait, don't answer that. Of course you did."

"Clark."

Clark paused his movements at his desk, sensing something not quite right with Bruce. "What's wrong?"

Moments stretched the silence between Bruce and Clark before Bruce spoke, dropping a mind-shattering reveal onto Clark.

"Dick is Alastair."

Clark's fingers tightened around the phone, leaving behind little grooves. "What? How . . . How is that possible? Dick isn't . . ."

"Daniel lied to us, Clark. Dick isn't a criminal. He's a victim. They were going to kill him so he ran," Bruce explained, simplifying the life story he had gotten from Haly.

"What?" Clark hissed, a surge of anger flooding his veins. He adored Dick and had spent too much time with him to ever consider that maybe Daniel and the Terraens were right in their decision to kill Dick.

Bruce's voice cut through Clark's haze of anger. "I think Daniel kidnapped him last night. I can't find Dick anywhere and I had Alfred check the surveillance footage a minute ago to see if Dick came back home last night. He didn't and the only suspect I have is—"

"Daniel. Of course," Clark muttered. "It makes sense, Bruce. He must have had us searching for hours last night just to distract us and when we decided to take pick up the search the next night, he must have worked on really looking for Alastair, well Dick. Daniel never intended on us finding him."

"Because if we did, we would have realize that something was wrong. We would have realized the truth and he couldn't have that," Bruce concluded, pausing before dropping another bombshell on Clark. "Haly said that they would kill Dick."

Clark's back straightened. "We have to get Dick back now."

"My thoughts exactly. Meet me at the Watch Tower in two minutes."

"I will," Clark said before a thought occurred to him. "What about Young Justice? Are you going to let them help?"

Bruce mulled it over before answering. "Yes, but with limits."

"I wouldn't have it any other way."

A/N—I know this was short, but I felt this was a good place to stop. Please review! This was published on 6-7-16 with the length of 1740 words.